USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne County [Pa.] > Part 7
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
has, no doubt, great attractions for them. Our En- glish and Irish people assert, and, no doubt, truthfully, that in their native islands the birds of song exceed ours in numbers and melody, but that the American birds surpass theirs in the beauty of their plumage.
How delightful is the scene, when we can say: "The winter is past, the flowers appear upon the earth: the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land."
Since writing the foregoing, we have had the pleas- ure of seeing an interesting collection of the skins of divers quadrupeds and birds prepared and preserved by that ingenious taxidermist, Lewis Day, Esq., of Dyberry. All the preparations have a life-like appear- ance. Among the quadrupeds are a black Maryland marmot, a large hedgehog, and two martens; and among the birds are some rare and beautiful specimens, all killed in Wayne county, as follows: A large Amer- ican shrike, by some called the butcher-bird; a cardi- nal gross-beak, a rare bird in this latitude; a strange, tall bird, with long legs and with a longer neck, of a mottled gray, in slang language called a " shikepoke," and not very distinctly described by any of our orni- thologists, resembling in plumage and shape the bird known in England as the bittern ; a black-winged tana- ger; a meadow-lark; a bird of the sandpiper order, called a "tip-up"; a small black auk, which must have wandered from its ocean home. But strangest among them all is a white woodpecker, a lusus naturæ. The head of this bird is ornamented with a crest of long.
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FISH.
slender feathers of a rich carmine color, and, were it not for its plumage, it would be at once recognized as an ivory-billed woodpecker. In Mr. Day's collection are many other rare specimens. Such is his love of the beautiful in nature, that we feel assured he will make further additions to his stock of rare curiosities.
What we have written about birds has been done in part to incite our young people to study the nature and habits of these light tenants of the air, which we con- sider the most interesting creatures in animated nature.
If there be any one that is indifferent to the songs of the birds, to that person, male or female, will apply the words of Shakespeare :
"The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils ; The motions of his spirit are dull as night, And his affections dark as Erebus ; Let no such man be trusted."
CHAPTER VI.
FISH.
ITHE fish for which the settlers had the most reason to be thankful was the trout, which enlivened all the streams from the Paupack to the Starrucca, and
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
which, in the spring and summer months, afforded an abundance of cheap and wholesome food. The man that went fishing fifty or sixty years ago, if he had any skill or industry, did not throw away his time, if he attached any value to twelve or twenty pounds of the most beautiful fish. As a rule this fish was more abundant in the smaller than in the bigger streams, where they were larger in size, often attain- ing a weight of one or two pounds. The trout could ascend any water however swift and any falling col- uin of water which was not deflected or broken by falling on rocks. Hence they ascended the several falls of the Paupack. This the eels could not do, and, consequently, there were none above those falls. If there are any there now, they have been carried up within fifty years. Ephraim Killam, formerly of Pal- myra, Pike county, used to tell how he, standing in one place, had caught forty pounds of trout in one hour, from and above a large mass of drift-wood in the Paupack. But saw-dust from the saw-mills, the liquor from the tanneries, the droughts of our sum- mers, and the more destructive fish-hooks have almost effected the extinction of this beautiful and valuable fish. A few of them, small in size, and smaller in quantity, may yet be caught in small brooks and mill-ponds, early in the season.
Before the introduction of pickerel into our ponds, thirty or forty years ago, perch were abundant, were easily caught, and the flesh was hard and of an agreeable flavor. In some of the ponds they yet
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FISH.
abound; but, in general, their numbers have been greatly diminished by the voracity of the pickerel. Perch and sunfish are rarely found in running streams. Catfish are found in almost every pond, and, if the water is pure, are a good fish. Eels are found in all the large streams except the Paupack. Chubs, suck- ers, and mullet abound in some streams and ponds. Seventy-five years ago shad ascended the Delaware to Deposit, and were caught below there, at the mouth of Shadpond brook. Joseph Atkinson, Sen., used to tell of seeing them caught at Paupack Eddy, and Esquire Spangenberg, of seeing them, in spawning places, between the mouth of the Dyberry and the Henwood bridge.
