Sunbury, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania
An Index Of Assorted Stories, History, and Photos
Note: Throughout this index of stories and photos, I will be quoting, heavily, "Reminisces of Sunbury" by J.C. Irwin, published in 1910. Irwin gives this introduction to his "pamphlet":
"The design of this pamphlet is to give a few of the reminiscences of Sunbury from former years. Many of the facts herein recorded may seem tedious to the general reader, and yet such facts have a local interest and for that reason have been inserted.... That errors may perhaps have crept into it is to be expected,
but care has been taken to make it accurate as well as complete. Eighty years ago the writer of these reminiscences was born
in Sunbury, Pa....."
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In The Beginning...
Shikellamy & Fort Augusta
Fort Augusta
The Great Runaway Hunter House Through The Decades
The Adventures Of The Cannon The Replica
The Great Runaway Hunter House Through The Decades
The Adventures Of The Cannon The Replica
Fort Augusta As Described in 1871
Where The Forts Once Stood - The 12 Forts Between Lock Haven & Sunbury
Where The Forts Once Stood - The 12 Forts Between Lock Haven & Sunbury
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The Early City
Sunbury 1772-1900
Early sketch of Sunbury, when the courthouse was located where Cameron Park is today
Northumberland county was created in 1772. The first court met in the log house at Fort Augusta. In 1797,the first courthouse was built in the public square in Sunbury. In 1865, the new brick courthouse copied from the design of Samuel Sloan of Philadelphia for the Lycoming Courthouse - was built at the corner of Market and second streets. The clock tower was added in 1872.
First house in Sunbury
The Lukens House, Second and Market Streets
1851 Sketch Of The Sunbury Courthouse
Landmarks
How Bloody Springs Got It's Name
The Jail The Courthouse
The Edison Hotel The Neff Hotel
The Jail The Courthouse
The Edison Hotel The Neff Hotel
Log Cabin at Third & Walnut Streets, Sunbury
[was still standing in 1940]
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Founding Fathers
& Other Sunbury Biographies
 1737-1804 First PA Senator Sunbury, Pa |
Mozart's Librettist 1749-1838 Sunbury Pa
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1769-1849 Hermit, Leaning Tower Sunbury Pa
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Memoirs & Recollections, Of Sunbury
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Calvin E. Shipe's Memories Of Sunbury, 1937
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Through The Decades In Postcards
Street By Street In Old Postcards
Market Street Front Street Miscellaneous
Sunbury Parks
Cameron Park Rolling Green Park Island Park (Amusement Park)
Cameron Park Rolling Green Park Island Park (Amusement Park)
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THE DAM
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Transportation
TRAINS
Planes
The Sunbury Airport
The First Aviator To Fly Over Northumberland & Snyder Counties
When Ameila Earhart Made An Unplanned Visit, With Her Mother
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EVENTS & ENTERTAINMENT
4th Of July Mummers Parade Patriotic Day
Sesquicentennial Bicentennial 1919 Welcome Home
Sesquicentennial Bicentennial 1919 Welcome Home
Bands
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MILITARY
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The Edison Connection
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OTHER FAMOUS VISITORS
Presidential Visits
Franklin Nixon Roosevelt Truman
The McKinley Funeral Train
The McKinley Funeral Train
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SUNBURY SPORTS
Horse Racing Automobile Racing
Meredith Field Memorial Park
When Connie Mack Came To Sunbury
When Willie Mays Played Baseball In Sunbury
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Murder & Mayhem
Floods & Other Disasters
A General Overview Of Floods In The Susquehanna River Valley
1936 1972
When Sunbury Got A Flood Wall
How A Hurricane Became Central Pennsylvania's Worst Natural Disaster - 1972
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BRIDGES
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SCHOOLS
First High School, Front and Penn Streets
Later a cigar factory, tire filler factory, and gara
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CLUBS & FRATERNITIES
Clubs, Fraternities, Organizations
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Stores, Businesses & Industries
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J.H. Slear, Shoemaker in Sunbury, about 1900
Southwest Corner of 3rd Street & Woodlawn Avenue
Bittner Dept store, Original and 1940
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MAPS & OTHER VIEWS
Panoramic View From Blue Hill, Showing The North & West Branches Of The Susquehanna River
Sunbury, 1857
Sanborn Fire Maps
1907 1912 1918
When the Street Names Changed in Sunbury
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Sunbury History Books
& Other Resources
Sunbury Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/577975962251635
Vintage Sunbury Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/vintagesunburypa
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Sunbury Today& SIGHTS TO SEE
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 The North'd Historical Society Museum |
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The William Maclay House | Shikellamy State Park Overlook |  |
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More Local History & Stories From Surrounding Local Towns
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What Follows is a copy and paste of approximately 80 pages from Herbert Bell's History Of Northumberland County. It has not been cleaned up and edited, and the transcription will have weird spacings and errors. Eventually, I'll fix that. For now, this makes it easier for me to search for certain terms in this document, when doing research.
From The History Of Northumberland Couty
By Herbert C. Bell
CHAPTER XIV.
The Town Plat — Bably Residents— StrefBUKT in 1808 — Beminiscences op Dr. R.
H. Awl — Pbominbnt Meechants, 1773-1850 — Eault Hotels — Muxicipal
Organization and Government — Facilities op Travel and Transporta-
tion— Industrial Activity — Banking Institutions — Gas, Electric Light, and Water Companies-^Local Papers — The Postoppice — Secret and Other
Societies — Educational Interests — Churches — Cemeteries — Borough op
East Sunbury.
THE site of Sunbury is an alluvial plain of triangular shape, evidently aa island at some former period in it geological development and eminently rich in historic interest. At the time when definite knowledge regarding this region begins it was the site of the Indian village of Shamokin and the residence of the great chief Shikellimy. Here the Moravian missionaries preached and taught, and Conrad Weiser met his dusky friends with that simple ingenuousness which formed the strongest element in his diplomacy; and here the provincial government erected Fort Augusta, the most formidable defensive work in central Pennsylvania, from which were directed the military movements throughout the colonial and Revolutionary periods which form so large a part of the history of the northern frontier during these eventful times. By the census of 1890 the population of the borough was five thousand nine hundred thirty.
THE TOWN PLAT.
Pomfret manor, a tract of several thousand acres surveyed for the Proprietaries in 1768, originally embraced the town site, which was doubtless selected from pecuniary considerations as well as on account of its natural eligibility. The survey of the town was determined upon at a meeting of the Governor and Council on the 16th of June, 1772, when Surveyor General Lukens was directed to repair to Fort Augusta, and, with the assistance of William Maclay, " lay out a town for the county of Northumberland to be called by the name of Sunbury at the most commodious place between the fort and the mouth of Shamokin creek, into three hundred lots to be accommodated with streets, lanes, and alleys and a commodious square in the most convenient place for public buildings: the two main streets to be eighty feet wide, the others sixty, and the lanes and alleys twenty feet; the lots to be sixty feet wide in front and two hundred thirty feet deep if the ground and situation will conveniently allow that depth. And it is further ordered that a space of at least one hundred twenty feet be left between the town line and the bank of the river: every other lot adjoining the square and fifty commodious lots besides to be reserved for the Proprietaries." In compliance with thes'e instructions Mr. Lukens set out for Port Augusta on the 18th of June, 1772, and the survey was completed in the following month.
In the original town plat the streets extending north and south in order from the river are named Broadway, River, Deer, Fawn, and Short, intersected at right angles by Cranberry street. Strawberry alley. Dewberry street, Htdberry alley, Shamokin street, Barberry alley. Blackberry street, Gooseberry alley, Pokeberry street. Raspberry alley. Whortleberry street, Blueberry alley, and Elderberry street, in order from the north. For some of these streets popular usage early adopted other names. Broadway became Water street; Penn, Mud street; Spruce, Bullet alley; Third, Back alley; Fourth, Hog street, and Shamokin, Market street. The present system of nomenclature was established by borough ordinance, June 5, 1866, changing the name of Broadway to Front; of River, to Second; of Deer, to Third; of Fawn, to Fourth; of Short, to Fifth; of Elderberry, to Spruce; of Whortleberry, to Walnut; of Pokeberry, to Penn; of Blackberry, to Chestnut; of Shamokin, to Market; of Dewberry, to Arch, and of Cranberry, to Race.
The most extensive addition to the original town plat is that part of the borough popularly known as Caketown. This land also formed part of the manor of Pomfret; it embraced the site of Fort Augusta, and was the residence of Colonel Samuel Hunter until his death, although it does not appear that he ever acquired a proprietary interest. On the 10th of April, 1786, John Penn, Jr., and John Penn executed a conveyance to William Wilson for three hundred forty-two acres of land, " the same place and tract of land whereon the late Colonel Hunter dwelt and part of the manor of Pomfret," the consideration being one thousand twenty-six pounds specie. The purchaser was an American officer during the Revolution and associate judge of Northumberland county, 1792-1813; a biographical sketch is given in this work in the chapter on the Bench and Bar. On the 20th of October, 1790, he sold one moiety or undivided half part of this tract to Alexander Hunter; 446 HISTOBY OF NORTHUMBEELAND COUNTY.
the other moiety was deeded to Mary Scott, June 17, 1811, at a nominal consideration, and from this time (or possibly at an earlier date), the land was known as the Hunter and Scott farms. The latter, embracing one hundred forty acres, adjoined the original northern boundary of Sunbury borough; the former comprised one hundred fifty-three acres.
The upper division, taken in execution as the property of Alexander Hunter at the suit of John Cowden, was sold at sheriff's sale on the 22d of April, 1814, and purchased by Thomas Grant. . In compliance with his will, his executors and executrix, George, William, and Deborah Grant, deeded it to Mrs. Nancy Hunter, widow of Alexander Hunter, October 16, 1817. By her will, dated July 26, 1833, Mrs. Nancy Hunter devised the farm to her son, Samuel Hunter. He died in 1852, and by the terms of his will it became the property of his sisters, Mary and Nancy Hunter and EUzabeth, wife of Henry Billington. One hundred six acres of this tract eventually came into the exclusive possession of Mary Hunter, by whom it was conveyed to Benjamin Hendricks_by deed of August 9, 1859, and on the 25th of June, 1863, it was purchased from Mr. Hendricks by Joseph W. Cake.
Mary Scott died intestate, leaving her estate to her children, Samuel H.
Scott, Mrs Sarah Gobin (nee Scott), wife of Charles Gobin, and Susan Scott.
Samuel H. Scott also died intestate, leaving his estate to his sisters, Mrs. Sarah Gobin and Susan Scott, who sold the Scott farm to David Longenecker, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, February 4, 1854. It was purchased at sheriff's sale, June 27, 1857, by Joseph S. Silver, of Philadelphia, who deeded it to Francis W. Hughes, of Pottsville, August 28, 1857. It was purchased from Mr. Hughes, August 23, 1859, by Joseph W. Cake.
Having thus secured both the Scott and Hunter farms, Mr. Cake proceeded to lay out the addition that bears his name. It was surveyed in September, 1863, by P. W. Sheaf er, of Pottsville, Pennsylvania; the principal streets extending east and west are Masser, Greenough, Packer, Amy, AHce, Julia, Joseph, John, and Main, intersected by Fort Augusta avenue and Susquehanna, Eailroad, Scott, Thompson, and Moorehead streets. Of those last mentioned, however, several have not yet bfeen opened.
The only other additions of any importance within the borough limits are those of Benjamin Hendricks, the executors of Henry Masser, John W. Friling. Dr. E. H. Awl, and William & E. D. Lenker. Hendricks extended Second street below Spruce and opened Pine between Second and Third; Friling opened Pine street between Front and Second, and laid out several blocks below Spruce; Masser's addition comprises Vine street, which is parallel with Eace and immediately north of it; Awl's and Lenker's additions are in the southeastern part of the borough.
EARLY RESIDENTS.
In a list of the taxables of Augusta township in the year 1774 each of the folSUNBUEY. 447
lowing persons is accredited with a house and lot: Sebastian Crevous, George Oliver, Frederick Dunkelberger, Eobert Desha, Martin Epley, Philip Everhart, David Fowler, Peter Gearhart, Charles Garment, Solomon Green, Stophel Gettig, Samuel Harris, Jacob Haverling, Adam Haverling, Charles
Hufty, Nicholas Kofield, William Maclay, Joseph McCarrell, Eobert McBride, David McKinney, Nicholas Miller, Frederick Eeely, Zachariah Eobins, Henry Eeigert, John Eeam (butcher), Gustavus Eoss, Cornelius Eow,
Stephen Sutton, Thomas Steinbach, Michael Troy, George Vaughan, George Wolf, Jonas Weaver, John Weitzel, James Wild, John Wall, and Elias
Youngman. As Sunbury was then the only town in Augusta township, it is fair to presume that this list includes the names of its principal inhabitants at that time. Colonel Samuel Hunter and Mrs. Alexander Grant resided north of the to, and Valentine Geiger at Maclay's mill a mile to the east but within the present limits of the borough of East Sunbury.
Colonel Samuel Hunter was born in the North of Ireland in 1732. His military career began in 1760 ; on the 2d of May in that year he was commissioned as Lieutenant in Captain Joseph Scott's company of Colonel Hugh Mercer's battalion of the Pennsylvania regiment, and on the 10th of November, 1763, as captain in Colonel Turbutt Francis's battalion. He was at Fort Augusta in June, 1763, when the first intelligence of Pontiac's conspiracy was received, and initiated the measures subsequently carried into execution by Colonel Burd for the defense of that post. In the following year he joined Colonel Bouquet's expedition, but was again at Fort Augusta in 1768 and doubtless earUer. On the 24th of March, 1772, he was commissioned as one of the first justices for Northumberland county, from which he was elected to the Assembly, 1772-75, to the Committee of Safety, 1775-76, and to the Council of Censors in 1783; and when the militia organized at the outbreak of the Eevolution he was elected colonel of the First battalion, February 8, 1776. He was appointed county lieutenant, March 21, 1777, and reappointed, April 6, 1780; in this responsible position he directed the movements of the local militia during the Eevolution, and his ofdcial correspondence is an invaluable contribution to the history of Northumberland county in that eventful period. He died at Fort Augusta, April 10, 1784, leaving a widow, Susanna {nee Scott), and two daughters, Nancy and Mary. The former married Alexander Hunter; the latter, Samuel Scott.
Alexander Grant, a native of Scotland, where he resided in the vicinity of Aberdeen, settled near the Susquehanna river immediately opposite Shamokin island prior to the organization of Northumberland county, and was elected the first constable of Augusta township in 1772. He died, March 21, 1775, leaving a widow and two sons, George and Thomas. Their
mother was bom on the 31st of October, 1718, and died on the 26th of November, 1821, at the great age of one hundred three years. George Grant was bom, August 16, 1755; on the 19th of March, 1776, he was 4:48 commissioned as third lieutenant in Captain Weitzel's company; he was promoted captain in the Ninth regiment, May 3, 1777, and died on the North river three miles above New Windsor, Connecticut, October 10, 1779.
Thomas Grant was born on the 20th of November, 1758, and died on the 16th of June, 1815. He served as sheriff of Northumberland county one term, 1785-88, and also as lieutenant and captain in the local militia. He was an active promoter of the Centre turnpike and during its construction disbursed the funds in payment for work, making frequent journeys to different points on the route with the money in his saddle-bags. He married Deborah, daughter of Robert Martin, of Northumberland.
William Maclay, whose connection with the early history of Sunbury and
of Northumberland county was of the most intimate character, was bom in
New Garden township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, July 20, 1737, son of
Charles and Eleanor (Query) Miaclay. His father removed to Lurgan towa-
ship, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in 1742, and there he grew to manhood.
At the outbreak of the French and Indian war he was a pupil at the classical academy of Eev. John Blair in Chester county; entering the military service as ensign, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on the 7th of May, 1758, in the Third battalion, and served with credit in General Forbes'g
expedition in that year. In 1763 he participated at the battle of Bushy
Run, and during the subsequent progress of Bouquet's campaign was
stationed in command of his company at one of the stockades on the route of the expedition. In the intervals of his military service he studied law, and on the 28th of April, 1760, was admitted to the bar of York county, Pennsylvania, although it is not probable that he ever engaged actively in the duties of the profession. He visited England at the close of the French and Indian war, and had an interview with Thomas Penn, one of the Pro-
prietaries, relative to the survey of lands on the frontiers of the Province.
