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diff --git a/22471-h/22471-h.htm b/22471-h/22471-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed6b8ad --- /dev/null +++ b/22471-h/22471-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7069 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Fair Play Settlers of the West Branch Valley, 1769-1784: A Study of Frontier Ethnography, by George D. Wolf + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h2,h3 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; + } + + h1 { + font-style: italic; + text-align: center; + clear: both; + margin-bottom: 3em; + } + + .ity {font-style: italic; + text-align: center; + clear: both; + } + + h4 {text-align: center; + font-variant: small-caps; + clear: both; + } + + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + .peop {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 2em;} + .sclt {font-variant: small-caps; text-align: left;} + .lt {text-align: left; vertical-align:top;} + .bc {text-align: center; font-size: larger; padding-top: 1.5em;} + .tbgap {text-align: center; padding-top: 0.50em;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .rt {text-align: right;} + + .tbtc {border-bottom: 3px double black; text-align: center;} + .tbtl {border-bottom: 3px double black; text-align: left;} + .tbb {border-top: 1px solid black; text-align: center;} + .lt2 {text-align: left; padding-left: 1.5em; vertical-align:top;} + .lt3 {text-align: left; padding-left: 2em; vertical-align:top;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } + + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px; margin-top: 2em;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: 0.25em; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + .trans1 {border: solid 1px; + margin: 3em 15%; padding: 1em; text-align: left;} + .trans1 li {font-size:0.9em;} + + .trnhd {text-align: center; font-size: larger; font-weight: bold;} + + img {border: black solid 1px} + + .moretop1 {margin-top: 4em; font-size: large; text-align: center;} + .moretop2 {margin-top: 2em; text-align: center;} + + a:link {text-decoration:none;} + a:visited {text-decoration:none;} + + ul {list-style-type: none} + + .author {text-align: left; margin-left: 65%;} + .bqauthor {text-align: left; margin-left: 30%; text-indent: -4em;} + .signing {text-align: left; margin-left: 65%; text-indent: -4em;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fair Play Settlers of the West Branch +Valley, 1769-1784, by George D. Wolf + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Fair Play Settlers of the West Branch Valley, 1769-1784 + A Study of Frontier Ethnography + +Author: George D. Wolf + +Release Date: August 31, 2007 [EBook #22471] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAIR PLAY SETTLERS *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + + + +<h1>The Fair Play Settlers<br /> +of the West Branch Valley,<br /> +1769-1784:<br /> +A Study of Frontier Ethnography</h1> + + + +<p class="trnhd">BY</p> +<h2><span class="smcap">George D. Wolf</span></h2> + + + +<p class="moretop1">Commonwealth of Pennsylvania<br /> +THE PENNSYLVANIA HISTORICAL<br /> +AND MUSEUM COMMISSION<br /><br /> +Harrisburg, 1969</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>THE PENNSYLVANIA HISTORICAL<br /> +AND MUSEUM COMMISSION</h2> + +<div class='center'> +<table class="peop" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">James B. Stevenson</span>, <i>Chairman</i></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">Charles G. Webb</span>, <i>Vice Chairman</i></td></tr> +<tr><td class="sclt" style="width: 50%;">Herman Blum</td><td class="sclt" style="width: 50%;">Mrs. Ferne Smith Hetrick</td></tr> +<tr><td class="sclt">Mark S. Gleeson</td><td class="sclt">Mrs. Henry P. Hoffstot, Jr.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="sclt">Ralph Hazeltine</td><td class="sclt">Maurice A. Mook</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">Thomas Elliott Wynne</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="tbgap"><span class="smcap">David H. Kurtzman</span>, <i>ex officio<br />Superintendent of Public Instruction</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="bc">MEMBERS FROM THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">Mrs. Sarah Anderson</span>, <i>Representative</i></td></tr> +<tr><td class="lt"><span class="smcap">Paul W. Mahady</span>, <i>Senator</i></td><td class="lt"><span class="smcap">Orville E. Snare</span>, <i>Representative</i></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">John H. Ware, III</span>, <i>Senator</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="bc">TRUSTEES EX OFFICIO</td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">Raymond P. Shafer</span>, <i>Governor of the Commonwealth</i></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="tbgap"><span class="smcap">Robert P. Casey</span>, <i>Auditor General</i></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="center"><span class="smcap">Grace M. Sloan</span>, <i>State Treasurer</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="bc">ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF</td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="tbgap"><span class="smcap">Sylvester K. Stevens</span>, <i>Executive Director</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="tbgap"><span class="smcap">William J. Wewer</span>, <i>Deputy Executive Director</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="tbgap"><span class="smcap">Donald H. Kent</span>, <i>Director<br />Bureau of Archives and History</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="tbgap"><span class="smcap">Frank J. Schmidt</span>, <i>Director<br />Bureau of Historic Sites and Properties</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="tbgap"><span class="smcap">William N. Richards</span>, <i>Director<br />Bureau of Museums</i></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Preface" id="Preface"></a><i>Preface</i></h2> + + +<p>In an Age when man's horizons are constantly being widened +to include hitherto little-known or non-existent countries, and +even other planets and outer space, there is still much to be said +for the oft-neglected study of man in his more immediate environs. +Intrigued with the historical tale of the "Fair Play settlers" of the +West Branch Valley of the Susquehanna River and practically a life-long +resident of the West Branch Valley, this writer felt that their +story was worth telling and that it might offer some insight into +the development of democracy on the frontier. The result is an +ethnography of the Fair Play settlers. This account, however, is not +meant to typify the frontier experience; it is simply an illustration, +and, the author hopes, a useful one.</p> + +<p>No intensive research can be conducted without the help and encouragement +of many fine and wonderful people. This author is +deeply indebted to librarians, archivists and historians, local historians +and genealogists, local and county historical societies, and +collectors of manuscripts, diaries, and journals pertinent to the history +of the West Branch Valley. A comprehensive listing of all who +have assisted in this effort would be too extensive, but certain persons +cannot be ignored. My grateful appreciation is here expressed to a +few of these; but my gratitude is no less sincere to the many persons +who are not here mentioned.</p> + +<p>Librarians who have been most helpful in providing bibliographies, +checking files, and obtaining volumes from other libraries include +Miss Isabel Welch, of the Ross Library in Lock Haven; Mrs. +Kathleen Chandler, formerly of the Lock Haven State College library; +and Miss Barbara Ault, of the Library of Congress.</p> + +<p>Archivists and historians who have been most generous in their +aid are the late Dr. Paul A. W. Wallace, of the Pennsylvania Historical +and Museum Commission; Mrs. Phyllis V. Parsons, of Collegeville; +Dr. Alfred P. James, of the University of Pittsburgh; and +Mrs. Solon J. Buck, of Washington, D. C.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span></p> + +<p>Perhaps the most significant research support for this investigation +was provided by a local historian and genealogist, Mrs. Helen Herritt +Russell, of Jersey Shore.</p> + +<p>Dr. Samuel P. Bayard, of the Pennsylvania State University, +analyzed the Fair Play settlers using linguistic techniques to determine +their national origins. This help was basic to the demographic +portion of this study.</p> + +<p>Dr. Charles F. Berkheimer and Mrs. Marshall Anspach, both of +Williamsport, magnanimously consented to loan this author their +copies, respectively, of William Colbert's <i>Journal</i> and the Wagner +Collection of Revolutionary War Pension Claims.</p> + +<p>County and local historical societies which opened their collections +for study were the Clinton County Historical Society, the Lycoming +Historical Society, the Northumberland County Historical Society, +the Centre County Historical Society, the Greene County Historical +Society, and the Muncy Historical Society and Museum of History.</p> + +<p>For his refreshing criticisms and constant encouragement, Dr. Murray +G. Murphey, of the University of Pennsylvania, will find me forever +thankful. Without him, this study would not have been possible.</p> + +<p>The author would like to thank the members of the Pennsylvania +Historical and Museum Commission and its Executive Director, Dr. +S. K. Stevens, for making possible this publication; he would also like +to thank Mr. Donald H. Kent, Director of the Bureau of Archives and +History, and Mr. William A. Hunter, Chief of the Division of History, +who supervised publication; and members of the staff of the Division +of History: Mr. Harold L. Myers, Associate Historian and Chief of +the Editorial Section, who readied the manuscript for publication; +Mrs. Gail M. Gibson, Associate Historian, who prepared the index; +and Mr. George R. Beyer, Assistant Historian.</p> + +<p>My sincerest thanks are also extended to Mrs. Mary B. Bower, who +typed the entire manuscript and offered useful suggestions with regard +to style.</p> + +<p>Finally, for providing almost ideal conditions for carrying on this +work and for sustaining me throughout, my wife, Margaret, is deserving +of a gratitude which cannot be fully expressed.</p> + +<p class="author"><span class="smcap">George D. Wolf</span></p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Introduction" id="Introduction"></a><i>Introduction</i></h2> + + +<p>Between 1769 and 1784, in an area some twenty-five miles long +and about two miles wide, located on the north side of the +West Branch of the Susquehanna River and extending from +Lycoming Creek (at the present Williamsport) to the Great Island +(just east of the present Lock Haven), some 100 to 150 families settled. +They established a community and a political organization +called the Fair Play system. This study is about these people and +their system.</p> + +<p>The author of a recent case study of democracy in a frontier +county commented on the need for this kind of investigation.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Cognizant +of the fact that a number of valuable histories of American +communities have been written, he noted that few of them deal explicitly +with the actual relation of frontier experience to democracy:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>No one seems to have studied microscopically a given area +that experienced transition from wilderness to settled community +with the purpose of determining how much democracy, +in Turner's sense, existed initially in the first phase of +settlement, during the process itself, and in the period that +immediately followed.</p></div> + +<p>This research encompasses the first two stages of that development +and includes tangential references to the third stage.</p> + +<p>The geography of the Fair Play territory has been confused for almost +two centuries. The conclusions of this analysis will not prove +too satisfying to those who unquestioningly accept and revere the old +local legends. However, it will be noted that these conclusions are +based upon the accounts of journalists and diarists rather than hearsay. +This should put the controversial "question of the Tiadaghton" +to rest.</p> + +<p>A statistical analysis has been made as a significant part of the +demography of the Fair Play settlers. However, limitations in data +may raise some questions regarding the validity of the conclusions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span> +Nevertheless, the national and ethnic origins of these settlers, their +American sources of emigration, the periods of immigration, the +reasons for migration, and population stability and mobility have +all been investigated. The result offers some surprises when compared +with the trends of the time—in the Province and throughout +the colonies.</p> + +<p>The <i>politics</i> of Fair Play is the principal concern of this entire +study—appropriately, it was from their political system that these +frontiersmen derived their unusual name. This was not the only +group to use the name, however. Another "fair play system" existed +in southwestern Pennsylvania during the same period, and perhaps +a similar study can be made of those pioneers and their life. +As for the Fair Play community of the West Branch, we know about +its political structure through the cases subsequently reviewed by established +courts of the Commonwealth. From these cases, we have +reconstructed a "code" of operation which demonstrates certain +democratic tendencies.</p> + +<p>In addition to studying the political system, an effort has been +made to validate the story of the locally-famed Pine Creek Declaration +of Independence. Although some evidence for such a declaration +was found, it seems inconclusive.</p> + +<p>The West Branch Valley was part of what Turner called the second +frontier, the Allegheny, and so this agrarian frontier community has +been examined for evidence of the democratic traits which Turner +characterized as particularly American. This analysis is not meant +to portray a typical situation, but it does provide support for Turner's +evaluation. As this was a farmer's frontier, and as transportation +and communication facilities were extremely limited, a generally +self-sufficient and naturally self-reliant community developed as a +matter of survival. The characteristics which this frontier nurtured, +and the non-English—even anti-English—composition of its population +make understandable the sentiment in this region for independence +from Great Britain. This, of course, is supremely demonstrated +in the separate declaration of independence drawn, according to the +report, by the settlers of the Fair Play frontier.</p> + +<p>Fair Play <i>society</i> is, perhaps, the second-most-important facet of +this ethnographic analysis. An understanding of it necessitated an +inquiry into the social relationships, the religious institutions, the +educational and cultural opportunities, and the values of this frontier +community. The results, again, lend credence to Turner's hypothesis.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span> +Admittedly, Turner's bold assertion that "the growth of +nationalism and the evolution of American political institutions were +dependent on the advance of the frontier" is somewhat contradicted +by the nature of this Pennsylvania frontier. Western lands in Pennsylvania +were either Provincial, Commonwealth, or Indian lands, but +never national lands. As a result, western land ordinances, and the +whole controversy which accompanied the ratification of the Articles +of Confederation, had no real significance in Pennsylvania. However, +in subsequent years, the expansion of internal improvement +legislation and nationalism sustains Turner's thesis, as does the democratic +and non-sectional nature of the middle colonial region generally.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>The <i>intellectual character</i> which the frontier spawned has been +described as rationalistic. However, this was a rationalism which was +not at odds with empiricism, but which was more in line with what +has been called the American philosophy, pragmatism. Or, to put it +in the vernacular, "if it works, it's good." The frontiersman was a +trial-and-error empiricist, who believed in his own ability to fathom +the depths of the problems which plagued him. If the apparent +solution contradicted past patterns and interpretations, he justified +his actions in terms of the realities of the moment. It is this +pragmatic ratio-empiricism which we imply when we use the term +"rationalistic."</p> + +<p>An examination of the role of <i>leadership</i>, suggested by the Curti +study, presents the first summary of this type for the West Branch +Valley. Here, too, the limited numbers of this frontier population, +combined with its peculiar tendency to rely upon peripheral residents +for top leadership, prevents any broad generalizations. The nature +of its leadership can only be interpreted in terms of this particular +group in this specific location.</p> + +<p>The last two chapters of this study are summary chapters. The +first of these is an analysis of democracy on one segment of the +Pennsylvania frontier. Arbitrarily defining democracy, certain objective +criteria were set up to evaluate it in the Fair Play territory. +Political democracy was investigated in terms of popular sovereignty, +political equality, popular consultation, and majority rule, and the +political system was judged on the basis of these principles. Social<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span> +democracy was ascertained through inquiries concerning religious +freedom, the social class system, and economic opportunity. The +conclusion is that, for this frontier at least, democratic tendencies +were displayed in various contexts.</p> + +<p>The final chapter, although relying to a large extent upon Turner's +great work, is in no way intended to be a critical evaluation of that +thesis. Its primary objective is to test one interpretation of it through +a particular analytic technique, ethnographic in nature. Frontier +ethnography has proved to be a reliable research tool, mainly because +of its wide scope. It permits conclusions which a strictly confined +study, given the data limitations of this and other frontier areas, +would not allow.</p> + +<p>Democracy, it is no doubt agreed, is a difficult thing to assess, particularly +when there are so many conflicting interpretations of it. +But an examination of it, even in its most primitive stages in this +country, can give the researcher a glimpse of its fundamentals and +its effectiveness. In a time when idealists envision a world community +based upon the self-determination which was basic in this +nation's early development, it is essential to re-evaluate that principle +in terms of its earliest American development. If we would enjoy +the blessings of freedom, we must undergo the fatigue of +attempting to understand it.</p> + +<p>Some seventy years ago, a great American historian suggested an +interpretation of the American ethos. Turner's thesis is still being +debated today, something which I am certain would please its author +immensely. But what is needed today is not the prolongation of the +debate as to its validity so much as the investigation of it with newer +techniques which, it might be added, Turner himself suggested. +This is the merit of frontier ethnography, and, perhaps, the particular +value of this study.</p> + +<p>To me, Robert Frost implied as much in his wonderful "Stopping +by Woods on a Snowy Evening." Yes, the "woods" of contemporary +history are "lovely, dark and deep,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But I have promises to keep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And miles to go before I sleep,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And miles to go before I sleep."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It is hoped that this investigation is the beginning of the answer +to that promise, but it is well-recognized that there are miles to go.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Merle Curti <i>et al.</i>, <i>The Making of an American Community: A Case Study of +Democracy in a Frontier County</i> (Stanford, 1959), p. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Frontier and Section: Selected Essays of Frederick Jackson Turner</i>, intro. by Ray +Allen Billington (Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1961), pp. 52-55.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Table_of_Contents" id="Table_of_Contents"></a><i>Table of Contents</i></h2> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="" style="width: 60%;"> + +<tr><td class="rt" style="width: 10%;"> </td><td class="sclt">Preface</td><td class="rt" style="width: 10%;"><a href="#Page_iii">iii</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rt"> </td><td class="sclt">Introduction</td><td class="rt"><a href="#Page_v">v</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rt">I.</td><td class="sclt">Fair Play Territory: Geography and Topography</td><td class="rt"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rt">II.</td><td class="sclt">The Fair Play Settlers: Demographic Factors</td><td class="rt"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rt">III.</td><td class="sclt">The Politics of Fair Play</td><td class="rt"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rt">IV.</td><td class="sclt">The Farmers' Frontier</td><td class="rt"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rt">V.</td><td class="sclt">Fair Play Society</td><td class="rt"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rt">VI.</td><td class="sclt">Leadership and the Problems of the Frontier</td><td class="rt"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rt">VII.</td><td class="sclt">Democracy on the Pennsylvania Frontier</td><td class="rt"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rt">VIII.</td><td class="sclt">Frontier Ethnography and the Turner Thesis</td><td class="rt"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rt"> </td><td class="sclt">Bibliography</td><td class="rt"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="rt"> </td><td class="sclt">Index</td><td class="rt"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<a href="images/010.png"><img src="images/010t.png" width="600" height="403" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_ONE" id="CHAPTER_ONE"></a><small>CHAPTER ONE</small></h2> + +<h3 class="ity"><big>Fair Play Territory: Geography and Topography</big></h3> + + +<p>The Colonial period of American history has been of primary +concern to the historian because of its fundamental importance +in the development of American civilization. What +the American pioneers encountered, particularly in the interior settlements, +was, basically, a frontier experience. An ethnographic analysis +of one part of the Provincial frontier of Pennsylvania indicates +the significance of that colonial influence. The "primitive agricultural +democracy" of this frontier illustrates the "style of life" which provided +the basis for a distinctly "American" culture which emerged +from the colonial experience.<a name="FNanchor_1_3" id="FNanchor_1_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_3" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>While this writer's approach is dominantly Turnerian, this study +does not necessarily contend that this Pennsylvania frontier was typical +of the general colonial experience, nor that this ethnographic +analysis presents in microcosm the development of the American +ethos. However, on this farmer's frontier there was adequate evidence +of the composite nationality, the self-reliance, the independence, +and the nationalistic and rationalistic traits which Turner characterized +as American.</p> + +<p>In his famed essay on "The Significance of the Frontier," Turner +saw the frontier as the crucible in which the English, Scotch-Irish, and +Palatine Germans were merged into a new and distinctly American +nationality, no longer characteristically English.<a name="FNanchor_2_4" id="FNanchor_2_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_4" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> The Pennsylvania +frontier, with its dominant Scotch-Irish and German influence, is a +case in point.</p> + +<p>The Fair Play territory of the West Branch Valley of the Susquehanna +River, the setting for this analysis, was part of what Turner +called the second frontier, the Allegheny Mountains.<a name="FNanchor_3_5" id="FNanchor_3_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_5" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Located about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> +ninety miles up the Susquehanna from the present State capital at +Harrisburg, and extending some twenty-five-odd miles westward between +the present cities of Williamsport and Lock Haven, this +territory was the heartland of the central Pennsylvania frontier in +the decade preceding the American Revolution.</p> + +<p>The term "Fair Play settlers," used to designate the inhabitants +of this region, is derived from the extra-legal political system which +these democratic forerunners set up to maintain order in their +developing community. Being squatters and, consequently, without +the bounds of any established political agency, they formed their +own government, and labeled it "Fair Play."</p> + +<p>However, despite the apparent simplicity of the above geographic +description, the exact boundaries of the Fair Play territory have +been debated for almost two centuries. Before we can assess the democratic +traits of the Fair Play settlers, we must first clearly define what +is meant by the Fair Play territory.</p> + +<p>The terminal points in this analysis are 1768 and 1784, the dates +of the two Indian treaties made at Fort Stanwix (now Rome), New +York. The former opened up the Fair Play territory to settlement, +and the latter brought it within the limits of the Commonwealth of +Pennsylvania, thus legalizing the <i>de facto</i> political structure which +had developed in the interim.</p> + +<p>According to the treaty of 1768, negotiated by Sir William Johnson +with the Indians of the Six Nations, the western line of colonial +settlement was extended from the Allegheny Mountains, previously +set by the Proclamation of 1763, to a line extending to the mouth of +Lycoming Creek, which empties into the West Branch of the Susquehanna +River. The creek is referred to as the Tiadaghton in the +original of the treaty.<a name="FNanchor_4_6" id="FNanchor_4_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_6" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> The question of whether Pine Creek or +Lycoming Creek was the Tiadaghton is the first major question of +this investigation. The map which faces page one outlines the +territory in question.</p> + +<p>Following the successful eviction of the French in the French and +Indian War, the American counterpart of the Seven Years' War, the +crown sought a more orderly westward advance than had been the +rule. Heretofore, the establishment of frontier settlements had stirred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> +up conflict with the Indians and brought frontier pleas to the colonial +assemblies for military support and protection. The result was +greater pressure on the already depleted exchequer. The opinion +that a more controlled and less expensive westward advance could +be accomplished is reflected in the Royal Proclamation of 1763.</p> + +<p>This proclamation has frequently been misinterpreted as a definite +effort to deprive the colonies of their western lands. The very language +of the document contradicts this. For example, the expression +"for the present, and until our further pleasure be known" clearly +indicates the tentative nature of the proclamation, which was "to +prevent [the repetition of] such irregularities for the future" with +the Indians, irregularities which had prompted Pontiac's Rebellion.<a name="FNanchor_5_7" id="FNanchor_5_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_7" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> +The orderly advancement of this colonial frontier was to be accomplished +through subsequent treaties with the Indians. The Treaty +of Fort Stanwix in 1768 is one such example of those treaties.<a name="FNanchor_6_8" id="FNanchor_6_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_8" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>The term "Fair Play settlers" refers to the residents of the area +between Lycoming Creek and the Great Island on the north side of +the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, and to those who interacted +with them, during the period 1769-1784, when that area was +outside of the Provincial limits. The appellation stems from the +annual designation by the settlers of "Fair Play Men," a tribunal of +three with quasi-executive, legislative, and judicial authority over the +residents.</p> + +<p>The relevance of the first Stanwix Treaty to the geographic area +of this study is a matter of the utmost importance. The western +boundary of that treaty in the West Branch Valley of the Susquehanna +has been a source of some confusion because of the employment +of the name "Tiadaghton" in the treaty to designate that boundary. +The question, quite simply, is whether Pine Creek or Lycoming is the +Tiadaghton. If Pine Creek is the Tiadaghton, an extra-legal political +organization would have been unnecessary, for the so-called Fair<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +Play settlers of this book would have been under Provincial jurisdiction.<a name="FNanchor_7_9" id="FNanchor_7_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_9" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> +The designation of Lycoming Creek as the Tiadaghton tends +to give geographic corroboration for the Fair Play system.</p> + +<p>First and foremost among the Pine Creek supporters is John +Meginness, the nineteenth-century historian of the West Branch +Valley. His work is undoubtedly the most often quoted source of +information on the West Branch Valley of the Susquehanna, and +rightfully so. Although he wrote when standards of documentation +were lax and relied to an extent upon local legendry as related by +aged residents, Meginness' views have a general validity. However, +there is some question regarding his judgment concerning the +boundary issue.</p> + +<p>Quoting directly from the journal of Moravian Bishop Augustus +Spangenburg, who visited the West Branch Valley in 1745 in the +company of Conrad Weiser, David Zeisberger, and John Schebosh, +Meginness describes the Bishop's travel from Montoursville, or +Ostonwaken as the Indians called it, to the "Limping Messenger," +or "Diadachton Creek," where the party camped for the night.<a name="FNanchor_8_10" id="FNanchor_8_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_10" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +is interesting to note that the Moravian journalist refers here to +Lycoming Creek as the Tiadaghton, some twenty-three years prior +to the purchase at Fort Stanwix, which made the question a local +issue. Yet Meginness, in a footnote written better than a hundred +years later, says that "It afterwards turned out that the true <i>Diadachton</i> +or <i>Tiadachton</i>, was what is now known as Pine Creek."<a name="FNanchor_9_11" id="FNanchor_9_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_11" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>Perhaps Meginness was influenced by the aged sources of some of +his accounts. It may be, however, that he was merely repeating the +judgment of an earlier generation which had sought to legalize its +settlement made prior to the second Stanwix Treaty. The Indian +description of the boundary line in the Fort Stanwix Treaty of 1768 +may also have had some impact upon Meginness. Regardless, a comparison +of data, pro and con, will demonstrate that the Tiadaghton +is Lycoming Creek.</p> + +<p>John Blair Linn, of Bellefonte, stood second to Meginness in +popular repute as historian of the West Branch Valley. However, he +too calls Pine Creek the Tiadaghton, though the reliability of his +sources is questionable. Unlike Meginness, whose judgment derived +somewhat from interviews with contemporaries of the period, Linn +based his contention upon the statements made by the Indians at the +second Stanwix Treaty meeting in 1784.<a name="FNanchor_10_12" id="FNanchor_10_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_12" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>At those sessions on October 22 and 23, 1784, the Pennsylvania +commissioners twice questioned the deputies of the Six Nations about +the location of the Tiadaghton, and were told twice that it was Pine +Creek.<a name="FNanchor_11_13" id="FNanchor_11_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_13" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> In the first instance, Samuel J. Atlee, speaking for the other +Pennsylvania commissioners, called attention to the last deed made +at Fort Stanwix in 1768 and asked the question about the Tiadaghton:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>This last deed, brothers, with the map annexed, are +descriptive of the purchase made sixteen years ago at this +place; one of the boundary lines calls for a creek by the name +of <i>Tyadoghton</i>, we wish our brothers the Six Nations to +explain to us clearly which you call the <i>Tyadoghton</i>, as +there are two creeks issuing from the <i>Burnet's Hills</i>, <i>Pine</i> +and <i>Lycoming</i>.<a name="FNanchor_12_14" id="FNanchor_12_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_14" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p></div> + +<p>Captain Aaron Hill, a Mohawk chief, responded for the Indians:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>With regard to the creek called <i>Tyadoghton</i>, mentioned +in your deed of 1768, we have already answered you, and +again repeat it, it is the same you call <i>Pine Creek</i>, being the +largest emptying into the west branch of the <i>Susquehannah</i>.<a name="FNanchor_13_15" id="FNanchor_13_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_15" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p></div> + +<p>This, of course, was the "more positive answer" which the Indians +had promised after the previous day's interrogation.<a name="FNanchor_14_16" id="FNanchor_14_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_16" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> It substantiated +the description given in the discussions preceding the Fort Stanwix +Treaty of 1768.<a name="FNanchor_15_17" id="FNanchor_15_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_17" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> However, the map illustrating the treaty line, +although tending to support this view, is subject to interpretation.<a name="FNanchor_16_18" id="FNanchor_16_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_18" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> +Regardless, this record of the treaty sessions provides the strongest +evidence to sustain the Pine Creek view.</p> + +<p>There is little doubt that Meginness and Linn were influenced by +the record. This is certainly true of D. S. Maynard, a lesser nineteenth-century +historian, whose work is obviously based upon the research +of Meginness. Maynard repeated the evidence of his predecessor from +the account of Thomas Sergeant by describing the Stanwix Treaty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +line of 1768 as coming "across to the headwaters of Pine Creek." +Maynard's utter dependence upon Meginness suggests that his evidence +is more repetitive than substantive.<a name="FNanchor_17_19" id="FNanchor_17_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_19" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>A more recent student of local history, Eugene P. Bertin, of Muncy, +gives Pine Creek his undocumented support, which appears to be +nothing more than an elaboration of the accounts of Meginness and +Linn.<a name="FNanchor_18_20" id="FNanchor_18_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_20" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> Dr. Bertin's account appears to be better folklore than +history.<a name="FNanchor_19_21" id="FNanchor_19_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_21" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p><p>Another twentieth-century writer, Elsie Singmaster, offers more +objective support for Pine Creek, although her argument appears to +be better semantics than geography.<a name="FNanchor_20_22" id="FNanchor_20_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_22" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> + +<p>Edmund A. DeSchweinitz, in his biography of David Zeisberger, +errs in his interpretation of the term "Limping Messenger" (Tiadaghton), +used by Bishop Spangenburg in his account of their journey to +the West Branch Valley in 1745. He notes that on their way to +Onondaga (Syracuse) after leaving "Ostonwaken" (Montoursville) +they passed through the valley of Tiadaghton Creek. They were following +the Sheshequin Path. But he identifies the Tiadaghton with +Pine Creek. There was an Indian path up Pine Creek, but it led to +Niagara, not Onondaga.<a name="FNanchor_21_23" id="FNanchor_21_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_23" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>Aside from the designation by the Indians at the second Stanwix +Treaty, there is only one other source which lends any credibility +to the Pine Creek view, and that is Smith's <i>Laws of the Commonwealth +of Pennsylvania</i>. After the last treaty was made acquiring Pennsylvania +lands from the Indians, the legislature, in order to quell disputes +about the right of occupancy in this "New Purchase,"<a name="FNanchor_22_24" id="FNanchor_22_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_24" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> passed +the following legislation:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>And whereas divers persons, who have heretofore occupied +and cultivated small tracts of land, without the bounds of +the purchase made, as aforesaid, in the year of our Lord one +thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight, and within the purchase +made, or now to be made, by the said commissioners, +have, by their resolute stand and sufferings during the late +war, merited, that those settlers should have the pre-emption +of their respective plantations:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid</i>, That all +and every person or persons, and their legal representatives, +who has or have heretofore settled on the north side of the +west branch of the river Susquehanna, upon the Indian territory, +between Lycomick or Lycoming creek on the east, and +Tyagaghton or Pine creek on the west, as well as other lands +within the said residuary purchase from the Indians, of the +territory within this state, excepting always the lands herein +before excepted, shall be allowed a right of pre-emption to +their respective possessions, at the price aforesaid.<a name="FNanchor_23_25" id="FNanchor_23_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_25" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p></div> + +<p>It may be worth observing, however, that legislation tends to reflect +popular demand rather than the hard facts of a situation. In this +case the settlers of the region prior to 1780 stood to benefit by this +legislation and formed an effective pressure group.</p> + +<p>The contrary view in this long-standing geographical debate is +based, for the most part, upon the records of journalists and diarists +who traveled along the West Branch <i>prior</i> to the first Stanwix Treaty +and who thus had no axe to grind.</p> + +<p>That the Lycoming Creek was in fact the Tiadaghton referred to +by the Indians at Fort Stanwix in 1768 is strongly indicated by the +weight of evidence derived from the journals of Conrad Weiser (1737), +John Bartram (1743), Bishop Spangenburg (1745), Moravian Bishop +John Ettwein (1772), and the Reverend Philip Vickers Fithian (1775). +In addition, the maps of Lewis Evans (1749) and John Adlum (1792), +the land applications of Robert Galbreath and Martin Stover (1769), +and a 1784 statute of the Pennsylvania General Assembly all tend +to validate Lycoming's claim to recognition as the Tiadaghton. Each +datum has merit in the final analysis, which justifies the specific +examination which follows:</p> + +<p>Supporting evidence is found in Weiser's German journal, which +was meant for his family and friends, and translated into English by +his great-grandson, Hiester H. Muhlenberg. (Weiser also kept an +English journal for the Council at Philadelphia.) Weiser wrote: +"The stream we are now on the Indians call Dia-daclitu, (die berirte, +the lost or bewildered) which in fact deserves such a name."<a name="FNanchor_24_26" id="FNanchor_24_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_26" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> (This +is an obvious misspelling of Diadachton.) Weiser was following the +Sheshequin Path with Shickellamy to Onondaga and this entry is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +recorded on March 25, 1737, long before there was any question +about the Tiadaghton.</p> + +<p>There seems to be some confusion over Bishop Spangenburg's use +of the term "Limping Messenger" in his journal for June 8, 1745. +He too was traveling the Sheshequin Path with David Zeisberger, +Conrad Weiser, Shickellamy, Andrew Montour, <i>et al.</i> He describes +the "Limping Messenger" as a camp on the "Tiadachton" (Lycoming), +whereas DeSchweinitz in his <i>Zeisberger</i> interprets the term to mean +Pine Creek.<a name="FNanchor_25_27" id="FNanchor_25_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_27" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> + +<p>Another traveler along the Sheshequin Path was the colonial botanist, +John Bartram. Bartram, in the company of Weiser and Lewis +Evans, the map maker, notes in his diary of July 12, 1743, riding +"down [up] a valley to a point, a prospect of an opening bearing N, +then down the hill to a run and over a rich neck lying between it and +the Tiadaughton."<a name="FNanchor_26_28" id="FNanchor_26_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_28" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> Incidentally, the editor of this extract from +Bartram's journal makes the quite devastating point that Meginness +did not know of Bartram's journal, which was published in London +in 1751 but which did not appear in America until 1895.<a name="FNanchor_27_29" id="FNanchor_27_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_29" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<p>One of the Moravian journalists who visited the scenic Susquehanna +along the West Branch was Bishop John Ettwein, who passed +through this valley on his way to Ohio in 1772. He wrote of "Lycoming +Creek, [as the stream] which marks the boundary line of lands +purchased from the Indians."<a name="FNanchor_28_30" id="FNanchor_28_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_30" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p> + +<p>Perhaps the most interesting and informative diarist who journeyed +along the West Branch was the Reverend Philip Vickers Fithian. +Fithian came to what we will establish as Fair Play country on July +25, 1775, at what he called "Lacommon Creek." His conclusion was +that this creek was the Tiadaghton.<a name="FNanchor_29_31" id="FNanchor_29_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_31" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> It is this same Fithian, it might +be added, whose Virginia journals were the primary basis for the +reconstruction of colonial Williamsburg.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> +<p>The work of colonial cartographers also substantiates the claim +that Lycoming Creek is the Tiadaghton. Both Lewis Evans, following +his 1743 journey in the company of Bartram and Weiser, +and John Adlum, who conducted a survey of the West Branch Valley +in 1792 for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, failed to label +Pine Creek as the "Tiadaghton" on their maps.<a name="FNanchor_30_32" id="FNanchor_30_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_32" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> In fact, Adlum's +map of 1792, found among the papers of William Bingham, designates +the area east of Lycoming Creek as the "Old Purchase." Furthermore, +as is the case with Evans' map, Adlum does not apply +the Tiadaghton label to either Pine Creek or Lycoming Creek.<a name="FNanchor_31_33" id="FNanchor_31_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_33" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> + +<p>Two applications in 1769 for land in the New Purchase show that +the Tiadaghton, or in this case "Ticadaughton," can only be Lycoming +Creek. The application of Robert Galbreath (no. 1823) +is described as "Bounded on one side by the Proprietor's tract at +Lycoming." Martin Stover applied for the same tract (application +no. 2611), which is described as "below the mouth of Ticadaughton +Creek."<a name="FNanchor_32_34" id="FNanchor_32_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_34" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> The copies of these two applications, together with the +copy of the survey, offer irrefutable proof of the validity of Lycoming's +claim.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the final note is the action of the General Assembly of the +Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on December 12, 1784.<a name="FNanchor_33_35" id="FNanchor_33_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_35" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> The legislators +affirmed the judgments of the frontier journalists, whose recorded +journeys offer the best proof that the Lycoming is the Tiadaghton. +Prior to this action, the Provincial authorities had issued +a proclamation on September 20, 1773, prohibiting settlement west +of Lycoming Creek by white persons. Violators were to be apprehended +and tried. The penalties were real and quite severe: £500 +fine, twelve months in prison without bail, and a guarantee of twelve +months of exemplary conduct after release.<a name="FNanchor_34_36" id="FNanchor_34_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_36" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> Court records, however, +fail to indicate any prosecutions.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p><p>Finally, the latest scholar to delve into the complexities of the Stanwix +treaties, Professor Peter Marshall, says that there was no prolonged +and close discussion about the running of the treaty line in Pennsylvania +(the Tiadaghton question), no discussion in any way comparable +to that which took place over its location in New York.<a name="FNanchor_35_37" id="FNanchor_35_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_37" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> + +<p>In summary then, it appears that the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in +1768 was responsible for opening the West Branch Valley to settlement, +such settlement being stimulated by the opening of the Land +Office in Philadelphia on April 3, 1769. James Tilghman, secretary +of the Land Office, published the notice of his office's willingness "to +receive applications from all persons inclinable to take up lands in +the New Purchase."<a name="FNanchor_36_38" id="FNanchor_36_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_38" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> The enthusiasm generated by the opening of +the Land Office is shown by the better than 2,700 applications received +on the very first day. However, the question of the Tiadaghton +came to be a source of real contention. The ambiguity of the Indian +references to the western boundary of the first Stanwix Treaty led +the eager settlers, who were seeking to legitimize claims in the area +between Lycoming and Pine creeks, to favor Pine Creek. There was +substance to the settlers' claim.</p> + +<p>The significance of the boundary question to this study is better +understood when it is recognized that the so-called Fair Play system +of government in lands beyond the Provincial limits must have a +definable locale. It is this writer's firm conviction that Fair Play +territory extended from Lycoming Creek, on the north side of the +West Branch of the Susquehanna, to the Great Island, some five miles +west of Pine Creek. The foundation for the establishment of Lycoming +Creek as the Tiadaghton, and consequently, as the eastern +boundary of the Fair Play territory is apparent once all the evidence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +is examined. Aside from the comments of the Indians at the treaty +negotiations and Smith's <i>Laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania</i>, +there are only secondary accounts with little documentation to +sustain the Pine Creek argument.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the Lycoming Creek claim is buttressed by +such primary sources as the journals of Weiser, Bartram, Spangenberg, +Ettwein, and Fithian, three of which were written before the +location of the Tiadaghton became a subject of dispute. Since none +of these men was seeking lands, they can be considered impartial observers. +Furthermore, the cartographic efforts of Lewis Evans and +John Adlum followed actual visits to the region and say nothing to +favor the Pine Creek view.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the Indians were merely accepting an already accomplished +fact at the meeting in 1784. Dr. Paul A. W. Wallace says +that this would have been expected from the subservient, pacified +Indian. Regardless, the Provincial leadership made no effort to settle +the lands in what some called "the disputed territory" until after +the later agreement at Stanwix; in fact, they discouraged it.<a name="FNanchor_37_39" id="FNanchor_37_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_39" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> The +simple desire for legitimacy gives us very little to go on in the light +of more than adequate documentation of the justice of the Lycoming +view.</p> + +<p>This evidence might suggest changing the name of the long-revered +"Tiadaghton Elm" to the "Pine Creek Elm" and bringing to a close +the vexatious question of the Tiadaghton. However let us strike a +note of caution, if not humility. Indian place names had a way of +shifting, doubling, and moving, since they served largely as descriptive +terms and not as true place names. It is not at all unusual to find +the same name applied to several places or to find names migrating. +The Tiadaghton could have been Lycoming Creek to some Indians +at one time, and Pine Creek to others at the same or another time. +Consider, for example, that there were three Miami rivers in present +Ohio, which are now known as the Miami, the Little Miami, and +the Maumee. It hardly makes any real difference to the geography +of the Fair Play territory, or to the delimiting of its boundaries, which +stream was the Tiadaghton. Actually, it was the doubt about it +which drew in the squatters and created Fair Play. These settlers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +justified their contention that the Tiadaghton was Pine Creek by +moving into the territory and holding onto it. This may be reason +enough for calling the famous tree the Tiadaghton Elm, even if early +travelers and the proprietary officials said that the Tiadaghton was +Lycoming Creek.<a name="FNanchor_38_40" id="FNanchor_38_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_40" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> + +<p>The topography of the region also influenced the delineation of +what we call Fair Play territory. The jugular vein which supplies +the life-blood to this region is undoubtedly the West Branch of the +Susquehanna River. This branch of the great river, which drains +almost fifty per cent of the State, follows a northeasterly course of +some forty miles from the Great Island, which is just east of present +Lock Haven, to what is now Muncy, then turns southward.<a name="FNanchor_39_41" id="FNanchor_39_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_41" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p> + +<p>The West Branch of the mighty Susquehanna, which has plagued +generations of residents with its spring floodings, was the primary +means of ingress and egress for the area. Rich bottom lands at the +mouths of Lycoming, Larrys, and Pine creeks drew the hardy pioneer +farmers, and here they worked the soil to provide the immediate +needs for survival. Hemmed in on the north by the plateau area of +the Appalachian front and on the south by the Bald Eagle Mountains, +these courageous pioneers of frontier democracy carved their future +out of the two-mile area (more often less) between those two forbidding +natural walls. With the best lands to be found around the +mouth of Pine Creek, which is reasonably close to the center of this +twenty-five-mile area, it seems quite natural that the major political, +social, and economic developments would take place in close proximity—and +they did.<a name="FNanchor_40_42" id="FNanchor_40_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_42" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> +<p>Thus, an area never exceeding two miles in width and spanning +some ten miles (presently from Jersey Shore to Lock Haven) was +the heartland of Fair Play settlement. Lycoming Creek, Larrys Creek, +and Pine Creek all run south into the West Branch, having channeled +breaks through the rolling valley which extends along the previously +defined territory.</p> + +<p>"The land was ours before we were the land's," the poet said, and +it seems apropos of this moment in history.<a name="FNanchor_41_43" id="FNanchor_41_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_43" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> Fair Play territory, possessed +before it was owned and operated under <i>de facto</i> rule, would +be some time in Americanizing the sturdy frontiersmen who came +to bring civilization to this wilderness.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_3" id="Footnote_1_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_3"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Carl L. Becker, <i>Beginnings of the American People</i> (Ithaca, N. Y., 1960), p. 182.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_4" id="Footnote_2_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_4"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Turner, <i>Frontier and Section</i>, p. 51.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_5" id="Footnote_3_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_5"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Frederick Jackson Turner, <i>The Frontier in American History</i> (New York, 1963), +p. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_6" id="Footnote_4_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_6"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> E. B. O'Callaghan, <i>Documentary History of the State of New York</i> (Albany, +1849), I, 587-591.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_7" id="Footnote_5_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_7"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Henry Steele Commager, <i>Documents of American History</i> (New York, 1958), +I, 49.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_8" id="Footnote_6_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_8"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> An earlier twentieth-century historian misinterprets the first Stanwix Treaty in +much the same manner as earlier colonial historians erred in their judgments of +the Proclamation of 1763. Albert T. Volwiler, <i>George Croghan and the Westward +Movement, 1741-1782</i> (Cleveland, 1926), p. 250, really overstates his case, if the Fair +Play settlers are any example, when he claims that the Fort Stanwix line, by +setting a definite boundary, impeded the western advance. Establishing friendships +with the Indians and then persuading them to sell their lands proved valuable +to more than speculators, whose case Volwiler documents so well, as West Branch +settlements after 1768 will attest.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_9" id="Footnote_7_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_9"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> The extension of Provincial authority to Pine Creek would have taken in three-fourths +of what we have labeled Fair Play territory.