USA > Pennsylvania > Lancaster County > History of Lancaster and York Counties > Part 2
USA > Pennsylvania > York County > History of Lancaster and York Counties > Part 2
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ber of men, chosen on both sides. With this he appointed commissioners to treat with the Indians, about purchasing land, and promised them, that he would shortly come and converse with them in person." Belknap, II. 40.
*The Indians at the Swedish settlement were very industrious and civilized. They sold the use of the land very cheap: 400 acres of land for a yard of baize or a bottle of brandy. They had large fields of maize, beans, gourds, pumpkins, melons, &c., with orchards of plum and peaches. Holm confirms this, and even says that the squaws spun and wove cloth of yarn, out of nettles, and wild hemp, which Kalm called Apocynum cannabinum. MSS. Remarks on the early His. Pa. p. 13.
2*
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places within the present limits of Delaware and Penn- sylvania; among these may be enumerated, Mocoponaca, the present town of Chester, Manaiung, a fort at the mouth of the Schuylkill. They seemed to flourish; but amid their prosperity, some envied them; for it appears, the Dutch colonists viewed the Swedes as rivals, or in- truders. Notwithstanding the solemn protestations of the Swedes, the Dutch built a fort in 1651, at New Castle, in the very heart of New Sweden. Risingh, Printz's suc- cessor, by a well matured stratagem, displaced the intru- ders. This success did not daunt the Dutch ;- viewed as an insult to them, Peter Stuyvesant, Dutch governor, em- barked at New Amsterdam, with an armament consisting of six vessels, and seven hundred choice men; invaded New Sweden; reduced the whole colony, in 1655. Al- though the Swedish empire was of brief destiny; the tri- umph of the Dutch was alike short. "In 1664, Charles II. of England, regardless of previous settlements by others, deemed it not inexpedient to grant all the large territory, not only of New Netherland, but New Sweden, to his brother, the Duke of York : and the country was taken possession of by an expedition of three ships and six hundred men, under the command of Col. Richard Nichols. New Amsterdam was thenceforth called New York." The Duke's grant, from the King, also included New Jersey. He likewise obtained Delaware. In 1682 William Penn purchased New Castle, and the country for a compass of twelve miles around it, of the Duke of York; and afterwards extended his purchase to Cape Henlopen. This country, called the Lower Counties of Delaware, remained a portion of the colony of Pennsyl- vania, till 1703.
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CHAPTER II.
William Penn born-How he was made acquainted with this country-In -. strumental in settling West New Jersey-Obtains a charter for Pennsyl- vania-First purchasers embark for America-Markham's instructions- He holds a Treaty with the Indians-Penn arrives in America-Convenes an Assembly at Upland-Interview with Lord Baltimore-Religious visit -Visits New Jersey ; the Duke of York; his friends on Long Island; returns to Philadelphia ; holds his grand Treaty with the Indians-More arrivals from Europe-Emigrants provide shelters-Form plantations- Philadelphia laid out-Counties organized-Second Asssembly convoked ยท -Penn obliged to return to Europe.
WILLIAM PENN, the Founder of Pennsylvania, born in London, October 16, 1644, was the grand-son of Giles Penn, and son of Sir William, an Admiral of the Eng- lish Navy. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, where, on hearing Thomas Loe, a quaker of eminence, he imbibed his principles, which a few years afterwards he publicly professed. He was in consequence, twice turned out doors by his father. In 1668 he began to preach in public, and to write in defence of his embraced doctrines. For this he was twice incarcerated, and once brought to trial. It was during his first imprisonment that he wrote-No CROSS, No CROWN. In 1672, he married Gulielma Maria Springett, a lady of his religious principles. In 1677, he visited Holland and Germany, to propagate his favorite doctrines. He devoted much of his time to preaching, writing, and visiting several coun- tries on the continent, and Ireland.
To show the reader how Penn, whom Montesquieu denominates the modern Lycurgus, the real founder of
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Pennsylvania, was made acquainted with the country, it will be necessary to briefly notice a train of circum- stances which led to results of so much magnitude to the world, as the colonization of Pennsylvania-"the asy- lum of the oppressed."
