USA > Pennsylvania > A history of the Juniata Valley and its people, Volume I > Part 33
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Rev. T. B. Bucher opened a school on April 8. 1856, in the base- ment of the Reformed church at Landisburg and gave it the name of "Mount Dempsey Academy." It continued in operation under various principals until in 1864, when it was closed permanently.
The Juniata Valley Normal School was opened at Newport on April 8, 1867, under the principalship of Silas Wright, who became the principal of the Soldiers' Orphans School the following year, and the normal passed out of existence. Other private schools were the "Susquehanna Institute," conducted for some time by Professor Bartlett and Rev. W. B. Craig in the basement of the United Presbyterian church at Duncannon : "Sherman's Valley Institute," at Andersonburg, and the "Charity School," in Madison township, Perry county.
Pennsylvania's public school system was inaugurated under the pro- visions of an act of the legislature, approved by Governor Wolfe on April 1, 1834. In the establishment of the free schools the state had no land grant of one section or two sections in each Congressional town- ship, as did the states that were admitted into the Union after the formation of the Federal government. All her revenues for educational purposes have to be raised by local taxation and appropriations from the state to the several counties in proportion to the school population. According to the report of the state superintendent of public instruction for the year 1911, the total receipts of the four counties in the Juniata valley were as follows :
Huntingdon
From Local Taxes $104.324.43
State Appropriation
$51.784.68
Mifflin
77.452.97
34,279.10
Juniata
38.522.81
24,467.15
Perry
54.349.01
33.669.20
Total
$274,649.22
$144,200.13
JUNIATA COLLEGE, HUNTINGDON.
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HISTORY OF THE JUNIATA VALLEY
The grand total from all sources was $418,849.35, of which $264,508.64 was expended for teachers' salaries and the remainder for the erection and repair of buildings, fuel, text-books, supplies, etc. Further statistical information regarding the schools is shown by the following table :
Number of Schools
Number of Teachers
Number of Scholars 8,855
Value of School
Property
Huntingdon
262
278
$311,140
Mifflin
154
165
6,142
303,600
Juniata
111
112
3.449
121,915
Perry
187
189
5,155
189,100
Total
714
744
23,601
$925,755
Since the report from which the above figures are taken was pub- lished several new buildings have been erected, so that the approximate value of school property in the four counties in 1913 is not far from $1,000,000. In the chapters relating to Township History will be found information concerning the early schools and the pioneer teachers in the different counties.
Juniata College, the only institution devoted to higher education in the Juniata Valley, was opened on April 17, 1876, in a small room on Washington street, West Huntingdon, with Jacob M. Zuck as principal and three students in attendance. Several efforts had been made previous to that time to revive the educational interests of the members of the Church of the Brethren (Dunkers), and the purpose of the school was to provide a place where the children of Dunker parents "might receive the benefits of an education distinguished by moral and religious prin- ciples as well as by good scholarship," though from the beginning the institution has been open to the members of every, or even no religious denomination. When the first catalogue was issued, in the spring of 1878, the faculty consisted of seven instructors and 172 students were enrolled.
Professor Zuck's death occurred on May 10, 1879, and the name of "Brethren's Normal College" was then adopted. The second cata- logue bears the names of James Quinter as president and Prof. J. H. Brumbaugh as principal, and the faculty had been enlarged by the addition of two new instructors. "Founders' Hall" was erected in
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HISTORY OF THE JUNIATA VALLEY
1878-79, intended to meet all the needs of a boarding school, but the growth of the college has necessitated changes in the original plans and the building is now the Administration Building, containing the chapel, the offices of the president and treasurer, and two recitation rooms. "Ladies' Hall" was built in 1890 and contains most of the dormitories for the female students. "Students' Hall" was erected in 1895 and for a time the library occupied one-half the building, the re- mainder being given up to class rooms and laboratories. It is now used as a reading room, a biological laboratory, six class rooms, with the chemical laboratory in the basement and dormitories for young men on the third floor. "Oneida Hall" was completed in the spring of 1898. It contains the kitchen and pantries in the basement, the dining room on the first floor, and the second and third floors are fitted up as dormitories for girls. The athletic field was laid out in 1899 and the gymnasium was built in 1901. The new library, for the erec- tion of which Andrew Carnegie donated about $15,000, was dedicated on April 17, 1907. The library contains about 30,000 volumes.
