USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Norristown > The Centennial celebration of Montgomery County : at Norristown, Pa., September 9,10,11,12, 1884 : an official record of its proceedings > Part 5
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The tower at Rhodes, it is said, stood on two shores. And so does every such memorial fes- tival. It is rooted in the hopes of a vanished ancestry and in the memory of a living poster- ity. Our fathers anticipated just such a memo- rialization at our hands. They made but a few things, but these they made well. Their home- steads stand like castles aside of the frail struc- tures of to-day, with the moss of a full century under their roof-trees. Their handiwork was, and is still, hand-work-the products of patient souls and nimble fingers, and proof against moth
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and rust; yea, proof against dissolution, the tooth of Time. In every surviving article which the hands of our fathers and mothers have made, we may read their craving after an enduring name and being.
Nor can their offspring fail to respond heart- ily to so natural a longing. We need not blush over sires as genuine and noble as ours proved. They were stalwart generations of men and wo- men, of fathers and mothers, of sons and daugh- ters ; a hardy race of good blood.
The century's relics are precious then, not merely because they are a hundred years old, but because "these are they which testify of them" -- of the generation that went before. We admire the mountains, not because of their dizzy height alone, but for that they have been stand- ing through all the ages that have been. We admire the stars, not because of their brilliancy alone, but because these have looked down on all generations of men. And such an unction rests upon the remains of our venerable pio- neers.
They have all vanished, all vanished! But if we may look upon their handiwork, are the hands themselves no more? If the husk is pre- served, has the corn perished ? If the temple still stands, has the builder of the temple ceased to be?
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Then why dance around the dried and with- ered effects of an ancestry that is to-day no more, than if it never had been? Why not follow the example of the red man, and bury the warrior's weapons with the warrior, under ground? A funeral pyre were far more be- coming than a jubilee, surely. The old re- quiem that was doubtless sung over the mortal dust of our sires, had better be intoned over all their musty relics and remains: "Dust to dust ! Earth to earth !! Ashes to ashes !!! "
"But all these are shrines and niches in which Owners and occupants of earlier dates, From graves forgotten, stretch their dusty hands, And hold in mortmain still their old estates."
The century's relics are not after the order of Melchizedek, "without father or mother." They are the title deeds to homes and lands our sires once acquired; and we are but their heirs. Hence, do we embalm in memory's cabinet their clumsy tenements, their rude utensils, their instruments so rough, their coaches lub- berly, their homespun linens, and all their hands have made.
The shades of our ancestry hover over us, unless the ancients were stark mad in peopling homes and scenes familiar with "spirits of the dead."
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" All houses wherein men have lived and died, Are haunted houses. Through the open door The harmless phantoms on their errands glide, With feet that make no noise upon the floor.
"There are more guests at table than the hosts Invited ; the illuminated hall Is thronged with inoffensive ghosts As silent as the picture on the wall."
The historic places orient themselves through the presence of our sires, who gave them birth and name and fame. They are their original sponsors.
Valley Forge, laved by the Schuylkill, rises to view, like a fresh-washed mermaid on the sea, rebaptized with revolutionary glory. What seemed a fiction to our young eyes, asserts it- self as a frozen fact. General George Wash- ington did indeed live, and did indeed move a bare-footed band of patriots about this historic centre, from the chilly month of December, in 1777, till the June flowers foretold the budding of freedom-six whole months. From this mar- tyr scene, those Knights of Liberty did truly march upon the hard-fought field of Monmouth, during the darkest hour and the gloomiest period of the American Revolution.
Parker's Ford-that, too, swarms with phan- tom troops before our vision, once more pursu- ing the enemy, after the battle of Brandywine, seven years and one day less than one hundred years ago (September II, 1777).
