History of the Beech Creek Area of Clinton County, Pennsylvania, Part 4

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 4


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Tinners


During the 1870's Charles Keyes, son of Stillman and Eliza (Strong) Keyes, established himself as a tinner. Mr. Keyes was followed by Wil- liam R. Linn, who worked at this trade until about the time of his death in 1924. Mr. Linn, a son of James and Mary (Morrison) Linn, sometimes, for no apparent good reason, spelled his name "Lynn."


Butchers


Our first commercial butcher was Daniel "Dance" Kunes, a son of Daniel and Mary (Bechdel) Kunes of Blanchard. Daniel came to Beech Creek Township before 1850, married Mary Mapes, a daughter of James Mapes, in 1869, and established his business at about the same time. The next meat market, started by James Bitner, a son of Chris- tian and Isabella (Sterling) Bitner, was located in a portion of the house now occupied by Russell and Gladys Mckinney. In 1905 Mr. Bitner sold his business to Sumner Riddle of Howard, and moved to the Thomas Furl property in the township. Later Mr. Bitner opened another butcher shop in that part of the Ligget Triangle on Locust Street that later served as the ice cream parlor of Nellie Smith, daughter of Thomas and Martha Elizabeth (Nestlerode) Smith. Other butchers of that period included George Whamond, son of David and


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Christena Whamond, and Cline Q. Confer, a son of James and Catharine (Trexler) Confer. A little later a meat market was opened on Vesper Street by Torrence Hunter, a son of John and Frederica (Smith) Hunter. Mr. Hunter was succeeded by his nephew, John H. Hunter, son of James and Clara (Nestlerode) Hunter, who conducted the business for many, many years. When Mr. Hunter closed his business it marked the end of an era where both the butchering and marketing were done by the same individual.


Barbers


The first full-time barber was James Allison Williams, son of Wil- liam Williams and his second wife, Ann (Lingle) Williams. Barber Al, as he was familiarly known to distinguish him from his cousin, C. Al- lison "Al" Williams, the Blanchard merchant, began his career in the 1860's. With no full-time professional barbers prior to that time there may have been some excuse for an occasional shaggy-appearing male. Barber Al's shop on Main Street was destroyed in the big fire of 1903, after which he located on the second floor of the building at the point of the Ligget Triangle. He died in 1906 at the home of another cousin, Henry Williams. Our second barber was William L. Mckean, who, as noted elsewhere, first established a planing mill, and later a shoemaker shop. Mr. Mckean's three sons, William, Sheldon and Lyle, learned the barber trade and worked locally at various times. In 1914 H. Edward Cox converted the former Ambrose B. Brady store building into a barber shop. Mr. Cox was followed at the trade by his son, Arthur, who has continued the business to this day. Around 1918 William Bolopue, a former Blanchard barber, opened shop in a small building next to the Beech Creek Hotel. Mr. Bolopue soon afterward closed his business and the building was skidded to the Corman farm in Beech Creek Township. In more modern times Walter E. Miller, son of J. Orrie and Virginia (Barger) Miller, conducted barber shops at several different locations in town.


Farmers


Farming, an occupation that was learned from the time of childhood by most of our early settlers, is treated in the chapter of this story that deals with industry.


Telegraph Operators


The occupation of telegraph operator came and went with the rise and decline of rail service in our valley. During the 1909-1910 period thirteen operators lived in Beech Creek. They were: H. Clair Berry, son


