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 7

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Publisher: W. Taylor
Number of Pages: 1280

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 7
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 7

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Markham was empowered to call a council of nine citizens to assist him in the government, and over whom he was to preside. He brought a letter ad- dressed to Lord Baltimore, touching the boundary between the two grants, and exhibiting the terms of the charter for Pennsylvania. On receipt of this let- ter, Lord Baltimore came to Upland to confer with Markham. An observation fixing the exact latitude of Upland showed that it was twelve miles south of the forty-first degree, to which Baltimore claimed, and that the beginning of the fortieth degree, which the royal charter explicitly fixed for the southern boundary of Pennsylvania, would include nearly the entire State of Maryland, and cut the limits of the present site of the city of Washington. "If this be allowed," was significantly asked by Baltimore, "where is my province?" He returned to his colony, and from this time forward an active contention was begun before the authorities in England for possession of the disputed territory, which required all the arts and diplomatic skill of Penn.

Markham was accompanied to the province by four Commissioners sent out by Penn-William Crispin, John Bezer, William Haige and Nathaniel Allen. The first named had been designated as Surveyor General, but he having died on the passage, Thomas Holme was appointed to succeed him. These Commissioners, in conjunction with the Governor, had two chief duties assigned them. The first was to meet and preserve friendly relations with the Indians and acquire lands by actual purchase, and the second was to select the site of a great city and make the necessary surveys. That they might have a

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suitable introduction to the natives from him. Penn addressed to them a dec- laration of his purposes, conceived in a spirit of brotherly love, and expressed in such simple terms that these children of the forest, unschooled in book lenrning, would have no difficulty in apprehending his meaning. The refer- ring the source of all'power to the Creator was fitted to produce a strong im- pression npon their naturally superstitions habits of thought. "There is a great God and power. that hath made the world, and all things therein, to whoin you and I, and all people owe their being, and well being; and to whom you and I must one day give an account for all that we do in the world. This great God bath written His law in our hearts, by which we are taught and com- manded to love, and help, and do good to one another. Now this great God hatlı been pleased to make me concerned in your part of the world, and the King of the country where I live hath given me a great province therein; but I de- sire to enjoy it with your love and cousent, that we may always live together, as neighbors and friends: else what would the great God do to us, who hath made us, not to devour and destroy one another, but to live soberly and kindly together in the world? Now I would have you well observe that I am very sensible of the unkindness and injustice that have been too much exercised toward you by the people of these parts of the world, who have sought them- selves, and to make great advantages by you, rather than to be examples of goodness and patience unto you, which I hear hath been a matter of trouble to you, and caused great grudging and animosities, sometimes to the shedding of blood, which hath made the great God angry. But I am not such a man, as is well known in my own country. I have great love and regard toward you, and desire to gain your love and friendship by a kind, just and peaceable life, and the people I send are of the same mind, and shall in all things be- have themselves accordingly; and if in anything any shall offend you or your people, you shall have a full and speedy satisfaction for the same by an equal number of just men on both sides that by no means you may have just occasion of being offended against them. I shall shortly come to you myself. at which time we may more largely and freely confer and discourse of these matters. In the meantime, I have sent my Commissioners to treat with you about land, and form a league of peace. Let me desire you to be kind to them and their people, and receive these presents and tokens which I have sent you as a testimony of my good will to you, and my resolution to live justly, peaceably and friendly with you."

In this plain but sublime statement is embraced the whole theory of Will iam Penn's treatment of the Indians. It was the doctrine which the Savior of mankind came upon earth to promulgate-the estimable worth of every human soul. And when Penn came to propose his laws, one was adopted which forbade private trade with the natives in which they might be overreached; but it was required that the valuable skins and furs they had to sell should be hung up in the market place where all could see them and enter into compe- tition for their purchase. Penn was offered £6,000 for a monopoly of trade. But he well knew the injustice to which this would subject the simple-minded natives, and he refused it saying: " As the Lord gave it me over all and great oppositiou, I would not abuse His love, nor act unworthy of His provi- dence, and so defile what came to me clean "-a sentiment worthy to be treas- ured with the best thoughts of the sages of old. And to his Commissioners he gave a letter of instructions, in which he says: "Be impartially just to all; that is both pleasing to the Lord, and wise in itself. Be tender of offending the Indians, and let them know that you come to sit down lovingly among them. Let my letter and conditions be read in their tongue, that they may see

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we have their good in our eye. Be grave, they love not to be smiled on." Acting upon these wise and just considerations, the Commissioners had no diffi- culty in making large purchases of the Indians of lands on the right bank of the Delaware and above the mouth of the Schuylkill.

