History of Cumberland and Adams counties, Pennsylvania. Containing history of the counties, their townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc.; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc, Part 11

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Publisher: W. Taylor
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USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > History of Cumberland and Adams counties, Pennsylvania. Containing history of the counties, their townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc.; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc > Part 11
USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > History of Cumberland and Adams counties, Pennsylvania. Containing history of the counties, their townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc.; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc > Part 11

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TN 1712, Penn had made a will, by which he devised to his only surviving son, William, by his first marriage, all his estates in England, amounting to some twenty thousand pounds. By his first wife, Gulielma Maria Springett, he had issue of three sons-William, Springett and William, and four daugh- ters-Gulielma, Margaret, Guliolma and Letitia; and by his second wife. Hannah Callowhill, of four sons-John, Thomas, Richard and Dennis. To his wife Hannah, who survived him, and whom he made the sole executrix of his will, he gave, for the equal benefit of herself and her children, all his personal estate in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, after paying all debts, and alloting ten thousand acres of land in the Province to his daughter Letitia, by his first marriage, and each of the three children of his son William.

Doubts having arisen as to the force of the provisions of this will, it was finally determined to institute a suit in chancery for its determination. Before a decision was reached, in March, 1720, William Penn, Jr., died, and while still pending, his son Springett died also. During the long pendency of this litigation for nine years, Hannah Penn, as executrix of the will, assumed the proprietary powers, issued instructions to her Lieutenant Governors, beard complaints and settled difficulties with the skill and the assurance of a veteran diplomatist. In 1727, a decision was reached that, upon the death of William Penn, Jr., and his son Springett, the proprietary rights in Pennsylvania de. scended to the three surviving sons-John, Thomas and Richard-issue by the second marriage; and that the proprietors bargain to sell his province to the crown for twelve thousand pounds, made in 1712, and on which one thousand pounds had been paid at the confirmation of the sale, was void. Whereupon the three sons became the joint proprietors.

A year before the death of Penn, the lunacy of Gov. Gookin having be come troublesome, he was succeeded in the Government by Sir William Keith. a Scotchman who had served as Surveyor of Customs to the English Govern ment, in which capacity he had visited Pennsylvania previously, and knew something of its condition. He was a man of dignified and commanding bearing, endowed with cunning, of an accommdating policy, full of faithful promises, and usually found upon the stronger side. Hence, upon hi: arrival in the colony, he did not summon the Assembly immediately,

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assigning as a reason in his first message that he did not wish to inconvenience the country members by calling them in harvest time. The disposition thus manifested to favor the people, and his advocacy of popular rights on several occasions in opposition to the claims of the proprietor, gave great satisfaction to the popular branch of the Legislature which manifested its appreciation of his conduct by voting him liberal salaries, which had often been withheld from his less accommodating predecessors. By his artful and insinuating policy, he induced the Assembly to pass two acts which had previously met with un- compromising opposition-one to establish a Court of Equity, with himself as Chancellor, the want of which had been seriously felt; and another, for organ- izing the militia. Though the soil was fruitful and produce was plentiful, yet, for lack of good markets, and on account of the meagerness of the cir- culating medium, prices were very low, the toil and sweat of the husbandman being little rewarded, and the taxes and payments on land were met with great difficulty. Accordingly, arrangements were made for the appointment of in- spectors of provisions, who, from a conscientious discharge of duty, soon caused the Pennsylvania brands of best products to be much sought for, and to command ready sale at highest prices in the West Indies, whither most of the surplus produce was exported. A provision was also made for the issue of a limited amount of paper money, on the establishment of ample securities. which tended to raise the value of the products of the soil and of manufact- ures, and encourage industry.