It was in the capacity of a surveyor that his first acquaintance with the territory of Northumberland county began; on the 23d of February, 1769,
he made the first survey in the valley of the West Branch, one of the tracts apportioned to the officers in the French and Indian war, in which he participated by virtue of his services. On the 24th of March, 1772, he was
commissioned as first prothonotary, clerk of the several courts, register of wills, and recorder of deeds for Northumberland coimty, and was the in-
cumbent of these respective offices until 1777. He was also commissioned
as justice for the county, March 24, 1772, June 11, 1777, and January 24, 1785. In 1772 he assisted John Lukens in surveying the town of Sunbury,
and in the following year erected a stone dwelling at the northeast corner of Arch and Front streets, the most substantial and pretentious of the early private houses of the county seat. Early m the Revolutionary struggle he
entered actively into the support of the American cause, marched with the militia to the seat of war and participated in the battles of Trenton and SUNBUEY. 449
Princeton, and served as issuing commissary after his return to Sunbury.
In 1781, 1782, 1783, and 1785 he was elected to the Assembly from Northumberland county, and in 1786 to the Supreme Executive Council; in Janii-
ary, 1789, he was elected to the United States Senate as one of the first members of that body from Pennsylvania, his colleague being Robert Morris.
The latter drew the long term, and Mr. Maclay accordingly retired on the 3d of March, 1791. His attitude toward the administration while a member
of this body and its far-reaching results are thus stated by W. H. Egle, M. D. :—
His election to this body raised him upon a liiglier plane of political activity, but contact -witli tie Federal chiefs of the Senate only strengthened his political convictions, which, formed by long intercourse with the people of middle Pennsylvania, were intensely democratic. He began to differ with the opinions of President Washington very early in the session; he did not approve of the state and ceremony attendant upon the intercourse of the President with Congress; he flatly objected to the presence of the President in the Senate while business was being transacted, and in the Senate boldly spoke against his policy in the immediate presence of President Washington.
The New England historians, Hildreth and Goodrich, repute Thomas Jefferson as the " eiEcient promoter at the beginning and father and founder of the Democratic party."
Contemporary records, however, show beyond the shadow of a doubt that this responsibility or honor, in whatever light it may be regarded, can not be shifted from the shoulders or taken from the laurels of Pennsylvania statesmanship. Before Mr. Jefferson's return from Europe, William Maclay assumed an independent position, and in his short career of two years in the Senate propounded ideas and gathered about him •elements to form the opposition which developed with the meeting of Congress at Philadelphia on the 24th of October, 1791, in a division of the people into two great parties, the Federalists and Democrats, when, for the first time appeared an open and organized opposition to the administration. The funding of the public debt, chartering the United States Bank, and other measures championed necessarily by the administration, whose duty it was to put the wheels of government in motion, engendered opposition. Mr. Maclay, to use his own language, " no one else presenting himself,"
fearlessly took the initiative, and, with his blunt common sense (for he was not much of a speaker) and democratic ideas, took issue with the ablest advocates of the administration. Notwithstanding the prestige of General Washington and the ability of the defenders of the administration on the floor of the Senate, such was the tact and, resolution of Mr. Maclay that when, after his short service, he was retired from the Senate and succeeded by James Boss, a pronounced Federalist, their impress was left in the distinctive lines of an opposition party — a party, which, taking advantage of the warm feeling of our people toward the French upon the occasion of Jay's treaty with Great Britain in 1794, and of the unpopularity of the Alien and Sedition laws, passed under the administration of President John Adams in 1798, compassed the final overthrow of the Federal party in 1800.*
Mr. Maclay kept a journal during his senatorial term, in which he sum-
marized the debates in both open and secret sessions ; it has been published in book form with notes by George Washington Harris, and also in the New York Sun, and forms a most interesting and valuable contribution to the
history of this country in the period immediately succeeding the adoption of ♦Pennsylvania Genealogies, pp. 357-358.
the Federal Constitution. After his retirement he resided permanently upon his farm at Harrisburg, and erected the substantial stone building subsequently occupied by the academy of that city. He was elected to the lower house of the Pennsylvania legislature in 1795 and 1803; in 1796 he was a presidential elector, and in 1801-03 associate judge of Dauphin county. He died on the 16th of April, 1804, and was buried at Paxtang church. In 1769 he married Mary, daughter of John Harris, the founder of Harrisburg, and they were the parents of nine children, of whom the fourth in order of birth, Mary, married Samuel Awl, a prominent citizen of Upper Augusta township, Northumberland county. Mrs. Sarah Welker {nee Awl), Mrs. Hester H. Brindle {nee Awl), and Dr. E. H. Awl, of Sunbury, and M rs. Elizabeth J.
Eohrbach {nee Awl), of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, are the only living descendants of William Maclay in the second genei>ation.
Captain Nicholas Miller was commissioned as an ofiicer in the Twelfth Pennsylvania regiment, October 4, 1776, and served with it until it ceased to exist as an organization, July 1, 1778. He died in Northampton county before the close of the century.
David McKinney located at Sunbury in the spring of 1772. He was
formerly a resident of New Jersey and Virginia, and, although a miller by occupation, established one of the first distilleries at Sunbury and continued in this business some years. Late in life he removed to a farm on the West Branch near the Great Island, and there he died at an advanced age. He was the father of nine children: Abraham; Mary; John; Isaac; Sarah; Jacob; James; Elizabeth, and Rachel. Abraham was born, November 12, 1762, and died at Sunbury on the 13th of September, 1835 ; he built and operated the first mill on Mahanoy creek, Jackson township. Isaac removed to Centre county, Pennsylvania, established an iron furnace, and became associate judge.
" Eobert McBride," wrote John Weitzel to the Council of Safety, December 2, 1776, " goes down on purpose to apply for a lieutenancy in the service of the United States; I therefore take the liberty to recommend him as a man of spirit and resolution, and have not the least doubt but he will make a good officer. He served during the last war."* He was commissioned as second lieutenant in the Ninth Pennsylvania regiment, January 15, 1777. At the close of the war he returned to Sunbury. The second jail of Northumberland county was built by him as a private enterprise.
Thomond Ball performed the duties of prothonotary of Northumberland
county as deputy under David Harris. The latter was appointed, September 11, 1777; he entered the Continental army as third lieutenant in Colonel Thompson's battalion and rose to the rank of captain in the First PenColonel Hartley's regiment while it was stationed on the frontier. He served as deputy prothonotary until his death in 1779.
John Simpson, the second register and recorder of Northumberland county, was descended from the Scottish family of that name which possessed the earldom of Linlithgow in the sixteenth century. He was commissioned as register and recorder, March 29, 1777, and performed the duties of those offices more than a score of years. He married Ann Thompson, a lady of English parentage; Jeremiah Simpson, their son, was born, October 10, 1773, and died on the 11th of August, 1829. He was comfnissioned as register and recorder, July 24, 1798, and served until 1805. He married Mary, daughter of Henry Vanderslice, of Berks county, and they were the parents of nine children: John; Hannah; Mary; Eachel; Ann; Jeremiah; Henry V.; Jesse M. M., and Sarah. Jesse M. M. Simpson was elected treasurer of Northumberland county in 1848 and served one term.
David Mead was born at Hudson, New York, in 1752, son of Darius
Mead, who settled at Wyoming upon lands obtained under Pennsylvania title. A conflicting Connecticut claim having obliged him to relinquish his improvements, he located in Point township six miles above Northumberland on the North Branch, whence the family removed to Sunbury at the commencement of the Revolutionary war. There David Mead kept a hotel and estabUshed a distillery. He was elected county commissioner in 1782 and served one term. In 1787, accompanied by his brother John, he made a journey to the region west of the Allegheny river; they returned in the spring of 1788 with seven others, and established the first settlement in northwestern Pennsylvania at the site of Meadville, Crawford county. David Mead was actively connected with affairs in that part of the State imtil his death, August 23, 1816.
Christopher Gettig was commissioned as first lieutenant in the Twelfth Pennsylvania regiment, October 14, 1776. At Piscataway, New Jersey, he was wounded on the 11th of May, 1777, taken prisoner, and had his leg amputated. He died at Sunbury, July 2, 1790, leaving a widow, Anna Dorothy, and seven children: Magdalena; Barbara; Elizabeth; Frederick; Christopher; Catharine, and Joseph.
Christian Gettig kept hotel on Front street at a building subsequently known as " the barracks; " he was commissioned as justice, November 2, 1787, and the sessions of the court were frequently held at his house. He also operated a tannery. He died in 1797, leaving a widow, Elizabeth, and five children: Christian; Henry; Jacob; John, and Elizabeth.
Laurence Keene was commissioned as captain in Colonel Patton's regiment, January 13, 1777, and continued with that rank after its incorporation into the Eleventh; from the latter he was transferred to the Third, and served for a time as aid-de-camp on the staff of General Arthur St. Clair.
He was appointed prothonotary of Northumberland county, September 25, 454 HISTOBY OF NOETHUMBEELAND COUNTY.
1783, and died at Sunbury in July, 1789. He married Gaynor, daughter of John Lukens, surveyor general of the State.
Captain William Gray was born near Belfast, Ireland, in 1750. At the commencement of the Eevolution he resided in Northumberland county, and on the 15th of March, 1776, was commissioned as first lieutenant in Captain Weitzel's company of Colonel Miles's regiment. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Long Island, August 27, 1776, but was exchanged on the 8th of December following and promoted to captain in the Fourth regiment on the 3d of January, 1777. He retired from the service, January 1, 1781, and returned to Northumberland county, where he was engaged in merchandising at Sunbury for a time and also held the office of deputy surveyor. His residence was a log house at the southeast corner of Second and Walnut streets in that borough. He married Mary, daughter ^of John and Mary Brady, in 1784, and they were the parents of four children: Elizabeth; Mary; WiUiam M., and Jackson. He died on the 18th of July, 1804; the circumstances of his death were thus stated in Kennedy's Gazette : " On Wednesday the 18th instant, died suddenly, while superintending the reapers in a field near his house. Captain William Gray, of Sunbury. He had gone to a spring situated in a swamp below the field to fetch some water for the men, and probably was too weak to extricate himself after having fallen into the head of the spring .... He was found dead with his head in the spring and sunk to about the middle."
John Lyon came to Sunbury from the State of Delaware. He was a
shoemaker by trade, but relinquished this occupation for that of brickmaking, and furnished the bricks which entered into the construction of the court house, "state house," jail, and many of the first brick residences of Sunbury.
He also owned and operated the ferry immediately prior to its acquisition by the borough. He was elected county commissioner in 1797, served one term, and died on the 1st of January, 1800. He married Mary, daughter of David McKinney, and they were the parents of nine children: David; John; Elizabeth; David; James; Mary; Eebecca; Matthew, ' and Abr am.
John, Henry, and Dietrich Bucher emigrated from Switzerland to Pennsylvania: Dietrich established an iron furnace near Beading; John and Henry located at Sunbury. Henry Bucher was a farmer, and resided at the southwest corner of Walnut and Third streets; he owned nearly all that part of the borough between the Susquenanna river and Shamokin creek from the mouth of the latter to Spruce street, and first reduced this land to cultivation. He married a Miss Epley, and they had issue as follows: Henry; Elizabeth, who married George Weiser (tanner) ; Mary, who married Jacob Leisenring; Francis; George, a soldier in the war of 1812, and John. Henry had a hotel on Front street and operated the ferry for some years; Francis was a tanner, and one of the last persons engaged in that business at Sunbury. He died on the 19th of March, 1875, at the age of seventy years.Pennsylvania regiment, but resigned on the 20th of October, 1777, and engaged in mercantile pursuits at Baltimore. Mr. Ball was the first secretary of the Northumberland county Committee of Safety and acted as paymaster of ♦Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. V. pp. 85-86.
The first physicians were Doctors William Plunket, Francis Allison,
James Davidson, Solomon Markley, Joseph Thomson, Peter Kraut, William
Westhoven, Isaac Cushman, George Slough, C. H. Bailey, John Y. Kennedy, Peter Grahl, William T. Morris, etc.; the first lawyers — Casper Weitzel, Stephen Chambers, Charles Smith, Daniel ^Levy, Charles Hall, Evan Eice Evans, Jesse Moore, Enoch Smith, Samuel Eoberts, Hugh Bellas, E. G.
Bradford, Ebenezer Greenough, Samuel J. Packer, and others, of whom
extended mention is made in the appropriate chapters of this work.
SUNBUEY IN 1808.
The first triennial assessment of Sunbury borough was made in 1805, but the list of taxable inhabitants for that year is incomplete; the second was made in 1808, and exhibits the following improved property, with names of respective owners and occupants.
Front Street. — Frame house and stable, owned by Henry Aurand; log and brick house and stable, owned and occupied by James Black, weaver; log house and stable, owned by Conrad Minnich and occupied by John Baker; stone house and stable, owned and occupied by John Boyd, register and recorder of the county ; brick house and stable, owned and occupied by John Buyers, merchant and justice of the peace; log house, occupied by Widow Brown; log house, owned by William Moore and occupied by Andrew Callum, school master; small log house, owned by James Black and occupied by William. Coldron, baker; frame house, owned by William Witman and occupied by John Colsher, school master ; frame house, owned by John Buyers and occupied by Philip Cook, tailor; log house, old house, and stable, owned and occupied by William Dewart, Sr. ; log house and stable, owned and occupied by Henry Goodhart; log house and stable, owned and occupied by Ann Gettig, widow; log house and stable, owned by Jacob Kendig and occupied by Peter Grahl, physician; log house and stable, owned by Henry Shaffer and occupied by Samuel Hahn, weaver; brick house and
stable, owned and occupied by Charles Hall, attorney ; log house and stable, owned by Zachariah Eobins and occupied by John Kinzer, boatman ; frame house and stable, owned and occupied by Mary Lyon, widow, innkeeper; frame house and stable, owned and occupied by Daniel Levy, prothonotary of the county; log house, owned by William Witman and occupied by
Nicholas Mantz, butcher; frame house and stable, owned and occupied by Widow McKinney, storekeeper; old log house, owned by a Mr. Hubley and occupied by Adam Snyder; log house and stable, owned by John Buyers and occupied by Jacob Singer, innkeeper ; log house and stable, owned by a Mr.
Fisher and occupied by Joseph Shannon; log house and stable, owned and occupied by Enoch Smith, attorney; stone house, owned and occupied by Jeremiah Simpson ; small brick house, owned by Elizabeth Gettig and occupied by William Withington, hatter; frame house, owned by Margaret Bax456 HISTOBY OF NORTHUMBEKLAND COUNTY.
ter and occupied by Elizabeth Wilet; log house, owned by Widow Epley and occupied by Adam Snyder, butcher.
Market Street. — Frame house, occupied by Widow Albright; log house,
owned by Christian Shissler and occupied by John Bright, saddler ; log house and stable, owned and occupied by Paul Baldy, blacksmith; blacksmith shop, owned and occupied by Paul Baldy ; frame house and bam, owned by Jacob Vanderslice and occupied by Hugh Bellas, attorney; brick house and stable, owned and occupied by Lewis Dewart, merchant; log house and stable, owned and occupied by Evan E. Evans, attorney ; frame house, owned by Aaron Eoulk and occupied by Widow Albright; log house and stable, owned by C. Wagner and occupied by Stophel Gettig, innkeeper; log house and stable, owned by Widow Gobin and occupied by Edward Gobin, joiner; still house, owned and operated by Edward Gobin; house, owned and occupied by Daniel Hoffman, shoemaker; log house, owned by a Mr. Graham and occupied by Timothy Harris ; stone house and stable, owned by Charles Hall and occupied by Charles Hegins, innkeeper ; brick house and stable, owned and occupied by Charles Haas, merchant; log house, owned by Joseph Harris and occupied by Eees Harris, shoemaker; brick house and stable, owned by Jacob Preisinger and occupied by Michael Kutzner, innkeeper; log house and stable, owned and occupied by Theodoras Kiehl, justice of the peace; log house and stable, owned and occupied by Joseph Lorentz, coroner of the county; brick house and stable, owned by Jacob and Joseph Sinton and occupied by Daniel Lebo, innkeeper; log house and stable, owned by Thomas Robins and occupied by Conrad Minnich; frame house, owned by George Heim and occupied by Charles Maus, attorney; log house, owned and occupied by Widow Miller; small brick house and stable, owned and occupied by Henry Masser^ tinsmith; log house and stable, owned by Thomas Eobins and occupied by Henry Euch, Sr., shoemaker; log house, owned by Thomas Eobins and occupied by Henry Euch, Jr., shoemaker; log house, owned by Leonard Epley and occupied by John Eichards, mason ; log house, tannery, and bam, ovraied and occupied by Zachariah Eobins, tanner ; brick house and stable, owned by Samuel Eoberts and occupied by Henry Shaffer, innkeeper; small frame
house, owned and occupied by Henry Shaffer ; brick house and stable, owned and occupied by James Smith, innkeeper; log house and stable, owned by Widow Geiger and occupied by Widow Schwartz; frame house and stable, owned and occupied by Jonas Weaver, innkeeeper; stone house and stable, owned and occupied by Elizabeth Weitzel, widow, storekeeper; log house and stable, owned by William McAdams and occupied by Christian Wagner,
carpenter.
