LANCASTER COUNTr. 243 



Strenuously recommended. So confident was the first 

 sheriff of the county, who resided at Wright's Ferry, 

 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 FehPs, Esq.,) the original 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, 

 tlie 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 

 Qircumstance, 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 cleareij 

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

 yeaj 1745." 



Note.— "James, afterwards Lord Altham, was confined t» 

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

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

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

 this country in 1728, when quite young, and served his time as 



