History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 4

Author: Bell, Herbert C. (Herbert Charles), 1868- ed; John, J. J., 1829-
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, Brown, Runk
Number of Pages: 1424

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Conrad Weiser was born at Afstadt, Würtemberg, November 2, 1696. His father, John Conrad Weiser, a local magistrate, immigrated to Living- stone manor, New York, in 1710, at the head of a colony of four thousand Palatinates. Their immediate neighbors were the Mohawk Indians, with whom, from his prominence among the membership of the German colony,

THE COLONIAL PERIOD.

the elder Weiser was frequently in communication. On one occasion a Mohawk chief visited him at his home, and, conceiving a fondness for Con- rad, who was then a youth of seventeen, sought and obtained permission to have him reside among his people. Accordingly, he spent eight months at a Mohawk town eight miles south of Schoharie, New York; during this period he acquired a thorough knowledge of their language and customs and was adopted as a member of the tribe. In 1720 he married, and from 1714 to 1729 he resided within two miles of the town referred to, where, although engaged in farming, he was also employed as interpreter. Owing to litiga- tion affecting the title to their lands, many of the Palatinates removed to the Tulpehocken, Berks county, Pennsylvania; among this number was Conrad Weiser, who located near Womelsdorf in 1729. The first general confer- ence between the chiefs of the Six Nations and the provincial authorities after his settlement in the Province occurred in 1732, when it was mutually agreed that he should thereafter act as interpreter for that confederation. In this capacity he officiated at the treaties of 1736 and 1749 at Philadel- phia, the great council at Lancaster in 1744, the Albany conference of 1754, and on many minor occasions. He was also intrusted with important missions to the great council at Onondaga and to the Ohio tribes, and throughout his long career as agent and interpreter enjoyed the full confidence of both Indians and English. He died at Tulpehocken, July 13, 1760. Two of . his descendants, each of whom bore the name of George Weiser, served as associate judges of Northumberland county.

Weiser's first journey to Onondaga was made in 1737. Governor Gooch, of Virginia, having requested the Pennsylvania authorities to send a message to the Six Nations inviting them to a conference with the Cherokees and Ca- tawbas at Williamsburg, James Logan, president of Council, engaged Weiser to undertake the journey. He left Tulpehocken on the 27th of February, 1737; that part of his journal which relates to the journey through North- umberland county is as follows :-

1st March, left Tolheo, which is the last place in the inhabited part of Pennsyl- vania. On the 4th we reached Shamokin, but did not find a living soul at home who could assist us in crossing the Susquehanna river. On the 5th we lay still; we had now made about eighty miles. 6th, we observed a smoke on the other side of the river and an Indian trader came over and took us across. We again lay still to-day. On the 7th we started along one branch of the river going to the northwest. An old Shawane, by name Jenoniawano, took us in his canoe across the creek at ChillisQua- que. On the 8th we reached the village where Shikellimy lives, who was appointed to be my companion and guide on the journey. He was, however, far from home on a hunt. Weather became bad and the waters high, and no Indian could be induced to seek Shikellimy until the 12th, when two young Indians agreed to go out in search of him. On the 16th they returned with word that Shikellimy would be back next day, which so happened. The Indians were out of provisions at this place. I saw a new blanket given for about one third of a bushel of Indian corn.

The party consisted of Conrad Weiser, a Dutchman, and three Indians.

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

The journey was attended with great hardships, and it was not until the 12th of May, 1737, that Weiser's report was considered by Council.

Weiser's first official visit to Shamokin was occasioned by the report of a skirmish in Virginia between the inhabitants and a party of Iroquois. It was feared that hostilities might ensue in which Pennsylvania would neces- sarily be involved, and on the 26th of January, 1743, the Governor wrote him to proceed at once to Shamokin, and, in concert with Shikellimy, devise measures for the adjustment of the difficulty. He received his instructions on the evening of January 30th, and, accompanied by Thomas McKee, an Indian trader, set out for Shamokin on the following morning. On the 3d of February they overtook a party of Shawanese, each armed with gun and saber, at a trader's house twenty-five miles from Shamokin; as they alighted from their horses the trader's wife told them that the Indians, who had entered the house, were disposed to be unfriendly, but Weiser went in, shook hands, engaged them in conversation, and gained their confidence and good will. They then pursued their journey together, arriving at Shamokin on the evening of that day after sunset. On the 4th of February twenty-five Indians, including Shikellimy, Saghsidowa, Lapacpitton, and Andrew Montour, assembled in council at Shikellimy's house; as the latter was in mourning for a relative lately killed in Virginia, Weiser first pre- sented him with two strouds to wipe the tears from his eyes, an indispen- sable preliminary, as the Indians never transacted public business while in mourning. He then stated the object of his mission, to which Allumapees replied on behalf of the assembled company. On the following day Allum- apees held a council of the Delawares, at which Weiser, Shikellimy, and Saghsidowa were present. As a result of these conferences, Shikellimy, his son, and Saghsidowa, who was a Tuscarora chief, immediately set out for Onondaga; and, having accomplished the immediate object of his mission, Weiser left Shamokin on the 6th of February, arriving at Tulpehocken on the 9th.

