Its possession was a prize as earnest.y sought after by one party as it was sternly resisted by the other. Although no actual settlement had been instituted here by the New England people, yet it did not prevent the provincial authorities of Pennsylvania from exhibiting extraordinary vigilance and exertion to prevent even a purchase or survey of a valley so rich in agricultural prospects. James Hamilton, "Governor of Pennsylvania under the Proprietaries, having been informed of the intentions of the Susquehanna Company, considered it proper that immediate measures should be taken to defeat those intentions, and to purchase the land for the use of the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania," as the AttorneyGeneral of Pennsylvania, to whom it had been referred, had decided "that this tract of land (Wyoming) had not yet been purchased of the Six Nations (Indians), but has hitherto been reserved, and is now used by them for their hunting-grounds." Sir William Johnson, his Majesty's Indian agent for the colony, residing at Albany, in a letter dated March 20, 1754, was informed of the contemplated purchase, and requested to see "that nothing may be done with the Indians by the Connecticut agents, or any other in their behalf, to the injury of the Proprietaries of this Province." 3 It should be understood by the general reader, that all lands claimed by the English in America were sold or granted to one or more persons with an understanding that the right, or rather the necessity still existed of repurchasing the same territory of the Indian tribes having ownership, before it could safely be occupied by the whites. Thus a portion of the land granted to William Penn by King Charles II., March 11, 1681, was repurchased by him of the native tribes in a manner so explicit and satisfactory to them that ever afterward his inter Opinion, French Francis, March 18, 1754. 1 Chapman, p. 52. course with all the aborigines was marked by a constant and unvarying friendship unknown in modern times. To thus purchase Wyoming lands,' as well as to conciliate the good-will of the Indians, already excited by the bloody drama alternately played by the English or the French, "orders were received from England directing the colonies to hold a general treaty with the Indians at Albany in 1754, and to form, if possible, such an alliance with them as would insure their friendship and the safety ' of his Majesty's possessions in America." By runners and messengers, young, swift, and ambitious, the wish of his Majesty's Government was announced to the various tribes interested and remote, and all assembled at Fort Stanwix (now Rome), in July, 1754. 3 As there was no known printed copy of any charter in America, the real boundaries of the royal grant was understood by few or none, yet the authorities of Pennsylvania, believing at this time that Wyoming was within her territorial limits, anticipated and resisted the efforts of the Connecticut people, or the Yankees as they were termed, by every art of diplomacy and every mode of warfare. John and Richard Penn, Isaac Norris, and Benjamin Franklin, were appointed by Pennsylvania as Commissioners to represent the interests of the Province, and true to their instructions from Governor Hamilton, these eminent gentlemen held private conferences with the Six Nations, with a view of securing Wyoming lands, in which they failed. July 11, 1754, for a consideration of two thousand pounds, New York currency, the "chiefs, sachems, and heads of the Five Nations of Indians, called the Iroquois, and the native proprietors of a large tract of land on, about, and adjacent to the River Susquehannah, and When Wyoming is spoken of in relation to lands, Adjouqua or Lackawanna Valley is of course included within its meaning. Chapman. p. 51. "Trumbull. being within the limits and bounds of the charter, and grant of his late Majesty, King Charles 2nd, to the Colonys of Connecticutt," sold to the Susquehanna Company Wyoming lands bounded as follows: "Beginning from the one and fortieth degree of north latitude, at ten miles east of the river to the end of the forty-second or beginning of the forty-third degree of north latitude, and so to extend west two degrees of longitude one hundred and twenty miles, and from thence south to the beginning of the forty-second degree, and from thence east to the aforementioned boundrie, which is ten miles east of Suskahanna River, together with all and every the mines, minerals, or ore, &c." All the territory lying between this line ten miles east of the Susquehanna and the Delaware River, was purchased by the Delaware Company, so that the lands of the Lackawanna Valley were embraced respectively in the purchases of the two