Chestnut Street. — Log house, owned and occupied by Joseph Alter, carpenter; frame house and stable, owned by Andrew Graeff and occupied by Andrew Albright, merchant; frame house and stable, owned and occupied by James Alexander, merchant; log house, stable, and pottery, owned and SUNBUBY.
457
occupied by Daniel Bogar, potter; log house and shed, owned by George Bright and occupied by Esther Bright, widow; log and frame house and stable, owned by O. Bird and occupied by Francis Cook, farmer; log house and stable, tannery, etc., owned and occupied by William Dewart, farmer; log house and barn, owned by Christian Miller and occupied by John De Long, shoemaker; log house and stable, owned by John Weigans and occupied by Jacob Gass, barber ; old log house, owned and occupied by Eebecca Gorman; log house and stable, owned by John Hauswart and occupied by Simon Glass, nailer; log house and stable, owned and occupied by Thomas Giberson; log house and stable, owned and occupied by Daniel Hurley, merchant; log house and stable, occupied by John Kendig; log house and stable, owned by Daniel Bogar and occupied by George Martin, Jr., shoemaker; brick house and stable, owned and occupied by Solomon Markley, physician; brick, frame, and log house, owned and occupied by William McAdams,
tailor ; log house, owned by Daniel Bogar and occupied by Frederick Miller, tailor; log house, owned by Joseph Alter and occupied by John Mangrow; log house, owned by Alexander Hunter and occupied by William Smith,
school master; log house, owned by George Spice and occupied by Sarah Wharton; log house, tannery, etc., owned and occupied by Jacob Yoner, tanner; log house and stable, owned and occupied by John Young, blacksmith.
Penn Street. — Log house, owned by Daniel Hurley and occupied by
Charles Cameron, tailor; log house and stable, owned and occupied by Jacob Durst, blacksmith; old house, owned by Abraham Fry; log house and stable, owned and occupied by Adam Eenn, shoemaker; log house, owned by U.
Billman and occupied by John Sloan, innkeeper; log house and stable, owned by Daniel Hurley and occupied by Jane Wight; small house, owned by
George Mantz and occupied by Widow Ween.
Walnut Street. — Log house, owned by Martin Epley and occupied by
Christian Bower, carpenter; log house and old barn, owned and occupied by Henry Bucher, farmer; log house and stable, owned and occupied by Jacob Conrad; log house, owned by William Dewart, Sr. ; frame house, Owned by James Silverwood and occupied by Widow Duncan; log house and barn,
owned and occupied by Mary Gray, widow; log house and stable, owned and occupied by Abraham Kiehl, carpenter; log house and stable, owned and occupied by George Martin, Sr., shoemaker; frame house and stable, owned and occupied by Aaron Eobins, mason; old house and stable, owned and occupied by Peter Smith; log' house and stable, owned by Philip Masser and occupied by John Snyder, blacksmith; old log house, owned by a Mr.
Shellhard; old house, owned and occupied by Jacob Vanderslioe; log house, owned and occupied by Henry Vanderslice, tailor; log house, owned by James Smith; old log house, owned by William McAdams; small frame
house, owned by Jonas Weaver.
458 HISTOBY OF NOBTHUMBEKLAND COUNTY.
Indefinite Locations included the following: frame house adjoining Andrew Eowe, owned by Daniel Baker and occupied by Jacob Baker; log house adjoining Martin Epley, owned by John Bucher;, log house and barn adjoining Peter Smith, owned by Andrew GraefE and occupied by Henry Bucher, farmer; log house adjoining Charles Hall, owned by Jacob Vanderslioe and occupied by Eobert Carr, weaver; small log house and stable adjoining J.
Preisinger, owned and occupied by Melchoir Deitrich, carter; small log house adjoining Adam Hileman, owned by Mary Carter and occupied by John
Dentler; log house and stable, owned and occupied by Widow Geiger; log house and stable adjoining Gear and J. Epley, owned by Leonard Epley and occupied by Peter Goodhart, hatter; frame house adjoining Joseph Alter, owned and occupied by Jacob Haines, butcher; log house and stable adjoining Mary Carter, owned and occupied by Adam Hileman, tailor; log house and barn adjoining William McAdams, owned and occupied by George Harrison ; house adjoining Owen Poulk, owned and occupied by Conrad Minnich ; log house and stable adjoining Henry Bucher, owned and occupied by James McEwen, weaver; log house and stable adjoining John Young, owned and occiipied by Mary Martin, widow; log house and stable adjoining Widow Geiger, owned by Widow Ponteous and occupied by Peter Gray; old log house adjoining James McEwen, owned by Andrew Eowe and occupied by
Martin Waldorf; house and stable near Thomas Giberson, owned by Frederick Haas and occupied by Thomas Weaver; log house adjoining Daniel
Hurley, owned by Leonard Epley and occupied by John Eichard, mason;
small log house adjoining Adam Hileman; William Graham, school master, at "point of the creek." Some of these persons doubtless resided on Second, Third, Fourth, Arch, or Eace streets, to which no locations are definitely assigned.
The Single Freemen were John Beitzel, clockmaker; Jacob Beck, black-
smith; John Baldy, blacksmith; John Buyers; David Bright, saddler;
Charles Clark; Henry Donnel, surveyor; William G. Forrest, attorney; Eobert Gray, register's clerk; John Grahl; E. Greenough, attorney; Cornelius Gorman, tobacconist; John Hurley, farmer; Jared Irwin, sheriff; William Johnson, clerk; Henry Long, laborer; Martin Millet; Baltzer Myerly, carpenter; Jacob Mantz; John Mantz; John Nail, shoemaker; Adam Mantz;
Thomas Painter, clerk; John Eobins, mason ; Gilbert Eobins, hatter ; Andrew Eowe, tanner; John Eogers, distiller; Joseph Eichardson; Alexander Strickland, school master, and George Shuff. It is probable that some of these persons had families, and appear in this class from the fact that their residence at Sunbury did not involve the occupancy of improved property.
EEMINISCBNCES OF DB. E. H. AWL.
The Sunbury of to-day presents a wide contrast with the town of sixty years ago, not only in its material aspects, but also in the general characterSUNBUEY. 459
isties of its people. The following with reference to the social diversions of a former generation and the appearance of the borough at the time of his earliest recollection is given as the reminiscences of Dr. E. H. Awl.
The State militia organization, which received an impetus in the war of 1812, was tolerably efficient for some years thereafter. " Battalion days "
occurred annually, and were the great social events of the county. The Sunbury battalion was composed of the militia of the surrounding tovmships ; on the morning of the appointed day the companies formed in line on the public square and adjacent streets, marched to the parade ground, and engaged in the various military evolutions imtil three or four o'clock in the afternoon.
The rural population was present en masse ; a line of wagons and booths surrounded the parade ground, and gingerbread, cakes, ginger ale, oranges, lemonade, pickled oysters, spruce beer, and various other refreshments were dispensed in great profusion. Measured by the results in increased efficiency to the military organization the " battalion days " were not a pronounced success, but in the friendly social intercourse fostered by these occasions their influence was highly beneficial.
The Sunbury races were widely attended for many years. This form of diversion was doubtless introduced anterior to the present century; the manner in which announcements were made at an early date is shown by the following notice in the Republican Argus of October 23, 1805 : —
STJNBUKY RACES,
Free for any horse, mare, or gelding, will commence on the 29th of October next.
First day's race, four miles and repeat — purse, two hundred dollars.
Second day's race, three miles and repeat — purse, one hundred twenty dollars.
Third day's race, two miles and repeat — purse, one hundred dollars.
Sweepstakes on the fourth day for the entrance money, one mile and repeat.
About the time that Judge Cooper was elevated to the bench there was a general movement against horse-racing, and he issued a proclamation for its suppression within the coimties composing his district. Extensive preparations were then in progress for a great race at Sunbury; horses were expected from Philadelphia, the tavern keepers had been to much expense in providing for the anticipated crowd, and, in view of these circumstances, the Judge was induced to withdraw his inhibition upon the personal assurance of the promoters that there should be no gambling or disorder. The apparent inconsistency of this action was urged against him in 1811 m the proceedings before the legislature for his removal, and in reply he stated that the race in question was the last in the county during his judicial incumbency. The turf was again patronized under the administrations of his successors, however, and at the period of Doctor Awl's earliest recollection there were two courses at Sunbury, one of which extended along the bank of the river from Spruce street to two trees near the Shamokin dam, while the other occupied " Back alley " (Third street) within corresponding limits. Entries 460 HISTORY OF NOETHUMBEKLAND COUNTY.
were made from distant points in Pennsylvania and adjacent States, and jockeys were present from all parts of the country. Considerable money changed hands on these occasions, and if the local favorite did not happen to be the winner the town was sometimes almost destitute of cash during the succeeding days.
The game of long bullets was a popular sport at the beginning of the present century. Iron balls were used, one of which, four and three fourths inches in circumference with a weight of twelve and three fourths ounces, is now in possession of Doctor Awl and was formerly owned by his father. The regular ground for this game was Spruce street between Fourth and the river; it was rolled, leveled, and hardened, and was popularly known as "Bullet alley." In grasping the ball the index and third fingers were tied in front of the second finger; the ball was then projected with a jerk and made to bound along upon the ground the greatest possible distance. If elevated too high, the force was spent when it reached the earth; the fine art, therefore, consisted in projecting the ball at the proper angle to secure the least resistance as it rebounded from the ground. This sport developed great precision in the muscular action of the arm, and was also calculated to strengthen the chest and back. It was prohibited by ordinance of the borough in 1803, but the name of " Bullet alley " retained a place in the street nomenclature of Sunbury many years after that date.*
After the suppression of long bullets the game of ball first commanded general popular favor. There were four ball alleys, located, respectively, at Shaffer's hotel, at the old jail (southeast corner of Market street and Center alley), at the yard of the county prison (corner of Second and Arch streets), and at a vacant lot on the north side of Market street east of the building in which Renn's drug store is situated.
Foot-races were of. frequent occurrence, and were sometimes attended by distinguished sprinters from other points. The course was usually in " Bullet alley." Closely allied to these were the jumping matches, in which five distinct varieties were recognized, viz. : the " single jump," " backward jump,"
" three jumps," " running hop, step, and jump," and " high jump."
At that period physical prowess was a prominent factor in the adjustment of persotial difficulties, the settlement of which for some months previously wfJs usually deferred until " battalion day." Each community had its local bully, and when a number of the noted fighters in town and country assembled under the patriotic influences of a militia muster, the reminder of a past victory or defeat was sufficient challenge to involve them all in a general melee.
While a local code of rules was generally recognized, these encounters were * An effort was made to revive the game early In the '30's, but It had heea discontinued so long that few persons possessed sufflcient skill to cover the distance from Front to Fourth In three jerks.
Parry Thomas, a tailor, attempted to throw the ball instead of jerking it, but the muscular contraction was greater than the resistance of the bones of his arm, which sustained a fracture in consequence.
SUNBUEY. 461
far more frequently tests of strength than of skill. Not the fists alone, but also the teeth and nails, were brought into requisition, and when one of the participants acknowledged himself beaten it was usually because of thorough exhaustion on account of the brutal treatment he had received. There were also wrestling matches, conducted in a spirit of friendly rivalry, but the skill displayed was of a crude type. The manly art of self-defense was first regularly expounded at Sunbury in 1839 by a Mr. Eeed, who opened a boxing school on Front street between Walnut and Spruce. It is needless to remark, however, that Marquis of Queensbury rules have not always been observed in personal encounters since that date.
Cock-fighting was also one of the fashionable amusements at Sunbury.
There were two varieties of game-cocks, the " reds " and the " grays; " tradition asserts that the former were introduced by the Gibersons and the latter by the Bobinses. There were three cock-pits, located, respectively, at the Blue Ball tavern, at Bobins's tannery, and at a cellar on Front street.
The usual amount of betting was connected with exhibitions of this nature; if the fight occurred at night the odds were generally in favor of the " reds,"
as the " grays," owing to their color, could more easily be distinguished.
The Terpsichorean art was first scientifically taught in Northumberland county by a Frenchman named Blondell, and David Hartzhorn was among
his successors at Sunbury in this department of instruction as early as 1802.
Cotillions were not introduced in the rural districts for many years thereafter, however, and the exercises of "battalion day" regularly closed with dancing at the various hotels in which the popular figures were " straight four,"
" French four," and " the buckwheat thresher."
At that early date considerable rivalry existed between the towns of Sunbury and Northumberland, and the partisans on either side were not slow to devise derisive epithets for the other. In this mutual exchange of courtesies the people of Sunbury received the collective designation of " BuUyrums "
(bull-frogs), from the amphibious animals of that name which found a congenial habitation in the marshy ground east of the town; the corresponding sobriquet of the Northumberlanders was " Pine-Knots," doubtless suggested by the pine forests that covered the hills northeast of that borough. Each town was jealous of the prestige of the other, and this feeling frequently found expression in collisions between the boys and young men. But the old time antagonism has entirely subsided, under the close commercial intimacy fostered by the steamboats, railroad, and street railway.
Sixty years ago (1830) the streets of Sunbury were green with grass, upon which sheep, geese, ducks, and cows pastured at will. The houses were nearly all constructed of wooden materials ; the only three-story buildings were the borough high school on Front street and a brick structure at the southwest corner of Market and Third. The public buildings included the court house, at the western end of the inclosure in Market square; 462 HISTOEY OP NOETHUMBEBLAND COUNTY.
the "state house," at the southeast corner of Market and Second streets; the jail, at the southwest corner of Second and Arch streets; the borough market house, on Market square east of the court house; the Lutheran church, on Third street, and the Reformed and Presbyterian church, at the site of the present Eeformed church.
Race Street, the northern limit of the town plat, was improved to a verylimited extent. The only houses on the north side were the brick residence of Jacob Heller at the corner west of Second and a wooden building owned by Henry Masser and used as a dwelling or school house. On the south side were the following improvements: a one-story log building occupied by Mrs.
MoUie Carr, the only house between Third and Fourth; a small frame house west of Center alley, built by John G. Fry, carpenter and court crier; a large red frame house, at the corner east of Second, occupied by Henry Beshler, court crier; a small log house built of unhewn timbers untrimmed at the corners, occupied by James McEwen, weaver (one of the principal wells of the borough is on these premises), and an old house at the corner of Front.
Arch Street. — South side: a brick house at the comer west of Fourth, built in 1822 by Michael Sanders and occupied by Francis P. Schwartz, teacher; a log house, erected by George Lawrence, and afterward converted into a stable by John G. Youngman; the residence of John G. Youngman, printer, at the corner west of Third; a frame building at the corner west of Center alley, owned by Lewis Dewart; the shop of Samuel Gobin, wagon maker; the Follmer property, a small frame house; the brick residence of Jacob Druckemiller ; a red frame barn connected with the jail, at the comer west of Second; and E. Greenough's residence, at the corner east of Front.* North side: a one-story log house with clapboard roof, at the corner west of Fourth, occupied by Phebe Kowe; a frame house, occupied by Alexander Strickland; a two-story log house, with brick end at the east, built for George P. Buyers by Jacob Euch ; a log house at the comer east of Third, occupied by Andrew McNamara; a frame house west of Third, removed from Market street by Eli Diemer, register and recorder of Northumberland
county, 1824-27, who died, December 1, 1875, at the age of eighty-three years, eleven months, and six days; the brick house of Henry Yoxtheimer, west of Second, with a frame shop adjoining in which he formerly conducted wagon making, and the old Maclay house, at the corner east of Front.
Market Street was then, as now, the business thoroughfare of the borough.
On the south side, the first improvement on the east was the Robins tannery, *The site of the Catholic church, then a vacant lot, was once occupied at the period to which this relates liy one of the first circuses that ever visited Sunbury. Notwithstanding inclement weather there was a large attendance at the evening performance, which had scarcely begun when the tent collapsed, precipitating a state of contv^ion tliat beggars description. In tlie melee a certain gentleman, the father of a family, seized a boy whom he supposed was his son and carried him several squares before the urchin informed him of his mistake.
