During the second year of Governor Francis R. Shunk’s administration the war with Mexico was begun. Pennsylvania was authorized to furnish six regiments of infantry. Two were mustered into the service, the first on December 15, 1846, at Pittsburgh, under command of Colonel Wynkoop, the second on January 5, 1847, also at Pittsburgh, under command of Colonel Roberts, who was succeeded by Colonel Geary.

The gallant services of the troops on the fields of Mexico at Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Chepultepec and the City of Mexico, their bravery and valor, secured the highest commendation of their venerated chieftain.

During Governor Shunk’s administration the economic condition of the State was greatly improved. The financial storm was passed and men were recovering from their reverses. Banks were clamoring for charters, but the Governor limited the number and refused to sponsor the establishment of a system of free banking, such as was in operation in several States.

It was during Governor Shunk’s term that the Legislature enacted the first law extending to women the rights of property. There also was a change made in the law relating to the separation of married persons.

In 1847, Governor Shunk was re-elected for a second term. Early in the year 1848 he was attacked with a pulmonary trouble which soon assumed a serious character. Just as the remnants of our brave and heroic troops were returning from the battlefields of Mexico with their laurels, Governor Shunk suffered a severe hemorrhage of the lungs, on the morning of July 9. On that day, feeling that his days were numbered, the Governor wrote a letter of resignation to the people of Pennsylvania and a few days later, July 20, 1848, died. His body was laid to rest in the old Lutheran burying ground at the Trappe.

Governor Shunk was succeeded by William Freame Johnston, the Speaker of the Senate, according to the provisions of the Constitution, the vacancy occurring three months before the general election. The Acting Governor issued the necessary writs for the election of a Chief Magistrate, which resulted in the election of Senator Johnston. The new Governor was a native of Greensburg, Westmoreland County.

The attention of the Legislature having been called to the neglected and suffering condition of the insane poor of the State, in 1844, there was provision made for the establishment of an asylum to be located within ten miles of the seat of Government. The citizens of Harrisburg, with the aid of a liberal appropriation by Dauphin County, purchased a farm adjoining that city, and in 1848, the commissioners appointed by the State began the construction of the first building erected by the Commonwealth for the reception and care of the indigent insane.

The Fugitive Slave Law was passed by Congress during Governor Johnston’s administration, and the excitement incident to the return of fugitives under it, soon became a subject of heated discussion. In 1851 a serious riot occurred at Christiana, Lancaster County, and in other localities the arrest of fugitive slaves led to bloodshed.

Under the administration of Governor Johnston, the records of the Provincial and State Government, which had remained in single manuscript copy in a very confused condition, were preserved.

In compliance with the Governor’s recommendation, an act was passed authorizing the appointment of a suitable agent to select and superintend their publication. Samuel Hazard, of Philadelphia, was delegated, and under his supervision twenty-eight volumes of colonial records and Pennsylvania archives, containing a vast amount of original papers of incalculable value and interest were published.

They form almost complete details of the transactions of Government from 1682 to 1790, invaluable in their importance to a full comprehension of the early history of Pennsylvania. The work has been continued and only recently the seventh series of the Archives appeared.

In 1849 considerable excitement existed in Pittsburgh and in the western part of the State, occasioned by the erection of a bridge over the Ohio River at Wheeling, W. Va., which obstructed the river to navigation in time of high water. Appeals for relief were made to the Legislature, and to Congress, and finally to the Supreme Court of the United States. Measures, however, were adopted which removed all objections.

Governor Johnston was renominated for a second term. His Democratic opponent was William Bigler, of Clearfield. The campaign was unusually spirited and was carried on vigorously from midsummer until the day of the election in October. State questions were forgotten, the Fugitive Slave law and slavery in the Territories now demanded universal attention. Bigler was elected by a good majority, and was inaugurated January 20, 1852.

By a remarkable coincidence his own election as Governor of Pennsylvania was simultaneous with the election of his elder brother, John, also a native of Pennsylvania, to the same dignity in the new State of California.

