History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 53

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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EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS.

Nothing definite is known concerning the early educational advantages of Sunbury, although it is possible that the community was not utterly destitute

498

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

of facilities for the instruction of its juvenile population. How meager was the local provision for this important object at the period immediately fol- lowing the close of the Revolutionary war is attested by an entry in the min- utes of the orphans' court of Northumberland county at September term, 1782, from which it appears that "on account of the troubles and difficulties attending our situation on the frontier," the guardians of the orphan children of Simon Cool were permitted to remove their wards "to some interior part of the country for the better advantages of their education and maintenance."

The earliest effort to establish a school at the county seat of which there is any authentic record was made in 1796, when a number of prominent citizens formed an association for the erection of a school building; their names, with the number of shares subscribed by each, were as follows: John Buyers, four; William McAdams, one; Daniel Hurley, three; William Dew- art, four; William Gray, three; John Weitzel, two; Martin Withington, two; Joseph Wallis, four; Martin Kendig, three; Paul Baldy, two; James Alex- ander, one; Christian Gettig, two; John Lyon, one; Frederick Lazarus, two; Nicholas Miller, one; James Black, three; Joseph Thompson, one, and Thomas Grant, one. Lot No. 136, situated at the southeast corner of Arch street and Center alley, was purchased for the sum of fifty-five pounds from Colonel Thomas Hartley, of York, Pennsylvania, and on the 19th of October, 1796, he executed a deed* to John Buyers, William Gray, William Dewart, Fred- erick Lazarus, John Weitzel, and Daniel Smith, "trustees nominated and appointed by the persons whose names are hereunto annexed, for the purpose of purchasing a school house to and for the use of the subscribers according to the number of shares to each person's name annexed" (the foregoing list). It is not probable that the school thus planned was ever established; if it was, it did not continue long enough to secure a place in the traditions of the community.

In a contribution to the "Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruc- tion for 1877," John F. Wolfinger, of Milton, who passed several years of his early life at Sunbury, states that the first school at that place was opened in 1800 "on the ground-floor room of a two-story log house on the south side of Chestnut street" a short distance west of Second. Among the families who patronized this school he mentions those of Alter, Baldy, Black, Bogar, Brady, Bucher, Buyers, Coldron, Darch, Dewart, Gray, Haas, Hall, Harrison, Hileman, Hurley, Irwin, Kiehl, Lazarus, Lebo, Lyon, Mantz, Markle, McKin- ney, Painter, Robins, Scott, Shaffer, Sinton, Simpson, Smith, Vanderslice, Wallis, Weaver, Weitzel, Withington, and Young. The first teacher was a Mr. Smith, "a small, chunky Englishman," and the school continued two or three years. Mr. Wolfinger also states that the second school was taught by a Mr. Davis, a middle-aged man, "on the ground-floor of a two-story log house" on the south side of Arch street between Front and Second.

* Northumberland County Deed Book I, p. 173.

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SUNBURY.

Dr. R. H. Awl furnishes the following list of teachers in private schools at Sunbury, the majority of whom taught before the introduction of the pub- lic school system: Samuel Howe, Mr. Smith, Mr. Davis, Andrew Callum, Will- iam Graham, Thomas Armstrong, James Nolan, Jesse K. Millard, J. G. Ungerer, Peter Hall, Edward Chapman,* E. C. Braden, John Colsher, Mr. O'Neil, Andrew Kennedy, Alexander Strickland, George Haas, Peter Shindel, Mr. Grimes, Christian Wood, John Sinton, John Eisely (German), Robert E. Smith, George A. Snyder, Mr. Carter, Ebenezer Russ, Daniel Kohler, Jeremiah Shindel, Francis P. Schwartz, Frederick Lebrun, Cale Pelton, Edward Oyster, Aaron Fisher, Mr. Thayer, Joseph B. McEnally, Joseph Rhoads, William Jordan, Doctor Huff, Richard Peale, Mr. Dickson, S. P. Wolverton, L. T. Rohrbach, Mr. Fink, A. N. Brice, Mrs. Irwin, Mrs. Patch, Mrs. Crosby, Mrs. Margaret Black, Mrs. Dorcas Grant, Mrs. Mary Eisely (German), Miss Maria Kennedy, Miss Elizabeth Kennedy, Mrs. Ogle (nee Alexander), Miss Mary Jane Peters, Miss Jane Finney, Miss Sophia Weimer, Miss Catherine Brooks, Miss Virginia Brooks, Miss Hogar, Miss Mary Whar- ton, Miss Elizabeth Breck, Miss Catherine Black, Mrs. Rebecca A. Awl (nee Pursel), Mrs. Susan Youngman, and Miss Ella Painter.

