Ye pioneers, it is to
you
The debt of gratitude is
due;
Ye builded wiser than ye
knew
The broad foundation
On which our superstructure
stands;
Your strong right arms and
willing bands,
Your earnest efforts will
command
Our veneration. - PHEARRE. |
TWO general classes of people
constituted the early settlers of
Cumberland Valley, viz: the
Scotch-Irish and the Germans.
The Scotch-Irish were a numerous but honorable class
who migrated to Pennsylvania and
other Eastern States at an early
day. The origin of the term is
traceable to events that occurred
early in the seventeenth century.
James I, of England [reign
1603-25], was very desirous of
improving the civilization of
Ireland. The Irish Earls of
Tyrone and Tyrconell having
conspired against the English
Government, and been compelled to
flee the country, their estates,
consisting of about 500,000 acres
were confiscated. These
estates the king divided into small
tracts, and induced many Protestant
people from his own country
(Scotland) to locate upon them on
condition that possession should be
taken within four years.
A second revolt occurring soon after, another large
forfeiture of the six counties in
the Province of Ulster followed, the
confiscated property being seized by
Government officials. The
King, being a zealous Protestant,
aimed to root out the native Irish
who were all Catholic, hostile to
his government and incessantly
plotting against it. Their
places he intended to supply with
people concerning whose loyalty he
had no doubt, the sturdy inhabitants
of his
Page 142 -
Thus Protestantism was planted in Ireland. Its
Scotch advocates, like the Jews, have
maintained a separate existence,
refusing to intermarry with their Irish
neighbors. Protestant in religion,
they have steadily refused to unite with
the Irish, Celtic in origin and Roman
Catholic in faith. This marked
isolation has continued through a period
of more than 250 years.
In the succeeding reign of Charles I (1625-49), a
spirit of bitter retaliation was
engendered, on the part of the native
irish, against this foreign element,
resulting in a most deplorable condition
of affairs. Incited by two
ambitious and unscrupulous leaders,
Rober More and Philim O'Neale,
the Irish Catholics began, Oct. 27,
1741, a massacre which continued until
more than 40,000 victims were
slaughtered.
Owing to these persecutions and others of similar
nature during the succeeding century,
owing to the want of religious
toleration by the reigning powers,
owning to their inability to renew their
land rents on satisfactory terms and
owing to the general freedom offered
them by William Penn in his new
American colony - free lands, free
speech, free worship and free government
- these Scotch settlers left the north
of Ireland and came to America by
thousands, where they are known as
Scotch-Irish.
According to Watson, these "immigrants did not
come to Pennsylvania as soon as the
Germans," few, if any, arriving prior to
1719. The first arrivals usually
settled near the disputed line between
Maryland and Pennsylvania.
James Logan (an intelligent and
influential representative of the Penn
government, and though of Irish
extraction thoroughly in sympathy with
the Quaker principles) complains, in
1724, to the proprietaries of these
people as "bold and indigent strangers"
because they had taken up lands near the
disputed line without securing proper
authority from him as the representative
of the Government. In 1725 he
stated that at least 100,000 acres of
land were possessed "by persons
(including Germans) who resolutely set
down and improved it without any right
to it," and that he was "much at a loss
to determine how to dispossess them."
In 1728, 4,500 persons, chiefly from
Ireland, arrived in New Castle. In
1729 Logan expressed his
gratification that parliament was "about
to take measures to prevent the too free
emigration to this country," intimating
that the prospects were that Ireland was
about "to send all her inhabitants
hither, for last week not less than six
ships arrived." "It is strange,"
continued he, "that they thus crowd
where they are not wanted. The
common fear is that if they continue to
come, they will make themselves
proprietors of the province." In
1730 he again complains of them as
"audacious and disorderly" for having,
by force, taken possession of the
Conestoga Manor, containing 15,000 acres
of the "best land in the country."
Of this they were, by the sheriff,
subsequently dispossessed and their
cabins burned. About the same
time, he says, in another letter, "I
must own, from my own
experience in the land office, that the
settlement of five families from Ireland
gives me more trouble than fifty of any
other people."
The captious spirit manifested by Logan against both
German and Scotch-Irish settlers, and
especially the latter, and which was
subsequently shared, to some extent, by
Peters, Dickinson and
Franklin, is readily accounted for
by his fear of losing his position in
the Government, should any other than
the Quaker influence prevail.
From 1730 to 1740 the influx was great.
Settlements were commenced in Cumberland
(then Lancaster) County in 1730 and
1731, the Chambers brothers
having crossed west of the Susquehanna
about that time. After 1736,
during the month of September, in which
year alone 1,000 families are said to
have sailed from Belfast, the influx
into the Kittochtinny Valley, west of
Page 143 -
the Susquehanna increased rapidly; for,
in 1748, the number of taxables, not
counting the fifty Germans, was about
800.
Soon after the erection of Cumberland County (1750),
"in consequence of the frequent
disturbances between the governor and
Irish settlers, the proprietaries gave
orders to their agents to sell no lands
in either York or Lancaster Counties to
the Irish; and also to make to the Irish
settlers in Paxton, Swatara and Donegal
Townships advantageous offers of removal
to Cumberland County, which offers being
liberal were accepted by many."
Injustice has been done to the Scotch-Irish settlers of
these early days by two classes of
writers: first, those who were
actuated by jealousy, as was Logan, in
his inability to see good in any classes
not directly connected with the original
Friend or Penn element; secondly, those
who have failed to study carefully the
circumstances which surrounded the
Scotch-Irish immigrants in their
settlements and conduct toward the
Indians. Under these circumstances
we are not surprised to hear Mr.
Sherman Day in his Historical
Collections of Pennsylvania, call them
"a pertinacious and pugnacious race,"
"pushing their settlements upon
unpurchased lands about the Juniata,
producing fresh exasperation among the
Indians." "As the result of this," he
continues, "massacres ensued, the
settlers were driven below the
mountains, and the whole province was
alive with the alarms and excitements of
war."
In reply to these serious charges, Judge George
Chambers, in his "Tribute to the
Principles, Virtues, Habits and Public
Usefulness of the Irish and Scotch Early
Settlers of Pennsylvania," a carefully
written and most admirable little book,
enters a most emphatic protest.
