History of the Early Settlement of the Juniata Valley Part 1

History of the Early Settlement of the Juniata Valley.

by U. J. (Uriah James) Jones.

Dedication.

TO MAJOR B. F. BELL,

BELL'S MILLS, BLAIR COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

DEAR SIR:--I hope your well-known modesty will not be shocked when your eyes encounter this notice. In dedicating to you the fruits of my first historical labors in the field of literature, allow me to say that I am governed by reasons that will justify me. In the first place, I may cite your well-known and often-expressed veneration and esteem for the memory of the brave old Pioneers of our Valley, their heroic deeds, and their indomitable energy and perseverance, under the most discouraging circ.u.mstances, in turning the unbroken wilderness into "a land flowing with milk and honey." Secondly, you are the son of one of those self-same old pioneers, (now in his grave,) who, if not a direct actor in some of the scenes portrayed in the pages following, lived while they were enacted, and trod upon the ground where many of them occurred, while the actors in them were his friends and his neighbors.

Manifold, indeed, were the changes he witnessed during a long and useful career; but the common lot of humanity was his, and he now "sleeps the sleep that knows no waking," where once the lordly savage roamed, and made the dim old woods echo with his whoop, many, many years ago.

Lastly, it was through your encouragement that I undertook the task; and it was through your kind and liberal spirit that I was enabled to make it any thing more than an _unpublished_ history, unless I chose to let others reap the benefit of my labors. These things, sir, you may look upon as _private_, but I cannot refrain from giving them publicity, since I acknowledge that your liberality has entailed upon me a deeper debt of grat.i.tude than I can repay by merely dedicating my work to you.

Allow me, therefore, to dedicate to you, as a small token of my esteem for you, the "History of the Early Settlement of the Juniata Valley."

If there is any thing in it to interest the present generation and enlighten posterity, I am willing to divide the honor and glory of its paternity with you, for I am neither afraid nor ashamed to confess that, although I _wrote_ the _history_, it was through your generosity that I was enabled to _publish_ the _book_.

A careful perusal of the work will, no doubt, convince you that I have labored studiously to make it interesting, not only to the resident of the Valley, but to the general reader, who must admit that, if I have failed, it has not been for lack of the best exertions on my part.

In conclusion, should the book prove a failure, and not come up to the expectations of my friends, you can console yourself with the reflection that you made a mistake by inciting the wrong man to an undertaking for which he was unqualified. A pleasant reflection! I have said, that, as you were the _originator_ of the book, you should share all the _honor_ that might arise from it. I will be more magnanimous still; if the History proves a mere catchpenny swindle, let the odium and execrations of a humbugged public fall upon

THE AUTHOR.

HOLLIDAYSBURG, PA., _Nov._ 1855.

PREFACE.

The design, object, and aim of the following pages can be summed up without any circ.u.mlocution. Some ten or twelve years ago, a large volume of "Historical Collections of Pennsylvania" was published by Sherman Day, which gave a brief history, among others, of the counties composing the Valley of the Juniata. This work was followed by a compilation, by I. D. Rupp, Esq., ent.i.tled "A History of Northumberland, Huntingdon, Mifflin, Centre, Union, Clinton, Juniata, and Columbia counties." The last, as far as our valley was concerned, was almost a reprint of the first, with some few additions gleaned from the Colonial Records and the Archives of the State. Both these works were most liberally subscribed for; in fact, the compilation of the counties had upwards of a _thousand_ subscribers in Huntingdon county (Blair not then formed) alone! The inducements held out, in order to gain such an extensive list, were, that the works would be graphic histories of the _early_ settlement of this country. In this they signally failed. True, here and there they gave an account of some early occurrence; but they were exceedingly brief, lacked detail, and in many instances were found grossly inaccurate. Of course, they gave universal dissatisfaction, because the subscribers looked for a faithful record of the stirring events which occurred when this portion of the land of Penn was "the dark and b.l.o.o.d.y ground." The descendants of many who figured in the trials incident to the settlement of the valley are still living. The fireside recitals of these events made them "as familiar as household words" among those who are now fast pa.s.sing away; but they search _all_ histories in vain to find a faithful account of more than a moiety of the struggles, trials, and personal adventures of the pioneers, as well as the many cold-blooded Indian ma.s.sacres and depredations which spread desolation through the land, and laid waste the homes and firesides of so many who located in what was then a wilderness. Let me not be understood as attempting to deny the merits of the works of which I have spoken. As _modern_ histories, giving accounts, or rather descriptions, of the country as it was at the time they were issued, they were faithful records.

