Coincident with the announcement in the Assembly of the death of John Penn, one of the Proprietors, was the resignation of Lieutenant Governor Sir George Thomas, May 5, 1747, on account of ill-health.

On the departure of Governor Thomas, the executive functions again devolved on the Provincial Council, of which Anthony Palmer was president; he served until the arrival of James Hamilton, son of Andrew Hamilton, former Speaker of the Assembly, as Lieutenant Governor, November 23, 1749.

The harvests of the years 1750 to 1752 were so abundant that an extract of the time is interesting: “The years 1751 and 1752 have been so fruitful in wheat and other grain that men in wanton carelessness sought to waste the supply: for the precious wheat which might have supported many poor, they used to fatten hogs, which afterward they consumed in their sumptuousness. Besides, distilleries were erected everywhere, and thus this great blessing was turned into strong drink, which gave rise to much disorder.

These years of plenty were followed by three years of scarcity, 1753–1755, and on the heels of it came the terrible Indian hostilities.

The progress of the white population toward the West alarmed and irritated the Indians. The new settlers did not suffer the delays of the land office, nor did they pay for their lands, but in search for richer soils sought homes in regions where the Indian title had not been extinguished. Some of these settlements were commenced prior to 1740, and rapidly increased, despite the complaints of the Indians, the laws of the Province or the several proclamations of the Governor.

An alarming crisis was now at hand. The French in the neighborhood of the Great Lakes were sedulously applying themselves to seduce the Indians from their allegiance to the English. The Shawnee had already joined the French cause; the Delaware only waited for an opportunity to avenge their wrongs; and of the Six Nations, the Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca were wavering and listening to overtures from the agents of both the English and French.

To keep the Indians in favor of the province required much cunning diplomacydiplomacy and many expensive presents. In the midst of this alarming condition the old flame of civil dissension burst out with increased fury. The presents so frequently procured for the Indians, the erection of a chain of forts along the frontier and the maintenance of a military force drew too heavily upon the provincial purse, which never was burdened with any great surplus.

The Assembly urged that the Proprietary estates be taxed, as well as those of humble individuals. The Proprietaries, as would be expected, refused to be taxed and pleaded prerogative, charter and law; the Assembly in turn pleaded equity, common danger, common benefit and at common expense.

The Proprietaries offered bounties in lands not yet acquired from the Indians by treaty or purchase, and in addition proposed the issuing of more paper money. The Assembly was not satisfied; they wanted something more tangible. They passed laws laying taxes and granting supplies, but the Proprietaries opposed the conditions. They were willing to aid the Assembly in taxing the people, but not the Proprietaries. Here were sown the germs of the Revolution, though not fully matured until twenty years later.

During those frivolous disputes in the Assembly the frontiers were left fully exposed. The pacific principles, too, of the Quakers, Dunkards, Mennonites and Schwenckfelders came in to complicate the strife, but as the danger increased they prudently kept aloof from public office, leaving the management of the war to sects less scrupulous. The pulpit and the press were deeply involved, and the inhabitants divided into opposing factions upon this question.

The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was scarcely regarded more seriously than a truce by the French in America. In their eagerness to extend their territories and connect their northern possessions with Louisiana, they projected a line of forts and military posts from one to the other along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. They explored and occupied the land upon the latter stream, buried in many places leaden plates, by which they claimed possession of those lands.

The French established themselves at Presqu’ Isle and extended themselves southward; they erected a fort at Au Boeuf and another at the mouth of French Creek, which they called Fort Machault.

Virginia was much interested in this foothold gained by the French along the Ohio, for they claimed the territory of Pennsylvania west of the Allegheny Mountains as part of their dominion.

The English Government having learned that the French claimed right to the Ohio River country by virtue of the discovery of La Salle, made sixty years previous, remonstrated with the Court of Versailles, but without avail, and resolved to oppose force with force.

The first move made by the English was to present a solid front by combining the efforts of all the colonies. To this end a conference was called at Albany in July, 1754, to which the Six Nations were invited. Governor Hamilton could not attend this conference, and John Penn and Richard Peters, of the Council, and Isaac Norris and Benjamin Franklin, of the Assembly, were commissioned to represent the Province of Pennsylvania. They carried with them £500 as the provincial present to the Indians.

