USA > Pennsylvania > Carbon County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 2 > Part 27
USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 2 > Part 27
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Adam Schneck is known to have taken out war- rants for land in the vicinity of Schneeksville in 1766, and is supposed to have been the founder of the family. and to have come from Würtemberg, Germany. The descendants of the family residing in the township are numerous, and prominent among them are John B. Schneck, who has a portion of the original tract, Joseph Schneck, and Nathan Schneck.
Of Leonard Schluzer, who is supposed to be foun- der of the Schlosser family, and to have settled in North Whitehall about 1749, tradition says that he was the owner of large traets of land, extending in a belt from the Lehigh River to Unionville. His son Jacob had three sons, named Stephen, Jonas, and John. The latter two removed from the State, and Stephen, who was born on the 30th of Jannary, 1813, came into the possession of a part of the original tract. He died on the 14th of January, 1881. He was mar- ried to Eliza Jacob, and his sons living are Henry and John Frank (the marble-cutter), of Unionville ; Benjamin and Orville, of Allentown, Pa.
Along Jordan Creek, John Lichtenwalner obtained a warrant for three hundred aeres in 1738, a portion of which is in North Whitehall, owned by Henry Geiger. Hans Ulrich Allner located one hundred and five acres one hundred and thirty-eight perches on the 27th of February, 1744. Philip Diel took out warrants on the 18th of April, 1753, and the 20th of August, 1754, for two hundred and seventy- six aeres ; and Felix Arner obtained warrants on the 18th of October, 1752, for forty-three acres, on the 20th of August, 1765, for seventy-nine acres, on the 28th of January, 1771, for twenty-nine acres fifty- five perehes, and on the 14th of September, 1772, for thirty-nine aeres one hundred and twenty-nine perches. These families have disappeared from the township, and of the last named only it is known
from his tombstone at Union Church that he was born October, 1726, and died in 1776. Large tracts of land were also located in the vicinity of Ironton by John Nicolaus Hertzog, who lived near the present site of Brown's ore-beds. His family have also dis- appeared from the township.
Among the carly settlers were also Peter Burk- holder, who, in 1754, applied for a tract of land, a part of which lay in what is now North Whitehall ; Jacob Seager, who in December, 1796, received a patent deed for a small tract; Nicholas Marks, who obtained a patent for two hundred and one aeres on the 23d of February, 1773, and another for seventy- two and one-half acres on the 4th of May, 1773, which land lies on both sides of the present boun- dary line of North Whitehall and of Whitehall town- ships; Jacob Miekley, whose tract of thirty-eight acres also lies on both sides of the line, and John Snyder, whose title afterwards vested in Nicholas Allemang. The Troxells also early located a traet of fifteen hundred aeres in the neighborhood of Egypt, a portion of which now lies in North White- hall.
The assessment-lists for 1781 disclose the names of the following as real-estate owners in that year in the township :
Michael Broch.
Peter Neuhard.
Stephen Balliet.
Frederick Nenhard.
John Balliet.
Lawrence Nenhard.
Paul Balliet.
Peter Neuhard.
Henry Berger.
Lawrence Ruch.
Jacob Berger.
Michael Ringer, Jr.
Christopher Blank.
Nicholas Seager.
Henry Bear.
Nicholas Seager, Jr.
Philip Deel.
Samuel Senger.
Peter Draxel.
Christian Seager.
Daniel Draxel.
Peter Stechle.
Nicholas Draxel.
Jacob Steckle.
Adam Draxel.
John Shad.
Jacob Frantz.
Adam Serfass.
Jacob Flickinger.
Stephen Soyder.
George Flickinger.
Widow Snyder.
Martin Graff. Michael Snyder.
Lawrence Good.
Daniel Snyder.
Paul Gross.
Conrad Seip.
Widow Houser.
William Seip.
Jacob Harmon.
Adım sheuter.
John Hoffman.
Peter Sneck.
Barthol Hoffman.
llenry Snech.
Peter Hoffman.
Yost G. Sneck.
George loll'man. Martin Samel.
Henry Ileffelfinger.
George Samel.
Andrew Jeal.
Jacob Sander.
Jacob Kohler.
Adam Sander.
Peter Kohler.
Jolin Sander.
Theobald Kennel.
Widow Siegfried.
llenry Koon.
Andrew Siegfried.
Gottfrey Lanry.
Samnel Woodring.
Conrad Leysering.
Nicholas Woodring.
Peler Meyer.
Jacob Wolf.
