out to Oil City in 1865. In 1864 Samuel Van Syckel had constructed a
pipe line four miles in length, and the result was a change in the
entire method of transportation. A refinery was built at Corry in 1862.
The Pennsylvania grade of crude oil is the best lubricant that man has
ever found. And since refineries can add nothing to an oil that was not
present in its crude state, Pennsylvania grade of crude oil is still
supreme.
In recent years the Standard Oil Company has controlled to a great
extent the oil production of the country.
The largest individual fortune the world has ever seen is the outcome of
the development of the business of securing and distributing coal oil.
----------
Joseph Galloway, Loyalist Politician, and
Member Continental Congress,
Died August 29, 1803
Joseph Galloway, the Loyalist Politician, was born in the town of West
River, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, in the year 1731. His
great-grandfather, Richard Galloway, of London, England, acquired
considerable land in Lord Baltimore’s province in 1662, thus indicating
that he was a man of good fortune and respectability.
Peter Galloway, father of Joseph, removed with his family in 1740 to
Kent, not far from Philadelphia, where he died while Joseph was yet a
mere boy. Being possessed of large landed property Joseph chose the
study of law, and was admitted to the bar and allowed to practice before
the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania as early as 1749. In the meantime he
had obtained a good social standing, and as early as 1748 had been made
a member of the Schuylkill Fishing Company, a club composed of the most
prominent and aristocratic men of Philadelphia.
Mr. Galloway still further enhanced his prospects by his marriage in
1753 with Grace Growden, daughter of Lawrence Growden, an influential
character and a former Speaker of the Assembly. The Growdens were the
owners of the famous iron works at Durham, Pennsylvania, and possessed
large means.
Mr. Galloway rapidly acquired a large practice and became one of the
eminent lawyers in the province. He and John Dickinson succeeded Andrew
Hamilton in the leadership of the Philadelphia bar prior to the
Revolution.
Galloway became a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1756, and his
legal talents proved of especial service in that body. In recognition of
his unusual attainments as a lawyer and public man, Mr. Galloway was
given the degree LL.D., by Princeton College in 1769.
Mr. Galloway several times served as an Indian Commissioner and attended
important conferences at Easton and on missions to the Indian country.
He became an opponent of the Proprietaries and fought a successful
battle with the Governor over the question of preserving to the Assembly
the disposal of the money and forbidding the Governor to assist in its
expenditure.
When the effort was made to abolish the Proprietorship and make
Pennsylvania a royal province, the Assembly passed resolutions
rehearsing the tyranny of the Proprietary and a bitter factional
struggle ensued among the people. In October, 1764, the Assembly passed
the resolution for a change of government by a vote of 27 to 3. Rather
than sign the document Isaac Norris resigned as speaker.
In the final debate, Joseph Galloway and John Dickinson made the leading
speeches for and against, respectively. Galloway favored the abolition
of the Proprietary government, while Dickinson believed its continuance
would better serve the province. Benjamin Franklin and Galloway were so
closely associated that their leadership was hard to beat.
Galloway was at the head of the committee which considered and reported
upon the grievances of the Province in the “Paxtang Riot” affair
following the murder of the Conestoga Indians, December, 1763.
The conduct of Galloway during the excitement attending the passage of
the Stamp Act was conspicuously loyal. He feared the tyranny of mob rule
more than the tyranny of Parliament.
Mr. Galloway gave expression to his views in an article signed
“Americanus,” printed in the Pennsylvania Journal, in which he warned
his countrymen of the evils to which their seditious conduct would lead.
This article aroused great indignation against him. He was called a Tory
and went by the name of “Americanus” for some time.
Mr. Galloway had an extreme aversion to the Presbyterians. He associated
them with rioters, and in their support of the “Paxtang Boys” he was
convinced they were dangerous characters.
Although he had taken a rather unpopular stand in the Stamp Act
controversy, he was returned to the Assembly in 1766, and elected its
Speaker.
Mr. Galloway approved the proposal for a Continental Congress and was
one of the eight Pennsylvanians who composed the First Continental
Congress. Although Dickinson was the leader, Galloway played a
conspicuous but not very honorable part. According to Bancroft, he
“acted as a volunteer spy for the British Government.”
