THE HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, CHAPTER XXXVII, SMITHFIELD; ALLEN; MOUNT BETHEL; MOORE; EASTON; 1746 TO 1750 from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time by W. W. H. Davis, A.M., 1876 and 1905* editions. Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Donna Bluemink. dbluemink@cox.net USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. _____________________________________________________________________________ Transcriber's note: Liberty has been taken with numbering footnotes so as to include all footnotes from both the 1876 and 1905 editions, plus any additional text and pictures in the 1905 edition. All 1905 material will be noted with an asterisk. Note: Where names differ, the 1905 edition spelling is applied. _____________________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER XXXVII or CHAPTER VII (Vol. II), 1905 ed. SMITHFIELD; ALLEN; MOUNT BETHEL; MOORE; EASTON 1746 TO 1750 The Minisink flats. -Question of settlement. -Copper discovered. -First visit of a white man. -Earliest settlers. -The Mine road. -Visit of Nicholas Scull. -Samuel De Pui. -Condition of settlements. -Visit of John Lukens. -What he saw and learned. -Earliest mention of Minisink in county records. -Daniel Brodhead. -Smithfield church. -Dutch churches. -First attempt to organize Smithfield township. -Names of petitioners. -Indian graveyard. -Township now divided. -Forks of Delaware. -Nathaniel Irish, Craig, and Hunter. -ALLEN: William Allen first land-owner. -A Presbyterian settlement. -Petitioners for township. -Conflicting accounts. -Settlers ask for wagon roads. -Residence of the Craigs. -MOUNT BETHEL: Hunter's colony. -Petition for a township. -The names. -David and John Brainard and their labors. -MOORE: Was settled early. -The Petersville church. -Township organized. -EASTON: The first owner of site. -David Martin first settler. -Grant of ferry. -Town laid out. -William Parsons. -First house. -Population in December, 1752. -Louis Gordon. -Phillipsburg. -The Arndts. -The Wageners.* The earliest settlement in Bucks county, north of the Lehigh, was made in Smithfield township, now in Monroe county. It is an unsettled question whether the upper, or lower, Delaware was first settled by Europeans, and it is even claimed that the Minisink flats were peopled before the fertile meadows of Falls. In 1694, and possibly earlier, the adventurous Hollanders penetrated the wilderness southwest of the Hudson as far as the Delaware, where copper was discovered, and some of it shipped to Holland. Thomas Budd, in his account of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, published in London in 1684, says the Indians go up the Delaware in canoes from the falls "to the Indian town called Minisinks." The first recorded visit of a white man to this region is that of Captain Arent Schuyler in 1694, who came as far south as Port Jervis, but does not mention meeting settlers. He speaks of it in his journal as the Minisink country. The first settlers were Hollanders, who came across the wilderness from Esopus, (1) on the Hudson, and Stickney believes they were on the Delaware prior to 1664. (2) (1) Romeyn Brodhead states, in his history of New York, that Europeans were not settled at Esopus before 1652. In 1691 there were five villages there, with a population of 3,000. (2) It is the opinion of Mr. Hazzard that when Andres Hudde attempted to ascend the Delaware above the falls in 1646, but stopped by the Indians, he was trying to reach the mines at the Minisink, where he believes there was already a Dutch colony. From the evidence it would appear that the Hollanders were drawn to the Minisink country in search of metals, whose existence had been made known by the Indians, and that the rich flats were not settled until the mines had been abandoned. It is possible this region was first made known to Europeans by the two Hollanders who traversed the country from the Hudson to the Delaware, and down that river and across to the Schuylkill, where they were made prisoners by the Indians in 1616, and rescued at the mouth of the river. The wagon road from the Hudson to the Delaware was made, no doubt, first to the mines and then to the Minisink, to accommodate the settlers; but was abandoned when it was discovered the settlements were not in New Netherlands, and communication was opened with the lower Delaware. This road is thought to have been the first good wagon road of any extent made in the United States. As late as 1800 John Adams, on his way to Congress, at Philadelphia, traveled the "Mine road" from the Hudson to the Delaware as the best route from Boston. The road was east of the Delaware. General James Clinton and Christopher Tappan, both old men in 1789, believed that the Mine road was the work of Hollanders before New York fell into the hands of the English, in 1664, and that the change of government probably stopped mining. The earliest settlement of this region is involved in so much doubt that it is impossible to fix the exact period, and the most