and the purchase of new lands from the Indians led to the erection of
Lancaster County. At that time the Susquehanna River marked the western
limit of the land purchased from the Indians in the province. But the
purchase of October 11, 1736, opened a triangular area west of the
river, which was attached to Lancaster until the convenience of the
increasing settlements in this region in 1749 demanded the erection of
York County, and a year later for the erection of Cumberland County.
The northern extension of these counties was limited by the Indian
boundary line, marked by the Kittatinny Range.
Again the extension of settlements and the treaty of August 22, 1749,
demanded new county organizations, and in 1752 Berks and Northampton
were formed to include in their jurisdiction the northern portions of
the older counties and the newly acquired territory between the Delaware
and Susquehanna Rivers. Berks embraced the larger area.
Additional territory west of the Susquehanna was acquired from the
Indians by the treaties of 1754 and 1758, which made the outlying county
of Cumberland too large for the convenience of its inhabitants, and in
1771 Bedford County was erected.
A similar development was rapidly taking place east of the Susquehanna,
occasioned by the activity about Fort Augusta, at the Forks of the
Susquehanna, and the Pennamite-Yankee War, which was being waged for
possession of the territory in the Wyoming Valley and elsewhere, claimed
by the Susquehanna Company of Connecticut, and the treaty of November 5,
1768, added much new territory.
By an act passed March 21, 1772, the County of Northumberland was
erected out of parts of the counties of Lancaster, Cumberland, Berks,
Bedford and Northampton. The bounds of the new county stretched to the
New York-Pennsylvania boundary line on the north and to the Allegheny
River on the west, including in its extensive territory the present-day
counties of Susquehanna, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wyoming, Bradford,
Sullivan, Columbia, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder, Union, Lycoming,
Tioga, Potter, Clinton, Cameron, Elk, McKean, Forest, Jefferson, Clarion
and parts of Schuylkill, Center, Mifflin, Juniata, Clearfield, Indiana,
Armstrong, Venango and Warren.
It is with eminent propriety this tenth county of Pennsylvania has been
frequently styled “Old Mother Northumberland,” and each of her
twenty-nine children refer back to her for their earliest political
history.
Its greatest proportions were attained in 1785, when, by the Act of
April 9, all that part of the purchase of October 22, 1784, east of the
Conewango Creek and Allegheny River was placed within its limits. The
county thus extended along the northern line of the State as far west as
the Conewango Creek, which crosses the New York-Pennsylvania boundary
line in Warren County, and from the Lehigh River to the Allegheny River,
with a maximum width of nearly two-thirds that of the State. The extent
of this region exceeds that of several States of the Union.
By the Act of September 24, 1788, Allegheny County was created,
including all the territory in the State north and west of the Ohio and
Allegheny Rivers, and from this territory, by act of March 12, 1800, the
counties of Beaver, Butler, Mercer, Crawford, Erie, Warren, Venango and
Armstrong were erected. Thus it would seem that the first five of these
should be added with the offspring of Old Northumberland, for three
years at least. If this be the case her children would number
thirty-four of the sixty-seven counties of the State.
The first curtailment of this generous domain resulted from the erection
of Luzerne County, September 25, 1786. West of the Susquehanna the first
county to which Northumberland contributed was Mifflin, erected
September 19, 1789, but the part taken from Northumberland with
additional territory from Northumberland and other counties, was erected
into Center, February 13, 1800. The formation of Lycoming County, April
13, 1795, deprived Northumberland of the large extent of territory it
had acquired under the purchase of 1784, with a considerable part of its
original area.
Northumberland was thus reduced to the position of an interior county.
With this reduced territory the statesmen of Pennsylvania were not fully
satisfied, and March 22, 1813, the townships of Chillisquaque and Turbot
were detached to form part of the new Columbia County, but this was an
unpopular move and the greater part of these townships were re-annexed
to Northumberland, February 21, 1815.
On June 16, 1772, the surveyor general was directed to “lay out a town
for the county of Northumberland, to be called by the name of Sunbury,
at the most commodious place between the fort (Augusta) and the mouth of
Shamokin Creek.”
Until the court house was built the courts were held at Fort Augusta,
the first session being held April 9, 1772.
