USA > Pennsylvania > York County > The Historical Sketch, and Account of the Centennial Celebration at York, PA., July 4, 1876. > Part 2
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THE PRAYER.
strife; and that the world over, this land is known as the home of the free and the land of the brave-that the problem has been solved by the experience and testimony of 100 years that man is capable of self- government. For the unequalled progress we have made as a nation in every department of national prosperity-for the development of all our natural resources, so that though but in our infancy we have taken high rank among the nations of the earth- for all these and other manifestations of Thy favor we would render to Thee our heartfelt acknowledg- ments-and we would beseech Thee be Thou with us as Thou hast been with our fathers, take this land un- der Thy special care and favor-make this govern- ment a blessing to us and an example to all other nations, may the fair fabric of our republican govern- ment rise higher and higher until from its command- ing peak its light shall shine and the notes of her fame shall echo throughout the world and proclaim to the already tottering thrones of monarchs : A na- tion if sober, moral and virtuous is capable of self- government.
We pray Thee, O God, baptize this nation with the Holy Ghost, that all its resources and energies may be consecrated to Thy service-that we may become a God-fearing, religious and holy people-as renown- ed for its virtue and piety as for its civil and religious liberty.
Bless all those in authority from the highest to the lowest ; may they be men suited to their position, may they rule in the fear of God, and may their best efforts
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be to promote the highest interests of the Republic.
These Thanksgivings we render, and these peti- tions we offer in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost, we would ascribe honor, praise and glory, for- ever. Amen.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH
OF THE
COUNTY OF YORK, PENNSYLVANIA.
Delivered at York, July 4, 1876.
FELLOW CITIZENS :
We greet this anniversary and each other to-day with more than ordinary enthusiasm .- We rejoice because our nation has attained a century of existence, and hail the commencement of a new era under the auspices of free government. The Congress of the United States have recommended, that on the centennial anniversary of our national independence, an historical sketch of each county or town from its formation be delivered to the assem- bled people, "to the intent that a complete record may thus be obtained of the progress of our institu- tions during the first centennial of their existence." To illustrate then the part our own people have ta- ken in the progress of that political freedom and ma- terial prosperity which is the boast of our common country, and to show what we have done and contrib- uted towards its vast expansiveness of national grand- eur, is my task to-day.
The Founder of this Commonwealth planted his colony in the forests of Pennsylvania as a "Holy Ex-
ยท
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periment." The doctrine taught by him and the re- ligious sect with which he was joined, was received with no favor ; yet the "inner light" of the Quaker i's the foundation of all true liberty and government- not forms, made for the people, but by the people for themselves. When William Penn landed upon the shore of the Delaware on the 27th of October, 1682, the right of representation was enjoyed to some extent in all the colonies which had preceded his ; but freedom of conscience, combined with free govern- ment, had not yet entirely been accepted. The lan- guage of the Quaker proprietaries was : "We lay a foundation for after ages to understand their liberty as Christians and as men, that they may not be brought into bondage, but by their own consent, for we put the Power in the People."
The history of the people of the United States of America, of Pennsylvania, and of York County, is the same in every feature, from the first settlementsamong the aborigines, on through the struggle for popular rights, to the present consummation. A race of men occupied these lands before us, who have disappear- ed before what we call civilization. No attempt has been made to investigate the history of the tribes who inhabited this region, though there is room for the exercise of the skill of the archaeologist in deci- phering inscriptions, or other rude and scanty re- mains of the aborignal inhabitants. We hold the lands that they occupied, and therefore ought to show the origin of our titles, and see how we were planted here.
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Although William Penn had title under the war-
The rant of Charles II by European Law, he had Manor acquired an independent title from the Indians; from the Five Nations who claimed to have conquer- ed the resident tribes on the Susquehanna, from the Kings of the Susquehannas, and from the Conesto- gas. So too an independent title was acquired to the Springettsbury Manor.
Three nations of Indians, as they are called in the old records, had their towns and settlements on the north or east bank of the Susquehanna River, and were much disturbed by the settlements of intruders "over against them." They requested, at a treaty, that a large tract of land right against their towns on the Susquehanna might be surveyed for the proprie- tary's use only, trusting to his bounty and goodness for whatever was necessary and convenient for them.
