IN OLD
PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
ANNE HOLLINGS WORTH
WHARTON

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[ for the founding of * Co. ¦ Vimy'- |J

'Y^ILE«¥]MH¥IEI^SIIir¥o « ILIIIBIR&IEir •

1926

IN OLD
PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS

By Anne HoUingsworth Wharton

A Rose of Old Quebec. With eight illus
trations. Decorated cloth.
In Chateau Land. 25 full-page illustra
tions in duotone. Large 12mo. Deco
rated cloth, gilt top.
An English Honeymoon. Decorated
title and 17 illustrations. Cloth, extra.
Italian Dats and Wats. Decorated title
and 8 illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, extra.
English Ancestral Homes of Noted
Americans. With 29 illustrations. Dec
orated cloth.
Social Life in the Early Republic
Profusely illustrated. 8vo. Buckram
Salons, Colonial and Republican.
Profusely illustrated. 8vo. Buckram.
Heirlooms in Miniatures. Profusely
illustrated. 8vo. Buckram.
Through Colonial Doorwats. Illus
trated. 12mo. Cloth.
Colonial Days and Dames. Illustrated.
12mo. Cloth.
A Last Century Maid. Illustrated. 8vo.
Cloth.

IN OLD
PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
BY
ANNE HOLLINGSWORTH WHARTON v-
WITH 39 ILLUSTRATIONS

PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
1920

COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS
PHILADELPHIA, U. S, A.

TO THE MEMORY OF
KATHARINE AUSTIN DERBYSHIRE
TN WHOSE GOOD COMPANY I TOURED TO
SOME OF THESE OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

So many citizens of old Pennsylvania towns
have aided the writer in her researches that
their names would fill many pages ; she wishes,
however, to make particular mention of the aid
given her by such historians of Lancaster as
Miss Martha Bladen Clark and the Honorable
C. I. Landis ; by Mr. Henry W. Shoemaker, that
indefatigable Pennsylvania chronicler; by Dr.
Thomas Lynch Montgomery, State Librarian at
Harrisburg; by Judge and Mrs. Edward W.
Biddle and Miss Emmeline K. Parker, of Car
lisle ; by the Honorable John Stewart, of Cham-
bersburg, and Mr. George H. Stewart, of Ship-
pensburg; by Miss Anna Valentine and Mrs.
Harry Valentine, of Belief onte; by George R.
Bedford, Esq., and Mr. Christopher Wren, of
Wilkes^Barre; by Baird Halberstadt, Esq., of
Pottsville; by Mr. Oliver Ormsby Page and Mr.
Sumner B. Ely, of Pittsburgh; by Miss Louise
de Schweinitz, of Bethlehem; by General H. C.
Trexler and Mr. Charles R. Roberts, of Allen-
town; by Mr. John P. Lyons, of Montrose, and
last, but by no means least, by Governor William
C. Sproul, of Lapidea, near Chester.
The author also wishes to make her acknowl-
5

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

edgments to such officers and members of the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania as Dr. John
W. Jordan, Dr. Gregory B. Keen, Colonel J.
Granville Leach, the Honorable Hampton L.
Carson, Mrs. James M. Longacre, and Gilbert
Cope, whose researches and publications have
added much to the value of her work.
For the use of photographs of some beautiful
old homes in Carlisle, the author extends her
thanks to the editors of ' ' Carlisle Old and New. "
A. H. W.

CONTENTS

i.
INTRODUCTION  11
II.
EN ROUTE TO LANCASTER  19
III.
THE STORY OF AN OLD TOWN  44
IV.
LANCASTER AND LEBANON TOWNS  74
V.
GETTYSBURG BY WAY OF COLUMBIA AND YORK  99
VI.
CHAMBERSBURG AND SHIPPEN8BURQ  119
VII.
A PICTURESQUE OLD TOWN  143
VIII.
FROM CARLISLE TO HARRISBURG  169
IX.
WESTWARD HO TO PITTSBURGH  191
X.
WASHINGTON, PENNA., AND THE BBADDOCK TRAIL  212
XI.
FORT BEDFOBD, HOLLIDAYSBURG AND JENNY LIND  280
XII.
THE CITY OF THE BEAUTIFUL SPRING  248
XIII.
UP THE SUSQUEHANNA TO SUNBUBY AND WILKES-BARRE  260
7

CONTENTS

XIV.
A PENNSYLVANIA RETREAT FOR ROYALTY  283
XV.
DOWN THE SCHUYLKILL TO POTTSVILLE AND READING  300
XVI.
ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM AND CHESTER  313

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

HOMEWOOD, NEAR PITTSBURGH, ONCE THE HOME OF JUDGE
William wilkins  Frontispiece
THE OLDEST HOUSE IN DOWNINGTOWN  84
THE C0ATES-LUKEN8-HUST0N HOUSE, COATESVILLE  38
WINDSOR FORGES, CAERNARVON TOWNSHIP  40
HOUSE OF CHRISTOPHER MARSHALL, LANCASTER  48
HOUSE OF CALEB COPE, LANCASTER, WHERE ANDRE LODGED  52
THE BRETHREN'S CHURCH AND PARSONAGE, LANCASTER  54
HOUSE OF EDWARD SHIPPEN OF LANCASTER  54
MINIATURES OF MR. AND MRS. JOHN WILKES KITTERA  76
FROM MINIATURES BT ROBERT FULTON
ENTRANCE TO MOUNT HOPE MANSION, COUNTRY HOME OF THE
GRUBB FAMILY FOR OVER ONE HUNDRED YEARS  92
HOME OF ROBERT COLEMAN AT ELIZABETH FURNACE  94
ABBEYVILLE, OLD HOME OF HON. LANGDON CHEVES  102
HEMPFIELD, WRIGHT HOUSE, COLUMBIA  106
FALLING SPRING CHURCH, CHAMBER8BURG  120
THE MOLELLAND HOUSE, CHAMBERSBURG  124
DOORWAY OF HOUSE OF DAVID WATTS, ON HANOVER STREET,
CARLISLE  156
MANSION OF ISAAC BROWN PARKER, HIGH STREET, CARLISLE. . . 158
HALDEMAN-CAMERON HOUSE, FRONT STREET, HARRISBURG  174
OLD HOUSE OF HON. WILLIAM MACLAY, FRONT STREET, HARRISBURG 176
FORMER HOME OF BENJAMIN PAGE, ALLEGHENY  200
FRIENDSHIP HILL, FORMER HOME OF HON. ALBERT GALLATIN,
NEAR UNIONTOWN  222
BEN LOMOND, BUILT 1785 BY HENRY BEESON, FOUNDER OF
UNIONTOWN  222
THE SEARIGHT HOUSE, BUILT BY JOSIAH FROST, PRIOR TO 1821. . 224
9

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

CBOCKFORD, BACHELORS' QUARTERS, BEDFOBD SPRINGS  236
BURNHAM, BUILT IN 1811, ENLABGED BY REUBEN BOND VALEN
TINE m 1857  250
THE LINN HOUSE, BUILT IN 1810, STILL RESIDENCE OF LINN
FAMILY  250
DONNEL HOUSE ON MARKET SQUARE, SUNBUBY, OCCUPIED BY
DONNEL FAMILY OVER 120 YEARS  260
FORMER HOME OF BEV. JOSEPH PRIESTLY, NORTHUMBERLAND. . . . 264
THE PICKERING-ROSS HOUSE, SOUTH MAIN STREET, WTLKES-BABRE 278
HOME OF COLONEL ZEBULON BUTLER, WILKES-BARRE  278
THE MULFORD-LYONS HOUSE, MONTROSE   292 *
TROUT HALL, ALLENTOWN, BUILT BY JAMES ALLEN, in 1770  310
SCHNITZ HOUSE, BETHLEHEM, NOW HEADQUARTERS OF RED CROSS 318
"BULL HOUSE" BUILT IN 1746, NOW SINGLE SISTEBS HOUSE,
BETHLEHEM  322
EASTER MORNING IN BETHLEHEM GRAVEYARD  322
THE LLOYD HOUSE, CHESTEB, PA  334
LAPIDEA COTTAGE, BUILT 1727, NOW ON ESTATE OF GOVERNOR
WILLIAM C. 8PBOUL  334
COUBT HOUSE, CHESTEB, BUILT 1724, RESTORED 1920  340

IN OLD
PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
I
INTRODUCTION
Fbom the days of Oliver Goldsmith and
Mary Russell Mitford to our own time, the vil
lage and small town have held a lure for poet,
romance writer and chronicler.
"There is," says Miss Julia Patton, who
writes with enthusiasm of the English village,
"something close, intimate and endearing in the
village idea"; and Mrs. Edward C. Clarke gives
a charming picture of village life in America in
the chronicles of her girlhood's home in Canan-
daigua, New York.
Few among us, even the most inveterate
Cockney, can remain long insensible to the charm
of an English village, to which the passing cen
turies have added a grace that only time can be-
i stow, and some of our old American villages
and towns, especially those which have been
remote from the broad highways of travel, still
1 possess much of the fascination of the English
V village. On this side of the water, however, vil
li

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
lages and small towns have a fashion of growing
into large towns and great cities ; yet, in many of
them, when we get away from main thorough
fares and central squares, with their trolleys,
noisy activities and bustle, we still find quiet
streets, "soft embowered in trees," and old
houses with the lovely porticoes and doorways
that belonged to the village of the past.
Many of the old Pennsylvania towns treated
of in this book may no longer be spoken of as
towns, as they have outgrown such limits and
become large and prosperous cities, as Chester,
Lancaster, Reading, Harrisburg and Wilkes-
Barre. But most of these, despite their size and
importance, retain something of their village
charm. In Bethlehem, with all its business ac
tivity and prosperity, the old Moravian settle
ment still holds the stage, its picturesque
buildings being in the center of the town, and
when there is a Bach festival it is to this older
section that the visitor turns his footsteps. In
Belief onte, we leave a wide street, full of hand
some, modern residences, climb a steep hillside,
and are in the old town, where an early Valen
tine settler built a Friends' Meeting House,
which with its moss-grown roof, its stones tinted
by the fingers of time into indescribably lovely
shades, is as picturesque on its hilltop as is Jor
dan's Meeting in its fair English valley.
Now that good roads in many parts of Penn-
12

INTRODUCTION

sylvania and broad highways, the William Penn,
the Lincoln and the National Highway, offer
facilities for reaching our old towns, some in
teresting associations belonging to their history,
early and late, may be of interest to the tourist.
To gather together some record of these associa
tions, while those still living are able to recall
stories, handed down from father to son, of the
days when many of these towns were frontier
forts, has been the object of the writer, as well
as to record the recollections of later and event
ful days just before and soon after the Civil
War, while older citizens recall President
Buchanan when he was living at Wheatland,
near Lancaster; or tell you of President Lin
coln's visits to Lancaster and Harrisburg in
February, 1861 ; or describe the handsome face
and figure of Andrew G. Curtin, as he walked
through the streets of Bellefonte, before he be
came the noted War Governor of Pennsylvania.
Such recollections as these, from eye witnesses,
bridge over the years and bring back to us the
events of the past with a fresh and vivid interest.
In presenting to her readers the stories of
some old Pennsylvania towns, the writer wishes
it to be understood that many, both old and
interesting, have not been given a place in this
book simply on account of the limitations of time
and space. A comprehensive review of the his
toric towns of a state in which so much history
13

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
has been made would fill many volumes and
would require the research of a lifetime. Only
those known to the writer, which have left their
impress upon her mind, have been included in
these pages.
Philadelphia and Germantown have been
treated of by so many able writers that they have
been purposely omitted in the preparation of
this book.
We know our Southern and New England
towns and the charm of them ; we love them as
a valued share in the life of a great nation; it
has been the good fortune of many of these to be,
Sung in song, rehearsed in story.
For some reason the history and romances of
our old Pennsylvania towns have not, to any
considerable extent, occupied a place in general
literature, with the exception, of course, of
Philadelphia, and yet no state is richer in his
toric associations than the old Keystone.
The ignorance of otherwise intelligent per
sons with regard to the past events and present
attainments of Pennsylvania has of late years
been impressed upon the writer. As, for in
stance, in talking to an ordinarily intelligent and
traveled young person from Boston, when some
pictures were shown her of Colonial houses still
standing in some of the southern Pennsylvania
towns, she said, "Dutch Colonial, I suppose."
14

INTRODUCTION

' ' No, English Colonial, ' ' was the answer.
" Oh ! I supposed Pennsylvania was settled
entirely by Dutch."
"Where do you think all of our English,
Scotch and French names came from V was the
rejoinder. "In point of fact, Pennsylvania had
a greater diversity of nationality in her early
settlement than any other state in the Union."
Even more surprising are some remarks re
corded in a rather recent publication called "A
Hoosier Holiday, ' ' in which two persons touring
through Pennsylvania remark upon the small-
ness and insignificance of the population.
The census reports, of course, give the most
convincing facts with regard to population, so
there is no need to answer this criticism. The
author, Mr. Theodore Dreisler, continues in
somewhat the same vein: "But what about
Pennsylvania anyhow ? Why hasn 't it produced
anything in particular? . . . For now that
we had come to think of it we could not recall
anyone in American political history or art or
science who had come from Pennsylvania. Wil
liam Penn (a foreigner) occurred to me, Ben
jamin Franklin and a certain Civil War gov
ernor of the name of Cameron, and there
I stuck." Mr. Dreisler remembers Benjamin Franklin,
to be sure; but of "the Civil War governor
by the name of Cameron" we must confess ig
norance. He certainly could not confuse any
. * 2 15

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
other name with that of Governor Curtin; or,
with that of Cameron, represented by the two
Senators, father and son, which is equally
well known.
It seems strange that Mr. Dreisler did not
happen to remember Robert Morris, who
financed the Revolution; or Stephen Girard,
who did more than any one man to finance the
War of 1812.
"But where arethepoets,writers,painters?"
asked Mr. Dreisler 's traveling companion.
" I paused. Not a name occurred to me."
Had he never heard of a certain Penn
sylvania Quaker painter, Benjamin West, who
was president of the Royal Academy in London
for many years, whose paintings were so highly
valued that the King of England refused to
have them leave the country unless replicas
were furnished by the artist? Jacob Eicholtz,
of Lancaster, was an artist of considerable note,
as were WilliamT. Richards and a host of others,
including JohnW.Alexander,of Pittsburgh ; and
as to science, the Hoosier tourists must, at the
time, have been passing quite near the birthplace
of one of the greatest scientists and inventors
that America has produced. A few miles south of
Lancaster Robert Fulton was born, who in
vented the first working submarine and the first
steamboat that made a successful trip. Indeed,
William Henry, of Lancaster, and John Fitch
16

INTRODUCTION

both worked on the steamboat with considerable
success about the same time ; and another scien
tist, too important to be overlooked, was
America's greatest astronomer, David Rit-
tenhouse, a Pennsylvanian ; and by far its
most celebrated early botanist was John Bar-
tram, another Pennsylvanian.
As to Pennsylvania writers, they rise up
like a cloud of witnesses, early and late, too
many to speak of; but we cannot refrain from
mentioning such, well-known authors as Dr.
S. Weir Mitchell, whose works have been so
widely read, the two distinguished Shakespear
ean scholars, Dr. Horace Howard Furness and
his son, and to go further back in the years, this
State may claim the honor of being the home of
the first American playwright, Thomas Godfrey,
and the first American novelist, Charles
Brockden Brown. Then Bayard Taylor has
done much and well in poetry and fiction and
George H. Boker's poems and plays are receiv
ing more and fuller recognition as the years go
on ; while Margaret Deland, one of our leading
novelists, it should not be forgotten, was born
and spent her early years in Allegheny,
Pennsylvania. Mr. Dreisler may well ask "What about
Pennsylvania anyhow?" The trouble seems to
be that this state does not sufficiently appre
ciate and make much of the work being done
17

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
within her own borders, and for that reason
it is not recognized by those outside of it. This
is the more remarkable because no state has
been endowed with more painstaking and effi
cient chroniclers. To such local historians of
the past as the late John Blair Linn, Esq., of
Belief onte; James Pyle Wickersham, LL.D.,
and the Honorable W. U. Hensel, of Lancaster;
Dr. Charles H. Himes, of Carlisle; Dr. Alfred
Nevin, the Reverend Horace E. Hayden, of
Wilkes-Barre; Dr. W. H. Egle, of Harrisburg;
Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker, and Dr. F. D.
Stone, of Philadelphia, and Mr. Samuel Evans,
of Columbia, the Pennsylvania historian of the
future will owe a lasting debt of gratitude.

II
EN ROUTE TO LANCASTER

To visit some of the old historic towns of
Pennsylvania had been a cherished plan of mine
for several years, and this year of grace 1917,
and of war also, alas ! — fortune seemed to favor
my desires. Kathleen Davis, who is a young
widow and consequently quite free to follow her
own sweet will, came to me one morning to dis
cuss her summer plans. July and August, she
said, were filled with engagements in various
directions, but a part of June was not provided
for. Here was my opportunity, Kathleen being
the fortunate possessor of a Rolls-Royce and
of an exceptionally good chauffeur, so I modestly
suggested atourto some old Pennsylvania towns.
"That sounds attractive," said Kathleen.
"I know ever so many New England towns, of
course, and love them, and some of the Southern
towns, like beautiful old Williamsburg and
Charleston and Savannah; but I must confess
that I don't know any of the towns in my own
state. I fancy they are all very much alike."
"That is just where you are mistaken," said
I in as severe a tone as it was possible to use
in speaking to any one as charming as Kath
leen. "On the contrary, they are quite indi-
19

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
vidual in their characteristics; Lancaster and
Bellefonte differ as widely as Salem and Stock-
bridge, and then Washington, Bethlehem and
Wilkes-Barre are again quite different types."
"That sounds still more attractive. Let me
go with you, Serena, and try to complete my im
perfect education; and let us ask your friend,
Sarah Bruce, to bear us company, and give us
the history of every town as we pass through it.
I am sure that Wright will enjoy this tour also,
as he came from one of the old Pennsylvania
towns, Chambersburg; or perhaps it is Carlisle.
I do hope that he may not be called to the colors
) before we finish our tour. ' '
Kathleen is a very patriotic woman and had
, accomplished an almost incredible amount of
war work during the spring; but when the ques-
: tion of relinquishing her invaluable chauffeur to
i the Government was mooted, her spirit of
v- self-sacrifice failed to rise to the occasion.
A few days before starting on our tour of
discovery I became the happy possessor of a
little book with the alliterative title of "A Pleas
ant Peregrination Through the Prettiest Parts
of Pennsylvania, ' ' in which the writer, one Pere
grine Prolix, described a journey from Phila
delphia to Pittsburgh in 1836, the first lap of
the trip being over the recently-constructed
Columbia Railroad. We were much interested
in contrasting the journey of Mr. Prolix with
our own projected trip. 20

EN ROUTE TO LANCASTER

After a tour through Philadelphia in an ac
commodating omnibus which picked up men,
women and children at Eleventh and George
Streets, Arch and Ninth Streets and at other
places, all were transferred to a railroad car,
that started from the depot on Broad Street,
which was drawn by four fine horses. This car
conveyed the passengers to the inclined plane
on the western bank of the Schuylkill which was
approached by a spacious viaduct. ' ' At the foot
of the inclined plane the horses were loosed
from the cars, several of which were tied to an
endless rope, moved by a steam engine placed
on top of the plane, and finally began to mount
the acclivity with the speed of five miles an
hour. . . . when the cars had all arrived at
the top of the plane, some twelve or fourteen
were strung together like beads, and fastened
to the latter end of a steam tug. . . . The in
clined plane is more than nine hundred yards in
length and has a perpendicular rise of about
one hundred and seventy feet. ' ' 1
"We left the inclined plane at ten o'clock,"
said Mr. Prolix, ' ' and were scheduled to reach
Lancaster the same afternoon." This novel
conveyance appears to have made good speed,
as Mr. Prolix recorded that they reached Lan
caster at three o'clock in the afternoon, a great
improvement upon the journey described by an-
1Prolix's Pleasant Peregrinations. 21

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
other annalist, which involved a stop overnight
at an inn, far from luxurious, where bed linen
being scarce, a table-cloth was given one of the
party in lieu of a sheet.
We set forth upon our tour of discovery in
Pennsylvania in the sort of car that was only
dreamed of in the days of Mr. Prolix, by Oliver
Evans, of Philadelphia, and a few others of his
ilk, who projected their minds into the future
and had visions of journeys in what were spoken
of as horseless carriages. Our point of de
parture was from a portion of Philadelphia
given over, in 1836, to Schuylkill Rangers, goats
and stray cows. From this now closely-built-up
part of the city we made our way by Twenty-
first Street to the Parkway, still incomplete but
promising great beauty and utility, and on
through the Green Street entrance to the most
extensive and beautiful park in the world. By
the boathouses on the banks of the Schuylkill
and by the winding ways of the East Park we
sped along, having on our left the old Mt.
Pleasant Mansion, spoken of usually as the
Benedict Arnold house, but known further back
in history by the more popular name of the
McPherson mansion, having been built by one
John McPherson, a Scotchman of the clan of
the McPhersons of Clunie. This house, some
what modernized, is now used by an automobile
club. We passed by many interesting old man-
22

EN ROUTE TO LANCASTER

sions — Solitude, the home of John Penn and the
last bit of property owned by the Penn family
in the state of Pennsylvania, where they had
held such vast estates. Our way led us by Bel
mont, the hospitable home of the witty Judge
Peters, where General Washington was so often
a guest, and by Sweetbriar, once the home of the
delightful annalist, Mr. Samuel Breck. Motor
ing by these old houses, that are now the prop
erty of the city of Philadelphia, we rejoiced in
the thought that they will ever stand as historic
landmarks linking the coming generations with
the storied past, with the days when Washing
ton, Jefferson, Adams and Lafayette drove out
here, by practically the same roads that are used
today, to dine and sup in these old mansions.
We crossed the Schuylkill at the Falls bridge,
and by devious ways reached the Montgomery
Pike and the General Wayne Inn, a famous
hostelry in stage-coaching days, offering, as
it did, refreshment for man and beast, in
the first stage of the journey from Philadelphia
to Lancaster. As late as the last quarter of the nine
teenth century the General Wayne was a favor
ite summer resort for Philadelphians, the days
of its greatest glory being those when Miss
Emily Schomberg and her mother spent
some weeks of the summer at the hotel.
The celebrated Philadelphia beauty brought
23

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
to this old inn certain foreign fashions,
as she always had her breakfast in her rooms
and never appeared in the drawing-room
until later in the day, beautifully gowned and
wearing an extremely becoming hat which
crowned rather than concealed her luxuriant
dark hair. Here Miss Schomberg held some
thing of a court, as many persons in the neigh
borhood came to call upon her, all of whom she
received with a certain charm and graciousness
for which she was noted as much as for her
great beauty. In the evening she would often
give the guests of the old inn the pleasure of
hearing her fine, well-trained voice, while a
Count d'E  , who came from Philadelphia
every afternoon to call upon Miss Schomberg,
would turn the sheets of her music. The picture
of the Philadelphia beauty at the piano, charm
ing the guests of the General Wayne, while
waiting maids and stable boys stood outside by
the open windows listening to songs from Italy,
England, Germany and France, seems to belong
to another world than ours, in view of the popu
larity of the pianola, the victrola and all of the
other devices that have been introduced to take
the place of the human voice since those good
old days in the seventies when Miss Schomberg
sang her songs to a most appreciative audience
at the old hostelry.
Within a short distance of the General
24

EN ROUTE TO LANCASTER

Wayne Inn is the Merion Meeting House, and a
few miles farther on our way we came upon an
other historic landmark, known as the Owen
Jones house, although built by Robert Owen, of
Merionethshire, Wales, in 1695, as appears from
the date carved on the cornerstone. This house,
once surrounded by over four hundred acres, is
still in good preservation and has become an
attractive roadside tea-house.
Between Haverford and Bryn Mawr we
passed the Buck Tavern, built in 1730. This old
hostelry was particularly interesting to Kath
leen, as she remembered that her grandfather
had told her that he and his family, when jour
neying to Bedford Springs in their coach, al
ways stopped at the Buck Tavern for breakfast,
with appetites sharpened by a nine-mile drive.
And then, to go still further back in history,
the main body of Washington's army was en
camped near here. In a letter to Congress,
under date of September 15, 1777, the Gen
eral wrote :
At the Buok Tavern,
Three o'clock, p.m.
We are moving up this road [the old Lancaster Road]
to get between the enemy and Swede's Ford, and to prevent
them from turning our right flank."
All the country through which we were pass
ing is filled with associations of Revolution
ary days, especially of those weeks in the au
tumn of 1777, when the two generals, Washing-
25

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
ton and Howe, were playing their spirited game
of hide-and-seek north and west of Philadelphia,
within an area of twenty-five or thirty miles.
After leaving the Buck Tavern we passed by
the lovely grounds and fine buildings of Haver-
ford College; by White Hall, once famous for
its summer gayeties, its dances and amateur
theatricals, as Mr. John W. Townsend has re
called to us so vividly in his interesting story of
the "Main Line"; by Bryn Mawr College, with
its wonderful gates and its beautiful campus,
and so on to St. Davids, through a fine stretch
of rolling, intensively-cultivated country.
Every road in this region passes over his
toric ground; every path has its legend; nearly
every house its own traditions. We should need
weeks instead of hours in which to enjoy it all,
as Sarah reminded us; but we could not pass
this way without stopping at the beautiful old
church of St. Davids, often as we had seen it.
This is the most perfect example of a Colonial
country church, dignified and yet simple in its
lines, as every rural church should be. It is not
strange that this ancient sanctuary, with its
stone walls draped with ivy and its beautiful
church yard, shaded by great trees, should have
impressed one of our distinguished American
poets. Simplicity and dignity are harmoniously
united in this historic building dedicated to the
patron saint of Wales, settlers from which
26

EN ROUTE TO LANCASTER

country built the church here in 1715, the curious
outside stairway having been added much later.
North of Stratford Station we found the
quaint little Eagle School House, which, through
the interest and public spirit of some citizens
of Radnor Township, notably Mr. Henry Pleas
ant, Jr., has been restored and opened for a
public library and reading-room. In the grounds
a number of Revolutionary soldiers were buried,
and after sleeping for over a hundred years in
an unmarked grave, a tablet with a beautiful
and appropriate inscription has been placed
over their last resting-place.
Near Devon, where the Sugartown road in
tersects the old Church road, we noticed a hand
some house with a beautiful lawn sloping gently
down to a pond. The beauty of the place and
Tarleton, the name on the gate-post, interested
us, and we turned to our ever-helpful Antiquary,
who, as usual, was able to meet our demand.
"This house," she said, "was a farm house
in Colonial days, the hill on which it stands being
an important outpost of the patriot army dur
ing the winter of 1778, when the main body of
Washington's army was at Valley Forge.
Young Harry Lee was posted at the farm house,
which then stood here, for the purpose of de
flecting supplies intended for the British army
in Philadelphia. Lee's command consisted of
fourteen men detailed from Colonel Theodorie
27

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
Bland's Virginia regiment. General Howe,
having learned from Tory spies in the neighbor
hood of the isolated position of this farm house,
and being in need of supplies from the rich
country surrounding it, detached two hundred
troopers under Tarleton to make a detour of
Philadelphia and surprise Lee. The young
officer and the men under him made so gallant
a resistance against overwhelming numbers,
that they finally succeeded in holding the fort.
After this engagement the Commander-in Chief
wrote Lee a personal letter commending him and
his command for their 'gallant behaviour,' and
with the approval of Congress advanced him to
the rank of major with a command of two troops
of horse, in addition to which he recommended
the men under him for promotion. This was
one of the many engagements in which Lee,
afterwards known as ' Lighthorse Harry,' dis
tinguished himself and won the commendation
of General Washington, with whom he was a
great favorite."
The present owners of the property, Dr. and
Mrs. George C. Stout, although they have
greatly enlarged the house and beautified the
grounds, have retained the old name, Tarleton.
Lee would be more appropriate, as it was Light-
horse Harry who conferred distinction upon the
place ; but old names cling to certain localities,
and it is usually a mistake to change them.
28