thorough investigation leads but to reasonable theories. The Minisink settlements were on both sides of the Delaware, on the rich flats between the foot hills and the river. A portion of this population on the Pennsylvania side was within the present limits of Smithfield township, Monroe county, but then in Bucks. The Provincial government of Pennsylvania had no knowledge of these settlements before 1725. In 1729 an act was passed declaring the Indian titles there null and void, and in 1730 Surveyor-General Nicholas Scull, accompanied by John Lukens, his apprentice, afterward Surveyor-General, the last of the Province and first of the Commonwealth, was sent into that region to investigate the facts. They had great difficulty in making their way on horseback through the wilderness. They found the flats for 40 miles on both sides of the river settled by Hollanders, and with many of them they could only converse through Indian interpreters. They stopped at the house of Samuel De Pui, an immigrant from Holland, in 1697. The inhabitants did not know when the country was first settled, but from what he saw Mr. Scull gave it as his opinion that the settlements there were older than Penn's charter of Pennsylvania. Apple trees, larger than any about Philadelphia, were seen growing, and the inhabitants knew nothing of Penn's colony, of Philadelphia, nor where the Delaware emptied. All communication with the outside world was over the Mine road to the Hudson, whither they transported their surplus produce, in winter, on sleds. Although such was the report of Mr. Scull, it is highly improbable that the inhabitants of the Minisink heard nothing, through the Indians, of the growing colony on the Delaware, or by way of the Hudson, with which they traded. Budd, in 1684, speaks of "exceeding rich open lands" of the Minisink, but he gained no reliable information of the first settlement of this region. In 1787, almost 60 years after his visit, John Lukens, now Surveyor-General, sent his deputy, Samuel Preston, to the Minisink region to get additional information. The effort was fruitless as before. He visited Nicholas De Pui, son of Samuel, now about 60 years of age. The old men with whom he conversed appeared to be the grandchildren of the first settlers, but he could obtain nothing more reliable than tradition without dates. They agreed in substance, that, many years before, miners from Holland penetrated that wilderness, worked the mines, and built the road over which they hauled the ore; that the miners were followed by other Hollanders fleeing from religious persecution, who, following the Mine road, reached the Delaware, and being pleased with the flats bought the improvements of the Indians, and settled there. This is all the knowledge of the early settlement of the Minisink obtained at the second official visit. The earliest mention of the Minisink in our county records is in 1733. Nicholas De Pui, a Huguenot refugee, settled there in 1725, and in 1727 he purchased a tract of land from the Minsi Indians, with two islands in the Delaware. In September 1733 William Allen, who meanwhile had purchased this land of the Penns, confirmed the title to De Pui. There were six tracts in all, containing 647 acres, [and in addition, the three islands in the river containing 303 acres.*] These islands were Maw Wallamink, 126 acres, Great Shawna, 146-1/3, formed by some creeks which emptied into the Delaware, and lately held by John Smith, containing 31 acres. Abraham Van Campen settled at the Minisink about the same time - on the New Jersey side of the river, five miles above De Pui. The only surviving representative of this family is Robert Reading De Pui, of Stroudsburg. Among the earliest settlers in this region was Daniel Brodhead, grandson of Captain Daniel Brodhead, of the British army, who accompanied Colonel Richard Nichols to America in 1664, and assisted in the capture of Manhattan. He was born in Ulster county, New York, April 10, 1693, removed to Pennsylvania in 1738, and settled where East Stroudsburg stands. He was on friendly terms with the Proprietaries, and a warm friend of the Moravians. He died at Bethlehem, July 22, 1755, while there under treatment for disease by Dr. Otto. His son Daniel, the immediate ancestor of the Brodheads of Pennsylvania, became a distinguished man in the state. He served through the Revolutionary war as Lieutenant-Colonel, and Colonel and enjoyed the confidence of Washington, and, after its close was Surveyor-General of the state. His wife was Elizabeth De Pui, a daughter of Nicholas De Pui, of the Minisink. He died at Milford, Pike county, Pennsylvania, November 9, 1809, in his 73rd year. A monument was erected to his memory in the Milford cemetery October 2, 1872. The family of Decha, Huguenot refugees from France soon after 1685, found a home on the Minisink flats. Here Governor Decha, of Kentucky, was born in 1768, to which state he removed in 1784. The Overfields, whose descendants are still found along the upper Delaware, were there early. Paul Overfield married