History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 64

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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William and Reuben Fagely were born in Shamokin township, North- umberland county, the former, January 5, 1806, the latter, July 25, 1814. Upon arriving at the age of manhood William engaged in merchandising at Snufftown, whence he removed to Paxinos, where Reuben was associated in the business. In April, 1838, they located at Shamokin, and in 1839 opened one of the first stores in that town. They entered the coal business in 1841; their early operations were confined to the Gap (now Cameron) mines, but they subsequently operated the collieries at Green Ridge, Locust Gap, Luke Fidler, and the Gap, while Reuben was also interested in the Big Mountain mines. From 1842 to 1852 they leased the Danville and Pottsville railroad between Shamokin and Sunbury and operated it by horse-power; during this period the laboring classes of Shamokin were employed almost entirely by

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them, and their enterprises alone prevented the depopulation of the town. They enjoyed in an exceptional degree the good-will of their employees, among whom and in the community generally they were familiarly known as " Uncle Will- iam " and " Uncle Reuben." In addition to their mining operations they also established extensive coal yards at Baltimore, Maryland, and made large shipments to that city; they were well known railroad contractors, and con- structed portions of the Philadelphia and Reading and Northern Central railways. William was the first postmaster of Shamokin, serving from 1838 to 1844, and Reuben was burgess two terms, 1868-69. Both died at Sha- mokin, William, February 17, 1874, and Reuben, February 21, 1880.

Stephen Bittenbender came to Shamokin in 1838 through the influence of Patrick Reilly, master mechanic of the Danville and Pottsville railroad, who had formed his acquaintance at Tamaqua; there he was engaged in business on an extensive scale as a builder and contractor, and it was with the purpose of placing the construction of the turn-tables and other ter- minal facilities at Shamokin in competent hands that Mr. Reilly induced him to locate at Shamokin. He also found lucrative employment in manufactur- ing cars, and built many of the first houses at Shamokin, including the first Catholic and Presbyterian churches. In 1851 he purchased the Shamokin foundry and in 1855 the machine shop and car shop; he conducted this establishment sixteen years, employing a large number of men. He was one of the organizers of the Shamokin Bank in 1857; from 1864 to 1871 he operated the Burnside colliery; in 1865 he put down cast-iron water-pipes through a portion of the borough, and when the Shamokin Water Company was organized he was one of its charter members. He died at Shamokin on the 19th of February, 1885, in the seventieth year of his age.

Samuel John was born in Ralpho township, Northumberland county, February 27, 1807. After reaching manhood he engaged in farming, sur- veying, and conveyancing, and also operated the old forge below Shamokin. In April, 1839, he located at that town and engaged in merchandising; in this pursuit he continued twenty-five years, and during a large part of this period operated large general stores at Shamokin, Mt. Carmel, and Mt. Com- fort. He was appointed postmaster at Shamokin in 1844 and served two years. In the various railroad enterprises which were so largely instru- mental in the early development of the Shamokin coal field he was actively concerned. Shortly after locating at Shamokin he entered the coal business by operating what was then known as Buck Ridge colliery. In 1863 he leased Green Ridge colliery (to which he gave the name of Green Mountain), and his operations at this point were quite successful. In 1860 he estab- lished the Shamokin Register, the second newspaper of the town, of which he was proprietor, editor, and publisher. He was also cashier of the Sha- mokin Bank and a director in the Shamokin Banking Company. His death occurred on the 23d of July, 1877.

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Solomon Martz was born in Upper Augusta township, Northumberland county, March 22, 1818. At the age of eighteen he entered the employ of the Messrs. Fagely, his uncles, as clerk in their store at Mauch Chunk. There he remained sixteen months, and then entered the store of William and Reuben Fagely at Shamokin in a similar capacity. He continued with them one year, and next found employment with Solomon Fagely, proprietor of a hotel at Mt. Carmel. About this time a stage line was established be- tween Shamokin and Mt. Carmel, and he was appointed driver and mail carrier, subsequently serving in a similar capacity on the line between Potts- ville and Northumberland. Of those who were connected with this method of transportation in central Pennsylvania at that period he is now the last living representative. After leaving the stage line he served as supervisor of Coal township two years and engaged in hauling coal from Shamokin to Sun- bury under contract with William and Reuben Fagely seven years. He then located at his present residence in Shamokin township, and has now reached an advanced age.

