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The Manor of Maske in then York, now Adams County;  McCurdy & Allied  Associated Relevant . Part of Topic:  Penns Manors, their history and relevancy to our Forebears  related to Subject: Adams County, within Chapter:  Pennsylvania and our Pennsylvanians [See  Penna Chapter TOC ]
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Subjects Within This Page , 
Links to its Associated Pages and Pages Relevant Outside Site:
See also Page Table of Contents
Robert McCurdy & Allied Lines; 
Relevance to the Manor of Maske
History of the Manor of Maske:
Penn's private lands, now part of 
Cumberland Twp, 
Adams Co, Penna
 Transcribed text from Samuel Bates' History of Adams County with links to known persons:
Geog/History of Cumberland Twp pertaining to the Manor of Maske
The original Maske "Squatters"; 
their  backgrounds,  and
a description of the group
The original Squatters by name: 
some ideas on who some  were
with links to those known
See Also Associated Pages: 
Property details on the McCurdy, Clingan, Moore and Thompson lines
in the Manor of Maske from Adams County Historical Society's Manor of Maske Booklet
 Piney Creek Presbyterian, 
serving  the Manor of Maske
and its relation to our McCurdys , 
Allieds, and Collaterols 
USEFUL LINKS OUTSIDE These Pages
Excerpt from the Manor of Maske: Its History and Individual Properties, available  thru The Adams County Historical Society
and a Map of portion of the region  from that History 
Another Transcription of Bates History Relevant to the Manor of Maske, including  more lists from later dates Expanded Excerpt 
An Introduction to Cumberland Township,  the Manor of Maske within it:
Click on Map Thumbnail to Enlarge
Settlement of Adams County occured before the treaty with the natives ceding it evidenced in Blunston licensesF1 [issued starting in 1734] . In 1736, the Penns purchased all the region lying west of the lower Susquehanna from the Indians.  "The pioneers of the township [ed note: Cumberland, Adams County, Penna-pertained to York County and before that to Lancaster County]came here [ed note: To the region known as the Manor of Maske]  between 1733 and 1739, from Ireland. The term 'Scotch-Irish of the border' was a name given to these settlers by the colonial land grabbers of  the Penn coterie (A Boyd Hamilton, Harrisburg). The tract over which 
 they squatted was wild land when they came; but a few years later, in 1740, the Penns named  it 'The Manor of the Maske.' " 2 In 1729, in order to protect this southern portion of Penna from Maryland's incursion, the governor had asked the Penns  for fighting men to protect the region. 140 families from Ulster were sent instead, and they built homes and settled the land. When the Penn brothers laid out the manor, they ordered the settlers removed. This was not to be a job so easily accomplished and they were threatened with force of arms. 
The concept of a manor was not new to the Penn family; It had been resurrected by the English for William Penn roughly 3 centuries  after the last  grant of a manor in England   See Penns Manors in  Pennsylvania. The Manor of Maske was one of "forty-four manors in the eastern, western and other parts of a Pennsylvania, aggregating [in total ] 421, 015 acres and 82 perches" 3  Thomas & Richard Penn  retained, in what became Adams County [formed from York]  the 43,500-acre  Manor of  Maske8.  and this Penn estate was the second largest manor in terms of size, bested only by the The Manor of Springettsbury relevant to our Spangler and allied lines.  Robert McCURDY  and his wife Ann CREIGHTON settled in the region of the Manor of Maske in 1780. 
This Page Table of Contents:

1. Robert McCurdy & our Allied Lines of 
the Manor of Maske: Reason for continued interest and study
      2. History of the Manor of Maske, Penn's private lands, now part of Cumberland Twp, Adams County, Penna

Transcribed text from Samuel Bates' History of Adams County [ includes links to persons documented within  webpages]: 
Robert and Ann Creighton McCurdy lived in a log home and their farm was divided on 
Robert's death among their  three sons. 
The log home of our direct among them, 
James McCurdy and his wife Martha Moore,built on his portion, is now an antique store very much like this one 
[image from the Cumberland twp home page] 
Carroll's Tract split through the Manor of Maske, and encompassed about 5,000 acres in its more eastern regions. Carroll's Tract, like Digge's Choice, was a Maryland grant in what was by the Mason Dixon Line determined to be Pennsylvania.
Robert McCurdy and our Allied Lines relevant to the Manor of Maske
On to the History of the Manor of Maske now part of Cumberland Twp, Adams County, Penna
To Top of Page