a sister of Edward Marshall. The Rev. Robert D. Morris, late pastor of the Newtown Presbyterian church, is a descendant of the Deshas on the mother's side. Among the early settlers was Peter LaBar, grandfather of George LaBar, who died lately at the age of 112 years. He came to America in 1730, accompanied by his two brothers, Charles and Abraham, and located in the wilderness below De Pui's settlement, near the river. He afterward bought a tract of the Indians, southwest of where Stroudsburg stands, where George LaBar was born in 1763. Jacobus Kirkendall was a settler there in 1741. De Pui's grist-mill was the first in all that region of country. About 1725 a log church was built at the "Mine holes," opposite Tock's island, near the present village of Shawnee, but a church organization was not effected until 1737. This was the beginning of the Smithfield church, grafted on the Low Dutch Reformed. In 1750, or thereabouts, William Allen gave a lot of five acres to what he denominated the "Presbyterian meeting-house," on which a new stone church was erected. Service was continued in the Dutch language for several years, owing to the difficulty of procuring those who could preach in English. The Rev. Azariah Horton, the first-settled pastor, is thought to have preached the first English sermon there in 1741, and the Revs. Messrs. Wales and Rhoads preached there between 1750 and 1776. When the new house was erected the church withdrew from the Dutch Reformed organization, but before that it was one of the Walpach churches. The stone church was torn down in 1854. When Zinzendorf visited this region, in 1742, there were five Dutch churches along the Delaware, only one of which stood on the Pennsylvania side, the Smithfield church. The four churches on the New Jersey side were on the old Mine road, which started from De Pui's and followed the river several miles. In 1742 John Casper Freymuth returned from Holland, whither he had been sent to study for the ministry, and took charge of four of these churches, including Smithfield. The first attempt to organize Smithfield was in 1746. In June of that year the inhabitants petitioned for a township "to begin at the gap (3) in the mountains where the river Delaware runs through, and from thence five or six miles, a north and by west course, and from thence to the north corner of Christoffel Denmark's plantation, and from thence with a straight line to the river Delaware, and thence the several courses thereof to place of beginning." On the back of the petition is endorsed the words, "Plan next court." The following names were signed to the petition: Patrick Kerr Christoffel Denmark Bernard Stroud Valentine Snyder William Clark John Pierce Robert Hanuch Nathan Greimby D. Westbrook Nicholas De Pui Daniel De Pui James Hyndshaw Aaron De Pui Isaac Tak Richard Howell Redolphus Schoonover John Houay John Courtright Thomas Heson Henry Huber William McNab Samuel Vanaman Brinman Scoumaker. It is doubtful whether the township was laid out under this petition, for we find that in June 1748 the inhabitants of Dansbury (4) and Smithfield petitioned the court for a township "to extend from the river Delaware along the mountains to a gap in the same through which the road from McMickle's [McMichael's*]to Nazareth goes, from thence northerly to a large creek commonly called Bushkill, down the same to the Delaware, to the place of beginning." Among the petitioners were Daniel Brodhead, Edward Scull, Solomon Jennings, and Moses and Aaron De Pui. The township was ordered to be laid out, but if it were done it was not embraced in the boundaries mentioned in the petition. Two years afterward, December 1750, Daniel Brodhead, Edward Scull, John McMickle, John Price, John Van Etten, and others petitioned for "a township to be bounded by Bushkill on the south, to which creek there is the grant of a township, (5) by Delaware on the east, and by lands belonging to the Honorable proprietaries on the north and west." The petitioners represent themselves as "the remotest livers from the honorable court." This application was held under advisement. A mile above Delaware Water Gap, on a bluff bank of the river, is an old Indian burial-ground. The spot was a favorite place with the Indians, and here they buried their dead many years. The ground is entirely overgrown with trees, and but few of the mounds are visible. In 1744 a road was laid out from John McMickle's plantation in Smithfield, and two years afterward it was extended to Nazareth. The territory that was originally Smithfield has been subdivided, and no doubt not only included Smithfield and Middle Smithfield in Monroe county, but all the townships in Northampton county north of the Bushkill. Henry says Smithfield was settled by Europeans as early as 1710. In a report made to the legislature August 20, 1752, on paper currency, it is stated that there were settlements above Durham in 1723; probably a few Mennonites and Dunkers who has strayed across from about Falkner's swamp, between 1708 and 1730, and settled near the