History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 15

Author: Prowell, George R.
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1372

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Gov. Hamilton had been furnished by President Tasker with exemplified copies of the warrants, surveys and patents which had been granted to John Digges, and it ap- peared that the place where Jacob Kitz- miller killed Dudley Digges was in a tract of vacant land that lay to the northward of the Temporary Line and which had been granted to Digges in the year 1745, in ex- press violation of the Royal Order. These exemplified copies were by order of the governor produced at the court of Oyer and Terminer, held by the Supreme judges, at York, at the trial of Jacob Kitzmiller and his father, who were thereupon acquitted. It appeared from the evidence that the killing of Dudley Digges was an accident. At least the doubt as to willful homicide was sufficient to acquit. It was occasioned by an attempt to arrest Martin Kitzmiller at the suit of John Digges in a Mafyland affair. This was resisted and in struggle for a gun, held by Jacob Kitzmiller, it was discharged and fatally wounded Dudley Digges. (Penna. Archives, Ist Series, Vol. 2, pages 76-83. ) By the admitted construc- tion of the Royal Order the territory within the limits of Digges' patent, although four miles north of the Temporary Line, was under the jurisdiction of Maryland. Hence, in this case, the act committed being in ter-

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ritory outside of his patent was under the survey, the Court at York would consider jurisdiction of Pennsylvania.

Results

The shooting of Dudley Digges in 1752 was one of the lament-

all " legal proofs to show that the jurisdic- tion belongs to the Lord Proprietor of Maryland," and would either hold or sur- render them, according to such proof. This court was so held, in the fall of 1752, in a private house in York. The attorney- general of the respective provinces attended -Tench Francis for Pennsylvania, Henry Darnall for Maryland. The Chief Justice of the Province of Pennsylvania presided, the two associates assisted. The secretary of the province, Richard Peters, also attended and was a witness. Immediately on his re- turn to Philadelphia, Mr. Peters wrote to the Penns in England a full account of this noted trial.

John Digges was a lineal de- Digges' scendant of Sir Dudley Descendants. Digges, who lost his life in the service of King Charles I, of England. Edward Digges, son of Sir Dudley, was one of the early governors in the Province of Maryland. William, the son of Edward, settled in Maryland. Ig- natius Digges, one of the sons of William, was the father of John Digges, who ob- tained the Maryland grant for 10,000 acres, afterward decided to be in Pennsylvania. When he obtained the grant he paid 184 pounds and 19 shillings as pre-emption money, a yearly rental of 13 pounds, 12 shil- lings, II pence, in silver or gold. Ignatius Digges was a brother-in-law of Charles Carroll, of Maryland. Charles Carroll was an uncle of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, signer of the Declaration. The latter was therefore a cousin of John Digges.

of the able incidents of the settlement Homicide. of this region, and it served not only to excite animosity among the settlers under Penn and Lord Balti- more, but also between the two govern- ments which then represented those two in- terests. (Those who desire to learn the pre- cise use which was made of it, can find much on the subject in Vol. 2 of the Pennsylvania Archives, and Vol. 5 of the Colonial Rec- ords.) The Digges were from Prince George's County, Maryland; the Kitzmil- lers were Germans, and were naturalized citizens of the Province of Pennsylvania. Jacob Kitzmiller, the emigrant, arrived in this province not later than the spring of 1736. Martin Kitzmiller built a log mill on the Little Conewago in 1739. It soon be- came one of the best known mills west of the Susquehanna, as it was on the line of the old provincial road from Philadelphia through Lancaster and York to Virginia. He enlarged it with a brick addition in 1755. Between these two dates occurred the tragic event which so seriously disturbed the relations of the two provinces. Exist- ing documents show that Kitzmiller got a warrant for this land from the Penns in 1747 and a patent from them in 1759; and that with the exception of one year, it re- mained in the occupancy of the family for 106 years, or down to 1844. There was no doubt of the fact of the killing. There was the usual difference about the circum- stances. Maryland authorities denounced it John Digges soon after he obtained his grant, settled upon his land and built a house along the present line of the Hanover and Littlestown turnpike, known at present as the Stoner farm, where the Conewago Creek crosses the turnpike. Soon after his son Dudley was killed in 1752, John Digges seems to have returned to Maryland, where he died intestate about 1760. He left to survive him, three sons, Edward, William and Henry. Edward, his oldest son, was his heir-at-law. When Edward died in 1769, in accordance with the wishes of his father, he bequeathed to his two brothers each one-third of all his property in Mary- land and Pennsylvania. The other third of as ' cruel murder,' as a 'wicked act,' as due to 'old Kitzmiller's artifices' to get pos- session of land known at the time to be taken up and held under Maryland, and to his 'practices,' which gave Digges an ex- cuse for using force, and they resolutely de- manded possession of the bodies of the prisoners that they might be tried in Mary- land. The Pennsylvania authorities refused to consider the act 'cruel murder' in ad- vance of a 'legal trial;' held that the act was committed to the northward of the Temporary Line and within the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania; and said that if done within the limits of Digges' right to lands, that fact being capable of proof by actual his estate descended to his son, John

