USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > The history of Erie County, Pennsylvania > Part 5
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toilsome journeys seek protection and shelter in distant set- tlements. Nearly five hundred families from the frontiers of Maryland and Virginia fled thus to Winchester, being desti- tute of every comfort. The regions of New York were happily exempted from similar outrages, through the in- fluence of Sir William Johnson.
On the 12th of August, 1764, Colonel Bradstreet and his army landed at Presqu'ile, and there met a band of Shaw- nees and Delawares, who feigned to have come to treat for peace. Colonel Bradstreet was deceived by them, (although his officers were not,) and marched to Detroit to relieve that garrison. He found Pontiac gone, but made peace with the Northwestern Indians, in which they pledged themselves to give up their prisoners ; to relinquish their title to the English posts and the territory around for the distance of a cannon shot ; to give up all the murderers of white men, to be tried by English law; and to acknowledge the sovereignty of the English government. Soon he discovered, as the war still raged, that he had been duped. He received orders to attack their towns ; but, mortified and exasperated, his troops destitute of provisions and every way dissatisfied, he broke up his camp and returned to Niagara. Colonel Bo- quet afterward met the same deceptive Shawnees, Dela- wares, and Senecas, and succeeded in bringing them to terms ; so that in twelve days they brought in two hundred and six prisoners, and promised all that could be found,- leaving six hostages as security. The next year one hun- dred more prisoners were brought in, between whom and the Indians, in many cases, a strong attachment had sprung up, they accompanying the captives, with presents, even to the villages.
The region west of the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers, prior to the year 1795, was only known as the Indian country. On the Canada side of Lake Erie there were a few white settlements. On the American side Cherry Valley, New York, was the most western settlement, and Pittsburg the nearest settlement on the south.
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In the year 1782, a detachment, consisting of three hun- dred British soldiers and five hundred Indians, was sent from Canada to Fort Pitt. They had embarked in canoes at Chautanque Lake, when information, through their spies, caused their project to be abandoned. Parties of Indians harassed the settlements on the borders, and under Guyasu- tha, a Seneca chief, attacked and burned the seat of justice for Westmoreland County, Hannastown, and murdered several of the inhabitants.
In 1785, Mr. Adams, Minister at London, writes to Lord Carmarthan, English Secretary of State: "Although a period of three years has elapsed since the signature of the preliminary treaty, and more than two years since the defin- itive treaty, the posts of Oswegatchy, Oswego, Niagara, Presqu'ile, Sandusky, Detroit, Mackinaw, with others not necessary particularly to enumerate, and a considerable ter- ritory around each of them, all within the incontestible limits of the United States, are still held by British garrisons to the loss and injury of the United States," etc. As we do not hear from any other source of the rebuilding of the fort at Presqu'ile or of a garrison there, the probability is that Mr. Adams only had reference to Presqu'ile as an important location. -
CHAPTER V.
Penn's Charter-Boundaries of Pennsylvania-Mason and Dixon's Line -Review of said Line by Colonel Graham-Western Boundary of Penn- sylvania fixed in 1786-Boundary between New York and Pennsyl- vania confirmed by Act of Assembly in 1789-Purchase of Triangle, 1791 -- Anecdote of Mr. William Miles.
IN the charter of Charles II. to William Penn, 1681, the first section describes the boundary of his grant as "east by Delaware River from 12 miles distance northward of New- castle town, unto the three-and-fortieth degree of north lati-
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tude, if the said river doth extend so far northward ; but if the said river doth not extend so far northward, then by the said river so far as it doth extend; and from the head of the said river the eastern bounds are to be determined by a meridian line, to be drawn from the head of said river unto the said 43d degree. The said land to extend westward 5 degrees in longitude, to be computed from the said eastern bounds ; and the said lands to be bounded on the north by the beginning of the three-and-fortieth degree of north latitude, and on the south by a circle drawn at 12 miles distance from New Castle northward and westward unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of north latitude, and then by a straight line westward to the limits of longitude above mentioned." Explicit as this description appears, Maryland and Virginia disputed for many years, each claiming to itself the whole space or extent of the land south of the fortieth degree of latitude. The controversy was at length settled in 1732, chiefly in favor of Maryland, which rendered the real extent of Penn- sylvania one hundred and fifty-five miles instead of two hun- dred and eight, and the square miles forty-one thousand, exclusive of the Triangle.
