USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > Local sketches and legends pertaining to Bucks and Montgomery counties, Pennsylvania > Part 12
USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Local sketches and legends pertaining to Bucks and Montgomery counties, Pennsylvania > Part 12
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SKETCHES AND LEGENDS.
contrary a manly independence. With his faults were several noble traits, as he was indifferent to gain, so he was honest and ever ready to extend a helping hand to any neighbor that occasionally stood in need of assistance. Sometimes to effect the latter, as in case of accidents or hazardous undertakings, he would be so free and forward as to have several times im- perilled his own life.
In fact he seemed to be one of those very few kind of mortals that never appeared to entertain any sense of personal dread; while everything else might take his attention, to this he would give no thought. More than once was he laid up for weeks from hurts received in rescuing human life and arresting runaway horses. No well did he ever refuse to enter and clean out, though others had been dragged therefrom nearly lifeless through suffocation. Crow nests on the loft- iest forest trees, to which numbers of his neighbors' eggs and chickens had been carried, he would always be willing to climb to, no matter how hazardous. Vi- cious horses and colts in preference to all others he would delight to ride and master, though he owned none himself. Such, then, was Eli Berrell, while he had so much regard for the lives and property of others should to his own be so indifferent or careless, thus reversing the usual order of selfishness, and hence meriting the more this brief tribute to his memory. Some persons might be led to do this from a love of pride or notoriety, but this was not his case, for he
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A THRILLING INCIDENT.
seemed to act wholly from a sense of duty, uncon- scious of approbation.
The hickory pole I have referred to was about eighty-five feet in height, and where the flag was fas- tened was only five or six feet below the top. With the assistance chiefly of his younger brother Samuel, he procured from his neighbors the loan of four or five ladders; these, by means of ropes and plow lines, he spliced together till they seemed as one upwards of fifty feet in length, which was reared up against the pole. As he was proceeding up these ladders I hap- pened to pass along the main road, and when opposite the lane I halted, my attention being first arrested by several persons standing near the foot of the pole and gazing upward. When he had ascended within five feet of the top of the upper ladder it slipped to one of its sides and then turned half around preparatory to falling. While it was so doing he leaped a distance of six or seven feet for the pole, which he fortunately caught, and then coolly clambered up and unloosened the flag as if nothing had happened. In the meantime the ladders fell with a heavy crash to the ground, and were broken into several pieces. I am satisfied that had he not leaped when he did, and thus caught him- self, he must have fallen under, which would certainly have killed him, if the fall of fifty feet itself would not have been sufficient.
Besides the several members of his family this thrill- ing spectacle was witnessed by some ten or twelve of his neighbors, and who appeared wonder-struck at so
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Ypal acea
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SKETCHES AND LEGENDS.
cool and daring an attempt. On his descent he de- liberately proceeded to gather up the fragments of the ladder, and expressed his regret that it had broken. Several years after this occurrence, in eating at his table, he accidentally swallowed a large piece of meat, which lodged in his windpipe, and before assistance arrived he was thus strangled to death. It was sur- prising to me that so singular an accident should be his fate, after having had so many narrow escapes. I attended the funeral, his burial being in the grave-yard attached to the Friends' meeting-house in Abington. It was an affecting scene, after his coffin had been let down in the cold and narrow tomb, to observe the sor- rowful and sobbing countenances of his small children as they successively took their last look therein. On reviewing his life I have the satisfaction of drawing at least one inference: While nearly every trifling act and deed of some statesmen or general is lauded or magnified, the almost numberless acts of bravery, hero- ism and benevolence performed by such humble indi- viduals pass readily away and are soon forgotten.
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Holicong ;
ITS TRADITIONS AND MYSTERIES.
