USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Nanticoke > History of Hanover Township : including Sugar Notch, Ashley, and Nanticoke boroughs : and also a history of Wyoming Valley, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania > Part 25
USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Ashley > History of Hanover Township : including Sugar Notch, Ashley, and Nanticoke boroughs : and also a history of Wyoming Valley, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania > Part 25
USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Sugar Notch > History of Hanover Township : including Sugar Notch, Ashley, and Nanticoke boroughs : and also a history of Wyoming Valley, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania > Part 25
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
It will be noticed that the writer of the above calls the new comers Germans. The writer wishes to say, from his own knowl- edge, that these "Germans" were more purely American by birth than the other inhabitants of the township.
In 1825 the Pennsylvania Dutch of Hanover, mostly Presby- terians, determined to build a church for themselves. The corner- stone was laid in 1825 and a substantial wooden church edifice was built on the Hanover Green. . The church still stands there in pretty good order, but there are not enough members now to keep up a church organization-1884-5.
Having now passed over a period of about ten years and come to 1830, and another generation having come upon the scene, it is thought well to introduce a list of the names of the inhabitants at this time. From this point foreigners began to come in in such numbers that the township begins to become less distinctively 18*
282
HISTORY OF HANOVER.
American. The honesty, simplicity, peace and quiet of a purely 'agricultural community begins to be disturbed. However, this was not much noticeable till after 1840.
NAMES ON THE ASSESSMENT LIST IN 1830. .
Askam, William
Decker, James
Jameson, Alexander
Askam, William, Jr.
Davis, Joseph, Jr.
Jameson, Robert
Andrew, Jacob
Dershammer, Isaac
Jameson, Samuel
Alexander, Silas
Dershammer, John
Kreidler, George
Apple, William
Espy, John.
Kreidler, Daniel
Bennett, Rufus
Frain, John
Kocher, George
Bennett, Rufus H.
Frederick, John
Kocher, George, Jr.
Bennett, Nathan
Frace, Abraham
Bennett, Thoma's
Foust, John
Bennett, Thomas R.
Fine, Peter
Kirkendall, Joseph
Bennett, Josiah
Fisher, Jacob
Keizer, Christian
Buskirk, Andrew V.
Fisher, Henry
Keizer, Valentine
Blackman, Elisha
Gledhill, George
Kintner, Jacob
Blackman, Henry
Garrison, Jacob
Line, Henry
Behee, George
Garrison, John .
Line, John
Bobb, John
Gilbert, Lumen
Line, Conrad, 4th
Brown, William
Garringer, Charles
Lee, James S.
Brown, Thomas
Garringer, Daniel
Lee, Washington
Barnes, Joseph
Garringer, John
Lueder, Frederick
Burney, William
George, Henry
Lueder, John
Bideler, Jacob
Hartzell, Jonas
Lueder, Christian F.
Carey, Benjamin
Huntington, Samuel
Lazarus, George
Carey, Benjamin, Jr.
Hendershot, John
Lazarus, John
Carey, Elias
Hoover, Henry
Learn, Simon
Carey, Comfort
Hoover, John
Learn, George, Sr.
Carey, Benjamin, 3d
Hoover, Michael
Lutz, John
Crisman, Besherrow
Herrick, Amos
Lutz, Daniel
Carver, John
Horton, Miller
Miller, Jacob
Colghlazer, Daniel Caldren, Peter
Hartzell, Joseph
Minnich, Henry
Deterick, Jacob
Inman, Nathan
Minnich, Peter
Deterick, Frederick
Inman, John E.
Moyer, Valentine
Deterick, George
Inman, Richard, Jr. .
Moyer, John
-
Dilley, Jesse
Inman, Caleb
Mensch, Christian
Dilley, James
Inman, Israel
Mensch, John
Dilley, Richard
Inman, Edward
Mill, Solomon
Downing, Bateman
Jones, Asa
Mill, Peter
Downer, Robert Dilley, Dayton
Inman, John
Moyer, George Mensch, Peter
Inman, Isaac
Marcy, Ira
Honnis, John
Knock, Elizabeth (widow)
. .
