History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended, Part 60

Author: Gibson, John, Editor
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Pennsylvania > York County > History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended > Part 60

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At the conclusion of the Indian treaty in 1736, the limits of Lancaster County were extended indefinitely westward. It included all of the present counties of York, Cumber- land, Adams and Dauphin, and a large por- tion of Berks and Northumberland. The

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.

Indians then being peaceful, the fertile lands west of the Susquenanna were soon occupied by immigrants, and in an incredibly short time hundreds of industrious farmers were clearing the lands and planting their crops. In a few years a number of petitions were presented to the Provincial Council, signed by influential citizens of "Lancaster County, west of the Susquehanna," asking for the erection of a new county.

The causes of these early petitions for the formation of a new county were owing to the rapid increase of the population west of the river, troubles and difficulties that arose among settlers, and the long distance to Lancaster Court, where a redress of griev- ances might be obtained. One of the peti- tions to the Governor and General Assembly for the division stated "how difficult it was to secure inhabitants against thefts and abuses, frequently committed among them by idle and dissolute persons, who resort to the remote parts of the province, and by reason of the great distance from the court or prison frequently found means of making their escape." >

The first petition was presented in 1747, but it was unheard. In 1748 a strong and urgent request was made, whereupon favor- able action was accordingly taken, and on August 19, 1749, the act obtained the official sanction of James Hamilton, deputy governor of the Province, and the new county, the first west of the Susquehanna River, and in order of date the fifth in the Province of Pennsyl- vania, was formed. The county from which it was detached had the historic name of

Lancaster, after a shire on the west coast of North England. East of Lancashire is the grand old district of Yorkshire, rendered memorable by the War of the Roses, its mag- nificent cathedrals and castles of the thir- teenth and fourteenth centuries, and for its ancient manufacturing city of York, where the first English parliament assembled in the year 1160. It has been for a long time, and is to-day, the largest county of England. It has now a population of more than 2,500, - 000, and an area of nearly 6,000 square miles. By the unanimous consent of the petitioners for a division of Lancaster Coun- ty, in Pennsylvania, and the commissioners, who formed the division, making low water mark on the west side of the Susquehanna the boundary line, York County was named after Yorkshire, in England. The town of York was laid out and named eight years be- fore this event.

The commissioners named in the act to carry out its provision and lay off the new

county were Thomas Cox, of Warrington Township; Nathan Hussey, of Newberry; John Wright, Jr., of Wright's Ferry; George Swope, of York, and Michael Tanner, who then lived near York, but soon after removed to the vicinity of Hanover. To him that town owes its name. The first three were English Quakers. The others were Germans. They all became court justices. Tanner was the first leader of the German Baptists, or Dunker Church, in York County.

COUNTY LIMITS.

The boundaries of York County, as then formed, which included the present county of Adams, according to act of Assembly, embraced "all and singular the lands lying within the Province of Pennsylvania, to the westward of the river Susquehanna, and southward and eastward of the South Mountain, bounded northward and westward by a line to be run from the Susquehanna River, along the ridge of said South Mountain to the Maryland line, and from thence eastward to the Susque- hanna." The northern boundary line was not definitely established, until after the erection of Cumberland County, which was also formed from Lancaster County, by act of March 27, 1750, and named after a maritime county of Northern England. The commissioners to view and lay off York County viz .: Thomas Cox, Michael Tan- ner, George Swope, Nathan Hussey and John Wright, Jr., met the commissioners of Cum- berland County near the site of the present village of New Market, Fairview Township, in 1750, to fix the northern boundary, but they disagreed. The commissioners of Cum- berland County wished the dividing line to begin opposite the mouth of the Swatara Creek, and run along the ridge of the South Mountain (Trent Hills). By this demand a greater portion of what is now Fairview Township would have been included in Cum- berland County. Much of the land now embraced in that township was originally taken up under the name of Pennsborough Township, Lancaster County, which township was laid out in 1739. It was the first town- ship laid out within the present limits of Cumberland when it yet belonged to Lancas- ter County, and then embraced the whole of what is now Cumberland County. This is what gave rise to the contention and division of sentiment. The York County Commis- sioners wished that the Yellow Breeches Creek should form part of the dividing line. The difficulties were finally settled by a

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special act of the Provincial Assembly dated Feb. 9, 1751.

STATISTICAL.

