USA > Pennsylvania > Lycoming County > Picture of Lycoming County, 1st ed > Part 5
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15
Despite the difficulties of transacting legal business, new residents poured into the West Branch Valley. For several years no further organized attempts to erect a new county were made. Efforts were renewed, however, in 1794. The journal of the House of Representatives for February 15 of that year records a "petition from a number of inhabitants .. . that in case a new county was erected, the seat of justice within the same may be fixed on the west side of Lycoming creek, at the mouth thereof."
Nothing more is written in the journal about the subject until almost a year later when a "Mr. Hale, from the com- mittee appointed to consider and report on the petitions praying for a division of Northumberland county, made report, and the same was read, as follows:
59
THE BIG RUNAWAY
" "The committee appointed to consider the petitions pray- ing for a division of Northumberland county, report: that as, from the great extent of Northumberland county, much incon- veniences is suffered by many of the inhabitants of that county from their great distance from the present seat of justice, the com- mittee are of opinion that the prayer of the petitioners ought to be granted, and they therefore recommend the adoption of the following resolution: Resolved, That a committee be appointed to bring in a bill dividing Northumberland county in a manner that may appear most convenient to the inhabitants thereof.' "
By this Act the territory taken from Northumberland to form Lycoming County included "all that part of Northum- berland county lying north westward of a line drawn from the Mifflin county line, on the summit of Nittany mountain; thence running along the top or highest ridge of the said moun- tain, to where the White Deer Hole creek runs through the same, and from thence by a direct line crossing the West Branch of Susquehanna, at the mouth of Black Hole Creek, to the end of Muncy hills and the Bald Eagle mountain, to the Luzerne county line." Thirteen counties, Armstrong, Bradford, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Indiana, Jefferson, Mckean, Potter, Sulli- van, Tioga, Venango, and Warren have since been formed wholly or in part from the original area of the county.
Senator William Hepburn of Williamsport was a member of the committee, and he was undoubtedly responsible for final passage of the bill. The committee adopted the name "Lycom- ing" for the new county. After all disagreements had been ironed out in conferences, the bill was passed by the legislature, and signed by the Governor on April 13, 1795. The territory taken from Northumberland to form Lycoming County com- prised approximately 12,000 square miles. Later divisions and
60
A PICTURE OF LYCOMING COUNTY
subdivisions brought the area down to its present size of 1,220 square miles.
QUESTIONS CHAPTER VI
1. Why were the Indians hostile to the white settlers at the time of the Big Runaway?
2. Where did the most serious of the local Indian attacks take place?
3. Name three places used as meeting points by the settlers.
4. Who warned the inhabitants of the West Branch Valley of an attack by the Indians?
5. Why did the settlers leave the territory rather than attempt to defend their homes?
6. How did the fleeing settlers transport their possessions from the West Branch Valley?
7. Where did the settlers go after leaving their homes?
8. Where was the site of Fort Muncy?
9. Who was Captain John Brady?
10. Who was Colonel Hepburn?
11. What effect did the second or Little Runaway have upon the State authorities ?
12. Why did the inhabitants of the West Branch Valley want to form a new county?
13. When was Lycoming County formed?
CHAPTER VII
Pioneer Life
WHY THEY CAME
T HE earliest settlers of the West Branch Valley came from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Germany. Many of these immigrants came to America to escape religious persecution. Many others were mere adventurers. They were induced to come to the West Branch Valley through the enterprise of the land speculators and the stories of missionaries, hunters, surveyors, and traders concerning the fertility and beauty of the land along the Susquehanna River. They made their way slowly up the river to Lycoming Creek, then the Indian boundary.
CHOOSING A SITE
Choice lands were selected along the banks of the river and along Muncy and Loyalsock Creeks. The adventurous and fear- less Scotch-Irish disregarded the Indian claim to the land be- tween Lycoming and Pine Creeks and "squatted" there. Many of the bolder pioneers were killed or carried into captivity by the Indians, but the most pronounced setback came during the period of the Runaways, from 1778 until after the peace treaty of 1784. The successful termination of the Revolutionary War instilled a sense of security in the settlers. Many now rebuilt their hastily abandoned properties, and many more came for the first time to take up home sites.
