USA > Pennsylvania > Northumberland County > History of Northumberland Co., Pennsylvania. With illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories > Part 2
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9
HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
from the sight of man, a substance, which was to revolutionize the manufac- turing and commercial interests of the world. The time was long coming when the value of Anthracite conl could be fully appreciated. The land was covered with dense forests, thut must be removed ere the rich soil that they covered coldd be utilized; timber for all purposes was n useless article, that there was but little rlemand for ; hence its use for heating, driving maon- factories, etc., was but the operation of that Divine economy that su wisely pre-arranges all matters for man's enjoyment and prosperity. In the course of timo, avenues of travel to the great plains of the west, opened up to occu- pancy and cultivation, myrinds of acres of the finest of farming lands; thus dispensing with the necessity of cleaning the forests of the cast; and man learned that timber was valuable for other purposes than heat; aml the expe- rience of others taught us that its greatest value consisted in its effect upon temperature. Then it was that God discovered to man the great coal beds, that for all time he had been storing up in its great store-house, against the day of want. At ouce, steam was utilized for thousands of' purposes, never dreamed of, when the only means of vaporizing water was in the use of wood, that owing to its great bulk, could not be used in many places. Northum- berland County, prior to that, was but sparsely settled and poorly cultivated; the farmers eked out a poorand scanty livelihood, with no markets for sur- plus, and nought to encourage enterprise; but with the opening of the coal fields, towns sprang up as by magie ; the hlack diamonds possessed more attractive power than any other mineral, because the public-spirited saw io its use, a means for developing wealth in many directions. The coal of Northum- herland is of superior quality, and is found in unlimited quantities. Iron also is found in many localities, and is of superior quality. Another great source of wealth is the immense beds of Limestone, found particularly in the southern part of the County, along Stone Valley Creek ; thousand of kilns are now in operation, producing immense quantities of lime, that is very ex- tensively solil throughout the region for fertilizing purposes.
Geologically, Northumberland takes raok with any County of the State, for variety and extent of its resources.
The Climate of this County is as varied as its surface, or its resources. The extremes follow each other in rapid succession, as changeable as the mind of' n country belle. The following lines, copied in Mr. Meginnis's " Otzi- nachsoo," perhaps more faithfully portray the climate and its effects upon buman nature, than aught else that has been published.
"Beneath the temperate zone this vate doll lle, Where bent and cold a grateful chnoge supply; To Ilfteen hours extends the longest day, Whou Sol, Incancer poluts his fervld ruy; Yet here the winter season Is severe, And suntoer's heat is diffleult to benr ; Bul western winds oft cool the scorehitog ry, And southern breezes warm the winter's dny. Yel oft tho' warm and falt the day begun, Coll storms orlse before the setting sun ; Nny oft so qulek the change, so great Its power, As suinmer's lical, and winter, lu an hour !!
CHAPTER IIL.
INCIDENTS IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY-FIRST COURT-ETC.
THE Act erecting Northumberland County into one of the integral parts of the Commonwealth, was approved March 21st, 1772; and on the 24th day of the same month, William Plunket, Turbit Francis, Samuel Hunter, James Potter, William Maclny (some years subsequently United States Sena- tor,) Caleb Grayson, Benjamin Allison, Robert Moodie, John Louden, Thomas Lemon, Ellis Hughes and Benjamin Weiser, Judges by appointment, couvened at Sunbury to hold, for the new County, the first Court of General Quarter Sessions of the peace and guol delivery. Edward Burd was appointed tu prosecute for the Crown, which at that date exercised dominion over the Colonies. The business done was unimportant, as the labor to beaccomplished, was providing for the future. No offences against the dignity of the province could he tried at this Court, as only three days before, the territory had been within the limits of some other County. James Wilson, Robert Magau, Ed- ward Burd, George North, Christian Husk, James Potts, Andrew Robinson and Charles Stedman, were admitted to practice as Attorneys, being the first liceused to the Bar in the County. At the May term of the same year, Richard Malone, Henry Dougherty, Robert Martin, Mareus Huling and John Alex- ander, of Turbut township, William Wilson, Francis Yarnall and Samuel
