USA > Pennsylvania > Carbon County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 2 > Part 85
USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 2 > Part 85
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No action seems to have been taken on this report, and a petition was again made June 4, 1804, " for a bridge over the river Lehigh, at or near the house of Col. Jacob Weiss, in Towamensing township, on the public road leading from the Water Gap of Lehigh to Berwick on Susquehannah." The court appointed as viewers Jonas Hartzell, Esq., Michael Musselman, Stephen Balliet, John Snyder, Jacob Kuntz, and Henry Bowman. They viewed the site and made re- port June 14, 1804, which report was accepted, and a | bridge ordered built. The commissioners of the
county decided to have the work of building the bridge done by the day ; a temporary structure was erected near by, and the men were boarded there, the commissioners furnishing all the supplies. The entries are given in full in the records at Easton, and among them are the following, June 14, 1805: "To Jacob Lay for a Fresh Milks Cow for the use of the men who work at Lehigh Bridge, at $19.00; and John App for one and a Calf, at $20; and $2 for bringing them up to the bridge, at Weiss's." "To Jacob Lay for 10 Fat Sheep for the hands at Lehigh Bridge, $20." "Sept. 20. To Katy Kiekin on account of cooking, $4.00." Coffee, tea, sugar, whiskey, brandy, beef, pork, and other supplies were furnished in large quantities. The bridge was finished in the summer of 1805, and the road was continued on the west side of the river to Lausanne (Landing Tavern), and from there over the Broad Mountain, and from 1808 became the Le- high and Susquehanna Turnpike, better known as Easton and Berwiek Turnpike. The bridge remained in use with occasional repairs till 1841, when it was partially destroyed and again rebuilt, and from that time was in use until the freshet of 1862, when it was entirely swept away. The present bridge was then built by the county.
No effort was made to establish a village at Weiss' mill until the construction of the canal in 1827-28. At that time the Coal and Navigation Company desired to locate the canal on the west side of the river, but Col. Weiss offered the company right of way free through his farm on the east side, which extended some dis- tance down the river. The proposition was accepted and the canal was constructed. After this was decided upon, Col. Weiss and his sons laid out a village plot into lots, streets, and a publie square, and formed a lottery scheme, in which each tieket was placed at a cost of seventy-five dollars, and was to entitle its holder to a lot, the only difference being in location. About forty tickets were sold and drawn.
The canal was completed through this place in 1829, and the building of houses soon commenced. Jacob Weiss' house (a frame structure) stood where the Fort Allen House now stands. The tavern-stand, now known as the Weissport House, was built in that year by Peter Snyder, and opened by Daniel Heber- ling.
About 1832, Lewis Weiss commenced building boats on the bank of the canal for the Morris Canal and Banking Company and the Lehigh Navigation Company. In 1836 he opened the first store in the village, at the corner where Franklin Laury now is, and remained in business at that place until 1857. In 1838, Daniel Heberling, who at first was in the hotel, opened a store about the centre of the town, where lie was in business many years. He was school director in 1838, and for many years a justice of the peace. In 1836, Andrew Graver, who had formerly lived in Lehighton, moved to Weissport, and followed boating till after the freshet in 1841, when he built a
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
boat-yard below Lock No. 9, and commeneed the building of boats for the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. He continued this branch of business till 1877, and still resides in Weissport.
In 1846, Nathan Snyder opened a boat-yard above Lock No. 9, and built boats there till 1872. In 1850, Miller & Heimbach, who formerly owned the Maria Furnace, opened a rope-factory, which was continued three or four years. A post-office was established in 1863, and Christopher Grote was appointed postmas- ter. Ile was succeeded by William Grover, who served till June, 1869, when Perry J. Kistler was appointed, and served till June, 1882. William H. Knecht succeeded him, and is the present postmaster.
Flood of 1862 .- In a little work published in 1863 called " Incidents of the Freshet on the Lehigh River, Sixth Month 4th and 5th, 1862," occurs the follow- ing : " Weissport, owing to its low situation, suffered severely. It is thought that there was hardly a dwell- ing in the place escaped the effects of the water. Upon our first visit to it after the disaster, the scene of desolation it presented was appalling ; lumber, wrecks of bridges, broken eanal-boats, parts of carriages, etc., lay in endless confusion the length and breadth of the town. In its main streets lay canal-boats, parts of houses, and logs piled a story or more high for a long distance, effectually stopping all travel from it, and furnishing a sad memento of the overwhelming destruction. At the Fort Allen House the flood was on the bar-room floor several inches; the stabling and out-houses attached to the hotel were all carried away. A resident of the place had taken much pains to fur- nish a correct account of the number of buildings destroyed. The whole number was eighty-nine, con- sisting of sixteen dwellings, thirteen kitchens, thirty- seven stables, two barns, two blacksmith-shops, two slaughter-houses, two wagon-sheds, two built of brick, one school-house, one Methodist meeting-house, one saw-mill, one rolling mill, one foundry, one ware- house, and one carpenter-shop, coach-factory, cigar- shop, feed-store, shoe-shop, and tailor-shop. Four residents of the town were drowned."