EN ROUTE TO LANCASTER
Near Paoli we turned from the pike to have
a look at Waynesborough, the birthplace of
General Anthony Wayne, a fine stone house in
good preservation, where we had often been re
ceived by the late General and Mrs. William
Wayne, and sat upon the self -same, high-backed
horsehair sofa upon which General Anthony
Wayne, Lafayette and many Revolutionary
heroes had sat. The old house is kept much as it
was in the days of General Wayne, and as it
stands to-day with its substantial walls, shaded
by great trees, it is a picturesque landmark of
historic value that should be preserved for all
time. General Anthony Wayne is buried in the
beautiful grounds of St. David's Church. He
died at Erie, Pennsylvania, whither he had gone
to take possession of certain posts for the
United States at Majora, Oswego, Miami and
Delevit, which were surrendered by the English.
While at Erie the General became seriously ill,
died December, 1796, and was buried, according
to his wish, on Garrison Hill, north of the pres
ent Soldiers' Home. In 1809 Colonel Isaac
Wayne had his father's remains removed and
placed in the family burial ground at St. David's
Church, Radnor. This region is filled with asso
ciations of General Wayne, but we were glad to
have the discrepancy between the date of his
death and that of his burial at St. David's
Church explained by Sarah, who well deserves
29

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
the title of Antiquary which we have bestowed
upon her.
On the right-hand side of the pike, near
Paoli, a tavern stands, once the General Jack
son, now the Franklin. The old Paoli Inn was
long since destroyed by fire, and no new build
ing has taken its place. The name Paoli has
often puzzled us ; but here again our Antiquary
was able to answer our question. The Paoli, she
said, was named after Pachal Paoli, a Corsican
patriot, who at the time of the opening of the
inn was living in exile in England and, although
unsuccessful, was looked upon as the ideal
patriot and champion of liberty. Paoli 's efforts
for the freedom of Corsica were frustrated by
the purchase of the island from the Genoese by
France, and General Paoli, after an heroic
struggle, became an exile.
"That is all very interesting," I said, "but
why was the inn named after General Paoli?"
"No one knows exactly why," said the Anti
quary, who usually had a reason for everything,
"except that liberty was in the air just then,
and some enthusiast had been reading about
General Paoli."
After passing Paoli and climbing the steep
hills between that station and Green Tree, a fine
view of the beautiful Chester Valley, with the
hills near Valley Forge in the distance, opened
before us. Old Green Tree Inn, a familiar

EN ROUTE TO LANCASTER

landmark for many years, was destroyed when
the Pennsylvania Railroad straightened its
roadbed in 1877, the new line running directly
through the inn. At Malvern we were reminded
that the first railroad car on the new road to
the West Chester Intersection had arrived here
in October, 1832. This car, which took the place
of the Lancaster mail coach, was drawn by two
horses and accommodated thirty passengers.
The old-time route was given "from the ancient
Court House, Second and Market Streets, to
the Lancaster Court House. ' '
A short distance south and west of the little
town of Malvern, on Monument Avenue, is a
tall monument which marks the site of what has
been known for many years as the Paoli Mas
sacre. This, according to Dr. Charles J. Stille,
and other able historians, is a misnomer, as the
so-called massacre was nothing more or less
than a night attack, not as much of a surprise
as Washington gave the Hessians at Trenton
in December, 1776. The difference between the
two affairs seems to have been that Wayne's
men resisted, fought like free Americans, as he
said, and sixty-one of the command of twelve
hundred were killed and a number wounded,
while at Trenton the Hessian mercenaries were
captured to the number of nearly2 one thousand.
A local tradition, still believed by some per-
* General Washington's report to Congress, Headquarters,
Newtown, 27 December, 1776.
3 31

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
sons in the neighborhood, was related to us by a
friendly guide to the effect that, at the time
of General Grey's attack, General Wayne was
asleep in a little house still standing near the
monument He is said to have escaped, half-
clad, to Waynesborough, his home, several miles
distant. There is no foundation whatever for
this story; indeed, the official report of the
affair entirely contradicts it. General Wayne
was in command of his troops and seems to have
done all that was possible to prepare them to
resist the enemy, in the very short notice given
him by a resident of Chester County, whom he
spoke of as "a Mr. Jones, an old Gent'n who
lives nearby where we were encamped."
After leaving Malvern we passed under the
railroad bridge and reached The Warren, as it
is called to-day, a famous hostelry in its time,
whose swinging sign once bore the name and
picture of Admiral Vernon, and after the Revo
lution that of the patriot general, Joseph War
ren, who died for his country at Bunker Hill.
These old roadside taverns, with their pic
turesque names, The Horse and Groom, The Old
White Horse, the Rising Sun, The Hat, and The
Ship, tempt one to linger over their history and
associations; but our Antiquary reminded us
that this work had been admirably and exhaust
ively done by Mr. Julius F. Saehse, Dr. John
T. Faris and other Pennsylvania chroniclers,
82

EN ROUTE TO LANCASTER

and that our object was to see some of the old
Pennsylvania towns.
Downingtown, our next objective point, was,
she said, sufficiently ancient to please us, hav
ing been surveyed as early as 1702 for Joseph
Cloud, Jeremiah Collett, Robert Vernon and
Daniel Smith, all of whom took up land here.
A short distance from The Warren we were
attracted by a signboard, To Swedesf ord Manor,
and being out for pleasure and not scheduled
to reach Lancaster at any particular time, we
concluded, with the approval of the Antiquary,
to make a short detour in order to see the old
Coxe and Emlen country seat, once known as
Solitude, now Swedesford Manor. As we ap
proached the grounds, nothing looked familiar
to us, except the water tower, a fine new barn
and outbuildings having taken the place of the
old farm buildings and the site of the original
house being now occupied by a handsome Eliza
bethan structure, built by the present owner of
the property, Mr. Clarence S. Kates. He hap
pened to be in the courtyard when we motored
up to the house, and, recognizing Sarah as an
old acquaintance, he courteously showed us his
beautiful library, hall and dining-room, in all
of which the wood-carving is very fine. Indeed,
the house, inside and out, reminded us strongly
of Haddon Hall in England.
Returning to the pike, we passed a number

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
of attractive country places with lawns shaded
by fine old trees, among these the home of the
Reverend William Bull, the date, 1799, in the
front of the house, attesting to its antiquity.
Near Downingtown is the Cain meeting
house, one of the most picturesque of the old
meetings, set aloof as it is, shaded by great forest
trees and surrounded by a rich farming country.
Of it John Russel Hayes, the bard of many
Friends Meetings, might well say, as he said of
another old sanctuary:
The best of old and' new are truly blent
In this old house among the ancient trees,
Set round with slopes of wheat and fragrant corn
That sway and waveri in the summer breeze.
Although East and West Downingtown now
form a busy, prosperous center, the older town
still holds much of the village charm of what
was once ' ' Downing 's Town, ' ' as Robert Brooke
called it in his survey of 1806, and here are many
picturesque old houses. One that particularly
interested us with its beautiful Colonialdoor was
formerly the home of one of the Edge family, a
great-uncle of Walter E. Edge, recently Gov
ernor of New Jersey, and now United States
Senator. The tea-house, where we stopped for
some light refreshment, was the residence of
one of the early Downings. Thomas Downing
bought nearly six hundred acres of land here as
early as 1739. Phineas Eachus was another
34

Photograph by George W. Jacobs, Jr.

The Oldest House in Downingtown

EN ROUTE TO LANCASTER

early settler; his field, according to an old sur
vey, separating the Great Valley Road from the
Philadelphia Road, the latter the highway upon
which we were so joyously traveling. From
East Downingtown we crossed the Brandywine
to West Downingtown, and, turning to the right
at the Baptist Church, according to the direc
tions given us by one of the townspeople, we
gained the Harrisburg Turnpike, crossed
Beaver Creek and by a country road reached
the charmmg old Valentine house, of which we
were in search, now the home of Miss Edge.
Beaver Creek, which later joins the Brandy-
wine, flows by the lawn on one side ; on the other
side and across the road is an old mill in which
flour was ground for the Revolutionary Army.
The house, to which a modern gable end has
been added, was built by Robert Valentine in
1768. After his death his widow left the home
stead and removed to Belief onte with her five
sons and a pack of hounds. Other possessions
Mrs. Robert Valentine may have carried with
her to her new home, but the five sons and the
pack of hounds seem to have been the only be
longings considered worthy of mention.
Soon after our return to the highway we
passed the site of the old Ship Tavern, now a
private residence. A local chronicler says that
the Ship was generally known as ' ' The Widow
Evans'," as it was kept for over forty years by
35

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
Mistress Susie Evans, of whom he tells the
following story :
"Along about sixty-five years ago Mr. Cham
bers, the celebrated divine and temperance lec
turer, came up from Philadelphia to deliver a
lecture on temperance at Grove, in Chester
County. He left the train at Oakland Station,
now Whitford, and before going across he en
tered the hotel at that place and requested Mr.
Boyer to give him 'a strong cup of coffee.' A
Mrs. Evans, who kept the Ship Tavern, in the
same township, heard of the incident, and in the
presence of some parties she made use of the
expression that she wished he had come to her
with that request, adding, 'I would have made
it strong enough for him.' " From which ex
pression, it appeared very evident that Mis
tress Susie Evans would not have voted for pro
hibition, if the question had been put to the
vote in her time.
Again we crossed the very winding Brandy-
wine, this time the west branch, which rises
somewhere in the Welsh Mountains, and were
speeding through Coatesville. This town, beau
tifully situated as it is, is so beclouded by the
smoke of its' many steel and iron furnaces that
we are wont to forget its beauty and think of it
only as a busy manufacturing town, one of the
great centers of production that has done much
to make Pennsylvania "The Industrial Titan
of America," as John Oliver La Gorce has been
36

EN ROUTE TO LANCASTER

pleased to name it. There are, however, old
streets in Coatesville and fine, old homes, as it
was settled in early times, and named after
Moses Coates, who came to Pennsylvania with
his wife, about 1717, bringing a certificate from
Carow, Ireland, to the Haverf ord Monthly Meet
ing. He afterwards owned a large part of the
land in and around what is now Coatesville and
lived in a house still standing on First Avenue
which was later the home of Dr. and Mrs. Charles
Lukens. Mrs. Lukens was a daughter of Isaac
Pennock, who purchased from the Coates family
the saw mill and water-power mill in 1810,
which he then proceeded to change into an iron
mill. Dr. Charles Lukens, Mr. Pennock 's son-
in-law, came into the business in 1813, being the
first person in America to make iron plate for
the construction of boilers. On the death of
her husband, Mrs. Lukens carried on the busi
ness successfully for many years. As a tribute
to the memory of this able woman, the name
of the works was changed to Lukens Rolling
Mills, the name before that time having been the
Brandywine Mills. Later, through the marriage
of Dr. and Mrs. Lukens' daughter Isabella to
Dr. Charles Huston, the mills came into the pos
session of the Huston family, who still own them
and have the distinction of making in them the
largest steel plates ever produced, large enough
to form the crown and sides of a locomotive in
one piece. 37

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
The house to which Dr. and Mrs. Lukens
came soon after their marriage was considered
old, even in 1816, as a part of it was built over
a hundred years before, and the portion added
by Moses Coates dated back to days before the
Revolution. Mrs. Charles Huston, in writing
her recollections of this, her early home, spoke
of the fine trees and beautiful garden surround
ing it, and of its remoteness from the busy
World. In 1873 life in Coatesville had changed :
"The advent of the Pennsylvania Railroad
into our midst was a most exciting event. Fifty
year ago, probably, my mother, standing in her
own doorway, and looking northward, said to
her uncle, Joseph Webb :
" 'I shall not be surprised one day to see a
railroad upon the side of yonder hills.'
" 'That,' he replied, 'would be a miracle
which could never happen in my time. They
could not cross that gorge through which the
Brandywine flows.'
" 'Yes,' said my mother, 'they could easily
span it with a bridge * ; and so they did, but it
did not happen until after my uncle's death.
' ' I remember, when a child, waiting for hours
on the hill to see the first engine upon the road.
In fact, the whole community turned out in
great excitement to gaze at the novelty and to
hear the first echoes reverberating among the
hills. Now, the Wilmington and Reading Rail
road traverses the valley of the Brandywine,
38

EN ROUTE TO LANCASTER

intersecting the Pennsylvania Railroad at
Coatesville, and the old mansion is near the
noisy angle formed by both."
On the left-hand side of the Lincoln High
way, which runs directly through the town, we
were attracted by a fine old house with balconies
in front, now the Washington House.
After leaving Coatesville we passed through
the Gap, a natural passageway between the hills,
and were in Lancaster County. Here again a
signboard, this one marked ' ' To Honey Brook, ' '
beguiled us from the straight road of travel,
and we were soon speeding along the Honey
Brook road toward Windsor Forges and
Churchtown, both in Caernarvon Township.
Honey Brook is a typical old Pennsylvania
town, with its houses, post-office and country
store all being set near the sidewalk. Why the
houses are thus placed in so many Pennsylvania
towns, the garden and everything in the way of
beauty at the rear of the house,is a question that
has never been satisfactorily answered, al
though various reasons have been given, more
or less plausible.
After a bit of poor road and after crossing
a bridge, we suddenly came upon the beautiful
old mansion of Windsor Forges, whose extended
facade, with latticed windows and wide inviting
doorway, is separated from the road by a
lawn and some fine trees. The hospitable
chatelaine, who had always welcomed us to her

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
home, was away, so the caretaker informed us ;
but learning that we were friends of Miss
Nevin, we were allowed to enter the grounds,
and from an octagonal porch at the back of the
house to enjoy the lawn, terraced down to the
Conestoga, making, with the shrubbery, shade
trees and parterres of old-fashioned flowers, a
charming setting for the long, low mansion,
which holds many memories of the past. Noth
ing is left of the old forge, or of the workmen 's
houses, which were situated on the winding
Conestoga, the Crooked Creek of the Indians
of this region ; but some remains are still to be
seen of the cave or dugout in which the first
settler, John Jenkins, is said to have lived until
he was able to build a house for the shelter of
himself and his family. Mr. Jenkins, with other
pioneers from Wales, first settled in Chester
County and later, tempted by a desire to further
explore this beautiful and fertile region, they
pushed on westward and established themselves
in what is now Caernarvon Township, to which
they gave its Welsh name. This was in the early
years of the nineteenth century, the mansion
house and the forges were built later, some time
in the forties, by William Branson, of Philadel
phia, who owned the property for some years,
and not being disposed to belittle the importance
of his possession, named his residence after the
palace of the King of England. David Jenkins,
a son of the original owner, bought back Wind-
40

Windsor Forges, Carnarvon Township

EN ROUTE TO LANCASTER

sor Forges, with the mansion house, which has
been in possession of the family ever since. Miss
Blanche Nevin, the well-known sculptor, a great-
granddaughter of the original settler, still makes
her home during a portion of the year in the
beautiful old mansion.
On the lawn is a substantial little stone
house, which was built for the storing of food
and ammunition in the event of an attack by the
Indians. This house may not have been used
for the purpose for which it was designed, as
the Indians in this neighborhood seem to have
been friendly. Mrs. John W. Nevin, a direct
descendant of the first John Jenkins of Windsor
Forges, in her recollections, spoke of an Indian
settlement near Churchtown, and she said that
her father, the Hon. Robert Jenkins, told her of
hunting and fishing, in his boyhood, with these
friendly neighboring Indians.
We passed through the pretty little village
of Churchtown, so named after the church built
there about 1730 by Welsh settlers, a charter
insuring them the privilege of "the free exer
cise" of their religion having been given them
by William Penn some years earlier.
An interesting social life existed in this part
of Pennsylvania not unlike the plantation life
of Virginia. We find associated with Mr. Wil
liam Branson at Windsor Forges, Samuel
Flower, Richard Hockley and Lynf ord Lardner,
of Philadelphia, and in the building up of the
41

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
town and the church many persons were inter
ested whose names belong to the social life of
Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and other cities,
among these were the large and influential Jen
kins, Nevin, Old, Jacobs and Coleman families.
Mr. Robert Coleman, of Elizabeth Furnace, one
of the noted iron masters of Pennsylvania, was a
generous contributor to the little church, to
which the town owes its name, as was Mr. Cyrus
Jacobs, who built a fine old mansion, White Hall,
near Churchtown.
By devious ways, and some roads not to be
recommended to the automobilist, we returned
to our good friend, the Lincoln Highway.
As we motored through Lancaster County,
we did not wonder that some of the early settlers
of Chester County, beautiful as it is, had pushed
on to the west into what was later to be known
asi Lancaster County, a veritable garden region.
The fact that the settlers here had named their
townships Eden and Paradise shows how truly
they appreciated their richly productive lands.
The Lincoln Highway runs through Para
dise, a pretty little country town twelve miles
south and east of Lancaster; the most noted
dwelling here to-day is the beautiful country
seat of Justice I. Bay Brown, whose well-wooded
lawn slopes down to the road. A little farther
west on the Highway was David Witmer's brick
tavern, ' ' The Sign of the Stage ' ' ; another house
owned by David Witmer is now the residence
42

EN ROUTE TO LANCASTER

of Judge C. I. Landis, who has written an inter
esting story of the first long turnpike in the
United States. This house, once a wayside inn,
bears a tablet which records the fact that it was
built in 1781 by David and Esther Witmer. One
of the interesting traditions of the house is that
General Washington stopped here when return
ing from one of his expeditions to the western
part of the state. Opposite the house a "hemp
mill" stood, and, as the story runs, General
Washington wished to see a "hemp mill" with a
view to putting one up at Mount Vernon. "Un
fortunately, the person who operated the mill
for his benefit removed some of the bracing, and
a plank, coming in contact with the rapidly-
moving machinery, injured the operator and
startled the guest. Because of this unfortunate
accident, the General concluded that he had
no use for the machine."
Another interesting association with this his
toric town is the Marquis de Lafayette's visit
in 1825. Before the hostelry was a marble
"upping block" upon which the French visitor
alighted and upon which he stood to receive a
number of persons who were eagerly awaiting
his arrival. The old ' ' upping block ' ' still stands
before the home of Judge Landis.
Through an exquisitely beautiful country,
filled with interesting associations, we sped on
toward Lancaster, crossed the Conestoga and
were in the old city.

Ill
THE STORY OF AN OLD TOWN
At a first glance, Lancaster appears to the
tourist as a busy, modern city, with its factories
and many lines of trolleys running in as many
directions, but after crossing the Square and
walking along Lime Street we found in shaded
streets and quiet corners many associations with
the old life of a town which, after Philadelphia,
was for years the most important political and
social center in Pennsylvania. The town of Lan
caster is fairly old, having been laid out between
1729 and 1732, the two Hamiltons, Andrew Ham
ilton, Esq., and his son James, both having a
hand in its planning. Here we find the Centre
Square, dear to the early settler of Pennsyl
vania, reminiscent, as it was, of the old English
town which he had left for the New World. Such
a Centre Square as William Penn planned for
Philadelphia, Lancaster has to-day, except that
the good Founder's Centre Square was to be
kept "fair and green," and that of Lancaster
is far too busy and bustling to admit of grass
growing upon it. Everything in Lancaster
comes to and goes from the Square, and there
is no trace of the older town here, although the
44

THE STORY OF AN OLD TOWN
old Court House once stood in Centre, or Penn
Square, as it was then called. A still older
building, the log court-house, or Postlethwait 's
Tavern, accommodated the early justices of
Lancaster. It was in an early and primitive
court-house that the governors of Pennsylvania,
Maryland, Delaware and Virginia met the In
dian chiefs of the Six Nations in 1744 and lis
tened to their complaints against the white
settlers. Of this conference Miss Martha Bladen
Clark gives an interesting description gleaned
from old records and diaries.1 After the formal
meetings of the conference were over, a dance
was given near the home of Mr. Thomas Cook-
son, where Governor* Thomas was stopping.
This Indian dance seems to have been of a war
like nature, as it represented the Indians in the
act of besieging a fort of their enemies, and in
view of tragic Indian massacres in several of
the Colonies about this time, the dance, given
in honor of the Commissioners, could not have
been looked upon by the inhabitants of Lancas
ter as an unalloyed pleasure. The savages,
however, seem to have retired peacefully to
their wigwams at the conclusion of the dance,
after being treated to light refreshment in the
form of sangaree. Of a dinner given to the
twenty-four chiefs of the Six Nations, Mr. Wil-
1 " The Hamilton Grant " by Martha Bladen Clark, Secre
tary of the Lancaster Historical Society.
45

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
liam Marshe, Secretary to the Maryland Com
missioners, recorded in his diary that the din
ner, which seems to have been given by the
Commissioners from Maryland, was in the
Court House, and was attended by the Governor
of Pennsylvania (George Thomas) and a great
many gentlemen from other Colonies. "There
was," said Mr. Marshe, "a large number of in
habitants of Lancaster present to see the Indians
dine. We had five tables, great variety of dishes
and served up in very good order. The Sachems
sat at two separate tables, at the head of one
the famous Cannasateego sat, and the others
were placed according to their rank. As the
Indians are not accustomed to eat in the same
manner as the English or other polite nations
do, we who were secretaries on this affair, with
Mr. Thomas Cookson, Prothonotary of Lan
caster County; William Logan, Esq., son of Mr.
President Logan, and Mr. Nathaniel Rigbie, of
Baltimore County, in Maryland, carved the meat
for them, served them with cider and wine mixed
with water and regulated the ceremony of the
two tables. The chiefs drank heartily and were
very greasy before they finished their dinner,
for by the bye they make no use of forks. Con
rad Weiser, the interpreter, was a guest at the
dinner. He was highly respected by the In
dians. Many other prominent men were at the
dinner, I presume, as they were members of the
46

THE STORY OF AN OLD TOWN
Indian Treaty, viz.: Rev. Thomas Craddock,
rector of St. Thomas Parish, Baltimore; Ed
mund Jennings, at one time secretary of the
Honorable Commissioners of Maryland; Peter
Worrall, who keeps an inn in Lancaster, and
where we procured a room and a dinner;
Andrew Hamilton, son of the distinguished law
yer of that name; James Hamilton, the pro
prietor of Lancaster, who also made the ball
and opened it by dancing two minutes with two
of the ladies here, which last danced wilder time
than any Indians ; George Sanderson, who kept
an inn, and the first town clerk of the borough of
Lancaster; Honorable Colonel Thomas Lee and
Colonel William Beverly, both Virginia Com
missioners, both worthy descended, with His
Excellency Thomas Bladen, Esq., Governor of
the Province of Maryland."
Our Antiquary left us in Lancaster, as she
was bent upon some explorations farther north,
in Bradford County, where she had heard inter
esting tales of an early French colony. Before
leaving us she bespoke the good will of a local
historian, who loves his Lancaster and is doing
his best to make us love it. While walking along
Orange Street, he reminded us that we were
near the scene of the Indian dance of 1744, as
Mr. Thomas Cookson 's house, where he enter
tained Governor Thomas, was on this street. On
Orange Street, also, is the house, still in good
4 47

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
condition, in which Christopher Marshall lived
and wrote his valuable and gossiping and some
times acrimonious diary. Passing events dur
ing the War of the Revolution furnished an
interesting background for a chronicler, and at
Marshall's hands no dramatic possibility was
lost. Reports of the advance of the British were
daily received; one day the enemy was said to
be near Downingtown and pushing on towards
Swedes Ford, another day troops were within
eighteen miles of Lancaster, upon which
Marshall reflects "the progress and fertility
of the lying spirit, that moves about in and
through the different classes of men in this
place, attended with twistings, windings and
turnings that it seems impossible to fix any truth
upon them."
Back of the lying spirit and the twistings and
turnings, there was a background of stern real
ity, as the British entered Philadelphia Septem
ber 26th. Many of the inhabitants had already
left, some of them, like Jacob Hiltsheimer and
his family, going north to Trenton and after
wards to Reading and Bethlehem, as he recorded
in his diary under date of October 8, 1777:
"Dined at Bethlehem and then proceeded to
Squire Peter Trexler's, who received us with
great good will." This Peter Trexler, Justice
of the Peace in Colonial days and under the Con
stitution, lived near Breinigsville, a village
eight miles west of Allentown. 48

House or Christopher Marshall, Lancaster

/'

THE STORY OF AN OLD TOWN
The Supreme Executive Council must have
reached Lancaster by a roundabout way, and,
according to a story preserved in the Baker
family, then living at Point-no Point on the
Delaware, Governor Wharton was rowed across
the river by Mr. Conrad Baker.
This was evidently just before the British
entered Philadelphia, and as the Governor and
Council did not reach Lancaster until the 29th
of September, several days must have been
spent on the journey. Mr. Conrad Baker's ac
count of the departure of the Governor and
Council is interesting as from a person living
on the Delaware at that time. Mr. Baker said
the Governor rode directly to his house and
hastily asked of Mr. Baker some means of trans
portation across the Delaware. Mr. Baker
replied that he would first have to hobble the
horses in the field to delay or to prevent the
British from using them in place of their own
jaded steeds. This he hastily did, and then con
ducted the Governor to the river bank, but be
fore they could start to cross they heard the
report of the British firearms from the house.
"There," said Mr. Baker, "they have shot the
dogs," which ultimately proved to be true. He
assured the Governor that he had no fear for
his family, as the soldiers would not kill women
and children, so they both concealed themselves
in the bushes until a favorable opportunity for
49

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
escape presented itself, when they at once took
to the boat and rowed across to Jersey, as is
supposed, to the residence of Mr. Browning, who
lived on the opposite shore. Another version of
the story, and a less probable one, is that Mrs.
Baker rowed the Governor across the river.
However this may be, the Bakers seem to have
had a hand in getting him across.
For one day, Lancaster had the distinction
of being the seat of the Continental Congress.
Marshall recorded in his diary September 29th:
"Many of the inhabitants of Philadelphia came
to-day, as did our President or Governor, the
Executive Council and the members of the
Assembly who met here this day in the Court
House." The same day Congress set off for
Yorktown. The reason for the removal of the
Congress is obvious, Lancaster is only sixty-
eight miles from Philadelphia, the goal of the
British army, and directly on the route to that
city, while York, some miles south and west,
looked like a safer place of meeting. As it hap
pened, the British did not stop in Lancaster
en route to the capital city, and the government
of Pennsylvania was carried on in this town
during the War of the Revolution and for some
time after.
Timothy Matlack, Secretary of the Supreme
Executive Council, also lived on Orange Street,
nearly opposite Marshall's old residence. An-
60

THE STORY OF AN OLD TOWN
other interesting house is that of Caleb Cope.
In this house, on the north side of Grant Street,
near Lime Street, was lodged Major John
Andre. The young British officer had been made
a prisoner of war by General Richard Mont
gomery when St. Johns was captured by him in
November, 1775. Writing to a friend at this
time, Andre said, "I have been taken prisoner
by the Americans and stripped of everything
except the picture of Honora,2 which I concealed
in my mouth." A number of other prisoners
were taken at this time, some of whom were
brought to Lancaster, which, like Reading and
York, was considered a safe place for the lodg
ing of prisoners, being convenient to both capi
tals and yet not so close to the scene of military
operations as to be unsafe for prisoners of war.
Many of these prisoners reached Lancaster in
a destitute condition, and when the Government
was unable to supply them with food and cloth
ing, they were given the comforts of life by
Matthias Slough. "The men," says the late
Mr. W. U. Hensel, one of Lancaster's valued his
torians, "were kept at the barracks, surrounded
by a stockade; and the British officers lodged at
public or private houses. Andre not only found
shelter under the roof of Cope, but had con
genial associations with his family. That it was
" Honora Sneyd, to whom Andre was devotedly attached.
She afterwards became the wife of Eichard Edgeworth, and
the step-mother of Maria Edgeworth. 51

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
not a popular thing for a Quaker to give even
this semblance of aid and comfort to the enemy
may be judged from the fact that the mob
smashed all of the windows of the Cope man
sion. The citizens who had tolerated, if not
encouraged, such demonstrations, redeemed
themselves somewhat, however, by afterwards
liberally assisting Cope to reconstruct his house
when it had been accidentally damaged by fire. ' '
Besides Major Andre, there was lodged with
Cope another prisoner, Lieutenant-Colonel Ed
ward Marcus Despard, an Irish soldier of for
tune. Mr. Thomas C. Cope, in writing his recol
lections of Major Andre, said: "I was, at that
time, a small boy, but well remember Andre's
bland manners, sporting with us children as one
of us, more particularly attached to John. We
often played marbles and other boyish games
with him."
To John Cope the young officer gave some
lessons in drawing and painting and to William
Barton also. Barton became an excellent
draughtsman, and afterwards drew the design
for the seal of the United States. An odd coin
cidence, it seems, that he should have received
instruction from this British prisoner of war
in Lancaster. That Andre received many kind
attentions and made a number of friends in this
town appears from a letter written from Car
lisle, to which town he and Colonel Despard
52

