USA > Pennsylvania > Northampton County > History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume II > Part 5
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While the former borough of Bethlehem had provided in the past several years money to meet the annual sinking fund charges, which fund was in good shape, the borough of South Bethlehem had failed to provide a sinking fund to meet bonds at maturity, and also failed to take care of the interest charges for 1917. This required the new city to meet an excessive sinking fund charge for the next several years to make up for the failure of the South Bethlehem borough to set aside money for this fund. In addition, the new city inherited uncompleted contracts for streets and sewers, amount- ing to $89.555.43 for the South Side, and $5,669.34 for the North Side.
At an election held in the fall of 1917, the city being divided into sixteen wards, the commission form of government having been adopted, Archibald Johnston was elected mayor for four years, and Alexander C. Graham, Augus- tus W. Schmich, James E. Matthews and Thomas Rowan were chosen a board of commissioners for two years. The death of Mr. Graham caused the election of Dr. W. P. Walker to fill the vacancy.
The borough of Bethlehem owned its water supply, and South Bethle- hem was supplied by a privately owned corporation, but a proposition is now before the citizens to purchase same, to be decided at the coming elec- tion in November for $1,700,000. During the year 1918 considerable terri- tory was annexed to the city. The eastern boundary was extended to the borough of Freemansburg by the annexation of Elmwood and Edgeboro. This comprised a territory of 997.7 acres, with a population of 1,351 persons and an assessed valuation of $650,000. North Bethlehem, between Easton road and Monocacy creek, extending three miles north, was also annexed. This territory comprised 3,058.4 acres, with a population of 3,085 persons and an assessed valuation of $1,199.850. The territory annexed to the west extends to the center of the road, running north and south adjacent to the Rittersville Hotel. It comprised 2.302 acres, having a population of 2,500 persons and an assessed valuation of $1,300,225.
The Bureau of Police, under the superintendeney of C. A. Davies, is fully equipped to provide for the observance of law and order in a polyglot popu- lation comprising representatives of nearly all European and Asiatic nations. A police matron is employed to give every protection to unfortunate women and girls arrested. A finger-print photographer and Bertillon system for the identification of criminals has been established, and dens of vice have been eliminated.
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The fire fighting forces of the city represent a total of 594 men, of whom but fifty-one receive remuneration for their services, the remainder being volunteers belonging to the eight companies, namely: The Reliance, Central, Monocacy, Fairview, Lehigh No. 5. Protection, Liberty and Lehigh No. I. The apparatus consists of four American La France triple combination pumping, chemical and hose trucks; four Brockway combination chemical and hose trucks; two acrial ladder trucks, with Brockway tractor ; two steam fire engines, third class, horse drawn, in reserve; one two-wheel hose cart, in reserve. The total fire hydrants is two hundred and fifty.
The educational facilities of Bethlehem have been increased by the building of the following graded schools: Quinn, Lafayette, Calypso, Cen- tral, Fairview and Madison. A high school is in process of erection on the North Side, at the corner of Elizabeth and Linden streets, at an estimated expense of $1,200,000. This school will take care of the junior and senior high school pupils. The Excelsior school on Fourth street, South Side, was formerly a graded school, but was changed in 1919 into a vocational school for boys twelve to fourteen years of age who had been pupils in the sixth or lower grades. Machine shop work and electrical trades are mainly taught. The school census of the city gives about 10,000 children of the age prescribed by law.