The first jail in the county was the dungeon beneath the magazine of
Fort Augusta. This is the only part of the early county buildings now in
existence, and this particular dungeon and the old well which supplied
water for the garrison are now the property of the Commonwealth.
When the county was erected the Governor appointed William Plunket,
Turbut Francis, Samuel Hunter, James Potter, William Maclay, Caleb
Graydon, Benjamin Allison, Robert Moodie, John Lowdon, Thomas Lemon,
Ellis Hughes and Benjamin Weiser to be justices. William Plunket was the
president of the court and served as such four years.
William Maclay was the Prothonotary and Register and Recorder, and
served until March 22, 1777; George Nagel, Sheriff of Berks County,
served in a similar capacity in the new county; Edward Burd was the
State’s attorney, and the Coroner was James Parr. The original County
Commissioners were William Gray, Thomas Hewitt and John Weitzel.
Alexander Hunter was Treasurer, and Walter Clark, Jonathan Lodge, Peter
Hosterman, James Harrison, Nicholas Miller, Jacob Heverling and Samuel
Weiser, Assessors; Thomas Lemon, Collector of Excise; Joshua Elder,
James Potter, Jesse Lukens and William Scull were appointed to run the
boundary line; Samuel Hunter was the first member of the Assembly.
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Peter Pence, Indian Fighter, Captured
March 22, 1780
One of the conspicuous characters along the Susquehanna Valleys during
the period of the Revolutionary War, and afterwards, was a Pennsylvania
Dutchman by the name of Peter Pence. It is generally believed that his
proper name was Bentz, a name which occurs frequently in Lancaster
County, from which place he went to Shamokin. The well-known aptitude of
the Dutchman to incorrectly sound his letters is given as the reason
that his name was pronounced and spelled Pence.
In accord with the resolution adopted by Congress, June 14, 1775,
directing the formation of six companies of expert riflemen in
Pennsylvania to be employed as light infantry, one of the companies was
recruited in Northumberland County, June 25, 1775, under the command of
Captain John Lowdon.
Captain Lowdon then resided on a farm called Silver Spring, adjoining
the present town of Mifflinburg, Union County, where he died in
February, 1798, aged sixty-eight years.
The company formed part of the battalion of riflemen commanded by
Colonel William Thompson, of Carlisle. This company boarded boats on the
Susquehanna River and were conveyed to Harris’ Ferry, then marched
overland to Reading, where they arrived July 13, and received knapsacks,
blankets and other equipment. This battalion was composed of nine
companies, two from Cumberland County, two from Lancaster, and one each
from York and Northumberland, Berks, Bedford and Northampton.
The battalion arrived at Cambridge August 7, and soon became the
picketguard of the 2000 provincials there. It also became the First
Regiment of the Continental Line, Colonel Thompson being promoted to
brigadier general, March 1, 1776. He was succeeded by Colonel Edward
Hand, of Lancaster, who also became a brigadier, September 17, 1778.
This battalion participated in the Battle of Trenton, was at the taking
of Burgoyne, was with Sullivan in his expedition against the Six Nation
Indians, was at Stony Point under General Wayne and finally served in
the campaign of South Carolina during the latter days of the war.
The first record of Peter Pence is as a private soldier in Lowdon’s
company, and the further fact that he served faithfully is sufficient
introduction to the thrilling life he led in the frontiers of
Pennsylvania.
On March 22, 1780, the Indians made an attack on some settlers in the
vicinity of Fort Wheeler, on the banks of Fishing Creek, about three
miles above the present town of Bloomsburg, Columbia County. The Indians
killed and scalped Cornelius Van Campen and his brother, and a son was
tomahawked, scalped and thrown into the fire. Lieutenant Moses Van
Campen, another son, was taken captive, as was his cousin, a young lad,
and Peter Pence. Soon after this, at another place, the Indians took a
lad named Jonah Rogers and a man named Abram Pike.
With their captives the Indians made their way over the mountains, into
what is now Bradford County. The savage warriors were ten in number.
One evening, while the prisoners were being bound for the night, an
Indian accidentally dropped his knife close to Van Campen’s feet, and he
covered the knife unobserved.
