History of Erie county, Pennsylvania. Containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, villages schools, churches, industries, etc, Part 4

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 4

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It was an unfortunate circumstance that at the coming of Europeans the territory now known as Pennsylvania was occupied by some of the most bloody and revengeful of the savage tribes. They were known as the Lenni Lenapes, and held sway from the Hudson to the Potomac. A tradition was preserved among them, that in a remote age their ancestors had emigrated eastward from beyond the Mississippi, exterminating as they came the more civilized and peaceful peoples, the Mound-Builders of Ohio and adjacent States, and who

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were held among the tribes by whom they were surrounded as the progenitors, the grandfathers or oldest people. They came to be known by Europeans as the Delawares, after the name of the river and its numerous branches along which they principally dwelt. The Monseys or Wolves, another tribe of the Lenapes, dwelt upon the Susquehanna and its tributaries, and, by their war- like disposition, won the credit of being the fiercest of their nation, and the guardians of the door to their council house from the North.

Occupying the greater part of the teritory now known as New York, were the five nations-the Senacas, the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Cayugas, and the Onondagas, which, from their hearty union, acquired great etrength and came to exercise a commanding influence. Obtaining firearms of the Dutch at Albany, they repelled the advances of the French from Canada, and by their superiority in numbers and organization, had overcome the Lenapes, and held them for awhile in vassalage. The Tuscaroras, a tribe which had been expelled from their home in North Carolina, were adopted by the Five Na- tions in 1712, and from this time forward these tribes were known to the English as the Six Nations, called by the Lenapes, Mingoes, and by the French, Iroquois. There wae, therefore, properly a United States before the thirteen colonies achieved their independence. The person and character of these tribes were marked. They were above the ordinary stature, erect, bold, and commanding, of great decorum in council, and when aroused showing native eloquence. In warfare, they exhibited all the bloodthirsty, revengeful, cruel instincts of the savage, and for the attainment of their purposes were treacherous and crafty.

The Indian character, as developed by intercourse with Europeans, exhibits some traits that are peculiar. While coveting what they saw that pleased them, and thievish to the last degree, they were nevertheless generous. This may be accounted for by their habits. "They held that the game of the for- est, the fish of the rivers, and the grass of the field were a common heritage, and free to all who would take the trouble to gather them, and ridiculed the idea of fencing in a meadow." Bancroft says: "The hospitality of the Indian has rarely been questioned. The stranger enters his cabin, by day or by night, without asking leave, and is entertained as freely as a thrush or a blackbird, that regales himself on the luxuries of the fruitful grove. He will take his own rest abroad, that he may give up his own skin or mat of sedge to his guest. Nor is the traveler questioned as to the purpose of his visit. He chooses his own time freely to deliver his message." Penn, who, from frequent intercourse came to know them well, in his letter to the society of Free Traders, says of them: "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, etrong affections, but soon spent. The most merry creatures that live; feast and dance perpetually. 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 particu- lar owners, but the neighboring Kings and 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 per- son 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 man- ner among his dependents, 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

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little because they want but little, and the reason ie a little contents them. In this they are sufficiently revenged on us. 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 are 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 spec- tacles in the world."

On the 28th of August, 1609, a little more than a century from the time of the first discovery of the New World by Columbus, Hendrick Hudson, an English navigator, then in the employ of the Dutch East India Company, hav- ing been sent out in search of a northwestern passage to the Indies, discovered the mouth of a great bay, since known as Delaware Bay, which he entered and partially explored. But finding the waters shallow, and being satisfied that this was only an arm of the sea which received the waters of a great river, and not a passage to the western ocean, he retired, and, turning the prow of his little craft northward, on the 2d of September, he discovered the river which bears his name, the Hudson, and gave several days to its examination. Not finding a passage to the West, which was the object of his search, he returned to Holland, bearing the evidences of his adventures, and made a full report of his discoveries in which he says, "Of all lands on which I ever set my foot, this is the best for tillage."

