USA > Pennsylvania > Perry County > History of Perry County, Pennsylvania, including descriptions of Indians and pioneer life from the time of earliest settlement, sketches of its noted men and women and many professional men > Part 114
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Coincident with the introduction of water the Millerstown Fire Com- pany was organized. It is a beneficial organization and is incorporated. J. H. G. Rippman has been the chief of the fire company since its organi- zation. Its first officers were: J. H. G. Rippman, president ; D. A. Lahr, vice-president ; E. M. Kelly, secretary, and N. H. Ward, treasurer. The present officers are: C. C. Page, president; R. B. Thompson, vice-presi- dent ; T. B. Diffenderfer, secretary ; D. A. Lahr, treasurer. It was in- corporated in 1907.
A. L. Holman.
Charles W. Reisinger.
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In 1894 Millerstown decided to put in its own light plant, and had al- ready put up the power house when the project was abandoned. The town is lighted by electricity supplied by the Juniata Light & Power Company. The Pennsylvania Canal, now abandoned and considerably filled in and covered with sod and vegetation, has been leased to the borough for the payment of $1.00 annually. It is 1,275 feet in length, and will be turned into a park and community playground.
Millerstown's oldest lodge is Tuscarora Castle, No. 289, K. G. E., insti- tuted October 24, 1888, with George D. Robinson, noble chief; J. Edgar Titzel, vice chief ; Wm. Fenstemacher, master of records; O. D. Wingert, keeper of exchequer.
The first physician to locate in Millerstown was Dr. Henry Bucke, who was there as carly as 1805. His successor was Dr. Samuel Mealy, evi- dently, as there is no record available of another. He was a son of a cooper from the western end of Perry County, and about 1793 worked with his father at his trade. Tradition has him as a very studious boy who car- ried his books along while following his avocation. He was with Captain Moreland's famous company on the Canadian frontier. He is reputed with saving the limb and probably the life of an officer in the command by refusing to agree to amputate, upon which the other surgeons insisted. After his return from the army in 1814 he located at Millerstown, where he practiced until 1832, when he removed to Iowa. He was married to Miss Margaret Blaine, one of the famous family of that name which had settled in western Perry County. Dr. Waterhouse located in Millerstown and practiced but a short time until he died, in 1821. Dr. John M. Laird practiced here between 1824 and 1840, when he removed to New Bloom- field, among whose physicians he is further spoken of. In 1827 Dr. Mc- Neal located, but stayed only two years. Dr. Shellenberger read medicine with Dr. Mealy and practiced for about six years after 1830. Dr. Isaac Snowden, the son of Rev. Nathaniel Randolph Snowden, who was the first preacher ordained in Harrisburg, and later a member of the faculty of Dickinson College, located at Millerstown about 1824, being associated with Dr. Mealy. The partnership not being agreeable he went to Thomp- sontown about 1828, but again located in Millerstown in 1830. In 1834 he moved to Hogestown, Cumberland County. He was the father of A. Louden Snowden, long prominent in Pennsylvania politics. He was with General Jackson as a surgeon when he operated against the Seminole In- dians in Florida.
Dr. John Irwin, born in Union County in 1809, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1832, succeeded Dr. Mealy in Millerstown in 1832, where he practiced until 1840, when he removed to his farm in Juniata County, retiring from practice. The late J. H. Irwin, of Newport. was a son. Dr. Kremer, who had read medicine with Dr. Mealy and mar- ried his daughter, and Dr. Ingleman were contemporaries of Dr. Irwin and were located here for nearly ten years. About 1841 Dr. Stilwell located in Millerstown and was associated with Dr. A. C. Stees, a native of Perry County, who graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1836 and settled in Millerstown in 1841. At the end of a half dozen years the partnership was dissolved, Dr. Stilwell removing to Ohio. Dr. Stees remained in practice in Millerstown until his death, in 1854. Both these physicians were among the founders of the Perry County Medical Society. Dr. Stees was rated as a first-class physician and had a large practice. Dr. David Crawford practiced from 1851 to 1864, when he removed to Mifflin, Juniata County.
Dr. Samuel Stites was born in Northampton County in 1816. In 1856 he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, and after studying in
IOIS HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Europe he located in Millerstown, where he practiced until his death in 1882. He was a surgeon of a Pennsylvania regiment during the War between the States. In the class of 1882 his son, Dr. George Stites, gradu- ated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, and suc- ceeded his father in the practice of medicine. He located in Williamstown, Pa., about 1885.
