USA > Pennsylvania > Juniata County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 2, Pt. 2 > Part 24
USA > Pennsylvania > Perry County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 2, Pt. 2 > Part 24
USA > Pennsylvania > Snyder County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 2, Pt. 2 > Part 24
USA > Pennsylvania > Union County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 2, Pt. 2 > Part 24
USA > Pennsylvania > Mifflin County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 2, Pt. 2 > Part 24
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STREAMS .- Pon's Creek, flowing through Hartley, Lewis and Lewistown, was called in the treaty of 1754 " Rayarondin ;" in that of 1758, "Jolm Pen's Creek," and in various old deeds at different times it is called " Big Ma- honey." In the deed from John Turner to John Harris, of June, 1755, for the improvement (now R. V. B. Lincoln's) in Hartley township the creek is called " Mahoney."
Buffalo Creek is called by that name in the treaty of 1758. It rises in numerous springs, most of which are in Lewis township. North Branch and Rapid Run flow casterly through the township in the northern part.
Lewis township is from two and a half to three miles wide from cast to west, and about fifteen miles in length from north to south ; about one- half of it- territory i- mountainous and incapa- ble of cultivation. In the central part of the township there are a- fine farms as can be found in the county. From the time of the purchase of 1751 the greater part of the town- ship of Lewis was in Cumberland County until, in 1768, the northeastern part of the township was embraced in the purchase of that year, and became a part of the county of Berks, and so remained until the erection of the county of Northumberland, in 1772. The line of the purchase of 1751, as fixed by the treaty of Colonel Cole sold his place to Colonel Hartley,
Abraham Mench's places, north of Ray's Church. The Meuch farms are on the David Johnson survey, application of April 3, 1769, surveyed AAugust 20, 1769. West of David Johnston, on Buffalo Creek, is the Thomas Mackemie's, surveyed August 16, 1771, and west of the latter, the James MeBeath (the Or- wig mill tract), both surveyed under applica- tions of April 3, 1769. South of these lies a large block of surveys, then in Cumberland County, returned as surveyed November 27, 1769, under application of April 3d of that year. Of this block the Jane Little tract is the castermost ; its northwest corner is a black oak, common to the Mackemie and Johnston surveys. This black oak was on the old county line between Berks and Cumberland, course from black oak south 57º cast 171 perches to northeast corner of' Jane Little. The old John Ray farm and Ray's Church are on the north- ern part of the JJane Little, of the block; the next west of Jane Little was the John Temple- ton, then the Jane Montgomery, then the Johu Johnston on which the Filman and John and Isaac Reish farms are. These original surveys are a mile and a half long from north to south, the turnpike running nearly through the centre of them.
West of the John Johnson is the Philip Cole survey, made June 25, 1773, on warrant of May 24, of that year. Colonel Philip Cole lived on this tract before the Revolutionary War, and had twenty-five acres cleared as early as 1775. Ile was a juror in 1773 and member of the company committee of safety for Buffalo township, in 1776, and colonel of the battalion of associators of Buffalo and Penn's towaship, elected August 31, 1776. This battalion or drafts from it went into service in December, and were employed in provost duty at Reading. Colonel Cole left the valley at the runaway in 1778 and never returned. Peter Kiester next occupied his place as a tenant, and the place was long known as Kiester's. In 1784
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who owned a large number of traets of land in the neighborhood.'Kiester remained the tenant of Hartley for some years, and was succeeded by Elward Crawford on the old Cole place.