History of the Manor of Maske, Penn's private lands, now part of Cumberland Twp, Adams County, Penna
Settlement west of the Susquehanna occured before treaty with the Indians [1736] ceded it , helped as a result of a ferry established 1712 at the future site of Harrisburg by the trader responsable for founding the site of that later city. Blunstone licenses documenting [illegal] settlement relevant to lands west of the Susquehanna pertaining to the region of the manner of Maske were issued in 1735 [Two were issued, both on April 8, 1735, for a total of 600 acres of land among the branches of Marsh Creek.] . footnote 1  As a result of the dischord involving the boundary of Maryland and Pennsylvania across its reach, according to Hamilton family history "about 1729, the Governor of Pennsylvania, in order to stop further encroachment on the part of Maryland, sent word to the Penn brothers, sons of William Penn, to send him some fighting men. In response, they sent a colony of 140 families from Ulster, Ireland, led by Captain Nance Hamilton.  This colony landed at New Castle, Delaware, August 24, 1729, and went almost immediately to what is now Adams Co., PA, where they took up land and began to build their homes.."  4 In 1736 the land west of the Susquehanna was gained by treaty, and "there is strong evidence that as soon as the purchase became known to the borderers east of the river, they began to move across to these rich and beautiful lands..There is not record or tradition now to tell exactly who they were or when they first came  [note that the writer was likely unaware of the Blunstone Licenses which  recieved much later investigation but even when studiedare not fully revealing regarding this region] .....in 1739-40,, as the Dutch then were rapidly coming, Penn laid out, in what is now Adams county, a reservation for himself and family, and called it the ìManor of Masqueî after the title of an old English estate belonging to some of his distant relatives. He had laid out ìmanorsî before this in the eastern part of the State".2 All 'squatters'  were ordered  "be removed from this tract. This reservation included much of the land that had been settled by the colony led by Captain Nance Hamilton, besides many other colonists that had moved into this section of the state." 4The early settlers upon the Manor of Maske located on Marsh Creek2
In 1741, having identified the region of their manor, surveyors were sent [the order for the survey, (bears the) date june 18,17412]  to firmly define the borders at which time  insurrection is added  to the history of  The Manor of  Maske. "The manor is separated by a narrow strip -Carrollís tract, or ìCarrollís Delightî as it was named. This was surveyed under Maryland in 1732, and the warrant holders assumed it was held in Lord Baltimoreís Maryland.It contained about 5,000 acres. " 2 The  1741 Penn-sent surveyor wrote to his employers anxiously revealing the temper of the 'squatters':  " the Inhabitant are got into such Terms, that it is as much as a manís Life is worth to go amongst them, for they gathered together in Conferences, and go in Arms every time they expect I am anywhere near there about, with full resolution to kill or cripple me, or any other person, who shall attempt to Lay out a Mannor there"....The settlers threatened personal violence to Pennís surveyors, and would break the surveyorís chain and drive him off. These manor disputes were all settled by compromises in 1765, the boundaries of the different manors marked off, and the names of the settlers on these tracts of land designated, and the long continued border troubles were happily ended."2 Some historians have referred to the action against the Penn family regarding the Manor of Maske and the similar following uprisings in southeastern lying Digge's Choice [extending from now Hanover, York County Penna to now Littlestown, Adams County, Penna] and then a Manor pertaining to Maryland involving largely German 'squatters' ] as the first succesful and final rebuttal of a feudal system in America still lingering in Europe.  ì   It was in 1766 that  "York County  Manor of Maske Surveyors line[d]  out [the] Manor of Maske... then part of York County, [it]  includes the area covered by present-day Gettysburg [and]  measured about six miles in width and 12 miles in length."6
"the act of the Penna Legislature, March 12 1802, dealing with the purchase and improvement of the 'Manor of the Maske' prior to 1741, provided that the original settlers, or their heirs, who were excluded from perfecting titles to their lands, owing to State and manor boundary difficulties, be now enabled to acquire title by paying purchase money and interest theron to the settlers in Butler, Menallen, Liberty, Straban, Hamiltonband and Freedom townships, as well as to the settlers on the east side of Marsh Creek. The original tax payers of the township in 1799 included Robert McCurdy with valued property of 1, 794. " 2 He had purchased his land   in the region of the former Manor of Masque.
Robert McCurdy bought his land from that warranted to Thomas Wilson, who had 418 acres in June 1764 and October 1765 . Wilson was an original patentee in the disputes regarding the Manor of Maske, for which the predominantly Scot Irish populace was willing to take up arms against Pennís agents.
Part of the reason the Manor squatters were so fierce in protecting their claims was because of the lack of harmony between Germans and Scotch Irish, but more importantly ,  they had opened the land, established their community, and they wanted to keep it.

