History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 4

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

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Colonel Alexander Lowry en- Alexander Lowry. gaged in the trading business in 1744; at first with the In- dians west of the Susquehanna, embraced in the region of Cumberland and York counties. He learned several Indian tongues, and often engaged in sports and games with the red men, in order to gain their friendship. He was probably better acquainted with the local tribes in York County than any other person among the early settlers. Colonel Lowry who after- ward commanded a battalion of soldiers in the Revolution, established a trading post at Carlisle when the town was founded in 1751. Later he had an Indian trading post at the site of Pittsburg and several times traveled as far west as the Mississippi River. He continued to trade with the Indians for a period of forty years. Meantime he served as a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature, and late in life was a state sen- ator, and also a member of the State Con- stitutional Convention of 1790. He died at Donegal in 1805, at the age of eighty-two years. Colonel Robert Lowry, a descend- ant, late of Pierre, South Dakota, was for many years superintendent of the United States land office at Pierre.

John Harris, an Englishman, who John settled at the site of Harrisburg in 1705, was one of the most noted Indian traders of the Susquehanna region. He opened a trading station and built a block house soon after he obtained his first permit to locate in this vicinity. Harris purchased skins and furs in large quantities from the Indians on both sides of the Susquehanna, up and down the stream. He opened a ferry across the river in 1730, and it was chartered by the Province of Pennsylvania in 1753. John Harris was on friendly terms with the Shawanese Indians, who lived on both sides of the river. On one occasion, a band of drunken Indians came along and demanded rum of him. When he refused to give them the rum, they captured him and tied him to a tree and would have tortured him, had he not been rescued by some friendly Indians who came to his assistance from the region above and below the mouth of the Yellow Breeches Creek. His son, John Harris succeeded him in conducting the store, and afterward be- came the founder of the city of Harrisburg.

In 1763, a party of twenty-three Indian traders from eastern Pennsylvania, under the leadership of Colonel Alexander Lowry, made an expedition into the western coun- try with a long train of pack horses, carry- ing goods and merchandise. The object of this expedition was to reopen trade with the Indians of the Ohio Valley. This trade had been ruined during the French and Indian War. They started at Wright's Ferry, and extended their trip westward over the road that Braddock had taken on his expedition against Fort Duquesne. When Colonel Lowry and his party of traders reached the region now embraced in Washington County, in the extreme southwestern part of Pennsylvania, they discovered that Pon- tiac, the great Indian chief of the Ohio Val- ley, was on the war path with many war- riors. A band of hostile red men attacked the traders, captured their valuable goods and merchandise and appropriated them to their own use. The entire valuation of the goods taken and destroyed is estimated in the Provincial records of Pennsylvania at £ 80,000, or about $215,000. It was a finan- cial calamity to most of these enterprising men, only a few of whom ever afterward re- covered their fortunes.

INDIAN CONFERENCES

CHAPTER II

INDIAN CONFERENCES

Conestoga Conference of 1721-Keith's Newberry Tract-Conestoga Conference of 1722.

CONESTOGA CONFERENCE OF 1721.

The rights to lands west of the Susque- hanna had not been purchased from the In- dians until 1736 when a conference was held at Philadelphia with the chiefs representing the Six Nations. Lancaster County was or- ganized out of Chester in 1729, when its boundaries extended indefinitely westward, including the present area of York, Lan- caster, Adams and Cumberland Counties. In fact, according to the Indian purchase as recorded in the minutes of this conference, the boundary of Lancaster County extended west to the "setting sun." As early as 1721, the settlers east of the Susquehanna cast longing glances across the river, desiring to have the first opportunity to take up the lands in the rich valleys west of the river, then covered by a primeval forest and occu- pied by roaming bands of Indians. Accord- ing to early records, the territory now em- braced in York County, was the favorite hunting grounds for the Susquehannock, Conestoga, Conoy and Shawanese- Indians, who lived in small towns at different places along the Susquehanna from the site of Harrisburg to the mouth of the river.

