USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > Middletown > The chronicles of Middletown : containing a compilation of facts, biographical sketches, reminiscences, anecdotes, &c., connected with the history of one of the oldest towns in Pennsylvania > Part 4
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Dauphin county was then Paxton township (or Paxtang, as some called it) of Lancaster county. Middletown and its vicinity was, about this time, 1763, the most thickly settled portion of what is now Dauphin county. It is fair to presume therefore that a large proportion of the "Paxton Boys" lived here.
These rangers scouted along the whole frontier, from fort to fort. They were so organized that while one-third was out, the other two- thirds could remain at home to protect the families from possible raids during their absence. They generally chose their officers immediately before proceeding on a scout, and during that scout rendered them im- plicit obedience. They adopted the Indian tactics in fighting, and these latter dreaded them, as they never did the regular troops, and avoided their vicinity.
They had several drawbacks to contend with; the Assembly, con- trolled by the Quakers, not only refused to pay them for their services,
3
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CHRONICLES OF MIDDLETOWN.
but were continually negotiating with, and sending presents to the Indians.
Below Middletown, on the Conestoga manor, were a number of so- called Christian Indians-the special pets of the Proprietaries-that the "Paxton Boys" suspected of harboring, concealing, and aiding the sav- ages who were committing the murders and outrages in this section. Suspicion finally became a certainty, and they determined to capture the fiends who, red-handed, had the hardihood to remain in the vicinity of their crimes. They went for them-they resisted-in the melee the so-called tame Indians went under also.
Then the Assembly became exasperated and the men who could sit with folded arms, and see thousands of innocent whites butchered, wished to indict the rangers-who had thus rid the world of devils- for murder. But the sentiment, of the whole frontier, and that of the surrounding colonies was with them, and they remained at home unmo- lested. After this there were no more massacres.
At the opening of the Revolution most of the Paxton men sought the ranks of the army, from which but few of them returned to settle again in Paxton. As far as we have any record they lived useful and respected lives; some of them afterwards became prominent in this and other States; and through their posterity many of their names have since be- come noted in the history of the country.
But he who seeks for the descendants of the Scotch-Irish in Dauphin county finds but here and there a solitary isolated family, surrounded everywhere by an entirely different race; that of the German emigrants, who came about the close of the last century, and whose descendants inherit the language, the farms and the plodding industry and thrift of their forefathers. The ancient churches and graveyards of the Irish still remain as monuments of their former occupancy.
A PARALLEL.
In reading over Paper No. 9, I can't help thinking that to me these incidents of the past possess a vividness that it is hardly possible for an inhabitant of the present peaceful old "Keystone" to realize. So you will pardon me if, after quoting from a letter written by a resident of Lancaster county, Pa., in 1757, I make a few extracts from one written by an inhabitant of Uvalde county, Texas, in 1861; to show you how the same drama was performed, on a different stage, over a hundred years later, and a thousand miles further off. The actors on one side, being (judging from the names) descendants of the old pioneers of Pennsylvania; on the other, not alone the wild Commanches and Lip- ans, but also (and principally) the Government Indians from the reser- vation; the official in charge of whom (Maj. Neighbors) would believe no accusations brought against his pets by the "wild Texans," whom he looked upon much as the Quakers of a previous day did on the "Scotch-Irish." To make the parallel more complete, the nearest set-
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CHRONICLES OF MIDDLETOWN. 35
tlement east of Uvalde was 60 miles distant, west 670 miles; south 65 miles, and north over 1,000.
(Letters to Edward Shippen and others, October 14th, 1757.)
"Friends and Fellow Subjects:
"I send you in a few lines the melancholy condition of the frontiers of this country. Last Thursday, the 12th inst., ten Indians came to Noah Frederick, while ploughing, killed and scalped, and carried away three of his children that were with him-the oldest but nine years old, and plundered his house-it being but two short miles to Capt. Smith's fort at Swatara Gap, and a little better than two miles to my house.
"Last Saturday evening an Indian came to the house of Philip Rob- inson, carrying a green bush before him, said Robinson's son being on the corner of his fort-the Indian perceiving that he was observed, fled ; the watchman fired but missed him; this being about three-fourths of a mile from Manady fort; and yesterday morning two miles from Smith's Fort at Swatara, in Bethel township, as Jacob Farnwell was going to the house of Jacob Meylie to his own, was fired upon by two Indians and wounded, but escaped with his life; and a little after, in said town- ship, as Frederick Hawley and Peter Sample were carrying away their goods in wagons, were met by a parcel of Indians and killed, lying dead in one place, and one man a little distance. But what more has been done has not come to my ears, only that the Indians were continuing their murders.