It is a fact that he was a conservative in his views, and that his line
of argument in his first debates tended towards political independence.
He proposed a plan of colonial government, which was rejected. This plan
contemplated a government with a president-general appointed by the
king, and a Grand Council, chosen every three years by the colonial
assemblies, who were to be authorized to act jointly with Parliament in
the regulation of affairs of the colonies.
The following year Galloway was permitted to resign and thus be relieved
from serving on account of the radical acts against England. He
abandoned the Whigs soon as the question of independence had begun to be
agitated, and thence forward he was regarded as a zealous Tory.
When the Howes issued their proclamation in 1776, granting amnesty to
such Americans as would forsake the Revolutionary cause, Galloway’s
courage failed him and he accepted the offer.
“Galloway has fled and joined the venal Howe;
To prove his baseness, see him cringe and bow,
A traitor to his country and its laws,
A friend to tyrants and their cursed cause,” etc.
Galloway accompanied Howe’s expedition against Philadelphia. When the
British assumed control he was appointed Superintendent of the Police of
the City and Suburbs, of the Port and of the Prohibited Articles. Thus
he was for about five months the head of the civil government.
He raised and disciplined troops; and gathered a company of Bucks County
refugees, and with these two bodies he carried on military enterprises
against Americans.
The Pennsylvania Assembly, March 6, 1778, passed an “act for the
attainder of divers traitors,” among whom was Joseph Galloway. His
estate was confiscated, and according to his testimony before
Parliament, was worth at least £40,000 sterling. His house was
appropriated by the State of Pennsylvania as a residence for the
President of the Supreme Executive Council, but was afterwards sold to
Robert Morris.
Forbidden the privilege of returning to Pennsylvania, Mr. Galloway
devoted his leisure time to religious studies. He died at Watford,
Herts, England, August 29, 1803.
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Etymology of Pennsylvania Counties Erected
Since Penn Set Sail August 30, 1682
William Penn sailed from England in the ship “Welcome,” August 30, 1682.
Upon his arrival the organization of his province was pushed with
dispatch, and today that vast territory is divided into sixty-seven
counties, each one of which possesses history worth the telling.
The genealogy of the counties of Pennsylvania is both interesting and
historical, and presents some valuable data. The three original counties
were Philadelphia, Chester and Bucks, so named by William Penn in the
latter part of the year 1682.
It is a singular coincidence that Philadelphia County should be
surrounded with counties somewhat similar to those which surround London
in England; Buckingham, or Bucks, Chester and Lancashire.
The name Philadelphia means “brotherly love,” the other three were given
their names in honor of their English importance. In fact all the
counties formed and named prior to the Revolution were named identically
and relatively after the counties in England in this chronological order
in the Province—Philadelphia, Chester, Bucks, Lancaster, York,
Cumberland, Berks, Northampton, Bedford, Northumberland and
Westmoreland.
Following the independence of the colonies only three of the counties of
Pennsylvania were afterwards given names of English Counties. They were
Huntingdon, Somerset and Cambria.
In an interesting paper prepared by the late Dr. Hugh Hamilton, of
Harrisburg and read before the Federation of Historical Societies of
Pennsylvania, of which he was then president, the sixty-seven counties
were grouped etymologically as follows:
“Sentimental—Philadelphia, Columbia, Lebanon and Union.
“Familiar—Bedford, Berks, Bucks, Cambria, Chester, Cumberland,
Huntingdon, Lancaster, Northampton, Northumberland, Somerset, York and
Westmoreland.
“Gratitude—Armstrong, Bradford, Butler, Clinton, Crawford, Dauphin,
Luzerne, Mercer, Mifflin, Montgomery, Fayette, Fulton, Greene, Lawrence,
Montour, Perry, Pike, Sullivan, Warren, Washington and Wayne.
“Political—Adams, Blair, Cameron, Franklin, Jefferson, McKean, Monroe
and Snyder.
“Aboriginal—Allegheny, Delaware, Erie, Indiana, Juniata, Lackawanna,
Lehigh, Lycoming, Susquehanna, Tioga, Venango and Wyoming.
“Topographical—Center and Clarion.
