THE JOURNAL OFTHE Lycoming Clounty Historical Society

VOLUMEXlll SPRING NUMBERONE 1977 JOUR.NAL of the LYCOMING COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Published Sem annuatl) {n WiLlfamspoTt, Pears)luanda Museum Office - 858 West Fourth Street Telephone (Area Code 717) 326-3326

BOARDOFTRUSTEES RALPH R.CRANMER A. F. BEIGHLEY WALTER J. HEIM WILLIAM E. NICHOLS, JR MICHAELLAGANA ROBERT D.SMINK JOHN R. SHARPLESS,JR CURRENT SOCIETY PRESIDENT

BOARDOFGOVERNORS

ROBERT D. SMINK. Preszdenf EDWARD J. DURRWACHTER, -ird race .f'res JAMES P. BRESSLER, ]sf race Pres. MRS. EDITH L. WRIGHT, Secretar) LORING B. PRIEST, 2nd race Pres HAROLD B.TAYLOR,Treasurer

1975-1977TERM 1976-1 978 TERM MRS.NORMANINGERSOLL MRS. JOHN W. BITNER MKS.JOHNLiNDKMUTn SAMUEL J. DORNSIFE EVERETT W. RUBENDALL WILLARD A. SCHELL CHARLES E. NOYES, SR

EX-OFFICIO BOARD MEMBERS MRS. DONALD ALSTED. RE/]RESENTH r/}'E JUNIOR LEAGUE OF WILLIAMSPORT

WILLIAM EALER - ])RES/DENT THE GREATER WILLIAMSPORT COMMUNITY ARTS COUNCIL DONALD M.CARSON HISTORICAL SOCIETY RETIRING PRESIDENT SOCIETYSTAFF EX.ECt/T/}'E SECRfTHR r and EI)/TOR DOROTHY E. SHULTZ

VOLUMEXlll SPRING NUMBERONE 1977

Extra Copies of The Journal Seventy-Five Cents Each MUSEUM STAFF CONTENTS ].)irector Andrew K. Grugan Patricia Kahle Page Assistant to D{Tectov Greetings from the President 4 5 Jean Laylon Rafting Days on the Loyalsock by Fred M. Rogers RecePfzonist (Paper read before the Lycoming Historical Society in 1928) The Siren (Story of Loyalsock Mountain) taken from ''Tales of the Bald Eagle Mountains'' by Henry W. Shoemaker, 1912 14 Michael Ross,Founder of Williamsport, by Craig Weaver 21 The PresbyterianMinisters of Lycoming County (continuation) by Warren L. Marsh: Rev. JosephPainter, Rev. Daniel Barber Rev. Phineas Marr, Rev. John Hudson, Rev. James Phillips 27 MUSEUM VOLUNTEER STAFF Genealogical Information Available in the Museum 33 COVER PICTURE: Michael Ross, Founder of Williamsport

Registration Committee Miss June Foresman,Chairman CENTERFOLD: SketchMap of the LoyalsockCreek--the Lawi Saquick or Middle Mrs. StanleyBassett Creek of the Indians by Bruce A. Hunt Miss Ethel Ertel Mrs. FrederickSnell

MEETINGS, 1976-1977 OpercLtion Museum Andrew K. Grugan LYCOMING COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY March 23, 1977, 6:30 p.m. Publicis) and Public Relations Andrew K. Grugan Dinner meeting at Eldred Township Fire Hall, Warrensville. Dr. Homer T. Rosenbergerwill speakon "Highlights in the History of the Philadelphia and General Restoration Philip N. Gould Erie Railroad. April 21, 1977,8:00 p.m. CuvatoTial Departments. Annual meeting. Dr. Luring B Priest will speak on the subject, 'The Continuing Bicentennial Genera! Curator Andrew K. Grugan ,4rchaeo/o93i James P. Bressler, Chairman Willard Schell William Turnbaugh LIFE MEMBERS

A rchiues and Records Miss Gladys Tozier, Chief The following are Life Members of our Historical Society Mrs. Richard P. Foresman Dr. June E. Baskin Miss Elizabeth C. Kackenmeister Miss Jean Little Miss Margaret C. Brown Mrs. John Lindemuth Miss Phyllis Briel Mrs. John O. Cook Hugh H. MacMullan Mrs. Frances T. Davis Miss Margaret A. MacMullan John G. Detwiler Education Joseph R. Maiolo, Jr. Andrew K. Grugan Miss Ida May Dittmar Mrs. Lucille P. Metzger Dr. & Mrs. GeorgeA. Durrwachter Miss Grace Irene Pealer Fine Hits Dr. June E. Baskin Miss Helen Foucart Arthur Petter Mr. & Mrs. A. William Gehron Miss Mary E. Riddell /ndusfry Francis Maneval Miss Elsie Harding Mr. & Mrs. Willard A. Schell Miss Jean T. Heller Mrs. John Sloan Mr. and Mrs. Robert HI. Herz Miss Gladys Tozier MineTats Lewis Harper Mrs. J. Paul H. Hively Mr. & Mrs. Franklin T. Ulman Mrs. Morris H. Housel Miss Mary E. Ulmer Textile s Mrs. Norman Ingersoll Mrs. John W. Hunter Mrs. George Walters Mrs. Edith Wright Mrs. Leslie Painton 4 RAFTING DAYSON THELOYALSOCK By Fred M. Rogers