The first charter of the school was received on November 18, 1878, and by an amended charter, received on September 14, 1896, the in- stitution took the name of Juniata College. The institution comprises six departments, viz. : 1. The College; 2. The Academy of College Preparatory ; 3. The School of Education, a normal English course of four years; 4. The Bible School; 5. The School of Music; 6. The Business School. In 1912 the catalogue shows a faculty of twenty-nine members and an enrolment in all departments of 419 students. The campus of nine acres is beautifully situated in the northern part of the borough of Huntingdon, with which it is connected by a street railway. From the start the growth of Juniata College has been steady and substantial, and its future is one of promise.
An attempt was made in the winter of 1800-01 to organize a library association in Lewistown and several shares were subscribed for that purpose. A meeting was called at Edward Williams' tavern for Feb- ruary 7, 1801, to organize the association, but if the organization was effected nothing can be learned of what it accomplished or when it went down. On January 7, 1870, a charter was granted to the Lewistown Library Association and an organization was effected immediately after- ward. One thousand dollars were subscribed and invested in the pur-
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HISTORY OF THE JUNIATA VALLEY
chase of books. The library was opened in the Bohner building, on East Market street, near Dorcas, and after several removals to different locations a permanent home was found in the Apprentices' Literary Society building on Third street, where it is still located. William R. McKee was the first librarian and the present incumbent of that position is Miss Kate Swan. The association has a perpetual lease upon the quarters occupied by the library.
The Apprentices' Literary Society, mentioned in the preceding para- graph, was organized on July 4, 1842, in the court-house, with five members, Henry J. Walters as president and Isaac W. Wiley as secre- tary. The object of the society was the improvement of the young men of Lewistown. At one time it numbered about forty active members, but in recent years the number has declined and active work has been discontinued since the building on Third street was leased to the Library Association. A few of the members still hold meetings in the building, the lease giving them that privilege, but about all the business that is ever transacted is the election of officers, and this is done merely for the purpose of complying with the terms of the charter and to hold the corporate power granted to the society.
As a factor in education the press has played an important part in the dissemination of general information. The first newspaper in the Juniata Valley was started at Mifflintown in 1794 and published about a year by Michael Duffy, but the name of the paper has been lost. The Mifflin Gazette, of which little accurate information can be gleaned, began its career at Lewistown in 1796. According to an entry in the commissioners records for May 18, 1796, Joseph Charles, the publisher of the paper, was allowed a bill for "advertising the sale of unseated lands and the proposals for the building of the court-house." On July 4, 1797, Michael Duffy issued the first number of the Huntingdon Courier and Weekly Advertiser from the office at the corner of Allegheny street and the public square. It suspended in February, 1798, and in the fall of 1799 John R. Parrington began the publication of the Guardian of Liberty and Huntingdon Chronicle, which lived but a short time.
Edward Cole and John Doyle commenced the publication of the Western Star at Lewistown on November 26, 1800. Doyle retired in January, 1801, and Cole continued the paper for about four years,
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HISTORY OF THE JUNIATA VALLEY
when the office of publication was destroyed, but for what reason cannot now be ascertained. The Huntingdon Gazette and Weekly Advertiser appeared on February 12, 1801, under the editorial manage- ment of John McGahan, a practical printer, who had been associated with Michael Duffy in the publication of the Huntingdon Courier four years before. It continued under different owners until 1839.
The oldest paper in the valley is the Lewistown Gazette, which was started in 1811 by William P. Elliott and James Dickson. About three years later Mr. Elliott retired and the paper was then successively owned by T. W. Mitchell, George W. Patton and William Ross until 1833, when it was purchased by William P. Elliott, one of the founders, who conducted it successfully for about two years, when his son, Richard S. Elliott, assumed the editorial management, although but eighteen years of age. The name was then changed to the Lewistown Gazette and Mifflin and Juniata Advertiser, the object no doubt having been to secure patronage in Juniata county, which had been erected a few years before. In 1839 the paper came into the possession of Henry Liebert, who changed the name to the Mifflin County Gazette and Farmers' and Mechanics' Journal. William Ross again became the owner in 1843 and changed the name to the Lewistown Gazette, which it still retains. In October, 1846, the paper passed to George Frysinger, who sold it to David Over in March, 1865, but in the fall of the same year it became the property of Mr. Frysinger again. Ten years later the publishers were G. R. and W. M. Frysinger. The latter retired in 1876, when the paper was conducted by George Frysinger as editor and proprietor, with George R. Frysinger as local editor. On January 1. 1884, the paper was sold to George F. and J. S. Stackpole, and upon the death of the latter George F. Stackpole became the sole proprietor.