“Faunal—Beaver, Carbon, Clearfield, Elk, Forest, Schuylkill.”
It would seem as if Schuylkill should be placed with the aboriginal
group and a new one placed in the list called possibly natural
characteristics, when Carbon, Clearfield and Forest would be placed and
taken from the faunal group. However, the grouping is of much interest
and value.
Many of these counties were formed and received their names at times of
some event in history or when a distinguished person seemed entitled to
be thus honored.
Washington County was named in honor of the commander-in-chief of the
Continental Army in 1781, before he was even thought of as the first
president of the United States. And it is an interesting fact that
Washington County was the first one erected after the Declaration of
Independence. Thus Washington became first in Pennsylvania, as well as
in war, peace and the hearts of his countrymen. And it is equally
interesting that the very next county to be formed in the patriotic
State of Pennsylvania should be named after General La Fayette, who
rendered such conspicuous service to the colonies and was so close to
Washington during the trying days of the great war for liberty. Fayette
was organized September 26, 1783.
Then the statesmen paid a great tribute to Franklin, who was the great
American patriot and statesman. Armstrong was named in honor of Colonel
John Armstrong of Carlisle, who led the successful expedition against
the Indian town at Kittanning and who afterwards became a general and
rendered distinguished service in the Revolution.
The counties of Butler, Crawford, Mifflin, Pike, Potter and Wayne were
named in honor of distinguished Pennsylvania officers of the Revolution;
while Greene and Mercer were names suggested by General Washington, both
as a tribute to distinguished generals of the Revolution, who were much
in Pennsylvania; Sullivan and Perry were named for generals whose great
triumphs were enacted here, and Warren County was named in honor of the
general who made the supreme sacrifice at Bunker Hill.
Bradford County was originally Ontario in the bill creating it, but the
name was changed in honor of former Attorney General William Bradford,
of Pennsylvania. Lawrence was so named in honor of the flagship of
Commodore Oliver H. Perry; Fulton in honor of Lancaster County’s native
son, Robert Fulton, who first successfully ran a steamboat. Clinton was
intended to be called Eagle County, but the name was changed to Clinton.
Montour was so named in honor of Madame Montour and her two
distinguished sons, Henry and Andrew, Indians who were ever loyal to the
Provincial Government of Pennsylvania.
Dauphin and Luzerne were so named in thankfulness to France, the former
in honor of the eldest son of Louis XVI, and the latter in tribute to
the Minister of France then in the United States.
It is rather to be regretted that more of our counties, cities, boroughs
and villages do not still retain their original aboriginal names such as
have been retained in Allegheny, Delaware, Erie, Indiana, Juniata,
Lackawanna, Lehigh, Lycoming, Susquehanna, Tioga, Venango, Wyoming and
Schuylkill Counties.
----------
Penn Obtains Deed to Province, Then
Obtains Lower Counties
August 31, 1682
Two motives operated in the early colonization of the American
Continent; one was the desire of amassing sudden wealth without working
for it; this tempted the adventurous to seek gold here, to trade
valueless trinkets to the Indians for valuable furs and skins; the other
was the desire to escape unjust restrictions of government and the hated
ban of society against the worship of God according to the dictates of
one’s own conscience, which incited devotees of Christianity to forego
the comforts of home in the midst of civilization, and to make for
themselves a habitation on the shores of the new world.
William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, had felt the heavy hand of
persecution for religious opinion’s sake. As a gentleman commoner at
Oxford, he had been fined and finally expelled for nonconformity to the
established church; at home he was whipped and turned out of doors by
his father; he was sent to prison by the Mayor of Cork, where for seven
months he languished in the Tower of London, and, finally, to complete
his disgrace, he was cast into Newgate with common felons.
Upon the accession of James II to the throne of England, more than
fourteen hundred persons of Quaker faith were immured in prisons for a
conscientious adherence to their religious convictions. To escape this
persecution Penn and his followers were moved to emigrate to the New
World, as they called it.
In 1680 Penn made application to Charles II for a grant of land in
America. He based his claim upon moneys due to his father because of
losses in the public service, where he was a distinguished officer of
the British navy.
