History of the Beech Creek Area of Clinton County, Pennsylvania, Part 3

Author: Harry A and Vera A Lingle
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USA > Pennsylvania > Clinton County > Beech Creek > History of the Beech Creek Area of Clinton County, Pennsylvania > Part 3


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1940 - Emma Lou Berry, Ila Jean Bitner, Joseph Bitner, Alma Glos- sner, Beatrice Heverly, Gertrude Heverly, Miriam Hevner, Vivian Hunter, Jean Kessinger, Carl Lindsey, LeRoy Peters, Dorothy Rupert, Pauline Toner, Dorothy Womelsdorf.


1941 - Jeanette Barnard, Margaret Coffey, Darell Counsil, Samuel Driver, Glenn Hevner, Edrie Holter, Robert Murray, June Myers, Rus- sell Stull, Adam Yaggie.


1942 - Joseph Clark, Richard Dickey, Clair Glock, Gerald Holter, Robert Kitchen, Betty Lindsey, Bertha Lingle, Bernard Miller, Edward Scantlin, Isabelle Shilling.


1943 - Doris Bechdel, Harriet Berry, Zula Cox, LaRue Hinchliffe, Howard McGhee, Louise Wagner, Robert Wolstencroft.


1944 - Claire Bitner, Richard Carter, Ellsworth Conway, Jr., Earl Cox, Margaret Hevner, Bruce Holter, Doris Hunter, William Kes- singer, William Linn, Lloyd Masden, Joanne Myers, Evelyn Scantlin, Roy Shawley, Samuel Wolfe.


1945 - Sylvester Brungard, Melvin Dickey, Janice Heverly, Joan Heverly, Harry Hevner, Mary Hunter, Helen Lindsey, Kathleen Masden, Doris Miller, Donald Myers, Virginia Wagner.


1946 - Clarabelle Brungard, Elaine Holter, Dale Kleckner, June McGhee, Laurine Myers, Vivian Walker, Walter Winslow.


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Chapter IV


Occupations and Professions


Tailors


Of the fourteen men who were engaged in tailoring in our township in the first half of the nineteenth century at least three were in our im- mediate area. They were John and Nicholas Quigley, likely father and son and John Orner, Jr. Orner's father, a stone mason, had settled at the eastern end of our township some time before 1810. Tailors in the latter half of the 1800's included Joseph Brownlee, William Thompson, Benjamin Bierly and Warren Walz, a son of John G. Walz, the saddler, who is mentioned elsewhere. During the early 1920's I. W. Buck moved his tailoring shop from Blanchard to the old Berryhill building on West Main Street, long known as the "Seven Kitchens." Mr. Buck remained in this building until it was razed in 1923 by James Reish of the Fair- point area. The present highway passes over the spot, at the end of Harrison Street, where the building stood. Mr. Buck and his former neighbor, Peg Rupert, then occupied, together, the old Nestlerode house, directly across the creek from the opposite end of Harrison Street. When this house burned Peg moved to the old fish house, farther upstream, and "I. W." left for Philadelphia to live with relatives.


Millers


It appears that very few, if any, of the owners of the Beech Creek grist mill during its long existence were millers themselves. Actual millers in our then broad township during the early 1800's included John Antes, Isaac Harvey, John Packer, John Elder, Hugh Baker, Andrew Yeager, Valentine Confer, John Harvey, and William Carson. It seems reasonable to believe that some of these worked at our mill, yet none of them owned it. Joseph Morrison DeHaas, son of John P. and Hannah (Morrison) DeHaas was the local miller from before 1850 to some time after 1860. Mr. DeHaas, his first wife, Sarah (Heckman) DeHaas and their family lived very close to the mill at that time. Mr. DeHaas later


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The "Seven Kitchens' apartment house.