But they found greater difficulty in settling the place for the new city. Penn had given very minute instructions about this, and it was not easy to find a tract which answered all the conditions. For seven weeks they kept up their search. Penn had written, " be sure to make your choice where it is most navigable, high, dry and healthy; that is, where most ships may best ride, of deepest draught of water, if possible to load and unload at the bank or key's side without boating and lightening of it. It would do well if the river coming into that creek be navigable, at least for boats up into the country, and that the situation be high, at least dry and sound and not swampy, which is best known by digging up two or three earths and seeing the bottom." By his instructions, the site of the city was to be between two navigable streams, and embrace 10,000 acres in one block. " Be sure to settle the figure of the town so that the streets hereafter may be uniform down to the water from the country bounds. Let every house be placed, if the person pleases, in the middle of its plat, as to the breadth way of it, that so there may be ground on each side for gardens or orchards or fields, that it may be a green country town, which will never be burnt and always wholesome." The soil was examined, the streams were sounded, deep pits were dug that a location might be found which should gratify the desires of Penn. All the eligible sites were inspected from the ocean far up into the country. Penn himself had anticipated that Chester or Upland would be adopted from all that he could learn of it; but this was rejected, as was also the ground upon Poquessing Creek and that at Pennsbury Manor above Bristol which had been carefully considered, and the present site of Philadelphia was finally adopted as coming nearest to the requirements of the proprietor. It had not 10,000 acres in a solid square, but it was between two navigable streams, and the soil was high and dry, being for the most part a vast bed of gravel, excellent for drainage and likely to prove healthful. The streets were laid out regularly and crossed each other at right angles. As the ground was only gently rolling, the grading was easily accomplished. One broad street, Market, extends from river to river through the midst of it, which is crossed at right angles at its middle point by Broad street of equal width. It is 120 miles from the ocean by the course of the river, and only sixty in a direct line, eighty-seven miles from New York, ninety-five from Baltimore, 136 from Washington, 100 from Harrisburg and 300 from Pittsburgh, and lies in north latitude 39º 56' 54", and longitude 75° 8' 45" west from Greenwich The name Philadelphia (brotherly love), was one that Penn had before selected, as this founding a city was a project which he had long dreamed of and contemplated with never-ceasing interest.

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

CHAPTER VI.

WILLIAMI MARKHAM, 1681-82-WILLIAM PENN, 1682-84.

H AVING now made necessary preparations and settled his affairs in En- gland, Penn embarked on board the ship Welcome, in August, 1682, in company with about a hundred planters, mostly from his native town of Sussex, and set his prow for the New World. Before lenving the Downs, he addressed a farewell letter to his friends whom he left behind, and another to his wifo and children, giving them much excellent advice, and sketching the way of life he wished them to lead. With remarkable care and minuteness, he points ont the way in which he would have his children bred, and educated, married, and live. A single passage from this remarkable doenment will indicate its general tenor. " Be sure to observe," in educating his children, " their genius, and do not cross it as to learning ; let them not dwell too long on one thing ; but let their change be agreeable, and let all their diversions have some little bodily labor in them. When grown big, have most care for them ; for then there are more snares both within and without. When marriageable, see that they have worthy persons in their eye ; of good life and good fame for piety and understanding. I need no wealth but sufficiency ; and be sure their love be dear, fervent and mutual, that it may be happy for them." And to his children he said, " Betake yourselves to some honest, industrious course of life, aud that not of sordid covetousness, but for example and to avoid idle- * ness. * * Love not money nor the world ; use them only, and they will serve you ; but if you love them you serve them, which will debase your spirits as well as offend the Lord. * * Watch against anger, neither speak nor act in it; for, like drunkenness, it makes a man & boast, and throws people into desperate inconveniences." The entire letters are so full of excellent counsel that they might with great profit be committed to memory, and treasured in the heart.