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Digges, his daughter Elizabeth, who mar- ried Wilfred Neale, and Eleanor, who died unmarried. (Edward Digges' will is re- corded in St. Mary's County, Maryland.)

In 1775 William Digges, Henry Digges, brothers of Edward deceased, and Wilfred Neale and Elizabeth, his wife, and Eleanor Digges, transferred by a deed in trust to Henry Neale "with divers other tracts of land in Maryland, all that tract of land called Digges' Choice, situated in York County, Pa." On April 15, 1776, Henry Neale sold the entire right of the heirs of John Digges, the elder, to Jesse Wharton, his heirs and assigns forever. (This trans- action is recorded in Book D. W., folio 521, St. Mary's County, Md.) October 25, 1778, Jesse Wharton sold to Thomas Lilly all rights and titles of the heirs of John Digges in the tract known as Digges' Choice.

THE MANOR OF MASKE.

Between 1736 and 1740 settlements were made on a large tract of land in the western portion of the county of York, laid out for the proprietaries' use, and named the Manor of Maske. When the provincial surveyors arrived for the purpose of run- ning its lines, the settlers upon it, not un- derstanding, or not approving the purpose, drove them off by force. Some of the set- tlers had taken out regular warrants, others had licenses, and some were there probably without either. As a result, the lines were not run until January, 1766, and the return of them was made on the 7th of April, 1768, to the land office.

The manor as then surveyed was nearly a perfect oblong. The southern boundary line was 1,887 perches; the northern 1.900 perches; the western line, 3,842 perches ; the eastern, 3,954. The manor was nearly six miles wide, and about twelve miles long. The southern boundary was Mason and Dixon's line, and the northern was about midway between Mummasburg and Arendtsville, skirting a point marked on the county as Texas, on the road from Get- tysburg to Middletown. It did not quite reach the Conewago Creek. The manor included the sites of Gettysburg and Mum- masburg, the hamlet of Seven Stars, and probably McKnightstown, all of the town- ship of Cumberland, except a small strip of

half a mile along the Maryland line, nearly the whole of Freedom, about one-third of Highland, the southeast corner of Franklin, the southern section of Butler, the western fringe of Straban, and a smaller fringe on the west side of Mount Joy. Gettysburg is situated north of the centre, and on the eastern edge of the manor, and is thus about five and a half miles from the north- ern, and seven and a half from the southern boundary. The manor was separated by a narrow strip on the west from Carroll's Tract, or "Carroll's Delight," as it was originally called, and which was surveyed under Maryland authority on the third of April, 1732. It was patented August 8, 1735. to Charles, Mary and Eleanor Car- roll, whose agents made sales of warrants for many years, supposing that the land lay within the grant of Lord Baltimore, and in the County of Frederick. As originally surveyed Carroll's Delight contained 5,000 acres.

A special act of Assembly was passed on the 23d of March, 1797, relating to the Manor of Maske. It recited that "certain citizens had settled themselves and made improvements on the lands comprehended within its limits previously to the warrant issued for the survey of the same, and with- out notice that any such measure was in contemplation," and as doubts had arisen whether the said survey was regular, "and the said settlers and inhabitants in whose favor the said exceptions might have been urged, waived the same, and had agreed or are in treaty with, and ready to conclude a purchase for John Penn and Richard Penn, Esqs. Therefore, to remove any uneasi- ness in the minds of the said inhabitants that the committee may claim the land to encourage agriculture and improvement, by sending titles free from dispute and re- move any prejudice against the rights de- rived from the late proprietaries, the lands marked by the survey of the manor in the month of January, 1766, shall be free and clear of any claim of the Commonwealth." In 1800 all this territory was included in the new County of Adams.

