History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 62

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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The fourth Sunday school of the town, organized exclusively for very young children, was commenced in the spring of 1826 in the east room of a frame house that stood at the corner of Elm and Mahoning streets. The first superintendent was Samuel F. Headley, and his immediate successor was David Hull. The place of meeting was subsequently changed to John Chestnut's saddler shop on Front street, but the school disbanded when Mr. Hull retired from the superintendency.

In the spring or summer of 1826 the Associate Reformed Sunday school was organized in the Rev. George Junkin's church with Matthew Laird and Daniel Gaston as superintendents. The first teachers were Daniel Gaston, Joseph Marr, Phineas B. Marr, Samuel F. Headley, David Hull, Samuel Pol- lock, James Pollock, James Ireland, William Ireland, Ellen Sanderson, Sarah McCleery, Jane McCleery, Jane Hutchinson, Ellen (or Eleanor) Hutchinson, Hannah Rittenhouse, and Mary Rittenhouse. May 26, 1833, it gave place to another school organized in the same church with Dr. Samuel Pollock as super- intendent. From 1833 to 1839 it had an average attendance of seventy schol- ars, and was continued with varying success until April 1, 1865, when it disbanded entirely.

The Baptist Sunday school was organized in March, 1833, with William Thomas and James Moore, Sr., as superintendents. Among the first teachers were Robert M. Seydell, James Ward, and Mrs. Harriet Markle. It is still continued with a large measure of usefulness, and has been a sectarian organ- ization throughout its history.

The Methodist Sunday school was organized in 1837 with Robert Moodie and John Nevins as its first superintendents. Among the teachers at an early period in its history were Thomas Evans, Moses Chamberlin, Thomas Mervine, James White, John Clark, Katy Hougendobler, and Rachel Correy. This school has always been distinctively denominational in its character, and has shared in the prosperity of the flourishing organization with which it is connected.

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In the spring of 1838 the Lutheran and Reformed congregations estab- lished Harmony Sunday school under the superintendency of Daniel Vanlew. July 20, 1840, it was reorganized under the name of the "New Har- mony Sunday School," with Daniel Vanlew, superintendent; Abraham T. Goodman, librarian; Daniel Sterner, secretary; Daniel S. Goodman, treas- urer, and L. L. Beidleman, John Datesman, Frederick Goodman, and Thomas Strine, managers. On the 16th of October in the same year the name was changed to "Union Sunday School," and under this name it was continued until August 9, 1847, when it became a distinctively Lutheran school and has so continued. In the year ending July 26, 1847, it numbered one hundred thirty scholars and twenty-two teachers, and had a library of three hundred fifty volumes. The Bible class was organized, July 18, 1854, and the infant department, November, 5, 1854.

The Reformed Sunday school was organized, June 1, 1851, under William H. Frymire as its first superintendent, and is still continued with a fair degree of prosperity.

The first African Sunday school was started in 1850 under the manage- ment of John Chambers and Mrs. Sarah Carter. A second was begun in 1878.

The Evangelical Sunday school was organized in 1868, with Rev. Samuel Davis as first superintendent, and, although one of the most recently formed in the town, has proven a useful adjunct to that church.

A Lutheran mission school was established in 1873 with Isaiah Ditzler as superintendent. This is still continued as the Sunday school of Christ Lutheran church.

MISCELLANEOUS MORAL AND HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS. 1

The Susquehanna Bible Society was formed in 1815, embracing the coun- ties of Northumberland, Columbia, Lycoming, and Union, and its first meet- ing was held at Milton, October 20, 1816. It sustained an existence of fluct- uating vitality for twenty-three years, and doubtless subserved a useful pur- pose.

The Milton Bible Society, auxiliary to the Susquehanna Bible Society, was originally organized in 1816. It became extinct in 1829, but was reorgan- ized, August 20, 1839, with Rev. James Williamson, president; Reverends John Mckinley, Charles F. Stoever, and John Miller, and Samuel Hepburn, vice-presidents; John F. Wolfinger, secretary, and James Pollock, treasurer. Its expressed object was "to distribute the sacred Scriptures without note or comment, and to aid the Susquehanna Bible Society with its surplus funds." It was superseded after six years of active existence by the Female Bible Society of Milton, organized August 23, 1845, which became a valuable ad- junct to the churches of the town in disseminating religious truth.

