History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 50

Author: Bell, Herbert C. (Herbert Charles), 1868- ed; John, J. J., 1829-
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, Brown, Runk
Number of Pages: 1424

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West side: the log house of Phebe Rowe, who sold cakes and beer, at the corner north of Arch; a brick house at the corner south of Arch, occupied by Francis P. Schwartz, teacher; a small red house, midway between Arch and Market, occupied by Joseph Gust, saddler; John Young's brick store, at the corner south of Market; the log house of John Guss, tailor; Jacob Weimer's residence, at the corner north of Chestnut; a long frame house below Chest- nut; the log house of Samuel Gussler, tailor, immediately south of the Shamokin Valley railroad; Christian Bower's residence, at the corner north of Penn; and Jacob Young's residence, at the corner south of Walnut.

Eng vy F G. Kernan, N.Y

471

SUNBURY.

PROMINENT MERCHANTS, 1771 to 1850.

It is not possible to compile a list of all the individuals or firms that were engaged in mercantile pursuits at Sunbury during the period of its early history and down to the year 1850, however interesting such an enumeration might be; instead of this, it is proposed to give biographical sketches of those who were longest and most prominently identified with the business interests of the community during the period mentioned.

John Weitzel, the first merchant at Sunbury, was born at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, December 30, 1752, son of Paul and Charlotte Weitzel. He obtained a fair education at his native town, and was sent to Philadelphia at an early age to learn the business of merchandising. He opened the first. store at the site of Sunbury in 1771 in a log building near the bank of the river below Market street, and from that time until his death was prominently and responsibly connected with public affairs. At the organization of North- umberland county in 1772 he was one of its first commissioners. On the 29th of July, 1775, he was commissioned as a justice of the county court; to this office he was recommissioned on the 9th of June, 1777, for the term of seven years. At the organization of the Committee of Safety for Northumberland county, February 8, 1776, he appeared as a member from Augusta township, and participated in the deliberations of that body until August 13, 1776. In the Provincial Conference of June 18, 1776, he was one of the representa- tives from Northumberland county; on the 8th of July he was elected to the Constitutional Convention of 1776, and in that body of ninety-six members, " the representative men of the State," he was the youngest delegate; and, as a member of the Council of Safety from July 24, 1776, to March 13, 1777, he participated in its deliberations during the first months of the State gov- ernment. On the 22d of January, 1776, he qualified as county commissioner, in which office and as justice of the county courts he was actively connected with the conduct of civil affairs in this county during the Revolution. July 7, 1780, he was commissioned issuing commissary for this county, and in 1782-84 served as contractor of supplies for the State troops. In this capacity he furnished provisions for the detachments stationed at Fort Rice and in Buffalo valley in 1782 and the companies of Captains Robinson and Shrawder at Wyoming in 1783-84, performing the duties of his office with promptness, energy, and fidelity. He was again commissioned as a justice of the county courts, June 19, 1789, serving until 1791, and in the autumn of 1789 was elected county commissioner for the term of three years. In 1794 he was appointed by act of the legislature one of the commissioners for the erection of public buildings at Sunbury and in this responsible position acted in a public capacity for the last time, as his death occurred in 1799. He was twice married; first, to Tabitha, daughter of John and Rose Morris, of Philadelphia, by whom he had four children: John; Paul; Char- lotte, and Mary. His second wife was Elizabeth Susanna, daughter of Paul

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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Lebo, of Lancaster, and sister of Henry Lebo, and by her he had three chil- dren: George; Elizabeth, and Tabitha. At the time of his death John Weitzel resided at a stone dwelling on Market street, subsequently kept as a hotel by his family many years. In connection with his business as a mer- chant he operated a mill two miles east of Sunbury; it was built by Casper Weitzel, his brother, who died in 1782, and has been run successively by John Weitzel, Jr., and Joseph Weitzel, his son, the present proprietor, who was born in 1808, and is the oldest living representative of the family.

William Dewart, the second merchant of Sunbury, was a native of Ire- land, from whence he emigrated to Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 1765. Being in reduced circumstances, he was obliged to redeem his passage money, but prosperity at length rewarded his efforts; in 1775 he opened a store at Sunbury in a log building on Chestnut street between Second and Center alley, and was constable of Augusta township as early as 1777. Subsequently he purchased ground on the north side of Market street and built thereon a brick residence and store. He was successful in business, and amassed con- siderable property. He died on the 25th of July, 1814, at the age of sixty- nine years; Eleanor, his wife, died, September 17, 1805, aged fifty-eight years, ten months, and twenty-four days. William Dewart, Jr., their son, died on the 12th of November, 1810, at the age of thirty-two years, one month and twenty-three days; Liberty, his wife, was born on the 9th of Au- gust, 1778, son of John and Mary Brady, and died on the 25th of July, 1851. Their son, William Dewart, 3d, was born on the 24th of November, 1806, and died, May 18, 1841; he was a well known merchant at Sunbury.

