USA > Pennsylvania > Perry County > History of Perry County, Pennsylvania, including descriptions of Indians and pioneer life from the time of earliest settlement, sketches of its noted men and women and many professional men > Part 23
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The Petition,
Of the subscribers residing in that part of Cumberland County called Shearman's Valley, situate on the north side of the Blue Mountain, to the Honorable the Senate, and House of Representatives, of the Common- wealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, at their session of 1819-20,
Humbly Showcih,
That your Petitioners again renew their prayers for a division of Cum- berland County, because its local situation, and the convenience and pros- perity of the people of Shearman's Valley, imperiously require a division. The local situation of Cumberland County, is as follows, viz: It is bound on the north by the Tuscarora Mountain, on the south by the South Moun- tain. The Blue Mountain runs through the County, nearly east and west. making a natural division of said County into two valleys, nearly of equal territory and population. Carlisle, our present seat of Justice, is situate in the Valley on the Southern side, not more than six miles from the south boundary, and in the most eligible and central part of it, on the very spot where it ought to be, had Shearman's Valley never been attached thereto. On the north side of the Blue Mountain, lies Shearman's Valley, our proposed new county, which is in length east and west, from forty- eight to fifty miles; and the general breadth, from sixteen to eighteen miles; containing twenty-two hundred taxable inhabitants. We have forty-eight Grist and Merchant Mills, sixty Sawmills, ten Fulling Mills, eight Carding Machines, four Oil Mills, one Forge, one Furnace, two Tilt-hammers and one Powder Mill; we have beautiful settlements, fertile and well cultivated lands, and wealthy inhabitants, yet notwith- standing all our local advantages for want of a division the people from the upper end of Shearman's Valley have to travel thirty-six, and the peo- ple from the lower extreme, have to travel about forty miles, to Carlisle, our present seat of Justice ; and that is not all, we have to cross and re- cross, that almost insuperable barrier, the Blue Mountain, besides the Con- nodoguinet Creek, which is often times not fordable and in going by Bridge, those from the upper end of Shearman's Valley, have to travel seven additional miles in going to or coming from Carlisle.
There are a number of counties in the State, which have neither the population, extent of territory nor fertility of soil that either the old or new counties would have if divided, and a great many more, that the whole amount of lands, are not valued so high, as is the land in Cumber- land County.
Therefore, in point of numbers and wealth, we consider ourselves alto- gether competent to support a County and the administration of Justice ;
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for if a division was granted, our saving in travelling expenses, and lying at Court in Carlisle, at so great distance from home, would amount in short time to a sum sufficient, to make our Public Buildings; and Justice could be administered, for much less than one-half the expense, that the whole County now costs. For the intercourse between the people on this side, and the people on the other side the Blue Mountain, is so trifling, that it rarely happens, that any suit of importance comes before the Court, where persons from both sides are concerned. But the Court being occu- pied by parties both from one side or the other; so that while causes from the south side of the Blue Mountain are before the Court, the people from the north side, who have causes depending, are obliged to lie with their witnesses, at great expense, very often for several courts succes- sively, which in most cases increases the expenses above the matter in controversy : and moreover, it gives the wicked, unjust and troublesome, a complete triumph over Justice, because many would rather give up their just rights, than seek Justice at such a vast expense, and further, the peo- ple on this side of the Blue Mountain, have been at their full share of ex- penses, in building a Court House, a house for the public offices, a Jail and Penitentiary at Carlisle; all which they are willing to give up their part of, to the people on the other side, if the Legislature will pass a law to divide the County.
It would be a moderate computation, to say that each taxable inhabitant of our proposed new County, would have to go to Carlisle, at least once a year, on business, either to Court, or some of the public offices; the ex- penses upon the average, with loss of time, cannot be computed at less than three dollars per man. If we were divided, there would be a saving of at least one-half, say 3300 dollars, to the people of this side, in the bare item of travelling expenses and loss of time. Besides there would be a saving of at least double that sum in Mileage of Sheriffs, Jurors, and Wit- nesses, to say nothing of the saving to the estates of widows and orphans. Upon the whole, the people on this side of the Blue Mountain, at a mod- erate calculation sustain a loss of at least 10,000 dollars per annum for want of division.