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_10" id="Footnote_8_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_10"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> John F. Meginness, <i>Otzinachson: A History of the West Branch Valley of the +Susquehanna</i> (Williamsport, 1889), p. 106. The full passage from the Bethlehem +Diary (now in the Moravian Archives) was translated by the late Dr. William +N. Schwarze for Dr. Paul A. W. Wallace, historian of the Pennsylvania Historical +and Museum Commission, as follows: "In the afternoon [June 8, New Style] our +brethren left that place [beyond Montoursville] and came in the evening to the +Limping Messenger on the Tiadachton Creek, where they spent the night." In the +<i>Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography</i>, II (1878), 432 (hereafter cited +as <i>PMHB</i>), Zeisberger's account is translated in this manner: "In the afternoon +we proceeded on our journey, and at dusk came to the 'Limping Messenger,' or +Diadachton Creek [a note identifies this as Lycoming], and encamped for the night." +Here the error is in identifying the Limping Messenger with the stream. Meginness, +of course, repeated the error in his <i>Otzinachson</i> (1889), p. 106. Referring the passage +to Vernon H. Nelson of the Moravian Archives, through Dr. Wallace, resulted in +a clarification of the translation and the affirmation of the "Limping Messenger" +as a camp on the stream. In the Bethlehem Diary, under June 8, 1754, the sentence +appears as follows: "des Nachm. reissten unsre Brr Wieder von da weg u kamen +Abends zum hinckenden Boten an der Tiatachton Creek, u lagen da uber Nacht." +In the original travel journal the passage reads: "des Nachm. reissten wir wieder +von da weg, u kamen Abends zum <i>hinckenden Boten</i> an der Tiatachton Crick u +lagen da uber Nacht." De Schweinitz in his <i>Zeisberger</i> further confused the issue +in his description of the journey. He takes the adventurers (Zeisberger, Spangenburg, +Conrad Weiser, Shickellamy, and Andrew Montour) through the valley of +the Tiadaghton Creek on the Sheshequin Path to Onondaga (Syracuse). There +was an Indian path up Pine Creek, but it led to Niagara, not Onondaga.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_11" id="Footnote_9_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_11"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Meginness, <i>Otzinachson</i> (1889), p. 106. This is an added note of Meginness' +commentary upon the citation noted above.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_12" id="Footnote_10_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_12"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> John Blair Linn, <i>History of Centre and Clinton Counties, Pennsylvania</i> (Philadelphia, +1883), p. 468. Linn also deals with the Tiadaghton question in his "Indian +Land and Its Fair Play Settlers," <i>PMHB</i>, VII (1883), 420-425. Here he simply +defines Fair Play territory as "Indian Land" encompassing the Lycoming-Pine +Creek region.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_13" id="Footnote_11_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_13"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>Minutes of the First Session of the Ninth General Assembly of the Commonwealth +of Pennsylvania ...</i> (Philadelphia, 1784), Appendix, Proceedings of the +Treaties held at Forts Stanwix and McIntosh, pp. 314-322.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_14" id="Footnote_12_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_14"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Oct. 23, p. 319.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_15" id="Footnote_13_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_15"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_16" id="Footnote_14_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_16"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Oct. 22, p. 316.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_17" id="Footnote_15_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_17"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> E. B. O'Callaghan, <i>Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of +New York</i>, VIII (Albany, 1857), 125. In the discussions preceding the Fort Stanwix +Treaty of 1768, the Indians' description of the boundary line could be interpreted +as favoring Pine Creek: "... to the Head of the West Branch of Susquehanna +thence down the same to Bald Eagle Creek thence across the River at Tiadaghta +Creek below the great Island, thence by a straight Line to Burnett's Hills and along +the same...." The juxtaposition of Bald Eagle Creek, the Great Island, and +"Tiadaghta" Creek makes this conclusion plausible.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_18" id="Footnote_16_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_18"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> <i>See also ibid.</i>, Guy Johnson's map illustrating the treaty line, opposite p. 136.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_19" id="Footnote_17_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_19"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> D. S. Maynard, <i>Historical View of Clinton County, From Its Earliest Settlement +To The Present Time</i> (Lock Haven, 1875), p. 8. The line is given by Maynard as +follows: "... and took in the lands lying east of the North Branch of the Susquehanna, +beginning at Owego, down to Towanda, thence up the same and across to +the headwaters of Pine Creek; thence down the same to Kittanning...."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_20" id="Footnote_18_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_20"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Eugene P. Bertin, "Primary Streams of Lycoming County," <i>Now and Then</i>, VIII +(1947), 258-259.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_21" id="Footnote_19_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_21"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Dr. Bertin, former associate secretary of the Pennsylvania State Education +Association, adds nothing to the Meginness and Linn accounts, his probable +sources. He speaks of settlements as early as 1772, whereas it is a matter of record +that Cleary Campbell squatted in what is now north Lock Haven sometime shortly +after 1769. He refers to the establishment of homes, properly, but then goes on to +add churches and schools. The source for his "Children and elders met together +periodically to recite catechism to the preacher, who was a travelling missionary, +one being Phillip Fithian," was J. B. Linn. But Fithian, an extremely accurate +diarist, fails to mention the occasion during his one-week visit to this area in the +summer of 1775. However, the real value of this article is the editorial note by +T. Kenneth Wood on the Tiadaghton question. In it he refers to John Bartram's +journal of 1743, twenty-five years before the Stanwix Treaty at Rome, N. Y., with +the Iroquois, which recounts his travels with the Oneida Chief Shickellamy and +Conrad Weiser. Lewis Evans was also in the party, making notes for his map of +1749. The party, on its way to Onondaga (Syracuse), was approaching Lycoming +Creek at a point just south of Powys, via the Sheshequin Indian path. Bartram, +the first American botanist, who wrote in his journal nightly after checking with +his two guides, gives this account, T. Kenneth Wood (ed.), "Observations Made +By John Bartram In His Travels from Pennsylvania to Onondaga, Oswego and the +Lake Ontario in 1743," <i>Now and Then</i>, V (1936), 90: "Then down a hill to a run +and over a rich neck of land lying between it and the Tiadaughton." No contact +was made with Pine Creek. Dr. Wood contends in his note to the Bertin article, +and this writer is inclined to agree, that the Indian of 1743 and the Indian of 1768 +were telling the truth and that the white settlers of 1768, and for sixteen years +thereafter, were wrong, either through guile and design or ignorance. He says, +"The original Indian principals signing the treaty had retreated westward and +sixteen years of fighting over the question (and possibly a few bribes) had settled +it to the white man's satisfaction. The Indians always had to yield or get out." +This is essentially the point which Dr. Wallace made to me in his letter of Feb. +16, 1961.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_22" id="Footnote_20_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_22"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Elsie Singmaster, <i>Pennsylvania's Susquehanna</i> (Harrisburg, 1950), p. 87. Her +Pine Creek description (while describing tributaries of the Susquehanna) speaks +of the gorge as the upper course of Pine Creek, which is now part of Harrison State +Park. Here, she says, "The rim is accessible by a paved highway, and from there +one may look down a thousand feet and understand why the Indians called the +stream Tiadaghton or Lost Creek."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_23" id="Footnote_21_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_23"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Edmund A. DeSchweinitz, <i>The Life and Times of David Zeisberger</i> (Philadelphia, +1871), p. 133. Further evidence of DeSchweinitz' confusion is found in his +Geographical Glossary in the same book. On page 707, he calls the Great Island, +Lock Haven; on page 709, he calls Long Island, Jersey Shore; and on page 713, +he refers to Pine Creek as the Tiadaghton, "also called Diadaghton."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_24" id="Footnote_22_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_24"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> The term "New Purchase" was frequently used, both officially and otherwise, +to designate the area on the north side of the West Branch of the Susquehanna +from Lycoming Creek to the Great Island, although in actuality the purchase line +terminated at Lycoming Creek.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_25" id="Footnote_23_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_25"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Charles Smith, <i>Laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania</i> (Philadelphia, +1810), II, 274.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_26" id="Footnote_24_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_26"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Paul A. W. Wallace, <i>Conrad Weiser, Friend of Colonist and Mohawk</i> (Philadelphia, +1945), p. 81.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_27" id="Footnote_25_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_27"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Wallace mistakenly attaches the appellation "Limping Messenger" to "a foot-sore +Indian named Anontagketa," <i>ibid.</i>, p. 220. However, this error was corrected +in a letter to this writer, August 24, 1962.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_28" id="Footnote_26_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_28"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Wood (ed.), "Observations Made By John Bartram," p. 90.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_29" id="Footnote_27_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_29"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 79.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_30" id="Footnote_28_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_30"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Meginness, <i>Otzinachson</i> (1889), p. 411.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_31" id="Footnote_29_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_31"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Robert Greenhalgh Albion and Leonidas Dodson (eds.), <i>Philip Vickers Fithian: +Journal, 1775-1776</i> (Princeton, 1934), pp. 69-76.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_32" id="Footnote_30_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_32"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Hazel Shields Garrison, "Cartography of Pennsylvania before 1800," <i>PMHB</i>, +LIX (1935), 255-283. Information on Adlum's maps was obtained from [T. Kenneth +Wood], "Map Drawn by John Adlum, District Surveyor, 1792, Found Among the +Bingham Papers," <i>Now and Then</i>, X (July, 1952), 148-150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_33" id="Footnote_31_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_33"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> [Wood], "Map Drawn by John Adlum," pp. 148-150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_34" id="Footnote_32_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_34"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Bureau of Land Records, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, New Purchase Applications, +Nos. 1823 and 2611, April 3, 1769.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_35" id="Footnote_33_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_35"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, First Series, XI, 508.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_36" id="Footnote_34_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_36"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>Colonial Records</i>, X, 95.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_37" id="Footnote_35_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_37"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> In a letter to this writer, May 19, 1962, Professor Marshall states: "It was my +opinion that the treaty marked, in one aspect, a bargain between Johnson and +the Six Nations. I do not accept Billington's charge of betrayal of their interests. +But it does seem to me that this meant hard bargaining in New York, when the +state of Indian and colonial lands was precisely known to both sides, and indifference +and ignorance beyond this point.... As far as I am aware, there was no +prolonged and close discussion about the running of the line in Pennsylvania in +the least comparable to that which took place over its location in New York." +<i>See</i> Peter Marshall, "Sir William Johnson and the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, 1768," +<i>The Journal of American Studies</i>, I (Oct., 1967), pp. 149-179.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_38" id="Footnote_36_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_38"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Meginness, <i>Otzinachson</i> (1889), p. 340.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_39" id="Footnote_37_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_39"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Helen Herritt Russell, "Signers of the Pine Creek Declaration of Independence," +<i>The Northumberland County Historical Society Proceedings and Addresses</i>, XXII +(1958), 1-15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_40" id="Footnote_38_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_40"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> The fame of this historic elm stems from the fact that it is reputed to be the +site of a local declaration of independence made the same day as the adoption of +Jefferson's draft in Philadelphia, July 4, 1776. The author is indebted to Donald +H. Kent, Director of the Bureau of Archives and History, Pennsylvania Historical +and Museum Commission, for the idea and some of the expression in this paragraph.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_41" id="Footnote_39_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_41"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Paul A. W. Wallace, <i>Pennsylvania: Seed of a Nation</i> (New York, 1962) p. 3. +This delightful book in the "Regions of America" series, edited by Carl Carmer, +contains an excellent chapter on the significance of Pennsylvania's "Three Rivers."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_42" id="Footnote_40_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_42"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Gristmills—meeting places of the Fair Play tribunal—a school, and a church +would all be found in this Pine Creek region. However, the church (Presbyterian) +would not be built until the territory became an official part of the Commonwealth +following the second Stanwix Treaty in 1784.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_43" id="Footnote_41_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_43"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Robert Frost, <i>Complete Poems of Robert Frost</i> (New York, 1949), p. 467. This +poem somehow characterizes the experiences of the settlers of this frontier and +many frontiers to come.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_TWO" id="CHAPTER_TWO"></a><small>CHAPTER TWO</small></h2> + +<h3 class="ity"><big>The Fair Play Settlers: Demographic Factors</big></h3> + + +<p>James Logan, president of the Proprietary Council of Pennsylvania, +1736-1738, once declared that "if the Scotch-Irish continue +to come they will make themselves masters of the Province."<a name="FNanchor_1_44" id="FNanchor_1_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_44" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> His +prediction, which was to be generally proven in the Province during +the French and Indian War, was to be demonstrated particularly in the +West Branch Valley during the Revolutionary period. The Scotch-Irish +were the dominant national or ethnic group in the Fair Play +territory from 1769 to 1784. This dominance is demonstrated in +Chart 1, which indicates the national origins of eighty families in the +Fair Play territory.</p> + +<h4>Chart 1</h4> +<p class="center"> +National Origins of Fair Play Settlers<a name="FNanchor_2_45" id="FNanchor_2_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_45" class="fnanchor">[2]</a><br /> +Expressed in Numbers and Percentages</p> + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="" style="width: 70%;"> +<tr><td class="tbtc">Total</td><td class="tbtc">Scotch-Irish</td><td class="tbtc">English</td><td class="tbtc">German</td><td class="tbtc">Scots</td><td class="tbtc">Irish</td><td class="tbtc">Welsh</td><td class="tbtc">French</td></tr> +<tr><td class="lt2">80</td><td class="lt2">39</td><td class="lt2">16</td><td class="lt2">12</td><td class="lt2">5</td><td class="lt2">4</td><td class="lt2">2</td><td class="lt2">2</td></tr> +<tr><td class="lt2">%</td><td class="lt2">48.75</td><td class="lt2">20</td><td class="lt2">15</td><td class="lt2">6.25</td><td class="lt2">5</td><td class="lt2">2.5</td><td class="lt2">2.5</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tbb" colspan="8"> </td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> +<p>Not only were the Scotch-Irish the most numerous national stock +among the Fair Play settlers of the West Branch Valley, but they +also represented a plurality and almost a majority of the entire population. +The significance of this finding in terms of the "style of +life" of the Fair Play settlers cannot be over-emphasized. It influenced +the politics, the religion, the family patterns, and thus the +values of this frontier society.</p> + +<p>Several other important conclusions can be drawn from this chart. +In contrast to the population of Pennsylvania in general and the +assumptions regarding frontier areas in particular, the English, rather +than the Germans, were the second most numerous national stock +group. The Germans, however, made up the third-largest segment +of the West Branch Valley population. The Scots, Welsh, Irish, and +a few French inhabitants formed the remaining sixteen per cent of +the population. Obviously, this was a dominantly Anglo-Saxon +Protestant area of settlement.</p> + +<p>The impact of this Scotch-Irish hegemony upon the religion, politics, +family life, and social values in general will be dealt with in a later +chapter. However, it can be noted at this juncture that the strong-willed +individualism which characterized these sturdy people was as much +influenced by their national origin as by their experience on +the American frontier. Furthermore, Presbyterianism influenced and +was influenced by a developing democratic political system, which +paralleled the American Presbyterian system of popular rather than +hierarchical church government.<a name="FNanchor_3_46" id="FNanchor_3_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_46" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> A prominent immigration historian +has pointed out that "the theory of Presbyterian republicanism, as +a matter of church policy, could easily be reconciled with demands +of the more radical democrats of 1776."<a name="FNanchor_4_47" id="FNanchor_4_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_47" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Finally, the social life and +customs and, hence, the values of this frontier society were governed +for the most part by this majority group. Thus, dogmatic faith, +political equality, social and economic independence, respect for +education, and a tightly-knit pattern of family relationships express<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +appropriately the institutional patterns by which the Scotch-Irish of +the West Branch operated.</p> + +<p>It is interesting to contrast the national stock groupings of this +Susquehanna frontier with the results of a study of national origins +of the American population made by the American Council of Learned +Societies and published in 1932:<a name="FNanchor_5_48" id="FNanchor_5_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_48" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + + +<h4>Chart 2</h4> + +<p class="center">Classification of the White Population into Its National Stocks<br /> +in the Continental United States and Pennsylvania: 1790; and<br /> +in the Fair Play Territory: 1784 (Expressed in Percentages).</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="" style="width: 80%;"> +<tr><td class="tbtc"> </td><td class="tbtc">Scotch-Irish</td><td class="tbtc">English</td><td class="tbtc">German</td><td class="tbtc">Scots</td><td class="tbtc">Irish</td><td class="tbtc">Welsh</td><td class="tbtc">French</td><td class="tbtc">Other</td></tr> +<tr><td class="lt">Continental United States</td><td align='center'>5.9</td><td align='center'>60.1</td><td align='center'>8.6</td><td align='center'>8.1</td><td align='center'>3.6</td><td align='center'>0</td><td align='center'>2.3</td><td align='center'>10.6</td></tr> +<tr><td class="lt">Pennsylvania</td><td align='center'>11.0</td><td align='center'>35.3</td><td align='center'>33.3</td><td align='center'>8.6</td><td align='center'>3.5</td><td align='center'>0</td><td align='center'>1.8</td><td align='center'>6.5</td></tr> +<tr><td class="lt">Fair Play Territory</td><td align='center'>48.75</td><td align='center'>20</td><td align='center'>15</td><td align='center'>6.25</td><td align='center'>5</td><td align='center'>2.5</td><td align='center'>2.5</td><td align='center'>0</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tbb" colspan="9"> </td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<p>From this comparison it can readily be seen that the national origins +of the Fair Play settlers in no way conform to either the national pattern +or the State pattern of just a few years later. Although this limited +frontier area can be recognized as having its own individual ratio +of component stocks, it is representative rather than unique in its +culture and values. The reaction of those of other national stocks +to the frontier experience buttresses the conclusion that their values +were influenced more by the frontier than by national origin. It is +this common reaction to the problems of the frontier which gives<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +rise to the conclusion that this West Branch Valley environment was +characterized by and that its inhabitants held values which Turner +evaluated as democratic. The nature of those democratic values is, +however, dealt with in greater detail in subsequent chapters.</p> + +<p>The American sources of emigration form the next question to be +considered in examining the origins of the Fair Play settlers. Lacking +adequate statistical data for a complete picture of migration in terms +of percentages, the following chart indicates only the probable origins +of the three most numerous national stock groupings in the Fair +Play territory:</p> + +<h4>Chart 3</h4> + +<p class="center">American Sources of Emigration<a name="FNanchor_6_49" id="FNanchor_6_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_49" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="" style="width:60%;"> +<tr><td class="tbtc">National<br /> Stock</td><td class="tbtc">Percentage of<br /> Population</td><td class="tbtl"> American Source of Emigration</td></tr> +<tr><td class="lt">Scotch-Irish</td><td class="lt3">48.75</td><td class="lt">Chester, Cumberland, Dauphin,<br />Lancaster counties</td></tr> +<tr><td class="lt">English</td><td class="lt3">20</td><td class="lt">New Jersey, New York, southeastern<br />Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and Bucks counties)</td></tr> +<tr><td class="lt">German</td><td class="lt3">15</td><td class="lt">Chester, Lancaster, Philadelphia, and<br />York counties</td></tr> +<tr><td class="lt">Total</td><td class="lt3">83.75</td><td class="lt"> </td></tr> +<tr><td class="tbb" colspan="3"> </td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + + +<p>Obviously, the primary sources for the West Branch settlements +were the lower Susquehanna Valley and southeastern Pennsylvania. +However, an appreciable number of English settlers appear to have +come originally from New Jersey to settle in what they called "Jersey +Shore," immediately east of the mouth of Pine Creek. One explanation +for the migration of the dominant stock, the Scotch-Irish, +is probably the fact that the Provincial government refused to sell +more lands in Lancaster and York counties to the Scotch-Irish. In +effect, they were driven to use squatter tactics in the Fair Play territory.<a name="FNanchor_7_50" id="FNanchor_7_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_50" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> +<p>The internal origins of sixteen of these settlers can be verified in +either Meginness or Linn. Four came from Chester County, three each +from the Juniata Valley and Lancaster County, two each from Cumberland +County and New Jersey, and one each from Dauphin County +and from Orange County in New York. Nine of these settlers, incidentally, +were Scotch-Irish. Although these data are insufficient for +any valid generalization, they do conform to the characteristic migratory +trends indicated in Chart 3.</p> + +<p>In analyzing the migration of settlers into the West Branch Valley +beyond the line of the "New Purchase," it becomes apparent that the +Scotch-Irish came from the fringe areas of settlement, whereas the +English and Germans tended to migrate from more settled areas. Furthermore, +the English migrants often came from outside the Province +of Pennsylvania, either from New Jersey or New York. In fact, if one +were to construct a pattern of concentric zones, with the core in the +southeastern corner of the Province and the lines radiating in a north-westerly +direction, the English would be found at the core, the +Germans in the next zone, and the Scotch-Irish in the outlying area. +This zoning offers no real contradiction of the usual pattern of Pennsylvania +migrations. However, when one combines the data of internal +movements with those of external origins, certain contradictions do +appear. The most noteworthy of these is, of course, the prominence +of English settlers on this Fair Play frontier vis-à-vis the Germans.</p> + +<p>Since the Pennsylvania frontiersmen of the Wyoming Valley were +of English stock, and immigrated from New England, it might have +been assumed that some of these Connecticut settlers came into the +West Branch Valley. Here, however, all evidence points to the fact +that Connecticut settlers did not migrate west of Muncy, which is +located at the juncture of Muncy Creek and the West Branch of the +Susquehanna River (where the bend in the river turns into a directly +western pattern). Thus the Connecticut boundary dispute of 1769-1775, +which erupted into the Pennamite Wars, did not involve the +Fair Play settlers.<a name="FNanchor_8_51" id="FNanchor_8_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_51" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> Nevertheless, at least one Fair Play settler looked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +forward to the possibility of an advance of the Connecticut settlement +along the West Branch.<a name="FNanchor_9_52" id="FNanchor_9_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_52" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>The impact of events upon the settlement of the Fair Play territory +is particularly apparent when one examines the periods of +immigration to and emigration from the region. Three events seemed +to have had the greatest influence upon the immigration: the Treaty of +Fort Stanwix in 1768, which extended the Provincial limits to Lycoming +Creek in this region, and the resultant opening of the Land Office +for claims in the "New Purchase" on April 3, 1769;<a name="FNanchor_10_53" id="FNanchor_10_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_53" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> the almost complete +evacuation of the territory in the "Great Runaway" of the summer +of 1778, which was prompted by Indian attacks and the fear of a +great massacre comparable to the "Wyoming Valley Massacre" of that +same year;<a name="FNanchor_11_54" id="FNanchor_11_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_54" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> and finally, the Stanwix Treaty of 1784, which brought the +Fair Play area within the limits of the Province.<a name="FNanchor_12_55" id="FNanchor_12_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_55" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>The first Stanwix Treaty, made by Sir William Johnson with the +Six Nations in November of 1768, extended the legitimate line of +English colonial settlement from the line established by the Proclamation +of 1763 to a point on the West Branch of the Susquehanna +River at the mouth of Lycoming Creek (the Tiadaghton, as it was +so ambiguously labeled).<a name="FNanchor_13_56" id="FNanchor_13_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_56" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> This extension, ostensibly for the purpose +of providing lands for the colonial veterans of the French and Indian +War, became a boon to speculators and an inducement to the Scotch-Irish +squatters who took lands beyond the limits of this "New Purchase" +in what was to become the Fair Play territory.</p> + +<p>In the summer of 1778 the war whoop once again caused the settlers +of the West Branch Valley to flee from their homes for fear of +a repetition of the Wyoming Massacre. The peril of the moment is +vividly described in this communication to the Executive Council in +Philadelphia from Colonel Samuel Hunter, commander of Fort Augusta:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The Carnage at Wioming, the devastations and murders upon +the West branch of Susquehanna, On Bald Eagle Creek, and +in short throughout the whole County to within a few +miles of these Towns (the recital of which must be shocking) +I suppose must have before now have reached your +ears, if not you may figure yourselves men, women, and +children, Butchered and scalped, many of them after being +promised quarters, and some scalped alive, of which we have +miserable Instances amongst us.... I have only to add that +A few Hundreds of men well armed and immediately sent +to our relief would prevent much bloodshed, confusion and +devastation ... as the appearance of being supported would +call back many of our fugitives to save their Harvest for their +subsistence, rather than suffer the inconveniences which reason +tells me they do down the Country and their with their +families return must ease the people below of a heavy and +unprofitable Burthen.<a name="FNanchor_14_57" id="FNanchor_14_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_57" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p></div> + +<p>Robert Covenhoven, who lived at the mouth of the Loyalsock Creek +and who fled to Sunbury (Fort Augusta) also, described the flight:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Such a sight I never saw in my life. Boats, canoes, hog-troughs, +rafts hastily made of dry sticks, every sort of floating +article, had been put in requisition, and were crowded +with women, children, and plunder. There were several +hundred people in all.... The whole convoy arrived safely +at Sunbury, leaving the entire range of farms along the West +Branch to the ravages of the Indians.<a name="FNanchor_15_58" id="FNanchor_15_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_58" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p></div> + +<p>In this eighteenth-century Dunkirk, the West Branch Valley was +practically cleared of settlers.</p> + +<p>The Indians, it is true, proved troublesome to the entire advancing +American frontier; but unlike the French, whose menacing forts had +been removed in the recent wars, the Indians were unable to halt the +westward penetration. An expedition under the leadership of Colonel +Thomas Hartley was sent out expressly for the purpose of boosting +morale in the West Branch Valley following the Wyoming Massacre +and the Great Runaway. Colonel Hartley's letter to Thomas McKean, +chief justice of Pennsylvania and a member of the Continental Congress, +gives bitter testimony to the conditions which he observed in +September of 1778:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>You heard of the Distresses of these Frontiers they are +truly great—The People which we found were Difident and +timid The Panick had not yet left them—many a wealthy +Family reduced to Poverty & without a home, some had +lost their Husbands their children or Friends—all was +gloomy.... the Barbarians do now and then attack an unarmed +man a Helpless Mother or Infant....</p></div> + +<p>The colonel indicated, however, that strong militia support and +some offensive action would restore confidence and cause the people +to return to the valley. His interpretation of the significance of his +mission is quite clearly stated in the conclusion of his letter: "We +shall not have it in our Power to gain Honour or Laurels on these +Frontiers but we have the Satisfaction to think we save our Country...." +Hartley's solution to the Indian problem, which had driven +off the settlers, was to expel them "beyond the Lakes" excepting only +the more civilized Tuscaroras and Oneidas.<a name="FNanchor_16_59" id="FNanchor_16_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_59" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>Despite the danger from the Indians, the Fair Play settlers began +trickling back to their homes, or what was left of them, toward the +end of the Revolutionary War. Once the war was ended and the Fair +Play territory was annexed by subsequent purchase, the mass movement +of settlers to the West Branch Valley resumed.</p> + +<p>Incidentally, Dr. Wallace in his <i>Conrad Weiser</i> assesses one John +Henry Lydius with the major responsibility for the Indian massacres +in central and northeastern Pennsylvania. Wallace notes that Lydius' +Connecticut purchase from the Indians in 1754 caused "war between +Pennsylvania and Connecticut and ... [precipitated] the Massacre of +Wyoming in 1778." This massacre, as West Branch historians know, +had its subsequent impact on the West Branch Valley in the Great +Runaway, although the Winters Massacre of June 10, 1778, which +prompted the evacuation of the valley, actually preceded the Wyoming +affair.<a name="FNanchor_17_60" id="FNanchor_17_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_60" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> +<p>Finally, the purchase of the remaining Indian lands in Pennsylvania +(except for the small corner of the Erie Triangle) was made on +October 3, 1784, in a second Stanwix Treaty. This accession ended the +Pennsylvania boundary dispute with the Six Nations; and it also +ended the need for any extra-legal system of government in the West +Branch Valley, for this new treaty encompassed the Fair Play territory.<a name="FNanchor_18_61" id="FNanchor_18_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_61" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> +However, this treaty raised the troublesome Tiadaghton question +once again, a question only partly resolved by the Legislature's +designation of Lycoming Creek as the Tiadaghton and the recognition +of the squatters' right of pre-emption to their settlements along +the West Branch of the Susquehanna.<a name="FNanchor_19_62" id="FNanchor_19_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_62" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> The land office was opened +for the sale of this purchase July 1, 1785; by 1786 fifty heads of families +were listed for State taxes in Northumberland County.<a name="FNanchor_20_63" id="FNanchor_20_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_63" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> Approximately +fifty per cent of these taxables had been in the area earlier.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the only significant nationality trend to be noted in this +important sequence of events is the tenacity of the Scotch-Irish and +the subsequent increase of English and German settlers following +this last "New Purchase."<a name="FNanchor_21_64" id="FNanchor_21_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_64" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> Over half of the taxables in Pine Creek +Township, the new designation for much of the Fair Play territory +after it became an official part of the Province, were Scotch-Irish. As +a result, these Scots from the north of Ireland continued to maintain +their position of leadership even after the area was included in the +Commonwealth.</p> + +<p>The reasons for migrating to the West Branch Valley in this fifteen-year +period from 1769 to 1784 were varied and numerous. For the +most part, the various nationality groups which emigrated from +Europe came for economic opportunity and because of religious and +political persecutions. Their movement to the frontier regions was +prompted by similar problems. In fact, much the same as the earlier +settlers of Jamestown and Plymouth, the squatters of the West Branch +Valley came for gain and for God. Furthermore, the promise of +Penn's "Holy Experiment," in which men of diverse backgrounds could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +live together peacefully in religious freedom and political equality, +encouraged them to come to Pennsylvania. However, once the dominant +group of the Fair Play frontier, the Scotch-Irish, arrived in Pennsylvania, +they found themselves unsuited to the settled areas. The +natural enemy of the English, who had oppressed them at home, these +settlers soon found themselves repeating the Old World conflicts. In +addition, the German Pietists caused them further embarrassment in +their new homes. Their Calvinism, fierce political independence, and +earnest desire for land and opportunity soon made them <i>personae +non gratae</i> in the established areas. Hence, they migrated to the frontier +areas and even beyond the limits of Provincial interference and +control.<a name="FNanchor_22_65" id="FNanchor_22_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_65" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p>The paucity of population data makes impossible any extensive +analysis of the stability and mobility of the Fair Play settlers. However, +the tax lists, both in the published archives and in the files of +the county commissioners in Northumberland County, offer limited +evidence for the early years, though they provide ample data for the +years after 1773. Prior to the Great Runaway in 1778, tax lists are +available for the entire county of Northumberland; the lists simply +indicate the taxable's township, acreage, and tax. Records in the +Northumberland County courthouse give the assessments for 1773, +1774, 1776, and 1778.</p> + +<p>Due to the fact that the Fair Play territory was outside the Provincial +limits until after the purchase of Fort Stanwix in 1784, the +assessment lists give only those persons residing within Northumberland +County. As a result, there were only six to twelve settlers who +associated with the Fair Play men who were included in the lists for +1773-1778. Chart 4 indicates the names, national origins, and years +listed for those settlers.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> + + +<h4>Chart 4</h4> + +<p class="center">Fair Play Settlers on the Tax Rolls 1773-1778.<a name="FNanchor_23_66" id="FNanchor_23_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_66" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="" style="width:70%;"> + +<tr><td class="tbtl">Name</td><td class="tbtl">National Origin</td><td class="tbtc">1773</td><td class="tbtc">1774</td><td class="tbtc">1776</td><td class="tbtc">1778</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="lt">James Alexander</td> +<td class="lt2">Scotch-Irish</td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center"> </td> +<td class="center"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td class="lt">George Calhoune</td> +<td class="lt2">Scotch-Irish</td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center">x</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="lt">Cleary Campbell</td> +<td class="lt2">Scotch-Irish</td> +<td class="center"> </td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center"> </td> +<td class="center"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td class="lt">William Campbell, Jr.</td> +<td class="lt2">Scotch-Irish</td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center">x</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="lt">William Campbell, Jr.</td> +<td class="lt2">Scotch-Irish</td> +<td class="center"> </td> +<td class="center"> </td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center">x</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="lt">John Clark</td> +<td class="lt2">English</td> +<td class="center"> </td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center"> </td> +<td class="center"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td class="lt">Thomas Forster</td> +<td class="lt2">English</td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center">x</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="lt">James Irwin</td> +<td class="lt2">Scotch-Irish</td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center">x</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="lt">John Jamison</td> +<td class="lt2">English</td> +<td class="center"> </td> +<td class="center"> </td> +<td class="center"> </td> +<td class="center">x</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="lt">Isaiah Jones</td> +<td class="lt2">Welsh</td> +<td class="center"> </td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center"> </td> +<td class="center"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td class="lt">Robert King</td> +<td class="lt2">German</td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center"> </td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center">x</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="lt">John Price</td> +<td class="lt2">Welsh</td> +<td class="center"> </td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center">x</td> +<td class="center"> </td></tr> + +<tr><td class="lt">Totals</td> +<td class="lt2"> </td> +<td class="tbb">6</td> +<td class="tbb">8</td> +<td class="tbb">7</td> +<td class="tbb">7</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tbb" colspan="6"> </td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<p>From these limited data one obviously concludes that the Scotch-Irish +were not only the most numerous but also the most persistent +of these frontiersmen. Also, nine of these men, that is all except +Clark, Jones, and King, appear on the tax lists for Northumberland +County for the year 1785.<a name="FNanchor_24_67" id="FNanchor_24_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_67" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> Interestingly enough, six of these nine +were Scotch-Irish; and although our sample is limited, it is readily +apparent that the stalwart Scots had a way of "hanging on." It would +be presumptuous to conclude that seventy-five per cent of the residents +before 1778 returned by 1785; but it is fact that some forty +families had made improvements in the area by 1773 when William +Cooke was sent out by the Land Office to "Warn the People of[f] the +unpurchased Land."<a name="FNanchor_25_68" id="FNanchor_25_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_68" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> Furthermore, as indicated earlier, some fifty +families appear on the assessments for 1786, more than half of whom +had been in the region before.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p><p>Any effort to analyze the population in terms of stability and mobility +runs head-on into the creation of new townships in the 1780's, +the inability to establish death rates for this frontier, and the inadequacy +of probate records. The result is that the data are intuitively +rather than statistically sound. Chart 5 offers a comparison of tax +lists over a period of nine years as the basis for some conclusions regarding +the stability and mobility of the Fair Play settlers.</p> + + +<h4>Chart 5</h4> + +<p class="center">Population Stability and Mobility<br /> +Based Upon a Comparison of Tax Lists<br /> +For the Period From 1778 to 1787.<a name="FNanchor_26_69" id="FNanchor_26_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_69" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="" style="width:70%;"> +<tr><td class="tbtc"> </td><td class="tbtc">1778-80</td><td class="tbtc">1781</td><td class="tbtc">1783-84</td><td class="tbtc">1786</td><td class="tbtc">1787</td></tr> +<tr><td class="lt">Number of residents assessed</td><td align='center'>27</td><td align='center'>29</td><td align='center'>34</td><td align='center'>40</td><td align='center'>68</td></tr> +<tr><td class="lt">Number appearing on previous assessments</td><td align='center'>6</td><td align='center'>19</td><td align='center'>21</td><td align='center'>14</td><td align='center'>33</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tbb" colspan="6"> </td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<p>Except for the 1783-84 figures, all of the tax data are for State taxes. +The exception is the listing for the federal supply tax in 1783-84. +The steady growth rate of the area is easily recognizable both in raw +figures and in percentages. Beginning with an increase of a little more +than seven per cent between the first two listings, we find a seventy +per cent increase in the final figures. The tremendous increase in the +last two assessments may be due to the purchase of 1784 and the subsequent +legitimizing of claims through the establishment of pre-emption +rights.</p> + +<p>The stability of the population is particularly noted in the consistently +high percentage of residents with some tenure in the valley. +Furthermore, the apparent contradiction of this statement by the +decline to fourteen residents in the 1786 listing who had once left +and then returned is offset when one examines the neighboring township +assessments for that same year. Here fourteen additional names +of former Fair Play settlers are to be found which would sustain the +characteristic pattern of tenure. The statistical problem is complicated +by the creation of new townships following the purchase of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +1784. Pine Creek and Lycoming were the new designations for the +former Fair Play territory, Pine Creek running from the creek of +that same name west, and Lycoming extending from Pine Creek east +to Lycoming Creek.</p> + +<p>Petitions from the area in 1778, 1781, and 1784 give a similar +picture. Almost half of the names which are found on the tax lists +appear on two or more of these appeals. These include a distress +petition in June of 1778, and petitions asking recognition of pre-emption +rights in 1781 and 1784.<a name="FNanchor_27_70" id="FNanchor_27_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_70" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> The signatures on the petitions +range in number from thirty-nine to fifty-one, and at least twenty-four +of these settlers signed two or more of these documents. The very +nature of these petitions, particularly the later ones, indicates the +tremendous desire on the part of these sturdy pioneers to remain +in or return to their homes in the West Branch Valley. Here too, +however, this tenacity of purpose is not strictly confined to the +Scotch-Irish.</p> + +<p>What conclusions can be drawn from this analysis of the demographic +factors in the Fair Play settlement? Particularly evident is +the dominance of the Scotch-Irish, who numerically composed the +greatest national stock group in the population. This dominance, as +we have already noted, greatly influenced the political and social +institutions of the area. Secondly, one might consider the numbers +of English settlers, as compared with the number of Germans, surprising. +As a matter of fact, if one adds the numbers of Scots and +Welsh inhabitants to the English and Scotch-Irish, the result is an +"English" percentage of seventy-seven and one half for the entire +population. Thus it is quite logical to assume that English customs +and language would prevail, and they did. Incidentally, it should be +added that the "English" nature of the population, combined with +the Scotch-Irish plurality, meant that the Scotch-Irish were more representative +of this frontier than they were innovators of its customs +and values.</p> + +<p>If a majority of the Fair Play settlers came from the British Isles, +from where did they emigrate in America? Here it is quite clear that +these frontiersmen were predominantly from the lower Susquehanna +Valley and southeastern Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was to them a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +land of liberty and opportunity;<a name="FNanchor_28_71" id="FNanchor_28_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_71" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> and when they failed to find these +privileges in the settled areas, they moved out on the frontier where +they could make their own rules, that is to say, establish their own +familiar institutions. The result was the Fair Play system.</p> + +<p>Although the Fair Play settlers came to America and central Pennsylvania +for the usual political, economic, and social reasons, the two +Stanwix treaties and the Indian raids of 1778 had the most influence +on population fluctuations. The pioneers came into the territory +over-reaching the limits of the "New Purchase" of 1768. They were +driven out, almost to a man, in the Great Runaway of 1778. And +finally, they returned after the second "New Purchase" in 1784, which +resulted in the recognition of their pre-emption claims for their +earlier illegal settlements. It is interesting to note that pre-emption +claims were recognized in the West Branch Valley some forty-five years +prior to federal legislation to that effect.<a name="FNanchor_29_72" id="FNanchor_29_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_72" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> + +<p>Despite fluctuations in the population, the Scotch-Irish were able +to maintain their hold over the valley and thus influence the pattern +of development for this frontier outpost. Horace Walpole, addressing +the English Parliament during the American Revolution, said, "There +is no use crying about it. Cousin America has run off with a Presbyterian +parson, and that is the end of it."<a name="FNanchor_30_73" id="FNanchor_30_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_73" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> The Scotch-Irish with +their Presbyterianism had run off with the West Branch Valley as +well; and their independent spirit would see them in the foreground +of the "noblest rupture in the history of mankind." That independent +spirit and leadership is particularly noted in the political system +which they established along the West Branch of the Susquehanna +River. Their "Fair Play system" is the primary concern of the next +chapter.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_44" id="Footnote_1_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_44"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> E. Melvin Williams, "The Scotch-Irish in Pennsylvania," <i>Americana</i>, XVII +(1923), 382.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_45" id="Footnote_2_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_45"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> This chart was compiled by making a list of eighty names appearing in an +article on the genealogy of the Fair Play men, Helen Herritt Russell, "The Documented +Story of the Fair Play Men and Their Government," <i>The Northumberland +County Historical Society Proceedings and Addresses</i>, XII (1958), 16-43. Mrs. +Russell is genealogist of the Fort Antes chapter of the Daughters of the American +Revolution in Jersey Shore, Pa. The names were checked in Meginness and Linn +for possible national origin. Approximately one-fourth were verified in these +sources. Although this writer questioned the validity of the geographic conclusions +of Meginness and Linn, both have ample documentation for their findings regarding +genealogy and national origins. These findings can be validated in the published +archives. The entire sample of names was submitted to Dr. Samuel P. Bayard, a +folklore specialist and professor of English at the Pennsylvania State University, +whose determination was made on the basis of linguistic techniques.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_46" id="Footnote_3_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_46"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Popular control was an American rather than a Scottish influence necessitated +by the absence of sufficient numbers of ministers. In Scotland, the minister chose +his elders and thus dominated the session; in America, the selection was made by +the congregation. <i>See</i> James G. Leyburn, <i>The Scotch-Irish: A Social History</i> (Chapel +Hill, 1962), p. 150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_47" id="Footnote_4_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_47"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Carl Wittke, <i>We Who Built America</i> (Cleveland, 1963), p. 57.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_48" id="Footnote_5_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_48"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> American Council of Learned Societies, "Report of Committee on Linguistic +and National Stocks in the Population of the United States," <i>Annual Report of +the American Historical Association for the Year 1931</i> (Washington, 1932), I, 124.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_49" id="Footnote_6_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_49"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> This summary has been prepared from three main sources: Wayland F. Dunaway, +<i>The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania</i> (Hamden, Conn., 1962), pp. 89-91; +Meginness, <i>Otzinachson</i> (1889), pp. 161-167; and John B. Linn, <i>History of Centre +and Clinton Counties, Pennsylvania</i> (Philadelphia, 1883), pp. 447, 481-482.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_50" id="Footnote_7_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_50"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Williams, "The Scotch-Irish in Pennsylvania," p. 382.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_51" id="Footnote_8_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_51"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Wayland F. Dunaway, <i>A History of Pennsylvania</i> (Englewood Cliffs, N. J., +1948), pp. 131-137. According to John Bacon Deans, "The Migration of the +Connecticut Yankees to the West Branch of the Susquehanna River," <i>The Northumberland +County Historical Society Proceedings and Addresses</i>, XX (1954), 34-35, +eighty-two Yankees came to Warrior's Run in September of 1775, but none went +farther west.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_52" id="Footnote_9_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_52"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., The Zebulon +Butler Papers, Jonas Davis to Zebulon Butler, March 16, 1773.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_53" id="Footnote_10_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_53"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Meginness, <i>Otzinachson</i> (1889), p. 340.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_54" id="Footnote_11_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_54"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Linn, <i>History of Centre and Clinton Counties</i>, p. 475; Meginness, <i>Otzinachson</i> +(1889), pp. 508-511.