History: PA Archives: Second Series, Vol. 18: LETTERS FROM THE COMMISSIONERS - Part II : DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE CONNECTICUT SETTLEMENT IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Joe Patterson and Sally. USGENWEB ARCHIVES (tm) NOTICE All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information are included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm _____________________________________________________________________________________________ NOTE: An html version of this volume may be found at http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/1pa/paarchivesseries/series2/vol18/paarch2-18toc.html <>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<> DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE CONNECTICUT SETTLEMENT IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. EDITED BY WILLIAM HENRY EGLE, M. D. HARRISBURG: E. K. MEYERS, STATE PRINTER. 1893. [Page numbers are in carats.] TABLE OF CONTENTS. _ _ _ _ _ _ Minutes of the Susquehanna Company, 1-123 An Examination of the Connecticut Claim, 125-214 Connecticut Records examined by Pennsylvania, 215-276 The Dutch Records of New Netherlands, 277-322 Letters from the Pennsylvania Claimants, 323-388 Letters from Secretary of Land Office, 389-430 Letters from the Commissioners, 431-514 Book of the Fifteen Townships, 515-572 Journal of the Commissioners, 1810, 573-609 Miscellaneous Papers relating to the Wyoming Controversy, 611-780 Index, 781 _____________________________________________________________________________________________ LETTERS FROM THE COMMISSIONERS (continued) - Part II <474> LETTERS FROM THE The Commissioners to D. H. Conyngham. Wilkesbarre, May 28, 1802. M'r. D. H. Conyngham: Sir: We feel sensibly for your situation and would willingly remove the embarrassment you labour under, as far as we have the power. But altho' many of our valuations are made, the calculations have been so laborious that we do not think it right to confide in them in the 1st place without a revision. This we cannot undertake now. That you have released much valuable Land, for which you must ultimately be repaid, there can be no doubt. Your Creditors must be aware of this and must know too that it is a species of property which is not liable to depreciate in value. We cannot Yet send out any Official valuation, with the accuracy and certainty necessary to do justice to the Claimants, to the State, or to ourselves; otherwise we would do so in your case. We are sincerely sorry to have to return an answer that will tend to y'r. disappointment, but we cannot avoid it. We are, Sir, THOMAS COOPER, WILLIAM WILSON. _ _ _ The Commissioners to Mr. Demuth. Wilkesbarre, May 28, 1802. M'r. Demuth, of Lancaster: Sir: I observe an application from you to the Land Office, dated Sep'r. 27, 1800, to release some Land belonging to the representatives of M'r. Lambkey, deceased. This Application cannot be acted upon, unless there is a regular release to the Commonwealth, transmitted to the Land Office before the 1st day of August, with all the papers and documents necessary to substantiate the title; you will probably procure a form of release by applying at the Secretary's Office, M'r. Ellicot's. I am, Sir, Your humble Servant, THOMAS COOPER. _ _ _ The Commissioners to Daniel Montgomery. Wilkesbarre, May 28, 1802. Daniel Montgomery, Esq'r., "Danville:" Dear Sir: It is necessary that to your release of Lands to the <475> COMMISSIONERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. State there should be annexed an oath of single title, which I transmit to be taken and subscribed before any Magistrate. You can copy it and send it to the Secretary of the Land Office. Oath of single title subjoined. _ _ _ The Commissioners to the Secretary. Wilkesbarre, May 28, 1802. Andrew Ellicot, Sec'y Land Office, Lancaster: Dear Sir: I have not been able to find the Submission of Abraham Bradley, Jun'r., N'o. 117. The first parcel sent to the Commissioners appears to close with 116, and the second to begin with 118. Probably it may have been lost before our time. Be good enough to send it. I send you two Submissions, transmitted to me under the Notion that we had power to receive them. I have received also two releases, one from Enoch Smith, of Sunbury, of Land formerly owned by Samuel Wallis, deceased, and another from M'r. Samuel McClay, but I returned them, requesting they might be forwarded to you. I herewith send you a List of Surveys which we shall want from the Surveyor General's Office, in consequence of late releases. I should be glad of those released by Enoch Smith as early as possible, even tho' his release should not have reached you, for Salem, where his Lands are situate, will be the next township we shall take. His release is executed, and I should have transmitted it to you myself, only that he had forgotten the Oath of single title. I send you a form of our Certificate, which I fancy comprizes all the particulars necessary to facilitate the examination of it on y'r part. If you approve it let me know. I observe an application, without a release, of AlEx'r. Scott. Is it the M'r. Scott of your town, or my former neighbour upon Shamokin Island? I remain, Dear Sir, Your Friend and Servant, THOMAS COOPER. Draughts of Survey Wanted. Number of the Application 141, James Shaw, 305 1/2 Acres. 1,335, W. Harrison, 318 Acres. 3,309, Ch'n. Mike, 300 Acres, Gen'l W. Helmes also ment'd in the notice. <476> LETTERS FROM THE Number of the Application 702, J'n. Hammond, 309 Acres, of Phoebe Stewart. 721, Arch. Stewart, 317 Acres below the Mouth of Tunckhannock. 721, Arch. Stewart, 352 Acres, Quere if this number is a mistake? 1,986, Arch. Stewart, 277, Genl. W. Helmes. Lots on Abraham's Plains. N'o. 1, 4, 9, 20, 652, Gen'l. W. Helmes, noticed also by P. Stewart. 956, John Bowee, 300, Contained in the notice of Application of Phoebe Stewart; adjoined W. Nicholson, but not claimed in General Helmes release. The tracts in M'r. Maclay's release we have Draughts of Already. William Fisher, Adam Beaver, 645, 132. Perhaps M'r. Fisher is the same with one of the same name released by W. Wilson. William Webb, 314, 52 p. The 3 last released by Enoch and Gaynor Smith and wanted soon. _ _ _ The Commissioners to Enoch Smith. Wilkesbarre, May 28, 1802. M'r. Enoch Smith, Sunbury: D'r. Sir: I return you the Deeds, because it is necessary you should subscribe an oath of single title, which I have drawn out for you, as you will see by looking inside your Deed. Regularly you ought to transmit the whole of the Documents that constitute the chain of title between you and the proprietaries, viz, Warrant, return of Survey, Order of Sale at Orphan's Court and the Administrator's Deed to you. A naked Conveyance, without the papers on which your title is founded, is not sufficient. Do all this & send it off to the Land Office as quick as possible, because we shall go into Salem and Huntingdon in July. THOMAS COOPER. There is a W'm. Fisher, J'r., rel'd by W. Whitman, on the waters of Wapwanapane; the tract is in Newport, 316 as., 132 prs. Date of Warrant 21 Jan., 1773; Date of survey, 21 Nov., 1773. <477> COMMISSIONERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. The Commissioners to Samuel Maclay. Wilkesbarre, May 29th, 1802. Samuel McClay, Esq'r., Buffalo, North'd County: Dear Sir: The sooner you get the enclosed Deed executed and acknowledged, before a Magistrate, the better. It should be transmitted early. I think the post as safe a conveyance as any; regularly you ought also to transmit the Deed Polls, from Brown, McGill and Summers, or copies of them. Also the Conveyance from Shippen. The State has a right to all the Deeds of Conveyance between the proprietaries and you that are or ought to have been in your possession. We shall finish all the Claims and Surveys this Season, but the Certificates will hardly be made out till next. I am, as usual, Your sincere Friend, THOMAS COOPER. _ _ _ The Commissioners to Alexander Scott. Wilkesbarre, May 29th, 1802. M'r. Alexander Scott: Sir: I find among the papers transmitted to me from the Land office, an application in the name of AlEx'r. Scott to release certain Lands in Luzerne County. Was this Application on the part of any of your family? If so, the release should be made out and regularly executed and sent to the Land office. I am, Sir, &c., THOMAS COOPER. _ _ _ The Commissioners to Jamison and Beach. Wilkesbarre, June 8, 1802. Mess'rs. Jamison and Beach: Gentlemen: In answer to your application, respecting the rights in the township of Salem, we have to observe, that by the act of 4 April, 1799, and the Supplement thereto of the last Session, no Connecticut claimants are contemplated as strictly entitled to the benefits of those Acts, unless they derive title in Consequence of a Settlement actually made previous to the Decree of Trenton; but where persons coming from Connecticut, and elsewhere, were called to assemble together and quit their particular rights for the purpose of defending the Country <478> LETTERS FROM THE against the common Enemy, such persons ought to be considered as coming within the reason and equity of the Law, provided they resorted to and improved their respective rights within a reasonable time after the Conclusion of hostilities in the Country. But if a Person claiming a right, and being called away for common defence depart to a distant Country, when his military Service is over, and leaves his Land abandoned and neglected for several years, this would seem to us to amount to a forfeiture of the claim, and deprive the person so neglecting of any right to be considered as within the Equity of the Acts of Pennsylvania. THOMAS COOPER, JN'o STEELE, W'm WILSON. _ _ _ Answer of the Comm'rs under the Act of April 4, 1799, respect- ing the Connecticut Claimants within the seventeen townships of Luzerne county, to the questions of M'r. Searles, a Commit- tee from the town of Providence. Wilkesbarre, June 9th, 1802. 1. The Commissioners cannot accept of the Surveys of Lots made by the Inhabitants themselves, because by the 5th Section of the act aforesaid, it is made the duty of the Commissioners to ascertain and value the Connecticut Lots. This must be done, therefore, by themselves, or by persons employed by and responsible to the Commissioners. 2. The Commissioners never interfered in altering any old line or boundary, unless they were compelled to make a decision respecting a contested boundary between two disputing claimants. Whatever the Inhabitants are agreed about their Lines, the Commissioners are always willing to cause them to be run accordingly. 3d. The Commissioners Conceive themselves bound by the 5th Section of the Law in question, to confine their views to those rights and lots which were settled prior to the Decree of Trenton, unless in those cases when the Inhabitants, being obliged to collect together to defend the Country, they were prevented from settling their rights in distant townships. In all those cases, if the rights were settled and improved within some reasonable time after the danger was over, the Commissioners think it equitable to admit such Claimants. But they do not conceive themselves justified in extending <479> COMMISSIONERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. the Equity of the Law to persons who abandon and neglect their rights for many years together, and who begin to improve long after the decision of Trenton was notorious. The persons who took possession of their Land before the Decree of Trenton, and expended their time and labour, and all their Sustenance, in cultivating and improving it, did so under the impression that the Event of trial would be favorable to the Claim of Connecticut. Such improvers of the Country, who having embarked their all, would be ruined by being driven off, and who moreover defended the Country at the risk of their lives, are entitled to all the Benefits of the Law, and to be quieted in their possession on the terms offered. But the State has no inducement to pass a law in favour of Connecticut Speculators, who never embarked any property in the improvement or defence of the Country, and whose loss by the Decision of Trenton amount only to a few Dollars at the utmost. 