Many of the original settlers of the Manor of Maske have surnames under research in allied lines. There is a Samuel Paxton,  headwater Paxton, currently collaterol which may line up with the McCurdy line herein in some way. The Paxton family  were part of the Scotch Irish settlement at Marsh Creek, and like all the squatters were embroiled with dispute with our direct James Logan, Penn's employee and the most powerful man in the whole of the colony, who did not die until 1751 and whose son William  continued the family association with and service to Penn interests ; These lands are referred to as 'the Manor of Maske'.

Robert McCurdy, born in Salisbury Township, Lancaster, removed to Cumberland and his first precense there is noted in 1780.
His land encompassed part of the Manor Of Maske, although it is clear both from his revolutionary service from Leacock and from the roster of squatters that he was not one of the originals there, and , indeed, neither is the man from whom he bought his land, who is missing form
the list of original squatters found below.  Robert McCURDY bought his land there from the Widow WILSON in 1780, who had warrant in 1765.
To Bates History of Cumberland Township
To the squatters of the Manor of Maske
To Top of Page

Here follows a history of Cumberland township, in which the Manor of Maske is discussed.
Please Note that an Expanded Excerpt from the Same Tome  can be found at US GEN WEB. including further lists from later dates.

Extract : Bates,  History of Adams County, originally published as History of Cumberland and Adams Counties
[Samuel P Bates. History of Adams County, Pennsylvania. Warner, Beers and Co., 1886 Chicago. 2nd Reprint 1980 by The Bookmark Knightstown, Indiana. Originally published as History of Cumberland and Adams Counties-1992 reprint of 1886 edition]
Transcribed by Cynthia Swope for Within The Vines. All Pages of Within The Vines are Copyright Protected. See Terms of Use. 
1] Geography, History of Cumberland Twp [ pertaining to the Manor of Maske]
3] The original "Squatters";  their  backgrounds, a description of the group
4] The original Squatters by name, with some ideas on who they were, and links to their Within The Vines Identity

IF You have a Forebear Among THE LIST OF ORIGINAL SQUATTERS,  please contact me
I'd love to link you to the list.

