History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 47

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216

USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 47

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" And your Memorialists, as by all Ties of Duty, Interest and Honor bound, as American Brethren & Associates, embarked with you in the same arduous & glorious Cause of Liberty and Independency shall ever pray, that your Councils and Endeavors for the Common Good, may be continually attended, blessed and crowned with a never ceasing and uninterrupted series of Success, Happiness and Prosperity."

Perhaps it would be a work of supererogation to proceed beyond the production of the foregoing ex- traordinary paper, by way of illustrating the results of the contention between the two sovereignties. That petition was actually circulated and filed with the Continental Congress, but without any result whatever, for at that time the United States had no territorial jurisdiction. Not until 1784, when the Atlantic States had ceded their claims to the territory west of their several grants, was there a national com- monwealth established. If, therefore, the Congress had had the wish to grant the prayer of this petition it did not have the power.

Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity to Virginia .-- Early after the colonies had declared their independ- ence of the mother-country, and when the Revolution was well under way, the States enacted laws 1777. requiring oaths of allegiance to the new sovereignty and a renunciation of the old. At the May sessions, 1777, of the General Assembly of Virginia the following law was enacted : 1

of the peace of the County, city, or borough, where they shall respec- tively inhabit; and the said justice shall give a certificate thereof to every such person, and the said oath or affirmation shall be as followeth, viz .: "I, -- , do swear or affirm, that I renounce and refuse all allegiance to George the Third, King of Great Britain, his heirs and successors, and that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the commonwealth of Virginia, as a free and independent state, and that I will not, at any time, do, or cause to be done, any matter or thing that will be prejudicial or injurious to the freedom and independence thereof, as declared by Congress; and also that I will discover and make known to some one justice of the peace for the said State, all treasons or trai- torous conspiracies which I now or hereafter shall know to be formed against this or any of the United States of America." 2

The act then proceeded to require that the justices should keep registers and transmit returns to the county clerk ; that within one month after the pas- sage of the act the court of every county should ap- point certain ones of their number "to make a tour of the county and tender the oath or affirmation afore- said" to the persons of whom it was to be demanded, and that in the certificate directed to be returned of those who take the oath or affirmation "shall be mentioned the names of such as refuse;" that a list of the recusants should be delivered by the justice to the county lieutenant or chief commanding officer of the militia, "who is hereby authorized and directed forthwith to cause such recusants to be disarmed;" and such recusants were made incapable of holding any office in the State, of serving on juries, of suing for any debts, of voting or of being elected, and of buying and holding lands. The last section provided that the act should be read publicly by the sheriff of the county at the door of the court-house of his county on or before the 3d day of next September, " and also by every minister of the gospel, or reader, immediately after divine service, on some Sunday within the said time."

The records of the court of Yohogania County show that on Aug. 26, 1777,-John Campbell, John McDowell, Isaac Cox, Richard Yeates, John McDon- ald, William Goe, Zachariah Connell, George Vallan- digham, Thomas Freeman, and John Canon, justices present, -gentlemen were appointed to make the "Tour of the Different Districts hereafter mentioned and Tender the Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity to this Commonwealth,8 &c." To each appointee was assigned his district, over which he was to travel and tender the oath provided, making and returning his lists of those who took it and the recusants.

Virginia Land Laws .- Well may be supposed, as would appear from the action of Pennsylvania and

" Whereas allegiance and protection are reciprocal, and those who will not bear the former are not entitled to the benefits of the latter; There- fore be it enacted, etc., That all free-born male inhabitants of this State, above the age of 16 years, except imported servants during their term of service, shall, on or before the tenth day of October next, take and sub- scribe the following oath or affirmation before some one of the justices

1 Chapter III., 9 Hening, 281.

2 A law with a like preamble, enactment, and oath of allegiance was passed by the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, June 13, 1777, except- ing, however, the counties of Bedford and Westmoreland from its provi- sions, for the obvious reason, without doubt, that in the then existing conflict of jurisdiction the danger of open collision would become more imminent. The text shows how the law was enforced by Virginia in the very territory which Pennsylvania had exempted. (See III. Penn. Archives, Sec. S., 6.)