Dr. S. T. Leinaweaver located in Millerstown in 1864 and practiced until 1877, when he located in Hagerstown, Maryland. He was a graduate of Jefferson Medical College. In the fall of 1877 he accepted an appointment from the Shah of Persia, as surgeon in the Turkish Army. He later re- sided at Lebanon. From 1868 to 1876 Dr. A. A. Murray practiced, when he removed to Liverpool.
Dr. Ellis Q. Kirk located in 1874 and practiced two years. Dr. John B. Oellig practiced from 1877 to 1881. Dr. P. Rundio practiced from 1877 to 1880. Dr. G. W. Campbell located in Millerstown in 1879, but re- moved to Newport the same year. Dr. G. C. Dean, a native of Perry County and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, practiced from 1879 to 1881, when he removed to Lewistown, where he died in 1892. Dr. J. L. Brubaker, a Maryland man and a graduate of Washington Univer- sity at Baltimore, in 1874, practiced from 1879 to 1883. He had previously been at Markelville for several years. He was given a high rating in medical circles. Dr. J. C. Hall, a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of Baltimore, '89, located at Millerstown in 1891, where he practiced until his death, February II, 1903. Dr. S. R. Ickes located in Millerstown in 1882. He remained about a year, when he removed to Har- risburg and became interested in the traction business, later becoming president of the People's Traction Company. The present physician is Dr. M. Gearhart, who located here in 1912.
Among other physicians were Dr. W. E. Bonawitz, who had associated with Dr. Hall in practice, from 1898, and died in 1911; Dr. T. P. Cochran, Dr. L. S. Howard, Dr. J. H. Meyer, Dr. M. I. Stein and others.
According to the report of the mercantile appraiser the business places in Millerstown are as follows, the date being the time of starting business :
General stores, T. P. Cathcart, D. G. Rickabaugh & Co. The latter store was kept by D. G. Rickabaugh from 1865 until 1916.
Groceries, D. L. Farner, Rinehart & Heisey, William Rounsley (1908).
Confectionery, R. W. Hopple, Jennie Sheaffer, J. W. Cupp.
Drugs, D. A. Lahr (1913). Established by C. W. Lahr (1890), sold to J. B. Lahr (1895).
Ralph B. Thompson (1906). Established by E. P. Titzel.
A. H. Ulsh & Sons (1920), (L. G., P. B., and J. E. Ulsh). Purchased by A. H. Ulsh (1885), coal and feed.
WV. C. Moore (1917), machinery. Established by William Kipp (1885), suc- cessors, Kipp & Moore (1917).
L. B. Meloy, saddlery.
G. W. Fry & Sons, furniture.
E. C. Reisinger (1913), stoves and tinware.
O. D. Wingert, clothing and shoes.
Cupp Bros., auto supplies and oils
A. L. Long, automobiles.
Millerstown Presbyterian Church. Presbyterianism in Millerstown is almost as old as the settlement itself. The first sermon was preached by Rev. John Hutchinson, of Mifflintown, in 1806, in the bar room of the Cochran tavern, on South Main Street, now owned by Mrs. S. C. Alex- ander. Later they were held throughout the town, and often in the same bar room. While the services were held as stated the members of the faith belonged to the churches at Middle Ridge and at Lost Creek (now Mc-
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Alisterville), in Juniata County. The Lutheran residents attended church in Pfoutz Valley, and the Methodists had their services and camp meetings in the same valley, near the Cocolamus Creek.
The congregation was regularly organized in 1818, by Rev. N. R. Snow- den, father of the late A. Loudon Snowden, who served two years. The organization took place in a building also used as a school building located in the northeast corner of the Millerstown cemetery plot. Nothing re- mains to tell just when this building was built, but there is record that it was conveyed to Thomas Cochran, William North and Amos Jordan, trus- tees, to hold for a Presbyterian church and burying ground, on May 4. 1808, and the building was likely erected immediately thereafter. There were no free schools and the building served for both church and school purposes. Rev. Snowden also taught a Latin school, among his pupils having been the late T. P. and William Cochran. He also served the members of his faith at Liverpool and New Buffalo. These churches were located upon the lands forming the delta between the Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers, which territory was attached to the Huntingdon Presbytery, where they remained until 1845.
