Light Of Liberty - The Lycoming War Memorial in Newberry

 
The World War Monument In Newberry Square, Lycoming County Pa

The "Light of Liberty" monument was created by Italian artist Giuseppe Moretti.  

Erected by the Citizens of the Seventh and Eleventh Wards of the City of Williamsport and Woodard and Old Lycoming Townships in memory of the Soldiers Sailors and Nurses who served in the World War 

The monument was unveiled on Memorial Day, in May of 1922.  As was typical for large events at the time, special trains were put in service to take the extra passengers to the dedications, and a "great crowd" was present for the ceremony.

Red cross nurses, and Gold Start Parents, on the platform along with the speakers

War Memorial Dedication in Newberry, May 1922

A  reviewing stand had been built , and the parade marched “over the principal streets to the memorial”.  Special viewing areas were designated for Gold Star fathers and mothers and Red Cross nurses. 

There was a band, and students from the local schools -  Roosevelt, Jackson and Lincoln township-  under the direction of Miss Florence Wilson, "sang inspiringly".  Songs included: ‘America the Beautiful’ and ‘Battle of Hymn of the Republic’,” according to a  Gazette article.

Speakers included Emerson Collins, a lawyer and member of the Pennsylvania Legislation who worked with the governor. Collins said that the end of the Great War would bring a new era and a brighter chapter to the world, a sentiment that was enthusiastically welcomed by the crowd.  

“When Mr. Collins had finished speaking, a tremendous wave of applause swept through the crowd, rising higher and higher as the thrilling words of the able speaker sank deeply into the hearts of each and every listener..”  - The Gazette

Side note - in the Dedication photos, take notice of the trolley tracks.  In later photos, you can see where the tracks were removed, and the road paved where the tracks were - still surrounded by the old brick road.

Aerial view of Newberry showing the monument, just right of center.  

Crop of the above aerial - for a better view of the space around a monument. 

Statue visible on the left.

Newberry Cafe

Explanation from Jim Carns:

That was known as the Coleman-Nelson Building. It once stood where the war memorial statue is in the middle of the square and housed the post office and the IOOF. Photo looking south on Arch Street at the north end of the building. It was turned and moved to the left to where present day Woodlands Bank is.

Odd Fellows Hall and Post office, replaced by Monument Square

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From the Save Outdoor Sculpture, Pennsylvania survey, 1994.

Sculpture: metal; Base: concrete or stone.

Dimensions:

Sculpture: approx. 10 x 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 ft.; Base: approx. 7 x 5 x 5 ft.

Inscription:

(On sculpture near globe, in script:) G. Moretti (On side of base:) ERECTED BY/THE CITIZENS/OF THE SEVENTH/AND ELEVENTH WARDS/OF THE CITY OF/WILLIAMSPORT/AND WOODARD/AND OLD/LYCOMING TOWNSHIPS/IN MEMORY OF/THE SOLDIERS/SAILORS AND NURSES/WHO SERVED/IN THE WORLD WAR (350 names are listed on panels on the remaining seven sides of the base) signed

Description:

Full-length female figure. She wears a long flowing gown and sandals and stands on a half-globe. In her proper right hand she holds high a torch. In her proper left hand she holds a tablet. Her gaze is directed upward. The metal sculpture stands on a concrete or stone octagonal base which ends in two steps.

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The World War I Memorials of Giuseppe Moretti

Kent Ahrens

Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies 

https://doi.org/10.5325/pennhistory.92.1.0100

ABSTRACT

No sooner had hostilities with Germany ceased in November 1918 than communities across America began to seek appropriate ways to honor the men and women who had contributed to the war effort. Towns and cities erected hundreds of precast monuments. However, many localities sought to hire skilled artists to create memorials unique to their own communities. It is fortuitous that Guiseppe Moretti had settled in Pittsburgh in 1916, where he enjoyed a regional reputation. He had been attracted to Pittsburgh as early as 1895 with his commission for a statue of Edward Bigelow, Director of Public Works, who later commissioned Moretti’s work in Schenley Park. Between 1919 and 1924 Moretti created a group of war memorials around the country that are unique in their execution and subject. His more complex iconography differentiates his military figures from many of other doughboy statuary, and the classically clothed female allegorical figures became a significant hallmark of his work.

