USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > History of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania > Part 2
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HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY
"But in liberality they excel; nothing is too good for their friend; give them a fine gun, coat, or other thing, it may pass twenty hands before it sticks: light of heart, strong affections, but soon spent. The most merry creatures that live, feast and dance perpet- ually; they never have much, nor want much; wealth circulateth like the blood : all parts partake; and though none shall want what another hath yet exact observers of property. Some kings have sold, others presented me with several parcels of land; the pay or presents I made them were not hoarded by the particular owners; but the neighboring kings and their clans being present when the goods were brought out, the parties chiefly concerned consulted what and to whom, they should give them. To every king then, by the hands of a person for that work appointed, is a proportion sent, so sorted and folded, and with that gravity that is admirable. Then that king subdivideth it in like manner among his dependants, they hardly leaving themselves an equal share with one of their subjects, and be it on such occasions as festivals, or at their common meals, the kings distribute, and to themselves last. They care for little, because they want but little; and the reason is, a little contents them. In this they are sufficiently revenged on us; if they are ignorant of our pleasures, they are also free from our pains. They are not disquieted with bills of lading and exchange, nor perplexed with chancery suits and exchequer reckonings. We sweat and toil to live; their pleasure feeds them; I mean their hunting, fishing, and fowling, and this table is spread everywhere. They eat twice a day, morning and evening; their seats and table are the ground. Since the Europeans came into these parts they have grown great lovers of strong liquors, rum especially; and for it exchange the richest of their skins and furs. If they are heated with liquors, they are restless till they have enough to sleep; that is their cry, Some more and I will go to sleep; but, when drunk, one of the most wretched spectacles in the world !
"In sickness, impatient to be cured, and for it give anything, especially for their children, to whom they are extremely natural. They drink at those times a teran, or decoction of some roots in spring water; and if they eat any flesh, it must be of the female of any creature. If they die, they bury them with their apparel, be they man or woman, and the nearest of kin fling in something pre- cious with them, as a token of their love. Their mourning is black- ing of their faces, which they continue for a year. They are choice of the graves of their dead; for, lest they should be lost by time, and fall to common use, they pick off the grass that grows upon them, and heap up the fallen earth with great care and exactness.
"These poor people are under a dark night in things relating to religion; to be sure the tradition of it: yet they believe a God and immortality, without the help of metaphysics: for, they say, There
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is a Great King that made them who dwells in a glorious country to the southward of them; and that the souls of the good shall go thither, where they shall live again. Their worship consists of two parts, sacrifice and cantico. Their sacrifice is their first fruits; the first and fattest buck they kill goeth to the fire, where he is all burnt, with a mournful ditty of him that performeth the ceremony; but with such marvellous fervency and labor of body, that he will even sweat to a foam. The other parts of their cantico, performed by round dances, sometimes words, sometimes songs, then shouts; two being in the middle that begin; and, by singing and drumming on a board, direct the chorus. Their postures in the dance are very antick and differing, but all keep measurc. This is done with equal earnestness and labor, but great appearance of joy. In the fall, when the corn cometh in, they begin to feast one another. There have been two great festivals already to which all come that will. I was at one myself : their entertainment was a great seat by a spring, under some shady trees, and twenty bucks, with hot cakes of new corn, both wheat and beans, which they make up in a square form, in the leaves of the stem, and bake them in the ashes; and after that they fall to dance. But they that go must carry a small present in their money; it may be sixpence; which is made of the bone of a fish : the black is with them as gold; the white, silver; they call it all wampum.
'Their government is by Kings, which they call Sachama, and those by succession, but always of the mother's side. For instance, the children of him who is now king will not succeed, but his brother by the mother, or the children of his sister, whose sons (and after them the children of her daughters) will reign; for no woman in- herits. The reason they render for this way of descent, is, that their issue may not be spurious.
