Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1879-11-13

| Bouuuets return with the captives
| which wcro mingled with our grand
mothers iircside tales, and haunt the
memory of our infant years, like the
| diving cadence Of some distant music
or the words of well nigh forgotten
song. II was on wintry day (Decem
| ber 81, l764) when Col. Bouquet, having
advertised for those who had lost chill
dren to come to Carlisle and reclaim
them, brought out the band OF little
captives for recognition. Many had
been captured when very young and
had grown up to boyhood and gir!hood
in the wigwam of the Indian, having
learned the language of the savage and
forgotten their own. One woman was
unable to point out her daughter, and
the captiyes could only talk in an un
known tongue. She told her sad lot 10
the Colonel, and mentioned that she
used, many years before, sing to her
daughter a hymn of which the child
was very fond The Colonel told her
TO sing it, and she began:
"Aiouc. vet not alone am |.
Though IN this solitude 40 hrcaf,
| fcrl my Saviour always nigh,
Ho comes my every hour t. cheer
She had not finished the first verse
before her long lost daughter rushed in.
to her arms.
come now to the connection OF Bou.
auets expedition with the history OF
the settlement of the West Branch Val
ley. On the 3Oth of November, lT64,
the First Battalion Of the Pennsylvania
Regiment left Fort Pitt for home, and
the Second followed the next day.
When they reached Bedford the officers
made an agreement with each other in
writing, To apply to the Proprietaries
for a tract of land sufficiently extensive
and conveniently situated, whereon TO
erect compact ard detensible town,
and accommodate them with reasonable
and commodious plantations, the same
to be divided according TO the several
ranks, etc. John Brady was one Of
the officers who signed this agreement
In their application to the Proprietaries,
dated April 30, lTGj. they proposed to
embody themselves into compact set.
tlement, at some distance from the
inhabited part Of the Province, where,
by industry, they might procure n com.
Portable subsistence for themselves, and
by their arms, union and increase
become a powerful barrier to the Prov.
ince. They suggested the confluence
Of the two branches Of the Susquehanna
at Shamokin, us aiiording a situation
convenient for their purpose, and asked
the proprietaries to make purchase
from the Indians TO accommodate their
application.
Meanwhile, urged 10y the restless,
mysterious impulse which moulds the
destiny of the pioneers Of civilization,
Captain Brady had removed from the
Conodogwinet fifty miles further north.
west, to Standing Stone now Hunting.
dom. Here, in l7GS, his children,
General Hugh Brady and twin sister
Jennie, were born, and Captain Brady
followed the occupation OF surveyor. On
the jth Of November, l16s, Thomas and
Richard PEN purchased from tho Six
Nations at Fort StauwiN ,fuow Rou'e,
y. ", with other territory, all that
portion of the West Branch Valley
extending from the mouth OF Mahanoy
creek to the mouth Of Pine creek, and
on the Cd Of February, 1863, tie officers
of the First ard Second Battallions met
at the Governors and obtained an or
der allowing them 10 take up twenty.
four thousand acres. The surveys Of
5000 oft, in what is now Union coun.
ty, were made by Samuel MaclAy on
tile lat, I'd and 81 Of March, 1909, Cap.
tain Brady, with others Of the officers,
being along. The surveys Of the second
5000 acres, nj the mouth OF Chillitqua.
que creek, were made at the same time.
and the officers returned to Fort Au.
gusta lnow Sunbury), held n meeting
and determined that the remaining
5000 acres should be surveyed on Bald
Eagle creek, and Captains Hunter,
Brady and Piper were selected to over
see il. The latter surveys were made
by Charles Lukens in April. 1869. Cap.
tain Brady accompanying him, and EN-
brace the land from the City Of Lock
Haven up Bald Eagle creek TO where
Howard now stands, in Centre county.
During the summer Of 1869 Captain
Brady removed his family to the West
Branch and cleared place on the east
ern side Of the river, directly opposite
Derr's Mil, now the site Of Lewisburg.
On the 2lst of March, lTT2, Northum-
berlsnd county was created, and on the
fourth Tuesday Of May Captain John
Brady was foreman of the first grand
jury that ever sat in Northumberland
county. But the air seemed to be full
Of trouble in those early days. The
Connecticut people, who had settled
at Wyoming, claimed under their char.
ter the territory OF the ProSince of
Pennsylvania. "a far south as the I'll
deg. Of latitude, which would run a
mile or so north Of Lewisburg, and were
determined to enforce it by adverse oc.
cupation. Between the Sd and Tth of
July, l772, large party Of them reach
ed the river at Hulings, where Milton
now stands, when Colonel Plunket
summoned the Pennamites TO arms and
forcibly drove them off. This contest
continued for some time after the
trumpet of the Revolution summoned
the combatauts 10 fight common foe.
In December, 1875, Brady accompanied
Colonel Plunkets force To Wyoming
Valley as a captain of company, in
which last encounter Of the Pennamite
war Jesse Lukens, son of the Surveyor