History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, Part 8

Author: edited by John F. Meginness
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Brown, Runk
Number of Pages: 1650

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In testimony that the above is a true copy of the original location, and of the affidavit thereunder written, ou which a warrant was granted the 1st of August, 1766, to Dennis Mullin, I have hereunto set my hand and seal of the Land Office of Pennsylvania this 12th day of March, 1772.

This is conclusive that the improvement was made at that day, or over seven years before Andrew Montour was granted his "Reserve " at Montoursville, and nearly eight before the manor of Muncy was surveyed and set apart for John Penn.

It appears from the original deeds, still in existence, of Robert Roberts, James Alexander, Charles Moore, and Bowyer Brooks, who had taken up tracts adjoining Dennis Mullin, that they all conveyed their claims to Samuel Wallis "in considera- tion of five shillings lawful money of the Province." The surveys were made in August, September, and October, 1766. Roberts conveyed 313 acres, Brooks 217, Moore 213, and Alexander 232. These surveys were not made by authority of Penn, as the Land Office was not opened until several years afterwards, and surveyors appointed. The question arises: Who authorized these surveys and who did the work ? The claimants were squatters without authority of law, and assumed all risks of retaining their scalps and getting any remuneration for their claims and labor.

UNKNOWN SURVEYS.

Litigation grew out of these early surveys on Muncy creek, and as subsequent law suits showed a complicated state of affairs, it is almost impossible at this day to get at all the facts. Jonathan Lodge leaves a paper saying that in the summer of 1769 he was employed as a deputy surveyor by William Scull, who sent him to Muncy creek, above and adjoining the manor, and in the neighborhood, to make

OPENING OF THE LAND OFFICE.

surveys for Robert Guy, John Mourer, Thomas Seaman, James Robb, William Foulk, Mr. Campbell, and others, who were with him, in pursuance of orders from the Land Office, dated the 3d of April, 1769. After arriving on the ground he was met by Samuel Harris (June 16th), who informed him that there were older rights to these lands, and forbid him making surveys. Lodge paid no attention to him at first and proceeded to survey, when he soon found a tree marked as a corner, " which," to use his words, "appeared to be old marks, on the bank of Wolf run." He called the attention of those with him to the marks and they expressed surprise. In a short time he found other marks which proved clearly that surveyors had been there before him. He then proceeded to the camp of Harris and informed him what they had discovered. Harris told him that the blazed tree was the corner of an old survey, and that he could show all the corners if he would accompany him. Lodge does not say what he did, but it is inferred that he ceased surveying. Harris was a historic character. He was the son of the first Jobn Harris, of Harris's Ferry (now Harrisburg) where he was born, May 4, 1733. He was an early settler on the West Branch and lived for a long time at Loyalsock. He took an active part in affairs. In after years he removed to Cayuga Lake, New York, where he died, October 19, 1825. At Bridgeport, on the shore of the lake, a monument was erected to his memory.

There are a number of old drafts of Muncy manor in existence drawn for the purpose of showing how the lines of these disputed tracts overlapped the manor lines.

As the dispute between Wallis and the Proprietary government regarding the legality of these surveys grew warmer, the question was fiually submitted to Joseph Galloway, Esq., a distinguished lawyer of Philadelphia, for his opinion. Wallis bad purchased the tracts of land in good faith and he insisted upon having the property. These surveys took in fully one-half of the Manor, which was surveyed later, and as the land was valuable, Penn was loath to let it slip out of his hands. Galloway, after a careful examination, submitted a written opinion, a copy of which is still in exist- ence. It reads as follows:

The Land Office at Philadelphia did at different times issue warrants and orders of survey to sundry persons for locating and taking up a quantity of vacant land in the county of Cum- berland, and Province of Pennsylvania, to wit:

1. Warrant to Dennis Mullin for 300 acres, dated the 1st day of August, 1766, and situate adjoining James Alexander, and about two miles southward of land claimed by Charles Moore, in Cumberland county.

2. Order to James Alexander, same date, for 300 acres situate adjoining land of Dennis Mullin, and land of Robert Roberts on the west, and vacant land on the north and southward.

3. Order to Robert Roberts, same date, for 300 acres situate and adjoining land of James Alexander on the eastward, and westward by land of Bowyer Brooks, and northward by vacant land.

4. Order to Bowyer Brooks, same day, for 300 acres, situate adjoining land of Robert Roberts on the east, and by vacant land southward, northward, and westward.