In or about the year 1675, says Proud, Lord Berkeley sold his half of the province of New Jersey to a person named John Fenwick, in trust for Edward Byllinge, and his assigns, in consequence of which the former, this year, arrived with a number of passengers, in a ship called Griffith, from London, on a visit to his new pur- chase. He landed at a place, in West Jersey, situated upon a creek, or small river, which runs into the river Delaware; to which place he gave the name Salem; a name which both the place and creek still retain. This was the first English ship which came to West Jersey; and it was near two years before any more followed .- This long interval is supposed to have been occasioned by a disagreement between Fenwick and Byllinge; which was at last composed by the kind offices of Wil- liam Penn.
Byllinge, having been reduced in circumstances, had agreed to present his interest in New Jersey to his cred- itors, by whose entreaty and importunity William Penn, though, it is said, with reluctance, was prevailed upon to become joint trustee with two of them, Gawen Lawrie, of London, and Nicholas Lucas, of Hertford, for the manage- ment thereof. These he invested with his own moiety of the province; it being all his remaining fortune, for the sat- isfaction of his creditors. Hence William Penn became one of the chief instruments in settling West New Jer- sey; and thereby acquired a knowledge of the adjacent country of Pennsylvania, before it had that name, or
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was granted to him .* Having learned the advantages offered to settlers in West New Jersey, he spared neither pains nor time to point out to brethren of the same faith the benefits to be derived in settling here; and, on his suggestions, many of them emigrated thither, pur- chased land, and built towns and villages, principally on the eastern shore of the Delaware river; and several of them settled as early as 1675, at Upland, now Chester, Kensington, and several other places, on the west bank of the Delaware.
Having spent much time in the laudable employment of ameliorating the condition of others, he projected the- design to colonize the country contiguous to that, which he had been the chief instrument to settle; he availed himself of his favorite estimation, which the eminent services of his father had gained him, and petitioned: King Charles II. that in lieu of a large sum of money,, due his father, from the government,t at the time of his- death, letters patent might be granted him, for a tract of land in America, "lying north of Maryland; on the east,. bounded by Delaware river; on the west, limited as. Maryland; and northward, to extend as far as plantable."
*Proud I. 136, 137. Penn despatched no less than eight hun- dred settlers during the year 1677-"78, for West New Jersey ;. these were mostly Quakers and persons of property and res- pectability.
+His father, distinguished, in English History, by the con- quest of Jamaica, and by his conduct, discretion and courage in the signal battle against the Dutch in 1665, bequeathed to his son, a claim on the government for sixteen thousand pounds. Massachusetts had bought Maine for a little more than one: thousand pounds; then, and long afterwards, colonial property was lightly esteemed; and to the prodigal Charles II .. always. embarrassed for money, the grant of a province seemed the, easiest mode of cancelling the debt-Bancroft, II. 303.
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His request being duly considered by the King, by the Privy Council, and by the Lords of the Committee of Trade and Plantations; and Lord North, Chief Jus tice; and Sir William Jones, the Attorney General, having been consulted, William Penn obtained, amidst great opposition, a royal charter from Charles II. bearing date, Westminster, March 4, 1681.
Having been, by virtue of this charter, constituted sole proprietary of Pennsylvania,. he made sales of lands to adventurers, called first purchasers, who embarked some at London, others at Bristol, in 1681, for America, and arrived, " at the place where Chester now stands, on the 11th of December." Among these was William Markham, a relative of the proprietary, whom he had appointed deputy governor, and certain commissioners, with plenary powers, and instructions to confer with the Indians, respecting their lands, and to confirm with them a league of peace. From these instructions, to the deputy governor and to the commissioners, it will be seen, the examples set by the New England States, by Calvert, Williams, by the Swedes, Carteret and others to pur- chase the right of soil from the Aborigines, were honorably followed by Penn, notwithstanding the principle which had obtained among European nations, "to wrest the soil by force" from the people to whom it naturally belonged. It needs scarce repetition, in this place, to state, " it has been erroneously supposed that Markham, or Penn, was the first man who purchased lands from the Aboriginal Americans! ! "
Markham, in obedience to his instructions, held a treaty in June, 1682, with the Indians, and purchased lands from them, as appears from a deed, dated July 15, 1682, signed by Idquahon, Iannottowe, Idquoqueywon, Sa- hoppe, for himself and Okonichon, Swampisse, Na-
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hoosey, Tomackhickow, Weskekitt and Talawsis, Indian Shackamakers. Markham made several purchases pre- vious to the arrival of Penn, who with many of his friends, chiefly from Sussex, sailed for America, and landed at New Castle on the 27th October, 1682, where he was received with demonstrations of joy. Penn then went to Upland, now called Chester, where he convened an assembly on the 4th of December. This body, dur- ing a session of three days, enacted several important laws, one of which was an act to naturalize the Dutch, Swedes, and other foreigners.
