History of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania and a genealogical and biographical record of its families, Vol. I, Part 15

Author: Roberts, Charles Rhoads; Stoudt, John Baer, 1878- joint comp; Krick, Thomas H., 1868- joint comp; Dietrich, William Joseph, 1875- joint comp; Lehigh County Historical Society
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Allentown, Pa. : Lehigh Valley Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1158

USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > History of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania and a genealogical and biographical record of its families, Vol. I > Part 15

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FIRST SETTLEMENT AS PART OF BUCKS COUNTY.

East fifty six pches to a marked Hickery, South one Deg, 30 Mints, West seventy eight pchs to a Post, Thence South twenty Degs, West one hundred and twenty four pchs to a marked white Oak, Thence along the land of Christo- pher Newman, South Six Degs, 30 Mints, East forty pchs to a Post, South thirty Degs, East forty pches to a marked black Oak, Thence along vacant Land South twenty eight Degs, 30 Mints, East thirty four pches to a marked white Oak, Thence South nine Degs, East eighty perches, to a marked black Oak, Thence South thirty six Degs, West forty six pches to a marked Hickery, Thence along Martin Ter's Land, South twenty five Degs, West twenty six pches to a Post, South five Degs, East thirty six pches to a Post, Thence South ten Degs, East seventy two pches to a marked white Oak, South twenty one Degs, East forty four pches to a Post on the North West side of the said road leading from Cosshehoppa, thro' North Wales to Philadia, opposite to a marked white Oak, near a great Rock on the South East side of the same Road, Laid out the 16th day of August, Ao. Di., 1735.

his "ROBERT X. THOMAS, Mark "JOHN ROBERTS, "HUGH EVANS, "JAN. JANSEN."

The Board on Due Consideration had of the said Return, and of the Draught accompanying it, doth approve and Confirm the Road, laid out as in the said Return mentioned, which is hereby declared to be the King's Highway or Public Road, and It is ordered that the same be forthwith cleared & rendered commodious for the Public Service."

UPPER MILFORD TOWNSHIP ORGANIZED.

The first township organized in the territory now Lehigh county was that of Upper Milford, embracing the present townships of Upper and Lower Milford. On June 10, 1737, Peter Wal- ber, Ulrich Reaser, Mathias Ochs, Johannes Mey- er, Joseph Henckel, Daniel Rausch, Heinrich Wil helm Dillinger, Heinrich Riesz, Christian Biegel, William Bitz, Jacob Wetzel, Johannes Beltzart, Theobald Mechlin, Johannes Post, Melchior Stecher, Michael Koehler, Felix Brunner, Jacob Derry, Michael Zimmerman, William Langhorst, Martin Weitknecht, Johannes Baumgaertner and Hannes Ord presented a petition to the Bucks county court, then sitting at Newtown, asking for the section of country in which they lived to be laid out in a township. The new township was surveyed by John Chapman and named Upper

Milford. The present township of Milford in Bucks county was then called Lower Milford. The surveyor's report to the court was as fol- lows :

"By virtue of an order of last court to me di- rected, and at the request of the inhabitants, these may certify that I have surveyed and laid out the said township, beginning at the northeast corner of Milford township at a chestnut, being the corner of the said township and then running northwest over Lawick hills, six miles from the said corner of said township to a marked white oak, then south west along the back side 300 chains, then to the top and over the hill to five miles and a half to the county line to a heap of stones, then down the county line southeast six miles to the other corner of Milford township, then along the said township line northeast five miles and a half to the place of beginning. Surveyed the 13th day of the first month, (March) 1738.

JOHN CHAPMAN, Surveyor".

The territory, according to Chapman's survey, contained thirty-three square miles, or 21, 120 acres.

SAUCON TOWNSHIP ORGANIZED.

A number of the inhabitants of Upper Saucon petitioned the Bucks county court for the estab- lishment of a township, as follows :

"To the Worshipful the Justices of the Court of Quarter Sessions, held at Newtown the Seven- teenth day of June, 1742.