5. Order to Robert Whitehead, dated March 17, 1767, for 200 acres, situate and adjoining land surveyed for Bowyer Brooks, northerly, barrens west, and by a large piney hill south and east.

All of which warrants and orders of survey were purchased from the different grantees by Samuel Wallis, as will appear by their deeds of conveyance regularly executed, etc. On the 26th day of October, 1767, and on the 28th day of May, 1768, regular surveys were made in pur- suance of the Proprietary warrants and orders upon vacant, unappropriated land, and unpur-

HISTORY OF LYCOMING COUNTY.

chased of the Indians by the Proprietaries' regular commissioned deputy surveyor, or by some person employed by him as a deputy, which surveys were certified and returned into the sur- veyor geueral's office by the said commissioned deputy; and it since appears that they contain withiu their butts and boundaries a considerable quantity of overplus land.

On the 25th day of September, 1768, and on the 12th day of April, 1770, Samuel Wallis obtained the Proprietaries' patents for all the lauds so surveyed and returned. Immediately after the grand Indian purchase was concluded in November, 1768, the Proprietaries' officers laid out a manor, now called the Muncy manor, which interfered with a part of the foregoing patents, and such part of these patents as the manor did not interfere with, the Proprietary's officers granted away upon commou orders in what was called the land lottery on the 3d day of April following, to different people, who have since obtained surveys and returns, so as to cover the whole of the land so patented by Samuel Wallis. The Proprietary's officer's now contest the legal- ity of Samuel Wallis's title, and urge the following reasons, to wit:

1. That a title to land obtained before it was purchased of the Indians can not be valid in · law, because it is contrary to their common mode of granting.

2. That they (the superior officers) were deceived, or rather not made acquainted with the true situation of the land, but that the returus of survey were blind and vague, and did not suffi- ciently describe the place on which they were laid.

3. That the surveys contain a considerable quantity of overplus land.

As to any particular, fixed mode of granting away the Proprietaries' lands bas been gener- ally understood not to exist, but that their order was as often altered as it suited their own pur- poses, and that the granting of lands unpurchased of the Indians is well known to have been frequently done by them. That if the Proprietary's superior officers were deceived, the decep- tion was from their own inferior officers, and not from Samuel Wallis, who, in the obtaining of these lands, did in every respect pursue the common method of negotiating business through each of the respective offices. And as to overplus land, Samuel Wallis can prove that he did as soon as he was made acquainted with it, offer to the Proprietaries' receiver general to pay him for any overplus which his surveys might contain.

The question then is, whether or not the Proprietaries, by their commissioners of property, have a right to grant lands that are unpurchased of the Indians, and when so granted by letters patent, are they valid in law? or whether they have a right to vacate Samuel Wallis's patents on what is now called the Muncy manor, by reason of their containing overplus land, when it does not appear that he was privy to, or concerned in any deception or fraud intended against the Proprietaries in obtaining the lands?

Upon the facts above stated I am of opinion, in answer to the first question, that under the royal grant, the Proprietaries have good right to grant patents for land not purchased of the Indians, and that there is no law depriving them of that right. Of course the above mentioned patents must be valid. And as to the second question, I apprehend the surveys containing a quantity of overplus land are not a sufficient reason for vacating the patent, there being no fraud in the purchase in obtaining such overplus, and more especially as he has offered to satisfy the Proprietaries for it.

March 21, 1771.

JOSEPH GALLOWAY.

FIRST DWELLING HOUSES.

Under date of December 14, 1765, Moses Harlan made an affidavit before John Rannells, a justice of the peace for Cumberland county, that in 1761 the improve- ment on Bowyer Brooks's tract consisted of "about four acres of cleared, half-fenced land;" that the improvements on the tract of Robert Roberts, made the same year, consisted of "about three acres cleared, with a dwelling house," and that there were "about four acres cleared and a small dwelling house " on the James Alexander tract. These houses, although rude log cabins, were undoubtedly the first dwellings erected in what is now the territory of Lycoming county. This was one hundred and thirty- one years ago, and as they stood upon Muncy manor, to the borough of Muncy belongs

OPENING OF THE LAND OFFICE.

the credit of having the first habitations erected by the hands of white men upon her site! There is no proof in existence to show any older improvements.

In the warrant to Dennis Mullin, dated August 1, 1766, and signed by John Penn, these words occur: "Provided the land does not lie in or interfere with our manor of Lowther." From this it appears that it was contemplated at one time to call it by another name than Muncy manor. Possibly it was intended to name it after Sir John Lowther Johnston, who was a son of Sir George Johnston, the eldest brother of William Johnston, who married into the Pulteney family and became known thereafter as Sir William Pulteney.