Penn was devoted to the interest of the colony; he lost no time in delays. No sooner, according to Gordon, had the assembly adjourned, than Penn hastened to Maryland, to see Lord Baltimore, who had set up claims, arising from an indistinctness of grant, touch- ing the boundary lines between the two provinces, which caused much disquiet to the border colonists-with the intention, if possible to adjust the difficulties, he spent several days, without being able to effect the object of his interview with Lord Baltimore. The negotiation was postponed till next spring .* The dispute was finally settled, in 1762! Penn spent some time in Maryland, in religious visits, and then returned to Chester.
*Lord Baltimore relied on the priority and distinctness of his own title ; while Penn defended a later and more indistinct grant, on a plea which had been suggested to him by the Committee of Plantations of England-that it had never been intended to confer on Lord Baltimore any other territory but such as was inhabited by savages only, at the date of his charter; and that the language of the charter was, therefore, inconsistent with its intendent, in so far as it seemed to au- thorize his claim to any part of the region previously colonized by the Swedes and Dutch-Graham, II. 341; also, See Ap- pendix A.
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"From Chester, tradition describes the journey of Penn to have been continued with a few friends, in an open boat, in the earliest days of November, to the beautiful bank, fringed with Pine trees, on which the city of Philadelphia was soon to rise." The following weeks, Penn, from a natural impulse, visited New Jersey, New York, the metropolis of his neighbor proprietary, the Duke of York, and, after meeting friends on Long Island, he returned to the banks of the Delaware.
To this period belongs his first grand treaty with the Indians. It was held contiguous to Philadelphia .- Here, Penn, with a few friends, met the numerous dele- gation of the Lenni Lenape tribes. Here he confirmed what he had promised the Indians through Markham; under the bleak, frost-shorn forest, Penn proclaimed to the men of the Algonquin race, from both banks of the Delaware, from the borders of the Schuylkill, and it may be, for the news had spread far and wide, that the Quaker King was come, even to Mengwis from the shores of the Susquehanna, the message of peace and love, which George Fox had professed before Cromwell, and Mary Fisher had borne to the Grand Turk. "The English and Indians should respect the same moral law, should be alike secure in their pursuits, and in their- possessions, and adjust every difference by a peaceful tribunal, composed of an equal number of men from each race."
"We meet, said Penn, on the broad pathway of good faith, and good will; no advantage shall be taken on either side, but all shall be openess and love. I will not call you children; for parents sometimes ehide their chil- dren too severely; nor brothers only; for brothers differ. The friendship between me and you, I will not compare to a chain; for that the rains might rust, or the falling
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tree might break. We are the same, as if one man's body were divided into two parts; we are all one flesh and one blood.".
These touches of pathetic eloquence, clothed by the `sacredness of that sound doctrine which flowed from the speaker, reached their understandings, affected their hearts, assuaged their revenge, and removed their guile. They received the presents of Penn with more than mere formality, it was with sincere cordiality ; they accepted his gifts, and in friendship gave him the belt of wampum. "We, exclaimed they, as with a sound of many waters, will live in love with William Penn and his children, as long as the moon and the sun shall endure."
This treaty of peace and friendship was made under the open sky, by the side of the Delaware, with the sun, the river, and the leafless forest, for witness. It was not confirmed by an oath: it was not ratified by signa- tures and seals: no written record of the conferences can be found; and its terms and conditions, had no abiding monument but on the heart .* There they were written like the law of God, and were never forgotten. The artless sons of the wilderness, returning to their wigwams and their cabins, would count over shells on a clean piece of bark, and recall to their memory, and repeat to their children, or to the stranger, the words of the Quaker King. This treaty, executed without oath, was inviola- bly kept for forty six years, on the part of the natives.t
It has been well observed that the benevolence of Wil- liam Penn's disposition led him to exercise great tender- ness towards the tawny sons of the woods, which, however, was much increased by the opinion he had formed, and which he boldly and ingenuously avowed, supporting it
*Bancroft, II. 382.
t Col. Rec. III. 301-350.
