Mercersburg - Its Beginnings
Mercersburg - Its Beginnings
Joan C. McCulloh
Pennsylvania from 1681 until 1776 was a proprietary colony. In 1681 King Charles II of Great Britain in payment of a debt he owned William Penn’s father, Admiral William Penn, granted to William Penn the land that came to be called Pennsylvania and granted a charter to William Penn for that land. This was, therefore, a proprietary colony governed by William Penn, who in 1682 established a Frame of Government for the colony, a unique document that assured new settlers that they would have freedom of conscience and representative government. This colony would be administered not just by Penn but by his sons and his agents. After Penn’s death in 1718 his sons operated a Land Office so that as a proprietary colony the Penns and their agents directed the process of determining counties and the granting of land. In the beginning of this process three counties were formed, Philadelphia, Chester, and Bucks. The next county to be established, Lancaster County, formed in 1729, included all the land to the western border of Pennsylvania. The Mercersburg area remained in Lancaster County until 1750 when Cumberland County was formed and remained in Cumberland County until 1784 when Franklin County was formed.
In the early 1700s the Proprietors of Pennsylvania, the sons of William Penn, John, Thomas, and Richard, realized that the land west of the Susquehanna River still belonged to the Native Americans and became fearful that the area would be overrun by people from Maryland as the location of the border between the two colonies was unclear. In 1732 the Penns and the Calverts of Maryland had agreed upon a border between their colonies, but confusion and conflicts developed as people either did not know where the border was or determined where it was according to their own desires and needs. Therefore, in 1733 Thomas Penn gave Samuel Blunston, sheriff or justice in Lancaster County, the right to grant temporary licenses to people to settle west of the Susquehanna River. Although the Penns did not have clear ownership of these lands west of the river until 1736 when they made a treaty with the Native Americans, in this way the Penns would be assured that the area west of the Susquehanna River would be populated by Pennsylvanians when the Native Americans by treaty released these lands. These licenses were recorded in the Land Office in Philadelphia with the understanding that the holders of the licenses would eventually secure patents, now called deeds, for the land. These licenses were given with the understanding that the holders of them would receive their land after the purchase of the land from the Native Americans that did occur in 1736. After that date the Land Office in Philadelphia was the arbiter of land purchases.
The Commission Granted to Samuel Blunston
A Record of Licenses Granted to Sundry Persons to Settle & take up land on the West Side of Susquehannah River by Virtue of a Comission [sic] from the Honble [sic] Thomas Penn Esqr Bearing Date the 11th Day of January 1733. To Samuel Blunston of Lancast County page 39
Obtaining a patent or deed for land required the person who wanted to own the land to take several steps. First, he had to have a license and/or make written application for the land, then apply to the Surveyor-General in the Land Office in Philadelphia for a warrant in order to have the land surveyed, have the land surveyed, then have the survey indicating also that all purchase price and all fees had been paid returned to the land Office, and then receive a patent, what we today call a deed.
By tradition Edward Parnell, who took up land in this area about 1727, was the first person to settle in the area around what is now Mercersburg. In 1734 Edward Parnell was one of forty men who wrote a letter to Samuel Blunston stating that they already lived on the Conococheague and Antietam as we now spell the names of those creeks and that they intended to apply for license for the lands they already held. The letter states: “Mr. Samuel Blunston, Sr. this is to let you understand that the Inhabitants about the great Marsh where Edmund Cartledge does live have met and made a general Conclusion for to get grants from you for to settle any where upon the Waters of Conehecheegoe and likewise upon the Waters of the Andiatom in the North side of the line that George Noble and John Smith did run.” By 1734 the phrases, “Parnels Nob, “Edward Parnells,” and Parnels meadows,” were frequently used. However, there is no record of a Blunston License for Edward Parnell. It is believed that Edward Parnell left this area not long after he had settled here.
As the system of the acquisition of land under the Blunston license plan began before the Penns’ purchase of the land from the Native Americans, it was a highly irregular system. Also as the process of acquiring land legally was cumbersome and time-consuming, and as the Land Office was in Philadelphia, sometimes people applied for a license or a warrant but did not have the land surveyed or did not return the survey to the Land Office. Therefore, confusion and conflict frequently developed. Adding to the uncertainty was the fact that the Penns did not purchase the land from the Native Americans until 1736.
In On October 11, 1736, the Penns and Six Nations of Native Americans signed a treaty with far-reaching consequences. After the signing of this treaty the lands which had been occupied west of the Susquehanna River under the Blunston Licenses from 1733 until 1736 could be legally patented to those who made application and who had had the lands surveyed.
This treaty that brought about peace with the Native Americans also had the purpose of deterring people from Maryland to settle north of the Temporary Line. It said in part: “And all the lands lying on the west side of the said river [Susquehanna]to the setting of the Sun and to extend from the mouth of the said river northward, up the same to the hills or mountains called the language of the same nations Tyannuntasacta, or Endless hills…together also with all the Islands in the said River, Ways, Waters, Watercourses, Woods, Underwoods, Timber, Trees, Mountains, Hills, Mines, Valleys, Minerals, Quarries, Rights, Liberties, Privileges, Advantages, Hereditaments, and Appurtenances….” Then follow the names of the chiefs of the six nations signing this deed. The cost to the Penns for this immense stretch of land included 600 pounds of lead, 500 pounds of powder, 45 guns, 60 Strowd water match coats,100 blankets, 100 duffle match coats, 200 yards of half thick, 100 shirts, 40 hats, 40 pairs of shoes and buckles, 40 pairs of stockings, 100 hatchets, 500 knives, 100 houghs, 60 kettles, 100 tobacco tins, 100 scissors, 500 awl blades, 120 combs, 2000 needles, 1000 flints, 24 looking glasses, 2 pounds of vermilion, 100 tin pots, 24 dozen of gartering, 25 gallons of rum, 200 pounds of tobacco, and 1000 pipes.
The chiefs signing this treaty also agreed that in the future they would not sell any of this land to anyone except the children of William Penn. They agreed “That neither we nor they [children] nor any in authority in our nations, will at any time bargain, sell, grant, or by any means make over, to any person or persons, whatsoever, whether White men or Indians, other than the said proprietors, the children of William Penn, or to persons by them Authorized and Appointed to agree for and receive the same, any lands within the Limits of the Government of Pennsylvania, as “tis bounded Northward with the Government of New York and Albany.”
Much about the earliest settlement in the area now called Mercersburg is uncertain as there were conflict and confusion in the early 1700s between two men, Andrew Dunlap and his son and John Black and his family.
Conflict developed between two men, Andrew Dunlap and John Black, over a tract or tracts of land, including what became Mercersburg as both men received a Blunston License. In 1733 Andrew Dunlap was granted an initial Blunston License for the land. The license states: “September 3rd Andrew Dunlap for himself & Son Joseph Dunlap, 400 acres (this place is in dispute with John Black). On a Westerly Branch of Conegochege Called Clouds Branch [now Johnstons Run] about three miles North East of Edward Parnels.” He received a warrant for this land dated December 9, 1764. However, there was no reference to a patent, what we call a deed. On February 27, 1734, John Black was granted a Blunston License for land that either encompassed or overlapped in some way, or was contiguous to the land Dunlap claimed. The license states: “February 27th (1734?) John Black for himself & his children, 800 acres. On a Northern Branch of Conegochege where Peter Hart & John Gibson first setled [sic] who have quitted their claim.” He received a warrant for land dated August 17, 1751.
Another reference in the Land Office in reference to Tract MRC059 states that a warrant to Andrew Dunlap was dated February 4, 1737, and the one to John Black was dated March 1, 1737 for land. The record notes further that a survey was returned for Black on March 15, 1737, and for Dunlap on December 12, 1828, on Dunlaps’ warrant and “notes the conflicting claim under Black’s warrant. The survey says apparently Dunlap was dispossessed by Black….” This large tract of land lies west of what is now Mercersburg and lies south of route 16. The fact that this record notes 1737 as the date confirms that the conflict between the two families continued. This large tract of land was possessed by a son of John Black, James Black, who later moved to North Carolina.
Other records in the Land Office that are puzzling to the modern reader focus upon additional applications for land. A note from these records about MRC150, the southern end of what is now Mercersburg and part of Montgomery Township, states: “Blunston License to Andrew Dunlap dated 3 Sep 1734; Cumberland County warrants D82 to Andrew Dunlap dated 9 Dec 1764 BS and CO19 to Peter Corbet dated 27 Nov 1751. Survey A-052-253 dated 19 Nov 1736 on Dunlap’s license; returned to Dunlap 9 Dec 1742.” The following information is added: “On the 28th day of December this draft + Certificate was sent in to my Office by Wm Peters Esquire with an order to Examin [sic] the Quantity which I did + sent it back to him again by Andrew Dunlap who Brought it to me. Returned 4 Jan 1764 for Andrew Dunlap. Survey A-008-260 dated for William Shannon on Corbet’s warrant; previously surveyed for Robert Black.”
Another note in the Land Office about MRC151, what is now Mercersburg, states : “Blunston License to Andrew Dunlap dated 3 Sep 1734; Cumberland County warrants D082 to Andrew Dunlap dated 9 1764 and B016 to James Black dated 17 Aug 1751 Survey A-052-253 dated 19 Nov1736 on Dunlap’s License; returned for Dunlap 9 Dec 1742. ‘On the 28th day of December this draft + Certificate was sent into my Office by Wm Peters Esquire with an order to Examin [sic] the Quantity which I did + sent to back to him for Andrew Dunlap who brought it to me.’ Returned 4 Jan 1764 for Andrw Dunlap. Survey C-026-055 dates 6 1792 for Sarah Smith…on Black’s warrant Survey A-017 dated 26 Apr 1792 for Dr. William Magaw on Black’s warrant. Returned 18 1792 Aug for James Black.”
The fact that conflict between the two men existed is also attested to by the fact that a draft of one of the tracts of land “situate in Peters Township” and including Clouds Branch, now Johnstons Run, noting Dunlap’s warrant, is accompanied by a note that states the following: “The land above described is the same land as held by a survey Containing 342 acrs [sic] & all, which was surveyed in pursuance of a warrant granted to John Black dated 1st of March 1737...but by a survey on the ground it is found to extend the black lines as returned on Dunlap’s original warrant.” The note further states: “No evidence appears of any survey having been made on Dunlap’s warrant, but from a copy from the record of the Court of Lancaster County Dunlap was in possession of the land above described & was disposed by Black.”
That this conflict reached the Court of Lancaster County indicates the seriousness of the conflict. According to John L. Finafrock, writing in Notes on Franklin County History in 1942, “Later Dunlap complained to the authorities that when Black could not remove him by Pennsylvania law, Black secured a Maryland constable and posse, came to Dunlap’s place, and after an ugly fight dispossessed Dunlap….To the day of his death Dunlap claimed lands here. “ In Dunlap’s will, probated in Cumberland County on August 25, 1764, he stated: “I give and that the said Arthur Dunlap have all my Estate Real and Personal to him and his heirs forever with the lands that I am now contending for….” Exactly what lands he was contesting is not clear, but it is clear that the conflict was continuing.
By whatever means John Black and his family prevailed. John Black and his wife Jean had two sons, James and Robert. Grants appear to have been made to three men in the Black family - John Black, Robert Black, and James Black. According to William Black, a descendant, in a letter to Daniel Heefner in Mercersburg in 1948, “John Black and Jean, his wife, owned a tract lying east from Cove mountain, bordering on the Run. His son James owned under a claim, the land lying on to the east, and Robert, another son, owned the tract that later was sold by his son to William Smith - some 600 acres. This family had land from the central part of the academy grounds, westward to the foot of Cove Mt.” By tradition John Black founded the mill. His son, James Black, it is believed, helped to found the mill but then moved to North Carolina. John Black’s other son, Robert, (1709-1750) later owned and operated the mill. Robert Black and his wife Ann had eight children - James, Thomas, John, who became the Reverend John Black and eventually owned part of the land west toward the mountain, Robert, Jane. Elizabeth, Martha, and Ann. After Robert’s death in 1750 James, the oldest son of Robert and Ann, purchased the interest of his brothers and sisters. “Upon Petition of James Black Jr., the oldest son of Robert Black, that the said James Black do hold and enjoy the Messuage, Mill, Plantation and 750 acres in paying to each of the rest of the children the sum of forty-six pounds and eight pence farthing.” Cumberland County June 12, 1751
Also after Robert’s death in 1750 his young son Robert petitioned the Orphans Court “held at Peters Town for the county of Cumberland the twelfth day of June in the Lord of our Lord 1751 before Samuel Smith, William Maxwell, and William Allison Esqrs….” The young Robert’s petition follows:
“Upon the petition of Robert Black an infant one of the children of Robert Black late of Peters Township in the County of Cumberland and Yeoman deceased, Praying the court to appoint such Guardian or Guardians over his person and estates during his minority as the Court shall see fit It is considered by the Court and ordered that James Black the uncle of the said Infant be the Guardian over his person and Estate during his minority accordingly.”
On the same day the following was recorded: “Upon the petition of Ann Black and John Black Infants two of the Children of Robert Black late of Peters Township in the Count of Cumberland Yeoman deceased, Praying the Court to appoint them such Guardians over their persons and estates during their minority as the Court shall think fit, It is considered by the Court and ordered that Ann Black the mother of the said Infants be the Guardian over their persons and Estates during their minority accordingly.”
Again on that same day James, the oldest son of Robert, filed the following petition in which he purchased the interests of his brothers and sisters.
“Upon the petition of James Black, Jr, the oldest son and heir at Law of Robert Black, [sic] late of Peters Township in the County of Cumberland Yeoman deceased to this Court setting forth that the said Robert Black late of Peters Township in the County of Cumberland Yeoman deceased to this court setting forth that the said Robert Black in his lifetime at the time of his decease was among other things in his life time Seized or possessed of a certain Messuage[house with adjacent buildings and land] or Tenement Water Grist Mill, Plantation and two tracts of land or pieces of Land situate in Peters township aforesaid. Containing in the whole seven hundred and fifty acres or thereabouts, together with appurts[enances]. And the said Robert Black being so seized or possessed died Intestate leaving a widow and Eight Children, and the said James Black being willing and desirous to hold the aforesaid Messuage Mill Plantation and two tracts of land and Appurtenances and to pay the rest of the children their respective shares of the said Estate amounting to the sum of forty-six pounds and eight pence farthing each wherewith they and each of them are fully satisfied and contented, It is thereupon considered by the Court and ordered (according to the consent of all parties concerned) That the said James Black do hold and enjoy the aforesaid Messauge Mill Plantation & 750 Acres of land with the appurtenances he paying unto the rest of the children the sum of forty-six pounds and eight pence farthing each within twelve months from the date hereof in lieu and satisfaction of their parts or shares of the said Messuage Mill and premises aforesaid.”
On June 12, 1751, James Black signed a mortgage with his mother, the widow, Ann Black, for payment of 160 pounds with 16 pounds due on June 12, 1754, and 16 pounds annually thereafter for 350 acres in Peters Township. This was part of the estate of his father, Robert Black. (Cumberland County Courthouse)
James Black received a returned warrant from the Land Office in Philadelphia, dated August 17, 1751, granting him the legal right to have either the land he had purchased from his brothers and sisters or additional land surveyed.
BY THE PROPRIETARIES Whereas James Black of the county of Cumberland hath requested that we would grant him to take up two hundred Acres of Land Including his improvement adjoining a Tract of 100 acres sold to Richard Peters by the said James Black and Peter Corbet in Peters Township in the said County of Cumberland; for which he agrees to pay Us for our Use Fifteen Pounds Ten Shillings, current Money of this Province, for each Hundred Acres with Lawful Interest for the same and the Yearly Quit-rent of One Halfpenny Sterling for every Acre thereof. Both to commence from the first of March 1738 These are therefore to authorize and require you to survey, or cause to be surveyed, unto the said James Black, at the place Aforesaid, according to the Method of Townships appointed, the said Quantity of two hundred Acres, if not already surveyed to appropriated; and make return therefore into the Secretary’s Office, in Order for confirmation, for which this will be your sufficient Warrant: Which Survey, in case the said James Black fulfill the Above Agreement within Six Months from the Date hereof, shall be valid, otherwise void. GIVEN under my Hand, and the Seal of the Land Office, by Virtue of certain powers from the said PROPRIETARIES at Philadelphia, this seventeenth day of August- Anno Domini One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-One. Surveyor-General Nicolas Scull.
In 1751, the first appearance of Peters Township in tax records, Ann Black widow and James Black were listed as taxpayers in Peters Township, which had been formed in that year.
On October 22, 1759, James Black, who with his wife Rachel and probably with his mother Ann was living in Maryland, sold the Clouds Creek property to William Smith. James and his wife and mother lived in western Frederick County, Maryland, now Washington County, Maryland, at least until 1770. At one time James owned lots in Sharpsburg, Maryland. Like his brother the younger James, the Reverend John Black did not stay in this community. The younger John Black, who had been granted by the older James Black a small portion of the large tract west of what is now Mercersburg, entered Nassau Hall (now Princeton University) in 1769, graduated in 1771, was married to Elizabeth Newell with Dr. John King as the officiating minister in 1773, and was ordained in the Donegal Presbytery in 1775. He served in the Marsh Creek congregation and later moved to Greensburg in Westmoreland County. He was a delegate to the Pennsylvania Convention that ratified the United States Constitution.
The indenture noting the sale of the land from James Black to William Smith follows: “This Indenture made the twenty-second day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred & fifty-nine--between James Black late of Frederick County & Province of Maryland Gentleman of the one part and William Smith of the county of Cumberland & province of Pensilvania [sic] Esq. of the other part Witnesseth that the said James Black for & in consideration of three hundred & fifty pounds current lawfull money of Pensilvania [sic] to him in hand paid the receipt whereof he doth acknowledge hath granted bargoned [sic] sold and confirmed and do by these presents grant bargon [sic] sell & confirm unto the said William Smith & to his heirs and assigns all that certain Tract of land laying in Peters Township in Cumberland County known by the name of Blacks Mill formerly possessed by said Black as also by his father Robert Black deceased as it is warranted survaid [sic] & returned unto the Surveyer General’s Office containing four hundred & ninty [sic] Acres & one half Acre Together with all & singular the improvements rights members appurtainances [sic] ways waters water courses & priviledges [sic] whatsoever unto the said tract of land belonging or in any wise appertaining and all the estate right title intrist [sic] property claim & demand of him the said James Black of in & to the same To have & to hold the said tract of land Hereditaments & appurtenances whatsoever to the same belonging unto the said William Smith & his heirs to the only proper use and behoof [sic] of the said William Smith his heirs & assigns forever, Subject [sic] nevertheless to the payment of the purchase money Intrist [sic] an quit rent thereon due & to become due to the Honorable propryators [sic] for the same. In witness whereof the said James Black have hereunto set his hand& seal dated the day & year first above written.” James Black (Seal) Signed seald [sic] & delivered in presence of us David Scott Sam’l Carrick”
“Rec’d the day of the date of the within Indenture of William Smith within named the sum of three hundred & fifty pounds being the full consideration….” Thus what had been Black’s settlement became Smith’s settlement.
