History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 49

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 49


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But Virginia was possibly somewhat under the in- fluence of a general sentiment adverse to her policy, and her conduct began to be shaped accordingly. Col. John Proctor, one of the agents for forfeited es- tates for Westmoreland County, perhaps saw some change for the better when he wrote his letter to President Reed, dated June 1, 1780 : 2


" I havue the Pleashor to inform you that we havue had parfect Quiet- Dess from Virginia, the havue laid several new Plans for new Disputa but the People being so often Desaved by them will not fall in with them, and the seem know at their wits end. I have maid several new frends to pennsylvania by telling the People in the Desputed Part that the Com- isioners only want'd to fill there own Pockets with money whitch is tackin from the Poor unjustly, and that Pennsylvania will not pay aney regard to aney thing Don by them."


Final Ratification of Boundary Agreement .- But the end of the contest approaches. On June 23, 1780, the Lower House of the Virginia Assembly passed a resolution confirming the Baltimore agree- ment, with a very important condition attached, to be complied with on the part of Pennsylvania. It was finally passed as amended by the Senate on July 1st, and transmitted at once to Philadelphia. This resolution3 controverted the reasoning of the Penn- sylvania commissioners at Baltimore, disavowed the binding agency of the Virginia commissioners in the execution of the agreement, yet asseverating the wish of that State to prevent future dispute and animosity, and to prove the sincerity of her professions and de- sire to cultivate and maintain the most cordial har- mony with the sister State of Pennsylvania, expressed the willingness of Virginia to ratify the agreement "on the Conditions expressed in the following resolve, corresponding with the reservation in their offer of December 18, 1776 :"


" Resolved, therefore, That the agreement made on the 31st day of Au- gust 1779, between &c. [naming the commissioners], be ratified and finally confirmed to wit: [quoting the agreement] On Condition that the private property and rights of all persons acquired under, founded on, or recognized by the laws of either Country previous to the date hereof, be saved and confirmed to them, altho' they should be found to fall within the other, and that in the decision of disputes thereupon preference shall be given to the elder or prior right whichever of the said states the same shall have been acquired under, such persons pay- ing to that state within whose boundary their lands shall be included the same purchase or consideration money which would have been due from them to the state under which they claimed the right; and where any such purchase or consideration money hath, since the declaration of American Independence, been received by either state for lands which according to the before recited agreement shall fall within the territory


of the other, the same shall be reciprocally refunded and repaid, and that the inhabitants of the disputed territory, now ceded to the state of Pennsylvania, shall not before the first day of December, in the present year, be subject to the payment of any tax, nor at any time to the pay- ment of arrears of taxes or impositions heretofore laid by either state


" Resolved, That upon the acceptance and full ratification of this con- dition and agreement on the part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Governor be empowered with the advice of the Council to appoint two Commissioners on behalf of this Commonwealth in conjunction with Commissioners to be appointed by the Commonwealth of Penn- sylvania, to extend the line commonly called Mason and Dixon's line five degrees of longitude from Delaware River, as aforesaid, and from the western termination thereof to run and mark a meridian line to the Ohio River, which is as far as the General Assembly conceive the same can at present be extended and marked without danger of umbrage to the Indians ; + giving the said Commissioners, on the part of Virginia, such instructions therein as the advice of the Council shall judge proper."


Pennsylvania was prepared, for the sake of an end to the controversy, to yield even to these humiliating conditions, clearly disclosing the want of good faith on the part of Virginia, especially in view of the cer- tificates and surveys by the Virginia officials even then continuing within our borders. The General Assembly of Pennsylvania met on the 7th of Sep- tember; the same day the message of the president of the Council laid before that body the foregoing resolution of the General Assembly of Virginia, stating, 5 "The prospect of an amicable termination of this unhappy controversy cannot but be accept- able to every good man and faithful citizen, and we have no doubt this overture will be improved into a full and final accommodation, consistent with the rights of individuals and the honor of the State." On Saturday, Sept. 23, 1780,6


" The House resumed the consideration of the report of the Committee upon the Determination of the General Assembly of Virginia respecting the disputed Boundary, and having maturely considered the same, it was unanimously agreed to as follows, viz .:


" Resolved, That although the conditions annexed, by the Legislature of Virginia, to the ratification of the boundary line agreed to by the Commissioners of Pennsylvania and Virginia on the 31st day of August, 1779, may tend to countenance some unwarrantable claims which may be made under the State of Virginia, in consequences of pretended purchases or settlements pending the controversy, yet this state, de- termining to give the World the most unequivocal proof of their earnest desire to promote peace and harmony with a Sister State, so necessary during this great contest against the Common Enemy, do agree to the conditions proposed by the State of Virginia, in their Resolves of the 23d of June last, to wit : [Here is copied verbatim the first resolution of the Virginia Assembly, including the conditions set out.] And we do hereby accept and fully ratify the said recited conditions, and the Boun- dary Line formed thereupon."