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Skippack, "the stream of sluggish waters," liquifies just now, like the blood of St. Janua- rius, in the presence of the faithful. The legions that moved along its banks, before and after the battle of Germantown, a century back, on the 4th of October, revisit it. 'Tis as
"I've read in some old, marvelous tale, Some legend, strange and vague, That midnight hosts of spectres pale, Beleagured the city of Prague."
Our worthy heroes present a fine galaxy. As is the soil, so is the fruit. In military lore, hon- orable mention is made of the brave men who lived on our territory. General Peter Muhlen- berg, of Independence days, whose statue now' graces the rotunda at Washington, was born within our borders. General Andrew Porter, who fought in the Revolutionary army so gal- lantly, at Trenton, at Princeton, at Brandywine, and wherever courage was needed, was a native of this county.
Nor dare we forget our grand citizen-sol- diers, whose records shine so brilliantly since the late period of contention and strife-Major Generals John Frederic Hartranft and Winfield Scott Hancock. These are real, genuine Mont- gomery countians. And do not the names of Brooke and Zook stand in red letters?
The civil list embraces among its brighter lights a cluster of very worthy men, all born
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here. Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, Speaker of the lower house of Congress, was a son of the soil. And is there another province that has furnished so much good timber of which Gover- nors are usually made? David R. Porter, Fran- cis R. Shunk and John F. Hartranft form a trio not so readily matched.
And still others might be noted, who would not have disgraced that chair, but who could not be accommodated for want of room! So, too, would time fail me to record all the candi- dates for those honorable seats in the century to come. These, those who come after us, may tell.
Our religious pages glow most brilliantly. Rev. Dr. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, the pa- tron saint of the American Lutheran church, abode on this fruitful field during forty-five of his most active years. Here he wrought his greatest deeds. Here he died at the ripe age of seventy-eight years. His ashes rest at the old Trappe church, and his name fills all Chris- tendom with its goodly savor.
Rev. Michael Schlatter, the first Missionary Superintendent of the Reformed church in the United States, made his head centre in Mont- gomery county. From this point outward he organized the scattered flocks of his faith, and
-
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died within its borders, a Christian soldier both for Christ and Cæsar.
And of all the counties of the Commonwealth, none opened its doors wider to the oppressed for conscience's sake. Here the Friends found an asylum for their peaceful spirit; not only the State received its name, but our county, too. The Welsh Quakers baptized it in honor of their native place beyond the sea.
Here the persecuted Palatines pitched their early homes. Their log houses, their log school houses, and their log churches, tell a most in- teresting tale of patience, endurance, and mar- tyrdom.
Here the colony of Schwenkfeldians, a per- secuted flock in Silesia, located, and continue with us to this day, the sole place of staying in the wide, wide world.
And besides these scenes and spirits known, and lauded in history and in song, there are yet many more whom God alone knows. I mean the stalwart patriots of the Revolutionary hosts ; the braves of 1812; the heroes in the Mexican war; the martyrs in the rebellion. All these toiled faithfully under their leaders, and died unhonored and unsung by pen and tongue.
And the victors in peace must not be slighted -the home guards, the tillers of the field, the honest traders in times when Indians and wild
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beasts prowled about, the trusty servants of daily toil; when one hundred cents made a dollar !
Let us mention, finally, the mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters, who wove, and spun, and made the household happy within, when all was dark without.
These are all with us to-day, if there be such a mystery as the "communion of saints." And we may do ourselves the best of service if we allow ourselves to be baptized afresh by their spirits, and draw a new supply of inspiration for the century before us. Shades of our fathers and mothers, hail!
An ancient seer spoke of a child a hundred years old. That is a portrait of Montgomery county, a century old. Aged one century, and still but an infant in the arms of Father Time. The snow-white tresses that crown the head of our goodly province are but as the grains of dust that float in the sunbeam, to the big eye of history, or to Him in whose sight a "thousand years are as one day." Only a little way from the beginning, and hardly any nearer to the end !
