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 9
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 9
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 9
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 9
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 9
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In June, 1872, a number of gentlemen es- tablished the Mifflinburg Bank at that place, and Mr. Himmelreich was elected one of the directors, and his connection and advice have proved so valuable that he has ever since then continued in such office.
JOSEPH W. SHRINER.
The ancestors of Mr. Shriner came from Germany carly in the eighteenth century, and settled in Lancaster County, Pa. ITis grand- father, Jolm Shriner, moved to Northumber- land, Pa., and died about 1830. His wife, whose family name was Gast, died a few years after, having borne him seven children,-Dan- iel, who married Catharine Funston, had six children ; Sarah, who married Samuel Har- mony, and bore seven children ; John, who married Elizabeth Pardoe, and had nine chil- dren; Catharine, who married Captain James Lee, and bore three children (one of whom, Colonel Arthur T. Lee, was one of those men, brave, tender, true and cultivated, who shed lustre upou their race and honor upon their country. An accomplished artist and poet, he yet gave his talents to the army, and obtained dis- tinction there by force of merit, as he would have done had he chosen the less martial, but more valuable, field of letters. He served his coun- try throughout the Mexican War, the Seminole Indian troubles in Florida, the Texas border warfare and the Rebellion ; was wounded at
Gettysburg, and on that bloody field was given his coloneley for distinguished bravery. Col- onel Lee was governor of the Soldiers' Home, Washington, D. C., several years, and enjoyed, for a long period, the friendship of General Simon Cameron and Colonel J. W. Forney, both of Pennsylvania. He died at Rochester, N. Y., fall of 1879; Mary, who married John Babb, and had six children; Samuel, born May 1, 1798, married on May 9, 1818, 10 Ann Wheeler (born April 13, 1799), who bore him six children : William Babb, married, Ist, Elizabeth Derr, and, 2d, Caroline Gute- lius, and had issue two children (he died September 26, 1862) ; Sarah Jane, died in in- fancy ; Charles II., married, Ist, Mary Derr, who bore him three children ; 2d, Elizabeth Foster, who bore him seven children ; 3d, Eliza- beth Van Valzah; Ith, Elizabeth Achenbach, who has borne him two children. Hon. C. H. Shriner was one of the most prominent poli- ticians of his day ; served as elector on the Lin- coln ticket (second term), and was collector of this district during Lincoln's and Johnson's terms. They moved West in 1875, and now live at Dixon, III. ; Joseph Wheeler, subject of this sketch ; Caroline Matilda, died in infancy ; Samuel, born October 9, 1828, died January 17, 1868.
Sammel, the father of these children, died August 9, 1828, aged thirty years, his widow surviving him until December 2, 1857, when she, too, passed away.
Mrs. J. W. Shriner's ancestry is traced back to the " Fatherland " also, they settling in what is now Union County at an early date. Her father, Abraham Kremer, born 1790, married Elizabeth, daughter of William and Frances Whitaker, and had thirteen children,-Mary Jane, who married J. Y. Derr, and bore eleven children; Frances, who married James S. Marsh; Charles K., who married Anna Hawthorn, and have two children; Edgar, married, first, Le- titia Davis, and, second, a Southern lady (now resides in Maryland); Mary JJulia, married Daniel Rank, and has borne one child ; Wil- liam; John, married Emma Eyer, and has two children ; Frederick ; Harry, married Nellie Cameron, and has one child ; Elizabeth, born
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UNION COUNTY.
December 1, 1821, married J. W. Shriner (heretofore mentioned) ; Julia, married (i. W. Forrest, and had issue three children ; Joseph 1., married Sarah Lawshe; Johm K., married Margaret Beaver, and has seven children.
Joseph Wheeler Shriner, born November 12, 1821, was deprived of a father's guidance at the age of four years, and carly gave evidence of a sterling character. In his sixteenth year he became steward of a packet-boat running on
accepted, becoming an equal partner, in 1851, under style of Geddes, Marsh & Co. This combination proved efficient, and they nuder- took the manufacture of agricultural imple- ments, in which they acquired a great success, introducing the first reapers and drills soon in this section. " What crowds would gather to witness the operation of those crude imple- ments!" says Mr. Shriner, whose entire atten- tion was given to their outside business some
the Susquebanna. After three years of such life, he entered the flouring-mill of the late Samuel Wolfe, to learn the business, on the acquisition of which, for reasons of health, he went into the foundry of Geddes & Marsh, Lewisburgh. The first few years, his time was spent on the road, selling the stoves made by this firm, and his success was so marked that offers of partnership were made him by seve- ral manufacturing companies; also by Messes. Geddes & Marsh. The latter proposition he
ten years, during which he was largely instru- mental in the ercetion of the Dry Valley Fur- nace at Winfield, Union County, and at the expiration of which time a new company was formed to make the celebrated Buckeye Reaper and Mower. In 1860 such was organized under title of Slifer, Walls, Shriner & Co., which was incorporated under the laws of Pennsylvania in 1865, and had a highly suc- cessful career.