It is to be hoped that the enterprise and experi- ments of A. W. Mc Kown, Esq., who, at much trouble and expense, has introduced the northern black-bass into several of our large ponds, will succeed in and satisfy his expectations. Any fish that can hold their own against the voracity of the pickerel, will be a valuable addition. It is contended that the fecundity of the bass is wonderful, that its flesh is of an agreea- ble flavor, and that it is not so easily caught as to in- vite the unskillful to pursue it to extinction. These are, if true, very important recommendations. The pickerel in many of our ponds have eaten up all the other fish and even devoured their own progeny, thus leaving the ponds destitute of all fish of any value.
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
CHAPTER VII.
REPTILES.
DIIE most dreaded and venomous of all the snakes 1 in the Middle States is the rattlesnake. It is often found along the high, dry, open woods of the Dela- ware and Lackawaxen rivers, and on the Moosic mountain ; but never in the beech, hemlock, and ash woods-at least we never found one in the interior of the beech woods. Popular belief assigns to the leaves of the ash-tree properties most repugnant and fatal to this snake. If the leaves of the ash have such an effect upon this reptile, the matter should be inquired into by scientific and medical men. Rye whiskey, applied externally and internally, is pro- nounced to be a sure antidote for the bite of this snake. The philosophy of the matter is, that the patient must take more poison than the snake had in him. The dose for an adult is one quart of pure whiskey, but, as this can seldom be found, one pint of adulterated whiskey will do.
The black, water, green, and garter snakes, and spot- ted adder or milk snake are not venomous, and it is thought by many that they ought not to be killed wantonly, as they destroy many hurtful vermin.
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INSECTS.
CHAPTER VIII.
INSECTS.
ITHE insects which abound in Wayne county are those usually found in the Middle States, in the same latitude, and consist of bees, wasps, hornets, but- terflies, moths, ants, crickets, flies, grasshoppers, beetles, etc. These are so well known that no particular de- scription of them is necessary. The honey-bee is the only one of special interest, owing to the large amount of honey produced annually in the county and to its being an important contribution to the resources of the people.
THE HONEY-BEE.
Thomas Jefferson, in his "Notes on Virginia," in- forms us that the early settlers at Jamestown brought over honey-bees from England; and that previous to that time, they were unknown in America. The bees, he says, spread in advance of the English settlements with amazing rapidity. They were a great wonder to the Indians, who called them "the white man's fly." There is a kind of stingless bee in Guatemala, in Cen- tral America, which lays up its honey in long, thick, opaque cells closed at both ends. But the honey has
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
not the flavor, nor the cells, the beauty of those pro- duced by the European honey-bee. The pioneers in Northern Pennsylvania found the bees in advance of them. I have heard my father say that, in 1803, he found fourteen bee-trees which averaged eighty pounds of honey to each tree. The hollow trees which the bees cleared out and fitted for their abode, seem to be peculiarly fitted for them. Like the Indians they seem- ed to delight in the great, glorious, primitive forests. In early times at least one quarter of the settlers kept bees. But as the country was cleared up, and the maple and basswood were cut down they became less profita- ble and prolific, and were infested by a white miller, that laid its eggs in and under the bottoms of the hives, which, in their gnat or worm state surround themselves with a web and devour the young and the combs. The first settlers kept their bees in straw hives, which have been superseded by hives made of wood. The keeping of bees in Wayne county is made a speciality at the present time. Among the persons who are devoted to the business are Sydney Coons, of Lebanon, William Manaton, of Clinton, Mortimer E. Lavo, whose apiary is in Mount Pleas- ant, George Leonard, of Salem, Jacob Schoonover, of Dyberry, George Wild, of Paupack, and others. Some keep them merely to have honey for their own use.
And here we are prompted to inquire, from whence does the honey-bee, including all its orders. derive its ability and wisdom wherewith to govern a
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LAND TITLES AND SURVEYS.
community of thousands, directing some to gather bee-bread, others to build the cells, others to feed the young, and others to guard and ventilate the hive, all carried on without discord or confusion ? Is not the conviction forced upon us that they are under the impulsive teaching of a God-given instinct ?
CHAPTER IX.
LAND TITLES AND SURVEYS.
