USA > Pennsylvania > A history of the Juniata Valley and its people, Volume I > Part 37
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The total cost of the building and equipment was approximately $60,000, of which the state appropriated $12,000 and the balance was raised by popular subscription and the issue of $18,000 in bonds. Dur- ing the first year 284 patients were treated, of whom 172 were free patients. In connection with the hospital association a Women's Aid Society was organized and it has done a great deal of valuable work in securing support for the institution. Committees have also been organ- ized at Mifflintown, McVeytown, Yeagertown, Belleville, Reedsville and Milroy with a view to furnishing rooms or wards in the hospital for the accommodation of patients from those places, or at least to aid in defraying the expense of treatment of patients.
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Not long after the hospital was opened it became evident that the accommodations for nurses were inadequate and a movement was started for the erection of a nurses' home. A site at the corner of Highland avenue and Fourth street, directly opposite the hospital grounds, was selected and the purchase was made as a memorial gift by G. K. and H. H. McClintic, the cost being $1,000, and the state appropriated $4,000 for the erection of the building, which was completed early in the year 1913.
At Huntingdon is the J. C. Blair Memorial Hospital, erected to the memory of John Chalmers Blair, and, as the deed of gift states, "to be for the use of all, without preference as to religion or theory of medi- cine." The hospital is beautifully situated on an eminence bordering on Warm Springs avenue, near Thirteenth street. The total cost of the site and building, including furnishings, was $145,230, to which should be added the expense of beautifying the grounds, all of which was per- sonally provided and looked after by Mrs. Kate Fisher Blair. The cor- ner-stone of the hospital was laid on May 31, 1910, by the Masonic fraternity, and the building was formally opened on September 4, 1911, for the reception of patients, with Miss Pena Schneider as superinten- dent. Between that time and June 1, 1912, the institution received 331 patients, 57 of whom were persons injured in the wreck of a limited train on the Pennsylvania railroad at Warrior Ridge, near Huntingdon, on the morning of February 15, 1912. The Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany was so well pleased with the treatment accorded these unfortunate passengers that it not only paid the hospital services, but also gave to the institution $2,500, of which $2,000 was to be applied to the furnish- ing of a nurses' home. The State of Pennsylvania also made an annual appropriation of $6,000 for the home, the first of which was available on June 1, 19II.
On December 4, 1911, a training school for nurses was opened in connection with the hospital, the first class numbering six students. The curriculum recommended by the Pennsylvania state board of examiners for registration of nurses was adopted as the course of study, with such additions as the special needs of the institution might demand.
The second annual report of the hospital, for the year ending on June 1, 1912, shows an endowment fund of $29.300.79, of which $25,000 was contributed by Mrs. Blair. Membership in the Blair Memo-
J. C. BLAIR MEMORIAL HOSPITAL.
J.C.BLAIR MEMORIAL HOSPITAL +
ERECTED A·D·1910. +
CORNER STONE OF J. C. BLAIR MEMORIAL HOSPITAL.
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rial Hospital Association is divided into three classes-life, perpetual, and annual. The first two are based upon the payment of $100 or more, which amounts are placed to the credit of the endowment account, and the annual membership is based upon the payment of $5.00 annually.
Of the secret and benevolent organizations the Masonic fraternity is entitled to first place, by right of seniority. The first lodge of this order in the Juniata valley was organized at Huntingdon on July 23, 1792, with John Cadwallader, master; John Marshall, senior warden; William Kerr, junior warden. During the next five years about fifty members were admitted, but in 1806 the lodge, for some reason not known, was discontinued. It was revived under a warrant dated June 24, 1821, as Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 178, and continued in operation until the times of the anti-Masonic excitement, when it was disbanded and its charter was vacated by the grand lodge on February 6, 1837. A new warrant was issued for the revival of the lodge on September 5, 1854, but it never went into effect. The present Masonic lodge at Huntingdon -Mount Moriah, No. 300-was constituted on November 26, 1857, with John A. Doyle, master; Graffus Miller, senior warden; John B. Givin, junior warden. The membership in 1912 was 193.
Lodge No. 68 was established at Mifflintown under a warrant dated March 21, 1796, with Dr. Ezra Doty, master; Thomas Evans, senior warden; Robert Cooper, junior warden. Its charter was vacated on April 4, 1814, and on June 6, 1825, Jackson Lodge, No. 203, was organ- ized at Mifflintown. A short time after that the anti-Masonic excite- ment broke out and after a few years of feeble existence the lodge was removed to Lewistown, where it is now known as Lewistown Lodge, No. 203, the date of its reorganization as such being May 27, 1845. The first officers under this reorganization were: Francis McClure, master ; John R. Weekes, senior warden; Christian Ritz, junior warden. Meet- ings were first held in the stone building at the foot of Main street, then in the old Jacobs house, on Market street, later in the upper story of the Odd Fellows' building, and, finally, in the Masonic Temple, which was built at the southeast corner of the public square in 1893. In 1912 the lodge reported a membership of 254.