In 1870 Mr. Shriner withdrew, and returned
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to his first love, having, in the mean time, pur- | port; Sarah J., born June 7, 1860, married chased his old training-school, the Wolfe mill, and bought other properties near by, where he had been making a home for several years.
During the last fifteen years he has given close attention to the Lewisburgh water-mills and has attained an enviable reputation for his ! Clara May. Their beautiful home, surrounded product. Always prompt to recognize improve- ments in machinery; he was the first miller in Central Pennsylvania to adopt the middlings purifier, brushing-machine, flexible driver, etc., and has given much time to the search for im- provements, also in experiments, to a certain end-i. e., the taking bran from wheat before grinding, he being firmly convinced of its feasi- bility, and believing the discoverer of such sys- tem as shall render it possible will revolutionize this immense industry and reap a vast fortune. For several years his attention was partially turned to Imbering in Clearfield County, and large quantities of square timber were ent and marketed after rafting down the Susquehanna.
Shortly after attaining his majority Mr. Shriner was made a Mason and on February 28, 1856, received the honors of knighthood in St. John's Commandery, No. 4, then held at Carlisle. At that date there were but four com- manderies in Pennsylvania; he was one of the founders of Crusade Commandery, No. 12, at Bloomsburg, latter part of 1856, and still holds membership there. Ile claims the distinction of being the oldest Sir Knight in Northwestern Pennsylvania, and continues an active member of Charity Lodge, No. 11, Lewisburgh. He was one of the organizers of the State Board of Agriculture in 1877 and served as member from Union County seven years, part of the time being one of the executive committee. In poli- ties he has been a Republican since the war, while in religious convictions the entire family is Methodist, Mr. and Mrs. Shriner having joined that church nearly fifty years ago.
He was married to Miss Elizabeth Kremer on March 23, 1818; their union has been blessed with the following-named children: Ama Frances, Mary Elizabeth, Charles Kremer, William, all of whom deceased in early youth ; Thomas Bowman, born June 7, 1860, mar- ried Grace, daughter of John Good, Williams-
Rev. J. W. Rne, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Central Pennsylvania Conference, and has borne Elizabeth Shriner, Margaret May, Mary Ethel and Florence Irene; Margaret Kre- mer; Harold Wheeler, (died in childhood) and
by some sixty acres, located one-quarter of a mile from Lewisburgh, shows the prevailing charae- teristics throughont. In the immediate future part of this estate will be laid out into two hundred town-lots in order to open up for suburban residences a section which will be readily accepted because of its handsome situa- tion. His early struggles gave Mr. Shriner a strong regard for youth and energy, and he has largely assisted young men since ability became his, and to such extent as to seriously affect his financial means on different occasions; but, con- fident in self and happy in family, his life rolls ou towards a completed manhood, attained by honest and caruest endeavor to perform the Golden Rule as first laid down.
CHAPTER VII.
EAST BUFFALO TOWNSHIP.'
The formation of the township will be found in the account of the erection of the county. The tract of land known as the Thomas Lowry was surveyed on order No. 266, 2d of August, 1769. This embraces the lands around the month of Turtle Creek. This was the name of the creek even before 1769. It is laid out by that name in Scull's map of 1770. John Wil- son lived here in that year. He had some sort of a mill there in 1771, and died there in 1772 or 1774, probably the former. John Aurand bought the premises on the 3d of October, 1772. He was born in Strass Ebersbad, near Heidelberg, Germany, September 25, 1725; died March 30, 1807 ; was, therefore, cighty- two years old. His ancestors were originally French, driven into Holland by religions per- secution. He emigrated to America in 1757,
1 By J. Merrill Linn, Esq.
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UNION COUNTY.
lived at Maiden Creek, Tulpehoeken, and then removed to Union County. His grave in the Dreisbach yard is unmarked. His wife, Mary Elizabeth, died before him. His children were Henry, who lived and died in Snyder County ; Peter and Jacob lived in Reading ; Daniel, in Sunbury ; Rev. Dietrich, who died in Ihmting- don County ; George Anrand, Esq., died July 18, 1850 ; Elizabeth, intermarried with Francis Zeller ; John, who died May, 1808; Abraham ; Mary, married to John Wolfe.
