Until the court house was built the courts were held at Fort Augusta, the first session being held April 9, 1772.
The first jail in the county was the dungeon beneath the magazine of Fort Augusta. This is the only part of the early county buildings now in existence, and this particular dungeon and the old well which supplied water for the garrison are now the property of the Commonwealth.
When the county was erected the Governor appointed William Plunket, Turbut Francis, Samuel Hunter, James Potter, William Maclay, Caleb Graydon, Benjamin Allison, Robert Moodie, John Lowdon, Thomas Lemon, Ellis Hughes and Benjamin Weiser to be justices. William Plunket was the president of the court and served as such four years.
William Maclay was the Prothonotary and Register and Recorder, and served until March 22, 1777; George Nagel, Sheriff of Berks County, served in a similar capacity in the new county; Edward Burd was the State’s attorney, and the Coroner was James Parr. The original County Commissioners were William Gray, Thomas Hewitt and John Weitzel. Alexander Hunter was Treasurer, and Walter Clark, Jonathan Lodge, Peter Hosterman, James Harrison, Nicholas Miller, Jacob Heverling and Samuel Weiser, Assessors; Thomas Lemon, Collector of Excise; Joshua Elder, James Potter, Jesse Lukens and William Scull were appointed to run the boundary line; Samuel Hunter was the first member of the Assembly.
Peter Pence, Indian Fighter, Captured
March 22, 1780
One of the conspicuous characters along the Susquehanna Valleys during the period of the Revolutionary War, and afterwards, was a Pennsylvania Dutchman by the name of Peter Pence. It is generally believed that his proper name was Bentz, a name which occurs frequently in Lancaster County, from which place he went to Shamokin. The well-known aptitude of the Dutchman to incorrectly sound his letters is given as the reason that his name was pronounced and spelled Pence.
In accord with the resolution adopted by Congress, June 14, 1775, directing the formation of six companies of expert riflemen in Pennsylvania to be employed as light infantry, one of the companies was recruited in Northumberland County, June 25, 1775, under the command of Captain John Lowdon.