In 1792 Edward Crawford, one hundred and fitty aeres ; Anthony Carner, two hundred aeres; William Douglass, two lomdred acres ; Peter Kiter, three hundred acres ; Benjamin Wil- liams, one hundred and fifty acres ; William Boveard, one hundred aeres, were tenants on Colonel Hartley's lands in Lewis and Hartley township, then West Buffalo. I the same year Sebastian Miller, the father of Peter Miller, who died in Hartley township, in his ninety-second year, settled upon land of Colonel Hartley, as a tenant, and made the first Wearing on the farm now owned by Mr. Ship- ton, at Swengle. In March, 1793, Hugh Wilson (father of the late Francis Wilson, of near Lewisburgh, and of Dr. W. 1. Wilson, of Potter's Mills, and grandfather of Hon. John B. Linn) moved from the place afterwards known as Kleckuer's, one mile west of Mifflinhurg, to the Cole place, owned by Colonel Hartley (now and for many years Yerger's), and kept tavern there until 1798, when he removed to Lewisburgh to keep a store. This tavern of Hugh Wilson's was probably the first licensed house in the township from 1793-98. In the assessment list of 1796 it is described as a hewed log house, round log barn and three hundred acres in the place. Jolm Yerger came there in 1801, succeeding Martin Silton, and John Yerger, Ir., commenced keeping tavern there in 1804, and in 1814 was still keeping there. He moved from the valley and bought a place near Jacksonville, in Nittany Valley, where some of his descendants still reside. Ile was succeeded by his brother Jacob, who lived there until his death in 1870, and the old place and part of the farm is still owned by Joli Yerger, his son.
The land on which Christian Mench, the elder, now lives was surveyed to Balizer Kline- smith, on March 26, 1777, on warrant of Feb- tuary 21, 1776. He was killed by the Indians in Buffalo township, not far from Dreisbach's Church, in 1780, but his widow and children lived mpon it after the war. In 1810 the land was valned and divided into two portions, Baltzer
and Robert Klinesmith, Jr., taking one portion; Chambers, a son-in-law of the Baltzer who was killed, taking theother. Baltzer, Jr., sold hisshare to Christian Mench, and moved to a tract of land in Hartley township, on the east side of Paddy's Mountain, where he lived until his death. He is buried in the Laurelton grave- yard. His wife was a daughter of Melchior Smith, an early settler on the place now Bower's, on Laurel Run. Their descendants of the names of Grove and Stover reside in Marion and Benner townships, and in Millheim, in Centre County.
On the North Branch of Buffalo Creek lie many of the surveys lately owned by Henry Gast, surveyed in December, 1794, on warrants of December 16, 1793. North of these are lands taken up at a late date by Dr. S. S. Beck, and along the northern border of the township are surveys made in the name of James Wistar and others, surveyed in December, 1791, on warrants of April 12, 1794.
The surveys along Penn's Creek, on the north side, were made for John Harris in Fch- ruary, 1769, on warrants of 1755. One Wil- liam Doran held an improvement on the lands surveyed for Harris in the neighborhood of Penn's Creek before 1755. A survey, made February 13, 1755, by General Armstrong for Henry Nuyfer, calls for Doran's improvement as an adjoiner. The name of William Doran ap- pears as one of the signers to the petition addressed to Robert Hunter Morris, then Governor under the proprietaries, after the massacre on Penn's Creek in October, 1755. The site of his im- provement cannot now be fixed with precision, but it must have been in the neighborhood of what is now Knauer's Mill.
As early as 1780 David Catherman lived on the place now owned by William Swengle. He had two sons, Jacob and George, between whom he divided his four hundred acres of land, Ja- cob getting the place where Swengle now lives, while George had his cabin a little north of the present residence of J. L. Halfpenny, Esq. In 1781 Jacob Catherman was captured by the Indians, at or about the same time that JJohn Shively and the Wierbach girls were taken, as detailed in the history of Hartley township.
