USA > Pennsylvania > Carbon County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 2 > Part 78
USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 2 > Part 78
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Martin Mack, who came to Bethlehem with the first settlers at that place, went up to the new station, "Gnadenhütten," with Christian Henry Rauch as one of the missionaries in charge. A church was erected and dwellings built for the missionaries and Indians.
Early Settlement .- A part of the territory now embraced in the limits of Mahoning was the first to which any title was obtained by the whites in the immediate region north of the Blue Ridge. A tract of five thousand aeres was released, in March, 1682, by William Penn to Adrian Vroesen, of Rotterdam, and by him deeded to Benjohan Furley, of the same city, and surveyed for his heirs in 1735, and in March, 1745, conveyed to Edward Shippen, a merchant of Philadelphia, by Thomas Lawrence, attorney of the heirs of Benjohan Furley. Mr. Shippen conveyed the tract, in September of the same year, to Richard l'eters, of Philadelphia, who at the same time decded one hundred and twenty aeres of the land to Charles Loskiel, writing at the time, said, "Gnadenhütten HOW (1746) became a very regular and pleasant town. The church stood in the valley, on one side the Indian houses forming a crescent, upon a rising ground ; and on the other stood the house of the mis- sionaries and the burying-ground, The missionaries tilled their own grounds, and every Indian family their plantation, and on the 18th of August they had the satisfaction to partake of the first fruits of the land at a love-feast." As the colony increased the church was found to be too small, and in September, 1749, Bishop Johannes von Watteville visited Gna- denhütten, and laid the foundation-stone of a new church. About the same time Rev. David Brainerd, Brockden, for the use of the Moravians at Bethlehem, ! with several Indian converts, visited Gnadenhutten. who at this time had gathered around them a large The numbers increased, and the mission prospered greatly, and in 1754 numbered about five hundred Indians. It was thought advisable for several reasons to establish a new mission on the other side of the river, which was done in that year.' Indian congregation, part of whom had been driven out of Shekomeko, Conn., and from Patchgatgoch, in New York. lu 1742, Count Zinzendorf, who came to Bethlehem in December, 1741, aseended the Lehigh River, with two friendly Indians as interpreters, and The account of the attack by the Indians on the mission, Nov. 24, 1755, will be found in the chapter on Indian history. The massacre at that time so dis- leartened the Moravians that no further attempts were made to rebuild at that place, and after a few years it was left entirely to desolation. held a conference (near what is now Lehighton) with a party of Indians, whose hunting-grounds were in the valley of the Mahoning and the adjacent country. The beauty of the scenery here attracted the attention of the count, and he looked upon the locality as a good one upon which to establish a mission. This No knowledge is obtained as to who purchased other portions of the traet of five thousand acres, but the valley was settled between 1750 and 1775 by Eng- was mentioned to the brethren at Bethlehem, and re- sulted in the purchase of the tract, as above men- tioned. The writer of an article entitled " Lehighton One Hundred and Twenty-five Years Ago," published in 1879, says, after speaking of the conference with
1 An account of Now Gundenhutten will be found in the history of, Weissport.
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MAHONING TOWNSHIP.
lish families,-the Custards, Thomases, Gilberts, Dodsons, Pearts, Johns, and others. Most of these families remained till the close of the Revolution, when they removed to the neighborhood of the Sus- quehanna River. Sketches of a few of the families are here given.
The name of Custard oceurs as that of one of the settlers who located in the Mahoning Valley. But little is known of him or his family. The most that is trustworthy concerning him is in a letter from Tim- othy Horsfield, Esq., of Bethlehem, who writes to Governor Morris, Nov. 26, 1755, on receiving the news of the massacre at Gnadenhütten. After speaking of the eseape of Joseph Sturges, George Partch and his wife, and their arrival at Bethlehem, where they re- ported the affair, he says, that " Monday, the 24th in- stant, an hour before sunset, George Custard with two others of the neighbors came to Mahoning (the place the murder was committed at), and informed them that in the evening they might expect a number of armed men to be with them all night." No further mention is made of George Custard or the neighbors that were with him. The name does not appear on the assessment-roll of the township in 1781 or 1808, and it is probable that the family fled.
The family of Benjamin Gilbert came to the valley of the Mahoning in 1775, and settled on the Mahon- ing Creek at the place now owned by Michael Garber. His step-son, Benjamin Peart, located about half a mile away. Benjamin Gilbert was a native of By- berry, fifteen miles from Philadelphia, where he was born in the year 1711. He was educated by the Qua- kers, and resided near his birthplace till he moved to the Mahoning Valley, in 1775. He married a lady in his youth by whom he had several children. They arrived at years of maturity, and several of them set- tled there. About the year 1748 he published a trea- tise against war in answer to Gilbert Tennent. In 1769 and 1770 he published two large works on relig- ious subjects. After the death of his wife he con- tracted a second marriage with Elizabeth, the widow of Benjamin Peart, who also had several children.
