USA > Pennsylvania > Mifflin County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 10
USA > Pennsylvania > Perry County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 10
USA > Pennsylvania > Union County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 10
USA > Pennsylvania > Juniata County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 10
USA > Pennsylvania > Snyder County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 10
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JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
las." Ile died in August, 1754, at MeKee's Half Falls, on Susquehanna ; and in May, 1755, General John Armstrong calls the big valley after him. He appears to have been one of the more decent and peaceable of the turbulent and treacherous Shawanese. As early as Au- gust 1, 1739, he was a witness to a renewal of the league of amity and good-will between the representatives of his tribe and the proprieta- ries, in which his name is spelled Kaash-aw- kagh-quil-las. Lewistown is the natural outlet of the valley and a much more likely location for a town than any other place in this region. The name does not belong to the Shawanese language, and is probably a lingering remnant of its ancient inhabitants. . As a Shawanese town it could not have been in existence over five years. Whatever may be the facts as to the routes by which these traders traveled to the Ohio prior to this date, whether they sometimes went by Shamokin and the West Branch, or during certain seasons along the dividing waters between the Juniata and Potomac, it is certain that one path traveled by these men passed through Ohesson and led over the mountain by Frankstown and Johnstown to Kittanning.
On the head of this news from the Ohio the Governor addressed the Assembly, saying, " You will clearly see the necessity of turning your thoughts to the consideration of Indian affairs, and providing by proper regulations for the peace and safety of the province, which is too frequently endangered by persons settling on lands not yet purchased from the natives, and the undue manner in which our trade with them for several years past has been carried on." This intimation of eneroachment on unpurchased lands must refer to those west of the Blue Mountains, for although the lands castward were purchased after this date in order to sat- isfy the Iroquois, yet the proprietaries always contended that the lands cast of the mountains had been fairly purchased, and were included in the deed from Governor Dougan.
In August, 1732, deputies of the Six Nations came to Philadelphia, to whom was rehearsed a history of the Shawanese, and as " they had re- moved backwards to Ohio," they were ordered by the Six Nations to return ; but this, like
previous efforts, resulted in utter failure. The occasion, however, served a timely opportunity to sharpen the hatred of the Six Nations against the French, and secure their good-will in behalf of the English. During this year one John Kelly, belonging to John Wilkins, got up a tre- mendous consternation among the Sha wanese by telling them that all the Christians were in friendship with the Five Nations, and that the latter had told the Governor that they had already eaten several of the Shawanese, and "if they should speak they would cat them all." The Governor sent them a message and a six- gallon keg of rum, which made them " exceed- ing joy ful," and their four chiefs returned thanks for the dram. In October a deputation visited Philadelphia by invitation, and gave various pretexts for living on the Ohio, but made pro- fessions of friendship to the English. The Governor said it involved a question, "in case of a rupture with France, between having a thousand fierce fellows for or against us." The following paragraph, also from the Governor, well illustrates the situation at that day:
" Those Indians by us generally called the Five Nations, but of late Six Nations, alias the Minquays and Iroquois, have been acknowledged by all the na- tives of these parts as their masters, and a friendship has hitherto existed between them and us on the Sus- quehanna River and other parts of the Province. These people, since their conquest of the Susquehannah In- dians, have always claimed that the river and all the lands upon it or its branches as their property ; and this claim has been constantly acknowledged by all the other Indians in these parts ; divers treaties have been held with them about those lands, and they sometimes seem to give them up to us, but still they claim them, and what may be the issue of it when they see such great numbers settled, as they will now find of those distressed people of Ireland, who have generally without any permission from the Govern- ment sat down on those lands, is very uncertain."
In June, 1733, Shickcalamy and three other Iroquois messengers visited Philadelphia, on the head of several ill reports in circulation among the Indians. He also made complaint against Peter Cheaver (Shaver) for traducing the former deputies and trading at Allegheny contrary to the agreement made at the last treaty, and also for making threats against the Indians. This man settled at Shaver's Creek
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THE ERA OF THE TRADERS.
about 1751, where his headless body was found one morning about the year 1770, the mystery of whose death has never been solved.