Tho voyage of nearly six weeks was prosperous ; but they had not been long on the ocean before that loathed disease-the virulent small-pox -- broke out, of which thirty died, nearly a third of the whole company. This, added to the usual discomforts and terrors of the ocean, to most of whom this was probably their first experience, made the voyage a dismal one. And here was seen the nobility of Penn. "For his good conversation " says one of them, " was very advantageous to all the company. His singular care was manifested in contributing to the necessities of many who were sick with the small-pox then on board."

His arrival upon the coast and passage up the river was hailed with dem- onstrations of joy by all classes, English, Dutch, Swedes, and especially by his own devoted followers. He landed at New Castle on the 24th of October, 1682, and on the following day summoned the people to the court house, where pos- session of tho country was formally made over .o him, and he renewed the commissions of the magistrates, to whom and to the assembled people he an- nounced the design of his coming, explained the nature and end of truly good government, assuring them that their religious and civil rights should be re- spected, and recommended them to live in sobriety and peace. He then pro-

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ceeded to Upland, hencefoward known as Chester, where, on the 4th of Novem- ber, he called an assembly of the people, in which an equal number of votes was allowed to the province and the territories. Nicholas Moore, President of the Free Society of Traders, was chosen speaker. As at New Castle, Penn addressed the assembly, giving them assurances of his beneficent intentions, for which they returned their grateful acknowledgments, the Swedes being especially demonstrative, deputing one of their number, Lacy Cock, to say " That they would love, serve and obey him with all they had, and that this was the best day they ever saw." We can well understand with what satisfac- tion the settlers upon the Delaware hailed the prospect of a stable government established in their own midst, after having been so long at the mercy of the government in New York, with allegience trembling between the courts of Sweden, Holland and Britain.

The proceedings of this first assembly were conducted with great decorum, and after the usages of the English Parliament. On the 7th of December, 1682, the three lower counties, what is now Delaware, which had previously been under the government of the Duke of York, were formerly annexed to the province, and became an integral part of Pennsylvania. The frame of govern- ment, which had been drawn with much deliberation, was submitted to the assembly, and, after some alterations and amendments, was adopted, and be- came the fundamental law of the State. The assembly was in session only three days, but the work they accomplished, how vast and far-reaching in its influence!

The Dutch, Swedes and other foreigners were then naturalized, and the government was launched in fair running order: That some idea may be had of its character, the subjects treated are here given: 1, Liberty of conscience; 2, Qualification of officers; 3, Swearing by God, Christ or Jesus; 4, Swearing by any other thing or name: 5, Profanity; 6, Cursing; 7, Fornication; 8, In- cest; 9, Sodomy; 10, Rape; 11, Bigamy; 12, Drunkenness; 13, Suffering drunkenness; 14, Healths drinking; 15, Selling liquor to Indians; 16, Arson; 17, Burglary; 18, Stolen goods; 19, Forcible entry; 20, Riots; 21, Assaulting parents; 22, Assaulting Magistrates; 23, Assaulting masters; 24, Assault and battery; 25, Duels; 26, Riotous sports, as plays; 27, Gambling and lotteries; 28, Sedition; 29, Contempt; 30, Libel; 31, Common scolds; 32, Charities; 33, Prices of beer and ale; 34, Weights and measures; 35, Names of days and months; 36, Perjury; 37, Court proceedings in English; 38, Civil and crim- inal trials; 39, Fees, salaries, bribery and extortion; 40, Moderation of fines; 41, Suits avoidable; 42, Foreign arrest; 43, Contracts: 44, Charters, gifts, grants, conveyances, bills, bonds and deeds. when recorded; 45, Wills; 46, Wills of non compos mentis; 47, Registry of Wills; 48, Registry for servants; 49, Factors; 50, Defacers, corruptors and embezzlers of charters, conveyances and records; 51, Lands and goods to pay debts; 52, Bailable offenses; 53, Jails and jailers; 54, Prisons to be workhouses; 55, False imprisonment; 56, Magistrates may elect between fine or imprisonment; 57, Freemen; 58, Elec- tions; 59, No money levied but in pursuance of law; 60, Laws shall be printed and taught in schools; 61, All other things, not provided for nerein, are re- ferred to the Governor and freemen from time to time.

