HISTORY: Historic Huntingdon, 1767-1909, Chapter 7, Settlements & Pioneers, Huntingdon County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Nancy Lorz

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Historic Huntingdon, 1709-1907.  Huntingdon Old Home Week, September 
5-11, 1909.  Souvenir Edition.  Huntingdon, Pa.: Historical Committee 
of the Old Home Week Association, 1909.
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                              CHAPTER VII

                Early Settlements - Names of the Pioneers.

  The first settlements within the limits of Huntingdon county, were 
doubtless those made by the persons whose cabins were burned by order 
of Secretary Peters in the summer of 1750, near the village of Burnt 
Cabins, and probably extending northeastward therefrom along the 
Tuscarora Valley.  These were the unwarranted intrusions upon 
unpurchased lands, and the squatters therefore acquired no title.  
Andrew Montour having earnestly and repeatedly applied for permission 
to live in some of the plantations over the Blue Hills, Governor 
Hamilton by the advice of the council, on the 18th of April, 1752, 
issued a commission to him, reciting the fact that many persons had 
gone and were continually going over the Kittatinny Mountains to 
settle, notwithstanding the repeated proclamations against such 
practices, and that he had represented that he could be serviceable 
alike to the government and the Six Nations in keeping people from 
settling on the unpurchased lands.  In consideration of which, license 
and authority was given him to reside in such place over the mountains, 
found to be central and convenient for the purpose named.  Montour 
settled on the North side of Sherman's Creek, on the Elliot farm, Perry 
county.  His name is perpetuated in the designation of Montour's Run.
  GEORGE CROGHAN.--George Croghan, a conspicuous character in 
provincial times, an Irishman by birth, was licensed in 1744 as an 
Indian trader.  In 1748 he purchased land, and became a resident of 
Cumberland county.  In 1750, as one of the magistrates of that county,

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he accompanied Secretary Peters in his visits to the trespassers, and, 
as appears by a letter of his dated June 10, 1751, he yet resided 
southeast of the Kittatinny Mountain.  Soon thereafter, possibly under 
authority similar to that granted to Andrew Montour, he took up his 
residence at "Aucquick" now Shirleysburg, for it is found in the 
proceedings of a conference held by the commissioners appointed on 
behalf of the provincial authorities, with representatives of the Six 
Nations and other tribes at Carlisle, in October, 1753, that the 
Indians proposed that any presents intended for them should be sent to 
"George Croghan's house at Juniata."  In the instructions of the 
Governor to James Patten, who was sent in December of that year on a 
journey to the Ohio, he was directed to call "at George Crohgan's at 
Aucquick" and consult with him.
  The strife between the English and French for the possession of the 
Ohio Valley was reaching a crisis which would be settled only by the 
arbitrament of the sword.  The latter, sweeping down from their 
Canadian colonies, were enlisting the sympathies and services of the 
Indians on the frontiers and alienating their support from their 
English rivals.  As early as 1749, Capt. Celeron, commanding a 
detachment sent by the Captain-General of Canada to take possession of 
the lands along the Ohio and its branches, deposited at Venango, Forks 
of the Ohio, and Kanawha, leaden plates as monuments of the "renewal" 
of their claim to dominion over the region drained by those streams.  
Col. George Washington was sent by the Governor of Virginia with a 
small military force to occupy the Forks of the Ohio, but before 
reaching his destination was attacked at Fort Necessity, by a body of 
French and Indians much superior in numbers, and compelled, on the 4th 
day of July, 1753, to surrender his defenses and retrace his steps over 
the Alleghenies.
  Some Indians friendly to the English interests immediately moved 
eastward toward the settlements.  Croghan writes to Lieutenant-Governor 
Hamilton from "Aucquick Old Town, August 16, 1754," that "The Half-King