Old Mercersburg, published in 1912, states: “William Smith, the Proprietor of Smith’s Town, was the son of James and Jane Smith. He married his cousin Mary, sister of Col. James Smith, of ‘Black Boys’ fame. In 1755 Smith was appointed one of the commissioners to build the military road which General Braddock demanded of the Provincial government. This road was to extend from McDowell’s mill to the forks of the Youghiogheny. Under the personal supervision of the Commissioners the bridle path was converted into a wagon road for the passage of troops and transportation of military supplies, but the work was done under constant danger from the Indians.” In addition, in the words of Old Mercersburg “To protect the frontier, it was necessary to control the trade with the Indians by a military-like inspection, and William Smith was one of these inspectors by virtue of his office as Colonial Justice.”
In the 1766 tax records William Smith was listed as owning one grist mill, six horses, six cows, five sheep, two servants, and fifty cleared acres. In the 1768 tax records he was listed as owning three horses, six cows, ten sheep, one servant, 350 warranted acres (authority to survey a tract of land), thirty-seven lots (?), and seventy cleared acres. William Smith, who with his mill, distillery, tanyard, and his various civic responsibilities was an important man, died on March 27, 1775.
Smith in his will provided for his family and gave lands to his two sons. To his son Robert he gave land north and west of the settlement including a plot of land on which the Presbyterian Church on West Seminary Street now stand. The lands of Smith’s estate that encompassed what is now central Mercersburg he gave to his son William Smith Jr., (1760? -1786) who had married on September 2, 1783, Margaret Piper (1765-1852) daughter of William and Sarah McDowell Piper. On March 17, 1786, he laid out the town plan of Mercersburg originally with two north-south streets and two east-west streets with 148 lots with each lot fifty feet wide and 200 feet deep. On March 21 of that year he made out his will and in it gave his directions for the process of developing the town, which he called Mersers Burgh in honor of General Hugh Mercer, who at one time had lived this area and who had died on January 12, 1777, from wounds received at the Battle of Princeton on January 2. William Smith Jr. stated: “My Executors herein named I do hereby Authorize and Impower to act and do in all manner of.…Things respecting a new town layed out by me and called Mersers Burgh by Making Title to the purchasers, signing sealing and Delivering & in as full clear and ample a manner as I myself might or could do it I were alive and personally Present According to the plan of same ground….It is my will that My Executors out of the money Arising from the Sale of lots in the abovementioned Town do build on that Lot that I have reserved near where my stable now stands a neat and commodious House of middling size at their discretion and put it in order for my wife and Daughter to live in….” That house built of stone stands at the intersection of North Main and Oregon Streets. He also stated that all other money from the sale of the lots should go to his wife Margaret and his daughter Salley (baptized April 8, 1784). In the same document he also stated that he had already sold to Benjamin Chestnut the tan yard started by his father. Unfortunately William Smith Jr. did not live to see his town plan developed as at age twenty-six he died on April 2 of that same year.
William Smith Jr. was an excellent town planner. Moving the center of his new town away from the area of the mill, Clouds Creek, and a high water table and consequent flooding, he established the center, the Diamond now called the Square, to be south of that area and upon a much higher point. He also planned a wide main street so that two wagons could pass easily and an east west street almost as wide. To provide light and space he added alleys in each block of his town plan so that the effect of the plan was to make the town seem light and airy.
His executors, Matthew Wilson and James Stewart, held two lotteries in order to sell the lots. By the first lottery people had the right to purchase a lot, and in the second lottery they could choose the lot they wanted. The indenture for each purchase drawn up by Smith and his wife Margaret stated “That in consideration of the sum of three pounds lawful money of Pennsylvania” the buyer would have bought “a Lot or piece of Ground situate in the town of Mercersburg” and would pay forever “a yearly rent of ten shillings” to be paid “at the said town of Mercersburg” each year on March 23.
On June 11, 1816, sixteen years after the town had been laid out in lots, John Palmer of England wrote: “Left Hagerstown road to Mercersburg….Breakfasted at Mercersburg, a small village of log cabins.”
As we walk or drive through Mercersburg and enjoy its beauty, it will be well to remember its long, unique and rich history and the largely forgotten people who created it.
Notes:
The widow of William Smith Jr, Margaret Piper Smith (1765-1852), daughter of William and Sarah McDowell Piper, married James Irwin.
William Smith Jr. and Margaret Piper Smith’s daughter Sarah (Salley) married John Brownson. The names of John and Sarah Smith Brownson or of Sarah Smith Brownson alone appear on deeds of many old properties in Mercersburg and on other documents. Their one son, Dr. Robert S. Brownson, a local physician, served as a Captain and then as a Major in Company C of the 126th Pennsylvania Regiment. Their other son, James Irwin Brownson, minister in the Presbyterian Church, was minister of the First Church of Washington, Pennsylvania, and for several years was the acting President of Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania. He was named for James Irwin, whom Margaret Piper Smith married after the death of William Smith Jr.
Much is unclear about the payment of the quit-rents, including the number of years they were required payment and the administration and collection of them. The January 30, 1939, issue of the Mercersburg Journal included the obituary of Judge James Irwin Brownson, who was son of James Irwin Brownson, grandson of Sarah Smith Brownson and John Brownson, and great-grandson of Margaret Piper Smith and William Smith Jr. The final paragraph of the obituary follows: “Judge Brownson after the death of his father in 1899 received the Quit Rents due the Brownson estate paid by a number of home owners in Mercersburg, an item of about $1.27 annually.”
Sources:
Black, William. Letters to Daniel Heefner and Florence Jordan. Courtesy of Fendrick Library
Bowers, Dorothy. The Irwins and the Harrisons. Mercersburg. Irwinton Publishers, 1973
Documents. Cumberland County Courthouse
Documents. Cumberland County Historical Society
Documents. Franklin County Historical Society - Kittochtinny
Finafrock, John L. Notes on Franklin County History. Kittochtinny Historical Society, 1942
Donehoo, George, ed. History of the Cumberland Valley. Susquehanna Historical Association, 1930
Woman’s Club of Mercersburg. Old Mercersburg, 1912
Mercersburg - Its Beginnings
Joan C. McCulloh
Pennsylvania from 1681 until 1776 was a proprietary colony. In 1681 King Charles II of Great Britain in payment of a debt he owned William Penn’s father, Admiral William Penn, granted to William Penn the land that came to be called Pennsylvania and granted a charter to William Penn for that land. This was, therefore, a proprietary colony governed by William Penn, who in 1682 established a Frame of Government for the colony, a unique document that assured new settlers that they would have freedom of conscience and representative government. This colony would be administered not just by Penn but by his sons and his agents. After Penn’s death in 1718 his sons operated a Land Office so that as a proprietary colony the Penns and their agents directed the process of determining counties and the granting of land. In the beginning of this process three counties were formed, Philadelphia, Chester, and Bucks. The next county to be established, Lancaster County, formed in 1729, included all the land to the western border of Pennsylvania. The Mercersburg area remained in Lancaster County until 1750 when Cumberland County was formed and remained in Cumberland County until 1784 when Franklin County was formed.
In the early 1700s the Proprietors of Pennsylvania, the sons of William Penn, John, Thomas, and Richard, realized that the land west of the Susquehanna River still belonged to the Native Americans and became fearful that the area would be overrun by people from Maryland as the location of the border between the two colonies was unclear. In 1732 the Penns and the Calverts of Maryland had agreed upon a border between their colonies, but confusion and conflicts developed as people either did not know where the border was or determined where it was according to their own desires and needs. Therefore, in 1733 Thomas Penn gave Samuel Blunston, sheriff or justice in Lancaster County, the right to grant temporary licenses to people to settle west of the Susquehanna River. Although the Penns did not have clear ownership of these lands west of the river until 1736 when they made a treaty with the Native Americans, in this way the Penns would be assured that the area west of the Susquehanna River would be populated by Pennsylvanians when the Native Americans by treaty released these lands. These licenses were recorded in the Land Office in Philadelphia with the understanding that the holders of the licenses would eventually secure patents, now called deeds, for the land. These licenses were given with the understanding that the holders of them would receive their land after the purchase of the land from the Native Americans that did occur in 1736. After that date the Land Office in Philadelphia was the arbiter of land purchases.
The Commission Granted to Samuel Blunston
A Record of Licenses Granted to Sundry Persons to Settle & take up land on the West Side of Susquehannah River by Virtue of a Comission [sic] from the Honble [sic] Thomas Penn Esqr Bearing Date the 11th Day of January 1733. To Samuel Blunston of Lancast County page 39
Obtaining a patent or deed for land required the person who wanted to own the land to take several steps. First, he had to have a license and/or make written application for the land, then apply to the Surveyor-General in the Land Office in Philadelphia for a warrant in order to have the land surveyed, have the land surveyed, then have the survey indicating also that all purchase price and all fees had been paid returned to the land Office, and then receive a patent, what we today call a deed.
By tradition Edward Parnell, who took up land in this area about 1727, was the first person to settle in the area around what is now Mercersburg. In 1734 Edward Parnell was one of forty men who wrote a letter to Samuel Blunston stating that they already lived on the Conococheague and Antietam as we now spell the names of those creeks and that they intended to apply for license for the lands they already held. The letter states: “Mr. Samuel Blunston, Sr. this is to let you understand that the Inhabitants about the great Marsh where Edmund Cartledge does live have met and made a general Conclusion for to get grants from you for to settle any where upon the Waters of Conehecheegoe and likewise upon the Waters of the Andiatom in the North side of the line that George Noble and John Smith did run.” By 1734 the phrases, “Parnels Nob, “Edward Parnells,” and Parnels meadows,” were frequently used. However, there is no record of a Blunston License for Edward Parnell. It is believed that Edward Parnell left this area not long after he had settled here.
As the system of the acquisition of land under the Blunston license plan began before the Penns’ purchase of the land from the Native Americans, it was a highly irregular system. Also as the process of acquiring land legally was cumbersome and time-consuming, and as the Land Office was in Philadelphia, sometimes people applied for a license or a warrant but did not have the land surveyed or did not return the survey to the Land Office. Therefore, confusion and conflict frequently developed. Adding to the uncertainty was the fact that the Penns did not purchase the land from the Native Americans until 1736.
In On October 11, 1736, the Penns and Six Nations of Native Americans signed a treaty with far-reaching consequences. After the signing of this treaty the lands which had been occupied west of the Susquehanna River under the Blunston Licenses from 1733 until 1736 could be legally patented to those who made application and who had had the lands surveyed.
This treaty that brought about peace with the Native Americans also had the purpose of deterring people from Maryland to settle north of the Temporary Line. It said in part: “And all the lands lying on the west side of the said river [Susquehanna]to the setting of the Sun and to extend from the mouth of the said river northward, up the same to the hills or mountains called the language of the same nations Tyannuntasacta, or Endless hills…together also with all the Islands in the said River, Ways, Waters, Watercourses, Woods, Underwoods, Timber, Trees, Mountains, Hills, Mines, Valleys, Minerals, Quarries, Rights, Liberties, Privileges, Advantages, Hereditaments, and Appurtenances….” Then follow the names of the chiefs of the six nations signing this deed. The cost to the Penns for this immense stretch of land included 600 pounds of lead, 500 pounds of powder, 45 guns, 60 Strowd water match coats,100 blankets, 100 duffle match coats, 200 yards of half thick, 100 shirts, 40 hats, 40 pairs of shoes and buckles, 40 pairs of stockings, 100 hatchets, 500 knives, 100 houghs, 60 kettles, 100 tobacco tins, 100 scissors, 500 awl blades, 120 combs, 2000 needles, 1000 flints, 24 looking glasses, 2 pounds of vermilion, 100 tin pots, 24 dozen of gartering, 25 gallons of rum, 200 pounds of tobacco, and 1000 pipes.
The chiefs signing this treaty also agreed that in the future they would not sell any of this land to anyone except the children of William Penn. They agreed “That neither we nor they [children] nor any in authority in our nations, will at any time bargain, sell, grant, or by any means make over, to any person or persons, whatsoever, whether White men or Indians, other than the said proprietors, the children of William Penn, or to persons by them Authorized and Appointed to agree for and receive the same, any lands within the Limits of the Government of Pennsylvania, as “tis bounded Northward with the Government of New York and Albany.”
Much about the earliest settlement in the area now called Mercersburg is uncertain as there were conflict and confusion in the early 1700s between two men, Andrew Dunlap and his son and John Black and his family.
Conflict developed between two men, Andrew Dunlap and John Black, over a tract or tracts of land, including what became Mercersburg as both men received a Blunston License. In 1733 Andrew Dunlap was granted an initial Blunston License for the land. The license states: “September 3rd Andrew Dunlap for himself & Son Joseph Dunlap, 400 acres (this place is in dispute with John Black). On a Westerly Branch of Conegochege Called Clouds Branch [now Johnstons Run] about three miles North East of Edward Parnels.” He received a warrant for this land dated December 9, 1764. However, there was no reference to a patent, what we call a deed. On February 27, 1734, John Black was granted a Blunston License for land that either encompassed or overlapped in some way, or was contiguous to the land Dunlap claimed. The license states: “February 27th (1734?) John Black for himself & his children, 800 acres. On a Northern Branch of Conegochege where Peter Hart & John Gibson first setled [sic] who have quitted their claim.” He received a warrant for land dated August 17, 1751.
Another reference in the Land Office in reference to Tract MRC059 states that a warrant to Andrew Dunlap was dated February 4, 1737, and the one to John Black was dated March 1, 1737 for land. The record notes further that a survey was returned for Black on March 15, 1737, and for Dunlap on December 12, 1828, on Dunlaps’ warrant and “notes the conflicting claim under Black’s warrant. The survey says apparently Dunlap was dispossessed by Black….” This large tract of land lies west of what is now Mercersburg and lies south of route 16. The fact that this record notes 1737 as the date confirms that the conflict between the two families continued. This large tract of land was possessed by a son of John Black, James Black, who later moved to North Carolina.
Other records in the Land Office that are puzzling to the modern reader focus upon additional applications for land. A note from these records about MRC150, the southern end of what is now Mercersburg and part of Montgomery Township, states: “Blunston License to Andrew Dunlap dated 3 Sep 1734; Cumberland County warrants D82 to Andrew Dunlap dated 9 Dec 1764 BS and CO19 to Peter Corbet dated 27 Nov 1751. Survey A-052-253 dated 19 Nov 1736 on Dunlap’s license; returned to Dunlap 9 Dec 1742.” The following information is added: “On the 28th day of December this draft + Certificate was sent in to my Office by Wm Peters Esquire with an order to Examin [sic] the Quantity which I did + sent it back to him again by Andrew Dunlap who Brought it to me. Returned 4 Jan 1764 for Andrew Dunlap. Survey A-008-260 dated for William Shannon on Corbet’s warrant; previously surveyed for Robert Black.”
Another note in the Land Office about MRC151, what is now Mercersburg, states : “Blunston License to Andrew Dunlap dated 3 Sep 1734; Cumberland County warrants D082 to Andrew Dunlap dated 9 1764 and B016 to James Black dated 17 Aug 1751 Survey A-052-253 dated 19 Nov1736 on Dunlap’s License; returned for Dunlap 9 Dec 1742. ‘On the 28th day of December this draft + Certificate was sent into my Office by Wm Peters Esquire with an order to Examin [sic] the Quantity which I did + sent to back to him for Andrew Dunlap who brought it to me.’ Returned 4 Jan 1764 for Andrw Dunlap. Survey C-026-055 dates 6 1792 for Sarah Smith…on Black’s warrant Survey A-017 dated 26 Apr 1792 for Dr. William Magaw on Black’s warrant. Returned 18 1792 Aug for James Black.”
The fact that conflict between the two men existed is also attested to by the fact that a draft of one of the tracts of land “situate in Peters Township” and including Clouds Branch, now Johnstons Run, noting Dunlap’s warrant, is accompanied by a note that states the following: “The land above described is the same land as held by a survey Containing 342 acrs [sic] & all, which was surveyed in pursuance of a warrant granted to John Black dated 1st of March 1737...but by a survey on the ground it is found to extend the black lines as returned on Dunlap’s original warrant.” The note further states: “No evidence appears of any survey having been made on Dunlap’s warrant, but from a copy from the record of the Court of Lancaster County Dunlap was in possession of the land above described & was disposed by Black.”
That this conflict reached the Court of Lancaster County indicates the seriousness of the conflict. According to John L. Finafrock, writing in Notes on Franklin County History in 1942, “Later Dunlap complained to the authorities that when Black could not remove him by Pennsylvania law, Black secured a Maryland constable and posse, came to Dunlap’s place, and after an ugly fight dispossessed Dunlap….To the day of his death Dunlap claimed lands here. “ In Dunlap’s will, probated in Cumberland County on August 25, 1764, he stated: “I give and that the said Arthur Dunlap have all my Estate Real and Personal to him and his heirs forever with the lands that I am now contending for….” Exactly what lands he was contesting is not clear, but it is clear that the conflict was continuing.
By whatever means John Black and his family prevailed. John Black and his wife Jean had two sons, James and Robert. Grants appear to have been made to three men in the Black family - John Black, Robert Black, and James Black. According to William Black, a descendant, in a letter to Daniel Heefner in Mercersburg in 1948, “John Black and Jean, his wife, owned a tract lying east from Cove mountain, bordering on the Run. His son James owned under a claim, the land lying on to the east, and Robert, another son, owned the tract that later was sold by his son to William Smith - some 600 acres. This family had land from the central part of the academy grounds, westward to the foot of Cove Mt.” By tradition John Black founded the mill. His son, James Black, it is believed, helped to found the mill but then moved to North Carolina. John Black’s other son, Robert, (1709-1750) later owned and operated the mill. Robert Black and his wife Ann had eight children - James, Thomas, John, who became the Reverend John Black and eventually owned part of the land west toward the mountain, Robert, Jane. Elizabeth, Martha, and Ann. After Robert’s death in 1750 James, the oldest son of Robert and Ann, purchased the interest of his brothers and sisters. “Upon Petition of James Black Jr., the oldest son of Robert Black, that the said James Black do hold and enjoy the Messuage, Mill, Plantation and 750 acres in paying to each of the rest of the children the sum of forty-six pounds and eight pence farthing.” Cumberland County June 12, 1751
Also after Robert’s death in 1750 his young son Robert petitioned the Orphans Court “held at Peters Town for the county of Cumberland the twelfth day of June in the Lord of our Lord 1751 before Samuel Smith, William Maxwell, and William Allison Esqrs….” The young Robert’s petition follows:
“Upon the petition of Robert Black an infant one of the children of Robert Black late of Peters Township in the County of Cumberland and Yeoman deceased, Praying the court to appoint such Guardian or Guardians over his person and estates during his minority as the Court shall see fit It is considered by the Court and ordered that James Black the uncle of the said Infant be the Guardian over his person and Estate during his minority accordingly.”
