USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 5
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This, as we have observed before, was one of the great incentives which
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
promy ed the Indians to unite with the French in opposing Braddock, and which spurred them on to the violence and bloodshed which followed in the next three years after his defeat. The white race thus paid dearly for the actions of their incompetent if not dishonest representatives in the Albany treaty.
For this, as a further reason, the Proprietaries opposed the settlement of our territory. They had no right to grant lands in this section except by virtue of the Albany purchase, which they admitted and published was fraudulently obtained, and to grant them would have been at least in violation of the implied prior rights of the Indians. There were several of these treaties by which this section was practically secured to the Indians, the principal ones being those of 1736, 1749 and 1758.
But far above and paramount to the rights of the Proprietaries, were the reserved privileges of the King of England. At will he had the right to send his armies anywhere in America, to make conquests, open roads, establish military posts, and even to support here a standing army, if his policy demanded it. When the French and Indian war was terminated in favor of England, the Crown secured the Canadas as well as the boundless west. The military posts built by the French fell into possession of the English. These had to be kept up, and for the purpose of supplies alone, if for no other reason, a communication had to be kept up between them and with the eastern settlements as a base of supplies for the garrisons. Most of the forts, whether built by the French or English, were garrisoned all the time, and all of them part of the time. Generally the commandant was an English officer, though sometimes he was an American. These fort commanders were delegated the power, under certain restrictions, to grant permits to any one to settle on, occupy and improve lands near the forts or on military roads leading from one fort to another. This seemed necessary, too, for the sustenance of the garrison. These settlers, particu- larly after the first year, raised farm products in abundance to supply themselves, and were glad to sell a sufficient amount to supply the garri- son. In this way alone, perhaps, the garrison could be supported. It was a scheme of the great war minister, William Pitt, and was worthy of him, the most acute intellect of his day. The commandants did not grant absolute titles, but titles which might be perfected afterwards by comply- ing with such regulations as the Proprietaries might require. The Eng- lish government never even recognized the Indians' claim to the land, and, of course, never questioned Penn's or his successors' titles.
In the meantime hundreds of settlers had located in our section, many with military titles, and many without any right and in direct disobed- ience to the mandates of the Proprietaries, who did not allow private indi- viduals to settle here at all. They squatted on land which they thought desirable and hoped eventually to become its owners. It was wisdom on
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
the part of the Proprietaries to keep out these settlers, for their presence was a constant menace to the Indians, who did not and could not know but that they were there by grant of the Penns, and, therefore, in violation of their treaties. Several acts were passed to prohibit settlers from locating on these proscribed lands, and on February 13, 1768, an act was passed which provided that any one having settled here without permission, and who should neglect to remove after a legal notice was served on him to do so, should, after being convicted of such neglect, "be punished with death without the benefit of the clergy." There was a severe penalty, im- prisonment and fine, imposed on those who even hunted turkeys or deer or other wild animals in the prohibited district. Of course, these drastic measures did not apply to those who had long before settled here, nor to those who settled by military permits. Most of those adventurous spirits who were determined to come here, evaded the law in a measure by secur- ing military permits, and these were granted right readily by the accom- modating commandants. The following is a copy of a military permit, which needs no explanation :
"By Arthur St. Clair, Late Lieut. in his Majesty's Sixtieth Regt. of foot. having oare of His Majesty's Fort at Ligonier.
"I have given permission to Frederick Rohrer to cultivate a certain piece of Land in the neighborhood of Fort Ligonier, over a certain creek, which empties into the Loyal- hanna known by the name of Coal Pit Creek: Beginning at a White Oak standing on a spring and marked with three letters F X R and running from thence to another tree marked with the same letters and standing on another spring called Falling Spring, and from these two marked trees to the said Coal Pit Creek supposed to contain two hun- dred acres: He the said Frederick Rohrer being willing to submit to all orders of the Commander in Chief, the Commanding officer of the District and of the Garrison. Given under my hand at Ligonier this 11th day of April, 1767. AR. ST. CLAIR."