Following the foregoing was a resolution almost word for word with the second of the Virginia resolu- tions, authorizing the appointment of commissioners, to act in conjunction with those to be appointed by Virginia, to extend Mason and Dixon's line, and to run and mark the meridian from the western termi- nation thereof.7


1 See the surveys for William Askew, in Robinson township. 2 VIII. Penn. Archives, 284.


3 10 Hening, 519, et seq .: VIII, Penn. Archives, 352.


4 Who had not yet parted with their title to lands west of the Alle- gheny and north of the Ohio; this they did by the treaty of 1784. 5 XII. Col. Rec., 476.


6 VIII. Penn. Archives, 570.


7 It is not understood why the Legislature passed the act of April 1, 1784: " An Act confirming an agreement entered into between this State and the State of Virginia."-2 Smith's Laws, p. 261.


196


HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.


At last, so far as the legislative power of the two commonwealths was concerned, the contention was at an end. Henceforward the matter was with the re- spective executive departments. Nothing remained to be done but the running and marking of the line of separation of the two jurisdictions.


How Virginia had clung to the valley of the Mo- nongahela ! Her surveyors were still running their lines around " settlements" made by her adherents, by virtue of certificates issued by her commissioners' courts at Redstone and Cox's Fort. But her Yoho- gania County Court, holding its sessions for the ad- ministration of justice under her laws; only closed its records on Aug. 28, 1780, but a month before the pas- sage of the Pennsylvania resolution accepting the terms of settlement imposed by Virginia. Then was the power of Virginia withdrawn.


The exercise of an active jurisdiction on the part of Pennsylvania over lands lying west of the Monon- gahela River, and soon to be erected into a new county, had been superseded probably since 1774, at least to a very great extent. The Virginia jurisdic- tion having been withdrawn, the condition of that territory, fully settled by this time, is doubtless well described by the lamentation of Col. Joseph Beelor, of old the provincial county commissioner of West- moreland County, and later an adherent of the Vir- ginia usurpation. His letter to Col. Daniel Brod- head, then commanding at Pittsburgh, and calling upon the surrounding counties for men and horses, may properly be entitled as "Beelor's Lament." 1


" Our. 10, 1780.


"DEAR SIR,-I received yours of the 7th inst. this morning,2 but it is not in my power to give you a just return as you request until the last of this week, for I have been obliged to issue orders to press horses & draught men, as I could not get Volunteers enough, of which I have not got a return yet. I am sorry to inform you that I am afraid we shall come but little speed ; I find that the Government of Virginia will not protect me in any thing I do by vertue of the laws of Virga, since their last Resolution, & the laws of Pensylª have not as yet taken us under their protec- tion ; all this the Country is acquainted with, so that every thing I do is at the Risque of my Fortune unless protected by the States. If it had not been to forward an expedition I should have declined acting a good while ago, as no man ever had a more disagreeable time of it than I have at present, having no law to defend me. We are assured of your good intentions for the safety of the Countrey, & are very sorry that we cannot act with that spirit that we ought to do. But hope the laws of Pena will either be extended in a few Days from this time, or the Laws of Virga be kept in force. It is very unhappy for this Countrey that the two contending States has not provided a better way for


the defence of this Countrey that to Let it fall between them both until matters are settled between them.


" I have the honour to be with the greatest


" Respect, Dear Sir, your most obed't H'ble serv't, " JOSEPH BEELOR, Coll. " without law to protect me." Directed, " COLO. BRODHEAD."


CHAPTER XIV.


THE CIVIL AND LEGAL HISTORY .- (Continued.) VI. The Running and Marking of the Boundary Line-A Temporary Line Run-The Permanent Line Run and Marked.


The Running and Marking of the Boundary Line .- From this time (the date of Col. Beelor's la- ment) onward, with the exception of complaints made of delays on the part of the Virginia officials ap- pointed to aid in running and marking of the line, the boundary controversy was at an 1780. end as between the States, and confined there- after to factions, so long separated that a union seemed impossible. By the final action of Pennsyl- vania on Sept. 23, 1780, accepting the ratification of the Baltimore agreement with the conditions attached by Virginia, where the boundary should be was no longer a question : it only remained now to run and mark it.