The Northumberland Missionary Society was formed in October, 1818;

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it was coextensive with the Susquehanna Bible Society in territorial extent, and was designed to provide preaching for destitute or indifferent localities as well as to extend the circulation of the Bible. The first officers were Rev. John Bryson, president; Rev. Thomas Hood, secretary, and James P. San- derson, treasurer, in addition to whom there were three vice-presidents and nine laymen as managers. The Auxiliary Missionary Society of Milton was organized, October 8, 1824, for the purpose of promoting the interests of the parent body.

The Milton Sunday School Union was organized in 1826, and included all the Sunday schools in Northumberland, Columbia, Union, and Lycoming counties. Meetings were held annually for several years, and tabulated statements transmitted to the American Sunday School Union at Philadel- phia. These embraced a summary of the condition of each school, numerical and financial, its officers, literature, etc. It does not appear that this asso- ciation enjoyed a very long period of active existence.

The Susquehanna Tract Society was formed at Milton in 182S. The first tract depositarian and the active spirit in the movement was Rev. George Junkin; he was successively followed by Eliza McGuigan and John F. Wol- finger, and the latter, under direction of the Philadelphia Tract Society, wound up its affairs. There was a Milton society auxiliary to this and formed about the same time.

The Milton Temperance Society was organized in 1830, mainly through the efforts of Rev. George Junkin, its first president. Two years later Rev. John Rhodes was president and John F. Wolfinger, secretary. While this society denounced the use of ardent spirits as a beverage, it permitted the use of wine, beer, ale, and cider, and it was not until March 20, 1835, that a total abstinence organization, the Milton Reformed Temperance Society, was formed, its first president being Joseph Bound and first secretary John F. Wolfinger. They sustained the same official connection with the other society, and by the united efforts of the two organizations temperance meetings were held and addressed by the best local talent as well as by speakers from a dis- tance. They also co-operated with similar societies at other points in a series of "Northern Temperance Conventions," which were held at various points in the West Branch valley and formed an important part of the temperance propaganda in this section of the State at that period.

The Milton Association for the Better Observance of the Christian Sabbath was formed in 1844 with Joseph Rhoads as president and John F. Wolfinger as secretary. It was designed to secure the enforcement of civil enactments regarding Sabbath observance and to promote the growth of public sentiment favorable to such observance, in both of which objects it met the expectations of its friends.

The Young Men's Christian Association of Milton had its inception in 1872. An organization under that name was formed at the Presbyterian

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church on the 9th of April, 1858, but through lack of competent leadership it disbanded after a brief career. The present association was originally or- ganized, March 3, 1872, as the "Young Men's Prayer Meeting of Milton " with seventeen members, of whom John A. Bright was elected president and John M. Caldwell secretary. This was effected at the study of the Lutheran pastor. In the following year the name was changed to " The Young People's Prayer Meeting of Milton," and on the 16th of April, 1876, it became "The Christian Association of Milton," with a membership including both sexes and all ages. The present name was adopted, June 30, 1878, when the officers were as follows: president, Spencer L. Finney; vice-presidents: William P. Wheeland and William B. Snyder; secretary, John F. Wolfinger; treasurer, George T. Gawby, and librarian, John M. Caldwell. Hitherto it had been purely a local organization, but became associated with the district and State movements on the 1st of March, 1887. In April, 1889, A. Murrman, assistant secretary at Harrisburg, was sent to Milton by the State committee and effected an organization upon the present basis with a board of managers composed of John M. Caldwell, president; B. B. Cannon, vice-president; R. M. Longmore, treasurer; John M. Correy, recording secretary, H. R. Frick, S. W. Murray, D. Clinger, A. A. Koser, J. M. Hedenburg, J. D. Hartzel, John Y. Buoy, U. G. Beck, S. J. Shimer, W. H. Beck, and A. L. Swartz. For some years the meetings were held at the different churches, and it was not until 1887 that rooms were secured specially for the use of the association. The present quarters on Front street were first occupied in September, 1889, when Mr. Murrman assumed charge as general secretary, and from that date the usefulness of the association in its social features may properly be said to have begun. The membership in June, 1890, was seventy-two.

EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS.