The Duke of York gave his consent and the king issued a patent to
William Penn, March 4, 1681.
Penn was not prepared to visit his new province during the first year,
but he dispatched three shiploads of settlers, and with them sent his
cousin, Captain William Markham, to take formal possession of the
country and act as deputy governor.
Markham arrived at New York, June 21, 1681, and exhibited his
commission, bearing date April 10, 1681. He also presented the king’s
charter and proclamation.
Armed with these credentials Markham proceeded to the Delaware, where he
was kindly received. He met Lord Baltimore, who happened to be in the
province, and the Maryland proprietor discovered by observation that
Upland was at least twelve miles south of the fortieth degree of
latitude, and believed his province, therefore, extended to the
Schuylkill.
This claim by Baltimore induced Penn to obtain additional grants, as
without them he feared the loss of his whole peninsula.
Markham was accompanied to Pennsylvania by four commissioners appointed
by Penn, who, in conjunction with the Governor, had two chief duties
assigned them; the first was to meet and preserve friendly relations
with the Indians, and acquire lands by actual purchase, and the second
was to select the site of a great city and to make the necessary
surveys.
In the beginning of the year following, Penn published his frame of
government, and certain laws, agreed on in England by himself and the
purchasers under him, entitled: “The frame of the government of the
Province of Pennsylvania, in America; together with certain laws, agreed
upon in England by the Governor and Divers of the Free-Men of the
aforesaid Province. To be further Explained and Confirmed there, by the
first Provincial Council and General Assembly that shall be held, if
they see meet.”
Lest any trouble might arise in the future from claims founded on the
grant of land in America to the Duke of York, of “Long Island and
adjacent territories occupied by the Dutch,” the prudent forethought of
William Penn prompted him to obtain a deed from the Duke, which he
succeeded in doing August 31, 1682.
The deed included the land in Pennsylvania, substantially in the terms
cited in the original Royal Charter.
But Penn, even with the new deed, was not quite satisfied. He was cut
off from the ocean by the uncertain navigation of some narrow stream.
He, therefore, obtained an additional deed from the Duke of York which
was for the grant of New Castle and district twelve miles in radius
around it, and also a further grant from the Duke of a tract extending
to Cape Henlopen, embracing the two counties of Kent and Sussex.
This new grant to Penn was thereafter termed “the territories,” or “the
three lower counties,” and for many years remained a part of
Pennsylvania, until finally separated, since which time it has formed
the State of Delaware.
William Penn was now satisfied with the limits of his province and drew
up such a description of the country from his limited knowledge as he
was able to give.
This description was published in an attractive booklet, together with
the Royal Charter and proclamation; terms of settlement, and other
matters pertaining thereto, and broadcast throughout the Kingdom. He
took particular pains to have these books fall into the hands of
Friends.
The terms of sale of lands were forty shillings for one hundred acres
and one shilling per acre annual rental.
The question had been raised regarding the annual rental, but the terms
of the grant by the Royal Charter to Penn were made absolute on the
“payment therefore to us, our heirs and successors, two beaver skins, to
be delivered at our castle on Windsor, on the first day of January in
every year, and the contingent payment of one-fifth part of all gold and
silver which, from time to time, happened to be found, clear of all
charges.” William Penn, therefore, held his title only by the payments
of quit-rents. He could in consequence give a valid title only by
exacting the quit-rents.
These deeds for the “lower counties” were duly recorded in New York,
and, by proclamation of the commander there, November 21, 1682, to the
magistrates on the west side of the Delaware, the rights of Penn under
them were publicly recognized and allegiance was cheerfully transferred
to Penn’s new government.
Penn then completed his arrangements for his voyage to his Province,
where he arrived October, 1682.
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Dr. John Cochran, Native of Pennsylvania,
Director-General Hospitals, Born
September 1, 1730
A century and a half has almost elapsed since the American Revolution,
and in the interim much has been written and published concerning it.
But comparatively little has ever been accessible to the public
concerning the medical department of the army of patriots.
To Pennsylvanians particularly this feature of the war should prove of
interest, for the only Directors General of Military Hospitals were none
other than Dr. William Shippen and Dr. John Cochran, both of
Pennsylvania.