· York County, when first formed according to above specifications, including Adams County, and contained 1,469 square miles, or about 950,000 acres. In 1749, the year of its formation, it had 1,466 taxable inhabitants with an entire population of about 6,000. In 1750 there was 1,798 taxables, and in 1751 there were 2,043 taxables and entire population of over 8,000. This will illus- trate how rapidly immigration into the county took place, as the increase of population in two years was 333 per cent. Immediately after the close of the Revolutionary war iu 1783, by an action of the county court, the township assessors were required to take an enumeration of in their respective districts. According to their reports the county in that year contained a population of 27,007; of this number 17,007 lived within the present limits of York County. There were in addi- tion to this, 657 colored slaves.

The first official census, taken by the authority of the United States Government in 1790, gave York County a population of 37,747, which was an increase of about 10,000 in seven years. This would seem to be enor- mous, but illustrates that immigration to the county during that period was rapid. The next census was taken in 1800, after the formation of Adams County from York County, when the latter had a popula- tion of 25,643; in 1810, York County had 31,938; in 1820, 38,759; in 1830, 42,859; in 1840, 47,010; in 1850, 57,450; in 1860, 68,200; in 1870, 76,134; in 1880, 87,841.

LIMITS CONTRACTED.

By an act of the Legislature passed Janu- ary 22, 1800, Adams County was erected out of York, with an area of 548 square miles. It was named in honor of John Adams, who was then President of the United States. This reduced York County to its present area of 921 square miles or 589,440 acres. It is the shape of an irregular quadrangle, with far-famed Mason and Dixon's line for the base, a distance of forty miles, and is the fourth in line westward of the southern tier of counties, with Lancaster and Dauphin Counties on the east and northeast, the State of Maryland on the south, Adams County on the west and Cumberland and Dauphin on the north. The Susquehanna River washes the eastern boundary from the mouth of the Yellow Breeches to the Maryland line, a dis- tance of fifty-five miles. The southern

boundary is a due east and west line, located by the astronomical and mathematical calcu- lation of the distinguished English survey- ors whose name it bears. The western bound- ary line from the southern line north eight and one-half miles, is an exact meridian; from thence the Beaver Creek and a public road from a winding line northwestward to a point on the South Mountains, where York, Cumberland and Adams Counties meet. From here the boundary is a due northeast line along a ridge of the South Mountains to the Yellow Breeches Creek, continuing in nearly the same direction along the many remarka- ble bends of this placid stream to its mouth at the Susquehanna, two miles below the city of Harrisburg. According to the census of 1880, there were 498,344 acres of the land embraced in York County improved,and 101,- 096 acres unimproved, leaving one-third of the entire county woodlaud and uncultivated land. This estimate seems high.

The fortieth parallel, which is the latitude of the northern limit of Philadelphia, enters the county at Wrightsville, passes through Emigsville is a short distance above the vil- lage of Dover, and strikes Adams County where the south branch of the Bermudian Creek enters York County.

The seventy-seventh meridian, or the line designating the longitude of Washington, the capital of the United States, crosses the county one-half mile east of Hanover, pass- ing out of the county two miles east of Dills- burg.

TOWNS AND TOWNSHIPS.

The surface area of York County is sub- divided irregularly into thirty-one townships, within whose limits are twenty-one incorpor- ated boroughs, and about forty small villages and hamlets. York, the oldest, the largest town, and the seat of justice, is near the centre of the county, corresponding exactly to the position of York in Yorkshire, Eng- land, after which it was named. Nearly all the original townships were marked by nat- ural boundaries. Many divisions and sub- divisions of townships have been made since the erection of the county, but now a num- ber of the boundaries are artificial lines. Al- though there were at least 2,000 settlers west of the Susquehanna iu what is now York County before 1739, there is no official record to establish the fact that townships were laid off before that date. On church records, diaries of travelers, and in the correspondence of first settlers and surveyors, the name Conewago set- tlement (Hanover), Marsh Creek (Gettys- burg), Codorus, Newberry and Manches-

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.

ter, appear as names to designate places. A special act of the General Assembly was passed in October, 1739, for dividing the region west of the Susquehanna into town- ships. The name Hallam-first appears for that year. Between 1740 and 1744, Chanceford, Fawn, Shrewsbury, Newberry, Dover, Codo- rus, Manchester, Warrington, Monaghan, Par- adise, Manheim, in what is now York County, and Tyrone, Straban Menallen; Cumberland, Hamilton's Ban, Mount Joy, Germany, Mount Pleasant and Berwick, in the present territory of Adams County were laid off by various surveyors.

THE PEOPLE.

