USA > Pennsylvania > Northampton County > History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume II > Part 13
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The Bethel Welsh Congregational Church on the corner of First and Market streets was organized in 1873, and the following year a house of worship was erected accommodating three hundred worshippers. In 1915, Rev. Ivor Thomas was in charge of the congregation, but at the present time there is no settled pastor.
The cornerstone of St. John's Reformed Church on Market and Third streets was laid August 30, 1879. The first pastor was Rev. H. J. W. Hib- sham. The church erected was a large, imposing and commodious structure, accommodating one thousand persons. The membership of the church in 1915 was four hundred, and it was under ministerial charge of Rev. Edward W. Lentz. The Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church on the corner of Broad- way and Fifth streets dates its organization from 1865. when thirty was its constituted membership. A house of worship was erected in 1878, with a seating capacity of six hundred and thirty. The pastor in charge in 1915 was Rev. E. A. Yehl. The present pastor is Rev. Dallas W. Greene. Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church, located on South Main street near Broadway, was built in 1863, its seating capacity being five hundred. The pastor in 1915 was Rev. Caleb F. Weidner, and the membership was reported to be one hun- dred and eighty-five. The congregation at the present time is under the charge of Rev. C. N. Wolfe. St. David's Protestant Episcopal Church, at the corner of Third and Chestnut streets, was erected in 1913. The Rev. John Noble Doberstinc was rector in 1914, the membership of the church being at that time about thirty-five. The present rector is Rev. Richard M. Doubs. The United Evangelical congregation dedicated a new church, November 26. 1899. Special services were held for a number of evenings, conducted by the former pastors of the church, Revs. G. W. Gross, J. H. Shorey, E. E. Stauf- fer, J. W. Hoover, A. B. Snyder. The pastor in 1899 was Rev. H. W. Behney. The Roman Catholic monastery and chapel of Our Lady of Good Counsel is mentioned elsewhere in this work.
Portland-Portland, the most northerly of the boroughs of Northampton county, is situated in the Delaware river, about five miles north of the Dela- ware Water Gap. The borough was first known as Dill's Ferry, for the rea- son that Henry Dill in 1817 kept a tavern and operated a ferry in that locality. The piers for a bridge across the Delaware river were first built in 1817, but collapsed, and it was not until 1868 that a bridge was completed connecting Portland with the other side of the Delaware river.
In the middle of the nineteenth century the location became known as Columbia Station. In 1870 the first application was made for a borough char-
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ter, the population being at this time five hundred and fifty inhabitants. This was not, however, granted until 1876, in which year the borough, which was formerly a part of Upper Mount Bethel township, was incorporated. The first borough election was held November 21, 1876.
Portland at the present day has not shown any increase in population : there are the usual mercantile establishments, a bank, three churches, a school house, and a newspaper. It is a station on the Bangor & Portland branch of the Pennsylvania system. The most important manufacturing industry is a limestone quarry where fertilizer is made, giving employment to about twenty men.
Portland Methodist Episcopal Church was built in 1872, and dedicated July 12, 1874. The Rev. H. T. Zeider was pastor in 1915. The church in 1919 is in charge of the Rev. David W. Siegrist. Mount Bethel Baptist Church of Portland was formally organized June 10, 1875. On the organiza- tion of this church the congregation then worshipping at Johnsonville was dissolved. A church edifice was built in 1878 at the cost of $2,250, the pastor at that time being Rev. A. E. Spring. The Rev. J. Albert Crawn, the present pastor, has had charge of the congregation for a number of years. The First Presbyterian Church is without a resident pastor at the present time. The chief burgess in 1919 is Frank C. Nace ; the clerk, W. J. Transue.