Jacob Miller.
Philip Knapperberger.
Sebastian Miller.
John Mosser.
Adam Miller.
An account of the steps by which the early settlers obtained the right, title, and possession of these lands, all of which originally belonged to the Delaware or Lenni Lenape Indians, may not be uninteresting.
516
HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Having east about for any unoccupied land that pleased his fancy, the colonist made application to the rulers of the province of Pennsylvania for a warrant for the survey of the land selected, paying at the same time a certain per cent. of the purchase money down. The prices of the land varied at different times. Thus, between the years 1744 and 1758 the price per hundred acres was fifteen pounds ten shil- lings, or forty-one dollars and thirty-three cents, or four dollars and thirteen cents per acre. About 1762 and 1763, the time of the Indian troubles, the price sank to nine pounds, or twenty-four dollars, and in 1765 it rose to its former price of fifteen pounds ten shillings, at which figure it remained for bnt a short time. The value fell again to five pounds sterling, or twenty-two dollars and twenty-two cents, in July, 1765, at which price it was sold till after the close of the Revolutionary war and the return of peace, in 1784.
After taking out the warrant the settler had a pre- sumptive title to the land, which he secured by pay- ing a portion of the purchase money down as already stated. The warrant in reality was only an instrument giving the surveyor-general of the province authority to survey a tract of land corresponding in quantity to what was asked for in the settler's application. The survey was then made, generally a few months after the issuing of the warrant, and a return made to the land office, with a draft attached. Then, at the con- venience of the colonists, sometimes not for many years after the first steps were taken, the settler paid the balance of the purchase money, and received from the proprietaries of the province a deed-patent for the land surveyed for him. The full title to their lands was thus often not secured by the early settlers till after the lapse of twenty or twenty-five years, or even more, from the time when they first settled. For ex- ample, the land of Nicholas Seager, who took out a warrant for two hundred and fifty acres on Coplay Creek on the 28th of October, 1737, was not surveyed till the 14th of November following ; and he did not ask for or obtain his deed for the same till the 6th of April, 1762. So with the second tract of forty-three and one-half aeres, for which he applied on the 24th of January, 1739. This was not surveyed till the 8th of May in that year, and a deed for it was not received by him till the 6th of April, 1762. Thus it will be seen that Seager was in the full enjoyment of the first tract twenty-five years, and of the second twenty- three years, before the title fully vested in him. This was the general practice of the early settlers, some of whom in fact never received a deed for the lands for which they had taken out warrants, selling their title to the warrants, so that often the deeds were made to their venders. This seeming looseness was permitted by the proprietaries for the greater enconragement of colonization.
It may be of interest also to know what was the form of the patent deeds which the proprietaries of
the province of Pennsylvania granted to the early settlers in pursuance of surveys made under these warrants, and we accordingly subjoin a copy of one in possession of Dr. Lewis B. Balliet. It reads as follows :
" THOMAS PENN AND RICHARD PENN, Esqrs., True and absolute Pro- prietaries and Governors in Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania and Connties of New Castle, Kent and Sussex upon Delaware.
" To all unto whom these Presents shall come, Greeting : WHEREAS in Consequence of the application of Panl Palyard, dated the Twelfth day of April, 1749, For 97120 acres of land in Whitehall Township, Northamp- ton County, a survey bath been made of the Tract of Land hereinafter mentioned and intended to be hereby granted. AND WHEREAS, in par- snance of a warrant, dated the Ninth day of October, 1750, requiring our Surveyor General to accept the said survey into his office, and make return thereof into our Secretary's Office, in Order for Confirmation to the said Panl Polyard, on the terms in the same warrant mentioned, he bath accordingly made Return thereof, thereby certifying the Descrip- tion, Bounds and Limits, of the land as aforesaid, surveyed to be as fol- lows, viz. : Beginning at a small marked Chestnut Oak, thence by vacant land North thirty-five Degrees, West one hundred and forty perches to a post, South seventy degrees, west eighty perches to a post, and South one luindred and forty-four perches and a half to a post, thence by land of Caspar Wistar, North seventy degrees, East one Inindred and sixty- five perches to the place of beginning, containing Ninety-seven Acres and One hundred Perches, and the usual allowance of Six per cent. for Roads and Highways.