The next oldest Masonic lodge in the valley is Adams Lodge, No. 319, of New Bloomfield, which was first organized as No. 76, at Landis- burg in 1825, but ceased to hold meetings in 1833. It was subsequently
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revived at New Bloomfield and reorganized under a warrant dated March 1, 1858, with Irvine J. Crane, master; Charles J. T. McIntire, senior warden; Alexander C. Klink, junior warden. This lodge reported seventy-five members in 1912.
Union Lodge, No. 324, at Mifflintown, was established under a war- rant dated September 6, 1858, with Jacob N. Dewees, master; William Dent, senior warden; F. M. Mickey, junior warden, and nineteen charter members. On the night of December 31, 1870, the lodge room, with all its contents, including a library, was destroyed by fire, but a new meet- ing place was soon secured and ten years later the lodge had the reputa- tion of being one of the best in the state. The membership in 1912 was 143.
Lamberton Lodge, No. 371, at Thompsontown, and McVeytown Lodge, No. 376, were both organized in 1866. The warrant of the former was dated October 16, 1866, and the first officers were: George WV. Rothrock, master; John Deitrick, senior warden; Jacob T. Emerick, junior warden. The lodge started with sixteen charter members and in 1912 reported forty-one. The warrant of McVeytown Lodge was dated October 22, 1866, and the lodge was instituted on November 16th, with thirteen charter members, but the names of the first officers cannot be learned. The membership in 1912 was 63.
In 1867 Newport Lodge, No. 381, was organized with eight charter members, and two years later Perry Lodge, No. 458, was instituted at Marysville on December 27, 1869, with twelve charter members. In 1912 the membership of Newport Lodge was 99 and that of Perry Lodge was 108.
The youngest Masonic lodge in the four counties embraced in this work is at Orbisonia and is known as Cromwell Lodge, No. 572. In 1912 it reported a membership of eighty. A lodge was organized at Alexandria in December, 1800, but its warrant was vacated on April 4, 1814. An effort was made to revive this lodge in 1823, but it was un- successful.
Royal Arch chapters have been established at Lewistown, Hunting- don and Newport. Lewistown has a Knights Templar commandery, No. 26, which was organized in June, 1867, and Huntingdon Comman- dery, No. 65, was organized some years later, as the serial number indi- cates.
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The oldest Odd Fellows' lodge of which any reliable account can be obtained was McVeytown Lodge, No. 123, which was instituted in 1841, but was disbanded about two years later. The present lodge at McVeytown-Bright Star Lodge, No. 705-was organized under a char- ter dated March 14, 1870.
Lewistown Lodge, No. 97, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was chartered on August 19, 1844, with John Hamilton, noble grand; L. J. Elberty, vice-grand; A. W. Groff, secretary. A stock company was soon afterward organized and a lot at the southwest corner of Market and Dorcas streets was purchased, upon which was erected a brick building at a cost of $6,000. This building later became the property of the lodge, which still owns it. The Lewistown Encampment, No. 256, was organ- ized under a charter dated September 13, 1881, and Bell Lodge (Re- bekah Degree) was chartered on May 12, 1884.
Juniata Lodge, No. 117, located at Huntingdon, was first organized on June 1, 1845, and for a time held meetings in the hotel building at the corner of Seventh and Penn streets. J. B. Luden was the first noble grand. In May. 1857, the lodge surrendered its charter, but was reor- ganized on June 28, 1867, since which time it has been prosperous. Mount Hor Encampment, No. 180, was organized at Huntingdon on March 6, 1869.
Newport Lodge, No. 102, was also organized in 1845, with eight charter members, its charter being dated March 18, 1845. Mifflintown Lodge, No. 131, was chartered on October 20, 1845, with Tobias Kreider as the first noble grand. The first meetings were held in rented quarters until the Odd Fellows' hall was completed in May, 1851. It was de- stroyed in the great fire of December 31, 1870, but was rebuilt on the same site in 1872.
Another Odd Fellows' lodge organized in 1845 was Mount Dempsey, No. 172, at Landisburg. The following year the lodge purchased what was known as the Stambaugh building, on Main street, and met there until in 1863. when the third floor of the Landisburg Hotel was leased for a lodge room.
