Daily stories of Pennsylvania : $b prepared for publication in the leading daily newspapers of the state...Godcharles, Frederic Antes
History
Daily stories of Pennsylvania : $b prepared for publication in the leading daily newspapers of the state...
Godcharles, Frederic Antes
Pennsylvania -- Biography; Pennsylvania -- History
A similar development was rapidly taking place east of the Susquehanna,
occasioned by the activity about Fort Augusta, at the Forks of the
Susquehanna, and the Pennamite-Yankee War, which was being waged for
possession of the territory in the Wyoming Valley and elsewhere, claimed
by the Susquehanna Company of Connecticut, and the treaty of November 5,
1768, added much new territory.
By an act passed March 21, 1772, the County of Northumberland was
erected out of parts of the counties of Lancaster, Cumberland, Berks,
Bedford and Northampton. The bounds of the new county stretched to the
New York-Pennsylvania boundary line on the north and to the Allegheny
River on the west, including in its extensive territory the present-day
counties of Susquehanna, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wyoming, Bradford,
Sullivan, Columbia, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder, Union, Lycoming,
Tioga, Potter, Clinton, Cameron, Elk, McKean, Forest, Jefferson, Clarion
and parts of Schuylkill, Center, Mifflin, Juniata, Clearfield, Indiana,
Armstrong, Venango and Warren.
It is with eminent propriety this tenth county of Pennsylvania has been
frequently styled “Old Mother Northumberland,” and each of her
twenty-nine children refer back to her for their earliest political
history.
Its greatest proportions were attained in 1785, when, by the Act of
April 9, all that part of the purchase of October 22, 1784, east of the
Conewango Creek and Allegheny River was placed within its limits. The
county thus extended along the northern line of the State as far west as
the Conewango Creek, which crosses the New York-Pennsylvania boundary
line in Warren County, and from the Lehigh River to the Allegheny River,
with a maximum width of nearly two-thirds that of the State. The extent
of this region exceeds that of several States of the Union.
By the Act of September 24, 1788, Allegheny County was created,
including all the territory in the State north and west of the Ohio and
Allegheny Rivers, and from this territory, by act of March 12, 1800, the
counties of Beaver, Butler, Mercer, Crawford, Erie, Warren, Venango and
Armstrong were erected. Thus it would seem that the first five of these
should be added with the offspring of Old Northumberland, for three
years at least. If this be the case her children would number
thirty-four of the sixty-seven counties of the State.
The first curtailment of this generous domain resulted from the erection
of Luzerne County, September 25, 1786. West of the Susquehanna the first
county to which Northumberland contributed was Mifflin, erected
September 19, 1789, but the part taken from Northumberland with
additional territory from Northumberland and other counties, was erected
into Center, February 13, 1800. The formation of Lycoming County, April
13, 1795, deprived Northumberland of the large extent of territory it
had acquired under the purchase of 1784, with a considerable part of its
original area.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account