ITHE Penn family, during the Revolution, were ac- cused of being adherents of the British Govern- ment, and of withholding from the cause of liberty that aid which they might have contributed thereto. Consequently the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, on the 27th day of November, 1779, passed " an act for vesting the Estates of the late Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, in this Commonwealth;" in the pream- ble whereto it is set forth, "that the claims heretofore made by the late Proprietaries to the whole of the soil contained within the charter from Charles II. to William Penn, cannot longer consist with the safety, liberty, and happiness of the good people of this Commonwealth, who, at the expense of much blood and treasure, have bravely rescued themselves and
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
their possessions from the tyranny of Great Britain, and are now defending themselves from the inroads of the savages." The act did not confiscate the lands of the Proprietaries within the lines of manors, nor em- brace the purchase-money due for lands sold lying within surveyed manors. The manors, in legal ac- ceptation, were lands surveyed and set apart as the private property of the Proprietaries.
The titles to all lands sold and conveyed by William Penn or his descendants were confirmed and made valid. But the title to all lands in the Common- wealth, which had not been surveyed and returned into the land-office, on or before the 4th of July, 1776, was by said act vested in the State. Said act pro- vided that the sum of one hundred and thirty thous- and pounds, sterling money, should be paid out of the treasury of this State to the devisees and legatees of Thomas Penn, and Richard Penn, late Proprietaries, and to the widow and relict of said Thomas Penn, in such proportions as should thereafter, by the Legisla- ture, be deemed equitable and just, upon a full inves- tigation of their respective claims. No part of said sum was to be paid within less than one year after the termination of the war with Great Britain ; and no more than twenty thousand pounds, nor less than fifteen thousand pounds should be payable in any one year. The land-office was begun by William Penn, and, although changes have been made, from time to time, in the method of acquiring title to vacant lands, vet many features of the office, as it was in his day, remain to the present time.
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LAND TITLES AND SURVEYS.
A land-office by and under the act of 9th of April, 1781, was created under the Commonwealth, its offi- cers consisting of a secretary of the land-office, receiv- er-general, and surveyor-general. Many acts of As- sembly which were afterwards passed, enlarged, de- fined, or limited the powers and duties of these officers. By an act of the 29th of March, 1809, the office of receiver-general was abolished, and his duties were discharged by the secretary of the land-office; and by the act of the 17th of April, 1843, this latter-named office was discontinued, and the duties pertaining thereto were performed by the surveyor-general. By the Constitution of 1874, this office is now under the charge of the secretary of Internal Affairs. It would be impossible without much expense and research, to name all the lands in Wayne county that were grants under the Proprietaries. The following are admitted to belong among them, viz: The Proprietaries' Man- or, in Berlin, 1,001 acres; Safe Harbor, (Equinunk), 2,222 acres; Shehocking Manor, in Buckingham, 520 acres; Elk Forest, in Old Canaan, 11,526 acres; on the Paupack, in Wayne and Pike counties, 12,150 acres; in Lebanon, the Amsterdam and Rotterdam Manor, 2,770 acres; the Damascus Manor, 4,390 acres; the Jonas Seely tract in Berlin, of 8,373 acres, and many other tracts not embraced in said Manors. In short, all lands embraced in warrants issued, surveyed, and returned into the land-office, before the 4th day of July, 1776.
An act for opening the land-office for granting and
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
disposing of the unappropriated lands within this State passed April 1st, 1784, provided, "that the land-office shall be opened for the lands already purchased of the Indians on the 1st day of July next, at the rate of ten pounds for every hundred acres, with the usual fees of granting, surveying, and patenting, excepting such tracts as shall be surveyed westward of the Allegheny mountains, etc. Every applicant for lands shall pro- duce to the secretary of the land-office, a particular de- scription of the lands applied for, with a certificate from two justices of the peace of the proper county, specifying whether the said lands be improved or not, and if improved, how long since the said improvement was made, that interest may be charged accordingly. The quantity of land granted to any one person shall not exceed four hundred acres," etc. The prices of unimproved land were different at various periods un- der the several purchases made of the Indians. From the 1st of July, 1784, to April 3d, 1792, the price of unimproved wild lands was $26.663 per hundred acres in Wayne, Pike, Susquehanna, and other counties. By act of April 3d, 1792, the price of unimproved lands was fixed at $6.663 per hundred acres. The latter- named act was repealed by act of 29th of March, 1809, since which time the price of lands in the above-nam- ed counties has been $26,663 per hundred acres. The laws passed relative to State lands were numerous. Under said laws the surveyor-general, or the officer acting in that capacity, was authorized to appoint a deputy-surveyor in each and every county. George
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LAND TITLES AND SURVEYS.
