USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 2
USA > Pennsylvania > Bedford County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 2
USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 2
USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 2
USA > Pennsylvania > Franklin County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 2
USA > Pennsylvania > Perry County > The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties [Pennsylvania] > Part 2
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* See Emanuel Bowman's Geography, vol. 2, p. 655; printed at London, 1747-Bowman was Geographer to his Majesty, King of England.
ţ Smith's Laws of Pa,, ii., 105.
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INTRODUCTION.
The enlightened founder of Pennsylvania, was governed, in his intercourse with the Indians, " by immutable principles of justice, which every where, and for all purposes, must be regarded as fundamental, if human exertions are to be crown- ed with noble and permanent results." In the constitution of this colony it was provided, that " no man shall, by any ways or means, in word or deed, affront or wrong an Indian, but he shall incur the same penalty of the Inw ns if he had committed it against his fellow planter, and if any Indian shall abuse, in word or deed, any planter of the province, he shall not be his own judge upon the Indian, but he shall make his complaint to the governor, or some inferior magistrate near him, who shall, to the utmost of his power, take care with thinking of the said Indian, that all reasonable satisfac- tion be made to the injured planter. All differences between the planters and the natires shall be ended by twelve men ; that is, six planters and six natires; that so we may live friendly together as much as in us lieth, preventing all occa- sions of heart-burnings and mischiefs-the Indians shall have liberty to do all things relative to improvement of their ground, and providing sustenance for their families, that any of their planters shall enjoy."*
A principle had obtained in Europe, that a newly discovered coun- Iry belonged to the nation, whose people first discovered it. Eugene IV. and Alexander VI., successively granted to Portugal and Spain all the countries possessed by andels, which should be occupied by the industry of their subjects, and subdued by the force of their arms. The colonies, established in North America, were founded upon more equitable principles. In almost every instance, possession of the country was taken with the least possible injury to the aborigines. The land was purchased from the natives. Belknap says, "it was a common thing in New England to make fair and regular purcha- ses;" many of their deeds are still preserved in the public records. Numerous instances, showing that purchases were made, might be quoted : a few must suffice.
Calvert, & Cathehe, when he planted his colony, in the province of Maryland, commenced in 1634, with an act of justice-he pur- chased of the savage proprietors, a right to the soil, before he took possession, for a compensation with which the Indians were satisfied. -Hor-'s ConPIdation, 1. 23.
Roger Williams, a Baptist, on his expulsion from Massachusetts. in 1636, went to Seconk, where he procured a grant of land from Osamapurs, the chief Sachem of Pokanot. He honestly purchased their lend, and a sufficiency of it, for his little colony ; he was uniformly
· Proud's His. Pa .. i :. Appen. S. 4.
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INTRODUCTION.
the Indian's friend, and neglected no opportunity of fameliorating their condition, and elevating their character-Holmes' Annala, i. 233.
The Swedes, landing at Inlopen, 1637 or 1638, on the western shore of Delaware bay, proceeded up the river, opened communica. tions with the Indians, and purchased from them the soil upon the west shore, from the capes of the falls at Bankikans, opposite to the present city of Trenton. Philip Carteret, appointed Governor (1665) of New Jersey, purchased from the Indians, the.r titles to all the lands which were occupied .- Front's U. S. 130.
William Penn made repeated purchases from the Indians. His sons followed the same praiseworthy example.
Prior to Penn's arrival, he had instructed William Mark- har, the deputy Governor, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1681, to hold treaties with the Indians, to procure their lands peaceably. Markham, a short time previous to Penn's arri- val, held such a treary, July 15, 1652, for some lands on the Delaware river. Penn held similar treaties : and before his return to England, in 1664, adopted measures " to purchase the lands on the Susquehanna from the Five Nations, who pretended a right to them, having conquered the people for- merly settled there." The Five Nations resided principally in New York ; and Penn's time being too much engrossed to visit them personally, be engaged Thomas Dongan, Gov. o! New York, to purchase from the Indians, "all that tract of land lying on both sides of the river Susquehanna, and the lakes adjacent in or near the province of Pennsylvania." Dongan effected a purchase, and conveved the same to Wil- liam Penn, January 13, 1696, " in consideration of one hun- dred pounds sterling."*
It was Penn's object to secure the river through the whole extent of the province; and subsequent transactions with the Indians show how careful he was to have this purchase well confirmed.
