18TH CENTURY INDENTURE / MORTGAGE MIFFLIN COUNTY BETWEEN McCAMMON AND MILIKEN AND STEWARDSON
An early handwritten Mortgage Thomas McCammon and Samuel Miliken to Thomas Stewardson that reads in part: "This indenture made the seventh day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety nine between Thomas McCammon of Bald Eagle Township in the County of Mifflin in the State of Pennsylvania farmer and Samuel Miliken of Armagh Township in the County and State aforesaid farmer of the one part and Thomas Stewardson of the City of Philadelphia in the state aforesaid gentleman . . . whereas the said Thomas McCammon and Samuel Miliken in and by four certain obligations or writings . . . under their hands and seals duly executed bearing date March 7th 1797 stand jointly and severally bound unto the said Thomas Stewardson in manner following that is to say in and by one of the said obligations in the sum of three hundred and seventy nine pounds eighteen shillings and six pence gold and silver money at the present current rate in the state aforesaid conditioned for the payment of the just sum . . . do grant bargain sell release and confirm unto the said Thomas Stewardson his heirs and assigns a certain tract of land called "Connaugh" situate on the south side of Bald Eagle Mountain in Cumberland now Lycoming County or Mifflin County beginning . . . the same premises which the said Thomas Stewardson and Anna his wife by Indenture bearing date the 6th day of March 1797 granted and conveyed to them the said Thomas McCammon and Samuel Miliken as tenants in common in fee under and subject to a reservation made by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania . . . In witness whereof the said parties to these presents have hereunto interchangeably set their hands and seals the day and year first above written." Signed by Thomas McCammon and Samuel Miliken. "Before me the subscriber one of the Commonwealth's Justices of the Peace for the County of Mifflin appeared the above named Thomas McCammon and Samuel Miliken and acknowledged the above written indenture to be their and each of their act and deed and desired the same as such might be recorded witness my hands and seal this fifteenth day of June Anno Domini 1799. William Petrikin" "Entered in the Office for recording of deeds in and for said county the fourth day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety nine, and recorded in book E page 70, Certified under my hand and seal of Office at Lewistown in said county, Edward McCarty, for Samuel Edmiston, Esq, Recorder." Fee paid to James Harris Esq.
Coming along with this document are three other documents labeled as (1) "Bond - Thomas McCammon and Samuel Miliken to Thomas Stewardson for £189.19.3 payable 1st May 1798," (2) "Bond - Thomas McCammon and Samuel Miliken to Thomas Stewardson for £189.19.2 payable 1st May 1799 with interest," (3) "Bond - Thomas McCammon and Samuel Miliken to Thomas Stewardson for £189.19.2 payable 1st May 1800 with interest."
William Petrikin Esq. Died at Bellefonte on the 2nd of October 1821 in the sixtieth year of his age. He was a native of Scotland, and an ardent love of liberty was the cause of his emigration to the United States. He settled at Carlisle, PA, and at an early age took great interest in politics. He was a member of the convention which assembled at Harrisburg, September 3, 1788, favorable to a revision of the Constitution of the United States, which had been adopted the year previous. He was appointed a justice of the peace for Cumberland County in 1795, and at that time commenced the study of law, and, although he never practiced . . . He was raised and educated in the tenets of the Secession Church of Scotland, and was always a member of that church. He removed to Centre County when the formation of the county was agitated, January 1796, and was appointed one of its first justices, October 22, 1800. On the accession of Governor Snyder he was appointed (May 10, 1809) register and recorder of Centre County, which office he held until February 8, 1821. His wife, Elizabeth (McEwen), died October 9, 1832, aged seventy-one years.
James Harris Esq. Was the son of John Harris, who emigrated from Ireland to Lancaster County in 1752. James was born on the Swatara in 1755, but his father removed afterwards to the Juniata, and built a fine house on the site of Mifflintown, and laid out that town in 1790. James adopted the occupation of a surveyor, and on April 19, 1785, was appointed deputy surveyor of Cumberland County, and on November 19, 1789, was appointed for all of Mifflin County. In September 1787, he laid out the road from Frankstown to the Conemaugh River. From 1789 his name is connected with the land titles of Centre County. He married, June 15, 1790, Ann, daughter of Col. James Dunlop, and removed to Spring Creek in 1795, in which year in connection with his father-in-law he laid out the town of Bellefonte. He was a State senator from Mifflin County, and the first postmaster at Bellefonte. After the erection of the county he was senator from 1800-1808. James Harris died December 2, 1826, in the seventy-first year of his age; his wife, April 8, 1844, aged seventy-seven. Their children, Jane married Rev. James Lewis; John Harris, M.D., late United States consul at Vienna; Eliza G. married Dr. Daniel Dobbins; James Dunlop Harris, the celebrated civil engineer; William Harris, county treasurer and senator; Joseph, who built the iron-works at Howard, and Andrew Harris.
[The above biographical information obtained from Linn's History of Centre and Clinton Counties.]
Thomas Stewardson, Sr., (1762-1841), Philadelphia Quaker, identified himself as a merchant, but his primary occupation was an agent for local and British concerns and estate administrator. His agency was carried on by successive generations, by his son George, also a merchant, and his grandson, Thomas, an attorney.
Samuel Edmiston was an early settler in Mifflin County. He purchased 300 acres of land and laid out the town of Lewistown. Lots were set apart for schools, a court house, jail and cemetery. Mr. Edmiston being a modest man, is generally credited with giving the town the name of Lewistown in honor of a friend named Lewis, who was an iron manufacturer in this sections' early history.
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