March 24, 1977 (Paper read before the Lycoming .Historical Society in 1928 and published in Lycoming Historical Society Publications, No. 8) ' Dear Members: As we approach the end of this fiscal year, it is my pleasureto report to you some of The subject covered by the title of latte! is necessaryto an understandingof the activities and achievements of our Society and Museum this paper i? one very inte;estingto the the former. The mills and rafting will be The monthly meetings of the Society have been well attended which is evidence of writer, who had just enough of tl; excite- takenup first--latersomething of that ment, hard work and hiirdshipsof The which is known of the Log Floaters will the interestof our membersand a complimentto Dr. Luring Priestand his program Rafting Days on the Loyalsock, to make it be added. committee for their selection of topics and speakers so By the end of our fiscal year, March 31, some 14,000persons will have visited the Museum. Many of these were students in the elementary and secondary schools of the First: it wasthe lumbermenand saw- County. Our Museum Director, Mr. Andrew Grugan, not only conducts tours of the The rafting days date back to about mills that gave rise to rafting, and the Museum but also arranges presentations and displays on special topics related to the 1830--possiblysome years before then: Bird, Rogers, Molyneux, Brown and school curriculum and they came into existencebecause the Little families, all early settlers, faced old Loyalsock was the only Highway to and conquered the complicated condi- Currently on displayfor the generalpublic are original prints of Currier and Ives the Sea at that time. and a railroad exhibit which was arranged to coincide with Dr. Homer T. Rosenberger's tions involved in getting lumber to market over the Loyalsock. speechon the history of the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad at the annual dinner of the If the fact that che men of those Society. The lumber gallery of the Museumhas receivednationwide publicity through the days, who must have been unaccustomed There were numeroussaw-mills on inclusionof a photographand descriptionof this exhibit in a publicationof the to such ruggedness as they found on the the Loyalsockin the early times and the Georgia-Pacificllistorical Museum, Portland, Oregon. Entitled ''Displaysand Exhibits Loyalsock: attempted such a dangerous location .of the principal ones as nearly as in the IJ. S. and Canada." it lists and describesa total of 72 lumber museumsand and laborious businessis amazing, it must it is possible to give it today, follows: be remembered that the men who displays. This recognition was well deservedsince our lumber gallery is very complete and well arranged. carried on" on the Loyalsock were the Three at Millview.on the Little The annual meetingand election of officers of the Societywill be held in the old sturdypioneers on that streamand Loyalsock, near Forksville--one on the Museumat 8:00 p.m., Thursday,April 21, 1977.Dr. Loring Priestwill speakon ''The their descendants. To say they knew real Huckell farm at Forksville and one near Continuing Bicentennial." reminding us that not all of the important eventsin the birth hardships and had real' grit, manliness the covered bridge at Forksville l--one a of our nation occurred in 1776. and courage, is putting it very mildly. half-mile below Forksville--twoat the Brown farm, about three miles below We are presentlyengaged in promoting with The Greater Williamsport Community And thoseof them who knew the Arts Council a concert by the world famous Columbus Boychoir at the Williamsport Forksville--one on the Bryan fail, across Area High School at eight o'clock Sunday evening, May 22, 1977. crooked, rocky, rugged course of the the Loyalsock from the Brown farm-- Proceedsfrom this major musical event will be shared by our two organizations. Loyalsock, with its b;;s, narrow channels. two near the old splashdam, four miles It is important that our members enthusiastically support this project as a means of and sharp right-angle turns so as com below Forksville--oneat the mouth of Elk much neededadditional income for our Society. Our presentsources of support through pelently to steer or pilot the regular size Creek, on the Loyalsock--one near membershipsand various grants are inadequate, and we must use other efforts if we rafts on the streamhad, in addition to Biddle'sDam at Aillsgrove--twoat are to continue to operate as an important cultural and educational assetfor our area grit,. courageand manliness,plenty of Lippencott's and Huckell's farms. below For myself, personally, and for the members of the Board of Governors, I wish to good active brain cells and quick' insights. Hillsgrove--one on the Lewis farm below expressappreciation to our staff, professional and volunteer. and to all of you for your Hillsgrove--oneon the Scaifefarm, above continuing interest and support There are but very few men left who Barbours Mills one at Barbours Mills- know the .conditions on the Loyalsock three at Bear Creek and vicinity--Day's Sincerely yours, which made the rafting days possible; Mill, below Barbours Mills--one 'at Robert D. Smink, Preszdenf and who know the approximate locations Stryker's known as Stryker's Mill--one at Lycoming County Historical of the saw-mills that ' manufactured the Woolever's Dam. known as Society lumber from which the rafts were con- Miller's Mill--one at the mouth of Wallis structed. More than likely there are but Run--and one at Slabtown or Loyalsock few historical data on the subject pre- ville served on nile for the beneHlt of 'the coming generations. Thesemills, togetherwith othersthat That .this paper may accomplish its were erected from time to time along purpose of recording conditions that will neverreturn, the writer must link up with According to other statementsone of the Rafting Days,the Lumberingand :hose was on OT neat the Benjamin Log Floating Days. A knowledge of the Little Fave. (Ed.) ' 6 7 the Loyalsockand its vicinity, produced times these men made these trips daily Some Springs there was but little :he Taft, on both sides Clad across both the lumber in Rafting Days on the Loyal- for ten days at a stretch. water on which to run the rafts and it was adds, to hold it, the Taft, together. Then sock. a real hardshipto the raftmen.At such rttnneTSmete placed on the bottomof the In early times the raftsmen depended times they either had to repin and regrub raft so that it loould pass ouev the Tacks The lumber from someof the mills on the Springrains and snowfor the Lheraft and run it in the Fall. or draw ind Logslike a sled. wasrafted at the mills, but in many in- water on which to run their rafts, but the lumber from the water in the late Fall or Winter. I SeueTal oJ' these Tunnels mete placed on stancesthe mills not being on the stream, later on, when the water was not high the bottom oj' the Taft, the fuLL length it had to be hauled on wagonsand sleds enough to run them on the natural The rafts were often loadedwith for several miles over rough, stony and rafting water, they usedthe water stored af the Taft, and these TuRReTsxoeve ako lumber, five thousandfeet to the raft. pinned OT gvubbed to the bottom oj the rugged roads. This necessitatedhandling by the splashdam about four miles below and in such casesa raft would contain Fait. if the toateTin the Creekdid not the same material severaltimes; all very Forksville. hard work. about thirty thousandfeet of lumber.2 rise su:jficientt) high to Tun the rafts, and Lhe rafts remained {n the loatev till the Two splashescould be usedfor Some years the raftmen would run a next spying, the I){ns ov grubs xoouLdrot. The chief points from which the rafts rafting purposes daily. Each splash would few thousand feet, in other years several so that the Tqt had to be ve-Pinnedor were taken were Millview, Forksville, raise the water on the Loyalsockabout hundred thousand feet. And they would three feet and the rafts running on the re-stubbed q' it was Lo make the trip the Benjamin Little farm, Charles Brown join their rafts when they reachedthe next Talttng season splashes could reach the landing at river and run them as a fleet, separating farm. the Point near the mouth of Elk I'hose I){ns and grubs were made of uev) Creek, Hillsgrove, Lippencott fame, Montoursville twice each day, providing them when they came to the riv;r dams they did not ''get fast '' on the way down. and running them as sleds. )pugh, hard wood as the) metePut to Scaife's farm, Barbours Mills, Stryker's, kava strains {n Turning over dams and Miller's Dam and Slabtown.And a few Someof the raftmen who did not roctls on their wa) to the viuev. other points on the Loyalsock towards \ On bigger loateTS the TaILs loeve LavgeT. know the river securedthe servicesof Fhe ''grubs" OT "grub-stakes" to which the end ofthe rafting days. John H. Chatham in ''Raltfng Oa)s in regular river steersmenand pilots; but Mv. Rogers TeneTSran from the bottom olf Penne)tuania '' TePovts the aueTage var most of the Loyalsock raftmen. who were ;he Taft to the toP pLatjoTm where binders The constructionof the rafts was no made ut) about Lock Haden to hate been the leadingmen in the business,ran their own rafts on the river Bete toinched doan and jmtened to the easytask, as they had to be built of 150 to 300 .feet long b) 24 J'eet loire grubs. This ent)Lanation {s made as the sufficient strength to withstand the rhe tavgest brought dolor {n the east) The excitementand kick which the farms 'grub" and 'krub&zhg" halle some- wrenchingand rough going on the course ia)s seemsto have been 320 J'eet Long raftmen received when running the Loyal- times been med joT poles passing through of the Loyalsock.The ordinaryraft was Loath t£mbeTS {n ft 115 .feet in length sock was what they liked and what they .Dose holes in the Taft and 4)vested against from eighty to one hundred feet in )n the Delawarethere is vecoTdoJ Tufts never forgot. Many of them turned back Lhebottom of the streameither to aid {n length--sixteen feet in width and one and made uP of 16 foot [engttts which mete when they had finished running the rafts steeTfng ov to stop the Tall token ft logs a half feet in depth and it was pinned 148feet ioide b) 160jeet longs25 courses 10 Montoursville as river rafting was not iesivedto tie uP to a bank. Whenthe and boomedfor a roughvoyage on the o{ boards deep, containing 180,00Q .feet as interesting and exciting as rafting on grubs mete.cut aTOmsal)Lines part of the Loyalsock and the River. I of lumber and Loadedloath shingles and the Loyalsock. Other men in such cases root logsLeft on to p'event {t being avalon PToducelThe pilots oj the bfg Tufts with took the rafts down the Susquehanna. ;hvoughthe hole {n the Tunney;and oJ CTeus o.F 15 OT 20 men Te.FeTvedto the :ouvse the Toot pact xoouLd Tot easel) The raft wasmanned by a first and :veer aTgosiesas "PuPTajts." (Ed.) When the raftmen landed for the second steersman and a first and second day they would relate the day's eventsand Fhe best desciipt£on oJ how a Tall was pilot; and was run with oars at the front )Hilt and the best glossaT)of vajting their experiencesof other days on the teams is {n "Railing Da)s in Penn.s)l- and rear ends. These oars were stems, :The distance jvom MontoursxiLle to Loyalsock; usually continuing these talks about twenty feet long, usually made HittsgTove is about tloent)-.five miles; from far into the night and until neartheir uanda,'' a series of I)aPeTSedited b) J. from small hemlock trees, seasoned; to Hfltsgrove to Fovl{.sxhtte possfbl) an addf- breakfast time, which was about 2 a.m HevbeTt WaLhev, with a "FoTewoTd" b) .f/enr] }y. Shoema er; 7'z'mes-Tribune each was spiked a tapering plank from fzona/ nine. Mr. Rogers, zn conuersalzon, After such performances they would fourteento sixteenfeet long, the oar bold me that loren the men mete doing (;q. , ALto07m, Pa. 1922 (Ed.) often, as I said before, start to hike thirty 1l quote jvom a Letter fvolh Mr. Rogers, being balanced so as to work to the best Ibis I)rodigiow daft) task, the), .foT the miles up the Loyalsockin mud often a gidng move detafk: "The Tails mete of advantage. most pave, did not come aLLthe wa) to foot deep, then board a raft and land it iiflevent loidths and lengttLS but mete FovttsnaLte, but boarded Tails at the School in Montoursvilleabout dark. And they aTOm 14 to 16 feet loire and from 80 to After the rafts werein shapeto Home OT Coveted Bridge seueTal miles would make these trips each day as long move. the cabin had to be furnished L25.feet Long, del)ending on the lengths olf town the creektouavds Hill.sgvoue. He as rafting water continued, which was Lhe pieces of lumber that were built {n£o with sleeping and cooking equipment and lisa outlined theft da) as .fottolos--Leave sometimes nearly a week. MoRtouTsa tle 2:00 a.rlb., aT'ride Coveted Lhevajts. The) metebuilt in I)htfoTmsor provisioned. The raftsmen were good \ Mr. Rogers explain.s, "rePfnnfng and sections; and these I)LatjoTmsloeTe con- Bvfdge 8 ov 9 a.m., leave Covered Bv£dge feeders and demanded good sleeping regtubbing, " as /allows: "In building rafts nected with good, strong bfndeTs;the quartersas they were very active, often on vail 9 OT 9:30 a.m., aTT£ueMontouvs- Lo Tun ouev the Lo)alsock and the Riuev lengths and widttts q th& platforms de- starting from the mouth of the Loyalsock dLLe on vast about du.sk--sa), ctt that time :he courses of tumbev built into the Taft ;eTmined the Lengths and u)idtlu oj the t Montoursville at 2:00 a.m., hiking to ).f )eaT 4 OT 5:00 P.m. In their tramp Bete pinned together with pins or grubs. Tilts as it took from 6 to lO OT12 1)tat- near Forksville and returning on a raft to jvom MontoursuiLLeto the CovetedBridge, joTms to make ut) the Length of the Tqt. Montoursville on the same day.2 Some- the)folLoxoed the CTeeh Toad. (Ed.) ;2':g=W:H,G.fU,s'a®'& 8 9