The results of this confederated council were not satisfactory, but the Pennsylvania Commissioners obtained a great part of the land in the province, to which the Indian title was not extinct, comprising the lands lying southwest of a line beginning one mile above the mouth of Penns Creek, in what is now Snyder County, and running northwest by west “to the western boundary of the State.”

The Shawnee, Delaware and Munsee Indians, on the Susquehanna, Juniata, Allegheny and Ohio Rivers, thus found their lands “sold from under their feet,” which the Six Nations had guaranteed to them on their removal from the Eastern waters. This proved of great dissatisfaction to these Indians and had not a little part in causing their alienation from the English interest.

Over Alleghenies May 6, 1755

Preparatory to the ill-fated expedition of General Braddock, which precipitated the forays of the French and Indians upon the unprotected frontiers of Pennsylvania, was the letter to Governor Morris, of Pennsylvania, asking to have a road cut so that there might be communication between Philadelphia and the Three Forks of the Youghiogheny, both for the security of retreat and to facilitate the transport of provisions. These English officers were unacquainted with American geography, and at best the maps used by them were by no means accurate.

Governor Morris in response advised Sir John St. Clair, deputy quartermaster general, that there was a very good wagon road from Philadelphia to the mouth of the Conococheague, but only a horse path through the mountains by which the Indian traders carried their goods, and that there would be great difficulty in making a wagon road that way. He also gently intimated that the distance was much greater than the English officers realized.

Governor Morris, with the sanction of the Assembly, sent George Croghan, John Armstrong, James Burd, William Buchanan and Adam Hoopes as commissioners to explore the country west of the “Great Virginia Road,” as the road through the Cumberland Valley was called, and to survey and lay out such roads as were most direct and commodious. No better men could have been chosen. They were acquainted with the country, and Armstrong was the best surveyor on the frontier.

These commissioners projected a road from McDowell’s Mill, in present Franklin County, to within eighteen miles of the Three Forks, where they found too many French and Indians scouting and hunting to venture farther. The length of projected road so far as it was surveyed was sixty-nine miles.

The commissioners could not effect a meeting with Sir John until April 16. When they showed him the drafts he raved like a wild man, and the commissioners, believing they had done their part well, were abashed by their unusual reception.

Sir John told them it was too late to build this road now, and instead of marching to the Ohio they would march into Cumberland County. Not a soldier should handle an ax, but by fire and sword General Braddock would compel the inhabitants to build it. He would kill all the cattle and drive away the horses, burn the houses, and if the French defeated the army by the delays of the Province, he would, with his sword drawn, pass through it and treat the inhabitants as a parcel of traitors to his master. He even avowed his purpose to “shake Mr. Penn’s Proprietaryship” by representing Pennsylvania as a disaffected province.

Braddock was constantly complaining of the failure of Pennsylvania and Virginia. He spoke slightingly of the provincial contingent and scoffed at danger from the Indians. “These savages,” he said to Franklin, “may indeed be a formidable enemy to raw American militia, but upon the King’s regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is impossible they should make an impression.”

Governor Morris early in May sent Secretary Peters to expedite the work of the road-makers by his presence. Neither General Braddock nor Sir John had any distinct idea of the obstacles to road-building over the Pennsylvania mountains or of the difficulties which confronted Governor Morris in a work of such magnitude, who lacked both money and men for the undertaking.

This road, which afterward received the name of Braddock’s Road, passed beyond McDowell’s Mill, around Parnell’s and Jordan’s Knobs into Path Valley, into Cowan’s Gap, past Burnt Cabins and Sugar Cabins to Sideling Hill. From the latter point the road extended to the crossing of the Juniata, thence to Raystown (now Bedford), and it then went over the Alleghenies to the Great Crossing, three miles from Turkey’s Foot.

The entire expense of making the road was to be paid by the Province. Advertisements were broadcasted in Cumberland, York and Lancaster Counties for laborers. James Wright and John Smith contracted to supply the workmen with provisions.

Ground was broken May 6, 1755, when only ten men reported for work under command of James Burd. By the 15th there were seventy men at work and by the end of the month 120.

Mr. Burd was in sole charge of the work at the outset, the other commissioners being too busy—Croghan with the Indian contingent ordered by Braddock, Armstrong with complications growing out of the purchase of 1754 and Buchanan and Hoopes with their private affairs.

The road was built thirty feet wide for about ten miles, when it was determined to make it twenty feet, and parts requiring digging or quarrying only ten feet.

