History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Part 4

Author:
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Harrisburg : R. C. Brown
Number of Pages: 1454

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Similar evidences of the existence at one time of an Indian village were found

* Life of Van Campen, revised edition by Minard, 1893, pp. 219-222.

THE LAND OF TIOGA.

by the early hunters and settlers at "Big Meadows." now Ansonia, at the mouth of Marsh creek. Even at this late day flints, arrow heads, etc., are brought to the surface in the digging of graves in the cemetery at Ansonia, which, so tradition has it, was an old Indian burying ground. When the whites came to this spot they found a large cleared space bearing evidence of having once been under cultivation.

The finding of numerous Indian relies in and around Tioga borough evidence the existence there at one time of an Indian village of considerable importance. George V. Smith, a son of Dr. Robert B. Smith, of that place, who is an enthusiastic student of archaeology, has quite a large collection of these relics of a departed people, to which he is constantly making additions. It embraces arrow-heads and spear-heads of flint; large and small implements of blue stone for skinning and dressing hides; implements for fishing; pipes, a huge stone mortar, in which the Indian ground his corn, together with the pestle for grinding, as well as hatehets, tomahawks and knives. Not the least interesting of these rare and valuable relics are the fragments of several Indian skeletons unearthed by Mr. Smith on the site of an ancient burying ground near Tioga borough.

This collection also contains a number of valuable utensils, and a large amount of pottery. In June, 1889, Mr. Smith unearthed, almost within the limits of Tioga borough, the fragments of three Indian jars, which, with great difficulty, have been completely restored. These jars were made of clay, strengthened by very coarse sand or fine gravel, after which the whole was burned or baked in a bulrush basket, the bul- rushes being burned away, leaving their imprints on the exteriors of the jars. These huge elay jars present an interesting study in the development of decorative art, for all three are decorated with lines and dots, no attempt, however, being made at effigy. The interiors are smooth. The largest of these jars is seventeen inches in height, and, when whole, had a capacity of nearly half a bushel.

Not far from where these interesting relies were unearthed, were found the remains of several fire-places, from which he took a number of animal bones, em- bracing those of the deer. He also took from one of these fire-places nearly a pint of charred corn and beans.

The relies in this collection evidence not only the existence at one time of an Indian village at Tioga, but of an Indian burying ground in which a large number of interments were made.

FRENCHI EXPLORERS AND MISSIONARIES.

The first white men who probably visited the Senecas were French. We have no evidence that the early explorers penetrated to any extent what is now the territory of Tioga county, but as they were an adventuresome people, it is not unreasonable to assume that they visited what are now the northern borders of the county, and probably ascended the Tioga river for some distance. So intent were the French on the acquisition of territory that they penetrated unknown wilds in search of informa- tion regarding the land and the natives; and they never failed to establish friendly relations with them, because they cultivated feelings of amity and never violated their pledges.

The French Catholic missionaries, zealous in the work of converting the chil-

HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

dren of the forest to Christianity, also found their way into Tioga county years before its settlement began. Interesting relics evidencing their presence in the Cowanesque valley are now in the possession of Hon. Chas. Tubbs, of Osceola. The story of their finding is as follows: In September, 1872, Ira M. Edgcomb built a saw-mill on the northi bank of the Cowanesque river, near the mouth of the North Fork, two miles above Westfield. He employed workmen to excavate a pit in which to lay the masonry foundation for the engine. When about four feet below the surface they found two candle sticks, rudely wrought in red pipe stone, and a silver plate. One of the candle sticks and the plate is in Mr. Tubbs' possession. The silver plate is four and one-half inches in diameter. The rim is seven-eighths of an inch wide. The upper surface is gold washed. The under surface is inscribed with the Roman capital letters I. H. S., the initials of the Latin words, Jesu Hominum Salvator (Jesus the Savior of men). Each letter is five-eighths of an inch high, and a Roman Catholic cross, six-eighths of an inch high, is engraved on the plate, having its base on the center of the bar of the letter H. The candle stick is in two pieces. The base is rectangular, and is two and one-half by two and three-fourths inches square, and three-fourths of an inch high. This is surmounted by the upright part, which rises one and one-half inches from the base, in a rectangular form, and at this point changes to cylindrical shapes. The total height is five and one-fourth inches. Four dowels of native lead project upward from the base and fit into corresponding holes in the upright. The bore in the top to receive the candle is one and three- fourths inches deep by three-fourths of an inch in diameter.

