USA > Pennsylvania > Annals of Buffalo Valley, Pennsylvania, 1755-1855 > Part 43
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During this year, the Bethel church in White Deer was organized from members of the Buffalo Cross-Roads church ; elders, Andrew McClenachan and Matthew Laird.
Deaths.
Mrs. Sarah Kelly, wife of Colonel John Kelly, 2d January. She went to bed in her usual health the night before; got up in the night and made herself a cup of tea ; was heard to groan, and com- plained of pain in her stomach. By the time. the family were awakened she was dead. She was a daughter of James Poak, sister of Mrs. Darraugh.
23d May, Thomas Wilson, of Kelly, died. He was injured on Thursday, 19th, by a log falling from the top of a wagon-wheel upon him.
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1832.
LEWISBURG PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHI BUILT-LAURELTON CHURCH ORGAN- IZED -- SKETCH OF COLONEL JOHN KELLY.
M ARCH 4, General Abbot Green, delegate to the State convention to form an electoral ticket. 5th, A. C. Harding addressed the temperance society and sixty- eight names were added. 17th March, over $3,000 subscribed to build a Presbyterian church in Lewisburg, and Gen- eral Green, Alexander Graham, James Geddes, Thomas Clingan, William L. Harris, Doctor Thomas Vanvalzah, and William Nesbit directed, as trustees, to go on with the building.
4th May, Samuel Oaks, Colonel Thomas Smith, and Abraham Straub appointed to run the county line of Lycoming and Union : Beginning at a marked red oak, 58 perches above Lafferty's run, S. 89º W., until it intersects the original division line between North- umberland and Lycoming ; thence along the same to the Centre county line .- Pamphlet Laws, 458.
July 4, thirty-seven survivors of the Revolution still living in Union county. Twenty-six joined in the procession at the celebra- tion in New Berlin to-day ; among them were John Linn, Frederick Bingaman, Hugh Wilson, George Engle, Christopher Seebold, and John Wilson. Isaac Slenker, Esquire, delivered an oration, and afterwards entertained the old soldiers at his house. Ice was then just coming into use, and one old gentleman was observed picking the pieces out of his brandy. He thought it was glass.
August 9 was observed as a day of fasting and prayer to avert the
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cholera. On the 16th Doctor Ezra Styles Ely preached at Lewisburg. His delivery was rapid, but his discourse he seemed to make very plain to every one. The Laurelton church was organized-an off- shoot of the Buffalo Cross-Roads Presbyterian church.
Colonel John Kelly.
· Colonel Kelly died on the 18th of February, aged eighty-eight. The following sketch of him is taken from an address made by James Merrill, Esquire, on the 8th of April, 1835, when the monument, purchased by his relatives, was put in position with public ceremony.
Colonel John Kelly was born in Lancaster county, in this State, in February, 1744. After the purchase from the Indians of 1768, and before the opening of the land office in 1769, he came to Buf- falo Valley, then a part of Berks county. Here he suffered all the hardships and privations, which are inseparable upon the first settle- ment of a new country. He was tall, about six feet two inches in height, vigorous and muscular, with his body so inured to labor as to be almost insensible to fatigue, and a mind so accustomed to dan- gers, that dangers ceased to alarm. In the prime of manhood, and in the vigor of health, with intelligence to understand correct prin- ciples, and with firmness to adhere to them, it may well be supposed that he took a commanding position among his fellows. He was a captain, and a major at twenty-seven years of age, and when his country called on her sons to save her from the fangs of a tyrant, he was ready. At the very darkest period of the revolutionary war, when all was lost, but honor and hope, and when hope was almost buried in despair, in the fall of 1776, he volunteered to assist in the protection of New Jersey. He was present at Trenton, when the Hessians surrendered, and assisted in that most masterly movement on Princeton, by which the chain of communications of the enemy was broken, all their plans deranged, and their army compelled to return to New York and its neighborhorhood, and to leave New Jersey free to avenge her wrongs. When we consider the depression of public spirit, how public confidence in the final success of our cause was shaken by the battle of Long Island, and the losses of Fort Washington and Lee, with most of our military stores ; when we consider that at one time the American army numbered less than two thousand men, we would
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not think it wonderful if all should have been given up for lost-and so it would, if the stake had been less. But our people believed that they had no right to abandon their cause of liberty. They were bound to protect it for themselves, and upon their success depended the freedom of their posterity. They must decide, whether or not, their children should be slaves. They must decide whether all peo- ple must bow their necks to the iron yoke of despotism, or whether they might anticipate a time when free institutions should prevail- through the world. Our friend and his confederates of that day might have retired into an ignoble and contemptible security. They might have said, what is New Jersey to us? We have homes and firesides, which may be endangered. But they argued better : if we refuse to come to the rescue, we cannot expect security. We cannot propitiate the monster tyranny, by shrinking from our duty. Influenced by these considerations, our friends went to the rescue of our sister State.
