USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > A brief history of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, with an accompanying map; > Part 6
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A hundred years ago an observer described rural eastern Pennsylvania in these words: "The whole face of the country looks German-all speak that language, and but few can speak English. Almost all their houses are of squared logs neatly framed-of two stories high.
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THE CHANGED HOME
They look to the eye like 'Wilmington stripes' for the taste is to whitewash the smooth mortar between the logs but not the logs themselves, thus making the house in stripes of alternate white, and dusky wood color .... The barns were large and well filled, generally con- structed of squared logs or stone, but all the roofs were of thatched straw-a novelty to my eye-said to last fifteen years. Their houses were shingled with lapped shingles. Saw no stately or proud mansions, but all looked like able owners."
The Changed Life Watson, in notes written in 1856 when he was past eighty years of age, complains about the general clatter from the crowds of people and confusion along the streets, that there is no room to turn or look around, that the tall buildings overshadowing the old buildings are crowd- ed with numerous working tenants, that the former good houses are being displaced by newer and taller structures, that young married people without family must have their homes as large as their parents had, when full of children. "All go now on stilts." Formerly none but real country farmers sold their products in the city markets, now the stalls are held by hucksters. Men willingly pay highest prices for table board, for carriages, for clothing for show and display in every- thing. Habits of luxury are gaining on our people from which we must be reformed or be ruined.
Among the new things he saw were penny news- papers, the use of chloroform, ready-made clothing for gentlemen, express and omnibus service, slate roofs, building brick houses in winter, envelopes for letters, planing, jointing and grooving boards by steam power, advertising designs, flagstone paving, Belgian-block street paving, wholesale silk stores, pegging of boots
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CHANGED HOME LIFE
and shoes, parcel delivery by stores, undertakers for funerals, professional singers in churches, imitation of grained wood.
FOUR TYPES OF RURAL BRIDGES
In another connection Watson says: "What won- derful things do we now behold, 'not before dreamt of in our philosophy.' Railroads-annihilating space- Telegraphic wires conversing at unlimited distances- Steamers traversing every Sea-Steam-Engines and power adapted to all kinds of manufactures-Inventions
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THE CHANGED LIFE
of machinery (in the patent office) to supersede almost every kind of former labor-Stereotyping everything on paper-Daguerreotypes cheapening the likenesses of everybody. Chemical developments for the supply of everything required in the arts, and opening the arcana of nature to the use of all-ascertaining the elements of combinations in nature-and so separating the parts, as to show new sources of power and profit-forecast- ing the fact, that in time, Water may be used as a Fire. In the meantime, the ingenuity and devices of Crime, becoming more and more apparent-and compelling new efforts of counteraction from all those who regard the progress of Religion and Virtue in the world. We see too, the great exaltation of the Anglo-Saxon race, as a species destined to carry civilization and Christian- ity to all the dark corners of the globe-The conquest of Mexico by us-the opening trade of California and Oregon-the discovery of gold and quicksilver-the Commerce of the Pacific and the access there to China -the opening of a Railroad across the Isthmus, and a great Rail Road across our Continent, all tend to open some grand developments of Providence, in the coming half Century-they who shall succeed us, shall behold still greater wonders !"
Educa- tional The changes in education during this period have been in line with changes in other Changes aspects of life. In times past schoolhouses were small and not properly built or equip- ped. The stoves roasted those seated close by and al- lowed those at a distance to shiver. The wabbly, back- less, twelve-foot bench and desk meant dangling limbs, awkward twistings to go to class, testing of the pocket- knife on the soft pine desk-top, temptations to rock the bench or desk and spoil a sweet disposition or a fine pen-
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CHANGED HOME LIFE
manship. The untrained, unskilled teacher, with rod and ruler, quill pen and dunce cap failed to inspire and create a love of learning. The textbooks were few, crude, and not well adapted to school use. The school laws were as crude and inadequate as schoolhouses and schoolbooks. Neither was the need and value of edu- cation as evident as it is now.