Lehigh. (3) Delaware Water Gap. (4) Original name of Stroudsburg. (5) From this reference it appears that the township here referred to extended down to the Bushkill in Northampton county and, included the two Bethels and Forks township. When the country was settled all the region between the Delaware and Lehigh, and extending back to the Blue mountains, was called the "Forks of the Delaware," by which name it was known for many years. It is difficult to fix the date when the first white man penetrated the wilderness in the Forks, for the earliest settlers lived alone in their solitary cabins in the woods. In 1735 the Penns projected a lottery to dispose of 100,000 acres in the upper end of Bucks county, but as it was never drawn, the holders of ticket were allowed to locate the land they called for. Among them was Nathaniel Irish, (6) who held three tickets, and under these he located three 500-acre tracts on the Lehigh, two on the south, and one on the north, bank. He built a mill at the mouth of Saucon creek before 1740, the first in that region, and afterward sold this tract to a Mr. Cruikshank, of Philadelphia. The other two tracts, one on each side of the river, he sold to the Moravians, on one of which Bethlehem was afterward built. Mr. Irish probably never lived north of the Lehigh, for his house stood on the site of William Shimer's dwelling, at Shimersville, and was removed in 1816. The ruins of the mill are still to be seen on the premises of John Knecht. As early as 1733 whites had surveyed and located unpurchased land, and by 1735 the immigrants began to crowd the Delawares. Captain John, a brother of Teedyuscung, and other Indians, were expelled from their corn fields and peach orchards in 1742. The first permanent settlements in the Forks of Delaware were made by that persistent and bold race, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, under Thomas and Williams Craig and Alexander Hunter. The former located near the Lehigh, the latter near the Delaware. There was an accession to the settlers from New York and New Jersey, but the Scotch-Irish were the backbone of the settlement. (6) Nathaniel Irish was born on the island of Montserrat, West Indies, and died at Union Furnace, Hunterdon Co., N. J., 1748. He was commissioned a justice of the peace for Bucks county, 1741. His son, Nathaniel, who commanded a company in the corps of artillery of Col. Benjamin Flowers, was born at Saucon, now Northampton county, then in Bucks, May 8, 1737. He removed to Pittsburgh, Pa., of which he was elected first assistant burgess, died there September 11, 1816, and was buried in the First Presbyterian churchyard. In 1758 he married Elizabeth, daughter of John Thomas, born in 1735, and died August 1795, near the mouth of Plumb creek, Pitt township, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania. ALLEN TOWNSHIP. - William Allen owned 1,800 acres in this township in 1740 in the forks of the Hockendauqua, and from him it gets its name. On Eastburn's map of the Forks of Delaware, drawn the same year, two other surveys besides Allen's are marked on it, one of 1,426 and another of 1,500, to John Page, on the Hockendauqua, a corruption of Hackundochwe, which signifies searching for lands. These surveys were made prior to 1737, at the time Lappawinzoe was king of Hockendauqua, whose village was between Howell's grist-mill and the mouth of the creek. (7) In 1750 a part or the whole of Allen's tract was conveyed to William Parsons, and in 1770 15O acres were conveyed to Anthony Lerch. Between 1730 and 1735 Thomas and William Craig introduced a number of families, from the north of Ireland, into what is now Allen township, then on the northwest frontier of Bucks county. They went resolutely to work to clear the forest and build homes, for they had come to stay. Being Presbyterians, almost without exception, they were not long in organizing a congregation for worship and building a church. In 1734 the Rev. Mr. Wales, their pastor, resigned. In April 1739 this congregation, and probably the one at Hunter's settlement, asked the New Brunswick Presbytery for pastors, and Gilbert Tennent was directed to supply them in the fall. The Revs. Messrs. Campbell and Robinson were sent soon afterward, and in May the settlements gave Mr. Dean a call, which he declined. This settlement was known for several years as "Craig's settlement," as that in Mount Bethel township was called "Hunter's settlement," but they were often called the "Irish settlements." [Among the early settlers, in the "Irish settlement," was James King, who died April 30, 1745, aged 38. In 1750 a grant of land was made to his widow, Mary King, lying on the Catasauqua creek, a part of which she sold to her son-in-law, John Hays, 1763. Hays became prominent in Northampton county and held office under the Provincial government. Tradition says he took part in the battle of Trenton, as captain of a company of militia.