Saturday, April 5, 2025

The Bliss McClure House - A Stop On The Underground Railroad, Lewisburg Pa

 
38 University Avenue, Lewisburg PA 17837

[Lucy Bliss] "well remembers making up beds in this barn for fugitive Negroes, with bedding kept for that purpose. So dangerous was it to harbor runaway slaves that she never knew whence they came or whither they went. Mostly these fugitives traveled at night, usually concealed under a load of hay or other material."

According to the Union County Historical Society, the carriage house beside the Bliss-McClure house at 38 University Avenue, Lewisburg, is the only recognized stop on the Underground Railroad in Union County.

The three story  home was built in 1854 for Professor George Ripley Bliss, his wife Mary Ann Raymond Bliss and their13 children .  Rev. Bliss, who was president of Bucknell University during the 1850’s, and then again during the 1870’s, is credited along with Bucknell faculty Thomas Curtis and Howard Malcolm, with assisting fugitive slaves and providing housing for them in the stable on his property. 

The carriage house provided safe haven for escaped slaves during the period from 1854 to the end of the Civil War. 

Lucy Bliss

George Bliss's daughter Lucy spoke many years later about making nighttime trips with blankets and food for the runaways.  Several early articles, including one by Theiss, make mention of a diary kept by Lucy Bliss, which recorded some of their efforts.

 A sign now marks the location of the carriage house on University Avenue where runaways were  hidden.

This old stable was a station on the Underground Railroad. Here fugitive slaves were hidden, fed, and aided in reaching the next station on their journey.


On the property of the Bliss McClure House are stone pillars.  These are the remains of a lawn tennis court.
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Lawn Tennis Courts
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Photos of the Lawn Tennis Court:
The original pillars to hold the nets were wood, they were later replaced by stone versions



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George Ripley Bliss

Reverend George Ripley Bliss was president of Bucknell University from 1857–58 and 1871–72.

His initial training was for the Baptist ministry. He taught Greek (filling the chair from 1849–74), Latin, and biblical exegisis at Bucknell and at Crozer theological seminary.

One of his 13 children, General Tasker Howard Bliss, became Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1917 until 1918.

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From the Genealogy Of the Bliss Family In America:

Tasker Howard Bliss (Dec. 31, 1853 - Nov. 9, 1930), soldier, scholar, and diplomat, was born at Lewisburg, PA, the son of George Ripley and Mary Ann (Raymond) Bliss, the latter a sister of John Howard Raymond. He was a descendant of Thomas Bliss, who emigrated from England to Braintree, Mass., in 1635 and later settled in Hartford, CT.. The father was professor of Greek in the University at Lewisburg, a Baptist institution, the name of which was changed in 1886 to Bucknell University, and the boy was reared in a devout and scholarly atmosphere. He was the seventh in a family of thirteen children, and one reason for his application for admission to West Point in his sophomore year at Lewisburg was to relieve the family budget of further cost for his education, since his father's salary was only five hundred dollars a year, twenty-five of which was given to the church. 

Assigned to the artillery upon his graduation, he was called back to West Point in 1876 to teach French and artillery tactics. After the Custer massacre; Bliss appealed to Major John Schofield for active service in the West, but he bade him remain until he had finished his four years' tour as instructor. Since the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War Bliss had employed spare hours in the study of Russian in order to get first-hand information about the campaign. Schofield found a lecture Bliss delivered upon it so excellent that he asked him to expand it for publication. Meanwhile he was paying court to Eleanor E. Anderson. She was highly educated, had lived abroad, and knew both French and German. They were married on May 24, 1882.

Following a period of routine service after the end of his tour as instructor at West Point, Bliss was chosen as the army officer to teach military science at the new Naval War College at Newport (1885-88), where he made so distinctive an impression that he was sent on a mission to get information about military schools in England, France, and Germany. When General Schofield succeeded Gen. Philip H. Sheridan as commanding general of the army, he chose Bliss as his aide and as inspector of artillery and small-arms target practice. 

His desire for a change from Washington official life was balked when Secretary of War Daniel Lamont who did not want to part with his services in the War Department, made him his special assistant. At the close of Lamont's term, with the incoming of the McKinley administration in 1897, the relations of the United States with Spain were becoming critical. Bliss now received an appointment to his taste, that of military attaché to Spain, where he remained until the declaration of war.