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performed milling chores in various parts of Centre County before finally settling in Liberty Township. It appears that his replacement at the local mill was William Peirson, who also lived close to the mill. Later local millers included: William B. Foresman, a son of John Foresman and his second wife, Maria; William Strunk, a son of Ben- jamin and Mary (Pecht) Strunk; Hayes Strunk, son of William, above, and his wife, Anna (Grove) Strunk; and I. J. Rohrbaugh, a distant relative of the earlier Rorabaughs of our area, but with a slightly dif- ferent spelling of the name.


Tanners


Tanners were not plentiful in our area. In the early 1800's we had Michael Kirk. During the 1830's, and later, Asher Packer, son of Moses and Hannah (Packer) Packer, was employed at this trade. In the 1860's Miller L. Mckean, a tanner in the Zion area, moved to Beech Creek and established a large tannery. More is said of Mr. McKean in the in- dustrial section of this history.


Saddlers


Thomas Armstrong Smith, the son of Revolutionary War soldier, Gi- deon Draper Smith and his wife Sarah (Frederick) Smith, maintained a saddlery shop in our township from about 1820 to about 1840. Many area residents descend from Thomas Armstrong Smith Rogers, namesake of Mr. Smith. Other early saddlers were Henry Crook, John Allen and David Clark, all of whom were active in the 1830's. Some time between 1860 and 1870 John Walz, who had followed the trade in Howard during the 1850's and 1860's, opened a saddlery shop in Beech Creek. A more recent saddler was Frank Berry, who is mentioned in another paragraph.


Shoemakers


Shoemaking was very popular in the early days, and most of the shoemakers were real craftsmen, being able to make a complete pair of shoes according to the style and size desired. We read in historical books that Jeremiah Rockwell opened a shoe shop in 1826, and was fol- lowed three years later by Simon Lingle, brother of John Lingle, the weaver. Neither continued at the trade very long, but it is interesting to note that shortly thereafter each took a Liberty Township girl for his bride. Jeremiah married Susanna Bitner, daughter of John and Susan- na (Nestlerode) Bitner, while Simon married Susanna Kunes, daughter of Daniel and Hannah (Rorabaugh) Kunes. Despite historical mention, neither, as has already been pointed out, contributed much to local


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shoemaking. Furthermore neither contributed much to later develop- ment. After several years Mr. Rockwell established himself elsewhere, finally settling, it has been reported, in the Towanda area, from which he had come. Mr. Lingle, who had taken his younger brother, Joseph, into the business, dissolved the partnership on November 1, 1836 and moved to Blanchard, where he was instrumental in the development of that town. Younger brother, Joseph, became Centre County sheriff fourteen years later and moved to Bellefonte, where he spent the rest of his life.


Before the time of Rockwell and Lingle our broad township, exclusive of the Nittany Valley portion, had at least twenty-six shoemakers, in- cluding James David, one of the sons of Revolutionary War veteran Daniel David. Of these twenty-six, seven continued at the trade for only one year; three lasted two years, and three lasted three years. Two reasons have been advanced for this high turnover: (1) many entrants soon realized that they would never become true successes, and (2) some were floaters always looking for a greener area.


Shoemakers who entered the trade between 1826 and 1850 presented a similar situation, but with a somewhat better record of endurance. During this period we find John T. Packer, D. William Counsil, a son of John and Rhoda (David) Counsil, William Masden, son of Justus and Elizabeth Masden and David Lingle, brother of Joseph and Simon. After 1850 conditions within this trade were much more stable. At about that time William Trexler became a very permanent shoemaker in Beech Creek. Mr. Trexler and his wife, Elmira (White) Trexler, had a son, Fleming, who also learned the trade. After dabbling in several other fields of work, Fleming, some time before his father's death, returned in earnest to the shoemaking trade. Thus the Trexler shoe repair shop was continued for a period approaching seventy years. Henry H. Berry, son of William and Anne (Orner) Berry, spent many years at shoemaking before he began devoting the majority of his time to civic pursuits and elective offices including tax collector. Mr. Berry is remembered as being a real tax collector as opposed to the "tax receivers" of today. George Wensel, who was born in Germany, learned the shoemaking trade under Mr. Counsil. He maintained a shop for many years in the upper Water Street home that was later remodeled extensively by Frank Hunter, son of James and Clara (Nestlerode) Hunter. John McGhee and his brother-in-law, Nelson Caldwell, operated shoe shops for a period of about twenty years. During the 1860's Samuel Furl embarked on a shoemaking career of apparent short duration.