Educational effort at Milton, no less than the material development of the town, received its early impetus from Andrew Straub. On the 30th of August, 1798, he conveyed to John Teitsworth, John Cochran, John Chest- nut, John Armstrong, and George Calhoon, trustees, lot No. 90 of the town plot, "for and in consideration of the great desire" he had "to promote the education of youth in the town of Milton" and at the nominal sum of five shillings. It was expressly stipulated that the lot in question should be used "for the only purpose of a school house being erected thereon and a regular English or other school being kept for the education of youth in the town of Milton, and whatsoever other uses may be considered as beneficial to said school by the trustees thereof."

At the time this deed was executed a school house had already been erected. It was a small log building, and stood on the triangular lot of ground on Lower Market street near the location of a brick school building erected there in 1872. The first teacher was James Cochran, and his im-

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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

mediate successors were James McGuigan and William H. Sanderson. This was the only school house in the lower part of the town from the time of its erection in 1796 until the year 1807. It continued to be used for educational purposes until 1838.

In 1802 a one-story frame school building was erected on Broadway at the site of the school house burned at that place in 1880. This was attended by the school population of the upper part of the village, and the first teacher was John L. Finney, subsequently register and recorder of Northumberland county.

Hitherto no provision had been made for the education of the German element, which formed a considerable part of the population. In 1807 a log school house was built on Mahoning street by the joint efforts of the Re- formed and Lutheran congregations; it was designed to serve for both school and church purposes, and the school conducted here combined religious and secular instruction. But it did not prosper, perhaps because the English schools offered superior advantages, and the enterprise was abandoned.

In 1838 the log school house originally erected on Lower Market street was sold and removed to the vicinity of the old stone mill at the mouth of Limestone run, where it was rebuilt and used as a blacksmith shop. Its former site was marked by a depression in the ground, which formed a pond and in the winter afforded skating for the juvenile population that congre- gated at its successor, a brick school house of two rooms erected in 1838 by Thomas S. Mackey under the auspices of the local board of directors.

Secondary education early received attention at Milton. In 1815 Joseph D. Biles established an English school at the Broadway school house, adding Latin and Greek to his curriculum in the following year. This gained for his school the name of "The Milton Academy," thus for the first time ap- plied to an educational institution at this place. In 1817 it numbered among its students John F. Wolfinger, for many years a member of the Northum- berland county bar, Samuel Pollock, and James Pollock, afterward Governor of Pennsylvania. But this school did not long continue, and other peda- gogues succeeded Biles whose inclination did not impel them to continue the advanced course of study that he established. The Broadway school house continued in use for educational purposes until 1849, when it was sold by the directors and rebuilt at a different location as an African Methodist church. In the same year it was replaced by a new brick school building, which was destroyed in the fire of 1880.

The Lancasterian system was introduced in 1830, and was the next at- tempt to establish a school of advanced standing. This was so called from Joseph Lancaster, an English educator by whom it was elaborated, and its distinguishing feature was the employment of pupils in the higher classes, or the most proficient pupil in each class, as assistants to the teacher. The Milton Lancasterian Association, of which Henry Frick and Joseph Rhoads

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were the leading members, introduced the system at this place. The school was conducted in a building at the site of the Center Street school house, owned by the association and erected in 1830. The first principal was A. T. W. Wright, a gentleman of fine education from Lancaster county, Pennsyl- vania, and under his administration the school attained a fair degree of pros- perity and popularity. He was succeeded by Charles Guenther, who did not, unfortunately, possess the qualifications of his predecessor; the associa- tion became involved financially, and its property was sold at sheriff's sale. It was purchased by Henry Frick, and subsequently passed to the school directors; they divided it into three rooms, two of which, those on the east and west, were used for school purposes, while the apartment in the center was appropriated to the purposes of an armory.

The Milton Academy, the leading educational institution of the West Branch valley during the period of its existence, originated with the Rev. George Junkin, pastor of the Presbyterian church and the moving spirit in many public enterprises of a moral and educational character. Through his efforts a stock company was formed, composed of Samuel Hepburn, Joseph Rhoads, William H. Sanderson, Samuel Teas, Sarah Pollock, and others, by whom a plain, one-story brick building was erected at a cost of four hundred dollars at the brow of the hill on the north side of Broadway, and a short distance to the east of the frame school building previously mentioned. The entrance was on the western side, and from its elevated location the academy commanded a view of the town, the river, and the valley. The interior was divided into two rooms by a narrow entrance hall. The apartment on the north was the smaller of the two; it was occupied by the students in Latin and Greek, the higher mathematics, rhetoric, etc., while the other room was set apart for those who had not advanced beyond the ordinary English branches. A small cupola surmounted the building, but the necessary appendage of a bell was never provided.

