History of Erie county, Pennsylvania. Containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, villages schools, churches, industries, etc, Part 29

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 29

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The lands actually settled and improved are to remain chargeable with the purchase money and interest, and if the grantee shall neglect to apply for a warrant for ten years after the passage of this act, unless hindered by death or the enemies of the United States, the lands may be granted to others by war- rants reciting the defaults. The lands settled under this legislation are to be free from taxation for ten years.

PENNSYLVANIA POPULATION COMPANY.

Soon after the "actual settlement law " was enacted, the Pennsylvania Population Company was formed at Philadelphia, the avowed purpose of which was to settle the lands of the Triangle. John Nicholson, the famous land speculator, was elected President, and Messrs. Cazenove, Irvine, Mead, Leet, Hoge and Stewart, managers. The stock of the corporation consisted of 2,500 shares, each of which represented or was intended to represent 200 acres. The title to the lands purchased was to be vested in trustees, to be held in common, and the proceeds were to be divided, pro rata, among the stockhold- ers. Previous to the organization of the company, Mr. Nicholson had applied for 390 warrants in the Triangle, and 250 on the waters of Beaver River, to be located in his own name. These he transferred to the corporation, which

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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.

paid for them and perfected the title. The company also took up about 500 additional warrants in Erie and Crawford Counties. The lands located by the Population Company embraced the whole Triangle except the Erie and Garri- son State Reserves and Irvine's Reservation. The corporation was dissolved in 1811, after the last war with Great Britain, and the remaining lands and unsettled contracts for the sale of lands passed into the hands of the individual members.

A GREAT LAND SPECULATOR.

" John Nicholson," says the author of the Historical Annals of Pennsyl- vania, "was Comptroller of the State from 1782 to 1794, during which time $27,000,000 of public money passed through his hands under circumstances of peculiar complication aud difficulty, arising from the then state of paper money and the Government credit. He became the object of political pe.se- cution, and resigned his office. His private transactions were very extensive. At this period he was the owner of about 3,700,000 acres of land in Pennsyl- vania, besides large possessions, real and personal, elsewhere. To meet his various pecuniary engagements for these lands, he formed joint-stock compa- nies, to which he conveyed a large portion of them. His affairs became em- barrassed; he was committed to prison, and died in confinement and insane during the year 1800. So early as the 17th and 18th of March, 1797, deeds had been made to the Pennsylvania Land Company, and individual creditors had obtained judgments against him. The commonwealth had an immense claim against him for unsettled land warrants, stock accounts, and other items, in liquidation of which the vast amount of lands held in his name, throughout thirty-nine counties, reverted to the commonwealth, and were taken or pur- chased by others. Conflicting claims, besides that of the State, were previ- ously existing, and tended greatly to complicate the title of these lands. The matter was several times closed and as often re-opened by legislative euact- ments, special writs and new lawsuits, and, later, a sweeping claim was made by the individual heirs of Nicholson to an immense amount of land through- out the State-attempting to unsettle claims supposed to have been quieted many years since." A fuller account of a part of the agitation here referred to will be found in another place.

PLAN OF SETTLEMENT.

The Population Company, on the 8th of March, 1793, issued instructions to their agents, offering the following inducements to settlers in Erie County:

A gift of 150 acres each to the first twenty families that shall settle on French Creek.

A similar gift to the first twenty families that shall settle in the Lake Erie territory.

A gift of 100 acres each to the next fifty families (after the first twenty) who shall settle on French Creek.

A similar gift to the next fifty families (after the first ten) who shall settle in the Lake Erie territory.

The settlers were privileged to locate on any lands of the company they chose, and if they cleared at least ten acres, and erected a comfortable house thereon, in which they resided, were to have a deed after two years. In case they were driven off by the Indians, no part of the two years was to run against them, and no title was to vest in any person or his heirs who aban- doned the lands before receiving his deed.

Thirty thousand acres were offered for sale to actual settlers, in tracts not

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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.

exceeding 300 acres, at $1 per acre, payable at the option of the purchaser, in three years, with interest the last two years. The surveys were to be made under the direction of the company, at the expense of the grantee or purchaser.

HOLLAND LAND COMPANY.

