USA > Pennsylvania > Butler County > History of Butler County, Pennsylvania. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 5
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The Indian camp by the salt lick in the ravine northeast of the site of Butler was visited by twelve spies and a company of 130 armed men soon after Massy Harbison's return. the location being described by her. The scouting party was commanded by Maj. McCully and Capts. Guthrie and Stevenson. They explored the woods, and, after some difficulty. found the camp. but it was deserted. The Indians had doubtless apprehended that the woman's escape would lead to their detection. After ranging for ten days through the woods without seeing the Indians, the littls army was re-assembled and marched back to Coe's Station.
In 1793, the Indians were so completely occupied by Wayne's invasion of their country (that part which is now Western Ohio) that the frontiersinen of West- ern Pennsylvania. Virginia and Southeastern Ohio were generally free from their attacks. In 1794 and the following year, they were present in large force on the Ohio and Allegheny, and kept the inhabitants in a continued state of alarm. Several murders were committed, but none of which it is necessary or ap- propriate here to give an account.
CHAPTER III.
LAND TITLE, SURVEY AND SALE.
Original Title-Purchases from the Indians-Treaty of Fort Stanwix , 17×4-Boundaries of the Purchase then made-Disputes Concern- ing State Lines-Provisions for Revolutionary Soldiers-The De- preciation Lands-Donation Lands-" Struck District" Law of 1792, Prescribing Method of Survey and Terms of Settlement-Title through Robert Morris-Conflicting Claims of the Speculators and Settlers.
IT is commonly but erroneously supposed that Penn- sylvania was so named by her founder in honor of himself. As a matter of fact. Penn wished to call his province New Wales, but the King (Charles HI) objected. Penn then. in view of the fact that the country was heavily timbered. proposed the name of Sylvania. The King agreed to this as a portion of the title. and prefixed Penn, to do honor to the mem- ory of the distinguished Admiral, the father of Will- iam Penn. The Admiral at the time of his death had claims against the Crown amounting to £16.000. It was in liquidation of these claims that the title to all of the lands in the charter limits of Pennsylvania was vested in William Penn. The charter conveying the magnificent province, dated March 4. 1681, is the foundation of all land titles in the State.
The province contained. as a calenlation shows, about thirty- tive million three hundred and sixty-one thousand and six hundred acres. The final adjust- ment of the charter boundaries with Maryland. Vir- ginia and New York did not take place until after the lapse of many years. Penn's immense landed estate yielded him little revenue, and, indeed, he became pecuniarily embarassed. He died in 1718. after a busy and useful life, but one full of mental disquie- tude. By his will. made in 1712, he devised his lands. rents, etc., in America to his wife Hannah. in trust, to dispose of so much as was necessary to pay his debts, and then to convey 40.000 aeres to William Penn. Jr .. his son by a former wife, and the rest of the vast estate to his children by his second wife. The title was vested in them until 1778, when it was assumed by the State or colony.
Penn. after he had secured his grant from the King, issued proposals for the sale of lands in the province, and a large number of purchasers from London. Liverpool and Bristol soon applied to him for land.
EXTINGUISHMENT OF INDIAN TITLE.
The first Indian purchase after the charter was made by William Markham, a relative of the proprie- tor. in July. 1682, and secured the right to a small territory about commensurate with the present county of Bucks. In 1683, 1684 and 1685, deeds were executed for small parcels of land west of the Schyl- kill and on the Susquehanna. In 1686, the deed for the much disputed " walking purchase," of which one
23
HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
of the boundaries was "as far as a man can go in one day and a half," is said to have been obtained. Other relinquishments were made by the Indians in 1696 and subsequent years, but the lands freed from their claim prior to 1718 were of comparatively small extent. The most important relinquishments of the title of the aborigines by deeds and treaties, were in 1736, 1749. 1754. 1768 and 1754.
It is with the last of these that we are most con- cerned.
The Indian title to the land northwest of the Allegheny River was extinguished by the treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1784. Since the year 1768, when the first treaty of Fort Stanwix was made, the north- western boundary of Indian purchases in the State ran from the Susquehanna. on the New York line, to Towanda Creek; thence to the head of Pine Creek (Lycoming County); thence to its month, and up the West Branch to its source; thence over to Kittan- ning and down the Allegheny and the Ohio to the west line of the State.