Upon his return he was made a major and took part in the Puerto Rican campaign as chief of staff to Major-General James H. Wilson. His administrative record and his knowledge of the Spanish language and Spanish ways recommended him for the difficult task of chief of the Cuban customs service during the occupation of Cuba. The Cuban custom houses had become sinks of corruption under the Spanish régime and Bliss had a harrowing task in cleaning the major Augean stable of Havana and the minor ones at other ports. In 1902, when the Cuban Government took over all administration, Elihu Root brought Bliss to Washington as an adviser in reorganization of the army under a general staff system. In November of that same year, at the request of Secretary of State John Hay, he proceeded to Cuba to negotiate the important Cuban reciprocity treaty, which he wrote so definitively in the final draft that it was subject to practically no changes.

In the meantime, President William McKinley had recommended that he be made a brigadier-general of the regular army and the Senate had confirmed the promotion without an opposing voice. He now had the rank suitable for him as the founding president of the new Army War College. After command of the Department of Luzon in the Philippines, 1905-06, he had for three years that of the Department of Mindanao, where he successfully kept the peace as arbiter of the quarrels among the fractious rival Moro (Mohammedan) chiefs and exerted his administrative authority and personal influence in a progressive educational program. In 1908-09 he was in command of the Philippine Division. Upon his return to the United States in 1909 he was ad interim president of the War College, briefly assistant chief of staff, held departmental and divisional troop commands, and became assistant chief of staff under Major-General Hugh L. Scott  then chief in 1915, when he was promoted major-general.

A month after the entry of the United States into the First World War, when General Scott was sent on a mission to Russia, Bliss had the supreme military responsibility as acting chief of staff. Secretary of War Newton D. Baker relied unreservedly upon Bliss's experience, foresight, and balanced judgment in the midst of the pressure and confusion of national energies in the hasty forming and equipping of a huge army. Bliss could bring perspective to bear in simplifying a complex situation back to first principles; he could swiftly dictate an analysis of all sides of any baffling problem and have it promptly on the Secretary's desk; or in a few words he could dispose of a pile of impracticable memoranda. Upon General Scott's retirement for age, Bliss succeeded him as chief of staff on Sept. 22, 1917, the office carrying with it the rank of general. Bliss himself had only three months to serve before retirement for age, but he was continued on active duty by order of the president. In October he was assigned as military representative on the mission under Edward M. House which went abroad to effect better coordination of Allied effort. The mission arrived in London after the Caporetto disaster, which had driven the Italian army with huge losses back to the River Piave. Russia was already out of the war; it was feared that Italy might soon be forced out. The best that could be expected of her was to hold on the Piave with the aid of the British and French divisions which were rushed to her rescue. The Allies now faced the danger of the concentration of German power on the Western Front in an inevitable great spring offensive for a decision. In this crisis France and Britain looked across the Atlantic for the reinforcement of the million men in training in United States cantonments. Bliss visited the Western Front, consulted with the statesmen, generals, and experts, and hastened back to Washington with his exhaustive report, pressing the importance of prompt and unified action, which was a valuable guide to the American policy.

After brief consultations with home chiefs he was again crossing the Atlantic to be military representative on the new Supreme War Council. Since President Wilson could not be present at the meetings Bliss had measurably a statesman's rôle. When his resources of tact and argument failed, his stubborn resolution, backed by a thorough study of the subject, was a check on the conflict of national interests among the Allies at the expense of joint action. His letters to Secretary Baker, in their intimate reports of the operations of the council, are an indispensable contribution for the historian. They also reveal how the Allied leaders early sought to circumvent President Wilson's Fourteen Points and his plans for a league of nations. From the outset he was for the unified command in the field which ultimately was given to Marshal Ferdinand Foch, and at the same time he supported Gen. John J. Pershing's insistence that American troops should not be infiltrated into the Allied armies. He was for unconditional surrender of the German army in conclusive admission of its defeat, but then for wise and farsighted support of the German Republic to insure its endurance. He was concerned about the League of Nations, which he strongly favored, lest it should be too ambitious at the start. He thought that it should be inaugurated by an international agreement for an all-round limitation of armaments.

