Daily stories of Pennsylvania

by Frederic Antes Godcharles

As early as March 7, 1780, while the war for the independence of the American colonies was still in active progress, and being vigorously waged by the hostile armies in the field, the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, by resolution, made a promise of “certain donations and quantities of land” to the soldiers of the State, known as the “Pennsylvania Line,” then serving in the Continental Army.

This resolution provided that these lands should be “surveyed and divided off” at the end of the war, and allotted to those entitled to receive them according to their several rank. In order to comply with the letter and intention of the resolution, an act was passed by the General Assembly on March 12, 1783, by the provisions of which certain lands were set apart to be sold for the purpose of redeeming the certificates of depreciation given to the soldiers of the Pennsylvania Line. It also provided that a certain tract of country, beginning at the mouth of Mogulbughtition Creek, now known as Mahoning Creek, in Armstrong County; then up the Allegheny River to the mouth of Cagnawaga Creek, in now Warren County; thence due north to the northern boundary of the State; thence west by the said boundary, to the northwest corner of the State, thence south, by the western boundary of the State, to the northwest corner of lands appropriated by the act for discharging the depreciation certificates; and thence by the same lands east to the place of beginning, “which said tract of country shall be reserved and set apart for the only and sole use of fulfilling and carrying into execution the said resolve.”

The territory thus set apart comprised parts of the present counties of Lawrence, Butler, Armstrong, Venango, Forest and Warren, all of the counties of Mercer and Crawford and that portion of Erie County which lies south of the triangle.

This territory was a wild and unbroken wilderness, except at the few places fortified by the French and later occupied by the English and Colonists during the Revolution.

The officers of the First and Second Battalions of the Province of Pennsylvania in the French and Indian War petitioned for and received twenty-four thousand acres of land along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, and these officers and their families thus became pioneer settlers in that picturesque valley, and now the veterans of the Revolution were given homes in the northwestern section of the State and there planted the settlements which have grown into the most important industrial centers of the Western Hemisphere.

The act of March 12, 1783, gave a clear title to the land, for under Section 6, all rights, titles, or claims to land within the described bounds, whether obtained from the Indians, the late Proprietaries, or any other person or persons, were declared to be null and void, thus reserving the entire tract from sale or settlement until after the allotments to the soldiers were duly made and their claims fully satisfied.

By the following section of the act the officers and enlisted soldiers were to be allowed two years after the declaration of peace in which to make their applications, and in event of death occurring before any veteran made his application, an additional year was allowed his heirs, executors or administrators to make application. Thereafter the unlocated tracts were to be disposed of upon such terms as the Legislature might direct. This period for making applications was many times extended, so that no veteran was deprived of a fair opportunity to obtain his tract of the donation land.

The authorities of Pennsylvania were even more thoughtful of these Revolutionary veterans, for the General Assembly passed an act which exempted from taxation during lifetime the land which fell to lot of each veteran unless the same was transferred or assigned to another person.

Then followed the great purchase of October 23, 1784, and then the Act of March 24, 1785, which directed the manner in which the allowances of land were to be distributed to the troops, and provided for legal titles, vesting in them the right of ownership.

A section of the act described the persons who should be entitled to land, and Section 5, in order to comply with a previous resolution of the General Assembly, included the names of Baron Steuben, the German patriot drill master of the Continental Army, who was to receive a grant equal to that of a major general of the Pennsylvania Line, and Lieutenant Colonel Tilghman a grant equal to his rank.