HANOVER TOWNSHIP. 283
Mill, John Morgan, Thomas H.
Rummage, Conrad
Sterling (widow) Sorber, George
Marble, Eleazer Merwine, John
Nagle, John
Rimer, George Rimer, Jacob Ruggles, Lorenzo Rudolph, Jacob Robins, John
Steele, George P. Stettler, George
Pell, Samuel
Richards, Elijah
Plumb, Jacob
Rinehard, Henry
Plumb, Charles
Rogers, Samuel
Thomas, Rebecca
Plumb, Simon H.
Rogers, Thomas
Teeter, William
Preston, Darius
Ruggles, Ashbel Shafer, Joseph
Vandermark, James Wiggins, Silas Wright, Benjamin
Pease, Samuel
Steele, Joseph
Willis, Jonathan P.
Pease, Samuel, Jr.
Sively, Henry
Wade, Nathan
Rinehimer, Joseph
Sively, George
Rinehimer, Conrad
Streater, Charles
SINGLE FREEMEN.
Burrett, Stephen
Frederick, Daniel
Learn, Levi
Burney, Henry
Garringer, Levi
Rummage, John
Carey, John A.
Garris, Jacob
Sterling, Charles
Edgerton, Richard
Inman, David
Steele, Chester Total, 186.
Frederick, Isaac
Of these only four still live within the boundaries of old Han- over, viz:
John A. Carey, at Ashley.
Charles Garringer, at Nanticoke.
Daniel Frederick, at Newtown, near Ashley.
John Sorber, at South District of Hanover (Hogback).
Nearly all but these are dead; many removed to other places before death. About thirty-one, including the above four, have more or less of their descendants here still. A little over half of these are Pennsylvania Dutch.
The above is a list of the taxable persons that actually lived in the township, so far as known, when the assessment was made. The township included all the country back of it and Wilkes-Barre, to the Lehigh River, thus including all that are now called Hanover, Wright, Bear Creek, Denison and Foster townships, and White Haven borough.
.
Nagle, Christian Nagle, Peter
Rummage, Jacob Rummage, Jacob, Jr.
Shoemaker, William Sorber, John Shoemaker, Andrew
Overbeck, Jacob B.
Saum, John Smiley, Thomas Teal, John
Preston, Hibbard Preston, Williston
Shafer, Jacob
284
HISTORY OF HANOVER.
1830. . Total valuation $70,737
number dwelling-houses . 125
« taxable persons 184
horses 115
oxen 74
COWS 294
But little progress has been made during the past ten years. The taxable persons have increased twenty-four in number; dwel- ling-houses only four; oxen increased twenty; cows sixty-four, but horses have actually decreased thirty-six in number. The valu- ation of property has also decreased about $16,000. The number of inhabitants had increased from 879, in 1820, to 1173, equal to over 33 per cent. There would be nine and thirty-eight hundredths to each house on an average. The dam in the river at Nanticoke, to feed the canal below on the other side, had just been completed. This made work for the people, although it was not in Hanover, and the building of the canal had put some money in circulation and made a market for some of our produce, and it probably in- creased our population somewhat; yet, if it did, it caused no houses to be built, and it took away our horses. The old houses were rot- ting down and hardly any new ones were being built-only four in ten years. Horses had decreased about 25 per cent. and oxen even had not taken their place on the farms. The population was now a little more than half of a different people-mostly Pennsylvania Dutch-but they were about as industrious and saving as the Yankees. Perhaps as these were, many of them, new settlers tak- ing the places of the old, they were not as rich-if the word is proper in this case-as the old ones whom they succeeded.
1830. A United States census was taken this year the same as in the preceding ones, except that there was no attempt to show anything but numbers. It says though, that there were six foreigners in the township not naturalized.