Our friend joined the army fully resolved to do his duty. Then was the time to test his vigor of body, as well as the firmness of his mind. For three days at one time, there was no regular service of provisions, and for more than thirty-six hours, at another time, they were constantly on the march, or in action, without a moment's sleep or giving up their arms. In the course of one of their retreats, the commander-in-chief, through Colonel Potter, sent an order to Major Kelly to have a certain bridge cut down to prevent the advance of the British, who were then in sight. The major sent for an axe ; but represented that the enterprise would be very hazardous. Still the British advance must be stopped, and the order was not with- drawn. He said he could not order another to do what some might say he was afraid to do himself; he would cut down the bridge.
Before all the logs on which the bridge lay were cut off, he was completely within the range of the British fire, and several balls struck the log on which he stood. The last log broke down sooner than he expected, and he fell with it into the swollen stream. Our soldiers moved on, not believing it possible for him to escape. He, however, by great exertions, reached the shore through the high water and the floating timber, and followed the troops. Incumbered, as he must have been, with his wet and frozen clothes, he, on his road, made a prisoner of a British scout, an armed soldier, and took him
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into camp. What did Curtius do more than this? If such an in- stance of devoted heroism had happened in Greece or Rome, the day would have been distinguished from all other days. A medal would have been struck, and every means used to secure the everlasting re- membrance of such a deed. In England such a man would have been made a knight or a lord, with the thanks of Parliament. In our poor devoted land such instances were too common to receive especial notice. History mentions that our army was preserved by the destruction of that bridge ; but the manner in which it was done, or the name of the person who did it, is not mentioned. It was but one of a series of heroic acts, which happened every day, and our soldiers then were more familiar with the sword than with the pen. As we have met to erect a marble tomb over the remains of that individual, it is right for us to bring out this act into more bold relief.
Let it be borne in mind, that at this time no arrangement had been made respecting prisoners ; that the British commanders only admit- ted that they arrested rebels, and not that they took prisoners of war. Thus all who fought on our side, in addition to the common dan- gers of war, might expect, if taken, to suffer an ignominious death. After his discharge, Major Kelly returned to his farm and his family, and during the three succeeding years the Indians were troublesome neighbors to this then frontier settlement. He became colonel of the regiment, and it was his duty to keep watch and ward against the incursions of hostile Indians, through our mountain passes. At one time our people were too weak to resist, and our whole beautiful country was abandoned. Colonel Kelly was among the first to re- turn-for at least two harvests reapers took their rifles to the fields, and some of the company watched while others wrought. Colonel Kelly had the principal command of the scouting parties in this Val- ley, and very often he was out in person. Many and many nights has he lain among the limbs of a fallen tree to keep himself out of the mud, without a fire, because a fire would indicate his position to the enemy. He had become well skilled in their mode of warfare. One circumstance deserves particular notice. The Indians seem to have resolved on his death, without choosing to attack him openly. One night he had reason to apprehend that they were near. He rose in the morning, and, by looking through the crevices of his log-house,
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he ascertained that two, at least, if not more, were laying with their arms, so as to shoot him when he should open his door. He fixed his own rifle, and took his position, so that by a string he could open the door. and watch the Indians. The moment he pulled the door open, two balls came into the house, and the Indians rose to advance. He fired and wounded one, and both retreated. After waiting to satisfy himself that no others remained, he followed them by the blood; but they escaped.
For many years Colonel Kelly held the office of a magistrate of the county. In the administration of justice, he exhibited the same anxiety to do right, and the same disregard of self gain, which had characterized him in the military service of the country. He would at any time forgive his own fees, and if the parties were poor, pay the constable's costs, to procure a compromise. While, by industry and economy, his own pecuniary circumstances were comfortable and easy, he seemed to desire the prosperity of all men, and most anxi- ously to desire, that all neighbors should be friends. No man ever in vain sought his interposition to reconcile conflicting interests, to soothe angry passions, to stand, as the defender and protector of the poor man, the widow, and the orphan.
