"?H3t mi 7::^^^, ~K» #• 1770.- 1 \ \ ' ^ I it ^X\STO/j -OF- COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. ^-e=»'WIT| llfliisiratians anil l|iagra^hii:al ^ketcltrf. ^-e==oF^=3^_, |SOME OF ITS PROl^INENT MEN AND PIONEERS. ! I5-crBl,isi3:E!i> B-se- Ij. HC. EVEK,TS & CO. 'J'l^^ie milbert Street, PMladelpMa. 1878.- CONTENTS. I3:iSTOI?.IO-A.L. HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY. CHAPTEB I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII.- IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. -The Aborigines -Land Controversies ....... -Settlements in Bradford County Previous to tho Battle of Wyoming, July 3, 1778 'Bradford County during the Revolutionary War -Renewal of Settlements Indian Treaty at Athens , ,. French Settlement at Asylum Colonel John Franklin -Organization of the County, and the Erection of Town ships ......... — Geography, Topography, and Geology — Education — Churches ......... — Societies — The Learned Professions — Law — the Bar — Medical . — The Press, Authors, and Books — Political History of Bradford County Military History of Bradford County Miscellaneous Items 29 4%67859195 101107117120 126 169181 186 192 200249 HISTORY OF THE TOWNSHIPS. Albany ^ 260 Armenia 264 Asylum 267 AthenT^ 270 Barclay 286 Burlington ........... 287 Canton 294 Colambia 302 Franklin 307 Granville 3C9 Herriek ........... 311 PAOE LeRoy 313 Litchfield 315 Monroe 320 North Towanda 324 Orwell 326 Overton 334 Pike 336 RidgeberryRome 345 349 356 Smithfleld 368 South Creek 374 Springfield 375 Standing Stone 379 Terry 382 Towanda -?82 Towanda Borough 389 Troy 408 Tuscarora 418 Ulster 422 Warren 428 Wells 432 West Burlington 433 Wilmot 435 Windham 438 Wyalusing 441 Wysox * . 453 Roster of Soldiers in the War of the Rebellion, from Bradford County 460 Appendix 489 List op Patrons of the History of Bradford County . i. — ix Ii:jIjTJSTI2/-A-TI03SrS. PAGE Lake, Pond Hill (frontispiece) .... facing title Map of Bradford County facing 9 Indian Map of Bradford County , 17 Plan of Friedenshiitten in 1771 23 Map of Certified Townships in Bradford County ... 38 " Susquehanna Company's Townships . . facing 41 " Bradford County in 1812 .... "113 Portrait of Col. John Franklin (steel) ... " 101 Col. Franklin's Grave 1*7 Porttait of S. W. Alvord 189 " Judson Holcomb 189 " Wm. H. H. Gore 207 ALBANY. Portraits of Moses A. and Mrs. Jane Ladd .... 260 Cold Spring Trout Fishery, S. B. Eilenberger . between 432, 433 ASYLVJH. Portraits of Jonathan and Mrs. Sallie Stevens . . facing 260 Residence of Robert Bull (with portraits) . . " 262 J. A. Hornet " ... " 267 Residence of F. X. Homet (with portraits) . . facing 268 " Valley Farm," Res. of F. H. Hagerman (with portraits, double page) between 268, 269 Residence of P. W. Morey facing 269 ATHENS. Residence of David Paine, " Old Homestead" . . facing 2 60 " K. A. Packer, Sayre .... "270 " Z. F. Walker . . . . between 272, 273 Portraits of Zephon Flower and Z. F. Walker and wife, bet. 272, 273 Residence of Joseph McKinney (with portraits) " facing 274 Bridge Works of Kellogg and Maurice J. L. Corbin's Block .... Portrait of John Shepard (steel) " Hon. Bdw. Herriek (steel) " B. P. AUen, M.D.- (steel) " David Paine . Residence of M. Coleman . Portraits of M. Coleman and Wife Portrait of John Spalding " Chester Stevens CONTENTS. ILLTJSTI2/JLTZ01TS. Portrait of Chas. McDnffee ,,,,,/Z «otmc Hotel, with portraits of H. Van Duzer and Wife " 284 BURLINGTON. Residence and Mill of Roswell Luther (with portraits) facing 287 Residence of Mrs. J. F. Long, with portrait of Hon. J. F. Long, -r, . facing 288 Residence of Barker Brown (with portraits) . . " 290 S. M. Diokerman .... between 292, 293 C. E. Campbell .... " 292 293 Late Residence of Josephus Campbell (with portraits) " 292,' 293 CANTON. Residence of Wm. H. Bates (with portraits) Portraits of Wm. S. Jayne and Wife " Irad Wilson and Wife . Residence of S. A. Taylor (with portraits) " Wm. Lawrence " " Mrs. Ichabod Sellard paae facing 294 " 296 between 296, 297 " 296, 297 facing 298 (with portraits) double between 298, 299 Coal Yard and Mill Property of S. S. Strait and Son facing 300 Residence and Farm of Capt. C. S. Sellard (with portraits) double page between 300, 301 Residence of Geo. W. Griffin (with portraits) . . facing 301 Portrait of Thomas Williams 3q] COLUMBIA. Portraits of Joel Stevens and Wife . Portrait of Peleg Peek .... Portraits of Hezekiah and Peleg Peck, Jr. facing 302 . 306 facing 306 FRANKLIN. Portrait of J. E. Spalding Portraits of Joseph L. Johnson and Wife . Residence of the late M. M. Marshall (with portraits) facing 307307308 GRANVILLE. Property of Adam Innes (with portraits), double page bet. 310, 311 LITCHFIELD, Residence of Wm. Campbell " John Fitler (with portraits) . " Stephen Evans Portraits of Alsup Baldwin and Wife Residence of A. D. Munn (with portraits) . Portraits of David McEinney and Wife . Residence of Henry McKinney (with portraits) Portrait of Samuel P. Wolcott .... MONROE. Residence of Wm. W. Fowler .... " J. F. Woodruff .... " D. Cook " Charles Marcy (with portraits) . " Freeman Sweet " NORTH TOWANDA. Residence of Silas Mills (with portraits) . " Horace Granger (with portrait) . " Roderick Granger " " Ezra Butty (with portraits) . ORWELL. Residence of Geo. C. Frisbie (with portraits) Portraits of Chauncey and Z. Frisbie Portrait of James Cleveland Residence of Henry Gibbs (with portraits) " Geo. W. Brown " " Isaac Lyons " facing 278 316 " 316 " 316 " 317 . 318 lacing 318 " 319 facing 319 " 320320 between 322, 323 " 322, 323 facing 323 between 324, 325 " 324, 325 facing 326 between 328, 329 " 328, 329 facing 329 between 330, 331 " 330, 331 " 330, 331 PAGE between 330 , 331 facing 332 It 333 tl 333 tt 334 tt 335 facing 336 " 337 . 338 " 339 " 340 tt 341 Residence of Cyrus Cook (with portraits) . " John W. Payson " Portraits of Nathaniel Chubbuok and Wife " A. G. Mathews and Wife Residence of Horace W. Barnes (with portraits) " George Lyon (with portraits) PIKE. Residence of Hon. P. H. Buck, Le Raysville . " W. S. Davis (with portraits) " H. B. Chaffee " " Mrs. A. E. Smith " " Chandler Canfield " Portrait of Joshua Burrows .... Residence of Joseph Haigh (with ports.) double page, bet. 342, 343 Portrait of Le Ray de Chaumont .... facing 343 Residence of- John Black (with portraits) . . " 344 " Dr. C. S. Dusenbery (with portraits) facing 345 ROME. Portraits of Sylvester aud Allen W. Barns Property of R. S. Barns (with portraits) . Portrait of P. P. Bliss .... Residence of S. W. Elliott (with portraits) Portrait of Peter Vought Residence of Joseph Seely (with portraits) SHESHEQUIN. The Gore Homestead, with portrait of Geo. C. Gore . facing 356 Residence of Wm. Snyder (with portraits) . . " 358 " Jos. Towner, with portraits of Enoch Towner and Th— . Gerould facing 360 Property of Charles Chaffe (with pors.) double page, bet. 362, 363 Horn Brook Church between 362, 363 Portrait of Ebenezer Shaw facing 364 Portraits of Jesse Brown and Wife .... " 365 Portrait of Col. Franklin Blackman ... " 366 SMITHFIELD. Portrait of J. E. Bullock .... " Dr. Darius Bullock . " Rev. C. C. Corss between 348 349 " 348, 349 . 351 facing 352 t( 354 tt 355 between 370, 371 " 370, 371 " 370, 371 facing 375 tt 378 tt 377 SPRINGFIELD. Residence of Capt. John Salisbury (with portraits) R. B. Young " Hosea Kennedy (with portrait) . STANDING STONE. Res. of N. Stevens (with ports., Asa Stevens and Wife) facing 379 " J. J. Stevens (with portraits) . between 380, 381 " Achitins Stevens " . . « 330 381 TERRY. Portrait of John Ilorton (steel) .... Residence of Dr. Geo. E. Ilorton (with portraits) TOWANDA. Portrait of Mrs. Elizabeth Means View of Court-House Portrait of J. C. Adams . . . , " James Elliott . . . , Residence of the late Gen. Wm. Patton , " Ward House," J. 0. Ward Portrait of Hon. C. L. Ward (steel) . " David F. Barstow . " William H. Foster . " E. H. Mason, M.D. . " Samuel Houston, M.D. . facing 382 tt 386 386 facing 389 (t 390 a 391 tt 392 tt 392 tt 396 tt 399 6t 399 tt 399 CONTENTS. ILLUSTI^J^TIOnsrS- PA8E Residence of Stephen A. Mills (with portrait.-^) . . facing 400 Portrait of Edw. Overton, Sr. (steel) .... "402 " W. Watkins between 402, 403 " Hon. J. G. Patton facing 403 " Gen. Wm. Patton 403 Portrait of Hon. P. D. Morrow .... facing 404 Res. of Mrs. 0. M. Smith, and portriiit of E. II. Smith, " 405 Portrait of John A. Codding 406 " Hon. David Wilmot 407 TROY. View of First Presbyterian Church Residence of Horace Pomeroy . " S. W. Pomeroy . " John McKean Portraits of Jobn McKean and Wife " Allen Taylor and Wife Portrait of Alfred Parsons " Dummer Lilley " Orin P. Ballard Portraits of Reuben Wilbur and Wife " Uel Porter and Wife Portrait of D. F. Pomeroy (steel). " I. N. Pomeroy " " Eli B. Parsons Residence of J. V. Ballard (with portraits) TUSCARORA. Portrait of Bela Cogswell .... ULSTER. Residence of G. H. Van Dyke (with portraits) " Jas. Van Dyke Portraits of Simmons C. Hovey and Wife Portrait of Mary Ann Lookwood facing 408 between 410, 411 410,411 " 412, 413 ¦' 412, 413 " 412, 413 " 412, 413 facing 413 between 414, 415 " 414, 415 facing 415 between 416, 417 ¦' 416, 417 . 417 between 432, 433 421 facing 422 " 424 . 427 '. 427 WARREN. PAOE Residence of the late Benjamin Lyon (with portraits) facing 428 Nathan Young, Esq. " " 429 " Andrew Dewing " " 430 " John Beardslee (double page) . between 430, 431 Portraits of Dr. F. G. Morrow and Wife . . facing 432 WEST BURLINGTON. Residence of Shep. H. Ballard .... between 432, 433 " J. B. McKean (with portraits) . . facing 434 " Thos. BlackweU " . between 434, 435 " M. J. Hilton " . " 434, 435 Quick WILMOT. Portrait of Mrs. Sally Morrow (steel) Residence and Drug-store of Dr. P. A. Residence of J. W. Ingham, Sugar Bun . WINDHAM. Residence of J. 0. Dawes .... WYALUSING. Portrait of Rev. David Craft (steel) Portraits of John Ingham and wife Portrait of John Elliott " Justus Lewis . The Old Kingsley House . Second Presbyterian Church Residence of L. P. Stalford (with portraits) " Mrs. Baseom Taylor (with portraits) Old Homestead of C. Homet (with portrait) Residence of E. R. Vaughan (with portraits) . " J. R. Taylor facing 437 " 458 " 440 facing 433 facing 441 " 442 " 447 " 446 . 443 . 449 facing 444 between 448, 449 facing 452 " 450440 WYSOX. " Hillside Farm," Residence of S. and E. G. Gowen . facing 458 "Valley Farm," Residence of Stephen Strickland, Jr. (with portraits) facing 4.')7 bioc3-e.^i=h:zo^Xj- PAGE Col. John FrankUn 101 Stephen W. Alvord 188 Judson Holcomb 189 Zephon F. Walker between 272, 273 John Shepard 279 Hon. Edward Herriek 280 B. P. Allen, M.D 281 David and Clement Paine 282 Michael Coleman between 282, 283 Charles McDuffee 285 Joseph McKinney ......... 285 Chester Stevens 286 William S. Jayne facing 296 Col. Irad Wilson between 296, 297 Capt. C. S. Sellard 299 Ichabod Sellard 299 Samuel Strait 300 S. A. Taylor 300 William Lawrence 300 Wm. H. Bates 300 Thomas WiUiams 301 George W. Griffin 301 Joel Stevens (susing 302 Peleg Peck "306 Adam Innis 311 Samuel P. Wolcott 316 A. D. Munn 317 PAGE Henry McKinney ......... 318 Ezra Rutty 326 Chauncey Frisbie between 328, 329 James Cleveland facing 329 Nathan Payson 332 Joel Cook 333 George W. Brown 333 Joshua Burrows facing 341 Joseph Haigh 343 Lebbeus Smith 344 John Black 344 Wilson Canfield 344 William S. Davis 344 Horace B. Chaffee 344 C. S. Dusenbury, M.D 345 Deacon Sylvester Barns between 348, 349 Peter Vought facing 354 Deacon Stephen Cranmer 354 Joseph Seely 355 Ebenezer Shaw facing 364 Jesse Brown ........ " 365 Col. Franklin Blackman " 366 J. E. Bullook between 370, 371 Rev. Charles C. Corss 373 Hosea Kennedy 377 John Salisbury 373 RusseU B. Young ......... 378 CONTENTS. B I o a- IL JL IP s: I o ^ Xj. George P. Horton, M.D. J. C. Adams James Elliott David P. Barstow Stephen A. Mills 'WiUiam H. Foster Eliphalet H. Mason, M.D Samuel C. Houston, M.D . Edward Overton, Sr. 'William Watkins Hon. J. G. Patton Gen. WiUiam Patton Hon. Paul D. Morrow Horace Granger Erastus H. Smith John A. Codding Hon. David Wilmot John McKean . Allen Taylor Alfred Parsons . Dummer Lilley . Orin P. BaUard . Hon. Reuben Wilbur facing PAGE 385 390 391 399 400401 401 402 402 between 402, 403 facing 403403 404 405405 406406 between 412, 413 " 412, 413 " 412, 413 facing 413 between 414, 415 " 414, 415 PAGE Uel Porter facing 415 Major Ezra Long 415 Silas E. Shepard, D.D 415 Daniel F. Pomeroy 41 6 Col. I. N. Pomeroy 417 Eli B. Parsons 417 Rev. Bela Cogswell 421 George H. Van Dyke 426 Simmons C. Hovey 427 Mrs. Mary Ann Lockwood 427 John Beardslee 431 Nathan Young 431 Andrew Dewing 43) F. G. Morrow, M.D facing 432 Gen. Samuel McKean 434 John Ingham facing 442 Justus Lewis ........ " 446 John Elliott " 447 Baseom Taylor 450 Henry Gaylord 450 E. R. Vaughan 451 Charles Homet 452 Hon. L. P. Stalford 452 PREFACE. This work, which has for some time attracted considerable attention from the people of Bradford County, is now ready to be placed in their hands to receive their approval or disapprobation, according, as in the judgment of the reader, it is meritorious or otherwise. The author will not deny that it is with some degree of trepidation that he presents the fruits of his labor for the criticism of the public, but he indulges the hope that a community which has been so deeply interested in its production, will be equally generous to forgive any imperfections they may discover. The writing of a history is like building a house, it is never done, but done or undone, must be used some time. No one can be more certain of the extent in which the work is undone than the author. Some things, however, he feels that justice to himself and to others require to be said. The plan of the work is somewhat different from that usually followed in similar histories. Instead of making as little of the general history as possible, and throwing the bulk of the material into township annals, he has pursued exactly an opposite course ; just as little has been put into the account of the town ships as could be well done ; those things only are found there which were strictly local. Great pains have been taken to insure accuracy. It has been the author's purpose if mistakes were made at all, that they should be in omitting what might be said, and not in saying what was not true; but with all the pains taken to secure accuracy, mistakes will doubtless be found. There will also be things in the book which will not be of interest to some, and others will be disappointed that other things were not mentioned. In the make up of a book no two persons of equal intelligence will exactly agree. It must be a matter of taste and judgment with the author. One of the things in which special interest has been taken, was to obtain a complete military record of every man who went from Bradford County into the army of the Union. A couple of years since, circulars were published in the newspapers of the county asking for information, and in many cases letters were written, making personal solicitations of friends to furnish this information from their respective neighbor hoods. While in a few cases responses have been prompt, and the lists complete, or nearly so, others were sadly defective and imperfect, while in a great majority of cases no answer whatever was made to the call. In two instances, — ^and one of these where it was supposed most pains would be taken, and the list would be most complete, — ^though retained to the last moment, they were sent with only the simple names, without rank, name of regiment or company, date of muster or discharge, or any remarks of any sort whatever. To print such lists as a coraplete roster of the soldiers of Bradford would be an insult to the living and a reproach to the dead. The plan which the author had cherished, and which he still believes would have been far preferable to any other, was to have given the rosters at the end of each township. This, how ever, was simply impossible. The only thing which could be done was to take Bates' Reports as the' basis, makino- such corrections and additions as the material in hand should suggest. 7 PREFACE. Effort has been made to reach bottom facts, and the author has but little fear that any future worker will get below him. In the other things which give value to a local history,— the early settlers, the associations into which they entered, whether religious, social, or political, and statistics, — it is hoped nothing more will be wished. The author is under personal obligations to numerous citizens of the county, who have freely and cheer fully made contributions to our history. For snch contributions Messrs. O. D. Fields, of Armenia, Edward Herriek, Esq., of Athens, A. T. Lilley, of Le Roy, Dr. G. F. Horton, of Terry, C. C. Payne, of Troy, Rev. C. E. Taylor, of Whitney's Point, O. N. Worden, of New Milford, Pa., James D. Ridgway, of Franklin, Rev. J. Jewell, of Troy, and numerous others, as well as the press generally, thanks are due. He is under especial obligations to H. B. Peirce, Esq., on the staff of the publishers' historical corps, for most valuable assistance, who freely gave his time and the results of his large experience to various parts of the work, and whose suggestions and services are entitled to the thanks of its patrons. To the publishers great credit is due for the energy, liberality, and skill they have exhibited in bringing out the work. They have, without stint or complaint, cheerfully furnished the author all the assistance in their power, and, at a personal sacrifice, have complied with his suggestions in the matter of illustrations, furnishing a considerable number of valuable portraits of old or important citizens at his request. Whatever may be thought of the matter contained in the work, the dress, illustrations, typography, and press-work are in the best style. The History of Bradford County has passed through the fire, not of adverse criticism, but of consuming flames. In the great fire of March 26 the bindery was destroyed, and with it much of the printed history. Immediately an extra force was obtained, and the presses have been run night and day, so what would, in many instances, have seriously delayed or indefinitely postponed so large a work as this, has not deferred its publication for a single day. To the author, the preparation of this work has been a labor of love, and with a feeling somewhat akin to that with which a father parts with a child going from the paternal roof-tree to seek fame and fortune in this busy world of competition and strife, so he parts with this, commending it to the sons and daughters of the heroic pioneers of " Old Bradford," whose names and virtues he has endeavored to embalm, and to whose memory this feeble production is most respectfully dedicated by THE AUTHOR. HISTOEY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. BY REV. DAVID GRAFT. CHAPTER I. THE ABORIGINES. When this continent first became known to the Eu ropean nations, it was well-nigh a soUtary and unbroken wilderne.ss. No axe had felled a tree, no plowshare had broken its soil, no commerce had traversed its great natural highways of inland seas and far-reaching rivers. Here and there, in some favored locality, might be foilnd clustered, with the utmost irregularity, a few wigwams of the red men, the original tenants ofthe soil, with patches of maize, beans, and squashes, cultivated by the women ; now and then might be met a party of begrimed and frightfully painted warriors, either going to or returning from some maraud ; and in the autumn time might be seen companies of men, women, and children encamped at the favorite re sorts of game, seeking stores of food for winter use; but the general appearance of the country was that of a vast, uninhabited, uncultivated doraain of unbounded luxuriance and fertility.- Bancroft remarks,* that a man might travel for weeks without meeting a single human being ; that the diminution of the nati\'e population is far less than has usually been supposed ; they have been exiled, not exter minated. The tribes may have been lost, but the people who composed them have been received into others. This author estimates the whole number of the aborigines within the bounds of the United States east of the Mississippi, two hundred years ago", at not far from one hundred and eighty thousand souls, which is about three times the present population of Bradford County. The traveler who now passes up and down this beautiful Susquehanna valley, observes its well-cultivated farms, its thriving villages, its numerous schools and churches, its beautiful residences and delightful landscapes, the every- ¦where present tokens of thrift, refinenaent, and culture, can hardly imagine that less than a century and a half ago this whole valley had never been visited by a white man, unless it were some adventurous trader, who has left us no record « History of the United States, iii., p. 263. of his daring journey into a wild and unbroken wilderness- It was, however, familiar ground to the red man. Here had been the dwellings of his people for untold generations. Here were the paths his feet had trod, whose marks a cen tury has not been able wholly to obliterate ; here his bones still lie in the soil ; here the earth was stained with his blood shed in the fierce encounter ; and here, in after-times, many of them bowed in humble, reverent faith upon the Son of God, endured hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, and bear record that they were found faithful unto death. To briefly sketch a portion of the history of these aboriginal inhabitants of our county, a few pages must be devoted. Although possessing many common characteristics from which a unity of origin may be inferred, yet owing to dif ferences of language, law, and locality, the Indians were divided into families, nations, clans, and villages. As the design of this work will confine our account to the people who from time to time were actual occupants of our soil, no detailed statements of general Indian history can here be given.-j- It is utterly impossible to follow up the stream of abo riginal history farther than the period when the country first became known to the Europeans. The reason for this is twofold. First, the Indian had no written language. All he knew of the past was what he had received in the uncertain and fanciful traditions of his ancestors, whose vague and contradictory accounts at the best only suggest the merest conjectures. And then, for a long time previous to its discovery, the whole continent had been " the scene of widespread revolution. North and south, tribe was giving place to tribe, language to language ; for the Indian, hopelessly unchanging in re.speot to individual and social development, was, as regarded tribal relations and local haunts, mutable as the wind." To note these local haunts, mutations, and the social character of the tribes who once f For further information the reader is referred to De Schweinitz's "Life and Times of Zeisberger;" Parkman's "Jesuits iu North America;" " Pontiac Conspiracy ;" Bancroft's " History of the United states," vol. iii. ; Morgan's " Iroquois League ;'' Schoolcraft, Hecke- welder, and others. V 9 10 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. made their home in these valleys, is all that can be at tempted. " The vast tract of wilderness from the Mississippi to the Atlantic, and from the Carolinas to" Hudson's bay, was di vided between two great families of tribes, distinguished by a radical difi'erence of language." These were called, re spectively, Algonqniiis (original people), and Aquanoschioni (united people). The latter were more commonly known among the white people by the names Iroquois, Mengwe, and Five Nations. At the period when the whites first became acquainted with this territory, the Iroquois, proper extended through central New York from the Hudson river to the Genesee, and comprised five distinct nations confederated together, which, beginning on the east, were known as Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, C'lyugas, and Senecas. West of them were tlie Hurons, the Neutral Nation, and the Fries; on the south were the Audastes, on the Susquehanna, and the Delawares on the river which bears their name ; on the east the various Algonquin tribes wliich inhabited New England. Of the Andastes, who as early as 1620 were the inhabi tants of the Susquehanna valley, but comparatively little is known. They are spoken of by various writers as Andas- trs, Andasfracronnons, Andastaguez, Antastoui, Minquas, Susquehannocks, Conesfogas, and Conessetagoes. " GaUa tin erroneously places the Andastes on the Allegheny, Ban croft and others adopting the error. The research of Mr. Shea has shown their identity with the Susquehannoclcs of the English and the Minquas of the Dutch."* In 1750, a Cayuga chieftain informed David Zeisberger that a strange tribe of Indians whom the Cayugas called Tehotachse (so spelled in German), but which were neither Jroquuis nor Delawares, formerly inhabited this valley, and were driven out by the Gayugus. In a letter written by Captain Joseph Brant, the noted Indian warrior, to Colonel Timothy Pickering, relative to the Iroquois claim to the northern part of Pennsylvania, and dated at Niagara, De cember 30, 179-4, he says, " The whole Five Nations have an equal right one with another, the country having been obtained by their joint exertions in war with a powerful nation formerly living southward of Bufialo creek, called Erics, and another nation then living at Tioga Point, so that by our successes all the country between that and the Mississippi became the joint property of the Five Nations. All other nations inhabiting this great tract of country were allowed to settle by the Five Nations." That the Andastes are referred to by both these there can hardly be a doubt. This was one of the most populous and powerful of all the Algonquin tribes. Their villages were thickly planted from Tioga to Virginia. At Shcshequin and "Wysox, at Wyalusing (Gohontato) and at Mehoopany (Onochsae), the names of their towns have been preserved. They appear to have been the most warlike of all the eastern nations, havinc carried their cobquests over the tribes of New Jer sey IMaryland, and Virginia. For more than three-fourths of a century they waged almost an unceasing war with the Iroquois, by which the whole valley of the Susquehanna " was stained with blood." The following paragraphs, from * Parkman's " Jesuits," p. 40, note. Dr. Egle's History of Pennsylvania, give a full account of these conflicts : " Prior to 1600, says the ' Relation de la NouveUe France,' the Snsquehanuas and the Mohawks came into collision, and the former nearly exterminated their enemy in a war which lasted ten years. In 1G08, Captain Smith, in ex ploring the Chesapeake and its tributaries, met a party of these Sasquesahauocks, as he calls thera, and lie states that they were still at war with the Mohawks. " They were friendly to the Dutch, who were exploring the mouth of the Delaware. When the Swedes came, in 1638, they renewed the friendly intercourse begun by the Dutch. Southward, also, they carried the terror of their arms, and from 1G34 to 1641 they waged war on the Yuo- macoes, the Piscatawnys, and Patn-xeuts, and were so troublesome that, in 1642, Governor Calvert, by proclama tion,. declared them public enemies. " When the Hurons, in 1647, began to sink under the fearful blows dealt by the Five Nations, the Siisquehannas sent an embassy to offer them aid against the common enemy. Nor was the ofier one of little value, for the Sus- quehannas could put into the field one thousand three hun dred warriors, trained to the use of fire-arms and European modes of war by three Swedish soldiers, whom they had obtained to instruct them." This is doubtless the era of the fortifications on Spanish Hill and at the mouth of Sugar creek. These fortifications bear unmistakable evidence of having been constructed under the supervision of white people, and differ materially from the palisaded inclosures of Indian construction. The origin and objects of these defenses must always be in some measure matter of conjec ture ; but all the traditions relating to Spanish Hill attribute the defenses to white men long before the settlement of the whites, and their object to afford resistance to the Iroquois ; and about this time the Andastes were waging war in good earnest with the Five Nations, in which the Cayugas were so hard pressed that some of them retreated across Lake Ontario into Canada, and the Senecas were kept in sueh alarm that they no longer ventured to cany their peltries to New York except in caravans guarded by an escort. Later, the power of the Susquehannas seems to have been on the wane, and they to have abandoned their towns above Wyoming about 1650. They were so hard pressed by their enemies that the legislature of Maryland in 1661 authorized the governor to aid theiu with the provincial forces. In the spring of 1662 about eight hundred Iroquois set out to capture a fort of the Andastes situated about fifty miles from the mouth of the Susquehanna. On reaching the fort it was found to be so well defended as to render an assault impracticable, when the Iroquois had recoui-se to stratagem. They sent a party of twenty-five men to settle a peace and obtain provisions for their return. The Sus- quchauniis admitted them, built high scaffolds, visible from without, on which they tortured the Iroquois messengers to death in sight of their countrymen, who thereupon de camped in miserable discomfiture, pursued by the victorious Andastes. The war between the Andastes and Iroquois at length degenerated into one of mutual inroads, in which the former, greatly reduced by pestilence, gradually melted away HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 11 before the superior numbers of their enemies, so that in 1672 they could muster only three hundred warriors. "In 1675, according to the 'Relations Infidites' and Colden, the tribe was completely overthrown, but unfor tunately we have no details whatever as to the forces which effected it,* or the time and manner of their defeat. Too proud to submit as vassals of the Iroquois, and too weak to contend against them, they forsook the Susquehanna, and took up a position on the western borders of Maryland, where for many years they kept up a terrible herder war with the whites. A remnant of this valiant people con tinued to subsist in the central part of the State, under the name of Cunestogas, for nearly a century after, when they were utterly destroyed by the Paxton Boys in 1763. The Iroquois, who held the rule over this Susquehanna valley for more than a century, were the only Indian nations who possessed anything approaching the forms of civil gov ernment. Originally a single nation, they were composed of a number of clans or families, each of which was distin guished by its family badge or totem, and bearing the name of some animal. The line of descent was in the mother, and intermarriages between those wearing the same totemic badge was interdicted. In time the nation became divided into several parts, five of which occupied central New York, but the national tie had become very weak, if it had not become entirely dissolved. In order to defend themselves against their common enemies, as well as to carry on their vast conquests, they united in a league or confederation, whose common interests were committed to a great council composed of fifty sachems or hereditary chieftains, of whom the Mohawks were represented by nine, the Oneidas nine, the Onondagas fourteen, the Cayugas ten, and the Senecas eight. Each member of this council enjoyed equal rights and suffrage, and the decisions of the body were the supreme law of the confederacy. The Tuscaroras, who were of the same generic stock as the New York Iroquois, and whose ancient seats were on the Neuse and Tar rivers, from which they were driven on account of their implacable enmity to the white settlers, were received in 1712 as the sixth nation of the confeder acy, after which the league took the title of the Six Nations. The Tuscaroras, however, were not represented by sachems of their own in the Great Council, nor had they assigned them any specific bounds in the territory. In case of a general war two supreme military chieftains, one of whom was a Mohawk, directed the campaign. Usually, however, the chiefs assumed command with much less formality. At a feast or war-dance some brave, who had shown daring and won success in previous encounters, recounted the grievances of his nation, his own deeds of valor, and invited as many as wished to avenge the wrongs of their people to follow him on the war-path. If the ex pedition was successful the leader took his place by common consent among the war-chiefs of his nation. By virtue of their superior civil and military organiza tion, the Iroquois soon became the dominant power among the aborigines, and, after the conquest of the Andastes, car ried their arms in triumph on the south to the Gulf and on * By the Five Nations, without doubt. the west to the Mississippi. Tioga, present Athens, was made the southern entrance to the confederacy, at which a sachem was stationed, without whoso consent no one, neither Indian nor white man, was allowed to enter the territory of the Iroquois. At Shamokin, present Sunbury, the Great Council had a viceroy, a Cayuga sachem, who ruled their dependencies in the south. Along the Delaware river, and extending across New Jersey, were the Lenni Lenape, or Delawares, divided into three tribes, — the Turtles or Unamis on the south, the Turkeys or Unalachtgos in the centre, and the Wolves or Minsis on the north. The latter had their villages in the Minisink country, on the head-waters of the Delaware, and were generally called by the English Mousey s. By con quest, as was claimed by the Iroquois, by treachery, as was alleged by the Delawares, the former had reduced the lat ter to the condition of vassals, deprived them of the right of warriors, and compelled them to bear the taunt and as sume the garb of women. They were allowed neither to sell land, engage in war, nor make treaties, unless with the consent of their domineering masters. It was owing quite as much to this condition of complete subjugation of his Indian neighbors, as to the peaceable character of his Quaker policy, lhat the province of Penn was so long ex empted from the bloody wars and massacres which form so dark a page of our colonial history. The Indian instinctively withdraws from the presence of civilization. This peculiarity of Indian character com pletely frustrated the benevolent plan of William Penn, in which he designed that his wliite and red brethren should dwell together in the same community, and be governed by the same laws. It was found to be equally necessa,ry in the province as it had been in other colonies, that the Indian must retire beyond the white settlements, to whose laws and customs he could not conform, and whose restraints he would not endure. As the Iroquois from time to time sold the land of their dependencies to the whites, they opened the valley of the Susquehanna as an asylum to which the people, whom they had deprived of their ancestral homes, and over whom they exercised the rights of protection as well as command, might resort. By this policy families of different nationalities were brought into the same village, and not unfrequently were occupants of the same wigwam, so that it was no uncommon thing to find Nanticokes, Mo hicans, Monse.ys, and Wampanoags living together without any tribal distinction whatever. Tioga, or as it is more frequently written in Pennsylvania records, Diahoga, from its important situation in the Iroquois territory, was prob ably occupied as a town immediately after its conquest ; but from there to Shamokin the country was almost entirely un occupied for a hundred years, when it was colonized by the refugees whose possessions had been sold to the whites. The Iroquois and Delawares each have a tradition of an early eastward emigration from regions west of the Missis sippi to the places where they were found by the Europeans. The period of our later Indian history finds that wave re turning towards the setting sun. It is, therefore, a period of commotion among tribes easily excited, of removal and change among a people who, in the most quiet times, abandoned the places of their habitation for the most trivial 12 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. reasons. Mohicans and Wampanoags from southeastern New York and from New England, Delawares from New Jer sey and eastern Pennsylvania, Nanticokes, Tuscaroras, and Shawanees from the south, pushed from their ancient homes by the rapacity of the white man, were seeking new homes and fresh hunting-grounds, where they would henceforth be free from encroachment. To the Iroquois the native fugi tives looked for defense from the grasping policy of the whites, and for counsel and permis.sion as to where they should fix their future seats. It happened, therefore, that during this period this tide of western emigration was push ing up both branches of the Susquehanna, in order to pour itself upon the great plains between the AUeghanies and the Mississippi, only to be forced still farther west by the advancing tide of civilization. Of the three great topics of Indian history, — the location of their villages, their wars, and their migrations, — the last is by far the most important, so far as it relates to our im mediate locality during the period of its later history, the materials for which are very meagre, being contained in the journals of travelers and messengers in the interests of the Moravian church or of the government of Pennsylva nia, in their passage through the country, beginning with that of Conrad Weiser, in 1737, a period comparatively early in our Pennsylvania history, it being only forty-five years after the landing of William Penn, and five years be fore the founding of Bethlehem, and continuing for about thirty-five years. Near the upper and lower confines of our county were points of great historic interest in relation to the aborigines. In the spring of 1750, Cammerhoff, a bishop in the Moravian church, in company with the intrepid Zeisberger, passed up the Susquehanna from Wyoming to Tioga, en route for Onon daga in the State of New York, in order to negotiate with the Great Council for the establishment of a mission among the Iroquois. They were accompanied by a Cayuga chief and his family. When the party reached the vicinity of Wya lusing, the remains of an old town were still visible, whicli the Cayuga said was called " Go-h6n-to-to," inhabited by a tribe speaking a strange language, neither Delawares nor Iroquois, called by the latter " Te-hb-tach-se" (Andastes), — upon whom the Five Nations made war and wholly exter minated them, the greater part being slain, a few only being taken captive and adopted by some of the families of the Cayugas ; that this occurred " before the Indians had rifles, when they fought with bows and arrows," and must have been not later than 1650,* which may be taken as the be ginning ofthe authentic history ofthe county. This town was situated on the flats, about a mile below the mouth of the Wyalusing creek, on the farms now owned by G. H. Welles and J. B. Stalford. For nearly a century this " blood-stained field" seems to have been abandoned as a habitation, although, situated as it was at thejunction of two important trails, it may occasionally have been the temporary residence of wandering parties. - In 1752f Papunhank, a Monsey chief of some note, from the -» The Dutch nt Foi-t Orange h.ad supplied the Mohawks with four hundred guns previous lo 1641, so that the date mentioned in the te.