8 See map, ante, for the outline of Yohogania County, and for the ap- pointees and each one's district see the extracts from the records of Yo- hogania County Court, post.

189

CIVIL AND LEGAL-VIRGINIA LAND LAWS.

Virginia, respectively, with reference to the oaths of 'allegiance to the new State governments, that the Pennsylvania jurisdiction was scarcely exercised at all in the Monongahela valley. Indeed, long before, on Feb. 13, 1775, Robert Hanna, W. Lochry, John Carnahan, and Devereux Smith had united in a letter to Governor Penn,1 in which they said, "We are sorry to repeat our complaints so often, but William Craw- ford, Esq., and Dorsey Pentecost hath each opened a Land Office, and assumed the Title of Deputy Sur- veyors to execute their entries. The people in gen- eral hath already given up, and what can we do to support Government, there now being writs granted for almost every acting Officer in this County, and we are every day expecting Confinement." 2

It is, however, known that by far the greater part of the lands lying in Washington County, as origin- ally erected, were occupied by persons claiming under Virginia titles. Settlement rights had been acquired, of course, when the settlements began, and such rights were always of much importance. There is evidence that as early as 1770 surveys had begun to be made, and during the time of Lord Dunmore a number of patents were granted. But not until the act hereinafter quoted was there a regular and con- tinuous system of granting legal titles to lands west of the Alleghanies.3

But in 1779, Virginia, recognizing the fact probably that her jurisdiction " upon the western waters" must sooner or later come to an end, and her necessi- 1779. ties also doubtless requiring the revenue which might be made available, enacted a law which, being the basis of so many of the land titles of Washington County, is of sufficient importance to demand a clear account of it, buried as it is from the sight of all but antiquarians.

Chapter XII. of the acts of the General Assembly of Virginia, in the session of May, 1779,4 was

" An act for adjusting and settling the titles of claimants to unpat- ented lands under the present and former governments previous to the establishment of the Commonwealth's Land Office.

"Section IV. And whereas, great numbers of people have settled in

1 X. Col. Records, 234.

2 Thomas Lewis was the county surveyor for Augusta County, Vir- ginia. During the year 1774, Crawford surveyed and returned to his office 4153 acres for different persons. He surveyed Washington's Mount Pleasant lands, 2813 acres, in April or May, 1774. On May 8, 1774, he writes to Washington, " Sir,-Inclosed you have the drafts of the Round Bottom and your Chartiers land, finished agreeable to Mr. Lewis' direc- tion,"-Washington-Crawford Letters, 46. These lands were patented to Washington by Lord Dunmore on July 5, 1774. Dorsey Pentecost was running lines in the neighborhood of the Henry Taylor tract as early as 1772, and surveyed for George Croghan on the Chartiers to the extent of 30,000 acres in 1773 .- Washington-Crawford Letters, 38.

8 For the reason that after the final running of the boundary line the holders of Virginia titles and rights protected themselves generally by obtaining surveys and patents from Pennsylvania, our records do not show in but few cases what lands were held originally from Virginia. The Washington tract in Mount Pleasant and Cecil and the Hugh Stephenson tract in Cross Creek are two instances in which the lande never were patented by Pennsylvania.

4 10 Hening, 35.

the country upon the western waters,' upon waste and unappropriated lands, for which they have been hitherto prevented from suring out patents or obtaining legal titles by the King of Great Britain's procla- mations or Instructions to his governors," or by the late change of Government,7 and the present war having delayed until now the open- ing of a land office and the establishment of any certain terms for granting lands, and it is just that those settling under such circum- stances should have some reasonable allowance for the charge and risk they have incurred, and that the property so acquired should be secured to them, Be it enacted, etc., That all persons who at any time before the first day of January, in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, have really and bona fide settled themselves or their families, or at his, her, or their charge have settled others, upon any waste or unappropriated lands on the said western waters, to which no other person hath any legal right or claim, shall be allowed for every family so settled four hundred acres of land or such smaller quantity as the party choosea, to include such settlement. And where any such set- tler hath had any survey made for him or her since October 26, 1763, in consideration of such settlement for less than four hundred acres, such settler, his or her heirs, may claim and be allowed as much adjoining waste and unappropriated land as together with the landa so surveyed will make up the quantity of four hundred acres."