By the repeated notices of the Governors in their messages to the Legis- lature previous to this time, it is evident that Indian hostilities had for some- time been threatened. The Potomac was the dividing line between the Northern and Southern Indians. But the young men on either side, when out in pursuit of game, often crossed the line of the river into the territory of the other, when fierce altercations ensued. This trouble had become so violent in 1719 as to threaten a great Indian war, in which the pow- erful confederation, known as the Five Nations, would take a hand. To avert this danger, which it was foreseen would inevitably involve the defenseless familes upon the frontier, and perhaps the entire colony, Gov. Keith determined to use his best exertions. He accordingly made a toilsome journey in the spring of 1721 to confer with the Governor of Virginia and endeavor to employ by concert of action such means as would allay further cause of contention. His policy was well devised, and enlisted the favor of the Governor. Soon after his return, he summoned a council of Indian Chieftains to meet him at Conestoga, a point about seventy miles west of Philadelphia. He went in considerable pomp, attended by some seventy or eighty horsemen, gaily caparisoned, and many of them armed, arriving about noon, on the 4th of July, not then a day of more note than other days. He went immediately to Capt. Civility's cabin, where were assembled four deputies of the Five Nations and representatives of other tribes. The Gov- ernor said that he had come a long distance from home to see and speak to representatives of the Five Nations, who had never met the Governor of Penn- sylvania. They said in reply that they had heard much of the Governor, and would have come sooner to pay him their respects, but that the wild conduct of some of their young men had made them ashamed to show their faces. In the formal meeting in the morning, Ghesaont, chief of the Senecas, spoke for all the Five Nations. He said that they now felt that they were speaking to the same effect that they would were William Penn before them, that they had not forgotten Penn, nor the treaties made with him, and the good advice he gave them; that though they could not write as do the English, yet they could keep

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all these transactions fresh in their memories. After laying down a belt of wampum upon the table as if by way of emphasis, he began again, declaring that "all their disorders arose from the use of rum and strong spirits, which took nway their sense and memory, that they had no such liquors," and desired that no more be sent among them. Here he produced a bundle of dressed skins, by which he would say, "you see how much in earnest we are upon this mutter of furnishing fiery liquors to ns." Then he proceeds, declaring that the Five Nations remember all their ancient treaties, and they now dosire that the chain of friendship may be made so strong that none of the links may ever be broken This may have been a hint that they wanted high piled and valuable presents; for the Quakers had made a reputation of brightening and strengthening the chain of friendship by valuable presents which had reached so far away as the F'ive Nations. He then produces a bundle of raw skins, and observes " that a chain may contraet rust with laying and become weaker; wherefore, he desires it may now be so woll cleaned as to remain brighter and stronger than ever it was before." Here he presents another par- cel of skins, and continues, "that as in the firmament, all clouds and dark- ness are removed from the face of the sun. so they desire that all misunder- standings may be fully done away, so that when they, who are now here, shall be dead and gone, their whole people, with their children and posterity, may on- joy the clear sunshine with us forever." Presenting another bundle of skins, he says, "that, looking upon the Governor as if William Penn were present, they desire, that, in case any disorders should hereafter happen between their young people and ours, we would not be too hasty in resenting any such acci- dent, until their Council and ours can have some opportunity to treat amicably npon it, and so to adjust all matters, as that the friendship between us may still be inviolably preserved." Here he produces a small parcel of dressed skins, and concludes by saying "that we may now be together as one people, treating one another's children kindly and affectionately, that they are fully empowered to speak for the Five Nations, and they look upon the Governor as the representative of the Great King of England, and therefore they expect that everything now stipulated will be made absolutely firm and good on both sides." And now he presents a different style of present and pulls out a bundle of bear skins, and proceeds to put in an item of complaint, that "' they get too little for their skins and furs, so that they cannot live by hunting ; they desire us, therefore, to take compassion on them, and contrive some way to help them in that particular. Then producing a few furs, he speaks only for himself, "to acquaint the Governor, that the Five Nations having heard that the Governor of Virginia wanted to speak with them, he himself, with some of his company intended to proceed to Virginia, but do not know the way how to get safe thither."