The following with reference to the location of the schools anterior to the introduction of the public school system has also been compiled by Dr. R. H. Awl: North side of Walnut street between Third and Fourth-a log build- ing subsequently occupied by Polly Henninger; north side of Walnut street between Front and Second-a log building subsequently occupied by John Snyder, fisherman; east side of Third street between Penn and Chestnut- the second story of Weiser's tannery, reached by an outside stairway; Chest- nut street between Second and Third-a log house subsequently occupied by a German named Westerman; southeast corner of Market and Front-a frame building subsequently occupied by "Het" Colley (colored); Front street between Market and Arch-the second story of a log building that stood immediately south of the alley and across from the Episcopal church; south- east corner of Penn and Front streets-a log building subsequently occupied

* Edward Chapman was a native of Litchfield county, Connecticut. In his "Reminiscences," published in the Northumberland County Legal News, John F. Wolfinger describes him as a man of fine appearance, agreeable manners, and superior intellectual endowments. He read law with Charles Hall, and was admitted to the bar in April, 1814, but never engaged in the practice of that profession, and died on the 5th of April, 1821, at the age of thirty-two. He possessed fine poetic talent, and was the author of several poems which found their way into the newspapers of the day, one of wbich, entitled "Columbia " begins as follows: -

"Columbia's shores are wild and wide, Columbia's hills are high, And rudely planted side by side, Her forests meet the eye; But narrow must those shores be made, And low Columbia's hills, And low her ancient forests laid, Ere Freedom leaves her fields; For 'tis the land where, rude and wild, She played her gambols when a child."

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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

by John Martin as a hatter shop; south side of Market street between Third and Fourth-a frame building subsequently occupied by a Mr. Gulicks, harness maker; northeast corner of Chestnut and Third-a log building sub- sequently occupied by Miss Sallie Giberson, a lady of remarkable avoirdupois; Chestnut street between Front and Second-a log building subsequently occupied by Jacob Bright, watchmaker; Second street near its intersection with Race " Beshler's red house;" west side of Second near Race a build- ing subsequently used as a wagon-making shop by Jacob Heller; south side 'of Chestnut street between Third and Fourth-a building subsequently occupied by John Hileman, shoemaker; north side of Chestnut street between Third and Fourth- a log building subsequently occupied by Jacob Coble; north side of Market street between Third and Fourth-a building subse- quently occupied by John Boulton as a hotel; north side of Penn street be- tween Third and Fourth-a large building subsequently occupied by " Cap- tain" Heinen, a soldier of the war of 1812; south side of Arch street between Second and Third-Youngman's printing office; northeast corner of Front and Arch-the old Maclay house; south side of Market street between-Second and Third-a frame building near Third; northeast corner of Third and Race; west side of Second street between Market and Chestnut-a small building nearly opposite the law building of S. P. Wolverton. The most important of these early locations were the log building opposite the Episco- pal church, where Edward Chapman and Alexander Strickland taught; the Weiser tannery, where Chapman and Braden taught; and the log building on the north side of Walnut between Front and Second, known as "the Dutch school," and used by the German population as a school house and place of worship. Christopher Wood taught at the north side of Chestnut street between Second and Third; Robert Smith, brother of Rev. William R. Smith, at the southeast corner of Market and Front; the Misses Kennedy, at the south side of Market between Third and Fourth; Mrs. Ogle, Miss Mary Jane Peters, and Ebenezer Russ, at the south side of Chestnut street between Third and Fourth; John Colsher (who died on the 25th of May, 1857, at the age of ninety years), at the north side of Market street between Third and Fourth; Miss Elizabeth Breck, at the Youngman printing office on Arch street; Lebrun and Pelton, at the south side of Market just west of Third, from which Pelton moved to the northeast corner of Third and Race.

The Sunbury Academy was established in 1835 (as nearly as can be as- certained) by Cale Pelton, a teacher of much ability, whose school proved to be a great intellectual stimulus to this community. The curriculum in- cluded the higher mathematics, Latin, and Greek. Mr. Pelton was a graduate of Yale College, and the author of a series of outline maps and other aids to the study of geography that once acquired a wide circulation. His work was ably continued by Frederick Lebrun, a graduate of the Univer- sity of Oxford, an accomplished linguist, and a teacher of the highest repu-

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SUNBURY.

tation, whose last term closed in March, 1839. Among the subsequent teachers were Joseph C. Rhoads, Aaron C. Fisher, Dr. Isaac Huff, Henry Donnel, a Mr. Thayer, Joseph B. McEnally, Richard S. Peale, and S. P. Wolverton. The institution was incorporated in 1838, and efforts were several times made to erect a building, but without success.