"The frontiers are employed at nothing but carrying off their effects so that some miles are now waste. We are willing but not able without help-you are able, if you be willing (that is, including the lower parts of the county,) to give such assistance as will enable us to recover our waste land. You may depend upon it, that, without assistance, we in a few days, will be on the wrongside of you, for I am now on the fron- tier, and I fear by tomorrow night I will be left two miles.
"Gentlemen : Consider what you will do, and don't be long about it; And don't let the world say that we died as fools died. Our hands are not tied, but let us exert ourselves and do something for the honor of our country and the preservation of our fellow-subjects. I hope you will communicate our grievances to the lower part of the county for surely they will send us help, if they understood our grievances.
"I would have gone down myself, but dare not; my family is in such danger, I expect an answer by the bearer, if possible.
"I am, gentlemen, your very humble servant, "ADAM REED.
"P. S .- Before sending this away I have just received information that there are seven killed, and five children scalped alive, but have not the account of their names."
Extract from a letter in San Antonia, Texas, Herald, March 13th, 1861 :
"Since my last, the Indians who went down the Sabinal have returned,
-
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CHRONICLES OF MIDDLETOWN.
going up the country. They stole all the horses on Rancheros' creek -a party of 40 men are in pursuit of them. The Indians who killed Robinson, Adams, Sanders, and Eastwood, and committed the other depredations and outrages I wrote you of continued on their course down the country, and crossed into Mexico. They treated old man Sanders as they did the others, cut out his heart, and scalped him; they also skinned one of his feet, and cut off his long flowing white beard. Settlers who have come in town to-day, state that this party overtook a man named Morrow on the Frio, below the Laredo road, shot him eight times-he probably killed one Indian; he is still living, and says that the party that attacked him were about 24 in number. They also killed a Mexican and wounded a Mexican boy somewhere below old Fort Merrill, and near the same place stole 65 head of horses. A party have but just returned from a scout in the lower country-another party is now fitting out, and will be ready to start in a day or so. We have never yet failed to overtake them when going up the country, nor do I think we will now. But this state of affairs cannot last-the State must furnish us the means, men, money and horses, or else the frontier will soon be a little nearer San Antonia than would perhaps be agreeable to the feelings of her citizens. Uvalde is willing to do what she can, but we cannot stand the whole brunt of this contest unassisted, while those whom our being on the frontier protects, look on in listless apathy.
The settlement on the Neuces is again broken up-not an individual remains. Below here for probably a distance of 100 miles, where there were a number of settlements, there is not a soul living .- There are no crops being made, and stock is neglected. What we are to do in the future, unless a change for the better takes place-and that very soon -God only knows. There may be some who will think this picture overdrawn; living remote from the scenes that are daily occurring here they will deem this exaggeration, and that we are unnecessarily alarmed. To such I would say, change places with us, bear what we have borne, year after year, without aid or assistance, and often not even sympathy for our misfortunes, or credit for our efforts from those whom our pri- vation, toil and blood protected, and freed from the necessity of shar- ing in like dangers; and then see whether Uvalde has not just cause for complaint. We have done more actual and efficient service in propor- tion to our population, (we have 150 voters) than any other county on the border; we have raised and supported Ranging companies and never (save in one solitary instance,) have we received one cent from the State for our services. But we cannot do it forever. Long suffer- ing and uncomplaining endurance sometimes cease to be virtues. We have waited and waited; and now we want aid, and that quickly. This state of things is but a foretaste of what we have to expect; these small parties are but the prelude to larger incursions, and therefore, as I be- fore stated we will be unable to endure it much longer. You will soon have no frontier to protect, and then, when the evil is at your own
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CHRONICLES OF MIDDLETOWN.
doors; when you suffer as we now suffer, you may wish for a few of those who once stood between you and danger, and whom you refused to aid. C. H. HUTCHINSON."
IX
Among the early citizens of Middletown was Col. James Burd. In spite of holding different political and religious views, the families of Burd and Fisher were very intimate, (an intimacy which was after- wards cemented by marriage connections and continued through suc- cessive generations). So when George Fisher (who had settled on his estate in 1752) laid out the town in 1755, Colonel Burd moved with his family and slaves on to his farm of "Tinian," about two miles from the center of the prospective town.