Governor Gooch having expressed his acceptance of the good offices of the Pennsylvania authorities, it became necessary to continue the negotiations thus begun by a second message to Shamokin, and on the 9th of April, 1743, Weiser again arrived at that place in pursuance of instructions from the Governor. Shikellimy, his son, and Saghsidowa returned from Onondaga on the same day, and on the 10th a council was held at which the answer of the Six Nations was delivered. Shikellimy's people then gave "a handsome Indian dinner " to all that were present, after which Weiser made known the object of his visit and presented the company with two rolls of tobacco. On the 21st of April, accompanied by Shikellimy and Saghsidowa, he arrived at Philadelphia. But the most important part of his connection with this affair remained to be performed. Governor Gooch wrote Governor Thomas on the 7th of May, 1743, requesting him to send a present amounting to one

THE COLONIAL PERIOD.

hundred pounds in value to the Six Nations at Onondaga and arrange for a treaty in the following year. This mission was intrusted to Weiser; he delivered his report to the Governor on the 1st of September, and, although no details are given regarding the journey, it was doubtless made by way of Shamokin and the West Branch of the Susquehanna.

Weiser's next visit to Shamokin in his official capacity was made in May, 1745. In the Virginia affair the English had been the aggressors, and he represented the Governor of Pennsylvania as mediator between them and the Six Nations, but on this occasion he appeared to demand satisfaction for the murder of a trader and two of his servants on the Juniata by Dela- wares. Two of the murderers had been apprehended, tried before a council at Shamokin, and found guilty; they were then bound, and lay thus twenty- four hours before any one "would venture to conduct them down, because of the great division among the Delaware Indians; and Allumapees, in dan- ger of being killed, fled to Shikellimy and begged his protection. At last Shikellimy's son Jack went to the Delawares, most of them being drunk, as they had been for several days, and told them to deliver the prisoners to Alexander Armstrong, and if they were afraid to do it they might separate their heads from their bodies and lay them in the canoe and carry them to Alexander to roast and eat them; that would satisfy his revenge, as he wants to eat Indians. They prevailed with the said Jack to assist them, and accordingly he and his brother and some of the Delawares went with two canoes and carried them off." They conducted the principal perpetrator to Lancaster, but allowed the other to escape on the way. Weiser was instructed to demand the apprehension of the two accessories who were yet at large and the restoration of the stolen goods. He met the Indians in council at Shamokin on the 2d of May, 1744, and delivered his message, to which Allumapees responded. A feast was then prepared, at which more than a hundred persons were present, and after they had, "in great silence, devoured a fat bear, the eldest of the chiefs made a speech, in which he said: That, by a great misfortune, three of the brethren, the white men, had been killed by an Indian; that, nevertheless, the sun was not set [meaning there was no war]-it had only been darkened by a small cloud, which was now done away; he that had done evil was like to be punished, and the land to remain in peace. Therefore he exhorted his people to thankfulness to God, and therefore he began to sing with an awful solemnity, but without expressing any words. The others accompanied him with their voices. After they had done, the same Indian, with great earnestness of fervor, spoke these words: 'Thanks, thanks to Thee, Thou great Lord of the world, in that Thou hast again caused the sun to shine and has dispersed the dark cloud. The Indi- ans are Thine.'"

