History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 6

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

USA > Pennsylvania > York County > History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 6

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Penn Manors.

The grant to William Penn Origin of the of March 4, 1681, contained several powers to erect manors. On the 11th of July, in the same year, he agreed with "the adventurers and purchasers" in England, who were interested in his grant and the settlement of the province on certain "con- ditions and concessions." The ninth of these was, that "in every one hundred thou- sand acres, the Governor and Proprietary, by lot, reserveth ten to himself which shall lie but in one place." The name of "manor" was given to these portions of reserved land in its genuine legal sense. The nineteenth section of the charter empowered him, "his heirs and alienees, to erect manors, with a court baron and view of frank pledge (or court leet), to be held by themselves, or lords of other manors, and every person erecting such manor, shall grant lands to any person in fee simple, to be hield of the said manor so as no further tenures shall be created. but further alienations shall be held of the same lord and his heirs of whom the alien did then before hold."

And such seems to have been in William Penn's own mind when on his last visit he gave a paper agreeing to give land on a quit rent, "holding of the said manor, and under the regulations of the court thereof when erected." (Sergeant's Land Laws, 196.) He empowered the commissioners of prop- erty to erect manors, with jurisdiction thereto annexed. But the Commissioners declined exercising the power, which would have been repugnant to the freemen of the province. Afterwards in judicial opinions. the manors were construed to mean such in legal sense with its court and train of feudal appendages. It was held to mean a portion of the country, separated from the rest. so as to be open to purchasers on "common terms" or to settlers. Whatever was granted was by special agreement in the several manors. It was originally intended that title should be given by warrant and survey, but titles afterward grew by settle- ment and improvement. This practice be- came prevalent from 1718 to 1732. They were to be consummated by payment of the purchase money and issuing of a patent. The warrant fixed a price and time of pay- ment, and when there was no warrant, the

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

price at the time was to be paid, which was called "on common terms." The most of the country was opened through the land office, but this did not include proprietary tenths or manors.

THE RE-SURVEY.

After the controversy with Maryland was settled, by the final agreement between the proprietaries, James Hamilton, Governor of Pennsylvania, on the 21st of May, 1762, is- sued his warrant for the re-survey of the Manor of Springettsbury, which was duly returned into the land office of Pennsyl- vania in 1768, where it has since remained, and is now on record at Harrisburg. By this survey the manor was found to con- tain 64,250 acres. It extended westward from the Susquehanna nearly fifteen miles, bounded by a north and south line west of the dwelling plantation of Christian Eyster. and east and west lines about four miles distant north and south of York. The town had been laid out for the proprietor's use in 1741, as within the limits of a manor, and licenses to settle had been issued as early as 1734, and grants confirming titles within it had been given by the Proprietary, Thomas Penn, in 1736. It had been recog- nized as a manor, but there was no record of the same. It acquired the name in 1768, if not before. The lines to be surveyed by the warrant then issued were specially di- rected.

could originate but by grant from William Penn. He and his descendants were trus- tees by virtue of the concessions and agree- ments for such individuals as should acquire equitable rights to particular portions of land. They erected an office, reserving the right to appropriate one-tenth of the whole to themselves, for their private and individ- ual uses. No right could be acquired except by agreement with the proprietaries. In tinction was, that the lands not reserved were sold at stated prices, and those re- served, that is within the manors, were sold by special contract. Although settlements had become notorious within it, and licenses were issued and titles conferred by grant, the appropriation of the Springettsbury

Manor was not sufficiently notorious, prior to the warrant of survey of 1762, to effect with constructive notice subsequent pur- chasers and settlers. The warrant of 1762 affected all persons with notice of the ex- istence of the manor. The judicial difficul- ties arose from the fact, as alleged, that the survey of Sir William Keith, in 1722, was without authority, and that survey was never returned to the land office.

The questions involved did not arise until after the Rev-

Webster and Clay as olution, and Pennsylvania Attorneys. had become a sovereign state. The cases in which these titles are investigated, both arising in the County of York, are Penn's Lessee vs. Kline, reported in the fourth volume of Dallas Reports (page 404), and in Kirk and Another vs. Smith, ex-demise of Penn, re- ported in the ninth volume of Wheaton's United States Supreme Court Reports (page 241). In this last case the counsel for the plaintiff were Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, and the counsel for the defend- ant were the Attorney-General, William Wirt, and John Sergeant, and the opinion was delivered by the Chief Justice, John Marshall. The following is the warrant in that case :

Pennsylvania, ss .:- By the Proprietaries.

