great Seal, of the purchase Deeds of the Lands beyond Susquehannah, from the Indians. Be pleased to communicate the contentt to the Proprietor. Edgmont, 18th Apr., 1739. I am, Your Honour's Most obedient Servant, RICHARD PETERS.* Be pleased to communicate ye contents to the Proprietor. Indorsed-From Richard Peters to the Governor of Pennsylva nia, 18th April, 1739. COMM'RS. ON BOUNDARY LINE TO Gov. THOMAS, 1739. Honoured Sir: My last to your Honour, by Col1 Gale, was wrote in great haste, not knowing of his Intention to return to Philadelphia till he was ready to set out, which made me suspect that tho' he said he went only to get another Surveyer in the room of John Lad, yet that something in his dispatches by the Messenger from Annapolis might be the true reason of his Journey, but I have no reason to be of that Opinion now, because he has returned with the very same dispositions as before. He has been extremely uneasy on Account of the Lines continuing to gain on them, & it being apprehended that the Needle in Mr. Eastburn's Theodolite might have been altered by some Accident in its direction. We this morning compared their Theodolite and their two Needles with Ours, as we had done before on Society Hill, and the Variation in all the three Needles agreed most exactly with what it was then & now. Col' Gale expresses himself to be satisfied and imputes (as I verily believe the case really is) the Difference between this Line and the Jersey Line to arise from one or both of these two Causes; that is, either that the Jersey Commissioners were got into an Attraction that carried them to the North without their discovering it, or that they were not careful to fix the Index by which the Variation is regulated rightly. Before the Conclusion of the Experiment this morning, I was under great Apprehensions of our differing, for if the Event had not proved as it does, I should have imputed it to a change in their Instrument, & they to a change in Ours; at present we have come to a Conclusion that hitherto the Line is run justly & fairly, & have made a minute for that purpose, and to prevent all Suspicion for the future, their Instrument (not in use because not found to be so good an one for working with) and its two needles are put into a Box & sealed with M. Gale's Seal & mine, And Mr. Eastburn's Instrument is, as soon as the Surveyors have done every night, to be * See Col. Records, vol. iv., p. 313, 329. put into the Custody of the Commissioners & delivered by them the next morning to the Surveyors. All our people behave well in their respective Offices, & I must do Mr. Eastburn the Justice to say he shows great care, & a much superior. skill, to any of them. Rumsey is a jealous, uneasy creature, merely because the Line does not run as he would have it. John Lad's presence, as he is an indifferent man, will conduce much to the dispatch & ease of the work, & the more so because it is an Instruction to Mr. Gale, from his. Governour, to get a Jersey Surveyor. I am Your Honour's Most obedient humble Servant, Thornbury, JAMES GIBBONS'S. 20th Apr. 1739. COMM'RS. ON BOUNDARY LINE TO GOV'R., APRIL 23, 1739. Honoured Sir: We have proceeded with the utmost fairness and Impartiality, even in the Opinion of Col1 Gale, to the place where the Line is to be set off to the South, in order to measure the fifteen miles & a Quarter, which is at the distance of about thirty-one miles from the place of Beginning, And are now involved in a dispute, which we humbly submit to your Honour for advice in. Coll Gale says that he moved it to the Governour of Maryland, in Council, whether the fifteen Miles and a Quarter were to be measured superficially, or with an allowance for the Altitudes of the Hills on an apprehension, as we suppose that the difference would be very considerable, and the Council fearing least their Lord's Interest should be prejudiced, gave their Opinion for superficial measure but concluded that his Lordship should be wrote to, and Col' Ogle wrote to his L'd'p accordingly in December, & expected his L'd'p's Answer before this time, but that Answer not coming, Col' Gale's Instructions are to insist on Superficial measure without making any allowance for the Altitudes of Hills, & if we will consent to that he is willing to join with us, but if we will not, then his orders are to run either Line ex parte. Now your Honour may depend upon this, that Mr. Eastburn, who calculated the Altitudes of the Hills that are in the 15 miles and a quarter, last December, along with the Jersey Commissioners, does assure us, that he has very carefully looked over those Accounts & on the nicest Examination does say that the Difference between Horizontal & Superficial measure will not be more than twenty-five perches at most, to the prejudice of this Province, and if so, we See Col. Rec. Vol. IV. p. 329. submit it to your Honours whether we should break with the Maryland Commissioners for this difference especially, as the Line now running is Eighty Perches at this place to the South of the Jersey Line, and there is no reason to doubt but it will still tend to the South in proportion as it has done already, so as to save some part, at least, of the good people of Nottingham. Be pleased to Give us Your Honour's directions whether we must join with the Maryland Commissioners in running the Line Superficially, that is to say, without allowing for the Altitudes of the Hills, & so make them an absolute present of twenty-five perches, or proceed exparte, & how far over Susquehannah, or return to Philadelphia & do no more at present. We have countersigned our Journals every night whereby it will appear yt we have been exact and careful. We send this unknown to the Marylanders, and are Your Honour's Most obedient Servants, in an open field in LAWRENCE GROWDON, West Bradford. 