"Jacob's Church"- Lutheran and German Re- formed. This congregation was organized in the spring of 1889, under the Rev. Mr. Yerkes ( Lutheran) and the Rev. Mr. Gerhart (German Reformed). A village lot (the site of the present church ) and an aere of ground on the hill north of Weissport were do- nated by Col. Jacob Weiss for church and burial pur- poses.1 The present brick edifice was at once com- menced, and completed Christmas-day the same year. The pastors who have served the German Reformed congregation from that time to the present are as follows :
Revs. Rybel, Helffrich, Charles J. Eichenbach, Bar-
1 Col. Jacob Weiss was the first to be buried in the burial-ground. The services were held in the school-house, as the church was not yet complete.
tholomew, and Joseph Freeman, the present pastor. The Lutheran pastors were the Revs. E. Augustus Bauer, Henninger, and H. Erbst, the present pastor. Each congregation has from eighty to one hundred members.
Evangelical Church .- About 1844 a number of persons in sympathy with the views of the Evangeli- cal Church Association met in Weissport, and were organized into a church by the Rev. -- Myers. A church was erected on the site of the present school- house, and occupied till 1853, when the present house of worship was ereeted, at a cost of five thousand dol- lars. It was known as the Weissport Station of the Carbon Cireuit, and was supplied by pastors on the circuit until 1870, when it became a regular station. The pastors who supplied the church while a station in the circuit were Revs. Myers, George Knerr, John Kohl, William Bachman, John Schell, Edmund Butz, Joseph Specht, Abraham Schultz, - Kester, S. G. Rhoads, C. B. Flier, J. lern, -- Goldschull, George Knerr, - Bleam, Joseph Steller, Benjamin Schmoyer, A. Kindt, M. Dissinger, and J. Savitz. Since 1870 the pastors have been as follows : 1870, M. Dissinger; 1871, A. T. Seyboldt; 1874, G. T. Haines; 1876, J. H. Knerr; 1878, J. K. Seifried ; 1880, E. J. Miller ; 1882, A. A. Long, the present pastor. The church has a membership of two hun- dred and six, and a Sunday-school which numbers about two hundred pupils.
Schools .- The first school-house in Weissport was erected in 1838, at a cost of four hundred dollars. It was built on the site of the stone building now used as a lock-up by the borough, and was swept away by the freshet in 1841, and the stone building above re- ferred to was erected upon the site, and used as a school-house until the present school building was erected, in 1865. The old church of the Evangelical Association was purchased by the school directors in 1853, upon the completion of the new church of that society, and used as a school-house till 1862, when it was destroyed by the freshet of that year. The pres- ent building was erected on the same site in 1865. ! The directors of the school prior to 1868 will be found in Towamensing and Franklin townships.
Weissport became an independent school district March 21, 1867, and the directors since that time are here given :
1867 .- Franklin Reed, Francis Yundt, William Koonz, Andrew Graver, Henry Boyer, Lewis Weiss. 1868 .- Lewis Weiss, John Hawk.
1869 .- Owen Moyer, Daniel Schoch.
1870 .- J. G. Zern, Francis Yundt.
1872 .- Owen Moyer, A. Oswald.
1873 .- J G. Zern, Francis Yundt.
1874 .- 1I. 11. Musselman, John Arner.
1875 .- None.
1876 .- J. G. Zern, D. B. Albright.
1877 .-- Andrew Graver, Sr., H. H. Everett.
1878 .- Reuben Musselman, Frederick Schmidt.
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BOROUGHI OF WEISSPORT.
1879 .- Joseph Feirt, W. H. Miner, Charles Boyer. 1880 .- Milton Florey, Reuben Musselman, J. C. Arner, and D. B. Albright (tic).
1882 .- H. H. Musselman, William Florey.
1883 .- A. J. Guth, E. H. Everett, and Frank Laury (tie).
