Until the year 1755, there was no road to or from Easton, nor any adequate means of communication with the surrounding country. All the growth of the place had been made in the face of natural obstacles, which were not inaptly described to the petition made in 1763, by the opponents of the permanent location of the county seat at Easton, in which paper the memorialists said that it was only at imminent peril of life and limb, that residents of the outlying settlements could come to their seat of justice, on account of the steep and rugged paths they must pass to reach it.

 

 

If the townspeople wished to go towards Philadelphia, the route was a very bad one-almost impassable-being only a bridle-path, as far as Durham; and it they would reach Bethlehem (the only considerable settlement in all the surrounding region) they must make the journey as the enterprising Ernst Becker had done, over a vague Indian trail; while the route to the more northerly settlement, was encompassed by equal difficulties. As to the use of vehicles at that time, Mr. Parsons-referring to Easton, in 1755, says "Nobody had wagons, or even if they all had them, there were no roads on which they could have used them. Ferries, at that time, had not the commodious flat, to convey over rivers, wagons, horses, etc. Most of their customers came on foot, and such as had horses, swam them over."

 

In 1745, Mr. Martins petition for a road from his ferry, to Bethlehem, had been granted, and, in 1753, it was laid out, as was also a road from Bethlehem on to Reading. In 1755 it was so far completed, as to be barely passable. This was the first highway affording access to, and from the county seat. Entering the town from the west, it passed down by the route of Ferry street, to the river, at the tavern and ferry of Nathaniel Vernon, who was no longer lessee, but owner of that property; having then just purchased it from the estate of David Martin, deceased.

 

Although the jail building had been completed in 1753, yet, at the commencement of 1753, the enclosing walls had not been built, nor any wells sunk for the supply of water. And on the twentieth of January, in that year, the commissioners agreed to, and did, levy a tax, to defray the expense of these. They were contracted for on the twenty-first of February, and were completed before the autumn. Including these, the whole cost of the prison was about four hundred pounds, or a little short of eleven hundred dollars.

 

The town at this time comprised some forty dwellings-including the tavern of Kichline, Miller, Craig, Yohe, and Vernon -the school house and jail, and the old Moravian "Brothers' House" The stone mansion Of William Parsons had not then been completed.

 

ALARMS-TREATIES

 

Late in the fall of that year, the air became filled with rumors of impending Indian hostilities, and then the inhabitants of Easton, while they made every preparation for the worst, congratulated themselves that the thick walls of the jail, and its strong enclosure-just completed-would afford them a place Of comparative security, in case of a savage attack.

 

But notwithstanding their preparations, the tidings of the barbarous massacre of the missionaries at Gnadenhutten (Nov. 24th, 1755) fell upon them like a thunderbolt. All those who could leave the town, fled southward for safety, and all was panic and dismay. There were neither arms, ammunition, nor sufficient male defenders, and but little opposition to an attack could be offered, though the few stone houses, the largest and strongest of which was the Moravian house, on Pompfret street, and the walls of the give them security for a time. In the midst of all this terror and panic, Mr. Parsons wrote Lieutenant-Governor Robert H. Morris, under date of nineteenth of December, 1755, advising him of the generally desperate state of affairs at Easton -their lack if the means of self- protection, and of the universal flight of the inhabitants all along the river, and making an appeal for some measures to be taken to place them in a better condition for defence.

 

This despairing letter he sent, with others, by a special messenger, and that courier was, his own daughter, Grace! In speaking of this, Mr. Parsons said, he sent his daughter as a matter of necessity, for he had no money to pay another messenger. But it is no impeachment of Mr. Parsons, if we believe that he was unwilling to spare any male, who might be needed to defend the town; or that he was more than willing that his beloved child should place herself safely out of reach of the horrors, which he believed were in store for the devoted town upon the Delaware. And lonely as was her two days' ride to Philadelphia, she, herself, was no doubt lightened in heart, and accelerated in speed, by the thought that safety was before, while tomahawks were behind her. But it wast a necessary service, and she bravely and faithfully performed it. We may imagine how proudly she stepped from the low door of her fathers house, and how daintily she mounted, and how the bashful beaux stood at respectful distance, and gazed in rustic admiration on her aristocratic beauty, and how tenderly her father gave her his parting kiss -the last he might ever give her1 -as he bade her God speed.