Governor Bigler’s Administration is marked with stronger features than any one of his immediate predecessors. Several very important measures were adopted by the Legislature, the principle of which were the establishing of the office of the County Superintendent of Common Schools and the founding of the Pennsylvania Training School for Feeble-Minded Children.

The completion of the Pennsylvania Railroad from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh in February, 1854, added a powerful impulse to the development of the resources of the State.

The County of Philadelphia was merged with the city February 2, 1854, a measure of great importance, as it enlarged the sphere of municipal action.

Governor Bigler urged the payment of the public debt, and used his great influence in behalf of the public schools with beneficent results.

In March, 1854, Bigler was unanimously nominated for a second term and immediately entered upon another hard campaign for re-election. Opposed to him was James Pollock, of Milton, a man of rare culture and ability. In the midst of the campaign Governor Bigler was stricken down with sickness, and he lay ill at his home in Clearfield during most of the canvass, thus being unable to stir up his followers by his personal presence and earnestness. Pollock’s campaign was allied with the Native American or Know-Nothing Party. He also was an active leader in the Free Soil movement. Bigler had violently opposed the Know-Nothing Party from its first organization, and his attitude toward the Kansas-Nebraska Bill cost him many votes. As a result Pollock was elected Governor by a large majority.

There were several incidents in life of General Ulysses Simpson Grant which are of especial interest to Pennsylvanians.

On June 10, 1865, he was tendered a formal reception at the Union League Club house in Philadelphia, at which he was received with such enthusiasm, the general was engaged more than three hours in shaking hands with his visitors.

When the great fair was held at the Academy of Music, commencing October 23, 1865, to aid the Soldiers and Sailors’ Home, the inauguration ceremonies were conducted by Lieutenant-General Grant, Major General Meade, and Admiral Farragut, and an executive committee, including the most distinguished officers and civilians.

As these three most distinguished officers appeared together, the entire audience rose and saluted them with long continued applause. They each made short addresses.

August 14, 1866, General Grant accompanied President Johnson and other distinguished citizens to Philadelphia, where they were received by a great procession of militia and firemen.

The burial of General George G. Meade at Laurel Hill, Philadelphia, November 11, 1872, was the occasion of much mourning.

General Meade was the one conspicuous Philadelphian who stood out above all other Pennsylvanians in the Civil War, and in the years after the Rebellion he was an object of admiration to all the people. His death was regarded as a genuine public loss, and his funeral was attended with most impressive ceremonies.

The procession contained many of the greatest soldiers and civilians in the country, chiefest among whom was General Grant, President of the United States.

On December 18, 1875, President Grant, members of his cabinet and a large number of senators and representatives in Congress made a trip to Philadelphia to inspect the Centennial buildings, then nearly completed. They were entertained at a sumptuous banquet in Horticultural Hall, at which President Grant delivered the principal address.

President Grant was the guest of honor at the opening of the great exhibition, May 10, 1876, when simple but appropriate exercises were held. Four thousand soldiers escorted the President to the grounds. One hundred and fifty thousand people acclaimed the President and the Centennial Exposition.

On May 15, 1877, ex-President Grant started on his memorable trip around the world.

He sailed from the port of Philadelphia in the ship “Indiana.” His departure attracted much attention, and on the day previous he had held a public reception in Independence Hall.

He was accompanied down the Delaware River on the steamboat “Twilight” by a crowd of distinguished citizens, among whom were General Sherman, Senator Zachariah Chandler, Senator Simon Cameron, and others prominent in State and Nation.

He was accompanied by his wife and one son, and they made a tour of the whole civilized world, visiting especially the great countries of Europe and Asia, and receiving, as a soldier and civilian and the first citizen of the United States, all the honor which rulers and people could bestow. As the unofficial representative of his country, his bearing was such as to win universal admiration and respect.

When he arrived in the Mersey River, England, the ships of all nations gathered there displayed their flags to greet him.

In England a grand reception was accorded him in every city he visited. He was received by Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales in London, and later visited the Queen in Windsor Castle.