ìCumberland Township.
The principal streams of Cumberland Township are Marsh Creek and Rock Creek.   Willoughby Run, which drains the center of the entire north half, is a tributary of Marsh Creek, forming a confluence with that stream opposite the Reding homestead on Toutís farm. A number of running brooks, some with the pretensions of creeks, flow southeast into Rock Creek, while several rivulets flow southwest from the center line north and south into Marsh Creek. Rock Creek bounds the township on the east and marsh Creek on the west, both flowing south into Maryland within a mile of each other, although they are about six miles apart in the northern district of the township. Cemetery Ride, Seminary Ridge, and ROund Top (799 feet above Atlantic Level) are the prominent eminences.
The geological features are dolerite on Culpís Hill; trap along Seminary and Cemetery Ridge to Little Round Top; indurated mud rock, south of Rock Creek bridge; shales and altered sandstone, indurated mixed rock in rairoad cut west by north of gettysburg; argillaceous sandstone at brick-yard northeast of Gettysburg; dolerite, three-quarters of a mile northwest of Gettysburg; and white feldspathic trap one and one-half miles south of Gettysburg. In 1874 a vein of iron ore was discovered on Howellís farm, two miles west of Gettysburg. In 1872 iron ore was found on the Peter Gintling farm. Lignite was found opposite the fair ground at Gettysburg, but the vein was light and quality poor.
Southwest of Round Top is the Indian field. 56 years ago this was a clearing of six acres in the midst of a dense forest, with asalt spring at the southern end. Here it is said a great Indian battle was fought, and this spot was cleared to bury the dead, although others say it was sacred festival ground. here the Wilsons, McNairs and Quinns, all of Revolutionary stock, are supposed to have made the first white settlements in the county.
The population of the township in 1800 was 1, 263, including Gettysburg; in 1810, 863-463 males, 404 females, 2 slaves and 21 free colored. In Gettysburg there were 362 males, 313 females, 7 slaves and 43 free colored, aggregating 725, which with the township gives a total poulation of 1, 888 sould; in 1820, 1,022, and in Gettysburg, 1,111; in 1830, 1,010, and Gettysburg 1472; in 1840, 1, 218, and Gettysburg, 1.908; in 1850 (excluding Gettysburg), 10455, including 53 foreign and 91 colored citizens. The figures for 1860 and former decennial periods include the population of part of Highland. In 1880 the population outside of Gettysburg was 1, 512, and of Gettysburg, 1 2,814.
The number of taxpayers (1886) is 460; value of real estate, $566, 479; number of horses and mules, 464; cows and neat cattle, 529; value of moneys at interest, $54,905; value of trades and professions, $11,280; number of carriages, 190;gold watches, 11; silver watches, 1; acres of timber land, 1,956.
In 1809 the stone bridge over Marsh Creek at Breamís tavern was built by William McClellan, for $2,500.  The length is 115 feet, with five arches. In 1814 the Marsh Creek stone bridgeo nteh Gettysburg and Emmitsburg road was built by John Murphy. It is 114 feet long, containsfive arches and cost $3,500.  In 1852 it gave place to the present wooden bridge. In 1846 Joseph Clapsaddle built the Rock Creek wooden bridge on the Harrisburg road for $850. In 1852 David S Stoner built a wooden bridge over Marsh Creek on the road from Gettysburg to Nunnemakerís mill, for 1,544. In 1853 John Finley erected the Rock wooden bridgeon the Hanover road, near ghGettysburg, for 1, 490. In 1871 the 120 feet span bridge (wooden) at Hornerís mill was rebuilt at a cost of 1,345 by J M Pittenturf. In 1871 Gilbert and Co. erected an iron bridge over Willoughby Run, on the Gettysburg and Fairfield road, ninety feet long, for 13.45 per fotot, exclusive of stone work, which was built by Perry J Tawney. The iron bridge at Hoffmanís, which was being built in the winter of 1885-6, was swept away and a man named Herring drowned.
The first road repairing work done in the township after the organization of the county, was in November 1802, when a small bridge was built over the creek on the Baltimore road near the millknown as ìMcAllisterís Millî. The first road built after the establishment of the county was that from IsaacDeardorffís mill to Gettysbur, viewed in 1800 by Thomas Cochran, Alexander Irvine, Francis Knwouse, Alexandery Lecky, James Horner and Samuel Smith of Mountpleasant. The Rock Creek road, otherwise the Baltimore road, an old highway, was repaired fo rthe first time within the bound of Adams County in June, 1805. During that month William McPherson and Reynolds Ramsey, the road supervisors of Cumberland Township, dcalled on the resident for help. This call was responded to as follows: Rev Alex Doblin (sic, Dobbin), James McClure, Andrew Bushman, Quintin Armstrong, Robert McCurday (this transcriberís GGGG Grandfather),  David Horner, Henry Black and Conrad Hoke sent each a wagon and team with one man. Jacob Sharfey , Phoutz J Armstrong, Jacob Bushman, Robert Works, Hugh Dunwoody, Robert Thompson (possible relationship to this editor as marrying an aunt Mary McCurdy), Gabriel Wlalker, Robert McCreary, Henry Black, Michael Miller and Conrad Hoke appeard on the ground themselves, or sent their men to assist in repairing this road.
The Gettysburg and Blackís Tavern pike was made in 1812; the Baltimore and Carlisle turnpike in 1815; the York and Gettysburg and the Chambersburg and Gettysburg pike roads ar enoticed in the history of other townships.
