History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 199

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 1438

USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 199
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 199
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 199

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

1845. Joseph Frable. 1867. Peter Gruber.

Joseph Altemose.

1869. Wm. Smith.

1850. Joseph Frable.

1872. Peter Gruber.

Joseph Altemose. 1873. Philip Remel.

1855. Joseph Altemose. 1875. Wm. Smith.

1857. Wm. Smith. 1878. Philip Remel.

Henry Getz.

1881. Levi Newhart.

1862. Wm. Smith. 1882. Chas, D. Neyhart.

Peter Gruber. 1883. Philip Remel.

1865. Philip Remel.

1884. Peter Gruber.

CHURCHES .- There is but one church build- ing in the township. This building is the common property of Reformed and Lutheran congregations. It was built during the years 1884 and 1885, and is called the Mount Eaton Church. The land upon which it stands was purchased from Mary Hauser. The building committee consisted of Henry Altemose, Frank Rilbert, William Engler and Levi Buskirk. Rev. T. A. Huber, Reformed pastor, held the first communion in this building. The present pastors are Rev. Clair, Lutheran, and Rev. Kretzing, Reformed.

THE WIND GAP OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS AND ROSS COMMON .- A very interesting local- ity in the topography of Monroe County is the Wind Gap of the Blue Mountains. Whilst not so deep a gap as the Delaware and Lehigh Gaps, the depression is sufficient to make it a desirable pass for the people who live on either side of the mountain, to travel through, to and fro, on business and pleasure.

The elevation of the summit of the mountain is nearly two thousand feet above tide. The pass through the Wind Gap is only about one

thousand two hundred feet, and is a couple of hundred feet in width. The mountain then rises on each side of the pass, at an angle of forty- five degrees, eight hundred feet to the summit.

The view from the pass in the Gap is ex- tremely fine, but that from the summit is grand beyond conception. Toward the south, and east and west, the lookont is only limited by the powers of vision. On a clear day Chestnut Hill and other high grounds about Philadelphia are plainly discernible, whilst east and west the counties of Northampton, Lehigh and Berks, and a large part of the State of New Jersey, are overlooked. On the north the mountains about Mauch Chunk, the Pocono Range and the Catskill Mountains along the Hudson River are easily distinguished. On the north side of the Wind Gap, and a few feet below the summit, in the Wind Gap Pass, is located the popular summer resort known as Ross Common, one of the most picturesque points, as regards scenery and climate, to be found in the State. The Mansion House, now used as a hotel, is a large stone building, erected early in the present century, by the Hon. John Ross (for a long time one of the justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania), as his country-seat. The Acquan- chicola Creek, which rises about four miles east of Ross Common, nearly on the summit of the Blue Mountain, runs close by the hotel, and is a fine spring run, with very cold water, and abounding with trout. This stream for miles traverses only forests, and running along the north base of the mountain for a distance of eighteen miles, empties into the Lehigh at the Lehigh Water Gap. The Mansion House was a remarkable one in its day and generation, considering its remoteness from the large settle- ments. The ceilings are high and the rooms capacious, and every room has a large hearth or fire-place. A stone kitchen is constructed apart from the hotel, and connects with the dining- room by a stone passage-way. The mantels, doors, cornices and all the wood-work are hand- somely carved after the fashion of that day.

When Judge Ross ceased to use Ross Common for himself and family, being on the Wilkes- Barre turnpike, it was utilized as a wayside inn, and during the old staging days had almost a