Pen Argyl-The village of Pen Argyl was founded in the town of Plain- field in 1868, by Welsh laborers employed by the Pennsylvania Slate Com- pany, who owned quarries in the vicinity. It was incorporated as a borough in 1882, and at the first election Richard Jackson was chosen chief burgess and Izariah Martin, clerk. At the time of the United States census of 1890, there were 2,100 inhabitants in the borough. The year 1885 saw the estab- lishment of two churches; one, known at the present time as the Bethany Evangelical Church, was dedicated August 24, 1885, and in the preceding year a church was built with a seating capacity of four hundred. The mem- bership of the church in 1905 was two hundred and thirty-six, and the Rev. J. J. Kreisel was in charge. A Methodist Episcopal church, now known as Zion Methodist Episcopal, was dedicated October 4. 1885 ; the present pastor is Rev. William Powick. St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church was organ- ized in 1883, and the following year built a house of worship with a seating capacity of three hundred and thirty. The congregation had a membership of two hundred in 1905, and was in charge of William F. Heist, the present pastor. The First Presbyterian Church of Pen Argyl was founded in 1879, and the following year built their present frame church edifice; the congrega- tion is in charge of Rev. A. P. Mershon. Faith Reformed Church is located on the corner of Pennsylvania avenue and Heller street. It was organized in January, 1902, and the following year the church was built, seating two hun- dlred and fifty. The membership in 1915 was one hundred and forty, and was in charge of Rev. William H. Brong. A barracks of the Salvation Army was established in the borough in 1891.
Pen Argyl of the present day is a thriving business community, with its organized Board of Trade, two national banks and numerous mercantile houses. It is a station on the Lehigh & New England railroad, and a mile west of the borough are the shops of that corporation. The Slate Belt trolley
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line also passes through the borough. The estimated population is 5,000 in- habitants; the water supply and fire protection are adequate to the needs of the community. The chief burgess in 1919 is Dr. C. F. Stofflet; the clerk, J. Irving Weiss.
West Easton-On the banks of the Lehigh river in the town of Palmer in the middle of the past century were the villages of Odenweldertown and Mutchlertown. The former was originally laid parallel with the Lehigh & Susquehanna railroad by John Odenwelder. It adjoined the western part of Easton, and no decided improvements occurred until the railroad was com- pleted, when a substantial increase was made to its population. There was in 1877 no less than sixty dwelling and tenant houses within its limits. Southwest of the village was Mutchlertown, located on elevated grounds plotted by Col. Valentine Mutchler, containing many neat and handsome frame buildings.
These two villages in 1890 were incorporated as the borough of West Easton. It is not, however, an attractive suburb of Easton for residential purposes. The manufacturing industries of the Kuebler foundries, the Chip- man knitting mills, the chemical works of Baker, Adamson Company, and the machine shop of the Ingersoll Rand Company, furnish employment for most of the adult population, which largely is of foreign extraction, Italians, Slavs, and Hungarians predominating. The estimated population of the borough is in the neighborhood of 800 souls. A brick school house, built in 1900, fur- nished educational facilities. Water is supplied by the water company of Easton, and the fire protection is a chemical engine which is operated by a volunteer company.
Tatamy-On a map of Friedensthal, a settlement of the Moravian Economy made in 1758, appears near to the settlement, Tatamy's Land. The question naturally arises, who was Tatamy. He was for many years a chief of the Delaware Indians, a native of New Jersey, and in his youth removed to about fifteen miles below Phillipsburg, New Jersey. He became useful to the whites as interpreter in the business between the Indians and the whites. In recog- nition of these services he was given as a gift three hundred acres of land. He built a house near what is now the borough of Stockertown, where he lived, engaged in agricultural pursuits. He married for his wife a white woman, and sent his children to school with the neighbors' children.
Tatamy was a red man of persuasive powers, and by his native eloquence he controlled the warlike spirit of his people. He was converted to the Chris- tian religion by David Brainerd, and was baptized in 1747, receiving the name of Moses Tatamy Funday. The grant of land to Tatamy was conferred on him by the Penns, and was on the east side of the west branch, from the present borough of Tatamy northward to the northern limits of the present Stockertown. At the time of the banishinent of the Indians from the Forks, at a council held at Philadelphia, November 20, 1742, Tatamy was present and informed the governor he was in lawful possession of his three hundred acres of land, and that he was desirous of continuing to live there in peace and friendship with the English. The governor, after considering his request, 01 account of his good behavior towards the English, consented to his de-
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mands if he could obtain permission from the Six Nations. He was success- ful in obtaining their approval, and remained upon his grant to the end of his days. Tatamy was present at the treaty conference at Philadelphia in 1760, after which his name disappears from history. He had two sons, William and Nicholas; the former was fatally shot near the Irish settlement by a youth of fifteen years; his father bore the loss with Christian resignation. Nicholas inherited his father's property and lived with his wife and one son, Moses, at the homestead until about 1790, when he went West with his son.