Without attempting to present in detail
the facts which enable him to reach his
conclusions, we give a brief summary of
his argument: Admitting the
aggressive character of the early
Scotch-Irish settlers in pushing into
the forests and occupying lands, the
outrages and massacres by the Indians
were, nevertheless, not the direct
result of these encroachments, but a
retaliatory protest against the unjust
manner in which their lands and hunting
grounds had been taken from them by
so-called purchases and treaties with
the government. By the cession of 1737,
the Indians were to convey lands on the
Delaware to extend back into the woods
as far as man can go in one day and a
half. By the treaty of Albany, in
1754, between the Proprietary of
Pennsylvania and the Six Nations, nearly
all the lands claimed by them in the
province were ceded for the small sum of
£400. The dissatisfaction produced
by this cession, which the Indians claim
they did not understand, was fanned by
the French into open hostility,
manifesting itself in the indiscriminate
and wholesale devastation and massacres
following the Braddock campaign.
The wrongs of the government, and not
the encroachments of a few daring
settlers, it is claimed by Mr.
Chambers, produced these destructive
Indian outrages. Gov.
Morris, in his address to the
Assembly, of November 3, 1755, clearly
reminds them "that it seemed clear, from
the different accounts he had received,
that the French had gained to their
interest the Delaware and Shawnese
Indians, under the ensnaring pretense of
restoring them to their country."
The Assembly, in their reply to Gov. Denny,
in June, 1757, say: "It is rendered
beyond contradiction plain, that the
cause of the present Indian incursions
in this province, and the dreadful
calamities many of the inhabitants have
suffered, have arisen, in a great
measure, from the exorbitant and
unreasonable purchases made, or supposed
to be made of the Indians, and the
manner of making them—so exorbitant,
that the natives complain that they have
not a country left to subsist in."—Smith's
Laws.
A careful study of these people clearly shows that,
while they were aggress-
Page 144 -
ive, they moved along the line of a
higher civilization; while they were
firm in their convictions, they
advocated the rights of man to liberty
of thought and action; while they
cherished many of the institutions and
beliefs of the old country, they were
intensely patriotic and loyal to the
new; and while they possessed what they
regarded the best lands, they were just
in their dealings with the untutored red
man. These were the people who
laid broad and deep the foundations of
social, educational and religious
liberty in America.
The German
immigrants, as a class, were hardy,
industrious, honest and economical,
retaining, to a great extent, the
prejudices, superstitions, manners,
language and characteristics of the
fatherland. Like the
Scotch-Irish, their migration to America
was the result of a deprivation of
certain religious rights in their native
countries, and a desire to improve their
physical condition in the new world.
Like the Scotch-Irish, they, too were Protestants,
belonging to different denominations:
(1) The Swiss Mennonites were among the
earliest to come, about the beginning of
the last century, and settled in the
neighborhood of Philadelphia and at
Pequea and other points in what is now
Lancaster County. They were
orderly, honest, peaceable and advocates
of non-resistant or peace principles.
(2) German Baptists (Dunkards),
Moravians, Seventh-day Baptists.
(3) Lutherans and German Reformed, the
latter two constituting the great body
of the arrivals, and furnishing the
aggressive element of the new settles.
They came later than the others and
entered new fields.
Many of these early Germans, having first located in
the State of New York, were dissatisfied
with the unjust treatment receied at the
hands of the authorities, and therefore
came to Pennsylvania. They wrote
messages to their friends in Europe,
advising them to shun New York and come
direct to the province of Penn, which
afforded superior inducements.
Their arrivals in the province were, briefly:
Henry Frey came two years earlier
than William Penn and one
Platenbach a few years later.
In 1682 a colony arrived and formed a
settlement at Germantown; and in
1684-85, a company of ten persons was
formed in Germany, called the Frankfort
Land Company, of which F. D.
Pastorius was appointed attorney.
They bought 25,000 acres of land from
Penn, in addition to other tracts.
From 1700 to 1720, the Palatines, so
called because they sprang principally
from the Palatinate in Germany, whither
they had been driven by persecutions in
various parts of Europe, came in vast
numbers. They suffered great
privations. In 1708-09, more than
10,000 went to England, where, in a
sickly and starving condition they were
cared for by the generous Queen Anne
who, at an expense to herself of
£135,775,
alleviated their sufferings in that
country and assisted them to come to New
York and Pennsylvania. Their
number was so great as to draw from
James Logan, secretary of the
province of Pennsylvania in 1717, the
remark: "We have, of late, a great
number of Palatines poured in upon us
without any recommendation or notice,
which gives the country some uneasiness;
for foreigners do not so well among us
as our own English people." In
1719 Jonathan Dickinson said: "We
are daily expecting ships rom London,
which bring over Palatines, in number
about six or seven thousand."
The arrivals from 1720 to 1730 were so numerous as to
produce some alarm lest the colony
should become a German one. Says
Rupp: "To arrest in some
degree the influx of Germanss, the
assembly assessed a tax of twenty
shillings a head on newly arrived
servants; for as early as 1722 there
were a number of Palatine servants or
Redemptioners sold to serve a term of
three or four years at
£10
each to pay their freight."
From 1730 to 1740, about sixty-five vessels well filled
with immigrants,
Page 145 -
having with them their own preachers and
teachers, landed at Philadelphia, from
which they scattered in various
directions; many of these located in
York County.
From 1740 to 1755, more than a hundred vessels arrived,
some of them, though small, containing
from 500 to 600 passengers. In the
summer and autumn of 1749, not less than
12,000 came. This period—1740 to
1755 — witnessed many outrages upon the
unsuspecting passengers. Within
the State were certain Germans known as
neulaenders, who, having resided in this
country long enough to understand the
business, profited by the ignorance and
credulity of their own people abroad.
Going to various parts of Germany and
presenting the new world in glowing
colors, they induced, by
misrepresentations and fraudulent
practices, many of their friends and
kinsmen to sell, and in some cases even
to abandon their property and forsake
their firesides in order to reach this
new land of promise. Many,
starting with inadequate means, were
unable to pay their passage, and on
arriving were sold for a series of years
as servants, to liquidate their claims.
These were called redemptioners, or
Palatine servants.
The number of Germans in Pennsylvania about 1755 was
from 60,000 to 70,000. About
nine-tenths of the first settlers of
York County, then including Adams, were
Germans. The great influx into
Cumberland County which, with the
exception of a few English, was settled
almost exclusively by Scotch and
Scotch-Irish, began about 1770; though
as early as the period from 1736 to
1745, there were found in the
Conococheague settlements, the
Snivelys, Schneiders,
Piscackers, Liepers,
Ledermans, Haricks, Laws,
Kolps, Gabriels,
Ringers, Steiners,
Senseneys, Radebachs,
Reischers, Wolffs,
Schneidts.* Rev.