The Proprietaries, fearing an outbreak of the Indians, did everything they could to keep all other settlers off the prohibited district. Yet, in spite of all opposition, this section of Pennsylvania was rapidly filling up. Had there been nothing to prevent its settlement save the Indians, it would have been filled up almost at once with an aggressive pioneer element who would have made short work of the aboriginal race. Settlers came west by the Braddock road and by the Forbes road, the only highways open, and, both these ways traversing our county, a great many settled here. The Indians were always at war among themselves, and no doubt often killed each other. But when a dead Indian was found, the murder was always attributed to the white settlers. Nevertheless, George Crogan, a brave, loyal and most capable white settler and Indian diplomat at Redstone,
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
reported many Indians killed by white settlers, and insisted on the Pro- prietaries devising some means to stop it effectually. These early settlers, it may be inferred, were a stubborn race and accustomed to roughness. Crogan's representations were never disbelieved nor questioned. He was undoubtedly correct in his report.
In April and May of 1768 a preliminary treaty was held at Fort Pitt. Crogan was the leading spirit among the white people, and there were about 1700 Indians present. Many presents were given to the Indians, but no agreement or settlement of difficulties was arrived at. It was rather
SIR WILLIAM JOHNSTON.
a friendly meeting, and the Indian spirit was somewhat allayed, but the settlers would not remove, and more were constantly arriving. The authorities, therefore, knew that a general Indian war might be expected almost any time.
One of the most prominent men then living in America was General Sir William Johnston. He lived near the present city of Johnstown, in New York, and was, all things being considered, the ablest diplomat in Indian affairs in this country. He had managed many treaties, and was thorough- ly honest and thoroughly trusted by both races. He had at the age of
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
nineteen come to America in 1734 because of a disappointment in love in Ireland, it is said, and settled in the Mohawk Valley in New York, where he managed and gradually acquired large tracts of land and traded ex- tensively with the Indians. He became very wealthy, and built a stately mansion, which is yet standing near Johnstown. He was married to a Dutch woman, and upon her death married a handsome Indian girl. He was equally a leader, whether among the well bred citizens of his native land, or among the savages of America, among each class adapting him- self readily to their habits of life. He had been a major-general in the French and Indian War, and was afterward knighted by George I. The novel, "Cardigan," by Chambers, will be instructive to the reader if he is further interested in Indian life, or in Sir William and his marvellous power among them. He had great influence either to end or prevent In- dian outbreaks.
So now, when the Indians of New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Ohio were rapidly putting on their war paint, and when the trembling wife and mother scarcely knew when she parted with her husband and child in the morning whether she would ever see them again or not, all sections turned to Sir William as the arbitrator of the difficulties between the white and the Indian race. He suggested and called a convention at Fort Stan- wix, in New York, in the fall of 1768. By his great power over all represen- tatives most of the Indian grievances were redressed, tomahawks were buried, arrows were broken, and peace and harmony was secured. The final treaty was reached November 5th, 1768, and by its terms all territory from a point where the Susquehanna crosses the New York line, down to the south-west corner of Pennsylvania, including the Allegheny, Cone- maugh, Monongahela and Youghiogheny river valleys, was conveyed to the Proprietaries. This was and is yet called "The New Purchase," and embraces the present territory of Westmoreland county. It was to us therefore the most important of all purchases, and was the last made by the Penns from the Indians. The consideration paid to the Indians is said to have been $10,000 in presents and money and unlimited rum.
This, of course, opened up the territory so that the Proprietaries could grant lands in this section if they saw fit. There was accordingly a great clamor for land in western Pennsylvania. The east, they said, was over- populated, and their ambitious young men who wanted more land could not be provided for. Perhaps the very fact of settlement in this section having been so long prohibited, made the young pioneer all the more anxious to locate here. We were not then very far removed from England, with its large landed estates. The use of coal had not been discovered, and every land owner thought he should have enough timber to furnish fuel for him and his descendants forever. While they were necessarily wasteful of timber in clearing land they nevertheless reserved an abund-
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
ance. Our people were almost purely an agricultural people, and nothing so pleased them as broad acres of land. Besides, there were many com- ing here from Europe, who had been held down by the landlord's heel of oppression, and whose great cry and burning desire was large tracts of land.