By the primitive regulations for laying out lands in the province, William Penn had issued a warrant to the surveyor general, to survey for the proprietor, five hundred acres of every township of five thousand acres. This was the proprietary one tenth. But it was said that the tracts surveyed were far short of the proprietary's due, and therefore there was sur- veyed for his use, on the 19th and 20th of June, 1722, a certain tract of land, situate on the west side of the Susquehanna, then in the county of Chester, after- wards of Lancaster, and now of York, containing 75,520 acres ; commencing on the Susquehanna, op- posite the mouth of Conestoga creek, extending
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thence W. S. W. ten miles, thence N. W. by N. twelve miles, thence E. N. E. eight miles, and thence along Sir William Keith's tract, called Newberry, to the Susquehanna river again, in the name and for the use of the Honorable Springett Penn, Esquire, to bear his name and be called the manor of Springetts- bury. A part of this orginal tract was subsequently cut off, under an agreement between Penn and Bal- timore, to satisfy the claims of Maryland settlers ; and by a survey in 1768, it was found to contain 64,- 520 acres ; bounded by a north and south line west of the dwelling plantation of Christian Oyster, and by east and west lines about three miles distant north and south from York. These lines might be traced, in the original titles of the lands embraced by them, with some degree of interest to the present holders.
The proprietary manors were reserved by the legislature after the Revolution to the Penns, while their title to all other lands in the province was divested in favor of the Commonwealth. Spring- ett Penn was the grandson of William Penn, the son of his oldest son, William, and hence the heir at-law. Governor Keith told the Indians, at the treaty, that Springett Penn, "now a man as tall as he," was the lord of all this country in the room of his grandfather. But the grandfather by his will gave Pennsylvania to the younger branch of the fam- ily, little estimating its immense value. John, Thom- as and Richard took possession, and through them the titles to all lands within the manor are derived. Governor Keith also told the Indians, that when he
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would cause the tract of land to be taken up on the other side of the Susquehanna for the grandson of William Penn, and the land would be marked with Springett Penn's name upon the trees, it would keep off the "Mary Landers," and every other person what- soever, from coming to settle near them to disturb them. This assurance proved fallacious. For the Maryland intrusions became so great, that in order to resist them, encouragement had to be offered to persons for forming settlements on the tract surveyed .- The confirmation of the titles of these Pennsylvania settlers was delayed on account of Indian claims to the land, which were finally released on the 11th of October, 1736. Those who had settled at that time, were, perhaps, fifty in number ; but in addition to them the population of the manor tract and of the neighboring country rapidly increased.
These first settlements were by Germans, about
The Kreutz and Codorus creeks, and hence were Early populated Hellam, Springgarden, York,
Settlers. Shrewsbury and Springfield townships .- These settlers were Lutherans and German Reform- ed, and they soon formed congregations. The Bar- rens were settled about the same time by Scotch Irish, and hence were populated Chanceford, Fawn, Peach- bottom, Hopewell and part of Windsor townships. They were Presbyterians and soon built a church near Muddy creek. The term "barrens" was derived from the lack of timber in that section of the county, cleared, it is said, by the fires of the Indians for hunting purposes ; a term no longer applicable, in
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any sense, to the improved and flourishing farms in those townships. Then Quaker families from Chester settled in Newberry township, among the Red Lands, followed by others, and so was filled the northern part of the county, Newberry, Fair- view, Monaghan, Warrington, Franklin, Washing- ton and Carrol townships. Among these settlers was Ellis Lewis, the ancestor of one of the chief jus- tices of this state. A Maryland patent to John Dig- ges of 10,000 acres, included the site of Hanover, Heidelberg township of York county, and Ger- many and Conewago, now of Adams. There were also settlers about the Pigeon Hills under Maryland titles. Germans followed here, and spread them- selves over all the central and richer portions of the county.