House or Caleb Cope, Lancaster, where Andre' Lodged

THE STORY OF AN OLD TOWN
were removed later. In this letter, addressed
to Mr. Eberhardt Michael, of Lancaster, Andre
sent messages to his friends. "If you see Mr.
Wirtz and Rev. Mr. Hellemuth and H. Graff,
please give my respects to them — from the last-
mentioned I have received the maps, and thank
him. " In a postscript he added, ' ' If you should
see Mr. Slough, have the kindness to request
him to write to me. His silence makes me at
a loss about him. ' ' The Mr. Slough alluded to
was Colonel Mathias Slough, who did so much
to make the British prisoners of war comfort
able while in Lancaster.
This letter, of which Judge Landis, of Lan
caster, has furnished a translation, is written
in German, and is of especial interest as the only
letter in that language written by Andre known
to exist. It proves this versatile and charming
young officer to have possessed one more among
the many accomplishments that delighted his
friends and served to relieve the monotony of
his imprisonment. "We pass our time," he
says, "in making music, reading books, and
await humbly our liberation, and upon more
peaceable times."
Reading such letters as this, one does
not wonder that the Cope boys, and all with
whom he was associated, loved this ill-fated
young officer.
From the Cope house and its interesting
53

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
associations, we come back to Orange Street.
At the corner of East Lime Street is the charm
ing home of the Misses Kline, daughters of Mr.
George Kline, with its garden on Orange
Street, and directly opposite is the handsome
building of the Young Women's Christian Asso
ciation. While rejoicing that any city should
own so well equipped and comfortable a home
for working women as this, of which Lancaster
may well be proud, we cannot help regretting
the fine old Shippen house, whose site it occu
pies. This house, which has met the fate of so
many old residences, was, in 1752, the home of
Edward Shippen, a grandson of Edward Ship-
pen, of Cheshire, England, who was perse
cuted in Boston for the sin of being a Quaker,
and removed to Philadelphia to become its hon
ored Mayor. It being a habit in the Shippen
family to be Mayors of Philadelphia, this Ed
ward Shippen, son of Joseph, held that and
other important positions in Philadelphia be
fore he removed to Lancaster. Here Mr. Ship-
pen became Recorder and Register for the
County and acted as paymaster for supplies for
the troops under Generals Forbes, Stanwix and
Bouquet. Living near Mr. Shippen 's fine old
mansion on Orange Street, Christopher Mar
shall, who was often severe in his strictures upon
the joys of life, recorded in his diary, of Sunday,
July 26, 1778, a bit of pleasant sociability with
54

The Brethren's Church and Parsonage, Lancaster

House of Edward Shippen of Lancaster

THE STORY OF AN OLD TOWN
Mr. Shippen, with whom he walked home from
the "Dutch Presbyterian Meeting House,"
where they had listened to a discourse from
"one Fifer, minister of the Church of Eng
land." "Returned with Shippen," he wrote,
"who pressed me to stop at his house, and drink
a glass of beer of his own brewing."
A less peaceful Sunday than this of July
26th, when Mr. Marshall and Mr. Shippen
drank beer of the latter 's own brewing, was that
Sunday in December, 1763, when Mr. Shippen,
as chief burgess of Lancaster, was called out of
church in consequence of a sudden foray of the
Paxton boys, who suddenly appeared in the
yard of the Swan Inn, as Mr. Shippen isaid
in his report to the Governor, "upwards of a
hundred armed men from the post road rode
very fast into town, turned their horses into
Mr. Slough's and proceeded with the greatest
precipitation to the workhouse1, where they stove
in the door and killed all the Indians."
The premeditated murder, in cold blood, of
these captive Conestogas by men who belonged
to a civilized nation is one of the blackest pages
in the history of Pennsylvania.
After the death of Edward Shippen, the fine
old mansion on Orange Street passed into the
hands of his son Edward, the Chief Justice,
whose daughter Peggy was the wife of Bene
dict Arnold. The house was afterwards bought
55

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
by Joseph Shippen, another son of Edward of
Lancaster. This Joseph Shippen, who lived for a
time in the old Lancaster home, was an able man,
a public-spirited citizen, a soldier and, withal,
something of a gallant, as is proved by his
"Lines Written in an Assembly Room," cele
brating the charms of such Philadelphia belles
of his time as Sally Cox, Polly Franks, Kathe-
rine Inglis and the Chew sisters, both so fair
that the poet was at a loss to decide which was
the fairer :
With either Chew such beauties dwell,
Such charms of each are shared,
No critic's judging eye can tell
Which merits most regard.
That Mr. Shippen did not descant upon the
charms of Lancaster belles was probably due to
the fact that he came to live in this town late
in life, when his dancing and ball-going days
were over. After his death in 1810 the old home
passed into the hands of Edward Shippen Burd
and was later bought by the Honorable Walter
Franklin, Attorney-General of the Common
wealth and an honored citizen of Lancaster.
Judge Franklin was a nephew of Mr. Walter
Franklin, of New York, whose home at the
corner of Pearl and Cherry Streets was chosen,
in 1789, as the most suitable in the city
for the residence of President Washington,
and is spoken of in letters of the period as
se

THE STORY OF AN OLD TOWN
"the Palace," being looked upon as a very
elegant mansion.
After being in the Franklin family for
twenty-six years, the Shippen House became the
property of Mr. Emanuel C. Reigart, and was
the scene of much charming hospitality. If those
who have lived in and have been entertained in
this house could come back to their old-time
haunts, what surprises would be theirs, and
what would they think of this beautifully-
equipped home for working girls that occupies
the site of the old house, with its library, gym
nasium and swimming pool?
"And what," said Kathleen, "would the
pretty little Mennonite waitresses think of them?
How scared they would be to see old-fashioned
spirits stalking through this modern dining-
room!" "Do spirits never change their fashions?"
asked the Antiquary, laughing at Kath
leen's fancy.
"Never, and neither do the Mennonites and
Amish, as far as I can see. I asked one of the
pretty waitresses if she wore her coquettish lit
tle cap because it was becoming. She seemed
quite shocked at my levity, and said that she
had to wear it."
"Yes, they have to have the head covered,
and no one could object to the little cap which
sets off a pretty face; but the bonnets are not
57

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
so becoming, and I even knew of an engagement
being broken off on account of the bonnet. It
appears that the suitor had never seen the girl
in her black bonnet, and when he found that
there was no way of getting out of wearing it
he simply backed out. ' '
"Very ungallant," said Kathleen, "but the
bonnets are a mortification to the flesh. "
This being a market day, we had seen many
of the country people in the streets, in their dis
tinctive costume, and when we stopped at the
Christian Association for a cafeteria luncheon
we found a number of the Mennonite women
seated at table. Seeing them there enjoying a
good luncheon we felt very much as John Adams
felt about the Quakers in Philadelphia: glad
that there was one carnal vanity in which they
could indulge, that of good living.
On our way back to the Stevens House,
which, although it bears the name of Thaddeus
Stevens, is built upon the site of the old Krugh
house, we passed by the Lutheran Church, where
we stopped to read some tablets on the wall, in
honor of General Mifflin and President Whar
ton. The latter died in May, 1778, while Gov
ernor of Pennsylvania, and was buried inside
of the church in front of the pulpit and altar.
Although the death of the President of the
Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania
was a serious loss at this time and was deeply
58

THE STORY OF AN OLD TOWN
regretted, the funeral seems to have been a
rather convivial affair, as appears from a bill
of expenses recently found among some old
papers, in which the sums spent for fiddles used
at the funeral of President Wharton and for
many gallons of punch consumed at the same
are set forth at length.
The Episcopal Church, Saint James, was
closed in 1776, in consequence of the resigna
tion of the rector, Mr. Thomas Barton, which
probably accounts for the fact that President
Wharton was not buried in its beautiful
church yard.
Born in Ireland and educated in Dublin, Mr.
Barton was not in sympathy with Revolutionary
methods. He was an able and scholarly man,
and was greatly respected for his missionary
labors among the Indians. One of the diarists
of the time recorded : "Mr. Barton, the English
parson, sold his house to his son-in-law, Zant-
zinger, and left with his wife for Boston, and
from thence to England. He refused to take
the oath." Mr. Barton, however, did not reach
England, as he was taken ill in New York, died
there and was buried in the grounds of Saint
George's Chapel.
Mr. Barton's first wife was a sister of the
celebrated astronomer and mathematician,
David Rittenhouse; their son, Dr. Benjamin
Smith Barton, became a distinguished physician
59

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
and botanist; another son, William, it was who
designed the seal of the United States.
Before going back to our hotel, our cicerone
insisted that we should visit the tomb of Thad-
deus Stevens in Schreiner's Cemetery. Despite
his Vermont birth, Lancaster claims Thaddeus
Stevens as her own, and with all his varied
achievements perhaps Pennsylvania's heaviest
debt of gratitude to Thaddeus Stevens is the
work accomplished by him for the public schools
of this state. Some of Mr. Stevens' eloquent
and impassioned pleas for the free school sys
tem, delivered in the House at a critical period
in the history of education, have been preserved
and prove how highly this Vermont farmer's son
valued the educational advantages that had
come to him through the care and self-sacrifice
of a wise and devoted mother. In recognition
of Mr. Stevens' valuable service to the cause
of education, one of the finest buildings of the
Girls' High School is named Stevens Hall.
Other citizens of Lancaster who did much for
the cause of the public school and the high
school were Thomas H. Burrowes and James P.
Wickersham. Both of these men were indefati
gable in their labor for the cause of free educa
tion. The Wickersham School in Pittsburgh
was so named in Mr. Wickersham 's honor, and
another enduring monument is his exhaustive
and interesting work upon education in Penn-
60

THE STORY OF AN OLD TOWN
sylvania from the settlements of the Swedes
and Dutch on the Delaware to our own time.
We often passed by the beautiful grounds
and fine buildings of Franklin and Marshall
College ; and we could not think of leaving Lan
caster without stopping at the Juliana Library,
whose name had always interested me, and then
it was one of the earliest libraries in Pennsyl
vania, which was the leader in all the Colonies
in establishing circulating! libraries. Doctor
Franklin's came first, then the little library at
Hatboro, started in 1755, and the Juliana was
the third library.
Mr. Henderson says that the first name was
the Lancaster Library Company, but later, when
a charter was granted by Governor James Ham
ilton, in 1763, the name given was the Juliana
Library. No reason for this change of title has
been given, and no record of a considerable do
nation in money or in books by the lady after
whom the library was named has been found,
Lady Juliana Penn, wife of Thomas Penn, one
of the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania.
"Perhaps," said Kathleen, "the name Juli
ana was given in the hope of eliciting substan
tial aid from the noble godmother."
"Probably, but we found no mention of any
considerable donation from the high-born
lady, ' ' said Mr. Henderson. ' ' The earliest sub
scribers, whose names were appended to the
61

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
constitution and by-laws, are those of Thomas
Barton, rector of St. John's Church; Samuel
and Joseph Boude, William Atlee, Robert Ful
ton, father of the inventor; Adam Kuhn, Jr.,
Edward Shippen, William Bauseman and
George Ross, the signer, whose house was on
King Street."
Another morning we made our way to Saint
James Church, which stands on a shaded cor
ner of Onangie Street. This interesting old
building dates back to days long before the
Revolution. James Hamilton, who owned a
large tract of land in Lancaster, gave three
town lots to this parish in 1744, and the stone
church was completed in 1753. Thomas Cook
son and John Postlethwaite, who kept his
famous tavern on the great Conestoga road,
were wardens of St. James some years before
the building was finished. In 1753 it still lacked
a steeple, and we find, as in the case of the par
ishioners of Christ Church, Philadelphia, that
there seem to have existed no conscientious
scruples against a lottery for the benefit of the
church, and in 1761 it was recorded that the
drawings of the lottery were reported finished,
and a little later that the graveyard was "en
closed with a stone wall covered with cedar
shingles." This was while the Rev. Thomas
Barton was rector of the church.
Interesting as the building is, with its tablets
62

THE STORY OF AN OLD TOWN
and handsome memorial windows, we were more
inclined to wander through the. old graveyard
under the elms and blooming catalpas on this
June day. Here sleep many of the sons and
daughters of old Lancaster. Franklins, Cole-
mans, Atlees, Grubbs, Sloughs, Slaymakers,
Hands and Clarksons, and one of the oldest
tombstones in the churchyard is that of Thomas
Cookson,whoseemstohave been fervent in spirit
as well as diligent in business, as he was one of
the chief supporters of the old church. Here also
is the grave of William Augustus Atlee,who held
many important positions in Lancaster and in
1791 was appointed Judge of the Court of Penn
sylvania, which seems to have been composed of
the counties of Chester, Lancaster, York and
Dauphin. A grandson of Judge Atlee, Dr. John
Light Atlee, widely known in his day as one of
the great physicians and surgeons of Pennsyl
vania, is buried here, and here under pyramidal
monuments rest the Honorable Jasper Yeates
and his wife, Sarah Burd Yeates. Of this
learned jurist, Mr. William F. Woerner, the
chronicler of the history and associations of this
old churchyard says: "As a judge, he com
manded the highest respect and deference; his
decisions from the Bench were clear and de
cisive, and indicated a profound knowledge of
the Constitution and laws of the country. In
his social relations he was most kind, cheerful
5 63

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
and of a very affectionate disposition. But,
better than all, he was a thorough Christian
gentleman." Here also near the church that
they served as rectors rest the mortal remains
of the Rev. Joseph Clarkson and Bishop Sam
uel Bowman, whose wife was the daughter of
Doctor Clarkson. Under the shadow of the
church are the tombs of the Hon. Robert Cole
man and his wife, and near by those of his two
daughters, Anne and Sarah.
The unhappy love affairs of these two fair
girls are still discussed with interest by old
Lancastrians, as the world loves a mystery
and a mystery has always surrounded these ro
mances. The interest in the breaking of the
engagement between Anne Coleman and James
Buchanan was enhanced by subsequent events in
his career. The story has often been told, and
with many variations, but the simple and un
adorned tale is that when a young man Mr.
Buchanan became engaged to Anne C. Coleman,
a daughter of the Hon. Robert Coleman. Miss
Coleman is described by those who knew her as
beautiful and singularly attractive, and the
course of true love seemed to be running
smoothly, as Mr. Coleman had given his con
sent to the marriage, when the young lady sud
denly broke her engagement, for what reason
the world has never known. All that the little
world of Lancaster knew was that Mr. Buchanan
64

THE STORY OF AN OLD TOWN
received a note while in court, which he read,
looked very much troubled and left the court
room soon after. A few days later Miss Cole
man died while visiting a friend in Philadel
phia. Mr. Buchanan, in writing to Mr. Cole
man, said, ' ' You have lost a dear, dear daughter.
I have lost the only earthly object of my affec
tions, without whom life now presents to me a
dreary blank." Mr. Buchanan was faithful to
the memory of his early love as he never mar
ried, and at Wheatland, and in Washington, his
house was presided over by his beautiful and
accomplished niece, Miss Harriet Lane, who is
still remembered in Lancaster. After a varied
and interesting experience, at home and abroad,
Miss Lane married Henry E. Johnston, of Bal
timore. Mr. Buchanan entirely approved of his
niece's choice, and in writing to her gave her a
warning that shows how deeply his own un
happy experience had impressed itself upon his
mind: "Beware of unreasonable delays in the
performance of the ceremony, lest they may
be attributed to an improper motive."
Sarah Coleman's experience was equally un
happy, but less mysterious than that of her
sister. She was engaged to the Reverend Wil
liam Augustus Muhlenberg who was co-rector
of St. James Parish for some years. "During
his residence here," says Mr. William F. Woer-
ner, "he did much to further the cause of edu-
65

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
cation. He also instituted an evening service
in the church, which so angered the father of
his beloved Sarah that it 'prevented him from
attaining the dearest object of his heart.'
Shortly after the episode that was so painful to
him, he tendered his resignation. He was pre
vailed upon to reconsider it, but this he refused.
It is said that when Muhlenberg departed from
Lancaster he left behind him the grave of all his
earthly hopes, and that when he did return to
visit the first and last place to which he turned
his steps was to the grave in Saint James
churchyard. He never visited it without
taking with him a spray of the sweetbrier
which grew there. He, like James Buchanan,
never married."
This is one story; another and even more
romantic tale is that Mr. Muhlenberg threw into
the grave of the beloved Sarah Coleman the
engagement ring1 and a copy of his famous
hymn, "I Would Not Live Alway," the pathetic
lines of which were the outcome of his sorrow.
As we left the shaded churchyard, with its beau
tiful trees and its many associations, we realized
that much romance as well as history was buried
here — romances of real life more thrilling and
pathetic than those to be found between the
covers of novels.
Strolling about the old parts of the town,
we remarked upon the good taste of the Lan-
66

THE STORY OF AN OLD TOWN
castrians in retaining suchinteresting names for
the streets as King and Queen, Orange, Duke and
Prince, to which our Antiquary, who had kindly
offered to guide us to some of the old houses,
said: "Yes, that was wise; but with the abol
ishing of the old inns of which there were at one
time as many as fifty-three, we have lost such
picturesque names as 'The Indian Queen,'
'Grape,' 'Conestoga Waggon,' 'Doctor Frank
lin,' 'Golden Fleece,' and 'Earl of Chatham.'
By the way, this latter well-painted sign still
preserved, is a good example of the early work
of Jacob Eichholtz, one of our best Lancaster
artists. The Bull's Head, which once stood at
the corner of East King and Christian Streets,
was kept by the artist's mother, Catharine Eich
holtz, whose license gave her permission 'to
sell rum by the small.' So, quite naturally,
Jacob Eichholtz began by painting tavern
signs, although he afterwards painted portraits
of many of the most distinguished men of
his time."
"Where did he learn his art?" I asked.
"When Sully was in Lancaster, in 1808,
painting Governor Snyder, he gave Eichholtz
some instruction in painting. In view of the
celebrity gained by Eichholtz later, Sully's criti
cisms seem ungenerous. He said, 'Eichholtz
was then employing all his leisure hours, stolen
from the manufacture of tea-kettles and coffee
67

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
pans, in painting. His attempts were hideous.
He kindly offered me the use of his painting
room, which I gladly accepted, and gave him
during my stay in Lancaster all the information
I could impart. When I saw his portraits a few
years afterwards (in the interim he had visited
and copied Stuart), I was much surprised and
gratified. I have no doubt that Eichholtz would
have made a first-rate painter had he begun
early in life, with the usual advantages. ' ' '
The influence of Gilbert Stuart upon the
style of Eichholtz is much more marked than
that of Sully, and those who had an opportunity
of seeing a collection of paintings by Lancaster
artists, held in 1912, were impressed by the ex
cellence of the work of Eichholtz as well as by
his great industry. Here were portraits of
General John Steele, James Buchanan, William
Jenkins, of Thaddeus Stevens, and of such other
noted citizens as the Franklins, Yeates, Stein-
mans, Frazers, Reigarts, Mayers, and Jacobs.
Mr. Hensel says that it was only when his
fellow-townsman, "the late Hon. Thomas H.
Burrowes, became conspicuous in state politics
and the Secretary of the Commonwealth under
Governor Ritner, that Eichholtz got his right
place as painter at 'the Republican Court' in
Harrisburg." Portraits by Eichholtz are in
many galleries and museums to-day, and are
much prized heirlooms in numerous private
69

THE STORY OF AN OLD TOWN
families. In view of his limited opportunities,
the success of this Lancaster boy, who began
life as a coppersmith, seems very remarkable.
This old town was the home of other artists,
among them of Robert Fulton, whose fame as
an inventor quite eclipsed his work as an artist.
Some afternoon we shall motor down to his
birthplace near Quarryville.
At the corner of Prince Street, our
Antiquary pointed out to us the Moravian
graveyard, telling us that many Moravians
settled here and in Lititz in the eighteenth
century, among them such leading families
as the Steinmans.
"In this cemetery," he said, "are buried
Colonel William Henry and his wife. You may
remember that he is one of several claimants
to the honor of having made the first practical
steamboat. However that may be, two other
Pennsylvanians worked upon this invention,
and William Henry seems to have received his
first idea of the propelling of boats by steam
from the inventions of Watt when in England
in 1760. John Fitch, who made his experiments
on the Neshaminy over in Bucks County, and
Robert Fulton, when a lad, visited William
Henry's home and both doubtlessowesomethmg
of value to his experiments." It is interesting,
however, to realize that the first workable
steamboat came from Pennsylvania, even if
69

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
the brains of three of her sons were engaged in
its evolution. Colonel Henry was a distinguished man and
a useful citizen, quite aside from his work on
the steamboat, as he held many important posi-
tions,was Armorer for the Braddock and Forbes
expeditions, member of Assembly and Treas
urer of Lancaster County from 1777 until his
death in 1786, when his wife succeeded him in
this responsible office. David Rittenhouse was
Treasurer of Pennsylvania at this time, and
many letters, still preserved, prove the confi
dence reposed by him in this able woman treas
urer. Indeed, all who knew her spoke of Mrs.
William Henry as a woman of great ability.
An amusing little story is told of her first
meeting with her future husband, when she was
Miss Ann Wood, at a tea-party given at his
house by his sister, Mrs. Mary Bickman, to
which Ann and two other girls were invited.
Mrs. Bickman, who evidently had in mind her
brother's settling for life, had a broom placed
across the hall through which the three girls
would pass on their way from the garden to the
tea-table. When summoned to tea, the first
damsel, when she reached the broom, pushed it
aside; the second stepped over it; but the third,
wise and orderly Ann Wood, picked it up and set
it in its place.
Young Henry, believing that order was
70

THE STORY OF AN OLD TOWN
earth's as well as heaven's first law, made up
his mind, then and there, to marry Ann Wood,
which he did soon after. We may well believe
that the mothers of old Lancaster pointed many
a moral with the story of Ann Wood and the
fateful broom.
From Prince Street we made our way to
Chestnut Street and to the site of the old hos
telry long known as the Cadwell House,
now the Brunswick, from whose balcony
three Presidents of the United States have
spoken, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln and
Theodore Roosevelt.
To Mr. J. M. W. Geist, of the Daily Evening
Express, we are indebted for an account of Mr.
Lincoln's visit to Lancaster, on the 22nd of
February, 1861.
"A booming of cannon welcomed Mr. Lincoln
and his party to Lancaster and announced his
approach. He took a look at the environs from
the outside platform as the car crossed
the Conestoga.
"Though in mid- winter, the day of Mr. Lin
coln's arrival was perfect as to weather of win
ter sunshine; and the people who thronged the
station, Chestnut and North Queen Streets, suf
fered no discomfort while they waited for hours.
Hundreds of Lancastrians ha'd gone to Harris-
burg for the ceremonies there, including the
local military, the Fencibles and the Jones ar-
71

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
tillery of Safe Harbor, the American and Union
Fire Companies, 'with banners, bands and
men.' Every square foot of space surrounding
the Cadwell House was taken up with men and
women on their feet. The front windows were
crowded, rooms having been engaged for days
in advance. The Jackson Rifles, under Captain
H. A. Hambright, policed the situation, and
when Colonel Dickey escorted Mr. Lincoln to the
balcony, with Big Pete Fordney as bodyguard,
a broad lane was opened to let them pass
through the crowd to the Cadwell House. Here
from the balcony Mr. Lincoln spoke briefly, as
was his wont; indeed, his time was limited to a
few minutes, and he added with his usual wis
dom, 'The more a man speaks in these days,
the less he is understood. As Solomon says,
there is a time for all things, and the present
is a time for silence. ' In a few days, he said,
the time would be here for him to speak officially,
and he would then endeavor to speak plainly in
regard to the Constitution and the liberties of
the American people. Until he should so speak,
he deemed it unnecessary to say more. He
would again greet his friends most heartily, and
at the same time bid them farewell.
"So carefully was the schedule time observed
that the arrival and departure of Mr. Lincoln
seemed to those present like the shifting scenes
of a panorama to be remembered like a dream.
72

THE STORY OF AN OLD TOWN
Before leaving this region, Mr. Lincoln ex
pressed a desire to see the home of his prede
cessor in office, and Wheatland, the home of Mr.
Buchanan, was pointed out to him, this side of
Dillersville. At Mount Joy, Brady, the axe-
maker, got special recognition, because Mr. Lin
coln knew his cutlery." In Elizabethtown and
Middletown enthusiastic crowds cheered the
train, and so his party sped on to Harrisburg,
where another warm welcome awaited them.
Those who are able to recall incidents of these
visits of the President-elect to Philadelphia,
Lancaster, Harrisburg and other towns on the
route must regard them in the retrospect as the
opening scenes of a great drama, which was later
enacted before them, a drama destined to end in
that woeful tragedy at Ford's Theatre in Wash
ington on the evening of April 14, 1865.