"Several of the Inhabitants on and near Saucon, Humbly Sheweth, That we were desirous that a township might be laid out and last April the sur- veyor being here, conveniently sitting, we got him to lay out a township and we the subscribers hum- bly crave that your Honours would be pleased to confirm the same, and we the Inhabitants in the said place unanimously agree to call the township Saucun. And we, the Subscribers, as in duty bound shall ever acknowledge."

Christian Newcomb John Yoder

Philip Kisinger John Reeser

George Sobus Christian Smith

Henry Rinkard Henry Bowman

Samuel Newcumb

Joseph Samuel

Benidick Koman

William Murry

Felty Staymetz

Michael Weber

Henry Rinkard, Jur.

John Apple Jacob Gongwer

George Troon Adam Wanner Owen Owen

Henry Keiber

George Bachman

George Marksteler

Thos. Owen John Williams

Henry Rumfeld

John Tool John Thomas

Isaac Samuel

HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

The petition is endorsed, "Petition from Sau- kunk, 1742," and in March, 1743, the township was ordered to be erected.

MACUNGIE TOWNSHIP ORGANIZED.

Macungie township was the next to be or- ganized. Edward Scull surveyed the proposed township at the request of the inhabitants on Jan. 28, 1742, and on June 16, 1743, they pre- sented their petition to the Bucks county court, as follows :

"To the Honourable Justices of the Peace hold- ing Court at Newtown, the Sixteenth day of June, 1743 :

"The humble petition of us, the Inhabitants of Macongy, humbly sheweth that your Petitioners lived this many years without any Township layd out but have been at the charge of having it sur- veyed. We desire that you in your goodness would be pleased to confirm the same unto us, your Petitioners, according to this Draught an- nexed, and your Petitioners as per Duty bound, shall ever Pray."

Peter Tracksler Melchor Smith

Henry Shoeth George Stininger

Jere, Tracksler Jacob Mier

Jere Tracksler George Hayn

Frederick Romig Adam Koch

Peter Walbert, Jun.

Casper Mier

Philip Smier

Kayde Grim

Joseph Allbright John Clymer

Jacob Wagner Adam Brous

The court records state: "Petition read June, 1743, from Macungie for a township. Ordered that the Prayer of the Petitioners be granted un- less some reasons be offered to the Court against it.

"Boundaries of Macungie township, 1743. The Petition of Divers Inhabitants was read shewing that the Petitioners have lived many years with- out a township, but have now been at the charge of surveying and they pray that it may be con- firmed, according to ye Draft annexed, that is, Beginning at a White Oak at the upper corner of Milford township, thence by ye same township, southwest 1920 perches to a post in ye County line, thence by ye said line northwest 2600 perches to a post, thence by vacant land, northeast 320 perches to a post, southeast 200 perches to a post, northeast 1600 perches to a chestnut oak and southeast 2400 perches to the beginning. 21, 200 acres. Ordered that the prayer be granted un- less it may be shewn to the contrary."

In this year, 1743, the township contained six hundred and fifty inhabitants. These three town- ships were the only ones erected while Lehigh county was a part of Bucks county.

NORTHAMPTON COUNTY ORGANIZED, 1752.

Northampton county, at the time of its di- vision from Bucks, embraced all the land con- tained in the counties of Northampton, Lehigh, Carbon, Monroe, Pike, Wayne, and Susque- hanna, and parts of Wyoming, Luzerne, Schuyl- kill, Bradford and Columbia. The project of a division of Bucks county had been discussed as early as 1745. The upper portion of the county was inhabited by Germans who affiliated politi- cally with the Quakers. The proprietary party therefore planned the erection of a new county, and, by setting off the Germans in a new county, deprive the Quakers of their support, and thus restore the control of old Bucks to the govern- ment party. The Quakers were inclined to make a strong and determined opposition to the project, but the Germans, who objected to the remoteness of the county-seat, Newtown, and who believed they could control the affairs of the new county as easily as they had those of the old one, were in favor of the proposition.