Much to his surprise he was chosen a delegate to the Peace Conference. His friends and admirers regretted that President Woodrow Wilson did not make more use of his counsel in the negotiations. He joined his colleagues, Secretary of State Robert Lansing and Henry White, in a forthright but unsuccessful protest against granting a mandate over the Chinese province of Shantung to Japan in the Treaty of Versailles. His diaries are prophetic of the results of the Treaty, which he signed without enthusiasm.

He was relieved as chief of staff on May 19, 1918, and the following day received the brevet rank of general. As governor of the Soldiers' Home in Washington, 1920-27, he found relaxation in a more profound study of Latin in company with Father Christopher of the Catholic University. But his great interest in his declining years was in advocacy of the entry of the United States into the World Court, and in the cause of peace through general reduction of armaments. He was a member of the editorial board of Foreign Affairs, to which he contributed several articles. Through a cruel illness his mind remained clear until his death in his eighty-seventh year. He was survived by two children, Eleanor and Edward Goring.

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Slavery and Abolition in Pennsylvania
Early residents of Union County were divided on the issue of slavery. From 1790
to1840 about 50 families held slaves. Most of these slaveholders were settlers from
Britain, who owned one or two slaves.

In 1780 Pennsylvania passed a gradual abolition law whereby those who were
slaves would remain enslaved unless freed by their owners, and children of slaves would
be freed at age 28. A few slaves were still listed on the 1840 census for Union (and
Snyder) County. Slavery was fully abolished in Pennsylvania in 1847. 

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The Bliss McClure House was later owned by Judge McClure.



The William Howard Statue, Williamsport PA

 
The William Howard Statue is located in the foyer of the William Howard Memorial Cathedral, on West Fourth Street in Williamsport Pa.  The statue was unveiled by his grandchildren on January 27th 1904.


The sculptor was Edmond Thomas Quinn 1868-1929, whose work can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Portrait Gallery, Whitney Museum of American Art, and the National Gallery of Ireland. 

Among his best known works was a bust of Edgar Allen Poe in Poe Park, Professor Franklin W. Hooper in the Brooklyn Museum,  and according to his obituary, "the figure of John [William] Howard at Williamsport"

He won a silver medal for his bronze sculpture of model Audrey Munson at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, San Francisco, 1915.    Among his outdoor sculptures visible today are Edwin Booth as Hamlet in Gramercy Park, composer Victor Herbert near the Naumburg Bandshell on the Central Park Mall, and baseball pioneer Harry Wright in West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia.

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WILLIAM HOWARD 1831-1901




William Howard was born in England in 1831.  He was educated there, and learned the stone masons trade, before emigrating to the Unites States in 1854.  He settled in Reading, building a railroad bridge for the Lebanon Valley Railroad Company.

In 1854 Howard came to Williamsport to work on construction of a dam, then working three years for the Water Mill Company.  

Howard Lumber Company Logging Train

In 1863 he purchases extensive lumber lands in Cameron County, founding the C.B & W. Howard Stock Logger company. In 1866, in partnership with John R. Cooke, he purchased a sawmill in Clinton County, and then became a partner in Slonaker, Howard & Co. [later, Howard, Perley, and Howard].  He served on Williamsport's Council.


William Howard died March 5 1901. He is buried in Wildwood Cemetery.

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THE CATHEDERAL
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An active Mason, Howard had purchased the former Piper property next to the Masonic Temple.  Plans for the chapel were drawn up before Howard's death, but the building was not completed until 1903.   The Williamsport Consistory named their new chapel for Howard, and in 1904, 3 years after his death, unveiled a statue there in his honor.


A dedication plaque in the foyer of the chapel reads:
This Cathedral is Dedicated to 
William Howard, 32 [degree]
who donated the land and practically the entire cost of this building, which contains the auditorium and banquet hall - but who died before it's completion.
In recognition of his loyalty and love for Williamsport Consistory and the Scottish Rite Masonry, this statue was placed here by his Masonic friends.

