86 HISTORY or 



it is believed, has had its man of " notoriety^^ — Ken- 

 tucky had a Boone — Pequae, a Franciscus.* 



Not to deviate too far from a chronological order, we 

 sliall now present Governor Gookin's minutes of a 

 journey in 1711, to the Indians in the vicinage of the 

 Palatines ; such the Mennonite settlement was called. 



On information received from Peter Bezallion, that the 

 Queen and some of the chiefs of the Conestogo Indians, 

 would be glad to see the Governor and some of the 

 council, touching the death of one Le Tore, who it ap- 

 pears, had been killed before Gookin's arrival in America, 

 and to have a talk with some of the chiefs of the Five 

 Nations, Avho were waiting ; he and some of the coun- 

 cil proceeded to Conestogo. The following is a copy of 

 the journal, which was laid before the council at a ses- 

 sion, June 23, 1711. 



'' At Conestogo, June 18, 1711. 

 Present: — The Hon. Charles Gookin, Esq., Lieut. 

 Governor, and Joseph Growdon, Richard Hill, Griffith 

 Owen, Caleb Pusey, Esq., council. 



^Christopher Franciscus was an adventurous Swiss, and one 

 of the first settlers in the county. It is said the current of dar- 

 ing runs in the blood of the Franciscuses. His sons, after hiiii, 

 and his son's sons, and grandson's sons have, since the old 

 man's day, been known as stout men. They made many " a 

 fellow'' cry out, in the language of Terence, aurihus tenco lu- 

 pum^ i. e. / know not which way to turn^ as said the wolf when 

 Franciscus hugged him. 



Of Daniel Boone, the Kentucky adventurer, it is said, he 

 slew a bear; of Franciscus and his daughter, it is related, they 

 eviscerated a wolt, with a similar weapon, a butcher knife.— 

 We give the traditional story as we have it from one who as- 

 sures us, it is true. While Francis, one evening in the fall of 

 the year, was reclining on his bed, and the rest of the family 

 having all retired, except a daughter, who was about "laying 