*] (7) This tract of 1,800 acres was part of the grant of 5,000 acres William Penn made to Margaret Lowther, October 23, 1681, and was subsequently located in that part of Bucks county that became Northampton. Richard Peters, Philadelphia, granted it to William Allen and Joseph Turner. The Scotch-Irish settlers in Allen moved in the organization of a township in 1746. At the June term "the inhabitants living on the west branch of the Delaware" petitioned the court to fix the boundary of a township, which they describe as follows: "From the mouth of Monokosey (8) up the middle branch of said creek to the Blue mountains, and thence by said mountains to the west branch of the river, and thence down said branch to the mouth of said Monokosey." They state, among other things, that they labor under great inconvenience for want of roads to go to mills, market, and the county court; that the paths are yearly altered, so that they cannot travel without endangering their lives and going far out of their way, etc. The petitioners were ordered to produce a draft of the proposed township at the next court. The pioneers of the Lehigh who petitioned for the township were: Hugh Wilson James Carruthers George Gray James Ralstone [Ralston*] Francis Limfield [Linfield*] Jonathan [John*] Riddle William Young James Horner Jonathan McNeely Thomas Boyd Samuel Barron Christopher Armbrest Michael Favion Joseph Lattimore William Clendinnen Thomas Craig Jonathan [John*] Walker James McAlexander Thomas Hutchinson Joseph Kerr Robert Clendinnen William Detur James Allison Arthur Lattimore William Boyde Jonathan Rausberry Henry Deck Peter Doll Joseph Pelly Robert Lattimore William Craig Jonathan [John*] McNair James Craig Jonathan Kerr Samuel Brown Joseph Wright Jonathan Delur James Gray William McConnell Thomas Thompson Christian Doll Roland Smith Frederick Aldimus Thomas Biers Jonathan Kennedy William McCaa Jonathan Cock David Kerr James Kerr Robert Dobbin Jonathan Boyd Thomas Armstrong Jonathan [John*] Clendinnen Jonathan [John*] McCartney Michael Clide James Kennedy Simeon Drom Christian Miller Joseph Biers Frederick Miller Joseph Brown. (8) From Me-na-gas-si, or Me-na-kes-si - a crooked stream. We find conflicting records concerning the laying out of this township. One account states that it was confirmed and recorded June 25, 1747, another, that it was confirmed in June 1748, and still another, that the petition was dated June 10, 1748, and was signed by 37 inhabitants of "the south branch of the Delaware." and accompanied by a map drawn by Edward Scull. Without stopping to reconcile the discrepancy in the records, it is only necessary to state that the township was granted under the petition of June 1746, and that when first laid out it was called "Mill Creek," with an area of 29,000 acres. When the name was changed to Allen, we are not informed. We find an old record that states that in June 1748 "sundry of the inhabitants of the southwest branch of Delaware" petitioned for their settlement to be included in a township to be called "Allen's Town township," which was confirmed and recorded September 23, 1749. In September 1750 the inhabitants of Allen township stated, in a petition to the court, that they "are distressed upon account of not having a road to Philadelphia from James Craig's to where Solomon Jennings lives," which was returned endorsed, "said petitioners better express their request if they persist in desiring this road." The residence of William and Thomas Craig, the fathers of the township, is said to have been about four miles from Bath. General Thomas Craig, a son of Thomas, a soldier and officer of the Revolution, died in 1832, at the age of 92 years. [He was born January 10, 1740, entered the Continental army in the war of Independence, was Captain, January 5, 1776, Major, September 7, 1776, and a Colonel, 1777. He commanded the Third Pennsylvania line, and served under Arnold in the expedition against Quebec; was present at Brandywine, Germantown, Valley Forge and Monmouth, in the latter being under Wayne on the right. He died at Allentown, Pennsylvania. General Thomas Craig was born in Warrington township, Bucks county.*] MOUNT BETHEL. -Alexander Hunter, a Presbyterian from the north of Ireland, arrived in the Forks of Delaware with about 30 families in 1730. He took up 300 acres of land on the North Branch, near the mouth of Hunter's (9) creek, where he established a ferry. "Hunter's settlement," as then called, was planted at three points, near Martin's creek; (10) at Richmond, on the road from Easton to the Water Gap, and at Williamsburg, on the same road. These locations were all in Mount Bethel township, afterward divided into Upper and Lower Mount Bethel, which names they still bear. Hunter became an influential man in the "Forks," and was appointed justice of the peace in 1748. A Presbyterian church was probably built in Mount Bethel as early as 1747, and the present congregation of that name is the child of the Bethel church founded by Brainard, the Indian missionary. Near Hunter's settlement, was the Indian village of Sockhamvotung, where David Brainard often preached, and where he built a cabin