USA > Pennsylvania > Franklin County > Waynesboro > Waynesboro : the history of a settlement in the county formerly called Cumberland, but later Franklin, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in its beginnings, to its centennial period, and to the close of the present century > Part 2
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17
INTRODUCTION.
cult to define to what extent the determination to keep INTRODUCTION. faith with the natives to the fullest. in this section of the province, is answerable for the serious troubles subse- quently arising out of the adverse claims made by Mary- land "squatters" and warrantees along the southern border.
There could be no misunderstanding of the policy of the Maryland claimants. They were looking with envious eyes upon the whole of the wide expanse of rich territory which stretched away toward the Susquehanna. The un- certainty of boundary limits made title by occupation, or a Maryland warrant, to much of this desirable land. something more than a possibility. Many valuable tracts were already in actual possession. There was no right of "the original proprietors" of the soil, according to any ethics which the land-seekers understood, which they were bound to respect. The situation grew critical. The representatives of the Six Nations, reluctant as they were to accede to it, were forced to admit that the plan pro- posed by the Deputy-Governor of Pennsylvania, to make governmental surveys in the threatened territory, was the best thing to be done in the emergency. The tide of civilization from the East was rapidly swelling and threat- ened soon to break away all barriers to the westward. To the southward as above adverted to. the persistent ad- vances and insidious encroachments of settlers from Maryland and round about Potomack. were a constant tien tided over. menace. The absolute confirmation of the title to the lands west of the Susquehanna in the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania : the establishment of Proprietary land agen- cies. and the survey of Proprietary manors within the ter- ritory were the steps taken to relieve the situation.
These were steps taken in wisdom, but in the light of history, they were steps tardily taken, and who shall now positively declare that they were taken "with an eye sin- gle" only to the interests of the Indian.
(2)
Attitude of the Maryland claim- ants.
ยท
A critical situa-
IS
WAYNESBORO.
INTRODU CTION.
1 serious prob-
Two potent elements in the make-up of Pennsylvania's migration seem, in the eternal economy of affairs, to have been set apart to people this section of the province. Between them there was no community of language or of interests: on the contrary, a relationship which at the outset was little short of pronounced antagonism. With muttered discontent among the savage inhabitants, which a breath might fan into open warfare, with conflicts over land titles with southern neighbors, in connection with which bloodshed not infrequently occurred. it behooved the Proprietary government to deal in prudence and care with this new problem of settling in the same section of the province, two classes of people in antagonism with each other.
Between the lands lying on the west side of the Sus- quehanna river, and the Kittochtinny (or Cumberland) Valley, trending to the southward beyond, the South Mountain was a natural barrier. AAttracted by the rich bottom lands along the river, shut off from the haunts of the savages by the mountain, the Germans, natural agri- culturists, and adverse to the hardships and adventures which a life beyond the mountain gave promise of, were readily induced, acquiescing in the plan of the govern- ment, to take out licenses for and to settle the lands along the river.
Let the line of rich and thriving villages and towns which lie along the river now, like a necklace of jewels. certify the wisdom of this choice. The German idea in the settlement and growth, not only of this section, but of the whole province, deserves to be recognized in its history, however much the tendency is to overlook it. It has been the great cohesive element, the mighty bond. that has held in place the other elements; and by that longing which is natural to a German for a home and home comforts, by the German thrift and industry, were
First German settlements.
success of the German idea.
19
INTRODUCTION.
laid the earliest and most durable foundations of actual INTRODUCTION. settlement in Pennsylvania.
The valley beyond furnished a field of operations, peculiarly designed by Nature for a people like the Scotch-Irish. It demanded their indomitable spirit to brave the dangers of that valley and to successfully carry out a mighty mission, the important results of which are patent to-day. These people were soldiers, fighters in aggressive as well as defensive warfare, but better still they were Christians and lovers of education. They were able to cope with the savage and treacherous foe which lurked in the shadow of every mountain fastness, but at the same time, as the representatives of Religion and her hand-maiden Education, they built churches and school- houses in the valley.
Through subsequent intercourse, family affiliations, and in general a growth of a community of interests, as time progressed, the Germans on the river side of the mountain and the Scotch-Irish on the valley side became a homogeneous people, and. amalgamated, present to-day the sturdiest stock of citizenship which the Common- wealth of Pennsylvania claims as her own.