The Holland Land Company was an organization of twelve wealthy gentle- men living in Holland, who advanced several millions of dollars to the Gov. ernment during the Revolution, through the influence of Robert Morris. This debt was liquidated after the establishment of independence, by the Government. transferring to the company vast tracts of land in Western New York and North western Pennsylvania. The company also took up by warrant numerous tracts of land in Erie and Crawford Counties. These were issued to them at

various times in 1793, 1794 and 1795, and numerous sales were made. In con- sequence of the Indian troubles, the settlers upon some of the tracts were pre- vented from making the improvements required by law within the two years prescribed, and the titles became involved in litigation, the same as in the case of the Population Company. The lands of the Holland Company lay south of the triangle line, across the entire width of the county. Maj. Alden, the first agent of the company, had his headquarters in Crawford County. He was succeeded by William Miles, of Union Mills. In 1815, H. J. Huidekoper, a member of the corporation, came on from Holland, took charge of the com- pany's affairs, and established his office in Meadville. The lands remaining unsold were bought by Mr. Huidekoper in 1833, and helped to create the large fortune which he left at his decease.

TENTH DONATION DISTRICT.

By an act of March 12, 1783, the Legislature directed the laying-out of a district in the Northwest, to be bounded " by the Allegheny River on the south- east as far up as the mouth of the Conewango; thence by a line due north to the New York line; thence by the northeru and western boundaries of the States, and south " by what was known as the Depreciation District, which ex- tended up the Beaver to the mouth of the Mahoning. These lands were ap propriated to fulfill the promise of the commonwealth, made on the 7th of March, 1780, "to the officers and privates belonging to this State in the Fed- eral army, of certain donations and quantities of land, according to their sov- eral ranks, to be surveyed and divided off to them, severally, at the end of the war. They were surveyed in lots of from 200 to 500 acres each, enough of each kind to supply the different ranks. A Major General was entitled to draw four tickets, by lottery, for 500 acres each; a Brigadier General, three of the same; and so on down to the drummers, tifers, corporals, and 'private sentinels,' who drew one ticket of 200 acres each." The Donation District was divided into sub-districts, each of which was known by its number. The Tenth District commenced about a mile east of the borough of Waterford and extended eastward across the present townships of Amity and Wayne to the Warren County line. It was surveyed on the part of the State in 1785 by David Watts and William Miles, who came on from the East for that purpose, and returned home on the completion of their labors. In laying out the dis- trict they made several provoking errors, among others running their lines into Greene and Venango Townships, which did not belong to the State. This blunder was corrected, however, upon the purchase of the Triangle, but some of the other faults of the survey led to much litigation and hard feeling. Few of the soldiers for whose benefit the lands were set aside, moved on to them, the patents having generally been disposed of at a small price to speculators.

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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.

The object of the law was fulfilled without using the entire district specified for donation purposes, and the balance of the lands, including all that part of Erie County not named above and in the several grants and reservations, re- verted to the State.

HARRISBURG AND PRESQUE ISLE COMPANY.

On the 13th of August, 1796, an association was formed at Harrisburg, under the title of the Harrisburg and Presque Isle Company, for the purpose of " settling, improving and populating the country near and adjoining to Lake Erie." It was limited to ten persons, whose names were Richard Swan, Thomas Forster, John Kean, Alexander Berryhill, Samuel Laird, John A. Hanna, Robert Harris, Richard Dermond, William Kelso and Samuel Ains- worth. The capital of the company consisted of $10,000, of which no member was entitled to more than five shares of $200 each. The money paid in was to be " common stock," and was to be invested in the purchase of " inlots and outlots in the town of Erie and others," and of lands north and west of the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers. The company purchased thirty seven Erie in- lots and eight outlots at the public sale at Carlisle in August, 1796. They also obtained possession of 430 acres at the mouth of Walnut Creek, and of some land at Waterford. Mr. Forster came on as agent, in company with Mr. Swan. in the spring of 1797, and located on the Walnut Creek property. By the fall of that year, they had a saw mill erected, and the next year a grist mill was commenced, which was not completed, however, till the fall of 1799. They laid out a town at the mouth of the creek and called it Fairview. Both . Forster and Swan took up large tracts in the vicinity on their own account. . The title to a portion of the company's property was disputed by the Popula- tion Company, and, after long litigation, the Walnut Creek site was sold at Sheriff's sale.

THE MORAVIAN GRANT.