"Every King hath his Council; and that consists of all the old and wise men of his nation; which, perhaps is two hundred people. Nothing of moment is undertaken, be it war, peace, selling of land, or traffick, without advising with them: and, which is more, with the young men too. It is admirable to consider how powerful the Kings are, and yet how they move by the breath of their people. I have had occasion to be in council with them, upon treaties for land, and to adjust the terms of trade. The order is thus: The King sits in the middle of an 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 resolved their business, the King ordered one of them to speak to me; he stood up, came to me, and in the name of his King saluted me ; then took me by the hand, and told me, 'He was ordered by his King to speak to me; and that now it was not he, but the King, that spoke; because what he should say was the King's mind.' He first prayed me 'to excuse them, that they had not complied with me the
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HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY
last time, he feared there might be some fault in the Interpreter, being neither Indian nor English; besides, it was the Indian custom to deliberate, and take up much time in council before they resolve; and that if the young people and owners of the land had been as ready as he, I had not met with so much delay.' Having thus in- troduced his matter, he fell to the bounds of the land they had agreed to dispose of, and the price; which now is little and dear; that which would have bought twenty miles, not buying now two. During the time that this person spoke, not a man of them was ob- served to whisper or smile; the old, grave; the young, reverent, in their deportment. They speak little, but fervently, and with ele- gance. I have never seen more natural sagacity, considering them without the help (I was going to say the spoil) of tradition; and he will deserve the name of wise that outwits them in any treaty, about a thing they understand. When the purchase was agreed, great promises passed between us, 'of kindness and good neighborhood, and that the Indians and English must live in love as long as the sun gave light;' which done, another made a speech to the Indians, in the name of all the Sachamakers, or Kings; first to tell them what was done; next, to charge and command them 'to love the Chris- tians, 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 before; and having now such an one, that had treated them well, they should never do him or his any wrong,'-at every sentence of which they shouted and said Amen, in their way.
"The justice they have is pecuniary: In case of any wrong or evil act, be it murder itself, they atone by feasts, and presents of their wampum; which is proportioned to the quality of the offence, or person injured, or of the sex they are of. For, in case they kill a woman, they pay double; and the reason they render, is, 'that she breedeth children; which men cannot do.' It is rare that they fall out, if sober; and, if drunk, they forgive it, saying, 'It was the drink, and not the man, that abused them.'
"We have agreed that, in all differences between us, six of each side shall end the matter. Do not abuse them, but let them have justice, and you win them. The worst is, that they are the worse for the Christians; who have propagated their vices, and yielded them tradition for ill, and not for good things. But as low an ebb as these people are at, and as inglorious as their own condition looks, the Christians have not outlived their sight, with all their pre- tensions to an higher manifestation. What good, then, might not a good people graft where there is so distinct a knowledge left be- tween good and evil? I beseech God to incline the hearts of all that come into these parts to outlive the knowledge of the natives, by a fixed obedience to their greater knowledge of the will of God; for it were miserable, indeed, for us to fall under the just censure
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HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY
of the poor Indian conscience, while we make profession of things so far transcending.
"For their original, I am ready to believe them of the Jewish race; I mean of the stock of the ten tribes; and that, for the follow- ing reasons: First, they were to go to a 'land not planted, nor known,' which, to be sure, Asia and Africa were, if not Europe; and he that intended that extraordinary judgment upon them, might make the passage not uneasy to them, as it is not impossible in itself, from the eastermost parts of Asia to the westermost of America. In the next place; I find them of the like countenance, and their children of so lively resemblance, that a man would think himself in Duke's Place, or Berry Street, in London, when he seeth them. But this is not all; they agree in rites; they reckon by moons; they offer their first fruits; they have a kind of feast of tab- ernacles; they are said to lay their altar upon twelve stones; their mourning a year; customs of women, with many other things that do not now occur."
The Indians depended much less for their subsistence upon agriculture than upon either fishing or hunting. They confined themselves chiefly to the raising of beans, corn, and tobacco. The corn and beans were cultivated by women and children, the tobacco alone was thought worthy of the labor and attention of the men. The women of an ordinary family would commonly raise in a single season two or three heaps of corn, each containing twelve, fifteen, or twenty bushels. The corn was spread day after day in the sun, carefully shielded from the rain or dew, and when in this way sufficiently prepared was buried in the earth, and thus preserved for the winter's subsitence.
