USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania : from its first beginnings to the present time, including chapters of newly-discovered early Wyoming Valley history, together with many biographical sketches and much genealogical material. Volume V > Part 17
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The other Wilkes-Barre newspapers are the "News," an evening journal : the "Courier-Herald," a weekly, and two Sunday papers, the "Independent" and "Telegram." There are several others, covering special fields.
The Wilkes-Barre "News" is nearing the half century mark. Its history connects with the "News Dealer," and back to the "Sunday Plain Dealer," which was first published in Pittston in June, 1878-the first Sunday paper published in Northern Pennsylvania. J. C. Coon was its founder, and the capable editor who carried it through its many early vicissitudes. In 1880 he published the "News Dealer," and also a weekly, called the "Dollar Weekly News Dealer." In 1884, a daily edition of the "News Dealer" made its appear- ance. In 1886 Samuel W. Boyd and John J. Maloney were the publishers of the "Daily News Dealer." After many other changes, the "News" came into the possession of its present owner, John A. Hourigan. John J. McSweeney is editor, and the paid circulation in 1926 was 14,118 per issue.
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The "Wilkes-Barre Sunday Telegram" is a continuation of the Wilkes- Barre edition of the "Elmira Telegram," which had its beginning in 1881 and which eventually had a larger circulation in Wilkes-Barre than in its home town. Indeed, the Wilkes-Barre department was to all intents publishing a Wilkes-Barre paper. In "Billy" Leslie, the Elmira journal had a Wilkes- Barre correspondent who seemed to note everything that happened. In three weeks he increased the circulation in Wilkes-Barre from 400 to 12,000. His personality and journalistic energy carried the "Elmira Telegram" in Luzerne County for more than thirty years. He retired in 1920, Joseph Gorman becom- ing Wilkes-Barre correspondent. In 1924, George F. Williams, a former edi- tor of the "Evening News," purchased the Wilkes-Barre "Telegram," and he has since been both publisher and editor.
Leslie, had he been so inclined, might have written such a history of the press of his time in Luzerne County as no other Wilkes-Barre editor could have. His experience spanned a lifetime. "In his time," reads a reference to his work in the "Telegram" of May 2, 1926, "Leslie has seen many changes in the newspaper business and newspapermen in Wilkes-Barre. He has seen two printers, John A. Hourigan and Guy W. Moore, become publishers of two of the city's leading dailies, the "Evening News" and the "Record," respec- tively. He has seen one of the city's underpaid reporters elevated to the post of city treasurer and twice elected to the office of mayor. He has seen three crude cub reporters develop into the class of famous magazine writers, Frank Ward O'Malley, Louis Weitzenkorn and Samuel Hoffenstein. He has watched other figures in the local newspaper field lay down their pencils and pads and garner for themselves success in theatrical realms, the political world and in the professions of law, theology and medicine." Leslie could have written a most interesting intimate living story of the press. But he has not done so, and this fragmentary, lifeless compilation of names and dates must stand until some one more conversant with the personalities applies himself to the narra- tive of the Fourth Estate in the Wyoming Valley.
The other Wilkes-Barre Sunday paper, the "Independent," was founded in 1906, by John J. Maloney. He sold to Thomas F. Heffernan, in 1913. It is edited and owned by T. F. and J. V. Heffernan, and has a large circulation- 18,777 net, per issue in 1926. The "Independent" leads in its field.
