PREFACE.

In the studies connected with the preparation of the book, "A German Hero of Pennsylvania," published some fifteen years ago, the author was impressed with the fact that justice had never been given the Antes family in the history of the development of Pennsylvania. The welcome that book received, and the endorsement of it by many of the most accurate writers of colonial history, led the author to prepare on a more extended scale a statement of the services the sons of Henry Antes rendered the Commonwealth.

The author has taken great care to learn the exact facts, and to do this has searched the Congressional Library at Washington, the Mercantile Library in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia City Library, the Library of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Salem City Public Library. He has also searched the county records of deeds, wills and mortgages of Philadelphia, Montgomery, Northumberland and Lycoming Counties. He has also availed himself of favors shown by Messrs. John W. Jordan, Henry S. Doterer, Ethen Allen Weaver, Rev. H. E. Hayden, J. H. MacMinn and other specialists in departments of the field of research traversed. There have been placed in his hands original letters, unpublished archives and other matter of original sources of information in the possession of individuals and of the Historical Society of Pennnsylvania, and of the Moravian Church at Bethlehem. He has also visited the localities and has conversed with the aged people whose memories carried them back to conversations with their sires, giving the traditions of those days. And in addition to all these sources, he has read carefully the following books to gather information: Archives of the State of Pennsylvania, Colonial

Records of Pennsylvania, History of Chester County by Futhey, History of Montgomery County by Bean, History of Lycoming County by Stewart, History of Lycoming County by Meginnes, History of Northumberland County, History of Buffalo Valley by Linn, History of the West Branch Valley by Meginnes, Biographical Annals by Meginnes, History of Wyoming by Charles Miner, Gordan's Pennsylvania, Watson's Annals of Philadelphia, Watson's Annals of New York, all the volumes of the Pennsylvania Magazine, Winterbotham's History of America, Historical Review of Pennsylvania by Benjamin Franklin, Pennsylvania Historical Collections by Day, Transactions of the Historical and Literary Committee of the American Philosophical Society, The Making of the Nation by Walker, Through Colonial Doorways by Anna H. Wharton, Life and Writings of John Dickinson, History of the People of the United States by McMaster, A Short History of the English Colonies in America by Lodge, Discovery of America by John Fiske, Dutch and Quaker Colonists by John Fiske, Winning of the West by Roosevelt, Life and Writings of De Witt Clinton, Life of Franklin by Bigelow, Life of Franklin by Parton, Life of Jefferson by Morse, Life of Alexander Hamilton by Lodge, Sketches of William Bradford, the Potts' Memorial, Genealogist, Vol. 1; Ridpath's History of the United States, Household History of the United States by Eggleston, Sketches of Montgomery County Historical Society, Settlement of Germantown by Samuel W. Pennypacker, Egle's History of Pennsylvania, Bolles' History of Pennsylvania, Smith's History of New Jersey, Autobiography of Charles Biddle, The Colonial Era by Fisher, Life of Daniel Boone, Memorials of the Moravian Church, Moravian Seminary Souvenir, Moravian History by Reichel, Zeisberger's Diary, Old Landmarks by Hagen, Antiquities of the Southern Indians by Jones, Book of the Indians by Drake, Schoolcraft's Notes on the Iroquois, An Account of the History, Manners and Customs of the Indians. by Heckewelder, all the volumes of Notes and Queries by Egle, etc., etc.

PREFACE.

5

It would, perhaps, be claiming too much to assert accuracy in every particular, but the author has spared no pains to make the presentation as accurate and valuable as the extensive sources of information given him would allow. One very pleasing accompaniment of his labors has been the personal assistance and friendship of many who are known to fame, and are among the most learned and loyal of the sons of Pennsylvania, and the encouraging letters from a large number of generous subscribers to the publication of the book.

ON THE FRONTIER WITH COLONEL ANTES.

A

CHAPTER I.

COLONIAL TIMES

T THE present time the thoughts of the reading people are turned toward that period of our history when the foundations of government were being laid. Historians are presenting the events in order as they occurred with the plainness and exactness that are essential to make history worth the reading. In these volumes attention is given to the men and events around which the current of the forces involved swirled and eddied. These histories are not dull reading. They bristle with accounts that stir the patriotic heart, and in the descendants of the brave men of that time arouse a pride that threatens to develop into an aristocracy, which is even now assuming form under such names as "The Order of the Cincinnati," "The Sons of the Revolution," "The Colonial Dames," "The Daughters of the Revolution," and others.

Closely following the historian is the "Pedigree Hunter." Sometimes these are employed professionally by those who wish to have a standing in the new aristocracy, but of themselves are unable to furnish the necessary proofs of their pedigree. Others, sure of their facts, and equally desirous of showing their patriotic ancestry, search the records of ancient times, and gather from old trunks, chests and the secret drawers of cabinets musty and faded letters, clippings of colonial papers, parchment deeds and elaborately written wills, and present these as proof of their right to be in the company of those who, from the beginning of our National history, have been patriots of the purest sort. These people are well known by the county clerks and the librarians of old libraries, and extremely old people, who are supposed to cherish remembrances of their early days, and can recall the traditions of their day, which, generally, are reliable and of