During the first half of the nineteenth century several newspaper ventures were launched in Huntingdon, but only one of the papers started in that time has survived. Among those that rose, flourished for a short time and then perished were the American Eagle, which began its career in 1811; the Huntingdon Intelligencer was begun in September, 1813, by James Barbour and the name changed to the Republican in 1814, after which it ran to August, 1819, when it sus- pended ; the Village Monitor existed for a short time, when the outfit was secured by another publisher, who started the Republican Advocate,
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HISTORY OF THE JUNIATA VALLEY
which continued to 1839; Henry L. McConnell began the publication of the Huntingdon Courier and Anti-Masonic Republican in June, 1830, and after various changes it was consolidated with the Hollidaysburg Aurora in 1835; a German paper called the Huntingdon Bote, an anti- Masonic sheet, was started in 1834, but it was short-lived; the old Courier outfit was purchased by A. W. Benedict & Company, who started the Huntingdon Journal in September, 1835, and continued it for several years. Still other and less fortunate papers were the Messenger, the Standing Stone Banner, Young America, the American and the Workingmen's Advocate. The Huntingdon Globe, the only survivor of this period, was issued for the first time on November 22, 1843, by L. G. Mytinger and G. L. Gentzell. In July, 1844, the original partnership was dissolved and the publication was continued by Mr. Mytinger.
In Juniata county the first newspaper, with the exception of Michael Duffy's brief experiment in 1794, was the Mifflin Eagle, which was started by Andrew Gallagher in the spring of 1817. In 1826 the office was removed to Lewistown, where the paper was published under the same name for several years. The Mifflin Advocate made its appearance on September 8, 1820, published by David McClure, but after a short time it suspended. After the removal of the Eagle to Lewistown there was no newspaper in the town until after the erection of the county of Juniata. On May 25, 1831, Samuel McDowell and Charles Kelso issued the first number of the Juniata Telegraph and People's Advocate, which was succeeded by the Juniata Journal in 1835, with F. C. Merklein as publisher. The Juniata Free Press was started on June 23, 1831, by Samuel G. Nesbit, who sold it to Stephen Cummings in May, 1836. About a year later Cummings disposed of the material and George F. Humes began the publication of the Juniata Herald and Anti-Masonic Democrat, which suspended after a precarious existence of about eighteen months. The Telegraph, after various changes in name and owner- ship, was consolidated with the True Democrat, which was started by Greer & Harris in June, 1860, the consolidation taking place on October 3, 1867.
The Juniata Sentinel, the oldest paper now in existence in the county, was started by Alexander K. McClure, who issued the first number on December 9, 1846. In March, 1852, the paper was sold to John J.
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HISTORY OF THE JUNIATA VALLEY
Patterson, who after publishing it about a year sold it to Greer & McCrum. During the next twenty years the paper changed owner- ship at least seven times until it became the property of B. F. Schweyer on June 8, 1870. In the meantime William M. Allison & Company began the publication of the Juniata Republican on April 4, 1866, and like many other journalistic enterprises in the valley it changed owners several times before it was consolidated with the Sentinel, the first number of the Juniata Sentinel and Republican making its appearance on October 22, 1873. Since the death of B. F. Schweyer in the spring of 1913, the paper has been published by his son, Wilderforce Schweyer.