The Germans who came over the river as early as 1729 to the fertile soil about Kreutz creek, had some severe trials to undergo. They were driven from their homes, seized and imprisoned by the Maryland intruders, who tried by force to maintain their claims under the pretended title of Lord Baltimore, as far as Wright's Ferry, the site of Wrightsville, and at one time almost to the limits of the after site of York- town. The dispute began in the life time of William Penn, and was not settled for fifty years after his death. In this early period when York County was first settled by Pennsylvanians, the violent attempts to drive them out, made this border country a scene of strife and bloodshed. History is travestied when we find, that the most notorious of these intruders, a
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quarrelsome man, who kept up a continual broil and breach of the peace, exciting the detestation of the Pennsylvanians, appears in the annals of Maryland, as Col. Thomas Cressap, a colonial hero.
Cressap is still traditionally remembered in the section of country which he made so warm. He built a fort at the mouth of the creek where Leber's mill now is, in Lower Windsor township. Armed bands sent hither by the countenance, if not by the express orders, of Governor Ogle of Maryland, were under his command, and many acts of violence were committed upon the just owners, which were ended only by his arrest by the sheriff of Lancaster County, after a desperate fight; which event occurred on the 23rd of November, 1736. Cressap claimed under a patent from the Governor of Maryland, who also granted to another over zealous intermeddler with other people's rights, one Charles Higgenbotham, a patent for land north of the Codorus; a man who rivalled Cressap in violent attempts to eject our Penn- sylvania settlers and drive them from their lands west of the Susquehanna. But the Germans when aroused were able to maintain their rights.
This mode of summary ejectment tried by Cressap and Higgenbotham did not originate with them. It was the way of the time, and they acted under author- ity, such as it was. So, when at an earlier period, in 1721, a man by the name of John Grist squatted west of the Susquehanna, and of course could not get along with the Indians, a warrant, with the posse comitatus, was issued, with instructions to burn and destroy the dwel-
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HISTORICAL SKETCH.
lings and habitations of himself and accomplices in case of refusal. This was not done to the letter, but on the other hand, when Indians destroyed some of his property, with true squatter claims he made complaint to the Council at Philadelphia. The question of squatter sovereignty, which is hardly settled in our day, was not entertained by that board, and Grist was put to jail, and released only on condition of his removal from the lands he had occupied. This is the history of the first squatter in this section of coun- try. Others attempted the same after the manor was laid out, and they were also removed. The first au- thorized settlement was made in 1729, and licenses were thereafter issued, which the Germans eagerly accepted, and after their troubles enjoyed happy homes as we know to this day.
It would be well here as a part of the history of so- cial developement to contrast the "simplicity of the first settlers in this region with the fashions of the present day. In the language of the History of York county : "The early inhabitants of the Kreutz creek region were clothed for some years, altogether in tow cloth as wool was an article not to be obtained .-- Their dress was simple, consisting of a shirt, trowsers and frock. During the heat of summer, a shirt and trowsers of tow formed the only raiment of the in- habitants. In the fall the frock was superadded .- When the cold of winter was before the door, and Boreas came rushing from the North, the dress was adapted to the season by increasing the number of frocks, so that in the coldest part of the winter, some
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of the sturdy settlers were wrapt in four, five and ev- en more frocks. which were bound closely about their loins, usually with a string of the same material as the garments."
"But man ever progresses ; and when sheep were introduced, a mixture of tow and wool was consider- ed an article of luxury. But tow was shortly after- wards succeeded by cotton, and then linsey woolsey was a piece of the wildestextravagance. If these sim- ple, plain and honest worthies could look down upon their descendants of the present day, they would won- der and weep at the changes of men and things. If
a party of them could be spectators of a ball of these times, in the Borough of York, and see silksand crapes, and jewels and gold, in lieu of tow frocks and linsey woolsey finery, they would scarcely recognize their descendants, in the costly and splendid dresses before them ; but would no doubt be ready to imagine that the nobles and princes of the earth were assembled at a royal bridal. But these honest progenitors of ours have passed away, and have left many of us, we fear, nothing but the names they bore, to mark us their descendants." Though they also lived in log houses, and used wooden cups and platters and spoons, with pewter as an imported luxury, they knew how to select choice, fertile spots for farms.