CHILLISQUAQUE
CAFEK
TURTLE
CHEEK
AURANTS .77/₩
4 ACRES AND
LAND
LAND
JOHN AURANTS
ALLOWANCE
LATE COL: FRANCIS'
Dr. Harbangh, in his " Fathers of the Ger- man Reformed Church," states, upon authority of John Anrand, of Yellow Springs, Blair County, a grandson of John Amrand, that the latter built both flour and saw-mills at Turtle Creek.
John Dietrich was born at Maiden Creek, November 7, 1760, enlisted in Colonel Stewart's regiment, Wayne's brigade, Pennsylvania Line, when eighteen years of age, and returned at the expiration of his service, in 1781.
On the 7th of July, 1774, Robert Fruit and Thomas Hewitt, commissioners of the county, made a sworn valuation of the traet, as a grist- mill, two pair of stones, saw-mill, dwelling- house and barn, two hundred and twenty-eight aeres, at seven hundred pounds.
Dietrich Aurand, who had followed milling at different places down the river, removed, with his family, into the valley, and settled on a farm on Turtle Creek, midway between its source and outlet, about five miles above Jenkins' mill. The farm he was on had a reserved water-right, and was given to him by his father, with the design that he should build a merchant mill on it, and he intended so to do; but the Hessian fly having proved very destructive to the wheat erops for mpwards of ten years, he lost severely in purchases of wheat for the French, and lost by bailing ; so he could not build the mill, and had to sell and remove to an adjoining farm in 1801.
The following sketch, taken from Dr. Har- bangh's " Fathers," relates, of course, to the Re- formed portion of Dreisbach Church :
" The Buffalo Church, now called Dreisbach, had, for some thae, been in a very distracted condition, having the irregular attention of the irregular Pirumer, called Frommer, but was, for the most part, closed entirely. The young men were growing up withont adequate spiritual instruction, and the old members having passed through seenes of strife, had grown, to a great degree, indifferent. Seeing, how- ever, at length, that religious matters were tending in a bad way, they awoke and saw that something must be done. Reformed ministers being at that time few, and difficult to be secured, they thought they saw in Deitrich Aurand, who was still on his farm, a man who could be useful among them as a Reformed minister. About the beginning of the year 1801 they came together, and unanimously and very cor- dially agreed to call upon him to officiate as their minister, he having preached sermons to them giving the greatest satisfaction; he agreed to accept the call. ITe was licensed by the brethren, but was not yet ordained or even licensed by the Synod. He be- gan, however, to catechise in the Dreisbach Church, and large numbers attended, whom he confirmed, baptizing such as had not been."
On the 3d of May the Synod met at York, and a request was made by the congregations of Buffalo Valley and New Berlin for the ex- amination and ordination of Mr. Anrand. The matter, however, was deferred, principally at his own request, until he might improve him- self. He, however, continued to preach to the congregations of Buffalo Valley and New Ber- lin until his removal to Huntingdon County, in October, 1801, where he founded the congre-
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gation of Water Street. He died near there, on the 2 Ith of April, 1831, aged seventy years, five months and sixteen days, and is buried in front of Zion's Church, at Water Street.
Abram Anrand, Sr., lived in East Buffalo, on the head-waters of Turtle Creek ; died Jannary 25, 1855, leaving two children,-Abram, .r., who died and John, who died . Mrs. Sarah Ritter, the only child of AAbram, lives on and owns the old place.