After visiting the other countries of Europe and being entertained by all the crowned heads, the United States man-of-war “Vandalia” was placed at his service and on board her he made a cruise of the Mediterranean Sea.

He then visited Bombay and Calcutta in India, Hong Kong, Canton and Peking in China, and finally Japan.

On September 20, 1879, he arrived at San Francisco, where a magnificent demonstration was made in his honor, and during his route East, across the United States, he was given public receptions and greeted with every mark of honor wherever he stopped.

His circuit around the world was accomplished in two years and seven months, and when he arrived back in Philadelphia, December 16, 1879, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, a great procession awaited him. All business was suspended by general consent.

The decorations along the route of the parade were unprecedented in number, variety and costliness.

The procession under the marshalship of Colonel A. Loudon Snowden, took nearly half the day in passing a given point, and it is supposed that hardly less than 40,000 men were in line.

For several days and nights the ex-President and great general had hardly any time that he could call his own; receptions, entertainments, banquets, and other methods of welcome and hospitality being kept up in rapid succession.

He was placed on the retired list of the army by a special act of Congress, March, 1884, with the rank and pay of General.

During the last few months of his life he wrote his “Memoirs,” which was published soon after his death, which occurred on Mount McGregor, near Saratoga, N. Y., July 23, 1885.

His body found its final resting place in a magnificent mausoleum in Riverside Park, New York City, overlooking the Hudson River.

Shikellamy is the most picturesque and historic Indian character who ever lived in Pennsylvania. His early life is shrouded in mystery.

It has been claimed that he was a Susquehannock by birth, but others claim his father was a Frenchman. John Bartram, who accompanied Conrad Weiser and Lewis Evans to Onondaga in 1743, wrote of Shikellamy in his journal: “July 10, 1743—He was of the Six Nations, or rather a Frenchman born at Montreal, and adopted by the Oneidoes after being taken a prisoner, but his son told me that he (the son) was of the Cayuga Nations.”

Dr. Crantz, in the “History of the Brethren,” 1768, writes of Shikellamy:

“When he was spoken to concerning baptism, he said he had been baptized in infancy. We were informed afterward that he was born of European parents in French Canada, taken prisoner when a child two years old and brought up among the Indians. He was so much altered in his way of life that he was hardly distinguished from other savages.”

His name, according to Dr. George P. Donehoo, State Librarian and an eminent authority on the Indians of Pennsylvania, is a much corrupted form of the Oneida chieftain title, Ongwaternohiat-he, meaning, “It has caused the sky to be light for us.” The other name, Swataney, is a corrupt form of Onkhiswathe-tani, “He causes it to be light for us.”

The official spelling of the name is Skikellamy.

He was early trained in war, and for his valor was rewarded by adoption into the Oneida tribe, of which he eventually became the chief, an exceptional distinction for one not a member of the tribe and possibly not a full-blooded Indian by birth. It is not probable that he was appointed vicegerent before 1728. He was not present at the treaty with the Five Nations in Philadelphia in July of the preceding year, and James Le Tort does not mention him among the Indians of consequence whom he met “on the upper parts of the River Susquehanna” in the winter of 1727–28.

The first conference that he attended in Philadelphia was that of July 4–5, 1728, but it does not appear that he took any part in the proceedings. He was present on a similar occasion in the following October, when, after the close of the conference, the Council considered “what present might be proper to be made to Shikellamy, of the Five Nations, appointed to reside among the Shawnese, whose services had been and may yet further be of great advantage to this Government.”

At the close of a conference several years later, the Governor having represented that Shikellamy was “a trusty good man and a great lover of the English,” commissioned him as a bearer of a present to the Six Nations and a message inviting them to visit Philadelphia. This they accordingly accepted, arriving August 18, 1732.

Shikellamy was present on this occasion and he and Conrad Weiser were employed to transact business between the Indians and the Provincial Government. He was a great friend of James Logan, and named one of his sons after this popular provincial officer.