The special journals in Wilkes-Barre are: The "Bratstvo" (Slovak), a seven column weekly, published by I. V. Patala, with a circulation in 1926 of 19,519 copies weekly; the "Courier-Herald," a weekly, founded in 1920; the "Critic," an illustrated weekly, founded in 1926 by C. B. Strome and John L. Rice; the "Gornik Miner," a Polish journal founded in 1893, and edited by St. Popiel, circulating to the number of 21,264 copies weekly in 1926; the "Labor News," a weekly founded in 1923; the "Niedzieny Gornik," a Sunday paper founded in 1893, and circulating among the Polish people of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, to the extent of 16,230 copies weekly in 1926, St. Popiel, editor ; "Praca," a weekly founded in 1905, S. J. Tyburski editor ; the "Svit," a Russian weekly, founded in 1897. and published by the Russian Orthodox Catholic Mutual Aid Society. E. K. Hoyniak, editor; and the "Wachter," a German weekly, one of the oldest journals of Luzerne County. It was in 1842. that Major Jacob Waelder started to publish in Wilkes-Barre the "Democratic Wachter," a four-column folio. In 1851, Robert Baur, a bookbinder, became the publisher ; and for the next half century Robert Baur, and his son, G. A. Baur, regularly published the journal. It had a positive influence in its field, and still has a steady circulation. In 1865 the "Wachter" became a seven- column quarto.
The Hazleton papers have been reviewed in the general sketch of that city. Briefly, they are: The "Standard-Sentinel," a morning paper, eight columns, founded in 1866, W. E. Bachman, editor, Henry Walser, publisher, circulation
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9.968 daily in 1926; the "Plain Speaker," an eight-column evening paper, founded in 1882, J. H. Dershuck, editor and publisher, circulation 10,020; the "Vigilant," a seven-column weekly, founded in 1903 and published by W. A. Evans, who is also editor; the "Anthracite Miner," a seven-column labor weekly, founded in 1925, the Cooperative Publishing Co., Inc., owners; the "Slovensky Obean," a seven-column weekly founded in 1912, and published by the Citizen Publishing Co., circulation 10,838 copies weekly; the "Tren- tino," an Italian weekly, founded in 1912, and now having a weekly circulation of 19,500 copies, International Printing Co., owners, M. Mesotella and P. C. Flaim editors ; the "Unione Italiana," a seven-column weekly, founded in 1920, and having a circulation of 4,200 weekly in 1926.
The Pittston paper is the "Gazette." It was founded in 1850, by G. M. Richart and H. S. Phillips. It began as a seven-column weekly, of Whig affiliation. In 1856, it became Republican, and is still a Republican journal. Mr. Richart became sole owner in 1853, but sold to Dr. J. H. Puleston, in 1857. Richart, a printer, was again part owner of the "Gazette" in 1860, and in 1863 became sole owner. In 1870 Theodore Hart, Jr., bought a half interest, and in 1878 acquired the Richart interest. Thus, commenced the long connection of the Hart family with the Pittston "Gazette." In 1882 Mr. Hart began to pub- lish a daily paper, the "Daily Evening Gazette," as well as the weekly. The daily began as a six-column folio, but in 1890 became an eight-column paper, which it still is. It has a paid circulation of 4,805 copies daily. The present owners are the Pittston Gazette Co., William J. Peck, editor. Mr. Taliesin Evans, a native of Pittston, has been editorially connected with the "Gazette" for forty years-since 1887, when he became a reporter under Mr. Hart.
Nanticoke has two papers: The "News," which was founded in 1889, a seven-column weekly, edited and owned by Thomas R. Callary; and the "Review," a six-column weekly, founded in 1921, George L. Myers editor and owner. At one time Nanticoke had a daily paper, the "Nanticoke Daily Eve- ning News," which ran for many years after 1890. Another strong weekly was the Nanticoke "Sun," which strove for many years, from 1879, to find a rift in clouded skies.
Whitehaven has a journal almost fifty years old. In 1877, Levi Miner went from Wilkes-Barre to Whitehaven with some type and began to issue the "Whitehaven Standard." In a year or two the sheriff was in possession. The plant was brought by William A. Feist, who, in 1882, began the White- haven "Journal." It is a Republican paper, and for many, many years was edited by Mr. Feist. It is still a weekly, still a six-column paper, still a Republican organ, but not still owned by the Feist family. D. M. Taylor is the present editor-owner. Whitehaven has another newspaper now-the "Whitehaven Record," a seven-column weekly, founded in 1923, and edited by G. R. Baletz.