The Jenkins family came originally from Wales, but James Jenkins, Sr., was latterly of London, near Drawbridge ; afterwards became a resident of the island of Madeira ; came to Philadelphia in 1773, and carried on business as merchant there, and purchased lands on the Susquehanna in 1775. Hle had four sons- William (who married Joacqnine De Adraid, a Portuguese lady of Madeira, and, with his wife, lived with his mother at Turtle Creek, or Jen- kins' Mills, some time), Morgan, dames and Richard -- and two daughters, who died and were buried in Philadelphia. James was married to Sarah Smith, of Philadelphia, and brought her to Northumberland in August, 1789. James, Sr., built the stone mill in 1779. James, Sr., died intestate, leaving a widow, Phobe, who died in 1802. James and Morgan died intestate, Morgan without issue; and on the 1st of April, 1794, James, Jr., and Richard made partition of the estate descending lineally from their father and collaterally from their brother Morgan, and James, Jr., obtained four tracts about the mouth of Turtle Creek, containing five hundred and fifty-nine and a half acres, which Morgan had in his lifetime bought of John Aurand, an island on the West Branch, opposite the lands which James Jen- kins had purchased of John Loudon, who had bought it of John Pem, Jr., and John Pem by deed on the I Ith of May, 1785. James Jenkins associated himself with Jolm Mason, of Blue I fill fame, keeping store first at Northumber- land, then removing it to Jenkins' Mills. The mill was originally built of stone, and in time of Indian troubles used as a fort, to which place the families in the neighborhood resorted in times of danger. On oue occasion, when the Indians were approaching, Mrs. Phoebe Jenkins
lay very ill, at Turtle Creek, of typhus fever ; a bedstead with curtains was set up on a river- bout and Mrs. Jenkins was carried to it in blankets, in which she was taken to Middle- town ; the boat kept the middle of the river and the Indians shot arrows through the curtains from the shores. A tract on Limestone Run, two hundred acres, purchased of David Kenedy, and the tract in Dry Valley, in war- rantee name of flames Jenkins, just west of the Sneagon three lumdred and seventy-six aeres, of the date of October 25, 1785. James died suddenly of pleurisy February 5, 1803, at the age of forty years. James, Sr., had built the brick house now occupied by William Elliot in Northumberland, and when James, Jr., brought his wife there in a carriage from Philadelphia, the servant, when he opened the door of the carriage, said, "This is the first house we have scen since we left Philadelphia."
James Jenkins Jeff children, -Thomas, who died in South America; Sarah, married to Ephraim Shannon, whose daughter married Colonel Alfred Kneass, and is deceased, and her only daughter married to A. O. Van Alen, of Northumberland, and she died August 2, 1882, who left a son, Alfred Jenkins Van Alen, who died on August 23, 1882; Elizabeth, married Thomas P. Bonham, and died in Illinois ; Mary, died September 26, 1881, at the age of ninety years; and Miss Harriet still lives at Northum- berland (1886), at the age of eighty-seven years, in the possession of all her faculties and unim- paired memory. The mill was rebuilt by Colo- nel Kneass in 1853-54; again remodeled to a roller-mill in 1882-83 ; and again remodeled by A. O. Van Alen in 1884-85 ; and is now be- ing operated by the Turtle Creek Milling Com- pany, formed August 12, 1884. The firm is composed of the following gentlemen: . 1. (). Van Alen, Win. B. Waples, of Northumber- land, and J. W. Zeller, of Lewisburgh, who is general manager.
John McClung settled on the place west of the Candy place called Hardscrabble, surveyed in 1772, June 10th. In 1807 Mathias Mac- pherson bought that portion of the MeChug place and sold off the lots. Med lung died in
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1787 ; his children were John, James, Mathew, Charles, Rebecca, Esther and Elizabeth.
Following up the river above the Lowry tract of Turtle Creek, the next survey is Hannah Rees', surveyed August 1, 1769, one hundred and fifty-eight acres ; William Beale, surveyed same date, one hundred and forty-uine acres ; Thomas Lemon, June 10, 1771, two hundred and fifty- five acres; but immediately above that, James Wilson, September 25, 1770, surveyed for John Lære thirty-eight acres at the Strohecker Land- ing, adjoining the proprietaries' tract (that became Lewisburgh), and Wilson, in his " Fickl-Notes," mentions that Ludwig Derr is living on the proprietarios' tract. In 1773 Christian Van Gundy is living here, and keeps a tavern and a ferry, and is this year recommended for a license. The remains of his house were dis- turbed by the railroad gang in 1854. This is the same Christian who appears in the lawsuits with Derr, and his recollections of the Sample murder by the Indians.
William Irwin, John Kelly, Robert King, Jacob Grozean and Robert Derr were appointed viewers to lay out a road " from the fording be- tween Ludwig Dere's and John Aurand's mill through Buffalo Valley to the Narrows." They never reported, and at May sessions, 1774, Sam- uel Maclay, William Irwin, Henry Pontius, Christian Storms and William Gray were ap- pointed in their stead. They reported in Feb- ruary, 1775.
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But next below the Hardscrabble tract of MeChing was the George Gall tract, two hum- dred and sixty-two acres, surveyed the 9th of October, 1769. Here William Speddy first makes his appearance somewhere in 1772. It is known as Treaster's, then Brown's, now Sup- plee's Mill. At May term, 1773, Adam Christ brought an cjeetment against Speddy. His pos- session under a Connectiont title did not avail, and he was onsted. He is assessed in 1775 with twenty-live aeres, one horse and two cows. In December, 1776, he volunteered in Captain John Clarke's company, and served during the campaign of Trenton and Princeton. He lived there in 1778; is taxed in 1780 with the tract, one horse and three cows. In 1782, with Lce and William Storms, he is assessor of Buffalo
township. His signature to the assessment is in a full, round, beautiful hand. In 1785 his name is dropped from the assessment. He re- moved to Lost Creek Valley, Juniata County, and died at Speddy's Gap, near MeAlister- ville.