About midnight, when the warriors were all asleep, Van Campen got the
knife and released Peter Pence, who in turn released the others.
Cautiously and quickly the weapons were obtained and a plan of action
determined. The prisoners had been placed in the midst of the warriors.
Van Campen and Pike were to use the tomahawk on one group, while Peter
Pence opened fire on the other with the rifles.
The work was well done, Van Campen and Pike dispatched four while Pence,
with unerring aim speedily killed his group. A hand to hand fight
between the remaining Indian, John, a Mohawk sachem, and Van Campen,
resulted in the Indian making his escape.
The liberated captives scalped the Indians, picked up their plunder and
hastily constructed a raft, and, after a series of adventures, reached
Wyoming, April 4, 1780, where Pike and young Rogers left the party.
Peter Pence and the Van Campens reached Fort Jenkins on the morning of
April 6, where they found Colonel John Kelly, with 100 frontiersmen who
had hurried there from the West Branch. The following day Pence and Van
Campen reached Fort Augusta, where they were received in a regular
frontier triumph.
The next exploit in which we find Pence engaged is in the year 1781,
when one of the most atrocious murders was committed near Selinsgrove.
Three brothers by the name of Stock were at work in the field when a
party of about thirty Indians appeared. They did not attack the boys,
but passed on to the house, which they entered. On the way they found
another son plowing, whom they killed. Mrs. Stock and a daughter-in-law
were found in the house. The mother defended herself with a canoe pole,
as she retreated toward the field where her husband was working. She was
tomahawked, however, the house plundered and the young woman carried
into the woods nearby and killed and scalped. When Stock returned and
found his wife, son and daughter-in-law inhumanly butchered he gave an
alarm.
Three experienced Indian fighters, Michael Grove, John Stroh and Peter
Pence went in pursuit of the enemy. They found them encamped on the
North Branch, on the side of a hill covered with fern. Grove crept close
enough to discover that their rifles were stacked around a tree and that
all but three were asleep.
One of the Indians was narrating in high glee how Mrs. Stock defended
herself with the pole. Grove lay quiet until all the Indians fell
asleep. He then returned to his companions, Stroh and Pence. They
decided to attack, and crept up close to the camp, when they dashed
among the sleeping savages. Grove plied his deadly tomahawk, while Stroh
and Pence seized the rifles and fired among the sleepers. Several
Indians were killed; the others, believing they were attacked by a large
party fled to the woods.
A captive white boy was liberated and the three brave men brought home a
number of scalps and the best rifles.
March 10, 1810, the Legislature passed an act granting an annuity to
Peter Pence, in consideration of his services, of $40 per annum. He died
in the Nippenose Valley, in 1812. He left several sons and daughters.
Robert Hamilton, of Pine Creek Township, Clinton County, was the
executor of his estate. He left a will which is recorded in Lycoming
County.
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John Bartram, First Great American Botanist
and Founder of Bartram Gardens, Born
at Darby, March 23, 1699
It is not generally known, at least outside of Pennsylvania, that that
State was the birth place of a man whom the celebrated Linnaeus
pronounced the greatest natural botanist in the world. This man was John
Bartram, a native of Delaware County.
August 30, 1685 John Bartram bought three hundred acres of land from
Thomas Brassey, which land was situated along Darby Creek, in now
Delaware County. Here John Bartram was born March 23, 1699.
His early attention was first directed to botanical studies by one of
those accidents which seem to shape the destinies of all great men.
When a mere lad and helping his father with the work about the farm he
plowed up a daisy. Despite everything the modest little flower kept
intruding itself on his consideration, until after several days he hired
a man to plow while he rode to Philadelphia to procure a treatise on
botany and a Latin grammar.
Fortunately for himself and the world he inherited a farm from a
bachelor uncle, which gave him the means to marry early, and purchase
the land where he afterwards established the noted “Botanical Gardens.”
His wife was Mary, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Maris; they were
married April 25, 1723. Mrs. Bartram died within a few years, and he
then married Ann Mendenhall, February 11, 1729.
Bartram bought his piece of ground at Gray’s Ferry in 1728. On this
estate he built with his own hands a stone house, and on one of the
stones in the gable was cut “John * Ann Bartram, 1731.”