At Freeland is another old paper-the "Freeland Journal," said to have been founded in 1876. It is a six-column paper, with a weekly circulation of 1,100 copies. R. B. McKee is editor-owner.
Shickshinny goes even farther back, the "Mountain Echo" having been published under the same name, weekly, since 1873. It was founded by M. E. Walker, and has had a comparatively steady existence, with few changes of ownership. The present owners are M. H. & S. B. Adkins, who are also the publishers.
The only current newspapers of Luzerne County that have not yet been noticed in this review are: The "Tri-Town Topics," a seven-column journal published weekly, since 1921, in Plains, and now edited and owned by J. N. Conniff and E. A. Keeley ; and the "Wilkes-Barre Pictorial," a weekly illus- trated paper, now in its eleventh volume, published by Norman E. Davis and Ham Fisher.
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In conclusion. it may be remarked that Luzerne County has fewer news- papers today than she had twenty-five years ago. The trend of the time is toward consolidation of effort. This trend has been most noticeable in news- paper developments of recent years. When Colonel Smith became connected with the "Leader" in 1905, Wilkes-Barre alone had two morning papers and three evening journals. Now, in the whole of Luzerne County, there are only two morning and four evening papers. In pre-motor times, when a hard- working printer-publisher could live comfortably on a Goldsmithian stipend, almost every community of fair size had a weekly news-sheet that it could call its own. Now, in all the forty incorporated places and thirty-five town- ships of this populous county, no more than seven weekly newspapers-other than Sunday publications and those of special field-can be found.
There is, of course, a reason-the high cost of time. Time waits for no man. It will wait on only that employer whose pockets are well-lined. "Shoe-string" business has no chance of life in modern operations-at all events in those of the newspaper field. Gone forever is the time when a man could live "on nothing," as a worthy Wilkes-Barre editor of long ago complained had been his lot. Newspaper publishing, in this expensive age, is the field of "big business." So it happens that few new Fourth Estate enter- prises are attempted in a newsfield already covered. Instead, rising costs incline publishers to a merging of interests, so as to cover the field with fewer publications, using this economy to provide better news service.
CHAPTER LVII. THE TOWNSHIPS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
When William Penn arrived in Pennsylvania, in 1682, he divided the prov- ince into three counties, Philadelphia, Chester and Bucks. On March 13, 1752, part of Bucks County was taken to form Northampton. On March 21, 1772, part of Northampton County, and parts also of the counties of Lancaster, Cumberland, Berks, and Bedford, were taken to form the county of Northum- berland. And, on September 25, 1786, part of Northumberland County was set apart to form the county of Luzerne.
However, in the actual settlement of civil government of what is now Luzerne County, the colony of Connecticut preceded Pennsylvania. Follow- ing the usual New England plan of organizing large tracts into townships, under county government, the "Town of Westmoreland" was organized in 1774, under Connecticut law, and attached to the county of Litchfield, Con- necticut. So vast in area was the new town that within its bounds (sixty by one hundred and twenty miles) are the present counties of Cameron, Lycom- ing, Potter, Sullivan, Tioga, as well as almost all of Luzerne County and parts of eight other counties of Pennsylvania. As settlement expanded under Con- necticut jurisdiction, the town of Westmoreland became detached from Litch- field County, and for some time thereafter was the county of Westmoreland, under the Connecticut system. The Yankee and Quaker governments clashed over jurisdiction of this region until 1782 when, by the Trenton decree, Con- necticut had to relinquish the tract to Pennsylvania. Strife was not ended, but Westmoreland County, Connecticut, now legally became Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. Four years later, part of Northumberland County became Luzerne County.