William Franklin Berry, who had learned shoemaking under his father, Henry, switched his leather working talents to harness making


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when he established a saddlery shop during the 1880's. In 1912 Mr. Ber- ry sold his Main Street property to Conrad Glock and moved to his new brick building farther up the street. His new building, designed for both a residence and a shop, is now occupied by the family of Merwin Johnson, a grand nephew of Mr. Berry. Mr. Glock, who lived with his uncle, Casper Peter after his arrival from Germany, later married Fan- nie Miller, a daughter of John and Nancy (Nestlerode) Miller. Also during the 1880's William L. Mckean discontinued his planing mill business to work at the shoemaking trade. A later switch took Mr. Mckean into barbering.


It was during the career of the younger Mr. Trexler that factory- made shoes replaced the old hand-made variety. It was also during his career that most of the real shoemakers became just cobblers or shoe repairmen. However, in the 1930's our area gained the services of a craftsman, who, given the task, was capable of constructing a shoe from the sole up. He was Richard Fakoury, now retired and living in Lock Haven. On the last day of December in 1976 the old Trexler shop, a solidly constructed building, was moved east over the old New York Central Railroad bed from its original location on Grant Street to a point in Beech Creek Township to await further planning regarding its future use.


Coopers


The number of persons employed as coopers (barrel makers) grew gradually during the period from 1800 to 1820. However, during the next decade there was a very noticeable increase, especially when com- pared with the increase in the population or the increase in the number of distillers. It seems logical that the apple trees planted by early set- tlers were now bearing large quantities of fruit, which produced cider for apple butter making and for vinegar to be used for pickling and preserving purposes. The cooper with the longest record was Joseph Morrison, who lived in our general area. The Clarks, namely William, Samuel, Benjamin, John, Stephen and William, Jr., more or less monopolized the trade. A gradual, but definite, decline of this industry was evident after 1830. After 1850 we find only the names of Daniel Rush and John Miller, in addition to Samuel Clark, who was still ac- tive.


Carpenters


It does not require close inspection of the older houses in our area to recognize the skill, handicraft and diligence that went into their con- struction. Apparently there was a lot of pride in a job well done. However, the one trade that is most difficult to accurately, fairly and


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completely cover is that of carpenter. Some carpenters, it appears, worked only part time at the trade and were officially listed as farmers, or otherwise. The 1850 census, first to show occupations, listed the fol- lowing full-time carpenters: Vickers Amos Packer and his brother, Hayes Coates Packer, the cabinet maker who is mentioned elsewhere; James Linn, son of Andrew and Martha (Polk) Linn; George Q. Wil- liams, son of George and Susan (Quiggle) Williams; John Wilson and Benjamin Clark.


By 1860 James McGhee, son of John and Elizabeth (Linn) McGhee and husband of Fannie Gunsallus, the daughter of James and Rachel (or Sarah) Masden Gunsallus, had become a journeyman carpenter. Note: After the death of Rachel (Masden) Gunsallus, widower James Gunsallus married Rachel's younger sister, Sarah. James McGhee's son Oscar also learned the construction trade before he began farming on the old Saul Haagen farm, where his wife, Jemima had been raised. Other carpenters of that period were: John Bickel, whose first wife, Sarah, died in 1863; Thomas Martin, a leader in the construction of the present Church of Christ building at Blanchard; Henry Hanley and McCormick Graham, who finished his career at the railroad shops in Renovo, at which place his wife Mary Ann (Bollinger) Graham died in 1893. Mary Ann was a daughter of Christian and Eliza (Kirk) Bol- linger. In his latter years Mr. Graham did part-time ministerial work. Later nineteenth century carpenters included Roland Gunsallus, Joseph Bowes and John Kunes, each of whom had come from Centre County, and their backgrounds are well known to the authors.


