Excerpt from History of Jefferson College, Vol. 1 The early history of most nations, ancient or modern, is obscured and deformed by incredible traditions and monstrous legends. The laborious researches of Niebuhr, Arnold, and others, have contributed much to separate the precious from the vile, and to ascertain, with some precision, where true history begins. The American people have this great advan tags, in regard to the story of their rise and progress, that no fabulous period belongs to the outset of their history. This is especially true in respect to that portion Of them who first sought homes and formed settlements in the eastern part of the Valley of the Mississippi. Though much obscurity rests upon the unimportant details of the first years of trial and sorrow, through which those who succeeded the hunters, trap pers and Indians traders of Western Pennsylvania, were com pelled to pass, the prominent features of the men of those times, and of the measures they pursued for elevating their physical, intellectual and moral condition, are now well ascertained, and rest on no uncertain tradition. The Scotch Irish emigrants, who began to pour out on the Western frontier, a little before the last quarter of the 18th century. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.