In August, 1740, he went to Philadelphia to inquire against whom the British were making preparations for war, rumors of which had reached the great council at Onondaga. He was also present at the conference in Philadelphia July, 1742, at the treaty in Lancaster in June and July, 1744, and at Philadelphia conference in the following August. On April, 1748, accompanied by his son and Conrad Weiser, he visited Philadelphia for the last time, but no business of a public nature was transacted.

One of the chief facts of his life as vicegerent of the Iroquois confederation was his great friendliness to the cause of the Moravian missionaries among the Indians. All the prominent leaders of the Moravian Church who came to the Susquehanna region, visited him at his home at Shamokin, and were kindly received. Count Zinzindorf was among these and none was more favorably impressed with the old Oneida diplomat. His journal for September 22, 1742, reads:

“He was truly an excellent and good man, possessed of many noble qualities of mind, that would do honor to many white men, laying claims to refinement and intelligence. He was possessed of great dignity, sobriety and prudence, and was particularly noted for his extreme kindness to the inhabitants with whom he came in contact.”

Loskiel, who knew him well, thus speaks of him: “Being the first magistrate, and head chief of all the Iroquois Indians living on the banks of the Susquehanna, as far as Onondaga, he thought it incumbent upon him to be very circumspect in his dealings with the white people. He assisted the missionaries in building, and defended them against the insults of the drunken Indians; being himself never addicted to drinking, because, as he expressed it, he never wished to become a fool.”

He had built his house upon pillars, for safety, in which he always shut himself up when any drunken frolic was going on in the village.

He had been taken ill on a trip to Philadelphia, but so far recovered that he had visited Conrad Weiser at Tulpehocken, April, 1748, and completed the trip to Philadelphia.

He was again taken ill upon his return to Shamokin, and, in June, Council was advised he was so ill that he might lose his eyesight, but he recovered sufficiently to make a trip to Bethlehem early in December. On his return he became so ill that he only reached his home by the assistance of Bishop Zeisberger.

His death occurred December 17, 1748, and was extremely pathetic. His daughter and the Reverend David Zeisberger were with him during his last illness and death.

Bishop Zeisberger and Henry Fry made him a coffin, and the Indians painted the body in their gayest colors, bedecked it with his choicest ornaments, and placed with him his weapons, according to Indian custom. Then after Christian rites conducted by the good Bishop, he was buried in the Indian burying ground of his people, near the site of old Fort Augusta, in the present Sunbury.

Shikellamy left to mourn him three sons and a daughter. Another son, Unhappy Jake, was killed in the war with the Catawba in 1743. The three sons who survived were Taghneghdoarus, also known as John Shikellamy, who succeeded his distinguished father in authority, but never gained the confidence in which he was held by Indians or whites; Tahgahjute or Sayughtowa, better known as James Logan, the most celebrated of the children of Shikellamy, and John Petty. His daughter was the widow of Cajadies, the “best hunter among all the Indians,” who died in November, 1747.

After the death of Shikellamy, Shamokin declined as a center of Indian affairs. His death was the beginning of evil days. His son Taghneghdoarus was made chief, but was unable to restrain his people.

Where is the person who has not been thrilled with the reading or recitation of John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem, “Barbara Frietchie?”

It is even doubtful if the Massachusetts Quaker poet realized how famous he was going to make the venerable Barbara, and himself, when he penned his immortal poem. But there are few persons of the present generation who know anything about the personal side of Barbara Frietchie.

This patriot was born in Lancaster County, Pa., December 3, 1766, when George Washington was a young man of thirty-four. She was the third daughter of John Niclaus Hauer and Catherine Zeiler Hauer, who were both born in Germany. In 1753 they emigrated to America.

When Barbara was two years old her parents moved to Frederick, Md., then a long distance away. The trip was made in old-fashioned ox carts.

This noted woman was born during patriotic times. The hated Stamp Act had just been repealed. In fact, Frederick County, in 1765, was the first to officially protest against it.

It is said of Barbara that she met many of the patriots of that day, and when she was twenty-five years old she had the pleasure of conversing with George Washington.

This event occurred one afternoon in 1791 at Kimball’s Tavern, now the City Hall of Frederick.