3
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by plausible inductions, that they were the ten dispersed tribes of Israel .* He travelled into the country, visited them in their cabins, was present at their feasts, conversed with them in a free and familiar manner, and gained their affections by his affability, and repeated acts of generosity. On public occasions, he did not forget the dignity of his station; he always received them with ceremony, trans- acted business with solemnity and becoming order.
In one of his excursions in the winter, he found a chief warrior sick, and his wife preparing to sweat him, in the usual manner, by pouring water on a heap of heated stones, in a closely covered hut, and then plunging him into the river, through a hole cut in the ice. To divert himself during the sweating operation, the chief sang the exploits of his ancestors, then his own, and concluded his song with this reflection: Why are we sick, and these strangers well? It seems as if they were sent to inherit the land in our stead! Ah! it is because they love the Great Mannitto-the Great. Spirit, and we do not !- The sentiment was rational, and such as often occurred to the sagacious among the natives. It cannot have been disagreeable to Penn, to hear such sentiments uttered, whose view it was to impress them with an idea of his honest and pacific intentions, and to make a fair bargain with them. Some of their chiefs made him a voluntary present of the land which they claimed; others sold it at a stipulated price. Penn himself described one of these interviews in a letter to a friend of his in England.t
The same year Penn arrived, there was quite an ac- cession; between twenty and thirty ships landed with passengers, and the two next succeeding years settlers from London, Bristol, Ireland, Wales, Holland, Germany,
*Proud, I. 259.
+Belknap, II. 413.
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&c. arrived to the number of about fifty sail; among these were German Quakers, from Cresheim, near Worms, in the Palatinate. The banks of the Delaware presented motion and life. "On landing, they set bustling about to procure shelter. Some lodged in the woods in hollow trees, some under the extended boughs of trees, some in caves which were easily dug on the high banks of the Wissahickon and the Delaware, and others in haste erected huts. They were abundantly supplied with wood, water, and fertile land." Nor had they been for- getful to bring with them, the necessary implements for building and husbandry. Having now housed, treed, or caved, their provisions and portable property, under such shelter as they could find, or had provided, some were procuring warrants of survey for taking up so much land as was sufficient for immediate settling, "others 'went diversely further into the woods where their lands were laid out; often without any path or road, to direct them, for scarce any were to be found above two miles from the water side; not so much as any mark or sign of any European having been there. All the country, fur- ther than about two miles from the river, except the Indians' movable settlements, was an entire wilderness, producing nothing for the support of human life, but "the wild fruits and animals of the woods."*
They soon formed plantations of Indian corn and wheat. The forest furnished deer, rabits, squirrels, young bears, wild turkeys of enormous size, pigeons; the rivers abounded with fish, such as sturgeons, shad, rock, her- ring, perch, trout, salmon; the fruits of the woods were chestnuts, grapes of diverse sorts; walnuts, cranberries. "The first settlers endured some hardships, it is true, but
*Proud, I. 220.
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they were in a rich country, and their knowledge of re- sources, and of the free institutions which they were about to transmit to their posterity, enabled them to conquer all difficulties."*
"At the close of the year 1682, according to Gordon, the proprietary, with the assistance of his Surveyor General, Thomas Holme, proceeded to. lay out his promised city, Philadelphia. During the first year eighty houses were erected in the city, and an equitable The
and profitable trade opened with the Indians.
Governor chose his own residence in a manor, which he called Pennsbury, situated a few miles below the falls of the Delaware, and about twenty-five from the city, where he built a large and convenient brick house, having an extensive hall for his Indian conferences."
"The survey of the country inhabited by Europeans: having been completed, the proprietary, in 1682, divided it into six counties; three in the province of Pennsyl- vanla and the like number in the territory of Delaware. Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester, in Pennsylvania-and Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex, in Delaware. The county organization was completed by the appointment of sheriffs and other officers." t
The state of affairs rendered it necessary for a second assemblyt to be convoked, which met at Philadelphia,
*Frost.
tThe sheriffs of each county in Pennsylvania, were, for Philadelphia county, John Tost; for Bucks, Richard Noble; for Chester, Thomas Usher.