In 1859 the Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railroad was opened for traffic. February 26, 1884, the ìJay Cookeî Brought in the first train over the Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railroad, and two golden spikes were driven. The road was completeed and opened for regular traffic April 21, 1884, the first trains north being drawn by the locomotive ìsouth Mountainî with Samuel Wiser, Engineer; John Sawers, Fireman , anc Capt Small, conductor. The second train was drawn by engine ìJay Cookeî with Ephraim McClary, engineer; L Bailey, fireman; Capt C E Givler, conductor.
In 1869 a street railroad was built from the hanover Railroad depot to the Springs Hotel, right of way being granted on condition that the company would keep the street in repair. The conditions were observed for a short time, and in failure the road was condemned." 
Extract : Bates,  History of Adams County, originally published as History of Cumberland and Adams Counties
Footnote One: Bates entry is confusing.  The Conestoga are generally considered remnant tribes of the once powerful Susquehannock
who , prior to Penn's arrival, had been decimated by disease and finally, after years of warfare, subjugated by the Iroquois League. The period of 
the late 17th century to which Bates is referring is one marked by the dominance of the Iroquois League over their Algonquian and Iroquoian 
neighbors, a process involving almost 3/4s of the 17th century, spanning a huge region of the now United States, and accelerated and promoted 
by the arrival of the contesting European powers, their guns and desire for trade in furs. In 1696, the year of Penn's treating with the Conestoga, 
the Susquehannocks had experienced subjugation by the Iroquois for nearly a quarter of a century. The Conestoga informed Penn that they were subjugated, and that only the ruling council of  the Iroquois League could determine the validity of treaty or 
land sales involving  Conestoga occupied areas.
See relevant Subject heading and its many related pages: The Natives of Southeastern and Southcentral Pennsylvania
The Manor of Maske, Its Squatters by Definition and by Name:.[Continued Extract from Bates History]
"In 1696 the five Nations Indians were induced to sell their lands, west of the Susquehannea, to Thomas Dougan, governor of New York. Immediately after, Jan 13 1696, the whole tract was deeded to William Penn for 100 pounds sterling, or about $483. Penn then won from the Susquehannas, the original owners, their claims, and subsequently satisfied a claim of the discontented Conestogas, who denied the validity of the Susquehannasí title see footnote one. In 1736 a deed was given by the five tribes to John Thomas and Richard Penn for all lands west of the Susquehanna to th 'setting sun'. On this title the proprietaries claimed the right to own a tract of land as large as Great Britain, and the claim was held just by the English governors.
There was also the 'carrol Tract' and 'Diggesí Choice' located in Adams County, under titles granted to Carroll and Digges by Lord Baltimore, but for some years this question of overstepping proprietary rights was confined to the landlords themselves.
Between 1735-6 and 1741, a number of Irish peasantry from the hills of Tyrone, Derry, Cavan, and Sligo Counties, came hither to stay, to erect a free home for themselves at the foot of the old South Mountains. The Hamiltons, Sweenys, Eddyws, Blacks, McClains, McCLures, Wilsons, Agnews, Darbey and others were here, near Gettysburg, in 1841 [sic, 1741]. Then came the landlordsí agent to survey the ìManor of Maskeî and a second one to drive off the 'Squatters' or obtain from them pay for the permission to work in the heat of summer and cold of winter among the rocky hills, who declared 'yt if ye Chain be spread agaain, he wouíd stop it, and then stop ye Compass from ye Surv Gen.' The men who resisted the survey of the ' Manor of Maske' were prosecuted, but the wisdom of the Penns prompted a fair settlement with the squatters, which resulted in the Irish peasant becoming his own laborer and master, his own tenant and landlord. This same band of fighters for the right, organized for defense against the Indians and shared in the honors of saving the frontier from many an Indian raid. This same band of Peasant first saw the tyranny of the 'tea tax' and were among the first to hail the Revolution. They were among the first to recognize the liberty conventions and swear fealty to the act for such conventions in 1775. They were the men who formed McPhersonís battalion in 1775, and the Eleventh Pennsylvania Regiment of the line in 1776.
They spoke bad Irish and as bad English, but their shout was heard unmistakably wherever the wave of revolution struck, and when, with their brothers of the thirteen stars, they raised the flag of the Union, they, at that moment saw the shackles fall from the husbandman, and industry and liberty march forward over the trails and military roads cut by the retreating soldiers of Great Britain.
The German Squatters in 'Diggesí Choice' folllowed up the principle of the squatters in the 'Manor of Maske' but , making only a formal resistance, were on the point of being subjected, when Jacob Kitzmiller shot Dudley Digges, a son of the 'landlord' and routed the sheriff. This act, and the acquittal of the peasant, shed new light on the land question, and possibly was the second paving stone in the street which is leading to ownership of land by the cultivator of the land. Does it not seem strange that here on Marsh Creek, where the Irish squatter-cultivator first fought for the ownership of his own labor, the decisive blow was struck at colored slavery 122 years later?"