SUNBURY. 463
at the southeast corner of Market and Fifth. Between Fifth and Fourth were the log house owned by WilHam Kebler, a German butcher; a long double log house occupied by Mrs. Kitty Bower, who sold cakes and beer; the frame house and hatter shop of Edward Kutzner and Benjamin Eobins; the brick residence of Dr. William Eobins, and his office at the present site of D. Heim's store, and Jonas Weaver's hotel, at the east end of which was Black & Leisenring's store. Between Fourth and Third: Young & Alter's store and John Young's residence, the former the brick building in
which Eeimensnyder's drug store is situated and the latter the frame house immediately adjoining on the west, both now owned by the Bassler estate; the frame residence of George Weiser, justice of the peace and subsequently associate judge; the frame residence of Peter Martz, afterward 'associate judge and member of the legislature; George C. Welker's tailor shop, a small frame structure back from the street; the present brick residence of Mrs.
George C. Welker, then occupied by Betsey Bright as a millinery store; the saddler shop of Jonathan Weiser; a frame house occupied by George Gass, whose wife sold cakes and beer; a frame building in which William Jordan, brother of Judge Jordan, had his store and residence; a frame house back from the street, occupied by the Wiggins or Vanderslice family; a frame building at the southeast corner of Market square, occupied by William Miller as a buhr-making shop, (in which a bear belonging to a traveling showman and a bull-dog belonging to Thomas Eobins were once pitted against each other, and the stakes, amounting to five dollars, were awarded to Eobins), and the stone house still standing at the southeast corner of Third and Market. Between Third and Second: Lorenzo Da Ponte's three-story
brick building on the corner west of Third, and store, a small frame structure adjoining on the west; Jacob Painter's frame residence and hat shop; Henry Shissler's residence, now owned by Mrs. Louisa Shissler; the blacksmith shop of Jesse, David, and John Martz; the old jail building at the corner of Center alley, then the Farmers' Hotel, kept by William Shannon; a frame house across the alley; the two-story brick residence of Henry Masser, still standing, in the cellar of which he had a tinware store; a two-story brick building, in which Henry Yoxtheimer resided and had a large general store ; George Prince's hotel, the Lawrence House, and the old "state house." Between Second and First: Henry Shaffer's hotel, a brick building, at the site of the Neff House; James Smith's brick residence, at the site of Ira T.
Clement's; Weitzel's hotel, a stone structure just west of the alley, and Daniel Levy's law office, a small frame building at the southeast corner of Market and Front.
On the north side of Market street the most easterly improvement was a log house in which James Farrow, blacksmith, resided, situated between Fifth street and the alley, west of which were the following: a frame house now occupied by Mrs. George W. Kiehl; several buildings owned by Henry 464 HISTOEY OF NOKTHUMBEELAND COUNTY. '
Weise, sheriff of the county, 1854—57; James Farrow's blacksmith shop ; a frame building, subsequently the ofSce of the Gazette, and Charles Gobin's tannery, while the comer east of Fourth was owned by Mrs. Betsey Bright.
Between Fourth and Third: a frame shop at the west comer of Fourth at the site of the bank; the brick residence and store of John Haas; two small frame buildings, occupied, respectively, as cooper and shoemaker shops; a large log house, occupied by Jacob Kiehl; a frame shop; John Boulton's brick hotel, with tailor shop upstairs in an adjoining frame building; the brick building in which Dr. P. H. Kenn's drug store is situated, then owned by Gideon Markle ; the frame house now owned by Caroline Dalius, formerly occupied by Henry Gobin and Thomas Billington as a store and by the Dering family as a residence; a frame building at the northeast corner of Market square, in which Peter Lazarus conducted a drug store; a blacksmith shop, and Martin Weaver's brick residence at the site of the Central Hotel.
Between Third and Second: a two-story shop, at the corner west of Third; a frame building with shed roof, Ezra Grossman's printing office, at the west side of the lot upon which the Dewart block stands; a wooden building at the site of Doctor Awl's residence, originally owned by the Keims, of Reading, Pennsylvania, and occupied by Ezra Grossman in 1830; a wooden building back from the street, in which Jacob D. Breyvogel, the first printer at Sunbury, is said to have resided; the brick residence of Samuel J. Packer, originally built by Paul Baldy, with an addition by John Sinton, carpenter and school teacher; a one-story frame shop, at the corner east of Center alley, the site of the Presbyterian church; the present brick residence of the Dewart family; the present brick residence of George Hill, erected by Edward Gobin; a frame house, in which Mrs. Henry Donnel resided, and the present Donnel property, formerly a hotel. Between Second and Front: a wooden building at the corner west of Second; the old frame building still standing, formerly the residence of Mrs. Gaynor Smith, widow of Enoch Smith, and a great place for social gatherings, and the brick building at the northeast corner of Front and Market, built by Charles Hall.
Chestnut Street, on the south side, was not improved east of Fourth, with the exception of the present brick residence of Mrs. Mary Lenker, then occupied by George Young. Between Fourth and Third the improvements com-
prised a log school house, afterward occupied by John Hileman, shoemaker, and the brick residence of George Weiser, tanner, subsequently associate judge. Between Third and Second: a wooden .building, in which Daniel Hoffman, shoemaker and constable, resided; the frame house and shop of George Weyel, cooper; the frame residence of Frederick Lazarus, justice of the peace, whose son, Peter Lazarus, was sheriff of the county, 1830-33; a wooden building immediately west of Center alley, the residence of Alexander Jordan, and the present residence of Dr. A. S. Cummings, then occupied by the widow of John L. Finney, ex-register and recorder of this coimty SUNBUKY. 465
and prothonotary of the Supreme court for the Middle district of Pennsylvania, who was born, May 12, 1766, and died on the 24th of October, 1824.
Between Second and Front: the present residence of H. B. Masser, then occupied by Isaac Zeigler, tanner; a wooden building, in which Jacob Bright, watchmaker, resided; Henry Bartsher's hotel, a large wooden building; John Bogar's frame residence and store, just east of the alley, and a small brick building, belonging to William McCarty.
On the north side of Chestnut street, the only improvement east of Fourth was a wooden building at the northeast corner of Chestnut and Fourth, owned by Peter Hileman. The improvements between Fourth and Third included
Jacob Weimer's brick residence at the corner west of Fourth; a log school building ; the log house of George Hall, maker of spinning wheels, large and small ; the frame house of George Zimmerman, and his blacksmith shop, and Miss Sallie Giber son's log dwelling, at the corner east of Third. Between Third and Second: the large frame residence and cabinet making shop of Charles Dering; west of Center alley, a log school house subsequently occupied by a German named Westerman, and Hugh Bellas's frame residence,
now occupied by Dr. F. B. Masser. Between Second and Front: a church building at the corner west of Second; the present residence of W. I. Greenough, then occupied by Peter Weimer; Daniel Bogar's pottery and residence, and Daniel Levy's residence, which fronted, however, toward the river.
Penn Street had but three houses on the south side: a log structure between Third and Fourth, occupied by James Butler, colored; a large frame house at the southeast corner of Penn and Third, occupied by the widow Miller and daughters Susan and Betsey, and a wooden building at the southeast corner of Penn and Front, occupied by John Eay. On the north side, beginning at the east, the succession of improvements was as follows: Daniel Hurley's log house, at the corner east of Fourth; Christian Bower's frame house, at the corner west of Fourth; the log house of Jacob Martin, tinner; a wooden building; the log house of John Barnes, shoemaker; a log house, occupied by PoUy and Ann Hunter; a long frame house, occupied by Captain Heinen, a veteran of the war of 1812, and a log house at the northeast corner of Third and Penn, occupied by Dinah Anderson, a colored woman, and John Boyer, her son-in-law. Mrs. James Husted resided at the Buyers property on the corner east of Front.
Walnut Street had a fair complement of improvement. On the south side, the following were situated between Fourth and Third: the frame house of Jacob Young, brickmaker; the frame house of Samuel Gobin, wagon maker; a log school house, and the wooden dwelling of Joseph Hinton, blacksmith.
Between Third and Second: Henry Bucher's residence, at the corner west of Third (it was customary for funeral processions from the country to stop at this corner, from which the entire cortege walked to the cemetery) ; Leonard Epley's frame house, at the comer east of Center ally, and the house at the corner east 466 HISTOBY OF NOBTHDMBEELAND COUNTY.
of Second street in which the Gray family resided. Between Second and First: the house in which John Schneider resided; a frame house, long occupied by Eev. J. P. Shindel; a small house, in which Mrs. Eeinold lived; a log house, in which Mrs. Eeppert lived, and the hotel and hatter shop of Charles Wharton, at the corner east of Front.
On Walnut street, north side, at the corner east of Fourth, was the log house of Christian Petry. Between Fourth and Third: an old log house at the corner west of Fourth, occupied by Peter Goodhart, who died on the 6th of November, 1840, aged seventy years (Mary, his wife, died on the 11th of January, 1854, at the age of eighty; during the war of 1812, while standing at the door of her house, which opened in two sections, as the outer doors of mills usually do, a drimken soldier shot ofE one of her fingers) ; the frame house of John Lyon, now occupied by Miss Harriet Lyon; Christian Foulk's frame residence; an old log school house, and Jeremiah Simpson's frame residence, at the corner east of Third. Between Third and Second: Leonard Montgomery's house, at the corner east of Center alley; a large frame house, in which Aaron Kobins, brick layer and school master, resided; Jeremiah Shoop's large frame house, and a wooden building still standing at the corner east of Second. Between Second and Front: a frame building at the corner west of Second, which has been in possession of the Martin family since 1816; a log house, occupied by Mrs. Kate Withington, nee Smith, and a log school house, one of the earliest in the town.
Spruce Street was popularly known as " Bullet alley." A small frame house stood on the corner west of Third on the north side, owned by George Weiser and occupied by Peter Durst, undertaker; between this and Fourth street were two frame houses owned by William McCarty, both opposite the cemetery.
Front Street was undoubtedly the location of many of the fixst improvement in the town. The only houses between Race and Arch were the residence of a Mr. Lukens and the old Maclay house at the corner north of Arch.
At the corner south of Arch is the stone house erected in 1797 by Jeremiah Simpson, register and recorder of the county; it was for many years the residence of E. Greenough, attorney at law, whose office was situated at the site of E. W. Greenough's present residence. A two-story log building, and later an ice-house, occupied the corner south of the alley, and at the corner north of Market is the brick and stone structure built by Charles Hall, attorney at law. There were three houses between Market and Chestnut: Daniel Levy's law office, at the corner south of Market; Dr. John B. Price's residence, at the corner north of the alley, and Daniel Levy's residence, a long frame building with extension to the rear, and grounds extending to Chestnut street. At the corner south of Chestnut was a small brick house owned by William McCarty, and originally erected by Christian and Henry Gettig in compliance with the will of their father. Christian Gettig, as a residence for SUNBUBY. 467
their mother, Elizabeth Gettig; and then in order were the following: an old log house, weather-boarded and painted red, and known as "the barracks;"
Dr. Solomon Markley's brick residence, still standing; the frame house of James Black, merchant; a three-story brick structure at the site of the high school building ; the Buyers property, occupied for many years by Mrs. Sarah Husted and demolished by the construction of the Reading railroad; a wooden building at the corner south of Penn street, owned by William McCarty and occupied by John Eay ; John Lyon's brick hotel, still standing; the Misses Barringer's candy shop, a small log hduse; a house owned by William McCarty; Michael Quin's store; the hatter shop and hotel of Charles Wharton, at the corner south of Walnut; the dwelling of Charles Ehinehart, boatman and farmer; the hotels of George and Jacob Mantz, watermen and pilots, and a large frame house near the corner of Spruce, subsequently occupied by the borough as a poor house, and the limit of the town proper. An old log house, owned by Hugh Bellas ; a frame house, occupied by Peter Kerlin, farmer; a frame house at the dam, occupied by Edward Harrison; a small log house, owned by Geotge C. Welker and occupied by his father ; an old stone hotel, known as the Oberdorf property, and a frame hotel, near the bridge, kept by John Miller, were situated at irregular intervals between Spruce street and the mouth of Shamokin creek.
Second Street, east side, was improved as follows: a red frame house at the comer south of Race, the residence of Henry Beshler, court crier; the " state house," at the corner south of Market; a frame building at the rear end of the court house lot, occupied by the fire engines; Hugh Bellas's residence, at the comer north of Chestnut; Mrs. John L. Finney's residence, at the comer south of Chestnut; a wooden building still standing at the corner north of Walnut, and Mrs. William Gray's residence, at the corner south of Walnut.
On the west side of Second street improvements had been made in the following order : the brick residence of Jacob Heller, carriage and wagon maker; his frame shop, afterward a school building, located between Race and Arch; the red stable connected with the jail, at the corner south of Arch; the jail; Enoch Smith's law office, a frame building at the comer north of Market; Henry Shaffer's hotel, at the corner south of Market; a small frame building at the comer of Barberry alley, formerly occupied as a printing office and school house; the Reformed and Presbyterian church, at the corner north of Chestnut; Isaac Zeigler's brick residence, at the corner south of Chestnut, and tannery, at the southern end of his lot, and Isaac Martin's residence, at the comer north of Walnut.
Third Street. — East side: a small frame house between Race and Arch, formerly part of a raft or flat-boat, occupied by Hannah Woolsey, who subsequently removed to the corner of Race and Third; Martin Weaver's residence, at the corner north of Market; Fox's stone hotel, at the corner south of Market; Miss Sallie Giberson's residence, at the corner north of Chest468 HISTOEY OP NOBTHUMBEELA.ND COUNTY.
nut; George Weiser's tannery, at the corner south of Chestnut, and tan house, in which one of the early schools was conducted; Dinah Anderson's residence, at the corner north of Penn; Widow Miller's residence, at the corner south of Penn; Jeremiah Simpson's residence, at the comer north of Walnut, and Joseph Hinton's residence, at the corner south of Walnut.
West side: John G. Youngman's residence, at the corner south of Arch; the two-story brick building between Arch and Market, built by Andrew Albright and occupied by his widow; Charles Keany's buhr making shop, at the corner north of Market; Lorenzo Da Ponte's brick building, at the corner south of Market; Charles Dering's cabinet making shop, at the corner north of Chestnut; the Lutheran church, between Penn and Walnut; Henry Bucher's residence, at the corner south of Walnut, and Peter Durst's residence, at the corner north of Spruce.
Fourth Street. — East side: Mrs. Betsey Bright's residence, at the corner north of Market; Jonas Weaver's hotel, at the corner south of Market; Peter Hileman's residence, at the corner north of Chestnut; George Young's residence, at the corner south of Chestnut; Daniel Young's residence; a long red house, occupied by John Slutmanand Walter Bell; the residence of Daniel Beck, a soldier in the war of 1812, immediately north of the Shamokin Valley railroad; the frame residence of Sebastian Haupt, cabinet maker; the frame residence of Daniel Haupt, carpenter; Andrew Durst's house; a log house at the corner north of Penn, occupied by Daniel Hurley, merchant; the large frame house of John Bucher, at the corner south of Penn; Anthony Weke's residence; Jacob Crist's residence; a wooden building owned by Lewis Dewart; the frame house of Henry Petry, carpenter; the frame house of John Petry, carpenter; the house of John Eisely, school teacher; the log house of George Hileman, mason; the log house of Christian Petry, laborer, at the corner north of Walnut; the frame house of John Eandles, mason; a frame house; Mrs. Ann Moore's frame house; the frame house of Charles Beck, plasterer ; a wooden building, occupied by Jacob Beck, butcher, a soldier of the war of 1812; a frame house occupied by two maiden ladies, Misses Ann and Kate Snyder, and a log house occupied by several brothers of the Snyder family.
West side: the log house of Phebe Eowe, who sold cakes and beer, at the corner north of Arch; a brick house at the corner south of Arch, occupied by Francis P. Schwartz, teacher; a small red house, midway between Arch and Market, occupied by Joseph Gust, saddler; John Young's brick store, at the comer south of Market; the log house of John Guss, tailor; Jacob Weiiner's residence, at the corner north of Chestnut; a long frame house below Chestnut; the log house of Samuel Gussler, tailor, immediately south of the Shamokin Valley railroad; Christian Bower's residence, at the corner north of Penn; and Jacob Young's residence, at the corner south of Walnut.
SUNBURY. 471
PKOMIHENT MEECHANTS, 1771 tO 1850.
It is not possible to compile a list of all the individuals or firms that were engaged in mercantile pursuits at Sunbury during the period of its early history and down to the year 1850, however interesting such an enumeration might be; instead of this, it is proposed to give biographical sketches of those who were longest and most prominently identified with the business interests of the commimity during the period mentioned.