Very soon after his arrival in the colony, after the precept had been issued, but before the convening of the Assembly, Penn, that he might not be wanting in respect to the Duke of York, made a visit to New York. where he was kind- ly received, and also after the adjournment of the Assembly, journeyed to Mary- land, where he was entertained by Lord Baltimore with great ceremony. The settlement of the disputed boundaries was made the subject of formal confer-

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ence. But after two days spent in fruitless discussion, the weather becoming severely cold, and thus precluding the possibility of taking observations or making the necessary surveys, it was agreed to adjourn further consideration of the subject until the milder weather of the spring. We may imagine that the two Governors were taking the measure of each other, and of gaining all possible knowledge of each other's claims and rights, preparatory to that struggle for possession of this disputed fortieth degree of latitude, which was destined to come before the home government.

With all his cares in founding a State and providing a government over u new people, Penn did not forget to preach the "blessed Gospel," and wherever he went he was intent upon hia " Master's business." On his return from Maryland, Lord Baltimore accompanied him several miles to the house of William Richardson, and thence to Thomas Hooker's, where was a religious meeting, as was also one held at Choptauk. Penn himself says: "I have been also at New York, Long Island, East Jersey and Maryland, in which I have had good and eminent service for the Lord." And again he says: "As to outward things, we are satisfied-the land good, the air clear and sweet, the springs plentiful, and provisions good and easy to come at, an innumerable quantity of wild fowl and fish; in fine, here is what an Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would be well contented with, and service enough for God; for the fields are here white for the harvest. O, how sweet is the quiet of these parts. freed from the anxious and troublesome solicitations, hurries and perplexities of woeful Europe! * Blessed be the Lord. that of twenty-three ships, * none iniscarried; only two or three had the small-pox; else healthy and swift passages, generally such as have not been known; some but twenty-eight days, and few longer than six weeks. Blessed be God for it; my soul fervently breathes that in His heavenly guiding wisdom, we may be kept, that we may serve Him in our day, and lay down our heads in peace." And then, as if re- proached for not having mentioned another subject of thankfulness, he adds in a postscript, "Many women, in divers of the ships, brought to bed; they and their children do well."

Penn made it his first care to take formal possession of his province, and adopt a frame of government. When this was done, his chief concern was to look to the establishment of his proposed new city, the site of which had already been determined on by his Commissioners. Accordingly, early in November, at a season when, in this section, the days are golden, Penn em- barked in an open barge with a number of his friends, and was wafted leisurely up the Delaware to the present site of the city of Philadel- phia, which the natives called Coaquannock. Along the river was a bold shore, fringed with lofty pines, which grew close down to the water's edge, so much so that when the first ship passing up with settlers for West Jersey had brushed against the branches, the passengers remarked that this would be a good place for a city. It was then in a wild state, the deer browsing along the shore and sipping the stream, and the coneys burrowing in the banks. The scattered settlers had gathered in to see and welcome the new Governor, and when he stepped upon the shore, they extended a belping hand in assisting him up the rugged bluff. Three Swedes had already taken up tracts within the limits of the block of land chosen for the city. But they were given lands in exchange, and readily relinquished their claims. The location was pleasing to Penn, and was adopted withont further search. though little could be seen of this then forest-encumbered country, where now is the home of countless industries, the busy mart. the river bearing upon its bosom the commerce of many climes. and the abiding place of nearly a million of people. But Penn did not con-

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sider that he had as yet any just title to the soil, holding that the Indians were its only rightful possessors, and until it was fairly acquired by purchase from them, his own title was entirely void.

