Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.djvu/43

14. As soon as the Connecticut authorities heard of the Penn purchase they sent a small party of settlers to reoccupy the lands abandoned in 1763. This brought on a bitter controversy between the two parties who claimed the land. Forts and blockhouses were erected by both sides, and some blood was shed.

The dispute was taken to the London Council, which decided against the Penns. In 1775 the matter was brought before the Continental Congress, who also decided in favor of Connecticut. This decision was rejected by the Pennsylvania Assembly, and it was not till 1802 that Congress finally gave the titles to the Penns.

Settlers from Connecticut had come to what is now the eastern part of Columbia county and entered upon the land under the Connecticut claim, and the grantees from the Penns came to the same region and made claim to the lands under surveys made in 1769 and 1772. This led to much friction between the settlers and it was finally settled by the Decree of Trenton, which awarded all the lands in the "Seventeen townships of Luzerne county" to the Connecticut claimants and all outside of Luzerne county to the Penns, with a provison that any lands in the seventeen townships which had been sold by the Penns to settlers should be ceded to the State and the purchase money refunded. From that lime on the rival claimants lived in peace with their neighbors.

The Penn treaty made with the savages in 1768, at Fort Stanwix, was the primal incentive to the settlement of the land of which this history is written. The whites, secure in a clear title to the country, took peaceable possession of their purchases and the Indians retreated to the fastnesses of the hills, but few remaining in their old villages of Nescopeck, Catawissa, and the one on the Mahoning creek, the site of Danville.

The Revolutionary war brought with it a renewed fear of the savages, and after many forays and minor attacks the terrible massacre of Wyoming occurred, July 3. 1778. This caused a general flight of all the settlers in this section, most of them taking refuge at Sunbury and Northumberland.

The authorities took prompt measures to protect the settlers. Colonel Hartley and a regiment of the line were at once sent to the scene, built a fort at the home of a settler named Jenkins, six miles below Nescopeck falls, pursued the Indians and drove them from that section. That winter the savages were not active, owing to the extreme cold. The following April they attacked the fort, but were repulsed, the whites losing three and having four wounded. Again in May the Indians attacked a party of settlers at Mifflinvine, killing and scalping four of a family. These ravages continued through the entire year, the troops being too few to make adequate return. In 1779 the campaign of the whites was begun in earnest, and by the end of the year the country was in a more tranquil state. This resulted in the withdrawal of some of the soldiers, and in 1780 most of the defense of the frontiers devolved on the poorly equipped and hard-worked militia. In that year the savages made a concerted attack on Fort Jenkins and destroyed it, carrying off the stock and burning the stores of grain. The garrison had got wind of the attack and retreated.

The following June a company of rangers was organized, with Thomas Robinson as captain and Moses Van Campen as ensign. Later Van Campen was made lieutenant, the command devolving on him, as Robinson was not experienced in scouting. In the spring of 1781 this company built a fort on the plantation of the Widow McGuire, the farm now included in the limits of Bloomsburg, and there stored their supplies.

The close of the Revolution brought about a cessation of hostilities, and the treaty of 1784 removed the last barrier to settlement.

The first settlement in Columbia county was made by an Irish Quaker. Next came the Dutch, from the Minisinks; the Welsh, from Uwchland; the Germans, from Berks county: and the Scotch-Irish, from New Jersey. The available lines of travel had much to do in determining the location of the pioneers, who followed the line of the Susquehanna and its tributaries.

The Quakers settled at Catawissa and Greenwood, but the poor character of the soil at the former place caused these thrifty farmers to pass on to Ohio and Canada. Those at Greenwood. finding the soil satisfactory, remained, and their descendants arc scattered throughout the county.

The German immigration set in about 1788, these people coming mostly from Berks county, although many were from the Fatherland. They were more persistent and plodding than the Quakers, and most of them remained in their adopted homes. This nationality forms the greater part of the present population. The New Jersey immigrants were mostly English dissenters. They occupied the