Near the centre of the ancient county of Bucks, in the beautiful vale of Lahaska, and close to the village of Greenville, is a large spring of water, or rather lime- stone sink, which has been pretty well known since the earliest period of occupation by the whites, and to which the Indians gave the name of Hollekonk, now modernized into Holicong. The first settlers here were nearly all of English descent, and chiefly members of the Society of Friends, better known to the world's people as Quakers. We find that in 1703 they had become sufficiently numerous as to be allowed by their Monthly Meeting to hold worship at the house of Wil- liam Parlet on the third day of each month. In 1705 they obtained ten acres of land from James Streater, on which the following year they erected a meeting- house and established a grave-yard. This has since been long known as Buckingham meeting-house, where the Friends now for some time have held Monthly and Quarterly meetings. The first public road opened
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SKETCHES AND LEGENDS.
through here for travel was the old York road, which was laid out in 1711 from the present Centre Bridge by way of Greenville to Philadelphia. This highway approaches within several hundred yards north of the spring. We have been curious to mention these par- ticulars as showing the progress of settlement and im- provement in the immediate neighborhood. Holicong has now for some time assumed the importance of forming a boundary between two of the neighboring farms.
The Indians, according to Dr. John Watson's ac- count, had a settlement near Holicong in 1690. He states that it was on James Streater's tract, and very probably between the spring and the present meeting- house. Samuel Preston, who was born in the vicinity in 1756, tells us in his reminiscences, written about 1 828, that his grandfather, Amor Preston, resided near Pennsbury, and was invited by his Indian acquaint- ances to come over Buckingham mountain to their vil- lage, called Hollekonk. "I knew it well," he says; "it is a lime-stone sink-hole, that used to contain good water. There they were well treated by the hospita- ble Indians, and here my uncle Nathan Preston was born-the first white child in the bounds of Bucking- ham township." He mentions also his grandfather as being "a tailor by trade, and made frocks, trowsers and moccasins out of deer skins-the clothing most gen- erally in use."
The township of Buckingham, in which Holicong is situated, is among the largest, wealthiest and most pro-
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HOLICONG.
ductive districts in the county. According to the cen- sus of 1880 it contained 2815 inhabitants and an area of above 18,000 acres. The valley of Lahaska is un- derlaid with an extensive bed of lime-stone, from which is quarried and burned a vast amount of this material, so invaluable for building and agricultural purposes. The farms, buildings and improvements bear witness of taste, enterprise and skill. The soil in fertility is not surpassed anywhere in all that section. The com- modious school-houses, too, show that they are a peo- ple of intelligence. The antiquaries Dr. John Watson and Samuel Preston were natives of this vale. In this same section, about half a century ago, likewise dwelt another antiquary, who either became so from perus- ing their writings, the natural bent of his mind, or his love for the marvelous, but most probably from a com- bination of these several influences. It seems by the papers he left behind he must have been of a curious ', and eccentric mind. His chief hobby was to collect all the traditionary lore and other information relating to his neighborhood, and for help in this purpose he attended sales and ransacked garrets and all manner of places for books, pamphlets and manuscript papers that might afford any additional clue in this direction. His object appears to have been a harmless one; only to help him account thereby for the cause of certain extraordinarily strange phenomena that have happened at divers times in this territory, and which seem to prevail even unto this present day. These effects he
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SKETCHES AND LEGENDS.
attributes as resulting from both natural and superna- tural causes.
We are inclined to believe that there may be some who on reading this may entertain the notion that the old gentleman could have spent his time and studies to a better purpose. That they are ingenious and show considerable research it is presumed no one will deny. However extravagant the whole may appear to stran- gers, we know that there are descendants of the early settlers of that section, and acquainted with its history, who entertain the idea that it contains considerable more truth than might be supposed. The writer was made the custodian of the old gentleman's literary re- mains, and so, he now having been dead for some time and left no descendants, whatever prejudices he may have touched upon it is hoped will be left harmlessly to slumber, and if not instructive will at least prove amusing. From the amount of materials accumulated we, judge he must have been certainly industrious as well as persevering, for they have cost no little labor to arrange and put into their present shape. We give it, therefore, in his own language, but more condensed.
