History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 5

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 5
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 5
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 5

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dian interpreter. Having visited Nazareth, they set out on the morning of the 26th ; making a detour a few miles to the northeast, they crossed the Big Bushkill, then called Tatemy's Creek, and came to the 'reserve' of Moses Tatemy, who was farming in a small way on a grant of two hundred acres of land given him by the proprietaries' agents in consideration of services he had rendered as interpreter and messenger to the Indians. He received them well, was communicative, and in conversation gave an account of the mode of sacrifice prac- ticed by his heathen brethren, which afforded Zander an opportunity of speaking to him of the great sacrifice of the Lamb of God, made for the remission of sins.

"Following the Indian path that led past Tatemy's house north into the Minisink, they came to Clistowackin, five miles above on Mar- tin's Creek (one of Brainerd's missionary sta- tions). In the lodge of an Indian medicine man lay his grand-child sick unto death. The Count prayed in behalf of the sufferer, com- mending him to the keeping of his Redeemer. Zander also spoke, and his words were inter- preted to the villagers who had assembled about the lodge. Toward evening they reached a second village inhabited chiefly by Delawares. Having been overtaken by a shower, they gladly accepted the Captain's invitation to enter his hut, dry their clothes and pass the night with him.

"On the morning of the 27th they crossed the Blue Mountain at Tatemy's Gap. They were now in the Indian country, and what was justly the Indians' country, although white set- tlers were trespassing within its precincts. Keeping on to the northwest some ten (say twelve) miles, they struck the western terminus of the valley of the Pocopoco (Poch-co-poch- co), near what is now Brodheadsville. They turned down the stream, and came to a village on its banks. This had been the home of a well-known Delaware chief, old Captain Har- ris, father of Teedyuskung, King of the Dela- wares during their alienation from the English ; and here Nicholas Scull and Benjamin East- burn, surveyors, passed the night on the com- pletion of the one and a half day's walk in

1 Derived by Mr. Brodhead from Count Zinzendorf's journal and notes from the "Memorials of the Moravian Church," edited by William C, Reichel.

SETTLEMENT OF LOWER MINISINK BY THE DUTCH.

September, 1737, which passed into history as i the ' Walking Purchase.'

"The Brethren pitched their tent near the lodge of another medicine-man, and herc they passed the night, and this was the extreme northern point of their journey. On the morn- ing of the 28th they crossed Chestnut Hill mountain, and came down the narrow valley of the Aquanshicola to a Delaware town, called Miniolagomeka, signifying 'a tract . of fertile land surrounded by barrens.' This town con- sisted of eleven huts and fifty-four inhabitants.

" The village of Miniolagomeka1 lay in Smith's valley, eight miles west of the Wind Gap, on the north bank of the Aquanshicola, at the intersection of the old Wilkes Barre road, which crossed the mountain at Smith's Gap, in Eldred township, Monroe County. The village was visited many times between 1743 and 1754 by different missionaries from Bethlehem."" The second journey of Count Zinzendorf across this mountain path was in August, 1742, on his way to Shecomeco. “On the 11th of August, 1742, Count Zinzendorf, his daughter and Anton Seyfert left Nazareth for Shecomeco, by what might be called the overland route, leading almost due northeast one hundred and twenty-five miles to King- ston, on the Hudson.

" At that time there was no connection by road between Lower Smithfield, in Monroe County, and the comparatively populous part of the Province south of the Lehigh. The great highway from Philadelphia to the Forks terminated near Iron Hill, in Saucon township. All above this was new country. The Blue mountain was passable only with difficulty at three depressions or gaps in that part of its barrier-like extent which Zinzendorf and his companions would cross in their course to the Delaware : at the Wind Gap, at Fox Gap and

at Tatemy's Gap, respectively twelve, five and two-and-a-half miles west of the Delaware Water Gap (which was then considered impas- sible). An old Indian trail, leading into the Minisink, passed over the mountain through Tatemy's Gap. Crossing the Wind Gap (even as late as 1750) was a difficult undertaking, although the presence of an Inn near there at that time would indicate the fact of its having become a thoroughfare.