Twenty days were required to make the road from Anthony Thompson’s to Sideling Hill, a distance of nineteen miles. William Smith was commissioned to assist Mr. Burd and reported May 28.

Much of the money required for the work was supplied by Joseph Armstrong and Samuel Smith, members of the Assembly from Cumberland County, from their private purse, for the Legislature held its pursestrings with a tight grip. The workmen at times suffered for the want of bread and liquor.

By June 16, Mr. Burd wrote from “Alloqueepy’s Town,” thirty-four and a half miles from Thompson’s, that he expected to finish the work there the next day, and join the advance division, under Smith, at Raystown.

The Indians menaced the work at this time and Braddock, who at first refused aid, sent 100 men, under Captain Hogg, as a guard. The soldiers came none too soon.

As Braddock penetrated the Alleghenies, Indian ravages began in his rear. True to their character, the savages spared neither sex nor age. The soldiers deserted and the workmen were unprotected and in constant danger.

By July 5 the road was completed to the eastern base of the Alleghenies.

On the day that Braddock’s body was buried at Great Meadows, John Armstrong wrote to him from Carlisle to say that the new road would soon be completed. It was too late. Braddock had no further need for a road, except a spot for a burial place in that great highway over which he had marched to defeat with so much military pomp.

Mission to Logstown May 7, 1751

George Croghan and Andrew Montour were sent, May 7, 1751, to Logstown to carry a Provincial present to the Indians. While there the wily Irishman met Joncaire, the French Indian agent, but succeeded in outwitting him in diplomacy; and the chiefs ordered the French from their lands and reasserted their friendship for the English. At this time the Indians requested Croghan to ask Governor Hamilton to build a strong house on the Ohio River for the protection of their wives and children in event they should be obliged to engage in war.

George Croghan, next to Sir William Johnson, was the most prominent figure among British-Indian agents during the period of the later French wars and the conspiracy of Pontiac, from 1746 until the Revolutionary War, when he unfortunately cast his lot with the British.

He was born in Ireland and educated at Dublin, and emigrated to America in 1741. He settled in Pennsylvania near John Harris’ Ferry, now Harrisburg. He became an Indian trader in 1744, and was made a Councilor of the Six Nations at Onondaga in 1746.

Croghan first appears in the official correspondence of Pennsylvania as writing to Secretary Richard Peters, May 26, 1747, that he had just returned from the woods, bringing a letter, a French scalp, and some wampum, for the Governor from a party of the Six Nations Indians having their dwelling on the borders of Lake Erie, who had formerly been in the French interest; and who now, thanks to Croghan’s diplomacy, had declared against the French.

Croghan went to Logstown in April, 1748, with a message and present from Pennsylvania Council to the Ohio Indians. Conrad Weiser carried a larger present to these same Indians, and on his trip lodged in Croghan’s storehouse in Logstown.

In 1750, Croghan accompanied Secretary Peters and other officials on a trip among the settlers in Path, Tuscarora, Juniata and Aughwick Valleys warning them off, burning their cabins and confining some of the intruders in prison.

At the great Shawnee Council at Logstown, he, Andrew Montour and Christopher Gist were present and Croghan boldly announced to the Indians that the French had offered a large sum of money to any one who would bring them the bodies or scalps of Croghan or Montour. So the mission to Logstown, May 7, 1751, when the French-Indian Agent was present, was a most unusual moment to the intrepid Croghan, and his almost equally celebrated companion, Andrew Montour.

Croghan succeeded in making a treaty between the Indians and Virginia Commissioners. He was again at Logstown, May 7, 1753, in company with William Trent, Robert Callender and other traders, when a messenger arrived with the news that the French were on Lake Erie in large force, with brass cannon, on their way to the Ohio. Croghan held a conference with Scarouady, the Half King, on May 12; and then attended an important council between Pennsylvania Commissioners and chiefs of the Six Nations, Shawnee, Delaware, Wyandot and Twightwee at Carlisle in October, 1753. About this time he was compelled, by impending bankruptcy and fear of being imprisoned for debt, to remove to the Indian country, and he built a house at Aughwick Old Town, near the Juniata.

Croghan accompanied George Washington and his little army on the march from Fort Necessity to Redstone. When he returned to Aughwick he kept Governor Morris informed of the movements of the French and their Indian allies.