Along both sides of the beautiful Saucon creek a tract of land comprising about ninety acres and extending for a distance of about two and a half miles, starting at the old Keller Mill on the Hellertown road and terminat- ing in the vicinity of the Hellertown blast furnaces, has been acquired for a public park. The donations of public-spirited business firms and citizens has made this a possibility, and prominent amongst these donors are the Bethlehem Steel Company, forty-six acres; W. J. Heller, five acres; Saver- cool & Wright, four acres; Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company, eleven acres; and in addition to this twenty-six acres have been secured by purchase. Bethlehem, since its incorporation as a city, has had a healthy and progressive growth, its estimated population being 60,000 souls.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR. LENOX AND TILL EN POLADATIONS H
L
VIEW THROUGH THE LECHAU-HICH-TON GLEN Easton's West End in the Distance
CHAPTER XXXVI
TOWNSHIPS
Lower Saucon Township-This township is situated in the rich and fertile valley of the Saucon. The name is derived from the Indian name Sakunk- at the place of the creek's mouth. Every hill and dale in the township has its specific name; the eastern part is called Swoveberg, from the fact the early settlers came originally from Suabia in Germany. In the southeastern part is Kohlberg, named because of the large amount of charcoal made there in the early days for the Durham Iron Works. The "Schnippe Thal" is the . name of a little dale in the southeastern part of the township, so called because of the snipes that frequented the brook flowing through it. Spring Valley is the name of a place below Bingen, in the southeastern part of the town- ship, named after its clear crystal springs. Wassergas is the name of a road leading from Hellertown in the easterly direction towards the Delaware; it received its name from the springy nature of the land. The Latwerg-strasse in the northeastern portion of the township derives its name from the fact that a large amount of apple butter was boiled in that vicinity. The town- ship is bounded on the north by the Lehigh river, on the east by Williams township, on the southeast by Bucks county, and southeast and west by Lehigh county. The boroughs of South Bethlehem and Hellertown were incorporated within its limits. The soil is chiefly limestone, and the rich and fruitful fields are watered by the Saucon and the brooks that constitute its tributaries. These beauiful fields, however, have been somewhat despoiled and disfigured by debris, as the enterprising miner in his search after deposits of iron ore left no stone unturned.
Lower Saucon was settled in the early part of the eighteenth century, and land was first taken up along the Lehigh by William Allen, Nathaniel Irish and I. M. Ysselstein. These three tracts were situated in what are now Fountain Hill, Bethlehem and Shimersville. Ysselstein was a hunter and fisherman, and built himself a hut, about a mile below Bethlehem, which was washed away by a freshet in 1739. At his death, July 26, 1742, his remains were placed in a grave near the spot where he first settled. Nathaniel Irish built a mill as early as 1738 at the mouth of the Saucon, and in 1743 the Moravians petitioned for a wagon road to the mill. In 1743 Irish sold part of his tract to George Cruikshank; the latter was from a noted family of the Island of Montserrat, a man of some attainments, who figured promi- nently in the township during the early period. He had a son, Dr. James Cruikshank, who died without issue at Behlehem; and a daughter, who married John Currie, a lawyer of Reading, who afterwards removed to Shimersville and opened a ferry across the river which was known as Currie's Ferry. Sullivan's army at the time of the Revolution was conveyed across the river by this ferry. Dr. Cruikshank sold three large farms near the intersection of the Shimersville and Bethlehem roads to Dr. Felix Lynn, who was the only physician in the neighborhood in the latter part of the eighteenth century, and had a large and lucrative practice.
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Saucon was erected a township of Bucks county in 1742, and originally included Upper Saucon, now in Lehigh county. The division of the town- ship was effected in 1743. The petitioners for its erection into a separate township were George Hertzell. Henry Hertzell, Paul Frantz, Matthias Riegel, Christian Laubach, John Danishaus, Jacob Hertzell, Jacob .Maurer, Matthias Mencher, Frederick Weber, Peter Kauss, Max Gumschaefer, Joerg Freimann, Rudolph Orwerle, George Peter Knecht, Michael Lintz, Peter Risser, Joel Arminer and Rudolph Illig. It can be readily seen by this list that Germans largely predominated the early settlement of the township, the population at the time of the division being about two hundred inhabitants. The Bachmans, one of the early settled families of the township, were de- scended from Christian Bachman, a miller. Their German ancestor was the Rev. Philip Boehm, who came from the Palatinate in 1720, and received two hundred acres in Lower Saucon township from the Proprietarics in 1740. This tract he deeded to his son Anthony, who settled in the township and had a family of four sons and four daughters. Christopher Wagner, ancestor of the Wagners of Saucon, came from Rotterdam in the same ship with the Hellers, arriving in Philadelphia, September 15, 1738. He was captain of a military company that went to Trenton in 1776. John Adam Schaus in 1736 came in the ship Harle from Rotterdam. He also came from the Palatinate and soon after his arrival at Philadelphia came to Lower Saucon township and opened the first tavern on the Lehigh river. He was a millwright, and assisted in building in 1743 a grist-mill in Bethlehem. He later became a resident of Easton. Peter Appel, a Palatine, ancestor of the Appel family in Northampon and adjoining counties, arrived at Philadelphia, September 29, 1733, in the ship Pink Mary, from Rotterdam. He brought with him two sons, Philip and John, and a daughter. Philip and his sister died without issue. John purchased 250 acres of land in Lower Saucon township near what was called Appel's Church, and had five sons.