The writer had just such an ex- the ship up to his ears in April ice water, While passingover Biddle's Dam the After passing Old Watch--Crooked periencein companywith thirty or forty but was not excited; John W. Rogers writer was knockedfrom one side of the Riffle--Wallis's Run--Mountain Eddy-- men--keeping up the hikes for several shoutedto Rogersto take to the raft to the other by an oar stem in the Big-Eddy Riffle, where the Indians shot days at a time, and thoroughly enjoying mountain hands of an excitable pilot, and, uncon- at the settlers crossing the Loyalsock- the work and excitement.But not the Then the raft slid off the rocks and scious, was slipping into the mad, boiling Axe Factory Riffle, named on account of blistered feet and the rough, muddy roads the middle of the raft came to the surface water, head Hlrst,when he was caught by an axe factory being erectedand operated in those hot Spring days in the good old one foot by the pilot, and brought on near this riffle, and the Slabtown4 notso long ago with Rogersstill hangingon. The front Lhe raft. He was out of commission and Bridge, we soon reach the Old Sow. end swung about into deep water and going through that funny experienceof then pulled the rear end from the dry seeing great numbers of little stars. He This rapid or riffle receivedits name The ltfneTav)ofA Trip land. Then the raft was boardedby the also suffered with a sore head for a from a large, sharp-edged rock which, SLeersmenand pilot who had put the month. covered with but a few inches of water On boardinga raft on the Little raft into the hill and rocks, all of whom when rafting time was on, lies in the Loyalsock I above Forksville, at Millview, had deserted the ship a few moments The experience happened the same sharp turn, only a few feet from the you would soonlearn that the Little before day on the sametrip with the same pilot mountain. 5 it caught many rafts, most of Loyalsockis not the rough roaring stream who gave me the bath at Figgles'Turn. which had to be cul apart before they We lost our front oar. as it was and the little stars were in plain view most that you find the Big Loyalsockis. Once knocked to pieces on the rocks, but of the way to Montoursvilli. Yet there was could be freed. It was impossibleto free on the latter. however. the excitement managedto get the raft nearto the an entire raft from the rocksonce it had begins as yau are soon at the Gulf, 2 a shore and snubbed it until the lost oar a .kick in the experiences of that day fastened upon them. taking everything into consideration--the sharp, rocky turn in the stream; then a was replaced. Careful raftmen, unlessthey had short, rapid run bringsyou to the Dye pilot, the cold bath, and the little stars not to be forgotten. received satisfactory information, usually Kettle, another sharp rock turn. Here the Rogers received plenty of excite- tied up before running danger spots and dye kettle, now at the Rogers' homestead. ment--a good wetting in real ice water The Ketchall, a long pool, Lippen- examined the bars and channels. And was pulled from a deep hole and again and was none the worse for the ex cott's Dam, Huckell's Dam just abo;e the thosewho happenedto land their rafts used for years at the woolen factory perience. But he was never caught on any mouth of the Ogdonia, Cold Watch at on the Old Sow,often remainedthere for owned by the late John Osler and his other raft with that pilot again. the Moses Lewis farm, Burrow's Dam at descendants. the day and sometimesover night. Nor. After passingPiggies' Turn and Red the narrowsbelow the bit farm formerly as I said before, were they ever able to Rocks,S the ruining ' is fairly good to owned by the Lewis brothers near the get their rafts free from the rocks without After passingthe DyeKettle, about County Line, Ted's Root, where Ted dismembering them. And the men whose two miles below Forksville, you reach the Uncle Ben's Landing, which was at the covered bridge which spans the Loyalsock Elder jumped from his raft on a root in raft was riding the Old Sow alwaysre- Benny Little Landing on the Little farm about five miles below Forksville the stream and remained there through ceived cheers from those who passed with- then George'sRocks, a wild spot on the the night--SandyBottom, a spot known out being caught. It is recalled that Uncle stream,and the Big Dam is reachedjust Passing School-House Point just be to most people.who travel the road up the Reuben Rogers made it his business to below George's Rocks, which is four miles low Uncle Ben's Landing and Green's Turn near the WheelerGreen farm. we Loyalsock:-Scaife's Dam just below Sandy alwaysgive the raft that was stuck in the below Forksville, a dangerousspot and Bottom--the Mud Pot--Plunkett'sCreek stream a bunt with his raft and thus try one where rafts have met with rough ex- reach Biddle's Dam. Then Biddle's Turn and then the Ketchall below the Dam Turn--Degan's Dam below Barbours to free the raft. periences. Mills--Lewis' Turn I --Day's or Blair's This is a very dangeroussection of the Dam above Pine Island 2 and Cove Dam ' Or Rifle There aTe txoo Lewis' RijDes, The old Cape Dam site is soon passed Loyalsock and one that caused raftmen just below Pine Island--the Bread and ;he..!lEeT being beLoio Cold Watch. '(Ed.) and you are headed straight for the rocks much trouble until they understoodthe conditions. Dinner Rock--the Long Reach--Wool- L There is stevie dispute about this island in one of the sharpestright-angle turns on ever's, sometimes called Miller's Dam-- ind fts name. It has been suggested the Loyalsock, which is commonly known \ The main stream abode the FoTlt.s was Old Watch--and Shore Acres 3 were all ;hat Pine Island {s an eaTtfeT mme .foT as Figgles'Turn; 3 and the Turn is tpo Tough .for Tufts. (Ed.) landmarks well known to the raftmen Bitch Island. (Ed.) ' rightly namedas it givesthe raftmen the L There 'is another sl)ot, called "The They were not considereddangerous but 3 S/tore ,acres 'A a modern name. figgles 4 when they face it on a raft, ;utf,'' below the mouth oJ' the Ogdonfct care had to be exercisedall the time Mountain Pool b the covTect one. (Ed.) with an excitable pilot. when running this section of the Loyal- L Lo)akockuilte {s the qlicial name--it b Namedalter a man b) the nameof sock on account of logs getting under 'the xls called Shbtoion 6ecau.seof the It wasin this Turn that the writer FiggLes who was theme dToloned. (Ed.) rafts. Often the rafts landed high and dry lumber o.f."slabs cut b) the mills jvom nearly succumbed to the giggles when the L Dialectic English J'oT"midgets.'' (Ed.) on some bar in the stream. ;he Log! that collected in the pool and pilot put the raft straightinto the rocks. )n the bank. (Ed.) The front end of the raft attempted to 'There are txoa t)ool.s on the Lo)alsace Old Watch near the Emery Cottage iMv. JeromeLund), who logswith the climb the rocksand succeededin doing so called "Red Roclts." the owe bete is dangerous at all times as the stream pUTt) when the I)hotogTaPhused in the for some thirty feet up; the middle of the mentioned and anothe'r {aioe'r down, changes from year to year and new bars illustration was taken, stated that the raft sankbeneath the waterup to my )PPosite FaTTagut. MT. Zimmerman has and channels appear above the Watch. ;baRRel in the joTegTound to the Hght earsand the rear of the raft ran out of photographed the toxoevRed Roclls joT To a raftmana full historyof it would was not there {n Tasting dQ)s. It wm cut the stream onto dry land. Rogersstuck to uhk book. (Ed.) be interesting 5) one ofthe later .Foods. 10 1 1 Lower down, the Yellow Jackets, ' Dam, Old Watch, the Yellow Jackets, Log Floating The men watching him saw him rightly named, were always a source of and other dangerousplaces on the trip. It was most interesting to the men who covered with the logs; but shortly after trouble and anxiety to the raftmen. They The log floatersmade rafting very he disappeared from sight, he appeared consisted of several bars in the rifle that had just passed through these bad places to look back and seehow the next craft dangerousfor the raftmen after they be- from between the logs uninjured. His were changing every year and sometimes gan their driveson the Big and i.ittle first remark, after shaking the water from severaltimes a year during the rafting came through them Loyalsock about the year 1870. They his throat and nostrils was. "l've lost season.None of the men who piloted the Most of the raftmen were always continued to drive logson the two Loyal- the d.... red capt rafts were sure of escaping the bars, and ready to help their fellows when in socks for 20 years and until the greater during the rafting season rafts were part of the hemlockwas taken from the strandedon the bars. trouble and would often tie up and go to where the other fellow was fast, remain. upper Loyalsock and its tributaries . During the same year the writer was Sometimesa raft would catch on one standing in a cabin near the end of the ing with him until he wasfree from his slide crossing the Brown farm near bar, twist and go nearly broadside trouble whatever it might be. The logs were usually stocked during through the Yellow Jackets. Such running the Fall and Winter by men with teams Forksville and Sandy was standing by The water marks 2 on the Loyalsock joking with the men and threeof us boys. was exciting and made the raftmen's eyes below Slabtown were for the purpose of or by the useof log slidesand roll-ways snap; and it gave them something to talk down the mountains and through the when of a sudden a large log came locating the position of the raftmen on gorges to points on the banks of the through the cabin at about the heights of about and to te)I the boysand old men their trips, and Hayes' Dam, Red Rocks, a man's head, taking both ends of the back home when they returned. streams. This ''stocking '' was a hard and Lyons Bar, Broad Riffle, sometimes risky business.Few men were able to cabin out, and cutting off a birch When logswere being floated on the called Duck Rifle: Alum Rocks. the sapling after it had passedthrough the make any profit on their jobs, and as in cabin. Loyalsock and running thickly, the Yellow mouth of Mill Creek, and Lloyd's Dam 3 all other businesses. the success of the Jackets were often so choked up with logs were the points in the order named, with robber depended on the faithfulness of jambing on the bars and channelsthat Montoursvilleas the goal, to be reached the men who did the work. Directly after the log had passed. there seemedto be no way through them. by the raftman with his raft in good Sandy turned about quickly and re- Many times a raft would climb upon the conditionand ready for the river trip-- The expenseof cutting and stocking marked, "That d.... log nearly knocked logs and out of the water for the greater providing the lumber was not sold at my red cap from my red head." He was part ofitslength. Montoursville. the logs was often more than the 6irsi cost of the logsin the woodsand driving not thinking of how it might have taken Once when running with experienced All the spots that the writer has them to the mouth of the Loyalsock was a his red head. He w2s utterly fearlessand raftmen. the writer was on a raft that named are still vivid in the minds of the body killer a striking character among the logmen. hit one of those log jambs in the stream, old raftmen who are always ready to talk and on looking back saw the steersman, over rafting days on the Loyalsock and As for the men employed in floating Ransomand Meylert were the first who was a really portly man, down on to relate their narrow escapesfrom the logs, few reachedtheir homeswith log drivers on the Loyalsock.They drove the raft with his heelsand head in the drowning and other accidents. any of the hard earnedcash that they out of Mill Creekbelow LaPorte and air. The raft had jolted him off his \ Mv. Rogers, vel)ing on the elder MT received when they finished their drives. from pointson the Loyalsockabove the balance.while the oar stemhit him in Rogers ahd Mv. Saddled, placed the But there were some interesting charac- mouth of Mill Creek. the mouth, cutting his lips badly and reLloloJackets'' betloeen Lo)akockdlle tcrs amongthe men employedon the rendering him partially unconscious. One and the Otd Solo.Mv. JeromeLund), drives. Someof the men were very daring; A man by the nameof Fisherwas laughed even though the incident was I resident, I think, joT almost nines) )eaTS and one man the writer knew, Sandy the next log driver, who drovefrom below serious to a man over sixty who weighed aJ Lo)al.sockdlLe, and an authoTit) havel) Murdock, was exceptionally daring. ' LaPorte and on the Loyalsock. He carried two hundred and fifty pounds. Lo be questioned, positiuel) located them on his business for several years. Below the Yellow Jackets, the Loyal- fov the photogTat)hng part) as below Red He was called "Sandy" and it was his sock was not as dangerous and menacing Rocks; Mr. I,undo:s /ocafzon was con- job to break the jamb when the logs were Craig and Blanchard, large operators to the raftmenas above,and they firmed b) DT. CharlesLose and Mv startedon the drive. At one time w'henhe for those days, drove logs on the Loyal- usually ''rested on their oars'' to some Br)ant, Mr. I.andy's /oration has been was breaking the main jamb where the sock from near LaPorte and Ringdale. extent and talked over the troubles they accePtedjoT this publication logs were stocked,about three miles be- They endeavoredto drive their logs on had had in those darn Yellow .Jackets, at I'he Yettoio Jackets Teceiued {ts name low Forksville,he had to run some dis- the river but after driving them in the the Old Sow,or at Figgles'Turn, and becausethe lijFe lom nixon)scho tance after he had loosenedthe key-log river they learnedthey could not drive luTbulent and )elLowish {n cotov. "It Z other interesting and dangerous places on to get from under the high bank of logs below Sunbury without a charter. They the way down from the landing. ,{ke a swa'm o.f)eLLa«,jack'ts," said s.me abovehim; but in makingthis run, on suffered a loss of about sixty million ane. (Ed.) logsarranged for him to get out of the feet of lumber-logs. It must not be forgotten that every 2 /bfr. .l?agers ex#)Zaz7u. "Water 7narks were way, he slippedand a bank of logs trip on the Old Loyalsockon a raft was a Lvees,Toclts OT buildings neat the shore oJ' coveredhim in fifteen feetof water.The Robert Mcewan, a native of contestwith the conditionson the stream Lhe Lo)al.sock. The) mete used b) but big timbersforced him to the bottom of Williamsport, who has lived in the city for and the writer has had the cold chills jew oJ the Tajtmen." (Ed.) the stream head foremost. There his head S Llo)d's Dam--the dam ju.st abode the a long time, drove logs on the Loyalsock creep down his spine more than once covered with a red cap, stuck in the sand for years from above and below Forksville when passing Figgles' Turn, Biddle's end of the oLd State Island Path. (Ed.) on the bottom of the stream. and on both Big and Little Loyalsock. 12 13 The Emery Lumber Companyalso and $2.75 per day. For business men Mouth of Slab Run Mouth of Bar Bottom drove logs on the Loyalsock.This of thesetimes, it is exceedinglydifficult Mouth of Mill Creek Mouth of Little Bear Creek company and Robert Mcewan drove logs to figure how profits were made in Biddle's Dam Mouth of Dry Run Biddle's Turn on the Loyalsock during the later years lumbering in the early rafting days. In- Woolever's Dam(sometimes called of the rafting days and were the last to deed if we go over the list of lumbermen Ketchall Miller's Dam) Mouth of Elk Creek drive logs on the Loyalsock. of the Loyalsock,we shall find very few Old Watch (near Emery Cabin) who did make profits in the business. Hillsgrove Crooked Riffle But we must yield them admiration for Mouth of Dry Run Grass Flats R({4fmen and Wages their braveryand determinationin Lippencott's Dam Mouth of Wallis' Run Huckell's Dam attempting such a hazardous business. Mountain Eddy or Pool (in recent years The names of some of the raftmen One thing is certain, the early lumbermen Mouth of the Ogdonia Creek will no doubt be of interest to someof knew the real cost and value of the al- sometimes called Shore Acres) The Gulf Big Eddy Riffle you. Most of these men, however, did not mighty dollar. Cold Watch (at Moses Lewis' Farm) Axe Factory Riffle attempt to run the river. Lewis'Rifle Slabtown Bridge(Loyalsockville) Burrow's Dam Old Sow Moses Rogers, Reuben Rogers and Ted's Roots RaILing ltineTav) Hayes' Dam Jonathan were the earliest raftmen on the Sandy Bottom (County Line) Red Rocks Scaife'sDam and Riffle Loyalsockand the river. From Millview on the Little Sock Down Yellow Jackets the Main Creek to the West Branch Mud Pot Lyon's Bar William and John Brown Thomas, Plunkett's Creek Mouth and Turn ofthe Susquehanna Broad, or Duck, Riffle Joseph and Henry Molyneux were the Barbours and Mouth of Big Bear Creek Alum Rocks early raftmen on the Loyalsock (NOTE: This itinerary wascompiled from Degan'sRiffle and Buffalo Rock Mouth of Mill Creek Lewis' Turn and Riffle Lloyd's Dam (above Starr Island Park) S. S. Rogers, J. K. Bird, John the manuscripts of Mr. Rogers, Dr. Lose Hess' Point and the map of Mr. Bruce A. Hunt Montoursville Saddled, Thomas Rogers, Joseph Rogers, Day's or Blair's Dam Jonathan Rogers, Charles Snell, Richard In identifying the ''local names" of the State Dam (near Reading railroad turns, eddies, dams and raffles, the The Cove and Cove Dam crossing) Biddle, John G. Wright, John Lambert, Birch Island Mouth of Loyalsock Henry and Richard Mcbride, George authors, cartographer and editor had the Bread and Dinner Rock Plotts. Benjamin Plotts, Augustus assistance of Mr. John W. Rogers, Mr. Saddled, Mr. Elmer D. Hunt, Mr. Jerome Long Beach--Pilot's Rock at Lippencott, William, Isaac and John W. head of Reach Lundy, Mr. Daniel Sweely,Mr. William Rogers, Samuel and Elbert Bryan, John H. Bryan,Mr. A. F. Zimmerman,Mr. G. and John S. Brown, John Webster, Harold A. Neece and Dr. Charles W John and Wheeler Plotts, were among Ihe men who rafted after the early Youngman. Of the majority of the dams listed no vestige remains. In the lumber pioneers . cutting days, the ''chutes'' at the dams Henry Molyneux, Saddler S. Rogers, were just about wide enough to permit the passageof the rafts. (Ed.) Jonathan Rogers, Charles Snell, Benjamin Plotts and John Plotts were among the later raftmen who ran both the river and Millview PvincfPal Saw Mills the Loyalsock. Forksville and the Big Loyalsock Creek Gulf The saw-mills of the early rafting Dye Kettle (two miles below Forksville) times cut from 100.000 to 300,000 feet Benjamin Little's Landing Mouth of Scar Run of lumberannually, mostly with the up Millview Lippencott's Farm and down saw. Mouth of Ketchum Run Forksville Scaife's Farm George's Rocks (four miles Benjamin Little Farm Barbours Mills The lumber after being rafted on the below Forksville) Charles Brown Fail Miller's Dam river as far down as Marietta, brought Big Dam Point Slabtown (Loyalsockville) from $5 to $6 a thousand feet, but in Cape Dam Hillsgrove later years it brought $8, $10 and $12 Figgles' Turn per thousand feet. Red Rocks Uncle Ben's Landing (at Covered The expense of rafting was consider- Bridge five miles below Farksville) School-House Point able, the pilots receiving fS and $3.75 per day; and the steersmen receiving $4 Green's Turn (near Wheeler Green Farm) 14 15

