History: European settlement

History: European settlement
Franklin County Courthouse following the 1864 McCausland raid.
Native Americans living or hunting in the area during the 18th century included the Iroquois, Lenape and Shawnee.[7] “Falling Spring” was first settled by Benjamin Chambers, a Scots-Irish immigrant, in 1730, who started a grist mill and saw mill by a then-26-foot (7.9 m) high waterfall where Falling Spring Creek joined Conococheague Creek.[8][9] The creek provided power to the mills, and the settlement was known as “Falling Spring.”

On March 30, 1734, Chambers was issued a “Blunston license” for 400 acres (1.6 km2), from a representative of the Penn family, but European settlement in the area was of questionable legality until the treaty ending the French and Indian War, because not all Indian tribes with land claims had signed treaties.[8][10] The Penn family encouraged settlement in the area in order to strengthen its case in a border dispute with the Maryland Colony, which had resulted in hostilities known as Cresap’s War. This dispute was not settled until 1767 and the surveying of the border known as the Mason-Dixon line. Chambers traveled to England to testify in support of Penn’s claims.[11] To maintain peace with the Indians, European settlers were sometimes removed from the nearby area. In May 1750, Benjamin Chambers participated in removing settlers from nearby Burnt Cabins, which took its name from the incident.[12][13]

The area was officially part of Chester County, then Lancaster, and then Cumberland until it became part of the newly established Franklin County in 1784.[14]

The Great Wagon Road connecting Philadelphia with the Shenandoah Valley passed nearby. In 1744, it was completed through Harris’s Ferry, Carlisle, Shippensburg, and Chambersburg to the Potomac River.[8]

1751 Fry-Jefferson map depicting ‘The Great Waggon Road to Philadelphia’
In 1748 a local militia was formed for protection against Indians, with Benjamin Chambers being named colonel.

Chambersburg was on the frontier during the French and Indian War. The area’s population dropped from about 3,000 in 1755 at the start of the war to about 300, with most settlers not returning until after 1764 when the peace treaty was signed.[15] Benjamin Chambers built a private stone fort during the war, which was equipped with two 4 pounder cannons and fighting occurred nearby.[8][9][16][17] Because Chambers’s fort was otherwise lightly defended, the authorities attempted to remove the cannons to prevent them from being captured by Indians and used against other forts. The attempted removal was unsuccessful, and one of the cannons was used to celebrate Independence Day in 1840.[18] The Forbes Road and other trails going to Fort Pitt passed nearby as well.[19] The Forbes Road developed into part of the main road connecting Pittsburg and Philadelphia, and much later into US 30, and Chambersburg developed as a transportation hub at the crossroads of Forbes Road and the Great Wagon Road.

Fighting continued in the area after the war, most notably the Enoch Brown school massacre during Pontiac’s Rebellion and the Black Boys rebellion against British troops at Fort Loudon.[20]

The first settlers were Scots-Irish Presbyterians and German Protestants came soon afterward. Quakers and English Protestants, who made up a large proportion of early Pennsylvania settlers, did not often move as far west as Chambersburg. Blacks lived in Chambersburg almost from the start of settlement. Benjamin Chambers owned a black female slave sometime before the French and Indian War and twenty slaves were recorded as taxable property in 1786.[21][22]

The earliest church was established by Scots-Irish Presbyterians in 1734. Chambers gave land to the congregation in 1768, requiring only a single rose as annual rent. Later land was given to the First Lutheran Church (1780) and Zion Reformed Church (organized in 1780) under the same agreement, and these churches came to be known as the “Rose Rent Churches.”[23] A Catholic community organized in 1785. The Jewish cemetery dates back to 1840. The Mt. Moriah First African Baptist Church dates to 1887.[8]

The town was first laid out in 1764, and lots were advertised for sale on July 19 in Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette

Notice is hereby given to the Public, that there is a town is laid out on Conegogig Creek, on both sides of the Great Falling Spring, where is falls into said creek, by Benjamin Chambers, of Cumberland County. Lots may be had on reasonable terms and Firm Deeds granted for them by said Chambers: the day appointed for drawing of said lots is the 28th day of June inst.. which is a Thursday. The situation of this town is very good for water and stone, both free and marble, and sand all handy to the spot, and a well timbered part of the country adjoining it; within said town is a good Gistmill, Sawmill, and Grindstones going by water. The articles of the Town shall be read on the day appointed for the drawing of the Lots, and the terms of the sale published by me

—Benjamin Chambers[24]

from wikipedia