USA > Pennsylvania > York County > The Beginnings of the German Element in York County, Pennsylvania > Part 6
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" Sealed and delivered in the Presence of us, " JOHN DIGGES." GEORGE DOUGLASS,
JOHANN PETER ZARICH."
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Other Early Settlements.
been begun in 1730 by Robert Owings and other Catholics from Maryland.7
Adam Forney came to York County from Philadelphia County. He was originally a tailor in Wachenheim-in- the-Haardt in the Palatinate, whither his ancestors had probably come as Hugenot refugees from religious perse- cution in France. With his wife, Elizabeth Lowisa, and four children he arrived at the port of Philadelphia on October 16, 1721.8 For a decade he remained in Phila- delphia County. By the city magistrates in Germany he
In Digges's bond he is was styled "citizen and tailor."9
7 Vide John T. Reily's " Conewago: a Collection of Local Catholic His- tory," pp. 39 ff.
8 The ancestral family Bible of the Forneys at Hanover records this fact. Forney's name in Germany was Johann Adam Faurney, but, like a great many other Germans with Johann or Hans as an initial surname, Forney dropped the Johann shortly after coming to this country.
9 The certificate of dismissal which he received upon his departure from Wachenheim is still in the possession of his descendants in Hanover. It furnishes evidence of his favorable standing among his fellow-citizens in Germany. The English translation published in "The Forney Family, 1690-1893" (pages 2 and 3) is as follows:
" We, magistrates, burgomasters and council of the city of Wachenheim- in-the-Haardt, certify herewith that before us came the worthy Johann Adam Forney, citizen and tailor here, the legitimate son of the worthy Christian Forney, also a citizen here, and informed us that he, with his wedded wife, Elisabetha Lowisa, have firmly resolved to set out with their four children and effects, on the journey to the island of Pennsylvania and to settle there; but he stands in need of an attested certificate of how he behaved with us and why he departed, such as he can show at the place of his settlement. Which we gave him according to his reasonable desire and truthfully; moreover because we believe it would really be required in order that no one may calumniate our citizen or citizen's children; although we have indeed sought dilgently and earnestly to dissuade him from such departure, yet he remains of his first intention; therefore after steadfast perseverance we have given the said Johann Adam Forney this certificate: That as long as we have known him he has behaved himself honorably, piously and honestly, as well becomes a citizen and artisan, and moreover,
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German Element in York County, Pa.
described as "farmer and tailor." In York County he became farmer and inn-keeper.10 Forney made his pur- chase in 1731 but whether he settled at once upon the tract he bought cannot be ascertained as there is no record of his settlement. But when in 1734 Andrew Schreiber set- tled on the Conewago his nearest neighbors, he tells us, were the family of Adam Forney, four miles distant.11 And as Forney marked off his purchase in person in the fall of 1731,12 it is highly probable that he settled there immediately or very shortly after that. The new settle- ment may be said therefore to have actually begun a little more than three years after John Hendricks took up his abode on the west bank of the Susquehanna and almost simultaneously with the first influx of German immigrants into the Kreutz Creek Valley.
Another prominent individual among the first settlers in this new settlement was Andrew Schreiber, lineal ancestor of Admiral Winfield Scott Schley. Andrew Schreiber was born at Alstenborn in the Palatinate in 1712. His parents, Andrew and Ann Margaretha, together with their chil-
showed himself so neighborly that no one has had any complaint to make of him; he also is bound to no compulsory service or serfdom; he will not be unwilling to give, to show with all readiness to those of his intended residence all affection and kindness. To this true certificate we, the authorities, have affixed our city council's great seal to this statement which is given at Wachenheim-in-the-Haardt, the 7th of May, 1721."
10 The Moravians, Leonard Schnell and Robert Hussey in the diary of their missionary journey from Bethlehem, Pa., to their brethren in Georgia, November 6, 1743 to April 10, 1744, remark that after leaving York on November 15, "Towards evening we came to the district which is called after the river " Canawage." We lodged in an inn. The name of the inn-keeper is Adam Forny. He complained much about ministers and their useless efforts." Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. XI, 1903-4, P. 37I.