in 1744. (9) By some called Allegheny creek. (10) Probably then called Hunter's creek. On June 8, 1746, the inhabitants living on the "north branch" of the Delaware, embracing the Hunter settlement, and other immigrants who had settled there subsequently, namely: Peter Schurs Jonathan Miller Arthur Coveandell Thomas Roady Joseph Woodside George Bogard James Anderson David Allen James Simpson Peter Mumbower Jonathan Garlinghous Jonathan Cartmichal Richard Quick Joseph Funston Thomas Silleman Lawrence Coveandell Jeremiah Best Manus Decher Joseph Jones Alexander Hunter James Bownons Jacob Server Joseph Coler James Miller Joseph Quick Joseph Ruckman Thomas McCracan Thomas Silleman Coleus Quick Joseph Corson Edward Moody Conard Doll Thomas Clark Jonathan Rickey James Quick Patrick Vence Robert Liles, petitioned the court of Quarter Sessions, to lay off into a township a district of country with the following boundaries: "From the mouth of Tunam's (11) creek up north branch of said creek upon the west side of Jeremiah Best's to the Blue mountains; and thence by said mountains to ye north branch of said river; and thence by said branch to the mouth of said Tunam's creek again." The same petition asked the court to lay out and open a road from Martin's mill to the Delaware. The court ordered the petitioners to produce a draft of the township at the next term. This movement led to the organization of Mount Bethel, within a year or so, although the records are silent on the subject. The two townships into which it has been since divided are generally hilly, with a productive limestone soil. The creeks afford numerous mill-seats, and a number of slate and stone quarries have been developed. (11) No doubt Martin's creek; Tunam probably being the Indian name for it. In Mount Bethel was the home and the scene of many of the labors of David and John Brainard, missionaries among the Indians. David, the first upon this field of usefulness and hardship, was born at Haddam, Connecticut, April 20, 1718, was educated at Yale, studied divinity, and was licensed to preach July 20, 1742, and the following year was appointed missionary to the Indians at the Forks of Delaware by the "Society for Propagating Christian knowledge." He traveled through a howling wilderness from the Hudson to the Delaware, striking the river 20 miles above Stroudsburg, and arriving at the Forks May 15, 1743, where he established himself in a cabin that was built for him on Martin's creek. Here he gathered about him a congregation of converted Indians, and spent his life traversing that region and administering to the spiritual and temporal wants of the savages. In the summer of 1745 Mr. Brainard rode down to Neshaminy to assist Mr. Beatty in the great revival then going on in that congregation. He remained five days, during which he preached several times, and on Sunday to not less than 3,000 to 4,000 people. Hundreds were moved to tears under his effective preaching. Tatemy was Brainard's interpreter, and was baptised by him. He died, with the harness on, October 9, 1747, and was succeeded by his younger brother, John Brainard, who arrived at the field of his labors in August 1749, and occupied David's cabin. He was anxious to establish a school for Indian girls, and bought spinning wheels for several women, but as he was unable to purchase flax, the enterprise failed. John followed in the footsteps of his brother David in most things, made a visit to the Susquehanna, ran down to see Mr. Beatty at Neshaminy, and was on social terms with the Moravians at Bethlehem. He was chaplain in the army in the war of 1759, and had charge of Indian schools at Bethel, and Brotherton, New Jersey, and died March 15, 1781. MOORE TOWNSHIP. -Settlers pushed their way up among the hills of Moore township, in Northampton, soon after crossing the Lehigh. [When that county was cut off from Bucks and laid out, a tract of land, now included in this township, was known as the "Adjacents of Allen township," and comprising what is now Lehigh, Moore, Bushkill and Plainfield. At October Sessions, 1752, some of the inhabitants of this district petitioned the court to lay out a township, which resulted in granting their prayer and Lehigh and Plainfield were shortly surveyed and organized. Moore township followed, 1763, but the taxpayers in it were so few, the court was petitioned to change the original lines so as to include an additional number of taxables. This was done and 34 were added from Lehigh township. The population of the new township is not given. Its name was given to it in honor of John Moore, who represented Northampton county in the Provincial Assembly, 1761-62. This caused an influx of settlers.