Journal of the Lycoming County Historical Society, 1961 Winter

20 'T'H E JO U R N A L Eagle Street which Lester had already rent- America, and the years that followed were ed for the sum of five dollars pcr month kind to the membersof the Hirsh Family, He already had furnished it with some for it gave them the opportunities for a secondhand furniture and a few items betterway of life, a standardof living they given him by membersof the family. dreamedabout and longed for while in Lithuania. From those humble beginnings, Within a few days,the opening of the the family struggled and prospered fall school term took place. Benjamin and David were enrolled in the first gritde of Several became prominent merchants, two of the girls graduated as nurses, one became the old SecondWard School Building, nou' rhe wife of a famed doctor. another was a known as the Penn School. which was o111v student at the Lock Haven Teachers College a short walk from their new residence. Two sons and grandsons of Lester Hirsh First and second grade teachers, Miss served with the armed services and saw Minnie and Miss Julia Mccabe were very action on the battlefields in Europe. All are co-operative and helpful to the young im- grateful to their pioneer parents who had migrants. rhe vision and courage to migrate to a neu In addition to the school curriculum land and to scarfa new life. Thus, they were of the first two grades, they taught us to spared the tragedy that befell nearly thin'ty speak the English Language, which took relatives who had remained in Lithuania much patience and understanding on che and becamevictims of the Nazi terror of part of the teachers the dreaded concentration camps n idi,-La: W E THE JOURNAL OFTHE LYCOMING HISTORICALSOCIETY VOLUME ll WINTER NUMBER FOUR 1961 3 the JOURNAL of the LYCOMING HISTORICAL SO CIE T Y PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE PUBLISlIE]) BIANNUALLY IN WILLIAM,ISPOlIT PENNSYLVANIA November 1, 1961 Members of tile LycoJning Historical Society X,I13. FItANK W. B13UNNE13.PI\ESIOENT I\DISS BI.ANCHE M. NE.FF, T13EASU13El\ Just a feu' words to thank you for your confidence in our organization as evidenced DIt. JAbIES P. BRESSLE]{, IST. V]CE PRESIDENT MASS ZELL.A G. PEPPF]]RfAN, ASST. T]\EASURE]3 in so many wavs during these trying tiilles. A Lycoming Historical Society without a Dn. Jong C. WINTER, 2ND. Vick P] EsinEX'r ]\lass NIAltCAitnT E. lloi\N, SECltE'rAllY museumis like a ship witllout a sail. Even:yeffort is being made to correct that major 1]1t. DARIO L. MICNIORIUS, 3l\D. 't'ICE PI\ESn)ENT deficiency. Now tha! ft satisfactory site for the museum has been established and plans lnd designs well undern'ay, time will soon be upon us when we must arrange to produce 1)11iECTORS 1961-62 Dll\ECTOliS 1960-1963 rhe wherewithal to accomplishthat which is planned. This will require rhe earnest and \,'tRS. ROBE13T COCHRANE h,4R. \VILUANI 13.. SLATS sincere efforts of all members, organizations and businesses from every part of ou] N,DISS\,IA13GARE'r B. COI\Yl£I.[ X'laSS SUE Bisiiop county, becauseit must be borne in mind that our society is county-wide and as such, flit. bonn ANI)l\EWS must not only servethe entire county,but bc sustainedby them N[I\. SAR.FUEL J. DORNSIFE Your continued firm support is appreciated. \'I13. WIUHA)..f SINGS Sincerely, \II\S. GOI{DON WU13STEIt Frank W. Brunner EX OFFICIO President W. CLYDE FIAT\EI{ EDITORS DI{. LEM/IS E. I.'IIEISS NI[t. M]C]]AEL M. WA]{GO THE GREAT RUNAWAY OF 1778 X4l]. L. ROD).fAN WU13STEI{ N,IISS N'IILDREO KEULI' By H.elemH. Russell Exel'il Copies of Tile Journal I'itty Cents Each (As given before the Lycon[ing Historica] Society,June 15, ]960) (Note: All events mentioned herein can The Germans were outnumbered only be verified by Penna. Archives, First and by the ScotchIrish, but there were also Second Series. Proceedings of Penna's first the French Hugenots, some Swiss, Jews, state convention, also the first officers and Moravians, indentured servants and negroes. committeemen named. are found in Second AJI who were not English subjects were C ON T EATS Series, Vo1. 