4. Hence the rights and Lots, contemplated by the Law, are those only which were acquired by actual Settlers thereon, prior to the Decree of Trenton, and whose right of settling thereon was acquired under the rules and regulations of the Susquehanna Company. The case of the Settlers called off to defend the Country and returning within a reasonable time, forms an equitable exception, already noticed. 5. The Claimant will be expected to prove their title downward, from the 1st Settler in the original Draught; where Deeds are not produced, it will be required that a record should be shown. Where Deeds & papers are lost, oath must be taken of their loss or destruction, and the best remaining evidence be brought forward. Where Assignments depend upon heirship, proof of the heirs of the deceased will be demanded. Where a claim is under a Will, the probate of the Wife must be shewn. Where the Claim is under an order of Orphans' Court in cases of Intestates, the record of that order, authenticated by the Register, must be produced. In all cases the best evidence that can be produced, must be brought forward. 6. Certificates will be given without Delay to all persons making out good titles, so soon as their Lots are surveyed, and a return of such Survey can be made out and authenticated. Certificates will entitle the Holders to patents, on complying with the Conditions of payment prescribed by the act. THOMAS COOPER. <480> LETTERS FROM THE The Commissioners to the Secretary. Wilkesbarre, June 21, 1802. Dear Sir: I send you the Applications of Daniel Gore, Dan. Hoyt and Samuel Allen, having the means of transmitting them by M'r. Snowden as far as Harrisburgh. I have made a memorandum on the back of Dan'l. Gore's. I take no note of Applications sent here, or which I transmit to you, because I have nothing to do with them, officially, until you transmit me copies, which of course you will do at your earliest Opportunity. Did you transmit to the Survey. Gen'l. the list of Surveys wanted? I am, &'c., THOMAS COOPER. _ _ _ The Commissioners to Mr. Van Cortwright. Wilkesbarre, June 21, 1802. M'r. Van Cortwright: Sir: I do not find that Numbers 30, 37 and 38, which I presume you mean, as in the Manor of Stoke, are released. But Philip Johnston did not acquire these by any original agreement with the proprietors, if at all. 36, 37 & 38 are in the names of David, Samuel & James Johnston. Philip Johnston made his original agreement for N'o. 18. It will be a matter of doubt whether any of these agreements are good, if the purchase money be not paid, and the other conditions punctually fulfilled; but this will be a question before the Board of Property, between particular Claimants of tracts in the Manor, and the Agent of the late proprietors. I am, Sir, Your humble Servant, THOMAS COOPER. _ _ _ The Commissioners to S. Jackson. Wilkesbarre, July 8, 1802. M'r. S. Jackson: Sir: I shall be at M'r. Caleb Wright's, of Huntingdon, to take the Claims of Salem and Huntingdon on the 20th July, 1802. If there is any intent'n of contest'g the actual Settlm't of the Township of Salem, I shall hear any Evidence that goes to refute that part of the Connecticut title. At present I think myself precluded from going into any fact relating to a Penn- <481> COMMISSIONERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. sylvania title, or making a part of it. But I shall be open to anything that can be urged, pro or con, strictly relating to the Conn't title. Judge Fell has blank Citations with him. THOMAS COOPER. _ _ _ The Commission to Obadiah Scott. Wilkesbarre, July 8, 1802. M'r. Obadiah Scott: Sir: I have to inform you that I shall attend on Tuesday, the 20th of July, at the house of Caleb Wright's in Huntingdon, to receive the Connecticut Claims of the Inhabitants of Salem and Huntingdon, under the Act of April 4, 1799, and the last Supplement thereto; probably it would be convenient to the Committee of Huntingdon to attend toward the middle of the week, as it is expected the hearing of the general claim to the Township of Salem may occupy a day or two. I suggest this merely to save time in a busy part of the Year. As to myself I shall attend until a reasonable time is expired for taking all the Claims. I am, Sir, your Friend and Servant, THOMAS COOPER _ _ _ The Commissioners to Jamison and Beach. Wilkesbarre, July 8, 1802. Mess'rs. Nathan Beach and Alexander Jamison: Gentlemen: As you are appointed a Committee, on behalf of the town of Salem, I have to inform you that I shall attend on Tuesday, July 20, 1802, at the house of M'r. Caleb Wright, of Huntingdon township, to receive the claims of the Inhabitants of Salem & Huntingdon, under the Act of 4 April, 1799, and the further Supplement thereto. I think it right to inform you that I shall call upon the Connecticut Claimants to make proof of Settlement prior to the Decree of Trenton, subject to the limitations I have already expressed in the Letter given to M'r. Beach. If the truth or sufficiency of that proof is contested, I shall think myself bound to hear any Evidence to the contrary, and any reply thereto which the Inhabitants may think fit to make. I deem it my duty to hear everything which will bring out the truth. I am, &c., THOMAS COOPER. 31-VOL. XVIII. <482> LETTERS FROM THE The Commissioners to the Secretary. Wilkesbarre, July 8, 1802. Andrew Ellicot, S. Land office of Pennsylvania: Dear Sir: I should have written in reply last week, but I expected some more copies of applications by this post, in which I am very sorry I am mistaken. Your objection to the Submissions of Tuttle and Vandemark might perhaps have been heard in a Court of law, if made by an attorney on behalf of a client of opposite interest, & whose duty, therefore, it would be to seize every legal objection to save his Client's property; but I am well persuaded a Court would smile at two advocates, whose interests were mutual, if they were to misspend their time in taking objections to mere form gainst the proceedings of each other. All the Effect this solemn deliberation of the Board of Property has had is to make two old Settlers, turn'd of fifty and sincerely desirous of conforming to the Law, ride 20 miles, with't understanding why or wherefore. All this may be a very pleasant exercise of legal acuteness at Lancaster, but it is very serious evil to me. The Gentlemen of your Board have no prejudices to encounter, no, murmurs to oppose, no complaints to answer, no opposition to conciliate, no well-founded doubts among the people to reply to and remove. All this most irksome and vexatious part of the Business I have daily & hourly to encounter, and most heartily weary I am of it. If therefore you increase all the difficulty of settlement, awaken the prejudices and suspicions of the people, allowing nothing for long habits & ignorance of business, by starting objections that in no wise go to the Substance, but to the mere form of proceed'g, you give me very serious, but very needless opposition, in a Duty which requires me to ask for and be thankful for all the information & assistance you can afford me. I know that your construction of the act is not true. I drew up the Supplement; it was intended to introduce a liberal construction of the law on this Subject. Had such cases as Vandemark's and Tuttle's been foreseen they w'd have been inserted; Altho' I blushed at the necessity of writing the Section to bring in the Submissions that arrived out of the time. The Governor thought it perfectly unnecessary and I had hoped that no occasion would have arisen for any similar provision, so disgraceful to those who created the necessity. But if the objection to these Submissions be valid then are all the Submissions from 762 to 771 invalid also; for they are all stated to be made under the law of 1799, which in respect of limitation of time is expired. Whereas they are in fact all <483> COMMISSIONERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. made under the Supplement of 1802, now in force. They are stated, therefore, as made under a law not in force, instead of being under the only act that authorizes them: thus might we go on to the End of the year, quibbling upon mere points of form, while the people would turn away disgusted, and the business do worse than stand still. But I shall make no such objection, & I am sincerely glad it cannot come from your Office, for the mistake originated there and not with the persons submitt'g. I know How easy it is to commit mistakes, and how easily a man who has had experience of them in himself can now and then excuse them in others, but I ask for no quarter for mine; all I beg is, be indulgent to the mistakes of ignorance, and do not frighten the people by raising trivial objections to their well meant acts, which they cannot see the reason of; nor I neither. I have received no answer to my quere about Submission 225, respecting Henry Fuetz and Daniel Gore. I have not received a Copy of N'o. 117, Which I never have seen, and which I really believe was omitted to be sent. But whether this be so or not, do not in future stop my Business by refusing me papers, and making me write long letters in reply. If you have sent them, I will most willingly pay your Clerks, on being satisfied that it is so. I had rather pay for all the papers over again, out of my own pocket, than be hindered in a business which I have set my heart upon finishing, if possible, this Season--So far as I am concerned in it: and I say without Scruple, that I expect the assistance of your office, even to the trouble of a Duplicate or two, if by accident or mistake they should be rendered necessary. I shall reply to the observations from the Surv. Gen'l., Contained in your last, in a separate Letter to him. I remain, with sincere respect, D'r Sir, Your Friend and Servant, THOMAS COOPER. With the Subm'n of Grant, I send you a Certificate; he tenders it to me as valid. If not valid, in the opinion of your Board, he relies of his Submission. _ _ _ The Commissioners to the Surveyor General. Wilkesbarre, July 10, 1802. Samuel Cochran, Esq'r., Surveyor General: Sir: In my last to the Secretary of the Land Office I re- <484> LETTERS FROM THE quested among others, copies of the following returns of Survey: Application N'o. 141, 305 1/2 a's., John Shaw, I believe Long Bottom. " 702, 309 1/2 " John Hammond. " 721, 317 " Arch'd. Stewart, below the Mouth of Tunkhannock. " 721, 352 " no name. " 1,986, 277 " D'o. D'o. The above are contested in the release of W'm. Helmes. 