Alexander K. McClure, the founder of the Juniata Sentinel, and who afterward became one of the best known journalists of the state, was born in Perry county on January 9, 1828, and at the time he entered upon his newspaper career was but nineteen years of age. While serving an apprenticeship with James Marshall in a tannery at New Bloomfield, he was in the habit of visiting the office of the Perry Freeman, where he greedily read the exchanges and acquired the ambi- tion to become a journalist. Upon severing his connection with the Juniata Sentinel in 1852, he purchased a half interest in the Chambers- burg Repository. The next year he was nominated by the Whig state convention for the office of auditor-general by acclamation, but was defeated along with the rest of the Whig ticket, the party being then in a hopeless minority in the state. He was one of the organizers of the Republican party in Pennsylvania, but when the Whigs of Franklin county formed a coalition with the Know Nothings in 1855 he refused to support such an alliance and sold his interest in the Repository. Not long after that he was admitted to the bar, and in 1856 was a delegate to the national convention that nominated General John C. Fremont for the presidency. In 1860 he was chairman of the Republican state committee and the same year occupied a seat in the Pennsylvania state senate. During the Civil war he was a staunch supporter of the Union and held close relations with both President Lincoln and Governor Curtin. But the call of the newspaper office was too strong to be resisted and in 1862 he purchased the Chambersburg Repository. In 1872 he was one of the delegates to the convention which nominated Horace Greeley for the presidency and that year was again elected to the state senate. Two years later he was nominated for the mayoralty
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HISTORY OF THE JUNIATA VALLEY
of Philadelphia and was defeated by a small majority. Not long after that he became editor of the Philadelphia Times, where he made a national reputation as a vigorous and talented writer.
The first paper published in Perry county was the Perry Forester, which was started at Landisburg in 1820, soon after the county was organized, by Magee & Peterson. In April, 1829, the publication office was removed to New Bloomfield and the paper published there until February, 1836, when it was discontinued. On October 7, 1836, George Stroop and James E. Sample issued the first number of the Perry County Democrat, which succeeded to the good-will of the Forester. In January, 1854, the Democrat became the property of Stroop & Magee, the senior member of the firm being a son of Judge Stroop, one of the founders of the paper, and the junior member a son of Alexander Magee, one of the founders of the Forester. Mr. Stroop retired in 1858 and the paper passed to the possession of John A. Magee. The Perry County Freeman was established in 1839 by John A. Bahn and it was in this paper that the contributions to the County Historical Society were published. The People's Advocate and Press, a paper which is still in existence, began its existence in New Bloomfield on June 29, 1853. In 1854 it supported the American party and when the Republican party was organized it became a consistent advocate of the principles of the new movement.
Other Perry county papers were the Times, of New Bloomfield, which was published for several years by Frank Mortimer; the Perry County Standard, published by Samuel Schroch ; the Liverpool Mercury, which was removed to New Bloomfield and consolidated with the Demo- crat ; and the Ledger, News and Gazette, of Newport.
Remington's Newspaper Annual for 1910 gives the following list of newspapers in the four counties embraced in this work: In Hunt- ingdon-the Huntingdon Globe, the Grange News (monthly), the New Era (daily and weekly), the News (semi-weekly), the Mapleton Item, the Mount Union Republican (semi-weekly), the Mount Union Times, and the Orbisonia Dispatch. In Mifflin-the Belleville Times, the Lewis- town Gazette, the Lewistown Democrat, the Lewistown Sentinel (daily), the McVeytown Journal, and the Newton Hamilton Herald. In Juniata -the Mifflintown Herald, the Mifflintown Sentinel, the Mifflintown Tribune, the Port Royal Times, and the Thompsontown Globe. In
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HISTORY OF THE JUNIATA VALLEY
Perry-the Duncannon Record, the Liverpool Sun, the Marysville Journal, the Perry County Democrat, the People's Advocate and Press, the Newport News, and the Newport Ledger. All the papers included in this list are published weekly unless otherwise indicated.
One educational influence of a local character that deserves mention in this connection was the Perry County Historical Society. It grew out of the old Philomathean Literary Society of the New Bloomfield Academy and its history begins with the meeting of November 12, 1880, when it was decided to add to the exercises of the society the reading of papers bearing on local history. John A. Baker, at that time editor and proprietor of the Perry County Freeman, tendered the use of his columns for the weekly publication of such papers as might be approved by the society, and on January 14, 1881, a resolution was adopted to the effect that "The historical department of the society embrace the work of gathering the history of Perry county." The historical com- mittee consisted of W. H. Sponsler, J. R. Flickinger, C. W. Baker, J. C. Wallis, Rev. A. H. Spangler and Rev. John Edgar. It was soon seen that the work entailed upon this committee was too arduous for the number of members and on March 25, 1881, the following were added : Wilson Lupfer, J. W. Beers, A. B. Grosh, J. W. McKee, George Rouse, C. W. Rhinesmith, William Orr and R. H. Stewart. At the same meeting the following resolution was adopted: "It shall be the duty of the chairman of the said committee, as soon as shall be deemed convenient, to assemble the committee and resolve it into sub-committees, assigning to such committees respectively such districts, townships or historical epochs as shall by such committee be deemed advisable."
