USA > Pennsylvania > Northampton County > History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume II > Part 11
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Ackermansville, about two miles south of Bangor, in the western por- tion of Washington township, is a small community of about fifty houses. It is a station on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad, with the usual mercantile establishments of a village of its size. The Ackermansville Evangelical Church is the only house of worship. Its pastor in 1915 was Rev. Anton E. Miller.
Flicksville, about one mile south of Bangor, is in the center of the town- ship. The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad passes through the village, which consists of about forty-five houses. The public school is
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located on the Martin's creek road. The Flicksville Lutheran and Reformed Church, on the same road, was in 1915 under the charge of Rev. Howard A. Long for the Reformed congregation, and Rev. William E. Werner for the Lutheran. The membership of the Lutheran church was seventy-five, of the Reformed, eleven. Factoryville is hardly more than a small hamlet.
Wilson Township-The agitation for incorporating a new township from Palmer township was consummated by the courts in 1914. This new sister to the galaxy of Northampton townships was named Wilson, in honor of Woodrow Wilson. The first supervisors appointed by the courts were Wil- liam Hookway, James Martin, and William Moscr. The present board of supervisors are : David Stout, Harry Transue, John A. Yohe, E. O. Correll, and Floyd Young. The borough adjoins the city of Easton on the east, is bounded on the south by the borough of West Easton, on the north and west by Palmer township. The water supply for fire and domestic use is obtained from the reservoir on Fifteenth street, the borough having one volunteer fire company, viz., the Palmer Volunteer Company. The educational facilities consist of a high school and two intermediate schools, having accommoda- tions for about one thousand pupils. The estimated population of the town- ship is 6,000.
Mainly through the efforts of a theological student of Ursinus Seminary, a Sunday school branch was established on the west side of the city of Easton. Meetings were held in public school buildings, and in 1897 a move- ment was started to construct a brick church. The membership consisted at the time of thirty-five, and the congregation was known as the Memorial Reformed Church. The Rev. Wilson S. Hartzell took charge in I891, and resigned in February, 1900. He was succeeded by J. W. Gilds ; the present pastor is Rev. John P. Dieffenderfer. The church is located at the corner of Nineteenth street and Freemansburgh avenue.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, on Twentieth and Washington streets, was consecrated and dedicated May 17, 1903. The first pastor was Rev. Paul I. Rodreck ; he was succeeded by Rev. J. A. Klick, who was installed January 14, 1905. The next to assume charge was Rev. Louis S. Trump, who was inducted into office January 22, 1908, and is at present in charge.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATO R
L
COLONIAL WAREHOUSE ON DELAWARE
COLONIAL WAREHOUSES ON DELAWARE RIVER
CHAPTER XXXVII
BOROUGHS.
South Easton-The location on the south bank of the Lehigh river opposite Easton was plotted for a village as early as 1833, by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. It was originally a portion of the township of Wil- liams, and a part of the site of the village was in years long past a farm owned by Melchoir Hay, who bought the rights to seven hundred acres from John Rush, the original purchaser from the Proprietaries. Hay was one of the axemen who helped to clear away the thickets at the Forks of the Dela- ware, when Parsons and Scull laid out the town of Easton.
It was incorporated as a borough under the name of South Easton by an act of the Assembly passed May 27, 1840, and at the first election, held July 4 of that year, Christian Martin was elected burgess; William Nyce, Bar- tholomew Murtha, Amos Rogers, Gilbert Valentine, George Savage, and David Moyer, councilmen ; Jacob Deiley, high constable.
South Easton was a canal outlet, hence the establishment of the town to utilize the extensive water power furnished by the canal. The initial enter- prise before its organization as a borough was in 1832 the erection of a saw- mill by A. Abbott and James McKeen. The following year a bucket factory was started, but it was of short duration, and the enterprise, not being a success, was converted into a grist mill. A second flour mill was erected in 1834, which continued business a score of years, when it was changed to a foundry and machine business. The more recent industries of South Easton have been dealt with in another part of this work.
The opening of the Lehigh Valley railroad in 1846 was a commencement of a new era in the borough's prosperity. The location of the company's round-house and machine shops within its limits gave new life and vigor to all enterprises within the boundaries of the borough. By a decree of court the borough in 1876 was divided into three wards. Needed improvements were made; Canal street was macadamized its entire length, street lamps erected, dangerous thoroughfares were guarded by substantial railings. The borough extended along the banks of the Lehigh for a distance of two miles to the borough of Glendon, and its average breadth was about two-thirds of a mile. The entire borough in 1877, when its population was about 4,000, was laid out in squares and these again divided into lots. South Easton, though it received a backset at the time of the panic in 1873, soon revived and continued its prosperous career until its annexation to the city of Easton, since which time its history is a part of that community.
