History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon : in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; biographical and genealogical, Part 107

Author: Egle, William Henry, 1830-1901
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1046

USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon : in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; biographical and genealogical > Part 107
USA > Pennsylvania > Lebanon County > History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon : in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; biographical and genealogical > Part 107

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

On the 14th of March, 1842, the survey and draft of M. Robeson was filed as above directed, and was recorded in Road Docket A, page 253, as follows, to wit :

"Beginning at the Swatara Creek, half a mile south of the intersection of Bow Run with said creek, at a chestnut oak on the land of John Fox; thenee through land of Conrad Waggoner, Philip Stine, Abraham Hoover, Jacob Leasure, and John B. More- head, to the present residence of J. B. Morehead, leaving the houses on all said farms north, except

Conrad Waggoner-whole distance, 2 miles and 20 perehes -- course bearing south 82 degrees west ; thener from J. B. Morehead's through other land of said Morehead, Doc. William Simonton, Samuel McCord, William McCord, Jacob Keiffer, Samuel Shellen- berger, George Bashore, William Bomgardner, and Christian Walters, to Beaver Creek to a hickory, leaving all the houses on said farms north, except J. B. Morehead's present residence, one of Doc. Wil- liam Simonton's tenant-houses, now occupied by John Farling, Samuel McCord's and William McCord's- these tive are south-course bearing the same, viz., sonth 82 degrees west, distance 23 miles. Then begin- ning at the house of J. B. Morehead (present resi- dencer; thence through land of said Morehead, and near land of Daniel Keim, through land of Doc. Wil- liam Simonton, Alexander Mc Fadden, Daniel Keitler, Samuel Zimmerman, John Snodgrass, Simon Stout, Samuel Fleming, Mary McCreight, Joseph Shoop, Benjamin Snodgrass, Emanuel Cassel, junior (near Daniel and William Gross), Joseph Allen, William Crum (near Daniel Aunget), E. and C. B. Grubb, George Rhoads, John Rhoads, and E. and C. B. Grubb, to the top of the second mountain -- the pres- ent boundary of West Hanover township-leaving all the houses on said farms west. except Daniel Keim. Simon Stout, Benjamin Snodgrass, Daniel and William Gross, Emanuel Cassel, junior, Daniel Aungst, E. and C. B. Grubb, George Rhoads, and John Rhoads ; course bearing north 14} degrees west. distance 8 miles."

SOUTH HANOVER TOWNSHIP.

THIS township lies south of the other Hanovers. with the Swatara and Beaver Creeks on its entire eastern, southern, and western border. It is well watered, and there is little poor or untillable land in the township.

UNION DEPO-IT was laid out by Philip Wolfers- berger, July 30, 1845, and ealled Unionville. The survey was made by Samuel Hoffer, and the platting done by Jacob R. Hoffer. It comprised twenty-three lots. In the same year Isaac Hershey laid out some lots adjoining. The place, however, always went by the name of Union Deposit. from the fact of its being a deposit of all the grain produce, ete .. of this region, preparatory to its shipment on the canal by MIr. Wolfersberger, who owned several boats. He also kept the first store. Dr. D. C. Keller came in 1813, and was the first resident physician. The first house built on the hill wa- the one in which he resides. The post-office wa- established in 1857, and David

Wolfersberger appointed postmaster. McCormick's Furnace was erected about 1857, and a few years ago a railroad built from it to Swatara Station, on the Lebanon Valley Railroad, a distance of a mile. It manufactures pig metal, and employs in the furnace and quarries some forty hands. Most of the ore is obtained from Sand Hill, three and a half miles dis- tant, the rest from Cornwall and other banks.

The churches are the Lutheran and Reformed, a one-story brick edifice. erected in 1847, and the United Brethren, a similar structure, built in 1848. The former is supplied by the Hummelstown pas- tors. Its trustees are George Hocker, Sr., Lutheran, and Jacob Walmer, Reformed. Rev. David S. Long- necker, of Derry. is the United Brethren pastor. The village is on Swatara Creek and the Union Canal, one mile from Swatara Railroad Station.

HOERNERSTOWN is situated in the southwestern part of the township, one and a half miles north of Hum-'

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WEST HANOVER AND EAST HANOVER TOWNSHIPS.

melstown. It takes its name from John Hoerner, born in 1782, of one of the earliest families that settled in this region, and whose descendants are very numerous in this vicinity. The place ha- a store, post-office, and the usual number of small shops. The United Breth- ren Church is at the east end of the village, and the German Baptist at the west.