About 1760 he erected his residence on the bluff overlooking the Sus- quehanna just back of the town of Highspire which it antedates some fifty years. It is a stone structure thirty by forty feet and two and a half stories high, and is probably the oldest dwelling in the county of Dauphin.
It is one of the historic mansions of our State. The most notable men of the French and Indian and Revolutionary wars were entertained at "Tinian" right hospitably, for its owner was a man of mark in Pro- vincial days.
The old iron knocker of Colonel Burd remains on the front door, while the interior presents little change.
One half a mile to the east of "Tinian" is "Walnut Hill," the home of the Cronchs and Jordans. It, too, was erected nearly a century and a half ago, and as the residence of Capt. James Cronch of the Revolu- tion, Edward Cronch, a Representative in Congress, and Benjamin Jordan, a State Senator, all representative men, has an historic interest.
Colonel Burd was a Scotchman. He emigrated to this country when twenty-one years of age, married a daughter of Edward Shippen, Esq., and settled in Middletown some five years later.
He became a man of note in the province. Was successively captain, major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel of one of the only two regiments at that time in the service of the colony; took an active part at the commencement of the Revolution (was colonel of a battalion) and at the time of his death was one of the county judges.
He owned four slaves, viz: Lucy, aged 35 years; Cuff, aged 13 years; Dina, aged 7 years; Venus, aged two years. He was buried by the side of his wife in the old Presbyterian graveyard at the corner of Union and High streets, where they rested until June 4th, 1860, when they were removed by their descendants to the new Middletown cem- etery, and reinterred. Near the entrance, on two large marble slabs lying side by side, are the following inscriptions :
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CHRONICLES OF MIDDLETOWN.
Col. James Burd, Born at Ormistown, Scotland, March 10th, 1726, Died at Tinian, Oct. 5th, 1798, Aged 67 years, 6 months, and 25 days. Sarah Burd, Born February 22nd, 1731, Died at Tinian, Sept. 17, 1784, Aged 53 years, 6 months, And 25 days.
A few extracts from his correspondence, journal, &c., may prove interesting.
(To Edward Shippen.)
"Dear & Hon'rd Sir :
"We are in great Confusion here at present, we have received express last night that the Indians and French are in a large body in the cove, a little way from William Maxwell, esqur's, and that they immediately intend to fall down upon this country. We for these two days past have been working at our fort here, and believe shall work this day, this town is full of People, they being all moving in with their Famillys, 5 or 6 Famillys in a house. We are in great want of Arms and Ammu -. nition, but with what we have are determined to give the Enemy as Warm a Reception as we Can, (there has) some of our people been taken Prisoners by this party, & have made their escape from them and come into us this morning.
"As our fort goes on here with great Vigour and expect to be finished in 16 days, in which we intend to throw all the Women and Children, it would be greatly Encouraging could we have Reason to expect assistance from Philadelphia by private Donation of Sweevells, a few great guns, small arms & ammunition, we would send our Wagons for them & we don't doubt upon proper application but something of this kind will be done for us from Philad'a.
"We have 100 men working at Fort Morris, with heart and hand every day. I am with Duty to Dady and Mammy, Love to Bro. and Sister, my dear wife and the little Babys, &c.,
"Dear Sir "Your most affectionate son "James Burd."
Directed to Edward Shippen, Sen'r, Esq., Lancaster. (Gov. Morris to Capt. Burd.)
"P'da, 3rd Feb'ry, 1756.
"S'r :- I have just received ye melancholy Acc't of a fresh party of Indians falling again upon ye settlement on Juniata, & of their having murdered & carry'd off above 15 of ye people there, as I suppose you must have heard."
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CHRONICLES OF MIDDLETOWN.
(To Gov. Morris.)
"Sir :- I am informed that they are entirely out of all manner of Provisions at Fort Granville, which is a very bad situation, as the enemy are Constantly Visiting them; they have wounded two men within sight of ye Fort & one of ye men's lives is despaired of, they would have Carried off one of them had not Lewt. Ward rushed out of the Fort and Rescued him. I could wish we had a Surgeon & Medi- cines we shall lose one-half of our men with perhaps slight wounds, purely for want of Assistance.
"I am respectfully, Your Hon'rs "Most Obed't humble Serv't, "JAMES BURD.
"I hope ye Governor will excuse this scrall, as there is a Scarcity of Quills here."