*] We are told that a log church was built, near where the new edifice stands at Petersville, in 1723. This building is said to have been standing in 1773 but was destroyed soon after. As the congregation did not own the fee of the land it was many years before a new church building was erected. The only names that have come down to us, associated with the building of the log church, are those of Bartholomew and Kleppinger. The first Reformed pastor was John Egiduis Hecker. It is not known at what time he became pastor, or how long he served, but he has been dead over 100 [125*] years, and his remains repose under the altar [of the present church*]. A handsome new edifice was built in 1873, and is now made a union church with two flourishing congregations. Near the church are the remains of a school house. The earliest interment, marked by a stone, is that of Nicholas Heil, February 14, 1760. {A number of Indian outrages were committed in this township as late as 1756. The author regrets he has not more information to give his readers of this frontier township.*] Plainfield township, adjoining Moore, had a few settlers in its limits as early as about 1730, but it was not organized until after 1752. [The first settlements in this township, were made along the branches of the Bushkill creek, and during the Indian wars the inhabitants were often obliged to flee for protection to Nazareth, Friedensthal and the Rose Tavern. Of the early inhabitants were Joseph Keller and wife, who removed to this frontier about 1740. On September 15, 1757, four Indians came to their house in the absence of the parents, and finding their son, Christian, aged 14, at home, killed and scalped him, leaving a babe in the cradle unharmed. The mother, and two other sons at work on the farm were made prisoners and carried off, but the father, who was plowing on another part of the farm, knew nothing of the transaction until he returned home in the evening. The prisoners were taken to Canada, and the mother was not released until October 1760, and the son Joseph several years after. The other son, John Jacob, was never heard of. Shortly after this murder, Governor Denny was petitioned to erect a fort and garrison it for the better protection of the inhabitants of this frontier. A block house was consequently built, called "Dietz's Fort," in which a small garrison was kept for some time. Dietz, on whose property the block house was erected, kept a tavern in the vicinity before the erection of the county, the only one in the township. This section was frequently visited by Zinzendorf and the missionaries of the Moravian church. The Plainfield church was erected at an early period and the records, from 1763, are in existence. This township was mentioned as early as 1754, two years after Northampton county was cut off from Bucks, but was not organized until 1763.*] EASTON. - The land on which Easton stands, at the confluence of the Delaware and Lehigh, was owned by Thomas Penn, son of William. The site of the town is supposed to have been the bed of a great whirlpool in some past age, into which debris from the neighboring forests and hills was precipitated, for in digging wells, rocks and trees have been found several feet under the ground. David Martin was the first settler at this point, whose name has come down to us. In 1739 he obtained a grant and patent for ferrying at the Forks of Delaware, his privileges extending about 13 miles along the New Jersey side of the river, from the upper end of Tinicum island to Marble mountain, a mile above the mouth of the Lehigh. He had the exclusive right "to ferry over horses, cows, sheep, mules, etc. Martin's heirs owned a portion of the land upon which the town of Phillipsburg was laid out. (See illustration of View of Easton About 1800) Sometime previous to 1750, Thomas Penn wrote to Doctor Graeme and Richard Peters to lay out ground at the Forks of Delaware, for a town. The town plat was surveyed by Nicholas Scull, assisted by William Parsons, in the spring of 1750, the ground being then covered with trees and bushes. Mr. Parsons left Philadelphia May 7th, and on his arrival at the site of the new town, he was met by Mr. Scull. The survey was commenced the 9th, and occupied about 10 days. They lodged and boarded at the tavern of John Lefevre, about six miles up the Bushkill, the nearest public house. The workmen received 18 pence a day, and boarded themselves, and Lefevre's bill for boarding Scull and Parsons ten days was £2. 11s. 9d. "inclusive of slings." William Parsons, the godfather of Easton, was living in Philadelphia in 1722, which year he married. He was a shoemaker by trade, and a member of Franklin's club. He was appointed surveyor-general about 1743, but resigned in June 1748, and removed to Lancaster. He was appointed to fill the county offices of Northampton in the fall of 1752, and died at Easton in 1757, where his remains lie in a neglected graveyard. From his tombstone we learn that he was born May 6, 1701, but where is not stated. The town was called Easton, (12) after the seat of Lord Pomfret, in Northampton, England, (13) the father-in-law of Thomas Penn. Several of the streets were named after his family - Fermor, Pomfret, Juliana, names long since discarded - and Penn gave two squares of ground on which to erect a court and prison, the consideration being the payment of a red rose forever to the head