Peter Boughner, a native of Snydertown, Northumberland county, was born on the 23d of January, 1816. He learned the trade of carpenter under his father, after which he located at Shamokin in the employ of the railroad company. In 1850 he was placed in charge of the construction and grading of the streets of Trevorton. When the Shamokin Valley and Pottsville (now the Shamokin division of the Northern Central) railroad was extended from Shamokin to Mt. Carmel he, in connection with John Dunkelberger, laid the rails between those points under contract. Boughner & Gilger built the first breaker at Luke Fidler colliery and Cleaver & Boughner the first two at Locust Gap. Mr. Boughner now lives a retired life upon his farm in Ralpho township.

Judge William L. Helfenstein, whose connection with the development of the Shamokin coal field was probably more intimate than that of any other individual, was born at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1801, and educated at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Having accompanied his par- ents to Dayton, Ohio, he entered the legal profession at that place, and served as judge of the court of common pleas from 1835 to 1842. He was subsequently located at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Chicago, Illinois, in the practice of his profession, but came East in 1849 and was the principal promotor of the company that founded Trevorton in the following year. He subsequently organized a number of coal companies, among which were the Zerbe Run, Mahanoy Improvement, Carbon Run, Big Mountain, Green Ridge, Locust Gap, and Locust Summit; he was also the leading spirit in the construction of the railroad from Trevorton to the Susquehanna river, in the purchase of the Danville and Pottsville railroad, the organization of the Philadelphia and Sunbury Railroad Company, the rehabilitation of the line from Sunbury to Shamokin, and its extension to Mt. Carmel. He was a member of the com-

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pany that laid out Mt. Carmel, and proprietor of the towns of West Shamokin, Helfenstein, and Gowen City. He was largely interested in nearly all the most valuable coal lands between Mt. Carmel and Trevorton, and was one of the first to appreciate their immense value. He resided at Shamokin and Trevorton until 1860, when he removed to Pottsville and thence in 1872 to New York. His death occurred at Durango, Mexico, in March, 1884.

John B. Douty came to Shamokin in 1852. He was born near Lambert- ville, New Jersey, May 30, 1812, and at the age of ten years removed to Rush township, Northumberland county, with his parents, who located at Pottsville in 1826. There his father at once became the owner of a line of five boats on the Schuylkill canal, and John B. was placed in charge of one of them. He continued at boating until 1842, when he entered the coal trade at the East Delaware mines. Several years later he went to the West Delaware mines, where he remained until the failure of the company in 1851, by which he lost the accumulations of years of toil. He came to Shamokin comparatively poor, and engaged in mining at the Gap (now Cameron) coll- iery on a small scale as a member of the firm of Kase, Douty & Reed. In 1856 he joined Dr. J. J. John and Joseph Bird, and the firm of Bird, Douty & John leased the Big Mountain colliery, which, after various vicissitudes, was finely made a successful enterprise. In 1859 Mr. Douty withdrew and took charge of the Henry Clay colliery, which became a highly remunerative property under his management. He subsequently opened the Brady coll- iery and operated it several years; in 1873 Douty & Baumgardner began working the Ben Franklin colliery, in which Mr. Douty was interested until his death, November 15, 1874.

SHAMOKIN IN 1839.

The town laid out by John C. Boyd in 1835 enjoyed but little more than a nominal existence until 1838, when the western section of the Danville and Pottsville railroad was completed, terminal facilities at Shamokin were pro- vided, a machine shop and foundry were placed in operation, and the erec- tion of dwelling houses received a quickened impulse, so that the town had reached the proportions of a small village in 1839. At the latter date Sun- bury street, which coincided very nearly with the course of the old Reading road, was opened throughout its whole extent, Shamokin street was passable from Sunbury street to Casper Scholl's residence between Clay and Spurz- heim, and Commerce, from Shamokin to its intersection with the Reading road; the remainder of the town plat was covered with a dense growth of timber, the creek pursued a winding course, and on the alluvial deposits ad- jacent to its banks the underbrush was almost impenetrable. The Catholic church, a small frame building at the present site of the knob factory, and a one-story frame school building on the south side of Dewart street con- stituted the conveniences for religious worship and educational effort. The

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following with reference to the inhabitants at that date (1839) and their respective residences and occupations is given as the reminiscences of Daniel C. Smink, one of the oldest citizens of the borough :-

Sunbury Street .- North side: Joseph Snyder, land agent, small frame house at the corner east of Pearl street; George Shipe, machinist, the south- ern part of a long frame double-house at the corner west of Franklin street; Samuel Smink, blacksmith, the northern part of the house just mentioned; James Wallace, helper in the smith shop, small frame house, with shed roof, between Franklin and Shamokin streets; Jeremiah Zimmerman, small frame house at the corner east of Shamokin street; James Dyer, hotel keeper, large two-story frame house at the corner west of Rock street (Franklin A. Clark became proprietor later in the same year).