Williamsport Bulletin, April 11 1901

The plans for the proposed William Howard Memorial Cathedral, the splendid gift of the late William Howard to the Scottish Rite of Williamsport, have all been completed, by Truman P. Reitmeyer, the architect, a and contemplate an imposing front on Fourth street, in the rear of the Masonic Temple, and a handsome addition to the architecture of that vicinity. Work on the new structure will be started soon.

Inside the Foyer, 2025

The Memorial Hall and Cathedral will be an L shaped building, surrounding on two sides the Piper residence, (which will be used as a Home for the William Howard Temple Club of the Knights Templar) and will have no connection with the big Masonic Temple structure. The new building will be used exclusively for Scottish Rite purposes, and will cost, it is thought, about $40,000. The entrance building, which adjoins the Masonic Temple, is to be of Scottish Baronial architecture, and the front may be constructed of pink granite. It is 36 feet wide. It is to bean elaborate front, with much carved stonework, a tower on the east side extending skyward to a height of 98 feet.

Mosaic Floor in the entrance, 2025

On the top of this tower is to be an old Egyptian Masonic emblem, representing earth, fire, ether and water. Near top of the front is a double eagle, the Scottish Rite emblem. There is a most elaborate entrance. Hall, with a Mosaic floor, and the entrance is the Memorial magnificent grand staircase in the rear leading to the upper floors. There are also the secretary and treasurer's office, and a vault, on this floor, back of the Memorial Hall.


Next comes the big Cathedral building, which is practically a structure, as the auditorium occupies the second and third floors. This building is 67 by 104 feet. On the "first floor there are lobbies, and a restaurant that connects with the kitchen of the Piper residence. Then there is a large lodge room, property room, secret vault, boiler room and toilet room. On the second floor of the Cathedral is the auditorium, with a stage, property room, robing room, coat room and sentinel's room, a wide corridor surrounding the auditorium.


The auditorium, with gallery, will seat 600. The floor contains the gallery of the auditorium, a property 'room, grand promenade and lounging room. In the rear of the gallery there is a place for the organ and choir, and outside of this a nook for an invisible choir, reached by, a hallway. This is for the use of church choirs that are sometimes called in, and the nook is so arranged that the singing can be heard inside, but the singers cannot see in. On this floor there is also a lobby and parlor for the Commander in Chief.


On the fourth and last floor is the big banquet hall, store room, kitchen, lobby, reception and toilet rooms. This building will likely be of brick, but the inside furnishings will be on an elaborate scale, making it one of the finest structures of the kind in the country.

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The Cathedral was dedicated in a 3 day ceremony, March 25-27th 1903
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Included in this display is a vase presented by William Howard in 1901, and the trowel used in laying the cornerstone of the Howard Memorial Hall, 1902.
To the right, not shown in this photo, is a program for the unveiling of the Howard Statue, 1904

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The Howard Statue, by E.T. Quinn,  was Unveiled on January 27th 1904, by his grandchildren.




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Howards Lumber operation in Rich Valley, Cameron County from the 1890's

From the History Of Lycoming County by Meginness:
WILLIAM HOWARD of the firm of Howard & Perley lumber manufacturers was born in Yorkshire England August 13 1831 son of John and Hannah [Lockwood] Howard. who lived and died in their native land.

 He received his education in England and learned the stonemason's trade. In 1854 he came to the United States located at Reading Pennsylvania and worked a short time for the Lebanon Valley Railroad Company in building a bridge near the city of Reading.

 He came to Williamsport in August 1854 and worked on the dam on the Susquehanna near that city. He next found employment with the Water Mill Company for a few years and in 1857 he went into the lumber woods and engaged in that business. Some time later he organized the firm of CB & W Howard and engaged in the lumber business as log stockers. In 1863 he purchased land in Cameron county and operated there until 1887 In 1866. Mr Howard went into partnership with John R Cooke & Company purchased the saw mill now operated by Howard & Perley and engaged in the manufacture of lumber. He was later a member of the firm of Slonaker Howard & Company which was merged into that of Howard Perley & Howard and finally became Howard & Perley.  Mr Howard is one of the pioneer lumbermen of Williamsport and has been prominent in the lumber interests in this section of the State for many years dividing his time between Williamsport and Cameron county.