"In August of the year just named, the Rev. Henry M. Muhlenberg, accompanied by his father-in-law, Conrad Weister, rode to Esopus, and in his journal writes as follows : 'August 3rd we rode on five miles above Nazareth, and put up for the night at a tavern.3 August 9th, early in the morning, we were in our saddles, climbed the first Blue mountain, and were com- pelled, in its ascent, to lead our horses several miles over rocks and stones.' It is not impro- bable, then, that the Count and his fellow- travelers followed the Indian path that led through Tatemy's Gap. The ride of thirty miles to Depui's Ford was unquestionably the most fatiguing part of the journey, for after crossing the river into the Jersey Minisinks, they struck into the Esopus or 'old mine road.' " Count Zinzendorf's journal continues,- ' We crossed the Blue mountain en route for Esopus (August 11th). The road tried our horses severely ; we were, however, in a tran- quil frame of mind. In the evening we reached the bank of the Delaware, and came to Mr. Depui's,4 who is a large land-holder and wealthy. While at his house, he had some Indians ar- rested for robbing his orchard. August 12th (Sunday) his son5 escorted us to church. We dismounted at the church, and were compelled to listen to two sermons, which wearied us. In the morning the heat was overpowering. In ·order to avoid being drawn into a religious controversy, I went into the woods and read Josephus. . .. The Dominie is the well-known Casper (Johannes Casparus Freyenmoet), from

1 The name signifies a tract of ferti'e land surrounded by burrens.

2 The village had, in 1753, a population of about fifty- four Indians, who lived in ten huts, elustered about a house built by the Moravians as a residence and a place for holding meetings. The Indians removed to Gnaden- hütten, on the Lehigh, in 1754, Secretary Richard Peters having urged his elaim to the lands on the Aquanshicola.

· 3 Seven miles north of Nazareth, rather than five.

4 This was Nicholas Depui.

5 Samuel Depui, who was then about twenty-four years of age.

WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

Zurich, a well-meaning man I must confess. . . . August 14th, set out early in the morning ; rode through the remainder of the wilderness, and reached Momback and Marbletown .. . Rode on through Hurley to Esopus. Here we met Anna and Christian Frohlich and his wife. ... In the afternoon we resumed our journey, crossed the north river and halted for the night. . . . August 15th, at noon, we reached Rhine- beck. Having rested, we set out for Sheco- meco, and after riding through an almost impenetrable swamp, came to our journey's end at six o'clock in the morning of the 16th. . .. After spending eight days at this place preach- ing, teaching and exhorting among the Indians, the party set out on their return voyage on the 24th, and on the 27th reached the Minisink. ' Came to the Delaware on the 28th, across which we swam our horses. Anna, as usual, took the lead. August 29th, Jeannet was seriously indisposed and scarcely able to bear up. We, however, pushed our way through the wilderness, crossed the mountain, and after nightfall reached Nazareth,'

On a third journey of the same year Count Zinzendorf with some companions visited Wyo- ming. His journal says: "We came to the boundary of Shamokin, a precipitous hill, such as I scarce ever saw. Anna, who is most cour- ageous of our number, and a heroine, led in the descent (ascent ?). I took the train of her riding habit in my hand to steady me in the saddle, Conrad held to the skirt of my overcoat and Bohler to Conrad's. In this way we mn- tually supported each other, and the Saviour assisted us in descending the hill in safety."

On their return from another journey to the Susquehanna they came by way of the Great Swamp1 and Dansbury.2

Easton, which, as the seat of justice of the immense county of Northampton, once extend- ing to the northern boundary of Pennsylvania, our especial field, and including all of the ter- ritory which is here together with much more, was laid out at what was then called the Forks of the Delaware,2 in May, 1750, by Nicholas Scull, surveyor-general, and William Parsons, Penn's agent. It was established and named in pursuance to an order of Thomas Penn, written to Dr. Graeme and Secretary Peters. "I desire," writes the Proprietor, " that the new town be called Easton, from my Lord Pomfret's house, and whenever there is a new county, that shall be called Northampton." It was only two years later that it became the seat of justice of the newly erected Northampton, and, in the winter of 1752-53, it contained eleven families. From this time on its growth though not rapid, was quite uniform and health- ful. Many men of character and ability whom circumstances made prominent in the affairs of eastern Pennsylvania, and whose names are frequently mentioned in these pages, came there to live, and the town assumed from va- rious causes considerable importance, during the Indian War, the period of Pennamite and Yankee disturbance, and through the years of the Revolution in the last, vying with Bethle- hem as a Mecca for the distinguished men in civil and military authority.