After Rev. Snowden's pastorate, which terminated in 1820, for nine years there was no pastor. Revs. Hill, Gray and Lochman served as sup- plies. In 1829 Rev. Britton E. Collins, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Philadelphia and a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, accepted a call and remained almost ten years. During his pastorate the present stone church was built on grounds donated by Thomas Cochran, the build- ing committee being John Boal, Abram Addams, Jacob Hoffman, John Mc- Gowan and Thomas Cochran. It was dedicated in May, 1832. The build- ing was 50x55 feet in size. William Hunter was the contractor. The life of the church actually began with Rev. Collins. He owned and resided upon the present J. R. Wright farm in Greenwood Township, where he erected a house. Leaving Millerstown he removed to Shirleysburg, Penn- sylvania, where he baptized in infancy one who was destined in after years to occupy his former pulpit at Millerstown, the late beloved Rev. S. C. Alexander. During his Millerstown pastorate he held several protracted services in the new church, and during his seven-year pastorate the net result was one hundred and fourteen members.
After his departure, in 1839, supplies were again sent by Presbytery. Among these were Rev. McKnight Williamson, 1840-42, and Rev. S. H. McDonald, 1842-44. Rev. Williamson also supplied the lower Tuscarora church. The success of the Millerstown church had not a little to do with the passing of the Middle Ridge church, as on May 14. 1842, thirty-three members were admitted, and all but two came from Middle Ridge church. After that services were held only occasionally at Middle Ridge. The forming of the New Bloomfield congregation, in 1834, under Rev. Dickey, had so weakened the Middle Ridge church that it was later abandoned. Of its membership the Millerstown church got fifty names.
Rev. George D. Porter became the regular pastor November, 1844, and remained until 1851. Emigration to the West-then at its height-about 1850, took from the roster the Bulls, Linns, McNaughtons, Merediths, Leonards and others of like prominence. This weakened it and a com- mittee of Presbytery attached it to Upper (Blain) and Centre churches, but this action seems not to have been consummated. . From 1851 to 1856 Rev. Hezekiah Hanson, of Petersburg (Duncannon), supplied it in addi- tion to his own pulpit.
Rev. John B. Strain, a licentiate, who had preached for a seceding fac- tion of the faith, supplied the pulpit from August, 1856, to December, when he was ordained by Carlisle Presbytery. He was then installed in
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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
charge of Millerstown and Buffalo, each church paying $250 annually. Prior to this time no records were kept of salaries. During the period from 1856-60 he also conducted a seminary or academy near St. Samuel's Church, where he resided. From 1860 to 1862 Rev. James Mahon and Elijah Wilson (the blind parson) were the stated supplies.
From May, 1862, to 1869, Rev. William P. Cochran, a boy born in Mil- lerstown, served the church. The following is from a statement by him, and with a succeeding paragraph is reproduced as showing the tendency of the period: "In '61 I spent from January to May in that region and preached several times in Millerstown. Was with Dr. Thompson six weeks in a very powerful revival in Lower Tuscarora and Perrysville (a part of Liverpool)-some 300 inquirers, 150 uniting with the church."
"In May, '61, the war having commenced with its direful effects, I re- turned to Missouri, where I remained until May, '62. The church in Mil- lerstown gave me a call in '61 and waited until I could honorably leave Missouri. I remained at Millerstown until May, '69. I found the church cold and dead, with fueds and heartburnings among the members. There was a kind of Sabbath school; no prayer meeting. In the winter of 1863-64 God poured out his spirit on the congregation. The occasion of my leaving was opposition that sprang up out of old fueds at the election of elders. I came back to Missouri in '69, where most of my ministerial life had been spent."
There is no mention of the state of religion in the church until the re- port of Presbytery in 1864, which says: "The congregations are good on the Sabbath and solemn, yet we have to lament the low state of piety in the church, the want of zeal and Godly living, while without, all around us, wickedness is on the increase, especially intemperance." During 1865 a ten days' meeting awakened new life, and the report is the reverse of the preceding year. During 1870 Rev. J. H. Downing was the stated supply, and Rev. J. J. Hamilton, until July, 1871, when he was installed. Millers- town paid him $600 for one-half of his time, the other half to be divided between Buffalo and Upper (Blain) churches. He resided near Ickesburg, and remained until 1875.
During 1875 the entire church was remodeled, a new Sunday school room added, the entrance changed to the east side of the building, etc., at a cost of $2,300. Dr. Murray had donated a lot of ground for the erection of a new church, but it was returned and the church remodeled. Rev. W. H. Logan served from 1876 to 1886. During 1877 the church was incor- porated and the parsonage purchased. In 1887 Rev. S. C. Alexander was elected pastor and remained until his death, September 21, 1901. During his pastorate the church was again remodeled at a cost of $1,750, the en- trance being placed upon the corner, with an additional entrance upon High Street; the interior arranged so that the lecture room could be used in connection with the auditorium, and memorial windows installed. The window on the east being known as "the governor's window," being a gift from General James A. Beaver, later governor of Pennsylvania, in memory of his mother. It bears the inscription, "In loving memory of Ann Eliza McDonald, daughter of Abram Addams, placed here by her children." Since then the ministers have been :
1902-08-Rev. H. G. Clair.
