History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 11

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 1438

USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 11
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 11
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 11

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

memorial, unhistoric time, a little settlement was indented upon the eastern border of this vernal- clad, unknown land. The strokes of the axe resounded along the river and through the dusky aisles of the forest, and soon the smoke curled upward from the stick and stone chimneys of a half-dozen small, rude, log eabins. The settlers were Daniel Skinner1 and his sons and possibly a few others, from the town of Preston, New London County, Connecticut. Cushi- tunk, as they called their settlement, after an Indian village then existing, or said by tradi- dition to have existed at this locality, was a mere dot of civilization, made with the most humble beginning, and containing three years later, according to good authorities, less than thirty families.

Insignificant as it was, however, in numbers and in individual importance, this little frontier outpost involved momentous issucs. It was the first, the pioneer settlement of the Connecti- cut people within the boundaries of Penn's pro- vince,-the initial movement in that general and systematic intrusion which resulted in the settle- ment of Wyoming and Wallenpaupaek, or " Lackawack," the establishment of a Connec- ticut county on Pennsylvania soil, a deter- mined effort to dismember the State, and all of the varied acts, the dissension and strife and bloodshed of what has been commonly called the " Pennamite War."

Cushutunk and Wyoming were established under the auspices of two separate companies, both of which originated in Connecticut, and were actuated by a common purpose-the colonization of Northern Pennsylvania under the claim that it was covered by the Connecticut charter. Wyoming was founded by what was known as the Connecticut Susquehanna Com- pany, and Cushutunk and the Wallenpaupaek settlement by the Delaware Company, of the same colony. Both had precisely the same basis of elaim and both sought to accomplish their purposes by exactly the same methods. The Susquehanna Company was the strongest,

most persistent, accomplished most, gave the Pennsylvania the most trouble, and henee its action and its principal settlement, Wyoming, have been prominent in history ;2 while the weaker efforts and smaller accomplishment of the Delaware Company have been left in com- parative obscurity, although, as we shall exhibit, there is much concerning the settlements of the latter in the colonial records and archives, indicating that the aetion of the company was of considerable eotemporary interest.

The authority, the purposes and the methods of the two Connectieut organizations being iden- tical, they will, for the sake of convenience, and clearness be here considered in connection with each other.

To begin with, it must be stated that the eon- test for the possession of Northern Pennsylvania had its origin in the ignoranee or indifference of the British monarchs concerning American geography, and consequent confusion in the granting of charters to the several colonies, sev- eral of them overlapping, and thus causing con- fliets of authority over ownership and possession.

The charter of Connecticut was granted by Charles II. in 1662, and was confirmatory to the charter granted by James I. to "the Grand Couneil of Plymouth for planting and govern- ing New England in America " in 1620, and also to a deed given in 1631 by the Earl of Warwiek, then president of the Plymouth Couneil, to Lord Say and Seal, Lord Brooke and others, by which was conveyed to them that part of New England afterwards purchased by the colony of Connecticut. The charter granted to the colony all the lands west of it, to the ex- tent of its breadth, from sea to sea, or " from Narragansett River, one hundred and twenty miles on a straight line, near the shore towards the southwest, as the coast lies towards Virginia, and within that breadth from the Atlantic Ocean to the South Sea.""3 This measurement would bring the southern line of Connecticut nearly or quite to the forty-first degree of north lati- tude (upon or near which Stroudsburg, Monroe County, is located), and thus had the elaim been

1 It is altogether probable that Daniel Skinner had been here on a tour of observation as early as 1755. For details concerning the Skinner family and the early settlement of Cushutunk, see the chapter on Damascus township.

2 At least sixty works, large and small, and of varying worth, have been written upon Wyoming.

3 The vaguely-known Pacific was then so called.

SETTLEMENTS ON THE UPPER DELAWARE.

maintained, Pennsylvania would have been di- minished to the extent of over two-fifths of its present territory. The charter included an ex- ception of lands " then actually possessed or in- habited by any other Christian prince or State," and under this exception the Dutch possessions of New York, or the New Netherlands, ex- tending to the Delaware, were exempted from the " sea to sea " charter of Connecticut. The lands of the Dutch were never vested in the British crown until the conquest of 1664, and in 1650 articles of agreement respecting their eastern line had been made between them and Connecticut. On the conquest of the Dutch by the English-their lands having been given to the Dukeof York (afterwards James II., brother of Charles II.)-the line established in 1650 was agreed upon as " the western bound of the Col- ony of Connecticut," as it was the eastern of the Duke's lands-a statement which was after- wards taken advantage of by Pennsylvania and construed into a relinquishment by Connecticut of all claim to lands west of the Delaware, although they had been distinctly included in the charter of 1662.

