Michael PENDERGRASS, b. ca. 1664 & d. 1735 in Lancaster County, Virginia - He married a Rebecca UNKNOWN.
 

Robert Pendergrass, b. 1661, Westmoreland Co., VA - Robert Pendergrass, servant to Captain John Quigley, adjudged 17 yrs this day, ordered to serve 7 years 11 Dec 1678.  He could be a son of James, but supposedly James didn't come over until 1663, two years after Robert was born.  This record could be off by a couple of years, and he still could be a son of James and Mary.

James PENDERGRASS, Jr. b. ca. 1666 in Lancaster County, Virginia m. Mary?, bef. 1689, d. 5 December 1705 in Richmond Co., North Farnham Parish, Virginia.  Spendergrass, John, son of James and Mary Spendergrass, b. April 1697.  North Farnham Parish Records.  Did he marry a Rebeccah?

Know all men by these presents that we John Smith & Wm James of the County of Richmond are held and firmly bound unto ye worshipful his majesty justice of ye peace for ye sd county in ye full & just sum of fifty pounds sterling to the which payment well and truly to be made we bind ourselves our heirs firmly by these presents sealed with our seals and dated ye 6th day of August 1718.The condition of this obligation is such that if ye above bound John Smith admr of all ye goods chattels & credits of James Spendergrass decd do make a true and perfect inventory of all ye goods chattels & credits of ye sd decd and ye same so made doe exhibit into the county court of Richmond at such time as he shall be thereto required by ye sd court and ye same goods chattels & credits doe well & truly administer according to law and further make a just and true account of his actions and doings therein when thereof required by sd court and shall deliver & pay unto such persons respectively as the justices by their order or judgment shall direct pursuant to the laws in that case made & provide and it shall hereafter appear that any laws will and testament was made by ye decd and ye executor or executors their named ode exhibit grant ye same on ye sd court making request to have it all owed and approved ... Signed sealed and delivered in ye presence of no witness recorded. John Smith, his mark William James, is mark, 6 August 1718 Richmond County, VA Deeds 1720-1733Pughs lease to Spendergrass:

 This indenture made the 2nd day of March 1727 between Lewis Pugh of Parish of Farnham in county of Richmond on one partie and  of the same parish of the other partie witnesseth that Lewis Pugh in consideration of five shillings lawful money of England to him in hand paid by John Spendergrass whereof he doth acknowledge either receipt hath and by these presents doe bargain and sell unto John Spendergrass his heirs all that parcel of land containing fifty acres ..... in Barham’s line ..... branches of Totoskey and now in the tenure and occupation of John Spendergrass with all houses orchards privileges etc. to have for one whole year paying therefore the rent of one whole ear of Indian corn on the first day of the birth of our lord .... transferring uses into possession John Spendergrass may be in the actual possession of the premises and be therefore enabled to accept a grant of the inheritance thereof to him and his heirs.  Witnessed in presents of Will Walker, Jno Reynolds  3 March 1727 Lewis Pugh to John Spendergrass in consideration of one thousand four hundred fifty pounds of tobacco to him 50 acres.

 16 March 1727 Richard Barham Sr. Parish of Northfarnham John Spendergrass six hundred pounds tobacco  sells 25 acres.   Westmoreland County, VA Order Book 1679-1682 by Dorman Captain John Quigley did by his last will declare that Margaret Dobbin, Robert Pendergrass and Law ? Hanning, his servants to be free.  September 29, 1780.North Farham Parish / Lunenburg Parish  

Married John Spendergrass & Elizabeth Cribin December 2, 1728
Born, James Spendergrass son of John & Elizabeth Spendergrass 23 November 1729
Born Eleanor Spendergrass to James and Rebecca Spendergrass, 15 May 1729
Born John Spendergrass son of Robert & Elizabeth 10 December 1734.

Richmond County, VA Order Book 1721-1732  Pugh Ack to Spendergrass Lewis Pugh came into court and acknowledged his deeds of lease and release for land and bond for performance of covenants unto John Spendergrass which was admitted to record; Ann Pugh came into court, wife of Lewis and relinquished her dower in the land conveyed in the deeds to John Spendergrass which is also admitted to record.