" September 13th, 1700; H'idagh and Andaggy-junk- quagh, Kings or Sacheras of the Susquehanna Indians, and of the river under that name, and lands lying on both sides bereof. Deed to W. Pern for all the said river Susquehan- nagh, and all the islands therein, and all the lands situate: ving and being upon both sides of the said river, and next adjoining the same, to the utmost confines of the lands which are, or formerly were, the right of the people or nation called the Susquehannagh Indians, or by what name soccer they were
* Smith's Laws, Pa., ii., 111.
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INTRODUCTION.
called, us fully and amply as we or any of our ancestors, have, could, might or ought to have had, held or enjoyed, aml also confirm the bargain and sale of the said lands, made unto Col. Thomas Pongan, now Earl of Limerick, and formerly Gover- nor of New York, whose deed of sale to said Governor Penn we have seen .***
The sale to William Penn from the Five Nations was thus well confirmed ; the Conestoga Indians, however, would not recognize the validity of this sale, believing that the Five Nations had no proper authority to transfer their possessions. to secure the lands conveyed to him by Dongun. Penn entered into articles of agreement, shortly after his second visit to Pennsylvania, with the Susquehanna, Potomac and Cones- toga Indians. The agreement is dated April 23, 1701. In this agreement the Indians ratified and confirmed Governor Dougan's deed of January, 1696, and the deed by Widagh and Indeggy junkquagh, of September 18, 1700.f
Notwithstanding all these sales and transfers, the lands on the west side of the Susquehanna were still claimed by the Indians; for the words in the deed of Sept. 18, 1700, " next adjoining the same," were considered inconsistent with an extensive western purchase; and the Indians of the Five Nations still continued to claim a right to the river and the adjoining lands. The sachems or chiefs, with all the others ot the Five Nations, met in the summer of 1736, at a great council held in the country of the Onondagoes, in the State of New York; and as the old claims had not as yet been ad- justed, they resolved, that an end should be put to all dis- putes connected with it. They accordingly appointed their Sachems or chiets with plenary powers to repair to Philadel- phia, and there among other things, settle and adjust all de- mands and claims, connected with the Susquehanna and the adjoining lands. On their arrival at Philadelphia, they re- newed old treaties of friendship, and on the 11th of October, 1736, made a deed to John Penn, Thomas Fenn, and Rich- and Penn, their heirs, successors and assigns. The deed was signed by twenty-three Indian chiefs of the Onendege, Senere. Oneids and Tuscerore nations, granted the Penn's " all the said river Susquehanna, with the lands hing on both sides thereof, to extend eastward as far as the heads of the branches or springs which run into the said Sus-
· Book F. vol. vit., p. 919. + Smith's Laws, Pa., 11., 119.
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INTRODUCTION.
quehanna, and all the lands lying on the west side of the said river to the setting of the sun, and to extend from the mouth of the said river, northward, up the same to the hills or moun- tains, called in the language of said nations, Tayamentosachta, and by the Delaware Indians the Kekachtannin hills."* Thus were the claims of the Indians upon the lands of this part of Pennsylvania relinquished to the proprietors; nevertheless surveys had been authorized to be made, and had actually been made west of the Susquehanna prior to 1736, by both the Governor of Maryland and the Governor of Pennsylvania.