Lord Baltimore had, in 1683, petitioned King Charles II. that no fresh grants of land in the territories of Penn- sylvania might pass in favor of William Penn until the said lord was heard in his pretension of right thereto. This petition was referred to the committee of trade and plantation, which, after many attendances and divers hearings of both parties, made their report to King James II., who in 1685 determined the affair between them, by ordering a division of the tract of land between Dela- ware and Chesapeake Bays, from the latitude of Cape Hen- lopen to the south boundary of Pennsylvania, in two equal parts, of which the side of Delaware was assigned to the king and Pennsylvania, and the Chesapeake side to Balti- more. In 1732, commissioners were appointed both from Pennsylvania and Maryland for the actual running, marking,
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and laying out the boundary lines between both the province and territories of Pennsylvania and Maryland, according to articles of agreement concluded between Charles, Lord Bal- timore, the proprietary of Maryland, and John, Thomas, and Richard Penn, proprietaries of Pennsylvania. The bounda- ries between Pennsylvania and Baltimore were as follows : That a due east and west line shall be drawn from the ocean, beginning at Cape Henlopen, which lies south of Cape Cor- nelius, upon the eastern side of the peninsula, and thence to the western side of the peninsula, which lies upon Chesa- peake Bay, and as far westward as the exact middle of that part of the peninsula where the said line is run. That from the western end of the said east and west line in the middle of the peninsula, a straight line shall run northward up the said peninsula till it touch the western part of the peri- phery or arc of a circle, drawn twelve English statute miles distant from New Castle, westward toward Maryland, so as to make a tangent thereto, and there the said straight line shall end. That from the western end of the last-mentioned straight line drawn northward, a line shall be continued due north, as far as to that parallel of latitude which is fifteen English statute miles due south of the most southern part of Philadelphia, and from the north end of the last-men- tioned north and south line, a line shall be run due west, across the Susquehanna River to the western boundary of Pennsylvania. Notwithstanding this agreement, the per- formance was long delayed by disputes of the parties about the mode of doing it, said to have been occasioned mostly by the proprietary of Maryland, in consequence of which the inhabitants on the Pennsylvania side, near where the boundary line ought long before to have been ascertained and marked out, were sometimes exposed to unreasonable de- mands from Maryland claims. It was not finally executed until the year 1762, when these families or proprietaries agreed to employ two ingenious English mathematicians, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, after their return from
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the Cape of Good Hope, where they had been to observe the transit of Venus, in the year 1761, finally to settle and mark out the same, which was accordingly performed by them .*
At the end of every fifth mile they placed a stone graven with the arms of the Penns on one side, and of the Balti- more family on the other, marking the intermediate miles with smaller stones having "P" on one side and " M " on the other. The stones with the arms were all sent from Eng- land. This was done on the parallel of latitude as far as Sideling Hill; but here all wheel transportation ceasing, in 1766 the further marking of the lines was the vista of eight yards wide, with piles of stones on the crests of all the mountain ranges, built some eight feet high, as far as the summit of the Allegheny, beyond which the line was marked by posts, around which stones and earth were thrown the better to preserve them. Of these stones, the one which marked the northeast corner of Maryland became in the course of time undermined by a brook, and was removed and used in a farm-house chimney. After this occurrence the Legislatures of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia appointed a joint commission for a new survey, and ap- pointed Colonel Graham of the United States Topograph- ical Engineers to superintend the work, and review the line of Mason,and Dixon as far as might be judged necessary. Though their work was corroborated in the main, better
* After they had surveyed the distance of 23 miles, 18 chains, and 21 links from the place of beginning, and were at the bottom of a valley on Dunkard's Creek, a branch of the Monongahela, an In- dian path crossed their route, and their aboriginal escort informed them that it was "the will of the Sioux nation that the surveys cease;" and they terminated accordingly, leaving 36 miles, 6 chains, and 50 links as the exact distance remaining to be run west to the southwest angle of Pennsylvania.