Bath-Bath, the namesake of Bath, England, the latter noted for the won- derful cure of its waters and a fashionable pleasure resort, is located in the loveliest of green valleys of eastern Pennsylvania. It is the centre borough of Northampton county, eight miles north of Bethlehem and eleven north- west from Easton. It is situated on the headwaters of the winding Mono- quasy (Monocacy is now the prevalent form of the name), an Indian word meaning "stream with several large bends."
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Bath was founded by the Scotch-Irish, or Ulster Scots, and is owned and inhabited chiefly by the Pennsylvania Germans. Originally it formed part of the Craig or "Irish Settlement," and the territory was named Allen town- ship, in honor of Chief Justice William Allen, who became proprietor about 1740. The Craig, Ralston, Lattimore, McCord, McCook, McConnell, Brown, Sterling, Horner, and Wilson families composed the pioneer band of Ulster Scots who first settled in Bath and the immediate vicinity.
The land cast of the Monoquasy, upon which the greater part of Bath stands, was originally the property of Chief Justice William Allen, who in 1766 conveyed it to his son, Andrew Allen. The latter by written articles of agreement on May 1, 1776, covenanted to convey the same to John Latti- more. It comprised one hundred and fifty-nine acres and sixty perches, and was sold for £4 Ios. per acre. Before Lattimore had paid all the purchase money, Benjamin Franklin, then president of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, seized and confiscated all of Andrew Allen's land, accusing Allen of high treason, "for having adhered to and knowingly and willingly aided and assisted the Enemies of this State and of the United States by hav- ing joined their armies, etc." His lands were sold by the State and bought with Continental money. It should be remembered that in the Treaty of Peace at Paris, September 3. 1783, it was agreed that the property of Tories should be respected. This agreement was not kept, and the Tories were treated so badly that within a few years many of them left the country. The difficulty continued until the title thus acquired was disputed in 1809 by the heirs of Andrew Allen, and the courts decided against the purchasers under the State, so that they had to pay for their lands a second time. This caused many of the Scotch-Irish to move away.
The land west of the Monoquasy, and upon which the remaining part of Bath stands, was also confiscated by the State through Charles Biddle, from Andrew Allen, 1778, and sold to John Sterling, after which it was con- veyed to the Ralstons, Bergers, Siegfrieds, and Hirsts. The land east of Bath was thrown open to settlement December 8, 1772, when it was pur- chased by Philip Michael, Conrad Best, and Jacob Dech. It was a part of the Barony of Nazareth, originally a five thousand acre tract of land, the property of Lady Letitia Audrey, of Worminghurst, County Sussex, Eng- land. She was the daughter of William Penn, and was made owner and ruler of the barony. Her title was confirmed by deed of her half-brothers, under date September 25-26, 1731. "on yielding and paying therefor to the said John Penn, Thomas Penn, and Richard Penn, their heirs and assigns, one Red Rose, on the 24th day of June yearly, if the same shall be demanded, in full for all services and rents." This deed is recorded in Philadelphia, in Book F, Volume vi, page 121. Authentic copies of the deed are in existence, and according to tradition the rent was formally paid with due ceremony by Lady Letitia.
In 1772, Jacob Dech of Forks township. Conrad Best of Williams town- ship, and Philip Michael, purchased of Nathaniel Seidel, of Bethlehem, five hundred acres from the remote western end of the barony (which reaches to the borough line), for $13.40 an aere, besides "yielding and paving one Red Rose on the 24th of June yearly," which is specified in the old deed. The
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land south of Bath, or of the original Lattimore farmi, was originally the property of Joseph Horner and Hugh Wilson, whose descendant, Jennie Horner, still owns the old homestead and resides in the "Settlement."
The aforesaid land titles were parts of the original Allen tract of five thousand acres, which included the "Settlement," and which by a joint war- rant of the proprietors in 1732 was deeded to Thomas Penn, who assigned it the same day to one Joseph Turner, of Philadelphia, who transferred it three years later to William Allen, whose eldest daughter Ann was the wife of Governor John Penn. Another daughter, Margaret, married James De Lan- cey, whose home was in Bath, England, and out of respect both to the Penn and Allen families, the name Bath was taken in honor of her English home city.