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_55" id="Footnote_12_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_55"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Linn, <i>History of Centre and Clinton Counties</i>, p. 477; Meginness, <i>Otzinachson</i> +(1889), p. 666.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_56" id="Footnote_13_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_56"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> O'Callaghan, <i>Documentary History of the State of New York</i>, I, 587-591.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_57" id="Footnote_14_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_57"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Meginness, <i>Otzinachson</i> (1889), p. 509. This July 12, 1778, communication from +Colonel Hunter did not fall on deaf ears, for Colonel Thomas Hartley was ordered +to the area with his regiment before the summer was out.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_58" id="Footnote_15_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_58"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Linn, <i>History of Centre and Clinton Counties</i>, p. 475.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_59" id="Footnote_16_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_59"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Richmond D. Williams, "Col. Thomas Hartley's Expedition of 1778," <i>Now and +Then</i>, XII (1960), 258-259.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_60" id="Footnote_17_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_60"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Wallace, <i>Conrad Weiser</i>, pp. 362-363. Lydius had gotten the Indians drunk +following the settlement at Albany between the Six Nations and the Proprietaries. +This boundary line (Albany) "crossed the West Branch below the Big Island," +p. 374.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_61" id="Footnote_18_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_61"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, First Series, XI, 508.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_62" id="Footnote_19_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_62"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Meginness, <i>Otzinachson</i> (1889), p. 667.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_63" id="Footnote_20_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_63"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Linn, <i>History of Centre and Clinton Counties</i>, p. 477. <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, +Third Series, XIX, 711-713.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_64" id="Footnote_21_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_64"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> The ambiguity of the term "New Purchase" becomes apparent once it is recognized +that territorial acquisitions of both Stanwix treaties adopted that appellation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_65" id="Footnote_22_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_65"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Dunaway, <i>The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania</i>, pp. 28-49.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_66" id="Footnote_23_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_66"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Northumberland County Courthouse, Sunbury, Pa., Penns & C. 1782-1811 Tax +Assessments, Cabinet #1. This book, found in the cellar of the courthouse, also +contains the Pine Creek assessment for 1789.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_67" id="Footnote_24_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_67"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Third Series, XIX, 618-622.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_68" id="Footnote_25_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_68"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, First Series, XII, 286-287. The squatters, apparently +warned in advance, had practically all vacated the premises. However, neighbors +across the river willingly gave their names.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_69" id="Footnote_26_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_69"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Third Series, XIX, 437, 468, 557, 711, 790.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_70" id="Footnote_27_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_70"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Second Series, III (1875), 217, 518-522. The original +petitions of 1781 and 1784 are located in the State Archives, Harrisburg.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_71" id="Footnote_28_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_71"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Penn's colony was well advertised, and the emphasis upon liberty of conscience, +when contrasted with the restrictions of the Test Act, gives ample support for the +significance of liberty as a motivating factor. However, economic causes predominated.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_72" id="Footnote_29_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_72"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Ray Allen Billington, <i>Westward Expansion</i> (New York, 1960), p. 380. Billington +refers here to the distribution-pre-emption measure of 1841, whereas Congress +actually recognized squatters' rights in the act of 1830.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_73" id="Footnote_30_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_73"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Williams, "The Scotch-Irish in Pennsylvania," p. 382.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_THREE" id="CHAPTER_THREE"></a><small>CHAPTER THREE</small></h2> + +<h3 class="ity"><big>The Politics of Fair Play</big></h3> + + +<p>The political system of these predominantly Scotch-Irish +squatters in the Susquehanna Valley, along the West Branch, +offers a vivid demonstration of the impact of the frontier on +the development of democratic institutions. Occupying lands beyond +the reach of the Provincial legislature, with some forty families of +mixed national origin in residence by 1773, these frontier "outlaws" +had to devise some solution to the question of authority in their +territory.<a name="FNanchor_1_74" id="FNanchor_1_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_74" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Their solution was the extra-legal creation of <i>de facto</i> +rule historically known as the Fair Play system. The following is +a contemporary description of that system:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>There existed a great number of locations of the third of +April, 1769, for the choicest lands on the West Branch of Susquehanna, +between the mouths of <i>Lycoming</i> and <i>Pine creeks</i>; +but the proprietaries, from extreme caution, the result of that +experience, which had also produced the very penal laws of +1768, and 1769, and the proclamation already stated, had +prohibited any surveys being made beyond the <i>Lycoming</i>. +In the mean time, in violation of all law, a set of hardy adventurers, +had from time to time, seated themselves on this +doubtful territory. They made improvements, and formed +a very considerable population. It is true, so far as regarded +the rights to real property, they were not under the protection +of the laws of the country; and were we to adopt the +visionary theories of some philosophers, who have drawn +their arguments from a supposed state of nature, we might +be led to believe that the state of these people would have +been a state of continual warfare; and that in contests for +property the weakest must give way to the strongest. To<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +prevent the consequences, real or supposed, of this state of +things, they formed a mutual compact among themselves. +They annually elected a tribunal, in rotation, of three of +their settlers, whom they called <i>fair play men</i>, who were to +decide all controversies, and settle disputed boundaries. +From their decision there was no appeal. There could be +no resistance. The decree was enforced by the whole body, +who started up in mass, at the mandate of the court, and +execution and eviction was as sudden, and irresistible as the +judgment. Every new comer was obliged to apply to this +powerful tribunal, and upon his solemn engagement to +submit in all respects, <i>to the law of the land</i>, he was permitted +to take possession of some vacant spot. Their decrees +were, however, just; and when their settlements were recognized +by law, and <i>fair play</i> had ceased, their decisions were +received in evidence, and confirmed by judgments of courts.<a name="FNanchor_2_75" id="FNanchor_2_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_75" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p></div> + +<p>The idea of authority from the people was nothing new; in fact, +it is as old as the Greeks. Nor is the concept of a "social compact," +here implied, particularly novel to the American scene. The theory +was that people hitherto unconnected assembled and gave their consent +to be governed by a certain ruler or rulers under some particular +form of government.<a name="FNanchor_3_76" id="FNanchor_3_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_76" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Theoretically justified by John Locke in his +persuasive defense of the Glorious Revolution, it had been practiced +in Plymouth, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, +where practical necessity had required it for settlements occasionally +made outside charter limits. The frontier, whether in New England +or in the West Branch Valley, created a practical necessity which +made popular consent the basis of an actual government.</p> + +<p>They were not "covenanters" in the Congregational sense of having +brought an established church with them to the Fair Play territory. +But the Fair Play settlers understood and subscribed to the +principle of popular control, which was fundamental to such solemnly +made and properly ratified agreements. Separated from the authority +of the crown, detached from the authority of the hierarchy of the +church by the Protestant Reformation, possessing no American tradition<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +of extensive political experience, these settlers could only depend +upon themselves as proper authorities for their own political system.</p> + +<p>Furthermore, the great majority of the settlers who came to the +Fair Play territory came from families who had left their homes in +the old country to escape political, economic, and social restrictions, +only to be made unwelcome in their new homes in the settled areas +of Pennsylvania. Displaced persons in a new country, they were +forced by lives of conflict to seek better opportunity by moving to +undeveloped lands. As a result, they settled along the West Branch of +the Susquehanna, beyond the authority of the crown and outside +the pressures of the Provincial legislature.</p> + +<p>If man is a predatory beast in his natural state, a belief some +expressed in the eighteenth century, then it follows naturally that +every society must have some agency of authority and control. The +universally standardized solution to the problem of social control +is government. The Fair Play system was the answer on this Susquehanna +frontier to the need for some legitimate agency of force.<a name="FNanchor_4_77" id="FNanchor_4_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_77" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> +This system vested authority in the people through annual elections +of a tribunal of three of their number. The members of the tribunal +were given quasi-executive, legislative, and judicial powers over all +the settlers in the West Branch Valley "beyond the purchase line."<a name="FNanchor_5_78" id="FNanchor_5_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_78" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>Although no record of any of these elections has been preserved, +the composition of the Fair Play tribunal in 1776 has been established +and verified by subsequent reviews of land claims in the county<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +courts.<a name="FNanchor_6_79" id="FNanchor_6_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_79" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Also, two of the members of the tribunal of 1775 are identified +in a pre-emption claim made before the Lycoming County Court +in 1797.<a name="FNanchor_7_80" id="FNanchor_7_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_80" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> It is interesting to note that among these five men are +represented the three most prominent national stock groups in the +area, with the Scotch-Irish, as our earlier sample demonstrated, in +the majority.</p> + +<p>Lacking returns of the annual elections of the tribunal and minutes +of its actual meetings, we have only Smith's <i>Laws of the Commonwealth +of Pennsylvania</i>, petitions from the Fair Play settlers, and the +subsequent review of land questions by the Northumberland and +Lycoming County courts to evaluate the tribunal, its members, and +its procedures. However, these data are more than adequate in +giving us a picture of this <i>de facto</i>, though illegal, rule, which existed +in the West Branch Valley until the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1784 +brought the territory under Commonwealth jurisdiction. The composition +of the electorate varied with the fluctuations in population +caused by the two Stanwix treaties, the Revolution, and the Great +Runaway.</p> + +<p>Since property and religious qualifications were the primary prerequisites +to voting at this time, it seems logical to assume that a +similar basis for suffrage operated in the West Branch Valley.<a name="FNanchor_8_81" id="FNanchor_8_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_81" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> Having +no regular church—the first, a Presbyterian, was not organized +until 1792—property qualifications appear to have been the basis for +what, in this area, was practically universal manhood suffrage. Due<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +to the fact that the entire settlement consisted of squatters, practically +all of the heads of households were property holders, regardless +of the questionable legality of their holdings. The tax lists indicate +holdings of some 100 to 300 acres on the average for residents, so it +is particularly difficult to know whether or not a minimum holding +requirement prevailed. The Provincial suffrage requirement in this +period was generally fifty acres of land or £50 of personal property.<a name="FNanchor_9_82" id="FNanchor_9_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_82" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>Although this study encompasses a fifteen-year period from 1769 +to 1784, it appears that the Fair Play system functioned for about +five years, from 1773 to 1778. This is due to the fact that only "fourty +Improvements,"<a name="FNanchor_10_83" id="FNanchor_10_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_83" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> meaning forty family settlements, existed in the +area by 1773, and that following the Great Runaway of 1778, the +territory was almost devoid of settlers. The void was filled, however, +when settlers began returning toward the end of the Revolution and +following the accession of the territory in the second Stanwix Treaty, +in 1784. Thus, for all practical purposes, the functioning of the Fair +Play system was confined to this more limited time. Furthermore, +the system was supplemented in 1776 by the introduction of the +Committee of Safety, and later that year by the Council of Safety.<a name="FNanchor_11_84" id="FNanchor_11_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_84" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p>As is indicated in Smith's <i>Laws</i>, annual meetings were held to +select the governing tribunal of three for the ensuing year. Generally +convened at some readily accessible place, these sessions were presumably +held in the open or at one of the frontier forts erected in +the area: Fort Antes, across the river from Jersey Shore; or Fort +Horn, located on the south side of the Susquehanna about eight +miles west of Jersey Shore. There were frontier forts in the vicinity +of the present Muncy—Fort Muncy—and Lock Haven—Fort Reed; +but Fort Muncy was some twenty-odd miles east of the Fair Play +territory and Fort Reed was beyond the Great Island at its western +extremity. As a result, these outposts were unlikely meeting places +for the tribunal or for its election.<a name="FNanchor_12_85" id="FNanchor_12_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_85" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> Unfortunately, there is no +recorded evidence of a specific meeting of the Fair Play men.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> +<p>The authority of the Fair Play tribunal extended across the entire +territory from Lycoming Creek to the Great Island on the north side +of the West Branch of the Susquehanna. However, most of the disputed +cases, which can be verified by subsequent court reviews in +either Northumberland or Lycoming counties, seem to have involved +land claims in the area between Lycoming and Pine creeks. +The tribunal accepted or rejected claims for settlement in the area +and decided boundary questions and other controversies among +settlers.<a name="FNanchor_13_86" id="FNanchor_13_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_86" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> As to a specific code of laws, there is none of record. +However, the cases subsequently reviewed in the established county +courts refer to some of their regular practices. For example, any man +who left his improvement for six weeks without leaving someone to +continue it, lost his right to the improvement;<a name="FNanchor_14_87" id="FNanchor_14_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_87" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> any man who went +into the army could count on the Fair Play men (the tribunal) to +protect his property;<a name="FNanchor_15_88" id="FNanchor_15_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_88" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> any man who sought land in the territory was +obliged to obtain not only the approval of the Fair Play men but +also of his nearest potential neighbors;<a name="FNanchor_16_89" id="FNanchor_16_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_89" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> and the summary process +of ejectment which the Fair Play men exercised was real and certain +and sometimes supported by the militia.<a name="FNanchor_17_90" id="FNanchor_17_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_90" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>The specific membership of the Fair Play tribunal is rather difficult +to ascertain due to its failure to keep minutes of its proceedings and +the absence of any recorded code. However, as indicated earlier,<a name="FNanchor_18_91" id="FNanchor_18_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_91" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> +the existence of the tribunal between the years 1773 and 1778, and its +actual composition in 1775 and 1776, have already been established +from the review of its decisions by the Circuit Court of Lycoming +County. Assuming the principle of rotation from a contemporary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +description, some eighteen settlers held the positions of authority +during the years noted.<a name="FNanchor_19_92" id="FNanchor_19_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_92" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> The cases reviewed reveal the names of five +of these eighteen. Recognizing the limitations of our twenty-eight +per cent sampling, however, it is interesting to note that the three +major national stocks are represented in this restricted sample. Furthermore, +as was mentioned previously,<a name="FNanchor_20_93" id="FNanchor_20_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_93" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> the Scotch-Irish settlers, +being in the majority, enjoyed the majority representation on the +tribunal. An analysis of leadership in the territory, to be developed +more fully later, leads one to conclude that the Scotch-Irish, in the +main, were the political leaders of the area.<a name="FNanchor_21_94" id="FNanchor_21_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_94" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>A diligent search of some sixty cases in the Court of Common +Pleas in both Northumberland and Lycoming counties yielded some +documentary evidence regarding the procedures of the Fair Play +tribunal.<a name="FNanchor_22_95" id="FNanchor_22_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_95" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> Three cases in Lycoming County and one from Northumberland +County contain depositions which describe the activities +of the Fair Play men in some detail. One case, <i>Hughes</i> vs. <i>Dougherty</i>, +was appealed to the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth. All of +the cases deal with the question of title to lands in the Fair Play +territory following the purchase of these lands at the Treaty of +Fort Stanwix in 1784. The depositions taken in conjunction with +these cases indicate the processes of settlement and ejectment, in +addition to the policies regarding land tenure. The fairness of the +Fair Play decisions is noted by the fact that the regular courts concurred +with the earlier judgments of the tribunal.<a name="FNanchor_23_96" id="FNanchor_23_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_96" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p> + +<p>An anecdote involving one of the Fair Play men, Peter Rodey, +illustrates the nature of this frontier justice. According to legend, +Chief Justice McKean of the State Supreme Court was holding court in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +this district, and, curious about the principles or code of the Fair Play +men, he inquired about them of Peter Rodey, a former member of +the tribunal. Rodey, unable to recall the details of the code, simply +replied: "All I can say is, that since your Honor's coorts have come +among us, <i>fair play</i> has entirely ceased, and law has taken its place."<a name="FNanchor_24_97" id="FNanchor_24_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_97" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> + +<p>The justice of "fair play" and the nature of the system can be +seen from an analysis of the cases reviewed subsequently in the established +courts. As mentioned previously, these cases describe the +procedures regarding settlement, land tenure, and ejectment. Although +no recorded code of laws has been located, references to +"resolutions of the Fair Play men" regularly appear in the depositions +and summaries of these cases.<a name="FNanchor_25_98" id="FNanchor_25_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_98" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> According to Leyburn, a customary +"law" concerning settlement rights operated on the frontier, particularly +among the Scotch-Irish.<a name="FNanchor_26_99" id="FNanchor_26_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_99" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> This "law" recognized three settlement +rights: "corn right," which established claims to 100 acres for +each acre of grain planted; "tomahawk right," which marked off the +area claimed by deadening trees at the boundaries of the claim; and, +"cabin right," which confirmed the claim by the construction of a +cabin upon the premises. If the decisions of the regular courts are +at all indicative, Fair Play settlement was generally based upon +"cabin right." However, the frequent allusion to "improvements" +implies some secondary consideration to what Leyburn has defined +as "corn right."</p> + +<p>In the case of <i>Hughes</i> vs. <i>Dougherty</i>, the significance of "improvements," +or "corn rights," vis-à-vis "cabin rights" is particularly noted.<a name="FNanchor_27_100" id="FNanchor_27_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_100" class="fnanchor">[27]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +The following summary of that case, found in <i>Pennsylvania Reports</i>, +emphasizes that significance, in addition to defining a Fair Play +"code" pertaining to land tenure:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>THIS was an ejectment for 324 acres of land, part of the +Indian lands in <i>Northumberland</i> county.</p> + +<p>The plaintiff claimed under a warrant issued on the 2d +<i>May</i> 1785, for the premises, and a survey made thereon upon +the 10th <i>January</i> 1786. The defendant, on the 20th <i>June</i> +1785, entered a caveat against the claims of the plaintiff, and +on the 5th <i>October</i> following, took out a warrant for the land +in dispute, on which he was then settled. Both claimed the +pre-emption under the act of 21st <i>December</i> 1784,<a name="FNanchor_28_101" id="FNanchor_28_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_101" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> and on +the evidence given the facts appeared to be:</p> + +<p>That in 1773, one <i>James Hughes</i>, a brother of the plaintiff, +settled on the lands in question and made some small improvements. +In the next year he enlarged his improvement, +and cut logs to build an house. In the winter following he +went to his father's in <i>Donegal</i> in <i>Lancaster</i> county, and died +there. His elder brother <i>Thomas</i> was at that time settled on +the Indian land, and one of the "Fair Play Men," who had +assembled together and made a resolution, (which they +agreed to enforce as the law of the place,) that "if any person +was absent from his "settlement for six weeks he should forfeit +his right." [Quotation marks as published.]</p> + +<p>In the spring of 1775 the defendant came to the settlement, +and was advised by the Fair Play Men to settle on the premises +which <i>Hughes</i> had left; this he did, and built a cabin. +The plaintiff soon after came, claiming it in right of his +brother, and aided by <i>Thomas Hughes</i>, took possession of +the cabin; but the defendant collecting his friends, an affray +ensued, in which <i>Hughes</i> was beaten off and the defendant +left in possession. He continued to improve, built an house +and stable, and cleared about ten acres. In 1778 he was +driven off by the enemy and entered into the army. At the +close of the war, both plaintiff and defendant returned to +the settlement, each claiming the land in dispute.</p> + +<p>The warrant was taken out in the name of <i>James Hughes</i>, +(the father of the plaintiff who is since dead,) for the benefit +of his children.</p> + +<p>After argument by Mr. <i>Charles Smith</i> and Mr. <i>Duncan</i> for +the plaintiff, and Mr. <i>Daniel Smith</i> and Mr. <i>Read</i> for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +defendant, Justice <i>Shippen</i> in the charge of the court to the +jury, said—</p> + +<p>The dispute here, is between a first improvement, and a +subsequent but much more valuable improvement. But +neither of the parties has any legal or equitable right, but +under the act of the 21st <i>December</i> 1784. The settlement +on this land was against law. It was an offence that tended to +involve this country in blood. But the merit and sufferings +of the actual settlers cancelled the offence, and the legislature, +mindful of their situation, provided this special act for their +relief. The preamble recites their "resolute stand and sufferings," +as deserving a right of pre-emption. The legislature +had no eye to any person who was not one of the occupiers +after the commencement of the war, and a transient settler +removed, (no matter how,) is not an object of the law. This +is our construction of the act. <i>James Hughes</i> under whom +the plaintiff claims, died before the war, the other occupied +the premises after, and in the language of the act, "stood and +suffered." If this construction be right, the cause is at an end.</p> + +<p>Besides, the plaintiff claims as the heir of <i>Thomas</i>, who +was the heir of <i>James</i>, the first settler. I will not say that the +fair play men could make a law to bind the settlers; but they +might by agreement bind themselves. Now <i>Thomas</i> was one +of these, and was bound by his conduct, from disputing the +right of the defendant.</p> + +<p>This warrant it seems, is taken out in the name of the +father, and it is said, as a trustee for his children. It is sometimes +done for the benefit of all concerned. If this be the +case, it may be well enough; but still it is not so regular, +as it might have been[.] With these observations, we submit +it to you.</p> + +<p class="signing">Verdict for the defendant.<a name="FNanchor_29_102" id="FNanchor_29_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_102" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> +</div> + +<p>This case, although originated in the Northumberland County +Court in 1786, was appealed to the State Supreme Court, where the +lower court decision was affirmed in 1791. The summary runs the +gamut of Fair Play procedures from settlement, through questions +of tenure, to ejectment. Its completeness indicates its usefulness. +Partial and occasional depositions in the other cases cited help to +round out the picture of the Fair Play "code."</p> + +<p>For example, the right of settlement included not only the approval +of the Fair Play men, but also the acceptance of the prospective<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +landholder by his neighbors. Allusions to this effect are made in the +Coldren deposition as well as in the Huff-Latcha case. Eleanor +Coldren's deposition, made at Sunbury, June 7, 1797, concerns the +disputed title to certain lands of her deceased husband, Abraham +Dewitt, opposite the Great Island. Her comments about neighbor +approval demonstrate the point. She says, for instance, that</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>... in the Spring of 1775, Henry Antes and Cookson Long, +two of the Fair-Play Men, with others, were at the deponent's +house, next below Barnabas Bonner's Improvement, where +Deponent's Husband kept a Tavern, and heard Antes and +Long say that they (meaning the Fair-Play Men) and the +Neighbors of the Settlement had unanimously agreed that +James Irvin, James Parr, Abraham Dewitt and Barnabas +Bonner should ... have their Improvement Rights fitted....</p></div> + +<p>She speaks of the resolution of the claims problem "as being the +unanimous agreement of the Neighbors and Fair-Play Men...."<a name="FNanchor_30_103" id="FNanchor_30_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_103" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> + +<p>William King, who temporarily claimed part of the land involved +in the dispute between Edmund Huff and Jacob Latcha, also refers +to neighbor approval in his deposition taken in that case. He said, +"I first went to Edmund Huff, then to Thomas Kemplen, Samuel +Dougherty, William McMeans, and Thomas Ferguson, and asked if +they would accept me as a neighbor...."<a name="FNanchor_31_104" id="FNanchor_31_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_104" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> + +<p>Land tenure policy is noted by this same William King in the +case of <i>James Grier</i> vs. <i>William Tharpe</i>. Repeating what we have +already pointed out in the case of <i>Hughes</i> vs. <i>Dougherty</i>, King +testified that "there was a law among the Fair-play men by which +any man, who absented himself for the space of six weeks, lost his +right to his improvement."<a name="FNanchor_32_105" id="FNanchor_32_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_105" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> In the Huff-Latcha case, King recounts +the case of one Joseph Haines who "had once a right ... but had +forfeited his right by the Fair-play law...."<a name="FNanchor_33_106" id="FNanchor_33_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_106" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p> + +<p>The forfeiture rule was tempered, however, in cases involving +military service. Bratton Caldwell's deposition in <i>Grier</i> vs. <i>Tharpe</i> +is a case in point. Caldwell, one of the Fair Play men in 1776, declared +that "Greer went into the army in 1776 and was a wagon-master<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +till the fall of 1778.... In July, 1778, the Runaway, John +Martin, had come on the land in his absence. The Fair-play men put +Greer in possession. If a man went into the army, the Fair-play men +protected his property."<a name="FNanchor_34_107" id="FNanchor_34_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_107" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> Meginness mentions a similar decision +in the case of John Toner and Morgan Sweeney.<a name="FNanchor_35_108" id="FNanchor_35_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_108" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> Sweeney had attempted +to turn a lease for improvements in Toner's behalf to possession +for himself, but the Northumberland County Court honored +the Fair Play rule concerning military service and decided in favor +of Toner.</p> + +<p>The summary process of ejectment utilized by the Fair Play men, +occasionally with militia support, is evident from William King's +deposition in the Huff-Latcha case. King, having sold his right to one +William Paul, recounts the method as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>William Paul went on the land and finished his cabin. +Soon after a party b[r]ought Robert Arthur and built a cabin +near Paul's in which Arthur lived. Paul applied to the Fair-play +men who decided in favor of Paul. Arthur would not +go off. Paul made a complaint to the company at a muster at +Quinashahague<a name="FNanchor_36_109" id="FNanchor_36_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_109" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> that Arthur still lived on the land and +would not go off, although the Fair-play men had decided +against him. I was one of the officers at that time and we +agreed to come and run him off. The most of the company +came down as far as Edmund Huff's who kept Stills. We got +a keg of whisk[e]y and proceeded to Arthur's cabin. He was +at home with his rifle in his hand and his wife had a bayonet +on a stick, and they threatened death to the first person who +would enter the house. The door was shut and Thomas Kemplen, +our captain, made a run at the door, burst it open and +instantly seized Arthur by the neck. We pulled down the +cabin, threw it into the river, lashed two canoes together +and put Arthur and his family and his goods into them and +sent them down the river. William Paul then lived undisturbed +upon the land until the Indians drove us all away.<a name="FNanchor_37_110" id="FNanchor_37_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_110" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> +William Paul was then (1778) from home on a militia tour.<a name="FNanchor_38_111" id="FNanchor_38_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_111" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p><p>Although land disputes offer documentary evidence of the Fair +Play system, it seems quite likely that the tribunal's jurisdiction +extended to other matters. A few anecdotes, obviously based quite +tenuously upon hearsay, will suffice to illustrate. Joseph Antes, son +of Colonel Henry Antes, used to tell this story: It seems that one +Francis Clark, who lived just west of Jersey Shore in the Fair Play +territory, gained possession of a dog which belonged to an Indian. +Upon learning of this, the Indian appealed to the Fair Play men, +who ordered Clark's arrest and trial for the alleged theft. Clark was +convicted and sentenced to be lashed. The punishment was to be +inflicted by a person decided by lot, the responsibility falling upon +the man drawing the red grain of corn from a bag containing grains +of corn for each man present. Philip Antes was the reluctant "winner." +The Indian, seeing that the decision of the "court" was to be +carried out immediately, magnanimously suggested that banishment +would serve better than flogging. Clark agreed and left for the +Nippenose Valley, where his settlement is a matter of record.<a name="FNanchor_39_112" id="FNanchor_39_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_112" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p> + +<p>Another anecdote, if true, gives further testimony to the justice of +Fair Play. In this instance, a minister and school teacher named Kincaid +faced the Fair Play tribunal on the charge of abusing his family. +Tried and convicted, he was sentenced to be ridden on a rail for his +offense.<a name="FNanchor_40_113" id="FNanchor_40_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_113" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> Here again, the tale, though legendary, is made plausible +by the established fact of Kincaid's residence in the area.<a name="FNanchor_41_114" id="FNanchor_41_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_114" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p> + +<p>Doubtless the most notable political action of the Fair Play settlers +is their declaration of independence, which Meginness calls "a remarkable +coincidence" because "it took place about the same time +that the Declaration was signed in Philadelphia!"<a name="FNanchor_42_115" id="FNanchor_42_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_115" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> Aware, as were +many of the American colonists in the spring and summer of 1776, +that independence was being debated in Philadelphia, these West +Branch pioneers decided to absolve themselves from all allegiance to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +the Crown and declare their own independence. Meeting under a +large elm on the west bank of Pine Creek, mistakenly known as the +"Tiadaghton Elm," the Fair Play men and settlers simply resolved +their own right of self-determination, a principle upon which they +had been acting for some time. Unfortunately, no record of the resolution +has been preserved—if it was actually written. However, the +names of the supposed signers, all bona fide Fair Play settlers, have +been passed down to the present.<a name="FNanchor_43_116" id="FNanchor_43_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_116" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p> + +<p>As every careful historian knows, no declaration was signed in +Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, except by the clerk and presiding +officer of the Continental Congress. Consequently, the Pine Creek +story arouses justifiable skepticism. However, there does seem to be +some evidence to substantiate this famous act.</p> + +<p>First of all, Fithian's <i>Journal</i> gives insight into the possible motivation +for such independent action. In an entry for Thursday, July +27, 1775, he writes of reviewing "the 'Squires Library," noting that +"After some Perusal I fix'd in the Farmer's memorable Letters."<a name="FNanchor_44_117" id="FNanchor_44_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_117" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> +Fithian was reading John Dickinson's <i>Letters from a Farmer in +Pennsylvania</i>, which he had come across in the library of John Fleming, +his host for a week in the West Branch Valley. Dickinson's dozen +uncompromising epistles in opposition to the Grenville and Townshend +programs both inspired and incited liberty-lovers. Furthermore, +Fleming himself was a leader among the Fair Play settlers, and may +have been aroused to action by the eloquence of Dickinson's expression. +Every idea is an incitement to action and the ideas of <i>Letters +from a Farmer</i>, which made Dickinson the chief American propagandist +prior to Thomas Paine, reached into the frontier of the +West Branch Valley.</p> + +<p>The best contemporary evidence in support of the Pine Creek +declaration is found in the widow's pension application of Anna +Jackson Hamilton, daughter-in-law of Alexander Hamilton, who was +one of the early settlers and a prominent leader along the West Branch +of the Susquehanna. Mrs. Hamilton, whose pension application and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +accompanying statement were made in 1858, lived within one mile +of the reputedly historic elm. In her sworn statement she says, "I +remember well the day independence was declared on the plains of +Pine Creek, seeing such numbers flocking there, and Independence +being all the talk, I had a knolege of what was doing."<a name="FNanchor_45_118" id="FNanchor_45_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_118" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> Her son +John corroborates this in his statement that "She and an old colored +woman are the only persons now living in the country who remembers +the meeting of the 4th of July, 1776, at Pine Creek. She remembers +it well."<a name="FNanchor_46_119" id="FNanchor_46_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_119" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> Mrs. Hamilton was ninety years old at the time of her +declaration, which was made some eighty-two years after the celebrated +event.<a name="FNanchor_47_120" id="FNanchor_47_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_120" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p> + +<p>Following the outbreak of the Revolution and the meeting of the +Second Continental Congress, the Fair Play system of the West Branch +Valley was soon augmented by another extra-legal organization, the +Committee of Safety. Ostensibly created for the purpose of raising and +equipping a "suitable force to form Pennsylvania's quota of the +Continental Army," it soon exercised executive authority dually with +the assembly.<a name="FNanchor_48_121" id="FNanchor_48_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_121" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> The Council of Safety was instituted as the successor +to the Committee of Safety by a resolution of the Provincial Convention +of 1776, then meeting in Philadelphia to draw up a new constitution +for Pennsylvania. It was continued by an act of the assembly +that same year. It functioned from July 24, 1776, until it was dissolved +on December 6, 1777, by a proclamation of the Supreme<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +Executive Council.<a name="FNanchor_49_122" id="FNanchor_49_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_122" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> Locally, however, the township branches continued +to function and were still referred to as "committees."</p> + +<p>It appears from the resolutions and actions of the local committee +that the Fair Play men maintained jurisdiction in land questions, but +that all other cases were within the range of the committee's authority. +In fact, a resolution dated February 27, 1776, asserted that "the committee +of Bald Eagle is the most competent judges of the circumstances +of the people of that township."<a name="FNanchor_50_123" id="FNanchor_50_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_123" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> This resolution was made +in conjunction with an order from the county committee to prevent +the loss of rye and other grains which were being "carried out of the +township for stilling."<a name="FNanchor_51_124" id="FNanchor_51_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_124" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> Although cautioned against "using too +much rigor in their measures," the committee was advised to find +"a medium between seizing of property and supplying the wants of +the poor."<a name="FNanchor_52_125" id="FNanchor_52_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_125" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> The county committee even went so far as to recommend +the suppression of such practices as "profaning the Sabbath in an +unchristian and scandalous manner."<a name="FNanchor_53_126" id="FNanchor_53_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_126" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> In April of 1777, the county +committee required an oath of allegiance from one William Reed, +who had refused military service for reasons of conscience.<a name="FNanchor_54_127" id="FNanchor_54_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_127" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></p> + +<p>Although Bald Eagle Township did not, at this time, extend into +Fair Play territory,<a name="FNanchor_55_128" id="FNanchor_55_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_128" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> it is interesting to note that the local committee, +whose three members frequently changed, often included settlers +from that territory or those who were in close association with the +Fair Play men.<a name="FNanchor_56_129" id="FNanchor_56_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_129" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> The Revolution apparently gave a certain quasi-legality +to the claims of the "outlaws" of the West Branch Valley.</p> + +<p>One further political note is worthy of mention. After Lexington +and Concord and the formation of the various committees of safety,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +the civil officers of Bald Eagle Township, that is to say the constable, +supervisor, and overseers, were often chosen from among settlers on +the borders of, or actually in, Fair Play territory.<a name="FNanchor_57_130" id="FNanchor_57_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_130" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> + +<p>The politics of fair play then was nothing more than that—fair +play. It was a pragmatic system which the necessities of the frontier +experience, more than national or ethnic origin, had developed. The +"codes" of operation represented a consensus, equally, freely, and +fairly arrived at—a common "law" based upon general agreement and +practical acceptance. There were subsequent appeals to regular courts +of law, but, surprisingly enough, in every instance the fairness of +the judgments was sustained. No Fair Play decision was reversed. +Furthermore, the frequency of elections and the use of the principle +of rotation in office were additional assurances against the usurpation +of power by any small clique or ruling class. Popular sovereignty, +political equality, and popular consultation—these were the basic elements +of fair play.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_74" id="Footnote_1_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_74"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Colonial Records</i>, X, 95. The Fair Play settlers were outlawed by a proclamation +of the Council signed by Governor John Penn on Sept. 20, 1773. The proclamation +was issued "strictly enjoyning and requiring all and every Person and Persons, +already settled or Residing on any Lands beyond the Boundary Line of the Last +Indian Purchase, immediately to evacuate their illegal Settlements, and to depart +and remove themselves from the said Lands without Delay, on pain of being +prosecuted with the utmost rigour of the Law." The "Last Indian Purchase" +referred to here is, of course, the Stanwix Treaty of 1768.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_75" id="Footnote_2_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_75"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Smith, <i>Laws</i>, II, 195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_76" id="Footnote_3_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_76"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Richard W. Leopold and Arthur S. Link (eds.), <i>Problems in American History</i> +(Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1957), p. 22. The entire first problem in this excellent +text deals with the question of authority in American government.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_77" id="Footnote_4_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_77"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> This Fair Play system was certainly not unique, for other frontier societies +employed the same technique, even down to the ruling tribunal of three members. +See Solon and Elizabeth Buck, <i>The Planting of Civilization in Western Pennsylvania</i> +(Pittsburgh, 1939), pp. 431, 451. However, it must be pointed out that the Bucks' +"Fair Play" reference is based on Smith, <i>Laws</i>, II, 195, which Samuel P. Bates +used in "a general application of the practice to W. Pa. areas after 1768," in his +<i>History of Greene County, Pennsylvania</i> (Chicago, 1888). This was the interpretation +given in a letter from Dr. Alfred P. James to the author, July 17, 1963. Dr. +James also says that "It is possible that there are evidences of Fair Play Men titles +in the court records of Washington and Greene Counties."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_78" id="Footnote_5_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_78"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> This designation was often employed to classify those settlers who took up lands +beyond the limits of the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768, that is to say, west of +Lycoming Creek on the north side of the West Branch of the Susquehanna.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_79" id="Footnote_6_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_79"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Russell, "Signers of the Pine Creek Declaration of Independence," p. 5. Mrs. +Russell, whose historical accuracy can be verified through her indicated sources, +refers to old borough minutes of Jersey Shore as her source for the names of the +tribunal of 1776, namely, Bartram Caldwell, John Walker, and James Brandon. +Upon discussing the matter with her, I learned that a clipping from an old Jersey +Shore paper, now lost, which described the minutes, was her actual source. However, +adequate documentation and meticulous research characterize her work. Furthermore, +Bratton Caldwell (he signed his name Bartram) is also labeled a Fair Play +official by Linn, "Indian Land and Its Fair Play Settlers, 1773-1785," p. 422. Linn's +identification comes in the case of <i>Greer</i> vs. <i>Tharpe</i>, Greer's case being a pre-emption +claim on the basis of military service.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_80" id="Footnote_7_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_80"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> "Eleanor Coldren's Deposition," <i>Now and Then</i>, XII (1959), 220-222. The +deposition reads "That in the Spring of 1775, Henry Antes and Cookson Long, +two of the Fair-Play Men, with others, were at the deponent's house...."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_81" id="Footnote_8_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_81"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Oscar T. Barck, Jr. and Hugh T. Lefler, <i>Colonial America</i> (New York, 1958), +pp. 258-260. Although Barck and Lefler indicate in this section on "The Colonial +Franchise" that universal suffrage did not prevail in the colonies, they do note +the significance of "free land," of which Fair Play territory was an excellent example.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_82" id="Footnote_9_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_82"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>Ibid</i>, p. 260.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_83" id="Footnote_10_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_83"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> William Cooke to James Tilghman, <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, First Series, XII, +286-287.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_84" id="Footnote_11_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_84"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Fourth Series, III, 545-546.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_85" id="Footnote_12_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_85"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>Report of the Commission to Locate the Site of the Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania</i> +(Harrisburg, 1896), I, 390, 392, 394-418.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_86" id="Footnote_13_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_86"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Smith, <i>Laws</i>, II, 195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_87" id="Footnote_14_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_87"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Linn, "Indian Land and Its Fair-Play Settlers," p. 424. This six weeks provision +is noted in the deposition of John Sutton in the case of <i>William Greer</i> vs. <i>William +Tharpe</i>, dated March 13, 1797.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_88" id="Footnote_15_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_88"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 422. Bratton Caldwell, one of the Fair Play men, indicates this practice in +his deposition in the <i>Greer</i> vs. <i>Tharpe</i> case.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_89" id="Footnote_16_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_89"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> "Eleanor Coldren's Deposition," pp. 220-222.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_90" id="Footnote_17_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_90"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Linn, "Indian Land and Its Fair-Play Settlers," pp. 422-424. William King, in +his deposition taken March 15, 1801, in <i>Huff</i> vs. <i>Satcha</i> [sic], in the Circuit Court of +Lycoming County, notes the use of a company of militia, of which he was an officer, +to eject a settler. Linn errs in his reference to the defendant as "Satcha." The man's +name was Latcha, according to the Appearance Docket Commencing 1797, No. 2, +Lycoming County.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_91" id="Footnote_18_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_91"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>See</i> nn. 6 and 7, p. <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_92" id="Footnote_19_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_92"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Smith, <i>Laws</i>, II, 195. <i>See also</i>, pp. 31 and 32, this chapter, in which the excerpt +from this source is quoted verbatim.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_93" id="Footnote_20_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_93"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> <i>Supra</i>, p. <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_94" id="Footnote_21_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_94"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>Infra</i>, <a href="#CHAPTER_SIX">Chapter Six</a>. The question of leadership in conjunction with the problems +of this frontier is discussed in Chapter Six.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_95" id="Footnote_22_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_95"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> The Appearance Dockets and Files were checked for Northumberland County +from 1784 to 1795 and for Lycoming County from 1795 to 1801. These records, +obtained in the offices of the respective prothonotaries, produced thirty-seven cases +in Northumberland and twenty-two in Lycoming County dealing with former Fair +Play settlers. Unfortunately, only four were reviews of actual Fair Play decisions.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_96" id="Footnote_23_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_96"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Northumberland County originated in 1772 and Lycoming County in 1795. +Clinton County was not created until 1839.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_97" id="Footnote_24_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_97"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Meginness, <i>Otzinachson</i> (Philadelphia, 1857), p. 172.