As the christening of the babe follows hard on its birth, so is this festive day but the nam- ing of the province. Let it be, as every second birth should be, a regeneration period, from which we ascend the higher plane of a yet no-
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bler life. A still grander history awaits the county. Let no Jeremiades be sung. It is no time to say, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."
"Tell us not in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream ; For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem."
Victor Hugo wisely says: "There is an evil in our times; I will almost say there is only one evil: a certain tendency to place everything in this life." This serious and eloquent French- man declares: "There would be no dignity in living if we had to die completely. What lightens labor, sanctifies work, renders man brave, good, wise, patient, benevolent, just, at once humble and great, worthy of knowledge, worthy of liberty, is the fact that he has before him the perpetual vision of a better world shin- ing across the shadows of life. As for my- self," this gospel novelist affirms, "I believe pro- foundly in this better world; and after many struggles, much study, and many trials, it is the supreme assurance of my reason, as it is the supreme consolation of my soul."
As there is no dead past, so neither is there a dead future. All time is God's-the past, the present, and the future, since "He was, and is, and is to come." Let us not be such outrage- ous optimists as to look back upon the age of
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our sires as upon an age of darkness and void. Nor will we turn into morbid pessimists, and say, as men have kept on saying ever since the time of old Nestor: "The former days were better than these." No! Manhood is better than infancy or childhood! The best of his- tory's crop is not under ground. Blessed are our eyes, for our fathers desired to see what their sons see, and did not see it! There never has been an age like ours !
But the harvest of to-day, is but the seed of yesterday matured. Therefore, "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, if there be any praise," within our borders in the year of grace, 1884, all is but the fruiting of the seed imbedded by ancestral hands years ago. It has not been lying torpid, like the grain of wheat in the Egyptian mummy, but has fructi- fied and grown. There is no new thing under the sun. All things are falling upward. Our chief business is to be consecrated to the work of perpetuating the building which the sires have founded; building on and up, that our posterity may receive it from our hands, even as we have fallen heir to it "by the fathers' will
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and testament," another century's length im- proved.
"Let us then be up and doing, With a heart for any fate ; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait."
After our jubilee anthems shall have died away in total silence, and the waves of rejoicing are merged again in the steady stream of time, like the practical Roman, the still more practical Yankee, will ask the question, "Cui bono?"
What shall the answer be?
"Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple,
Who have faith in God and Nature,
.
Who believe that in all ages Every human heart is human, Listen to this simple story Of the here and the hereafter" :-
This province has made a confessional act of gratitude to Almighty God for his amiable and adorable Providence, and records its acknowl- edgment on this historical Ebenezer: "Hitherto the Lord hath helped us."
This province has performed an act of filial piety, in memory of a worthy ancestry, and thereby challenges the fulfillment of the first commandment with promise: "Honor thy fa- ther and thy mother."
This province has achieved an educational act, which teaches those living, and yet to live, that "brave men lived before Agamemnon."
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This province has erected a triple tower of Faith, Hope and Charity, for another century to come, on which we and our children may read: "He who led the sires will lead their sons."
And, surely, with such a spirit of reverence within its loins, Montgomery county may be considered good for another century, I trust.
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CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
At the conclusion of Dr. Weiser's oration, the whole audience arose, by request, and united in singing the long metre doxology, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow."
After which the Rev. Mr. Rodenbough pro- nounced the following
BENEDICTION.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, our Heavenly Father, and the commu- nion of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, be with us, and with all the people of God, now and evermore. Amen.
THIRD DAY.
THE PARADE.
Thursday, September 1 1th, was Parade Day. It was expected to be the greatest day of the celebration. The Committee on Parade, under the chairmanship of Col. John W. Schall, had made elaborate preparations for the event, and everthing was favorable towards rendering this feature of the celebration the complete success expected. On the previous afternoon, a heavy shower effectually laid the dust, and the streets of the town were in fine condition. Thursday was bright and clear. A better day could not have been had. The work of decorating, which had been in progress during the week, reached its culmination upon this day. Almost every house on the line of the parade was adorned with flags and bunting; some simple and neat, others elaborate and costly.