\t cannot be far out of the way. — Jesuits iu North America, p. 212. -(- Pennsylvania Archives, iii. 736. Minisink country, with a number of families, came to Wya lusing, and built a new town a little below the site of the old Goh6ntoto. During the French war the town was probably abandoned. In the journalj of Moses Tatemy and Isaac Hill, who were sent, June, 1758, by the Pennsylvania gov ernment to the Six Nations and their dependencies, inviting them to a council it was proposed to hold at Easton the following autumn, they speak of breakfasting with " Pa- poonhank" on their return, before reaching Diahoga, from which it would appear that during the war he had removed liigher up the Susquehanna, probably to the vicinity of Oswego. In 1760 this village is described as consisting of " about twenty houses full of people, very good land, and good Indian buildings, all new." Three years afterwards, this town, which was called McChiwihilusing (or Wyaloo- sing), had increased to a village '' of about forty hou.ses, mostly compact together, some about thirty feet long and eighteen feet wide, some bigger, some less, mostly built of split planks, one end set in the ground and the other pinned to a plate, on which lay rafters covered with bark."§ On the breaking out of the Pontiac war, in 1763, Papunhank, with twenty-one of his followers, not wishing to take part in the war, joined the Moravian Indians assembled about Bethlehem, and afterwards went with them to Philadel phia, where they were sheltered in government barracks until the close of the war. The remainder of the Indians at Wyalusing, as most of the others of the Algonquin tribes in this part of the country, sympathized with the hostile party, and many of them took up arms in its in- terest.|| The result was, that all of their settlements iu the county, below Tioga, were abandoned. There was an Indian burial-ground near the present Sugar Run ferry. At this point the left bank of the river formerly extended some twenty rods farther into the stream than it now does. As these banks have from time to time been washed away by the river freshets, great numbers of human bones and pieces of pottery have been laid bare. In one instance, two complete skeletons and an earthen pot containing the bones of a small animal were thus exposed. The indications are that this burial-place was an extensive one, and, judging from the mortality of white settlements, it would be inferred that the ancient village was large and populous. Farther up the river, in the neighborhood of the present Frenchtown station, on the Pennsylvania and New York railroad, was a meadow of about one hundred and fifty acres, called " Blcschaschgunk," but there is no account of its ever having been inhabited. On the Wysau- kin plains a party of Shawanese stopped for a time, built their huts, and planted their corn, but the number of the party, the time of their settlement or of their removal, is unknown. The settlement was located nearly opposite the mouth of the Towanda creek. Thi.s plain, stretching sev eral miles along the river, was " covered with grass as high as a man's head," and redolent with the perfume of the wild rose. As Cammerhoff and Zeisberger encamped here on the^eveningof the 7th of June, after a" fatiguing journey J Pennsylvania Archives, iii. 607. 'i Journal of John Woolman, p. 165. II I'ontiac Conspiracy, j). 014. HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 13 of fifteen miles up the rapid current of the Susquehanna, swollen by recent rains, they named the spot the " Garden of Roses." At this time it, as the whole valley from Mehoopany to Tioga, was deserted of inhabitants. On the evening of Sept. 30, 1767, Zeisberger spent the night here in an empty Delaware Indian hut, but adds, " no one lives here now." He calls the place the " Wisach." The Nanticokes, " tide-water people," when first known by the whites had their seats on the eastern shore of Mary land. In August, 1748, almost the entire nation aban doned its ancestral home, moved northward, following the course of the Susquehanna, planted in part below and at Wyoming, in part above Wyalusing, principally at Shamunk (Chemung) and Zeninge (Chenango). In the course of this migration, a party of them stopped for a time on the Towanda flats. They had the repulsive custom, on stated occasions, of exhuming their dead, wherever buried, scrap ing the putrid flesh from their bones, and burying the skeletons, with prescribed rites, at one of their national cemeteries. One of these burial-places was at Towanda, near the river, and a short distance below the Barclay depot. Here, as at Wyalusing, the water has worn away the banks, laying bare great numbers of bones and numer ous relics which the Indians were accustomed to bury with their dead. Many of these relics, some of which bear evi dence of intercourse with white people, were collected by the late Hon. C. L. Ward, of Towanda, and remain in his cabinet of Indian curiosities.* In 1762, about thirteen or fourteen families, relatives of Nathaniel and Anthony, two Moravian Christian Indians residing a short distance below Tunkhannock, in Wyoming county, seceding from the Wyalusing village, were settled here, but the settlement disappeared when the Pontiac war broke out in the following year. Osculni was a very ancient Indian town, situated just above the mouth of Sugar creek, on the farm now owned by John Biles and the one lately owned by Judge Elwell, about opposite the lower end of Bald Eagle island. Conrad Weiser, the celebrated Indian agent and provincial inter preter, visited this place March 28, 1737, on his way to a council with the Six Nations at Onondaga. He describes the settlement at that time as consisting of a few hungry people who were subsisting chiefly on the juice of the sugar- trees. The only food he could procure here was a little weak soup made of corn-meal. In 1745, on the llth of June, Spangenburg and Zeis berger passed this place on their journey to the capital of the Iroquois confederacy, a journey for both political and religious purposes. They were accompanied by Weiser, Shikellimy, a Ca.yuga sachem, and the Iroquois viceroy at Shamokin, one of his sons, and Andrew Montour. Their object was to induce the Six Nations to conclude a peace with the Catawbas, to make satisfaction for murders perpe trated by the Shawanese, and to obtain permission for the Christian Indians to begin a settlement at Wyoming. At this time but few Indians were observed at the settle ment ; but they found many pictured trees about this place, it being on the great war-path. War parties were, in this -* They now belong to the Bradford County Historical Society. way, accustomed to record the results of their campaigns. The bark was peeled off one side of a tree, and on this were painted certain characters, by which they understood from what tribe and of how many the war-party consisted; against what tribe they had fought, how many scalps and prisoners they had taken, and how many men they had lost. In 1750 this town had been abandoned, and there is no record of its again having been inha-bited previous to the Revolu tionary war. Below the town, and ahout one-fourth of a mile above the creek, when the North Branch canal was excavated, a large burying-ground was discovered, extending from fifteen to twenty rods along the line of the canal. This bore marks of great age. In several instances not a bone had survived the ravages of decay ; in others only the larger ones were found. These, as they were exposed by the excavation, were gathered up and re-buried in the orchard adjoining. The loose soil in which they were deposited is not as well adapted to preserve such remains as the more compact soil at the burying-places of Wyalusing and Towanda. On the north side of Cash's creek and near its mouth, in the village of Ulster, was the town of Schechschequauink. The chief Acheobund and a few families, chiefly Monseys, planted here about the close of the Pontiac war. They were frequent visitors at Wyalusing, and the Moravian missionaries often visited them ; and at the begiiming of the year 1769 a mission was established here; therefore further account of it is now omitted. A little above and on the opposite or Sheshequin side of the river arc evidences of the existence of an old town, doubtless of the Andastes, as all the marks point to about the same age as those of the early town at Wyalusing. Here too the excavations made by the river have disclosed a very extensive burial-place. Scattered along above this have been found great quantities of arrow-heads, which have led to the surmise that on this plain was fought one of the fierce battles between the An dastes and the Iroquois. Opposite Tioga Point, on the west side of the river, was Queen Esther's town, which was probably built not far from 1770. Its exact date cannot now be determined. As there is no mention made of it by the Moravian mission aries, it is not likely that it had an existence long prior to their departure from the valley ; for on account of its prox imity to Schechshequanink it would have been noticed by them. It attracted attention during the Revolutionary war, because of the prominence acquired by the notorious woman whose name it bears. At the junction of the Chemung (old Tyaoga) and the Susquehanna rivers was Diahoga (Tioga), the oldest, most populous and important Indian town in the county, if not in the State, of which there is any authentic record. This was the door into the territory proper of the Iroquois con federation. To it all the great paths centred. All persons who entered this territory, except by this door or the Mo hawk, were considered and treated as spies and enemies. Here was stationed a Cayugn sachem, who, in the figurative language of the nation, guarded this door of their long house, and whoever entered their country must first obtain his permission. It was the place of rendezvous for war parties going out on their expeditions, and to this point pris- 14 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. oners were brought to be disposed of according to the cus toms of the League, either to be put to death with most cruel tortures, or adopted into the family of some slain warrior, thenceforth to forget former home and kindred, and be re ceived in all respects into the place of his former enemy. So well known and important was this town that all travelers from above Wyalusing are said to have come from or above Diahoga. The population was predominantly Iroquois, al though in later times other tribes were represented here. Weiser reached this town March 29, 1737. As affording a picture of one phase of Indian life, a somewhat lengthy extract from his journal may be pardoned. He says, — " There are many Indians living here, partly Gaiukers (^Cayugas), partly Mahikanders (Mohicans). We went into several huts to get meat, but they had nothing, as they said, for themselves. The men were mostly absent hunt ing ; some of the old mothers asked us for bread. We re turned to oilr quarters with a Mahikander, who directed his old gray-headed mother to cook a soup of Indian corn. She hung a large kettle of it over the fire, and also a smaller one with potash, and made them both boil briskly. What she was to do with the potash was a mystery to me, for I soon saw it was not for the purpose of washing, as some of the Indians are in the practice of doing, by making a lye and washing their foul and dirty clothes. For the skin of her body was not unlike the bark of a tree, from the dirt which had not been washed off for a long time, and was quite dried in and cracked, and her finger-nails were like eagles' claws. She finally took the ash-kettle off the fire and put it aside until it had settled, and left a clear liquor on top, which she carefully poured into the kettle of corn. I inquired of my companions why this was done, and they told me it was the practice of these, and the Shawanos, when they had neither meat nor grease, to mix their food with lye prepared in this manner, which made it slippery and pleasant to eat. When the soup was thus prepared, the larger portion was given to us, and out of hunger I quietly eat a portion which was not of bad taste. The dirty cook and unclean vessel were more repulsive. . . . The Indians eat .so much of this soup that they became sick." In 1743, six years later, John Bartram,* the celebrated English botanist, in company with Lewis Evans, Conrad Weiser, having Indian guides, set out on horseback from Philadelphia on the 3d of July. On the 15th the party reached the confines of our county. Emerging from the terrible wilderness of the Lycoming, about two hours before sunset, they " came to oak and hickory land, then down a steep hill producing white-pine, to a creek called Cornuria,f a branch of Towentobow (Towanda), where we lodged." The next day passing up a little hill, steep and somewhat stony, then " through a great white-pine, spruce swamp, full of roots and abundance of old trees lying on the ground, or leaning against live ones ; they stood so thick that we concluded it almost impossible to shoot a man one hundred yards distant ;" then down a small hill and crossed a small » Observations on the Inhabitants, Climate, Soil, Productions, etc., made by Mr. John Bartram, in bis Travels from t'ennsylvania to Onondaga Oswego, and the Lake Ontario, in Canada. London, 1761. f I have not met this name before, but is probably the main branch of the Towanda, and the looalily between East Canton and Le Roy. run, then climbed a steep hill, by ten, to a large creek called Uskebrow, which is evidently the Oscolui of Weiser, or the Sugar creek of modern times. The route taken by the travelers was the usual Sheshequin path. Leaving the Sugar creek a little below the lower end of the narrows, the party passed over the mountain, struck Merritt's or Buck creek and the Susquehanna at Ulster or Milan ; probably the former, for they say, afterwards, they passed up the river two miles before reaching the junction of the two rivers. Reaching the Cayuga branch, near one hundred yards wide, which we crossed, then rode near a mile to the town-house bearing north; this town is called Tohicon (Tioga), and lies in a rich neck between the branch and main river. The Indians welcomed us by beating their drum as soon as they saw us over the branch, and continued beating after the English manner, as we rode to the house, and while we unsaddled our horses, laid in our luggage, and entered our selves ; the house is about thirty foot long and the finest of any I saw among them. The Indians cut long grass and laid it on the floor for us to sit or lie on ; several of them came and sat down and smoked their pipes, one of which was six foot long, the head of stone, the stem a reed ; after this they brought victuals in the usual manner. Here I observed for the first time in this journey that the worms, which had done much mischief in several parts of our province by destroying the grass and even corn for two summers, had done the same thing here, and had eat off the blade of their maize and long white grass, so that the stems of both stood naked four foot high ; I saw some of the naked, dark-colored grubs, half an inch long ; though most of them were gone, yet I eould perceive they were the same that liad visited us two months before ; they clean all the grass in their way in any meadow they get into, and seem to be periodical, as the locust and caterpillar,^ the latter of which I am afraid will do us a great deal of mischief next summer. Here one of our hosts at the hunting cabin left us to go up this branch to his own country, that of the Cayu gas ; this night it rained a little, and the morning was very foggy-" They remained here only till the next day, when they pursued their journey northward up the Susquehanna, which they made in safety, returning on the 7th of August " to the Tohicon town on the Cayuga branch ; this place we arrived at by noon, but stayed there all night, frightened by several showers that passed over the mount<\ins in sight ; indeed it rained a little here. I walked to the branch after dinner, and found abundance of fossils on the banks, but the distance of the way, and heavy load of our baggage, were an insurmount able bar to my bringing any home. This day the Anticoque interpreter that traveled with us from Onondaga, who left the path a little to hunt, missed our track, and hit upon an Indian town three miles up the branch, and there picking up a squaw brought her with him. The chief man of the town came to visit us in a very friendly manner; and our t I have quoted this paragraph at length, because it is tho first in stance I have met with in which dostruotivo insects were known to have infested this county. It is a question for the naturalist to answer, how this pest made its way one hundred and lifty miles iuto the wilderness, and to what species it belonged. It certainly is not of frequent occurrence in this county. HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 15 interpreter telling him where we had been, what about, and how well we had succeeded, he testified abundance of satisfaction that peace was not like to be interrupted ; he added, when he came home his people told him we had passed through his town, but that we had not informed them of our business. " This furnishes us with an instance of the punctilio the Indian constantly treats travelers with; the people, though earnestly desiring to know our commission, would not take the liberty to ask us." On the Sth, the party left Tohicon, " and continued our journey without meeting anything worth remarking ; the ground we had passed, rode over on our way out, and had lodged at the very creek we spent this night in." (July 15.) " 9th. We traveled to a fine creek big enough to drive two mills. We stopped for this night at the foot of a great hill, clothed with large magnolia, two feet diameter and one hundred feet high ; perfectly straight, shagbark-hickory, chestnut and chestnut oak. This like a bridge between the northeast and northwest branches of Susquehanna ; here is also a spring, from whence the water runs to both branches." The next day he notes that, while waiting, " Lewis Evans* took an observation here, and found the latitude 41° a half." In 1745, many Mohicans'f resided at Tioga, and the town continued, until the French war, inhabited partly by Mohicans and partly by Cayugas. During the French war, in which both the Delawares and the Iroquois were in volved, Diahoga was the place of rendezvous for the forces which laid waste the whole northern frontier of Pennsylva nia. Here Teedyuscung plotted and planned those expe ditions by which he exacted the price in blood for the land on the forks of the Delaware from which he had been so haughtily driven a few years before. For a time the town was temporarily abandoned. In 1758 it is reported, " all the houses in this town are in ruins. No Indians live there." After the treaty at Easton in that year it was re built, and in 1760 is spoken of as a flourishing town. During the Pontiac war it was again deserted. In 1766, " Oweke is the forepost of the Cayugas, where they keep a chief posted as sentinel for the country." The town was rebuilt soon after, and until the Revolution maintained its import ance. It was guarded by the Iroquois with sleepless vigi lance. Here their chiefs frequently met embassies from the southern dependencies and from the Province to inform them ofthe decrees ofthe Great Council. In 1779 it was destroyed by the army of General Sullivan, and thence forth ceased its existence as an Indian town. Although in several instances separate skeletons have been found at vari- * In 1766, Lewis Evans published for the proprietaries, " A General Map of the Middle British Colonies," which, so far as we know, was the flrst attempt to delineate on a map the area of Bradford County. The representation of course is very rude and imperfect, but the gen eral idea of the country was evidently obtained on this trip. This must be the apology, if any is needed, for interrupting our nar rative with these extracts from Bartram's journal. -j- The ancient seats of the Mohicans were in New England and southeastern New York, from whioh, being driven by the whites, they migrated to the head-waters of the Delaware, where many of them mingled with the Monseys, while the remnant found a place at Diahoga. OUS places, no general burial-place has as yet been discov ered in this region. On a creek emptying into the Chemung a few miles west of Tioga, marked on our maps as Toodle or Tutelow creek, was a diminutive town of Tuteloes. These were probably a tribe of the Shawanese, a wandering, warlike people, who, after being driven by the Spaniards from Florida, some time previous to 1700, had migrated north ward. The Tuteloes seem to be the most dissolute of the nation ; and when visited by the missionaries of the Mora vian church, in 1747, their town Skogari, in what is now Columbia county, is described as " the only town on the whole continent inhabited by Tuteloes, a degenerate rem nant of thieves and drunkards. "J In the mission diary at Wyalusing, under date of July 21, 1765, is the entry: "The entire nation of the Tuteloes, but a handful of men, passed en route for Shamokin to hunt." In the spring of 1766 they were living about three miles from the head of Cayuga lake, and in October, 1767, Zeisberger, on his jour ney to western Pennsylvania, visited them on Tutelow creek, where they had settled probably the previous spring. After this the name disappears. Near the State line, at about the western limit of the township of Athens, was a Cayuga town called Ganatoc- kerat. Its precise locality cannot now with certainty be fixed, nor is its history known. A colony of Monseys, who for a time had their fires about the head of Cayuga lake, near the Tuteloes, in the spring of 1766 removed to near the mouth of Orcutt's creek, in Athens township, and built a town there called Wilawana. It was neither a very important nor perma nent one, but soon disappeared, its inhabitants joining in the westward migrations which were then taking place. For more than sixty years after William Penn made his celebrated treaty with the Indians at Shackamaxon, in the fall of 1682, the province was undisturbed by Indian wars. The intercourse between the people of the forest and the whites was friendly and cordial. But a change of policy took place, and the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania began to imitate the grasping plans of their neighbors in procuring the alienation of Indian title. In September, 1737, the celebrated walking purchase took place, in which there was such a palpable violation of the ancient custom of measur ing by walks, that the Delawares repudiated the measure ment and refused to remove from the territory. Suspicion took the place of confidence, and charges of fraud were fre quently made, and when the Proprietaries subsequently called upon the Six Nations to remove their subjects from the disputed territory, the Delawares were exasperated al most beyond endurance, both on account of being compelled to leave their favorite homes in the forks of the Delaware, as well as by the insolent manner in which it was accom plished, and seized the first opportunity for revenge. Until the French war, the Iroquois were the steadfast friends of the English, and held their subjects in check, so that no general outbreak occurred until the defeat of Braddock, in July, 1755, and then the whole frontier was in a blaze. The wrath which had been smothered for eighteen years { " Life of Zeisberger," p. 149. 16 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. now burst forth in terrible fury upon the defenseless settlers. Teedyuscung, the king of the Delawares, formerly a pro fessed friend of the English, who had been baptized into the faith of the gospel by the Moravian missionaries, be came an apostate, made common cause with the hostile party, and, seizing the hatchet with fierce eagerness, became one of their boldest captains. The Six Nations were di vided in sentiment, some remaining neutral, the others taking part, some with the French and some with the English. The Delawares and Shawanese were therefore left free to pursue their bloody work unhindered. The massacres at Penn's creek and the Mahony speedily fol lowed. For three years the Province suffered all the hor rors of a border Indian warfare. The Delawares, who had been removed upon the Susquehanna, exacted the price of blood for the land from which they had been driven. In these troubles, the Monseys of our county were active participants. Removing their families to the Iroquois country, where they would be beyond the reach of provincial scouting-parties, their warriors hung like a shadow upon the frontier settlements. Now swooping down upon some unsuspecting pioneer, murdering or carrying captive his family to Tioga, now falling like a thunderbolt upon some scout, unsuspicious of danger, they sent terror to the very heart of the Province. A truce was made at the congress at Easton, in October, 1758; and in August, 1761, there was arranged a definite treaty of peace, prisoners were delivered up, and the Dela wares were satisfied for their land. At these treaties, as also at the one held at Lancaster, the following year, the Monseys, who had been among the last to lay down the hatchet, were largely represented. Teedyuscung's warriors, chiefs, and braves, from " Tiahoge," " Wickhalousin Indians, Papoonhank's people," formed a considerable part of the gathering.* This peace, however, was of but short continuance. The Pontiac conspiracy was on foot even while the Indians were negotiating at Lancaster, and for another three years, in the western country, were repeated the horrors of the French war. In this war the Indians on the North Branch did not bear a conspicuous part. In April, 1763, Teedyuscung's village, at Wyoming, was set on fire, and the " king of the Delawares" perished in a drunken debauch. Deprived of their leader, the Monseys were not eager for another conflict. It is not known that any, except a portion of the Wyalusing Indians, were engaged in the conflict, although the whole country was in a state of di.squiet and alarm. In the remonstrance of the Paxton Boys to the assembly * The names of the Wyalusing Indians (Papoonhank's people), from Bradford County, at tho treaty at Lancaster, 1702, are as follows : Wanoadea, Tunkghoak, Papoon, Ncwoale, Wajeathu, Sakimoamos, Tutulas, Loapeghk, Queghkoan, Claghkolen, Woayaghk, Maghmene- koner, Mosawoapamech, Meshkus, Uloweaghkomcn, Kuwoghwolan, Keshashink, — Total, 17. From Aasi'niiiiiaink (Standing Stone) and Tiahoge: Eehhoan, Jagheabus, Tennow.inkeghia, Chowock, Aghki- amoawach, Woanpokehak, Twishk, Mctanien, Komelol^kit, Eleinan, Canogharis, Eghen, Mamalekan, Riohall, Matalish, Ashook, Weghee- lap, Oghquctoto, Kakulelaman, Memenelawat, Oohlos, Woleeghan, Quiloawas, Ulamatahemen, Peshawao, Queshkshima, Teelashk, Peesh- quoloaton, Pamoawonagh, Shekoape, Kobus, Cheelanos, Unakesh, — Total, 33. — Pennsylvania Archives, iv. 90. in 1764 they say, " Some of the Indians now in the barracks of Philadelphia are confessedly a part of the Wyalusing Indians, which tube is now at war with us, and the others are the Moravian Indians, who, living with us under the cloak of frienship, carried on a correspondence with our known enemies on the Great Island. We cannot but ob serve with sorrow and indignation that some persons in this Province are at pains to extenuate the barbarous cruelties practiced by these savages on our murdered brethren and relatives, which are shocking to human nature, and must pierce every heart but that of the hardened perpetrators or their abettors ; nor is it the less distressing to hear others pleading that although the Wyalusing tribe is at war with •us, yet that part of it which is under the protection of the government may be friendly to the English, and innocent." After 1768, Sir William Johnson having been appointed by the British government general superintendent of Indian affairs, we do not hear much more of our Bradford County Indians, except as connected with the Moravian missions, until the Revolutionary war. In the report of the gov ernor of Pennsylvania, made to the Earl of Dartmouth, on the state of the Province, dated Jan. 30, 1775, it is stated :f " Before the late Indian war there were a number of Indians settled in several parts of the province; but during that war, and since, they have withdrawn themselves beyond the western and northern limits of the Province." An exception to this statement should be made, as it is certain Tioga con tinued to be inhabited as an Indian town during at least a part of the Revolutionary war. INDIAN PATHS. The Indian exhibited a remarkable knowledge of local ity. Without roads, destitute of means for accurate meas urement, his knowledge of the geography of the country appeared at first sight to be intuitive. Further acquaint ance, however, disclosed the fact that it resulted only from experience and keenness of observation. Frequently led hundreds of miles into a strange country, either in pursuit of game or of an enemy, it was of the last importance that he should be able to find his way back. To do this he must learn to observe closely and rapidly, and remember accurately every minute detail, either in the configuration of the country or the trees of the forest. He also found it convenient to have well-defined and beaten paths or trails, connecting important settlements, and leading to important and frequented places, especially to the favorite hunting-grounds. We find numerous paths of this sort traversing our county, following for the most part the course of the larger streams. The most important of these was the Great Warrior path down the Susquehanna. This began at Tioga, crossing the Chemung at the rifts, near its junction with the North Branch, passing to the east side of the river at the fording-place near Sheshequin ; thence to Shamokin (Sunbury), where it was joined with the West Branch path, and thence to the nations of the south and west. The Minisink path, beginning at Tioga, crossed the North Branch, led in a southeasterly direction .along the t Pennsylvania Archives, iv., p. 608. HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 17 southern part of the northern tier of townships, on the divide between the creeks running north and those running south, to the Minisink country on the Delaware. The Sheshequin path was the great thoroughfare from Tioga to the villages on the West Branch. On this path there were two trails, connected at various points by cross- paths. One trail followed up the Lycoming to the Beaver Dam, at the southwestern angle of the county ; thence down the Meadows, crossing to the north side of the Towanda creek, near East Canton ; thence down the creek to near Monroeton, where it branched, one trail leading to Tawan- daemunk and the other to Oscului. The other trail fol lowed up the Pine creek, taking the east fork, passing near An unfrequented path led up the Wysauking and down the Wapusening to Owege. The Wyalusing path was traced up the Muncy creek to its head, then crossed the Loyal Sock creek near where the Ber wick turnpike now crosses it, then to near where the village of Dushore now stands, over to the main branch of the Sugar Run to Lewis' mill, over the hill, crossing the river at the present Sugar Run fording-place to M'chiwihilusing, up the Wyalusing to its head, thence to the Apolacon to Zeninge. The marks of this path have been found by persons now living, and it was one of the most frequented thorough fares between the Monsey towns on both branches of the INDIAN MAP OF BRADPORD COUNTY, PA. Mainsburg, through Troy, and down the Sugar creek to Oscului, where, connecting with the other trail, it passed over the Ulster mountain, called " the narrow way," and reached the Warrior path near Sheshequin. A connecting path led from near Le Roy to Burlington. Weiser came the Lycoming, Le Roy, and Burlington route in 1737, and Zeisberger took the Pine and Sugar creek route in 1750, in order to reach Onondaga through the prescribed door at Tioga ; and both these travelers have left a record of the terrible hardships and dangers which were experienced in traversing these trails, leading as they did over mountains, through swamps, and almost impenetrable thickets of laurel, where frequently they were compelled to creep on their hands and feet for some distance. 