6
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instruments and a more accurate knowledge of the art enabled their successors to detect some errors. By their corrections Maryland gained about two acres, and a gentle- man who had served as a member of the Delaware Legis- lature found his residence located full half a mile within the State of Pennsylvania. Thus was established and perfected the line, "having no breadth or thickness, but length only," which threatens to make "enemies of nations which had else, like kindred drops, been mingled into one."
It is said the survey of Mason and Dixon cost the Penn family nearly $100,000; and that an arc of the meridian measured by them at that time is cited in works of astron- omy, having been one of the measurements by which the figure of the earth was ascertained. Of these two mathe- maticians, to whom political disputes have given a notoriety as lasting as the history of our country, Dixon, it is said, was born in a coal mine, and returned to his own coun- try, Durham, where he died in 1777. Ten years later Mason died in Pennsylvania.
It was not until 1786, after many difficulties between the States of Pennsylvania and Virginia, that the western boundary of the former was surveyed by extending Mason and Dixon's line five degrees west from the Delaware River, and a meridian drawn from the western extremity to the northern limit.
In 1785 commissioners were appointed, on the part of Pennsylvania and New York, to ascertain the northern boundary of the former from the River Delaware westward to the northwest corner. The commissioners first appointed were David Rittenhouse on the part of Pennsylvania, and Samuel Holland, on the part of New York. They pro- ceeded to act in pursuance of that appointment, and in De- cember, 1786, ascertained and fixed the beginning of the forty-third degree of north latitude, erected suitable monu- ments there at and near the River Delaware, but were pre- vented by the inclemency of the weather from proceeding
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
further in the survey. The next year Andrew Ellicot was appointed a commissioner for the above purpose, on the part of Pennsylvania, and James Clinton and Simeon Dewit on the part of New York. In 1787 they completed the run- ning and marking of this northern boundary 259 miles and 88 perches from its commencement at the Delaware River, to its termination in Lake Erie, five or six miles east of the Ohio State line, and marked the whole distance throughout by mile-stones, each one indicating the number of miles from the Delaware River. In addition to these stones there are also mile-trees marked in the same manner. In 1789 an Act of Assembly confirmed the acts of the commissioners, and established the line run by them as the boundary be- tween New York and Pennsylvania.
The Indians being recognized as owners of the soil, the whole was purchased from them by different treaties: one at Fort Stanwix, now Rome, extinguished their title to the lands of Western Pennsylvania and New York, excepting the Triangle or Presqu'ile lands, which were accidentally left out of Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Virginia, and were supposed at different times to belong to each. General Irvine discovered, while surveying the donation lands, that Pennsylvania had but a few miles of lake coast, and not any harbor, and in consequence of his repre- sentations, the State of Pennsylvania made propositions for its purchase to Phelps and Gorham, the reputed owners, in the year 1788. At their request the United States government sent out the Surveyor-General, Andrew Ellicot, for the pur- pose of running and establishing lines. Mr. Frederick Saxton, on behalf of Phelps and Gorham, accompanied Mr. Ellicot. As the line was to commence at the west end of Lake Ontario, there was some hesitation whether the western extremity of Burlington Bay or the peninsula separating the bay from the lake was intended. It was finally fixed at the peninsula, and by first running south, and then offsetting around the east end of Lake Erie, the line was found to pass twenty
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miles east of Presqu'ile. This line, as it was found to com- ply with the New York charter, being twenty miles west of the most westerly bend of the Niagara River, became the western boundary of the State of New York between Lake Erie and the old north line of Pennsylvania, and the east line of the tract known as the Presqu'ile Triangle, which was afterward purchased by Pennsylvania of the United States. The Massachusetts charter, in 1785, comprehended the same release that New York had given, and that of Connecticut which retained a reservation of one hundred and twenty miles lying west of Pennsylvania's western boundary. On the 6th of June, 1788, the board of treasury was induced to make a contract for the sale of this tract described as bounded " on the east by New York, on the south by Pennsylvania, and on the north and west by Lake Erie." On the fourth of September, it was resolved by Congress "that the United States do relinquish and transfer to Pennsylvania all their right, title, and claim to the government and jurisdiction of said land forever, and it is declared and made known that the laws and public acts of Pennsylvania shall extend over every part of said tract, as if the said tract had originally been within the charter bounds of said State." By an act of the 2d of October, 1788, the sum of £1200 was appro- priated to purchase the Indian title to the tract, in fulfill- ment of the contract to sell it to Pennsylvania. At the treaty of Fort Harmer, on the 9th of January, 1789, Cornplanter and other chiefs of the Six Nations signed a deed, in consideration of the sum of £1200, ceding the Presqu'ile lands of the United States to be vested in the State of Pennsylvania, and on the 13th of April, 1791, the Governor was authorized to complete the purchase from the United States, which, according to a communication from him to the Legislature, was accomplished in March, 1792; and the consideration-amounting to $151,640 25-paid in continental certificates of various descriptions. A draft annexed to the deed of the Triangle shows it to contain two
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hundred and two thousand one hundred and eighty-seven acres.