THE SIREN Murphy the famous sharp-shooter of the lithe, graceful, good-looking. There was Revolution spent his last days there. But one, the flower of the flog:k.in whom (Story of Loyalsock Mountain) to be exact, Tim's cabin stood an eighth was centered all the good points of gener- of a mile further up stream,where there ations behind. Powderhorn and his iquaw wasquite a respectablesized flat for his Maggie Sue, she was named after two There seemedto be an unwarranted never was so much as a dog-raft or a dug- garden. The Indians' shanty was perched rich Scotch-Irish women near whosehome number of rafting accidents at Loyalsock out wreckedthere in the early days of at the apexwhere the flat and the her parents once tented, both wanted an Rifles, someof them fraught with lossof rafting; the river had been run safely mountain side come together. It looked, attractive name for this most winsomeof life. It wascertainly not the worstplace from Karthaus to Harrisburg for ten years from a distance,like an oriole'snest their daughters. They called her after a on the river by any means,at leastto before the trouble began. Then all of a literally hanging over the river. The flowering plant, the roots of which they pilots who could successfully navigate sudden there was a change; it took a Indian head of the family went by the had both hunted and loved as modern Conewago Falls, with its drop of seventy hardy pilot to get through in safety until name of Powderhorn, not ' a very pretty children love candy, SweetCicely. The feet in the mile, year after year, to say he learned the secret of the danger. Once but yet a serviceablecognomen. About young girl developed to be sweeter than nothing of the chutes in Muncy and awareof this, he took particular care not the time they adopted trousersand stove- her nameand her parentsin their Shamokin dams, yet would go to des- to duplicate his loss, which sometimeshad pipe hats, the redskinsbegan anglicizing homely way were sometimessorry they truction in the shallows of Loyalsock. mounted up even into human lives. As their names.In their last phasein Penn- had not chosen a name more imposing. There was one explanation which found was generally the case with untoward sylvania history we read of Johnnyhocks, Perhaps as they grew older they ' forget Little Johnny Brokenstraw, Bob Sunday. the tasteof their early sweetmeat.so- many followers, and which was as so happenings in those days, and in these Billy Frozen Stone, Hotbread, and many rafts had tied up at Lock Haven or for that matter, if we only took trouble Powderhorn cially the lonely Indian family werequite Williamsport on their way, that the rafts- to inquire, man's avarice and sin and by themselves,as much so as a parrot men had imbibed too freely, and were not supernatural retribution were the ''cause in a flock of sparrows.The good looksof in the propertrim whenthey hit their and effect '' of these rafting tragedies. But the story of Powderhorncon- the Indians girls, especiallySweet Cicely. first obstacle.But this could not hold cerns us most at present. He was the last made considerable of an impression on good when numerous rafts, manned by To go backto the Hlrstelements of of his generation, his father and mother the few young white men of the neighbor- church membersfresh from the throesof the story, let it be stated again that the had been butchered by whites on the hood, but as the girls had no wild protracted meetings,wcnt down with the Indians did not leave the Bald Eagle Yellow BreechesCreek, his brothers and inclinations, they made no efforts to be same alacrity as those piloted by crews Mountain country suddenly, nor any sistersgrew to maturity only to die of civil to them. The oldest girl, when she outside the fold": it behooved investi- other part of the State. After they had some pestilence which decimated their was twenty-six,in the Warrior's Run gators to learn the probable reasonsfrom been whipped into being peaceable cit kind on the banksof the Juniata. Powder- Sunday School one morning told her the raftsmen themselves.But the rafting izens,they were familiar figuresin the horn himself had suffered from the teacher that she had never had a sweet- horrible disease, but survived it minus fraternity was clannish and close- market places of the towns, around the heart. The white girls lookedat her mouthed, as reticent about their mishaps old public-housesand ferries,and their hair and teeth and plus a palsied leg. amazed, as she was far prettier than any as their triumphs, with their own revenges tents and shantiesloomed along many a It was hard for him to hunt.'so he culti of them. and rewards, and it was only when practi- river bank. Gradually only did they be- vated a taste for basket-making. He cally the "last raft'' had gone that the come less, they went quietly and un- married on the Juniata, and drifted Once, by a chance, an Indian youth old pilots became communicative. Then obtrusively, until no one was shocked North with his bride and built her the appeared on the scene. He came from were heard many interesting reminis- when they were seen no more. hanging nest in that neck of woods below the reservationabout fifteen miles north cences of the river. The negro of today is going through the SylvanDell. He becamean attendant of Warren and did farm work for old a similar transition,he is seenfilling at the first markets in Williamsport, Ezra McGrady who lived across the river There was one old gentlemanwho fewer positions than ten or twenty years where he found ready sale for his wares from Powderhorn's retreat. He was a fine had rafted for over half a century, and ago, he is dropping out of his familiar and in addition did choresfor the farmers appearingyoung fellow, about twenty who knewthe Susquehannafrom the haunts, he is becoming less obtrusive, he and housewives. To see an Indian today yearsof age,and grown to a heighta mouth of Moshannon to the dead waters at a Williamsportmarket would draw a couple of inchesover six feet. He called of Marietta as a nun knows her beads, is on the ' wane. Fifty years from now people will listen with amazement at tales crowd, but that is becausethe last ab- himself Wild William Winters and that was able to explain why so many of the plenitude of negroes in the last origine has gone. In those days there were boasted of a relationship to the venerable rafts split up at Loyalsock.He did not years of the nineteenth century; he will supposed to be Indians, they caused no Chief Cornplant. Having the choice, he profess to believe the story in its entirety, have followed the Indian into shadowy more consternationthan when a bull selected Sweet Cicely as the object of his but without it the constantwrecks would oblivion. moosefrom the North Woodsis strung up admiration and soon was genuinely in be shrouded in the profoundest mystery. in front of a butcher's stall. '' lovewith her and shewith him. He was Once when the grand old gentleman was There was a single family of Mingo her first admirer, her first love. her first in a particularly communicative mood Indians, tradition had it they came from In due course of time Powderhom kiss, all was so new and fresh: her em- and was seatedin his favorite easy-chair the Southernpart of the State,who lived accumulated a family; it consisted of braces did not cast the shadow of some on his comfortablepiazza in the shadow a short distancebelow the presentlo- eight girls and a boy. The boy was a other man who had been there before. of the Round Top, he told the story of cation of the summerresort known as sickly specimen, early ticketed 'for the She was happy in not being able to the rafts that wcnt to piecesover the SylvanDell. They werenot the only Happy Hunting Ground without stop, measure his intensity with some one else, Riffles of Loyalsock. It seemed there interesting denizens of that spot; Tim but the girls seemedfull of health, we;e to compare his kisses and hand clasps 16 17 with one who had gone before. The because she was happy, and one ought to ecstasyof the first love is life's grandest be allowed happiness even when strangers for help" was her next note of warning Elkhorn sympathetically, as he had sized elation; but how few have experienced it are present. At this he put both arms about her and up the situation, "come to meet your are aware of its value. tried to push her over on her back. That sweetheart only to Hind her murdered. was the limit of endurance, she screamed One night when the river was falling That raftsman did it. but .we couldn't There was a pathway which led from fast, she had permitted herselfto burst lustily, all the vigor of her Indian lungs have stopped him, as we had no guns, the home of Powilerhomalong the river into song;it seemeda late hour and late was asserted.The man, angeredto 'a and he was gone before our canoe bank; it ran about ten feet abovethe point where self-control was gone, re- touched shore." Taking the fragile corpse from rivermen'sstandards for any rafts to leasedhis hold from her waist with one water and was shaded by venerable red- pass; the time slipped quicker when she in their arms, the youngmen, straight birches, buttonwoods. elms and hemlocks. sanguntil Wild William came.They had hand and graspedher throat to silence and tragic looking, and never speak;ng Wildflowers and many colored birds. been house-cleaning at McGrady's and her. He had a strongergrip than he a word, stalked up the path, the scene realized, so used to bending ' his heavy of so many happy strolls in the past, to sweet scents and sweet songs, made it a the young redman being man of all work taken oar against resolute currents; the paradise for strayers. The path term- was detained in consequence. Sweet the cabin of poor old Powderhor:i. inated at a narrow, rocky ledge which was Cicely expected this, but he seemed un- girl miraculouslyto him, becamestill. He looked down on her as a panther would It appearedso bleak and forlorn often used as a seat by thi lovers. On commonly long in coming. As she looked looking out through the night, it was .lust the warmer eveningsSweet Cicely sat up and down stream with her eager lover- on sicklyfawn; the purplepink of her a shadedarker than the gloom, as the there and waited until Wild William. like glances,she noticed a raft approach- complexionwas now a blue grey, the hearts of the household Gould be in a color of twilight before it dias. ' Some his work at McGrady's done, would cross ing. The pilot, a black figure against few minutes. The little shaggywatchdog, the river in his canoe and court her on the silvery tone of the dusk, stood motion- instinct of self-preservation, such as every a sort of mongrel descendaiii ' of the true animal possesses, caused him to turn hi; the ledge. When it was time to go home less at his steering-oar. He was alone; a eyes across the river. A canoe, with two Indian dogs, barked moodily, as they he would accompanyher up the path to pile of buffalo robeson the centre of the drew near. He saw that something was the cabin, and then return to his canoe. raft showedwhere he slept. Wherethe men in it, was being launched. He looked amiss. Wild William knocked oi the skimming across the moonlit waters like a rest of his crew were was a mystery; may- againat the limp form beforehim; he door, and it was almost instantly opened savage warrior of old. Often as she had evidentlykilled the girl, he must be they had mutinied at some tavern. make his escape.But how was he to do by Powderhorn. "What's wrong,'" he waited SweetCicely would sing. She had a Sweet nicely conjectured. She was so it? On one sidewas the river. with the stammered, "I had a feeling something sweet voice and picked up many of the interestedby this apparitionof the lone canoeof the avengersnow in mid- was going to happen, I couldn't get t8 ancient Indian refrains and, coming from raftsman that she forgot to stop singing stream,on the other rosethe stiff for- sleep." He need not have inquired, his the South she sang the earliest version of The night wind springing up bore the second glance showed Sweet Cicely lying that bewitching piece, ''Wild roved an strains of ''Still sweeps the River on" to bidding. height of the Bald Eagle limp in Bully Elkhorn'sarms. Indian girl, bright Alfarata." it was an the earsof the silentman. His alert Mountain. It was a perilous climb at entrancingsight to see her sitting there, glance showed that a young slender girl dark, but he mustgo that way, as the Wild William explained the story as was watching him and her singing was he?.W timber would protect him from any briefly as possible, an(i then the body 'was with her pretty feet dangling over the bullets they sent after him. ledge, singing her love-warmed songs, probably meant for him. Quick as a flash borne inside. The next morning old while her lover sped to her side in his he threw his weight againstthe oar and Powderhorn tramped to Williamspo;t and headed the raft towards shore. It was a Abandoningmoney, robes, pro tried to give the account of his daughter's It was a bit of primevallife death at the Courthouse. But the officials restored; if it could only have lasted. visions, he started up the mountain, perilous place to tie up, but he was speeding with the giant strides of fear and plainly regarded the Indians as outside willing to risk it. When the front logs self-protection. The canoe which con- During the Spring floods rafts would snubbedrock bank, he leapedon land the law; he could not get a listeningear. and tied the raft to someof the sturdiest tained Wild William, and another young He was so insistent that something be drift by the lovers'cookery; when they Indian namedBully Elkharn, who had done that the sheriff, to be rid of him. were together they waved to the raftsmen, red-birches. Then he clambered up the just as modern folk salute a passing ex- come to hostler at McGrady's farm reach intimated that unlesshe dropped the rocky cliff to where Sweet Cicely was ed the shorebelow the ledge, and the subject and left town, he would send press train. All was good-natured, simple, seated,with her feet danglingover the young men clambered to where Sweet down and arrestWild William and harmless. Occasionallyat dusk when ledge. He moved so rapidly, she was still nicely. lay:.She was not dead yet, every charge him with the crime, and lock up Sweet Cicely was waiting for her lover, singing when he stood beside her. She was possible effort was made to revive her. Bully Elkhom and the old man as wit- rafts would pass, but they were belated not frightened,it wasnot dark, any but as the last streak of light vanished nesses.Convinced of the futility of obtain- craft, looking for comfortable eddies to minute she might see Wild William's from the sky, she died; anil they stood ing justice, he returned home, and that tie up for the night. The young girl never canoe launched in the current. What did beforedeath in the darkness.with the night helpedbury the remainsof his waved to the raftsmen when she was alone the stranger want, his conduct was inex- and few noticed her when the sun was sound of the river rippling below them. beloved daughter in a patch of rich earth. plicable. He did not lose time in showing They planted sunflower seeds on the gone. They sweptby like wild geesehunt- her, as he sat down and put his arm. Wild William could feel the marks of grave. ing their night-marsh. But sometimes as as strong as an iron girder, around her the brute's thumb in her slender neck. He Powderhorn was never the sameafter they passed she would catch herself in the slender waist, and began addressing her midst of somesong, though in minor in namesof endearment.The girl tried must have broken her windpipe. He was Sweet Cicely had gone. He would not key, and would check herselfinstantly to free herself,calling out "Let go, let go, too.!toical to cry; he belongedto a go to Williamsport again, as he imagined vanishing race, death was the principal everyone else was as unjust as the Court- fearing that the watemnenmight think let go, you," but the strangeronly held event to them, what elsewas there but she was singing to attact them. She sang her more tightly. ''let go or I'll scream house officials. He limped more than death. ''That's pretty tough," said Bully usual, and complainedof headachesand -- LoyR\,Sock. CREEK--lh. \,RxA\-SRQI)\(K...'KtPN-e. CREEK. ?idl«s---