IV
LANCASTER AND LEBANON TOWNS
Lancaster is a good place to go from as well
as to come to, as there are so many points of
interest within a radius of thirty miles which
beckon to us across good roads and by several
trolley lines.
One afternoon we devoted to a trip to
Quarryville and the Fulton House, in Fulton
Township. We had seen the house of the elder
Robert Fulton, on Centre Square, and were now
in quest of the house in which Robert, the in
ventor, was born. Our way was by the old
Baltimore road, through a rich corn- and to
bacco-growing country. Our Antiquary, Mr.
Henderson, was with us and gave us interesting
details of the reunion at the Fulton House in
August, 1907, to celebrate the successful trip of
Robert Fulton's Clermont on the Hudson River
a hundred years earlier. Although he had ac
companied the delegation from the Historical
Society of Lancaster that had planned this cen
tennial celebration, Mr. Henderson was not
quite sure as to the best road to take from
Quarryville, so we stopped at this little town
to make inquiries, and in the hope of securing
a photograph of the Fulton House. We were
74

LANCASTER AND LEBANON TOWNS
directed to the barber of the town, who was said
to have taken a photograph of the home on the
day of the celebration. The barber, smiling and
rosy-cheeked, left his client unshaven and un
shorn, while he explained that he could not lay
his hands on his photograph, but that we might
find one at the newspaper office. We then mo
tored to the office of the Sun, but not meeting
with success there we were obbged to depend
upon Kathleen's kodak, a slim dependence, she
said, as the sky was overcast and she was not
an expert in time exposures.
We reached the goal of our quest soon after,
as the Fulton House is only seven miles from
Quarryville and about twenty miles south of
Lancaster. The house stands on the right-hand
side of the road ; we knew it by the bronze tablet
on the front and by the huge buttonwood tree
that overshadows it on one side. The original
stone building has been added to, but the tablet
on which are recorded Robert Fulton's services
to his country and to the world distinguishes the
old building from later additions.
We were cordially received by Mr. Joseph
Swift and his family, the owners of the house,
who showed us some of the rooms. In the sec
ond-floor room over the parlor Robert was born
in November, 1765. A year after his birth his
father sold the house and surrounding land to
Joseph Swift, of Philadelphia, and removed
with his family to Lancaster. 75

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
We were interested to hear that the descend
ants of the Joseph Swift who bought this old
house from the elder Fulton are still living here.
The present owner, another Joseph Swift, in
troduced us to several members of his family,
among them a young girl, the fifth in descent
from the Joseph Swift who first come to the
Fulton House.
As we crossed the Conowingo and motored
homeward, after securing as good a photograph
as could be had between showers, we had a curi
ous sensation of having taken a trip into the
eighteenth century, so unchanged is this tiny
village, with its. post-office, its country store and
the old stone house, which gives to it its sole
claim to distinction. August, 1907, must have
been a gala day in Little Britain Township,
when a large company from the surrounding
country, from Lancaster and nearby towns, and
from New York and other cities equally remote,
came here to honor the memory of the great
genius who was born in this little stone house.
We next hear of Fulton, at the age of eight,
as a pupil at the school of Caleb Johnson, a
Quaker pedagogue, his widowed mother pre
viously having taught him to read. The guid
ance of this bright boy up the steep path of
learning could not have been an unalloyed pleas
ure, as he sometimes came to his classes with
poorly prepared lessons, for which he excused
76

Mr. John Wilkes Kittera Mrs, John Wilkes Kittera
From Miniatures by Robert Fulton
Owned by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania

LANCASTER AND LEBANON TOWNS
himself by saying that his head "was so full of
original ideas that there was no vacant chamber
in it for the storing away of the contents of
dusty books. ' ' One may well imagine the effect
of this speech upon the teacher; but some meas
ure of egotism may be pardoned on the part of
a boy who at nine made himself an excellent
pencil out of a bit of lead, who at thirteen in
vented a skyrocket for the celebration of the
Fourth of July, 1778, and a year later operated
a fishing boat, with paddle wheels, on the Cono-
wingo, near his birthplace, whither he seems to
have returned, from time to time, to visit the
Swift family. At seventeen Fulton was paint
ing portraits and miniatures in his own town and
in Philadelphia, and quite successfully, as ap
pears from some charming miniatures now in
art galleries and in private hands. Among Ful
ton's miniatures are those of Mr. and Mrs. John
Wilkes Kittera, Margaret and Clementina Ross,
Samuel Beach, Mrs. David Hayfield Conyng-
ham, and of his lifelong friend, the Honorable
Joel Barlow, author of "The Columbiad."
Fulton's story reads like a romance, and yet,
as Mr. Henderson reminds us, it is a story of
hard work and great perseverance, as well as of
the triumphs of genius. At twenty-one Fulton
had accumulated enough money from his paint
ing to buy a house and farm in Washington
County, Pennsylvania, in which he established
77

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
his mother and sisters before sailing for Eng
land to study under Benjamin West.
Although quite successful as an artist, Rob
ert Fulton was first, last and always an inventor,
and while in England he spent more than a year
in Birmingham, where he improved his knowl
edge of mechanics in the great workshops of
that city. Mr. Henderson says that although
Fulton's work on the steamboat has been given
full recognition, perhaps even more than his
share of credit in this line having been accorded
him, as his success was the result of a practical
application of principles discovered by such pre
decessors as Newcomen, Watts, Jouffroy and
Symington abroad, and William Henry and
John Fitch in Pennsylvania, for some reason
full recognition has not been given him for his
work on the submarine, or plunger, as he called
it. In this plunger he sank vessels on the coast
of France and on the Thames; it was, in fact,
the submarine of to-day, less many improve
ments made by Mr. Simon Lake and others. It
should, however, be said to Robert Fulton's
credit that his vision for the submarine, like that
of Mr. Lake, was for the protection of our coast.
In common with many inventors, Fulton pos
sessed a statesman-like grasp of public affairs,
and his most important inventions were planned
to meet an increasing need among the nations
of the earth. With prophetic vision, he fore-
78

LANCASTER AND LEBANON TOWNS
saw what steam navigation would mean to the
world, and looking still further into the future,
he realized that with the increase of commercial
exchange between the nations there would arise
sharp competition, rivalries and jealousies,
which would end in war sooner or later, and that
with its extended seaboard the United States
would be greatly in need of some adequate coast
protection, hence his hopes for his submarine,
which was designed, as he said, "to place our
harbours and coast beyond the power of foreign
insults. ' ' Such insults and some casualties hav
ing come to our shores in the last years, we
realize the wisdom and foresight of this Penn
sylvania inventor.
"Rather odd," said Mr. Henderson, after
speaking of Fulton's dream of his submarine,
"that someone motoring through Pennsylvania,
a few years since, should have remarked that
'nothing had ever been invented in this state.'
he evidently left Franklin out of the count
and Godfrey and Hopkinson, to say nothing of
Evans, Fitch, Henry and many more."
"If that remark had been made in Connecti
cut or Massachusetts about either of those
states, the man who made it would have been
tarred and feathered!" said Kathleen, rousing
up from a brown study.
"We are more peaceful in our methods here
in Pennsylvania, Mrs. Davis, having come of
6 79

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
Quakers, Mennonites, Amish, Dunkers and other
non-resisting peoples, and the fact that some
man made this incorrect statement does not take
away from the credit of Pennsylvania."
"That is a very philosophical way of look
ing at it," said Kathleen; "but I like people to
have credit for what they do, and your story,
Mr. Henderson, has given me another reason
for spreading abroad every good thing that I
hear about Pennsylvania."
By this time we had reached Lancaster and
were motoring around the Square to have an
other look at the house where the elder Fulton
had his tailor shop and where our Pennsylvania
inventor spent his early years.
Our next jaunt was to Ephrata and Lititz,
and as we hoped to include a visit to the mines
at Cornwall and to some old towns in Lebanon
County, we set forth in the morning.
Although the town of Ephrata is sufficiently
ancient to be interesting, and can still boast some
of the houses of the original German and Swiss
settlers, the object of our pilgrimage was
not the prosperous modern town, with its large
shops and hotels, but the little old village once
known as "Kloster" or Dunkerstown, This
community of Seventh-Day Baptists, on the
south bank of the Cocalico Creek, the Serpents
Den of the Delawares, was established about
1732 by John Conrad Beissel, a baker from
80

LANCASTER AND LEBANON TOWNS
Eberbach, Germany. Beissel had embraced the
doctrines of Alexander Mack, who advocated
celibacy and the observance of the seventh day
of the week instead of the first, which latter was
thedistinguishingfeature of the settlement. The
village is quaint and interesting, with its small
frame houses. The Saal and Sisters' House
are picturesque and individual, and with their
high-pitched red roofs and small windows, made
us think of old buildings in Nuremburg and
other ancient Bavarian towns. Bethania, the
Brothers' House, has been removed; but we
were taken through Saron, the Sisters' House,
and, as it chanced, by a young girl, a fine
husky specimen.
"Fasting has evidently not been her portion
here below," whispered Kathleen, as our cice
rone with difficulty passed sidewise through the
straight and narrow doorway, only sixteen and
a half inches wide, the widest being only eighteen
inches wide. Mr. Henderson was so much
amused over this performance, and by the con
trast between Kathleen's dainty slenderness
and the young girl's generous proportions that
he was obliged to beat a hasty retreat to the
window, where he stood with his back to us gaz
ing out upon the landscape. He is really a very
human sort of Antiquarian, and we shall miss
him when our journeys take us farther afield ;
at least, I shall miss him; Kathleen is very non-
si

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
committal on the subject of Mr. Henderson.
One day she is very gracious to him, and again
quite the reverse ; but, as our old coachman used
to say, "Widders is unsartin' like and hard to
please." Through the little narrow doorway
we passed into one of the rooms of the sisters ;
each one had a tiny room, with a narrow wooden
bench for a bed and a block of wood for a pillow.
We all exclaimed over the discomfort of such
a bed, and asked why the sisters were treated
so badly. ' ' So they wouldn 't be borne to heaven
on flowery beds of ease," replied our conduc
tress, as if repeating a lesson learned by heart.
There was no furniture in this small room,
only a few hooks for clothes and a little wall
cabinet for a Bible, hymn-book and other per
sonal possessions.
"No flowery beds of ease here," exclaimed
Kathleen. "It must have been a living death;
a convent seems luxurious in comparison with
this, and then there is some romance and beauty
about the Catholic religion and the life of a
nun. Were these sisters allowed to marry?"
Our conductress did not know, and Mr. Hen
derson said that the Society did not encourage
matrimony in early times ; but if any of the mem
bers wished to marry, the newly married couple
was allowed to occupy a cottage for two years,
no longer, and on leaving the settlement the
husband and wife were compelled to sign a re-
82

LANCASTER AND LEBANON TOWNS
lease of all their interests in the estate, receiv
ing for themselves five pounds each.
Not an encouragement to either matrimony
or riotous living ; but those were days of great
simplicity, and this was an order in which sim
ple living was considered a religious duty. Our
conductress told us that the brothers and sisters
went without shoes, except in extremely cold
weather, ate no meat, and had no fire except in
the assembly rooms. One of these rooms was
called the writing room, and was set apart for
the execution of ornamental pen work, of which
examples are still to be found on the walls of
some of the sisters' rooms. The sisters Anas-
tasia, Iphigenia and Zenobia excelled in this
ornamental writing. We were glad to think that
these poor ' ' shut-ins ' ' had even this mild amuse
ment to vary the monotony of their cheerless
lives. Mr. Henderson reminded us that music
was assiduously cultivated, and the singing
under Beissel, whose monastic name was Father
Freidsam, drew many visitors to Ephrata at
one time.
"I have no doubt that it was very mournful
music," said Kathleen.
"Yes, a tourist, in describing it in a letter
to Governor John Penn, spoke of the small,
sweet, shrill voices of the women which thrilled
him to the very soul. This, with their pale faces
and picturesque white clothing, made these
83

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
singers appear like ghosts, and he himself felt
as if he were in the world of spirits, and the ob
jects before him ethereal."
The members of the community had other
outlets for their energies, for in addition to their
agricultural pursuits, excellent paper was made
at Ephrata, and a printing press was early
established here. Many of their books, Mr.
Henderson told us, had been lost; but some fine
examples are to be found in Philadelphia among
the treasures of the Historical Society of Penn
sylvania, and in Allentown, where there is a
Martyr Book, a beautiful example of Ephrata
printing, dated 1748, the largest book printed in
Pennsylvania up to that time. So much paper-
making and printing were done here that, before
the battle of Germantown, three wagon-loads
of books, in sheets, were pressed and taken away
for cartridges. In addition to this involuntary
service, the peace-loving community at Ephrata
rendered active service to the country during
the Revolution, as one of their buildings was
turned into a hospital, and here, after the battle
of Brandywine, over four hundred soldiers were
cared for by the good sisters. Mr, Rupp says
that these wounded soldiers were attended by
Doctors Yerkel, Scott and Harrison,1 and we
may be sure that they were cared for with great
tenderness by the good sisters. The arrival of
1 " History of Lancaster and York Counties," by I. Daniel
Rupp. 84

LANCASTER AND LEBANON TOWNS
these young soldiers, sad as was the case of
many of them, must have proved a godsend to
the sisters, as it brought a new interest into
their lives and supplied an outlet for the moth
erly instinct that is to be found in the heart of
every good woman.
We were not tempted to linger long in the
Sisters ' House, for even on this June day there
was a chill dampness in the rooms, and we were
glad to leave them and go out into the sunshine
of the little old graveyard, which, Kathleen said,
seemed cheerful by comparison, for here, at
least, the troubles of the good sisters ended.
Upon the tombstones we found a number of old
Lancaster County names, and one lot which
interested us was marked "For Fahnestock
Tribe," the Fahnestocks being, like Beissel, the
Eckerlins, Ludwig Hacker and Peter Miller, in
fluential and honored members of the com
munity. Peter Miller was a cultivated man and
so good a linguist that he translated the Dec
laration of Independence into seven languages.
He was well known outside of the community,
and was visited by David Rittenhouse, Count
Zinzendorf and other distinguished men, native
and foreign. This same Peter Miller even had
a poem dedicated to him by a young Philadel
phia poet, which Mr. Henderson read to us as
we sped away from Ephrata toward Lititz.
One verse of the rather lengthy effusion
85

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
appealed to us strongly in which the name
less writer exclaimed:
In Ephrata's deep gloom you fix your seat,
And seek Religion in the dark retreat;
In sable weeds you dress the heav'n-born maid,
And place her pensive in the lonely shade;
Recluse, unsocial, you, your hours employ,
And fearful, banish every harmless joy.
A somber picture was this of life at Ephrata,
but at the best it could not have been very cheer
ful, and we were glad to speed away to the pleas
ant little town of Lititz, where a warm welcome
awaited us from our friends. After a delightful
luncheon in the dining-room of Linden Hall,
which is still called by older residents the Young
Ladies ' Seminary, we set forth, with our hosts,
to see the town and learn from them something
of its history. Our first visit was, of course, to
the large square on which are the Brethren's
and Sisters' Houses, separated by the width of
the square, with the ancient church between
them. The Sisters ' House is now a part of the
Linden Hall Seminary. These fine buildings
were put up by Claus Coeller, a master-car
penter, who lived to an advanced age and always
contemplated his work with pride. The parson
age, once the Gemeinhaus, is also on this central
square, which with its green grass and flowers
adds so much to the beauty of this old-time vil
lage, whose founding, we were told, was the
result of a visit here of Count Nicholas Zinzen-
86

LANCASTER AND LEBANON TOWNS
dorf in 1742. The missionary tour in Pennsyl
vania of this Saxon nobleman, the patron of the
renewed church of the United Brethren, or
Moravians,is thus spoken of by a local historian :
"Count Zinzendorf, being persecuted in Sax
ony by such as disliked his attempts to form
Christian communities which were not to be gov
erned by the established church government of
that kingdom, directed his attention and Chris
tian eye to Pennsylvania, where at a previous
period a great number of German Separatists
had emigrated."
Count Zinzendorf, after visiting Bethlehem,
made a tour through Berks and Lancaster
Counties, preaching in many places. It is said
that the object of this journey, which was no
light undertaking in days when stage-coaches
and saddle-horses were the only means of trans
portation, was for the purpose of drawing to
gether under beliefs that he considered vital the
various religious sects scattered all over this
part of Pennsylvania. That Count Zinzendorf
did not meet with signal success in this laud
able undertaking may be inferred from the num
ber of religious sects still to be found in Lan
caster and the adjoining counties. He did, how
ever, establish churches in Lancaster and Lititz,
and around the latter soon grew up Moravian
schools for girls and boys. That for boys, now
discontinued, was for many years conducted
87

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
under the able principalship of John Beck,
father of the distinguished James M. Beck,
sometime Assistant Attorney-General of the
United States.
Early members of the Moravian community
at Lititz were Christian Alexander Steinman
and his wife, who emigrated from Dresden, Sax
ony, to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and after
wards removed to Lititz. Mr. Steinman, who
was appointed to oversee workmen who were
to build the saw and grist mill near the town
in the stream issuing from the great Lititz
Spring, is the ancestor of the influential Stein
man family of Lancaster. The late Mr. Andrew
J. Steinman, a well-known lawyer and for years
editor of the Intelligencer, and Mr. George M.
Steinman, president of the Lancaster County
Historical Society, were distinguished members
of this family and honored citizens of Lancaster.
This community at Lititz, like that at
Ephrata, turned one of its houses, that of the
Single Brethren, into a hospital for the recep
tion of wounded and ill soldiers during the
Revolution. Letters are still preserved among
the archives which one of the physicians in
attendance wrote to the good sisters after the
hospital had removed from Lititz.
Doctor Brown, writing from the Yellow
Springs, Pennsylvania, to Sister Betty Langly,
who had journeyed all the way from Bethlehem
88

LANCASTER AND LEBANON TOWNS
to help in the work of nursing the soldiers, said :
"I congratulate you and all the members of
your peaceful society on the prospect we now
have of the termination of war and bloodshed
in this country, and that we shall soon be re
stored again to that tranquillity and domestic
paradise which were enjoyed in this country
in its infancy before it had become considerable
and wealthy enough to attract the attention or
excite the avarice or ambition of tyrannical
princes and oppressive luxurious and corrupted
ministers of state."
To Sister Polly Penry, Doctor Brown wrote :
"I give you joy of having your place restored
again to its primitive quietness by the removal
of so heterogeneous and disorderly set of guests
as our soldiery are to the people of your Society,
and I hope you will never be disturbed in like
manner again."2 Very courteous letters are
these and doubtless sincere; but I dare say the
sisters missed these boys upon whom they lav
ished their kindness, when the hospital was re
moved from Lititz.
On our way toward Lebanon and the Corn
wall mines, we passed through the ancient bor
ough of Manheim laid out by Henry William
Stiegel in 1762. Manheim seemed to us rich in
churches of various denominations, and we
were not surprised at this when we learned
* " A Century of Moravian Sisters," by Elisabeth Lehman
Myers. 89

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
how generous its proprietor was in giving
land for religious and philanthropic uses.
It is said that he gave the lot upon which
the Evangelical Lutheran Church was built,
only exacting the picturesque rental of a red
rose to be paid yearly on demand. This
custom and also the name of the town was
brought from older lands. In speaking of this
foreign custom of the giving of a red rose, in
lieu of rent, Mrs. M. W. Robinson says that a
certain John Page, gentleman of Austin Pryors,
London, having been granted a tract of land in
the Conestoga by Thomas and Richard Penn,
empowered his attorneys to sell portions of the
said tract to several persons for the rental of
"one red rose to be paid on the 23rd of each
June, every year and forever." This was in
1739, forty years before the granting of the
same privileges by Baron Stiegel.
Whatever may have been the faults and fail
ings of this man in practical affairs, his gener
osity was unbounded. In speaking of his brief,
brilliant career as an ironmaster, Mrs. James
M. Longacre says: "He for years supplied his
simple country neighbors with dazzling
glimpses of the pride of life ; and it is small won
der that they should consider him an amazing
and marvelous creature, of a kind not usually
abounding among Pennsylvania Germans. . . .
Extravagant, kindly and sanguine, Stiegel 's life
90

LANCASTER AND LEBANON TOWNS
for some years now was outwardly prosperous,
and his period of ostentatious living came to its
height. He provided his German workmen
with musical instruments, which, with the inborn
musical talent of the race, they used with skill
and pleasure."3
Mr. Henderson related to us one of the many
stories told about Stiegel, which explains the
use to which the musical instruments were put
by the music-loving ironmaster. It is said that
a watchman was stationed in the cupola on the
top of his house at the corner of High and
Prussian Streets, whose business it was to watch
for the Baron's return from Elizabeth Furnace,
and when he was seen approaching the town in
his coach and four to fire a salute. Immedi
ately, upon hearing the sound of the cannon,
the people flocked to the house, and a band of
music, made up from the employes of the fac
tory, proceeded to the house-top, and the Baron
made his entrance into the town amidst the
firing of cannon, the sound of music and the
cheers of the inhabitants.*
Being a conscientious historian, Mr. Hender
son does not vouch for the truth of this story
in all of its picturesque details ; but we hope it
is true, as it is pleasant to think of this gen
erous and kindly man entering the town which
he had founded in the style and state that he
3 " Forges and Furnaces in the Province of Pennsylvania/'
4 Ellis and Evans, " History of Lancaster County, p. 607.
91

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
enjoyed and to the sound of the music that he
loved, as misfortunes overtook him early and the
years of happiness and prosperity were brief
as they were brilliant. In consequence of
Stiegel 's financial difficulties, he was obliged to
part with his share of Elizabeth Furnace and
other properties, the former to Daniel Benezet,
who afterwards sold it to Robert Coleman.
Stiegel 's Manheim residence passed through
various hands, having been bought first by
Michael Diffenderfer and afterwards by Wil
liam Bauseman, James Jenkins and Henry
Arndt. Baron Stiegel also owned a country
home at Elizabeth Furnace, which afterwards
became the residence of Robert Coleman, and it
was in this house at Elizabeth Furnace that he
entertained General Washington.
Soon after leaving Manheim, . a beautiful
gateway leading into spacious and well-wooded
grounds attracted us, and suddenly realizing
that we were at the entrance to Mount Hope,
we turned into the drive and motored up to the
house under the overarching trees. It was a
great pleasure to see the old mansion again and
to be welcomed by its hospitable chatelaine.
The house was built by Henry Bates Grubb, a
direct descendant of John Grubb, who came to
Grubb 's Landing in 1669, and a great-grandson
of Peter Grubb, who discovered the great iron
mines at Cornwall. This house, surrounded by
92

Entrance to Mount Hope Mansion, Country Home or the'Grubb Family for over One Hundred Year

LANCASTER AND LEBANON TOWNS
many acres, is the country home of the great-
great-granddaughter of the first Peter Grubb,
Miss Daisy E. B. Grubb, who loves every stone
in the old mansion and exercises here its tradi
tional hospitality. After a stroll through the
garden with its famous high boxwood borders,
and a cheering cup of tea on the porch, we set
forth again for Lebanon, once called Steitztown,
after its founder. Some settlements were made
here as early as 1723 ; but the town was not regu
larly laid out until 1759.
Of the place itself, with its interesting
churches and other buildings, we had time to
see little; or of the country surrounding it, in
which members of the Coleman family have
their beautiful homes, and after motoring
through its principal street we sped away to the
"ore hills," as they are called by many writers
of the time, a few miles south of Lebanon. Mr.
Henderson told us that many Hessian prison
ers were quartered in the churches of Lebanon,
and those lodged in the Moravian church found
themselves particularly well placed, as they
took possession of the violins belonging to the
church and alleviated the tedium of their cap
tivity with music and dancing.
On our way to the ore banks we passed by
the furnaces. The first furnace here was built
by Peter Grubb, who at the time of his death
owned over nine thousand acres of land, which
he left to his sons, Curtis and Peter. On this
93

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
land are the Cornwall and Hopewell forges and
the Cornwall ore mines which we saw to-day.
Huge seams and gashes in the hills revealed the
places from which the precious ore had been
taken, and, standing above the "Bobesonia Cut
and Hoist," we could see the great depth from
which the ore had been dug. It was interesting
to have even this rapid survey of these great
mines that have added so much to the wealth
and importance of Pennsylvania. Peter Grubb
was sole owner of the Cornwall banks until his
death in 1754, when it became the property of
his sons Curtis and Peter, and finally the greater
part passed into the hands of Robert Coleman,
as did everything in the way of ore and iron
in this part of the world. In 1798 Mr. Coleman
owned all of the Cornwall bank, except one-sixth
part, which Mr. Henry Bates Grubb, a grand
son of the first Peter Grubb, still held. Shot,
shells, cannon and stoves for the Continental
army were cast at Cornwall furnace by the
Grubb brothers, who were not only great iron
masters, but devoted patriots as well. Curtis
and Peter Grubb were both colonels of militia
in the Continental army. Robert Coleman
served in one of the militia battalions, besides
being a member of the General Assembly of
1783 and of the convention that framed the
State Constitution.
Even this long June day was too short for
all that we wished to see in this interesting
94

Home of Robert Coleman at Elizabeth Furnace

LANCASTER AND LEBANON TOWNS

region; but we allowed ourselves a half hour
for old Donegal, an early Scotch-Irish settle
ment and stronghold of Presbyterianism in
Pennsylvania. I had attended the yearly reun
ions of the Donegal Society more than once and
been entertained at Senator Donald Cameron's
country place nearby during his lifetime; but
Kathleen, who had never been here, expressed
a laudable desire to visit the church and the
tombs of her ancestors in the old churchyard.
Fortunately, there had been an afternoon
meeting, and we were able to enter the old
sanctuary. Severely plain as it is, inside and
out, it is in excellent taste, and the proportions
are good, as is the case in many old churches.
The simple dignity of these old buildings is
restful and would be quite destroyed by elab
orate ornamentation. We found all the graves
in the old churchyard well cared for, this being
one of the good works of the Donegal Society.
Kathleen shed no tears over the graves of her
great-great-grands. "Why should I weep over them?" she asked.
"If the old dears were as good as everyone tells
us they were, they have been happy all these
years, while their descendants have been toiling
and moiling in this weary world and having all
the misery of four or five great wars ! "
"Mrs. Davis is a philosopher!" exclaimed
Mr. Henderson. ' 'But she does not look as if she
found this a very weary world. Come and see
7 95

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
the Witness Tree, the wonderful old oak under
whose spreading branches the sons of Donegal
dedicated their lives to the service of their
country, early in the war of the Revolution. It
is said that nearly every able-bodied man in
the Donegal church was a soldier in the French
and Indian wars or in the Revolutionary War.
Here is the tablet on which their names
are recorded."
Standing before the bronze tablet we read
the name of Kathleen's ancestor.
"Here are the names of forbears of many
men and women whom we know or know of,"
said Mr. Henderson, running rapidly over the
names inscribed upon the tablet. "Here is
James Stephenson, who lived here in 1770 ; his
granddaughter, Sarah, married David McKin-
ley, and their grandson, William McKinley, mar
ried Nancy Allison, and it is their son, William,
who was President of the United States. From
this same James Stephenson and from the Wat
son line a number of noted people have come,
among them the Hon. Henry P. Fletcher. Gen
eral John Pershing, a soldier of whom we are
all proud, is descended from Captain Andrew
Boggs, one of the early settlers of Donegal, who
served in the French and Indian War; and from
Hayes ancestry the distinguished Philadelphia
surgeon, Dr. D. Hayes Agew, is descended.
The Cameron family also came from Donegal
pioneers, and Senator Cameron revealed his

LANCASTER AND LEBANON TOWNS
pride in them by calling his country home Done
gal. This property belonged to the Stephen-
sons, but Senator Donald Cameron added many
acres to the estate and made it the beautiful
place that it now is. Good stock were these
Scotch-Irish settlers to come from, God-fearing,
law-abiding, patriotic men and women! These
Scotch-Irish ancestors of yours are people to be
proud of, Mrs. Davis."
"I dare say; but for some reason I have al
ways taken more interest in my English Quaker
ancestry. Of course, I knew of this Scotch-
Irish settlement, because my mother often spoke
of it; but most people talk about the Pennsyl
vania Dutch as if they occupied the land to the
exclusion of everybody else. Since I have been
in Lancaster County I have heard of enough
different nationalities and religious denomina
tions to make my head spin. ' '
"Yes, an English visitor to Lancaster in
early times said, 'The religions that prevail
here are hardly to be numbered, ' and this is quite
true, but to call people Pennsylvania Dutch
is a misnomer, Mrs. Davis. There are very few
Dutch here, but no end of Pennsylvania Ger
mans; and, after all, the population of Lan
caster and the adjoining counties is made up of
mixed races, like most places in America. To
the northeast corner of the county a number of
Welsh settlers came; in the town of Lancaster
there were a number of English who established
97

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
their church there, and the Mennonites who
abound all through this region are many of them
of Swiss descent, chiefly from Zurich and Berne;
they, like the Puritans, Quakers and many
others, left their homes in the old world and
crossed the ocean for freedom to worship God
according to the dictates of their own con
sciences. These Swiss Mennonites are said to
be the first white settlers in Lancaster County,
and in 1910 a very interesting commemoration
was held to celebrate the two hundredth anni
versary of their settlement. A nine-ton boulder
was placed in front of the old Mennonite church
yard near Willow Street, Lancaster, and ser
vices were held there. At the ceremony of the
unveiling of the boulder and tablet, addresses
were made by Hon. John H. Landis, Professor
Oscar Kuhns, Hon. Amos H. Mylin, Mr. John A.
Coyle and other descendants of the Mennonite
settlers. Mr. H. Frank Eshleman and Mr. Dif-
fenderffer, the chairman, and some of the other
speakers emphasized the fact that these early
settlers were tolerant and wished all other re
ligious people to enjoy the liberty in worship
that they had found in the new world."
Being mounted on his hobby, our Antiquary
cantered along gaily until we had passed through
Landisville, and the twinkling lights before
us showed us that we were near Lancaster and
the end of our interesting day among antiquities.

