History of Erie county, Pennsylvania. Containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, villages schools, churches, industries, etc, Part 13

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902; Whitman, Benjamin, 1940-; Russell, N. W. (Nathaniel Willard); Brown, R. C. (Robert C.); Weakley, F. E; Warner, Beers & Co. (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : Warner, Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1280

USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > History of Erie county, Pennsylvania. Containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, villages schools, churches, industries, etc > Part 13

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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, he 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 authority over the colony was at an end, the proprietary interests having descended to John, Richard and 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 unwill- 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 evade 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 hastily sum- moned posse, advanced to protect the citizens in their rights. Without a con- flict, 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 again advanced with a posse, and in a skirmish which ensued 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 Meletemata 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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George Thomas, a planter from the West Indies, was appointed Governor in 1737, but did not arrive in the colony till the following year. His first care was to settle the disorders in the Cumberland Valley, and it was finally agreed that settlers from either colony should owe allegiance to the Governor of that colony wherever settled, until the division line which had been provided for was surveyed and marked. War was declared on the 23d of October, 1739, between Great Britain and Spain. Seeing that his colony was liable to be encroached upon by the enemies of his government, he endeavored to organ- ize the militia, but the majority of the Assembly was of the peace element, and it could not be induced to vote money. Finally he was ordered by the home government to call for volunteers, and eight companies were quickly formed, and sent down for the coast defense. Many of these proved to be servants for whom pay was demanded and finally obtained. In 1740, the great evangelist, Whitefield, visited the colony, and created a deep religious interest among all denominations. In his first intercourse with the Assembly, Gov. Thomas en- deavored to coerce it to his views. But a more stubborn set of men never met in a deliberative body than were gathered in this Assembly at this time. Finding that he could not compel action to his mind, he yielded and con- sulted their views and decisions. The Assembly, not to be outdone in mag. nanimity, voted him £1,500 arrearages of salary, which had been withheld be- cause he would not approve their legislation, asserting that public acts should take precedence of appropriations for their own pay. In March, 1744, war was declared between Great Britain and France. Volunteers were called for, and 10,000 men were rapidly enlisted and armed at their own expense. Franklin, recognizing the defenseless condition of the colony, issued a pamph- let entitled Plain Truth, in which he cogently urged the necessity of organ- ized preparation for defense. Franklin was elected Colonel of one of the regiments, but resigned in favor of Alderman Lawrence. On the 5th of May, 1747, the Governor communicated intelligence of the death of John Penn, the eldest of the proprietors, to the Assembly, and his own intention to retire from the duties of his office on account of declining health.

Anthony Palmer was President of the Council at the time of the with- drawal of Gordon, and became the Acting Governor. The peace party in the As- sembly held that it was the duty of the crown of England to protect the colony, and that for the colony to call out volunteers and become responsible for their payment was burdening the people with an expense which did not belong to them, and which the crown was willing to assume. The French were now deeply intent on securing firm possession of the Mississippi Valley and the en- tire basin, even to the summits of the Alleghanies in Pennsylvania, and were busy establishing trading posts along the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers. They employed the most artful means to win the simple natives to their interests, giving showy presents and laboring to convince them of their great value. Pennsylvania had won a reputation among the Indians of making presente of substantial worth. Not knowing the difference between steel and iron, the French distributed immense numbers of worthless iron hatchets, which the natives supposed were the equal of the best English steel axes. The Indians, however, soon came to distinguish between the good and the valueless. Un- derstanding the Pennsylvania methods of securing peace and friendship, the the natives became very artful in drawing out " well piled up" presents. The government at this time was alive to the dangers which threatened from the insinuating methods of the French. A trusty messenger, Conrad Weiser, was sent among the Indians in the western part of the province to observe the plane of the French, ascertain the temper of the natives, and especially to

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

magnify the power of the English, and the disposition of Pennsylvania to give great presents. This latter policy had the desired effect, and worthless and wandering bands, which had no right to speak for the tribe, came teeming in, desirous of scouring the chain of friendship, intimating that the French were making great offers, in order to induce the government to large liberality, until this " brightening the chain," became an intolerable nuisance. At a sin- gle council held at Albany, in 1747, Pennsylvania distributed goods to the value of £1,000, and of such a character as should be most serviceable to the recipients, not worthless gew-gaws, but such as would contribute to their last- ing comfort and well being, a protection to the person against the bitter frosts of winter, and sustenance that should minister to the steady wants of the body and alleviation of pain in time of sickness. The treaty of Aix-la-Cha- pelle, which was concluded on the 1st of October, 1748, secured peace between Great Britain und France, and should have put an end to all hostile encoun- ters between their representatives on the American continent. Palmer re- mained at the head of the government for a little more than two years. He was a retired merchant from the West Indies, a man of wealth, and had come into the colony in 1708. He lived in a style suited to a gentleman, kept a coach and a pleasure barge.