The last recited deed comprised nearly (besides much more territory) all that Jay within the limits of the counties, of which a history is here given, except that portion north of the Kittatinny, or Blue Mountain, constituting the northern part of Dauphin, and the whole of Perry & Bedford. That portion in Dauphin, north of the Kittatinny mountain was purchased, including a larger tract of country, in 1749; the deeds were executed on the 22d day of August, and may be found at large in Smith's Laws of Pennsylvania, That portion within Perry, and some contiguous counties west of the Susquehanna, and north of Perry, was purchased in 1754-the deed was exe- cuted at Albany, July 6th.
The deed of August 22d, 1749, is as follows :
We, Canosutago, Satagonachly, Kanalshyiucayon and Can- echuadeeron, sachems or chiets of the Indian nation, called Orumtagers, Cayanocken, Konatsony-Agash Tass, Caruchi- nachaqui, sachems or chiefs of the Indian nation, called the Sinickers. Peter Ontachsar and Christian Diaryhogon, sa- chems or chiefs of the Indian nation, called the Mohocks : Saristagnoch, Watshatuhon and Anychnasquo, sachemas or chiefs of the Indian nation, called the Oneyders. Tuwis- Turis, Kuchnogrosseha, and Takichquantas, sachems or chiefs of the Indian nation, called Coyiukers. Tyieros, Bal- ichwanonach-shy, sachems or chiefs of the Indian nation, called the Tuscorrorow, Jacknechdorus, Sagogukhiathon, and Cach- noora-katack-ke, sacheros or chiefs of the Indian nation, called the Shomokon Indians. Nutimus and Qualpaghach, sachems
· Kittatinny, or Blue Mountain.
t That portion of country between the Blue Mountain and Peters' Mountain, was known, at an early period, by the name of Suint Anthr ny's Wilderness, it is so designated on a map in the Book of Deeds, p. 128, in the Secretary's office at Harrisburg -Commaler.
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INTRODUCTION.
or chiefs of the Indian nation, called the Delawares; and Bachsinosa, sachem or chief of the Indian nation, called the Shawanese, in consideration of £500, grant, sell, &c., all that tract or parcel of land lying and being within the following limits and bounds, and thus described-
Beginning at the hills or mountains called in the language of the Five Nation Indians Tyanuntasachta, or Endless Hills, and by the Delaware Indians Kehactany Hills, on the east side of the river Susquehanna, being in the northwest line or boundary of the tract of land formerly purchased by the said proprietaries from the said Indian nations, by their deed of the 11th of October, 1736; and from thence running up the said river by the several courses thereof to the first of the nearest mountains to the north side or mouth of the creek called in the language of the said Five Nation Indians Can- tagug, and in the language of the Delaware Indians Magho- nioy, and from thence extending by a direct or straight line to be run from the said mountain on the north side of said creek to the main branch of Delaware river at the north side of the creek called Lechawachsein, and from thence across Lcchawachscin creek aforesaid down the river Delaware by the several courses thereof to the Kekachtany Hills aforesaid, and from thence by the range of said hills to the place of be- ginning, as more fully appears by a map annexed ; and also all the parts of the rivers Susquehanna and Delaware from shore to shore which are opposite said lands, and all the Isl- ands in said rivers, &c .- Book H, vol. 2, p. 204; recorded May 6, 1752.
The deed executed at Albany, July 6, 1754, is as follows:
Henry Peters, Abraham Peters, Blandt, Johannes Satfyho- wano, Johannes Kanadakayon, Abraham Sastagrhedohy, sa- chems or chiefs of the Mohawk nation. Aneeghnaxqua Ta- raghorus, Tohaghdaghqnyserry, alias Kachneghdackon, sa- chems or chiefs of the Oneydo nation. Otsinughyada, alias Blunt, in behalf of himself and all the sachems and chiefs of the Onondago nation. Scanuraty, Tannaghdorus, Tokaaiyon, Kaghradodon, sachems or chiefs of the Cayuga nation. Ka- hichdodon, alias Groote Younge, Takeghsatu, Tiyonenkoka- raw, sachems or chiefs of the Seneca nation. Suntrughwac- kon, Sagochsidodagon, Tohashuwangarus Orontakayon, alias John Nixon, Tistoaghton, sachems or chiefs of the Tuscarora nation in consideration of £400 lawful money of N. Y., grant,
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INTRODUCTION.