On the same day the following was recorded: “Upon the petition of Ann Black and John Black Infants two of the Children of Robert Black late of Peters Township in the Count of Cumberland Yeoman deceased, Praying the Court to appoint them such Guardians over their persons and estates during their minority as the Court shall think fit, It is considered by the Court and ordered that Ann Black the mother of the said Infants be the Guardian over their persons and Estates during their minority accordingly.”
Again on that same day James, the oldest son of Robert, filed the following petition in which he purchased the interests of his brothers and sisters.
“Upon the petition of James Black, Jr, the oldest son and heir at Law of Robert Black, [sic] late of Peters Township in the County of Cumberland Yeoman deceased to this Court setting forth that the said Robert Black late of Peters Township in the County of Cumberland Yeoman deceased to this court setting forth that the said Robert Black in his lifetime at the time of his decease was among other things in his life time Seized or possessed of a certain Messuage[house with adjacent buildings and land] or Tenement Water Grist Mill, Plantation and two tracts of land or pieces of Land situate in Peters township aforesaid. Containing in the whole seven hundred and fifty acres or thereabouts, together with appurts[enances]. And the said Robert Black being so seized or possessed died Intestate leaving a widow and Eight Children, and the said James Black being willing and desirous to hold the aforesaid Messuage Mill Plantation and two tracts of land and Appurtenances and to pay the rest of the children their respective shares of the said Estate amounting to the sum of forty-six pounds and eight pence farthing each wherewith they and each of them are fully satisfied and contented, It is thereupon considered by the Court and ordered (according to the consent of all parties concerned) That the said James Black do hold and enjoy the aforesaid Messauge Mill Plantation & 750 Acres of land with the appurtenances he paying unto the rest of the children the sum of forty-six pounds and eight pence farthing each within twelve months from the date hereof in lieu and satisfaction of their parts or shares of the said Messuage Mill and premises aforesaid.”
On June 12, 1751, James Black signed a mortgage with his mother, the widow, Ann Black, for payment of 160 pounds with 16 pounds due on June 12, 1754, and 16 pounds annually thereafter for 350 acres in Peters Township. This was part of the estate of his father, Robert Black. (Cumberland County Courthouse)
James Black received a returned warrant from the Land Office in Philadelphia, dated August 17, 1751, granting him the legal right to have either the land he had purchased from his brothers and sisters or additional land surveyed.
BY THE PROPRIETARIES Whereas James Black of the county of Cumberland hath requested that we would grant him to take up two hundred Acres of Land Including his improvement adjoining a Tract of 100 acres sold to Richard Peters by the said James Black and Peter Corbet in Peters Township in the said County of Cumberland; for which he agrees to pay Us for our Use Fifteen Pounds Ten Shillings, current Money of this Province, for each Hundred Acres with Lawful Interest for the same and the Yearly Quit-rent of One Halfpenny Sterling for every Acre thereof. Both to commence from the first of March 1738 These are therefore to authorize and require you to survey, or cause to be surveyed, unto the said James Black, at the place Aforesaid, according to the Method of Townships appointed, the said Quantity of two hundred Acres, if not already surveyed to appropriated; and make return therefore into the Secretary’s Office, in Order for confirmation, for which this will be your sufficient Warrant: Which Survey, in case the said James Black fulfill the Above Agreement within Six Months from the Date hereof, shall be valid, otherwise void. GIVEN under my Hand, and the Seal of the Land Office, by Virtue of certain powers from the said PROPRIETARIES at Philadelphia, this seventeenth day of August- Anno Domini One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-One. Surveyor-General Nicolas Scull.
In 1751, the first appearance of Peters Township in tax records, Ann Black widow and James Black were listed as taxpayers in Peters Township, which had been formed in that year.
On October 22, 1759, James Black, who with his wife Rachel and probably with his mother Ann was living in Maryland, sold the Clouds Creek property to William Smith. James and his wife and mother lived in western Frederick County, Maryland, now Washington County, Maryland, at least until 1770. At one time James owned lots in Sharpsburg, Maryland. Like his brother the younger James, the Reverend John Black did not stay in this community. The younger John Black, who had been granted by the older James Black a small portion of the large tract west of what is now Mercersburg, entered Nassau Hall (now Princeton University) in 1769, graduated in 1771, was married to Elizabeth Newell with Dr. John King as the officiating minister in 1773, and was ordained in the Donegal Presbytery in 1775. He served in the Marsh Creek congregation and later moved to Greensburg in Westmoreland County. He was a delegate to the Pennsylvania Convention that ratified the United States Constitution.
The indenture noting the sale of the land from James Black to William Smith follows: “This Indenture made the twenty-second day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred & fifty-nine--between James Black late of Frederick County & Province of Maryland Gentleman of the one part and William Smith of the county of Cumberland & province of Pensilvania [sic] Esq. of the other part Witnesseth that the said James Black for & in consideration of three hundred & fifty pounds current lawfull money of Pensilvania [sic] to him in hand paid the receipt whereof he doth acknowledge hath granted bargoned [sic] sold and confirmed and do by these presents grant bargon [sic] sell & confirm unto the said William Smith & to his heirs and assigns all that certain Tract of land laying in Peters Township in Cumberland County known by the name of Blacks Mill formerly possessed by said Black as also by his father Robert Black deceased as it is warranted survaid [sic] & returned unto the Surveyer General’s Office containing four hundred & ninty [sic] Acres & one half Acre Together with all & singular the improvements rights members appurtainances [sic] ways waters water courses & priviledges [sic] whatsoever unto the said tract of land belonging or in any wise appertaining and all the estate right title intrist [sic] property claim & demand of him the said James Black of in & to the same To have & to hold the said tract of land Hereditaments & appurtenances whatsoever to the same belonging unto the said William Smith & his heirs to the only proper use and behoof [sic] of the said William Smith his heirs & assigns forever, Subject [sic] nevertheless to the payment of the purchase money Intrist [sic] an quit rent thereon due & to become due to the Honorable propryators [sic] for the same. In witness whereof the said James Black have hereunto set his hand& seal dated the day & year first above written.” James Black (Seal) Signed seald [sic] & delivered in presence of us David Scott Sam’l Carrick”
“Rec’d the day of the date of the within Indenture of William Smith within named the sum of three hundred & fifty pounds being the full consideration….” Thus what had been Black’s settlement became Smith’s settlement.
Old Mercersburg, published in 1912, states: “William Smith, the Proprietor of Smith’s Town, was the son of James and Jane Smith. He married his cousin Mary, sister of Col. James Smith, of ‘Black Boys’ fame. In 1755 Smith was appointed one of the commissioners to build the military road which General Braddock demanded of the Provincial government. This road was to extend from McDowell’s mill to the forks of the Youghiogheny. Under the personal supervision of the Commissioners the bridle path was converted into a wagon road for the passage of troops and transportation of military supplies, but the work was done under constant danger from the Indians.” In addition, in the words of Old Mercersburg “To protect the frontier, it was necessary to control the trade with the Indians by a military-like inspection, and William Smith was one of these inspectors by virtue of his office as Colonial Justice.”
In the 1766 tax records William Smith was listed as owning one grist mill, six horses, six cows, five sheep, two servants, and fifty cleared acres. In the 1768 tax records he was listed as owning three horses, six cows, ten sheep, one servant, 350 warranted acres (authority to survey a tract of land), thirty-seven lots (?), and seventy cleared acres. William Smith, who with his mill, distillery, tanyard, and his various civic responsibilities was an important man, died on March 27, 1775.
Smith in his will provided for his family and gave lands to his two sons. To his son Robert he gave land north and west of the settlement including a plot of land on which the Presbyterian Church on West Seminary Street now stand. The lands of Smith’s estate that encompassed what is now central Mercersburg he gave to his son William Smith Jr., (1760? -1786) who had married on September 2, 1783, Margaret Piper (1765-1852) daughter of William and Sarah McDowell Piper. On March 17, 1786, he laid out the town plan of Mercersburg originally with two north-south streets and two east-west streets with 148 lots with each lot fifty feet wide and 200 feet deep. On March 21 of that year he made out his will and in it gave his directions for the process of developing the town, which he called Mersers Burgh in honor of General Hugh Mercer, who at one time had lived this area and who had died on January 12, 1777, from wounds received at the Battle of Princeton on January 2. William Smith Jr. stated: “My Executors herein named I do hereby Authorize and Impower to act and do in all manner of.…Things respecting a new town layed out by me and called Mersers Burgh by Making Title to the purchasers, signing sealing and Delivering & in as full clear and ample a manner as I myself might or could do it I were alive and personally Present According to the plan of same ground….It is my will that My Executors out of the money Arising from the Sale of lots in the abovementioned Town do build on that Lot that I have reserved near where my stable now stands a neat and commodious House of middling size at their discretion and put it in order for my wife and Daughter to live in….” That house built of stone stands at the intersection of North Main and Oregon Streets. He also stated that all other money from the sale of the lots should go to his wife Margaret and his daughter Salley (baptized April 8, 1784). In the same document he also stated that he had already sold to Benjamin Chestnut the tan yard started by his father. Unfortunately William Smith Jr. did not live to see his town plan developed as at age twenty-six he died on April 2 of that same year.
William Smith Jr. was an excellent town planner. Moving the center of his new town away from the area of the mill, Clouds Creek, and a high water table and consequent flooding, he established the center, the Diamond now called the Square, to be south of that area and upon a much higher point. He also planned a wide main street so that two wagons could pass easily and an east west street almost as wide. To provide light and space he added alleys in each block of his town plan so that the effect of the plan was to make the town seem light and airy.
His executors, Matthew Wilson and James Stewart, held two lotteries in order to sell the lots. By the first lottery people had the right to purchase a lot, and in the second lottery they could choose the lot they wanted. The indenture for each purchase drawn up by Smith and his wife Margaret stated “That in consideration of the sum of three pounds lawful money of Pennsylvania” the buyer would have bought “a Lot or piece of Ground situate in the town of Mercersburg” and would pay forever “a yearly rent of ten shillings” to be paid “at the said town of Mercersburg” each year on March 23.
On June 11, 1816, sixteen years after the town had been laid out in lots, John Palmer of England wrote: “Left Hagerstown road to Mercersburg….Breakfasted at Mercersburg, a small village of log cabins.”
As we walk or drive through Mercersburg and enjoy its beauty, it will be well to remember its long, unique and rich history and the largely forgotten people who created it.
Notes:
The widow of William Smith Jr, Margaret Piper Smith (1765-1852), daughter of William and Sarah McDowell Piper, married James Irwin.
William Smith Jr. and Margaret Piper Smith’s daughter Sarah (Salley) married John Brownson. The names of John and Sarah Smith Brownson or of Sarah Smith Brownson alone appear on deeds of many old properties in Mercersburg and on other documents. Their one son, Dr. Robert S. Brownson, a local physician, served as a Captain and then as a Major in Company C of the 126th Pennsylvania Regiment. Their other son, James Irwin Brownson, minister in the Presbyterian Church, was minister of the First Church of Washington, Pennsylvania, and for several years was the acting President of Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania. He was named for James Irwin, whom Margaret Piper Smith married after the death of William Smith Jr.
Much is unclear about the payment of the quit-rents, including the number of years they were required payment and the administration and collection of them. The January 30, 1939, issue of the Mercersburg Journal included the obituary of Judge James Irwin Brownson, who was son of James Irwin Brownson, grandson of Sarah Smith Brownson and John Brownson, and great-grandson of Margaret Piper Smith and William Smith Jr. The final paragraph of the obituary follows: “Judge Brownson after the death of his father in 1899 received the Quit Rents due the Brownson estate paid by a number of home owners in Mercersburg, an item of about $1.27 annually.”
Sources:
Black, William. Letters to Daniel Heefner and Florence Jordan. Courtesy of Fendrick Library
Bowers, Dorothy. The Irwins and the Harrisons. Mercersburg. Irwinton Publishers, 1973
Documents. Cumberland County Courthouse
Documents. Cumberland County Historical Society
Documents. Franklin County Historical Society - Kittochtinny
Finafrock, John L. Notes on Franklin County History. Kittochtinny Historical Society, 1942
Donehoo, George, ed. History of the Cumberland Valley. Susquehanna Historical Association, 1930
Woman’s Club of Mercersburg. Old Mercersburg, 1912
Mercersburg - Its Beginnings
Joan C. McCulloh
Pennsylvania from 1681 until 1776 was a proprietary colony. In 1681 King Charles II of Great Britain in payment of a debt he owned William Penn’s father, Admiral William Penn, granted to William Penn the land that came to be called Pennsylvania and granted a charter to William Penn for that land. This was, therefore, a proprietary colony governed by William Penn, who in 1682 established a Frame of Government for the colony, a unique document that assured new settlers that they would have freedom of conscience and representative government. This colony would be administered not just by Penn but by his sons and his agents. After Penn’s death in 1718 his sons operated a Land Office so that as a proprietary colony the Penns and their agents directed the process of determining counties and the granting of land. In the beginning of this process three counties were formed, Philadelphia, Chester, and Bucks. The next county to be established, Lancaster County, formed in 1729, included all the land to the western border of Pennsylvania. The Mercersburg area remained in Lancaster County until 1750 when Cumberland County was formed and remained in Cumberland County until 1784 when Franklin County was formed.
In the early 1700s the Proprietors of Pennsylvania, the sons of William Penn, John, Thomas, and Richard, realized that the land west of the Susquehanna River still belonged to the Native Americans and became fearful that the area would be overrun by people from Maryland as the location of the border between the two colonies was unclear. In 1732 the Penns and the Calverts of Maryland had agreed upon a border between their colonies, but confusion and conflicts developed as people either did not know where the border was or determined where it was according to their own desires and needs. Therefore, in 1733 Thomas Penn gave Samuel Blunston, sheriff or justice in Lancaster County, the right to grant temporary licenses to people to settle west of the Susquehanna River. Although the Penns did not have clear ownership of these lands west of the river until 1736 when they made a treaty with the Native Americans, in this way the Penns would be assured that the area west of the Susquehanna River would be populated by Pennsylvanians when the Native Americans by treaty released these lands. These licenses were recorded in the Land Office in Philadelphia with the understanding that the holders of the licenses would eventually secure patents, now called deeds, for the land. These licenses were given with the understanding that the holders of them would receive their land after the purchase of the land from the Native Americans that did occur in 1736. After that date the Land Office in Philadelphia was the arbiter of land purchases.
The Commission Granted to Samuel Blunston
A Record of Licenses Granted to Sundry Persons to Settle & take up land on the West Side of Susquehannah River by Virtue of a Comission [sic] from the Honble [sic] Thomas Penn Esqr Bearing Date the 11th Day of January 1733. To Samuel Blunston of Lancast County page 39
Obtaining a patent or deed for land required the person who wanted to own the land to take several steps. First, he had to have a license and/or make written application for the land, then apply to the Surveyor-General in the Land Office in Philadelphia for a warrant in order to have the land surveyed, have the land surveyed, then have the survey indicating also that all purchase price and all fees had been paid returned to the land Office, and then receive a patent, what we today call a deed.
By tradition Edward Parnell, who took up land in this area about 1727, was the first person to settle in the area around what is now Mercersburg. In 1734 Edward Parnell was one of forty men who wrote a letter to Samuel Blunston stating that they already lived on the Conococheague and Antietam as we now spell the names of those creeks and that they intended to apply for license for the lands they already held. The letter states: “Mr. Samuel Blunston, Sr. this is to let you understand that the Inhabitants about the great Marsh where Edmund Cartledge does live have met and made a general Conclusion for to get grants from you for to settle any where upon the Waters of Conehecheegoe and likewise upon the Waters of the Andiatom in the North side of the line that George Noble and John Smith did run.” By 1734 the phrases, “Parnels Nob, “Edward Parnells,” and Parnels meadows,” were frequently used. However, there is no record of a Blunston License for Edward Parnell. It is believed that Edward Parnell left this area not long after he had settled here.
As the system of the acquisition of land under the Blunston license plan began before the Penns’ purchase of the land from the Native Americans, it was a highly irregular system. Also as the process of acquiring land legally was cumbersome and time-consuming, and as the Land Office was in Philadelphia, sometimes people applied for a license or a warrant but did not have the land surveyed or did not return the survey to the Land Office. Therefore, confusion and conflict frequently developed. Adding to the uncertainty was the fact that the Penns did not purchase the land from the Native Americans until 1736.
In On October 11, 1736, the Penns and Six Nations of Native Americans signed a treaty with far-reaching consequences. After the signing of this treaty the lands which had been occupied west of the Susquehanna River under the Blunston Licenses from 1733 until 1736 could be legally patented to those who made application and who had had the lands surveyed.
This treaty that brought about peace with the Native Americans also had the purpose of deterring people from Maryland to settle north of the Temporary Line. It said in part: “And all the lands lying on the west side of the said river [Susquehanna]to the setting of the Sun and to extend from the mouth of the said river northward, up the same to the hills or mountains called the language of the same nations Tyannuntasacta, or Endless hills…together also with all the Islands in the said River, Ways, Waters, Watercourses, Woods, Underwoods, Timber, Trees, Mountains, Hills, Mines, Valleys, Minerals, Quarries, Rights, Liberties, Privileges, Advantages, Hereditaments, and Appurtenances….” Then follow the names of the chiefs of the six nations signing this deed. The cost to the Penns for this immense stretch of land included 600 pounds of lead, 500 pounds of powder, 45 guns, 60 Strowd water match coats,100 blankets, 100 duffle match coats, 200 yards of half thick, 100 shirts, 40 hats, 40 pairs of shoes and buckles, 40 pairs of stockings, 100 hatchets, 500 knives, 100 houghs, 60 kettles, 100 tobacco tins, 100 scissors, 500 awl blades, 120 combs, 2000 needles, 1000 flints, 24 looking glasses, 2 pounds of vermilion, 100 tin pots, 24 dozen of gartering, 25 gallons of rum, 200 pounds of tobacco, and 1000 pipes.
The chiefs signing this treaty also agreed that in the future they would not sell any of this land to anyone except the children of William Penn. They agreed “That neither we nor they [children] nor any in authority in our nations, will at any time bargain, sell, grant, or by any means make over, to any person or persons, whatsoever, whether White men or Indians, other than the said proprietors, the children of William Penn, or to persons by them Authorized and Appointed to agree for and receive the same, any lands within the Limits of the Government of Pennsylvania, as “tis bounded Northward with the Government of New York and Albany.”