A number of ladies were participating in a quilting bee, when a messenger leaped from his horse in front of the hotel and announced that President Washington would soon arrive and intended to pass the night at the tavern.

This unusual news broke up the party, and the ladies turned in to assist in preparing for the reception to the great Washington.

The tavern did not possess a suitable coffee urn, and Barbara Hauer hurried to her home and returned with her choice Liverpool coffee pot, a precious heirloom in the family.

Barbara was the one who was specially assigned to look after the personal comfort of the President, and her pretty face, pleasant manners and vivacious spirit greatly pleased the first President of the United States.

After supper he gave Barbara a beautiful china bowl, which he was carrying to Mount Vernon in his traveling bag. Nothing that she possessed in after life did she prize so highly as this precious gift.

The beginning of the one romance of her life happened in an unusually strange manner. When she was fourteen years old, Barbara accompanied her mother to a quilting party, where all sorts of things and events of that period were discussed, from parson to pig butchering, petticoats, pumpkin pies, sickness, deaths and births. One old maiden lady coyly announced that Mr. and Mrs. Casper Frietchie had that day been presented with a fine baby boy. None present ventured the prediction that some day little Barbara would become the bride of this little John Casper Frietchie, but nevertheless, twenty-six years later, May 6, 1806, that is just what happened.

Despite the somewhat unusual difference in their ages, they lived happily throughout their married life. It is claimed their home was one of the most popular in Frederick.

Young Frietchie was the proudproud proprietor of a prosperous glove factory and he enjoyed a fair income.

Besides taking much pride in her housekeeping Barbara Frietchie was a great reader and kept herself well informed upon subjects of that period.

The Frietchies had no children of their own, but adopted Catharine Stover, a niece of Mrs. Frietchie, who lived with them until she was married in 1825.

Mr. Frietchie died after a very short illness in 1849. Mrs. Frietchie continued to reside in their old home, where she devoted her time to her flowers, garden and the entertainment of her young relatives.

At the breaking out of the Civil War, Barbara Frietchie was one of Abraham Lincoln’s most loyal supporters.

The story of the flag-waving incident which resulted in Whittier’s poem is heard in different ways, but it is a fact that the geographical location of Frederick caused it to figure conspicuously in the movements of both armies.

Sentiment was naturally divided, there being a strong feeling both for and against the Union. It was a trying time, but the real bitterness of the war came toward the close of the summer of 1862.

The Confederate forces had crossed the Potomac and entered Maryland on September 5. The main body encamped at Frederick Junction, three miles south of Frederick, but a large portion of the army marched through the city on September 6 and went into camp.

The next morning (Sunday), while his troops lay resting General “Stonewall” Jackson took advantage of the opportunity to attend divine worship.

Early on the morning of the 10th the army broke camp and moved westward, going out West Patrick street, passing the home of Barbara Frietchie. It was at this time the flag incident occurred.

The venerable patriot hearing the troops were approaching, took her silk flag from between the leaves of the old family Bible, and stepped out on her front porch, thinking they were Union soldiers. Immediately an officer rode up, saying: “Granny, give me your flag.” “You can’t have it,” she said, and then she noticed the gray uniforms, but she continued to wave the flag.

The officer spoke to his men, and they turned facing her. She thought they intended to fire on her, but, instead, the officer rode off a short distance to Mill Alley, and returned in a moment with another officer and some soldiers.

This officer said to her: “Give me your flag, Granny, and I'll stick it in my horse’s head.” “No, you can’t have it,” she said. One of the men then called out, “Shoot her damned head off.”

The officer turned angrily upon him, saying: “If you harm a hair of her head, I'll shoot you down like a dog.” Then turning to the trembling old lady, he said: “Go on, Granny, wave your flag as much as you please.”

This version of the affair was related by Barbara Frietchie to her niece who was visiting her, some time after the incident. It is also said that this account has been certified by Confederate soldiers, who also stated that the episode was talked about by the troops all through the lines.