11 Vide " The Shriver Family, 1684-1888," Samuel S. Shriver, p. 14.
12 According to the text of Digges's bond quoted above, footnote 6.
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Other Early Settlements.
dren, after "having borne many adversities,"13 emigrated to America arriving in Philadelphia late in the year 1721. The family first settled at Goshenhoppen, near the Trappe, on the Schuylkill River. Here Andrew the younger mar- ried Ann Maria Keiser in the spring of 1733 and in June of that year removed to York County.14 From John Digges he bought a tract of 100 acres near what is now Christ Church and paid for it with one hundred pairs of negro shoes, the price agreed upon. This location was four miles west of the plantation of Adam Forney. Here Schreiber lived on peaceful terms with the neighboring In- dians and subsequently made additional purchases of land from Digges. He hunted deer and tilled the soil by day and tanned deerskins in the evenings. He became the pro- genitor of the numerous family of Shrivers who live in that community at present.
When Andrew Schreiber set out from Goshenhoppen for the region west of the Susquehanna in the summer of 1733 he was accompanied by his stepbrother David Jung (Young) who remained with him about three weeks, until they had cleared a few acres and planted corn on it, and then returned home. But shortly thereafter, probably the next year, Young also bought a tract from John Digges and took up his abode not far from his stepbrother Schrei- ber.15 Other neighbors from Philadelphia County soon
13 These words occur in the certificate of dismissal which Andrew Schreiber received from John Mueller, the Reformed pastor of Alstenborn. This certificate is still in the hands of the Shrivers and is reproduced in " The Shriver Family," p. Io.
14 A statement of the late Hon. Abraham Schriver, resident judge of the Frederick County court, is authority for the information concerning the original homestead on the Schuylkill and Andrew's marriage and removal to York County. Communicated to the "Star and Sentinel" for March 1876 by John A. Renshaw.
15 The fact may be gathered from the deposition of Robert Owings on
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German Element in York County, Pa.
followed these two pioneers, among them Ludwig Schrei- ber, brother of Andrew, Peter Mittelkauff, and Michael Will.
Among the other early settlers in this new community whose names have been preserved were many whose de- scendants are still to be found in the thriving town of Hanover and its prosperous vicinity. As early as 1731 Nicholas Forney and Peter Zarich were there. In 1732 or 1733 we find that John Lemmon, Adam Miller, and Adam Messier have had surveys made to them on Digges's tract. In 1734 Conrad Eyler and his son Valentine had settled there, receiving their warrants in 1738. In 1735 Henry Sell and the following year Martin Kitzmiller had joined the settlement. Before 1737 Peter Jungblut (Youngblood), Matthias Marker, Jacob Banker, William Oler, Peter Oler, and Peter Welby had taken out grants. In 1737 at least two more additions were made, Derrick Jungblut and Peter Reisher (Rysher). In 1738 George Evanaar received his warrant and by 1741 we meet with such names as those of Herman Updegraf, the shoemaker, Peter Schultz the blacksmith, Matthias Ulrich, and Peter Ensminger, and a few years later with Martin Brin, Abra- ham Sell, Martin Ungefare, and John Martin Inyfoss.16
July 18, 1746, and the approximate date of Young's settlement is also im- plied there. Archives, I: 695.
16 These names and dates are gathered by inference from the Pennsyl- vania Archives and the Pennsylvania Colonial Records embodying the negotiations of the proprietaries concerning the boundaries of their respect- ive provinces. The records of these negotiations are to be found chiefly in the Archives, I: 680-715 and Colonial Records, V: 582-597. The names that occur there cannot be regarded as at all exhaustive of the list of inhabitants in the entire settlement. They are chiefly such as happened to be located on that portion of the entire tract which was in dispute between the two provinces.
In the course of the correspondence between the two provinces in 1752,
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Other Early Settlements.