We ask part of no other County, we ask barely what nature intended, by rearing a stupendous Mountain, dividing the present large boundary of Cumberland County into two Valleys nearly equal; each of which being sufficiently large for a County, and the people on our side, labour under the most intolerable inconvenience, by reason of their having to cross the Mountain, whenever business of a public nature is to be transacted.
Therefore, your petitioners most sincerely pray that your Honorable body, will pass a law, to divide Cumberland County, making the summit of the Blue Mountain the division line.
And we further pray, that the Governor be authorized to appoint three or five disinterested, respectable, Judicious and honest men, living out of the County, to explore our new County, and fix a scite for the seat of Justice, and your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray.
We, the undersigned living on the south side of the Blue Mountain pray the representatives of Pennsylvania, in general assembly met now in ses- sion of 1819-20 to grant the people of Shearman's Valley a County north of the Blue Mountain separate from Cumberland County and your peti- tioners as in duty bound will pray, etc.
The words "that your petitioners again renew their prayers," in the beginning of the petition, imply that previous effort or ef- forts had been made towards separation from Cumberland County,
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but attempts to find facts relating thereto have been unavailing. While the language of the petition is more or less crude, the rea- sons presented were plausible, as any person having even a small knowledge of legal procedure must readily see. Who were the leading spirits that urged it and later saw it an accomplished fact ? No records remain to tell, but a perusal of the early citizens whose names stand forth in the county's first years must necessarily in- clude many of them. Having pressed to success their design it would be but natural to see them play a leading part in the affairs of their new county.
To the south lay Carlisle-staid, pedantic, historic, aristocratic and the seat of a government military post. It seemed strange to that town "that a country of sparse population, with no towns of importance and only a river or two and a few mountain streams for transportation and selling mostly 'hoop poles' and furs" should have a desire to become a separate county. Its formation would be a great blow to the commerce and trade of Carlisle, as to it went largely the trade of the entire Sherman's Valley, taken thence by those who went on legal errands; and from Carlisle came the opposition to the birth of the new county. Until then the Sher- man's Valley people were largely tied economically to Carlisle ; but the building of the canals and later the railroad changed the course of trade. The automobile has again somewhat reversed trade conditions for residents of the vicinity of Shermansdale. At the time of the passage of this act William Anderson, of the Perry County territory, was one of the three members of the legis- lature from Cumberland County.
The text of the act creating the new county follows :
THE LEGISLATIVE ACT CREATING PERRY COUNTY.
An act erecting part of Cumberland County, into a separate county to be called Perry.
Sec. I. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That from and after the first day of September next all that part of Cumberland County lying north of the Blue Mountain, beginning on the summit of the Blue Mountain, where the Franklin County line crosses the same, and running thence along the sum- mit thereof an eastwardly course to the river Susquehanna, thence up the west side of the same to the line of Mifflin County, thence along the Mifflin County line to the summit of the Tuscarora Mountain, thence along the summit of the same to the Franklin County line, thence along the same to the place of beginning, be and the same is hereby declared to be erected into a separate county to be called Perry.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the inhabitants of the said county of Perry from and after the first day of September next. shall be entitled to and at all times thereafter have, all and singular the courts, jurisdictions, offices, rights and privileges, to which
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the inhabitants of other counties of this state are entitled by the Constitu- tion and laws of this commonwealth.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the several courts in and for the said county of Perry, shall be opened and held at such house in the town of Landisburg, as may be designated by the commissioners of said county, to be elected at the next general elec- tion, until a courthouse shall be erected in and for said county, as is here- inafter directed, and shall be then held at said courthouse, at which place the returns of the general election in and for the county of Perry shall be made.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the suits which shall be pending and undetermined in the Court of Common Pleas of Cumberland County, on the first day of September next, where both parties in suit or suits shall at that time be resident in the county of Perry, shall be transferred to the Court of Common Pleas of Perry County, and shall be considered as pending in said court, and shall be proceeded on in like manner as if the same had been. originally commenced in said court, except that the fees on the same due to the officers of Cum- berland County, shall be paid to them when recovered by the prothonotary or sheriff of Perry County; and the prothonotary of Cumberland County shall on or before the first day of September next purchase a docket, and copy therein all the docket entries respecting the said suits to be trans- ferred as aforesaid, and shall on or before the first day of November next, have the said docket, together with the records, declarations and other papers respecting said suits, ready to be delivered to the prothono- tary of Perry County; the expense of said docket and copying to be paid by the prothonotary of Perry County, and reimbursed by the said county of Perry, on warrants to be drawn by the commissioners of Perry County on the treasurer thereof.