He obeyed the injunction, " be given to hospitality." There are few middle aged men in this country, who have not experienced the cordial welcome, which every friend received at his house. It is true, that so general is the hospitality of his neighborhood that the want of it would be considered a great vice ; but in him it was a part of the same character, indicating a freedom from selfishness, an inability to enjoy fully God's bounties alone ; a feeling that a good thing is rendered far more valuable by participation ; and a convic- tion that the diffusion of happiness is not merely right in itself, but. the source of great joy to every well-regulated mind.
Colonel Kelly was an affectionate husband, and a kind and judicious father, as well as a friendly and hospitable neighbor.
Thus have we seen our venerable friend performed his domestic, social, military, and political duties in such a manner as to entitle himself to the love and esteem of his neighbors, and to the thanks and honors of his countrymen and of posterity. It may be asked, could a man so punctiliously perform all those duties, and leave out of his regard his obligations to his Maker? No, indeed, my friends,
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he did not lack that crowning virtue. He was a sincere and an exemplary Christian, and he adorned all his other virtues by exhibit- ing a pattern of humility well worthy of imitation. Having no anxieties who should be greatest in the kingdom of Heaven, he had no striving who should be greatest in the Church on earth, his pro- fession of religion was well sustained by his practice.
Towards the end of a long and active life, Colonel Kelly became, by disease, incapable of much motion, and seldom left his home. He seemed to be retiring from public view, and preparing to leave this world when he should be called. He had that true characteristic of bravery, an indisposition to fight his battles over again, and that feeling of humility, that where a man has only done his duty, boast- ing has no place. It is in some measure owing to this reserve that our notice of his life must be so brief and so imperfect. He seemed not to know, that other men would have done differently from him; but to believe that whatever distinguished him from others, arose mainly from the circumstances under which he acted. We are of another generation, and his contemporaries have either gone down to the grave, or through lapse of time and failing faculities, are unable to give particular details. From himself, but a few glean- ings from a life long and full of incidents, have been obtained.
His last end proved his character to be consistent. He met the grim messenger calmly; " for he knew in whom he had trusted ;" and he could " walk through the valley and shadow of death, fearing no evil." Age brought its weakness, no doubt. The frame was bent, and the muscles relaxed; but the mind-the immortal mind-could not be obscured. It brightened more and more "unto the perfect day." He has passed beyond " that bourne, whence no traveler re- turns." He has gone, we humbly trust, to that Heaven where " there remaineth a rest for the righteous, and where the wicked cease from troubling." Emphatically may it be said, that after a life well spent, and in firm hope of a resurrection to immortal glory, at the age of eighty-eight years, he departed, leaving his memory to our care and his virtues for our imitation-James Merrill, Esquire's, Address.
Colonel Kelly's children were : James, who moved to Penn's val- ley, and died there. He was the father of Honorable James K. Kelly, United States Senator, of Portland, Oregon ; John, who also
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moved to Penn's valley ; William, who married a daughter of Archi- bald Allison, of Centre county, and died, January 27, 1830 ; An- drew, a bachelor, who was born 1783, and died on the old place, September 24, 1867, aged eighty-four ; Samuel Kelly, of Armstrong county, Pennsylvania ; Elizabeth, married to Simeon Howe ; Maria, married to John Campbell, of Lewisburg ; Robert, who died April 12, 1865, aged seventy-seven ; Joseph, died March 2, 1860, aged sixty-six ; David H. Kelly, Esquire, deceased, late county commis- sioner of Union county.
I note, also, the death of Reverend Thomas Smiley, aged seventy- three, born (in Dauphin county now) in 1759, of Scotch-Irish parent- age. Served in Colonel Curtis Grubb's battalion of militia. Ordained in December, 1802. Settled in White Deer in 1808, where he estab- lished the first regular Baptist church within the bounds of Union county.
1833.
METHODIST CHURCH IN LEWISBURG DEDICATED-THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH COMPLETED, AND THE GERMAN CHURCH COMMENCED-RAIN OF FIRE- COURT AND LAWYERS.
ANUARY 5, the new Methodist church, on Third street, Lewisburg, consecrated. The weather was so warm that the windows had to be opened. Sunday, 6th, Reverend Mr. Steele preached in A. M., in the new church. Mr. Hood in P. M. Weather still very warm. The 11th of January was probably the coldest day of the year.