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of W. Frank and Jennie (DeLong) Berry; D. Roy Bitner, son of William N. Bitner and his second wife, Mary Caroline (Lucas) Bitner, who had been the widow of Franklin Pierce Bitner; Michael Flynn, who married Cora, a daughter of Charles and Annie (McGhee) Heverly; Eugene Johnson, son of Joseph and Edith (Berry) Johnson; Simeon Maines, whose tragic death is mentioned elsewhere; Charles W., Irvin and Morrissey Miller, sons of Michael and Sara Clementine (Aikey) Miller; Harry W. Packer, son of George and Maria (Burd) Packer; Fred and Harry Salisbury, sons of Henry and Deborah (Whitefield) Salisbury; Ellis Sundin, who had been transferred here; and Dean Swartz, a son of Joseph Swartz and his wife Alice (Stager) Swartz, who had been the widow of Joseph's older brother, Nathan J. M. Swartz. Others who entered the occupation at about that time or later were George and Ray Bullock, sons of Willis and Annie (Lingle) Bullock; George B. Miller, a grandson of David Miller, the blacksmith; and Stewart Winslow, son of Edward and Annie (Counsil) Winslow.


Miscellaneous and Diverse Occupations


There is evidence that in the 1820's several windmill makers were located in our township. An early cigar maker was Cline Quigley, a son of Cline and Agnes (Thompson) Quigley. Later came George C. McGhee, son of John and Julian (Harleman) McGhee. As a boy, the male coauthor of this story sampled one of the McGhee cigars, which had been stored for many years in the attic of the old McGhee home now occupied by Dorothy Hunter. During the late 1800's Frank Stahl and his two brothers made cigars in the building that now houses the Linger Inn. During the 1870's, Joseph Linn, son of James and Mary (Morrison) Linn, fashioned axe handles in his shop in the western part of town. Dorothy (Linn) Heverly is a granddaughter of Joseph.


Early sawyers included John Romig, who had come to the area with the William Snyder family and later married Jane Swartz, daughter of Michael and Frances (Bartholomew) Swartz. Another was William Waite, son of Samuel and Polly (Oswalt) Waite. The Waites and Romigs lived near each other on the road leading to Maidsville. For many years Mary and Sarah Romig, daughters of John and Jane, were self-employed milliners. Lee Waite is a grandson of William Waite. Millwrights were likely employed on somewhat of a free-lance basis set- ting up and repairing machinery in sawmills, grist mills, tanneries, dis- tilleries, etc. Those who followed this trade included Peter C. Gould, who had married Mary Ann Wagner, daughter of George and Susan (Rorabaugh) Wagner. Another was James Quay, who later married Sarah McClure and devoted his full time to farming. George Ruple, who came from New Jersey and married Zylphia (Winslow) Miller,


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1


On an afternoon in March, 1916, when haircuts cost twenty cents and shaves were a dime, Barber H. Edward Cox was ready to finish shaving I. J. Rohrbaugh. Hanging side by side on the wall were calendars that had been distributed by Mr. Rohrbaugh, local grist miller, and John H. Hunter, local butcher. The nearby, lifelike picture was part of a grooming


advertisement.


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widow of the first Michael Miller, was also a qualified millwright. Michael Miller was the father of Michael Miller (1856-1946) and four other children including Eli, killed in the Civil War and Catharine, who married James Quigley. George and Zylphia had two sons, George Mc- Clellan "Clell" Ruple and William Ruple.


In earlier days a number of our men were employed as woodsmen, working mostly out of lumber camps, some located at distant points. Although not a highly skilled occupation the woodsman, nevertheless, had to be a rugged individual. As coal and clay mines opened in this area and west of us a gradually greater number of miners was needed. In 1909, for example, a year in which Wynn's clay mine was in full operation, a total of twenty-one men living in the borough were employed as miners. Without doubt our township was contributing a number of men to the mining industry at that same time.