It will be recollected that the Connecticut people, or Yankees, as they were called by the Pennamites, claimed under their charter the land as far south as the forty-first degree of latitude, which passes through the county a mile or more north of Lewisburgh. By the following memorandum, furnished by O. N. Worden, Esq., which he found among the records of the Susquehanna Land Company, at Hartford, Conn., it appears that William Speddy (the eller) was their anthorized agent to take and hold possession of land claimed by them in the valley : " 1771, William Speddy voted one 'selling right' in Wyoming, for previous efforts in holling possession in June, and for further intended efforts."
The following affidavit, in the handwriting of Wil- liam Maclay, found among the papers of the deputy surveyor's office of Union County, is the first notice of his appearance in Buffalo Valley. It is worthy of note in this connection, that, in deeds of this year (1772) for lands in our valley, special warrants were common " Against the claim of the inhabitants of New England." It appears (Votes of assembly, 1773, page 492) that in June a large band of armed men from Connecticut appeared upon the West Branch, to dispossess the inhabitants, and were prevented. Speddy was the mere advanced skirmisher or picket : " Northumberland County, 88 :
"John Scott, of Northampton county, being duly sworn on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, de- poseth that the night before last, this deponent and his son and another man from Bucks county, lay in the woods near Buffaloe ereck, and in the morning a certain William Speddy came to them and told them he supposed they weretravelers and looking for lands to buy ; this deponent and company answered in the affirmative. He then desired them to take care how they purchased of Penn, unless they had likewise New England rights; this deponent answered that he would not give a copper for New England rights. He said this deponent might be mistaken in being too sure in depending on Penn's rights, That the New England people had more right than we thought for ; he owned he stood by and saw Stuart shoot Og- den, and justified the action. Much more was said to nearly the same purpose by the said Speddy, who spoke with great violence, and would not bear any contradiction to what he asserted.
"Sworn and subscribed the 17th June, 1772."
William Speddy's name first appears " in a list of rioters in the fort at Wyoming, 1771,
83
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JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
when Nathan Ogden was murdered," to use the language of Governor John Penn (John Penn's proclamation, offering a reward of fifty pounds for the arrest of William Speddy, 9th of Feb- mary, 1771). In Hugh Gaines' New York: Gu- cette of November 11, 1771, there is a para- graph of Philadelphia news dated November 1, 1771, as follows : " At Supreme Court held here on Tuesday last, William Speddy was arraigned and tried for the umrder of Lieutenant Nathan Ogden, who was shot from the block-house at Wyoming, whilst it was in possession of Lazar- us Stewart & Co. After a long and impartial hearing, the jury soon gave in a verdict of ' not guilty.'" Doctor Peck, in his " History of Wy- oming," notices him thus: " Another of these rioters, as they were called, was William Speddy. He was somewhat in years, and was called ' Old Speddy,' but his age could not abate the rigor of the Pennsylvania anthorities, for they kept him in close confinement in Philadelphia for more than two years. How, where or precise- ly when Speddy was captured weare not able to say, but his final examination must have taken place some time in the year 1771. Mrs. Myers says when her sister Polly was two years old, and she was twelve, her mother was desired to go to Philadelphia as a witness in favor of Sped- dy, who was to be tried for the murder of Na- than Ogden. This journey Mrs. Bennett per- formed alone on horseback, a distance of oue hundred and twenty miles, most of the way through the wilderness. When she reached Philadelphia she found that the court had ad- journed and she then made a visit to Goshen and attended to some business. When the trial came on she was present, and her testimony cleared Speddy. He was wasted away to a mere skel- ctou. When he was discharged his joy and gratitude overleaped all bounds. He fell upon his knees before Mrs. Bennett and almost wor- shipped her. 'Get up, Speddy,' she said, 'I have done no more than any one ought to do for a fellow-creature.' He kissed her hand and bathed it with tears." This story of "Penn- sylvania rigor " is reduced in dimensions from two years probably to eight months, as no man was ever tried twice for the same murder in Pennsylvania ; and he was acquitted on the 4th
of November, 1771,-long enongh, however, for this old war hawk of New England rights, to be caged, to render him very grateful to Mrs. Bennett.
As it is said the honey-bee precedes about titty miles and heralds the advance of the white man into the wilderness, Speddy was the honey- bee of New England civilization in Buffalo Valley.
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