 He is a stanch Democrat and while living in Emporium was burgess of that borough for two terms and served two terms as county commissioner of Cameron county. He was also a member of the borough council of Emporium for several years and has served two years in the common council of Williamsport.

 Mr. Howard was one of the organizers and is a stock holder and director in the First National Bank of Emporium and was one of the organizers of the Emporium Water Company and is a director in that institution.

 He is a stockholder and director in the Lycoming Rubber Company of which he was one of the organizers.  He was active in securing the removal of the Demorest Sewing Machine Works to Williamsport and gave liberally of his means in furtherance of that project.  He is a stockholder in the West Branch National Bank and a member of the Board of Trade and of the Ross Club.

 Mr. Howard was married December 28 1853 to Mary Woodhead, a native of England, and has one son Samuel T who is employed with the firm of Howard & Perley. He and wife are members of Trinity Protestant Episcopal church and he is a vestryman in that organization. He is a prominent Mason and is connected with the lodge chapter commandery and consistory.





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The sculptor was Edmond Thomas Quinn 1868-1929.  His work Can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Portrait Gallery, Whitney Museum of American Art, and the National Gallery of Ireland. 

Among his best known works was a bust of Edgar Allen Poe in Poe Park, Professor Franklin W. Hooper in the Brooklyn Museum,  and according to his obituary, "the figure of John [William] Howard at Williamsport"

He won a silver medal for his bronze sculpture of model Audrey Munson at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, San Francisco, 1915

 Among his outdoor sculptures visible today are Edwin Booth as Hamlet in Gramercy Park, composer Victor Herbert near the Naumburg Bandshell on the Central Park Mall, and baseball pioneer Harry Wright.

In May of 1929, the renowned sculptor phoned the police and requested they come and collect his body so that his wife would not come upon it, and then he took what he expected to be a fatal dose of poison mixed with whiskey.  The police arrived and took him to the hospital, where he made a full recovery - the liquor in which he mixed the poison proving to be a helpful antidote for the poison.  In September of 1929 he made a second attempt, and this time it was successful, his body was recovered in New York Harbor.

See a collection of papers and some of Quinns work, in papers held by Yale, online here: https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/32256702



 



Friday, April 4, 2025

A Memorial For Pvt. Christian Hettick, 1781 Lewisburg


Along Rt 192, Or Buffalo Road, outside of Lewisburg is a headstone for Christian Hettick. 

The location today is 2740 Buffalo Rd, Lewisburg Pa, in front of Tilo Industries. 
In various documents mentioning the location over the years,  it is referred to as: "two miles west of Lewisburg on the road to Buffalo Crossroads"; "Private, Wolfe Farm"; "at the John P. Ruhl Farm near Buffalo Crossroads" ; "just above Andrew Wolfe's, where the rocks jut out upon the road, in the corner of the woods"; "A mile from Gundy's Mill"

The  stone reads:

CHRISTIAN 
HETTICK
Pvt
McGrady's 
NORTHUMBERLAND CO
RANGERS
PA TROOPS
REV. WAR
OCTOBER 6 1781

Spellings were rarely standardized at this time, so in various records the Hettrick surname appears as:  Hetick, Hetrick, Hettick, Hettrick, and even Haetrick.

  
The story behind the stone can also be found in Linn's Annals Of the Buffalo Valley:

"6th October Christian Hetrick a private in Captain Samuel McGrady's seven-months men was killed. He lived at Derr's and his party was called out upon the appearance of some Indians on Buffalo creek. They did not come up with them and on Hetrick's return home a mile and a half above Gundy's mill he was shot. When found he had a bullet wound and was scalped and tomahawked. 