Hunting and fishing were perchance the chief dependence for food. The forests were filled with animals, some of them beasts of prey, others suitable for food, others valuable on account of their furs. Flocks of wild turkeys roamed through the woods, partridges and pheasants abounded, both in the woods and open country, and at certain times of the year the pigeons collected in such numbers that their flight seemed to obscure the light of the sun. The ponds, creeks, and rivers swarmed with water-fowl. The river Susquehanna was alive with fish, and every spring great numbers of shad, rock- fish, salmon, and perch ascended the stream, furnishing a seasonable supply to the natives when their provisions were exhausted by a long and severe winter.
The clothing of the natives was composed of skins cured so as to be soft and pliable, and sometimes ornamented with paint and beads manufactured from shells. It may be stated in this connection that very little is known of the process used by the Indians to pre-
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HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY
pare bear- and deer-skins for shoes and clothing. Loskiel says, "Their shoes are of deer-skin, without heels, some being very neatly made by the women. Their skins are tanned with the brains of deer, which make them very soft; some leave the fur upon the skin, and such fur shoes are remarkably light and easy." The buffalo robes sold by our furriers as tanned by the Indians are softer than those that are tanned by civilized people. Occasionally the women decked themselves in mantles made of feathers overlapping each other, as on the back of the fowl, and presenting an appearance of fantastic gayety which no doubt prodigiously delighted the wear- ers. Their dress consisted usually of two articles, a leather shirt, or under-garment, ornamented with fringe, and a skirt of the same material fastened around the waist with a belt and reaching nearly to the feet. Their hair they dressed in a thick, heavy plait, which fell down upon the neck; and they sometimes ornamented their heads with bands of wampum or with a small cap.
The men went bareheaded, with their hair fantastically trim- med each according to his own fancy. One warrior would have it shaved on one side of the head and long on the other. Another might be seen with his scalp completely bare, except a strip two or three inches in width running from the forehead over to the nape of the neck.
STREAMS OF DAUPHIN COUNTY.
The streams of Dauphin county are very numerous and beautiful. The recipient of all these water courses is the Susquehanna river, which in Indian dialect signifies "Long, Crooked River." It takes its source in both Pennsylvania and New York states. The north- eastern or great branch has its rise in the northern ridge of the Cats- bergs, from the Ostego lake. The west branch rises in Cambria county, Pennsylvania, and the two unite at Northumberland, form- ing a stream 1,825 feet in width, which at Harrisburg is 2,876 feet wide. From this city it flows in a southern direction to the Chesa- peake bay. It forms the entire western boundary of Dauphin county, a distance of forty-eight miles. In its course along this county it embraces numerous islands, the chief of which are: Dun- can's, Halderman's, Cox's, Foster's, Hill's, Eliott's and Shelly's.
The scenery along the Susquehanna river-majestic in its sweeping course to the sea-is grave and unsurpassed for beauty in the entire State, and unequalled by few, if any, in the Union.
The following tributaries flow into this stream from different parts of Dauphin county :
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HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY
The Mahantango, which rises in Schuylkill county, flows south- west twenty-five miles and empties into the Susquehanna about thirty miles above Harrisburg. This stream affords considerable water power.
The Wiconisco creek also has its source in Schuylkill county, flows west through William and Wiconisco valleys, sixteen miles, and empties in at Millersburg. Its branches are Bear creek, Rattling creek, Little creek, and Little Wiconisco. In 1848 this stream had a dozen mills along its banks.
Armstrong creek rises in Short mountain, flows southwest ten or a dozen miles through "Armstrong valley," and forms junc- ton about one mile above Halifax. It originally furnished water- power for a half-dozen mills. Near its confluence with the Susque- hanna stood old Fort Halifax, erected in 1756 by Colonel Clap- ham.
Powell creek rises between Short and Peter's mountains, flows along the base of the last named eminence, and forms a junction with the Susquehanna opposite Duncan's island. It is twenty-seven miles long, and a good milling stream.
Clark's creek has its source between Peter's and Fourth moun- tain, and is about twenty-eight miles in length.
Stony creek rises south of Fourth mountain, and flows south- west two or three miles, receiving in its course the waters of Cold Spring, Yellow Springs, Green Springs, and other smaller streams, and finally falls into the Susquehanna river at Dauphin village, eight miles above the city of Harrisburg.