Section V. made special provisions for such as had settled in towns and villages, and then provided that upon the production of certificates from the commis- sioners to be appointed under the act to the county surveyors, the latter was required to enter them in his books, and to proceed to survey the land so entered according to law, " and upon due return to the Land Office of the surveys, with the certificates from the commissioners," patents from the commonwealth were to issue.

" And if any such settlers shall desire to take up a greater quantity of land than is herein allowed them, they shall on payment to the Treasurer of the consideration money, required from other purchasers, be entitled to the pre-emption of any greater quantity of land adjoining to that allowed them in consideration of settlement, not exceeding one thousand acres, and to which no other person hath any legal right or claim.

" And to prevent doubts concerning settlements, it is hereby declared, That no family shall be entitled to the allowance granted to settlers by this act, unless they have made a crop of corn in that country, or re- sided there at least one year since the time of that settlement.

" All persons who, since the said first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, have actually settled on any waste or unappropriated lands on the western waters to which no other hath a just or legal right or claim, shall be entitled to the pre-emption of any quantity of land, not exceeding four hundred acres, to include such set- tlements, at the State price to other purchasers.

" And all those who, before the said first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, had marked out or chosen for them- selves any waste or unappropriated lands, and built any house or hut, or made other improvements thereon, shall also be entitled to the pre- emption upon the like terms, not exceeding one thousand acres, and to which no other person hath any legal right or claim; but no person shall have the right of pre-emption for more than one such improve- ment."

By Section VI. the composition money, which seems to mean the "State price," was fixed at ten shillings for every one hundred acres.

Section VIII. allotted the country on the western waters into districts : Monongalia, Yohogania, and Ohio Counties into one; Augusta, Botetourt, and

5 Of course this meant down in the present Kentucky and Tennessee, as well as upon the Monongahela.

6 Id est, the proclamation of 1763.

7 In Pennsylvania, from 1775 to 1782, the Land Office was substan- tially closed, and was not opened for new sales until July 1, 1784 .- The 1 Monongahela of Old, 97.

190

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Greenbriar into another; Washington and Mont- gomery into another; and Kentucky into another, and the last.

The Governor with the advice of his Council was to appoint four commissioners for each district, any three of whom might act, to settle and adjust claims to unpatented lands, and provisions were made for the oath of the commissioners, the method of hear- ing, the registry to be kept, etc.

At the same session (May, 1779) was enacted the law establishing the Land Office.

Section 3 of Chapter XIII.1 made the following provisions respecting the office of county surveyor :

" A surveyor shall be appointed in every county, to be nominated, ex- amined, and certified able by the president and professors of William and Mary College, and of good character, commissioned by the Gov- ernor, with a reservation in such commission to the said professors, for the use of the college, of one-sixth part of the legal fees which shall be received by such surveyor, for the yearly payment of which he shall give bond," etc.

The foregoing is believed to contain a full account of the land laws of Virginia, upon which are founded so many of the titles in the Monongahela valley. The commissioners to settle and adjust the claims of settlers in the district of Monongalia, Yohogania, and Ohio Counties were Francis Peyton, Philip Pendle- ton, Joseph Holmes, and George Merriweather, the latter of whom, however, did not attend when their duties were performed. But before an account is given of the transactions of these land-title commis- sioners, their certificates to settlers, and the surveys following, made within the limits of our county under these Virginia laws, it is proper for sake of clearness first to narrate the history of the final determination of the boundary line, for, as will appear, even the set- tlement of the contention as to the locality of that line was not an end by any means to the exercise of jurisdiction by Virginia within our county.