Strange as it may seem, since 1900 Beech Creek has had very few carpenters who learned the trade at an early age and remained in it for a full and complete lifetime occupation. An exception was Horace Hub- bard, son of Joseph Hubbard and his first wife, Harriet (Weaver) Hub- bard. Another was Oscar Kunes, son of John Kunes, listed above, and husband of Alma (Swartz) Kunes, the daughter of Henry and Mary (Confer) Swartz. B. Frank Bowers, an all-round handyman divided most of his time between carpentry and painting, later adding electric wiring to his skills. Much of the area carpentry during this period was done by tradesmen living nearby in Liberty Township. Two craftsmen who fit into this latter category were Charles White, son of John and Martha (Confer) White, and Charles's brother-in-law, Marion Swartz, a son of Joseph and Sarah (Swartz) Swartz. Another was William Bitner, son of John W. and Elizabeth (Berry) Bitner. William's first wife was Martha Winslow, a daughter of Joseph and Laura (Johnston) Winslow; the second was Margaret (Bowes) DeLong, daughter of George and Sarah (Hoover) Bowes, and widow of Jacob DeLong, son of Jonathan and Frances (Bumgardner) DeLong.


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Blacksmiths


Historical accounts show that John Baker opened a blacksmith shop on Harrison Street in 1836. True enough, John was a Beech Creek blacksmith, but he was only one of many, and according to official records the year was 1830, not 1836. Furthermore, Mr. Baker was preceded in the trade by at least thirty-three blacksmiths, each of whom worked at the trade for at least a short period. It seems reasonable to believe that at least several of these were located in our specific area, possibly right in town, and with longer records than Mr. Baker's eight years. To sight some examples, Francis Boyce followed blacksmithing from 1801 to 1815; James Clark and William Williams, from 1805 to 1815; James Boyd, Jr., from 1806 to 1814; John Wilson, from 1809 to the time of his death around 1818, after which his widow Catharine was overseer of his estate; James Caldwell, from 1816 to about 1830; and William Courter from 1831 to 1836. Much better records were established by David Rorabaugh and William Smith, both having set up shops in 1820. Mr. Rorabaugh, a grandson of early Liberty Township settlers, Simon and Eve (Reed) Rorabaugh, con- tinued until his death just before 1850. Two of his sons, Christian and David were working at the trade around the middle of the century. Another successful blacksmith of that period was Samuel Knepley, whose career spanned the period from the 1820's into the 1850's. During the 1820's Peter Grove, a Revolutionary War veteran was doing blacksmithing in some part of our township.


Other early blacksmiths, most of whom are definitely known to have been in our specific area, were Jacob Runner, who later moved to Liberty Township, James McCloskey, William Hays, James Hays, Washington Heverly, James Heverly and Joshua Roan, who married Ann DeHaas, daughter of Lt. John P. and Ann (Shippin) DeHaas. Around 1839 came David Miller, a brother of Fulton and Carpenter Miller, the plasterers. David, who had a long and busy career, was the father of Carpenter X. Miller and the grandfather of George B. Miller the telegraph operator. Postmaster Clair Johnson was a great grandson of Fulton Miller. Beginning in the 1840's Washington Heverly began concentrating his metal-working ability exclusively to the manufacture of axes. His descendants include Mildred (Heverly) Scantlin, Louise (Bitner) Allen, Harold Heverly and Clifford Heverly of Lock Haven.


During his long career David Miller saw many blacksmiths come and go. Included were John Gilmore, Lucius Carpenter, Joseph Bullock and John Dalton. However, there were several, whose records may have even surpassed Mr. Miller's. Lemuel Shearer began pounding the anvil before 1850 and continued to do so until around the time of his death in


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An early horseless carriage.