Thomas Penn wrote to Governor Hamilton on Feb. 25, 1750: "I am greatly alarmed to find that the Germans behave so insolently at the elections ; they must, no doubt, do so from the numbers giv- en them at the back counties. The taking of coun- ties from Bucks and Philadelphia will take off our settlements, and leave them only two members of eight, and prevent them, for many years, from having a majority."

The first petition, which was signed by a great number of the inhabitants of the upper part of Bucks county, was presented to the Assembly by William Craig, on May II, 1751. It was read the second time on June 16th, and on the 5th, 6th, IIth, 18th, 20th, 2Ist and 22nd of February, 1752, it was the subject of debate. It finally passed on March 6th, and was signed by Governor James Hamilton on March II, 1752. The act read as follows:

"Whereas, a great number of the inhabitants of the upper parts of the county of Bucks, by their petition, have hereby represented to the Governor and the Assembly of this province, the great hardships they lay under, by being so re- mote from the present seat of judicature and the public offices ; that the necessary means to be used for obtaining justice is attended with so much dif- ficulty and expense, that many forego their right, rather than attempt the recovery of it under such circumstances ; while others, sensible of these dif- ficulties, commit great villanies with impunity. For remedying whereof, and for the relief of the inhabitants, Be it enacted by the Hon. James Hamilton, Lieutenant-Governor, under the Hon. Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, true and sol- vent Proprietaries of the province of Pennsyl-

FIRST SETTLEMENT AS PART OF BUCKS COUNTY.

vania, and of the counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, upon Delaware, by and with the ad- vice and consent of the representatives of the freemen of the said province, in General Assem- bly met, and by authority of the same, that all and singular the lands, lying within the province of Pennsylvania aforesaid, be erected into a county; and the same is hereby erected into a county, named and hereinafter to be called North- ampton; to be divided from the county of Bucks by the upper, or northwestern line of Durham tract, to the upper corner thereof; thence to be run by a straight line southwestwardly to the line dividing the township of Upper and Lower Milford; thence along the said line to the line dividing Philadelphia and Bucks counties; and thence by a line to the extremities of the said province."

The Assembly did not name the new county, but Thomas Penn, in a letter to Governor Ham- ilton, dated London, Sept. 3, 1751, wrote: "Whenever there is a new county, it shall be called Northampton." The seat of Lord Pom- fret, whose daughter Thomas Penn had married, was in Northamptonshire, in England.

William Craig was very active in this matter, and was paid £30, in 1754, out of the county funds, for remuneration for loss of time and ex- pense. By the provisions of the act, Easton was made the county seat and Thomas Craig, Hugh . Wilson, John Jones, Thomas Armstrong and James Martin, were all, or any of them, empow- ered as trustees to purchase a site for and build a court house and prison and a sum of money, not to exceed £300, was to be raised, by tax, for that purpose. The influence of the Penns pro- cured the selection of Easton as the seat of jus- tice, and many of the residents of the western por- tion were greatly dissatisfied, claiming that Easton was even more inaccessible to them than New- town.

The population of the county at that time, 1752, was about as follows :

Smithfield, formed in 1742, 500 Milford, " 1742, 700

Upper Saucon, " 1743, 650

Lower Saucon, " 1743, 700

Macungie, 1746, 650

Bethlehem, 1746, 600

Allen, 1748, 300 Williams, " I 750, . 200

The territory subsequently formed into the townships of Lynn, Weisenberg, Heidel- berg, Lowhill, Whitehall and Salisbury, about, 800

Other parts of the county, including Easton, 800

Total, 5,900

Of these, there were about 600 Scotch-Irish in Allen and Mount Bethel townships and 300 Dutch in Smithfield, while the remainder were nearly all Germans.

