LANCASTER COUNTY. 243 



Strenuously recommended. So confident was the first 

 sheriff of the coimty, Avho resided at Wright's Feriy, 

 that the seat would be fixed there, "that he had a strong . 

 wooden building put up near his residence, which was 

 intended for the county jail. It is only a few years since 

 this building was pulled down."* 



"Postlewhait's, from its being an old settlement, (now 

 Jacob Fehl's, Esq.,) the origmal site of an Indian 

 wigwam, appearing to possess superior advantages, a 

 temporary court house of logs and jail were there 

 erected." Courts, as will appear from the records, were 

 held at Postlewhait's, till August term, 1730, and after- 

 wards at Lancaster. 



"Governor Hamilton made an offer of two places, 

 the old 'Indian Field,' 'High Plain,' 'Gibson's Pasture,' 

 'Sanderson's Pasture;' the other the 'Waving Hills,' 

 embosomed in wood, bounded by "Roaring Brook,' on 

 the west. The road from Philadelphia to Harris's 

 Ferry, passed through the centre. Gibson resided near 

 a fine spring, with a large hickory tree before his door. — 

 This was the favorite tree of the Indian tribe who lived 

 in the vicinity, and were called by the whites from that 

 circumstance, the ' Hickory Indians.' 



"There were two swamps, one called the 'Dark 

 Hazel Swamp,'t nearly in the centre of the proposed 



*Rev. D. Goheen. 



f " The Dark Hazel Swamp was attempted to be cleared 

 from wood, and a drain made to carry ofl' the water, in the 

 year 1745." 



Note. — "James, afterwards Lord Altham, was confined in 

 the prison erected at Wright's Ferry. The history of this indi- 

 vidual is curious, and illustrates the remark, '■'■Truth is stranger 

 tlian fiction.'''' The individual, the subject of this note, came to 

 this country in 1728, v/hen quite young, and served his time as 