To this formal and adroitly conceived speech of the Seneca chief, Gov. Keith, after having brought in the present of stroud match coats, gunpowder, lead, biscuit, pipes and tobacco, adjourned the council till the following day, when, being assembled at Conestoga, he answered at length the items of the chieftain's speech. His most earnest appeal, however, was made in favor of peace. " I have persuaded all my [Indian] brethren, in these parts, to con- sider what is for their good, and not to go out any more to war; but your young men [Five Nations] as they come this way, endeavor to force them ; and, because they incline to the counsels of peace, and the good advice of their true friends, your people use them ill. and often prevail with them to go out to their own destruction. Thus it was that their town of Conestoga lost their good king not long ago. Their young children are left without parents ;

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their wives without husbands ; the old men, contrary to the course of nature. mourn the death of their young ; the people decay and grow weak ; we lose our dear friends and are afflicted. Surely you cannot propose to get either riches, or possessions, by going thus out to war ; for when you kill a deer, you have the flesh to eat, and the skin to sell ; but when you return from war, you bring nothing home, but the scalp of a dead man, who perhaps was husband to a kind wife, and father to tender children, who never wronged you, though, by losing him, you have robbed them of their help and protection, and at the same time got nothing by it. If I were not your friend. I would not take the trouble to say all these things to you." When the Governor had concluded his address, he called the Senaca chieftain (Ghesaont) to him, and presented a gold coronation medal of King George I, which he requested should be taken to the monarch of the Five Nations, " Kannygooah," to be laid up and kept as a token to our children's children, that an entire and lasting friendship is now established forever between the English in this country and the great Five Nations." Upon the return of the Governor, he was met at the upper ferry of the Schuylkill, by the Mayor and Aldermen of the city, with about two hun- dred horse, and conducted through the streets after the manner of a conqueror of old returning from the scenes of his triumphs.

Gov. Keith gave diligent study to the subject of finance, regulating the currency in such a way that the planter should have it in his power to dis- charge promptly his indebtedness to the merchant, that their mutual interests might thus be subserved. He even proposed to establish a considerable settle- ment on his own account in the colony, in order to carry on manufactures, and thus consume the grain, of which there was at this time abundance, and no profitable market abroad.

In the spring of 1722, an Indian was barbarously murdered within the limits of the colony, which gave the Governor great concern. After having cautioned red men so strongly about keeping the peace, he felt that the honor of himself and all his people was compromised by this vile act. He immedi- ately commissioned James Logan and John French to go to the scene of the murder above Conestoga, and inquire into the facts of the case, quickly appre- hended the supposed murderers, sent a fast Indian runner (Satcheecho), to acquaint the Five Nations with his sorrow for the act, and of his determination to bring the guilty parties to justice, and himself set out with three of his Council (Hill, Norris and Hamilton), for Albany, where he had been invited by the Indians for a conference with the Governors of all the colonies, and where he met the chiefs of the Five Nations, and treated with them upon the subject of the murder, besides making presents to the Indians. It was on this occasion that the grand sachem of this great confederacy made that noble, and generous, and touching response, so different from the spirit of revenge generally attributed to the Indian character. It is a notable example of love that begets love, and of the mild answer that turneth away wrath. He said : " The great king of the Five Nations is sorry for the death of the Indian that was killed, for he was of his own flesh and blood. He believes that the. Governor is also sorry ; but, now that it is done, there is no help for it, aud he desires that Cartlidge [the murderer ] may not be put to death, nor that he should be spared for a time, and afterward executed ; one life is enough to be lost ; there should not two die. The King's heart is good to the Governor and all the English."

Though Gov. Keith, during the early part of his term, pursued a pacific policy, yet the interminable quarrels which had been kept up between the As. sembly and Council during previous administrations, at length broke out with

Samuel Wherry

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more virulence than ever, and he who in the first flush of power hud declared " That he should pass no laws, nor transact anything of moment relating to the public affairs without the advice and approbation of the Council," took it upon himself finally to act independently of the Council, and even went so far as to dismiss the able and trusted representative of the proprietary inter- ests, James Logan, President of the Council and Secretary of the Province, from the duties of his high office, and even refused the roquest of Hannah l'enn, the real Governor of the province, to ro-instate him. This unwarranta- ble conduct cost him his dismissal from office in July, 1726. Why he should have assumed so headstrong and unwarrantablo a course, who had promised at the first so mild and considerate a policy, it is difficult to understand, unless it be the fact that he found that the Council was blocking, by its obstinacy, wholesome legislation, which he considered of vital importance to the pros- perity of the colony, and if, as he alleges, he found that the new constitution only gave the Council advisory and not a voice in executive power.