The first session of court in the county was held at Easton on June 16, 1752, and in the docket is thus recorded :

"At a court of record of our Lord the King, held at Easton, for the county of Northampton, the 16th day of June, in the 26th year of our sovereign Lord George the Second, by the grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ire- land, &c., A. D. 1752, before Thomas Craig, Timothy Horsefield, Hugh Wilson, James Mar- tin and William Craig, justices of the Lord the King, the peace in the said county to keep, as also divers trespasses and felonies, and other offences in the said county committed, to hear and deter- mine assigned."

The second court was held Oct. 3, 1752, and at this session the first grand jury was empanelled, consisting of Samuel Depui, foreman; James Ralston, William Casselbury, Robert Gregg, James Horner, John Atkinson, and John Walker, of Allen township; Robert Lyle, Alexander Miller and Michael Moore, of Mount Bethel; Charles Broadhead, Garret Brink, Issac Van Campen and Benjamin Shoemaker, of Smithfield ; David Owen and John Cooken, of Upper Sau- con; Lewis Merkle, of Macungie and Nathaniel Vernon, of Easton.

The first election was held at Easton on Oct. I, 1752, when James Burnsides was elected mem- ber of the Assembly, William Craig, Sheriff, and Robert Gregg, Peter Trexler and Benjamin Shoemaker, Commissioners.

ORGANIZATION OF OTHER TOWNSHIPS.

At the first court a petition, presented for the erection of Whitehall township, read :

"To the Worshipful the Justices of the County Court of Quarter Sessions held at Easton for the County of Northampton, the 16th June, 1752.

The humble Petition of divers of the Inhabi- tants of the said county situate in the back parts of Hydleberg and Macongy, sheweth.

That there being a considerable number of In- habitants settled in the back parts of Hydelberg and Macongy to a large extent and have not yet been formed into a Township. Your Petitioners therefore pray that a line may be run dividing your Petitioners from Hydelberg and. Macongy to form a Township.

And your Petitioners shall pray.

Jacob Yont John Shett

George Kern Jacob Wirth

Lohrentz Guth Reynard Benny

John Troxell

HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Petition for a new Township allowed and Mr. Scull, Surveyor, to run out the lines."

On March 20, 1753, the court records state, "Now, March 20, 1753, Whitehall township is returned and allowed." Heidelberg township was established at the same time.

Weisenberg township was established in 1753, in response to a petition presented to the court on

March 20th, by Daniel Knauss, Conrad Grimm and Philip Wendel Klein.

Salisbury township was established by the court on June 9, 1753, and on the same day Lynn town- ship was erected. Lowhill township was erected by the court on Dec. 18, 1753, in compliance with a petition presented by Peter Derr.

Hanover township was erected in 1798 out of the lower part of Allen township.

CHAPTER VI.

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 1754-1758.

The French and Indian War, begun in 1754, was the fourth inter-colonial war between the English and French colonists in America. The English population in the colonies then slightly exceeded one million, while the French, who had, as traders, great influence over many of the In- dian tribes, numbered one hundred thousand, in- habiting the regions of Nova Scotia, the St. Law- rence, and a line of trading posts in the valley of the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. Out- wardly there was peace, but inward war, be- tween the colonists and it needed only a small matter to kindle the flame of hostilities. After the capture of Louisburg in 1745, the French had taken measures to extend and strengthen their dominion in America. They built, in 1753, Fort Presque Isle, on the site of the present city of Erie: Fort Le Boeuf, where the village of Waterford, Erie county, is located; and in April, 1754, Fort Machault, usually called Venango or French creek. These encroachments alarmed the English, and late in 1753, Lieutenant Gov- ernor Dinwiddie of Virginia, sent George Wash- ington, then a young man of twenty-one, to the French commander of these forts to demand an explanation of their designs, and he was told that the matter would be laid before the Gov- ernor General of Canada for reply but that the country would be held as ordered.

