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 8

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

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land by themselves, and without the concur- rence of the proprietor of this province, or of such as are lawfully empowered by him. shall take upon them to extend by any obser- vation or survey the northern boundary of Maryland beyond the Octoraroe line estab- lished (as he was ready to prove by incontest- able evidence) above forty years ago by Charles, then Lord Baltimore, and second proprietor of that Province, who certainly was well acquainted with the measuring and construction of his own patent or grant from the crown, that in either of these cases his duty indispensably obliged him strenuously to oppose all observations or surveys made with any such inequitable and partial intent. That in the year 1719 he had received a letter from the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, which is believed to be much the same as that received of the part of Mary- land, and that there was nothing there to direct or countenance them to discover the bounds of Maryland by astronomical rules and uncertain observations. "But if Mr. Secretary Lloyd, whom I know to be a very ingenious and inquisitive gentleman, must needs improve his skill in observations of that nature, he will do it to better purpose and more safely by consulting my Lord Bal- timore's original patent or grant, which confines the province of Maryland on this side, in these words: To that part of Dela- ware Bay which lieth under the fortieth degree of northerly latitude," than by running up into the woods on the west side of Susque- hanna River, without a sufficient authority and proper direction for that purpose."

To this Gov. Calvert responded: "That Gov. Keith's letter had been laid be- fore the Council, and they were of opin- ion that he should strictly observe his lordship's instructions to take an observation on the west side of the Susquehanna, on the 10th, 11th, and 12th of September next, so that it is not a project or concert of Mr. Secretary Lloyd's."# He then gave notice by postscript that he intended to be upon the plantation of Robert West, called Maiden's Mount, in Baltimore County, but commonly known by the name of Bald Fryar, on Mon- day, the 9th day of September, in order there to begin to take observations. Gov. Keith then acquainted the Council at a meet- ing held on the 4th of September, 1723, that he proposed on the morrow to go to Conesto- goe, whereupon they requested him to meet Col. Calvert upon Susquehanna, if he could conveniently. In the meantime, how- ever, an agreement had been made in En-

*This letter is written from the west side of the river.

+III Col. Rec. 184.

*III Col. Rec. 224.

INDIAN TITLE.

gland between Lord Baltimore and the widow of William Penn, and others interested, to the effect that until a boundary line was agreed upon, no land should be surveyed, taken up or granted near the boundaries claimed on either side. This had been made on the 17th of February, 1723 .* And for the time the dispute was ended.

COMPLETION OF THE TITLE.

Delegations from the Five Nations fre- quently visited Conestogoe and Philadelphia, and in council had renewed and strengthened the leagues of friendship with the English by gifts of wampum and skins and receipt of merchandise in exchange. Gov. Keith visited Albany officially, in 1722, with some of the Provincial Council, taking with him presents of clothing, powder and lead, "to encourage their hunting, that they may grow rich and strong." The Governor re. ceived at his chamber ten chiefs of the Five Nations, being two from each, together with two others, said to be of the Tuscaroroes. In their language, the word for pen was "onas," hence that was the name by which they called William Penn, and they were accustomed to address each of the Governors of this province as such. On this occasion they spoke as follows: "Brother Onas: We here now freely surrender to you all those lands about Conestogoe, which the Five Nations have claimed, and it is our desire that the same may be settled with the Chris- tians. In token whereof we give this string of wampum." To which Gov. Keith re- sponded: "Brethren: You know very well that the lands about Conestogoe, upon the river Susquehanna, belong to your old friend and kind brother, William Penn; neverthe- less, I do here, in his name, kindly accept of the offer and surrender which you have made to me, because it will put an end to all other claims and disputes, if any should be made hereafter."f

Still later, on the 4th of July, 1727 Gov. Gordon was obliged to reiterate to the Indians, chiefly Cayugas, that Gov. Penn, that is Onas, took away none of their lands without purchasing them and paying for them, and that they had the deeds for all the lands on Susquehanna ; that the Five Nations never since claimed these lands, though they had many visits from them hither for brightening the chain of friend- ship. "And five years since, when Sir Will- iam Keith and four gentlemen of the Council were at Albany, at a general meeting of all

the Five Nations, the chiefs of themselves confirmed the former grant and absolutely released all pretentions to those lands. Our records show this, and those people who are now here cannot but be sensible of it."*