  He [Christian] was one of the first residents upon the site of Lewisburg and is buried just above Andrew Wolfe's where the rocks jut out upon the road in the corner of the woods. My father often pointed out the place but he did not know the man's name "

Some descendants report that Christian's  son Andrew,  approximately seven years old, was actually with his father when he was killed and that Andrew was carried into captivity by the Indians.  Another family story is that the children were out digging up turnips, and Andrew was captured by the Indians. As Alene Ruyle records:

"There are always variations in stories handed down by word of mouth from one generation the next. I have heard that this account I am giving is not the same as told by some descendants of Andres Hettick. However, this narrative is as was given to me by Andrew Hettick's granddaughter, Emily Hettick Ruyle." 
[I've included her recollections on down in this post]


Although a tombstone, this is not actually a grave.  The stone was placed in 1940, 159 years after Christian Hettick's death.  The location would have been in the basic location as passed down in local lore, but would not mark the exact spot.

Sometimes these WPA stones, placed in the 1930s and 1940s, are not...  completely accurate.  For this stone however, there are plenty of records verifying the story.  Most substantially are the pension records, filed for by Christian's widow, for her children.


There are many other records of Christian in the area, as well - see additional sources under "Read More" at the bottom of this page.

In 1958, an article in the  Lock Haven Express investigating the history of a stone house "on island near Jersey Shore" includes the following information:

"For our answer we turn back the pages of early court records to an Article of Agreement of 1 September, 1777, between one Christian Hettrick and one Thomas Forster, of Upper Paxton Township, Lancaster County (now Dauphin) setting forth that said Hettrick "hath bargained and sold unto said Thomas Forster The said plantation he now lives on (meaning Hettrick) . . of 150 acres subject to the Proprietaries Purchase money due • ." terms of which Hettrick was to continue to "live on said plantation until April first next :.. when he will deliver peaceable possession" . . Hettrick to put in one half part the cleared land in grain for himself and he allows said Forster to put in the other part in grain for himself. and promises to pay said Hettrick the sum of 125 pounds Continental Currency.

 Long Term of Litigation

 This was recorded 12 December 1789. The variance in dates is of course, due to the long term of litigation over settling land titles in over settling land titles in all this disputed area, but more chiefly in this case because Christian Hettrick was killed by Indians in a skirmish of October 6, 1781. He left a widow and four very small children, whose prior claim had first to be settled before Thomas Forster could have his title cleared.

 So it does not seem likely that Thomas Forster would build such a substantial house in the winter of 1777 and early 1778 because of the unstable conditions of this frontier. He was a lieutenant and captain in the county militia meanwhile. In the face of his military obligations and many other uncertainties, everything points to the fact that only temporary quarters could he constructed at such a time,   except for what Christian Hettrick had already placed there. There is still more to the story when we note that the wife of Christian Hettrick, so cruelly widowed. was born Agnes Forster, supposedly a daughter of John Forster first of Paxton Township, Lancaster County. then of Buffalo Valley. Thomas Forster's father is also a John Forster, though not necessarily the same John. But we can assume, however, that if Agnes and Thomas were not brother and sister, at the least they were cousins."


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Christian's Son Andrew Hettick
Captured by Indians

In Portrait and biographical record of Macoupin County, Illinois
there is a record of Samuel E. Hettick great grandson of Christian Hettick.  It states:
"His [Samuel's] father, Stephen, was the son of Andrew Hettick, whose father, Christian, was a native of Germany who Settled n the Pennsylvania Frontier and was murdered by the Indians when the son Andrew was a little lad of six years.  The child was in captivity to the savages for three years but was finally rescued by soldiers and returned to his mother..." Page 465-466

In recollections of   Emily Hettick Ruyle, as told  to granddaughter  Alene E. Ruyle, there is the following account:

ANDREW HETTRICK's CAPTURE BY INDIANS
By Alene E. Ruyle
 
"Highlights of my childhood were stories told to me by my grandmother, Emily Hettick Ruyle. She told me the following narratives before I was nine years old. Her home was only a quarter of a mile from our house.

Often times when our parents went out for the evening, they left brother, Henry and me with grandma and Aunt Ann Ruyle who was a daughter that lived with her. A couch in the living room unfolded for a bed. Above the couch was a mantle on which stood a Seth Thomas clock with weights. It had to be wound every night. It always fascinated me to watch Aunt Ann wind the clock. Our grandparents bought this clock during the Civil War with ten dollars in gold. After the clock was wound, we were to rest on the extended couch until our parents came for us. Henry was always ready to go home but I always wanted to stay the remainder of the night. So, I pretended to sleep. Sometimes this worked and sometimes it didn't. Often my father nicked me up and carried me out to the buggy and home I went.