But delays, vexatious and long continued, were to intervene. Thomas Scott wrote to President Reed, Jan. 24, 1781,3 "I have been big with ex- pectation of the line between us and Virginia 1781. being shortly run, and that dispute finally


settled, but begin to think I shall be disappointed." On Feb. 25, 1781, Col. Daniel Brodhead, command- ing at Fort Pitt, added to a letter a "P. S .- I hope no time will be lost in determining the Boundary Line, for until then the Inhabitants will be in con- fusion, and I cannot call them out in case of Inva- sion."៛ But on the 21st of February a step had been taken by the Supreme Executive Council in the ap- pointment of John Lukens and Archibald McClean, of York County, as commissioners on the part of Pennsylvania to run and mark the line, proposing to Virginia the 10th of the next May as the time, and providing that in case of the death, sickness, or in- ability of either, Alexander McLean, Esq., of West- moreland County, be substituted.5 Then on March 20, 1781, President Reed wrote to Thomas Scott,6 in- forming him of these steps and also of another im- portant matter, the immediate prospect of the erec-


1 VIII. Penn Archives, 583.


2 Col. Beelor lived in Peters township, near Chartiers Creek.


3 VIII. Penn. Archives, 713.


4 Ihid., 744.


5 XII. Col. Records, 635. For instructions see Ibid., 704.


6 IX. Penn. Archives, 20.


197


CIVIL AND LEGAL-A TEMPORARY LINE RUN.


tion of a new county. On the 17th of April, 1781, Thomas Jefferson, then the Governor of Virginia, ad- dressed the following to President Reed :1


"SIR,-I have been honored with your Excellency's Letter, proposing the actual extension of our mutual Boundary. . .. No mode of deter- mining the extent of the five degrees of Longitude from Delaware River, in the Latitude of Mason's and Dixon's Line having been pointed out by your Excellency, I shall venture to propose that this be deter- mined by Astronomical Observations, to be made at or near the two ex- tremities of the Line, as being, in our opinion, the most certain & unex- ceptionable mode of determining that Point, which being fixed, every Thing will be easy.


" Should this mode be approved by your Excellency, we have appointed the Rev. James Madison, as a commissioner on our part to execute the work in the Western Quarter, and the Rev. Robert Andrews to perform the office at the Eastern end, in conjunction with the Gentlemen whom you have been pleased to appoint or any others on your part. .. . We will send to the Westward the most necessary Instruments, which we suppose to be a good Time Piece, Telescopes, and a Quadrant, and hope it will be convenient for you to furnish what may be necessary at the Eastern end.


"Our Commissioners will be at their Respective Stations at any time which your Excellency shall think proper to appoint, allowing it to be a month after I shall have received your Pleasure on that Head. .. . "


The important suggestions contained in this com- munication must have been favorably received by President Reed, and the time changed from that at first proposed, for on May 22, 1781,2 Governor Jeffer- son writes the information that his government has been compelled to remove to Charlottesville by the British invasion, and being at a great distance from Williamsburg, where the commissioners of Virginia resided, it would be impossible to proceed with the running of the line on June 12th, the day last set by President Reed, which made necessary a postpone- ment. The establishment of the permanent boundary was then deferred till May 1, 1782.


A Temporary Line Run .- But on June 3, 1781,3 Governor Jefferson assented to a proposition pre- viously made, to run a temporary line, extending Mason and Dixon's line due west twenty-three miles, or to the Ohio River, and directed the county surveyor of Monongalia County to join in the work with any one whom President Reed should appoint. Soon after the receipt of this letter the Supreme Executive Council appointed as the Pennsylvania artist Alex- ander McClean, Esq., then living in that part of Westmoreland County now forming Fayette. This appointment and the cause of the interruption of the prospect of the running of the permanent line is set forth in the letter of President Reed to Col. James Marshel,4 the lieutenant of Washington County, of date July 23, 1781 : 5


