P/5-'7 
 
 j^o. 
 
LOGflL HISTORY 
 
 LOUTHER MANOR 
 
 BY THE LATE, 
 
 . ^ 
 
 .-f'-^' 
 
 REV. JOSEPH A. MURRAY, D.D. 
 
 "\7"II. 
 
 Read Befare Historical Meeting of the Ham- 
 ilton Library Association, Carlisle, Pa., 
 and Reprinted for the Historical Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 To those who are truly interested in the 
 early aud reliable history of Pennsylvania, 
 it is a matter of regret that we have not 
 bad collected together a full and correct 
 account of the several manors that were 
 in the Province, their locality and limits, 
 aud which were so many tracts of land 
 set apart exclusively for the Proprietary, 
 and not immediately offered for sale. It 
 i8 also a matter of regret that so much of 
 misapprehension aud misrepresentation 
 prevails on this subject. We know that 
 there were two manors within the bounds 
 of what is now Cumberland county, as we 
 have some paper? of an early date that 
 clearly show it, and yet we have never 
 heaitl of uuy excepting that of Louther or 
 Paxtaug, (as it was at first called), and it 
 is to be regretted that an error has obtain- 
 ed currency in regard to it. Hence at the 
 
 
EXPLANATIONS. 
 
 [The initial letters within the limits of the manor indicate portions of Hampden, 
 East Pennsboro and Lower Allen townships; the other initials indicate the Stone 
 Church and iShiremanstown ; the western boundary of the manor is "the road leading 
 from the Conodoguinette to the Vellow Breeches, past the Stone Church or Frieden's 
 Kirch, and immediately below Shirmanstown," about four miles from the river; and 
 the two creeks extend eastward about "eleven miles," to show what would be the 
 greatly increased quantity of land embraced in the manor if it really extended that 
 distance from the river.] 
 
suKgestion of some friends we f arnish the 
 following faets. 
 
 Within less than ten years the state- 
 ment has been repeatedly published that 
 the Louther Manor extended eleven miles 
 west of the Susquehanna river, whereas 
 we believe that it did not extend much 
 more than about one third of that dis- 
 tance, or only four miles instead of 
 "eleven." 
 
 We do not know what authority existed 
 for making such a statement in the first 
 instance, as it certainly contradicts Kupp's 
 statement, made on the very creditable 
 authority of Col. R. M. Grain, in regard to 
 the same matter— and his statement of 
 1846 must have been then known— and it 
 also clearly contradicts the specific details 
 of the oritiinal survey, than which better 
 authority cannot be cittd. The proof of 
 thib we will now give. 
 
 We have an old paper in our collection 
 with this endorsement: — '•26th Decem'r 
 1764. Warrant for the Resurvey of the 
 manor of Liouther, Cumberland county. 
 Returned, &e., May 16, 1765. Quantity 
 7551 acres, &c." It has the signature of 
 John Penu, and is addressed to John 
 Lukens, Esq , Surveyor General. (He 
 was S. G under the Provincial Govern- 
 ment.) It also bears the testimony of 
 Daniel Brodhead, Surveyor General, of 
 April 1793, as being "& true copy of the 
 original." (He was S. Q. under the State 
 Government.) This warrant is a long one 
 and abounds in interesting statements 
 relative to the Indiana, but we will give 
 only so much of it as recites the specified 
 limits ot the manor in question, which, by 
 the way, Was laid out in 1736 by the Deputy 
 Surveyor of Lancaster county. It may 
 also be here added, that the land included 
 in Louther Manor was part of the territory 
 