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national reputation for its hospitality and good cheer. Before railroads had come into use the business men of Wilkes-Barre and Wyoming Valley,-in fact, the majority of the business men of the Susquehanna Valley and its tributaries, -almost through to the lakes, found this route, over the Easton and Wilkes-Barre turnpike, the most comfortable and convenient way to reach the cities of New York and Philadelphia. The result was that a large number of stages were required for transportation, and frequently three and four Concord or Troy coaches followed each other daily, to and from Easton and Wilkes-Barre, loaded with the rich and the great of the north country. The general stage route was about as follows : Coaches left New York and Philadelphia early in the morning, arriving at Easton in the evening. A line from Philadelphia was also run to Bethle- hem, and in the evening a coach took north- bound passengers to Nazareth. Passengers were billed through from New York and Philadel- phia, if desired, and had first choice of seats on all connecting lines. At Nazareth the passen- gers from Philadelphia, via Bethlehem, Allen- town, Reading and the West, were taken on board, and the coaches wended their way to Ross Common, where an old-fashioned breakfast awaited them about seven A.M., and after such a ride was, no doubt, heartily enjoyed.

Here horses were exchanged, and the run continued to the top of Pocono, where for years, in a large solitary hostelry, in the midst of the " Huckleberry Barrens," one John Smith fur- nished dinners to the stage passengers and the traveling public of such an appetizing char- acter that the host was famous from the valley of Wyoming ;-- yea, from the shores of Lake Erie-to the seaboard. Thence the coaches rolled on, mostly over corduroy roads, to Beau- mont, or Beach Creek, where supper was furnish- ed about six P.M., and thence on, in the even- ing, to Wilkes-Barre, where, at the famous old Phoenix Hotel (now replaced by the sumptuous Wyoming Valley Hotel), administered by an Alexander or a Gilchrist, a second supper of trout or grouse, partridge, woodcock or venison was deliberately enjoyed, and finally topped off with the hot scotches, mint juleps, brandy

smaslies and gin cocktails which the members of the bar in Wilkes-Barre know so well how to concoct. Then the day ended, and the jolly traveler was well fortified for his next day's journey. In going south the program was just reversed. Breakfast at Beaumont, or Bear Creek, dinner with John Smith, on Pocono Top ; and supper at Ross Common, with glorious old "Jim Eley," of by-gone days ; and " extras" at Easton, with Conner at the American, or with old " Chip" White at Centre Square Hotel.

But with the taking off of the stages, Ross Common dropped into an " innocuous desuetude." Its banquet halls were deserted. "Jin " Eley removed, to spend the evening of his life with the friends he had made in Wyoming Valley. For years the bats and the owls roosted on the rafters and chimneys of the old Ross Common Inn, and the traveler who paused to reflect over its departed greatness (so gloomy and sad was it about the " Old Stone Heap," as it was deri- sively termed) would be startled by the sound of his own voice. A few attempts were made by occasional landlords to revive the business, but the long range at which the whiskey and other strong drinks that were supplied to trav- ellers would kill the drinkers made all such attempts fruitless. But, strange to say, the very same causes (railroads) which ruined the Ross Common of old have made a new Ross Com- mon-livelier, lovelier and more desirable than that of old. There was a balm (not in Gilead, but in Bethlehem). One Charles Brodhead, an enterprising citizen of Bethlehem, who often passed Ross Common in his journeys to and from Pike County, was pleased with the capa- bilities of the place, and as he was then engaged in constructing a railroad from Bethlehem to the slate quarries about the Wind Gap, Pen Argyl and Bangor, etc., he purchased the " Old Stone Heap," and presto ! change ! it has become one of the most popular and profitable properties in the county. Painters, carpenters, masons and paper-hangers have remodeled the old place, and it is now a favorite stopping-place for the solid citizens of Monroe, who find their nearest railroad depot just beyond Ross Com- mon, and their best market at the towns which Mr. Brodhead's railroad from Bethlehem to the

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Wind Gap has been the means of bringing into existence.

During the torrid days of summer, when the Monroe farmers who make Ross Common lively in the fall and winter, whilst taking their produee to market, are engaged in planting and gathering their erops, the halls and piazzas of Ross Common resound with the revelry of the gay and festive pleasure-seekers from the towns and citizens below the mountains, who resort to this place to enjoy the delightful waters, the magnificent scenery and the cooling, healthful, perennial breezes which have given this eharm- ing spot the suggestive and appropriate name of the " Wind Gap of the Blue Mountains."