Michael Schlatter, a German
reformed minister, in a letter
dated May 9, 1748, thus describes a
visit through the valley: "On the
Conogogig we reached the house of an
honest Schweitzer [supposed to be
Jacob Snively, of Antrim
Township,] where we received kind
entertainment with thankfulness.
In this neighborhood there are very fine
lands for cultivation and pasture,
exceedingly fruitful without the
application of manures. Turkish
corn (Indian maize) grows to the height
of ten feet and higher, and the grasses
are remarkably fine. Hereabout,
there still remain a good number of
Indians, the original dwellers of the
soil. They are hospitable and
quiet, and well affected to the
Christians until the latter make them
drunk with strong drink."
The original German has, by imperceptible changes, been
gradually transformed into a being very
unlike the original, known as the
Pennsylvania Dutch. The latter has
in him more of the democratic spirit,
which ignores the clannishness of the
olden time and forms friendships and
alliances with people of other
nationalities. The dialect,
Pennsylvania Dutch, is sui generis
an anomaly in the domain of language.
Its possessor is a cosmopolitan, fond of
social life, ambitious and industrious,
and in these latter days quite fond of
public office and other "soft places."
He is destined to take the land.
The three original counties of Pennsylvania,
established by William Penn
in 1682, were Chester, Philadelphia
and Bucks. Chester County included
all the land (except a small portion of
Philadelphia County) southwest of the
Schuylkill to the extreme limits of the
State. Lancaster County was formed
and taken from Chester May 10, 1729;
York was taken from Lancaster Aug. 9,
1749. Cumberland County remained a
part of Lancaster until it was itself
erected a separate county, Jan. 27,
1750. Franklin County, the then
southwestern part of Cumberland, and
known as the "Conococheague Settlement,"
was established Sept. 9, 1784. To
understand the early history of this
county, the reader will need, therefore,
to bear in mind two facts:
---------------
* Rupp.
Page 146 -
1. Prior to
Jan.27, 1750, its territory (with the
exception of Warren Township) was found
in the county of Lancaster.
2. From Jan. 27, 1750, to Sept. 9, 1784, it belonged to
Cumberland County. Since the
latter date (Sept. 9, 1784,) it has had
a distinct organization of its own.
Long prior to Greeley's famous advice, "Go
west, young man," or Bishop Berkley's
oft-quoted "Westward the course of
empire takes its way," the tide of
migration was toward the setting sun.
Since the race began, the line of
movement has been along the parallels,
and in the direction of the receding
darkness. The early settlers of
the Kittatinny or Cumberland Valley came
from the older eastern counties, where
they located soon after their landing on
the Atlantic coast. No record
exists of those who may have wandered
through this region on prospecting or
hunting tours, if any such adventurers
ever did make these hazardous trips.
As early as 1719, John Harris had
commenced a settlement near the present
site of Harrisburg, and for many years
afterward ran a ferry across the
Susquehanna at that point known as
Harris' Ferry. On either side of
the river were Indian villages, the one
where Harris lived being known as
Peixtan or Paxtan. On the western
side of the river, at the mouth of the
Conodoguinet, at the present site of
Bridgeport, and at the mouth of the
Yellow Breeches, were three Indians
towns, at which trading posts were
established. At the last-named
place, James Chartier, an Indian
trader, had a store and landing place.
It is claimed by some that James Le
Tort, one of these traders, after
whom the beautiful stream in Cumberland
County was named, lived at a very early
period at a place called Beaver Pond,
near the present site of Carlisle.
What is now
Cumberland County had settlements at
various points away from the river.
Richard Parker and his wife
settled three miles north of Carlisle in
1724. His application at the land
office in 1734 was for a warrant to land
on which he "had resided ye ten years
past." George Croghan, an
Indian trader, whose name occurs
frequently in early records, lived about
five miles from the river on the north
side of the Conodoguinet. He owned
tracts in various parts of the county, a
large one being north of Shippensburg.
He did not cultivate all these, but
changed about as his convenience and
trade demanded. He was an Irishman
of common education, and in later years
lived at Aughwick or Old Town, west of
the North Mountains, where he was
trusted as an Indian agent. In the
settlement commenced by James
Chambers near Newville, then known
as Big Spring, a group of inhabitants,
so numerous as to form and support a
religious society as early as 1738, was
found, consisting of David Ralston,
Robert Patterson, James McKehan, John
Carson, John Erwin, Richard Fulton,
Samuel McCullough and Samuel
Boyd. Robert Chambers, brother
of the preceding, as well as of
Benjamin, who located at Falling
Spring, formed a prosperous settlement
near Middle Spring, about two miles
north of Shippensburg, at the same early
date. The first settlers were such
men as Hugh and David Herron, Robert
McComb, Alexander and James Young,
Alelxander McNutt, Archibald, John and
Robert MAchan, James Scott, Alexander
Sterrett, Wm. and John Piper, Hugh and
Joseph Brady, John and Robert McCune and
Charles Morrow. In asking that
the State road, which was laid out in
1735-36, might be directed through that
neighborhood rather than through
Shippensburg, the petitioners claimed
that theirs was the more thickly settled
part. By some * it is
claimed that in the Middle Spring
settlement the first land in the
Cumberland Valley taken under
---------------
*Historical discourse of Rev. S. S. Wylie at the
Centennial celebration of Middle Spring.
This claim, however, is incorrect.
Blunston's license to Benjamin
Chambers at Falling Spring was dated
March 30, 1734.
Page 147 -
Page 148 - [blank page]
Page 149 -
authority of the "Blunston Licenses*"
and assigned to Benjamin Furley,
was located. According to the
record in the county surveyor's office
at Chambersburg, this tract, embracing
some 1,094 acres and allowances,
warranted De. 16, 1735, and surveyed
Apr. 15, 1738, was situated on the
Conodoguinet Creek in what was then
Pennsborough Township, Lancaster County,
but now Southampton Township, Franklin
County. It was subsequently
occupied by William, David, James
and Francis Herron. William
Young and John Watt.
Where Shippenburg now stands, a settlement was made
as early as 1730. In June of that
year, according to Hon. John McCurdy,
the following persons came to that
locality and built their habitations:
Alexander Steen, John McCall, Richard
Morrow, Gavin Morrow, John Culbertson,
Hugh Rippey, John Rippey, John Strain,
Alexander Askey, John McAllister, David
Magaw and John Johnson.
They were soon followed by Benjamin
Blythe, John
Campbell and Robert
Caskey. From this settlement
ultimately sprang a village older than
any other in the Cumberland Valley.