Much about the earliest settlement in the area now called Mercersburg is uncertain as there were conflict and confusion in the early 1700s between two men, Andrew Dunlap and his son and John Black and his family.
Conflict developed between two men, Andrew Dunlap and John Black, over a tract or tracts of land, including what became Mercersburg as both men received a Blunston License. In 1733 Andrew Dunlap was granted an initial Blunston License for the land. The license states: “September 3rd Andrew Dunlap for himself & Son Joseph Dunlap, 400 acres (this place is in dispute with John Black). On a Westerly Branch of Conegochege Called Clouds Branch [now Johnstons Run] about three miles North East of Edward Parnels.” He received a warrant for this land dated December 9, 1764. However, there was no reference to a patent, what we call a deed. On February 27, 1734, John Black was granted a Blunston License for land that either encompassed or overlapped in some way, or was contiguous to the land Dunlap claimed. The license states: “February 27th (1734?) John Black for himself & his children, 800 acres. On a Northern Branch of Conegochege where Peter Hart & John Gibson first setled [sic] who have quitted their claim.” He received a warrant for land dated August 17, 1751.
Another reference in the Land Office in reference to Tract MRC059 states that a warrant to Andrew Dunlap was dated February 4, 1737, and the one to John Black was dated March 1, 1737 for land. The record notes further that a survey was returned for Black on March 15, 1737, and for Dunlap on December 12, 1828, on Dunlaps’ warrant and “notes the conflicting claim under Black’s warrant. The survey says apparently Dunlap was dispossessed by Black….” This large tract of land lies west of what is now Mercersburg and lies south of route 16. The fact that this record notes 1737 as the date confirms that the conflict between the two families continued. This large tract of land was possessed by a son of John Black, James Black, who later moved to North Carolina.
Other records in the Land Office that are puzzling to the modern reader focus upon additional applications for land. A note from these records about MRC150, the southern end of what is now Mercersburg and part of Montgomery Township, states: “Blunston License to Andrew Dunlap dated 3 Sep 1734; Cumberland County warrants D82 to Andrew Dunlap dated 9 Dec 1764 BS and CO19 to Peter Corbet dated 27 Nov 1751. Survey A-052-253 dated 19 Nov 1736 on Dunlap’s license; returned to Dunlap 9 Dec 1742.” The following information is added: “On the 28th day of December this draft + Certificate was sent in to my Office by Wm Peters Esquire with an order to Examin [sic] the Quantity which I did + sent it back to him again by Andrew Dunlap who Brought it to me. Returned 4 Jan 1764 for Andrew Dunlap. Survey A-008-260 dated for William Shannon on Corbet’s warrant; previously surveyed for Robert Black.”
Another note in the Land Office about MRC151, what is now Mercersburg, states : “Blunston License to Andrew Dunlap dated 3 Sep 1734; Cumberland County warrants D082 to Andrew Dunlap dated 9 1764 and B016 to James Black dated 17 Aug 1751 Survey A-052-253 dated 19 Nov1736 on Dunlap’s License; returned for Dunlap 9 Dec 1742. ‘On the 28th day of December this draft + Certificate was sent into my Office by Wm Peters Esquire with an order to Examin [sic] the Quantity which I did + sent to back to him for Andrew Dunlap who brought it to me.’ Returned 4 Jan 1764 for Andrw Dunlap. Survey C-026-055 dates 6 1792 for Sarah Smith…on Black’s warrant Survey A-017 dated 26 Apr 1792 for Dr. William Magaw on Black’s warrant. Returned 18 1792 Aug for James Black.”
The fact that conflict between the two men existed is also attested to by the fact that a draft of one of the tracts of land “situate in Peters Township” and including Clouds Branch, now Johnstons Run, noting Dunlap’s warrant, is accompanied by a note that states the following: “The land above described is the same land as held by a survey Containing 342 acrs [sic] & all, which was surveyed in pursuance of a warrant granted to John Black dated 1st of March 1737...but by a survey on the ground it is found to extend the black lines as returned on Dunlap’s original warrant.” The note further states: “No evidence appears of any survey having been made on Dunlap’s warrant, but from a copy from the record of the Court of Lancaster County Dunlap was in possession of the land above described & was disposed by Black.”
That this conflict reached the Court of Lancaster County indicates the seriousness of the conflict. According to John L. Finafrock, writing in Notes on Franklin County History in 1942, “Later Dunlap complained to the authorities that when Black could not remove him by Pennsylvania law, Black secured a Maryland constable and posse, came to Dunlap’s place, and after an ugly fight dispossessed Dunlap….To the day of his death Dunlap claimed lands here. “ In Dunlap’s will, probated in Cumberland County on August 25, 1764, he stated: “I give and that the said Arthur Dunlap have all my Estate Real and Personal to him and his heirs forever with the lands that I am now contending for….” Exactly what lands he was contesting is not clear, but it is clear that the conflict was continuing.
By whatever means John Black and his family prevailed. John Black and his wife Jean had two sons, James and Robert. Grants appear to have been made to three men in the Black family - John Black, Robert Black, and James Black. According to William Black, a descendant, in a letter to Daniel Heefner in Mercersburg in 1948, “John Black and Jean, his wife, owned a tract lying east from Cove mountain, bordering on the Run. His son James owned under a claim, the land lying on to the east, and Robert, another son, owned the tract that later was sold by his son to William Smith - some 600 acres. This family had land from the central part of the academy grounds, westward to the foot of Cove Mt.” By tradition John Black founded the mill. His son, James Black, it is believed, helped to found the mill but then moved to North Carolina. John Black’s other son, Robert, (1709-1750) later owned and operated the mill. Robert Black and his wife Ann had eight children - James, Thomas, John, who became the Reverend John Black and eventually owned part of the land west toward the mountain, Robert, Jane. Elizabeth, Martha, and Ann. After Robert’s death in 1750 James, the oldest son of Robert and Ann, purchased the interest of his brothers and sisters. “Upon Petition of James Black Jr., the oldest son of Robert Black, that the said James Black do hold and enjoy the Messuage, Mill, Plantation and 750 acres in paying to each of the rest of the children the sum of forty-six pounds and eight pence farthing.” Cumberland County June 12, 1751
Also after Robert’s death in 1750 his young son Robert petitioned the Orphans Court “held at Peters Town for the county of Cumberland the twelfth day of June in the Lord of our Lord 1751 before Samuel Smith, William Maxwell, and William Allison Esqrs….” The young Robert’s petition follows:
“Upon the petition of Robert Black an infant one of the children of Robert Black late of Peters Township in the County of Cumberland and Yeoman deceased, Praying the court to appoint such Guardian or Guardians over his person and estates during his minority as the Court shall see fit It is considered by the Court and ordered that James Black the uncle of the said Infant be the Guardian over his person and Estate during his minority accordingly.”
On the same day the following was recorded: “Upon the petition of Ann Black and John Black Infants two of the Children of Robert Black late of Peters Township in the Count of Cumberland Yeoman deceased, Praying the Court to appoint them such Guardians over their persons and estates during their minority as the Court shall think fit, It is considered by the Court and ordered that Ann Black the mother of the said Infants be the Guardian over their persons and Estates during their minority accordingly.”
Again on that same day James, the oldest son of Robert, filed the following petition in which he purchased the interests of his brothers and sisters.
“Upon the petition of James Black, Jr, the oldest son and heir at Law of Robert Black, [sic] late of Peters Township in the County of Cumberland Yeoman deceased to this Court setting forth that the said Robert Black late of Peters Township in the County of Cumberland Yeoman deceased to this court setting forth that the said Robert Black in his lifetime at the time of his decease was among other things in his life time Seized or possessed of a certain Messuage[house with adjacent buildings and land] or Tenement Water Grist Mill, Plantation and two tracts of land or pieces of Land situate in Peters township aforesaid. Containing in the whole seven hundred and fifty acres or thereabouts, together with appurts[enances]. And the said Robert Black being so seized or possessed died Intestate leaving a widow and Eight Children, and the said James Black being willing and desirous to hold the aforesaid Messuage Mill Plantation and two tracts of land and Appurtenances and to pay the rest of the children their respective shares of the said Estate amounting to the sum of forty-six pounds and eight pence farthing each wherewith they and each of them are fully satisfied and contented, It is thereupon considered by the Court and ordered (according to the consent of all parties concerned) That the said James Black do hold and enjoy the aforesaid Messauge Mill Plantation & 750 Acres of land with the appurtenances he paying unto the rest of the children the sum of forty-six pounds and eight pence farthing each within twelve months from the date hereof in lieu and satisfaction of their parts or shares of the said Messuage Mill and premises aforesaid.”
On June 12, 1751, James Black signed a mortgage with his mother, the widow, Ann Black, for payment of 160 pounds with 16 pounds due on June 12, 1754, and 16 pounds annually thereafter for 350 acres in Peters Township. This was part of the estate of his father, Robert Black. (Cumberland County Courthouse)
James Black received a returned warrant from the Land Office in Philadelphia, dated August 17, 1751, granting him the legal right to have either the land he had purchased from his brothers and sisters or additional land surveyed.
BY THE PROPRIETARIES Whereas James Black of the county of Cumberland hath requested that we would grant him to take up two hundred Acres of Land Including his improvement adjoining a Tract of 100 acres sold to Richard Peters by the said James Black and Peter Corbet in Peters Township in the said County of Cumberland; for which he agrees to pay Us for our Use Fifteen Pounds Ten Shillings, current Money of this Province, for each Hundred Acres with Lawful Interest for the same and the Yearly Quit-rent of One Halfpenny Sterling for every Acre thereof. Both to commence from the first of March 1738 These are therefore to authorize and require you to survey, or cause to be surveyed, unto the said James Black, at the place Aforesaid, according to the Method of Townships appointed, the said Quantity of two hundred Acres, if not already surveyed to appropriated; and make return therefore into the Secretary’s Office, in Order for confirmation, for which this will be your sufficient Warrant: Which Survey, in case the said James Black fulfill the Above Agreement within Six Months from the Date hereof, shall be valid, otherwise void. GIVEN under my Hand, and the Seal of the Land Office, by Virtue of certain powers from the said PROPRIETARIES at Philadelphia, this seventeenth day of August- Anno Domini One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-One. Surveyor-General Nicolas Scull.
In 1751, the first appearance of Peters Township in tax records, Ann Black widow and James Black were listed as taxpayers in Peters Township, which had been formed in that year.
On October 22, 1759, James Black, who with his wife Rachel and probably with his mother Ann was living in Maryland, sold the Clouds Creek property to William Smith. James and his wife and mother lived in western Frederick County, Maryland, now Washington County, Maryland, at least until 1770. At one time James owned lots in Sharpsburg, Maryland. Like his brother the younger James, the Reverend John Black did not stay in this community. The younger John Black, who had been granted by the older James Black a small portion of the large tract west of what is now Mercersburg, entered Nassau Hall (now Princeton University) in 1769, graduated in 1771, was married to Elizabeth Newell with Dr. John King as the officiating minister in 1773, and was ordained in the Donegal Presbytery in 1775. He served in the Marsh Creek congregation and later moved to Greensburg in Westmoreland County. He was a delegate to the Pennsylvania Convention that ratified the United States Constitution.
The indenture noting the sale of the land from James Black to William Smith follows: “This Indenture made the twenty-second day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred & fifty-nine--between James Black late of Frederick County & Province of Maryland Gentleman of the one part and William Smith of the county of Cumberland & province of Pensilvania [sic] Esq. of the other part Witnesseth that the said James Black for & in consideration of three hundred & fifty pounds current lawfull money of Pensilvania [sic] to him in hand paid the receipt whereof he doth acknowledge hath granted bargoned [sic] sold and confirmed and do by these presents grant bargon [sic] sell & confirm unto the said William Smith & to his heirs and assigns all that certain Tract of land laying in Peters Township in Cumberland County known by the name of Blacks Mill formerly possessed by said Black as also by his father Robert Black deceased as it is warranted survaid [sic] & returned unto the Surveyer General’s Office containing four hundred & ninty [sic] Acres & one half Acre Together with all & singular the improvements rights members appurtainances [sic] ways waters water courses & priviledges [sic] whatsoever unto the said tract of land belonging or in any wise appertaining and all the estate right title intrist [sic] property claim & demand of him the said James Black of in & to the same To have & to hold the said tract of land Hereditaments & appurtenances whatsoever to the same belonging unto the said William Smith & his heirs to the only proper use and behoof [sic] of the said William Smith his heirs & assigns forever, Subject [sic] nevertheless to the payment of the purchase money Intrist [sic] an quit rent thereon due & to become due to the Honorable propryators [sic] for the same. In witness whereof the said James Black have hereunto set his hand& seal dated the day & year first above written.” James Black (Seal) Signed seald [sic] & delivered in presence of us David Scott Sam’l Carrick”
“Rec’d the day of the date of the within Indenture of William Smith within named the sum of three hundred & fifty pounds being the full consideration….” Thus what had been Black’s settlement became Smith’s settlement.
Old Mercersburg, published in 1912, states: “William Smith, the Proprietor of Smith’s Town, was the son of James and Jane Smith. He married his cousin Mary, sister of Col. James Smith, of ‘Black Boys’ fame. In 1755 Smith was appointed one of the commissioners to build the military road which General Braddock demanded of the Provincial government. This road was to extend from McDowell’s mill to the forks of the Youghiogheny. Under the personal supervision of the Commissioners the bridle path was converted into a wagon road for the passage of troops and transportation of military supplies, but the work was done under constant danger from the Indians.” In addition, in the words of Old Mercersburg “To protect the frontier, it was necessary to control the trade with the Indians by a military-like inspection, and William Smith was one of these inspectors by virtue of his office as Colonial Justice.”
In the 1766 tax records William Smith was listed as owning one grist mill, six horses, six cows, five sheep, two servants, and fifty cleared acres. In the 1768 tax records he was listed as owning three horses, six cows, ten sheep, one servant, 350 warranted acres (authority to survey a tract of land), thirty-seven lots (?), and seventy cleared acres. William Smith, who with his mill, distillery, tanyard, and his various civic responsibilities was an important man, died on March 27, 1775.
Smith in his will provided for his family and gave lands to his two sons. To his son Robert he gave land north and west of the settlement including a plot of land on which the Presbyterian Church on West Seminary Street now stand. The lands of Smith’s estate that encompassed what is now central Mercersburg he gave to his son William Smith Jr., (1760? -1786) who had married on September 2, 1783, Margaret Piper (1765-1852) daughter of William and Sarah McDowell Piper. On March 17, 1786, he laid out the town plan of Mercersburg originally with two north-south streets and two east-west streets with 148 lots with each lot fifty feet wide and 200 feet deep. On March 21 of that year he made out his will and in it gave his directions for the process of developing the town, which he called Mersers Burgh in honor of General Hugh Mercer, who at one time had lived this area and who had died on January 12, 1777, from wounds received at the Battle of Princeton on January 2. William Smith Jr. stated: “My Executors herein named I do hereby Authorize and Impower to act and do in all manner of.…Things respecting a new town layed out by me and called Mersers Burgh by Making Title to the purchasers, signing sealing and Delivering & in as full clear and ample a manner as I myself might or could do it I were alive and personally Present According to the plan of same ground….It is my will that My Executors out of the money Arising from the Sale of lots in the abovementioned Town do build on that Lot that I have reserved near where my stable now stands a neat and commodious House of middling size at their discretion and put it in order for my wife and Daughter to live in….” That house built of stone stands at the intersection of North Main and Oregon Streets. He also stated that all other money from the sale of the lots should go to his wife Margaret and his daughter Salley (baptized April 8, 1784). In the same document he also stated that he had already sold to Benjamin Chestnut the tan yard started by his father. Unfortunately William Smith Jr. did not live to see his town plan developed as at age twenty-six he died on April 2 of that same year.
William Smith Jr. was an excellent town planner. Moving the center of his new town away from the area of the mill, Clouds Creek, and a high water table and consequent flooding, he established the center, the Diamond now called the Square, to be south of that area and upon a much higher point. He also planned a wide main street so that two wagons could pass easily and an east west street almost as wide. To provide light and space he added alleys in each block of his town plan so that the effect of the plan was to make the town seem light and airy.
His executors, Matthew Wilson and James Stewart, held two lotteries in order to sell the lots. By the first lottery people had the right to purchase a lot, and in the second lottery they could choose the lot they wanted. The indenture for each purchase drawn up by Smith and his wife Margaret stated “That in consideration of the sum of three pounds lawful money of Pennsylvania” the buyer would have bought “a Lot or piece of Ground situate in the town of Mercersburg” and would pay forever “a yearly rent of ten shillings” to be paid “at the said town of Mercersburg” each year on March 23.
On June 11, 1816, sixteen years after the town had been laid out in lots, John Palmer of England wrote: “Left Hagerstown road to Mercersburg….Breakfasted at Mercersburg, a small village of log cabins.”
As we walk or drive through Mercersburg and enjoy its beauty, it will be well to remember its long, unique and rich history and the largely forgotten people who created it.
Notes:
The widow of William Smith Jr, Margaret Piper Smith (1765-1852), daughter of William and Sarah McDowell Piper, married James Irwin.
William Smith Jr. and Margaret Piper Smith’s daughter Sarah (Salley) married John Brownson. The names of John and Sarah Smith Brownson or of Sarah Smith Brownson alone appear on deeds of many old properties in Mercersburg and on other documents. Their one son, Dr. Robert S. Brownson, a local physician, served as a Captain and then as a Major in Company C of the 126th Pennsylvania Regiment. Their other son, James Irwin Brownson, minister in the Presbyterian Church, was minister of the First Church of Washington, Pennsylvania, and for several years was the acting President of Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania. He was named for James Irwin, whom Margaret Piper Smith married after the death of William Smith Jr.
Much is unclear about the payment of the quit-rents, including the number of years they were required payment and the administration and collection of them. The January 30, 1939, issue of the Mercersburg Journal included the obituary of Judge James Irwin Brownson, who was son of James Irwin Brownson, grandson of Sarah Smith Brownson and John Brownson, and great-grandson of Margaret Piper Smith and William Smith Jr. The final paragraph of the obituary follows: “Judge Brownson after the death of his father in 1899 received the Quit Rents due the Brownson estate paid by a number of home owners in Mercersburg, an item of about $1.27 annually.”