But the lives of these enterprising and industrious Ger- mans were no more peaceful than those of their country- men who had settled about the same time or a few years earlier in the eastern part of the county. This was through no fault of their own. Their purposes were alto- gether peaceful and their motives beyond reproach. They had not even been made the victims of a scheme to pre- empt the soil for a particular province, as was the case with most of the early settlers in the Kreutz Creek Valley. They had ventured out upon those newlands in quest of quiet homes where they might worship without hindrance and might work undisturbed, sowing their crops and reap- ing the fruits of their own labors. But they had the mis- fortune to settle upon border land at a time when bound- aries were indefinite and open to dispute. The conse- quence was, their days were fraught with distraction and their lives were in many cases made miserable for years. The blame for this condition of affairs must rest entirely with the authorities. The irregular and indefinite bound- aries of Digges's reservation caused much uncertainty as to
President Tasker of Maryland transmitted to Governor Hamilton of Penn- sylvania a copy of a warrant to collect taxes of persons settled on Digges's Choice under Maryland rights (Col. Rec., V: 592; Archives, II: 90 f.). Governor Hamilton recognized the jurisdiction of Maryland over the property of the persons mentioned in that warrant and gave strict orders to the officers in York County not to try to collect from them (Archives, II: 89 f.). The warrant had been issued in January, 1750, and gives the names of 40 persons who were settled at that time north of the temporary line between the provinces but under Maryland jurisdiction. In addition to the names already mentioned we have in this list such German names as
Martin Bayers
George Shrier
Peter Gerson
Christian Stoner
Philip Kinsfoor
Henry Null, Dr.
Casper Berkhamer Jacob Perts
Michael Behlar
Philip Sower
Andrew Hanier
Henry Knouf
John Counts
Conrad Eakron John Shreder
Frederick Sheets
George Frusch
George Coffman
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German Element in York County, Pa.
the validity of their titles and led to frequent disputes be- tween Digges and the settlers on his lands. The conflict- ing claims of the Penns and Lord Baltimore to the pro- prietorship in that region only served to aggravate the difficulties and involved the inhabitants in greater turmoil. The land upon which many of the Germans had settled came to be known as "the disputed land." Unlawful claims were made and violent measures were resorted to in enforcing them. Jurisdiction in criminal cases was diffi- cult to determine, the administration of justice was im- peded or prevented, and lawlessness naturally flourished. For this reason the community was sometimes referred to as " Rogues' Resort," but this cannot be taken as a reflec- tion upon the character of the earliest settlers and the permanent residents in that district, for it was due to con- ditions brought about entirely by the neglect of the distant authorities in Philadelphia, in Baltimore, and in London. A brief narrative of some of the disturbances in this region will help us to understand something of the adverse conditions under which this settlement took its beginnings.
Some of these Germans who were settled on and about the Conewago Creek on the lands claimed by John Digges soon began to suspect that his patent did not cover all that he claimed, that he was not in a position to give valid titles, and that some day the proprietary government of Pennsylvania might compel them to pay a second time for the lands which they occupied. Digges's boundaries were not marked and the increase of settlers and the expanding of the colony called for a clear definition of rights. The Germans therefore repeatedly called on Digges to mark the boundaries of his claim. This he refused to do, and as he gave conflicting accounts of the extent of his patent, they began to grow solicitous about the validity of their deeds.
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Other Early Settlements.
Their suspicions were turned to certainty when in 1743 they sent one of their number, Martin Ungefare, to An- napolis and secured an attested copy of the courses of Digges's tract. Despite Digges's protests and threats of violence the Germans proceeded to have the courses of his tract run by an authorized surveyor, and then it was plain that he had claimed a great deal more land than he had a right to by his patent and that he had sold a number of tracts that lay without his survey of 6,822 acres.
Digges was greatly disturbed by this revelation and be- gan at once to cast about for some means of securing title to such lands as he needed to fulfill his contracts with the people. To secure an additional patent under a new sur- vey from Maryland was now impossible. For a royal order of 173817 had fixed a temporary line (called the
17 This was an order issued by the King on May 25, 1738, ratifying an agreement between Lord Baltimore and the Penns. In this Order the fol- lowing paragraphs are of interest in this connection :
3rd, "That all other lands in contest between the said proprietors now possessed by or under either of them shall remain in the possession as they now are (although beyond the temporary limits hereafter mentioned) ; and also the jurisdiction of the respective proprietors shall be finally settled; and that the tenants of either side shall not attorn to the other, nor shall either of the proprietors or their officers receive or accept of attornments form the tenants of the other proprietors.