The following is the formal protest presented against John Harris, father of the founder of Harrisburg, for settling on unpurchased lands at the mouth of the Juniata River :
"Shekallamy then asked whether the Proprietor had heard of a letter which he and Sassoonan sent to John Harris to desire him to desist from making a plantation at the mouth of Choniata, where Harris has built a house and is clearing fields.
" They were told that Harris had only built that house for carrying on his trade; that his plantation, on which he has houses, barns, &c., at Paxtang, is his place of dwelling, and it's not to be supposed he will remove from thence; that he has no warrant or order for making a settlement at Choniata.
"Shekallamy said that though Harris may have built a house for the convenience of his trade, yet he ought not to clear fields.
"To this it was answered that Harris had probably cleared as much land only as would be sufficient to raise corn for his horses.
"Shikallamy said he had no ill-will to John Har- ris-it is not his custom to bear any man ill-ill; but he is afraid that the warriors of the Six Nations, when they pass that way, may take it ill to see a set- tlement made on lands which they have already de- wired to be kept free from any persons settling on."
"He was told in answer that care should be taken to give the necessary orders in it."
The improvement made by Harris, under pretense of a trading-post, was on Duncan's Island. Hle removed because of this protest, but other offenses of a like nature were con- stantly occurring during the next twenty years.
During 1734 and 1735 Hetaquantagechty came as a messenger three times from the Six Nations. The business related principally to the efforts put forth to induce the Shawanese to return cast of the mountains, which, as usual, failed. The customary protests were made against carrying rum into the Indian country. It is a disgrace to civilization that these savages had occasion to make these frequent complaints against their civilized brethren. He complained of the slanders of Madame Montour against a former deputation, and said " old age only pro- teets her from being punished for such false- hoods." The Shawanese threatened that they would remove farther northward towards the
French country, and desired the Delawares to go with them. Sassoonan had forbidden this, but fears were entertained concerning the con- duct of these nations. A letter from the Ohio named some twenty traders then among the In- dians in that region.
In August, 1736, Allummapees and other Del- awares visited Philadelphia. Among them was one Tuscarora, belonging doubtless to one of the straggling bands of that nation still living in Pennsylvania. Governor Gordon having died, Allummapees hoped " that by eating and drinking we should endeavor to forget our grief." The poor savage knew no higher source of comfort. The Six Nations could not visit the province this year because " a great number of Indians from the Winter Country were come amongst them, who are said never to have seen white people, corn or bread." They, how- ever, came in October with a very large depu- tation. This year is memorable for the sale and release of all claims to the lands cast of the Blue Mountains, to which the Six Nations still held a disputed claim. The western limit of this purchase was the dividing line adjoining the un- purchased Juniata region for the next eighteen years. The range was called Tyannuntasacta by the Six Nations and Kekachtannin by the Delawares, both of which terms signified End- less ITills. The early settlers called .it North Mountain ; afterwards it got the name of Blue, though often called Kittatinny. The land pur- chase was made privately by the proprietaries, and hence the Council records do not tell us what the deputies said about eneroachments upon the lands of Juniata and upper Susque- hanna. From what passed before and after this period, no doubt decided expressions were given by them on this point.
In August, 1737, Manawkyhickon who figured in 1728 in frightening Le Tort and Madame Montour from visiting the Miamis, and old Nutimus, a chief of the Delawares, who had some fifty years before signed the deed of what is known as " the Walking Purchase " for lands on the Delaware River, now, with other chief- tains of that nation, confirmed the old deed and released their claims to those lands. These ne- gotiations had been pending at Durham in
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JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
1731, at Pennsborough in 1735, and now, in 1737, it was agreed to have this walk performed, and it took place September 19th. Three walkers started on the course, two of whom died of over- exertion, and Edward Marshall reached a point computed at eighty-six miles. The Indians were over-reached and defrauded ; and from this time the Delawares were alienated, and the lands in after-years dearly paid for in blood, -- a price ruthlessly exacted from many of the first settlers in the Juniata region. Although the Delawares had commenced to stray west of the mountains as early as 1727, yet the most fero- cious and warlike of their tribes, the Minsi or Monseys, were most affected by the Walking Purchase, and now entered that school in which they were trained for the part they took in the French and Indian War. The grievances of the Delawares cannot be denied or palliated. The heart-burnings engendered in the savage breast broke out in loud complaints and in atrocious acts of vengeance.