V
TO GETTYSBURG BY WAY OF COLUMBIA
AND YORK

On our way to Columbia we stopped
at Wheatland, the old home of President
Buchanan, a comfortable, spacious house, sur
rounded by a lawn filled with fine trees. This
house, with its wide, hospitable doorway and
long, low f acade equipped with many windows,
was once owned by Mr. Potter and afterwards
was the summer home of the Hon. William M.
Meredith, of Philadelphia, who sold it to Mr.
Buchanan in 1848. As we stood on the portico
at the entrance and looked out on the lawn, with
its many oaks, larches and evergreens, or at the
end of the broad hall enjoyed the charming
view of woodlands and a fertile valley beyond,
we realized what an ideal home this was for a
statesman to retire to when the cares of office
were over. At the end of Mr. Buchanan's term
of office as President of the United States he
came back to this delightful home, escorted by
some of his friends, prominent citizens of Lan
caster, among them the Hon. Hugh M. North and
W. U. Hensel, Esq. To these gentlemen Mr.
Buchanan expressed his gratification over this
evidence of their regard and at the same time

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
spoke of his great pleasure at returning to his
home near Lancaster.
From Wheatland, a few years later, Mr.
Buchanan's niece,Miss Harriet Lane, went forth
as the bride of Mr. Henry E. Johnston, of Balti
more. The devoted uncle's expressions to his
niece on the subject of her approaching mar
riage are so affectionate and yet so formal and
old-fashioned that we were glad to be reminded
of them by our Antiquary, who always has some
interesting sidelight to throw upon whatever
subject may interest us. In writing to Miss
Lane a short time before her marriage, Mr.
Buchanan said: "You have now made your un
biased choice, and from the character of Mr.
Johnston I anticipate for you a happy marriage,
because I believe, from your own good sense,
you will conform to your conductor and make
him a good and loving wife." Mrs. Johnston
never came back to Wheatland, except for a
visit. She spent the last years of her life in
Washington, where she gathered about her
many friends, old and new. Those who met Mrs.
Johnston in Washington in those years recall
her great charm of manner and her distin
guished beauty, and this after she had passed
the fateful milestone of three score and ten.
One thing that impressed us especially at
Wheatland was the care the present owner, Mr.
George Wilson, has taken to keep the house
much as it was during the residence there of the
100

GETTYSBURG VIA COLUMBIA AND YORK
ex-President. Many pieces of furniture which
belonged to him are still in the rooms and
naturally add much to the interest of a visit
to this old house.
Quite near Wheatland is Abbeyville, once
the summer home of the Hon. Langdon Cheves,
of South Carolina, who was a member of Con
gress for years and sometime Speaker of the
House of Representatives. A charming house,
this seemed to us, as we saw it on a summer day,
the doors and windows open and the perfume
of the shrubbery in lawn and garden filling the
air with fragrance. We were warmly welcomed
by the daughter of Mr. John W. Apple, the
present owner of the house, who told us
that the wings had been added by Judge
Cheves and also the fine arches and beautiful
carved woodwork.
Mr. Buchanan was not only an associate of
Judge Cheves in political life, but also a friendly
neighbor and frequent visitor at Abbeyville.
For lovely Mrs. Cheves, Mr. Buchanan enter
tained a warm admiration and was fond of
relating a pleasant story of her as she appeared
at her own dinner-table. Mrs. Cheves, charm
ingly attired, was one day entertaining some
distinguished guests when the waiter, in passing
around the soup-tureen after the good old style
before dinners a la Russe were in vogue, awk
wardly overturned the contents upon the deli
cate brocade gown of the hostess. Mr. Buchanan
101

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
said that not only did Mrs. Cheves utter no
expression of surprise or anger, but without a
word upon the subject she continued the con
versation in which she was engaged.
The Lincoln Highway from Lancaster fol
lows the route of the old road to Columbia,
and one charming feature of this highway is
that the trolleys take the same route, which
makes this picturesque tour free to those who
have no motorcars and are destitute of inti
mate friends who own them, which is really the
most convenient method of seeing the country.
On this June day the road was bounded on both
sides by great fields of clover, fragrant with
their pink blossoms, and shaded by locust trees
shedding their white flowers, which still gave
out a sweet perfume, and beyond the clover we
could see vast fields of wheat yellowing in the
warm sunshine; we did not wonder that Lan
caster County was called a garden spot and that
two of its townships were named Paradise and
Eden. It must have been on such a day as this
that Lloyd Mifflin, one of the sweetest poets of
Pennsylvania, wrote his "In the Fields":
When daily greener grows the oats;
When near his nest the red-wing floats,
And sweetbrier blossoms in the lane ;
When freshening wind the wheat-field shakes,
And in its billowy rolling makes
An ocean of the grain :

102

GETTYSBURG VIA COLUMBIA AND YORK
When wading cows' in cool mid-stream,
Stand by the hour in some dull dream
Of meadows deep with clover-blooms;
When all the knolls are gold of hue,
When all the silences of blue
Are heavy with perfumes:
"You know, of course, that Mr. Mifflin's
home, Norwood, is quite near Columbia," said
Mr. Henderson, "on the Chestnut Hill road —
a fine dd place. I wish we had time to
stop; but if we are to reach Gettysburg
before night we shall have to pass by many in
teresting places."
Instead of the proverbial red barns, out of all
proportion, to the tiny houses to which they
belong, we noticed a yellow barn now and again
and occasionally one painted in gray or laven
der, which proves that these thrifty farming
people have an eye for beauty and har
monious coloring.
"Yes, they may occasionally indulge them
selves in some fancy in the way of color," said
Mr. Henderson, "like the blue gate that the
Mennonites delight in; but these people are
thrifty, first, last and always, and the best
farmers in the world ; they have made whatever
place they have settled in blossom like the rose
of the Scriptures. I was talking to a Mennonite
from Russia the other day. He told me that at
one time a number of his people were encour
aged to trek from Switzerland to Russia, be-
103

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
cause of their great ability as farmers ; the yield
of wheat to the acre under their management
is almost incredible. In proof of their value
as agriculturists they were never required to
serve in the Russian army, which suited them
very well, as the Mennonites are as much op
posed to war as your Quaker ancestors, Mrs.
Davis, and far less reasonable."
"I am glad that you give my Quaker people
the credit of reasonableness. They have little
patience shown them in war times, and yet the
Friends are doing great work in France in run
ning ambulances and in helping to restore the
devastated farms and villages."
"Yes, I know, but warlike measures over
shadow everything else; the Friends will do
even greater work when we get the Huns out
of all the French and Belgian towns."
"What does Mr. Henderson mean by that
we?" I asked myself, but as we were just then
entering Columbia nothing more was said.
Columbia, once "Shawanah, Indian Town,"
and later Wright's Ferry, is beautifully situ
ated on the Susquehanna, and although now a
flourishing borough with fine houses and several
important industries, it still retains some of its
quaint village characteristics. The Wrights,
Barbers, Scarletts and Blunstons were among
the original land owners and settlers. Upon
John Wright's arrival here he found a Shaw-
104

GETTYSBURG VIA COLUMBIA AND YORK
nese village near the stream of the same
name. This John Wright, the settler, was for
years a member of the Assembly of Chester
County, which then included Lancaster County.
He was, however, so strong a Quaker that he
refused to take the oath of office and simply
affirmed. Many stories are told of this clever
and somewhat eccentric character, but for sev
eral reasons we were more interested in his
daughter Susannah, whose letters to James
Logan and other leading men of the day we had
seen, and had rejoiced in the fact that even in
that early time, when women were expected to
take their opinions ready-made from the other
sex, this little Quaker lady was able to hold her
own with the best of them. Living on this river
bank, remote from the larger centers of interest,
this animated correspondence must have been
a great pleasure to an intelligent woman like
Miss Wright, who was also cultured above most
women of her day. Mrs. Deborah Logan, in her
brief biography of Susannah Wright, speaks
of her as a French scholar and having some
knowledge of Latin and Italian. That she bor
rowed French books from the Stenton library
is evident, as James Logan takes her to task
quite sharply in one of his letters for her delay
in returning some of these volumes :
My daughter is hard at her french under a Master & has
occasion for fontanelle & fenelon or Arb'p Cambray. Pray
let others learn also. Where is Vaugelas?
105

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
That the writer entertained no serious
grudge against his young friend for this neglect
appears from another paragraph in the same
letter, in which he chides her for failure to make
a promised visit to Stenton :
I shall take no excuse whatsoever, downright sickness
excepted, but shall interpret all others that can be offer' d
as a direct declaration, that thou art absolutely determined
to renounce for Heimpfield all (the rest of the World, and
amongst others, one who has ever since his acquaintance
with thee been most strongly inclined to show himelf
thy sincere and affectionate frd, J. Logan.1
We were fortunate in meeting my friend,
Miss E  , who lives in Columbia, and learn
ing of our interest in Susannah Wright, she of
fered to take us to her old home. Leaving the
chauffeur in charge of the car, we made our way
on foot by a street with high factory buildings,
which seem quite out of place in this old town,
to Second Street, where are the fine old Wright
mansions. The one in which we were especially
interested is Hempfield, built in 1726. Although
despoiled of its extensive lawn, which sloped
down to the Susquehanna, this house has been
little changed otherwise and so retains much of
its old-time charm. Here Susannah Wright
lived for many years. From Hempfield we were
taken to see another house which is associated
with Susannah. This house, which has a won-
1 Publications of the Pennsylvania Society of the Colonial
Dames of America, 1906. 106

Hempfield, Wright House, Columbia

GETTYSBURG VIA COLUMBIA AND YORK
derful situation on a high bluff above the river,
commanding a wide sweep of the waters north
and south, was built by Samuel Blunston, one
of the pioneers here, and Mr. Henderson tells
us that he was a suitor for the hand of Susan
nah, who refused him several times, upon which
he, amiable and most forgiving of suitors, ended
by leaving his house and lands to the unrequit-
ing lady, or, as he expressed it more discreetly
in his will: "to my valued friend, Susannah
Wright, a life interest in my lands at this place. ' '
A bit of romance always adds to the charm of
an old mansion, and as we passed from room
to room we wondered why this little Quaker
lady had chosen for herself a state of single
blessedness, that estate not being greatly in
repute in Colonial days when the conditions
of pioneer life made it seem important for every
woman to have a protector.
"Would that all suitors were as generous
and forgiving as Mr. Samuel Blunston!" ex
claimed Kathleen with emphasis, to which Mr.
Henderson, with as severe an expression as his
amiable face was capable of assuming, replied:
"And don't you think that Miss Susannah
Wright must have felt some sharp twinges of
remorse while enjoying Samuel Blunston 's
house and farm after refusing to live here
with him?"
Miss e  was very much amused at this
107

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
view of the situation and said that Susannah
Wright had never lived in this house, although
she had an office here and on certain days in
the week was in the habit of prescribing for the
sick people in the community. The office was in
the old part of the house, which has been con
siderably enlarged since the days of Sam
uel Blunston.
Columbia has several claims to distinction,
notably the fact that, as Wright's Ferry, it was
seriously considered as a possible site for the
National Capital, in common with Harrisburg,
Lancaster, York and Germantown. That a
town in Pennsylvania which state had been
the scene of so many important events during
the Revolution was not chosen for the seat of
the National Capital was a surprise to many
of its citizens. If Columbia failed in its
ambition to be made the capital of the United
States, it gained distinction in a quite dif
ferent line, for here was established the first
underground railroad, over which William
Wright helped many slaves to make their
escape. William Wright, a descendant of the
first John Wright, who laid out the town, is said
to have been an active, intelligent man of great
presence of mind and having thorough knowl
edge of the laws pertaining to slavery. He
passed the fugitives on to the next important
station, which was that of Daniel Gibbons, where
108

GETTYSBURG VIA COLUMBIA AND YORK
he and his wife, Hannah Wierman Gibbons,
helped them in their turn. Upon one occasion
this valiant woman for six long weeks nursed
back to health a poor ignorant runaway slave
who had developed smallpox. Hannah Gibbons
and her husband were both elders in the Society
of Friends and, like all abolitionists, were deeply
interested in the election of Mr. Lincoln. When
near death, in the autumn of 1860, she roused
herself from the stupor into which she had
fallen to ask if Abraham Lincoln had been
elected President of the United States. This
was only three weeks before the election of Mr.
Lincoln, but this devoted friend of the slave did
not five to see the fulfilment of her hopes.
Among those who aided William Wright and
the Gibbons family in their effort to help run
away slaves were Oliver Furness, Christian
Frantz, a Mennonite; Dr. J. K. Eshleman,
Joshua Brinton and Lindley Coates, who, with
his wife Deborah, often hid the fugitives in his
cornfield under the shocks.2
As we crossed the Susquehanna over the won
derful long bridge, the successor of several long
bridges, and looked upon the wide sweep of the
shining river and its picturesque banks, we did
not wonder that this town should have im
pressed many of the members of Congress as
a good site for the capital, contrasting favorably
' " The Underground Kailroad," by Mrs. M. C. Brubaker.
109

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
as it did with the unimproved tract of marsh and
forest land upon the Potomac where the beau
tiful city of Washington now stands. Those
Congressmen, John Hancock, John Adams and
the others, had a good opportunity to study the
landscape in September, 1777, as they crossed
the Susquehanna on flatboats on their way
to York. On the other side of the Susquehanna we
passed through a second Wright's Ferry,
now Wrightsville.
On the right-hand side of the Lincoln High
way, near the town of York, we were attracted
by an old building with this appropriate sign,
' ' YeOlde Valley Inn, ' 'for here the valley widens
in a great reach of beautiful, fertile country
enclosed in a frame of distant blue mountains.
The site of York, or Yorktown, as it was called
for years, on Codorus Creek, seems to have been
chosen by that very able surveyor, Thomas
Cookson, who located so many towns on prop
erty belonging to the Penns, and, very naturally,
it was laid out on the plan of Philadelphia, hav
ing its Market Street and its central square,
which, being more fortunate than that city, it
still possesses. As we motored through this
attractive central square by the new Court
House, handsome high-school buildings and
many fine churches, all Mr. Henderson's elo
quence was needed to remind us that York was a
no

GETTYSBURG VIA COLUMBIA AND YORK
very old town, having been the first town to be
laid out west of the Susquehanna, and that not
withstanding the old York is overshadowed by
the new and prosperous town, its citizens took
great pride in celebrating its one hundred and
fiftieth anniversary in 1891. Unfortunately, the
civic pride of the people of York did not wake
up early enough to save the old Court House
where the Continental Congress met in the win
ter of 1777 and '78, although some wise citi
zens secured the old bell that pealed forth the
news of the signing of the Declaration of Inde
pendence and placed it in the cupola of St.
John's Church. It was during the dark days of
the memorable winter and spring of 1778 that
the cheering news of Burgoyne's defeat at
Saratoga and of the signing of the treaty with
France reached York by way of Wright 's Ferry.
Upon the receipt of this last good news in May,
the bell of the old Court House rang forth a
joyous peal, which was echoed, with still greater
joy, when on June 20th tidings came to this
patriotic town that the British had evacu
ated Philadelphia.
As we passed through the square, a courte
ous citizen drew our attention to a bronze tablet
on which was recorded the fact that Congress
had met here during the Revolution, and the
same person pointed out to us with pride the
Court House of 1842. We were, I fear, very
8 111

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
unappreciative of the charms of this building,
as we turned away from it still deploring the
fact that the priceless old structure, which had
resounded to the voices of the Fathers of the
Republic, had been torn down, and refusing to
be comforted by the statement that the present
building had cost a hundred thousand dollars,
a great sum in 1842 !
Mr. Henderson tactfully remarked that York
could claim at least one Signer of the Declara
tion, James Smith, an Irish lawyer, one of the
f ramers of the State Constitution and an ardent
patriot, who sacrificed his business interests in
order to serve his adopted country. This trib
ute to the importance of his native town so
pleased our self-constituted guide that he of
fered to show us other places of interest in
York, among them the fine park which occupies
the site of a general hospital for ill and wounded
soldiers, which was maintained from 1862 until
the close of the war. This genial and public-
spirited citizen also urged us to take time to
motor through the grounds of Highland Park,
farther north on the Codorus, and ended by giv
ing us much needed information about a tea
house where we could find some luncheon, so
our acquaintance which began in a discussion
of antiquities ended with the less elevating but
generally popular topic of food.
It was a thrilling experience to be in Gettys-
112

GETTYSBURG VIA COLUMBIA AND YORK
burg this first year of our war, and at night ; we
motored all around the encampment by moon
light, and seeing camp fires, or perhaps they
were only electric lights, in the long lines of
tents, we thought of the two great encampments
near this old town fifty-four years since. The
Union army was on Cemetery Hill, the Confed
erate only a little over a mile south, each one
able to see the lights of the enemy's camp; and
now the sons and grandsons of those soldiers of
1863 are met together under these khaki tents,
brothers in arms, united in support of a
great cause.
Some such thoughts as these floated through
my mind when, as if to humor my mood, Kath
leen sang softly :
I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling
camps;
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and
damps ;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and naming
lamps;
"I should think the boys would be singing
that, or 'America,' instead of such songs as
'The Old Gray Mare' and 'Nancy Lee,' that I
heard them singing when I went over to see my
nephew Billy, but boys will be boys, and it may
hearten them a bit to sing lively, catchy tunes.
Camp life is monotonous enough, so far from
the scene of action; the days are pretty
much alike." 113

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
Upon this Kathleen started in with :
They were summoned from the hillside,
They were called in from the glen,
And the country found them ready
At the stirring call for men
when a rousing chorus of boyish voices rang out
in "Keep the Home Fires Burning." We were
quite near the tents just then, and the young
voices sounded fresh and sweet as they were
borne to us on the still night air and infinitely
pathetic as we thought of the experiences that
awaited them in strange lands and of the fate
that might be theirs.
"You have touched the right chord," said
Mr. Henderson; "they seem to like that
cheery song."
"I wish," said Kathleen in her impulsive
fashion, "that I could meet every one of those
boys and tell them all how much I honor them
for what they are doing and give each one some
thing to remember me by."
"If they should be so happy as to meet you,
they could never fail to remember you," said
Mr. Henderson in a low tone, but not so low
that I failed to hear, and then he added some
thing that I did not catch, he being on the front
seat on Kathleen's side of the car; but whatever
it was it had the effect of making her silent and
thoughtful for the rest of the drive.
What did it all mean? I asked myself.
in

GETTYSBURG VIA COLUMBIA AND YORK

Is Mr. Henderson in love with my Kathleen,
and is he telling her that he is going over to
France himself? Again I asked myself these
questions when, at the entrance to the hotel,
our escort proposed a moonlight stroll about
the town. I naturally excused myself on the
plea of being too tired to take another step,
although the streets did look attractive by the
light of the moon, and I was not so very tired ;
but who would spoil sport, and on such a night
as this? When Kathleen stopped at my door a full
hour later to say good-night, her eyes looked
rather dewy, and she kissed me with more
than usual warmth. And then, despite the many
thoughts aibout past, present and future that
this evening near the old camp ground had
stirred, I fell into a deep and dreamless sleep,
only to be awakened by the morning sunshine
streaming into the room with its promise of an
other glorious June day in the open.
A turn through the town on our way to the
battle-field by the Lutheran Theological Semi
nary, the Pennsylvania State College and other
public buildings revealed the fact that Gettys
burg had changed very little in the years since
those July days in '63 which made it famous.
One of our party, it is needless to say which one,
was here not very long after the battle, when
gruesome signs of the f rightfulness of war were
still in evidence. 115

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
General Lee started on his northward march
with his entire army early in July. Ewell's
corps was in Chambersburg by the fifteenth of
the month, and what a day the twentieth must
have been to the people of this old town when
Jenkins' cavalry clattered through the streets,
soon to be joined by General Early himself.
To the credit of this officer, it should be said
that he issued a proclamation assuring the in
habitants of Gettysburg that they would not be
molested by his troops, and to them he gave
strict orders to respect the property of the citi
zens. A story recurred to me that was told us
years ago, when there were many persons living
in Gettysburg who vividly recalled the entrance
of the Confederate troops. These men, tired,
travel-stained and hungry, lay down to rest
upon the sidewalk and in the streets with their
knapsacks under their heads. When spoken to
and offered food and drink by kind-hearted citi
zens they invariably refused, and when urged
to give the reason of their refusal, the almost
invariable answer was, "I must obey orders."
These poor boys, refusing food and drink,
brought before us suddenly the human side of
this great conflict, a side which is often over
shadowed by the broader issues at stake. Other
human associations with these fateful days of
July, 1863, we found in the plain little frame
house with its picket fence in which General
116

GETTYSBURG VIA COLUMBIA AND YORK
Meade met his staff and planned the battle of
Gettysburg and in the small but more substan
tial stone house in which General Lee had his
headquarters, simple little houses in which two
great generals were lodged, in striking contrast
to the luxurious and well-protected lodgings
that we read of as the headquarters of the Ger
man Kaiser and his sons.
We made our way to Round Top, from which
we could see the stretch of level ground, over
which Pickett's Division swept when they made
their ill-fated charge, the most impressive spot
on the whole battle-field, it has always seemed
to me. Mr. Henderson, who had been there
on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the
battle, told us of many human touches brought
out by the meeting of the veterans of 1863 on the
field over which both sides had fought so furi
ously a half a century before. The most mem
orable scene perhaps was the meeting here be
tween the survivors of the Philadelphia Bri
gade and of Pickett's Division, when they
clasped hands like brothers, while Old Glory
waved over the two slender lines of the Blue
and the Gray. We thought of the prophetic
words of the great seer and leader, who spoke
here in the November after the battle, and of
how he would have rejoiced that the foes of
half a century before should meet again on the
old battle-ground and dedicate the remainder
117

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
of their lives to a united country then at peace.
Mr. Henderson reminds us that in only one
prophecy did Mr. Lincoln's clear vision fail, and
that was when he said: "The world will little
note nor long remember what we say here, but
it can never forget what they did here." For
over half a century the battle of Gettysburg has
never failed to call to the minds of Americans
the words spoken here on that November day,
words that have become a part of the literature
of the people, and will so continue for all time.

VI
CHAMBERSBURG AND SHIPPENSBURG

The tour of twenty-five miles between Get
tysburg and Chambersburg was a delight, as
the road led us over successive ridges of the
South Mountain and by woods filled with bloom
ing laurel, the little dainty blossoms that look
like the printed flowers on chintz. In this South
Mountain were several charcoal furnaces ; just
over the line, in Franklin County, was Cale
donia, now Caledonia Park. The old furnace
and forge on the Conococheague, ten miles
southeast of Chambersburg, now on the Lincoln
Highway, were owned and operated for years
by Thaddeus Stevens and James D. Paxton,
the latter known among the iron fraternity as
Colonel Paxton. Both furnace and forge were
burned by the Confederate troops, nothing being
left of the works except the office building and
the old smithy, which is now the trolley station.
There is an extensive state park at Cale
donia, as this is one of the three divisions of the
South Mountain State Forest. The other two
are Pine Grove, to the north, and Mont Alto,
to the south. All of them are old-time iron
estates and now are included in the vast tract
of hundreds of thousands of acres set apart
119

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
and to remain for all time in the State Forest
Reservation of Pennsylvania. This wise and
important legislation is largely due to the efforts
of Governor Pennypacker, who was urged by
Dr. J. S. Rothrock, Miss Myra Dock and other
public-spirited citizens to use his influence to
preserve the forest lands of Pennsylvania be
fore encroaching business and manufactories
had destroyed what could not be replaced in
hundreds of years. A most appropriate celebra
tion was held at Caledonia Park on a recent
birthday of our distinguished Commissioner of
Forestry, Doctor Rothrock, when a white oak
tree was planted for every year of his long and
useful life.
There is very little left of old Chambers
burg to-day, but when we entered the town on
this June afternoon and motored through its
streets by the Lincoln Highway and Philadel
phia Avenue, in both of which are many hand
some residences, with fine gardens all abloom,
we could not regret the destruction of 1864 as
keenly as did its inhabitants of that time, so
beautiful is the new Chambersburg that has
arisen from the ashes of the old town.
No northern town suffered at the hands of
the Confederate troops as much as Chambers
burg. Greencastle, Carlisle, York, Wrightsville
and other Pennsylvania towns were invaded, but
the fine old town of Chambersburg, near the
120

Falling Spring Church, Chambersburg

CHAMBERSBURG AND SHIPPENSBURG
Maryland border, proved a shining mark and
consequently was invaded several times and
twice set on fire. The last invasion, that of
July, 1864, was the most disastrous, as the
greater part of the town was burned to the
ground, all of the old houses and many hand
some modern residences and public buildings
having been destroyed. The old house of the
settler and his family has long since disap
peared, but the town which bears his name and
the church for which he gave the land are the
enduring monuments of Benjamin Chambers,
founder of Chambersburg.
From County Antrim, Ireland, Benjamin
Chambers came to Cumberland County about
1730, being the first white settler in Franklin
County. Having the world before him where
to choose, he selected for the site of a town,
saw mill and church the most desirable position,
at the confluence of the Falling Spring and the
Conococheague creeks, where Chambersburg is
now situated.
"Having procured a title to as much land
as he desired, he proceeded to erect a log house,
covered with lapped shingles and fastened by
nails, a style of building out of the common
mode of round logs and clapboard roofs secured
by beams. Some time after being induced to
visit the east side of the Susquehanna, he left
his house unoccupied for a short time and on
121

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
his return found it burned to ashes. This was
afterwards ascertained to be the work of an un
principled hunter, who was induced to do it for
the sake of the nails, which at that day, in this
wild region, were esteemed no ordinary prize. ' '
To the credit of Colonel Benjamin Cham
bers, it may be said that he maintained friendly
intercourse with the Indians of this region, with
whom he traded and so impressed them with his
fairness in dealing with them that he won their
confidence and respect.
"When, however," says Doctor Nevin, "the
western Indians, after Braddock 's defeat in
1755, became troublesome and made incursions
east of the mountains, killing and making pris
oners of many of the white inhabitants, Colonel
Chambers, for the security of his family and
neighbors, found it necessary to erect, where
the borough of Chambersburg now is, a large
stone dwelling house, surrounded by the water
from Falling Spring. The dwelling house, for
greater security against the attempts of the
Indians to fire it, was roofed with lead. The
dwellings and the mills were surrounded by a
stockade fort. This fort, with the aid of fire
arms, a blunderbuss and swivel, was so formid
able to the Indian parties who passed the
country that it was but seldom assailed, and no
one sheltered by it was killed or wounded, al
though in the country around, at different times,
122

CHAMBERSBURG AND SHIPPENSBURG

those who ventured out on their farms were
surprised and either slaughtered or carried off
prisoners, with all the horrors and aggravations
of savage warfare." 1
Although settled in 1730, the town was not
regularly laid out until 1764; prior to that date
it was called "Falling Spring" and "Cham
bers ' Fort ' ' and ' ' Chambers ' Town. ' ' The lat
ter name it held till the erection of Franklin
County in 1784, when the present name, Cham
bersburg, was adopted.
"One may form some little idea of the wild
state of the country when Chambersburg was
first settled," says an ancient chronicler, "from
the fact that, about 1785, immediately back from
Radebaugh's tavern stand it was a wilderness,
so thickly overgrown that it was not safe for
anyone unacquainted to enter into it any dis
tance for fear of being lost. It was no un
common thing to hear wolves near the town
howl. This we have from one of the early set
tlers." These settlers of Chambersburg and
indeed of the greater part of the Cumberland
Valley were Scotch-Irish, hardy and industri
ous and not easily discouraged by the dangers
and difficulties of pioneer life. They were also
a religious people, Presbyterians of a deeper,
darker blue than are to be found in any of the
churches of that denomination to-day. In mak-
•"Men of Mark of Cumberland Valley, 1776-1876," by
Alfred Nevin, D.D. 123

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
ing over to the Presbyterians the land for the
Falling Spring Church, Colonel Chambers, in his
deed of 1768, donated it to "the religious so
ciety, then and thereafter adhering to the West
minster Confession of Faith, and the mode of
government therein contained, and for the pur
pose of a house of worship, session and school
houses and cemetery."
Mr. Henderson pointed out to us the present
Falling Spring church on Philadelphia Avenue,
near which he said the first log cabin of Colonel
Chambers was situated, and his later strongly-
fortified house, called Chambers ' Fort. In later
years, Colonel Chambers built another house,
using some of the stones from the old "fort,"
but not on the same site. This house was given
to his daughter Ruhamah, who married Dr.
John Calhoun, the first resident physician in
Chambersburg. Doctor Calhoun was an ardent
patriot as well as a noted physician, being ap
pointed a member of the Cumberland County
Committee of Observation and also a delegate
to the Congress of 1774 in Carpenter's Hall.
Doctor and Mrs. Calhoun lived in this house for
many years. It is now occupied by a descend
ant of Colonel Chambers, William Cham
bers Mahaffey.
On the Lincoln Highway, which runs directly
through the town, we noticed a handsome house
standing quite high above the street, surrounded
124

CHAMBERSBURG AND SHIPPENSBURG
by fine trees, with a beautiful garden at the
side and back. This mansion, now the resi
dence of Mr. and Mrs. Nevin Pomeroy, was built
by Mrs. Pomeroy 's father, Mr. William McLel
land, a well-known lawyer of Chambersburg,
more than seventy years since. The preserva
tion of this house from the general destruction
of July, 1864, is said to have been due to the
courage and presence of mind of Mrs. McLel
land, who met the officer in command at the door
and, pointing to the unhappy women and chil
dren who had been driven from their homes
by the flames, said: "We have a home and can
get another, but can you not spare these poor,
helpless people and their children ? ' ' The officer
turned away without making any reply, but he
ordered his command to move on, and that part
of the town was saved from destruction.
In common with Lancaster, Belief onte, Car
lisle and other old Pennsylvania towns, Cham
bersburg had clearly-defined social lines, an
aristocracy in the very best sense of the word,
as it was composed of men and women of refine
ment and culture and to be able to claim descent
from an early settler was distinctly in one's
favor. Among the old residents, those who
drove their own coaches, made yearly or half-
yearly visits to Harrisburg or Philadelphia, the
latter city being the center of social life and the
arbiter of fashion, having constant communica-
12s