The inhabitants who first gazed upon the primitive forests, hunted the wild animals that roamed and sported in their dense shade, and caught the fish which abundantly stocked the winding streams, and whose squaws raised small patches of corn and beans, were Indians, a dark copper-colored race, whose origin and history previous to the set- tlement of the whites in this section, as far as can be ascertained, will be found in the general history.

From the time of the earliest authorized settlements made west of the Susquehanna, York County contained three distinct classes of people. Among the first to enter the county with proper permits to locate land were the English Quakers, nearly all of whom located north of the Conewago Creek ; some of them located in the Redland and Fishing Creek Valleys as early as 1732, and a goodly number of them the following year. They- migrated thence from Chester County. A year later Warrington Township, which then included Washington, was settled by people of the same religious society. A few located in Manchester. The Quakers obtained free grants of land from the Penns, on which to locate their meeting houses. One of these is still standing in the village of Newberry- town, one midway between the last named town and Lewisberry, and a third in War- rington, one-half mile from Wellsville. Mou- aghan, which included the balance of the territory in York County north of the Cone- wago, was at first populated by the Scotch- Irish, the same class of people who first settled Cumberland County, and that portion of York now embraced in Adams County.

The vast body of the early settlers were Germans, who populated the fertile valleys of the central, western, and south western portions of the county, beginning their au- thorized settlements as early as 1731. An excellent chapter devoted to them will be

found elsewhere in this book. There were a few English located in and around York. They were either Friends or members of the Church of England. The county officers were nearly all English for many years after the county was formed.

In the southeastern portion of the county, in the Chancefords, Fawn, Peachbottom and Hopewell, a colony of sturdy Scotch-Irish lo- cated, commencing their settlements contem- poraneously with the Germans and the Eng- lish above them. Some of them had located there and obtained lands under Maryland titles a few years earlier. This section was not at first populated so rapidly, however, the census statistics will show, as the upper sections, which was owing greatly to the ster- ility of the soil, after a few years' cultivation. By the descendants of the same class of peo- ple, of late it has been rendered exception- ally fertile and productive. The Marsh Creek settlement, now Adams County, was almost entirely composed of Scotch-Irish.

APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTY.

Dense forests of valuable oaks, chestnuts, walnuts, hickory, poplar aud ash covered the hills and valleys of York County, when the whites first came. Many of these the ax of the industrious settler soon felled, in order to clear the land to sow his crops, while yet the red man of the forest was his neighbor. The timber of all of them could not be used, con- sequently such of what would now be of great value, then decayed, as trunks of large trees. Some were hewn into logs to construct rude cabins; the chestnut and the oak to build the fences; the walnut for making articles of household furniture, and a portion for fuel. A large forest of primitive trees is now al- most a curiosity to the prosperous York County farmer. If there be one, some ava- ricious individual is on the alert to purchase it, and fell the grand old trees for gain. An occasional old white oak, a tree which lives the longest in this section, is seen here and there on the farms of judicious husbandmen, whose reverence for grandeur, beauty, and antiquity, will allow no one to "touch a single bongh," and yet it is just the object the in- dustrious wagon maker loves to feast his eyes upon. There are still a few chestnut trees standing along the fences and road-sides, under whose venerable boughs our fathers' grandfathers rested their weary limbs during the harvest noon, and later in the season their children, dressed in homespun and linsey-woolsey, gathered the precious fruit, while on the alert for the wolf and the deer.

The introduction of the charcoal forges

YORK COUNTY COURT HOUSE

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and bloomaries, and the vast number of tan- neries erected, ruthlessly destroyed hundreds of acres of valuable timber land, which two hundred years of undisturbed growth could not now replace. On account of the scarcity of valuable bark, the tannery business has greatly declined. Hundreds of cords of bark are yet annually hauled to market.

THE FIRST COURT HOUSE Lock 30%

An act of the General Assemby passed August 19, 1749, named Thomas Cox, Mi- chael Tanner, George Swope, Nathan Hussey, and John Wright, Jr., as commissioners to carry out its provisions in forming the Coun- ty of York, and also to purchase land at some convenient place in the county, to be ap- proved by the governor, and held in trust for the purpose of erecting on it a court house and prison. Centre Square of York was se- lected as the site.