A proposition had been made in the States General of Holland to form a West India Company with purposes similar to those of the East India Com- pany; but the conservative element in the Dutch Congress prevailed, and while the Government was unwilling to undertake the risks of an enterprise for which it would be responsible, it was not unwilling to foster private enter- prise, and on the 27th of March, 1614, an edict was passed, granting the privileges of trade, in any of its possessions in the New World, during four voyages, founding its right to the territory drained by the Delaware and Hudson upon the discoveries by Hudson. Five vessels were accordingly fitted by a company composed of enterprising merchants of the cities of Am- sterdam and Hoorn, which made speedy and prosperous voyages under com- mand of Cornelis Jacobson Mey, bringing back with them fine furs and rich woods, which so excited cupidity that the States General was induced on the 14th of October, 1614, to authorize exclusive trade, for four voyages, extend- ing through three years, in the newly acquired possessions, the edict designat- ing them as New Netherlands.

One of the party of this first enterprise, Cornelis Hendrickson, was left behind with a vessel called the Unrest, which had been built to supply the place of one accidentally burned, in which he proceeded to explore more fully the bay and river Delaware, of which he made report that was read before the States General on the 19th of August, 1616. This report is curious as dis- closing the opinions of the first actual explorer in an official capacity: "He hath discovered for his aforesaid masters and directors certain lands, a bay, and three rivers, situate between thirty-eight and forty degrees, and did their trade with the inhabitants, said trade consisting of sables, furs, robse and other skins. He hath found the said country full of trees, to wit, oaks, hick- ory and pines, which trees were, in some places, covered with vines. He hath

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

seen in said country bucks and does, turkeys and partridges. He hath found the climate of said country very temperate, judging it to be as temperate as this country, Holland. He also traded for and bought from the inhabitants, the Minquas, three persons, being people belonging to this company, which three persons were employed in the service of the Mohawks and Machicans, giving for them kettles, beads, and merchandise."

This second charter of privileges expired in January, 1618, and during its continuance the knowledge acquired of the country and its resources promised so much of success that the States General was ready to grant broader privi- leges, and on the 3d of June, 1621, the Dutch West India Company was in- corporated, to extend for a period of twenty-four years, with the right of renewal, the capital stock to be open to subscription by all nations, and "privileged to trade and plant colonies in Africa, from the tropic of Cancer to the Cape of Good Hope, and in America from the Straits of Magellan to the remotest north." The past glories of Holland, though occupying but an in- significant patch of Europe, emboldened its Government to pass edicts for the colonizing and carrying on an exclusive trade with a full half of the entire world, an example of the biting off of more than could be well chewed. But the light of this enterprising people was beginning to pale before the rising glories of the stern race in their sea girt isle across the channel. Dissensions were arising among the able statesmen who had heretofore guided its affairs, and before the periods promised in the original charter of this colonizing com- pany had expired, its supremacy of the sea was successfully resisted, and its exclusive rights and privileges in the New World had to be relinquished.

The principal object in establishing this West India Company was to secure a good dividend upon the capital stock, which was subscribed to by the rich old burgomasters. The fine furs and products of the forests, which had been taken back to Holland, had proved profitable. But it was seen that if this trade was to be permanently secured, in face of the active competition of other nations, and these commodities steadily depended upon, permanent set- tlements must be provided for. Accordingly, in 1623, a colony of about forty families, embracing a party of Walloons, protestant fugitives from Belgium, sailed for the new province, under the leadership of Cornelis Jacobson Mey and Joriz Tienpont. Soon after their arrival, Mey, who had been invested with the power of Director General of all the territory claimed by the Dutch, see- ing, no doubt, the evidences of some permanence on the Hudson, determined to take these honest minded and devoted Walloons to the South River, or Del- aware, that he might also gain for his country a foothold there. The testi- mony of one of the women, Catalina Tricho, who was of the party, is curious, and sheds some light upon this point. "That she came to this prov. ince either in the year 1623 or 1624, and that four women came along with her in the same ship, in which Gov. Arien Jorissen came also over, which four women were married at sea, and that they and their husbands stayed about three weeks at this place (Manhattan) and then they with eight seamen more, went in a vessel by orders of the Dutch Governor to Delaware River, and