The Baltimore Agreement as to the Boundary Line .- Early in the year 1776, and before the May session of the Virginia Assembly of that year, both States seem to have become anxious for an end to the boundary contention. Hitherto there seemed to have been no opportunity to meet with a chance of 1776. settlement. On Dec. 18, 1776, both houses of the Virginia Assembly agreed upon the fol- lowing resolution :2

" Resolved, That it is the mutual interest of the commonwealth of Vir- ginia and Pennsylvania, that the boundaries between them be speedily settled and ascertained, in the most amicable and indisputable manner, by the joint agreement and concurrence of both. . . .

" Resolved, That as the boundaries expressed in the Pennsylvania char- ter may admit of great doubt, and a variety of opinion may arise on its construction, and it is expedient and wise to remove as much as possible all cause of future controversy, ( ... ) to quiet the minds of the people that may be affected thereby, and to take from our common enemies an opportunity of fomenting mutual distrust and jealousy, this common- wealth ought to offer such reasonable terms of accommodation, (even if the loss of some territory is incurred thereby,) as may be cordially ac-

cepted by our sister state, and an end put to all future dispute, by a firm and permanent agreement and settlement.

" Resolved, Therefore, That the Virginia Delegates in Congress be em- powered and instructed to propose to the Commonwealth of Pennsyl- vania a final accommodation of our disputed boundaries in the following manner:

" That the meridian line drawn from the head fountain of the Potow- mack River, shall be extended from the intersection of the line run be- tween the proprietors of Maryland and Pennsylvania, (commonly called Mason and Dixon's Line,) due north until it intersects the latitude of forty degrees, and from thence the southern boundary of Pennsylvania shall be extended on the said fortieth degree of latitude until the dis- tance of five degrees of west longitude from Delaware River shall be completed thereon, the same to be ascertained by proper astronomical observations; that from the completion of the said five degrees of longi- tude, upon said fortieth degree of latitude, the western boundary of Pennsylvania shall be fixed at five degrees of longitude from its eastern boundary, either in every point thereof, according to the meanders of the Delaware River, or, (which is judged easier and better for both,) from proper points and angles on the said Delaware River, with intermediate straight lines between; and whenever said western boundary shall be run, that the degrees of longitude be also fixed by astronomical obser- vations, at proper points and angles on said Delaware River ; and from these, that there be straight lines run corresponding as near as may be with the before-mentioned straight or reduced courses of the said river; for which purpose, if the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania shall accept this offer, and whenever they shall have signified their agreement to the boundary herein proposed, the Governor and Council are empowered and desired to appoint commissioners to proceed with a proper mathe- matical apparatus, and in conjunction with commissioners to be ap- pointed on the part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to ascer- tain and run the said Southern or Southern and Western boundary, until the same shall strike the Ohio or Allegheny River, which it is appre- hended is as far as it can yet be extended with safety on account of the Indians, saving their private property and rights to all persons who may have acquired titles, under either country respectively, previous to the ascertaining and running such boundary, although they should be found to fall within the other."

Pennsylvania was to assent to this proposed bound- ary, cutting as it would have done a large corner out of her parallelogram,-almost all of Fayette County, all of Greene County, and quite a portion of Washington County,-when commissioners were to be appointed to run and mark the line. Of course the sister State could not cordially accept the offer, but it appears that during the year 1777 and 1778, at long intervals, negotiations were made through the Virginia delegates in Congress, with such little in- terest, however, that the papers would become lost !'

On May 20, 1779, while Virginia was passing her statute relating to lands on the Western waters, her Assembly also resolved " that the Governor be desired to inform the commissioners appointed on the part of Pennsylvania4 to adjust the boundary between that and this State, that this Assembly will proceed to nominate commissioners for the same purpose, to sig- nify that the place appointed by them is agreeable, but to desire that such meeting may be postponed until the Assembly shall have risen, of which notice will be given them."" The commissioners on the part of Pennsylvania were George Bryan, John Ewing, and David Rittenhouse; those on the part of Virginia

1 10 Hening, 52.