Postmasters and Rural Mail Carriers


Postmasters from the time of the first post office in 1828 to the year 1885 were: Michael Quigley, whose ancestor, then spelled Quickle, reached America in October, 1736; Dr. David W. Roberts, the first of four consecutive postmasters to be employed during the years 1839 to 1846, when Beech Creek patrons were served by the Eagleville (now Blanchard) post office; Joseph Bumgardner, a long-time justice of the peace in Liberty Township; John Brickley, an early storekeeper in Blanchard; John T. Clark, who engaged in blacksmithing for more than forty years; Austin Leonard, an early fanning mill maker in Beech Creek; George Furst, the merchant; John Brownlee, whose residence in our area was of apparent short duration; Cline Quigley, a merchant and son of Michael and Mary (Clark) Quigley; Christian Bollinger, a farmer and carpenter who lived in both Liberty and Beech Creek townships; Vincent S. Smith, a cabinet maker, who had come from New York state and received two separate postmaster appointments, the first being at a time when Blanchard was served by our post office; and Charles R. Keyes, the tinner.


Postmasters since 1885 have been: Marshall Packer, whose wife, Mary, was from the Johnson families that had come from England; Mr. Smith, serving his second term; Enoch H. Hastings, who had come from Centre County; Fleming P. Trexler, whose shoemaking skills are mentioned elsewhere; Henry C. B. Williams, son of George Q. and Elizabeth (Bollinger) Williams; Harry Bollinger Clark, son of James and Rebecca (Quigley) Clark; Harry H. Fearon, son of John T. and An- nie (Johnson) Fearon; Morrissey C. Miller, former telegraph operator; Israel J. Rohrbaugh, who had come to Beech Creek as a grist miller; Clair E. Johnson, son of Eugene and Daisy (Miller) Johnson; and


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Everett Cox of State College, who by virtue of changes in postal regulations, became the first non-resident to hold this office.


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In 1902 a rural delivery route was established at our post office. The first rural carrier was Sidney Fearon, another son of John T. and Annie. Mr. Fearon was followed by Morton C. DeHaas, son of Joseph Morrison DeHaas and his second wife, Susan (Shirk) DeHaas. Mr. DeHaas car- ried the mail from 1910 to 1924 by horse and buggy, and by automobile from 1924 to the time of his retirement in 1942. Mr. DeHaas's last sub- stitute, Berton J. Confer, son of Cline Q. Confer and his first wife, Mary Frances (Loomis) Confer, took over in 1942 and served until 1944, when Frank A Johnson, son of Joseph and Edith (Berry) Johnson was ap- pointed regular carrier. Mr. Johnson was succeeded in 1948 by his son, Joseph, who is the present carrier. An earlier long-time substitute for Mr. DeHaas was William Myers, son of L. Melvin and Susan Pauline (Bitner) Myers. A number of letters, written between 1858 and 1863 and bearing the Beech Creek and Eagleville postmarks, have been preserved and are presently in the hands of the authors of this story. Harry J. Haines is the present substitute rural carrier.


Professional Occupations


During much of the last half of the nineteenth century James Clark did surveying and map making in addition to operating his store. Mr. Clark's wife, Rebecca Ann, was a daughter of Nicholas Quigley, the tailor. James David, who served at least one term as county commis- sioner, did full-time surveying in his latter years. Additional local sur- veyors and civil engineers included William Montgomery, who married Jane Lucas, a daughter of Nathan H. and Nancy (Gardner) Lucas of Liberty Township, and settled in Beech Creek; John W. Crays, whose career was cut short by his death on May 26, 1876; Thompson Snyder, who as a young boy came from Snyder County with his parents, Wil- liam and Margaret (Marshall) Snyder, and later married Harriet Brady, daughter of James and Mary (Locke) Brady; and William "Bil- ly" Mitchell, who was born to Rev. Nathan J. and Sarah (Packer) Mitchell after the family moved from Beech Creek to Howard. At Howard they occupied the house, where Sarah and her brother, Wil- liam F. Packer, who later became our governor, had been born. Billy Mitchell married Susan Rothrock, daughter of Dr. Rothrock of Beech Creek. In 1899, during the midst of his career, the Mitchells moved from here to Lock Haven. They are buried at Hays-Fearon cemetery.


