USA > Pennsylvania > Northumberland County > History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania > Part 19
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The wardens of the prison, elected at the respective dates given, have been as follows: John Peeler, 1879; James Dalton, 1882; William Kella- gher, 1886; F. M. Moore, 1888, and John Kehoe, 1891, present incumbent.
A County Poorhouse was agitated in the decade ending 1850, and the project was received with some favor in the northern part of the county. On the 5th of April, 1849, an act was passed by the legislature submitting the question to a popular vote at the ensuing general election. The measure was overwhelmingly defeated, however, as shown by the follow- ing returns:
TOWNSHIP.
For.
Against.
TOWNSHIP.
For.
Against.
Sunbury
54
33
Little Mahanoy
1
49
Upper Augusta
12
63
Northumberland
135
3
Coal
6
47
Point
36
30
Shamokin
7
208
Chillisquaque
32
101
Rush .
8
136
Milton
204
5
Lower Augusta
15
205
Turbut
19
96
Upper Mahanoy.
...
132
Delaware
29
184
Jackson
173
Lewis
3
234
Lower Mahoning
1
141
Total
562
1,840
The agitation has not been renewed, and the indigent classes are cared for under the supervision of the local authorities. Regular poor houses have been erected in several of the districts.
*The erection of a workhouse for the employment of persons confined in the jail was recom- mended by the grand jury as early as 1810.
172
HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.
EARLY FISCAL AFFAIRS.
Present methods of civil administration differ materially from those under which the fiscal affairs of the county were conducted a century ago. While the relation of the county commissioners to the assessment and applica- tion of the revenues has always been that of immediate and direct responsi- bility, constitutional and statutory enactments have deprived the board of some of its former important prerogatives. Of the public officers concerned in levy- ing and disbursing the county taxes, only the commissioners and assessors were elective when the Province became a Commonwealth: the county treas- urer was appointed by the commissioners; collectors were also selected by that board, from persons recommended by the respective assessors, and the duties now assigned to the county auditors were performed by the grand jury. That body made an inquiry into the condition of county finances in August, 1787; their report, the first on this subject of which there is any record, relates to the accounts of William Gray and John Buyers, county treasurers, and is purely statistical. The earliest report of county auditors extant is that of Abraham Scott, James Jenkins, and John Kidd, dated August 28, 1793. Balances were reported against Robert Martin, treasurer of State taxes, 1777-80; William Gray, treasurer of State taxes, 1780; Will- iam Gray, county treasurer, 1777-81, and David Mead, county commis- sioner. Frederick Antes was treasurer of the county longer than any other incumbent of that position. He was first appointed in 1782, serving until December, 1784, and was reappointed in 1788, serving probably until his death in 1801. His accounts were audited on several occasions, but, owing to the fluctuating value of the currency and various other causes, there was a considerable discrepancy between them and those of the commissioners when his successor assumed office. The matter was referred to the courts for ad- judication, and after a period of litigation a final settlement was reached in the decision of Samuel Maclay, Daniel Montgomery, and Joseph Priestley, arbitrators, awarding to the county the sum of one thousand fifty-seven dol- lars, sixty-two cents. Their report was rendered, August 25, 1807.
The minutes of the county commissioners reveal much that is of interest in connection with financial matters. Unfortunately, the early records have disappeared, and diligent search among the archives of the county has failed to discover any minutes of the board until near the close of the first decade after its organization. It is not probable that the revenues of the county were very considerable during the Revolutionary period, and not improbable that the functions of the board were partially suspended during that time. This is sufficiently indicated by the following action of the commissioners, which appears in the minutes under date of October 19, 1781 :-
Resolved, That notices be sent to the several collectors of the year 1778 in order for settlement.
Resolved, That a letter be prepared and sent to his Excellency the President, set-
173
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION.
ting forth our intention forthwith to proceed in settling all the tax books; that many of the books are lost, collectors dead or moved away, [and] no credit given in the books for taxes paid; and requesting advice respecting the taxes before the Revolution, and what the exchange since the Revolution; and also how delinquent treasurers may be dealt with.
Resolved, That fair lists be made out of all the taxes on uncultivated land for the years 1773, 1774, and 1776, and have them advertised according to law.