The total number of inhabitants was 1173.
There was no slave this time. The population had. increased 294, equal to about 33 per cent.
About this time the fanning mill for cleaning grain from the chaff was introduced here and superseded the ancient hand fan. This was a great labor-saving improvement.
285
HANOVER TOWNSHIP.
The canal was now completed from Nanticoke down the river, and produce could be taken down the canal and could be brought up the canal. Up to this time all the produce of the township and of the whole valley of Wyoming had to be taken to market by wagons, to Easton first, and after the canal was finished, up to Mauch Chunk, it was carted there. The productions hauled thus to Mauch Chunk and its vicinity were wheat, rye, potatoes, Indian corn, oats, buckwheat, beans, onions, oil-cake, hay and pork. Probably there were others. Cattle and horses were driven in droves and were perliaps taken farther down than Mauch Chunk or Easton. Communication by passenger or mail was by "stage" in every direction and through Easton to New York or Philadel- phia. A daily stage ran to those cities from Wilkes-Barre, stop- ping over night at Easton. It took two days, from daylight till dark, in the summer time and with fast driving and without acci- dent to reach either New York or Philadelphia from Wilkes-Barre. The fare was generally ten dollars to New York and nine dollars to Philadelphia, but frequently there was competition or "opposition" and then the price was lowered. . After the canals were completed, "packet-boats" as they were called, ran on the canals and carried passengers and light parcels. This kind of traveling was a great luxury when compared with the lumbering, jolting and rolling stage- coach, and there were arrangements for sleeping and eating on the boat, and thus they could travel night and day; but ease was the great thing welcomed in this method of traveling.
Although the canal in 1830 had been finished from below up only to the Nanticoke dam, boats could now be loaded at the bank of the river at Hanover, Plymouth and Wilkes-Barre, and be floated down to and through the feeder lock at the west end of the dam into the canal.
All commerce up to this time had been a complete system of barter. There was no common medium of exchange, such as gold, silver or paper in circulation sufficient to meet the needs of the in- habitants. A general system of credits had to be and was estab- lished, and men (and women) had to maintain a character for honesty or they were bad off indeed; for who could carry iron, or tobacco, or wheat, or pork or other produce around to his neighbors to find one that had what he wanted and would take
286
HISTORY OF HANOVER.
these, or some of these, in exchange for it? So every one had to keep account-books and trust and be trusted. An untrustworthy person was very soon known, and after that he found it difficult to get a living. Such men were very likely to become hunters, being driven to it to procure food.
All dealings were regularly entered on their books of account in which they generally kept both sides-debtor and creditor- because there was imprisonment for debt in those times, and it be- hooved men to know how their accounts stood with their neighbors. These accounts were sometimes balanced or settled every year, but they ran in many cases four, five, and ten years, and in one case on these books, which the writer consulted, the last debit and credit is in February and May, 1819, and settled in April, 1846, and the balance paid and receipted on the book after about twenty-seven years. No comments by the writer here.
CHAPTER XV.
1830 TO 1840.
CAL OAL underlies Hanover township and the boroughs within it, from the Susquehanna River back nearly to the top of the Little Mountain, a distance of about three miles, making about 15 square miles underlaid with coal. The workable beds or seams have an aggregate average thickness of about fifty feet-not less, probably more, made up of separate veins, beds or seams,* from five to nineteen feet each in thickness, and there are four or five other beds not considered workable that are less than five feet and more than three.
We have seen how coal has been sent to market from here in Hanover and Wyoming Valley from the earliest times almost, but there is no official statement of it or the amount until 1820. But that coal was sent down the river every year in arks, for sale for domestic use, very soon after the discovery that it could be burnt in a grate in an ordinary wood fire-place, is unquestionable.
