USA > Pennsylvania > Warren County > History of Warren County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of some of its Prominent Men and Pioneers > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101
From Fort Frontenac he returned to Crêve Cœur, the garrison of which had in the mean time been driven away by the Indians. Again the indomit- able La Salle gathered his followers, and early in 1682 descended the Missis- sippi to the Gulf of Mexico, being the first European to explore any consider- able portion of that mighty stream. He took possession of the country, and of all lands drained by waters tributary to the Mississippi, in the name of King Louis XIV, and called it Louisiana.
38
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
Upon his return to France he astonished and gratified the court with the stories of his discoveries, and in 1684 was furnished with a fleet and several hundred men, to colonize the new domain. Then everything went wrong. The fleet, through the blunders of its naval commander, went to Matagorda Bay, in Texas. The principal store-ship was wrecked, the fleet returned, and La Salle failed to find the mouth of the Mississippi. His colony dwindled away, through desertion and death, to forty men; and at length he started with sixteen of these, on foot, to return to Canada for assistance. Even in this little band there were those who hated him (he was undoubtedly a man of somewhat imperious nature), and ere he had reached the Sabine he was mur- dered by two of his followers, and his body left unburied upon the prairie.
Thus ended the life of the man who was the first white navigator of the upper lakes and the first explorer of the Mississippi River; who added Louisi- ana and other vast regions to the French empire, and upon whose discoveries the latter power laid claim to territory extending from the Allegheny Mount- ains westward to the western limits of the Mississippi basin, including, of course, the present county of Warren.
CHAPTER VI.
THE PROVINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Europeans Struggle for Supremacy Along the Atlantic Coast-Quakers Settle in New Jer- sey-William Penn Appointed a Trustee-His Labors in Their Behalf-An Early Description of the New Country-Admiral Penn-A Province Granted to His Son-It is Named Penusyl- vania-Its Extent-A Miscalculation-Penn Purchases the Lower Counties-Outlines His Pol- icy-Sends Governor Markham to Take Possession-Names Commissioners-Their Duties-An Address to the Indians-The Site for a New City Selected.
W HILE events of so much importance and of such a startling character were taking place in the interior of the New World, others equally im- portant, in their bearing upon the future of America, were being enacted along the Atlantic sea-board. The English, in a manner characteristic of that nation, had claimed the entire coast-line, from the frozen regions of the North to the Gulf of Mexico, and westward to the " South Sea"; but, as we have shown, during the years of active colonization in America, in the early part of the sev- enteenth century, the French had managed to secure a firm foothold in Can- ada, the Dutch along the Hudson River, and still later was established a small though thriving colony of Swedes on the lower waters of the Delaware, while the English were rapidly gaining strength in New England, in Maryland, and
39
THE PROVINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA.
in Virginia. All were eager, all were grasping for more territory, and all were ready to fight at a moment's notice in vindication of their claims. The Swedes were regarded as interlopers by the Dutch. Disputes arose, which resulted in the Swedes being overpowered by their more powerful neighbors. The Dutch were in turn conquered by the English, thus leaving the latter and the French alone to contend for supremacy in the temperate regions of North America. Subsequently the conquered Dutch province was granted to the Duke of York, New Jersey to a syndicate of English Quakers, and Maryland to Lord Bal- timore.
At this time the hand of the English government bore heavily upon the denomination of Christians called Friends, or Quakers, and the earnest-minded, conscientious worshipers, uncompromising in their faith, were eager for homes in a land where they should be absolutely free to worship the Supreme Being in their own way. Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, to whom the Duke of York had granted New Jersey, were Friends, and the settlements made in their territory were largely of that faith. In 1675 Lord Berkeley sold his undivided half of the province to John Fenwicke, in trust for Edward Byllinge, also Quakers, and Fenwicke sailed in the Griffith with a company of Friends, who settled at Salem, in West Jersey. Byllinge, having become involved in debt, made an assignment of his interest for the benefit of his creditors, and William Penn was induced to become trustee jointly with Gowen Lawrie and Nicholas Lucas.