It was some years after this second marriage that it sons and daughters, connections and friends were not strangers to the dangers to which they would be ex- posed, and earnestly besonght them to remain in their midst.
The journey was made. The party consisted of Benjamin Gilbert, his wife Elizabeth, his sons, Joseph, Jesse, and Abner ; Rebecca and Elizabeth, daughters ; Benjamin and Thomas Peart, sons of Mrs. Gilbert. After reaching the place selected, a comfortable log house and barn were erected. Later a saw-mill and grist-mill were erected on the creek, which drew cus- tom from a large extent of country and rendered the position of the family comfortable. After five years of quiet the family was surprised on the morning of the 25th of April, 1780, by a party of eleven Indians
and taken captives. The house was plundered and all the buildings burned. The Indians then visited the house of Benjamin Peart, who a year or two previons had married and settled about half a mile away, and captured him and his wife and child. Abigail, a daughter of Samuel Dodson, a neighbor, had brought from home to the mill early in the morning a grist, and she was still there and captured with the rest.'
The family was in bondage two years and five months, and on the 22d of August, 1783, its members were gathered together in Montreal and soon after returned to Byberry, with the exception of Benjamin, the father, who died June 8, 1780, while going down the river St. Lawrence, Andrew Harrigar, who es- eaped and returned to Byberry, and conveyed the first knowledge of the fate and condition of the family, and Abigail Dodson, who was adopted by one of the families of the Cayuga Nation.
After the return of the family, in 1783, the farm in the Mahoning Valley was sold to Capt. Joseph Long- streth, who, with Robert MeDaniel, went up to the place and rebuilt the house and mill. How long Capt. Longstreth remained is not known. His name does not appear in the assessment-roll of 1808. Later the property was owned by Dr. S. Kennedy, and in 1820 was bought by Septimus Hough.
The family of Samuel Dodson came to the valley about the same time the Gilberts came in. They set- tled about a mile distant, on a farm now owned by David D. Kistler, near Pleasant Corner. He was a native of Chester County, where he was married, and where his children were born. Abigail, when four- teen years of age, was sent by her father to the mill of Benjamin Gilbert, on the Mahoning Creek, carly on the morning of the 25th of April, 1780. She was captured with the Gilbert family by the Indians. She was separated from the others, and adopted first by a tribe of the Cayugas and later by others. The family of Dodsons remained upon their plantation, and did not, like many others, abandon their settlement.
In 1785, Thomas Dodson, a consin of Abigail, de- termined to go up to the northward and make a scareli for Abigail. He was provided with the necessary
was decided to move north of the Blue Ridge. His | equipment, and started on horseback. After much search she was found in the Genesce Valley with the tribe of Indians by which she had been adopted. As her return at some time had been anticipated, it had been decided that if her friends came for her she would be allowed to go. The chief of the tribe was away at the time Thomas arrived, and the family of which she was a member, although loath to let her leave them, consented, and preparations were made for her departure. A new suit of Indian cloth, orna- mented with beads, was made for her, and feasts were given at which many gathered. When all was ready
1 An necount of their captivity and wanderings will be found in the chapter on Indian history. An account was verbally given by them on Their return, in 1783, and was written by William Walton, and published by Joseph Cruikshank in 1784.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
they departed. For some reason, Thomas had left his horse at Genesee, a few miles away. Upon reaching the place and applying for his horse, the man in whose care he had left him refused to let him have the horse except upon the payment of one hundred dollars. As he had not that much money, he was compelled to leave him. An arrangement was made by which they were taken to Towanda, where Thomas obtained a eanoe, in which they paddled and floated down the Susquehanna River to Salem, and stopped at the house of Nathan Beach. He provided them with a horse, and they proceeded on their way to Mahoning Valley, where they arrived in October, 1786. Abigail had been absent from home five years and six months, during which time she had been with several different tribes and had learned the languages of five of them. On arriving near home, Abigail went to the house first and knocked. Her mother came to the door, in- vited her in, stepped baek and called her husband, say- ing, " Here is a squaw, and a pretty good-looking one, too." Her father eame in, and neither of them recog- nized her, upon which Abigail exclaimed, "Mother,
don't you know me?" Thomas soon came in, and the family gathered around the long-lost one, and great was their joy at hier return. The story of her cap- tivity and wanderings was known to the family, up to the time of her separation from the Gilberts, who returned in 1783, and adoption by the Cayugas, but from that time no trace of her had been found until this time. She had for so long been accustomed to Indian life that she did not feel at home for some time, and often longed for the old life, but this feeling passed away. She remained at home, and moved with the family in 1797 to Shamokin, and Jater to Hun- tington township, Luzerne Co., where she married Peter Brink, and lived many years and died, leaving no children.1
The family of Samuel Dodson lived at the place where they settled in 1775 till 1797. Samuel Dodson, the father, died in 1795, and was buried at Lizard Creek. His children were John, Thomas, Samuel, Joseph, Hannah, Elizabeth, Polly, Abigail, and Sally. John, the eldest son, after the death of his father, took the management of the farm, and in 1797 sold it, and the family all moved to Shamokin. The children of Samuel had all reached maturity, and several of them were married and settled on the home- stead farm in Mahoning Valley. Joseph was married before the death of the father; and Isaac T. Dodson, so well known to old citizens of the county of Carbon, was born on the homestead farm in 1796. His father, Joseph, moved with the rest of the family to Shamokin. After a few years most of the family of Samuel re- moved to Huntington township, Luzerne Co., where their descendants are numerous.