Indeed, I will do Mr. Rupp the justice to say that I consider his compilation all it professes to be, according to his preface, in which he says: "A full and minute history of these counties can only be expected after a greater acc.u.mulation of historical facts is extant for that purpose."

The facts necessary to give a minute history of the early settlement of the Juniata have been accessible, although it must be admitted that those who could give them from reliable personal recollections have nearly all pa.s.sed into "the valley and the shadow of death."

Some ten or twelve years ago, Judge M'Cune, Judge Adams, Michael Maguire, and Edward Bell, Esq., met at the mansion of the latter gentleman, in Antes township, Blair county, by invitation. These were all old settlers, whose memories dated back to the struggle of the infant colonies for freedom; and most vividly did they recollect the Indian butcheries when brave Old England paid a stipulated price for rebel scalps. The reunion of these veterans was an epoch in their lives, for they had been children together, had travelled the same rugged path, and, with stalwart frames, sinewy arms, and willing hearts, had earned for themselves names, reputation, and earthly competence. Well may we conjecture that, in fighting the battle of life over again in story, some interesting incidents were related. During this reunion, a history of the early settlement of the upper end of the valley was written, and the ma.n.u.script transmitted to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, in the expectation that it would be published in some of their works. This, however, never was done; and when application was made to the society for a return of the ma.n.u.script, it was either lost or mislaid.

Since then, one by one, these old patriots have pa.s.sed from time to eternity, and the woods and valleys that knew them for three-quarters of a century shall know them no more. With them would, in all probability, have been buried many important facts, had not the author of these pages called upon the last survivor, Michael Maguire, in October last, and taken down, at length, all his early recollections.

The time was most opportune, for he was even then upon his deathbed.

The sands of a long life were evidently ebbing fast, and he knew it, for he gave it as his solemn conviction that the proposed recital of the past was the last he should ever make to mortal man. Although enfeebled by age, and his body wasting away, his intellect was vigorous and unclouded, and his memory fresh as it was fourscore years ago.

Indeed, I soon found that he had the most retentive memory of any man I ever knew, because, in narrating incidents, he gave days, dates, and names, with such ease as almost to stagger belief. Of course, to him I am mainly indebted for the material of that part of the History treating of the upper end of the valley, especially the occurrences between 1776 and 1782. Mr. M. died on the 17th inst.

From a ma.n.u.script memoir of E. Bell, Esq., I have also been enabled to glean some useful information. He commenced it a short time before his death, and it is to be deeply regretted that a violent attack of rheumatism in the hand compelled him to abandon the work after writing some six or eight pages.

I am also indebted to a number of persons for information that has been of value to me, whose names will be mentioned in another place in the work.

If this volume fails to meet the expectations of those kind friends who have interested themselves in my behalf, it will not be for lack of zeal or perseverance on my part. I am free to confess that the language of the book is not clothed in that attractive garb which makes books popular in the age we live in; but then it must be remembered that I am not, worthy reader, submitting to your judgment a romance, but a History, based upon immutable and undying TRUTHS.

U. J. JONES.

HOLLIDAYSBURG, _Nov._ 1855.

EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THE JUNIATA VALLEY.

CHAPTER I.

THE ABORIGINES OF THE VALLEY--THEIR HABITS AND THEIR CUSTOMS.