" A tradition has long been prevalent that Holicong had its origin in accident; that while an Indian was en- gaged in skinning a deer the lime-stone crust beneath him suddenly gave way and precipitated him into its fathomless depths, and to this day he is still struggling to get out, but unfortunately, as yet not having been enabled to find the place of his ingress, owing to the vast extent and darkness of this watery cavern. A late
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HOLICONG.
tradition states that an Indian having wounded a no- ble buck, leaped on his back to dispatch him, when with an amazing spring he plunged with the Indian, knife and all into the same mysterious abyss, where his troublesome spirit still remains, whilst the deer- came out safely at Aquetong, two and a half miles distant. That there may be some plausibility as to this has been verified by chaff having been thrown into Holicong and making its appearance at the same outlet. Thus proving that there is here an immense subterranean reservoir and most likely the abode of wicked and malicious spirits that once inhabited the surface and since the cause of so many strange inex- plicable occurrences that have prevailed hereabouts. There was my curious and inquisitive neighbor Isaiah Jones, to help solve the mystery, united the lengths of three plow lines to sound its depth but failed in find- ing bottom and a matter that still remains unknown.
"A resident and descendant of one of the old and respectable families of Plumstead became interested in Holicong and its subterranean wonders, undertook through his knowledge of divination, between the years 1810 and 1815 to make a thorough surface ex- ploration giving the public the benefit and result of his investigations. I would add that he had already become distinguished for some distance around as a 'water smeller,' a name given by the people to that art by which hidden water is discovered and in which he was very successful. This anecdote in corrobora- tion is told of him: He came to a place where a well
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SKETCHES AND LEGENDS.
was being dug, and at the depth of over sixty feet had found but few indications of water. He now made an examination with the rod and pointed out a spot a few perches off where it could be reached within twenty-five feet and if not found there as he stated he would bear the expense of a trial. It was undertaken and his assertion verified. His success was such that he was frequently sent for on this business twenty and thirty miles. His instrument for divining was the fork of an apple tree twig, a prong of which was held in each hand in a certain manner and its mystic influence would be such as to turn and point out the exact lo- cality of whatever the search was for, whenever the operator would come within a short distance of the place. Thus prepared of his own free will he made a careful inspection over the surface of the Lahaska val- ley nearly to the Delaware. He said there was a lake that approached within a short distance of the present village of Greenville and extended all the way from Holicong to Aquetong or the great Indian spring. Thus verifying all former traditions and additionally proving the existence of a vast subterranean reservoir or lake of water.
"All great men have their enemies, so had our friend the 'water smeller,' particularly by those who were en- vious of his fair name and fame. His views were doubted and the power of divination even questioned. He offered to discuss the subject publicly with his op- ponents. In consequence a debate was agreed upon and held in the little old stone school-house about the
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HOLICONG.
year 1825. Crowds attended night after night to lis- ten to the discussion and sage remarks made as to whether 'Water smelling was an art?' The chief speaker on the opposition was a blacksmith who re- sided near by who hammered away at the subject with a hearty good will, striking some heavy licks, but our friend was as good on the scent and followed him up so closely that he threw his opponent into such a per- spiration as to prove that even in his interior there was also a reservoir. Several others in the neighborhood joined in and it was thus kept up till it caused quite an excitement throughout the valley. So high did they get at last that challenges were given to fight it out. Coats were actually drawn for this purpose but fortunately no blood. So at last this discussion ended in a quarrel like nearly all other great debates that have been held from time immemorial in the vicinity of Holicong, no doubt brought about through one of those wicked spirits that has so long haunted or infested this great subterranean cavern. If hidden wa- ter can move the divining rod why may not hidden and malicious spirits move men?
"The greatest and most troublesome spirit of this section, however, was supposed to be Hickoqucom, one of the leading and influential chiefs that resided and owned the lands in this neighborhood. He was the son of the renowned Tamany and chosen by him to be his successor. Owing either to the evil influences abounding here, the difficulty of pronouncing his name, or its unsettled orthography, the whites, as we learn
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SKETCHES AND LEGENDS.
from an old document, called him Andrew. In 1682 Governor Markham, by order of William Penn, pur- chased from him and twelve others all their right to the lands lying between the Neshaminy and the Dela- ware. This purchase it is supposed included the whole · of the Lahaska valley and formed subsequently the basis of the Indian Walk and the cause afterwards of ill feeling. From Smith's History of the Province of Pennsylvania, we learn that he afterwards became dis- satisfied as to the sale and in consequence went to the house of John Chapman in 1684, residing two miles east of the Lahaska creek, and 'in an angry tone told him that it was their land he was settled on, pointing to a small distance where he said the bounds of the English purchase were, and borrowing an axe, marked a line to the southeast of his house, and went away without giving him any further trouble at that time.'