Whereas, Bartholomew Sesrang, of the County of Lancaster, hath requested that we would grant him to take up 200 acres of land, situated between Codorus Creek and Little Conewago Creek, adjoining the lands

Two principles were early settled, name- ly, that no sales were to be made, no settle- ments permitted, until the Indian title should be extinguished, and that no title of Killian Smith and Philip Heintz, on the

west side of the Susquehanna River in the said county of Lancaster, for which he agrees to pay the sum of 15 lbs. 10 s. cur- rent money of this province, for every acre thereof. These are therefore, to authorize and require to survey, or cause to be sur- veyed unto the said Bartholomew Sesrang, at the place aforesaid, according to the method of townships appointed, the said quantity of 200 acres if not already surveyed grants of lands to purchasers, the only dis- or appropriated; and make return thereof

into the secretary's office, in order for fur- ther confirmation; for which this shall be your sufficient warrant; which survey, in case the said Bartholomew Sesrang fulfil the above agreement within six months from the date hereof, shall be valid; other- wise void.

SPRINGETTSBURY MANOR

Given under my hand and seal of the land Oyster, a licensed settler; north by a line office, by virtue of certain powers from the said proprietaries, at Philadelphia, this eighth day of January, Anno Domino, one thousand seven hundred and forty-two. GEORGE THOMAS. To William Parsons,

Surveyor-General.

The warrant of re-survey of Governor Hamilton set forth :

Warrant for "That in pursuance of the Re-survey. primitive regulations for laying out lands in the province, Wil- liam Penn had issued a warrant, dated the Ist of September, 1700, to Edward Pen- nington, the Surveyor-General, to survey for the proprietor, 500 acres of every town- ship of 5,000 acres; and generally the pro- prietary one-tenth of all the land laid out. and to be laid out; that like warrants had been issued by the successive proprietaries to every succeeding Surveyor-General ; that the tracts surveyed, however, are far short of the due proportions of the proprietary ; that therefore by order of the then Commis- sioners of property, and in virtue of the general warrant aforesaid to the Surveyor- General, there was surveyed for the use of the proprietor on the 19th and 20th of June, 1722, a certain tract of land situated on the west side of the river Susquehanna, then in the county of Chester, afterward in Lancas- ter, and now of York, containing about 70,- 000 acres called, and now well known by the name of the manor of Springettsbury ; that sundry Germans and others, afterward seated themselves by leave of the proprietor on divers parts of the said manor, but con- firmation of their titles was delayed on ac- count of the Indian claim ; that on the IIth of October, 1736, the Indians released their claims, when (on the 30th of October, 1736), a license was given to each settler (the whole grant computed at 12,000 acres), promising patents, after surveys should be made; that the survey of the said tract of land is either lost or mislaid; but that from the well-known settlements and improve- ments made by the said licensed settlers therein, and the many surveys made around the said manor, and other proofs and cir- cumstances, it appears that the said tract is bounded east, by the Susquehanna ; west by a north and south line west of the late dwel- ling plantation of Christian Eyster, called

nearly east and west, distant about three miles north of the present great road, lead- ing from Wright's Ferry through York, by the said Christian Eyster's plantation to Monockassey; south by a line nearly east and west, distant about three miles south of the great road aforesaid; that divers of the said tracts and settlements within the said manor, have been surveyed and con- firmed by patents, and many that have been surveyed, remained to be confirmed by pat- ents, for which the settlers have applied; that the proprietor is desirous, that a com- plete draft or map and return of survey of the said manor, shall be replaced and re- main for their and his use, in the Surveyor- General's office, and also in the Secretary's office ; that by special order and direction, a survey for the proprietor's use was made by Thomas Cookson, Deputy Surveyor (in 1741), of a tract on both sides of the Co- dorus, within the said manor, for the site of a town, whereon York has since been laid out and built, but no return of that survey being made, the premises were re- surveyed by George Stevenson, Deputy Surveyor (in December, 1752), and found to contain 4361/2 acres."

After the recital, the warrant directed the Surveyor-General "to re-survey the said tract for the proprietor's use, as part of his one-tenth, in order that the bounds and lines thereof, may be certainly known as as- certained." James Tilghman, Secretary of the land office, on the 13th of May, 1768, wrote to John Lukens, Surveyor-General, to proceed with all expedition on the sur- vey, and make return of-the outline of the manor at least. The survey was accord- ingly executed from 12th to the 13th of June, 1768, and the plan was returned into the land office and also into the Secretary's office, on the 12th of July, 1768, containing 64,520 acres, a part of the original tract of 70,000 acres, having been cut off, under the agreement between Penn and Baltimore, to satisfy the claims of Maryland settlers. This is known as Hamilton's Survey.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

JACOB TAYLOR, a land surveyor and surveyor-general of the Land Office under the province of Pennsylvania at Philadel-

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

phia, November 26th, 1706, to October, the Indians at Conestoga. He was fre- I733.