As no excavation was made outside of the pit in which these were found, it is probable that other similar relics are under the surface near the same spot. These candle sticks and the silver plate doubtless formed a part of a Catholic service set, and belonged to the furniture of an altar erected in the wilderness by some early missionary priest on which to celebrate the sacrifice of the Mass. To what catas- trophy their presence in the debris deposited by the Cowanesque river is to be attributed, is beyond even conjecture. They may have washed down from a point higher up the stream, or may have been hidden by some missionary, who paid with his life for his zeal and devotion to his holy faith.

BOUNDARY LINE OF THE PURCHASE OF 1768.

The line of the purchase of 1768, which ascended Towanda creek, skirted along Burnett's Ridge-now in Lycoming county-and then bore westward until it inter- sected Pine creek, down which it passed to the West Branch of the Susquehanna river, near Jersey Shore. It then followed the river westward to Canoe Place-now known as Cherry Tree-in Indiana county; thence it passed westward until it struck the Allegheny river at Kittanning. At Canoe Place the counties of Clearfield, Cambria and Indiana corner. The place was deemed of such historic importance that the legislature of 1893 passed a bill appropriating $1,500 for the erection of a monument to mark the spot where the famous cherry tree stood. The monument, bearing a suitable inscription, was completed and dedicated in November, 1894. It is somewhat imposing, is thirty-five feet in height from the water level of the stream, and bears the names in conspicuously-carved letters, "Clearfield," "Cambria," and "Indiana."

THE LAND OF TIOGA.

After crossing the second fork of Pine creek, from the east, the line proceeded west until it intersected what was termed in the treaty, "Yarnall's Creek,"* which it followed down to Pine creek. There has always been some doubt regarding what was termed "Yarnall's Creek." The conclusion is that it is what is now known as Babb's creek, which empties into Pine creek at Blackwells. Down this stream was an Indian path, and it would therefore be a natural route for a boundary line.

There is another curious, if not mysterious, feature connected with this bound- ary line, which has never been satisfactorily explained. After the treaty of 1768, the Indians set up a claim that Lycoming creek was what they meant by the name Tiadaghton. The whites demurred, of course, but the Indians insisted. There is nothing in existence to show that this title was ever applied to Lycoming creek. Moravian travelers often ascended it on their way to Onondaga, but in all their writ- ings-and they kept copious journals-there is no reference to any name that can be tortured into Tiadaghton. Evidently the Indians set up the claim for the purpose of retaining this section for hunting grounds, as it covered a fine territory for that purpose.

THE OLD TREATIES.

By the treaty of 1768 the territory afterward covered by Tioga county re- mained as Indian land. When Berks county was organized, March 11, 1:52, its ter- ritory only extended on the north to the purchase line of 1:49, which included what are now the counties of Dauphin, Schuylkill, Carbon, Monroe, and Pike. The purchase line touched the river a few miles below Sunbury. By the purchase of 1758 the line crossed the river into what is now Snyder county and took in a great extent of territory on the west and south side of the West Branch, passed the famous Cherry Tree-or what was sometimes designated as C'anoe Place-and then continued to Kittanning on the Allegheny. C'anoe Place was so named because it was stipulated in the treaty that the line should cross the West Branch at the highest point to which a canoe could be pushed. As the river flows from the west after Muncy hills are passed, it can readily be seen why the land was designated as lying to the south. The primary object of this treaty was to acquire lands to reward the officers for their services in the Bouquet expedition. Extensive surveys and allot- ments for this purpose were made in what is now Union county, and in Bald Eagle valley, Clinton county.

By the treaty of 1:68 the territory lying east and north of the river, as far westward as Lycoming creek, and northward to Burnett's Ridge and Towanda creek, belonged to Berks county until March 21, 1772, when Northumberland county was erected. It then fell to the latter, and was under its jurisdiction until the organiza- tion of Lycoming county, April 13, 1:95, when it was embraced in that county.