January 30, David Myers, of East Buffalo, who was kicked in the abdomen by a horse, on Monday, 28th, died to-day.
March 21, J. F. Quay, J. F. Murray, and David Rockefeller ap- pointed to run the division line between Lycoming and Union counties.
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May 31, Jesse Cornelius, miller, at Trester's old mill, on Turtle creek, was caught in the machinery. Ribs, breast bone, &c., broken. He died immediately.
July 26, Ephraim Darraugh's widow buried at Lewisburg. 31, Presbyterian church building completed, and on the 4th of Au- gust Mr. Hood preached the first sermon therein, on the text, " Re- member the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." August 31, Thomas Clingan, William Nesbit, Esquire, Robert H. Laird, and James F. Linn were elected elders.
September 30, Reverend Mathew Laird married, at Mr. Hood's, to Miss Harriet Myer, school-teacher at Lewisburg. They sailed, on 15th October, as missionaries to Africa.
October 15, Thomas Jones, inn-keeper, died. 18, Roan McClure, after fifteen minutes' sickness.
November 4, a subscription was started, for the purpose of build- ing a Union German Reformed and Lutheran church, on Third and St. Lewis streets, in Lewisburg, to be called St. Lewis church, “ in honor of the original proprietor of the borough, and the benefactor, (Ludwig Derr,) who gave three lots for religious use."
On 19th May, 1834, John Reber, John Snook, and Henry Noll, elders; Henry Noll and Ludwig Long, deacons of the German Pres- byterian congregation, entered into an agreement with Jonathan Spyker and John Gundy, trustees of the German Lutheran congre- gation, giving the latter " the same privilege of the German burying- ground, which Ludwig Derr, in his liftetime, gave to the German Presbyterian congregation, being on lots Nos. 121, 123, and 125, as well as an equal privilege of the church built or building on said ground, to be tenants in common," &c. See deed book K, pages 173 and 174, (at Lewisburg.) In the year 1851, the Lutheran con- gregation bought out the interest of the German Reformed, the lat- ter having built on the corner of St. John and Third streets.
November 13, from two o'clock until daylight occurred a fire- storm, or the fall of small particles of fire, which appeared to extin- guish a few feet from the ground. It was observed all through Buf- falo Valley.
December 7, the first boats passed through the Lewisburg cross- cut. December 29, Lorenzo Dow preached at Lewisburg. 30th, John Clark, Esquire, of Beaver, a member of the Legislature, from
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that county, visited Lewisburg. He is is a son of Walter Clark, de- ceased, one of the first settlers on Buffalo creek. 31st, Mrs. Hayes, mother of William, (merchant formerly,) died suddenly.
Court and Lawyers,
At September term the grand jury of the county, William Forster, foreman, petitioned the Governor for the appointment of William W. Potter, Esquire, of Bellefonte, as president judge, vice Seth Chapman, resigned. On the 16th of December Judge Ellis Lewis' commission as president judge was read, who, with Hugh Wilson and General Adam Light, associates, comprised the court. George F. Miller and Samuel Weirick, Esquires, were admitted to the bar on the 15th of May.
1834.
ECLIPSE OF THE SUN-ANTI-SCHOOL MEETINGS-ELECTION RETURNS.
RICE of wheat in Philadelphia, in May, $1 10; in Sep- tember, $1 04; corn, 64; rye, 65. There was no snow during the month of February, and the weather was as mild as it usually is in April. On the nights of the 3Ist of May and the Ist of June occurred a black frost so severe as to kill the leaves of almost every species of plants in this part of the country. Even the locust, a hardy tree, did not escape. Cherries, apples, peaches, and all orchard and garden fruits, except currants and gooseberries, perished. Bears, missing their summer supply of whortleberries, came down from the hills to feed upon the green corn, and were killed in unusual numbers. It was interesting to see robins, woodpeckers, and other birds now searching among the limbs of the trees for caterpillars and other insects ; fortunately the
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caterpillars were prodigiously numerous. During the summer, bitu- minous coal was received at Lewisburg from the western part of the State, by the canal, and sold at twenty-five cents per bushel. At Hartleton, R. H. Kerr was postmaster ; and J. H. Seiwers was prin- cipal of the academy at Lewisburg.