Sources:
Black, William. Letters to Daniel Heefner and Florence Jordan. Courtesy of Fendrick Library
Bowers, Dorothy. The Irwins and the Harrisons. Mercersburg. Irwinton Publishers, 1973
Documents. Cumberland County Courthouse
Documents. Cumberland County Historical Society
Documents. Franklin County Historical Society - Kittochtinny
Finafrock, John L. Notes on Franklin County History. Kittochtinny Historical Society, 1942
Donehoo, George, ed. History of the Cumberland Valley. Susquehanna Historical Association, 1930
Woman’s Club of Mercersburg. Old Mercersburg, 1912
Mercersburg - Its Beginnings
Joan C. McCulloh
Pennsylvania from 1681 until 1776 was a proprietary colony. In 1681 King Charles II of Great Britain in payment of a debt he owned William Penn’s father, Admiral William Penn, granted to William Penn the land that came to be called Pennsylvania and granted a charter to William Penn for that land. This was, therefore, a proprietary colony governed by William Penn, who in 1682 established a Frame of Government for the colony, a unique document that assured new settlers that they would have freedom of conscience and representative government. This colony would be administered not just by Penn but by his sons and his agents. After Penn’s death in 1718 his sons operated a Land Office so that as a proprietary colony the Penns and their agents directed the process of determining counties and the granting of land. In the beginning of this process three counties were formed, Philadelphia, Chester, and Bucks. The next county to be established, Lancaster County, formed in 1729, included all the land to the western border of Pennsylvania. The Mercersburg area remained in Lancaster County until 1750 when Cumberland County was formed and remained in Cumberland County until 1784 when Franklin County was formed.
In the early 1700s the Proprietors of Pennsylvania, the sons of William Penn, John, Thomas, and Richard, realized that the land west of the Susquehanna River still belonged to the Native Americans and became fearful that the area would be overrun by people from Maryland as the location of the border between the two colonies was unclear. In 1732 the Penns and the Calverts of Maryland had agreed upon a border between their colonies, but confusion and conflicts developed as people either did not know where the border was or determined where it was according to their own desires and needs. Therefore, in 1733 Thomas Penn gave Samuel Blunston, sheriff or justice in Lancaster County, the right to grant temporary licenses to people to settle west of the Susquehanna River. Although the Penns did not have clear ownership of these lands west of the river until 1736 when they made a treaty with the Native Americans, in this way the Penns would be assured that the area west of the Susquehanna River would be populated by Pennsylvanians when the Native Americans by treaty released these lands. These licenses were recorded in the Land Office in Philadelphia with the understanding that the holders of the licenses would eventually secure patents, now called deeds, for the land. These licenses were given with the understanding that the holders of them would receive their land after the purchase of the land from the Native Americans that did occur in 1736. After that date the Land Office in Philadelphia was the arbiter of land purchases.
The Commission Granted to Samuel Blunston
A Record of Licenses Granted to Sundry Persons to Settle & take up land on the West Side of Susquehannah River by Virtue of a Comission [sic] from the Honble [sic] Thomas Penn Esqr Bearing Date the 11th Day of January 1733. To Samuel Blunston of Lancast County page 39
Obtaining a patent or deed for land required the person who wanted to own the land to take several steps. First, he had to have a license and/or make written application for the land, then apply to the Surveyor-General in the Land Office in Philadelphia for a warrant in order to have the land surveyed, have the land surveyed, then have the survey indicating also that all purchase price and all fees had been paid returned to the land Office, and then receive a patent, what we today call a deed.
By tradition Edward Parnell, who took up land in this area about 1727, was the first person to settle in the area around what is now Mercersburg. In 1734 Edward Parnell was one of forty men who wrote a letter to Samuel Blunston stating that they already lived on the Conococheague and Antietam as we now spell the names of those creeks and that they intended to apply for license for the lands they already held. The letter states: “Mr. Samuel Blunston, Sr. this is to let you understand that the Inhabitants about the great Marsh where Edmund Cartledge does live have met and made a general Conclusion for to get grants from you for to settle any where upon the Waters of Conehecheegoe and likewise upon the Waters of the Andiatom in the North side of the line that George Noble and John Smith did run.” By 1734 the phrases, “Parnels Nob, “Edward Parnells,” and Parnels meadows,” were frequently used. However, there is no record of a Blunston License for Edward Parnell. It is believed that Edward Parnell left this area not long after he had settled here.
As the system of the acquisition of land under the Blunston license plan began before the Penns’ purchase of the land from the Native Americans, it was a highly irregular system. Also as the process of acquiring land legally was cumbersome and time-consuming, and as the Land Office was in Philadelphia, sometimes people applied for a license or a warrant but did not have the land surveyed or did not return the survey to the Land Office. Therefore, confusion and conflict frequently developed. Adding to the uncertainty was the fact that the Penns did not purchase the land from the Native Americans until 1736.
In On October 11, 1736, the Penns and Six Nations of Native Americans signed a treaty with far-reaching consequences. After the signing of this treaty the lands which had been occupied west of the Susquehanna River under the Blunston Licenses from 1733 until 1736 could be legally patented to those who made application and who had had the lands surveyed.
This treaty that brought about peace with the Native Americans also had the purpose of deterring people from Maryland to settle north of the Temporary Line. It said in part: “And all the lands lying on the west side of the said river [Susquehanna]to the setting of the Sun and to extend from the mouth of the said river northward, up the same to the hills or mountains called the language of the same nations Tyannuntasacta, or Endless hills…together also with all the Islands in the said River, Ways, Waters, Watercourses, Woods, Underwoods, Timber, Trees, Mountains, Hills, Mines, Valleys, Minerals, Quarries, Rights, Liberties, Privileges, Advantages, Hereditaments, and Appurtenances….” Then follow the names of the chiefs of the six nations signing this deed. The cost to the Penns for this immense stretch of land included 600 pounds of lead, 500 pounds of powder, 45 guns, 60 Strowd water match coats,100 blankets, 100 duffle match coats, 200 yards of half thick, 100 shirts, 40 hats, 40 pairs of shoes and buckles, 40 pairs of stockings, 100 hatchets, 500 knives, 100 houghs, 60 kettles, 100 tobacco tins, 100 scissors, 500 awl blades, 120 combs, 2000 needles, 1000 flints, 24 looking glasses, 2 pounds of vermilion, 100 tin pots, 24 dozen of gartering, 25 gallons of rum, 200 pounds of tobacco, and 1000 pipes.
The chiefs signing this treaty also agreed that in the future they would not sell any of this land to anyone except the children of William Penn. They agreed “That neither we nor they [children] nor any in authority in our nations, will at any time bargain, sell, grant, or by any means make over, to any person or persons, whatsoever, whether White men or Indians, other than the said proprietors, the children of William Penn, or to persons by them Authorized and Appointed to agree for and receive the same, any lands within the Limits of the Government of Pennsylvania, as “tis bounded Northward with the Government of New York and Albany.”
Much about the earliest settlement in the area now called Mercersburg is uncertain as there were conflict and confusion in the early 1700s between two men, Andrew Dunlap and his son and John Black and his family.
Conflict developed between two men, Andrew Dunlap and John Black, over a tract or tracts of land, including what became Mercersburg as both men received a Blunston License. In 1733 Andrew Dunlap was granted an initial Blunston License for the land. The license states: “September 3rd Andrew Dunlap for himself & Son Joseph Dunlap, 400 acres (this place is in dispute with John Black). On a Westerly Branch of Conegochege Called Clouds Branch [now Johnstons Run] about three miles North East of Edward Parnels.” He received a warrant for this land dated December 9, 1764. However, there was no reference to a patent, what we call a deed. On February 27, 1734, John Black was granted a Blunston License for land that either encompassed or overlapped in some way, or was contiguous to the land Dunlap claimed. The license states: “February 27th (1734?) John Black for himself & his children, 800 acres. On a Northern Branch of Conegochege where Peter Hart & John Gibson first setled [sic] who have quitted their claim.” He received a warrant for land dated August 17, 1751.
Another reference in the Land Office in reference to Tract MRC059 states that a warrant to Andrew Dunlap was dated February 4, 1737, and the one to John Black was dated March 1, 1737 for land. The record notes further that a survey was returned for Black on March 15, 1737, and for Dunlap on December 12, 1828, on Dunlaps’ warrant and “notes the conflicting claim under Black’s warrant. The survey says apparently Dunlap was dispossessed by Black….” This large tract of land lies west of what is now Mercersburg and lies south of route 16. The fact that this record notes 1737 as the date confirms that the conflict between the two families continued. This large tract of land was possessed by a son of John Black, James Black, who later moved to North Carolina.
Other records in the Land Office that are puzzling to the modern reader focus upon additional applications for land. A note from these records about MRC150, the southern end of what is now Mercersburg and part of Montgomery Township, states: “Blunston License to Andrew Dunlap dated 3 Sep 1734; Cumberland County warrants D82 to Andrew Dunlap dated 9 Dec 1764 BS and CO19 to Peter Corbet dated 27 Nov 1751. Survey A-052-253 dated 19 Nov 1736 on Dunlap’s license; returned to Dunlap 9 Dec 1742.” The following information is added: “On the 28th day of December this draft + Certificate was sent in to my Office by Wm Peters Esquire with an order to Examin [sic] the Quantity which I did + sent it back to him again by Andrew Dunlap who Brought it to me. Returned 4 Jan 1764 for Andrew Dunlap. Survey A-008-260 dated for William Shannon on Corbet’s warrant; previously surveyed for Robert Black.”
Another note in the Land Office about MRC151, what is now Mercersburg, states : “Blunston License to Andrew Dunlap dated 3 Sep 1734; Cumberland County warrants D082 to Andrew Dunlap dated 9 1764 and B016 to James Black dated 17 Aug 1751 Survey A-052-253 dated 19 Nov1736 on Dunlap’s License; returned for Dunlap 9 Dec 1742. ‘On the 28th day of December this draft + Certificate was sent into my Office by Wm Peters Esquire with an order to Examin [sic] the Quantity which I did + sent to back to him for Andrew Dunlap who brought it to me.’ Returned 4 Jan 1764 for Andrw Dunlap. Survey C-026-055 dates 6 1792 for Sarah Smith…on Black’s warrant Survey A-017 dated 26 Apr 1792 for Dr. William Magaw on Black’s warrant. Returned 18 1792 Aug for James Black.”
The fact that conflict between the two men existed is also attested to by the fact that a draft of one of the tracts of land “situate in Peters Township” and including Clouds Branch, now Johnstons Run, noting Dunlap’s warrant, is accompanied by a note that states the following: “The land above described is the same land as held by a survey Containing 342 acrs [sic] & all, which was surveyed in pursuance of a warrant granted to John Black dated 1st of March 1737...but by a survey on the ground it is found to extend the black lines as returned on Dunlap’s original warrant.” The note further states: “No evidence appears of any survey having been made on Dunlap’s warrant, but from a copy from the record of the Court of Lancaster County Dunlap was in possession of the land above described & was disposed by Black.”
That this conflict reached the Court of Lancaster County indicates the seriousness of the conflict. According to John L. Finafrock, writing in Notes on Franklin County History in 1942, “Later Dunlap complained to the authorities that when Black could not remove him by Pennsylvania law, Black secured a Maryland constable and posse, came to Dunlap’s place, and after an ugly fight dispossessed Dunlap….To the day of his death Dunlap claimed lands here. “ In Dunlap’s will, probated in Cumberland County on August 25, 1764, he stated: “I give and that the said Arthur Dunlap have all my Estate Real and Personal to him and his heirs forever with the lands that I am now contending for….” Exactly what lands he was contesting is not clear, but it is clear that the conflict was continuing.
By whatever means John Black and his family prevailed. John Black and his wife Jean had two sons, James and Robert. Grants appear to have been made to three men in the Black family - John Black, Robert Black, and James Black. According to William Black, a descendant, in a letter to Daniel Heefner in Mercersburg in 1948, “John Black and Jean, his wife, owned a tract lying east from Cove mountain, bordering on the Run. His son James owned under a claim, the land lying on to the east, and Robert, another son, owned the tract that later was sold by his son to William Smith - some 600 acres. This family had land from the central part of the academy grounds, westward to the foot of Cove Mt.” By tradition John Black founded the mill. His son, James Black, it is believed, helped to found the mill but then moved to North Carolina. John Black’s other son, Robert, (1709-1750) later owned and operated the mill. Robert Black and his wife Ann had eight children - James, Thomas, John, who became the Reverend John Black and eventually owned part of the land west toward the mountain, Robert, Jane. Elizabeth, Martha, and Ann. After Robert’s death in 1750 James, the oldest son of Robert and Ann, purchased the interest of his brothers and sisters. “Upon Petition of James Black Jr., the oldest son of Robert Black, that the said James Black do hold and enjoy the Messuage, Mill, Plantation and 750 acres in paying to each of the rest of the children the sum of forty-six pounds and eight pence farthing.” Cumberland County June 12, 1751
Also after Robert’s death in 1750 his young son Robert petitioned the Orphans Court “held at Peters Town for the county of Cumberland the twelfth day of June in the Lord of our Lord 1751 before Samuel Smith, William Maxwell, and William Allison Esqrs….” The young Robert’s petition follows:
“Upon the petition of Robert Black an infant one of the children of Robert Black late of Peters Township in the County of Cumberland and Yeoman deceased, Praying the court to appoint such Guardian or Guardians over his person and estates during his minority as the Court shall see fit It is considered by the Court and ordered that James Black the uncle of the said Infant be the Guardian over his person and Estate during his minority accordingly.”
On the same day the following was recorded: “Upon the petition of Ann Black and John Black Infants two of the Children of Robert Black late of Peters Township in the Count of Cumberland Yeoman deceased, Praying the Court to appoint them such Guardians over their persons and estates during their minority as the Court shall think fit, It is considered by the Court and ordered that Ann Black the mother of the said Infants be the Guardian over their persons and Estates during their minority accordingly.”
Again on that same day James, the oldest son of Robert, filed the following petition in which he purchased the interests of his brothers and sisters.
“Upon the petition of James Black, Jr, the oldest son and heir at Law of Robert Black, [sic] late of Peters Township in the County of Cumberland Yeoman deceased to this Court setting forth that the said Robert Black late of Peters Township in the County of Cumberland Yeoman deceased to this court setting forth that the said Robert Black in his lifetime at the time of his decease was among other things in his life time Seized or possessed of a certain Messuage[house with adjacent buildings and land] or Tenement Water Grist Mill, Plantation and two tracts of land or pieces of Land situate in Peters township aforesaid. Containing in the whole seven hundred and fifty acres or thereabouts, together with appurts[enances]. And the said Robert Black being so seized or possessed died Intestate leaving a widow and Eight Children, and the said James Black being willing and desirous to hold the aforesaid Messuage Mill Plantation and two tracts of land and Appurtenances and to pay the rest of the children their respective shares of the said Estate amounting to the sum of forty-six pounds and eight pence farthing each wherewith they and each of them are fully satisfied and contented, It is thereupon considered by the Court and ordered (according to the consent of all parties concerned) That the said James Black do hold and enjoy the aforesaid Messauge Mill Plantation & 750 Acres of land with the appurtenances he paying unto the rest of the children the sum of forty-six pounds and eight pence farthing each within twelve months from the date hereof in lieu and satisfaction of their parts or shares of the said Messuage Mill and premises aforesaid.”
On June 12, 1751, James Black signed a mortgage with his mother, the widow, Ann Black, for payment of 160 pounds with 16 pounds due on June 12, 1754, and 16 pounds annually thereafter for 350 acres in Peters Township. This was part of the estate of his father, Robert Black. (Cumberland County Courthouse)
James Black received a returned warrant from the Land Office in Philadelphia, dated August 17, 1751, granting him the legal right to have either the land he had purchased from his brothers and sisters or additional land surveyed.
BY THE PROPRIETARIES Whereas James Black of the county of Cumberland hath requested that we would grant him to take up two hundred Acres of Land Including his improvement adjoining a Tract of 100 acres sold to Richard Peters by the said James Black and Peter Corbet in Peters Township in the said County of Cumberland; for which he agrees to pay Us for our Use Fifteen Pounds Ten Shillings, current Money of this Province, for each Hundred Acres with Lawful Interest for the same and the Yearly Quit-rent of One Halfpenny Sterling for every Acre thereof. Both to commence from the first of March 1738 These are therefore to authorize and require you to survey, or cause to be surveyed, unto the said James Black, at the place Aforesaid, according to the Method of Townships appointed, the said Quantity of two hundred Acres, if not already surveyed to appropriated; and make return therefore into the Secretary’s Office, in Order for confirmation, for which this will be your sufficient Warrant: Which Survey, in case the said James Black fulfill the Above Agreement within Six Months from the Date hereof, shall be valid, otherwise void. GIVEN under my Hand, and the Seal of the Land Office, by Virtue of certain powers from the said PROPRIETARIES at Philadelphia, this seventeenth day of August- Anno Domini One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-One. Surveyor-General Nicolas Scull.
In 1751, the first appearance of Peters Township in tax records, Ann Black widow and James Black were listed as taxpayers in Peters Township, which had been formed in that year.
On October 22, 1759, James Black, who with his wife Rachel and probably with his mother Ann was living in Maryland, sold the Clouds Creek property to William Smith. James and his wife and mother lived in western Frederick County, Maryland, now Washington County, Maryland, at least until 1770. At one time James owned lots in Sharpsburg, Maryland. Like his brother the younger James, the Reverend John Black did not stay in this community. The younger John Black, who had been granted by the older James Black a small portion of the large tract west of what is now Mercersburg, entered Nassau Hall (now Princeton University) in 1769, graduated in 1771, was married to Elizabeth Newell with Dr. John King as the officiating minister in 1773, and was ordained in the Donegal Presbytery in 1775. He served in the Marsh Creek congregation and later moved to Greensburg in Westmoreland County. He was a delegate to the Pennsylvania Convention that ratified the United States Constitution.
The indenture noting the sale of the land from James Black to William Smith follows: “This Indenture made the twenty-second day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred & fifty-nine--between James Black late of Frederick County & Province of Maryland Gentleman of the one part and William Smith of the county of Cumberland & province of Pensilvania [sic] Esq. of the other part Witnesseth that the said James Black for & in consideration of three hundred & fifty pounds current lawfull money of Pensilvania [sic] to him in hand paid the receipt whereof he doth acknowledge hath granted bargoned [sic] sold and confirmed and do by these presents grant bargon [sic] sell & confirm unto the said William Smith & to his heirs and assigns all that certain Tract of land laying in Peters Township in Cumberland County known by the name of Blacks Mill formerly possessed by said Black as also by his father Robert Black deceased as it is warranted survaid [sic] & returned unto the Surveyer General’s Office containing four hundred & ninty [sic] Acres & one half Acre Together with all & singular the improvements rights members appurtainances [sic] ways waters water courses & priviledges [sic] whatsoever unto the said tract of land belonging or in any wise appertaining and all the estate right title intrist [sic] property claim & demand of him the said James Black of in & to the same To have & to hold the said tract of land Hereditaments & appurtenances whatsoever to the same belonging unto the said William Smith & his heirs to the only proper use and behoof [sic] of the said William Smith his heirs & assigns forever, Subject [sic] nevertheless to the payment of the purchase money Intrist [sic] an quit rent thereon due & to become due to the Honorable propryators [sic] for the same. In witness whereof the said James Black have hereunto set his hand& seal dated the day & year first above written.” James Black (Seal) Signed seald [sic] & delivered in presence of us David Scott Sam’l Carrick”
“Rec’d the day of the date of the within Indenture of William Smith within named the sum of three hundred & fifty pounds being the full consideration….” Thus what had been Black’s settlement became Smith’s settlement.