The sessions of the courts from 1749 to 1756 were held in the houses of the court justices until the completion of the first court house. In April, 1754, the county commissioners entered into an agreement with William Willis, a skillful bricklayer, and one of the first English Quakers, who located in Manchester Township, to erect the walls of the court house. Henry Clark, also a Quaker, from Warrington, entered into a contract to saw and deliver scantlings for the building. He then owned a saw-mill near the mouth of Beaver Creek. John Meem, who generally was called "doctor," and Jacob Klein of York, both Germans, were employed as carpenters. Robert Jones, a Quaker, who lived a few miles from town, in Manchester Township, was engaged to haul seven thousand shingles from Philadelphia. The building was not completed till 1756. Attached to one end of it was a building called, in its day, the State House, and in it were the county offices. At the other end was the market house. This court house stood from 1756 to the fall of 1840-a period of eighty-four years. The most historic period of its history was from September, 1777, to June, 1778, during which time the members of the Continental Congress held their deliberations within its hallowed walls. This was the darkest period of the Revolution, the account of which is given in the general history. The Articles of Confederation were passed by Congress while sitting here, which alone would make it an historic building. It should never have been destroyed, but the people of York County, like Americans in general, did not, at that time, properly rev- erence historic old landmarks. The walls

around the three enclosed sides of the pres- ent court house yard, were made of the bricks that formed the walls of the old court house, and this is all that is left of a building which, if it now stood, would be one of the greatest and most important objects of veneration in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The State House was torn down in 1842.

THE PRESENT COURT HOUSE.

When it was decided to erect a new court house, a great controversy arose concerning the location of it. The commissioners finally selected the site where the present one now stands. For the erection of this building Jacob Dietz was master-carpenter, and Henry Small was associated with him. Charles Eppley was master-mason, and George Oden- wall, assistant. The county commissioners then were William Nicholas, John Rieman and John Beck. The bricks and wood were obtained in York County. Part of the gran- ite used in its construction was hauled in wagons to York from Baltimore County, Md. The granite pillars used as supports in the front of the court house were brought from Maryland on the railroad in 1840, soon after its completion, to York. The cost of the building was nearly $100,000. County notes of the denomination of $3 were issued, and also county bonds. It was completed in 1840. The cupola was placed on it and the bell put in position in 1847. The bell on the old court house was brought to York from Eng- land, and belonged to the Episcopal Church. It has since been recast, and now is on St. John's Church, North Beaver Street.

COUNTY OFFICES.

Prothonotary, Recorder, Register, Clerk of the Orphans' Court and Clerk of the Court of Quarter Sessions. - These several offices were established when the county courts were or- ganized at York, in 1749, and were filled by appointments made by the Governor of the province before the constitution of 1776, and under it, and the constitution of 1790 ap- pointments were made by the supreme exec- utive council or the governor of the com- monwealth.

The constitution of 1838 changed this plan to an election by the people. These offices were for the first time filled in York County by the voice of the people at the general election held October 11, 1839. The term of office then began on the 1st day of December after the election, until the adop- tion of the New Constitution of 1873, when the first Monday of January following the election was authorized as the time for as-

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suming the duties of office. It will be noticed from the following lists that during our early colonial history the different offices were filled by one person for many years. George Stevenson, who was an intelligent English- man, and one of the first men of political influence in the county, and who was also a large land owner and a practical surveyor, served continuously in all of these offices from 1749 to 1764. He soon afterward moved to Carlisle, where he died.

Prothonotaries .- The following is a list of the prothonotaries-George Stevenson, ap- pointed in 1749; Samuel Johnston, 1764; Archibald M'Lean, 1777; Henry Miller, 1786; John Edie, 1794; Charles William Hartley, 1800; William Barber, 1806; Michael W. Ash, 1823; Richard Porter, 1830; John W. Hetrick, 1833; Benjamin Lanius, 1836; Will- iam Ilgenfritz, elected October 11, 1839; Will- iam Ilgenfritz, 1842; John R. Donnell, 1845; John R. Donnell, 1848; Elijah Garretson, 1851; Joseph Holland, 1854: Henry G. Bussey, 1857; Henry G. Bussey, 1860; William Ilgen- fritz, 1863; Thomas G. Cross, 1866; James B. Ziegler, 1869: Frank Geise, 1872; William Y. Link, 1875; Samuel B. Heiges, 1878; W. H. Sitler, 1881; Samuel B. Hoff, 1884.