The "Society of the United Brethren for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen"-commonly known as the Moravians-had long maintained mission- aries at its own expense among the Indians, who contributed largely by their Christian example and teachings to the peace of the frontier. In recognition of their services, the State, on the 17th of April, 1791, voted the association two grants of land of 2,500 acres each, with allowance, to be located respect- ively on "the River Connought, near the northwestern part of the State," and on " the heads of French Creek." The society located 2,875 acres in LeBœuf Township, which they named the "Good Luck" tract, and 2,797 in Springfield and Conneaut Townships, to which they gave the title of "Hospitality." These lands were leased until 1850, when they were purchased by N. Blickens- derfer and James Miles. The first agent for the Moravians was William Miles, of Union, who was succeeded by his son James as manager of the "Hospitality," and by John Wood, of Waterford, as manager of the "Good Luck" tract.

THE RESERVATIONS.

The Reservations in the county were four in "number, viz .: Irvine's Reservation, the Erie State Reserve, the Waterford State Reserve, and the Garrison Reserve.

Irvine's Reservation consisted of 2,000 acres in Harbor Creek Township, donated by the commonwealth to Gen. William Irvine as a special reward for his services during the Revolution. He located the tract while here to lay out the town of Erie. It was reserved in the grants to the Population Company.

Atstaynes.

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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.

In the grants to that company, the State also reserved a tract around the harbor of Erie, which became known as the Erie State Reserve. It commenced at the head of the bay and ran south three miles, then eastward, parallel with the lake, eight miles, then back to the lake shore three miles, making altogeth- er some twenty-four square miles. An act passed the Legislature in April, 1797, providing for the sale of these lands. They were first surveyed by George Moore in 1795, again by John Cochran in 1796-97, and finally by Thomas Rees in 1799. The latter laid them out in three tiers-the one furthest from the lake consisting of 150-acre tracts, the second mainly of 130- acre tracts, and the last, or nearest to the lake, of tracts ranging from 100 to 50 acres. This, of course, did not include the inlots and outlots of the town of Erie. None of the lands were sold until 1801, and but few before 1804. Those who bought earliest paid from $3 to $4 per acre, one-fifth in hand, the balance in four equal annual payments. One party who owned 411 acres deeded the whole of it, in 1804, for a male slave. The final sale of the Reserve lands took place on the first Monday of August, 1833, when fifty-acre tracts on the bank of the lake west of the city were purchased at from $9 to $22 per acre.

The Reserve at Waterford, like that at Erie, was set apart by the State with a view to getting increased prices from the expected rapid growth of that town. It consisted of 1,800 acres in Waterford Township, and 400 in LeBœuf. Provision for its sale was made in the act of 1799, and most of the tract had passed into private hands by 1804.

The Garrison tract was provided for in the act of 1794, for laying out a town at Presque Isle, which directed the Governor to reserve "out of the lots of the said town so much land as he shall deem necessary for public uses; also, so much land, within or out of the said town, as may, in his opinion, be wanted by the United States for the purpose of erecting forts, magazines, arsenals and dock-yards." It lies on the bank of the bay on the east side of Erie City, and is now in the possession of the United States Government.

ACADEMY LANDS.

The act of 1799 provided that in the sales of land 500 acres should be held back from each of the Reserve tracts at Erie and Waterford "for the use of such schools and academies as may hereafter be established by law" in those towns. The lands that fell to the share of Waterford Academy lie in LeBœuf Township, at the mouth of LeBœuf Creek. They were sold off about 1840. The Erie Academy grant was in Mill Creek Township, and extended some dis- tance along the Waterford Turnpike, commencing near the present southern boundary of the city. The land has passed into the hands of private owners.

SURVEYORS AND LAND AGENTS.

As already stated, the first survey in the county was that of the Tenth Do- nation District, made by Watts and Miles in 1785. Under the act of 1792, the territory north and west of the Ohio, Allegheny and Conewango Rivers, was divided into five districts, each of which was assigned to a Deputy Surveyor. District No. 1 was thus described: "Beginning on the bank of Lake Erie at the northeast corner of the tract purchased by the State of Pennsylvania of the United States; from thence extending due south to the northern boundary of the State of Pennsylvania, and along the same upon the same due south course ten miles; from thence to run a due west course to the western boundary of the State; thence by the same north to Lake Erie; thence along the margin of said lake to the place of beginning." Thomas Rees was appointed Deputy

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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.