At a council held at Philadelphia, in the Great Meeting house, June 5, 1728, Mr. Logan spoke to the Indians to this effect: That their great friend, William Penn, had made it his constant rule never to suffer any lands to be settled by any of his people until they were first duly purchased from the In- dians, and his commissioners, who acted for him during his absence, had as carefully used the same method, they never agreed to the settlement of any lands till the Indians were duly satisfied for them. That it was stipu- lated at the first settlement of this province, between the proprietor, William Penn, and the Indians that they should sell no lands to private persons or to any besides himself, or his commissioners, and afterward a law was enacted to the same purpose, that all of the purchases made of the Indians by any other than the proprietor or his agents should be entirely void, which law, he said, is still in force. That the commissioners had been strictly careful to avoid granting any lands that had not been first duly purchased of the Indians, and the Indians were not put off bnt suffered voluntarily to remove. t

In 1730 Capt. Civility wrote to Gov. Gor- don, from Conestogoe, that at Lancaster he heard much talk that both Dutch and English were going to settle on the other side of the Susquehanna. That Mr. Wright and Mr. Blunston had surveyed a great deal of land and designed to dispose of it. That it was in their road to hunting and their young men might break the chain of friendship. That Mr. Wright had often said, when he first came to those parts, that no person should settle on that side of the river without the Indians' consent; that the Governor had de- sired, when with them at Conestogoe, that they should not hurt any of his people, which they carefully observed, and likewise that Edward Parnell, who was settled there, should go off, which he did. That they heard that one of William Penn's family was coming to this country and they would be glad to see any of his family. That they were then going out to hunt, and desired the Governor to suppress his people from settling there until they returned from their hunting, and then some of their chiefs would come down to him and have some further treaty about the matter. ; Thomas Penn, one of the

*III Col. Rec. 232. +III Col. Rec., 202.

*III Col. Rec. 273.

+III Col. Rec. 320.

ĮI Arch 271.

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.

proprietaries, arrived on the 11th of August, and took control of the province.

At a meeting of the Provincial Council at Philadelphia, in 1735, representatives of the Conestogoes, Shawanese and Ganawese being present. Thomas Penn read over to the In- dians the former treaties, reciting the deed of agreement of 1701, and the Indians pres- ent fully ratified and confirmed all the same between the government and the several na- tions in whose name and behalf they had come. At this council Civility said: "That when William Penn first came into this coun- try, he called many of the Indians together and told them that the great king of England had given unto him a large tract of land, on which several nations of Indians were set- tled; that it was his desire to live in peace and good friendship with all those Indians, and therefore he would make purchases from them of those lands, before they should be possessed by the white people. That William Penn and the Indians agreed on other arti- cles, of all which two papers were written; one of them their brother William Penn had, and the other they have brought with them to show that they preserve all these things carefully. That William Penn told the In- dians this agreement was to continue for three generations."*

On the 11th of October, 1736, in the tenth year of the reign of King George the Sec- ond, a deed was executed by the Sachems or Chiefs of the nations of the Onondagoes, Sen- ecas, Cayugas, Oneidas and the Tuscaroroes, to John, Thomas and Ricbard Penn, after reciting in the preamble as follows:

WHEREAS, the late Proprietary of the Province of Pennsylvania, Wm. Penn, Esqr., soon after his first arrival in his said province, took measures to have the River Susquehanna, with all the Lands ly- ing on both sides of the same, purchased for him and his heirs of those Indians of the ffive Nations, * * * and accordingly did purchase them of Coll. Thomas Dougan. & pay for the same, Notwith- standing which the Indians of the five Nations aforesaid, have continued to claim a Right in & to the said River and Land; nor have these claims been hitherto adjusted; whereupon the Sachems of Chiefs having with all the others of the said Nations met the last Summer at their great Council, held in ye Country of the said Onondagoes, did Resolve & Conclude that afinal Period and Conclusion should he put to all disputes that might possibly arise on that Occasion.

