Thirty-two Sunbury Lot Applicants and Their Several Occupations, 1772

Thirty-two Sunbury Lot Applicants and Their Several Occupations, 1772 By Robert E. Wright* "CUTURE UNITED STATES SENATOR WILLIAM MACLAY (1734JT 1804) helped to lay out the proprietary town of Sunbury for the Penns in 1772.1 On the east bank of the Susquehanna just south of Fort Augusta and the junction of the river’s east and west branches, Sunbury was the sixth and final proprietary town. It lay within Northumberland County, also formed in 1772.2 As part of his duties, Maclay sold “tickets” to persons, mostly “Tradesmen,” desirous of owning lots in the new town. Seven shillings six pence3 entitled applicants to possess a lot for six months, during which time they promised to improve it. The exact nature of the requisite improvements is not known, but certainly in¬ cluded the erection of a house with a brick or stone chimney.4 Failure to improve the land meant forfeiture of possession rights. At the bottom of his “List of Lots” Maclay noted that he dated all the tickets 3 July 1772 so that all forfeitures would occur at the same time. In his August cover letter to James Tilghman, secretary of the Land Office, Maclay advocated a strict adherence to the rule, arguing that many others were eager to build if the initial applicants proved negligent. Once improved, the owners paid ground rent5 to the Penns. Generally, applicants who successfully improved their plots within the allotted time received either a deed or a patent depending on the previous ownership of the land. *Editor’s Note: Robert E. Wright , an Assistant Editor for the Biographical Dictionary of Early Pennsylvania Legislators Project, recently defended “Banking and Politics in New York, 1784-1829 (Ph,D. diss., SUNY Buffalo, 1996), He also recently contributed six biographies to American National Biography and published an article about early Phila¬ delphia banker Thomas Willing in Pennsylvania History ( Fall 1996). For more information about the author, or the Biographical Dictionary Project, browse http://www.temple, edu/history/. 26 Sunbury Lot Applicants and Occupations, 1772 27 In his note, Maclay indicated the applicants in his list needed to receive a patent, so readers seeking additional genealogical information about the applicants should search the patent books first. Those seeking ad¬ ditional information about Maclay or early Sunbury should consult the correspondence of the Land Office, the records from which the follow¬ ing list and letter were transcribed.6 Maclay was also partly responsible for surveying Sunbury and laid it out on a rectilinear plan similar to that of Philadelphia and the proprietary towns of York, Reading, Car¬ lisle, Easton, and Bedford. The remainder of his cover letter to Tilghman describes some of the difficulties encountered laying out lots too near the flood prone Susquehanna. Transcription of the table, especially the column of names, was diffi¬ cult because the original was torn along its crease lines. The author made few silent alterations. Additions or dubious transcriptions are rendered in brackets []. Superscript letters have been silently lowered to the line and some terminal flourishes have been changed to appro¬ priate punctuation. William Maclay to James Tilghman Esquire, Secretary of the Land Offices in Philadelphia List of Lots granted in the Town of Sunbury by Wm Maclay An Account of Lots granted by William Maclay, in the Town of Sunbury No. Person to whom granted 53 John Lukens Esquire 38 Jonathan Downing 200 David Dickson 198 John Colhoon 110 John Strump 111 Christopher Rider 285 Jacob Tetrich 290 Adam Crist 118 Frederick Lowsach 259 George Crist 212 William McMurray 220 Henry Swartz Time of Trade Granting Money Ticket SG [Surveyor General] 3d July 1772 Ticket Ticket Mason 27th Weaver Ticket 27th MD 27th Ticket Ticket Taylor 27th Ticket Distiller 27th Ticket Tavernkeeper 27th Ticket 27th Carpenter Nailor Ticket 27th Blacksmith Ticket 28th Schoolmaster 3d August Ticket Shoemaker 3d Ticket Paid 0:7:6 0: 7: 6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 28 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Person to No. Time of whom granted Trade Granting 253 Jacob Swartz 228 George Swartz Jr. 219 George Swartz Sr. 103 John Tucker 256 George Cleaver 218 Henry Cleaver 205 George St[eahey] 206 Anthony Hinckle 213 George Kintzer 214 Jacob Kintzer