Penns Secure First Manor West of Susquehanna June 16, 1722

Governor Sir William Keith’s visit to the Indians at Conestoga in June, 1721, produced a strong impression upon the minds of the aborigines whom he met. The chiefs of the Six Nations who had been present at this conference, told of its success to their people.

The Conestoga and other tribes of Indians along the Susquehanna River seemed to look upon Lieutenant-Governor Keith with almost the same favor and regard which they entertained for William Penn.

Keith determined to secure a right and title to the lands in Pennsylvania upon which Maryland settlers had encroached. He laid his plan for this purpose before he went to attend the conference at Albany, N. Y. where he was to meet Cayuga chiefs, who had offered some objection to the conclusion of the conference he had held with the Indians at Conestoga in 1721.

The trouble along the border line between Maryland and Pennsylvania had begun in Chester County, soon after the earliest settlements. The boundary continued to be a bone of contention until a temporary line was run in 1739, and even this did not fully settle the difficulty, for there was dispute until Mason and Dixon’s line was run 1767–8.

Governor Keith had frequent controversies with Governor Ogle, of Maryland, concerning encroachments in the southern part of Lancaster County.

The Marylanders were attempting to make settlements west of the Susquehanna, in the present York County.

Governor Keith conceived the idea of obtaining permission of the Indians along the Susquehanna to lay off a large manor, as the proprietor’sproprietor’s one-tenth, and he proceeded to Conestoga, early in June, 1722, for this purpose.

Here he called together the Conestoga, Shawnee, who lived farther up the river, and the Ganawese, afterwards known as the Canoy, who lived at the present site of Columbia.

Keith had authority from the heirs of William Penn to lay off a manor west of the river for the benefit of Springett Penn, the favorite grandson of the founder of Pennsylvania and son of Richard Penn.

This conference was first assembled June 15. Here Governor Keith, with persuasive eloquence, commended the Indians for their virtues, praised them for what they had already done for William Penn and his heirs, and obtained their consent to cross the river and make a survey of 70,000 acres.

415Governor Keith spoke at great length and earnestness. He began by saying:

“Friends and Brothers: You say you love me because I come from your father, William Penn. You call me William Penn, and I am very proud of the name you give me; but if we have a true love for the memory of William Penn, we must show it to his family and his children that are grown to be men in England, and will soon come over to represent him here.”

He then referred to the previous treaty where they showed him the parchment received from William Penn, and he then told the Indians of the encroachments of the Marylanders.

Keith then said he came to consult with them how they could prevent such settlements and suggested the plan to take up a large tract of land on the other side of the Susquehanna River for Springett Penn.

He told the Indians that Penn’s grandson was now a man as tall as he; that the land should be marked with Springett’s name upon the trees, so that the Marylanders would then keep off and it would also warn every other person from settling near enough to the Indians to disturb them. He added that the grandson bore the same kind of a heart as his grandfather did, and he would be glad to give the Indians part of the land for their use and convenience. With these and similar phrases Keith won his point.

At a council held June 16, 1722, with Governor Keith, Colonel John French, Francis Worley, Esq., the chief of several tribes, and Smith and Le Tort, as interpreters, present, the Indians made reply through Chief Tawena, and agreed to give up the land, but suggested that the Governor take up the matter further with the Cayuga when he attended a treaty at Albany.

The Indians requested that the surveyor begin his work immediately and not wait until the Governor was absent at Albany.

The warrant was made out, and the surveyors, John French, Francis Worley and James Mitchell made a report of their survey, June 21.

This tract contained 75,500 acres and began opposite the mouth of Conestoga Creek, at Lockport Run and ran south by west ten miles, thence northwest twelve miles to a point north of the present city of York. Thence northeast eight miles to the Susquehanna River again, and from thence along the river to the place of beginning.

The exact positions and boundary lines of the original Springettsbury Manor were never thoroughly understood, and there resulted much controversy about the survey.

The warrant and survey were not returned into the land office, but the entire transaction appeared to have been done under the private seal of Governor Keith, and no actual purchase was ever made from the Indians, June 15 or 16.

416The origin of the Penn Manors began with the charter to William Penn, which contained several powers to erect manors.

On July 11, 1681, Penn agreed with the purchasers in England, who were interested in his grant on certain conditions and concessions. The ninth of these was, that “in every one hundred thousand acres, the Governor and Proprietary, by lot, reserveth ten to himself which shall lie but in one place.” The name of “Manor” was given to these portions of reserved land in its genuine legal sense.

There were eighty-two Proprietary manors set apart, fourteen in Northumberland, twelve in Northampton, nine in Chester, seven each in Philadelphia, Bucks, Lancaster, and Bedford, six in Westmoreland, four in Cumberland, and three each in York and Berks Counties. Three of the manors were not located.

The largest in territory was Springettsbury, with Manor of Maske, in York (now Adams) County, next in size with 43,500 acres. Fagg Manor in Chester County, contained 39,250 acres. The smallest was Lake Paupunauming Manor, in Northampton County, which contained only 215 acres.

When the Revolution changed the form of government for Pennsylvania all the confiscations by which lesser men were punished are cast into the shade by the great Divesting Act. The Proprietary family were deprived of their lordship of the soil of Pennsylvania, their unlocated and unappropriated lands and the quit rents which had been reserved outside of their manors. This was the destruction of the greatest private estate in the world, but it was necessary.

There were saved to the Penns all manors which had been surveyed for them prior to July 4, 1776.