Here he pursued his studious habits, his reputation spreading abroad
until correspondence was solicited by the leading botanists of the Old
World,—Linnaeus, Dr. Fothergill, and others,—while in the colonies, all
scientific men in the same line of study sought his favor, advice and
opinions. Dr. Benjamin Franklin was his earnest friend, and constantly
urged Bartram to authorship.
His fame had so extended that in 1765 King George III appointed him
botanist to the King.
He transmitted both his talents and tastes to his son William, and their
joint labors during a period of nearly one hundred years were the most
valuable contributions that this country has made to the science in
whose behalf they were devoted.
They were pious Quakers, admired and loved by their acquaintances.
James Logan was probably the first person who directed the mind of John
Bartram seriously to botany as the pursuit of a lifetime.
Logan was a lover of plants and flowers and enjoyed a wonderful garden
at “Stenton,” and Bartram was a welcome guest.
Logan, in 1729, sent to England for a copy of “Parkinson’s Herbal,”
saying he wanted to present it to John Bartram, who was a person
worthier of a heavier purse than fortune had yet allowed him, and had “a
genius perfectly well turned for botany.”
A subscription was started in 1742 to enable Bartram to travel in search
of botanical specimens. It was proposed to raise enough for him to
continue his travels for three years, he being described as a person who
“has had a propensity to Botanicks from his infancy,” and “an accurate
observer, of great industry and temperance, and of unquestionable
veracity.”
The result of these travels was the publication of two very delightful
books by this earliest of American botanists.
The specimens he collected were sent to Europe, where they attracted
Kahn and many other naturalists to this country.
In 1751 he published his work, “Observations on the Inhabitants,
Climate, Soil, Divers Productions, Animals, etc., made in his Travels
from Pennsylvania to Onondaga, Oswego, and the Lake Ontario.” In 1766
appeared “An Account of East Florida, by William Stork, with a Journal
kept by John Bartram, of Philadelphia, upon a Journey from St.
Augustine, Fla., up the River St. John’s.”
He also contributed numerous papers to the Philosophical Transactions
from 1740 to 1763.
He was the first in this country to form a botanical garden.
On the outside of his house, over the front window of his study, was a
stone with the inscription, carved by his own hand:
“’Tis God alone, Almighty God,
The Holy One, by me Adored.
John Bartram, 1770;”
and an inscription over the door of his greenhouse was:
“Slave to no sect, who takes no private road,
But looks through nature up to Nature’s God.”
As the British soldiers were approaching Philadelphia from the Battle of
Brandywine, John Bartram greatly feared they would destroy his “beloved
garden,” the work of a lifetime. He became very much excited, and said,
“I want to die!” and expired half an hour later, September 22, 1777. His
remains lie buried in the Friends’ burying ground, Darby.
His son William went to Florida to study and collect botanical
specimens, returning home in 1771. In 1773, at the instance of the
distinguished Quaker physician, Dr. John Fothergill, of London, William
spent five years in the study of the natural productions of the Southern
States. The results of these investigations were published by Dr.
Fothergill.
In 1782 he was elected Professor of Botany in the University of
Pennsylvania, but declined the appointment on the score of ill health.
Besides his discoveries and publications on botany, he prepared the most
complete table of American ornithology prior to Wilson’s great work, and
he was an assistant of the latter in a portion of his work.
He died suddenly, July 22, 1823, just a moment after he had completed
writing a sketch of a new specimen of a plant.
This first botanical garden in America is situated in West Philadelphia,
near Fifty-fourth Street and Woodland Avenue. There is a cider mill, and
close by the grave of an old and faithful slave.
The house is sufficient to attract any visitor, and it was here where
the illustrious visitors from various parts of the world were received
by the Bartrams.
The city authorities assumed control of this property in 1891.
----------
Proposal for Second Constitution for Pennsylvania
Adopted March 24, 1789
The Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 proving inadequate for the
requirements of a useful and effective Government, its revision was
demanded. On March 24, 1789, the Assembly adopted resolutions
recommending the election of delegates to form a new Constitution.
