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

tent Wy sdylhg tnat the counties or
Erie. Crawford. Venango, Mercer.
Lawrence, Beaver. Butler, Warren.
McKean, Potter, Tiogp, Forest, Elk,
Cameron, Jefferson, and parts of
Allegheny. Armstrong, Indiana,
Clearfield, Clinton, Lycoming and
Bradford are within the bounds of
that purchase. 1t may surprise you
to learn that the sum Of $1,000 was
paid the six nations for this goodly
portion of the Commonwealth. At
tho time of its purchase the great
er portion of 1t was q primeval will
derness of virgin pine and hemlock,
Of supposedly inexhaustible supply.
As late as 1863, when 1 lived in Elk
county, no one even dreamed that
within q few years from that time
practically all of this timber would
have disappeared. A large part of
this purchase was subsequently ac-
quired from the state by the Hol-
land Land Company, a company
composed of wealthy Hollanders
whose names in our land records
are quite as difficult to pronounce
as are the names of the towns and
cities of Europe that we pass up
when reading the daily papers in,
these war times. Some of the des-
cendants of these Hollanders still
reside in Pennsylvania, and / have
in mind General ii. S. Huidekoper,
of Philadelphia. To mention his
name suggests an incident, and
pray your indulgence if L digress
at this point and relate it. The in
cident is absolutely true for 1 have
the generals word for it. During
the Civil War he was presented to
President Lincoln and the gentle
man who accompanied him to the
White House informed the Presi-
dent that Colonel Huidekoper en-
joyed the distinction of being the
youngest officer of the rank of colo
mel commanding a regiment in the
Union army, he being at that time
twenty-four years old. AS soon as
the President heard his name he
saw an opportunity to perpetrate
one of his jokes, and he asked the
colonel if he was not of Holland
descent. Upon receiving an affirma-
tive reply he then inquired, Colo
mel are you an Amsterdam, Rotter-
dam, or just plain damn Dutch
man.
Washington Aquires Land
"On the 2Sth of February, 1882.
George Washington was granted six
u dNlS VI ldIlu HOW Slludleu III " dN-
cite county, aggregating almost two
thousand acres. When this land was
surveyed, in October, 1863, It was
in Cumberland county, which leads
me to say that so many counties of
the state We're erected from terri
tory that originally was a part of
Cumberland county, that that coun-
ty is often referred to as Old Moth
er Cumberland Therefore, in my
search work, it is highly important
that l should be familiar with the
genealogical history of the sixty
seven counties of the Common
wealth, for it frequently happens
that the record of a grant for land
that now is situated in the west
ern part of the state will be found
in the warrant register of one OF
the old eastern counties, where the
land was at the time it was war
ranted, surveyed and patented.
Subsequent to the Revolutionary
Whr, by authority of an act of the
Legislature. lands then in West
moreland county, but now in several
other counties, were laid out
in what is known as Donation Dis
tricts.' These districts were subdi-
vided into tracts varying in size from
| 200 to 1900 acres, and the tracts
were donated to the soldiers who
served in the Pennsylvania line of
the Continental army. The privates
received 200 acres and the officers
according to their rank. The rec
ords of these donation lands have,
| to my personal knowledge, in sew
eral instances supplied the neces-
sary evidences to enable persons to
become members of the Sons or
Daughters of the Revolution.
Survey of Susquehanna
"In the year 1927 a survey of the
! Susquehanna river from the New
York state boundary line to its
mouth was made by Charles Tro-
ziyulny, a noted civil engineer of his
day. The map of this survey was
made on a large scale and it shows
the towns along the river that then
existed, the hills on its sides, the
streams that were its tributaries,
and the islands that dotted its
bosom. 1t is truly work Of art,
and it has called forth high. .encomi-
ums from those who have seen it.
Charles Troziyulny was one of the
finest engineers in the United States
to use the theodolite in engineering
practice.
Many of us in our school days
were required to make a map of
the State of Pennsylvania from our
memory OF its contour as shown in
our Biographies, and l recall that
that part of the state lying in the
extreme northwestern corner always
appealed to me when ! was struggl-
ing with the map-making problem.
1t is sometimes called the smoke
stack of Pennsylvania" but in the
land records is known as The Erie
Triangle" This land was claimed
by the state of New York, but it was
awarded to this state by the Fed
eral government by patent dated
March 3, 1892, the patent bearing
the signatures of George Washing
ton and Thomas Jefferson, president
and secretary of state, respectively.
1.-The boundaries of this Com
monwealth as they exist to-day were
not permanently established with
out considerable controversy. The
State of Connecticut claimed good
sized slice Of the northeastern part
of it, while Virginia laid claim to
q big bite out of is southwestern ter
ritory. 1t is historical fact that a
large portion of Northeastern Penn
sylyania was settled in early days
by people from Connecticut, and
when this state later on granted
warrants to it's citizens to take up
LAND in that section, these Connecti-
cut claimants resisted the attempts
to deprive them of their lands, with
! the result that embryo civil war de-
veloped over the controversy, and
in at least one instance blood was
shed. These disputes were finally
1 ...4I.l IL nn,,, M sell nnnra frnnn the