When the persevering and adventurous Anglo-Saxon first entered the wilds of the Juniata, his eye, as far as it could reach, beheld nothing but a dense forest; but his quick penetration observed its natural beauties, its advantages, and the fertility of its soil. Hence he did not long stand upon the crest of the Tuscarora Mountain, debating the advantages to be derived from making it his home, or the risk he was taking upon himself in doing so, but plunged boldly down into the valley and called it his own. He found it peopled with dusky warriors and their families, who received him with open arms; and the golden hues of hope for the future lightened his cares, and made his privations no longer a burden. On the banks of the beautiful river the majestic stag trod, a very monarch; and the pellucid stream, from the bubbling brooks that formed it, to its mouth, was filled with the n.o.ble salmon and sportive trout, with little to molest them; for the Indians did not possess the penchant for indiscriminate slaughter of game which characterized their successors. They held that the land was given to human beings by the good _Manitou_ for a dwelling-place, and not for the purpose of being broken up and cultivated for game. The fish and game were also a free gift from the same spirit, for the support of his people. Hence hunting and fishing for more than what would supply immediate and absolute wants were held in supreme contempt by the red man.

The Indians found in the valley, when the whites first invaded it, belonged to three or four tribes--the Delawares, Monseys, Shawnees, and probably the Tuscaroras; all of whom, with the exception of the latter, belonged to one of the eight great Indian confederations scattered over the land, from the Rocky Mountains to what they called, in their figurative language, the rising of the sun. These Indians called themselves the _Lenni Lenape_, or "original people," of which the Delawares and Monseys were by far the most numerous of the tribes settled in the valley. The Shawnees, a restless, lawless, and ferocious band, were threatened with extermination by a powerful foe in Florida, when they came to Pennsylvania and craved the protection of the _Lenapes_, which was granted to them, and they were permitted to settle upon the lands of the Delawares. The Delaware Indians soon discovered that the Shawnees were quarrelsome and treacherous neighbors, and their company not desirable. Notice was given them to quit, and they settled upon the flats of the Susquehanna, near Wilkesbarre, and from thence they found their way to the Juniata; and there is little doubt but that they were first and foremost in the depredations committed during the French and Indian wars, as well as during the American Revolution. The Tuscaroras did not claim to belong to the _Lenape_ tribes, yet a large portion of them lived in their territory. They came from the South, and joined the _Aqua.n.u.schioni_, or "united people," known in history as the Six Nations. As they did not speak the language of either the "united people" or the "original people," it would appear that they were people on their own account, enjoying a sort of roving commission to hunt the lands and fish the streams of any of "their cousins," as they styled all other tribes.

The Conoy Indians settled in the valley in 1748. They left the Delaware on the strength of a promise made them by the proprietary government that they should be remunerated. The debt, however, we presume, must have been repudiated, for we find that an Indian orator named _Arruehquay_, of the Six Nations, made application to Governor Hamilton, during a "talk" in Philadelphia on the 1st of July, 1749, for something for them. The governor, quite as much of an adept at wheedling the savages as the proprietors themselves, returned the Conoy wampum, and "talked" the Seneca orator out of the belief that they owed the Conoys a single farthing, in consequence of their having left their land and settled among the nations of the Juniata of their own free will and accord. He ruled out the Conoy claim, and confirmed his opinion by sending them a string of government wampum. Whether this satisfied the Conoys or not does not appear upon the record. We think not--at least we should not suppose that they were half as well satisfied as the Six Nation deputies, who carried away, among other plunder, a quant.i.ty of tobacco and pipes, fifty ruffled shirts, and a gross and a half of bra.s.s jewsharps!

The Nantic.o.kes settled about the mouth of the Juniata in 1748 or 1749, and in after years spread westward toward the Ohio. This portion of the tribe, when it first came to the Juniata, was not very formidable; but it increased and became powerful.

A number of Mengues, Mingoes, or Iroquois, of the Six Nations, settled a few years afterward in Kishacoquillas Valley, now Mifflin county.

Of all the savages in the valley, the Mingoes were probably the most peaceably disposed, although it is a well-attested fact that they were a brave and warlike band. The fathers of the princ.i.p.al chiefs of the Mingoes, settled in the Juniata Valley, had been _partially_ (if we may use the term) Christianized by the teachings of the Moravian missionaries, Heckwelder, Zinzendorf, and Loskiel; and this may account for their desire to live on terms of amity and friendship with their pale-faced brethren.