It was a distributing point for
settlers, and hence important, as will
be shown by the following letter written
therefrom:
|
|
May 21, 1733. |
DEAR JOHN: I wish you
would see John Harris, at
the ferry, and get him to write
to the Governor, to see if he
can't get some guns for us;
there's good wheen of ingns
about here, and I fear they
intend to give us a good deal of
troubbel, and may do us a greate
dale of harm. We was three
days on our journey coming form
Harrisses ferry here. We
could not make much speed on
account of the children they
would not get on as fast as Jane
and me. I think we will
like this part of the country
when we get our cabbin built.
I put it on a lefel place of
groun, near the road or path in
the woods at the fut of a hill.
There is a fine stream of watter
they comes from a spring a half
a mile south of where our cabbin
is bilt. I would have put
it near the watter, but the land
is lo and wet. John
McCall, Alick Steen and
John Rippey bilt theirs near
the stream. Hugh Rippey's
daughter is Mary (was)
berried yesterday; this will be
sad news to Andrew Simpson,
when it reaches Maguire's
bridge. He is to come over
in the fall when they were to be
married. Mary was a
verry purty gerl; she died of a
faver, and they berried her up
on rising groun, north of the
road or path where we made
choice of a peese of groun for a
graveyard. She was the
furst berried there. Poor
Hugh has none left now
but his wife, Sam and
little Isabel.
There is plenty of timmer south
of us. We have 18 cabbins
bilt here now, and it looks
(like) a town, but we have no
name for it. I'll send
this with John Simpson
when he goes back to paxtan.
Come up Soon; our cabbin will be
ready to go into a week and you
can go in till you get wan bilt;
we have planted some corn and
potatoes. Dan McGee,
John Sloan and Robert
Moore was here and left last
week. Remember us to
Mary and the childer; we are
all well. Tell Billy
Parker to come up soon and
bring Nancy with him.
I know he will like the country.
I forgot to tell you that
Sally Brown was bit by a
snaik, but she is out of danger.
Come up soon. |
|
|
Yr. aft.
brother.
JAMES MAGRAW. |
The first
settlement in what is now Franklin
County, was made in 1730, at Falling
Spring (now Chambersburg) - the
confluence of the two streams, Falling
Spring and Conococheague - by Col.
Benjamin Chambers and his older
brother, Joseph. Between
1726 and 1730, four brothers, James,
Robert, Joseph and Benjamin
Chambers, emigrated from the county
of Antrim, Ireland, to the province of
Pennsylvania. They settled and
built a mill shortly after their
arrival, at the mouth of Fishing Creek,
in what is now Dauphin County.
--------------
* Samuel Blunston of Wright's Ferry (now
Columbia) was authorized by the
proprietaries to make a partial survey
of land and to grant to settlers
permission to take up and improve, or
continue to improve, such lands as they
desired, with the promise that a more
perfect title should be given them when
the Indian claims should be
extinguished. The Indians were
also assured that these claims would be
satisfied as soon as the pending Indian
treaties should be completed. The
first of these licenses was dated Jan.
24, 1733-34 and the last October 31,
1737. Appended is a copy of one of
these:
"LANCASTER COUNTY, ss. |
|
By the Proprietary: These are to
license, and allow Andrew
Ralston to continue to
improve and dwell on a tract of
two hundred acres of land on the
Great Spring, a branch of the
Conedoguinet, jnyning to
the upper side of a tract
granted to Randle Chambers
for the use of his son, James
Chambers; to be hereafter
surveyed to the said Ralston
on the common terms other lands
in those parts are sold;
provided the same has not been
already granted to any other
person, and so much can be had
without prejudice to other
tracts before granted.
Given under my hand this third
day of January, Anno Domini,
1736-7. |
Pennsylvania, ss. |
|
SA. BLUNSTON" |
Page 150 -
where they occupied a tract of fine
land. These brothers were
among the first to explore and settle
the valley. James made a
settlement at the head of Great Spring,
near Newville; Robert, at the
head of Middle Spring, near
Shippensburg, and Joseph and
Benjamin at Falling Spring, where
Chambersburg now stands.
By an arrangement among the brothers, Joseph
returned to supervise their property at
the mouth of Fishing Creek, and
Benjamin remained to develop the
settlement at Falling Spring. He
built a one-storied hewed-log house
which he covered with lapped cedar
shingles secured by nails—an innovation
upon the prevailing style of
architecture, which consisted of a round
log structure covered with a roof of
clapboards, held in position by beams
and wooden pins. Having completed
this, the finest residence in the
settlement, he addressed himself to
clearing land, erecting necessary
buildings and planning the future growth
of the colony. Some time after
this, Benjamin had occasion to
visit his former homestead at Fishing
Creek. Returning, he found his
house had been burned by some avaricious
person for the ''sake of the nails,''
which were a rarity in those days.
Subsequently Mr. Chambers received what
was then the only authority for the
taking up and occupying of land.
The following is a copy of the
interesting instrument, which was a
narrow strip of common writing paper,
the chirography on which would not stand
the crucial test of modern straight
lines, ovals and right and left curves.
PENNSYLVANIA, ss. |
|
By order of the Proprietary.
These are to License and allow
Benjamin Chambers to take
and settle and Improve of four
hundred acres of Land at the
falling spring's mouth and on
both sides of the Conegochege
Creek for the conveniency of a
Grist Mill and Plantation.
To be hereafter surveyed to the
said Benjamin on the
common terms other Lands in
those parts are sold.
Given under my hand this
thirtieth day of March, 1734. |
LANCASTER COUNTY. |
|
SAMUEL BLUNSTON |
A mill-wright
by occupation, he at once erected a
saw-mill and subsequently a flouring
mill. These were both
indispensable to the comfort and growth
of the settlement, and were evidently
heralded as strong inducements for
others to cast in their lot with
this growing colony. The saw-mill
stood on what is known as the "Island,"
a few rods northwest of where the
woolen-mill now stands; the
flouring-mill, constructed mainly of
logs, stood near the residence of its
owner. It was shortly destroyed by
fire, but its place was occupied by a
new one whose walls were made of stone.
Benjamin Chambers was upward of twenty one years
of age when he settled at Falling
Spring. His death occurring Feb.
17, 1788, in his eightieth year, he must
have been born about 1708 or 1709.
Shortly after (1741), he married a
Miss Patterson, residing near
Lancaster, who was the mother of his
eldest son, James. She
lived but a few years. In 1848 he
married a second time, his choice being
a Miss Williams, the daughter of
a Welsh clergyman living in Virginia.