An amusing anecdote, relating to the period of these sur- veys, is mentioned in "Pennsylvania Historical Collections :" " When Mr. William Miles set off with a corps of surveyors for laying out the donation lands, the baggage, instruments, etc. were placed in two canoes. Fifteen miles above Pitts- burg, at the last white man's cabin on the river, the party stopped to refresh themselves, leaving the canoes in the care of the Indians. On returning to the river, all was gone,- canoes and Indians had all disappeared. Mr. Miles asked if any one had a map of the river. One was fortunately found, and by it they discovered the river had a great bend just where they were. Their compass was gone, but, by means of Indian signs, mosses on trees, etc., they found their way out above the bend, secreted themselves in the bushes, and waited for the canoes to come up, which hap- pened very soon. When the old chief found he had been detected, he coolly feigned ignorance and innocence, and, stepping out of the canoe with a smile, greeted the surveyors with ' How do ?' 'How do ?' "
CHAPTER VI.
Arrangements for the Settlement of the Triangle-Pennsylvania Popula- tion Company-Act to lay out a Town at Presqu'ile; afterward re- pealed-Bloek-house at Le Bonf-Indian Murders-Governor Mifflin to the President-Attorney-General Bradford's Opinion -Ransom's Deposition-Letters of Captain Denny-Andrew Ellicot and General Chapin-Joseph Brandt-Cornplanter-A Present of Land-Treaty of Peace at Canandaigua.
PENNSYLVANIA formed and adopted her Constitution September 2d, 1790. The State had adopted the Consti- tution of the United States and become a member of the
6*
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
Union December 12th, 1787. In 1790, a committee, com- posed of Timothy Matlack, Samuel McClay, and John Adlum, Esqs., was appointed by Governor Mifflin to exam- ine the western rivers of the State; to proceed up the western branch to Cinnamahoning, and thence to any creek that might discharge itself into the Allegheny nearest the mouth of French Creek, and thence examine French Creek up to Le Bœuf, and the portage to Presqu'ile. They were also to examine and explore any nearer and more convenient communication which might be effected, by land or water, with Lake Erie, and to return down the Allegheny and exam- ine the same from the mouth of French Creek to the Kiskimin- etas. * * As a result of this examination, in 1791, even before the completion of the purchase of the huge cantle, or Trian- gle, an act passed the Legislature of Pennsylvania to open and improve navigable waters and roads, and included an expenditure of £100 for French Creek from its mouth on the Allegheny up to the road leading therefrom to Presqu'ile.
In 1793, on the 8th of March, the Pennsylvania Popula- tion Company was formed for purposes set forth in their articles. The managers were John Nicholson, John Field, Theophilus Casenove, and Aaron Burr, Esqs. The follow- ing provisional plan of settlement was agreed upon :-
" Whereas the said company have purchased considerable bodies of land in Pennsylvania, on the waters of Beaver Creek and Lake Erie; and whereas there is some prospect of a speedy termination of the Indian war, and the company are desirous of encouraging the settlement of these lands, as well for their own interests as for the following considera- tions, viz. :-
"Ist. For promoting the interests of the State, by increas- ing the population thereof.
"2d. For establishing a barrier along the extremity, so that all the other unsettled parts of Pennsylvania, being within the same, may be settled with greater rapidity, etc.
"3d. To encourage the industrious inhabitants, who may
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encounter the difficulties always attending first settlements, by liberal grants of land.
