LANCASTER COUNTY. 39 



The state of things in the province wa.7 such as to em- 

 bitter Hamilton's brief administration, by the disputes of 

 the assembly. Evans, whose life and conduct were 

 objectionable, was re-called, and superseded, by the 

 appointment of Charles Gookin, ,as Governor, who 

 arrived in March, 1709. He continued in office till 1717. 

 During his administration, the first permanent settlements 

 were made within the present limits of Lancaster, then 

 Chester county.* 



Though no actual settlements had been made, prior to 

 1708, or 1709, in Lancaster county, a few whites had 

 their abodes among the Indians on the Susquehanna. — 

 These were Indian traders, viz : Joseph Jessop, James Le 

 Tort, [t] Peter Bezalion, Martin Chartier, all Frenchmen , 

 the latter had lived, prior to 1704, long among the 

 Shawanah Indians, and upon the Susquehanna ;"§ and 

 one Mitchel, a Swiss. { Nicole Godin, an active young 

 fellow, but rather a sneak, and one Francois. These, 

 however, had no license to trade among and with the 

 Indians. 



It appears from a French letter, from Madame Letort, 

 the French woman at Conestogo, directed to Edmund 

 Ffarmer, bearing date 15th March, 1703-4, that the 

 Towittois Indians had come down and cut off the two 

 families of neighbor Indians at Conestogo, and that they 

 were all there under great apprehensions of further mis- 

 chief from them, and were preparing to demand succor 



* Lancaster county originally formed part of Chester, from 

 which it was separated in 1729. 



[f ] See Appendix B. 



{See Col. Rec. II. 133. 



tHe had been sent out by the Canton of Berne, Switzerland, 

 to search for vacant land. 