According to the official statement, the total amount of . anthracite coal shipped to market in all Pennsylvania in 1820 was 365 tons and in ten years, from 1820 to 1830, the total amount was 533, 194 tons. This was all mined by the Lehigh Coal and Navi- gation Company at their Summit Hill Mines near the Lehigh at Mauch Chunk, except 7000 tons which was mined in 1829 by the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company at Carbondale, in Luzerne County then, now Lackawanna. The mining at the Summit Hill Mines in Carbon County had hitherto all been done by removing the dirt and rock from above the coal and thus uncovering it, and then quarrying it out like stone. About 1829 underground mining was commenced.
*These are interchangeable terms-meaning coal stratum, all meaning the same thing.
..
288
HISTORY OF HANOVER.
The amount of coal mined. in Luzerne County in each tenth year after 1829 was :-
In 1829
7,000 tons.
« 1830
43,000
" 1840
148,470 =
" 1850
827,823
" 1860
2,941,817
1870 7,554,900 6,293,457 Scranton District
" 1880< Wilkes-Barre District
5,708,813
- Hazleton District 3,656,336
" 1883 in Luzerne County " Lackawanna County 5,495,877
12,415,605 =
Up to this time Luzerne included Lackawanna County.
Total amount of anthracite coal from all the regions in Penn- sylvania in each tenth year:
In 1830
174,743 tons.
1840
841,584
" 1850 3,287,970
" 1860 8.513,132
" 1870
15,274,029 66
" 1880 28,621,371
In 1833 the North Branch of the Pennsylvania canal was com- pleted from the mouth of Solomon's Creek to Pittston, and a tow- path from the Nanticoke dam, on the east side of the river, up to the outlet lock of the canal at Solomon's Creek. The river itself was here used in place of a canal between the dam and lock, a dis- tance of about three miles. A few years afterwards a "riprap" wali was built along this part of the river to protect the bank and keep the tow-path up.
All the coal mined in Hanover was shipped on this canal until 1846, when the Lehigh and Susquehanna railroad from Wilkes- Barre to White Haven was opened for the shipment of coal, and shipped the same year 5886 tons.
The opening of the canal soon made a great change in the living of the people. Luxuries hitherto only attainable at enormous cost, now began to be diffused through this part of the country, and the people could exchange their products for them at a reason- able rate. When this canal was built the farmers and others ex-
*The United States census of 1870 makes the amount mined in Luzerne- County 9,519,298 tons; wages paid out $13,269,206.
=
289
HANOVER TOWNSHIP.
pected to ship their produce, as well as the coal, by the canal to a market, but it was soon found that farm and other products were brought here for a market by canal transportation and sold as cheap or cheaper than it could be produced here. Perhaps we did not produce enough for the population under the circumstances.
Nanticoke commenced to be a village because there was water- power there, and a grist-mill and other mills were built as soon as possible. These of themselves would cause a cluster of houses to spring up there, and it being a time of danger the farmers would build near each other if they could, for mutual protection. And there was also another reason in the early times-here were falls in the river, and in the season for shad to run up the river this was the special place for their capture. . It was the spot where the river broke through the mountain barrier and left the valley with a roar and rush over the falls. Together with these reasons there was another, a very fine body of flats near by on the Hanover side of the river that had been cultivated by the Nanticoke tribe of Indians (and other Indians before them) that had lived here, and from whom the place took its name. Afterwards, coal that was found cropping out of the end of the mountain where the river and creek had cut it down by breaking through, was very valuable. There was a large amount above water.level, it was easy to mine, and was so near the river that it was inexpensive to load into boats or arks. That it was thus mined and floated down the river to a profitable market long before the canal was built, was a matter of course. Nanticoke was indeed favored by its position.
The falls made it necessary for raftmen to employ skilled pilots . to run their rafts down that part of the river. After the dam was built, with its chute at one end for rafts and arks to run through, it still needed experienced pilots acquainted with the chute and the river below to run the rafts and arks down. This was another source of profit to Nanticoke.
There was a ferry there from the time of the first settlement of Hanover and Plymouth, and after the canal was built there had to be another ferry-one for the canal. Below Nanticoke the canal was on the west side of the river ; from Solomon's Creek up to Wilkes-Barre and Pittston it was on the east side.