The Squatters of The Manor of Maske Identified 
Readers and Researchers:If you have a forebear among the THE LIST OF ORIGINAL SQUATTERS, , I'd love to hear from you and add your link to this list. 
Squatters List: [Bates Transcript Continued- Italicized and/ or indented Editorial Notes are inserted by this writer and arenot part of the Original Bates Text ]
     
    aaa
    "The pioneers of the township [ed note: Cumberland, Adams County, Penna] came here between 1733 and 1739, from Ireland. The term 'Scotch-Irish of the border' was a name given to these settlers by the colonial land grabbers of  the Penn coterie (A Boyd Hamilton, Harrisburg). The tract over which they squatted was wild land when they came; but a few years later, in 1740, the Penns named  it  ' The Manor of the Maske.' In 1765 a list of the squatters was made out, which was recorded April 2, 1792. This list gives the names, and dates of original improvement of the lands throughout this entire 'manor', and from it, with the aid of descendants of the old settlers, the following list of those who resided in this township is taken: "
     
    • Editorial Notes: Several names among those of the original squatters of the Manor of Maske provided in the Bates History and transcribed below are relevant to further research for our McCurdy and Allied Lines. They include

      • [Thomsons /Thompsons (Andrew Thompson and James Thompson, Paxton  (Samuel and son) and Moore (Joseph and David ] and I have given thoughts on who they may be within our own family tree involving the McCurdy and allied families  in this portion of  those family'shistories.
    • About the Moores in the List:
      • Robert McCurdy's son James McCurdy married Martha MOORE, whose ascendancy is not yet known. Included in this roster are surnames present as collaterols throughout our tree in relation to the  McCurdys and the McCurdy/Moore union. Some of these names, like Robert McCurdy's children, are present in the transcripts of church records of Piney Creek Presbyterian near Taneytown, Maryland. Please note that the Manor of Maske fell very near the region disputed until theMason Dixon Survey and it is quite possible that those persons relevant but as yet not identified to us and present in southern Penna thought obtained their land under Maryland rights, thought  themselves present in Md and vice versa. The Piney Creek Churchin which many of the following persons are found involved was in fact in northern Maryland, just south of Cumberland Township, Adams County, Penna and exactly in the region encompassed by the Survey.   Nancy Moor[e] identified herself as born in Maryland in her  census entry of 1850 when she was residing with her son in law John Adam Swope and dtr Nancy Moore McCurdy Swope, his wife. Moore Entriesin the original Squatter list of the Manor of Maske given below, when further identified,  may yield info on Nancy Moore's ascendancy.  In regards to the Joseph Moor listed in the following list, further research on this name yields the following. Whether or not they are all referring to the same Joseph Moor is not known yet to me.
        • "In 1752 the records show there were forty persons living on tracts sold under Maryland rights, in York County,the majority of whom were in what is now Adams County, as follows:.....Joseph Moor" 2
        • There is a Joseph Moor from Md on the Muster Rolls- Genealogical Records: Maryland Settlers & Soldiers, 1700s-1800s . Muster Rolls & Other Records of Service, Flying Camp Papers, Page 51 ....Joseph Moor .Enlisted by Ensign Nathan Williams. Passed by Joseph Smith
 
Again, From Bates" This list gives the names, & dates of original improvement of the lands throughout this entire 'manor', and from it, with the aid of descendants of the old settlers, the following list of those who resided in this township is taken "
Editorial Note: Persons of interest to this study are highlighted and expounded upon. Much of the information is repeated in deference to persons performing search on ancestors and looking for one person in particular. :

"WIlliam McClellan, May 1740
John Fletcher, June 1739
Robert Fletcher, May 1741
Samuel Gettys (Rock Creek)  1740
Hugh Scott, Sept 1740
Daniel McKeeman Setp 1740
George Kerr, Oct 1740
Samuel McCullough, May 1741
Alex. Stuart April 1741
Robert Smith April 1741
James Thompson May 1741

[Editorial Note: related to the Thompsons in Piney Creek Cemetery? Mary McCurdy, dtr of our Robert McCurdy and Ann Creighton, married Robert Thompson, and many of her siblings were married by the Rev Davidson and surrounding the Piney Creek church with which he was associated. There are family bundles in these smallish congregations, and the McCurdyís seem to have touched the Clingans, as well as the Thompsons within them. It would not be suprising for the Paxtons mentioned in Rev Davidsonís records to be somehow related closely with our McCurdys.There were Paxtons associated with the Marsh Creek Settlement, but so far any relationship to the McCurdy line has not yet been established. There is a Robert THOMPSON in the first tax list of 1799 for the former Manor of Maske in which also appears Robert McCURDY. Whether or not this James Thompson is an ancestor of that Robert, or Mary McCurdy's husband Robert, is not yet known}
Joseph Clugston April 1741
John McGaughey April 1741
William McCreary April 1740
Joseph Moore, March 1740      [Editorial Note: Does this man yield possible birth data for Martha Moore married James McCurdy]
David Moore March 1741            [Editorial Note: Does this man yield possible birth data for Martha Moore married James McCurdy]
Hugh Woods March 1741
Edward Hall March 1741
John Linn 1April 1740
James Walker May 1740
David Dunwoody March 1741
Hugh Dunwoody April 1741
Thomas Douglass May 1740
Alex. Poe April 1739
Hugh Davis April 1739
John Brown May 1741
Samuel Eddy March 1741
John Stuart March 1741
Henry McDonogh April 1739
James McNaught May 1740
Myles Sweeney March 1741
Thomas Boydís heirs, March 1741
Samuel Paxton and son, March 1741
 