In 1790, Luzerne County was divided into eleven townships. These took the same names as they had held in Westmoreland County, Connecticut, though township boundaries underwent change. The eleven original town- ships were Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Hanover, Newport, Exeter, Plymouth, Kingston, Salem, Tioga, Wyalusing, and Tunkhannock. Sub-divisions of the county and townships have created other counties and townships. During Luzerne County's first century such changes considerably reduced her terri- torial area, but much increased the local sub-divisions. In 1920, Luzerne County possessed thirty-five townships. Some are prosperous, some decadent. A reliable indication of their state and prospects may be gathered from census statistics. The thirty-five townships are :
Population in 1920
Population in 1900
Bear Creek
341
240
Black Creek
1,868
2,352
Buck
87
103
Butler
1,719
1,661
Conyngham (twp.)
2,540
1,373
Dallas (twp.)
971
1,006
Denison
706
796
Dorrance
670
830
Exeter (twp.)
513
504
Fairmount
728
1,070
Fairview
805
1,087
Foster
5,530
4,497
Franklin
427
501
Hanover
11,139
4,655
Hazle
10,932
15,143
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III
Population in 1920 Population in 1900
Hollenback
487
654
Hunlock
871
837
Huntington
1,23.4
1,428
Jackson
642
658
Jenkins
5,722
2,792
Kingston (twp.)
1,467
2,061
Lake
1,080
1,397
Lehman
995
1,120
Nescopeck (twp.)
639
702
Newport
10,992
6,529
Pittston (twp.)
3,581
4,370
Plains
13,985
6,872
Plymouth (twp.)
3,558
0,655
Ross
911
1,386
Salem
1,841
1,317
Slocum
5II
543
Sugarloaf
1,256
1,500
Union
784
Wilkes-Barre (twp.)
6,608
3,805
Wright
475
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Very little space is available, but a few of the formative facts in the history of the townships might be given. These brief township reviews will follow alphabetical, not chronological, order.
Bear Creek Township, the largest in Luzerne County, was organized in 1856, out of Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Bucks, Plains and Jenkins townships. The Sullivan military road passed through this township, and along this road, in 1786, a log cabin was built. Oliver Helme built the first sawmill on Bear Creek in 1800. At this point is the only hamlet. Bear Creek Township is wild and rugged. It is beyond the coal area, and has little good farming land. Lumbering has been its principal industry.
Supervisors, 1926: Ira Kreage, H. R. Lewis, Albert Kreage. Taxables, 1926: 1,235. Assessed valuation, 1926: $1,107,196. President of school board : Ray A. Clark.
Black Creek Township was formed on August 8, 1848, its territory being taken from Sugarloaf Township. The first settlers in Black Creek Township were the Huntsinger, Rittenhouse, Shellhammer, Short and Swoyer families. Barney Huntsinger came as a surveyor in 1806. Martin and William Ritten- house came in 1810, and built a saw and gristmill on Black Creek. A hamlet developed at this point, approximately the center of the township. A store, a tannery, and a tavern soon gave the Rittenhouse hamlet added importance. Other hamlets sprang up, and eventually the coal measures within the region were explored and developed by the Coxe companies. Derenger and Gowen became "company" mining towns.
Supervisors, 1926: George Sewell, C. H. Troy, Fred Logan. Taxables, 1926: 403. Assessed valuation, 1926: $284,449. President of school board : W. C. Foose. Principal : Navin J. Cook. Teachers: Three high, twelve graded school.
Buck Township takes its name from George Buck, the first tavern-keeper. The township was formed in 1833, from Covington. John Nagle, who built a log cabin on the Sullivan military road in 1782, was the pioneer settler in Buck. Other early settlers were: Conrad Sox, Justice Simonson, Samuel Wildrick, and Thomas Taftershall. In 1806, Hugh Conner erected a sawmill, at what became Stoddartsville, its only village. The township might have been distinguished by another community, the "City of Rome," had that ambi- tious and somewhat unscrupulous town-platting of the "Great Swamp," in 1810, been upon dry land. It was an age of town-planning, and Rome was but
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one of the many cities-to-be that never passed beyond the settlement stage of development.
Taxables, 1926: 129. Assessed valuation, 1926: $61,852. President of school board : Mrs. Margaret Blakeslee.