 

It is it matter of great regret, on behalf of the ladies of the present day, that no detailed account was preserved, enumerating and describing the article of her attire on that occasion; but we may feel reasonably sure-and there is profound consolation in the belief-that Miss Grace was a young lady of correct and fastidious taste, and that her traveling dress, on that memorable ride, was of the proper material, and irreproachably fashioned in the (then) prevailing mode.

 

There was now but one thought pervading the community that of self-preservation. During the long, dreary winter and spring, the townspeople were in continual dread of attack, and they ventured not far away from the places which offered the best promise of security. All business was at an end-public as well as private. For seven months, there was not so much as a meeting of the County Commissioner-their first meeting, after the massacre, being held June 22d, 1756. About that time the attitude of the Indians became less menacing, and they finally consented to meet the whites in council at Easton.

 

A week or two before the time set for the council, Indians from the West and the North began to gather in the town, and the citizens became intensely alarmed in consequence. Earliest endeavors were made to prevent their access to liquor, but these were only partially successful. Major Parsons view of the situation, as well as his opinion of the German settlers in the vicinity, may be pretty clearly understood from the tenor of his letter to Secretary Peters at that time (July, 1756), He said: "There are now a large number of Indians in our town, and but very few soldiers to take care of them. Our Dutch farmers, when they come to town, always, go to see them, and the Indians beg whiskey or rum of them and the Dutch all drink a great deal, and get drunk in town, and in that state mingle and quarrel with the Indians, I am very fearful that, unless more troops are sent to keep off the drunken Dutch, the Indians will become enraged and do mischief in town." From this, it will be seen that the authorities had already sent a few troops to Easton, but that Mr. Parsons was very anxious that more should be ordered there.

 

The meeting of the council had been named for the twenty-fourth of July. It was held at Nathaniel Vernon's ferry house tavern, but, although there were present the Lieutenant-Governor of Pennsylvania, four commissioners, appointed by the Assembly, and four members of the Governor's council, besides a large number of distinguished gentlemen from Philadelphia, and Colonel Conrad Weiser, the Indian agent, with forty-eight soldiers from Heidelberg, Berks county, they found only twenty-four Indians in attendance. This being the case, no important business was transacted, and the council was adjourned to the following November.

 

At the reassembling November 8th, 1756 the Indian attendance was large. The Proprietaries had taken care to secure the presence of the warriors and chiefs of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, probably to overawe, and hold in check, the power and influence of Tadeuskund, the great chief of four tribes, and master spirit of the whole Delaware nation; he who had been principally instrumental in inducing his tribes to side with the French, and in causing the massacre at Gnadenhutten. He was present, swelling with complacency and importance, for he wore a fine, cloth coat, which had been given him by the French at Niagara, and a cocked hat, purchased of James Burd, of Philadelphia, both profusely decorated with gold lace; which caused him to be regarded with wonder by the little boys of Elision, and with admiration and envy by the other Indians. He, however, became the principal Indian speaker of the occasion, and wielded great power, not only over his own nation, but also over the Mohicans and Shawnese, who were numerously represented at the council.

 

On the part of the whites, the array was still more imposing, than at the July conference. Governor Denny, himself, was there, accompanied by his Secretary and Council; also the Assembly's Commissioners, and a large concourse of eminent Quakers, and citizens of the Proprietary party, with Colonel Conrad Weiser and his soldiers, and John Pumpshire, interpreter.

 

To make the occasion as impressive as possible, on the minds of the Indians, Governor Denny proceeded in great state to the council place, guarded and escorted, from flank and rear, by detachments of soldiers, "Royal Americans" and "Provincial," with drums, fifes, and colors, and all the imposing show of pump and power that was at his command.