Long before the Allens gained their warrant to these lands they had become occupied by the Scotch-Irish squatters. In 1728-antedating by many years the settlement of Easton, Bethlehem, Nazareth. and Allentown -- a colony of these blue-blooded Scotch Presbyterians came to this portion of Penn's wide woods, not knowing the map well enough to discover that they had settled on the manors of Charlton and Fermor, and not troubling much about the forms of law, as no clear title was obtained until the time of the Allen ownership of these tracts, when conformity was yielded and settle- ment duly made. Meanwhile possession was worth more than parchment deeds, and if the crops at first were poor, the rents certainly were cheap. But the Ulsterman has passed away, and today in this rich and delightful section abound on every side the descendants of our thrifty German forbears, who still speak, in the sixth or eighth generation, the smooth-flowing, musical and quaint Saxon dialect that the first settlers brought over one hundred and sixty years ago from the banks of the Rhine and Weser. It may be said that the "Craig Settlement" is like a Celtic isle in a Saxon sea, about as large as the Galilean lake. It has maintained its distinct architectural, linguistic and religious characteristics for many generations, until by the law of the sur- vival of the fittest the Saxon neighbor has either by marriage or inheritance or by superior ability in the paying results of agriculture, gotten possession of the once broad and rich acres of these stern and sturdy Scotch-Irish Pres- byterians. The fine and proud old homesteads built spaciously of limestone in ante-Revolutionary days by the wide-awake and epoch-making sons of Scotland, have during the past generation or two been filling up with the neighboring scions of Saxon origin. For it was in the Forks of the Delaware and especially on the banks of the Lehigh and Monoquasy that during the first half of the eighteenth century there was a strange neighborly com- mingling in pioneer emergencies of four nationalities, the Indian, the English land-holders, the Scotch-Irish, the Moravian and other Germans.
Fort Ralston is the oldest structure in this locality. It was built in 1757, during the French and Indian War, as a house of refuge and defense against the red men. It was strongly built of stone, provided with immense fire- places on two floors, and had a spring in the cellar to provide the water, and port-holes for the trusty pioneer's rifle, while about it circled a stockade from which defense was made. "Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania" recites a horri- ble tale of the bloodiest butchery that occurred in this place, in 1763, when
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several white victims fell a prey to the savage tomahawk, and when Fort Ralston played an important part in the sad drama. Among those cruelly butchered was the wife of James Horner, whose grave is found in the old 7 Presbyterian church burial-grounds. The inscription on her tombstone reads as follows :
In memory of Jane, wife of James Horner, who suffered death by the hands of the savage Indians, October eighth, Seventeen Hundred and Sixty-Three. aged fifty years.
Near by this ancient place of sepulture, containing the tombs of all the old worthies of this Ulster-Scot settlement, stood the first church of these devout Presbyterians. It was erected about 1731, and several times replaced by rural structures, so that the present edifice is the third in turn. The church received a charter from the government of Great Britain, May 12, 1772. It witnessed in its earlier days the preaching of Revs. Gilbert Tennent, James Campbell, and David Brainerd, the celebrated Indian missionary. Rev. John Rosbrough, who was pastor during the Revolutionary War period, accompanied his flock to the front of battle as chaplain, and fell a victim of Hessian murderers at Trenton, in January, 1777.
Another historic structure is the Wolf Academy, not that a Wolf built or ever owned it, but simply because George Wolf, the seventh governor of Pennsylvania, was possibly the most illustrious pupil it enrolled, or because he was for a time its teacher. Other ancient buildings are the "Old White Church," the Wesselhoeft, Kern, and Steckel homes, in Chestnut street, and the Kreider, Engelman, Lattimore, Scott, Hirst, and Vogel homes, on Main street.