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JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
The family tradition of the capture of Cather- man, as related by John F. Catherman, a grandson of Jacob, is substantially as follows : There had been rumors of the approach of hos- tile Indians, and the Catherman family had been considering the propriety of leaving their home and seeking a more scenre place of refuge; and, with this end. in view, Jacob Catherman and a man named Reichard went up on the Limestone Ridge to hunt for the colts, which had been allowed to run at large. Whilst thus engaged they were unexpectedly fired upon and Reichard wounded, but not dangerously. They commenced to run, and, after running some distance, came upon a large band of Indians, and, seeing no hope of escape, Catherman, who had a gun, fired it into the ground in token of surrender. After a captivity of three days Reichard escaped and returned, but Catherman remained in captivity until the war ended. Whilst a captive be made it a point to be of as little use as possible to his captors, and con- trived to do everything that he was ordered to do in an unsatisfactory manner. For example, when set to hoeing corn, he would hoe the corn off and leave the weeds stand, ete., so that the Indians got tired of him and sold him to their British allies for a few gallons of whiskey, an article which they could use. On his return from captivity, as he neared his home, he passed a harvest-fickt, in which were abont thirty reap- ers, on land lately part of the estate of John Mench (deceased), in Limestone township.
The reapers happened to be at the end as Catherman neared them, and some of them knowing and recognizing him, they had a reg- ular jubilee over his return, and regaled him so freely with the usual harvest beverage that, for some hours, he was unable to continue his journey. He lived long in the valley, and raised a family of eleven sons and two daugh- ters. ITis brother, George, also raised a large family of boys, and their descendants can now be counted by the hundred, in Lewis and Hart- ley townships, and in the Western States of. the Union. The stone mansion-house on Jacob Catherman's place was built in 1817.
In 1781 the first mill on Penn's Creek, afterwards known as Barber's, Ruhl's, Kauff- I large steam saw-mill, with all the modern
man's and Knaner's, was built by Adam Smith. It was long known as Smith's Mill. In 1801 Smith sold to Barber & Heise, who improved the mill. Robert Barber, Jr., subsequently be- came the sole owner, and built an addition to the mill, and carried on a distillery, in conner- tion with the manufacture of flour, for many years. Abont 1837 Barber sold to Jomm Ruhl, who remained the owner until he sold to a MIr. Kauffman, from Schuylkill County, in 1852, and he, in turn, after an ownership of a few years, sold to Samuel Knauer, who is the pres- ent owner. It is still in the full tide of suc- cessful operation, with an abundant water- power.
In 1793 we find the name of Sebastian Mil- ler in the assessment list; he came from North- ampton County, and settled as a tenant on land of Colonel Hartley, built the first cabin, grabbed the first sapling and made the first clearing at Swengle. He was the father of Peter Miller, who, for many years, owned a saw-mill on l'en's Creek, in Hartley township, and died in the ninety-second year of his age, and was buried in the Kiester grave-yard.
Peter Klingaman came from York County soon after the close of the Revolutionary War, in which he had been a soldier, and settled in the northern part of the arable portion of the township, where his posterity still reside. He was born in 1762, and died in 1848.
In 1797 George Books erected a saw-mill on the North Branch of Buffalo Creek. He is said to have been a man of extraordinary phys- ical strength. In a row at Rockey's Mill, where the elections for White Deer, Buffalo and Potter townships were held from 1777 to 1788, he caught two men, one in each hand, and butted their heads together until they were willing to behave themselves. He removed to Ohio, and there died. This saw-mill of Books was too far removed from the settlements to be profitable, and was allowed to rot down, and for more than fifty years was known as "the old saw-mill." In 1882 Messrs. Ryan, Thomp- son & Co., of Williamsport, bought the site of the old Books saw-mill, along with other valu- able timber lands in its vicinity, and created a
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improvements, and also built a railroad from the Lewisburgh and Tyrone Railroad, at a point a little west from Mifflinburg, to their saw-mill; on this railroad their own locomotive transports the products of the mill, ete., to the main railroad at Mifflinburg. This railroad is some seven or eight miles long.