" Now at the instance and request of the said Pant Polyard that we would be pleased to grant him a Confirmation of the same. Know F., that in consideration of the ann of Six Pounds and Two Shillings, Ster- ling money of Great Britain and lawful money of Pennsylvania, to our Use, paid by the Said Panl Polyard, (the Receipt whereof we herelyy ac- knowledge and thereof do acquit and torever di-charge the said Panl Padyand, his Heirs and Assigns, by these Preseuts, and of the yearly Quit Rent hereinafter mentioned and reserved, We Have given, granted,
released and confirmed and by these Presents, for ns, our Heirs and Suc- cessats, Do give, grant, release and confirm, unto the said l'anl Polyard, his heirs and assigns, the said Ninety-seven Acres of Land, as the same are now set forth, bounded and limited as aforesaid : With all Mines, Minerals, Quarries, Meadows, Marshes, Savannahs, Swamps, Cripples, Woods, Umlerwoods, Timber, and Trees, Ways, Waters, Water-courses, Liberties, Profits, Commodities, Advantages, Hereditaments and Appur- tenances whatsoever, thereunto belonging of in any wise appertaining and lying within the Bounds and Limits aforesaid (Three full and clear tilth Parts of all Royal Mines free from all Deductions and Reprisals for digging and refining the same: and also one-fifth Part of the Ore of all other Mines, delivered at the Pit's month only excepted, and herchy te- served) and also free Leave, Right, and Liberty, to and for the said Paul Polyard, his Heirs and Assigns, to hawk, hnut, fish, and fowl, in and upon the hereby granted Land and Premises, or upon any Part thereoľ: " To Have and to Hold the said above-described Tract of Land and Premises hereby granted (except as before excepted), with their Apper- tenances nato the said Pant Polyard, his Heirs und Assigns, forever, To the only ase and bebest of the said Pand Polyard, His Heits and Assigns forever ; To be Holden of us, our Heirs and Successors, Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, us of our Manor of Fermor, in the County of Northanton aforosaid, in free und common Socage, by Fealty only, in lien of all other Services, Yielding and Paying therefore yearly unto Us, om Heirs and Successors, at the town of Easton, in the said County, at or mpon the first Day of March in every year, from the first day of March last, One half-Penny Sterling for every Acre of the same, or Valne thereof in Coin current, according as the Exchange shall then be between our said Province and the City of London, to such Person or Persons as shall from Time to Time be appointed to receive The same. And in case of Non-payment thereof within ninety Days next after the Same shall becotuo dne, that then it shall and may be lawful for ns, onr Heirs, and Successors, our and their Receiver or Receivers, into aud upon the hereby granted Land and Premises to re-enter, and the sune to hold and Possess nutil the said Quit. Rent and all the Arrears thereof, to- gether with the charges aceruing by Means of such Non-payment and lir-entry, le fully paid und discharged.
" Witness, James Handlton, Esqnire, Lieutenant-Governor of the said Province, who, by Virtue of certain Powers and Authorities to him lor this Purpose, inter alia, ginnted by the said Proprietaries, bath hierennto set his Hand, and caused the Great Soul of the said Province to he here-
517
NORTH WHITEHALL TOWNSHIP.
unto affixed, at Philadelphia, this Seventh Day of September, in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-one, the First Year of the Reign of King George the Third, over Great Britain, &c., and the Forty-fourth year of the said Proprietaries' Government.
" JAMES HAMILTON."
After thus obtaining possession, the early settlers devoted themselves with might and main to the clear- ing of the land, so as to make it suitable for agricul- ture. In 1773 there were in the entire township of Whitehall (that is, the region now included in the three Whitehalls) six thousand and seventy acres of cleared land, of which twelve hundred and twenty-three acres were covered with grain, which was sown by the one hundred and seventeen farmers then in the township. Of other trades and occupations, there were at the same time three landlords, one weaver, two smiths, and one tailor, while the poor numbered seven. La- borers received from ten to twelve cents a day ; houses were rented from four to eight dollars a year, which included fuel and the use of several acres of land. Taxes were light: a farm of two hundred acres paid from eighty cents to one dollar and a half. Between 1790 and 1800 a tract of land containing eighty acres, with a saw-mill, grist-mill, and other improvements, paid nine dollars tax.
The first duty which occupied the early settlers was the elearing of a spaec sufficiently large for a dwell- ing-house and garden. Their houses were built of logs, the interstices between which were filled up with saplings, and sometimes roughly plastered with mud. At first the bare ground, trodden down hard, served as a floor, but later rough boards were laid. The roof was thatched with straw, and in the course of time covered with boards and shingles. The houses were one story and a half in height, and the same model was observed by all in the method of their construction. On the ground-floor there were two rooms,-a larger, used as a kitchen, dining-room, and for general family purposes ; the other smaller, and oceupied as a bedroom. The latter opened into a still smaller room, called the " kammer," which was without a window, and was used by the head of the family and his spouse as a bedroom. In the kitchen there was a huge fireplace, generally in the partition-wall between the two lower rooms, and i large chimney reared itself from the middle of the roof.