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In a scrapbook in Alabama there are two photos of the artist in Williamsport:

p. 62. Photograph of NEWBERRY- WILLIAMSPORT, PA., WAR MEMORIAL. Erected 1922. Photograph of Moretti working in the NEWBERRY-WILLIAMSPORT, Pa., WAR MEMORIAL. No date. Photograph of model of NEWBERRY-WILLIAMSPORT, Pa., WAR MEMORIAL.

p. 63. Photograph of NEWBERRY-WILLIAMSPORT, Pa., WAR MEMORIAL. 1922. (See also pages 65, 67).

University of West Alabama

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Another memorial by the same artist

Note to self - surprisingly little coverage in local papers - neighboring towns often included large write ups about events like this, but there is almost no mention of it.

[Died in Service] Frank Raymond Bower • J. MacMurray Brill Eugene Dapp • Torrance Deise • John M. Grier William Ray Hartman • Dwight L.M. Hughes Ulysses Samuel Johnson • Leon Roy Mead Watson R. Pepperman • Pietro Piccarazzi Ernest Prosper Shirey • Anson William Willits Elmer E. Willits

The Grave Of Pvt. Etzweiler 1780

This solitary grave sits at the edge of a farmers field along Brouse Road in Mifflinburg

The stone reads:

GEORGE ETZWEILER

who as killed by the 

INDIANS

May 26th 1780

At Jacob Grosclung Mill

Near Brush Valley Narrows

in what is now Buffaloe

Township Union County

Erected by G. Alfred Schoch

Middleburg, September 10 1888

In 1939, the Selinsgrove Times Tribune ran a column that nicely encapsulates the story, as it is recorded in a number of history books.  It does not, however, explain why Schoch placed the grave marker 100 years after the event. 

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Historic Pilgrimage 
As recounted in the Selinsgrove Times Tribune, 1939

Frederic Antes Godcharles, historian, of Milton, visited Yesteryear last week, told a story of Indian activities in and around New Berlin, that have given interest to another of those historic pilgrimages in which some of us take such delight. 

Map Of the Brush Valley Narrows - The Heberling Mill, Under the S, is the location of the French Jacob Mill

At the end of Brush Valley Narrows, Union county, about one-half mile southeast of the Forest House is the location of what was known as French Jacob's Mill. The land has long been in the possession of the Wohlheiter family. There in the spring of 1780 occurred a massacre known in history as the Massacre of French Jacob's Mill. The mill was built in 1776 by Jacob Groshong, or "French Jacob," as he was called by his neighbors. Groshong's nickname, "French Jacob" is still preserved in that section in connection with a large spring a short distance above the Forest House. In 1787 he was assessed in his nickname instead of his proper name. 

 Marker Located at: N 40° 58.889 W 077° 03.960
Reads:
"Near this spot JACOB GROZING erected a grist mill in 1776, which was used as a place of refuge by the settlers during the Indian troubles, here on May 16 1780.  A patrol of Revolutionary Soldiers was attacked by a band of Delaware Indians.  The dour following men were killed:
John Forrester Jr
George Etzweiler
James Chambers
Samul McLoughlin"

On May 16, 1780, a patrol of Continental soldiers was on duty as a garrison at the mill, and was attacked by a party of Indians. Four of the garrison were killed and several wounded. Those killed were John Foster, James Chambers, George Etzweiler, and Samuel McLaughlin.

The story is that the soldiers were swimming in the mill race, having just returned from a patrol of the neighborhood and were confident no Indians were in that neighborhood. Christian Shively, who lived near the mill, heard the firing while threshing grain in his field. He immediately hid his wife and two small children near the creek. He then rolled some logs into Penn's Creek and tied them to the raft. In this way they floated down the stream to Beatty's, where New BerIin is now located.

In the Annals of Buffalo Valley, Philip Pontius relates that his father also heard the signal, unhitched his horse and made a circuit thru the woods, gun in hand, to the mill. He related how one man named William Fisher narrowly escaped. He was running to the mill during the attack. Just as he reached the door his foot slipped on a wet board and he fell into the door. The bullet intended for him struck into the building on a line where his head would have been had he not fallen.