In 1757 he writes a paper headed "A Proposition for the better securing of the Province of Pennsylvania from the inroads of the Indians, and finding them Employment at Home in their own Country, to prevent them from coming abroad to seek it. With some few reasons why our Present Situation can never be a Defenceable one against such an enemy."
Some of the suggestions in which were adopted by the Province.
Account of James Burd against Tedyuscung 1757 .- Capt'n John Tedyouskunk (a Delaware chief) to James Burd, for Necessaries fur- nished him :
"To one Regimental coat, £3 -.
"One gold-lace hat and cockaid,
2 6
"I p'r Shoes,
5
"I Check Shirt,
I2 - -
"I Ruffled Shirt,
I I5
-
"I Plain do. for his wife,
15
"I Cotton Handkr,
I
6
"pr britches,
I6 -
"I pr. linen do.,
6 -
"I Riffle Gun,
5
4
6
6
"I English Pipe Tomahawk,
"I pr buckles, ....
I 6
"15
2 0
Extracts from Colonel Burd's Journal :
"Thursday, 16th February, 1757.
"This morning sett out for Lancaster to visit the Troops from Sus- quehanna to Delaware.
"19th, Sunday.
-
"I yd scarlet shallown for collars,
"I¿ yds. half thicks for leggins,
I2
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CHRONICLES OF MIDDLETOWN.
"This day at II a. m. marched for Fort Swettarrow, got to Craw- fords, 14 miles from Hunters', here I stayed all night, it rained hard.
"Had a number of applications from the country for protection otherwise they would immediately be obliged to fly from Settlements, appointed to meet them to hear their Complaints and proposals on Tuesday at 10 a. m. at Fort Swettarrow; the country is thick set- tled this march along the Blue mountains & very fine Plantations.
"20th, Monday.
"Marched this morning at II a. m., met a Serg't and ten men here, who marched with me back to Swettarrow, this day it rained much, got to Swettarrow Fort at 4 p. m., the roads extream bad, the soldiers march with great difficulty, found Capt. Lieut. Allen & 38 men here per report; this is II miles from Crawfords.
"21 Tuesday.
"Reviewed the garrison this morning at 10 a. m. and found 38 men, viz: 21 belonging to Capt. Lieut. Allen, & 17 detached from Capt. Weiser's Co .; of Capt. Allen's 13 men for 3 years no province arms fitt for use, no Kettles, nor blankets, 12 lbs poudder, and 25 lbs of lead, no poudder horns, pouches, nor cartouch boxes, no Tomahawks nor Prov- ince tools of any kind, 2 months provision.
"Some Soldiers Absent, and others hy'rd in their places, which has been a custom here, the soldiers under no discipline, Ordered a Serg't and 15 men to be always out upon the scout from hence to Crawfords, keeping along the blue mountain, altering their routs & a targeet to be erected 6 inches thick, in order to practice the soldiers in shouting.
"This day 12 m. d. the Country People came here, I promise them to station and officer & 25 men at Robertson's mill, this mill is situate in the centre between the Forts Swatarrow & Hunter, this gave the People Content."
From here he goes to Fort Henry, 17 miles and sends back a party to garrison. Robertson's mill as promised. The journal continues with reports on condition of the different forts visited, &c.
"At Fort Williams I found a targett erected, ordered the Company to shoot at the mark, sett them the Example myself by wheeling around & fireing by the word of command. I shott a bullott into the centre of the mark the size of a Dollar, distance 100 yards."
He complains of the deep snows and excessive cold interfering with travel. Completes his inspection and reaches Philadelphia on Tuesday, March 7th.
His journal, as well as much of his correspondence, is full of interest- ing matter, but these papers are growing too voluminous, and one more extract will have to suffice.
"Ordered, in Aug., 1759, to march with 200 of my battalion to the mouth of the Redstone cr., where it empties itself into the river Mo- nongahela, to cut a road somewhere from Gen. Braddock's road to that place as I shall judge best, and on my arrival there to erect a fort in order to open a communication by the river Monongahela to Pittsburg,
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CHRONICLES OF MIDDLETOWN.
for the more easy transportation of provisions, &c., from the provinces of Virginia and Maryland. Sent forward the detachment under the command of Lieut. Col. Shippen, leaving one officer and thirty men to bring our five wagons."
"When I have cut the road and finished the fort, I am to leave one officer and twenty-five men as a garrison, and march with the remainder of my battalion to Pittsburg."
