The story of Simon Girty Sr. is told here from History of the Girtys: Being a Concise Account of the Girty Brothers – Thomas, Simon, James, and George, and of Their Half-Brother, John Turner – Also of the Part Taken By Them in lord Dunmore’s War, in the Western Border War of the Revolution, and in the Indian War of 1790-95, with a recital of the Principal Events in the West During These Wars, Drawn from Authentic Sources, Largely Original, by Consul Willshire Butterfield, published at Cincinnati by Robert Clarke & Company, 1890.
From Chapter 1:
On the Susquehanna River, there lived, in the second quarter of the eighteenth century, upon the soil of what was Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, an Irishman, whose name was Simon Girty — sometimes written, in early accounts, “Girte;” sometimes “Girtee;” and frequently, “Gerrty.” At least one writer has declared, though erroneously, that the word is a corruption of “Guthrie.” [1]
Girty emigrated from the Emerald Isle at middle age, engaging, soon after his arrival in American, and in the province just named, in the Indian trade, in the employment of pack-horse driver. Subsequently, after he had saved enough of his earnings to go into business for himself in trafficking with the Indians, he married Mary Newton, and English girl. [2] Of previous event in her life, nothing whatever is known. Girty was married about the year 1737.His first child, named Thomas, was born in 1739.[3] The birth of a second child, called Simon after the father, was in 1741. [4] he birth of George, the fourth child, was in 1745, There were no daughters. [5]
It is certain that the home of the Girty family, at least from the date of the birth of their first child, was at Chamber’s Mill, on the east side ot the Susquehanna, above Harris’s — that is, above the site of the present city of Harrisburg – then the county of Lancaster, in that portion which has since been formed into dauphin county. The place was familiarly known, at that period, as “Chambers’s, in Paxtang.”
Four miles above Harrisburg, there empties into the Susquehanna, on the eastern side, a small stream, called Fishing Creek. At the mouth, or, rather, several hundred yards from it, at an early day, at least prior to 1730, several brothers of the name Chambers erected a mill, hence, the name of the place — “Chamber’s Mill.” It was this family of Chambers that settled Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in 1736. During the French and Indian War, a fort, or stockade, was built at Chamber’s Mill, named “Fort Hunter.” This was subsequently called “McAlister’s,” it is yet known as “Fort Hunter.” [6] Chamber’s Mill was a settlement not famous for its morality. Indee, it had few, is any, rivals, for its wickedness, in the province. [7]
Of those who lived at Chambers’s and in its vicinity, employed, as it was Simon Girty Sr., in the Indian trace, the names of several have been preserved, some of whom were then (and other afterward became) note in their calling; but in that class, “Girtee,” of “Paxtang,” can not be reconed. Of Indian traders, licensed from the 10th of August 1747, to the same day of the next year, the list is extant; also, of those not licensed, among the latter is found the name of Girty. [8] However, there is no evidence that he fell into the clutches of the law for his dereliction; as, on the 10th of August 1748, he received the proper authority to traffic with the savages; when, it is probable, the amount of license of license for the year previous was paid.
The home of Girty, at this time, was on the confines of civilization; nevertheless, the “course of empire” was “westward,” across the Susquehanna — “beyond the Endless Mountains, on Juniata, on Sherman’s Creek, and elsewhere,” to the great uneasiness of the Indians, for more than thirty families of white people, in the spring of 1749, had settled on their lands. [9]
The number of adventurers increased, and the Indians became thoroughly alarmed. They demanded their removal. Pennsylvania could not do otherwise than to comply with the wishes of the savages;but it was resolved to try peaceable measures — warnings to the interlopers — and, if these failed, force would be employed. So the Sheriff of Lancaster County, and three magistrates, with a government agent, were sent to the Trans-Susquehanna settlements to warn the people to leave immediately. Little heed was given to their words. Not only were there no returns to the east bank but settlers continued to arrive. Among there, in 1749, was Simon Girty Sr., and family, from Chamber’s. He settled on Sherman’s Creek, in what is now Perry County. But his career as a farmer was suddenly cut short.
On the 22nd of May 1750, eight provincials, good and true men, appointed by the government, and accompanied by an under-sheriff of the country (Cumberland), proceeded “by force of arms,” to carry out the wishes of the Indians. The first settlement reached contained five log cabins, The occupants were taken into custody, and the houses burned. Thence, the valorous nine proceeded to Sherman’s Creek, where they found, besides Girty, nine other trespassers. The ten were taken also into custody. It was found that each had settled upon a separate tract of land, and erected a cabin thereon. The houses, like those in the first settlement visited, were burned to the ground. Each settler was bound in a recognizance of one hundred pounds to appear and answer for his trespass on the first day of the next county court, which was to be held at Shippensburg. [10]
In view of all the circumstances, this violation of the law on the part of Girty and the others can not be set down greatly to their discredit. The former returned to Chambers’s. It was the last of his farming operations.