Fishing creek rises near Smith's gap in the Blue mountain, flows southwest between that mountain and Second mountain, ten miles to the Susquehanna.
Paxtang creek rises in Lower Paxton township at the base of the Blue mountain, flows four miles north of Linglestown, whence it receives several lesser streams, and flows west into the Susque- hanna, within the lower part of the city of Harrisburg.
Spring creek rises in Lower Paxton township, flows south into Susquehanna township, thence southwest through Swatara township, and empties into the Susquehanna river less than one mile below the mouth of Paxtang creek.
Swatara creek takes its source in Schuylkill county, on the side of Broad mountain. Its branches are the Little Swatara, Quito- pahilla creek, and a few smaller ones before it enters Dauphin county, and along its course of twenty miles in Dauphin county has for its tributaries-Bow run, Manada, Yellow run, Beaver creek, etc. It forms a junction with the Susquehanna at Middletown. The
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HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY
valley of this stream as far as Quitopahilla formed the channel of the old Union canal.
Bow run rises in West Hanover township, two miles west of Hanover church, flows south six miles, and falls into Swatara creek.
Manada creek rises north of the Blue mountain; its east branch rises in Lebanon county ; its west branch near the Second mountain, a few miles north of Smith's gap. The two unite and pass through Manada gap and run south through West Hanover township. It is about thirteen miles long, and has good mill sites along its course.
Yellow run is a small stream, rising in the south part of West Hanover township and flows into the Swatara creek.
Beaver creek rises on the south side of the Blue mountain, about one mile west of Smith's gap; flows south, and in a ten mile course receives the waters of a dozen smaller streams, and empties into Swatara creek.
Conewago creek rises in Londonderry township, Lebanon county, flows southwest along the base of the Conewago hills, to the Susquehanna river at Falmouth, Lancaster county and is twenty- two miles long.
Along these various streams, in 1846 there were forty-one grist mills and about eighty saw mills, clover mills, forges and furnaces.
GEOGRAPHICAL INDIAN NAMES.
In the purchase of lands from the Iroquois in 1736, it is said that it was to extend westward as far as the mountains called in the Delaware language Kekkachtarin, and in the Six Nation language, Tyannuntasachta, both of which words it is stated mean The Endless Hills. In the deed of 1749 the mountains are again referred to, and the names spelled Keckachtany and Tyanuntasachta. In the deed of 1754 the Iroquois term is omitted, and the Delaware word is spelled Kittochtinny. While scholars seem to regard this as the proper orthography, the word has been corrupted into Kittatinny. The name shows the Delaware, or Leni Lenape idea of our geogra- phy, when they termed them the Endless Hills. In the deed of 1754 they are already termed the Blue Mountains, a common name to this day. In the early days the settlers in the Cumberland Valley called that portion adjoining them the North Mountain; and the one on the other side of the valley South Mountain. So we have Kit- tochtinny, Blue, and North, all meaning the same chain. The Indian name alone should be used; any mountain may be blue at a distance, and any one is north of some place. So we write it Kit- tochtinny.
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HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY
Mahantango is corrupted from Mohantanga, signifying where we had plenty of meat to eat.
Wiconisco is corrupted from Wikenknisken, signifying a wet and muddy camp. Probably some Indians encamped along the creek where the bank was wet and muddy.
Swatara is written in old deeds Esutara and Suataro; in Sus- quehanna, Swahadowry, corrupted from Schaha-dawa, i. e., where we fed on eels.
Conewago or Conewaugha, in Iroquois, means at the place of the rapids. From this fact there are several streams emptying into the Susquehanna so named.
Manada, or Monody's, is corrupted from Menatey, signifying an island.
Stony creek. In Delaware it is Sinne-hanne, or Achsin-hanne, i. e., stony stream.
Fishing creek in Delaware is Namees-hanne, i. e., fish stream. There are six or seven streams of this name in Pennsylvania.
Dr. William H. Egle said Paxtang is a Delaware word, and is Peckstank, or Peshtank, signifying where the waters stand,-the place of dead water, whether in a stream, or pool, or lake. We use the term Paxtang, and not Paxton, which is an English surname, and should never be employed. It is not correct.
Beaver creek in Delaware is Sangamochke, i. e., little beaver stream.