1
Isaae T. Dodson eame to Maueh Chunk in 1820, and entered the employ of the Lchigh Coal and Navi- gation Company. He was appointed justice of the peace Jan. 9, 1828, and served many years. He died in Mauch Chunk in 1873, aged seventy-seven years. His son, George W. Dodsou, was a teacher in Mauch Chunk, and in the employ of the Coal and Navigation Company. He died in 1863. Mary (Mrs. Abraham Focht), Elizabeth (Mrs. Owen Williams), and Ma- hala D. (Mrs. Israel Beahm), all of Mauch Chunk, are daughters of Isaac T. Dodson.
It will be remembered that Capt. Joseph Long- streth purchased the Gilbert farm in 1783, and at that time Robert MeDaniel eame to the valley with him. He was born Aug. 24, 1756, in a small lumbering vil- lage near the Penobscot Falls, Maine. Ile was ap- prenticed by his father to Capt. Joseph Longstreth, of Philadelphia, to learn the trade of a tanner and cur- rier, and lived in that eity some years. After a resi- dence of a year or two at the mill with Capt. Long- streth in the valley, he bought a tract of land not far from the Gilbert mill, now partly owned by Samuel Moser, and married Elizabeth Hicks. She was born in 1766, and is said to have been a native of Lizard Creek Valley, and when very young was placed in charge of William Thomas, who lived near where the Benn Salem Church stands. No other knowledge of the Hicks family is obtained. They settled upon the farm, and lived many years. They died there, and were buried in the Benn Salem churchyard. Their children were Rachel, Nancy, Lydia, Elizabeth, Rob- ert, and James. Rachel became the wife of Charles Haney, and settled in the township. Mrs. Henry Arner is a daughter. Lewis Haney, for many years a teacher in the township and the first coroner of the county, was a son. Nancy became the wife of Sam- uel Solt, and settled in Lehighton. Lydia married Joseph Musselman, lived for a time in the township, and moved to Ohio. Oliver, a son, remained with his grandfather, and taught school in the township, was elected register and recorder in 1846 and 1849, and later moved to Ohio, where he is now a journalist. Elizabeth became the wife of Christian Klotz (who came from Lowhill, Lehigh Co.), in 1816. They set- tled near the homestead, and in 1823 moved to what is now the Hoppes Mill, where she died in 1826, aged thirty-one years. Robert, son of Robert, emigrated to the West. James, the youngest son, settled in the township, and died there. His son, J. T. McDaniel, keeps the old Freyman Hotel, and is postmaster.
The sketches given thus far are of families who settle in the Mahoning Valley between the years 1750 and 1785. From the latter year, to 1805-6, no settle- ments seem to have been made, and but one or two of the families that were there remained. In fact, the descendants of Robert MeDaniel are the only ones whose ancestors were in the limits of the present Mahoning township prior to 1800.
The assessment-roll of Penn township of 1781 con-
1 One of the leggings, trinuned with beads, which she wore upon her return is now in the possession of Robert Boehm, of Mauch Chunk, who is of the family.
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MAHONING TOWNSHIP.
tains the following names of persons who were resi- dent in what is to-day Mahoning township: Samuel Dodson, Richard Dodson, George Gilbert, George J. Gilbert. The names of Michael Hoppes and Michael S. Hoppes appear, but disappear in 1808 in East Penn, and are found the same year in West Penn town- ship.