People have wondered why many of the early settlers of Lycoming County selected lands far back in the hills, heavily wooded, difficult to clear, and infertile. Many of these pioneers
62
A PICTURE OF LYCOMING COUNTY
had come from New Jersey, which, in many places, was a barren, sandy, and unfruitful land. The emigrants mistakenly believed that land capable of growing big trees would naturally produce large crops. This reasoning caused many hardships. Those who came later and were obliged to take the lowlands discovered that their task of clearing was easier and their soil more fertile.
The German immigrants preferred the heavily wooded areas because they had suffered from a scarcity of fuel in their homeland. When they learned that woodland could be pur- chased for a few dollars an acre, they rejected the scrubby growth of the lowlands. Some of the newcomers thought the titles to the bottom lands were defective, while others shunned the lands along the river because of the fear of fever and ague.
HOW THEY CAME
Most of the early emigrants from the southern counties came in by river. Although the Susquehanna was too swift running for easy upstream navigation, it provided an unob- structed avenue into this territory. However, some of the later arrivals took the land route and entered by wagon and on foot. The Germans, for example, left Germantown (near Philadel- phia) on foot, men, women and children, carrying cooking utensils, clothing, food, and household furnishings upon their backs or heads.
They came to Lycoming by way of the turn-pike to Read- ing, thence through present-day Pottsville, Ashland, Mt. Carmel, and Bear Gap to Danville. Crossing the North Branch at Dan- ville, they followed an Indian trail up Mahoning Creek to the site of Washingtonville. Thence the route cut through the Muncy Hills and descended Glade Run to the West Branch, west of Muncy. The Germans then passed through Montoursville, forded the Loyalsock, ascended Sand Hill, and proceeded through the "Great Swamp" at Williams-
63
PIONEER LIFE
port. From this point some of them followed the Sheshequin Trail up Lycoming Creek. It is said that one German immigrant woman carried her child in a basket, walking all the distance from Philadelphia to Lycoming County, and a father is said to have brought his small daughter in a wheelbarrow.
HARDSHIPS
After the early settlers had constructed crude huts, their energies were directed toward the clearing of land and the sowing of grain. In clearing the land they cut down and burned great trees which today would be worth more than the land on which they grew.
Food was not their only problem. In the early days snow frequently fell to a depth of several feet and the streams often froze solidly to the bottom. Wild animals, made bold by hunger, carried off domestic animals and terrified the settlers. Their sleep was disturbed by the screams of panthers and the howling of wolves. Wily bears captured young pigs and tapered off their menus with stolen honey. Poultry yards suffered from the raids of foxes, minks, weasels, skunks, owls, and hawks. Deer did not hesitate to leap a ten-rail fence in search of grain. Many of the early settlers had religious scruples against the use of fire- arms, but it soon became necessary to use them in self preserva- tion. Their scruples abandoned, the settlers discovered that wild game was a partial solution to the ever empty family larder.
Today one of the common commodities in the housewife's budget is salt, but this was not true in the early settlements. Salt was needed for thè curing of meat and fish, as well as for seasoning. The only sizable source of salt in Lycoming County was from two wells walled up twenty feet deep, on Salt Run, a branch of Wallis Run. The water pumped from these wells yielded one tablespoonful of salt to eight quarts of water.
Not only was it difficult to raise enough grain to eke out an existence, but the problem of grinding it perplexed the early
64
A PICTURE OF LYCOMING COUNTY
settlers. One of the earliest devices for making flour was em- ployed by Colonel Antes at the time of the erection of his fort, in 1776. It was simply a large iron coffee mill run by man power. The need was so great that it was operated day and night. The flour from this mill was quite coarse. The bran was separated by a hair sieve. This primitive mill was preserved as a relic until 1865, when the flood of that year swept it away. As the settlements grew and crops increased, crude mills were no longer able to supply the demands of the population. It now became necessary to load a bag of grain on a horse and travel as far as ten miles to a grist mill, where the customer was often obliged to wait his turn.
But there was also a bright side to these trips, for the grist mills were the news centers of the countryside, and the waiting time was spent in playing games, gossiping, and visiting. It was not uncommon to see a mother and daughter carrying grists to the mill and returning with bran and middlings bal- anced on their heads.