The administration of Gov. Keith was eminently successful, as he did not hesitate to grapple with important questions of judicature, finance, trado, commerce, and the many vexing relations with the native tribes, and right manfully, and judiciously did ho effect their solution. It was at a time when the colony was filling up rapidly, and the laws and regulations which had been found amplo for the management of a few hundred families struggling for a foothold in the forest, and when the only traffic was a few skins, wore entirely inadequate for securing protection and prosperity to a seething and jostling population intent on trade and commerce, and the conflicting interests which required wise legislation and prudent management. No colony on the Ameri- can coast made such progress in numbers and improvement as did Pennsylvania during the nine years in which William Keith exercised the Gubernatorial office. Though not himself a Quaker, he had secured the passage of an act of Assembly, and its royal affirmation for allowing the members of the Quaker sect to wear their hats in court, and give testimony under affirmation instead of oath, which in the beginning of the reign of Queen Anne had been with - held from them. After the expiration of his term of office, he was immodi- atoly elected a member of the Assembly, and was intent on being elected Speaker, "and had his support out-doors in a cavalcade of eighty mounted horsemen and the resounding of many guns fired;" yet David Lloyd was elected with only three dissenting voices. the out- door business having perhaps been overdone.

Upon the recommendation of Springett Penn, who was now the prospective heir to Pennsylvania, Patrick Gordon was appointed and confirmed Lieutenant Governor in place of Keith, and arrived in the colony and assumed authority in July, 1726. He had served in the army, and in his first address to the Assembly, which he met in August, he said that as he had been a soldier, ho knew nothing of the crooked ways of professed politicians, and must rely on a straightforward manner of transacting the duties devolving upon him. George I died in June, 1727. and the Assembly at, its meeting in October prepared and forwarded a congratulatory address to his successor, George II. By the decision of the Court of Chancery in 1727, Hannah Penn's anthority over the colony was at an end, the proprietary interests having descended to John, Richard aud Thomas Penn, the only surviving sons of William Penn, Sr. This period, from the death of Penn in 1718 to 1727, one of the most pros. perous in the history of the colony, was familiarly known as the "Reign of Hannah and the Boys."

Gov. Gordon found the Indian troubles claiming a considerable part of his

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attention. In 1728, worthless bands, who had strayed away from their proper tribes, incited by strong drink, had become implicated in disgraceful broils, in which several were killed and wounded. The guilty parties were apprehended, but it was found difficult to punish Indian offenders without incurring the wrath of their relatives. Treaties were frequently renewed, on which occa- sions the chiefs expected that the chain of friendship would be polished " with English blankets, broadcloths and metals." The Indians found that this " brightening the chain" was a profitable business, which some have been un- charitable enough to believe was the moving cause of many of the Indian diffi- culties.

As early as 1732, the French, who were claiming all the territory drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries, on the ground of priority of discovery of its mouth and exploration of its channel, commenced erecting trading posts in Pennsylvania, along the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers, and invited the Indians living on these streams to a council for concluding treaties with them at Mon- treal, Canada. To neutralize the influence of the French, these Indians were summoned to meet in council at Philadelphia, to renew treaties of friendship, and they were invited to remove farther east. But this they were un will- ing to do. A treaty was also concluded with the Six Nations, in which they pledged lasting friendship for the English.

Hannah Penn died in 1733, when the Assembly, supposing that the pro- prietary power was still in her hands, refused to recognize the power of Gov. Gor- don. But the three sons, to whom the proprietary possessions had descended, in 1727, upon the decision of the Chancery case, joined in issuing a new com. mission to Gordon. In approving this commission the King directed a clause to be inserted, expressly reserving to himself the government of the lower counties. This act of the King was the beginning of those series of encroach- ments which finally culminated in the independence of the States of America. The Judiciary act of 1727 was annulled, and this was followed by an attempt to pass an act requiring the laws of all the colonies to be submitted to the Crown for approval before they should become valid, and that a copy of all laws previously enacted should be submitted for approval or veto. The agent of the Assembly, Mr. Paris, with the agents of other colonies, made so vigor- ous a defense, that action was for the time stayed.