Butler Township, in the Sugarloaf Valley, was set apart from Sugarloaf Township in 1839. When organized, Butler Township was larger than now, for in 1861 Hazle Township took part of Butler.
The first settler was John Balliett, who came from Northampton County in 1784, with his wife and two children, and built a log cabin about one mile west of the village of Drums. He was the pioneer tavern-keeper. Within a year or two, other families settled, including the Benner, Shober, Dolph, Hill, Bachelor and Spaide families. Other early families of Butler were the Wood- ring, Davis, Mowery and Drum. Raymond Conyngham erected a sawmill on Little Nescopeck Creek in 1809, also a gristmill on Big Nescopeck, in 1820. There were several other mills. The first carding mill was built in 1810 on the Little Nescopeck ; and near the carding mill twenty-five years later Philip Drum built the first woolen mill. Henry B. Yost, the first merchant in the township, opened a store in 1832. He was also the pioneer postmaster, his post office being named East Sugarloaf.
Three miles north of Drums was the village of Hughesville, and nearby was an older German settlement. The first weavers in the township were Michael Klouse, Elias Balliett, and Jacob Schauber, who all lived in this dis- trict. When Hughesville became a post office, it was necessary to change the village name to St. Johns. The German church at St. Johns was organized in 1799.
In 1926, the supervisors of Butler Township were: Calvin Young, Theo- dore Santee, Josiah Thomas. Number of taxables : 1,061. Assessed valuation : $821,683. President of school board: Gilbert A. Peters. Principal: H. C. Wenner. Teachers : Eleven, graded school only.
Conyngham Township was not organized until 1875, but its settlement dates back to 1795, when Martin Harter was attracted by riparian rights near the mouth of the Little Wapwallopen Creek. Soon after he had settled, other Germans came in from Northampton, among them James Santee, Philip Fen- stermacher, John Andreas, Michael Weiss, John Fenstermacher, and Jeremiah Hess. James McNeil was also among the pioneer settlers. The first frame house was built by Martin Harter, in 1797. Upon his old homestead, George Fenstermacher erected, in 1836, the first stone house in the township. The first store was opened in 1805 by Philip Fenstermacher. The first gristmill was erected in 1806. Two years later the first school was organized. The instruction was conducted in German for two years. The principal village, Wapwallopen, is the center of a prosperous farming district, but has also been the center of important explosives plants of the du Pont Company, which National corporation bought the powder mills near the mouth of the creek in 1857, from G. P. Parish and Company.
In 1926, the supervisors of Conyngham Township were: J. D. Smith, Wil- liam C. Boyd, Burt Denoy. Number of taxables: 1,636. Assessed valuation : $1,158,652. President of school board: Walter S. Gragle. Teachers: Twenty, graded schools only.
Dallas Township, formed in 1817 from Kingston Township, was settled in, or before, 1797. In that year Ephraim McCoy, a soldier of the Revolution, built a log cabin near the site of McClellandsville (Dallas Borough). Nearby was a smaller cabin, untenanted; when and by whom it was built is not known. William Briggs followed McCoy in settling, and other settlers are said to have come in the following order: Daniel Spencer, John Wort, John
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Kelley, Elam Spencer, J. Mears, John Honeywell. Sr. and Jr., William Honey- well, Isaac Montague, and two Ayers brothers. William Honey, who came in 1808, built a frame addition to his log house in 1809. This was the first frame structure in the township. Baldwin's mill, on Tobey Creek, was the first in the township; it was built in 1813. On the same creek Christian Rice built another sawmill five years later.
Kunkle Village, with its population of about one hundred and seventy, is still the home of the Kunkle family. The first postmaster was J. Wesley Kunkle.
In 1926, the supervisors of Dallas Township were: Nelson Whipp, Frank Moore, M. C. Myers. Number of taxables: 1,614. Assessed valuation : $966,890. President of school board: George Landon. Nine teachers, graded schools only.