Editorial Note: It is said [see Mellon, Rachel Hughey Larimer's "The Larimers, McAllisters and Allied Families" published 1903]  that Nancy McCurdy, daughter of our Robert McCurdy and Ann Creighton ,  married an Unknown Paxton. Many  of Nancy's McCurdy siblings were married by the Rev Davidson and surrounding the Piney Creek church with which the Reverand  was associated. There are family bundles in these smallish congregations, and the McCurdyís seem to have touched Piney Creeks Clingans, as well as the Thompsons of Piney Creek. It would not be suprising for the Paxtons mentioned in Rev Davidsonís records to be somehow related closely with our McCurdys.
Although the exact identification of Nancy McCurdy's Paxton husband is not yet made, there were Paxtons associated with the Marsh Creek Settlement [Any relationship to the McCurdy line has not yet been established]. This samuel Paxton and son, of March 1741, is probably the  Samuel Paxton, born 1760 who, along with three sons, is known to have been present in the Marsh Creek, now Adams County area. His father, is reported 
ìSamuel Paxton Jr. had been born in Ireland about 1705 and, when a young man in his twenties, he came to America with the family. Very little is known of him, except that he was twice married and was the father of twenty-two children, four of whom died before their father, which accounts for only eighteen being mentioned in his will, which was probated, March 8, 1793. However, of the eighteen, there are only four ? John, Thomas, Jonathan, and Samuel ? on who there is any data.î from Chapter three of ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA Notebook {Paxton Family Ties}-SEE PINEY CREEK  for expandede info and source references. 
Quintin Armstrong, April 1741
John Murphy April 1741
John McNeit, April 1741
John Armstrong April 1740
Andrew Thompson May 1741
[related to the Thompsons in Piney Creek Cemetery? Mary McCurdy, daughter of our Robert McCurdy and Ann Creighton, married Robert Thompson, who appears a likely candidate , along with Mary herself, found within the Thompson graves given in link. . And many of her siblings were married by the Rev Davidson and surrounding the Piney Creek church with which he was associated. There are family bundles in these smallish congregations, and the McCurdyís seem to have touched the Clingans, as well as the Thompsons within them. It would not be suprising for the Paxtons mentioned in Rev Davidsonís records to be somehow related closely with our McCurdys. There are Thompsons also in the congregational lists for Piney Creek . More discussion on the Thompsons is found on Piney Creek page. 
John Leard September 1739
Robert Black May 1740
Alex. Walker April 1741
Moses McCarley April 1739

"The Name McPherson does not appear among the original owners. Robert McPherson was a delgate in the convention held at Carpenterís Hall, Philadelphia, June 18., 1775, and took the oath of allegiance to the Union of States; he was also delgate to the great convention of 1776.
"The act of the Pennsylvania Legislature, March 12, 1802, dealing with the purchase and improvement of the ìmanor of the Maskeí prior to 1741, provided that theoriginal settlers, or their heirs, who were excluded from perfecting titles to their lands, owing to State and manor boundary difficulties, be now enabled to acquire title by paying purchase money and interest thereon from 1765 to 1802 to the receiver-general of the land office. This act applied to the settlers in Bulter, Menallen, Liberty, Straban, Hamitonban and Freedom, as well as to the settlers on the east side of Marsh Creek.î2
 
 

In the Same tome, containing a list of the original tax payers of the township in 1799 , 
the assessed value of property are given  and  Robert McCurdy is clearly assessed.

Footnote 1: Blunstone Licenses:
Blunstone licenses were warrants for what was not yet legal land, it being in territory not yet ceded by treaty with the natives. A ferry across the Susquehanna existed by 1712, operated by John Harris at the future site of Harrisburg, where he had established a thriving trading post. This ferry served Indian traders from both sides of the Susquehanna, and occasionally French traders travelling the river's banks, and illegal settlers were already present west of the Susquehanna long before the Blunstone licenses began to be issued in 1734. The Penns, recognizing there was no profit in this illegal settlement,  issued about 280 licenses for about 74,000 acres in the future York County, much of which would become the future counties of Cumberland  and Franklin, and a small portion of which  pertained to the future Adams County. The Penns "authorized Samuel Blunston, a Lancaster County surveyor and public official, to issue what were call licenses to persons wishing to take up land west of the Susquehanna River. Most of the Blunston licenses were granted to Scotch-Irish immigrants for tracts in the Cumberland Valley, in what are now called Cumberland and Franklin Counties, along the Conodoquinet, Yellow Breeches, and Conococheague Creeks. A much smaller number were for land in what is now York County along the Codorus and Conewago Creeks. About twenty licenses were issued, most of them in early 1735, for about 8000 acres of land along the upper reaches of the Conewago Creek, and itís tributaries, in the northern part of what is now Adams County. Two were issued, both on April 8, 1735, for a total of 600 acres of land among the branches of Marsh Creek."5
See Description of Blunstone License holding in the Penna Archives yielding more information below.