Benjamin Riegel took up a tract of land near Hellertown in 1734, and was the father of four sons, Benjamin, Matthias, John and Jacob ; the latter removed to Ohio ; the descendants of the three other sons became prominently identified with the affairs of Riegelsville, Bethlehem and Philadelphia.
The early settlers of Swoveberg were principally weavers from. Wür- temberg. They took their wool to Martin Appel, who was the proprietor of the first carding, fulling and printing mill in that section of the country, about two and a half miles below Hellertown. These carly settlers were the Christines, Reichards, Kunsmans, Zieners, Reisses, Wersts and Wassers.
The Hess family were originally of Springfield, Bucks county. Nicholas Hess, the ancestor, was born in Zweibrucken, Germany, in 1723, and came in 1749 to America in the ship Ranier. He had three sons, of whom John George came to Lower Saucon in the latter part of the eighteenth century. He bought a mill on the Saucon, which became known as Hess' Mill.
The township steadily progressed in population and was by the census of 1870, 4,991. This was, however, reduced by the formation of the boroughs of South Bethlehem and Hellertown from within its boundaries, so that the population had decreased in 1910 to 4,141 inhabitants.
Shimersville, at the mouth of the Saucon, the oldest village in the town-
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ship, was named after Jacob Shimer, ancestor of the Shimer family. It is a small gathering of dwellings that in earlier days was a place of some im- portance. Near it was the furnace of the Northampton Iron Company. As early as 1824, John Shimer built a mill for fulling, dyeing and finishing cloth. This mill was enlarged in 1829 and leased to William Chamberlain. In 1837 George Shimer took charge of the mill. The freshet of 1842 washed away the frame building and flooded the machinery, after which a new stone build- ing was erected, and in 1846 improved machinery was added. Additions were made two years later. The freshet of 1862 washed away the dam completely ; products of the mill at this time amounted to $60,000 worth of woolen goods annually, but in 1872 the mills were removed to Allentown. The building remained idle three years, when a foundry and machine business were estab- lished and sad-irons, scales, chest-handles and small hardware in general were manufactured.
Leithsville, another small hamlet in the southwestern part of the town- ship, received its nanie from the Leiths, who were the principal property holders in its vicinity. Bingen, named from the little village on the Rhine, situated near the western boundary line of the township, grew out of the organization of the North Pennsylvania Iron Company. This company was organized mainly through the efforts of William R. Yeager ; it was chartered in 1869; the first furnace was blown June 1, 1871, an explosion of the receivers occurred July 8, 1872, by which accident four lives were lost. The largest amount of pig metal manufactured in any one year was in 1874-10,777 tons. The property later was acquired by the Bethlehem Steel Works. Bingen became a post-office in 1871. Seidersville, a collection of about twenty houses situated in the northwestern part of the township on the road from Bethle- him and Friedensville, was named after Charles Seider, an early resident, and became a post-office in 1855. Lower Saucon was formerly a post-office in the eastern part of the township, and before the days of railroads con- siderable business was transacted at this point. Redington, first known as Lime Ridge, on the Lehigh river, in the northeastern part of the township, came into prominence by the establishment in 1869 of the Coleraine Iron Company. This company at one time gave employment to 275 men and owned ten ore mines-four in Northampton county, three in Lehigh and three in Berks. There were two furnaces connected with the works, which turn out annually about 26,000 tons of pig iron.
Lower Saucon Church was one of the oldest Reformed congregations in Northampton county. The first notice of it is in the record of New Gos- henhopper, in the handwriting of Rev. John Henry Goetschey, who men- tions "Sacon" as one of the congregations constituting his charge. He entered the field in 1730 and retired in 1739. In Rev. Michael Schlatter's Journal, under date of June 28, 1747, he speaks of the congregation being served by Rev. Jolin Conrad Wirtz. The records of the congregation were begun March 7, 1756, by Rev. Johannes Egiduis Hecker, who served until 1770, when he was succeeded by the Rev. John Daniel Gross, who remained until 1773, when he was succeeded by Rev. Johan Wilhelm Pithan, who was dismissed for intemperance. The next pastor was Rev. John William Ingold, who after serving a short time became dissatisfied and left. The church was NORTH .- 1-30.