Weaver Baker 3d 3d 3d 3d 4th Baker 4th Shoemaker Taylor Shoemaker 5th 5th 5th Weaver 5th 5th 207 Conrad Needier Cooper 5th Cooper 208 Nicholas Coffee 10th Weaver 258 Melchior Endien Mason 102 Christopher Smith 12th 160 George Campble Esq. Atty at Law 12th 18th 283 Cornelius Cox 100 William Baily Coopersmith 19th 152 John Solomon 20th 210 Benjamin Orin Carpenter 26th 243 Joseph Orin Junr. 26th Rrickmaker 26th 244 Joseph Orin Senr. 106 Robert Magaw Esqr. Atty at Law 27th Joiner Joiner Joiner Money Ticket Ticket Ticket Ticket Ticket Ticket Ticket Ticket Ticket Ticket Ticket Ticket Ticket Ticket Ticket Ticket Ticket Ticket Ticket Ticket Ticket Ticket Ticket Paid 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0:7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0:7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7: 6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 0: 7:6 £12:15:0 The above are all the Lots for which I have granted Tickets since Mr. Lukens left the Place, and altho I have noted, as above, the Time of my Delivering Each Ticket, I have nevertheless, dated them all on the Third of July [inst.?], so that the Forfeitures, for not taking Patents will all happen at [?] the same Time. Wm Maclay August 29th 1772 William Maclay to James Tilghman, Fort Augusta, 31 August 1772 Inclosed I have sent a List of all the Lots which I have granted in Sunbury, together with the Entrance Money amounting to £12:15:0, The Noise about the Point Town is already greatly quieted, and People Sunlrury Lot Applicants and Occupations, 1772 29 begin to think Sunbury the best Situation. Many are wishing for the Expiration of Six Months from the 3d of July hoping That some of the Lots near the Square on the Front 8c ca will be forfeited, it is not my Province to advise, But I think the Forfeitures for want of patenting should be observed to a Day. Those which I have granted are almost all to Tradesmen, And I believe every one of them are earnest about build¬ ing 8c ca. I have wrote to Kenedy about some counterparts which I want him to send up That they may be executed here. As the partys cannot attend in Philada, if a Number of them are sent up, I will take Care to see them executed and collect the Fees 8c ca. This would save some Trouble to the People who live this way. With Regard to the Space left between the Front Lots and the River I have never had occasion to say anything about it save once, And then indeed? I said Little either way. I was not the Person, whom this mighty argument was intended to convert, and of course it was not offered to me, save by the by; I cannot set up my opinion for anything like a Rule, But the Space itself does not to me appear overly large, from the upper Comer of the Town it is only 86 feet. From opposite the 2d Square it is But a Little more than 150 from the Lot No. 92 it measures 170, and should the River encroach as much as it has done at Fort Augusta, at Harris’s Ferry and indeed at almost every Place, where the Soil was good, and the Banks Clear, it will in a few Years be too nigh. I have not yet seen any of the jersey men you mentioned to me in yr Letter by King, shall observe the Contents of yr Letter, when I do. To this Letter cum multis aliio, I expect no answer, nor shall I to any, unless you Judge it necessary. As I well know the usual Hurry of Business which attends you, I am (with proper Respect) Sir yr most Obed: most Hble Servt Wm Maclay Mr. Tilghman 30 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Notes 1. Dictionary of American Biography, s.v. “William Maclay.” 2. Statutes, 8: 143-52» passed 21 March 1772. 3. It is not clear if this value was rendered in sterling or Pennsylvania money of account. 4. A short, general description of proprietary towns can be found in Donna Munger, Pennsylvania Land Records: A History and Guide for Research (Wilmington: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1991). 5. A ground rent was a way of paying for land whereby the grantee (buyer) gave a sum to the grantor (seller) annually, forever. For more on ground rents, see Richard M. Cadwalader, A Practical Treatise on the Law of Ground Rents in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Kay 8c Brother, 1879). 6. Pennsylvania Land Office Correspondence, Box 2, Record Group 17, Pennsyl¬ vania State Archives, Harrisburg, Pa. 7. Strictly, “with many others.” Here, “as with the others.”