The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1895-07-10
SOMERSET PA, WEDNESDAY JULY 1O 1875.

teen thousand pounds there was the
fealty of the annual payment of two
beaver skins TO be duly delivered at
Windsor Castle.
His first intention was to call his
newly acquired territory New Wales,
and then suggested as a name, sylvia
mia, as being appropriate to land
covered with forests" but the King
out OF his respect for, and in honor of
Admiral Penn, the father, ordered and
directed that the name Pennsylvania
be given to the new province.
In 1852 he landed in this country and
in the latter part of that year he made
his famous treaty with the Indians at
Shackamaxon, now Kensington, the
only treaty, as Voltaire says, that was
"nevcr sworn to and never broken, -
and thus were laid the foundations of
this great commonwealth. As Penn
sylvanians we are justly proud of the
illustrious man whose name is forever
linked with that of our great state, and
we feel that the great English historian
Macaulay truly said of him, that
"Rival nations and hostile sects have
agreed in canonizing him. England is
proud of his name. a great common
wealth beyond the Atlantic regards
! him with reverence similar To that
which the Athenians felt for Theseus
and the Romans for Quirinus. He will
always be mentioned with honor rs Il
founder of colony who did not in his
dealings with a savage people abuse
the strength derived from civilization.
and rs lawgiver, in an age of perse-
cution, made religious liberty the cor
ner stone of Il polity.'
He governed the province from l6S2
until l7l2, when he tran sferrett to the
crown all his rights as proprietor, and
Pennsylvania came under the dominion
of the King OF England. The limits of
the newly acquired province were not
distinctly ascertained, but by subse-
quent treaty the boundaries were fixed
To cover the territory now included i'm
the State of Pennsylvania 1t is not
made clear how much of his province
William Penn ever saw, but it il ex-
tremely likely that his examination
was limited 10 the eastern part and
but q small portion. OF the province.
lie may possibly have reached Ian
caster.
The township, or town, as it is called
in some OF the States, is the unit of
our political system, and for this di-
vision we are indebted to our ances-
tors in the forests of Germany, rs we
are indebted to them for the principles
of parliamentary government. The
word ''town" is derived from the Saxon
word TIN, which signified the hedge, or
ditch, which divided one tribe from
another, each claiming to have juris-
diction over its own affairs, and there
the doctrine of home government, or
home rule, was first established.
Several towns, or townships, consti-
tuted Il county, which is one of the civil
divisions of state for civil and polit-
ical purposes.
The first three counties of Pennsyl-
vania Were Chester, Berks and Phila-
delphia, all of which are in the extreme
eastern part of the state. the tide of
immigration had set in rapidly and the
eastern rs well as the extreme western
portion of the province was being set
tied. The county of Lancaster was
created in l729, forty-seven years after
the landing of Penn. Then followed
York in 1749, Cumberland in 1850,
Berks and Northampton in l752, Bed
ford in l77l, Northumberland in 17T2,
WeStmoreland in l173, Washington in
l7Sl, Fayette in 1888, franklin and
Montgomery in 1874, Dauphin in l7s5,
Luzerne in I7S6, Huntingdon and Del
aware in 1857, Mifflin in 1889, and SOM
erset in 1875.
We have now reached an event
which resulted directly from the dis
covery of America by Columbus and
the foundation the Province of Penn
sylvania 10y William Penn, for without
Columbus and Penn, in the language
Ofa distinguished American statesman,
''where would we be at?''
The subject on which, through the
courtesy of the Committee of Arran nge-
ments, | am to speak to you to-day
properly suggests for consideration
the following matters:
1St.-What was the natural condi-
ton of the territory now included i'm
the limits of Somerset county prior to
it. settlement?
2nd-When, where and by whom
were the first settlements made?
3d.-The formation of the county
and its subsequent development.
THE NATURAL CONDITION OF THE TER
RIToRY PRIOR To ITS SETTLEMET.
Somerset county has two natural
| boundaries, one on the east and the
other on the west, the ridge of the Al
legheny mountain forming the eastern
and the Laurel Hill the western bound
AIRY. / have not been able to learn
why mountain of the magnitude of
the Laurel should by name be reduced
To the proportions of Il hill, especially
when we remember that its ascent is
four miles on one side and three on the
other This is illustrated by couplet
that used to be sung by the wagoners
in the days before railroads were made
in this section, when travelling west
ward:
Three miles up and four miles down,
Seven miles to IaughIinstown''
Laughlinstown is in the Ligonier
Valley at the western base of the
mountain.
If William Penn had ever reached
the summit of the Alleghenies, he
would have fully appreciated the ap-
propriateness of part of the name OF
his province, .SylUoRid, for it was truly
"a land covered with forests" and he
would also have verified the statement
made in letter to friend, i'm which he
says: "This day my country was con-
firmed to me under the great seal OF
England, with large powers and priv
ileges, by the name Of Pennsylvania, Q
name the king would give it in honor