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
tion with London and Paris. The ladies of the
family often made these long journeys with their
husbands and fathers, taking advantage of this
opportunity to renew their friendships in other
cities and to acquaint themselves with the latest
styles. We can well imagine the excitement and
interest with which those who had been in
touch with the larger world were received in
their own town, and with what eagerness the
ladies of the party were questioned as to
the newest fashions in hats, cloaks and other
feminine gear.
One of the fortunate damsels who visited
Philadelphia in 1795 was Miss Charlotte Cham
bers, a daughter of General James Chambers
and a granddaughter of the founder of Cham
bersburg. In writing of her presentation at
Mrs. Washington's drawing-room, Miss Cham
bers thus describes her own costume: "On this
evening my dress was white brocade silk,
trimmed with silver, and white silk, high-heeled
shoes, embroidered with silver, and a light blue
sash, with silver cord and tassel tied at the left
side. My watch was suspended at the right
and my hair was in its natural curls. Surmount
ing all was a small white hat and ostrich
feather, confined by brilliant band and buckle."
A far cry was this from the early days of
the settlement and the log cabin of the young
lady's grandfather, and yet all this luxury and
126

CHAMBERSBURG AND SHIPPENSBURG
elegance had come about in less than seventy
years ! That Miss Chambers was as well bred
as she was well dressed appears from her de
scription of the ceremony of the presentation
and her own part in it :
"Mrs. Washington with Mrs. Knox sat near
the fireplace. Other ladies were seated on sofas,
and gentlemen stood in the center of the room
conversing. On our approach, Mrs. Washington
rose and made a curtsy — the gentlemen bowed
most profoundly — and I calculated my declen
sion to her own with critical exactness.
"The President, soon after, with that be
nignity peculiarly his own, advanced, and I
arose to receive his compliments with the respect
and love my heart dictated.
"He seated himself beside me — and inquired
for my father, a severe cold having detained
him at home."
General Chambers was naturally well known
to the President, having been an officer in the
Pennsylvania line. This very observing and
intelligent young lady was married the next
year to Israel Ludlow and with him became a
pioneer in the settlement of Ohio, in which state
many of her descendants still live.
Other well-known families of Chambersburg
were the Thomsons, Linns and Crawf ords. Dr.
William Thomson, who practiced his profession
in Philadelphia for many years and was known
as a brilliant ophthalmologist, and Frank Thom-
0 127

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
son, who was president of the Pennsylvania
Railroad at the time of his death, were both
sons of the distinguished jurist, Alexander
Thomson, of Chambersburg. Mr. Frank Thom
son named his beautiful country seat near Mer-
ion, Pennsylvania, Corkerhill, after the old
home in Scotland from which his great-grand
father, Alexander Thomson, had emigrated in
1771. Edward Crawford, Esq., a well-known
and honored citizen of Chambersburg, in con
nection with Alexander Calhoun, established
the first bank in this town, of which he was presi
dent for over twenty years. His son, Thomas
Hartley Crawford, was a distinguished lawyer
and Judge of the District Court in Washington.
While living in Chambersburg, Reade M. Wash
ington came from his home, Audley, in Clark
County, Virginia, to read law with Judge Craw
ford. Mr. Washington fell in love with Miss
Crawford, married her, and thus established the
Pennsylvania branch of the Washington family.
One morning we gave to Wilson College,
one of the first colleges for women in Pennsyl
vania, which will soon celebrate its fiftieth anni
versary. The main building of the college
was the old home of Colonel Alexander K. Mc-
Clure, and with its large rooms and extensive
grounds, is well adapted for the purpose. We
noticed a picture of a woman placed in a promi
nent place on the parlor mantelpiece and were
told that this was a portrait of Miss Sarah Wil-
128 y

CHAMBERSBURG AND SHIPPENSBURG
son, a farmer's daughter in the valley who had
given the first money for the college. Not hav
ing had the advantages of a liberal education
herself, she gave generously of her fortune for
the founding of this college, in order that many
young women might enjoy privileges that had
been denied to her in her youth. All honor to
Miss Wilson, and may many more women of her
broad-minded outlook upon life and her gener
osity arise in the future to aid this excellent in
stitution of learning!
Mr. Henderson left us early this morning.
On our way from Gettysburg, he told us that he
had offered his services to the Government, to be
sent wherever he could be most useful, but not
in the ranks, being, as he said, too old for that
service. He does not look too old for any ser
vice, and I told him so, at which he laughed,
blushed like a boy of fifteen and was evidently
pleased. He thanked me, as the older woman
of the party, for the pleasure of the trip, looking
at Kathleen the while; but one gets used to that
sort of thing, and in making his adieus he said,
"I may still be in Washington when Mrs. Davis
is there. If so, I hope she will tell me where I
may have the pleasure of calling on her." So
he knows that Kathleen expects to be in Wash
ington later in the month.
We are quite bereft without our adopted
Antiquary, and still another misfortune has be
fallen us to-day. Wright came to us with a
129

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
beaming smile upon his face, although he did
make a valiant effort to look serious, and in
formed us that his orders had come and that he
was to report in Washington the day after to
morrow. Ever mindful of our comfort, he
wished to know what the ladies would like him
to do ; should he take them back to Philadelphia ;
there was plenty of time for that, or would they
prefer to go on to Washington the next day? I
begged to be left out of the plan altogether, as
I had some places to visit in the valley; and as
Kathleen had promised to take one of her Cham
bersburg friends to Washington some time this
month, she decided in favor of taking that trip
at once, saying, "After that, I make no plans
in these uncertain days. I will sell the car if
I cannot find a good chauffeur. Of course, I can
never hope to find another man like Wright.
This is one of the sacrifices of the war."
We had intended to go to Rocky Spring this
afternoon, but instead were obliged to spend our
time in seeing Kathleen's friend and in making
other arrangements for her hurried exodus
from this charming town, where we expected to
spend several days together. We regret very
much not being able to go to Rocky Spring, as
it is one of the interesting places in this region.
The Rocky Spring Church seems to have been
founded here as early as 1738, and had for its
pastor during the Revolutionary War one of the
most valiant sons of the valley,
180

CHAMBERSBURG AND SHIPPENSBURG

This pastor, Mr. Craighead, evidently con
sidered the inculcation of patriotism an im
portant part of his religious duty. On one occa
sion, it is said, the patriotic preacher declaimed
in such burning and powerful terms against the
wrongs we were then suffering that, after a
glowing description of the duty of the men, the
whole congregation rose from their seats and
declared their willingness to march to the con
flict. There was one, tradition says, in the entire
assembly who was not overcome by the stirring
appeal that was made, and that was an aged
female, in whom maternal affection, recently
caused to bleed, completely mastered both a
sense of propriety and the love of liberty.
"Stop, Mr. Craighead," she exclaimed. "I jist
want to tell ye, agin' you loss such a purty boy
as I have in the war, ye will na be sa keen for
fighting. Quit talking and gang yersel' to the
war. Ye 're always preaching to the boys about
it, but I dinna think ye'd be very likely to gang
yersel'. Jist ga and try it. "
And the reverend gentleman did "ga and
try it," as he joined the Continental army in
New Jersey, where he fought and preached al
ternately, acting as captain of his company
when on the march, and in battle and in camp
filling the office as the good chaplain to his
soldiers. We regretted again after reading a
little history of Rocky Spring Church which
had been given us that we could not do honor
131

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
to this good and brave dominie's memory by
visiting his old home and pastorate.
As we wished to see Greencastle again, and
as it is on Kathleen's route to Washington, we
set forth directly after the service in the old
Falling Spring Church on Sunday morning. A
spin of eleven miles through this lovely valley
brought us to the old town, which looked peace
ful and seemed so set apart from "the world's
ignoble strife" that it was difficult to realize
that one of the most frightful Indian massacres
had taken place in a schoolhouse quite near
Greencastle in 1764. The teacher and all his
pupils were murdered by the Indians with one
exception. The one exception was Archibald
McCullough, who was left in the schoolhouse
under the impression that he was dead. He later
revived, recovered from his wounds and lived
many years to tell the tale of this sad day. It
should be said to the honor of Enoch Brown, the
schoolmaster, that he prayed the Indians to take
his life only and spare the children, which
prayer, says McCullough, was unheeded.
A number of families, chiefly from the north
of Ireland, settled on the site of the present town
of Greencastle, then included in what was called
the Conocooheague Settlement, early in the
eighteenth century; among them were the
Craigs, Crawfords, Poes, Watsons, Davidsons,
McClellans, Culbertsons and Allisons. William
Allison, who came from the north of Ireland,
132

CHAMBERSBURG AND SHIPPENSBURG
acquired a large tract of land in this portion of
the Conocooheague Settlement, and was among
those wbo met at Mr. Edward Shippen 's house
in Shippensburg to confer with regard to the
erection of five forts in Franklin County. Fort
Allison was soon after erected west of the pres
ent town of Greencastle, probably on Mr. Alli
son's land, most of which he left to his eldest
son, Colonel John Allison. After the war, in
which Colonel Allison served with distinction,
he returned to Franklin County and laid out
the town of Greencastle in 1782, which he named
after the town from which his father had emi-
grated to Pennsylvania. South of Greencastle
on the Middleburg road is a fine old farm, the
stone house still in good condition, which was the
home of the late James Allison, the last member
of the family who lived in this region. This
place was noted for its beautiful spring, of which
Kathleen had often heard her mother speak,
and when she saw it she felt that it was quite
equal to the descriptions she had heard of it,
a deep pool of clear water, with a crystal stream
flowing from it and all shaded by a great tree.
In the town are a number of old houses, still
in good condition, among them that of Dr. John
Boggs, who was a leading physician here and
highly esteemed as a family doctor, which, Kath
leen says, is a sort of M.D. which does not exist
in these days of specialists. The old double
house of Doctor Boggs and the fine landscape
133

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
paper on the walls of the wide hall and stairway
interested us greatly, and paper which has stood
the wear and tear of nearly a hundred years is
certainly worthy of admiration. This house is
on North Carlisle Street, and quite near stands
the Fletcher house, the ancestral home of the
Hon. Henry Prather Fletcher, who has served
his country with signal ability in the diplomatic
service in the Philippines, in Havana, Pekin,
Lisbon and later in Mexico as United States
Ambassador. Another distinguished citizen of old Green
castle was Dr. John McClellan, who studied
medicine in Philadelphia under Dr. Benjamin
Rush and became a noted surgeon in the Cum
berland Valley. Doctor McClellan 's two sons,
the Hon. Robert M. McClellan, who removed to
Monroe, Michigan, and was twice elected Gov
ernor of that state, and William MoLelland, of
Chambersburg, spelled their names differently,
which has caused some confusion. Both
brothers were able, public-spirited citizens and
an honor to a name about whose orthography
they saw fit to differ.
From this part of the Conocooheague Settle
ment, as from other towns in the Cumberland
Valley, all of the men young enough to bear
arms during the Revolution did valiant service
in the Continental army, the Scotch-Irish being
of fighting stock, and the Allison, McLanahans,
Browns, Crawfords, Watsons, Irwins, Blairs,
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CHAMBERSBURG AND SHIPPENSBURG
Buchanans, Johnstons and other valley families
were well represented. Four of the Johnston
brothers were in the service at the same time.
Colonel James Johnston commanded the regi
ment that marched from this part of the country
into New Jersey. Colonel Thomas Johnston
was acting colonel at the time that a part of the
army under General Wayne was surprised at
Paoli by a superior force of the enemy. An
other brother, Dr. Robert Johnston, was army
surgeon from the commencement of the war
until its close, having been at Yorktown at the
surrender of Lord Cornwallis. Doctor Johnston
was one of the original members of the Society
of the Cincinnati, which was composed entirely
of officers who had served during the war. At
the close he made a voyage to China, having an
interest in a cargo of gensing, then esteemed a
great commodity, from which he realized a large
fortune. When he returned to his home he
brought with him what was then considered a
great curiosity, a Chinese servant. Doctor
Johnston purchased a farm and settled in
Franklin County, where his home was a resort of
the most distinguished men of the day, many of
them his old army comrades. The Johnston
family is only one among the many in this val
ley which sent all of its sons to the service of
their country.
When Kathleen left me at the station in
Greencastle, with many regrets and promises
135

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
to join me later in the summer, I felt as lonely
as the proverbial sparrow on the housetop, and
half regretted that I had not consented to take
the beautiful drive with her on the Middleburg
road through Hag'e-rstown and Frederick to
Washington, but having set forth to see Penn
sylvania towns, here I stay. As if to compen
sate me for the loss of my compagnon de voy
age, some good friends stopped to see me in
the evening and proposed to take me to Ship-
pensburg the next day. Of course, this invita
tion was accepted with alacrity, and the next
morning found us on the highway speeding
toward Shippensburg, where we found that we
had a link with Philadelphia, the town having
been laid out by Edward Shippen, grandson of
the first Edward Shippen. The town as it now
stands is upon a part of the Shippen tract of over
twelve hundred acres, for which Mr. Shippen
had patent rights in 1737. Even before this
date there were a number of settlers here, as
Shippensburg claims to be the oldest town in
the state west of the Susquehanna, with the
exception of York. In 1730 there were twelve
families in the settlement, and courageous set
tlers were these, living in a wilderness as they
did with savages for neighbors ! We have heard
much of the sufferings of the early settlers of
New England, but for some reason the diffi
culties and dangers of the pioneers of middle
and western Pennsylvania have not been dwelt
136

CHAMBERSBURG AND SHIPPENSBURG
upon at length in most histories of Colonial
life, although they seem to have been quite
as great. In a letter written from Shippensburg by
James Magaw in 1733 to his brother, who evi
dently lived near Harris' Ferry, now Harris
burg, the writer says :
I wish you would see John Harris at the ferry and get
him to write to the Governor to see if he can't get some guns
for us; There's a good wheen of in gens about here, and I
fear they intend to give us a good dale of troubbel and may
do us a grate dale of harm. We was three days on our
journey coming from Harrises ferry here. We could not
make much, speed on account of the childer; They could not
get on as fast as Jane and me.
Fort Franklin was built as early as 1740,
but even with this protection those who worked
in the fields were always in danger, and several
years later a party of harvesters were surprised
by the Indians in Mr. John Cessna 's field. ' ' Some
of the men were killed, and Mr. Cessna and his
two grandsons and John Kirkpatrick were cap
tured and carried off. Other harvesters were in
the field at this time, but a thicket which stood
between them and the Indians concealed them
from view." In the face of such dangers as
this, the beautiful towns of the Cumberland
Valley were established, and the farms sur
rounding them cultivated to a fertility equal to
that of any portion of the Union.
From an old record it appears that when the
137

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
town was laid out the old Indian path became
the main road and was chosen for the location
of King Street. Three-fourths of the residents
of the town, in 1751, lived upon that portion of
this street which lies between Washington
Street and the top of the hill. Shippensburg
was planned with so much judgment as to its
situation that it soon became a flourishing town,
and when the county of Cumberland was formed
in January, 1750, the first courts of justice were
held here, and although it had not regularly
been so appointed, Shippensburg was regarded
as the county-seat and so continued for some
years, being the chief town in the valley.
In his administration of affairs in Shippens
burg, Mr. Shippen was aided by James Burd,
who had married his daughter Sarah. Gossip of
the day has spoken of this as a runaway match,
but even if this be true, Mr. Burd seems to have
been on excellent terms with his father-in-law,
for whom he acted as superintendent in Ship
pensburg. He took an active part in the build
ing of Fort Morris and later in the erection of
Fort Augusta at Shamokin. It is evident that
the fort at Shippensburg made this a safe re
treat for many families that had been driven
from their homes. In a letter written to Edward
Shippen in 1755, James Burd said: "This town
is full of people, they being all moving in with
their families — five or six families in a house.
138

CHAMBERSBURG AND SHIPPENSBURG
We are in great want of ammunition ; but with
what we have we are determined to give the
enemy as warm a reception as we can. Some
of our people had been taken prisoners by this
party, and have made their escape from them
and come to us this morning. . . . We have
a hundred men working at Fort Morris every
day." He also wishes that they would send
guns — "great guns, small arms and ammuni
tion — from Philadelphia. 2
We were so much interested in the associa
tions of old Shippensburg that we paid little
attention to its public school and other buildings
or to its attractive homes, and we were fortunate
here, as in other places, in meeting an enthusi
astic lover of his town who told us many inter
esting tales of the large quantities of military
supplies stored here during the Revolution and
of the great herds of cattle and swine then pas
tured in the rich meadow land near the town,
from which the commissaries could supply
their needs.
One of Shippensburg 's claims to distinction
is that General Washington was here twice at
the time of the Whiskey Insurrection in
western Pennsylvania.
"He traveled through October 11, 1794, and
took dinner at the Branch Inn. When he reached
Bedford, Pa., he found it was not necessary for
'History of Cumberland County, p. 260.
139

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
him to go on, so he returned the way he came
and on October 14th he stayed all night in Ship
pensburg. The story is told that on this night
the proprietor of the hotel, who was not a drink
ing man, felt so good in the great honor of
entertaining the President that he got drunk;
and one of Washington's aides got too much.
To punish the aide, Washington made him walk
his horse up and down the stream of water in
Shippensburg called the McMeans Creek, now
the Branch, until he was sober.3
An admirable device this for sobering a
drunken man, provided he is able to walk at all;
but rather severe treatment for the poor horse,
which had to pay the penalty for his master's
indiscretion without having had whatever pleas
ure is to be found in getting drunk !
Among the prominent residents of Shippens
burg are the Stewarts, whose ancestor, Dr. Alex
ander Stewart, emigrated from County Antrim,
Ireland, in 1773, and settled in Frederick
County, Maryland. In 1831 Dr. Alexander
Stewart, grandson and namesake of the settler,
after completing his education in Washington
Medical College, Baltimore, began to practice
his profession in Shippensburg, and was known
here and for many miles through the surround
ing country as the skillful, devoted and well-
* " History of the Cumberland Valley," by Harriet Wylie
Stewart.

140

CHAMBERSBURG AND SHIPPENSBURG
beloved physician. Mr. George H. Stewart, an
influential citizen of Shippensburg, who owns
many fine farms in this region, and Justice John
Stewart, of the Superior Court, who now lives
in Chambersburg, are sons of Dr. Alexander
Stewart of Shippensburg.
One of our party having a sentimental inter
est in Southampton furnace, which had been
owned and operated by one of her ancestors,
we decided to motor three miles into the South
ampton Gap to see the old house and works.
Nothing is left of the furnace and chapel which
belonged to the iron works, but the "Big
House" is standing, very little changed, and
not looking so very big after all. "Sic tran
sit," said the granddaughter of the old iron
master, a note of disappointment in her voice,
adding, "I have always thought of it as a
large house; but then I was a very little child
myself when I saw it last. I saw something of
the life at a charcoal furnace years later, when
my grandfather had a furnace in Adams County,
and I have never seen anything just like it any
where else."
"You are quite right," I said. "There is
nothing like it. Only those who have lived at an
old iron furnace have any adequate conception
of the almost feudal relations existing between
the employer and employed. It was a condition
of interdependence with an underlying sense of
141

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
protection and friendliness. If these workmen
had been called upon to arm themselves and go
forth to fight for their chief as in feudal times,
they would doubtless have gone without a mur
mur. As it was, the only lists that they were
called upon to enter were to be found at the
polls. At election time the hands were all sent
in huge wagons to vote for whatever candidate
represented the protective tariff, the fetish of
the iron industry in the early and middle
years of the last century, as it has been in
later times."
Mrs. William J. Rose, a daughter of Mr.
William Watts, who owned and operated the
Pine Grove Furnace for many years, said that in
a "blowing in" of a furnace in the sixties great
care was taken not to use a Democratic paper.
The history and associations of many Penn
sylvania towns are inseparably connected with
the iron furnaces that were early established in
numerous counties of the state, especially near
the mountain regions where the iron ore de
posits were discovered.
Bereft of both of the traveling companions
with whom I had set forth from Philadelphia
and of the one we adopted in Lancaster, I con
cluded to take a train at Shippensburg for Car
lisle, where friends were awaiting me.

VII
A PICTURESQUE OLD TOWN

A steoll along High Street, Carlisle, is like
a journey into Colonial and Revolutionary days,
so many old houses with beautiful doorsteps and
porticoes are still to be found beside modern
buildings. The Cumberland Valley trains pass
through this street, as in the days before the
Civil War, and the residents sit on their door
steps on summer evenings, just as Mrs. Dillon
described them in her novel, "In Old Bellaire."
Something of the charm of the South the so
journer feels in Carlisle to-day, the same gener
ous hospitality and warmth of welcome are here
that the New England girl in Mrs. Dillon's story
felt when she stepped out of the primitive train—
which rang a bell to announce its approach — and
stepped along High Street accompanied by the
dignified president of Dickinson College, who
had gone to meet the new teacher. Early mem
ories crowded around me as I walked along
this street, past the Court House Square, the
spacious Parker house, with its beautiful por
tico, and so on by many an old home to the
shaded grounds of the college; but in vain I
looked for Martin's Hotel, which once stood on
10 143

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
High Street, an old-time hostelry associated in
my mind with many a regale in childish days.
Here, after a twelve-mile drive over the moun
tains by Holly Gap, across Hunter's Run and
Yellow Breeches Creek, and by a steep hill of
rocks, along whose side old Peter Ege is said
to have ridden after a fox or deer, we were
warmly welcomed by Mrs. Martin, hospitable
and delightfully loquacious landlady, who
graphically related all the news of the town
while she spread before her guests a dinner that,
with appetites sharpened by a long drive in the
mountain air, seemed to us equal to a feast
of Lucullus. Martin's Hotel was found later on
High Street, but altered beyond recognition by
the addition of two stories and other changes.
And no Mrs. Martin was there to smile her wel
come at the side door and enliven the visit by
her tales of garrison and college doings, not the
less interesting to childish ears, if seasoned with
a bit of gossip, this last in a stage whisper all
the more enticing because only half understood,
upon which the wise mother, instead of stimu
lating curiosity by saying "don't let the chil
dren hear," by some tactful question turned the
tide of talk into channels more suited to the
ears of "little pitchers," whose long ears were
naturally agog for stories.
"No place knows its own history better than
Philadelphia," wrote Sir George Trevelyan, the
144

A PICTURESQUE OLD TOWN

broad-minded English historian of the Amer
ican Revolution, and the same expression may
be used in speaking of the town of Carlisle ; but
to get into the heart of the old town one must
walk or motor through its streets with those
who love its history and traditions, or sit with
them on their porticoes on summer evenings and
hear their tales, handed down from father to
son through many generations. These tales
go back to the days when the Delawares, Shaw-
nees and Tuscaroras still lingered upon their
familiar hunting-grounds in this beautiful val
ley and made frequent attacks upon the settle
ments. Indeed, few frontier towns have a more
tragic early history than Carlisle, and many
thrilling stories are to be found in the annals
of the Cumberland Valley. One of the most
interesting of these, and one of the few Indian
tales that has a cheerful ending, is that of the
return of the captives after Colonel Bouquet's
successful campaign of 1764. One of the terms
of the treaty was that the prisoners taken by the
Indians should be returned. Of one joyful re
union Dr. Alfred Nevin has written: "A great
number of the restored prisoners were brought
to Carlisle, and Colonel Bouquet advertised for
those who had lost children to come there and
look for them. Among those that came was an
old woman, whose child, a little girl, had been
taken from her several years before, but she was
145

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
unable to designate her daughter or converse
with the released captives. With breaking heart
the old woman lamented to Colonel Bouquet her
hapless lot, telling him how she used, many years
ago, to sing to her little daughter a hymn of
which the child was so fond. She was requested
by the Colonel to sing it then, which she did
in these words :
Alone, yet not alone am I,
Though in this solitude so drear;
I feel my Saviour always nigh,
He comes my every hour to cheer,
and the long-lost daughter rushed into the arms
of her mother. ' '
This incident occurred more than twelve
years after the settlement of Carlisle, when it
was still a small town, although it had out
grown the limits described by John Neal in 1753,
when there were only five houses and but twelve
men in the garrison. The court was then
held in a log building on the northeast cor
ner of Center Square. Its garrison at Fort
Lowther being so poorly equipped, it is not
strange that Carlisle suffered severely from
Indian depredations.
Shippensburg and other places had been pre
ferred for the county-seat of the newly-elected
County of Cumberland; but James Hamilton,
then Governor of Pennsylvania, was firm in his
determination to have it situated on the banks of
146

A PICTURESQUE OLD TOWN

Le Tort's Spring, a stream four miles in length,
named after an Indian interpreter. In support
of this decision, which the inhabitants of Ship
pensburg considered somewhat arbitrary, the
Governor gave as his reasons that "here
was a wholesome dry limestone soil, good air
and abundancy of vacant land, well covered with
a variety of woods." He also charged his com
missioners, Nicholas Scull and Thomas Cook
son "to take into consideration the following
matters, viz. : the health of the citizens, the good
ness and plenty of water, with the easiest method
of coming at it; its commodiousness to the great
road leading from Harris' Ferry to the Po-
towmac, and to other necessary roads, as well
into the neighbouring county as over the passes
in the Blue Mountains."
In October, 1753, a conference with several
tribes of Indians was held at Carlisle, Richard
Peters, Isaac Norris and Benjamin Franklin
representing the Province of Pennsylvania. Of
this conference and of the Indians, Franklin
wrote in his Autobiography: "As those people
are extremely apt to get drunk, and, when so,
are very quarrelsome and disorderly, we strictly
forbade the selling any liquor to them ; and when
they complained of this restriction, we told them
that if they would continue sober during the
treaty, we would give them plenty of rum when
business was over. They promised this and
147

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
they kept their promise, because they could get
no liquor, and the treaty was conducted very
orderly, and concluded to mutual satisfaction.
They then claim 'd and receiv'd the rum; this
was in the afternoon : there were near one hun
dred men, women and children, and were lodged
in temporary cabins, built in the form of a
square, just without the town. In the evening,
hearing a great noise among them, the com
missioners walked out to see what was the mat
ter. We found they had made a great bonfire
in the middle of the square ; they were all drunk,
men and women, quarreling and fighting. Their
dark-colour 'd bodies, half naked, seen only by
the gloomy light of the bonfire, running after
and beating one another with firebrands, accom
panied by their horrid yellings, form'd a scene
the most resembling our ideas of Hell that could
well be imagin'd; there was no appeasing the
tumult, and we retired to our lodging. ' '
It is quite evident that Doctor Franklin held
the same views as General Sherman as he added
with more philosophy than benevolence: "And,
indeed, if it be the design of Providence to ex
tirpate these savages in order to make room for
cultivators of the earth, it seems not improbable
that rum may be the appointed means. It has
already annihilated all the tribes who formerly
inhabitated the sea-coast."
It is an interesting coincidence that the sav-
148

A PICTURESQUE OLD TOWN

ages, as well as Doctor Franklin, were disposed
to put the blame of their misdeeds upon Provi
dence, for if the latter considered rum a short
and easy method for disposing of the Indian
question, the counsellor who acted as spokes
man of the tribes at the time said in justification
of the savages' drunken brawl: "The Great
Spirit, who made all things, made everything for
some use, and whatever use he design 'd anything
for, that use it should always be put to. Now,
when he made rum, he said, 'Let this be for the
Indians to get drunk with,' and it must be so."
It is difficult for those who wander through
the streets of this pretty and prosperous county-
seat of a fertile and populous valley to realize
that at the time of the visit of Franklin and his
fellow-commissioners, Carlisle was little more
than a frontier fort.
In 1753 Fort Lowther, on High Street near
the Public Square, was a harbor of refuge for
the pioneer and his family. Although, as one
of its annalists has said, "Carlisle showed its
desire to deal justly with the men of the forest
and to live in peace with them, this desirable
millennial condition was so frequently disturbed
by attacks upon the settlers of the valley that it
became necessary to increase the garrison at
Fort Lowther, and finally in 1756 to send an
armed force against Kittanning, where the In
dians had collected large supplies of ammunition
149

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
and provisions. Colonel, afterwards General
John Armstrong, led this successful expedition.
Under his command were William Thompson
and Henry Miller, who with their leader won
their first laurels in the Kittanning expedition,
all three having distinguished themselves later
in the War of the Revolution.
Important as was the part taken by this
frontier town in the French and Indian wars, the
role played by Carlisle and the surrounding
towns of the Cumberland Valley in the War of
the Revolution was even more distinguished.
This beautiful valley, watered by the Conodo-
guinet and its tributaries and almost encircled
by two spurs of the Blue Ridge, known as the
North and South Mountains, sent forth many
valiant sons at the call of their country. Among
those who went to the front in the early days
of the Revolution and reflected honor upon their
home town were Generals Henry Miller, William
Irvine, John Armstrong, Colonel Thomas But
ler, who with his four brothers were known as
"the fighting Butlers," Colonel Robert Mor
gan, one of the defenders of Fort Washington on
the Hudson in 1776, and General William
Thompson, who with his battalion of Pennsyl
vania Riflemen, was said to be the first to reach
Boston from the South in 1775. General Arm
strong, a native of Ireland, early identified him
self with the country of his adoption, and in
150