John Weitzel, the first merchant at Sunbury, was born at Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, December 30, 1752, son of Paul and Charlotte Weitzel. He obtained a fair education at his native town, and was sent to Philadelphia at an early age to learn the business of merchandising. He opened the first store at the site of Sunbury in 1771 in a log building near the bank of the iiver below Market street, and from that time until his death was prominently and responsibly connected with public affairs. At the organization of Northumberland cormty in 1772 he was one of its first commissioners. On the 29th of July, 1775, he was commissioned as a justice of the county court; to this office he was recommissioned on the 9th of June, 1777, for the term of seven years. At the organization of the Committee of Safety for Northumberland county, February 8, 1776, he appeared as a member from Augusta township,, and participated in the deliberations of that body until August 13, 1776. In the Provincial Conference of June 18, 1776, he was one of the representatives from Northumberland county; on the 8th of July he was elected to the Constitutional Convention of 1776, and in that body of ninety-six members,, " the representative men of the State," he was the youngest delegate; and, as a member of the Council of Safety from July 24, 1776, to March 13, 1777, he. participated in its deliberations during the first months of the State government. On the 22d of January, 1776, he qualified as county commissioner, in which ofiice and as justice of the county courts he was actively connected with the conduct of civil affairs in this county during the Revolution. July 7, 1780, he was commissioned issuing commissary for this county, and in 1782-84 served as contractor of supplies for the State troops. In this capacity he furnished provisions for the detachments stationed at Port Bice and in Buffalo valley in 1782 and the companies of Captains Eobinson and Shrawder at Wyoming in 1783-84, performing the duties of his office with promptness, energy, and fidelity. He was again commissioned as a justice of the county courts, June 19, 1789, serving until 1791, and in the autumn of 1789 was elected county commissioner for the term of three years. In 1794 he was appointed by act of the legislature one of the commissioners for the erection of public buildings at Sunbury and in this responsible position acted in a public capacity for the last time, as his death occurred in 1799. He was twice married; first, to Tabitha, daughter of John and Bose Morris, of Philadelphia, by whom he had four children: John; Paul; Charlotte, and Mary. His second wife was Elizabeth Susanna, daughter of Paul 27
472 HISTOEY OF NOETHUMBERLAND COUNTY.
Lebo, of Lancaster, and sister of Henry Lebo, and by her he had three children: George; Elizabeth, and Tabitha. At the time of his death John
Weitzel resided at a stone dwelling on Market street, subsequently kept as a hotel by his family many years. In connection with his business as a merchant he operated a mill two miles east of Simbury; it was built by Casper Weitzel, his brother, who died in 1782, and has been run successively by John Weitzel, Jr., and Joseph Weitzel, his son, the present proprietor, who was born in 1808, and is the oldest living representative of the family.
William Dewart, the second merchant of Sunbury, was a native of Ireland, from whence he emigrated to Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 1765.
Being in reduced circumstances, he was obliged to redeem his passage money, but prosperity at length rewarded his eflEorts; in 1775 he opened a store at Sunbury in a log building on Chestnut street between Second and Center alley, and was constable of Augusta township as early as 1777. Subsequently he purchased ground on the north side of Market street and built thereon a brick residence and store. He was successful in business, and amassed considerable property. He died on the 25th of July, 1814, at the age of sixtynine years; Eleanor, his wife, died, September 17, 1805, aged fifty-eight years, ten months, and twenty -four days. William Dewart, Jr., their son, died on the 12th of November, 1810, at the age of thirty-two years, one m.onth and twenty-three days; Liberty, his wife, was born on the 9th of August, 1778, son of John and Mary Brady, and died on the 25th of July, 1851.
Their son, WiUiam Dewart, 3d, was bom on the 24th of November, 1806, and died. May 18, 1841 ; he was a well known merchant at Sunbury.
John and James Black were brothers, natives of Ireland, and early merchants at Sunbury. John, the elder, was born in 1735, and died on the 13th of November, 1790; he served as supervisor of Augusta township in 1779, and was probably established in business in Sunbury at that date. Their business was conducted at a frame house which stood on Front street immediately south of the track of the Shamokin Valley and Pottsville railroad; there James Black erected the first three-story brick house in Sunbury, upon the site of the present high school building. On the 1st of March, 1790, he purchased at sheriff's sale a tract of two himdred acres on the West Branch near the mouth of Limestone run, and in ^1795 laid out part of it in streets and lots; this land originally belonged to the estate of Turbutt Francis, and now constitutes that part of the town of Milton north of Broadway. James Black was born in Ireland, May 12, 1752, son of James and Eachel Black, and died at Sunbury on the 30th of November, 1880; Catharine, his wife, daughter of James and Jane Cochran, who settled in Columbia coimty,
Pennsylvania, on the Susquehanna river opposite the mouth of Catawissa creek, in ante-Eevolutionary times, was born, July 25, 1766, and died on the 23d of December, 1843. They were the parents of nine children: Jane; John; David; John; William; Andrew; James; Jesse, and Eachel.
SUNBUEY. 473
John Buyers was born, June 9, 1749, son of John and Letitia (Patton) Buyers, who emigrated frem the town of Monaghan, County Monaghan, Ireland, in 1735 or 1736, and settled in the Pequea valley, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. There he was born and reared, and learned the trade of carpenter. Within a short time after the town of Sunbury was laid out he removed thither, and was employed upon the erection of many of the first houses, including the old jail building on Market street. He first resided at the southeast corner of Eace and Second streets, but removed several years later to the southeast corner of Penn and Front streets, where he began merchandising; in 1796 he built a brick residence and store room on the opposite corner of Penn street, and continued business there until 1814 or 1815.
His name first appears in local ofiicial connection in 1776 as overseer of the poor in Augusta township; on the 28th of September, 1780, he was commissioned as justice of the peace, serving also as justice of the county court, and frequently presiding in the absence of the regularly commissioned president; he was commissioned as justice of the peace for Sunbury and Augusta township, September 1, 1791, serving in that capacity some years; on the 31st of December, 1784, and the 3d of January, 1786, he was elected county treasurer, which office he also filled in 1787-88, and in 1800-08, inclusive, he served as county auditor. His death occurred on the 5th of May, 1821; Ann, his wife, daughter of William Fullerton, died on the 30th of October, 1808, in the fifty-ninth year of her age. They were the parents of ten children: Margaret; Letitia; John; William P.; Sallie; Robert; Samuel; Q-eorge B. ; Alexander F., and Jeremiah. William F. Buyers was the founder of the Sunbury Times, and is referred to biographically in this work in the chapter on the Press. George P. Buyers was engaged in boating on the river before the construction of the canal; he then built a canal boat, and ran it between Sunbury and Philadelphia. He married Martha Hunter, a descendant of
Colonel Samuel Hunter; their son, John Buyers, born in 1827, was the first captain of the Augusta Rangers (Company I, Fifty-eighth Pennsylvania
Volunteers), and was in active service in command of this company from October, 1861, to the summer of 1863. He now resides at Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania.
John Haas came from the Trappe, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania,
and learned the trade of blacksmith with Paul Baldy. He first engaged in business as a distiller, having built a small distillery on the Centre turnpike two miles east of Sunbury; after discontinuing operations there he erected a saw mill on the land now owned by Dr. R. H. Awl, but the dam was twice washed away, and under the pressure of these reverses he was obliged to assign aU his property for the benefit of his creditors. In this emergency he applied to a friend of his boyhood, Joseph Hiester, of Reading (Governor of Pennsylvania, 1820-23), who loaned him one thousand dollars, and with this capital he embarked in merchandising at Sunbury before the year 1802 in a 474 HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.
small log building on the north side of Market street. Prior to 1808 he erected the brick house still standing near the northwest comer of Market and Fourth, and continued business therein for some years. He built a mill on Little Shamokin creek, Upper Augusta township, in 1814, and also
operated it in connection with his store. He died on the 17th of January, 1828, at the age of sixty -four; Maria Elizabeth, nee Druckemiller, his wife, lived to the age of seventy-five, dying on the 16th of November, 1845. Frederick Haas, their oldest son, who was treasurer of Northumberland county, 1825-27, auditor, 1831-33, and commissioner, 1856-59, was bom on the 31st of July, 1796, and died, August 19, 1861; George Haas, another son, was clerk to the board of county commissioners, 1829-35; and Daniel Haas, also a son of John and Maria Haas, was bom at Sunbury in 1806 and is the oldest native resident of that borough.
Henry Masser was born at Oley, Berks county, Pennsylvania, February
11, 1775, son of Matthias and Barbara (Berger) Masser, natives of Wurtemberg, Germany, and Switzerland, respectively. After learning the trade of tinsmith he engaged in business for a short time at Gettysburg and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; in 1801 he came to Sunbury and established himself in the tinning trade, which, in 1809, expanded into a general merchandising business. From that date he was continuously engaged in mercantile pursuits until 1852, and throughout this period occupied but one location, the two-story brick building on the south side of Market street on the second lot west of Center alley. He served as county commissioner, 1808-11, as auditor, 1813-14 and 1820-22, and was also justice of the peace many years. In 1802 he married Mary Barbara, daughter of Paul Baldy; she was born, July 11, 1785, and died on the 24th of June, 1828. His death occurred on the 17th of July, 1853. They were the parents of twelve children, ten of whom grew to maturity: Elizabeth, widow of Rev. Jeremiah Shindel, of Allentovm, Pennsylvania; William, retired farmer, residing near Three Rivers, Michigan; Henry B., retired publisher, Sunbury; John, deceased; Mary Ann,
widow of Francis Bucher, of Sunbury; Peter B., deceased; Charles, deceased; George W., deceased; Jacob B., deceased, and Edward B., deceased.
John Young was bom at Sunbury on the 1st of February, 1798, and
learned the trade of carpenter in early life. In 1817 he started a store in the east end of Weaver's hotel; his stock was advanced by his brother-inlaw, Jacob Alter, a wholesale grocer of Philadelphia, and on several occasions he walked to that city to purchase goods. In 1823 he erected the brick building still standing at the southwest comer of Market and Fourth streets, and continued business therein until 1859; he moved to Milton in 1860, and died on the 4th of November, 1862. His wife was Catharine, daughter of Joseph Alter, and they were the parents of seven children, four of whom grew to maturity: Mary Sophia, deceased, who married J. P. Shindel, Jr.; Elizabeth, deceased, who married Samuel T. Brown, of Milton; S.
SUNBUKY. 475
J., who served as chief burgess of Sunbury in 1857; and Catharine Louisa; deceased, who married Eev. M. L. Shindel.
John Bogar was a son of Paul Bogar, one of the first persons who engaged in the manufacture of pottery at Sunbury. But little is known regarding his personal history. He first opened a store on the south side of Chestnut street immediately east of the alley between Froiit and Second; thence he removed to the old jail building, southeast corner of Market street and Center alley, and after continuing in business at that place for some years, departed for Freeport, Illinois.
Henry Yoxtheimer was a native of Northumberland county and a son of Henry Yoxtheimer, Sr., a pioneer in the valley of Plum creek. He "was a wagon maker by trade, and pursued that calling on Arch street opposite the jail; there he began merchandising on a small scale. In 1826-27, he erected a large brick building on the south side of Market street; it had a frontage of sixty feet, embracing part of the court house yard and the site of C. R.
Savidge's residence. At the eastern side was an archway, the only one in connection with a mercantile establishment at Sunbury; it lead to a large warehouse at the rear end of the lot, where grain and produce were stored.
Mr. Yoxtheimer owned one of the first canal boats regularly engaged in the carrying trade between Sunbury and Philadelphia, and was also a pioneer coal operator at Shamokin. He died on the 27th of November, 1849, at the age of fifty-six years; the store at Sunbury was continued by John W. Friling and William T. Grant, and was for some years one of the leading business places of that town. Mr. Yoxtheimer was twice married, first, to Margaret Malick, by whom he had two children: Margaret, widow of John W. Friling, and William, deceased. His second wife was Mrs. Nancy FoUmer, nee Bacon, and they were the parents of one child, Rachel, wife of William T.
Grant, of Sunbury.
EAELY HOTELS.
Six persons were licensed as hotel keepers at Sunbury in 1780, viz.: Christian Gettig, Catherine Shaffer, Adam Walker, John Morrison', Joseph Lorentz, and David Mead.
Dr. R. H. Awl furnishes the following list of old hotels: Jonas Weaver's, "Sign of the Buck," a large frame building at the present site of the City Hotel; John Boulton's, "Sign of the Red Lion," a brick and frame building on the north side of Market street between Second and Third; Jacob Fox's, "Sign of the Bull's Head," the stone building at 'the southeast corner of Market and Third streets (Fox became proprietor in 1829 ; among his predecessors were Jacob Weaver, Charles Hegins, John Hogan, William T.
Brown, and Jacob Oberdorf); George Prince's, "The Lawrence House," a
brick building adjacent to the site of the present court house — the sign was embellished with a portrait of the naval hero and his memorable words, 476 HISTOBY OF NOETHUMBERLAND COUNTY.
"Don't give up the ship;" James E. Shannon's, "The Farmer's Hotel," the old jail building on Market street; Michael Kutzner's, the present residence of Mrs. Amelia Donnel on Market street (It was here that Daniel Levy and General Hugh Brady fought a duel with swords in 1812; Levy sustained a wound in the shoulder and the loss of his cue, while Brady broke his sword, and more serious consequences might have occurred if Michael Kutzner and Samuel Awl had not separated the combatants); Weitzel's, a large stone house on the south side of Market street near Front, with a sign emblazoned with an eagle and chain and the word "Hotel;" the old Maclay house, at the northeast corner of Front and Arch streets, where Henry Lebo, John Brady, H. W. Villee, and others conducted a^hotel; John Lyon's, "The Indian Queen," on Front street below Penn; Henry Bartsher's, "Sign of the Black Horse," on the south side of Chestnut street between Front and Second; Charles D. Wharton's, at the southeast corner of Walnut and Front; WiUiam Mantz's, "Sign of the Stage Coach," on Front street; Henry Bucher's, " The Ferry House," a large frame building on Front street subsequently occupied as the borough poor house; John Cressinger's, at the Shamokin dam; Jacob Oberdorf's, "Sign of the Cross Keys," at the dam; John Miller's, "Sign of the Blue Ball," at the "point;" Edward Harrison's, "Sign of the Eising Sun," at the dam, and Henry Shaffer's, at the present site of the Neff House.
MUNICIPAL ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT.
The borough of Sunbury was incorporated by act of Assembly, March 24, 1797, with the following boundaries: —
Beginning at tlie mouth of Shamolsin creek -where it empties into the river Susquehanna at low water mark; thence up the said creek, on the north side thereof, to the mouth of the gut; thence up the same, on the west side thereof, to the line of Samuel Scott's land, and by the same to the river aforesaid at low water mark; thence down the same river at low water mark to the place of beginning.
Section lid of the act of incorporation provided for the election on the first Monday'in May, 1797, and annually thereafter, of two burgesses, the one receiving the highest number of votes to be chief burgess, the other, second burgess; four assistant burgesses, "for assisting the said burgesses in managing the affairs of the borough, and in keeping the peace and good order therein," a high constable, and a town clerk. Se(?tion Hid conferred upon the burgesses and inhabitants the powers of a body corporate and politic; Section IVth authorized the holding of markets on Wednesday and Saturday of each week, under the supervision of a clerk appointed by the burgesses and inhabitants; Section Vth gave the corporation the privilege of making a road across the public way along the Susquehanna and establishing a landing place and ferry, and the exclusive right of operating the latter was confirmed to it by Section Vlth. The concluding section gave to the burgesses
and iahabitants the same general privileges enjoyed by the borough of Reading, within certain restrictions.
The proceedings of the burgesses and council since the incorporation of the borough have been regularly entered into minute books by the successive town clerks; a complete file of these records has recently been collected by the present efficient clerk, Lewis D. Haupt, and reveals much that is of interest relating to the official acts of the borough fathers.
The machinery of local government has been variously modified from
time to time. On the 16th of March, 1803, an amendment to the original act of incorporation was passed by the legislature, providing for the election annually of eight inhabitants as a common council with the general powers of a local legislative body, reserving to the people at large in their town meetings the privilege of revoking, altering, or amending the laws and ordinances enacted by the burgesses and council. At November sessions, 1803, upon the report of John Boyd, Joseph Priestley, and John Cowden, the territory comprised within the limits of Sunbury borough was erected into a township under the same name, thus adding the distinctive township officers to its civil list. The original charter was materially amended by the act of March 2, 1859, in which the powers of the burgesses and council in matters relating to grading, paving, and curbing the streets were extended and defined; the authorities were also given power to establish regulations for the levying and collection of taxes, the maintenance of a night watch, etc. On the 7th of December, 1885, by decree of court, the number of councilmen was increased to ten — two for each ward; and since that date one assistant burgess has been elected annually, instead of two second burgesses and four assistants, as formerly.