JAMES STEELE, a deputy surveyor, of Philadelphia, and receiver general of the Land Office under the province of Pennsyl- vania, January 30th, 1714, to December, 1732.

3.1694

FRANCIS WORLEY, appointed a Jus- tice of the Peace of Chester County and chosen a member of the council at Phila- delphia July 4th, 1718. He resided in Hempfield township, within the manor of Conestoga, near the Conestoga .Indian town. He afterwards removed to Man- chester township, now in the county of York, and died July, 1768, leaving to sur- vive him eight sons and two daughters, viz. : Daniel. Jacob, Nathan, Henry, Samuel, James, Francis, Thomas, Mary, wife of Peter Shugart, and Lydia, wife of George Eichelberger.

JAMES MITCHELL was a Justice of the Peace for Chester county and dwelt in the township of Donegal, now the county of Lancaster, appointed in the year 1722. He was also a surveyor. In 1722 he was appointed one of the commissioners to sur- vey the original Springettsbury manor on the west side of Susquehanna. In 1723 he and James LeTort held a treaty with the Ganawese, Nanticoke and other Indians at Conoy (Bainbridge, Lancaster county). James Mitchell owned and resided upon a farm which lay south of John Galbreath, between Marietta-Mount Joy Turnpike and Little Chiques Creek. He died 1747, leav- ing the following children: James, Alex- ander, Thomas, William, Jean, Rachel, Mary, Margaret. -

When the temporary line was run be- tween Pennsylvania and Maryland in 1739. James Mitchell, of Donegal, was one of the assistants to the commissioners of the two provinces. He was elected 'a member of Assembly for the years 1727, 1744 and 1746. In the year 1741 he was elected sheriff of Lancaster county.

quently sent on missions to the Conestoga Indians, accompanied either by the secre- tary of the province, James Logan, or by the Governor. He was a member of the Provincial council at Philadelphia, 1717- 1727. He was one of four men appointed to administer one of the four great oaths of office to the Governor, Sir William Keith. Bart., upon his arrival from Great Britain. Governor Keith was inaugurated June Ist, 1717. John French administered the fourth oath "Due Observation of the Acts of Trade." In 1717 he was commissioned "Chief Ranger and Keeper of the Marches of Pennsylvania.", A particularly import- ant undertaking was assigned him when sent to the Conestoga Indians to inquire into the facts pertaining to the first killing of an Indian by a white man in the province, namely-John and Edmund Cartiledge, traders, for killing an Indian at a place three days' journey from Conestoga. He was able to appease the Indians and suc- cessfully secured the Cartiledges in the jail at Philadelphia. He was divested of all power and authority under the government and dismissed from the council board March 29, 1727, for "disregardful expres- sions of the proprietor and his charter and for underhand practices in detriment there- of," and died the following year.

JAMES LETORT, according to Cun- ningham, was a French Huguenot; accord- ing to Evans, a French Canadian. He was a member of the French settlement on the Schuylkill, north of Philadelphia, and dwelt there with his wife, Ann LeTort. He is first mentioned in 1693 as Captain Jacques LeTort. The Colonial Records, Vol. 2. page 100, say "He lived in Pennsylvania from his infancy." Living among the In- dians he early acquired a knowledge of their language and was useful to the gov- ernment as an Indian agent and interpreter. He was trading in the valley of the Susque- hanna prior to 1700. He dwelt from time to time near the mouth of Pequea creek, trading with the Shawnese at that place, and also with the Susquehannock or Cone- stoga Indians, whose village was a few miles north above the mouth of Conestoga creek. He lived at Conoy, 1700, near the village of the Kanawha or Ganawese, who

COL. JOHN FRENCH, of New Cas- tle, was an early surveyor and enjoyed the confidence of the Proprietor. He was de- scribed as active and influential, being a person of integrity, reputation and ability. He was one of the Supreme Judges in the New Castle County court of Appeals. He was delegated June 8, 1710, to a treaty with were the same as the Conoise Indians. In

SPRINGETTSBURY MANOR

the year 1701 he left the province and went Hendricks, the ancestor of Vice-President to Canada; returning in the spring of 1703. Thomas A. Hendricks, settled on the west side of the river in East Pennsboro town- ship, now Fairview and Newberry, York county. Tobias afterwards dwelt in the Cumberland valley along the great road where he kept an ordinary a few miles west of Harrisburg. He died in Cumberland county.