Surveyor on the 16th of May, 1792, with "full power to execute all warrants and surveys " to him directed by the Land Department of the State. He set out for his mission immediately, but learning that the Indians on Lake Erie were hostile, came no further than Northumberland County, where he opened an office. During his stay there warrants were filed by the Pennsyl- vania Population Company for the whole of the Triangle. He left for Presque Isle in the spring of 1793. On reaching Buffalo Creek (now the city of Buf- falo), he was met by a delegation of Indians, who refused to let him proceed further, threatening that he would be killed if he did. After long delay, & number of warrants were surveyed for the Population Company in 1794, but the attitude of the Indians was so hostile, and reports of Indian murders 80 frequent, that Mr. Rees abandoned the field and returned to the East.

MORE LAND LEGISLATION.

The Legislature passed an act on the 22d of April, 1794, which pro- vided that no further applications should be received by the land office for any unimproved land within the Triangle. This was after it had been ascertained that the territory was not sufficient to supply the warrants issued to the Popu- lation Company. The same act directed that no warrant should issue after the 15th of June of that year, for any land within the Triangle except in favor of persons claiming by virtue of some settlement and improvement having been made thereon, aud that all applications remaining in the land office after that date for which the purchase money had not been paid, should be void. It was stipulated, however, that applications might be "received and warrants issued until the 1st of January, 1795, in favor of any persons to whom a balance might be due in the land office on unsatisfied warrants issued before the 29th of March, 1792, for such quantities of land as might be sufficient to discharge such balances;" provided, that the act should not be "so construed as that any warrants, except those wherein the land is particularly described, should in any manner affect the title of the claim of any person having made an act- ual improvement before such warrant was entered and surveyed in the Deputy Surveyor's books." Another act, passed in September of the same year, made it unlawful for any application for lands to be received at the land office, after its passage, "except for such lands where a settlement has been or hereafter shall be made, grain raised and a person or persons residing thereon."

SETTLED AT LAST.

The difficulty with the Indians, related in a previous chapter, delayed fur- ther operations until the spring of 1795, when Mr. Rees came on again, put up a tent at the mouth of Mill Creek, and resumed his duties as a surveyor. About this time he was also appointed agent for the Population Company, which renewed the instructions of 1793. The Rutledge murders happening soon after the arrival of Rees, kept emigration from the Triangle for awhile, but by fall quite a number of people had come into the county. Mr. Rees employed several Surveyors during the season, among whom were George Moore and David McNair, and by fall reported the sale for the company of 74,790 acres to some 200 different persons. Few of these, however, made an immediate settlement upon the land, through fear of Indian depredations. Mr. Rees re- signed both as Deputy Surveyor and agent for the Population Company at the beginning of 1796, and from that date until the spring of 1802 served the State as Commissioner for the sale of lots, etc. He was succeeded in the first position by John Cochran, and in the second by Judah Colt. Mr. Rees took up a large tract in Harbor Creek Township, about one mile south of the pres-

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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.

ent Buffalo road, to which he cut a highway in 1797. After leaving the agency, he cleared up several large farms, on one of which he resided until his death in May, 1848. He was the first Justice of the Peace in this county, his appointment bearing date March 31, 1796.

Judah Colt, who had been appointed to succeed Mr. Rees as agent of the Population Company, came on in that capacity on the 1st of July, 1796. His duties and experience are best told in the memoir he left for the use of his family, an abstract of which is here given:

ABSTRACT OF JUDAH COLT'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

I was born at Lyme, Conn., July 1, 1761. In August, 1795, in company with Augustus Porter, came to Erie to purchase land. At Presque Isle found a number of men encamped, United States troops erecting a fort, and Com- missioners for the State, Gen. William Irvine and Andrew Ellicott, laying out the town of Erie. They had about 100 militia troops in their employ. Thom- as Rees was acting as agent for the Pennsylvania Population Company in the survey and sale of lands. Porter and I took two certificates of 400 acres each at $1 per acre, payable in five annual installments. We made but a brief stay.