The Public School System was adopted at Sunbury in 1834. Regarding the attitude of public sentiment when the vital subject of taxation for its support was presented, the following extract from the Workingmen's Advo- cate (edited by John G. Youngman, who was the secretary of the first school board) in its issue of December 6, 1834, may be of interest :-

Upon due notice given by the school directors, a small portion of the citizens of the borough of Sunbury met on the 29th ultimo in the court house, and, acting upon the VIIth section of the "free school" law, passed and approved, April 1, 1834,- Henry Reader, in the chair-

Resolved, That double the amount of the county tax be raised as a sum in addition to the amount of half the county tax determined upon by the school delegates on the 4th of November previous.

These amounts, added to our dividend from the State treasury (eighty-six dollars, twenty-three and three fourths cents) would amount to about fourteen hundred fifty dollars. This large sum, to be collected chiefly from the pockets of persons who either have themselves no children to send to school, or have intended them for higher schools, was altogether unexpected, and caused considerable excitement among a ma- jority of the citizens, which was evident in a subsequent meeting held on the evening of Tuesday last, Mr. George Prince in the chair. This meeting, we are told, was at- tended by upwards of one hundred persons, all, except two or three, vehemently ex- pressing their determination against paying anything in addition to the sum agreed upon by the school delegates; thus leaving no doubt that an attempt to impose and collect any additional sum would become a very troublesome affair, however lawful such an addition might be, the nullifiers not coming forward and expressing their negative sentiments upon this subject in the first meeting. Under these circumstances, the course left the school directors to pursue is very doubtful and difficult.

Under the new regime the first school building, a two-story brick structure sixty feet long and forty feet wide, was erected in 1836. The directors at that time were Rev. J. P. Shindel, William M. Robins, Jacob Painter, George Bright, and Alexander Jordan. The contractors for the building were Charles Dering and Samuel Fetter. It occupied the site of the Masonic hall on Third street, and was the only school building in the borough until 1867, when it was sold to the Masonic order. Two school houses were erected in 1866-67, one at the southwest corner of Second and Spruce, the other on the south side of Arch street between Third and Fourth; both have since been enlarged, and are still occupied for school purposes. The building on Second street between Market and Arch was erected in 1868 and enlarged in 1873. The building on the west side of Fourth street between Penn and Walnut was built in 1868 and enlarged in 1884. The Fifth ward (Caketown) school house was erected in 1876.

The high school was established in 1870, when a regular system of grad-

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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

ing was first adopted; the board at that time was composed of L. T. Rohr- bach, Jacob Fetter, M. C. Gearhart, W. Rhoads, M. P. Scupham, and Henry Y. Friling. The high school organized on the 3d of October, 1870, with J. B. Miller as principal, at J. M. Bartholomew's store-room on the west side of Fourth street between Arch and Market; from that place it was removed to the building on Second street opposite the jail, and thence to the present substantial three-story structure on Front street.

The following items have been derived from the official report of the school board for the year ending on the first Monday in June, 1890 :-

Number of schools. 18

Average number of months taught.

Number of male teachers employed.

Number of female teachers employed.

Average salary of males per month.

$68

Average salary of females per month.

$37

Number of male scholars attending school.

526

Number of female scholars attending school

535

Whole number iu attendance

1,061

Average daily attendance

802

Average percentage of attendance

.95

Cost of each pupil per month

$0.98

Indebtedness of district $12,352.16

Estimated value of school property

33,000.00

CHURCHES.

Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church is one of the oldest and largest con- gregations of that denomination in central Pennsylvania. Its first place of worship was a log building on the north side of Walnut street between Front and Second, jointly used for school and church purposes, and finally sold in 1841 to the Rev. J. P. Shindel. In September, 1791, proposals were received for the erection of a church edifice "forty by thirty feet and sufficiently high enough for raising a gallery." On the 12th of December, 1793 (as evidenced by a letter from Rev. Christian Espich, published in Kennedy's Gazette of January 1, 1794), a congregational meeting was held at which John Painter, Philip Peffer, Bernard Hubley, and Frederick Lazarus were elected "to meet at the house of Christian Gettig on Friday, the 20th instant, to settle and adjust the accounts of the managers appointed to build the church for said congregation." The auditors met accordingly; their published report states that "The managers, viz., Christian Gettig, Nicholas Routher, Paul Baldy, and Peter Smith, merit the thanks of the congregation for the under- taking of said building, as their trouble must have been great and arduous; a great part of their time was spent in superintending the building; from a liberal and Christian spirit they have never charged anything therefor; the architecture of the building is a masterpiece for so small a sum of money that was expended." They presented the following financial summary :-

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SUNBURY.