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_98" id="Footnote_25_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_98"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> The cases referred to here are: <i>Hughes</i> vs. <i>Dougherty</i>, <i>Huff</i> vs. <i>Satcha</i>, and +<i>Grier</i> vs. <i>Tharpe</i>. They were located in the Appearance Dockets of Lycoming +and Northumberland counties in the respective prothonotaries' offices. <i>Hughes</i> vs. +<i>Dougherty</i> appears in the Northumberland County Docket for November, 1783, to +August, 1786, in the February term of the Court of Common Pleas, file 42. Both +the Huff and Grier cases were found in the Lycoming County Docket No. 2, commencing +1797, court terms and file numbers indicated as follows: <i>Huff</i> vs. <i>Satcha</i>, +February, 1799, #2, and <i>Grier</i> vs. <i>Tharpe</i>, May, 1800, #41. A partial deposition by +Eleanor Coldren, <i>Now and Then</i>, XII (1959), 220-222, was also employed. Although +the case appears to be <i>Dewitt</i> vs. <i>Dunn</i>, I could not locate it in the Appearance +Dockets. Depositions taken in the Huff and Grier cases were published in Linn, +"Indian Land and Its Fair-Play Settlers," pp. 422-424.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_99" id="Footnote_26_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_99"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Leyburn, <i>The Scotch-Irish</i>, p. 205.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_100" id="Footnote_27_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_100"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Jasper Yeates, <i>Pennsylvania Reports</i>, I (Philadelphia, 1817), 497-498.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_101" id="Footnote_28_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_101"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Smith, <i>Laws</i>, II, 195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_102" id="Footnote_29_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_102"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Yeates, <i>Pennsylvania Reports</i>, I, 497-498.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_103" id="Footnote_30_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_103"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> "Eleanor Coldren's Deposition," pp. 220-222.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_104" id="Footnote_31_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_104"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Linn, "Indian Land and Its Fair-Play Settlers," p. 422.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_105" id="Footnote_32_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_105"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_106" id="Footnote_33_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_106"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_107" id="Footnote_34_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_107"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_108" id="Footnote_35_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_108"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Meginness, <i>Otzinachson</i> (1889), p. 469.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_109" id="Footnote_36_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_109"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Now Linden, in Woodward Township, a few miles west of Williamsport.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_110" id="Footnote_37_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_110"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> King refers here to the Great Runaway of 1778.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_111" id="Footnote_38_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_111"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Linn, "Indian Land and Its Fair-Play Settlers," p. 423-424.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_112" id="Footnote_39_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_112"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Meginness, <i>Otzinachson</i> (1889), p. 470.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_113" id="Footnote_40_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_113"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 471.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_114" id="Footnote_41_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_114"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> D. S. Maynard, <i>Historical View of Clinton County</i> (Lock Haven, 1875), pp. +207-208. Maynard has reprinted here some excerpts from John Hamilton's "Early +Times on the West Branch," which was published in the Lock Haven <i>Republican</i> +in 1875. Unfortunately, recurrent floods destroyed most of the newspaper files, and +copies of this series are not now available. John Hamilton was a third-generation +descendant of Alexander Hamilton, one of the original Fair Play settlers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_115" id="Footnote_42_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_115"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Meginness, <i>Otzinachson</i> (1857), p. 193.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_116" id="Footnote_43_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_116"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> An alleged copy of the declaration published in <i>A Picture of Clinton +County</i> (Lock Haven, 1942), p. 38, is clearly spurious. The language of this +Pennsylvania Writers' project of the W.P.A. is obviously twentieth-century, and +it contains references to events which had not yet occurred.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_117" id="Footnote_44_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_117"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> <i>Fithian: Journal</i>, p. 72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_118" id="Footnote_45_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_118"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Muncy Historical Society, Muncy, Pa., Wagner Collection, Anna Jackson Hamilton +to Hon. George C. Whiting, Commissioner of Pensions, Dec. 16, 1858.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_119" id="Footnote_46_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_119"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, John Hamilton to Hon. George C. Whiting, Commissioner of Pensions, +May 27, 1859.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_120" id="Footnote_47_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_120"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> The veracity of the witness is an important question here. Meginness, in his +1857 edition, devotes a footnote, p. 168, to this remarkable woman who was in full +possession of her faculties at the time. The Rev. John Grier, son-in-law of Mrs. +Hamilton and brother of Supreme Court Justice Robert C. Grier, wrote to President +Buchanan on Nov. 12, 1858, (Wagner Collection), stating that "Mrs. Hamilton +is one of the most intelligent in our community." Buchanan then wrote an affidavit +in support of Grier's statements to the Commissioner of Pensions, Nov. 27, 1858, +(Wagner Collection). Aside from the declarations of Mrs. Hamilton and her son, +the only other support, and this is hearsay, is found in the account of an alleged +conversation between W. H. Sanderson and Robert Couvenhoven, the famed scout. +W. H. Sanderson, <i>Historical Reminiscences</i>, ed. Henry W. Shoemaker (Altoona, +1920), pp. 6-8. Here again, the fact that the reminiscences were not recorded until +some seventy years after the "chats" raises serious doubts.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_121" id="Footnote_48_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_121"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Fourth Series, III, 545.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_122" id="Footnote_49_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_122"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 546.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_123" id="Footnote_50_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_123"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> Linn, <i>History of Centre and Clinton Counties</i>, p. 473.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_124" id="Footnote_51_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_124"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_125" id="Footnote_52_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_125"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_126" id="Footnote_53_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_126"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_127" id="Footnote_54_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_127"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> <i>See also</i> John H. Carter, "The Committee of Safety of Northumberland +County," <i>The Northumberland County Historical Society Proceedings and Addresses</i>, +XVIII (1950), 44-45.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_128" id="Footnote_55_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_128"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> <i>See</i> <a href="#Page_x">map</a> of the Fair Play territory in Chapter One.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_129" id="Footnote_56_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_129"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Linn, <i>History of Centre and Clinton Counties</i>, p. 469. <i>See also</i>, Carter, "The +Committee of Safety," pp. 33-45, for a full account of the activities of the Committee. +Carter notes that the county committee consisted of thirty-three members, +three from each of the eleven townships chosen for a period of six months.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_130" id="Footnote_57_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_130"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 472-474.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_FOUR" id="CHAPTER_FOUR"></a><small>CHAPTER FOUR</small></h2> + +<h3 class="ity"><big>The Farmers' Frontier</big></h3> + + +<p>The economy of the West Branch Valley was basically agrarian—a +farmers' frontier. The "new order of Americanism"<a name="FNanchor_1_131" id="FNanchor_1_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_131" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> +which arose on this frontier was in part due to the cultural background +of its inhabitants, the knowledge and traditional values which +they had brought with them. It was further influenced by the frontier +status of the region itself—an area of virgin land in the earliest stages +of development. And finally, it was affected by the physical characteristics +of the territory, particularly the mountains which separated +these settlers from the more established settlements. It has been said +that "many of the enduring characteristics of the American creed and +the American national character originated in the way of life of the +colonial farmer."<a name="FNanchor_2_132" id="FNanchor_2_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_132" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> The Fair Play territory was typical of this development.</p> + +<p>The early pioneer, particularly if he was Scotch-Irish, generally +came into the area from the Cumberland Valley, the "seed-plot and +nursery" of the Scotch-Irish in America, the "original reservoir" of +this leading frontier stock, via the Great Shamokin Path.<a name="FNanchor_3_133" id="FNanchor_3_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_133" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Since there +were no roads, only Indian trails, the frontier traveler customarily +followed the Indian paths which had been cleared along the rivers +and streams. The Great Shamokin Path followed the Susquehanna +from Shamokin (now Sunbury) to the West Branch, then out along +the West Branch to the Allegheny Mountains.<a name="FNanchor_4_134" id="FNanchor_4_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_134" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Loading his wife and +smaller children on a pack horse, his scanty possessions on another +horse, the prospective settler drove a cow or two into the wild frontier +at the rate of about twenty miles a day.<a name="FNanchor_5_135" id="FNanchor_5_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_135" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> This meant that a +trip of approximately two days brought him from Fort Augusta to +the Fair Play country.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p><p>Indian paths were the primary means of ingress and egress, although +supplemented by the waterways which they paralleled. In +addition to the Great Shamokin Path, there were paths up Lycoming +Creek (the Sheshequin Path), and up Pine Creek, besides the path +which followed Bald Eagle Creek down into the Juniata Valley. These +trails and adjoining water routes were usually traveled on horseback +or in canoes, depending upon the route to be followed. However, +the rivers and streams were more often passages of departure than +courses of entry.</p> + +<p>Established roads, that is authorized public constructions, were not +to reach the West Branch region until 1775, although the Northumberland +County Court ordered such construction and reported on it +at the October term in 1772.<a name="FNanchor_6_136" id="FNanchor_6_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_136" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Appointments were made at the August +session of 1775 "to view, and if they saw cause, to lay out a bridle +road from the mouth of Bald Eagle Creek to the town of Sunbury."<a name="FNanchor_7_137" id="FNanchor_7_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_137" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> +It was not until ten years later that extensions of this road were +authorized, carrying it into the Nittany Valley and to Bald Eagle's +Nest (near Milesburg, on the Indian path from the Great Island to +Ohio).<a name="FNanchor_8_138" id="FNanchor_8_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_138" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<p>Travel was usually on horseback or on foot. Canoes and flatboats, +or simply rafts, were used on the rivers and creeks where available. +Wagons, however, appeared after the construction of public roads +and were seen in the Great Runaway of 1778.<a name="FNanchor_9_139" id="FNanchor_9_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_139" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>The problem of communication between the frontier and the settled +areas was a difficult one compounded by the natural geographic +barriers and the fact that post and coach roads did not extend into +this central Pennsylvania region. As a result the inhabitants had to +depend upon occasional travelers, circuit riders, surveyors, and other +Provincial authorities who visited them infrequently. Otherwise, the +meetings of the Fair Play tribunal, irregular as they were, and the +communications from the county Committee of Safety were about +the only sources of information available. Of course, cabin-building,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +cornhusking, and quilting parties provided ample opportunities for +the dissemination of strictly "local" news.</p> + +<p>Newspapers were not introduced into the upper Susquehanna Valley +until around the turn of the century. The <i>Northumberland +Gazette</i> was published in Sunbury in 1797 or 1798.<a name="FNanchor_10_140" id="FNanchor_10_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_140" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> The first truly +West Branch paper was not circulated until 1802, when the <i>Lycoming +Gazette</i> was first published in Williamsport.<a name="FNanchor_11_141" id="FNanchor_11_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_141" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> On the eve +of the Revolution there were only seven newspapers available in the +entire Province, none of which circulated as far north as the Fair +Play territory.<a name="FNanchor_12_142" id="FNanchor_12_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_142" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> As a matter of fact, there were only thirty-seven +papers printed in all thirteen colonies at the beginning of the Revolution.<a name="FNanchor_13_143" id="FNanchor_13_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_143" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>The Fair Play settler was an "outlaw," a squatter who came into +this central Pennsylvania wilderness with his family and without the +benefit of a land grant, and who literally hacked and carved out a +living. The natural elements, the savage natives, and the wild life all +resisted him; but he conquered them all, and the conquest gave him +a feeling of accomplishment which enhanced his independent spirit.</p> + +<p>If the story of the Great Plains frontier can be told in terms of railroads, +barbed-wire fences, windmills, and six-shooters,<a name="FNanchor_14_144" id="FNanchor_14_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_144" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> then the +cruder tale of the West Branch frontier can be told in terms of the +rifle, the axe, and the plow. The rifle, first and foremost as the +weapon of security, was the basic means of self-preservation in a wild +land where survival was a constant question.<a name="FNanchor_15_145" id="FNanchor_15_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_145" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> The axe, which Theodore +Roosevelt later described as "a servant hardly standing second +even to the rifle,"<a name="FNanchor_16_146" id="FNanchor_16_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_146" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> was the main implement of destruction and construction. +It was used for clearing the forest of the many trees which +encroached upon the acreage which the settler had staked out for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +himself, and for cutting the logs which would provide the rude, one-room +shelter the pioneer constructed for himself and his family. The +crude wooden plow was the implement which made this frontiersman +a farmer, although its effectiveness was extremely limited. However, +the soil was so fertile, and the weeds so sparse, that scratching the +earth and scattering seeds produced a crop.<a name="FNanchor_17_147" id="FNanchor_17_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_147" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>A contemporary description of squatter settlements in Muncy Hills, +some twenty-odd miles east of the Fair Play territory, but in the +West Branch Valley, gives a vivid picture of the nature of these early +establishments:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>They came from no Body enquires where, or how, but generally +with Families, fix on any Spot in the Wood that +pleases them. Cut down some trees & make up a Log Hut in a +Day, clear away the underweed & girdle.... The Trees they +have no use for if cut down after their Hut is made. They +dig up & harrow the Ground, plant Potatoes, a Crop which +they get out in three Months, sow Corn, etc., (& having +sown in peace by the Law of the Land they are secured in +reaping in peace) & continue at Work without ever enquiring +whose the Land is, until the Proprietor himself disturbs +& drives them off with Difficulty.<a name="FNanchor_18_148" id="FNanchor_18_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_148" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p></div> + +<p>This experience was duplicated in the Fair Play territory where +there were no immediate neighbors whose permission was necessary +for settlement, or until a dispute was carried to the tribunal for +adjudication. This procedure was detailed in the last chapter.</p> + +<p>Having selected a site, preferably on or near a stream, and obtained +approval from the Fair Play men and his neighbors, the prospective +settler was faced with the long and tedious work of clearing +the land for his home and farm. This was an extended effort for he +could clear only a few acres a year. In the meantime, his survival +depended upon the few provisions he brought with him—some grain +for meal, a little flour, and perhaps some salt pork and smoked meat. +These supplies, combined with the wild game and fish which abounded +in the area, served until such a time as crops could be produced. It +was a rigorous life complicated by the fact that the meager supplies<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +often ran out before the first crop was brought in. The first month's +meals were too often variations on the limited fare of water porridge +and hulled corn, as described by a later pioneer.<a name="FNanchor_19_149" id="FNanchor_19_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_149" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> + +<p>Homes in the Fair Play territory were built "to <i>live</i> in, and not +for <i>show</i>...."<a name="FNanchor_20_150" id="FNanchor_20_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_150" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> The following description, by the grandson of one +of the original settlers, illustrates the cooperative nature of the enterprise, +in addition to giving a clear picture of the type of construction +which replaced the early lean-to shelter with which the +frontiersman was first acquainted:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Our buildings are made of hewn logs, on an average 24 +feet long by 20 wide, sometimes a wall of stone, a foot or +more above the level of the earth, raised as a foundation; +but in general, four large stones are laid at the corners, and +the building raised on <i>them</i>. The house is covered sometimes +with shingles, sometimes with clapboards. [The latter required +no laths, rafters, or nails, and was put on in less +time.] ... The ground logs being laid saddle-shaped, on +the upper edge, is cut in with an axe, at the ends, as long as +the logs are thick, then the end logs are raised and a "notch" +cut to fit the saddle. This is the only kind of tie or binder +they have; and when the building is raised as many rounds +as it is intended, the ribs are raised, on which a course of +clapboards is laid, butts resting on a "butting pole." A press +pole is laid on the clapboards immediately over the ribs to +keep them from shifting by the wind, and the pole is kept to +its berth by stay blocks, resting in the first course against the +butting-pole. The logs are run upon the building on skids +by the help of wooden forks. The most experienced "axe-man" +are placed on the buildings as "cornermen;" the rest of +the company are on the ground to carry the logs and run +them up.<a name="FNanchor_21_151" id="FNanchor_21_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_151" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p></div> + +<p>In this fashion, the frontier cabin was raised and covered in a single +day, without a mason, without a pound of iron, and with nothing +but dirt for flooring. The doors and windows were subsequently cut +out of the structure to suit the tastes of its occupants.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> + +<p>In this one-room cabin lived the frontier settler and his family, who +might be joined by guests. Small wonder, then, that additions to +this construction took on such significance that they were items of +mention in later wills.<a name="FNanchor_22_152" id="FNanchor_22_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_152" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p>Once having cleared a reasonable portion of his property, raised +his cabin, and scratched out an existence for his first few months of +occupation, the pioneer was now ready to get down to the business of +farming. Working around the stumps which cluttered his improvement, +the frontier farmer planted his main crops, which were, of +course, the food grains—wheat, rye, with oats, barley, and corn, and +buckwheat and corn for the livestock. Some indication of the planting +and harvesting seasons can be seen from this account:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I find Wheat is sown here in the Fall (beging. of Septr.) +Clover & timothy Grass is generally sown with it. The Wheat +is cut in June or beginning of July after which the Grass +grows very rapidly & always affords two Crops. Where +Grass has not been sown they harrow the Ground well where +the Wheat is taken off & sow Buck Wheat which ripens +by the beginning & through September is excellent food for +Poultry & Cattle & makes good Cakes.<a name="FNanchor_23_153" id="FNanchor_23_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_153" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p></div> + +<p>The amazing fertility of the soil, as noted by more than one journalist, +eased the difficulties of the crude wooden implements which +were the farmer's tools. Reference is made to "one [who] plowed the +same spot ... for eight years ... [taking] double Crops without giving +it an Ounce of Manure."<a name="FNanchor_24_154" id="FNanchor_24_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_154" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> Scientific farming had not yet come to the +West Branch Valley, although the Philadelphia area had been +awakened to its possibilities through the publications of Franklin's +American Philosophical Society.</p> + +<p>Fertile soil was practically essential when one considers the crude +implements with which the frontier farmer carried on his hazardous +vocation. In addition to the crude wooden plow, which we have already +mentioned, the agrarian pioneer of the West Branch possessed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +a long-bladed sickle, a homemade rake, a homemade hay fork, and a +grain shovel.<a name="FNanchor_25_155" id="FNanchor_25_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_155" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> All of these items were made of wood and were of +the crudest sort.<a name="FNanchor_26_156" id="FNanchor_26_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_156" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> As time went on, he added a few tools of his own +invention, but these, and his sturdy curved-handled axe, constituted +the essential instruments of the farmer's craft.</p> + +<p>July was the month of harvest for the mainly "subsistence" farmers +scattered along the West Branch. The uncertainties of the weather +and the number of acres planted had some influence upon the harvesting, +so that it was not unusual to see the wheat still swaying in +the warm summer breezes in the last week of July. However, if possible, +the grain was generally cut the first part of the month in order +that buckwheat, or other fodder, might be sown and harvested in +the fall.</p> + +<p>Harvesttime was a cooperative enterprise and whole families joined +in "bringing in the sheaves." The grain had to be cut and raked +into piles, and the piles bundled into shocks tied together with stalks +of the grain itself. This took "hands" and the frontier family was +generally the only labor force available. In time, however, field work +was confined to the men of the family among the Scotch-Irish, who +attached social significance to the type of work done by their women.</p> + +<p>Fithian's <i>Journal</i> reveals, however, that class-consciousness was not +yet apparent in the division of labor on this frontier. On two occasions +he describes daughters of leading families engaged in other than +household tasks. Arriving at the home of Squire Fleming, with +whom he was to stay for a week, Fithian notes on July 25, 1775, that +Betsey Fleming, his host's daughter, "was milking."<a name="FNanchor_27_157" id="FNanchor_27_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_157" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> The very next +day, upon visiting the Squire's brother, who had "two fine Daughter's," +this Presbyterian journalist found "One of them reaping."<a name="FNanchor_28_158" id="FNanchor_28_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_158" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> If +Leyburn's comment that social status among the Scotch-Irish depended +in part upon the work done by the women of the family, then these +examples attest to the fact that "status" was a luxury which the Fair +Play settlers could not yet afford.<a name="FNanchor_29_159" id="FNanchor_29_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_159" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p><p>Threshing was either done by hand with flails, or, if the family had +a cow or two (and the tax lists indicate that they did), the grain was +separated by driving the livestock around and around over the unbundled +straw. Finally, the chaff was removed by throwing the grain +into the air while the breeze was flowing. The grain was then collected +and readied for milling.</p> + +<p>Gristmills were available in the West Branch Valley almost from +the outset of settlement due to the many fine streams which flowed +through the territory. As a result, few farmers had to travel more +than five miles, generally on horseback, to carry their bags of grain to +the mill. If the farmer had no horse, he had to carry his sack of +grain on his shoulder. If the settler lived on or near a stream, he +put his sacks of grain in a canoe and paddled downstream to the +nearest mill. In the early days before the mills, the grain was pounded +into meal by using a heavy pestle and a hollowed-out stump, a crude +mortar which served the purpose.</p> + +<p>In time, the gristmill owners also operated distilleries, converting +the pioneer's wheat, rye, and barley into spirited beverages which +were freely imbibed along this and other frontiers. By the time of +the Revolution, distilling was so common as to cause the Committee +of Safety to take action to conserve the grain.<a name="FNanchor_30_160" id="FNanchor_30_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_160" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> "Home brew," however, +was quite the custom, and it was not long before most farmers +operated their own stills.</p> + +<p>Self-sufficiency was both a characteristic and a necessity among these +Scotch-Irish, English, and German settlers of central Pennsylvania. +Bringing their agrarian traditions with them from the "old country," +where they had operated small farms, they were bound to a "subsistence +farming" existence by the inaccessibility of markets to the +frontier. One diarist found this conducive to a "perfect Independence" +which made a "Market to them, almost unnecessary."<a name="FNanchor_31_161" id="FNanchor_31_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_161" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> This +economic independence carried over into frontier manufacturing, if +it can be called that, because the industry, except for the gristmills +and their distilleries, was strictly domestic.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> +<p>It has often been said that the frontier farmer was a "jack-of-all +trades," and the West Branch settler of the Fair Play territory was +a typical example. With no market of skilled labor, or any other +market for that matter,<a name="FNanchor_32_162" id="FNanchor_32_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_162" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> he was his own carpenter, cooper, shoe-maker, +tailor, and blacksmith. Whatever he wanted or needed had to +be made in his own home. Thus, frontier industry was of the +handicraft or domestic type, with tasks apportioned among the various +members of the family in accordance with their sex and talent. +It was truly a "complete little world" in which the pioneer family +supplied its every demand by its own efforts.<a name="FNanchor_33_163" id="FNanchor_33_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_163" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p> + +<p>Although the role of the women was to take on status significance +as the frontier areas became more stable, in the earlier years of settlement +their tasks were extensive and varied. Though they were busy +with household duties such as churning butter, making soap, pouring +candles, quilting, and weaving cloth for the family's clothing, it +was not uncommon for the women to join the men in the field at +harvesttime. The domesticity of the American housewife may be +one impact on American life made by the Germans.<a name="FNanchor_34_164" id="FNanchor_34_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_164" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> + +<p>The children, too, were important persons in the economic life of +the frontier family. Their labors lightened the load for both father +and mother. With no available labor market from which to draw +farm hands and household help, it was both necessary and useful to +give the boys and girls a vocational apprenticeship in farming or +homemaking. The girls' responsibilities were usually, although not +exclusively, related to the hearth; the efforts of the boys were generally +confined to the field and the implements employed there, although +they did service too as household handymen, hauling wood, making +fires, and the like.<a name="FNanchor_35_165" id="FNanchor_35_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_165" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> +<p>In addition to their farming and domestic industry, the other economic +activities of these agrarian pioneers included the care of their +livestock and the exploitation of the available natural resources in +their subsistence pattern of living. The tax lists for Northumberland +County indicate the possession of two or three horses and a like number +of cows for each head of a household.<a name="FNanchor_36_166" id="FNanchor_36_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_166" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> There were also "various +Breeds of Hogs" although they were not listed by the tax +assessor.<a name="FNanchor_37_167" id="FNanchor_37_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_167" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> Mr. Davy's comment that "Sheep are not well understood +... often destroyed by the Wolves ... few ... except [those] of good +Capital keep them" may explain their absence from these same assessments.<a name="FNanchor_38_168" id="FNanchor_38_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_168" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> + +<p>Maple syrup provided the sugar supply, a fact noted by land speculators +who touted this "Country Abounding in the Sugar Tree."<a name="FNanchor_39_169" id="FNanchor_39_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_169" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> +Anti-slave interests later thought that maple sugar would replace the +slave-produced cane sugar.<a name="FNanchor_40_170" id="FNanchor_40_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_170" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> Mr. Davy described the process as he +observed it at Muncy:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The Maple Trees yield about 5 w of Sugar each on an +average annually, some give as much as 15 ws but these are +rare. It is drawn off in April & May by boring holes in the +Tree into which Quills & Canes are introduced to convey +the Juice to a Trough placed round the bottom of it. This +juice is boiled down to Sugar & clarified with very little +trouble & is very good.<a name="FNanchor_41_171" id="FNanchor_41_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_171" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p></div> + +<p>Honey also existed in great quantities in the area and was used +extensively. Apparently the "sweet tooth" of the West Branch settlers +was well satisfied by the ample resources for saccharine products.</p> + +<p>The trade and commerce of the West Branch Valley were strictly +confined to its own locale. Mountain barriers, limited transportation +facilities, and insufficient contact with the settled areas of the Province +only served to heighten the essential self-sufficiency of the Fair Play +settlers. The result was an economic independence which doubtless +had its political manifestations.<a name="FNanchor_42_172" id="FNanchor_42_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_172" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> +<p>Economic conditions have their political implications, but it was +the total impact of the frontier and not simply the commercial +restrictions of some outside authority which made the Fair Play settlers +self-reliant and independent "subsistence" farmers. The farmers' +frontier did not result from the impact of any particular national +stock groups, for Scotch-Irish, English, and German settlers reacted +similarly. As the most recent historian of the Scotch-Irish, the most +numerical national stock on this frontier, suggests, "authentically +democratic principles, when the Scotch-Irish exhibited them in America, +were rather the result of their experiences on colonial frontiers +than the product of the Scottish and Ulster heritage."<a name="FNanchor_43_173" id="FNanchor_43_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_173" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> The farmers' +frontier with its characteristics of individualistic self-reliance was +a product of the frontier itself.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_131" id="Footnote_1_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_131"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Turner, <i>The Frontier in American History</i>, p. 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_132" id="Footnote_2_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_132"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Henry Bamford Parkes, <i>The American Experience</i> (New York, 1959), p. 44.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_133" id="Footnote_3_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_133"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Dunaway, <i>The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania</i>, p. 59.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_134" id="Footnote_4_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_134"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Paul A. W. Wallace, <i>Indian Paths of Pennsylvania</i> (Harrisburg, 1965), pp. 66-72, +includes two maps.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_135" id="Footnote_5_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_135"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Chester D. Clark, "Pioneer Life in the New Purchase," <i>The Northumberland +County Historical Society Proceedings and Addresses</i>, VII (1935), 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_136" id="Footnote_6_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_136"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Meginness, <i>Otzinachson</i> (1889), p. 400.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_137" id="Footnote_7_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_137"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 401.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_138" id="Footnote_8_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_138"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Linn, <i>History of Centre and Clinton Counties</i>, p. 472.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_139" id="Footnote_9_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_139"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Meginness, <i>Otzinachson</i> (1889), p. 401.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_140" id="Footnote_10_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_140"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Meginness, <i>Otzinachson</i> (1857), p. 454.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_141" id="Footnote_11_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_141"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 458</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_142" id="Footnote_12_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_142"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Carl and Jessica Bridenbaugh, <i>Rebels and Gentlemen: Philadelphia in the Age +of Franklin</i> (New York, 1962), p. 76.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_143" id="Footnote_13_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_143"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Barck and Lefler, <i>Colonial America</i>, p. 409.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_144" id="Footnote_14_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_144"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Walter Prescott Webb, <i>The Great Plains</i> (New York, 1931), pp. 238-244.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_145" id="Footnote_15_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_145"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Herbert H. Beck, "Martin Meylin, A Progenitor of the Pennsylvania Rifle," +<i>Papers Read Before The Lancaster County Historical Society</i>, LIII (1949), 33-61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_146" id="Footnote_16_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_146"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Clark, "Pioneer Life in the New Purchase," p. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_147" id="Footnote_17_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_147"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Lewis E. Theiss, "Early Agriculture," <i>Susquehanna Tales</i> (Sunbury, 1955), +p. 89.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_148" id="Footnote_18_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_148"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Norman B. Wilkinson (ed.), "Mr. Davy's Diary," <i>Pennsylvania History</i>, XX +(1953), 261.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_149" id="Footnote_19_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_149"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> James W. Silver (ed.), "Chauncey Brockway, an Autobiographical Sketch," +<i>Pennsylvania History</i>, XXV (1958), 143.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_150" id="Footnote_20_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_150"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Maynard, <i>Historical View of Clinton County</i>, p. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_151" id="Footnote_21_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_151"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_152" id="Footnote_22_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_152"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> The probate records of Northumberland and Lycoming counties, found in the +respective offices of the Register of Wills and Recorder of Deeds, contain entries +leaving to the widow the "best room in the house," or, "her choice of rooms." No +doubt, the simplicity of the earlier home accentuated the value of the additions.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_153" id="Footnote_23_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_153"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> "Mr. Davy's Diary," p. 259.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_154" id="Footnote_24_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_154"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 341. The Reverend Philip Vickers Fithian notes the richness of the +land in the journal of his one-week visit to the area in the summer of 1775. He was +also surprised to find that "many have their Grain yet in the Field," a notation +for the 26th of July. <i>Fithian: Journal</i>, p. 71.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_155" id="Footnote_25_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_155"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Theiss, <i>Susquehanna Tales</i>, p. 88.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_156" id="Footnote_26_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_156"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> The Museum of the Muncy Historical Society contains examples of these early +farm implements and offers vivid evidence of their crudeness.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_157" id="Footnote_27_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_157"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>Fithian: Journal</i>, p. 71.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_158" id="Footnote_28_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_158"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_159" id="Footnote_29_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_159"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Leyburn, <i>The Scotch-Irish</i>, p. 262.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_160" id="Footnote_30_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_160"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Linn, <i>History of Centre and Clinton Counties</i>, p. 469.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_161" id="Footnote_31_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_161"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> "Mr. Davy's Diary," p. 258.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_162" id="Footnote_32_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_162"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Dunaway, <i>The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania</i>, p. 171. Even in the more +settled areas of the Susquehanna Valley markets were slow to develop as this note +from "Mr. Davy's Diary," p. 338, reported on Oct. 3, 1794: "At present there is no +Market here but if many English Families settle this will soon follow as there is +an excellent supply of every necessary & even Luxury in the Neighbourhood."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_163" id="Footnote_33_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_163"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> J. E. Wright and Doris S. Corbett, <i>Pioneer Life in Western Pennsylvania</i> (Pittsburgh, +1940), p. 74.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_164" id="Footnote_34_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_164"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Arthur W. Calhoun, <i>A Social History of the American Family</i> (New York, +1960), I, 202.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_165" id="Footnote_35_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_165"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Wright and Corbett, <i>Pioneer Life in Western Pennsylvania</i>, pp. 86-92.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_166" id="Footnote_36_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_166"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Third Series, XIX, 405-805.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_167" id="Footnote_37_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_167"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> "Mr. Davy's Diary," p. 265.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_168" id="Footnote_38_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_168"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_169" id="Footnote_39_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_169"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 263-264.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_170" id="Footnote_40_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_170"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 264.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_171" id="Footnote_41_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_171"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 263.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_172" id="Footnote_42_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_172"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> One student of the commerce of the Susquehanna Valley made sweeping generalizations +about its significance which can hardly be substantiated. <i>See</i> Morris K. +Turner, <i>The Commercial Relations of the Susquehanna Valley During the Colonial +Period</i> (Ph.D. Thesis, University of Pennsylvania, 1916). This dissertation, although +claiming to deal with the Susquehanna Valley, never gets much beyond Harrisburg +and seldom reaches as far north as Fort Augusta. Its accounts of roads, navigation +improvements, and trade fail to reach the Fair Play settlers. This lends further +support to their independent and self-sufficient existence. Turner's concluding +paragraph is, however, a gem of economic determinism and bears repeating in full. +Found on page 100, it reads as follows: +</p><p> +"If then, the commercial relations of the Susquehanna Valley were so far reaching +affecting as they did in the pre-Revolutionary period the attitude of the people on +all the questions, practically, of the day it is only fair to say that it was these +relations which promoted the Revolution in the Province and drove the old government +out of existence. The political issues were aided and abetted, yes, were created, +were born from the womb of the neglected commercial relations of the Province +and no other section at the time had such extensive relations as the Susquehanna +Valley. No other conclusion can be reached after a serious study of the history +of the period."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_173" id="Footnote_43_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_173"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Leyburn, <i>The Scotch-Irish</i>, p. 150.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_FIVE" id="CHAPTER_FIVE"></a><small>CHAPTER FIVE</small></h2> + +<h3 class="ity"><big>Fair Play Society</big></h3> + + +<p>The society of the Fair Play territory, between the year 1769 +and 1784, was indeed simple. There were no towns or population +clusters, either in the territory or within a range of some +thirty-five or forty miles. Furthermore, as we have already noted, +transportation and communication facilities were so limited as to make +contact with the "outside world" an exception rather than the rule. +As we have also seen, economic functions on this farmers' frontier were +not highly specialized. Even the political system, with its tribunal +of Fair Play men, operated without the benefit of any formal code.</p> + +<p>But it would be easy, from these indications, to magnify the simplicity +of the social structure and of social relationships in the West +Branch Valley. If we are to consider the development of democracy +on this frontier, we must take into account the various national stock +groups who settled this area and, in so doing, weigh their relative +economic and social status, the amount of intermarriage between +them, and the ease and frequency with which they visited each other. +These and other social relationships, such as their joint participation +in voluntary associations, their prejudices and conflicts, and the assimilation +of alien groups, must all be evaluated. The leadership, the +existence of social classes, and the family patterns must, of necessity, +be a part of our inquiry. And finally, the religious institutions, the +educational and cultural opportunities, and the system of values have +to be considered in arriving at a judgment regarding the democratic +nature of Fair Play society.</p> + +<p>Fair Play society was composed of Scotch-Irish (48.75 per cent), +English (20 per cent), German (15 per cent), Scots (6.25 per cent), +Irish (5 per cent), Welsh (2.5 per cent) and French (2.5 per cent) +settlers.<a name="FNanchor_1_174" id="FNanchor_1_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_174" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Due to the pioneering conditions under which all of these +national stock groups developed their "improvements," economic +privilege was rather difficult to attain. Furthermore, even after the +legislature granted pre-emption in the act of December, 1784, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +grants were limited to 300 acres.<a name="FNanchor_2_175" id="FNanchor_2_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_175" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> In consequence of this, massive holdings +were impossible to maintain legally, as the customary holdings of +two to three hundred acres indicate in the tax lists for the years after +1784.<a name="FNanchor_3_176" id="FNanchor_3_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_176" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> In fact, the tax lists suggest that absentee-owners or persons +outside the actual geographic limits of the Fair Play territory who +participated with the Fair Play settlers were the only ones to possess +700 to 1,000 acres or more.<a name="FNanchor_4_177" id="FNanchor_4_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_177" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> This fact, combined with the "subsistence +farming" which all of the area settlers pursued, suggests a relatively +comparable economic status for the members of the Fair Play society. +Consequently, social status was not necessarily dependent upon economic +status.</p> + +<p>Social status on this frontier depended more upon achieved status +than ascribed status. This may have been an influence of the Scotch-Irish, +who judged, and thus classified, a neighbor by the size and +condition of his dwelling, the care of his farm, the work done by the +women in the family, his personal characteristics and morality, and his +diversions.<a name="FNanchor_5_178" id="FNanchor_5_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_178" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> Journalists, pension claimants, and the operative, although +unwritten, code of the Fair Play men all give corroborative evidence +in this regard.<a name="FNanchor_6_179" id="FNanchor_6_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_179" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Of all these criteria, personal character and morality +seemed to have been most important. The Scotch-Irish, who, like the +people of other national stocks, accepted social classes as the right +ordering of society, shifted their emphasis, as a result of the frontier +experience, from family heritage to individual achievement.<a name="FNanchor_7_180" id="FNanchor_7_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_180" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p><p>Intermarriages provide a further key to the social relationships of +the Fair Play settlers. If a small sample is any indication, the cases +of intermarriages among the various national stock groups were +relatively high, with better than one-third of the marriages sampled +falling within this classification.<a name="FNanchor_8_181" id="FNanchor_8_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_181" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> The fact that the Scotch-Irish frequently +married within their own group was probably due to their +being more "available" in terms of numbers. Industry and good character +were the prime criteria for selecting a frontier mate, as Dunaway +points out.<a name="FNanchor_9_182" id="FNanchor_9_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_182" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>The ease and frequency of neighborly visits is vividly demonstrated +in the characteristically cooperative cabin-raisings, barn-raisings, cornhuskings +and similar activities in which joint effort was usual. The +women, too, exchanged visits and, on occasion, gathered at one place +for quilting or other mutually shared activities.<a name="FNanchor_10_183" id="FNanchor_10_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_183" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> Furthermore, the +frontier journalists often noted the fine hospitality and congeniality +of their backwoods hosts.<a name="FNanchor_11_184" id="FNanchor_11_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_184" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p>Further evidence of the egalitarian influence of this frontier is +found in the joint participation of Fair Play settlers in voluntary associations.