William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, had felt the heavy hand of per- secution for religious opinion's sake. As a gentleman commoner at Oxford he had been fined, and finally expelled from that venerable seat of learning for non-conformity to the established form of worship. At home he was whipped and turned out of doors by a father who thought to reclaim the son to the more certain path of advancement at court. He was sent to prison by the mayor of Cork. For seven months he languished in the Tower of London, and finally, to complete his disgrace, he was cast into Newgate with common felons. Upon the accession of James II to the throne of England, over four- teen hundred persons of the Quaker faith were immured in prisons for a con- scientious adherence to their religious convictions. To escape this harassing persecution and find peace and quietude from this sore proscription was, as already stated, the moving cause which led these people to emigrate to America.
Penn became zealous in promoting the welfare of the New Jersey colony. For its orderly government, and that settlers might have assurance of stability in the management of affairs, he drew up "Concessions and agreements of the proprietors, free holders and inhabitants of West New Jersey in America," in forty-four chapters. Foreseeing difficulty from divided authority, he had man- aged to secure a division of the province by " a line of partition from the east
40
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
side of Little Egg Harbor, straight North, through the country to the utmost branch of the Delaware River." Penn's half was termed New West Jersey, along the Delaware side, Carteret's, New East Jersey, along the ocean shore. Penn's purposes and disposition toward the settlers, as the founder of a state, are disclosed by a letter which he wrote at this time to Richard Hartshorn, a Friend, then in America : "We lay a foundation for after ages to understand their liberty, as men and Christians; that they may not be brought into bond- age, but by their own consent ; for we put the power in the people. . . . So every man is capable to choose or to be chosen ; no man to be arrested, con- demned, or molested, in his estate, or liberty, but by twelve men of the neigh- borhood ; no man to lie in prison for debt, but that his estate satisfy, as far as it will go, and he be set at liberty to work; no man to be called in question, or molested for his conscience." Lest any should be induced to leave home and embark in the enterprise of emigration unadvisedly, Penn wrote and pub- lished in a letter of caution the following : "That in whomsoever a desire to be concerned in this intended plantation, such should weigh the thing before the Lord, and not headily, or rashly conclude on any such remove, and that they do not offer violence to the tender love of their near kindred and relations, but soberly, and conscientiously endeavor to obtain their good wills; that whether they go or stay, it may be of good savor before the Lord and good people."
As trustee, and finally as part owner of New Jersey, William Penn became much interested in the subject of colonization in America. Many of his peo- ple had gone thither, and he had given much study and meditation to the amelioration of their condition, by securing just laws for their government. His imagination pictured the fortunate condition of a country where those in authority should alone study the well being of the people, and the people should be chiefly intent on rendering implicit obedience to just laws. From his experience in the management of the Jerseys he had doubtless discovered that if he would carry out his ideas of government successfully he must have a province where his voice would be potential and his will almost supreme. He accordingly began looking about him for the acquirement of such a land in the New World.
He had doubtless been stimulated in his desires by the very roseate accounts of the beauty and excellence of the country, its salubrity of climate, its balmy atmosphere, the great fertility of its soil, and the abundance of native fruit, fish, flesh, and fowl. In 1680 one Mahlon Stacy wrote a letter which was exten- sively circulated in England, in which he said : " It is a country that produc- eth all things for the support and furtherance of man, in a plentiful manner. I have seen orchards laden with fruit to admiration; their very limbs torn to pieces with weight, most delicious to the taste and lovely to behold. have seen an apple tree, from a pippin-kernel yield a barrel of curious cider ; and peaches in such plenty that some people took their carts a peach gather-
41
THE PROVINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA.