This house, built around 1792 by Lieutenant James Hays (1740-1817) on land granted for war service, was later converted for the storage of hay. It was located just off the road leading to Bald Eagle Creek. The 1912 pic- ture shows Caroline Cook (1856-1927), great granddaughter of Mr. Hays.


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1901. Shortly after 1850 William Bullock and his wife Margaretta (Mckinley) Bullock came here from the Milesburg area. William set up a blacksmithing dynasty that was to last for almost a hundred years. This was possible because William's sons, Willis Park Bullock and Charles Ellsworth "Dix" Bullock continued at this trade until they reached rather advanced ages. During the major portion of their careers Dix limited his work almost exclusively to farriery while Willis did general metal working and little or no horseshoeing. Dix, once described as of muscle and bone, maintained this physique throughout his long career. In fact Dix's life and labors paralleled very closely those of Henry Longfellow's "Village Blacksmith." Only one thing was noticeably missing - the "Spreading Chestnut Tree."


Blacksmiths who set up shop during the decade of the 1860's were John Curns, David Martin, Irvin Hanscomb and Irvine Keyes, another son of Stillman and Eliza, whose wife was Frances Clark, daughter of James and Rebecca. The 1870's brought John T. Hunter, a Civil War veteran and ancestor of our area Hunters, who had come from Mill Hall and later moved to Liberty Township. Another blacksmith with a long record of quality work was Edward Martz, whose shop was directly across the highway from the Haagen School. Mr. Martz taught the trade to his son, Charles, a current resident of the township, who fol- lowed metal working all his life, with his first outside occupation being with the Beech Creek Truck and Auto Company. The last blacksmith shop in the township was operated by Christ Heaton at the same loca- tion where William Bullock closed his career. Leslie Heaton, brother of Christ, had operated a shop in the borough in a building erected by William Smith, son of J. Edwin and Ida (Aley) Smith, for automobile painting.


Weavers


It is hard to conceive the popularity of the weaving trade in the early days. Although some remained at the occupation for only several years, a total of twenty-two practiced their skills between 1803 and 1839. The weaver with the longest period of activity was Abraham Harleman, who lived at the opposite end of our township in the Fairpoint area. The sec- ond best record was established by Benjamin Johnson. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact location of twenty additional weavers. However, there is one exception. He was John Lingle, son of Paul and Mary (Spohn) Lingle, who was occupied at the trade in Beech Creek from 1824 to 1828, during which time he married a local girl, Sarah Miller, and later moved to Ohio.


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Cabinet Makers


Our earliest cabinet makers were Hayes Coates Packer, a son of Moses and Hannah (Packer) Packer, and also James Packer, likely a close relative of Coates. The wife of Coates Packer was Ann Eliza Wil- liams, daughter of George and Susan (Quiggle) Williams. Shortly before 1850 Vincent S. Smith, who had earlier come from New York state and married Mary Jane Lingle, only daughter of Simon Lingle, opened a cabinet making shop. Mr. Smith, whose cabinet work includ- ed the making of coffins, served two terms as local postmaster. In the early 1800's Isaac Chambers and Joseph Burd directed their wood working talents toward the making of chairs. Harold Packer of Beech Creek is a great, great grandson of Coates Packer, and Jean (Gardner) Laubscher of Lock Haven is a great granddaughter of Vincent Smith.


Canal Boatmen


The coming of canal boat transportation, which started in the 1830's, brought a number of new occupations to the area. Boat captains in- cluded the three Lingle brothers, whose careers were sketched in the October, 1971 publication of the Centre County Historical Society. After the closing of the canal, George, the youngest of the three brothers took up farming at Beech Creek, where he was born in 1823. Incidentally he lived until 1923. His brother James began farming in Boggs Township, Centre County, and Alexander went west to continue canal boat work. Area boatmen with shorter careers included: John Winslow, son of Charles and Margaret Winslow, natives of Ireland; John Cook, who later served in the Civil War and married Elizabeth Winslow, sister of John; Thomas Winslow, a brother of John and father of two young canal boatmen of later times - Thomas and Charles; Joseph Quay, who after his marriage to Jemima Miller, daughter of Samuel and Eliza Miller, took up full-time farming; Henry Myers and Joseph Lucas, the latter having come from Centre County; and Robert Grater, who later moved to Liberty Township.