Weiser, of Augusta township, were licensed to keep houses of entertainment, and sell spirituous or malt liquors. This action turned loose his Satanic Majesty, and henceforth the Magistrates would have abundant opportunity to exercise their functions as pence-makers ; the Sheriff could turn his atten- tion from the plow, or the uxe, as all the powers of his body and mind would be necessary to restrain the lawless, and protect the innocent. The tax- gatherer had now his time employed in scraping together the hard earnings of the weak pioneers, to support the indigent and prosecute the criminals. With free rum, came free tights, freedom from legal restraint, and disorder generally. For four years after the cluse of the first Pennamite war in Wyoming, there was not an officer of the Inw in the valley. The absence of rum, rendered unnecessary the presence of all the paraphernalia of criminal courts. But the moment whiskey begins to ruo free, that moment idleness, vice and criminality begin to fill the pauper houses and jails. For six months the County existed, and not a Grand Jury had been summoned. But the Devil soon gave evidence of his presence, and at the August term for 1772, George Neagle, Sheriff of the County, returned the writ of venire, to him di- rected, with the following names of individuals who were swore on the Grand Inquest for our Sovereign Lord the King, for the body of the County : Jobn Brady, foreman ; George Overmeyer, John Rhurick, Leonard Peter, Gerbard Freeland, John Jost, William Grey, Lodowick Derr, George Raw, Andrew Heffer, George Wolf, William Cook, John Kelly, James Polk and John Walker. These gentlemen constituted the first Grand Jury for the County of Northumberland. What a sense of the great responsibility of their position, must have pervaded the minds of the men composing this Jury, as they viewed the field it was necessary for them to occupy! At this time, there were no public buildings, roads or bridges; everything was to be done, and but little to do with. Wisely has the great Creator modeled the natural man, that the necessities never exceed his ability to gratify them. If there was a slim exchequer, there was no necessity for large expenditure; hence it is reasonable to apprehend, that this first Grand Jury acquitted themselves about as satisfactorily as any of their four hundred successors have done. The names of nearly all composing the first Court and Jury, are names that have been handled down from generation to generation, as worthy of perpetuation, and so they are. Nearly every one immortalized himself in the trying struggles that followed in after years; and now it is the pride of nearly every inhabi- tant of the County to trace some connection with these old heroes. For the first few years, there was but little to break the monotony of the proceedings of the Court, beyond the trial of those charged with asenult and battery, and fornication-a class of criminals that in those days were judged with a greater degree of leniency than the nature of the offences would seem to jus- tify. There was but little to engage the time of our primitive Judges. Courts are usually but the exponents of public sentiment; and if offences, that now would shock the moral sensibilities of the most dissolute, were then wholly iguored, or at the worst, punished with trivial fine, and perhaps ao admonish- ment "to go and sin no more," it would be manifestly unjust to charge the Courts with having been too lax in the execution of the law against those who had outraged decency ; as the unsettled state of society, and the free in- termingling of every discordant element, teuded to the formation of n senti- ment certainly not striet in its exactions or enforcement of moral obligations. At the May session for 1776, Daniel Pettit was occused of having altered a five dollar bill. He was arraigned, proven guilty, and sentenced to stand in the pillory one hour, and be confined in the County Jail one month. At the November session for 1778, Charles Bignell was arraigned for having given liberty to two negroes that bad been committed to jail in his charge. Big- nell was convicted aud adjudged to pay a fine of five pounds, and give security for future good conduct. The first of these, a thief aud forger, was sentenced to Jess punishment than the humane Bignell, who had but exercised the in- stinets of a charitable nature. People in those days of supposed purity, en- tertained as little respect for the requirements of government, and evaderÌ laws with as great impunity as the members ofthenotorious Whiskey Rings of te-day. At one session of the Court, in the infancy of the County, true bills were found against fifty-seven different individuals, for selling whiskey without the sanction of a license. This indicated a disregard for the sanctity of the law, somewhat appalling. Fifty-seven criminals among one class, in a County containing a voting population that would scarcely fill a regimeut. Think of this, ye aged moraliste, who are want to draw comparisons between the past and present, unfavorable to the present generation. If one of these law-breakers ever suffered a depletion of his pocket or restrainment of his liberty, it iloth not appear. Every generation has its representative charac- ters. The extreme moralist, whose thce is set like flint against every forin of vice ; the devoted churchman, who studies naught but the creed and prayer-
10
HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