A letter was accordingly transmitted to President Reed on the 26th of October. It contains the following interesting paragraph :-
The tax business we have in hand and are determined to proceed with dispatch as far as our circumstances and abilities will possibly admit. Many of the county books and papers are yet in Paxtaug, being removed thither on the break of Wyoming. We find by such as are in our hands that no credit hath been given in the books to any person since this was a county, but it appears by several settlements with sundry col- lectors since the year 1773 that divers sums remained in the hands of the treasurer, and that the inhabitants generally paid their taxes, and the non-residents none or but very little .*
In pursuance of the action of the board the unpaid taxes for the years 1773, 1774, and 1776 were advertised in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1781. This was effectual in securing payment of delinquent taxes only in part, however, and on the 28th of May, 1782, the lands upon which taxes remained unpaid were offered at public sale at the court house in Sunbury. This was continued under the auspices of the commissioners on the 28th of August and the 26th of November in the same year, and on the 1st of January, 1783. These were the first commissioners' sales for taxes in the history of the county.
The opposition of the holders of unseated lands was at once aroused by these proceedings. It was urged that the State had not furnished adequate protection to the frontier; that its development had been thereby restricted, and that there had been practically no returns from the lands in question; and that taxation without protection to property was unjust. This seems to have resulted in a temporary suspension of the proceedings on the part of the commissioners, but in 1786, in compliance with instructions from the auditor general, lands subject to sale for arrears of taxes were advertised; the same opposition was again encountered, whereupon an address " to the landholders non-residents of Northumberland county " was published in the Philadelphia papers by the commissioners, who assured them that they "never had the most distant thought of defrauding any landholder of a single acre, much less of a plantation," at the same time expressing their determination to enforce the payment of taxes. Commissioners' deeds have since entered largely into the titles to land in many parts of the county. t
*Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. IX. pp. 440-441.
+ A curious system of notation was devised in 1819 for the records relating to unseated lands. As "scribbling " throughout the books could not be permitted, the following private marks were estab- lished: A small triangular character-"improved;" the letter D-" no land;" the letter O, with a period in the center,-" sold," and when followed by the letter C-" sold to commissioners;" the letter O, crossed by a perpendienlar line,-"unsold;"> the plus sign + -"paid to collector;" the letter V inverted, with a horizontal line crossing the apex .- "not advertised;" a small rectangular character- "part improved;" the first letter of the treasurer's name indicated his receipt. A knowledge of thuis key is almost indispensable in tracing titles that have been affected by commissioners' sales.
174
HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.
At an early period in the history of the county, State and county taxes, although levied by the same commissioners, were disbursed through dif- ferent treasurers, and, in some instances, audited by different boards. An instance of the latter class occurred in the year 1799, when the auditing of State taxes was referred to a commission specially constituted for that pur- pose. The report, embodying the results of an investigation into the finan- cial relations of the county and State during nearly a score of years, with the intricate questions growing out of the formation of several counties from the territory of Northumberland during that period, is one of the most interesting documents extant relating to early county finances. The follow- ing is an extract :-
The commissioners of accounts for the counties of Northumberland and Luzerne are of opinion that the dismemberment of Northumberland county by the erection of the northern part thereof into the county of Luzerne ought to disincumber the parent county of one third of the quotas charged upon it in the accounts submitted herewith to the comptroller general ...... The inhabitants of the township of Wyom- ing, (which at one time nominally included all the present county of Luzerne, extend- ing as far down the Northeast Branch as Fishing creek,) were never assessed beyond the present limits of Northumberland county in that direction. Some of the unseated lands were returned, but, owing to the disturbances of the Connecticut claimants, they were not exacted. No formal assessment ever took place within their intrusions. The dismembered part, by the act of separation, was admitted to a third part of the representation in the General Assembly.
The erection of Mifflin county in the year 1789 struck off from Northumberland about the half of Potter's and the whole of Upper Bald Eagle townships. We are therefore of opinion that Northumberland county should have credit on that amount proportionate to the dismembered territory.
The report, signed by John Simpson and John Kidd, was transmitted to the comptroller general under date of November 2, 1799.
Orders drawn by the commissioners at that early date were frequently lost by those in whose favor they were drawn, and instances are on record of counterfeit orders having been presented to the treasurer and cashed by him, thus producing confusion in the public accounts. To remedy this it was decided to number orders as they were issued, and the treasurer was instructed to honor numbered orders only. Order No. 1 was issued, Janu- ary 27, 1798. This marks an important step in the evolution of systematic methods.