The schools of Weissport are under the charge of Professor J. F. Snyder.
Carbon Academy and Normal School Associa- tion .- In 1853 a stock company was formed under the above title. A house was purchased, remodeled, and furnished. Professor Eberhart was employed to take charge of the school. After an experience of two years it was found that under the management the company were in debt. Professor Eberhart resigned, and was succeeded by Pliny Porter, who conducted the school for another year, when it was thought ad- visable to sell the property to pay the debts of the company, and R. T. Hofford, of Lehighton, became the purchaser. The building was refitted, and opened May 1, 1857, with ten pupils. Patronage increased, and an additional teacher was employed. In 1862 the building was destroyed by the freshet, and rebuilt the same year in Lehighton. In 1867, Professor A. S. Christine became proprietor, and the school under his management prospered until June, 1868, when it was closed by his death.
Hotels .- The first hotel was built in 1829 by Peter Snyder, and opened by Daniel Ileberling, who was landlord for three years, and was succeeded by Lewis Weiss, and later by the following persons: Charles Snyder, Alexander Lentz, Jacob Snyder, Col. Jolin Lentz, and others. It is now kept by Joseph Webb.
The Fort Allen House was built by Edward Weiss, son of Col. Jacob Weiss, in 1857, on the site of the old house and within the limits of the old stockade of Fort Allen. It was kept for a time by Edward Weiss, and later by George Moyer, Yuna Culp, and others. At the present time Henry H. Everett is landlord.
The Franklin House was built as a dwelling-house by Nathan Snyder in 1860, and rebuilt as a hotel and store in 1865. It is now kept by Edward Raber.
Rolling-Mills .- These mills were built by Lewis Weiss in 1855, and operated by him till 1863; they were then sold to Bertolette & Co., who enlarged their capacity and operated them till 1881, when they were sold to Lilly & Co., by whom they were again enlarged, and run till the summer of 1883, when they were closed.
The Fort Allen Foundry was established in 1874 by William and C. D. Miner, who have enlarged it sev- eral times, and still continue the business.
Lehigh Valley Emery-Wheel Company .- This company was organized in June, 1874, with a capital stock of thirty thousand dollars. The business had been conducted on a small scale prior to this time, but in this year buildings were erected especially fitted for the carrying on of the manufacture of emery- and corundum-wheels. As the business increased :
additions have been made from time to time. The present officers are William Lilly, president; L. E. Wills, secretary and treasurer; Directors, William Lilly, W. H. Stroh, Dr. J. H. Zern, R. T. IIufford, W. R. Butler, W. C. McCormick, and L. E. Wills.
Weissport Borough .-! 'etitions had been made to the courts of Carbon County asking for the erection of the village of Weissport into a borough for several years before any action was taken. The matter was again brought to the notice of the conrt in 1867, and was favorably received, a decree of incorporation being granted on the 3d of June in that year.
The first election for the borough of Weissport was beld in March, 1868. The following are the names of members of Council and justices of the peace from that time to the present :
COUNCIL.
1868 .- Franklin Reed, Francis Yundt, Daniel Shoch, Frederick Schmidt, Joseph Feist, Thomas Koons.
1869 .- Joseph Feist, W. Koons.
1870 .- H. W. Mentz, E. Miner.
1872 .- Joseph Feist, Henry Tropp.
1873 .- Joseph Fenner, William Hollinger.
1874 .- Francis Yundt, William Hollinger, Owen Moyer.
1875 .- Andrew Grover, Sr., Henry Boyer, William Koons.
1876 .- John Arner, William H. Knecht, William Koons.
1877 .- H. H. Musselman, William Hollinger.
1878 .- Ilenry Tropp, Oscar Arner.
1879 .- C. W. Lentz, Jolm Arner, Sr.
1880 .- W. H. Everett, Andrew Grover, William Schreiber.
1881 .- J. B. Seidel, William Schreiber, John Gil- ham.
1882 .- Benjamin R. Culton, J. B. Seidel, W. Koons. 1883 .- Henry Boyer, P. J. Kistler, W. Koons.
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
1872 .- Henry Boyer.
1874 .- S. R. Gilham.
1876 .- Charles B. Becker.
1877 .- Henry Boyer, Alfred Whittingham.
1881 .- John S. Miller.
1882 .- Ilenry Boyer.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
COL. JACOB WEISS.