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all taxes or arrears of taxes laid or which have become due within the said county of Perry before the passing of this act, and all sums of money due to this commonwealth for militia fines in the said county of Perry, shall be collected and recovered as if this act had not been passed: Provided akvays, That the money arising from county taxes assessed or to be as- sessed within the limits of the county of Perry, subsequently to the first day of November last, shall from time to time, as the same may be col- lected, be paid into the treasury of the county of Cumberland for the use and benefit of the county of Perry; until a treasurer shall be appointed in the county of Perry, and the treasurer of the county of Cumberland shall keep separate accounts thereof, and pay the same to the treasurer of the county of Perry as soon as he shall have been appointed; and whatever part of said taxes may remain uncollected in the county of Perry at the time of the appointment of the treasurer thereof, the same shall be collected in the usual manner, and paid into the treasury of the county of Perry.
Sec. 6. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the sheriff, treasurer, prothonotary and all such officers as are by law required to give surety for the faithful discharge of the duties of their respective offices, who shall hereafter be appointed or elected in the said county of Perry, before they or any of them shall enter on the execution thereof, shall give sufficient security in the same manner and form and for the same uses, trusts and purposes, as such officers for the time being are obliged by law to give in the county of Cumberland.
Sec. 7. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the sheriff, coroner and other officers of the county of Cumberland, shall con-
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tinue to exercise the duties of their respective offices within the county of Perry, until similar officers shall be elected or appointed, as the case may be, agreeably to law within the said county; and the persons who shall be appointed associate judges for the county of Perry, shall take and subscribe the requisite oaths or affirmation of office before the pro- thonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of the county of Cumberland, who shall file a record of the same in the office of the prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Perry County.
Sec. 8. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the inhabitants of the county of Perry shall elect one representative and the county of Cumberland two, until otherwise altered, and in conjunction with Cumberland County one senator to serve in the legislature of this commonwealth in the same mode, under the same regulations, and make return thereof in the same manner, as is directed by the fifteenth section of this act.
Sec. 9. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the governor be and he is hereby authorized and required, on or before the first day of September next ensuing, to appoint three discreet and disin- terested persons, not resident in the counties of Cumberland or Perry, whose duty it shall be, to fix on a proper and convenient scite for a court- house, prison and county offices within the aforesaid county of Perry, as near the centre thereof, as circumstances will admit, having regard to the convenience of roads, territory, population and the accommodation of the people of the said county generally; and said persons, or a majority of them, having viewed the relative advantages of the several situations con- templated by the people, shall on or before the first day of September next, by a written report under their hands or under the hands of a ma- jority of them, certify, describe and limit the scite or lot of land which they shall have chosen for the purpose aforesaid, and shall transmit the said report to the governor of this commonwealth; and the persons so as aforesaid appointed, shall each receive three dollars per diem for their services out of the monies to be raised in pursuance of this act: Provided always, That before the commissioners shall proceed to perform the du- ties enjoined on them by this act, they shall take an oath or affirmation before some judge or justice of the peace, well and truly and with fidelity to perform said duties without favor to any person, according to the true intent and meaning of this act.