Boys walked ten miles to attend Patrick Menan's school and became national figures. Abraham H. Cassel attended school six weeks when eleven years old and, in spite of this handicap, became a teacher himself and ren-
RURAL SCHOOLROOM SCENE, A HUNDRED YEARS AGO-FROM H. L. FISHER'S "OLDEN TIME"
dered history an invaluable service by the manuscripts and rare prints which he rescued from destruction. In Hosensack Academy, taught by a university-bred teacher, farmers' boys studied the dead languages and higher mathematics, calculated eclipses, transcribed theological lectures, and wrote Latin letters to each other. Schools,
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EDUCATIONAL CHANGES
VETERAN TEACHERS, 1922. FIGURES INDICATE YEARS OF SERVICE Annie Bender, 46 Clara Bodey, 51
Jonathan Huber, 50
Sarah Fry, 51
Michael H. Beltz, 43
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CHANGED HOME LIFE
prior to 1884, seldom gave any attention to grammar, geography, mensuration, algebra, or the writing of essays.
In Pennsylvania-German communities the schools were conducted in the German language. The Bible, either in part or its entirety, was the universal read- ing book. Some of the teachers excelled in illuminative writing. This was ornamental writing with different colored inks that found its way to titlepages, bookmarks and reward cards. Though crude and inartistic, it was expressive of artistic taste, like the fancy needlework, the samplers, the decorated stoveplates and earthen- ware. In speaking about this, Henry C. Mercer says : (Illuminative writing) "reminds one of the ornamental writing practiced in the cloisters, a fair art of the mid- dle ages that received its deathblow from the printing press but was kept alive in altered form by Pennsyl- vania immigrants from Germany to die a lingering death." Illuminative writing occasionally found its way into the cyphering books of the advanced pupils in which they wrote out their problems in arithmetic with the full solution.
Post-
The change in postal service has been won- derful. Watson relates that during the Rev-
Office Service olutionary War period conveyances by mail were hazardous, infrequent, and expensive. Families in rural communities depended on private chances and exchanged letters very rarely. Nothing was more common than for men in the public service to write two or three times before a reply would be received. "Not long since, when postage was twenty- five cents per letter to towns in the West, or to New Orleans, the last occupying a month in transit, the tax of postage was a heavy item, when all outside of one
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POST OFFICE SERVICE
sheet was taxed double .- Now double letters can pass as single, to those who will write without useless enve- lopes." In 1828 it took a month for the country to learn the result of a presidential election. Washington had been buried two weeks before his death became known in Boston. To-day a one-cent stamp attached to a properly addressed card and placed in the hands of the postal clerks will place at the command of the writer 232,000 miles of railway service and 434,000 miles of postroutes, reaching every nook of Uncle Sam's posses- sions. Five cents will command the service of all for- eign countries. The postal service acts as letter carrier, special messenger, express agent, savings bank, insur .. ance agent, and moral censor.
To do business a century ago involved Business hardships which cannot be appreciated to- Methods day. The shipping of goods by wagon and the collection of bills were tedious and ex- pensive. To start on horseback on a collection trip to Harrisburg, Carlisle, and beyond, or down to the Caro- linas, with prospects of muddy roads, swollen streams filled with rafts of floating ice, called for a fearless heart and courage. Pack horses carried the accumulat- ing silver received in settlement of bills over lonely mountains and through dense forests. Rude rooms in loghouse inns sheltered the collector and collected silver for the night.
Farmers, then as now, sold their produce Going to in the city, but customs and methods have Market changed greatly. A noted writer gives a picture of forsaken practices in these words :
"The road was good, the passing scenery gay,
Mile after mile passed unperceived away,
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CHANGED HOME LIFE
Till in the west the day began to close And Spring House tavern furnished us repose. Here two long rows of market folks were seen, Ranged front to front, the table placed between, Where bags, of meat, and bones, and crusts of bread, And hunks of bacon all around were spread; One pint of beer from lip to lip went round, And scarce a crumb the hungry house-dog found; Torrents of Dutch from every quarter came, Pigs, calves and sour-krout the important theme; While we, on future plans resolving deep, Discharged our bill and straight retired to sleep."