For a few months the interest in the work was keen and a number of historical articles were published in the Freeman. These papers dealt with the natural features of the county, its division into town- ships, its industries, sketches of its pioneers and old families, churches, schools, etc. But after a short time the interest waned, apathy settled upon the society and the work was abandoned.
CHAPTER XVIII
RELIGIOUS HISTORY
General Remarks-Presbyterians-First Missionaries-Catholics-Methodist Episcopal Church-Negro Churches-Methodist Protestant-Lutherans-Reformed Church Baptists-German Baptists, or Brethren-Mennonites-United Brethren-Prot- estant Episcopal Church-Church of God, or Winebrennarians-Evangelical Asso- ciation-Reformed Church of America.
T O present in detail a history of each of the numerous churches in the four counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata and Perry would require a good-sized volume in itself, even if the neces- sary information could be gathered for the compilation of such a history, which, in many instances, it is utterly impossible to do. Pastors come and go, bearing away with them knowledge of many unrecorded incidents of their ministrations, church records are not always kept as clearly as they should be, many of the old "minute 'books" have been lost through accident or negligence, the original members of the con- gregations have passed to their final reward, and there is left no source from which to draw reliable information regarding the trials and struggles of the pioneer Christians.
It is therefore not the purpose of this work to enter into the subject minutely, but to present to the reader such facts as will enable him to form some general idea of the religious progress of the people through the century and a half since the first white men came into the Juniata valley. In presenting this topic, the object has been to present the different denominations as nearly as possible in the order of their com- ing, with a due regard for those numerically the strongest, and the con- gregations of each in chronological sequence. In this method, the denomination that must occupy the first place is the
PRESBYTERIANS
Among the first settlers were a number of this faith and one of their earliest concerns was to secure the services of clergymen to
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HISTORY OF THE JUNIATA VALLEY
minister to their spiritual needs. As early as 1760 the settlers in Sher- man's valley made application to the Donegal Presbytery for preachers, and missionaries were sent to them. In 1766 three churches were organized-Dick's Gap, four miles east of New Bloomfield; Centre, near Landisburg; and Upper or Toboyne, not far from the present borough of Blain. In that year Rev. Charles Beatty and Rev. George Duffield were appointed by the synod of New York and Philadelphia to visit the frontier inhabitants, and on Monday, August 18th, they left Carlisle for Sherman's valley. The next day Mr. Beatty preached at Centre, which he describes in his journal as "a place in the woods, designed for building a house for worship." Continuing their journey, Mr. Duffield preached on the 21st "at a place where the people had begun to build a house for worship before the late war, but by accident it was burned." This was at Academia, where the Lower Tuscarora church was built not long after Mr. Beatty's visit.
After preaching "in the woods, two miles on the north side of the Juniata," on Friday, the 22nd, Mr. Beatty and his companion passed the night at James Patterson's, where the town of Mexico is now situated. It was in this neighborhood that the Cedar Spring church was organized, and in March, 1767, James Patterson and John Purdy went to the land office and obtained a tract known as the "glebe lands" for the use of the church.
At Patterson's the missionaries separated, Duffield going to the Path valley and Beatty to "the new settlements up the river Juniata." On the 25th he was at Thomas Holt's, near old Fort Granville. On the 28th he crossed the Juniata "at the mouth of the Aughweek river" and followed up that stream on his way to Fort Littleton.
Among the ministers who served these early churches during the latter part of the eighteenth century were Hugh Magill, William and John Linn, John Hoge, Henderson, Cooper, Caldwell, Speer, McLane and John Coulter, the last named preaching his first sermon at the Lower Tuscarora church on New Year's day, 1800.
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