Sir William Keith, a Scotch no- Sir bleman of rank and station, as- William Keith. sumed the duties of lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania in 1717, one year before the death of Wil- liam Penn, who then resided in England. He had previously served as surveyor- general of customs under Queen Anne, for the southern colonies, and then resided in Virginia. Keith was popular with the col- onists and, while on a visit to Philadelphia, was entrusted by the Pennsylvania Assem- bly to carry an address of greeting to George I, expressing joy upon his accession to the throne of England. It was the suc- cess of Keith's career in America that caused William Penn to select him as his lieutenant-governor, who, when he came to America in May, 1717, was clothed with all the powers of a governor of the Province,

although he was expected to receive in- structions at stated times from Penn him- self, who was then growing old. Governor Keith served from 1717 to 1726. The early part of his administration was crowned with success and he grew very popular with the majority of the settlers. He established a court of chancery which continued until 1735. It is claimed that he was the only governor before the Revolution who es- poused the cause of the common people. He ordered the first paper money to be is- sued in the Province. His success in treat- ing with the Indians was almost equal to that of William Penn.

In 1721 and before, a trouble had arisen between the Indians of Pennsylvania and those of Virginia. This trouble threatened to disturb the peace of the Province and eventually to cause a collision between the settlers and the aborigines. In order to avoid this, Sir William Keith paid a visit in April, 1721, to the Governor of Virginia, with whom he formed an agreement, which would confine the Indians on the north and the south of the Potomac to their respective sides of the river. Keith's visit to Virginia was made with great ceremony, in order to cause an impression on the Governor of a neighboring province, and to increase the influence of Pennsylvania with the Indians. He was attended by a company of seventy horsemen, well armed. Upon his return to Philadelphia, he was welcomed at the upper ferry on the Schuylkill by the mayor and aldermen of that city, accompanied by two hundred of the most prominent citizens. The confederation of the Five

Meets the Nations of Indians at this

Indians at time, had their headquarters Conestoga. in central New York. The chiefs of the tribes composing this confederation were notified by Keith that an agreement had been made with the Governor of Virginia. He invited these chiefs to Philadelphia to ratify these agree- ments and to settle difficulties which the In- dians had with white settlers along the Sus- quehanna. The Indian chiefs refused to go to Philadelphia, but they agreed to meet Governor Keith and his associates near the mouth of the Conestoga Creek, a few miles south of the site of Columbia. At this place a small band of Conestoga Indians had set- tled for a considerable time. Here Gover-

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

nor Keith met the Indians July 6, 1721. He the Great Mountain this way to disturb was accompanied by James Logan, who your hunting. And this is the condition I . came to this country with William Penn, have made for you, which I expect you will firmly keep, and not break it on any con- sideration whatever." and was now secretary of the Province ; Col. John French, the surveyor; Richard Hill, Caleb Pusey and Jonathan Dickinson. On the next day, July 7, James LeTort and John Cartlidge, who had Ghesaont's Ghesaont, in behalf of the Five Speech. Nations, replied to the Gover- nor in a long speech. The substance of this speech as reported by the Secretary of the council, states that they were glad to see the Governor and his a knowledge of the Indian language, were also present as interpreters. Six Indian chiefs had wended their way down the Sus- quehanna to attend this council. Three of the five nations were represented. Ghesa- ont and Awennool were sent by the Seneca council at this' place. They had not forgot- tribe: Tannawree and Skeetowas by the Onondagoe tribe; and Scahoode and Tchehuhque by the Cayuga tribe.

When Governor Keith arrived at Cone- stoga, he proceeded to the cabin of Captain Civility, a noted Indian interpreter, where four chiefs of the Five Nations called upon him. Keith said he had come a great way from home to bid them welcome, and that he hoped to be better acquainted and hold a further conference with them. Through their interpreter the Indians said that they also had come a great way to see the Gover- nor and speak with him, and that they would have come here before, but that the faults or mistakes of some of their young men had made them ashamed to show their faces.