&c., to Thomas & Richard Penn," all the lands lying within the said province of Pennsylvania, bounded and limited as follows, namely, beginning at the Kittochtinny or Blue hills, on the west branch of the Susquehanna river, and thence by the said, a mile above the mouth of a certain creek called Kayarondin- hagh; thence northwest and by west as far as the province of Pennsylvania extends to its western lines or boundaries ; thence along the said western line to the south line or boun- dary to the south side of the said Kittochtinny hills; thence by the south side of said hills, to the place of beginning-Re- corded in Book H, vol. 5, p. 392, Feb. 3d, 1755.
The whites had, in several instances, encroached upon the rights of the Indians by settling on their lands before those were purchased, which occasioned much complaint on the part of the Indians. The intruders were, however, removed by force and arms, as will appear from the sequel. See Cumber- land county, chap. xxv.
The course pursued by William Penn, by his deputy gov- ernors, and by his sons John, Thomas and Richard, did not fail to secure to the colonists the friendship of the Indians for half a century or more. It was a course that justice dictat- ed; and had been pursued by Calvert, a Catholic, as stated before when he planted his colony in the province of Mary- land in 1634-by Roger Williams, a Baptist, on his expulsion from Massachusetts, when he went to Seconk, where he pur- chased lands from Osamaquin, the sachem of Pokanot, in 1636-by Philip Carteret and others, prior to Penn's arrival in this country .*
So much was Penn concerned to have every cause settled that might give rise to disputes touching his own rights, and of his colonists, that after transacting some business in Gene- ral Assembly, he hastened to Maryland, to see Lord Balti- more, who had set up claims, arising from indistinctness of grant, touching the boundary line between the province of Maryland and Pennsylvania. A failure, however, of adjust- ing the difficulties at this time, caused the border settlers much disquietude for a period of nearly eighty years. The final adjustment of the boundary, will be noticed in the se- quel. See Adams county.
Penn, on his first arrival, remained only one year and ten
* See History of Lancaster county, pp. 16 and 19, and works refer- red to,
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INTRODUCTION.
months in the Province; during that time he caused the city of Philadelphia to be laid out, and three counties, namely, Philadelphia, Bucks and Chester, to be erected in Pennsyl- vania. The organization of these counties was completed by the appointment of sheriffs and other officers. Before Penn sailed for Europe, August 16, 1684, there had been about three thousand inhabitants in Pennsylvania.
In 1699, William Penn and his family once more visited the province, and remained till November 1st, 1701, when he sailed for England, never to return again. In 1712 he was seized by apoplectic fits, which so afflicted his mind as to render him unfit for business for the last six years of his life. He.died July 30, 1718, at Rushcomb, near Twyford, in Buckinghamshire, England, aged about seventy-four years.
From the time Penn first arrived, the influx of iminigrants was constantly on the increase. English, Welsh, Germans, Irish, French, and others sought a home in the new province. Settlements were gradually extended north, northwest, and west from Philadelphia, towards the Susquehanna river- many settled in the midst of the Indians. Among others, as pioneer settlers, a considerable distance from Philadelphia, were Vincent Caldwell, Thomas Wickersham, Joel Bailey, Thomas Hope and Guyan Miller, Quakers, who settled in Kennet, Chester county, 1706 or 7. Prior to that, however, some adventurers had been among the Indians at Conestoga. Of this number was one Lewis Michelle, who had been sent out, in the year 1703 or 4, by individuals from the Canton of Bern, in Switzerland, to search for vacant lands in Pennsyl- vania, Virginia and Carolina .* About the same time there were some Indian traders among the traders on the Susque- hanna, viz : Joseph Jessop, James Le Tort, Peter Bazalion, Martin Chartier, Nicole Goden, and others-all Frenchmen. Le Tort afterwards (1720) fixed his cabin at Carlisle.