Palmer, of Easton, was the deputy-surveyor appointed for Wayne and Pike counties, and most of the State lands were surveyed and located by him in said coun- ties, and were made before there were any permanent settlements. As the greater part of the names of the eleven or twelve hundred persons named as warrantees on our county maps, are strange and unknown, it has been supposed that many of those names were fictitious, which supposition is erroneous. The persons named were those that made the original applications. Some of the lands were taken up by the early settlers. Witness the names of Evans, Skinner, Thomas, Little, Smith, Allen, Hays, Land, and others in Damascus, and of Seely, Torrey, Woodward, Brown, Bingham, Day, Brink, Ball, Scudder, Moore, Taylor, and many other well-known names, in other parts of the county. The law allowed the applicant to take up four hundred acres, with an allowance of six per cent. for roads, but in consequence of inaccuracies in surveys, the law or practice of the land-department, allowed ten per cent. surplusage. After the establishment of the land-office under the auspices of the Commonwealth, many per- sons were deluded by the belief that it would be profit- able for them to take up a tract of land for their own use, or for their children, or for the purpose of speculation. But lands taken up, from 1780 to 1800, were not in demand, and could not be sold at a profit ; and many, who, at the time when they took up tracts, designed to settle upon them, on a view of the hard- ships to be endured in a region destitute of roads,
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
schools, and churches, were deterred from carrying their original designs into execution, and at last sold out their wild possessions to the large land-holders, or suffered their lands to be sold for taxes. The land- department suffered applicants to take up lands with- out paying the purchase-money, or fees, or granted warrants on which only a part was paid. Such lands being located, surveyed, and returned by the deputy- surveyor, were subject to taxation, and liable to be sold every other year for taxes. Hundreds of tracts were thus sold biennially. In the beginning and during the progressive settlement of the county, the greater part of the wild lands were held and sold by large land- owners. Jason Torrey was the agent of the following named persons and their executors, viz: Henry Drink- er, Thomas Shields, Edward Tilghman, Mark Wilcox, Samuel Baird, L. Hollingsworth, Win. Bell, Heirs of James Hamilton, Thomas Stewardson, George Vaux. Thomas Cadwalader, Thomas Astley, and several other persons, not large owners. From well-authenticated evidence it appears that Jason Torrey, who was a na- tive of Williamstown, Mass., came into Mount Pleas- ant, in 1793, when scarcely twenty years of age; while working there for Jirah Mumford, Samuel Baird, of Pottstown, Pa., came to Kellogg's and at once appre- hending the natural ability of the young man, engaged him in assisting to survey some land on the Lackawax- en and some other parts of northern Pennsylvania. Samuel Baird was the deputy-surveyor of Luzerne county.
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. LAND TITLES AND SURVEYS.
From the experience thus afforded him, Mr. Torrey became an expert and ready surveyor. Patronized by Mr. Baird, the above named land-holders committed the care and sale of their lands in Wayne and Pike counties to Mr. Torrey, they, however, in all cases, fixing the prices and the conditions under which their respective lands should be sold. The implicit confi- dence which they reposed in him was never withdrawn. He re-surveyed and re-marked the old tracts, and sub- divided them into lots to suit the convenience of pur- chasers. He made his surveys with great care and ac- curacy, and though, as in duty bound, he looked well to the interests of his employers, yet he was ever just to the purchaser, always giving him full measure, and taking pains to be well assured that the lands he sold had been duly patented, so that the purchaser should be in no danger of being involved in litigation about his title. Suffice it to say that Jason Torrey knew more about the titles and the location of lands in Wayne and Pike counties than any man then living, and he made more sales than all other agents combin- ed. He compiled and published a map showing by numbers the location and quantity of every warrantee in Wayne and Pike counties, which map has been of indispensable service to assessors, and to the commis- sioners of said counties, and to all persons desirous of knowing the location of unseated lands. In 1827, Ja- son Torrey gave up the agency of the greater part of the lands which had been committed to his care, and it was given to Henry R. Stilley, who was a relative
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
of some of the large owners, and came from Philadel- phia, to obtain a knowledge of matters relative to the surveys and sales, and spent six years in the office of Jason Torrey, before he became familiar with the manner in which the business had formerly been done. Mr. Stilley lived pretty fast, and found use for all the money that he obtained from the sale of lands, and consequently paid nothing over to the owners. This led to his dismissal from all his agencies, and in 1831, John D. Taylor, who had been a clerk in the office of General Thomas Cadwalader, of Philadelphia, was sent to Wayne county to take the agency for" Cadwalader and several others. Mr. Taylor remained in the county some five or six years, attending to the duties connect- ed with his agencies, but, not finding the business sat- isfactory, he gave it up and removed from the county. As early as 1835 some of the owners placed their lands under the agency of Hon. John Torrey, of Hones- dale, and after the removal of Mr. Taylor, nearly all the unsold lands, which had been under Jason Torrey's care, were added to John Torrey's agency, without any solicitation from him or his father, and the justice and ability exercised by him as a land-agent, have never been disputed.