And having appointed the aforesaid sa- chems or chiefs as plenipotentiaries of all those nations to repair to Philadelphia, in order to confirm the several treaties of peace which have hitherto been concluded between

them and the said province, and also to settle and adjust all demands and claims that have been heretofore made touching or concerning the aforesaid Susquehanna and the lands ly- ing on both sides thereof: In consideration of the premises and " 500 lbs. powder, 600 lbs. lead, 45 guns, 60 strouds water match coats, 100 blankets, 100 duffle match coats, 200 yds. of half thick, 100 shirts, 40 hats, 40 prs. of shoes and buckles, 40 prs. stock- ings, 100 hatchets, 500 knives, 100 houghs (hoes), 60 kettles, 100 tobacco tongs, 100 scis- sors, 500 awl blades, 120 combs, 2,000 need- les, 1,000 flints, 24 looking-glasses, 2 lbs. ver- million, 100 tin pots, 200 lbs. tobacco, 25 glls. rum, 1,000 pipes, 24 dozen of gartering."

Conveyed to the said proprietaries, " all the said river Susquehanna, with the lands lying on both sides thereof, to extend eastwardly as far as the head of the branches or springs which run into the said Susquehanna, and all the lands lying on the west side of the said river to the setting of the sun, and to extend from the mouth of the said river northward, up the same to the hills or moun- tains called in the language of the said na- tions, the Tyannuntasacta, or endless hills, and by the Delaware Indians, the Kekkachta- nanin Hills."*

On the 25th of October, 1736, a release was executed by the several chiefs on behalf of the same nations, and also of the Mo- hawks, of the lands conveyed by the preced- ing deed, described more particularly as fol- lows: Lands on both sides of the river Sus- quehanna, from the mouth thereof as far northward or up the said river as the ridge of hills called the Tyoninhasachta, or Endless Mountains, westward to the setting sun, and eastward to the furthest springs of the waters running into the said river. Releasing all right, claim and pretensions to all the lands lying within the bounds and limits of the government of Pennsylvania, beginning eastward on the river Delaware, as far north- ward as the said ridge or chain of endless mountains as they cross the country of Penn- sylvania from, eastward to the west. That neither they nor any in authority in their na- tions, would sell to any person, white men or Indians, other than the children of William Penn, or persons authorized by them, any lands within the limits of Pennsylvania. On this deed of release there is an endorsement of ratification, dated the 9th of July, 1754, signed by nine Indians.t

*III Col. Rec. 598-9.

*IlI Col. Rec. 601-3.

+II Smith's Laws 115.

EUROPEAN TITLE.

T `HE European nations claimed the right by discovery to own and possess all countries inhabited by savages. It was a right they assumed to be inherent in them as Christians, for the conversion of the heathen, and between themselves the right was deter- mined by prior discovery. A newly discovered country belonged to the nation whose people first discovered it. The grants by the Popes to the Spaniards were never doubted, and no other Christian prince intruded into the countries made theirs by discovery and con- quest. The English acquired the title of first discoverers through Cabot's voyage along our coast in 1498. Yet, as the Delaware River was discovered by Henry Hudson, the right to the land upon it was claimed by the Dutch, because, at the time of discovery, he was in their service and under their flag. Cape May was named after a merchant of Amsterdam, Capt. Cornelius Jacobson May. The English, however, maintained their right, on the ground that Hudson was an Englishman by birth, and because Lord De La War entered the bay in 1610, giving his name to it; but the discovery made by Hudson was in 1609. There was enmity existing between the gov- ernments of New England and New Nether- lands. Oliver Cromwell had been applied to by the New Englanders for aid, and after his death, Charles II, restored to the throne, de- termined to drive the Hollanders away. He granted to his brother, the Duke of York, in 1664, the territory possessed by the Dutch, namely, New York and New Jersey, and the land now comprised in the State of Delaware. War vessels were sent over and Newcastle re- duced by an armed force. The whole prov. ince of New Netherlands was surrendered, and thus an English title was acquired by actual conquest. The Swedes, who had set- tled upon the Delaware, had come over under a charter from Gustavus Adolphus, but they came only as colonists, about the year 1626.

Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, obtained his grant to Maryland from Charles I, in 1632, and the first settlement under it was at St. Mary's in 1634. He claimed, under his grant, the lands on the west side of the Delaware River included in the whole of the fortieth degree of latitude. This grant to Cecil Cal- vert was of land promised to his father, George Calvert, Secretary of State, and which had been named by the king, Mary- land, in honor of his queen, Henrietta Maria. It was to the unoccupied part of Virginia,

from the Potomac River northward, including lands both on the east and west side of Ches- apeake Bay. Charles, the son of Cecil, pro- cured a confirmation of the patent in 1661. The words of the grant are: "All that part of a Peninsula lying between the ocean on the east and the bay of Chesapeake on the west, and divided from the other part by a right line, drawn from the Cape, called Wat- kins Point, situated in the aforesaid bay near the river Wigbee on the west, unto the main ocean on the east, and between that bound on the south unto that part of Delaware Bay on the north, which lieth under the fortieth de- gree of north latitude from the equinoctial, and all that tract of land, from the aforesaid bay of Delaware, in a right line by the de- gree aforesaid, to the true meridian of the first fountain of the river Potomack, and from thence tending toward the south, to the fur- ther bank of the aforesaid river, and follow- ing the west and south side of it, to a certain place called Cinquach, situated near the mouth of said river, where it falls into the bay of Chesapeake, and from thence by a straight line to the aforesaid cape, called Watkins Point."

The extent of land contained in the fortieth degree of latitude, thus mentioned as the northern boundary of Maryland, was claimed by the proprietors of both provinces as lying entirely within their respective grants. That part of the peninsula bordering on Delaware Bay had been settled and was occupied by the Dutch and Swedes, over whom the Duke of York claimed sovereignty. The grant to Lord Baltimore was only of such lands as were "unplanted by any civilized nation", and hence the settled part would be excluded from his charter. The grant to the Duke of York was of all lands occupied by the Dutch from the west side of Connecticut River to the east side of Delaware Bay. Before the grant to the Duke of York, Lord Baltimore had claimed all the lands between the 38th and 40th degrees of latitude from sea to sea. The charters of both Virginia and New En- gland had no certain boundaries, and the geographical position of the degrees of lati- tude mentioned were equally uncertain. Therefore, when William Penn conceived the idea of securing a tract of land in America for his purposes, he made his application for land lying north of Maryland on the east bounded by Delaware River, on the west limited as Maryland, and northward to extend as far as plantable .* To this application ob- jections were made by the Duke of York and Lord Baltimore. William Penn, in his own

*Proud. Anderson's History of Commerce.

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.

account of the application, says he petitioned the king for five degrees, when it was urged that Lord Baltimore had but two degrees. "Upon which the Lord Baltimore, turning his head to me, at whose chair I stood, said, 'Mr. Penn, will not three degrees serve your turn?' I answered, 'I submit both the when and how to the honorable warden".

The charter of Charles II to William Penn, Proprietary and Governor of the province of Pennsylvania, is dated at Westminster, the fourth day of March, 1681, in the thirty- third year of that monarch. The land granted to him is described as follows: "All that tract or parcel of land in America, with the islands therein contained, as the same is bounded on the east by the Delaware River from twelve miles distance northward of Newcastletown, unto the three and fortieth degree of north- ern latitude, if the said river doth extend so far northward, but if the said river shall not extend so far northward, then by the said river, so far as it doth extend, and from the head of the said river, the eastern bounds are to be determined by a meridian line, to be drawn from the head of said river, unto the said forty-third degree. The said land to extend westward five degrees in longitude, to be computed from the said eastern bounds and the said lands to be bounded on the north by the beginning of the three and for- tieth degree of northern latitude, and on the south by a circle, drawn at twelve miles distance from Newcastle, northward and west- ward, unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of northern latitude and then by a straight line westward to the limits of the longitude above mentioned."*

Newcastle was a town that had been set- tled by the Dutch, and called Nueue Amstel, and changed to Newcastle by the Duke of York, being the place now of that name, and situate within the fortieth degree of latitude. The land bordering on the Delaware River and Bay, settled by the Dutch and granted to the Duke of York, comprises what is now the State of Delaware. This land William Penn obtained of the Duke of York, by deed of re- lease, dated the 21st day of August, 1682. And by deeds of feoffment, dated the 24th of the same month, he procured from the Duke all his right, title and interest in the land, after known as the three lower counties on the Delaware, extending from the south boundary of the province of Pennsylvania, and situate on the western side of Delaware River and Bay, to Cape Henlopen. The first deed was for the town of Newcastle and a district of twelve miles around it as far as the