acquired by Treaty from the Five Nations, 
 at Philadelphia. Oct. 11th, 1736, and it 
 wa« the second of the six treaties with 
 said Indians for the acquisition of their 
 lauds. We now faithfully copy from the 
 aforesaid valid authority the proper limits 
 of the manor: 'On the west side of the 
 Susquehanna river, opposite to John 
 Harris' Ferry and bounded to the east- 
 ward by the said river, to the northward 
 by ConodoRuinet creek, to the southward 
 by the Yellow Breeches creek, and to the 
 westward by a line drawn north a little 
 westerly hom the said Yellow Breeches 
 to Conodoguiufct creeks aforesaid, contain- 
 ing seven thousand five hundred and 
 seven acres or upwards," &c. These 
 boundaries correspond with those given 
 iu Kupp's history, page 356, where he 
 says: "The manor on Conodoguinette 
 was, as will appear from the following, 
 kindly furnished by K. M. Grain, E^'q , 
 surveyed and divided, and sold by the 
 proprietors to those first named after the 
 No. and acres. This manor embraced all 
 the land between the Conodoguinette and 
 Yellow Breeches creek, extending as far 
 west as the road leading from the Conodo- 
 guinette to the Yellow Breeches, past the 
 Stone church or Frieden's Kirch, and im- 
 mediately below Shiremanstown." Just 
 here it may be proper to remark, that Col. 
 Cram, who died in 1852, is represented as 
 '•more thoroue:hly acquainted with the 
 business of the Land Office than any other 
 man in Pennsylvania," and served for the 
 greater part of half a century as Deputy 
 Secretary iu that office. (Men of Mark of 
 Cumberland Valley, p. 96.) We also 
 know from the same authority, as well as 
 old papers in our possession, that the 
 Manor of Louther was "surveyed at an 
 early dale." Again in 1765, it was sur- 
 
veyed by John Armstrong and divided 
 into eight and-twenty portions, and in 
 1767 it was re surveyed by John Lukens. 
 As stated, it was divided into twenty- 
 eight "Tracts or Plantations," varying in 
 size, but the aggregate number of acres in 
 them all is about equal to the whole manor 
 as originally surveyed. The writer has in 
 his possession several of the old papers in- 
 dicating the No. of the tract, and the 
 name of the original purchaser. These 
 papeis bear date of 1772, '73 and '74. 
 When Rupp published his History of Cum- 
 berland county, nearly forty years ago, 
 only No. 4, No. 12, aud part or No. 17 — 
 bat three of the twenty-eight — were own- 
 owned by any of the heirs or representa- 
 tives of the original purchasers; and, on 
 this point, the writer cannot say what is 
 the fact at present. 
 
 Now, in turning to the Atlas of Cumber- 
 land county, carefully prepared from 
 actual surveys, and published in 1872, we 
 have a plan of the county, having a scale 
 of distances, (three miles to the inch), 
 aLd from this plan we have here very 
 carefully traced so much as includes the 
 entire Louiher Manor, hs embraced be- 
 tween the creeks and within four miles 
 from the river, as well as the land within 
 "eleven miles" of it, as indicated by the 
 western extension aud termination of 
 each creek. The manor proper incloses 
 about the eastern half of Lower Allen, 
 about the southern half of East Penns- 
 boro, and the southeast corner of Hamp 
 den townships, containing the quantity of 
 land given in the early survey. 
 
 On an avtrage Luther Manor could not 
 have embraced more than an area of about 
 three miles between the creeks and four 
 miies west of the river, as such an area 
 would inclose twelve square mile, or 7,680 
 
6 
 
 acres, and which is really between one 
 and two hundred acres more than was 
 actnally contained in the manor. 
 
 As something worthy of notice, on the 
 plan or map it will be observed that the 
 entire land embraced within the true 
 limits of the Loutber Manor, is the most 
 compact or the very narrowest between 
 the two creeks, forming of itself a desira- 
 ble Reservation, and from the western 
 boandary of the manor, where it touches 
 the creeks, each creek begins suddenly to 
 divert or incline outward more and more. 
 So that, if the manor, as has been repeat- 
 edly alleged, really extended eleven miles 
 west of the Susquehanna, it would neces- 
 sarily have to embrace a vastly larger 
 eitent of territory than it realy contained 
 or than the actual survey gives it, and 
 nearer 30,000 acres than "between seven 
 and eight thousand." In addition to the 
 land that was only and truthfully in it, if 
 it extended westward the distance now 
 claimed ot "eleven miles," it would have 
 to embrace, besides the half of East 
 Penusboro', the entire townships of Upper 
 and Lower Allen, nearly half of Hampden, 
 a very large part of the large township of 
 {Silver Spring, about half of Monroe, and 
 a slice of Middlesex, and in Silver Spring 
 and Monroe townships the extreme dis- 
 tance between the two creeks is about 
 ten miles. 
 
 Therefore, to declare as matter of clear 
 and veritable history that "the Proprie- 
 taries laid off between seven and eight 
 thousand acres of land extending eleven 
 miles from the river, and between the 
 Oonodoguinet and Yellow Breeches creeks, 
 for a manor on which settlements were 
 forbidden," seems to the writer somewhat 
 unfortunate. 
 