The footwear problem also occupied the attention of the early settler. Indian moccasins solved it for a time, but soon it became apparent that leather for real shoes was needed. To meet the need three tanneries were founded. Wyckoff's was started on the Loyalsock about 1800; Updegraff's at Williams- port about 1802; and a third somewhat later at Warrensville.
A man who wanted leather first secured his raw hides, then went to the forest, peeled some oak bark, loaded hides and bark on a wagon, and drove to the tannery. At the tannery his own horse furnished the power to grind the bark. He left the hides at the tannery for a year-long tanning process. When he returned a year later, he received half of the tanned hides. The other half was retained by the tanner in compensation for his work. During the long winter months the settler himself or the traveling shoemaker made rough cowhide shoes for the
65
PIONEER LIFE
men and calfskin shoes for the women and children. Boots were unknown until 1830.
Since the footwear supply had to last a year it was neces- sary to practice strict economy. When they traveled long dis- tances the settlers often carried their shoes and went bare- footed. Among the German immigrants wooden shoes and shoes with wooden soles and leather uppers were common. The traveling shoemaker usually carried two or three pairs of lasts, a hammer, an awl, some wax-ends, and wooden shoe pegs. He charged fifty cents a day and board.
The blacksmith was another important man in the early settlement. He shod the oxen and horses, made irons for the wagons, cranes for the fireplace, and manufactured trammel hooks, door hinges, and nails.
Pioneer women were endowed with marvelous energy and endurance. Not only did they assist in wielding the sickle and mattock in the field, but to them fell the duty of caring for the flax from the sowing to the pulling, the break, hackle, spin- wheel and loom to the finished cloth. Then they completed the process by making the cloth into garments. The women also raised the sheep, sheared the wool, carded, spun, and wove the yarn. With natural dyes gathered from the forest they pro- duced their favorite colors and with their needles clothed them- selves and their children in linsey-woolsey.
INCONVENIENCES OF FRONTIER LIFE
As late as 1804 there was but one public road in the West Branch Valley. There were Indian paths, some of them brushed out wide enough to allow a horse to be led by the bridle, hence the name "bridle path." The streams had to be forded, a perilous task at flood time.
Only three mechanical tools, the poleax, mattock, and sickle, were employed in clearing the land and harvesting crops.
66
A PICTURE OF LYCOMING COUNTY
Food was cooked in an open fireplace in winter and a burning stump in summer. The settlers adopted the Indian practice of heating water by placing red-hot stones in sections of hollow trees. Great was the rejoicing when the fireplace crane and the iron kettle appeared in the settlement.
Homestead bake ovens were scarce for a long time. Bread was baked in communal ovens, scattered through the country- side. In one instance, at least, a young man on his way to the community oven lost both his balance and his dough in climb- ing a rail fence. Undaunted, he is said to have retrieved his parcel, dusted it off, and proceeded on his domestic errand.
The first platters were of wood, and it was some time be- fore pewter ware and the luxurious German silver were intro- duced. To meet the need for tableware, Joseph King set up a plant at the mouth of Lycoming Creek where for fifty years he made platters, bowls, and crocks of red clay, glazed with lead.
Today matches are so cheap that many are given away. Not so in the days of the early Lycoming settlers. Until the early 1850's people were obliged to use the tinder box, flint and steel, to start their fires. For lighting they used pitch pine splints, unless they were prosperous enough to afford iron lamps for burning lard.
Envelopes and postage stamps were not commonly used until the 1850's.
Horses were not generally used for farm work in the early days. Oxen pulled the plows and carried the burdens. Within the memory of living residents proud young men and their best girls went about the streets of Williamsport in two-wheel, white oak sulkies, drawn by well-groomed steers. The couple would be tastefully attired in homespun and snuggled under deer skins and wolf hides. Parking their buggy at the north- west corner of Pine and Willow Streets they would dismount and enter a cafe where the "special" for the day was spruce beer and gingerbread.
67
PIONEER LIFE
The early settlers were tireless walkers. It was a common occurrence for a woman to walk fifteen miles or more, a great homemade basket filled with butter, eggs, and farm produce balanced on her head. Women and men carried boards for gables, doors, and floors from the saw mill on their backs and heads.
RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION
The first charter for a railroad in Lycoming County was granted on March 31, 1836, to the Jersey Shore and Willards- burg Railroad, which later became the Pine Creek Railroad. On May 20, 1837 a charter was granted to the Williamsport Rail- road Company, and a railroad was opened between Williams- port and Ralston in 1839. Although this road was constructed to handle iron and coal operations along Lycoming Creek, it was not until twenty years later that coal was used as a fuel for locomotives. The early locomotives were wood burning. The cutting of cordwood and its transportation to the railroad where it was cut into proper sizes was a sizable source of em- ployment.
AGRICULTURAL INNOVATIONS
The settlers were elated when Samuel Ball introduced his grain cradle in 1847. No longer was there need for the sickle in harvesting grain. To find naturally crooked snaths and fingers for his invention, Ball was first obliged to hunt in the woods for them. As demand for his product increased he used a steam box and form to get the proper bend. Another im- portant innovation was the use of the ox-drawn shovel-plow instead of the mattock in preparing the soil for sowing.
DEVELOPMENT OF HOME CONSTRUCTION
The earliest German dwellings in Lycoming County were huts made of small round logs. Joints were chunked and daubed; floors were of puncheon or earth; roofs were made of
68
A PICTURE OF LYCOMING COUNTY
clapboards held down by poles; the fireplace was open with a rough stone chimney on the outside. As an anchor from which to suspend long hooks and trammels to hold pots and kettles, a thinly hewn piece of white oak, set on edge and resting on pro- jecting stones within the jambs, was used. Hot ashes and coals served the dual purpose of cooking and heating. The huts had only one door, and frequently this was only an opening covered with a blanket or an animal hide. Alongside the door was a single window made of greased paper.
As the settlers became more prosperous, larger homes were built. These were provided with a loft reached with the aid of a ladder from the inside, or, in a few cases, from the outside. As the walls were put up the interior surface was hewn flat or faced and the joints closed with chunks of wood and mortar and finished with whitewash. The introduction of the swing- ing crane, skillets, and the Dutch ovens was a long stride toward easing the cooking problem.
Windows were now improved by using "bull's eye" glass instead of greased paper. Doors were hung on wooden hinges with great wooden latches, and the proverbial "latch string hanging out" was an evidence of hospitality.
Straw played an important part in the economy of the home. With deft fingers it was twisted into ropes and, with the aid of white oak splints, transformed into bread baskets, bee hives, and cradles. To provide straw hats for summer, rye straw was twisted into braids which were formed over a block to get the proper head size. Twenty-four yards of braid were required for each hat. The men's winter caps were long and conical in shape, knit of colored wool and adorned with a tassel. On special occasions a Williamsport made fur hat was worn over the knitted cap.
Iron for mounting farming utensils made of oak now came into more general use. The old natural crook sleds and dugout vessels were improved by the use of iron and cooperage.
69
PIONEER LIFE
The next improvement in the construction of homes was made by adding an extra room or two, with inside chimneys, board floors, roofs of shaved shingles, iron hinges on doors. Cellars and spring houses became more common. The ten-plate stove came into vogue and in small families answered the double purpose of cooking and heating. But the acme of comfort seemed to have arrived when, in 1840, the first Hathaway cook- ing stove was brought to the valley.
Houses were improved in appearance and comfort with the practice of weather boarding the crude log dwellings. Saw mills began to supply clapboarding and hewn timber frames, and houses were often constructed by professional builders, a divi- sion of labor not possible in the earlier days.
PIONEER RECREATIONS
The recreations of the pioneers were in harmony with their environment and experience. Among the most popular were hunting, fishing, horse-racing, rifle-shooting, fox chasing, and the netting of wild pigeons in the autumn. During the migra- tion season, flocks of wild pigeons darkened the sky, and with the aid of huge nets and "stool pigeons" it was not unusual to trap a thousand at a time. They were sold in the Williamsport market for as little as six cents a dozen.
Shad of the finest quality were found in abundance in the Susquehanna and served as an important source of cheap food. Brook trout were caught in all the smaller streams of the county.
Then as today horse racing was popular. From far and near the best horses were brought to be entered in the races. Wagers were made but seldom in cash. More often they were paid in corn, wheat, or other produce.
During the holiday season shooting matches were popular. The prizes were usually turkeys, ducks, and chickens, and unless the rifleman could "drive the nail" at thirty yards he did not
Pioneer Log Cabin
71
PIONEER LIFE
carry home any poultry. From fall until early spring hunting furnished the chief sport for men. No license was required, there was no bag limit, and hounds were often used in chasing deer.