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then supplied by Rev. Casper Wack until 1782. He was the first minister born, educated, licensed and ordained by the German Reformed Church in this country. Rev. John H. Winckhaus supplied the congregation awhile, and was followed by Rev. John Mann.
The stone church was built in 1751, and was situated on the east side of the road, in the centre of a tract known as "Good Intent." It was originally a Reformed congregation, but at the beginning of 1804, action was taken to sell one-half interest in the church to the Lutherans. A new church was built in 1816 on the west side of the road ; in 1873 this was torn down, and a new church, with seating capacity of six hundred, was consecrated May 24, 1874.
Pastors who served the Reformed congregation after the retirement of Rev. John Mann were: Rev. Hoffmeirer, 1795-1807; Rev. Thomas Pomp, 1807-32; Rev. Samuel Helfenstein, 1833-38; Rev. J. C. Becker, 1839-57; Rev. A. J. G. Dubbs, 1859 ; Rev. J. S. Kessler, 1860-62 ; Rev. W. R. Hofford, 1863-70; Rev. T. O. Stem, 1870-76; Rev. A. B. Koplin.
Among the early Lutheran pastors were Revs. Christian Endress, William Rath and C. J. Cooper.
At Leithsville is the New Jerusalem Church, also called Appel's Church. a Union (Reformed and Lutheran) church, built in 1834. Among the early Lutheran pastors were: Revs. H. S. Miller, Benjamin German, William German, J. F. Vogelbach, William Rath. The Reformed pastors were: Rev. Samuel Hess, who preached from 1834 to 1864; Rev. S. M. K. Huber, from 1864 to 1868; and Rev. A. F. Ziegler.
Members of the Evangelical Church worshipped as early as 1845 in pri- vate houses, the Rev. Israel Bast generally officiating ; finally, in 1863, they bought an old schoolhouse, which was used as a place of worship. In 1871 they built a church near the northern part of the township.
Upper Mount Bethel Township-This township was one of the oldest settled portions of Northampton county. The Ulster-Scots founded about 1730 the old Hunter Settlement, by which name it was known for some seventeen years. On July 8, 1746, the inhabitants living on the main branch of the Delaware petitioned the Court of Quarter Sessions for the organiza- tion of old Mount Bethel township, embracing the district from the mouth of Turnami creek (probably Martin's creek) up the north branch of said creek. upon the west side of Jeremiah Best's, to the Blue Mountains, thence by said mountains to the north branch of said river, and thence by said branch to the mouth of said Turnami creek, the point of commencement. This com- posed the territory now included in the towns of Upper and Lower Mount Bethel and that of Washington. With the organization of this township, the name of Hunter Settlement passed into disuse. The names appearing on the petition were: Peter Schur, Jonathan Miller, Arthur Coveandell, Thomas Roady, Joseph Woodside, George Bogard, James Anderson, David Allen, James Simpson, Peter Mumbower, Jonathan Garlinghaus, Jonathan Car- michael, Richard Quick, Joseph Fuston, Thomas Silleman, Lawrence Covean- dell, Jeremiah Best, Manus Decher. Joseph Jones, Alexander Hunter, James Bownons, Jacob Server, Joseph Coler, James Miller, Joseph Quick, Joseph
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Ruckman, Thomas McCracen, Thomas Silleman, Coleus Quick, Joseph Car- son, Edward Moody, Conrad Doll, Thomas Clark, Jonathan Rickey, James Quick, Patrick Vence, and Robert Liles.
The home and seene of many of the labors of David and John Brainerd, missionaries among the Indians, was in Mount Bethel township. Here the former gathered around him a congregation of Indian converts and spent his life traversing that region and administering to the spiritual and tem- poral wants of the savages. After his death he was succeeded by his brother, John Brainerd, who made a visit to the Susquehanna country and was on social terms with the Moravians at Bethlehem.
The Spanish invasion in 1747 into the lower Delaware Bay caused the colony of Pennsylvanians to make its first war preparations for defense against an enemy. A call for volunteer militia was made and Bucks county, notwithstanding a great number of its inhabitants were Quakers and Mora- vians, promptly furnished its full quota of men. The first to respond were the hardy Germans and the Scotch-Irish from the valleys of the Lehigh and Delaware rivers, in sufficient number to head the Third Regiment, which was the first one of the twenty to be formed north of Philadelphia. The first defenders from the Forks of the Delaware, under the leadership of Alexander Hunter, William Craig, James Martin, George Gray, Thomas Arm- strong and Daniel Brodhead, reached Philadelphia and were part of the pro- cession of the twenty regiments in review. Their ensign was a blue flag, with the device of a dove flying from the clouds. Under this was a scroll containing a Latin inscription, A Deo Victoria. This formidable array caused the enemy to retreat, and the army was disbanded. Several of the companies from the Forks country were, however, retained, and their serv- ices were hired out to the governor of New York by the Pennsylvania authorities for the purpose of strengthening the army of that colony in the French and Indian War, and they took part in the siege and fall of Louisburg.