WALLIS AND PENN GO TO LAW.

Wallis was not satisfied with the opinion of Mr. Galloway regarding the validity of the title to the lands in question. A careful reading will show that it leaned in favor of Penn; but as he was willing to pay damages, as no fraud was intended, and the transactions were made in good faith, the attorney concluded that the original patents were valid. This dispute retarded the work of making further improve- ments on these lands, and little was done until it was settled. As Wallis refused to give up his claims a suit in ejectment was brought against him, in which the lessees of John Penn were made plaintiffs. Before trial, however, an effort was made, presumably by Penn, to amicably settle the dispute by selecting viewers to meet at Fort Augusta in October, 1772, aud proceed to examine the lands and the lines. Sheriff Nagle, of Berks county, had selected the jurymen, and several had started for the place of rendezvous, when word was received from the secretary of the Land Office, that owing to the illness of Mr. Wallis in Philadelphia, it had been decided not to go on with the view. The sheriff dispatched an express to overhaul those viewers who had started and notify them to turn back. And, he remarks in one of his letters, they were very glad to get rid of making the journey.

From the papers it appears that an amicable settlement was not effected, and the suit came to trial in the provincial court sitting at Reading on the 7th of April, 1773. A few of the subpoenas for jurymen are still preserved, which show the date set for the trial. Joseph Reed, Esq., attorney for Wallis, and Edward Biddle, Esq., appeared for John Penn.

One of the most curious papers in connection with this great lawsuit is still in existence. It contains the names of the panel of forty-eight jurors drawn for that court, from which the jury was to be selected, with remarks opposite each name set- ting forth the character and standing of the man, and his qualification to serve as a juryman. It is evidently in the handwriting of Mr. Wallis; is clear, distinct, and business-like, and evidently was prepared as a guide for his attorney in challenging when the names were called. It shows that no more confidence was reposed in jury- men at that early day than now; or rather, that the juror who could be tampered with existed at that time as well as the present. In this list the name of Abraham Lincoln appears with the remark that he is "illiterate and apt to be influenced by the pleadings of lawyers." This Lincoln was an ancestor of the illustrious Presi- dent.

The suit went on and Wallis lost. Penn then issued an order to divide the manor into five tracts and sell them, which was done.

HISTORY OF LYCOMING COUNTY.

CHAPTER IV.

SAMUEL WALLIS, THE LAND KING.

HIS VAST LANDED OPERATIONS AND REMARKABLE HISTORY-THE HOUSE HE BUILT IN 1769 STILL STANDING-HIS MUNCY FARMS AND THEIR EXTENT-HOW HE WAS RUINED BY JAMES WILSON, A SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE-WALLIS DIES OF YELLOW FEVER AND HIS IMMENSE ESTATE IS SOLD BY THE SHERIFF-THE PLANTATION NOW KNOWN AS HALL'S FARMS-HIS WIDOW AND FAMILY, AND WHAT BECAME OF THEM.

T THE most active, energetic, ambitious, persistent, and untiring land speculator who ever lived in Lycoming county was Samuel Wallis. His energy was mar- velous, and his desire to acquire land became a mania, which followed him to the close of his life.

He came here as a surveyor in 1768, and noting the richness and beauty of the lands of Muncy valley, at once entered upon a wild career of land speculation. He was of Quaker origin, born in Harford county, Maryland, about 1730. Little is known of his parentage. He received a good education and inherited a large fortune. Early in life he showed that he possessed a talent for business, and was active and untiring in whatever he undertook. Among other branches of trade in which he engaged when quite a young man was that of a shipping merchant in Philadelphia. This was before the Revolution. He studied surveying with a view to following that profession, his keen business faculties pointing out to him that much work of this kind would be required in a. new country. We first hear of him with the surveyors on the Juniata as far up as Frankstown early as 1768, then on the Indian path lead- ing from that place to the Great Island in the West Branch. This was the year of the " New Purchase," and he hurried here to take advantage of whatever opportuni- ties offered for speculation in land. Descending the river and noting the country, his business instinct told him that the magnificent valley of Muncy was the place to halt and begin operations.

"MUNCY FARMS."