These settlements within the present limits of Northampton had but little effect for many years upon the occupation of the country north of the mountains. Up to the time of the Revolution nearly all the inhabitants in the region that is now included in Monroe and Pike Counties-the Pennsylvania Minisink-were those who came with the tide of immigration from the Hudson by the Mamakating, Neversink and Delaware Valleys. About 1780, however, a tide of im- migration set in from the southward and south- west which mingled a new element of pop- ulation with the Dutch of the Minisink. This brought mainly the descendants from the early settlers from Philadelphia, Bucks and North- ampton Counties, who, finding the most de-

1 The Great Swamp was also known afterwards as the Shades of Death, on account of the suffering endurcd by the people of Wyoming after the massacre in their at- tempts to reach the settlements on the Delaware.

2 Dansbury was the home of Daniel Brodhead, who be- came acquainted with the Brethren at Bethlehem, soon af- ter their settlement there, on his way to visit his relative, Isaac Ysselstein. At his house the missionaries often lodged as they traveled to or returned from their mission sta- tions north of the mountains. It was about this this time that he built for their use the log church heretofore mentioned.

2The confluence of the Lehigh and Delaware.

RELEASE OF TITLE.

sirable lands south of the mountains already occupied, pushed north across the great barrier and located upon the best lands which were there opened to settlement. These people made farms and homes in Cherry Valley, on Brod- heads Creek, and in the valley of the Pocono. Their immigration continued until about the year 1800. Then between the opening of the century and 1820, came a second wave, “ flow- ing," as Mr. Brodhead says,1 " from the same direction " which brought to Stroudsburg and vicinity a considerable class of our most res- pectable citizens, mostly from Bucks County. In the same tide came the Germans from what is known as the 'Drylands' of Northampton County. They swept by the valley settlers and located on the higher lands overlooking the river. The whole range of what is known as the Shawnee Hills, extending from Brodhead's Creek to the Delaware, below the mouth of the Bushkill, is almost entirely owned and oc- cupied by this class of people."

CHAPTER III.

Release of Title by the Indians-The " Walking Purchase" of 1737-Later Treaties.

The first release of Indian title effected in the Province of Pennsylvania was brought about in 1782 before Penn's arrival, by his Deputy Governor, William Markham. It embraced all of the territory between the Neshaminy and the Delaware, as far up as Wrightstown and Upper Wakefield-about the centre of the present county of Bucks. In 1683 and 1684, Penn himself made other purchases. It has been claimed that in 1686 the Indians granted to Penn, a tract of country commencing on the line of the former purchases, and extending as far northwesterly as a man could ride on horse- back in two days. No copy of the treaty or deed was preserved, if any was made, and the extent of the averred purchase remained unde- cided. On the 17th of September, 1718, the Lenape or Delaware Indians made another treaty

by which they confirmed the sales they had pre- viously made and extended them from the Del- aware to the Susquehanna. This last-named sale was again confirmed at a treaty council held and concluded on the 11th of October, 1736, at which time twenty-three chiefs of the Six Nations, who presumptuously claimed pos- session of the whole region, sold to John, Thomas and Richard Penn, all the lands on both sides of the Susquehanna,-eastward, to the heads of the branches, or springs, flowing into the river ; northward, to the Kittochtinny Hills; and westward, to the setting sun,-this vague and extravagant description meaning nothing more than that the western boundary was undecided on and indefinite. The actual boundaries of the purchase were the Susquehan- na on the west, the Conewago Hills and South Mountain and the Lehigh River between the sites of Bethlehem and Easton, on the north, and the territory included was that which now forms the whole of Philadelphia, Bucks, Ches- ter, Delaware, Montgomery and Lancaster and parts of Berks, Lehigh and Northampton.

Still another treaty was made also in 1736, by which the Iroquois or Six Nations released their assumed claim to a belt of country lying north of the former purchase and south of the Blue Mountains, and extending south westerly from the Delaware to and beyond the Susque- hanna-in fact, to the present western line of Franklin County-thus including the northern parts of the present Northampton, Lehigh, Berks and the whole of several counties further west.