 On cool Saturday mornings in the fall Grandmother and I would sit by the wood fired kitchen range with the oven door down. in this cozy atmosphere I enjoyed hearing about the days when she was a girl and especially the story of how her grandfather, Andrew Hettick, was captured by the Indians. I never grew tired of her telling this story again and again. Indian stories are always entertaining for children and this true one really fascinated me. Andrew Hettick, his wife and six children were the first settlers in Scottville Township, Macounin County, Illinois. He was a native Pennsylvania and cane from Ohio in 1817 and was in Monroe County 1818 Census from the American bottoms in Madison County, Illinois, to Greene County in 1820 and to Scottville township, Macoupin County, Illinois in the year 1825. His log cabin was the first building in the township. It was located at the head of a small stream, Nigger Lick. 

There are always variations in stories handed down by word of mouth from one generation the next. I have heard that this account I am giving is not the same as told by some descendants of Andres Hettick. However, this narrative is as was given to me by Andrew Hettick's granddaughter, Emily Hettick Ruyle. She was the daughter of Andrew's son Stephen and his wife, Delilah Sharp Hettick. 

Christian Hettick and his family lived in Pennsylvania, near Lewisburg where there were many hostile Indians. They had a palisade built around their log cabin as a protection from the Indians. Turnips had been planted outside the palisade. The children went there to get raw turnips to eat. They had been warned not to go far because the Indians might get them. Soon all the larger turnips were gone. The children ventured farther and farther from the protection. One day they heard the Indians coming. They were all able to get inside the palisade except Andrew. He was the youngest and about four years of age. (born May 1 1775) Andrew was up on the palisade when an Indian threw a  tommy hawk.  He fell backward outside the palisade and  the Indians ran up, grabbed him and fled off through the timber with him. They dressed his head with feathers and cared for him as if he were one of their own. 

Andrew learned about hunting, trapping as he grew up with the Indians. One squaw as especially good to him. When the Braves went hunting, they would say that they were going to kill that white boy if they were not successful in their hunt. The squaw could tell by their war calls as they returned if they had been successful on the hunt for food. If the situation was not favorable, she would put a blanket on the ground, set Andrew on one end, throw it over his head and sit on the other end of the blanket.

A white trader in a canoe came periodically with wares.  He would trade with the Indians for beads, arrow heads or any other trinkets they might own. One day he asked the white boy if he knew what his name was before the Indians captured him. His reply was that it was Hettrick. The trader told him that he knew some Hettick’s so and asked him if he would like to go live with them. The white boy's reply was in the affirmative.
The trader told him to be at the river's bank before daylight on a certain day. The plan worked well. The trader told Andrew to lie down in the bottom of the canoe and stay there. Andrew later said that the trader rode hard all day. He was afraid the Indians might miss the white boy, come in search of him in a canoe and overtake them. He was about 14 years old when he was reunited with his family."


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Page 643 In:
 Indian wars of Pennsylvania : an account of the Indian events, in Pennsylvania, of the French and Indian war, Pontiac's war, Lord Dunmore's war, the revolutionary war, and the Indian uprising from 1789 to 1795 ; tragedies of the Pennsylvania frontier based primarily on the Penna. archives and colonial records / by C. Hale Sipe ; published in 1929

Pennsylvania Genealogy Magazine 1971, Page 19
Muster Rolls, Etc., edited by Thomas Lynch Montgomery,  1743-1787, 1906, page 550





