Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-12-04

alone
Records Often Mis-spelled
"Apropos of the method of SPELL
ing in some of those early records,
a woman of evident intelligence and
culture wrote to the department re-
questing that a copy of n patent
which had been granted to an an
cestor by William Penn, be sent to
! her. In the record of these patents
Pennsylvania is invariably spelled
| PENNSYLVANIA, as it was in the copy
that was sent to her, to the end that
it could be certified to as being n
copy of the original. She prompt
ly returned it with the gratuitous
statement that she had always
heard that the employees of the state
at Harrisburg held their positions as
q reward for political services and
not for their efficiency, and she was
not ready to believe ii, for we could
/ not spell the name of our state COR
rectly, as the copy of the patent
which she returned for correction
disclosed. l confess that when l re-
piled to her my inclination was to
resent this insinuation, but l re-
Trained from doing so and courte-
ously explained that Pennsylvania
was spelled in that manner in the
patent on record here. She did not
reply to this by way of an apology
for her fragrant violation of the
proprieties, so the employees of the
department realize that such criti-
cism is part of the days work and
let it go at that. The method now
in use, and which was devised by
Major Isaac 3. Brown when he was
secretary of internal affairs, is to
red line the mis-spelled words that
appear in a record when a copy of
the same is made, to indicate to the
person receiving it that we were
cogniZant of the fact that the word
was incorrectly spelled.
Sells Land For Penn
Some of the surveys contain
rather unusual information and l
will mention a couple of instances.
A survey has inscribed thereon the
following: Grant Case had owned
or claimed the tract but being n dis
sipated wretch he sold his right to
Cheating George Henry" dis
tinction by which he was readily
known from others of the same
name, for half a gallon of rum,
and said Henry obtained a warrant
for the land
Il quote from u survey of the
year 1863: This tract was claim
ed by William Duncan, and to de-
eide the claim Duncan and Wilson
resolved to put personal prowess TO
the test in wrestling, in which VIII
son came off victorious, and hence
the name Wilson's Conquest was
given the land. Duncan ever after
wards relinquished his claim to the
| land
This method of settling disputes
as to land titles was probably less
! expensive than that of the present
/ day. In quite a number of IN
stances 1 have been delegated TO
/ produce original land records IN
! court that We're relevant to the case
/ being tried, and it has been my o.
| seryation that the legal talent en-
| gagged on both sides of the contro-
versy was of high order and cor
respondingly high priced.
Land Record on Card
| Another rather unusual record Is
an application for land in Chester
county, more than hundred years
old, which was written on the deuce
of diamonds, and which is a bona
tide land record. OF course 1t is
| purely conjecture on my part, pul
when the sporting proclivities OF
the men of those days are recalled
the thought that the applicant may
have acquired his right to the lanC
in the American game of poker i:
at least permissible.
"A letter written in its entirety
by William Penn, from London, dat
ed 18th, second month, 1886, is 6
rare archive. 1t is to his surveyor
general, Thomas Holmes, and di'
rects him to lay out land to the
persons whom he mentions by name
and he especially requests that they
get q front Skulkill lott The con
Guiding paragraph of this letter i:
so quantity characteristic that
quote it:
"I will add no more but my true
love to thee & thyme q ye people
in genll desiring that it would
please We lord to be with you & di
rect you in his fear and wisdom tC
his glory. / am thy reall friend.
'WM. PENN
Old Letter in Archives
This letter now 233 years old il
in a remarkable state of preserva
ton, as are many other records q
a similar period upon which nj:
signature appears, evidencing the
fact that the paper and ink useC
in those days were of superior quail
ity to that of our day and genera
ton. Then, too, the penmanship o.
some of these records, which wa'
probably executed with a goose
Quill pen, eXcites ones surprise anC
admiration. This letter has beer
photographed and will appear in
history now being compiled by AL.
bert Myers, a historian of note
! which promises to be the most com
prehensive history of William Penr
that has ever been written. Mr.
Myers spent several months in the
/ department searching the records
for anything that he might deem
worthy of u place in that history
and he regarded the letter above re-
ferred to as a most valuable con.
tribution to it.
Last Purchase From Indians
1.-The last purchase from the In
dians is a record worthy OF men
~ as n