Remembering the "Walking" Purchase (Part 1)

This is kind of an awkward place to begin the history of Northampton County, but it's important that you know about what happened in the area in 1737.

Oh, and for those who - for whatever reason - don't like Bucks County? You're going to be displeased. Assuming you're reading this while sitting somewhere in the Lehigh Valley, the place you are now in was once part of Bucks County.

I know, right? Dark times.

Penn and Indians

But seriously, why don't you like Bucks County? It's charming.

It's also one of the first counties in Pennsylvania, founded in 1682 by William Penn himself. And, as you've gathered, it was originally much bigger than it currently is. How big? Bucks used to stretch north to the New York state border.

So, I guess, for now, this can be thought of as The Story of the Shrinking of Bucks County. It's happier to think of it that way. Because what it actually was - the swindling of land away from native peoples by obvious forgery and duplicity - is super depressing.

William Penn's dealings with the native tribes in Pennsylvania are well documented to have been in good faith and pleasant for all involved. The King of England had granted the colony to Penn (without thinking much about the people already living there), but did Penn didn't just take the land by force - he purchased it from the Indians whose ancestors had been here for thousands of years. He was actually a really great human being and I'll get back to him some other time.

Now, about his sons.

By 1735, William Penn had been long dead and his sons, Thomas and John Penn, had taken an interest in the area we now call Easton. It was then the seasonal hunting and fishing grounds of the Lenni Lenape tribe that hunted and fished in the area. They called it "Lechauwekink", the Place at the Forks.

What Forks?

...Who are you?

I'm an obvious, hamfisted narrative device the reader is meant to perceive as someone else asking you questions.

Ah, of course. Well, the Lenape were referring to the Forks of the Delaware River, where it meets the Lehigh River. Easton, today.

So why is Forks Township north of Easton, then?

Right? It's confusing.

Seems Legit

The Penn brothers had seen their father get into deep debt, and did not intend to copy him financially. They also didn't intend to copy his honesty. In 1735, Thomas Penn and his Secretary, James Logan, presented the Chief of the Lenape, Nutimus, with a document they just so happened to find.

The document claimed to be a copy of an original document dated from 1686 and said that William Penn had agreed to purchase this land from the Lenape. How much land did he supposedly agree to purchase? "As far as a Man could walk in a day and a half," the document claimed.

Seems legit.

Sure. First off, how would you feel if someone presented you with an agreement dating back a half a century? That would be like someone saying "I found this scan of a deed from 1964 that says your house belongs to me. Surprise."

So Chief Nutimus fought them on it, I presume?

Well, not physically fought, but yes, he appealed to the much more powerful Iroquois tribes for help since it was obvious what was going on. But the Iroquois were in no mood to help; it was politically advantageous of them to go along with the Penn family in this case.

But, in order to keep these blog posts short, you'll have to wait until Part 2 to see how this ends!

Or just go to Wikipedia.

I have details and context Wikipedia doesn't! I'm good for something!

Regretting that history degree at all, Kyle?

To the best of your knowledge, no.