#Members of the second assembly, for Chester county, were, John Hoskins, Robert Wade, George Wood, John Blunston, Dennis Rochford, Thomas Bracy, John Bezer, John Harding, Joseph Phipps.
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March 12th, 1683. During this session Penn created a second frame of government, differing in some points from the former, to which the assembly readily assented. They also enacted a variety of salutary regulations, by which the growing prosperity of the province was pro- moted, and its peace and order preserved. In 1684, the province and territories were divided into twenty-two townships, containing 7,000 inhabitants, of whom 2,500 resided in Philadelphia .* This city already comprised three hundred houses."
On information received from his agent that his presence was needed in England, and another addi- tional cause, his dispute with Lord Baltimore, Penn sailed for Europe, August 16, 1684; leaving the province under the government of five commissioners, chosen from the Provincial council. Previous to his departure he had made, according to Oldmixon, a league of amity with nineteen Indian nations, between them and all the English America
*John Key, born 1682, in a cave, long afterwards known by the name of Penny-pot, near Sas afras street, was the first child born of English parents in Philadelphia, in compliment of which William Penn gave him a lot of ground; he died at Kennet, in Chester county, July 5, 1767, aged 85 years .- Proud ..
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CHAPTER III.
Brief sketch of the History of Pennsylvania, from 1684 to 1699-Pro- vincial Executives from 1684 to 1699-Boundaries of Chester county determined-Increase of population-First mills in Chester, county- Penn's effort to improve the condition of the natives-Efforts to christianize the Indians-Penn's new treaty with Susquehanna, Shawanese and Ganawese, &c. nations-A new form of Government framed-Penn appoints Andrew Hamilton, Deputy Governor-Sails for England.
As it will be necessary to occasionally recur to the main history of Pennsylvania, and in order to preserve some connection in the narrative of events of the period between Penn's departure, in 1684, for Europe, and his return, in 1699, to America, a brief historical sketch of that time is given, though some of the incidents con- nected with the early settlements of Lancaster county, and to which the order of time has not yet brought us, are thereby anticipated.
Soon after Penn's return to England, Charles II. died, February 6, 1684-5; and James II. ascended the throne, who was proclaimed King in the province, May 2d, 1685. "Penn's attachment to the Stuart family induced him to adhere to this unfortunate monarch till long after his fall ;* and for two years after the revolu- tion which placed William, Prince of Orange, and Mary, the daughter of James, on the throne, the province was administered in the name of James. This could not fail to draw down the indignation of King William on the devoted head of the proprietary, who suffered much persecution for his unflinching loyalty. He was four
*James abdicated, and went to France, December 23, 1688 .- Blair's Chronol.
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times imprisoned. The King took the government of Pennsylvania into his own hands; and appointed Colonel Fletcher to administer the government of this province, as well as that of New York. It at length became apparent to the King, that Penn's attachment to the Stuarts was merely personal, and not attended with any treasonable designs; and he was restored to favor .- Being permitted to resume and exercise his rights, he appointed William Markham to be his Deputy Go- vernor."*
"In 1699, the assembly complained to Governor Markham of a breach of their chartered privileges; and in consequence of their remonstrance, a bill of settle- ment, proposed and passed by the assembly, was ap- proved by the Governor, forming the third frame of government of Pennsylvania. This constitution was more democratic than the former."
"In 1699, Penn again visited his colony, accompanied by his family, with the design of spending the remainder of his life among his people. He was disappointed, however, by finding the colonists dissatisfied with the existing state of things. Negro slavery, and the inter- course with the Indian tribes, were the subjects of much
*Provincial Executives during Penn's absence :
1. Council and President, Thomas Lloyd, from August, 1684, to December, 1688.
2. John Blackwell, Deputy Governor, from December, 1688, to February, 1689.
3. Council and President, Thomas Lloyd, from 1689, to April, 1693.
4. Benjamin Fletcher, Governor, from April, 1693,, to June, 1693.
5. William Markham, Deputy Governor, from June, 1693, to 1699, when Penn arrived.
.
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unpleasant altercation between the proprietary and the colonists. Certain laws which he proposed for regulat- ing these affairs, were rejected by the assembly. His exertions, in recommending a liberal system to his own sect, were attended with better success, and the final abolition of slavery, in Pennsylvania, was ultimately owing to these powerful influences."*
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