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Shortly after daybreak, visitors from the sur- rounding country made their appearance. The railroad trains were crowded, bringing strangers to town. A great number of special trains were run to accommodate various organizations and people seeking the county town.
The parade was formed on the streets west of Stony creek. Every division had its particu- lar street upon which to form, so that the pro- cession started with very little confusion.
Col. John W. Schall was Chief Marshal, and to his efficient work, the success of the parade, in a great measure, was due. There was less delay than usual on such occasions. The pa- rade was to have started at ten o'clock a. m. · At fifteen minutes past that time, the head of the line moved over the route selected.
The parade was formed and marched accord- ing to the following order, issued by the Chief Marshal :
NORRISTOWN, September 1, 1884.
GENERAL ORDER, No. 1.
I. The parade in honor of the centennial of Montgomery county, on Thursday, September 11th, 1884, will be composed of four divisions, as follows :
FIRST DIVISION. Col. D. C. Swank, Marshal.
Indian children, Grand Army of the Republic, National Guard of Pennsylvania.
SECOND DIVISION.
J. P. Hale Jenkins, Esq., Marshal.
Will be composed of fraternal and benevolent organizations.
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THIRD DIVISION.
Major D. B. Hartranft, Marshal.
Will be composed entirely of firemen.
FOURTH DIVISION.
T. J. Baker, Marshal.
Manufacturers, Trades, and Industrial Pursuits.
II. The respective divisions will form at 9.30 a. m., as fol- lows :
First Division-On Astor street, right resting on Marshall, fac- ing west.
Second Division-On Chain street, north and south of Marshall street, right resting on Marshall street.
Third Division-On George street, north and south of Marshall street, right resting on Marshall street.
Fourth Division-On Haws avenue, right resting on Main street, and on Main street, right resting on Stanbridge street, and facing east. Sewing machine display will form on Kohn street, right resting on Airy street. Dairy display on Stanbridge street, north of Marshall street, right resting on Marshall.
III. The column will move promptly at 10 o'clock a. m., over the following route : Marshall to Stanbridge, to Main, to Walnut, to Airy, to Arch, to Marshall, to Church, to Airy, to DeKalb, to Penn, to Swede, to Chestnut, to DeKalb, to Spruce, to Willow, to Elm, to Swede, to Oak, to Cherry, to Main, and dismiss.
IV. Division Marshals will appoint a sufficient number of Aids, and will issue such orders relative to the formation of their respective divisions as they may deem necessary.
V. All organizations arriving via the Reading railroad will disembark at Main street station, and those arriving via Pennsyl- vania Schuylkill Valley will disembark at Franklin avenue station.
By order of
Chief Marshal.
THOMAS J. STEWART, Chief of Staff.
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At the court house the parade was reviewed by the officers of the Association, who left the line when it arrived at that point.
The following constituted the order of the parade :
Chief Marshal-Col. John W. Schall. Chief of Staff-Thomas J. Stewart.
Aids-Dr. J. K. Weaver, Dr. William J. Ashenfelter, John Pugh, Roscoe K. Moir, and Isaac Chism, Esq.
FIRST DIVISION.
Marshal-Col. Daniel C. Swank.
Aids-George G. Hoover, Esq., J. Schrack Shearer, and John A. Vanderslice. Pottstown Cornet Band. 20 pieces. Zook Post Drum Corps.
Company F, Sixth Regiment, N. G. Pa., uniformed and armed. Capt. Henry Jacobs, commanding.
Zook Post, No. 11, G. A. R., of Norristown, in full uniform, with battle flags. Hiram Hansell, Commander. Liberal Drum Corps.
George A. Smith Post, No. 79, G. A. R., of Conshohocken. James Wolfong, Commander.
