USA > Pennsylvania > Crawford County > Our country and its people. A historical and memorial record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. > Part 7
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On the other hand, there were difficulties in construing one portion of the charter of Penn, doubtless caused by the ignorance of the royal sec- retaries of the geography of the country, there having been no accurate maps made at this time. Consequently, when they commenced to describe the southern boundary of Pennsylvania they said, "and on the south by a circle drawn at twelve miles distance from New Castle, northwards and west- wards unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of northern latitude, and then by a straight line westwards to the limit of longitude above men- tioned," that is, to the panhandle line, as now ascertained.
But this circle, which is here described at twelve miles distant "from New Castle northwards and westwards," to reach the beginning of the
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
fortieth parallel, would not only have to be extended northward and west- ward but southward, and the radius of twelve miles southward would by no means reach the beginning of the fortieth degree, and hence would have to be extended from an indefinite point and in an arbitrary direction un- provided for in the charter. The royal secretaries seemed to have labored under the impression that "New Castle town," named in the charter, was about on the beginning of the fortieth parallel, whereas it was nearly two- thirds of a degree to the north of that line.
It must be confessed that there were many grave difficulties in the way of a satisfactory adjustment of these counter claims, and it is reported that Lord Baltimore, on his first visit to Markham, after having found by stellar observation the true latitude of New Castle, and heard the provisions of Penn's charter read, dolefully but very pertinently asked: "If this be allowed, where then is my province?" Baltimore, from the very moment that he discovered what the claims of Penn were, had evidently resolved not to make any effort to come to an agreement with Penn, which is abundantly shown by his frivolous excuses for not proceeding to business in their several interviews, but had determined to pursue a bold policy in pushing the sale of lands on the disputed tract, constantly assuming that his interpretation was the true one, and even opening an aggressive policy, trusting to the maintenance of his claims before the officers of the crown in England.
.Accordingly, Baltimore issued proposals for the sale of lands in the lower counties, now the State of Delaware Territory, which Penn had secured by deed from the Duke of York, after receiving his charter from the King, offering cheaper rates for land than Penn had done. Penn also learned that Baltimore had sent a surveyor to take an observation and find the latitude of New Castle, had prepared an ex parte statement of his case. and was actually, by his agents, pressing the case to a decision before the Lords of the Committee of Plantations in England, without giving any notice to Penn. Believing in the strong point of possession. Baltimore determined to pursue a vigorous policy. He accordingly drew up a sum- mons to quit, and sent a messenger. Colonel Talbot, to Philadelphia to "demand of William Penn all that part of the land on the west side of said river that lieth to the southward of the fortieth degree of north latitude." Penn was absent at the time, and the summons was delivered to the acting
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
Governor, Nicholas Moore. But upon his return, the Proprietary mnade answer in strong but earnest terms, showing the grounds of his own claim, and repelling any counter claim. The conduct of Baltimore alarmed him, for he saw plainly that if settlers from Maryland entered his province under claim of protection from its Governor, it would soon lead to actual conflict for possession. What he feared came to pass sooner than he anticipated, for in the spring of 1684. in time to put in their crops, a company from Maryland came in force into the lower counties, drove off the peaceable Pennsylvania settlers, and took possession of their farms. Taking the advice of his council, Penn sent a copy of his reply to the demand that Talbot had brought, which he ordered to be read to the intruders, and directed William Welch, Sheriff of the county, to reinstate the lawful owners. He then issued his proclamation reiterating and defending his claims, and warning all intruders to desist in future from such unlawful acts.