It had always been the custom of Penn and of his successors to re- serve sections of land for themselves. The proportion was generally about one acre of ,reserved land in ten acres sold. This custom was begun in 1700 and kept up constantly for three-fourths of a century. There were two such reservations in our county. The first was called the "Manor of Denmark," and was situated on the Forbes road, where the battle of Bushy Run was fought, and contained four thousand eight hundred and sixty-one acres. Manor station of the Pennsylvania railroad marks its location. The second was known as "Penn's Lodge," containing five thon- sand five hundred and sixty-eight acres, and is now within the limits of Sewickley township. The latter is rich in agricultural wealth, and the former was underlaid with bituminous coal. But the Penns did not sell all of this reserved land. They were Philadelphians, and, when the Revo- lution came. many of that city's best people were Tories, and among them were the Penns. They took sides with England and against the colonies. In these reservations they had retained absolute rights of government. They could make laws, establish courts, appoint judges, and grant or withhold any special privilege they saw fit. Our state government by its representatives which followed the Declaration of Independence, rightly reasoned that a power siding with a foreign nation at war with us should not hold such dominion over any considerable part of a free commonwealth. Therefore, on June 28, 1779, they passed the "Divesting Act," which took from the Penns most of their territory, leaving them only their private reservations, and vested it in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Penns were, of course, properly recompensed for it. It will therefore appear that the titles to lands in these two sections may be traced to the Penns, even though granted after the date of the "Divesting Act." All other titles granted after that date, June 28, 1779. were granted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, though all titles between April 3, 1769, and the state's independence were granted by the Penns.
The land office was opened for warrants from the new purchase in 1769. The date was April 3d. The method of parting with land adopted by the Proprietaries has been practically unchanged even to this day. The party desiring land from the Provincial government first made an application for it. Upon this application a warrant was issued. A warrant was not a title in itself, but an order from the Land Office to have the tract applied for located and surveyed, and was directed to the surveyor-general, who in per- son or by deputy surveyed it and returned the survey to the Land Office. Then, if there was no irregularity or no prior claimant, the land was conveyed by
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
the state to the applicant by a patent under the seal of the Commonwealth and the signature of the governor. From the foregoing it will be learned that no warrant for land in Westmoreland county antedated 1768, the year of the Fort Stanwix Treaty and the New Purchase, though we have many set- tlements which are older than these titles.
Those who had settled and improved their lands were now allowed to per- fect their titles by securing warrants and patents. A preference of location was shown to those who had served in the army, and likewise to those who had settled by military permits. But warrants were not issued till 1772 to those who had made improvements or had land surveyed without some right to do so. After that, as far as it was possible to do so without imposing on the rights of others, the Land Office authorities, when it came to grant titles, recognized the claims of the enthusiastic pioneer who had settled here in de- fiance of law and authority. But the titles to some lands within the present limits of our county settled in this way were involved in almost endless liti- gation. In some instances these tracts were sold often more than once, before a title from the Proprietaries or the Commonwealth was possible. From this and other complications arose land litigation which for almost a century per- plexed the minds of the ablest lawyers and judges we have yet produced. They were known as land lawyers, a title which is almost unknown to our generation.
CHAPTER III
Formation of County .- First Courts .- Elections.
The reader may wonder why, when the settlers lived so remote from their county seat, they were so slow about securing the erection of a new county. This will appear all the more remarkable when he glances at the length of time intervening between the formation of new counties coming westward. Phil- adelphia, Bucks and Chester counties were formed by William Penn when the Province was formed in 1682. They have always been known as the Quaker counties. Next, coming westward, was Lancaster county, erected in 1729. Twenty years afterward came York county, in 1749, and Cumberland in 1750. Bedford was erected out of the western part of Cumberland twenty-two years later, in 1772.
