It was granted by the British government at Halifax in 1765 to a syndicate of four Philadelphia land companies headed, respectively, by John Hughes, William Smith, Matthew Clarkson and Isaac Caton.
The companies also included Anthony Wayne, who was chosen to survey the township, plus Israel Jacobs, Benjamin Franklin and fifteen other Pennsylvania merchants and gentlemen.
[2] McNutt, whom American historian J.B. Brebner has characterized as “highly persuasive, distinctly untrustworthy,” succeeded in a few instances but failed to accomplish most of his grandiose schemes.
[6] The families, mostly of German extraction, included the names Stief, Lutz, Treitz, Sommer, Jones, Richter, Wortman, Koppel, Ackley, Reynolds and Smith.
[8] Due to managerial and logistical problems that arose among the Philadelphia land companies, the proprietors failed to support their settlers and the township as an entity eventually disintegrated.