The Chronicles of Middletown, Containing a Compilation of Facts
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/chroniclesofmiddOOhutc THE NEW YORK !' '' f, PUBLIC LIBRARY >- lOH, LENOX )! N t-OUNDATIONS C. H. Hutchinson COMPILER THE CHRONICLES OF MIDDLETOWN CONTAINING .-f A COMPILATION OF FACTS, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. REMINISCENCES, ANECDOTES. &c. CONNECTED WITH THE HISTORY OF ONE OF THE OLDEST TOWNS IN PENNSYLVANIA ILLUSTRATED C. H. HUTCHINSON 1906 TKC lt''l YORK PUBL": LIBRARY; 83S0til ASTOR LLNOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS H i9!8 L Copyrighted, 1906, by C. H. HUTCHINSON ; An Open Le;tter to Mr. C. H. Hutchinson from Rev, George Whitman. Buffalo, N. Y., Oct. i8, 1904. My Dear Sir: Through the kindness of good friends in dear old Middletown, I have been permitted to read the articles published by you in the Journal, entitled ''Chronicles of Middletown." To say that I have been interested, is to state very mildly the feeling of happi- ness that I have experienced, in common with many others of the readers of the Journal. We all owe you a debt of gratitude for your labor in searching out the old records, that will be but incompletely paid by the purchase of your forthcoming book. Human nature is sometimes slow in expressing its appreciation, and on this account I am all the more anxious to assure you of our gratitude for the good work you have done, and will continue to do. My residence in Middletown run from 1846 to 1862, and thus the most impressible years of my life were spent in association with Middletown people. A person remem- bers the associates and scenes of youth long after he has forgotten those encountered in after years. During the early days of the War of the Rebellion, I was the only newsboy in the town, and was the first to carry papers from house to house, and to sell them on the streets and in this way I came to know more than half the people in the town. I flatter myself that people liked to see me, in those days, not that they cared much for me, but they were anxious to get the papers, filled as they always were with news of the great war. If suggestions are in order, I should advise that your ''Chronicles" include a history of the newspapers of the town. Many people await with eagerness the issue of your book, and every Middletowner of the past or present, ought to assist in making it a paying enterprise to the energetic and scholarly editor and publisher. Gratefully yours, Geo. Whitman. UrsDATIONSi 1^ \ d%J '-M/^^ 'W*S€^ '>'/., ubmSi.,,:.... "-" Mk''^'^-'*^ llll \^^^wm l(tM»is ^/-•s£^jj,,-,„ :"-':J. i^'^SMi^ SkSSS?^ " -' ^ '4i' " ' IS1^^^ ^--'*-v^-iWM<i.:'^ 7^JIb0- '^ ''T- ']}}' :.,- ^"^^^m Pineford Farm. Home of George Fisher, Founder of ^liddletown. INDEX. Chapter. Page. I. William Penn proposes to locate a city here, 9 II. Indian tribe located here. Scotch Irish settle, and build churches, II III. History of an old trading post, 12 IV. Churches established by the Presbyterians nearly two hundred years ago, 14 V. Swiss and German immigrants come here, 22 VI. Copy of deed from sons of William Penn to John Fisher, in 1747, for site of town, 24 VII. Settlement of Middletown. Town laid out, 27 VIII. Indian depredations in vicinity. A parallel. Re- wards for Indian scalps. Paxton boys organ- ized. Indian massacres, 31 IX. Sketch of Col. James Burd, 37 X. Building of old Lutheran Church in 1767, 41 XL Title deed to Royalton by Thomas and John Penn, 45 XII. Protest of Middletown settlers in 1774, against ag- gressions of British government. Names of volunteers in Revolutionary army, 48 XIII. A shelter for Wyoming Valley fugitives from In- dian massacre in 1778. Tax lists of 1778 and 1782, 53 XIV. Oath of Allegiance. Northern boundary line sup- plies, etc. Navigation of Susquehanna. Slaves held here, 59 XV. Sketch of George Frey and his mill. Litigation over. Stubbs' Furnaces 63 XVI. History of Union Canal. William Penn's proposals for a water-way, 6y XVII. Turnpike. Main street. Conestoga Wagons, 69 XVIII. Whiskey Insurrection. Major George Fisher, 71 XIX. Town over a century ago. Taverns. John Penn stops here, 77 XX. Biography of George Fisher, founder of Ports- mouth, 80 XXI. Proposed location of U. S. Capital. Address to President Adams. His reply. Middletown ad- vertisements. Prices current in 1800. Proces- sion and services on death of Washington. Wages, 87 VI Index. Chapter. Page. XXIL Portsmouth, founding of. Lots offered for sale. Navigation of Susquehanna Rafts. Boats. Lumber traffic, etc., 93 XXIIL Fairs in Middletown Swatara Bank. Middletown as it was over a century ago, 96 XXIV. Looking backward continued. Post Office. Doc- tors. School teachers, etc., 98 XXV. Looking backward continued. Charlie Ross, 103 XXVL Looking backward continued, 107 XXVIL Frey's Will. History of Emaus Orphan House. Litigation over. Scholars in 1841-47, 113 XXVHL Pennsylvania Canal. Breakwater. Mount Joy Railroad. First locomotive (The ''Johii Bull"). The Pennsylvania Railroad, 124 XXIX. The Mud Pike. The Middletown Furnace. The Slab Mill. The Lath Mill. The Furnace Saw Mill. The Feeder-dam, 127 XXX. Middletown advertisements in 1802. Coal-oil. Fourth of July celebration, 130 XXXI. Lafayette here. Advertisements a century ago. Yearly market. First Steamboat Line, 133 XXXII. Turnpikes laid out. Cameron Furnace. Cameron Grist Mill. Arnold ferry-house, 135 XXXIII. History of Methodist Episcopal Church and Sunday Schools 139 XXXIV. History of Bethel Church and Sunday School ; list of scholars in, 144 XXXV. Soldiers in War of 1812. Incorporation of Bor- ough. Mexican War Volunteers, 148 XXXVI. Middletown proposed as County-seat, 151 XXXVII. History of St. Mary's Catholic Church, . 