The following persons are named on the assessment- roll of East Penn township in 1808, when it was first set off, and were residents of the present township : Andrew Beck, John and Abraham Freyman, Robert McDaniel, Peter, Henry, and John Notestine, Peter Musselman.
Andrew Beck, of Siegersville, Lehigh Co., about the year 1800, purchased a lumber tract on the Nesque- honing Creek, about half a mile below the present village of Nesquehoning, npon which he erected a saw-mill. The site is now owned by Cornelius Zangle. About 1805 he purehased one hundred and thirty-five acres of land in Mahoning township for hisson, Andrew, who lived upon it three years, and in 1808 sold it to his brother, George Beck, who settled there and lived all his days. He died in 1870. He left twelve chil- dren, all living except one. Caroline (Mrs. Gabriel Deleher) is living on the homestead; Daniel is also living in the township ; Thomas G. lives at Lehighton ; Christiana (Mrs. James M. Keller) resides at Lans- ford ; others are in Ohio and Illinois.
John Freyman settled about the year' 1800 on a farm near Stewart's Run, on which his grandson, Thomas, now resides. He had sons,-Jacob, Henry, and George. Jacob settled on the homestead, where he died in 1882, aged seventy-five years. Henry lived ummarried, and built the hotel where J. G. McDaniel now resides, and kept it for several years. George settled in the upper part of the township, and later kept hotel and store at Pleasant Corner, and owned the farm now owned by the Kistlers. Ile died in 1849, aged thirty-five years. His son, William G. Freyman, is an attorney at Mauch Chunk.
Peter Musselman, a native of Upper Milford, Le- high Co., came to the Mahoning Valley in 1807, and purchased the farm now owned by his grandson, Thomas Musselman. Ile died in 1860. Of his sons, Joseph married Lydia, the daughter of Robert Mc- Daniel, settled near the homestead for a short time, and removed to Ohio. Oliver Musselman, of Ohio, is their son. Charles settled near his father, and still resides there, well advanced in years. Jacob settled on the homestead, and married Rebecca, the daughter of John G. Kemerer. Their son, Thomas, now owns the property. Susan became the wife of George Kamerer, and settled at Lehighton. Polly became Mrs. Boaz, and Walton, the youngest, emigrated to Warsaw, Ind.
It is not known what year the Notestines eame to the township, but in the year 1808 the three brothers (Henry, Peter, and John) were owners of property at Centre Square. Their father, Peter Notestine, lived
with them. He had served in the Revolutionary war, was well advanced in years, died there, and was buried in the graveyard near Centre Square. Henry resided at Centre Square, and about 1818 erected the store-house now owned by David Longaker. A stone in the building records that it was built by " Henry Notestine and his wife, Barbara." IIe left several children,-Daniel, Henry, Elias, and John. Daniel lived on the homestead, and died in 1873. A daugh- ter (Mrs. C. HI. Seidel) is a resident at Centre Square. Henry remained at home a few years after arriving at maturity, kept the hotel at Pennsville at one time, and later removed to Kansas, where he died. Elias lived at home, and died in 1878. John resides in the township of East Penn. Peter Notestine settled on Mahoning Mountain, His daughter, Catharine (Mrs. Peter Xandres), lives on part of the homestead. Of his other children, Rachel ( Mrs. Lauchner) and Eliz- abeth (Mrs. Kochner) settled in the township, and are both deceased. John, brother of llenry and Peter, emigrated to Fort Wayne, Ind. Matthew (a younger brother of Henry), Peter, and John, after arriving at maturity, settled on a farm between Henry and Peter. His children were Daniel, Jonas, David, James, and Joseph. Daniel, Jonas, and James settled in East Penn township, David in Mahoning, and Joseph in Lehighton.
The names of Abram and Jost Miller appear on the roll of 1808, and when Henry Arner came to the township, in 1817, he rented a farm of Isaac Miller, which he afterwards purchased. Henry was born in Lehigh County in 1798, and when three years of age was taken with his father's family to what became, in 1808, West Penn township. He married about 1817, and came to the Mahoning Valley and rented a farm, where he now lives, and resided there seven years. About 1825 he purchased one hundred and nineteen acres of land of James Brodrick, now owned by Am- mon Arner, and resided there thirty years, and pur- chased one hundred and twenty-five aeres, including his present place, of his son, Tilghman Arner, and moved to the old home, where he now resides, He was engaged in the manufacture of shoes about the time of the opening of the coal-mines at Sommit Hill, and later manufactured powder. He had by his first wife five children, -Tilghman, Abigail, Eliza, Ammon, and Louisa. Tilghman resided in and near New Mahoning, and died in 1880. Abigail (Mrs. Amos Reille), Eliza (Mrs. Benjamin Koontz), and Louisa (Mrs. Zachariah Long) are residents of Lehighton. Ammon resides at New Mahoning, where he carries on the mercantile business, and also conducts a large farm.