Let us pause for a moment and take a retrospective view of Bath's promi- nent personages during the past century or more: Gov. George Wolf, the founder of the free school system of education in Pennsylvania; Lieut .- Gov. Jacob Kern, and Joseph Hirst, friends of Wolf, and additional supporters of the free school system; Augustus Fox, linguist and pulpit orator; Theodore A. Seip, late president of Muhlenberg College; William Wesselhoeft, who established here in 1829 the first homeopathic school of medicine in America; Surveyor-General George Palmer; Gen. Conrad Kreider; Maj. William G. Scott, senator, who was instrumental in securing the charter for Lafayette College; Senators Engelman and De Walt; Lieutenant Steckel; Capt. James Ralston, who was also a surveyor; Brittania D. Barnes, merchant; Daniel Steckel, the centenarian; and Harvey E. Bartholomew, the "Boy Orator." To Dr. William Wesselhoeft, in Bath, as medical students, came Joseph H. Pulte, a graduate of the University of Marburg, later author of numerous medical books, and founder of Pulte Medical College in Cincinnati; J. C. Gosewisch, of the University of Gottingen, the first to introduce homeopathy in the State of Delaware; Gustav Reichelm, of the University of Halle, who carried the new science across the Alleghanies and settled in Pittsburgh; John H. Floto, a university graduate and Lutheran minister, who made his home at first in the South, but later in California; besides these were Feren- thielein, Adeliger and others. The majestic Dr. Constantine Hering came
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also, not as a pupil, for he had studied with the great Hahnemann himself, but to assist in laying plans to establish the North America Academy of the homeopathic healing art at Allentown. This was in 1835, six years after the opening of the Bath school, and the first faculty consisted of Drs. Hering, Wesselhoeft, Freytag, Romig, Pulte, and Detweiler. In 1841, Dr. Wessel- hoeft removed to Boston, where he became one of the most prominent physi- cians in that city. He died in 1859, and left two sons, both natives of Bath, to perpetuate the honor of his name. Among the prominent allopathic physi- cians and surgeons were Dr. William Ellis Barnes, to whom credit is given for successfully performing the first Caesarian operation in eastern Pennsyl- vania; Dr. P. B. Breinig, the first to perform lithotomy and ovariotomy in this section of the country; Dr. Adam L. Kotz, long curator of St. Luke's and of Easton Hospital, one of the best pathologists in America, and famous for having discovered the influenza germ; the Kerns, successful fever physi- cians ; Drs. Mulhallon, Seip, Fox, and Berlin also stood high in their chosen profession.
In 1816 Capt. James Ralston surveyed and laid out the village of Bath, located in Allen township. There were not more than five dwellings in this infant village, but it must have been a place of some business standing, as it contained two stores, a tannery, a grist mill built in 1812 by Joseph Sieg- fried, and a second mill built in 1817 by Jacob Vogel, also another store was opened. It was incorporated as a borough February 1, 1856. The first borough officers were: Burgess, James Vliet; members of the council, An- drew Haupt, Jacob Shimer, Thomas Moser, John Mosey and Samuel Straub ; clerk, Abraham S. Knecht; high constable, Benjamin Strat; street commis- sioner, Daniel Miller; treasurer, Dr. G. P. Keim. A survey and plot of the borough was authorized.
The first meeting for the purpose of building a house of worship in the borough of Bath was held in the year 1833, when it was resolved to erect a Union church to be used by the Reformed and Lutheran congregations. A building committee was elected, a constitution adopted, and the church com- pleted in October, 1834, and named "The Bath Kirche." In 1834 the Rev. Augustus Fuchs was unanimously elected pastor of the Lutheran congrega- tion. He was one of the most popular German preachers in Northampton county, a native of Steddorf, Zeven county, Kingdom of Hanover. His natal day was May 6, 1803. At the age of eight years his father, Dr. John C. Fuchs, placed him in the gymnasium at Stade, Hanover. On the death of his parents, he entered the Theological Seminary in that city. Here he con- tinued his studies until he received appointment as a private tutor in the family of a wealthy physician of Rothenburg, Bavaria. Soon after he accepted a call as cantor at Altenburch, Hanover. At this time the missionary spirit was prevailing in Germany, and he prepared himself for mission work among the American Indians. Embarking for America, he arrived at Philadelphia, proceeded to Baltimore, and under advice entered the Gettysburg Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Here he remained a while, when he accepted an appointment in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, and while en- gaged in this service he was licensed by the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, June 4, 1833. He received and accepted a call to Bath, and became first
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pastor of the Lutheran church that had been newly organized out of the oldest congregation in the neighborhood. Besides, he served the congrega- tions at Plainfield and Howertown. He visited the Fatherland in 1870, and lingered awhile amid the scenes of his childhood. During the forty years of his ministrations the congregation, which had been small when he assumed charge, became strong and numerous. He died at his residence in Bath, December 20, 1879.