154 XXXVIII. Petition for road from Pineford to Harris' Ferry in 1745. Middletown Militia Companies, 157 XXXIX. History of United Brethren Church. The Aymish. The Dunkards. The Mennonites, 160 XL. History of St. Michael's Protestant Episcopal Church. Old Saw-Mills, 164 XLI. Burgesses and Councilmen of Borough, 166 XLII. Water-right from Frey's Mill-race, 170 XLIII. Citizens' Meeting at opening of Civil War, 1861. Extracts from Dauphin Journal, 172 XLIV. Fire Companies, T78 XLV. War Record of Company G, Thirty-fifth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. Roll of Company,. 182 Index. vu Chapter. Page. XLVI. Middletown Volunteers in Eighty-seventh Regi- ment, Pennsylvania Volunteers ; in Ninety- second Regiment, Ninth Cavalry, 196 XLVIL Middletown Volunteers in Ninety-third Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, 207 XLVIII. Middletown Volunteers in Thirty-sixth Regiment, in Company G, Forty-first Regiment, Twelfth Reserve, 212 XLIX. Middletown Volunteers in Forty-third Regiment, First Artillery, 215 L. Middletown Volunteers in Eightieth Regiment, Seventh Cavalry. In Eighty-third Regiment. In One Hundred and First Regiment. In One Hundred and Thirteenth Regiment, Twelfth Cavalry. In One Hundred and Seventeenth Regiment, Thirteenth Cavalry, 218 LI. Middletown Volunteers in Company H, One Hun- dred and Twenty-seventh Regiment, 222 LII. Middletown Volunteers in One Hundred and Eighty- seventh Regiment. In One Hundred and Ninetieth Regiment. In One Hundred and Ninety-first Regiment. In Company C, One Hundred and Ninety-second Regiment. In One Hundred and Ninety-fourth Regiment. In Two Hundredth Regiment. In Two Hundred and First Regiment, 229 LIII. Middletown Volunteers in Twenty-second United States Colored Regiment (Company G, Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry), 238 LIV. Middletown Volunteers in other Regiments. In Quartermaster's Department, U. S. A., 240 LV. Roll of Militia Companies in 1862 (Guards, Cav- alry) , 243 LVI. Roll of Militia Companies in 1863. (Three Com- panies), 247 LVII. Secret Orders organized in Middletown, 250 LVIII. Musical Organizations in town. G. A. R. Post, . 257 LVIX. Middletown Cemetery. Banks. Newspapers, 261 LX. Biographical Sketch of Col. James Young, 264 : OLD MIDDLETOWN In the year 1690 William Penn published in London, England, the following, which I give in its entirety, as it is of special interest to the citizens of Middletown Some Proposals for a Second Settlement in the Province of Pennsylvania. "Whereas, I did, about nine years past, propound the selling of sev- eral parts or shares of land, upon that side of the Province of Pennsyl- vania next Delaware river, and setting out of a place upon it for the building of a city, by the name of Philadelphia ; and that divers per- sons closed with those proposals, who, by their ingenuity, industry and charge, have advanced that city, from a wood, to a good forwardness of building (there being above one thousand houses finished in it) and that the several plantations and towns begun upon the land, bought by those first undertakers, are also in a prosperous way of improvement and enlargement (insomuch as last year ten sail ships were freighted there, with the growth of the province, for Barbadoes, Jamaica, &c., be- sides what came directly for this kingdom). It is now my purpose to make another settlement upon the river Susquehannagh, that runs into the bay of Chesapeake, and bears about fifty miles west from the river Delaware, as appears by the common maps of the English Dominion in America. There I design to lay out a plan for the building of another city, in the most convenient place for communication with the former plantations on the East ; which by land is as good as done already, a way being laid out between the two rivers very exactly and conveniently, at least three years ago ; and which will not be hard to do by water, by the benefit of the river Scoulkill ; for a Branch of that river (the Tul- pehocken) lies near a branch that runs into Susquehannagh river (the Swatara)* and is the Common Course of the Indians with their Skins and Furrs into our Parts, and to the Provinces of East and West Jer- sey, and New York, from the West and Northwest part of the conti- nent from whence they bring them.