To the peaceful and loving disposition of Penn, this contention was exceedingly distasteful. As for quantity of land, he freely declared that he would have had enough if he had retained only the two degrees which would have remained after allowing Baltimore all that he claimed. But he was unwilling to give up the rapidly growing city which he had founded and colonies which he had rightfully acquired, and, more than all, to yield pos- session of Delaware Bay and River, the only means of communication with the ocean. He foresaw that if the two shores of this noble stream were in the possession of hostile States, how easy it would be for them to make harassing regulations governing its navigation. But Penn was a man of just and benevolent instincts, and he was willing to make reasonable con- cessions and compromises to secure peace and satisfy his neighbor in Mary- land. Accordingly, at one of their interviews, Penn asked Baltimore what he would ask per square mile for the territory south of the Delaware and reaching to the ocean, though he already had the deed for this same land from the Duke of York, secured by patent from the King, and Baltimore's own patent expressly provided that he could not claim territory already settled by any Christian prince. But this generous offer to purchase what he already owned was rejected by the proprietor of Maryland.
Penn now saw but too plainly that there was no hope of coming to a peaceful and equitable composition of their differences in this country, and
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
that if he would secure a decision in his interests he had no time to lose in repairing to London, and personally defending his rights before the royal commission. There is no question but that he came to this decision with unfeigned regret. His colony was prosperous, the settlers were contented and happy in their new homes, the country itself was all that he could wish, and he no doubt fondly hoped to live and die in the midst of his people. But the demand for his return to England was imperative, and he prepared to obey it. He accordingly empowered the Provincial Council, of which Thomas Lloyd was President, to act in his stead, and on the 6th of June, 1684, sailed for England.
From on board the vessel before leaving the Delaware, he sent back an address to the Council, in which he expressed his regret at being cont- pelled to leave them, and pointed out to them the only true source of light in the management of the affairs of the colony: "Dear Friends," he said, "my love and my life is to you and with you, and no water can quench it nor distance wear it out, nor bring it to an end. I have been with you, cared over you, and served you with unfeigned love, and you are beloved of me and near to me beyond utterance. Oh that you would eye Him in all, through all, and above all the works of your hands, for to a blessed end are you brought hither. You are now come to a quiet land; pro- voke not the Lord to trouble it, and now that liberty and authority are with you and in your hands, let the government be upon His shoulders, in all your spirits, that you may rule for Him, under whom the princes of this world will one day esteem it their honor to govern and serve in their places.
And thou, Philadelphia, the virgin settlement of this province, named before thou wert born, what love, what service and what travail has there been to bring thee forth, and preserve thee from such as would abuse and defile thee!"
Upon his arrival in England, on the 6th of October, he took an early opportunity to pay his respects to the King, and the Duke of York, "who received me very graciously, as did the ministers very civilly. Yet I found things in general with another face than I left them-sour and stern, and resolved to hold the reins of power with a stiffer hand than before." In a letter to Lloyd in America, of the 16th of March, 1685, he says: "The King (Charles II.) is dead, and the Duke (James II.) succeeds peaceably. He was well on the First-day night, being the first of February, so called.
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
About eight next morning, as he sat down to shave, his head twitched both ways or sides, and he gave a shriek and fell as dead, and so remained some hours. They opportunely blooded and cupped him, and plied his head with red hot frying pans. He returned and continued till Sixth-day noon, but mostly in great tortures. He seemed very penitent, asking pardon of all, even the poorest subject he had wronged. He was an able man for a divided and troubled kingdom. The present King was proclaimed about three o'clock that day."
The new King, being a personal friend of Penn, he had hopes of favor at court, and did secure many indulgences for his oppressed Friends in the kingdom, but the ministry was bitterly hostile to dissenters, and he found his controversy with Lord Baltimore very difficult of adjustment. He con- cluded that the longer it was allowed to run the less likely he would be to secure justice, and accordingly pressed for a final settlement, and in Novem- ber, 1685. a decision was made in the English court compromising the claims of the two Governors, and providing that the territory between the Delaware and the Chesapeake should be divided by a line through the center, and that the portion bordering upon the Delaware should belong to Penn, and that upon the Chesapeake to Lord Baltimore.
This settled the dispute in theory for the time, but upon attempting to measure and run a dividing line, the language of the act was so indefinite that the attempt was abandoned, and the old controversy was again renewed, for farmers on either side found portions of their farms lying upon either side of the line, and the act made no provision for running the line west- ward. Not wishing to press his suit at once while the memory of the decision already made was green, Lord Baltimore suffered the controversy to rest, and each party laid claim to the territory adjudged to him by the royal decree, but without any division line.