1000-17-Rev. Will H. Dyer.
1908-09-Rev. Henry Cunningham. 1917 -Rev. C. A. Waltman.
Millerstown Methodist Church. The members of the Methodist Epis- copal faith began holding services here as early as 1832, and from then until 1840 worshiped in the schoolhouse which stood in the cemetery. The ministers who served them during this period were Rev. Wesley Howe, Rev. David Thomas and Rev. Hodges.
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In 1840 the church was built and the organization became a part of the Newport charge and so remained until 1900.
The successive pastors were the same as those of the Duncannon church until 1857, and from then until 1900 the same as Newport. (See Duncan- non and Newport chapters.) Since 1900 the pastors have been :
1900-01-Rev. John C. Bieri. 1912-14-Rev. Ray H. Pierson.
1901-02-Rev. John J. Hunt.
1914-18-Rev. Chas. F. Himes.
1902-04-Rev. E. L. Williams.
1918-19-Rev. Victor T. Nearhoof.
1904-07-Rev. C. V. Hartzell.
1919-22-Rev. Chas. F. Berkheimer.
1907-12-Rev. John F. Beard.
The charge comprises Millerstown, Donnally's Mills and Marsh Rumn. Until 1920 Ickesburg was also included, but the congregation having be- come very small, the work there was discontinued and the building sold to the school board in 1921.
NEW BUFFALO BOROUGH.
Before Perry County was formed a man named Jacob Banghman con- ceived the idea of laying out the site of a town where New Buffalo Bor- ough is located, as the following advertisement will show :
"A New Town .- The subscriber has laid out a town called New Buffalo, consisting of eighty-one lots, at Baughman's Ferry, in Buffalo Township, Cumberland County, at the junction of the roads leading from Sunbury and Lewistown. The site is elegant, being situate in a healthy part of the county, and in a neighborhood that, for the rapidity of its improvement for some years past, is not excelled by many in Pennsylvania. And as the boat and raft channel lies near the west side of the river, this place affords the only safe and convenient landing for many miles above Fahter's Falls .* It lies about fourteen miles above Harrisburg, and affords many inducements for the in- dustrious mechanic and enterprising dealer. On the south margin of the town is a grist and sawmill. A lot. No. 61. the largest in the town, is reserved by the proprietor for the purpose of a place of worship and a schoolhouse for the use of the town."
In fact, the town was plotted and first called Baughmanstown, but it was changed to New Buffalo, being located in Buffalo Township at that time, before the public advertising was done. Adam Liddick, of Watts Town- ship, helped to plot and stake off the lots, for which service he was paid with one lot. Mrs. McAlister, a daughter of Baughman's, assisted in carrying the chain in surveying the lots. Three of the first lots sold were to Jacob Baughman, Jr., Jacob B. Maus and Susan Steele. The first plan was to sell them by lottery at sixty dollars each, twenty dollars to be paid cash and the balance in five years.
Fronting the lots, between the river and Front Street, a space of ground was set apart to be used in common by the inhabitants for the purpose of piling lumber, plaster, merchandise, etc., upon. Jacob Banghman died, and in the Perry Forester, published at the new county seat at Landisburg, ap- peared the following advertisement :
"Agreeably to the last will and testament of Jacob Baughman (deceased). late of Buffaloc Township,. Perry County, will be sold by way of public vendue. at the house of Jacob Baughman, innkeeper in the town of New Buffaloe, on Monday, the 2d of June next (1823), upwards of sixty lots of ground in said town. This town is laid out on the bank of the Susquehanna River, about five miles above Clark's Ferry, and eight miles below Liverpool on a beautiful and pleasant situation. There are already a number of buildings erected in the town; from the recent period of its commencement and its rapid growth, it is likely to become a town of considerable note in the county in a very short time."
*References fail to agree on the location of Fahter's Falls, as others name it as near the Patterson place in Howe township, later Juniata Falls.
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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
The proprietor had reserved for himself and his heirs all the rights to the ferry and fisheries opposite to the town. At his death, by agreement of the heirs, his son Henry received seventy-one acres of land, four lots in the village, and all the ferry and fishery rights; his son Jacob got fif- teen acres of land, the grist and sawmill and distillery, and his son John, ninety-four acres of land and a tract of land in Dauphin County. He had a fourth son, Christian, but it is not known what his patrimony was. It will be seen by the above that the father of New Buffalo was well-to-do in material things.