" 4th, That, as to all vacant lands in contest between the proprietors, not lying within the three lower counties and not now possessed by or under either of them, on the east side of the River Sasquehannah down so far south as fourteen miles and three quarters of a mile south of the latitude of the most southern part of the city of Philadelphia, the temporary juris- diction over the same is agreed to be exercised by the proprietors of Penn- sylvania, and their governor, courts, and officers; and as to all such vacant lands in contest between the proprietors and not now possessed by or under either of them on both sides of the said River Sasquehannah south of the southern limits in this paragraph before mentioned, the temporary jurisdic- tion over the same is agreed to be exercised by the proprietor of Maryland and his governor, courts, and officers, without prejudice to either proprietor and until the bounds shall be finally settled." Archives, I: 713 f.
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German Element in York County, Pa.
Temporary Line of 1739) between the two provinces west of the Susquehanna at fourteen and three fourths miles south of Philadelphia but provided that lands already possessed in the disputed territory should remain in the possession and jurisdiction in which they then were. Now Digges's Choice lay four miles north of the temporary line, and while under the provisions of the royal order it re- mained in Digges's possession and continued under Mary- land jurisdiction, nevertheless after 1739 the province of Maryland could claim no kind of authority over any of the lands surrounding Digges's Choice north of the temporary line between the provinces. Accordingly in November, 1743, after the Germans had deliberately surveyed the boundaries of his claim and thus had laid bare his false pretensions, Digges applied to the land office of Pennsyl- vania for permission to take up enough land to make his tract a regular square. He was told that he might have a warrant for as much as he pleased, provided he would meet the common terms of Pennsylvania and would not interfere with the rights of some Germans who had regu- lar warrants for some of the lands contiguous to his tract. These conditions he refused to meet and he left Phila- delphia without coming to any agreement with the secre- tary.
Digges then resorted to a new measure. He turned to Maryland and determined to get a Maryland warrant to complete his original grant of 10,000 acres. In July, 1745, a warrant was issued from the office at Annapolis requiring the surveyor to correct the errors of the original survey and to add any vacant land he could find contiguous to the tract originally patented. This survey was made two weeks later and embraced an additional 3,679 acres. For this Digges paid a new consideration and a new rent.
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Other Early Settlements.
The patent therefore was in direct violation of the royal order of 1738 and of the rights of Pennsylvania in that region. Digges claimed that he had merely made a resur- vey marking the true courses of the 10,000 acres that had been granted to him originally. Nevertheless, his new patent embraced several German plantations that had not been embraced in the original survey and included a num- ber of tracts for which warrants had been granted to Ger- man settlers by the proprietaries of Pennsylvania.18 All of these lands Digges offered for sale and thus we have the fruitful cause of years of conflict and turmoil in this neighborhood.
There were at least fourteen Germans who had settled under Pennsylvania warrants outside of Digges's original
18 An instance of such a grant is to be found in the following document now in the possession of the York County Historical Society. It is a land warrant granted to George Evanaar, a German, and signed by Thomas Penn, on October 5, 1738, a year before the temporary line was run be- tween Pennsylvania and Maryland.
" Whereas George Evanaar, of the County of Lancaster, hath requested that we would grant him to take up one hundred acres of land situated at Conewago, adjoining Adam Forney and Nicholas Forney, in the said County of Lancaster, for which he agrees to pay to our use the sum of fifteen pounds, ten shillings current money of this province for the said one hundred acres, and the yearly quit-rent of one half penny sterling for every acre thereof. This is therefore to authorize and require you to survey or cause to be surveyed to the said George Evanaar at the place aforesaid, according to the methods of townships appointed, the said quantity of one hundred acres, if not already surveyed or appropriated, and make return thereof into the secretary's office, in order for further confirmation; for which this shall be your sufficient warrant; which survey in case the said George Evanaar fulfill the above agreement within six months from the date hereof shall be valid otherwise void. Given under my hand and seal of the land office, by virtue of certain powers from the said proprietaries, at Philadelphia, this fifth day of October, Anno Domini, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirty-Eight.
"To Benjamin Eastburn, Surveyor-General.
THOMAS PENN."
6
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German Element in York County, Pa.
survey of 1732 but within his resurvey of 1745. In April, 1746, these Germans sent a delegation to Philadelphia with a petition to the Pennsylvania authorities asking for protection in their rights as against Digges's aggressions.19 Thomas Cookson, surveyor of Lancaster County, was sent to the Conewago to warn Digges and the people against violations of the royal order.20 But to no avail. Digges insisted that his resurvey and new warrant were merely confirmatory of the originals and therefore no violations of the royal order. The governors of the two provinces began a correspondence about the matter but without defi- nite results for many years. Meanwhile the settlers in the disputed land were kept in constant uneasiness, a num- ber of arrests were made and violent conflicts took place, thus greatly retarding the growth of the settlement.