In 1738 one hundred Shawanese at " Alle- ghenia " signed a temperance pledge for four years, and appointed men to stave all casks of rum brought into their towns. Their " Debbity King" and others sent a letter saying, "the track of land (on Connadoguinnet) you have reserved for us does not suit us at present, and we would not have you take it amiss that we do not come and settle upon it." Allummapees and a number of old men visited the Governor to brighten the chain of friendship, bringing as usual a few skins and getting three times their value in return.
In July, 1739, a delegation of Shawanese, mostly from Allegheny, visited Philadelphia. A history of their first settlement, in 1699, "near Paxtang, on the west side of Susque- hanna," was recounted to them. The treaty that their fathers had made with William Penn, April 23, 1701, was read and explained ; they made formal professions of friendship, which, as usual, was to last as long as the sun and moon would endure.
In August, 17 10, a considerable delegation of Delawares from Allegheny headed by Allum- mapees, sundry Mingors headed by Shickcalamy of Shamokin, and other Indians from Otzenaxa,
Conestogoe and Brandywine, visited Philadel- phia. They desired that white hunters should be restrained from killing the deer, beaver and bear which the Great Spirit had made for the use of the red man, As usual, they brought their broken guns and hatchets to be repaired. Special answers were given to our " brethren who are settled on the River Ohijo," and to "our brethren, the Mingoes from Shamokin." Otzenaxa, or Otstuacky, was a town on the Otzinachson, or West Branch, above Shamokin. It is evident the Shickcalamy was kept busy in managing the affairs of these scattered rem- nants of these various tribes.
In 1741 the Six Nations sent a letter declar- ing that the Delawares had no lands to dispose of, and prayed the proprietor not to buy or ac- cept any grant of lands from them. The Gov- ernor sent a letter to the Delawares, setting forth the former purchases and releases from them and the request of the Six Nations, exhort- ing and requiring the Delawares to live peace- ably with the English inhabitants.
In July, 1742, a large delegation of the Iroquois visited Philadelphia to receive the second and last payment for the Susquehanna lands sold in 1736, being that part that lays southwest of the river. In the speech made by Canassatego there is the following reference to the Juniata lands :
" We know our lands are now become more valua- ble; the white people think we do not know their value, but we are sensible that the land is everlast- ing, and the few goods we receive for it are soon worn out and gone. For the future we will sell no lands, but when our brother Onas (Penn) is in the country, and we will know beforehand the quantity of goods we are to receive. Besides, we are not well used with respect to the lands still unsold by us. Your people daily settle on these lands and spoil our hunting. We must insist on your removing them, as you know they have no right to the northward of Kittochtinny Hills. In particular, we renew our complaints against some people who are settled at Juniata, a branch of the Susquehanna, and all along the banks of that river, as Mahaniay, and desire that they may be made forthwith to go off' the land, for they do great damage to our cousins, the Delawares."
To this urgent complaint the Governor re- plied : " On your former complaints against people settling the land on Juniata, and from
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INDIAN PURCHASES.
thence all along the river Susquehannah as far as Mahaniahy, some Magistrates were sent ex- pressly to remove them, and we thought no per- son would stay after that."
Here the Indians interrupted the Governor and said : " These persons who were sent did not do their duty ; so far from removing the people, they made surveys for themselves and they are in league with the trespassers. We de- sire more effectual methods to be used, and honester persons employed."
This the Governor promised them should be done. After thinking over it from July 7th to October 5th, he issued a proclamation. From its terms we infer that the sections most troubled by the intruders at this period were at the mouth of the Juniata and up along that river, probably as far as the present Juniata County ; in Fulton County, in what were termed the Big Cove, Little Cove and the Canalloways, here spoken of as the region of the Licking Creek Hills, after a small stream west of MeConnells- burg, flowing into the Potomac ; and the whole length of the Susquehanna, from the mouth of the Juniata up to Wyoming -- showing that all along this border, stretching across the province, the pioneers were imprudently intruding upon the unpurchased lands of the New York In- dians.
CHAPTER III.
INDIAN PURCHASES-PIONEER SETTLEMENTS- INDIAN MASSACRES.