"SIR,-I have received two letters from you, one of the 5th, & the other of the 27th June, which I have laid before the Council. We are sorry to hear of the obstructions which have been thrown in your way by ill designing people who keep up unhappy Contests for sinister pur-


posen. We hope the Time will come when there Machinations will be at an end, as we are resolved as soon as the line in run to exert the Power of legal & coercive Authority over all who shall pressure to disturb the publick Tranquility & distress the Country by their mal Practicar It was much our wish to run the Line this Spring, but the State of Vir- ginia being invaded [by the British Army], & the affairs of the Gov- ernment in great confusion, there has not been the Time or Opp'y for that purpose which was necessary. Besides that, uporinquiry we found the Season was too far advanced for those Astronomical Observations which were necessary to run the line with Exactness. We have there- fore postponed the grand Operation to next Spring. But as we know it was highly necessary to have a partition of Territory and Jurisdiction, we proposed to Virginia to run a temporary line, beginning at the End of Mason and Dixon's, and measuring 23 miles,6 what is by common Computation the five degrees of Longitude called for in the Charter of King Charles the 2d. This has been agreed to, and the State of Virginia has sent Orders to the Surveyor of Yeoghegany County? to join with one to be appointed by us to that Service. We have appointed Alexander Mc- Clean, Esq., and this Express carries up his Commission & Instructions for this Purpose. Should he have Occasion for a Guard or any other Assist- ance from you, we make no Doubt he will receive it. As soon as they have run the Line & reported their Proceedings we shall Rend up Procla- mations calling upon all those who shall fall into this State to conform to its Laws and Government, and hope you will soon be relieved from the Anarchy and Confusion which has reigned so long in your Country from this unhappy Dispute. ... "


Washington County had been erected by an act of the General Assembly passed March 28, 1781. It is not the place here to show what were the "Obstructions" producing the " Anarchy and Confusion" referred to in this letter. They will be given at length hereafter. Suffice it to say that, after the organization of the county, the old antagonisms arising out of the dis- puted jurisdiction continued indeed for several years. Such terms as "Villanous Banditti" were of fre- quent use on either side, and letters in the State Archives are full of them. Of one party were Col. James Marshel, Hon. Thomas Scott, the principal leaders of the old Pennsylvania adherents, while of the old Virginia partisans Col. Dorsey Pentecost and Col. John Canon were among the most conspicuous. During the year 1781 the new State project was also revived, resulting in much trouble, and the passage of an act, late in 1782, making the advocacy of the scheme a treason. These difficulties at present must be deferred. Their continuance, however, during the year 1781 and later was the occasion of much anx- iety for the final establishment of the boundary line.


It appears that Alexander McClean was one of those drafted by the Virginia military officials to serve in Gen. George Rogers Clarke's expedition against the Indians, which left Western Pennsylva- nia in the summer of 1781, of which fact Archibald McClean, of York County, informed President Reed in a letter dated on Aug. 13, 1781,8 so that the border troubles as well as the British invasion of Virginia became responsible for delay. But Mr. McClean's


1 IX. Penn. Archives, 78. 2 Ibid., 160. 8 Ibid., 189.


4 James Marshel was also the recorder of deeds and the register of willa, as well as the county lieutenant. Holding the latter position, he was the representative of the executive power in the county in military affairs.


6 IX. Penn. Archives, 304. See also President Reed to Hon. Christo- pher Hays, Ibid., 300.


6 In the latitude of their line Mason and Dixon computed the width of a degree of longitude to be 53 miles 1671, perches, and Penn's five de- grees of longitude from the Delaware at 267 miles 19515 perches. To their stopping-place on Dunkard, the distance run, they say, was 244 miles, 113 perches, 714 feet, leaving, as they computed it, 23 miles 83 perches yet to be run .- Veech.


1 7 It was Monongalia County.


8 IX. Penn. Archives, 352.


198


HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.


services on that expedition seem to have been dis- pensed with, for on September 13th he addressed a letter to President Reed,1 giving as an excuse for his inactivity the delays occasioned by the unreadiness of Mr. Madison, who had been appointed to act with him on the part of Virginia, and on October 19th Thomas Scott wrote to President Reed,2 " We still groan under the difficulty of an unrun boundary line, now occasioned by Mr. Madison, the Virginia com- missioner (partly from design in himself, and partly to gratify a small faction still in the county), declin- ing to join with Mr. McClean in that business, and instead thereof he has posted off a messenger to Vir- ginia with prayers, and thinks (as is said) that it may not be done." 8


Preparations had already again been made, how- ever, for the running of the permanent line early the next year, for on October 8th the Supreme Executive Council had appointed Rev. Dr. John Ewing and David Rittenhouse, Esq.,4 commissioners for that pur- pose, who were desired at once to proceed to provide the necessary instruments and to have everything in readiness to perform said service; yet by reason of the facts already mentioned the much-desired tem- porary line had not yet been run, and on December 17th, Hon. William Moore, now the president of the Supreme Executive Council, wrote to Brig .- Gen. Wil- liam Irvine, in command at Fort Pitt : 5