3 INDIAN NAMES. The correct orthography and proper signification of In dian names, especially in this region, must always re main somewhat uncertain. Having no written language, the Indians were unable to express words in orthographic characters. Each writer endeavored to represent in proper characters the sounds of the word sis pronounced by his in former. When we consider the difficulty always experienced in catching the precise pronunciation of a foreign word, it is not surprising that we find great diversities in the man ner of spelling proper names. In addition to this, wc must often depend upon travelers, who, though shrewd to transact the business for which their journey was undertaken, often 18 HISTORY OF BRADPORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. were men destitute of literary culture and unable to spell correctly the common words of their native language. Then the names of the Indian languages are usually con crete and synthetic, not abstract nor analytic. They cannot say father,* son, master separately. The noun must be limited by including within itself the pronoun for the per son to -whom it relates ; so they could not say tree or house, the word must always be accompanied by prefixes defining its application. They have special terms for each kind of oak, but no generic term including them all. The noun, adjective, and pronoun all are blended into one word. Hence one part of a stream or place might receive one name, and the other part a very different one. As this territory was at different times inhabited by dif ferent tribes speaking different languages, the same place would bear diverse names with equally diverse significations, or there might be a similarity in the sound and great di versity of meaning. Very little dependence can be placed on any interpretations of these Indian names, corrupted as many of them evidently are from older forms, and whose meaning must largely be inferred from imperfect analogies. Having carefully compared the lists of names given by several authors, whose familiarity with the Indian language makes them as reliable authority on this subject as any now accessible, below is attempted a list, with the signification, of INDIAN NAMES POUND IN THE COUNTY, Chemung — corrupted from Shamunk, signifying the place of a horn. LoYAL Sock — corrupted from Laioi-Saquick,-sigm^fviig the middle creek, i.e., a creek flowing between two others. Sheshequin — corrupted from SchechscM quanink (Del.), signifying the place of a rattle (Zeis.) ; Shesheequoi, the medicine-man's rattle (Catlin). Standing Stone — Achsin'nink (Del.), signifying where there is a large stone. Sugar Creek — ^ 0,scoZiti (Weiser), signifying^erce; Os- gochgo (Zeis.). This latter, evidently an Iroquois word, frequently Oscului- Susquehanna — corrupted from a Delaware word, sig nifying the winding river. The Iroquois call at least the upper part, if not the whole stream, Ga-wa-no-wa-nd-neh Ga-hun-da, signifying the Great Mand river.'f Tioga — corrupted from Tiaoga, or as it is often written Diahoga, an Iroquois word signifying a gate, or place of entrance, or the meeting of waters — the union of two streams. Towanda — Dawantaa, probably an Iroquois word sig nifying the fretful or tedious (Weiser) ; Awandoe, & Nanti coke word meaning a burial-place ; Tawandaemunk, a Delaware word signifying where there is a burying, or where we bury the dead. * Banoroft-3 History of tho United States, iii., p. 268. f In the "Crown Inn," a monograph, by Kcv. W. C. llcichi-1, of Bethlehem, is the following paragraph : " Susquehannii,yir'Mc'a in early times Sasquehanna, corrupted from Que-ni-schttch-ach'gek-han-ne, — compounded of qnln, long, shach-ack- kl, straight, and haiinc, stream, — the name by which tho Delawares originally designated the reach of the West Branch westward from Muncy creek, then tho West Branch, and finally the main stream of the great river.'' Wappasuning— corrupted from Wapachsinning, signi fying where there are white stones, alluding to a supposed deposit of silver ore. Wyalusing — corrupted from M'chwihilusing, the place of the hoary veteran. Another version is from Wigalusui, the good hunting-ground. Wysaukin (Wysox)— from Wisachgimi, signifying the place of grapes. Zeisberger spells the word Wisachk. Sauk, or Saucon, a canoe harbor; Wy-sauk, where there is a canoe harbor. CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AMONG THE INDIANS OE BRADPORD COUNTY. Papunhank, the Monsey chief, who founded the Indian town of M'chwihilusing (spelled Wigalusui, Machwihi- lusing, Gh'unhilusing), had learned something of the Chris tian religion from intercourse with the white people, and especially with the Quakers about Philadelphia, where he was a frequent visitor, set himself up as a teacher of morality to the people of his town. In this teaching there was a strange mixture of truth and superstition. In early life he was addicted to the use of strong drink, but his father dying a drunkard, he was aroused to reflection. A believer in dreams and supernatural revelations, after the Indian custom he retired into the woods, where by fasting and solitariness he sought direction from his Manitou. " At the end of flve days," says the narrator of this story, " it pleased God to appear to him for his comfort, and to give him a sight of his own inward state, and also an acquaintance with the works of nature ; for he apprehended a sense given him of the virtues and nature of herbs, roots, plants, trees, etc., and the different relations they had one to another. He was made sensible that man stood in the nearest relation to God of any part of the creation. It was also at this time he was made sensible of his duty to God, and he came home re joicing, and endeavored to put in practice what had appeared was required of him.' ' This occurred three years previous to his baptism. In May, 1760, Christian Frederick Post, a Polish Prus sian by birth, and the most adventurous of Moravian mis sionaries, when on his way to a grand council of the western Indians, with words of greeting and assurances of friend ship from Governor Hamilton, spent a night at Papunhank's village, and, at the request of the council held that day, preached from Luke ii. 8-1 1 . This 20th of ]May should ever be remembered as the day on which for the first time the words of the everlasting gospel of peace were proclaimed in this county. The event proved to be one fraught with important results, both to the Moravian church and to the aborigines of this valley. Although Papunhank's discourses on morality led to the awakening of his people, they failed to satisfy them, and the question of tho propriety of sending for a Christian teacher began to bo agitated ; but owing to a diversity of sentiment they were unable to agree upon whom they would have. Papunhank, the nominal chief, and his friends, being ac quainted with tho Quakers, favored a teacher from among them. He declared, " I have heard a voice say to my soul the Quakers are right.'' On the other hand, Job Chillaway, a native of the country about Little Egg Harbor, who spoke HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 19 English fluently, had considerable intercourse with the whites, and had frequently acted as interpreter, whose wife was a sister to Nathaniel and Anthony, two native Moravian converts residing a little below Tunkhannock, and who had considerable influence in the town, favored the Moravians. This reHgious awakening coming to the knowledge of the brethren at Bethlehem, they despatched Zeisberger, an emi nently laborious and successful missionary, to the town, to learn further of the prospect of an opening for the gospel there. Accompanied by Anthony, he reached the town on the evening of May 23, 1763, and though wearied from their toilsome journey, the missionaries found no time to rest. Papunhank received them into his lodge, and hither the Indians flocked from every part of the village to hear the gospel. Their coming was most opportune. For six successive days councils had been held to conclude upon whom they would ask to be their teacher, but they had been unable to reach any conclusion. At length they resolved to accept the first one who should come to them. Thereupon Zeisberger came, and they exclaimed, " Here come the men for whom we have been in search." To this Zeisberger re plied, " God often acts in this way, and he has brought us to you that you may learn to do his will." Zeisberger and Anthony continued here until the 27th of May, when they set out for Bethlehem, bearing to the mission board the earnest and cordial invitation from the whole town that they would speedily send a religious teaclier to reside among them. On the 10th of June, Zeisberger and Nathaniel, a brother of Anthony, again set out from Bethlehem for Wyalusing, which they reached on the evening of the 17th, and were welcomed by Papunhank and his people. Notwithstanding the whole country was ringing witl:;, the news of the Pontiac conspiracy, the intrepid missionary resumed his work with fervency and joy. On his way to M'chwihilusing he had overtaken and passed John Woolman, a Quaker evangelist, who arrived at the town the next day after Zeisberger. Woolman having met at Philadelphia, in the autumn of 1761, some of the Wyalusing Indians,* " felt inward draw ings toward a visit to that place." In company with some of the Indians, he and Benjamin Parvin set out June 7, 1763, and in eleven days reached their destination. He says, " The first Indian that we saw was a woman of modest countenance, with a Bible, who ^rst spake to our guide ; and then, with harmonious voice, expressed her gladness at seeing us, having before heard of our coming." A council being called, John Curtis-f" and another Indian kindly in vited them into a house near the town, where they found about sixty people waiting to receive them. " After sitting for a short time I stood, and, in some tenderness of spirit, acquainted them with the nature of my visit." For three days he and Zeisberger labored together harmoniously, when, on the 21st, being informed that the Indians continued steadfast in their preference for Zeisberger, after having spoken with great tenderness at several of their meetings, he departed, well satisfied with the decision of the council. » Works of John Woolman, ed. 1774, p. 14.S, rt passim. f .lohn Curtis, n. Nanticoke chief, had been for a time a resident of this town. and praying that the great work undertaken by Zeisberger raight be crowned with success. On the 26th of June, in a large assembly, Papunhank was baptized and named John. This was the first time this holy ordinance was ever administered in the county. In the evening another Indian was baptized, who was called Peter. Papunhank henceforth became an efficient helper in the great work of Christian evangelization among his countiymen, and led a consistent Christian life until the day of his death. He was appointed one of the native assistants in the missionary work, in which he continued with great success until his death at Schonbrunn,J May 15, 1775, at the age of seventy years. At Tawandaemunk they were also anxious to hear the gospel. Being informed of Zeisberger's coming, a messenger was dispatched bearing an invitation to him to visit them. Accordingly, the missionaries visited this town June 27, and continued there three days, preaching constantly. Here an awakening took place, and the gospel was received with the same eagerness as at M'chwihilusing. But the good work was forcibly interrupted. On the 30th a runner arrived with a letter from Bethlehem recalling Zeisberger. With reluctance he obeyed. It would have been folly to remain longer. Already the messengers of Pontiac were visiting the towns on the Susquehanna, urging them to join their forces with his for the extirpation of the hated pale-faces ; and in a few days all was turmoil and confusion. The inhabitants on the frontier, suffering tho usual horrors of a border Indian warfare, vowed vengeance against all Indians indiscriminately. For protection, the Moravian converts were assembled about Bethlehem and Nazareth. But even here they were not safe from the exasperated frontier people. The government of Pennsylvania, aware of their innocence and of their danger, determined to disarm and remove them to Philadelphia, whence they were taken to Province island, where they were sheltered and fed at the expense of the government. Papunhank and twenty-one of his people, determining to have nothing to do with this war, in December repaired to Bethlehem, whence they were escorted by the brethren to Philadelphia, and cast in their fortune with the converts. Subsequently Job Chillaway and some others, who were disposed to be peaceable, were also invited by the governor to Philadelphia. Here they remained for fifteen months. Suffering untold hardships, insulted and reviled by mobs, decimated by disease, scorned alike by savage whites and savage Indians, " a gazing stock both by reproaches and afl3ictions,'' they continued steadfast in the faith of the gospel. After having borne nearly one- half of their number to the Potter's field, the remainder, eighty-three converts in all, left Philadelphia, March 20, 1765. After the war the government required all Indians indis criminately to remove beyond the limits of lands purchased by the white people. At the suggestion of Papunhank, who offered to intercede in their behalf personally with the Six Nations, the mission board granted permission to build at Wyalusing. This place afforded many advantages for the \ Schbnbrunn, German, — beautiful well or fountain. 20 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. settlement. Here lay hunting-grounds in their original wildness, while sufficient land had beeh cleared to afford them corn-patches for immediate use. It was situated at the junction of the travel-path from Zeninge to Oston- wacken, with the great war-path ; while its fertile lowlands had made it a favorite location for plantations and villages. At the same time it was sufficiently removed from both white and Indian settlements to insure that seclusion and independence necessary for a Christian town. Thither, ac companied by their beloved teachers and companions in tribulation, they set their faces, April 3, 1765, and reached their destination after a tedious and toilsome journey of thirty -six days. Zeisberger, Schmick (with his wife, who were henceforth to be resident missionaries in the town), and Papunhank laid out the town on the site of the old village, and staked off the plantations. In accordance with the law of Indian diplomacy, a message was sent to Togahaju, the Iroquois sachem at Cayuga, who ruled this part of the Delaware de pendencies of the League, announcing their arrival, and ask ing his permission to begin the settlement. In the freedom of their forest homes and the hunting- grounds of their fathers, hopeful for the future, guided and encouraged by their teachers, their hearts were filled with gratitude and joy. " The new town which came into exists ence rang with the melody of praise even while it was being built." On the 4th of June the Indians began to erect dwellings, and at the end of the month had completed four log cabins and thirty bark-covered huts. In September, at the close of the summer hunt, a commodious meeting-house and a mission-house, fifteen feet square, built of unhewn logs, were erected. At the close of the year there were con nected with the mission one hundred and forty-six souls, of whom thirty-three were communicants. In May, 1767, the town was moved to higher ground near by. This was on the second bench of level ground on the farms of Hon. L. P. Stalford and Benjamin Brown. The plat was surveyed and regularly l^id out. The main street, running nearly east and west, was eighty feet wide, in the centre of which stood the church, just east of the Stalford line. Opposite the church, on the south side of the street, was the mission-house ; and on either side of the street were lots each thirty two feet wide, with an alley ten feet wide between every pair of lots. Each household had a canoe on the river. Surrounding the town were two hun dred and fifty acres of plantations, on which there were sev eral miles of fences. The village was inclosed with a post and rail fence; and during the summer the street and alleys were swept every week by the women with wooden brooms, and the refuse carried away. Every passer-by was struck with wonder at its order, cleanliness, and beauty, so that its fame extended far and wide. The effects of the gospel were conspicuous in other re spects. While the men still loved the chase, and the women continued to plant and cultivate the fields, the town beo-an to assume the appearance of a thriving agricultural commu nity. Several hundreds of acres of corn, oats, and other grains were planted near the village, on the island just above the mouth of the Wyalusing, and on fertile patches for some distance up the creek. They had horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, and fowls. After the first year they raised not only an abundance for themselves, but were able to sell to thei'r neighbors, and to others, who in times of scarcity came from more than a hundred miles distant to Wyalusing to procure food. Hay was cut on the meadows at Mes- chaschgunk, and brought down in canoes for their cattle. In addition to these employments and the customary hunts, in the spring they had their sugar-camps on the Wyalusing, the Sugar Run, and the Tuscarora ; in the summer were gathering flag for mats, huckleberries on the mountains above Tunkhannock, wild hemp for carrying-bands and reticules at the Lackawanna, cranberries in the marshes of Wilmot near Stowell's pond, and ginseng and wild potatoes in the dry banks ofthe neighborhood. The missionary re marks of the people at the settlement, " They are like a hive of bees, — each one busy and each one cheerful." The Moravian store at the Rose tavern, now in Bushkill township, eleven miles northeast from Bethlehem, was the market frequented by the Wyalusing Indians for the sale of peltry, deer-skins, horns, and tallow, where they received the bounty paid on wolf-scalps, and where they purchased such things as their improving civilization made desirable. Although the settlement was in a measure prosperous, the people happy, and the work of the mission successful beyond the most ardent anticipations, yet the uncertainty of their long continuance here, owing to the desire of To gahaju to remove the settlement near the head of Cayuga lake, hung over the mission like a shadow, dampening the ardor and checking the enterprise of the people in the per manent improvements of the village. The chief had told the deputies who, in obedience to his summons, had visited Cayuga, that the place was not a good one for their settle ment. " It is stained with blood" (referring to the de struction of Gohontoto). " I will appoint you a place near us. As to your belief, believe what you choose ; no one shall interfere." The deputies promising to lay his de cision before their people, and return him their answer when the corn was ripe (this was in May), took their de parture. At first the Indians were disposed to accede to his de mand, but upon further inquiry found the place would be unsuitable for them, and resolved to remain where they were if possible. Unfortunately, they failed to return their answer to Togahaju as they had agreed. At length the sachem dispatched a runner to the Susquehanna with this message : " Cousins, what kind of corn have you at Mohwi- hilusing? You promised an answer to my proposition when your, corn would be ripe. My corn has been ripe long ago. It is neariy consumed. I think soon of plant ing again. Why do you not fulfill your promise ?" This was in the month of April. This caused great consternation at the mission. The authority of Togahaju was so great, and the fear which the Iroquois league inspired so general, that the Christian Indians deemed it necessary to conciliate the sachem by every proper means within their reach. Hence they ap plied to Newallike, a brother of Anthony, an influential chief of the Delawares, at Wcchpakak, on the Tunkhan nock, to plead their cause, but this he ungraciously refused HISTORY OP BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 21 Thereupon Zeisberger offered to negotiate with Togahaju, and persuaded them to elect four of their number as his assistants.* Anthony, John Papunhank, Abraham, and Jacob were chosen. The party set out from Wyalusing April 23, 1766, and on the 30th reached Cayuga town, where the sachem received them. The next day the em bassy was received by the council. Into this august assem blage the converts entered with awe, and delivered their message with trembling. Thereupon Zeisberger took up the discourse, and plead the cause with earnestness and success. The chief answered, " Up to this time you have only sojourned at Wihilusing. Now I take you and set you down there firmly. And we give you all the land from Wihilusing up to a short distance above Tioga, which is two full days' journey by land. There you can build, plant, fish, and use as you like. It is yours."-f He told them further, that if heathen Indians resided on the tract they should leave. It was to be reserved for the Christian Indians only. Newallike, envious of the prosperity of the mission, and the influence of its teachers, set in circulation the report that the great council of Six Nations had repudiated the grant made by Togahaju. What doubts soever there might be of the truth of this report, the issues now at stake were deemed of sufficient importance to justify the use of every necessary precaution. Zeisberger, accompanied by Gottlob Sensemann, a Mora vian minister, set out for Onondaga, October 14, in order to ascertain the truth of the report. He addressed the council at some length, recounting the negotiations with Togahaju, the opposition of Newallike, the history, charac ter, and purpose of the mission. To this speech the coun cil returned the following answer : " The grant of land made last spring by Togahaju is approved by the council. The Aquanoschioni have a fire at Wihilusing ; let their Christian cousins and the teachers of their Christian cousins guard it well. Newallike, the Delaware, has no authority in the town ; let him not venture to usurp authority. Their Christian cousins are to consult directly with the council, or with Togahaju, its accredited deputy." This question being settled, the mission began to evince even greater prosperity than before. In 1767, the meeting house being found too small to contain the crowds that flocked to hear the gospel, a new one was built. This was twenty-four by thirty-two feet in size, constructed of squared white pine timber, with shingled roof and glazed windows, surmounted with a neat cupola, which contained a bell " that henceforth rung out on Lord's day and holy day over the meadows and corn-lands of the sequestered valley," call ing both savage and Christian to the sacred services of the sanctuary. This chapel was adorned with two paintings in oil, representing respectively the Nativity and Christ's Agony in the Garden. By the contemplation of these, we read in the mission diary, many a savage sojourner at Wyalusing was moved to ask, in amazement, who it was that thus humbled himself and then suffered for the children of men. A spinnet, constructed by Joshua, a Mohican In dian, assisted by Schmick, contributed to the interest ofthe * Life of Zeisberger, p. 315. -f- Wialusing Diary. chapel services, and was used as an accompaniment to the singing of the Delaware hymns. It was set up on Christ mas-eve, 1767. Public religious worship was regularly maintained, morn ing and evening of each day ; the Sabbath was spent in quiet, with religious services and devout meditation. The various holy days of the church were duly observed with appropriate services. The Lord's Supper was frequently administered. The children were carefully taught both secular and religious knowledge, and every year witnessed considerable accessions to the church. Induced by curiosity, the well-known hospitality of the Christian Indians, the abundant supply of provisions in the town, and its pecu liarly accessible situation, the mission was continually thronged with visitors. Many of these heard here the great words of eternal life, and many a dusky chieftain, it is believed, learned the great lesson of faith in the Son of God, whose name was never enrolled on the catalogue of the mission. The influence which went forth from this one bright spot in these vast fields of heathen darkness can never be represented by statistics nor reckoned in figures. Soon after the negotiations were completed which secured to the mission the site it occupied, a code of municipal laws was adopted. The police duty was committed entirely to those who were chosen to this office by the inhabitants of the town ; ardent spirits were proliibited from being brought into the place ; traders were forbidden to stay more than two or three days at a time ; and such heathen Indians as came merely to enjoy the outward advantages of the settlement, and not to hear the gospel, were no longer allowed to build lodges. The name of Friedenshiitten (or huts of peacej) was given to the town in accordance with an act of the Provin cial synod held at Bethlehem, in June, 1766. "A pitch-pine in the hedge that forms the dividing line between the lands of Mr. Wm. H. Brown and Mr. G. W. Lung, mai-ks the only ridge or knoll on the lowland near the site of old Friedenshiitten. This was the burial-place selected for the mission ; and here, between May of 1765 and May of 1772, there were laid into their graves unto the resurrection from the dead the mortal remains of forty-one Indians, viz., six male and six female adults, three youths, one maiden, twelve boys, and thirteen girls. The ground was laid out after the manner of Moravian grave-yards, with distinct plots for the burial of the dead of different age and sex, and was surrounded by a post and rail fence in the spring of 1768. Like the hallowed repositories elsewhere, it was carefully kept free from briars and weeds, and each sleeper's resting-place marked by a plain slab of stone. Fragments of these slabs are occasionally still found in plowing on the flat. It was on this knoll that, ' very early in the morning' of the 19th of April, 1767, 'as it began to dawn,' the congregation of Christian Indians met with their missionary and his wife, for the first time at Friedenshiitten, to join in the prayers of the service appointed by the Mora vian church to be read on the great festival of Easter, and in part near the abodes of the dead who died in the Lord."§ j Hiitte, pi. 11.; sig. hut, cottage, tabernacle. § W. C. Reichel, Trans. Moravian Hist. Soc, p. 187. 99 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. Scarcely had the uneasiness caused by the desire of Togahaju to remove the mission into the Cayuga country ceased, when troubles arose from another quarter. The Iroquois had discovered the value set on their lands by the whites, and the arts and arguments used by different parties to obtain them. They therefore determined to dispose of the coveted tracts as often as a purchaser could be found to pay them their price. Having sold the Susquehanna valley, in 1754, to the New England people, in 1766 they gave the Christian Indians all that part of it from Wyalusing to above Tioga, and in 1768 sold again the same tract to the Proprie taries of Pennsylvania. This latter sale was for a time kept profoundly secret from the Indians of Wyalusing, who had no intimation of the fact until the 5th of Deceinber, when it was told them by a trader. Early the next year a mes senger was sent to Wechpekak to learn the truth of the report. To this inquiry the Cayuga sachem returned the following evasive answer: "I heard that an Alleghany Indian (Killbuck) had been with you. Don't believe all he says. Stay where you are. Before the war, we Indictns lived at Wyalusing. Then we scattered. Now you are there, stay ! But if white men come, and you wish to or must leave, I will select good land for you." April 21, the Cayugas informed them that they had sold the lands from Shamokin to Wyoming ; that the Lackawanna was the northern boundary, and they had secured the Wyalusing grant ; that the lines had not yet been run, but they had stipulated they should be so run as not to include Wyalusing. But the Christian Indians were not deceived by this duplicity. They had the best assurances that their professed friends and would-be protectors had sold their own'land from under their feet, and they turned to the governor of Pennsylvania for protection. In a petition to his honor the governor, dated February 7,1769, signed by John Papunhank and Joshua the Mohican, in behalf of themselves and their friends at Wyalusing, they recite, — " That the spot of ground whereon the said Indians are seated was originally the plantation of the said Papunhank, who, with the con sent and approbation of the Five Nations .it Onondaga, received at his said place several families of Indians, which came in the year 1765, from the Philadelphia Barriicks. '• That the said Indians, being about one hundred and eighty men, women, and children, are, by their connection and intercourse with Christians, become in some degree civilized, using agricultural and other domestic business ; have built at the place aforesaid twenty-five good, strong log houses, a handsome church or meeting-house, cleared and enfenced fields of several miles in circumference, in lull expecta tion that they and their posterity s--hould enjoy the fruits of their labor on a small glebe of their native country. " That about six miles above the aforesaid settlement, at a place called Massasimig, is a tract of about three hundred acres, whore thoy make hay for their cattle; and on the wpst side of the Susquehanna, opposite their settlement, is some good woodland, it may be one hun dred acres, projier for to get their fuel ; and that these three tracts are so necessary for the support of their settlement that if either of them should be taken up by an old right, or people should come of their own accord and scat and improve them, the Indians would be obliged to remove further up in their country. "That about six miles below their said settlement are two spots of ground, raay be four hundred acres in the whole, which the Indians have no immediate occasion for, but they are apprehensive that some or other people, that look out for good land, might be tempted to scat themselves there, and give the Indians opportunity to buy ruin, which must tend to the utter ruin of their young people. "That your petitioners have no money to offer to the Honorable Proprietaries for these lands, or to pay quitrents or other rents, but must confide in their Honors' wonted goodness, who have always in their purchases reserved some lands for the Indians that had lived there before the purchase was made. Besides that, no grant of sale or lease can secure an Indian property when, for the convenience ot Government and to avoid disturbances, they should shortly be obliged to remove further up in the country. "And your petitioners humbly pray that the aforesaid lands mny, by a special warrant, be surveyed, and afterwards by grant be vested in trustees for the use of the said Indians; so that when the Indians, for the good of the State, must remove, the said trustees may sell the improvements for Ihe benefit of the Indians, subject to the Proprie taries' demands for the price of the lands, and under such other reservations and restrictions as your Honor in your wisdom shall ¦think fit." On the same date the petition of "Samuel Davis and his friends, the Indians that live at a place called Tshetshequanink, on the west side oi Susquehanna, about thirty miles above Wyalusing, humbly sheweth,— "That their settlement or Indian town, of the name aforesaid, is out of the new purchase, but on the line thereof; and that they have made some corn-fields on the east side of Susquehanna, within the said purchase; and further, that there is on the same side a tract of about half a mile in breadth and flve miles in length of grassy low land, reaching from the point of tbeir settlement up near to Diaogu, on which they have hitherto subsisted their cattle, grazing being the chief occupation of your petitioners. "And your petitioners humbly pray that the said corn-flelds and grass-land may, by your special warrant, be surveyed and reseri ed ; not that they want any property or estate in the same, but the use thereof for the purposes aforesaid, during the pleasure of your Honor, the Proprietor." Joshua, John Papunhank, and Jacob were commissioned to present these petitions to the governor, bearing also a letter from the missionary in charge of Friedenshiitten, indorsing the facts therein stated, and informing the gov ernor of the uneasiness among the Indians on account of the sale of their lands. Previous to this, Lewis Weiss, of Bethlehem, had also requested Governor Penn " that no application may be taken from or grants made to any person or persons interfering with their said settlement." To these various petitions, John Penn, then acting gov ernor, replied as follows under date of June 21, 1769: "I have heard that you are very uneasy for fear that your land at Wyalusing should be taken from you. When some of you came to me a few months ago, I told you that as you were a peaceable and a quiet people, and behaved very well, you should not be disturbed in your possessions at Wyaloosing. This is the word that I then gave, and you may depend that I may keep it i and I have accordingly given orders to the surveyors not to survey your lauds, nor any l.mds within five miles of your settlement. [Warrants, signed by Johu Penn, were issued for surveys within this resorvatiou the August fol lowing.] Thoreforo I would have you disregard all idle stories you may hear about your lands beiug taken away from you, and be satis fied that t will do all in my power to protect a.nd secure you in the possession of thorn so long as you behave yourselves well ; and if any of the people of this Province shall offer to disturb you, I will take care that justice shall be done to you. " One thing I must toll you, that I expect you will not give encour agement to the New England people who have taken possession of the Proprietaries' land at Winwaiuaek. Ifyou expect to be protected by tbis Government, you must not encourage Ihe New England people, who are endeavoring to take the land from the Proprietaries." In reply the Christian Indians thank Governor Penn for the assurances of his protection, and inform him that any who bchavo badly shall not live in their town ; and with the New England people they have had no connection at all. This HISTORY OF BRADFORD C0U;NTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 23 whole correspondence is worthy of study. It not only reveals the care which was taken by the Christian Indians to avoid all complications in land matters, but the condition of the mission at that date, the gratitude with whi jh they regarded their teachers, the importance of the settlement, and also the wise and eminently just measures by which they pro posed to avail themselves of a fair remuneration for their improvements. This, to the shame of the Proprietary gov ernment, was denied them. Another and really far more serious difficulty grew out of these negotiations with the Pennsylvania government. Previous to the beginning of the mission a rivalry had arisen between John Papunhank and Job Chillaway. This for a time was restrained by the missionary, but now it well- nigh caused a rupture in the community. Job applied for a Proprietaries' warrant for the Wyalusing lands, ostensibly for the purpose of securing them for the use of the mission. This application was resisted by the Papunhank party, who urged the superior claim of Papunhank. The result was that neither party procured any form of title until after the abandonment of the mission. This rivalry not only retarded the progress of the gospel, but gave the missionary ceaseless care and anxiety. In the summer of 1771 there had been considerable sickness in the town, which resulted in a number of deaths ; whereupon