In 1939 Claude H. Bechdel, son of Edgar and Maud (Heberling) Bechdel, who had previously been associated with the family undertak- ing business in Blanchard, left his farm in our township to establish the


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Bechdel Funeral Home in the former Dr. J. E. Tibbins property on Main Street. After Claude's death in 1963 the business was continued by his widow, Dorothy, and son, Bruce, a previously licensed mortician. Bruce's accidental death in 1980 may have marked the end of a very successful, long-standing, family enterprise.


In the early years of the nineteenth century Dr. Alexander Lindsey, likely a son of Revolutionary War solider, Mungo Lindsey, was practic- ing medicine in the opposite end of our township. During the years 1806 to 1808 Dr. Joseph Andrews was practicing somewhere in our township. Later for a period of about six years, Mill Hall, then a part of our township, had the services of Dr. Frederick Noah Essick. During the years 1823 and 1824 one part of our township was provided medical ser- vice by Dr. Warren Hopkins. Then came Dr. Samuel H. Wallace, who, after about seven years moved his practice to Jersey Shore. The next doctor to display his medical knowledge in the township was Benjamin Berry. During the years from 1836 to 1838 Dr. William Hiborne was providing medical services. In the 1860's and 1870's Isaac Strong, a brother of Solomon Strong, was a patent medicine manufacturer. When Mr. Strong died at Castanea in 1895 he was identified as Dr. Isaac Strong. Whether or not he was already licensed as a doctor while living here is not known. His obituary said that he was buried at Beech Creek. There is no cemetery marker for him or his wife Phoebe.


In 1838 Dr. David W. Roberts established an office in Beech Creek. He later practiced in Eagleville, now Blanchard, where he served as the first postmaster. Next came Dr. William P. Rothrock, who lived at the corner of Harrison and Water Streets in the house later occupied by Dr. W. D. Horne, a chemist. Rothrock's wife, Jane, was a daughter of Robert and Frances (Quigley) Stewart and a sister of George Furst's wife, Eliza. Dr. Rothrock, who moved to Kansas in the 1870's was fol- lowed by Doctors Joseph E. Tibbins and Henry H. Mothersbaugh, and by Dr. John M. Bright who left during the next decade.


Joseph E. Tibbins was born to Samuel and Elizabeth (Garbrick) Tibbins in Centre County on November 18, 1847. During the Civil War he was hired to substitute for a draftee, a common and legal practice at that time. The money he received went a long way toward paying for his medical training. Dr. Tibbin's first wife, Emma (Hoy) Tibbins, died January 23, 1872 at age 21, leaving a young son, George Hoy Tibbens. On June 24, 1873 Dr. Tibbens took for his second wife, Emma Mc- Dowell, to which marriage was born a son named Perry McDowell Tib- bens. Dr. Mothersbaugh, who lived and kept office in the large house next to the former Presbyterian Church building, moved to Altoona at about the same time that the two sons of Dr. Tibbins entered medical careers. The youngest son, Dr. McDowell, as he was familiarly known,


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Chapter V


died in 1939, before ending his medical career. Dr. George died in 1945 during retirement.


During the middle 1940's Dr. William Dreibelbis came to town, but stayed only a short period before returning to Snow Shoe. Next came Doctors Ronald and Mary (Moss) Price, a husband and wife medical team. The Prices left later to establish a medical clinic in a western state. In 1948 the community gained the services of a physician who was to establish himself permanently. In March of that year Dr. Robert E. Drewery, who had just completed a tour of military duty, following graduation from medical school, came to town, occupying the former Dr. George H. Tibbins home and office. The female co-author of this story recalls that her then five-month old son, David, was one of Dr. Drewery's first patients. The "office call" for David turned out to be a "livingroom call," because Dr. Drewery's office was not yet completed and David was examined in the Drewery living quarters. Most impor- tantly, the diagnosis and treatment brought speedy recovery.


In 1865 Dr. Van Valin opened an office in Beech Creek for the prac- tice of dentistry. Records indicate that he was still here in 1882, but ap- parently left shortly thereafter.