2 Reprinted in Revised Code of Va. of 1819, p. 51.

8 See VI. Penn. Archives, 82; VII. Ibid., 79, 184, 309, 310.

4 When Pennsylvania had appointed her commissioners has not been discovered; the papers seem to have been lost !

5 VII. Pa. Archives, 441.

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ILLUSTRATING THE BOUNDARY CONTROVERSY BETWEEN PENN-' SYLVANIA AND VIRGINIA.

Drawn by John G. Ruple C.E.

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191

CIVIL AND LEGAL-BALTIMORE AGREEMENT AS TO THE BOUNDARY LINE.

were Rev. James Madison, Rev. Robert Andrews, and Thomas Lewis. They met at Baltimore on Aug. 27, 1779. Thomas Lewis, one of the Virginia commis- sioners, the former county surveyor of Augusta County, did not attend. At their first meeting they produced their respective commissions, when it was determined that their proceedings were to be reported to the Assemblies of their respective States for ap- proval, and that their communications should be in writing. This correspondence, as stated by Mr. Veech in a manuscript correction to his "Mason and Dixon's Line," "was an instructive lesson in diplo- matic casuistry. After very stately displays of their respective pretensions, making them as irreconcilable as they could, they advance with rapid strides towards the agreement." Omitting the discussions (confined to the construction of the Pennsylvania charter), a presentation of the propositions from the one side and the other will here be presented.1

On the 28th day of August, the Pennsylvania com- missioners submitted their position and proposals. After a full and exhaustive discussion of the terms of the charter bearing upon the boundary, and of the right of Pennsylvania to go down west of the Maryland line to parallel thirty-nine degrees, thence west to the limit of five degrees of longitude ; but without refer- ring to the western boundary at all, they conclude,-

" Yet, gentlemen, although we have no doubt of the justice and pro- priety of our claim, as above laid down, but, on the contrary, a full con- fidence that disinterested judges would allow us the whole of that tract of country which is so expressly contained in the charter, and so fully ceded by the State of Virginia; yet, inasmuch as it might disturb the settlers on the south side of the River Potomack, who have been long accustomed to the laws and government of Virginia; for the sake of peace, and to manifest our earnest desire of adjusting the disputes on amicable terms, we are willing to recede from our just rights, and there- fore propose that a meridian be drawn from the head spring of the north branch of the Potomack to the beginning of the fortieth degree of north latitude, and from thence that a parallel of latitude be drawn to the western extremity of the State of Pennsylvania, to continue forever the boundary of the State of Pennsylvania and Virginia."

The communication of the Virginia commission- ers, on August 30th, was an argumentative reply to the discussion of the other side, and concluded,-

" Anxious as we are to put an end to the dispute subsisting between the two States, and to remove all grounds of future dissensions by ad- justing at this time their boundaries in an amicable manner; yet the undoubted right of Virginia to that tract of country westward of Mary- land, and as far northward as the latitude of that point on the Delaware, twelve miles distant from New-Castle northward, together with a regard for the peace of those who have settled in this tract, on the supposition that it was comprehended in the government of Virginia, determine us not to accede to the proposal you have been pleased to make. But, we trust on a further consideration of the objections of Virginia to your claim, that you will think it advantageous to your State to continue Mason and Dixon's line to your western limits, which we are willing to establish as a perpetual boundary between Virginia and Pennsylvania on the south side of the last-mentioned State. We are induced to make this proposal, as we think that the same principle which effected the compromise between Pennsylvania and Maryland should operate equally as strong in the present case."

It is admissible to infer, from the absence of any reference in both these proposals to the nature of the

western boundary to be adopted, that both States seemed to assume that that line was to be a line cor- responding with the sinuosities of the Delaware. True, it is possible that each party left that matter in the background for a point from which compromise suggestions might originate. At all events, the Penn- sylvania commissioners, in their communication made the same day, were not slow to see an opportunity opened ; they proceeded to state that they should be under the disagreeable necessity of returning to their constituents with a report of the proposals made for the sake of peace, "unless you can comply with an addition to your proposal which we now make for your consideration," viz. :

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 47

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1216

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216