there settled." Ascending the Delaware some fifty miles, Mey landed on the eastern shore near where now is the town of Gloucester, and built a fort which he called Nassau. Having duly installed his little colony, he re- turned to Manhattan; but beyond the building of the fort, which served as a trading post, this attempt to plant a colony was futile; for these religious zealots, tiring of the solitude in which they were left, after a few months abandoned it, and returned to their associates whom they had left upon the Hudson. Though not successful in establishing a permanent colony upon the

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

Delaware, ships plied regularly between the fort and Manhattan, and this became the rallying point for the Indians, who brought thither their commodi- ties for trade. At about this time, 1626, the island of Manhattan estimated to contain 22,000 acres, on which now stands the city of New York with its busy population, surrounded by its forests of masts, was bought for the insig- nificant sum of sixty guilders, about $24, what would now pay for scarcely a square inch of some of that very soil. As an evidence of the thrift which had begun to mark the progress of the colony, it may be stated that the good ship " The Arms of Amsterdam," which bore the intelligence of this fortunate pur- chase to the assembly of the XIX in Holland, bore also in the language of O'Calaghan, the historian of New Netherland, the "information that the col- ony was in a most prosperous state, and that the women and the soil were both fruitful. To prove the latter fact, samples of the recent harvest, consist- ing of wheat, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, canary seed, were sent forward, together with 8,130 beaver skins, valued at over 45,000 guilders, or nearly $19,000." It is accorded by another historian that this same ship bore also " 8533 otter skins, eighty-one mink skins, thirty-six wild cat skins and thirty-four rat skins, with a quantity of oak and hickory timber." From this it may be seen what the commodities were which formed the subjects of trade. Doubt- less of wharf rats Holland had enough at home, but the oak and hickory tim- ber came at a time when there was sore need of it.

Finding that the charter of privileges, enacted in 1621, did not give suffi- cient encouragement and promise of security to actual settlers, further con- cessions were made in 1629, whereby " all such persons as ehall appear and desire the same from the company, shall be acknowledged as Patroons [a sort of feudal lo: 1] of New Netherland, who shall, within the space of four years next after they have given notice to any of the chambers of the company here, or to the Commander or Council there, undertake to plant a colony there of fifty souls, upward of fifteen years old; one-fourth part within one year, and within three years after sending the first, making together four years, the re- mainder, to the full number of fifty persons, to be shipped from hence, on pain, in case of willful neglect, of being deprived of the privileges obtained." *

* " The Patroons, by virtue of their power, shall be permitted, at such places as they shall settle their colonies, to extend their limits four miles along the shore, or two miles on each side of a river, and so far into the country as the situation of the occupiers will permit."

Stimulated by these flattering promises, Goodyn and Bloemmaert, two wealthy and influential citizens, through their agents-Heyser and Coster- secured by purchase from the Indians a tract of land on the western shore, at the mouth of the Delaware, sixteen miles in length along the bay front, and extending sixteen miles back into the country, giving a square of 256 miles. Goodyn immediately gave notice to the company of their intention to plant a colony on their newly acquired territory as patroons. They were joined by an experienced navigator, De Vries, and on the 12th of December, 1630, a vessel, the Walrus, under command of De Vries, was dispatched with a company of settlers and a stock of cattle and farm implements, which arrived safely in the Delaware. De Vries landed about three leagues within the capes, "near the entrance of a fine navigable stream, called the Hoarkill," where he pro- ceeded to build a house, well surrounded with cedar palisades, which served the purpose of fort, lodging house, and trading post. The little settlement, which consisted of about thirty persons, was christened by the high sounding title of Zwanendal-Valley of Swans. In the spring they prepared their fields and planted them, and De Vries returned to Holland, to make report of his proceedings.

