THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY
ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
It is noted that the following work from the Miami Archives should be read and
considered within the historical context in which it was composed and printed.
The opinions expressed and the language used do not reflect the opinions or
standards of the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, but are, rather,
indicative of thought in that historical moment during which the document was
published.
Minutes of the Provincial
Council of Pennsylvania
(September 21, 1753)
In: Minutes of the Provincial Council
of Pennsylvania, Colonial
Records, Vol. V,
pp. 659-660.
(page 659) Commission from Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, Esquires, true and absolute Proprietaries of the said Province, And with Our Royal Approbation) Lieutenant Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Province aforesaid, and Counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex, upon Delaware, at Philadelphia, the Twenty-Second Day of September, in the Year of our Lord One thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-three, and in the Twenty-Seventh Year of Our Reign.
|
JAMES HAMILTON. |
Then was read a Letter to the Governor from Mr. Edward Shippen, Prothonotary of Lancaster County, and another enclosed in it to one Young, an Indian Trader, from John Frazer, his Partner, and one who had lived at Weningo; but apprehensive of a visit from the French had in the Summer removed thence to the Forks of Mohongialo, about fourteen Miles from the sd. River's entring into the Ohio, where he now has a Store of Goods and carries on a Trade with the Indians, And as Fraser's Letter contains a large Account of the French Proceedings, and Mr. Shippen's Letter explains several Matters in it, they are both ordered to be entered, placing Fraser's first.
|
FORKS, August 27th, 1753. |
Mr. Young:
I have sent the Bearer in all haste to acquaint You what a narrow Escape William made from the French at Weningo. I have sent him off there the same time that You ordered him, and from that time until he ran away he only sold eight Buck's worth of Goods, which Custologo took from him, and all his Corn, when he was making his Escape in the night. He is made a Captain by the French, and next morning after William's Escape he delivered John Trotter and his Man to the French, who tied them fast and carried them away to their new Fort that they made a little from Weningo at a Place called Caseoago up French Creek. The night that William ran away, that Afternoon Two French Men came to Weningo, who told William that there was no Danger, but William being a little afraid got all ready that night and came as far as Licking Creek and there staid till Break of Day, and then came by Land to the Top of the Hill against my House, where he saw about one hundred of the French Dogs, all under Arms, and had Trotter and his Man then tied. Fourteen of them followed William, but it being a foggy Morning he outrun them, so that there is nothing lost yet only those eight Bucks and all the Corn. I would have sent William down only I do not know every moment what Time I will be obliged to move my Goods from here back in the Woods.
I have thrown a Parcel of my own Goods against another Parcel of Yours, and sell them now since William came here. I have not (page 660) got any Skins this Summer, for there has not been an Indian between Weningo and the Pict Country hunting this Summer, by reason of the French.
There is hardly any Indians now here at all, for yesterday there set off along with Capt. Trent and French Andrew the Heads of the Five Nations, the Picts, the Shawonese,the Owendats, and the Delawares, for Virginia; and the Half King set off to the French Fort, with a strong Party along with him, to warn the French off their land entirely, which, if they did not comply to, then directly the Six Nations, the Picts, Shawonese, Owendats, and Delawares were to strike them without Loss of Time. The Half King was to be back in twenty Days from the time he went away; so were the Indians from Virginia.
Capt. Trent was here the night before last, and viewed the Ground the Fort is to be built upon, which they will begin in less than a month's time. The Money has been laid out for the building of it already, and the great Guns are lying at Williamsburg ready to bring up.
The French are daily deserting from the new Fort- one of them came here the other Day whom I sent to Capt. Trent; he has him along with him to Virginia; he has given the true Account of the Number of French and all their Designs; there are exactly Twenty-Four Hundred of them in all; here is enclosed the Draught of the Fort the French built a little way the other side of Sugar Creek, not far from Weningo, where they have Eight Cannon. Which is all from your Friend
|
JOHN FRASER. |
P. S.- The Captain of the French that took John Trotter from Weningo was the White French Man that lived last Winter at Log's Town.
___
|
LANCASTER, 9th September, 1753. |
Honoured Sir:
The enclosed was just now brought me by Mr. Callendar in order to be forwarded to your Honour.
Custologo is a Delaware Indian, and a very Leading man.
Weningo is the name of an Indian Town on Ohio where Mr. Fraser has had a Gunsmith's Shop for many Years; it is situate eighty Miles up the said River beyond the Log's Town, and Casewago is Twenty Miles above Weningo.
The Half King is one of the Six Nations, and of very great Note and Esteem amongst them.
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