The Lutheran and Reformed congregation of Bath and vicinity occupied jointly the Bath Kirche from the year of their founding (1833) to the time of their friendly separation in 1876. The charter and constitution of St. John's Lutheran Church were adopted December 11, 1875. The cornerstone of the present church was laid on Whit-Sunday, 1876. The Rev. S. A. Ziegenfuss became pastor November 5, 1875, continuing until January 3, 1892, when he preached his farewell sermon, having accepted a call to the pastorate of St. Michael's Lutheran Church, Germantown, Pennsylvania. The Rev. J. II. Kuder became pastor, April 1, 1892, and served until December 31, 1897, when he resigned, to confine his labors to the remainder of his charge-Howcrtown and Siegfried. The Rev. J. H. Ritter took charge August 1, 1896, and was succeeded by Rev. C. C. Miller, who in 1910 resigned his duties, and Rev. S. E. Ochsenford, the present pastor, was installed.
The history of Christ Reformed Church is in common with that of the Lutheran until their separation in 1876. The pastors before separation were Revs. Helfenstein, Becker, Erasmus Helfrich, D. Y. Hessler and M. A. Smith. In June, 1875, measures were taken for the erection of a house of worship, and a committee was appointed to solicit aid. Subscriptions were soon received amounting to $6,000, the building committee purchased a lot on Chestnut street, and the work of building was vigorously prosecuted. The cornerstone was laid in June, 1877, and the Rev. M. A. Smith became the first pastor in the new church edifice. He was succeeded in 1886 by the Rev. J. O. Lindeman, whose successor in 1898 was Rev. William U. Helffrich. The latter was born at Fogelsville, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, January 4, 1873. He was prepared for college by his father, and entered Ursinus College, graduating from the seminary connected with that institution in June, 1896. He served his first charge in Dillsburg, York county, Pennsyl- vania, leaving there in February, 1898, to accept a call from the Christ Re- formed Church. The history of the Allen Township Presbyterian Church has already appeared in another part of this publication.
Freemansburg-The first settler of the present bounds of Freemansburg, formerly a part of the township of Bethlehem, was John Nance, an early miller, from whom it derived the name of Nance's Mills. The Bachmans were among the first families, and Peter Bachman, an early ancestor, erected a stone building as early as 1760, which was the first structure that could be considered as of much pretension ; this was used as a tavern. The location became known as Willow Grove, which was afterwards beautified and made a popular resort. A year or two later a Bethlehem Moravian named Hluber erected a saw mill, also a distillery, at the north end of the borough.
The little hamlet began to assume some distant approach towards the
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dignity of a village, when in 1830, just after the opening of the Lehigh canal, Jacob Freeman built a second tavern, and the settlement gradually took the name of Freemansburg, in honor of the new boniface. A mercantile business was opened by Thomas and Fellows, and in the course of five years two other stores located in the village. The business of boat building was intro- duced, which at one time gave employment to a large number of men. The first schoolhouse was built in 1838. The opening of railroads on both sides of the river materially aided in the deveolpment and increase of population.
The incorporation of the borough took place January 24, 1856, and at the first election, March 21, George Bachman was elected chief burgess. The members of the council were: William Gwinner, president ; Amos Seip, John Warg, Thomas Doney, and R. O. Lerch. The first borough tax levied amounted to $455.32.
The principal manufacturing industries have been dealt with in the preceding chapters. Besides those mentioned in 1875, there was the Lehigh Valley Manufacturing Company, who manufactured family and toilet soaps, candles and sundry toilet articles. The undertaking was started May 18, 1868, by Bachman & Clewell, but the firm title has been changed several times. Among the popular brands of soap made were two, namely Erasive and National, which gained quite a reputation. The works were totally de- stroyed by fire, April 13, 1880. The other industries were limited to a machine shop established in 1875 by Martin Weaver; a carriage manufac- tory established in 1875 by G. & A. Bachman, and two brick grist mills.
The early inhabitants of Freemansburg attended divine services at the Lower Saucon church. Later a building was erected for the purpose of holding religious worship. A marble tablet in the front wall bore the inscrip- tion, "The Communion Church of Freemansburg, erected 1842." In this church the Lutheran, Reformed and Moravian ministers were permitted to preach. The Moravian ministers of Bethlehem, previous to the erection of this building, had been holding services in the village schoolhouse nearby. After the erection of the new church, Rev. George Diehl of Easton, Rev. C. F. Welden of Bethlehem, and Rev. John C. Schmidt, ministered to the Lutherans. The Evangelical Lutheran church was formally organized No- vember II, 1859, and Rev. E. Greenwald became pastor. His successor, Rev. J. B. Bath of Bethlehem, took charge of the congregation April 14, 1867, and served until October 1, 1870, and the first of the following year the Rev. C. J. Cooper of South Bethlehem was elected pastor.
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