 6th March 1727/28 Richmond County, VA Order Book 1721-1732

Tillery vs Spendergrass March 2, 1731/32In an action of debt between Richard Tillery plt & James Spendergrass dfdt 230 lbs of tobacco ...

 November 7, 1732 Tillery vs Spendergrass

April 2, 1733 Spendergrass will approved Stanley Gower, George Taylor, Nath Thrift, John Dozier, or any three of them between now and next court appraise the estate of John Spendergrass decd.
 
 April 2, 1733 Elizabeth Spendergrass appointed Executrix to John Spendergrass, dscd.

 April 4, 1733 James Spendergrass to pay Richard Tillery 230 lbs tobacco

 4 June 1733 John Spendergrass appraisement of his estate recorded.

Sheriff Luke Milner against Robert Spendergrass 530 lbs tobacco, 18 yards of conteloons, 2.4 yards montross sheeting, 8 bushels corn due ... didn’t show up, so ordered to pay.

3 May 1736 John Watts against Daniel Spendergrass 597 lbs tobacco.  Continued to next court.

7 June 1736 Daniel Spendergrass to serve Tobias Pursell for xix years and 7 months to pay his debts. August 1737William Heartly against James & Robert Spendergrass 628 lbs tobacco & ¾ quarters.

i.

Garrett Pendergrass, Sr. b. circa 1712; died circa 1784?

ii

Robert Pendergrass, b. 1718 - Robert, son of Edmund & Elizabeth Pendergrass born Dec 10, 1718; baptized Jan 4, 1718, Middlesex Christ Church Parish records, pg. 101.  Robert ended up in North Carolina.

iii

Phillip Pendergrast, b. 1725, died 15 November 1797, Cumberland Co., PA - A Philip Pendergrass died in Cumberland Co., PA and it was taken from the Marriages and Deaths from the Carlisle Gazette and the Western Repository of Knowledge, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, 1786-1800 - Remarks: Nov 22, 1797: Died in his 72nd year, of this borough. Married Margaret Hastings, had Robert, Mary, Lawrence, (married Sydney) Jane, Edward.  Edward is the one who ends up in Ripley Co., IN.  Robert, Lawrence, and Philip, sons of this Philip, b. 1725 were all in the Company of Captain Griffith Johnston of the Maryland Militia raised in Washington County, Maryland, adjacent to Franklin County, PA, adjacent to Bedford County, PA.

iv

John Pendergrass?, b. circa 1725? -
Necessary Roll of Captain Thomas Waggneer's Company, 14 Sept 1757
French and Indiana War, 1754-1763 - John Pendergrass

Mary Pendergrast, b. 1733? birth year a guess on marriage, she married SAMUEL SALTER, December 26, 1753, St John's Parish, Registration, Baltimore, Maryland

Jesse Pendergrast, born 1738?,

ii

Gertrude Pendergrast - b. ??  Died June 24, 1757 - From the History and Topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Pebrt Counties by I. Daniel Ruup:  In June 1757, several murders were committed near this Fort. In a letter from George Croghan to Col. Armstrong, dated Fort London, June 28, 1757, he says, " On Friday evening there was a man killed near Henry Paulin's and two of his children taken. The same evening there was a young lad fired on by seven Indians, from whom he made his escape, wounded in three places. The same day a daughter of Gerrard Pendegrass, was killed and scalped in sight of Fort Littleton. 

Also from A Selection of Some of the Most Interesting Narratives of Outrages committed by the Indians in their wars with the white people by Archibald Loudon, pub. 1811, page 195:  The following list of persons killed by the Indians, we have been furnished with by John M'Cullough, Esq. whose Narrative of his captivity has been given in the first volume.  June 24, 1757:  Alexander Miller killed and two of his daughters taken from Conococheague; John Kenedy badly wounded, and Gerhart Pendergras's daughter killed at for Littleton."From "The Life and times of Thomas Smith, 1745-1809, A Pennsylvania member of the Continental Congress.  "About two years later it is known by the name of another settler, Garrett Pendergrass, also a Scotch trader with the Indians, whom the natives drove out in 1755."

iv

Garrett Pendergrast Jr. (<1743-1777) - our line

v

Thomas? Pendergrast b. Abt. 1745

vi

Lawrence Pendergrast, b. Abt. 1748; d. March 1831, (North Carolina) the cemetery below is the one that this Luke propagated in North Carolina.