MANADAVILLE les in the extreme eastern part of the township, at the junction of the Manada with Swatara Creek. It contains a saw- and grist-mill, school-house, cabinet-shop, store, and several other shops. The first settlers in the place were J. Ream, G. F. Yengst, D. Houck, John Gordon, Dr. Samuel Eby, H. Styles, J. Dougherty, D. Ritter, and E. Rose.

WEST HANOVER TOWNSHIP.

ADJOINING East Hanover township or the west is the extreme portion of the Hanover of 1737. To the north and west is Middle Paxtang town-hip, while on the south lies South Hanover town-hip, and -outh- west Lower Paxtang township. In the northern part of the township are the First and Second Mountains of the Kittochtinny range. between which lies Fish- ing Creek Valley, entered through a gap in the First or Sonth Mountain, long known as Heckert's Gap. The township contains many fine, well-watered, and productive farms. The history of this locality is so intimately connected with not only the history of the township proper and the county, especially during the most interesting epochs, that what might other-

wise be of interest here will be found elsewhere. The Barnett place, one of the earliest farms cleared within the township, is located one mile and a half east ot' Linglestown, recently owned by George Runyen. Another landmark of the early settlement is the late Robert Stewart homestead on Beaver Creek.

MANADA HILL is the only village in the township, and lies in the southwest of the township near East Hanover line. It has a post-office, store, and several shops. A mile and a half southwest is the Lutherau Church, a one-story frame structure. Two and a half miles southeast is the German Baptist Church, and a little northeast is the Zion Lutheran Church, a one- story brick structure.

EAST HANOVER TOWNSHIP.

EAST HANOVER TOWNSHIP, as defined by the rec- the Manada Gap. Between the Second and Third Mountain is Stony Creek. in the centre of Stony Creek Valley, appropriately named. ord, is bounded on the north by Rush township, on the east by Lebanon County, on the south by South Hanover and Derry townships, and on the west by | SHELLSVILLE, often called Earlysville from the large number of Earlys living in and near the village, and whose post-office is called " West Hanover," is situated a little south of the centre of the township. It take, its name from Maj. John Shell, who was born Dec. 20. 1790, and died March 27, 1875. He laid out the town, and in 1821 opened the first hotel, in which he was succeeded by Henry Diek. John Adam Albert, and William Snyder. This tavern is the oldest buikl- ing in the village, being originally a log house built in 1.64, but has been remodeled and additions pu+ to it. The first store was opened by Maj. John Shell and Jacob Early, as partners, in 1822. It has Middle Paxtang and West Hanover townships. In the northern part of the township are the three ranges of the Kittochtinny Mountains, the First, Sec- ond, and Third, and as a consequence the land is much broken and the greater portion sterile. The central and southern part of the township is well watered, highly cultivated, and productive. On the southern border, separating the township from Derry, is Ewa- tara Creek. Bow Creek is in the eastern part of the township, while the Manada. another branch of the Swatara, courses through the entire western side, ri-ing in Lebanon County between the First and Sec- and Mountain, finding its way through the former by . two churches, the Evangelical Association, of which

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HISTORY OF DAUPHIN COUNTY.

Rev. C. S. Brown is pastor, and the joint Lutheran . congregation, reported that his people desired him to and Reformed Church. Rev. Mr. Gauker is pastor of the Lutheran congregation, while that of the Re- formed is supplied by the minister of Hummelstown, Rev. A. S. Stauffer.

GRANTVILLE is a thriving village, located a mile and a half east of Shellsville, near the Lebanon County line. It is a new place which sprang up since the war. It is a growing town, and has a large trade with the surrounding country. The United Brethren have a neat church edifice and beautiful cemetery.

MANADA FURNACE is in the northwest of the town- ship. It is owned by the Grubb heirs, and embraces some twenty-five hundred acres. It was built in 1836, but is not now in operation. Near it is the site of old "Fort Manada," erected about 1755 for protection against the Indians, and as a kind of block-house to which the early settlers fled on the advance of the red men.

The German Baptists have a meeting-house in the southeast end of the township, and the Methodist Episcopal congregation are near the centre, just about the proposed South Mountain Railroad.

HANOVER CHURCH.

Nearly eleven miles from Harrisburg, on Bow Creek, was located old Hanover Church, one of the landmarks in the history of the Scotch-Irish and of Presbyterianism in Pennsylvania.

HANOVER CHURCH.