The purchase of 1784, as it is denominated, in- cluded all of the lands in the State northwest of this boundary. except the "triangle" in Erie County. em- bracing the whole of the present counties of Butler. Clarion. Jefferson. Elk. Cameron. Potter. Mckean. Warren, Forrest, Venango. Crawford, Mercer and Lawrence. and parts of the counties of Beaver. Erie. Allegheny, Armstrong. Indiana, Clearfield. Clinton. Lycoming. Tioga and Bradford.
Distinguished men represented the United States at the treaty-Richard Butler. Oliver Wolcott and Arthur Lee; Gen. Lafayette was present. The Mo- hawks, Onondagas, Senecas. Cayugas. Tuscaroras and Seneca-O'beal tribes-the six nations-were repre- sented by the leading chieftains, among them Corn- planter and Red Jacket. The latter was opposed to peace. and made a war speech which Lafayette said was "a masterpiece, and every warrior who heard him was carried away with his eloquence." Corn- planter saw the folly of waging a war single handed against the whole power of the Confederacy, and ex- ented all of his power for peace. He sought, how- ever, to avoid a definite treaty without the concurrence of the western tribes. The Commissioners refused to listen to any delay, and, after a long conference, the treaty was signed upon the 22d of October. Its lead- ing provisions were:
Six hostages shall be immediately delivered to the com- missioners, by the said nations, to remain in possession of the United States, until all the prisoners, white and black. which were taken by the Senecas, Mohawks, Onondagas and Cayugas, or by any of them, in the late war, from among the . citizens of the United States, shall be delivered up.
The Oneida and Tuscarora nations shall be secured in the possession of the lands on which they are settled.
A line shall be drawn, beginning at the month of a ercek about four miles east of Niagara, called Oyouwayea, or John- son's Landing Place, upon the lake, named by the Indians Oswego and by us Ontario: from thence sontherly, in a direc- tion always four miles cast of the carrying path, between Lake Erie and Ontario, to the mouth of Tehoseroron, or Buf. falo Creek of Lake Erie: thence south, to the north boundary of the State of Pennsylvania; thence west to the end of the said north boundary; thence south along the west boundary of the said State to the River Ohio; the said line from the mouth of the Oyonwayea to the Ohio shall be the western boundary of the lands of the Six Nations: so that the Six Nations shall, and do. yield to the United States, all claims to the country west of the said boundary; and then they shall be secured in the peaceful possession of the lands they in- habit, east and north of the same, reserving only six miles synare, around the fort of Oswego, to the United States, for the support of the same.
The Commissioners of the United States, in considera- tion of the present circumstances of the Six Nations, and in execution of the humane and liberal views of the United States, upon the signing of these articles, will order goods to be delivered to the Six Nations for their own use and com- fort .*
All of the lands within the charter limits of the State were released from Indian title within a period of one hundred and two years (1682 to 1784), and the Commonwealth became possessed of the ownership. t
DISPUTES REGARDING BOUNDARY LINES.
Serious disputes were had by Pennsylvania with the neighboring colonies in relation to boundary lines. The settlement of the line between her and Maryland was attended with much difficulty, and consumed many years of negotiation. Had the claim of Lord Baltimore, of Maryland, been conceded, the line would have been run twenty miles or more north of the present boundary, and Pennsylvania would have lost about three million acres of her most fertile soil. Had Penn's claim been conceded, the consequence would have been still more serious to Maryland. She would have lost all north of Annapolis-about two- thirds of her territory, including the site of Balti- more and several important towns. The existing boundary, known as Mason and Dixon's line, was run in the year 1767 and 1768, and the agreement rati- fied by the King in 1769.
The controversy between Virginia and Pennsyl- vania in regard to the ownership of territory assumed its most serious aspect about the time the Maryland boundary question was adjusted.
The Pittsburgh region appears to have first been the subject of controversy in 1752, when Thomas Penn
* Albach's Annals of the West.
+What is known as " the triangle "-the northern part of Erie County, was not within the charter boundaries of the province. This tract, containing an area of 202,187 acres was by the cessions of New York in 1781, by Massachusetts in 1785, and by Connecticut in 1786, left out of the Jurisdiction of any particular state. Gen. Irvine, while surveying the donation lands of Northwestern Pennsylvania, discovered that the northern (charter) boundary of the State would strike Lake Erie, so as to leave but a few miles of lake coast, and that without n barbor in the State. In con- sequence of his represe. tation, a movement was set on foot to seenre from the Indians and the United States, the cession of " the triangle." Its acquisition by Pennsylvania was secured in 1792.
.
24
HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
wrote to the Governor of Pennsylvania. desiring him "to enter into any reasonable measures to assist the Governor of Virginia to build a fort there, to wit: at the Ohio, taking some acknowledgment from him that this settlement shall not be made use of tos prejudice our right to that country."