4 Aug 1738 - Garrett Pendergrass referred to in "Alleganey."

Frederick County 1744 - Garrett Pendergrass paid Court Clerk fee, Frederick County; 

20 March 1752 - Other Format Available on microfilm. Northern Neck Grants, reels 288-311. Note Location: Frederick County.

Description: 371 acres on the North Branch of Potomack adjoining a survey made for Gerrard Pendergrass. Source: Northern Neck Grants H, p. 149 (Reel 293. Original survey exists.

Part of the index to recorded copies of land grants issued by the agents of the Fairfax Proprietary between 1690 and 1781 and by the Commonwealth between 1786 and 1874. Original and recorded surveys are also indexed when available. The collection is housed in the Archives at the Library of Virginia.

"1752 - Garrett Pendergass buys a tract of land at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers from Chief Anonguit (present site of Pittsburgh). Pendergass is a trader based in the Bedford area."

Garrett's daughter Gertrude was killed by the Indians outside the walls of Fort Lyttelton, PA in 1757

Petition of Gerard Pendergrass to Governor Penn Philad, October 10th, 1766 To the Honorable John Penn, Esq., Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania, &c., &c.: The Petition of Gerard Pendergrass, of the Town of Bedford, in the County of Cumberland, in the said Province, Yeoman, humbly Sheweth, That you Petitioner, in the year 1752, settled on the very Tract of Land on which the aforesaid Town of Bedford is now, by virtue of your Honor's Warrant laid out.  That your Petitioner, at his own proper Cost and expense, did erect and build, on the aforesd Premises, a good and substantial round Log house, of 24 feet square, well shingled, and had cleard and enfenced between 40 & 50 acres of Land, when, in the year 1755, he was obliged to fly before the Indiana enemy, who laid waste all that Country, burnt your Petitioner's House, and destroyed all his Improvements.

That the King's Generals made the Fort Bedford on your Petitioner's Improvements, and an Inclosure for pasturing Horses & Cattle.  And that since the King's Troops evacuated that Forst, and the Avenues thereof, the Improvements of your Petitioner have been surveyed, under your Honor's Warrant afsd, for the use of the Honorable the Proprietaries.  That your Petitioner humbly, and with submission to your Honor's own Judgment, conceives that by his Adventure of Building & Singling a House, clearing & enfenceing 40 or 50 acres of Land, he and his Heirs, under that ancient and well known Right of Occupancy & Improvement, (by which all colonies and establishment sin the World have, and especially your Province of Pennsylvania, has, increased and bettered,) and under the custom of the Province, are entitled to the quiet Possession of their Improvements, and a competent Quanity of Land to accommodate the said Improvements, paying to the Lords of the soil the Rents accustomed, &c. 

That your Petitioner is far from entering into any Contest with the Honorable the Proprietaries about their or his own Right to the said Improvements, & Land adjoining thereto; But that he puts his Confidence entirely into yoru Honor's sentiments of Justice and equity, so that you will make him a suitable Recompence for his Labour & Losses.  And your Petitioner shall every pray, as in Duty bound.On his Behalf, signed By Gerard Pendergrass Anne Pendergrass

Land Office, 29th July, 1769 Pennsylvania Archives, page 466:  Caveat Book No. 4 - Garret Pendergrass enters a Caveat against the acceptance of a Survey for William Elliott on his Application No. 3019 of a Tract of land at the Bullock Penns in the county of Cumberland, alleging the said survey interferes with his improvement - James Kennedy for James Tilghman, Sec'y.