"John Foster was an uncle of Captain John Foster, of Mifflinburg, and a brother of the old Major Thomas Foster. James Chambers was the son of Robert Chambers. "George Etzweiler, Junior, left a widow, Mary. George Etzweiler, a son of the one killed, kept hotel at McKee's Half Falls, as late as 1812. William Fisher was the grandfather of James Crossgrove and Sheriff John Crossgrove, and resided in Limestone, where James Crossgrove lately resided.

William Gill told me he heard old Mrs. Overmeter say that the e people who were killed, were brought over to the place adjoining Philip Seebold's residence, above New Berlin, and were buried in the old graveyard on the bluff at the creek, where Dry Run comes in, nearly opposite where Tuscarpa Run enters Penn's Creek, on the Snyder county side. (Philip Seebold said, in 1872, that George Etzweiler was buried on Jacob Cook's place, now Peter Slear's, in Limestone township.) Here old John Trester and the first settlers were buried. The graveyard, probably the oldest in the county, was not used after 1791, when the people commenced burying in New Berlin. It belonged to Thomas Barber, who was killed in 1792, by the timbers of an old barn falling on him...."

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B is the French Jacob Mill Marker

A is the Etzweiler Grave Marker

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Hon. G. Alfred Schoch 1843-1917, Middleburg Pa

He was president of the First National bank, and President of the Board of Mangers of the Main Shoe Company. His death certificate listed his occupation as "capitalist"

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French Jacob by Bruce Teeple

One joy you get from reading historical materials is in finding the unique stories that breathe life back into long-dead characters. Enough bizarre tales about “French Jacob” Groshong fortunately survive to help us understand how one person made decisions on the Susquehanna frontier. 

We usually see French Jacob’s name associated with the 1780 Native attack at his mill north of Mifflinburg. Earlier life events, however, gave him a wide spread reputation for more than just grinding grain and sawing timbers.

 While the family name was originally “Grosjean” (or “Big John”), pronunciation along the borderlands of France and Germany follows its own bilingual logic. It was here that French Jacob was born in 1725. At the age of 26, he arrived in Philadelphia, bought several hundred acres in the Millersburg area two years later, and erected a mill. 

Stone milling is more than an “art, trade and mystery.” Millers not only had to adjust the milling process to temperature and humidity fluctuations; they needed excellent political and social skills, for the mill was the center of community life. Farmers went to mills to have their grains ground into flour or distilled into the more profitable whiskey. Waiting in line gave them the chance to get the news, discuss and vote on the issues, or buy lumber if the miller also operated a sawmill. Success required a trustworthy, engaging personality able to handle competition effectively.

 It didn’t take long for French Jacob to seek a commercial advantage by demonstrating his supernatural powers. A wave of his hand was said to control snakes and bears. His “magic words” reportedly cured disease and turned unruly children into wild animals. When a forest fire raced down Berry Mountain (near Millersburg), French Jacob drew a line in the dirt and reassured his neighbors that the fire would go no farther. Any attempts to fight it, he warned, would break the spell. Another story, about French Jacob’s secret silver mine, swirled around the valley. Neighbors swore that whenever he needed money, they saw him wait for the right phase of the moon, utter an incantation, walk into the mountain, and then return with a silver bar. 

On the eve of the American Revolution, French Jacob moved his milling operations from Millersburg, 50 miles north and west to Buffalo Township. He is listed among the inhabitants of Buffalo Township in April 1780: “Groshong, Jacob, grist-mill.” Losing a lawsuit over the site’s ownership, though, led him to relocate his mill down the road in 1783-84. He added a sawmill in 1785.

 But people no longer fell for the old gimmicks. Shrewdness and efficiency were replacing monopoly and sorcery as sustainable marketing strategies. Increasing populations, more competition and promises of opportunity always forced French Jacob farther west

. Records indicate that French Jacob Groshong worked in Centre County for a few years in the early 1790s. His name disappears from the Buffalo Township taxables list and his mill is assessed to Enoch Thomas in 1794. After that, the stories become less clear. Conflicting accounts say he died either in Kentucky in 1800 or in Missouri in 1826. As 19th century historian William Egle summed up this unusual life: "He knew whatever was to be known, and much more than he knew he'd own.”