Gov. Dinwiddie, of Virginia, on the 19th of Feb. rnary, 1754, announced his intention of building a fort on the Ohio to oppose further encroachments or hostile attempts of the French, and offered the mon who were to be engaged in the work. over and above their pay, 200,000 acres of land, 100,000 acres of which should be contiguons to the fort. and the other 100,000 on or near the river. This proclamation was immediately transmitted by Gov. Dinwiddie to Gov. Hamilton, of Pennsylvania. and the latter soon re plied that. having inquired very particularly into the extent of this province westwardly, he had the greatest reason to believe that the fort and lands in- tended to be granted were within the limits of Pennsylvania. Gov. Dinwiddie was equally firm in the belief that they were within Virginia's jurisdiction. Thus, as Craig states, " the region around Pittsburgh was the bone of double contention; England and France were about to go to war for it, and Pennsylvania and Virginia to commence a controversy about it. which endured for more than twenty years, in the course of which much ill blood and angry feeling were dis- played." After the consideration and rejection of many propositions for the settlement of the disputed claims, the present line between Pennsylvania and Virginia, on the sonth, was agreed upon by the two States in 1782. It is an extension of Mason and Dixon's line, and was not completed and permanently marked until 1784.
" Long continued and vexations as was this contest for Pittsburgh and the region round about it," says Surveyor General Barr. * "it was well for Pennsyl- vania that she did not yield her claims The fertility of the soil and the marvelous richness of the mineral deposits, then ahnost unknown, prove how well it was worth contending for."
THE DEPRECIATION LANDS.
Even before the title to the region northwest of the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers and Conewango Creek had been secured, preliminary steps were taken by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania for disposing of these lands.
During the later years of the Revolution, the value of the bills of credit issned by Pennsylvania, as well as those issued by the Continental Congress, con- tinned gradually to depreciate until they fell to a mere nominal value, Great losses were consequently
Report of the Surveyor General (James P Barr) for the year 1865.
experienced by the holders of the State certificates. The officers and soldiers of the Pennsylvania line, the State troops especially suffered, as they received them in payment for their services. Disputes con- stantly arose in relation to the deductions to be made from the face of the bills. On the 3d of April, 1781, the State Legislature, to remedy this inconvenience fixed a scale of depreciation varying from 1} to 75 per cent for each month between the years 1777 and 1781, according to which the accounts of the army could be settled. Unable otherwise to pay its troops, the State gave the officers and solliers certificates in conformity with the prescribed scale, which were made receivable in payment for lands soll by the State. They were called depreciation certificates ..
In order to provide for the redemption of these depreciation certificates, it was enacted by law. March 12, 1783. " That for the more speedy and effectual complying with the intention of the law aforesaid, there be, and hereby is, located and laid off a certain tract of land, as follows: Beginning where the western boundary of the State crosses the Ohio River; thence np the said river to Fort Pitt: thence up the Alle- gheny River to the mouth of Mogulbughtiton (Ma- honing) Creek; thence by a west line to the western boundary of this State; thence sonth by the said boundary to the place of beginning, reserving to the use of the State 3,000 acres in an oblong of not less than one mile in depth from the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers, and extending up and down the said rivers, from opposite Fort Pitt as far as may be necessary to include the same; and the further quantity of 3,000 acres on the Ohio and on both sides of Beaver Creek, including Fort Meintosh, all which remaining tract of land, as aforesaid, is hereby appropriated as a further fund for the purpose of redeeming the cer- tificates aforesaid; that is to say, the Surveyor Gen- eral of this Sta e shall, according to such directions as may be given him by the Supreme Executive Conneil, cause the aforesaid tract of land to be laid ont in lots of not less than 200, and not more than 350, aeres each, numbering the same lots numerically on the dranght or plat of the country aforesaid, and shall as soon as the same or 100 lots thereof are surveyed, together with the Secretary of the Land Office and the Receiver General, proceeed to setl the same lots in numerical order at such times and places, and under such regulations, as shall be appointed by the Supreme Executive Council: the full consideration bid at such sales shall be paid into the Receiver General's office, either in gold or silver or in the certificates afore- said, upon full payment of which consideration and the expense of surveying, together with all fees of the different offices, patents shall be issued in the usual form to the several buyers or venders, and the differ-
OUTLINE MAP 1ºOF5 7 0
BUTLER COUNTY PA. 1883.
Emlenton
VENANGO
co.