Croghan attended the important Indian conferences at Easton, Harris’ Ferry, Lancaster, Onondaga, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and other places, and always faithfully represented the English cause. He and Weiser were the most active agents at Easton, June, 1762, when King Tedyuskung retracted his charges of fraud and forgery in land transactions made against the Proprietaries by him at Easton six years before.

He was commissioned captain and served with Braddock, when he commanded a company of Indians. He resigned his commission in spring of 1756 and joined his fortunes with those of Sir William Johnson in the Mohawk Valley. He was appointed a deputy in the Indian service, with the rank of colonel.

December 1, 1763, he sailed for England to confer with the ministry about some boundary lines, but he was shipwrecked off the coast of France and did not reach his destinationdestination until February, 1764.

Croghan made an affidavit while in London which relates much of his early movements. He also presented to the Lords of Trade an interesting Memorial on Indian Affairs in America.

He returned to Pennsylvania in October, 1764, and was induced to continue as Deputy Indian Agent in the Western Department.

Croghan was sent by General Gage to Illinois for the purpose of making peace with the Indians. He embarked from Fort Pitt, May 15, 1765, and experienced a hazardous trip during which his party was attacked by hostile Indians. He being severely wounded and taken prisoner, was carried to what is now Lafayette, Indiana, where he was recognized by some chiefs with whom he had previous dealings, and in spite of the fact that the French demanded his execution, Croghan was liberated, July 18. He set off that day for the Illinois country. On the way he met Pontiac and other chiefs, and effected the treaty he had been sent to make.

Colonel Croghan kept journals of all his trips and these are both interesting and valuable. They reveal many exciting adventures and some very harrowing experiences.

Croghan mortgaged his Otsego tract of land to William Franklin, son of Benjamin, and lost it under foreclosure in 1773. This became the home of James Fennimore Cooper, now Cooperstown, N. Y.

In the controversy between Pennsylvania and Virginia for the territory which lies west of the Laurel Hills, Croghan was a partisan of Virginia, and one of those who stirred up the most trouble.

At the beginning of the Revolution Colonel Croghan embarked in the patriot cause, being elected chairman of the Committee of Safety of Augusta County, May 16, 1775. He later became an object of suspicion.

June 15, 1778, he was declared by Pennsylvania a public enemy, and his office of Indian Agent was conferred upon Colonel George Morgan. He continued, however, to reside in Pennsylvania, and died at Passyunk, in the summer of 1782. His will is dated June 12, 1782.

Colonel Croghan married a Mohawk Indian, and their daughter, Catherine, became the third wife of Joseph Brant, the celebrated Mohawk chieftain of the Revolutionary period.

The Committee of Safety, which organized July 3, 1775, early in the following year, had a survey made of the Delaware River, with a view to its more extensive fortification. Leave was obtained from New Jersey to construct works on that side of the river; a permanent fort was determined upon at Billingsport; the fort at Fort Island was hurried to completion; it was decided to fortify Liberty Island, and additions were made to the chevaux-de-frise. To the naval flotilla were added the floating battery Arnold, the ship-of-war Montgomery, the fireship Aetna and some guardboats for Philadelphia harbor. This naval force soon had a chance to show its mettle.

On May 6 news came to Philadelphia by express from Fort Penn that two warships, a schooner and three tenders were coming up the river. The Committee of Safety ordered the gunboat flotilla and the Montgomery and Aetna, under command of Commodore Andrew Caldwell and Captain James Reed, to attack the enemy. His vessels were the Roebuck, forty-eight guns, under command of Captain Hammond, and the sloop-of-war Liverpool, twenty-eight guns, under command of Captain Bellew, and their tenders.

Captain Proctor, in command of the fort at Fort Island, volunteered for the fight with 100 of his men and served on board the Hornet. The Montgomery, the Continental ship Reprisal, under command of Captain Wickes, and the battery Arnold, under Captain Samuel Davidson, remained near the chevaux-de-frise, in a line with the forts. The other boats went down the river to the mouth of Christiana Creek, coming up with the enemy on the afternoon of May 8.

Fire was immediately opened on both sides and was maintained with much spirit until dark. The Roebuck ran ashore and careened; the Liverpool came to anchor to protect her and the provincial boats withdrew to obtain more ammunition.

During this engagement, the Continental schooner Wasp, with Captain Alexander, which had been previously chased into Wilmington, came out and captured an English brig belonging to the squadron. The fireship was not brought into use, and before morning the Roebuck was again afloat.

