I’m not sure where in PA this was but the locals in the
Susquehanna River Valley area turned their neighbors in so that they could be awarded with their land whether or not the man was guilty...
The frontier was moved west to the Susquehanna River in 1764...
My 5th great grandfather and his brothers and sister and their families moved out to that area Mehoopany, Tunkhannock just before the AR...they cleared the land, built cabins sowed their crops...because he had grown son’s my ancestor’s older brother Jean/John had 1.200 acre4s...lazy men were jealous so they falsely accused him of being a Loyalist...
John wasnt home when they came to arrest him and they entered his cabin...when they came out a few Indians were passing by and attacked them...one white man was killed...now they really had something to accuse him with and hang him for murder...it was his fault that the man was killed by Indians...on the Frontier which was full of hostile Indians...
The family fled for their lives north from PA to Canada and one of the rebels was rewarded with his land...much the same happened to the siblings and their families...all of them were falsely accused and lost their lands...
It didnt pay to be a pacifist and want to work your government granted land and feed your family in those days...You either joined the rebels and deserted your children or you suffered...
Because of this 2/3 of the settlers in the Up the River area of the Susquehanna River Valley (Wyoming County) ended up as Loyalists at first fighting to get their lands back...then joining Butler’s Rangers and other groups...
Bump