The militia law made obligatory the hold- Muster ing of drills by the State militia at certain Days stated times during the year. Those of mili- tary age who absented themselves had to pay a fine. These gatherings became occasions for a day's outing in rural sections like the county fairs of to-day. Hutchinson says: " 'Battalion' and 'General Review' days of militia were the days of the year. The 'bone and sinew' then reported themselves for the annual inspection review, drill, and parade. As for uniform, each dressed according to his inclination; some wore coats and some did not; the coats were of all colors, shapes and material-from white to black, and from linen to broadcloth. Hats and caps of every style cov- ered the heads. Some of the yeomen wore boots, some shoes, and others went barefoot. As for weapons, they were various, muskets, rifles, double and single-barrel shotguns, canes, hoop-poles, cornstalks and umbrellas -- the latter frequently hoisted to protect the bearers from the rays of the sun, or occasional showers. The officers generally provided themselves with a sword, scabbard, and belt. The drill and inspection were on a par with the arms and accouterments. The generals, colonels,
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MUSTER DAYS
and other mounted officers charged furiously on their fiery, untamed steeds, conscious that the fate of the nation depended upon them. The different regiments having formed their lines, marched through town to the parade ground or 'commons' followed by all the children old enough to accompany them. . Their military evolutions were executed with wonderful pre- cision, no two obeying the word of command at the same time, unless by accident, and such a thing as keep- ing step was unknown. The firing, considering that there was scarcely a charge of powder in the whole line, was equally well done. After inspection, an hour's rest was given, when arms were grounded and ranks broken. From the numerous hucksters who always thronged the field on these occasions, plentiful supplies of lem- onade, small-beer, Monongahela whiskey, brandy, rum or gin, were obtained by the tired soldiers, whose subse- quent evolutions were somewhat tangled."
At the formation of the county only 58 Modes of riding chairs were returned in tax lists of Travel the county, which were owned in Moreland, Upper Dublin, Upper Hanover, Horsham, Abington, Cheltenham, Douglass, Norriton, Plymouth, Springfield, and Whitemarsh. The absence meant going afoot, on horseback, or on heavy springless farm wagons. Ladies then would ride thirty or more miles on horseback, do their shopping, and return the next day.
Samuel Breck, after riding in a train, wrote these words in 1833: "If one could stop when one wanted, and if one were not locked up in a box, with fifty or sixty tobacco chewers, and the engine and fire did not burn holes in one's clothes ; and the springs and hinges did not make such a racket and the smell of the smoke, of the oil and of the chimney did not poison one; and if
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CHANGED HOME LIFE
one could see the country and was not in danger of being blown skyhigh or kicked off the rails-it would be the perfection of traveling."
From a committee report on the "Present State of the Motive Power on the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad," 1836, we glean the following: "From the time the engine leaves the depot, and while running the entire route, the engineer is under no control whatever, and is under no responsibility as to his conduct or the
VIEW OF POTTSTOWN, ABOUT 1835
management of the engine. His speed is regulated by his own will; the times of his stopping and starting appear to be according to his own convenience or ca- price ; he takes on his train such way cars as he chooses and rejects those he does not wish to take; and the farmer, or the miller whose produce has been lying in the car for days or even for weeks waiting for a chance of conveyance to market has no means of redress. His complaints are unheeded; the locomotives pass by, and his cars must stand on the siding until some engineer is sufficiently obliging to attach them to his train."
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CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL BUILDINGS
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CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL BUILDINGS H. K. Boyer, Lower Providence Northern, Upper Gwynedd Barren Hill, Whitemarsh
CHAPTER VII
THE WORLD AT LARGE
That
Ties "None of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself." Our recurring daily ex- Bind perience proves this. The story of our county richly illustrates it. A brief refer- ence to a few illustrations of the relations that helped to mould the history of the county seems in place.
The
Immigrants could not forget the home-
land, the place of their birth. Letters went
Old Home back and forth, thirty, forty, even fifty years after the migration. Appeals for help were made to which responses came. The wealth, the sympathy, the counsel of the old associations helped the pioneer to bear the burdens of his changed environ- ment. They aided materially in the development of the county. The manuscripts and printed records that this relationship called forth constitute an invaluable source of information respecting the history of the period.
Philadelphia, the port of entry for most of Phila- the immigrants, made its impressions that delphia remained for life either as agreeable or dis- agreeable mental pictures. Here the immi- grant bought his needed tools and seeds and other neces- sities for the new home. Hither he came to cast his vote and cultivate his virtues and his vices. Hither he came when matters demanding official action by county authorities impelled.