Delaware River. In the second was compre- hended that tract of land from twelve miles south of Newcastle to Cape Henlopen .*

Proud, in his history of Pennsylvania, says: "By the first section of the charter, the extent and boundary of the province are expressed in such plain terms that it might reasonably be supposed they could not well or easily be misunderstood; three degrees of lat- itude included and bounded between the be- ginning of the fortieth and the beginning of forty-third degree of north latitude, equal to about two hundred and eight English statute miles, north and south, with five degrees of longitude westward from Delaware River, which, in the parallel of forty-one degrees, are equal to nearly two hundred and sixty-tive miles east and west, are as clearly and mani- festly expressed to be granted to the proprie- tary of Pennsylvania as words can do it; and we are otherwise sufficiently certified that the same space or quantity of land was intended by the king to be included in the said grant, yet the dispute between the proprietaries of Maryland and Pennsylvania, on this point, was afterwards remarkable and of many years' continuance, occasioned by each of the respective proprietaries claiming to himself the whole space or extent of land contained in the fortieth degree of latitude, which was the north boundary of Maryland by patent of that province, and which though prior to that of Pennsylvania, specifies or assigns no particular part of the said degree for the boundary as the Pennsylvania grant doth, which space or degree, containing nearly' seventy English miles in breadth, north and south, and in length westward, so far as Ma ryland extends, was no small matter to occa- sion a dispute. But notwithstanding the clearness of the terms by which the boundary between the said provinces is expressed in their respective charters, as above mentioned, yet this dispute was at length, in the year 1732, finally settled chiefly in favor of Mary- land by fixing the said boundary between the; two provinces only fifteen miles due south of the most southerly part of Philadelphia, or in the parallel of thirty-nine degrees, for- ty-four minutes, nearly, instead of 39 degrees, or at the beginning of the fortieth degree, as mentioned and intended by charter, which renders the real extent of Pennsylvania north and south only about 155 miles, instead of 208, and makes the square miles in the province about 41,000, and the num- ber of acres 26,288,000, or near twenty-six millions." When William Penn visited the province, in 1682, he had an interview with

*I Col. Rec.

*Proud.

EUROPEAN TITLE.

Lord Baltimore in regard to the matter, in which he presented a letter from the king, that Lord Baltimore should measure his de- grees at sixty miles to a degree, his lordship said that the king was mistaken, and that the letter could not avoid his patent. William Penn says that the proprietor of Maryland treated him with great civility, but in all of their interviews he could never get him to ar- range definitely their respective bound- aries. *

James, Duke of York, succeeded to the throne on the death of his brother, Charles, in 1684. A petition of Lord Baltimore to the late king had been referred to the Committee of Trade and Plantations, and the Committee after many hearings on behalf of both parties, made their report to King James II, and he, in November, 1685, by advice of the council, ordered a division of the land between the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays, from the lat- itude of Cape Henlopen to the south bound- ary of Pennsylvania, into two equal parts, the Delaware side to be the king's, and the Chesapeake side to be Lord Baltimore's, on the ground that the lands granted by the pat- ent of Lord Baltimore were inhabited only by savages, and the part in dispute was in- habited and planted by Christians before the date of the patent. This dividing line termi- nated on the north at a parallel of about fif- teen miles due south of Philadelphia, touch- ing the are of a circle drawn at twelve miles distant from Newcastle to the river Delaware. James II, by the revolution of 1688, lost his throne and William and Mary succeeded. During this period of revolution, William Penn was under a cloud of suspicion, having been charged with being a Jesuit in disguise. It resulted in his being deprived of the gov- erument of his province, by William and Mary, which was placed under the control of Benjamin Fletcher, Governor of New York. The affairs of the province went on much as usual, William Markham, the first agent of William Penn, having been appointed dep- uty. In 1693 the government was restored to him. The same fate overtook the rival pro- prietary. Cecil Calvert died in 1675, when Charles became proprietor, and in 1691 the king took the government in his own hands until 1715, when the province was restored to the heir, then a Protestant. t

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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 8

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