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Development of Industry and Transportation


In the early 1800's acres and acres of virgin, soft wood trees (white pine, yellow pine and hemlock) were waiting to be cut and milled. Many outsiders were attracted to our area by the logging and lumber- ing industry. Among others the names of James Boyd, Henry James, Samuel Pletcher and Edward Huff appear as Bald Eagle Township sawmill operators during the period from 1801 to 1811. Mr. Boyd's mill was described on the 1808 township assessment list as "at Beech Creek." Mr. Pletcher was of the early Pletcher families of the Howard area. Pletcher family histories show that he lived a short distance below town. Mr. James, who is mentioned elsewhere in this story, lived here until his early death in the 1840's. His widow, Joanna (Fredericks) James, maintained a home for her young children, Elizabeth (later Linn), Clinton and Susannah (later Heverly) until their marriages. In 1880, at age 87, Joanna was living with Levi and Lydia (Linn) Rupert. It appears that Lydia was a granddaughter, but her parents are not positively identified. Prior to the construction of the local canal our ex- ports, which consisted mostly of lumber, had to be hauled by wagon or floated downstream on arks. On March 9, 1771 Bald Eagle Creek had been declared a public highway for arks as far up as Spring Creek. On March 4, 1815 Beech Creek stream was declared a public highway from its mouth up to Eddy Lick. Ark shipments had to be made when the streams were at the proper level. Records show that arks occasionally were snagged and the entire cargo lost.


About the year 1814 Hugh McFadden and Michael Quigley, both of whom marrried local girls, joined in partnership to build a grist mill at Beech Creek. This has generally been considered as the move that spur- red the early development of the town. The McFadden-Quigley venture included the construction of a dam on the creek plus the enlargement and extension of a ditch to form a mill race for water power. In 1815, before the mill was ready, they took advantage of the mill pool's poten- tial by building a carding and fulling mill on the island, just behind the mill. By late 1815 their entire project was completed, the mill was


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BEECH CREEK, CLINTON CO., PA.


BEECH CREEK TANNERY M. L. MC KEAN, PROPRIETOR


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grinding grain, and was placed on the assessment list for the 1816 tax- able year. Prior to that time grain had to be hauled long distances for milling. Quigley later purchased McFadden's interest and became sole owner. Many previous accounts of this enterprise have given full credit to Quigley alone. As this paragraph is being written, the original mill building, which had been remodeled several times over the years, still stands, but in a deplorable condition. It is in the middle of town on the south side of Main Street. It may well have reached the point where restoration for historical purposes would not be practicable. In the 1950's, without any prior consultation with local people and apparent owners, our State Department of Forests and Waters bulldozed the old dam in Beech Creek stream from its anchorage. The heavy timbers and planks were allowed to go afloat, possibly creating more liability downstream than the dam was causing here.


By 1832 Joseph M. Smith, who had come from the Philadelphia area, was sending rafts of logs downstream to destinations in the lower Sus- quehanna Valley. Some of Mr. Smith's logs were used in the construc- tion of a bridge across the Susquehanna at Harrisburg. Mr. Smith mar- ried Janetta "Jane" David, a daughter of Isaac David of the pioneering David families. Jane was a granddaughter of Revolutionary War soldier, Daniel David, who died here on April 17, 1832. Mr. Smith died on October 11, 1870 at age 59. On March 25, 1874 his widow, Jane, mar- ried John Miller, whose wife, Nancy (Nestlerode) Miller, had died on May 3, 1869. This marriage had problems and by 1880 they were living separately. Jane and her two youngest daughters, Alice and Mattie, were on Water Street in the house later occupied by the Dix Bullock family, and John, with his youngest son, Alfred, were on their farm. To show that these two highly respected families remained on very friendly terms it should be noted that shortly thereafter John Miller's nephew, John B. Miller, married Jane's daughter, Alice. Furthermore Irvin Smith, a grandson of Jane, later married Laura Miller, a grand- daughter of John.