Petition of Ephraim Morrison and Agnes, his wife, late Agnes Hettick, formerly widow of CHRISTIAN HETTICK, deceased, and of Andrew, Catharine, Elizabeth and Poily Hettick, surviving children of said CHRISTIAN HETTICK, states about October 6, 1781 he was called into service under the command of Capt. Samuel McGrady against a party of Indians in the neighborhood of Buffaloe Creek, said County. A party of men went out, and not meeting with the Indians he was killed by the Indians while returning home. His body was found about a mile from Gundy's Mill in said County, shot, tomhawked and scalped. The children of late CHRISTIAN HETTICK were born as follows: Andrew Hettick born May 1, 1775. Catherine Hettick born March 15, 1777. Elizabeth Hettick born June 15, 1779. Polly Hettick born October 16, 1781. Agnes Morrison, late Agnes Hettick, supported her children and remained the widow of late CHRISTIAN HETTICK until May 8, 1787, when she married Ephraim Morrison. Pension granted her and said children of late CHRISTIAN HETTICK.
Detail
Pennsylvania Archives, fifth Series, Vol IV edited by Thomas Lynch Montgomery under the direction of the Hon. Frank M. Fuller, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Harrisburg, PA: Harrisburg Publishing Company, State Printer, 1906 page 550
Web address
https://books.google.com/books?id=sBUUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA550&lpg=PA550&dq=christian+hettick+killed+by+indians&source=bl&ots=snMwnhqK1j&sig=rrPgP74QExd3US6nMgWGE9C6FRA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjvgayn7MvOAhVK_WMKHZDJCRcQ6AEIJTAB#v=onepage&q=christian%20hettick%20killed%20by%20indians&f=false


Birth 07 May 1750 From the record:
Evangelisch,Grossingersheim,Neckarkreis,Wuerttemberg
Name: Christian Hettick Birth Date: 1750 Birthplace: Pennsylvania Volume: 78 Page Number: 235 Reference: Ten

Mentioned in the VanDyke affadavit


Pennsylvania, U.S., Oyer and Terminer Court Papers, 1757-1787 for Christian Hettick


Letter as printed in:
Alldredge-Aldridge-Bracken-Nesmith families and their kin

In Linn's Annals Of Buffalo Valley


In Annals Of Buffalo Valley by John Blair Linn, Christian Hettrick is referred to as both Hetrick with one t, and Hettrick with two ts.  Either could be considered correct.  

Page 208 [1781] - 

"6th October Christian Hetrick a private in Captain Samuel McGrady's seven-months men was killed. He lived at Derr's and his party was called out upon the appearance of some Indians on Buffalo creek. They did not come up with them and on Hetrick's return home a mile and a half above Gundy's mill he was shot. When found he had a bullet wound and was scalped and tomahawked. 

His widow, whose name was Agnes, married Ephraim Morrison in 1787 and from an affidavit made to get a pension for Hetrick's children, I got the facts. Her children were:
 Andrew born May 1 1775
 Catherine 15th March 1777
 Elizabeth 15th June 1779
 Polly 16th October 1781

  He [Christian] was one of the first residents upon the site of Lewisburg and is buried just above Andrew Wolfe's where the rocks jut out upon the road in the corner of the woods. My father often pointed out the place but he did not know the man's name "

Page 28 [1769] - Mentions a "Hettrick's Store"
"The distance of the river line of the John Cox survey (which included Gabriel's settlement) from the mouth of Penn's creek to the Indian line was two hundred and ninety two perches; of the Richard Willing, from the black oak or Spanish oak marked by Gabriel and the Indians, to a white oak which stood on the river bank near Hettrick's stores was two hundred and ninety five and one half perches "

On Page 195, 1781 - 
"The ejectment for White Deer mills property was resumed.  The suit is brought by Vannost and has this distorted title: "Timothy Macabees lessee of James Claypoole vs Judias Iscariot with notice to Catherine Smith widow in possession" To November term we have the commencement of a series of suits between Ludwig Derr and Christian Van Gundy which after many years ended in the pecuniary ruin of the latter. It was brought to November term lessee of Christian Van Gundy vs Thomas Troublesome lessee of Ludwig Derr with notice to Christian Hettrick, tenant in possession. It astonishes a lawyer of the present how our predecessors managed to keep cases so long in court. Van Gundy's application had not the shadow of chance against Derr's title 
yet the contest went on for years until Van Gundy's money gave out. This suit was for the present site of Lewisburg "

Page 66 [1765] Includes mention of where Christian Hettirck "now lives, at a hickory on the West Branch of the Susquehanna.."



Stories told by Emily Hettick Ruyle to granddaughter  Alene E. Ruyle about Christian and Andrew Hettick 



A crop from the 1958 Lock Haven Express Article