The Fair Play Settlers of the West Branch Valley, 1769-1784 Part 2

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.[39]

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.[40]

Thus, an area never exceeding two miles in width and spanning some ten miles (presently from Jersey Sh.o.r.e 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.

"The land was ours before we were the land's," the poet said, and it seems apropos of this moment in history.[41] Fair Play territory, possessed before it was owned and operated under _de facto_ rule, would be some time in Americanizing the st.u.r.dy frontiersmen who came to bring civilization to this wilderness.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Carl L. Becker, _Beginnings of the American People_ (Ithaca, N. Y., 1960), p. 182.

[2] Turner, _Frontier and Section_, p. 51.

[3] Frederick Jackson Turner, _The Frontier in American History_ (New York, 1963), p. 9.

[4] E. B. O'Callaghan, _Doc.u.mentary History of the State of New York_ (Albany, 1849), I, 587-591.

[5] Henry Steele Commager, _Doc.u.ments of American History_ (New York, 1958), I, 49.

[6] 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, _George Croghan and the Westward Movement, 1741-1782_ (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. Establis.h.i.+ng friends.h.i.+ps with the Indians and then persuading them to sell their lands proved valuable to more than speculators, whose case Volwiler doc.u.ments so well, as West Branch settlements after 1768 will attest.

[7] The extension of Provincial authority to Pine Creek would have taken in three-fourths of what we have labeled Fair Play territory.

[8] John F. Meginness, _Otzinachson: A History of the West Branch Valley of the Susquehanna_ (Williamsport, 1889), p. 106. The full pa.s.sage 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 _Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, II (1878), 432 (hereafter cited as _PMHB_), 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 _Otzinachson_ (1889), p. 106. Referring the pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sage reads: "des Nachm. reissten wir wieder von da weg, u kamen Abends zum _hinckenden Boten_ an der Tiatachton Crick u lagen da uber Nacht." De Schweinitz in his _Zeisberger_ further confused the issue in his description of the journey. He takes the adventurers (Zeisberger, Spangenburg, Conrad Weiser, s.h.i.+ckellamy, and Andrew Montour) through the valley of the Tiadaghton Creek on the Sh.e.s.h.equin Path to Onondaga (Syracuse). There was an Indian path up Pine Creek, but it led to Niagara, not Onondaga.

[9] Meginness, _Otzinachson_ (1889), p. 106. This is an added note of Meginness' commentary upon the citation noted above.

[10] John Blair Linn, _History of Centre and Clinton Counties, Pennsylvania_ (Philadelphia, 1883), p. 468. Linn also deals with the Tiadaghton question in his "Indian Land and Its Fair Play Settlers,"

_PMHB_, VII (1883), 420-425. Here he simply defines Fair Play territory as "Indian Land" encompa.s.sing the Lycoming-Pine Creek region.

[11] _Minutes of the First Session of the Ninth General a.s.sembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ..._ (Philadelphia, 1784), Appendix, Proceedings of the Treaties held at Forts Stanwix and McIntosh, pp.

314-322.

[12] _Ibid._, Oct. 23, p. 319.

[13] _Ibid._

[14] _Ibid._, Oct. 22, p. 316.

[15] E. B. O'Callaghan, _Doc.u.ments Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York_, 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.

[16] _See also ibid._, Guy Johnson's map ill.u.s.trating the treaty line, opposite p. 136.

[17] D. S. Maynard, _Historical View of Clinton County, From Its Earliest Settlement To The Present Time_ (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...."

[18] Eugene P. Bertin, "Primary Streams of Lycoming County," _Now and Then_, VIII (1947), 258-259.

[19] Dr. Bertin, former a.s.sociate secretary of the Pennsylvania State Education a.s.sociation, 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 s.h.i.+ckellamy 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 Sh.e.s.h.equin 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," _Now and Then_, 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 princ.i.p.als 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.

[20] Elsie Singmaster, _Pennsylvania's Susquehanna_ (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."

[21] Edmund A. DeSchweinitz, _The Life and Times of David Zeisberger_ (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 Sh.o.r.e; and on page 713, he refers to Pine Creek as the Tiadaghton, "also called Diadaghton."

[22] 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.

[23] Charles Smith, _Laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania_ (Philadelphia, 1810), II, 274.

[24] Paul A. W. Wallace, _Conrad Weiser, Friend of Colonist and Mohawk_ (Philadelphia, 1945), p. 81.

[25] Wallace mistakenly attaches the appellation "Limping Messenger" to "a foot-sore Indian named Anontagketa," _ibid._, p. 220. However, this error was corrected in a letter to this writer, August 24, 1962.

[26] Wood (ed.), "Observations Made By John Bartram," p. 90.

[27] _Ibid._, p. 79.

[28] Meginness, _Otzinachson_ (1889), p. 411.

[29] Robert Greenhalgh Albion and Leonidas Dodson (eds.), _Philip Vickers Fithian: Journal, 1775-1776_ (Princeton, 1934), pp. 69-76.

[30] Hazel s.h.i.+elds Garrison, "Cartography of Pennsylvania before 1800,"

_PMHB_, 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," _Now and Then_, X (July, 1952), 148-150.

[31] [Wood], "Map Drawn by John Adlum," pp. 148-150.

[32] Bureau of Land Records, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, New Purchase Applications, Nos. 1823 and 2611, April 3, 1769.

[33] _Pennsylvania Archives_, First Series, XI, 508.

[34] _Colonial Records_, X, 95.

[35] 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." _See_ Peter Marshall, "Sir William Johnson and the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, 1768," _The Journal of American Studies_, I (Oct., 1967), pp. 149-179.

[36] Meginness, _Otzinachson_ (1889), p. 340.

[37] Helen Herritt Russell, "Signers of the Pine Creek Declaration of Independence," _The Northumberland County Historical Society Proceedings and Addresses_, XXII (1958), 1-15.

[38] 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.

[39] Paul A. W. Wallace, _Pennsylvania: Seed of a Nation_ (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."

[40] 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.

[41] Robert Frost, _Complete Poems of Robert Frost_ (New York, 1949), p.

467. This poem somehow characterizes the experiences of the settlers of this frontier and many frontiers to come.