Philadelphia, in early days, surpassed other cities of the colonies in learning, the arts, and public spirit,
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PHILADELPHIA
It was the country's metropolis and capital city, the center of its trade and wealth in the days of the Revo- lution, and for many years the most populous city .. To- day it is one of the world's greatest workshops, its manufacturing plants representing 211 of the 246 lines of employment as classified by the census bureau of the United States. Proximity of residence to such a place means endless opportunity. The county's sons and daughters in every decade have found work, wealth, education and social standing within the city. In re- turn the city gave direct service in developing the re- sources of the county.
The erection of Montgomery county naturally changed some relationships, while others remained un- changed. Trips on account of official county services centered in the new county seat, Norristown. The sub- urbanizing zone is widening over the lower end of the county, with its villas crowning the hilltops or hiding in shady hollows, with its well-kept roads and modern im- provements. The benefits such development brings to the county, socially, economically, architecturally, po- litically, financially, with an occasional unwholesome by-product, form an essential element of the history of the county. To trace such development is beyond the scope of this book.
The relation of the county to the country's The Wars various wars is very interesting and in- structive. The only Indian trouble within the county occurred in 1728 in the Upper End-probably at or near Pool Forge on the Mana- tawny. A roving band of eleven crude Shawnees on the warpath clashed with twenty white settlers. Two or three Indians were slightly wounded. The scattered settlers, greatly alarmed, left their homes, met at, a
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THE WORLD AT LARGE
mill-perhaps at Pottstown-discussed the wild rumors, and went home. The excitement soon died.
In the French and Indian war Montgomery county lay so far removed from the frontier line between the red and white man that it escaped the horrors of the Indian massacres which befell the exposed communi- ties. The terrors of the struggle were, however, brought home vividly to the community in various ways. Friedrich Reichelderfer, of the Upper End, for ex- ample, had moved to Albany township, in Berks county. When the war broke out he returned to his former neighborhood and only occasionally went back to his new home to attend to crops and cattle. On one of these trips the Indians made an attack. He hastened for help to a neighbor, who, to his great grief, had been slain by the Indians. He hastily returned to his own dwellinghouse to find it in ashes, one of his grown daughters dead, the other horribly mangled, although alive. A few final words, a parting kiss and the second daughter was dead.
Some of the families who had settled in the exposed region moved back and acquired homes in the more thickly settled parts. Among these were families that moved from Upper Macungie, Lehigh county, to Upper Hanover and Marlborough.
In the Fall of 1755 six hundred men, women, and children took refuge among the Moravians at Bethle- hem, their houses, barns and cattle having been burned and destroyed by the Indians. Donations of grain, flour, fruit, clothing, tools, etc., were made. Among the contributors were residents of Skippack, Franconia, Goshenhoppen, Worcester and Norriton. The citizens of Montgomery raised almost $600 to help defray the expense of placing guards along the frontier as a pro- tection to the settlers. When Conrad Weiser issued a
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THE WARS
call for wagons to carry forage to Raistown (Bedford), the county responded by organizing wagon companies who provided horses, wagons, and drivers to answer the call. Some of the prominent men of the county attend- ed the Indian treaties at Easton and Lancaster and helped to defray the expenses in making presents to the Indians.
As has been shown in "Historic Highways," Penn- sylvania and Virginia had known practically nothing of the art of war; they had no effective militia, no dream of military ethics. They did not know what obedience meant and had no knowledge of organization. Their liberty was license or nothing. The experiences in the years 1745-1763 prepared a nation for the hour her in- dependence should strike.
The Revolutionary war meant for the citizens of Montgomery county active participation on the field of battle, donations of food and clothing, many bitter hardships and privations, a depreciated currency and in some instances sore perplexity. Avowed adherents of the British side, who were proclaimed traitors and deprived of their property by confiscation and sale, moved to British provinces. Farmers, contrary to army regulations, sold farm produce to the British while lo- cated in Philadelphia. If discovered they were made to suffer.
In the contest for liberty, the Irish with the Ger- mans on the frontier, stood for independence. The eastern Germans sided with the Quakers, who were op- posed to war. These, many of whom were adher- ents of the plain sects, were looked down upon with suspicion and were subjected to heavy fines. They declined to take up arms, but none of them on this ac- count lost his property by confiscation. Some even who had conscientious scruples about the payment of
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THE WORLD AT LARGE
the fines, laid down the coin, which the officer took; the consciences were thus appeased.