The people of Lewis township are ahnost ex- clusively engaged in agricultural pursuits, and always have been. As early as 1814 there were but three saw-mills in the township, viz., George Reznor's, at the place afterwards known as Orwig's Mill ; Robert Barber, Jr.'s, on Penn's Creek, now Knauer's ; and Mishael Lincoln's, the one formerly Books'. After the vicissitudes of seventy years, the same number is in exist- ence, at almost the same localities, viz .: Ryan, Thompson & Co.'s, at the old Books site ; Sam- uel Knauer's, at Robert Barber's old place ; and Jeremiah Troutman's, not far from the Orwig site.
In 1775 the name of John Reznor appears upon the assessment list of Buffalo township, Northumberland County, as a new settler ; he is assessed with three acres of cleared land and two horses and two cows. He was a native of Germany, of the class known as Redemptioners, which name was applied to those persons who were unable to defray the expenses of crossing the Atlantic, and were sold as servants, at aue- tion, to such persons as were willing to pay the passage-money for them. The purchasers were entitled to the services of the " Redemptioners " for a term specified in the sale, by which time it was supposed the earnings of the Redemption- er's would be enough to redeem them from serv- itude. John Reznor's services were purchased by an English-speaking family, and he remained with them so long that he entirely forgot his native tongue, and he, as long as he lived spoke the English language exclusively, in which he has been followed by his descendants. He died in 1801, leaving a widow and children, -John, George, Agnes, etc. George got the property afterwards known as Orwig's, where he had a saw-mill.
In the first year of the existence of the county of Union (1814) a road was laid out from Rockey's mill to Reznor's saw-mill, five
miles ; and from Reznor's saw-mill to the Brush Valley and Mifflinburg road, four miles and one hundred and forty perches. John owned the land afterwards Reuben Mench's, and other lands now embraced within the domain of Isaac Reish. George Reznor sold to and was succeeded by Abraham Orwig, in 1816, and moved West, while John (2d) remained until his death, in Oc- tober, 1835. His son John became the owner of the old place, and James of the place along the turnpike. John subsequently sold to Reu- ben Mench, and removed with his family to Mercer County, Pa. One of his sons, Thomas M. Reznor, has since represented Mercer County in the Legislature of Pennsylvania.
On May 23, 1836, James Reznor had gone to Hartleton on some business, and, whilst his horse was hitched to a post in front of the store of Robert II. Kerr, the horse took tright and pulled out the post, and Mr. Reznor, in trying to catch the horse, was struck by the swinging post and so much injured that he died a short time afterwards. He left two sons, Robert and Samuel, both of whom have left the valley ; and daughters,-Anne, married Dr. JJacob Schuyler, of Bloomsburg ; Elizabeth, married to John V. Barber, of Mifflinburg; Agnes, married to William B. Barber, of Limestone township; and Susan, since deceased. The wife of Dr. Sehuy- ler also has been dead for a number of years.
Among the names of the inhabitants of Buf- falo township in April, 1780, appears that of John Ray. In 1796 George Ray, or Reeg, as it was spelled in German, is assessed as a tavern- keeper, with a hewed log house and barn, in West Buffalo township, which, in 1792, had been erected ont of the western portion of old Buffalo. He died in 1802, the owner of the farm long known as Ray's, about midway be- tween Mifflinburg and Hartleton, on the turn- pike. His name has been perpetnated in the church erected on the land donated by him for that purpose. His son, John Ray, was the first sheriff of Union County. In 1802 John Spi- gehnyer settled in the township; he left two sons, John and Daniel, each in the possession of a large farm near the present village of Swengle. The village is built on part of the Daniel Spigelmyer farm, and derives its name
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JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
from John Swengle, who was the next owner and a brother laid out the town of Orwigsburg, after Spigelmyer. Daniel Spigelmyer died leaving a number of daughters and one son, Shem, for a long time (about thirty-five years) a merchant at Hardleton, and at present a resident of' Mifflinburg. John Spigelmyer, Jr., left two sous, Jacob and John, the latter of whom died a few years ago of a cancer ; the for- mer is at present a resident of Hartleton, one of the county commissioners and the owner of a part of the paternal acres.