The original boundaries of the borough were so extended by act of the legislature approved on the 19th of April, 1858, as to include the Scott and Hunter farms, the improved portions of which are known as Caketown. This territory was reannexed to Upper Augusta township, April 2, 1860, and again became part of the borough, April 2, 1867, by legislative enactment in both instances.
The borough was first divided into wards by act of the legislature, April 2, 1867 ; two wards were created, known, respectively, as the East and West, with the Northern Central and the Philadelphia and Erie railroads as a mutual boundary. The growth of population at length demanded further
subdivision, and on the 30th of March, 1885, in response to a petition with that object in view, the court appointed Dr. E. H. Awl, John Haas, and Nathan Martz as commissioners to consider the propriety of complying with the wishes of the petitioners. Their report was confirmed nisi, May 11, 1885; and, an election having expressed the popular sentiment favorably to the formation of five wards, a decree of court was promulgated on the 7th of December, 1885, confirming the report of the commissioners absolutely. As 478 HISTOBY OF NOKTHUMBEELAND COUNTY.
thus constituted, the First aud Third wards comprise territory formerly included in the West ward, with Gooseberry alley as a mutual boundary; the Second and Fourth comprise territory formerly included in the East ward, with the center line of Chestnut street as a mutual boundary; while the Fifth comprises that part of the former territory of the East and West north of the southern line of the outlets numbered 10, 7, 6, 3, and 2.
The Sunbury Borough Poor District. — Jacob Preisinger, by his will bearing date of September 24, 1804, devised a two-story brick house (now the residence of Mrs. Charles G. Donuel, northe,ast corner of Second and Market streets) to his wife Catharine during her life, and to the poor of the borough of Sunbury after her death. By virtue of legislative authority conferred in an act approved on the 29th of March, 1832, the burgesses and council transferred the property in question to Charles G. Donnel for the sum of one thousand dollars, which, however, continued as a lien upon the property for some years. The income arising from this source was regularly devoted to the relief of the poor, and after the extinguishment of the lien the principal was also applied until exhausted.
The affairs of the district are administered by two overseers, one of whom is elected annually for the term of two years. An old wooden building on Front street between Walnut and Spruce was rented as a poor house for some years; the present poor house was purchased in 1886; it is a two-story brick building located in Limestone valley one mile south of the borough limits on the line of the Northern Central railway, with an acre and a half of ground adjoining. One acre was originally bought, to which a half-acre was added in 1890.
The Sunbury Fire Department had its origin in 1810. At November
term in that year a petition was presented to the court of quarter sessions, reciting that two barns and two stables had been destroyed at Sunbury within the last few weeks, and that a few individuals in that borough had procured an engine and formed themselves into a fire company; but, as one engine was inadequate for the protection of the town, the court, grand jury, and commissioners were petitioned to concur in the appropriation of a sum of money for the purchase of another. The petition, which is filed in the county archives, had evidently been industriously circulated, as it bears the signatures of representative citizens of Sunbury, Northumberland, Milton, Buffalo valley, Danville, Fishing Creek, the Mahanoy region, and other portions of the extensive region then embraced in Northumberland county. It received the following indorsement from the court: " Eecommended to the grand jury on condition that a fire company or body under the present fire company be formed, to apply the public engine when needful to the security of the public buildings." Thereupon the Sunbury Fire Company, through a committee
composed of Charles Hall, Hugh Bellas, Andrew Albright, and Enoch Smith, pledged its membership to " at all times be ready and willing to render any SUNBUKY. 479
service in their power, as well to preserve and keep in repair the public engine as to use and work the same when necessary for the protection of the public buildings," and with this assurance " the grand jury unanimously agreed that the sum of six hundred dollars be allowed for the above laudable purpose." These preceedings occurred at November sessions, 1810; on the 8th of January, 1811, Messrs. Hall, Bellas, Albright, and Smith, representing the Sunbury Fire Company, conferred with the county commissioners regarding the measures to be pursued in the purchase of the engine, and were given full discretionary powers in the matter. On the following day they receipted for six hundred doUars, and with the arrival of the engine at Simbury a great public enterprise for the protection of the county buildings was finally consummated. It is to be hoped that the worthy tax payers received adequate benefit for the amount expended in the consciousness of increased security to the public property.
Of this first local organization, the Sunbury Fire Company, the secretary in January, 1811, was Dr. Solomon Markley, who probably filled that position at its organization, while Andrew Albright, Charles Hall, Enoch Smith, and Hugh Bellas were doubtless prominent among the original membership.
John Buyers was the first treasurer, and filled that position as late as 1815.
Space does not permit more than a brief mention of the companies subsequently formed. The present organizations are the Good Intent Hook and Ladder Company, Washington Independent Steam Fire Company, Sunbury
Steam Fire Company, No. 1, "Washington Junior Hose Company, and Eescue Hose Company — of which the Good Intent, organized (probably reorganized) October 19, 1839, and incorporated, April 9, 1841, is the oldest.
Chief Burgesses. — The following list of chief burgesses of Sunbury since its incorporation as a borough is believed to be as complete as existing records permit: 1798-99, Martin Withington; 1800, Nicholas Miller; 1801-02, Theodoras Kiehl; 1803, Henry Bucher; 1804, Charles Hall; 1805-07, Theodoras Kiehl; 1808-12, Andrew Albright; 1813-14, Theodoras Kiehl; 1815, Henry Donnel; 1816-17, John Young; 1818-20, Theorodus Kiehl; 1821,
Henry Donnel; 1822, WiUiam Shannon; 1823-26, Alexander Jordan; 1827,
James E. Shannon; 1828-29, Alexander Jordan; 1830, Wiiliam McCarty;
1831-32, Alexander Jordan; 1833, Charles G. Donnel; 1834, Samuel J.
Packer; 1835, George Weiser; 1836, Frederick Lazarus; 1838, Jacob
Painter; 1839, Lewis Dewart; 1840, Charles G. Donnel; 1841-42, Frederick Lazarus; 1843, John H. Purdy; 1844, Alexander Jordan; 1845-46, WiUiam L. Dewart; 1847, Frederick Lazarus; 1848-49, J. H. Zimmerman; 1851,
John B. Packer; 1852-53, Peter B. Masser; 1854, George B. Youngman;
1855, WiUiam M. EockefeUer; 1856, Charles J. Bruner; 1857, S. J. Young; 1858-59, J. H. Zimmerman; 1860-61, George B. Youngman; 1862-65, S.
B. Boyer; 1866-67, E. Y. Bright; 1868, J. W. Bucher; 1869, P. M. Shindel; 1870, P. H. Moore; 1871, D. Heim; 1872-74, S. P. Malick; 1875-77, John 480 HISTORY OF NOETHUMBEELAND COUNTY.
Bourne; 1878-80, A. N. Brioe; 1881-83, W. C. Packer; 1884-86, George M. Eenn; 1887, George B. Cadwallader; 1888, H. J. Waltz; 1889, George B. Cadwallader; 1890, George W. Stroh; 1891, Joseph F. Cnmmings.
FACILITIES OP TRAVEL AND TBANSPOETATION.
The old Beading road, the first public highway passing through the site of Sunbury, was opened in colonial days. A petition for a road from Reading to Port Augusta (Sunbury) was petitioned for by a "very considerable number of the inhabitants of Berks county" in January, 1768, but, as part of the territory through which it would necessarily pass had not yet been purchased from the Indians, the provincial Council would not at that time grant it favorable consideration. Two years later the effort was renewed, and on the 9th of February, 1770, George Webb, Jonathan ! Lodge, Henry Miller, Henry Shoemaker, John Webb, Isaac Willits, and Job Hughes were appointed to lay out the road, in which all participated except Henry MiUer. They returned a report of the courses and distances, April 14, 1770, which was confirmed, April 23d, when an order was issued directing that the road should be forthwith "opened and rendered commodious for public service." It was declared to be a "King's highway." This was the route by which emigrants from Lehigh, Northampton, and other southeastern counties of Pennsylvania, and from New Jersey, reached the "New Purchase," or Shamokin, as the territory acquired in 1768 was popularly known. Lateral branches diverged at various points, one leading to Danville, another to Catawissa, etc., and thus the old Reading road came to be one of the most important interior highways of the State. Corresponding to the inward current of immigration, there was an equally noticeable stream of travel in the opposite direction, for it was by. this route that the products of a large section of country found their way to a market at Reading or Philadelphia.
A road from Sunbury up the West Branch was laid out in 1772; down the Susquehanna on the west side, in 1773, and on the east side, in 1775; south of the North Branch to the site of Danville, in 1774; up the valley of Shamokin creek, in 1775, and from Sunbury to the Tulpehocken road, in 1782. The road last mentioned became the principal highway to Harrisburg and Lancaster.
The Centre turnpike was a public improvement from which much local
benefit was derived for a time. It was constructed by a company to the stock of which the legislature subscribed liberally, and extended from Sunbury to Reading. The stock of the State was afterward purchased principally by certain persons at Northumberland, where the officers resided for some years.
It was not a renumerative investment, however, and that portion between Sunbury and the coal regions was ultimately abandoned.
The Stage Coach was for many years the only means of conveyance for the traveling public. The date of its introduction in this part of the State SUNBUKY. 481
has not been ascertained, and but meager information upon the subject is aiforded. In 1801 the mails departed from Sunbury and Northumberland
on Monday of each week for Lycoming, Berwick, and Centre county. The first stage coach from Reading to Sunbury was probably that of William Coleman, while the line between Sunbury and Wilkesbarre was operated at a corresponding period by Miller Horton. In 1816 Mr. Coleman had two mail stageis on the line between Sunbury and Eeading, and Jacob Singer's fourhorse mail coach entered Sunbury over the North Branch bridge, but whether from Wilkesbarre or Williamsport does not appear. , In 1820 the stage for Harrisburg left the house of Amelia Hegins (now the residence of Mrs. Donnel), on Market street, Sunbury, on Monday and Friday of each week at five o'clock A. M., arriving at Harrisburg at ten o'clock a. m.- on Tuesday and Saturday; returning, the stage for Sunbury left Harrisburg on Tuesday and Saturday of each week at three o'clock p. m., arriving at Sunbury on Wednesday and Sunday at four o'clock p. m. The fare was four dollars; baggage to the amount of fifteen pounds was allowed each passenger, and one hundred fifty pounds of baggage were regarded as equal to a passenger. At that date (1820), the Eeading stage departed and arrived three times a week at Weitzel's hotel on Market street. The proprietors of this line were John and Nicholas Coleman.
The traveling facilities of the period were thus summarized by Hamlet A.
Kerr in the Susquehanna Emporium oi August 10, 1829: —
Many of our friends in the city are not aware of the facility of traveling in this section of country, thinking this part of the State too far back to have good roads, horses, and coaches, and on that account do not visit the beautiful village of the Susquehanna. But we can boast of as rapid and cheap traveling as any of our neighbors.
We have two daily stages passing through this place twiee every day (Sundays excepted, on which day there is but one), — one by the way of Pottsville to Philadelphia, the other by the way of Harrisburg to Philadelphia, Baltimore, etc. — the return stage passing through about three o'clock in the afternoon, to meet the North and West Branch stages at Northumberland. Persons leaving Sunbury at nine o'clock in the morning get into Philadelphia in the afternoon of the next day, passing' through Pottsville, Orwigsburg, Reading, Pottstown, Norristown, and Germantown. To the painter or poet the country is romantic, being interspersed with hills and dales; to the capitalist it presents many inducements, abounding with ore, coal, and other minerals; to the man of pleasure this route also holds forth objects worthy his attention. The route passing through Harrisburg and Lancaster is pleasant and expeditious. You have the Susquehanna gliding along near the road the whole distance to Harrisburg.
There you take the celebrated Lancaster turnpike and pass over the ground at a very rapid rate, arriving in Philadelpia in about two days. Gentlemen visiting this country generally take one line coming and the other going, so as to give both a fair trial.
The Construction of the Canal diverted a large share of the traffic and travel to that avenue of communication. Several of the prominent merchants of the town owned canal boats, which made frequent trips to points farther down the river during the season of navigation, transporting the grain and other produce of the region to market and returning with articles of general 482 HISTOBY OF NOETHUMBERLAND COUNTY.
merchandise. The following extract from the Sunbury Advocate of May 11, 1833, shows the manner in which events of this nature were chronicled at that date : —
POKT OP StnSTBUBY.
Arrivals. — Entered our basin, returning home from PMladelphia, on the 3d of April, the canal boat Bunhury Union, the property of Mr. John Buyers, laden with merchandise.
On Saturday, May 4th, the canal boat Auyusta, the property of Mr. George P.
Buyers, laden with merchandise.
Clearances. — Entered the canal on the 8th, on their second trip this season to Philadelphia, both the Sunbury Union and the Augusta.
The captain of the Sunbiiry Union was G. Lorwick, and of the Enterprise, a boat similarly employed, J. Kramer. The Sunbury Partnership was the property of H. Yoxtheimer & Company, while there were also other merchants who owned boats. For passenger travel packet boats were in use; regular relays of horses were provided, and in comfort, safety, and speed, the packet was a formidable competitor of the stage coach during the season of navigation. It was continued upon the canals in this part of the State until the opening of railways.
Railroads. — The Danville and Pottsville railroad was the first opened at Stmbury; that event occurred on the 26th of November, 1885, amid the ringing of bells and the acclamations of a large concourse of people. Horse-power was used on this occasion; the introduction of steam occurred three years later, when the road was opened to Shamokin.
Regarding the inauguration of the coal traffic, the Sunbury Advocate
published the following in its issue of Saturday, October 22, 1836: — We are much pleased to announce the arrival here on Saturday last of two cars on the Sunbury railroad laden with coal from the coal mines of Shamokin. The coal are of the best quality, and were promptly bought by Charles G. Donnel and George Prince at three dollars and fifty cents per ton. The cars since run regularly, bringing coal for sale at the basin in front'of Sunbury.
The following appeared in the same paper under date of November 5,
1836:—
The coal trade of Sunbury, but just begun and opposed by great inconveniences, is already forming a respectable character. The coal mines, distant eighteen miles from here, are six miles beyond W. Bird's tavern, where the railroad terminates. To this point the coal are brought by wagons passing over the incompleted railroad, where they are put in the cars and started for the Susquehanna. Thus a train of cars, propelled by horse-power, reach us daily, making the trip in about two hours. On Fawn and Deer streets, where the railroad crosses, we constantly see a considerable bustle caused by the loading of coal into carts and delivering them to purchasers in this place.
Demands for our coal on the AVest Branch are about being supplied.
The Philadelphia and Erie railroad was opened to Sunbury, January 7, 1856; the Northern Central, June 28, 1858; the Sunbury, Hazelton and SUNBURY. 483
Wilkesbarre, November 4, 1869; the Sunbuiy and Lewistown, November 1, 1871, and the Philadelphia and Beading, in July, 1883.
The Ferry Franchise was originally granted by the colonial authorities to Robert King, August 14, 1772, and successively transferred to Adam Haverling, November 30, 1773; Stophel G-ettig, April 17, 1775; Abraham Dewitt, October 9, 1779, and John Lyon, October 25, 17—. In 1787 Lyon petitioned the legislature for a confirmation of the privilege for a term of years.
The act of March 24, 1797, incorporating the borough of Sunbury, vested the exclusive right of operating the ferry in the borough authorities, who forthwith procured the necessary water craft. Ferry rates were established by the court of quarter sessions at January term, 1798, and modified from time to time.
For a number of years the exclusive privilege of operating the ferry was annually disposed of by the borough authorities to the highest bidder, and the sum thus realized formed an appreciable contribution to the public funds of the town. The apparatus at first used was of a primitive character, consisting only of the flat-boat and poles, and in seasons of low water a channel had to be dug to permit the passage of this craft across the river; the erection of the Shamokin dam obviated this necessity, and the prospect thus assured of good navigation throughout the year induced the erection of a rope ferry. A tread-miU horse-power ferry-boat was also operated at one time by Hovey & Wharton.
The first steam ferry-boat was the Shad Fly, erected in 1853 by Ira T.
Clement; it was a large side- wheel boat, and was built more particularly for the towing of canal boats across the river to and from the coal wharves on the Sunbury side. Several years later, while on a return trip from Clark's Ferry, it stranded on a rock; the machinery was used in the construction of a second Shad Fly, which was replaced in 1875 by the present steam ferryboat.