ing; I could not but smile at the conceit of it; they are very delicious fruit, and hang almost like our onions, that are tied on ropes. I have seen and know, this summer, forty bushels of bold wheat of one bushel sown. From May till Michaelmas, great store of very good wild fruits as strawberries, cran- berries, and hurtleberries, which are like our billberries in England, only far sweeter ; the cranberries, much like cherries for color and bigness, which may be kept till fruit comes again ; an excellent sauce is made of them for venison, turkeys, and other great fowl, and they are better to make tarts of than either gooseberries or cherries ; we have them brought to our houses by the Indians in great plenty. My brother Robert had as many cherries this year as would have loaded several carts. As for venison and fowls, we have great plenty ; we have brought home to our countries by the Indians seven or eight fat bucks in a day. We went into the river to catch herrings after the Indian fashion. . . . We could have filled a three-bushel sack of as good large her- rings as I ever saw. And as to beef and pork, there is great plenty of it, and good sheep. The common grass of this country feeds beef very fat. Indeed, the country, take it as a wilderness, is a brave country."
Admiral Penn, the father of William, was one of the most distinguished officers in the British navy. In Cromwell's time he was sent with a consider- able naval and land force to the West Indies, where he gained possession of the island of Jamaica and placed it under English rule. At the restoration of a monarchical government, he promptly gave in his adhesion to the royal cause. Under James, duke of York, he commanded the English fleet which descended upon the Dutch coast, and gained a great victory over the com- bined naval forces led by Van Opdam. For this great service to his country Admiral Penn was knighted, and became a favorite at court, the king and his brother, the duke, holding him in cherished remembrance. At his death there was due him from the crown the sum of £16,000, a portion of which he him- self had advanced for the naval service.
Filled with the romantic idea of colonization, and enamored with the sacred cause of his sect, William Penn, who had come to be regarded with favor because of his distinguished father's services, petitioned King Charles II to grant him, in liquidation of this debt, "a tract of land in America, lying north of Maryland, bounded east by the Delaware River, on the west limited as Maryland, and northward to extend as far as plantable." There were con- flicting interests at this time, however, which were being closely watched at court. The petition was submitted to the privy council, and afterward to the Lords of the Committee of Plantations. The duke of York already held the counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex. Lord Baltimore held a grant upon the south, with an undefined northern limit, and the agents of both these prov- inces viewed with jealousy any new grant that should trench in any way upon their rights.
42
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
These claims were fully debated and heard by the lords, and, being a mat- ter in which the king manifested special interest, the lord chief-justice, North, and the attorney-general, Sir William Jones, were consulted both as to the grant itself and the form, or manner, of making it. Finally, after a careful study of the whole subject, it was determined by the highest authority in the government to grant to Penn a larger tract than he had asked for, and the charter was drawn up with unexampled liberality, in unequivocal terms of gift and perpetuity of holding, and with remarkable minuteness of detail; and that Penn should have the advantage of any double meaning conveyed in the instru- ment, the last section provides-" And, if perchance hereafter any doubt or question should arise concerning the true sense and meaning of any word, clause or sentence contained in this our present charter, we will ordain and command that at all times and in all things such interpretation be made there- of, and allowed in any of our courts whatsoever as shall be adjudged most advantageous and favorable unto the said William Penn, his heirs and assigns."
Doubtless it was a joyful day for Penn when he finally reached the consum- mation of his wishes, and found himself invested with almost dictatorial power over a province as large as England itself. But his exultation was tempered with the most devout Christian spirit, fearful lest in the exercise of his great power he might be led to do something that would be displeasing to God. At this time, in a letter to his friend Robert Turner, he wrote as follows :
" My true love in the Lord salutes thee and dear friends that love the Lord's precious truth in those parts. Thine I have, and for my business here know that after many waitings, watchings, solicitings and disputes in council, this day my country was confirmed to me under the great seal of England, with large powers and privileges, by the name of Pennsylvania, a name the King will give it in honor of my father. I chose New Wales, being, as this, a pretty hilly country ; but Penn being Welsh for a head, as l'enmanmoire in Wales, and Penrith in Cumberland, and Penn in Buckinghamshire, the highest land in England, called this Pennsylvania, which is the high or head wood- lands; for ] proposed, when the Secretary, a Welshman, refused to have it called New Wales, Sylvania, and they added Penn to it; and though I much opposed it, and went to the King to have it struck out and altered, he said it was past, and would take it upon him; nor could twenty guineas move the Under Secretary to vary the name; for I feared lest it should be looked on as a vanity in me, and not as a respect in the King, as it truly was to my father, whom he often mentions with praise. Thou mayest communicate my grant to Friends, and expect shortly my proposals. It is a clear and just thing, and my God, that has given it me through many difficulties, will, I believe, bless and make it the seed of a nation. I shall have a tender care to the govern- ment, that it be well laid at first."