Sights To See - 9/11 Memorials

We lived in Montandon, Pa, when the attacks occurred on 9/11.  Days later, we could see the debris on the horizon, from our yard here in central Pennsylvania.  Early the  next year, my husband and I drove into the city to see the memorials and the empty space where the towers once stood.  There were still flyers on the fences, from family members searching for lost loved ones. 

We will never forget.

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Remnants Of The Towers

As Memorials

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 On the 10 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, there were 7,000 tons of steel from the twin towers stored in a hangar at JFK airport.  

A memorial-making program began, running through 2016, in which the Port Authority solicited requests for World Trade Center artifacts from fire and police departments, libraries, small-town museums, military and veteran organizations, and local governments, and  other interested groups. 

Fragments were distributed to all 50 states. There are  memorials built around World Trade Center  steel in Canada, Germany, Italy, England and Israel. U.S. military bases in South Korea and Afghanistan received 9/11 steel, as well.

South Williamsport Pa	Berwick, Pa
York, Pa

Note - a similar system was used for creating memorials for the Spanish American War. The Spanish American War began when more than 250 Navy crewman lost their lives in an explosion on one of America's first battleships.  When the ship was brought up from the sea in 1911, pieces were distributed throughout the United States, to be used as memorials.  One such piece went to Danville, and another to Scranton.  https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2021/05/remembering-maine.html

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The Pilato Mural In Williamsport, Pa

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"The Sept. 11 section of the mural also includes a representation of the World Trade Center that is shrouded in blue, which represents the horrific events that morning. Thousands of tiny flowers interwoven throughout this area represent the many lives that were lost that day. Nearby, another solemn tribute is found, a small, burnished metal cross fashioned from steel beams that came from the Twin Towers."

This section of the mural is part of Pilatos annual 48 hour vigil - where he paints for 48 hours straight on the anniversary  of 9/11. 

See more of the Pilato Mural here:

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2023/09/inspiration-lycoming-pilato-mural-in.html

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The Flight 93 Memorial

Visiting The Flight 93 Memorial In Shanksville Pa

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The Annual 9/11 Memorial Ride

 in Lycoming County Pa

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Route For the Annual 9/11 Ride

The first ride was organized by Thomas “Tank” Baird, coalition president, and Don Miller, and took place just 4 days after the attack.

"The ride is a way for the participants and spectators to show respect for those in the U.S. military and law enforcement, first responders and others who protect America from terrorism and who have lost their lives since that terrible day and to “Never Forget.” - The Sun Gazette

The event leaves from, and ends at, the Clinton Twp Firehall in Montgomery.  A memorial service is held at 5pm, and the ride begins promptly at 6pm, rain or shine, each year.

The non profit ride does not charge a fee to participate, and any money raised goes to fire, police, and EMS activities.

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Mifflinburg Fire Company

34.3 Mile Memorial Walk

For a number of years, The Mifflinburg Hose Company No. hosted an annual 9/11 walk.  The walk began in Hughesville, traveling south on Rt. 405 through Muncy, Montgomery, Watsontown, Milton and then heading west on Rt. 45 through Lewisburg and ending at Station 3 in Mifflinburg. It covered 34.3 miles honoring the 343 fire fighters who gave their lives on September 11th, 2001.

The walk was not held in 2023, due to the stations 125th anniversary celebration.

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9/11 Moments Of Silence

A Time Line Of The Attacks

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As Viewed From Space

Astronaut

"Expedition 3 Commander Frank Culbertson was aboard the International Space Station at the time of the attacks, and the only American on the crew. As soon as he learned of the attacks, he began documenting the event in photographs because the station was flying over the New York City area. He captured incredible images in the minutes and hours following the event. From his unique vantage point in space, he recorded his thoughts of the world changing beneath him."

https://www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-remembers-sept-11/

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An Excellent Post About The Dogs of 9/11

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10160546698907947&set=a.10150797440887947

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