Old Mercersburg, published in 1912, states: “William Smith, the Proprietor of Smith’s Town, was the son of James and Jane Smith. He married his cousin Mary, sister of Col. James Smith, of ‘Black Boys’ fame. In 1755 Smith was appointed one of the commissioners to build the military road which General Braddock demanded of the Provincial government. This road was to extend from McDowell’s mill to the forks of the Youghiogheny. Under the personal supervision of the Commissioners the bridle path was converted into a wagon road for the passage of troops and transportation of military supplies, but the work was done under constant danger from the Indians.” In addition, in the words of Old Mercersburg “To protect the frontier, it was necessary to control the trade with the Indians by a military-like inspection, and William Smith was one of these inspectors by virtue of his office as Colonial Justice.”
In the 1766 tax records William Smith was listed as owning one grist mill, six horses, six cows, five sheep, two servants, and fifty cleared acres. In the 1768 tax records he was listed as owning three horses, six cows, ten sheep, one servant, 350 warranted acres (authority to survey a tract of land), thirty-seven lots (?), and seventy cleared acres. William Smith, who with his mill, distillery, tanyard, and his various civic responsibilities was an important man, died on March 27, 1775.
Smith in his will provided for his family and gave lands to his two sons. To his son Robert he gave land north and west of the settlement including a plot of land on which the Presbyterian Church on West Seminary Street now stand. The lands of Smith’s estate that encompassed what is now central Mercersburg he gave to his son William Smith Jr., (1760? -1786) who had married on September 2, 1783, Margaret Piper (1765-1852) daughter of William and Sarah McDowell Piper. On March 17, 1786, he laid out the town plan of Mercersburg originally with two north-south streets and two east-west streets with 148 lots with each lot fifty feet wide and 200 feet deep. On March 21 of that year he made out his will and in it gave his directions for the process of developing the town, which he called Mersers Burgh in honor of General Hugh Mercer, who at one time had lived this area and who had died on January 12, 1777, from wounds received at the Battle of Princeton on January 2. William Smith Jr. stated: “My Executors herein named I do hereby Authorize and Impower to act and do in all manner of.…Things respecting a new town layed out by me and called Mersers Burgh by Making Title to the purchasers, signing sealing and Delivering & in as full clear and ample a manner as I myself might or could do it I were alive and personally Present According to the plan of same ground….It is my will that My Executors out of the money Arising from the Sale of lots in the abovementioned Town do build on that Lot that I have reserved near where my stable now stands a neat and commodious House of middling size at their discretion and put it in order for my wife and Daughter to live in….” That house built of stone stands at the intersection of North Main and Oregon Streets. He also stated that all other money from the sale of the lots should go to his wife Margaret and his daughter Salley (baptized April 8, 1784). In the same document he also stated that he had already sold to Benjamin Chestnut the tan yard started by his father. Unfortunately William Smith Jr. did not live to see his town plan developed as at age twenty-six he died on April 2 of that same year.
William Smith Jr. was an excellent town planner. Moving the center of his new town away from the area of the mill, Clouds Creek, and a high water table and consequent flooding, he established the center, the Diamond now called the Square, to be south of that area and upon a much higher point. He also planned a wide main street so that two wagons could pass easily and an east west street almost as wide. To provide light and space he added alleys in each block of his town plan so that the effect of the plan was to make the town seem light and airy.
His executors, Matthew Wilson and James Stewart, held two lotteries in order to sell the lots. By the first lottery people had the right to purchase a lot, and in the second lottery they could choose the lot they wanted. The indenture for each purchase drawn up by Smith and his wife Margaret stated “That in consideration of the sum of three pounds lawful money of Pennsylvania” the buyer would have bought “a Lot or piece of Ground situate in the town of Mercersburg” and would pay forever “a yearly rent of ten shillings” to be paid “at the said town of Mercersburg” each year on March 23.
On June 11, 1816, sixteen years after the town had been laid out in lots, John Palmer of England wrote: “Left Hagerstown road to Mercersburg….Breakfasted at Mercersburg, a small village of log cabins.”
As we walk or drive through Mercersburg and enjoy its beauty, it will be well to remember its long, unique and rich history and the largely forgotten people who created it.
Notes:
The widow of William Smith Jr, Margaret Piper Smith (1765-1852), daughter of William and Sarah McDowell Piper, married James Irwin.
William Smith Jr. and Margaret Piper Smith’s daughter Sarah (Salley) married John Brownson. The names of John and Sarah Smith Brownson or of Sarah Smith Brownson alone appear on deeds of many old properties in Mercersburg and on other documents. Their one son, Dr. Robert S. Brownson, a local physician, served as a Captain and then as a Major in Company C of the 126th Pennsylvania Regiment. Their other son, James Irwin Brownson, minister in the Presbyterian Church, was minister of the First Church of Washington, Pennsylvania, and for several years was the acting President of Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania. He was named for James Irwin, whom Margaret Piper Smith married after the death of William Smith Jr.
Much is unclear about the payment of the quit-rents, including the number of years they were required payment and the administration and collection of them. The January 30, 1939, issue of the Mercersburg Journal included the obituary of Judge James Irwin Brownson, who was son of James Irwin Brownson, grandson of Sarah Smith Brownson and John Brownson, and great-grandson of Margaret Piper Smith and William Smith Jr. The final paragraph of the obituary follows: “Judge Brownson after the death of his father in 1899 received the Quit Rents due the Brownson estate paid by a number of home owners in Mercersburg, an item of about $1.27 annually.”
Sources:
Black, William. Letters to Daniel Heefner and Florence Jordan. Courtesy of Fendrick Library
Bowers, Dorothy. The Irwins and the Harrisons. Mercersburg. Irwinton Publishers, 1973
Documents. Cumberland County Courthouse
Documents. Cumberland County Historical Society
Documents. Franklin County Historical Society - Kittochtinny
Finafrock, John L. Notes on Franklin County History. Kittochtinny Historical Society, 1942
Donehoo, George, ed. History of the Cumberland Valley. Susquehanna Historical Association, 1930
Woman’s Club of Mercersburg. Old Mercersburg, 1912
Mercersburg - Its Beginnings
Joan C. McCulloh
Pennsylvania from 1681 until 1776 was a proprietary colony. In 1681 King Charles II of Great Britain in payment of a debt he owned William Penn’s father, Admiral William Penn, granted to William Penn the land that came to be called Pennsylvania and granted a charter to William Penn for that land. This was, therefore, a proprietary colony governed by William Penn, who in 1682 established a Frame of Government for the colony, a unique document that assured new settlers that they would have freedom of conscience and representative government. This colony would be administered not just by Penn but by his sons and his agents. After Penn’s death in 1718 his sons operated a Land Office so that as a proprietary colony the Penns and their agents directed the process of determining counties and the granting of land. In the beginning of this process three counties were formed, Philadelphia, Chester, and Bucks. The next county to be established, Lancaster County, formed in 1729, included all the land to the western border of Pennsylvania. The Mercersburg area remained in Lancaster County until 1750 when Cumberland County was formed and remained in Cumberland County until 1784 when Franklin County was formed.
In the early 1700s the Proprietors of Pennsylvania, the sons of William Penn, John, Thomas, and Richard, realized that the land west of the Susquehanna River still belonged to the Native Americans and became fearful that the area would be overrun by people from Maryland as the location of the border between the two colonies was unclear. In 1732 the Penns and the Calverts of Maryland had agreed upon a border between their colonies, but confusion and conflicts developed as people either did not know where the border was or determined where it was according to their own desires and needs. Therefore, in 1733 Thomas Penn gave Samuel Blunston, sheriff or justice in Lancaster County, the right to grant temporary licenses to people to settle west of the Susquehanna River. Although the Penns did not have clear ownership of these lands west of the river until 1736 when they made a treaty with the Native Americans, in this way the Penns would be assured that the area west of the Susquehanna River would be populated by Pennsylvanians when the Native Americans by treaty released these lands. These licenses were recorded in the Land Office in Philadelphia with the understanding that the holders of the licenses would eventually secure patents, now called deeds, for the land. These licenses were given with the understanding that the holders of them would receive their land after the purchase of the land from the Native Americans that did occur in 1736. After that date the Land Office in Philadelphia was the arbiter of land purchases.
The Commission Granted to Samuel Blunston
A Record of Licenses Granted to Sundry Persons to Settle & take up land on the West Side of Susquehannah River by Virtue of a Comission [sic] from the Honble [sic] Thomas Penn Esqr Bearing Date the 11th Day of January 1733. To Samuel Blunston of Lancast County page 39
Obtaining a patent or deed for land required the person who wanted to own the land to take several steps. First, he had to have a license and/or make written application for the land, then apply to the Surveyor-General in the Land Office in Philadelphia for a warrant in order to have the land surveyed, have the land surveyed, then have the survey indicating also that all purchase price and all fees had been paid returned to the land Office, and then receive a patent, what we today call a deed.
By tradition Edward Parnell, who took up land in this area about 1727, was the first person to settle in the area around what is now Mercersburg. In 1734 Edward Parnell was one of forty men who wrote a letter to Samuel Blunston stating that they already lived on the Conococheague and Antietam as we now spell the names of those creeks and that they intended to apply for license for the lands they already held. The letter states: “Mr. Samuel Blunston, Sr. this is to let you understand that the Inhabitants about the great Marsh where Edmund Cartledge does live have met and made a general Conclusion for to get grants from you for to settle any where upon the Waters of Conehecheegoe and likewise upon the Waters of the Andiatom in the North side of the line that George Noble and John Smith did run.” By 1734 the phrases, “Parnels Nob, “Edward Parnells,” and Parnels meadows,” were frequently used. However, there is no record of a Blunston License for Edward Parnell. It is believed that Edward Parnell left this area not long after he had settled here.
As the system of the acquisition of land under the Blunston license plan began before the Penns’ purchase of the land from the Native Americans, it was a highly irregular system. Also as the process of acquiring land legally was cumbersome and time-consuming, and as the Land Office was in Philadelphia, sometimes people applied for a license or a warrant but did not have the land surveyed or did not return the survey to the Land Office. Therefore, confusion and conflict frequently developed. Adding to the uncertainty was the fact that the Penns did not purchase the land from the Native Americans until 1736.
In On October 11, 1736, the Penns and Six Nations of Native Americans signed a treaty with far-reaching consequences. After the signing of this treaty the lands which had been occupied west of the Susquehanna River under the Blunston Licenses from 1733 until 1736 could be legally patented to those who made application and who had had the lands surveyed.
This treaty that brought about peace with the Native Americans also had the purpose of deterring people from Maryland to settle north of the Temporary Line. It said in part: “And all the lands lying on the west side of the said river [Susquehanna]to the setting of the Sun and to extend from the mouth of the said river northward, up the same to the hills or mountains called the language of the same nations Tyannuntasacta, or Endless hills…together also with all the Islands in the said River, Ways, Waters, Watercourses, Woods, Underwoods, Timber, Trees, Mountains, Hills, Mines, Valleys, Minerals, Quarries, Rights, Liberties, Privileges, Advantages, Hereditaments, and Appurtenances….” Then follow the names of the chiefs of the six nations signing this deed. The cost to the Penns for this immense stretch of land included 600 pounds of lead, 500 pounds of powder, 45 guns, 60 Strowd water match coats,100 blankets, 100 duffle match coats, 200 yards of half thick, 100 shirts, 40 hats, 40 pairs of shoes and buckles, 40 pairs of stockings, 100 hatchets, 500 knives, 100 houghs, 60 kettles, 100 tobacco tins, 100 scissors, 500 awl blades, 120 combs, 2000 needles, 1000 flints, 24 looking glasses, 2 pounds of vermilion, 100 tin pots, 24 dozen of gartering, 25 gallons of rum, 200 pounds of tobacco, and 1000 pipes.
The chiefs signing this treaty also agreed that in the future they would not sell any of this land to anyone except the children of William Penn. They agreed “That neither we nor they [children] nor any in authority in our nations, will at any time bargain, sell, grant, or by any means make over, to any person or persons, whatsoever, whether White men or Indians, other than the said proprietors, the children of William Penn, or to persons by them Authorized and Appointed to agree for and receive the same, any lands within the Limits of the Government of Pennsylvania, as “tis bounded Northward with the Government of New York and Albany.”
Much about the earliest settlement in the area now called Mercersburg is uncertain as there were conflict and confusion in the early 1700s between two men, Andrew Dunlap and his son and John Black and his family.
Conflict developed between two men, Andrew Dunlap and John Black, over a tract or tracts of land, including what became Mercersburg as both men received a Blunston License. In 1733 Andrew Dunlap was granted an initial Blunston License for the land. The license states: “September 3rd Andrew Dunlap for himself & Son Joseph Dunlap, 400 acres (this place is in dispute with John Black). On a Westerly Branch of Conegochege Called Clouds Branch [now Johnstons Run] about three miles North East of Edward Parnels.” He received a warrant for this land dated December 9, 1764. However, there was no reference to a patent, what we call a deed. On February 27, 1734, John Black was granted a Blunston License for land that either encompassed or overlapped in some way, or was contiguous to the land Dunlap claimed. The license states: “February 27th (1734?) John Black for himself & his children, 800 acres. On a Northern Branch of Conegochege where Peter Hart & John Gibson first setled [sic] who have quitted their claim.” He received a warrant for land dated August 17, 1751.
Another reference in the Land Office in reference to Tract MRC059 states that a warrant to Andrew Dunlap was dated February 4, 1737, and the one to John Black was dated March 1, 1737 for land. The record notes further that a survey was returned for Black on March 15, 1737, and for Dunlap on December 12, 1828, on Dunlaps’ warrant and “notes the conflicting claim under Black’s warrant. The survey says apparently Dunlap was dispossessed by Black….” This large tract of land lies west of what is now Mercersburg and lies south of route 16. The fact that this record notes 1737 as the date confirms that the conflict between the two families continued. This large tract of land was possessed by a son of John Black, James Black, who later moved to North Carolina.
Other records in the Land Office that are puzzling to the modern reader focus upon additional applications for land. A note from these records about MRC150, the southern end of what is now Mercersburg and part of Montgomery Township, states: “Blunston License to Andrew Dunlap dated 3 Sep 1734; Cumberland County warrants D82 to Andrew Dunlap dated 9 Dec 1764 BS and CO19 to Peter Corbet dated 27 Nov 1751. Survey A-052-253 dated 19 Nov 1736 on Dunlap’s license; returned to Dunlap 9 Dec 1742.” The following information is added: “On the 28th day of December this draft + Certificate was sent in to my Office by Wm Peters Esquire with an order to Examin [sic] the Quantity which I did + sent it back to him again by Andrew Dunlap who Brought it to me. Returned 4 Jan 1764 for Andrew Dunlap. Survey A-008-260 dated for William Shannon on Corbet’s warrant; previously surveyed for Robert Black.”
Another note in the Land Office about MRC151, what is now Mercersburg, states : “Blunston License to Andrew Dunlap dated 3 Sep 1734; Cumberland County warrants D082 to Andrew Dunlap dated 9 1764 and B016 to James Black dated 17 Aug 1751 Survey A-052-253 dated 19 Nov1736 on Dunlap’s License; returned for Dunlap 9 Dec 1742. ‘On the 28th day of December this draft + Certificate was sent into my Office by Wm Peters Esquire with an order to Examin [sic] the Quantity which I did + sent to back to him for Andrew Dunlap who brought it to me.’ Returned 4 Jan 1764 for Andrw Dunlap. Survey C-026-055 dates 6 1792 for Sarah Smith…on Black’s warrant Survey A-017 dated 26 Apr 1792 for Dr. William Magaw on Black’s warrant. Returned 18 1792 Aug for James Black.”
The fact that conflict between the two men existed is also attested to by the fact that a draft of one of the tracts of land “situate in Peters Township” and including Clouds Branch, now Johnstons Run, noting Dunlap’s warrant, is accompanied by a note that states the following: “The land above described is the same land as held by a survey Containing 342 acrs [sic] & all, which was surveyed in pursuance of a warrant granted to John Black dated 1st of March 1737...but by a survey on the ground it is found to extend the black lines as returned on Dunlap’s original warrant.” The note further states: “No evidence appears of any survey having been made on Dunlap’s warrant, but from a copy from the record of the Court of Lancaster County Dunlap was in possession of the land above described & was disposed by Black.”
That this conflict reached the Court of Lancaster County indicates the seriousness of the conflict. According to John L. Finafrock, writing in Notes on Franklin County History in 1942, “Later Dunlap complained to the authorities that when Black could not remove him by Pennsylvania law, Black secured a Maryland constable and posse, came to Dunlap’s place, and after an ugly fight dispossessed Dunlap….To the day of his death Dunlap claimed lands here. “ In Dunlap’s will, probated in Cumberland County on August 25, 1764, he stated: “I give and that the said Arthur Dunlap have all my Estate Real and Personal to him and his heirs forever with the lands that I am now contending for….” Exactly what lands he was contesting is not clear, but it is clear that the conflict was continuing.
By whatever means John Black and his family prevailed. John Black and his wife Jean had two sons, James and Robert. Grants appear to have been made to three men in the Black family - John Black, Robert Black, and James Black. According to William Black, a descendant, in a letter to Daniel Heefner in Mercersburg in 1948, “John Black and Jean, his wife, owned a tract lying east from Cove mountain, bordering on the Run. His son James owned under a claim, the land lying on to the east, and Robert, another son, owned the tract that later was sold by his son to William Smith - some 600 acres. This family had land from the central part of the academy grounds, westward to the foot of Cove Mt.” By tradition John Black founded the mill. His son, James Black, it is believed, helped to found the mill but then moved to North Carolina. John Black’s other son, Robert, (1709-1750) later owned and operated the mill. Robert Black and his wife Ann had eight children - James, Thomas, John, who became the Reverend John Black and eventually owned part of the land west toward the mountain, Robert, Jane. Elizabeth, Martha, and Ann. After Robert’s death in 1750 James, the oldest son of Robert and Ann, purchased the interest of his brothers and sisters. “Upon Petition of James Black Jr., the oldest son of Robert Black, that the said James Black do hold and enjoy the Messuage, Mill, Plantation and 750 acres in paying to each of the rest of the children the sum of forty-six pounds and eight pence farthing.” Cumberland County June 12, 1751
Also after Robert’s death in 1750 his young son Robert petitioned the Orphans Court “held at Peters Town for the county of Cumberland the twelfth day of June in the Lord of our Lord 1751 before Samuel Smith, William Maxwell, and William Allison Esqrs….” The young Robert’s petition follows:
“Upon the petition of Robert Black an infant one of the children of Robert Black late of Peters Township in the County of Cumberland and Yeoman deceased, Praying the court to appoint such Guardian or Guardians over his person and estates during his minority as the Court shall see fit It is considered by the Court and ordered that James Black the uncle of the said Infant be the Guardian over his person and Estate during his minority accordingly.”
