never to make the least breach of our friendship again, and I will tell our young men the same: A belt of seven rows. Brother: Now you have heard all your brothers had to say to you on this good day. There is, as I told you, a council fire at Shamokin, which is the door of the Six Nations. When I go home all your brethren shall know, what you have said, and Sir Wm. Johnson shall also know it. Brother: away all the grief We show you this Last fall, Sir Wm. Johnson and all the Governors kindled a council fire at Fort Stanwix. They sent for all his Indian brethren, as far as Allegheny, to meet at this council fire. It was his business when they met to find provision for them, and he did so. But they killed one six years old steer for me, and I have had no satisfaction for it.If you think proper to consider this matter and allow me satisfaction, I shall think well of it. Brother: To-morrow I intend to leave you. I was in hopes you would send me a squaw to me to warm me at night. Perhaps you have one to keep you warm; but as you did not send me one, I must go home to my own as fast as I can. But you know the custom is, that you must give me a little bread to eat on the way. Col. Francis then spoke as follows; Brothers, Seneca George, Last Night, and all you my brethren : I am really rejoiced to hear all the good things you have said, and to find that the governor's message to you with his small present of goods, have wiped away all the tears from your eyes, and confirmed in your hearts the old friendship and good will you have your brothers, the English. All who are present with me rejoice on the same account. You see I have caused to be written down on paper all the good things you have said, that I may send them directly to the governor, who will put them in his heart and remember them the first time you speak together. Brother: As to what you say about a squaw, I have really none here. We keep all ours in Philadelphia, and we are as desirous to get home as you are. I am sorry that we have so little provisions here; but you shall, this very evening, have all that I can get for you. I will kill one of our best cattle for you. I will send you all the flour I have left to make cakes on your way, and I will give some powder and shot to your young men to kill a little deer to eat with your cakes as you go along. I shall likewise send you a little walking stick (the Indian phrase for rum) and I am sorry I cannot make it long enough for a setting pole; but really our rum keys begin to run very low-however, I will make the stick as long and strong as I can. Brother Last Night, I will consider what you say about your steer, and look what there is in my purse when I go home to my lodgings from this council fire. Col. Francis having finished the above which was received with great cheerfulness and many signs of approbation by the Indians, Mr. Frederick Weiser desired Col. Francis that he would be pleased to deliver the folowing short speech to Seneca George: Brother Seneca George: Now the business of the Governor is finished-the son of your old brother and friend, Conrad Weiser, desires me to speak a few words to you. Myself and all the children of Conrad have had great grief and many tears for the unhappy death of your son, and our tears have run down our cheeks in greater abundance, because a cousin of ours, the sister's son of our father Conrad has been suspected of the mischief. He is soon to be tried by the English laws, and if he should be proved guilty, which we hope he may not be, we are willing he should suffer the same punishment as if he had committed the crime against a white man. Brother : This matter has grieved and surprised us greatly, for neither the man who is said to have done this, nor any of our family, have ever had any difference with our Indian brethren, and time will show whether this man is guilty or not; and as we do not wish to screen him from justice, we desire you will not entertain in your hearts any ill will against any of the family or children of our old friend and brother, Conrad Weiser, on account of this one man, who, if he is guilty, must have been carried away by a very evil spirit towards the Indians, and different from the spirit of all his family. As a mark of our love to you, I, who am the eldest son of your old friend Conrad Weiser, desire you will accept this small present from his family, to wipe all tears from your eyes. A present from Mr. Weiser. Seneca George having sat after this speech three or four minutes in a deep silence, with his eyes fixed on the ground, and tears visibly flowing from them, got up and spoke as follows: Brother: I have really been pleased with what the governor has spoken by you, Col. Francis, for making up this sad affair. Now, as to what has been said by the son of Conrad Weiser, I am glad to see one of his sons, and to hear him mention a little of the old friendship and love that was between us and our brother, his father. Yes, old Conrad was indeed my brother and friend. He was a counsellor of the Six Nations, and knew all that passed between them, or was in their hearts. I am very glad the tears have flowed from the eyes of his children, as they have done from mine, on account of this unhappy affair, which has certainly been a great grief to me: for, he that is lost, was a son that lay near to my heart. He was all the child that I had; and now I am old, and the loss of him has almost entire y cut away my heart. But I am yet pleased my brother Weiser, the son of my old friend, has taken this method to dry my tears. I assure my brother Weiser, this matter shall be remembered no more against his family to their hurt, but I will look upon it that an evil spirit got into the mind of the person who did it. All the while Seneca George was delivering the above, he kept advancing still nearer and nearer to the table where Col. Francis, Mr. Weiser, and the other gentlemen sat, and his action and whole behavior was surprisingly great. That part especially where he spoke of his son, was understood, even before interpreted, by the tone and manner in which it was delivered. When he came to the last part, where he declared he had no ill will to the family of the Weiser's, he sprang forward with a noble air of forgiveness; and shaking Mr. Weiser by the hand, I have, said he, no ill will to