companies. The townships of Pittson, Lackawanna, Providence, Newton, and a portion of Abington, were thus embraced within the Susquehanna purchase; while Covington, Springbrook, Madison, Jefferson, Scott, and Blakeley, with their vast array of thrifty villages, and the neighboring counties of Wayne and Pike, Susquehanna, and a portion of Monroe, were alike included by the Delaware Indian purchase. The Proprietary Government, astonished and chagrined at a purchase it failed by the ingenious persuasions of her ablest representatives to thwart, began to suggest measures of practical severity to rid the valley of the Yankee intruders, should they venture upon their new purchase. It was not enough that the wolf crouched along the pathway to Wyoming, or that the savage, homeless and enraged, crossed the westward path where the French and Indian wars had strewn the dead to appall the adventurer. 1 See Pa. Arch., 1748–1756, pp. 147–158, for original copy of deed, with names of purchasers. Early in February, 1754, a few months previous to this sale, Wm. Parsons, of Lower Smithfield, notified Governor Hamilton that "some of his near neighbors had accompanied three gentleman-like men to Wyomink, who produced a writing under a large seal, empowering them to treat and agree with such persons as were disposed to take any of these lands of them." He also informed the Governor "that it may be the means of occasioning very great disorder and disturbances in the back parts of the province." Persons living in Lower Smithfield Township, near Stroudsburg, holding lands under the Proprietary direction and authority, looked so favorably on the proposed settlement of Wyoming lands, that Daniel Broadhead, Esq., then prominent in the history of Northampton County, as the name is yet in that section of country, wrote to Governor Hamilton, February 24, 1754, that "there has been and is, great disquietude amongst the people of these parts, occasioned by some New England gentlemen, to such a degree that they are all, or the majority of them, going to quit or sell their lands for trifles, and to my certain knowledge, many of them have advanced money on such occasions, in order that they might secure rights from the New England Proprietaries, which right I suppose is intended to be on Sasquehannah at a place called Wyomink. The Provincial Council of Pennsylvania recommended Governor Hamilton to write to the Governor of Connecticut, "to stop the departure of their people on a dangerous enterprise as this," and "forthwith dispatch Conrad Weiser to the Six Nations and those at Wyoming, to put them upon their guard against those proceedings." Governor Fitch replied that he "knew nothing of any thing being done by the Government to countenance such a proceeding as you intimate, and 1 Col. Rec., vol. v., p. 736. 2 Ibid., p. 757. * Ibid., p. 758. as I conclude, is going on among some of our people." Mr. Armstrong reported to the Government, "that the people of Connecticut are most earnestly and seriously determined to make a settlement on the Susquehanna, within the latitude of the province, relying on the words of their grants, which extend to the South Sea, provided that they can succeed in a purchase of these lands from the Six Nations, which they are now attempting by the means of Colonel Johnson and Mr. Lydias of Albany, having subscribed a thousand pieces of eight for that purpose, each giving four dollars for what they call a Right." 1 Under date of December 2, 1754, five months after the successful negotiations for Wyoming, James Alexander wrote to Governor Morris that he believed that 'more vigorous measures will be wanting to nip this affair in the bud, than writing to governors and magistrates, or employing a few rangers, as I before proposed. I question if less will do, than a superior number to the Connecticut men, women, and children, that come, and bring them to Philadelphia; the women and children to ship off to Governor Fitch, the men to imprison till bailed or list for Ohio, this done twice or thrice will terrify others from coming; and one or two thousand pounds laid now out in this service, may save scores of thousands that it may afterwards cost. I doubt not, Connecticut will amuse and give good words till a great number be settled, and then bid defiance." Every movement in Hartford, where the interests of these two companies were discussed publicly and freely, was watched by persons employed by Pennsylvania to do so, who, in December, 1754, reported the prospects and development of the organization to Governor 1 Col. Rec., vol. v., pp. 773-4. 2 A very humane way to dispose of peaceful settlers, to have them enlist in the French and Indian war on the Ohio! Col. Rec., vol. vi., p. 267. |