The first principal of the academy, to whom its usefulness as an institu- tion of learning and the high character it maintained were principally due, was the Rev. David Kirkpatrick. He was employed as a teacher of the clas- sics at Oxford, Chester county, Pennsylvania, when Mr. Junkin formed his acquaintance and prevailed on him to change the field of his labors; he accordingly came to Milton, and on the second Monday of May, 1822, opened a classical school at a frame building that occupied the site of Dr. James Mc- Cleery's residence on Front street. In the following October he removed his school to the academy building, where he taught until November, 1834, assisted at different times by a Mr. Mayne, Thomas C. Hambly, and others. Among his students were many who subsequently acquired honorable rank in the legal and medical professions, and as clergymen, teachers, civil engineers, etc.

The Milton Classical Institute was the next institution of advanced char-

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acter in the borough. It was founded by a company of citizens in 1859, and placed in charge of Rev. William H. T. Wylie, pastor of the Reformed Pres- byterian church. The building was a two story brick structure, erected at a cost of six thousand dollars, and situated on Prospect Hill at the site of a school house erected there in 1845 by the school board. After Mr. Wylie retired the owners disposed of the property to Colonel Wright, of Rochester, New York, by whom the school was continued until the building was de- stroyed by fire in 1867.

The first school building on Center street, as previously stated, was that erected by the Lancasterian Association. It was used for school purposes until 1859, when it was replaced by a brick structure two stories in height and containing four rooms. The main entrance was on the south side, with side-doors on the east and west, and the building was raised somewhat above the level of the lot. This school house was doubtless creditable to the town at the time when it was built, and was the largest in the borough at the time of its destruction by fire in 1880. It was immediately replaced by the pres- ent Center Street building, a brick structure of ample and symmetrical pro- portions, convenient arrangement, and careful adaptation to the purposes required. It was dedicated on the 25th of February, 1881, with appropriate musical and literary exercises, including an address by J. P. Wickersham, State superintendent; the cost was eleven thousand eight hundred dollars.

The Lower Market Street school house, a one-story brick building contain- ing two rooms, was built in 1872, and is the only school house of the borough that escaped destruction in the fire of 1880. It is situated upon the lot originally deeded for school purposes by Andrew Straub in 1798, and is the third building there erected.

The borough high school was organized in 1878, and embraces in its course of study the higher mathematics, Latin, chemistry, botany, physics, mental science, and the English branches. The principals have been as fol- lows: William Foulk, J. Elliott Ross, William Deatrick, E. R. Deatrick, and S. O. Goho; the last named is the present incumbent, and was first elected to this position in 1883. Its duties include also the supervision of the other departments of the schools, and a district superintendency is contemplated.

LOCAL PAPERS.

The newspapers of Milton have been a factor in its literary activity and material development since 1816. Henry Frick issued the first number of The Miltonian on the 21st of September in that year, and the journal thus established has been continuously published longer than any other in the county. The succession of local newspapers since that date has been as fol- lows: The States Advocate, The West Branch Farmer and True Democrat, The Northumbrian, The Milton Ledger, The Advocate and Day-Spring, The Milton Democrat, The Northumberland County Herald, The Milton

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Argus, The Milton Economist (consolidated with the Argus under the name of The Milton Record), and The Standard. Three papers are published at present, the Miltonian and Record (weekly), and the Standard (tri-weekly).

CEMETERIES.

The earliest place of interment in the vicinity of Milton was south of Ferry.lane between Front street and the river. The next was the Reformed burying ground, donated by Andrew Straub in 1793, and the third was the Episcopal graveyard, ground for which was given in 1794 by Joseph Marr. Straub also gave the ground for a Methodist burial place. The old Pres- byterian cemetery grounds were conferred upon that congregation by Daniel Scudder. All these places of interment have been abandoned, and the re- mains buried there have been removed.

The Milton Cemetery Association, incorporated in 1853, controls what is popularly known as the "upper cemetery," a tract of land east of the Philadelphia and Erie railroad, possessing great natural beauty of scenery, enhanced by tasteful and artistic arrangement of shrubbery, etc. Among the recent interments here was that of ex-Governor James Pollock.