McClellan’s army followed closely and none gave them a more joyous welcome than dame Barbara, who, with her silk flag in hand, stood at her front window. She attracted much attention, many soldiers going from the ranks to speak to her.

Mrs. Frietchie did not live to see the victorious end of the Civil War. Shortly after the celebration of her ninety-sixth birthday, on December 3, 1862, she was stricken with pneumonia and died December 18, 1862. Her body was tenderly carried to the churchyard and placed by the side of her husband.

May 30, 1913, the bodies of Barbara and her husband were reinterred in Mount Olivet Cemetery at Frederick. On September 9, 1914, an artistic monument in honor of the famous woman was unveiled upon which is a large tablet bearing the words of Whittier’s poem, “Barbara Frietchie.”

At the gubernatorial election in October, 1835, owing to an unfortunate defection in the Democratic ranks whereby there were two nominees for that office, Governor George Wolf and Henry A. Muhlenberg, Joseph Ritner was elected to the highest office of the State by a minority vote.

In possession of both the executive and legislative branches of the State Government, the Anti-Masons were determined to carry out various measures with a high hand.

No sooner did the session of the Legislature open in December following than did Thaddeus Stevens, bring in a bill entitled: “An act to suppress secret societies, bound together by secret and unlawful oaths,” while both houses were deluged with petitions “praying God an investigation into the evils of Freemasonry.”

On December 15, the oath of office was administered to Governor Ritner, after which he addressed the members of both House and Senate. In this inaugural he used the following:

“The supremacy of the laws, and the equal rights of the people, whether threatened or assailed by individuals or by secret sworn associations, I shall, so far as may be compatible with the constitutional powers of the executive, endeavor to maintain, as well in compliance with the known will of the people, as from obligations of duty to the Commonwealth.

“In these endeavors I shall entertain no doubt of zealous cooperation by the enlightened and patriotic Legislature of the State. The people have willed the destruction of all secret bodies, and that will cannot be disregarded.”

Four days later, December 19, on motion of Mr. Stevens himself, all the petitions were referred to a committee consisting of “Messrs. Stevens, Cox, Huston (of Fayette) Spackman and Frew, with power to send for persons and papers.”

On the same day this committee organized and prepared a series of eleven questions which were to be put to each person brought before the committee. The questions were intended to establish the fact of membership in Free Masonry or Odd Fellowship and whether or not such witness could repeat the several oaths of the society to which he belonged.

This “Inquisition” held its first meeting December 23, 1835. To this star chamber they obtained the evidence of a man named Shed, who had been imported for the purpose from the State of Ohio. He seems to have resided in several States, and to have arrived at Fort Niagara about the time of Captain Morgan’s abduction, learned all about it, and was acquainted with the scoundrel Giddings, who, if his story was true, as well as Shed’s, ought to have been hanged with him. If not true, they were perjured villains. But the High Court of Inquisition was not after martyrs, it was wire-pulling in other directions.

A large number of prominent Masons, and citizens, were brought before the committee, among them being ex-Governor Wolf, Francis R. Shunk, George M. Dallas, Chief Justice Gibson, Josiah Randall, Samuel H. Perkins, Joseph R. Chandler, and the Reverend William T. Sproul. They invariably declined being qualified, or answering any questions propounded by Mr. Stevens, and for their refusal to so testify, several of the gentlemen were brought to the bar of the House, but nothing more was done to any of them.

Mr. Stevens was obliged to depend for witnesses upon seceding Masons, imported from Massachusetts, New York and Northern Pennsylvania. Their evidence, however, was only a rehash of Morgan and his successor, Bernard, in their so-called “Revelations of the Doings of Freemasonry and Odd Fellowship.”

Mr. Stevens, unfortunately, could not control his temper, and in the case of Rev. Mr. Sproul, when that gentleman, in reading his protest, came to the expression, “Gentlemen, if you are willing to convert yourselves into a modern Juggernaut, then roll on,” “Stop,” thundered the chairman of the “inquisition,” white with wrath and further reading was dispensed with.