'i3...a\...t C.u

XRH. \q32. P.4.«.. v...:~XXa. "dXC].K.c.s "it\qS'Bc EsK.~qXea-f"«- -he V.a ' \h& a.. '%«Xdah.; ,$ t.il.. 'R«A .: rBP .x.«a&t8 t'.S$ 'm.k, -'- '--' -.--'- 20 backaches.He often saidhe would like listen.But old Ezra McGradyfrom his MICHAEL ROSS, FOUNDER OF WILLIAMSPORT to get away. In this wish he was point of vantageacross the river began supported by the rest of his family. The to do somethinking about the matter. By Craig Weaver happy days were no more He had already formed an opinion of After harvestWild William and what causedso many wreckswhen one 'This t)apec was pePaTed during the Fall, 1976, Semester at L)coming CoLLegea.s a Bully Elkhorn, who had tried to trail the eseaTchproject to .fuljiLI the TequiTementso.f an intern.ship n 4meTican Histov)) murderer during their leisure moments ;ieHii:="H:.==K':/'=:=='..iU and became discouraged, decided to go had becomeof the indian family who A recent donation to the Lycoming ambition becausehe also dealt in land back to the reservation on the Alleghany. used to live on the opposite shore. The County Historical Society contained a merchandise, and other commodities of When they confided this to Powderhorn. man had been drinking, so his tongue large number of books and papers which the country such as lumber, grains, and he said he would go along and take his ran freely; there was ;omething about belonged to Michael Ross o; his descen- whiskey.3 Land emerged out of these family. .So early in September ''they him which stamped him as a raftsman. dants. I Michael Ross was the founder and various activities and pursuits as his larg- gathered up their tents like the Arabs and By deft questioning McGrady learned his proprietor of Williamsport. He easily fits est interest and asset.He acquired the silently stole away." Years afterwards nameand his experienceson the river the image of the "great American land slowly, picking up only small plots rumor had it that Wild William's wound before he sent him on his way. ''Some dream." He raised himself from rags to periodically and adding to his holdings had healed sufficiently to marry another just fate sent him here.'' muttered the riches in a relatively short period of time. until he eventually owned several hundred of Powderhorn's daughters, wl;ile Bully old man, as he turned about after light- Because records have not hitherto been acres on both sides of the Susquehanna Elkhorn had married the oldest girl', ing the strangerto the pike with'his available his story is little known, but River. Much of the accumulatedland whose first love affair came to her at lantern."Indian or not, that girl will hopefully the combination of what has later fell into the boundariesof the city thirty. be.avenged."The next time a party of been known and these new records will of Williamsport raftsmen stopped at his house,' it 'had provide a compo?itehistory of an early But the shadowy essence of the ill- becomequite a resortfor themon their used Indians remained along Loyalsock prominent man of this area. The original deedfor the tract of mountain, at least the spiritual part of long walks to their homes, he whispered land "Virgini!! ' which now comprises one of them. In the springtimewhen to .them .the. story of the strange singer Michael Rosswas born July 12, 1759. belatedrafts sweptdo;n the river in with the fatal voice, and who her murder- He was of Scottish origin, 'but his exact =:=. 'li:.="T£:'''i.::"£.S:'£ er had been. "Mum's the word, by the search of cozy eddies, the clear, pure placeof birth is uncertain.The first trace George Gibson originally surveys;tiand notes of a young girl's voice were heard saints above:" t.hey..?ll said with 'right of him in the United Statesis found some- obtainedit on April 3, 1769.He held from high on a le:ige abovethe stream. hands raised. ''We'll send that girl's time around 1772,when he and his it a very short period of time, conveying splat into peace,even if shewas an mother were living in Philadelphia. On it to Matthias Slough in 1770. Slougii Hearingthem for the first time, they Indian. wereso liquid, so exquisite,so far- April 11 of that yearthey entered the held it for 18 years aid on May 22, 1788, reaching,many a pilot let go his oar, and Who could forget that rugged circle service of Samuel Wallis at Mluncy conveyedthe tract to William Winter. the uneven current would bump the raft as they stood in the hallway in the candle- Michael Ross came into possessionof it lightl One night, the followingSpring Samuel Wallis was one of the wealth- on April 1, 1793. on the sharp rocks or send it wobbling just. as .the last streaks of light ' we;e iest landowners in the area. His stone into shore. There would be a rending passingfrom the sky, another fatLI rafting house at Hall's Station stood where it The deed spelled out the exact of thongs, a.bending of bolts, a ravelling accident occurred at the Loyalsock borders and although today the land- of ropes, shouts, l:urges, thumps and still standstoday; then only a few marks are lost, they are interestingbe- bangs;the raft, mistressof the tide but Riffles. A well-knownpilot from the new hundred yards from Fort Muncy. As county of Clinton, respectedand pros Wallis was involved in elements of our cause this formed the "backbone of w. mf?mentsbefore, would be floating Williamsport." ..."Begin at an Ash on the in all directions like so much flotsam perous,. was knocked off his raft by the local history such as the American bow of another raft which had 'been Susquehanna, then north 300 perches and. jet:am: Sometimes pilot or helpers Revolution and the Great Runaway, it is trailing . close behind. He was horribly likely that his young indentured s©rvant along the land of Robert Galbraith and would fall betweenlogs and have their PhoenisePickly to a post. Then east 176 necksbroken or be drowned in the mad mangled by logs and rocks, so much so became somehow involved also. that it was decided to inter his remains perches to a post at the said river. Then strom. And above the crash of breaking on the flat near the deserted Indian up some 192 perches to the beginning."4 timbers and seething waters would come The indentureship lasted for seven cabin. As they threw the sodsover him years, and for most of that time Michael Today, this comprisesan area from Penn the. clear, flutelike echoesof a young this human chuck-steak, the crowd resided at the Wallis house. He concluded Street to Hepburn Street, and north as girl's voice. Even those who had' gone around seemed to hear high up on the his employment in 1779 at the age of 20, far as Wyoming Street. The southern through these perils and escaped with boundary is obviously the Susquehanna life and limb would be sorely' tempted mountain.L.the sweet notes oia girl and .became a surveyor. Wallis apparently singing, "Fleeting years have borne away liked Ross because at the concl;dion of River. In the past some scholars have heardto look it. and listen the next 'time they the voiceof Alfarata." The men nudged the indenture, he gave him high recom- disputed Ross's ownership of this land, one another, bared their heads and but the original deedsigned by Governor Who she was, and what she was. mendations and 100 acres of lind. This listened.It was the last time that any- marked Michael's start in life.2 Mifflin establishedbeyond doubt the this Siren of the West Branch. must be one ever heard the Siren. authenticity of his ownershipof the plot. explained. She could not be human. she Faker .from: ''TcllesoJ the Bald Eagle Ross quickly became a successful This document is now in tile permanent sang as if divine. No one dared stop Afounfazizs" &y .f/envy W'. Shoemaker surveyor. He also farmed and on quite collection of the Lycoming County Histor- to investigate; it was fatal to even a large scale.It is obvioushe had much ical Society. 22