South side: William and Reuben Fagely, merchants, two-story frame house between Shamokin and Rock streets; George Martz, contractor and builder, two-story frame house between Washington and Liberty streets; John Boughner, carpenter, small frame house between Liberty and Orange streets; Jacob Mowry, butcher, two-story frame house at the corner west of Carpenter street.

Shamokin Street .- East side: William and Reuben Fagely's store, be- tween Sunbury and Commerce streets; Jacob Bear, merchant, two-story frame house at the corner north of Independence street; Joseph Zuern, blacksmith, two-story frame house between Independence street and Coal run; Joseph Zaner, carpenter, small frame house on the second lot north of Spurzheim street; Jacob Smink, blacksmith, two-story brick house, the first in Shamokin, half-way between Spurzheim and Clay streets.

West side: Stephen Bittenbender, carpenter, small frame house one story and a half high, between Sunbury and Commerce streets; Ziba Bird, agent for John B. Boyd, two-story frame building which now forms the front part of the National Hotel; Jacob Kram, hotel keeper, two-story frame building partly incorporated in the Hotel Vanderbilt; Richard Wolverton, teamster, frame house with shed roof, one story and a half high, between Independ- ence street and Coal run; Samuel John, merchant, frame house at the corner north of Spurzheim street; Casper Scholl, carpenter and subsequently as- sociate judge of Northumberland county, two-story frame house between Spurzheim and Clay streets.

Commerce Street .- North side: Benjamin McClow, carpenter, the two- story frame house at the corner west of Pearl street in which he now resides; Stillman Eaton, mason, two-story frame house between Pearl and Franklin streets; Joseph Bird, small frame house between Franklin and Shamokin streets; Ziba Bird, at the corner west of Shamokin street.

South side: Sylvanus S. Bird, two-story frame house east of Pearl street, subsequently the location of the postoffice; two frame double-houses between Pearl and Franklin streets, erected in 1839 by John C. Boyd; Matthew

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Brannigan, railroad employee, small frame house between Pearl and Frank- lin streets; Kimber Cleaver, two-story frame house at the corner east of Franklin street; Jacob Kram, hotel keeper, at the corner west of Shamokin street.

Indefinite Locations .- Joseph Morrissey, miner, small frame house near the southeast corner of Spurzheim and Pearl streets; James Porter, saloon keeper, two-story frame house on Water street between the Reading and Northern Central railways; Dr. Robert Phillips, hotel keeper, two-story frame house at the gap on the west side of the creek and of the public road; Peter Wary, farmer, log house one story and a half high (the oldest of the build- ings mentioned in this enumeration), west of First between Pine and Spruce streets.

Single Men .- Peter Boughner, carpenter, who boarded with his father, John Boughner; William Cherington, blacksmith, who boarded with Joseph Zuern; Chauncey Eaton, mason, who boarded with Stillman Eaton, his brother; Jonas L. Gilger, carpenter, who boarded with George Martz; Wash- ington B. Smink, blacksmith, who boarded with Samuel Smink, his brother; Daniel C. and Isaac Smink, employees in the smith shop, and John Smink, mail carrier between Shamokin and Paxinos, who boarded with Jacob Smink, their father; Samuel R. Wood, superintendent of the Danville and Pottsville railroad, who boarded at Kram's hotel; Daniel Zuern, blacksmith, who boarded with Joseph Zuern.

Patrick Reilly, master mechanic at the railroad shops, also resided in the town, but his residence has not been ascertained.

SUBSEQUENT GROWTH SUMMARIZED.

In 1842 the locomotives were withdrawn from the Danville and Pottsville railroad, which was leased by William and Reuben Fagely and operated by horse-power until 1852; during this period many of the inhabitants were obliged to seek work elsewhere, as the furnace had been banked in 1842 and the coal operations of the Messrs. Fagley, which constituted almost the only dependence of the town, were not sufficient to employ its laboring class. The reopening of the railroad in 1853 and the development of this region which resulted therefrom caused a rapid influx of population, and the growth of the town from that date has kept pace with the expansion of the mining industry. By the census of 1890 the population was fourteen thousand four hundred three.