Twenty Indian boys from the Indian department of Lincoln Insti-
tute, uniformed. Seventy-five Indian girls from the same
Institution, in carriages. Under charge of David Schall, Marshal's Aid.
Carriages with Officers of the Centennial Association and invited guests, as follows :
1. Joseph Fornance, Esq., F. G. Hobson, Esq., J. A. Strass- burger, Esq., Muscoe M. Gibson, Esq.
2. Hon. B. Markley Boyer, Hon. Isaac F. Yost, Gen. John H. Hobart.
3. William J. Buck, Abraham H. Cassell, Henry S. Dotterer, Robert Iredell.
4. Mrs. Dr. George W. Holstein, Mrs. Sarah H. Tyson, Mrs. C. R. Hallowell.
5. Hon. I. Newton Evans, Hon. William H. Sutton, Hon. Lewis Royer, John W. Bickel, Esq.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY
6. Henry W. Kratz, Edwin S. Stahlnecker, Hiram Burdan, William Rittenhouse.
7. Prof. J. Shelly Weinberger, Dr. Milton Newberry, Prof. R. F. Hoffecker.
8. Prof. S. U. Brunner, Thomas G. Rutter, James B. Harvey, George F. Wanger.
9. B. Frank Tyson, Septimus Roberts, James B. Hollands, Major William H. Holstein.
Carriages containing Town Council of Norristown. Town Council of Bridgeport. Town Council of Pottstown. Visiting officials from other boroughs.
SECOND DIVISION. Marshal-J. P. Hale Jenkins, Esq. Aids-Edward P. Gresh, Hon. George N. Corson, and Dr. M. Y. Weber. Liberty Legion Pioneer Corps, in full uniform, carrying axes. Capt. Edward Bisbing, Commander. East Greenville Cornet Band.
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Aaron Sperry, Marshal. Re- presented by the following lodges :
Montgomery, No. 57 ; Curtis, No. 239 ; Norris, No. 430 ; Penns- burg, No. 449 ; Perkiomenville, No. 367.
Merion Cornet Band. Independent Order of Odd Fellows, viz. : Economy, No. 397; Merion, No. 210; Gratitude, No. 214; Banyan Tree, No. 100; Spring House, No. 329. Ironbridge Cornet Band.
Limerick Council, No. 278, Order United American Mechanics, in regalia, with man disguised as an Indian, bearing a battle axe. Milton T. Miller, Marshal. Eagleville Cornet Band.
Neville Council, No. 25, Junior Order of American Mechanics. William Thompson, Marshal.
Republican Invincible Pioneer Corps, uniformed in red shirts and white helmets. Markley Murray, Commander. Frankenfield's West Philadelphia Band.
Knights of Friendship. Hon. George N. Corson, Marshal. H. C. Gerhart, Assistant Marshal. Represented by the following chambers :
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Harmony, No. 1; Protection, No. 8; George Washington, No. 16; Alpha, of Camden ; Consonance, of Norristown ; Fidelia, of Reading. In full regalia, white plumes, and appropriate banners. Alpha Fife and Drum Corps of Reading. Jenkintown Band.
Abington Lodge, Knights of Pythias. Dark clothes, fatigue caps, and swords. Charles Gentry, S. K., Commander. Knights of Pythias, No. 388, of Shoemakertown. White helmets and plumes. William Flowers, S. K., Commander. State Fencibles Drum Corps. Delegation from the First Regiment, Philadelphia. Knights of the Golden Eagle. R. J. Lumpin, Marshal. Aids- Dr. Isaac Taylor, Olivet Castle ; J. D. Barnes, Cœur De Lion Castle; E. M. Lowery, St. John Castle. Cyrus Castle, No. 1, K. of G. E. 50 men, H. R. Lightcap, N. C. Members of Keystone, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Crusaders, St. John, Aurora, Ingomar, Ivanhoe, Waverly, Columbia, Wel- come, Oriental, Quaker City, Southwark, Pilgrim, Warwick, Apollo, Constantine, Cyrene, Kenilworth, Lincoln, Fidelity, Shekinah, Olivet, Cœur De Lion, Knights and Grand Castle officers of Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey. Washington Grays' Band. T. M. K. Lee Drum Corps of Philadelphia.