Penn had asked that the western boundary of his grant should be the same
43
THE PROVINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA.
as that of Maryland ; but the king made the width from east to west five full degrees. The charter limits were " all that tract, or part of land, in America, with the islands therein contained as the same is bounded, on the east by Del- aware River, from twelve miles distance northwards of New Castle town, unto the three and fortieth degree of northern latitude. The said land to extend westward five degrees in longitude, to be computed from the said east- ern bounds; and the said lands to be bounded on the north by the beginning of the three and fortieth degree of northern latitude, and, on the south, by a circle drawn at twelve miles distance from New Castle northward and west- ward unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of northern latitude; and then by a straight line westward to the limits of longitude above mentioned."
It is very evident that the royal secretaries did not well understand the geography of the New World (nor do they seem to have cared, since in nearly all early English grants the latest usually overlapped those granted at an ear- lier date) ; for by reference to the maps it will be seen that the beginning of the fortieth degree-that is, the end of the thirty-ninth-cuts the District of Columbia, and hence Baltimore, and the greater part of Maryland and a good slice of Virginia, would have been included in the chartered limits of Pennsyl- vania. But the charters of Maryland and Virginia antedated this of Pennsyl- vania. Still, the terms of the Penn charter were distinct-the beginning of the fortieth degree-whereas those of Maryland were ambiguous, the northern limit being fixed at the fortieth degree; but whether at the beginning or at the ending of the fortieth was not stated. Penn claimed three full degrees of latitude, and when it was found that a controversy was likely to ensue, the king, by the hand of his royal minister Conway, issued a further declaration, in which the wording of the original chartered limits fixed for Pennsylvania were quoted verbatim, and his royal highness declared that these limits should be respected, "as they tender his majesty's displeasure." This was supposed to be a settlement of the matter. But Lord Baltimore still pressed his claim, and the question of southern boundary remained an open one, causing much disquietude to Penn during his life, and was not finally settled until more than three-quarters of a century later, when Mason and Dixon established the line. Indeed, since the French already claimed all that portion of the province granted to Penn lying west of the Allegheny Mountains, and as Virginia and Connecticut subsequently made claim to other portions of the present common- wealth, besides the claims of the Indians as original occupants and owners, a clear title was not obtained, and the true boundaries of Pennsylvania were not known and plainly defined until the war for independence had closed, or long after the territory granted to Penn had passed from the control of his heirs.
From the terms of the charter it is evident that the king, in making the grant, was influenced " by the commendable desire of Penn to enlarge our British Empire, and promote such useful commodities as may be of benefit to
44
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
us and our dominions, as also to reduce savage nations by just and gentle man- ners, to the love of civil society and Christian religion," and "out of regard to the memory and merits of his late father, in divers services, and particularly to his conduct, courage and discretion, under our dearest brother, James, Duke of York, in the signal battle and victory, fought and obtained, against the Dutch fleet, commanded by the Herr Van Opdam in 1665."
The charter of King Charles II, granting Pennsylvania to William Penn, was dated March 4, 1681. But lest any trouble might arise in the future from claims founded on the grant previously made to the duke of York, of " Long. Island and adjacent territories occupied by the Dutch," the prudent fore- thought of Penn soon after induced him to obtain a deed of the duke, for Penn- sylvania, substantially in the terms of the royal charter. Yet still Penn was not satisfied. He was cut off from the ocean except by the uncertain naviga- tion of one narrow stream. He therefore obtained from the duke a grant of New Castle and a district of twelve miles around it, dated August 24, 1682, and on the same day a further grant from the duke of a tract extending to Cape Henlopen, embracing the two counties of Kent and Sussex, the two grants comprising what were known at an early day as the three "lower coun- ties," and which for many years were part of Pennsylvania, but subsequently became the State of Delaware.