A disposition to keep within the literal meaning of the law in the dis -: bursement of county funds is noticeable in the proceedings of the early commissioners. In the year 1806 the construction of a stone bridge over Chillisquaque creek was authorized by the grand jury and undertaken by the board. It became apparent that the work could not be completed before the ensuing winter, and the contractor asked an allowance for the construction of a temporary roof, in order that the unfinished masonry might be protected from the inclemencies of the season. The commissioners presented a state-
175
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION.
ment of these facts to the court and grand jury, giving their reasons for so doing in the following language: "Small as this expense in the estimation of the board may appear, yet they think themselves not justified to order this roof to be made without the intervention of that tribunal which holds the public purse." The tribunal in question was pleased to consider the matter favorably, and the proposed roof was accordingly provided at the expense of the county.
This punctilious exactness occasionally brought the board into conflict with the court. In August, 1807, Joseph Harris presented an account for his services as court crier, amounting to more than a hundred dollars. The com- missioners refused to pay it, upon which he withdrew, but returned in a short time and again presented the account, to which was affixed the follow- ing note from the judges :-
The court can not proceed in the business of the county without a crier; such a person is absolutely necessary. No one can be procured for the common fees in the fee bill. The court therefore think that a dollar a day is not unreasonable pay, and that the commissioners ought to furnish the means of obtaining the attendance of a proper person as a crier. If the commissioners object we know not any other person bound to pay such a man, nor can we hold court without one.
THOMAS COOPER, J. MACPHERSON.
The commissioners replied as follows :-
In answer to the within note of the court the commissioners heg leave to state that they do not conceive it necessary to inquire whether the fees allowed by law to the crier of the court are sufficient or not, as they do not think themselves authorized in any case to add to them out of the county stock.
C. MACLAY, SAMUEL AWL, SAMUEL BOND, Commissioners.
Commissioners' Office, August 20, 1807.
At the same term of court Andrew Kennedy presented a bill for publish- ing lists of causes, etc., amounting to upwards of eight pounds, to which was attached a note from the judges recommending its payment. To this the commissioners replied that they knew of no law which would authorize an appropriation for that purpose, that they had reason to believe there was none, and that they had strong doubts of the public utility of publishing lists of the causes. They therefore declined to pay the bill. What reply the judges made to this ultimatum does not appear, but the friction thus engen- dered doubtless contributed to the influences that finally resulted in Judge Cooper's deposition.
There was also a divergence of views between the commissioners and Judge Chapman, but not so radical as that in which Judge Cooper was con- cerned. For two successive years the Judge declined to pay an occupation tax, justifying his refusal by the State constitution. In April, 1828, he
176
HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.
agreed with the commissioners to refer the question to a committee of three members of the bar. John Lashells, Samuel Hepburn, and James Merrill were selected as arbitrators; they decided that the exemption claimed was untenable, and that the tax was legally assessed and payable. Thus again the civil administration demonstrated its superior legal knowledge. '
The financial stringency of 1837 occasioned great inconvenience in paying jurors and settling other small accounts, silver coin having been practically withdrawn from circulation in this part of the State. In order to facilitate the transaction of business, the commissioners " entered into a resolution to issue small bills under five dollars." It is believed that this is the only instance in which the county in its corporate capacity has assumed the functions of a bank of issue.
INAUGURATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM.
The act of 1834 inaugurated in Pennsylvania what is distinctively known as the public school system. Popular education had been a subject of legis- lative action since the founding of the Colony. It was stipulated in the con- stitution of 1790 that the legislature should "provide by law for the estab- lishment of schools throughout the State in such manner that the poor may be taught gratis." In 1802 an act was passed to provide for the mainte- nance of schools where elementary instruction might be received by all chil- dren. Those of the well-to-do were required to pay a small sum, but when the returns of the assessors showed that the parents were unable to bear this expense the county commissioners were authorized to do so. It does not appear that popular education in Northumberland county was materially advanced by the operation of this law .* Here the neighborhood school was the earliest result of educational effort. As a measure of convenience certain communities established schools in which their children might receive a rudi- mentary education. The teacher derived his support from his patrons, and the affairs of the school were intrusted by common consent to the more ener- getic members of the community, who were usually men of intelligence. The law of 1802 was variously amended at different times, without, however, accomplishing its purpose. In 1827 a society for the promotion of education in the State was formed at Philadelphia, and, through a corresponding com- mittee, the opinions of leading men in every county were ascertained and a union of the most progressive sentiment effected. The powerful influence thus generated resulted in the act of 1834. In this the former distinction between pay and pauper schools was abrogated; all property was made taxable for the support of the schools, and their local management in each district
*Pursuant to circular of January 9, 1833, the clerk to the county commissioners transmitted the following statement to the Secretary of the Commonwealth :- 1829, number of poor children taught, 123; amount expended, $299.861/2; 1830, number of poor children taught, 126; amount expended, $393 .- 11% ; 1831, number of poor children taught, 178; amount expended, $570.3912; 1832, number of poor children taught, 240; amount expended, $713.101/2.