Jan 1773 Morris Bready (Brady) vs. John McCulloch - tenant in possession - ejectment. McKee vs. Paul Froman. Garrett Pendergrass Jr. vs. Adam Sam. John McMullen vs. Dorsey Penticost. Robert Stephen vs. William Brashears. [Bedford Co. Civil Court Docket 1]

My notes:  I find Gerrad living in Bedford Co., 1773, paying taxes and then another one in 1773 paying taxes in Fairfield Township.  Senior and Junior?

"the first civil jury trial was that of the case of John Mason v. Garret Pendergrass, Jr., at the April term, 1774.  David Semple and Robert Galbraeth, who had been admitted first at Bedford, and later in Westmoreland, in the due course of their practice, were the attorneys for the plaintiff and the defendant, respectively.  The jury was composed of these well known pioneers:  Providence Mountz, James Gray, William McNees, John Coyle, Matthias Cowan, George Winterfer, John Nicholas, Isaac Parce (Parr), Michael Stockberger, Adam Hatfield, Alexander Maxfield and Ezekial Hickman.  A verdict was brought in for £12 10s 6d. damages, which the sheriff had to collect by write of fieri facias. [a writ commanding a sheriff to levy and sell as much of a debtor's property as is necessary to satisfy a creditor's claim against the debtor.]

1755: On one November morning in 1755, Patrick Burns, who had been captured by the Indians, escaped and came running into the Great Cove, shouting the King Shingas, the great Delaware War­rior whose hands had long been stained by white man's blood, was on his way to make ashes of the cabins and scalp every man, woman and child he could find.  Some of Sarah's neighbors refused to believe this rumor, but she knew the time had come.  Without waiting to gather her pots and blankets together, she lifted young Levi, Eliz­abeth and Jemima onto her remaining horse; then, fol­lowed by the other children, she hurried toward the eastern sun.  A dozen other families straggled along up the steep wooded slope toward the river pass that led to the new Fort Littleton on the other side of the moun­tain.  At the summit of the first foothill, Sarah and her neighbors turned to have one last look at the Valley. Before their eyes was an awesome spectacle of destruction. Their houses were in flames; Delaware were riding like wild men through the Great Cove; and even at this distance the refugees could hear "the last shrieks of their dying neighbors.  "Refugees crowded into the rectangular Fort Littleton, and by the following April, the surrounding area was de­serted.

But we now proceed with Captain Wood's journal. He tells us that, on the 20th of July, [1775] he met Garrett Pendergrass about 9 o'clock; that he had just left the Delaware towns; that two days before the Delaware's had just returned from the Wyandots' towns, where they had been at a grand council with a French and English officer and the Wyandots; that Monsieur Baubee and the English officer told them to be on their guard, that the white people intended to strike them very soon.  From the Book:  A Biographical Sketch of the life of the Late Captain Michael Cresp, by John J. Jacob, Cincinnati, Ohio, reprinted from the Cumberland Edition of 1826:

Simrall's Ferry was on the Youghiogheny at what is now West Newton. Alexander "Simrall" and his sons, William, John and Alexander Jr., of Chester Co., Pa., bought it from Garrett Pendergast on May 28, 1778. See "Anals of Southwestern Pennsylvannia" by Lewis Walkinshaw (Vol. 2).

October 26, 1778 - mentioned in letter of George Washington to his brother John A. Washington.

Garett Pendergrass The Diaries of George Washington. Vol. 2. Donald Jackson, ed.; Dorothy Twohig, assoc. ed. The Papers of George Washington. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1976. p. 289The Morning being wet & heavy we did not set off till 11 O'clock & arrivd that Night at one Killams on a branch of Georges C[ree]k, distant 101/2 Measurd Miles from the North Branch of Potomack where we cross at the lower end of my Decd. Brother Auge. Bottom, known by the name of Pendergrasses. This Crossing is two Miles from the aforesaid Mill & the Road bad as it likewise is to Killams, the Country being very Hilly & stony. From Killams to Fort Cumberland is the same distance that it is to the Crossing above mentioned, & the Road from thence to Jolliffs by the old Town much better. Pendergrass's Bottom was purchased by Lawrence Washington from Garret Pendergrass, probably when Pendergrass, an early settler and trader in the area, moved to Pennsylvania about 1752. In his will Lawrence left the land to his brother Augustine Washington (20 June 1752, DLC:GW).