On the 23d of November, 1748, James Hamilton arrived in the colony from England, bearing the commission of Lieutenant Governor. He was born in America, son of Andrew Hamilton, who had for many years been Speaker of the Assembly. The Indians west of the Susquehanna had complained that set- tlers had come upon their best lands, and were acquiring titles to them, where- as the proprietors had never purchased these lands of them, and had no claim to them. The first care of Hamilton was to settle these disputes, and allay the rising excitement of the natives. Richard Peters, Secretary of the colony, a man of great prudence and ability, was sent in company with the Indian in- terpreter, Conrad Weiser, to remove the intruders. It was firmly and fear- lessly done, the settlers giving up their tracts and the cabins which they had built, and accepting lands on the east side of the river. The hardship was in many cases great, but when they were in actual need, the Secretary gave money and placed them upon lands of his own, having secured a tract of 2,000,000 of acres.

But these troubles were of small consequence compared with those that were threatening from the West. Though the treaty of Aix was supposed to have settled all difficulties between the two courts, the French were determined to occupy the whole territory drained by the Mississippi, which they claimed by priority of diecovery by La Salle. The British Ambassador at Paris entered complaints before the French Court that encroachments were being made by the French upon English soil in America, which were politely heard, and promises made of restraining the French in Canada from encroaching upon English territory. Formal orders were sent out from the home government to this effect; but at the same time secret intimations were conveyed to them that their conduct in endeavoring to secure and hold the territory in dispute was not displeasing to the government, and that disobedience of these orders would not incur its displeasure. The French deemed it necessary, in order to estab- lish a legal claim to the country, to take formal possession of it. Accordingly, the Marquis de la Galissoniere, who was at this time Governor General of Canada, dispatched Capt. Bienville de Celeron with a party of 215 French and fifty-five Indians, to publicly proclaim possession, and bury at prominent points plates of lead bearing inscriptions declaring occupation in the name of the French King. Celeron started on the 15th of June, 1749, from La Chine,

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

following the southern shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie, until he reached a point opposite Lake Chautauqua, where the boats were drawn up and were taken bodily over the dividing ridge, a distance of ten miles, with all the impedimenta of the expedition, the pioneers having first opened a road. Following on down the lake and the Conewango Creek, they arrived at Warren near the confluence of the creek with the Allegheny River. Here the first plate was buried. These plates were eleven inches long, seven and a half wide, and one-eighth of an inch thick. The inscription was in French, and in the following terms, as fairly translated into English: "In the year 1749, of the reign of Louis XIV, King of France, We Celeron, commander of a detachment sent by Monsieur the Marquis de la Galissoniere, Governor General of New France, to re-establish tranquillity in some Indian villages of these cantons, have buried this plate of lead at the confluence of the Ohio with the Chautauqua, this 29th day of July, near the River Ohio, otherwise Belle Rivière, as a mon- ument of the renewal of the possession we have taken of the said River Ohio, and of all those which empty into it, and of all the lands on both eides as far as the sources of the said river, as enjoyed or ought to have been enjoyed by the King of France preceding, and as they have there maintained themselves by arms and by treaties, especially those of Ryswick, Utrecht and Aix-la- Chapelle." The burying of this plate was attended with much form and cer- emony. All the men and officers of the expedition were drawn up in battle array, when the Commander, Celeron, proclaimed in a loud voice, " Vive le Roi," and declared that possession of the country was now taken in the name of the King. A plate on which was inscribed the arms of France was affixed to the nearest tree.

The same formality was observed in planting each of the other plates, the second at the rock known as the "Indian God," on which are ancient and un- known inscriptions, a few miles below Franklin, a third at the mouth of Wheeling Creek; a fourth at the mouth of the Muskingum; a fifth at the mouth of the Great Kanawha, and the sixth and last at the mouth of the Great Miami. Toilsomely ascending the Miami to its head-waters, the party burned their canoes, and obtained ponies for the march across the portage to the head-waters of the Maumee, down which and by Lakes Erie and Ontario they returned to Fort Frontenac, arriving on the 6th of November. It appears that the In- dians through whose territory they passed viewed this planting of plates with great suspicion. By some means they got possession of one of them, gener- ally supposed to have been stolen from the party at the very commencement of their journey from the mouth of the Chautauqua Creek.

Mr. O. H. Marshall, in an excellent monograph upon this expedition, made up from the original manuscript journal of Celeron and the diary of Father Bonnecamps, found in the Department de la Marine, in Paris, gives the fol- lowing account of this stolen plate:

" The first of the leaden plates was brought to the attention of the public by Gov. George Clinton to the Lords of Trade in London, dated New York, December 19, 1750, in which he states that be would send to their Lordships in two or three weeks a plate of lead full of writing, which some of the upper nations of Indians stole from Jean Coeur, the French interpreter at Niagara, on his way to the River Ohio, which river, and all the lands thereabouts, the French claim, as will appear by said writing. He further states ' that the lead plate gave the Indians so much uneasiness that they immediately dispatched some of the Cayuga chiefs to him with it, saying that their only reliance was on him, and earnestly begged he would communicate the contents to them, which he had done, much to their satisfaction and the interests of the English.'