John and James Black were brothers, natives of Ireland, and early mer- chants at Sunbury. John, the elder, was born in 1735, and died on the 13th of November, 1790; he served as supervisor of Augusta township in 1779, and was probably established in business in Sunbury at that date. Their business was conducted at a frame house which stood on Front street imme- diately south of the track of the Shamokin Valley and Pottsville railroad; there James Black erected the first three-story brick house in Sunbury, upon the site of the present high school building. On the 1st of March, 1790, he purchased at sheriff's sale a tract of two hundred acres on the West Branch near the mouth of Limestone run, and in 1795 laid out part of it in streets and lots; this land originally belonged to the estate of Turbutt Francis, and now constitutes that part of the town of Milton north of Broadway. James Black was born in Ireland, May 12, 1752, son of James and Rachel Black, and died at Sunbury on the 30th of November, 1830; Catharine, his wife, daughter of James and Jane Cochran, who settled in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, on the Susquehanna river opposite the mouth of Catawissa creek, in ante-Revolutionary times, was born, July 25, 1766, and died on the 23d of December, 1843. They were the parents of nine children: Jane; John; David; John; William; Andrew; James; Jesse, and Rachel.

473

SUNBURY.

John Buyers was born, June 9, 1749, son of John and Letitia (Patton) Buyers, who emigrated frem the town of Monaghan, County Monaghan, Ire- land, in 1735 or 1736, and settled in the Pequea valley, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. There he was born and reared, and learned the trade of carpenter. Within a short time after the town of Sunbury was laid out he removed thither, and was employed upon the erection of many of the first houses, including the old jail building on Market street. He first resided at the southeast corner of Race and Second streets, but removed several years later to the southeast corner of Penn and Front streets, where he began mer- chandising; in 1796 he built a brick residence and store room on the opposite corner of Penn street, and continued business there until 1814 or 1815. His name first appears in local official connection in 1776 as overseer of the poor in Augusta township; on the 28th of September, 1780, he was commis- sioned as justice of the peace, serving also as justice of the county court, and frequently presiding in the absence of the regularly commissioned presi- dent; he was commissioned as justice of the peace for Sunbury and Augusta township, September 1, 1791, serving in that capacity some years; on the 31st of December, 1784, and the 3d of January, 1786, he was elected county treasurer, which office he also filled in 1787-88, and in 1800-08, inclusive, he served as county auditor. His death occurred on the 5th of May, 1821; Ann, his wife, daughter of William Fullerton, died on the 30th of October, 1808, in the fifty-ninth year of her age. They were the parents of ten chil- dren: Margaret; Letitia; John; William F .; Sallie; Robert; Samuel; George R .; Alexander F., and Jeremiah. William F. Buyers was the founder of the Sunbury Times, and is referred to biographically in this work in the chapter on the Press. George P. Buyers was engaged in boating on the river before the construction of the canal; he then built a canal boat, and ran it between Sunbury and Philadelphia. He married Martha Hunter, a descendant of Colonel Samuel Hunter; their son, John Buyers, born in 1827, was the first captain of the Augusta Rangers (Company I, Fifty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers), and was in active service in command of this company from October, 1861, to the summer of 1863. He now resides at Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania.

John Haas came from the Trappe, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, and learned the trade of blacksmith with Paul Baldy. He first engaged in business as a distiller, having built a small distillery on the Centre turnpike two miles east of Sunbury; after discontinuing operations there he erected a saw mill on the land now owned by Dr. R. H. Awl, but the dam was twice washed away, and under the pressure of these reverses he was obliged to assign all his property for the benefit of his creditors. In this emergency he applied to a friend of his boyhood, Joseph Hiester, of Reading (Governor of Pennsylvania, 1820-23), who loaned him one thousand dollars, and with this capital he embarked in merchandising at Sunbury before the year 1802 in a