3. The five other resolves madeto takean oathof allegianceto the within the province of Penne., declaring King of England before disembarking separation from rhe Mosher Country prion: 3 Of those not required to take this oatl) President's Message to the Pine Creek Treaty of July 4, 1776, f or allegiance were the Scotch Irish, of and found in Second Series, Volumes 13. whom there were 80,000 in Pennsylvania and 14. at the time of the RevolutionaryWar. They The Great Runaway of 1778 Helen H. Russell Historians J. B. Linn and .I. F. MeGin- were in no sense Irish. but Scots. who had nes both used this source material. but been suffering under religious persecution nowhere has the detail of events ever been and had been exiled to Northern Ireland. History of Ostonwakin Farm (Parts l\rand V) -- Mable E. Eck 1 1 pur into their proper chronological order. ) Once here, they moved to the fartherest In the early 1700's all bound for the frontiers of the new colony,often on lands New World were asking how [o get [o not yet purchased from the Indians. They Pennsylvania, for Penn's colony drew the were stern Presbyterians, used to rigid self- Ton)hinson Family C. A. Tomlinson 13 homeless and persecuted like a magnet. The discipline, were rugged individualists who Germanscame as a result of William believed strongly in democratic principles Penn's travels through Holland and Ger- 14 More. They were expert woodsmen. They Noteson Little Fatlaily SusanH. Little tnany, distributing posters and pamphlets clearedthe forests,grappled with the wild in their language,praising his new prov- beztsts, and generally dr ove the Indians ince and promising a new start and religious deeper into the interior of the colorly. stow Wc Escaped From Bchincl the Iron Cui-rain Benjamin Hirsh 15 freedom. At one time Gcrlnanizarion of It has also been observed that the Ger- rhe cololly was fcilred. man colonists did not relish the Scotch- 4 T H E JO U R N A L 5 Irish as neighbors, and used all kinds of gress (as it was soon called). They also round hats. They are remarkable for their stationed at Fort Augusta under Colonel political intrigue to demonstratethis un- v/ent along with the ide.t that we must aim, striking a mark with great accuracy Samuel Hunter, to be called the Lower welcome. This ill-feeling caused the Scots resist with force all hazards to the liberty It 200 yards distance ." Theirs was a Division, and six to be at Muncy as the to move out of Southeastern Penna toward of the citizens. (Minutes of these sessiorls year's enlistment, during which time they Upper Division, under ColonelWilliam the westward,which brought them into are found in Pa. Arch.. SecondSeries, Vol. gave a good account of themselves, accor- Hepburn. wham was then Cumberland County, and 3, PP 625-665) ding [o tnilitary records. They were dis- This would mean 480 men and officers. ome as far as the Juniata Valley. Since They considered necessary [neasures to be chargedat Long Island the June 30th The settlers protested at once. They said they were not as adept at getting along used in building up an economy within next. it would be disastrousto let that many men with the Indians as the Germans, soon the colony.+For instance,no sheepunder We must insert here that thirty of these go from their homes, leaving the women skirmishes began, with the result that many f our yearswas to be killed or sold to the men in Captain Lowden's company were and children unprotected. Alfa, there was of the Scots crossed over the Bald Eagle butchers, since the manufacturing of wool from the upper West Branch,of ''from their poverty. The men must be kept home mountain range into the 'q'est Branch for coatings, blankets and rugs was of beyond the purchaseline". This is verified [o raise the cropswhich would be a very Valley of the Susquehanna. Some were al- first importance. The raising of flax, hemp, in Perlna.Arch., Series 11, Vo1. 3, page necessary factor. Besides "there have come ready established there at the time of rhe and dyestuffs was encouraged;likewise rhe 417, also in che diary of rhe Reverend many bare and naked amongstus, being Last Purchase of 1769. making of sale, salcpetre, nails, wire, gun- Philip Fithian, Presbyterian clergyman plundered by Yankees . ." (Likely these Exceptingfor the Indian trails, rivers powder, glass, combs, arid so on. In fact who happenedto be touring the West were New Jersey people who had been and streams were the only means of egress, there began the first ''buy-at-home" cam- Branch about then, and met the regiment set upon by the Connecticut usurpers, sa the early settlersalways made their paign as the colonists determined to neither at Sunbury. (Given in part in Megiianess called Yankees.) improvementsalong the river,. ac the use, or own, anything chat had been made 'History West Branch Valley" 1898, Vol. Rather they offered the plan that two mouths of screams, or up the creeks a shore by the Mother country. All attempts at 1. See page 434) full companies be raised in;toad, and puc way, as far ns was navigable by canoes profiteering were to be punished 1776 under full tilde pay and training, to'be As has been shown, having started their 'April 19, 1775, hardly a han is now This brings us [o that eventful year of ready to march whenever needed.

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