956, 300, John Bourne, contained in an application of Phoebe Stewart, but not released. William Fisher, Adam Beaver, by William Helmes, 642, 132 perches. W'm. Webb, 314, 52 perches, released by Enoch Smith. When I wrote last, the Absence of M'r. Sambourne, owing to the dangerous illness of his wife, made me include two (2,335 & 3,309) which we have; he desires me, on accurate Search, to say that we have not received any of the above. But whether we have or not, I earnestly beg and request, that I may be made debtor for every Duplicate, rather then have my Business delayed for want of papers that I ask for. Give me in this respect the same privilege that any one else has. So in the case of Enoch Smith; whether his release was sent forward or not; if I wanted the Surveys, why not send them to me? In fact I have put off my Journey to Salem thro' press of Business here till next week, otherwise I sh'd have found myself on Monday next in the midst of a very difficult question, where they would be necessary to me. If I ask for duplicates make me pay for them. If I ask for any other Survey, let me judge of the necessity of it. I beg this may be understood in future, or I shall be put to serious inconvenience. I am, with much respect, Sir, Your obed't Servant, THOMAS COOPER. _ _ _ The Commissioners to the Secretary. Wilkesbarre, July 10, 1802. Andrew Ellicot, Sy. Land Office: Sir: The Enclosed Applications have been left in my office; I have taken no note of their Contents, nor of any precedents shewn to me, because I do not want to know anything unless officially, except where I cannot help it. THOMAS COOPER. <485> COMMISSIONERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. Mr. Cooper to the Secretary. Huntingdon, July 26, 1802. Dear Sir: I have rec'd several papers, Submissions, &c., from y'r office which I have not time to examine at present, or to say more about than to acknowledge generally. Altho' I do not make the objection to them in point of Law, to which the Copies transmitted from your office are liable, I do not see why they might not have been made Conformable to the originals, after the objection was noticed. I observe that you mention having sent Bradley's Submission for the 3d time. I am now at Wilkesbarre, with the opportunity of Consulting my letters, or the transmitted papers, but I am fully persuaded, that it is not so; For I have learnt by experience, to be at least as distrustful of the accuracy of your Clerks, as of my own. I hope the Copies transmitted clear up the mistake of number, which I wrote about in Fuetz's and Gore's Submission. The Application of Samuel Franklin he sends by this post, he says is useless, for it was transmitted to your office by Nathan Beach, along with several which were left there, & whereof copies are transmitted. What order do you take on the Certificate of Hamilton Grant? I am, Dear Sir, Your Friend and Servant, THOMAS COOPER. _ _ _ Mr. Cooper to Mr. Evan Owen. Huntingdon, July 26, 1802. Mr. Evan Owen: Sir: I have perused your Letter, and have nothing to say in reply, except that my authority is confined to the Connecticut title, and that the Pennsylvania Claim is under the Jurisdiction in the first instance of the Board of Property with whose proper authority I shall not interfere. The Survey'r under the Direction of Gen'l. Steele will begin upon the boundaries of Salem this day, and there is no doubt but the Commissioners who superintend the surveying department will hear everything necessary to enable them to do justice. I am, &c., THOMAS COOPER. <486> LETTERS FROM THE Mr. Cooper to Daniel Smith. Wilkesbarre, August 20, 1802. Daniel Smith, Esq'r.: Dear Sir: The Islands opposite Salem, are included in the original Grant of Salem, land aid out partly as public Lots, and partly drawn by Nathan Beach; the Islands opposite Plymouth are claimed as lots originally laid out and drawn among the Lots of Plymouth, and owned by Benjamin and Baker. But no satisfactory title has been made out to these Lots; last year they were rejected on the ground of their not having been released; at present the title is undivided, till I can examine the original records of the Grants of Townships in John Franklin's possession. I have appointed next month for that purpose. The same defect (then temporary at least) rests as to the Kingston Island, and the Wilkesbarre Island; to this Putnam Catlin has a good title if the Island be included in the original Grant of the township. On this head I can as yet give no decisive information or opinion. The small Island below Lacawanna called Benedict's Island is claimed, and a title made good thereto, by J. Benedict, as part of a meadow lot in Pittstown; but I have no proof as yet of its having been granted. The other Island, called Scovell's Island, is in dispute between Scovell and John Carey, as to one half of it next the Shore; the other half is claimed by Roger Searle; but no title made out to any part of it. THOMAS COOPER. _ _ _ M'r. Cooper's Compliments to M'r. Bowman, and wishes the Gentlemen of the Bar would come to some determination resp'tg the Appeals, as it is highly expedient in M'r. C's opinion that the business should be put in a train of final Settlement. M'r. Cooper is willing either to leave the question to the Attorney General, or to hold the Applications for Appeals under advisement until next April Court, provided the Gentlemen of the Bar will unanimously agree to withdraw the Appeals they are or may be concerned in, and try them absolutely before the Commissioners, either soon after the Attorney General's opinion is known in one case, or at next April Court in the other case; if no alteration, legislative or judicial, should take place in the present State of the Law. Unless some agreement of this kind, entered into by to morrow. M'r. Cooper will think it right to advertise his opinion in next Saturday's paper, and advise the parties desirous of trying to enter a discontinuance on the Common Pleas Docket. Sep'r. 2, 1802. <487> COMMISSIONERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. Mr. Cooper to Governor McKean. Northumberland, October 20, 1802. To his Excellency Thomas McKean, Governor, &c., Dear Sir: I returned to Wilkesbarre on Saturday last, having finished all the substantial part of my Tour of Duty under the Commission. Every claim of every Connecticut claimant under the Law of 1799, and the Supplements thereto, has been examined and decided upon, except the cases of Townships rejected, and Appeals from my Jurisdiction. The Townships of Bedford and Ulster were not able to make out a title to my satisfaction, under the Susqueh'a Company, and the law of 1799. I rejected therefore every applicant within those Townships. The case of Ulster I was very sorry for, as the applicants there deserve far more for their Submission to the terms of the Law of 1799 than in any other Township. Ulster is the very focus of opposition, and the applicants have had to encounter much rancour and ridicule from their opponents. In Ulster live Franklin, the Satterlees, the Spaldings, the Binghams, and all the decided and leading characters among the half-share men In that Township, and there alone will opposition rise, if at all. Of the persons who have applied for the Benefit of the Law of 1799 (about 950), the proportion of 9/10ths, as near as I can now conjecture, have exhibited their titles. Of these there are 16 appeals to the court of Common pleas. These appeals that Court, in August last, determined they had no power to try, owing to the disabilities created by the territorial act; so that unless the succeeding legislature should make some amendment to the Law in this respect, I must perforce decide them in May next. My Colleagues have not been able to make the same progress in their Department, as I have in mine, owing to the very many subdivisions of Lots, disputed Boundaries, marks effaced, &c. The Townships of Braintrim, Springfield and Claverick will, I am persuaded, occupy them a part of next Summer, and the winding up of the whole Cannot be done till the close of it. I see, however, no obstacle to our enabling you to lay before the Legislature of 1803/1804 a view of the whole business in a finished State. On my part I shall have yet to superintend 1st, the Entering up the rough minutes of this Summer's occupation in a State fit for future inspection and reference. 2ndy, to decide the Appl'cs, if the territorial act be not altered. 3dly, to perfect the Entries of title, where want of distant Deeds and Documents, yet to be procured, have occasioned trifling deficiencies, and 4thly, to make out the Certificates, both under the Connecticut <488> LETTERS FROM THE and the Pennsylvania title. These may amount to 850 and 1,000. As there must be a Draught of Survey annexed to each, under the authority of my Colleagues, who have spared no pains to arrive at accuracy, and also a duplicate Draught to be returned to the Surveyor General's Office, much labour must yet be taken. I have found a very general and great anxiety among the Connecticut Claimants, throughout all the Townships, who by mistake, misconception, ignorance or accident, have been deprived or defeated of the benefits of the law of 1799, to submit cheerfully to the conditions offered by the Legislature; And I am persuaded that all those who have been misled by false misrepresentations in the upper Townships, will express by petitions to that purpose, to the ensuing Legislature, their anxious desire to be embraced within the provisions of the Law of 1799. They now see that something will be done, and that the law will be carried into effect, and that the pretended friends among the half share holders have grossly deceived them. Whether the Legislature should agree or not to the prayer of such petitions, if they come forward, these Symptoms of returning obedience, satisfactory testimonies of beneficial Effect from the measures hitherto taken. I state to your Excellency these general facts, that you may select from them such information as you deem proper to mention at the ensuing Session. I propose submitting to your Excellency shortly, a more full and particular memoir on the general state of this dispute including observations on the policy to be adopted so far as my experience among these people has suggested ideas on the subject. I hope also to find time to transmit some thoughts on the commercial Situation of that part of the Country, in connection with Philadelphia, which as I know your anxiety to promote the interests and happiness of the State over which you preside, I shall venture to submit, with deference to your better Judgment. In the meantime, I remain, with sincere respect, Your Excellency's Obliged Friend & Servant, THOMAS COOPER. _ _ _ Mr. Cooper to Governor McKean. Wilkesbarre, November 15, 1802. Sir: When I wrote last to y'r Excellency, I promised some farther information on the present State of the Business under <489> COMMISSIONERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. the Commission, and some observations on the most expedient method of finishing the half share controversy, as well as that within the Townships. In compliance with that promise, I beg leave to state general facts, from which y'r Excellency will be able to draw conclusions of importance as to the obstacles which the State has to contend with in the Settlement of this long continued dispute. The taxable inhabitants of Luzerne County in 1793, 1,409; The returns of the late Census make them, 2,395; Hence the increase of the County in seven years will be 986. This will not allow for a very great influx of Intruders, since it is not more than the average increase throughout the State between the two periods of Census. The largest Election in this County was at the time of the Contest between your Excellency and M'r. Ross; at that time you had 259 votes and Ross 979, making 1,238. This year Ross had 680 and you had 278, making 958. Hence it appears that whether from Indifference, or from a population too thinly planted, the inhabitants of this County turn out on public occasions less than the other Counties of this State; or else the real population is overrated. Of this 958 you will find by the inclosed paper that the Districts of Wyalusing, Wysox, Tioga, Willingborough and Rindaw, in which alone there is the slightest chance of any active opposition to the laws of the State, furnished 308 voters; of whom 106 are applicants under the present law, and therefore reasonably to be