Less than a hundred and fifty years ago- until several years after the middle of the eighteenth century-all the territory now in- cluded in the counties of Mifflin, Union, Perry, Juniata and Snyder was claimed by the native Indians as their own rightful property, and their claim was admitted and acknowledged by the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, whose settled policy it was and had ever been to secure and retain the friendship of the savages by prohib- iting and preventing, as far as possible, the locating of white settlers on any lands within the province until after the Indian title to such
lands had been fairly purchased from their native owners, in open treaty council.
The region embraced in the five counties to which this history has particular reference con- tained but few Indian settlements, and was, in no sense, to be regarded as their home domain. There were a few of their squalid little villages, or camps, along the West Branch of the Sus- quehanna, and fewer yet in the valley of the Juniata; but the country was not, on that account, any less highly prized by them; in fact, the reverse was the case, and they regarded it as the most valuable of all their possessions, because it included vast tracts of their best and most productive hunting-grounds. Referring to this fact, Conrad Weiser, in a letter to Rich- ard Peters, the proprietary secretary, dated April 22, 1749, said : "The Indians say (and with truth) That Country is their only Hunt- ing-Ground for Deer, because further to the North there was nothing but Spruce woods, and the Ground covered with Kalmia [laurel] bushes, not a single Deer could be found or killed There."
To preserve these favorite hunting-grounds for the Indians, free from the intrusion of white settlers, was the earnest desire of the proprietaries, and they used every practicable means in their power to their end; but it was without avail. Neither the several proclama- tions of the Governor, threatening fines and imprisonment to intruders, nor the fear of the tomahawks and scalping-knives of the savages, had the effect to deter adventurous white men from attempting to secure homes in the iuvi- ting region lying west of the Susquehanna, and extending from the West Branch of that river southward to the Blue Mountains.
It appears that the first Europeans who at- tempted to make their homes in all that region were Germans, who came several years in ad- vance of all other white settlers, and boldly located themselves in the valley of the Juniata. The coming of this little colony of fearless pioneers is mentioned as follows, in an official communication dated July 2, 1750, and ad- dressed to Governor Hamilton by the secretary to the proprietors, Richard Peters, Esq. :
" About the year 1740 or 1741, one Frederick Star,
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a German, with two or three more of his countrymen, made some settlements at the above place,' where we found William White, the Galloways, and Andrew Lycon, on Big Juniata, situate at the distance of twenty-five miles from the mouth thereof, and about ten miles north of the Blue Hills, a place much es- teemed by the Indians for some of their best hunting- grounds, which (German settlers) were discovered by the Delawares at Shamokin to the deputies of the Six Nations as they came down to Philadelphia in the year 1742, to hold a treaty with this Government; and they were disturbed at, as to enquire with a peculiar warmth of Governour Thomas if these People had come there by the Orders, or with the Privilege of the Government; alleging that if this was so, this was a breach of the Treaties subsisting between the Six Nations and the Proprietor, William Penn, who, in the most solemn manner, engaged to them not to suffer any of the People to settle Lands till they had purchased from the Council of the Six Nations. The Governour, as he might with great truth, disowned any knowledge of those Persons' settlements; and on the Indians insisting that they should be immediately thrown over the mountains, he promised to issue his Proclamation, and if this had no Effect, to put the Laws in execution against them. The Indians, in the same Treaty, publickly expressed very severe threats against the Inhabitants of Maryland for settling Lands for which they had received no Satisfaction; and said if they would not do them Justice, they would do justice to themselves; and would certainly have committed Hostilities if a Treaty had not been under foot between Maryland and the Six Nations under the mediation of Governour Thomas ; at which the Indians consented to sell Lands and receive a valuable consideration for them, which put an end to the danger."