United Brothers Lodge, No. 176, was instituted on April 20, 1846, in West township, Huntingdon county, with John R. Hunter as noble grand, and on November 26, 1846, Evergreen Lodge, No. 205, was in- stituted at Duncannon (then Petersburg), with W. J. Stewart as noble
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grand. Perry Encampment, No. 100, was organized at Duncannon some years later.
On January 15, 1848, Harts Log Lodge, No. 286, was organized at Alexandria, with John Huyett as noble grand. For several years the lodge prospered, but during the Civil war so many of its members en- listed in the army that in 1864 the charter was surrendered. In March, 1872, the lodge was reorganized with H. Isenberg as noble grand.
In 1849 Odd Fellows' lodges were organized at Thompsontown and New Bloomfield. The former, known as Sincerity Lodge, No. 357, was chartered on April 16, 1849, and instituted on May 30th, with E. D. Crawford as the first noble grand. In 1861 an Odd Fellows' Hall Asso- ciation was organized and a building was erected, the hall in which was dedicated in February, 1862. The New Bloomfield lodge is known as Mackinaw Lodge, No. 380, and received its charter on October 1, 1849. A. C. Klink was the first noble grand. For about nine years meetings were held in the old bark-house on East McClure street, when a hall was fitted up in the Wiggins building on the southeast corner of the public square. This building was burned on December 8. 1873, and the lodge secured the third floor of the Fenstermacher building for a lodge room.
Augliwick Lodge, No. 472, was organized at Newton Hamilton in 1852. in the upper story of the house afterward known as the Miller Hotel. Subsequently the property was purchased by the lodge, which met there until in 1867, when the place was sold to Jolin B. Miller and the Odd Fellows' hall was built in 1869.
Tuscarora Lodge, No. 556, was organized at Port Royal in 1859. and in 1875 purchased a site and erected a hall at a cost of about $2,000.
On March 6, 1860. Coalmont Lodge. No. 561, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was instituted with nineteen charter members and Addi- son Moore as the first noble grand. A hall was erected by the lodge in 1862.
Lost Creek Lodge, No. 566, was chartered on May 18, 1860, and held its meetings in Mifflintown until its quarters were destroyed by the fire of December 31, 1870. The charter was lost in that fire and the lodge received a new one dated January 6, 1871, and the following June secured permanent quarters in the Hollabaugh building. William M. Allison was the first noble grand of this lodge.
McWilliams Lodge, No. 702, was organized in 1863. A hall was
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built in 1873 and five years later the lodge was disbanded. The building was burned in 1880.
An Odd Fellows' lodge was instituted at Broad Top City in 1865 with eighteen charter members, S. G. Miller as noble grand, and J. B. Gussinger as vice-grand. A building was purchased by the lodge about six months after its organization.
Marysville Lodge, No. 290, was instituted on November 19, 1866, with W. W. Jackson, noble grand; John S. Weaver, vice-grand; E. J. Mills, secretary, but the subsequent history of the lodge has not been ascertained.
Orbisonia Lodge, No. 640, was organized on August 21, 1868, with D. S. Baker, noble grand, and May 20, 1870, McAlisterville Lodge, No. 716, received its charter. D. B. McWilliams was the first noble grand of the latter, which met over Mcalister's store until about 1875, when an Odd Fellows' hall was erected. Another lodge organized in 1870 was Mount Hor, No. 736, which was instituted at Cassville on November 2nd, with Andrew W. Decker as the first noble grand. This lodge oc- cupied rented quarters for about seven years, when a building was pur- chased for $600 and fitted up for an Odd Fellows' hall.
Oak Hall Lodge, No. 783, was instituted at Petersburg, Huntingdon county, January 3, 1872, with sixteen charter members, and on April 29, 1875, Milroy Lodge, No. 213, was instituted with William Kays as the first noble grand.
Shortly after the close of the Civil war in 1865 an organization called the Grand Army of the Republic was formed, the objects of which were to aid destitute soldiers and their families, collect and preserve his- toric relics of the war, etc. The lodges or societies of this order are called posts. The first post to be established in the Juniata valley was the Hulings Post, No 176, which was organized in the hall of the Ap- prentices' Literary Society at Lewistown on the evening of December IO, 1868, with General John P. Taylor as commander. The post was named for Thomas M. Hulings, colonel of the Forty-ninth Pennsylvania Regiment, who was killed at Spottsylvania, May 10, 1864. The last meeting under the original charter was held on August 31, 1871, but in April, 1880, it was reorganized with a number of new members and since then has held meetings regularly.