The Manor of the Maske was originally settled by an intelligent class of English speaking people who came to this region direct from the north of Ireland. The names of these early settlers can be found

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in the article on the "Scotch-Irish" in this be in the same vertical circle, or in a per- volume.

THE TEMPORARY LINE.

The surveys of Keith's Newberry Tract of 1,400 acres and of the original Springetts- bury Manor of 70,000 acres in 1722 were made by authority of the Province of Pennsylvania before the boundary line be- tween Pennsylvania and Maryland had been decided upon. In 1727 John Digges obtained a patent to survey a tract of 10,- 000 acres around the site of Hanover. He gave bonds of agreement to early settlers until he was empowered to grant deeds to lands upon his tract known as "Digges' Choice." The settlement on this Maryland grant and the encroachment of Marylanders on lands in the southeastern section of the county gave rise to contentions.

December 5, 1738, Governor Thomas, of Pennsylvania, reported to the council of his province that he had received a letter from Governor Ogle, of Maryland, on the 26th of November, informing him that he had appointed Col. Levin Gale and Samuel Chamberlain to run the line agreed upon, and confirmed by His Majesty's order, as provisional and temporary limits between the two provinces, and that he had ap- pointed Lawrence Growden, Esq., and Richard Peters, as commissioners, and Benjamin Eastburn, as surveyor, on the part of Pennsylvania, to join them in run- ning the said line.

From the report it appears that the Com- missioners met on the 5th of December, attended by the Mayor, several Aldermen and some of the principal citizens of Phila- delphia, when the southern part of the city was ascertained, to the satisfaction of the Commissioners on both sides, by the declaration of the Mayor and Aldermen, by the original draft of the city, by the situa- tion of the dock, and other natural marks, and by the testimonies of several aged in- habitants. all concurring that a certain post. then showed the Commissioners, stood in the most southern part of the city.

It was agreed to settle the varia- The tion of the compass by fixing a Work meridian line by an observation to

Begun. be made when the pole star above the pole and the first star in the tail of the Great Bear under the pole should

pendicular line, one above the other, and a meridian line was carefully fixed according to that rule and being tried by a theodolite in the possession of Benjamin Eastburn, the variation was found to be 5 degrees 25 minutes. They commenced to run the line with a westerly variation of 5 degrees 25 minutes and the line was run to a fence be- longing to Israel Pemberton, about two miles from the place of beginning.

They met again on the 12th of April, and the surveyors and chain carriers were quali- fied by oath or affirmation. They tested instruments at the post where they had begun before, and found the theodolite of Eastburn to have the same direction and its variation unchanged, and on the next day, the 13th of April, met at Israel Pember- ton's fence, and all parties being satisfied, by the marks that were left on that fence and on the trees near it, that that was the place where they left off on the IIth of De- cember, the surveyors proceeded on the line. On the 22d of April, at a distance of thirty-one miles due west from the place of beginning, it was agreed that the line was now run enough to the west for avoiding the large waters of Brandywine and Chris- tiana Creeks, and that the surveyors should begin to set off the south line of fifteen miles and a quarter. Then a dispute arose concerning the manner of measuring the fifteen miles and a quarter. The Commis- sioners of Maryland insisted that the line should be run on the surface of the earth, without any allowance for the unevenness thereof, and the Commissioners for Penn- sylvania insisting that the said line should be an horizontal line, that is to say, that the altitude of the hills should be taken and a full and just allowance made for them. Both parties refused to run the line in any other manner than what they had proposed. The Commissioners of Maryland declared their resolution to proceed ex parte. On the next day being of the opinion that a separation of the Commissioners and the running of two different lines would be at- tended with all the evil consequences for the prevention whereof his Majesty granted his order, it was at last agreed that the line should be run on the surface, and that an allowance of twenty-five perches should be made for the altitude of the hills.