<a name="FNanchor_12_185" id="FNanchor_12_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_185" class="fnanchor">[12]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +This is particularly noticeable in their attendance at +outdoor sermons and involvement in the various political activities. +At a time when fewer than 100 families lived in the territory, Fithian +observed that "There were present about an Hundred & forty" people +for a sermon which he gave on the banks of the Susquehanna, opposite +the present city of Lock Haven, on Sunday, July 30, 1775.<a name="FNanchor_13_186" id="FNanchor_13_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_186" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> +Although William Colbert, a Methodist, later "preached to a large +congregation of willing hearers" within the territory, he did not think +that it was "worth the preachers while to stop here."<a name="FNanchor_14_187" id="FNanchor_14_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_187" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> This may +have been due to the fact that they were mainly Presbyterians. Colbert's +reception was apparently fair for he makes a point of saying, +"I know not that there is a prejudiced person among them."<a name="FNanchor_15_188" id="FNanchor_15_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_188" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> No +regular church was established in this region until 1792, so it appears +that the settlers generally participated in group religious activities +regardless of the denominational affiliation of the preacher conducting +the services. However, as we will point out later, this is not to +suggest that there was no friction between denominations.</p> + +<p>The political activities of the Fair Play settlers demonstrate the +mass participation, at least of the adult males, in this type of voluntary +association. The annual elections of the Fair Play men were +conducted without discrimination against any of the settlers by reason +of religion, national origin, or property. In addition, the decisions +of the tribunal were carried out, as Smith reports, "by the +whole body, who started up in mass, at the mandate of the court."<a name="FNanchor_16_189" id="FNanchor_16_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_189" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> +Special occasions, such as the Pine Creek Declaration of Independence,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +were also marked by the participation <i>en masse</i> of these West Branch +pioneers. Mrs. Hamilton, in her widow's pension application, speaks +of "seeing such numbers flocking there" (along the banks of Pine +Creek in July of 1776).<a name="FNanchor_17_190" id="FNanchor_17_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_190" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> Apparently, as Mrs. Hamilton says, most of +the settlers "had a knolege of what was doing," particularly with +regard to political affairs.<a name="FNanchor_18_191" id="FNanchor_18_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_191" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>These evidences of group participation in religious and political +activities should not mislead one into thinking that conflict, legal or +otherwise, was alien to the West Branch frontiersmen. The cases +brought before the Fair Play "court" and the friction between Methodists +and Presbyterians affirm this strife. The first settler in the territory, +Cleary Campbell, was an almost constant litigant, both as +plaintiff and defendant, in the Northumberland County Court from +the time of his arrival in 1769.<a name="FNanchor_19_192" id="FNanchor_19_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_192" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> His name, along with the names +of other Fair Play settlers, appeared regularly on the Appearance +Dockets of the Northumberland and Lycoming County courts. The +cases usually involved land titles and personal obligations or debts.</p> + +<p>The religious conflict is clearly seen in the journal of the Reverend +William Colbert. An incident which occurred about twenty miles +south of the West Branch illustrates this friction:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>This is a town [present-day Milton] with three stores, +three taverns, two ball allies. Agreeable to its size it appears +to be one of the most dissipated places I ever saw. I could +not tell how to pass them—I inquired at one of the ball allies +if preaching was expected—A religious old Presbyterian +standing by where they were playing answered that he did +not know. I then asked them that were playing ball, they answered +no. I farther asked them if they did not think they +would be better employed hearing preaching than playing +ball. Their answer was a laugh, that there was time for all +things and that they went to preachings on Sundays. I told +them they would not be willing to go to judgment from that +exercise—they said they ventured that. So after a little conversation +with the old man I left them ripening for destruction....<a name="FNanchor_20_193" id="FNanchor_20_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_193" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> +<p>Colbert's journal is filled with snide remarks and caustic comments +about Presbyterians in general and Calvinist doctrines in particular.<a name="FNanchor_21_194" id="FNanchor_21_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_194" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> +He was especially concerned for the "lost souls" of the Presbyterians +of the West Branch Valley. A twentieth-century theologian suggests +that Presbyterian dogmatism had driven the Scotch-Irish to the frontier; +this same problem complicated their social relationships in the +backwoods country.<a name="FNanchor_22_195" id="FNanchor_22_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_195" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p>The process of acculturation of the frontier was marked by the impact +of the aborigines upon the new white settlers in terms of the +developing style of life in the West Branch Valley. In fact, the culture +of the Indian may have affected the white settlers more than +theirs affected that of the Indian. For instance, Mr. Davy says that +"the Dress & manners of the People more nearly assimilate to those +of the Indians than lower down, but the purest English Language is +universally spoken."<a name="FNanchor_23_196" id="FNanchor_23_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_196" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p> + +<p>The West Branch Valley was a new world whose experiences made +new men, rather than a transplanted old world with its emphasis on +heritage and tradition.<a name="FNanchor_24_197" id="FNanchor_24_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_197" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> However, the English language and Scots +Presbyterianism were basic ingredients in the melting pot of this and +other frontiers where the American character emerged.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p> +<p>The social class structure of Fair Play society is rather difficult to +assess. Extensive land holdings and material possessions were not +characteristic of these "squatter" settlements. Consequently, property +was not the distinguishing factor in stratifying the social levels of the +Fair Play community. Furthermore, there was no slave population +or indentured servant class to be confined to the lowest rung of the +social ladder. Here, each man either owned his "improvement" or operated +under some condition of tenancy. However, both indentured +servitude and Negro slavery existed in the "New Purchase" of 1768 +in nearby Muncy.<a name="FNanchor_25_198" id="FNanchor_25_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_198" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> Thus, it was a two-class pattern, in the main, which +constituted the Fair Play society—landholders and tenants. In addition, +though, there was a further delineation within the landholding +class on the basis of character and morality. This characteristically +Scotch-Irish differentiation may have been due to the predominance +of the Ulsterites in the West Branch population.<a name="FNanchor_26_199" id="FNanchor_26_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_199" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> In consideration +of this fact, a three-class structure, consisting of an elite, other landholders, +and tenants, would best describe the social class system of the +Fair Play territory.</p> + +<p>The elite of the Fair Play society were generally the political and +economic leaders as well. They owned the "forts," operated the gristmills, +and held the prominent political positions in the vicinity. Surprisingly +enough, though, they frequently resided on the fringe areas +of the territory and were thus able to acquire more land.<a name="FNanchor_27_200" id="FNanchor_27_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_200" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> A fuller +description of this elite and its leadership is given in the next chapter.</p> + +<p>The frontier family was undoubtedly the key social institution in +transmitting this new "American" culture to subsequent generations. +Regardless of national origin, the families were closely-knit, well-disciplined +units, whose members formed rather complete social and +economic entities. As we have already noted, the agrarian family had +its own division of labor, with each member carrying out his assigned +tasks and, at the same time, learning the practices and procedures<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +of the farmers' frontier. It was also the cultural and educational +core, in which its members learned their faith, received their education, +and acquired the values which would serve them throughout +their lives. Family loyalty was a marked characteristic on the frontier +and, incidentally, among the Scotch-Irish. The woman's lot was +severe but she accepted it with a submissiveness which can still be +seen in some backcountry areas of Pennsylvania today.<a name="FNanchor_28_201" id="FNanchor_28_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_201" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> Clannish +and dependent upon each other, the frontier family had no use for +divorce, which was practically unknown.<a name="FNanchor_29_202" id="FNanchor_29_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_202" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> If the patterns and values +of these frontier families tended to approximate those of the Scotch-Irish +in particular, and they did, it was because the Scotch-Irish were +representative rather than unique.<a name="FNanchor_30_203" id="FNanchor_30_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_203" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> + +<p>The church was probably the second most important social institution +in developing a system of values and a "style of life" in the +Fair Play territory. Here again, the Scotch-Irish with their Presbyterianism +provided the most significant influence, and ultimately the +first regular church—although Methodists, such as Colbert, found little +to favor in Calvinism. Almost without exception, the wills probated +in the courts of Northumberland and Lycoming counties +between 1772 and 1830 asked for burial "in a decent and Christian +like manner," and committed the departed soul to "the Creator." A +Christian life and a Christian burial were valued in this frontier society.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> + +<p>Due to the absence of regular churches, religious instruction was +primarily carried on by mothers "abel to instruct," as Mrs. Hamilton +put it.<a name="FNanchor_31_204" id="FNanchor_31_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_204" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> Prayer, the reading of the Bible, and a rudimentary catechism +were all a part of this home worship, conducted by one or both +parents. Baptism and other sacraments of the church were provided by +itinerant pastors who made their "rounds" through the valley. Presbyterians +and, later, Methodists developed the practice of gathering +together in their cabins in "praying societies."<a name="FNanchor_32_205" id="FNanchor_32_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_205" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> Originally consisting +of neighbor groups, these societies, in time, took in areas consisting of +several miles.<a name="FNanchor_33_206" id="FNanchor_33_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_206" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p> + +<p>Itinerant pastors began to include the Fair Play territory in their +travels in the decade of the 1770's. Philip Vickers Fithian learned +from his host, Squire Fleming, that he was the first "orderly" preacher +in the area.<a name="FNanchor_34_207" id="FNanchor_34_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_207" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> Fithian's visit came about after he obtained an honorable +dismissal from the first Philadelphia Presbytery—as no vacancies +existed—in order to preach outside its bounds.<a name="FNanchor_35_208" id="FNanchor_35_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_208" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> Although in the territory +for only one week in the summer of 1775, Fithian's account of +his Sunday sermon on the banks of the Susquehanna clearly describes +the nature of wilderness preaching:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>At eleven I began Service. We crossed over to the Indian +Land, & held Worship on the Bank of the River, opposite to +the Great Island, about a Mile & a half below 'Squire Fleming's. +There were present about an Hundred & forty; I stood +at the Root of a great Tree, & the People sitting in the Bushes, +& green Grass round me.</p> + +<p>They gave great Attention. I had the Eyes of all upon me. +I spoke with some Force, & pretty loud. I recommended to +them earnestly the religious Observation of God's Sabbaths, +in this remote Place, where they seldom have the Gospel +preached—that they should attend with Carefulness & Reverence +upon it when it is among them—And that they ought +to strive to have it established here.<a name="FNanchor_36_209" id="FNanchor_36_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_209" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p><p>Fithian's recommendation was not carried out until 1792, when the +Pine Creek Church was organized under the historic "independence" +elm with Robert Love and a Mr. Culbertson as the first elders.<a name="FNanchor_37_210" id="FNanchor_37_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_210" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> This +church, along with the Lycoming Church, which was formed in the +eastern part of the former Fair Play territory in October of that same +year, was served by the Reverend Isaac Grier, who was called to serve +Lycoming Creek, Pine Creek, and the Great Island, and ordained and +installed by the Carlisle Presbytery, April 9, 1794.<a name="FNanchor_38_211" id="FNanchor_38_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_211" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> He thus became +the first regularly installed pastor in what had been the Fair Play +territory.</p> + +<p>It was not until 1811 that the Presbyterian General Assembly organized +the Northumberland Presbytery, which serves West Branch +Valley Presbyterians to this day. In the days of the Fair Play system +the area was assigned to Donegal Presbytery, although in 1786 the +Carlisle Presbytery was formed out of the western part of Donegal.<a name="FNanchor_39_212" id="FNanchor_39_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_212" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p> + +<p>Missionary efforts of Presbyterians in the Fair Play territory go all +the way back to September of 1746, when the Reverend David Brainerd +preached to the Indians of the Great Island.<a name="FNanchor_40_213" id="FNanchor_40_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_213" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> But from that time +until the opening of the West Branch Valley to settlement, following +the first treaty at Fort Stanwix, nothing concerning the area appears +on presbytery records. However, after the treaty one Presbyterian +minister, the Reverend Francis Alison, pastor of the First Presbyterian +Church of Philadelphia and vice-provost of the College of Philadelphia, +applied for land above the mouth of Bald Eagle Creek and was +granted some 1,500 acres.<a name="FNanchor_41_214" id="FNanchor_41_214"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_214" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> Alison never came into the region and, in +fact, sold his entire purchase to John Fleming in 1773.<a name="FNanchor_42_215" id="FNanchor_42_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_215" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p> + +<p>Although Fithian was the first "orderly" preacher assigned to the +West Branch, the Donegal Presbytery had received an application +from "setlers upon the W. Branch of Susquehannah" for ministerial +supplies (pastors) in the middle of April, 1772.<a name="FNanchor_43_216" id="FNanchor_43_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_216" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> Apparently these +supplies never reached north of present-day Lewisburg.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> +<p>Presbyterianism, then, was the most significant religious influence +in the Fair Play territory. Methodists and Baptists penetrated the region +after the Revolution, but that penetration, although marked by +some conflict, was not vital to the development of a system of values +on this frontier during the period under study.<a name="FNanchor_44_217" id="FNanchor_44_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_217" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> Furthermore, it was +not until well into the nineteenth century that other Protestant sects +established churches in the West Branch Valley.</p> + +<p>The extent of that influence and the nature of this frontier faith +were central to the development of Fair Play society. Since there were +no organized churches in the area, the family was the key agency of +religious instruction and service. This fact, combined with the impact +of the Great Awakening, led to the freeing of the individual from the +communal covenant, resulting in a secularization of religion which +culminated in a kind of "predestined freedom."<a name="FNanchor_45_218" id="FNanchor_45_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_218" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> Consequently, the +political implications of American Presbyterianism, which had the +largest church membership in colonial Pennsylvania and the strongest +affiliation on this frontier, were demonstrated in the democratic radicalism +which the frontier spawned. Political maturity, that is to say, +independence, was a logical evolution from religious emancipation.<a name="FNanchor_46_219" id="FNanchor_46_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_219" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p><p>In addition to the political implications of Presbyterianism, respect +for education was a significant factor in the value structure of this +frontier. The probate records of this period are filled with examples +of the great desire to see the "children schooled," and specific educational +instructions were often included in the wills.<a name="FNanchor_47_220" id="FNanchor_47_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_220" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> The Presbyterian +emphasis upon an educated ministry suggests that this +reverence for education may also have been an education for reverence. +Morality, education, and political equality and freedom—these +were the basic tenets of this frontier faith.</p> + +<p>Despite the high value placed upon education, the educational +and cultural opportunities on this frontier, as on others, were extremely +limited. Aside from home instruction and the occasional +visit of an itinerant pastor, formal education was a luxury which +these pioneers could not yet afford. However, earlier historians of +the West Branch refer to the existence of a "log school" at "Sour's +ferry" in 1774.<a name="FNanchor_48_221" id="FNanchor_48_221"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_221" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> Instruction in the "three R's," enforced with strict +discipline, was given here a few months out of the year. A Presbyterian +preacher who came into the region and stayed was the first +teacher. Educational opportunity was extremely limited but education +was highly respected.</p> + +<p>Books, too, were a luxury in the West Branch Valley. Although +some of the wills of Fair Play settlers indicate the importance of +books by mentioning them specifically, there was no common library +from which the settlers could draw. However, Fithian's <i>Journal</i> +contains a note that he "reviewed the 'Squires Library"; so we do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +know of at least one library in the territory. Its accessibility for +most of these pioneers is, of course, another question.</p> + +<p>Frontier art was mainly functional. Its objects were generally the +furniture, the tools and weapons, and the implements of the household. +Individual expressions of creative talent, these items, whether +they were designs on the rifle stock or styles of tableware, were outlets +of artistic demonstration. Probably the most prized and picturesque +of the frontier folk arts was the making of patchwork quilts.<a name="FNanchor_49_222" id="FNanchor_49_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_222" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> Although +we have found no "Fair Play" pattern, we do know that the +women of every frontier household sewed, and, because of the demand +for bed quilts, every scrap was saved for the quilt-making. Colbert's +<i>Journal</i> tells of his dining at one Richard Manning's "with a number +of women who were quilting."<a name="FNanchor_50_223" id="FNanchor_50_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_223" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> Quilting parties were social events +in the lives of these frontier women, and their <i>objets d'art</i> were fully +discussed from patterns and designs down to the intricate techniques +of needlecraft. Perhaps the patchwork quilt is the enduring legacy of +frontier folk art.</p> + +<p>The music of the frontier was primarily vocal—the singing of hymns +and, possibly, folk songs. Instrumental music was confined to the +fiddle, which one Fair Play settler felt valuable enough to mention +in his will.<a name="FNanchor_51_224" id="FNanchor_51_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_224" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> The fiddle also provided the musical background for +the rollicking reels and jigs which the Scotch-Irish enjoyed so much.<a name="FNanchor_52_225" id="FNanchor_52_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_225" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> +That it was a hard life is certainly true, but it had its happy moments +and music was the source of much of that happiness.</p> + +<p>Medical practices throughout the frontier were primitive, to say +the least, and the West Branch Valley was no exception. A diary of +a minister in the Susquehanna Valley around Lancaster provides +specific examples of the purges, blood-letting, and herb concoctions +which the frontier settler endured in order to survive.<a name="FNanchor_53_226" id="FNanchor_53_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_226" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> In spite of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +the liberal use of spirited stimulants, ailing frontiersmen often suffered +violent reactions both from their illnesses and their cures.</p> + +<p>Although the Fair Play settlers of the West Branch Valley doubtless +had their own mythology and folklore, most of it was passed on by +word of mouth; as a result, little of record remains. The Revolutionary +pension claims are filled with tales of the courage and patriotism +of the stouthearted men and women of this frontier. A +frequent claim is that the measures taken to defend Fort Augusta, +after the Great Runaway, urged by Fair Play settlers who had fled +to that point, saved the frontier and made independence a reality.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the best-known story is that of the "independence elm" on +Pine Creek. However, as a recent writer suggests, the story of the +"Pine Creek Declaration" may refer merely to the reading of a copy +of the national declaration rather than to a separate document drawn +up by the inhabitants of this frontier.<a name="FNanchor_54_227" id="FNanchor_54_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_227" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> Mrs. Hamilton's testimony +to the event notwithstanding, no copy of the declaration has ever +been found.</p> + +<p>Another tale concerns the frequent reference to the upper Pine +Creek area as "Beulah Land."<a name="FNanchor_55_228" id="FNanchor_55_228"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_228" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> It seems that a circuit rider singing +hymns approached a camp up Pine Creek in the Black Forest. Later, +asked to sing, he offered the familiar "Beulah Land." Still later, he +met with an accident between Blackwell and Cammal resulting in +his death. The entertained were his mourners. Subsequently, they +kept his name alive by singing the old hymn to such an extent that +the name "Beulah Land" became attached to this region on Pine +Creek.</p> + +<p>Frontier life afforded little leisure time so that recreation was generally +economically oriented or related to some household task. In +addition, wrestling, foot-racing, jumping, throwing the tomahawk, +and shooting at marks were popular sports.<a name="FNanchor_56_229" id="FNanchor_56_229"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_229" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> But drinking was +probably the most common frontier recreation. It has been said that +the Scotch-Irish made more whiskey and drank more of it than any +other group.<a name="FNanchor_57_230" id="FNanchor_57_230"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_230" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> Everyone drank it, even the ministers. In fact, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +tavern preceded the church as a social center in the West Branch +Valley.<a name="FNanchor_58_231" id="FNanchor_58_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_231" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> Moderation, however, was the rule; excessive drinking was +frowned upon.<a name="FNanchor_59_232" id="FNanchor_59_232"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_232" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p> + +<p>The value system of Fair Play society can be analyzed in terms of +the expressed ideals and beliefs, the conduct, and the material possessions +of the pioneers who settled along the West Branch during +this period. Journalists, diarists, and pension claimants offer recorded +evidence of the ideals and beliefs of these settlers. Their actual behavior +gives us some understanding of conduct as value. And finally, +the probate records of the Northumberland and Lycoming County +courts contribute some documentation concerning the material values +of these frontier inhabitants. The result was a society dedicated to +the idea of progress and oriented to a future of political and social +equality and economic opportunity.</p> + +<p>A firm conviction concerning the right of property, that is, the +right of individual private ownership, was developed early in the +American experience in Virginia and Massachusetts and was reinforced +by the experience of successive frontiers, of which the Fair +Play territory was one. This is noted particularly in the pride in +individual "improvements" and the vigorous assertion of property +rights before the Fair Play tribunal and, later, in the regular courts. +The large Scotch-Irish population on this and other frontiers characteristically +asserted this view. Motivated by a spirit of individualism +and the desire for a better way of life, the Fair Play settlers found +land ownership basic to the accomplishment of their desired ends.<a name="FNanchor_60_233" id="FNanchor_60_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_233" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + +<p>In conjunction with the policy of private land ownership, the +support of squatters' rights tended to emphasize the equality of +achievement rather than that of ascription. No man's position was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +ascribed in the Fair Play territory—he had to earn it. However, as +we noted earlier, the pioneer farmer had to obtain the approval of +his neighbors in order to settle in the area; but no evidence exists +to show that this approval was in any way dependent upon social +class or national origin. Furthermore, the annual election of the Fair +Play men by the settlers, along with their rotation in office, gave a +fair measure of political equality, which was reflected in the decisions +of the tribunal affecting land claims.</p> + +<p>The hospitality of the Fair Play settlers is particularly stressed by +the journalists who traveled in the West Branch Valley.<a name="FNanchor_61_234" id="FNanchor_61_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_234" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> Despite +the limitations of rooms and furnishings, the frontier cabin was ever +open to the weary traveler, and spirited conversation and beverages +were always available to revive him. Good food and fine friends +could be found on the frontier. The frontiersman took great pride +in his hospitality. Dependent upon outside travelers for news, the +latest remedies for ailments, and mail, the inhabitants of the frontier +opened the doors of their cabins and their hearts to visitors. Taken +into a home, the weary traveler often found himself treated to the +best in food and comfort which the limitations of the frontier permitted. +Generally sharing the one-room cabin, like any member +of the family, he soon learned that he was a welcome guest rather +than a stranger in their midst. The loneliness of the frontier stimulated +the hospitality of the frontiersman.</p> + +<p>Although no "frontier philosophy," as such, existed, the conduct +of its inhabitants demonstrated their faith, their patriotism, their +spirit of mutual helpfulness, and their temperance. The pioneer +was not a philosopher or a thinker, because the rigorous struggle for +survival, which was his, did not permit the leisure to develop these +traits. He was a doer whose values and beliefs were reflected in his +behavior.</p> + +<p>The favorable, but not always eager, reception of itinerant pastors, +the religious instruction which took place in the home, and the frequent +references to "the Creator" in the wills testify to the relevance +of faith in influencing the character and behavior of these early<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +Americans. Faith was not only relevant but also a matter of choice, +and freedom of worship was practiced on this frontier. Here again, +the Scotch-Irish Presbyterian influence may have been significant.<a name="FNanchor_62_235" id="FNanchor_62_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_235" class="fnanchor">[62]</a></p> + +<p>Patriotism, with few exceptions, was characteristic of the frontier. +But loyalty to what? On this frontier it seems to have meant devotion +to an America which developed through New World experience. +Like Topsy, "it jus' growed," and no frontiersman wanted it taken +away. The enthusiastic reception of the Declaration of Independence +by the Fair Play settlers combined with the legend of their own +resolutions on the question indicate this patriotic feeling. Despite +their political differences with the settled areas, the West Branch +pioneers were overwhelmingly loyal to the patriot cause in the American +Revolution.<a name="FNanchor_63_236" id="FNanchor_63_236"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_236" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> Their loyalty, however, was more to the ideal +of freedom, or "liberty" as they termed it, than to any organization +or state. They believed in and supported the liberty which their own +hard work and the circumstances of the frontier had made possible.</p> + +<p>Mutual helpfulness was essential to survival in the wilderness and +valued among its pioneers. Cabin-raisings, cornhuskings, harvesttime, +and quilting parties are just a few examples of this spirit in +action. Individualistic in his approach, the frontier farmer realized +the need for neighborly support and appreciated its offer.</p> + +<p>In spite of the availability of a more-than-adequate supply of +spirited liquid refreshment, temperance was both commended and +respected on this Pennsylvania frontier. One historian points out +that there was probably less drunkenness on the frontier than there +was in eastern Pennsylvania, where it was not unusual for young men +to get drunk at the taverns or to drink themselves under the table at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +weddings or at other social functions.<a name="FNanchor_64_237" id="FNanchor_64_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_237" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> Drunkards were few and +generally despised on the frontier.<a name="FNanchor_65_238" id="FNanchor_65_238"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_238" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p> + +<p>Material values, in a society where possessions, beyond the land +itself and the rude cabin built upon it, are limited, are best gleaned +from the probate records, which listed the prized possessions of this +frontier community. Beds and bedsteads are the items which appear +most frequently in the wills of the Fair Play settlers. Occasionally, +the ultimate in frontier affluence is reached in the form of a "feather +Bed."<a name="FNanchor_66_239" id="FNanchor_66_239"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_239" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> Beds, or feather beds, and bedsteads were so highly valued +as pieces of furniture that they were often passed on to the daughters, +serving as a substantial part of their dowries.<a name="FNanchor_67_240" id="FNanchor_67_240"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_240" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> Surprisingly +enough, the widow often received "the room she now sleeps in" or, +"her choise of any one room in the house." This is not so amazing, +however, when one realizes that additional rooms beyond the original +one-room cabin quite logically became highly valued. Pewterware was +the silver of the frontier, and, if the probate records are any indication, +there was little of it and no silver. Aside from references to +furniture such as spinning wheels, bureaus, tables, and chairs, and +these not too regularly, it is quite evident that material possessions +were few.</p> + +<p>What then was the nature of Fair Play society? The frontier, by +its very nature, had an egalitarian influence which is readily apparent +from this analysis of the "style of life" along the West Branch. A +relative political and social equality existed in this land of economic +opportunity where faith, patriotism, helpfulness, and self-determination +were the outstanding traits. The frontier brought the democratizing +role of achievement to the fore in American life, and the Fair +Play settlers were an excellent example.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_174" id="Footnote_1_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_174"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>See</i> <a href="#Page_16">Chart 1</a> in Chapter Two.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_175" id="Footnote_2_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_175"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Smith, <i>Laws</i>, II, 195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_176" id="Footnote_3_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_176"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Third Series, XIX, 557-805.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_177" id="Footnote_4_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_177"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> For example, in the County Assessments for 1781, <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Third +Series, XIX, 468, 484, the individual holdings of resident property owners range +from 50 to 1,500 acres, whereas non-residents' range from 200 to 13,000. Only six +of thirty residents showed property in excess of 325 acres and four of these had +550 acres or less. The two large landowners were peripheral Fair Play residents. +Subsequent tax lists indicate that non-residents eventually sold their property in +sections.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_178" id="Footnote_5_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_178"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Leyburn, <i>The Scotch-Irish</i>, p. 262.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_179" id="Footnote_6_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_179"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Fithian: Journal</i> (1775) and <i>Journal of William Colbert</i> (1792-1794). These +journals of the first regularly assigned itinerant pastors, Presbyterian and Methodist, +to the West Branch Valley, contain numerous references concerning the +personal character and morality of the settlers. In the Hamilton Papers of the +Wagner Collection of Revolutionary War pension claimants, p. 11, Mrs. Hamilton +writes to the Honorable George C. Whiting, Commissioner of Pensions, on Dec. +16, 1858: "I believe they were people of clear sound mind, just, upright, morrall, +religious, and friendly to all. I should say they came nearest to keeping the commandment, +love your nabour as yourself, then any people I ever lived among."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_180" id="Footnote_7_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_180"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Leyburn, <i>The Scotch-Irish</i>, p. 269.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_181" id="Footnote_8_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_181"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Helen Herritt Russell, "The Documented Story of the Fair Play Men and Their +Government," <i>The Northumberland County Historical Society Proceedings and +Addresses</i>, XXII (1958), 16-43. Mrs. Russell, whose genealogical studies were the +basis of Chart 1 in Chapter Two, notes 24 marriages among the 80 names, 9 of which +were intermarriages of different national stocks. Of the 24 marriages, 9 were between +Scotch-Irish couples. Intermarriages produced 5 English-Scotch-Irish couples, +2 German-Scotch-Irish, 1 Welsh-Scotch-Irish, and 1 German-English. The intermarriages +appear to follow the national stock percentages in the population. This +would suggest that the intermarriages were a matter of choice rather than of +necessity.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_182" id="Footnote_9_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_182"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Dunaway, <i>The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania</i>, p. 198.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_183" id="Footnote_10_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_183"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>Journal of William Colbert</i> (1792-1794). This entry for Thursday, Sept. 5, 1793, +is from a typescript belonging to Dr. Charles F. Berkheimer, of Williamsport. +The original is in Chicago at the Garrett Biblical Seminary.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_184" id="Footnote_11_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_184"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Here again, Fithian, Colbert, and Mr. Davy all mention the friendly reception +which was theirs on this frontier. Davy, in an entry for Oct. 10, 1794, p. 265, +says, "In the Winter Sleighs are in general use on the Rivers & on Land & it is +time of Visiting & Jollity throughout the Country."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_185" id="Footnote_12_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_185"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>Journal of William Colbert</i>, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 1792. Here the Reverend Colbert +refers to the existence of a class in religion among the group of Presbyterians, +although the prospects appear none too favorable. In fact, he says, "I had no +desire to meet the class, so disordered are they, therefore omitted it." Quarterly +meetings of Methodists were also held in the West Branch Valley, as Colbert notes +in his journal for Saturday, Sept. 15, 1792, and Saturday, Sept. 7, 1793. In 1792, +Colbert remarks that "Our Quarterly Meeting began at Joshua White's today." +The following year he wrote that "brother Paynter and I have to hold a Quarterly +meeting at Ammariah Sutton's at Lycommon." Each of these instances indicates +the presence of some sort of voluntary religious association. However, it must be +recalled that Fithian mentioned no such classes or meetings extant during his visit +in July of 1775.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_186" id="Footnote_13_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_186"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>Fithian: Journal</i>, pp. 80-81.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_187" id="Footnote_14_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_187"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>Journal of William Colbert</i>, Thursday, Oct. 17, 1793, and Saturday, Aug. 18, +1792.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_188" id="Footnote_15_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_188"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 1793.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_189" id="Footnote_16_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_189"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Smith, <i>Laws</i>, II, 195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_190" id="Footnote_17_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_190"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Muncy Historical Society, Wagner Collection, Hamilton Papers, p. 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_191" id="Footnote_18_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_191"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_192" id="Footnote_19_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_192"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>See</i> the Appearance Dockets Commencing in 1772 for Northumberland County +and 1795 for Lycoming County.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_193" id="Footnote_20_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_193"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> <i>Journal of William Colbert</i>, Monday, June 18, 1792.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_194" id="Footnote_21_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_194"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Saturday, Aug. 4, 1792: "Calvinist must certainly be the most damnable +doctrine upon the face of the globe." Sunday, July 29, 1792: "Here for telling the +people they must live without sin, I so offended a Presbyterian, that he got up, +called his wife and away he went." Sunday July 22, 1792: "... in the afternoon +for the first time heard a Presbyterian at Pine Creek.... He is an able speaker +but could not, but, Calvinistic like speak against sinless perfection." Monday, Aug. +20, 1792: "... rode to John Hamilton's in the afternoon. Here the unhappy souls +[Presbyterian Fair Play settlers] that were joined together in society, I fear are +going to ruin." Thursday, Oct. 17, 1793: "I went to John Hamilton's on the Bald +Eagle Creek spoke a few words to a few people: I do not think that is worth the +preachers while to stop here."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_195" id="Footnote_22_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_195"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> F. B. Everett, "Early Presbyterianism along the West Branch of the Susquehanna +River," <i>Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society</i>, XII (1927), 481. According +to the Reverend Mr. Everett, whose article also appeared in the Montgomery <i>Mirror</i> +for Oct. 27, 1926, the Scotch-Irish, with the Anglicans, were the dogmatists of +Pennsylvania. The Quakers and Pietistic German sects were anti-dogmatic. Dogmatically +adhering to his catechisms, the Scotch-Irishman "resented the aspersions +cast upon dogma and creed." The frontier gave him freedom from the Quakers +who still considered Presbyterians as those "who had burnt a Quaker in New England +from the cart's tail, and had murdered other Quakers."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_196" id="Footnote_23_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_196"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> "Mr. Davy's Diary," p. 259.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_197" id="Footnote_24_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_197"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Thomas J. Wertenbaker, <i>The First Americans, 1607-1690</i> (New York, 1927). +Wertenbaker's first chapter, "A New World Makes New Men," develops this thesis +generally for the American colonial experience, and, as Turner said, those first +colonies were the first frontier.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_198" id="Footnote_25_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_198"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Clark, "Pioneer Life in the New Purchase," pp. 28, 63. Clark notes that indentured +servitude appeared in Muncy, where Samuel Wallis' great holdings made +such service feasible. He also mentions Wallis' ownership of slaves, verified by the +Quarter Session Docket of 1778. Wallis freed two Negro slaves, Zell and Chloe, +posting a £30 bond that they would not become a charge on the township.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_199" id="Footnote_26_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_199"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Leyburn, <i>The Scotch-Irish</i>, p. 262. <i>See also</i> Dunaway, <i>The Scotch-Irish of +Colonial Pennsylvania</i>, pp. 180-200.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_200" id="Footnote_27_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_200"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> These "fringe area" participants in Fair Play society actually resided, for the +most part, in Provincial territory and hence enjoyed greater stability and more land.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_201" id="Footnote_28_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_201"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Calhoun, <i>A Social History of the American Family</i>, I, 207.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_202" id="Footnote_29_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_202"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_203" id="Footnote_30_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_203"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Leyburn, <i>The Scotch-Irish</i>, p. 271. Leyburn points out that since the Scotch-Irish +were never a "minority," in the sense that their values differed radically from +the norms of their areas of settlement, they never suffered the normlessness which +Durkheim calls anomie—the absence of clear standards to follow. As Leyburn states +it,</p> +<div class="blockquot"><p>Anomie was an experience unknown to the Scotch-Irishman, for he moved +immediately upon arrival to a region where there was neither a settlement +nor an established culture. He held land, knew independence, had manifold +responsibilities from the very outset. He spoke the language of his neighbors +to the East through whose communities he had passed on his way +to the frontier. Their institutions and standards differed at only minor +points from his own. The Scotch-Irish were not, in short, a "minority +group" and needed no Immigrant Aid society to tide them over a period +of maladjustment so that they might become assimilated in the American +melting pot.</p></div> +<p>This, however, is not to suggest that minorities are necessarily anomic. The Jews, +for example, were always a cultural minority in Europe, yet they adhered intensely +to their own cultural norms.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_204" id="Footnote_31_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_204"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Muncy Historical Society, Wagner Collection, Hamilton Papers, p. 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_205" id="Footnote_32_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_205"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> J. E. Wright and Doris S. Corbett, <i>Pioneer Life in Western Pennsylvania</i> +(Pittsburgh, 1940), p. 142.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_206" id="Footnote_33_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_206"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> The existence of these "praying societies" is further substantiated in +Colbert's <i>Journal</i>. During these services, lay persons gave exhortations or assisted +Colbert in some fashion.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_207" id="Footnote_34_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_207"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>Fithian: Journal</i>, p. 76.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_208" id="Footnote_35_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_208"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Robert S. Cocks, <i>One Hundred and Fifty Years of Evangelism, The History of +Northumberland Presbytery 1811-1961</i> (n. p., 1961), p. 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_209" id="Footnote_36_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_209"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>Fithian: Journal</i>, pp. 80-81.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_210" id="Footnote_37_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_210"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Joseph Stevens, <i>History of the Presbytery of Northumberland, from Its Organization, +in 1811, to May 1888</i> (Williamsport, 1888), p. 38.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_211" id="Footnote_38_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_211"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_212" id="Footnote_39_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_212"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Cocks, <i>One Hundred and Fifty Years of Evangelism</i>, p. 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_213" id="Footnote_40_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_213"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Guy S. Klett, "Scotch-Irish Presbyterian Pioneering Along the Susquehanna +River," <i>Pennsylvania History</i>, XX (1953), p. 173.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_214" id="Footnote_41_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_214"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 174.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_215" id="Footnote_42_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_215"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Linn, <i>History of Centre and Clinton Counties</i>, p. 520.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_216" id="Footnote_43_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_216"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Klett, "Scotch-Irish Presbyterian Pioneering," p. 175.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_217" id="Footnote_44_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_217"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> <i>Journal of William Colbert</i>, Monday, June 18, 1792; and Robert Berger, "The +Story of Baptist Beginnings in Lycoming County," <i>Now and Then</i>, XII (1960), +274-280. According to the Reverend Robert Berger, of Hughesville, a few Baptist +settlers came into Lycoming County from New Jersey, but were soon driven out +by the Indians. Apparently, the Philadelphia Baptist Association sent missionaries +to the area in 1775 and 1778. However, not until the association commissioned +Elders Patton, Clingan, and Vaughn in 1792 did any extensive Baptist preaching +take place in this region. They were sent out for three months on the Juniata and +the West Branch. The Loyalsock Baptist Church, established in 1822, is the first +church.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_218" id="Footnote_45_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_218"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Dietmar Rothermund, <i>The Layman's Progress: Religious and Political Experience +in Colonial Pennsylvania 1740-1770</i> (Philadelphia, 1961), p. 142. As +Rothermund describes it, "The Pilgrim's progress had turned into the layman's +emancipation, and finally into the citizen's revolution" (p. 137). He calls "the +political maturity which followed the era of religious emancipation ... America's +real revolutionary heritage" (p. 138).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_219" id="Footnote_46_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_219"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 137. It must first be recognized that American Presbyterianism differed +from that of Scotland particularly with regard to local autonomy. The +Presbyterian Church, like the United States under the Constitution of 1787, was +federal in its governmental structure, and the autonomy of the local religious +institutions was later carried into politics. Leyburn, <i>The Scotch-Irish</i>, p. 313, +emphasizes the fact that the Scotch-Irishman's church had accustomed him to belief +in government by the consent of the governed, in representative and republican +institutions. The relationship between the church covenant and the social +compact is quite direct. If men can bind themselves together to form a church, then +it seems quite logical that they can bind themselves together to form a government. +Fair Play democracy was simply political Presbyterianism. Its impact has +been noted by a number of historians. Dunaway, <i>The Scotch-Irish of Colonial +Pennsylvania</i>, p. 135, claims that "The actual means by which Pennsylvania was +transformed from a proprietary province into an American commonwealth was +the new political organization developed by the Scotch-Irish in alliance with the +eastern radical leaders of the continental Revolutionary movement. This extra-legal +organization, consisting of the committee of safety, the provincial and county +committees of correspondence, and the provincial conventions, supplanted the regular +provincial government by absorbing its functions." Becker, <i>Beginning of the +American People</i>, p. 180, calls the Scotch-Irish a people "whose religion confirmed +them in a democratic habit of mind."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_220" id="Footnote_47_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_220"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> Lycoming County Courthouse, Will Book #1, George Quigley's Will, p. 69.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_221" id="Footnote_48_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_221"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Maynard, <i>Historical View of Clinton County</i>, p. 208.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_222" id="Footnote_49_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_222"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Carrie A. Hall and Rose G. Kretsinger, <i>The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt +in America</i> (New York, 1935), p. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_223" id="Footnote_50_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_223"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> <i>Journal of William Colbert</i>, Thursday, Sept. 5, 1793.