Very shortly after Cookson's visit to Digges's Choice in April, 1746, Thomas Norris, deputy sheriff of Baltimore County, at the suit of John Digges arrested Matthias Ulrich and Nicholas Forney (son of Adam Forney), two of the German settlers on the disputed land. This was done because these men failed to give Digges their bonds for the lands which they held. The sheriff took his pris- oners as far as Adam Forney's house. Here Adam Forney remonstrated with the sheriff, insisting that the prisoners were settled under proper Pennsylvania warrants and of- fering to go bail for them. This was refused, whereupon Forney boldly told the two men to return to their homes. The sheriff drew his sword and Forney's party drew theirs, but without coming to blows the sheriff and his assistants, Dudley Digges and John Roberts, mounted their horses and fled towards Maryland. Then Forney wrote an ac-
19 Archives, II: 28.
20 Archives, I: 681-683.
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Other Early Settlements.
count of the affair to Cookson, pleading for his interven- tion and assistance and concluding: "For if this matter is not rectified, & we do not get help speedily, we must help ourselves, & should it be with our last Drop of Blood, for I am well assured that we will not be put upon by no Digges that ever lived under the sun. . .. Digges also troubled many more, in short all them that lives in his re- survey'd Additional Line, & was a going to have them ar- rested, but some sent them a packing in the Striving. .. . "21
The troubles grew worse and Digges discovered that the Germans were as stubborn in maintaining their rights as he was determined to force them into submission. On January 26, 1747, John Wilmot, an under-sheriff of Maryland, and six others, all armed with heavy clubs, arrested Adam Forney at his home and carried him off to the Baltimore jail on the charge of resisting the officers of the law. Forney was subjected to very rough treatment and in the struggle that attended the arrest his wife, Louise, and his daughter, Eve, were badly beaten with clubs. In Baltimore Forney entered bail for his appear- ance at court. The provincial authorities of Pennsyl- vania at once took measures to defend Forney on the ground that the arrest was made within the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania. A Maryland lawyer was retained to de- fend Forney at the trial. But a little investigation re- vealed the fact that the house where Forney had been ar- rested was actually within the limits of Digges's original tract. The case thus ceased to interest the Pennsylvania authorities and Forney was left to his own defense. How the case was settled is nowhere recorded but there was probably nothing more than the imposition of a fine, for we soon find Forney at his home again.22
21 Archives, I: 685 f. and 694 f.
22 Archives, I: 724-733.
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German Element in York County, Pa.
During the week following Forney's arrest a formal complaint was drawn up by the German settlers on the "Disputed Land" and sent to Thomas Cookson, setting forth the facts of Forney's arrest and brutal treatment and asking Cookson to intercede with the governor "that sum Releef may be spedely, for it is vary hard for us to live af ter this manner, to be toren to pesis." This was signed by Martin Kitzmiller, Martin Brin, Abraham Sellen (Sell), Hanry Sellen, "and numerous others."23
In 1749 a petition was presented to Governor Hamilton signed by Hendrick Seller (Henry Sell) and thirteen others, stating that they were all settled on the tract in- cluded by Digges in his resurvey of 1745, that they all held Pennsylvania warrants for their land, that Digges was threatening to sue them unless they would pay him 100 pounds Maryland currency, and that they were in con- stant danger of being forced from their plantations, car- ried to Maryland and there confined. The petitioners asked that some speedy means be devised for their relief.24
This unsettled condition of affairs continued until in 1752 it led to the tragic shooting of Dudley Digges, son of John Digges. Martin Kitzmiller, with his wife and three sons, Jacob, Leonard, and John, was settled on a tract of 100 acres continguous to Digges's Choice. Kitz- miller had bought' the improvements on this tract from John Lemmon in 1736. Lemmon had recognized the right of Digges to the land but had not yet paid Digges for the land when he sold the improvement to Kitzmiller. When Kitzmiller came into the possession of the improve- ments he refused to acknowledge Digges's right to the land and secured a warrant from Pennsylvania for the 100
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