Time rolled away, the white settlers became concentrated in that portion of Forks township, and in 1893 in the furtherance of the desires of the in- habitants, the borough of Tatamy was incorporated, it then being a part of the township of Palmer. The original area embraced in the borough limits was the property of Samuel S. Messinger, who had established a foundry and grist mill on the banks of Bushkill creek. The first meeting of the borough government was July 27, 1893. The first president was Samuel S. Messin- ger, and members of the council were: G. Frank Messinger, Charles S. Mes- singer, Samuel S. Lerch, James S. Stecher, Martin Werkheiser, and Abraham Sloyer. The secretary of the board was J. A. Happel. The following have filled the office of president : Charles S. Messinger, G. Frank Messinger, J. A. Happel, J. M. Stecher, D. S. Andrews, Howard Yeisley, and the present in- cumbent, Edwin Bapx. Mr. Happel was succeeded in 1900 as clerk of the board by Edwin Bapx, and in 1903 D. S. Andrews was the latter's successor. Since 1906 E. W. Echart has filled the position.
Tatamy is five miles from Easton. on the Bushkill creek, a station on the Easton & Northern railroad, operated by the Lehigh Valley railroad. The borough consists of two parallel streets, commencing at the trolley junction and running to the creek, on which are attractive dwelling houses surrounded by well-kept lawns. Within its confines is a general store, a grocery, two churches, and a brick schoolhouse accommodating one hundred and fifty pupils taught by three teachers. The Messinger Manufacturing plant, already mentioned, and the Soluble Coffee Company, who mannfacture coffee prod- ucts, give employment to about twenty wage earners. This plant was totally destroyed by fire, January 6, 1919. but has been rebuilt. The estimated population of the borough is seven hundred.
St. Peter's Reformed Church was organized in 1904. and a brick house of worship was soon afterwards erected. The first pastor was Rev. Mr. Free- man. He was succeeded by Rev. David Klein, who gave way to the present incumbent, Rev. F. R. Schaeffer. The first meeting for the organization of St. John's Lutheran Church took place August 28, 1903. The following year the Rev. L. D. Lazarus was settled over the congregation. The first action towards building a church edifice was taken in August, 1905. The following year the present stone church was completed, and the organization in Feb- ruary, 1906, was duly incorporated. The second pastor was Rev. S. M. Win- rich, who was succeeded by the present incumbent, Rev. Victor J. Bauer.
Wind Gap-The borough of Wind Gap was organized from Plainfield township and incorporated in 1893. At the first election, Benjamin F. Miller was chosen chief burgess; and Daniel Reed, clerk. The latter was succeeded in 1895 by Samuel J. Heller, and he in turn in 1901 by William D. Werk- heiser, the present incumbent.
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The borough is two and a half miles in length, mainly on the main thor- oughfare, interspersed with residences and vacant lots, surrounded in the distance by slag piles of the slate industry, the important manufacturing enterprise. There are three general stores, a bank, tavern, a post-office with one rural route, five churches, and a brick school house accommodating, with a school in the council chamber, about six hundred pupils. The estimated population is 1,100, a large percentage being of Italian and Welsh descent.
Wind Gap Methodist Episcopal Church was organized and built a church edifice in 1888, having a seating capacity of three hundred, and a membership at that time of sixty. The Rev. Alfred M. Kuder was in charge in 1915. The present pastor is Rev. Frank Mark. Trinity Chapel was organized in July, 1885 ; previous to this, religious services were held in the public school house. A chapel was dedicated, October 23, 1887; in 1894 a church was built with a seating capacity of one hundred and fifty. The church edifice is used by the Lutheran and Reformed congregations, and is now known as Trinity Lutheran Reformed Church. The former is in charge of the Rev. P. G. Beer, with a membership of sixty-five. The Reformed pastor is Rev. W. H. Brong, with about seventy members. The First Congregational Church was organized in 1897, and erected a church building seating two hundred and fifty ; its present membership is in the neighborhood of fifty. The Rev. Ivor Thomas was in charge of the congregation in 1915, but at the present time there is no settled pastor. The Wind Gap Welsh Presbyterian Church was organized in 1889, in which year they built a church. The membership in 1915 was sixty ; at present there is no settled minister.
The Italians of the borough in 1914 organized St. Mary's Protestant Epis- copal Church, at the eastern extremity of the borough, and built a handsome church edifice. The pastor is Rev. F. C. Cappozzi.
