[47] The veracity of the witness is an important question here. Meginness, in his 1857 edition, devotes a footnote, p. 168, to this remarkable woman who was in full possession of her faculties at the time. The Rev. John Grier, son-in-law of Mrs. Hamilton and brother of Supreme Court Justice Robert C. Grier, wrote to President Buchanan on Nov. 12, 1858, (Wagner Collection), stating that "Mrs. Hamilton is one of the most intelligent in our community." Buchanan then wrote an affidavit in support of Grier's statements to the Commissioner of Pensions, Nov. 27, 1858, (Wagner Collection). Aside from the declarations of Mrs. Hamilton and her son, the only other support, and this is hearsay, is found in the account of an alleged conversation between W. H. Sanderson and Robert Couvenhoven, the famed scout. W. H. Sanderson, _Historical Reminiscences_, ed. Henry W. Shoemaker (Altoona, 1920), pp. 6-8. Here again, the fact that the reminiscences were not recorded until some seventy years after the "chats" raises serious doubts. [48] _Pennsylvania Archives_, Fourth Series, III, 545. [49] _Ibid._, p. 546. [50] Linn, _History of Centre and Clinton Counties_, p. 473. [51] _Ibid._ [52] _Ibid._ [53] _Ibid._ [54] _Ibid._ _See also_ John H. Carter, "The Committee of Safety of Northumberland County," _The Northumberland County Historical Society Proceedings and Addresses_, XVIII (1950), 44-45. [55] _See_ map of the Fair Play territory in Chapter One. [56] Linn, _History of Centre and Clinton Counties_, p. 469. _See also_, Carter, "The Committee of Safety," pp. 33-45, for a full account of the activities of the Committee. Carter notes that the county committee consisted of thirty-three members, three from each of the eleven townships chosen for a period of six months. [57] _Ibid._, pp. 472-474. CHAPTER FOUR _The Farmers' Frontier_ The economy of the West Branch Valley was basically agrarian--a farmers' frontier. The "new order of Americanism"[1] which arose on this frontier was in part due to the cultural background of its inhabitants, the knowledge and traditional values which they had brought with them. It was further influenced by the frontier status of the region itself--an area of virgin land in the earliest stages of development. And finally, it was affected by the physical characteristics of the territory, particularly the mountains which separated these settlers from the more established settlements. It has been said that "many of the enduring characteristics of the American creed and the American national character originated in the way of life of the colonial farmer."[2] The Fair Play territory was typical of this development.