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Item 60: “A further act for quieting the disturbances at Wyoming, and for confirming to certain persons called Connecticut claimants, the lands by them claimed with the county of Luzerne,"copied by Jacob Shallus (Removed to Legal Box #2), 1788 March 27

 Item — Box: 12, Folder: 100

Dates

  • Created: 1788 March 27

Creator

Access:

All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.

Extent

1 items

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Type of Material:

Legal act

Condition Note:

Fair. Paper shows signs of age and some staining.

Measurements:

11 ¾ in. x 7 ¾ in.

Title:

An act to prevent intrusions of Lands within the Counties of Northampton, Northumberland & Luzerne; An Act supplementary to an Act entitled “An Act to prevent intrusions on Lands within the Counties of Northampton, Northumberland & Luzerne” passed the 11th April 1795 Description: The following item depicts a copy by Samuel A. Law, a Delaware attorney and surveyor for the establishment of the town of Meredith in 1800. The item by Law contains copies of two acts titled, “An act to prevent intrusions of Lands within the Counties of Northampton, Northumberland & Luzerne,” passed February 11, 1795, and a second supplementary act titled, “An Act to prevent intrusions on Lands within the Counties of Northampton, Northumberland & Luzerne,” approved February 11, 1801. The two were estimated to have been copied some time after February 11, 1801. The first act copied depicts the second act in 1801, a supplementary act titled, “An Act to prevent intrusions on Lands within the Counties of Northampton, Northumberland & Luzerne,” approved February 11, 1801, pertains to legislature stating that claims of trespass on the lands in question, namely Northampton, Northumberland, and Luzerne County, will be upheld and tried under law if they are found to have done so after the passing of the first act in 1795. However, if cause and evidence can be brought before the court that the person has trespassed or taken possession of the land prior to the passing of the act, they will have grounds for their case of possession to be heard before the court. There are further stipulations, sections 2-13, which cover considerations of repeat offenders, fines, and etcetera, such as can be seen in section 2, which stipulates a fine of $500 for persons on their second offense when found guilty. This act is heard and signed by Isaac Weaver, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Woods, the Speaker of the Senate, and Thomas McKean, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The second act copied depict the first act in 1795, “An act to prevent intrusions of Lands within the Counties of Northampton, Northumberland & Luzerne,” 1795 April 11, pertains to legislature stating that claims of trespass on the lands in question, namely Northampton, Northumberland, and Luzerne County. The act stipulates that any person claiming or settling on lands in these counties without a title or grant issued by the Pennsylvania powers is to be found guilty of trespass and tried in state courts. The act states that they will be fined a sum of $200, which is to be split between the county and the informer equally. The person tried and found guilty would also be subjected to imprisonment, with a maximum sentence of 12 months. The act has further stipulations pertaining to persons who seek to offer and sell titles and surveys within these lands that are not assigned under Pennsylvania, such as section 1, and the actions and efforts of the county sheriff and coroner. This act was heard and signed by George Latimer, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Robert Hare, the Speaker of the Senate, and Thomas Mifflin, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. A Coroner was an office established to aid the sheriff in executing warrants and ejectments for people in their counties. These conflicts are taking place during the Yankee Pennamite Wars, particularly the Third Yankee Pennamite War in 1784. The Yankee Pennamite Wars were a three part war between Connecticut and Pennsylvania, as they attempted to resolve a dispute over the land in the upper regions of what is now Pennsylvania. King Charles II granted the land twice, once to Connecticut in 1662, and again to William Penn as he founded Pennsylvania in 1681. The Third Yankee Pennamite War was a military conflict following the Decree of Trenton decision to grant Pennsylvania ownership to the lands after decades of conflict between Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

Description:

An Act for quieting the disturbances at Wyoming, and for confirming to certain persons called Connecticut claimants the lands by them claimed within the county of Luzerne Description: The following item depicts a legal act titled, “An Act for quieting the disturbances at Wyoming, and for confirming to certain persons called Connecticut claimants the lands claimed by them within the county of Luzerne,” copied by Jacob Shallus, dated March 27, 1788. The act is a legislation that seeks to negotiate a compromise between the Connecticut and Pennsylvania settlers in the state. The act stipulates that previously removed Connecticut title holders are rightfully in possession of claims to tracts of land found in the following seventeen townships: Salem, Newport, Hanover, Wilkes Barre, Pittstown (Pittston), Northmoreland, Putnam, Meshoppen (or Braintrim), Springfield, Clavernack, Ulster, Exeter, Kingston, Plymouth, Huntington, Bedford, and Providence. The act creates means for the Connecticut settlers to bring their titles or evidence to such forward to be reinstated on their lands. The act further acknowledges that Pennsylvania settlers also hold titles to the lands in question and stipulates language for compensating them in the resignation of their lands. The act in response to the three part land conflict between Pennsylvania and Connecituct called the Yankee Pennamite Wars. The Yankee Pennamite Wars were a three part war between Connecticut and Pennsylvania, as they attempted to resolve a dispute over the land in the upper regions of what is now Pennsylvania. King Charles II granted the land twice, once to Connecticut in 1662, and again to William Penn as he founded Pennsylvania in 1681. This act creates a response to the actions taken by Pennsylvania following the earlier Decree of Trenton decision in 1782, which authorized the right of jurisdiction to Pennsylvania at a hearing of the Continental Congress, but did not span to the rights of soil at the time. Yet, under the command of the Pennsylvania Assembly and Patterson, Pennsylvania would forcibly remove “one-hundred and fifty” Connecticut families from their homes. They forced the families to “find their way through the wilderness of the Lackawaxen to the Delaware Valley, a distance of about eighty miles,” without supplies or clothing to sustain them (Gnichtel, The Trenton Decree of 1782). The violence and brutality levied by Patterson’s troops was so severe that it drew attention from neighboring states, and condemnation on the governing bodies of Pennsylvania. That critique ultimately led the Pennsylvania Assembly to remove Patterson from his position within the valley around July 1784, replacing him with colonel John Armstrong. Following the resolution of these conflicts, there were many petitions made by the Connecticut settlers for reinstatement to their previous titles and possessions. There were even cases of those in the Susquehanna Company who continued to issue grants for titles under the Connecticut claim, who were tried in suits of trespass after Pennsylvania passed various acts that protected the Pennsylvania titles. There were eventual acts issued for compromise and reinstatement, early pieces of which can be seen in item (12.108), as well as push back, which highlights measures to protect Connecticut claimants who had been on the lands prior to their forced removal in 1782-4.

Transcription:

An Act for quieting the disturbances at Wyoming and for confirming to certain persons called Connecticut claimants the lands by them claimed within the county of Luzerne

Whereas by an Act of the General Assembly of this Commonwealth entitled “An Act for ascertaining and confirming “to certain persons called Connecticut claimants the lands by them “claimed within the county of Luzerne, and for other purposes therein “mentioned,” a time was limited within which their claims should be exhibited to the Commissioners appointed in pursuance of that Act: And Whereas the said Commissioners were interrupted in the execution of their Commission by a number of the inhabitants of the said county, who rose in arms, and by the violences threatened and committed, obliged them from a regard to their personal safety, to leave the county; And the time limited as aforesaid has expired: And Whereas some general expressions in the above mentioned Act of the General Assembly open a door for the admission of claims beyond the cases stated in its preamble and the in the petition of the said claimants on which the said Act was grounded and contrary to the apparent intention of the said General Assembly. And Whereas it is expedient that further time be given for the admission and adjustment of the claims of the said Connecticut claimants, and to make provision for the payment of the Expenses which shall arise about the same: therefore Be it enacted &ca [etcetera] That such rights or lots in the seventeenth townships situated in the county of Luzerne and referred to in the

Back, page 1: 2. the said petition aforesaid by the names of Salem, Newport, Hanover, Wilkesbarre (sic), Pittstown [Pittston], Northmoreland, Putnam, Meshoppen (or Braintrim) Springfield, Claverack, Ulster, Exeter, Kingston, Plymouth, Huntington, Bedford and Providence, agreeably to their original buts and bounds to be ascertained by sufficient vouchers as were actually settled upon, occupied and improved or at or before the decree of the Federal Court held at Trenton in December 1782 either by the present settlers or those under whom they held agreeably to the regulations of the company usually called and known by the name of The Susquehanna company, be and they are hereby confined to such of the said Connecticut claimants who shall exhibit and support their claims to the same respectively by showing that the same rights or lots were so settled upon, occupied and improved, to be held by them their Heirs and Assigns according to the original allotments and holdings of the same. And whereas several of the said claimants or their parents or other Ancestors had rights or lots of land granted to them under the said Company within some of the same townships but in situations so exposed to the depredations of the savages during the late war, that they could not with safety settle upon and improve the same, and altho actual and personal settlers and sufferers within that part of Pennsylvania now called the county of Luzerne, at or before the passing of the decree aforesaid, yet by the above enacted clause will be left destitute, therefore Be it enacted &c.a [etcetera] that the claimants last described shall each of them be entitled to one such right or let by them acquired pursuant