Allegheny River
Scale - 5'3 miles - linch ..
Murrinsville
llnrrisville.
Six Points
MERION
VENANGO
ALLEGHENY
MERCER
Annandale Sta .
Forrestville
New Hope Mills
Annandale
.Innisville
Parker
SLIPPERY
Rovard
Hilliard
Centerville
WASHINGTON
PARKER
ROCK Etna Mills
CHERRY
Parsouville
Martinsburg
Korth
Coaltown
Washington
cree
2- Dist
West Liberty
West Sunbury
Petrolia
WORTH
Elord
Middletown
humus C'ity
BRADY
N
1 Dist.
Modoc City"
Buena Vistu
Greece City
Unionville
Millerstown
Bordstown
MUDDY
North Oakland
Greer
Portersville
FRANKLIN
CENTER
OAKLAND
DONEGAL
-- ,
St Jo?
Mt. Chestnut
Whitestown 1
"Carbon Center'
BUTLER
Buttercup
SUMMIT
Covlesville
BUTLER
Petersville
S
Harmony
connoguet
Renfreu
Great Be
Zelicu'dple JACKSON
Brownsdale
JEFFERSON Jefferson .
Delano
FORWARD
PENN
Center
Evensboro
WINFIELD Saxon City
Mahara
Saxonburg
Leasureville
CRANBERRY
Templetore
Glade Mills
Serversville
ADAMS
CLINTON Riddles
MIDDLESEX
Monroeville
Mars
Roads
BUFFALO
Batter
Junhon
Sunnyside
ALLEGHENY Co.
Allegheny River
ARMSTRONG
LANCASTER Middle V Lancaster
CONNOQUE- NESSING
CLEARFIELD
CO.
-EZ
CREEK
Prospect
LA
CONCORD
FAIRVIEW
Mudo
LAWRENCE CO.
Fairview
Argyle
Mechanicsburg
Byrom Gefiter
Farmington
CO.
Eldorado
MERCER
Slippery
Rock
BEAVER
--
-
Ogle
Freeport
Holvoke
Herman
CO.
25
HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
ent siuns in specie that may be paid into the Re- ceiver General's office, shall be by him paid over to the treasury of this State for the purpose of redeem- ing such certificates as may remain unsatisfied at the end of such sales."
The northern boundary line of the Depreciation Lands passed east and west almost centrally through Butler County, and is about four miles north of Butler Borough. Parts of the townships of Muddy Creek, Franklin, Center, Oakland and Donegal, and the whole of Lancaster, Connoquenessing. Butler, Summit. Clearfield, Jackson. Forward, Penn, Jeffer- son, Winfield, Cranberry, Adams, Middlesex. Clinton and Buffalo are therefore in the Depreciation Lands.
The Depreciation Lands were divided into dis- tricts, which were each assigned to a Deputy Surveyor. The dividing lines ran southward from the northern boundary to the Allegheny or the Ohio Rivers, as the case might be, and were parallel. The first district west of the Allegheny extended about four miles west of the eastern boundary of Butler County, and was known as Elder's. Cunningham's (James) district was the next. Its width was about ten miles, and its west- ern boundary about half a mile east of the western boundaries of Centre. Butler, Penn and Middlesex Towships. Its area within the present limits of But- Ier County was approximately one hundred and fifty thousand acres, and within the present limits of Alle- gheny County nearly as much more. Several surveyors were doubtless employed by Cunningham in the work of locating warrants in this large tract of territory. West of the Cunningham district came Jones', Nichol- son's and Alexander's districts, in the order named. and others extending to the westen boundary of the State. They were as a rule much smaller than the one we have described. *
The survey was begun in 1785 or 1786.
DONATION LANDS,
By a legislative act. passed March 7, 1780, the faith of the State was pledged to bestow, upon the officers and privates in the Federal army belonging to the State. " certain donations and quantities of land, according to their several ranks; to be surveyed and divided off to them severally at the close of the war."
For the purpose of effectually complying with the letter and intention of the foregoing resolve, the act passed on the 12th of March, 1783. from which we have already quoted, ordained, "That there be, and there is hereby declared to be located and laid off a certain tract of country beginning at the mouth of Mogulbughtiton (Mahoning) Creek; thence up the Allegheny River to the mouth of Cagnawaga (Cona
wango) Creek; thence due north to the northern boundary of this State: thonee west by the said bound- ary to the northwest corner of the State: thence south by the western boundary of the State to the northwest corner of lands appropriated by this act (the Depre. ciation Lands) for discharging the certificates herein mentioned; and thence by the same lands east to the place of beginning, which said traet shall be reserved and set apart for the only and sole use of carrying into execution the said resolve."