The attack was renewed at 5 o’clock in the morning when the British ships retired, being closely pursued as far as New Castle by the Philadelphia navy.

The officers of the flotilla complained grievously of the supplies furnished them by the Committee of Safety as being defective in quality and deficient in quantity; the powder was so bad that the men had to cut up their clothes and equipments to make the cartridges serviceable. There were also other defects, so that the officers threw the whole blame of their failure to destroy or capture the enemy vessels upon the committee. The Assembly investigated, however, and exonerated the committee.

The American loss was one killed and two wounded. The British lost one killed and five wounded. So it was quite probable this engagement was fought at long range. Members of the Provincial Navy, however, brought up some splinters from the enemy’s ships to exhibit at the Coffee House as trophies of the fight. The Roebuck and the Liverpool returned to their stations at Cape May, depending upon New Jersey, instead of Pennsylvania, for poultry and fresh provisionsprovisions.

This engagement served a valuable purpose. Congress and the Provincial Assembly were certainly admonished to increase their navies. The Committee of Safety added to the galleys and other vessels, sloops, schooners, guard boats and also firerafts. This added force was composed of 743 men. Samuel Davidson was appointed to succeed Commodore Caldwell, as commander of the flotilla, soon after the fight, but on account of much opposition from other officers, never took up the command.

The Committee of Safety organized a system of privateers and letters of marque at this time, with the sanction of Congress. They created a Court of Admiralty, of which George Ross, of Lancaster, was judge; Matthew Clarkson, marshal, and Andrew Robinson, register.

Before July there had also been commissioned the brigs Hancock and Congress, and the sloop Chance, under Captains Wingate Newman, John Kaye, and James Robertson. As early as May the Congress and Chance had taken three valuable ships from Jamaica bound for London, with large cargoes of rum, sugar and molasses, 22,420 “pieces of eight,” 187 ounces of plate and a fine turtle, intended as a present to Lord North. The President of the Continental Congress received and enjoyed this turtle.

It is also of interest to our Province to note that the activities of the young navy resulted in other important prizes. The privateer Congress captured the schooner Thistle; the privateer Franklin, of Philadelphia, took a British storeship with seventy-five tons of gunpowder and 1000 stands of arms; the ship Lexington, under Captain John Barry, of Philadelphia, captured the Edward; the Wasp took the schooner Betsy. In the meantime the British Roebuck and Liverpool, with their tenders, made many captures of vessels about the Delaware Capes, chasing others ashore. But the record of the young American Navy was glorious and certainly a fine beginning for the brilliant successes which were to follow.

Thus we find that the Committee of Safety constructed the Pennsylvania State Navy three months before Congress proposed a Continental navy.

By August, 1776, the fleet numbered twenty-seven vessels, with Captain Thomas Reed as commodore, the first officer of that title in America. Another distinguished officer was Nicholas Biddle.

Three months after the State Navy was begun the Continental Congress took action for the construction of a Continental navy, which was also fitted out in Philadelphia. When the Congress of the United States established the Navy Department in 1798, the first navy yard was located in Philadelphia, where ship building had been an established enterprise since 1683. The city is today famous for the quality and quantity of ships built for this and other nations of the world.

General Grant once introduced Bishop J. H. Vincent to President Lincoln and said: “Dr. Vincent was my pastor at Galena (Illinois), and I do not think I missed one of his sermons while I lived there.”

This same Bishop Vincent, of good old Pennsylvania stock and many years a resident of Pennsylvania, was the founder of the Chautauqua Assembly, next only to the public-school system in bringing to the masses of the people some share of their inheritance in the world’s great creations in art and literature. This is the work of a man—a great teacher and educator and university preacher—who did not himself have a college education.

In 1772 the Vincent family, consisting of John Vincent and wife, their sons, Cornelius and Peter; their sons-in-law, Timothy Williams and Samuel Gould, removed from Essex County, N. J., and settled in Northumberland County, Pa., near the present town of Milton.

When the Indians became hostile during the Revolutionary War the early settlers along the West branch of the Susquehanna erected stockade forts at central points, into which the women and children of the neighborhood were gathered for protection at the approach of danger. In one of these forts, known as Fort Freeland, situated on Warrior Run, were gathered the Vincents, the Himrods, the Miles, the McKnights, the Boyds, the Kings, the Littles and others.