Sec. 10. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful for the commissioners of the county of Perry who shall be elected at the next annual clection, to take assurance to them and their successors in office of such lot, or lots or piece of ground as shall have been approved of by the persons appointed as aforesaid, or a majority of them, for the purpose of erecting thereon a courthouse, jail and offices for the safe keeping of the records; and the county commis- sioners are hereby authorized to assess, levy and collect in the manner directed by the acts for raising county rates and levies, a sufficient sum to defray the expenses thereof, and also are hereby authorized to assess, levy and collect for the purpose of building a courthouse and prison, which they are hereby authorized to erect, a sufficient sum to defray the ex- penses thereof.
Sec. 11. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said county of Perry shall form a part of the district composed of the counties of Cumberland, Franklin and Adams for the election of members of congress.
Sec. 12. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the judges of the Supreme Court shall have like powers, jurisdictions and
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authorities within the said county of Perry, as by law they are vested with and entitled to have and exercise in other counties of this state; and the said county is hereby annexed to the southern district of the Su- preme Court.
Sec. 13. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the county of Perry shall be annexed to and compose part of the ninth judi- cial district of this commonwealth and the courts in said county of Perry shall be held on the Monday after the courts in Franklin County.
Sec. 14. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all certioraries directed to and appeals from the judgment of any justice of the peace of the said county of Perry, and all criminal prosecutions which may originate in the said county before the test day hereinafter mentioned, shall be proceeded in as heretofore in the Courts of Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions of the county of Cumberland, and all process to issue from the courts of the said county of Perry, returnable to the first term in said county, shall bear test on the third Monday of November next.
Sec. 15. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the judges of the district elections within each of the said counties of Cum- "berland and Perry after having formed the returns of the whole election for senator within each county in such manner as is or may be directed by law, shall on the third Tuesday in October in each year send the same by one or more of their number to the courthouse in the borough of Car- lisle in the county of Cumberland, when and where the judges so met shall cast up the several county returns, and execute under their respec- tive hands as many returns for the whole district as may be requisite, and also transmit the same as is by law required of the return judges in other districts.
Sec. 16. Ind be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That in all cases when it would be lawful for the sheriff, jailor, or prison keeper of the county of Perry, to hold in close custody the body of any person in the common jail of the said county, if such jail were at this time erected in and for the said county, such persons shall be delivered to and kept in close custody by the sheriff, jaifor or prison keeper of the county of Cum- berland, who upon delivery of such prisoner to him or to them at the common jail in said county of Cumberland shall safely keep him, her or them until they be discharged by due course of law, and shall also be an- swerable in like manner and liable to the same pains and penalties as if the persons so delivered were liable to confinement in the common jail of Cumberland County ; and the parties aggrieved shall be entitled to the same remedies against them or any of them, as if such prisoner had been committed to his or their custody by virtue of legal process issued by proper authority of the said county of Cumberland: Provided always, That the sheriff of Perry County be allowed out of the county stock of said county, ten cents per mile as a full compensation for every person charged with a criminal offense which he may deliver to the jail of Cum- berland County by virtue of this act, on orders drawn by the commis- sioners of Perry County on the treasury thereof.
Sec. 17. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the sheriff, jailor and prison keeper of the county of Cumberland shall receive all prisoners as aforesaid, and shall provide for them, according to law, and shall be entitled to the fees for keeping them, and also to such allow- ance as is by law directed for the maintenance of prisoners in similar cases, which allowance shall be defrayed and paid by the commissioners of the county of Perry out of the county stock.
Sec. 18. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the sixteenth and seventeenth sections of this act shall be and continue in
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force for the term of three years, or until the commissioners of Perry County shall have certified to the court, that a jail is erected and ready for the reception of prisoners and approved of by the court and grand jury, who shall enter their approbation, signed by them, on the record of said court; and from thenceforth it shall be lawful for the sheriff of Perry County, to receive all and every person or persons who may then be confined in the jail of Cumberland County, in pursuance of this act, and convey them to the jail of Perry County, and to keep them in custody until they be discharged by due course of law.