This was unsatisfactory to the inhabitants, and on the 28th of April, 1707, the government of Maryland presented to the Queen an address ask- ing that an order should be made requiring the authorities of the two colonies, Maryland and Pennsylvania, "to run the division lines, and ascer- tain the boundaries between them, for the ease of the inhabitants, who have been much distressed by their uncertainty." It would appear that the con- troversy,-after William Penn, in 1685, had secured the lands upon the right bank of the Delaware,-was left to work out its own cure, as a definite
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
agreement was entered into in the life time of the founder that the author- ities in neither colony should disturb the settlers already located in the other, Penn no doubt believing that in the race for settlers he could dis- tance his antagonist. Repeated conferences were held and lines run, but nothing satisfactory was accomplished during the lives of the founders. But on the 4th of July, 1760, Frederick, Lord Baron Baltimore, and Thomas, and Richard Penn, sons of William Penn, entered into an elaborate and formal treaty by which the limits of the two provinces were finally settled, so far as these two provinces were concerned. The boundary lines were made mathematically exact, so that there could by no possibility be further controversy, provided surveyors could be found who had the skill and the instruments necessary for determining them.
The line was to commence at Cape Henlopen, on the Atlantic coast. This cape, as originally located, was placed on the point opposite Cape May, at the entrance to Delaware Bay, and Cape Henrietta was fifteen miles down the coast. By an error in the map used by the parties, the names of these two capes had been interchanged, and Henlopen was placed fifteen miles be- low Henrietta. At this mistaken point, therefore, the division commenced. When this was discovered, a complaint was made before Lord Hardwick. but in a formal decree, promulgated in 1750, it was declared "that Cape Henlopen ought to be declared and taken to be situated at the place where the same is laid down and described in the maps or plans annexed to the said articles, to be situated."
The point of beginning having been settled, the dividing lines were to be as follows: Commencing at Cape Henlopen on the Atlantic, a due west line was to be run to the shore of Chesapeake Bay, found to be sixty-nine miles, 298 perches. At the middle point of this line, a line was to be run northwardly till it should form a tangent to the west side of a circle drawn with a radius of twelve miles from the spire of the New Castle court house as a center. From this tangent point a line was to be run due north to a parallel drawn from a point fifteen miles south of the most southern extremity of the boundary line of the city of Philadelphia, and the point thus reached should be the northeast corner of Maryland, and was in fact five miles, one chain and fifty links due north from the tangent point. If the due north line from the tangent point should cut off the segment of a cirele from the twelve-mile circuit, then the slice thus cut off should be
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
adjudged a part of New Castle County, and consequently should belong to Pennsylvania. The corner-stone at the extremity of the due north line from the tangent point was to be the beginning of the now famous Mason and Dixon line, and was to extend due west to the western limit of Maryland.
This settled the long dispute so far as it could be on paper, but to execute its provisions in practice was more difficult. The primeval forest covered the greater part of the line, stubborn mountains stood in the way, and instruments were imperfect and liable to variation. Commissioners were appointed to survey and establish the lines in 1739, but a controversy having arisen whether the measurement should be horizontal or superficial, the commission broke up and nothing more was done until 1760, when the fol- lowing-named surveyors were appointed: John Lukens and Archibald McLean on the part of Pennsylvania, and Thomas Garnett and Jonathan Hall for Maryland, who commenced to lay off the lines as provided in the indenture of agreement entered into by the proprietaries. Their first care was to clear away the vistas, or narrow openings, twenty-four feet wide through the forest. Having ascertained the middie point of the Henlopen line, as required, they ran an experimental line north until opposite New Castle, when they measured the radius of twelve miles and fixed the tangent point. There were so many perplexing conditions, that it required much time to perfect their calculations and plant their bounds.