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_224" id="Footnote_51_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_224"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> Lycoming County Courthouse, Will Book #1, William Chatham's Will, p. 177. +Chatham's bequest is "To Robert Devling My Fidel."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_225" id="Footnote_52_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_225"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> Dunaway, <i>The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania</i>, p. 196.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_226" id="Footnote_53_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_226"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Rev. John Cuthbertson's Diary (1716-1791), microfilm transcript, 2 rolls, +Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg. An example, found +on p. 252, is this "<i>famous American Receipt for the Rheumatism</i>. Take of +garlic two cloves, of gum ammoniac, one drachm; blend them by bruising together. +Make them into two or three bolus's with fair water and swallow one +at night and the other in the morning. Drink strong sassafras tea while using +these. It banishes also contractions of the joints. 100 pounds been given for this."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_227" id="Footnote_54_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_227"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> Rebecca F. Gross, "Postscript to the Week," Lock Haven <i>Express</i>, Aug. 3, 1963, +p. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_228" id="Footnote_55_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_228"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> Eugene P. Bertin, "Primary Streams of Lycoming County," <i>Now and Then</i>, +VIII (1947), 257-258.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_229" id="Footnote_56_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_229"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Dunaway, <i>The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania</i>, p. 193.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_230" id="Footnote_57_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_230"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 197.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_231" id="Footnote_58_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_231"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> "Eleanor Coldren's Deposition," pp. 220-222. Mrs. Coldren refers to a tavern, +just west of Chatham's Run, in the spring of 1775. The first church appeared in +1792.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_232" id="Footnote_59_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_232"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> "Diary of the Unknown Traveler," <i>Now and Then</i>, X (1954), 307. The diarist +tells of a tavernkeeper who refused a man a pint of wine because "he had had +enough" (Thursday, July 24, 1794).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_233" id="Footnote_60_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_233"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> Leyburn, <i>The Scotch-Irish</i>, pp. 148-150. Leyburn suggests, and the Fair Play +settlers demonstrate, that Ulster and America were similar experiences. He says +(p. 148) that the Scotch-Irish "lived on land in both regions often forcibly taken +from the natives. The confiscation itself was declared legal by the authorities, and +the actual settlement was made in the conviction that the land was now rightfully +theirs. Might makes right—at least in the matter of life and land ownership."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_234" id="Footnote_61_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_234"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> <i>Fithian: Journal</i>, the <i>Journal of William Colbert</i>, and "Mr. Davy's Diary" all +refer to the hospitality of the people of this frontier. For example, Fithian speaks +of his hosts as "sociable, kind"; while Colbert constantly mentions the "liberty" +which he enjoyed in the various homes which he visited.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_235" id="Footnote_62_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_235"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Leyburn, <i>The Scotch-Irish</i>, pp. 146-147. Leyburn suggests that belief in the +superiority of the Presbyterian church to any king justifies revolt; if one may, +others may, leading to anarchy. Thus freedom of worship for a minority allied +itself in America with liberty of worship for all. The right of revolution, as it +was acted upon in America, was also implied.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_236" id="Footnote_63_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_236"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Loyalists in the West Branch Valley suffered the usual privations as this excerpt +from the "Diary of the Unknown Traveler," p. 310, indicates: "<i>Thursday, +July 24, 1794</i>.... Mr. Witteker and his family are of the people called Quakers +but was turned out of the society during the time of war for paing the money +called substitute [relief from the draft]* money to the Congress agents. M[r]. +W's case is really hard. He suffered as above by his friends for aiding Congress +and his estate was conviscated [<i>sic</i>] by the state for being a loyalist." [*Phrase bracketed in quotation.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_237" id="Footnote_64_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_237"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> Dunaway, <i>The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania</i>, pp. 197-198.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_238" id="Footnote_65_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_238"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 198. An example of this attitude is found in this entry in the "Diary +of the Unknown Traveler," p. 310: "This afternoon 24 July [1794] a person with +two horses, one he rode, the other lead, called at Wittekers for a pint of wine, +but on account of him being intoxicated before Mr. W. told him he had had +enough & would not let him have any. Where could we find so disinterested a +tavernkeeper in England? In England they never refuse as long as they pay, +but here the man had the money ready if they would let him have the wine."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_239" id="Footnote_66_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_239"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> This conclusion was reached after the reading of some three hundred wills in +the probate records of Northumberland and Lycoming counties. This particular +reference is from James Caldwell's will, Nov. 20, 1815, located in Will Book #1, +p. 108, Lycoming County Courthouse.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_240" id="Footnote_67_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_240"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> Clark, "Pioneer Life in the New Purchase," p. 22. Beds and feather beds +seem to have been status symbols of a sort often willed to the wife or included +as a dowry.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_SIX" id="CHAPTER_SIX"></a><small>CHAPTER SIX</small></h2> + +<h3 class="ity"><big>Leadership and the Problems of the Frontier</big></h3> + + +<p>Any analysis of democracy in the Fair Play territory must +consider the question of leadership and the particular problems +of that frontier. The number of leaders and their roles, +the marks of leadership, and the circumstances which brought certain +men to the fore must all be considered. Was there some correlation +between property-holdings, or national origin, and leadership? +Were there certain offices conducive to the exercise of leadership? +The subject of leadership entails inquiry into each of these areas.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, only one biographical study of any Fair Play leader +has ever been attempted, that of Henry Antes.<a name="FNanchor_1_241" id="FNanchor_1_241"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_241" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> As a result, the patterns +of leadership must be gleaned from court records, tax lists, +lists of public officials, and petitions from the settlers of this frontier. +Consequently, what follows gives us some general understanding of +the nature of leadership but offers little in the way of insight into +the personalities of the leaders.</p> + +<p>Using the Curti study as an example, certain objective criteria have +been set up in analyzing leadership in the West Branch Valley.<a name="FNanchor_2_242" id="FNanchor_2_242"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_242" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> +Obviously, some leaders were more important than others. Their +influence extended beyond the limits of the Fair Play territory. +These leaders, provided that they stood out in respect to at least +three of the four criteria established, have been categorized as regional +leaders. These four criteria have been used in this study to +determine regional leadership: (1) the holding of political office,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +(2) the ownership of better-than-average property holdings, (3) the +operation of frontier forts, and (4) the holding of military rank of +some significance.<a name="FNanchor_3_243" id="FNanchor_3_243"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_243" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<p>Of these criteria, office holding appears to be the most important. +Thus, regional leaders were generally re-elected to public office, or +held more than one such office. Furthermore, it will be noted that +these offices tended to be with the established governments of the +State and county. Since some leaders never held any political office, +another classification seemed necessary. Consequently, the role of +local leadership was also classified.</p> + +<p>The influence of some men seems to have been strictly confined to +the Fair Play territory, either by virtue of their election to some local +office or by their prominence in some other phase of community life. +As a result, local leaders have been considered as (1) those who +held at least two local offices, or (2) those who exercised identifiable +community leadership in a non-political context.</p> + +<p>After an extensive examination of the lists of public officials for +Northumberland County, the tax lists for the same period, the records +of the Fair Play men and the Committee of Safety, the accounts of +the frontier forts in the region, and the military records of these +settlers, it becomes evident that only three men can be considered as +regional leaders and not more than seven or eight as local leaders.<a name="FNanchor_4_244" id="FNanchor_4_244"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_244" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> +Henry Antes, Robert Fleming, and Frederick Antes are the regional +leaders; and Alexander Hamilton, John Fleming, James Crawford, +John Walker, Thomas Hughes, Cookson Long, William Reed, and +Samuel Horn are the local leaders. Obviously, the listings are too +limited to offer any valid quantitative analysis.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> +<p>Henry Antes is undoubtedly the single most outstanding leader in +the entire Fair Play country. Judge of the Court of Quarter Sessions, +sheriff, justice of the peace, Fair Play spokesman, captain (later +colonel) of Associators and commander of Fort Antes, miller and +property owner, personal friend of John Dickinson and other Provincial +leaders, Henry Antes was the top figure in civic, economic, military, +and social affairs along the West Branch. Influential within and +without the Fair Play territory, Henry Antes was truly the major +leader in the valley.</p> + +<p>The Antes family had long played a significant role in the history +of the Province of Pennsylvania. As MacMinn relates, Henry's father, +Henry, Sr., had been "associated with the most prominent men of +his time in movements for the public good."<a name="FNanchor_5_245" id="FNanchor_5_245"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_245" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> A Moravian, the elder +Antes had assisted Count Zinzendorf in his missionary efforts, aided +Whitefield in his philanthropic endeavors, worked with Henry +Muhlenberg in educating the German town community, and served +with a marked impartiality as a justice of the peace.<a name="FNanchor_6_246" id="FNanchor_6_246"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_246" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> From such +stock came the necessary leadership for the Fair Play settlers of the +West Branch frontier.</p> + +<p>Born near Pottstown in Montgomery County in 1736, young Henry +may have learned of frontier opportunity from visitors to his father's +inn, such as Zinzendorf and Spangenburg, who had traveled along +the West Branch of the Susquehanna. Consequently, joined by his +brother William, he signed an article of agreement on September 29, +1773, for the purchase of land in the West Branch Valley.<a name="FNanchor_7_247" id="FNanchor_7_247"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_247" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> When +another brother, Frederick, obtained property in the area later in +that same decade, the Antes brothers, particularly Henry and Frederick, +became the dominant political, economic, and social influence in the +territory. Frederick, however, was more of an absentee leader since +he never actually resided in the Fair Play territory.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p> +<p>Although the combined holdings of the Antes brothers constituted +only a little less than 700 acres, their gristmill, the first in the region, +became the meeting place for the area settlers, providing a forum for +the usual discussions of politics and prices.<a name="FNanchor_8_248" id="FNanchor_8_248"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_248" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> From Lycoming Creek +on the east to Pine Creek and the Great Island on the west, the +frontier farmers brought their grain to the Antes mill, on the south +side of the Susquehanna River opposite present Jersey Shore. While +the milling went on, the men analyzed their common problems and +debated the future of this pioneer land. If there was a center for +the dissemination of news in the West Branch Valley, it was the Antes +mill and fort, which was soon constructed on the property. Located +in almost the center of the Fair Play territory (although actually +across the river from it), where men met of necessity, and having had +a father who had exerted influence and exercised leadership in Philadelphia +County, the Antes brothers were well prepared to lead the +West Branch pioneers.</p> + +<p>With their gristmill giving Henry and Frederick a decided economic +edge, they soon became involved in the politics of the Fair +Play territory, Northumberland County, and the Province of Pennsylvania. +Henry became primarily a local and county leader, while +his brother concentrated on county and Provincial and, later, State +affairs. Both served as county judges—Henry, appointed in 1775, and +Frederick, elected in 1784—which suggests judicial responsibility as +the key to assuming major leadership, since Robert Fleming took +Frederick's judicial post when he resigned to take a seat in the +General Assembly.<a name="FNanchor_9_249" id="FNanchor_9_249"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_249" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>By the summer of 1775, when Philip Vickers Fithian first included +the West Branch in his itinerary—the valley by then supported some +100 families—Henry Antes had already distinguished himself as a +public servant. He, along with five others, had been commissioned +by the county court to lay out a road from Fort Augusta to the mouth +of Bald Eagle Creek;<a name="FNanchor_10_250" id="FNanchor_10_250"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_250" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> he had served as a spokesman for the Fair<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +Play men in a land title dispute;<a name="FNanchor_11_251" id="FNanchor_11_251"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_251" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> he had been made a justice of +the peace;<a name="FNanchor_12_252" id="FNanchor_12_252"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_252" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> and he had been appointed as a judge of the Court of +Quarter Sessions.<a name="FNanchor_13_253" id="FNanchor_13_253"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_253" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> This was to be only the beginning, for in 1775, +when the Associators were organized, Henry Antes was made captain +of company eight, embodying the Nippenose and Pine Creek settlers.<a name="FNanchor_14_254" id="FNanchor_14_254"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_254" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> +But even this is not the complete picture, for when the settlers returned +to the region in the eighties, following the Great Runaway of +1778, Antes became sheriff, the chief law enforcement officer of +Northumberland County.<a name="FNanchor_15_255" id="FNanchor_15_255"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_255" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> The popular miller had become the +popular leader, a popularity enhanced by his interpretation of the +sheriff's role, an interpretation which occasionally brought him into +conflict with the State's leaders.<a name="FNanchor_16_256" id="FNanchor_16_256"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_256" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>The leadership of the Antes brothers is further accentuated by the +activities of Frederick Antes. Between 1776 and 1784 he was a delegate +to the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention, justice of the +peace, president judge of the county courts, county treasurer, commissioner +of purchase for Northumberland County, a representative +in the General Assembly, and a colonel of militia.<a name="FNanchor_17_257" id="FNanchor_17_257"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_257" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> With Henry on +the West Branch and Frederick frequently in Philadelphia, the Antes +family had a constant finger on the pulse of Pennsylvania politics. +Official duties, plus the strategic location of the Antes fort and mill, +made Frederick and Henry Antes the most influential persons in the +West Branch Valley during the operation of the Fair Play system. +Eminently qualified by numerous public responsibilities, the Antes +brothers were major leaders of the Fair Play settlers.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p> +<p>Robert Fleming, the third regional leader in the territory, also +served as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the county, although +that service began in March, 1785, after the Fair Play territory +was acquired by the State of Pennsylvania in the second Stanwix +Treaty of 1784.<a name="FNanchor_18_258" id="FNanchor_18_258"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_258" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> He became a justice of the peace at the same time.<a name="FNanchor_19_259" id="FNanchor_19_259"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_259" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> +Prior to his judicial obligations, Fleming had been a member of the +county Committee of Safety, a township overseer, a representative in +the General Assembly, a second lieutenant of Associators, and possibly +a Fair Play man.<a name="FNanchor_20_260" id="FNanchor_20_260"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_260" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> During the Revolution, he was primarily +concerned with the area around the Great Island, serving at Reed's +Fort (present Lock Haven) and on the Fleming estate, which some +referred to as Fort Fleming. Robert had a brother, John, with whom +Fithian stayed during his brief sojourn in the territory. Their combined +holdings, the largest in the vicinity, ran to almost 3,000 acres, +of which 1,250 acres were Robert's.<a name="FNanchor_21_261" id="FNanchor_21_261"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_261" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>Certain conclusions can be drawn from these data regarding the +regional leaders of the Fair Play territory. Better than average property +holdings, extensive in the case of Robert Fleming; judicial +responsibility, which was true of all three men; primary authority +in frontier forts (the Antes brothers owned and commanded Antes +Fort, and the Flemings operated their own stockade and commanded +Fort Reed); and military rank ranging from lieutenant of Associators +to colonel of militia: these characteristics signified major leadership +in the West Branch Valley among the Fair Play settlers. Coincidentally, +it can be noted that two of the three regional leaders, having +served in the State legislature, had influence which reached to the +State House in Philadelphia. Obviously, these men were known outside +of the limited environs of the Fair Play territory. In fact, both +Henry and Frederick Antes enjoyed a more than passing acquaintance +with Benjamin Franklin and John Dickinson, two of the giants of +this period of Pennsylvania's history.<a name="FNanchor_22_262" id="FNanchor_22_262"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_262" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p> +<p>A further observation which can be made concerning leadership +relates to the question of national origin. Although the Fair Play +territory has often been referred to as "Scotch-Irish country," the +German Antes brothers performed the outstanding leadership roles +on this frontier. Also, the specific geographic location of our regional +leaders provides a final note of interest. All three of them, Henry and +Frederick Antes, and Robert Fleming, actually resided outside the +limits of the Fair Play territory. They were on the geographic fringe +but at the leadership core. Their close proximity to the Fair Play +territory, separated from it only by the Susquehanna River, in addition +to their contacts with and positions in established government, +gave these men an obvious political eminence. The forts located in +both places and the Anteses' gristmill gave both the Flemings and +the Anteses opportunity for leadership.</p> + +<p>Local leaders generally lived within the Fair Play territory, had +average property holdings, and served on either the Fair Play tribunal +or the township Committee of Safety. There are, of course, exceptions +to each of these generalizations. The fort operators, Samuel Horn, +William Reed, and John Fleming, resided on the Provincial or State +side of the Susquehanna River. Furthermore, John Fleming was the +largest property owner in the area with some 1,640 acres.<a name="FNanchor_23_263" id="FNanchor_23_263"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_263" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> And +one man, James Crawford, held the highly respected county office of +sheriff.<a name="FNanchor_24_264" id="FNanchor_24_264"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_264" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> + +<p>Three of the local leaders, John Fleming, Alexander Hamilton, and +James Crawford, stand out from the rest, although for different reasons. +John Fleming undoubtedly would have become a major leader +had he lived longer—he died in 1777. His extensive property made +his home the usual stop for itinerant pastors and other travelers in +the valley, as Fithian's <i>Journal</i> attests.<a name="FNanchor_25_265" id="FNanchor_25_265"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_265" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> It also made him a figure of +central significance in economic affairs. Alexander Hamilton was +probably "the" local leader. A member of the Committee of Safety +and presumably a Fair Play man, he was also the captain of Horn's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> +Fort.<a name="FNanchor_26_266" id="FNanchor_26_266"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_266" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> He is also the reputed author of the Pine Creek declaration. +James Crawford was more noted for military exploits than for +civic duties. Prior to his military service, Crawford had represented +Northumberland County in the Constitutional Convention of 1776, +which framed the State constitution and, later, commissioned him +as a major in the Twelfth Pennsylvania Regiment.<a name="FNanchor_27_267" id="FNanchor_27_267"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_267" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> Deprived of his +commission after the Germantown campaign, Major Crawford returned +home and was elected county sheriff, an office which he held +until succeeded by Henry Antes.<a name="FNanchor_28_268" id="FNanchor_28_268"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_268" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p> + +<p>Of the other local leaders, Horn and Reed held only lesser +township offices, overseer and supervisor, respectively, in addition to +operating frontier forts.<a name="FNanchor_29_269" id="FNanchor_29_269"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_269" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> Cookson Long, mentioned as a Fair Play +man in 1775 in Eleanor Coldren's deposition, later commanded Fort +Reed, for a time, as a captain of Associators.<a name="FNanchor_30_270" id="FNanchor_30_270"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_270" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> The final two local +leaders, John Walker and Thomas Hughes, both took turns as Fair +Play men and as members of the local Committee of Safety.<a name="FNanchor_31_271" id="FNanchor_31_271"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_271" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> + +<p>In analyzing the local leadership roles which these various settlers +filled, additional and pertinent conclusions become apparent. In the +first place, the Fair Play men were obviously not the top leaders of +the community. Henry Antes may have served as their spokesman +in 1775, and it is quite possible that Robert Fleming was a member +of the tribunal, but both were more important as county leaders. +Secondly, Fair Play men were members of the Committee of Safety, +a fact which suggests that their efforts may have been coordinated. +Finally, returning to the question of national origin, six of these +eight local leaders were either Scots, Scotch-Irish, or Irish. The +other two were Germans. No Englishman was a leader, either regional +or local, in the Fair Play territory between 1769 and 1784. +Perhaps, as Carl Becker suggests, this was due to the fact that neither<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> +the German nor the Scotch-Irish immigrant held in his breast any +sentiment of loyalty to King George, or much sympathy with the +traditions or the leaders of English society.<a name="FNanchor_32_272" id="FNanchor_32_272"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_272" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> + +<p>What were the particular problems of this frontier and how effective +were these leaders in meeting them? The question of defense, +including the daily task of survival in the wilderness, the right of pre-emption, +and the efforts to obtain frontier representation in the +assembly: these were the main problems in this pioneer land along +the West Branch of the Susquehanna. All were not solved during the +period under analysis, but the attempts to solve these and other problems +afford us the opportunity to evaluate the leadership in the Fair +Play territory.</p> + +<p>Doubtless, the most pressing public need on this frontier was +protection from the marauding Indians who plagued these pioneers +throughout the fifteen years encompassed by this study. Aroused by +the British during the Revolution, the Indians of the Six Nations +descended from New York into the West Branch Valley to harass +and, finally, to drive the Fair Play settlers from their homes. Driven +from their homes, the frontiersmen of the West Branch first gathered +in the hastily-constructed and poorly-manned forts conveniently scattered +along the Susquehanna from Jersey Shore to Lock Haven, but, +ultimately, these too had to be evacuated in the Great Runaway in +1778.</p> + +<p>The severity of these attacks is evident from this petition from the +settlers gathered at Fort Horn, above present McElhattan, pleading for +military support in their perilous position:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>To the Honourable the Supreame Executive Councill of the +Commonwealth of Pennsyllvania, in Lancaster;</i></p> + +<p>Wee, your humble petitioners, the Inhabitance of Bald +Eagle Township, on the West Branch of Susquehannah, +Northumberland County, &c., &c., humbly Sheweth: that, +Wherease, wee are Driven By the Indians from our habitations +and obblidged to assemble ourselves together for our +Common Defence, have thought mete to acquaint you with +our Deplorable situation. Wee have for a month by past, endeavoured +to maintain our ground, with the loss of nearly +fifty murdered and made Captives, still Expecting relief +from Coll. Hunter; but wee are pursuaded that the Gentleman +has done for us as mutch as has layd in his power; we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +are at len[g]th surrounded with great numbers on every side, +and unless Our Honourable Councill Does grant us some +Assistance wee will Be obblidged to evaquete [<i>sic</i>] this +frontier; which will be great encouragement to the enemy, +and Bee very injurious to our Common Cause. We, therefore, +humbly request that you would grant us as many men +as you may Judge suficient to Defend four small Garrisons, +and some amunition, and as we are wery ill prowided with +arms, we Beg that you would afford us some of them; for +particulars we refer to the Bearer, Robert Fleming, Esq'r, +and Begs leave to Conclude. Your humble petitioners, as in +Duty Bound, shall ever pray.</p> + +<p class="signing">Sined by us:<a name="FNanchor_33_273" id="FNanchor_33_273"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_273" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p> +</div> + +<p>This petition was signed by some forty-seven settlers, including +John and Robert Fleming, Alexander Hamilton, and Samuel Horn. +Unfortunately, the much-needed assistance was not forthcoming, and +Colonel Hunter soon sent instructions from Fort Augusta for the +evacuation of the valley. This evacuation is, of course, the Great Runaway.<a name="FNanchor_34_274" id="FNanchor_34_274"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_274" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> +It is interesting to note, however, that the bearer of this petition +was Robert Fleming, one of the regional leaders of the territory.</p> + +<p>Although forced to leave the West Branch Valley, the Fair Play +settlers responded to Colonel Hunter's fervent plea to stay at Fort +Augusta to help in the defense of this last frontier. Their gallant +stand on the West Branch and their earnestly successful support of +Fort Augusta, the last frontier outpost in central Pennsylvania, protected +the interior, enabled the Continental Congress "to function +in safety at a period when its collapse would have meant total disaster +to the American cause," and provided a vivid demonstration of what +a later president of the United States would call "that last full +measure of devotion."<a name="FNanchor_35_275" id="FNanchor_35_275"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_275" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> +<p>In the fall of 1778, following the earlier alliance with France, the +tide of the Revolution began to flow in favor of independence, notwithstanding +the fact that the Fair Play territory was now deserted. +But for two years previous, when the issue of independence had been +in grave doubt, the courageous pioneers of the West Branch stood +their ground in tiny garrisons at Fort Antes, Fort Horn, and Fort +Reed, resisting the attacking Indians at the insistence of their leaders, +that freedom might be preserved. Perhaps it is a little-known story, +but the fate of independence was in good hands with the Fair Play +settlers of the West Branch Valley, who fought to preserve it.</p> + +<p>Towards the end of the Revolution the Fair Play settlers returned +to the territory, and a new problem arose, that of title claims or, +more particularly, the right of pre-emption. Still outside the bounds +of the Commonwealth and organized government, these frontier squatters +petitioned the Supreme Council for validation of their land +claims.<a name="FNanchor_36_276" id="FNanchor_36_276"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_276" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> Two petitions, one in August, 1781, and the other in +March, 1784, were sent. Their claims were recognized by an act of +the General Assembly passed in May, 1785.<a name="FNanchor_37_277" id="FNanchor_37_277"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_277" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> By this time, the land +in question had been opened for settlement by virtue of the +Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1784. Needless to say, their petitions had +been prompted in part by fear of land speculators who were attempting +to buy up their lands through the Land Office in Philadelphia. +The prominence of local leaders, such as Alexander Hamilton and +John Walker, is once again noted in these petitions. These petitions +achieved notable results in that the right of pre-emption for the West +Branch squatters was recognized by the Commonwealth long before +the national government endorsed the principle. Furthermore, the +validation of these claims beyond the purchase line of the Stanwix +Treaty of 1768 provided the first legal recognition of pre-emption in +the State of Pennsylvania.</p> + +<p>Unsuccessful in maintaining their homes against the incursive +Indians, but successful in regaining them by right of pre-emption, +the Fair Play settlers were also vitally concerned with representative +democracy. Locally, on the county level, and in the Province and +State, these frontiersmen sought to make their wishes known, both to +and through their political leaders. How well they achieved these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +goals was influenced by the number of persons whom they elected +to both legal and extra-legal offices at the various political levels.</p> + +<p>The Fair Play settlers managed to send two of their associates to +the General Assembly in the decade after Lexington and Concord.<a name="FNanchor_38_278" id="FNanchor_38_278"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_278" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> +These two, Robert Fleming and Frederick Antes, constituted a disproportionate +representation, when one considers the limited population +of the Fair Play community and the general under-representation +of the frontier counties at this period. In fact, a few hundred +families in and around the West Branch were surprisingly fortunate +to have one of their number, Robert Fleming, in the General Assembly +when, following a petition from the frontier counties in 1776, a +new apportionment created an assembly in which fifty-eight legislators +represented Pennsylvania's 300,000 people.<a name="FNanchor_39_279" id="FNanchor_39_279"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_279" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> However, the elections +of both Fleming and Antes came after the new constitution of 1776, +in which each county was given six representatives.<a name="FNanchor_40_280" id="FNanchor_40_280"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_280" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> It can hardly +be said that the West Branch Valley lacked adequate representation +in the councils of the State.</p> + +<p>Furthermore, Frederick Antes was a delegate to that State Constitutional +Convention. This not only emphasizes the leadership role +of Antes, but also points up the good fortune of the Fair Play settlers +in having one of their community participate in the framing of the +new State government. Although the Fair Play settlers lived beyond +the legal limits of settlement, they were very much involved in its +political affairs.</p> + +<p>Aside from the General Assembly and the Constitutional Convention, +these pioneers of the Northumberland County frontier placed +three men on the county bench, one of whom was presiding judge.<a name="FNanchor_41_281" id="FNanchor_41_281"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_281" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> +Fair Play men became justices of fair play in the county courts.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p> +<p>Concerning other county offices, the key position of sheriff was held +continuously from 1779 to 1785 by members of the Fair Play community.<a name="FNanchor_42_282" id="FNanchor_42_282"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_282" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> +Here again, it appears that the proper administration of +justice could be expected from Fair Play men.</p> + +<p>Locally, the rotational system of the Fair Play tribunal and the +frequent changes in the composition of the Committee of Safety give +rise to the conclusion that political democracy, in the sense of active +participation in public office, was truly a characteristic of the Fair +Play territory. Nine different men served on the three-man Committee +of Safety from February of 1776 to February of 1777, three new +members being elected semi-annually. Except for the two or three +years following the Great Runaway, the three members of the Fair +Play tribunal were elected annually.</p> + +<p>In conclusion, then, what can be said regarding the leadership of +the Fair Play settlers? Except for the dangers from Indian hostility, +which were compounded by the settlers' limited manpower, the leadership +was more than adequate, one might say eminently successful, in +meeting the needs of the frontier. It enacted law, interpreted it, and +saw to it that the law was carried out on every political level with +which the West Branch pioneers had contact. In short, it gave them +a government of, by, and for themselves. This was <i>real</i> representation +by spokesmen of a small community, very different from <i>virtual</i> representation +in a distant Parliament, from which their independence +had now been declared.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_241" id="Footnote_1_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_241"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Edwin MacMinn, <i>On the Frontier with Colonel Antes</i> (Camden, N. J., 1900). +This book is a mosaic of primary and secondary sources dealing with the entire +area, rather than a standard biographical treatment of its particular subject.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_242" id="Footnote_2_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_242"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Merle Curti, <i>The Making of an American Community: A Case Study of Democracy +in a Frontier County</i> (Stanford, 1959), pp. 417-441. This entire fifteenth chapter +is devoted to both a quantitative and qualitative analysis of "leadership."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_243" id="Footnote_3_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_243"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Wealth, i.e., liquid assets, was not necessarily a criterion on this agrarian frontier, +where a man's assets were not easily convertible into cash. Hence, property +was the main economic source of value.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_244" id="Footnote_4_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_244"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> The records of the first State and county officers are found in the <i>Pennsylvania +Archives</i>, Second Series, III, 768-772, and John Blair Linn, <i>Annals of Buffalo Valley</i> +(Harrisburg, 1877), pp. 558-563. Some data are also available in Linn, <i>History +of Centre and Clinton Counties</i>. +</p><p> +The tax listings were located in the <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Third Series, XIX, +437, 468, 557, and 618-622. Mrs. Russell also collected a listing for the years 1774 +to 1800 for Northumberland County. Court records, pension claims, Meginness' +<i>Otzinachson</i> (1889) and <i>Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania</i> provided the remaining +data.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_245" id="Footnote_5_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_245"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> MacMinn, <i>On the Frontier with Colonel Antes</i>, p. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_246" id="Footnote_6_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_246"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 20-21. MacMinn also calls the senior Antes the father of the Unity +Conferences of Christian Endeavor and presents a copy of a letter written on Dec. +17, 1741, calling for a New Year's Day meeting of Christians in Germantown in +1742 in support of this statement. Of his minor judicial role, MacMinn offers this +account published in Christopher Saur's <i>Pensylvanische Berichte</i> for May 16, +1756: "Were such magistrates more numerous, the poor would not have cause to +complain and to weep over gross injustices which they have to suffer because persons +are respected."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_247" id="Footnote_7_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_247"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 248.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_248" id="Footnote_8_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_248"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Meginness, <i>Otzinachson</i> (1889), p. 484. <i>See also</i>, MacMinn, <i>On the Frontier with +Colonel Antes</i>, p. 324.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_249" id="Footnote_9_249"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_249"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> MacMinn, <i>On the Frontier with Colonel Antes</i>, pp. 316, 413; and <i>Pennsylvania +Archives</i>, Second Series, III, p. 769.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_250" id="Footnote_10_250"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_250"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Linn, <i>History of Centre and Clinton Counties</i>, p. 472.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_251" id="Footnote_11_251"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_251"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> "Eleanor Coldren's Deposition," pp. 220-222.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_252" id="Footnote_12_252"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_252"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Linn, <i>Annals of the Buffalo Valley</i>, p. 95; and Meginness, <i>Otzinachson</i> (1889), +p. 473.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_253" id="Footnote_13_253"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_253"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> MacMinn, <i>On the Frontier with Colonel Antes</i>, p. 316.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_254" id="Footnote_14_254"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_254"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Linn, <i>History of Centre and Clinton Counties</i>, p. 473.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_255" id="Footnote_15_255"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_255"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Second Series, III, 770.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_256" id="Footnote_16_256"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_256"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> MacMinn, <i>On the Frontier with Colonel Antes</i>, pp. 416-420. See also Alex. Patterson +to John Dickinson (October 28, 1783) in the Zebulon Butler Papers, Wyoming +Historical and Geological Society, Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Patterson, speaking of +Antes' failure to arrest Zebulon Butler, said of Antes: "The Sheriff has not done +his duty nor do I believe he intends it being. A party man among which I am +sorry to see so little principels of humanity or honnor, Men who wish for popularity +at the Expense of the Propperty and perhaps blood of their fellow Citizens...."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_257" id="Footnote_17_257"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_257"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Second Series, III, 768-772, and MacMinn, <i>On the +Frontier with Colonel Antes</i>, pp. 330, 395, and 413.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_258" id="Footnote_18_258"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_258"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Second Series, III, 769.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_259" id="Footnote_19_259"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_259"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 771.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_260" id="Footnote_20_260"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_260"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 769, 771; Linn, <i>History of Centre and Clinton Counties</i>, pp. 473-474; +and <i>Colonial Records</i>, XI, 367.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_261" id="Footnote_21_261"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_261"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Third Series, XIX, 618.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_262" id="Footnote_22_262"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_262"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> MacMinn, <i>On the Frontier with Colonel Antes</i>, pp. 12 and 420.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_263" id="Footnote_23_263"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_263"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Third Series, XIX, 437.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_264" id="Footnote_24_264"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_264"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Colonial Records</i>, XII. 137.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_265" id="Footnote_25_265"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_265"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> <i>Fithian: Journal</i>, p. 81.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_266" id="Footnote_26_266"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_266"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Linn, <i>History of Centre and Clinton Counties</i>, p. 473. The full account of +Hamilton's military service is given in the Hamilton Pension Papers in the Wagner +Collection, Muncy Historical Society. Hamilton had also been a member of the +group commissioned to lay out a road from Bald Eagle Creek to Fort Augusta. +Linn, <i>History</i>, p. 472.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_267" id="Footnote_27_267"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_267"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 474, and Meginness, <i>Otzinachson</i> (1889), p. 474.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_268" id="Footnote_28_268"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_268"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Second Series, III, 770.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_269" id="Footnote_29_269"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_269"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Linn, <i>History of Centre and Clinton Counties</i>, p. 472.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_270" id="Footnote_30_270"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_270"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 473.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_271" id="Footnote_31_271"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_271"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>; Yeates, <i>Pennsylvania Reports</i>, I, 498; and Russell, "Signers of the Pine +Creek Declaration of Independence," p. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_272" id="Footnote_32_272"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_272"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Becker, <i>Beginnings of the American People</i>, p. 180.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_273" id="Footnote_33_273"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_273"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Second Series, III, pp. 217-218. The petition was dated +June 21, 1778. The situation had been further complicated by the enlistment the +previous summer of many of the able-bodied men to aid Washington in Cambridge, +Massachusetts. These men, "early in the service of their Country from the +unpurchased land on the West Branch of the River Susquehanna," deprived the +valley of its available manpower.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_274" id="Footnote_34_274"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_274"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>See</i> <a href="#CHAPTER_TWO">Chapter Two</a> for a fuller description of the Great Runaway.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_275" id="Footnote_35_275"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_275"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Helen Herritt Russell, "The Great Runaway of 1778," <i>The Journal of the +Lycoming Historical Society</i>, II, No. 4 (1961), 3-10. This article contains a few +additions to an article by the same name by Mrs. Russell published in <i>The Northumberland +County Historical Society Proceedings and Addresses</i>, XXIII (1960), +1-16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_276" id="Footnote_36_276"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_276"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Second Series, III, 518-522.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_277" id="Footnote_37_277"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_277"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Smith, <i>Laws</i>, II, 195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_278" id="Footnote_38_278"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_278"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Robert Fleming and Frederick Antes, as previously noted, had been elected in +1777 and 1784, respectively.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_279" id="Footnote_39_279"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_279"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Dunaway, <i>History of Pennsylvania</i>, pp. 176, 196. Of these fifty-eight, twenty-eight +came from the frontier counties of York, Berks, Bedford, Cumberland, and +Northumberland.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_280" id="Footnote_40_280"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_280"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Wallace, <i>Pennsylvania: Seed of a Nation</i>, pp. 105-106.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_281" id="Footnote_41_281"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_281"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> As previously noted, Henry Antes had been appointed judge of the Court of +Quarter Sessions in 1775, and Frederick Antes and Fleming had been elected in +1780 and 1785, respectively. Frederick Antes was president judge.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_282" id="Footnote_42_282"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_282"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Second Series, III, 770.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_SEVEN" id="CHAPTER_SEVEN"></a><small>CHAPTER SEVEN</small></h2> + +<h3 class="ity"><big>Democracy on the Pennsylvania Frontier</big></h3> + + +<p>One of the most often used and least understood words in +the American lexicon is the term "democracy." In the colonial +period, it was seldom used, except in denunciation. However, +properly defined, it can help us to evaluate the Fair Play settlers in +some understandable context. Etymologically stemming from two +Greek words, <i>demos</i>, meaning "the people," and <i>kratos</i>, meaning +"authority," democracy means "authority in the people" or, we can +say, "self-determination." By self-determination is meant the right +of the people to decide their own political, economic, and social +institutions.</p> + +<p>Self-determination in its basic, or political, context can best be +explained through James Bryce's definition of a democracy. Lord +Bryce said:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The word Democracy has been used ever since the time +of Herodotus to denote that form of government in which +the ruling power of a State is legally vested, not in any particular +class or classes, but in the members of the community +as a whole.<a name="FNanchor_1_283" id="FNanchor_1_283"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_283" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p></div> + +<p>Analyzing the key phrases in Bryce's statement, we can best clarify +the meaning of political self-determination.</p> + +<p>(1) "The ruling power of a State." Self-determination, as it is +employed here, concerns the right of the people of Fair Play society +to determine their own political institutions. Fair Play society did +not constitute a state, but it was a political community, and in that +sense Bryce's definition applies. Living outside the legal limit of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> +settlement of Province and Commonwealth, these people could not +obtain legal authority for their own rule, so, following the prevalent +theory of the social compact, they formed their own government. +The result was the annual election, by the people, of the Fair Play +tribunal, the source of final authority in the Fair Play territory.</p> + +<p>(2) "Is legally vested." Fair Play society was actually illegal; that +is to say, the settlements were made in violation of the laws of the +Province. However, the extra-legal government which was formed +was created by, and responsive to, the popular will. Since the actual +authority for rule was vested in the people, it can be considered as +legal for the Fair Play community.</p> + +<p>(3) "In the members of the community." The members of the +Fair Play community, as previously noted, were not strictly resident +within the geographic confines of the Fair Play territory. Communities, +it has been said, are total ways of life, complexes Of behavior composed +of all the institutions necessary to carry on a complete life, +formed into a working whole.<a name="FNanchor_2_284" id="FNanchor_2_284"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_284" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Self-determination, as it is used here, +suggests that the community as a whole participates in the decision-making +process.</p> + +<p>(4) "Not in any particular class or classes, but in the members of +the community as a whole." Bryce's definition here extends the interpretation +of "the members of the community." Obviously, if any +particular class or classes were vested with the final political authority, +then the people as a whole, that is, the Fair Play community, would +not exercise self-determination.</p> + +<p>The concept of self-determination, carried to an economic context, +suggests that the people of the Fair Play community had the right +to determine their own economic institutions. This means that they +had the right to choose their own portion of land, subject, of course, +to the will of the existing community, and to utilize it according to +their own needs and interests. This meant that no undemocratic and +feudalistic practices, such as primogeniture and entail, could exist. +Granted that this is self-determination rather broadly interpreted in +an economic context, the question is whether or not these people had +the right to choose their own plot of ground and work it as they saw +fit, unhampered by any preordained system of discrimination or +restriction.