The council between Governor Makes a Keith and the Indians took place Speech. the following day. July 6, under- neath a large tree at the Cone- stoga village near the Susquehanna. After they were seated in a semi-circle, in imita- tion of former councils with the Indians held by William Penn, Governor Keith arose and spoke to the Conestoga Indians in part, as follows :

"I have recently returned from Virginia, where I wearied myself in a long journey both by land and water, only to make peace for you. my children, that you may safely hunt in the woods without danger from Vir- ginia and the many Indian nations that are at peace with the government. But the Governor of Virginia expects that you will not hunt in the Great Mountains on the other side of the Potomac River, since it is a small tract of land which he keeps for the Virginia Indians to hunt in, and he prom- ised that his Indians shall not any more come on this side of the Potomac, or behind

ten William Penn's treaties with them, and that his advice to them was still fresh in their memories. He complained that white traders up the Susquehanna ill-treated some of their young men and called them dogs. They resented this treatment and said that their brothers, the white people, should not compare them with such creatures.

Then laying a belt of wampum down upon the table, he said that all their disor- ders arose from the use of strong spirits and rum which had been furnished to them by white traders, and desired that no more rum be sent amongst them. Then present- ing a bundle of dressed skins he said that the Five Nations faithfully remember all their ancient treaties and now desire that the chain of friendship between them and William . Penn's subjects may be made so strong that none of the links can ever be broken.

He then presented another bundle of dressed skins and observed that "a chain inay contract rust with lying and become weaker, wherefore I desire that it may now be so well cleaned as to remain brighter and stronger than ever it was before." He presented another parcel of skins and said : "In the firmament all clouds and darkness are removed from the face of the Sun, so we desire that all misunderstandings may be fully done away; so that when we who are here now shall be dead and gone, our whole people, with our children and pos- terity, may enjoy. the clear sunshine of friendship with you forever, without any- thing to interpose or obscure it." He pre- sented another bundle of skins and said: "We look upon the Governor as if William Penn were present. We desire that in case any disorders should hereafter happen be- tween our young people and yours, your

INDIAN CONFERENCES

people should not be too hasty in resenting other measures be taken to regulate the In- any such accident, until our council and yours can have some opportunity to treat amicably upon it, and so to adjust all mat- ters so that the friendship between us may be inviolably preserved." He presented a small parcel of skins and continued: "We desire that we may now be together as one people, treating one another's children kindly and affectionately on all occasions. We consider ourselves in this treaty as the full plenipotentiaries and representatives of the Five Nations, and we look upon the Governor of Pennsylvania as the great King of England's representative, and therefore we expect that everything now stipulated will be made absolutely firm and good on both sides." He now presented a bundle of bear skins and said, that "Having now made a firm league with Governor Keith such as becomes brothers, we complain that we get too little for our skins and furs so that we cannot live by our hunting. We desire you therefore to take compassion on us and contrive some way to help us."

The

Governor's Reply.

On the 8th of July, the Gover- nor and his council, at the house of John Cartlidge, near Conestoga, having advised

upon and prepared a proper present, in return for that of the Indians, which consisted of a quantity of stroud match coats, gunpowder, lead, biscuit, pipes and tobacco, the Governor made his speech in reply to that of the Five Nations, from which the following extract is made :

"As to what you have said of trade, I suppose that the great distance which you live from us prevented all commerce be- tween us and your people : we believe those who go into the woods and spend all their time upon it, endeavor to make the best bargains they can for themselves; so on your part you must take care to make the best bargain you can with them, but we hope our traders do not exact too much, for we think that a stroud coat or a pound of powder is now sold for more buckskins than formerly.

"Beaver is not of late much used in Eu- rope, and therefore does not give so good a price, and we deal but very little in that commodity. But deer skins sell very well amongst us, and I shall always take care that the Indians be not wronged, but except

dian trade everywhere, the common methi- ods used in trade will still be followed, and every man must take care of himself; when I buy anything from our own people, if I do not give them their price, they will keep it, for we are a free people. I am sensible that rum is very hurtful to the Indians: we have made laws that none should be carried amongst them, or if any were, that it should be staved and thrown upon the ground, and the Indians have been ordered to destroy all the rum that comes in their way. But they will not do it: they will have rum, and when we refuse it they will travel to the neighboring provinces and fetch it. Their own women go to purchase it, and then sell it amongst their own people, at excessive rates. I would gladly make any laws to prevent this that could be effectual, but the country is so wide, the woods are so dark and private, and so far out of my sight, that if the Indians themselves do not prohibit it. their own people, there is no other way to prevent it. For my part. I shall readily join in any measure that can be proposed for so good a purpose."