The explanation is a very simple one. A new county had to be erected by an Act of Assembly, and the old counties had a preponderating influence in that body. Each county wanted to retain its political power, and, but for the desire on the part of the Proprietaries to sell lands in the newly formed coun- ties, we doubt whether they would have followed each other in their formation as rapidly as they did.
The project of forming a new county out of western Cumberland county had been agitated for several years by Arthur St. Clair and others. It resulted in the formation of Bedford county, with Bedford town as a county seat. But still the agitation was kept up. They now asked for a county in the New Pur- chase, the seat of which would be west of the Allegheny mountains. Bedford as a county seat really suited them but little better in this respect than Cum- berland, for the Allegheny mountains still intervened between them and their county seat.
Arthur St. Clair, Thomas Gist and Dorsey Pentecoast had been appointed justices for Bedford county for that section lying west of Laurel Hill. There was some further show of a Bedford county dominion over this western section of the state, for roads were laid out west of Laurel Hill, and the territory comprising the present Westmoreland county was divided into townships, and Bedford county taxes were assessed.
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
But they were still too far from the seat of justice to go there on busi- ness, or send their criminals there for trial. Bedford was seventy miles from Greensburg, and the means of travel were not so good then as now. Com- binations were formed by desperate classes to resist the power of these remote justices. One or two deputy sheriffs who came here from Bedford to arrest these evil doers were severely beaten and sent home. Indictments were pre- ferred against them, but the authority was too feeble. The committing mag- istrates were too far from the courts to make their power even felt.
The community around Pittsburg and Ligonier had become pretty well settled, and there were settlements all along both Braddock's and Forbes' road. Those near Pittsburg were one hundred miles from their county seat, and were separated from it by three ranges of mountains, viz. : the Chestnut Ridge, Laurel Hill, and the Alleghenies. Virginia, moreover, had land for sale in these western parts, and at lower rates per acre than the land was sell- ing at in Pennsylvania. This induced many settlers to locate there instead of in western Pennsylvania, for rather than endure the hardships of being one hundred miles or more from a seat of justice, they would leave Pennsylvania and purchase 'lands in Virginia. St. Clair and his friends were all this time urging the formation of a new county. He stood high with the Penns. He had been their agent for many years. He was thoroughly educated, and had the military distinction of having served in the army with Wolfe at Quebec. Through his wife, a Boston woman of high standing and culture, he had a great deal of wealth, and was furthermore a large owner of land west of Laurel Hill. His efforts in this direction doubtless carried great weight with the Proprietaries. The Land Office, it will be remembered, had been opened in 1769, and new settlers had been coming here in caravans ever since. These were now headed by St. Clair, busily engaged in circulating petitions asking for the formation of a new county. These petitions are now preserved among the Penn papers in Harrisburg, and they set forth the wants and disadvantages of these western people very much as they are outlined above.
In the early part of the year 1773 the Assembly took up the matter, and on February 26 passed the act organizing the long prayed-for new county. The Governor, Richard Penn, signed the bill and named its officers to serve until an election could be held. So far, in the selection of names for new counties, the Assembly, or those introducing bills, had not gotten away from the good old English names, and so the new county was named Westmoreland, after the county of the same name in England. The name was in itself somewhat appropriate, for here in the west was, indeed more land than was then oc- cupied.