On the right hand a bake-oven was inserted into the fireplace and chimney, and in the loft over the oven there was a smoke-house for drying meat. Later, mall-stoves were used, which were square boxes of rough cast iron, withont a cover, inserted into the wall. The loft was all one room, and was used by the children as a bedroom, and for storing grain and flax. Small windows, with four panes of glass, were let into the walls, and heavy plank doors guarded from external assault. In the loft there were also loopholes, from which to repel the attacks of hostile savages. The furniture was simple, and roughly made out of logs. It generally consisted of
a heavy board for a table, and several rude benches and bedsteads.
They next began constructing barns and out-build- ings, at the same time clearing more land. Thrash- ing floors were of mud, leveled and beaten down hard. Upon the new land the farmers raised wheat for the first and second crop, and afterwards rye and buek- wheat, and, after 1780, Indian corn. Upon a whole farm, in the early days, no more of these grains was raised than is now produced by a single field. The rye and buckwheat were used for bread, wheat being the only commodity passing current as money. The wheat was carefully garnered and ground into flour,- not for the use of the farmer and his family, but to be sold. Flax was also raised, but only in such quantity as was needed for clothing, for which purpose flax and wool were the only materials used.
It may well be imagined that it required men of great bodily strength to engage in a contest with nature such as the early settlers undertook, and tales of the strength and endurance of the North White- hall settlers are. told to this day. Their lives were simple and well regulated ; their food was corn-mush, game, and fish. The richer farmers treated them- selves of a Sunday to pies made of bread-crust and beef. The Coplay and the other creeks abonnded in trout, and shoals of shad ascended the Lehigh River every spring. These were caught by parties who erected what were ealled shad-bounds, the idea of which was received from the Indians. In the cen- tre of the stream, some distance above a fall, a large circle, not entirely closed, was made with stones, rising above the surface of the water. From the broken ends of the circle, wing-walls of stone ex- tended to both banks of the river, thus effectually preventing the return of the fish down stream. The party of fishermen then went some distance up the river, and with twigs and branches frightened the shad into swimming into the cirele, where they were easily caught. It was a common occurrence to take two hundred fish out of a circle, many of which weighed ten pounds. Some of these Indian bounds were standing as late as 1825. The clothing used by the early settlers was mainly of flax, which was woven by the women and the younger sons of the family. Children went barefooted, and when grown up were presented with a pair of cowhide shoes or boots. Later a pair of these was given each fall. Agricul- ture was a rude affair, and farming implements were of the simplest description. Plows were made of wood, the point of the share being tipped with iron ; hoes and forks were clumsily made and heavy out of all proportion.
The early settlers were neighborly and kind, honest and simple in disposition. They were always ready to extend a helping hand to a neighbor in distress. Their accounts with each other they kept in chalk upon the smoke-browned rafters. They required no bonds of each other when loaning money, and when
.
518
HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
promissory notes were first introduced to their un- sophisticated minds, they had great difficulty in deter- mining whether the borrower or the lender should hold the security.
Not all the land was at first taken by farmers and improved. Large traets were also applied for by speculators, who held them for a time only for the purpose of realizing a profit on their sale. One of the principal of these was Samuel Morris, of Phila- delphia, who owned a large estate in the neighbor- hood of Romieli's mill. IIe stationed a watchman by the name of John Henry upon his land, to pre- vent depredations upon the wood. John was fond of his toddy, and the neighbors were accustomed to humor this weakness of his to such an extent that he would forget his duty and assist them in earting away the wood he was appointed to gnard. He is still remembered by the name of " Elsenhans," which he received beeanse of his so doing. Another famous land speeulator was Nicholas Kraemer, who flourished between 1800 and 1817. He was entirely uneducated, but his skill and aptness in buying and selling the land still fills those who dealt with him with admira- tion, and he will long be remembered under the quaint title of the " land merchant," which the people gave him.