In 1806 Philip Ruhl removed from Lancas- ter County and settled in the township on the property where two of his grandsons (S. F. and T. H. Ruhl) now reside. He had four sous,- Philip, John, Georgeand Jacoh ; and a daughter, first married to George Kleckner, who died the owner of the farm (now Dr. Seebold's) about a mile west of' Mifflinburg. After the death of Kleckner she married Shem Schoch, of New Berlin, and is still living. Another daughter married Shem Knauss, and is now living, in the eighty-second year of her age. All of these four sons lived to be very old men, dying at ages between eighty-five and ninety years. The oldest, Philip, was three times (1829, '30 and '31) elected to represent the county of Union in the Legislature of Pennsylvania, twice as the colleague of the celebrated Ner Middleswarth. He was also, in 1855, elected an associate judge of the County Courts. The four brothers were all successful farmers, and their descendants now own aud ocenpy some of the best farms of the township.
In 1814 Peter Kauffman was living on and owning a part of the original MeBeath survey. He was well known, and was remembered for some cecentricities of character. He died in 1845, aged eighty-four years. One of his daugh- ters was the wife of Henry Sanders, Jr. Jos- eph Sanders, one of the sons, moved upon the farm and is it- owner and one of the leading citizens of the best-hip.
From record- in a German Bible, published in 1751, and now owned by Edward Orwig, it appears that Godfrey Orwig was born in Ger- many in 1709 and came to America in 1743. George Orwig, the sixth child of Godfrey and Clara Orwig, was born March 11, 1758. He
in Schuylkill County. George Orwig left Or- wigsburg, and, with his family, migrated to the more generous soil of Buffalo Valley, to the place now owned by John Watson. He next moved to Mifflinburg and died in 18.41, aged nearly eighty-three years. In the old theman Bible afore-mentioned is a record of the birth of twelve children, viz. : George, born Jaunary 17, 1780; Jolm, born July 21, 1781 ; Jacob, born April 18, 1783; Isaac, born February 27, 1785 ; Abraham, born February 26, 1787; Henry, born January 27, 1789; Maria, born August 27, 1791 ; Mary Magdalena, born De- cember 5, 1793; Rebecca, born February 1, 1796 ; Samuel, born April 6, 1798; William, born March 22, 1800; Hannah, born July 1, 1802.
George built the mill at New Berlin. John kept a store in Mifflinburg; he and George moved to Ohio. Jacob died in New Berlin. Henry, Samuel, Hannah and Rebecca ( who was the wife of Thomas Crotzer) died in Mifflin- burg. Sammel was a saddler and the father of Reuben G., Thomas G., Benjamin M., Samuel HI. and Joseph R. Orwig, besides several dangh- ters. William died in Lewis township, where his son Edward lives. Isaac died in Schuylkill County, aged eighty-eight years. In 1816 Abraham Orwig succeeded George Reznor, who had a saw-mill on Buffalo Creek ; and in 1817 built a small grist-mill. This mill was half a century in the Orwig family.
Abraham's sons were William W. (an eminent preacher and a bishop of the Evangelical Asso- ciation, now a resident of Cleveland, Ohio), Henry (who snecceded his father in the owner- ship of the old homestead and mill, and who died a few years since in Mifflinburg) and Elias (now and for many years a resident of Hartleton).
Daniel Knan-s, the grandfather of the present Daniel Kran -- , came from Northampton Com;, P.t., about 1>16, and bought the place where hi- grand-on still reside-, and died there in 1845, aged eighty-eight years. He had quite a repu- tation in his day as a witch-doctor; many per- sous resorted to him for his advice and prescrip- tions to assist them in getting rid of the wiles of the enchanter. He left sons-Benjamin, Sol-
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won and Shem-and a daughter, Hannah. Ben- puniu died a few years ago in Treverton, Pa., in his ninety-fifth year; Solomon removed, about 1818, to the neighborhood of Bellevue, Ohio, where his posterity still reside ; Shem lived and died on the old homestead, leaving it to his son Daniel ; he also left two daughters- Elizabeth (married to Isaac Reish) and another (married to Charles Ruhl).