The Revolutionary war meant also a longer con- tinuous stay of Washington and the army within the
Q: THE SOLZENI
NATIONAL MEMORIAL ARCH, VALLEY FORGE
county than in any other place. It meant after the massacre at Paoli, September 20, and the crossing of the Schuylkill at points between Fatland ford and
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THE WARS
Phoenixville, the leisurely marching of the British army through Providence, Norriton, and other town- ships along the Ridge road to Philadelphia. Thereupon followed the encampment of the American army at Crooked Hill (Sanatoga), September 18 to 25, and of part of the army along the road from Trappe to Evans- burg; the march through Frederick township to Pen- nypacker's mills, September 26, and Germantown, Octo- ber 3, where the battle of Germantown was fought, Oc- tober 4; the retreat to Towamencin, October 8; the march to Worcester, October 8 to 16; the march to and battle at Whitemarsh; the march, December 11, from Whitemarsh, across the Schuylkill river at Swedes ford, and into winter quarters at Valley Forge; the move- ment of part of the army under Lafayette to Barren Hill and of the rest of the army under Washington, June, 1778. The Valley Forge encampment meant for the community the knitting of stockings, the emptying of chests of clothing and bedding, the supplying of food, the busy clatter of the mills, the rumbling of sup- ply wagons, many little deeds of mercy and love. The presence of the armies also meant damages for which claims amounting to $52,000 were presented. What the damages were for which no claim was made can- not be known. Local names like Muhlenberg, Miles, Loller, Porter, Stuart, Thompson, Rittenhouse, Hiester, Reed were rendered immortal by services given.
It was during the Revolutionary period that the general State militia law of 1777 was passed. This provided that the various counties throughout the state should be divided into districts, each of which was to have within it not less than 680 men fit for militia duty. Over these divisions were placed lieutenants for each city and county and sub-lieutenants for each district. Each district was subdivided into eight parts or com-
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THE WORLD AT LARGE
panies. Provision was also made for fines, drills by companies, and battalion parades. These drills and parades were very popular half a century later.
MUHLENBERG FAMILY
F. A. C. Muhlenberg
G. H. E. Muhlenberg
J. P. G. Muhlenberg H. M. Muhlenberg
J. C. Kunze (Son-in-law)
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THE WARS
Fries' Rebellion while insignificant as to numbers became very significant in view of principles in- volved. It interests us because some of the partici- pants were citizens of Montgomery county. L. S. Shimmell in his "History of Pennsylvania" relates the story as follows: "Early in Adams' administration, the Federal government imposed the so-called 'house tax' which required the assessors to measure and regis- ter the panes of glass in windows. To the Germans
HOME OF FREDERICK ANTES Headquarters of General Washington, September 21-26, 1777
the tax seemed tyrannous ; and in the counties of Berks, Lehigh, Northampton, Montgomery and Bucks they re- sisted the enforcement of the law. From the fact that women in certain places poured hot water on the asses- sors, the insurrection got the name of 'Hot Water Re- bellion,' while through its leader it also received the name of 'Fries' Rebellion.' John Fries, a soldier of the
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THE WORLD AT LARGE
Revolution, was a well-known character in the Ger- man section north of Philadelphia. He was an auc- tioneer and was endowed with the gift of leadership. With a plumed hat on his head, a pistol and a sword at his side, his little dog 'Whiskey' at his heels, and about sixty armed men around him, he marched from place to place, to the sound of fife and drum, and harangued the Germans on the injustice of the 'house tax.' He did this for several months before the government took any notice of it. Finally, a United States marshal arrested twelve of his men and confined them in the Sun Inn, Bethlehem. Fries went to their rescue. He appeared before the inn in March, 1799, and demanded the sur- render of the prisoners. The marshal had to yield and Fries marched away in triumph." Later Fries was tried for treason, convicted and condemned to die but was pardoned by the President and led a useful life in Philadelphia.
In the War of 1812 the entire militia of southeast- ern Pennsylvania was summoned by governor's procla- mation. Camp was established on the Delaware at Marcus Hook, below Chester. The captains of the Montgomery county companies were: Jacob Fryer, John Grosscup, William Holgate, John Hurst, William McGlathery, Joseph Sands, William McGill,
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