116 HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. [1678. 



a return thereof to the Clerk of the proper Court, to be by the 

 Court returned to him. The Governor also notifies the Court of 

 his intention to visit England, and to return again in the spring.^ 



The great troubles and inconveniences to which the settlers 

 of a new country are subjected, are but little understood by per- 

 sons who have always resided in old and thickly settled districts. 

 The great annoyance suffered by the settlers on the Delaware at 

 this period, merely from depredations committed by wolves, will 

 be understood from the action of the New Castle Court, with a 

 view to their destruction. 



" The court takeing into consideration the dayly and contin- 

 uall spoyle & damadge v/"^ j^ woolves commit uppon the Stockes 

 of the Inhabitants and that the said woolves (notwithstanding 

 the former order of the laest high court allowing 40 Guilders for 

 each woolfe head), are no wayes more destroyed then before," 

 make an order for setting, 52 " Wolfe pitts or trap houses," and 

 direct who shall set them, &c.^ 



A provision is contained in the ''Duke's Laws" for the sup- 

 port of "distracted persons,"^ but no direction is given in 

 respect to the manner of securing them. As to their restoration, 

 it was a subject that claimed but little attention in these early 

 times. The action of the Upland Court, on a case brought 

 before it, though certainly curious, should not be so much a 

 matter of astonishment, 



" Jan Cornelissen of Amesland complayning to ye Court that 

 his son Erick is bereft of his naturall sences & is turned quyt 

 madd and y' : bee being a poore man is not able to maintaine 



him ; ordered : that three or 4 p''sons bee hired to build a 



Little Blockhouse at amesland for to put in the s** madman, and 

 att the next Court, order will bee taken y* : a small Levy bee 

 Laid to pay for the building of y^ house and the maintayning of 

 y® s*^ mad man according to Lawes of y" government."* 



This block-house may be regarded as the first lunatic asylum 

 in Pennsylvania. The necessity for such a building, and the 

 order for its erection, bespeak at once the great deprivations to 

 which our early settlers were subjected, and the inadequacy of 

 the means at hand for their relief. 



An abstract of all grants made prior to the establishment of 

 Penn's government, for land located within the limits of Dela- 

 ware county, that have come to the knowledge of the author, 

 and also a few of similar grants of land outside of it, will be 

 given in the Appendix, Note C. 



Some conveyances have already been noticed in the narrative, 

 and it will be necessary to advert to a few more, with a view of 



' Rec. Upland Court, 75-81. « New Castle Rec. Book, A. 222. 



» N. Y. Hist. Col. i. 408. * Reo. Upland Court, 102. 



