Assessment Lists and Other Doc- uments of Lancaster County Prior to the Year 1729. About the only original Lancaster county manuscript documents, now known, dating before 1729 are: A cer- tified copy of the petition for the erec- tion of our county, signed in 1728; the letters, drafts, surveys and

of civilized life among the several small tribes of savages who held what is now Lancaster county;° (5)Lyle's History of Lancaster County, p. 20; Colonial Records, vol. 1, p. 114. (6)Lyle's History of Lancaster County, p. 6S. �these prospectings of white men the first signs of a new order of things

of Conestoga, for a warrant for these men, but he says the justice only made sport of him, and told him he could not expect any fa- vors in Lancaster county (do. 313). He also charged that John Cartledge offered a reward to any one who would burn Cresap's house, and drive him and his family south (do

to Wm. Clayborne—from source to mouth and forty miles on each side; and he petitioned the British Govern- ment to grant him a patent for it also, he guaranteeing to the Crown of England an annual payment of 100 pounds. England was very much angered over this presumption and considerable excitement

Early Items of Lancaster County History A great deal of interest naturally attaches to the primitive affairs in our county and that is at present very rare—that is, because items have al- ready been written up. It is only by gathering up certain items that we can eventually expect to put together

. - 3 C. 381. The Commissioners report of a place of a townstead of Lancaster-and for Court House, etc., confirmed. - 1 A., 252. Isaac Miranda grievously complained against for irregularities in In- dian Trade near Lancaster. - 1 A., 266. Inquisition into the death of three Indians in Lancaster County

the history of Lancaster county, which bears his name, some of the earlier lists were in existence and likely seen by him,because on page 365, speaking of William Henry, he says that his name first appears on the as- sessment lists for Lancaster borough, in 1754, from which a fair inference arises