 Of course we can imagine a nairow 
 
strip of land as actually extending eleven 
 miles from the river, and as between the 
 two creeks, and as embracing the given 
 number of acres, "between seven and 
 eight thousand." But in this case such a 
 stretch of the imagination is certainly not 
 allowable. Because the proper and nat- 
 urally permanent boundaries of the manor, 
 as detailed in the early survey, are: the 
 river on the east side, with a well known 
 creeh on the north side and no less well 
 known creek on the south side, and then 
 on the west side "by a line drawn 
 from the said Yellow Breeches to Conodo- 
 guinet Creeks aforesaid." And the quan- 
 tity of land specified in the old surveys as 
 existing within these clearly defined 
 limits— that of 7,507 acres, or that of 
 7,551 acres, and which quantity does fully 
 exist therein— could not possibly have 
 extended farther westward than "the 
 road leading from the Conodoguinet to 
 the Yellow Breeches, past the Stone 
 Church, and immediately below Shire- 
 manstown '■ We can also easily under- 
 stand, as both creeks are very crooked, 
 that, by following their devious courses 
 westward from the mouth of each, for the 
 distance of about eleven miles, it might 
 probably lead to the point on each creek 
 where touches the line drawn by the old 
 survey from the one cteek to the other, 
 as the termini of the western limit of the 
 manor, and this doubtless was the way in 
 which the «urvey was originally made, to 
 ascertain the acreage of it. But the line 
 constituting the western boundary of the 
 manor, and which is really its true extent 
 from the river, is, as we believe and 
 maintain, only four miles from the river, 
 in popular and intelligible parlance, and 
 no more than tour miles. And to assert 
 that it 'extended eleven miles west of the 
 
8 
 
 river" is alike incorrect and misleading. 
 We do not believe that one person in a 
 thousand, in bearing or reading such a 
 statement, would suppose that the distance 
 thus given referred to and meant the 
 length 80 far of the serpentine or the in- 
 curved recurved course of the creek! Just 
 as reasonable would it be to assert that 
 Lower Allen township, (pait of which 
 forms the southern portion of the manor), 
 whose eastern boundary is the Susuqeban- 
 na, txtends twenty- five miles west of said 
 river, because its southeru boundary is the 
 meandering course of the Yellow Breeches 
 for about that distance! When, in fact, 
 the true length or extent of the township 
 from the river is not more than one fourth 
 of said distance, or about six miles instead 
 of about twenty five. Likewise, accord 
 iug to the same common sense method of 
 speaking and understanding, the territory 
 of Louther Manor, in its extent from 
 the river to its western boundary, reached 
 but four miles, and not "eleven." 
 
 It is generally understood that the first 
 white people came over tne Susquehanna 
 about 1730. They were chiefly Scotch 
 Irish, to whom the Donegal Presbytery 
 sent a supply as early as 1734 But it was 
 not until two years afterwards that the 
 Mauor of Louther was laid out. Was not 
 the land embraced in it previously settled, 
 iu part, if not wholly* Is it not reason- 
 able to suppose that the first settlers 
 would move warily as well as bravely into 
 a country belouging to the Indians, and 
 be careful not to leave a wide belt of 
 unoccupied land between them and their 
 eastern frieuds* Was not even squatter 
 sovereignty, with its preemptive privil 
 fcges, practically observed? And while 
 the settlers weie willing in due time to 
 purchase the land which they had com- 
 
9 
 
 menced to improve, yet it was not an easy 
 matter to dispossess them, — because they 
 had settled upon it, and claimed their 
 rights as colonists who had been desired 
 to come to the country, and who, as a 
 hardy and combative frontier people, 
 formed a desirable cordon of defence be- 
 tween the savages and the more eastern 
 settlers. (The Penn and Logan Corres- 
 pondence, Watson's Annals, &c.) 
 
 As evidence that the land subsequently 
 contained in Louther Manor had been 
 very early settled by the whites, we will 
 be excused in giving the following addi- 
 tional matter. 
 
 It has been said that about 1724 the 
 Delaware Indians moved to the branches 
 of the Ohio, and that in 1728 the 
 Shawanese, who had been the predomi- 
 nating aborigines of our valley, gradually 
 followed them. Afterwards French 
 emissaries tried to alienate them from the 
 English. Consequently the Pennsylvania 
 authorities became alarmed, and appoint- 
 ed three persons to visit them and per- 
 suade them to return. The following 
 letter, addressed to one of the three, con- 
 tains the inducement to return, and also 
 evidence of an early settlement by the 
 whites on the west side of the river: 
 
 Peshtank, * Nov. ye 19th, 1731. 
 