June 21, 1779, a party of Indians approached stealthily and fired upon six men hoeing corn in a field near the fort. They killed Isaac Vincent and James Miles and took Michael Freeland and Benjamin Vincent prisoners.

July 28, 1779, 200 British under Captain John McDonald and 300 Seneca Indians, under Chief Hiokatoo attacked the fort and compelled it to capitulate, the conditions of surrender being that all the men over seventeen should become prisoners of war, and the women and children and the aged should be set at liberty. Under this capitulation, Cornelius Vincent and his sons, Daniel and Bethuel, with their neighbors, were marched across the country to the Lakes, then to Quebec, where they remained prisoners till the close of the war.

The aged John Vincent and wife, with the wife and younger children of Cornelius, wended their way back on foot to New Jersey and were scattered among their friends until the return of the captives.

Soon after their return from captivity Cornelius Vincent and his wife and their sons, Daniel and Bethuel, returned to the West Branch Valley and resumed the settlement they had been obliged to abandon. Daniel built and owned a large mill on Warrior Run. Bethuel built a large hotel in Milton, and became its most prominent citizen. Bethuel Vincent was postmaster at Milton, June 29, 1803 to February 22, 1822, and again July 13, 1822 to June 23, 1829.

Cornelius Vincent died in Milton, July 16, 1812. Daniel Vincent died near his mills, January 26, 1826, and BethuelBethuel died at his home in Milton, April 30, 1837.

BethuelBethuel Vincent, born June 3, 1762, married Martha Himrod, January 1, 1788. They were the parents of nine children, of whom John Himrod, born April 20, 1798, was the youngest of the four sons.

John Himrod married Mary Raser, a native of Philadelphia, who died at Chillisquaque, Pa., February 16, 1852. They were old-fashioned Methodists, and parents of Bishop Vincent.

During a short residence in Tuscaloosa, Ala., John Heyl Vincent, the subject of this sketch, was born February 23, 1832. The parents soon moved back to their Pennsylvania home, where John H. attended the schools at Milton and Lewisburg. He began to preach at eighteen years and studied for awhile at Wesleyan Institute, Newark, N. J.

Reverend John Heyl Vincent joined the New Jersey Conference in 1853. Was ordained deacon, 1855; elder, in 1857. Transferred to Rock River, Ill. Conference, he became pastor at Galena in 1857, and General U. S. Grant was one of his parishioners. He then preached elsewhere and in Chicago.

A trip to the old world in 1862, contributed an important part to his intellectual training. He visited Egypt, Palestine, Greece, Italy and other countries.

In 1866 he was elected general agent of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday School Union and in 1868, corresponding secretary of the Sunday School Union and Tract Society, with residence in New York City. A complete series of his books forms an encyclopedia of modern Sunday School literature.

This work culminated in 1874, in the Chautauqua Sunday School Assembly, from which he founded, in 1878, the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle and was its Chancellor until his death.

He was made resident bishop at Zurich, Switzerland, 1900, and placed in charge of European work of the Methodist Church.

Bishop Vincent became preacher to Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Wellesley and other universities and colleges, and was the recipient of many honorary degrees.

In speaking of his great work at Chautauqua he remarked: “I do not expect to make a second Harvard and Yale out of Chautauqua, but I do want to give the people of this generation such a taste of what it is to be intelligent that they will see to it that their children have the best education the country can give.”

Bishop Vincent died in Chicago, May 9, 1920, aged 88 years.

Bishop Vincent’s son, Hon. George Edgar Vincent, a distinguished educator and powerful orator, is president of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Pennsylvania may well be proud to claim the ancestors of Bishop Vincent, the founder of Chautauqua, as their own.

In the boundary dispute between Pennsylvania and Maryland Lord Baltimore had observations taken of the latitude of New Castle, Delaware, which showed that town to be 39° 39′ 30″, which would place the end of the fortieth degree many miles to the north, and its beginning far beyond the reach of the radius of twelve miles as called for by Lord Chief Justice North, of England.

A degree of latitude is a band about sixty-nine and a half miles wide, extending around the earth parallel to the equator.

Lord North, William Penn, Lord Baltimore, and others, in the absence of better knowledge, simply assumed that the degrees on the maps were all too far south, which was only a guess, but in fact they were nearly correct.

Penn obtained his charter and sent William Markham, his cousin and deputy, to the Delaware to take an observation of the latitude, and he was to meet Lord Baltimore, or his agents, and settle the boundaries.