deducted from the number of our opponents. Hence I cannot be far wrong, when I state the utmost force of the wild Yankees, as they are called, at 200 men. These are for the most part poor and ignorant, but industrious, Settlers, thinly scattered over a wild Country, incited and misled by about half a Dozen Leaders, living chiefly in the township of Ulster, viz: Franklin, Satterlee, Spalding, Bingham, Flower, Kingsbury, John Jenkins of Exeter, and Ezekiel Hyde, of Willingborough. In fact all the active opposition is confined to 3 or 4 miles above and so much below Tioga Point and about a dozen miles East and West of it. William Ellis, of Muncy, went this Summer to survey in that Country; he was warned by the Yankee Settlers to discontinue his Surveys, and he was obliged to retire. The people who opposed him were all north of Sugar creek, which empties into the Susquehanna at the north End of Claverack township. South of Sugar creek and upon Tawanda he was assisted by the Settlers. M'r. Catlin, of Baltimore, also went out this Summer to Survey upon the Branches of Sugar creek. The Settlers in Smithfield township sent a party to warn him to <490> LETTERS FROM THE desist, tho' they did not find him. Your Excellency will, therefore, see that there still exists a spirit of lawless opposition in the Neighborhood of the men whose names I have mentioned, And as I think, no where else of any consequence. That my Statement of the numbers cannot be very wide of the truth (tho' I am persuaded I have over rated the force) will appear from the general fact that the Applications under the present compromising law amount to 1,124, or about 1,000 persons of the Seventeen Townships so called. I have been compelled to reject Ulster and Bedford, wherein the Applications were 33 and 58, so that I have not examined any of these claims. Out of the other 15 Townships, I have gone thro' the various titles of 740 persons to the present day; absentees, deficient titles, &c., will probably make up the number of persons entitled to a Certificate 800 before the business is closed. Hence the Connecticut Settlers, about 800 influential men, will be divided from the Malcontents, and in case of necessity be compelled to act with us; for whatever their opinions may be, they will follow their Interests. Deduct then, from the whole number of Inhabitants, the friends to the compromising law, and the Settlers under Pennsylvania title disputed, thro' the County & the remainder cannot be many. We shall be safe, therefore, from the above data in taking the utmost force of our opponents at 200, of whom I have no conception that one half can possibly be brought to act together, Except John Jenkins and Ezekiel Hyde, the leaders live near each other, with establishments and families, and in case of necessity might easily be reduced. I mention all this, because I lived in the heart of the opposition (in the Township of Ulster) and know pretty well their Intentions. Our success with the people in the Townships below, alarmed the half Share men; they held two meetings on the Subject while I was there; and some of the more intelligent of the Connecticut Claimants in that quarter hinted to me their doubt whether Ulster township would be peacably surveyed. It is my decided opinion, therefore, that if any violent measures are adopted now, force will be necessary; wait a 12 month longer and it will not. My reasons for this latter opinion are as follows: 1st. The friends of the compromising law, proposed Rosewell Welles for the Assembly. They were ridiculously afraid of opposing Franklin, whom they now see they could easily have excluded. The half share men agreed; for they had persuaded themselves, and persuaded the people in the upper townships, that the law of 1799 was a farce; that the Commissioners would never venture far beyond Wilkesbarre; that the Settlers <491> COMMISSIONERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. would never make out their titles, and that our proceedings would do them no harm. On my arrival at Springfield they had a meeting, and another when I came to Ulster; they broke through their Compromise with Welles' friends; they dispatched Messengers all over the Country to set up Jenkins in opposition to Welles, and strained every nerve to accomplish it. This has nearly brought the two parties to an open rupture; their leaders have had personal altercations, and the friends to the law of 1799 are stigmatized as deserters from the common cause. While in their turn they declare that the half share leaders are no longer to be trusted upon their word and promise. The party is splitting and the Breach will not close. 2dly. In Ulster there are 33 Settlers who have been bold enough to apply under the law of 1799; for whose sake I was sincerely sorry that the Evidence failed in establishing that township. While I was there I was given to understand that many more would have applied, had they thought they could have been admitted, in spite of Franklin and his party. Among these I have understood was Bingham one of the most determined of their leaders. They will petition the ensuing legislature, and I sincerely believe that granting them the same indulgence that has been granted to the other Townships will settle the dispute. It will be beating up the Enemy's camp. 3dly. The people in the upper townships who were misled and deterred from applying by the misrepresentations of the Ulster half share men, are exasperated at being deceived. And many of them have applied to me to draw up a petition to the ensuing Assembly. This I have done in the manner you will see by the enclosed printed copy. 4. The half share men themselves are splitting and Ezekiel Hyde, an influential man among them, is about calling a meeting to apply again to the Pennsylvania Holders and offer reasonable terms of purchase, independent of Franklin and his Adherents, whom they now pretend to condemn for their improper violence, and the unreasonableness of their Demands. So that I see everything likely to go on during the present winter and the ensuing Summer, to annihilate or to reduce to insignificance the half share opposition, & if the Legislature will lend a little assistance, by continuing for another 12 month the plan of conciliation, the disagreeable necessity of force may be done away. But if the business be not aided by a little management in the way I mention so as to countenance the Seceders from the half share men, instead of throwing them back upon their party, I am satisfied that more than a Year from the end of <492> LETTERS FROM THE the next Session ought not to pass away without a force appointed sufficient to crush at once every opposition, and drive the half share leaders forever out of the State. The half measures of dividing the County will not in my opinion answer the purpose. Like many other laws passed on this Subject it will exasperate, but not intimidate. My Colleagues, I believe, think otherwise. But I do not see that changing the name of the County in which these people live can make any difference. They will still have the same inducements to hold their possessions in opposition to the law, and nothing but address in dividing them, or force in compelling them, will ultimately be effectual. Indeed I know of no way of making the County of Luzerne permanently useful to the State but by encouraging New England Settlers under the Pennsylvania title. The Pennsylvanians will never settle such a country. The Philad'a Landholders who are infatuated as to the value of th'r Lands, may induce the Legislature to make the Country a desart & keep it so; but less time, less trouble, and less Expence w'd. make it a Garden. Yet if measures of conciliation do not produce the Effect within a 12 m'o. better, it were that the Country should be a Desart than a continual hot bed of lawless opposition and Insurrection. But I sadly begrudge such an exertion for the sake of the P'a. Speculators. They have little claim upon the State, for, independent of the speculating transactions of 1792 and 1793, out of upwards of 750 applications of 1769 in this County, not more than 104 are patented or paid for. As my Colleagues see all my Communications with y'r Excellency, the facts I state may be considered as our joint report. I shall endeavour to fulfil the other part of my promise upon the internal communication for Commerce in this part of the State, as soon as I can lay together such parts of Pennsylvania and New York States as are necessary to shew the Connection. In mean time, I remain, Your Excellency's faithful Friend and Servant, THOMAS COOPER. _ _ _ Mr. Cooper to Governor McKean. Northumberland, January 18, 1803. To his Excellency Tho's. McKean, Governor of Pennsylvania: Dear Sir: I have received a letter from Judge Fell respecting a disturbance at Wyalusing Creek, out of the 17 townships, of which as usual more will be made than the thing deserves, <493> COMMISSIONERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. tho' it is bad enough. The situation of the disturbance is at the Forks of the creek in the Yankee township called Allensborough, as marked on the map which I transmitted to your Excellency some time ago. It arose from a Drunken Christmas frolic, and from private revenge against Hinds as well as from irritation at his informing against so many. You have heard, of course, that the Sheriff and Coroner, unattended, took 6 in custody without resistance, and made them find security for their Associates to the number of 38. I went to Sunbury to M'r. Roberts, who acts as Attorney General, & I sent up to M'r. Daniel Smith, of Milton, who is employed (or was so) by the Pennsylvania Claimants. But M'r. Roberts is seriously ill of a cold, and his wife is expected every hour to be brought to bed; he sent up to M'r. Bowman, of Wilkesbarre, indictments founded on the Depositions, with directions if necessary to remove the cases by Certiorari into the Circuit Court. As to M'r. Smith he expects no remuneration from his Clients, and as the roads are very bad he declined going. However as Judge Rush will not be there, nothing is now necessary but to send up the Bills, and bind over the parties and Witnesses to the next Court. It is worth remarking that this riot is on a Settlement, which I understand is governed by E. Hyde in a great measure, and a Jabez Hyde is at the head of the meeting. But I am fully persuaded that this is nothing more than a mere local disturbance, an Ebullition of anger owing to the fumes of Liquor more than to any permanent or systematic opposition, of which kind nothing yet has occurred, and I am pretty sure I shall soon hear of it, if any thing of the kind is in agitation. I think from my Communications to your Excellency, it will appear that I am sincerely anxious at all events to get rid of this unpleasant Business; my opinion is decided, that altho' it may be prudent for the Legislature to enable your Excellency to raise a part of the militia, and employ them, if you see occasion, yet the actual employment of them till the issuing of Certificates to the Claimants under the law of 1799 are completely detached from the half share men, would be imprudent and premature. The instant Certificates are given out in the townships and a few patents are obtained, there will be a decided opposition of interest and of Conduct between the two sets of Connecticut Claimants, and I should not doubt at all but the people in the townships would be effectual to quell any disturbance out of it. These Symptoms of irritation among the half share holders are manifestly owing to their feeling themselves directed by the other class. The next Season must <494> LETTERS FROM THE and will finish this business, and then, as I have said before, I should