Having taken up all the land that he could in his own name, his next course was to get others to secure land in their names and then transfer it to him by deed in consideration of "five shillings." By this means he acquired thousands of acres. His famous plantation known as "Muncy Farms," figures more in history than the balance of his vast landed possessions. Old records show that the original warrants for these tracts were in the name of John Jarvis, Jr., and they were first known as the "Jarvis tracts." The place selected for his seat was near what is now known as Hartley Hall, at the junction of the Williamsport and North Branch, and Philadelphia and Reading railroads, three miles west of the borough of Muncy and ten miles east of Williamsport. He acquired tract after tract until his plantation

SAMUEL WALLIS, THE LAND KING.

numbered 7,000 acres in one body. Here he commenced the erection of a stone house early in 1769, which is still standing. It is without doubt the oldest house in the country to-day and is a noted landmark. One or two houses were built two or three years earlier, but they long since disappeared. This one still remains and is the last link that connects the troublous times of early colonial days with the present period of thrift and prosperity. It was built on high ground on an arm of the river, which encloses a large island, near the mouth of Carpenter's run. The location was well chosen. A few hundred yards north of the house Fort Muncy was afterwards erected and became a rallying point for the settlers.

With the possession of such a splendid estate as the Muncy Farms, most men would have been content. But not so with Samuel Wallis. His ambition knew no bounds. He was so deeply imbued with the speculative fever, that he constantly thirsted for the acquisition of more land and was ever on the alert to make purchases. Tract after tract was mortgaged to raise money to buy more.

There is among his papers an ancient draft showing the outlines of a tract of 5,900 acres, which took in the ground on which the borough of Jersey Shore is built, and the surrounding country. The draft shows the winding course of the river from the mouth of Larry's creek to Pine creek, and included Long Island. As it is a historic document of more than ordinary interest at this time, showing to whom the land was originally granted, the description of the survey, written upon the back, is copied as follows:

Surveyed the 17th & 18th Days of June in 1773, for Samuel Wallis, in Pursuance of Eighteen orders of survey Dated the 3d Day of April 1769 & granted to the following persons, viz: One order No. 1573 granted to Samuel Nicholas & one other order No. 1588 granted to Samuel Nicholas. One Order No. 1701 granted to Thomas Bonnal. One order No. 327 granted to Joseph Couperthwait. One order No. 464 granted to William Wilson. One order No. 592 granted to John Sprogle. One order No. 318 granted to Thos Morgan. One order No. 118 granted to Richard Setteford. One order No. 1147 granted to John Cummings. One order No. 1373 grated to Samuel Taylor. One order No. 2231 granted to Joseph Knight. One order No. 107 granted to William Porter. One order No. 807 granted to Joseph Paul. One order No. 2127 granted to Henry Paul, Junr. One order No. 724 granted to Joseph Hill. One order No. 608 granted to Isaac Cathrall. One order No. 1546 granted to Benjamin Cathrall & one order No. 1558 granted to Peter Young.

Beginning at a marked Elm standing on the North side of the West Branch of Susque- hanna above and to the mouth of Larry's Creek & Turning thence N. 45° E. 400 p. thence N. 6 7 W. 310 p. thence S. 77 W. 765 p. thence S. 51 W. 700 p. to Pine Creek thence Down the said creek by the several courses thereof to the mouth thereof, thence down the northerly side of the West Branch of the River Susquehanna by the several courses thereof to the place of beginning at the mouth of Larry's Creek containing & laid out for five Thousand Nine Hundred acres with Allowance of six acres p cent for Roads and Highways.

The description of this large and early survey is signed: "John Lukens, Esq., Surveyor General, by order and direction of Jesse Lukens, per Samuel Harris."

The draft shows the river and Pine creek along the two sides of the survey; the large island in Pine creek, the almost obliterated island in the river at the mouth of Pine creek, and the Long Island opposite Jersey Shore, as well as the mouth of Aughanbaugh's run, a stream which is now but a mere rivulet, "Nepenosis" creek, and Larry's creek.

The names of a few of the original holders will be recognized, because some of their descendants yet live in this county. But the majority are strangers. They

HISTORY OF LYCOMING COUNTY.

took up the land for speculative purposes and soon disposed of it according to the custom of the times.

KILLED FOR A BEAR.