After these surveyors had been three years at their work, the proprie- taries in England, thinking the reason of their long protracted labors in- dicative of a lack of scientific knowledge on their part, or lack of suitable instruments, employed, on the 4th of August, 1763, two surveyors and mathematicians to go to America and conduct the work. They brought with them the best instruments procurable, an excellent sector "six feet radius, which magnified twenty-five times, the property of the Hon. Mr. Penn, the first which ever had the plumb line passing over and bisecting a point at the center of the instrument." They obtained from the Royal Society a brass standard measure, and standard chains. These surveyors were none other than Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, names forever blazoned upon the political history of the United States, magnates at home, but no more skilled nor more accurate in their work, over mountains and valleys, through the tangled and interminable forests of the American con-
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
tinent, than our own fellow citizens, McLean and Lukens, and Garnett and Hall, who had preceded them.
The daily notes of Mason and Dixon commence November 15th, 1763, and the first entry is: "Arrived at Philadelphia;" "16th, attended meeting of the commissioners appointed to settle the bounds of Pennsylvania;" "22d to 28th, landed and set up instruments, and found they had received no damage." "December 5th, directed carpenter to build an observatory near the point settled by the commissioners to be the south point of the city of Philadelphia," which was to be one of the initial points of the line. When the observatory was finished. the instruments were mounted and observations taken to fix the latitude of the place.
Nearly one whole year was spent in ascertaining the middle point of the due east and west line across the peninsula from Cape Henlopen on the Atlantic to the Chesapeake Bay, and running the line northward to find the tangent point on the twelve-mile periphery of a circle measured from the center of the Court House at New Castle as a center, and on the 13th of November. 1764. they make the following entry in their notes: "From data in minute of ye 27th of August. we computed how far the true tangent would be distant from the post (show us to be the tangent point as ascer- tained by the home surveyors, McLean, etc.), and found it would not pass one inch to the eastward or westward. On measuring the angle of our last line, with the direction from New Castle, it was so near a right angle that on a mean from our lines the above-mentioned post is the true tangent point. Thus it was shown that notwithstanding all the difficulties encountered by the original appointees, the English surveyors found, after a year's careful labor, that the work of their predecessors was correct.
On the 18th of June, 1765, Mason and Dixon made this entry in their notes: "We set seven stones, viz .: one at the tangent point, four in the periffery of the circle round New Castle, one in the north line from the tangent point, and one at the intersection of the north line (from ye tangent point), and the parallel fifteen miles south of the southermost point of the city of Philadelphia, The Gent. Commissioners of both provinces present."
Having now ascertained the exact location of the northeast corner of Maryland, which was to be the beginning of the dividing line between Pennsylvania and Maryland, which was found to be 39° 43' 26", these sur- veyors, Mason and Dixon, commenced running the line due west on
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
this parallel. Along a portion of this line were clearings and cultivated fields, but for the most part the dense forest was unbroken, necessitating the employment of a considerable company of axmen to open a vista and clear away the cuttings. This line thus formally determined extended over hill and dale, across streams, everywhere rugged, and up the precipitous sides of the mountains. To keep on a due west line, observations had to be made nightly of the stars.
That the reader may observe the methods by which these surveyors conducted their work, there is subjoined a table of one night's observations :
PLANE OF THE SECTOR FACING THE EAST.
Stars' Magnitude.
Stars' Names.
Right Ascensions.
the sector.
Nearest point on
Micrometer.
seconds on the
Revolutions and
Difference.
distances.
Apparent zenith
|| south of ye zenith.
[ Stars north and
h.
1
0
-
r.
r.
3 20
o Lyræ
. . .... 18
29
I
20+
1 9
291/2
2
17.5
I
22
1.5
S
y Andromeda.
1
49
I
15-
1
7
32
0
9.0
I
14
51.0
N
ß Persei
2
53
0
5+
$ IO
161/2
0
25.0
0
5
25.0
N
$ Persei
3
26
7
5-
1 8
43
0
43.5
7
4
16.5
N
Capella
4
59
5
50-
6
2.4
3
0.0
5
47
24.0
N
d Auriga
5
42
4
55+
5
401/2
2
29.5
5
57
13.5
N
1
3
II
CHA: MASON. JERE: DIXON.