THE FIRST STORES AND HOTELS.

The first store at Shamokin was opened in 1838 by Jehu John and Ilef Houseworth in the frame building at the northwest corner of Shamokin and Commerce streets which forms the front part of the National Hotel. The proprietors were brothers-in-law. Houseworth was from the vicinity of

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Snydertown, Northumberland county; after relinquishing the mercantile business he engaged in farming in the valley of Plum creek, near Sunbury, where he now resides at an advanced age. John subsequently taught school at Shamokin, but removed to the West and died there.

The first store in the lower part of the town was established by Henry Yoxtheimer, a prominent merchant of Sunbury and pioneer coal operator at Shamokin. It was conducted in a frame building opposite the present site of the Eagle Hotel. After Mr. Yoxtheimer failed the business was continued a year or two by Samuel John.

William and Reuben Fagely opened a store on the east side of Shamokin street between Sunbury and Commerce in 1839. This was the location of the first postoffice of the borough. At this site a store has since been conducted by different members of the Fagely family, George K. Fagely being the present proprietor.

Samuel John located at Shamokin in April, 1839, and established a store at the northwest corner of Shamokin and Spurzheim streets. He suc- ceeded to Yoxtheimer's business when the latter failed. In 1844 he was appointed postmaster, and during his incumbency of two years the office was conducted at his store. Mr. John was connected with the mercantile interests of Shamokin for many years.

John & Houseworth were succeeded by Jacob Bear, from Lancaster, who removed the establishment to the northeast corner of Shamokin and Inde- pendence streets. His immediate successors were Zuern & Ammerman; Ben- jamin Wolverton, who had a store in the extreme western part of the town, may also be classed with its first merchants, and there were. no stores of any importance established in the place except those mentioned until after the reopening of the railroad in 1853.

The first hotel was opened in 1835 by Joseph Snyder in a frame build- ing since incorporated in the Hotel Vanderbilt, but lack of patronage shortly afterward compelled him to relinquish the business at this point. He sub- sequently resumed, however, and continued in the hotel business several years.

Jacob Kram was the successor of Mr. Snyder and second proprietor of the hotel that occupied part of the site of the Vanderbilt, which was variously known as the Shamokin Hotel and the United States Hotel before it re- ceived its present name. The first marriage in the town was that of Rebecca Kram, daughter of the proprietor, and Joseph Bird, subsequently a well known coal operator. Mr. Kram conducted this hostelry with fair success for several years, after which he removed to Minersville, Schuylkill county.

Dr. Robert Phillips, who resided in a two-story frame house at the gap as early as 1836 and five or six years after that date, kept a hotel that received a fair patronage from persons traveling over the old Reading road and from the workmen employed on the construction of the railroad. This was beyond the borough limits, however.

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In 1839 John and Jacob Gearhart erected a large two-story frame hotel at the present site of the First National Bank, northwest corner of Sunbury and Rock streets. The first landlord was Jacob Dyer, who removed to Catawissa and was succeeded in the same year (1839) by Franklin A. Clark, who con- tinued as proprietor many years. The property was subsequently purchased by John B. Douty, from whom it received the name of the Douty House. It was eventually destroyed by fire.

Jacob Dyer and Joseph Snyder were the first to keep hotel at the present site of the National Hotel, which was established in 1851 by William M. Weaver and has since been one of the well known hostelries of the town. Sheriff Weaver conducted this hotel until his retirement in 1886, with the exception of the years 1863-66 and 1878-81, when he was sheriff of North- umberland county.

EARLY PHYSICIANS AND LAWYERS.

Dr. Joseph C. Robins, of Elysburg, was the first physician who practiced at Shamokin to any extent; Dr. Robert Phillips resided there and enjoyed a professional title, but it does not appear that he ever engaged in the practice of his profession at this place.

It was impossible, however, to obtain prompt medical attendance from Elysburg in cases of emergency, and very inconvenient to send for Doctor Robins under any circumstances, and in 1842 the citizens of Shamokin entered into a joint subscription for the support of a resident physician. The services of Dr. John K. Robins, who had recently graduated from Jeffer- son Medical College, were secured, and in April, 1842, he located at Sha- mokin, where he was in active practice until January, 1846; he then removed to Catawissa, where he now resides, and is one of the oldest physicians of Columbia county. Doctor Robins was the only physician at Shamokin dur- ing the period of his residence here.

