geh o ä'-qua. bread. Hä-squä'-ah e' să-no' ha wä-ate keh', na-gwä' but deliver from o-nuk'-tä na-kuh'na gä-hus-tes-heh, na-kuh' da-gä-ă-sã-uh'. and the glory. the kingdom, and the power Na-huh'-ne-ya-weh. Joe Wipey, a friendly Delaware Indian, was cruelly murdered by two renegade white men--John Hinckston and James Cooper-while he was sitting in his canoe fishing in the Conemaugh river, near the mouth of Hinckston run, now in the Fourteenth ward of the city of Johnstown. Wipey lived in a cabin a few miles west of Johnstown, making frequent visits to Solomon and Samuel Adams and other pioneer families in this vicinity. His wanton death caused much consternation among the provincial people and the council offered a reward of five hundred pounds for the arrest of the two men. The murder occurred in May, 1774, when General Arthur St. Clair, then at Fort Ligonier, informed the governor, stating that it occurred "about eighteen miles from this place." Another friendly Indian known as "Kicky Huston," in this vicinity, had a wigwam on the hill known as "Kicky's Ridge," in Adams township. It is the first ridge on the westerly side of the summit of the Allegheny mountains on the Ashtola road, between which and the summit lays Horner's Dam. Kicky trapped beavers, and was a successful hunter for large game, such as deer and bear, keeping residents of Bedford supplied with that kind of food. Wipey and Kicky were the last of the Indian race in the southern part of Cambria county. About 1778 a number of marauding Indians in and around Hart's Sleeping Place, near Carrolltown, and along the Kittanning trail, were aiding the British troops, who then had possession of Kittanning. A party from the Juniata valley led by John Weston, started to go to Kittanning to procure assistance for a pillaging expedition in the valley; however, a friendly Cayuga Indian chief, called Captain Logan, who lived at Chinklaclamoose, on the site of the town. of Clearfield, gave warning to the colonists. Captain Vol. I-5 Thomas Blair successfully led a party of colonists to intercept the movement, and on their return they encamped near the "Clearfields" for the night. In the morning two of the party-Moses Hicks and Mr. Gersham-went out to get game for food, when they were captured by the Indians, taken to Detroit, and held as prisoners by the British until the war was over. CHAPTER V. PIONEER SETTLERS- ADAMS FAMILY-PRINCE GALLITZIN-CAPTAIN MICHAEL M'GUIRE JOSEPH JOHNS-HE LAYS OUT THE VILLAGE OF CONEMAUGH. The best proof that is now obtainable leads to the conclusion that Samuel, Solomon, and Rachel Adams were the first white people to locate, improve and till the soil on land within the limits of Cambria county. It seems that the Adams family came from Berks county some time prior to 1774, and improved the Peter Snyder tract of land, which later became the Horner estate in the Seventh ward. The exact date cannot be fixed, but it was not prior to April 3, 1769, as, by the act of the provincial authorities, no white man was permitted to locate on land which had been reserved by treaty with the Indians for their exclusive use; however, it was prior to 1771. It will be observed that Charles Campbell took out a warrant on April 3, 1769. It is probable that the Adamses did the same then, or soon thereafter; at least, the deeds show that in 1774 Peter Snyder took out a warrant for the "Solomon Adams Improvement" on "both sides of Solomon's Run” (in the Seventh ward). The records do not show that Solomon Adams took out a warrant; but that he occupied it and made improvements on it there is no doubt. During this period (1769-1774) the white man and the red man were in a war, which had practically been circumscribed to the territory between Bedford and Pittsburg, and especially in and around Bedford, Ligonier, and points between them. The near-by forts were at Bedford and Ligonier, and one was at Fort Palmer, a few miles south of Lockport and near Covodesville. When danger from the warlike Indian was apprehended the Adamses would flee to one of these points. In 1777 the Tull family, who resided on the mountains six miles west of Bedford, consisting of father, mother, nine daughters, and a son, were massacred, excepting the son, who was absent. The hill is yet known as the Tull Hill on account of the terrible vengeance of the Indians on this occasion. Sherman Day gives an account of the courageous action. and death of Samuel Adams as follows: "About December of the same year (1777) a number of families came into the fort (Bedford) from the neighborhood of Johnstown. Amongst them were Samuel Adams, a man named Thornton, and one Bridges. After their alarm had somewhat subsided they