Recorders .- George Stevenson, appointed in 1749; Samuel Johnston, 1764; Archibald M'Lean, 1777; Jacob Barnitz, 1785; Jacob B. Wentz, 1824 ; Frederick Eichelberger, 1829; Charles Nes, 1830; Michael Doudel, 1833; Daniel May, 1836; William Schall, elected in 1839; William Schall, 1842; Edwin C. Eppley, 1845; Edwin C. Eppley, 1848; William Tash, 1851; William Tash, 1854; George Webrly, 1857; Amos Shearer, 1860; William B. Woods, 1863; Henry Reisinger, 1866 ; Noah Ehrhart, 1869; William H. Schweitzer, 1872; James R. Schmidt, 1875; Jacob Lanius. 1878, E. C. Grevemeyer, 1881; Wesley Glatfelter, 1884.

Registers .- George Stevenson, appointed in 1749; Samuel Johnston 1764; Archibald McLean, 1777; Jacob Barnitz, 1785; Jacob B. Wentz, 1824; Frederick Eichelberger, 1829; William P. Fisher 1830; Jesse Spangler, 1830;

Michael Doudel, 1833; James R. Reily, 1836: | John Glalfeller, 1867; John M. Deitch,

John Stahle, elected in 1839; John Stahle, 1842; David Bender, 1845; Jacob Glessner, 1848; George Maish, 1851; William Davis, 1854; Abraham Hershey, 1857; Amos Shearer, 1860; William Philby, 1863; Jacob Stickle, 1866; George Pollinger, 1869; John Giesey, 1872; Christian S. Gerber, 1875; (Mr. Gerber died while in office); James Kell, appointed February, 1877; John S. Hiestand, elected in 1877; Oliver Stuck, 1880; Henry W. Bow- man, 1883.

Clerks of the Orphan's Courts and Court of Quarter Sessions .- George Stephenson, appointed in 1749; Samuel Johnston, 1764; Archibard M'Lean, 1777; Henry Miller, 1786; John Edie, 1794; Charles W. Hartley, 1800; William Barber, 1806; Adam King, 1818; Robert Hamersly, 1821; Adam King, 1823; Jacob Spangler, 1827; Jacob B. Wentz, 1830; George Frysinger, 1838; George A. Barnitz, elected October, 1839; George A. Barnitz, 1842; John A. Wilson, 1845; John A. Wilson, 1848; Thomas Jami- son, 1851; Joseph O. Stewart, 1854; John Reeser, 1857; William Tash, 1860; Samuel Ziegler, 1863; William Tash, 1866; Will- iam L. Keech, 1869; E. D. Bentzel, 1872; B. F. Koller, 1875; William A. Thompson, 1878; J. Alexander Blasser, 1881; William F. Ramsay, 1884.

Treasurers .- From 1749 to 1841, a period of nearly 100 years, the county treasurers were appointed annually by the county com- missioners. Some of them were re-appointed several times as the accompanying dates will indicate. An Act of Legislature, passed May 27, 1841, made this an elective office, the incumbent to serve two years. The con- stitution of 1873 extended the term to three years. David McConaughy, appointed in 1749; Thomas McCartney, 1752; Hugh White- ford, 1754: Robert McPherson, 1755; Fred- erick Gelwicks, 1756; William Delap, 1757; John Blackburn, 1759; David McConaughy, 1764; John Blackburn, 1766; Robert McPherson, 1767; Michael Schwaabe, 1769; Michael Hahn, 1777; John Hay, 1778; Ru- dolph Spangler, 1801; John Forsyth, 1805; John Strohman, 1808; Peter Kurtz, 1811; George Spangler, 1814; William Nes, 1817; Henry Smyser, 1820; John Voglesong, 1823; Peter Ahl, 1826; Jacob Bayler, 1829; Daniel Hartman, 1832; John W. Hetrick, elected, 1841; John McConkey, 1843; Samuel McCurdy, 1845; Peter Ahl, Jr., 1849; Samuel Fry, 1851; Edie Patterson, 1853; Alexan- der Wentz, 1855; John Stough, 1857; George W. Stair, 1859; Henry Bender, 1861; Zacha- riah Heindel, 1863; George Daron, 1865; 1869; Henry Bortner, 1871; Herman Noss, 1773; William Frey, 1875; Adam F. Geesey, 1878; John Landis, 1881; Henry Neater, 1884.

Chief Ranger .- George Stevenson, who was so much honored in the early days of this country, filled an office which is now unknown in our laws. James Hamilton, deputy governor of Pennsylvania, constituted him on January 7, 1750, Chief Ranger of and for the county of York ; granting "full power and authority to range, view and in-

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History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended, Part 60

Author: Gibson, John, Editor Publication date: 1886 Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Gibson, John, Editor
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago
Number of Pages: 1104