The documents reveal another series held firmly bound unto Samuel Kendall. .. Street. In his cellar was discoveredthe There is some evidence to suggest of land transactions which appear com- and state a final sum of $1,000.00 lawful bones of old Miss Margaret Ross and old that strings were pulled in the naming plex but are very important in further money to be paid." Another document Mrs. Elizabeth Corsons." These remains of Williamsport as the County Seat. showing how Ross accumulated the land in the collection soon cleared up the were also taken by Peter Vanderbelt to A document dated September24, 1795, base for Williamsport. About 320 acres mystery of the bond. Also dated April 8. the cemetery. "They were buried between and signed by five men declared that of land at the mouth of the Loyalsock 1815 is a deed for land owned by Samuel the feet of Michael Ross and Ann Ross Michael Ross'sfame would be the best Creek was surveyed unto Benjamin Lands Kendall to be transferred to Michael in the afore cemetery, done by me out place for the seat of justice in Lycoming on November 4, 1769. The Orphan's Ross. This plot, "Greenfield," contained of the kind respectfor the family." This County. This suggestspolitical intrusion Court later ordered this land. called "The 42 acres.It is interestingto notethat claim was signed by Peter Vanderbelt. since courts were already being held at Square," which bordered ''Virginia" to one of the previous owners was Paul The two ladies mentioned are Michael's the prospering Jaysburg (Newberry), while be returned to Margaret Duncan and her Weitzel, mentioned previously for owning mother and mother-in-law.This doc Williamsport had only one log building children. Apparently as soon as the trans- land that bordered ''Virginia. ument meansthat there are two people's The signersof the document recommend- action from Lands to Duncan took place. remains in the cemetery that have been ing Ross's farm are, respectfully, John Mrs. Duncanturned the land over to Thesegeneral land transactions,with hitherto unknown. They are not recorded Hall. Francis Nicholls. Alexander Scott, Ross, because his signature appears at the the exception of the one in 1815, con- in the cemeteryrecords, which date from John Edir, and William Elliot. The bottom of the deed. solidatedby 1795-96the area that 1865. Apparently the only record made prominent historian John Meginnesstells emerged as Williamsport. The land con- of this reinterment was the signed state us that therewas a bitter fight overthe Similarly, PhoenisePickly whose land stituted the East End of what is now the ment Peter Vanderbelt made in the book naming of the county seat.V also bordered ''Virginia," became in- town. Ross resided in a log house near cited above. volved in the "Duncan Deal." His land. modern-day Fourth Street, between These as well as other isolated facts. called "Content '' was situated above the Academy and Basin Streets. About 1800 such that the county commissionerskept Loyalsock and contained 323 acres. This he erecteda brick dwellingat a spot at One of Ross's greatest accomplish- ments was the founding of Williamsport. their officesin Jaysburguntil nearly 1800. land was also returned to Margaret the north cornerof EastThird and Basin tend to suggestthat more of a battle took Duncan in April, 1770. Ross also signed Streets. This is where he died. He supervisedthe surveyingfor the entire town which was laid out primarily on place than is now realized. On June 4, this agreement indicating that it too was his ground. His plan was to subdivide 1789, John Kidd, the prothonotary, wrote apparently turned over to him. In the first days of Williamsport, to the governor asking if he could remain there were no cemeteriesand Ross per- Williamsport's intended site by straight situated at Jaysburgfor another year. A deed dated 1796 conveying land mitted the dead to be buried in a field and spacious lots, intersecting each other It was written with the hope that the from William Bailey to Michael Ross was at the southwestcorner of East Third at right angles. By reserving valuable decision of the commissioners who also part of the ruling of the Orphan's and Penn Streets. However. after the portions of the land for public use, he selectedthe Rosssite might be set aside. Clourt. Mrs. Bailey was one of Duncan's town was laid out, he set aside the old evidenced a "far-reaching comprehensive- so Jaysburg could then be chosen. The daughters.The deed said there had been Pine Street burying grounds located nessof thought which has ever since governor replied that it was the language a previous agreement between Bailey and where City Hall now stands. Michael and exerted an important and beneficial in- used at the creation of the county, which William Benjamin,but beforea trans- membersof his family were buried there, fluence upon the subsequent history."6 clearly says that the report "shall be action could take place, Benjamin had but eventuallythe cemeterywas removed In keeping with this plan Ross generously donatedthe grounds for the erectionof Hind," which kept him from reversingthe made an agreement with Michael Ross. and they had to be reinterred. decision. "Had not this positive language This previous agreement dated February the public buildings. He also surely been used, it is probable that Jaysburg 23, 1795,said Benjaminwould..."grant Peter Vanderbelt. who was married understood that no taxes had to be paid would have triumphed in the end."10 bargain and sell him, Ross,one equal, on land that wasset asidefor public to Ross's daughter, took charge of rein- use individual half part of the land afore- terring his body. He had the graves On April 14, 1795, Mr. William said." (land belonging to the Baileys). of a]] membersof the Rossfamily in the Hepburn presentedto the governor, for Four months later he granted Rossthe neglected graveyard opened and after Williamsport's original limits, as his approbation,five bills, one of which remaining equal, individual half part. gathering together all of the bones that defined by Ross, embraced "All that proposed the division of "part of the As a resultof all this bargaining,the he could find, placed them in a soap portion of the present city (1873) in- county of Northumberlandinto a Baileys simply bypassed William Ben- box. He then wheeledthem in a wheei- cluded betweenthe river on the south separate county."ll Section Vll of the jamin and granted the land directly to barrow to a cemetery, now the Williams- and North Alley on the north; and bill read: Ross. It contained 288 acres and bordered port Cemetery located on Washington between Academy Street on the east and The governor be authorized, land that Ross already owned. Ross Boulevard. The headstoneswere erected West Street on 'the west."7 it was his and he is hereby required to signed this agreement na less than three there, which is where Michael Ross still practical and good senseas well as his appoint. ..Hive commissionersl times. rests.5 liberal nature that enabled him to avoid wMBchshall meet at the town of Northumberland on the first one mistake that was frequently made Ross continued to expand his A book that belonged to Michael by proprietors of small towns: narrowness Monday of next Septemberand Ross and later to Peter Vanderbelt proceed to view and determine awnings throughout his life. A bond be- of itreits. Adequate street width was one iipon the most eligible and tween Ross and Samuel Kendall dated carried the inscription. . ."In 1865 Godfrey element that was included in his original Fourth er spot for erecting the April 8, 1815 states..."Know all men Hess had a brick house on plan and was carried out by his Hic biiildings for thi said by these present, that I Michael Ross am Street somewhere in the area of Railway successors . 8 county; and make their report 24 25 into the office of the secretary with land and had previouslyserved on Footnotes I)oculnents of this commonwealth.on or a committee dealing with land. beforethe first day of October which report so made shall be Another land speculatorof this time final. and shall fix and detennine can be linked directly to Hepburn and Ross. Samuel Wallis. whom Ross served the spot for the seat of justice. iZ l Deedfor the tract of land 'Virginia for seven years, was one of the largest A completedescription of the docu- William Hepburn was a prosperous landownersin the entireregion. At one ments from which this essay is based citizen of this area who was the State isfound on page 12. Power of Attorney: William Winter to Senator. He also happened to own land time he owned 7,000 acres ranging from Michael Ross. that borderedRoss's farm. The bill Muncy to Williamsport. Wallis can be 2 Meginness,John F., History of which was drafted by Hepburn, carries linked to the scheme in several ways. Montoursville. Pennsylvania. From Article of Agreement between William implications that are no longer recog- Some of this material concerning a the Earliest Times to the Present Winter and Michael Ross,concerns future nized. The question in part was one of coalition is innuendo and speculation, but Weekly Globe, Montoursville, Penn- sales of ''Virginia. a political coalition between Senator some concrete evidence has been found. sylvania, 1898. Hepburn and Governor Mifflin. It is not A document14 concerning the settling of Land agreement between Matthias Slough positively known what influences were the estate of Wallis, revealedthat John 3 Ibid and William Winter. Also mentioned is brought to bear on the commissioners, Hall, another of the ''Williamsport a later conveyance to Michael Ross. 1786. but several sources implied it was done commissioners, received land in Muncy 4 A perch is an 18th century land for favors. such as lots in the new town location of Phoenise for themselvesor their friends. Township that belonged to Wallis. This measurement equalling about one Deed showing in itself is no indicationthat foul play rod or approximately 16 feet. Pickly'sland. Further research shows that perhaps occurred. It is used basically to show that the two were acquaintedand that Hall 5 Clark, James,The Lif'e and Times Bond betweenMichael Rossand Samuel Hepburn had even more than these Kendall. political ties. William Hepburn served did acquire some of the Wallis land. It of Wi!!ialnFisher Packer. Presented as an officer in the PennsylvaniaMilitia. is also interestingto note that a plot of to the Lycoming County Historical As a captain in the Fourth Battalion, land that Wallis owned in Center County Society, 1929. Deed. Samuel Kendall to Michael Ross with 45 men under him, he acquired adjoined land that was owned by William for "Green6leld. many associatesand connections.Listed Elliott. another of the commissioners. 6 Blair,W. C. andMcMath, J. B. This providesanother direct tie between Condensed History of Williamspor! Deed from William Bailey to Michael in Captain Hepburn's company in 1778. Ross. 1796. was ensign John Hall. !! This is extremely an appointed commissioner and one who Williamsport, Pennsylvania, 1873 significantbecause he is one of the had been intimately associated with Ross. commissioners that later selected Ross's Admittedly,some of this may be 7 Lloyd Thomas W Histo of Deed specifying that land belonging to farm. This establishesan importanttie fishing," but it does show that some of COBBLE Penn Benjamin Lands had to be granted to between Hepburn and Hall. the key peoplewere directlyor in- Topeka, Indianapolis, 1929 Margaret Duncan as per order of the directly associatedwith each other. Per Orphan's Court. This document is signed Nat in the sameregiment, but also haps the future will bring new material 8 Ibid by Michael Ross. listed as an officer in the militia was or a betterunderstanding of theseinter Second Lieutenant Francis Nicholls. esting relationships and events. 9 Meginness, John F., !!y£gDln Agreement for 288 acres made by Ben Nicholls' name also appeared as one of County: Its Organization and Con jamin Lands to Michael Ross. 1795. the commissioners. Nicholls was later One unanswered question remains and that question has been a persistent densed History. Williamsport, Penn appointed a Lieutenant Colonel, making one: Who is Williamsport named after? sylvania, 1873. A letter to Ross, written for Jacob Boyer him well knownto thoseof rank in the There has been considerable debate over to William Cutler. Pennsylvania Militia. this questionfor many years.R. H. 10 Now and Then. Muncy Historical Society, Volume 13. Personal drawings and letters of Thomas It is also conceivable that Hepburn Hepburn wrote in the Sun Gazettein Bennett could have used his land and business 1922 that the town was unquestionably associatesto exert some of his influence. namedafter his ancestorWilliam Hep- 1 1 Journal of the Pennsylvanj4 Senate. Another of the signers was Alexander burn. However, the great historian John April through December, 1795. Document showing Benjamin Lands Scott. A letter to him from Thomas Meginnesshad his doubts. He once said acquiredland abovethe mouth af the 12 Cooper, a commissioner in Luzerne that he knew there were unwritten and PennsylvaniaLaws, 1795. Chapter Loyalsock in Berks County containing MCMCCCXXlll. Fifth Legislative 321 acres, called "The Square." 1769. County, is the only reference to Scott unspoken facts, but he could not deHlne This was later given to Margaret Duncan. in the Pennsylvania Archives. It con- them. The long debate can now be sea- Assembly. cerneda large land deal in the Wilkes- led. On the first page of an oblong leath- 13 Pennsvlvania byes. Second Document showing "Content" which Barre area, proving that Scott was some- er booknow in the passessionof the Series. one of substancewho had dealt with Lycoming County Historical Museum. belongedto PhoenisePickly had to be land in the past. No direct tie could be Ross penned these words: "I name the turned over to Margaret Duncan. Ross found linking Scott to Hepburn, but it boroughof Williamsportfor my son 14 Primary sourcefound at the Lycom later acquired this as his signature is apparent that Alexander Scott dealt William, bornJanuary 22, 1795. ing County Historical Society. appearsat the bottom. 26 27 .Books John F. THE PRESBYTERIANMINISTERS OF LYCOMING COUNTY (Continuation) Leather book that once belonged to Times to the Parse!!CWeekly Globe Michael Ross. Contains genealogy in his Montoursville, Pennsylvania.1898. By Warren L. Marsh handwriting. Meginness, John F. Otzinachson: A Reu. Joseph Pafntev, D. D Book that belonged to Michael Ross History of the West Branch Valley. This contains his statement that Williams Gazette and Bulletin Printing House. Joseph Painter, the son of Jacob and congregation, and addressthe people on port was named after his son William, Williamsport, Pennsylvania.1 889. Deborah Painter, was born May 21, 1799 the subject of his ministerial support. bornJanuary 22, 1795. in Solebury Township, Bucks County, The Moderator that year was the Rev. Meginness, John F. Lycoming Count Penna. He commencedhis studies at GeorgeJunkin who acted so prominent Pocketbook that belonged to Peter Its Organization and Condensed History the Amwell Academy, New Jersey, and a part in the Crisis, or proceedings, of Vanderbelt, Jr. Indicated that he bought Gazette and Bulletin Printing House. entered the sophomore class in Union the General Assembly that resulted in the it from his father, and it is highly Williamsport, Pennsylvania.1895. College, Schenectady September 22, division of the Church into New and Old possible that it had been Michael Ross's- 1819, where he graduated in .July, 1822. School. The pastoral relation existing be- laurnal of the PennsylvaniaSenate. Pro- The two years following his graduation tween Dr. Painter and the Lycoming Pocketbookcontaining receipts of ceedings from April, 1795 through were spent in Danville, Penna., in the Church was dissolved April 20, 1831, Thomas Bennett and the obituary of December, 1795. family cf Rev. Isaac Grier, teaching at because the congregation failed to pay Ann Ross Higgins. an academy, and studying theology pri him enough out of his small salary to Pennsylvania AFchivi Series1, Volume vately under the direction of Rev. John enable him to live. Between April, 1831, Handwritten book of Peter Vanderbelt XII. B . Patterson. and March. 1834.he laboredin the 1798 through 1807. churchesof White Deer. Warrior Run. Pennsvlvania Archives. Series 11, All On the 17th of November. 1824 and Peniel, as stated supply Book belonging to Ellen Vanderbelt Volumes. he married Miss Hannah, fourth daughter of Rev. John S. Vredenburgh,pastor of His wife died after a two weeks The school exercise book of Elizabeth pennsylvania J.aws. Fifth Legislative the ReformedDutch Churchin Somer illness on December 4, 1833, leaving him Ross (Michael's daughter) 1800. From a General Assembly. Commenced Decem- ville, New Jersey, and granddaughter of with a family of four children,the school at Pine Creek. John Norris was ber 2, 1794,ended April 20, 1795. Rev. James Caldwell, who was inhumane- eldest about six and one-half years old. the teacher. Contained mostly mathem- ly murdered by a drunken Hessian She was buried in the cemeteryat atical rules, but also included a variety Votes and Proceedingsof che Pe!!!!svl sentinel at Elizabethtown Point, New Warrior Run Church. where her tomb of recipes. vania House of Representatives. Proceed Jersey, November 24th, 1781 stone may be seen ings from April, 1795 through I)ecember 1795. Mr. Painter was taken under the His reasons for severing his pastoral care of the Presbytery of Northumberland relations with the Newberry Church in- BibliOgTa +h' Williamsport Gazette and Bulletin October 7, 1823, where on April 21. cidentally appear in a correspondence Thursday,March 6, 1890. 1824, he was examined in Exegesisand between him and Dr. George Junkin. Blair, W. C. and J. B. McMath. homily, Latin, Greek, the sciences,and As a preacher and pastor he was greatly CondensedHistow of Willie!!!W. Williamsoort Sun Gazette. December systematictheology. On April 19, 1825. beloved, the congregation was united and Gazette and Bulletin Steam Printing 1922 at a meetingheld in the Warrior Run prosperous,but they neglectedto pay him House. Williamsport, Pennsylvania. 1873. Church, he was, on application of the the salarywhich they had promised,and Lycoming Church, appointed to supply he cou]dnot live on promises.On the Collins, Emersonand John W. Jordon that chuch until the next stated meeting. back of the call from the Lycoming History af Lvcomina Ceuntv. Pennsv! On the 7th of October,1825, at Milton Church, promising him $500.00, the vania. The Lewis Publishing Company. he accepted a call for his pastoral services following endorsement was found: New York, Chicago. 1906. from the Lycoming Church, at Newberry, :October1st, 1833.Due on this call. on a salary of $500.00,and he was in- $850, with interest Lloyd, Col. Thomas W. History ol stalled November23, 1825. Lvcoming County, Pennsylv411j4: On the 13th of February, 1839, he Volumes I and 11. Historical Publishing Dr. Painter represented the Presby- was united in marriage with Miss Mary tery of Northumberlandin the General Ann Irvin of Pittsburgh. This happy Company. Topeka: Indianapolis. 1929. Assembliesof 1827, 1828, and 1832. He relation was continuted through his life. In the summer of 1865 he accidently Meginness, John F..(}f!!claLBei2Qr!.!zt.!!!e was then a very young man to have Proceedings of the Centennial Anni such high honors conferred on him. In fell downstairs, which seriously injured him. In the winter of 1872 he was sarv of Lvcomina CoQDtv. Pennsvlvailia,. April of 1828we find a resolutionin the minutes of Presbytery requesting ''the attacked by paralysis, and in May, 1873, Gazette and Bulletin Printing House. Moderator to preach in Mr. Painter's he had a second attack, which caused Williamsport, Pennsylvania. 1896. 28 29 his death on the lst of June. 1873, in had resignedin 1828) and the other half and united with the Bethel Presbyterian the 75th year of hislife. to the congregation in Williamsport (First Church, Augusta Co., Va. Rev. Ph£neas Barbour MATT Presbyterian Church) as their Horstpastor. At the April, 1828, meeting of Pres- In April, 1836, he received a unanimous He was prepared at the Staunton bytery, Mr. Painter read a history of the call from the congregation in Newton, Rev. Marr, following preparatory Academy for the junior class in Washing- Lycoming congregation, which he was New Jersey, which he accepted. courses at the Milton Academy, entered ton and Lee University,Lexington, Va. directed to record in the beginning of the Jefferson College, where he completed a At the close of his junior year in college sessionalrecords of that church as In 1838, Rev. J. P. Hudson, who full course of study in that institution he was elected Professor of Mathematics amended. This was in obedience to a had been serving the Bloomsbury church, and was graduated in 1831. He studied in Staunton Academy, which he filled resolution of Presbytery, at a former received a call to the First Presbyterian theology in Princeton Seminary, and was for one year. In April, 1824, he returned meeting, requiring all pastors to write Church of Williamsport. The Rev. Mr. licensed by the Presbytery of Northum- to college, entered the senior class, and and record the historyof their re- Toby followed Mr. Hudson at Blooms berland in the fall of 1833 at Williams- was graduated with classical honors April spective congregations. Mr. Painter seems burg, and he waslater succeededby the port, Penna. 18, 1825. Immediately after graduation to havebeen the only memberwho Rev. D. M. Barber, a popular preacher he was appointed Professorof Languages, complied with the requirement, yet his and a useful man. Mr. Barber had His trial exercises,especially his and remained a member of the faculty history cannot now be found. established a boarding school for young popular sermons, were so acceptable to for four yearsfrom 1825to 1829. ladies at his farm above Washingtonville. the people that the congregationof Williamsport immediately secured his Mr. Hudson entered Princeton Theo- Mr. Barber,together with Mr. Grier. ministerial servicesfor one year as their logical Seminary July 2, 1829. After a Reu. Dannfel Montgomev) Barbed later resigned their respective pastorates stated supply. In the meantime,a year's residence there his health failed of the Pine Creek church in the spring unanimous call was extended to him by and he was persuadedby Dr. Alexander Rev. Danniel Barber was born in of 1851, following which Mr. Barber had the congregation of Lewisburg, where he to accept a situation as Principal of Derry, Columbia (now Montour) County, a pastorateat the Lycoming,or New- was ordained and installed as pastor in Union Academy at Snow Hill, Ind., for Penna., March 16, 1800. His parents berry, church from 1851 until 1861. At November, 1834 a year. He was licensed to preach the were Phineasand Anne Barber. He the commencement of the war in 1861 Gospel by the Presbytery of Lexington pursued his preparatory studies under he became deeply interested in the state On October 26, 1835. he married at Harrisonburg, Va., October 30, 1830, the direction of Hon. Robert C. Grief of the country. He became a chaplain Miss Mary, daughterof the late Alex and was graduated in the full three- one of the Judgesof the SupremeCourt in the army wherehe servedfaithfully ander Graham, Esq., of Lewisburg. He year course at Princeton Theological of the United States.and David Kirk nearly a year until his health failed and was pastor of the Lewisburg church for Seminary on September 24, 1832. patrick,D. D. In Octoberof 1821he he was obliged to resign and return home. 18 years. He was suddenly taken sick married Miss Sarah Moorehead, by whom After his health wasrestored, he entered on Saturday morning, January 24th, and Having receivedan invitation to the he had sevenchildren. In the fall of chearmy again under the direction of the on the morning of January 27th, 1874, church at Bloomsburg,Pa., in Novem- the same year he entered Washington Christian Commission he sweetlyslept in Jesus,aged 66 years. ber, 1832, .he was ordained by the College, Penna., where he graduated in Presbytery of Lexington at Lexington, 1824(Sept.). The Rev. D. M. Barber. a native On Thursday, January 29, 18.74. Va., April 2, 1833,and united with the of this interior section of Pennsylvania, his remains were followed from his late Presbytery of Northumberland on On the 20th of April, 1826, he was was a man of a decidedly positive char residenceby mourning friends in a long October 1. 1833. He served the church taken under the care of the Presbytery acter and a forcible preacher with more procession to the Lewisburg Presbyterian at Bloomsburg as pastor for 6 years of Northumberland and pursued his than ordinary intellectual ability. He was Church. The funeral exerciseswere con- (1832 to 1838), when he accepted a call theological studies partly in private under possessed of good social qualities and was ducted by membersof Presbyteryand by from, and was installed pastor of, the the instruction of Rev. John B. Patterson a genial companion. His first wife having clergymenresiding in the town. The body First Presbyterian Church of Williams- and partly in the Theological Seminary died in December. 1859. he was married was then consignedto its last resting place port, Penna., where he remained until in Princeton.On the 19th of April, a second time on the 10th of October on earth in the Lewisburg cemetery. 1841 1827, he was licensedto preach the 1864, to Miss Elizabeth Shannon, with Gospel. On the 21st of November, 1827. whom he lived happily a little more than Later serving several other churches, he was ordained as an evangelistand one vear, and who with four children in August of 1870 he removed to as a missionary on the Sinnemahoning by his previousmarriage remained to Reu. John Path Hudson Williamsport to take charge of the City Creekand the headwatersof the West mourn his loss. Rev. Barber died of High School, of which he was principal 1870-1871. Branch oftheSusquehanna. congestion of the liver at his residence, Rev. Hudson, the son of Charles and near Milton, the evening of October Mary Paris Hudson (of English and In April, 1833, he bade farewell 30, 1865, in his 66th year. He was buried Huguenot ancestry) was born at Beverly Mr. Hudson was married on Feb- to the missionaryfield in which he had in the old Derry Church burying ground, Manor near Staunton, Va., March 14, ruary 13, 1838, to Miss Hetty Bryson, labored so faithfully and successfully,and in the neighborhoodof which he had 1804. His life was a beautiful and useful youngest daughter of Rev. John and Jane now devotedone-half of his time to grown to manhood, and where his an one, combining brilliant gifts with varied (Montgomery) Bryson, of Warrior Run. the Great Island congregation (following cestorsand most of his immediate family and extensiveculture. At the age of Mrs. Hudson died at Williamsport, in the footsteps of Mr. Isaac Grier who rest 16 years he professeda hope in Christ Penna., February 25, 1876. On January 31