book; and the hardened criminal, hunted, harassed aud punished until the joys of earth hecome turned to the bitterness of gall-whose hand is set against every man, and every man's against his, Of the last, Joseph Disbury was undoubtedly entitled to the palm, as being the most irrepressi- ble wag and incorrigible loafer and thief of his day. The name of Disbury became the synonym of every thing bad. Joseph's propensities led him to the accumulation of property, oftener by illegitimate means than otherwise. He would steal anything that came in his way, and when confronted by his accusers, assumed an air of sang froid, that utterly nonplussed his enemies. He was frequently under arrest, and on one occasion, for appropriating a neighbor's cow, be left jail, minus his ears. At the August session of' 1798, he was arraigned and tried on three indictments for burglary. He was found guilty and sentenced to seven years' hard labor on each, thus affording him boarding and lodging, at the expense of the State, for twenty-one years. It is said, that he outlived his long imprisonment, and at its expiration quitted Northumberland County for pastures new if not green. At the April session for 1804, John Beitzel, was tried for bigamy, the offense proven and the bigamist sentenced to six months' confinement in the jail. It would hardly be profitable to call in questiou the wisdom of those, whose duty it was to pass sentence in these two cases, for reasons before stated, but it is difficult to avoid speculation as to the seutiment of a society that demanded the incarceration of Disbury twenty-one years, and excused the bigamist why had polluted the home of his neighbor, and disgraced for all time himself, his co-criminals and the community in which he lived, with a six months' deprivation of liberty. Circumstances bave full as much to do iu forming society as men, and society forms its sentiment, influenced largely hy those circumstances, hence the injustice of judging society by our own standard of excellence. Beitzel was tried, and his case passed opon in 177X. At the August session of 1792, fourtecu years afterwards, William Armstrong was convicted of the crime of rape, and sentenced to be hung. From this it would appear that public sentiment had undergone somewhat of a change, indicating a healthier condition morally, and auguring well for the future. In the infancy of society, but little thought can be given to conventionalities, the absorbing question being the devising of means for self-preservation. People, at sueb times, being disposeil to construe the Bible teachings literally, and take their neighbors as they find them, As the country improves, necessities of life are supplemented by luxuries, respite from arduous toil, that staring want made an every day necessity, gave relaxation to the mind, and permitted a more careful consideration of the moral aud mental capaci- ties and wants of mankind. Opportunity for thought and study developed tastes that could be satisfied only in the society of congenial spirits. This, in time, resulted in the establishment of caste, and the formation of grades in society, a feature as absolutely necessary, in every community, to the enjoyment of all, as a rigid enforcement of law is to its safety.
CHAPTER IN.
THE ABORIGINALS OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.
As much as bas been written regarding the original inhabitants of this country, and as many speculations as have been indulged in by writers of almost every age, but little is definitely known of their history. It is thought by many, and with considerable show of reason, that a nation or race of people, superior to the Indians in intelligence, preceded them, and for nges plied their vocation, which were doubtless but little in advance of their successors, and have left some evidences of a civilization, not possessed by any Indian tribes known. The Delaware Indians had a tradition, which appears to have been generally believed among them, that they originally lived on the westeru shores of North America, and in journeying eastward, in quest of a more inviting country, found the valley of the Mississippi in possession of a powerful and warlike rave, who were somewhat schooled in the arts of war, aud lived in strongly fortified towns. These people, the Alligewe, refused the Delawares a free transit through their domains, and a fierce battle casued, in which the intruders were successful, driving the Alligewe from their homes down the river. According to this tradition, a portion of the Delawares remained in possession of the conquered territory, another portion continued their journey eastward, and took possession of the country extending from the Hudson to the Potomac. While there may be nothing in the history of the Delaware Tribe, as it hins been handed