Sir William Keith having accomplished the purpose of his visit to the Conestoga Indians, returned home, July 9. At this time, he was at the height of his power and influence and lived in baronial style in a large mansion at Horsham, situated in Montgomery County, a short distance northwest of Philadelphia. William Penn. having died in England in 1718. Keith's powers as lieutenant governor were some- what curtailed by restrictions interposed by the widow of William Penn, and later by her three sons, John, Thomas and Richard. who succeeded as the proprietors of Penn- sylvania. While William Penn lived, under proprietary right, there were several man- ors laid off in the eastern part of the Prov- ince as well as in Lancaster County, east of the Susquehanna.

KEITH'S NEWBERRY TRACT.

A great deal of interest has always been attached to the first authorized surveys west of the Susquehanna. Robert C. Bair. of York, having made a diligent study of Keith's Newberry Tract, his investigations on this subject are herewith given in full :

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

To John Grist belongs the distinction of being the first white settler in the unbroken forest west of the Susquehanna in this prov- ince. The first survey by authority was made on the ioth and IIth days of April, 1722. It was made by Jacob Taylor and James Steel, deputy surveyors of the pro- prietary of Pennsylvania. Sir William Keith being Governor, and in a peculiar way interested in this survey, it was origi- nally called "Keith's Mine Tract" and sub- sequently "Newberry."

The facts pertaining to and The Draft the causes for this survey Discovered. were all matters of record, but no draft of survey was known to exist of it, indeed, the location of the tract or tracts had long been forgotten and become involved in doubt and uncertainty. An old draft was accidentally identified by the writer in 1898, while classifying the gar- ret records of the York County Court House. An unmarked and unexplained draft in the old court files attracted atten- tion : it contained lines of the Susquehanna as making a grand bend in its course from the northwest to the southwest, an unusual curvature for this river, and only existing at one point on the lower river shores, op- posite Chiques, at the new town of Mari- etta, Lancaster county. Comparison with the original surveyor's notes of Newberry Tract clearly identified the draft as being that of the long lost Newberry. Later dili- gent search discovered a similar but mani- festly older unidentified fragmentary draft of this tract in the Department of Interior at Harrisburg.

The facts surrounding this survey are in- teresting and herewith as fully as possible set forth. The border warfare which dis- turbed for a number of years Maryland and Pennsylvania prior to the survey of Mason and Dixon Line was carried on within the bounds of this survey.

for Minerals.

incognito.

Land west of the Susque- Searching hanna early in 1722, so far as the proprietary surveyors were concerned, was terra Information had come to the land office at Philadelphia, and particularly to Governor Keith. that copper was to be found west of the Susquehanna. The Gov- ernor. a shrewd and enterprising Scotch- man, who had been made Governor largely

for his abilities to develop the natural re- sources of Pennsylvania, soon began to take active steps toward the utilization of these resources. Several things done by him never met the approval of the proprietary, as examples, this Keith copper mine survey and his having secretly placed the New York Germans from Schoharie in the Tul- pehocken Valley (1723) of his own motion and without permission of or having first purchased the land from the Delaware In- dians. These acts of themselves caused much irritation and afterwards received open condemnation before the council from the secretary of the province, James Logan.

Sir William Keith, of enterprising mind, was among the first to erect iron works in what is now Chester or Delaware counties during his administration, 1717-1726. Noti- fication that copper was supposed to exist in Chester county and elsewhere in the province, and his alert interest, occasioned suspicion in the Council against Governor Keith as it had against his predecessors, for they had all been active in locating and prompting mineral lands. This was early and so generally manifest that the proprietor himself, then in England, wrote to his trusty friend and secretary, James Logan, in 1708, "Remember the mines which the Governor (Evans) yet makes a secret, even to thee and all the world but himself and Michelle, pray penetrate the matter and let us see the ore in as large a quantity as thou canst." It was this Michelle who first drew atten- tion to mineral lands west of the Susque- hanna.