Roster of Capt. Shelby, Chickamauga Campaign of 1779
Evan Shelby, Jun 1 blanket, 2 leggings, 1 moccasins, 1 tomahawk, 1 gunsack; Garrett Pendergrass; Alexander Carwell 1 blanket, 1 leggings, 2 moccasins, 1 tomahawk, 1 gunsack ...My Note:  Who is this?  Garrett Jr. died in 1777, I would think his father, Garrett sr. would be much too old to be in a Indian Campaign.

From: The Annals of Bedford County, Pennsylvania
Consisting of Condensed Sketches of the Most Important Events Which Occurred During the Century From January 1750 to 1850

BY HON. WILLIAM P. SCHELL
GAZETTE PUB. CO., PRINT The following excerpts regarding Garrett Pendergrass: First Settlers

The first white explorers in the vicinity of Bedford came about 1732, but of them nothing is known. In 1751 Robert Ray erected several buildings and the trading post became known as Raystown. In 1752 came Garrett Pendergrass, who bought the land from the Indians. This deed is on record in the Court House and very interesting it is. It is dated February 1770, and is recorded on page 58 of Book A; the paper is brown with age and crackles at a touch, the form quaint, but the writing is legible. The mark of Chief Anonguit is a turtle; Enishshera, or Capt. Henry Mountare's signature is followed by the letters "H. M.," and a circle marks the signature of Connehracahecat, the White Mingo. The date of recording is September 19, 1772, before Arthur St. Clair, the first Prothonotary and Register of the county, who was a Captain and afterwards Major-General.

Still later Pendergrass transferred to his son, Garrett, Jr., "the land on both sides of the Raystown, containing 300 acres," but did not long remain here and there were, evidently, no more English-speaking white settlers until the section was occupied by the vanguard of General Forbes' army in 1758, when the fort was erected. About that time the first taverns were built and soon the town became a stopping place for traders. Here was born William Frazer, the first white child born in the county. A number of whites were massacred by Indians in this section.

As first related, that Ray was the first settler in that section, we have data showing that with him came one Garrett Pendergrass, who, by consent of the chiefs of the Six Nations, took up his settlement at this place, made improvements, and it was supposed that he did a thriving business with the Indian traders, and set up his claim for three hundred acres of land, which included the three springs, but by an account furnished later, on account of the French and Indian wars, he sought safety at some other point eastward.
 I think Mr. Adams is mistaken as to the date when Ray was taken to Powell's house in saying it was in 1756; it must have been early in 1752, for in that year Garrett Pendergrass opened his trading post, erected three buildings and cleared 50 acres of land, and from that date Ray's Post was generally called "Pendergrass' Place" by the traders, Indians, and especially by Harris in his letter of 1754. However, the fact that he first settled at Raystown has passed his name down a century and a half and probably it may continue to go down through future centuries, well marked by four natural monuments--Raystown, Raystown branch of the Juniata river, Ray's Hill and Ray's Cove, over all of which passed the great Indian trail from Harris' Ferry, through Raystown, to the Ohio river. (In the early records this cove was

(p. 24)

called "the Harbor," from its enclosure on the north by Harbor Mt., which really is a mountain and is a northwest continuation of Ray's Hill.)

The second settlement was made by Garrett Pendergrass in 1752. It is very probable that Pendergrass was of Norman-French extraction, whose ancestors passed over to England with William the Conqueror, for the name appears in English history, and from thence he came to America with the Scotch-Irish and with them settled in Cumberland Valley. The name also appears in the records of Cumberland county during the Revolutionary War. After the defeat of General Braddock's army, Pendergrass fled with his family to Fort Lyttleton where, in 1757, his young daughter was mercilessly killed and scalped by marauding Indians in sight of the fort. It is very probable that Pendergrass returned to Raystown soon after General Forbes' army reached the place in 1758."he lived in Colerain township in 1772 and soon thereafter died."