 Blunston Licenses in the Archives [See also   the region of Adams County  pertaining to Blunstone Licenses above]
 

The State Archives has catalogued the Blunston Licenses and provides detail on the holdings in its possesion. This is placed here for ease of access, as this entry is deep within its pages.
"A loose register of licenses granted in lieu of warrants to settlers in Springettsbury Manor in present day York County and along the Conodoguinet Creek in present day Cumberland County and a list of licenses to settle granted to other "adventurers." This series is filed in folder 12 within the series Proprietary papers, [ca. 1682-1788] {17.297}. The practice of granting licenses to settle on land not yet purchased from the Indians created a new category of land. The licenses not only kept track of settlers who went beyond the treaty line, but also carried the promise that warrants would be granted as soon as the land was purchased from the Indians. As early as 1718, James Logan had informally granted permission to a group of Scots-Irish immigrants to settle in West Conestoga Township in what was then Chester County and Deputy Governor William Keith had also secretly given permission for a group of Germans from Schoharie, New York to settle in the Tulpehocken Valley of the present day Berks County in 1723. Despite such early informal arrangements, the Blunston Licenses were the first official licenses authorized by Thomas Penn in 1736 for land that lay west of the Susquehanna River. To protect proprietary interests in the border dispute with Maryland, he granted Samuel Blunston a commission to issue "licenses to settle" to German squatters and other "adventurers" in this region and these resemble warrants and contain much of the same type of information. Licenses or certificates were also granted to traders who assisted in military occupation of the frontier and in securing the western fur trade. Examples of these can be found in the gentlemen's tract applications in the East Side Applications Register, 1765-1769 {series #17.37}. Information given is the date of the license, the name of the settler, the acreage licensed, and the location of the tract.

In all cases where settlement occurred by license, regular warrants could not be granted until the land had been purchased from the Indians. To locate a warrant issued on the basis of a license or certificate, consult the warrant register of the county with jurisdiction at the time. For example, most of the earliest warrants issued on the Blunston licenses will be found in the Lancaster County warrant register because Lancaster County had jurisdiction west of the Susquehanna River until York County was erected in 1749 and Cumberland County in 1750. "
From
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Bureau of Archives and History Pennsylvania State Archives
 RG-17  RECORDS OF THE LAND OFFICE Series Descriptions
Blunston Licenses, A Record of Licenses Granted to Sundry Persons to Settle & Take Up Land on the West Side of Susquehanna River,
[ca. 1736]. (1 folder)  LO 23.1 PLR 71  {series #17.319} [Holdings]. Arranged chronologically by date of license. Indexed internally, alphabetically by surname of licensee.


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Sources for this Page:

2.  Bates History of Adams County[Samuel  P Bates. History of Adams County, pennsylvania. Warner, Beers and Co., 1886 Chicago. 2nd Reprint 1980 by The Bookmark Knightstown, Indiana. Originally published as History of Cumberland and Adams Counties-[1992 reprint of 1886 edition].
3. Armstrong County Penn. Genealogy Project . Manor Township pages. Sites: Source: Page(s) 310-345, History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania by Robert Walker Smith, Esq. Chicago: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883. Transcribed January 1999 by Donna Mohney for the Armstrong County Smith Project. Published 1998 by the Armstrong County Pennsylvania Genealogy Project.
4. Nance Hamilton Family Page
5. the Manor of Maske: Its History and Individual Properties, a small part of the text available  through the Adams County Historical Society
6 York Daily Record
7. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Bureau of Archives and History Pennsylvania State Archives
 RG-17  RECORDS OF THE LAND OFFICE Series Descriptions Blunston Licenses, A Record of Licenses Granted to Sundry Persons to Settle & Take Up Land on the West Side of Susquehanna River, [ca. 1736]. (1 folder)  LO 23.1 PLR 71  {series #17.319} [Holdings]. Arranged chronologically by date of license. Indexed internally, alphabetically by surname of licensee.

8. Pennsylvania State Archives Page: .PMHC Doc History, Wilt Map
 
 

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