In January, 1754, a company of militia was authorized to co-operate with the Ohio com- pany, an association formed in 1748, in their occupancy of the territory. Under Captain William Trent they arrived at the Forks of the Ohio on February 19, 1754, and proceeded to lay out the ground and erect a fort, but on April 16, 1754, were surprised by a large force of French under Contrecoeur and compelled to sur- render. The fortification was completed by the French and named Fort Duquesne in honor of the then Governor General of Canada, Marquis du Quesne.

Orders were immediately dispatched by the British cabinet to the various Governors of the Provinces, directing them to resort to force in defense of their rights and to drive the French from their station on the Ohio. Unsuccessful in their attempt the colonists appealed to the British government, and Major General Edward

Braddock was sent with the Forty-fourth and Forty-eighth regiments of Royal troops, each consisting of five hundred men, arriving at Alex- andria, Va., on February 20th, 1755. With the addition of Virginia, Maryland, and New York companies of provincial troops, he crossed the Alleghany mountains at the head of twenty- two hundred men, with a train of artillery ac- companied by some two hundred Indians. One of the New York companies was commanded by Captain Gates, afterwards the hero of Saratoga. Through the exertions of Dr. Benjamin Frank- lin, principally, one hundred and fifty wagons and two thousand horses from Pennsylvania were added to Braddock's produce train. Scar- oodaya, successor to the Half-King* of the Sen- ecas and Monacatootha, with about one hundred and fifty Senecas and Delawares accompanied him. George Croghan, the Indian agent of Pennsylvania, and Susquehanna Jack, a friendly Indian of great value were also with him. On the morning of July 9, 1755, the little army ford- ed the Monongahela river and advanced in solid platoons along the southern shores of that stream. Colonel Washington, who was an Aid-de-camp to General Braddock, advised him to disperse his army in open order and employ the Indian method of fighting in the forests, but his advice was unheeded. The army marched in fancied security until about noon, when they were sud- denly assailed by volleys of bullets and clouds of arrows on their front and flanks. They had fallen into an ambush, against which Washing- ton had vainly warned Braddock. The assail- ants were French regulars, Canadians and In- dians, numbering about one hundred thousand under De Beaujeu, who had been sent from Fort Duquesne by Contrecoeur. The sudden attack and the blood-curdling war-whoop of the In- dians, which the British regulars had never heard before, disconcerted them and they fell into great confusion. Braddock took the front and encouraged the men by his voice and ex- ample. For more than two hours the battle raged fearfully. Seven hundred and fourteen were killed, and out of eighty-five officers, sixty-

*The Half-King died at Paxtang, October 4th, 1754.

HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

four were either killed or wounded. Every field officer, and every one on horseback, except Colonel Washington, was either slain or wound- ed. Colonel Sir Peter Halket, commanding the Forty-fourth Regiment was killed and Brad- dock's secretary, Mr. Shirley, was also killed. Washington wrote to his mother: "I luckily escaped unhurt, though I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me." To his brother he wrote: "By the all powerful dispensation of Providence I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation. Death was levelling my companions on every side." Braddock had five horses shot under him, and finally fell mortally wounded. Washing- ton, who was left in chief command, rallied the few provincial troops and gallantly covered the retreat. Three days after the battle, July 13, 1755, Braddock died and was buried in the road, for the purpose of concealing his body from the Indians. Washington read the funeral service of the Church of England by torch light at his grave. The loss on the side of the French and their allies was three officers and twenty-five sol- diers, with about as many wounded.