have no objection to see every intruder turned out by force and prohibited from any future entrance into this State. No Penns'a Claimant would be the advocate of more decided measures than myself, but I cannot be more satisfied of my Existence than of the prudence of my present and former representations. I am sorry to see in the Legislature the imprudent pressure of the business against Franklin. It is a disgrace to the Legislature that he remains in his seat, but as yet there is no conviction, and it furnishes reason for Cavil when proceedings are thus premature; till the next Circuit Court judgment can be passed, & even then he has his 4 days to move for a new trial or in arrest of Judgment. These are circumstances that evidently furnish objections to the proceedings in the Legislature. My former letters give your Excellency my Ideas of the dangerous influence of this Man; nor should any legal or technical objections prevent me from expelling him and his Associates, whom I have named out of the State the instant the township business was settled; but we should furnish as yet no good grounds for objections against the fairness of our Legislative proceedings. I understand that the house is going to alter the last law on this business, by declaring long settled Pennsylvania tracts within the Townships no subject to the provisions of that Supplement. If so, they will legislate about nothing, for there will not be a case in all the Townships to which such a Law can apply. There are no cases except the following that can suggest such a Law: 1. On Wyalusing Creek a part of the Grant to Job Chilloway, the Indian, was purchased by a M'r. Paulding. His Sons are now settled on the part so purchased, and there has for years been full acquiescence on the part of the Connecticut Claimants, and no pretence of title to Paulding's land set up before me. 2. In Salem, there is a tract of Land settled by the Assignee of Lee, who keeps the Ferry about 17 miles on this side of Wilkesbarre, and which is claimed by the Connecticut owners of Lots. The present possessor under Lee came to me to exhibit his title. I asked him, do "you claim under the Susquehanna Company?" "No." Then I replied, "I have nothing to do with your title, whether it be good, bad, or indifferent; my Jurisdiction extends no farther than the investigation of Connecticut titles and disputes between Connecticut claimants." But without caring whether this man's title was good or bad, I have rejected the Connecticut title to the same Land, upon the ground that the claimants under the Susquehanna <495> COMMISSIONERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. Company took no measures to dispossess this man for near twenty years; that they did not pursue their claim by any of the means in their power, and that their acquiescence in this man's improvements, without taking any regular steps to ascertain their rights, debarred them from any claim now; that keeping their claim substantially dormant so long amounts to legal fraud. That this is agreeable to the course of decisions in this County on dormant titles, & the Dictum of Lord Mansfield, as reported by Judge Lawrence in Rex v's. the Inhabitants of Butterton, 6 term Rep. 556. If the present possessor has a good title, of which I know nothing, the Land will belong to him, and if not, it will belong to the State. 3d. In the same township of Salem is a tract, long settled by one Smithers, which I believe will come under the same circumstances, and be decided in the same way. 4th. In Salem is another tract, adjoining the Town of Berwick, originally taken out in the name of William Patterson, and belonging, as I understand, to some person in England, on this tract 6 or 7 years past, as appeared before me in Evidence at Salem, some inhabitants of the town of Berwick, taking advantage of the absence or carelessness of the owner, made improvements. The improvements so made by Pennsylvania Intruders, on the property of an absentee, and which were not pretended to be a sufficient foundation of title of any kind, did not appear to me any reason for objecting to the Connecticut claim to the same Land. I therefore took no notice of them. The owner of the Land has made no objection, or insinuated anything respecting it; nor has any person whatever, claiming under him. I had nothing to do, as I conceive, with any Improvements made by Pennsylvania intruders from the town of Berwick. 5. A part of the town of Berwick stands on a tract of Land taken up under Pennsylvania by Evan Owen, who laid out that town, and who, I understand, is now at Lancaster making his Complaints on this Subject, and who, to my knowledge, most egregiously exaggerates the importance of the case, as will soon be perceived. A part of this tract, and the town of Berwick, is included in the Lines of Salem; General Steele, M'r. Wilson and myself directed M'r. Sambourne, the Surveyor, to run out the lines of interference. They can give evidence respecting it; M'r. Sambourne's return to me makes the business quite insignificant; but whether more or less, I had to decide upon principles that have no relation to the Quantum of the dispute. I held this case under advisement, on the following ground: It appeared in evidence before me, by the voluntary deposi- <496> LETTERS FROM THE tion of Evan Owen himself, that he made his Commencement of Settlement on the tract of Land whereon the Town of Berwick now stands on the 16th day of May, 1787, the Confirming Law having passed on the 27th day of March preceding. It appeared to me that the Confirming Law was public and legal notice to him of an opposite and older title then recognized by the Legislature, & that he settled at his peril. He took up the Land and he settled it, knowing of a precedent title. This induced me to give it further Consideration before I admitted M'r. Owen's objections. This further Consideration is now no longer Necessary, as the Connecticut Claimants of this Land have authorized me to say that in whatever way I determine the question, they are desirous that no obstacle should be thrown in the way of the Compromising Law as it now stands, and therefore, they will gladly release to the State every part of their Connecticut right that interferes with the Town of Berwick. If therefore M'r. Owen has a good title to the Land, let him make it out as against the State. Hence your Excellency will perceive that the Legislature is in danger of fighting a Shadow; of occupying their time and swelling the Statute Book with a Law that relates to nothing. I am anxiously engaged here in getting out the Certificates of Wilkesbarre, and, therefore, I do not go to Lancaster till I can bring them with me; but surely upon all this Business of Luzerne County, and surely upon all that relates to my own peculiar department and Conduct, it is worth while for the Committee or the house to order my attendance and examine me before they proceed definitively to pass a law on the Subject. I shall certainly attend on the earliest information; but while I am usefully & almost indispensibly employed here, I do not want to waste my time on any speculation of my presence being necessary there. I wish if such a law is in contemplation, that these facts and remarks could be somehow made known to the house; and I would beg leave also to suggest that if any resolution is to be made on the Intrusion business of Luzerne, it ought to be grounded not only on what passed with respect to Smithers and Hinds, but that information of William Ellis, of Muncy, and of M'r. Baird, of Potsgrove, is essentially necessary. The two latter can give more light into the conduct and views of the half share men than any persons out of the Comm'ion. M'r. Baird has lately been surveying Pennsylvania tracts in Wyalusing. His Evidence & M'r. Ellis's will corroborate my present and former observations. Wishing my Colleagues, General Steele and M'r. Wilson, to be acquainted with the Contents of this letter, I have taken Inserted here. A MAP showing the some lots of Connecticut in black, and Pennsylvania overlayed in red. A reference to "See page 510." <497> COMMISSIONERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. the liberty of transmitting it to your Excellency through them. I remain with great respect, Your Excellency's faithful Friend and Servant, THOMAS COOPER. _ _ _ Mr. Cooper to Gen. John Steele. June 15, 1803. General John Steele: Dear Sir: I see plainly that unless we proceed to finish one township at a time, no certificate to the Connecticut Claimants can issue this year. If all the protections are first to be done, and to be done by Sambourne alone, and the Subdivisions afterwards run out, there will be no time to issue Certificates; for before this can be done my departm't will be at a stand. Whereas if one township at a time is finished, and the Certificates made out and issued, the people will be more contented, and we can all have full employment. I do hope you will agree to let us go on and issue at once the Certificates of Wilkesbarre, and the other settling towns, before the remote townships are begun. I am sure too that you must have assistance in your department; unless we do something early about the Certificates we shall get into discredit with the people now, and the Legislature hereafter. I am certain as I am of my Existence that the Business can be done this Summer, but not on the plan you are pursuing. Sambourne says you are in doubt about issuing Certificates comprizing more than one lot in each. This question was put by me to the Board of Property when I shewed them Major Ross's certificate, which had three distinct claims laid together and certified together. They were of opinion that if one Connecticut Claimant was the owner of several contiguous lots, they might all be included in one Certificate and patent, if the contents were not more than the usual quantity of a Pennsylvania patent, viz. 400 acres; at any rate let them make the objection; if they make it, I shall accede to it and let them take the responsibility. But in fact it is a question which I consider as settled by the Board. While I was at Lancaster, I had a dispute with the Register and Comptroller about the allowance of accounts of Expence up the river. We agreed to leave it to you and M'r. Wilson. I went to seek for you, but you had returned home. M'r. Wilson told me afterward in confidence that you had already seen the accounts in M'r. Duffield's possession, and had previously 32-VOL. XVIII. <498> LETTERS FROM THE given an opinion of them; if so, it would not be right to trouble you with them now. Be so good as to inform me if this be the case or not. If not, I shall ask you to give your opinion after hearing Judge Fell and me. But if you have given an opinion, I shall not trouble you on the Subject now. I am, Dear Sir, Your Friend and Servant, THOMAS COOPER. Inquired of M'r. Priestly whether M'r. Kennedy, the printer, could conveniently discharge your account; he said Kennedy would have money coming to him very soon. If you would write to Kennedy to transmit you an order on M'r. Priestly it would be discharged at once. _ _ _ Mr. Cooper to Thomas Sambourne. Wilkesbarre, June 30, 1803. Thomas Sambourne, Esq'r.: Sir: In making out the Certificates of the Townships, Wilkesbarre for instance, attend first to my pencil marks on the duplicate returns of Survey. Then let every Certificate be examined with the Submission, to see that each Claimant has applied and taken oath of single title for the land certified, either as included in his own application or as Assignee of a former Applicant. Where the land certified is more than the quantity covered by the Application take care to make a memorandum in pencil on the Back for my perusal, or else make out a List. Do nothing until the Certificates are out. I am, &c., THOMAS COOPER. Insert the Quality in the Duplicate Surveys. _ _ _ Mr. Cooper to George Duffield. Wilkesbarre, July 2, 1803. George Duffield, Esq'r., Lancaster: Sir: As I expect an answer from M'r. Bryan, probably coincident with yours, I shall defer my joint answer till I receive it. I must be in Northumberland on this day week, where the post day from Lancaster is two days earlier than here; I shall enquire there for a letter from Lancaster, but should M'r. Bryan's answer be directed here I shall not have an oppor- <499> COMMISSIONERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. tunity of replying by the same post. I shall have no objection to your proposal, if M'r. Bryan has none. I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant, THOMAS COOPER. _ _ _ Mr. Cooper to Gen. John Steele. July 27, 1803. General John Steele: Sir: M'r. Taylor and myself, considering what you mentioned respecting assistance to M'r. Sambourne for the purpose of expediting the Certificates, find, 1st, That Assistance is necessary in the protracting, which in our opinion M'r. Haines can be profitably employed in, with occasionally assisting in the calculations. 