19
290
HISTORY OF HANOVER.
The river was used instead of a canal for about three miles from Nanticoke up, as has been told on a previous page, but from the - mouth of Solomon's Creek it was the usual ditch up through Wilkes-Barre to Pittston. The canal boats and horses had to cross the river at Nanticoke from the west side to. the east going up, and from the east to the west going down the canal, and the horses had to be ferried over. The loaded boats going down stream, when given a pretty good "send off" at the ferry, a half mile or more above the dam, would run across the river themselves without any further help, but in coming up the river they needed help to cross, and a large rope was suspended across, high up above the river with a smaller one suspended therefrom down under it, near enough to the water for the boatmen to take hold of, and by pulling on it. draw themselves and their boats across, where their horses that had been ferried across, were again attached to the tow-line. But all this was after 1830-3.
The falls were very dangerous to pass over in boats, and unless they were skillfully steered the boat would be overturned and the occupants drowned. Many persons have been drowned there.
After the dam was built, and rafts and arks had to run the chute, the river would frequently be lined six or eight abreast along the east side for miles above the dam waiting their turn to be run through the chute, one after the other as close as they dared to run. They were intrusted to skilled hands to run the chute, but notwith- standing their skill and experience accidents were frequent in various ways, but oftenest by some of the oarsmen being thrown overboard by the violence of the waves, and currents dashing against the oars. There were only two oars to a raft or to an ark, one at the front end and one at the rear. The oars were large, being about thirty feet long, the blade a twelve-foot plank a foot wide, and the handle or sweep a white pine or hemlock tree six, eight or ten, or more inches in diameter. The blade was firmly fixed into the large end of this stick and then the whole nicely balanced on the end of the raft or ark. Frequently there would be two men to each oar. It was considered a very dangerous busi- ness to run this chute, and the pilots had to be pretty well paid.
Different kinds of produce were brought down the river on arks for many years-such as salt, plaster (gypsum) for fertilizing the
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291
HANOVER TOWNSHIP.
land, hoop-poles, barrel-staves, spokes, hubs, and other materials for wagons and carriages; and sometimes families "moved" in this way-that is, they rented a place down the river and removed from the old home to the new on a raft or ark, floating down the river to the place where they wished to reside. Traffic in this way by river continued long after 1830, and potatoes and other produce are still brought down the river in the same old way nearly every year. An ark was a mere float, with a flat bottom like a floor, and with the sides and end standing up perpendicularly from the bottom two or three feet high, with timbers strong enough to hold it together for one trip down the river to its destination. Both arks and rafts had a cabin of boards built on them for shelter, resting, cooking, eating and sleeping in, on their way to a market. An ark was not as long as a raft, but they used the same kind of oars on it. A raft might be 160 feet long, but an ark was very seldom more than 80 to 96 feet.
There was a forge at Scrabbletown, now Ashley, on Solomon's Creek, six or eight rods below the Back Road, owned by Daniel Kreidler. Iron was not manufactured there. There was no furnace for making iron attached to this forge. It was not run later than 1839, but some ten years afterwards there was a small foundry there for a short time in the same building.
By the side of the Back Road south-west of Kreidler's forge, about thirty rods off, was a saw-mill. It was run by water from Solomon's Creek, and the tail-race ran along the side of the road outside of the fence to the creek on the upper or south side of the road at Kreidler's. This mill stood where the railroad company's houses now stand on the south side of Main street, in Ashley. It belonged to the Huntingtons in 1830. This mill was not used later than 1839.
·
There were a saw-mill, a tavern, and a house or two up in Solomon's Gap between the mountains. This was known as Inman's Tavern till. 1840, when the railroad was building. Then the Inmans sold out and went West-to Wisconsin.
The "Scrabbletown school-house," built of logs, stood on the cross-road a few rods-ten or fifteen-west of the present Lehigh & Susquehanna (or P. & R.) depot at Ashley. The house was still standing and in active use-though becoming dilapidated-in 1848.
