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.pdf/42

 COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES brancli of the Delaware river as a monumctii on the northeast com er o f Pennsylvania, with the words and figures New Y ork, 1774, and the above-mentioned latitude and variation cut ui>oii the top. They also placed another stone, four [>erches due west from the former, cutting on the top thereof the word Pennsyl­ vania and the same latitude and variation as on the other. T he extension o f that line farther west w as postponed until 1786-87, when it w as completed by Andrew Ellicott, on the part of Pennsylvania, and Jam es Clinton and Simeon Dewitt on the part o f,N e w Y ork. B y act o f M arch 2 7 ,17 9 0, £300 were granted to Reading Howell lo r delineating on his map alt the lines o f this State, as established by law or otherwise ascertained. Penn sailed in the ship “ Welcome” Aug. 30, it>83, for his newly acquired province. He arrived after a long p ass:^ c at New Castle, Del., where the colonists. English, Dutch and Swedes, assembled to welcome him as their beloved proprietor. H e wished the province to be called New W ales, but the king persisted in naming it “ Pcnsilvania.” In reference thereto Penn wrote to his friend, Robert T u r­ ner, on the 5th of Ja n u a ry : " I proposed, when the secretary, a Welshman, refused to have it called New 'ale$, Syh'OHia, and they added Penn to it. and though I much opposed it. and went to the king to have it struck out and al­ tered, he said it w as past and would take it upon him; nor could twenty guineas move the under-secretaries to vary the nam e; for I feared lest it should be looked on as a vanity in me. and not a s a respect in the king, as it truly was, to my father, whom he often men­ tions with praise.” Notwithstanding his rights under that char­ ter, Penn, with his characteristic sense o f ju s­ tice. purchased the territory from the Indians at a fair price. It is sad to relate that later owners o f land in the State did not follow in his footsteps in their dealings with the natives and settlers. B efore leaving England Penn drafted what he called the "Fundam ental L aw and Fram e o f riovcm m ent o f Pennsylvania.” from which we cite the thirty-fifth section: “ A ll persons liv­ ing in this province who confess and acknowl­ edge the one Almighty and Eternal God to he the Creator, I'pholdcr and Ruler of the world, and that hohl themselves obliged in conscience to live peaceably and justly in civil society, shall in noways be molested or prejudiced for their religious persuasion or practice in mat­ ters o f faith and worship, place or ministr>' whatever." Herein w as granted a greater de­

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gree o f religious liberty than had been allowed elsewhere in the colonies. INDIAN TKUATIES AND ACUKESSiONS

More than a hundred and fifty years elapsed from the date of the settlement o f Jamestown, Va., ere the more venturesome of the pioneers came to the portion of the Commonwealth in­ cluded in the boundaries o f Columbia and Mon­ tour counties, and cighty-six years had elapsed since William Penn made his first bargain with the Indians. B efore detailing the settlement o f this section we will review the different in­ cidents which occurred previous to that time which lu d their effect upon the history of the counties o f Columbia and Montour. The first treaty between Penn and the In­ dians took place in Ju ly, 1682, at Shackamaxon, and was negotiated by William Markluim, the form er’s representative. In the following November I ’cnn arrived with a party o f col­ onists and cemented the form er treaty, proba­ bly also making another one. Various other purchases were made by the Penns in the years 1696, 1700, 17 18, 17 3 2 and 1736. T he pur­ chase o f 1/49 came to within a few miles of the territory now included in the counties of Columbia and Montour. A t (hat time few of the white leaders had any idea of the vast extent of the country, and the Indians could give them no definite descrip­ tion of the boundaries or extent of the tracts that they had disposed o f. Connecticut at this time was seeking to enlarge its boundaries, and cast envious eyes on the rich W yoming valley, part o f which is located in the northern end of Columbia county. In a conference held with the Indians at Albany in 1754. the Connecticut delegates m.idc a large purchase o f land in this valley and formed the Susquehanna Company, to promote the settlement of the lands. The proprietaries of the State o f Pennsylvania Iiad also nude a purchase of these identical lands .at an earlier date, the savages having little re­ gard for the letter of their obligations and be­ ing actually ignorant In many instances of the real location of the several tracts sold. The Connecticut company .at once began to sell the lands thus purclused. and a few venturesome settlers came to (he portion now included in Fishingereek township. T he success of the French in 1754 and Braddock’s defeat in the following year brought the Indian w ar into this section and it resulted in the depopulation of the country in 1763. It w.as not until the purchase o f 1768 that the country w.as finally permanently ojicncd to set-