2. That Geo. Bowdery also wants assistance, for which purpose we have recommended M'r. Sambourne to employ Jos. Wright, who will fill up the writing part of the Draughts & Certificates. 3. It is also probable that by and by the assistance of one additional person in the calculations alone, for which purpose, unless M'r. Sambourne can get some one better, M'r. John Cooper may be considerably employed in. On the whole we are of opinion that all these persons ought to work under the direction of M'r. Sambourne, and with his assistance we shall probably get through. We suggest these for your Consideration. And are, &c., THOMAS COOPER. _ _ _ Mr. Cooper to John R. Coates. August 19, 1803. John R. Coates, Esq'r.: Sir: The Commissioners here will thank you for early information on the following Subject, in which the proprietary Estate is interested. Nos. 34 and 35, in the Manor of Stoke, sold in 1772 to George and Martin Ryerson, under agreem'ts executed as per the official copy transmitted to us, has been released to the State by first the proprietors, 2 by the heirs of Charles Stewart, deceased, and is also claimed 3dly by M'rs. Kerr, under a Deed of 1774 from Thomas Lowrey, who has paid the money. How much has been paid, and whom do you consider entitled? I am, in Behalf of myself & the other Comm'rs, Yours, &c., THOMAS COOPER. <500> LETTERS FROM THE Mr. Cooper to D. H. Conyngham. Wilkesbarre, August 19, 1803. D. H. Conyngham, Esq'r.: Sir: I observe that Nos. 34 and 35 in the Manor of Stoke, released by the late M'r. Charles Stewart, are also claimed by a M'rs. Kerr, under a Deed of Conveyance sufficiently descriptive of the Year 1774, from Thomas Lowry. I beg of you to write to M'r. Stewart, of Flemington, as the Lands so released cannot be certified in his favor. I am, Sir, Your humble Servant, THOMAS COOPER. _ _ _ Mr. Cooper to Anthony Morris. November 4th, 1803. Sir: The tract of Land mentioned in your letter to me of August 16, 1803, taken up in the name of Aaron Dean, is not within the Bounds of any of the Seventeen Townships, nor has it been released to the State. Nothing can be done respecting it under the Commission of April 4, 1799, it not being within our Jurisdiction. Since I received your Letter by M'r. Roberts I have been confined by severe illness, otherwise I should have answered immediately. I am, &c., THOMAS COOPER. To Anthony Morris, Merchant, Philadelphia. _ _ _ The Commissioners to Governor McKean. Wilkesbarre, November 18th, 1803. Sir: Presuming you will require information to lay before the house respecting the progress of our Commission, we take the liberty of informing you that everything dependant on the personal exertions of the Commissioners is finished; that is, every Connecticut title is taken and recorded; every Connecticut dispute among the claimants has been heard and settled; every township has been run out, and every lot and subdivision in every township has been ascertained, surveyed and valued. Of the fifteen Townships whose title has been established as coming within the perview of the Acts on the Subject, certificates are made out, and will Issue before the meeting of the <501> COMMISSIONERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. Assembly, for Wilkesbarre, Kingston, Plymouth, Hanover, Newport, and Salem, so far as relates to the Connecticut Claimants and some of the Pennsylvania Claimants; Others of the latter class appear to us liable to exceptions, which will require deliberation before they are issued. We contemplated that every thing relating to the Commission would have been closed next Spring, as suggested in our reports to the Legislature last Session, but the number of the Draughts and other Documents to be made out, entered and compared, and the accuracy necessary to prevent Mistakes, makes the business of the Clarks, and the duties dependant upon them, so much more tedious than we expected, that it will probably be the end of May before all the Certificates are issued. You will have the Satisfaction, however, of seeing the business is drawing to a Close. We have also the pleasure of informing you, that among the persons Usually called half share holders, from eighty to a hundred, have made agreements and taken Deeds under the Pennsylvania Claimants of the land they occupy; and we believe these people generally begin to see their true interest and feel anxious to procure the title of this Commonwealth. Indeed the great Obstacle at present is the uncertainty of the Pennsylvania title in that part of the County, which is out of the bounds of the 17 Townships. Your Excellency will see by the inclosed Advertisement that we have pledged ourselves to the people here, to carry into effect the representations we make in the present Communication. We are, with great respect, Your Excellency's faithful friend and Servants, THOMAS COOPER. J. M. TAYLOR. P. S.-We have written to Gen'l. Steele to request him to Apply to your Excellency for a Warrant for $ _ _ to pay off some Arrearages & Supply the persons employed during the Winter. _ _ _ The Commissioners to Gen. John Steele. Wilkesbarre, Dec'r. 31st, 1803. Dear Sir: We have just received your letter, but as you must well know it will be impossible to give any Accurate Answer to the Townships not yet protracted and calculated before we leave this place; the Certificates of Wilkesbarre, Plymouth, King- <502> LETTERS FROM THE ston, Hanover, Newport and Salem will be issued, and to those we can then transmit useful Information; the rest must be by conjecture until the Certificates are Issued; this will not be possible before the latter end of May. In about three Weeks we will send you a reply for the consideration of the Committee; but you are perfectly aware, as well as Ourselves, of the impossibility of our doing more at present than what we have stated, We shall have, however, tolerable good ground for any conjecture as to the Townships that will not be compleated before our Departure. Yours, &c., THOMAS COOPER. J. M. TAYLOR. Gen'l. J. Steele, Lancaster. _ _ _ The Commissioners to the Secretary. Wilkesbarre, January, 1804. Andrew Ellicott, Esquire, Secretary of the Land Office: Sir: In making out patents on the Certificates we have to request your attention to the Indorsements which often explain and limit the Certificate within. In many cases the Claimants have made out title to us beyond the amount of Acres Applied for; these cases we have Noticed wherever it seemed to us proper to do so; we leave it to the discretion of the board to Act in these cases as they think fit. There are several lots of Public Land, the Indorsements whereon refers to this Letter; We are of Opinion that the Patents should issue in all the Certificates for land of that description, According to the following form. We select Wilkesbarre an example. Patent for the public lots in Wilkesbarre to issue to Matthias Hollenback, Lord Butler and Jesse Fell, Esquires, trustees and Agents for the care and Management of the public lands belonging to the Township of Wilkesbarre, and to their Successors duly appointed at a Township meeting of the proprietors of the Lands of the said Township, regularly Warned and convened, and held for that purpose; the Said public Lands (consisting, &c.,) to be holden by the said Trustees and Agents, and their Successors aforesaid, on the Condition of reserving the same for the Use of the Proprietors of the said Township forever, in the following manner, to-wit: that two-thirds of the proceeds thereof shall be forever appropriated to the establishment and support of the public Schools in the said <503> COMMISSIONERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. Township, and the other third to the Support of a Minister of the Gospel, to Officiate in the Said Township, to be Appointed and continued from time to time by the Majority of the Proprietors present at their regular Township Meetings. We think the preceding limitation Should be inserted in the body of each Patent issued for the public Lands of the respective Townships, unless the Indorsement by us on the Certificate should indicate any variation. We are, Sir, Your obed't Servants, THOMAS COOPER. JN'o. M. TAYLOR. _ _ _ The Commissioners to the Secretary. Wilkesbarre, January 14, 1804. Andrew Ellicott, Esquire, Secretary of the Land Office: Sir: I have heard with much surprize, but with great concern, that you and the other Gentlemen, constituting the Board of Property, have refused granting Patents on our Certificates to the Connecticut Claimants. I understand this from E. Bowman, Esquire, and Col. Franklin (to whom, and to the half share men, this will be most grateful news) has written to his friends to the same purpose. The utter impossibility of executing the act of 1799, either with satisfaction to the Claimants or benefit to the State, induced us to propose to the Legislature the Supplement of 1802. This Supplement enabled us fairly and reasonably to require the Surrender of the Connecticut Deeds, and thereby strike at the very Root of Opposition in the Seventeen Townships. This Supplement made it no longer necessary to the Connecticut Certificate, that the Land claimed by the Connecticut Settler should be released to the State. Your Board, have however, deemed it expedient, for the Information of the Land Office, that the Certificate should mention what part of the Land certified had been so released; at first, from an Anxiety that our Board and yours should proceed in perfect harmony on every Question, I acquiesced, and sent you the form of a Certificate, including the point requested. On consultation, however, with my Colleagues, and our Surveyor, M'r. Sambourne, We found that such a conformity to your wishes would prodigiously encrease the trouble of our Office, protract the business of the Comm'n and put the State to a very great Expence, on a matter of mere Curiosity on your part, and perfectly unes- <504> LETTERS FROM THE sential to the title of the Connecticut Claimant. All this was stated to your Board collectively and individually last Winter, both by me, and, I think, by General Steele. It was formerly stated, as a point we could not comply with, to the Board, by myself, in the presence of Rosewell Welles, Esquire, then Member from Luzerne, at a Meeting of the Board on the Subject. It was stated as a Measure that would probably induce, with necessity, the trouble and Difficulty of some thousands of Calculations by M'r. Sambourne to M'r. Cochran. It was stated by myself to M'r. Cochran afterward at