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Reach the Susquehanna. On the 4th of May, 1739, the surveyors proceeded on the west line to a field in the possession of Robert Patterson, at the distance of about a mile and a half from the River Susquehanna, and on information that there was no place on the western side of that river, but what would give great difficulty to the surveyors in measuring the half mile north, it was judged proper to set it off, and measure it at this place, that there might be no delay to the work on that account, and accord- ingly the surveyors set off and measured 160 perches due north, and then returned a due west line and proceeded thereon to a distance of about a quarter of a mile from the river. On the next day. the surveyors proceeded on the west line and ran the same to the western bank of the Susque- hanna, to a hickory tree which was ordered to be marked with four notches on each side, and it was agreed that the west line down so far south as fourteen miles and three-quarters of a mile south of the lati- tude of the most southern part of the city of Philadelphia, should begin at that hick- ory tree. On the 6th of May, Levin Gale informed the Commissioners that he had, since he came to Philadelphia, on this line, received an account of the death of a son, and that by a special messenger, he had just now received a further account that one of his daughters was dangerously ill, and his wife and family in very great dis- tress on that occasion, and proposed an ad- journment to a further day, for that he was rendered incapable to give such attention to the proceedings on the temporary line as his duties required, and therefore de- clared he would proceed thereon no fur- ther, and Chamberlain declared that he ap- prehended he had no authority to proceed otherwise than in conjunction with Gale, and likewise declined going further with the line. Whereupon the Commissioners of Pennsylvania said that, as Colonel Gale had on Friday, the 27th of April, received the account of his son's death, and as they were then apprehensive it would affect him so much as to render him incapable of pro- ceeding on the line, and might occasion separation of the Commissioners, they had at that time written an account of it to their Governor, requesting his further orders in

case it should prove as they feared, and had received an answer from his honor, that he had sent them a new commission (in case of a separation of the Commissioners) to proceed ex parte to finish the temporary line, for that the peace of the government depended thereon. They, the Commission- ers, therefore declared that they could not adjourn, but as they judged it absolutely necessary for the peace of both govern- ments, that the line should be forthwith completed without any delay, and as they had a commission for that purpose, they would proceed ex parte and continue the west line, so run as aforesaid to the marked hickory tree, on the western bank of the Susquehanna, and extend it from that tree as far as the peace of the government shall make it necessary.

The minutes of the proceedings of the Commission of both provinces while in con- junction, show that on the day before the separation of Gale and Chamberlain it was unanimously agreed that the west line down so far south as fourteen miles and three-quarters of a mile south of the lati- tude of the most southern part of the city of Philadelphia, as mentioned in the King's order in council to be the temporary limits between the two provinces on the other side of the Susquehanna should begin at a certain hickory tree on the western side of the said river, marked for that purpose by order of the said Commissioners, with four notches on each side.

The Pennsylvania Commis-

The sioners and the surveyors,

Survey making that hickory tree the Completed. place of beginning, did, on Tuesday, the 8th day of May, run a due west line toward the River Poto- mac, with the very same instrument and variation of 5 degrees 25 minutes with which the line on the east side of the Sus- quehanna, in conjunction with the Mary- land Commissioners, was run, and causing trees that fell in or near the line to be marked and blazed in the very same man- ner as was observed in that line. The sur- veyors proceeded day by day, and extended the line to the top of the most western hill of a range called the Kittochtinny Hills, distant from the place of beginning about eighty-eight statute miles. And as this hill was one of the boundaries of the lands pur-

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THE BOUNDARY LINE

chased by the honorable proprietaries from perches-was surveyed on the 25th of De- the Indians in 1736, and no persons were cember, 1753, to Alexander McCandless, permitted to settle beyond that range of and for which a patent was granted to him hills, they judged the line to be run far enough to settle the jurisdiction of the two provinces, and to answer all the purposes of their commission, and therefore ordered the surveyors to end there, and several trees to be marked with the initial letters of the names of the honorable proprietaries, as is usual at the close of boundary lines.

The Commissioners wrote, the 6th of May, 1739, to Governor Thomas, that the Maryland Commissioners, joining with them, ascertained the lines to all intents and purposes, and made it impossible for Lord Baltimore ever to controvert it so far as it is run, or to propose any other method of running the remaining part than that which is taken by them. They gained IIO perches at the end of the west line, so that the line at the distance of fourteen miles and three-quarters from Philadelphia, on the other side of the Susquehanna, was but fifty perches more north than the end of the Jersey line. Colonel Gale, as Chief Justice, had given them a warrant directed to the sheriff and constables of Baltimore County and Prince George's County, to take up any persons that should offer to disturb them, and had promised to send the Governor's special protection to a place at the distance of thirty miles off by a special messenger. (I Archives, 556-575.)

