jective criteria have
been set up in analyzing leadership in the West Branch Valley.[2]
Obviously, some leaders were more important than others. Their influence
extended beyond the limits of the Fair Play territory. These leaders,
provided that they stood out in respect to at least three of the four
criteria established, have been categorized as regional leaders. These
four criteria have been used in this study to determine regional
leadership: (1) the holding of political office, (2) the ownership of
better-than-average property holdings, (3) the operation of frontier
forts, and (4) the holding of military rank of some significance.[3]

Of these criteria, office holding appears to be the most important.
Thus, regional leaders were generally re-elected to public office, or
held more than one such office. Furthermore, it will be noted that these
offices tended to be with the established governments of the State and
county. Since some leaders never held any political office, another
classification seemed necessary. Consequently, the role of local
leadership was also classified.

The influence of some men seems to have been strictly confined to the
Fair Play territory, either by virtue of their election to some local
office or by their prominence in some other phase of community life. As
a result, local leaders have been considered as (1) those who held at
least two local offices, or (2) those who exercised identifiable
community leadership in a non-political context.

After an extensive examination of the lists of public officials for
Northumberland County, the tax lists for the same period, the records of
the Fair Play men and the Committee of Safety, the accounts of the
frontier forts in the region, and the military records of these
settlers, it becomes evident that only three men can be considered as
regional leaders and not more than seven or eight as local leaders.[4]
Henry Antes, Robert Fleming, and Frederick Antes are the regional
leaders; and Alexander Hamilton, John Fleming, James Crawford, John
Walker, Thomas Hughes, Cookson Long, William Reed, and Samuel Horn are
the local leaders. Obviously, the listings are too limited to offer any
valid quantitative analysis.

Henry Antes is undoubtedly the single most outstanding leader in the
entire Fair Play country. Judge of the Court of Quarter Sessions,
sheriff, justice of the peace, Fair Play spokesman, captain (later
colonel) of Associators and commander of Fort