Chillaway concocted the story that Papunhank had been dealing in poison. This for a time created no little excitement at the mission ; at one time so intense was the feeling against Papunhank that his life was threatened. In due time, however, he most triumphantly disproved the accusation, and exposed what the missionary characterized as a "diabolical lie," to the chagrin and shame of his false accusers. Notwithst-inding these dissensions within and opposition without, the mission continued to increase in influence and usefulness. At the close of 1771 there had been con nected with the mission 206 souls, of whom 41 had died and 14 had removed, leaving at that time the number in connection with the mission 151. To these should be added several families, who had obtained liberty to build at Wyalusing, but who were not considered as belonging prop erly to the Moravian community. During the continuance of the mission 139 had been baptized, and 7 couples had been married, the first of whom were two converts named Thomas and Rachel, Dec. 23, 1766 ; doubtless the first Christian marriage celebrated within the bounds of the county. The town at this time consisted of 29 log houses, several of them roofed with shingles, and 13 huts, 7 stables for horses, and several gardens. Adjoining was an orchard of apple-trees, and on the island opposite a peach orchard. In making these improvements, the missionary not only aided the converts with his counsels, but with his hands. In addition to this he was obliged to depend largely upon his own labor for his support. Such entries as the follow ing are of frequent occurrence : " 1768, Oct. 25. My wife and myself harvested potatoes." " 1769, July 4. Bro. Jungman made hay on the Wya lusing creek." " 1769, Oct. 12. My wife and myself bound buckwheat." Their Indian brethren assisted them what they could, and they also received some aid from Bethlehem. But at the best it was at the expense of many- comforts, sacrifices cheerfully borne, that they engaged in the work for the Master. As to supplies, their plantations afforded an abun dance of corn, beans, squashes, and pumpkins ; deer, bear, PHOEBE <3 MOBES a ZACHEUS <3 HELEN a SARAH < J--] SHEBOSH aflRTHDLOMEW l> L.UCIA 1 13 ESTHER n> BILLY CHILLAWAY 1 n> JOB CHIU.AWAV D> JDHN M-IRTIN 1 o MARY > CHHITIANA 1 D> AUGUSTUS P n> 30RNELUS ^ 1 n> JOSHUA JR P O WIDOWS n> LOUISA D> JOSEPH 1 > PATTY n> PH1I_IP JB 1 > CHRISTIAN i> THOMAS 1 > ABEL PLAN OP FBIEDENSHiJTTEN IN 1771, LOOKING -WEST. f I House of round logs. I I " " squared logs. A Hilt. [^ stable. wild turkeys, and other game were abundant in the forest ; in the spring-time, shad, by the thousand, were caught with bush -nets in the river, and large quantities of maple-sugar were made at the sugar-camps. It was a life of few wants, and these readily and abundantly supplied. In addition to a great number of visitors, both whites and Indians, who frequented the town, on Oct. 19, 1766, Ne wallike came with the following message from the Six Na tions: "(1) That the ^wscaj-oras were coming_ from North Carolina, and all the Susquehanna Indians should assist them with food and caqoes. (2) That the Nanticokes, from below Philadalphia, were also coming up, and were to 24 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. be aided. (3) That the Jersey Indians were coming up, and they also must be assisted. We promised to do so." On March 25, 1767, two Tuscarora messengers arrived at W^yalusing, stating they had left their companions at Shamokin, and they were come to collect corn and request its transportation to that point without delay. May 4 they broke camp and commenced their upward march, arriving at Wyalusing on the 20th. Before the close of the week the most of these half-famished wanderers set out for Zen inge, the place of their destination ;, a few, however, re mained at Wyalusing through the ensuing winter. This migration numbered seventy-five souls. A colony, consist ing of twenty families, halted at the mission in November. On Sept. 8, 1767, a message was received from the Nan ticokes, stating that fifty-five of their nation were en route for the north. They begged for corn, and requested the loan of canoes in which to bring up their aged and infirm. September 21 the emigi-ants arrived at Wyalusing, and the next day set out for Zeninge. These large .bodies of strange Indians passing through their town drew largely on the stock of provisions and occasioned no little anxiety on the part of the Christian Indians, and the diarist ex presses that great relief was experienced at the mission when the last of them had departed. MISSION AT SCHECHSCHIQUANUNK. It will be remembered that soon after the close of the Pontiac war, Echgohund, with a few Monsey families, settled at the mouth of Cash's creek, in the present village of Ulster. This being but a day's journey by water from Wyalusing, the inhabitants of one town were frequent visitors at the other. From the first Echgohund, the chief, manifested deep interest in the success of the mission, and in the negotiations with Togahaju volunteered to intercede with the Six Nations on its behalf. On his return from Cayuga town, Zeisberger tarried here overnight. May 4, 1766, and, at their request, preached to quite a company of them, who gathered at the lodge where he stopped. From this time a constantly-increasing interest in the gospel began to manifest itself in the settlement, and the two brothers, Jim and Sam Davis, influential inhabitants of the town, often came to Wyalusing to hear the Word of God. Joshua, Sr., a Mohican convert, residing at Wya lusing, visited Schechschiquanunk the middle of August, and reported that there are many there desirous of hearing the gospel. During the next year eight persons, including two families, removed from there to the mission for this purpose. In May, 1767, Jo Poepe (or Peepy, alias Weho- lolahund), originally from Cranbury, New Jersey, who had been baptized by Brainerd, and who had sub,sequently lived at Craig settlement, near the Lehigh Water Gap, then at Bethlehem, and finally returned to New Jersey, came with, his family, consisting of his wife Sarah and their children, James, Isaac, Sarah, Isaiah, and Mettshish, to reside at Sheshequin. A man of more than ordinai-y intellin-cnce and influence, he favored the Moravians, and sou"-ht to persuade them to establish a mi.ssion there. On the 21st of February, 1768, the brethren were formally invited to come there, and promised to take the matter in con.sidei-a- tion. Accordingly, John Ettwein, at this time a member of the Moravian mission board at Bethlehem, and subse quently a bishop in that church, was deputed to visit them. In the month of April, accompanied by Zeisberger and Sensemann, who were directed to visit the Allegheny for the purpose of establishing a mission there, he set out for the Susquehanna. On the 10th of May they reached Schech schiquanunk, and, as Echgohund was not at home, were entertained by Jo Peepe, " whose house is the largest in the town." Here they continued until the 12th, holding religious services each day. At this time the village consisted of twelve huts, — five on the south side of the creek and seven on the north side. Those on the south were wild Indians, whose heathenish practices and hatred of the gospel had hitherto deten-cd the brethren from undertaking to establish a mission there. Those on the north side had acquired some knowledge of the arts and customs of civilized life, whose chief business was the raising of cattle, of which they had large herds, and their meadows and pasture fields extended up to Tioga.* " From here the path leads to the AVest Branch, which Zeisberger and Spangenberg tiaveled on their way to Onondaga in 1745." After the morning discourse on the 12th,f "Jo. Peepe, Jim Davis, Sam Davis, and James held a council together, and, when over, repeated to us their conclusion, to wit: ' Our four families desire to have the Word of God preached to us. We go often to Wyalusing to hear it, but cannot always go. We would like to settle there, but we have much cattle and large families. In Wyalusing there is not much pasture for cattle, and they would have a more pre carious living than here, where there is plenty of good land and meadows. Hence we desire to have brethren come here and settle and preach the gospel to us.' David Zeisberger replied, ' Brother, how is it with the other families who are not of the same mind ? Will they not continue their dancing and carousing, and thus disturb you ?' Said they, ' The four or five huts over the run yonder have done lately just such things, but the chief, who is of our mind, has for bidden them.' In answer I told them I would present their request to the brethren at Bethlehem, and doubtless they would heed it." The Schechschiquanunk people were reminded of the necessity, to avoid complications, of obtaining permission from the great council at Onondaga for a missionary to reside there. Therefore a messenger was dispatched to the Cayuga sachem for this purpose, and his consent readily obtained, the sachem declaring that he, too, would come to Schechschiquanunk to hear the Word of God, as he was firmly convinced in his own mind that it pointed out the only true way to eternal happiness. John Roth, a Prussian by birth, who had entered the service of the Moravian Indian mission in 1759, was ap pointed to this mission, and arrived at Schechschiquanunk February 4, 1769, and preached his first discourse the fol lowing day. From this time religious services were m.iin- tained, with great regularity, morning and evening of each day. For the first year the congregation repaired to Freiden- » As thi.s included tho sito of Queen Esther's town, that oould uot havo had an existcnoo until alter Ihc migration. t Ettwein's Journal. HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 25 shiitten for the sacraments and festivals of the church, Sheshequin being regarded as only an outlying station of the Wyalusing mission. In a letter to Nathaniel Seidel, a Moravian bishop, and at that time president of the mission board, dated Sheshe quin, February 8, 1769, Roth writes, " I am at present liv ing here in a trader's house, in which a quantity of mer chandise belonging to Mr. Anderson is stored. This is in charge of an Irish servant. I am to live with him until the Indians have built a house for me. Some of the Indians here were baptized by the Presbyterians" (Brainerd). John Anderson, who, we are told by Heckewelder, was called by the Indians the " honest Quaker trader," in whoso house Roth made his home for a time at Sheshequin, lived in the neighborhood of Fort Alien, and had established a trading-house here as early as May, 1765. For the next four or five years he and the Ogdens from Wyoming made two trips each year, visiting the villages on the Susque hanna, buying peltry and selling rifles, powder, lead, trink ets, and, possibly, rum, to the natives. We hear nothing of Mr. Anderson afler the establishment of the mission at Sheshequin, nor of the Ogdens after their trading-house at Wyoming was destroyed by the New Flngland people in April, 1770. That probably finished the business of Indian trading in the county. February 10, some Indians from Wilawamink came to Sheshequin to hold the feast of the meat-oflFering with the heathen Indians in the neighborhood. On the night of the 21st the feast was held about a half-mile from the settlement. " There were some fifty of the heathen together, shouting and screeching like fiends." For eleven days they had turned the village into a Pandemonium, making the day terrible and the night hideous with their wild songs, their dancing, and revels. In the Wyalusing Diary we have a faithful description of this feast, which is here transcribed for the purpose of giving the reader an accurate account of this heathen festival, — "A. lad approaching manhood has a dream, in which he sees either a raven or an eagle, as large as a man, approaching from afar towards the north, which says to him, ' You must prepare rae a roast.' The boy now marks well the form of the bird and the words which he utters. These words are to be chanted repeatedly at the feast. As soon as such a lad shoots hi.s first deer his dream returns to him, and this deer must be sacrificed entire. Sometimes a bear is sacrificed. This feast must not be made in the lad's village, but a day and spot arc selected by an old man, to whom the oftering is committed, and preparations are' made according to his direction. Three days before the feast he sends out messengers to invite the guests to the spot and the occasion. Many also come from a distance. A long house, in which there .ire three fire-places, is needed for the ceremony. In this house the old man who is to ofl&ciate suspends the skin of the deer, which has been given to him, near the fire in the centre, and by the other two fires the flesh is roasted for eating. As soon as the guests are assembled, the old man orders twelve straight, lithe saplings .and twelve stones to be brought in. The foot of the saplings' are thrust in the ground in a circle J the tops are bent over together in the form of an arch, and covered with a blanket. The twelve stones are now heated red-hot in the fire, and rolled into the centre of the vault. Each stone repre sents a god; the largest the great God of Heaven, the others respect ively the sun, the moon, earth, fire, water, house, Indian corn, oast, west, south, and north. This ceremony being completed, the old man and the lad who oifcrs the sacrifice go into the vault. Tho old man, having in his hand a rattle made of a calabash containing grains of Indian corn, strews tobacco on the glowing stones, and amid the incense smoke shakes his rattle, and invoking each of the gods by name, says, 'This boy, N, brings you an offering for luck and pros perity. Have mercy on him. Give him luck and give him health.' Then he chants a dream. As soon as the tobacco burns, he clasps his hands and prays until it is consumed. Then two go to the skin and chant their dreams and visions and what the bird told them, and the rest go to tho other fires and eat. This is repeated until the repast is finished. Then each in turn seizes the rattle, chanting his dreams and dancing to the music, until each has recounted his visions, when the old man who has officiated as master of ceremonies takes the deer skin, and, directing its head and horns toward the north, holds it suspended on his arm, uttering a strong cry, which ends the feast, and all return home." To such scenes of heathen festivity and superstition and wickedness was the missionary introduced at the very begin ning of his work, and we cannot wonder if his soul was fired with new zeal, as was Paul's at Athens, to preach the gospel to those thus sunk in degradation and vice. Nor did he have long to wait for the efieet of his preaching, for on the 18th of the following May, James Davis, the first- fruits of that mission, was baptized into the faith of the gospel. At the close of the year five had been baptized, four log houses had been built, and eighteen added to the mission ; so that at that time there were fifty souls in the town. Among those who came was Isaac Stiile, also one of Brainerd's Indians from New Jersey, who had been employed as government messenger and interpreter, and to whom, for his services, the proprietaries had given a tract of land at Sheshequin. As at Wyalusing, so here, strange Indians were frequent visitors, and from Zeninge, Shamunk, Wilawamink, and other places, multitudes gathered' to hear the gospel. The missionary's house was built February 16, 1769, of squared pine logs donated by James Davis, which he had prepared for a dwelling for himself. This served also for a church until July of the next year, when a chapel was erected, surmounted by a cupola containing a bell. Ettwein served the mission from July 28 until August 22 of this year (1770). In this interval (August 16) Roth was married to Maria Agnes Pfingstag, at Bethlehem, and also received ordination to the full work of an evangelist. At the end of this year the mission numbered fifty-eight souls. On May 28, 1771, the Susquehanna rose to an unpre cedented height, inundating both the towns of Sheshequin and Wyalusing. At the latter place great damage was done by the water sweeping ofi' fences and stock and covering the corn, just coming up, with mud. At Sheshequin the inhabitants were compelled to take to their canoes and retire to the wooded heights back of the town. The character of the Christian work at Sheshequin, the employments and habits of the people, did not differ materially from those at Wyalusing. It was not so large a place nor so exclusively a Moravian town ; but the good work done there was not in vain. The mission continued to in crease in numbers and usefulness until the migration, at which time it numbered sixty souls. This year (August 4, 1771) the missionary Roth's wife gave birth to a child. This was doubtless the first white child born in the county. It was almost in sight of Tioga, where, after a captivity of about six months, Susanna Nitschmann, the only captive taken at the massacre of the Moravian town on the Mahony, November 24, 1755, pined away and died May 9, 1756. 26 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. THE MIGRATION. No sooner was it known that the Proprietaries had effected the purchase of Nov. 5, 1768, of the Iroquois, than the removal of the mission was clearly foreseen by those to whose care it was committed. Notwithstanding Governor Penn had promised that his surveyors should not run lines nearer than five miles to Wyalusing, and afterwards made the same promise with reference to Sheshequin, yet, in the spring of the next year, proprietary warrants were laid in sight of each town. This was expected, from the fact that the government of Pennsylvania refused to make any grant or enter into any agreement which would give the Christian Indians any claim to the least portion of the territory which had in 1766 been ceded to them by the Ca.yuga sachem, and confirmed by the great council of the Iroquois. In addition to this, the New England people, who were strug- ling to maintain possession of Wyoming, claimed the whole territory, in virtue of a purchase made in 1754. In order to secure a hold upon this disputed tract each party sent their surveyors, who ran lines through the plantations be longing to the mission, each claiming the land for his employer. The settlements at Wyoming and on the West Branch had deprived the Indians of their hunting-grounds, and thus cut off the sources of their supply of food. It was with the greatest difficulty that the Moravian Indians, who kept up a constant intercourse with Bethlehem, to which the path lay through Wyoming, could avoid being entangled in the disputes which were then fiercely waged between the New England people and the proprietary government for the possession of that coveted spot. In addition to these things, the whites were constantly pushing their settlements up the Susquehanna, and the mission became more and more exposed to the irregularities, immoral ities, and illicit trade in ardent spirits which almost uni versally prevail in frontier settlements. These causes created a constant uneasiness at the mission, and those who had the care of it were watching with the deepest solicitude the progress of events which would render its removal beyond the reach of these influences an immediate necessity. The mission board at Bethlehem, learning that the Indians on the Allegheny were desirous of hearing the gospel, sent Zeisberger thither in 1707. On October 16 he reached Goschgoschiink, a Monsey town, founded in 1765 by emigi-ants from Wyalusing and Tioga, situated on the eastern bank of the Allegheny, near the mouth of the Tionesta creek, and was the guest of some relatives of Papunhank residing there. Aware of the difficulties clus tering about the Susquehanna missions, the Delaware chiefs of this county sent an invitation to the converts at Friedens hiitten and Schechschiquanunk to remove to the west, where they would be supplied with land. This invitation the Wyalusing Indians were not prepared as yet to accept, although during the years 1770 and 1771 several families, both from Wyalusing and from Sheshequin, removed there. For the purpose of seeing the work of the mission, and of consulting with the brethren on the ground as to the pro priety of removing to the west, they were visited (May 15 to May 21, 1771) by Christian Gregor and John Loretz, members of the Unity's Elders' conference at Herrnhut, Saxony (then on a visit to the Moravian church in the provinces), accompanied by Nathaniel Seidel, who were received at Wyalusing with every demonstration of joy. All work was laid aside, and the time was given to religious services, social enjoyment, consultations -with refer ence to the welfare of the mission, and the ministrations of the house of God. The festival of Pentecost, which fell in the interval, was solemnized by the celebration of the Lord's Supper. In the evening of Whit-Sunday the rite of baptism was administered to four catechumens, of whom the visitors and Schmick baptized one each. Gregor adds, " The last day of our sojourn I baptized also a little child as it lay in swaddling clothes; her I named Johanna, and commended her to the keeping of her crucified Master. Hereuppn we set out on our return to Bethlehem, with hearts grateful for all we have here seen and experienced." Oil the return of the party to Bethlehem, Zeisberger was summoned to meet them, who, in view of the advantages afforded a Christian town in the Tuscarawas valley, and the ur<>-ent invitation extended to the Moravian converts on the o Susquehanna by the grand council of the Delawares to settle in their country, recommended the removal of the Wyalusing and Sheshequin missions to that place. The conference adopted his views, and commissioned him to lay the subject before the Indians at Friedenshiitten and Schech schiquanunk. Accordingly Zeisberger visited Friedens hiitten in the beginning of September, and convened a council of the converts from both stations. After a full and careful deliberation, in which the growing difliculties of their present situation and the promised advantages of the west were freely canvassed, they unanimously resolved to accept the offers of the Delaware chiefs, and to emigrate to the west in the spring. Measures were at once set on foot to carry into effect the resolution of the Susquehanna converts. Zeisberger repaired to the Tuscarawas valley, where, gathering the Delaicare converts about him, they proceeded to clear ground, build huts, and make other needful preparations for the reception of their eastern brethren. At Wyalusing and Sheshequin, surplus stock and grain were sold, new canoes were built, and other arrangements made for their departure. In the month of Slay their preparations for the journey being in a state of great forwardness, Ettwein, at their re quest, was sent to Fiiedeushiitten to superintend the journey, where he arrived May 20, 1772. In his diary of this journey he writes: "During the Sth, 9th, and 10th of June, all was bustle at Friedenshiitten, with preparations for the impending journey ; and the pestles of the corn- mortars were plied night and day." The emigrants were divided into two companies ; one under Roth were to go by canoe down the North and up the West Branch as far as the Great Island (Lock Haven), where they were to meet the company who were to go overland with the horses and cattle, the heavy articles being transported by water. Early on the morning of June 11, they met for the last time in their chapel in the town for divine worship. Says Ettwein, " I remarked on the Scripture passage for the day, in effect that all our temporal and spiritual welfiire de pended upon the presence of the Lord's Spirit with us, and of His beiug pleased with His people. Then we knelt in HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 27 prayer .and again thanked Him for all the numerous bless ings which had been vouchsafed to us in this spot, and for the evidences of His love and patience. Hereupon we commended ourselves to His keeping and guidance on the way, asking Him to supply our wants, both by land and by water. At the close of this service, the canoes were laden, the bell was taken from its turret, the window-sashes were removed from the church, and the dismantled windows nailed shut with boards. At two o'clock in the afternoon, brother and sister Roth set out in their canoe, followed by the others, thirty in number. Timothy, who carried the bell in his canoe, rang it for some time as the squadron moved down the stream, never again to ring out its call to the house of prayer over the waters of the lovely Susque hanna. After all had left the town we locked the doors of the chapel and the missionary's dwelling, took leave of Job Chillaway, and commended to him the oversight of the houses and improvements, to which he consented, at the same time he made fair promises. He and his wife were the only two who appeared to regret our departure, as they shed tears. All the others manifested satisfaction. One hundred and forty souls went with brother and sister Roth ; with me, by the overland route, were fifty-four. There are others also to proceed by laud from Schechschiquanunk,* so that the entire migration will number two hundred and eleven souls. A short time before our departure the measles had been brought to Friedenshiitten from Schechschiqua nunk, which place had been infected by a white man. The epidemic soon appeared among the party with Roth, and a maiden of my company was taken with them on the third day out. Our journey consumed five days ; that of the company by water ten days ; when we met at the mouth of Muncy creek, on the 20th of June." Sickness, rain-storms, and high head-winds delayed the movements of the fleet, but otherwise the trip was made with comparative comfort. Not so, however, with the over land party. They took the " Wyalusing path," which, after crossing the river, takes up a steep hill, striking the main branch of the Sugar Run a short distance below Welles" saw mill; thence to the Muncy valley. The way led through swamps, dark with a heavy growth of timber, through tangled masses of laurel, sometimes so dense that a man could not be seen the distance of six feet, over rocks and precipitous hills on the divide of tho Sugar Run, Loyal Sock, and Muncy creeks, and again through swamps until they reached the lowlands, near the mouth of the Muncy. Along this route, tormented with sand-flies (punkies), to this day the pest of this wilderness, drenched with daily rains, in constant danger from rattlesnakes, this band of pilgrims, having under their care sixty head of cattle, and fifty horses and colts, forced their way, losing but one young cow. Arriving on the AVest Branch, it was found to be utterly impracticable to take all their goods over the mountains, between there and the Allegheny. Arriving at the Wallis farm, they sold many of their cattle, their canoes, bowls, firkins, and other wood- and iron-ware, which would prove » Of these were the Davises, Jo Peepy, Isaac Stille, and two sons of Tadeusound (Teedyuscung ?), .all noted Indians. too great an encumbrance on their journey. Leaving the West Branch, their way led through the wild, rough country of that mountainous region, until they reached the Alle gheny, whence, by canoe, they reached their destination on the 5th of August, and the missionary adds : " Scarce a day passed that we could not distribute rations of meat, and never did a soul go to bed hungry. Those who had aught shared it to the last crumb. None received injury to his person, although dangers were without number. Rattle snakes were numerous. I knew that upwards of fifty were killed. Among the rocks and timber we fell countless times. Sister Roth fell from her horse four times, once with her child into a bog up to her middle, once into the bushes backwards from the horse with her child in her arms, and once her foot hung in the stirrup." As one reads the narrative of these trials and labors we are amazed at the fortitude, patience, skill, and unwearying labor of these self-denying missionaries, and at the transforming power of the gospel upon the minds of their converts. " This migration," remarks Rev. W. C. Reichel, " marks a new era in the history of the Moravian missions among the aborigines of this country, which era was characterized by perpetual disturbances and unrest ; it being also tbe era of its gradual decadence, extending down into our own times, when there is but a feeble remnant of Christian Indians ministered to by Moravians, dwelling at New Fairfield, Canada, and West Field, Kansas. In the veins of some of these there flows the blood of the Mohicans and Delawares of old Friedenshiitten, the ' deserted village' of the flats of Wy.ilusing." To mark the spot of Friedenshiitten and perpetuate the memory of this Christian Indian town, a monument bear ing fitting inscriptions was erected under the auspices of the Moravian historical society, which was dedicated with appropriate services in the Presbyterian church of Wyalu sing, and on the site of the mission, June 14 and 15, 1871. This monuraent, which is thirteen feet high, of stone quarried from Campbell's ledge, above Pittston, and within an appropriate inclosure, bears on the die the following in scriptions. On the northern face — " To mark the site of Friedenshiitten (M'chwihilusing), A settlement of Moravian Indians between 1765 and 1772." On the eastern face — " This stone was erected on the 15th day of June, in the year of Redemption I87I, by members of the Moravian Historical Society." The western and southern faces bear respectively the words of Scripture — "And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places." " Remember the days of old, consider the years of many genera tions; ask thy father, and he will show thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee." The Indians at Schechschiquanunk, who were not con nected with the mission, gathered at a village four or five miles above, opposite the junction of the Tioga and Susque hanna, on the west bank, and formed what was known as Queen Esther's town. This town was destroyed by Col. Hartley, in the autumn of 1778. Of the early history or 28 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. family connection of the woman who was known in this valley as Queen Esther, for whom this town was named, but very little is known, except that her father was a white man, probably a Frenchman, and her mother a squaw of the Senecas. The evidence of her relationship to the Montour family is very unsatisfactory. The similarity of parentage has probably given rise to the tradition so widely spread that she was a cousin to Madame Catharine Montour, or even Madame Montour herself. Her house was large and commodious, and surrounded with many of the appliances of civilization. Her influence was so great with the In dians that she was called Queen Esther by the people of the valley. She is described as a large, heavy-built woman, walking erect, of commanding appearance, and ordinarily kind in her disposition. All her intercourse with the whites, both here and at Wyoming, previous to the battle of Wy oming, was marked with uniform kindness and courtesy. She was a frequent visitor in the family of Mr. Van Val- kenburg, at Wysox, and well known through the country. She was present at the battle of Wyoming, where her fiend ish brutality obliterated every kindly recollection, and made her name a 'synonym for cruelty. In the " History of Buffalo and the Senecas," by William Ketchum, occurs the following paragraph : " Mrs. Cambell (one of the captives from Cherry valley), thus speaks of a female who occupied a very prominent and influential position among the Indians : ' Among the per sons driven into the fort (Niagara) by the American army was Catharine Montour, who had signalized herself by her inhumanity at Wyoming. She had two sons who were leaders of bands, and who consequently imparted additional con,sequence to her. This creature was treated with con siderable attention by some of the officers.' " — P. 325. She had a sister Mary, who frequently accompanied her in her visits. The remnants of the old Schechshiquanunk were destroyed by Hartley in 1778. In 1790 the party who settled Aurora, in the State of New York, found on the shores of Cayuga lake, a little south of Springport, a band of thirty or forty Tuscarora Indians, under Steel Trap and Queen Esther. Where they went or what became of them I can learn nothing further. At Wyalusing, Job Chillaway and some others did not join in the emigration. Chillaway, though at one time con nected with the mission, had either voluntarily left it or had been excluded previous to its removal. It will be remembered that as early as 1769 he made application to Governor Penn for the land on Wyalusing plains, but, on account of the opposition of Papunhank and others con nected with the mission, the warrant was not issued until May 20, 1772, after the removal of the mission had been determined. The survey included the plain bounded by the river, the Wyalu.sing creek, and the base of the moun tain, as far as the little run near D. W. Brown's, contains six hundred and twenty-three acres and six per cent, allow ance, was made by John Lukens, surveyor-general of the province, Sept. 16, 1773, returned to the secretary's office, March 10, and patent issued March 12, 1774. Chillaway conveyed this land to Henry Pawling, of Montgomery county, by deed bearing date May 4, 1775. In 1774, Chillaway and an Indian named Hendrick were living at Wyalusing, and are spoken of as showing great kindness to the early emigrants to this cottnty, assisting them in the selection of land, supplying them with food, and encouraging their settlement. They continued to re side here until the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, when Hendrick joined the Indians at Tioga Point, whom he accompanied to Wyoming at the tirae of the battle, while Chillaway moved to the English settlements down the river, and espoused the cause of the colonists. A captain's commission Avas given hira, 'out he did not engage in any active military movements. He was born near Little Egg Harbor, in the southeastern part of New Jersey ; removed first to Easton, and then on the Susquehanna. He was a man of more than ordinary intelligence, possessed a good knowledge of English, frequently acted as Indian inter preter, adopted the dress and habits of civilized life, and was greatly respected and trusted by both whites and In dians. He died on the West Branch in the winter of 1778-79,— " By strangers honored, and by strangers mourned." In March, 1778, an expedition of one hundred and fifty men under Lieut.