Another curious paper, in the form of an affidavit, recites the circumstances of a hunting accident which occurred on the 19th of September, 1769. John Dallam, of Baltimore county, Maryland, the affiant, states that' on the previous evening Samuel Wallis, Joseph Jacob Wallis, John Farmer, William Beaver, and a negro mau, met at the house of Samuel Wallis, when John Farmer and John Dallam agreed to go in search of bears on Muncy creek early in the morning of the 19th. Joseph Jacob Wallis and William Beaver also made preparations to go along. It was agreed which way each party would travel, so that they might not, shoot each other before it was daylight. Farmer and Dallam decided to go to Muncy creek, while Joseph Jacob Wallis said he would go up the run above the house, and Beaver said he would follow on another run close by. Dallam then said to Beaver: "So you have aimed to have a chance at Selim," (meaning a buck they saw at the head of the run the day before,) upon which Beaver answered "yes," and so they parted, leaving Beaver with the rest of the party. Farmer and Dallam parted in the woods and were gone several hours. When Dallam returned about 10 o'clock, he was met at the door by Samuel Wallis, who appeared to be greatly agitated, and on being asked what the trouble was, he replied that William Beaver had been shot by Joseph Jacob Wallis in mistake for a bear! Dallam then went inside the house, where he saw the dead body of Beaver, which had been brought in from the woods. Wallis declared that, although it was an accident, he could not get over it as long as he lived.

Beaver's body was decently interred that afternoon. Who he was, or whence he came, is unknown. The affidavit was made and sworn to for the purpose of showing how the man came to his death, though it does not say that affiant witnessed the killing. His place of burial is supposed to have been in what is now Hall's ceme- tery, and very likely he was among the first, if not the first man, buried there.

Joseph Jacob Wallis was a half-brother of Samuel Wallis. He married a daugh ter of John Lukens, surveyor general, and they had a son who was named John Lukens Wallis. He was the first white male child born west of Muncy Hills in 1773. He grew to manhood and married Mary Cooke, a daughter of Col. Jacob Cooke, a distinguished patriot of the Revolution. John Lukens Wallis was one of the heirs of John Lukens, and was cut off in his will by the word "propitious." There were seven heirs and the estate, which was large, was to be divided among them at the most "propitious" time, but it never came in their lifetimes. John Lukens Wallis was a great lover of the chase and made "a happy hunting ground of this earth." He died, July 27, 1863, and lacked but four months and three days of being ninety years old. His remains lie in the cemetery at Hughesville.

One point settled by the affidavit is that the Wallis house was built in 1769, for Dallam says that on the 18th of September of that year they, (meaning the party,) were "at the house of Samuel Wallis," and made arrangements to go on the hunt.

Another is that colored men were here at that early day, for mention is made of a "negro man" being at the Wallis residence when the hunting party was organ-

Eng.oy J.P. Vier y Son. Elita

John & Gamble

SAMUEL WALLIS, THE LAND KING.

ized. This man probably was a slave, for Wallis had several on his great planta- tion. An old receipt found among his papers shows that on April 23, 1778, he purchased "Mary;" a "negro woman," from George Catto, for "one hundred and twenty pounds current money of Maryland." In the receipt Catto states that Mary left him and "went to Philadelphia with the British army in September."

WALLIS'S 'MARRIAGE.

When Samuel Wallis purchased the Muncy Farms and built his stone house, he was a single man, for on the 1st of March, 1770, he married Miss Lydia Hollings- worth, of Philadelphia, and brought her to his house on the Susquehanna. It was a wild region at that time for a bride. But she seems to have been a practical woman, possessed of good sense, and soon adapted herself to the new situation. Their home became a haven of rest for weary travelers; and there they continued to reside, with only occasional interruptions during the Indian troubles, almost to the close of the century, and dispensed a liberal and elegant hospitality for the rude times in which they lived. Mr. Wallis early became a leading man in the valley. On the 24th of January, 1776, he was appointed captain of the Sixth company of the Sec- ond battalion of the Northumberland County Associated Militia, James Potter, colonel, for the protection of the frontier. He represented his county in the Assem- bly in 1776, which met at that time in Philadelphia. He also filled many minor offices.

His life was one of great activity. He was constantly expanding his land oper- ations, and never seemed to despair of meeting his heavy obligations, notwithstand- ing many men would have sunk under the weight which pressed upon him. So vast was his business, and so great his speculations, that at one time he owned or con- trolled nearly every acre of ground lying along the river-except a few small tracts-from Muncy creek to Pine creek, including the Susquehanna bottom, besides thousands of acres in other portions of the State. His name was known far and wide, and he was looked upon as the land king of the State.

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History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, Part 8

Author: edited by John F. Meginness Publication date: 1892 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Brown, Runk Number of Pages: 1650

Author: edited by John F. Meginness
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Brown, Runk
Number of Pages: 1650