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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

small log building on the north side of Market street. Prior to 1808 he erected the brick house still standing near the northwest corner of Market and Fourth, and continued business therein for some years. He built a mill on Little Shamokin creek, Upper Augusta township, in 1814, and also operated it in connection with his store. He died on the 17th of January, 1828, at the age of sixty-four; Maria Elizabeth, nee Druckemiller, his wife, lived to the age of seventy-five, dying on the 16th of November, 1845. Fred- erick Haas, their oldest son, who was treasurer of Northumberland county, 1825-27, auditor, 1831-33, and commissioner, 1856-59, was born on the 31st of July, 1796, and died, August 19, 1861; George Haas, another son, was clerk to the board of county commissioners, 1829-35; and Daniel Haas, also a son of John and Maria Haas, was born at Sunbury in 1806 and is the oldest native resident of that borough.

Henry Masser was born at Oley, Berks county, Pennsylvania, February 11, 1775, son of Matthias and Barbara (Berger) Masser, natives of Wurtem- berg, Germany, and Switzerland, respectively. After learning the trade of tinsmith he engaged in business for a short time at Gettysburg and Harris- burg, Pennsylvania; in 1801 he came to Sunbury and established himself in the tinning trade, which, in 1809, expanded into a general merchandising business. From that date he was continuously engaged in mercantile pur- suits until 1852, and throughout this period occupied but one location, the two-story brick building on the south side of Market street on the second lot west of Center alley. He served as county commissioner, 1808-11, as auditor, 1813-14 and 1820-22, and was also justice of the peace many years. In 1802 he married Mary Barbara, daughter of Paul Baldy; she was born, July 11, 1785, and died on the 24th of June, 1828. His death occurred on the 17th of July, 1853. They were the parents of twelve children, ten of whom grew to maturity: Elizabeth, widow of Rev. Jeremiah Shindel, of Allentown, Pennsylvania; William, retired farmer, residing near Three Rivers, Michi- gan; Henry B., retired publisher, Sunbury; John, deceased; Mary Ann, widow of Francis Bucher, of Sunbury; Peter B., deceased; Charles, deceased; George W., deceased; Jacob B., deceased, and Edward B., deceased.

John Young was born at Sunbury on the 1st of February, 1793, and learned the trade of carpenter in early life. In 1817 he started a store in the east end of Weaver's hotel; his stock was advanced by his brother-in- law, Jacob Alter, a wholesale grocer of Philadelphia, and on several occa- sions he walked to that city to purchase goods. In 1823 he erected the brick building still standing at the southwest corner of Market and Fourth streets, and continued business therein until 1859; he moved to Milton in 1860, and died on the 4th of November, 1862. His wife was Catharine, daughter of Joseph Alter, and they were the parents of seven children, four of whom grew to maturity: Mary Sophia, deceased, who married J. P. Shin- del, Jr .; Elizabeth, deceased, who married Samuel T. Brown, of Milton; S.

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SUNBURY.

J., who served as chief burgess of Sunbury in 1857; and Catharine Louisa, deceased, who married Rev. M. L. Shindel.

John Bogar was a son of Paul Bogar, one of the first persons who engaged in the manufacture of pottery at Sunbury. But little is known regarding his personal history. He first opened a store on the south side of Chestnut street immediately east of the alley between Front and Second; thence he removed to the old jail building, southeast corner of Market street and Cen- ter alley, and after continuing in business at that place for some years, departed for Freeport, Illinois.

Henry Yoxtheimer was a native of Northumberland county and a son of Henry Yoxtheimer, Sr., a pioneer in the valley of Plum creek. He was a wagon maker by trade, and pursued that calling on Arch street opposite the jail; there he began merchandising on a small scale. In 1826-27, he erected a large brick building on the south side of Market street; it had a frontage of sixty feet, embracing part of the court house yard and the site of C. R. Savidge's residence. At the eastern side was an archway, the only one in connection with a mercantile establishment at Sunbury; it lead to a large warehouse at the rear end of the lot, where grain and produce were stored. Mr. Yoxtheimer owned one of the first canal boats regularly engaged in the carrying trade between Sunbury and Philadelphia, and was also a pioneer coal operator at Shamokin. He died on the 27th of November, 1849, at the age of fifty-six years; the store at Sunbury was continued by John W. Friling and William T. Grant, and was for some years one of the leading business places of that town. Mr. Yoxtheimer was twice married, first, to Margaret Malick, by whom he had two children: Margaret, widow of John W. Fril- ing, and William, deceased. His second wife was Mrs. Nancy Follmer, nee Bacon, and they were the parents of one child, Rachel, wife of William T. Grant, of Sunbury.