Girty was not free from the vice, which everywhere prevailed upon the border, of drinking too much. It is a tradition, long since hardened into print, and many times repeated, that he was “beastly intemperate;” that a “jug of whiskey was the extent of his ambition:” and that “grog was his song, and grog would he have.” This, hover, is overdrawn. He would have his sprees, but he was not a habitual drunkard, although, after his return with his family to Chambers’s, and end was put to his existence, remotely by his indulgence. Concerning his final “taking off,” the same tradition is also at fault. It is asserted that “his hours were waste in idleness and intemperance, and he was finally knocked on the head by a neighboring boor, who bore off Mrs. Girty as a trophy of his prowess.” [11] Another published statement is, that he had a difficulty with a neighbor, Girty challenged him. They met; rifles were used; but both missed. They were then furnished with swords by their seconds and Girty fell mortally wounded — run through his body by the weapon of his antagonist.
So much for traditionary accounts. The following are the facts: He was killed, in a drunken frolic, y an Indian named “The Fish,” at his home, about the ending of the year 1751. [12] While, therefore, he received his death-wound at the hand of a savage, it can not be said, as some accounts have it, that he was “killed by the Indians” — the inference being that he was the victim of a war-party, marauding the white settlements. [13]
The killing of Girty was a deed which must be avenged, and the avenger was at hand. His name was John Turner. He lived with Girty. To make things equal, he put an end to the existence of “The Fish”– the murderer of his friend. So, in the backwoods, justice was satisfied. It was the law of – and eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth; a life for a life. But Turner must have his reward; and he married, in Paxtang, early in 1753, Mrs. Girty, the widow, a woman of unblemished character. At the commencement of 1754, a son was born of this union, who was named John, [14] after his father.
About six months subsequent to this event, the lands in Sherman’s Valley, and on the Juniata, besides much other, were purchased, by the Pens, of the Indians, and a land office opened for their sale, on the 3d of February 1755. [15]
Immigration quickly began to make rapid strides into the Trans-Susquehanna region. Well had it been had the pioneers postponed their coming. Among those who crossed the river into Sherman’s valley was John Turner and family. He took up his residence near where Simon Girty Sr., had previously located. [16]
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End Notes
[1] Charles Cist, in Cincinnati Miscellany, Vol. I, p. 126.
[2] Registres des Baptesmes…. The writer of this narrative, by putting reliance upon an erroneous traditionary account…that the maiden name of Mrs. Girty was Crosby. See History of Clark County, Ohio, pp. 377, 378.
[3] In Nile’s Weekly Register, Vol XIX, p. 262, the years 1731 is erroneously given as the date of Thomas Girty’s birth.
[4] It is declared by John MacLeod, in the Amhersturg (Canada) Echo, of 21 November 1884 (Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. VII, p. 123; Magazine of American History, Vol. XV, p. 256), that Simon Girty Jr., was born in 1744, but this is error.
[5] There is a tradition afloat in Essex County, Canada, which I have met with, to the effect that the Girty boys above mentioned had a sister; but this is clearly erroneous.
[6] Compare Rupp’s History of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry Counties (Pennsylvania), pp. 59, 80; also Egle’s History of Dauphin County, pp. 50, 51.
[7[ Consult, in this connection, An Account of the Life of the Late Reverend Mr. David Brainerd, Boston, 1749, p. 200.
[8] For the entire list of “Indian Traders Lycensed” and “Unlycensed,” see Pennsylvania Archives, Old Series, Vol. II, p. 14.
[9] Pennsylvania Archives, Old Series, Vol. II, p. 24.
[10] Rupp’s History of Dauphin [op cit]…, p. 555.
[11] This tradition was first given to the public in the Missouri Gazette, of 7 May 1814; then in “The Girtys,” in John W. Campbell’s Biographical Sketches (Columbus, Ohio, 1838), p. 147. From the latter it has been frequently copied. Campbell drew for his article wholly from the Gazette. In the supplement to Vol. IX, of Nile’s Register, p. 181, the Gazette article is given verbatim, but with credit.
[12] see, as to the name of the Indian who killed Girty, Magazine of American History, Vol. XV, p. 257. It is erroneously asserted by Theodore Roosevelt (The Winning of the West, Vol. I, p. 96), that Girty was tortured at the stake – tomahawked, finally, by a papoose held up by its father for that purpose.
[13] See Spark’s Library of American Biography, Second Series, Vol. XXIII (Peck’s Life of Boone), p. 109, note.
[14] Registres de Baptesmes….
[15] Wright’s History of Perry County, Pennsylvania, pp. 13, 14. The deed from the Indians was dated 6 July 1754.
[16] Not “on the Juniata,” as stated in the Magazine of American History, Vol. XV, p. 257.
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[Indians]