CHAPTER XVI.

ELDRED TOWNSHIP.1

THIS township lies direetly west from Ross and occupies the extreme southwestern corner of Monroe County, having Northampton on the south, Carbon on the west and Polk township on its northern border.

The rainfall is all drained westward to the Lehigh River through Aquanehieola Creek and its principal tributary, Frantz Creek. The latter drains all the northern half of the town- ship and flows southwestward along the north- ern side of a ridge that runs through the south- ern part of the township, rudely parallel to Aquanehieola, which meanders along the south- ern side of the same ridge and through the valley at the foot of the Kittatinny Mountain. Westward from the eentre of the township Aquanehicola and Frantz Creeks gradually approach each other until, at the Carbon Coun- ty line, they are only two hundred rods apart. Frantz Creek cuts through the ridge at what is known as Little Gap and the two streams having united, the Aquanchieola keeps on to the Lehigh River at the Lehigh Water Gap.

The extreme northwestern portion of the township drains northward to the Big Creek.

The Bossardsville limestone appears in this township and has been quarried for many years

on the land of Messrs. Raueh, Smith, Engler and others. It is not seen from Lessig's quarry, near the eastern line of Ross, as far westward as the above quarries, a distance of over five miles, and yet it eould doubtless be uneovered at almost any loeality between these two points. To the farmers who live along this region, where the limestone is apparently absent, it would be time well spent if a systematie seareli should be made, as it could probably be found by strip- ping off the surface debris over a few rods at most.

Several years ago a silicious clay was mined and manufactured in this township into what was sold as " soap." The material was passed through several vats filled with water until all the coarse sand-grains had been deposited and noth- ing remained in suspension but the impalpable silicious powder, which then aceumulated by de- posit, and from which was manufactured the so- ealled soap.

The Mareellus shale along Frantz Creek is often very bituminous. This is the ease oppo- site Kunkletown, and it has there been exteu- sively drifted upon in search of coal. Three tunnels were driven into the hill several hun- dred feet and the last material brought out looks very much like the earbonate of iron. The outerop of the Marcellus at Kunkletown is quite black and has seattcred through it thin streaks, a very impure kind of anthracite, whiel will burn with a slight blaze when placed on a hot fire, leaving a great bulk of slaty aslı. The presence of these carbonaceous laminæ led to the search for coal, on which the sum of five thousand dollars has already been expended.

A bed of bog iron-ore oecurs opposite Kunkle- town, which was onee manufactured into a very fine quality of metallic paint by Mr. Metzger. The deposit is very thin and seems to be quite loeal, sinee there is none on the opposite side of the ravine, only two rods distant. The ore is rich enough to warrant mining and shipping could it be found in sufficient quantity.

DIVISION OF THE TOWNSHIP .- For some time prior to 1851 the project of dividing the township was agitated among its residents, and in May of that year a petition was drawn up, circulated and presented to the court, upon

1 By Cicero Gearhart, Esq.

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which Walter Barry and William S. Rees were appointed by the court as commissioners to inquire into the expediency of making the re- quested division. They reported that on the 10th day of September, 1851, they met and sur- veyed and marked a line as follows : " Begin- ning on the line now dividing Polk and Chest- nuthill townships from Ross township, at the corner of Polk and Chestnuthill townships ; thence (running the same course of the line be- tween said townships of Polk and Chestnut- hill which divides said township) south twenty- six degrees east five miles to the top of the Blue (or Kittatinny) Mountain, the line divid- ing Northampton and Monroe Counties, being also the southerly line of said Ross township" (at which place they put up a good stone corner and marked it well).

The surface of this township is generally hilly and broken, in some parts mountainous, with occasional level plateaus as you approach the heads of the streams. There are no contin- uous mountain ranges which can be distinctly traced, but a succession of ridges and hills, ir- regular in outline and deeply indented by small streams, which indicate the close proximity of a mountain range. There is considerable flat land along the larger streams.