Col. Jacob Weiss was born in the city of Philadel- phia. His father was a native of Germany, for many years a respectable physician in that city, and an ar- dent supporter of the American Revolutionary canse. The subject of this notice entered the Continental
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
service in the first company of Philadelphia volmn- teers, commanded by Capt. Cadwalader, and, after having performed a tour of duty, he was, at the earnest recommendation of Gen. Mifflin, then acting as quartermaster-general, to whom he had served an apprenticeship in the mereantile line, and who knew him to be a trusty and proficient accountant, appointed a deputy quartermaster-general under him, and sub- sequently under Gen. Greene, in which station he re- mained until Gen. Greene took command of the South- ern army, during which perilons times he was almost constantly attached to and followed the various and often sudden movements of the main army, which proved a very harassing and ardnous service. By the advice of Gen. Greene, who, in his farewell letter to him, highly and affectionately commended him for the faithful performance of the various duties im- pressed npon him, he accepted the appointment as as- sistant deputy quartermaster-general at Easton for the county of Northampton, in the fall of 1780, in which capacity he served until the close of the war.
After the defeat of the American army in the battle on the river Brandywine, Sept. 11, 1777, the road to Philadelphia was open to the enemy. There was great consternation among the people when they heard of the approach of the British. Mrs. Weiss frequently spoke of the excitement that followed. Every one tried to get away. Fabulous priees were paid for all kinds of conveyances. Her husband was with the army, and she was left to her own resources. She was fortunate in procuring the services of a team, and, taking with her the wearing apparel of the family and a few articles of furniture, started with her family for Bristol. Upon her arrival there she found the hotel used as a hospital for wounded soldiers, the sight of which greatly distressed her. In the follow- ing month Col. Weiss sent his family to Easton, Pa.
After closing up the business of his department in 1783, he retired from the public service, and pur- chased a tract of land from the Moravians, on the Lehigh River, north of the Blue Mountain, including the site on which Fort Allen formerly stood. To this wild and secluded spot he brought his family in 1785. The inhabitants were few and simple in their habits, unburdened by the restraints and conventionalities of modern life. Nor had they need of many of the things we now consider necessary to our health and comfort. An umbrella was considered a great novelty, and Mrs. Weiss at first attracted some attention by carrying one on a warm or rainy day.
While the colonel's time was fully employed in at- tending to the various duties that claimed his atten- tion, Mrs. Weiss did not so readily adapt herself to the situation ; she missed the society of congenial friends, the church to which she had been aeens- tomed to resort on the Sabbath, and the school which her children had attended.
Within the inclosure around Col. Weiss' dwelling was the well dug inside of the fort erected here by
Dr. Franklin, remaining as a memorial of the old Indian war, and an evidence of what " Poor Riehard" knew about digging wells.
While contending with a soil by nature roeky and sterile, the early settlers were also frequently sub- jected during the growing season to severe frosts, gen- erated by the humidity preserved by the shade of the forest, so that farming operations were only moder- ately successful. Besides farming, the lumber busi- ness claimed a large share of the colonel's attention. Under his energetie management the flats around his dwelling and the adjacent hills were rapidly cleared up and brought under enltivation, and the surround- ing forest furnished an abundant supply of lumber for his mills. While thus engaged in transforming these savage haunts into the peaceful abodes of civil- ized life, he probably realized the faet that " peace as well as war has its victories."
Owing to the steep mountain-sides and the rapidity. with which the smaller streams discharge their waters into the river during heavy rains or the rapid melt- ing of the snow upon the mountains, the valley of the Lehigh is liable to sudden and destructive floods. On the night of Oct. 6, 1786, the family were aroused by the cry that they were surrounded by water; the colonel upon raising the window beheld to his dis- may the whole flat overflowed. What increased the alarm was that there had been no heavy rain in the vicinity. In the darkness of the night the waters could be seen to rush wildly by, and steps were im- mediately taken to remove the family to a place of safety. Teams were hastily harnessed, and after much difficulty and danger they reached the hills. Not so fortunate were the occupants of an adjacent dwelling, occupied by a man named Tippey and his wife and two children, which was carried away by the flood, and lodged among the trees of an island about. one mile down the river. Tippey and his wife saved themselves by clinging to the branches of a tree, but their children perished in the flood. This flood was afterwards known among the people of the surround- ing country as "Tippey's Flood."