In the year 1570 John Cochran, of kin to the Earl of Dundonald,
emigrated from Paisley in Scotland, to the North of Ireland. James, his
descendant in the sixth generation, crossed the sea to America, and in
the early part of the eighteenth century settled in Pennsylvania. His
third son, born at Sadsbury, Pennsylvania, September 1, 1730, was Doctor
John Cochran, of the Revolution, who was educated for a surgeon by Dr.
Robert Thompson of Lancaster.
Having qualified as a physician at the time of the outbreak of the
French and Indian War, he entered the English service as surgeon’s mate,
and remained on active duty until the close of hostilities. In the
campaigns of this war he acquired the medical proficiency and surgical
expertness for which he was afterward celebrated.
On December 4, 1760, he married Gertrude Schuyler, only sister of
General Philip Schuyler, of New York.
Dr. Cochran afterward removed to Brunswick, N. J., where he practiced
his profession, until the British burned his house in the early part of
the Revolutionary War.
At the close of 1776 he volunteered his services in the Continental army
and General Washington, remembering his experience and usefulness in the
French war, was prompt in recommending his name to the Continental
Congress.
Dr. Cochran and Dr. William Shippen had prepared a report on hospitals
upon plans modeled after those of the British army, and submitted their
efforts to Congress, after they were approved by General Washington. On
April 7, 1777, Congress adopted this report, which remained in effect
until remodeled by Congress, September 30, 1780.
On April 11, 1777, in pursuance of General Washington’s recommendation,
Doctor John Cochran received the appointment of Chief Physician and
Surgeon-General of the Army.
After nearly four years of exacting service in this position, he was, on
January 17, 1781, on the resignation of Dr. William Shippen, promoted to
be Director of the Military Hospitals of the United States, in which
capacity he continued until the end of the war.
Fortunately a letter book kept by Doctor Cochran has been preserved. The
entries, memorandums and letters partake of the authority of an official
record. They also disclose the many distressing difficulties of the
situation.
The Medical Department, as re-arranged October 6, 1780, consisted of a
Director, stationed at general headquarters, a Chief Physician and
Surgeon, stationed with the army, three chief physicians and surgeons of
the hospitals stationed variously at the principal hospitals, and other
assistants, mates, orderlies, matrons and nurses, as occasion required.
When Doctor Cochran was promoted to be Director, Dr. James Craik was
given the place of Chief Physician and Surgeon of the Army, and Dr.
William Burnet was made first of the three chief physicians, with Dr.
Malichi Treat and Dr. Charles McKnight as the other two chiefs. Dr.
Thomas Bond was made purveyor and Dr. Andrew Cragie, the apothecary.
Some estimate may be had of Doctor Cochran’s real worth, when it is
known that Dr. Craik was the life-long friend and personal physician of
General Washington, yet was his subordinate.
Previous to this time there had been several very important hospitals in
Pennsylvania, the base hospital twice being at Bethlehem; first on
December 3, 1776, until March 27, 1777, when the hospital was removed to
Philadelphia; then after the battle of Brandywine, September 11, 1777,
Bethlehem again became the base hospital. The wounded from the battle of
Germantown were also treated there. On August 28, 1778, the remaining
patients were removed to Lancaster and Yellow Springs. Other hospitals
in Pennsylvania were at Ephrata, Lititz and Reading.
The position of Director was always most exacting; not only were his
duties the alleviation of the suffering, in the rigors of a Valley
Forge, or stimulating its convalescence in the camp at Norristown, but
often the finances were expended and the medical stores entirely
exhausted. At no time did the army abound in medical stores.
At times hundreds were sick and lame when there were no supplies to
relieve them, Untended wounds or languishing disease filled hospitals
destitute of medicines. Scarcely was convalescence a boon, when lack of
subsistence faced the soldier in the hospital and often compelled him to
beg in the streets for the very necessaries of life.
In this appalling crisis Doctor Cochran seemed to be the right man in
the right place. He remained almost constantly in the field and
purchased supplies as they moved from place to place, and made such
strong and insistent appeals to Congress that some better support was
given him, but not before his staff had been reduced to eight hospital
physicians out of the fifteen established by Congress, and only five of
these on actual duty.