From 1768 to 178.1, a period of sixteen years, the dispute as to the true boundary line of 1768 was continued between the whites and the Indians. At the treaty and purchase of 1784-when the Indians sold all their land lying west of Lycoming creek for $10,000-they frankly admitted that Tiadaghton was what was known

* On the draught of the State Road (built in 1799), preserved in the land office at Harrisburg, the cabin of James Yarnall is noted, alao that of Samson Babb. Yarnall afterwards settled on the Cowanesque, and gave his name to a small stream in that valley. Some of his descendants still live there.

HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

by the whites as Pine creek. As the line ran, very little of the territory of Tioga ever belonged to Berks county. The Indian line shows a curve, bearing northward, in what is now Morris township, which probably took in a portion of its territory. After 1784 all this disputed territory fell to Northumberland county. After April 13, 1795, Lycoming covered the following wide domain: Its southern line, com- mencing near the mouth of White Deer creek, followed the Indian boundary line of 1768, via Canoe Place (Cherry Tree) to Kittanning, on the Allegheny river; thence up that stream to the mouth of Conewango creek, at Warren, which it ascended to the New York State line; thence along that line until it intersected the line of Luzerne county (erected September 25, 1786), which it followed in a south- easterly direction, until it connected with the northern line of Northumberland county, which it followed westwardly, crossing the Muncy Hills and the river near the present railroad bridge at Montgomery; thence down the river to the place of beginning. The immense territory contained within these boundary lines comprised over 12,000 square miles. Such was the extent of the parent county of Tioga.

THE WALKER TRAGEDY.

This affair, which created a great deal of excitement at that time, and agitated the Senecas to the verge of war, was caused by an Indian boasting, while under the influence of liquor, at a public gathering at a tavern near the mouth of Pine creek, that he had tomahawked and scalped John Walker during a raid near what is now the village of Winfield, Union county, in August, 1780. Walker was an old man and had several sons, the oldest of whom was named Benjamin. The elder Walker had warranted a tract of land lying north of the river and on the east side of Pine creek, but during the Indian troubles he and his family had fled to the house of a friend at Winfield, where they were surprised by a war party and the old man and several others cruelly murdered. Not content with boasting to Benjamin Walker and two of his brothers that he had killed their father, he made grimaces and con- torted his body to show how their father acted when he was in the act of scalping him. This fiendish as well as imprudent act so enraged the Walker boys that they re- solved on revenge. Accordingly they secured the assistance of a man named Sam Doyle, who had seen much service during the Indian troubles, and going to the camp of the Indian that night slew him. He was accompanied by a young Indian, who protested his innocence, but the enraged party refused to listen to his appeals for mercy, and killed him also. They then threw the dead bodies into Pine creek, at a point about a quarter of a mile west of the junction of the Fall Brook with the Beech Creek railroad, where they remained until a rise of the water soon afterward deposited them on a sand bar and they were discovered.

When the news of the killing of the Indians reached their friends in the "Genesee Country," they became greatly enraged and threatened vengeance. This so alarmed the white settlers on Pine creek and the river that they petitioned the State authorities for protection. The latter sent commissioners to treat with the Indians, and straightway offered a reward for the arrest of the guilty parties. Doyle was apprehended, tried and acquitted, but the Walkers escaped from the country and became fugitives. The sympathies of the whites were really with the Walkers, but the threat of an Indian invasion so frightened them that they made

THE LAND OF TIOGA.

a pretext of arresting the culprits to allay the wrath of their red neighbors. The fact that Doyle was found not guilty showed the prevailing sentiment of the people- that the Indians richly merited the punishment they received for their atrocious crimes, even if it was meted out to them in time of peace and was murder in the eyes of the law.

Soon after his acquittal, Doyle became interested with Charles Williamson and assisted him in building his famous road through Tioga county, and in laying out the city of Bath. It may seem strange that after his experiences with the Senecas he should locate so near to them. He lived about three miles below Bath, and died there in the early twenties.

Benjamin Walker and his two brothers were never arrested. Friends kept them concealed until they had an opportunity to escape from the country. Two of them, Benjamin and Henry, made their way to North Bend, on the Ohio river, and when Indiana becanie a State they settled in Dearborn county. In course of time Benjamin was joined by his wife, Ann Crawford, who was a daughter of Major Crawford, of Pine ( 'reek township, Clinton county. He raised a family of ten children and died in 1848, aged nearly ninety years. The other brother, Joseph, disappeared from notice, but there is a tradition that he followed the Indians into the Genesee country, and probably perished at their hands.

