The Only (Organized Gr,Oup of the Region Was the Band (Of M'oravians That Founded Bethlehem in 1741. They Came with a Flxed Pu
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20 LEHIGH COUNTY The only (organized gr,oup of the region was the band (of M’oravians that founded Bethlehem in 1741. They came with a flxed purpose to serve as missionaries to the Indians. Their history more properly be- lanes to Northampton County, althtough very early they extended their act&itiels beyond its borders. The Indian village of Nam,* built by them was in Lehigh Clounty, and a Moravian group ,settled early at Emmaus and gave.it its biblical name. Improvements of different kinds came rapidly, but the first com- munity need was for better transportation facilities. In 1735 the first road was laid out. By present locations it extended from about one- fourth mile northwest ,of Breinigsville, through Macungie, Shimers- ville Old and New Zionsville, Hosensack, and thence to. Nprth Wales in Montgomery County, where it connected with an exmtlng road to Philadelphia. Other roads quickly followed. The government of the region was a matter of early concern. When ’ the first settlers arrived the section was part of the original Bucks Cjounty one of the three ,original counties established by Wjlliam Penn iA 1682. The distance to the county seat and the travel d&icul- ties necesisitated smaller units as the settlements increased. On Ml;;; 11 1752 Northampton County was established and on March 6, a portiok was separated to constitute Lehigh Cqunty. Division inti townships also progressed during a period of years. The first *town- ship to be organized was Upper Milford m 1737. It later was.dlvlded into Upper and Lower Milford. Saucon Township was established in 1743 but at the time included bsoth Lower Saucon Township, North- ampion County, and Upper Saucon Township, Lehigh Co@y. The early erection of these two townships indicates the raprdlty with which the region was settled. The establishment of other townships by division and alteration continued over a long period. For many years after its settlement, German was the almost uni- versal language in Lehigh County. The Germa.n used was In the. be- ginning the dialect of the Palatinate, but in time many corruptions crept in until Pennsylvania German (erroneously frequently called “Pennsylvania Dutch”) gradually became essentially a distinct dia- lect and was carried far beyond the borders of Pennsytvania. Al- though still in common use, especially among the older residents, gen- erally the children of today are unable to speak it. The rapid de- crease in use of the dialect during the past few decades has been brought about by its ban in the publm schools, good roads and auto- m’obiles rural free mail delivery, the telephone, and the radio. The further history of Lehigh County is not pertinent to this re- port. Mills were erected alon, v the streams, taverns ,opened along the roads and gradually shops, factories, and villages came into exist- ence. ‘Starting as a purely agricultural re,@ion it has gradually passed into a highly industrial one. The population also *has become far more mixed as immigrants later came from more.var1e.d slourcf”. The development of the vari,ous industries ‘of the regton ~111 be discussed in later chapters. Bibliography Even though some repetition is involved, in that titles given belOW are also included in the general biblio, ,*raphy, a short selected list of BIBLIOGRAPHY 21 he most important his%orical publications dealing with Lehigh County s given here. The <earliest works deal mainly with the Indians. The Koravian ArchiveIs, Bethlehem, contain a wealth of material concern- ng the early settlement ,of the Lehigh Valley. ,OSKIEL, GEOR~ HEINRIC’H. Geschichte der Mission der evangelischen Briider unter den Indianen in Nordamerika. 784 pp., Barby, Leipzig, 1789. See Loskiel 1794. ;OSKIEL, GEORGE HENRY. History of the Mission of the United Brethren among the Indians in North America. Translated from the, German by Christian Ignatius LaTrobe. In three parts, pp. 159, 234, 2,33. Index (19 pp.), London, 1’794. (Copy in Lehigh University Library contains map 16”x181/,” of “Part of the United States of America, published 15th Nov. 1798 by J. Stockdale, Piccadilly.” The map shows “those places in which the Christian Indians resided.“) An extremely interesting narrative which portrays life and character of the Indians who inhabited this region. IECXEWELDER, REV. JOHN. An Account of the History, Manners, and Cus- toms of The Indian Nations, who once inhabited Pennsylvania and the Neighboring States. 348 pp., published by the Amer. Philos. Sot., Phila., 1818. A German translation bv Fr. Hesse was aublished in GGttingen in 1820 and a French translation by Du PO&au in Paris in 182’z”. Republished in a “New and Revised Edition with an Introduction and Notes by Rev. William C. Rei’chel” as Vol. XII of the Memoirs of the Historical Society ,of Pennsylvani.a, Philadelphia, 18’76. EEOKEWELDER, JOHN. A Narrative of the Mission of the United Brethren among the Delaware and Mohegan Indians, from its commencement, in the year 1740, to the close of the year 1808, comprising all the remarkable incidents which took place at their missionary stations during that period, interspersed with anecdotes, historical facts, speeches of Indians, and other interesting matter. 