The act from which we have quoted declared further. "That all officers and private, were entitled to land as aforesaid shall. and they are hereby directed, . to make their respective claims for the same within two years after the peace shall be declared, and in the case of their failure to make such application in per- son, or in that of their legal representatives, within one year of their decease, then it may be lawful for any person or persons whatever to apply to the Land Office. locate and take up such parts or parcels of said lands upon such term as the Legislature shall hereafter direct, as may remain nnlocated by the said officers, non-commissioned officers and private meu. their heirs, executors and administrators."
It was provided by an act of the 24th of March, 1785, that the Donation Lands should " be laid off in lots of four descriptions, one to contain 500 acres each; anothor 300 acres each: another 250 acres each; and another 200 acres each, with the usual allowances: that a quantity equal to what may be necessary for the Major Generals. Brigadier Generals, Colonels. Captains, and two-thirds of the Lieutenant Colonels. shall be laid off into lots of 500 acres; a quantity equal to what may be necessary for the regimental Surgeons and mates; also for the Chaplains. Majors and Ensigns into lots of 300 acres each; a quantity equal to what may be necessary for one-third of the Lieutenant Colonels, and for the Sergeants. Sergeant Majors and Quartermaster Sergeants into lots of 250 acres each; and a quantity equal to what may be necessary for the Lientenants. Corporals, Drummers. Fifers, Drum Majors. Fife Majors and privates into lots of 200 acres each."
For the impartial distribution of these donations, a lottery was provided, at which "each applicant, if a Major General, should draw four tickets from the wheel containing the numbers on the 500-acre lots: if a Brigadier General, three tickets from said wheel . if a Colonel, two tickets from said wheel: if a Lien- tenant Colonel, one from said wheel. and one from the wheel containing the numbers of the 250-aere lots; if a Surgeon. Chaplain or Major, two tickets from the wheel containing the numbers on the 300-acre lots: if a Captain, one ticket from the wheel containing the numbers on the 500-acre lots: if a Lieutenant, two
4The discoveries of the Depreciation Lands and also of the Donation Lands are indicated by heavy lines upon the county map drawn exprealy for This work by Mr. F. M. Gillart.
26
HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
tickets from the wheel containing the numbers on the 200-acre lots; if an Ensign or regimental Surgeon's mate. one ticket from the wheel containing the num bers on the 300- acre lots: if a Sergeant. Sergeant Major or Quartermaster Sergeant, one ticket from the wheel containing the numbers on the 250-acre lots; and if a Drum Major. Fife Major. Drummer. Fifer, Corporal. or Private Sentinel. one ticket from the wheel containing the numbers on the 200-acre lots."
Under the law of 1785, an agent was to be ap. pointed, whose anty it was to explore the Donation and Depreciation Districts, to examine the quality of the lands, and especially to report such as in his opinion were unfit for cultivation. Gen. Irvine re- ceived the appointment, explored the country, and reported that a part of the second division of the Do- nation Lands was generally unfit for cultivation, and, in consequence, the lots included in it were withdrawn from the lottery, and from this circumstance it was known as " the struck district."
A portion of the "struck district" or "struek lands" is in Butler County. It comprises the northeastern quarter, which. in recent years. has been the most valuable portion of the Butler or " lower oil region " A large proportion of the lands in Butler County thus reserved from distribution to the sokliers were origi nally as valnable as those in any part of the Donation tract, and the oil development has made them far more valuable.
The Donation Lands in this county lie in the northern and northeastern portion, and are comprised in Districts No. 1 and 2.
Lands in the " struck district" were disposed of by warrant and patent the same as other lands of Western Pennsylvania, under the law of 1792.
THE SETTLEMENT LAW OF 1792.
The lands in the " triangle " and the "struck dis- trict " and the residue of the lands in the Depreciation and Donation Districts, including the greater portion of them not taken up by the claims of the officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary army were offered for sale under the act of the 3d of April, 1792.
Of this law, which contains the conditions on which a large number of the Butler County pioneers obtained their lands by " settlers' right." we give a careful synopsis:
SECTION 1. The price of all the vacant lands within the purchase of 1768, excepting such lands as had been previously settled on or improved, was reduced to the sum of fifty shil- lings for every hundred acres; and the price of vacant lands within the purchase of 1784, and lying east of the Allegheny River and Conewango Creek, was reduced to the sum of 55 for every hundred acres. *
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