-Col. Dorrance came up to W^yalusing for the purpose of aiding the few remaining Whig families there to remove to Wyoming. They tore down the church and some of the best log houses of the town, and made a raft, of the timbers, on which were placed the families and their goods and floated down the river. The remaining part of the town was destroyed by Hartley in 1778. The march of civilization for more than a century over these homes of the red men has well-nigh obliterated every vestige of their former occupancy. The woodman's axe has leveled their forests, the plow of the husbandman has de faced their fields, the white man's home stands upon the site of their ancient villages, and the railroad train thunders along the trail of their war-path, while in many instances their bones have been torn from the soil, and vandal hands have polluted their graves. In their march towards the setting sun, their fugitive tribes have left behind them no track nor trace. An enumeration of the Indian families residing at Frie denshiitten, with the number of members in each, and of the improvements made by them, 1771 : John Papoonhank, wife Ann Johanna, and daughter, three mem bers ; two dwellings of squared logs, covered with shingles, one small do., covered with split boards, a stable, and a garden. Joshua, Sl-., wife Bathsheba, and brother, three members; one dwelling of squared logs, covered with shingles, a stable, and a gai-dcn. Shebosh, wife Christiana, and two children, four members; im provements same as last-named. Mark, wife Ann Elizabeth, and two children, four members; one dwelling of squared logs, covered with shingles. John Martin, wife Rogina. brother, and throe children, six mem bers ; impi-ovomonts same as last. Joshua, Jr., wife Sophia, and three children, flve members ; one dwelling, covered with shingles, and a stable. Billy Chillaway, wife, and two children, four members; one dwell ing of squared logs, covered with shingles. Augustus and wife, two members; one dwelling of squared logs, covered with shingles, with stable and garden. HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 29 David and wife Charity, two members; one dwelling of squared logs, covered with shingles, and a stable. Joseph, wife Ann Mary, and three children, five members; one dwelling of squared logs, covered with shingles. Cornelius, wife Amelia, and four children, six members ; one dwell ing, covered with split boards, and a stable. Daniel, wife Johanna, father, and three children, six members ; one dwelling of hewed logs, covered with shingles. Philip, Jr., wife, father Philip, Sr., and five children, eight mem bers ; one dwelling of squared logs, covered with shingles. Gottlieb, wife Ann Rosina, and five children, seven merabers; one dwelling, same as last. Andrew and wife Ann Justina, two members ; one dweUing, same as last. Moses, wife Julianna, mother, and three children, six members; one dwelling of unhewn logs, covered with split boards. Zacheus, wife Catherine, his son and wife and their three children, seven members; one dwelling, covered with bark. Esther (widow), one member; one dwelling, covered with split boards. Mary (widow), one member; one dwelling, same as last. Phcebe (widow), one member; one dwelUng, covered with bark. Helen and three children, four members; same as last. Sam Evans, wife Ruth, and three children, five members; one dwelling of unhewn logs, covered with shingles. Amos, wife, and child, three members ; one dwelling, covered with split boards. Louisa and two children, three members ; one dwelling, covered with shingles, Timothy, wife Martha, and daughter, three members ; one hut. Thomas, wife Rachel, grandson, and two children, five members; one hut. Sarah (widow), one member; one hut. Bartholomew, wife Elizabeth, son, and two girls, five members ; one hut. Christiana, Abraham, and Kaschoosh, three members ; one hut. John (Mohican), wife Elizabeth, and four children, six members; one hut. Lucia and mother, two members; one hut. Christian, wife Augustina, mother, brother, and two children, six members ; one hut. Hannah and her grandchild, two members; one hut. Patty, her son, and daughter, three members; one hut. Abel, wife, and two children, four members ; one hut. Amy (widow), one member; one hut. Magdalene, Erdmuth, and one child, three members; one hut. Total number of families, 37. The missionary has two dwellings adjoining each other, both cov ered with split boards, a stable, and a large garden, in which there is a well. The meeting-house, thirty-two by twenty-four feet, built of squared logs, and covered with shingles, stands in the middle of the town plot; and adjoining it is the school-house, a log building covered with split boards. Number of log houses in the town, 29; number of huts, 13 ; total number of dwellings, 42. Land cleared for planting, and converted into meadows, measures 250 acres. The fencing on two sides ofthe settlement measures almost two miles in lengih. Number of adults in the town, 94; number of children, 48; total inhabitants, 142. — Bethlehem Archives. Some changes occurred during the following year, some" having died, some removed to. the west, and others having joined the mis sion. Its status, at the time of the exodus iu June, 1772, was as follows : Communicant members, 52; non-eommunicants, all baptized, 72; members of the mission, not baptized (adults, 10; children, 11), 21; other persons, 6 ; total of souls at Friedenshiitten, 1 51. Members re siding at Scheehschiquanink : communicant members, 4 ; non-com- municilnts, all baptized, 1 5 ; members of the mission not yet baptized, 31; Roth, wife, and child, 3; total, 53. Total of souls attached to the mission on the Susquehanna, June 1, 1772, 204. Additiosat. Statistics. — The number who emigrated from Phila delphia Barracks, 80 adults, and upwards of 90 children ; total, about 170. For the year 1765, from May 9 to December 31: baptized, 5; died, 2; communicants (brethren, 16; sisters, 17), 33; non-commu nicants, all baptized, 23; not baptized (adults, 37; children and youth, 34), 71 ; total number connected with the mission, 146. For 1766. — Born, 6; died, 1; baptized, 18; received into church fellowship, 4; communicants, 46 ; candidates, 3 ; non-communicants, baptized, 55; not biiptized, 68; total, 172. For 1767.— Married, 3 couple; died, 4; baptized, 23; communi cants, 42; candidates, 1; non-eommunicants, baptized, 75; unbap- tized, 67; total, 185. Por 1768.— Baptized (adults, 8; boys, 5; girls, 4), 17; died, 9 communicants, 48; non-communicants, baptized, 75; not baptized, 52; total, 175. For 1769. — Born (boys, 7; girls, 5), 12; baptized (adults, 3 ; boys, 6; girls, 5), 14; married, 1 couple; died, adults, 2; (boys, 4; girls, 2j, 6; communicants, 45; non-communicants, baptized, 82; not bap tized, 51 ; total, 178. For 1770. — Born (boys, 6 ; girls, 1), 7 ; died, 7 ; married, 1 couple ; baptized, 10; communicants, 47; non-communicants, baptized, 79; not baptized, 45 ; candidate, 1 ; total, 172. For 1771. — Died, 7; baptized, 19; moved to the west, 14; commu nicants, 48; non-eommunicants, baptized, 77; not baptized, 26; total, 151. From 1765 to 1772. — Whole number baptized, 104; whole number died, 41. Statistics of Schechschiquanink. — From Jan. 25 to Deo. 31, 1769. — 4 log houses built; to us came 18 souls; left us, 3 souls; bap tized, 4 ; died, 3 ; birth, 1 ; communicants, 3 ; non-communicants, baptized, 14; not baptized, 36; total, 53 souls. For 1770. — Baptized, 3; admitted to the Lord's Supper, 2; whole number connected with the mission, 58; died, 2; births, 2; came to the place, 16 ; left the place, 6. For 1771. — Connected with the mission, 10' married couple, 20; widowers, 1; widows, 7; single men, 7; single women, 3; half- grown boys, 6; half-grown girls, 4; children (boys, 6; girls, 9), 15; total, 63 souls. CHAPTER IL LAND CONTROVERSIES. The controversies which grew out of what is known in Pennsylvania history as the Connecticut claim, enter so largely into the early history of this county that no account of its settlement can be fairly understood without a knowledo-e of how that claim originated, the conflicts involved in its prosecution, and the means by which it was terminated. These controversies related to two distinct questions, — the right of jurisdiction and the right of soil. The political conflicts which had been waged in Great Britain, made prominent the distinction between the power to make and execute law and the right of ownership in the soil. This distinction, so fundamental to the English system of government, her colonists brought with them to this country. Soon after the discovery of the New World by Columbus, the different maritime nations of Europe sent out expedi tions of discovery, and each claimed jurisdiction over that part of the country explored by navigators sailing under its own flag. Accordingly, the French established themselves along the borders of the St. Lawrence and the great lakes in virtue of the discoveries of Verrazani and Cartier. The Dutch laid claim to the territory bordering the Hudson, which had been explored by Henry Hudson. The Eno-lish claimed jurisdiction of that part of the continent extendino- from the St. Lawrence to Florida, and from the Atlantic to the South sea, as the Pacific ocean was then called in con sequence of the discoveries of the Cabots and others sailino- under the patronage of the King of England. For the purpose of extending and maintaining the 30 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. authority of the British crown over the immense territory to which it laid claim, great companies, composed of noble men, merchants, and wealthy gentlemen, were incorporated by James I., king of England, in 1606, by letters-patent under the name of the London and Plymouth companies. To the former of these was granted the territory of South Virginia, extending from the thirty-fourth to the fortieth degree of north latitude, and from the Atlantic ocean on the east to the South sea on the west ; to the latter company the territory of North Virginia or New England. On Nov. 3, 1620, the Plymouth company was incorpo rated by letters patent under the name of the Great Council of Plymouth, and there was granted to them, their succes sors and assigns, all of New England in America, in breadth from the fortieth to the forty-eighth degree of north lati tude, and in length within all the breadth aforesaid, through out the mainland from sea to sea, " provided always that any part of the premises hereinbefore mentioned, and by these presents intended to be granted, be not actually possessed or inhabited by any other Christian prince or state.'" To this company were granted both the jurisdiction and the royal pre-emption of the soil, with the authority to distribute their territory and- assign their prerogatives to companies of adventurers, for the purpcse of occupation and settle ment. Accordingly, in 1628, the grant of Massachusetts was made by the Plymouth council, in breadth from the Merri mack to the Charies river, and in length throughout all the breadth aforesaid north and south, from the Atlantic on the east part to the South sea on the west part. This grant, which extends southward, as the lines were settled, to the forty-second degree of latitude, was, with the proviso in the great Plymouth charter, confirmed by King Charles I., in 1629. In 1630 the Earl of Warwick, president of the Plymouth council, procured a grant of a certain large tract of land from the said council, and the same year obtained the king's charter of confirmation. This he conveyed to Lords Say, Seal, Brooks, Humphrey, Wyllys, Saltonstall, and others, twelve in number, by deed dated March 19, 1631. This grant included all that part of New England in America extending from a river called Narragansett river the space of one hundred and twenty miles as the sea-coast lieth toward Virginia, and in length within the breadth aforesaid throughout all the mainlands from the Western ocean to the South sea. The territory, as thus described, includes a belt of land bounded on the north by the south line of the Massachusetts grant, on the south by the forty-first parallel of latitude, and on the west by the Pacific ocean. The forty-first parallel enters the State of Pennsylvania at Stroudsburg, and passes near Bloomsburg, Clearfield, and New Castle. That part of Pennsylvania north of this line was embraced in the Connecticut claim. The company of Lord Say and others appointed John Winthrop their agent, who entered upon and took possession, and made a settlement at mouth of Connecticut river, to which he gave the name of Saybrook, in honor to his principal patrons. While the right of soil and privileges pertaining to it might be transferred from one to another, the right to form a separate government was deemed so sacred that it must emanate directly from the crown in each particular instance in which it could be legitimately exercised. The great Plymouth council having apportioned out to adventurers all the lands comprised within their grant, in order that the kino- mi"-ht confer upon these several companies charters containing the powers and privileges of government, in the year 1635 released their right of jurisdiction to the crown in nearly the same descriptive words as are contained in their grant, mentioning their western extension to be considered about three thousand miles. A number of English colonists who had emigrated from the Massachusetts plantations and settled upon the Connec ticut river, finding they were without the Massachusetts patent, formed themselves into a voluntary association, took upon themselves the name of the Colony of Connecticut, adopted a plan of government, and purchased of George Fenwyck, Esq., then agent of Lord Say and others, all their lordships" right derived from the grant of Plymouth council. In the year 1661 they petitioned King Charles IL, set ting forth their colonization, their grant from Lord Say and company, their acquis^tions by purchase and conquest, pray ing him to grant them a charter of government agreeable to the system they had adopted, and to confirm the grant they had obtained of the assigns of the Plymouth council. In consequence of this petition, His Majesty granted them a charter dated April 20, 1662, in which he "ordained, con stituted, and declared John Winthrop and others, his asso ciates, a body corporate and politic, by the name of the governor and company of the English colony of Connecti cut, in New England, in America." This charter covered all the territory included in the grant to the Earl of War wick, with the usual proviso, excepting any part of the said territory which might be inhabited or possessed by any other Christian prince. By this charter the two colonies or jurisdictions of Connecticut and New Haven were united. The States General of Holland granted to some adven turers a charter, in 1614, under which settlements were made on the western end of Long Island and along the banks of the Hudson as far as Albany. Negotiations were entered into by the governor of Connecticut and the Dutch governor for establishing the boundary line between the two colonies. A provisional line was run and agreed upon, subject to the ratification of the respective governments. In the meanwhile Charles II. granted to his royal brother, the Duke of York, the territory covered by the Dutch pat ent, who, in August, 1664, dispossessed the Dutch and as sumed the governmont of the territory. Negotiations were begun afresh for settling the eastern bounds of the Duke's patent, which were at length determined by a royal com mission, agreed tb by the respective governments, and con firmed by the royal mandate in 1730. The west line of the duke's patent was the Delaware, and was never a mat ter of dispute between the two governments of New York and Connecticut ; the latter colony never relinquished her claim to the territory west of the Delaware and within the bounds of her charter. Under date of Sept. 14, 1720, Governor Saltonstall, in reply to certain questions of the Board of Trade, says, " On the west the province of New York have carried their claim HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 31 and government quite through this colony from south to north and cutt us asunder, twenty miles east of Hudson's river." This language is inexplicable on the theory that the determination of the eastern boundary of New York was considered as marking the western bounds of Connec ticut. For a number of years this claim of Connecticut was in a mea.sure acknowledged' both by the home government of Great Britain and by the colonial governments in America. In 1752 or 1753 commissioners were appointed to settle the disputes which had arisen between England and France with reference to their possessions in North America, on the basis that each crown was to hold the lands most an ciently granted to its subjects. The English commissioners produced the charter to Plymouth council and the grants under it of Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut, which were Some years earlier than any grants made by the French king. To this the French commissioners replied, " You claim the whole country ; there is no settlement to make," and the negotiations were broken off. In 1754 a congress composed of deputies from the Brit ish colonies north of Virginia, held at Albany by direction of Lords of Trade and Plantations, declare, " The ancient colonies of Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut were, by their respective charters, made to extend to the South sea." In 1755 the governor of Pennsylvania spent a whole ses sion in a dispute with the assembly relative to the jurisdic tion of Port Du Quesne, the governor affirming that it was within the province of Pennsylvania, and the a.ssembly de claring that it was within the colony of Connecticut. King Charles IT. of England, by his letters-patent, dated Feb. 28, 1681, granted to William Penn, his heirs and assigns, all that tract of land in America bounded on the cast by Delaware river, on the north by the beginning of the three-and-fortieth degree of northerly latitude, on the south by a circle drawn twelve miles distant from New Castle town northward and westward to the beginning of the fortieth degree of northerly latitude, thence by the be ginning of the said fortieth degree of northerly latitude, to extend westward through five degrees of longitude to be reckoned from the said easterly bounds. This grant encroached on the south upon the previous grants to Lord Baltimore and the Virginia colony, giving rise to controversies which were adjusted by compromises, and long and expensive lawsuits ; it also lapped upon the previous grant to Connecticut the width of about one de gree of latitude, extending the whole length of Pennsyl vania, giving rise to controversies which were not adjusted until more than one hundred and twenty-five years after. While the royal charters conveyed to the grantees lands, rivers, mines, minerals, all and singular other commodities, jurisdictions, royalties, privileges, franchises, and pre-emi- nenceSj it was nevertheless the doctrine held by Connecti cut, as well as by Pennsylvania, that these chartered rights were subject to the prior claim of the native inhabitants, and that the Indian title must be extinguished by either purchase or conquest before the land could be lawfully entered upon by the English colonist. It will be remem bered that the New York Iroquois claimed jurisdiction over all the northern part of Pennsylvania. Holding their lands in joint tenancy, all sales were required to be negotiated at public treaties, at which all had a voice in the deliberations and shared in the price and the presents. As the question of Indian purchase entered largely into the controversies relating to the right of soil in the dis puted claim, it will be necessary to trace this subject with some degree of minuteness. The authority to make pur chases of land from the Indians was implied in the royal charters, and resided in the grantees within their charter limits. In Pennsylvania this right inhered in William Penn and his heirs, or in agents appointed and authorized by them. But in Connecticut every freeman was a pro prietor, and the right of purchase was regulated by the assembly. Until 1717 every freeman was permitted to make purchases of the Indians. It was then enacted that " no title to any lands in this colony can accrue by any purchase made of the Indians, on pretense of their being native proprietors thereof, without the allowance or appro bation of this assembly." To nearly all the territory within the present limits Of that State the Indian titles were extinguished by individuals, or by companies acting on their own discretion and responsibility. This fact of the purchase being shown, upon their petition they were incorporated into a town and entitled to representation in the assembly. Lots were surveyed and assigned to the members of the company according to regulations adopted among themselves. It will thus be seen that the methods of making Indian purchases and effecting settlements in Connecticut and Peniisylvania were radically different. In the former, it was by voluntary associations of the freemen, acting with the authority and consent of the assembly ; in the latter, solely by the lord proprietor or his agents. Keeping these facts in mind, will enable the reader to understand the reason for the procedure of the parties to this controversy, and will answer some of the objections which each made to the transactions of the other. As early as October, 1736, the Six Nations, at a public treaty, entered into a solemn contract with the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, in which they engage for themselves and their posterity " that neither we, nor any in authority in our nations, will at any time bargain, sell, grant, or by any means make over, to any person or persons whatsoever, whether white men or Indians, other than to the said pro prietors,- the children of W^illiam Penn, or to persons by them authorized and appointed to agree for and receive the same, any lands within the limits of the government of Pennsylvania as it is bounded northward by the govern ment of New York and Albany." This was the famous deed of pre-emption of which so much was said in the dis cussions on Indian title. At the treaty at Albany this deed was indorsed, confirmed, and ratified by the chiefs of the Six Nations, July 9, 1754. The territory of Connecticut, east of New York, being nearly all taken up, many of the people began to turn their eyes towards some favorable location, within her chartered limits, to the westward. Rumors of the won drous beauty and fertility of the Susquehanna valley were in circulation. A few prominent men of Connecticut, wishing to know more of the country, sent a party to ex plore this region. They were charmed with Wyoming. 32 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. Its broad plains, its rich soil, and beautiful situation made it a paradise beside the sterile, rock-bound New England ; and so favorable a report did they make, that an association, styled the SUSQUEHANNA COMPANY, was formed, July 8, 1753, for the purpose of securing the purchase and effecting a settlement of the Susquehanna lands, with the ultimate design of being erected into a separate colony by a royal charter.* As the Susquehanna company played so prominent a part in the land controversies of this county for nearly half a century, and as the greater part of the first settlers here came under its auspices, and held their lands under its title, a brief account of the history of its operations may be of interest. Following the usual plan adopted in Connecticut for acquiring the Indian title, and settling the unappropri ated lands of the colony, it was a voluntary association of Connecticut freemen, organized under the laws of the colpny. At a meeting of the companyj held in September, there were 350 members enrolled ; by the next January the num ber had increased to 500. Rules were adopted for the ad mission of new members, which at length numbered above 1200, embracing many prominent men in every New Eng land colony, in the provinces of New York and New Jersey, even in Pennsylvania and in Great Britain. Each member was a joint owner in the territory and was called a pro prietor. The congress at Albany, in 1754, having been sum moned, among other things, for the purpose of effecting purchases of land from the Indians, a meeting of the com pany was held on the 9th of January, and Deacon Timothy Woodbridge, of Stockbridge, who was deeply interested in Wheelock's Indian school, and had the year before accom panied Rev. Gideon Hawley on a missionary tour among the Indians,f was appointed to negotiate a purchase of the Sus quehanna land for the company. By the aid of Colonel John H. Lydius, of Albany, a deed was obtained from the Indians, for the company, of a large tract of land beginning ten miles east of the East Branch of the Susquehanna river, on the one-and-fortieth degree of north latitude, thence with a northward line ten miles distant from the said river to the end of the forty-second degree, and to extend westward throughout the whole breadth thereof, through two degrees of longitude, one hundred and twenty miles. This deed, which covers all of Bradford County, except the north eastern corner, was properly executed, and signed by seventeen sachems of the Six Nation.s, and bears date July 11, 1754. Although this transaction was open and above-board. -» America. — Connecticut, July 27, 1753.— Several hundred people of tbis colony have agreed to purchase a large tract of land of the Six Nations of the Susquehanna, about 300 leagues to the westward lying within the limits of their charter, to settle upon it, expecting that it will in a short time be a distinct government. — London Mng., for 1753. -|- Mr. Hawley describes him as "being n. man long acquainted with the business and a gentleman of abilities. He rose to be the first man in the county of Berkshire, was always esteemed for his sense, but had few who wished to promote him. For many years ho was at the council board, and sustained his station with reputa tion."— i^'Jt. Hist. ofN. r., iii. 1037. done with the full knowledge of the Pennsylvania delegates to the congress, acknowledged both by the Proprietaries and the Indians, yet no sooner was it fully ascertained to be in cluded within the charter limits of Pennsylvania, than every sort of objection was made to the transaction, and the In dians were debauched into repudiating it. Lydius was branded as a Roman Catholic and an outlaw ; the Susque hanna company as a band of desperate adventurers, acting without the knowledge and consent oftheir government; and that their deed was 'defective in form, fraudulent in execu tion, and for land for which the Proprietaries of Pennsylva nia already held a deed of pre-emption. THE DELAVl^ARE COMPANY. Another association, called the " Delaware Company," was subsequently formed. A deed to Hezekiah Huntington and three hundred and sixty others, his associates, was ob tained from the " Ninnepuncs or Delaware Indians," of a tract extending through the breadth of the Connecticut charter, from the Delaware river on the east to the line of the Susquehanna company's purchase on the west. This in cluded the northeastern part of Bradford County, comprising the township of W^arren, with parts of Windhamj Orwell, and Pike. This territory they surveyed into townships of six miles square ; appointed Elisha Hyde, of Norwich, Conn., their agent to negotiate the sale of townships to companies of settlers ; Andrew Tracy, Oliver Crary, Robert Gere (2d), and William Young, Jr., a committee to grant townships for the company. Of the two townships which were in Bradford County, Martel was granted Oct. 14, 1795, to Elisha Hyde " to defray his expenses as agent," and Minden, April 25, 1796, to Elisha Hyde and Elisha Tracy, both of Norwich. These parties sold to the settlers, the details of which will be given in the annals of Warren and Orwell. The Delaware company was not a conspicu ous party to the land controversies in this county, only so far as their interests were blended with those of the Sus quehanna company. The Susquehanna company at once began to take meas ures for occupying their lands, and in the fall of 1754 a considerable number came on for the purpose of selecting a favorable location for a settlement, but on account of the disturbed condition of affairs, growing out of the French war, the matter was held in abeyance for eight yeai-s. Peace having been declared, the company at once renewed its efforts to take possession of its domain. For the en couragement of settlers, two townships, each ten miles square, were granted as a gratuity to the first two hundred, they being proprietors, provided they begin their settle ment before Nov. 1, 1762. Accordingly, a large party was sent on the last day of August, who built houses and fences, made hay, and such other preparations .is were deemed advisable for the reception of the colony the following spring. For the additional security of their settlers, the company appointed a committee to attend another treaty with the Indians, held at Albany in March, 1763, at which the In dians confirmed their former sale, and guaranteed to the company immediate and peaceable possession of the land. In the month of May following, about one hundred and HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 33 fifty settlers came on, some of tliem bringing their families with them, and occupied and improved lands in Wilkes- Barre, Kingston, Plymouth, and Hanover. This year tho Pontiac war broke out, and bands of hostile Indians began to hover over the frontier settlements in Pennsylvania, watching for a favorable opportunity to avenge the wrongs inflicted upon them by the whites. Zeisberger had been recalled from Wyalusing, and on his way to Bethlehem stopped among the New England people, and warned them of their danger ; but was informed thaf they intended to remain and hold their land at all hazards, and did not con sider the danger as great as it was represented. About midday, on October 15, just as they were returning from their fields, the settlers were suddenly attacked by a band of hostile Indians ; twenty of their number were killed, a few were taken prisoners, and the remainder fied, leaving everything behind them. By orders of the crown, all further attempts at making a settlement on the Susquehanna were suspended until the establishment of peace. This was finally secured at the treaty of Fort Stanwix, in November, 1768, at which time the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania effected a purchase of a tract of land, beginning at Owego, thence following the left bank of the Susquehanna as far as the mouth of the To wanda creek, thence up the Towanda, along the Burnett hills, down Pine creek to the West Branch, and across to the Ohio. This tract included a large part of Bradford County. The remaining part of the territory was not purchased until after the close of the Revolutionary war. The Pennsylvania government, now holding a title for the coveted Wyoming, at once adopted vigorous measures to effect a settlement under the patronage of the Proprie taries, for whom two large manors were surveyed, and lots of one hundred acres each were leased to Charles Stewart, Amos Ogden, and others, fiiends to the Proprietaries, at a nominal rental, on condition that they hold possession of the country. Within a short time, warrants were issued and surveys were made of the most valuable lands in the purchase, which were assigned to the friends of the gov ernment, to be held by themselves or leased to their faithful allies. In the meanwhile the Susquehanna company were not idle. Learning that the Indians had finally released all claims to the Susquehantia lands, a meeting of the company was held at Hartford, Dec. 28, 1768, at which the former grants were rescinded, and five townships, each five miles square, were offered as a gratuity to the first two hundred and forty settlers, they being proprietors, or their agents ; to the first forty should be given the choice of these town ships. The others should be divided into fifty-three equal parts, of which fifty should be allotted to the settlers, and the remaining three reserved for the support of the gospel ministry and of schools in each of said townships, — " the aforesaid townships to be held by the said forty and the said two hundred, on consideration of their entering upon and taking possession according to the above vote, and also of their continuing thereon, holding and improving the same, by themselves, heirs, or assigns, under said company, for the space of five years after their entry as aforesaid." As the movements of the Susquehanna company from 5 this time begin to be conspicuous in the settlement and history of northern Pennsylvania, a brief account of its rules and policy, with regard to its settlers and settlements, as developed by the resolves of its meetings, may be of in terest. It was contemplated to divide the whole purchase into townships containing sixteen thousand acres each, to be as nearly square as the nature of the country would admit. Each township to be divided into fifty-three parts or lots of three hundred acres each, of equal quality. Fifty of these lots were appropriated to the settlers, one to the use of schools, one to the church, and one to the first gospel minis ter who should settle in the township. At first all grants of townships, transfers of land, and certificates of rights were done at the meetings of the company ; but the busi ness becoming extensive, at the meeting held at Norwich, Conn., April 1, 1772, a standing committee was "em powered to order and direct where new townships shall be laid, five miles square, divided into fifty-three rights or shares, three of which shall -be for public use, when they shall be applied to by twenty proprietors, by themselves or agents, for lands to settle on as part of their proprietors' rights. Provided, always, that there shall be twenty settlers settled within each of said townships within two years from the time of laying out the same, in order that the said pro prietors of the said township shall hold the same." At another meeting of the company, held in Windham, March 9, 1774, the time in which the twenty settlers must be located in the township was extended to three years after the grant was made, " on account of troubles now ex isting in the purchase." The year before it was ordered that each whole share proprietor should have liberty to take up two fifty-third parts of a township, and eath half share proprietor one At a meeting of the eoinpany, held in Athens, Pa., Feb. 20, 1795, in order to still further in terest settlers and supporters of the company in its des perate confiict with the Pennsylvania authorities, each township was divided into sixteen equal parts of one thou sand acres each, of which each whole share proprietor could take two, and each half share proprietor one. A proprietor was allowed to locate a right and make a settlement on any of the unoccupied and ungranted land of the purchase. Such locations were called Pitclies, and on the survey and allotment of the township in which they were situated were to be assigned as part of the occupant's right or share. In accordance with the several votes ofthe company five kinds of rights were recognized: (1) When the company was organized any freeman could become a member of it by paying the sum of two dollars. Such flattering reports of the purchase were brought back that multitudes sought to be admitted to the company, who permitted a limited number to be incorporated by the pay ment of sums which varied from two to fifteen dollars. The rights thus acquired were called proprietors' or " original rights." (2) In order to promote the settlement of their lands several townships were offered as a gratuity to a certain number of proprietors, who by themselves or their agents should go upon the ground and hold their possessions for a 34 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. certain number of years. These were called "settling rights." (3) Many of the Connecticut settlers suffered losses in various ways in their conflict with the Pennsylvania au thorities in supporting the claims of the company. These losses were usually compensated by additional grants of land, which were known as " .suffering rights." (4) Many proprietors, who did not become actual set tlers, received certificates for their rights. Also, for pur poses of revenue, rights were sometimes ordered to be sold to the highest bidder. These ceitificates often floated about as a .species of currency or as sources of speculation, under the name of " certificate rights." (5) At a meeting of the company, held at Hartford, July 13, 1785, it was "voted that every able-bodied and effective man, approved by any one of the company's com mittee, not being a proprietor, and that will repair to Wyoming, submit himself to the orders of this company or their committee at that place, shall become a ' half-.share' man proprietor in said company, entitled to all the benefits of any proprietor thereof that has paid his full taxes to thi.