" Under the influence of these motives, the society afore- said, by their president and managers, offer as follows, viz. :
" 1st. To the first ten families who may settle on their lands on the waters of Beaver Creek, one hundred and fifty acres each.
"2d. To the first twenty families on the waters of French Creek, one hundred and fifty acres each.
"3d. To the first twenty familes on Lake Erie territory, one hundred and fifty acres each.
" 4th. To the next twenty families (after the first ten) who shall so settle on the waters of Beaver Creek, one hundred acres each.
" 5th. To the next forty families (after the first twenty) who shall so settle on the waters of French Creek, one hun- dred acres each.
"6th. To the next forty families (after the first twenty) who shall so settle on the lands of the company in the Lake Erie territory, one hundred acres each.
" 7th. That such settlement be made on such parts of the lands of the company as settlers may choose. The parties respectively so settling shall have their several deeds for the land after two years' residence thereon, and having also cleared at least ten acres thereof, and erected a comfortable dwelling-house; in case they, or any of them, should be driven off by the Indians, no part of the aforesaid two years shall be deemed to run during the time they shall be so ex- pelled; and in case of their leaving the lands before they receive their deeds, no title shall vest in them, their heirs and assignees, unless they procure the residence of their as- signs in like manner as required of themselves, and in case of death, their successors to reside in like manner.
" 8th. That the company will sell thirty thousand acres of land to actual settlers, not exceeding three hundred acres each, and those only at one dollar, paid at the choice of the
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purchaser, payable one-third in two years without interest, and one-third the next year, with one year's interest, and the residuary third in the succeeding year, with two year's interest.
" 9th. That the surveys be made under the direction of the company, the expense of the surveys to be paid by the grantee or purchaser.
" By order of the Board. "J. W. NICHOLSON."
A month after the formation of this company, an act passed the Legislature for laying out a town at Presqu'ile, "in order to facilitate and promote the progress of settle- ment within the commonwealth, and to afford additional security to the frontiers thereof."
Governor Mifflin transmitted to the President of the United States a copy of this act, apprehending the diffi- culties which soon manifested themselves. Prior to this he had sent to Captain Denny a commission, appointing him captain of the Allegheny company, and instructing him to engage four sergeants, four corporals, one drummer and fifer, two buglers, and sixty-five rank and file, or privates, and to stipulate with the men to remain longer than the appointed eight months, should the state of the war require it. Early in the month of May, Messrs. Irvine, Ellicot, and Gallatin were to engage in laying out the town, with Captain Denny's company to protect and defend them. For the same object, a post had been established at Le Bœuf, two miles below the site of the old fort, and all per- sons employed by government were particularly cautioned against giving offence to the English or British garrisons in that quarter. A letter from General Wilkins, at Fort Franklin, to Clement Biddle, quartermaster-general of Penn- sylvania, informs us of his arrival, with forty of Captain Denny's men and thirty volunteers from the county of Alle- gheny, and that the news was not favorable toward an
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establishment at Presqu'ile. Those most conversant with the Indians were of the opinion that they were irritated by the British, and meditated an opposition to the government, and that the question of peace or war depended upon a council then convened at Buffalo Creek. To this council Cornplanter, and other Indians on the Allegheny River, had been invited ; and as the English had summoned it, the prospect was not favorable for peace. He also adds that it is his intention to proceed to Cassawago, and should a serious opposition seem to be meditated by the Indians, he would proceed no farther with the stores, until reinforced by more men and enabled to establish himself at Le Bœuf. He also mentions the very low water as a serious impedi- ment. In a letter addressed to A. J. Dallas, he says : " The English are fixed in their opposition to the opening of the road to Presqu'ile, and are determined to send a number of English and Indians to cut them off. The chief Cornplanter communicated the same thing to the command- ing officer at Franklin. To heighten the excitement, a friendly Indian was murdered by a dissolute man, named Robertson. The Indians were very much incensed that the murderer was not given up to them, and fears were enter- tained that some innocent person would be made to suffer in his place. ' The English,' said they, 'always promise to punish crimes, but have never done it.' The father of Robertson sent for John Nicholson to endeavor to appease the Indians, which he effected by calling a council, and offer- ing one hundred dollars, to replace in an Indian way, the man that was dead."
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