By the charter granted to William Penn in 1681 by Charles II., he was invested with the ownership of a vast province-greater than the present State-having the end of the forty- second degree of north latitude, or the beginning of latitude forty-three degrees north for a north- ern boundary, and thus overlapping by one de- gree the grant made to Connecticut by the same sovereign nineteen years before. The Pennsyl- vania charter also included a portion of the lands before granted to Lord Baltimore, just as Lord Baltimore's patent had covered lands long vested in Virginia, and thus there was error all around. The King, however, undoubtedly acted in good faitlı, if in ignorance. When the Quaker petitioned for his charter it was referred to the attorney-general of the crown, Sir William Jones, who reported that "the tract of land desired by Mr. Penn seems to be undisposed of by His Majesty, except the imaginary lines of New England patents, which are bounded west- wardly by the main ocean, should give them a real, though impracticable right to all of those vast territories."

Thus the seed of strife was sown far away across the occan. The Connecticut people claimed priority and the far-reaching nature of their charter ; the proprietaries of Pennsyl- vania maintained that when their charter was granted the eastern bounds of the Duke of York's lands (New York) had been decided to be the western bounds of Connecticut, which restored the lands westward of the former to the crown and laid them open to a new grant.1 Beyond these conflicting claims there were many others, Connecticut asserting priority of pur- chase from the Indians (1754) and priority of occupation, Wyoming being settled by her colo- nists in 1762, while alleging that the Pennsyl- vania proprietaries did not purchase from the Indians the considerable portion of the disputed territory until 1768, and did not effect a settle- ment (at Wyoming) until 1769. In response to the claim of prior purchase from the Indians, the proprietaries asserted that in 1736 they had obtained from them the right of pre-emption of all the lands not before sold to them within the limits of their charter. There were still further conflicting claims and counter-clainis, confused and almost innumerable, the more important of which will hereafter be alluded to.

It is worth while in passing to note the fact that confusion of boundaries and the world-old greed of land, which has actuated governments as well as men, led to a contest by four colonies instead of two, for possession of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Not only did Connecticut dis- pute it stubbornly, and long with the Pennsyl- vania government, but New York, in 1687, sought to have a portion of the territory an- nexed to its own, urging that " a line from forty- one degrees forty minutes on the Delaware (Cushiu- tunk or Damaseus) to the Falls upon the Sus- quehanna " should be the boundary line between the province of New York and " Mr. Penn's possessions," while even New Jersey, not satis- fied with her "boundary line war " with New York, laid claim-feeble and short-lived-to a fraction of Penn's dominions.

1 Argument of Mr. Pratt (afterwards Lord Camden), attorney-general to the erown, in reply to a query of the Pennsylvania proprietaries.

WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

The Connecticut-Susquehanna Company was formed in 1753, and consisted at first of eight hundred and forty persons, including a large proportion of the leading men of the colony. Afterwards the number of proprietors was augmented to twelve hundred. "Their ac- tion," says Miner, the historian of Wyoming, " may be regarded as an unofficial popular movement of the colony itself." Their pur- pose was to purchase the Indian title within the charter limits of the colony of Connectieut on the waters of the Susquehanna, and this they did at a council held with the Six Nations Indians in Albany, in July, 1754. The treaty was con- cluded and a deed executed on the 11th of the month. The consideration for and the boundaries of the purchased lands were given in the deed. After describing the grantors as " the chiefs, sachems and heads of the Six Nations and the native proprietors of the land," and setting forth that the same lies within the limits of the royal charter to Connecticut mentioning the application of the grantees being subjects of King George the Second, and inhabit- ants of Connecticut, and expressing the good understanding which had mutually subsisted between the parties, their wish for its continu- ance and the benefits which would result from a settlement, the deed contains these words : " Now, therefore, for and in consideration thereof, and for the further, full and ample eon- sideration of the sum of two thousand pounds of current money of the province of New York, to us, to our full satisfaction, before the enseal- ing hereof, contended and paid, the receipt whereof, to our full content, we do hereby acknowledge, thereupon. do give, grant, bar- gain, sell, convey and confirm to," etc. (here follow the names of the grantees), " which said given and granted tract of lands is butted, bounded and described as followeth, viz. : Be- ginning from the one and fortieth degree of north latitude at ten miles distance east of Sus- quehanna River and from thence with a north- erly line, ten miles east of the river, to the forty- second or beginning of the forty-third degree of north latitude, and to extend west two degrees