In 1.55 the Presbytery of Donegal, then the only Presbytery of the Presbyterian Choreh in America west of Philadelphia, was in session at Nottingham. Chester Co., Pa., in the month of September. Thi- Presbytery had been created by order of the Synod of Philadelphia in September, 1732. The original members of it were Rev. Messrs. James Anderson, Adam Boyd, William Bertram, John Thomson, and Robert Orr. On the 3d of September, 1735, a sup- plication was presented from "A people on the borders of Snetara Congregation, de-fring the coun- tenance of Presbytery in building a new meeting- house in order to have supplies." which being read. the Rev. William Bertram, the pastor of the swatara

signify to the Presbytery that they desire them to defer granting said supplication until they be heard. The matter was deferred until the next ineeting of Presbytery.

At a session of Presbytery held at the same place Oct. 7, 1735, the affair of the people of Manada Creek was again deferred.

" Mr. Richard Sankey, a theological student from Ireland, having produced his certificate at last meet- ing before the members of Presbytery and been taken under its enre, the Presbytery ordered that he en- deavor to acquaint himself with the brethren before our next meeting, and also endeavor to prepare some preliminary extempore trials against our next meet- ing."

At a session of the Presbytery held at Middle Vetorara, Lancaster Co., November 20th, Lazarus Stewart appeared to proseente a supplication of Man- ada Creek for a new erection. The region along Manada Creek to the mountains was settled rapidly, and the people early began to feel the inconvenience of going so far as Derry to church, and moved for a new " erection or congregation." At that early day they were all Seoteh-Irish, and were connected with the Presbyterian Church. The boundariesof eougre- gations and the location of meeting-houses were deter- mined by the Presbytery with considerable authority.

On the 10th November, 1736, Presbytery ordered James Gelston and Richard Sankey to supply Pequen and Manada by monthly turns alternately until the next meeting of Presbytery. On the 6th of April following, in pursuance of a supplication from the people of Manada, Mr. Bertram was ordered to sup- ply that people on the last Sabbath of April, and to convene the people on some day of the following week in order to moderate a call to Mr. Sankey.

On the 22d June, 1737, a supplication and a call to Mr. Sankey was presented to Presbytery by John Cunningham and Robert Grier, commissioners from the congregation of Hanover (Manada), by which said commissioners are empowered to promise to- wards Mr. Sankey's support among the people of Hanover as their orderly pastor the annual payment of sixty pounds, i.e., one-half in eloth and the other in particular commodities, as flax, hemp, linen, yarn. and cloth, together with several gratuities mentioned in said supplication. Said call was recommended to Mr. Sankey's consideration till the next meeting of Presbytery. He was appointed to supply Paxtang and Hanover alternately, and to open the next meet- ing of Presbytery with a sermon from Rom. vi. 21.

On the 30th August, 1738, the Presbytery of Do :- egal met for the first time at Hanover. Richard Sankey was ordained and received as a member of the Pre-bytery of Donegal, and was installed as the first pastor of the Hanover Church.

On June 6, 1750, we learn that Mr. Sankey, having received a call to a congregation in Virginia, and de-

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EAST HANOVER TOWNSHIP.

signing to remove there, applied for and received cre- peculiar calls in grain was the greatly depreciated dentials from the Pre-bytery. His relation to the value of the Continental currency. Mr. Woods ac- Hanover Church as pastor seems to have been already dissolved. He removed to Virginia, accompanied by many of the Hanover congregation, about 1769. The main reason for going was to escape the incursions of . 1784, the Rev. Matthew Woods died. His remains cepted the call, and was ordained and installed over the Hanover congregation June 19, 1782. The pas- torate of Mr. Woods was a brief one. On Sept. 13. were buried in the Hanover graveyard adjoining the church, and a tombstone erected by subscription to his memory in 1789.

the savages. He settled at Buffalo, joined the llan- over Presbytery of Virginia in 1760, and was ap- pointed to preside at the opening of the Synod of Vir- ginia in 1785. He lived to a good old age, respected by his people and his brethren in the ministry. Mr. Sankey served the Hanover Church for twenty-one years, and, though no further record i- known of his ministry, it was evidently an acceptable one to the people, who kept him so long, and many of whom ac- companied him when he left the place. After his dismissal, during the year 1759 the church was sup- plied occasionally by Rev. Messrs. John Steel and John Elder.

In November, 1762, a call was made for the Rev. Robert MeMordie, which he accepted. During the year 1765 or 1766 the church of Hanover berame vacant. No record of Mr. McMordie's re-ignation exists, but it was doubtless caused by the dissensions in his church. After his withdrawal the church con- tinued in a distracted and enfeebled state. In April. 1772, Mr. William Thou was appointed one of the supplies at Hanover. On the 21st of May a call for Mr. Thom was presented in Presbytery, with a copy of a subscription paper of over one hundred pounds. The call was put into his hands. In the mean time Mr. Thom received other calls from Big Spring, Sher- man's Valley, and Alexandria, Va., and on Oct. 15. 1772. accepted the latter. For the next seven years, covering part of the period of the Revolutionary war, the Hanover Church depended on occasional supplies. The times tried men's souls. Men were called away to war; the people were poor.