Among the first settlers in Mount Bethel were three brothers-Peter, Charles and Abraham La Bar. They emigrated from France before 1730, landed at Philadelphia, and went north in pursuit of a home. They finally reached the southern base of the Blue Mountains, believing they had pene- trated beyond the bounds of civilized man. They located a tract of land, erected a log cabin, and settled about half a mile southwest of the present village of Slateford. They were the first to clear land on the Delaware above the mouth of the Lehigh. These hardy pioneers soon established friendly relations with the Indians. but not long after they found out they were not the only whites in that region. Nicholas Depui, then an old man, had set- tled at a place called Shawanese, on the Minisink lands. The La Bar brothers finally removed north of the Blue Mountains into what is now Monroe county, where they permanently settled.
. On the erection of Northampton county, Mount Bethel came under its jurisdiction. In 1757 the whole tax of the township was nine shillings and six pence, but in 1773 the valuation of the township was £1,942, upon which the taxes amounted to £26 3s. 2d. At that time it contained 153 taxable and twenty-five single men. The first elections were held at Easton, but as the sparsely settled country became more populated, Richmond became the
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voting place. On the division of the old township, March 17, 1787, Williams- burg became the voting place for Upper Mount Bethel township, and the elections continued to be held there until 1874, when the township was divided into two voting districts, Williamsburg and Delpsburg.
The township is bounded on the north by Monroe county, on the east and south by the Delaware river, and on the south and west by the town- ships of Lower Mount Bethel and Washington. The early industries were the veritable first grist-mill, built prior to the Revolutionary War, about half a mile northwest of Williamsburg; it was built of logs, and contained one run of stones. There was about 1790 an old fulling mill built by Rich- ard Jacoby, who continued the fulling for a few years, when he converted the old mill into a wooden factory, where business was conducted for a number of years by Mr. Jacoby and his sons. It finally became a school- slate factory. The early education of the young was confined to a German school, which was maintained in an old log church a few months in the winter, at Williamsburg, but this gave place about 1790 to the erection of the first school-house where English was taught.
The boroughs of Portland and East Bangor have been established within the boundaries of the township. Slateford. in the northeastern part of the township at the mouth of Slateford creek, which falls into the Delaware just south of the village, is a small collection of houses, and has been a post-office since 1856. The houses were built by James M. Porter about 1805, who owned and operated slate quarries at that place, and to the slate industry the village owes all its energy and importance.
Johnsonville, a small village formerly known as Roxburg, founded by Gilbert Johnson, from which it derived its name, is situated in the southern portion of the township. The first log building was erected by John Strouss about 1818. A pottery was started here in 1830 by a Mr. Keller, and about 1832 a small frame tavern was erected by William Mann. Jacobus creek rises about one mile west of the village and, flowing east about seven miles. falls into the Delaware at Portland. This creek a half century ago fur- nished water power for four flouring mills, two saw mills, three slate fac- tories and a foundry. Some of these industries have disappeared, but the water-power is still used. The village at this time contained a store and post- office, a tavern, a carriage shop, a hub and spoke factory, a blacksmith shop, a cabinet shop, a pottery, and several neat dwellings.
Centreville was known as Brandy-Hook until about 1830, when its present name was adopted. It was at one time a post-office, and was called Stone Church, after the old stone church erected there in 1794, which dates the commencement of the village. Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church of Centreville was organized previous to 1774, as several baptisms are recorded in that year. There were present, March 6, 1774, at preparatory services, forty-five persons, therefore it would seem, judging from the communicants, that the congregation had been in existence some time. The church was a log cabin in a large grove of trees, about ten miles north of Williamsburg. The building becoming inadequate to the wants of the congregations (Lutheran and Reformed), articles of agreement were entered into May 29, 1794, to build a stone church at Centreville. This edifice answered the pur-
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