After this Weiser's visits to Shamokin were of a less formal character. In September, 1744, with eight young men of his "country people," he spent

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

seventeen days there building a "lock-house" for Shikellimy. His journey to Onondaga in 1745 was probably made by way of Shamokin, as Shikel- limy, his son, and Andrew Montour accompanied him. On the 13th of June, 1747, he set out for Shamokin by way of Paxtang, when he met Shikellimy at Chambers's mill, which rendered it unnecessary to proceed farther. On the 6th of October in the same year he again left Tulpehocken, arriving at Shamokin on the 9th about noon. It was on this occasion that he found Shikellimy and his family ill and administered medicine for their relief. He spent three days with them, leaving on the afternoon of the 12th and arriving at Tulpehocken at noon on the 15th (October, 1747). In a letter to the Governor under date of April 22, 1749, he says: "I returned from Shamokin on the 18th of this instant. I happened to meet the eldest and youngest sons of Shikellimy at the trading house of Thomas McKee, about twenty miles this side of Shamokin, by whom I was informed that all the Indians had left Shamokin for this present time because for want of pro- visions; so I thought best to deliver my message there to the sons of Shikel- limy." His message was one of condolence from the Governor and Council to the children and grandchildren of the deceased viceroy and a request to Tachnechdorus to "take upon him the care of a chief." On the 17th of April, 1754, he set out "by the way of John Harris's and Thomas McKee's, being afraid of the two high mountains," and reached Shamokin on the 20th. Thence he journeyed up the West Branch a distance of twenty miles, and sent his son, Samuel, to Wyoming; the latter was accompanied by Logan. They returned to Tulpehocken on the 1st of May. On the 11th of June, 1755, he arrived at his home from Otstuacky, a town about forty-five miles above Shamokin on the West Branch, where he had been with ten hired men to fence a corn field for the Indians, agreeably to instructions from the Governor. He left two sacks of flour at Shamokin, where the supply of provisions was not very plentiful. Two of his sons visited Shamokin in the autumn of that year, to inform the Indians of Sir William Johnson's success against the French on Lake George.

The first visit of Moravians to Shamokin occurred in 1742. The party, composed of Count Zinzendorf, his daughter Benigna, Conrad Weiser, Anna Nitschmann, John Martin Mack, and two Indians, David and Joshua, arrived on the 28th of September, 1742. Bishop Spangenberg, accompanied by David Zeisberger, John Joseph Schebosh, and Conrad Weiser and his sons, Philip and Frederick, arrived at Shamokin on the 1st of June, 1745, and departed for Onondaga on the 7th. In September of the same year Mack and his wife were stationed at Shamokin as resident missionaries and remained four months. In April, 1747, he visited the scene of his former labors to confer with Shikellimy regarding the erection of a smith-shop. (This had been suggested as early as 1740 by Allumapees, who brought his ax to Philadelphia to have it mended). In the following June a house eighteen by

THE COLONIAL PERIOD.

thirty feet in dimensions was erected by John Hagen and Joseph Powell; it was first occupied on the 24th of the month. Blacksmith tools were obtained at Lancaster and transported by way of Harris's Ferry. Anton Schmidt, the smith, arrived on the 3d of August, accompanied by his wife and the wife of Hagen, who had been appointed resident missionary, but died in the autumn of 1747 and was succeeded by Mack. At a later date Schmidt was succeeded as blacksmith by Max Kieffer. Bishop Cammerhoff and Joseph Powell visited the mission in January, 1748, and David Zeisberger in the following summer, while the missionary and smith were frequently in communication with the . Brethren at Bethlehem. When the Penn's creek massacre occurred there were three of the Brethren at Shamokin, one smith and two missionaries; the latter immediately fled to Bethlehem, but the smith, reluctant to leave without instructions from the directors of the society, remained, and finally effected his escape by way of Wyoming.

The location of Shamokin is not indicated in contemporary accounts as definitely as might be desired. Spangenberg states in his journal of June 3, 1745, (two days after his arrival at Shamokin) that "Joseph and Conrad crossed the river to visit the Indian king who lives there" (Allumapees), and on the previous day he mentions that "Brother Joseph also went over to the island to visit Madame Montour," from which it would appear that the town was situated on both sides of the river and on the island. On the 2d of June, 1757, one hundred Indians arrived at Fort Augusta, and, according to Colonel Burd's journal, "encamped above the fort towards the old town." One of their number died of small-pox on the 8th and was interred "at the old town where the Indians were always buried." The Indian burial ground was situated on the old Hunter farm. In 1859-63 M. L. Hendricks exhumed a number of skeletons, among them one which there is good reason to suppose was that of the great Shikellimy.

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

CHAPTER II.

THE COLONIAL PERIOD (CONCLUDED).