In the planting of the portion of Pennsylvania which lies west of the Susquehanna. thrift, energy, bravery and supreme love of country went hand in hand. It was a notable seed time. therefore it may not be marvelled at that a harvest of overflowing fruitfulness, in every line of the implanting, has been and is being reaped.
The Scotch-Irish as pioneers.
Amalgamation.
A fruitful harvest.
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105
ORIGINAL COUNTY SEALS AND STATE ENSIGN.
CHAPTER I.
LAND TITLES.
ORIGIN AND NATURE OF PENNSYLVANIA TENURES.
HE vesting in the Quaker founder, the original Pro- CHAPTER I. prietary, and his family, of the title to the vast do- main now known as Pennsylvania, the subsequent divestiture and quieting thereof in the Commonwealth, and the establishment of individual land titles, constitute Land titles. a story which, following the golden thread of romance which runs through it, glows at times with the lurid flash of thrilling and sometime even tragic incident, albeit a story in the main grounded in the dry and uninteresting details of a legal controversy for the preservation or over- throw of disputed rights, with the issue, indeed, often in doubt.
Notwithstanding the fact that English Charter rights were granted for lands in Pennsylvania under the principle which obtained among the nations across the sea, that the newly discovered country belonged to the people whose representatives first discovered it, title by conquest is the actual groundwork of all English tenure of lands in Penn- sylvania ; therefore, the history of lands in any section of the State must, in a general way, relate back to the con- quest of the colonies on the Delaware by the English Oct. 3, 1664. shortly after the restoration of the House of Stuart, King Charles the Second reigning.
The English Government, in common with the other A prolific cause of progressive European nations, had already learned by ex- controversy. perience that title by conquest followed by occupancy of lands, particularly in the Western Continent, without cer- tainly defined and recorded descriptions of territorial bounds, guaranteed nothing definitely unless it were the
Nature of English tenure.
22
WAYNESBORO.
CHAPTER I.
certainty of boundary disputes, not only with foreign gov- ernments, but amongst its own subjects as well. The truth of this proposition cannot be denied, and history stands witness to the fact that the improvident granting of land titles by English charters, for territory in America, without an accurate knowledge of the geography and topography of the territory granted, proved to be quite a prolific cause of controversy in both of the young pro- vinces on the Delaware and Chesapeake.
The Maryland grant. June 20, 1632.
The first seeds of trouble were planted with the charter grant by King Charles the First to Cecilius, Lord Balti- more, which, by generous description, included much of the territory subsequently contained in the grant of King Charles the Second to William Penn.
New Albion. June 31, 1634.
Following the Baltimore grant came the romantic gift from King Charles the First to Sir Edmund Plowden as "Earl Palatinate of New Albion" in America, absorbing, besides Long Island, in its forty leagues' embrace. all the territory of New Jersey. Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The overthrow of the House of Stuart in England. and the withdrawal. for the time being, of royal patronage, rendered the task of securing possession un- der his grant rather too arduous an undertaking for "The Right Honorable and Mighty Lord Edmund by Divine Providence Lord Proprietor Earl Palatinate. Governour and Captain-Generall of the Province of New Albion." The Restoration brought with it new purposes to be maintained and new. and presently powerful, favorites to be rewarded. and, as a consequence, the ambitious dream of the Earl Palatinate for his "New Albion" was never realized, and its charter right remained only as a brief and romantic chapter in the story of Land Tenure in Pennsyl- vania, entitled to, at least, passing mention in every prop- erly digested view of the subject.
23
LAND TITLES.
Several reasons are assigned for the grant of the New CHAPTER I. Netherlandsto James, Duke of Yorke, by his royal brother. King Charles the Second. The king's "lack of respect" for the Dutch, and his determination to prevent the evil consequences which might arise from the permanent set- Proud. tlement of that nation in the midst of the British Ameri- can colonies : to dispossess the Dutch of their enjoyment of territory to which the English claimed the title, and Hazard. thus to put an end to the disputes which were continually arising between the two nations : to give expression to the general feeling of enmity to the States General of Hol- Gordon. land, engendered by rivalry in trade and by other causes : through revenge against the Hollanders who had en- Acrelius. croached upon the rights of the English in Africa, India and elsewhere.