On the 1st of May, 1854, Ira T. Clement leased the wharf at the terminus of Market street from the borough authorities. The exclusive right of ferriage across the Susquehanna opposite Sunbury was vested in Dr. Isaac Hottenstein by an act of the legislature approved on the 11th of April, 1859; the canal had been constructed through his land a distance of a mile and an abutment of the Shamokin dam was also built upon it: it was in compensation for damages thus sustained that this franchise was conferred upon Doctor Hottenstein, from whose heirs it passed to Ira T. Clement. The Sunbury Steam Ferry and Tow Boat Company, in which the privileges and franchises previously owned by Ira T. Clement have become vested, was incorporated by an act of the legislature approved on the 5th of April, 1870. This company owns two steamboats and operates the ferry between Sunbury and the opposite side of the river. Five steamboats, owned by Ira T. Clement indi484 HISTOEY OF NORTHUMBEKLAND COUNTY.
vidually, ply regularly between Sunbury, Northumberland, and Shamokin
Dam.
The Sunbury and Northumberland Street Railway Company was incor-
porated on the 29th of January, 1885, with a capital of seventy-five thousand dollars and the following officers : H. E. Davis, president, L. H. Ease, secretary, and S. P. Wolverton, treasurer. The line is in operation between the terminal points designated in the title, a distance of three and two tenths miles.
The first car was run in Jime, 1890, and the line was opened for travel on the 1st of July in the same year. The number of passengers carried averages eight hundred per day. The propelling power is electricity, for the generation of which a plant has been constructed with two engines of one hundred horse-power and two dynamos of fifty horse-power each.
INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY.
Haas's Mill is situated in the borough of East Sunbury on the Shamokin creek a mile from its mouth. At or near this site the first mill within the present limits of Northumberland county was built prior to 1774 by WiUiam Maclay; it was first operated by Valentine Geiger, and received patronage from a large extent of country. The original structure, a two-story log building with basement, is described as having been twenty by thirty feet in dimensions. In 1831 McCarty & Davis, who purchased the property from Maclay's heirs, erected the present substantial brick mill; they also added saw, plaster, and clover mills, excavated a basin, and constructed a new dam of sufficient capacity to furnish water-power for the entire establishment.
Gideon Markle became the next proprietor; John Haas,' formerly of Jackson township, purchased the mill from him in 1850, and in 1870, his son, Hiram Haas, the present owner, acquired possession. He had the mill remodelled to the roller process in 1887.
Distilleries. — The assessment of Augusta township for 1781 credits David McKinney with three stills, and David Mead and Henry Starr et each with two ; McKinney's were located on Front street between Penn and Walnut, but whether those of Mead and Starret were in the town or country can not be satisfactorily ascertained. In East Sunbury on the Shamokin Greek road James Towar erected a large stone distillery prior to 1796; it was the most extensive establishment of the kind in the county at that date, but does not appear to have been operated very long. In 1808 Edward Gobin had a distillery on Market street in Sunbury. A large frame distillery was erected at some time between 1835 end 1838 by Gideon Markle in Chestnut street between Fifth and Spring run; it was subsequently operated by John Eobins, and then abandoned.
Tanneries were for many years the most important local industrial feature. Jacob Yoner's, which first appears in the assessment of 1788, was doubtless the earliest established; it was situated on the west side of Second SUNBUEY. 485
street immediately north of the Shamokin Valley railroad. After pursuing his calling at this place for more than twenty-five years, Mr. Yoner moved to Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, in 1813, and sold the property to Isaac Zeigler.
He continued the business until within a short time before his death, July 25, 1840; Conrad J. Fry and Francis Bucher then operated the plant several years, and it was subsequently destroyed by fire.
The second tannery estabUshed was that of Christian Gettig; it was situated on the south side of Chesnut street at the present site of James C.
Packer's residence and the Reformed parsonage, and first appears in the assessment of 1793. The first proprietor died in 1797; in his will he mentions the bark-mill and also a quantity of leather in various stages of preparation, and devises his establishment to his son. Christian Gettig, Jr., who continued operations until his death in 1802; several years later the property was purchased by Dr. Solomon Markley, by whom the building was
adapted to other purposes.
The Bobins tannery, which was also established in the last century, occupied the southeast corner of Market and Fifth streets. It first appears in the assessment of 1796, credited to Zachariah Robins; several years later he was succeeded by Thomas Robins and John Spear, who dissolved partnership in 1803. Thomas Robins was individual owner in 1805, and Zachariah Robins in 1811; from that time the establishment was operated by Thomas, John, and Gilbert Robins, and possibly by Gideon Markle also, until finally abandoned.
William Dewart, Jr., is credited with a "large tanyard" in the assessment of 1802; it occupied the southeast corner of Chestnut and Third streets, and was one of the principal establishments of this nature for many years. At some time between 1808 and 1811 it was purchased by George Weiser, subsequently associate judge of Northumberland county, who continued the business nearly half a century. The establishment was then operated under lease by Francis Bucher, and by Bucher Brothers (J. Weiser and E. Masser Bucher) until its destruction by fire in 1866.
Frederick Haas established a tannery on the north side of Market street at the second lot east of Fourth at some time between 1820 and 1823, as evidenced by its first appearance on the assessment books at the latter date.
It was then operated for some years by Charles Gobin and subsequently by Henry Haas.
Bucher Brothers (J. Weiser and E. Masser Bucher) built a tannery at the southeast corner of Center alley and Linden street in 1866. This partnership was dissolved in 1868, after which the business was continued by E.
Masser Bucher individually until 1871. This was thp last tanning establishment at Sunbury, and the only one that was equipped with modern
appliances.
Brickmaking was first begun as a regular business at Sunbury by John 486 HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.
Lyon, who had learned the art at his former home in Delaware. His yard and kilns occupied outlot No. 41, east of Awl street and south of Penn, and there the brick which entered into the construction of the old court house, "state house," and many of the first brick houses of Sunbury were manufactured. John Young, who acquired his knowledge of the business as an employee of Lyon, established a brick yard at an early date on outlot No. 42, and eventually, in partnership with his sons, manufactured nearly all the brick used at Sunbury during the period of their operations. As early as 1796 Thomas Grant also had a brick yard. This branch of industry has been uninterruptedly continued, and at the present time several yards are in operation.
Potteries. — Daniel Bogar is credited with a pottery at Sunbury in the assessment of 1805 ; he was also one of the iirst local tobacconists, and pursued that calling as early as 1817. The pottery, situated on the north side of Chestnut street between Front and Second, was operated by Mr. Bogar until within a short time before his death, January 6, 1836. Jonathan Harp then continued the business several years, after which it was abandoned.
Peter Bastian had a pottery on Arch street opposite the county prison at a building owned by Henry Yoxtheimer; it is inentioned among the taxable property of the borough for the first time in 1832 and for the last time in 1838.
Carriage Building. — The prototype of the modern carriage was probably first introduced at Sunbury by Joseph Wallis, who is credited in the assessment of 1791 with one "coachee." Some years elapsed, however, before the demand for improved vehicles was sufficient to justify or sustain a local establishment for their manufacture at this point. John Bright, coach maker, resided at Sunbury in 1826, but whether actively engaged at his caUing can not be satisfactorily determined. In 1829, Jacob Heller, formerly of Harrisburg, erected a shop on the west side of Second street between Eace and Arch and announced through the local papers his readiness to manufacture stages, carriages, lumber and pleasure wagons, sulkeys, gigs, sleighs, etc., of any desired description. He continued the business thus inaugui-ated for some years.
Mark P. Scupham, one of the oldest residents of Sunbury at the present time, began the manufacture of carriages, etc., at the west side of Fourth street between Arch and Eace in 1839, retiring in 1870. The shop, a frame building one hundred feet long, was then leased to William Fetter two years, after which the business was discontinued.
Francis Lerch established the carriage works at the southwest corner of Fourth and Chestnut in 1870. They were purchased in 1874 by H. K.
Fagely & Company, who disposed of the plant in 1890 to Isaac Furman, the present proprietor.
J. S. Seasholtz began the manufacture of carriages on Market street. East SUNBUEY. 489
Sunbury, in 1871, at a frame building now used as a dwelling house. In 1886 the present frame shop was built.
H. L. Hauek's carriage works, near Market street. East Sunbury, comprise a two-story frame building twenty by eighty-five feet in dimensions, erected in 1887.
J. S. Stroh & Brother's carriage works are the latest addition to this branch of local industry. The business was begun by J. S. Stroh individually in the spring of 1890; two frame buildings, twenty-eight by forty and twenty-four by thirty, respectively, were erected later in the same year.
Boat Building first attained the proportions of a distinct iadustry at Sunbury during the construction of the Shamokin dam, when different
varieties of water craft were in demand for the transportation of stone and other materials. After the opening of the canal the construction of canal boats was first begun by Charles Gussler, who established a yard at the bank of the river immediately south of Spruce street and continued the business for some years. At a later date Samuel Clements and Samuel Snyder also had a boat yard on Front street between Penn and Church; it was subsequently removed to the vicinity of Gussler's yard by Clements individually.
Dr. B. H. Awl furnishes the following account of the first and only canal boat ever launched on Shamokin creek: This boat was built in 1832 or 1833 by Adam Shissler, Jacob Martz, and others on the farm now owned by Benjamin Zettlemoyer at the north side of the creek. It was launched in the spring when the water was deemed high enough and floated with the current as far as Leisenring's fording, between L. T. Eohrbach's and Charles Ehinehart's farms. There the boat stuck, but after considerable prying it was extricated and reached the mill dam by the close of the first day. On the following morning an effort was made to get it over the dam by the use of skids, but without success; William McCarty's jack was then brought into requisition, after which an attempt was made to pull it over by means of a rope attached to the boat and connected with the windlass on the shore, but all without avail. At this juncture a heavy rain began, and the creek rose rapidly; the boat was borne over the dam with John Shissler, William Martz, Aaron Vansickle, and others aboard, and its progress down the stream was witnessed by hundreds of people on the banks. It ran aground at the island back of Haas's mill, but was pidled out into the current by means of ropes by persons on the bank. As it was thought that the stream was too high to permit the passage of the boat under the bridge near the mouth of the creek, it was pulled up the tail-race to the mill and loaded with flour; when the waters had subsided sufficiently it was floated under the bridge and down the river to Clark's Ferry, where it entered the canal, ultimately finding its way to the Schuylkill canal, where it was fimally completely wrecked by going over a dam in a freshet without skids, jacks, or ropes to steady its course.
The first steamboats built at Sunbury were the Susquehanna and Shad
28
490 HISTOEY OF NOETHUMBERLAND COUNTY.
Fly; both were constructed by Ira T. Clement, the former for the Shamokin Valley and Pottsville Eailroad Company, the latter as a private enterprise.
Mr. Clement has since built six steamboats at Sunbury, five of which are still in operation. In 1889 Jeremiah Savidge built the lona, the last steamboat constructed at this place.
Breweries. — The old stone building erected by James Towar as a distillery was converted into a brewery by Philip and Gottlieb Brymier about the year 1836. After the dissolution of this partnership the business was continued by PhiHp Brymier individually for a time and then abandoned.
Cold Spring brewery, established in 1865 by Joseph Bacher, was pur-
chased in 1873 by J. & A. Moeschlin, the present proprietors. The plant comprises brewing and bottling departments, and has an annual capacity of five thousand barrels.
Foundries and Machine Shops. — In 1838 George Eohrbach, formerly of
Columbia county, Pennsylvania, and one of the oldest citizens of Sunbury at the present time, established a small foundry a mile east of Sunbury between the Centre turnpike and Shamokin Valley railroad. Two years later, having secured a location on the south side of Chestnut street between Fourth and Fifth, he removed to Sunbury; this was the first foimdry at that place, and was operated for some years by George Eohrbach, either individually or associated at various times with his brothers, William, Jacob, and Daniel Eohrbach. They were succeeded by Clinton D. and Jacob Eohrbach; the latter retired in favor of T. G. Cooper, and in 1866 the firm of Eohrbach & Cooper gave place to Eohrbach & Son, of which George and W. H. Eohrbach were the constituent members. After the admission of Jacob Eohrbach as a partner the style was changed to Eohrbach & Sons, by whom the business was continued until 1883. The establishment was then sold to Halfpenny Brothers, and several years later the plant was purchased by John J. Batman.
A second foundry was established in 1858 by Edward Y. Bright; it was located on the north side of Chestnut street between Third and Fourth.
The plant was purchased by WiUiam Eennyson, who removed it to Shamokin in 1864.
Jacob Youngman started a foundry on the south side of Arch street
between Third and Fourth in 1867 and operated it until January, 1871, when it was purchased by George B. Youngman. The business was contintied by Haupt & Youngman until the plant was purchased by John J. Batman.
The Keystone Machine Works, situated in East Sunbury on the south
side of Market street, comprise a two-story frame building sixty-five feet long and thirty feet wide, occupied as a machine shop, with foundry thirty by forty feet in dimensions attached, and blacksmith shop thirty by twentyfour feet on the same lot. The proprietor, John J. Batman, began business at Sunbury in 1874 as successor to Haupt & Yoimgman on Arch street and SUNBUKY. 491
removed to his present location in 1880. The Keystone radial drill press, of which Mr. Batman is the inventor and patentee, is manufactured as a specialty.
M. C. Bowlby's foundry and machine shop, a two-story frame building on Church street near Fourth, was established in 1883 by Bowlby & Zimmerman, to whom the present proprietor succeeded individually in 1886. The Bowlby lath mill and bolter is manufactured as a specialty.
The Lumber Industry. — The first saw mill at Sunbury was built in 1847 by Ira T. Clement at the site of his table factory on Front street. In 1867 he sold it to William Eeagan; it then passed successively to the Sunbury Xiumber Company and to the firm of Friling, Bowen & Engle, who became insolvent in 1877. The mill was then conducted under the auspices of their creditors until 1883, when it was again purchased by Ira T. Clement and is now occupied as an extension table factory.
Ira T. Clement's various industries include at the present time a saw mill, planing mill, table factory, and coffin factory, extending from Front street to Third, north of Race. The saw mill was established in 1867 and the planing mill in the following year; the latter was originally a two-story frame building sixty by eighty feet in dimensions, but has been materially enlarged. The Tipper story was equipped for the manufacture of coffins in 1875, and in 1887 a two-story frame building forty by one hundred forty feet in dimensions was erected for the exclusive purposes of a coffin factory. The manufacture of extension tables was begun at the planing mill in 1880, and in 1887 the old Priling, Bowen & Engle mill was adapted for use in this department of work.
One hundred twenty-five men are employed as operatives in the saw mill, planing miU, table factory, and coffin factory, the annual products of which are valued at two himdred fifty thousand dollars.
The Sunbiu-y Lumber Company, organized in 1885, was originally com-
posed of William Whitmer & Sons, to whom Hiram Driesbach was added in 1888 and George W. Ehoads and F. S. Kauffman in 1890. A building at the intersection of Mulberry and Center alleys, previously occupied by the Hill & Neff Organ Company, was the first location of the works of this company; the present site in the southern part of the borough with a river front of six hundred fifty feet was secured in 1888. The plant consists of a twostory planing mill, ninety by one hundred forty feet in dimensions, a saw mill, fifty by one hundred feet, and a kiln capable of drying eight thousand feet of lumber per day. Seventy operatives are usually employed.
Simpson Brothers' planing mill, as originally established in 1886 by a firm composed of William Whitmer and John and William Simpson, was a frame structure forty by one hundred feet situated on Awl street; it was destroyed by fire in November, 1887. The present mill, a frame building thirtyfive by eighty feet, employs eight operatives ; John and William Simpson are the proprietors.
492 HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.
The Pennsylvania Railroad Company's Repair Shops at Sunbmy were
originally established in 1866. The plant comprises the following buildings: a round-house three hundred feet in diameter, with stalls for forty-four engines; a machine shop and planing mill, which form one building two hundred twenty by eighty feet, half of which is occupied by each ; a building seventy by one hundred ten feet, occupied as blacksmith shop, boiler shop, and store-room; a car shop two hundred by one hundred twenty feet, and other minor buildings used for miscellaneous purposes. The number of operatives employed in the various departments at this time (December, 1890), is as foUows: machinists and helpers, sixty-nine; blacksmiths and helpers, thirty-four; boiler-makers, twenty -two; coppersmiths, four; tinsmiths, five; car inspectors, forty-nine; the car shop employs one hundred seventy-eight, and the number not included in the foregoing classification (in which the master mechanic and foremen, engine cleaners and preparers, clerical force, etc. have not been embraced) is ninety-seven — a grand total of four hundred fifty-eight. The stationary engines have a capacity of eighty horse-power.