This meeting was held in Upland, now Chester, in latter part of the year 1681. The observation was taken, and it became manifest that an absurd mistake in latitude was revealed, and that the fortieth degree, the southern boundary of Pennsylvania was twelve miles farther to the North. Lord Baltimore already knew that the end of the fortieth degree was many miles north of its position on Captain John Smith’s map, and he renewed his old claim that his province of Maryland extended to the fortieth degree complete. Thus began the controversy which lasted twenty years.

This claim carried the northern boundary of Maryland far into Penn’s province, just north of Philadelphia, and if successfully defended would have cut from the southern part of our State all the territory south of a line running through Philadelphia, Dowingtown, just south of Lancaster, and north of York, Bedford, Somerset, Connellsville, Brownsville, and the village of West Finley in Washington County.

But Penn had a strong case to defend his territorial limits, his charter expressly defined the southern limit of Pennsylvania, as on the beginning of the fortieth degree, which would make its southern limit reach nearly to the City of Washington, and would have cut off from Lord Baltimore’s province much more territory than he was trying to cut from Penn’s. Penn also possessed the later grant from the Crown, and in such a dispute, where the limits overlapped, it would be taken to have annulled the older.

Penn was willing to yield his stronger position and compromise, all he demanded was that the line be placed where it was supposed to be when his charter was granted. The mistake in latitude made Penn’s boundary on the Delaware ridiculous, for the circle of twelve miles from New Castle could not possibly touch the beginning of the fortieth degree, which was forty miles to the south of it.

It would have been unfortunate to obstruct the settlement of this country by putting claims in which both seemed to be justified, but Penn did even more than expected. He offered to purchase from Baltimore sufficient land to give Pennsylvania a harbor at the head of the Chesapeake. At another personal interview with Baltimore at West River he suggested a compromise even more favorable to Maryland, by suggesting that additional territory should be given Baltimore to make up the loss of the increased length of a degree, which was recently ascertained to be 69½ instead of 60 miles. This would have placed the northern line of Maryland about seven miles north of the head of the Chesapeake.

Lord Baltimore refused all compromises offered by William Penn. He fancied he could obtain great acquisitions of territory, and was determined his province should consist of the present Maryland, Delaware and the southern strip of Pennsylvania above described.

The controversy was thrown in the privy council. The case was argued for two years, the council finally deciding that Baltimore’s charter did not give him a title to Delaware, because at the time of granting the charter that region had been in possession of the Dutch, and they ordered Baltimore and Penn to divide Delaware equally between them by a north and south line, midway between the Chesapeake and the Delaware. The decision of the council was confined to the controversy between Delaware and Maryland, and nothing was said about the disputed boundary of the 40° between Maryland and Pennsylvania and it remained unsettled.

This condition proved a great hardship, the inhabitants on the border, uncertain of their position, refused to pay taxes to either government, and the sheriffs of adjoining counties carried on a warfare of petty annoyance. This gave the rougher and lawless men an excuse for fighting. One of the most notable of these was Thomas Cresap. He caused so much trouble in the southern counties that when he was arrested and carried to Philadelphia, which he called a pretty Maryland town, his exploits were known as the Cresap War.

William Penn died July 30, 1718, leaving the question as unsettled as it was in 1682. Charles Calvert, the fifth Lord Baltimore, was now the proprietor of Maryland, and the first of the family to show much cleverness.

He went to Penn’s widow and admitted he had no just claim to the title of Delaware, and suggested that no more land should be granted near either of the disputed borders by either government for eighteen months, within which time they could settle all difficulties. This agreement was signed in February, 1723, and long after the eighteen months had passed into history, the agreement was faithfully observed by Hannah Penn, and after her death by her children. Baltimore also observed it.

William Penn’s widow died in 1726, and her young sons did not immediately mark the boundary, and Baltimore now assumed the role of an injured person, and in 1731 petitioned the Crown to compel the Proprietors of Pennsylvania to join with him in settling the boundaries. He applied to John and Thomas Penn to meet with him and sign an agreement of settlementsettlement, which they agreed to do, and they also accepted the terms proposed in it by Baltimore and the articles were signed May 10, 1732.

The southern boundary of Pennsylvania was fixed about seven miles north of the head of Chesapeake, and the same as William Penn had offered Baltimore in their interview at West River. By this agreement Lord Baltimore received more than had ever belonged to him.