Governor Wolf, in his letter to the committee, wrote:

“The Constitution is explicit and declaratory of the personal security of the people, and is the precious repository of the privileges of the freemen of this Commonwealth which never shall have a wound inflicted upon its sacred reservations, through any person, without a solemn asseveration of its principles.

“What article of the Constitution clothes the House with power to institute such an investigation? What article of the venerated instrument forbids the people from associating together in pursuit of their own happiness? If the association is criminal, or in violation of any principle of the Constitution or laws, the mode and manner of suppressing the unlawful combination must be in accordance with the Constitution and laws.

“I have yet to learn that an inquisition at whose shrine the rights and liberties of the citizens are to be invaded, is authorized by the principles of our institutions; or that any power exists by which a citizen can be coerced to give testimony before any tribunal, or for any object other than the investigation of matters at issue, affecting the rights of persons or of things.”

An incident occurred about this period which fully exemplified to what length the enemies of Freemasonry would go. All sorts of crimes or collusions with crimes were imputed to the craft. Everything that was vile was blamed upon the fraternity.

A murder was committed between Middletown and Hummelstown. Female apparel was found which was recognized as belonging to Sophia Garman, who was missing from her home. Search was made, and some one discovered where the earth had been recently disturbed in the center of which was a branch of a spruce or cedar tree. An investigation resulted in finding the body of the murdered girl.

The people who had been reading everything anti-Masonic at once jumped to the conclusion that this was the work of one who was a Mason. An individual who was last seen with the unfortunate girl was arrested and it was broadcasted that he was a member of Perseverance Lodge, No. 21, Free and Accepted Masons, of Harrisburg. His name was Tom McHenry.

In the course of events, there not being the least evidence upon which to convict him, the accused was declared not guilty.

The outside conclusion then was that the jury must have been composed of Masons and the result could not be otherwise.

The fact is that McHenry was not a Mason nor was a single member of the jury which tried him.

The Stevens investigation continued for nearly a month and ended in nothing.

The men whom the committee tried to impanel would not testify; those who did were pretended renouncers of Masonry. Concerning the real motive of Stevens public opinion was divided.

Stevens would have resorted to strong measures to compel witnesses to testify if he had not seen that the tide of public opinion was turning against the inquiry. To preserve appearances a lengthy report was submitted and adopted.

Frenchtown, or Asylum, was the name of a settlement founded in Northumberland County (now Bradford) in 1793, by French refugees as the residence of the doomed Queen of France, Marie Antoinette. But the Terrorists prevented her ever seeing America.

During the French Revolution, when many of the Frenchmen fled from their homes, not a few sought refuge in San Domingo, and those jumped from the frying pan into the fire. The Negro slaves soon heard of the success of the Revolution in France and revolted against their masters. That bloody conflict was termed the “Horrors of San Domingo.” Many of the French exiles came to America and took up their residence in Philadelphia, where they were cordially welcomed.

So great was the number of refugees it was deemed necessary that some provision should be made for their settlement as a colony.

The two most active and influential promoters of the colony scheme were Viscount Louis Marie de Noailles and the Marquis Antoine Omer Talon. The former was a distinguished military officer under Rochambeau in the siege of Yorktown, Va., where he commanded a regiment. He was one of the Commissioners to arrange the articles of capitulation for the surrender of Cornwallis. He was a brother-in-law of Lafayette.

Marquis Talon belonged to one of the most illustrious families of the French magistracy. He was Advocate General when the Revolution broke out. In 1790 he was compromised in the flight of the King, Louis XVII, and was arrested and imprisoned for a time. He fled to Marseilles, where a wine merchant, Bartholomew Laporte, placed him in a large wine cask and carried him aboard a vessel sailing for America.

Laporte sailed with Talon and they became citizens of the United States. The borough of Laporte takes its name from Judge John Laporte, son of the early immigrant.

The refugees organized a company, and M. Charles Felix Beu Boulogne, and Adam Hoopes were delegated to select a site. They proceeded to Wilkes-Barre, where they arrived August 27, 1793. Judge Matthais Hollenback accepted their letter of credit from Robert Morris.