^ time, provided he remains in said country for the space o' three years, and do not depart therefrom without the per. mission of such committee ; also provided that such half- share proprietors do not exceed four hundred, and provided they arrive by the first day of October next." To such as complied with these conditions certificates were issued, which were known as " half-share rights." At first, the company made no provision for civil govern ment among its settlers. They lived without courts and without constables. A few simple rules were adopted by conventions of the settlers, which, without the forms, were observed as the laws of the settlements. This pure form of democracy continued for more than five years, the com pany expecting, either that they would be incorporated as a town by the assembly of Connecticut, or constituted into a separate government by royal charter. At a meeting held at Hartford, June 2, 1773, after re counting in brief their history and claim, professing loyalty to the king, and obedience to law, they direct that three directors shall be chosen in each township, " who shall be able and judicious men, to take upon them, under the gen eral directions of this company, the direction of the settle ment of each such town, and the well-ordering and govern ing of the same, to suppress vice of every kind, preserve the peace of God and the king therein, to whom each inhabitant shall pay such and the same submission as is paid to the civil authority in the several towns of this colony." Elec tions were to be held each year fbr choosing directors and a constable or peace-officer. Appeals from the decision of the directors of a township could be taken to quarterly meetings of all the directors. This simple system of juris prudence adopted by the company continued in force until the incorporation of the town of Westmoreland, when the laws of Connecticut were put in full force by officers legally chosen. Among the directors first appointed were Obadiah Gore, Jr., for Wilkesbarre, Gideon Baldwin for Providence, Captain Obadiah Gore and Paishall Terry for Kingston. These, except Captain Gore, were subsequently residents of Bradford County. With this brief account of the polity of the Susquehanna company, given to enable the reader to understand terms and allusions which will frequently occur in the succeeding pages of this chapter, we will now return to the movements of both parties to obtain and secure possession of the Wyoming valley. In February, 1769, the first forty, sent out in pursuance of the Sasquehanna company's vote of the previous De cember, arrived at Wyoming, where they found the Penn- .sylvania party, under Stewart and Ogden, in possession of their houses on Mill creek. Of the captures, reprisals, breaches of faith, and blood shed, known as the first Pennaraite war, whose theatre was Wyoming, it is not proposed to speak. So far as any of our people were connected with them will be mentioned in the personal sketches, which will be given in the township annals. The years of 1772, '73, and '74 were a period of peace and prosperity for Wyoming, and emigrants poured in rapidly upon the new settlements, which extended through the valley, up the Lackawanna, and up the Susquehanna as far as Tunkhannock. As new settlers continued to ar rive, their attention was directed to the fertile valleys and Indian clearings in this county, and grants for new town ships were applied for. Accordingly, Samuel Gordon, who had recently been commissioned surveyor by the Con necticut assembly, surveyed for David Smith the township of Standing Stone, in the early part of 1774, and for James Wells and others what they called the " Long Township," extending south from Standing Stone thirty miles down the river. From some reason, probably for want of the requi site number of settlers, the grant of the former township was never perfected, and, although the oldest of the Sus quehanna company's townships in this county, was excluded from the privileges of the compromises. The Long town ship survey, not being according to the company's rules, was given up, and Springfield and Braintrim substituted for it. . Immediately after their Indian purchase, the Susque hanna company, having obtained the approval and indorse ment of the Connecticut assembly, sent an agent to England to procure a roytil charter for their grant. War with France, the opposition ofthe Penns, and other causes, deferred a hear ing of their claim. The Connecticut government, however, intimated its willingness to protect the .settlements, in a reso lution passed October, 1773, asserting its purpose to support its claim to all lands within its charter limhs west of New York. In 1774, they " Re«'-/rcil, That a petition in the name and on the behalf of this colony be prepareil. as speedily as may be, to his Majesty, pra.ving that a eominis.-iion bo appointed to settle and affix the boundaries between those hinds contained within tho limits of our charter, lying west of tho Delaware river, aud the proprietaries of Pennsylvania." But the troubles that led to the Revolution, by which the colonies were forever separated from the jurisdiction of Great Britain, arising about this time, the commis.sion was never appointed. The same year (1774) Connecticut formally a.ssumed jurisdiction over the disputed territory, by organizing the town of Westmoreland and attaching it to the county of Litchfield. The county of Westmoreland was constituted October, 1776, by an act of the Connecti- HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 35 cut legislature, in which it was provided that it should " have and ,exercise the same powers, privileges, and au thorities, and be subject to the same regulations as the other counties iu this State by law have and are entitled to." Henceforward members were regularly sent from West moreland to the Connecticut assembly. Soldiers enlisted there for the Revolutionary war were credited to the Con necticut line, and the jurisdiction and laws of that State were in as full force over the Wyoming settlements as over any part of the State. In accordance with a resolution of Congress, passed in 1775, both parties refrained from further violent measures until the question of jurisdiction should be adjudicated by a competent tribunal. In November, 1779, the assembly of Pennsylvania passed an act assuming to itself the jurisdiction over the entire territory granted to William Penn. By this act the com monwealth became a party to the controversy, which by these several acts became clearly a question of jurisdiction between the States of Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Article IX. of the articles of confederation provided for the appointment of special commissions to determine all disputes and differences arising between two or more States concerning boundary or jurisdiction ; also all contro versies concerning the private right of soil claimed under different grants of two or more States. The supreme executive council petitioned congress, November 3, 1781, stating the matter in dispute between the two States, and praying for a court to be constituted, according to the pro visions of Article IX., to hear and issue the case. On the 12th of August, 1782, it was announced that commissioners had been mutually agreed upon by the delegates of the re spective States. Each party having been duly notified, the court commenced its session at Trenton, November 12, 1782. The agents of Pennsylvania having defined the bounds of their claim by the terms of their charter, presented the following points as embracing the grounds upon which that claim was based : I. That North America being discovered by Cabot, in the years 1594 and 1596, the crown of England assumed the right of granting the property and jurisdiction thereof to its subjects by letters-patent. 2. That in the year 1661 the crown granted all the land between the west side of the Connecticut river and the east side of Delaware bay to the Duke of York, and shortly after promised to Sir WiUiam Penn, in reward for his services, a large tract of land westward of the duke's patent; but Sir WiUiam dying, tho grant was made to his son in consideration of his father's services and in consideration of debts due from the crown to Sir William's estate. 3. That by letters patent dated March 4, 1681, this grant was made to extend northward unto the 43d degree of northern latitude. 4. That this grant was long depending before the council, consid ered with more attention and caution than usual, and, after hearing all objections that could be made to it, passed, and was immediately published with an account of the province of WUliam Penn, the pro prietor. 5. That to prevent any claim which might be made hy the Duke of York, Mr. Penn obtained a release from that nobleman. 6. That upon the faith of this grant, great numbers came over to Pennsylvania, extended the settlements already begun, and together with the proprietor exercised jurisdiction over all the lands within the bounds of the> patent, until the Revolution in 1776. 7. That not content with the title whioh the patent gave him to the soil (which could be uo more than the right of pre-emption), the then proprietor and his successors purchased the land from the natives for valuable considerations, and in this legal and equitable manner ob tained a just and complete title to all the lands within the bounds of the province. 8. That in 1736 (being 72 years after the charter of Connecticut was granted, during which time there was not a pretense to a claim to any lands within the limits of the Pennsylvania charter) the In dians sold theright of pre-emption to tho proprietors, and covenanted to sell the lands to none but them, their heirs and assigns. 9. That in 1754 a second deed of the same kind was made, and the former deed recognized. 10. That actual settlements were made northward of the 41st de gree of latitude by the subjects of Pennsylvania, long before any claim or settlement of those lands were made by Connecticut. 11. That by an act of Assembly of Pennsylvania passed on the 27th day of November, 1779, the estate of the Proprietaries vested in the com nonwealth of Pennsylvania. In presenting their case, the agents on the part of Con. necticut, after stating that the limits of their claim were the bounds of their charter, referred the court to the fol lowing line of facts : I. That as both parties derive jurisdiction from the same source (the crown of England), Connecticut affirms also the first point ofl-ered by Pennsylvania. 2. That Connecticut holds the territory claimed hy her under an unbroken line of conveyances from the Great Council of Plymouth, to whom the grant was made by the crown by letters-patent dated Nov. .3, 1620. 3. That the conveyance to Connecticut was purchased at a large price, and confirmed by letters-patent bearing date April 23, 1662 (more than nineteen years previous to the grant made to William Penn). 4. That having granted away the jurisdiction of this territory, the crown could not arbitrarily resume it at pleasure. 5. That the Dutch possessions were excepted out of the grant to Connecticut by the proviso inserted in all the ancient charters. 6. That the Duke of York was the legal successor of the Dutch to the territory so excepted. 7. That the agreement to the partition line between the province ofthe Duke of Y^ork and the colony of Connecticut did not, and was not intended to, deprive Connecticut of her claim to lands west of the Delaware and within her charter boundaries, but to limit the duke's claim eastward. 8. That a number of people, inhabitants of the then colony of Con necticut, in accordance with the law then existing in that colony, and with the approval of their governor and assembly, did in open treaty, for valuable considerations, purchase a large tract of land west of the Delaware, of the natives, at Albany, in 1754. 9. That this purchase was made with the full knowledge of the commissioners of Pennsylvania (one of whom was tbe governor and one of the proprietors), they not making any open objection thereto. 10. That in 1763 the natives executed another deed to certain in habitants of Connecticut and others, acknowledging and confirming the grant made in 1754, and giving possession of the land. II. That these deeds were executed some years previous to any pretended purchase by Pennsylvania from the natives of the same land. 12. That Connecticut had made possessions upon the lands in dis pute as early as 1762, and is now in possession of them. The proofs having been offered, and the various points argued, the court, after passing a resolution to give no rea. sons for their decision, and that the minority should agree to make the judgment unanimous, published, Dec. 30, 1782 the following decision : " We are unanimously of opinion that Connecticut has no right to the lands in controversy. We are unanimously of opinion that the jurisdiction and pre-emption of all territory lying within the charter of Penn sylvania, and now claimed by the State of Connecticut, do of right belong to the State of Pennsylvania." To this decision of the simple question of jurisdiction between the two States, the only question before the court, 36 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. all parties professed a ready acquiescence. Connecticut immediately ceased from, and Pennsylvania assumed, control of this grand domain, while the settlers declared their entire willingness to yield obedience to all constitutional laws enacted by the commonwealth, and united in a petition to the legislature for the enactment of a law to quiet them in their possessions, and establish civil government over them. There were other questions, however, whioh were still un decided. It will be remembered that the Proprietary govern ment made grants of the most valuable tracts of land along the Susquehanna, immediately after the Indian purchase of 1768, while these same lands had been appropriated by the Susquehanna company araong its proprietors. The act of 1779, vesting the charter rights of the heirs and devisees of William Penn in the commonwealth, confirmed the grants made by the Proprietaries, or their agents, prior to July 4, 1776, and placed the disposal of the remainder of the lands, except what had been taken by the Proprietaries as their individual property, within the charter limits of the State, into the hands of the legislature. Between the rival claim ants — those holding under title derived from Pennsylvania and those holding under the Susquehanna company, com monly called Connecticut titles — was waged a long and bitter contest. Of all possessions that of real estate is deemed the most sacred, the transfers of it attended with the most rigid for malities, and claim to it enforced with the most unyielding pertinacity by the great masses of men. This was as true in the earlier history of the country as at the present. It is not, therefore, surprising that the question of the owner ship of so large and valuable a section of the commonwealth should have been pursued with a vigorous and uncompro mising spirit to the very last. The Penn.sylvanla legislature, on the recommendation of the Trenton court, and on the petition of the Wyoming settlers, sent a commission to make inquiries into the state of affairs, hold elections for justices of the peace, and do other acts necessary for the establishment of civil govern ment over the disputed territory. The acts of this com mission, though unauthorized by the law under which they were appointed, were subsequently approved by the legisla ture. To this commi.ssion both the Connecticut settlers and those holding Pennsylvania titles appealed, and were in formed that considerations of public policy would require the State to protect the claims of those who held lands under titles derived ft-om her authority. The justices, who were Pennsylvania land-holders, proceeded to reinstate their friends, and to treat the Connecticut settlers as a band of lawless intruders. The settlers resisted this summary method of disposing of their claim. They declared th.it the Ti-enton court did not decide the question of the right of soil, which was dis tinct from the question of jurisdiction; that they had acquired a good title to the lands of which they were in possession, under the laws of Connecticut, which, for a number of years, had exercised unopposed jurisdiction over the territory; that heretofore when new boundary lines had changed the jurisdiction of a territory, as between New York and Connecticut, or between Penn.sylvania and Mary land and Virginii, land in possession under the grant of one State was confirmed to the possessor by the State under whose jurisdiction the disputed- territoiy was decided to belong. The Pennsylvania party urged that the same land had been lawfully acquired by them; that they were also in possession; lhat the decree of Trenton did not change the jurisdiction from Connecticut to Pennsylvania, but affirmed that the jurisdiction and right of pre-emption had always belonged to the latter, and, therefore, that all Connecticut grants were without right, and void. But these questions were altogether too nice for Justice Patterson to spend much time in discussing. He was a Pennsylvania justice and a Pennsylvania land-holder. He must be protected, and the Yankees driven out at all hazards. Finding that arrests and threats could not intimidate his rival claimants, upon his representations two companies of Pennsylvania militia were stationed at Wyoming, ostensibly to protect the inhabitants, but really to oppress the Con necticut people. For nearly three years the Wyoming settlements were in a state of confusion and strife more bitter and disastrous than the first Pennaraite war. Be tween the settlers and the Pennsylvania authorities, acting in the interest of the land-holders, the conflict was waged with great acrimony, involving the shedding of blood and the loss of life. Many, to escape the strife, moved into this county, where comparative peace prevailed. In a letter to President Dickinson, dated April 29, 1784, Patterson writes, " Upon my arrival at this place (Wyo ming), the 15th inst., I found the people for the most part disposed to give up their pretensions to the lands claimed under Connecticut. Having a pretty general agency from the land-holders of Pennsylvania, I have availed myself of this period, and have possessed in behalf of my constituents the chief part of all the lands occupied by the above claim ants. Numbers of them are going up the river to settle. In this I give every encouragement in my power, and take care to fill up their vacancy with well-disposed Pennsylva nians." The conduct of Patterson and of his troops towards the -New England people was an outrage upon all law, decency, and humanity, while that of the legislature was fickle and vacillating. On the instance of the petitions of the Wyo ming people, and reports of commissions sustained by deposi tions recounting the cruelty of those acting under the au thority of the State, the legislature would pass laws one session for the protection of the settlors, only to be repealed the next under the influence of the land-holdere, until, wearied by the conflict and worn with the suffering, the settlers despaired of any relief from the legislature or offi cials of Pennsylvania. The Susquehanna company, which had intermitted its meetings during the Revolutionary war, and seemed para lyzed by the Decree of Trenton, was aroused to new life through the efforts of Col. Franklin and by' the sufferings of the Wyoming people. A meeting was held in Hartford, July 13, 178,'), at which the company resolved to support its claim to its purchase, to protect its settlers, to grant four hundi-ed half-share rights, then equivalent to three hundred acres, to settlers who should go and remain on the land for three years, and sell six hundred full shares or rights for HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 37 the use of the company in defending their claim. This was the beginning of that speculation in Susquehanna lands which ultimately proved so disastrous to many who were engaged in it, and led to the distinction between " old settlers" — that is, those who had purchased in good faith for the purpose of settlement — and the "half-share men," wild Yankees, who were mere speculators, adventurers of all sorts, who came taking the risk of making or losing on the issue of the controversy. As this distinction was sub sequently made prominent, attention is called to its origin. By this time all New England was ringing with the story of Yankee sufferings and Pennsylvania oppressions. Wyoming, her sacrifices and her heroism, the Indian mas sacre, Patterson's brutality, land-holders' rapacity, and the soldiers' lawlessness were themes familiar in every house hold, and hundreds were ready to rush to the succor of their suffering friends. Agents of the Susquehanna com pany were sent through New England and eastern Now York, who sold rights and townships, gathered recruits for the conflict and settlers for the purchase. Says Col. Frank lin, in his account of this period, " In the month of Novem ber the settlers got to be numerous. A meeting was called ; about four hundred were present. A regiment was formed and officers appointed. A form of government was also established by the authority of the people, to remain in force until law could be established on constitutional prin ciples. A committee of directors was also appointed to regulate the affairs of the settlement, agreeable to the forra adopted. Upwards of four hundred subscribed their naraes to support the committee or directors in the execution of the important trusts committed to them." In April, 1786, Gen. Ethan Allen, of Fort Ticonderoga celebrity, visited the' valley, and proposed to settle on the' purchase and bring with him a number of his Green Moun tain boys to aid the settlers in maintaining their claim. A large number of rights, and the township of Allensburg, located on the Wyalusing creek, a tract about three miles wide by eight in length, were given to aid the project. The Susquehanna company was stimulated to renewed efforts bythe hearty response with \vhich its appeals were met. At the formation of the company it was contemplated to erect its purchase into a separate colony ; now it was deter mined, as the only means of securing the claims of the company, to form a new State out of the contested territory in defiance of Pennsylvania. Prominent men in New England lent their influence to the scheme. A constitu tion was drafted and approved by the company. It is said that Gen. Allen boasted that with his Green Mountain boys he had made one State and could make another. Nor was sympathy for the settlers wanting in Pennsyl vania. Many prominent men throughout the State were loud in their denunciations of the odious legislation and the tyrannical acts of the authorities. They declared the meas ures instituted against the Connecticut people to be a dis grace to a free and Christian State ; that the interests of a score of men in a few acres of land were allowed to blacken the good name of the commonwealth and imperil the public peace. The legislature, though moved neither by appeals for justice or mercy from the settlers, couid not be deaf to the voice of censure raised within as well as without the State, and, appalled by the danger which now threatened the integrity of the commonwealth, at once began to adopt measures of conciliation. The first movement in this direction was an act, passed September 25, 1786, erecting the county of Luzerne out of the northern part of Northumberland, with the following boundaries : Beginning at the mouth of Nescopeek creek and running along the south bank thereof eastward to the head of said creek, thence a due east course to the head branch of Lehigh creek, thence along the e,ast bank of Lehigh creek to the head thereof, thence a due nortli course to the northern boundary of the State, thence along the said boundary line to a point fifteen miles west of the east branch of the Susquehanna river, thence by a straight line to the head of Towanda creek, thence along the divide of the waters of the two branches of the Susquehanna to a point due west from the raouth of Nescopeek creek, thence to the place of beginning. This included the present counties of Luzerne, Wyoming, Susquehanna, and Bradford, except a triangle in the northwestern part of the latter, which re mained attached to Northumberland. Col. Timothy Pickering, a native of Massachusetts, who had been quartermaster-general during the Revolutionary war, and held in high esteem throughout the country, a man of consummate skill and great ability, was appointed to organize the new county and endeavor to quiet the Wyoming disturbances. Proinises were freely made that the settlers should be quieted in their possessions if the laws of Penn sylvania were allowed to be put in operation. At the sug gestion of Col. Pickering, a petition setting forth that seven teen townships, each five miles square, in which lots, averaging three hundred acres each, had been specifically set off to settlers by the Susquehanna company, previous to the Trenton Decree, and praying that these might be con firmed to the present owners, was signed by a large number of the old settlers and forwarded to the legislature ; whereupon the assembly, March 28, 1787, passed what was called the confirming law, in which it was provided " that all rights or lots lying within the county of Luzerne, which were occupied or acquired by Connecticut claimants who were actual settlers there at or before the termination of the claim of the State of Connecticut by the decree aforesaid, and which rights or lots were particularly assigned to the said settlers prior to the said decree, agreeably to the regu lations then in force among them, be and they are hereby confirmed to them, their heirs and assigns." Provision was also made for compensating the Penn.sylvania claimants out of the unappropriated lands of the commonwealth, for the appointment of commissioners, the exhibition of claims, and whatever appeared to be necessary to carry into effect the provisions of the law. While the objects contemplated in this act were not effected by it, the law is important because it was the first unqualified acknowledgment on the part of Pennsylvania of the Connecticut claimants, and also because it exhibits the policy of the commonwealth in adjusting the claims of the settlers by making a distinction between the " old settlers,'' whose titles originated previous to the Trenton decree, and the half share men and others, whose titles were acquired by grants of the Susquehanna company subsequent to July 38 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 13, 1785, treating each claimant as an individual whose claim was to be adjusted according to the rules of the company, refusing otherwise to recognize the companies as having any legal existence or any claim, as companies, against the State, and making compensation to the Pennsylvania claimants. The Susquehanna company had granted four townships within the territory of Bradford County previous to the Trenton decree. The Long township, extending from Standing Stone to Mehoopany, being disapproved by the committee, "upon the application of Anderson Dana, Na than Kingsley, Amos York, James Wells, and others, their associates, proprietors in the Susquehanna purchase, made the Old Misiseum on the east side of the river, Quick's Bend, Sugar Run, and Terrytown on the west side. The township of Standing Stone included the lowlands of Rummerfield, Standing Stone, Frenchtown, and Mace donia, and though granted as early as 1774, for some reason was not confirmed by the committee until many years after, and was not included in the petition for the confirmation of titles. On the 4th of June, 1778, the committee on the peti tion of Col. John Ijydius, Capt. Abraham Lansing, Bal- tiaser Lydius, and Peter Hogeboom, granted the township of Claverack to Lansing, Hogeboora, and Capt. Solomon STATE LINE The Susquehanna Company's grant of the Township of Ulster was in 1775, and laid out on the map by ihe lines .—.—.-.—. The first alteration was in 1785, marked on the map by the lines . 17ie second alteration was in 1786 (as it now stands), marked by continued lines as the other Townships. It received the present form for the accommodation ofthe Township of Athens, which- extends from its northern boundary as now acknowledged, to, or near to, the State line. Copy March 11, 1874. S. JENKINS. CERTIFIED TOWNSHIPS IN BRADFORD COUNT'/. to the committee of said company in the year one thousand seven hundred and seven ty-seven, praying for a grant of a township, agreeable to the regulations of said company, the said committee, in pursuance thereto, did grant to the said applicants and their associates a certain township of land described in a survey made by Samuel Gordon, October twenty-second, one thousand seven hundred and seventy- seven, bounded as follows: etc., . . . which said town is known and described on the plan of said purchase as Springfield." This grant is signed by "John Franklin, Elisha Satterlee, and John Jenkins, committee,'' This township, whose centre was near the mouth of the Wyalusing creek, included the flat lands at Wyalusing, and Strong. This township embraced Wysaukin, Towanda, Sugar creek, and tho Lower Sheshequin flats. The township of Uhtcr, or Old Ulster, as it was subse quently called, was granted to Asahel Buck, agent for the proprietors, August 28, 1775. This township was located on the west side of the Susquehanna, and covered the flats of Queen Esther und Athens. Owing to the breaking out of the Revolutionary war soon after, no survey nor allot ment of the township was made. This was superseded by a secord grant made Sept. 12, 1785, which was also super seded by two grants,— one of Athens, made May 9, 1786, and the other of Ulster, July 23, 1786. The accompany ing map shows the location of these several townships. It HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 39 will be observed that the lines of these townships are so run as to include nearly all the flats along the river, and to avoid, as far as possible, the high and inaccessible hills. The act establishing the county of Luzerne and the con firming law occasioned heated discussions among the Wy oming people. On the one side it was claimed that at length Pennsylvania was disposed to recognize their rights, and securing to them courts, officers, a representation in the legislature, and clear titles to their lands acquired before the Trenton decree, was all that could reasonably be demanded. On the other side, it was urged that no confidence could be placed in Pennsylvania ; tbey had been repeatedly deceived by her promises, and might be again ; that the law ignored the right of the Susquehanna company to the soil; that there were many who had expended large sums of money, whose husbands, brothers, or fathers had been slain in the war, who had not been assigned their lands until after the Trenton decree, but whose title ought to be as good as any ofthe old settlers' ; and then the half-share men had come to them in their distress, relied upon their promise, aided them in their confiict with the Pennsylvania authorities, whom now to forsake would be the most wicked treach ery. A public meeting was called for the purpose of discuss ing the provisions ofthe law, aud determining what course the settlers should pursue with reference to it. Says Mr. Miner (p. 411), " So great a gathering had not been known in the valley for years. Matters of the highest moraent were to be discussed and decided. Indeed the future .fate of Wyoming seemed to rest on their deliberations and the decision of that day. Little less than war or peace appeared to be involved in the issue. All felt the magnitude of the question to be resolved. But Wyoming was no longer united. Discord had reared its snaky crest ; malign pas sions were awakened. Brother met brother, and friend confronted friend, not with the all-hail of hearty good-will, but with beating heart, knit brow, and the frown of anger and defiance. Col. Pickering, sustained by the Butlers, the HoUenbacks, the Nesbits, and the Denisons, appeared as the advocate of law and compromise. Col. Franklin, supported by the Jenkinses, the Spaldings, and the Satter- lees, came forth the champion for the Connecticut title." The meeting ended in riot and confusion, although a vote was taken to support the laws and accept the compromise. These measures completely thwarted the plans of Franklin and his party, aud the new State scheme was utterly anni hilated. Again the whole country was in confusion. It was no longer Yankee against Pennaraite, but old settlers against the half-share raen. With the exception of perhaps a dozen families, the people of this county were all either half-share men or in their interest. The Satterlees, the Spaldings, the Kingsburys, the Terrys, ardent personal friends of Cols. Jenkins and Franklin, were ready to tjarry into effect every plan for opposing any compromise which did not include the half-share men. Franklin was especially busy. His journal for this period discloses the fact that not a day was he idle, but writing letters, addressing meetings, riding from place to place, persuading the settlers to avoid the comraissioners and ignore the law, he was to the utraost fanning the fury of the storm. In the mean time, the commissioners provided by the confirming law to examine the titles of such settlers as might apply, and grant certificates to such as by the law should be confirmed in their possessions, met at Wilkes barre, and decided upon a number of claims ; being threat ened with violence, however, they adjourned in the month of August. In order to frustrate the efforts of Franklin to unite the people against the confirming law, Pickering deterrained to get rid of him for a time, at least. A writ was obtained, intrusted to competent hands, and Franklin, unsuspecting the plot, was suddenly arrested and conveyed to Philadel phia jail, in the latter part of September, on the charge of high treason. News of his arrest and abduction spread through the country as fast as qouriers could carry it. The northern part of Luzerne, including our own county, was swept with a whirlwind of excitement. Here the half-share men were principally settled. The blow which struck down Franklin was aimed at them. He had fallen in defense of their rights. He was their leader, counselor, and friend. They felt that their interests were at stake, and quietly de termined that Pickering, for whom they could find no lan guage strong enough to express their contempt, should suffer fbr this assault upon their beloved leader. Pickering, apprised of his danger, fled to Philadelphia, where he re mained an exile for several months. Nothing, however, but the release of Franklin could appease the tempest. In January, 1788, Pickering returned to Wilkes-Barre, under the impression that the storm had subsided, and he could remain at home with safety.* " On the night of the 26th of June following, being in bed, he was seized by Franklin's friends, and conveyed up the river into what is now Wyoming county. Here he was kept prisoner, wan dering from place to place -through the woods, with a chain about his body, by which he was secured to a tree during the night. Sheriff Butler, with four companies of militia, made pursuit in order to effect a rescue. A conflict between the opposing parties ensued at Meshoppen." Captain Ros well Franklin, then living on FrankUn's flats, nearly oppo site Towanda, was in command of another of the sheriff's party, and attempted to apprehend a party of the wild Yankees who were reported as fleeing towards New York. Colonel Pickering, who had been released the 16th of July, thus reports the affair to the president of the common wealth, under date of July 29, 1788 :t " The party mentioned in my letter of yesterday, worn out with continual watching and fatigue, had dropped their pursuit, save one, whose name was John Tuttle. He went farther up the river, and informed a Captain Rosewell Franklin that a number of the offenders were making their escape up the river. Captain Franklin immediately col lected a party of fourteen, and on further information from one or two other persons well attached to governraent, that the offenders were at a certain time at Standing Stone, on their way up the river, he concluded to lie in wait for them at Wysox creek. The offenders advanced according to the information. But it was expected, as the creek was -* Pearce, Annals of Luzerne County, p. 9. -j- Pennsylvania Archives. 