The first permanent and extensive settlement made near the Susquehanna, was commenced by some Swiss immigrants -they were persecuted Mennonites, who had fled from the Cantons of Zurich, Bern, Schaffhausen, in Switzerland, to Alsace, above Strasburg, where they had remained some time before they immigrated to America, in 1707 or 1708, and set- tled in the western part of Chester, now Lancaster county,
* For a fuller account of this adventure, see His, Lan. co., pp. 53, 55.
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INTRODUCTION.
near Pequea creek, within the present limits of West Lampe- ter township, where they purchased ten thousand acres of land. The principal individuals of this colony were John Rudolph Bundely, Martin Kendig, Jacob Miller, Hans Herr, Martin Oberholtz, Hans Funk, Michael Oberholtz, Wendel Bowman, Hans Meylin, Peter Yorde, Henry Funk, John Hauser, John Bachman. These settled in the midst of Min- goe, Conestoga, Pequea and Shawanese Indians, from whom they had nothing to fear. They mingled with them in fishing and hunting.
In 1708 or 9, some French Huguenots sailed for America ; arrived at New York in August, 1709-after spending a year or two at Esopus, in that State, some of them settled in 1712, on Pequea creek, near Paradise-these were the Ferees, Le- Fever's, Dubois and others. Shortly after these, settlements were made in various parts, within the present limits of Lan- caster county, by English, Swiss, Germans, Scotch & Irish, principally immigrants-See Article German, and Irish, chap. 2 and 3.
Before 1720, settlements had been extended northward be- yond the Chickasalunga creek. Donegal township, which was organized in 1722, had been principally settled by Irish, or Scotch immigrants-Among others were the following,- Patterson, Sempel, Mitchell, Hendricks, Speer, Galbraith, Anderson, Scott, Pedan, Porter, Kerr, Sterritt, Kern, Work, Little, Whitehill, Campbell, Lowrey, McClelland, Stevenson, Wilson, Fulton, Allison, Howard, Brown, Dinsmore, Hughs, Robinson, Chambers, McMaken, McDowell, Foster, Crocket, Gilson, Woods, Spear, Bailey, McCracken, Cunningham, Lyon, Bratchey, Mason, Jameson, Hutchison, Cook, Moore, Ramsay, McClure, McFarlane, Brenard, Craig, Thomson, Carson, Connelly, Patton, Gallaher, Stewart, Boggs, Kelly, Ramsay.
Settlements were now made northward, and along the Sus- quehanna river. John Harris,* a native of Yorkshire, Eng- land, had made an attempt, prior to 1725, to settle near the mouth of Conoy creek, not far from the present site of Bain- bridge; but it seems he preferred to settle higher up the Sus- quehanna, near an Indian village called Peixtan, at or near the present site of Harrisburg. Harris was in a few years
* See Harrisburg.
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INTRODUCTION.
followed by others, principally emigrants direct from the north of Ireland, and some from Donegal township, whose names will be given in the sequel. See Dauphin county.
At this time settlements were also made on the west side of the Susquehanna, within the present limits of York county, by Germans ; and some English, intruders from Maryland, and some Irish on Marsh creek. Samuel Bluntson, agent for the proprietors, had received a commission dated January 11, 1733-4, by which he was authorized to grant licenses to set- tle and take up lands on the west side of the Susquehanna. The first license issued by him, was dated January 23, 1733-34.
The settlements having become considerably extended, and the population augmented by an influx of a mixed population -immigrants from abroad, and natives of the province, the inhabitants of the upper parts of Chester county deemed it necessary as early as 1728, to avoid inconveniences arising daily from the want of " justice at every man's door," to pe- tition the proper authorities to erect, and establish a new county-a county out of the upper parts of Chester, was erected in 1729, in a separate county, called " Lancaster county." Lancaster then, and till 1749, embraced York, Cumberland, part of Berks, and all the contiguous counties- Dauphin was a part of Lancaster county till March 4th, 1785.