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Scarrooyady and several other Indians, with their wives and families, 
have been here since Col. Washington was defeated, and about twelve 
days ago came here the young Shawanese king from the lower Shawanese 
town, and several more with him, and Delaware George and several other 
Delawares came here from the French forts."  Coinciding with the views 
of his Indian guests, Croghan suggested that the government must move 
quickly and vigorously or the Ohio lands would be lost.  A conference 
was proposed to be held at his place in ten days.  His letter was laid 
before the Council on Thursday, August 22, and it was then decided that 
Conrad Weiser should be immediately sent with some money and a letter 
of instruction to Aughwick.  He set out from home on the 27th of 
August, and reached his destination on the 3rd of September.  In the 
account of his transactions, he stated that Croghan had between twenty-
five and thirty acres of the best Indian corn he ever saw, and counted 
above twenty cabins about his house, and in them at least two hundred 
Indians, men, women and children, and that a great many more were 
scattered thereabouts, some two or three miles off.  The extent of the 
cleared and cultivated land and the number of cabins, indicates that 
Croghan had been a resident there for a considerable time.  Beginning 
with the morning of the 4th, the conference occupied several days.  
Weiser leaving on the morning of the 8th.  There were present Indians 
of the Seneca, Oneida, Cayuga and Mohawk tribes of the Six Nations, and 
some Delawares and Shawanese.  Croghan complained to the government of 
the great expense that he was subjected to in provisioning his Indian 
guests, and stated, August 30th, that they had already destroyed almost 
thirty acres of corn.  Under date of May 1, 1755, he writes Governor 
Morris from "Aucquick" that, pursuant to his instructions, he will set 
out the next day with all the Indians, except the women and children, 
to join Gen. Braddock.  It appears that some of the women and children 
accompanied him, but on joining Braddock the general refused permission 
for them to accompany the army.  Croghan

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then proposed that they should go nearer the settlements, but they 
declined, saying that they had fixed on Aughwick for their residence 
until the war was over, and as many women and children were there 
planting, they were determined to return.  Croghan, in a letter dated 
at Fort Cumberland, May 20th, says there will be about one hundred and 
twenty women and children left behind, and suggests that if provisions 
are purchased and sent to his house, his brother would deliver rations 
to them daily.  After the defeat of Braddock, July 9th, Croghan 
returned home, and notwithstanding he had learned from an Indian from 
Ohio a rumor that the French and their allies would make a descent upon 
the frontiers during the coming winter, and who advised him to leave 
Aughwick, he commenced the erection of a stockade fort, and by the 9th 
of October, had it nearly completed.  In this movement he was acting 
out the suggestion made by Secretary Peters in December previous.  On 
the 12th of November he had about forty men with him, but in view of 
the apprehended approach of hostile Indians, he was fearful he could 
not maintain possession long.  The fort was continuously occupied, 
however until sometime in the spring of 1756, during which time it was 
strengthened by direction of the provincial authorities, and christened 
Fort Shirley.  During his career as a trader among the Indians, he was 
so liberal in his dealings and so profuse in his presents to the 
natives, that with the losses sustained by the French, who seized and 
appropriated great quantities of his goods, he became embarrassed 
financially, and in view of his services to the government, the 
Assembly, December 3, 1755, passed a law exempting him from arrest for 
debt for ten years.  It does not appear that he resided at Aughwick or 
Fort Shirley after the summer of 1756, but he still claimed the land.  
A survey without a formal warrant, but by the consent and direction of 
the proprietaries, was made by Samuel Finley for Croghan on the 14th of 
October, 1762, of a tract containing four hundred and twenty-four acres 
called "Old Town" situated on Aughwick Creek, where Fort

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Shirley  stood."  This tract became the property of James Folay, to 
whom it was patented October 19, 1773.  He, with Mary, his wife, 
January 29, 1776, conveyed it to Paul Warner, of Maryland.  Croghan 
owned numerous other tracts on the Aughwick, at Shade Gap, Huntingdon, 
Alexandria, and other places.
  PETER SHEAVER was licensed as an Indian trader in 1774.  He settled 
upon the west side of Shaver's Creek, near its junction with the 
Juniata, at a date not known.  The warrant was taken out for the land 
by Samuel Anderson, November 9, 1784, and it was certified on the oaths 
of Thomas Mitchell, Oliver Walliss, and John Walker, that the 
improvement was made in 1754.  The creek received its name from 
Sheaver, who, it is said, was murdered some time before 1765.
  JOHN HART, who began to trade with the Indians under his license of 
1744, had a feeding or lodging place at Alexandria, and "Hart's Log" 
valley perpetuates his name.  He did not purchase any lands nor effect 
any permanent settlement.  The warrant for the land was granted 
February 3, 1775, to James Sterrat for four hundred acres "including 
the bottom at the Sleeping Place called John Hart's Log on the waters 
of the Juniata."
  On May 26, 1755, John McDowell applied for three hundred acres "at a 
place called the Burnt Cabins at Aucquick;" and Wm. Maxwell for three 
hundred acres, "including Falkner's and William and Thomas Thompson's 
improvements at Aucquick" and two hundred acres at a place called the 
"Three Springs, on the Ray's Town Road at Aucquick."  Warrants were not 
granted on these applications, but the descriptions serve to identify 
localities.  The Falkner here mentioned is doubtless the Peter Falconer 
described in Secretary Peters' report of his visit in 1750.  Maxwell 
lived near the Burnt Cabins.