The Fair Play Settlers of the West Branch Valley, 1769-1784: A Study of Frontier Ethnography — John Shaqi
The Fair Play Settlers of the West Branch Valley, 1769-1784: A Study of Frontier EthnographyWolf, George D.
History
The Fair Play Settlers of the West Branch Valley, 1769-1784: A Study of Frontier Ethnography
Wolf, George D.
Frontier and pioneer life -- Pennsylvania; Lycoming County (Pa.) -- History
Obviously, the primary sources for the West Branch settlements were the
lower Susquehanna Valley and southeastern Pennsylvania. However, an
appreciable number of English settlers appear to have come originally
from New Jersey to settle in what they called "Jersey Shore,"
immediately east of the mouth of Pine Creek. One explanation for the
migration of the dominant stock, the Scotch-Irish, is probably the fact
that the Provincial government refused to sell more lands in Lancaster
and York counties to the Scotch-Irish. In effect, they were driven to
use squatter tactics in the Fair Play territory.[7]
The internal origins of sixteen of these settlers can be verified in
either Meginness or Linn. Four came from Chester County, three each from
the Juniata Valley and Lancaster County, two each from Cumberland County
and New Jersey, and one each from Dauphin County and from Orange County
in New York. Nine of these settlers, incidentally, were Scotch-Irish.
Although these data are insufficient for any valid generalization, they
do conform to the characteristic migratory trends indicated in Chart 3.
In analyzing the migration of settlers into the West Branch Valley
beyond the line of the "New Purchase," it becomes apparent that the
Scotch-Irish came from the fringe areas of settlement, whereas the
English and Germans tended to migrate from more settled areas.
Furthermore, the English migrants often came from outside the Province
of Pennsylvania, either from New Jersey or New York. In fact, if one
were to construct a pattern of concentric zones, with the core in the
southeastern corner of the Province and the lines radiating in a
north-westerly direction, the English would be found at the core, the
Germans in the next zone, and the Scotch-Irish in the outlying area.
This zoning offers no real contradiction of the usual pattern of
Pennsylvania migrations. However, when one combines the data of internal
movements with those of external origins, certain contradictions do
appear. The most noteworthy of these is, of course, the prominence of
English settlers on this Fair Play frontier vis-a-vis the Germans.
Since the Pennsylvania frontiersmen of the Wyoming Valley were of
English stock, and immigrated from New England, it might have been
assumed that some of these Connecticut settlers came into the West
Branch Valley. Here, however, all evidence points to the fact that
Connecticut settlers did not migrate west of Muncy, which is located at
the juncture of Muncy Creek and the West Branch of the Susquehanna River
(where the bend in the river turns into a directly western pattern).
Thus the Connecticut boundary dispute of 1769-1775, which erupted into
the Pennamite Wars, did not involve the Fair Play settlers.[8]
Nevertheless, at least one Fair Play settler looked forward to the
possibility of an advance of the Connecticut settlement along the West
Branch.[9]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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