Sawmill operators during the period from 1820 to 1850 included George Carr, Daniel Crouse, William Parsons, George Furst, L. G. Andrews, Samuel A. Cook, Housel and Miller, Samuel Saylor, Cline Quigley, Andrew White and Samuel and Johnson Hall. It was during this era that the circular saw replaced the old English-type, gate-mill single saw. During this same period the Nestlerodes were busily engaged in lumbering operations on the other side of the creek in Liberty Township. The name of Samuel Saylor, above, is a reminder that it was he, who, in 1883, undertook the construction of a railroad up Beech Creek valley on the opposite side of the creek. Mr. Saylor's par- tially completed roadbed and a stone bridgeway are still in evidence at


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the foot of Big Hill. A more complete account of Mr. Saylor's venture may be found in the Liberty Township Bicentennial book published in 1976.


By 1882 only one of the twelve sawmills that had been on the Beech Creek side of the creek was still in operation. This mill, then owned by Saylor, Day and Morey, stood behind the present home of the Guy Lit- tle family at the southern edge of the borough, and was the last of the large mills in the area. The vast supply of valuable timber, much of it "hogged over" and wasted, was coming to an end. Mill operators of a later period included Alpine White, usually referred to as "Piney." George D. Hess, a brother-in-law of Mr. Saylor, and Alvin D. Knecht came together from the Easton area to develop lumbering interests, and each later married local girls. Another lumberman of that period was John C. DeLong, son of Jonathan and Fannie (Bumgardner) DeLong of Liberty Township. John's wife, Temperance, was a daughter of G. Washington Heverly and his second wife, Susannah (James) Heverly. Another was Samuel Gardner, a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Lucas) Gardner. The younger Samuel's daughter, Maggie, became the wife of David M. Packer.


In 1820 at the opposite end of our township, close to or within the pre- sent area of Mill Hall, a young English immigrant, who had married about two years earlier, established a fulling and dyeing operation. In 1826, or shortly thereafter, he moved his textile enterprise to the Chatham Run area. Over the years this establishment grew and grew until it became the Woolrich Woolen Mills that we know today. The young English immigrant, as you have likely already guessed, was John Rich.


The Bald Eagle and Spring Creek Navigation Company was organized in 1832 to extend a branch of the West Branch Canal from Lock Haven to Bellefonte. In spite of the hand digging involved this boatway, which passed through the southern edge of our township, was completed to Beech Creek and ready for service in relatively short time. However, the section to Bellefonte was not completed until 1847. The delay was caused by the necessity of constructing twenty-two locks between here and Bellefonte. When finished the canal fully replaced the arks, which carried downstream heavy consignments, such as iron from the furnace at the eastern edge of Howard, then known as Howardville. The canal also replaced much of the horsepack and wagon shipments in the valley. However the bulk of the canal shipments was lumber. A heavy storm in 1865 washed out many of the locks west of Beech Creek. They were never replaced, likely because the Lock Haven and Tyrone Railroad was already providing competition. Incidentally, Canal Lock 24, directly south of Beech Creek, between Bald Eagle


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BEECH CREEK TRUCK E AUTO CA Beech Creth Pa


THE "BEECH CREEK" Four Wheel Drive and Four Wheel Steer Truck GIVES 12 MONTHS SERVICE EVERY YEAR


FTER spending five years in testa and investigation of the problems to be met in modern truck transporta- tion, a truck has been produced which meets the demands made by business men. Even with the advent of the ordinary rear drive truck, it was a recognized fact that the ideal condition to be met, was to drive the machine from all four wheels. Add to this the principle of steering with all four wheels, and you obtain the pinnacle of convenience in moving and handling a lond. The shortcomings of the ordinary rear-drive machine are only too well known, for if from any cause you lose the tractive power from one wheel, the load is stalled until that condition is removed.




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