of longitude, one hundred and twenty miles, and from thence south to the beginning of the forty-second degree, and from thence east to the aforementioned bounds, which is ten miles east of the Susquehanna River, together with all and every the mines, etc., and all the hereditaments, etc., to have and to hold the above granted and bargained premises ctc., to them and their heirs and assigns, forever," etc. These boundaries (better understood by reference to the historical map) included the beautiful Wyoming Valley and a great extent of territory besides, stretch- ing westward to the head-waters of the Alle- gheny, but no part of the region which forms the subject of this work.

The Pennsylvanians asserted that there were great frauds perpetrated in this purchase; that undue influences were resorted to, the Indians made drunk by one Lydius, an inn-keeper of Albany, in the employ of the Connecticut men, etc., etc. 2

2 These objections, together with some others advaneed by the Pennsylvanians, were comprehensively set forth by the Rev. Richard Peters in a letter written to Henry Wil- mot from Philadelphia, dated " 18th May, 1774," of which the following is a condensation :

" I am desired by the Governor to give you an seeount of what I know with respect to an Indian Deed under which some private people ealling themselves the Susque- hanna Company, Inhabitants of the Colony of Connecticut, elaim all the lands in Pennsylvania between the 41st & 42nd Degree of Latitude.

" In the year 1741 the Proprietor Thomas Penn went from here to England and from that time to this I have been well acquainted with all Indian negotiations and had great share in their management either as Proprietary, Secre- tary, or Member of the Council or as Provincial Secretary, which enables me to declare with truth that before the year 1758 I never, that I can remember, heard of any elaim set up by the Government or any inhabitants of the Colony of Connecticut to any lands within this Provinee. In the year 1753 I received information of a claim set up by some Connecticut people within this Province by virtue of the Connectieut Charter, and that there was a party gone into the Indian eountry to make a purchase of lands between Susquehanna and Delaware, to begin at or near Wyomink. This alarmed Mr. Hamilton and others, and Conrad Weiser, the Indian interpreter, was ordered to give the Six Nations an account of this intelligence and to put them on their guard. Col. Johnson, His Majesty's Indian Agent in the New York government, was also made acquainted with this new projeet and the intelligence was also communi- cated to the Governor and Deputy-Governor of Con- neetieut, who both disavowed the scheme. In the year 1754 a Congress was held at Albany between the Six Nations

1 Miner's " History of Wyoming," p. 68.

SETTLEMENTS ON THE UPPER DELAWARE.

The Delaware Company, subsequent to the Susquehanna Company's purchase, bought with less formality the Indian title from certain chiefs of all the land bounded east by the Dela- ware River, within the forty-second degree of latitude, west to the line of the Susquehanna

and the King's agent, together with the governments of all the Northern Colonies. Mr. John Penn and myself were sent from Pennsylvania as Commissioners by the Governor to this Congress and Mr. Isaac Norris and Mr. Benjamin Franklin on the part of the Assembly. Mr. John. Penn was at this time instructed to make as extensive a purchase of lands as the Indians could be persuaded to part with and Belts were sent to the Onandago Council by the Governor to Signify his desire for another purchase.

" Accordingly a large Section of country was treated for, extending to the Western Boundary of the Province ; a Decd was executed by the Indians and likewise another Deed confirming to the Proprietaries a former Deed which bound the Indians not to sell to any persons any Lands compriscd within the bounds of His Majesty's Charter to the Proprie- taries. The Indians declared at this time their absolute re- fusal to make any grant to Connecticut parties of any lands and declared in their Public Treaty that they would sell none of the Wyoming Country either to them or to us.