Settlers had begun to throng into the lower part of the country which it was supposed had been purchased, and they soon pushed above "the Forks of the Delaware," (the confluence of the Lehigh with that river) -and even as we have shown, in the preceding chapter, above the Blue Mountains, along the Delaware (in what is now Smithfield township, Monroe County).

The Delawares, who had been allowed to take only a trivial part in these later transactions, grew restive under what they considered an nin- warranted encroachment upon their domain and ignoring the more northerly purchase of 1736, they had several meetings with the proprieta-

1 Luke W. Brodhead in "The Delaware Water Gap," p. 234.

WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

ries to form a plan for confirming and carrying out the alleged treaty of 1686, which they averred had been made with their own people, and thus definitely fixing the limits of the terri- tory they had ceded. The first meeting was lield at Durham, below Easton, in 1734; an- other was at Pennsbury, in May, 1735, and the negotiations were concluded at Philadelphia, August 25, 1737. The last meeting resulted in an agreement that the treaty of 1686 should be consummated, and the extent of the purchase was decided in a novel manner. The proprie- taries were to receive such portion of the Indian territory as should be included within a line drawn northwesterly from a point in or near Wrightstown as far as a man could walk in a day and a half, and a line drawn from his stop- ping-place straight to the Delaware, which was of course the eastern boundary.

Thus was brought about the celebrated " Walking Purchase." No event in the history of the region gave so much dissatisfaction to the Indians as the making of this alleged un- just bargain, and it was directly or indirectly productive of dire effects which we shall chron- icle in the next chapter.

While the treaty was in negotiation the pro- prietaries caused a preliminary or trial walk to be made to ascertain what amount of ground could be secured. It appears that this was un- dertaken as early as April, 1735, and that the trees along the route were blazed, so that the persons to be engaged in the walk deciding the ownership of land might have the advantage of a marked pathway. As soon as the treaty of August 25, 1737, had been consummated, James Steel, receiver-general under Thomas Penn, took measures to secure for the performance of the purchase-walk the man who had " held out the best " in the preliminary walk. It was pro- posed that he should walk with two others, who were actively to engage in competition, and that Timothy Smith, sheriff of Bucks County, and John Chapman, surveyor, should accompany the trio, provide provisions, etc. The time fixed for the walk under the treaty was Sep- tember 12, 1737, but it was postponed until the 19th. The preliminaries were all arranged in advance, and Edward Marshall, James Yeates,

and Solomon Jennings, all noted for their pow- ers of endurance, and one of them undoubtedly the champion of the trial walk, were employed. by the proprietaries to make the decisive effort. It was arranged that the Indians should send some of their young men along to see that the walk was fairly made. The walkers were prom- ised five pounds in money and five hundred acres of land. The place of starting was fixed at a well-known point, a large chestnut-tree near the junction of the Pennsville and Durham roads, at the Wrightstown meeting-house, in Bucks County, very close to the northern boundary of the Markham purchase. Marshall, Yeates, and Jennings stood with their hands upon the tree, and as the sun rose above the ho- rizon the signal was given by Sheriff Smitlı, and they started. Their route was as straight as the inequalities of the ground and the numer- ous obstructions would ·permit, and led for a number of miles along the Durham road (which was then a road in little more than name). It is said that Yeates led the way with a light step, and next came Jennings, with two of the In- dian walkers, while Marshall was last, a con- siderable distance behind the others. He swung a hatchet in his hand, and walked with an easy and careless lope. The walkers reached Red Hill, in Bedminster, in two and a half hours, took dinner with the Indian trader Wil- son, on Durham Creek, near where the old fur- nace stood, crossed the Lehigh a mile below Bethlehem, at what is now Jones Island, and passing the Blue Ridge at Smith's Gap (in what is now Moore township, Northampton County), slept at night on the northern slope. The walk was resumed at sunrise, and termi- nated at noon, when Marshall, who alone held out, threw himself at length upon the ground and grasped a sapling, which was marked as the end of the line. Jennings first gave out, about two miles north of the Toliickon, and then lagged behind with the followers until the party reached the Lehigh River. He then left for his home, in what is now Salisbury town- ship1, Lehigh County.

1 Solomon Jennings had settled some years previous to the " Walking Purchase " on what is now the Geisinger farm, two miles above Bethlehem, and living on the ex-

DELAWARE INDIAN FAMILY.

DELAWARE INDIAN.

INDIAN COSTUMES.