During the long winters sleighing parties were popular affairs. Sleds large enough to hold fifty or sixty people were drawn by four horses liberally laden with bells. The ride us- ually ended at a tavern or friend's house miles distant from home. A fiddler provided the music, a leader called the rounds, and the dance was underway. At midnight there was a chicken- and-waffle supper and, at daybreak, a ham and egg breakfast.
HABITS AND CUSTOMS
Dress provided a difficult problem for the pioneer seam- stress. Calico was less common than silk is today and it cost seventy-five cents a yard. A person who bought the seven yards of calico needed for a dress was considered extravagant. A wo- man's everyday dress was "copperas and white," as it was called, and "copperas and blue, two and two" for special occasions. Each woman not only manufactured her own cloth, but did her own coloring with bark from a soft maple tree, hemlock, butter- nut or witch-hazel, as well as logwood and smartweed. Cop- peras, alum, and sorrel were used to set the colors. Garments had to give long service for it was uncertain when the next could be bought. Handkerchiefs or home-made bonnets served as hats.
Maple syrup and honey took the place of butter. Bears' fat was used for ·shortening. Fried cakes were baked in pots of bear and raccoon fat. Browned rye, peas, beechnuts, and chicory were substituted for coffee. Sage, thyme, peppermint, spearmint, evanroot, spice bush, sweet fern, and tansy were served instead of tea.
The cabins were illuminated by the light of huge fireplaces and by blazing pitch-pine splinters stuck in the chimney jams.
72
A PICTURE OF LYCOMING COUNTY
.
Sawmill at Gray's Run
Sufficient light was furnished by these means for the women to sew, spin and weave; for the men to mend and make shoes; and for the children to read their lesson books. A supply of pitch- pine knots was usually put in before winter. Deer fat and lard were also used for illuminating purposes. Tallow lamps were introduced later, but were used only when tallow or lard could be spared.
The time of day was determined by "sun marks" or "moon marks" upon the doors or windows. This method was finally superseded by the old-fashioned clocks, without cases and long cords, which sold at fabulous prices.
73
PIONEER LIFE
FIRST SCHOOLS OF THE COUNTY
Because of the few and scattered inhabitants west of the Muncy Hills, popular education was not practicable until the advent of the Quakers at Pennsdale. As early as 1793, the So- ciety of Friends established a school there, probably the first one in the county. A school was founded in Jaysburg (south of the present site of Newberry) and one at Dunnsburg (near the Great Island at Lock Haven), then in Lycoming County. About 1796 the Michael Ross school was established on part of the present site of the Court House at Williamsport. Later, schools were started at Quaker Hill and at Jersey Shore. The free school system was established in 1834, and from that time they received regular financial assistance from various govern- mental units.
The first school houses were patterned after the early cabins: small buildings somewhat longer than wide, made of unhewn logs notched at the ends, with joints chunked and daubed, puncheon floors, the usual clapboard roof held in place by poles. One window covered with greased paper was the only source of light. A stone chimney, with an open fireplace, to which a large log was daily dragged as a back log, served the purpose of heating. These buildings were constructed wholly through the enterprise and public spirit of the citizens of the neighborhood who also paid the salary of the teacher and boarded him "round," which means that families took turns boarding and lodging him.
These primitive buildings gave place to a considerably im- proved structure. For better lighting purposes as well as for compactness many now took an octagonal shape, and were made of sawed lumber, embellished with a cupola and a shaved shingle roof. Windows of 8 x 10 inch bull's eye glass supplanted the sin- gle oil paper one, and Ben Franklin's ten-plate stove was adopted as the heating system. The elements and the march of time
74
A PICTURE OF LYCOMING COUNTY
compelled the replacement of these buildings. The later build- ings were constructed of brick and stone, well lighted and fur- nished. Many of these exist in the county today.
Free textbooks and modern equipment which are now taken as a matter of course were not conceivable a century ago. Until the turn of the century it was necessary for parents to go to Williamsport to purchase school books, slates, pencils, and copybooks. Long box-like desks and uncomfortable benches were provided for older pupils; the smaller ones were seated on the flat side of slabs raised upon stakes.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.