On the same day the following was recorded: “Upon the petition of Ann Black and John Black Infants two of the Children of Robert Black late of Peters Township in the Count of Cumberland Yeoman deceased, Praying the Court to appoint them such Guardians over their persons and estates during their minority as the Court shall think fit, It is considered by the Court and ordered that Ann Black the mother of the said Infants be the Guardian over their persons and Estates during their minority accordingly.”
Again on that same day James, the oldest son of Robert, filed the following petition in which he purchased the interests of his brothers and sisters.
“Upon the petition of James Black, Jr, the oldest son and heir at Law of Robert Black, [sic] late of Peters Township in the County of Cumberland Yeoman deceased to this Court setting forth that the said Robert Black late of Peters Township in the County of Cumberland Yeoman deceased to this court setting forth that the said Robert Black in his lifetime at the time of his decease was among other things in his life time Seized or possessed of a certain Messuage[house with adjacent buildings and land] or Tenement Water Grist Mill, Plantation and two tracts of land or pieces of Land situate in Peters township aforesaid. Containing in the whole seven hundred and fifty acres or thereabouts, together with appurts[enances]. And the said Robert Black being so seized or possessed died Intestate leaving a widow and Eight Children, and the said James Black being willing and desirous to hold the aforesaid Messuage Mill Plantation and two tracts of land and Appurtenances and to pay the rest of the children their respective shares of the said Estate amounting to the sum of forty-six pounds and eight pence farthing each wherewith they and each of them are fully satisfied and contented, It is thereupon considered by the Court and ordered (according to the consent of all parties concerned) That the said James Black do hold and enjoy the aforesaid Messauge Mill Plantation & 750 Acres of land with the appurtenances he paying unto the rest of the children the sum of forty-six pounds and eight pence farthing each within twelve months from the date hereof in lieu and satisfaction of their parts or shares of the said Messuage Mill and premises aforesaid.”
On June 12, 1751, James Black signed a mortgage with his mother, the widow, Ann Black, for payment of 160 pounds with 16 pounds due on June 12, 1754, and 16 pounds annually thereafter for 350 acres in Peters Township. This was part of the estate of his father, Robert Black. (Cumberland County Courthouse)
James Black received a returned warrant from the Land Office in Philadelphia, dated August 17, 1751, granting him the legal right to have either the land he had purchased from his brothers and sisters or additional land surveyed.
BY THE PROPRIETARIES Whereas James Black of the county of Cumberland hath requested that we would grant him to take up two hundred Acres of Land Including his improvement adjoining a Tract of 100 acres sold to Richard Peters by the said James Black and Peter Corbet in Peters Township in the said County of Cumberland; for which he agrees to pay Us for our Use Fifteen Pounds Ten Shillings, current Money of this Province, for each Hundred Acres with Lawful Interest for the same and the Yearly Quit-rent of One Halfpenny Sterling for every Acre thereof. Both to commence from the first of March 1738 These are therefore to authorize and require you to survey, or cause to be surveyed, unto the said James Black, at the place Aforesaid, according to the Method of Townships appointed, the said Quantity of two hundred Acres, if not already surveyed to appropriated; and make return therefore into the Secretary’s Office, in Order for confirmation, for which this will be your sufficient Warrant: Which Survey, in case the said James Black fulfill the Above Agreement within Six Months from the Date hereof, shall be valid, otherwise void. GIVEN under my Hand, and the Seal of the Land Office, by Virtue of certain powers from the said PROPRIETARIES at Philadelphia, this seventeenth day of August- Anno Domini One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-One. Surveyor-General Nicolas Scull.
In 1751, the first appearance of Peters Township in tax records, Ann Black widow and James Black were listed as taxpayers in Peters Township, which had been formed in that year.
On October 22, 1759, James Black, who with his wife Rachel and probably with his mother Ann was living in Maryland, sold the Clouds Creek property to William Smith. James and his wife and mother lived in western Frederick County, Maryland, now Washington County, Maryland, at least until 1770. At one time James owned lots in Sharpsburg, Maryland. Like his brother the younger James, the Reverend John Black did not stay in this community. The younger John Black, who had been granted by the older James Black a small portion of the large tract west of what is now Mercersburg, entered Nassau Hall (now Princeton University) in 1769, graduated in 1771, was married to Elizabeth Newell with Dr. John King as the officiating minister in 1773, and was ordained in the Donegal Presbytery in 1775. He served in the Marsh Creek congregation and later moved to Greensburg in Westmoreland County. He was a delegate to the Pennsylvania Convention that ratified the United States Constitution.
The indenture noting the sale of the land from James Black to William Smith follows: “This Indenture made the twenty-second day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred & fifty-nine--between James Black late of Frederick County & Province of Maryland Gentleman of the one part and William Smith of the county of Cumberland & province of Pensilvania [sic] Esq. of the other part Witnesseth that the said James Black for & in consideration of three hundred & fifty pounds current lawfull money of Pensilvania [sic] to him in hand paid the receipt whereof he doth acknowledge hath granted bargoned [sic] sold and confirmed and do by these presents grant bargon [sic] sell & confirm unto the said William Smith & to his heirs and assigns all that certain Tract of land laying in Peters Township in Cumberland County known by the name of Blacks Mill formerly possessed by said Black as also by his father Robert Black deceased as it is warranted survaid [sic] & returned unto the Surveyer General’s Office containing four hundred & ninty [sic] Acres & one half Acre Together with all & singular the improvements rights members appurtainances [sic] ways waters water courses & priviledges [sic] whatsoever unto the said tract of land belonging or in any wise appertaining and all the estate right title intrist [sic] property claim & demand of him the said James Black of in & to the same To have & to hold the said tract of land Hereditaments & appurtenances whatsoever to the same belonging unto the said William Smith & his heirs to the only proper use and behoof [sic] of the said William Smith his heirs & assigns forever, Subject [sic] nevertheless to the payment of the purchase money Intrist [sic] an quit rent thereon due & to become due to the Honorable propryators [sic] for the same. In witness whereof the said James Black have hereunto set his hand& seal dated the day & year first above written.” James Black (Seal) Signed seald [sic] & delivered in presence of us David Scott Sam’l Carrick”
“Rec’d the day of the date of the within Indenture of William Smith within named the sum of three hundred & fifty pounds being the full consideration….” Thus what had been Black’s settlement became Smith’s settlement.
Old Mercersburg, published in 1912, states: “William Smith, the Proprietor of Smith’s Town, was the son of James and Jane Smith. He married his cousin Mary, sister of Col. James Smith, of ‘Black Boys’ fame. In 1755 Smith was appointed one of the commissioners to build the military road which General Braddock demanded of the Provincial government. This road was to extend from McDowell’s mill to the forks of the Youghiogheny. Under the personal supervision of the Commissioners the bridle path was converted into a wagon road for the passage of troops and transportation of military supplies, but the work was done under constant danger from the Indians.” In addition, in the words of Old Mercersburg “To protect the frontier, it was necessary to control the trade with the Indians by a military-like inspection, and William Smith was one of these inspectors by virtue of his office as Colonial Justice.”
In the 1766 tax records William Smith was listed as owning one grist mill, six horses, six cows, five sheep, two servants, and fifty cleared acres. In the 1768 tax records he was listed as owning three horses, six cows, ten sheep, one servant, 350 warranted acres (authority to survey a tract of land), thirty-seven lots (?), and seventy cleared acres. William Smith, who with his mill, distillery, tanyard, and his various civic responsibilities was an important man, died on March 27, 1775.
Smith in his will provided for his family and gave lands to his two sons. To his son Robert he gave land north and west of the settlement including a plot of land on which the Presbyterian Church on West Seminary Street now stand. The lands of Smith’s estate that encompassed what is now central Mercersburg he gave to his son William Smith Jr., (1760? -1786) who had married on September 2, 1783, Margaret Piper (1765-1852) daughter of William and Sarah McDowell Piper. On March 17, 1786, he laid out the town plan of Mercersburg originally with two north-south streets and two east-west streets with 148 lots with each lot fifty feet wide and 200 feet deep. On March 21 of that year he made out his will and in it gave his directions for the process of developing the town, which he called Mersers Burgh in honor of General Hugh Mercer, who at one time had lived this area and who had died on January 12, 1777, from wounds received at the Battle of Princeton on January 2. William Smith Jr. stated: “My Executors herein named I do hereby Authorize and Impower to act and do in all manner of.…Things respecting a new town layed out by me and called Mersers Burgh by Making Title to the purchasers, signing sealing and Delivering & in as full clear and ample a manner as I myself might or could do it I were alive and personally Present According to the plan of same ground….It is my will that My Executors out of the money Arising from the Sale of lots in the abovementioned Town do build on that Lot that I have reserved near where my stable now stands a neat and commodious House of middling size at their discretion and put it in order for my wife and Daughter to live in….” That house built of stone stands at the intersection of North Main and Oregon Streets. He also stated that all other money from the sale of the lots should go to his wife Margaret and his daughter Salley (baptized April 8, 1784). In the same document he also stated that he had already sold to Benjamin Chestnut the tan yard started by his father. Unfortunately William Smith Jr. did not live to see his town plan developed as at age twenty-six he died on April 2 of that same year.
William Smith Jr. was an excellent town planner. Moving the center of his new town away from the area of the mill, Clouds Creek, and a high water table and consequent flooding, he established the center, the Diamond now called the Square, to be south of that area and upon a much higher point. He also planned a wide main street so that two wagons could pass easily and an east west street almost as wide. To provide light and space he added alleys in each block of his town plan so that the effect of the plan was to make the town seem light and airy.
His executors, Matthew Wilson and James Stewart, held two lotteries in order to sell the lots. By the first lottery people had the right to purchase a lot, and in the second lottery they could choose the lot they wanted. The indenture for each purchase drawn up by Smith and his wife Margaret stated “That in consideration of the sum of three pounds lawful money of Pennsylvania” the buyer would have bought “a Lot or piece of Ground situate in the town of Mercersburg” and would pay forever “a yearly rent of ten shillings” to be paid “at the said town of Mercersburg” each year on March 23.
On June 11, 1816, sixteen years after the town had been laid out in lots, John Palmer of England wrote: “Left Hagerstown road to Mercersburg….Breakfasted at Mercersburg, a small village of log cabins.”
As we walk or drive through Mercersburg and enjoy its beauty, it will be well to remember its long, unique and rich history and the largely forgotten people who created it.
Notes:
The widow of William Smith Jr, Margaret Piper Smith (1765-1852), daughter of William and Sarah McDowell Piper, married James Irwin.
William Smith Jr. and Margaret Piper Smith’s daughter Sarah (Salley) married John Brownson. The names of John and Sarah Smith Brownson or of Sarah Smith Brownson alone appear on deeds of many old properties in Mercersburg and on other documents. Their one son, Dr. Robert S. Brownson, a local physician, served as a Captain and then as a Major in Company C of the 126th Pennsylvania Regiment. Their other son, James Irwin Brownson, minister in the Presbyterian Church, was minister of the First Church of Washington, Pennsylvania, and for several years was the acting President of Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania. He was named for James Irwin, whom Margaret Piper Smith married after the death of William Smith Jr.
Much is unclear about the payment of the quit-rents, including the number of years they were required payment and the administration and collection of them. The January 30, 1939, issue of the Mercersburg Journal included the obituary of Judge James Irwin Brownson, who was son of James Irwin Brownson, grandson of Sarah Smith Brownson and John Brownson, and great-grandson of Margaret Piper Smith and William Smith Jr. The final paragraph of the obituary follows: “Judge Brownson after the death of his father in 1899 received the Quit Rents due the Brownson estate paid by a number of home owners in Mercersburg, an item of about $1.27 annually.”
Sources:
Black, William. Letters to Daniel Heefner and Florence Jordan. Courtesy of Fendrick Library
Bowers, Dorothy. The Irwins and the Harrisons. Mercersburg. Irwinton Publishers, 1973
Documents. Cumberland County Courthouse
Documents. Cumberland County Historical Society
Documents. Franklin County Historical Society - Kittochtinny
Finafrock, John L. Notes on Franklin County History. Kittochtinny Historical Society, 1942
Donehoo, George, ed. History of the Cumberland Valley. Susquehanna Historical Association, 1930
Woman’s Club of Mercersburg. Old Mercersburg, 1912
Mercersburg - Its Beginnings
Joan C. McCulloh
Pennsylvania from 1681 until 1776 was a proprietary colony. In 1681 King Charles II of Great Britain in payment of a debt he owned William Penn’s father, Admiral William Penn, granted to William Penn the land that came to be called Pennsylvania and granted a charter to William Penn for that land. This was, therefore, a proprietary colony governed by William Penn, who in 1682 established a Frame of Government for the colony, a unique document that assured new settlers that they would have freedom of conscience and representative government. This colony would be administered not just by Penn but by his sons and his agents. After Penn’s death in 1718 his sons operated a Land Office so that as a proprietary colony the Penns and their agents directed the process of determining counties and the granting of land. In the beginning of this process three counties were formed, Philadelphia, Chester, and Bucks. The next county to be established, Lancaster County, formed in 1729, included all the land to the western border of Pennsylvania. The Mercersburg area remained in Lancaster County until 1750 when Cumberland County was formed and remained in Cumberland County until 1784 when Franklin County was formed.
In the early 1700s the Proprietors of Pennsylvania, the sons of William Penn, John, Thomas, and Richard, realized that the land west of the Susquehanna River still belonged to the Native Americans and became fearful that the area would be overrun by people from Maryland as the location of the border between the two colonies was unclear. In 1732 the Penns and the Calverts of Maryland had agreed upon a border between their colonies, but confusion and conflicts developed as people either did not know where the border was or determined where it was according to their own desires and needs. Therefore, in 1733 Thomas Penn gave Samuel Blunston, sheriff or justice in Lancaster County, the right to grant temporary licenses to people to settle west of the Susquehanna River. Although the Penns did not have clear ownership of these lands west of the river until 1736 when they made a treaty with the Native Americans, in this way the Penns would be assured that the area west of the Susquehanna River would be populated by Pennsylvanians when the Native Americans by treaty released these lands. These licenses were recorded in the Land Office in Philadelphia with the understanding that the holders of the licenses would eventually secure patents, now called deeds, for the land. These licenses were given with the understanding that the holders of them would receive their land after the purchase of the land from the Native Americans that did occur in 1736. After that date the Land Office in Philadelphia was the arbiter of land purchases.
The Commission Granted to Samuel Blunston
A Record of Licenses Granted to Sundry Persons to Settle & take up land on the West Side of Susquehannah River by Virtue of a Comission [sic] from the Honble [sic] Thomas Penn Esqr Bearing Date the 11th Day of January 1733. To Samuel Blunston of Lancast County page 39
Obtaining a patent or deed for land required the person who wanted to own the land to take several steps. First, he had to have a license and/or make written application for the land, then apply to the Surveyor-General in the Land Office in Philadelphia for a warrant in order to have the land surveyed, have the land surveyed, then have the survey indicating also that all purchase price and all fees had been paid returned to the land Office, and then receive a patent, what we today call a deed.
By tradition Edward Parnell, who took up land in this area about 1727, was the first person to settle in the area around what is now Mercersburg. In 1734 Edward Parnell was one of forty men who wrote a letter to Samuel Blunston stating that they already lived on the Conococheague and Antietam as we now spell the names of those creeks and that they intended to apply for license for the lands they already held. The letter states: “Mr. Samuel Blunston, Sr. this is to let you understand that the Inhabitants about the great Marsh where Edmund Cartledge does live have met and made a general Conclusion for to get grants from you for to settle any where upon the Waters of Conehecheegoe and likewise upon the Waters of the Andiatom in the North side of the line that George Noble and John Smith did run.” By 1734 the phrases, “Parnels Nob, “Edward Parnells,” and Parnels meadows,” were frequently used. However, there is no record of a Blunston License for Edward Parnell. It is believed that Edward Parnell left this area not long after he had settled here.
As the system of the acquisition of land under the Blunston license plan began before the Penns’ purchase of the land from the Native Americans, it was a highly irregular system. Also as the process of acquiring land legally was cumbersome and time-consuming, and as the Land Office was in Philadelphia, sometimes people applied for a license or a warrant but did not have the land surveyed or did not return the survey to the Land Office. Therefore, confusion and conflict frequently developed. Adding to the uncertainty was the fact that the Penns did not purchase the land from the Native Americans until 1736.
In On October 11, 1736, the Penns and Six Nations of Native Americans signed a treaty with far-reaching consequences. After the signing of this treaty the lands which had been occupied west of the Susquehanna River under the Blunston Licenses from 1733 until 1736 could be legally patented to those who made application and who had had the lands surveyed.
This treaty that brought about peace with the Native Americans also had the purpose of deterring people from Maryland to settle north of the Temporary Line. It said in part: “And all the lands lying on the west side of the said river [Susquehanna]to the setting of the Sun and to extend from the mouth of the said river northward, up the same to the hills or mountains called the language of the same nations Tyannuntasacta, or Endless hills…together also with all the Islands in the said River, Ways, Waters, Watercourses, Woods, Underwoods, Timber, Trees, Mountains, Hills, Mines, Valleys, Minerals, Quarries, Rights, Liberties, Privileges, Advantages, Hereditaments, and Appurtenances….” Then follow the names of the chiefs of the six nations signing this deed. The cost to the Penns for this immense stretch of land included 600 pounds of lead, 500 pounds of powder, 45 guns, 60 Strowd water match coats,100 blankets, 100 duffle match coats, 200 yards of half thick, 100 shirts, 40 hats, 40 pairs of shoes and buckles, 40 pairs of stockings, 100 hatchets, 500 knives, 100 houghs, 60 kettles, 100 tobacco tins, 100 scissors, 500 awl blades, 120 combs, 2000 needles, 1000 flints, 24 looking glasses, 2 pounds of vermilion, 100 tin pots, 24 dozen of gartering, 25 gallons of rum, 200 pounds of tobacco, and 1000 pipes.
The chiefs signing this treaty also agreed that in the future they would not sell any of this land to anyone except the children of William Penn. They agreed “That neither we nor they [children] nor any in authority in our nations, will at any time bargain, sell, grant, or by any means make over, to any person or persons, whatsoever, whether White men or Indians, other than the said proprietors, the children of William Penn, or to persons by them Authorized and Appointed to agree for and receive the same, any lands within the Limits of the Government of Pennsylvania, as “tis bounded Northward with the Government of New York and Albany.”
Much about the earliest settlement in the area now called Mercersburg is uncertain as there were conflict and confusion in the early 1700s between two men, Andrew Dunlap and his son and John Black and his family.