Denison Township was taken. in 1839. from one of the original townships -Hanover. The land is poor and farming difficult. For half a century, how- ever, lumbering was an active business within the township. Israel Inman, the first settler, who built a cabin about half a mile below where the Lehigh Railroad crosses the Nescopeck, in 1833, erected a sawmill, and later a forge. In 1837, the Lehigh Navigation and Coal Company cut a road through the township from near Whitehaven. Passing through other townships. it con- nected Wilkes-Barre with Mauch Chunk. Stages ran from Wilkes-Barre to Whitehaven, and sailing packets gave regular service for passengers who wished to go farther afield. In 1863 railroad construction began, and trains passed through the township in 1865. The Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Central Railroad of New Jersey cross Denison Township.
The first settlers within the township in the vicinity of Whitehaven were John Linespand. A. P. Childs and the brothers Lynch. Childs settled in 1835. In 1838 this little hamlet became a post office town, under the name of Middleburg. Many years later the village name was changed to Jerusalem.
In 1926, the supervisors of Denison Township were: Fred Helmer, Wil- liam Smith, and Arthur Barry. Number of taxables: 552. Assessed valua- tion : $230,207. President of school board: N. A. Smith. Five teachers, graded school only.
Dorrance Township perpetuates the name of one of the pioneer families of Luzerne County, and particularly that of Lieutenant-Colonel George Dor- rance, who fell in battle on July 3, 1778, at Wyoming. The township was set apart from Newport in 1840. The Big Wapwallopen and Little Wapwallopen creeks pass through the township. The larger creek is to the southward, and in this part of the township the first settlers were the Woodring, Eishen- brout, Reinheimer, Wener, Heller, Whitebread and Eroh families. The pioneers along the Little Wapwallopen in the northern part of the township were the Myers, Bleim, Vandermarle, Engler, Lutz and Stuart families. Dor- rance Township was part of the original township of Hanover. In those days the prominent families included the Arnold, Stair, Hawk and Lee families. North and south of Dorrance Township lie valuable coal measures, but lum- bering has been the main industry of Dorrance. The only village in the town- ship bears that name, and must not be confused with Dorranceton, a borough four townships away, northerly.
In 1926, the supervisors of Dorrance Township were: George Eigenbrod. Harry Vandermark, and J. L. Peters. Number of Taxables: 486. Assessed valuation : $315,099. President of school board: August Seigel. Six teach- ers, common schools only.
Exeter Township-In Exeter Township and Borough the greater part of the fighting during those exciting first days of July, 1778, occurred. The murder
W .- B .- S
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of the Hardings on July I quickly developed the subsequent bloody incidents that come into American history as the Wyoming Massacre. The story has been told and retold in National, State, county, and local works, and is, of course, an important chapter of this work. Therefore, further reference on this page is unnecessary.
Exeter was one of the "certified" townships that retained its name when the division of Luzerne County into townships occurred in 1790. Its original area was much greater than its present. Ransom Township, in Lackawanna County, was once part of Exeter; and Franklin Township, to the westward, was taken from Exeter. The latter township has now an area of about twenty- three miles, less the area of the boroughs of West Pittston and Exeter. The Wyoming coalfield, or strictly the Wyoming Valley part of the Northern coalfield, has its northern limit in Exeter Township, which, nevertheless, has been a profitable farming center for more than a century; within the township are more than a hundred good farms.
The earliest records of Exeter have been lost, but in 1796 the township con- tained sixty-nine taxables. The first grist and sawmills were built on Sutton's (now Coray) Creek twenty years earlier, by James Sutton and James Had- sall. The latter lost his life in the Indian raid of 1778, but a namesake of the next generation-a boy at the time of the massacre-lived in the township until he became almost a centenarian. A subscription paper circulated in 1795, to establish a building fund for a "meeting house," bears the names of John Jenkins, Thomas Jenkins, James Scoville, Elisha Scoville and Benjamin Smith. The Scovilles owned the tract in which is Indian Park, where the marauders from the Niagara frontier encamped on the night before the Battle of Wyoming. Harding is a village of about one hundred inhabitants.
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