On the 3d of March, 1796, went to Philadelphia for the purpose of getting the lands purchased of Mr. Rees at Erie confirmed. The principal proprietors of the Population Company resided there. Offered to buy 30,000 acres at $1 per acre, but they declined to sell in so large a body. Col. Aaron Burr, who was one of the proprietors, informed me that they were in need of a more act- ive agent, and offered me the position. A contract was entered into by which they agreed to pay me $1,500 a year, besides board, traveling expenses, etc. This was raised to $2,500 in 1798. Money was advanced with which to pro- cure supplies and hire laborers, and in the month of April I started to return to my home in the Genesee country, New York. At New York City, I laid in provisions, sundry kinds of goods and farming utensils, such as were needed in a new country. They were shipped under the care of Enoch Marvin, up the river to Albany, across the portage by wag- ons to the Mohawk, up the latter by batteaux, then by wagons again to Oswego, and from there by lake and wagon to Presque Isle. Mr. Marvin ar- rived at the latter place on the 22d of June, 1796, but the boats did not reach Presque Isle till the 1st of July. He found a Captain's command stationed there in a garrison laid out and built in 1795. His tent or marquee was erected near the old French garrison. During the season, he met with consid- erable opposition from advance settlers, "a company known as Dunning Mc- Nair & Co., from the neighborhood of Pittsburgh." Leaving the agency in charge of Elisha and Enoch Marvin, I set out on the 4th of November for Philadelphia, returning to the mouth of Sixteen Mile Creek May 31, 1797.

June 1, rode out to where Elisha Marvin was stationed, who had charge of the men employed by the agency, nine miles south of Lake Erie, known after- ward as Colt's Station. Made this my headquarters until the 10th of November. The season was one of much business. The opposition of advance settlers caused me much trouble. I had to keep from forty to one hundred men in service to defend settlers and property. More than once mobs of twenty to thirty assembled for the purpose of doing mischief. Went to Pittsburgh with witnesses and had a number indicted by the grand jury of Allegheny County. On my return, loaded a boat with stores to take to the Sixteen Mile Creek, and put it in charge of four men. On their way up the lake, a storm upset the boat and three of the men were drowned. During the season, the building of

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a vessel of about thirty-five tons was commenced at the mouth of Four Mile creek. The Lowrys and others were the indicted parties. Their disturbances took place in the months of June and July.

Went East in the fall, and set out to return to Erie in April, 1798. At New York, purchased supplies, which were sent forward in charge of B. Saxton and Eliphalet Beebe. Arrived at Presque Isle the 31st of May, and at Greenfield on the 3d of June. Brought my wife along for the first time. Resided at Colt's Station with my family until the 7th of November. The vessel, begun the year before at the mouth of Four Mile Creek, was completed in time to make a trip to Fort Erie. It was named the Sloop Washington. On the 10th of October, I accompanied about sixty-five of the settlers to Erie to attend an elec- tion, all of whom voted in favor of a Federal Representative. On the 7th of November, with Mrs. Colt, set out for Pittsburgh, on horseback. Our baggage was taken down French Creek in boats. Arrived at Pittsburgh the 9th of Jan- uary, 1799. Shortly after our arrival, the weather became very warm, the frost came out of the ground, and the farmers began their plowing. Did not return to Erie County until May. 1801. During a part of 1800 and 1801, the peace of the county was much disturbed by the adversaries of the company. In the summer and fall of 1800, the settlement was visited by a number of clergy- men who were sent out by the Ohio and Redstone Presbyteries, who preached in a number of places and took much pains to establish churches. Among them was Rev. Mr. McCurdy.

During the year 1801, some progress was made in organizing the militia of Greenfield. Elisha Marvin was chosen Captain. He had about eighty men in his company. During 1802, considerable progress was made in the county, military, civil and religious. In the month of June, 1803, aided by a Deputy Marshal of the United States Court, removed sundry intruders against whom ejectment had been brought, some of whom were obstinate and gave much trouble. During the same month, Mary Marvin arrived in company with her brother Elisha. September 24. purchased of James Wilson four lots, on which was a small house, in the town of Erie, for the sum of $490. On the 26th, set out for Pittsburgh by way of thenew State road. Returned to Green- field February 24, 1804. During the month of April, 1804, was again in Phil- adelphia as a witness in the United States Court relating to the lands of the Population Company, and in which the company was successful. On the 6th of August, 1804, began to improve my Erie property, to which I removed my family on the 21st of November.

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History of Erie county, Pennsylvania. Containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, villages schools, churches, industries, etc, Part 29

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