EARLY HOTELS.

Six persons were licensed as hotel keepers at Sunbury in 1780, viz .: Christian Gettig, Catherine Shaffer, Adam Walker, John Morrison; Joseph Lorentz, and David Mead.

Dr. R. H. Awl furnishes the following list of old hotels: Jonas Weaver's, "Sign of the Buck," a large frame building at the present site of the City Hotel; John Boulton's, "Sign of the Red Lion," a brick and frame building on the north side of Market street between Second and Third; Jacob Fox's, "Sign of the Bull's Head," the stone building at the southeast corner of Market and Third streets (Fox became proprietor in 1829; among his pred- ecessors were Jacob Weaver, Charles Hegins, John Hogan, William T. Brown, and Jacob Oberdorf); George Prince's, "The Lawrence House," a brick building adjacent to the site of the present court house-the sign was embellished with a portrait of the naval hero and his memorable words,

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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

"Don't give up the ship;" James R. Shannon's, "The Farmer's Hotel," the old jail building on Market street; Michael Kutzner's, the present residence of Mrs. Amelia Donnel on Market street (It was here that Daniel Levy and General Hugh Brady fought a duel with swords in 1812; Levy sustained a wound in the shoulder and the loss of his cue, while Brady broke his sword, and more serious consequences might have occurred if Michael Kutzner and Samuel Awl had not separated the combatants); Weitzel's, a large stone house on the south side of Market street near Front, with a sign emblazoned with an eagle and chain and the word "Hotel;" the old Maclay house, at the northeast corner of Front and Arch streets, where Henry Lebo, John Brady, H. W. Villee, and others conducted a hotel; John Lyon's, "The Indian Queen," on Front street below Penn; Henry Bartsher's, "Sign of the Black Horse," on the south side of Chestnut street between Front and Second; Charles D. Wharton's, at the southeast corner of Walnut and Front; William Mantz's, "Sign of the Stage Coach," on Front street; Henry Bucher's, "The Ferry House," a large frame building on Front street subsequently occupied as the borough poor house; John Cressinger's, at the Shamokin dam; Jacob Oberdorf's, "Sign of the Cross Keys," at the dam; John Miller's, "Sign of the Blue Ball," at the "point;" Edward Harrison's, "Sign of the Rising Sun," at the dam, and Henry Shaffer's, at the present site of the Neff House.

MUNICIPAL ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT.

The borough of Sunbury was incorporated by act of Assembly, March 24, 1797, with the following boundaries :-

Beginning at the mouth of Shamokin creek where it empties into the river Sus- quehanna at low water mark; thence up the said creek, on the north side thereof, to the mouth of the gut; thence up the same, on the west side thereof, to the line of Samuel Scott's land, and by the same to the river aforesaid at low water mark; thence down the same river at low water mark to the place of beginning.

Section IId of the act of incorporation provided for the election on the first Monday in May, 1797, and annually thereafter, of two burgesses, the one receiving the highest number of votes to be chief burgess, the other, second burgess; four assistant burgesses, "for assisting the said burgesses in man- aging the affairs of the borough, and in keeping the peace and good order therein," a high constable, and a town clerk. Section IIId conferred upon the burgesses and inhabitants the powers of a body corporate and politic; Section IVth authorized the holding of markets on Wednesday and Saturday of each week, under the supervision of a clerk appointed by the burgesses and inhabitants; Section Vth gave the corporation the privilege of making a road across the public way along the Susquehanna and establishing a land- ing place and ferry, and the exclusive right of operating the latter was con- firmed to it by Section VIth. The concluding section gave to the burgesses.

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SUNBURY.

and inhabitants the same general privileges enjoyed by the borough of Reading, within certain restrictions.

The proceedings of the burgesses and council since the incorporation of the borough have been regularly entered into minute books by the succes- sive town clerks; a complete file of these records has recently been collected by the present efficient clerk, Lewis D. Haupt, and reveals much that is of interest relating to the official acts of the borough fathers.