THE LINE AT PEACH BOTTOM.

The point or corner on the west bank of the Susquehanna, to which the surveyors ran on the 5th of May, 1739, described as a hickory tree, and marked with four notches on each side, and from which it was unani- mously agreed that the west line down so far south as fourteen miles and three-quar- ters of a mile south of the latitude of the most southerly part of the city of Philadel- phia should begin, is now in the State of Maryland, the temporary line at that point having been fixed seventy-two perches more southerly than the present boundary line. This is ascertained from several deeds and surveys (furnished by the late Levi Cooper, of Peach Bottom Town- ship), from which it appears that a tract of land, called the Paw Paw Bottom, extend- ing along the Susquehanna River-449

on the 31st of May, 1760, recorded in Phila- delphia. This tract of land, after the death of McCandless, was conveyed by his execu- tor, James McCandless, to Thomas Cooper and John Boyd, by deed of the 7th of Feb- ruary, 1767, containing III acres of land situated in Peach Bottom Township. Ac- cording to the patent, the tract began at a marked hickory in the Temporary Line on the Susquehanna River, and running from thence by the said line, north eighty-five de- grees west, thirty-one perches to a marked hickory corner of land, patented under Maryland, called Cooper's Addition, thence by several courses and distances north to a marked black oak, a corner of land patented under Maryland, called Elisha's Lot, thence by several courses and distances north to a marked walnut tree, and by a tract of land patented under Maryland to John Cooper, called the Deserts of Arabia; thence to two poplars on the Susquehanna River, and down the river by the several courses thereof 499 perches to the place of begin- iling-the hickory tree on the temporary line.

Adjoining this land of McCandless, there was surveyed to Robert Gordon, on the 22d of July, 1771, a tract of land of which Wal- ter Robinson was entitled to part. The draft of this land thus describes the lines : Beginning at a point corner of land of Alex- ander McCandless along the Province Line, north eighty-eight degrees, west I33 perches, and on the south along the Tem- porary Line, north eighty-six degrees, west ninety-three perches, and between the Province and Temporary Lines south ten and a half degrees, east seventy- two perches adjoining the property of Alexander McCandless. By the sur- vey of George Stevenson, made the 20th of December, 1753. from the Temporary Line, which is fixed by the hickory tree corner, there is a course north twenty de- grees, east fifty-eight perches to the sup- posed Maryland Line. And in a draft made by Thomas G. Cross, on the 3d and 4th days of April, 1874, of the land patented to Mc- Candless, the course and distance from the Temporary Line to Mason and Dixon's Line are north twenty-one degrees, east

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

fifty-eight perches. The discrepancy here grant recited that sundry Germans had may be owing to the uncertainty of the position of the temporary line. The older draft is to be preferred because the hickory for the beginning of the Temporary Line was then a fixed point, and since then the Pennsylvania Canal has been constructed along the river, erasing that corner.

The Temporary Line, from the course of it, as compared with the fixed boundary line, would cross the latter before it went beyond the limits of York County. The re- port of the Commissioners as above given, says, " that they gained 110 perches, so that the line on the west side of the Susque- hanna was but fifty rods more north than the end of the Jersey line."

The Maryland surveys were very early made and lands patented. The Deserts of Arabia and Elisha's Lot were situated re- spectively one and two miles above the true boundary line.

From the fancy of the early settlers in that section, or by Maryland custom, per- haps, names were given to the respective tracts of land taken up, such as those men- tioned, and Morgan's Delight, Noble's Craft, Jones' Chance, Walter's Disappoint- ment, Cooper's Pleasant Hills, Eager's De- sign, Mary Lot, Buck's Lodge Right, Stall- worth Right, Croomay's Intrusion, and other names, assigned possibly by public opinion of the venture.

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History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 15

Author: Prowell, George R. Publication date: 1907 Publisher: J. H. Beers Number of Pages: 1372

Author: Prowell, George R.
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1372