THIRD DIVISION.
Marshal-Major D. B. Hartranft. Aids-Augustus W. Lukens, Samuel Money, Jr., Esq., Col. Edw. Schall, S. P. Hanson, Esq. First Regiment Band of Wilmington, Del. Norristown Hose Company. Eugene D. Egbert, Esq., Marshal. Assistants-F. W. Hillebrecht, Levi Landis, and Richard Wilson. Franklin Band of Philadelphia. Montgomery Fire Company, of Norristown, uniformed. Dark overcoats and helmet hats. W. H. Koplin, Marshal. Independent Band of Manayunk. South Penn Hose Company, of Philadelphia. Red shirts and hel- mets. Henry Stedelman, Marshal. Sixth Regiment Band of Camden. Volunteer Firemen's Association of Philadelphia. R. M. Stanton, Marshal.
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First Division, in fatigue dress. Northern Liberty Fife and Drum Corps. Second Division, in full uniform. Gray overcoats and helmets. Weccacoe Band. Humane Steam Fire Engine Company, of Norristown. Engine drawn by four horses. Uniform-white hat, nickel front, light overcoat, red shirt, and black pants. William Stahler, Marshal. Southwark Drum Corps. Niagara Hose Company, of Philadelphia, with hose carriage drawn by hand. James J. Daly, Marshal. Metropolitan Band.
Fairmount Hook and Ladder Company, of Norristown, with truck drawn by four horses, and hose carriage drawn by hand. Uniform-red shirt, red hat, and black pants. Marshal-John Burnett. Company Marshal-Edward Kehoe. As- sistants-Howard Moore and L. R. Shaffer.
FOURTH DIVISION.
Marshal-T. Jefferson Baker. Aids-Louis Stritzinger, William D. Heebner, W. S. Stacker, M. Mack, Walter Keim, David Ross, Esq., O. K. Beyer, W. A. Bunting, Charles Ramey, James Hunsicker, J. C. Jones, Adolph Dagen. George Bullock Band.
Employes of Conshohocken Worsted Mills. W. L. Mackenzie, Marshal. 225 men, with blue silk banner, followed by large float, with engine and machinery running. Float, with Hon. Hiram C. Hoover whetting old-fashioned scythe. Float, with Samuel F. Jarrett threshing grain with flail. R. R. DeHaven, Norristown. Agricultural machines. The Hubbard Gleaner and Binder. West Point Engine and Machine Works. Two large floats, with steam farm machinery running. Samuel Effrig & Co., Lansdale. Smoke-house on wheels curing hams. A. C. Godshalk & Bro., Lansdale. Wagon loaded with flour. Heebner & Sons, Lansdale. Agricultural machines. A. D. Ruth, Lansdale. Agricultural machines. J. S. Geller, Lansdale. Wagons with furniture.
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W. H. Derrickson, Gulf Mills. Bricklayers with tools on decorated float. J. K. Hendricks, Norristown. Wagon loaded with wheat and flour, with musicians on top.
A. F. Jarrett, Norristown. Float loaded with flour, and placard announcing his mill the first in the county.
Hibberd & Brooke, Bridgeport. Wagon load of flour. J. G. Landis, Norristown. Wagon load of flour. F. G. Stritzinger, Norristown. Imitation of an oven on wheels, with bakers at work, and several decorated wagons.
William H. Koplin, Norristown. Decorated wagons with tin ware. Hercules Cigar Factory. Wagon with cigar makers at work. J. E. Boucot, Bridgeport. Wagon with a pyramid ten feet high covered with watches.
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