down to us, to confirm such a tradition, there is nothing to disprove it, and it is as well to furuish it for its worth, without groundless speculation ; attend- ing to what is definitely known, regarding our predecessors. In the early part of the 17th century, probably about 1610 or '12, a fierce war was, for a long time, waged between the Iroquois on one side, and the Huron and Erie Indians ou the other; the result was, the total subjugation of the Eries, who left their old homes, adjacent to the lake, which still hears their name, and journeyed southward, settling in Georgia and Florida. The particular tribe emigrating south was the Shuwanese; here they resided for many years, until, finally, becoming involved in war with the Spaniards and Southern Indians, they emigrated uortbward, and located at the confluence of the Wabash and Ohio rivers. Governor Cass, in writing of the Shawanese, says their history is involved in much obseurity. "Their language is Algon- quin, and closely allied to the Kickapoo, and other dinleets spoken by tribes, who have bved for ages north of the Ohio. But they are known to have recently emigrated from the south, where they were surrounded by a family, of tribes-Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws, etc., with whose language they had no affinity. Their traditions assign to them a foreign origin, and a wild story has come down to them, of a solemn procession through the ocean, and of a miraculous passage through the great deep. That they were closely cult- nected with the Kickapoos, the actual identity of language affords irrefragn- ble proof, and the incidents of the separation yet live in the oral history of each tribe. We are strongly inclined to believe, that not long after the arrival of the Freuch upon these great lakes, the Kickapoos and Shawanese composed the tribe known as the Eries; living on the eastern shore of the Inke, to which they gave their unme. It is said that this tribe was externii- nated by the Iroquois ; but it is more probable that a series of disasters di- vided them into two parts; one of which, under the name of Kiekopoos, songht refuge from their enemies in the immense prairies between the Illinois and the Mississippi ; and the other, under the name Shawanese, fled into the Cherokee country, and thence further south." Governor Cass does not ma- terially differ from our own version of the origin of the Shawanese tribe, who at one day, inhabited this country. The fame of William Penn had pene- trated the western homes of the Shawanese, who sought permission to locate among the Delawares. This tribe had been, for some time, on unfriendly terms with the Six Nations, and being desirous of accumulating a force against them, readily granted the permission asked. Accordingly, a portion of the Shawanese moved eastward, and settled in the forks of the Delaware. They brought with them, the war-like spirit which made them such unpleas- ant neighbors in the south, and disturbances arose, which became of so tur- bulent a character, as to necessitate the removal of the Shawanese. Their next move was to the banks of the Susquehanna, which presented au open field, as the Monseys, who for years had occupied the valley, had concentrated around Minseiuk, on the Delaware. The Shawanese found themselves sole masters of the valley ; no enemy to annoy them ; and they built a town, near the lower eud of Wyoming Valley, which still bems the name of Shuwanese flut». Their settlement extended low down, probably as far as the forks of the two branches. One of the kings, or chiefs of this tribe, was Parinos, whose exploits are commemorated by giving his name to a little town ou Sha- mokiu Creek, in this County. Here, for many years, the Shawanese dwelt in peace ; their wanderings up and down the earth terminated for a time. The women cultivated their little patches of grain ; the hunter traversed the hills and forests in quest of game ; the papooses gamboled in the sunshine, utterly regardless of all but the blissful present. But not long was this peaceful scene to continue. A eloud, that for fifty years was forming, appeared in the east, to cast a shadow over the happy homes of the hunted Shawanese. William Penu arrived in North America, in 1682, and, ulthough a lowly Christian himself, had followers, who, having not the fear of God before their eyes, did not hesitate to excite the cupidity of the unsophisticated children of the forest, and by any and all means, take advantage. Penn formed many treaties, and concluded many purchases, no one of which, however, were well defined. Some of the deeds of purchases enlled for as much territory as a horse could run around, within a given time, or a man could walk around. One of these bounds, ouly, was ever settled in the noted Friend's day, and that by himself, in company with some chiefs and friends, when they made a day's journey, halting frequently to couverse, smoke, and ent, making but about thirty miles in the allotted time. After his death, a copy of one of these walk-dleeds, was found by Thomas and John Penn, who, nt a council in 1733, fifty years after it had heen drawn up, presented it tu the Indians, nad received from them au acknowledgement of its validity, and under this, an arrange- ment was made for a walk of one day and a half, to settle the boundaries. The Penns, although strict Quakers, did not shrink from using means, ahout
11
HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