Page 2: 3. to the regulations aforesaid at or before the passing of the said decree atho’ such right or lot was not occupied and improved at or before the same period: provided that such right or lot did not exceed three hundred acres and that the Children or other legal representatives of any one such settler shall hold only the single right or lot to which such settler if living would hereby be entitled: And provided also that such claimants had not at the line of passing the said decree nor have at the time of passing this Act more than sixty acres of land which is or will be confirmed by any other clause thereof And whereas several others of the said Connecticut claimants, or those under whom they hold, had at or before the passing of the decree aforesaid settled upon and improved certain parcels of land now within the county aforesaid, and by them called Pitches, and which are not included within the townships aforesaid and it is alike expedient that the same should be confirmed as if they were comprehended within the said townships: therefore Be if enacted &c.a [etcetera] that the said Pitches be and they are hereby confined to the Claimants thereof and to their Heirs and Assigns provided they do exhibit and support their claims to the same by showing that those Pitches were respectively located settled upon and improved at or before the passing of the decree aforesaid agreeably to the regulations of the said Company. Provided always and be it further enacted &c.a [etcetera] That nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to extend to any lands in the present actual whole and entire possession of any settler holding under a title original derived from this State

Page 2, back: 4. or the late Proprietaries thereof; but that every such Pennsylvania settler shall remain undisturbed in his possession to the full extent of the tract so settled upon and possessed according to the original survey thereof, any thing in this Act contained to the contrary notwithstanding. And Whereas sundry persons residing in Connecticut and elsewhere became adventurers in or under the said Company in the project of holding an extensive tract of country within the boundaries of Pennsylvania and comprehending the lands now lying within the county of Luzerne, but never became personal settlers there, altho they now set up large claims to lands under said company, some parcels of which they may have possessed and improved by their Agents sent on for the purpose of taking and maintaining such possession in opposition to the government of Pennsylvania, and as it would be highly improper to reward or countenance such adventurers: therefore Be it enacted &ca That the claims of all such adventurers and of their Heirs and Assigns shall be and they are hereby declared to be null and void excepting only the claims of such of the Heirs or Assigns of the said adventurers as became personal settlers on the rights, lots or pitches by them respectively claimed at or before the passing of the decree aforesaid. And be it further enacted &ca [etcetera] That for the purpose of ascertaining the claims to the lands by this Act confirmed to the said Connecticut claimants, the Supreme Executive Council shall appoint three Commissioners who or any two of them, shall receive and examine the same, and allow such of them, as

Page 3: 5. as shall be supported in the manner by this Act directed and required, and that the said Commissioners shall be allowed each shillings a day and their Clerk shillings a day for every day they shall be necessarie (sic) [neccessary] by employed in the executors of this Act. And that full opportunity as aforesaid be given to the said Claimants to make and support their aforesaid claims and at the same time that all unnecessary delays and expenses may be prevented Be it further enacted &ca [etcetera] That the said Commissioners to be appointed as aforesaid shall meet and open their office at Wilkesbarre (sic) in the said county of Luzerne at such times during the course of one year from the passing of this Act as they shall judge will be most convenient to the said Claimants to exhibit and support their claims, and shall set for the space of days in the whole during the said year if they find the duties incumbent on them by this Act cannot in a less number of days be executed; and every claim not made and supported as aforesaid within one year next to after the passing of this Act shall be deemed inadmissible and void And be it further enacted &c.a [etcetera] That the Sheriff of the said county of Luzerne shall within days after the passing of this Act notify the Connecticut claimants in one or more of the Newspapers published in the city of Philadelphia and in Connecticut, as also by hand bills set up in the most public places in the respective townships to

Page 3, back:

6.

to meet at such time and place or places as he shall appoint to ellect (sic) [elect] by ballot one suitable person he being a freeholder within the said county for a patentee for such township and the Claimants so assembled shall within five days after such election make return of the persons names and places of abode who shall highest in votes to the said Sheriff who shall within ten days after such return or returns come into his hands, transmit the same to the Supreme Executive Council of this State who are hereby directed and required to direct the Secretary of the Land Office to issue a Warrant in the name of each of the persons who shall be so elected and returned to them for each respective township for which he shall be as aforesaid elected, which Warrant shall be directed to the Surveyor General commanding him to cause a resurvey to be made forthwith of such township agreeable to their original buts and bounds and to make return thereof without delay into the Surveyor Generals office in Philadelphia and upon every such return a Patent shall issue in the name of such patentee who was as aforesaid elected and returned clear of expense except for the Patent for which he shall pay the usual fees of office and every Deputy surveyor in whose district the township shall happen to be, shall for every such survey by him made and returned as aforesaid receive the usual fees and no more; And such patentee shall stand seized of such township for the following uses, to wait for the use of the Connecticut claimants aforesaid for such parts thereof, the Claims to which shall

Page 4: 7.