Before the days of the canal heavy cargo was floated downstream from this area on arks. William Strickland, a former ark builder and repairman of grounded arks for the Howardville Furnace Company at the present town of Howard, became a local canal boat builder later in his career.


Justices of the Peace


Although justice of the peace was just a part-time or side-line oc- cupation, it, nevertheless was one of importance. In early years a fairly large percentage of marriages was performed by these officers. Follow-


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ing is the best available account of our justices over the years: Hugh McFadden, William Quay, John McGhee, George W. Sterling, James Clark, James David, James R. Quay, Joseph W. Merrey, John Ligget, George C. McGhee, Jesse S. Hall, Clarence R. Rossman, George F. Hess, Sheldon C. Mckean, Pauline (Hawkins) Gundlach, Twyla (Lingle) Yearick and Albert Hamm, in this general order. Early records reveal that in the 1830's Michael Quigley served as justice of the peace in addition to his postmaster duties. His handwritten certificate for the marriage of Asher Packer, son of Moses and Hannah (Packer) Packer, to Nancy Hall, daughter of Jesse and Elizabeth (Johnson) Hall, on May 26, 1836, is being preserved by Jessie (Packer) Vaught of Lock Haven, a granddaughter.


Stone Masons


The excellent work of our early stone masons is still evident in our older homes and especially in the lock of the old canal in Liberty Township between Bald Eagle Creek and the railroad tracks. This, the Beech Creek lock, was built about 1833, and still stands in a very firm condition. Our area did not have as many stone masons as neighboring Liberty Township. One of our first was John Bitner, son of John and Susanna (Nestlerode) Bitner, who married Susan Orner, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Paul) Orner. Others were John and Jesse Harleman and William Wilson.


Potters


There is no evidence of any pottery plants in our immediate area. However, during the 1840's Philip Berry was making pottery at the eastern end of our then large township of Bald Eagle. Some years later Mr. Berry and his wife, Leah, moved to Mt. Eagle, where he joined John Bitner Leathers in his pottery manufacturing enterprise. Leathers pottery, much of which reached the Beech Creek area, has become a collectors' item. A booklet on Pennsylvania pottery, published by the Union County Historical Society in cooperation with Bucknell Univer- sity, mentions Leathers pottery and credits the authors of this story with providing information.


Plasterers


Because of the less refined methods of very early construction, it is not surprising to find that no plasterers were located in the township before 1836, at which time Isaac Ditsworth and Thomas Harleman, a son of Abraham and Nancy Harleman, began the trade. Harleman Hol- low in Beech Creek Township was named for these Harleman families.


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By 1838 George Fulton Miller, son of James Miller, had become a qualified plasterer. Mr. Miller, who lived in the house diagonally across from the Methodist Church, later returned to the farm and did plaster- ing only during his spare time. Carpenter Miller, a brother of Fulton, also did some plastering.


Wagon Makers


The earliest wagon maker on record was Richard Berryhill, son of Andrew and Mary (Homler) Berryhill, who came from Jersey Shore and married a local girl, Mary Snyder, whose parents William and Margaret (Marshall) Snyder, later moved from Beech Creek to Blanchard. Mr. Berryhill, owner of the lengthy apartment house on Main Street, known as the Seven Kitchens, doubled as an innkeeper during a portion of his career. A later wagon maker was William Rupert, who was born in Liberty Township to Barnard and Elizabeth (Hannon) Rupert, later returning to that township following a brief residence at the old Moon farm beyond the Beech Creek reservoir in Marion Township. Candace, wife of William, was a daughter of Rev. William A. Ridge, who had served as pastor of both Blanchard churches.




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