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> + +<p>Socially, the idea of self-determination is applied to evaluate the religious +institutions, the class structure, and the value system. The +application concerns, once again, the authority of the people to determine +their own social patterns. It questions whether or not any +Fair Play settler could worship according to the dictates of his own +conscience. It evaluates the class structure to ascertain whether or not +a superimposed caste system ordered the class structure of Fair Play +society, rather than a community-determined system in which choice +and opportunity provided flexibility and mobility. And finally, it +considers whether or not the values of the Fair Play settlers were inculcated +by some internal clique or external force, rather than being +developed by the members of the community themselves.</p> + +<p>Did democracy exist on this Pennsylvania frontier? Was the Fair +Play system marked by real representation and popular control? These +questions must be answered before any judgment can be made concerning +political democracy in the West Branch Valley.</p> + +<p>Was there equality of economic opportunity on this farmers' frontier? +Was land available to all who sought it, and on equal terms? +These problems need to be considered before we can attach the label +"democratic" on the economic life of the Fair Play settlers.</p> + +<p>If democracy prizes diversity, as some claim, were the diverse elements +of Fair Play society equally recognized?<a name="FNanchor_3_285" id="FNanchor_3_285"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_285" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Was the class structure +open or closed, mobile or fixed? Did the mixed national stocks +enjoy religious freedom? One needs to inquire into each of these +areas prior to a final evaluation of Fair Play society.</p> + +<p>A useful tool for evaluating political democracy can be found in +Ranney and Kendall's <i>Democracy and the American Party System</i>.<a name="FNanchor_4_286" id="FNanchor_4_286"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_286" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> +It suggests the use of popular sovereignty, political equality, popular +consultation, and majority rule as criteria for democracy. Accepting +these criteria as basic principles of democracy, we can begin to +analyze the democratic character of the Fair Play system.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p> +<p>A political system based upon popular sovereignty is one in which +the final authority to rule is vested in the people. The question of +who the people are is still before us today. In the fullest sense, popular +sovereignty means rule by all the people, but in colonial America +the "people" was a much more qualified term. It generally signified +white, Protestant, adult males who were property owners. In the Fair +Play territory, the ruling "people" were "the whole body" of adult +male settlers who annually elected their governing tribunal and participated +in the decisions of its "court."<a name="FNanchor_5_287" id="FNanchor_5_287"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_287" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> Lacking an established +church, or any church for that matter, and possessing property lying +beyond legal limits of settlement, the Fair Play settlers could not +have enforced religious or property qualifications for voting, even if +they had so desired, and there is no evidence to indicate that they +did. Furthermore, the frequency of elections, which were held annually, +and the principle of rotating the offices among the settlers +tended to emphasize the sovereignty of the people in this part of the +West Branch Valley. The right of suffrage, it is true, had not been +extended to women, but this was the rule throughout colonial America. +Popular sovereignty, in its qualified eighteenth-century sense, was +a basic characteristic of the political democracy which existed on this +frontier.</p> + +<p>Political equality, that is "one man, one vote," was practiced by +the pioneers of the West Branch. There was no additional vote given +to the large property owners; in fact, as the tax lists indicate, there +were no large property owners within the geographic limits of the +Fair Play territory. Thus, each man, rather than a small ruling +oligarchy, had the opportunity to participate in the decision-making +process of the Fair Play community.</p> + +<p>In a democratic society, the people must be consulted by the policy +makers prior to their exercise of the power of decision. Among the +Fair Play settlers this basically democratic principle was vividly demonstrated +in the case of disputed land titles, the primary concern of +the Fair Play men. In both Eleanor Coldren's deposition in behalf +of her deceased husband and in the Huff-Latcha case, it was established +that the unanimous consent of the prospective neighbors had +to be obtained before a favorable decision was rendered in behalf<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> +of the land claimants.<a name="FNanchor_6_288" id="FNanchor_6_288"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_288" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> The frequency of elections, combined +with the ease and regularity of assembly, provided the settlers with +the opportunity to become acquainted with the circumstances of +their problems. Here again, the paucity of specific data prompts us +to some speculation regarding the nature and location of these meetings. +However, it must be added, the Hamilton pension papers and +the petitions to the Supreme Council in Philadelphia refer specifically +to meetings at Fort Horn and Fort Antes.<a name="FNanchor_7_289" id="FNanchor_7_289"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_289" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> Direct representation +based upon popular consultation was a distinct trait of the political +democracy in the Fair Play territory.</p> + +<p>The fourth principle of political democracy, majority rule, is probably +the most controversial and confusing element of the combination. +Absolute majority rule, its critics tell us, means majority "tyranny" +and minority acquiescence, despite the fact that this fear is not empirically +demonstrable.<a name="FNanchor_8_290" id="FNanchor_8_290"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_290" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> The majority ruled absolutely in the Fair +Play territory just as it did in the New England town meeting, and +with similar results. However, it never restricted suffrage or public +office to particular religious or nationality groups. Scotch-Irish, +English, and German settlers participated equally in the political +process. However, as we pointed out in the last chapter, the English +did not enjoy leadership roles in the community.<a name="FNanchor_9_291" id="FNanchor_9_291"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_291" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> Whether this was +by accident or by design is difficult to ascertain. Perhaps it was just +a further demonstration of the absolute rule of the majority with the +Scotch-Irish and the Germans combining to form that majority.</p> + +<p>The nature of community implies shared interests and the prevailing +interest in this frontier community was survival. Necessity undoubtedly +caused the English minority to accept the Scotch-Irish and +German leadership, because forbearance meant survival. Conversely, +the Scotch-Irish and Germans could, and did, support the English in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> +positions of responsibility on the basis of their mutual needs and +their desire to maintain the community.<a name="FNanchor_10_292" id="FNanchor_10_292"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_292" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> Not only physical survival +but also economic survival were mutually desirable to Fair Play +community members, and the decisions of the court were rendered on +the basis of equal justice.<a name="FNanchor_11_293" id="FNanchor_11_293"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_293" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p>As long as minority feelings are given free expression in an atmosphere +of mutual concern, there is little danger of misinterpretation +by the majority. Such a climate prevailed in the meetings of the +Fair Play settlers and the sessions of the Fair Play men; at least, there +is no available evidence to the contrary.</p> + +<p>The nature and role of consensus in the Fair Play territory hinged +upon what was best for the community. Fundamental agreement was +reached, based upon mutual need apparent from open discussion. +In the event of conflict, forbearance, which was in the best interest +of the community, could be expected.<a name="FNanchor_12_294" id="FNanchor_12_294"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_294" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> An examination of the appearance +dockets of the county courts for Northumberland and Lycoming +counties suggests, however, that this consensus did not extend +to questions of land titles. Nevertheless, the all-inclusiveness of signatures +on petitions to the Supreme Executive Council for protection +from the Indians and for the recognition of the right of pre-emption, +and the general response of the Fair Play settlers to calls for troops +for the Continental Army indicate to some degree the nature and extent +of that consensus.<a name="FNanchor_13_295" id="FNanchor_13_295"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_295" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>Democracy, that is self-determination, did exist among the Fair +Play settlers of this Pennsylvania frontier. There was no outside authority<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +which legislated the affairs of the pioneers of the West Branch. +They selected their own representatives, the Fair Play men, and +maintained their control over them, a control which was assured both +by annual elections and the full participation of the settlers in the +decision-making process. The will of the majority prevailed, and that +will was expressed through a community consensus reached by the full +participation of political equals. It was neither radical nor revolutionary, +but it was typical of the American colonial experience. The +Fair Play settlers had not "jumped the gun" on independence, although +they participated in the movement. They did not rebel +against a ruling aristocracy. They simply governed themselves.</p> + +<p>Self-determination, as we have already stated, includes the right of +the people to decide upon their own economic institutions. This right +was asserted on the farmers' frontier of the West Branch. With free +land available to those who worked it, provided the neighbors and +the Fair Play men approved, economic opportunity was shared by the +Scotch-Irish, English, German, Scots, Irish, Welsh, and French settlers.<a name="FNanchor_14_296" id="FNanchor_14_296"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_296" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> +This sharing, in itself, was a demonstration of economic democracy.</p> + +<p>The labor system, too, was an affirmation of the democratic ideal. +Because free land was available in the Fair Play territory, neither +slavery nor involuntary servitude existed in this region, although it +was found in immediately adjacent areas.<a name="FNanchor_15_297" id="FNanchor_15_297"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_297" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> Free labor, family labor +to be more exact, was the system employed in this portion of the +West Branch Valley. Noticeable, too, was the spirit of cooperation +in such enterprises as cabin-raisings, barn-raisings, harvesting, cornhuskings +and the like. This mutual helpfulness was characteristic of +the frontier and obviated the necessity of any enforced labor system.</p> + +<p>Tenancy was occasionally practiced in the Fair Play territory, although +it appears that the tenant farmer suffered no feelings of inferiority, +if the following case is any example:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>... Peter Dewitt ... leased the land in question to William +McIlhatton as a Cropper, who took possession of it after +Huggins left it: That the Terms of the Lease were that McIlhatton +should possess the Land about two or three Years,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +rendering hold of the Crops to be raised unto Peter Dewitt, +who was to find him a Team and farming Utensils: That +the Lease was in Writing and Lodged with a certain Daniel +Cruger who lived in the Neighborhood at that Time.<a name="FNanchor_16_298" id="FNanchor_16_298"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_298" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p></div> + +<p>Sometime later, McElhattan obtained the lease from Cruger and +sold "his right" to William Dunn, claiming that Dewitt had failed +to fill his end of the bargain, despite the fact that Eleanor Coldren +gave evidence to the contrary. When challenged for selling Dewitt's +land, McElhattan responded in a fashion which demonstrates the independent +spirit of this lessee. He said "that he only sold his Right +to Dunn and if Dunn would be such a fool as to give him forty or +fifty pounds for Nothing He McIlhatton would be a greater fool for +not taking it—for that Dunn knew what Right he (McIlhatton) +had."<a name="FNanchor_17_299" id="FNanchor_17_299"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_299" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> Obviously, if this case is indicative, and there were others, +share-cropping did not induce attitudes of subservience.</p> + +<p>Religious freedom, in which Pennsylvania ranked second only to +Rhode Island in colonial America, was enjoyed by the frontiersmen +of the West Branch. It might, however, be better described as a +freedom from religion rather than a freedom of religion. With no +system of local taxation and no regular church, there was no establishment +of religion. Nevertheless, this is not to suggest that religious +qualifications were not applied to prospective landowners, potential +voters, or members of the Fair Play community. Religious liberty had +been guaranteed to Pennsylvanians in the Charter of Privileges of +1701, and no religious test was required for suffrage in the new State +constitution in 1776. Belief in one God and in the inspiration of the +Scriptures was required for members of the assembly, but bona fide +Fair Play settlers were disqualified on geographic grounds anyhow.<a name="FNanchor_18_300" id="FNanchor_18_300"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_300" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>There is no record of religious discrimination among the Fair Play +settlers. In addition to the absence of a regular church, this was +probably due, in part, to the religious composition of the population. +The pioneers of the West Branch were Protestant Christians,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +and if denominational in their approach, either Presbyterian or Methodist. +The friction between Methodists and Presbyterians appears to +have been doctrinal rather than political or social.<a name="FNanchor_19_301" id="FNanchor_19_301"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_301" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> + +<p>The comparative economic equality in an area of free land had +a democratizing influence on the social class structure. This three-class +stratification, composed of property owners distinguished by their +morality, other property owners, and tenants, was an open-class system +marked by a noticeable degree of mobility. Fair Play settlers who +began as tenants could, and did, become property owners.</p> + +<p>Since no one in the Fair Play territory could claim more than 300 +acres under the Pre-Emption Act of 1785, there was little chance for +the development of an aristocratic class.<a name="FNanchor_20_302" id="FNanchor_20_302"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_302" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> It was a society of achievement +in which the race was open to anyone who could acquire land, +with the approval of his neighbors and the Fair Play men, and "improve" +it. There is no evidence to indicate that the availability of +land was restricted because of national origin, religious affiliation, or +a previous condition of servitude. This is not to say that the judgments +of neighbors may not have been based upon these criteria, but, +at least, there is no record of such discrimination. The Fair Play settlers +were eighteenth-century souls and romantic egalitarianism was +not a characteristic of such persons. The frontier, however, broke +"the cake of custom" and the necessities of that experience contributed +to the development of democracy as we have defined it.</p> + +<p>A recent writer, analyzing the "democracy" of the Scotch-Irish, made +his evaluation on the basis of the contemporary French definition of +liberty, equality, and fraternity.<a name="FNanchor_21_303" id="FNanchor_21_303"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_303" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> On this basis, the Scotch-Irish fail; +but if we equate democracy with self-determination, the Scotch-Irish +and the Fair Play settlers of the West Branch Valley can be seen as +thoroughgoing democrats.</p> + +<p>The value system of the pioneers on the West Branch of the Susquehanna +reflected, at least in part, the democracy of the frontier. The +spirit of cooperation and mutual helpfulness was a prime characteristic +of this frontier, as it was of others. Cabin-raisings, barn-raisings,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +and the cooperative enterprises at harvesttime enhanced the spirit of +community and brought the settlers together in common efforts, which +demonstrated their equality. Individualism could be harnessed for +the common good, and such was the case among the Fair Play settlers +in the struggle for economic survival.</p> + +<p>Faith, patriotism, and temperance were not necessarily democratic, +but they also were part of the value system of the Fair Play settlers. +In matters of faith, there was a certain "live and let live" philosophy, +which had democratic implications. Despite the conflict between Methodists +and Presbyterians, the members of the Presbyterian majority +made their homes available to Methodist preachers.<a name="FNanchor_22_304" id="FNanchor_22_304"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_304" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> This demonstrated +a willingness at least to hear "the other side." Such an atmosphere +is conducive to democracy, if not to conversion. There is +little doubt, however, that this receptivity was due in part to the absence +of any "regular" church or preacher. Here again, the necessities +of the frontier made "democrats" of its occupants.</p> + +<p>The most intense patriots are often ethnocentric and chauvinistic. +The Fair Play settlers were such patriots, according to one journalist.<a name="FNanchor_23_305" id="FNanchor_23_305"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_305" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> +However, the patriotism of the eighteenth century had not reached +the level of concern for all mankind which finds expression today. +The pioneers of the West Branch were democrats in an age not yet +conditioned to democracy.</p> + +<p>Temperance, particularly with regard to the use of spirited beverages, +usually implies abstinence, which is certainly not democratic +if it is applied in a formally imposed prohibition without any local +option. Abstinence by choice, however, is purely a matter of self-determination. +But in an area where drinking was a commonly accepted +practice, such as the frontier, the term signifies moderation. +In the Fair Play territory drinking, but not drunkenness, was condoned. +The spirit of the frontier, or the use of it, was not incompatible with +democracy.</p> + +<p>Frontier values, for the most part then, were democratic in tendency. +Noteworthy for their attitude of community cooperation and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> +mutual helpfulness, supported by a faith which could not afford to be +exclusive, temperate in their personal habits, particularly in the use +of alcohol, the patriots of the Fair Play territory looked to a future +filled with promise and opportunity for all the diverse elements of their +society. This is the democracy which the frontier nurtured. It flourished +in the West Branch Valley.</p> + +<p>In summary then, was self-determination the central theme in the +Fair Play territory? Did the Fair Play settlers truly determine their +own political, economic, and social institutions? The available data +suggest that they did.</p> + +<p>The democracy of the Fair Play settlers encompassed popular +sovereignty, political equality, popular consultation, majority rule, +religious freedom, an open class structure, free land, free labor, +and a value system whose dominating feature was mutual helpfulness. +The democracy of Fair Play was basically the fair play of +democracy.</p> + +<p>Observable in this atmosphere were the traits of a developing +American character, traits which the frontier historian, Frederick +Jackson Turner, defined as democratic.<a name="FNanchor_24_306" id="FNanchor_24_306"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_306" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> These included the composite +nationality of a population of mixed national origins; the +self-reliance which the new experience of the frontier developed; the +independence, both of action and in spirit, which the relative isolation +of the environment promoted; a rationalistic, or pragmatic, approach +to problems necessitated by circumstances lacking in precedents for +solution; and perhaps a growing nationalism, marked by an identification +with something larger than the mere Provincial assembly, +something existing, but not yet realized, the American nation.</p> + +<p>These traits, in conjunction with Turner's thesis, are a major concern +of the final chapter. That chapter will provide an evaluation of +frontier ethnography as a technique for testing the validity of this +interpretation of Turner's thesis on the Fair Play frontier of the +West Branch Valley.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_283" id="Footnote_1_283"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_283"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Quoted in Austin Ranney and Willmoore Kendall, <i>Democracy and the American +Party System</i> (New York, 1956), pp. 23-24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_284" id="Footnote_2_284"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_284"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Don Martindale, <i>American Society</i> (New York, 1960), p. 105.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_285" id="Footnote_3_285"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_285"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> National Education Association, Educational Policies Commission, <i>The Education +of Free Men in American Democracy</i> (Washington, 1941), pp. 25-26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_286" id="Footnote_4_286"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_286"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Pp. 18-39.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_287" id="Footnote_5_287"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_287"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Smith, <i>Laws</i>, II, 195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_288" id="Footnote_6_288"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_288"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> "Eleanor Coldren's Deposition," pp. 220-222; Lycoming County Docket No. 2, +Commencing 1797, No. 32; <i>see also</i>, Chapter Two, <i>passim</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_289" id="Footnote_7_289"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_289"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Second Series, III, 217; and the Muncy Historical Society, +Wagner Collection, Hamilton Papers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_290" id="Footnote_8_290"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_290"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Ranney and Kendall, <i>Democracy and the American Party System</i>, p. 47. The +authors argue here that the history of town meetings in America and the Parliamentary +system in Great Britain shows hundreds of years without majority tyranny +or civil war.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_291" id="Footnote_9_291"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_291"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Chapter Six, pp. 78, 84.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_292" id="Footnote_10_292"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_292"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Second Series, III, 770. For example, John Chatham, +an English miller, was elected coroner in 1782, a minor role to be sure, but he +was supported.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_293" id="Footnote_11_293"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_293"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Smith, <i>Laws</i>, II, 196-197. In <i>Sweeney</i> vs. <i>Toner</i>, an Englishman, Toner's +property right was upheld because his absence was for military service, despite +the fact that Sweeney, a Scotch-Irishman, was a majority representative.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_294" id="Footnote_12_294"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_294"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Linn, "Indian Land and Its Fair Play Settlers," p. 424. The case cited here, +<i>Huff</i> vs. <i>Satcha</i>, saw the use of militia to drive off a landholder whose title had +been denied by the Fair Play men.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_295" id="Footnote_13_295"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_295"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Second Series, III, 217-218, 417-418, and 518-522. On +page 417, fifty-three officers and soldiers are described as "early in the service from +the unpurchased land." Thirty-nine petitioners (p. 520) sought pre-emption, a +claim repeated over two years later by some fifty-three settlers. The petition to +the Supreme Council (p. 217) for protection from the Indians in 1778 prior to the +Great Runaway bore forty-seven names.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_296" id="Footnote_14_296"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_296"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>See</i> Chapter Two for a demographic analysis of the Fair Play settlers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_297" id="Footnote_15_297"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_297"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Clark, "Pioneer Life in the New Purchase," p. 28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_298" id="Footnote_16_298"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_298"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> "Eleanor Coldren's Deposition," p. 222.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_299" id="Footnote_17_299"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_299"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_300" id="Footnote_18_300"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_300"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>See</i> Chapter One for the geographic bounds of the Fair Play territory. The +Fair Play territory did not come under State jurisdiction until the second Stanwix +Treaty in 1784. Regardless, it must be remembered that settlers on the south +bank of the Susquehanna actually participated in the political, economic, and +social life of the community. The fact that these participants were often community +leaders was pointed out in Chapter Six.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_301" id="Footnote_19_301"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_301"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>See</i> the footnotes in Chapter Five referring to <i>The Journal of William Colbert</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_302" id="Footnote_20_302"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_302"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Smith, <i>Laws</i>, II, 195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_303" id="Footnote_21_303"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_303"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Leyburn, <i>The Scotch-Irish</i>, pp. 311-314.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_304" id="Footnote_22_304"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_304"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> <i>The Journal of William Colbert.</i> Colbert had been received at Annanias +McFaddon's (Aug. 20, 1792, Sept. 4, 1793) and John Hamilton's (July 23, 1792, +Aug. 20, 1793), where he both preached and lodged. Both were Presbyterians, +and, as noted earlier, Colbert expressed grave doubts concerning his efforts there.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_305" id="Footnote_23_305"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_305"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> "Diary of the Unknown Traveler," p. 307.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_306" id="Footnote_24_306"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_306"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Turner, <i>Frontier and Section</i>, p. 5.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_EIGHT" id="CHAPTER_EIGHT"></a><small>CHAPTER EIGHT</small></h2> + +<h3 class="ity"><big>Frontier Ethnography and the Turner Thesis</big></h3> + + +<p>In the first chapter of his recent study, <i>The Making of an American +Community</i>, Merle Curti suggests that "less is to be gained +by further analysis of Turner's brilliant and far-ranging but often +ambiguous presentations than by patient and careful study of particular +frontier areas in the light of the investigator's interpretation +of Turner's theory."<a name="FNanchor_1_307" id="FNanchor_1_307"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_307" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> This study was undertaken with just such a +purpose in mind. In addition, it is hoped that this investigation will +give some insight into the value of ethnography and its usefulness as +an analytic technique in studying the frontier.</p> + +<p>By definition, ethnography is "the scientific description of nations +or races of men, their customs, habits, and differences."<a name="FNanchor_2_308" id="FNanchor_2_308"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_308" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Frontier +ethnography is the scientific description of the full institutional pattern +of a particular group of people, located specifically on a certain +frontier, within a certain period of time. That institutional pattern +is described from the analysis of data concerning the political and +economic systems, and the social structure, including religion, the +family, the value system, social classes, art, music, recreation, mythology, +and folklore. Also, as noted in the first two chapters of this +study, geographic and demographic data have been analyzed in an +attempt to picture the area under observation and the people who +inhabited that region. It is believed that these various data present +a fuller view of the "way of life" of these people than the earlier +politico-military accounts of nineteenth-century historians.</p> + +<p>Of course, there are certain limitations in this particular analysis. +This study is not meant to be typical of the frontier experience or +necessarily representative of frontier communities. However, it would +have broader implications if a similar study were made for Greene +County in western Pennsylvania, where a group composed mainly of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +Scotch-Irish Presbyterians also set up a "Fair Play system."<a name="FNanchor_3_309" id="FNanchor_3_309"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_309" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Furthermore, +it is my interpretation of Turner's thesis which is being tested, +not the validity of the thesis.</p> + +<p>Despite the fact that the Fair Play settlers and their "system" have +been referred to by both Pennsylvania and frontier historians in the +twentieth century, neither the settlers nor their system has been +studied in depth.<a name="FNanchor_4_310" id="FNanchor_4_310"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_310" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Meginness and Linn, the foremost historians of the +West Branch, were both nineteenth-century writers, and, unfortunately, +twentieth-century scholars have not considered the Fair Play +settlers worthy of their study. Biographical studies are limited to the +work of Edwin MacMinn on Colonel Antes, completed in 1900. As a +result, there has been a definite need for an investigation collating the +researches of these earlier historians and based upon the available +primary data. This study is an attempt to fill the void.</p> + +<p>The seeming paucity of primary source materials is a further complication +to the student of Fair Play history. However, letters, journals, +diaries, probate records, tax lists, pension claims, and court records +offer adequate data to the inquiring historian, although the +extra-legal character of the settlement seriously reduced the public +record. Nevertheless, the broad scope of ethnography provides the +kind of study for which the data supply a rather full picture of life +on this frontier. Political, economic, and social patterns are discernible, +although no day-by-day account for any extended period has been +uncovered.</p> + +<p>This ethnographic analysis demonstrates the merits of the "civilization +approach" to history. Examining every aspect of a society, it +provides more than a mere "battles and leaders" account. The result +gives insight into a "style of life" rather than a chronology of highlights. +This study has investigated the full institutional structure of +the Fair Play frontier, evaluating that structure in terms of a developing +democracy, or, at least, of democratic tendencies.</p> + +<p>American civilization was a frontier civilization from the outset, +and that frontier experience was significant in the development of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +American democracy. Frederick Jackson Turner's frontier thesis, +which has probably inspired more historical scholarship than any other +American thesis, stated that "the existence of an area of free land, its +continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward, +explain American development."<a name="FNanchor_5_311" id="FNanchor_5_311"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_311" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> That development took +place on successive frontiers stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific +Coast over a period of almost three centuries. Turner's second frontier, +the Allegheny Mountains, marked the farmers' frontier of the +Fair Play settlers of the West Branch Valley.</p> + +<p>It was on the frontier, according to Turner, that the "true" traits +of American character emerged; its composite nationality, its self-reliant +spirit, its independence of thought and action, its nationalism, and +its rationalistic approach to the problems of a pioneer existence. +The Fair Play settlers, American frontiersmen, suggested some of +these traits in their character. Recognizing the data limitations of +this study, the evidence indicates some validation of this test of Turner's +model. However, it would be presumptuous indeed to conclude +that this analysis offers a complete demonstration of the impact of +the frontier in the development of traits of character which Turner +classified as American.</p> + +<p>The composite nationality of the Fair Play settlers is particularly +evident from the demographic analysis offered at the beginning of +this study.<a name="FNanchor_6_312" id="FNanchor_6_312"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_312" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Seven different national stock groups appeared on this +frontier: Scotch-Irish, English, German, Scots, Irish, Welsh, and +French. Here, indeed, was "the crucible of the frontier," in which +settlers were "Americanized, liberated, and fused into a mixed race."<a name="FNanchor_7_313" id="FNanchor_7_313"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_313" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>The legendary self-reliance of the frontiersman is not without some +basis in fact. The nature of the frontier experience itself was conducive +to its development. Its appearance among the Fair Play settlers +is implied in various contexts. Politically, it is suggested in the creation +of the Fair Play men, the annual governing tribunal, an extra-legal +political agency in this extra-Provincial territory. Economically, +it is intimated in the image of the frontier farmer tackling the wilderness +with rifle and plow and the unbounded determination to make<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> +a better life for himself and his family. Socially, the self-reliance of +these doughty pioneers is indicated in the continuation of their religious +practices and worship, despite the absence of any organized +church. Their self reliance is indicated, as well, in the flexibility of a +social structure whose main criterion was achievement, a society in +which "what" you were was more important than "who" you were. +These examples are, of course, only brief glimpses of the elusive trait +of self-reliance which Turner considered typical of the frontier.</p> + +<p>Independence, or the ability to act independently, was a characteristic +frontier trait, according to Turner. The Fair Play settlers presented +some contradictions. It is true that they organized their own +system of government and the code under which it operated. However, +their key leaders lived on the periphery; and the settlers +petitioned the Commonwealth government for assistance in the vital +questions of defense and pre-emption rights.<a name="FNanchor_8_314" id="FNanchor_8_314"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_314" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> The Fair Play settlers +were generally independent, a condition promoted by the necessities +of frontier life; but, obviously, they were not isolated.</p> + +<p>It is difficult to assess the nationalizing influence of this particular +frontier. In the first place, aside from the Second Continental Congress, +there was no national government during most of the Fair +Play period. The Articles of Confederation were not ratified until +1781, and Fair Play territory was opened to settlement after the +Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1784. Furthermore, the patriotism of the +Fair Play settlers seems to reflect an ethnocentric pride in their own +territory and an exaggerated interpretation of its significance to the +developing nation.<a name="FNanchor_9_315" id="FNanchor_9_315"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_315" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> Their patriotism was apparently for an ideal, liberty, +to which they were devoted, having already enjoyed it in a nation +only recently declared, but yet to be recognized. And, for its support, +there had been a rush to the colors by these settlers "beyond +the purchase line."<a name="FNanchor_10_316" id="FNanchor_10_316"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_316" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> The "real American Revolution," as John Adams +described it, was "in the minds and hearts of the people," and it was +"effected before the war Commenced."<a name="FNanchor_11_317" id="FNanchor_11_317"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_317" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> That revolution had already<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +occurred in the Fair Play territory prior to the firing of "the shot +heard round the world" on Lexington green.</p> + +<p>The frontier experience had a profound influence on the development +of the American philosophy of pragmatism. Turner claimed +that it was "to the frontier" that "the American intellect owe[d] its +striking characteristics."<a name="FNanchor_12_318" id="FNanchor_12_318"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_318" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> And the Fair Play settlers showed that</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>... coarseness and strength combined with acuteness and inquisitiveness; +that practical, inventive turn of mind, quick +to find expedients; that masterful grasp of material things, +lacking in the artistic but powerful to effect great ends; that +restless, nervous energy; that dominant individualism, working +for good and for evil, and withal that buoyancy and exuberance +which comes with freedom....<a name="FNanchor_13_319" id="FNanchor_13_319"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_319" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p></div> + +<p>The frontiersman of the West Branch was a free spirit in a free +land, a doer rather than a thinker, more concerned with the "hows" +than the "whys" of survival. This practical approach to problems +can be seen in the homes he built, the tools he made, the clothes +he wore, the political and social systems under which he operated, and +the set of values by which he was motivated. The development of +these characteristic American traits owed much to the frontier and +the new experiences which it offered.</p> + +<p>This ethnographic analysis of the Fair Play settlers of the West +Branch Valley has attempted to present a clearer picture of the "style +of life" on this particular frontier and, in so doing, to suggest a further +technique for the frontier historian. There are, no doubt, certain +defects in this specific study, but the fault lies with the limitations +of the data rather than the technique. The scope of this investigation +has carried into questions of geography, demography, politics, +economics, social systems, and leadership. Unfortunately, the frontier +had not yet provided the leisure essential to artistic and aesthetic pursuits. +Consequently, these areas were given a limited treatment. Furthermore, +the mythology and folklore of this valley offered little of +record. However, the breadth of this analysis has furnished evidence +of the existence of democracy on this frontier and, thus, support for +Turner's thesis, or at least for this interpretation of it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> + +<p>The geographic analysis has clarified the question of the Tiadaghton, +demonstrating that Lycoming Creek, rather than Pine Creek, was the +true eastern boundary of the Fair Play territory. The substantial +destruction of an erroneous legend has been the main contribution +of the geographic part of this study.<a name="FNanchor_14_320" id="FNanchor_14_320"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_320" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> It is now clear that the Fair +Play territory extended from Lycoming Creek, on the north side of the +West Branch of the Susquehanna River, to the Great Island, just +east of Lock Haven. This frontier region was beyond the legal limit +of settlement of the Province and the Commonwealth from 1769 +to 1784. Hence, within its limits was formed the extra-legal political +system known as Fair Play.</p> + +<p>The demographic portion of this study has added to the undermining +of the frontier myth of the Scotch-Irish. The evidence presented +here indicates that it was the frontier, rather than national +origin, which affected the behavior of the pioneers of the West +Branch Valley. The Fair Play settlers, a mixed population of seven +national stock groups, reacted similarly to the common problems of +the frontier experience. In one important exception, the Fair Play +system itself, there is, however, an apparent contradiction. Since no +account of any "fair play system" has turned up in the annals of +the Cumberland Valley, the American reservoir of the Scotch-Irish, +it seems quite probable that the "system" originated in either Northern +Ireland or Scotland, or else on the frontier itself. This probability +offers good ground for further study, particularly when the existence +of a similar "system" in Greene County, which was found in conjunction +with this investigation, is considered.<a name="FNanchor_15_321" id="FNanchor_15_321"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_321" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> If the Fair Play system +originated on the frontier, why did not it also appear on the Virginia +and Carolina frontiers where the Scotch-Irish predominated? Regardless, +the lack of data corroborating the American origin of the Fair +Play system leads to the conclusion that the germ of this political +organization was brought to this country by the Scotch-Irish from +their cultural heritage, and that those elements were found usable +under the frontier conditions of both central and southwestern Pennsylvania.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +If so, the politics of "fair play" will add to, rather than detract +from, the myth of the Scotch-Irish.</p> + +<p>This study has also brought forward the first complete account of +court records validating the activities of the Fair Play men. Mainly +concerned with the adjudication of land questions, this frontier tribunal +developed an unwritten code which encompassed the problems +of settlement, tenure, and ejectment. Subsequently reviewed in the +regular courts of the counties of which the Fair Play territory became +a part, these cases provide substantial evidence of the existence of a +"system" as well as insight into the manner of its operation. The +fairness of the Fair Play system is marked by the fact that none of the +decisions of its tribunal was later reversed in the established county +courts. Supplemented by the Committee of Safety for Northumberland +County and augmented by peripheral leaders, who gave them a +voice in the higher councils of the State, the Fair Play men and their +government proved adequate to the needs of the settlers, until all +were driven off in the Great Runaway of 1778.</p> + +<p>Some corroboration for the legendary tale of a "Fair Play Declaration +of Independence" was found in the course of this study. Although +consisting, in the main, of accounts culled from the records of +Revolutionary War pension claimants made some eighty years after +the event, the evidence is that of a contemporary.<a name="FNanchor_16_322" id="FNanchor_16_322"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_322" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> However, the +most common objection to this conclusion, that the Fair Play declaration +was merely the reading of a copy of Jefferson's Declaration, +is unsubstantiated by the archival descriptions.<a name="FNanchor_17_323" id="FNanchor_17_323"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_323" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> Perhaps the Fair +Play declaration is apocryphal, but, lacking valid disclaimers, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +Hamilton data offer some basis for a judgment. It is the tentative +conclusion of this writer that there was such a declaration on the +banks of Pine Creek in July of 1776.</p> + +<p>The Fair Play territory was truly "an area of free land" in which +a "new order of Americanism" emerged.<a name="FNanchor_18_324" id="FNanchor_18_324"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_324" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> Individualistic and self-reliant +of necessity, the pioneers of this farmers' frontier rationally +developed their solution to the problem of survival in the wilderness, +a democratic squatter sovereignty. With land readily available +and a free labor system to work it, provided that the family was +large enough to assure sufficient "hands," these agrarian frontiersmen +not only cultivated the soil but also a free society. And their cooperative +spirit, despite their mixed national origins, was markedly +noticeable at harvesttime. From such spirit are communities formed, +and from such communities a democratic society emerges.</p> + +<p>This analysis has not only described the geography and demography, +the politics and economics of the Fair Play settlers; it has also examined +the basis and structure of this society, including the value +system which undergirded it. The results have pictured the religious +liberty extant in a frontier society isolated from any regular or established +church, a liberty of conscience which left each man free to +worship according to the dictates of his own faith. This freedom, +this right to choose for himself, made the Fair Play settler surprisingly +receptive to other groups and their practices, practices which he was +free to reject, and often did.<a name="FNanchor_19_325" id="FNanchor_19_325"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_325" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> This analysis has also pointed up the +class structure and its significance in promoting order in a frontier +community. And finally, an examination of the value system of these +Pennsylvania pioneers has provided an understanding of why they +behaved as they did.</p> + +<p>The last major aspect of this investigation concerned the nature of +leadership. Determined by the people, and thus essentially democratic, +it had certain peculiar characteristics. In the first place, the +top leaders tended to come from the Fair Play community in its +broadest social sense, but not from the Fair Play territory in its narrow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +geographic sense.<a name="FNanchor_20_326" id="FNanchor_20_326"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_326" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> Secondly, the political participation of the +Fair Play settlers, if office-holding is any criterion, emphasizes the +high degree of involvement in terms of the total population.<a name="FNanchor_21_327" id="FNanchor_21_327"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_327" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> And +last, this leadership appeared to be overextended when faced with the +problem of defending its own frontier and the new nation which was +striving so desperately for independence. Consequently, it was forced +to turn to established government for support. This may have been +the embryonic beginning of the nationalism which the frontier fostered +in later generations.</p> + +<p>What then, is the meaning of this particular study, an ethnographic +interpretation of Turner's thesis? Turner himself, gave the best argument +for ethnography. He said that</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>... the economist, the political scientist, the psychologist, +the sociologist, the geographer, the student of literature, +of art, of religion—all the allied laborers in the study of society—have +contributions to make to the equipment of the +historian. These contributions are partly of material, partly +of tools, partly of new points of view, new hypotheses, new +suggestions of relations, causes, and emphasis. Each of these +special students is in some danger of bias by his particular +point of view, by his exposure to see simply the thing in which +he is primarily interested, and also by his effort to deduce the +universal laws of his separate science. The historian, on the +other hand, is exposed to the danger of dealing with the complex +and interacting social forces of a period or of a country +from some single point of view to which his special training +or interest inclines him. If the truth is to be made +known, the historian must so far familiarize himself with the +work, and equip himself with the training of his sister-subjects +that he can at least avail himself of their results +and in some reasonable degree master the essential tools of +their trade.<a name="FNanchor_22_328" id="FNanchor_22_328"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_328" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p></div> + +<p>Frontier ethnography is just such an effort.</p> + +<p>The frontier ethnographer then, because of his interdisciplinary approach, +can capture the spirit of pioneer life. And if, as Turner suggested, +the frontier explains American development, then frontier<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +ethnography presents an understanding of the American ethos with +its ideals of discovery, democracy, and individualism.<a name="FNanchor_23_329" id="FNanchor_23_329"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_329" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> These ideals +characterize "the American spirit and the meaning of America in +world history."<a name="FNanchor_24_330" id="FNanchor_24_330"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_330" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> + +<p>The ideal of discovery, "the courageous determination to break new +paths," as Turner called it, was abundantly evident in the Fair Play +territory of the West Branch Valley.<a name="FNanchor_25_331" id="FNanchor_25_331"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_331" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> This innovating spirit can be +seen in the piercing of the Provincial boundary, despite the restrictive +legislation to the contrary, and the establishment of homes in Indian +territory.<a name="FNanchor_26_332" id="FNanchor_26_332"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_332" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> It was also demonstrated in a marvelous adaptability in +solving the new problems of the frontier, problems for which the old +dogmas were no longer applicable. The new world of the Susquehanna +frontier made new men, Americans.</p> + +<p>Self-determination, the ideal of democracy as we have defined it, +was the cornerstone of Fair Play society. Its particular contribution +was the Fair Play "system" with its popularly elected tribunal of Fair +Play men. Perhaps this was the proper antecedent of the commission +form of local government which came into vogue on the progressive +wave of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. +Regardless, the geographic limitations of the Fair Play territory, the +frequency of elections, and the open conduct of meetings tend to +substantiate the democratic evaluation which has been made of the +politics of this frontier community. Furthermore, as was pointed out +in the last chapter, this self-determination was the key characteristic +of the economic and social life of these people.<a name="FNanchor_27_333" id="FNanchor_27_333"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_333" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<p>The pioneer ideal of creative and competitive individualism, which +Turner considered America's best contribution to history and to +progress, was an essential of the frontier experience which became an +integral part of the American mythology.<a name="FNanchor_28_334" id="FNanchor_28_334"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_334" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> The "myth of the happy +yeoman," as one historian called it, is still revered in American folklore +and respected in American politics, whether it is outmoded or +not.<a name="FNanchor_29_335" id="FNanchor_29_335"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_335" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> The primitive nature of frontier life developed this characteristically<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +American trait and the family, the basic organization of social +control, promoted it. It was this promotion, with its antipathy to any +outside control, which stimulated the Revolution, creating an American +nation from an already existing American character.</p> + +<p>The individualism of the West Branch frontier is also apparent in +the administration of justice. The Fair Play system emphasized the +personality of law, by its very title, rather than the organized machinery +of justice.