24. 1890. at his residence in Williams- Secretary and the Moderator, Rev. On May 15, 1841, it was resolved At the meeting of the Harrisburg port, Penna., after a few days of illness Harris,addressed the meetingon the unanimouslythat the salaryof the Rev. Presbyterywhich met at Northumberland from influenza, in the calm assurance subjectof the importanceand solemnity JamesW. Phillips would commenceon on April 10, 1847, Rev. Phillips' resig- of faith. he enteredthe rest that re- of the transactionin which they were 'the lst day of April, 1841.That this nation from Williamsport was officially maineth to the people of God. about to engage, after which the follow- small strugglinggroup of people who accepted. ing resolutions were unanimously made up this new church had many adopted: hardshipsis takenfor granted.Of the The next mention of Mr. Phillips Reu. James William Phillips 'Resolved, that this meeting now work of Mr. Phillips we know very little is from the minutes of the Otsego(N. Y.) proceedto the election,by except what can be gleaned from statis- Presbyterymeeting at Laurens, N. Y., Mr. Phillips,the first pastorof the ballot, of a pastor for this tical recordsand the fact that the first January 12 and 13th, 1847: "The Rev. Second Presbyterian Church of Williams- church. (The ballots being church edifice was built. James W. Phillips of the Harrisburg port, Penna., was born at Winchester, counted, it appeared that the Presbytery, being present, was invited to Virginia, May 16, 1804. Following Rev. James W. Phillips of At the May 16th, 1846,meeting of sit as a corresponding member." On the graduation from Columbian University Mount Joy, LancasterCounty, the Presbytery of Harrisburg at York, 13th he preached the opening sermon (now George Washington University). Pa., was unanimously elected.) Penna., Mr. Phillips was elected a princ- to Presbyteryfrom Acts9: 31. In the Washington, D. C., in 1831, he married Whereupon it was: ipal commissioner to the next General report for the year ending January, 1847, Miss Evelina Margaret Windle on May 'Resolved, that a call be regularly Assembly (New School). At this same Mr. Phillips is listed as Stated Supply 13. 1834. at Winchester. Va. She died prepared to the Rev. James W. meeting he presented a request to leave for the Milford (N. Y.) Church, that April 20, 1871 Phillips for his pastoral services Williamsport, and it was resolved to church having 65 members. to this church. adjourn [o meet in Williamsport on He received his theological training 'Resolved, that the elders of this Saturday, June 20, 1846, at 8 P.M From the minutes of Otsego Presby- at the Union Theological Seminary of church be appointed a commit- and that the congregationbe cited to tery meeting at Fly Creek, June 8, 1847, Virginia from 1831 to 1833, and was tee to prosecutethis call for the show cause, if any, why he should not it is recorded that James W. Phillips licensed by the Winchester Presbytery services of the Rev. James W. leave. These presbyteryminutes were was present as minister of the Milford on October 21. 1833. He was ordained Phillips in behalf of this church signed by James W. Phillips, Stated church. Later the same day ''Rev. James as evangelist by this presbytery on April and congregationbefore the Clerk W. Phillips was received as a member 27, 1835, and was missionaryfor this Presbyteryof Harrisburg of this Presbytery by letter of dismission presbytery until 1836. He was Pastor at :Resolved, that the above committee We quote from the minutesof the and recommendationfrom the Presbytery Corydon, Indiana, from 1836 to 1837, be authorized to guarantee in Harrisburg Presbytery dated June 20, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania."Mr. and from 1837 until 1860 Mr. Phillips behalf of the congregation to 1846: "Presbytery of Harrisburg, to which Phillips served as pastor at Milford, was listed as a member of the New the Rev. James W. Phillips, this churchis attached.met at this N. Y.. from 1846to 1850and from School Division. He served as pastor of for his support while continuing place(Second Presbyterian Church. 1851 to 1853 -- serving a number of Cook's Creek and Harrisonburg, Win- the pastor of this church, the Williamsport, Pa.) according [o adjourn these years at a salary of only $400.00 chester Presbytery (N. S.), Va., from sum of sevenhundred dollars ment, and was called to order by the per year. The year between 1850 and 1837 until 1840. ($700.00) annually, to be paid moderator with prayer and singing. Pres 1851 he was pastor of Holland Patent, in regular quarterly instalments. ent were Rev. John Patton and Rev. OneidaCounty, Pa. The recordsof James William Phillips was received :Resolved, that the sum of seven Franklin D. Harris, ministers, and John Otsego Presbytery state: hundred dollars be inserted in into the Presbytery of Harrisburg (New B. Hall, Elder. A quorum not being 'Resolved. that inasmuch as the School), Penna., on May 19, 1840, at the call of the Rev. James W. present, it was impossible [o do anything Winchester. He is first mentioned as a Phillips as his annual and presbyterially,yet the circumstancesof notice of the dismissionof the Rev. J. W. supply for the Northumberland Church regularsalary. rhe case seemed in our opinion to render Phillipsto the Presbyteryof Uticahas for the 2nd Sabbath in June" (1840). :Resolved,that the Eldersof the been accidentally omitted in the records it necessarythat we should hear the reply of the Presbytery,it be now, and hereby He had a pastorate at Mount Joy, Penna., church be appointed a commit- of the SecondPresbyterian Church of is, recorded. from May 19, 1840,until April 14, 1841. tee to make application to the Williamsportto the resignationof the Philadelphia Agency of the Rev. James W. Phillips, their pastor, The aboveis from the minutesof After public notice, the congregation American Home Missionary laid before Presbyteryat their last stated Otsego Presbyterydated January 14, of the SecondPresbyterian Church of Society for aid in the support meeting, May 16, 1846, at York, Penna. 1851, showing the fact that he had gone Williamsport, Penna., convenedfor the of the pastor of this congre- to Holland Patent. On January 13, 1852, purpose of considering the election of a gation. Rev. James W. Phillips presenteda pastor on February 15, 1841. The Rev. 'Resolved, that the minutes of this The congregation having accededto letter of dismission from the Presbytery F. D. Harris of the Third Presbyterian meeting be signed by the mod- his requestand the stated public preach- of Utica to this body and was received. Church of Philadelphia, Pa., being erator and secretary,and ing of the word having been suspended, The second session with the Otsego present, he was invited to act as Moder- entered upon the records of and the pulpit being thus virtually Presbytery was again with the Milford, ator of the meeting.As has alwaysbeen the Sessionof this church. vacant.it wasresolved that the fact N. Y., church at a salary of $470.00 the custom, the meetingwas openedwith 'On motion, the meeting adjourned. shouldbe publiclyannounced on the per year -- the church having72 prayer and singing. J. B. Hall was chosen Closed with prayer.' following sabbath from the pulpit members. 32 33 It is interesting to note that Rev. May of 1853 as Pastor of the Hannibal, GENEALOGICAL INFORMATION AVAILABLE IN THE MUSEUM Phillips was a frequent choice of Clerk Mo., church (First) under the Presbytery at the meetings of the Otsego Presbytery. of North Missouri, Synod of Missouri '. and many of the manuscripts and rec(irds Mr. Phillips remained with the First Our Archives Department has genealogical information on file concerning the families are in his handwriting and signedby him. Presbyterian Church at Hannibal, Mo., listed below. The archivesmay be used during regular Museum visiting hours. If help is On February 16, 1853, ''The Stated from 1853 until 1860. needed, contact Miss Gladys Tozier, archivist, at 322-4020. Clerk was authorizedto give a letter Abbott, John King, Lt. William of dismission to Brother J. W. Phillips Following the pastorate in Missouri Adlum, John Kurley, Sephrony to the Presbytery of Northern Missouri, Rev. Phillips is recorded as Stated Supply Anderson. Robert Lamade, Dietrick if he shouldcall for it beforethe next at Marion and Enterprise, North Mississ- Anthony Laudenschlager, Jeremiah stated meeting of the Presbytery. Mr. ippi, from 1860 to 1864under the Armstrong, William H. Little, John Wesley Phillips is last noted in the records of Presbyterian Church, U. S. Following Ash, Ivan Long, Catherine Otsego Presbytery on August 17, 1853, this, he servedas StatedSupply ai Aren. Mary Long, Dr. Samuel as being absent from a meeting held at Demopolis, Livingston, and ' Braden Beck, Jacob Machette, William Markwood Cooperstown, N. Y. Springs, Alabama, from 1866 to 1875. Benner, General Philip Mahaffey Bennett Manavalle, Pierre Although there seemedto be no The Rev. James William Phillips Bowles, Major Fred Maneval and ancestral lines recording of Mr. Phillips' actually leaving died at Demopolis, Alabama, May 9, Brady, Captain Samuel Maynard, JudgeJohn W. the Otsego Presbytery, he is listed in 1875. Brucklacher, Daniel Mcminn, JosephH. Burrows, (Borrows) Meginness, John F Burrows, Generaljohn Miller, George (Muller) Crawford, John K. Milner Culver, Eber Montgomery, Robert 6t=s.(D...£i3 6tb-C)...ZJ3 6:aX.