429 pp., Philadelphia, 1820. RUPP, I. DANIEL. History of Northampton, Lehigh, Monroe, Carbon and Schuylkill Counties: containing a Brief History of the First Settlers, Topography of Townships, notices of leading events, incidents, and interesting facts ifi the early history of these counties: with An Ap- pendix, containing matters of deep interest. Embellished by several engravings. 554 pp., Harrisburg, 1845. HENRY, M. S. History of the Lehigh Valley, containing a copious selection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, etc., relating to its History and Antiquities, with a complete history of all its internal improvements, progress of the coal and iron trade, manu- factures, etc. Illustrated by numerous engravings. 436 pp., Easton, 1860. DE SCHWEINITZ, EDMUND. The Life and Times of David Zeisberger, Western Pioneer and Apostle of the Indians. 747 pp., Philadelphia, 1871. DAvm, F. A. New Illustrated Atlas of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. 72 + 37 pp., 150 maps, Reading Publishing Co., Reading, Pa., 1876. 22 LE’HIGH COUNTY MATHEWS, ALFRED, and HUNGERFORD, AUSTIN N. History of the Count.ies of Lehigh .and Carbon, in t,he Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 802 pp., illustrated, Philadelphia, 1884. RICHARDS, HENRY l\i. M. The Indian Forts of the Blue Mountains, Vol. 1, pp. 3-347 of R’eport of the Commission to Locate the Site of the Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania. .2 vols., 627 pp. and 636 pp., Harrisburg, 1896. Second edition edited by Thomas Lynch Montgomery published in 1916, Harrisburg. MERGER, HENRY C. The Antiquity of Man in the Delaware Valley. Reprinted from publications of the University of Pennsylvania, Vol. VI. 85 pp., 30 figs., Boston, 1897. LEVERING, JOSEPH MORTIMER. A History of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1741- 1892 with some account ‘of its founders and their early activity in America. 809 pp., maps and figi. Bethlehem, 1903. HURLBUT, ARCHER BUTLER and SCHWARZE, WILLIAM NATHANIEL, Editors. David Zeisberger’s History of the Northern American Indians. Ohio State Archeological and Historical Society, 189 pp., 1910. ROBERTS, CHARLES RHOADS, STOUDT, JOHN BAER, KRICK, THOMAS H. ancl DIETRICH, WILLIAM J. Hist.ory of Lehigh County, Pennsylvani,a, and a genealo,gical and biograghical record of its families. Two vok., 1101 and 1467 pp., Allentown, 1914. DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE OF THE GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OF LEHIGH COUNTY WITH BIBLIOGRAPHY AND CARTOGRAPHY By BENJAMIN L. MILLER The region embraced within the present limits of Lehigh County was first vimsited by white men about 1701. So f’ar as known th’ese earli’est visit,ors left nlo written record .of their ‘ob,servatifons, a situation that prevails likewise with the still ,earlier inhabitants, the D,elaware Indians. The $e,arliest c,ont.ribution,s t,o our knowledge ‘of the area were made by explorer#s ,and travelers, some ,of whom have left records of ‘careful and exact ,ob’servation,s. An example ‘of exaggerati’on or fantastic descriptison is the w,ork ‘of Gottli’eb Mittelb’erger, who made a j’ourney to Pennsylvania in the years 1750-1754, and returning to Germany related many a “t’all Story” of his experiences and the objects he had seen. Th,e map-makers, geographers, geologists, and hist’oriams also began their work so’on after the first set’tlements’ were made and have con- tinued to add to ,our kn,owledge dsown to the present at, an almost steadily increasing rat’e. For the past 100 years there is scarcely a year without #someworthwhile contri’bution. Naturally th’e titles ‘contained in the bibliography and cartography are ,of unequal value. In many the inf’ormatison is ind’efinite, frag- mentary and, in certain cases, incorrect. Certain articles are, in large part, merely repetitions ‘of previous ‘ones. All that have come t.o the attention of the writer have been li’st’ed, regardl’es,s ,of their merits or demerits, with the idea in mind that time and effort may be saved thereby for future investigat’ors. In this 200-year record the writings ‘of a few men stand out so prominently as to deserve specific mention. F’or the first ‘century these are James Scull, Nicholas Scull, W. Scull, Lewis Evans, William Maclure, frequently called the ‘ ‘ Father of N’orth American G’eology, ’ ’ and Parker Cleaveland. The second century opened the era of systematic investigations by train’ed &entists. In 1836 the First G’eological Survey *of Pennsyl- vania was establi’shed with the brilliant geologist, H’enry D. Rogers, a’s D’irect,or. In his Second Annual R.eport published in 1838 he laid the f’oundati,on for all later geolsogi,cal and geographical work in th’e region.