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But a sad fate awaited the little colony at Zwanendal. In accordance with the custom of European nations, the commandant, on taking possession of the new purchase, erected a post, and affixed thereto a piece of tin on which was traced the arme of Holland and a legend of occupancy. An Indian chieftain, passing that way, attracted by the shining metal, and not understanding the object of the inscription, and not having the fear of their high mightinesses, the States General of Holland before his eyes, tore it down and proceeded to make for himself a tobacco pipe, considering it valuable both by way of orna- ment and use. When this act of trespass was discovered, it was regarded by the doughty Dutchimau as a direct insult to the great State of Holland, and so great an ado was raised over it that the simple minded natives became frightened, believing that their chief had committed a mortal offense, and in the strength and sincerity of their friendship immediately proceeded to dis. patch the offending chieftain, and brought the bloody emblems of their deed to the head of the colony. This act excited the anger of the relatives of the mur. dered man, and in accordance with Indian law, they awaited the chance to take revenge. O'Calaghan gives the following account of this bloody massa- cre which ensued: "The colony at Zwanendal consisted at this time of thirty- four persons. Of these, thirty-two were one day at work in the fields, while Commissary Hosset remained in charge of the house, where another of the set- tlers lay sick abed. A large bull dog was chained out of doors. On pretence of selling some furs, three savages entered the house and murdered Hosset and the eick man. They found it not so easy to dispatch the mastiff. It was not until they had pierced him with at least twenty-five arrowe that he was destroyed. The men in the fields were then set on, in an equally treacherous manner, under the guise of friendship, and every man of them slain." Thus was a worthless bit of tin the cause of the cutting off and utter extermination of the infant colony.

De Vries was upon the point of returning to Zwanendal when he received intimation of disaster to the settlers. With a large vessel and a yacht, he set Bail on the 24th of May, 1632, to carry succor, provided with the means of prosecuting the whale fishery which he had been led to believe might be made very profitable, and of pushing the production of grain and tobacco. On ar- riving in the Delaware, he fired a signal gun to give notice of his approach. The report echoed through the forest, but, alas! the ears which would have been gladened with the sound were heavy, and no answering salute came from the shore. On landing, he found his house destroyed, the palisades burned, and the skulls and bones of his murdered countrymen bestrewing the earth, sad relics of the little settlement, which had promised so fairly, and warning tokens of the barbarism of the natives.

De Vries knew that he was in no position to attempt to punish the guilty .

parties, and hence determined to pursue an entirely pacific policy. At his invitation, the Indians gathered in with their chief for a conference. Sitting down in a circle beneath the shadows of the somber forest, their Sachem in the centre, De Vries, without alluding to their previous acts of savagery, concluded with them a treaty of peace and friendship, and presented them in token of ratification, "some duffels, bullets, axes and Nuremburg trinkets."

In place of finding his colony with plenty of provisions for the immediate needs of his party, he could get nothing, and began to be in want. He accord- ingly sailed up the river in quest of food. The natives were ready with their furs for barter, but they had no supplies of food with which they wished to part. Game, however, was plenty, and wild turkeys were brought in weigh- ing over thirty pounds. One morning after a frosty night, while the little

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craft was up the stream, the party was astonished to find the waters frozen over, and their ship fast in the ice. Judging by the mild climate of their own country, Holland, they did not suppose this possible. For several weeks they were held fast without the power to move their floating home. Being in need of a better variety of food than he found it possible to obtain, De Vries sailed away with a part of his followers to Virginia, where he was hospitably enter- tained by the Governor, who sent a present of goats as a token of friendship to the Dutch Governor at Manhattan. Upon his return to the Delaware, De Vries found that the party he had left behind to prosecute the whale fishery had only taken a few small ones, and these so poor that the amount of oil ob- tained was insignificant. He had been induced to embark in the enterprise of a settlement here by the glittering prospect of prosecuting the whale fishery along the shore at a great profit. Judging by this experience that the hope of great gaine from this source was groundless, and doubtless haunted by a superstitious dread of making their homes amid the relics of the settlers of the previous year, and of plowing fields enriched by their blood who had been so utterly cut off, and a horror of dwelling amonget a people so revengeful and savage, De Vries gathered all together, and taking his entire party with him sailed away to Manhattan and thence home to Holland, abandoning utterly the settlement.