By ignoring the conditions of warfare as they then existed on the frontiers, what might have been a victory which would have prevented the loss of thousands of innocent lives, taken by the savages all along the frontiers of the country, became a dreadful defeat. Braddock's defeat on the Monongahela became a by-word in the mouth of every American school child. In 1758, Gen- eral Forbes led an expedition to Fort Duquesne and the garrison, reduced to five hundred men, set it on fire and fled down the Ohio in boats with such haste and confusion that they left every thing behind them. The name was then changed to Fort Pitt in honor of the great English states- man, and was the beginning of the city of Pitts- burg. The defeat of Braddock left the frontiers of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia in un- utterable gloom. With one accord the Indian tribes rose against the English. From now on until late in 1758, when the French departed, there was one continuous series of surprises, at- tacks, of killings and of captivity. From the ab- stract of dispatches received from Canada, offi- cially, from the Governor General, we learn that the Governor General remained at Montreal, in order to be in a more convenient position to harass the English during the winter, and to make preparations for the next campaign. With this double object he directed his efforts prin- cipally to gaining the Indians, and flattered him- self that he generally succeeded. One dispatch read : "All the nations of the Beautiful River

have taken up the hatchet against the English." A party of two hundred and fifty Indians, which sub-divided into four squads, fell on the settle- ments of Pennsylvania. One of these parties was composed of one hundred and twelve Dela- wares. They struck in separate divisions. Thir- teen returned first, with twenty-one scalps and six prisoners. The remainder of the party took such a considerable number of scalps and prison- ers that these Indians sent some to all the na- tions to replace their dead. Some had actually been on the war path as far as Virginia. It was in all probability one or more bands of these Indians that harassed the settlers in the northern part of Lehigh county.

The first savage outbreak, after the defeat of Braddock, occurred in the month of October, 1755, described as in the Shamokin road over the Kittatinny hill.

On October 30, 1755, Henry Hartman was killed and scalped at his home on the north- side of the mountains.

In the Provincial Council, the following ac- count of Indian outrages up to that time, Dec. 29, 1755, was read by the Secretary :

A BRIEF NARRATIVE OF THE INCURSIONS AND RAVAGES OF THE FRENCH AND INDIANS IN THE PROVINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA.

"Oct. 18th, 1755, a party of Indians fell upon the inhabitants on Mahanahy Creek that runs into the river Sasquehannah about five Miles Lower than the Great Fork made by the Junc- tion of the two main Branches of that river, killed and carried off twenty-five persons, and burnt and destroyed their Buildings and Im- provements, and the whole settlement was de- serted.

"23rd. Forty-six of the Inhabitants on Sas- quehannah went to Shamokin to enquire of the Indians there who they were who had so cruelly fallen upon and ruined the Settlements on Ma- hanahy Creek, but as they were repassing Ma- hanahy Creek on their return from Shamokin they were fired upon by some Indians who lay in Ambush, and four were killed, four drowned, and the rest put to flight, on which all the Settle- ments between Shamokin and Hunter's mill for the space of 50 Miles along the River Sasque- hannah were deserted.

"3Ist. An Indian Trader and two other men in the Tuscarora Valley were killed by Indians, and their Houses, &c., burnt, on which most of the Settlers fled and abandoned their Planta- tions.

"November 2nd. The Settlement in the Great Cove attacked, their Houses burnt, six Persons

FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.

murdered and seventeen carried away, and the whole broke up and destroy'd.

"3rd. Two women are carried away from Conegochege by the Indians and the same day the Canalaways and the little Cove, two other considerable settlements were attacked by them, their Houses burnt, and the whole Settlements deserted.

"16th. A party of Indians crossed the Sas- quehannah and fell upon the County of Berks, murdered 13 Persons, burnt a great number of Houses, destroyed vast quantities of Cattle, Grain, and Fodder, and laid waste a large ex- tent of Country.

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History of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania and a genealogical and biographical record of its families, Vol. I, Part 15

Author: Roberts, Charles Rhoads; Stoudt, John Baer, 1878- joint comp; Krick, Thomas H., 1868- joint comp; Dietrich, William Joseph, 1875- joint comp; Lehigh County Historical Society Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Allentown, Pa. : Lehigh Valley Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1158

Author: Roberts, Charles Rhoads; Stoudt, John Baer, 1878- joint comp; Krick, Thomas H., 1868- joint comp; Dietrich, William Joseph, 1875- joint comp; Lehigh County Historical Society
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Allentown, Pa. : Lehigh Valley Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1158