After the departure of Doctor Robins the services of Dr. George Weiser were secured. He arranged to stay one year, but a more favorable opening having been presented at Georgetown, Northumberland county, he removed thither, and Dr. Charles Weiser filled the remainder of the unexpired term.

The town was then without a resident physician until 1852, when Dr. Galen S. Robins, a son of Dr. Joseph C. Robins and a graduate of the Penn- sylvania College of Medicine, located here; he was in active practice until his death in 1856, associated during a part of this time with Dr. J. J. John and with his brother, Dr. E. S. Robins.

The first resident lawyer of Shamokin was Spencer M. Kase, a native of Rush township, Northumberland county, a graduate of Bucknell University, Lewisburg, and of the Easton Law School, who read law with Joshua W. Comly at Danville and located at Shamokin in the practice of his profession in 1853. His office was a one-story frame building at the southeast corner

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of Sunbury and Shamokin streets. After a residence of three or four years at Shamokin he removed to East St. Louis, Illinois, where he became a well known criminal lawyer. He was elected to the legislature of that State, and was once the nominee of the Democratic party for judge of the district court, when, although the minority candidate, he was defeated by only a small majority. His death occurred in 1890.

William Lattimer Scott, the second resident attorney, was also a native of Rush township. He read law with John Cooper, of Danville, located at Shamokin shortly after his admission to the bar, and had his office at the northeast corner of Shamokin and Independence streets. He served as dis- trict attorney of Northumberland county, and resided at Shamokin until his death.

MUNICIPAL ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT.

Shamokin borough was incorporated by decree of court at November term, 1864. The first borough election was held on the 2d of December in the same year; it resulted in the choice of R. B. Douty as burgess and John Esher, Daniel Weaver, Henry Van Gasken, John Dunkelberger, William H. Gilger, and John Shipp as councilmen. The following is a list of bur- gesses: 1864-65, R. B. Douty; 1866, Jonas L. Gilger; 1867, R. B. Douty; 1868-69, Reuben Fagely; 1870-71, J. H. Zimmerman; 1872, William H. Marshall; 1873, William H. Douty; 1874-75, Charles P. Helfenstein; 1876, J. H. Zimmerman; 1877, R. B. Douty; 1878-80, Samuel E. Martin; 1881, J. A. Weaver; 1882-83, Joseph Henninger; 1884-86, J. H. Zimmerman; 1887, Mahlon Koch; 1888, John J. W. Schwartz; 1889, J. A. Weaver; 1890, Ga- len F. Holshue; 1891, Henry Reese.

The Borough Building on Lincoln street was erected in 1878-79 under the supervision of a building committee composed of Chief Burgess Samuel E. Martin and Councilmen Simon Hoffman, Isaac Raup, W. B. Bird, and George Robertson. It is a substantial stone building, two stories high, with lock-up in the basement, council chamber on the first floor, and apartments for the warden and his family on the second floor. The erection of this building was formally decided upon by the borough council, July 20, 1878, but it was not until the 4th of August, 1879, that the committee on public property was instructed to finish the second story. John Simmonds has filled the position of warden for some years.

The Fire Department, under its present organization, was established by ordinance of the borough council, October 7, 1880. The individual compa- nies retain their respective rights and privileges, but for the purpose of har- monious and united action they are governed by a board of representatives, composed of three members elected from each company. This board elects an executive officer and two assistants, with the approval of the borough council, the present officers being Joseph B. Womer, chief of the fire depart-

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ment; Samuel Snyder, first assistant, and Charles Schlegel, second assist- ant. The volunteer department was originally organized some years previ- ously, with Wesley Van Gasken as chief engineer. At present it is com- posed of the following organizations: Lincoln Hose Company, corner of Lincoln and Liberty; Independence Fire Association, instituted and incor- porated in 1873, corner of Lincoln and Grant; Rescue Fire Engine and Hose Company, instituted, March 10, 1873, incorporated, January 20, 1874, corner of Liberty and Lincoln; Friendship Fire Engine and Hose Company, instituted, July 1, 1873, incorporated, November 6, 1873, corner of Pearl and Spurzheim; and West End Fire Company, organized, November 1, 1888, incorporated, January 7, 1889.

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History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 64

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