The Shields lands, in Lebanon, Oregon, Berlin, and Damascus, and the Manor of Amsterdam and Rotter- dam were run north 10 degrees west or north, 12} degrees west, while the lands in Salem, North Ster- ling, in most of South Canaan, and in part of Cherry Ridge were run north 50 degrees west, and in other
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LAND TITLES AND SURVEYS.
parts of the county, in divers other directions. Sam- nel Baird may have laid a few warrants, but George Palmer, as before said, originally surveyed and located most of the lands in Wayne county, and his work was well done. Anthony Crothers was his successor. It is contended that he never came into the county, and that all his pretended surveys were made by sub-dep- uties, or made by his own fireside, and were called "chamber surveys." At any rate they were many of them found to be very inaccurate. The north assumed by the original surveyors was not the true polar north, but had a western declination therefrom, of about two and a half degrees. This, however, would have made but little difference, if they had always run their lines upon the same meridian, at all times, and in all parts of the county, for then the variation would have been nearly alike, upon every survey. That they did not always adopt the same meridian is well known to all surveyors, who find the variation upon some lines to be four and a quarter degrees, upon others to be three degrees, and then upon others to be only one and a half. The present declination of the needle is now, according to the finding of Lewis S. Collins, Esq., our county-surveyor, seven degrees west of the polar north.
It was once, if it is not now, a common belief, that the large land-owners realized great fortunes from the sale of their wild lands, which was not the case. If to the price paid for the lands, were added the yearly taxes for forty or fifty years, and the compensation made to agents for watching said lands, and finally
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY.
surveying and selling them, the lands cost their own- ers more than they realized from them, and sometimes double. Hon. James Wilson, judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, owned more lands in Wayne county than any other man. He died in 1798, and his lands were sold under a mortgage, and his heirs found his estate diminished, rather than en- larged, by his land investments.
Judge Wilson's lands upon the Paupack were pur- chased by Sanmel Sitgreaves, of Easton, Pennsylva- nia, who sold them to the settlers at a very low price. Other lands taken up by Wilson, in Sterling, Salem, Canaan, and other parts of the county, fell into the hands of Thomas Cadwalader and Edward Tilghman, of Philadelphia. Henry Drinker, of the same city. owned the most of the lands in Dyberry and many tracts in Manchester and Buckingham. It will be understood that the person who obtained a warrant was called the warrantee. Upon paying the State treasurer the legal price of the land, and the office fees, $4.50, the warrant was sent to the county-sur- veyor, whose business it was to survey the land within six months, make a draft and description, and, upon being paid for his services, make a return to the land- department. Then the warrantee, upon paying $10 to the land-department, would receive a patent for his land. Then, if he had the first warrant, the first sur- vey, and the first patent, the title was seenre. The land-department, for many years past, has required the applicant for a warrant to make oath before a
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JUDICIARY.
justice of the peace, of the proper county, touching the condition of the lands as to its improved or unim- proved state, and proving the same by a disinterested witness, on his oath made before two justices of the peace. The act of April, 1850, provided for the elec- tion in that year and every third year thereafter, of one competent person, being a practical surveyor, to act as county-surveyor. The office is now merely honorary.
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