the honesty of which there could be some question, and advertised far and near for the fastest walkers; offering five hundred acres of land, and five pounds in money, to the man who should walk the greatest distance in the allotted time. Every facility was furnished them ; a direet line was run, underbrush cleared away, refreshments placed at convenient distances, that there might be no delay. During the month of September, 1737, Edward Marshall, James Yates, and Solomon Jennings, with three Indians, started at sunrise trom a stipulated spot, and commeneed the trial. At the end of two hours, Jennings and two Indians gave out; near Easton, the third Indian suc- cumbed ; the next day, Yates fell fainting, and Marshall proceeded on alone. At noon of the second day, he stopped, eighty-six miles from the starting point. This purchase took in all the good land, and, as a consequence, grent dissatisfaction was felt, and manifested by the Indians. In their natural sim- plicity, they had trusted the whites many times, only to find themselves duped and intrigued. This had been repeated on so many occasions, that Indian nature could no longer submit, and the Delawares very properly refused to give up their rich hunting grounds, for which they had received no adequate remuneration. The Penns, determined to complete the robbery, dispatched a messenger to the Six Nations, who then claimed to hold the Delawares in sub- jugation, informing them of the circumstances, and urging a convention of chiefs, to settle the disputed claim. Accordingly, in the summer of 1742, the principal men of this powerful band, to the number of two hundred and thirty, repaired to Philadelphia, to meet the Chief's of the Delawares, and a general council was opened. The Governor of. the province opened the conference, after having judiciously distributed a large amount, as presents, among the Iroquois warriors, setting forth that the Proprietaries had made purchases in good faith, and asked the Chiefs of the Six Nations to see them established in their rightful territory. Here was a formidable assemblage. On the one side, the Governor, skilled in all the intrigue which Christianized people only prac- tice; and the powerful Iroquois, with brain fired by the Governor's rum-their blankets stuffed with useless trinkets, from the same source; on the other, the handful of Delawares, wronged, cheated, decried and abused by their own race, because they possessed some little knowledge of the duplicity of the whites. There was but one result to such harangue. The representatives of the Six Na- tions, decided that the purchase had been made in a fair and legitimate way ; that the Delawares had received full consideration for the land, claimed to have been purchased, and that they must leave. The decision was delivered by Counossatego, a venerable Chief, who took ocension to deliver himself of a speech, which for hanteur, withering, burning sareasm, has no equal in this, or any other language. He arose in the name of all the deputies, aud, addressing himself to the Governor, said: "They saw the Delawares had been an unruly people, and were altogether in the wrong, and they had concluded to remove them." Then, turning to the Delawares in a violent manner, he said: "You deserve to be taken by the hair of your heads, and shaken till you recover your seuses and become sober. We have seen a deed, signed hy nine of your chiefs, above fifty years ago, for this very land. (The deed was the one made to Wil- liam Penn in 1688, which his successors had resurrected from forgetfitness.) But how came you to take upon yourself to sell lands at all? We conquered you, we made women of you; you know you are women, and can no more sell lands than women. Nor is it fit that you should have the power to sell lands, since you would ubuse it. You have been furnished with clothes, meat and drink, by the goods paid you for it, and now you want it again like children as you are. But what makes you sell lunds in the dark? Did you ever tell us you had sold this land? Did we ever receive any part, even the value of pipe-shank for it? You have told us a blind story, that you seut a messenger to inform us of the sale ; but he never came amongst us ; nor have we ever heard anything about it. But wefind you are none of our blood; you act a dishonest part not only in this, but other matters. Your ears are ever open to slanderous reports about your brethren. For all these reasons, we charge you to remove instantly ; we don't give you liberty to think about it. You are women; take the advice of a wise man and remove instantly. You may return to the other side of the Delaware where you came from, but we do not known whether, considering how you have demenued yourself, you will be permitted to live there, ar whether you have not already swallowed that land down your thronts, as well as the land on this side. We, therefore, assign you two places to go to, either to Wyoming or Shamokin. You may go to cither of these places, and then we shall have you men undler our eye and shall see how you behave. Don't deliberate, but remove away and take this belt of wampum." The Deluwares immediately left the disputed territory ; svine settling at Shamokin, and others ut Wyoming : others still scattered along the river between the two places. It is easily to be conceived that the Delui- warex carried with them no very tender recollection of the English ; the real
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