In 1752, when Northampton County was formed, the upper part of what is now Lehigh County, com- prising at present the townships of Lynn, Weissen- berg, Heidelberg, Lowhill, and the three Whitehalls, i contained about eight hundred people. In 1810 the population of the district which is now North White- hall, South Whitehall, and Whitehall contained thir- teen hundred and thirty-eight white males and twelve hundred and fifty-one white females, or a total of two thousand five hundred and eighty-nine people. In 1820 the population of North Whitehall was eigh- teen hundred and seven; in 1830, two thousand and fourteen; and in 1840, two thousand three hundred and twenty-four. The census of 1870 showed a popu- lation of four thousand one hundred and seventy persons, and at present it is above five thousand. North Whitehall has at present a cultivated acreage of twenty-one thonsand one hundred and twenty
The Aborigines-Indian Troubles-The Massa- cre of 1763 .- The valleys through which the Coplay, Fell's, and Mill Creeks flow were favorite hunting- and camping-grounds of the Delaware and Shawanese Indians. Kolapechka, a chief of the latter tribe, and the son of Paxanosa, also a chief, dwelt on the banks of Sand Spring, one of the tributaries of Coplay Creek, near Ballietsville, on land now owned by Joseph Balliet, Ile was a good man, and was frequently employed by the government as a messenger. The remains of the foundation walls of his hut are still pointed out. There were Indian villages on Laurence Troxell's (now Jeremiah Ritter's) land, on land now owned by James Scheurer, and upon that of Hilarius
Kernell and the Woodrings, near Sehnecksville. Another encampment was located on land now owned by Jerry Kuhns, and the spring flowing by the spot is yet known as Indian Spring. At the mouth of Rock Creek there was also a village, and at the same point there was a fording-place used by the Indians in cross- ing the Lehigh River. Some distance farther down the stream were rapids, which were known by the name of the Indian Falls until they were flooded by the erection of Kuntz's dam, two miles above Laury's. There were burial grounds on land now owned by Tilghman Schneck and beyond Unionville. Near Romich's mill there is a field on the side of the hill, well exposed to the sun, upon which the savages raised Indian corn. In the neighborhood of these places there are still found stone arrow-heads, axes, toma- hawks, hoes, etc., in abundance. Traces of Indian paths are still visible in the vicinity of Sand Spring, and from Siegfried's bridge to Egypt, thenee to the Blue Mountains, near the Bake Oven Knob. The latter runs due east and west, and its course is still plain from the cleared space where there are woods. At the upper end of the village of Whitehall, in White- hall township, about a quarter of a mile north of the bridge at Siegfried's, the Indians were aceustomed to eross the Lehigh River. On the Northampton County side of the river numerous skeletons, beads, toma- hawks, etc., were discovered in digging the road-bed of the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad, about four- teen years ago. Numerous Indian paths branched out on this side of the river from this fording-place, one of which, leading along Mill Creek, was taken by the Indians on their murderous journey in October, 1763.
The relations of the early German settlers were peaceful and friendly with the Indians. The latter plaited baskets for their white neighbors, and received in return the necessaries of life, while the children of both played and grew up with each other. After the defeat of Braddock in 1753, the murderous in- stincts of the savages were aroused, and the settlers were constantly disturbed. It was a customary thing for the former, ritle in hand, to ascend some high point near his house before retiring, and look for blazing cottages. In 1758 peace was made and kept unbroken till 1763, when Indian fury again broke out.
On the 8th of October, 1763,-a clear, delightful fall day,-a band of twelve Indians crossed the Lehigh River at the spot where Whitehall now stands, fresh from an attack upon the whites in Allen township, Northampton Co., and proceeded along Mill Creek to the farm of John Jacob Mickley, three of whose chil- dren they met in the woods gathering chestnuts, and immediately murdered two of them. They then pro- ceeded to the house of Nicholas Marks and Hans Schneider, both of which they burned down after they had killed Schneider, his wife and three children, and wounded two daughters, scalping one of them, and leaving both for dead. Marks and his family
519
NORTH WHITEHALL TOWNSHIP.
eseaped. Another of Schneider's children was taken captive, and never restored. A full account of these murders will be found in the general history. The murdered Mickley children were buried on the farm, and the spot where they are interred at the foot of a large chestnut-tree is still pointed out. For nineteen years the scene of these cruelties remained entirely deserted by whites. In 1784, G. Remeli bought the land and ereeted upon it a small stone house, which is yet standing. A portion of the land is now owned by the venerable Daniel Frantz. The blackened foundation walls of Seleider's house were standing twenty years ago, but have now been entirely carried off by relic-hunters, or used for building purposes. About thirty years ago some buckwheat seeds were found in the ruins, which were planted and grew.
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