She bore seven children, viz.:
Ruhamah, married to Dr. Calhoun;
William; Benjamin; Jane, married to
Adam Ross; Joseph, George and
Hetty, married to Wm. M. Brown,
Esq.
He used his influence with his acquaintances to
settle in his neighborhood, directing
their attention to desirable locations
for farms. He was early
commissioned a justice of the peace, and
later a colonel of the militia
organized. He served as a daysman
to adjust many controversies between his
neighbors, and thus became a general
counselor in the community.
During the controversy between Lord
Baltimore and the Penns,
concerning the boundary between
Pennsylvania and Maryland, he went to
England to assist, by his evidence
and advice, in the adjustment of the
difficulties involved. From
England he went
Page 151 -
to Ireland, his native soil, where he
induced many acquaintances with their
families to remove to his new
settlement.
In 1764 Col. Chambers laid out the town of
Chambersburg, whose history is sketched
elsewhere in this volume. The
history of this sturdy early settler is
the history of the county and of the
commonwealth for more than half a
century. From the time he landed
at the Falling Spring till his declining
health rendered further activity
impossible, he was the acknowledged
leader of the people in all civil,
military and religious movements.
We have no means osf determining the exact order of
settlements in the other parts of the
county.
In what is Antrim Township there must have been
settlers as early as 1734. In the
Johnston graveyard, near
Shady Grove, is a tablet bearing the
name of James Johnston,
who died in 1765. "From documents
still extant," says the inscription, ''
he settled on the land on which he died
as early as 1735, and was probably the
first white settler in what is now
Antrim Township, Franklin County."
He had two sons, James and
Thomas, both of whom were colonels
in the Revolutionary war. About
the same time settlements were made near
the present site of Green
Castle, by Joseph
Crunkleton, Jacob Snively and
James Body.
Snively was the progenitor of a
large and respectable family, many of
whom still live in the township,
concerning whom much will be said in the
township and biographical sketches.*
At that time the settlements in the county were known
in the aggregate as the "Conococheague
Settlement." Owing to the peculiar
condition of land arrangements, settlers
occupied certain tracts by virtue of a
sort of "squatter possession," each one
choosing a site according to his taste.
Hence, families lived, often, for a
series of years on tracts before they
received proper legal authority for the
same.
On the west bank of the Conococheague, near the present
site of Bridgeport, in Peters Township,
settled William McDowell in 1730 or
1731. He had a large family of
sons and daughters, who became prominent
in the subsequent development of the
country. The records of the
surveyor's office show that warrants for
land were held in what is Peters
Township, as early as 1737, by Rev.
John Black and Samuel
Harris; 1738, Andrew
McCleary; 1742, Henry Johnston
and John Taylor; 1743,
James Glenn, William
Burney and James McClellan;
1744, Robert McClellan.
By McCauley it is claimed that
some of these were settlers as early as
1730. They were mainly
Scotch-Irish, as will be seen by the
names.
Path Valley had early settlers, likewise. The
records of the surveyor's office show
that Samuel Bechtel had a
warrant in what is now Fannett Township,
for 176 acres, which bore date Jan. 24,
1737, and was surveyed the 24th of the
following May by Zach. Butcher,
deputy surveyor. At that time it
was in Hopewell Township, Lancaster
County. The same records show that
Thomas Doyle had a warrant
in same region for 530 acres, dated Nov.
29, 1737, and surveyed December 30
following. Neither of these men
had neighbors immediately adjoining
them, showing the settlements to be
sparse. Settlements must have been
made quite rapidly in the valley,
notwithstanding its ownership by the
Indians; for in 1750 Richard Peters,
secretary of the commonwealth, in a
letter to the governor dated July 2, in
which he gives an account of the removal
of certain citizens because of their
encroachments on interdicted territory,
says: "On Wednesday, the 30th of
May, the magis-
---------------
* Some of the earliest warrants found in the surveyor's
office bear date as follows: 1737,
John Mitchell, David
McGaw; 1738 David Scott,
George Reynolds; 1740-42,
David Kennedy, Humphrey
Jones; 1743-60, John Potter,
Samuel McPherren,
John Brotherton, Robert
Wallace, William Magaw,
Thomas Foe, George
Gibson, William Smith,
Jacob Snively, William
Allison, Abraham Gable
and John Davison.
Page 152 -
trates* and company†,
being detained two days by rain,
proceeded over the Kittochtinny
Mountains, and entered into Tuscara [Tuscarora]
Path or Path Valley, through which the
road to Alleghany lies. Many
settlements were formed in this valley,
and all the people were sent for, and
the following persons appeared, viz.:
Abraham Slach, James Blair, Moses
Moore, Arthur Dunlap, Alexander McCartie,
David Lewis, Adam McCartie, Felix Doyle,
Andrew Dunlap, Robert Wilson, Jacob
Pyatt, Jacob Pyatt, Jr., William Ramage,
Reynolds Alexander, Samuel Patterson,
Robert Baker, John Armstrong and
John Potts, who were all convicted,
by their own confession to the
magistrates, of the like trespasses with
those at Shearman's Creek, and were
bound in the like recognizances to
appear at court, and [give] bonds
to the proprietaries to remove, with all
their families, servants, cattle and
effects, and having all voluntarily
given possession of their houses to me,
some ordinary log houses, to the number
of eleven, were burnt to the ground, the
trespassers, most of them cheerfully and
a very few of them with reluctance,
carrying out all their goods. Some
had been deserted before, and lay
waste."
John
Hastin was one of the early settlers
on the line of Lurgan and Letterkenny
Townships. He may have radiated
from Shippensburg as a center. The
statement of his survey, made by Zach
Butcher, D. S., Nov. 4, 1736,
says: "By virtue of a warrant from
the honorable proprietaries, bearing
date ____, I have surveyed and laid out
unto John Hastin, in the township
of Hopewell, in the county of Lancaster,
on the west side of the Susquehanna
River, six hundred and three acres of
land with allowance of six per cent."
The warrant, it seems, though no date is
given, was of prior time.
Francis and Samuel Jones are
represented as neighbors.
John Reynolds had a warrant for land, in what is
now Lurgan Township, dated Oct. 6, 1738,
and surveyed May 16, 1743. His
neighbors at the time were Robert
Edmonson, Samuel Reynolds and
Edward Shippen, Esq. In
what is now Hamilton Township, warrants
were issued in 1737 to Matthew Patton
and George Leonard; in 1738 to
David Black and Samuel Morehead.