In early times the greater part of this town- ship was covered with forests, and lumbering was largely engaged in by the first settlers. The woods that remain are mostly situated on the tops and sides of hills and consist mainly of chestnut timber, with here and there tracts of hickory, oak and white oak, interspersed with pine, maple, ash, walnut, birch and wild cherry.

The first frame house built in the township was erected by Thomas Christman in 1843, who is still living in the same. The barns are mostly frame, with stone basements, and gener- ally quite capacious.

The inhabitants are the descendants of Ger- man settlers, who still speak the Pennsylvania German language. They belong to Reformed and Lutheran Churches.

EARLY HISTORY .- Undoubtedly the cele- brated Moravian missionary, Count Zinzendorf, was the first white man who set foot within the

limits of what is now Eldred township. On the 28th of July, 1742, he crossed Chestnut- hill Mountain and entered the narrow valley of the Aquanchicola. Here he came to a Dela- ware town of the Indians, called Meniolagome- ka, which signifies, " a tract of fertile land sur- rounded by barriers." This village lay in Smith's Valley, eight miles west of the Wind Gap, on the north bank of the Aquanchicola, at the intersection of the old Wilkes-Barre road, which crosses the mountain at Smith's Gap. The grave-yard was one-eighth of a mile south of Mr. Edward Snyder's limestone quarries. Benjamin Smith, whose great-grand- father was one of the early settlers in that neighborhood, pointed out to us the sites of both village and graveyard. In October of 1743 Seyffert D. Nitschmann and N. Seidel visited both here and on the Pocopoco; Seyffert and Hagen in January, 1744; in June of that year Seyffert, P. Bohler and Henry Antes. In February, 1748, Rauch visited at Meniolagome- ka. Bishop John M. de Watteville, on his vis- itation to the Moravians in America, in the last-mentioned year, passed through Meniola- gomeka to the Pocopoco. April 25, 1749, George Rex, the captain of the village, while on a visit to Bethlehem, was baptized by Bish- op Cammerhoff and received the name of Au- gustus. In 1750 Secretary Richard Peters urged his claim to the lands on the Aquanchi- cola, on which the village lay, and desired the Moravians to have the Indians removed. It was this that occasioned the exodus from Me- niolagomeka to Gnadenhutten, on the Mahon- ning, in June of 1754. The missionary Bern- hard A. Grube was stationed at Meniolagome- ka in 1752. He was born in 1715, near Erfuth, and educated at Jena, and came to Pennsylvania on the " Irene " in June of 1746. At first he was employed in the schools at Bethlehem. While stationed at Meniolagomeka, he tells us, his awkwardness at handling an axe almost cost him a limb and confined him for weeks in a cold hut, where he lay on a board, with a wooden bowl for a pillow.

Abraham Bulminger was the last missionary in the Indian village. The inhabitants, when removed to Gnadenhutten and incorporated

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with the congregation of Christian Indians at that place, numbered fifty one all told. Me- niolagomeka is mentioned in the " General History " of this work.

The names of the early settlers of Eldred township, whose descendants are still living in the township, are Christman, Silfiese, Berger, Shmale, Frantz, Carrell, Barlieb, Greenzweig, Getman, Kunkle, Smith, Frable and others.

Abraham Smith came from Bucks County and settled in what is now Kunkletown village, on property now owned and occupied by Peter S. Metzgar. He married a Miss Altemose, whose parents died at sea on their voyage to this country. She was a sister of Mr. Altemose, who is the ancestor of all of that name in Ross township. Abraham Smith had one son, John, who married Miss Mary Box and had ten children, viz .: John, David, Jacob, Adam, Henry, Joseph, Nicholas, Jonas, Eve (married to John Heiny), Susan (married to Jacob Car- rell).