In 1732, Thomas Penn, the youngest son, and two years later, John Penn, the eldest, and the only American born, arrived in the Province, and were re- ceived with every mark of respect and satisfaction. Soon after the arrival of the latter, news was brought that Lord Baltimore had made application to have the Provinces transferred to his colony. A vigorous protest was made against this by Quakers in England, headed by Richard Penn; but lest this protest might prove ineffectual, John Penn very soon went to England to defend the proprietary rights at court, and never again returned, he having died a bach- elor in 1746. In August, 1736, Gov. Gordon died, deeply lamented, as an honest, upright and straightforward executive, a character which he expressed the hope he would be able to maintain when he assumed authority. His term had been one of prosperity, and the colony had grown rapidly in numbers, trade, commerce and manufactures, ship-building especially having assumed ex- "tensive proportions.

James Logan was President of the Council and in effect Governor, during the two years which elapsed between the death of Gordon and the arrival of his successor. The Legislature met regularly, but no laws were passed for lack of an executive. It was during this period that serious trouble broke out near the Maryland border, west of the Susquehanna. then Lancaster, now

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York County. A number of settlers, in order to ovade the payment of taxes, had secured titles to their lands from Maryland, and afterward sought to be reinstated in their rights under Pennsylvania authority, and plead protection from the latter. The Sheriff of the adjoining Maryland County, with 300 followers, advanced to drive these settlers from their homes. On hearing of this movement, Samuel Smith, Sheriff of Lancaster County, with a bastily sum- moned posse, advanced to protect the citizens in their rights. Without a con- fiet. an agreement was entered into by both parties to retire. Soon afterward, however, a band of fifty Marylanders again entered the State with the design of driving out the settlers and each securing for himself 200 acres of land. They were led by one Cressap. The settlers made resistance, and in an en- counter, one of them by the name of Knowles was killed. The Sheriff of Lancaster ugain advanced with a posse, and in a skirmish which onsned one of the invaders was killed, and the leader Cressap was wounded and taken prisoner. The Governor of Maryland sent a commission to Philadelphia to demand the release of the prisoner. Not succeeding in this, he seized four of the settlers and incarcerated them in the jail at Baltimore. Still determined to effect their purpose, a party of Marylanders, under the leadership of one Higginbotham, advanced into Pennsylvania and began a warfare upon the settlers. Again the Sheriff of Lancaster appeared upon the scene, and drove out the invaders. So stubbornly were these invasions pushed and resented that the season passed without planting or securing the usual crops. Finally a party of sixteen Marylanders, led by Richard Lowden, broke into the Lan- caster jail and liberated the Maryland prisoners. Learning of these disturb- ances, the King in Council issued an order restraining both parties from fur- ther acts of violence, and afterward adopted a plan of settlement of the vexed boundary question.

Though not legally Governor, Logan managed the affairs of the colony with great prudence and judgment, as he had done and continued to do for a period of nearly a half century. He was a scholar well versed in the ancient languages and the sciences, and published several learned works in the Latin tongue. His Experimenta Meletematu de plantarum generatione, written in Latin, was published at Leyden in 1739, and afterward, in 1747, republished in London, with an English version on the opposite page by Dr. J. Fothergill. Another work of his in Latin was also published at Leyden, entitled, Canonum pro inveniendis refractionum, tum simplicium tum in lentibus duplicum focis, demonstrationis geometricae. After retiring from public business, he lived at his country seat at Stenton, near Germantown, where he spent his time among his books and in correspondence with the literati of Europe. In his old age he made an English translation of Cicero's De Senectute, which was printed at Philadelphia in 1744 with a preface by Benjamin Franklin, then rising into notice. Logan was a Quaker, of Scotch descent, though born in Ireland, and came to America in the ship with William Penn, in his second visit in 1699, when about twenty-five years old. and died at seventy-seven. He had held the offices of Chief Commissioner of property, Agent for the purchase and sale of lands, Receiver General, Member of Council, President of Council and Chief Justice. He was the Confidential Agent of Penn, having charge of all his vast estates, making sales of lands, executing conveyances, and making collections. Amidst all the great cares of business so pressing as to make him exclaim, "I know not what any of the comforts of life are." he found time to devote to the delights of learning, and collected a large library of standard works, which he bequeathed, at his death, to the people of Pennsylvania, and is known as the Loganian Library.

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Author: Publication date: Publisher: W. Taylor Number of Pages: 1280

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher: W. Taylor
Number of Pages: 1280