Their neighbors at the time were
Samuel Jones, Nathaniel Newlins, Robert
Patton, James Brotherton, Adam Hoops,
Benjamin Gass, James Young, Thomas
Morehead and Thomas Patterson.
In Montgomery, as it now exists, was
Philip Davis in 1737;
James Harland and John
Davyrich were his neighbors; in
1740, Thomas Evans, with David
Alexander, John Davis and Aaron
Alexander as neighbors; and in same
year, Robert Culbertson, with
William and Thomas Dinwiddy
and James Gardner as neighbors.
About the same time, also, Alexander
Brown, Thomas Sellers, John McClellan,
Walter Beatty, Alex White, Wilson
Halliday and Martha Howry
were settlers. In the present
Southampton, Rev. John Blair and
Thomas Edmundson had warrants as
early as 1743.
In St. Thomas were, 1738, Thomas Armstrong; in
1742, John Holliday; 1743 adn
1744, Robet Clugadge, James Campbell,
George Galloway, Michael Campbell,
William Campbell, George Cuming, John
McConnell, Samuel McClintock, Robert
Richey.
In Greene the oldest warrant found was that of
Joseph Culbertson, in 1744.
Alexander Culbertson had one dated
1749. Their neighbors at the time
were John Neal, William Carr, Reuben
Gillespie, John Stump This
settlement was known as Culbertson's
Row.
At the early period we have thus far borne in mind,
Little Cove seems not
---------------
*Matthew Dill, George Croghan, Benjamin Chambers,
Thomas Wilson, John Findlay and
James Galbreath, Esqs., justices of
the county of Cumberland.
†Under-sheriff of
Cumberland County.
Page 153 -
to have been settled, it being greatly
exposed to Indian depredations. As
a rule, warrrants date from 1755, the
earliest one found, to 1769, between
which dates are found Enoch Williams,
Rees Shelby, William Smith, William
Pindell, Evan Phillips, Samuel Owen,
James McClellan, Hugh Martin, John
Martin, David Huston, Lewis David Brown.
Washington Township, it seems, was not settled so
early as some of the eastern and
southwestern districts. It and
Quincy Township became largely the homes
of the Germans, who crossed South
Mountain from York and Adams Counties.
Warrants from 1743 to 1750 embrace
Michael Legate, John Markley, John
Moorhead, James Johnston, Jacob
Beesecker, Edward Nichols, Michael
Raumsawher, Mathias Ringer, John Stoner,
John Steiner, John Snowberger, James
Whitehead and John Wallace.
In Quincy, between same dates, George Cook,
William Patrick, John Leeper, James
Jack.
It is much to be regretted that the names of these
early pioneers, who struggled so
heroically against the wilds of the
forest and the depredations of the
savages, have not been more carefully
preserved. We append, however, a
list of taxable names in 1751 and 1752.
From it may be learned the general
locations of these settlers:
TAXABLES' NAMES, 1751 AND 1752
In Antrim Township - which embraced the
territory now in Antrim, Washington and
Quincy Townships - the taxables' names
were as follows:
William Allison,
Widow Adams,
Joshua Alexander,
Thomas Brown,
Jacob Batterly,
William Brotherton,
John Chambers,
George Cassil,
William Clark,
William Cross,
Joshua Coal,
Josh. Crunkleton, Jr.,
Peter Craul,
John Crunkleton,
William Dunbar,
Thomas Davis,
John Davies,
Henry Dutch,
David Duncan,
William Erwin,
Robert Erwin,
James Finley,
William Grimes,
Nicholas Gulp,
John Gyles,
Lorance Galocher,
Thomas Grogan,
George Gordon,
Abraham Gabriel,
Paulus Harick,
Robert Harkness,
William Hall,
Nath. Harkness,
Christian Hicks,
Rober Hamilton,
Adam Hoops,
James Jack,
James Johnston, |
Peter Johnston,
Henry Kefort,
James Kerr,
David Kennedy,
Widow Leiper,
Peter Leiper,
Kath. Leatherman,
Dietrich Lauw,
James Lilou,
Thomas Long,
William McGaw,
Samuel McFaran,
John Mitchell
William McAlmory,
William Mearns,
William McLean,
George Martin,
John Monk,
John Moorhead,
John McMath,
William McBriar,
David McBriar,
James McBride,
John McFaran,
David McClellan,
James McClanahan,
Hugh McClellan,
Patrick McIntire,
Arch. McClean,
Samuel Monagh,
William McClellan,
John Moor,
John McCoon,
John McDowell,
Alexander Miller,
James McKee
Patrick McClarin,
Edward Nichols, |
Thomas Nisbit,
Jacob Pisacker,
Thomas Patterson,
John Pritchet,
Thomas Poa,
Henry Pauling,
John Potter,
James Paile,
William Patrick,
James Pattro,
John Reynolds,
William Rankin,
William Ramsey,
James Ramsey,
John Roass,
Mathias Ringer,
Joseph Roddy,
John Roal,
Samuel Smith,
John Scott,
Robert Southerland,
John Smith,
James Scott,
Daniel Scott,
John Staret,
Henry Stall,
Jacob Snider,
William Shanon,
Jacob Snively,
John Stoaner,
Katharine Thomson,
Anthony Thomson,
Moses Thomson, |
Joseph Walter,
John Willocks,
John Wallace. |
FREEMEN:
E.
Alexander,
CAmpbel, W.
Alex. Cook,
Jacob Gabrial, |
Hugh, Galocher
Hugh McKee,
Daniel McCowan,
Daniel McCoy, |
Wm.
McGaughey,
James McGowan,
Joseph Morgan,
Adam Murray, |
James Ross
John Snively,
Charles White,
James Young. |
In Guilford - including what is now
Chambersburg -
John Anderson,
Wm. Adams, |
Thomas Baird,
George Cook, |
Benjamin Chambers,
Frederick Croft, |
|
Page 154 -
Peter Coaset,
James Crawford,
Edward Crawford,
Mayant Duff,
John Forsyth,
Benjamin Gass, |
John Henderson,
James Jack,
Patrick Jack,
James Lindsay,
John Lindsay, |
Charles McGill,
Wm. McKinney,
John Mushet,
John Noble,
William Nujant, |
John O'Cain,
Solomon Patterson,
Robert Patrick,
Nathaniel Simpson,
Henry Thomson. |
Freemen:
Archibald Douglass, |
Henry Black, |
Alexander McAlister, |
Robert Uart, 31. |
In
Hamilton - which then included the
present township of Hamilton and about
one-half of the present township of St.