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

The Governor concludes by saying that 'the contents of the plate may be of great importance in clearing up the encroachments which the French have made on the British Empire in America.' The plate was delivered to Colonel, afterward Sir William Johnson, on the 4th of December, 1750, at hie resi- dence on the Mohawk, by a Cayuga sachem, who accompanied it by the follow- ing speech:

"" Brother Corlear and War-ragh-i-ya-ghey! I am sent here by the Five Nations with a piece of writing which the Senecas, our brethren, got by some artifice from Jean Coeur, earnestly beseeching you will let us know what it means, and as we put all our confidence in you, we hope you will explain it ingeniously to us.'

" Col. Johnson replied to the sachem, and through him to the Five Na- tions, returning a belt of wampum, and explaining the inscription on the plate. He told them that 'it was a matter of the greatest consequence, involv- ing the possession of their lands and hunting grounds, and that Jean Coeur and the French ought immediately to be expelled from the Ohio and Niagara.' In reply, the sachem said that 'he had heard with great attention and surprise the substance of the "devilish writing" he had brought, and that Col. Johnson's remarks were fully approved.' He promised that belts from each of the Five Nations should be sent from the Seneca's castle to the Indians at the Ohio, to warn and strengthen them against the French encroachments in that direc- tion." On the 29th of January, 1751, Clinton sent a copy of this inscription to Gov. Hamilton, of Pennsylvania.

The French followed up this formal act of possession by laying out a line of military posts, on substantially the same line as that pursued by the Cele- ron expedition; but instead of crossing over to Lake Chautauqua, they kept on down to Presque Isle (now Erie), where was a good harbor, where a fort was established, and thence up to Le Boeuf (now Waterford), where another post was placed; thence down the Veuango River (French Creek) to its month at Franklin, establishing Fort Venango there; thence by the Allegheny to Pittsburgh, where Fort Du Quesne was seated, and so on down the Ohio.

To counteract this activity of the French, the Ohio Company was char- tered, and a half million of acres was granted by the crown, to be selected mainly on the south side of the Ohio, between the Monongalia and Kanawha Rivers, and the condition made that settlements (100 families within seven years), protected by a fort, should he made. The company consisted of a number of Virginia and Maryland gentlemen, of whom Lawrence Washington was one, and Thomas Hanbury, of London.

In 1752, a treaty was entered into with the Indians, securing the right of occupancy, and twelve families, headed by Capt. Gist, established themselves upon the Monongalia, and subsequently commenced the erection of a fort, where the city of Pittsburgh now is. Apprised of this intrusion into the very heart of the territory which they were claiming, the French built a fort at Le Boeuf, and strengthened the post at Franklin.

These proceedings having been promptly reported to Lieut. Gov. Dinwid- die, of Virginia, where the greater number of the stockholders of the Ohio Company resided, he determined to send an official communication-protesting against the forcible interference with their chartered rights, granted by the crown of Britain, and pointing to the late treaties of peace entered into be- tween the English and French, whereby it was agreed that each should respect the colonial possessions of the other-to the Commandant of the French, who had his headquarters at Fort Le Boeuf, fifteen miles inland from the present site of the city of Erie.

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But who should be the messenger to execute this delicate and responsible duty ? It was winter, and the distance to be traversed was some 500 miles, through an unbroken wilderness, cut by rugged mountain chains and deep and rapid streams. It was proposed to several, who declined, and was finally accepted by George Washington, a youth barely twenty-one years old. On the last day of November, 1753, he bade adieu to civilization, and pushing on through the forest to the settlements on the Monongalia, where he was joined by Capt. Gist, followed up the Allegheny to Fort Venango (now Franklin); thence up the Venango to its head-waters at Fort Le Boeuf, where he held formal conference with the French Commandant, St. Pierre. The French officer had been ordered to hold this territory on the score of the dis- covery of the Mississippi by La Salle, and he had no discretion but to execute his orders, and referred Washington to his superior, the Governor General of Canada. Making careful notes of the location and strength of the post and those encountered on the way, the young embassador returned, being twice fired at on his journey by hostile Indians, and near losing his life by being thrown into the freezing waters of the Allegheny. Upon his arrival, he made a full report of the embassage, which was widely published in this country and in England, and was doubtless the basis upon which action was predicted that eventuated in a long and sanguinary war, which finally resulted in the expulsion of the power of France from this continent.

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History of Erie county, Pennsylvania. Containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, villages schools, churches, industries, etc, Part 13

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902; Whitman, Benjamin, 1940-; Russell, N. W. (Nathaniel Willard); Brown, R. C. (Robert C.); Weakley, F. E; Warner, Beers & Co. (Chicago, Ill.) Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago : Warner, Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1280

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902; Whitman, Benjamin, 1940-; Russell, N. W. (Nathaniel Willard); Brown, R. C. (Robert C.); Weakley, F. E; Warner, Beers & Co. (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : Warner, Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1280