agreed to return for their property. A party started with packhorses, reached the place (now Johnstown), and, not seeing any Indians, collected their property and commenced their return. After proceeding some distance (about four and a half miles) a dog belonging to one of the party showed signs of uneasiness and ran back. Bridges and Thornton desired the others to wait whilst they would go back for him. They went back, and proceeded but 200 or 300 yards, when a body of Indians, who had been lying in wait on each side of the way, but who had been afraid to fire on account of the numbers of whites, suddenly rose up and surrounded them and took them prisoners. The others, not knowing what detained their companions, went back after them. When they arrived near the spot the Indians fired on them, but without doing any injury. The whites instantly turned and fled, excepting Samuel Adams, who took a tree and began to fight in the Indian style. In a few minutes, however, he was killed, but not without doing the same fearful service for his adversary. He and one of the Indians shot at and killed each other at the same moment. "When the news reached the fort a party volunteered to visit the ground, and when they reached it, although the snow had fallen ankle deep, they readily found the bodies of Adams and the Indian; the face of the latter having been covered by his companions with Adams' hunting shirt." The place where this sanguinary duel took place between the pioneer and the Indian is on the farm of William Cole, in Richland township, four and a half miles from Johnstown. It is on Sandy Run, near the head of Solomon's Run. The path from the Adams place was up Solomon's Run and then along Sandy Run. The grave where Samuel Adams and the Indian were buried is but a few hundred yards from the home of Mr. Cole, at the angle of the Geistown and Elton, or the "Hollow" road. The facts of the manner and place of the death of Samuel Adams are fully sustained by tradition, by stories from persons who were companions of Adams, as well as the grave that held the bodies of the representative of the white man and the red race, side by side, who were combatants in a cause in which each believed he was in the right. The above, as has been noted, is the version, of Historian Day, and while in the essentials it agrees with, yet in many points it differs from well authenticated local tradition concerning the same incidents. Probably the best of these local stories is that of Edwin A. Vickroy, a son of Thomas Vickroy, a surveyor, of Alum Bank, Bedford County. Thomas Vickroy was a neighbor of the Adamses, and, of course, knew them well, and Edwin A. Vickroy, also a surveyor, knew Archibald Adams, a son of Samuel Adams. From these gentlemen he procured his information, which was substantially this: That Samuel Adams, just previous to his death, lived on the place formerly owned by Louis von Lunen, but he did not own it, as in a contest with William Barr it had been lost. It is now mostly in the Seventeenth ward of the city. When the Indians became troublesome he took his wife and children to Fort Bedford for safety and came back for his cattle. While collecting them the Indians observed his movements, and when he and his brother Solomon, John Bridges, and Thomas Cheney had started with the cattle toward Bedford, the Indians went around them and ambushed at the crossing of Sandy Run and fired on them. Solomon escaped and ran to Bedford and gave the alarm. The next day a party came over and found Samuel Adams and an Indian, both dead, and both were buried near where they fell. No tidings could be had of Bridges and Cheney for a long time, but they finally returned and told of the attack; that they began to fight Indian style, each man getting behind a tree, but that they were overpowered, and had been taken prisoners and conveyed to Canada. But Adams had killed an Indian and was himself dead, before they were taken away. Bridges resided on the place known as Samuel Blough's. Archibald Adams, the son of Samuel Adams, was born in 1764, and died in what is now the Eighth ward of the city of Johnstown in 1859. A short time before his death he spent the day with Mr. Vickroy, and then said that he was about seven years of age when his father was killed, which would make his death about 1771. Sherman Day states that it was about 1777, but it seems that our authority is the better. We know that the Adamses had improved the John Horner farm prior to 1774, as it was warranted as the "Adams Improvement." Jesse Proctor, the great-grandfather of I. E. Roberts, of this city, married the widow of Samuel Adams. There is, as a matter of fact, no doubt of the death of Samuel |