"In 1692 'King Hickoquehon' as he is called with three others, granted to William Penn's agents all the land between Neshaminy and Poquessing creeks. From the Colonial Records we learn that Polycarpus Rose informed the Council that in November, 1693, having had 'some discourse with a certain Indian King called Hickoqucom the said Indian resented the unkindness of the English to the Indians here; and further said, that they were not like to hold the land much longer ; for that they were not satisfied with it.' Another and the last purchase was made from him in 1697, for all his claim to land between Neshaminy and Pennepack. We hear from him again as being present at a Coun-
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HOLICONG.
cil held in Philadelphia in July 1701, which is the last trace we find concerning him on record. After this tradition informs us that through his dissatisfied feel- ings he committed suicide by a sudden plunge into Holicong and thus doom his spirit to trouble the whites as his body did whilst living. .
"The mighty and mischievous influences exerted from the earliest period to the present by the evil spir- its of Holicong if enumerated might probably fill vol- umes, yea, strike with terror its goodly inhabitants who are within the reach of their power. For what is it but this that causes those divers sinkholes every now and then to appear, the caving in of wells, the hidden streams and mysterious lights that flicker around them but as man-traps to allure the unwary therein to serve him company? One time they have shown themselves as Meg of the Mountain, then as a fox on Wolf rocks or as a slave hunter or man catcher. The skeletons, spoons and divers other relics that have been found in the neighboring quarries and fields are their works, also those curious impressions in outline of trees, landscape scenes and extinct animals on stones. These, however, are but trifles compared to the dissen- tions perpetually engendered thereby in all matters of opinion even down to archeology. If any reform measures are broached hercabouts they are sure soon to bring about contentions. Although generally ap- pearing as friends, yet distracting the mind so as to run into all manner of extremes. So the mischief that has so long afflicted this section, more particularly that
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SKETCHES AND LEGENDS.
arising from suspicion, discord, slander, tattling and what is worse law-suits, arises not so much through the faults of the people residing here as through the evil propensities arising from the proximity of these. several ancient and vindictive spirits. It has been long said that no people can surpass Buckingham in hold- ing divers opinions and this accounts for the impossi- bility of settling down here long on any one thing.
"Sad work in evidence has thus been occasioned even with the names of places in this section, now hav- ing been called this, next that, and then something else or worst of all exchanged for each other. What an amount of vexation and disappointment has been caused in this matter alone! A perpetual worry not only to the good people here but to strangers and post- masters ! Were the departed of this vicinity, I mean those not gone much beyond half a century, to return and enquire by name for any of its old familiar places, what possible satisfaction or information could they get from the present generation? Who could tell by Buckingham, whether the county, the township or a village was meant? Who could tell by Lahaska whether it was the stream, the mountain, the valley or the village? Holicong as it is now called has in the past been Hollykonk and Konkey's Hole. Then the vicinity of Buckingham meeting house has been called Grintown, Green Town and now Greenville. Then there is the village of Snaptown afterwards called Centreville now Buckingham; Newark, Halifax now Mechanicsville; Beartown, Green Tree, the Bush, now
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HOLICONG.
Bushington ; the great spring, Indian Spring, Ingham's Spring and now Aquetong. Then there is Bucking- ham mountain called Lahoskeck and Lahaskakee, be- sides numerous others. But the variety of names given in old documents or in books to the stream and to Hickoqucom almost exceeds credibility, these if all mentioned might fill a page; here we can see again the results of those mischievous freaks. One time called Lahasaka run, then Lahaskeek, Lahaskeck, Lahaskakee, Lackawisse, Towsisinick, Towsisnick, Randall's run, Mill Creek, etc., etc., and of these who in Buckingham is able to prove the right one of either this or of the other names? Hickoqucom being also called in old records Hicquoqueen, Idquoquehon, We- hequeekhon, Hetcoquehon, Andrew, successor of Tam- any, etc., etc. Now latterly some of the good people hereabouts believing in unanimity of sentiment and knowing the evils they have so long heretofore en- `, dured and been afflicted with have called on pur- pose a young and growing village not far off Con- cord, which is also beginning to show symptoms for a change and for what we know be next called Discord, for it has not yet attained to the dignity of a post of- fice. The various contradictions published relating to the history of this section and made too by its own residents no doubt have been caused by the same evil geniuses so bent on confounding and mixing up things; as witness the account of the great Indian Walk through here, in which every writer has had his own year, his own place of beginning and I might add
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his own story about it. Some curious old people yet contend that Buckingham is not right and therefore call it Buck-in-gim."