The tide of immigration was still westward. Some Irish and Scotch adventurers crossed the Susquehanna at Peixtan, Peshtank, or Paxton, and commenced settlements about the years 1730-31, in the Kittochtinny Valley, or " North Val- ley," west of the Susquehanna, at Falling Springs and other places, till they extended from the "Long, Crooked River"* to the Maryland Province, about the year 1736. Several hundred names of the first settlers in this valley will be given when speaking of Cumberland and Franklin counties. Pass- ing, it might be remarked, that all the earliest settlements made in Lancaster, York and Cumberland, were commenced when the Indians were still numerous : when they, and the white settlers chased, in common, the deer, the bear, and other game, and angled in the same stream teeming with the finny race-when they greeted each other with the endearing
* According to Heckewelder, Susquehanna, is derived from the Indi- an word, Sa-os-que·ha-an-unk ; meaning, " Long-crooked-River."
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INTRODUCTION.
appellation, " brothers." When the young Indian and white lad cheerily tried their skill as wrestlers and archers; each striving to gain the mastery, without any grudge toward each other.
Passing by numerous other cases, of the Indian's friendship towards the first settlers, one is only given. Madame Feree, her sons and a son-in-law, left Europe in 1708, arrived at New York 1709, came to Pennsylvania about 1711 or 1712, and commenced a settlement on the Pequea, Chester county, (now Lancaster). They were Huguenots-"It was on the evening of a summer's day when the Huguenots reached the verge of a hill commanding a view of the Valley of the Pe- quea ; it was a woodland scene, a forest inhabited by wild beasts, for no indication of civilized man was very near; scat- tered along the Pequea, amidst the dark green hazel, could be discovered the Indian wigwams, the smoke issuing there- from in its spiral form : no sound was heard but the songs of the birds: in silence they contemplated the beautiful prospect which nature presented to their view. Suddenly a number of Indians darted from the woods-the females shrieked-when an Indian advanced, and in broken English said to Madame Ferree, " Indian no harm white-white good to Indian-go to Beaver-our chief-come to Beaver." Few were the words of the Indian. They went with him to Beaver's cabin ; and Beaver, with the humanity that distinguished the Indian of that period, gave up to the immigrants his wigwam. Next day he introduced them to Tawana, who lived on the great flats of Pequea."
Having thus briefly traced the early and progressive settle- ments of Pennsylvania, before entering upon the local history of the several counties, a succinct sketch of the first settlers, namely, German and Irish, will be given.
* Some Swiss Mennonites had commenced a settlement shortly be- fore, six or eight miles below, on the same stream .- His. Lan. co., p. 74.
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CHAPTER II.
General character of Germans-First immigrants and settlers -- Ger. mantown settled -- Frankford land company-Immigrants of 1708 and 1709-Their sufferings in England-Dickinson's remarks con- cerning them-Settlements in Tulpehocken-Redemption servants- Numerous immigrants -- Settlements on the west side of the Susque- hanna-Neulaender deceive many-Great sufferings experienced by many-C. Sauers's representation of their condition-Society formed to relieve German sufferers-Muhlenberg's letter, &c .--- Political in- fluence of the Germans --- Number of Germans in Pennsylvania in 1755 --- Catholic Germans --- Names of some of the first German set- tlers in Cumberland county, &c.
The Germans of Pennsylvania ever, as a people, hardy, frugal, and industrious, who have preserved, in a great mea- sure, their manners and language, immigrated into this Pro- vince, for conscience sake, and to improve both their spiritual and temporal condition. Perhaps there is no people who were more frequently the subject of remark in the early history of Pennsylvania, and during the last century, than the Germans, whose numerous descendants are to be found not only in this State, but in nearly every western and southwestern State of the Union.
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