23d Apr., 1739. COMMISSIONERS ON BOUNDARY LINE, APRIL 25, 1739. Honoured Sir: We are exceedingly obliged to your Honour for your kind and full letter, and we humbly hope we can make it plainly appear that in the Course of our Conduct, from the Beginning to this time, we have shown no manner of Complaisance to the Commissioners for Maryland, well knowing that it was a matter of Right with which we are entrusted, & not only so, but we have had many reasons for being extremely jealous of every step they have taken. Col1 Gale in his private Capacity we believe to be a fair and ingenuous man, but as a Commissioner we take him to be under Instructions, which we have for some time apprehended to be inconsistent, with a disposition to run a fair Line in conjunction with us, and we have reason to think that it would be agreable to him to find out some matter whereon to break with us, in order to run an Exparte line, which we have disappointed him in & I hope shall do if, we contest Inch for Inch to the utmost Extent of the Line. We think your Honour cannot doubt of this, their disposition by the light in which you see this last most unreasonable objection of their's about measuring the 15m & on the surface without allowance for the Altitude of Hills, but we made such a resistance to it & shewd by so many Arguments the Injustice & Chicanery of the thing itselfe, and the un See Col. Rec. Vol. 329. Vol. IV. fairness of keeping an objection under their Thumbs till the very time when we were come to setting off the South Line, when they might and ought to have told us of it at Philadelphia that Mr. Gale was quite at a Non Plus, & well he might, because for him to produce a Commission under the Great Seal, setting forth, "that whereas Levin Gale & Samuel Chamberlaine had already, by vir"tue of their Appointment and in execution of the Trust in them "reposed, entered into some Terms or Agreement for the running, "setling and ascertaining the Temporery Limits with the Persons "appointed by the Governour of Pennsylvania for that purpose, they "the said Levin Gale & Samuel Chamberlaine were authorised and "impowered to proceed to the running of any Line or Lines by them "already begun, &c." Now for Mr. Gale to produce such a Commission, & when he was in the Execution of it, to tell us that he had Instructions to run the Line exparte in case we would not consent to a most trifling and unreasonable objection, would make him appear to all mankind to be as great a Tool as others have been to Mr. Ogle, who would not be deemed by such inconsistent Orders to have had a good disposition for running a fair Line in the Eyes of every impartial man. I told Mr. Gale further, that the Moment they should proceed without us they would, notwithstanding any Instructions from their Governour, be deemed Trespassers in this Government, & would not answer the Consequences of their running a Line by themselves, thro' the Plantations of a set of angry men. Whether for this reason or that, Mr. Gale was afraid of his own Character in dealing so disingenuously with us, by the concealment of his Objection, they have conceded to allow us Twenty-five Perches, which is the full difference between a Superficial & Horizontal Line in the Grounds we are to run the Line in. We don't believe they know that this is the full difference, tho' it is, if not five Perches more, and We humbly desire your Honour would keep it private that this is the difference, least they should come to the knowledge of it. We have caused Ben. Eastburn to calculate the Difference over & over for fear of mistakes, it appearing to us to be so small, & he does assure us that he cannot make it amount to more than twenty Perches. All this was transacted, and a minute agreed on before your Honour's Letter came to hand, tho' the Messenger made a quick dispatch & brought it us last night, but inasmuch as they had conce ded the whole matter in difference betwixt us, & yt we cou'd see no ill Consequences from the Minute as it is drawn up, we ventured to join with them in it & hope we shall have your Honour's Approbation. If we had broke off, your Honour might have depended on a full Protest to save the rights of the Proprietaries for which to the utmost of our power (I speak for Surveyors as wel as our Selves) we are really and zealously concerned. At present we go on amicably in running the Line. Ben Eastburn is the other Chain Carrier; Samuel Lightfoot directs the South Course; Mr. Growdon is set to watch Rumsey, their Chain Carrier, And Mr. Gale and myselfe keep two Tallys to reckon up the number of Chains. We think we may venture to say that we have brought the Commissioners for Maryland into such a Temper and Such Concessions that they cannot break from us without,a manifest disadvantage to their own Character and My Lord Baltimore's Interest. We are Your Honour's Most obedient Servants, LAWRENCE GROWDON, At Wm Webb's. 25 Apr. 1739. We have inclosed a Copy of our Minute. DEPOSITION OF SAMUEL CARTWRIGHT, 1739. New Castle County, ss. The Deposition of Samuel Cartwright, of Appoqek Hundred & County afs", carpenter, aged about or near forty-one years, being solemnly sworn on the Holy Evangils of Almighty God, Deposeth & sayeth: That for above twenty-four Years past, he has lived chiefly on a tract of Land in Appoqck Hundred & county afs, adjoining a tract of land, whereon Thomas Rothwell, jun'r, & Garret Rothwell now dwell, & that he is well acquainted with the bounds & lines of the s tract laying in a Fork of the main Branch of Appoqck Creek, & co'ty afs", supposed to contain between Five & Six hundred Acres of Land, wh he, this Depont understood to be first taken up under William Penn, Esq., Dec'd by one Francis Cook, & by the sa Cook sold to one John Cowgill, & by the sd Cowgill sold to Thomas Rothwell afs, the father; and this Depont further sayeth that he well knows the s land to be setled & possessed by the sd Thomas Rothwell, near or about twenty-four years ago, & after him by one John Danielly, a tenant to the s Thomas Rothwell, Thomas Sharp, and Mr. James Steel, of Philad", & was since possessed by one Joseph Bacon, tenant to the afsd James Steel, & since further settled & improved by the afs Thomas Rothwell, jun'r, & Garret Rothwell. And this Depont further sayeth, that he well knew the p'sons in possession of the afs" Land, where taken and reputed inhabitants of the said county of New Castle afs", & to Execute & p'form all Duties & services required of them as inhabitants of the sd co'ty of New Castle. And this Depont further sayeth, that he well knows about two years ago & since, the afs tract of Land, or part thereof, was entered on by one Mathew Dunahoe, James Carter, Augustine |