THE " WALKING PURCHASE."

Yeates fell at the foot of the mountain, on the morning of the second day, was quite blind when taken up, and died three days later. Marshall, the champion of the walk, was not in the least injured by his exertion, and lived to the age of seventy-nine, dying in Tini- eum, Bueks County.1

The walk is said to have followed an Indian path which led from the hunting grounds of the Minsis down to Bristol, on the Delaware. The Indians showed their dissatisfaction at the manner in which the so-called "walk " was made, and left the party before it was concluded. It is said that they frequently called upon the walkers not to run. The distance walked, ae- cording to the generally-accepted measurement, was sixty-one and one-fourth miles. Nicholas Seull says it was only fifty-five statute miles, while others estimate the distance as high as eighty-six miles.

When the walk had reached the extreme point in a northwesterly direction from the starting-place, it still remained to run the line to the Delaware, and here arose another ground for disagreement. The Indians had expected that a straight line would be drawn to the river at the nearest point, but instead it was run at right angles and reached the river at or near the Laekawaxen, taking in about twice as much territory as would have been ineluded by the other arrangement. The lines embraced

treme frontier, had become famous as a hunter and a woods- man, a fact which led to his being selected as one of the walkers. He is said to have been extremely fond of whis- key, and it has been averred that it was because of that weakness that he failed in the walk. This, however, may be an injustice to him. It is certain that he never recov- ered from the effects of his over-exertion, though he lived for twenty years. His son, John Jennings, was elected sheriff of Northampton County in 1762, and again in 1768. It is traditionally asserted that Solomon Jennings received what is now known as the Geisinger farm as a reward for his taking part in the walk, but there is no foundation for that theory of his ownership, and it is well known that he resided upon the property for a number of years prior to 1737. The farm was sold to Jacob Geisinger at publie sale in 1764.

1 The date of his death was November 7, 1789. He was a native of Bustleton, Philadelphia County, where he was born in 1710. He was twice married, and the father of twenty-one children. He lived for a time on the island in the Delaware opposite Tinieum which bears his name.

nearly all of the lands within the forks of the Delaware (that is, between the Delaware and the Lower Lehigh), in faet all of the valua- ble land south of the Blue Ridge, in North- ampton County, already ceded by the treaty, all of the celebrated Minisink flats, north of the Mountains, to the mouth of the Lackawaxen. The larger part of the present Monroe County and more than half of Pike. Had the line been drawn to the Delaware at the nearest point (which would have been almost due east), in- stead of at right angles, it would have included only about half as much territory as was se- eured by the line actually drawn. The quanti- ty of land embraced in the purchase was about five hundred thousand aeres. James Steel, writing to Letitia Aubrey in 1737, said that it required about four days to walk from the up- per end of the day and a half's journey, and that " after they crossed the great ridge of moun- tains they saw very little good or even tolerable land fit for settlement."

This walk gave great dissatisfaction to the Indians, and was the principal cause of the council held at Easton in 1756, where it was elaborately discussed. The Indians complained that the walkers walked too fast, that they should have stopped to shoot game and to smoke ; in short, should have walked as the Indians usually did when engaged in the hunt. They also found fault with the manner in which the line was run from the stopping-place to the river, claiming that it should have been drawn to the nearest point. The proprietaries were accused of trickery and dishonesty, and the " walking purchase " drew upon them and their associates the bitter hatred of the Delawares. It was the smoldering fire of the feeling thus en- gendered which by the influence of men and events was fanned into an intense heat eighteen years later, and created great havoe in the re- gion now comprised in Northampton, Monroe and Pike Counties. If the line had been drawn to the nearest point on the Delaware, it would have recrossed the Blue Mountains, and reached the river considerably below the Water Gap, and thus would have included no part of the Minisink, and only a small triangle of territory in the south- western part of the present county of Monroe.

WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

Concerning this "walking purchase" and some preliminary and subsequent matters of collateral interest, L. W. Brodhead, the well known student of Minisink history, contributes a mass of information drawn largely from Charles Thompson's " An Enquiry into the causes of the Alienation of the Delaware and Shawanese Indians from the British Inter- est; "1 and also copies of interesting and valuable Indian letters upon the " Walk," (the originals of which are among the Logan papers in the possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania), and letters from individuals in Smithfield.

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 5

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