you, Mr. Weiser; nor to you, Col. Francis; nor any to you, father, (meaning Dr. Smith); nor any to you, (meaning Mr. Stewart); and shaking every one by the hand, then spreading out his arms, and turning quite round to all the company; nor have I any iil will to any of you, my brothers, the English. That manly spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation which Seneca George showed on this occasion, by his looks and gestures, and whole action, made some of them at the table cry out, as he ran up, holding out his hand to them, "This is noble;" for here his speech stood in need of no interpreter. A conference with the Delawares, inhabiting the Big Island and West Branch of Susquehanna. During the conference with Seneca George and his friends, Colonel Francis had great uneasiness on account of the Delaware chief Newaleeka, and about 42 of his friends, who had come down the West Branch on a rumor that there was to be a general treaty at Shamokin, and that the governor was to be there. The Nanticokes and Conoys refused to admit them into the conference, and said they had no business with it, while the others complained that they had waited many days last past of their hunting season, and were now starving for hunger. Col. Francis sent Isaac Still to bring three or four of their chiefs to a private conference; who being come, told him that since they could not see the governor, nor hear from him, they intended to proceed to Ohio. Col. Francis told them the governor was not at Philadelphia, but gone on a long journey, but that he would carry any message they had to the governor, and that they might not be wholly disappointed, he would give them some provisions and a little “ Walking Stick," to help them back to their hunting-place. The Chief then desired Col. Francis to carry this message, viz: That they would return home and hunt awhile a few skins to make a pair of breeches for the governor, which they would bring down in the fall, to have a talk with him according to an old custom, for they now longed to see him, and had many things to say. It was then found necessary to give them some flour, &c., and to get them away as well pleased as possible, for the inhabitants became apprehensive that they would kill cattle or do some hurt, for want of provisions, and on account of their disappointment in their journey.— Prov. Rec. U. p. 70–73. CHAPTER XV. DAUPHIN COUNTY. Preliminary remarks---Erection of counties---Dauphin separated from Lancaster county---Original extent and boundary of Lancaster-Erection of townships within the limits of Dauphin and Lebanon, viz: Peshtank or Paxton, Lebanon, Derry, &c. Names of taxables of 1750, or of early settlers---Miscellaneous-Hanover township erected; early settlers in. As early as 1682, three counties were organized in the Province of Pennsylvania, viz: Philadelphia, Buch and Chester. In 1729, Lancaster county was erected; and it then comprised all the territory west and north of Chester county, between the Schuylkill, north of the boundary line of Chester and the Susquehanna, and all west of the Susquehanna. Lancaster county was gradually reduced; first by the separation of York county, in August, 1749; Cumberland in 1750, Berks in 1752, Northumberland, which was erected out of parts of Lancaster, Cumberland, Berks, Bedford and Northumberland, in 1772; and by the organization of Dauphin county, which was separated from Lancaster, by the acts of March 4th 1785, and by erecting Lebanon in 1813, formed out of parts of Lancaster and Dauphin. The extent and boundary of Lancaster, at the time of its organization is given, in the following extract from the Provincial Records. "At a council held at Philadelphia, May 2d, 1729: present, the Honorable Patrick Gordon, Esq., Lieut. Governor, Richard Hill, William Fishbourn, Clement Plumsted, Thos. Lawrence, and Samuel Hazel, Esqrs. A return being made by the order of Council, dated the 20th February last, for running a division line in the county of Chester, and settling the boundaries of the county to be erected in the back parts of this province towards Susquehanna, pursuant to the minutes of council of the 20th of said February, the same was read, approved and confirmed, and is in these words: Pursuant to a warrant from the Hon. Patrick Gordon, Esq. Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania, and counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, upon Delaware, bearing date the 22d day of February last past (1729)-We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, met together, on the 17th day of March, 1728-29, near the head of the northern branch of Octoraro creek, and with the assistance of John Taylor, surveyor of the county of Chester, run a line from the said branch to the river Schuylkill, according to the courses following, viz: Beginning on a corner, marked white oak standing on the eastern side of the said branch, on the land of John Minshall, thence northeast by north, five hundred and eighty perches to a chestnut oak, standing on the top of a barren mountain, at the head of the branches of the said Octoraro creek, thence along the said mountain, northeast by east, three hundred and forty perches to a chestnut tree; thence north, northeast, four hundred and forty perches to a white oak by a branch of Pequea creek, thence continuing the same course along the said mountain four hundred and eighty perches to a chestnut oak, thence north by east seven hundred perches to a white oak tree near a small branch of Brandywine creek, thence north by west six hundred and sixteen perches to a chestnut tree standing on the top of a mountain at the head of the western branch of said Brandywine creek, thence east northeast along the said mountain two thousand two hundred and twenty perches to a chestnut tree near the western branch of the French creek, thence northeast by east three hundred and fifty perches to a red oak, thence northeast one hundred and ninety perches to a chestnut oak, near another branch of the said French creek, thence northeast by north two thousand one hundred perches to a corner marked white oak, standing by the said river Schuylkill, about three quarters of a mile below the house of John Burroughs.-Signed Henry Hayes, Samuel Hollingsworth, Philip Taylor, Elisha Gatchel, James James, John Wright, Tobias Hendricks, |