The borough depends for fire protection on a chemical engine, with no organized company. At the eastern portion of the borough is Wind Gap Park, owned by a private individual, which is devoted to amusement and picnic purposes.
Stockertown-It was in 1749 that the Moravians, who had incurred annually an expenditure of time and labor in transporting the bulk of the harvests of the Barony of Nazareth to the Bethlehem Mill for grinding, the Christian Spring Mill built two years previously being of limited capacity, decided to erect a mill near at hand, fully appointed for the conversion of all the grain grown on the plantations of Nazareth, Gnadenthal and Christian Spring. For the solution of this question, the Brethren made application to John Nitsch- mann, the president of the directing board, and he, accompanied by Henry Antes, came from Bethlehem to Nazareth. They failing after making a sur- vey to find a suitable site for the mill on the springs of the Menakes, within the precincts of the Barony, turned eastward and, coming to the banks of a stream named by the Van Bogarts from Esopus, Bushkill, and by the Scotch- Irish, Lefevre's creek, selected that spot for the site of the projected improve- ment. This choice involved the purchase of 324 acres of land, which was held by William Allen of Philadelphia. It had been conveyed to him by Lawrence Growden, Jr., of the parish of St. Merryn, Cornwall, England, as a portion of a great tract of 5,000 acres which William Penn granted by
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indenture to his grandfather, Lawrence Growden, October 25, 1681. Negotia- tions with Mr. Allen for the purchase of the tract were concluded January 3, 1754, the consideration being £324 lawful money of the province. The deed was made to Henry Antes, who in turn conveyed the tract to the then three joint proprietors of the Moravian Estates in this country.
The tract of land was of an L shape, with the longer limb stretching east- wardly from the Barony of Nazareth some three hundred and ninety rods, full two hundred rods beyond the east bank of the Bushkill. In the angle of this L were the lands of Johannes Lefevre. North to the Moravians' tract stretched the Barrens, at this time vacant, owned by Chief Justice Allen. On the eastern line of the L was the tract of Moses Tatamy Funday, the well- known Delaware chieftain. The Lefevre tract in 1774 was held in part by John Van Etten, and later by Andrew Stocker. In 1785 Frederick Diehl held the bulk of the old farm ; subsequently it became the property of the Searles. The Barrens in 1774 were held in part by Robert Matthews and Peter Kich- lein, and in 1785 by Martin Kindt, Peter Ehrich, and George Stocker. The Tatamy tract in 1776 was held by George Stecher, and in 1855 in part by Valentine Werkheiser.
The new plantation was named Friedensthal, which being interpreted is "The Vale of Peace." The logging, grubbing and hauling of stones from the quarries then commenced. Henry Antes was employed to build the mill; he had materially assisted the Moravians in the founding of Bethlehem, superintending and constructing the first mills, aqueduct and ferry at that place, as well as the mills at the Mahoning Mission and Christian Spring. In the second week of August, 1750, the mill was completed and put in running order. It was located on the left bank of the creek, a substantial limestone structure with a frontage of thirty-five feet and a depth of forty-eight feet. with four rooms, and valued at f800. It was furnished with an overshot water wheel and had one run of stones. The inauguration of this finished piece of millwright's handiwork was celebrated August 21, 1750. The dwell- ing or farm house was ready for occupancy in the spring of 1751. It stood directly east of the mill, was built of logs 32 by 20, two stories high, had four apartments, and was valued at £80. A flaring frame barn and three annexes, one for horses, one for cows, and one for sheep, with a total frontage of eighty-eight feet towards the south and a depth of thirty feet, eventually flanked the dwelling on the east. Thus was formed a stockade mill in a sequestered corner of the Forks which was cut off from the rest of the world. there being but one King's road by which they were directly linked to out- side neighbors, to wit: the highway which led to the Upper Ulster Scot Set- tlement on Martin's creek. It is true, however, in December, 1754, the court laid out a second King's road leading from Friedensthal past the Nazareth lime kiln below Christian Spring saw mill and brewery, to a certain place where the Brethren intended to build a saw mill on the westernmost branch of Menakes on Nazareth Land. The olden time Moravian settlements were modeled from those in the fatherland. They were quadrangular, enclosed within solidly built structures of wood and stone; on one side stabling and stalls for horses, horned cattle, sheep and swine; on the second, a spacious barn and shelter for wain and carts; on the third, a row of shops for the
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baker, the cordwainer and the weaver; a house for the curing and storing of flax ; a smithy, and a cider press ; and on the fourth, the dwellings of the hard- working people-large lumbering structures of log or of frame and "brick nogged," invariably hip-roofed, and one of them capped with a turret in which swung a bell that rang out over hill and dale every day at sunrise and at sunset. This was the type of buildings that were erected at Friedensthal, which were demolished in 1840, there being no vestige left save a well in the barnyard.