In any event, the Duke of Yorke laid claim to the New Netherlands district as a reward commensurate with his valuable services to the Crown. Mingled with his motive in taking possession of this country was the spirit of re- venge against his old enemies, the Dutch, to which was added an avaricious desire to secure to himself the ad- vantages of the entire trade of that valuable country. King Charles was not tardy in acceding to his brother's wishes. The king granted to the duke the coveted terri- tory in the New World, comprising within its confines the entire extent of the New Netherlands, including the colonies on the Delaware, irrespective of Holland's claims and Holland's occupancy.
William Penn became Proprietary of his Province of Pennsylvania, and territories annexed thereto, by four several grants.
First : The Province of Pennsylvania was granted to Penn by the Great Charter or Patent of King Charles the Second. This royal charter was promptly and duly pub- lished in the proclamation issued by His Majesty's com-
Title of Duke of Yorke.
Penn Proprietary grants.
April 2. 1681.
24
WAYNESBORO.
CHAPTER I.
mand, and directed to the inhabitants and planters of Pennsylvania in America.
August 31, 1682.
Second: The deed of the Duke of Yorke for the province of Pennsylvania in the same terms substantially as the royal charter. The acquisition of this deed was prompted by the foresight of William Penn. to protect him in the future against any claims of the Duke of Yorke which might arise.
August 21, 1692.
Third: The grant of the Duke of Yorke to Penn of the town of New Castle, otherwise called Delaware, and the district of twelve miles around it.
August 24. 10-2.
Fourth: The grant of the Duke of Yorke to Penn, on the same day, of the tract of land extending from twelve miles south of New Castle to Cape Henlopen, divided into the two counties of Kent and Sussex, which, together with the New Castle district, were commonly known by the name of the "Three Lower Counties" of Pennsylva- nia.
Area of the Province.
Proud, 1780.
The Province, according to the boundaries marked out in the Royal Charter, contained thirty-five million, three hundred and sixty-one thousand, six hundred acres. After the adjustment of all boundary disputes with neigh- boring States, and after the acquisition of the Erie tri- angle, it was computed that Pennsylvania contained about thirty million acres of land, over five million acres less than were comprised within the Charter boundaries, and nearly four million acres more than were estimated by Pennsylvania's early historian.
Pin's Wicy.
William Penn, clothed with the fullest power under his royal grant, and in consonance with the policy which was recognized among the civilized nations, could have as- sumed absolute and almost despotie jurisdiction over every foot of land which his charter described, but the religious principles which he professed forbade a policy which would "cement in blood" the foundation stones of
25
LAND TITLES.
his new government, and prompted rather the sounder CHAPTER 1. and more humane policy which recognized the rights of the "savage inhabitants" as "legitimate Proprietaries" of the land: a policy which had its inception in the league of amity, "never sworn to and never broken." entered into under the shade of the forest trees, and was followed by that long line of treaties which protected, as well as might be, the savages in the enjoyment of their rights, and se- cured to the people of Pennsylvania an unbroken peace with them for many a year.
The Indians, who dwelt in the valley of the Susque- hanna at the time of the grant of the Province to William Penn, and for a prior period "to which the memory of man runneth not to the contrary," were, without doubt, of Iroquois or Mingoe stock. Some of the Delaware tribe had settled among them, or in the neighborhood. causing discontent, which feeling was augmented by the persistent encroachments of the settlers from the domain of Lord Baltimore: so the Susquehanna Indians hailed. with gladness, the advent of the Commissioners who represented the Government of William Penn. and promptly sent a deputation to the New Commissioners, seeking protection, which was guaranteed, and proffering friendship, which was accepted and reciprocated. Of the treaty which, according to the best authorities, it is be- lieved, was entered into on this occasion, no record is extant, but there is much reason to believe that it was in- cluded among the matters and things which had been promised and stipulated by the Representatives of the Proprietary before his first arrival, and by him confirmed at the Great Council of friendship under the tree at Shak- amaxon, on which occasion the Susquehanna Indians. with others of the allied natives, were present with the tribes from the Delaware region.
Colonel Thomas Dougan, Governor of New York, and
Indian pur- chases.
Note 1.
Du Ponceau. Fisher. Watson. Smith.
26
WAYNESBORO.
CHAPTER I.