Conflict developed between two men, Andrew Dunlap and John Black, over a tract or tracts of land, including what became Mercersburg as both men received a Blunston License. In 1733 Andrew Dunlap was granted an initial Blunston License for the land. The license states: “September 3rd Andrew Dunlap for himself & Son Joseph Dunlap, 400 acres (this place is in dispute with John Black). On a Westerly Branch of Conegochege Called Clouds Branch [now Johnstons Run] about three miles North East of Edward Parnels.” He received a warrant for this land dated December 9, 1764. However, there was no reference to a patent, what we call a deed. On February 27, 1734, John Black was granted a Blunston License for land that either encompassed or overlapped in some way, or was contiguous to the land Dunlap claimed. The license states: “February 27th (1734?) John Black for himself & his children, 800 acres. On a Northern Branch of Conegochege where Peter Hart & John Gibson first setled [sic] who have quitted their claim.” He received a warrant for land dated August 17, 1751.
Another reference in the Land Office in reference to Tract MRC059 states that a warrant to Andrew Dunlap was dated February 4, 1737, and the one to John Black was dated March 1, 1737 for land. The record notes further that a survey was returned for Black on March 15, 1737, and for Dunlap on December 12, 1828, on Dunlaps’ warrant and “notes the conflicting claim under Black’s warrant. The survey says apparently Dunlap was dispossessed by Black….” This large tract of land lies west of what is now Mercersburg and lies south of route 16. The fact that this record notes 1737 as the date confirms that the conflict between the two families continued. This large tract of land was possessed by a son of John Black, James Black, who later moved to North Carolina.
Other records in the Land Office that are puzzling to the modern reader focus upon additional applications for land. A note from these records about MRC150, the southern end of what is now Mercersburg and part of Montgomery Township, states: “Blunston License to Andrew Dunlap dated 3 Sep 1734; Cumberland County warrants D82 to Andrew Dunlap dated 9 Dec 1764 BS and CO19 to Peter Corbet dated 27 Nov 1751. Survey A-052-253 dated 19 Nov 1736 on Dunlap’s license; returned to Dunlap 9 Dec 1742.” The following information is added: “On the 28th day of December this draft + Certificate was sent in to my Office by Wm Peters Esquire with an order to Examin [sic] the Quantity which I did + sent it back to him again by Andrew Dunlap who Brought it to me. Returned 4 Jan 1764 for Andrew Dunlap. Survey A-008-260 dated for William Shannon on Corbet’s warrant; previously surveyed for Robert Black.”
Another note in the Land Office about MRC151, what is now Mercersburg, states : “Blunston License to Andrew Dunlap dated 3 Sep 1734; Cumberland County warrants D082 to Andrew Dunlap dated 9 1764 and B016 to James Black dated 17 Aug 1751 Survey A-052-253 dated 19 Nov1736 on Dunlap’s License; returned for Dunlap 9 Dec 1742. ‘On the 28th day of December this draft + Certificate was sent into my Office by Wm Peters Esquire with an order to Examin [sic] the Quantity which I did + sent to back to him for Andrew Dunlap who brought it to me.’ Returned 4 Jan 1764 for Andrw Dunlap. Survey C-026-055 dates 6 1792 for Sarah Smith…on Black’s warrant Survey A-017 dated 26 Apr 1792 for Dr. William Magaw on Black’s warrant. Returned 18 1792 Aug for James Black.”
The fact that conflict between the two men existed is also attested to by the fact that a draft of one of the tracts of land “situate in Peters Township” and including Clouds Branch, now Johnstons Run, noting Dunlap’s warrant, is accompanied by a note that states the following: “The land above described is the same land as held by a survey Containing 342 acrs [sic] & all, which was surveyed in pursuance of a warrant granted to John Black dated 1st of March 1737...but by a survey on the ground it is found to extend the black lines as returned on Dunlap’s original warrant.” The note further states: “No evidence appears of any survey having been made on Dunlap’s warrant, but from a copy from the record of the Court of Lancaster County Dunlap was in possession of the land above described & was disposed by Black.”
That this conflict reached the Court of Lancaster County indicates the seriousness of the conflict. According to John L. Finafrock, writing in Notes on Franklin County History in 1942, “Later Dunlap complained to the authorities that when Black could not remove him by Pennsylvania law, Black secured a Maryland constable and posse, came to Dunlap’s place, and after an ugly fight dispossessed Dunlap….To the day of his death Dunlap claimed lands here. “ In Dunlap’s will, probated in Cumberland County on August 25, 1764, he stated: “I give and that the said Arthur Dunlap have all my Estate Real and Personal to him and his heirs forever with the lands that I am now contending for….” Exactly what lands he was contesting is not clear, but it is clear that the conflict was continuing.
By whatever means John Black and his family prevailed. John Black and his wife Jean had two sons, James and Robert. Grants appear to have been made to three men in the Black family - John Black, Robert Black, and James Black. According to William Black, a descendant, in a letter to Daniel Heefner in Mercersburg in 1948, “John Black and Jean, his wife, owned a tract lying east from Cove mountain, bordering on the Run. His son James owned under a claim, the land lying on to the east, and Robert, another son, owned the tract that later was sold by his son to William Smith - some 600 acres. This family had land from the central part of the academy grounds, westward to the foot of Cove Mt.” By tradition John Black founded the mill. His son, James Black, it is believed, helped to found the mill but then moved to North Carolina. John Black’s other son, Robert, (1709-1750) later owned and operated the mill. Robert Black and his wife Ann had eight children - James, Thomas, John, who became the Reverend John Black and eventually owned part of the land west toward the mountain, Robert, Jane. Elizabeth, Martha, and Ann. After Robert’s death in 1750 James, the oldest son of Robert and Ann, purchased the interest of his brothers and sisters. “Upon Petition of James Black Jr., the oldest son of Robert Black, that the said James Black do hold and enjoy the Messuage, Mill, Plantation and 750 acres in paying to each of the rest of the children the sum of forty-six pounds and eight pence farthing.” Cumberland County June 12, 1751
Also after Robert’s death in 1750 his young son Robert petitioned the Orphans Court “held at Peters Town for the county of Cumberland the twelfth day of June in the Lord of our Lord 1751 before Samuel Smith, William Maxwell, and William Allison Esqrs….” The young Robert’s petition follows:
“Upon the petition of Robert Black an infant one of the children of Robert Black late of Peters Township in the County of Cumberland and Yeoman deceased, Praying the court to appoint such Guardian or Guardians over his person and estates during his minority as the Court shall see fit It is considered by the Court and ordered that James Black the uncle of the said Infant be the Guardian over his person and Estate during his minority accordingly.”
On the same day the following was recorded: “Upon the petition of Ann Black and John Black Infants two of the Children of Robert Black late of Peters Township in the Count of Cumberland Yeoman deceased, Praying the Court to appoint them such Guardians over their persons and estates during their minority as the Court shall think fit, It is considered by the Court and ordered that Ann Black the mother of the said Infants be the Guardian over their persons and Estates during their minority accordingly.”
Again on that same day James, the oldest son of Robert, filed the following petition in which he purchased the interests of his brothers and sisters.
“Upon the petition of James Black, Jr, the oldest son and heir at Law of Robert Black, [sic] late of Peters Township in the County of Cumberland Yeoman deceased to this Court setting forth that the said Robert Black late of Peters Township in the County of Cumberland Yeoman deceased to this court setting forth that the said Robert Black in his lifetime at the time of his decease was among other things in his life time Seized or possessed of a certain Messuage[house with adjacent buildings and land] or Tenement Water Grist Mill, Plantation and two tracts of land or pieces of Land situate in Peters township aforesaid. Containing in the whole seven hundred and fifty acres or thereabouts, together with appurts[enances]. And the said Robert Black being so seized or possessed died Intestate leaving a widow and Eight Children, and the said James Black being willing and desirous to hold the aforesaid Messuage Mill Plantation and two tracts of land and Appurtenances and to pay the rest of the children their respective shares of the said Estate amounting to the sum of forty-six pounds and eight pence farthing each wherewith they and each of them are fully satisfied and contented, It is thereupon considered by the Court and ordered (according to the consent of all parties concerned) That the said James Black do hold and enjoy the aforesaid Messauge Mill Plantation & 750 Acres of land with the appurtenances he paying unto the rest of the children the sum of forty-six pounds and eight pence farthing each within twelve months from the date hereof in lieu and satisfaction of their parts or shares of the said Messuage Mill and premises aforesaid.”
On June 12, 1751, James Black signed a mortgage with his mother, the widow, Ann Black, for payment of 160 pounds with 16 pounds due on June 12, 1754, and 16 pounds annually thereafter for 350 acres in Peters Township. This was part of the estate of his father, Robert Black. (Cumberland County Courthouse)
James Black received a returned warrant from the Land Office in Philadelphia, dated August 17, 1751, granting him the legal right to have either the land he had purchased from his brothers and sisters or additional land surveyed.
BY THE PROPRIETARIES Whereas James Black of the county of Cumberland hath requested that we would grant him to take up two hundred Acres of Land Including his improvement adjoining a Tract of 100 acres sold to Richard Peters by the said James Black and Peter Corbet in Peters Township in the said County of Cumberland; for which he agrees to pay Us for our Use Fifteen Pounds Ten Shillings, current Money of this Province, for each Hundred Acres with Lawful Interest for the same and the Yearly Quit-rent of One Halfpenny Sterling for every Acre thereof. Both to commence from the first of March 1738 These are therefore to authorize and require you to survey, or cause to be surveyed, unto the said James Black, at the place Aforesaid, according to the Method of Townships appointed, the said Quantity of two hundred Acres, if not already surveyed to appropriated; and make return therefore into the Secretary’s Office, in Order for confirmation, for which this will be your sufficient Warrant: Which Survey, in case the said James Black fulfill the Above Agreement within Six Months from the Date hereof, shall be valid, otherwise void. GIVEN under my Hand, and the Seal of the Land Office, by Virtue of certain powers from the said PROPRIETARIES at Philadelphia, this seventeenth day of August- Anno Domini One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-One. Surveyor-General Nicolas Scull.
In 1751, the first appearance of Peters Township in tax records, Ann Black widow and James Black were listed as taxpayers in Peters Township, which had been formed in that year.
On October 22, 1759, James Black, who with his wife Rachel and probably with his mother Ann was living in Maryland, sold the Clouds Creek property to William Smith. James and his wife and mother lived in western Frederick County, Maryland, now Washington County, Maryland, at least until 1770. At one time James owned lots in Sharpsburg, Maryland. Like his brother the younger James, the Reverend John Black did not stay in this community. The younger John Black, who had been granted by the older James Black a small portion of the large tract west of what is now Mercersburg, entered Nassau Hall (now Princeton University) in 1769, graduated in 1771, was married to Elizabeth Newell with Dr. John King as the officiating minister in 1773, and was ordained in the Donegal Presbytery in 1775. He served in the Marsh Creek congregation and later moved to Greensburg in Westmoreland County. He was a delegate to the Pennsylvania Convention that ratified the United States Constitution.
The indenture noting the sale of the land from James Black to William Smith follows: “This Indenture made the twenty-second day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred & fifty-nine--between James Black late of Frederick County & Province of Maryland Gentleman of the one part and William Smith of the county of Cumberland & province of Pensilvania [sic] Esq. of the other part Witnesseth that the said James Black for & in consideration of three hundred & fifty pounds current lawfull money of Pensilvania [sic] to him in hand paid the receipt whereof he doth acknowledge hath granted bargoned [sic] sold and confirmed and do by these presents grant bargon [sic] sell & confirm unto the said William Smith & to his heirs and assigns all that certain Tract of land laying in Peters Township in Cumberland County known by the name of Blacks Mill formerly possessed by said Black as also by his father Robert Black deceased as it is warranted survaid [sic] & returned unto the Surveyer General’s Office containing four hundred & ninty [sic] Acres & one half Acre Together with all & singular the improvements rights members appurtainances [sic] ways waters water courses & priviledges [sic] whatsoever unto the said tract of land belonging or in any wise appertaining and all the estate right title intrist [sic] property claim & demand of him the said James Black of in & to the same To have & to hold the said tract of land Hereditaments & appurtenances whatsoever to the same belonging unto the said William Smith & his heirs to the only proper use and behoof [sic] of the said William Smith his heirs & assigns forever, Subject [sic] nevertheless to the payment of the purchase money Intrist [sic] an quit rent thereon due & to become due to the Honorable propryators [sic] for the same. In witness whereof the said James Black have hereunto set his hand& seal dated the day & year first above written.” James Black (Seal) Signed seald [sic] & delivered in presence of us David Scott Sam’l Carrick”
“Rec’d the day of the date of the within Indenture of William Smith within named the sum of three hundred & fifty pounds being the full consideration….” Thus what had been Black’s settlement became Smith’s settlement.
Old Mercersburg, published in 1912, states: “William Smith, the Proprietor of Smith’s Town, was the son of James and Jane Smith. He married his cousin Mary, sister of Col. James Smith, of ‘Black Boys’ fame. In 1755 Smith was appointed one of the commissioners to build the military road which General Braddock demanded of the Provincial government. This road was to extend from McDowell’s mill to the forks of the Youghiogheny. Under the personal supervision of the Commissioners the bridle path was converted into a wagon road for the passage of troops and transportation of military supplies, but the work was done under constant danger from the Indians.” In addition, in the words of Old Mercersburg “To protect the frontier, it was necessary to control the trade with the Indians by a military-like inspection, and William Smith was one of these inspectors by virtue of his office as Colonial Justice.”
In the 1766 tax records William Smith was listed as owning one grist mill, six horses, six cows, five sheep, two servants, and fifty cleared acres. In the 1768 tax records he was listed as owning three horses, six cows, ten sheep, one servant, 350 warranted acres (authority to survey a tract of land), thirty-seven lots (?), and seventy cleared acres. William Smith, who with his mill, distillery, tanyard, and his various civic responsibilities was an important man, died on March 27, 1775.
Smith in his will provided for his family and gave lands to his two sons. To his son Robert he gave land north and west of the settlement including a plot of land on which the Presbyterian Church on West Seminary Street now stand. The lands of Smith’s estate that encompassed what is now central Mercersburg he gave to his son William Smith Jr., (1760? -1786) who had married on September 2, 1783, Margaret Piper (1765-1852) daughter of William and Sarah McDowell Piper. On March 17, 1786, he laid out the town plan of Mercersburg originally with two north-south streets and two east-west streets with 148 lots with each lot fifty feet wide and 200 feet deep. On March 21 of that year he made out his will and in it gave his directions for the process of developing the town, which he called Mersers Burgh in honor of General Hugh Mercer, who at one time had lived this area and who had died on January 12, 1777, from wounds received at the Battle of Princeton on January 2. William Smith Jr. stated: “My Executors herein named I do hereby Authorize and Impower to act and do in all manner of.…Things respecting a new town layed out by me and called Mersers Burgh by Making Title to the purchasers, signing sealing and Delivering & in as full clear and ample a manner as I myself might or could do it I were alive and personally Present According to the plan of same ground….It is my will that My Executors out of the money Arising from the Sale of lots in the abovementioned Town do build on that Lot that I have reserved near where my stable now stands a neat and commodious House of middling size at their discretion and put it in order for my wife and Daughter to live in….” That house built of stone stands at the intersection of North Main and Oregon Streets. He also stated that all other money from the sale of the lots should go to his wife Margaret and his daughter Salley (baptized April 8, 1784). In the same document he also stated that he had already sold to Benjamin Chestnut the tan yard started by his father. Unfortunately William Smith Jr. did not live to see his town plan developed as at age twenty-six he died on April 2 of that same year.
William Smith Jr. was an excellent town planner. Moving the center of his new town away from the area of the mill, Clouds Creek, and a high water table and consequent flooding, he established the center, the Diamond now called the Square, to be south of that area and upon a much higher point. He also planned a wide main street so that two wagons could pass easily and an east west street almost as wide. To provide light and space he added alleys in each block of his town plan so that the effect of the plan was to make the town seem light and airy.
His executors, Matthew Wilson and James Stewart, held two lotteries in order to sell the lots. By the first lottery people had the right to purchase a lot, and in the second lottery they could choose the lot they wanted. The indenture for each purchase drawn up by Smith and his wife Margaret stated “That in consideration of the sum of three pounds lawful money of Pennsylvania” the buyer would have bought “a Lot or piece of Ground situate in the town of Mercersburg” and would pay forever “a yearly rent of ten shillings” to be paid “at the said town of Mercersburg” each year on March 23.
On June 11, 1816, sixteen years after the town had been laid out in lots, John Palmer of England wrote: “Left Hagerstown road to Mercersburg….Breakfasted at Mercersburg, a small village of log cabins.”
As we walk or drive through Mercersburg and enjoy its beauty, it will be well to remember its long, unique and rich history and the largely forgotten people who created it.
Notes:
The widow of William Smith Jr, Margaret Piper Smith (1765-1852), daughter of William and Sarah McDowell Piper, married James Irwin.
William Smith Jr. and Margaret Piper Smith’s daughter Sarah (Salley) married John Brownson. The names of John and Sarah Smith Brownson or of Sarah Smith Brownson alone appear on deeds of many old properties in Mercersburg and on other documents. Their one son, Dr. Robert S. Brownson, a local physician, served as a Captain and then as a Major in Company C of the 126th Pennsylvania Regiment. Their other son, James Irwin Brownson, minister in the Presbyterian Church, was minister of the First Church of Washington, Pennsylvania, and for several years was the acting President of Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania. He was named for James Irwin, whom Margaret Piper Smith married after the death of William Smith Jr.
Much is unclear about the payment of the quit-rents, including the number of years they were required payment and the administration and collection of them. The January 30, 1939, issue of the Mercersburg Journal included the obituary of Judge James Irwin Brownson, who was son of James Irwin Brownson, grandson of Sarah Smith Brownson and John Brownson, and great-grandson of Margaret Piper Smith and William Smith Jr. The final paragraph of the obituary follows: “Judge Brownson after the death of his father in 1899 received the Quit Rents due the Brownson estate paid by a number of home owners in Mercersburg, an item of about $1.27 annually.”
Sources:
Black, William. Letters to Daniel Heefner and Florence Jordan. Courtesy of Fendrick Library
Bowers, Dorothy. The Irwins and the Harrisons. Mercersburg. Irwinton Publishers, 1973
Documents. Cumberland County Courthouse
Documents. Cumberland County Historical Society
Documents. Franklin County Historical Society - Kittochtinny
Finafrock, John L. Notes on Franklin County History. Kittochtinny Historical Society, 1942
Donehoo, George, ed. History of the Cumberland Valley. Susquehanna Historical Association, 1930
Woman’s Club of Mercersburg. Old Mercersburg, 1912
Back to Mercersburg Area