Around and about them were the Indians, occas- sionally robbing an apple orchard or frightening with red painted faces the women and children, and not dangerous unless under the influence of fire water, for which they showed an intense fondness, chiefs and
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squaws alike, when they could get it. The policy of William Penn had made it peaceful throughout the province, with the savages ; but some of the tribes further off were troublesome, and constant negotia- tions and treaties were had and made through com- missioners. The principal of these was the celebra- ted interpreter Conrad Weiser, the progenitor of a large number of descendants, through this region of country. An ancestor of whom they may well be proud.
The first public improvement made, was a road from Wright's Ferry westward, laid out in 1740, on the application of the inhabitants of Hellam, which ap- pears to have been the first township erected west of the Susquehanna. This road was intended to reach the Potomac and led to the Monocacy road, near the Province line, a distance of about thirty-four miles .- It crossed the Big Codorus, as it is styled in the sur- vey, about where Philadelphia street now crosses that stream ; then in the midst of a wilderness.
"Although there were many habitations in its neigh-
borhood, yet so late as the year 1740, there
Yorktown.
was not one building within the present lim- its of the Borough of York." The History of York county says : "The Queen of the Wilderness' then held her solitary throne where now the 'city full' is cheered with everything that art and industry can render lovely or attractive." .
A survey for the proprietor's use was made in Oc- tober, 1741, of a tract on both sides of the Codorus, within the limits of Springettsbury manor, for the scite
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of a town whereon York has since been laid out and built. The part east of the Codorus was laid out in- to squares, after the manner of Philadelphia. The squares were made 480 feet by 520 feet; the lots 230 by 65. Two streets eighty feet wide were to cross each other, and 65 feet square was to be cut off the corner of each block to make a square for any public buildings or market of 110 feet each side.
On request made to the proprietors for permission to "take up a lot," a certificate or ticket, as it was called, was issued to the applicant, and the lot was then surveyed to him. The certificate only gave a right to build in order to obtain a patent; and was granted on condition : "that the applicant build upon the lot at his own proper cost one substantial dwell- ing house of the dimensions of sixteen feet square at least, with a good chimney of brick or stone to be laid in or built with lime or sand, within the space of one year from the time of his entry for the same." A yearly rent was to be paid to the proprietor of seven shillings.
"The first application or entry of names for lots in Yorktown was in November, 1741," and "it may not be uninteresting to show what parts of the town were first chosen by the early settlers in it."
The first lot taken up, was that on which the hotel stands, known as the the Kindig House. Then the adjoining lot towards the market house.
The next lot was that on which Nes' old brewery stood, in North George street, between the rail road and the bridge, east side.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH.
Then a lot nearly opposite the German Reformed Church, and the two lots adjoining it on the west.
Then were chosen at about the same time, the lot on which the building of H. Kraber, on East Market street now stands; that on the south-east corner of Market and Water streets; a lot at Water street, formerly John Lay, over which the rail road passed ; that occupied by the York Bank, and a house oppo- site, once William Sayres, later William Brown ; those on the south-east, south-west and north-west corners of Market and Beaver streets.
"In that month twenty three lots were taken up, and no more were taken up until the 10th and 11th of March 1746, when forty-four lots were disposed of. In 1748, and two years following, many applications were made, for York had then become a county town." The building of the town, judged by modern progress, proceeded slowly, for we find that after the lapse of ten years, fn 1751, there were but fifty lots built on. Yet many a town has been laid out on a much larger scale than York, and never got be- yond fifty houses. The original area was by offi- cial survey found to be 4463 acres, to this, Hay's Ad- dition, in 1814. gave 60 acres more.
The names given to the streets indicated loyal sentiments at that period-George, King, Prince, Duke. They sound now like the loyalty of Rip Van Winkle after his prolonged sleep, during which in- dependence had been achieved.
We learn from letters at the time that the town had the troubles incident to such settlements, as failures
YORK COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE.