From the book  In  Old Pennsylvania Towns by Anne Hollingsworth Wharton comes this:  "Robert Ray did not live long after establishing his trading post and was evidently succeeded by Garrett Pendergrass, as "Ray's Post" was called "Pendergrass Place"

From Proceedings of the Council of Maryland, 1753-1761, a case, apparently, where some of the locals, including Catholics, who were brought up on charges that they were not loyal to the country and were instead loyal to France.  In someone's testimony, comes this:

I was making this Meadow I married Elizabeth the Daughter of one William Deale who dwelt at that time in the Stony Forrest, near Jacob Bull's Mill, but she lived as a Servant with one John Darumple on a plantation that he rented of John Swinyard, and that lies near Abraham Jerrards; for about 3 Months I laboured hard in hopes of being able to make the Meadow according to Agreement, but finding it impossible at the End of that time & Renshaw at the same time threatning me with the penalty of the Bond I went off to York town in pensilvania, and Lieutenant Miller a tall Gentleman somewhat advanced in Years being recruiting there I was inlisted by him for Captain Clark's Company, and was soon after sent to Fort Cumberland Colonel Innes was then Commander in chief at that Fort, and Captain Rutherford commanded under him, I was there when your
Excellency arrived just before Christmas but was then meditating my Escape being determined to return (if possible) back to my Wife, or fly into one of the neighboring provinces, & send for her thither.

One Hancock who lived with Gerrard Pendegrass of Ray's Town came frequently among us and as I apprehended he was well acquainted with all that part of the Country, I entred into Conversation with him on that Subject, and from him learn't that there was a path from Fort Cumberland thro Ray's Town to pensilvania behind any of the Maryland Settlements, being thus advised I deserted in the Month of January with one Willoby Willett of Captain Rutherford's Company intending to go thro Ray's Town and pursue the Road that Hancock had described to us.

The Rebecca Smith tract lay between "Glentworth Park" on the north, "Mahogany" on the east, the manor on the south, and the Allegheny river of the west. The mouth of Garrett's run is near its northwestern corner. One branch of this run rises on that part of the John Schenck tract now owned by Peter Heilman, in Kittanning township. It was probably named after Garrett Pendergrass, who established a trading post near its mouth, about where Patterson's store now is, prior to 1800, with whom Jacob Waltenbough occasionally traded.

From:  The Kernel of Greatness, an informal Bicentennial History of Bedford [PA]pg. 17:  Settlers from the East  Most of the early immigration into Bedford County came from the South.  About forty-two years after the Diberts arrived, two men, Garrett Pendergrass and Thomas Croyle came in from the east.  Pendergrass had bought three-hundred sixty acres from the Indians prior to the time the Penns had paid them for the land in this section.  He built a trading post located in Bedford where the Hoffman Hotel formerly stood.  The main building was eight by forty feet in size, with the first floor made of native limestone, the windows only large enough to fire a rifle through, and the doors of very thick oak.  The beams for the second and third floors, of walnut logs from trees cut on the bank of the Raystown, hewn on two sides, were eighty feel long.  the Indians of another tribe forced the Pendergrass family to flee to Fort Littleton, where they murdered one of the daughters.  The remainder of the family went farther east to Carlisle. 

When they returned to their post, all that remained was the stone first floor.  By then the Penns had the town of Bedford surveyed, taking most of the Pendergrass' land.  Then Indians who sold it to him felt to sad about their brothers causing Pendergrass to lose his land that they gave him what they called worthless swamp between the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers, the present "Golden Triangle" of Pittsburgh.  The deed for this land is in Deed Book "A" in the Bedford County Court House, and is signed by a circle within a circle and a turtle. 