On the 20th of June. 1781, a call from Hanover to Rev. Matthew Woods was made out, in which they promise to pay him six hundred bushels of wheat, or a sum of hard money equivalent thereto, and also a gratuity of six hundred bushels. The cause of these

In 1787, Hanover was allowed to prosecute a call to a probationer for the ministry under the care of the Presbytery of Philadelphia. On the 16th of Oe- tober, Mr. James Snodgrass was received under the eare of the Presbytery from the Philadelphia Presby- tery, and having accepted a call from the Hanover congregation he was appointed to prepare a lecture on Rom. viii. 1-7, and a Presbyterial exercise on I Cor. xv. 22, a- parts of his trial for ordination.

On the 13th of May, 1758, the Presbytery of Carlisle met at Hanover .- John Craighead, Robert Cooper, and Samuel Waugh, with James Johnston, eller. Upon the next day, May 14th, James Snodgrass was ordained and installed as pastor of the Hanover con- gregation. Rev. John Craighead presided and gave the charge, and the Rev. John Linn preached the sermon.

During the first eight or ten years of his pastorate Mr. Snodgrass kept in a blank-book of the trustees of the church a record of the marriages, baptisms, and admissions to the church, but he seems to have be- come weary of it, and to have utterly abandoned it before the year 1800. There is no record of removals from the church by letter or by death. A list remains of the heads of families about the year 1788, and the lists of those who paid stipends are continued down to the date of his death. Mr. Spodgra -- ' receipts for his salary and the records of the board of trustees are also in existence.

The church was very weak at the time of his death, and never had another pastor .. The building fell into decay, and was at length in 1875 or 1-76 taken down. The care of the globe funds and the cemetery grounds was placed in the hands of trustees.

HALIFAX TOWNSHIP.

AT December sessions, 1803, the court issued an order to certain commissioners to view and lay out a new township out of parts of Upper and Middle Pax- tang townships, who reported the following bounda- ries of the new township, to wit :

"Beginning on the west side of the Susquehanna River, opposite the end of Peter's Mountain ; thenee along the top of Peter's Mountain to the Berks and Dauphin County line; thence along said line to Wi- eouisco Mountain ; thence along the top of said mountain to the Susquehanna River, and across said river and thenee to the place of beginning."

This report was confirmed by the court at their March sessions, A.D. 1804, and it was ordered that the new township be called Halifax. The mountain called " Wieonisco" in the above report is the same usually called Berry's Mountain.

The history of the town-hip centres about Fort Halifax and the town of Halifax, and is referred to elsewhere. There are certain facts, however, of local importance which it is well to consider in this con- neetion.

The township accepted the free school law in 1836, and the most active persons in urging the adoption of the system were Judge Landis and John Muteh.

Opposite the town of Halifax is Clemson's Island, once the site of a Shawanese Indian village as late as 1701. A large mound on the island partially exam- ined shows it to be one of those burial-places of the aborigines which evidence some great sanguinary struggle or sudden calamity, where the large number of dead required their sepulture in one common grave. Various surmises and traditions have come down to us concerning this Indian mound, but whether the result of the famed "grasshopper war" of the Indians centuries ago we know not. Many implements of the Stone Age have been exhumed.

On one of the islands opposite the borough, prior to 1820, was a noted roo-ting-place of bald eagles.

A Lutheran und Reformed Church is located two miles northeast of Halifax. It is a substantial one- story brick structure. It is better known as Fetter- hoff's Church.

The Mennonites have a church situated a few rods distant from the foregoing.

MATAMORAS is a village situated about two miles south of Halifax. It contains three churches, the Church of God, United Brethren, and Methodist Episcopal, the latter supplied by the Halifax pastor. It has several industrial establishments, a good school- house and stores. The po-t-office is called " Powell's Valley." Southwest of the village is another United Brethren Church with graveyard, and a little north of the village is the Union meeting-house and ceme- tery. There is a fourth United Brethren Church in the northwest part of the township, just back from the Susquehanna River.