Raccoon creek in Delaware is Nachenum-hanne, i. e., raccoon stream.
CHAPTER II.
EARLY SETTLEMENT-CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH OF VIRGINIA CORNER UP AS FAR AS GREAT FALLS-THE FRENCH PEOPLE FIRST TO LOCATE AT MOUTH OF PAXTANG CREEK-THE APPEAR- ANCE OF JOHN HARRIS-THE QUAKERS AND FRENCH PA- PISTS-JOHN HARRIS THE TRADER-TROUBLE WITH INDIAN BANDS-THE SCOTCH-IRISH-WILLIAM PENN'S VISITS- PERSECUTION OF THE SCOTCH-IRISH-ORIGINAL LETTER OF HARRIS-PENN'S "ARTICLES OF CONCESSION"-PRODUCE VALUES IN 1740-INVASION OF THE FRENCH AND INDIANS- A REGIMENT OF "FIGHTING PEOPLE"-MURDER OF JOHN ARMSTRONG BY THE INDIANS.
At what eventful era the footsteps of the white man trod the green sward of this localty, there is no certainty, but from the descrip- tion of Captain John Smith, of the Virginia company, who ascended the Susquehanna as far as the Great Falls (Conewago), there can be no doubt some of his hardy adventurers explored the country as far as the first range of the Kittochtinny hills. At that period (1608) the brave Susquehannas reigned here-they yielding later to the conquering Iroquois. Finally, in 1695-98, the Shawanese from the Carolinas, driven from thence by the Catawbas, located at the mouths of the different tributaries of the great river, high up the Forks.
Although, after the founding of Philadelphia, William Penn planned the laying out of a city on the Susquehanna, it is not cer- tain that the founder in his frequent visits to our majestic river ever came farther north than the Swatara.
The first persons to spy out this goodly heritage were French traders, one of whom located at the mouth of Paxtang creek, towards the close of the seventeenth century. Of this person, Peter Bezalion, little is known, but until the period when the intrigues of the French, and especially the encroachments of Lord Baltimore began to be feared, he acted as principal interpreter at Indian conferences. Sub- sequently he went to the Ohio, and also the remaining French trad- ers, and after 1725-26, he is lost sight of. At this period there were Indian villages at Conestoga, at Conoy, at the mouths of the Swatara, Paxtang and Yellow Breeches.
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HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY
As early as 1682-3 the counties of Philadelphia, Bucks and Chester were organized in the Province of Pennsylvania. In 1729 Lancaster was formed.
From the best obtainable evidence, the first white man to enter the domain now known as Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, was an Englishman-a trader named John Harris, whose son, John, Jr., became the founder of Harrisburg.
On account of religious convictions and interest, it became almost necessary in the minds of the Quakers to issue license only to English traders and settlers, and they of the Protestant belief, or in sympathy, as against the French Papists, so as to prevent communi- cation with the French on the Ohio river. Among the first was John Harris, Sr., who probably entered this domain with the view of trading with the Indians. This was doubtless at the suggestion of his most intimate friend Edward Shippen, of Philadelphia, who was then Secretary of the Province.
It has been remarked of Mr. Harris that he "was as honest a man as ever brake bread." This high estimate was placed upon him by Parson Elder, with whom the reader will become better acquainted in the reading of this work.
John Harris was born in Yorkshire, England, of Welsh descent, about the year 1673. He was reared to the trade of a brewer, that followed by his father. Upon reaching manhood's estate he left home and followed his trade in London, for a time, where, a few years later, he joined a company from his native dis- trict, who emigrated to America, locating in Pennsylvania, two or three years prior to William Penn's second visit to the Province. Watson, the historian, states that the entire estate of John Har- ris "amounted to only sixteen guineas."
At Philadelphia he is first known as a contractor for clearing and grading the streets. In 1698 his name is appended to a remon- strance to the Provincial Assembly against the passage of an act disallowing the franchise to all persons owning real estate less in value than fifty pounds. The memorial had its effect, and the law was repealed. By letters of introduction to Edward Shippen, the first mayor of Philadelphia, that great man became his fast friend, and no doubt through his influence were secured the favors which finally induced him to become a pioneer in this locality-Dauphin county.
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