Aggregate cost, including the bell

£497

2s. 4d.

Aggregate receipts.

401

4 2

Aggregate disbursements

399

0 812

Uncollected subscriptions

105 12 2

Unpaid obligations

71/2

This building was situated on the west side of Third street, at or near the site of the second church edifice of this congregation. It was constructed of hewn logs. The pews were of the "old-fashioned high-back order," and the pulpit was of the "wine glass or goblet style." A pipe-organ of Stall's make, one of the first in central Pennsylvania, was purchased in 1815, and when first played attracted such a crowd that the building sustained consid- erable damage by a collapse of the floor. During the year 1826 the struct- ure was plastered both inside and outside, the pulpit and pews were modern- ized, and the building was reopened for service September 10th of that year. At a congregational meeting, June 24, 1841, it was decided to estab- lish a separate denominational Sunday school, to sell the old school house and lot, and to erect a Sunday school building on the church lot, for which John Young, George Martin, and Rev. J. P. Shindel were appointed as a building committee. A brick structure was accordingly erected, and used for Sunday school and other purposes as designed. At a congregational meeting on the 28th of July, 1853, formal action was taken for the erection of a new church edifice. The corner-stone of the brick structure which now stands on Third street was laid on the 8th of September, 1854, and on the 25th of December, 1855, the dedication occurred. This building was subse- quently enlarged; a parsonage was also erected on Walnut street. The site of the present church edifice at the southwest corner of Market and Fifth streets was purchased in 1886 at a cost of five thousand dollars; ground was broken on the 2d of August in that year, and on the 10th of October follow- ing the corner-stone was laid. John Haas, John L. Miller, John B. Lenker, William H. Rohrbach, and Solomon Stroh composed the building committee. The edifice was completed and furnished at a cost of twenty-seven thousand dollars, and dedicated on the 10th of June, 1888, when Rev. J. H. Menges, D. D., delivered the dedicatory sermon. In pursuance of congregational action taken on the 18th of May, 1887, the present parsonage on Fifth street at the rear of the church was built at a cost of two thousand dollars.

Rev. John Herbst is supposed to have been one of the first pastors; Rev. Chistian Espich was pastor at the time the first church edifice was erected, and Reverend Unger was also an early incumbent of that office. Since 1812 the succession has been as follows: J. P. Shindel, June 4, 1812, to July 2, 1850; (Mr. Shindel preached only in German; toward the close of his pastorate Rev. J. Alleman also conducted English services;) P. Born, D. D., April, 1851, to September, 1859; P. Rizer, April 1, 1860, to May 1, 1862; M. Rhodes, D. D., July 1, 1862, to January 1, 1867; G. W. Hemperley, 1867 to October, 1876; George Parsons, December, 1876, to October 1, 1884; S.

504

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

G. Shannon, March 8, 1885, to April 1, 1889; J. H. Weber, September 1, 1889, present incumbent. The church received two hundred sixty accessions during the first year of Mr. Weber's pastorate.

The Sunday school was organized on the 4th of July, 1841, with William M. Gray as superintendent and one hundred six members. The present superintendent is John Haas, who has held that position since 1868 with the exception of one year. The official report for 1890 showed a membership of nine hundred twenty-one. A branch school was organized in the Third ward school house on the 7th of September, 1890, with sixty-five members.

The First Reformed Church was organized in 1784. The first church building at the site of the present edifice, northwest corner of Second and Chestnut streets, was erected in 1793; it was a wooden building, with en- trances from the east and south; the pulpit was at the north end, and gal- leries extended around the remaining three sides. The Reformed and Pres- byterian congregations jointly occupied this building for religious worship until 1841, when the latter withdrew. In 1847, under the pastorate of Rev. Richard A. Fisher, it was replaced by a substantial brick structure. In 1885, under the pastorate of Rev. J. Calvin Leinbach, this congregation laid upon the altar of the church a centenary offering to the amount of nearly nine thousand dollars, to be devoted toward enlarging and beautifying their church edifice. The work was commenced, August 9, 1885, and the corner- stone was laid on the 13th of September following, Rev. J. A. Peters, D. D., of Danville, Pennsylvania, preaching the sermon in the Presbyterian church. The building was completed, and dedicated to the worship of God on Sun- day, May 16, 1886, the pastor being assisted in the services"by Rev. J. O. Miller, D. D., of York, Pennsylvania, and Rev. C. S. Gerhard, of Reading, Pennsylvania.