A map was prepared, and attached to the agreement, on which the boundaries were plainly marked. This map was prepared by Baltimore, and the Penns accepted it as correct.

In May, 1789, there was a brilliant banquet given at the public house of Colonel Mathias Slough, on the southeast corner of Penn Square and South Queen Street, Lancaster. This social function was attended by a large number of officers and soldiers who had fought in the Revolutionary War, among whom were Captain Stephen Chambers and Surgeon Jacob Rieger.

Captain Chambers was neatly dressed in his military uniform, and in personal appearance was one of the finest-looking officers of that period. Dr. Rieger was quite the opposite, rather diminutive in stature, unshaven and otherwise very untidy.

During the progress of the banquet Captain Chambers made some disparaging remark about Dr. Rieger, which the latter overheard and deemed insulting. The result was a challenge to a duel, which was as promptly accepted.

The parties immediately named their seconds, who fixed the following Monday evening, May 11, as the time. The parties met according to arrangement on the outskirts of Lancaster, and after the necessary details were concluded the antagonists faced each other, and at the command of fire neither shot took effect. The seconds, at this point, made an earnest effort to reconcile the principals, Captain Chambers and his seconds being in a mood to offer such terms as they believed to be proper and satisfactory, but Dr. Rieger would not consent to any terms of reconciliation.

They took their places and on the command of fire Captain Chambers snapped his pistol without discharging, but Dr. Rieger sent a ball crashing through both legs of Captain Chambers. His wounds bled freely, and for two days it was thought they were not dangerous; mortification, however, set in and he died in great agony on Saturday morning following, May 16.

Thus perished one of the noblest patriots and most brilliant legal minds of the bar, an event which agitated the public mind for years afterward as an unwarranted and cold-blooded murder.

Judge John Joseph Henry married Chambers’ sister, Jane, and was the attorney for his executors.

Captain Chambers was a native of Ireland, being born there in 1750. He came to Pennsylvania prior to the Revolution, and settled at Lancaster. He studied law and as soon as he was admitted to practice in 1773, he removed to Sunbury, where he became the first resident attorney of Northumberland County. Fithian, in his journal under date July 20, 1775, met him at Sunbury, “a lawyer, serious, civil and social.”

At the outset of the Revolution he entered the service. He was appointed first lieutenant of the Twelfth Regiment of the Continental Line, October 16, 1776, and promoted to captain in 1777.

He was chosen to the General Assembly from Northumberland County, October 2, 1778, and while in attendance thereon was admitted to the Philadelphia bar, March 6, 1779. In 1779 he was a member of the Republican Society of Philadelphia, whose object was the revision of the Constitution of 1776.

In the fall of 1780 he returned to his former home in Lancaster and soon attained a large and lucrative practice, owned several farms and also became interested in the iron business. He represented Lancaster County in the Council of Censors, 1783 and 1784. He also was one of the original members of the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati.

He was a delegate to the convention November 29, 1787, which ratified, on the part of Pennsylvania, the Federal Constitution. In the debate he took a most aggressive part, frequently becoming very personal in his attack upon members of the opposite side, especially toward William Findlay. Captain Chambers voted with his comrades in arms, and on the side of the adoption of the Federal Constitution.

It is a matter of interest that Captain Chambers was among the distinguished patriots who were in the house of James Wilson, in Philadelphia, when the mob made a disgraceful attack against it, October 4, 1779. Captain Chambers appeared with James Wilson, and others, before Supreme Executive Council, October 19, 1779, and was bound over to appear at the next term of court, in the sum of £5000. George Clymer and Samuel Caldwell becoming his suretiessureties in the sum of £2,500 each.

The evening of the day of the riot at “Fort Wilson,” Captain Chambers attended the Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge of Ancient York Masons and was installed Worshipful Master of Lodge No. 22, which was constituted at Northumberland the following month.

At the constitution of Lodge No. 22, about the middle of November, 1779, Chambers became its first Worshipful Master, and the warrant for that body was produced and presented by him at “his own proper cost and charges.”

In July, 1785, he became the warrant Worshipful Master of Lodge No. 43, at Lancaster, and both of these ancient lodges are still at labor, the former, Lodge No. 22, now at Sunbury.

Dr. Joseph Rieger was the surgeon of the Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment, commanded by Colonel Samuel Hiles. He was commissioned March 22, 1776. He was a highly respected physician of Lancaster. He died there in 1795.