" This will show that at that time there was no Indian Deed made to the Connecticut people by the Onondaga Council and if any Deed is set up it must have been ob- tained in a clandestine manner from private Indians, It was currently reported that one Lydius, of the city of Albany, had, in behalf of the Connecticut people, cndea- vored by bribes and liquor to get the Indians to execute a Deed lodged with him for this infamous purpose. Thic persons to whom this pretended deed was made were private persons and acting in violation of their own laws and the right of the Colony of Connecticut to these lands, which Mr. Penn had purchased of them and for which he had given full value. In the General Treaty held at Fort Stanwix by Sir William Johnson, His Majesty's Indian Agent, with all the Six Nations, in 1768, the Indians exe- cuted a Deed to the Proprietors of Pennsylvania for all the lands within the bounds of this province so far as they had then Settled the general boundary with His Majesty. This purchase contains most or all the lands claimed by the people of Connecticut, the consideration for the same being the Sum of Eight Thousand Pounds or a like Sum, and in that treaty the attempt of the Connecticut people was mentioned and condemned. This treaty being decmed the basis of all matters relating to lands between the Indians & His Majesty, it was transmitted to the King's ministers & now lies among the public papers in the Privy Council, where it may be consulted.

" As it is supposed that the Susquehanna Company lave assigned over their right under this Deed to the Govern- ment of Connecticut, I have been thus particular to furnish ample proofs for the invalidating of this pretended Indian Decd if it should ever be set up by the Connecticut Gov- ernment."-Colonial Records, Vol. X. pp. 178-179.

purchase, viz., ten miles east of that river. It was under the auspices of this company that the Skinner settlement, alluded to at the outset of this chapter, was made in 1757 at Cushutunk, in the present limits of Damascus township, Wayne County.

Both purchases were immediately made known to the Pennsylvania authorities, and, in fact, commissioners from the province were present at the Albany council. The Governor at once wrote Sir William Johnson requesting him, if possible, to induce the Indians to deny the regularity of the purchase, and he took various other means to defeat the Connee- ticut seheme.

The Susquehanna Company, having com- pleted its purchase, concluded to divide the land into shares, which were to be distributed, and called a general meeting, to be held at Hart- ford, for that purpose. They had very shrewdly endeavored to interest Pennsylvanians, especially those of the frontier settlements, in their enter- prise, and had succeeded in some measure.

In some localities such inducements were made that a majority, or, at least, a considerable number, of the inhabitants unreservedly favored the project and unhesitatingly decided to share in it. This was the case, as we shall presently show, in the old Minisink settlement of Smith- field, comprising nearly all of the then settled portion of what is now Monroe County, and, it may be added, that region had quite a close connection-friendly and unfriendly-with the affairs of the Connecticut-Pennsylvania settle- ments throughout the whole period of the Pennamite War. There were in the Smithfield settlement men of character on both sides of the controversy, among the most prominent of those steadily loyal to the Pennsylvania inter- ests being Daniel Brodhead. It was upon a warrant issued by him, as one of "His Majes- ty's Magistrates of the Peace" that the mes- senger of the Susquehanna Company was arrested when he came to Pennsylvania to invite resident members of the company to the Hartford meet- ing, and appeared in that part of Northampton County over which Justice Brodhead had juris- diction. He appears frequently in the archives of the State as a trusty guard of the pro-

WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

prietaries' claims. At the very outset of the controversy he is mentioned, as giving valuable information regarding the Connecticut intruders, by William Parsons, who wrote the following to Governor James Hamilton, under date of February 8, 1754: " Having heard that some persons, under pretence of an Authority from the Government of Connecticut, had passed by Daniel Broadhead, Esquire's, in their way to Wyomink, upon Sasquehanna River, in order to view the Lands in those Parts, giving out that those lands were included within the Boundaries of the Royal Charter to the Colony of .Connecticut, and that they intended, with a very considerable Number of Families, to go and settle there next Spring, and at the same time inviting the present Settlers within this Province, in their way, to accept of Titles under the Government for Part of those Lands, I went up to Mr. Broadhead's to speak to him and to be more fully informed of the matter. Mr. Broadhead told me that my information was but too true, and that some of his near neighbors had accompanied three Gentleman- like men to Wyomink, who produced a Writing, under a large Seal, which they said was the public Seal of the Government of Connecticut, empowering them to treat and agree with such persons as were disposed to take any of these Lands of them ; and, since waiting upon Mr. Broadhead, the same has been confirmed to me by several other Persons of Reputation in these Parts. As I am very apprehensive this affair may not only be very injurious to the Interest of the Honourable the Proprietors, but that it may also be the means of occasioning very great Disorders and Disturbances in the Back Parts of the Province, I thought I should be wanting in my duty if I did not give your Honour this Information."1

That the New England agents interested some of the settlers along the Delaware in their land schemes, and that the danger threatened was appreciated, is shown clearly by a letter from Daniel Brodhead to the Council, dated February 21st, less than a fortnight after Mr. Parsons' communication. He says : " There

has been and is great Disquietude amongst the people of these parts, occasioned by some New England Gentlemen, to such a Degree that they are all or the Majority of them going to quit and sell their Lands for Trifles; and to my certain Knowledge many of them have advanced Money on said Occasion, in order that they might secure Rights from the New England Proprietaries, which Right I suppose is intend- cd to be on Sasquehanna, at a Place called Wyomink.

" At the time those Gentlemen were here, I was at a Loss how to act, least I should do the thing not just ; therefore desire your Honour will be pleased to favour me with your advice, and depend I shall justly obey your Orders in case they come again.

"As I am conscious of acting with the utmost Honesty, both to the Honorable the Proprietaries in every respect and to every one in general, I am resolved so to continue.""2

Further light is thrown upon the disaffection of the Pennsylvanians at Smithfield by a letter from Daniel Broadhead to Richard Peters, dated "Lower Smithfield, November 13, 1754," and he evinces in it a shrewd foresight of the things that were to follow. He says,-

" I thought it an incumbent Duty on me to inform you to what a Crisis the New Eng- landers have raised most of the people of our Neighbourhood to in Relation of their settling the Lands of Wyomink. As soon as I re- ceived the orders from our late Honourable Governor and Mr. Allen I communicated them to my Brother Justices and likewise desired their Assistance in order to suppress some Persons whom I looked upon to be busy in Seducing our people to join the New Eng- landers, but found those Parties concerned that by their Slackness the New Englanders have insinuated themselves into our People to a great Height, as an Instance of which I'll beg Leave to mention one particular : There were some Letters came from New England last Week intimating that Wyomink was purchased, and that Thirteen of the Sachems had already signed the Deed, at the same time desiring all the

1 Col. Rec., Vol. V., p. 736.

2 Col. Rec., Vol. V. p. 757.

SETTLEMENTS ON THE UPPER DELAWARE.

Persons who were concerned to meet at Hart- ford in Connecticut on the twentieth of this Instant, in order to have their Rights delivered to them. This occasioned a meeting in our Parts to the number of thirty who had already become Adventurers and lodged their money in the Hands of one Robert Parkes, in order to be conveyed to New England. Upon hearing of which I immediately issued out a Warrant and had him brought before me just as he was setting ont on his Journey ; after some examination left him in Care of the Constable to get Security for his Personal Appearance at our next Court, according to the directions I received from Mr. Allen ; but instead of bringing me Security the Constable, who is a Party concerned, let him go, and Mr. Atkins who is one of our Magistrates, at the same time wished I would send him to Goal with said Parkes, and accordingly set off with him for New England as agents for our People. This appears to be a sort of Anarchy which, if not soon stopped, will, I am afraid, prove very detrimental to the Proprietors and to the Peace of this Province."1

The contents of this letter being duly com- municated to Governor Robert H. Morris, he wrote Mr. Brodhead, expressing sorrow that "some of the People in his county were weak enough to be led away by the Idle tales of some designing Men from New England ;" commend- ing him for his action and urging him to act with increased vigor in the future.

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 11

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co. Number of Pages: 1438

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 1438