The entire plant is lighted by electricity, derived from motors requiring a fifty horse-power engine. The establishment is devoted exclusively to the repair of locomotives and cars, and receives all the work of this nature from that part of the Pennsylvania system embraced in the Eastern and Sunbury divisions of the Philadelphia and Erie railroad and the Susquehanna division of the Northern Central railway. The position of master mechanic has been filled successively by T. J. Hamer, Martin Wall, W. P. Beardsley, and Henry K. Stout, the present incumbent, who assumed charge in April, 1882.
The Sunbury Nail, Bar, and Ouide Iron Manufacturing Company was
organized in 1883 with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars (since increased to one hundred fifty thousand), and the following officers: president, John Haas; vice-president, D. Heim; secretary, E. W. Greenough, and treasurer, Lloyd T. Eohrbach. The works, situated at the eastern limits of the borough, were erected during the same year ; these consist of a nail miU two hundred seventy-five by seventy-five feet and a factory one hundred twenty-five by one hundred feet, equipped with one heating furnace,
three double and three single puddling furnaces, forty-one nail machines, and six engines aggregating four htmdred thirty horse-power. The cooper shop, hoop and stave sheds, and blacksmith shop are attached to the main buildings. The mill gives employment to one hundred twenty-five men, and has a capacity for manufacturing seventy-five thousand kegs of cut iron and steel nails annually. It has been in continuous operation since its erection with the exception of three months in the year 1889; this suspension was caused by the damage occasioned on the 9th of January in that year by a violent wind-storm. Mr. Haas, who has been president of the company since its organization, retired from the active management of the works in April, 1890, when George B. Cadwallader assumed charge as general manager. D.
8UNBUKY. 493
Heim is the present vice-president and Lloyd T. Kohrbach the present secretary and treasurer. William S. Rhoads has been chief clerk and Levi Bussler superintendent since the works were placed in operation.
The Sunbury Carpet Cleaning and Novelty Works were established in
October, 1889, by the present proprietors, C. C. Ray, A. Moulder, and E. F.
Hoover. Novelties of various descriptions are manufactured.
Defunct Enterprises include, in addition to those mentioned, Young,
Gussler & Company's paint miU, placed in operation in 1856; Snyder & Harrison's steam flour miU, erected in 1857 ; Morgan & Masser's linseed oil miU, placed in operation in 1868; Wolverton & Purdy's phosphate mill, burned on the 17th of June, 1871 ; the works of the Sunbury Smelting Company and of the Hill and NefE Organ Company, etc., etc.
The Sunbury Canal Company is worthy of notice in this connection. Its organization was authorized by an act of the legislature approved on the 10th of April, 1826, appointing Lewis Dewart, Hugh Bellas, Alexander Jordan, Samuel J. Packer, Henry Shaffer, Martin Weaver, Ebenezer Greenough,
John Young, John G. Youngman, George Weiser, and Isaac Zeigler commissioners for its organization. In 1834 the time for the completion of the work was extended five years from the expiration of the period of ten years originally prescribed, and about that time the canal was partially excavated between the North Branch' and Spring run. In the summer and autumn of 1841 a number of men were employed in excavating that part of the canal connecting with Shamokin creek. In 1842 William McCarty was president of the company and Kimber Cleaver was engineer; a prospectus issued in that year indicates the location of the basin above Race street and connection with the river at that point, although the plans of the company in this respect were not carried out until ten or twelve years later. A prospectus issued in 1853 gives the names of C. Hager, president, and William Riehl4, secretary and treasurer; at that time a reorganization had been effected under the name of the Sunbury Canal and Water Power Company; the Sunbury Lumber and Car Manufacturing Company, an affiliated corporation, owned fifty thousand acres of timber land on' the headwaters of the West Branch. It was proposed to float the logs from this tract to Sunbury, and a large lumber mill was erected on Shamokin creek, but the project never materialized and the mill was never placed in operation. What is now known as the upper basin was excavated by the canal company, and connection was established with the river by means of an iron lock designed by Kimber Cleaver; the latter was constructed by the Philadelphia and Sunbury Railroad Company under terminal privileges granted by the act of April 2, 1853. When the ground froze in the first winter after its construction the lateral pressure (for which the engineer had made no provision) was such as to break its iron sides, thus rendering it entirely useless. And thus the great canal project finally collapsed.
494 HISTORY OF NOETHUMBEELAND COUNTY.
BANKING INSTITUTIONS.
The first public movement for the establishment of a bank at Sunbury was made in 1810, when, at a meeting of the taxable inhabitants on the 27th of April, resolutions were unanimously adopted requesting the Bank of Pennsylvania to locate a branch at Sunbury. "The certain increase of the trade of this part of the country arising from the turnpike road now in operation from this place to the borough of Reading, would," the directors of that institution were assured, "enable the bank to support an establishment here which will be very productive to their institution." It is needless to observe that the application was not favorably considered, and it was through the Bank of Northumberland that the citizens of the county seat first secured local banking facilities.
The First National Bank of Sunbury was originally incorporated under
the title of the Bank of Northumberland, April 1, 1831, with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars. The first election of directors was held at the house of James Lee, in the borough of Northumberland, Pennsylvania, on Thursday, August 1, 1831, and resulted in the choice of the following gentlemen: John Cowden, John B. Boyd, James Merrill, A. B. Cummings, John Taggart, Joseph Wallis, Abbot Green, James Hepburn, Daniel Brautigam, Henry Frick, "William Clyde, Alexander Jordan, and Dr. David
Petriken. On the 8th of August, 1831, James' Hepburn was elected as
president and Joseph E. Priestley as cashier; and on Monday, September 26, 1831, the business of the bank was regularly commenced. The stock was originally subscribed by one hundred fourteen different persons; by the terms of its charter the institution was located at Northumberland, and its administration was in the hands of citizens of that borough for some years.
James Hepburn, the first president, resigned, April 23, 1840, and on the 30th of the same month he was succeeded by John Taggart; he served until November 26, 1855, when William Cameron was elected by a board of
directors composed of Samuel T. Brown, P. W. Pollock, Paul Masteller, John Walls, William Cameron,'MVilliam H. Waples, Amos E. Kapp, Jesse C.
Horton, William I. Greenough, George Schnure, Edward Wilson, C. R.
Paxton, and John B. Packer. A change in the management of the institution was effected by the election of this board, which occurred at the regular annual meeting of the stockholders on the 19th of November, 1855. Upon the resignation of Mr. Cameron as president, June 25, 1857, John B. Packer was elected as his successor, and has continued in that position until the present time. Joseph E. Priestley, the first cashier, served in that capacity until his death, November 10, 1863; Samuel J. Packer, the present cashier, was elected on the 19th of November, 1863, and has since been the incumbent of that ofBce. By virtue of an act of the legislature approved April 16, 1864, the bank was removed from Northumberland to Sunbury on the 25th of July in the same year, There it continued as a State bank until the SUNBUEY. 495
1st of July, 1865; the last directory under the State charter was composed of John B. Packer, James K. Davis, Jesse C. Horton, William H. Waples, William M. Eockefeller, George Conrad, Daniel Heim, E. Y. Bright, Samuel John, Andrew Ditty, John B. Linn, Paul Masteller, and John Haas.
On the 1st of July, 1865, the Bank of Northumberland surrendered its State charter and was organized as a national bank under the title of " The First National Bank of Sunbury " with an authorized capital of five hundred thousand dollars, of which two hundred thousand was paid in in four thousand shares of fifty dollars each. Of this amoimt the stockholders paid in thirtyfive dollars per share; the balance, fifteen dollars per share, was derived from the earnings of the bank while it was a State institution. The present number of shareholders is seventy- eight. The first board of directors after the organization as a national bank was composed of John B. Packer, James K. Davis, Jesse C. Horton, William H. Waples, Simon Cameron, William I.
Greenough, Alexander Jordan, John Haas, William M. Eockefeller, George P. MiUer, WiUiam Cameron, George SmuUer, and A. B. Warford; John B.
Packer, James K. Davis, H. E. Davis, William I. Greenough, John Haas, William M. Eockefeller, George Schnure, James C. Packer, and D. B. Miller constitute the present directory. The present (1891) officers are as follows : president, John B. Packer; cashier, Samuel J. Packer; bookkeeper, A. L. Bastress; teller, George W. Deppen; clerks, W. P. Ehoads and D. E. Bloom; messenger, Nathaniel Strain. The period for which the institution was originally incorporated having expired, it was rechartered in June, 1885, for another period of twenty years.
This bank is one'of the oldest in central Pennsylvania, and throughout its entire history has maintained the highest standard of financial integrity.
While the notes of a large number of the banks of the State were at a discount, the notes of the Bank of Northumberland were uniformly redeemed at par in gold in Philadelphia; and during the panic of 1873, when nearly all the banks of the country declined to pay to their customers more than fifty dollars in currency at one time, this bank paid all checks without limit, thus demonstrating its ability to meet promptly all demands of its depositors, although the deposits at that time averaged three hundred fifty thousand dollars. The institution has paid in dividends since its organization in 1831 (not including the fifteen dollars per share previously mentioned) one million forty thousand dollars, and its undivided profits at the present time amount to one hundred thirty-five thousand dollars.
The Augusta Bank was originally incorporated under the name of the
Farmers' Mutual Life Insurance and Trust Company of Upper Augusta
Township, the organization of which was authorized by an act of the legislature approved on the 13th of April, 1867. The company was not formed until 1872, however, and the name was subsequently changed to "The Augusta Bank" by decree of court upon petition of the stockholders. J. Adam 496 HISTORY OF NOETHUMBEELAND COUNTY.
Cake was president and George W. Saylor cashier. The institution was located in that part of Svmbury known as Caketown; business was continued four years.
The Sunbury Trust and Safe Deposit Company was organized on the
15th of July, 1890, with the following officers: president, Charles W. Nickerson; vice-president, Hiram Long; secretary and treasurer, J. Weiser
Bucher; directors: Charles W. Nickerson, Hiram Long, Henry Clement,
George B. Eeimensnyder, R. F. Wilson, C. H. Dickerman, P. H. Snyder, Adolph Oppenheimer, A. E. Trexler, S. P. Malick, George B. Cadwallader, John E. Kauffman, Sr., S. E. Slaymaker, O. R. Drumheller, and Irvin F.
Guyer. The authorized capital is two hundred fifty thousand dollars. A.
L. Bastress became secretary and treasurer on the 1st of March, 1891.
GAS, ELECTEIC LIGHT, AND WATEB COMPANIES.
The Sunbury Gas Light Company was incorporated on the 22d of December, 1876, with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars and the following corporators: Truman H. Purdy, Hiram Long, S. P. Wolverton, Ira Hile, John Bckman, and William M. Rockefeller. S. P. Wolverton has served as president and Truman H. Purdy as treasurer of the company since its organization. The plant was erected by the Sunbury Gas Company (incorporated in 1873), purchased by Truman H. Purdy in 1876 at sheriff's sale, and transferred by him to the present company.
The Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Sunbury was organized
in 1883; the first directors were Thomas C. Detweiler, James W. Sweely, Frank H. McCormick, Seth T. McCormick, and Charles B. Story. Light
was first supplied on the 4th of July, 1883.
The Sunbury Electric Light and Power Company was organized in 1890
with H. E. Davis, president, C. M. Clement, secretary, S. P. Wolveiion, treasurer, and a board of directors composed of H. E. Davis, F. P. Abercrombie, C. M. Clement, H. A. Schuck, A. E. Trexler, P. P. Smith, and Thomas Murty. The dynamo has a capacity of fifty arc lights. Light was first supplied on the 4th of July, 1889.
The Sunbury Water Company was incorporated on the 2d of March,
1883. The first officers were John Haas, president, L. T. Eohrbach, treasurer, and S. E. Slaymaker, secretary, who have held their respective positions to the present time. The capital is thirty-three thousand dollars. Little Shamokin creek is the source of supply; the reservoir has a capacity of five million gallons.
LOCAL PAPEES.
Ber Freiheitsvogel, the first newspaper published at Sunbury, was established by Jacob D. Breyvogel in 1800. The succession of local papers since that time has been as follows: The Times, Publick Inquirer, The Gazetteer, SUNBUEY. 497
Der Northumberland Republikaner, Nordwestliche Post, Shamokin Canal-
boot, The Workingmen^s Advocate, The Sunbury Oazette, Susquehanna Em-
porium, Der General Staats Zeitung, The Sunbury American, Der Deutsche Amerikaner, Der Deutsche Demokrat, The Northumberland County Democrat,
The Sunbury Independent, The Weekly Independent, The Sunbury Enter-
prise, The Sunbury Weekly News, The Sunbury Daily, The Daily American, The Morning Express, The Evening News, and the Northumberland County
Legal News. Three weeklies, the American, Democrat, and Weekly News,
and two dailies, the Daily and News, are published at the present time.
THE POSTOFFICE.
The following is a list of Sunbury postmasters, with dates of their respective appointments: Robert Gray, January 1, 1797; John Weitzel, October 1, 1798; Solomon Markley, July 1, 1802; Lewis Dewart, April 19, 1806; Edward Gobin, March 13, 1816; Thomas Pointer, May 14, 1822; Samuel
J. Packer, December 9, 1822; John G. Martin, February 12, 1824; Rachel B. Packer, March 27, 1835; John Youngman, March 5, 1855; Martin E.
Bucher, December 15, 1856; George M. Renn, March 19, 1861; Jonathan
Bostian, April 26, 1864; John J. Smith, April 19, 1871; Jacob Eohrbach, May 5, 1881; Jacob E. Eichholtz, May 25, 1885; A. N. Brice, March 20, 1890.
SECRET AND OTHER SOCIETIES.
The following is a list of secret and other societies at Sunbury, with dates of organization or institution: Lodge No. 22, E. & A. M., October 4, 1779, and March 26, 1787; Northumberland H. R. A. Chapter, No. 174, December 27, 1852; Sunbury Lodge, No. 203, L O. O. E., November 9, 1846; Fort Augusta Lodge, No. 620, I. O. O. E., January 25, 1868; Anna (Rebekah Degree) Lodge, No. 56, I. O. O. F., May 18, 1871; Washington Camp, No.
19, P. O. S. of A., March 13, 1869; Washington Camp, No. 149, P. O. S. of A., July 19, 1873; Susquehanna Commandery, No. 9, P. O. S. of A., September 10, 1872; Eastern Star Lodge, No. 143, K. of P., March 24, 1869; Cayuga Lodge, No. 416, K. of P., December 6, 1873; Diamond Division, No.
40, Uniform Rank, K. of P., June 9, 1890; Lance and Shield Conclave, No.
11, S. P. K., November 11, 1870; Lieutenant William A. Bruner Post, No.
285, G. A. R., May 21, 1883; Colonel James Cameron Camp, No. 160, S. of v., July 1, 1887; Woman's Relief Corps, November 2, 1888; Shamokin
Tribe, No. 69, I. O. R. M., 1885; Alphoretta Tribe, No. 98, 1. O. R. M., 1888; Sunbury Council, No. 945, O. JJ. A. M., June 8, 1886; Ivy Castle, No. 414, K.
G. E., April 6, 1889; W. C. Packer Council, No. 285, A. O. U. W., July 17, 1889.
EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS.
Nothing definite is known concerning the early educational advantages of Sunbury, although it is possible that the community was not utterly destitute 498 HI8T0EY OF NOKTHUMBEELAND COUNTY.
of facilities for the instruction of its juvenile population. How meager was the local provision for this important object at the period immediately following the close of the Eevolutionary war is attested by an entry in the minutes of the orphans' court of Northimiberland county at September term, 1782, from which it appears that "on account of the troubles and difficulties attending our situation on the frontier," the guardians of the orphan children of Simon Cool were permitted to remove their wards "to some interior part of the country for the better advantages of their education and maintenance."
The earliest efEort to establish a school at the county seat of which there is any authentic record was made in 1796, when a number of prominent citizens formed an association for the erection of a school building; their names, with the number of shares subscribed by each, were as follows : John Buyers, four; William McAdams, one; Daniel Hurley, three; WilUam Dewart, four; William Gray, three; John Weitzel, two; Martin Withington, two ; Joseph Wallis, four; Martin Kendig, three; Paul Baldy, two; James Alexander, one; Christian Gettig, two; John Lyon, one; Frederick Lazarus, two; Nicholas Miller, one; James Black, three; Joseph Thompson, one, and Thomas Grant, one. Lot No. 136, situated at the southeast corner of Arch street and
Destroyed by Fire, 1755
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The Central, & Neff, Hotel
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