. PURCHASE OF THE SUSQUEHANNA - ALIENATION OF THE DELAWARE INDIANS- HOSTILITIES INAUGURATED-RUMORS OF FRENCH INVASION-DEFENSIVE MEASURES ADOPTED-THE AUGUSTA REGIMENT ORGANIZED TO BUILD A FORT AT SHAMOKIN- PROGRESS OF THE EXPEDITION-CONSTRUCTION OF FORT AUGUSTA-PRINCIPAL EVENTS OF COLONEL CLAPHAM'S ADMINISTRATION-EXTRACTS AND INCIDENTS FROM MAJOR BURD'S JOURNAL-SUBSEQUENT COMMANDING OFFICERS -- THE MAG- AZINE AND INDIAN STORE-OPERATIONS IN 1763-STRENGTH OF THE GARRISON AND ARMAMENT-THE FLAG DOCTORS AND CHAPLAINS PLAN AND DESCRIPTION OF THE FORT-CLOSE OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR-PURCHASE OF 1768-EARLY SURVEYS-LISTS OF PIONEERS-FITHIAN'S JOURNAL -- THE YANKEE AND PENN- AMITE WAR.

T THE peaceful intercourse of the trader, the interpreter, and the mission- ary with the Indians of Shamokin and the surrounding region, the narration of which forms so large a part of the preceding chapter, was abruptly terminated by the massacre of Penn's creek. This was but the be- ginning of a protracted Indian war, the causes of which are to be found principally in the policy of the provincial authorities in the purchase of Indian lands.

The first Indian deed to William Penn was executed on the 15th of July, 1682, by certain chiefs of the Delaware Indians, and conveyed the southeastern part of Bucks county. This was negotiated by William Mark- ham, and when the Proprietor himself arrived the further acquisition of territory was energetically continued. Numerous deeds of varying impor- tance were executed by the Delawares during the following years; and finally, on the 17th of September, 1718, a general release was signed by their king, Sassoonan, and six of their chiefs for all the territory between the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers "from Duck creek to the mountains on this side Lechay." In these negotiations the Delawares were treated with as an inde- pendent tribe, and the various transactions seem to have been mutually satisfactory.

Almost before his Colony was firmly established upon the Delaware, Penn anticipated the extension of settlement to the westward by negotiating with the Iroquois for the Susquehanna valley. In this he secured the serv- ices of Thomas Dongan, Governor of New York and subsequently Earl of Limerick, who wrote him as follows regarding the contemplated purchase under date of October 10, 1683 :-

THE COLONIAL PERIOD.

I have had an account from Albany of the Indians being there, and find they can not agree among themselves; I hope Mr. Graham will find them there, and that my orders have taken effect, though I would not advise you to settle any people suddenly upon it before the Indians agree among themselves, two or three of the most powerful nations being debarred from any interest in it, as you will see by the inclosed. The Maquas have been here with me, and told me there was one about to purchase the land; I have ordered them to agree in a peaceable way about it and they have promised to send me word as soon as they do, of which I will immediately after acquaint you. They have also given me the land, and pretend that they have better interest than any other. They have all of them agreed to give Susquehanna river to me and this gov- ernment, which I have under their hands to show for it .*

From this it is evident that Graham was the agent by whom the original purchase was made; that the Five Nations were not jointly interested, but that the Maquas (Mohawks), pretended to a "better interest than any other, " and that the council of the confederation was divided in sentiment regarding the matter. These differences were at length harmonized, and on the 22d of October, 1683, Dongan wrote: "The Susquehanna river is given me by the Indians by a second gift, about which you and I shall not fall out."} It was not until 1696, however, that the transfer was made to William Penn. On the 12th of January in that year Thomas Dongan granted to him "all that tract of land lying upon on both sides the river commonly called or known by the name of the Susquehanna " for one thousand years at an annual rental of one pepper corn; and on the following day (January 13, 1696), he conveyed the same to William Penn in fee simple at the consideration of one hundred pounds.

The lower Susquehanna valley, the southern part of the lands in question, was occupied at that time by the Susquehannock Indians, and these transac- tions were naturally of vital interest to them. At a conference at Conestoga in 1721, Civility, "a descendant of the ancient Susquehannock Indians, the old settlers of these parts," stated "that he had been informed by their old men that they were troubled when they heard that their lands had been given up to a place so far distant as New York, and that they were overjoyed when they understood William Penn had bought them back again." On his second visit to the Province, the Proprietor, actuated doubtless by motives of policy no less than a sense of justice, further strengthened his title to the Susquehanna by securing from the Susquehannocks a release even more abso- lute than that which he had obtained from their conquerors. By the terms

*Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. I. pp. 76-77.

+Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. I. p. 81.

At a conference with the Six Nations at Conestoga in July, 1721, " they were told it was now very near, viz., within one moon, of thirty-seven years since a great man of England. Governor of Vir- ginia, called the Lord Effingham, together with Colonel Dongan, Governor of New York, held a great treaty with them at Albany, of which we had the writings to this day. Ghesaont answered they knew it well, and the subject of that treaty, it was, he said, about settling of lands. Being further told that in that treaty the Five Nations had given up all their right to all the lands on Susquehanna to the Duke of York, then brother to the King of England, he acknowledged this to be so."-Colonial Records, Vol. III. p. 133.

From this it would seem that Dongan's purchase was not consummated until August, 1684.

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

of this instrument, which was executed on the 13th of September, 1700, Widaagh alias Orytyagh and Andaggy Junkquah, "kings or sachems of the Susquehannock Indians and of the river under that name and lands lying on both sides thereof," granted and confirmed to William Penn "all the said river Susquehanna and all the islands therein, and all the lands situate, lying, and being upon both sides of the said river and next adjoining to the same, extending to the utmost confines of the lands which are or formerly were the right of the people or nation called the Susquehannock Indians," with all the right, title, and interest therein that they or their ancestors " could, might, or ought to have had, held, or enjoyed." The bargain and sale effected by Dongan were also distinctly ratified; and on the 23d of April, 1701, the Potomac and Shawanese Indians, with other chiefs of the Susquehannocks, entered into a treaty with Penn by which the purchase from Orytyagh and Andaggy Junkquah was approved and confirmed.

While the Susquehannocks were apparently well satisfied, the Six Nations were not. They acknowledged Dongan's deed at a conference with Governor Gookin at Conestoga in 1710, but several years later the Cayugas "had the boldness to assert that all the lands upon Susquehanna river belonged to them and that the English had no right to settle there;" and although the sale to Dongan was admitted and confirmed at the Conestoga conference of July, 1721, and at Albany in September, 1722, his transfer to Penn seems to have been both incomprehensible and unsatisfactory. The reasons for this were thus stated by Canassatego, an Onondaga chief, at the Lancaster treaty in 1744 :-

Our brother Onas [Penn] a great while ago came to Albany to buy the Susque- hanna lands of us, but our brother, the Governor of New York, who, as we suppose, had not a good understanding with our brother Onas, advised us not to sell him any lands, for he would make an ill use of it; and, pretending to he our good friend, he advised us, in order to prevent Onas or any other persons imposing upon us, and that we might always have our land when we should want it, to put it into his hands, and told us he would keep it for our use and never open his hands but keep them close shut and not part with any of it but at our request. Accordingly, we trusted him and put our land into his hands and charged him to keep it safe for our use. But some time after he went away to England and carried our land with him, and there sold it to our brother Onas for a large sum of money; and when, at the instance of our brother Onas, we were minded to sell him some lands, he told us that we had sold the Susquehanna lands already to the Governor of New York and that he had bought them from him in England .*

At length, in pursuance of a decision of the Onondaga council, a depu- tation was sent to Philadelphia in the autumn of 1736 for the purpose of terminating all disputes relating to the Susquehanna river and lands. A conference was held, resulting in the execution of a deed by which the Six Nations, on the 11th of October, 1736, released and confirmed to the Proprie- taries " all the said river Susquehanna, with the lands lying on both sides

*Colonial Records, Vol. IV. p. 708.

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thereof, to extend eastward as far as the heads of the branches or springs which run into the said Susquehanna, and all the lands lying on the west side of the said river to the setting of the sun, and to extend from the mouth of the said river northward up the same to the hills or mountains called in the language of the said nations the Tyannuntasachta or Endless hills and by the Delaware Indians the Kekkachtananin hills." After the close of the conference the Indians set out on the return journey; at Tulpehocken, Octo- ber 25, 1736, they signed a supplementary document declaring that the "true intent and meaning" of their deed of the 11th instant was, to release all that part of the Province between the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers with the Endless hills as the northern boundary. The Kittatinny range thus became the line of the Province along the entire north and west frontier from the Delaware river to the Maryland border.

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History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 4

Author: Bell, Herbert C. (Herbert Charles), 1868- ed; John, J. J., 1829- Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago, Brown, Runk Number of Pages: 1424

Author: Bell, Herbert C. (Herbert Charles), 1868- ed; John, J. J., 1829-
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, Brown, Runk
Number of Pages: 1424