. . With respect to the line between this state and Virginia, every measure, on our part, has been taken to have had a temporary line run last summer ; but it has failed of being effectual by some omissions of the commissioners appointed on the part of that state; and it seems to be impracticable by the lateness of the season, and perhaps unnecessary, now, to push that measure, as preparations are making for running in the Spring a permanent line, founded on astronomical observations ... . "


But the winter having passed away, on March 1, 1782, a committee of the General Assembly met with the Supreme Executive Council, and after con- 1782. sideration it was resolved that the completion of the permanent line was unadvisable for the present on account of the great expenses necessarily attending it, but "that a temporary line during the continuance of the present War or till times are more settled on the Frontiers may be made and agreed on at a small expense, which will answer every purpose expected."" This resolution being communicated to Governor Harrison, of Virginia, it was assented to,7 whereupon, on April 6th, Alex- ander McClean was again commissioned8 and in- structions given him as follows :9


" You are hereby instructed to be on the 10th of June at the ex- tremity of Mason and Dixon's line, where you'll meet the Commissioners from Virginia, & then continue the said line 23 miles West, then run a


1 IX. Penn. Archives, 402.


2 Ibid., 439.


3 See letter Col. James Marshel to President Reed, IX. Penn. Archives, 444.


4 XIII. Col. Records, 79.


5 IX. Penn. Archives, 468.


6 Ibid., 506; XIII. Col. Records, 209.


IX. Penn. Archives, 518.


8 XIII. Col. Records, 252.


9 IX. Penn. Archives, 519.


Meridian Line till it strikes the Ohio. Shou'd the Commissioners from Virginia not Attend at the time & place, or refuse to perform with you the running of ye above Lines you'll proceed yourself."


Some differences then followed between Governor Harrison and President Moore as to whether or not the commissioners should begin at the extremity of the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland, or at the point on Dunkard Creek where Mason and Dixon had been stopped by their Indian escort in 1767; 10 but the matter being referred to the Virginia Assembly, that body, on June 1, 1782, empowered the commissioners to be appointed by the Governor to begin at the extremity of Mason and Dixon's line, thence extend it twenty-three miles, and then run the meridian to the Ohio.11 But Alexander McClean did as· he was instructed to do, and on June 10, 1782, ap- peared with his escort at the point designated, pre- pared for the duty enjoined, with the result, however, shown by his report to President Moore, as follows : 12


" COLO. COOK'S,


"ON MY WAY FROM PITTSBURGH, 27 June, 1782. " SIR,-To my great Mortification I am lead to inform you that after every effort which prudence might dictate, I am again prevented from Running the Line. The Circumstances I presume you will be anxious to know. They are as follows, Viz .: Shortly after my Return from Phila- delphia an expedition was formed against Sandusky by the Volunteers of both Counties, which drew off a great Number of the Militia and Arms. The Situation of Washington County was very distressing to appearance. I thought it not prudent to call any part of the Guard from thence, altho' Impowered so to do. The Lieut. of the County of Westmoreland furnished me with a guard of one hundred and upward, but had not Arms sufficient to supply them. About Seventy were armed. We proceeded to the Mouth of Dunkard Creek, where our stores were laid in on the tenth day of June, and were preparing to Cross the River that night when a party of about thirty horsemen Armed appeared on the op- posite of the River, Damning us to come over, and threatening us to a great Degree ; and several more were seen by our Bullock Guard, which we had sent over the river, one of which asked them if they would Surrender to be taken as prisoners and other Language of menacing ; and hearing of a great number more who were on their way to their assistance, We held a Council, the Result of which was to appoint a Committee to confer with them on the Causes of their opposition, the result of said Conference you will see enclosed. This Mob or Banditti of Villains are greatly increased since the supply Bill has been published amongst them. . . . In short the Cry against Taxes in Specie is general and in any Mode by a Number of those who formerly adhered to Vir- ginia, and they think the Running of the Line will be a prelude to and increase the power of Collecting them; Together with the Idea of a New State, which is artfully and industriously conveyed (under Cover- ture) by some of the Friends of that State as the only Expedient to prevent the Running of the Line. I have also to inform you that I have the most finished assurance that they have not the least Desire to settle the Line in any equitable manner, for the Instructions of their Com- missioners (if they have appointed any) will doubtless direct them to begin at the end of Maryland, which is not yet ascertained, neither can it be without the concurrence of that State, which I am fully persuaded was thrown in as a barrier to keep the Evil day the further off.




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