LYTLE'S FERRY .- Joseph Lytle removed from Marierta to the spot which was afterwards known as "Lytle's Ferry" in the fall of 1773. The property was obtained by warrants issued severally to John Kroker, Samuel Hunter, and Joseph Lytle, and com- prised about two hundred aeres in all. Geographi- cally, the location was about four miles north of Hali- fax, two miles south of Millersburg, and about a half- miile below Berry's Mountain, which was then a for- midable barrier to journeying along the river. Here Joseph Lytle established a ferry, which became the most important crossing on the river between Harris' Ferry and Sunbury (Fort Augusta). The property was surveyed by Bartrem Galbraith and styled " Fair- view," in December of 1773. Joseph Lytle continued in this occupation until his death, about 1790. The ferry property was then purchased by his only son. John Lytle, and Michael Bauer. At the end of about sixteen years they sold the ferry to William Moor- head. father of the Moorhead brothers (J. Kennedy, of Pittsburgh, J. Barlow, of Philadelphia, etc.), well known through Pennsylvania. in April, 1806. Mr. Moorhead came from Soudersburg, Lancaster Co., and after some time also tried to start a town. It was located on the old "Moorhead homestead," about two miles south of Millersburg, more recently known as the " Finney farm." and at present as the " Miller farm." The project never amounted to anything, and no buildings were ever erected on the lots.

With all its advertised attractions the project failed, and the contemplated town and future county-seat forever remained a farm, on who-e fertile fields several generations have lived and labored.

HALIFAX BOROUGH.

THE town of Halifax, pleasantly located on the mond, and from north to south as indicated by the present length of Front Street from Boyer's to Sing- er's land. Susquehanna River seventeen miles above Harris- burg, wa- laid out July 18. 17 4, by George Sheaffer and Peter Rise. The first deed given by white men When the town was laid out the lot- were sold for twenty dollars each by means of a lottery, then the customary way of designating the public preference for lots. John Downey made the survey for the origi- nal proprietors. In 1801 the houses were mostly on the river, and even in 1825 and 1826 all the old houses but five or six were along the Su-quehanna. The original settlers were generally Scotch-Irish, who soon gave way to the German tide that fast set in in this region. James Ferguson in 1801. bought an old story and a half log house (stone basement. on his arrival and there lived. Three tannerie- were early in this vicinity was issued to Robert Arni-trong by Thomas and John Penn, proprietaries. The warrant for the land was dated April 17, 1764, and the Jeed given Feb. 8, 1775. As the valley and creek still bear his name, Armstrong was no doubt the first white settler here. The price >tipulated was €51 188. and 7d.,-from sixty to seventy cents an acre. This, however, did not include the rental of one halfpenny per acre which had to be paid to the agent of the Penns at Lancaster City yearly in the month of May. The land included in this deed is now owned by the Boyers, Geiger, and Loomis families, beginning at . established, George Leebrick's, John Shammo's, and the northern line of the borough and extending Has-inger's ( first built and started by Abraham Landis). Three-quarters of a century ago tour cooper-shops flourishel and four distilleries in or adjoining the town, and at a somewhat later period Isaac Jones started the first hat manufactory. along the river to Armstrong's Creek. It is described as having been bounded on the east by a harren ledge of hills, on. the west by the Susquehanna River, south by vacant lands, and north by settle- ments in the right of Simon Girty. The house of

At an early period the town was a flourishing Robert Armstrong is still standing on the bank of the + point of trade. receiving it- impetus from the " shad : river, three-fourths of a mile above the town, and is the oldest house in the neighborhood. This is also the site of old Fort Halifax, from which the town derives its name, reference to which has been made in the general history. There is nothing now to mark the place except in a slight elevation of the ground and a well known to have belonged to the fort.

The land on which Halifax stands was deeded to James Aston, Sept. 29, 1773, and was called in popu- lar parlanee " Flat Bottom." and about the same time : the traet adjoining-perhaps the one now owned by George Singer and others-was conveyed to Aston, and was known as "Seanderoon." From 1729 to 1785 Halifax was in Upper Paxtang town-hip, Lan- easter Co. From 1785 (at which time the county of Dauphin was formed: until 1803 it was in Upper Paxtang township, Dauphin Co.

As heretofore stated. the town of Halifax was laid out by George Sbeaffer and Peter Rise in 1794, but we find that the deed was recorded by Philip Brin- dle and George Norton, attorneys for George Win- ters, on the 8th of May. 1794.

The plot of the town extended from the river to the alley adjoining the property of Henry Sha-

fisheries," which were the largest and best-paying along the Susquehanna River. During the fishing season large quantities were packed, and often fifty and sixty teams were here from a distance to haul away the fish. In olden times the place was noted for hor-e-racing, and two men, Brubaker and Bower, were killed when running horses, but at times twenty years apart. The old track was along the river hottoms.

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History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon : in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; biographical and genealogical, Part 107

Author: Egle, William Henry, 1830-1901 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1046

Author: Egle, William Henry, 1830-1901
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1046