In the year 1819, Jacob Fenstermacher came to what is now New Mahoning, and soon after erected the hotel which he kept till his death. It is now kept by his son, Stephen.
Christian Klotz was born in Lowhill township, Northampton (now Lehigh ) Co., May 14, 1789. HIe
746
HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
was a miller by trade, and about 1814 came to the Landing Tavern, on the Lehigh River, and for a year or two was at work rafting and in the mill. In the year 1816 he went up the Mahoning Creek, and obtained work in the mill on the site of the Gilbert Mill. In this year he married Elizabeth, the daugh- ter of Robert MeDaniel, who lived a short distance from the mill. He remained at the mill till abont 1823, when he built a mill on Pine Creek, now known as the Hoppes mill-site, and moved his family there- to. At this place his wife died, Nov. 5, 1826, aged thirty-one years, leaving five ehildren,-Ammon, Robert, Charlotte, Anna, and Joseph. Ammon and Anna (Mrs. Grover) settled in Franklin township, where the former is still living. Charlotte became the wife of a Mr. Yost, and is long since deceased. Joseph resides at Pittston, Luzerne Co., Pa. Robert lives at Mauch Chunk. He was elected the first register and recorder of the county of Carbon in 1843, has filled many important offices, and was a member of Congress for this district in the Forty- sixth Congress. Christian Klotz married a second wife, by whom he had several children. He died at Lehighton, March 12, 1848, aged fitty-nine years, and was buried by the side of his first wife in the Mora- vian Cemetery.
John, Jacob, and Daniel Klotz, brothers of Chris- tian, came to the Mahoning Valley and settled. John died in Lehighton in 1829. Jacob and Daniel lived and died in Mahoning township.
Jolm G. Kamerer, a native of Lehigh County, came to the valley in 1818, and purchased the farm now owned by Zachariah Ham. Of his children, Thomas is now president of the National Bank of Lehighton. Theodore R. and William are engaged in business at Lehighton. Catharine also resides in that place. Re- becca, one of the elder children, became the wife of Joseph Musselman, and removed to Ohio.
Thomas Beltz, a son of Leonard and Elizabeth Beltz, was a native of Towamensing township, where he was born in 1805. In 1820 he engaged with the Coal and Navigation Company at Summit Hill, and worked for them fifteen years, During this time he married Rebecca, a daughter of Jonathan Bachman, and settled in what is now Mahoning township. She died early in life, leaving two children, of whom Na- than resides in Stockton, Luzerne Co., Pa. He mar- ried, as a second wife, Maria, the daughter of Henry Arner, who is still living. Harrison A. Beltz, now justice of the peaee at Lehighton, is a son.
The mother of Thomas Beltz resided with him in her later years, and died at his house in February, 1867, at the age of one hundred and five years. She was a daughter of Frederick Boyer, and was born in Towamensing township, Dee. 14, 1761.
Septimus Hough, a Quaker, who was a native of Bueks County, born near Doylestown, in the year 1820 purchased the old Gilbert mill and farm and settled there. llis wife died in 1845, and he survived her
until May 4, 1852. A son, John, died many years ago. A son, James P., now lives at Mount Jefferson, in Mauch Chunk township. After the death of Mr. Hough the property was sold to Michael Garber, who now owns it.
A sketch of the Balliet family will be found in the history of North Whitehall township, Lehigh Co., to which place the first of the family, Paul Balliet, emi- grated in 1742. Joseph Balliet, who settled in this township, was a son of Leonard Balliet, a native of Northampton (now Lehigh) County, who settled in West Penn township, Schuylkill Co. Joseph bought a farm first at Centre Square, now owned by Joseph Hunsecker, and later he purchased a farm of Jacob Feller, which he lived on and where he died in 1881, aged eighty-seven years. Ile left a son, Nathan, who lives on the homestead. Thomas M. Balliet, the pres- ent superintendent of common schools, is a son of Nathan Balliet.
Solomon Gordon, who, in 1808, lived near the Gilbert Mill, was a blacksmith, and had a shop at that place. Later he moved about half a mile east, where he lived a few years and then emigrated to the West, and died on the way.
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