The machinery of local government has been variously modified from time to time. On the 16th of March, 1803, an amendment to the original act of incorporation was passed by the legislature, providing for the election annually of eight inhabitants as a common council with the general powers of a local legislative body, reserving to the people at large in their town meetings the privilege of revoking, altering, or amending the laws and ordi- nances enacted by the burgesses and council. At November sessions, 1803, upon the report of John Boyd, Joseph Priestley, and John Cowden, the ter- ritory comprised within the limits of Sunbury borough was erected into a township under the same name, thus adding the distinctive township officers to its civil list. The original charter was materially amended by the act of March 2, 1859, in which the powers of the burgesses and council in matters relating to grading, paving, and curbing the streets were extended and de- fined; the authorities were also given power to establish regulations for the levying and collection of taxes, the maintenance of a night watch, etc. On the 7th of December, 1885, by decree of court, the number of councilmen was increased to ten-two for each ward; and since that date one assistant burgess has been elected annually, instead of two second burgesses and four assistants, as formerly.

The original boundaries of the borough were so extended by act of the legislature approved on the 19th of April, 1858, as to include the Scott and Hunter farms, the improved portions of which are known as Caketown. This territory was reannexed to Upper Augusta township, April 2, 1860, and again became part of the borough, April 2, 1867, by legislative enactment in both instances.

The borough was first divided into wards by act of the legislature, April 2, 1867; two wards were created, known, respectively, as the East and West, with the Northern Central and the Philadelphia and Erie railroads as a mutual boundary. The growth of population at length demanded further subdivision, and on the 30th of March, 1885, in response to a petition with that object in view, the court appointed Dr. R. H. Awl, John Haas, and Nathan Martz as commissioners to consider the propriety of complying with the wishes of the petitioners. Their report was confirmed nisi, May 11, 1885; and, an election having expressed the popular sentiment favorably to the formation of five wards, a decree of court was premulgated on the 7th of De- cember, 1885, confirming the report of the commissioners absolutely. As.

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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

thus constituted, the First and Third wards comprise territory formerly in- cluded in the West ward, with Gooseberry alley as a mutual boundary; the Second and Fourth comprise territory formerly included in the East ward, with the center line of Chestnut street as a mutual boundary; while the Fifth comprises that part of the former territory of the East and West north of the southern line of the outlots numbered 10, 7, 6, 3, and 2.

The Sunbury Borough Poor District .- Jacob Preisinger, by his will bear- ing date of September 24, 1804, devised a two-story brick house (now the residence of Mrs. Charles G. Donnel, northeast corner of Second and Market streets) to his wife Catharine during her life, and to the poor of the borough of Sunbury after her death. By virtue of legislative authority conferred in an act approved on the 29th of March, 1832, the burgesses and council trans- ferred the property in question to Charles G. Donnel for the sum of one thousand dollars, which, however, continued as a lien upon the property for some years. The income arising from this source was regularly devoted to the relief of the poor, and after the extinguishment of the lien the principal was also applied until exhausted.

The affairs of the district are administered by two overseers, one of whom is elected annually for the term of two years. An old wooden building on Front street between Walnut and Spruce was rented as a poor house for some years; the present poor house was purchased in 1886; it is a two-story brick building located in Limestone valley one mile south of the borough limits on the line of the Northern Central railway, with an acre and a half of ground adjoining. One acre was originally bought, to which a half-acre was added in 1890.

The Sunbury Fire Department had its origin in 1810. At November term in that year a petition was presented to the court of quarter sessions, reciting that two barns and two stables had been destroyed at Sunbury within the last few weeks, and that a few individuals in that borough had procured an engine and formed themselves into a fire company; but, as one engine was inadequate for the protection of the town, the court, grand jury, and commissioners were petitioned to concur in the appropriation of a sum of money for the purchase of another. The petition, which is filed in the coun- ty archives, had evidently been industriously circulated, as it bears the signa- tures of representative citizens of Sunbury, Northumberland, Milton, Buffalo valley, Danville, Fishing Creek, the Mahanoy region, and other portions of the extensive region then embraced in Northumberland county. It received the following indorsement from the court: "Recommended to the grand jury on condition that a fire company or body under the present fire company be formed, to apply the public engine when needful to the security of the public buildings." Thereupon the Sunbury Fire Company, through a committee composed of Charles Hall, Hugh Bellas, Andrew Albright, and Enoch Smith, pledged its membership to " at all times be ready and willing to render any

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History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 50

Author: Bell, Herbert C. (Herbert Charles), 1868- ed; John, J. J., 1829- Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago, Brown, Runk Number of Pages: 1424

Author: Bell, Herbert C. (Herbert Charles), 1868- ed; John, J. J., 1829-
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, Brown, Runk
Number of Pages: 1424