Lewis Mitchel or Michelle was a roving prospector. By his own account he was a native of Switzerland sent by the canton of Berne to the colonies to locate a site for a Swiss settlement. Newbern, North Caro- lina, was selected by hin. In connection with this work he was a mineral prospector, having tramped through North Carolina, Virginia, and into Pennsylvania by way of the forks of the Potomac, through the Sus- quehanna Valley to Philadelphia. His sev- eral visits to the Conestoga Indians upon the Susquehanna and his mischievous per- suasions, led numbers of the younger In- dians to join him in his roving researches. This being contrary to the provincial policy, he was afterwards called before the com- missioners of property and peremptorily

INDIAN CONFERENCES

ordered to desist as to both his Indian en- gagements and his general movements, or vacate the province. This was the same Mitchell. William Penn referred to in his Logan letter and taken in connection with subsequent events, which we are about to relate, it makes plain that the note on the Minute Book of Property in the Interior Department respecting the purposes of the Newberry Survey west of the Susquehanna was founded on selfish personal interests in acquiring mineral rights in that section.

At a council held at Philadelphia, April 16. 1722, Sir William Keith, the Governor, spoke as follows:

"Upon some information I lately received. that the Indians were like to be disturbed by the secret and underhand practices of persons, both from Maryland and this place, who under pretence of finding a copper mine, were about to survey and take up lands on the other side of the river Susque- hanna, contrary to a former order of this government : I not only sent up a special messenger with a writ under the lesser seal to prevent them. but took this occasion to go toward the upper parts of Chester county myself, in order to locate a small quantity of land unto which I had purchased an orig- inal proprietary right. And understanding further upon the road. that some persons were actually come with a Maryland right to survey lands upon the Susquehanna, fif- teen miles above Conestoga. I pursued my course directly thither, and happily arrived but a very few hours in time to prevent the execution of their design.

"Having the surveyor general of this province with me in company, after a little consideration. I ordered him to locate and survey some part of the right I possessed. viz: only five hundred acres upon that spot on the other side of the Susquehanna, which was like to prove a bone of contention and breed so much mischief. and he did so ac- cordingly upon the 4th and 5th days of this instant April, after which I returned to Conestoga in order to discourse with the Indians upon what had happened. But in my way thither, I was very much surprised with a certain account that the young men of Conestoga had made a famous war dance the night before and that they were all go- ing out to war immediately. Thereupon. I appointed a council to be held with the In-

dians next morning in Civility's Cabin, the minutes of which I carefully took myself."

At a meeting of the Commission-

The ers of Property held in Philadel- Survey. phia on the 16th day of April, 1722, the following minute is recorded : "16th day of the second month, Anno Domini, 1722, Present, President Richard Hill. Isaac Norris and James Logan. The Commissioners having some days ago been informed that the Governor, (Sir William Keith ) was gone toward Susquehanna and had taken Jacob Taylor with him, which gave them some apprehension of a design he might have on a parcel of land on the other (west) side of Susquehanna, where was supposed to be a copper mine, where- upon they thought it expedient to send James Steel with a warrant under their hands and seals, dated the 5th inst., directed to himself and Jacob Taylor, authorizing them to survey and lay out for the use of the trustees (till the mortgage money and interest due thereon should be paid and the property then revert to the heirs and de- visees of the late proprietary) the quantity of two thousand acres of land, enclosing within the lines of survey the land whereon is supposed to be the copper mine.

"James Steel accordingly set out with the warrant and met with Jacob Taylor at Cone- stoga, who readily accompanied him over the Susquehanna, where, after some oppo- sition made by one. John McNeal. by the Governor's express order, as he said. they proceeded on the survey on the ioth inst. and finished the same on the 11th. A re- turn whereof dated April 5th, 1722, is pro- duced.'

By virtue and in pursuance of Return of Survey. a warrant from Richard Hill, Isaac Norris and James Logan. proprietary agents for the pro- vince of Pennsylvania, dated the fifth of April. 1722, to us directed, we do hereby certify that we did actually survey and lay out on the roth and IIth days of the same month for the use in the said warrant men- tioned a certain tract of land, situate on the southwest side of Susquehanna river, be- ginning at the mouth of a branch opposite to the Sawanna Indian town and a little below the settlement made by John Grist and running up the same on the several courses thereof one thousand and fifty

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History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 4

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