the Court house, in the presence of General Steele, as a Measure we could not be justified in acceding to, and should not comply with. M'r. Cochran replied that I had promised it, and that the Board had procured the Patents to be struck off. To which I answered that he well knew the form of the Patents were settled without any consultation with our Board, and while the Officers of the Land Office knew that the Supplement was proposed and progressing; that if the Gentlemen of the Land Office chose to proceed thus hastily, it was at their own risk. Finally, I stated in writing my reasons for not complying with the request of the Board of Property in March 24, 1803, of which I have a Copy now before me. In fact, willing as we were to accommodate Ourselves to the wishes of your Board, neither I, nor General Steele, nor M'r. Wilson, could feel ourselves justified in acceding to such a Waste of time, so much unnecessary trouble, and so much unnecessary Expence to the State. We had frequent Consultations on the Subject, and our minds were made up not to notice the Pennsylvania releases in our Certificates, as forming no part whatever of the Connecticut Claimant's title under Pennsylvania. I foresaw other Objections, for had we introduced this point into our Certificate, it would have given an implied Sanction to its being an essential part of the title, and a Declaration that the Supplement of 1802 was nugatory. This would have been seen through by the Connecticut claimants and attributed to that System of Management and Manoeuvring of which they have long perhaps been too suspicious. With all this previous knowledge of our Intentions, you permitted us to leave Lancaster without any Declaration on your parts, either individually or as a Body, that you would Object to granting Patents on our Certificates, drawn as they now are. From such Silence We had a right to presume Acquiescence, and we went on to issue them in the form you were apprized of, and 921 have already been issued on the faith of your granting Patents upon them. <505> COMMISSIONERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. Indeed the whole of our Communication with you on this Subject has been a matter of Accommodation only. Neither I, nor Gen'l. Steele, M'r. Wilson, ever conceived for a Moment that you had any right to decide upon the form of a Certificate for which Our Board, and not yours, is responsible. Your Duty in this is Ministerial, and not judicial. It is your Duty to issue the Patents on our Certificates. I would further Observe, that in whatever mode we issue Certificates the State will lose nothing thereby, for we shall issue them for no more than the Connecticut Settler will make out a title for. Nor will your refusal of a Patent benefit the State One Cent, for as the Connecticut Claimants cannot dictate the form of Our Certificate, if they accept with a Performance, or tender of performance of all the Conditions required on their part, their Certificates will be an equitable title that nothing can overthrow. Your Conduct, therefore, may hurt the State; but the Connecticut Claimant with a certificate can set you at Defiance. It has become my Duty to apprize you, Sir, and through you the other Gentlemen of the Board, what has been, and is likely to be, the consequence of your present Conduct. We have closed our Surveys; We have settled the Connecticut titles; we have called upon the people to come for their Certificates of six Townships and give up the Connecticut Deeds. They have done so, in many Instances, and are daily coming in for the purpose. Their minds are quieted, and they have hitherto had confidence in the justice of the State, and the fairness and liberality of the Officers. It has induced many of the half share holders to purchase the Pennsylvania titles, and greatly facilitated the Sales made by the agents of the Pennsylvania Claimants, and finally it promised to bring Money shortly into the treasury to meet, in part, the Demands upon it. You have clouded all these prospects; you have driven us back as we are sailing into port; you will have the Merit of spreading far and wide distrust of the State proceedings, of keeping back the Documents of Connecticut titles, which otherwise would come into our possession; of stopping the Receipts of the Treasury; of wasting the Money we have drawn from the State; and of lighting up again the torch of civil Discord, which we have laboured for with anxious Industry, and unlooked for Success to extinguish for ever. The half share holders begin again to revive, to sneer at our proceedings, and to value themselves on their foresight, and they regard you as among the best of their friends. All this is true; I tell it you because it has become my Duty to tell it you. You know <506> LETTERS FROM THE not the Extent of the Mischief you are planning, and you ought to be apprized of it. I send the Copy of this Letter to General Steele; and shall call upon him to shew it to the Governor, and to the Wyoming Committee, and the Committee of Ways and Means, if you persist in the Conduct you have adopted. I am, Sir, with Due Respect, Your obed't. Serv't., THOMAS COOPER, I am equally persuaded with M'r. Cooper, that it would be highly improper to insert anything relating to the Pennsylvania releases in our Certificates to Connecticut Claimants; and I fear he has not delineated sufficiently the Mischief likely to arise from refusing Patents, and I have firm Expectation that when the Board of Property will take a retrospective view of the Subject, they will not give a Moment's Delay in the issuing of Patents, when they are applied for by the Connecticut holder of our Certificate. J. M. TAYLOR. _ _ _ The Commissioners to Joseph Scudden. Wilkesbarre, July 14, 1804. Sir: The Commissioners appointed to settle the Disputes respecting the Connecticut claims on Lands in Luzerne County, beg of you to transmit to them certified copies of the Surveys of the tracts released by the Names of David, Samuel and Philip Johnson, and also the Survey of the tract called "Partnership." Without such Offices Copies they have Evidence of the Survey and return, nor have they any sufficient means of ascertaining the Situation or Value of the tracts. If you have them not by you, they beg you would cause them to be transmitted hither from the Land Office of Pennsylvania at Lancaster, as early as you can. I am, Sir, Your Ob't. Servt., THOMAS LLOYD, Clerk to the Comm'rs. _ _ _ The Commissioners to the Land Claimants. Wilkesbarre, Aug't. 3, 1804. Gentlemen: I have received your letter, and tho' my Colleague, M'r. Taylor, is absent, yet I hasten without Scruple to communicate all the Information I possess, well knowing from repeated con- <507> COMMISSIONERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. versations that his Opinions and mine perfectly coincide with those from which Gen'l. Steele and M'r. Wilson heretofore never varied. With respect to your two Questions, 1st, whether patents will issue on our Certificates as they now stand. 2dly, Whether we are prepared to conform to the wishes of the Board of Property by inserting the released part of the Land certified. I answer to the best of my knowledge as follows: In the Spring of 1803, Assurances were given to Major Ross by the Board of Property, in my presence, and to Rosewell Welles, Esq'r., by M'r. Matlack, that patents would issue on the Certificates. The want of Books was then assigned as the reason of Delay. In the winter (13 of last April), I received a letter from M'r. Taylor, stating that the Board of property had agreed to issue Patents on Our Certificates, and that nothing but the press of Business, and the diminished number of their clerks, then orevented it, this letter I shew'd soon after to Judge Hollenback, in Northumberland, and I apprehended no further Difficulty. Toward the latter end of last June, Nathan Beach, Esquire, was in Philadelphia, and, as he informs me, was told by the Governor (whose anxiety to give full and fair effect to the laws of 1799 and 1802 has ever been manifest) that he might depend on patents being issued without further Delay, and that if his Neighbours came down to Lancaster, to present their Certificates, they need not apprehend any Difficulty at the Land Office; or to that Effect. About a Month afterward, I saw the Governor myself, who informed me that the Attorney General had given an Opinion to the Secretary of the Land Office, and that he believed I should find no further Difficulty on the Subject of our Certificates. Previous to my seeing the Governor, I left a Letter for the Secretary of the Land Office, stating that on my return from Philad'a I would call for a reply from the Board of Property to the Question, whether they would or would not issue Patents on our Certificates in the present form; on my return, in about 4 Days, I called on M'r. Ellicott, who told me that the Board of Property had requested him to present me with a Copy of the Attorney General's Opinion, and to give no other answer to my Letter, so that all the Declarations heretofore made by myself and by M'r. Beach, and, indeed, I may almost venture to say by the Governor, are at an End, and whether the Board of Property will make out Patents conformable to the present form of the Certificates I cannot tell, as they will not condescend to give me an Answer decisive on the Subject. <508> LETTERS FROM THE What the case which they stated to the Attorney General contained, I know not; but his Opinion in Substance is that it would be best for the patents to recite the release of the Pennsylvania Claimant; But that it is not necessary for our Certificates to contain any such recital. I am aware of the respect to which the Opinion of the Attorney General is entitled. On a case fully and fairly laid before him, which I am sure has not been done in the present Instance, or he would not have stated his Opinion in the present away, had we been applied to, to join in the case stated, and to have laid before him our Objections, I think he would have been of a different Opinion. This leads me to reply to your second head of enquiry, whether we are making arrangements to comply with the wishes of the Board of property. No; we are making no such Arrangements; nor in my Opinion can the patents issue in the way suggested, for 1st, Gen'l. Steele, M'r. Wilson and myself had determined, in the fall of 1801, to resign our Commissions if the parts of the lots released to the State were to be specifically designated and calculated, and the Certificates confined to them. We saw it was impossible to go thro' the Business under this Difficulty. It would have been incomplete and unsatisfactory to both parties, and be liable to so many inaccuracies, Occasion so much expence and Occupy so much time, that it was in vain to undertake it on these Conditions. Had the law of 1802 not passed, the suggestions of the Attorney General would have been indispensable both in the Certificate and in the Patent. But the Commission would never have been proceeded in. At present they cannot be complied with under two years' additional labour, and in my Opinion, at least 10,000 Dollars additional Expence. But this is not all. In confidence of the certificate answering the purpose, they are almost all of them actually made out, and the major part of them actually delivered to the Claimants; to recall or to alter them would excite a jealousy impossible to be allayed. 