Provincial Commissioners: Orders for Payment, [4 October 1756–5 November 1756]
Provincial Commissioners:1 Orders for Payment
DS: Historical Society of Pennsylvania
The last orders for payments under the £60,000 act of Nov. 27, 1755, were signed by the provincial commissioners July 22, before Franklin’s return from New York.2 They were unable to issue any more orders until early October, when funds provided by the £30,000 act of September 21 became available. The thirty-eight orders signed between October 4 and November 5, when a majority of the commissioners prepared to accompany Governor Denny to the Easton conference with the Indians, are listed below in the same form as those signed earlier (see above, VI, 392–5). The first order, dated at Lancaster, in Franklin’s hand and signed also by Governor Denny, and the second order, were both drawn during Franklin’s western journey with the governor (see below, p. 9 n). The orders which Franklin did not sign are indicated by an asterisk (*).
| Date | Payee | Purpose | Amount | ||
| October | £ | s. | d. | ||
| 4 | Capt. Hugh Mercer | Pay for himself, July 1 to Oct. 1 | 46 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | James Young | To pay troops; delivered to Thomas Apty | 5000 | 0 | 0 |
| 16* | Benjamin Franklin | Advances; expenses in Cumberland Co. | 801 | 3 | 5 |
| 16* | Conrad Weiser | Victualling Capt. Busse’s co., June 17 to Oct. 6 | 233 | 4 | 0 |
| 16* | Conrad Weiser | Indian expenses | 36 | 8 | 3 |
| 22 | Thomas Apty | Riding expresses for the government | 26 | 1 | 5 |
| 22 | James Ennis | Riding several expresses | 60 | 9 | 0 |
| 22 | Joseph Fox | To discharge sundry accounts | 100 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | John Hughes | Rum and paper sent to frontiers; advances to Edw. Croston3 | 114 | 15 | 6 |
| 22 | Capt. Samuel Mifflin | Bounties for 31 seamen sent to join Commodore Spry, and their maintenance and passage to Halifax | 242 | 15 | 6 |
| 22 | Capt. John Welsh | Pay drawn by James Young, Oct. 17 | 60 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | Barnabas Hughes | Accounts settled by Commrs. of Provisions | 259 | 8 | 2 |
| 25 | William Buchanan | Furnishing garrisons west of Susquehanna, incl. £156 for Wm. West and £200 for John Smith | 428 | 6 | 6¾ |
| 25 | Dr. Thomas Graeme | Medicines for Indians, Mar. 3 to July 15 | 37 | 13 | 6 |
| 25 | William Griffitts | Duffels, shoes and stockings for troops | 411 | 4 | 3 |
| 25 | Adam Hoops | Provisions, and payment to Saml. Neave | 1152 | 0 | 7½ |
| 25 | Andrew Meacomson | Maintenance of French Neutrals on Province Island | 14 | 7 | 0 |
| 25 | Wharton & Story | Sundries | 53 | 8 | 5 |
| 26 | Joseph Fox | To be paid for public service | 100 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | Lt. Col. John Armstrong | Pay | 40 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | Capt. Joseph Inslee | Account settled as of Sept. 11 | 189 | 6 | 2 |
| 27 | Samuel Neave | Goods furnished for July treaty at Easton | 63 | 7 | 0 |
| 27 | Conrad Weiser | Maintaining his co. at Reading; expresses | 153 | 1 | 6 |
| 29 | Lt. Col. John Armstrong | Horse-hire and loss, pilots in Kittanning expedition4 | 349 | 13 | 0 |
| 29 | Peter Bard or his wife | Salary as commissary general of stores and provisions | 46 | 10 | 0 |
| 29 | Adam Deshler | Provisions furnished forces in Northampton Co. | 259 | 18 | 7 |
| 29 | James Young | To pay provincial forces [only received £1900] | 6000 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | Lt. Col. John Armstrong | Scalps and prisoners from Kittanning | 271 | 17 | 6 |
| 30 | Allen & Turner | 408 muskets, etc. and 15 months’ interest | 1074 | 12 | 0 |
| November | |||||
| 1 | Richard Peters | Expresses and Indian expense | 238 | 9 | 7 |
| 1 | Jonas Seely | Victualling Capt. Morgan’s co., paid to Daniel Harvey | 378 | 19 | 0 |
| 4 | Sebastian Levan | Per Jacob Levan’s provisioning Capt. Andrew Engel’s co. | 227 | 14 | 0 |
| 4 | John Moore’s widow | Service of husband as wagoner | 19 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Isaac Norris | Expenses of gov.’s trip to Easton; presents to Indians; signed over to Joseph Fox | 500 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Capt. John Van Etten | Account, Sept. 16, for service of his co. | 477 | 4 | 0 |
| 4 | Capt. John Van Etten | Balance for co. to Nov. 1 | 83 | 9 | 2 |
| 5 | Capt. Edward Croston | Provisions for provincial forces | 1500 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | David Edwards | Attendance on commissioners | 10 | 0 | 0 |
1. The £30,000 supply act passed Sept. 21, 1756 (above, VI, 515 n), provided for expenditure of the money by commissioners named in the act, as had the £60,000 act of Nov. 27, 1755. Those appointed were: from the Assembly, Speaker Isaac Norris, BF, Joseph Fox, John Hughes, and William Masters; from the Council, Lynford Lardner and John Mifflin. Masters and Lardner replaced Evan Morgan and James Hamilton, respectively, who had been commissioners under the previous measure. When BF went to England in 1757, his place as commissioner was taken by Joseph Galloway.
2. See above, VI, 470 n, 472, on BF’s trip to New York from about June 20 to July 28, 1756.
3. See above, VI, facing p. 392, for a facsimile of an earlier order to pay Edward Croston.
4. Armstrong scored a limited victory by an attack on the Indian settlements at Kittanning on the Allegheny River, Aug. 30–Sept. 14, 1756. William A Hunter, “Victory at Kittanning,” Pa. Hist., XXIII (1956), 376–407; Hunter, Forts, pp. 405–10.