He probably made this journey by the waterway of Susquehanna. According to an old map, 1701, by Isaac Taylor, he had a trader's store among the Shawnese at the forks of the Susquehanna, opposite the In- dian town, Shamokin, (Sunbury). He was granted a large tract of land, 900 acres, on the banks of the Susquehanna, north of the Chickasalunga creek, now Marietta, Lan- caster county, on the draft of "Newberry," called "LeTort's Plantation." He migrated as an Indian trader to the spring in Cum- berland valley, afterwards called for him "Le Tort Spring," (Carlisle) as early as 1731. For further information see Colonial Records, Vol. I, pages 299, 396, 435. Vol. 3, pages 188, 202, 210 and 295.

JOHN HENDRICKS AND JAMES HENDRICKS, with Tobias Hendricks, sons of James Hendricks, Quakers, first set- tled in the township of Conestoga, at what is now Rock Hill, formerly Postlewaites, Lancaster county. The ford on Conestoga creek was at the mouth of a small run on the Hendricks property where the old trail to Philadelphia went from Conestoga In- dian town. James Hendricks, the elder, kept an ordinary at this point. John Postle- thwait owned it after the Hendrickses mi- grated west of Susquehanna. It was on this same tract, while owned by Postle- thwait that the first Court House, or rather place where court was held, and the first jail of Lancaster county, was erected. This was prior to the selection of a stie for the city of Lancaster. About 1726 John Hen- dricks, his wife, Rebecca, and James, his father, removed to the west side of the river and settled at a point on the river now known as the upper part of Wrightsville. John, with Joshua Minshall, was one of the chief participants in the Cresap border warfare, 1729 to 1738. James seems to have been a sympathizer with the Cresaps. John afterwards removed from the town- ship of Hellam into the adjoining township of Manchester, York county, and settled on a tract of land adjoining Francis Worley. He sold this land, 150 acres, in 1742, to Jacob Garber and moved into the adjoining township of Dover, where he died January 21, 1749, leaving to survive him four sons, James, John, Francis and William. Tobias

The following warrant on behalf of John Hendricks, James Hendricks and Joshua Minshall is interesting as it indicated what was even then called primitive methods re- garding grants to the specially protected lands west of Susquehanna. Nothing like this warrant appears elsewhere among the Pennsylvania records. It is inserted here as an explanation for certain conditional grants made by Samuel Blunston in his own name in form of deeds under a certain twelve hundred acre survey made in that section, but as this survey is not defined, and there seeming to be no draft or drafts of it in existence, its location is only known as generally being at the foot of Kreutz Creek valley extending from the river west- ward :

"WHEREAS, upon the application of John and James Hendricks and some others, inhabitants of Penn- sylvania the Commissioners of Property did in the year 1728 order Samuel Blunston to lay out a tract of land of twelve hundred acres lying on the west side of Sus- quehanna opposite to Hempfield; which land was then settled by the said parties, and is now in the possession of the said John Hendricks and of Joshua Minshall, who hold in right of the said James Hendricks; and it appearing to me that the said John Hendricks and Joshua Minshall are settled upon the said land by reg- ular surveys-ordered to be made in the year 1728 of which I approve and will order a patent or patents to be drawn for that share of the land laid out to the said John and James Hendricks to John Hendricks and Joshua Minshall as soon as the Indian claim thereon shall be satisfied-on the same terms other lands in the county of Lancaster shall be granted. Philadelphia, 20th March, 1730. THO. PENN."

Witness, John Georges.

JOHN GRIST settled in Hempfield township, Lancaster county. The name as it appears on the patent book of Pennsyl- vania is Greist, alias Krist or Crist.

John Grist was the first white squatter on lands west of the Susquehanna. He was forcibly removed therefrom about the time of the survey of Sir William Keith's tract and confined at Philadelphia for the offense of entering. unpurchased Indian lands.

About 1738 John Grist settled on two hundred and ninety-eight acres in the west- ern part of York county. as described in

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

warrants of July 23, 1742, and October 25, 1747, land being on Bermudian creek in Manchester township, in the county of Lan- caster adjoining lands of Samuel, William and Richard Cox.