Thomas -
Joseph Armstrong,
Matthew Arthur,
Josh. Barnet,
James Barnet,
Thomas Barnet, Jr.,
James Boyd,
Thomas Barnet,
Andrew Brattan,
John Blain,
Wm. Boal, |
Robert Barnet,
John Campbell,
Adam Carson,
James Denny,
Robert Donelson,
John Dixon,
Matthew Dixon,
John Eaton
Josh. Eaton,
James Eaton, |
Robert Elliot,
Johnston Elliot,
Wm. Eckery,
John Galaway,
James Hamilton,
John Hindman,
Alex Hamilton,
Edward Johnston,
Patrick Knox,
William McCord, |
Samuel McCamish,
Samuel Moorhead,
Thomas Patterson,
Joshua Pepper,
George Reynolds,
William Rankin,
John Swan,
Widow Swan,
Edward Thorn,
Aaron Watson, |
Freeman:
Dennis Kease, |
Josh. McCamish, 42 |
|
|
In Lurgan
-
which then included the present
townships of Lurgan, Letterkenny,
Southampton and Greene -
Benjamin Allworth,
James Allison,
Thos. Alexander,
Andrew Baird, Jr.,
James Breckenridge,
John Boyd,
James Boall,
James Boyd,
Laird Burns,
Robert Boyd,
Samuel Buckenstos,
William Barr,
William Baird (turner),
William Baird (at Rocky Spring)
John Burns,
Francis Brain,
William Breckenridge,
Alexander Culbertson,
Archibald Campbell,
Dennis Cotter,
Joseph Culbertson,
John Cessna,
James Calwell,
John Crawford,
John Cumins,
James Culbertson,
Nathaniel Cellar,
Oliver Culbertson,
Samuel Culbertson,
Samuel Cochran,
Steven Colwell,
William Cox,
William Cochran,
William Chambers,
David Carson,
Wm. Devanner,
Jacob Donelson,
William Erwin,
John Evans,
John Erwin, |
Andrew Finley,
John Finley, Sr.,
John Finley, Esq.,
John Finley (sawyer),
James Finley,
Robert Finley,
George Ginley,
John Graham,
Robert Gabie,
Thomas Grier,
William Greenlee,
William Guthrie,
John Grier,
Arthur Graham,
Isaac Grier,
John Gaston,
David Heron,
Francis Heron,
Gustavus Henderson,
James Henderson,
Joshua Henderson,
James Henry,
John Hawthorn,
Christian Irwin,
William Jack,
Samuel Jordan,
John Jones,
Nathaniel Johnson,
David Johnson,
John Johnson,
Thomas Jack,
John Kirkpatrick,
John Kirkpatrick, Jr.,
John Kerr,
John Kennedy,
James Kirkpatrick,
John Lowrie,
John Leckey
James Lawder,
Robert Long, |
Samuel Laird,
William Linn,
William Linn, Jr.,
David Linn,
Archibald Machan,
Arthur Miller,
Andrew Murphey,
Alexander Mitchell,
Alexander McNutt,
Charles McGlea,
David McCright,
George Mitchell,
Gavin Mitchell,
Humphrey Montgomery,
Henry Machan,
John Miller, Esq.,
James McCamant,
John McKeany,
John McCall,
James McCall,
John McCrea,
John McKee,
John Mitchel,
James Mitchel,
John Mitchel, Jr.,
John McCrea,
John Machen,
Joseph McKibben,
John McNaught,
John McCappin,
John Montgomery,
John McCombs,
Machan McCombs,
Mat. McCreary,
Robert McConnell,
Robert Miller,
Robert Machan,
Thomas McComb,
Thomas Miner,
William McConnell, |
William Mitchell,
William McNutt,
William McCall,
Charles Murray,
Joseph Mitchell,
Andrew Neal,
James Norrice,
Thomas Neal,
James Ortan,
David Paxton,
George Pumroy,
James Patterson,
Mr. ____ Riley (at Mr. Hoops'),
John Rippie,
Josiah Ramage,
James Reed, Sr.,
James Reed, Jr.,
James Reed,
Samuel Rippie,
Wm. Reed,
Robert Reed (cordwainer),
Charles Stewart,
James Sharp,
Robert Scott,
Ranald Slack,
William Turner,
Alvard Terrence,
Joseph Thomson,
James Tait,
Robert Urie,
Thomas Urie,
Abm. Wier,
David Watson,
Hugh Wier,
John Weyley,
John Weir,
James Waid,
James Wilson,
Nathaniel Wilson, |
Page 155 -
Oliver Wallace,
Wm. Withrow, |
Wm.
Woods,
Wm. Walker, |
Alexander Walker,
William Young. |
|
Freemen:
James Hawthorne,
Morgan Linch, |
Geo. McKeaney,
William Milrea, |
Charles Moor,
George Ross, |
John Tait, 76 |
In Peters Township - which then included
the present township of Peters and
Montgomery, and that part of St. Thomas
Township west of Campbell's Run -
Daniel Alexander,
Andrew Alexander,
Wm. Armstrong,
Hezekiah Alexander,
Adam Armstrong,
Arthur Alexander,
John Baird,
James Blair,
Alex. Brown,
Thomas Barr,
Ann Black (widow),
Thomas Boal,
Samuel Brown,
Wm. Barnett,
Joshua Bradner,
John Black,
John Baird,
James Black,
Widow Brown,
Robert Barnet,
David Bowel,
John Blair,
George Brown,
Wm. Clark,
Robert Clugage,
Wm. Campbell,
Michael Carsell,
Samuel Chapman,
Thomas Calhoun,
Michael Campbell,
Robert Crawford,
Patrick Clark,
Wm. Campbell,
Robert Culbertson,
Charles Campbell,
Thomas Clark, |
John Dickey,
James Dickey,
Widow Donelson,
Wm. Dunwood,
John Docherty
Samuel Davis,
David Davis,
James Davis,
Widow Davis,
Philip Davis,
Joseph Dunlop,
Arthur Donelson,
David Davis,
Nath. Davis,
Josh. Davis,
Thomas Davis,
James Erwin,
Widow Farier,
John Flanaghin,
James Flanaghin,
Moses Fisher,
James Galbreath,
John Gilmore,
Widow Garison,
Samuel Gilespie,
James Galaway,
Josh. Harris,
John Harris,
Jeremiah Harris,
Charles Harris,
Widow Huston,
James Holland,
John Huston,
John Hamilton,
Joseph How,
John Holyday, |
Wm.