The Dutch still however sought to maintain a foothold upon the Dela- ware, and a fierce contention having sprung up between the powerful patroons and the Director General, and they having agreed to settle differences by the company authorizing the purchase of the claims of the patroons, those upon the Delaware were sold for 15, 600 guilders. Fort Nassau was accordingly re-oc- cupied and manned with a small military force, and when a party from Con- necticut Colony came, under one Holmes to make a settlement upon the Dela- ware, the Dutch at Nassau were found too strong to be subdued, and Holmes and his party were compelled to surrender, and were sent as prisoners of war to Manhattan.

CHAPTER II.

SIR WILLIAM KEIFT, 1638-47-PETER MINUIT, 1638-41-PETER HOLLANDAER, 1641-43- JOHN PRINTZ, 1648-53-PETER STUYVESANT, 1647-64-JOHN PAPPAGOYA, 1653-54- JOHN CLAUDE RYSINGH, 1654-55.

A T this period, the throne of Sweden was occupied by Gustavus Adolphus, a monarch of the most enlightened views and heroic valor. Seeing the activity of surrounding nations in sending out colonies, he proposed to his people to found a commonwealth in the New World, not for the mere purpose of gain by trade, but to set up a refuge for the oppressed, a place of religious liberty and happy homes that should prove of advantage to "all oppressed Christendom." Accordingly, a company with ample privileges was incorpo. rated by the Swedish Government, to which the King himself pledged $400,000 of the royal treasure, and men of every rank and nationality were invited to join in the enterprise. Gustavus desired not that his colony should depend upon serfs or slaves to do the rough work. "Slaves cost a great deal, labor with reluctance, and soon perish from hard usage. The Swedish nation is laborious and intelligent, and surely we shall gain more by a free people with wives and children."

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In the meantime, the fruits of the reformation in Germany were menaced, and the Swedish monarch determined to unsheath his sword and lead his people to the aid of Protestant faith in the land where its standard had been successfully raised. At the battle of Lutzen, where for the cause which he had espoused, a signal victory was gained, the illustrious monarch, in the flower of life, received a mortal wound. Previous to the battle, and while engaged in active preparations for the great struggle, he remembered the interests of his contemplated colony in America, and in a most earnest manner commended the enterprise to the people of Germany.

Oxenstiern, the minister of Gustavus, upon whom the weight of govern- ment devolved during the minority of the young daughter, Christina, declared that he was but the executor of the will of the fallen King, and exerted him- self to further the interests of a colony which he believed would be favorable to "all Christendom, to Europe, to the whole world." Four years however elapsed before the project was brought to a successful issue. Peter Minuit, who had for a time been Governor of New Netherlands, having been displaced, sought employment in the Swedish company, and was given the command of the first colony. Two vessels, the Key of Calmar and the Griffin, early in the year 1638, with a company of Swedes and Fins, made their way across the stormy Atlantic and arrived safely in the Delaware. They purchased of the Indiane the lands from the ocean to the falls of Trenton, and at the mouth of Christina Creek erected a fort which they called Christina, after the name of the youthful Queen of Sweden. The soil was fruitful, the climate mild, and the scenery picturesque. Compared with many parts of Finland and Sweden, it was a Paradise, a name which had been given the point at the entrance of the bay. As tidings of the satisfaction of the first emigrants were borne back to the fatherland, the desire to seek a home in the new country spread rap- idly, and the ships sailing were unable to take the many families seeking pas- sage.

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History of Erie county, Pennsylvania. Containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, villages schools, churches, industries, etc, Part 4

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