Sec. 19. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the poorhouse establishment, which will be included in the county of Perry, shall be and continue to be conducted as heretofore for the term of four years, from and after the passage of this act, and at the expiration of the said four years, the commissioners of Cumberland County shall remove their paupers into their own county.
(Passed March 22, 1820. Recorded in Penna. Laws, No. XVIII, P. II.)
The northern boundary of the new county, described as "thence along the Mifflin County line," refers to the present Juniata County line, as Juniata had not then yet been taken from Mifflin and made a separate county.
When Cumberland County was erected in 1750, the eastern boundary line was made specific, as Cumberland's lands were to lie "to the westward of the Susquehanna." Whether that was the intention of those who drew the act or not will never be known, but when Perry County's territory was taken from Cumberland, it inherited that boundary line. This line has never been changed by man, save that by two special acts of the Pennsylvania Legisla- ture, islands in the Susquehanna River have become a part of Perry. The Act of March 7, 1856, detached from Upper Paxton Township, Dauphin County, an island "by the name of Crow's Island, to be attached to and hereafter become a part of Perry County." The Act of March 21, 1868, detached from Middle Paxton Township, Dauphin County, and annexed to Penn Town- ship, Perry County, the island below Duncannon, known as Wis- ter's Island. Just where the county line would be drawn at these two points has never been determined.
The northern line, as stated in the act erecting Perry County. starts at the Susquehanna at the line of Mifflin County (now the southern line of Juniata County ), "thence along the Mifflin County line to the summit of the Tuscarora Mountain." The act creating Mifflin County designated the southern boundary thus: "Begin- ning at the Susquehanna River where the Turkey Hill extends to said river ; thence along said hill to Juniata, where it cuts Tusca- rora Mountain, thence along the summit of said mountain to the line of Franklin County." Consequently, on Turkey Hill, the ridge which lies between Liverpool and Greenwood Townships of Perry County and Susquehanna and Greenwood Townships of
14
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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Juniata County, is the county line of that part of the county lying east of the Juniata. To residents of that section of the county "Turkey Hill" is known as Turkey Ridge, and the first valley north of it (in Juniata County) is known as Turkey Valley.
An act of the Pennsylvania Legislature, December 23, 1824. authorized the appointment of John Harper, of Cumberland County ; John Cox, of Franklin County, and Robert Clark, of Perry County, to run the line dividing Cumberland and Perry.
Perry County had been erected for fourteen years before the northern boundary line was run by surveyors. An act of the Pennsylvania Legislature of April 14, 1834, authorized its survey, and David Hongh, of Mifflin County ; Samuel Wallick, of Juniata County, and Jason W. Eby, of Cumberland County, were ap- pointed commissioners to conduct it. They were required to run the line before June 15, 1834. They were to make duplicate drafts of the survey, inserting the courses and distances "in words, at length," and to furnish a copy to the prothonotary of each county, to be "thereafter considered a public record." Evidently their task was not entirely completed until the time limit, yet the fifth section of an act of April 4. 1835, ratified it and declared it to be of the same effect as if finished at the appointed time. According to records Jason W. Eby did not act, the other commissioners running the line. In all probability the line then designated did not meet with the approval of all, for on April 2, 1860, an act was passed by the legislature to rerun that part of the line located west of the Juniata river. James Woods and Mitchell Patton, of Perry County, and George W. Jacobs, of Juniata County, were appointed commissioners for that purpose. The line was to be located by September 1, 1860, and was to be marked "upon the ground, by distinct and permanent marks, wherever and as often as the said division line crosses any public road or highway and at other convenient distances, on the aforesaid line." Like the previous commissioners, they were instructed to make duplicate drafts, but with the specific provision that they were to be "with courses and distances plainly laid down, with reference to the im- provements through which said line may pass, one of which they shall deposit in each of the prothonotary's offices of the aforesaid counties, as soon thereafter as practical, which shall be considered as a public record." The courses and distances are merely statis- tical and are not considered of enough importance to reproduce here. They may be referred to at the courthouse in either Perry or Juniata Counties. The survey of 1860 differed little from that of 1834.
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