be allowed by the said Commissioners and for which such claimants shall within fifteen months next after the passing of this Act produce to the said patentees respectively ^certificates under the hands of the said Commissioners declaring and ascertaining the claims so allowed; and for the residnce (sic) [residence] of the lands in such township, to and for the use of this State, And it shall be the duty of the said Patentees respectively to make, on the back of each of the said Certificates which shall be produced to them as aforesaid, a conveyance of the land therein described, to the Claimant or Claimants therein named; and such certificate and conveyance being recorded at length by the Recorder of Deeds in said county, shall vest in the Claimant or Claimants therein named a title to the land therein described in like manner as if a particular patent were issued for the same. Provided and be it further enacted &c.a[etcetera] That it shall not be necessary to resurvey such of the said townships as have been already duly surveyed by the sworn surveyors appointed by the Commissioners under the law mentioned in the preamble of this Act, but as soon as the returns of such surveys shall be made into the Surveyor Generals office in Philadelphia Patents shall issue in the names of the persons who shall be elected the Patentees of such townships respectively. And be it further enacted &c.a That the several claimants of the pitches aforesaid shall on their demand receive from the Land office Warrant for surveying their respective Page 4, back: 8. respective pitches, and on the returns of the surveys thereof together with certificates under the hands of the Commissioners who shall be appointed in pursuance of this Act, ascertaining by definite descriptions the extent of such pitches as by them allowed, patents shall issue as usual in other cases in conformity with such certificates, and for the said Warrants, surveys and patents the Claimants respectively shall pay the usual fees and no more. And be it further enacted &ca [etcetera] That if any Deputy Surveyor or as aforesaid shall refuse or neglect for the space of days after demand made by any Patentee or Claimants aforesaid to commence the surveys by this Act required to be made or to prosecute and complete the same in a reasonable time of which the Commissioners in pursuance of this Act to be appointed, shall judge, in every such case, they the said Commissioners shall appoint a competent Surveyor who shall be sworn faithfully to make and return every such survey; for which the usual fees shall be paid to him and no more. And be it further enacted &c.a [etcetera] That in case of the death neglect or refusal to serve of any or either of the said Patentees then and in every such case all the powers which were so as aforesaid conveyed to them shall immediately be in the Prothonotary, Sheriff and Coroner of the said County of Luzerne for the time being for the uses or trust as aforesaid; which Prothonotary Sheriff and Coroner or any two of them shall from time to time have full power and authority to transfer convey and make over all or any part of such township which shall so fall under their direction or fully and as amply as the original patentee could have done agreeably to the original intent and meaning of this act And

Page 5: 9. And be it further enacted &c.a [etcetera] That the wages of the Commissioners who shall be appointed in pursuance of this Act, and of their Clerk shall be paid out of the Treasury of this State by order of the Supreme Executive Council but the whole amount thereof so paid shall be charged to the said county of Luzerne and be assessed and levied with the first state taxes which shall be these assed and levied after such amount shall be ascertained, and repaid into the Treasury of the State. And be it further enacted ca That all the lands now claimed by the persons called Pennsylvania claimants and which have been duly surveyed for them or those under whom they hold pursuant to Warrants from Land office, and which shall be covered by the claims of the said Connecticut claimants allowed and confirmed as by this Act is directed shall be the property of this State, and hereafter be disposed of as the Legislature thereof shall direct; and all locations and surveys thereof made in the meantime shall be void. Provided nevertheless, That if any tracts now claimed by Pennsylvania claimants shall remain entire and be in no part covered by the Connecticut claims which shall be allowed and confirmed in pursuance of this Act; and that such Pennsylvania claimants shall not in the meantime have received compensation for the same, there such entire tracts shall revest in such Pennsylvania claimants who shall have the same estate therein as they had before the passing of this Act. And Whereas justice requires that the said Pennsylvania claimants should receive compensation for the lands of which by this Act they will be divested; therefore Be it enacted &c.a That all persons having such claims to lands which shall be affected by the operation of this Act shall be and they are hereby required by themselves Gaurdians (sic) [Guardians] or other lawful agents within months after the passing of this Act to present the same to the board of property, therein clearly describing those lands and stating the grounds of their claims and also addressing

Page 5, back: 10. addressing the proper proofs not only of their titles but of their situations and qualities of the lands so claimed to enabled the board of property to judge of the validity of their claims and of the quantity of vacant lands proper to be granted as equivalents for the lands of which they shall be so divested and the expenses which will necessarily be incurred in locating and surveying the same which equivalents shall be ascertained by comparing the true value of the lands of which they shall be so divested with the true value of the lands which they shall receive in compensation all such lands being supposed to be patented, and for every claim which shall be admitted by said board as duly supported the equivalent by them allowed may be taken either in the old or new purchase at the option of the claimant and warrants and patents and all other Acts of the public officers relating thereto shall be performed free of expense; and it shall be the duty of the Commissioners aforesaid if required by the Board of property during their selling in said county of Luzerne to make the necessary inquiries by the oaths or affirmations of lawful Witnesses to ascertain the situations qualities and value of the lands of the Pennsylvania claimants aforesaid— A true copy J Shallus

{back} An Act for Quieting Disturbances at Wyoming

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