of the house, annually, at Christmas. Some years ago, when Easton wished to build a new jail and courthouse in another part of the town, application was made to Granville John Penn, for his consent to use the ground for other purposes, which was granted for a valuable consideration. (12) The Indians called it Lechauwitonk. (13) "I desire that the new town be called Easton, from my Lord Pomfret's home, and whenever there is a new county, that shall be called Northampton." (Thomas Penn to Doctor Graeme and Secretary Peters.) The first house erected in Easton was David Martin's ferry-house, in 1739, on the point of land at the junction of the two rivers, and probably one or two others were put up before the county was organized. When Northampton county was erected there was a demand for town-lots, which were sold subject to an annual ground-rent of seven shillings, conditioned that the purchaser should erect thereon, in two years, a house not less than 20 feet square, with a stone chimney. The town-plat surveyed embraced about 100 acres. In December 1752, there were eleven families, about 40 persons in all, wintering in Easton, and the jail was building. The inhabitants were isolated; not a single wagon road led to or from the place, and their only outlet was along Indian paths. The country between Easton and Bethlehem was considered a desert waste, called "dry lands," and was thought to be unfit for settlement and cultivation. The courthouse was not finished until 1766, at a cost of $4,589.67. The first attorney-at-law at Easton was Louis [Lewis*] Gordon, member of the Bucks County Bar, admitted at Northampton June 16, 1752, and died at Easton in 1777 [1778*]. His daughter, Elizabeth, married [James,*] a son of George Taylor, the Signer. Gordon came to this country from Aberdeen, Scotland, and in 1750 was employed in the office of Richard Peters, of Philadelphia. He was the agent of the Penns at Easton, and was clerk of the courts for several years. Easton had two taverns at this early day. In 1763 there were eleven houses in the town, 69 in 1773, nearly all one-story log, 85 in 1782, and 150 in 1795, but faint promise of the beautiful and thriving little city it has grown to be. The Penns still owned Easton in 1800. At an early day the Moravians erected a stone building there, intended for a "brethren's house." but was never occupied as such. [They sold it to the Lutherans, who occupied it until the completion of the Union Lutheran and Reformed church edifice on North Third street, in 1776. It was demolished, 1873, and previously had been, for many years, a popular tavern, and last known as the "Washington."*] Phillipsburg, on the opposite bank of the Delaware, was settled at an earlier date than Easton. It was the site of an Indian settlement when Van Der Donk's map was made, in 1654, and was called Chinktewink. It is called by its present name on Evan's map of 1749, and is thought to have been named after Philip, an Indian chief and friend of Teedyuscung, who resided there. By the opening of the Morris canal, and the construction of the several railroads which pass through it, Phillipsburg has become a large and flourishing town. [The Wageners, of Easton and Northampton county, are descended from David Wagener, born in Silesia, Germany, May 24, 1736. In 1740 his mother, a widow, came to America with her two sons, David and Christopher, and settled in Bucks county. David married Susannah Umstead, and had a family of four sons and three daughters. About 1773 he purchased a tract of the Penns, lying on both sides of the Bushkill above Easton, where he died, in 1796. David, the son of David Wagener, the immigrant, was five years old when his father removed to Easton, and lived 79 years at the old homestead that was in the possession of the family a few years ago, and may be at this time. David Wagerer, the elder, had 37 grownup grandchildren of which five were living in 1878, and the great-grandchildren numbered about 100. David Wagener, the younger, became a prominent man, was an extensive merchant at Easton, and represented the district in the House of Representative of the United States.*] The Arndts of Northampton county are descended from Jacob, son of Bernard, who was born [at Baumholder, Lichenberg, Germany, March 25, 1725, came to America with the family, 1731, and first settled in Rockhill.*] The son was born in Bucks county, but we do not know what year. He was a captain in the Indian wars of 1755 and 1763, and commanded at Sunbury - Fort Augusta - in 1758 with the rank of major. In 1760 he purchased a mill-site on the Bushkill, three miles above Easton, on which he erected a mill. He was a member of the Northampton committee of safety in 1774, and a member of the executive council of the state in 1776. He removed to Easton in 1796, where he died in 1805. His son John was a captain in the Revolutionary army, and was wounded and taken prisoner at Long Island. [A further account of the family will be found in Rockhill township.*] End of Chapter XXXVII or chapter VII, 1905 edition.