PR EFACE W he n I was a boy , my attention was drawn to the e arl of. y history this community by my parents , my - - d narrat grand p arents , and my great gran father in ing to me occurrences , incidents and reminiscences which related to local affairs on both sides of the L e ’ - d high River . My mother s great gran parents (the Mickleys ) located in Whitehall township near Egypt 1733 - along Coplay Creek in , and her grand parents (the Swartzes ) in the Irish Settlement along Dry 1 Run in 787 . My father migrated from Mauch ’ Chunk to Bi e ry s -Port in 1830 ; I was born on the Christian Swartz plantation in 1839 ; and my parents established their residence at Catasauqua in 184 5 ; and I u here have been ntil now , excepting my absence from home while serving in the Civil War from 1861 1 4 to 86 . 1868 I was admitted to the Bar of Lehigh County in , and of an , during a long practice my profession as n - at- attor ey law at Catasauqua since that time , my business related almost wholly to the settlement o f estates and the transmission of title to property in the borough and the surrounding townships ; ff and , besides being thus identified with local a airs as I a legal adviser , was practically concerned for a time in the administration o f the local government as a Justice of the Peace and Chief Burgess . It was in this manner that I became thoroughly familiar with all the of important matters and things the community , not only of a financial and political nature , but of an historical nature as well . With this knowledge of the early local affairs , quite naturally , therefore , when the people of Catasauqua “ determined to celebrate the Seventy - fifth A nni ver ” sary of the founding of the town , I united with other interested citizens to make the necessary preparations for the extraordinary occasion ; and now , as the Chair of i man the H storical Committee , I submit this com “ ” i l ati on p , limited to the E arly History , as my con tri bu ti on towards its proper observance . It will be noticed that I confined the compilation to the times anterior to the Civil War , excepting several prominent matters which I could not well present only partly described . L L A W I I M H . GLA CE . 12 1 14 9 . February , CONTE NTS O rig ina l Titl e I ri sh S e ttl e m e nt I ndia n Re lic s We i s e r L e tte r E a rly R e s id e nts ' Cra ne I ron W o rks Tho m a s a nd C o nte m p o ra r i e s Thom a s L e tte r Cha ra cte r of E mpl oy e e s Lo ca l I mp rove m e nt s Old e s t B u ilding s Firs t Occup a ti o ns Fi rs t Ro cke r Fir s t C a r r ia g e Firs t S ulphu r M a tche s Chu r ch e s F a i rvi e w C e m e te ry ’ S o l di e rs M o num e nt Fir s t Fune ra l E a rly Scho o l s Public Lib ra ri e s B ra s s B a nd T e mp e ra nc e S o ci e ti e s Po litic a l A nim o s ity M e xica n W a r I nco rp o ra ti o n of B o ro ugh B a nks Jus tic e s of the P e a ce B urg e s s e s C e nsu s E arl y H i sto ry and R e mi ni sc e nc e s OF TH E BOR OUG H OF CATASAUQUA ORIGINAL T ITL E — The Borough of C atasauqua is situated on a part of acres which William Penn , the Proprietary of Pennsylvania , devised to his A u daughter Letitia , who afterward married William 1731 brey , of London , England , and in they granted and conveyed this land to John Page . Some months afterward , Page secured a warrant , dated at London , 10 1731 Oct . , , to take up acres of the acres , and in pursuance of this warrant , Nicholas 10 1736 Scull , on Oct . , , surveyed and set apart the same for him . The patent from the Proprietaries to Page erected the tract of acres into a Manor , “ by the name of Chawton , in the following words And we do further by these presents and by virtue o f the power and P authorities granted by the Royal Charter to our Father William enn , . C Esq , by his majesty , harles the Second , erect said tract i nto a manor ‘ ’ and to call it Chawton and so from henceforth we will have it called , and reposing trust and confidence in the prudence and abi l i ty and integri ty of the said Page and his loyalty to our sovereign , Lord George the Second , do give and grant unto the said John Page , his heirs and assigns , full power and authority to erect and constitute with the said manor 3 Court Baron with all things whatsoever which to a Court Baron do belong , and to have and to hold view of Frank Pledges , for the ' consideration of the peace and better gover nment of the i nhabitants i within the said Manor by the said John Page , his he rs a nd assigns , or his or their stewards lawfully deputed and generally to do and to P use all things which to the view of Frank ledges do belong , or may or : ought to belong To be holden of us , our successors , proprietors of ‘ ’ Pennsylvania , as of the signory of Windsor i n free and common socage by fealty or i n lieu of all other services , yielding and paying 8 EARLY H I STORY o n th e therefor yearly unto us , ourselves and successors , one red rose 2 4 th day of June in every yea r. from hereafter in the City of P hila delphia to such person or persons as shall from time to time be ap pointed to receive the same . 6 r f John Page died aged 0 years . He was by p o es sion an attorney , and as such acted for William ’ f Penn s heirs . He also owned another tract o acres , adjoining the acre tract . He acted as agent for William Penn from 1707 until his decease 1 in 7 18 . The acre tract was given for services rendered but was not invested with the right of a - Court Baron . 18 174 1 John Page by his will , bearing date July , , devised all his land and estate in Pennsylvania to E van Patterson , of Old Broad Street , in London , who , of 7 17 50 by Letter Attorney , dated July , , appointed William Allen of the city of Philadelphia and William of Webb the county of Chester , his true and lawful attorneys , to bargain , sell and convey any lands in his name . There has been some controversy as to whether the “ ” h r i n Manor was called Chawton or C a ot . It is true that in some of the older deeds at Easton R e ’ “ ” corder s office the word is written Charoti n ; but local antiquarians , who have paid some attention to this matter , agree that it was written wrongly by some or scrivener written illegibly , so that the clerks in the ’ Recorder s Office wrote Charoti n for what was or meant to be Chawton for it can be seen that if the letter w ” were not written plainly it could easily be ” f h roti n or ro C a . meant , thus making it Among the names of the early settlers and pur chasers o f this tract are the following : Thomas Arm Cl en d e nni n strong , Robert Gibson , Robert , Joseph Wright , John Elliott , Andrew Mann , George Taylor and Nathaniel Taylor , all Irish names , showing that the town is situated within the bounds of the original Irish Settlement , IRI SH SETTLEMENT 9 Nathaniel Taylor resided on the Lehigh River , “ - f . north o the town , at Dry Run In his will at E aston , he mentions the spring on the Lehigh , south - 1 8 f . 7 7 o Dry Run _ This tract was purchased in by t o f Chris ian Swartz Longswamp township , in Berks county . The writer was born here and is a great ’ son . grand of said settler , Swartz s Dam takes its name from him . It was long supposed that Nathaniel Taylor was of the father George Taylor , but later investigations go to show that his father never left Ireland . The Armstrong tract contained about 330 acres . The greater part of this is now owned by the de sce nd ants of Jacob Deily . It was previously pur chased in 1767 by George T aylor . The Robert Gibson tract contained acres and included the Paul Faust farm . Part of this land is now owned by the Lackawanna Land Co . That portion o f. the original tract in which the greater part o f the town was first built appears to have passed into the possession of Andrew Hower and Marks John Biddle , of Philadelphia , who secured ’ 1 5 possession of 190 acres at a Sheriff s sale in 79 .