2dly. In my Opinion the Patent ought to be conformable to the Certificate, they ought not to differ, or contain as a necessary part of the Connecticut Claimant's title, what the law of 1802 has declared shall not be a necesary part. It is a very suspicious and dangerous surplusage to the validity of the title; and makes a variance pregnant with future Dispute between the title given by us and the title given by the patent. The present state of the law rejects the release as necessary to the Connecticut Claimant's title; the former State of the law required it. We are to act according to what the law is, not what it was; And so we apprehend ought the Board of <509> COMMISSIONERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. Property; Nor is it likely that we will consent to spend two years longer, and incur an Expence so enormous to comply with that which the Legislature has declared need not be complied with; and in the mean time to leave the Applicants under the law of 1799 open to all the Doubts and Fears so unhappily prevalent at the present Moment, and which Franklin and his Coadjutors so heartily rejoice at & so sedulously keep up. From the present Commission, the Information required as necessary to the Patent neither can nor will be supplied, for reasons before given. If it could, with moderate labour, or at any reasonable Expence of time and Money, We should most gladly go out of our way to furnish it; for we differ from the Board of Property and Attorney Gen'l. with great reluctance, And should be very glad if we could make our Duty harmonize with our Inclinations to satisfy the Board, even in a point of which We cannot see the least necessity. The Settlers having fully complied with their part of the Contract under the laws of 1799 and 1802, cannot be affected by the form of the Commissioner's Certificate, which they cannot control, And I am happy to find that the latter part of the Attorney General's Opinion fully confirms the Validity of the Certificates as hitherto issued. I am, Gentlemen, Your Obed. Servant, THOMAS COOPER. _ _ _ Thomas Sambourne to John R. Coates. July 21, 1804. Sir: D'r. Rose requested that I would give him some Intelligence with Respect to the Proprietor's Manors in this County, released to the State. I know of no Difficulty at present. But with regard to your Manors of Stoke and Sunbury, it will be necessary for you forthwith to send to the Commissioners a list of all such persons who you Acknowledge to have titles under you in those Manors, that we may make their Certificates out for such parts as they have released; the sooner this is done the better, as the Commissioners wish to close the Business this Summer. I am, Sir, Your M'o. Ob., THOMAS SAMBOURNE. John R. Coates, Esq'r. <510> LETTERS FROM THE Mr. Cooper to John R. Coates. August 1, 1804. Sir: Herewith I send you a Copy of the Observations I have to make on the release of M'r. Penn. The paper will sufficiently explain itself, and I transmit it thus early that you may have time to clear up the Difficulties before the Board of Property when the Certificates are delivered there. I mean of course to be understood as at liberty to make any further Remark that may occur. The Certificates will not be ready till the Beginning of Winter, I am, Sir, Your obed't. Servant, THOMAS COOPER. _ _ _ The Commissioners to the Secretary. August 1, 1804. Dear Sir: I do not often intrude unnecessarily on your time, or plague you with Questions which you are Officially required to answer; but I am staying here from absolute necessity, if this dispute is to be finished at all, and under circumstances very anxious and unpleasant to me, as well as very opposite to my Interest and my Inclination. I was in hopes by this time, or at least before the meeting of the Legislature, to have left the Seventeen townships settled, the people satisfied, and their Connecticut title cut up by the roots, and to have planted an Opposition to the half share Interest, which would gradually, but shortly, root out the remaining part of the Susquehanna Speculation. We can beat the Half share men on their Own ground but their good friends Andrew Ellicott and his Coadjutors are very likely to render all our Efforts nugatory, and undo the labour of three years. You recollect that in the commencement of the business, we found that as the law stood, enabling us to certify in favour of the Connect't Claimants for such part of their lots only as the State had again obtained by reconveyance from Pennsylvania Holder, We should give him the Pennsylvania title for detached and irregular portions, leaving them in Possession of the Connecticut title for the separate parts. This would evidently neither satisfy them, nor fulfil the views of the Legislature, whose Business it was to establish the State title and destroy the Susquehanna One. It appeared to me, that the Settlement of a Dispute of so long standing, and which had been, and threatened to be, the source of civil commotion and inveterate prejudice against the laws, was a motive for <511> COMMISSIONERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. Legislative Interference, in taking the property of a private person for public use, under the Conditions prescribed by the Constitution, at least as strong as the motives arising from a Turnpike Road or Canal. The Legislature thought so too, and You were impressed with the necessity of the case, and sanctioned the Bill. During the progress of the Bill thro' the House, I was repeatedly given to understand, tho' without any other than circumstantial Evidence, that it met with the private, but undefatigable, Opposition of the Secretary of the Land Office and the Board of Property; and in the next Session with the assistance of M'r. Cox, the predecessor of the present Secretary, and a Justice of the peace, Evan Owen, a Bill to repeal that provision was introduced, carried thro' the House of Representatives, attended with circumstances out of Doors of insidious manoeuvring and rancorous falsehood against the Commission, and myself in particular, that have turned out disgraceful to those only who were concerned in their propagation. I was easy as to my own Character and the fate of the Bill. If the Legislature were artfully drawn into Measures wavering and indecisive, and induced One year to adopt a System and the next to abandon it that was not your Character. I was persuaded that if they passed a law impairing a solemn Compact, and committing the honour and fairness of the State, you would not commit your character by sanctioning such a proceeding. The Senate felt the same Sentiments; and I am persuaded that nothing but the most artful and insidious Misrepresentations could have prevailed over the good sense of the House of Representatives on this Occasion. During this Discussion at Lancaster in 1801/1802, 1802/1803, it was impossible for the Sources of Opposition to be entirely concealed from Lord Butler and Rosewell Welles, the representatives of Luzerne, by whom I know it was believed, because it was expressed to me that the Views of the Gentlemen of the Land Office were to make the Certificates include the released parts of the lots, with a private view to the farther repeal of the Supplement, while the Settlers were required to give up their Deeds for the whole; thereby deceiving and defrauding the people by promising more than was ultimately meant to be performed; and my Colleagues have constantly repelled this Insinuation, by declaring that conduct so unfair could not be imputed to any part of the Government or its Agents, and that altho' the Land Office had required at first the released part of the land to be specified in the Certificate, it was not acceded to by us, because it was unnecessary to the title, and we had no Doubt the Patents would issue without it. Our Objections to this were made in writing to M'r. Cochran <512> LETTERS FROM THE in March 23, 1803, nor from that time to this have I or my Colleagues deviated for a Moment from the Opinion then given, nor have I untill this Moment, nor do I at this Moment understand whether patents will issue without that Insertion or not. In the mean time the minds of the People here are agitated, they do not come in to deposit their Connecticut Deeds as usual; numerous Contracts are made on the strength of our Certificates, which are not complied with since this Doubt hangs over them. The Half Share men, sneer at the Compromisers and say "we told you at first what all this would come to, that you never would get a title;" the State is liable to pay the Pennsylvania Claimant while the Board of Property cuts off the resources of the State, by stopping the payments into the treasury, and the salutary change of rich and peacable Germans in lieu of restless Connecticut holders, bound indeed strongly by their Interest, but slightly by their Inclination, is unfortunately stopt. Under the Circumstances of Suspicion, which the Conduct of the Board of Property has so imprudently given Birth to, it will be in vain to think of settling the Dispute. Not a Soul will now purchase under a patent that contains the released land, for fear the future title should be confined to it, nor will a single Connecticut. Your, &c., THOMAS COOPER. _ _ _ Case for the Attorney General's Opinion. It appears by the Information of Daniel Brodhead and William Parsons, Two of His Majesties Justices of the Peace for the County of Northampton, that many Persons, the natural born Subjects of His Majesty, now residing in This and some of the Neighbouring Provinces, have openly declared their Intention in a Body to possess themselves of and settle upon a large Tract of Land in this Province, lying on the Sasquehanna River, and commonly called Wyomick, without any Lycense or Grant from our Honourable Proprietaries, or Authority from the Government, which Intention they have also declared they will carry into Execution this Spring. This Tract of Land has not yet been purchased of the Six Nation Indians, but has hitherto been reserved and is now used by them for their hunting Ground. The Government of Pennsylvania, by their Treaties with those Indians, stand engaged not to permit any Persons to settle upon Lands within the Bounds of the Province that have <513> COMMISSIONERS OF PENNSYLVANIA. not been purchased from them. Hence it is apprehended those Indians may interpret such a Settlement a Violation of our Treaties, and may be induced to commit Hostilities that would be attended with consequences most dangerous at this Juncture. Q. If any Persons give out in Speeches that they are going to possess themselves of this Tract of Land, and persuade Others to go with them, and are making Preparation to go accordingly; Or if they shall presume to go and settle there; Is it lawful for the Justice of the Peace to cause such Persons to be arrested and imprisoned? To Enter upon and seize the Lands of the proprietaries, or others, without their permission, are Acts against the Laws, and manifest Breaches of the publick peace. Such Offences, by a Multitude, are of dangerous Example and highly penal, as they tend to Sedition and are likely to terminate in Capital Crimes. If any person, by Words, or Actions, discover an Intention to disturb the publick peace, they may be Arrested and Imprisoned, until they give sufficient Security to keep the peace and be of good Behaviour. Therefore, if it shall be made appear to any Justice of the peace, by Oath or Affirmation, that any persons have engaged themselves in the unlawful Design mentioned in the State of this Case, or have done any Acts tending to promote it, I am of Opinion it will be the Duty of such Justice to issue his Warrants to apprehend those persons, and upon their being Arrested, to commit them to Goal, unless they give securities to appear at the next Quarter Sessions to answer for their Offences and in the meantime to keep the peace and be of good Behaviour, such as the Justice, in his discretion, shall think reasonable. TENCH FRANCIS. 18th March, 1754. 33-VOL. XVIII. [End of Letters in this section]