Governor Dou- gan's relations with the Pro- prietor.
afterwards Earl of Limerick, who was brought into inti- mate relations with the Proprietary of the new Province of Pennsylvania through the circumstance of his having been deputized by James, Duke of Yorke, to collect the past due quit-rents accrued upon the land granted to Penn, and to adjust other matters connected with the transfer, was further commissioned by the Pennsylvania Proprietary to secure title for him from the Indians to the frontier lands of his Province lying along the Susque- hanna river.
Oct. 10, 1683.
1st Penn'a. Arch. Vol. 1, p. 76.
p. 81.
1st Penn'a. Arch. Vol. 1. 121-2.
Jan. 12, 1696.
Note 2.
Jan. 13, 1696.
Description.
Quite early in the life of the Province. Dougan, writ- ing to Penn, and speaking of the Indians with respect to the relinquishment of their lands, says, "They have all agreed to give Susquehanna river to me and this Gov- ernment, which I have under their hands to show for it." And again, "The Susquehanna river is given me by the Indians by a second gift, about which you and I shall not fall out."
The Indian deed to Governor Dougan is not known now to exist, but his conveyances to William Penn have been preserved. They consist of a lease for one thousand years: the consideration therein mentioned being one hundred pounds lawful money of England, and, in addition, "yearly, and every year, on the feast day of St. Michael, the Archangel, the rent of a pepper corn if the same shall, or lawfully, be demanded." This lease was supplemented by a fee simple deed : the body of the land conveyed being described as,
"All that tract of land lying upon, on both sides of the river comonly called or known by the name of the Susque- hannah River and the lakes adjacent in or neare the Pro- vince of Pensilvania in America, beginning at the moun- tain or head of said river, and running as farr as and into the Bay of Chesapeake which the said Thomas Dougan lately purchased of or had given him by the Sennica Susquehannah Indians."
27
LAND TITLES.
Two years after the Dougan conveyance, in the inter- CHAPTER I. val between William Penn's first and second visits to his 1098. Province, a number of families of Shawanees or Southern Indians, came to settle at Conestoga, among those who were already established there. Permission to admit the newcomers was asked of the Proprietary Government. This application for admission was promptly acted upon and resulted, in a later period, on the return of the Pro- prietary to this country, in a new treaty, and a direct con- veyance from the Kings and Sachems of the Susquehanna Indians to William Penn of,
Southern Indians admitted.
A new treaty.
"All the lands situate, lying, and being upon both sides of the said (Susquehannah) River and next adjoining the same to the utmost confines of the land, which are, or Sept. 13, 1700. formerly were, the right of the people or nation called Susquehannagh Indians, or by what name soever they were called."
They also, at this time, confirmed the conveyances made unto Governor Thomas Dougan for the same lands.
It was the great desire of William Penn to secure the Susquehanna river through the whole extent of the Pro- vince, and he never lost an opportunity of bringing his title thereto to the view of the Indians, who, from time to time, seemed strangely forgetful of it ; so, with this pur- pose in view, the deed last above cited, together, with the ratification and confirmation of Governor Dougan's con- veyances, is again recited in an article of agreement, made the following year, between William Penn, upon one hand, and the Susquehanna, Shawanee, Potomac, and Cone- stoga Indians, upon the other.
Another Agree- ment.
.
April 23, 1701.
Notwithstanding the efforts of the first Proprietary, and those who came after him, to quiet in themselves the title to the lands on the Susquehanna, it continued to be a cause for discontent among the Indians for a period of nearly forty years longer, when it was finally settled, the
The title quieted.
Oct. 11, 1736.
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WAYNESBORO.
CHAPTER L.
good Conrad Weiser being an important agent in the set- tlement. Twenty-three Chiefs of the Onondago, Seneca, Oneida, and Tuscarora Nations joined in the deed to John, Thomas, and Richard Penn, renewing and ratifying all former treaties of friendship and peace, and conveying un- equivocally and absolutely :
"All the said river Susquehanna with the land lying on both sides thereof, to extend Eastward as far as the heads or branches or streams which run into the Susquehanna, and all the land lying on the West side of the said river to the setting sun. and to extend from the mouth of the said river northward up the same to the hills or mountains called, in the language of the said Indians, Tayamentasachta, and by the Delaware Indians, Kekachtanamin hills."