John married Mary Frantz and was the father of twelve children, four of which are living in the township, viz. : Henry, Reuben, Elias and Mary. David married Nancy Heiny. They were the parents of seven chil- dren, viz. : Jacob, Frank, James, Thomas, Michael, Mary (married to George Rilbert) and Susan (married to Joseph Marsh). Jacob took as his wife Katie Frantz, and had eight chil- dren, viz. : George, Adam, Samuel, Katie (married to Samuel Metzgar), Sally (married to John Carrell), Susan (married to Joseph Butz), Juddie (married to William Hinton) and Mary (married to George Kern). Adam married Mary Borger, and had seven children, viz. : Melchior, Henry, Samuel, David, Elizabeth (married to George Meixell), Fanny (married to Samuel Fannickel) and Susan (married to Daniel Beltz). Henry married Libbie Andrew, and had five children, viz .: Benjamin, Syden- ham, Christianna (married to Edward Engler), William and Matthews. Joseph married Katie Muffly. They were the parents of ten chil- dren, viz. : Paul, Christian, Ishadore, Amos, Gideon, Lydia (married to William Simmons), Mary (married to David Carrell), Rachel (mar- ried to Henry Carrell), Julia (married to

Linford Beer) and Leah (married to John Leeter). Nicholas married Catharine Getman, by whom he had eight children, viz. : Peter, John, Aaron, Charles, Alexander, Nathan, Mary (married to Philip Carrell) and Sallie (married to Daniel Frantz). Joseph took as his wife Mary Strohl, and was the father of nine children, viz .: Jacob, Nelson, Peter, Levi, Jonas, Solomon, Lucinda (married to Reuben Silfiese), Salina (married to Uriah Shell) and Julia (married to Levi Rauch).

Moses Frable, an Englishman by birth, located, at an early date, on the property where James Heiny now lives. He was the father of George Frable, who married a Miss Buck, and had five children, viz. : Joseph, John, David, Conrad and George. Joseph married Mary Moyer, and had fourteen children, viz .: Eliza- beth (married to Christian George), Timothy, Mathias, Jacob, Jefferson, Washington, Solo- mon, Reuben (present landlord at Kunkletown), Annie (married to Nelson Smith), Levi, Joseph, James, William and Sarah (married to Amos Roth). John married Elizabeth Frantz. They were blessed with ten children, viz .: Susan (married to Paul Burger), Paul, Adam, Michael, Mary (married to Joseph Borger), Elizabeth (married to Barnet Frantz), Lydia (married to Alexander Smith), John, Peter and Salina. David married Maria Gower, by whom he had five children, viz .: Anthony, Ephraim, Maria (married to John Fenner), Catharine and Elizabeth (married to Jacob Andrews). Conrad married Sally Beatty, and was the father of six children, viz. : Conrad, Ephraim, Charles, Aaron, Sally Ann (married to Daniel Lichtwalter) and Emma. George removed to Northampton County.

Adam Carrell, Sr., was a German by birth and the father of Adam Carrell, Jr., who located on the farm now owned by Henry Carrell, grandson of Adam Carrell, Sr. Adam Carrell, Jr., married Eve Buck, and had six children, viz. : Henry, John, Jacob, David, Philip and George, whose descendants are living in Eldred and Ross townships.

CHURCHES .- St. Matthew's Church, at Kunk- letown, is the only church building in the town- ship. Two congregations worship in this house

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

-- Reformed and Lutheran. The first church building was a log house, raised October 27, 1779. Religious worship was held in private houses as early as 1770. April 14, 1786, the following persons were confirmed and made members of the church: Anna Maria Smale, aged fifteen years; Elizabeth Carrell, sixteen years ; Sarah Margaret Kresge, seventeen years ; Maria Febera, fourteen years; Anna Maria Christman, fourteen years ; Margaret Hufsmith, seventeen years ; Philip Meixell, nineteen years; John Meixell, seventeen years; John Smale, seventeen years ; William Kresge, fifteen years.