CONESTOGA, an Indian town in Manor township, Lancaster county. This was the village of the last remnant of the Susque- hannock or Conestoga Indians. They called it their new town, although they were dwel- ling there prior to 1682, and sent from that place to the great treaty at Shackamaxon on Delaware, their King Canoodaghto and his wife, Ojuncho, with others. The old town of these Indians was on the river at Conejohalla (Washington and Creswell, Lancaster county ), where they had a stock- aded fort. Between the years 1635 to 1675, the exact time being in dispute, the Seneca and Cayuga Indians came from the lakes of New York and almost exterminated the Susquehannocks. After this defeat they re- moved four miles from the old town, inland, behind Turkey Hill, and founded the new village where Penn found them. There- after they are called Conestogas, although the uncertainty of their exact title is in- dicated in treaty papers and deeds, for in these they are frequently named as Seneca-Susquehannock - Cayuga - Iroquois- Conestoga Indians.

Conestoga Indian town was situated about eight miles southwest of a small In- dian village at Lancaster and the same dis- tance southeast of a Shawnee village at Co- lumbia, Decanoagha. The Conestogas dwelt back from the river east about two and a half miles and north of the mouth of Conestoga creek about the same distance. The site of their town was happily located, with an eastern and southern exposure in a grand sloping depression behind the river hills. Numerous springs and streams, In- dian Tom run being the largest, with other natural protective advantages, made the place an Indian's ideal abode. Finally, 1762, all the inhabitants of this town were brutally slaughtered at Lancaster by armed white men from Paxtang in and around Harrisburg.

SHAWNEE, or SAWANNA TOWN, Columbia, Lancaster county. This village was located under the shelter of the high bluff called Chickie rock. It was an im- portant village, being the main point to

which the Shawanese of the south were as- signed by William Penn when they made application to remove from North Carolina into this province. The place seems to have been called Deckanoagha. Professor S. S. Haldeman, the archaeologist, excavating on the site of this old village, discovered their rock retreat, as he designated it, and from which were taken many specimens of stone and bone relics. The grave or burial ground of this village was located at the foot of what is now Locust street. When excavations were made for the Philadelphia and Reading railroad depot the writer was able to secure a fine specimen of shell and skull bead from one of the graves. The Sawicka-Salunga creek referred to on the original draft of Keith's Newberry is the Chickasalunga. Whether at the time this stream had two names or not it is now im- possible to state, but the variation is prob- ably to be accounted for as a misnomer, there being another Shawnee word- Suickasalunga, Sawicka-Salunga.

BLUNSTON'S LICENSES TO LANDS.

In 1734 a title originated, which in con- troversies concerning the Manor of Spring- ettsbury, became the subject of judicial in- vestigation. The land on the west of the Susquehanna not having been purchased from the Indians, no absolute title, irregular or otherwise, could be given according to the established usage and law. But the dis- pute was existing with Lord Baltimore, concerning the boundary of William Penn's charter and the Marylanders were extend- ing their settlements up the Susquehanna. On the IIth of January, 1733-34, a special commission was given to Samuel Blunston, a resident on the banks of the Susquehanna, to encourage the settlement of the country, and most of the titles over the Susquehanna originated in the licenses issued by him, to settle and take up lands on the west side of the river. Not because the land office was at that time closed, as has been generally conceived, but because the office could not be opened for those lands which were not yet purchased of the Indians. He issued many licenses from January, 1734, to Oc- tober, 1737, by which he promised patents on the usual terms, when the purchases could be made from the Indians. The first license issued by Samuel Blunston was

SPRINGETTSBURY MANOR

dated the 24th of January, 1734, and the these words: "John Calhoun, 200 acres on last on the 3Ist of October, 1737, all of Dunning's Run, called the Dry Spring, be- which, and they were numerous prior to the IIth of October, 1737, were for lands out of the Indian purchase west of the Susque- hanna. These grants the proprietors were bound to confirm, being issued by their express consent, as soon as they purchased the land from the natives, upon the clearest legal principles, as expressed in the case of Weiser's Lessee vs. Moody. (II Yeates, 27.) tween Jacob Dunning and Ezekiel Dun- ning." A number of ejectments were brought for tracts of land, lying in York county, in all of which the general question was, whether the land was included in a tract called and known by the name of a proprietary manor duly surveyed and re- turned into the land office, on or before the 4th day of July, 1776. The titles of the lessers of the plaintiff, to the premises in dispute, were regularly deduced from the charter of Charles the Second, to William Penn, provided there was a manor called and known by the name of Springettsbury, duly surveyed and returned, according to the terms and meaning of the act of the 27th of November, 1779. (I Smith's Laws, 480. )

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 6

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