February 2, Lorenzo Dow died at Georgetown, D. C. March 18, Charles Sargent (son of John, inn-keeper,) found drowned be- low Brown's mill. Has been missing since the 16th. He was de- deranged. 30th, Mr. Hood preached his last sermon as pastor. April 10, John Moore, merchant, of Lewisburg, died. Reverends Henry Tarring and Oliver Ega, Methodist ministers for this circuit this year. April 21, Joseph Evans, of Lewisburg, found drowned in the canal at Selinsgrove. Job Harvey, a young preacher of the Christian church, preached his funeral sermon. May 19, cor- ner-stone of German church in Lewisburg laid. J. H. Fries, pas- tor. June 19, Howard Vanvalzah, son of Doctor Thomas, fell from the steeple of the new German church to the ground, striking the timbers as he fell, his thigh and leg broken. He fell forty-five feet. (He is still living at Lewistown.) June 30, news arrived of the death of Reverend Matthew Laird and his wife, missionaries in Africa. He died on the 4th of May, his wife on the 3d. Wed- nesday, 9th July, thermometer at ninety-nine degrees in shade. July 28, John Geary, an apprentice of David Ginter, drowned at the upper landing in Lewisburg, last night. November 13, Pres- bytery met at Lewisburg, and ordained and installed Reverend P. B. Marr, pastor of that church. Sunday, 30th November, eclipse of the sun. Began quarter before one, went off twenty-five minutes past three. During its greatest obscuration it became very cold, and it seemed like a bright, moonlight night, and one star was visible.
Anti-School Meeting.
Agreeably to public notice, the citizens of Union county opposed to the school law passed at the last session of the Legislature, met at the court-house, in New Berlin, on Thursday, the 18th September, when Henry Yearick, Esquire, was called to the chair ; Robert Tay- lor, Esquire, was appointed vice president ; and John Montelius and John Snyder were appointed secretaries. On motion of the Honor-
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able George Kremer, a committee of fifteen were appointed to draft a preamble and resolutions expressive of the sense of the meeting ; whereupon, the following persons were appointed, viz :
George Kremer, Peter Richter, Doctor John G. Piper, Frederick Pontius, Abbot Green, John Boyer, Frederick Kremer, John S. Ingram, George Schnable, John Zigler, James Madden, Henry Roush, Henry C. Eyer, John Snyder, John Reber, junior.
After retiring a short time, returned and reported the following, which were unanimously adopted :
WHEREAS, The Legislature of Pennsylvania, at their late session, passed a law known as the common school law, the principles of which we consider dangerous to our rights and destructive of our interests ; therefore, be it
Resolved, That, in the opinion of this meeting, it behooves us to use every honorable means in our power to procure a prompt repeal of the law in question.
Resolved, That the chair appoint two persons from each town- ship or borough in the county, as the case may be, whose duty it shall be to act as delegates for their respective districts, and bring with them the election returns, which will take place to-morrow, for the adoption or rejection of the school law, and report the same to this meeting.
Resolved, That should a school man, by mistake, be selected by the chair, he shall be rejected by the anti-school delegate of that district, &c., who shall have full power to supply his place with a man opposed to the school law.
Resolved, That this meeting adjourn to meet again at the court- house, in New Berlin, on Tuesday next, at one o'clock in the after- noon, and that the present officers are again requested to preside, to adopt further measures in relation to this oppressive law.
The following persons were appointed by the chair, as delegates from the several townships, to meet in New Berlin, on Tuesday, the 23d instant, viz :
East Buffalo-Philip Ruhl, Peter Voneida.
Lewisburg-William Hayes, Jacob Zentmire.
Kelly-Laird Howard, George Meixell.
White Deer-John Rank, Jacob Sypher.
Union-John S. Ingram, Michael Benfer.
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Chapman-Frederick Kremer, John Snyder. Washington-John Boyer, Henry Hilbish.
Penn's-Peter Richter, George Miller.
Perry-George Shetterly, senior, Joseph Schnee.
Centre-George Kremer, Henry Bolender.
Beaver -- John Highley, John Shipton.
Centreville-Stephen Bruce, George Weirick.
Hartleton-James Madden, George Ruhl.
West Buffalo-Robert Taylor, John Reber, junior.
Mifflinburg-Henry Yearick, John Montelius .- Times, Septem- ber 19, 1834.
Anti-School Delegate Meeting.
At a meeting of the delegates appointed by the anti-school meeting of the 18th instant, held at the court-house, in New Berlin, on Tuesday last, Henry Yearick, Esquire, presided ; assisted by John Montelius and Captain John Snyder, as secretaries.
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