The Harmony Cemetery Association, incorporated in 1860, controls the burial ground formerly attached to the old Harmony church, and hence the place of interment of many of the German families of the community through several generations.

CHAPTER. XVII.

SHAMOKIN.

BRIEF OF TITLE-THE TOWN PLAT-PIONEERS-SHAMOKIN IN 1839-SUBSEQUENT GROWTH SUMMARIZED- THE FIRST STORES AND HOTELS-EARLY PHYSICIANS AND LAWYERS-MUNICIPAL ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT-THE RIOT OF 1877-FACILITIES OF TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION-THE SHAMOKIN COAL TRADE - GENERAL INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS-THE POSTOFFICE-BANKS-WATER, GAS, AND ELECTRIC LIGHT-BOARD OF TRADE-SECRET AND OTHER SOCIETIES- THE PRESS-CHURCHES-EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS-CEMETERIES.

A LTHOUGH the old Reading road, opened in 1770 to connect the incipient settlements of the upper Susquehanna with the Schuylkill valley, passed through the present limits of Shamokin borough, this locality was for many years practically unmarked by the influences of civil- ization. There were numerous varieties of timber, but its value was trifling and a long period elapsed before the waters of Shamokin creek at this part

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of its course were made to subserve a useful purpose in furnishing the power for a single saw mill; and there was coal in practically inexhaustible quanti- ties, but its existence was scarcely known and the time had not yet arrived for its profitable development. And when, at length, the miner's pick and shovel began the work of prospecting, the immediate results were not such as to encourage sanguine expectations. The railroad and mining industries of this country had not yet passed the experimental stage, and it was not until adequate transportation facilities had been provided, with the growth of a demand for the distinctive product of the region, that the way was opened for its unrestricted development. Then followed a rapid influx of population, diverse in language, nationality, and creed, but homogeneous in the purpose of lending their common energies to the work, and thus Sha- mokin, the largest town in Northumberland county, has reached its present proportions. It has sixteen churches, an efficient system of public and parochial schools, water, gas, and electric light companies, three lines of railway, two banks, and an ample quota of stores and hotels, while the coll- ieries of the surrounding region and a variety of local industrial establish- ments furnish employment for the population.

BRIEF OF TITLE.

The following brief of title of the town plat of Shamokin is presented through the courtesy of John P. Helfenstein :-

Survey to Samuel Clark, August 3, 1773; patent to Samuel Clark, April 11, 1776.

Samuel Clark and wife to Thomas Lightfoot; deed dated November 6, 1776; con- sideration: twenty-seven pounds, nine shillings, two pence, for the uudivided one third of the Samuel Clark survey .- Entered, February 6, 1832, in Deed Book Y, p. 190.

Thomas Lightfoot and wife to Jacob and Mary Tomlinson; deed dated November 3, 1803; consideration: thirteen pounds, fourteen shillings, seven pence, for the undi- vided one third of the Samuel Clark survey .- Entered, February 6, 1832, in Deed Book Y, p. 192.

Samuel Clark to Francis Johnston; deed dated April 18, 1792; consideration: five shillings, for the undivided two thirds of the Samuel Clark survey .- Eutered, April 29, 1792, in Deed Book E, p. 375.

Francis Johnston to Abraham Cherry; agreement dated February 3, 1801; consid- eration: eight hundred forty-three dollars, to sell the undivided two thirds of the Sam- uel Clark survey .- Entered in Deed Book X, p. 394.

Abraham Cherry to John Cherry; assignment dated April 10, 1803; consideration: five hundred sixty-two dollars, for his interest iu the foregoing agreement on the Sam- uel Clark survey .- Entered in Deed Book X, p. 394.

Roger Wolverton, administrator of John Cherry, deceased; commission and return of proceedings in the common pleas court, January, 1831; recites that Francis Johns- ton died in 1801, seized of the undivided two thirds interest iu the Samuel Clark sur- vey, having, on the 3d of February, 1801, agreed to convey said interest to Abraham Cherry for eight hundred forty-three dollars, and that Abraham Cherry agreed to cou- vey said interest to John Cherry by agreement dated the 10th of April, 1803, for five hundred sixty-two dollars .- Entered, January 20, 1831, in Deed Book X, p. 394.

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History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 62

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