<a name="FNanchor_30_336" id="FNanchor_30_336"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_336" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> Frontier law was personal and direct, resulting in +the unchecked development of the individual, a circumstance which +Turner considered the significant product of this frontier democracy.<a name="FNanchor_31_337" id="FNanchor_31_337"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_337" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> +Being personal, though, it had meaning for those affected by it, as +an anecdote noted earlier indicated.<a name="FNanchor_32_338" id="FNanchor_32_338"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_338" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> + +<p>Individualism has become somewhat of an anachronism in a mass +society, but its obsolescence today is part of the current American +tragedy. The buoyant self-confidence which it inspired has made much +of the American dream a reality. Legislation, it is true, has taken the +place of free lands as the means of preserving democracy, but it will +be a hollow triumph if that legislation suppresses this essential trait +of the American character, its individualism. No intelligent person +today would recommend a return to the laissez-faire individualism +of the Social Darwinists of the late nineteenth century, but it must be +admitted that a society emphasizing the worth of the individual and +dedicated to principles of justice and fair play, the banner under +which the frontiersmen of the West Branch operated, has genuine +merit.</p> + +<p>Whether the historian is analyzing old frontiers or charting new +ones, the timeless question remains: does man have the intelligence +adequate to secure his own survival? The old frontiers, such as the +Fair Play territory of the West Branch of the Susquehanna, were +free lands of opportunity for a better life, and the history of the +westward movement of the American people gives ample proof of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +their conquest. But the new frontiers are not so clearly marked or +so easily conquered. Perhaps a re-examination of the history of the +old frontiers can give increased meaning to the problems of the new. +This investigation was attempted, in part, to serve such a purpose.</p> + +<p>The intelligent solution to the problem of survival for the pioneers +of the West Branch Valley was fair play. The ethnography of the +Fair Play settlers is the record of the democratic development of an +American community under the impact of the new experience of the +frontier.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_307" id="Footnote_1_307"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_307"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> P. 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_308" id="Footnote_2_308"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_308"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>The Oxford Universal Dictionary</i> (Oxford, 1955), p. 637.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_309" id="Footnote_3_309"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_309"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Solon and Elizabeth Buck, <i>The Planting of Civilization in Western Pennsylvania</i> +(Pittsburgh, 1939), pp. 431 and 451.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_310" id="Footnote_4_310"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_310"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>See</i>, for example, Dunaway, <i>A History of Pennsylvania</i>, p. 146, and <i>The Scotch-Irish +of Colonial Pennsylvania</i>, pp. 159-160; <i>also</i>, Leyburn, <i>The Scotch-Irish</i>, p. 306.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_311" id="Footnote_5_311"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_311"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Turner, <i>The Frontier in American History</i>, p. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_312" id="Footnote_6_312"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_312"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>See</i> <a href="#CHAPTER_TWO">Chapter Two</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_313" id="Footnote_7_313"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_313"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Quoted by Ray Allen Billington in his introduction to Turner, <i>Frontier and +Section</i>, p. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_314" id="Footnote_8_314"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_314"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Second Series, III, 217-218, 518-522.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_315" id="Footnote_9_315"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_315"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> This pride was notably demonstrated in the insistence of the Fair Play settlers +that a stand be made at Fort Augusta following the Great Runaway. Previous +to this, they had pleaded for support for "our Common Cause" in the defense +of this frontier. <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Second Series, III, 217.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_316" id="Footnote_10_316"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_316"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, Second Series, X, 27-31, 417, and Fifth Series, II, 29-35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_317" id="Footnote_11_317"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_317"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Quoted in Clinton Rossiter, <i>The First American Revolution</i> (New York, 1956), +pp. 4-5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_318" id="Footnote_12_318"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_318"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Turner, <i>The Frontier in American History</i>, p. 37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_319" id="Footnote_13_319"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_319"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_320" id="Footnote_14_320"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_320"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>See also</i>, George D. Wolf, "The Tiadaghton Question," <i>The Lock Haven Review</i>, +Series I, No. 5 (1963), 61-71.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_321" id="Footnote_15_321"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_321"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Buck, <i>The Planting of Civilization in Western Pennsylvania</i>, pp. 431, 451.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_322" id="Footnote_16_322"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_322"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Anna Jackson Hamilton to Hon. George C. Whiting, Commissioner of Pensions, +Dec. 16, 1858, Wagner Collection, Muncy Historical Society.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_323" id="Footnote_17_323"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_323"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>Colonial Records</i>, X, 634-635. The following resolution of Congress was entered +in the minutes of the Council of Safety on July 5, 1776:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Resolved</i>, That Copies of the Declaration be sent to the several Assemblies, +Conventions, and Councils of Safety, and to the several Commanding +Officers of the Continental Troops, that it be proclaimed in each of +the United States, and at the Head of the Army.</p> +<p class="bqauthor">By order of Congress.<br /> +sign'd, JOHN HANCOCK, Presid't.</p></div> +<p>Provision was also made for the reading in Philadelphia at 12 noon on July 8, and +letters were sent to Bucks, Chester, Northampton, Lancaster, and Berks counties +with copies of the Declaration to be posted on Monday the 8th where elections for +delegates were to be held. For some reason, the frontier counties of Bedford, Cumberland, +Westmoreland, York, and Northumberland, contiguous to the Fair Play +territory, were omitted from these instructions.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_324" id="Footnote_18_324"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_324"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Turner, <i>The Frontier in American History</i>, pp. 1, 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_325" id="Footnote_19_325"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_325"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>The Journal of William Colbert</i> gives frequent testimony to this statement, +as indicated in <a href="#CHAPTER_FIVE">Chapter Five</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_326" id="Footnote_20_326"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_326"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> <i>See</i> the <a href="#Page_x">map</a> in Chapter One for the geographic boundaries of the Fair Play +territory. Note the location of the top leaders, Henry and Frederick Antes and +Robert Fleming, in <a href="#CHAPTER_SIX">Chapter Six</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_327" id="Footnote_21_327"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_327"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> The number of different office-holders runs to better than ten per cent of the +population.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_328" id="Footnote_22_328"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_328"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Turner, <i>The Frontier in American History</i>, pp. 333-334.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_329" id="Footnote_23_329"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_329"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 306-307.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_330" id="Footnote_24_330"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_330"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 306.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_331" id="Footnote_25_331"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_331"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_332" id="Footnote_26_332"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_332"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Meginness, <i>Otzinachson</i> (1857), pp. 163-164.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_333" id="Footnote_27_333"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_333"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>See</i> <a href="#CHAPTER_SEVEN">Chapter Seven</a> for an evaluation of "Democracy on the Pennsylvania +Frontier."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_334" id="Footnote_28_334"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_334"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Turner, <i>The Frontier in American History</i>, p. 307.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_335" id="Footnote_29_335"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_335"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Richard Hofstadter, "The Myth of the Happy Yeoman," <i>American Heritage</i>, +VII, No. 3 (April, 1956), 43-53.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_336" id="Footnote_30_336"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_336"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> The term "the personality of the law" is Turner's and emphasizes the men who +carried out the law, rather than its structure. The fact that the ruling tribunal of +the West Branch Valley was referred to as the "Fair Play men" rather than the +"tribunal" illustrates this contention.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_337" id="Footnote_31_337"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_337"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Turner, <i>The Frontier in American History</i>, pp. 253-254.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_338" id="Footnote_32_338"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_338"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>See</i> <a href="#Page_37">Chapter Three, n. 24</a>.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Bibliography" id="Bibliography"></a><i>Bibliography</i></h2> + + +<h3 class="moretop2">BOOKS</h3> + +<p>Albion, Robert G. and Leonidas Dodson (eds.). <i>Philip Vickers Fithian: Journal, +1775-1776.</i> Princeton, 1934.</p> + +<p>American Council of Learned Societies. "Report of the Committee on Linguistic +and National Stocks in the Population of the United States," <i>Annual Report of +the American Historical Association for the Year 1931</i>, I. Washington, 1932.</p> + +<p>Andrews, Charles M. <i>Colonial Folkways.</i> New Haven, 1919.</p> + +<p>——. <i>Guide to the Materials for American History to 1783 in the Public +Record Office of Great Britain.</i> Washington, 1912.</p> + +<p>—— and Frances G. Davenport. <i>Guide to the Manuscript Materials for +the History of the United States to 1783, in the British Museum, in Minor London +Archives, and in the Libraries of Oxford and Cambridge.</i> Washington, 1908.</p> + +<p>Barck, Oscar T., Jr., and Hugh T. Lefler. <i>Colonial America.</i> New York, 1958.</p> + +<p>Bates, Samuel P. <i>Greene County.</i> Chicago, 1888.</p> + +<p>Becker, Carl L. <i>Beginnings of the American People.</i> Ithaca, N. Y., 1960.</p> + +<p>Bell, Herbert. <i>History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania.</i> Chicago, 1891.</p> + +<p>Billington, Ray Allen. <i>Westward Expansion.</i> New York, 1960.</p> + +<p>Boyd, Julian P., and Robert J. Taylor (eds.). <i>The Susquehanna Company Papers</i>, +1750-1775. 6 vols. Ithaca, N. Y., 1962.</p> + +<p>Bridenbaugh, Carl and Jessica. <i>Rebels and Gentlemen: Philadelphia in the Age +of Franklin.</i> New York, 1962.</p> + +<p>Buck, Solon J. and Elizabeth H. <i>The Planting of Civilization in Western Pennsylvania.</i> +Pittsburgh, 1939.</p> + +<p>Calhoun, Arthur W. <i>A Social History of the American Family</i>, I. New York, 1960.</p> + +<p>Cocks, Robert S. <i>One Hundred and Fifty Years of Evangelism, The History of +Northumberland Presbytery, 1811-1961.</i> 1961.</p> + +<p>Commager, Henry S. <i>Documents of American History</i>, I. New York, 1958.</p> + +<p>Crick, B. R. and Miriam Alman (eds.). <i>A Guide to Manuscripts Relating to +America in Great Britain and Ireland.</i> New York, 1961.</p> + +<p>Curti, Merle, <i>et al.</i> <i>The Making of an American Community, A Case Study of +Democracy in a Frontier County.</i> Stanford, 1959.</p> + +<p>Day, Richard E. (comp.). <i>Calendar of the Sir William Johnson Manuscripts in +the New York State Library.</i> Albany, N. Y., 1909.</p> + +<p>DePuy, Henry F. <i>A Bibliography of the English Colonial Treaties with the +American Indians including a Synopsis of Each Treaty.</i> New York, 1917.</p> + +<p>DeSchweinitz, Edmund A. <i>The Life and Times of David Zeisberger.</i> Philadelphia, +1870.</p> + +<p>Doddridge, Joseph. <i>Notes on the Settlement and Indian Wars of the Western Parts +of Virginia and Pennsylvania.</i> Pittsburgh, 1912.</p> + +<p>Dunaway, Wayland F. <i>A History of Pennsylvania.</i> Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1948.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p> + +<p>——. <i>The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania.</i> Chapel Hill, 1944.</p> + +<p>Egle, William H. <i>History of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.</i> Philadelphia, +1883.</p> + +<p>—— (ed.). <i>Historical Register: Notes and Queries, Historical and Genealogical, +relating to Interior Pennsylvania</i>, 2 vols. Harrisburg, 1883-84.</p> + +<p>——. <i>Pennsylvania Genealogies; Scotch-Irish and German.</i> Harrisburg, +1886, 1896.</p> + +<p>Frost, Robert. <i>Complete Poems of Robert Frost.</i> New York, 1949.</p> + +<p>Hall, Carrie A., and Rose G. Kretsinger. <i>The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt in +America.</i> New York, 1935.</p> + +<p>Hanna, C. A. <i>The Scotch-Irish.</i> 2 vols. New York, 1902.</p> + +<p>Jones, U. J. <i>History of the Early Settlements of the Juniata Valley.</i> Philadelphia, +1856.</p> + +<p>Klett, Guy S. <i>Presbyterians in Colonial Pennsylvania.</i> Philadelphia, 1937.</p> + +<p>Leopold, Richard W., and Arthur S. Link (eds.). <i>Problems in American History.</i> +Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1957.</p> + +<p>Leyburn, James G. <i>The Scotch-Irish: A Social History.</i> Chapel Hill, 1962.</p> + +<p>Lincoln, Charles A. (comp.). <i>Calendar of Sr. William Johnson Manuscripts in the +Library of the American Antiquarian Society.</i> ("Transactions of the Society," +Vol. XI.) Worcester, 1906.</p> + +<p>Linn, John B. <i>History of Centre and Clinton Counties, Pennsylvania.</i> Philadelphia, +1883.</p> + +<p>——. <i>Annals of Buffalo Valley.</i> Harrisburg, 1877.</p> + +<p>MacMinn, Edwin. <i>On the Frontier with Colonel Antes.</i> Camden, N. J., 1900.</p> + +<p>Maginnis, T. H., Jr. <i>The Irish Contribution to American Independence.</i> Philadelphia, +1913.</p> + +<p>Martin, A. E., and H. H. Shenk. <i>Pennsylvania History Told by Contemporaries.</i> +New York, 1925.</p> + +<p>Martindale, Don. <i>American Society.</i> New York, 1960.</p> + +<p>Maynard, D. S. <i>Historical View of Clinton County, from its Earliest Settlement to +the Present Time.</i> Lock Haven, 1875.</p> + +<p>Meginness, John F. <i>Biographical Annals of the West Branch Valley.</i> Williamsport, +1889.</p> + +<p>——. <i>History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania.</i> Chicago, 1872.</p> + +<p>——. <i>Otzinachson: or a History of the West Branch Valley of the Susquehanna.</i> +Philadelphia, 1857.</p> + +<p>——. <i>Otzinachson: A History of the West Branch Valley of the Susquehanna.</i> +Williamsport, 1889.</p> + +<p>National Education Association. <i>The Education of Free Men in American Democracy.</i> +Washington, 1941.</p> + +<p>O'Callaghan, E. B. <i>Documentary History of the State of New York</i>, I. Albany, +N. Y., 1849.</p> + +<p><i>The Oxford Universal Dictionary.</i> Oxford, 1955.</p> + +<p>Parkes, Henry Bamford. <i>The American Experience.</i> New York, 1959.</p> + +<p>The Pennsylvania Writers' Project, Work Projects Administration. <i>A Picture of +Clinton County.</i> Williamsport, 1942.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> + +<p>——. <i>A Picture of Lycoming County.</i> Williamsport, 1939.</p> + +<p>Proud, Robert. <i>History of Pennsylvania in North America.</i> 2 vols. Philadelphia, +1797, 1798.</p> + +<p>Ranney, Austin, and Willmoore Kendall. <i>Democracy and the American Party System.</i> +New York, 1956.</p> + +<p>Rossiter, Clinton. <i>The First American Revolution.</i> New York, 1956.</p> + +<p>Rothermund, Dietmar. <i>The Layman's Progress.</i> Philadelphia, 1961.</p> + +<p>Rupp, Israel D. (ed.). <i>A Collection of Thirty Thousand Names of German, Swiss, +Dutch, French, Portuguese, and other Immigrants in Pennsylvania, Chronologically +Arranged from 1727 to 1776.</i> Harrisburg, 1856.</p> + +<p>Sanderson, W. H. <i>Historical Reminiscences</i>, ed. Henry W. Shoemaker. Altoona, +1920.</p> + +<p>Sergeant, Thomas. <i>View of the Land Laws of Pennsylvania with Notices of its +Early History and Legislation.</i> Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, 1838.</p> + +<p>Shimmell, Lewis S. <i>Border Warfare in Pennsylvania During the Revolution.</i> Harrisburg, +1901.</p> + +<p>Singmaster, Elsie. <i>Pennsylvania's Susquehanna.</i> Harrisburg, 1950.</p> + +<p>Smith, Charles. <i>Laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania</i>, II. Philadelphia, 1810.</p> + +<p>Stevens, Benjamin F. <i>Catalogue Index of Manuscripts in the Archives of England, +France, Holland, and Spain relating to America, 1763-1783.</i> London, 1870-1902. +(In manuscript in the Library of Congress.)</p> + +<p>Stevens, Joseph. <i>History of the Presbytery of Northumberland.</i> Williamsport, 1881.</p> + +<p>Sullivan, James (ed.). <i>The Papers of Sir William Johnson</i>, I-III. Albany, 1921.</p> + +<p>Taylor, George R. <i>The Turner Thesis Concerning the Role of the Frontier in +American History</i> ("Problems in American Civilization."). Boston, 1956.</p> + +<p>Theiss, Lewis E. "Early Agriculture," <i>Susquehanna Tales</i> (Sunbury, 1955), 88-89.</p> + +<p>Tome, Philip. <i>Pioneer Life; or Thirty Years a Hunter.</i> Harrisburg, 1928.</p> + +<p>Trinterud, Leonard J. <i>The Forming of an American Tradition: A Re-Examination +of Colonial Presbyterianism.</i> Philadelphia, 1949.</p> + +<p>Turner, Frederick Jackson. <i>Frontier and Section: Selected Essays of Frederick +Jackson Turner.</i> Intro. by Ray Allen Billington. Englewood, Cliffs, N. J., 1961.</p> + +<p>——. <i>The Frontier in American History.</i> New York, 1963.</p> + +<p>Volwiler, Albert T. <i>George Croghan and the Westward Movement 1741-1783.</i> +Cleveland, 1926.</p> + +<p>Wallace, Paul A. W. <i>Conrad Weiser.</i> Philadelphia, 1945.</p> + +<p>——. <i>Indians in Pennsylvania.</i> Harrisburg, 1961.</p> + +<p>——. <i>Pennsylvania: Seed of a Nation.</i> New York, 1962.</p> + +<p>Webb, Walter Prescott. <i>The Great Plains.</i> New York, 1931.</p> + +<p>Wertenbaker, Thomas J. <i>The First Americans 1607-1690.</i> New York, 1962.</p> + +<p>——. <i>The Founding of American Civilization: The Middle Colonies.</i> New +York, 1949.</p> + +<p>Wittke, Carl. <i>We Who Built America.</i> 1963.</p> + +<p>Wright, J. E., and Doris S. Corbett. <i>Pioneer Life In Western Pennsylvania.</i> Pittsburgh, +1940.</p> + +<p>Wright, Louis B. <i>Culture on the Moving Frontier.</i> Bloomington, Ind., 1955.</p> + +<p>——. <i>The Atlantic Frontier.</i> New York, 1947.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> + +<p>——. <i>The Cultural Life of the American Colonies, 1607-1763.</i> New York, +1957.</p> + +<p>Yeates, Jasper. <i>Pennsylvania Reports</i>, I. Philadelphia and St. Louis, 1871.</p> + + +<h3 class="moretop2">PUBLIC DOCUMENTS</h3> + +<p><i>Appearance Docket Commencing 1797</i>, No. 2. Lycoming County, Office of the +Prothonotor, Williamsport.</p> + +<p><i>Colonial Records</i>, IX. Harrisburg, 1852.</p> + +<p><i>Colonial Records</i>, X. Harrisburg, 1852.</p> + +<p><i>Colonial Records</i>, XI. Harrisburg, 1852.</p> + +<p><i>Colonial Records</i>, XII. Harrisburg, 1852.</p> + +<p><i>Colonial Records</i>, XX. Harrisburg, 1852.</p> + +<p><i>Pennsylvania Archives</i>, [First Series], XI. Philadelphia, 1855.</p> + +<p>——, [First Series], XII. Philadelphia, 1856.</p> + +<p>——, Second Series, II. Harrisburg, 1876.</p> + +<p>——, Second Series, III. Harrisburg, 1875.</p> + +<p>——, Second Series, XVII. Harrisburg, 1890.</p> + +<p>——, Third Series, XI-XXII. Harrisburg, 1897.</p> + +<p><i>New Purchase Applications, Nos. 1823 and 2611</i>, April 3, 1769. Bureau of Land +Records, Harrisburg.</p> + +<p><i>Report of the Commission to Locate the Site of the Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania.</i> +Harrisburg, 1916.</p> + + +<h3 class="moretop2">ARTICLES AND ESSAYS</h3> + +<p>Baelyn, Bernard. "Political Experiences and Enlightenment Ideas in Eighteenth-Century +America," <i>American Historical Review</i>, LXVII (January, 1962), 339-351.</p> + +<p>Beck, Herbert H. "Martin Meylin, A Progenitor of the Pennsylvania Rifle," <i>Papers +Read Before the Lancaster County Historical Society</i>, LIII (1949), 33-61.</p> + +<p>Berger, Robert. "The Story of Baptist Beginnings in Lycoming County," <i>Now and +Then</i>, XII (July, 1960), 274-280.</p> + +<p>Bertin, Eugene P. "Primary Streams of Lycoming County," <i>Now and Then</i>, VIII +(October, 1947), 258-259.</p> + +<p>Carter, John H. "The Committee of Safety of Northumberland County," <i>The +Northumberland County Historical Society Proceedings and Addresses</i>, XVIII +(1950), 33-54.</p> + +<p>Champagne, Roger. "Family Politics Versus Constitutional Principles: The New +York Assembly Elections of 1768 and 1769," <i>William and Mary Quarterly</i>, Third +Series, XX (January, 1963), 57-79.</p> + +<p>Clark, Chester. "Pioneer Life in the New Purchase," <i>Northumberland County Historical +Society Proceedings and Addresses</i>, VII (1935), 16-44.</p> + +<p>Deans, John Bacon. "The Migration of the Connecticut Yankees to the West Branch +of the Susquehanna River," <i>Proceedings of the Northumberland County Historical +Society</i> (1954), 34-55.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Diary of the Unknown Traveler," <i>Now and Then</i>, X (January, 1954), 307-313.</p> + +<p>"Eleanor Coldren's Depositions," <i>Now and Then</i>, XII (October, 1959), 220-222.</p> + +<p>Everett, F. B. "Early Presbyterianism along the West Branch of the Susquehanna +River," <i>Journal Presbyterian Historical Society</i>, XII (October, 1927), 481-485.</p> + +<p>Garrison, Hazel Shields. "Cartography of Pennsylvania Before 1800," <i>Pennsylvania +Magazine of History and Biography</i>, LIX (July, 1935), 255-283.</p> + +<p>Gross, Rebecca F. "Postscript to the Week," Lock Haven <i>Express</i> (August 3, 1963), +4.</p> + +<p>Hofstadter, Richard. "The Myth of the Happy Yeoman," <i>American Heritage</i>, VII +(April, 1956), 43-53.</p> + +<p>Johns, John O. "July 4, 1776—Rediscovered." <i>Commonwealth: The Magazine for +Pennsylvania</i>, II (July, 1948), 2-16.</p> + +<p>Jordan, John W. (contributor), "Spangenberg's Notes of Travel to Onondaga in +1745," <i>Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography</i>, II (No. 4, 1878), 424-432.</p> + +<p>Klett, Guy S. "Scotch-Irish Presbyterian Pioneering Along The Susquehanna River," +<i>Pennsylvania History</i>, XX (April, 1953), 165-179.</p> + +<p>Linn, John Blair. "Indian Land and Its Fair Play Settlers, 1773-1785," <i>The Pennsylvania +Magazine of History and Biography</i>, VII (No. 4, 1883), 420-425.</p> + +<p>"Map Drawn by John Adlum, District Surveyor, 1792, Found Among the Bingham +Papers," <i>Now & Then</i>, X. (July, 1952), 148-150.</p> + +<p>Meginness, John F. "The Scotch-Irish of the Upper Susquehanna Valley," <i>Scotch-Irish +Society of America Proceedings and Addresses</i>, VIII (1897), 159-169.</p> + +<p>Neal, Don. "Freedom Outpost," <i>Pennsylvania Game News</i>, XXXI (July, 1960), 6-10.</p> + +<p>Russell, Helen Herritt. "The Documented Story of the Fair Play Men and Their +Government," <i>Proceedings of the Northumberland County Historical Society</i>, +XXII (1958), 16-43.</p> + +<p>——. "The Great Runaway of 1778," <i>The Journal of the Lycoming Historical +Society</i>, II (No. 4, 1961), 3-10.</p> + +<p>——. "The Great Runaway of 1778," <i>The Northumberland County Historical +Society Proceedings and Addresses</i>, XXIII (1960), 1-16.</p> + +<p>——. "Signers of the Pine Creek Declaration of Independence," <i>Proceedings +of the Northumberland County Historical Society</i>, XXII (1958), 1-15.</p> + +<p>Silver, James W. (ed.). "An Autobiographical Sketch of Chauncey Brockway," +<i>Pennsylvania History</i>, XXV (April, 1958), 137-161.</p> + +<p>Stille, C. J. "Pennsylvania and the Declaration of Independence," <i>Pennsylvania +Magazine of History and Biography</i>, XIII (No. 4, 1889), 385-429.</p> + +<p>Wallace, Paul A. W., Excerpt from letter, Sept. 2, 1952, <i>Now and Then</i>, X (October, +1952), 184.</p> + +<p>Wilkinson, Norman B. (ed.). "Mr. Davy's Diary," <i>Now and Then</i>, X (April, 1954), +336-343.</p> + +<p>Williams, E. Melvin. "The Scotch-Irish in Pennsylvania," <i>Americana</i> XVII (1923), +374-387.</p> + +<p>Williams, Richmond D. "Col. Thomas Hartley's Expedition of 1778," <i>Now and +Then</i>, XII (April, 1960), 258-259.</p> + +<p>Wolf, George D. "The Tiadaghton Question," <i>The Lock Haven Review</i>, Series I, +No. 5 (1963), 61-71.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p> + +<p>Wood, T. Kenneth (ed.). "Journal of an English Emigrant Farmer," <i>Lycoming +Historical Society Proceedings and Papers</i>, No. 6 (1928).</p> + +<p>——. <i>Now and Then</i>, X (July, 1952), 148-150.</p> + +<p>—— (ed.). "Observations Made By John Bartram In His Travels From +Pennsylvania to Onondaga, Oswego and the Lake Ontario in 1743," <i>Now and +Then</i>, V (1936), 90.</p> + + +<h3 class="moretop2">UNPUBLISHED STUDIES</h3> + +<p>Turner, Morris K. "The Commercial Relations of the Susquehanna Valley During +the Colonial Period." Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, +1916.</p> + + +<h3 class="moretop2"><i>MANUSCRIPTS</i></h3> + +<h3>MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS</h3> + +<p>Zebulon Butler Papers, Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, Wilkes-Barre, +Pennsylvania.</p> + +<p>Rev. John Cuthbertson's Diary, 1716-1791 (microfilm, 2 reels). The Pennsylvania +Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg.</p> + +<p>Journal of William Colbert (typescript). Property of the Rev. Charles F. Berkheimer +of Williamsport, Pa. Original (1792-1794) at the Garrett Biblical Seminary, +Chicago. (Copy also at Lycoming College, Williamsport.)</p> + +<p>Revolutionary War Pension Claims (typescript). Wagner Collection, Muncy Historical +Society and Museum of History, Muncy, Pa.</p> + + +<h3 class="moretop2">PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE</h3> + +<p>Mrs. Solon J. Buck, Washington, D. C, June 22, 1963, to the author.</p> + +<p>Alfred P. James, Pittsburgh, July 16, 1963, to the author.</p> + +<p>Peter Marshall, Berkeley, Calif., May 19, 1962, to the author.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Phyllis V. Parsons, Collegeville, Pa., October 21, 1962, to the author.</p> + +<p>Paul A. W. Wallace, Harrisburg, February 16, 1961, July 30, August 24, and December +17, 1962, to the author.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="Index" id="Index"></a><i>Index</i></h2> + + + +<ul><li>Adlum, John, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> + +<li>Alexander, James, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li>Allegheny Mountains, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li>Allison, Rev. Francis, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li><a name="American_Revolution" id="American_Revolution"></a>American Revolution, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> + +<li>Antes, Frederick, <a href="#Page_77">77-82</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li>Antes, Henry, Jr., <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76-83</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li>Antes, Henry, Sr., <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li>Antes, Joseph, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + +<li>Antes, Philip, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + +<li>Antes, William, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li>Antes Mill, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> + +<li>Art, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + +<li>Arthur, Robert, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li>Atlee, Samuel J., <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li>Bald Eagle Creek, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> + +<li>Bald Eagle Mountains, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> + +<li>Bald Eagle Township, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> + +<li>Bald Eagle's Nest, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + +<li>Baptists, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> + +<li>Barn-raisings, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> + +<li>Bartram, John, <a href="#Page_9">9-11</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> + +<li>Bertin, Eugene P., <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li>"Beulah Land," <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + +<li>Bingham, William, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + +<li>Blackwell, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + +<li>Bonner, Barnabas, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> + +<li>Books, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + +<li>Brainerd, Rev. David, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li>Bryce, James, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> + +<li>Bucks County, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + +<li>Burnet's Hills, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li>"Cabin right," <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> + +<li>Cabin-raisings, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> + +<li>Caldwell, Bratton, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li>Calhoune, George, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li>Cammal, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + +<li>Campbell, Cleary, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + +<li>Campbell, William, Jr., <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li>Carlisle Presbytery, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li>Charter of Privileges, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li>Chester County, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li>Children, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + +<li>Clark, Francis, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + +<li>Clark, John, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li>Colbert, William, <a href="#Page_61">61-63</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + +<li>Coldren, Eleanor, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li>Commerce, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> + +<li>Committee of Safety, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81-83</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li>Connecticut, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> + +<li>Constitutional Convention, Pennsylvania (1776), <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li>Continental Congress, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li>Cooke, William, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li>"Corn right," <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> + +<li>Council of Safety, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + +<li>Covenhoven, Robert, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li>Crawford, James, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> + +<li>Cruger, Daniel, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li>Culbertson, Mr., <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li>Cumberland County, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li>Cumberland Valley, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + +<li>Curti, Merle, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li>Dauphin County, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li>Davy, Mr., <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> + +<li><a name="Declaration_of_Independence" id="Declaration_of_Independence"></a>Declaration of Independence, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li>"Declaration of Independence" of Fair Play Settlers, <a href="#Page_42">42-44</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li>Defense, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + +<li>Demography, <a href="#Page_16">16-29</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104-107</a></li> + +<li>DeSchweinitz, Edmund A., <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + +<li>Dewitt, Abraham, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> + +<li>Dewitt, Peter, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li>Dickinson, John, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li>Donegal Presbytery, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li>Dougherty, Samuel, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> + +<li>Drinking, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> + +<li>Duncan, Mr., <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + +<li>Dunn, William, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li><a name="Economic_institutions" id="Economic_institutions"></a>Economic institutions, <a href="#Page_89">89-91</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99-102</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>; +<ul><li><i>see also</i> <a href="#Transcribers_Endnotes">Farming</a></li></ul></li> + +<li>Education, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> + +<li>Ejectment, <a href="#Page_35">35-39</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></li> + +<li>English, <a href="#Page_16">16-20</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24-26</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li>Ettwein, Bishop John, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> + +<li>Evans, Lewis, <a href="#Page_9">9-11</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li><a name="Fair_Play_men" id="Fair_Play_men"></a>Fair Play men, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35-36</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81-83</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>; +<ul><li><i>see also</i> <a href="#Tribunal_Fair_Play">Tribunal, Fair Play</a></li></ul></li> + +<li>Faith, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li>Family life, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> + +<li>Ferguson, Thomas, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> + +<li>Fithian, Philip Vickers, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> + +<li>Fleming, Betsey, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> + +<li>Fleming, John, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> + +<li>Fleming, Robert, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li>Forster, Thomas, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li>Fort Antes, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + +<li>Fort Augusta, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> + +<li>Fort Fleming, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li>Fort Horn, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82-84</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + +<li>Fort Muncy, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + +<li>Fort Reed, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li>Fort Stanwix, Treaties of, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5-9</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li>Forts, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81-83</a></li> + +<li>Franklin, Benjamin, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li>French, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16-18</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li>French and Indian War, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li>Galbreath, Robert, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + +<li>General Assembly, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li>George III, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> + +<li>Germans, <a href="#Page_16">16-20</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24-26</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82-84</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li>Germantown, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> + +<li>Great Island, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + +<li>Great Runaway <a href="#Page_21">21-23</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li>Great Shamokin Path, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + +<li>Greene County, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + +<li>Grier, Rev. Isaac, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li>Grier, James, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li><i>Grier</i> vs. <i>Tharpe</i>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> + +<li>Gristmills, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li>Haines, Joseph, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> + +<li>Hamilton, Alexander, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li>Hamilton, Anna Jackson, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li>Hamilton, John, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + +<li>Hartley, Col. Thomas, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> + +<li>Harvest, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li>Hill, Aaron, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + +<li>Homes, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + +<li>Horn, Samuel, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> + +<li>Hospitality, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> + +<li>Huff, Edmund, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li>Huff-Latcha (Satcha) case, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + +<li>Huggins, Mr., <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + +<li>Hughes, James, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> + +<li>Hughes, Thomas, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> + +<li><i>Hughes</i> vs. <i>Dougherty</i>, <a href="#Page_36">36-40</a></li> + +<li>Hunter, Col. Samuel, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li>Immigration, <a href="#Page_19">19-21</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + +<li>"Improvements," <a href="#Page_37">37-39</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> + +<li>Indentured servitude, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + +<li>Independence, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;<ul> +<li><i>see also</i> <a href="#Declaration_of_Independence">Declaration of Independence</a></li></ul></li> + +<li>Indians, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21-24</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> + +<li>Individualism, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> + +<li>Industry, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + +<li>Intermarriage, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + +<li>Irish, <a href="#Page_16">16-18</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li>Irwin (Irvin), James, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li>Jamison, John, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li>Jersey Shore, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> + +<li>Johnson, Sir William, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> + +<li>Jones, Isaiah, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li>Juniata Valley, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li>Kemplen, Thomas, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li>Kendall, Willmoore, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> + +<li>Kincaid, Mr., <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + +<li>King, Robert, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li>King, William, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li>Labor, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li>Lancaster, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + +<li>Lancaster County, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + +<li>Land claims, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38-40</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92-94</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li>Land Office, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li>Larrys Creek, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> + +<li>Latcha, Jacob, <a href="#Page_40">40</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></li> + +<li>Law, unwritten, <a href="#Page_37">37-39</a></li> + +<li>Leadership, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76-88</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + +<li>Lewisburg, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li>Leyburn, James G., <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> + +<li>"Limping Messenger," <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + +<li>Linn, John Blair, <a href="#Page_5">5-7</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li>Lock Haven, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + +<li>Locke, John, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> + +<li>Logan, James, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + +<li>Long, Cookson, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> + +<li>Love, Robert, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li>Lycoming Church, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li>Lycoming County courts, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + +<li>Lycoming Creek <a href="#Page_2">2-6</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9-15</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + +<li>Lycoming <i>Gazette</i>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> + +<li>Lycoming Township, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li>Lydius, John Henry, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li>McElhattan, Pa., <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> + +<li>McElhattan, William, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li>McKean, Thomas, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> + +<li>McMeans, William, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> + +<li>MacMinn, Edwin, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li>Manning, Richard, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + +<li>Marshall, Peter, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + +<li>Martin, John, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li>Maynard, D. S., <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li>Medical practices, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + +<li>Meginness, John, <a href="#Page_4">4-7</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li>Methodists, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> + +<li>Milesburg, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + +<li>Military service, <a href="#Page_38">38-41</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + +<li>Milton, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + +<li>Ministers, itinerant, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> + +<li>Missionaries, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li>Montgomery County, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li>Montour, Andrew, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + +<li>Montoursville; <i>see</i> <a href="#Ostonwaken">Ostonwaken</a></li> + +<li>Moravians, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li>Muhlenberg, Henry, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li>Muhlenberg, Hiester H., <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + +<li>Muncy, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + +<li>Muncy Creek, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li>Muncy Hills, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li>Music, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li>National origins, <a href="#Page_16">16-18</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li>Nationalism, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + +<li>New Hampshire, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> + +<li>New Jersey, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li>"New Purchase," <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + +<li>New York, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> + +<li>Newspapers, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> + +<li>Niagara, N. Y., <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li>Nippenose Valley, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + +<li>Nittany Valley, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + +<li>Northumberland County, <a href="#Page_24">24-26</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li>Northumberland County courts, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + +<li>Northumberland <i>Gazette</i>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> + +<li>Northumberland Presbytery, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li>Office holding, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + +<li>"Old Purchase," <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + +<li><a name="Onondaga" id="Onondaga"></a>Onondaga (Syracuse), N. Y., <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + +<li>Orange County, N. Y., <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li><a name="Ostonwaken" id="Ostonwaken"></a>Ostonwaken (Montoursville), <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li>Paine, Thomas, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li>Parr, James, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> + +<li>Patriotism, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73-75</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li>Paul, William, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li>Pennamite Wars, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li>Petitions, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li>Philadelphia, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li>Philadelphia County, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> + +<li>Pine Creek, <a href="#Page_2">2-15</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li>Pine Creek Church, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li>Pine Creek Township, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li>Plymouth Colony, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> + +<li>Political equality, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li>Pottstown, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li>Pragmatism, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + +<li>"Praying societies," <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li>Pre-emption, <a href="#Page_27">27-29</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li>Presbyterianism, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61-63</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65-69</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li>Price, John, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li>Proclamation of 1763, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> + +<li>Property right, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li>Quilting, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li>Ranney, Austin, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> + +<li>Read, Mr., <a href="#Page_38">38</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></li> + +<li>Recreation, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + +<li>Reed, William, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> + +<li>Religion, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91-93</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li>Revolution; <i>see</i> <a href="#American_Revolution">American Revolution</a></li> + +<li>Rhode Island, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li>Roads, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + +<li>Rodey, Peter, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li>Schebosh, John, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> + +<li>Scotch-Irish, <a href="#Page_16">16-21</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28-30</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57-60</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63-65</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70-72</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82-84</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li>Scots, <a href="#Page_16">16-18</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li>Self-determination, <a href="#Page_89">89-91</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97-99</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> + +<li>Self-reliance, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li>Self-sufficiency, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56-58</a></li> + +<li>Sergeant, Thomas, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + +<li>Settlement, <a href="#Page_35">35-37</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li>Sheshequin Path, <a href="#Page_8">8-10</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + +<li>Shickellamy, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + +<li>Shippen, Justice Edward, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> + +<li>Singmaster, Elsie, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li>Slavery, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + +<li>Smith, Charles, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + +<li>Smith, Daniel, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + +<li>Social compact, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> + +<li>Social structure, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99-101</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> + +<li>Sour's ferry, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> + +<li>Spangenburg, Bishop Augustus, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8-10</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li>Squatters' rights, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li>Stover, Martin, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + +<li>Suffrage, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li>Sunbury, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47-49</a></li> + +<li>Supreme Court, Pennsylvania, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> + +<li>Supreme Executive Council, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + +<li>Sweeney, Morgan, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li>Syracuse, N. Y.; <i>see</i> <a href="#Onondaga">Onondaga</a>, N. Y.</li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li>Tax lists, <a href="#Page_25">25-27</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li>Temperance, <a href="#Page_73">73-75</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li>Tenancy, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95-97</a></li> + +<li>Tenure, land, <a href="#Page_37">37-40</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li>Tiadaghton Creek, <a href="#Page_2">2-14</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + +<li>"Tiadaghton Elm," <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + +<li>Tilghman, James, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + +<li>"Tomahawk right," <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> + +<li>Toner, John, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li>Tools, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + +<li><a name="Tribunal_Fair_Play" id="Tribunal_Fair_Play"></a>Tribunal, Fair Play, <a href="#Page_32">32-36</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;<ul> +<li><i>see also</i> <a href="#Fair_Play_men">Fair Play men</a></li></ul></li> + +<li>Turner, Frederick Jackson, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99-102</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li>Values, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97-100</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li>Virginia, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + +<li>Voluntary associations, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60-62</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li>Walker, John, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li>Wallace, Paul A. W., <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> + +<li>Weiser, Conrad, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9-11</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> + +<li>Welsh, <a href="#Page_16">16-18</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li>Whitefield, George, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li>Williamsport, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> + +<li>Wills, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li>Winters Massacre, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> + +<li>Women, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li>Wyoming Massacre, <a href="#Page_21">21-23</a></li> + +<li>Wyoming Valley, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li>York County, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> +</ul> + + + +<ul><li>Zeisberger, David, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + +<li>Zinzendorf, Nicholas von, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> +</ul> + +<div class="trans1"><p class="trnhd"><a name="Transcribers_Endnotes" id="Transcribers_Endnotes"></a>Transcriber's Endnotes</p> + +<p>Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.</p> + +<p>Archaic spellings in quoted material have been retained.</p> + +<p>The following discrepancies have been noted and corrected where possible:</p> +<ul> +<li>Page <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, Chart 4. The data in column headed '1774' does not tally with the total below. With no obvious solution, the table remains as originally published.</li> +</ul><ul> +<li>Footnote <a href="#Footnote_18_91">18</a>, Chapter 3. 'See nn. 6 and 7, p. 4.' Corrected to <i>See nn. 6 and 7, p. 33</i>.</li> +</ul><ul> +<li>Footnote <a href="#Footnote_20_93">20</a>, Chapter 3. 'Supra, p. 4.' Corrected to <i>Supra, p. 33.</i></li> +</ul><ul> +<li>Index entry '<a href="#Economic_institutions">Economic institutions</a>'. There is no index entry for '<i>Farming</i>', however the main references to farming can found in <a href="#CHAPTER_FOUR">Chapter Four</a>.</li> +</ul> + +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fair Play Settlers of the West +Branch Valley, 1769-1784, by George D. 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