177
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION.
placed in charge of a board of six directors. Some two hundred acts of the legislature had preceded that of 1834; but the latter, although amended in 1836, is substantially unimpaired, and the growing efficiency of the system fully attests the wisdom of those who framed it.
The first convention of delegates under this act, and in all probability the first public educational meeting in the county, was held at the court house in Sunbury, November 4, 1834. The following is a transcript of the minutes :-
Agreeably to an act passed the 1st day of April, 1834, entitled " An act to estab- lish a general system of education by common schools," a meeting of the commission- ers of the county and delegates from the different school districts of the county of Northumberland met at the court house in the borough of Sunbury on Tuesday, the 4th day of November, 1834. The meeting was organized by appointing John C. Boyd, of Rush township, chairman, and John Taggart, of Northumberland, secretary. The meeting then adjourned to the house of William Shannon, when the following per- sons appeared, produced their certificates of election, and took their seats, viz .: Tur- but township, John Mckinney; Chillisquaque township, James F. Murray; Point township, Robert Curry; Augusta township, Samuel Lantz; Shamokin township, Rob- ert McWilliams; Rush township, John C. Boyd; Upper Mahanoy township, Benjamin Markel; Lower Mahanoy township, Jacob Weiser, Sr .; Milton borough, Robert Mc- Guigan; Northumberland borough, John Taggart; Sunbury borough, John G. Young- man; Daniel Hilbush, William Shannon, and Frederick Burkenbine, commissioners of the county.
The meeting then proceeded to take the vote on " making appropriation for com- mon schools," when it appeared that six delegates voted in the affirmative, viz .: Messrs. Mckinney, McGuigan, Murray, Curry, Taggart, and Youngman; and that five delegates and three commissioners voted in the negative, viz .: Messrs. Lantz, McWill- iams, Boyd, Markel, Weiser, Hilbush, Shannon, and Burkenbine.
The delegates and commissioners voting in the negative having tretired, the dele- gates voting in the affirmative reorganized the meeting by appointing Robert McGuigan president and continuing John Taggart as secretary.
The following resolutions were proposed and unanimously passed, viz :-
Resolved, That the commissioners be and they are hereby authorized to levy half the amount of the county tax for the use of common schools in the townships of Tur- but, Chillisquaque, and Point, and in the boroughs of Milton, Northumberland, and Sunbury for the ensuing year.
Resolved, That the town meetings be held in all the districts accepting the law, at the usual places of holding their township elections, as the law directs, on Saturday, the 29th of November, and that the school directors give notice in their respective districts of the meeting.
The first appointment of school inspectors was made by the court of quarter sessions at April term, 1835, when the following persons were designated for that office in the respective townships and boroughs: Turbut, Isaac Vin- cent and William Laird; Milton, Samuel Pollock and John F. Wolfinger; Chillisquaque, Charles Gale and Isaac P. Sanders; Point, George Jennings and Jesse C. Horton; Northumberland, James Hepburn and John Cowden; Sunbury, Hugh Bellas and Alexander Jordan.
The meeting for 1835 was held at the court house on the 4th of May; the
178
HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.
districts accepting the law were represented as follows: Sunbury, William N. Robins; Northumberland, John Frick; Point, Robert Curry; Chillisqua- que, Andrew McReynolds; Milton, Robert McGuigan; Turbut, John McKin- ney. It was decided to levy a tax equal to one half the State and county tax. This tax, the first in the county for school purposes of which there is any record, was as follows :-
Sunbury
$ 360.644
Chillisquaque $ 493.92ª
Northumberland
300.97층
Milton
470.43
Point.