The secretary then recounts that, in accord- ance with directions from the proprietaries and the Governor, and under a proclamation of the Governor to the same effect, he (Secretary Peters) caused the settlers to be driven out, in June, 1743. Ile also mentions that in 1741 or 1742 information was given that white people were intruding and making settlements on un- purchased lands at Big Cove, Little Cove and Big and Little Conolloways, and that these un- authorized settlements had continued for some years to increase, notwithstanding frequent pro-
hibitions on the part of the government, and admonitions of the great danger they ran of being cut off by the Indians, who were incensed at this occupation of their lands, for which they had received no compensation. The report then continues,-
"These were, to the best of my remembrance, all the places settled by Pennsylvanians in the unpur- chased part of the Province till about three years ago [1749], when some Persons had the presumption to go into Path Valley or Tuscarora Gap, lying to the east of the Big Cove, and into a place called Aucquick, lying to the Northward of it; and likewise into a place called Shearman's Creek, lying along the waters of Juniata, and is situate east of the Path Valley, through which the present Road goes from Harris' Ferry [Harrisburg] to Allegheny; and lastly, they extended their settlements to Big Juniata ; the Indi- ans all this while repeatedly complaining that their hunting-Ground was every day more and more taken from them; and that there must infallibly arise quar- rels between their Warriours and thesesettlers, which would in the end break the chain of friendship, and pressing in the most importunate terms for their speedy removal. The Government in 1748 sent the Sheriff and three Magistrates, with Mr. Weiser, into these places, to warn the People; but they, notwith- standing, continued their settlements, in opposition to all this; and if those People were prompted by a desire to make mischief, settled Lands no better, nay, not so good, as many vacant Lands in the purchased part of the Province. The bulk of these settlements were made during the administration of President Palmer; and it is well known to your Honour, though then in England, that his attention to the Safety of the City and the Lower Counties would not permit him to extend more care to places so remote."
LANDS PURCHASED FROM THE INDIANS .- The first sale of lands in Pennsylvania, by Indians, was that made to William Penn at the historic treaty council of 1682, comprising a comparatively small area of country, extend- ing along the Delaware above Philadelphia, and as high up as the central part of the present county of Bucks. On the 17th of September, 1718, another treaty was made, by which the Indians confirmed the sales they had previously made and extended them from the Delaware to the Susquehanna. This last-named sale was again confirmed at a treaty council held and concluded on the 11th of October, 1736, at which time twenty-three chiefs of the Six Na- tions sold to John, Thomas and Richard Penn
1 Referring to a place mentioned in the preceding part of the letter from which this is extracted-the place being where the settlements of William White and others were broken up in 1750, along the valley of the Juniata, near what is known as Mexico, in Juniata County.
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PIONEER SETTLEMENTS.
all the lands on both sides of the Susquehanna, -eastward, to the heads of the branches, or springs, flowing into the river; northward, to the Kittochtinny Hills; and westward, to the "etting sun,-this vague and extravagant de- scription meaning nothing more than that the western boundary was undecided on and in- definite.
In 1749 another treaty was made, in pursu- ance of which the sachems and chiefs of the Six Nations, and of the Shamokin, Shawanese and Delaware Indians, sold to the proprietaries. of Pennsylvania, for the consideration of five hun- dred pounds, a vast scope of territory, extend- ing from the Delaware westward to the Sus- quehanna River, and north along that river, far enough to include more than half the present county of Northumberland, and Luzerne, a part of Columbia, Lackawanna and Wayne, all of Schuylkill and Monroe and nearly all of Pike. This great purchase was described in the deed from the Indians as follows :
" Beginning at the Hills, or mountains, called, in the language of the Five Nation Indians, Tyanunta- sichta, or Endless Hills, and by the Delaware In- dians, Kekachtany Hills, on the east side of the River Susquehanna, being in the northwest line or boundary of the tract of land formerly purchased by the said Pro- prietaries from the said Indian nations, by their deed of the 11th of October, 1736; and from thence, run- ning up the said River, by the several courses thereof, to the first of the nearest Mountains to the north side or mouth of the creek, called, in the lan- guage of the said Five Nation Indians, Cantagug, and in the language of the Delaware Indians, Magho- nioy ; and from thence, extending in a direct or straight line to be run from the said mountain on the north side of said creek, to the main Branch of Dela- ware River at the north side of the creek called Lechawachsein ; and from thence across Lechawach- win creek, aforesaid, down the River Delaware, by the several courses thereof, to the Kekachtany Hills, aforesaid ; and from thence, by the range of said Hills, to the place of beginning, as more fully appears by a map annexed; and also all the parts of the Rivers Susquehanna and Delaware, from shore to shore, which are opposite said lands, and all the Idlands in said Rivers, &c."
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