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to fulfill the conditions and consequent forfeitures; different men wanting the same lot, and some taking possession of lots without leave or license. But we must not be too harsh on our predecessors, for York was then on the borders of civilization and had the ex- perience common to frontier towns. Nor did private clashing interests disturb the whole community, for we find that the churches were not forgotten ; two lots were taken by the Lutherans and one by the German Reformed congregations. The first church built in York was the Lutheran in 1744, and the German Reformed two years later.
The History of York County says: "At about this period, York must have been a most desert place, very unlike what she now is in the "splendor of her domes," and the "richness of her profusion."- Within the very limits of York, the proprietaries' timber was cut down in large quantities for burning brick and lime. Yet with its first rude dwellings, some of them, perhaps, miserable, the town must have been picturesquely built in the woods, with the Co. dorus in its virgin beauty flowing gently around the occupied portion. It was destined soon to become a shiretown.
The people west of the Susquehanna asked for a The new county on account of the great hardships new they laid under by being at so great distance County. from where the courts of justice were held, and also because idle and dissolute persons, who re- sorted to the remote parts of the province, and committed thefts and abuses, frequently found means
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of making their escape, by reason of the great dis- tance from the court to prison.
We cannot suppose that the result of the holy ex- periment of William Penn was to make all men in the province good, when such rogues abounded; but to enquire whence they came? is to ask the unanswer- able question, whence the origin of evil ?
We know that with true freeman's confidence in lawand its administration under their own cognizance, our people were satisfied that the establishment of a court of justice, at York, would afford sufficient reme- dy for the evils of which they complained. This was in the year 1749; and that must have been a great day for York and York County, when the first court of quarter sessions of the peace was held before John Day, Esquire, and his associate justices, on the 3Ist day of October, in the 23rd year of his majesty George II. On the following day was held the first orphans' court before the same justices. A court of common pleas was organized at the same time, and the first suit was brought to January Term 1750.
The offices of prothonotary, clerk of the courts register of wills and recorder of deeds, were vested in George Stephenson, deputy surveyor, a man who became active in the affairs of the county, and was one of its sub-lieutenants during the revolutionary war.
Under the Quaker regime the county courts were not held by lawyers, but by justices of the peace ; and hence when under later forms of government, law judges as presidents were placed upon the bench,
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two citizens, not learned in the law, were placed by his side to protect, we presume, the liberties of the people, some of whom, in the early days of the com- monwealth, were not slow to assert their equality of prerogative in the administration of the law; as in the case of Judge Addison, who was impeached for denying this privilege to his lay brother on the bench. The judges of the supreme court were lawyers, who went the circuit, holding nisi prius courts for civil pleas in the several counties.
Our people in those days had exaggerated ideas of liberty, which all beginners in the enjoyment of po- litical freedom are apt to display. The first election for sheriff of the new county was the scene of a most notable riot. A war of races between the Germans and the Irish. Richard McAlister, was the favorite of the Germans, as candidate for sheriff, and Hance, commonly called Hans Hamilton, of the Irish, which gave the appearance of an anomaly, a German Mac and an Irish Hans, as leaders of the contest. The polls were at the public house, built of logs, and not quite finished ; through an opening between the logs at one end of the house the tickets were received .- This first public house in York was kept by Adam Miller, for which a license was granted at November sessions, 1742, by the Court of Lancaster county. It was in the north-west corner of the Centre square and was afterwards kept by Baltzer Spangler.
The Irish took possession of the polls, determined that none but their friends should vote. A fight en- sued, resulting in a German victory and the election
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of McAlister. But by one of those political artifices, in vogue then as now, Hans Hamilton was commis- sioned sheriff, by Lieut. Governor Hamilton, for one year. Hans must have belonged to the ring. This first exercise of the right of suffrage in York county was a vigorous instance of the appreciation of her citizens of that inestimable right. At the next elec- tion, in October, 1750, a large party of Germans drove away the people, knocking down the sheriff-the cor- oner leading the party. Investigation showed that the sheriff was to blame. There were other occas- ional election disturbances afterwards requiring offi- cial correction, but not worse, perhaps, than some that occur in our day.
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