Being now eminently well pleased with his province, and that his titles were secure, the proprietor drew up such a description of the country as from his limited knowledge of it he was able to give, which, together with the royal charter and proclamation, terms of settlement, and other papers pertain- ing thereto, he published and spread broadcast through the kingdom, taking special pains to have these documents reach the Friends. The terms of sale of lands were forty shillings for one hundred acres, and one shilling per acre rental. The question has been asked, why exact the annual payment of one shilling per acre ? and answered, that the terms of the grant by the royal charter to Penn were made absolute on the "payment therefor to us, our heirs and suc- cessors, two beaver skins, to be delivered at our castle in Windsor, on the first day of January in every year," and contingent payment of "one-fifth part of all gold and silver which shall from time to time happen to be found clear of all charges." Penn, therefore, held his title only upon the payment of quit-rents. He could, consequently, give a valid title only by the exacting of quit-rents.
With a great province of his own to manage, Penn was now obliged to re- linquish his interest in West New Jersey. He had devoted much of his time and energies to its settlement ; he had sent fourteen hundred emigrants, many of them people of high character ; and under his control farms were improved and the town of Burlington was founded, meeting-houses were erected, good government was established, and the savage Indians were turned to peaceful ways. With satisfaction, therefore, he could now give himself to reclaiming and settling his own province.
45
THE PROVINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA.
The publication of the royal charter and his description of the country at- tracted much attention, and many purchases of land were made of Penn before leaving England. That these purchasers might have something binding to rely upon, he drew up what he termed " conditions or concessions " between him- self as proprietor, and the purchasers of lands in the province. These related to the settling of the country, laying out towns, and especially to the treat- ment of the Indians, who were to have the same rights and privileges, and care- ful regard as the Europeans. And, what may be considered a remarkable in- stance of provident forethought, the eighteenth article provided, "That, in clearing the ground, care be taken to leave one acre of trees for every five acres cleared, especially to preserve oak and mulberries for silk and shipping."
He also drew up a frame of government, consisting of twenty-four articles and forty laws. These were drawn in a spirit of unexampled fairness and lib- erality, introduced by an elaborate essay on the just rights of government and governed, and with such conditions and concessions that it should never be in the power of an unjust governor to take advantage of the people and practice injustice. Said he: "For the matter of liberty and privilege, I purpose that which is extraordinary, and leave myself and successors no power of doing mis- chief, that the will of one man may not hinder that of a whole country." This frame gave impress to the character of the early government. It implanted in the breasts of the people a deep sense of duty, of right, and of obligation in all public affairs, and the relations of man with man, and formed a framework for the future State constitution. He had felt the tyranical hand of government for opinion's sake, and was determined, in the matter of religion, to leave all free to hold such opinions as they might elect, and hence enacted for his prov- ince that all who " hold themselves obliged in conscience, to live peaceably and justly in civil society, shall, in no ways, be molested, nor prejudiced, for their religious persuasion, or practice, in matters of faith and worship, nor shall they be compelled at any time, to frequent, or maintain, any religious worship, place, or ministry whatever." Such governmental liberality in matters of religion was at that time almost unknown, though Roger Williams, in the colony of Rhode Island, had previously under similar circumstances, and having just es- caped a like persecution, proclaimed it, as had likewise Lord Baltimore in the Catholic colony of Maryland.
Not being in readiness to go to his province during the first year, Penn dis- patched three ship loads of settlers, and with them sent his cousin, William Markham, to take formal possession of the country and act as deputy governor. The latter sailed for New York, and upon his arrival there exhibited his com- mission, and the king's charter and proclamation, to Captain Anthony Brock- holls, acting governor (in the absence of Govenor Andros), who gave him a letter addressed to the civil officers on the Delaware, informing them that Markham's authority as governor was unquestionable, and requesting them to 4
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.