When Pendergass went to claim his new land, squatters were already living on it. pg. 71:  The Black People Negroes may have come to this area the same time as the white men or soon afterwards.  They did not enter as pioneers clearing the wilderness and no records were kept for posterity of their activities.  Since they were forced to come, forced to work, they must have played an important role in the early development of the county - without recognition.  The earliest date found concerning their arrival was in Harvey Allen's book, Bedford Village, where he wrote that in 1763, Negroes were owned by Garrett Pendergrass, already an established innkeeper living near Fort Bedford.  [My Note:  As most if not all of Harvey Allen's book was fiction that he himself professed was so, I can not guarantee the above is the 'truth'.  There are no sources in this book (The Kernel of Greatness) so I am not sure where the description of the Inn came from and if it's accurate or not either.

Here is the Deed:

 Perhaps the most famous deed in the Courthouse can be found on page 29. It is titled "The Indians to Garret Pendergrass", and recorded September 19, 1772. The writing is very faded and the edges are worn. It is impossible to read the deed in detail. However, several years ago we were fortunate to locate the entire deed which had been copied before it became so faded and worn. It was in an old history published in 1846. Therefore, we will take the time and space here to reprint it in full for those who might be interested in reading once again the full details which are no longer possible to be deciphered."Know all men by these presents, that whereas a certain Garrett Pendergrass, Senior, of Bedford Settlement, in the Province of Penna, &, of Cumberland, was settled some number of years past, by leave of the Chiefs or deputies of the Six Nations of Indians, on a tract of land where Bedford now is situate, while the said land was yet the property of us, and our said Chiefs and deputies, said Pendergrass being dispossessed of said land, in time of war between the French and English, and before said Pendergrass could safely return to live on said land, it was entered upon by people, who have from time to time, and yet continue to keep said Pendergrass from enjoyment of said tract of land, said Pendergrass at the last treaty held at Fort Pitt with the representatives of the said Six Nations, informed our said Chiefs or their representatives or the deputies, that he was deprived of the above tract of land as above mentioned, where upon we, and our deputies did then, at said treaty, give him the said Pendergrass our leave in writing, under our hands, to settle on a tract of land called Long Resch, near the mouth of Youghagain, but the said last mentioned tract being at the time of the said treaty, or before improved by some other persons, contrary to our expectation, for which reason, he, the said Pendergrass, has not obtained possession of the latter mentioned tract, and cannot quietly enjoy neither of the two above mentioned tracts know ye, therefore that we the under, or within bound subscribers, who have hereunto caused our names to be set, and have put our marks; the first of us, assigning one of the Chiefs, and the other two deputies of the said Six Nations do give and grant, to the said Garrett Pendergrass, his heirs and trustees forever, our full leave and liberty of us, and for behalf of the Six Nations to settle on a tract of land on the north side of the Aligania river opposite to Fort Pitt; to join the said river on the one side, and to extend one mile and a half from the landing on the north side of the said river Allegheny opposite to Fort Pitt, in form of a semi-circle, from said landing, hereby granting to him, and his trustees and assigns, full liberty to build houses, make improvements and cultivate the said tract of land or any part thereof, and that he, the said Pendergrass may the more quietly enjoy the said land, and any benefit that he, his heirs or assigns, shall make or can make, thereby; we do ourselves, and in behalf of the said Six Nations, discharge all people what so ever from molesting or disturbing him, the said Pendergrass or his heirs or trustees, or assigns, in the possession or quiet firmly engage and promise to answer all objection that any Indian tribe or tribes have to making of the above settlement". –ANONQUIT ENISHHRD CONNEHRACAHECAT. 

The end of the deed was signed by the drawing of a turtle and a circle within a circle. Both signatures are now so faded and worn from countless fingers of those who have viewed this deed over the years that they can no longer be identified. According to the stories handed down through the years, the Indians, who originally sold the land here in Bedford, felt sorry for Pendergrass because these lands had been taken from him by the English, and therefore gave him the deed for the tract of land located between the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers. This deed was for land which today includes the 'Golden Triangle' in Pittsburgh. As a sad note, before Pendergrass could settle on this tract, others had moved there and claimed title to it. This transcription (above) came from this web site and it al so has a detailed history of the area (Bedford) where Garrett Pendergrast (my paternal 7th great grandfather) lived.