Hence, he sought an early opportunity to meet the chiefs of the tribes and cultivate friendly relations with them. Tradition fixes the first great treaty or conference at about this time, probably in November, and the place under the elm tree, known as the " Treaty Tree," at Kensington. It was at a sea- son when the leaves would still be upon the trees, and the assembly was called beneath the ample shade of the wide-sweeping branches, which was pleasing to the Indians, as it was their custom to hold all their great deliberations and smoke the pipe of peace in the open air. The letter which Penn had sent had prepared the minds of these simple-hearted inhabitants of the forest to regard him with awe and reverence, little less than that inspired by a descended god. His coming had for a long time been awaited, and it is probable that it had been heralded and talked over by the wigwam fire throughout the remotest bounds of the tribes. And when at length the day came, the whole popula- tion far around had assembled.

It is known that three tribes at least were represented-the Lenni Lenape, living along the Delaware; the Shawnees, a tribe that had come up from the South, and were seated along the Lower Susquehanna; and the Mingoes, sprung from the Six Nations, and inhabiting along the Conestoga. Penn was probably accompanied by the several officers of his Government and his most trusted friends. There were no implements of warfare, for peace was a cardi- nal feature of the Quaker creed

No veritable account of this, the great treaty, is known to have been made; but from the fact that Penn not long after, in an elaborate treatise upon the country, the inhabitants and the natives, has given the account of the manner in which the Indians demean themselves in conference, we may infer that he had this one in mind, and hence we may adopt it as his own description of the scene.

" Their order is thus: The King sits in the middle of a half moon, and hath his council, the old and wise, on each hand; behind them, or at a little distance, sit the younger fry in the same figure. Having consulted and re- solved their business, the King ordered one of them to speak to me. He stood up, came to me, and, in the name of the King, saluted me; then took me by the hand and told me he was ordered by the King to speak to me; and now it was not he, but the King that spoke, because what he would say was the

King's mind. * * During the time that this person spoke, not a man of them was observed to whisper or smile; the old grave, the young reverant, in their deportment. They speak little, but fervently, and with ele- gance."

In response to the salutation from the Indians, Penn makes a reply in suitable terms: "The Great Spirit, who made me and you, who rules the heavens and the earth, and who knows the innermost thoughts of men, knows that I and my friends have a hearty desire to live in peace and friendship with you, and to serve you to the uttermost of our power. It is not our custom to use hostile weapons against our fellow-creatures, for which reason we have come unarmed. Our object is not to do injury, and thus provoke the Great Spirit, but to do good. We are met on the broad pathway of good faith and good will, so that no advantage is to be taken on either side; but all to be open- ness, brotherhood and love." Having unrolled his parchment, he explains to them through an interpreter, article by article, the nature of the business, and laying it upon the ground, observes that the ground shall be for the use of

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both people. "I will not do as the Marylanders did, call you children, or brothers only; for parents are apt to whip their children too severely, and brothers sometimes will differ; neither will I compare the friendship between us to a chain, for the rain may rust it, or a tree may fall and break it; but I will consider you as the same flesh and blood with the Christians, and the same as if one man's body were to be divided into two parts." Having ended his business, the speaker for the King comes forward and makes great promises "of kindness and good neighborhood, and that the Indians and English must live in love as long as the sun gave light." This ended, another Indian makes a speech to his own people, first to explain to them what had been agreed on, and then to exhort them "to love the Christians, and particularly live in peace with me and the people under my government, that many Governors had been in the river, but that no Governor had come himself to live and stay here bo- fore, and having now such an one, that had treated them well, they should never do him nor his any wrong." At every sentence they shoutod, as much as to say, amen.

The Indians had no system of writing by which they could record their dealings, but their memory of events and agreements was almost miraculous. Heckewelder records that in after years, they were accustomed, by means of strings, or belts of wampum, to preserve the recollection of their pleasant in- terviews with Penn, after he had departed for England. He says, " They fre- quently assembled together in the woods, in some shady spot, as nearly as pos- sible similar to those where they used to meet their brother Miquon (Penn), and there lay all his words and speeches, with those of his descendants, on a blanket, or clean piece of bark, and with great satisfaction go successively over the whole. This practice, which I have repeatedly witnessed, continued until the year 1780, when disturbances which took place put an end to it, probably forever."

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

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