We are standing on the heights sublime Where few have ever dared to climb. Pamphlets: And looking on the works of time. Revolutionary Soldiers Buried in The Mountains Sunbury,Pa." by Heber G. Other Sources Gearhart, Sunbury 1925. (Sketches of the lives of forty- Rev. Jacob Alberts - Register of four Revolutionary heroes.) Deaths - Hanover, Pa. 1837. We are looking down the mountains steep Some Early Lawrenceville Lawyers' Washington Boulevard Cemetery On Pine Creek where the mullens sleep by Hon. Horace B. Packer, Records And wherethe alligatorscreep, Tioga County, 1914. (Hon. John Marriage License Docket No. 1 The fountain B. Gibson,James B. Knox,John 1885-6 C. Knox, John W. Maynard, Will Booksof LycomingCounty Norman H. Purple, James Early Township Records Ryan, John W. Ryan. And down there near the tunnel We can seeold Michael Bonnel, With his bottles and his funnel He is frisky Note In addition to the abovematerial. the following could be used by peoplewho are interestedin He calls in men of every station, Almy Family genealogy: Men of every tribe and nation Eisenhart, John Franklin(family) A number of Civil War muster To them he dealsout I)amnation Gephardt, Heinrich(and his descen rolls dealing with Lycoming Called whiskey. dants) County and Pennsylvania. GeneralSociety of the War of 1812, Record books of the Reno Post Philadelphia, 1 908. (Register of G.A.R. Membership) Bookson loan from the City of While the mother sick in bed Kiess, Edgar R. - Memorial Address Williamsport, including some He robs the children of their bread 1931 cemetery records. Or wherewith they should be fed Old story.

But whenwe are thirsty we will bring Cold watcr from the Mountain Spring And aswe drink it we will sing Oh, Glory

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