I have now given the substance of the old gentle- man's papers. Curious they certainly are, and exhibit him to be a unique reasoner and a profound, original thinker. Just as I had finished the manuscript an in- quisitive neighbor came in, and, after a short conver- sation, cast anxious, inquiring glances towards it, won- dering what it treated on. For his gratification I handed the paper to him for his perusal. After seeming to read and study it carefully for some time he remarked that it caused him to wonder "what the people in Buck- ingham would think of it, and that it appeared to him to be a mixture of truth, credulity and folly. True," he added, "that section to my own knowledge has long been afflicted with too many names and a great diver- sity of opinions on all matters, the foundation of lasting dissensions, and which nowhere in the county appear to run into greater extremes and ill feeling. With them I know it has appeared indeed an impossibility to settle down long on any one thing. Why Buck- ingham post office should be at Centreville, Lahaska post office near Greenville, Mechanicsville post office at Halifax, Mechanics Valley post office at Spring Val- ley, and Forest Grove post office at Forestville, has not only to me been perplexing and troublesome but still more so to those residing there. Of the proper application of the numerous names mentioned I know that almost every one entertains his own peculiar views,
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HOLICONG.
and therefore believes that he alone is right. But this is only making confusion more confounded."
In reply I remarked that I believed its publication would have a beneficial effect. It would go to show both past and present absurdities that have only too long prevailed in that section, and might the more put them on their guard against those old subterranean spirits and their caprices; and that if any writers should take it up under the present condition of affairs they would soon forget me to fly at each other-if they did not, the object herein of more unanimity would be ac- complished where it had hitherto been so long a stran- ger. As for the marvelous, mankind love it; and that superstition still prevails we can see in almost any al- manac from its signs or newspaper by its advertise- ments of astrologers, fortune tellers and quacks. In- deed, in all ages there have been philosophers and other persons who in this respect have held mankind in low 'estimation. In confirmation, Addison in his Spectator remarks: "I have often thought, if the minds of men were laid open, we should see but little difference be- tween that of a wise man and that of a fool. There are infinite reveries, numberless extravagances; and a suc- cession of vanities, which pass through both. The great difference is, that the first knows how to pick and cull his thoughts for conversation, by suppressing some and communicating others, whereas the other lets them indifferently fly out in words."
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My friend on hearing this arose, his face beaming with smiles, and grasping my hand in enthusiasm, said: "Yes, by all means have it published. It will show absurdity in a new light and the old gentleman's labors through you may not prove entirely useless. I think hereafter I shall never hear of divers names to any one place, and the inconveniences or troubles aris- ing therefrom, but what I shall think of the workings of those subterranean spirits and the difference existing between Holicong and Konkey's Hole."
Excitement About a Bear.
At a distance of nearly three miles southwest of Hatboro, in Moreland township, is located an old home- stead on which Joseph Hallowell was born in 1757, and which has been in the possession of the family- I know from records-all of one hundred and fifty-six years. On the death of his father he became its pro- prietor, and continued to reside thereon to the close of his life, which occurred in 1842. We thus see that he attained the good old age of eighty-five years. He possessed a remarkably retentive memory and de- lighted to narrate the events of the past, particularly those that related to this section, and which from his knowledge he was satisfied were true. Among his reminiscences which were taken down and preserved in my collections, is one relating to a bear, that oc- curred near Hatboro about the year 1770, when a boy of about thirteen years old. Dr. William Hallo- well, son of the aforesaid, is the present owner of the place, residing at Norristown, and now (Dec. 1886) in his eighty-fifth year, making it in the possession of the grandfather, son and grandson, the extremely long period of one hundred and fifty years.
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