40 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. much swollen with rains, that they would have called to the house on the other side for a canoe, when it was intended that one of Captain Franklin's party should go over for them, but on his return overset his canoe; and by thus wetting all their arras and ammunition, render the capture of them easy, without hazard of shedding blood on either side! But three of the offenders, Joseph Dudley, Nathan Abbott, and Benjamin Abbott, came first to the creek, and forded it. Captain Franklin ordered them to surrender, when Dudley called out Don t fire, yet immediately raised his rifle to his face, on which several of Captain Franklin's men fired, and wounded Dudley and one of the Abbotts. But they all attempted to make their escape. Dudley ran four hundred yards and dropped, and while Tuttle and another pursued him, the Abbotts did escape. The rest of the offenders took to the woods." Colonel Butler says there were nine in the party who were making their escape. Dudley died from the effects of his wound in a few days. The great majority of the half-share men were the sons or other relatives of the old settlers, but were in open sym pathy with the party who captured Colonel Pickering, and frankly avowed their hostility to the confirming law, and all other acts of the Pennsylvania government. Pickering, in a letter to Peter Muhlenberg, vice-president of the council, dated Aug. 9, 1788, says, " At this moment great numbers of half-share men are in actual possession of lands allotted to them by Franklin and Jenkins, from Tunkhannock to Tioga . . . and swear vengeance against any who shall attempt to dispossess them of their half-share rights." He describes them as smarting under the injuries they had formerly received from the State, jealous of their power, despising her authority, distrustful of her policy, takin"- advantage of her indecision respecting their lands, " many also being willing to hazard everything rather than trust to the honor, faith, and generosity of the State," and urges the importance of establishing a military post at Tioga. The correspondence which has been preserved between the leading men in the half-share interest discloses the same facts. They believed their titles to their lands to be founded on justice and right, and every measure designed by the government to dispossess them was met with an uncompro mising hostility. It was like the old conflict, renewed with all the bitterness of former years, between Yankee and Pennaraite. The half-share men were resolute, darino- fellows. Many of them had come here with the express understanding that they might expect to fight for their lands, but they were without a leader. Franklin was yet in prison. Colonel Jenkins was surveying lands in the State of New York, no good had come from the capture of Pick ering, but the breach had been widened between the old settlers and the new. Blany determined to leave the State and sought homes in central and western New York which the narrow policy of Pennsylvania peopled with the hardy yeomanry who would have made her deserted valleys to blossom as a garden. In November, 1788, a court was ordered to be held at Wilkes-Barre for the trial of Franklin and the rioters. Chief- Justice McKean presided. Franklin's strong frame was bowed and weakened by sickness and thirteen months' im prisonment, and his spirit broken. " The lion was tamed." He was indicted for high treason, but the trial was never called on, and Franklin was admitted to bail. Twenty-five persons engaged in the abduction of Picker- inn- were indicted, several fined or imprisoned, but from policy the sentence was never fully carried out. Pickering wisely judged that, while the people should be taught that the laws of the State could be enforced and offenders pun ished, it was far better to conciliate the disaffected than to punish the guilty. The confirming law was suspended March 29, 1788, and finally repealed April 1, 1790, having been declared uncon stitutional by the legislature. Efforts had. been made from time to time, both by the settlers and by the State of Connecticut, to bring the (|ues- tion of the right of soil before Congress for the appoint ment of a court, under the ninth article of the Confedera tion, to determine the case, but the Pennsylvania delegates were successful in thwarting the measure. On the 30th of April, 1789, the Federal government went into operation, and at the fii-st ses.sion of the first Congress an act was passed organizing the supreme court, which, by the consti tution, hud jurisdiction over cases arising between citizens claiming lands under grants of different States. To this court therefore the Connecticut settlers determined to cany their case. Opportunity was speedily offered. Cornelius Vanhorne, a Pennsylvania lessee, brought suit against John Dorrance at the April term of 1795, in the circuit court of the United States for the district of Pennsylvania, at which the jury, under charge of the court, brought in a verdict for the plaintiff. An appeal was at once taken to the supreme court of the United States, but owing to an informality in the notice, a non pros was entered. Neither party considered this suit as deciding the question in con troversy. Several other cases involving the same questions were then pending, but for some reason none of them were brought to an issue. At various times the respective pm-tics agreed to make up a case which should be submitted to the courts, but always failed to agree on the details, and so the matter ended. Under the proprietary government land was disposed to whom, on what terms, in such quantities, and such locations as the proprietor or his agents saw proper. The unoccupied lands were never put in the market, nor their sale regulated by law. Every effort made by the assembly to secure uni formity in the sale and price of land was resisted by the proprietor as an infringement upon his manorial rights. After the commonwealth became vested with the proprietary interests, a law was passed, April 9, 1781, for esttiblishing the land-office, for the purpose of enabling those persons to whom grants had been made to perfect their titles. July 1, 1784, an act was passed opening tho land-office for the sale of vacant lands in the purchase of 1768. The price was fixed at £10 per 100 acres, or 33J cents per acre, in addition to the warrant, survey, and patent fees, and the quantity in each warrant limited to 400 acres and the six per cent, allowance. Th^ purchase of 1784 having been completed and confirmed by the treaty at Fort Mcintosh, January, 1785, the land-office was opened for the sale of lands in tho new purchase, Dec. 21, 1785, at which the COMPANYSTQWNRHIP.Q 0 COUNTY. PENNA. HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 41 price was fixed at £30 per hundred acres, and warrants were allowed to contain 1000 acres with ten per cent, over plus, besides the usual allowance. Col. Pickering, Samuel Hodgdon, Tench Cox, Duncan Ingiaham, Andrew Craige, and Myers Fisher entered into an association for the pur pose of purchasing 63,000 acres under this act, a con siderable part of which was located in Bradford County. Nevertheless the price of land was placed so high that but few speculators ventured to invest in the hilly and heavily- timbered lands of northern Pennsylvania. Under the press ure of certain land-jobbers who were holding important offices in the commonwealth, like John Nichols, Robert Morris, and William Bingham, an act was passed, April 3, 1792, in which the price of the vacant lands was reduced to fifty shillings per 100 acres or 6f cents per acre. Specu lation ran wild. Applications for warrants poured into the land-office by tens of thousands. The law, while it appeared to favor persons of small means and prevent the wealthy from acquiring large portions of the public domain, was so drawn that by means of fictitious applications and poll deeds, — that is, mere assignments of the application with out the formalities of acknowledgment, — any party could possess himself of an unlimited quantity of the unappro priated lands. Within a year or two nearly all the lands in the county had been applied for ; Nicholson, Morris, Bingham, James D. Le Ray, Henry Drinker, John Vaughan, Pickering, and Hodgdon being the principal holders.* -®- The following is a list of the Susquehanna company's townships, giving the date of the grant and the name of the grantor ; Armenia, Feb. 23, 1795, to Reuben Eowler. Alba, Feb. 24, 1795, to Daniel Brown, Jr. Albany, Feb. 28, 1795, to Sebastian -Visseher. Allensburg, March 12, 1785, to John B. Allen. Athens, May 9, 1786, to Prince Alden, Elisha Satterlee, and others. Augusta, June 18, 1794, to Aaron Sherwood. Bath, AprU 10, 1795, to John Spalding. Bachelor's Adventure, Dec. 6, 1794, to Elisha Tracy and Joseph Kingsbury. Burlington, June 5, 1794, to Nathaniel Allen. Bloomingdale, March 10, 1795, to David Paine and Wm. Young. Bristol, Feb. 27, 1795, to Mason Fitch Alden. Cabot, Dec. 25, 1794, to Elisha Hyde and Capt. Elisha Tracy, re- granted. Claverack, June 4, 1778, to Jeremiah Hogeboom. Columbia, March 15, 1795, to Elisha Satterlee and others. Durkee, Jan. 17, 1795, to John Spalding. Enfield, Sept. 5, 1794, to Sheldon Graham. Ensurance, April 10, 1795, to John Spaulding. Fairfield, June 9, 1794, to Chester Bingham. Franklin. FuUersville, March 1, 1795, to Capt. Stephen Fuller. Graham, March 4, 1795, to Sheldon Graham. Halestown, Oct. 27, 1798, to George Hale. Jay, April 10, 1795, to John Spalding. Juddsburg, Aug. 13, 1793, to Maj. Wm. Judd and others. Kingstreat. Leffertstown, Feb. 28, 1795, to Lefi-ert Lefferts. Litchfield, Jan. 17, 1795, to James Irwin, Thomas Parks, and others. Lovisa, April I, 1795, to John Tucker. Martel (Delaware company), Oct. 14, 1795, to EUsha Hyder. Minden (Delaware company), AprU 25, 1796, to EUsha Hyde and Elisha Tracy. Murraysfield, March 15, 1795, to Noah Murray. New Barrington, Jan. 17, 1795, to James Irwin. New Haven, Aug. 5, 1795, to Peter Hogeboom and others. New Milford, Feb. 28, 1795, to Abel Brownson. 6 In the meanwhile the committee of the Susquehanna company were not idle. Rights were thrown upon the market and sold for almost any price. Townships were granted upon more liberal terms. Renewed efforts were made to bring on settlers, the validity of the Susquehanna company's claim was stoutly argued, companies were formed for the purchase of townships. Speculation in the Con necticut title was intense, the company's office at Athens was thronged with eager applicants, while their surveyors were daily employed in locating and surveying rights. By the close of the year 1796 nearly every foot of land was held by both Susquehanna company rights and Pennsyl vania warrants. Both parties were now arrayed in earnest, defiant oppo sition. Since the repeal of the confirming law the settlers had been left very much to themselves, but now, at the in stigation of the wealthy and influential land-holders, the State entered into the controversy. A general policy had been agreed upon. It was determined to carry into effect the principles of the confirming law by efficient legislation. Within the seventeen townships, Pennsylvania claimants were to bo compensated, and the old settlers confirmed in their possessions, while " the companies and half-share man were to b3 cut up by the roots." Under these two heads the subsequent legislation on this subject is to be classed. The legal principles upon which this legislation was based, as they were from time to time expounded by the courts, were the following : (1) The decree of Trenton did not transfer jurisdiction from Con necticut to Pennsylvania, but affirmed the right had always been in the latter State, and therefore the sovereignty assumed by Connecti cut was a usurpation maintained for the time by force. (2) That the pre-emption, or right of purchase, had always been in Pennsylvania; therefore all purchases were void which were not made in conformity to her laws. (3) That the laws of Pennsylvania existing at the time must be applied to every transaction relating to lands wilhin the charter bounds of the State. (4) In the years 1720 and 1729, the legislature had by specific en actments made it unlawful for any person, except the proprietors'or their agents, to purchase of the Indians any part of the lands within the province ; therefore the pretended purchase by the Susquehanna company was a crime and null. (Commonwealth vs. Franklin and others, 4 Dallas, 255.) (5) The acts favoring the Connecticut people proceeded on the ground of settlement, not of the validity of any claim of the settlers or ofthe company. It was not on the ground of any grant from Con necticut under the alleged extent of her charter, nor under any title derived from the Susquehanna company on their alleged purchase of the Indians. It was a moral obligation to those who had settled on these lands under an idea of right, and when the situation of things Oblong, April 6, 1795, to Jonathan Hibbard. Seeleysborough, Dec. 25, 1794, to Bezeleel Seeley. Smithfield, Sept. 23, 1795, to David Smith and others. Springhill, May 21, 1796, to Noah Pratt. Springfield, Oct. 22, 1777, to James Wells, Jeremiah Ross, and others. Standing Stone, 1774, to David Smith. Ulster. Spring Hill, Jan. 17, 1795, to Robert W. Nash and others. Walsingham, Deo. 20, 1795, to Samuel Gordon. Watertown, Sept. 5, 1794, tq Dapiel Brown. Windsor, Feb. 28, 1795, to John Spalding. Orange, Aug. 12, 1795, to Isaac Cash and Silas Jackson. White Haven, May 22, 1788, to Joseph EUiott and others. 42 HISTORY OP BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. and the nature of the case furnished a ground for mistake; so thiit they were not to be considered in the light of voluntary trespasser.s, more especially as Indian hostilities were combated by those very settlers at their outposts, where many of them fell, and at whose peril and by whose sufrei-ings the interior of the State had been so much defended. (Enslin vs. Bowman, 6 Binney, 462.) In the elaborate opinion of Judge Breckenridge, in the case of Carkhuff vs. Anderson, reported in 2 Binney, 4, he says, " I do not view them (the Connecticut settlers within the seventeen townships) in the light of trespassers with a full knowledge of their want of title. At all events the bulk of them do not seem to have been apprised of their want of title, and I make a great distinction between tres passers knowing, or having good reason to know, their de fect of title, and such as may reasonably be supposed to be ignorant of what they are about. Before the decree of Trenton, the most intelligent and best informed might have been led to believe that the part of the country in question was settled under a good title from the State of Connecti cut. It was not so clear a case as not to admit of a differ ence of construction. By the decree of Trenton it was ascertained that this allegation of title was without founda tion. But in favor of those who had settled under the idea of a good title, with the expectation of enjoying the land they were improving, at great risk and much loss from the common enemy during the Revolutionary war, there is a claim which ought not to be wholly disregarded. I do not call it a right, but a claim on the ground of moral obliga tion. ... I hold it to be a principle of humanity, and even of moral integrity, that whenever an individual has entered upon unimproved land, taking the history of the settlement of our country into view, he ought not to be dispossessed, provided he is able and willing to pay for the land in an un improved state, with a reasonable allowance to the demand ant for his trouble, loss of time, and expense in pursuing his right." By an act passed April 4, 1799, commonly called the Compensation Law, commissioners were appointed to ascer tain the quality, quantity, and situation of lands in the sev enteen townships held by Pennsylvania claimants before the Trenton decree, to divide the lands into four classes, and affix the value to each class. To lands of the first class a sum not exceeding five dollars per acre ; the second class, three dollars ; the third class, one dollar and fifty cents ; and to the fourth class, twenty-five cents per acre, for which cer tificates were given, on the release of the title to the State, receivable as specie at the land-office ; no certificates were to issue until forty thousand acres were thus released, and till Connecticut claimants to that amount under their hands and seals agreed to abide by the decision of the commis sioners. All disputes between Pennsylvania claimants were to be decided in the usual way, by the board of property, from which an appeal could be taken to the courts. Lands of the Connecticut claimants against which no adverse Pennsylvania title appeared, or where such title had been released, occupied by actual settlers at or before the time of the Trenton decree, which lots were particularly assigned to the said settlers prior to the said decree, ao-ree- ably to the regulations then in force among them, were also to be divided into four classes ; the price of the first class to be two dollars per acre, of the second class one (Joll^r and twenty cents, of the third class fifty cents, of the fourth class eight and one-third cents per acre, payable in eight equal annual installments. The lots were to be resurveyed, certificates issued, o^ which patents would be granted to the Connecticut claimants, after the usual patent and sur veying fees were paid. Unexpected difficulties, growing out of the refusal or neglect of the Penn.sylvania claimants to execute their re leases, rendered the law inoperative. To meet this difficulty a supplement was passed, April 6, 1802, which directed the commissioners to survey, value, and certify the whole of each tract claimed by a Connecticut claimant, whether re leased or not by the Pennsylvania claimant, who should not recover the Same as against the Connecticut claimant, but should have liberty to bring suit against the Commonwealth, at which trial the court and jury, provided he established title, should have power to aWard just compensation. It was also provided that every Connecticut claimant applying for a certificate must first deliver up to the commissioners all title-papers, which were to be transmitted to the secre tary of the commonwealth. The provisions of this act differed from the confirming law in that it was limited in its operations to the seventeen townships, while the other included all rights acquired before the Trenton decree ; it also paid the Pennsylvania claimant in cash instead of in land. Thoraas Cooper, Gen. Steele, and Mr. Wilson were the commissioners. Their duties were difficult and delicate. The Pennsylvania land holders were opposed to the law because it took away their lands without rendering what they thought a just com pensation, while many were mortified and chagrined to see the lands, for which they had so long contested, taken from thein and given to their adversaries. The half share men opposed the law because it ignored the claims of the companies, and left them without the pale of its beneficent provisions ; but the great mass of the old settlers saw here a way of ending a contest of which they were weary, and cheerfully took title under the State, while the energy, tact, and liberal construction of the law manifested by Judge Cooper won the confidence and esteem of all parties. Perhaps no better account of the work of this commis sion, the operations of the law, and the feelings of the people towards it, ctm be given, than is furnished by the letters of Judge Cooper to the governor. Under date of March 8, 1802, he says, " The proceedings of the legislature from that time (the Trenton decree) to the present have, unfortunately, been so indecisive as to inspire neither con fidence nor terror. No regular plan, either of conciliation or of force, has been steadily pur.sued, and the case presents as many difficulties at this moment as at any former period." After giving a synopsis of the legislation on this question, he adds, " Previous to the commission of last summer seven distinct commissions have acted ineffectually in the settle ment of the controversy. Tho present is the third under the law of 1799. When Gen. Steele, Mr. Wilson, and myself proceeded last summer to Wilkes-Barre, we found no inclination among the Connecticut claimants in the town ships to take tho benefit of the law under which we were to act, and there seemed no expectation that any future com mission would surmount the obstacles which had deterred HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 43 the former. Hitlierto no Connecticut claim had been ex amined, or any survey made of a Connecticut lot, under the law of 1799. Those who were willing to merge their Con necticut in a Pennsylvania title, and to accept of the latter, whether by gift or purchase, were deterred from proceeding by the repeal of the confirming law, under which many of them had applied and submitted their titles to no effect. He recommends the following amendments : " 1. The introduction of pitches. "2. The extension of the privUege of release to Pennsylvania claimants whose titles originated since the decree of Trenton ; and " 3. The taking the property not released, and referring the Penn sylvania owner to a jury." The second and third recommendations were subsequently adopted, the last the following April. Under date of Oct. 20, 1802, he writes, " Every Con necticut claim of every Connecticut claimant, under the law of 1790 and the supplements thereto, has been examined and decided upon, except in cases of townships rejected and appeals from my jurisdiction. " The townships of Bedford and Ulster were not able to make out a title to my satisfaction under the Susquehanna company and the law of 1799. I rejected, therefore, every application within those townships. The case of Ulster I was very sorry for, as the applicants there deserve far more fur their submission to the law of 1799 than those of any other township. Ulster is the very focus of opposition, and the applicants have met with much rancor and ridicule from their opponents. In Ulster live Franklin, the Satterlees, the Spaldings, the Binghams, and all the decided and lead ing characters among the half-share men. In that town ship, and there alone, will opposition arise, if at all. Of all the persons who have applied for the benefit of the act of 1799 (about 950) the proportion of nine-tenths, as near as I can now conjecture, have exhibited their titles. . . . I have found a very general and great anxiety amongst the Connecticut claimants throughout all the townships, who by mistake, misconception, ignorance, or accident have been de prived or defeated of the benefits of the law of 1799, to sub mit cheerfully to the conditions offered by the legislature." Under date oFNov. 15, 1802, after giving the facts upon which his estimates are founded, he adds, " I cannot be far wronn- when I state the utmost force of the ' wild Yankees,' as they are called, at 200 men ; these are for the most part poor and ignorant, but industrious settlers, thinly scattered over a wild country, misled and ruled by about a half a dozen leaders living chiefly in the township of Ulster, viz. : Franklin, Satterlee, Spalding, Bingham, Flowers, and Kings bury, John Jenkins, of Exeter, and Ezekiel Hyde, of Wil- lingborough. In fact, all the active opposition is confined to three or four miles above and below Tioga Point, and about a dozen miles east and west of it." After speaking of the number and attachment of the old settlers to the State, and of the divisions among the half-share men, and the defection ofsome of the leaders to the half-share inter ests, he concludes : " I indeed know of no other way of making the county of Luzerne useful to the State but by encouraging New England settlers under Pennsylvania titles. The Philadelphia land-holders, who are infatuated as to the value of their lands, may induce the legislature to make the country a desert and keep it so ; but less time, less trouble, less expense will make it a garden. Yet if measures of conciliation do not produce the effect within a twelvemonth, better it is the country should be a desert than a hot-bed of lawless opposition and insurrection. But I sadly begrudge such an exertion for the sake of the Phil adelphia speculators. They have little claim upon the State, for independent of the speculating transactions of 1792 and 1793, out of upwards of 750 lottery orders under applications of 1769 laid in this county, not more than 104 are patented and paid for." Another source of annoyance rose in the land-office. Some cases of contested Connecticut claims were appealed to the board of property. In regard to one such case arising in our own county Judge Cooper writes a decided and indignant letter to Governor M'Kean. The heirs of Wm. Stewart had contested the claim of Justus Gaylord to his lots in Wyalusing before the commissioners who had decided against Stewart, whereupon a caveat was filed against issuing a patent on the certificate and the parties cited to appear before the board of property. The judge says, " If the secretary of the land-office has a right to drag one claim before the board of property to defend the certificate we have given him, and this on the application of the party whose claim the commissioners have rejected, then might the whole county be cited before the board at Lancaster, and all that the commissioners have done be rendered use less and perhaps undone. Surely, if there be any meaning in the law of 1799, the commissioners were exclusively vested with the power of deciding on the conflicting claims of Connecticut settlers." He advises Mr. Gaylord to show the letter to Andrew Ellicott (the secretary of the land- office), refuse to defend against the caveat, demand a pat ent, and if refused apply for a mandamus, and concludes : " If I hear of any more instances of such wanton, such un authorized oppression, I shall feel it my bounden duty to excite the people of this county to lay the case before the next legislature and ask for the removal of an officer so dangerous and inconsiderate." A number of other acts were passed by the legislature to meet certain emergencies and render the general law more effective. The most important of these was the act of April 9, 1807, which provided that Pennsylvania claimants in the fifteen townships under titles prior to March 28, 1807, may release their claims in the same manner as those holding under old warrants, and Connecticut claimants within those townships are not required to have occupied their lands prior to the decree of Trenton, but are to receive certificates if, under the rules and regulations of the Sus quehanna company at any time, they were entitled to them. By an act passed March 19, 1810, the townships of Bed ford and Ulster, which were rejected by the commissioners of 1799, were included in the provisions of the compromise, but no certificate was to issue for lands upon which the Pennsylvania claimant resides. This had been the practice before, but now it was affirmed by statute. Thus after years of bitter conflict, of much fruitless legis lation, of oppression which blackens the pages of Pennsyl vania history, the claims of the old settlers were recognized, they were quieted in their possessions which had cost them 44 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. so much, and held titles for their lands which every court in the commonwealth was bound to protect. But there was another class, the wild Yankees, half- share men, new-comers, many of them holding their lands on condition of " manning their rights," who were induced to come on for the purpose of defending the claims of the Susquehanna company, who have been described by Judge Cooper, and whose number he estimates at about 200, towards whom a very different policy was pursued, — a policy of force, not of conciliation, of coercion instead of com promise, — a policy, as Judge Shippen expressed it, designed " to cut up the Susquehanna company by the roots.'' On the 18th of February, 1795, a large and enthusiastic meeting of the Susquehanna propi-ietors, reported in the minutes of the meeting to have been more than twelve hundred in number, was held at Athens, at which it was resolved to take vigorous measures to prosecute the claim of the company ; " to prevent any ill-disposed pgrsons, with out due authority, unlawfully intruding upon, surveying, or attempting to seize and settle any of the aforesaid lands ; afford a just protection to the property of the real owners and such settlers as enter on the same land peaceably, in due course of law, and under real proprietors thereof, being fully determined, in a constitutional and legal manner only, to maintain and defend the title and claim which the aforesaid company have to the aforesaid lands ; and also to recover such parts thereof as are possessed in opposition thereto." The Pennsylvania land-holders were not slow to take up the gauntlet thus defiantly thrown down by the company. They were now at the height of their power, and the legis lature was meekly subservient to their wishes. On the llth of April the intrusion law was passed, inflicting heavy fines and imprisonment upon any convicted of taking pos session of, entering, intruding, or settling " on any lands within the limits of the counties of Northampton, North umberland, or Luzerne, by virtue or under color of any conveyance of half-share right, or any other pretended title not derived from the authority of this commonwealth, or of the late Proprietaries of Pennsylvania before the Revo lution," making it a crime to combine or conspire to convey, possess, or settle any such lands under any half-share right, but excepting the land within the seventeen townships. The half-share men were not to be diverted from their resolution by threats of civil punishment nor military force. They had compelled Pennsylvania to recognize the claims of the old settlers after a conflict of thirty years, and they would keep up the opposition for thirty years more if she did not sooner deal justly with them. So determined il\'as this opposition that Pennsylvania surveyors wei-e violently driven from their work, and Pennsylvania settlers were compelled to abandon their claims. To meet the organized movements of the Susquehanna company, those holding Pennsylvania titles formed an as.so- ciation, which was called the Pennsylvania land-holders' association. At a meeting held in Philadelphia, Januaiy 10, 1801, they sent a memorial to the legislature praying for more efficient measures to be put in force against the in truders, as the half-share men were called. On the 10th of February the supplement to the intrusion law was passed, making the penalty for settling or selling under the Con necticut title still more severe, enacting that every person coming upon the territory must file a declaration stating of what country he was last a resident, and under what title he held his lands ; also providing for the appointment of an agent by the governor, who should make diligent inquiry into all offenses committed under the act, and report for prosecution to the attorney-general the names of all offend ers, and of witnesses to prove their offense, and also providing for calling out the military force of the common wealth in case the agent apprehended danger or resistance. The half-share men, especially in the northern part of the .county, were unsparing in their denunciation of the law, which they called the " Fire and Brimstone Law," of the legislature, and of the landholders in whose interest and ' at whose instigation it had been passed. About this time was formed what was known as the " Wild Yankee League," in which, after recounting the wrongs which Pennsylvania had heaped upon the settlers, they resolved to protect each other and bid defiance to the law and the Pennsylvania authorities. Colonel Abraham Home was appointed agent, with a salary of twelve hundred dollars per year, to put the law in force. He was required to report to the attorney-general all who were engaged in the survey or transfers of land under the Susquehanna company's title, all who were hold ing their land under such title, unless, under hand and seal, they would relinquish all such claim and promise submis sion to the laws of the State. The duties of his office were odious to a free people. He was a legalized inquisitor. He was regarded and treated by the half-share men as a spy and an enemy, and shunned as men would shun the plague. On April 9, at another meeting of the land-holders, which repiesented claimants to more than one million three hundred thousand acres of land, of which Samuel Hodgdon was president, it was resolved that each land-holder would contribute, in proportion to the amount of land claimed by him, towards the iieccssary expenses -of putting in fuUAirce the law against intrusions, which were estimated at three thousand two hundred dollars. Legal counsel were re tained, and Dr. Robert H. Rose was appointed a special agent to treat with the settlers for the sales of lands. Whatever may be thought of the merits of the conflicting claims to the right of soil in the Susquehanna company's purchase, the intrusion law was deserving of the odious epithets applied to it by the half-share men. It arrayed the courts and the military power against one class of citi zens in favor of their adversaries. It gave to one party the exclusive power of deciding grave legal questions in volving the dearest rights of the opposing party. The law was not only in the interest of the land-holders' association, but was executed by thimi. Their counsel were the actual prosecutors in the criminal as well as the civil .suits which arose under it. They assumed and did speak for the gov ernment on questions arising under the law. At their dic tation parties were tried or pardoned, convicted or set free. The land-holders were most of thera residents of Philadel phia, who had invested far beyond their means in wild lands on which they set a fabulous value. The settlers were poor, indu.strious, and economical. So that whether we consider the parties, the policy of the law, or tho manner of its HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 45 execution, we need not be surprised at the indignation it aroused in the half-share men. Colonel Home entered at once upon his mission. In June he came into Bradford County, but apprehending danger from the violent opposition of the people, he stopped at Asylum. Rev. Thomas Smiley, then residing near Franklindale, had written to the agent that nearly all the forty settlers on Towanda creek would renounce their Con necticut titles and purchase of the Pennsylvania claimant. A conference was held at Asylum. Mr. Smiley was com missioned deputy agent, and furnished with the necessary papers. July 7, he obtained the signatures of nearly forty. to their relinquishments and submissions, and started for Asylum. A meeting was held, and the wild Yankees de termined that the business must be stopped. About twenty men from Sugar creek, Ulster, and Sheshequin, armed and disguised, started in pursuit. Mr. Smiley, hearing the ar rangements of the conspirators, went down to Joshua Wythe's, near Monroeton, where he remained until dark, and then stopped for the night at Jacob Grantier's, then living where Major Hale's residence now is. The party, learning of his lodging-place, followed him, broke into his room, compelled him to burn his papers, took him near the creek, poured a bottle of tar over his head, covering it with feathers, when, after giving him sundry kicks, ordered him to leave the country. John Murpheyj David Campbell, Jacob Irvine, Ebenezer Shaw, Stephen Ballard, and Ben jamin Griffin were arrested for the assault, but the proof being insufficient, the grand jury returned the bill igno' ramus. It has been said the man who carried the bottle of tar was on the grand jury, but as in this capacity he was supposed to take cognizance only of the facts proved, he was not expected to decide from his own personal knowl edge, and therefore voted with the majority.