A PICTURESQUE OLD TOWN

addition to gaining distinction in its service in
two wars, gained the still greater distinction of
being the trusted friend of Washington. The
remains of General Armstrong rest in the beau
tiful old cemetery of Carlisle, which was a gift
from the Penns, where, under its overshadowing
trees lie the ashes of many of the good and great.
In this cemetery Mollie Pitcher is buried. A fine
spirited statue now marks the grave of this
patriotic young woman. So often has discredit
been thrown upon the story of Mollie Pitcher's
services to her country that we feel indebted to
the Hon. Edward Biddle for its painstaking
and satisfactory verification. From Judge
Biddle 's address, delivered in 1916, at the time
of the unveiling of the monument, it appears
that Mary Ludwig came to Carlisle from New
Jersey in 1769 as a domestic servant and soon
after married a young barber named John Hays,
who enlisted in 1775 for one year as a gunner
in Proctor's Artillery. In January, 1777, Hays
reenlisted as a private in an infantry regiment
under the command of Colonel William Irvine,
of Carlisle. This regiment was at Valley Forge
during the severe winter of 1777-78, and
marched from there in June, 1778, to take part
in the Battle of Monmouth. Mary, the wife of
John Hays, went to her New Jersey home some
time prior to the Battle of Monmouth, and the
story of her humane services to the troops is thus
151

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
related by Judge Biddle: "It was an extremely
hot Sunday and many of the soldiers of both
armies perished from exhaustion and thirst.
While the battle was going on, Molly carried
water to the Continental troops from a well in
order to relieve their thirst, and the constant
passing to and fro with a pitcher in her hand is
what has given her the sobriquet by which she
is known in history. The underground spring
from which the water was obtained was con
spicuously marked some years ago by two
wooden signs erected beside it, on each of which
was painted 'Mollie Pitcher's Well.' "
Perhaps her services as water-carrier would
soon have been forgotten if she had done nothing
more on that day in aid of the great cause, but
an even larger service was yet to come. As the
fight raged, she discovered that her husband had
been wounded and that there was no one to serve
the cannon to which he had been detailed. She
at once took his place at the gun and for the
balance of the day, so long as needed, acted as
cannoneer. In commemoration of her heroic
behavior, upon one of the bronze tablets at the
base of the handsome monument which has been
placed on the battle-field, she is represented in
the act of charging a cannon. ' ' After the Revo
lution, Mrs. Mary Hays and her husband re
turned to Carlisle; in 1787 he died, and in 1792
the widow Hays married John McCauley, who
152

A PICTURESQUE OLD TOWN
died in the course of twelve years. Left a widow
a second time Molly earned her living by hard
labor, such as cleaning and whitewashing in pub
lic buildings, as appears from an old book in the
County Commissioners' office which contains
entries of payments made to her. "Under date
of March 29, 1811, 'Molly McCalley, for wash
ing and scrubbing the court-house, in part —
$15.00.' ... On August 5, 1813, an order
which was duly paid was drawn in favor of
'Molly McCawley & others, for cleaning, wash
ing and whitewashing the public buildings —
$22.36.' " These items furnish authentic in
formation concerning her manner of obtaining a
livelihood at that period of her life.
Some of the confusion with regard to the
identity and services of Molly Pitcher may have
been due to the fact that her name, after her
second marriage, was spelled in several different
ways, MoCawley, McCalley, McCauley and
M 'Kolly, under which latter name a pension was
granted by the Legislature of Pennsylvania.
Even if the pension was granted from the state
treasury "for Molly M 'Kolly for her services
during the Revolutionary War" the money was
designed for and received by the widow Mc
Cauley, who as a young woman served her
country and was then called Mollie Pitcher.
State treasurers do not, as a rule, grant pensions
to fictitious characters or to persons little
168

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
known, and at that time, 1822, there were many
residents of Carlisle who knew all about Mrs.
McCauley, her life and services, and could then
have denied the whole story, if they knew it
to be false.
Other honors than those gained by force of
arms belong to Carlisle. One chronicler spoke
of it as the frontier town of an advancing civ
ilization and another wrote of the town and the
section surrounding it as an early center of
peace and counsel. This was literally true as
hither the Indian tribes came up to meet the
white man in council, as they had come to Phila
delphia and Germantown in early days of the
settlement, and later to Lancaster and other
Pennsylvania towns, for in no state were the
natives treated so justly as in this one wbere,
as long as the Quakers had control, the wise
Founder's resolve "to live justly, peaceably
and friendly ' ' with the children of the forest was
carried out.
Pleasantly situated in the middle of a fertile
and well-watered valley, Carlisle offered many
attractions as a place of residence. In addi
tion to such early settlers as the Wattses,
Blaines, Parkers, Bairds, Biddies, Millers, Al
exanders and Reeds, there came hither and
identified themselves with the life of the town
men of distinction from elsewhere, such men as
Chief Justice Gibson, who found relaxation from
154

A PICTURESQUE OLD TOWN
legal studies in the delights of music and was
never known to leave home without his violin.
Another eminent lawyer who made his home
for ten years in Carlisle was James Wilson, a
Signer of the Declaration of Independence and
one of the leading jurists of the country. Al
though Judge Wilson came to Carlisle as a
young man, he had already established his repu
tation as a legal authority, having made some
important rulings in land claims, notably his de
cision upon the warmly-disputed claims of Con
necticut and Pennsylvania to the Wyoming set
tlements in the northeastern part of the latter
state. Judge Wilson's important work as one
of the f ramers of the State and of the National
Constitution was performed later, after his re
moval to Philadelphia.
To this interesting social life, which was
graced by the presence of a number of charming
women and enriched intellectually by the fac
ulty of the recently-established college, the Rev.
Charles Nisbet came from Scotland to be its first
president. Whatever attractions other visitors
found in Carlisle, nothing in its social or re
ligious life appealed to the learned Scotchman,
who seemed to have been as dour as Carlyle in
his most dyspeptic state, as he wrote home that
he found "everything on a dead level, no men of
learning nor taste, and of religious people the
fewest of all." And yet at this time Carlisle
155

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
possessed a number of churches, the Episco
palians and Presbyterians having stately edi
fices in Center Square, and so high did religious
or denominational feeling run in the latter body
that Mrs. John Bannister Gibson was "read out
of the Presbyterian Church for permitting
worldly amusements in her home."
The hospitable Gibson mansion, where the
wit of the host and the beauty of the hostess
made an attractive meeting place for young and
old, is still standing on the corner of North Han
over Street. This fine old residence and the
Watts house on Hanover Street with its beauti
ful Colonial doorway and fine carved mantels
give one some idea of the luxury and style of
Carlisle houses in early days. Although known
as the Watts house, Mr. and Mrs. David Watts
having lived there for many years, this old man
sion was built by Colonel Ephraim Blaine, one
of the early settlers of the Cumberland Valley.
Colonel Blaine, a great-grandfather of the dis
tinguished statesman, James G. Blaine, was him
self a notable person, an officer of distinction
and a trusted friend of Washington, whom he
served as Commissary General of the Northern
Department during the last four years of the
War of the Revolution. This house, a part of
which is now used as his office by Judge Hen
derson, in addition to its fine wainscoting and
exquisite wood carvings, boasts a wonderful
156

Doorway of House of David Watts on Hanover Street, Carlisle

A PICTURESQUE OLD TOWN

landscape paper representing various scenes
from the romantic story of Paul and Virginia,
which has been on the wall for many years and
has been the delight of several generations
of children. The Penrose house on Main Street, in which
members of the family still live, holds many
objects of interest.
Another spacious old mansion on the Main
Street, with a side garden on Bedford Street, is
the Thome house, with its beautiful stairway,
octagonal rooms in which the mahogany doors
are rounded to fit the walls, and wonderful man
tels. A pair of these mantels has found a
home in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
through the generosity of Mr. Francis P. Gor-
ham. One of these, the more elaborate of the
two, represents Commodore Perry's victory on
Lake Erie in 1814, a favorite design at that time.
This stirring scene is cleverly treated in low
relief and is surrounded by a delicate tracery
of scrolls and flowers set in a beaded panel.
In the second mantel the central panel repre
sents a memorial sarcophagus upon which is
inscribed, "To the Memory of Departed
Heroes." These and other beautiful mantels in
the old house are not Adam specimens, as was
thought at one time, but are the work of Robert
Wellford, who did quite a large business in
Philadelphia in the early years of the last cen-
157

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
tury at 96 South Eighth Street, which he called
"Original American Composition Ornament
Manufactory." The work certainly reflects
credit upon the "composer," even if it did not
quite justify his pretentious title.
On the north side of High, between Pitt and
West Streets, is one of the most interesting old
houses in Carlisle.
The Parker house, with its hospitable por
tico, many-windowed facade and its curved
steps, dates back to the early years of the last
century, when it was owned by Isaac Brown
Parker, who came from Avondale, Ireland, when
a boy, to be under the care of his uncle, John
Brown, Esq., in Philadelphia. He was sent to
Dickinson College, Carlisle; later studied law
with Judge Hamilton in Carlisle; married a
niece of Mrs. Hamilton's, Maria Ross Veazey,
from Maryland, and built or rebuilt an old stone
house bought from Doctor Davidson into the
spacious mansion that now stands on High
Street. The building materials for this house
were selected with great care and the plans
made by Mrs. Parker, who doubtless had in mind
some fine old homestead in her own state. Mr.
Isaac B. Parker, after inheriting a large estate
near Philadelphia, removed to that city and
afterward to Burlington, New Jersey. Mr.
Parker's son, John Brown Parker, lived in this
house until his death in 1888. Mr. Parker
158

aisnav^ 'xaaaxg hoijj 'aaxavj NMoag ovvsi ao tioisuvy^

A PICTURESQUE OLD TOWN

was married twice; his first wife was Miss
Margaret Brisbane, and his second wife,
who survived him and lived in the old home
until her death, was Miss Sarah J. Richards,
of Pittsburgh. A little farther along High Street are the
beautiful grounds of Dickinson College, and on
the same side of the street are the residences
of the Hon. Edward W. Biddle and J. Kirk
Bosler, Esq., while opposite to them and at
the corner of Mooreland Avenue are the fine
house and extensive grounds of the late
Johnston Moore.
Many sojourners in Carlisle have doubtless
wondered why a Presbyterian college should
have been named after a Philadelphia Quaker,
John Dickinson, author of the "Farmers Let
ters" and president of the Supreme Executive
Council of Pennsylvania, but after all the reason
is not far to seek. It chanced that Mr. Dickinson
and his lovely wife, Mary Norris, while making a
journey by carriage to the western part of the
state, came as far as Carlisle, and knowing
something of the old town and its people, when
the subject of establishing a college there was
being considered, Mr. Dickinson was interested
and gave liberally in lands in Adams and Cum
berland Counties. He also donated fifteen hun
dred volumes from the Fair Hill Library to the
new institution of learning.
11 159

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
Although Mr. Dickinson was much interested
in the project of establishing a college in Car
lisle and the initial meeting of the board of
trustees was held at his house in Philadelphia
in May, 1783, Judge Biddle says that Dr. Ben
jamin Rush was an even more enthusiastic ad
vocate of the project. He it was who was most
influential in obtaining a charter for the college
and in securing the services of the learned Dr.
Charles Nisbet, of Scotland, as its first presi
dent, which appears from a voluminous corre
spondence between the two gentlemen.
When Doctor Nisbet and his family reached
Philadelphia they stopped for three weeks at
the home of Doctor Rush on Second Street be
fore setting forth upon the long journey to Car
lisle, which seems to have occupied over four
days, as they started on Thursday, June 30th,
and did not reach Carlisle until the evening of
July 4th. We learn from Doctor Nisbet 's letter
to Doctor Rush that there was a stop-over of a
day and night at Lancaster. "We reached the
Waggon Inn on the first day, ' ' he said, ' ' and ar
rived at Lancaster next day by one o'clock.
There we were constrained to stay until next
day by the hospitality of the inhabitants. We
reached York the third day and stayed there
until Monday. I preached for Mr. Campbell in
the afternoon in great weakness on account of
the heat. We left York on Monday, the fourth,
160

A PICTURESQUE OLD TOWN

breakfasted at the half-way house, and were met
by the Light Horse belonging to Carlisle at the
Yellow Breeches Creek, by whom we were con
ducted to the Boiling Springs near the Iron
Works. Here we found the inhabitants of Car
lisle assembled to celebrate the anniversary of
the Declaration of Independence. We dined in
the open air under a canopy of oaken leaves,
in imitation of the Jewish Feast of Tab
ernacles, and after visiting the Iron Works
proceeded in the evening to Carlisle attended by
the company. ' ' *
Philadelphia had much to do with the estab
lishment of this college at Carlisle; not only
was Mr. Dickinson its first president, but upon
its board were such influential and patriotic citi
zens as Dr. Benjamin Rush, William Bingham
and Henry Hill. James Wilson, the learned jur
ist, who belonged to Philadelphia as well as Car
lisle, was one of the trustees, and Colonel John
Montgomery, member of Congress at Annap
olis, and General John Armstrong were both
actively interested in the foundation of Dick
inson College. When Old West, one of the
twelve buildings of the college, was nearly com
pleted, a fire occurred which consumed the
building. This calamity the trustees of the col
lege and the citizens of Carlisle met with gen
erous subscriptions, which were augmented by
^"The Founding and Founders of Dickinson College," by
the Hon. Edward W. Biddle. 161

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
contributions from Thomas Jefferson, then
President of the United States, and by several
members of Congress. Old West soon rose
again in beauty, and as it stands to-day affords
a noble example of academic Colonial architec
ture. As we wandered through the lovely
grounds of Dickinson by the old buildings,
through the "Lover's Lane" and other shaded
paths for the use of pedestrians less amatory,
we were reminded of the many distinguished
men who have come forth from these aca
demic groves, and of the interesting pro
fessors that Dickinson has included in her
faculty. High up in the list of the il
lustrious sons of Dickinson is the name of the
late Spencer Fullerton Baird, whom Carlisle
claims as her own, although Doctor Baird was
not born there. He, however, came to Carlisle
at an early age with his mother, was a graduate
of Dickinson and professor there for some years
before he was called to national service and na
tional honors as secretary of the Smithsonian
Institute in Washington. Although Professor
Baird may not, like St. Francis of Assisi, have
spoken of the birds and beasts as his "little
brothers," he seems to have been equally fond
of all flying, moving creatures, and was wont to
carry animate specimens about in his pocket
and even allowed his small daughter to have a
black snake as a pet.
Another noted graduate of Dickinson was the
162

A PICTURESQUE OLD TOWN
philanthropic, public-spirited citizen and vol
uminous writer, Moncure D. Conway, in whose
honor the late Andrew Carnegie gave Conway
Hall to the college. In his pleasant recollections
of his college days in Carlisle, Doctor Conway
speaks with enthusiasm of the faculty of Dick
inson. Of William Allen, professor of chem
istry, who also included such widely diverse
branches as rhetoric and logic in his repertoire,
he says that Dickinson was fortunate in having
the services of so versatile a scholar as Mr.
Allen, adding that "in his class in logic the text
book was Whateley 's, but Mr. Allen was an abler
man than Whateley." Dr. John McClintock,
professor of Greek, who was acting presi
dent for a time after the death of President
Emory, was one of Doctor Conway's well-
beloved professors, and so clever a teacher that
it was currently reported that he could make
Greek interesting. Professor Baird was, at this
time, the youngest of the faculty. "He was,"
said Doctor Conway, "the beloved professor
and the ideal student." The weekly rambles
with Doctor Baird, when he introduced his class
to his intimates in the world of nature, were
looked forward to by his students as among the
joys of the coming spring.
Nor was the social life of Carlisle purely
academic; there was here, as in all old Penn
sylvania and southern towns, a gayer social
life, and from an old copy of "The Subscription
163

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
Paper of the Carlisle Dancing Assembly," re
cently unearthed by a local historian, Dr.
Charles F. Himes, it appears that the young
people of this Scotch Presbyterian settlement
danced as gaily as those of Quaker Philadelphia.
Indeed, the rules for this assembly are so like
those of the Philadelphia Dancing Assembly of
1748 as to lead one to conclude that the Carlisle
assembly was modeled after the plan of the
older association. This seems more probable in
view of the constant communication between the
two places. In the Carlisle assemblies, as in
those of Philadelphia, ladies were treated with
so much distinction that they were not permitted
to subscribe. "In Carlisle, they were," said
Dr. Himes, "delicately invited by having season
tickets sent them by the managers." Delicacy
of this sort would certainly be appreciated to
day ! The manager of the assembly was a very
important person, and "drest in a little brief
authority," he ruled the dancers with a rod of
iron. The Marquis de Chastellux relates an
amusing story of a sometime manager of the
Philadelphia assemblies who exercised his of
fice with so much severity that it is told of him
that a young lady who was figuring in a country
dance, having forgot her turn by talking with a
friend, he came up to her and called out aloud,
' ' Give over, Miss, take care what you are about !
Do you think you are here for your pleasure?"
As in the Philadelphia assemblies, each set
164

A PICTURESQUE OLD TOWN

was to consist of ten couples, those ladies who
arrived first forming the first set. Every set of
ladies drew for places, but the managers could
place strangers and brides at the head of the
dances. The arrangements were all dignified
and formal, as befitted the stately minuet that
was danced by ladies no less stately and to the
music of the fiddle, which was always in evidence
in the dance of that period.
That the Carlisle dancing assemblies were
extremely popular we learn from various
sources. Several letters from the family of
Miss Emmeline Knox Parker go to prove their
popularity among young men of the time. In a
letter addressed by Mr. James Hamilton in Car
lisle to John Brown, Esq., Pine Street, Phila
delphia, he says : "Almost all the young men of
this place have subscribed to the Dancing As
sembly, 8 nights for 8 Dollars, and which will
be supported by the first Inhabitants of the
place, perhaps one night in the week might be
proper to divert to such an amusement, as young
people if refused a reasonable gratification, will
frequently seek a resource. Your nephew will
not attempt to subscribe without your appro
bation. If you agree to it, it should be on the
condition of withdrawing early, and making up
by increased diligence if possible,f or the portion
of time so appropriated." To this request so
politely and discreetly worded, Mr. Brown
naturally gave his consent, and young Mr. Isaac
165

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
B. Parker joined the gay throng at the modest
rate of one dollar for each night.
From these letters, from many others, and
from diaries of the time, it appears that Carlisle,
in common with Chambersburg, York, Lancas
ter and other southern Pennsylvania towns was
in constant communication with Philadelphia.
Many links, social, business and political, united
these towns with the more important center, and
we learn, on good authority, that the leading
citizens of Carlisle journeyed to Philadelphia
for the latest fashions. Apropos of fashions,
it appears that some high-born dames of this old
town were quite independent of its decrees. It
is said of one of these ladies, Mrs. Lydia Spen
cer Biddle, that when her granddaughters would
object to wearing some garment, which she con
sidered suitable, on the ground that it was not
the fashion, they would be met with the crushing
reply: "When I was young, anything that Miss
Spencer wore was the fashion." This valiant
lady, the grandmother of Professor Spencer F.
Baird, removed to Carlisle after the death of
her husband, William Macfunn Biddle. Mrs.
Biddle 's daughters, Mrs. Samuel Baird and
Mrs. Charles B. Penrose, both lived in Carlisle
for some years, and to add to the Biddle settle
ment there her youngest daughter, Mary, the
wife of Mayor William Blaney, of the Engineer
Corps, established her home in Carlisle after
the death of her husband. A younger brother,
166

A PICTURESQUE OLD TOWN

Edward M. Biddle, married Juliana Watts, of
Carlisle, and became the head of what are gen
erally known as the Carlisle Biddies, to distin
guish them from the very large family in Phila
delphia, all deriving their ancestry from the
same source and marked by many of the same
characteristics. The gayety of the old town was
naturally enhanced by the fact that a number of
officers were quartered at the Carlisle Barracks,
dashing young officers from North and South.
As they galloped through the town on their spir
ited horses we can imagine the bright eyes of
fair damsels following them from the windows
of some fine old house or even waving them
a greeting from some doorway. Fortunate were
those who were invited to enter these hospitable
mansions and partake of such delectable repasts
as Mrs. Dillon has so feelingly described, with
such fried chicken and waffles as come only from
the hands of southern cooks or from those who
have learned the secrets of their art from these
turbaned chefs of Maryland and Virginia.
In the midst of all this pleasant social life,
studious and gay, there came the rumblings of
distant and then near thunder, until in 1861 the
storm burst and the sons of these lovely cities
of the plain went forth to war. Many of the
students of Dickinson were from the South and
naturally returned to their own states, and the
gay cavalry officers quitted what seemed like
playing at soldiers to enter into the stem real
ities of war. 167

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
That the hospitality of Carlisle was appre
ciated by some of the young southern officers
and students was proved at the time of the Con
federate invasion in more than one instance.
General Ewell, who had been stationed at the
barracks before the war, although he made ex
travagant demands for rations, allowed no vio
lence or outrage during his occupation of the
town, according to the testimony of old inhabi
tants. "At one prominent home the family had
retired that anxious Saturday night, only to be
aroused by a ring at the bell. On asking who
wished entrance and receiving a well-known
name in reply, the ladies timidly said, 'Do you
come as friend or as foe?' 'Always as friend
to this house,' was the quick response." Which
was pleasing evidence of a good memory as well
as a grateful heart at this critical time." a
Our minds still dwelling upon the many asso
ciations of this old town, we motored through
the Main Street and on toward the highway
leading to Harrisburg, stopping on our way at
the handsome and well-equipped library founded
in memory of a well-known citizen of Carlisle,
Mr. J. Herman Bosler. Standing in this beau
tiful library we could not but wish that every
town in Pennsylvania of any size had a library
approaching this in equipment, for only by
means of such libraries can the education and
uplift of the rising generation be attained.
' " Carlisle Old and New."

VIII
FROM CARLISLE TO HARRISBURG
A loveb of his sitate and one especially de
voted to his own portion of it, finds fault with
the plans for a motor trip through middle and
southern Pennsylvania, in which Carlisle and
the delightful route from Harrisburg to Car
lisle has been left out.
' ' The route, ' ' he says, ' ' to Carlisle from Har
risburg is over the State Highway, and the sec
tion between Harrisburg and Carlisle is one
of the finest pieces of construction ever done by
the State Highway Department. This route
is the logical one from Harrisburg to Get
tysburg and is generally followed by tourists
and travelers."
We quite agreed with this writer's estimate
of the charms of this part of the Highway, which
is also the trolley route, and passes by Boiling
Springs, a public park and pleasure resort, and
many other places. All approaches to Harris
burg are attractive, whether by train, trolley
or motor; but the most beautiful by far is by
the Lincoln Highway and across the great spans
of the bridge, whose central piers stand on a
large island in the Susquehanna. From this
169

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS

bridge the many spires of the town rose before
us, all dominated by the dome of the Capitol,
which, standing on its hilltop, shining white
against the blue sky and bathed in sunny light,
as we saw it this afternoon, seemed to us in
beauty only second to the National Capitol on
its famous hilltop. The river drive along which
we sped is the favorite residential street of
Harrisburg, which is not to be wondered at, for
no more beautiful site for a town house could
be found. Here is the Executive Mansion and
also the fine old houses of the Camerons, Halde-
mans, Pearsons and other early residents of
Harrisburg. Indeed, the banks of the Susque
hanna seem to have been considered a desirable
situation for a town, at an early date, as John
Harris, who came here about 1719, found several
Indian villages on or near the present site of the
capital, and it is said that in answer to a given
signal sixty or seventy warriors could be assem
bled at the village of Peixtan, where Harrisburg
now stands. The Indians of this region belonged
to the Six Nations, whose villages were to be
found farther north and south on the Susque
hanna and at the mouths of the Conodoguinet
and Yellow Breeches Creeks.
The first John Harris came from Yorkshire,
England, and lived in Chester and Lancaster
Counties before he settled in this region, where
he was the first English trader. Here he estab-
170

FROM CARLISLE TO HARRISBURG
lished his Ferry, which soon became so well
known that letters from abroad with no other
address than John Harris, Harris' Ferry, N.
America, frequently reached him. He had two
houses on the Susquehanna, one a trading post
surrounded by sheds, in which were stored skins
and furs obtained by traffic with the Indians,
who brought them from the western country;
the other house was his home, farther back from
the river, surrounded by a great stockade. Mrs.
Harris, of English birth like her husband, seems
to have been a quick-witted woman, possessed of
the character and courage needed in pioneer life.
The gate of the stockade was usually care
fully guarded by a man detailed for the pur
pose. One night while the family were at sup
per, this man with them, the gate was by some
mistake left open. Suddenly the report of a
gun was heard, which showed that Indians were
near. Mrs. Harris quickly extinguished every
light in the house and the family was unmolested.
John Harris is said to have lived on fairly
good terms with the surrounding Indians ; but
one thrilling experience of his is among the
cherished traditions of Harrisburg. It seems
that a band of roving Indians from the Caro-
linas halted at his trading post to exchange their
goods, probably for rum, of which the savages
had already had too much. They became riot
ous in their drunken revelry and demanding
171

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
more rum were refused by Mr. Harris, who be
gan to fear harm from his visitors. Not to be
denied they again demanded "Lum," and seiz
ing him they took him to a mulberry tree near by
and bound him to it, intending to burn him after
they had helped themselves to his stores. Before
the savages were able to carry out their evil
designs, some friendly Indians arrived upon the
scene, having been warned of the danger to his
master by Hercules, a faithful colored servant
of Mr. Harris. It is said that these friendly
Indians had come to the rescue of Mr. Harris
in consequence of some act of kindness which
they had received from him.
The grave of John Harris may be seen on the
river bank nearly opposite the Cameron house
and is now enclosed by a railing. He was buried
under the mulberry tree to which he had once
been bound, and at his feet rest the remains of
the faithful Hercules, who had saved his mas
ter's life. There are men still living in Harris
burg who remember the stump of the historic
mulberry tree which residents of Harrisburg pre
served for years by applying cement and plaster,
and later a shoot from the original tree flour
ished and bore fruit to which children strolling
along the river bank would stop and help them
selves. The grave of a Seneca Half Chief is
said to be in or near the old Harris lot, but if so
it is unmarked. The second John Harris, who
172

FROM CARLISLE TO HARRISBURG

founded the city of Harrisburg, is buried at Pax
ton, in the graveyard of thePresbyterian Church.
John Harris, Jr., must have been a man of
remarkable foresight and vision, as he seems
to have grasped the possibilities of the city of
Harrisburg and is said to have predicted that
it would become the center of business in this
section and in time the seat of government
of Pennsylvania. Mr. Harris was a patriotic American, but
when tbe question of the independence of the
Colonies was agitated he hesitated, as did John
Dickinson and other patriots, feeling that so
radical a measure was somewhat premature and
doubting the ability of the Colonies to with
stand the power of Great Britain. When, how
ever, the Declaration was adopted, his son, Rob
ert Harris, said that his father took him and his
mother aside and read to them the Declaration
"from a Philadelphia newspaper." When he
concluded it, he said : ' ' The act is now done ; I
must take sides either for or against our
country. The war in which we are engaged can
not be carried on without money. We have 3000
pounds in the house, and if you are agreed I
will take the money to Philadelphia and put it
into the hands of Robert Morris to carry on the
war. If we succeed in obtaining our indepen
dence, we may lose the money, as the Govern
ment may not be able to pay it back, but we will
173

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
get our land." She agreed, and he carried the
money to Philadelphia and deposited it in
the Treasury.1
There is a story to the effect that the elder
Harris built the substantial stone mansion still
standing near Harris Park, but the date of its
erection, 1771, which is given on the capstone,
entirely controverts that theory. This house,
built by John Harris, Jr., may have been upon
the foundation of the old Harris house with its
stockade. It remained in possession of the Har
ris family until about 1838, when it was pur
chased by Col. Thomas Elder and, at his death,
by the Rev. Beverly R. Waugh for the use of
the Pennsylvania Female College, of which he
was principal. Finally the executors of the Rev
erend Waugh 's1 estate sold the house to Simon
Cameron, who remodeled it, and with so much
taste that it presented much the same appear
ance as the original building. If these ancient
walls could speak, they would have many
an interesting tale to tell, as the house
passed through many hands. It was, at one
time owned by Mr. Jacob M. Haldeman, a
grandson of Jacob Haldeman, of Neufchatel,
Switzerland, the founder of the American fam
ily. Mr. Jacob M. Haldeman, after being en
gaged in the iron business with great success,
•"History of the Cumberland Valley," by Harriet Wylie
Stewart. 174