He was ordered to pass by Fort Cumberland, and after inspecting the stores there, to continue on his route, which seems to have been along the road previously opened by Braddock, and which was afterwards nearly the route of the Cumberland turnpike.
X.
THE OLD LUTHERAN CHURCH.
St. Peter's Lutheran church is (except those at Derry, Paxton and Hanover, before alluded to) the oldest church edifice in the county.
Lot No. 135, (two hundred and fifty feet,) upon which the old church edifice stands, was deeded Sept. 18th, 1764, by George Fisher and Hannah his wife, to Peter Woltz, George Frey, and Deterick Schob, all of Lower Paxton, (now Swatara) township, Lancaster (now Dau- phin) county, Province of Pennsylvania, for the sum of seven shillings and sixpence, with the additional rental of one grain of wheat per annum payable on each consecutive Ist of May. The deed was ac- knowledged before John Alison, Esq., and witnessed by Joseph Green- wood and Henry Renick. It is written on parchment and is in a good state of preservation.
In the same year a petition was sent to John Penn, Lieutenant Gover- nor of the Province, praying for the privilege of erecting a church, and also of collecting funds for that purpose. The license reads as follows :
By the Honorable John Penn, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania, and counties of Newcastle, Kent and Sussex on the Delaware. Whereas, it has been presented to me, by the humble petition of Christian Roth and David Ettley, of Middletown, in the county of Lancaster; That, "The Luth- erans of said town and adjacent, have deputized the said Petitioners to collect of the Good People of the said Province, such sums of money as they will please contribute towards building a Church in the said town. That there is no church for many miles round the said town. That the said Congregation had got a lot of ground. And that the said congregation was poor, and unable out of their own means to erect a Church, without assistance of others, as a great many of the mem- bers had been obliged to desert their respective places of abode; Praying that I would be pleased to grant the said petitioners, my License or Permission, to collect of the Good People of this Province, such sums of
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CHRONICLES OF MIDDLETOWN.
money as they would be pleased to contribute towards the said Pious Undertaking, &c."
And I, favoring the request, These are therefore to permit, and License the said Christian Roth and David Ettley, within the space of three years, from the Day of the Date hereof next ensuing, to make a collection of the Good People of this Province, who are willing to Con- tribute towards the Building of a Church, or a House of Worship, for the said Lutheran Congregation of Middletown, aforesaid, any sum or sims of money, not exceeding in the whole Twelve Hundred Pounds, Pennsylvania Currency.
Given under my hand and seal at Arms, at the City of Philadelphia, the twenty-eighth Day of September, in the year of our Lord, one thou- sand seven hundred and sixty-four; and in the fourth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George, the third. By the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King Defender of the Faith, &c.
JOHN PENN.
By His Honor's Command,
Joseph Shippen, Sec.
There is no record to show how much of this money was raised. The members were few, widely scattered, and as appears from the terms of the lease, very poor; in fact David Ettley, one of the com- mittee, walked as far as Philadelphia on his collecting tour. Many of the sett'ers had but recently been driven from their clearings by the Indians, who roamed the surrounding forests, and who for years had been desolating this frontier with tomahawk, scalping knife and torch. The nearest churches were those of the Presbyterians at Paxton, Derry and Conewago, and the worshippers who visited them carried fire- arms, which they stacked inside during the sermon.
The church edifice was built in 1767. The corner-stone was laid by Justice (Col.) James Burd in the presence of the Revs. Theophilus Engeland, N. Harnell, and Conrad Bucher; and the church warden and elders, John Christ, Roth, John Metzgar, George Philip Shaage, Gottlieb David Ettley, and Jacob King, and also the building committee, Conrad Wolfley, Frederick Zeppernick, and George Frey. In the cor- ner-stone was placed a German Bible; the shorter catechism of Martin Luther; three wafers; a half-pint bottle of wine; and some money in Pennsylvania currency.
The building was constructed of old red sandstone, was two stories in height, and had a gallery on the east, south and west sides, the pulpit occupying the north side. The main entrance was on Union street, but there was also a door on High street. A staircase led from each door to the gallery, meeting in the northeast corner thereof. The windows were small, as were also the panes of glass in them. The floor was composed of bricks nine inches square. The pews were narrow, with high, straight backs. The pulpit, a sort of marten box on an enlarged scale, was supported by a post eight or ten feet high, and reached by a
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CHRONICLES OF MIDDLETOWN.
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