389.08
Turbut 1,307.52₺
Augusta and Shamokin accepted the system in 1836; in that year the number of taxables in the accepting districts was twenty-eight hundred sixty-four; in the non-accepting districts, one thousand sixty-nine. The sys- tem was discontinued in Shamokin in 1837, and not re-established until 1843; Rush first appears among the accepting districts in 1842; South Coal dis- trict appears as non-accepting in 1842, and North Coal district as accepting; Turbut discontinued the system in 1843, and in that year the taxables in the accepting districts (Milton, Chillisquaque, Point, Northumberland, Sunbury, Augusta, Rush, Shamokin, and North Coal) numbered twenty-seven hundred twenty-two; in the non-accepting districts (Turbut, Little Mahanoy, Upper Mahanoy, Lower Mahanoy, Jackson, and South Coal), seventeen hundred twenty-five. The system was re-established in Turbut in 1844, by which the number of taxables in the non-accepting districts were reduced to but little more than one-fifth of the entire number in the county (accepting districts, thirty-six hundred fourteen taxables; non-accepting, nine hundred forty-four). Rush discontinued the system in 1846 but re-established it in 1847; public schools were thus introduced and maintained in the entire county except the Mahanoy region. The system was adopted in Lower Mahanoy and Jordan townships in 1865; in Upper Mahanoy in 1866; in Cameron and Jackson in 1869; in Washington in 1870, and in Little Mahanoy in 1871. Further par- ticulars are given under the various townships.
Teachers' Institutes .- The first convention of teachers in Northumberland county was held at Elysburg on the second Saturday in April, 1850, in pur- suance of a call issued by J. J. John, George W. West, and A. J. Madison. The topics discussed were, "How can the salaries of teachers be increased ?", " How shall teachers improve themselves in the art of teaching ?", and "What books shall we recommend?" About thirty teachers were in attendance, of whom W. W. McWilliams was elected president and J. J. John secretary.
The first county institute was held in the court house at Sunbury, De- cember 18-19, 1855. The county superintendent, Rev. John J. Reimensny- der, presided; J. W. Weeks was secretary, and the executive committee was composed of W. P. Teitsworth, J. P. Shultz, S. S. Brittain, C. Kelchner, W. W. McWilliams, J. Vincent, Jr., and W. B. Taggart. Methods of instruc-
179
ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION.
tion and school government were discussed; resolutions were passed in favor of the use of the Bible in the schools, increased compensation for the super- intendent, and in support of the Pennsylvania School Journal.
County Superintendents of Public Schools .- This office was created in 1854. Its incumbents, elected by the school directors of the county, have been as follows: John J. Reimensnyder, 1854-60; Jacob Ulp, 1860-66; George W. Haupt, 1866-68 (resigned, September 1, 1868); William J. Wol- verton, 1868-69 (appointed by the State superintendent); Saul Shipman, 1869-75; Harvey Bartholomew, 1875-78; William M. Boal, 1878-81; Will- iam J. Wolverton, 1881-87; William E. Bloom, 1887, present incumbent.
ROSTER OF COUNTY OFFICERS.
Prothonotaries .- In Northumberland county one person is elected to the offices of prothonotary of the court of common pleas, clerk of the court of quarter sessions, and clerk of the court of oyer and terminer and general jail delivery. After the offices of recorder of deeds and register of wills were assigned to one individual in this county, the prothonotary continued to exercise the functions of clerk of the orphans' court until 1827; since that date the offices have been combined as at present. The incumbents were ap- pointed by the Governor and Council under the colonial regime, by the Supreme Executive Council under the constitution of 1776, and by the Gov- ernor under the constitution of 1790; the office became elective by the amendments of 1837-38, and under these various changes the succession of prothonotaries, with the dates of their commissions or the terms in which they served by election, has been as follows: William Maclay, prothonotary, March 24, 1772, clerk of the peace and quarter sessions of the peace, May 19, 1772, recommissioned, March 22, 1777; David Harris, September 11, 1777; Matthew Smith, February 4, 1780; Laurence Keene, September 25, 1783; Jasper Ewing, July 28, 1789, August 17, 1791, and January 3, 1800; Daniel Levy, September 23, 1800; Hugh Bellas, January 3, 1809; George W. Brown, February 2, 1818; Andrew Albright, April 24, 1819; Martin Weaver, February 9, 1821; Samuel J. Packer, January 27, 1824; Martin Weaver, April 9, 1829; Edward Y. Bright, January 25, 1830, and January 21, 1833; Daniel Brautigam, January 29, 1836, and January 4, 1839; Samuel D. Jor- dan, February 5, 1839-elected in the autumn of that year-1839-45; John Farnsworth, 1845-51; James Beard, 1851-57; Daniel Beckley, 1857-63; John J. Reimensnyder, 1863-69; William D. Haupt, 1869-72; Lloyd T. Rohrbach, 1872-79; Wesley Auten, 1879-85; H. F. Mann, 1885-91; S. P. Fausold, 1891, present incumbent.
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