During the outbreak of the Indians in the winter of 1755-56, the Frieden- sthal Economy was the refuge sought by seventy-five pitiful fugitives, men, women, children, mostly Palatines; and again in April, 1757, when the sav- ages were at their depredations in Allen and Lehigh townships, the hos- pitable door was opened for refugees. In the summer of 1763, when the Indians were marauding on the south side of the Blue Mountains, the Mora- vians trembled for the safety of their homes. The palisades were reset, barn guards were established, guard houses built, and the inhabitants of this peace- ful vale girded on baldric and sword in defence of their firesides. An influx of fugitives from the Ulster-Scot settlements in Lehigh and Allen townships crowded the Friedensthal Mill.
In the spring of 1762 the social and financial ties which bound the Mora- vians were abrogated by the General Economy. Friedensthal was dissolved in March of 1764, and two years later, it becoming a source of financial loss to the church, a tenant was obtained to rent the farm on shares, the mill being conducted for the Brethren until the spring of 1771. On April 20th of that year the property was sold for the sum of £2,000, and the Vale of Peace passed into the hands of strangers.
Near to the former location of the Friedensthal Economy, on the main road from Easton to the Wind Gap, six miles from the former place, is the borough of Stockertown, laid out by Andrew Stocker, from whom it received its name. The village in 1871 contained two hotels, two dry-goods and gro- cery stores, two saddlery and harness shops, one tin shop, two wheelwright and blacksmith shops, one grist mill, one tannery, one schoolhouse and about twenty dwellings. It was incorporated as a borough by a decree of court, December 17, 1900. The borough, which was originally a part of Forks, afterwards of Palmer township, has an area of three hundred and fifty-five acres and thirty-one perches. The first election for borough officials was held February 19, 1901, when Wilson R. Romig was chosen chief burgess, and A. H. Stoffret, clerk. The borough at the present day, with an estimated population from five hundred to six hundred souls, presents a pleasing appear- ance : the Northampton traction line from Easton to Bangor passes through its center. At a short distance from the borough is the plant of the Vulcan Cement Company, and between the boroughs of Stockertown and Tatamy the manufacture of potash was at one time carried on ; the plant is now, how- ever, abandoned.
Northampton-This borough was incorporated May 6, 1901. It is a bustling town of about 10,000 inhabitants, more than one-third of whom are of foreign extraction. It is situated on the east bank of the Lehigh river, and on both sides of the Hokendauqua creek, a tributary of the Lehigh river. It was
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formed by the uniting of two towns, Stemton and Siegfried, which had grown together, both of which had been centers of trade for more than a century. These towns were a part of Allen township, and were the western end of the famous Irish settlement of the Colonial period. The first white man to settle at what is now Northampton appears to have been Hugh Wilson. On August 20, 1739, William Allen obtained from the Penns, whose creditor he was. a grant of 1,345 acres of land east of the Lehigh river, on the Hokendauqua creek, embracing most of what is now the borough of Northampton. Two days later he sold of this grant 400 acres to Hugh Wilson. In the decd Mr. Wilson is given the right and privilege to use the water, and construct a dam and water courses for the erection and operation of a mill. This clearly indi- cates that the purchase was made with the view of erecting a mill thereupon. Hugh Wilson and his three sons, Thomas, Samuel and Charles, were among the pioncers of the Irish Settlement. In 1752, Hugh Wilson conveyed the mill, together with a number of acres of land and all the water rights and courses, to his son Thomas, for "five shillings and natural love and affection." After the mill passed out of the Wilson family it changed ownership fre- quently until it came in the possession of the Howell family, about seventy- five years ago. In 1837, Joseph Howell razed the old mill, which was said to have stood for almost a century, and erected another, at the time con- sidered a modern mill. In 1844 Joseph sold a half interest to his brother John, and in 1856 the other half. From John Howell the ownership passed to his son, Captain Theodore Howell, and from him to the Atlas Cement Com- pany. Though its walls are still standing, the water wheel is gone, and the life of the old mill has departed.
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