* Mr. Smiley * The following papers, which relate to the period of the intrusion law, will be read with interest by those who are interested in these matters. The first is a letter from Elder Thomas Smiley to Samuel Hodgdon, dated Newberry, Lycoming county, July 16, 1801 : "Gextlemen, — I would assure you tliiit itis not because thatlthiiik thatlam able to teach your much Buperlor abilities the proper means of proceeding in this business (for I have never appeared in the public world) that I put you to this trouble, but because I conceive that I can give you some information that I expect may be of special u«e both to the binJ-holders and the settlers. As to any informat'on who and what I am, more than a sincere philanthropist, I shall refer you to Col. Horn, who will most likely be the bearer hereof. "Tho settlers from the heads of Towanda creek untill Allen's Mill, or below, a distance of about twenty miles, have, ever since I have been there (that is about two year.^), been unitedly in favor of the Pennsylvania claim, and desirous to purchase of the proper owner, if he could be fonnd, but being unacquainted with land affairs in thisState, had but very incorrect id eas of attaining toit; there- fore, when the supplement to the intrusion law came ont last February, after advice with my neighbors, we sent an address to Mr. Cox, with a desire that he might lay it before the governor, wi.shing that we might have (if the thing would admit) some favor. This I hear has now come iuto your hands, but at that time we knew nothing about a committee of land-holders or any general associat'on of thf'm having been formed. "Upim the earliest infornjation that I had of Col. Horn's being in Wilkes barre, I wrote to him cdncerriing the situation of myself and neighbors. He received the letter alter his return from the city with the proposals made by the land-holders by their committee ; he therefore sent forward a specimen of bolh the proposals and declaration to me. I communicated it to iny fiiends, to their infinite i-afs fact ion, and they sent me to Col. Horn to procure further instruc tions, and the means of their compliance, which has been done and executed, but I bfush to re'lHte to you that there are none of the certificates now iu ex istence ; therefore, for particulars on this point, I refer you to the agent himself, who is able to give you fuH information. •' What I have wrote already is designed as an introduction, therefore I would further wish to inform you tliat, since the last-mentioned disaster took place, I have revisited my neighbors, and find them all fixed in the principles they first removed to Lycoming county, where for twenty-five years he was pastor of the Baptist church in White Deer valley. acted upon ; wherefore, I take this method to inform j ou further tliat there is a parly thai are nmch set against government, and use every means in their power to make both the laws and means of compromising aborlive. Their argument agsiinst the law is that it is unconstitutional, ex posi facto, etc., and against the comiiromi^e offered ; that the Ptmnsylvania claimants are sensible of the Con necticut claim be'ng of some value, or else they would imt want it to be aban doned; that the people are signing away Iheir labor aa well as the soil, and no they say it is their own death-warrant; that it has been formerly experienced that proposals of thi.s kind cannot be relied on ; that there are ten owners to one tract under Pennsjlvania; that the reasonable price at which the settler will get the lands at, will, in our back country, ho seven or eight dollars per acre, and the money all paid down, or else leave the lands instantly. These things are aitl'ully circulated with, I ha'i almost said, a thousand others, in order to deter innocent people from their duty. Fnr the i-eniedy of this, I would beg leave to reconmiend that the moat eaily and effectual measures be set on foot, to let the settlers ou Towanda have their lands according to their expectntion on their compliance; and if tho present point of time will not permit their acting in it, if there could be some short acknowledgment for what is done by them, and an answer sent to the (ibjectors with testimony of a design of the land-holders to persevere in the plan pi'oposed, it would work nio-¦ The next day the army remained in its encampment, and the troops spent the day in resting from their fatigues, bathing in the river, washing their clothes, and cooking rations to last them until they should reach Tioga. Saturday the 7th of August, a severe rain-storm came on, which compelled them to remain another day at Wya lusing. Towards evening the weather cleared, and a general inspection of all the troops took place on the banks of the river. What strange changes a few years will sometimes witness 1 A short time before, these woods were vocal with the sounds of busy industry, and ringing with the music of the Chris tianized Indians as they sang their Delaware hymns. Scarcely had the echoes of these plaintive melodies died away ere these hills were rattling with the shrill war-whoop of the marauding savage, and now they are answering back the shrill call of the bugle, the martial music of fife and 78 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. drum, or trembling with the echoing thunders of the deep- mouthed cannon. Early on Sunday morning the army again took up its line of march. The path followed nearly the line of the old stage-road, and the greater part of the distance wasoutof sight ¦ of the river. A succession of high, steep hills made the journey a difficult one. Gen. Hand was able to reach Wy- socking and encamp on the Strope farm, near the mouth of the creek, while the main body got only as far as Standing Stone, and encamped on the farms of Mr. Fitzgerald and Capt. Spalding. The boatmen had met on this day's trip unusual difficulties. The river swollen by the recent rains, the numerous rifts and rapids, and the greater distance of the crooked stream made this a day of great hardship, and it was late in the night ere the whole fleet was drawn up along the flank of the army and the evening gun announced that the day's work was completed. Just opposite the coraraand- ing general's headquarters was the great stone, standing on the farther bank of the river, which gives the name to the place. At the command of Sullivan a solid shot was fired from the morning^un, which broke off its uppermost corner, leaving the imprint a story for future generations. Gen. Hand had learned from his scouts of the existence of a newly-built Indian village called Newtychaning, con sisting of twenty-eight finished log' houses and six others in process of building, on the opposite side of the river, near the mouth of Sugar creek, which had been built in the spring, but was now abandoned. On their passage up the next day a company from Col. Proctor's men landed aud burned the town. This was the first opportunity afforded the army to engage in the work of destruction which it was their mission to carry on. This day, Monday, the path left the river at Wysox creek, striking the Little Wysox near the Hinman place, thenee behind the hills opposite Towanda to the small stream which flows into the river above the Narrows, when it passed over the high hill opposite the mouth of Sugar creek, where, being .so narrow along the steep face of the hill, it took the name of Breakneck. Three of the cattle tumbled down the hill, and were killed in the fall. One of the boats loaded with flour was lost this evening just as they were coming to land. It was nearly nine o'clock before the troops reached the place of their en campment on the Indian meadows ofthe present Sheshequin. This place was called by some of the men Sullivan's farms. Gen. SuUivan himself dated his orders at "Shawanee." Here the army rested one day, waiting for the boats to come up, cooking provision, while sorae of the officers, under a proper escort, ascended the hill overlooking the junction of the two rivers and reconnoitred the place of the old Tioo'a On Wednesday, Aug. 11, the array was again put in motion. After marching up the river about a mile the troops forded to the right bank. The Second New Jersey and the Second New York crossing first, were deployed to cover the passage of the remainder of the forces. The water at this place was nearly to the armpits, and the current quite rapid. The troops entered the river in several files, each man grasping the one before hira in order to steady himself against the force of the stream ; and, to keep dry their am munition, their cartouch-boxes were slung upon their bayonets high above their heads. But little more than an hour was spent in transferring the whole army across the stream. They landed a little below Queen Esther's town, which Hartley had burned the preceding October. March ing two miles farther, they forded the Tioga branch, and went into camp, not far from noon, on the beautiful plain where the borough of Athens is now situated. This even ing Gen. Sullivan dispatched Capt. Cummings, Lieut. Jenkins, Capt. Jobn Franklin, and six men from the Second New Jersey Regiment to reconnoitre the Indian town of Chemung, about twelve miles up the Tioga and near the place which now bears that narae, where it was supposed was a considerable force of the enemy ; the army meanwhile being eraployed in clearing off the ground, burn- ins the brush huts which the Indians had erected after the destruction of the town by Hartley, and preparing for their encampment. About three o'clock in the afternoon of the next day the scout returned with the information that the Indians were moving away with all speed. All the able-bodied troops were at once mustered and ordered to take a supply of am munition and one day's rations, to be ready to march early in the evetiing. At ten o'clock the troops were put in motion. Gen. Hand in advance, followed by Gen. Poor's brigade, with Gen. Maxwell's, under command of Col. Dayton, iu the rear ; Gen. Maxwell remaining in command of the camp. The march was an exceedingly difficult one, on account of the darkness of the night and a couple of nar row defiles which must be passed, so that at daybreak but half of the journey had been accomplished. The remaining half was made on the run, and the town was reached about sunrise. The enemy had evacuated the place and carried away the most of their goods, a few deer- and bear-skins and some trifling trinkets only being left behind. The town " consisted of about forty houses, built chiefly with split and hewn timber, covered with bark and some other rough materials, without chimneys or floors. There were two larger houses, which, from some extraordinary rude deco rations, we took to be public buildings. ... In what we supposed to be a chapel was found indeed an idol, whieh might well enough be worshiped without a breach of the second commandment on account of its likeness to anything in heaven or earth.* About sunrise the general gave orders for the town to be illuminated, and accordingly we had a glorious bonfire." (Capt. James Norrls' Journal of the Sul livan Campaign.) Gen. Hand was ordered to push forward with the light troops, in the hope that he raight overtake the flying fugi tives. When he had advanced about a mile and a half he was flred upon by a party of about fifty, hidden in the bushes, killing six soldiers and wounding as many more, with Capt. Carbury and Adjt. Huston, both of Col. Hub- ley's regiment, which was in advance, and Capt. John Franklin, who was severely wounded in the shoulder. On » A part of this journal was published in the Portsmouth (N. H.) Journal, Sept. 1 6, 1843, which, by leaving out about two pages of the original MS., makes this idol found in Queen Esther's palace, whioh was burned by Hartley nearly a year before. The dates ought to havo corrected tho mistake. Mr. Miner quotes this without observing the blunder, and seeks to account for the existence of the idol on the ground of Queen Esther's supposed French descent. HISTORY OP BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 79 both sides the river were large fields of corn, potatoes, beans, pumpkins, squashes, and watermelons. After gathering as much of these as could be carried, the rest were destroyed. While doing this, Gen. Poor's brigade was fired upon by a party from across the river ; one man was killed and three wounded. Having completed the destruction of the crops the army marched back to Tioga ; which they reached about sunset, thoroughly exhausted by the labors ofthe last twenty- four hours. The dead were brought back, and buried in the evening with military honors. Apprehending no danger frora the Indians in the imme diate vicinity of the camp, the herdsmen separated into small parties, for the purpose of securing better pasturage for the horses and cattle. A party of five or six had gone on the west side of the Tioga for this purpose, when, in the afternoon of the 16th, they were suddenly attacked by a band of Indians. Jabez Elliott was killed and scalped, two others killed, and one missing, and the enemy succeeded in killing one ox and driving off several horses. It was the plan of Washington that the array should ad vance into the Iroquois territory in three divisions : the right Jjy the way of the Mohawk, the centre by the Sus quehanna, and the left by the Alleghany. General Broad- head, who was in command at Pittsburgh, was to take cora mand of the left or western division. Leaving Pittsburgh in August, with six hundred men, he destroyed several In dian towns on the Allegheny and other tributaries of the Ohio, when it was found that the difficulty of keeping open communications between this and other divisions of the ex pedition would render co-operation impracticable, and this part of the plan had to be abandoned. General James Clinton's division, which consisted of four regiments, under command of Colonels Gansevort, Dubois, Alden, Weisenfels, numbering altogether about fifteen hun dred men, had wintered on the Mohawk. About the mid dle of June he commenced transporting his army and mili tary stores to the head of Lake Otsego, where two hundred and fifty boats were built for the transportation of his stores to Tioga, where he was to form a junction with the other division, under the immediate command of Sullivan. On the 16th of August, Sullivan ordered a detachment of nine hundred men,* under the command of General Poor, to move up the Susquehanna until they met Clinton. The detachment began its march at 11 o'clock a.m., and reached Mauckatoewang-um the first night. From this place Ser geants Chapman and Justus Gaylord were sent forward to inform Clinton of the approaching escort. The sergeants, however, lost the path, and after wandering about in the woods for a nuraber of days, returned to camp neariy fam ished with hunger. On the evening of the 17th the de tachment encamped at Owego, and on the 18th at Choconut. As they were going into their encampment, they were greeted with the report of Clinton's evening gun. » The following is the detail.— Jersey brigade : 2 colonels, 1 lieuten ant-colonel, 1 major, 9 captains, 12 lieutenants, 18 sergeants, 18 cor porals, 3 drummers, 3 fifers, and 360 privates. Poor's brigade : 1 colonel, 1 lieutenant-colonel, 2 majors, 9 captains, 12 lieutenants, 18 sergeants, 18 corporals, 3 drummers, 3 fifers, and 335 privates. Hand's brigade : 4 captains, 8 lieutenants, 12 sergeants, 12 corporals, 2 drummers, 2 fifers, and 215 privates. Total number of officers and men, 1084. Clinton's command had lain in comparative idleness at Lake Otsego, since the middle of June, awaiting orders from Sullivan. To guard against low water, which usually oc curs in the latter part of summer, a dam- was built at the ¦outlet of the lake, and its waters held in reserve. On the 9th of August the stores were placed on board the boats, each of which was guided by three men, the dam was cut away, and the loaded fleet floated gracefully out of the lake, and hurried down the swollen stream. The troops marched near the bank of the river. On the 13th they reached Unadilla, on the 15th Acquaga, where they ex pected to be met by a Pennsylvania regiraent, for whora they waited all day, and at 9 o'clock the two parties met, and reached Owego the sarae evening, where they laid by all day on account of a heavy rain. At noon, on the 22d, they reached Tioga in the midst of a drenching storm, wheie they were welcomed with salvos of artillery, and escorted into camp by Proctor's military band. The whole army now numbered about five thousand men. It was the largest and the raost iraposing military force ever gathered on the soil of Bradford County,' as the expedition was the most remarkable undertaken during the Revolu tionary war. Sullivan had determined to make Tioga the base of sup plies for his army while in the Indian country. For this purpose he set about constructing a fortification of consid erable strength, and for a nuraber of days the soldiers were busily employed in cutting logs for the work. In a letter of Captain John Shreve, son of the colonel, and who com manded a company in his father's regiment, he says, " After remaining here a few days. Colonel Shreve was ordered, with a detaohraent, to build a stockade fort, at a place about two or three railes up the two rivers, Susquehanna and Chemung, where they passed each other within about one hundred yards. I was left with this detachment. The fort was called Fort Sullivan. Nearly four square, about ninety yards one way, and a little under the other way. By digging a trench two and a half feet deep, and placing up right logs about twelve feet high, in the trench, leaving two or three gateways." The location of this " fort" was near, and a little above, the public square in the borough of Athens, its sides diag onally to the banks of the rivers, with a strong block -house standing in each angle ofthe intrenchment. It was a very secure defense against any force it was known the enemy could bring against it. The boats were brought up and secured near by. Imraediately on the arrival of Clinton, preparations fbr an advance were rapidly made. Tents were cut up and made into bags, so that flour, salted meat, and even ammuni tion could be carried on the backs of pack-horses ; all un necessary baggage was stored with the garrison, the army re organized, the order of march detailed, and at eleven o'clock in the morning of the 26th of August began its forward movement into the country of the enemy. Nothing of note occurred until the 29th, except the great difficulty of trans porting artillery and military stores through such a wilder ness. On the morning of this day, when about four miles west of Chemung, a forraidable breastwork of logs and fallen trees, very advantageously situated, was discovered. 80 HISTORY OP BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. A large creek ran in front of the intrenchment, the Che mung (Tioga) river was on their right, a high, steep mountain on their left, and a newly-built settlement, called Newtown (present Elmira), in their rear. When the army had arrived within about three hundred yards of the works, the rifle corps began to engage the enemy, for the purpose of withdrawing his attention from the general movements of the troops. General Hand's brigade was ordered to -cover the artillery; General Poor, supported by General Clinton, to take a circuitous march and gain the top of the hill on the enemy's left ; and General Maxwell's brigade to be held in reserve. Owing to the difficulty of the ground. General Poor did not gain the position assigned hira before the fire was opened in front. The force of the enemy was variously estimated frora eight hundred to fifteen hundred raen ; of these there were two hundred British regulars and American loyalists, under the command of Major John and Walter Butler, and the remainder Indians, under Brant. At the second discharge of the artillery, the Indians took to their heels in perfect consternation. In vain their leaders urged and besought them to halt and return their fire. They could think of nothing but escape from the big guns, whose balls were plowing up the earth under their feet and crashing through the trees above their heads. In their re treat they fell in with General Poor, and here a sharp en gagement ensued. Poor ordered his men to advance with fixed bayonets, and the enemy fled Before him like fright ened deer. Reaching the top ofthe hill, his men poured a volley at the flying foe and the fight was over. Col. Reid's regiment, which was on the left of Poor's brigade, suffered the raost severely. Major Titcomb, Capt. Clays, and Lieut. McCauly were wounded, the latter died that night ; one sergeant and three private soldiers were killed, and thirty-three were wounded. Of the Indians twelve scalps were taken, but the nuraber of killed and wounded could not be ascertained. One Tory and one negro were captured. A small force was sent in pursuit of the flying foe, but so precipitate was their re treat that the pursuing party could not come up with them, and abandoned the pursuit. The next day was spent in destroying the crops, which were abundant. Everything was laid waste. The Tories who were living with the Indians had assisted them in build ing good log houses, and in planting their crops. Large clearings had been made about their settlements, and several thousand acres of corn were planted, from whieh it was ex pected that supplies could be drawn not only for the suste nance of the cultivators, but for the subsistence of the British troops stationed on the border. From Newtown Sullivan sent back his heavy artillery, for which he wisely judged there would be no further use, and which proved a great incumbrance to the march, retainino' only four brass three-pounders and a sraall howitzer. Tho wounded, and all who for any reason were unfit for active duty, went by boats to Tioga. At the evening parade, he proposed to his army that they should draw only halfrations of flour and salted meat making up the balance from the productions of the country. This was readily and cheerfully accepted by every ro-nmcnt. No want, however, was occasioned among the troops, the great quantities of corn, beans, squashes, and potatoes found all along the line of march affording an abundant supply of provisions. The raovements of the array in the State of New York it is not designed minutely to follow.* Passing through French Catherine's town, near the south point of Seneca lake, the route lay on the east side of the lake, thence into the valley of the Genesee river, where they arrived the 14th of September. Here nearly two days were spent in destroy ing the crops, burning houses, cutting down orchards, and devastating the country. From this point various detach ments were sent out to overrun all the neighboring country. One of these, under Col. Gansevort, passed through the cen tral part of the State, down the Mohawk to Albany, others down the Cayuga lake, down the west side of the Seneca, while the main body of the army set out on its return, by the same way it had advanced, on the afternoon ofthe 15th of September, and on the 24th arrived at Fort Reid, near Newtown. This had been appointed as the place of rendez vous for the various detachments sent out from the Genesee, and the army remained here until the 29th. In the mean while parties were sent up the Tioga and its branches to the distance of thirty railes, for the purpose of destroying any villages or crops which raight be found there. A dispatch announcing that Spain had recognized the independence of the United States was read in general orders on the evening of the 24th, and the following day was spent in rejoicing ; oxen were killed, whisky drank, toasts proposed. The troops paraded, cannon roared, and musketry rattled, until the woods rang with the shouts and songs of the men, and the joyfiil notes of the martial music. Two hundred and fifty men, properly officered, exclusive of the invalids and boatmen, were left as a garrison at Fort Sullivan, under the command of Col. Shreve, under whose care were placed the women and servants, the baggage, in short, everything which it was deemed would be a hindrance to the rapid march of the army. The first object of Col. Shreve was to strengthen his forti fications so that they would be secure against any attack the enemy might bring against him. In order to husband his stores, all women who were not expressly left in care of their husbands' baggage were sent to Wyoming, and the boatmen were hastened to Wyoraing to bring up a new cargo of supplies for the returning army. For about a fortnight he was busy in attending to the wants of the sick and wounded in the hospitals, keeping his camp in good condition, and securing supplies. Sept. 14, he ordered a detachment of one hundred men, one three-pounder cannon, to proceed in twenty boats, manned with one hundred boatmen, .til under command of Capt. Reid, to proceed to Newtown, and there construct a small fortification for the relief of the army on its return. To this were transferred supplies of flour, cattle, and spirits for the use nf the troops. Sueh had been the diligence, energy, and forethought exhibited by Col. Shreve, that in general orders " the com- ¦¦¦¦' [n Duty's History of Livingston Co., N. Y., is a very full and vivid aooouMt of tho movements of the expedition in the central part of .N'l'w York. HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 81 mander-in-chief returns his most sincere thanks to Col. Shreve and his garrison, for their industry and attention to the safety and comfort of the army while absent, and the very prudent steps which he pursued to render the situation of the army comfortable on its return." The army returned to Tioga Oct. 1, having lost in this reriiarkable expedition less than fifty men. The second was spent as a day of general rejoicing. Says one of the journ alists ofthis campaign, " Joy beamed in every countenance." They had accomplished with great success the object of the expedition, and were now out of the woods and on the great highway to civilization. On the third, the fort was de stroyed, and the next day the army marched as far as Wysox. From this place all the troops, except what were necessary to drive the pack-horses and cattle, were embarked on boats, and reached Wyoming on the 7th of October, where, after a rest of three days, they set out for Easton, to join the main army. Numerous incidents have been related by the various journalists* of this campaign ; only one or two can be raen tioned. At Canadia, Luke Swetland was found, who had been captured by the Indians at Nanticoke, in August, 1778. In the Genesee valley, Mrs. Lester and her child, who had been captured at Wyoming the November previous, came into the camp. Mrs. Lester afterwards became the second wife of Capt. Roswell Franklin, subsequently a resident of this county. Lieut. Boyd, of one of the New York regiments, was sent forward with a party of twenty-five men, to recon noitre the principal town on the Genesee; when on his re turn, he was ambushed, fourteen of his men were killed, himself and one of his men captured and put to death by the Indians. Boyd was made to suffer most cruel tortures. The result of this campaign was the breaking up of the power ofthe Iroquois confederacy. Owing to the loss oftheir crops, and the destruction of their dwellings, the Indians were compelled to go to the British post at Niagara. The winter proved to be one of unusual severity. Snow fell to a great depth, and the cold was intense. Unable to hunt, they reraained through the winter cooped up in barracks, and compelled to eat salted provisions, they died in great numbers from scurvy and other camp diseases. Their losses in battle had been comparatively small, but by sickness enormous. Of the survivors some returned to their ancient seats, others remained in Canada. Small parties continued to come down as far as Wyoming, and commit atrocities upon the settlers, but the nations were never after able to organize any large force of warriors. Gen. SuUivan and his army received the thanks of con gress for the efficient manner in which he had conducted the campaign, and a day of thanksgiving was appointed for his victory over the savages. At the beginning of the campaign, Sullivan had been chagrined that his requisitions were ignored, and that congress had so tardily and scantily supplied hira with the stores and equipraents which had been promised. In general orders as well as in private conver sation, he had severely criticised the conduct of the board of war, which had produced alienation of feeling ; and when, at the close of the campaign, he asked leave to resign in order to recruit his health, which had been impaired by the exposures and fatigues of the expedition, it was readily granted, and he left forever the service.f As the fugitives frora the battle of Wyoming began to return to their homes, for the purpose of securing the crops which had escaped the devastation of the Indians, they were organized into a mUitia company under the command of Capt. John Franklin, in which Roswell Franklin was first lieutenant, Daniel Gore second lieutenant ; and there were four sergeants, three corporals, and sixty-four privates on the muster-roll on the 1st of May, 1780. This company was almost constantly on duty. J Besides taking part in the expeditions under Hartley and Sullivan, they were employed in watching the Indian paths and bringing back to the settlements reports of any signs of the approach of hostUe Indians, of defending the settlers against the attacks of marauding bands of savages, or pur suing those parties for the purpose of recovering the pris oners and plunder they had taken. In the latter part of March, 1780, a party of forty or fifty Indians came down the river, and when near Wyo ming separated into four or five bands, for the purpose of striking the settlements at as many different points. March 27, one of these parties captured Thomas Bennett and his son, near Kingston, and took them to the woods, where they found Lebbeus Hammond, who, it wUl be remembered, made his escape from his captors at the battle of Wyoming. The party started for Tioga, and reached Meshoppen on the evening of the 28th While here the prisoners formed a plan of escape. Seizing a favorable opportunity, they rose upon their captors, four of whom were slain, another wounded, and only one escaped unhurt. "The evening of the 30th the captive victors came in with five rifles, a silver- «- The author has found that at least nineteen di.ily diaries were kept by OfBcers connected with this expedition, copies of fourteen of which are in his possession. 11 f I had intended to have given a much more detailed account of this campaign, but want of space compelled me to limit the account to those events whioh occurred within our county or on its immediate borders. A history of the SuUivan- campaign is a desideratum in our historical literature. t Capt. John Franklin's Company. — A pay-roll of the Com pany of militia commanded by Capt. John Franklin, in the service of the United States, at the post of Wyoming, for the months, viz., from 30th of April to 4th of May, 1780. John Franklin, captain; Roswell Franklin, first lieutenant ; Daniel Gore, second lieutenant; Daniel Ingersol, Asa Chapman, Henry Barney, Christo. Huribut, sergeants; James Sutton, Wm. Jackson, Andrew Blanchard, corporals ; William Williams, Stephen Gardner, John Hyde, Prince Alden, Joseph Elliott, John Tilberry, Abram Til- berry, Benjamin Harvey, Manasseh Cady, Asahel Riehard, Jamea Frisbie, James Nesbit, Abram Nesbit, Jonathan Frisbie, Richard Brookaway, Jonah Rogers, Josiah Rogers, Elisha Harvey, John Hurlbut, Jonathan Corey, Nathan Bullook, Joseph Corey, Turner Johnson, Nathan Walker, David Sanford, Joseph Hagerman, Joseph Thomas, Ishmael Bennett, Ishmael Bennett, Jr., John Fuller, Nathaniel Fuller, Noah Pettibone, Asa Budd, Frederick Budd, Jonathan Wash burn, James Atherton, Peleg Comstock, Arnold Franklin, Walter Spencer, Solomon Bennett, Elijah Harris, Ezekiel Brown, John Gore, Nathan Smith, Jonathan Forsythe, Joseph Jamison, John Hurlbut, Jr. Thos. Stodard, Caleb Spencer, Robert Hopkins, Thomas Bennett, Andrew Bennett, Frederick Fry, Roswell Fr.anklin, Jr., Henry Elliott, Naphtali Huribut, Wm. Huyck, Millard Green, Ephraim Tyler, Sale Roberts, E. Sale Roberts, Jr., Jacob Tilberry, John Sharer, David Sherwood. Total, 74. 82 HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. mounted hanger, and several spears and blankets as trophies of their briUiant exploit." — Miner, p. 279. March 27 a band of ten Indians — one doubtless of the larger party — made their appearance in Hanover, and shot and killed Asa Upson. On the day following one man was killed and another taken prisoner near Nanticoke. On the 29th, they passed over the river, near Fish island, found Jonah Rogers, a boy, then fourteen years of age, whora they took and went down the river to Fishing creek, and on the following day took Moses Van Canipen, a young, athletic man, killed and scalped his father, brother, and uncle. On the same day they captured a lad named Pence, about eighteen years of age. From Fishing creek they passed northerly through Huntington, where they fell in with a scout of four men, under Franklin ; two ofthe scout were wounded, but all made their escape. In the southern part of what is now Lehman township, Luzerne county, they found Abraham Pike and his wife making sugar. Here they stayed overnight. In the morning they took Pike and his wife prisoners. Wrapping up a child of Mrs. Pike's in a blanket, they tossed it on the roof of the sugar-cabin, and hastened on with their prisoners. After traveling a few miles they halted, painted Mrs. Pike, saying, " joggo, squaw," — go home, woman. She returned to the cabin, got her child, fled to the settlement, and gave the alarm ; but the Indians were beyond reach. Pike was a deserter from the British army, under whose flag he had fought at the battle of Bunker Hill. An Irish man by birth, and full of the idea of liberty, he had made his escape and volunteered in the American army, where he served for two years, and then came to the Susquehanna. His situation was, therefore, a critical one, and led him to hazard any danger rather than fall into the hands of the British authorities, by whom he would be held as not only guilty of desertion but of fighting against the British flag. The course of the capturing party lay across the mount ains to the river, near Tunhannock, where they crossed and proceeded on their way up the east side. When they reached Meshoppen, where Bennett and Hammond had liberated themselves a few days before, the prisoners ob served that their captors were much excited. They scanned the ground closely, and talked rapidly between themselves, with fierce gesticulations. On the night of the 3d of April they encamped under a large elm on the Strope farm, near the bank of the river and the mouth of the Wysox creek. They were now on the border of the Indian country, and, deeming themselves safe from pursuit, relaxed somewhat their watchfulness of their prisoners, and all lay down to sleep, five Indians on each side of the captives. The prison ers were aU tightly bound except Rogers, whora the chief took in his arms and covered with his blanket. Col. H. B. Wright gives the following as substantially the narrative of Rogers : , " In the afternoon of the day before we reached the place of encampment we came to a stream. I was tired and fatigued with the journey ; my feet were sore, and I was just able to proceed. Pike told the chief of the gang that he would carry me over on his shoulders. The old chief in a gruff voice said, ' Well.' Pike whispered in my ear as we were crossing the stream, ' Jonah, don't close your eyes to-ni