Who organized the congregation in 1784 can not be ascertained; as far as learned from the very imperfect records, the following ministers have served the congregation in the order of their names: Rev. Jonathan Rahauser, 1789 -92; George Geistweit, 1794-1804; John Dietrich Adams, 1808-13; Mar- tin Bruner, 1813-23; Richard A. Fisher, 1826-54; Daniel Y. Heisler, 1856-58; John W. Steinmetz, 1858-62; William C. Cremer, 1864-67; Abraham H. Dotterer, 1869-70; Calvin S. Gerhard, 1870-79; Thomas J. Barkley, 1879- 84; and Rev. J. Calvin Leinbach, from 1884 to the present time.

The Sunday school was organized by Rev. Richard A. Fisher.

First Presbyterian Church .- On the 31st of May, 1787, "the united con- gregations of Buffalo, Sunbury, and Northumberland, having never in these places had the stated administration of the Gospel ordinances,"* extended a call to the Rev. Hugh Morrison, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Root, Ireland, who had been admitted to the Presbytery of Donegal in 1786. The call was intrusted to Reverend Wilson for presentation to the moderator of

*Linn's Annals of Buffalo Valley, p 249.

Charmmartine. In D,

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SUNBURY.

Carlisle Presbytery by William Gray and Abraham Scott, of Sunbury; Will- iam Cooke and James Hepburn, of Northumberland, and William Clark, of Buffalo; it bore eight signatures from Sunbury, from which it is clearly evi- dent that the church at this place was very weak numerically. Mr. Morrison became pastor of the Buffalo church in October, 1787, and continued in that relation until November, 1801; Sunbury was included in his field of labor during this period, and perhaps later, as he died on the 13th of September, 1804, and is buried in the Sunbury cemetery. The next pastor was Rev. Isaac Grier, S. T. D., who died in 1814; since that date Reverends Robert F. N. Smith, William R. Ashmead, William R. Smith, Wheelock S. Stone, William R. Smith, William Simonton, James Reardon, Samuel W. Reigart, Orr Lawson, Samuel J. Milliken, Martin L. Ross, and Andrew Brydie have successively served as pastors. The church became a separate pastorate dur- ing Mr. Simonton's incumbency; previous to that time it had been connected with Northumberland, where the pastors, with the exception of Rev. William . R. Smith, resided.

The Presbyterians worshipped in the old church building at the north- west corner of Second and Chestnut streets from its erection until 1841, when they built a brick church edifice at the northwest corner of Third and Chest- nut. This was the place of worship until 1870. The deed for the site of the present church building, a two-story brick structure on the north side of Market street between Second and Third, was executed on the 11th of June, 1869, in favor of William L. Dewart, William M. Rockefeller, A. N. Brice, L. T. Rohrbach, and J. William Johns, trustees; building operations were begun on the 24th of the same month, and on the 25th of December, 1870, the completed structure was dedicated.

The parsonage, a brick building at the southeast corner of Second and Race streets, was erected by Rev. William R. Smith. It was long the resi- dence of Miss Mary Hunter, who devised the property to this church by her will.

Judge Alexander Jordan was the first superintendent of the Sunday school, and filled that position many years.

St. John's Methodist Episcopal Church .- The Methodists of Sunbury worshiped at Northumberland for some years after the introduction of Method- ism into this section of the State. The year in which a local class was first organized can not be definitely stated; it is known, however, that William Search and wife, Eli Diemer and wife, Mrs. Nancy Follmer, Solomon Shaffer and wife, Jacob Dawson, and Jacob Heller were among its members, of whom Mr. Heller was the first leader, and the class meetings were held at the house of Mr. Shaffer. The grand jury room in the old court house was the place of public worship until 1838, when a one-story brick church edifice, now the property of the Catholics, was erected on Arch street near Third during the pastorate of Rev. Henry G. Dill. The corner-stone of the present church

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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

edifice, a two-story brick structure on the corner of Arch and Second streets, was laid, July 2, 1869; the building was rapidly approaching completion when the tower collapsed, involving a loss of seven thousand dollars; work was resumed, the tower was rebuilt, and on the 13th of March, 1870, the lecture room was dedicated, Bishop E. R. Ames, Rev. C. C. McCabe, and others officiating. The dedication of the entire building occurred on the 24th of October, 1873.

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History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 53

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