George Simpson Post, No. 44, was organized at Huntingdon in 1879
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as the successor of a post of the same name (No. 33) which had been organized in 1868, the reorganization taking place on December 13, 1879. George Simpson, for whom this post was named, was the color- bearer of the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Pennsylvania Regiment.
In June, 1879, David H. Wilson Post, No. 134, was organized at Mifflintown, with Louis E. Atkinson as commander, and the first regular meeting was held on the Ioth of July following. Three years later the number of members was nearly 140, but many of the old veterans have answered the last roll call and there is only a remnant of the original post left.
In 1880 Post No. 188 was organized at Marysville, with Alfred Corl as commander; William M. Allison Post, No. 196, was organized at Duncannon, the date of the organization being October 2, 1880, with forty-four members and Harvey Fisher as commander, and later in the same year Harry Corbin Post, No. 200, was established at Mapleton with twenty-one members.
Isaac Rogers Post, No. 252, was organized at Orbisonia on May 30, 1882 (Memorial Day), with twenty-four charter members; Arnold Lo- baugh Post, No. 297, was established at Newport on January 13, 1883, with thirteen charter members; John Jones Post, No. 448, was insti- tuted at New Bloomfield on June 28, 1884, with a membership of twenty- four, and was named in honor of Sergeant John Jones, of the Ninth Pennsylvania cavalry, who was killed in North Carolina on March IO, 1865: Thomas Stevenson Post, No. 482, was organized at McVeytown on June 21, 1885, with thirty-one members ; and a post called Benjamin Benfert Post was established at Oriental, Juniata county, some time in the 'Sos, but the exact date is uncertain. Its number was 316.
Closely allied to the Grand Army of the Republic, though only local in its scope and character, was the Veterans' Reunion Association of Juniata county, which was organized at Mifflintown on October 19, 1878. for the purpose of holding annual reunions of honorably discharged soldiers of the Union army. The first of these reunions was held on December 18, 1878. Colonel Jolin K. Robinson was the first president of this association. Reunions were held annually for ten years or more, when the number of veterans began to grow fewer every year, the inter- est waned and the organization finally died for want of adequate support.
Justus H. Rathbone, a government clerk in one of the departments
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at Washington, D. C., with four of his fellow clerks, organized the Knights of Pythias in that city a few years after the close of the Civil war. The first lodge of the order in the Juniata valley to receive a charter was Lewistown Lodge, No. 255, which was chartered on June 2, 1870, and was organized in a hall in the Odd Fellows' building, where the meetings were afterward held. The writer has been unable to learn the fate of this lodge, but its charter was evidently surrendered, as Juniata Lodge, No. 270, organized on October 26, 1870, is the only Knights of Pythias Lodge in Lewistown. Its meetings are held on Sat- urday evenings in the Odd Fellows' building. The membership is about 300.
Buehler Lodge, No. 269, Knights of Pythias, was instituted at Marys- ville on November 3, 1870, with a strong charter membership and W. A. Sheaffer as worthy chancellor. About five months later-April 8, 1871 -Vaulteburg Lodge, No. 288, was instituted at Duncannon with thirty- one charter members, and a few months later Blue Cross Lodge, No. 295, was established at Huntingdon. Cocolamus Lodge, No. 397, at Mifflintown, was chartered May 22, 1873, with ten charter members and William F. Snyder chancellor. The meetings of this lodge are held in the Odd Fellows' hall.
Ongpatonga Tribe, Improved Order of Red Men, No. 6, was organ- ized at Lewistown on February 20, 1867; the Ongpatonga Haymakers were organized at the same place on March 10, 1889, and Ongpatonga Council, Degree of Pocahontas, was organized on April 24, 1901. Iro- quois Tribe, No. 42, was organized at Mifflintown under a charter issued on "the 17th Sun of the Cold Moon," 1871. Juskakaka Tribe, No. 96, was instituted at Duncannon on December 27, 1869, with eighteen charter members. A tribe had been established at Marysville some time before that, but its history has not been learned. Teton Tribe, located at Reeds- ville, was established in 1898.
The order known as the Patriotic Sons of America has camps in several of the boroughs in the Juniata valley. The one at Marysville is probably the oldest, having been instituted on December 24, 1880; that at Lewistown was instituted on August 10, 1889, and the one at Hunt- ingdon about the same time. Yeagertown Camp was established in Oc- tober, 1906.