INDIAN CHARACTERISTICS AND PECULIARITIES.

It is remarkable what an accurate information the aborigines possessed of the geography and topography of the country. With no knowledge of the compass and destitute of means for accurate measurement, they seemed to possess an intuitive knowledge of places, however remote they might be, and how to reach them by the most direct route. Their mode of life frequently led them hundreds of miles into a strange country, either in pursuit of game or of an enemy. Yet they never seemed to have any fear about finding their way back. This knowledge came from ex- perience and keenness of observation, acquired by leading a nomadic life in a country which was in every respect a "howling wilderness." In a word. they were compelled to depend on the signs of nature-to observe closely and quickly, and remember accurately every minute detail, either in the configuration of the country, or the trees, rocks and streams. Their paths, therefore, were always laid out by the most available routes and by excellent springs of water; but they were only of sufficient width for one, for they always traveled in single file-one behind the other. They knew the best fording places on rivers and creeks, and thither their main paths were directed. From their great thoroughfares numerous smaller trails branched, which were used as "cut offs" in shortening distances when they did not want to visit important points, but were desirons of being as expeditious as pos- aible in making long journey -. In exercising their natural engineering abilities, they were guided by the stars and the moss on the bark of trees, as to the points of the compass, whilst their intuitive knowledge of location enabled them to penetrate the thickest and gloomiest of forests and reach their destination with safety. Nature furnished them unerring signs as guides, which they never mistook in their movements. Consequently it was rare for an Indian to lose his bearings in the

HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

depth of the forest. So advantageously were their paths located that the whites, when they came to build roads, generally followed them.

Peculiar as a race-lost to their ancient people-they seemed destined to fulfill their mission and slowly fade away. Possessing many noble qualities, yet the great wrongs they suffered goaded them to commit deeds of violence and blood. They knew no guile until they came in contact with civilization; they possessed the attributes of purity until contaminated by the vices of a race claiming to be their superiors; they were temperate until taught by white men how to degrade them- selves by the use of "fire water." Some writers have styled them the Romans of the New World; but like the Romans of the Old World, they drank of the bitter cup and passed away.

CHAPTER III.

BEGINNING OF TIOGA COUNTY.

PURCHASE OF 1784-FAIR PLAY SYSTEM-LYCOMING TOWNSHIP FORMED-ITS BOUND- ARIES AND AREA-OLD TIOGA TOWNSHIP ERECTED-A VALUABLE DOCUMENT DISCOVERED-BOUNDARIES DEFINED-OTHER RECORD EVIDENCE-TIOGA TOWN. SHIP TAXABLES OF 1800-ADDITIONAL EXTRACTS FROM EARLY RECORDS-PANTHER AND WOLF SCALP BOUNTIES.

W HEN the purchase of 1784 was made from the Indians, at the treaty of Fort Stanwix, the newly-acquired territory was attached to Northumberland county. It was a vast domain. The settlers-of whom there were many along the north side of the West Branch of the Susquehanna-were squatters on the Indian lands before the purchase. Settlements in this territory had been made as early as 1770, and being outside the limits of the Province, its laws could afford the settlers no protec- tion. Owing to this fact, when they became numerous, they were obliged to organize some kind of a government for their own protection. What is known in history as the "Fair Play System" was the result of their deliberations. Three commissioners or judges were elected annually, who sat in judgment upon offenders against the peace and dignity of the settlement, when they were brought before them, and from their decisions there was no appeal. Tradition says that they dispensed justice with wisdom, fairness and dignity. In a word, "Fair Play" was accorded to all. Those who made themselves obnoxious to the settlers by the commission of crime, or at- tempted to interfere with the pre-emption rights of squatters, were banished from the settlement. The sentence, in extreme cases, was carried out by placing the offenders in a canoe at the mouth of Lycoming creek and sending them adrift down the river into the Province. The leading "Fair Play" man was the celebrated

BEGINNING OF TIOGA COUNTY.