As the Delawares, or Lenapes, claimed to be the original people, we must come to the conclusion that they came toward the east before the Iroquois. They probably came from a northern direction, while the united people worked their way from the northwest to the northeast. To call these men original people, in the sense in which they applied it, may have been right enough; but to apply the term to them of _original_, as occupants of the country, is a misnomer, not only according to their own oral traditions, but according to the most indubitable evidence of antiquarians and geologists.

The traditions of the _Lenapes_ were, in effect, that their ancestors were a mighty band of fierce warriors, who came from the setting of the sun, part of the way by canoes, and the balance of the way over land,--through dense forests, beautiful valleys, over lofty mountains.

In their triumphant march they met but one foe, whom they trampled under their feet as the buffalo does the gra.s.s under his hoofs, and that this weak and effeminate foe was entirely exterminated.

These traditions, vague as they are, and as all oral traditions forever must be, have certainly a foundation in fact. Drake, whose Indian history is regarded as the most reliable, gives it as his opinion, formed only after all the facts could be collected and all the traditions fully digested, that the Indians originally came from Asia, by way of Behring's Straits.

The patient investigations made by antiquarians have long since settled the fact, to the entire satisfaction of most people, that a race did exist in this country prior to the advent and on the arrival of the Indians. The relics of this race, consisting of vases, pipes, earthenware, etc., found during the last century, indicate not only a race entirely different from the Indians, but one much farther advanced in civilization. The Indians, however, it would appear, either scorned their handicraft, or never took time to examine thoroughly the habits of these people before they exterminated them in order to possess their country. These relics bear a marked resemblance to those dug from ruins in Egypt, as well as those found in Peru. In fact, the vases, and some of the earthenware, bear such a strong resemblance to the Peruvian antiquities, that it is the settled conviction of some that the earlier settlers of both North and South America were identical, and that the original stock was a tribe of Egyptians.

Some writers have a.s.serted that these early inhabitants were non-resistants. This is most unquestionably an error. The traditions of the Indians say that their ancestors fought many battles before they conquered the country; but that they _always_ were victorious. Of course, this might be mere vain boasting by the Indians of their ancestors' prowess and skill in war, and such we would look upon it, if their oral history was not strengthened by the fact that, on the banks of the Miami, Muskingum, Kanawha, and Ohio Rivers, ancient fortifications, or at least well-defined traces of them, have been found. Nor is this all; tolerably well-executed implements, evidently intended for warlike purposes, have been taken from mounds, as well as many unmistakable stone arrow-heads.

Whether this anterior race existed to any considerable extent along the Juniata we are not prepared to say; but that some of them once lived here is more than probable, although antiquarians have failed to extend their researches to the valley. Among the evidences to induce the belief that these ancients once occupied our land, we shall refer to the most prominent, leaving the reader to make his own deductions.

When the excavation for the Pennsylvania Ca.n.a.l was going on, a laborer dug up, near Newport, a stone shaped like a Greek Cross. The formation of the stone bore unmistakable evidence that it was not a mere freak of nature. This attracted attention, and the stone was thoroughly cleansed, when the transverse was found to contain hieroglyphics, plainly marked with some sharp pointed instrument. Persons who saw it supposed that the French might have given it to the Indians, and that they used it for a purpose similar to that for which the Standing Stone was used, and that they brought it from Canada to the Juniata. This supposition was based upon the formation of the stone; but, strange to say, the hieroglyphics bore no resemblance to any thing pertaining to the modern Indians. It _may_, therefore, have belonged to the anterior race, and the person who shaped it may have been utterly ignorant of the fact that it was the symbol of the Christian religion.

The cross was sent to Philadelphia to be submitted to the inspection of the _savans_ of the Historical Society, but was lost on the way; at all events, it never reached its intended destination.

Speaking on the subject of antiquities with a physician some years ago,--probably the late Dr. Coffey,--he informed us that a skeleton was dug up near Frankstown, which he did not believe belonged to any of the tribes of Indians whose mounds are scattered so profusely along the Juniata. He arrived at this conclusion from numerous personal observations he made. In the first place, the body retained a portion of dried withered flesh, and portions of papyrus or bark-cloth enveloped the body, so that it must have undergone some species of embalming before sepulture. Embalming was unknown to the Indians.