The second and present building was erected in 1845. It is built entirely of stone, two sto- ries high, and will seat six hundred people. The stone and wood for the building were fur- nished by members of the congregations free of charge. The pulpit is attached to the side of the north wall, and supported on two posts about nine feet high. It has room but for one person and is entered by two narrow flights of steps. The present pastors serving the congregations are Rev. Kretzing, Reformed, and Rev. Strauss, Lutheran.

SCHOOLS .- The first schools in the township were held in private houses till 1783, when a school-house was built near where St. Matthew's Church now stands. A Mr. Noah is said to have been the first teacher in this building. It was a square log house, with the desks fastened to the sides of the walls. The branches taught were writing, reading (German) and arith- metic. At present there are seven school dis- tricts in the township, viz. : Gower, Kleintop, Frantz, Christman, Barlieb, Smith Gap and Carrell. The average salary of teachers per month in 1885 was twenty-three dollars. The total receipts for same year amounted to $991.50, and total expenditures $966.72. The number of pupils enrolled in 1885 were one hundred and twelve males and ninety-eight females.

SCHOOL DIRECTORS .---- The official records show the following persons to have been elected school directors of Eldred township from its organization to the present time :

1852 .- Henry Carrell, Joseph Borger, George

Smahl, Anthony Gower, Adam Bruntzman, John Christman.

1853 .- Jacob Smith, Philip Drumheller.

1854 .- Peter Gowen, Jacob Englert.

1855 .- Reuben Frantz, John Burger.

1856 .- John Frable, George Dodendorf.

1857 .- Edward Englert, John Christman. 1858 .- Jacob Frantz, Jonas Serfass. 1859 .- Anthony Gower, William Frantz.

1860 .- Joseph Fehr, Benjamin Smith.

1861 .- Jacob Carrell, Joseph Frable.

1862 .- George E. Dodendorf, Adam Daniels.

1863 .- Anthony Frantz, Christian Smith.

1864 .- Peter Gower, Jacob Engler. 1865 .- Reuben Frable, John Frantz.

1866 .- William Borge, Thomas Kleintop.

1867 .- Joseph Fehr, Samuel Jones.

1868 .- Jacob Frable, Nelson Heffelfinger.

1869 .- David Borge, David Carrell.

1870 .- Peter Jones, Reuben Frantz.

1871 .- Samuel Metzger, Godfrey Greensweig.

1872 .- Anthony Frantz, David Carrell.

1873 .- Edward Frantz, Jeremiah Newhart.

1874 .- Reuben Frable, Anthony Borge.

1875 -Benjamin Smith, Solomon Frable. 1876 -Christian Smith, Charles Roth.

1877 .- Tilghman Borger, Paul Gower.

1878 .- John Frantz, Sidney Smith.

1879 .- Joseph Borger, Jonas Smith.

1880 .- Tilghman Borger, A. D. Gower.

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE .- The following persons have served as justices of the peace since the organization of the township :

1852. P. Drunkheller. 1867. P. Drunkheller.

1855. John Harter. 1869. James Heiny.

1857. P. Drunkheller. 1872. A. H. Borger.

1860. Wash. Frable. 1875. James Heiny.

1862. P. Drunkheller. 1877. P. P. Schaffer.

1865. Samuel Jones.

1880. James Heiny.

ROADS .- The township is accessible by a number of very good roads, but owing to the imperfect manner in which the records were kept, the date of the opening of early roads can only be fixed approximately.

KUNKLETOWN .- This is a small village situ- ated in a beautiful valley, on the banks of Prince's Run, and has a very good water-power. It was named after Joseph Kunkle, one of the early business men of that place.

Among the first to settle in this village was Abraham Smith. He came from Bucks County in 1762 and built a grist-mill, now owned and run by Peter S. Metzgar. In 1812 a United States gun factory was started by Philip Hess,

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 199

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co. Number of Pages: 1438

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 1438