1
292
HISTORY OF HANOVER.
It had the usual long, slanting, wide, board desks for the pupils to write on, fastened against the walls on three sides of the room. On the fourth side was the door and the teacher's desk and chair. The seats were the usual ones for schools then-a long plank, or slab, with two holes bored in each end and small saplings cut the proper length for legs, made to fit the holes and driven in. There were two such benches on each of the three sides of the room, a big and a little one, and there was one little one across the room in front of the teacher's desk. There were no backs to these seats. The children were not pampered much in these schools. The teachers had to build their own fires and sweep the school-houses themselves-unless they could get some of the larger girls to sweep for them-and all for sixteen dollars per month and "find themselves," or ten dollars per month and "board round."
The writing paper used in schools up to this time, and much of it even up to 1840, was unruled, and a ruler was kept in each school to rule with. The ruling pencil was called a "plummet," and was a thin piece of lead. A black-lead pencil was a luxury that but few could afford.
The school-house at Nanticoke, built about 1830, or perhaps a little earlier (on the site of an earlier log one built probably twenty or more years before), was school-house and church together. It was on a side hill, the basement fronting towards the road being the school-room; on the top of that was a one-story wooden build- ing 24x36 for a church, facing the other way with its front away from the road. This was church and school-house until 1861-3, 1
when a separate church edifice was built.
On November 13, 1833, people were considerably frightened by innumerable "falling stars" seen in the night and early morning. They never had been seen so numerous before, nor anything like it. The whole sky was alight with them, hundreds flashing at the same instant in every direction, with a bright tail behind each, and each. equally bright and equally long. According to the writer's recollection of them (he was four years old that day) the tails were about the length of four or five diameters of the full moon.
In the winter of 1835-6 came the deepest snow any one had ever seen here (about five feet), that covered all the fences. It
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.
293
HANOVER TOWNSHIP.
broke in the roofs of many buildings. The following winter there was another very deep snow, though not quite so deep as this.
In the summer of 1835 a "tornado" whirled along up the valley near the Back Road from the south-west. It flattened everything to the ground within the limits of its whirl, about ten or twelve rods wide. Trees, fences, 'buildings, all were torn down, and the materials of fences and buildings all smashed to pieces and destroyed, or carried away by the wind and lost. It kept a straight course until it tore down Mr. McCarragher's barn to the floor. McCarragher's house just barely escaping with only a little tear in the roof. Here the tornado changed its course to the north or north-west and passed across the valley just below South Wilkes- Barre, across the river and across Shawnee Mountain and dis- appeared in the north-west .*
About the beginning of this period-1830-the wooden plow was superseded entirely here by the cast-iron plow. Jethro Wood, inventor of the modern cast-iron plow, was born in White Creek, N. Y., in 1774; patented the plow in 1814. Previously the plow was a block of wood hewed into shape and plated with iron. "No man has benefited the country more than Jethro Wood, and no one has been as inadequately rewarded."-Seward.
The blacksmith, who had heretofore made nearly every iron tool, and implement, and thing of iron, began now to have some competition with the iron founder. The blacksmith's trade was not quite as good a one as it had been. Now, 1884, it is almost entirely limited to ironing off wagons and carriages, and shoeing horses. The same thing is happening to most of the other trades-they seem to be going out of use, or are being divided into several trades, or are changing into other kinds, and new and heretofore unheard of kinds of business are being carried on. For instance, the weaver of 1884 is not the weaver of 1824, or even 1834, nor is the spinner, nor the hatter, nor the shoemaker, nor the tanner, nor the tailor, nor the carpenter, nor the mason, nor the farmer, nor the hunter, nor the butcher, nor the saddler, nor the merchant store-keeper, nor the miller, nor the sailor, nor the traveler, nor the scholar, nor the teacher, nor the cooking, nor the manner of eating.
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