On the 27th of October, 1765. the following entry was made: "Captain Shelby again went with us to the summit of the mountain (when the air was very clear) and showed us the northermost bend of the Potowmack at the Conoloways; from which we judge the line will pass about two miles to the north of the said river. From hence we could see the Alleghany Mountains for many miles, and judge it by its appearance to be about fifty miles distance in the direction of the line."
On the 20th of September, 1766, the following important entry was made: "From an eminence in the line where fifteen or twenty miles of the visto can be seen (of which there are many), the said line, or visto, very
-
2 11
47
7
41
---
( 9 4372
9
341/2
1 9
241/2 ::
=
=
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
apparently shows itself to form a parallel of northern latitude. The line is measured horizontal (that is as though the surface was one dead level and not over hill and through valley) the hills and mountains with a 163-feet level, and beside the mile posts we have set posts in the true line (marked W' on the west side) all along the line opposite the stationary points, where the Sector and Transit instruments stood. The said posts stand in the mid- dle of the Visto, which in general is about eight yards wide. The number of posts in the west line is 303."
It will be understood that this "visto," or vista, properly, was a straight east and west belt of some twenty-five feet wide, cleared by the axmen through the dense forest for the purpose of the survey. The view from these eminences to which they refer must have been grand, the forest for the most part resting undisturbed, as it had been for ages, the two sides of the clearing seeming in the distance to approach each other and join, the silver current of the river showing here and there, and the noisy brook tumbling down the mountain side. In the spring time the surveyors were often awakened in the morning by the gobbling of the wild turkeys, and the rattle of their chains chimed melodiously with the distant drumming of the partridge.
On the 14th to 18th of July, 1767, they make the following entries: "At 168 miles 78 chains is the top of the great dividing ridge of the Alle- ghany Mountains. At 169 m. Co ch. crossed a small branch of the little Yochio Geni. The head of Savage River, distant about a mile. This day (16th) we were joined by fourteen Indians deputized by the chiefs of the Six Nations to go with us on the line. With them came Mr. Hugh Craw- ford, interpreter." August 17th: "At this station Mr. John Greene, one of the Chiefs of the Mohock Nation, and his nephew left us in order to return to their own country." September 27th are the following notes: "About a mile and a half north of where the Sector stands the rivers Cheat and Manaungahela joyn. The mouth of Redstone Creek, by information, bears due north from this station, distant 25 miles. Fort Pit is supposed to be due north, distant about 50 miles." September 30th: "At 222 miles 34 chains 50 links the east bank of ye River Manaungahela, breadth about 5 chains."
It was deemed necessary to have delegations from the Six Nations, and from other tribes which had an interest in these lands, to accompany the
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
surveyors, as they would doubtless have taken offense at what they might have conceived this clearing the forest from a track over mountain and through valley by this long vista to be an inexcusable interference with their rights of soil, and would doubtless have had recourse to the scalping knife before many monuments had been planted, or the gobble of many turkeys had been disturbed. In securing the co-operation of the Indians, Sir William Johnson of New York, who had much influence with the Six Nations, was of great advantage.
In all the work of the surveyors the Indians had preserved an attitude of awe and superstitious dread. They could not understand what all this peering into the heavens, and always in the dead of the night, portended (as all astronomical observations must be made at that time of night when the particular star desired came into view). They looked with special distrust on those curious little tubes provided with glass windows at each end, through which the surveyors stood, patiently watching somebody away in the far-off heavens. The Six Nations, who were supreme in those parts, had given permission by treaty to run this line; but when they heard of the methods adopted we may well imagine their speculations in their far-away council chambers, in the deep shadows of the wood, touching the purpose of these nightly vigils. They entertained a suspicion that the surveyors were holding communication with spirits in the skies, who were pointing out the track of their line. So much had their fears become wrought upon that when Mason and Dixon had reached the summit of the Little Alle- ghany, the Six Nations gave notice upon the departure of their agents that the survey must cease at that point. But by the adroit representations of Sir William Johnson they were induced to allow the survey to proceed.
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