The struggle for independence had been fought and won, but with the
triumph of the Revolution even those who had been opposed to the
movement speedily acquiesced, though many years elapsed before all the
bitter memories engendered by the strife could pass away. Time was
healing the wounds of war, and others were growing up who had not
suffered.
The adoption of the Federal Constitution had rendered the institution of
measures necessary for the election of members of Congress and electors
of President and Vice President of the United States. In order to avail
themselves as fully as possible of the privileges afforded, the
Anti-Federalists were early at work.
A few of the leading men of this party assembled in convention at
Harrisburg in September, 1788, ostensibly for the purpose of
recommending revision of the new Constitution. Blair McClenachen was
chosen as the chairman of this small assembly, and General John A.
Hanna, secretary. They resolved that it was expedient to recommend an
acquiescence in the Constitution but that a revision of the instrument
was necessary. They debated among other topics, a reform in the ratio of
congressional representation, and a referendum on the term of a Senator.
Several other changes were advocated, but the body contented itself by
nominating a general ticket for Congress.
The action of this body was immediately denounced and as the nominees
were Anti-Federalists, it was said that power to enforce the new
constitutional system ought not to be granted to its opponents.
A new convention was to meet at Lancaster, which selected candidates for
Congress and electors for President. The election took place in
November, and in the State six of the nominees on the Federal ticket
were elected and two (David Muhlenberg, of Montgomery, and Daniel
Hiester, of Berks), who, although Federalists, had with two others of
the same politics, been placed as a matter of policy with the opposition
ticket.
The political condition of Pennsylvania had undergone a great change,
and now the three original counties had multiplied by 1790 to
twenty-one. Immigration was strongly flowing into the State. The
abundance of fertile lands formed an attraction to the immigrant almost
without parallel in the county.
Then the Constitution of 1776 had been rather hastily prepared amid
great excitement and was adopted with the determined spirit that
characterized all public measures during the Revolutionary period.
Even though the instrument had become somewhat antiquated, it might have
been improved by regular methods, and the amended Constitution would
have been acceptable to a large number of people, but such action would
not have served the personal ambitions of the leaders.
The chief objections to the Constitution were the single legislative
body, and a Council of Censors whose functions were of such an unusual
character, the latter body being the real bone of contention.
When the people had grown discontented with the old Constitution,
believing they had suffered long enough through lack of action and
authority, they were willing to adopt another Constitution containing
the principles of enduring life.
The same movement that led to the ratification of the Federal
Constitution by Pennsylvania stirred the waters in another direction. If
the Federal Constitution could be ratified by a convention, why could
not a convention be called to make and adopt another Constitution for
Pennsylvania?
A petition was addressed to the Legislature, which adopted a resolution
March 24, 1789, but the Supreme Executive Council refused to promulgate
this action of the Assembly.
September 15, 1789, the Assembly adopted another resolution calling for
a convention by a vote of 39 to 17.
At the election in October delegates were chosen, and on Tuesday,
November 24, 1789, the convention assembled in Philadelphia, but a
quorum not being present, the organization was effected the following
day with sixty-four delegates in attendance. No returns had been
received from the counties of Northumberland and Allegheny, and Mifflin
had sent a double delegation.
Thomas Mifflin was chosen president; Joseph Redman, secretary; Frederick
Snyder, messenger, and Joseph Fry, doorkeeper.
On the Republican side, those in favor of a new constitution were James
Wilson, Thomas McKean and Thomas Mifflin, all of Philadelphia; Timothy
Pickering, of Luzerne; Edward Hand, of Lancaster. Among the
Constitutionalists were William Findley, of Westmoreland; John Smilie
and Albert Gallatin, of Fayette; Robert Whitehill and William Irvine, of
Cumberland.
After a long session the convention adjourned Friday, February 26, 1790,
to meet Monday, August 9.
The second session of the convention met pursuant to adjournment and got
down to business the third day, and concluded its work by the final
adoption of a new instrument September 2, 1790, the final vote being
sixty-one to one, Mr. George Roberts, of Philadelphia, voting against
its adoption.
The most radical changes were made in the executive and legislative
branches of government. The Assembly ceased to have the sole right to
make laws, a Senate being created. The Supreme Executive Council was
abolished. A Governor was directed to be elected to whom the
administration of affairs was to be entrusted.