Hannah Knauss married Daniel Spigelmyer, and still lives in Hartleton, in her ninety-second year, the recipient of a pension from the United States for services rendered by her late husband in the War of 1812, ahnost three-quarters of a century ago. Republies are not ungrateful.
The ancestors of the Mench family came from Germany. AAbraham Mench came from Berks County, Pa., to Columbia, and, after a residence there of a few years, removed to Union County aud settled on the place where his son Abra- ham still resides. His sons were John, Ren- ben, Benjamin, Christian and Abraham ; daugh- ter -- Betsey, Lydia, Sally, Nancy and Hetty.
John was an extensive farmer in Limestone township, and died there in 1858; sons-Abra- ham H. (a Methodist preacher, now dead), Oliver P. (residing in Mifflinburg), Isaiah (de- cea-ed), Jeremiah (moved West), Melanethon (living on the paternal farm) and Johu R. Daughters-Hannah and Elizabeth (were both, ¿necessively, married to Daniel Reber, and are both dead), Jane (married to Joseph Stees, also deceased), Elvy (married to William Chambers, also deceased) and Alice (married to Hon. G. A. Schoch, of Middleburg).
Renben died on the farm which had for many years belonged to John Rozuor, and which is now a part of the barony of Isaac Reish, leav- iug sons-Hudson (a resident of Virginia) and Dr. M. L. (a physician in Hartleton) ; and two daughters-Hetty (married to Mr. Serim- tager, of Virginia) and Ella (married to Dr. Weaver, of Centre County). Benjamin, Abra- ham and Christian own contiguous farms on the north of the turnpike, opposite to Ray's Church.
and lived there nutil the elder John Reish bought it from Maclay, in 1831. His son, John Hower, married a daughter of John Spigelmyer, and has been a resident of the township ever since, until, a few years ago, he retired from his farm, and is now spending the evening of life in the borough of Hartleton. Jacob Hower, of Lewisburgh, is one of his sons.
John Reish came from Berks County, Pa., and settled in the neighborhood of Farmers- ville. In 1831 he removed from there to the farm known as Reish's ever since, and died in 1860, seventy-six years old, leaving two sons, Joli and Isaac, the inheritors of his estate. The two brothers held the property in common and increased it by subsequent purchases of the adjoining farms of Reuben Mench and James Reznor, deceased. John dying without lineal heirs, Isaac became the sole owner of the Reish farms, and is now the largest owner of arable land in the township.
Tms RAY CuoRen .- In 1801 George Ray gave an aere on which to erect a church for the use of the Lutheran and German Reformed societies. On this land a church building of hewed logs was put np. There was also a burying-ground adjacent to the church. After the lapse of years the Ray Church became neglected, and for several years was rarely used except upon funeral occasions,
In those days terrible tales were told of the strange sights seen in the grave-yard, and of unearthly noises heard in the deserted church at night, which were supposed by those who saw and heard them to proceed from the disem- bodied spirits which had escaped from the grave-yard into the church and were holding high carnival there. The doors of the church generally stood open and it was said that if they were closed on one day they would be open again by the next morning. At last some per- son, not having the fear of Satan or of spirits before his eyes, had the temerity to intrude him- self into the nocturnal orgies of the spirits, and found that all the spectres seen and noises heard proceeded from a flock of sheep which had taken advantage of open doors to make the church a place of shelter at night. Like all
George Hower came to Union County in 1806, and lived in Buffalo township until, abont the year 1820, he removed to Lewis township, un laud belonging to John Maclay (now Reisli's), | other ghost stories, this one vanished into air
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