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CHAPTER IV.

Indefinite grants of lands by the Crown, - Early claim of Connecticut to western lands,-Conflicting grants, - Organization of the Susquehanna Company,- Project of colonizing Wyoming, - Objections of the Pennsyl vanians, Conflicting purchases of the Indians,- First attempt to colonize Wyoming, Frustrated by the Indian Wars, - Resumed in 1762, — First arrival of settlers, Friendship with the Indians, Return to Connecticut for the winter, - Opposition of the Proprietaries, Removal with their families, Treacherous assassination of Teedyuscung, First Massacre at Wyoming, Flight of the survivors, - Case of Mr. Hopkins,- Expedition against the Indians, - Their departure from the valley, - Massacre of the Conestogoe Indians by the Paxtang zealots, - Disgraceful proceedings that ensued, ― Moravian Indians settle in Wyalusing, - Remove to Ohio.

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EVENTS of a different character now crowd upon the attention. "The first grants of lands in America, by the crown of Great Britain, were made with a lavishness which can exist only where acquisitions are without cost, and their value unknown; and with a want of provision in regard to boundaries, which could result only from entire ignorance of the country. The charters of the great Western and Southern Virginia Companies, and of the colonies of Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut, were of this liberal and uncertain character. The charter of the Plymouth Company covered the expanse from the fortieth

to the forty-sixth degree of Northern latitude, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean."* This charter was granted by King James I., under the great seal of England, in the most ample manner, on the 3d of November, 1620, to the Duke of Lenox, the Marquis of Buckingham, the Earls of Arundel and Warwick and their associates, "for the planting, ruling, ordering, and governing of New-England, in America." The charter of Connecticut was derived from the Plymouth Company, of which the Earl of Warwick was President. This grant was made in March, 1621, to Viscount Say and Seal, Lord Brook, and their associates. It was made in the most ample form, and also covered the country west of Connecticut, to the extent of its breadth, being about one degree of latitude, from sea to sea. This grant was confirmed by the King in the course of the same year, and again in 1662. New-York, or, to speak more correctly in reference to that period, the New-Netherlands, being then a Dutch possession, could not be claimed as a portion of these munificent grants, if for no other reason, for the very good and substantial one, that in the grant to the Plymouth Company an exception was made of all such portions of the territory as were "then

* Gordon's History of Pennsylvania.

Trumbull's History of Connecticut. Colonel Timothy Pickering, in his letter to his son, giving the particulars of the highhanded outrage committed upon him in Wyoming, in 1788, in speaking of these grants, remarks: — "It seems natural to suppose by the terms of these grants, extending to the western ocean, that in early times the continent was conceived to be of comparatively little breadth."

actually possessed or inhabited by any other Christian prince or State." But the round phraseology of the charters opened the door sufficiently wide for any subsequent claims, within the specified parallels of latitude, which the company, or its successors, might afterward find it either convenient or politic to interpose. And it appears that even at the early date of 1651, some of the people of Connecticut were already casting longing eyes upon a section of the valley of the Delaware. It was represented by these enterprising men that they had purchased the lands in question from the Indians, but that the Dutch had interposed obstacles to their settlement thereon. In reply to their petition, the commissioners of the United Colonies asserted their right to the jurisdiction of the territory claimed upon the Delaware, and the validity of the purchases that had been made by individuals. "They protested against the conduct of the Dutch, and assured the petitioners that though the season was not meet for hostilities, yet if within twelve months, at their own charge, they should transport to the Delaware one hundred armed men, with vessels and ammunition approved by the magistrates of New-Haven, and should be opposed by the Dutch, they should be assisted by as many soldiers as the commissioners might judge meet; the lands and trade of the settlement being charged with the expense, and continuing under the gov

The

ernment of New-Haven."* The project, however, was not pressed during the designated period, nor indeed does it seem to have been revived for more than a century afterward. Many changes of political and other relations had occurred during this long lapse of time. Disputes had arisen between the people of Connecticut and the New Netherlands, in regard to boundaries, which had been adjusted by negotiation and compromise. colony of New-Netherlands had moreover fallen, by the fortunes of war, under the sway of the British crown. The colonies of New-Jersey and Pennsylvania had also been planted. Various additional grants had been given by the crown, and other questions of territorial limits had been raised and adjusted. But in none of these transactions had Connecticut relinquished her claims of jurisdiction, and the pre-emptive right to the lands of the Indians, lying beyond New-York, and north of the fortieth degree of latitude, as defined in the original grant to the Plymouth Company. The grant of the Plymouth Company to Lord Say and Seal and Lord Brook had been made fifty years before the grant of the crown to William Penn, and the confirmation of that grant to Connecticut by royal charter, nineteen years prior to

*This quotation is from Gordon. Colonel Pickering, in the letter already cited in a preceding note, addressed to his son, and privately printed for the use of his own family only, supposed that Connecticut did not set up any formal claim to lands west of New-York and New-Jersey, until just prior to the revolution. He was in error.

that conveyance.* Unfortunately, moreover, from the laxity that prevailed among the advisers of the crown, in the granting of patents, as to boundaries, the patent to William Penn covered a portion of the grant to Connecticut, equal to one degree of latitude and five of longitude; and within this territory, thus covered by double grants, was situated the section of the Delaware country heretofore spoken of ;† as also the yet richer and more inviting valley of Wyoming, toward which some of the more restless if not enterprising sons of the Pilgrims were already turning their eyes with impatience. Hence the difficulties, and feuds, and civil conflicts, an account of which will form the residue of the present, and the succeeding chapter.

The project of establishing a colony in Wyoming was started by sundry individuals in Connecticut in 1753, during which year an association was formed for that purpose, called the Susquehanna Company, and a number of agents were commissioned to proceed thither, explore the country, and conciliate the good will of the Indians. This commission was executed; and as the valley, though at that time in the occupancy of the Delawares, was claimed by the Six Nations, a purchase of that confederacy was determined upon. To this end, a deputation of the company, the as

* Trumbull.

The specific claim of the Delaware Company, was to the lands between the ranges of the north and south lines of Connecticut, westward by the Delaware river, to within ten miles of the Susquehanna.

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