Territory included.
There could be no question concerning the comprehen- siveness and certainty of this description of lands. With certain releases and private deeds accompanying it. it in- cluded all the territory of the present counties of Franklin, Adams, and York, and part of Cumberland, with consider- able of the territory on the east side of the river, and is known and described as the purchase of seventeen hun- dred and thirty-six.
As has already plainly appeared, prior to the purchase just mentioned, the Proprietary of Pennsylvania had no undisputed title to the lands on the western side of the Susquehanna : so it was wisdom on the part of Lieutenant Governor Keith, when the encroachment of settlers from Maryland had assumed a serious and threatening aspect, to diplomatically keep in the background the Penns' claim to the title, that he might persuade the Indians in posses- sion to consent to the survey of a proprietary manor in the heart of the territory. This was the famous "Manor of Springetsbury." for which the warrant issued. but the survey was not returned into the Land Office, which was closed from the death of William Penn, until the arrival of Thomas Penn. In the meantime, by the consent of the
A proposed Manor.
June 15, 1722 171% to 1732.
29
LAND TITLES.
Proprietors, sundry settlements had been made within the CHAPTER E limits of the survey, but no titles were confirmed.
Later. a special commission issued to one Samuel Bluin- ston, a gentleman of wide knowledge respecting the lands on the Susquehanna where he resided, authorizing him to grant licenses to settle and take up lands on the west side of the Susquehanna. He issued many licenses during a period extending over three years. These licenses, or rather promises, to settlers to grant them Patents for the land they had settled, covered some twelve thousand acres, and. after the purchase of seventeen hundred and thirty-six, which finally settled the Indian claim, were signed by the Proprietary, Thomas Penn, himself, at Lan- caster.
These licenses were peculiar in certain respects. They were issued for lands not absolutely purchased from the Indians. They had all the essentials of a warrant, but no purchase money was paid when they issued. In the con- troversies concerning the Manor of Springetsbury, in York county, they became the subject of judicial investi- gation, and were accepted and formed the bases of many titles. They are known in history as the "Blunston Licenses."
Licenses of this character were issued for lands now em- braced within the limits of Franklin county; for four hun- dred acres at Falling Spring (Chambersburg) were taken up by Benjamin Chambers under the Blunston Licenses. but the title to the land upon which Waynesboro stands. as will appear later, passed directly by Proprietary war- rant.
A word as to Proprietary Manors: Although a number of tracts of land in the Province, and, as well, the Proprie- tary tenths, were surveyed and designated Manors, strict- ly speaking there never were any Manors in Pennsylvania. The tenure by which the Charter was held was that
Blunston Licenses. Jan. 7, 17.4.
Character of th Blunston License.
Sergeant.
Rupp. Mccauley.
Proprietary Manors.
30
WAYNESBORO.
CHAPTER 1.
species of feudal tenure called socage by fealty only, in lieu of all other services, and the tenures under William Penn were by a kind of rent service. The patents were not free common socage in lieu of all other services. By the abolition of quit-rents, all estates, derived immediate- ly from the Commonwealth, are unconditionally fee sim- ple, with the reservation only of one-fifth part of gold and silver ore at the pit's mouth.
Charles Sinth.
This, in brief, is the history of the vesting in the Pro- prietary of Pennsylvania of the title to the lands in the Kittochtinny or Cumberland Valley, which section of the country filled up very rapidly with settlers under Proprie- tary grants which continued to issue until the outbreak of the Revolutionary War.
Divesting act.
When the independence of the united colonies became an assured fact, it was patent to all that so vast a domain as Pennsylvania could not, in safety and consistently with the principles espoused by those who fought for indepen- dence, be allowed to remain under the individual owner- ship of the Penn family. Every consideration of sound policy and proper regard for the rights of the people de- manded that their Proprietary interest in the soil should be defeated, and the Seigniory into which the Charter of King Charles the Second had erected Pennsylvania, to be held of the Crown of England by fealty in lieu of all other services, should be vested in and come under the laws of the new government. So. in wisdom, this was done by the Assembly, which also, with a due regard to equity and justice, preserved to the Proprietors their private estates to an extent not inconsistent with the public welfare, and paid them in money one hundred and thirty thousand pounds sterling as an equivalent for the interest in the land of which they had been deprived.
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