Holyday,
Wm. Hanbey,
David Huston,
John Hill,
James Holiday,
Alex. Hotchison,
Mesech James,
Hugh Kerrell,
Wm. Lowrie,
Henry Larkan,
Wm. Maxwell,
James Mitchell,
John Morlan,
John Martin,
James Mercer,
John Mercer,
Wm. Marshall,
Wm. Moor,
Widow McFarland,
Andrew Morison,
John McDowell,
Alex. McKee,
Robert McClellan,
Wm. McDowell, Jr.,
Wm. McClellan,
John McClellan,
Andrew Moor,
Wm. McDowell,
James McConnell,
Robert McCoy,
Wm. McIllhatton,
James McMahon,
James Murphy,
Wm. Morrison,
James McClellan, |
Robert Newell,
Victor Neely,
James Orr,
Thomas Orbison,
Thomas Owins,
Nathan Orr,
Matthew Patton,
John Patton,
Francis Patterson,
David Rees,
James Rankin,
Alex. Robertson,
Wm. Semple,
James Sloan,
Richard Stevens,
Andrew Simpson,
Wm. Shannon,
Hugh Shannon,
Widow Scott,
Alex. Staret,
Collin Spence,
John Taylor,
James Wright,
Wm. Wilson,
John Wilson,
John Winton,
James Wilkey,
James Wilson,
Matthew Wallace,
Moses White,
John Wasson,
Joseph Williams,
John Wood,
Joseph White,
Thomas Waddle. |
Freemen:
Robert Anderson,
David Alexander,
Robert Banefield,
James Brown,
James Blair, |
Gavin Cluggage,
James Carswell,
James Coyle,
William Gueen,
Alex. Hutchison, |
Ed.
Horkan,
John Laird,
Alex. McConnell,
Samuel Templeton,
Wm. Tayler, |
James Wilson,
James Wallace,
Andrew Willabee,
Oliver Wallace,
David Wallace - 162 |
One of the
complications in earlier times, along
the southern portion of the county, was
the difficulty which settlers had in
determining whether their possessions
were in Pennsylvania or Maryland.
This involved the famous Mason and
Dixon's line.
This remarkable line, alluded to by
political writers and speakers through
the whole period of our national
existence, and even anterior to it, is
named in honor of its surveyors, and
marks the boundary between Pennsylvania
and Maryland. Since 1820, when
John Randolph was continually
harping on the words "Mason and Dixon
Line," as Felix Walker, of North
Carolina, was on "Buncombe," one of the
counties of his district, it has been
the line of demarkation between two
distinct schools of politicians, the
representatives of two opposing sections
of territory.
The original controversy between the States, thus lying
side by side, was waged with great
spirit and varying results between the
Lords Baltimore
Page 156 -
and the Penn family, from 1682 to
1767. These various phases,
interesting and exciting in themselves,
can not here be given. The reader
is referred to the special works which
trace the controversy. It needs
simply to be stated briefly that "on the
4th of August, 1763, the Penns -
Thomas and Richard, and
Frederick Lord Baltimore, then being
together in London, agreed with
Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon,
two mathematicians and surveyors, to
mark, run out, settle, fix and determine
all such parts of the circle, marks,
lines and boundaries, as were mentioned
in the several articles or commissions,
and were not yet completed; that
Mason and Dixon arrived in
Philadelphia, Nov. 15, 1763, received
their instructions from the
commissioners of the two provinces, Dec.
9, 1763, and forthwith engaged in the
work assigned them; that they
ascertained the latitude of the
southernmost part of the city of
Philadelphia (viz.: 39º
56' 29.1" north - or, more accurately,
according to Col. Graham, 39º
56' 37.4"), which was agreed to be in
the north wall of the house then
occupied by Thomas Plumstead and
Joseph Huddle, on the south side
of Cedar Street; and then, in January
and February, 1764, they measured
thirty-one miles westward of the city to
the forks of the Brandywine, where they
planted a quartzose stone, known then,
and to this day, in the vicinage, as the
star-gazer's stone; that, in the spring
of 1764, they ran, from said stone, a
due south line fifteen English statute
miles, horizontally measured by levels,
each twenty feet in length, to a post
marked 'west;' that they then repaired
to a post marked 'middle,' at the middle
point of the peninsula; west line
running from Cape Henlopen to Chesapeake
Bay, and thence during the summer of
1764, they ran, marked and described the
tangent line agreed on by the
proprietaries. Then, in the autumn
of 1764, from the post marked 'west,' at
fifteen miles south of Philadelphia they
set off and produced a parallel of
latitude westward, as far as the river
Susquehanna; then they went to the
tangent point, and in 1764-65 ran thence
a meridian line northward until it
intersected the said parallel of
latitude, at the distance of five miles,
one chain and fifty links - thus and
there determining and fixing the
northeast corner of Maryland.
Next, in 1765, they described such
portion of the semi-circle around New
Castle, as fell westward of the said
meridian, or due north lilne from the
tangent point. This little bow, or
are, reaching into Maryland, is about a
mile and a half long, and its middle
width, 116 feet; from its upper end,
where the three States join, to the
fifteen-mile point, where the great
Mason and Dixon's line begins, is a
little over three and a half miles; and
from the fifteen-mile corner due east to
the circle,is a little over
three-quarters of a mile - room enough
for three or four good Chester County
farms. This was the only part of
the circle which Mason and Dixon ran."
In 1766-667 they continued the west line beyond the
Susquehanna, extending the same to the
distance of 230 miles, 18 chains and 21
links from the northeast corner of
Maryland near to an Indian war-path, on
the borders of a stream called Dunkard
Creek. The hostile attitude of the
Indians prevented Mason and Dixon from
continuing the line to the western
boundary of Pennsylvania. The
remainder of the line, less than twenty
miles, was subsequently run (1782) by
other surveyors. The portion run
by Mason and Dixon and certified by
commissions Nov. 9, 1768, as having been
properly marked by stones distant one
mile from each other, every fifth
mile-stone having on the north face the
arms of Thomas and Richard Penn,
and on the south face the arms of
Lord Baltimore. These stones
were o_litic rock, imported for the
purpose form England.
The surveyors were paid twenty-one shillings each per
day for services and expenses, from the
time they came to this country till they
reached Eng-
Page 157 -
James O. Carson
Page 158 [blank]
Page 159 -
land. The amount paid by the
Penns from 1760 to 1768 was
£34,200,
Pennsylvania Currency.
<
CLICK HERE to RETURN to TABLE of
CONTENTS > |