The first section of the act erecting it sets forth the necessity of such a county as judged by the signers to the various petitions from west of Laurel Hill. It also bounded the new county, though in that it was necessarily some- what indefinite owing to the lines of Virginia and Pennsylvania not being yet
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
definitely determined. It began at a point where the most western line of the Youghiogheny river crossed the boundary of Pennsylvania, thence down the river till it broke through Laurel Hill, thence by Laurel Hill in a northwesterly direction till that chain of mountains is lost, or connected with the Allegheny mountains ; thence it followed the crest of the watershed between the west branch of the Susquehanna and the Allegheny rivers to a point at the head waters of the west branch of the Susquehanna, and from there west to the line of the Province, and by that line to the place of beginning. This, it will be seen, does not include the territory on the Ohio, or between the Ohio and the Monongahela rivers. That district was then claimed by Virginia, and Pennsylvania both, and not without reason on either side. It finally brought about Dunmore's war, a most unfortunate affair, as will be seen later on. When the dispute over this territory was finally settled it fell to Pennsylvania, and became for some years a very important part of Westmoreland county. The new county therefore practically included all the territory of the present counties of Westmoreland, Washington, Fayette, Greene, Allegheny, Butler, Beaver, Crawford, Erie, Mercer and Lawrence, and part of the counties of Indiana, Armstrong, Venango and Warren. Nearly one-fourth of the entire state of Pennsylvania was embraced in Westmoreland county, and from its original territory the above counties were afterwards erected. While she has been the mother of counties in western Pennsylvania, she is still territorially one of the largest in the state, and is the first in population among the strictly rural counties of the United States. Our courts, of course, never exercised an extensive jurisdiction over the most remote parts of the original district, for they were not only but sparsely settled, but were too far away. They were like we were with Bedford county. Yet it is not uncommon that the first record titles of lands lying in many of the other counties, are found in the early records of Westmoreland county : particularly is this true of Allegheny county, which remained in Westmoreland nearly sixteen years.
The second section of the erecting act vouchsafed to the people of the county the same privileges enjoyed by the old counties ; gave us one member in the Assembly ; one voting place for the whole territory ; and provided that the election should be held at the house of Robert Hanna until a court house . should be built. Robert Hanna lived on the Forbes road, about four miles northwest of Greensburg, and some of the voters from our most northern "precincts" must have traveled several hundred miles if they came out to vote.
The next section gave the supreme court and its decisions the same authority in this as in other counties, and authorized them to hold courts of general jail delivery for those charged with capital offences, as in other coun- ties. The next section authorized the Governor to appoint a sufficient number of justices to hold courts of quarter sessions, common pleas, etc., and fixed that the time for holding them should be the Tuesday before the Bedford county courts in January, July and October of each year. It also directed that
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
these courts should be held at the house of Robert Hanna till a court house should be erected. It further made a provision for the collection and application of such taxes as were already assessed in Bedford county on property within the new county, and provided for the appointment of trustees to build a court house and jail. It also provided for the trial of suits from this section already brought in Bedford county, and di- rected that the sheriff of Bedford county should take charge of the first elec- tion in Westmoreland county.
The day after the passage of the act, Governor Richard Penn sent to the Assembly a list of names of those he had selected for justices of the county courts and justices of the peace. These names were : James Hamilton, Joseph Turner, William Logan, Richard Peters, Lynford Lardner, Benjamin Chew, Thomas Cadwalader, James Tilghman, Andrew Allen, Edward Shippen, Jr., William Crawford, Arthur St. Clair, Thomas Gist, Alexander McKee, Robert Hanna, William Lochry, George Wilson, William Thompson, Aeneas Mckay, Joseph Speer, Alexander McLean, James Cavett, William Bracken, James Pol- lock, Samuel Sloan, and Michael Rugh, Esqrs.
A few words of explanation concerning the duties of these justices may not be out of place here. Any three of them had power to hold the ordinary common pleas and quarter sessions courts. The act of September 9, 1759. provided that "persons of the best discretion, capacity, judgment and integ- rity" should be commissioned for the common pleas and orphans' court, any three of whom were empowered to act. All were appointed for life on good behavior. By the constitution of 1776 the term was limited to seven years, but the constitution of 1790 restored the former tenure. The act of 1722 also provided for the appointment of a supreme court of three judges (afterwards increased to four) before whom the proceedings of the county court could be reviewed. This supreme court had further jurisdiction over all capital cases, and for this purpose they were compelled to sit in each county twice a year. Treason, murder, manslaughter, robbery, horse stealing, arson, burglary, witchcraft, etc., were all punishable by death. Any three of the above justices, therefore, could hold our ordinary courts, but they could not try a case the punishment of which was death. They were also justices of the peace, and could separately hear cases as our justices do now. Some of the above named justices were really great men, and are spoken of elsewhere in this work. They were not learned in the law, but were men of high standing in the community.
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