New Buffalo was incorporated as a borough, April 8, 1848. Urban's tannery was built in 1835 and was run for a number of years. New Buffalo had two boatyards where canal boats were built and repaired and was a town of considerable importance in the days of canal transportation, the Susquehanna Division of the Pennsylvania Canal passing through the town. G. W. and Robert Lesher opened the lower yard in 1854 and operated it for a period of six years. It was later owned by the Garnet heirs. It employed from ten to fifteen hands.
It will be noted that the will of Jacob Baughman disposed of a distil- lery, a gristmill and a sawmill. The dates of their erection is not known, but was prior to 1822. In 1861-62 the gristmill was rebuilt by Hilbish & Bowman. It had both water and steam power thereafter, and continued in business for several decades. Baughman's distillery was on the same street, opposite the gristmill.
The first schoolhouse was built about 1834, and located on Locust Street, on an open lot adjoining the church lot. It was in use until 1874, when the two-story brick building was erected on the same lot. The borough had two schools until after the closing of the Pennsylvania Canal. Prior to the erection of the first schoolhouse the pupils attended the school at Hill Church, in Watts Township.
The Baughman ferry landing was at Peach Alley, near the foot of the canal bridge. The landing in Dauphin County was at the old stone tavern. The fording was located near the ferry, and the fishery was opposite the boatyard. The first tavern was built by Jacob Baughman at the corner of Front Street and Blackberry Alley. He later built a hotel on an adjoining lot and kept a public house there until his death. John Shaffer kept an- other hotel in the place at the same time that Baughman was in the busi- ness. In the old rafting days New Buffalo was a favorite place to "tie up" by the raftmen, and the hotels did a prosperous business.
The first store was kept by a Mr. Kepner. Before it was started the people generally did their buying in Halifax and Harrisburg, going in canoes. Other tradesmen in New Buffalo were Mrs. John Shaffer, Mrs. J. L. Arnold, William Hemperly and Jackson Bros., the members of the latter firm being William and J. B. Jackson, the latter a county commis- sioner in more recent years. This store was first established by William Jackson, who was born in 1815, and married in 1837. There is record that he started this store "soon after being married," which would date it to probably 1840. It was conducted by him and his sons until his death, in 1872, when it became the property of William and J. B. Jackson, trading as Jackson Bros. They conducted it until the death of William H. Jack- son, in 1010, when the surviving partner became the owner and conducted it until his death, in 1919. Since then it is in the possession of Mr. Jack- son's daughter, Mrs. Edith Jackson Ober. W. E. Meck runs a general store, and W. J. Kines sells gas, these three business places being the only ones in the borough noted by the mercantile appraiser in his report.
New Buffalo is one of three places in Perry County of which there is record of the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of American Inde-
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pendence, in 1826, the others being Landisburg and Bloomfield. The public meeting at New Buffalo was called to order by John H. Thompson, who was also made chairman. David T. Steel was the secretary. "The Buf- faloe Volunteers," under command of Captain Christian Hays, paraded and firearms were discharged. Addresses and singing were a part of the pro- gram. The ever present toast of the period was brought into use. Among the volunteer toasts was one by Samuel Steele: "Our country girls who disdain to be imprisoned in corsets; may every 'Buffaloe Volunteer' have one in his nest."
At an early period New Buffalo was already the location for physicians. Dr. Patrick McMorris located there about 1840, and his brother, William McMorris, a little later. Both were natives of Ireland. The latter died before his brother, both practicing until their deaths. Dr. T. G. Mc- Morris, who later located at Liverpool, practiced here in 1845. Physicians of a later date were Dr. Marshall, Dr. H. O. Orris and Dr. James B. Eby, who later located at Newport; Dr. Maxwell, Dr. B. F. Klugh and Dr. F. C. Steele, the latter locating in 1879, and was in practice until his death, in 1896.
New Buffalo Methodist Church. The New Buffalo Methodist Church is the only one in the town, a condition towards which modern efforts trend. Most towns have more churches than they can support in a proper manner, and one good, strong church far excels two weak, struggling ones. Miss Frances A. Urban gave the ground for its location and it was erected in 1841-42. Prior to that time services had been held in a private house rented for the purpose, until the building of the schoolhouse in 1834, when they were transferred there. This first church stood near the school building. It was purchased by the Brethren and moved to a plot near Newport and erected again.
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