Brattan Caldwell. A grandson afterwards settled at Covington, Tioga county, and his descendants still live in the county. Nearly all these early settlers were Scotch- Irish. They were a sturdy race of men, noted for their daring during times of danger and for their patriotism in the Revolution. On this account they were nearly all granted pre-emption lands when the purchase was made from the Indians, and received patents from the State.

LYCOMING TOWNSHIP FORMED.

The settlements along the river had increased to such an extent that immedi- ately after the purchase of 1784 the inhabitants began to discuss the propriety of hav- ing a new township formed. Accordingly, at the August session, 1785, of the North- umberland county court, a petition was presented setting forth the absolute necessity for this territory to be organized "for the purposes of order and a civil state of society," and praying the court "to erect that part between Lyeoming and Pine creeks, being near fifteen miles, into one township; and from Pine creek upwards into another township," which was accordingly done, the former receiving the name of Lycoming, and the latter that of Pine Creek.

Lycoming township, therefore, was bounded on the south by the Susquehanna river; on the east by Lycoming creek; on the west by Pine creek, and on the north by the State of New York. The territory was very extensive, and included all of what is now Tioga county, except that portion lying west and south of Pinc creek; that part of Bradford county lying west of the old Luzerne county line, and the portion of Potter county lying east of the 120th mile-stone-five miles west of the present boundary line -- and north of Pine creek, besides the following territory in Lyeoming county: Old Lycoming, Lycoming, McIntyre, Jackson, C'ogan House, Anthony, Woodward, Piatt, Mifflin, and Pine townships, and parts of Lewis, Watson, Cummings, Mellenry and Brown townships, embracing an area about one-third larger than Rhode Island.

When Lycoming county was organized, April 13, 1:95. this territory was in- cluded within its boundaries, and the township of Lycoming was not eurtailed until September, 1797, when the township of Tioga was taken from it. In the meantime settlements had been made in the northern part of the township, in the Cowanesque valley and along the Tioga river, but they were far removed from the haunts of eivilization.

OLD TIOGA TOWNSHIP ERECTED.

As the number of settlers along the Tioga and Cowanesque rivers increased, it soon became apparent that the township of Lycoming must be divided, for the convenience of the inhabitants, and more especially the township officers. Until recently all efforts to trace the origin of the movement, which finally resulted in the erection of Tioga township, proved fruitless, owing to the destruction in the flood of 1889 of many of the records of Lycoming county. A few months ago, however, the missing document was found, by the publishers of this history, among a bundle of dust-covered papers in the prothonotary's office at Williamsport, where it had lain unnoticed for nearly one hundred years. It is well preserved, though

HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

bearing evidences of age, and is of great historical value, as the following verbatim copy of it will show:

To the Honorable, the Judges of the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace for Lycoming county:

The petition of the subscribers most humbly showeth: That the settlements upon the Tioga and Cowanesque are separated by a very considerable wilderness from the set- tlements upon the West Branch of the Susquehanna, and are so remote that it is not certain to what township, if any, they at present belong. That it is necessary for the administration of justice, so far as it is committed to the distribution of township offi- cers, to have the country that they inhabit erected into a new township.

Therefore, the petitioners pray your honor to erect the country contained within the following limits into a new township, viz: Beginning at the State line of Pennsylvania and New York where the line of Luzerne strikes it on the west; thence along the State line to the one hundred and twentieth mile-stone ; thence a south line until it strikes Pine creek ; thence down the same to where Brier Hill crosses it; thence along the sum- mit of Brier Hill to the line of Luzerne county; thence with the same to the beginning.

And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, etc.

Samuel Paterson,

Gad Lamb,

Reuben Cook,

Nathan Niles,

Barit My. Engasole,

Peter Roberts,

John Ives,

Bennajah Ives,

Uriah Spencer,

Gideon Salisbury, Jr.,

Titus Ives,

John Holiday,

Richard Mitchell,

John Roberts,

Benjamin Cole,

Thomas Willson,

Timothy Ives,

Benjamin Corey.

On the back of the foregoing petition appears two indorsements, one of which is as follows:

Granted. Name of the township. Submission.

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History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Part 4

Author: Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Harrisburg : R. C. Brown Number of Pages: 1454

Author:
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Harrisburg : R. C. Brown
Number of Pages: 1454