They examined several localities, and finally selected the Schufeldt Flats, now called Frenchtown, in the Township of Asylum, nearly opposite Rummerfield station, in Bradford County.

About the middle of November, M. de Noailles, who continued to reside in Philadelphia, visited the place which took the name of Asylum, or “Azilum,” as the French pronounced it. The plan of settlement was determined, and the town surveyed into lots.

The tract consists of 2400 acres and, in addition, the Asylum Company had secured title to a number of tracts of “wild land,” as it was termed, in the present Counties of Bradford, Sullivan, Lycoming and Luzerne, which were sold on liberal terms to actual settlers. The town, as laid out, contained, besides an open square and fine wide streets, 413 house lots of an acre each.

M. Boulogne bent every energy to get the houses ready for the colonists in the early spring, and was favored with mild weather until five days before Christmas, when the weather became stormy. The work, which was suspended December 20, was resumed in the spring. The emigrants then began to arrive. They traveled by land to Catawissa, thence in boats up the river.

The houses were built of hewn logs two stories high, roofed with pine shingles, and all houses had a good cellar. To the native Americans these houses looked like palaces.

The house built by M. Talon was the most pretentious, and is said to be the largest log house ever built in America. It was known as “La Grande Maison,” or the great house. This house stood until 1846, when it was torn down.

M. Talon, who was general manager, planned improvements on a large scale. He built a horsepower grist mill, several stores, a tavern, for which a license was granted in August, 1794, to Mr. Lefevre. A small Catholic chapel was erected, and later a theatre was built. They set up a bakery and built a brewery. A post was established with Philadelphia.

Most of the emigrants had been wealthy, and some of them members of the royal household, entirely ignorant of farming and unused to manual labor, found great difficulty in adapting themselves to their new conditions. Yet they endured their privations with great fortitude.

The continuance of the Asylum settlement was less than ten years, but the Frenchmen set their Pennsylvania neighbors the example of better houses and roads, better gardens and orchards and courteous manners.

Robespierre issued a decree commanding all emigrants to return to France under penalty of having their estates confiscated. When the strong hand of Napoleon assumed power, all Frenchmen were invited to return. This was joyous news at Asylum, and they returned to their beloved France as soon as they could dispose of their property, until only two remained.

In 1796 Asylum consisted of about fifty log houses occupied by about forty families. Among the most noted, besides those already mentioned, were M. De Blacons, a member of the French Constituent Assembly from Dauphine; M. Le Montule, a captain of a troop of horse; M. Beaulieu, a captain of infantry in the French service, who served in the Revolution in this country under Potosky; Dr. Buzzard a planter from San Domingo, and M. Dandelot, an officer in the French Infantry.

But perhaps the best known of all, at least in this country, was M. Dupretit-Thouars, or as he was generally called by the Americans, the Admiral. Wrecked while on a voyage in search of La Perouse, he reached Asylum destitute of everything but an unfaltering courage, a genial temper and the chivalrous pride of a Frenchman.

Disdaining to be a pensioner on the bounty of his countrymen he obtained a grant of four hundred acres in the dense wilderness of what is now Sullivan County, and went out literally single-handed, having lost an arm in the French naval service, commenced a clearing, built himself a house, returning to Asylum once a week for necessary food and change of apparel.

He returned to his native country, obtained a position in the navy, saying he had yet another arm to give to France. He was placed in command of the ship Le Tonnant and was killed in the battle of the Nile.

The borough of Dushore, which includes the clearings of this indomitable Frenchman, was named in honor of him this being nearly the Anglicised pronunciation of his name.

During the continuance of the settlement, it was visited by many very distinguished personages who since obtained a world-wide reputation.

Louis Philippe, a future King of France, spent several weeks at Asylum enjoying the hospitality of M. Antoine Talon. In 1795 Talleyrand spent some time there and Count de la Rochefoucauld de Laincourt was several days at Asylum while on his journey through the States in 1795–6. Another notable visitor was Mrs. Blennerhassett the charming woman who figured in Aaron Burr’s conspiracy.