The drawing of the lottery commenced October 1, 1786, and was to continue one year. The committee of the Supreme Executive Council selected to superintend the drawing consisted of Captain John Boyd, Jonathan Hoge, Stephen Balliet and William Brown, to which was shortly added Peter Muhlenberg and Samuel Dean. The time of the drawing was subsequently extended until under various laws the last limit of time was fixed as April 1, 1810, and from that day the offices were closed against any further applications for donation lands. ---------- Colonel Matthew Smith, Hero of Early Wars, Born March 13, 1740 Matthew Smith was the eldest son of Robert Smith, and was born March 13, 1740, in Paxtang, then Lancaster County, but since March 4, 1785, a part of Dauphin County. At the age of fifteen he was a soldier under Colonel Henry Bouquet, serving in the final campaign of the French and Indian War. During the interim between that war and the Revolutionary War he was an active leader among the early settlers in what are now Dauphin, Cumberland and Northumberland Counties, a leader in the struggles against the Indians and a respected and brave frontiersman. Late in 1763 the Indians, especially the Conestoga, caused much suffering in the lower Susquehanna region and the territory between Harris’ Ferry and the Schuylkill. The terrible incursions perpetrated and the many murders committed by these savages resulted in having the provincial authorities place these Indians under their care in Lancaster, Conestoga and Philadelphia. This protection so incensed the settlers, who had lost many of their kin through the perfidy of the so-called friendly Indians, that an appeal was made to the authorities against this support and protection, but no attention was given the frontiersmen. These settlers continued to suffer until their patience was sorely tried. They then took matters in their own hands and banded together as the “Paxtang Boys,” under the leadership of Captains Matthew Smith and Lazarus Stewart, and they made a clean job of their design. The “Paxtang Boys” marched to Lancaster, December 27, 1763, broke into the workhouse, and before their anger could be suppressed the last of the so-called “Conestogas” had yielded up his life. After this no other murder was committed by the Indians among the settlers in this vicinity. Captain Matthew Smith, as one of the actual leaders, seems to have borne the lion’s share of the blame for the act. February 13, 1764, a lengthy declaration was prepared for presentation to the General Assembly, then meeting in Philadelphia, signed by two of the citizens, Matthew Smith and James Gibson. The petition stated, however, that they signed it “on behalf of ourselves and by appointment of a great number of the frontier inhabitants.” This petition was one of the most important ever presented to a Pennsylvania Legislature and caused much heated debate.