Perry Council of American Mechanics, located at Duncannon, was
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one of the first lodges organized in that borough. It was instituted on July 2, 1847, in the basement of the Methodist church, with Roswell Shirtluff as councilor. After several years the council suspended, but was reorganized on January 10, 1859, and on December 26, 1863, its hall, in a building erected by the council, was dedicated. Silver Star Council, No. 129, was instituted at Huntingdon on May 30, 1881, with twenty- three charter members. This organization does not appear in the latest directory, but the date of its suspension is not known.
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks has lodges at Lewis- town and Huntingdon ; the Holy Temple Commandery, Knights of Mal- ta, was organized at Lewistown in 1888; Juniata Lodge of the National Protective Legion was instituted at Lewistown in August, 1906; the Knights of the Golden Eagle are represented by lodges at Huntingdon and Lewistown; the Knights of the Maccabees also have "Tents" in those boroughs; the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Loyal Order of Moose, the Foresters and the Woodmen have organizations at several points in the valley and many of these organizations own their own halls or club-houses.
Family and Personal History
Family and Personal History
In Schiller's "Thirty Years' War" there is a refer- FRYSINGER ence to the territory of Freisinger, showing that there was princely blood in the family which bore the name; but this historical reference also shows that this is nothing of which to boast, since the ruler of the territory and his retainers were in arms against the champion of Protestantism, Gustavus Adolphus, by whose forces the petty province was completely wiped out. This was about 1632. A hundred years later the name was borne by a better breed. They espoused the cause of the Reformation, and, being exposed to persecution in the land of their birth, some of them came to America, seeking, like the Pilgrim Fathers, a land wherein they might find free- dom to worship God.
About the year 1752 three brothers of the name of Freisinger came to this country in the good ship "Polly," presumably accompanied by their wives. In honor of the vessel which bore them in safety to this Western continent, the name Polly was given to a child born either on shipboard or soon after the arrival of the party in the land of their adoption. They all settled on the Conewago Creek, near the town of Hanover, in the county of York, and colony of Pennsylvania.
One brother, Gottleib Frederick, subsequently removed to the colony of Virginia. He had one son who was a Lutheran preacher, and either this son or another conducted an academy in the Virginia domain. The entire freundschaft seem to have been piously inclined and well educated for that day. The family history is altogether lost sight of during the greatly disturbed period of the revolutionary war. In 1816 Peter, a son of Gottleib F., removed from Virginia to Ohio, settling in Cham- paign county. He had a large family of sons and daughters, and their progeny are to be found scattered throughout Champaign, Mercer and Van Wert counties, some of them occupying prominent professional and public positions. One of this line, the Rev. John Frysinger, was a well-known Methodist local preacher.
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Another of the original brothers, John, removed to Harrisburg. Pennsylvania, at an early date, the government census of heads of fam- ilies, taken in 1790, containing this record: "Dauphin County, Harris- burgh Town, John Frisinger ; 2 free white males of 16 years and upward ; no free white males under 16 years; 2 free white females; no slaves". Of his descendants we have still less information than of those of Gott- leib. In the vicinity of Lewisberry, York county, Pennsylvania, there are quite a number of the family name, a John Frysinger, presumably a son of the John who resided in Harrisburg in 1790, having settled there early in the nineteenth century. There are others probably of the same stock in the neighborhood of Spring Mills, York county, and still others in Dauphin county.
The last of the original trio, though perhaps not in the order of age, Ludiwick, is also mentioned in the census of 1790 as follows: "York County, Dover Township. Ludiwick Frisinger; 2 free white males of 16 years old and upward, including heads of families ; 3 free white males under 16 years; 3 free white females, including heads of families; no slaves". This record shows that Ludiwick was the only one of the three brothers who remained in the Conewago Valley, and that his children were all reared there. One of the "3 free white males under 16 years" was George Frysinger, born November 2, 1781. About 1805 he mar- ried Elizabeth Ritter, whose mother's maiden name was Magdalena Mott, and who emigrated from near Basle, Switzerland, while that region was being agitated by what is known as the "Seven Years' War" (1756-1764). There seems to have been something romantic connected with this lonely flight to America, as soon after the strife had ceased she was followed by Jacob Ritter, who was probably her affianced lover. Impoverished by the devastation of war, he was compelled to resort to what was a common custom in order to reach this country, allowing the captain of a vessel to sell his service for a limited time to pay his passage. He was thus bound to a family of Germantown, Pennsylvania, of the name of Chew, by whom he was still employed after his time as a "redemptioner" had expired. When the battle which has made that place famous took place, the Chew residence was in the line of artillery fire, and with the family he was compelled to take refuge in the cellar. At the close of the war of the revolution his circumstances had improved and Magdalena Mott became his wife.
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