 Feiend Peter Chartiere. This is to 
 Acquaint Thee that By the Commissioners' 
 and the Governour's order We are now 
 Going over ISusquehanna, To Lay out a 
 Tract of Land between Conegogwainet & 
 Shaawna Creeks five or six miles back 
 from the River, in order to accommodate 
 Shaawna Indians or such others as may 
 see fit to Settle there. To Defend them 
 from Incroacbmeuts, And we have also 
 orders to Dispossess all Persons Settled on 
 that side of the River, That Those woods 
 
10 
 
 may Remain free to ye Indians for Plant- 
 ing & Hunting, And We Desire thee to 
 Communicate this to the Indiana who Live 
 About Allegoning. We conclude 
 Thy Assured Ff ds, 
 
 John Wright, 
 Tobias Hendricks, 
 Sam'l. Blunston. 
 This enterprise failed. The Indians 
 did not return. But the letter shows that 
 the "Tract of Land" mentioned in it is 
 the same about which we have been writ- 
 ing; that white persons were settled on 
 it as early as 1731; and that timber land 
 or "woods" really existed there. As the 
 Indians did not accept the offei to come 
 back, about five years afterwards the 
 manor was there laid out. 
 
 It may be of some pertinent interest 
 just here to add that, two of the three 
 persons selected to visit the Indians who 
 had gone westward were James Le Tort 
 and Peter Cbartier. The former was a 
 Frenchman and Indian trader, who had 
 his cabin not far from where Carlisle is, 
 and after whom the town spring is named. 
 Tbti other was the son of jMartiu Chartier, 
 a Frenchman who lived among the 
 Shawauese. His son, Peter, (who was 
 appointed an Indian trader by the Lan- 
 caster court), married a Shawanese squaw, 
 and lived at the mouth of the Yellow 
 Breeches creek, which was then known as 
 the Shawnee creek, presumably because 
 occupied by them; but it was also called 
 the Vallapasscink , with reference to its 
 curvatures, and this name, according to 
 Heekewelder, is a Delaware Indian word. 
 Not only is the name of these Frenchmen 
 perpetuated among us by the Letoit 
 spring, but the name of the other is also 
 perpetuated in western Pennsylvania by 
 Ctiartier creek The other negotiator was 
 
11 
 
 Edmund Cartlldge, a promineut ludiaa 
 trader, whose name occurs in the Colonial 
 Records and Pennsylvania Archives, and 
 who, in his correspondence with Governor 
 Gordon relative to this business, reports 
 more favorably of Chartier than of Le Tort, 
 though the former at last went over to the 
 French, and the latter has been regarded 
 as a person of better character. (Penn- 
 sylvania Archives, Vol. I., pp. 299, 328. 
 Historical Register, Vol. II , p. 250. 
 Memoirs of Charlotte Chambers, by her 
 grandson, Lewis H. Garrard, p. 12, and 
 also Chambersbuig in the Colony and in 
 the Revolution, by the same writer, p. 12, 
 &c.) 
 
 The foregoing statement we respectfully 
 submit to tne candid judgment of those 
 who may be interested in the matter. We 
 know that to err is human; and if it 
 should appear hereafter that our state- 
 ment is faulty or inaccurate, we shall be 
 glad to revise it, as our sole object is to 
 give the truth and nothing but the truth. 
 
 J. A. Murray. 
 Carlisle, 1885. 
 
 P. S. — We have also some old docu- 
 ments, written and printtid, th'tt indicate 
 the existence of such a Proprietary Reser- 
 vatiou as "Eden Manor," which embraces 
 a few thousand acres of land in the north- 
 western portion of what is now Cumber- 
 land county. In one of the papers — 
 bearing dale of 1746, and signed by "Wm. 
 Parsons, Surveyor General," under the 
 1 rovincial Government — there is a plan 
 of the manor, an oblong square, which 
 coctaius a section of the creek and some 
 of its tributaries. The distances are giv- 
 en, and the number of acres. J. a. m. 
 
 *The same as Paxtang, Pelxlan, Paxton, &c., 
 where Harrlsburg now Is. t. a. m. 
 
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
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