In the year 1791 an event ocenrred,, in itself ap- parently trifling, but destined in the near future to work a mighty change in the wild and solitary region of the Lehigh lying to the north of the colonel's home. This was the accidental discovery of coal by Philip Ginter, a hunter, who observed it adhering to the roots of a tree which had been blown down as he was tramping over the mountains in search of game. As he had often listened to the traditions of the conn- try of the existence of coal in the vicinity, it oeenrred to him that this might be a portion of that "stone coal"' of which he had heard, and the next day he carried it to Col. Jacob Weiss. The colonel took the specimen to Philadelphia and submitted it to the in- speetion of John Nicholson and Michael Hillegas, Esqs., and his brother-in-law, Charles Cist, who ascer- tained its nature and qualities, and authorized Col.
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Weiss to satisfy Ginter for his discovery upon point- ing out the spot where he found the coal.
Hillegas, Cist, Weiss, and some others formed themselves into the " Lehigh Coal-Mine Company," and took up about eight or ten thousand acres of, till then unloeated, land, embracing the principal por- tion of the coal-lands now owned by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company.
The mining operations of the company, however, were not successful, and the mine remained in a neg- leeted condition for several years. Between the coal- mine and the distant market lay a vast expanse of mountainous country. The Lehigh River, in its then unimproved condition, seemed to offer insurmount- able obstacles to any attempt to float anything mueh larger than a eanve over its rapid current and rocky bed
Col. Weiss, notwithstanding the inauspicious out- look, determined that the coal should, at least, be in- troduced to the acquaintance of the public. Ox-teams were brought into requisition, and several loads were hauled across the mountains to the Mahoning and thence to Fort Allen.
The writer often heard his father speak of the diffi- eulties encountered in these attempts to haul coal across the mountains; the ascent of the mountains was less diflieult than the descent ; in the latter case it was necessary to fell large trees and attach them to the wagon to prevent a runaway.
But Col. Weiss was persistent in his determination to bring the coal into use, and would fill his saddle- bags with the despised substance and ride around among the blacksmiths of the country earnestly so- lieiting them to try it. A few accepted the proffered gift, and used it with partial snecess, others threw it aside as soon as the colonel was out of sight, with the remark that he must be crazy.1
The Coal-Mine Company, desirous of rendering their property available, granted leases to several par- ties successively, only to be abandoned in turn when the difficulties and losses of the enterprise became manifest. Not until the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company took hold of the enterprise was the coal sent to market in sufficient quantities and at prices which at length attracted the attention of the public.
Some threescore years have passed since the silent solitudes of the Upper Lehigh were broken by the busy hum of industry, and an heretofore untamed mountain-stream was made subservient to the pur- poses of commerce; the marvelous transformation which has since taken place not one of the early pio- neers in their prophetic visions could have foreseen. It was beyond the grasp of their philosophy. That wonderful creation, a modern locomotive, capable of moving a train of loaded coal-cars more than one-third
of a mile in length at the rate of ten or fifteen miles an hour, had not yet been evolved from its germ. Nor eould they have had any conception of the mar- velous extent of the coal formations. Geology was then in its infaney. They spoke of the Mauch Chunk Mountain as a solid mass of coal, and upon a report reaching the publie that the miners had reached the bottom of the mine at Summit Hill the stock of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company fell twenty per cent. in the Philadelphia market.
Col. Weiss had the misfortune of being deprived of his eyesight about twenty years before his death, and also becoming extremely deaf, misfortunes which he bore with great resignation. He was a man of liberal education, strong mind, remarkable memory, and generous disposition. He died at Weissport, Jan. 9, 1839, in the eighty-urinth year of his age, and his remains rest in the graveyard near the village. His widow, Elizabeth Robison Weiss, survived him nearly six years, and died Nov. 29, 1844, reaching the ripe age of ninety-one years. The children were Francis, born in Philadelphia, March 7, 1773, who followed the business of surveying; never having married, he resided with his father at the old homestead ; he died March 5, 1845. Rebecca, born April 9, 1774, married William Hartfield; died at Bethlehem, Feb 14, 1845. Jacob, born Aug. 18, 1775, spent many years in the mereantile business, first in Luzerne and later in Schuylkill County. Thomas was born in Philadelphia, Ang. 29, 1776. His early years were spent in Easton and Nazareth. After attending school for several years at the latter place he was apprentieed to a hatter; after serving out his apprenticeship he abandoned the business in disgust and took charge of his father's farming and lumbering business, which he conducted with energy and skill. He was an active and enterprising citizen, and took a lively interest in all the public enterprises of the day. He was espe- cially active in commending the common-school sys- tem to the farmers of the surrounding country, solicit- ing their sympathy and support in the cause of edu- vation, for it may not be generally known at the present day that much opposition manifested itself to the introduction of the common-school system among the German population.
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