FROM CARLISLE TO HARRISBURG
made his home in Harrisburg. Mrs. Haldeman,
a daughter of Samuel Jacobs, was born at Mount
Hope Furnace, Lancaster County. I was glad
to see the old mansion again, as it had an espe
cial interest to me. My earliest recollection of
Harrisburg is of a stop overnight at Mrs. Halde
man 's with my father, who was a warm friend
of the Haldeman family. Mr. Haldeman was
not living at this time ; but his widow impressed
my childish mind as the most wonderful old
lady I had ever seen and the most elaborately
dressed. Mrs. William Haly, Mrs. Haldeman 's
married daughter, took me under her especial
care and fascinated me by the quickness with
which she moved, her ready wit and warmth of
manner like an Irish woman, she seemed then
and ever after, a little woman with a laughing
face, a bright color in her cheeks, and with the
smallest feet I had ever seen on a grown woman.
I remember making her laugh when I asked her
if a pair of slippers by her bedside belonged
to a child. Mr. William Haly, I have heard, had
a most tragic death, having perished in a fire in
a hotel in Philadelphia many years since.
One afternoon some of my friends took me
through the fine park and by the reservoir which
furnishes the town with an abundant supply
of pure water. Another afternoon we motored
to Marietta, south of Harrisburg on the Sus
quehanna, a pretty old town, with the houses
12 175

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
quite near the street after the Pennsylvania
fashion. They tell us that the houses were so
placed in pioneer days as a protection against
the Indians, and this was the reason given us
for the same placing of the houses in the old
French-Canadian villages. There the houses,
close together and near the road, extended for
miles, the garden and sometimes large farms
lying back of them for some distance. A good
reason this, for an arrangement that did not
add to the beauty of the town, safety being of
more importance than beauty.
Some hours, one morning, we spent in the
Capitol, and although we had seen it many times
we were impressed as never before with the
noble proportions of the entrance hall and ro
tunda and with the infinite care that had been
taken with the selection of rare marbles and
woods from all parts of the world. Some of the
heavy elaborate chandeliers in the Hall of Rep
resentatives we would cheerfully have dis
pensed with, and we were glad to turn from
them to admire again Miss Violet Oakley's
interesting mural paintings in the Governor's
reception room.
Beautiful as are the Capitol, the State Li
brary and other new buildings in Harrisburg,
my chief interest was in the old homes which are
associated so closely with the history of the state
and the nation. Among these is the Maclay
176

Old House or Hon. William Maclay, Front Street, Harrisburg

FROM CARLISLE TO HARRISBURG
house on Front Street, as this lovely drive and
promenade is called. Mr. William Maclay, first
United States Senator from Pennsylvania, was
the owner of this fine house with its Colo
nial portico, and lived here during Washing
ton's administration and for many years after.
Mr. Maclay married a daughter of John Harris,
Jr., and is said to have helped his father-in-law
to lay out the city of Harrisburg. This gentle
man naturally wished the national capital to
be placed in his own state, in Harrisburg pref
erably, and when he found that the choice of the
President and Cabinet was tending toward the
ten-mile square on the Potomac, he expressed
himself with much bitterness and not a little
dry humor. Many other public men shared Mr.
Maclay 's views with regard to the placing of
the capital, and it is not strange that this state,
whose chief city had been the scene of the most
important legislation during the Revolution,
and whose able financiers, Robert Morris and
Thomas Willing, had supplied the Commander-
in-Chief with the sinews of war, should- have
been favorably considered in this connection.
President Washington came in for a full share
of criticism at the hands of the Pennsylvania
Senator, being, as he thought, too much under
the influence of Alexander Hamilton, who, to
Mr. Maclay 's mind, represented the arch-enemy
of trae democracy. Indeed, Senator Maclay 's
177

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
expressions with regard to the President are
so violent that we wonder now that he took the
risk of confiding them to his diary. On one occa
sion he exclaimed: "If there is treason in the
wish, I retract it; but would to God this same
General Washington was in heaven ! We would
not have brought him forward as the constant
cover to every unconstitutional and unrepub-
lican act."
This in itself was an indirect compli
ment to the character of Washington, as it
plainly revealed this Senator's opinion as to
the final destination of the much-criticized
Chief Executive.
When Mr. Maclay realized that the location
of the national capital was bound up with the
Assumption Bill, and that the President had
been inoculated with the "funding disease," he
exclaimed in hot indignation: "Alas that the
affection — nay, almost admiration — of the peo
ple should meet so unworthy a return ! Here are
their best interests sacrificed to the vain whim
of fixing Congress and a great commercial town
(so opposite to the genius of the Southern
planter) on the Potomac," etc.
According to Mr. Jefferson's statement in
his ' ' Anas, ' ' the site of the capital was not really
decided in Congress, but over the Virginia
statesman's dinner-table. It may have been to
this dinner that Mr. Maclay referred when he
178

FROM CARLISLE TO HARRISBURG
wrote in his New York diary, July 20, 1790:
' ' There was a dinner this day which I had no no
tice of, and never thought of such a thing. ' ' Mr.
Jefferson, then Secretary of State, had recently
returned from abroad. Colonel Hamilton met
him in front of the President's house, and as
the two walked up and down the street together,
Hamilton explained to Jefferson the strained
relations between the North and South. If, he
argued, the North accepted the bill for the as
sumption of the domestic debt and secured the
"residence of the capital" for a northern city,
Mr. Hamilton clearly saw before the country
dangers and difficulties, even the secession of the
Southern states ; while, on the other hand, if the
war debt of twenty millions were not assumed
by the general government, it was feared that
the Eastern or creditor states might secede from
the federation. Plainly, a compromise was nec
essary in the opinion of the wise and far-seeing
Hamilton. Mr. Jefferson pleaded ignorance of
the matter, as he had been abroad. He would,
he said, be pleased if Colonel Hamilton would
dine with him the next day, meet a few Vir
ginians and discuss the question calmly over
Madeira and punch. Like many other important
matters, the site of the capital was decided over
a glass of wine, for before the guests quitted
the table a compromise was agreed upon, and
in this case one that the nation has never had
reason to regret. 179

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
And thus, whether for good or ill, Harris
burg lost its chance of being the capital of the
Republic, and Mr. Maclay 's animadversions
were all to no purpose. His fine old house still
stands on the river bank, but is no longer in the
possession of the Maclays. A daughter of Sen
ator Maclay married Dr. Henry Hall ; their son,
William Maclay Hall, a lawyer, laid out Lewis-
town and became one of the brilliant advocates
of the Juniata Valley. Mr. Hall afterwards
studied for the ministry and for some years
presided over the Presbyterian Church in Bed
ford, Pennsylvania.
An evening in Harrisburg never forgotten
by those who were in the confidence of the chief
actors in the drama was that of February 22,
1861. Governor Curtin, Colonel Alexander K.
McClure and Major William B. Wilson have all
given graphic and interesting descriptions of
that eventful afternoon and evening, when Mr.
Lincoln and his party were on their way to
Washington. The story, as they told it, is known
to many persons, but within a few months the
diary of Miss Margaret Williams, who was with
her father in Harrisburg at this time, has come
into my hands, and while agreeing in all points
with the account given by the other raconteurs,
adds some intimate, human touches that could
only come from the pen of a woman.
Miss Williams is the daughter of the Hon.
180

FROM CARLISLE TO HARRISBURG
Thomas Williams, of Pittsburgh, an able law
yer and an eloquent speaker, a member of the
State Legislature in 1861 and among those ap
pointed to accompany Mr. Lincoln to Washing
ton. She and her sister Agnes, afterwards the
wife of Henry Pemberton Senior, of Philadel
phia, were naturally the recipients of many
courtesies, which Miss Williams speaks of so
modestly in her charming narrative.
Of the reception of the Presidential party
in Harrisburg, after leaving Philadelphia in
the morning and making short stops at Lan
caster and other towns en route, Miss Wil
liams says :
"Harrisburg was reached at two o'clock, the
arrival being announced by firing a salute, and
as the President-elect appeared on the platform
he was greeted with enthusiastic applause and
immediately conducted to the waiting barouche
with six white horses. Reaching the Jones
House, on the Square, he went to the bal
cony and was introduced to the people by
Governor Curtin in the presence of more
than five thousand."
During the reception "which took place in the
parlors of the Hotel, after that in the Hall of
the Representatives, Colonel Sumner presented
to us the young men of the party, and Mrs.
Lincoln asked to have us introduced to her, and
then invited us, through my father, to join the
181

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
party for Washington. We had each passed our
twentieth milestone, and, of course, were thrilled
with the prospect, and accepted the invitation
with pleasure and expected to leave Harrisburg
with Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln and party the follow
ing morning at nine o'clock for Baltimore."
While Miss Williams and her sister were
making their plans for the next day, a very im
portant dinner was being given to Mr. Lincoln
by Governor Curtin. He and Colonel McClure
both spoke of this dinner as a very dismal affair,
the conversation turning on the President's trip
to Washington the next day, and the warnings
that had been given of a plan to assassinate Mr.
Lincoln at Baltimore. Of this dinner and the
events following it, Colonel McClure says :
"Dinner was hastily served, when the ser
vants were cleared from the dining-hall, and
Governor Curtin stated the facts to the dining
guests, and insisted that Lincoln's programme
should be changed. Every one present promptly
responded in approval, and the only silent man
at the table was Lincoln. I sat near enough to
him to watch and study his, face, and there was
not a sign of agitation upon it, and when he was
called upon to give his views it was at once made
evident to all that he thought much more of com
manding the respect and honor of the nation
than of preserving his life. His answer was
substantially and, I think exactly, in these
182

FROM CARLISLE TO HARRISBURG
words : 'I cannot consent. What would the na
tion think of its President stealing into its Capi
tol like a thief in the night? ' Scott was a master
alike in keenness of perception and swiftness
of execution. He at once directed the Governor
to take Lincoln down to the front of the hotel,
where there were multitudes awaiting to cheer
them, and loudly call a carriage to take them to
the Executive Mansion, as that would be the
natural place for them to go. They entered the
carriage, drove up along the river front toward
the Executive Mansion and then made a detour
to reach the depot in thirty minutes, as in
structed by Colonel Scott. I accompanied Col
onel Scott to the depot, where he first cleared the
track of his line to Philadelphia, forbidding any
thing to enter upon it until released, and with
his own hands cut all of the few telegraph wires
which then came into Harrisburg. A locomotive
and a car were in readiness at the time ap
pointed a square below the depot, where Lincoln
and Curtin arrived with Colonel Lamon, and
Lincoln and Lamon entered the car for their
journey. When I shook hands with Lincoln and
wished him God's protection on his journey,
he was as cool and deliberate as ever in his life. ' '
This special train came into West Philadel
phia about 10 o'clock. Only one person in Phila
delphia was advised of Mr. Lincoln's move
ments and that was Superintendent Kenney, of
183

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore
Railroad, who met Mr. Lincoln and Colonel La
mon in a carriage with the intention of taking
them unobserved to the regular night train for
Washington a few minutes before the time of its
departure from the depot of the Philadelphia,
Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad at Broad
and Washington Avenue. But when it was seen,
on the arrival of Mr. Lincoln at West Philadel
phia, that there would be nearly an hour before
the train for the national capital would leave
the downtown depot, the driver of the carriage,
which evidently had come across the old Market
Street bridge, and which contained Mr. Lincoln,
Colonel Lamon and Pinkerton on the inside,
Kenney riding with the driver on the box seat,
was ordered to take a roundabout course with
the purpose of consuming time. Many highly-
exaggerated stories have been circulated of the
events of this night, which were quite dramatic
enough without embellishment. The fact, as
stated by those who knew most about it, is
simply that Mr. Lincoln and Colonel Lamon, to
gether with Pinkerton, walked to the sleeper and
got into it without being known to anybody,
and the train, which the conductor had been in
structed to hold until he heard from Manager
Kenney, pulled out of the station only five min
utes late. Seven hours later, or at 6 o'clock
the next morning, it was in Washington, and
184

FROM CARLISLE TO HARRISBURG
then, telegraphic communication having been
restored, a despatch of four words in cipher to
Colonel Scott informed the rest of the Presi
dential party in Harrisburg and the railroad
men who were in the secret, that all had gone
well. The message as agreed upon was : ' ' Plums
delivered nuts safely."
Miss Williams and her sister knew nothing
of the change of plans until the next morning,
when she says: "On Saturday morning, the
twenty-third, at the appointed hour, by the
scheduled time, Mrs. Lincoln, her three sons,
Robert Tadd, William Wallace and Thomas,
familiarly called Bob, Willie and Tad, Colonel
Ellsworth, Captain Pope, Judge Davis. Mr.
Hay, Mr. Nicolay, my father and other members
of the committee, left Harrisburg, we accom
panying them, with Colonel Sumner as major-
domo. On reaching Baltimore a dreadful-look
ing mob, called 'the Plug Uglies,' collected
about the train peering into the windows and
calling for 'Lincoln.' Finding he was not there,
a call went forth for 'Bob,' who, with courage
commanding admiration from all, including the
mob, appeared on the platform. I recall that
the three young men, Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Nicolay
and Mr. Hay, were armed with revolvers lest
need therefor should occur. We all dined at
the Eutaw House in Baltimore, driving from the
station in an omnibus. My father, on taking
185

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
off his hat to bow, was reproved by a member
of the party, who said, 'Put on your hat, Mr.
Williams ; you might be taken for the President
and shot!' Arriving in Washington that eve
ning Mr. Seward met the guests at the station,
and I was put by Colonel Sumner into the car
riage with Mrs. Lincoln and Mr. Seward. Upon
protesting that this was not my place, I was told
'it was all right,' and off we drove. Mrs. Lin
coln was kind and agreeable, Mr. Seward grave,
and in my youth and inexperience I thought him
unresponsive or absent-minded. Later, realiz
ing his responsibility, I more than forgave him.
"At Willard's, parlor No. 6, with a spacious
suite of apartments, had been hastily prepared
for the guests early the preceding day, and on
reaching the hotel, Mrs. Lincoln took me with
her to the parlor, where we found Mr. Lincoln
in an armchair, with the two children, Willie
and Tad, climbing joyously over him — a beauti
ful picture which still lingers in my memory."
Miss Williams says that Mr. Lincoln asked
her to sing, and upon enquiring what he would
like, he said "something sad." She chose a
little song called "Alone" that she had heard
sung by Miss Ella Stewart in Pittsburgh, but
which she had never seen in print, to which she
had improvised an accompaniment. ' ' The song
was sad," she says, "but not so sad as Mr.
Lincoln's face, which was indeed the saddest I
186

FROM CARLISLE TO HARRISBURG

have ever seen, though when he smiled it was
one of the most attractive."
In the evening there was a reception at Wil-
lard's when, at Mrs. Lincoln's request, Miss
Williams and her sister Agnes assisted her in
receiving, as did Senator Simon Cameron's
daughters, Jennie and Margaret, afterwards
Mrs. Wayne McVeagh and Mrs. Richard J.
Haldeman. Miss Williams gives a description
of the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln and of the
ball in the evening, the latter of especial value
because so little was said of the Inaugural Ball
in the newspapers at the time, and it has even
been stated that there was no ball. That there
was a ball is proved by Miss Williams' descrip
tion and by that of Mr. Seward, in his auto
biography, which agrees in the main with Miss
Williams' account, although lacking certain
personal details.
In describing the day that meant so much to
the nation, Miss Williams says: "Monday,
March the fourth, was, as the day grew older,
bright and sunny. Before going to the inau
guration my sister and I waited at the hotel to
see Mr. Lincoln start for the Capitol, accom
panied by Mr. Buchanan. As personal guests
of the President-to-be, my father and we girls
enjoyed a close view of the impressive cere
monies; we heard the famous inaugural ad
dress and saw the venerable Chief Justice Taney
187

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
administer the oath of office to Mr. Lincoln, as
he had done to his seven predecessors, Van
Buren, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce
and Buchanan.
"In the evening we attended the ball held in
a temporary building erected for the purpose
on Judiciary Square. It has been said that there
was no ball on that evening, and many of the
newspapers of the following days are silent on
the subject. My formal invitation, with its long
list of Committees of Arrangements, I still have,
as well as my Dance Programme."
It is a curious coincidence that this historic
ball should have been overlooked by most of
Mr. Lincoln's biographers. Mr. Seward, in
speaking of it, says : ' ' There was no crowd, little
dancing and, one might say, little gayety. The
guests assembled were, for the most part, re
fined, well-dressed people with a more serious
air than is usual on occasions of festivity. Many
of those who attended, like those who had sub
scribed, did so because it was an opportunity to
display fidelity to the Union. Of course, the
chief topic of the conversation was about
the Inaugural."
After the ball, Miss Williams says that her
father returned to Harrisburg, and she and her
sister remained in Washington under the care
of Senator Cameron's family.
The Camerons, both father and son, were
188

FROM CARLISLE TO HARRISBURG
probably more in Washington than in their own
city for some years, as they at different times
represented Pennsylvania in the Senate of the
United States, and in addition to this they both
held important Cabinet positions, and yet the
name of Cameron belongs distinctly to Harris
burg, in common with such other old names as
Haldeman, Pearson, Espy, Findlay, Shunk, Al-
ricks, Dock, Forster, Elder, Hamilton and Sar
gent. The Hon. Simon Cameron was Mr. Lin
coln's Secretary of War, and his son, James
Donald Cameron, or "Don Cameron," as he was
so generally called that his full name was un
known to many persons, held the same position
in the Grant administration. Both the Cam
erons were men of much ability and born lead
ers, as appears from many incidents in their
careers. During his residence in Washington,
a warm friendship grew up between "Don Cam
eron" and the New England historian, Henry
Adams. These two men were probably drawn to
each other on account of their dissimilarity, each
one in a way representing a type of his own
section. However this may be, Mr. Adams spent
much time with the Cameron family in Wash
ington and on their estate in Scotland.
After getting off one of his remarkable para
graphs on the Pennsylvania mind, for which
Mr. Adams expressed some admiration on ac
count of its practical ability, he then summed
189

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
up the characteristics of Senator Cameron:
"Perhaps it [his mind] owed life to Scotch
blood ; perhaps to the blood of Adam and Eve,
the primitive strain of man ; perhaps only to the
blood of the cottager working against the blood
of the townsman ; but whatever it was one liked
it for its simplicity. ' ' 2
Would Senator Cameron, himself, have been
likely to count simplicity his leading character
istic? Certainly higher encomiums have been
paid to the character and ability of this states
man, but none quite so picturesque as that from
the pen of the New England historian. To the
Charms of Mrs. Cameron, Mr. Adams pays the
following glowing tribute: "Senator Cameron,
of Pennsylvania, had married in 1880 a young
niece of Senator John Sherman, of Ohio, thus
making an alliance of dynastic importance in
politics, and in society a reign of sixteen years,
during which Mrs. Cameron and Mrs. Lodge led
a career without succession as the dispensers of
sunshine over Washington."
' " The Education of Henry Adams," p. 332.

IX
WESTWARD HO! TO PITTSBURGH
I had been reading about the experiences of
Mr. Prolix during his trip to the West, and as I
sped along in one of the luxurious cars of the
Pennsylvania Railroad, I could not help con
trasting the present methods of travel with
those of 1836. Mr. Prolix had come by a canal
boat from Columbia, the terminus! of the new
railroad, and up the eastern bank of the Susque
hanna, by the pretty town of Marietta to Dun
can's Island, only stopping a half hour at
Harrisburg to take on and let off passengers.
In those days the west-bound travelers stopped
over night at Mrs. Duncan's on the island of the
same name. This large island, sixteen miles
west of Harrisburg, at the junction of the Sus
quehanna and the Juniata Rivers, was once the
home of the Shawnese and the site of a large
Indian village. Here the first John Harris at
tempted to establish a trading station, but Chief
Shikellamy objected and even appealed to the
Provincial Council, upon which Harris with
drew, thus saving his scalp in all probability;
13 191

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
others less wise lost theirs at the same place,
some years later.
Mr. Prolix was probably too busy getting the
cinders out of his eyes, of which the travelers at
that time complained so bitterly, to give his
attention to tales of Indian adventure. He, how
ever, had recovered his good nature sufficiently
to describe this island hostelry as a "spacious
mansion where passengers, were accommodated
for the night or with meals." The next morn
ing another packet boat took the passengers
along the Juniata, passing Millerstown, Mexico,
and Mifflin, arriving, before sunset of an August
day, at Lewistown, a distance of forty miles.
This town had about sixteen hundred inhabi
tants, some of whom he said made excellent beer,
and after testing its excellence the forty pas
sengers on the boat took to their cabins for the
night, and after passing Waynesburg and
Hamiltonville, they were at Huntingdon early
the next morning. The journey to Huntingdon
seems to have occupied the best part of a day
and night, progress being slow, at the rate of
three and a half miles an hour, which gave Mr.
Prolix plenty of time to observe his fellow-
travelers, who, as he said, "presented as many
specimens of natural history as the ark of Noah.
The cabin in which the passengers ate their
meals and spent their days, was turned into a
dormitory by night, there being three tiers of
192

WESTWARD HO TO PITTSBURGH
berths in which thirty-six persons could be
accommodated. Abaft the cabin was the kitchen
in which an emancipated or escaped slave from
Maryland or Virginia usually was the cook;
the meals were pronounced good, the cost vary
ing between twenty-five cents as the minimum
and thirty-seven and a half cents or three levies,
as the maximum. ' ' 1 He who complains of the
discomforts of travel in our well-appointed cars
may find grounds for contentment with his lot
by reflecting upon the experiences of Mr. Prolix
and his human menagerie all cooped up in one
cabin. Another drawback to this method of
travel was that the surpassingly beautiful scen
ery along the route could not be enjoyed to any
extent by the travelers on the canal, as their
only promenade was the roof of the cabin, where
every step was taken at the risk of decapita
tion by the bridges under which the boat passed
at short intervals. The tourists were assured
that this accident did not often happen, inas
much as the man at the helm was constantly on
the watch and would give notice of the danger by
crying out "bridge!" Even in view of this
warning there must have been a sense of in
security about these promenades on deck, which
interfered with a serene enjoyment of the beau
ties of nature.
1 'Teregrinations Through the Pleasant Parts of Penn
sylvania," by Peregrine Prolix. 193

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
The journey from Harrisburg to Huntingdon
is now made in less than three hours. Hunt
ingdon is an interesting old town on the banks
of the Raystown branch of the Juniata, and one
of the old stopping places on the way to Bedford
Springs. The land upon which the town is situ
ated was bought by Dr. William Smith, Provost
of the College of Philadelphia "for the consid
eration of three hundred pounds by deed dated
March 25th, 1766, to include Hugh Crawford's
improvements." A year later Doctor Smith
had a town laid out, which he named Huntingdon,
in honor of Serena, Countess of Huntingdon, in
grateful remembrance of her liberal donation to
the College of Philadelphia, now the University
of Pennsylvania. The town for many years
went by the name of Standing Stone Place, or
Crawfords; but that rather unwieldly title was
later given up, and it has for years been known
by the name given it in memory of the lovely
and pious Countess of Huntingdon, the liberal
patroness of George Whitfield. This lady seems
to have sat lightly to the thing's of earth, using
her great wealth for religious and benevolent
purposes during her lifetime, and leaving her
fortune for the support of sixty-four chapels
which she had built. This information was given
to me by a fellow-traveler who evidently had a
warm admiration for Lady Serena. She, my
compagnon de voyage, being intelligent, as well
194

WESTWARD HO TO PITTSBURGH
as communicative, enlivened the journey by re
lating to me odd bits of local history. The coun
try near Altoona and northward toward Belle-
f onte was, she said, full of iron furnaces and
forges now abandoned. One of these, called
Sabbath Rest, was noted as being the first fur
nace in this region to stop work over Sunday.
Mr. Bell objected to having his men work on
Sunday and on trying the experiment of bank
ing his furnace for twenty-four hours, and find
ing it successful, he adopted this plan with the
good result of giving the hands a rest over
Sunday, after which the name of the furnace,
Elizabeth, was changed to Sabbath Rest.
Altoona cannot by any stretch of the imagi
nation be counted a thing of beauty, and yet the
Logan House, changed but little in many years,
always has a friendly look to me, recalling an
early trip across the mountains to Pittsburgh,
with a stop-over for refreshments at this house,
when hot cakes of a superior quality were
eaten, with dangerous rapidity, between trains.
No griddle cakes in later years have seemed
quite as delectable as those so hastily devoured
at the old Logan House. This house was named,
according to Doctor Shoemaker, after John
Logan, a well-known Indian of this region, a son
of Chief Shikellamy, known as a good Indian.
Shikellamy named his three sons Logan; why,
no one knows. It may be that he exchanged
195

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
names with James Logan of Stenton as did
Chief Wingohocking. Be this as it may, the
name of Logan is to be found all through
western Pennsylvania.
"James Logan, is perpetuated in Clinton
County," says Dr. H. W. Shoemaker, "by two
springs, a run and a gap in Nittany Mountain,
the village of Loganton and Logan Mills, as well
as Logan Township, and in Mifflin County by the
Logan Spring near Reedsville. John Logan, or
Captain Logan, has the Logan Valley, also the
celebrated old Logan House in Altoona."
The greatest claim to distinction possessed
by the Logan House is that here was held an im
portant conference of the loyal war governors,
in September, 1862, at a critical period of the
Civil War.
After a short stop at Altoona we sped on
ward by the wonderful Horseshoe Curve at Kit
tanning Point, a marvellous triumph of engi
neering skill, as my companion assured me with
quite commendable state pride, and so by Cres-
son and Ebensburg, both beautiful mountain
resorts, and very much frequented before the tide
of summer travel set northward.
Greensburg, my agreeable and informing
companion pointed out to me, as a town from
which many important Pittsburgh families had
come, a pretty town built on many hills, with
a town hall whose shining dome makes one think
196

WESTWARD HO TO PITTSBURGH
of the famous gilded dome of old Boston. Soon
after We steamed into the handsome station
of East Liberty. I was reminded once more
that the greatest beauty of this city is to be
found in its many attractive suburbs, where its
wise citizens have elected to live away from the
smoke and dust of this great manufacturing
center. Spacious mansions and fine lawns are
to be found in East Liberty, Murray Hill, Se-
wickley, and other places outside of Pittsburgh.
And this, my companion told me, was the case in
the early years of the last century, as the homes
of Judge Wilkins, Judge Finley, John Woods,
the Wallaces, the Watsons, Ewarts, Denneys,
Schenleys, Fosters, and many more prominent
citizens were situated at Homewood, Braddock,
Minersville, and Allegheny town, as this large
city, now a part of Pittsburgh, was once called.
Judge William Wilkins' house at Homewood,
built in 1836, was considered the finest piece of
architecture west of Philadelphia, and near by
was the old Finley homestead.
The Homewood Mansion was situated on an
estate of over six hundred acres, and was sur
rounded by extensive grounds, outbuildings and
gardens. The most attractive feature of this
fine house, its beautiful classic portico, faced on
Penn Avenue, with steps leading into the shaded
lawn. The interior of Homewood was as hand
some as the outside, and in the spacious rooms
197

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
many distinguished guests were entertained, as
Judge Wilkins, jurist, statesman, diplomat and
patriot, was one of the leading men of the state.
Another interesting historic house is Mor-
ganza, as it was here that Aaron Burr's con
spiracy was first suspected by his host, General
Morgan, whose timely warning prepared Presi
dent Jefferson to meet the danger threatening
the Republic.
The Wallaces are said to have owned the
oldest habitation in Braddock, and here the
Marquis de Lafayette was entertained in 1825,
after visiting Uniontown, Brownsville, the Brad
dock Field, and other places in western Penn
sylvania. One of the interesting houses which
belonged to very early days in Allegheny town
was that of General William Robinson on Fed
eral Street, near the bridge. General Robinson
was the first Mayor of Allegheny, and so public-
spirited a citizen that he gave some ;of the
property adjoining his lawn for the use of the
Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad.
According to family chronicles among the Robin
sons, Miss Mary Parker, a daughter of Major
Alexander Parker, who lived near Carlisle, made
the long and difficult journey across the Alle
gheny Mountains to visit some friends in Pitts
burgh. There she met General William Robin
son, who fell in love with her, and offered his
hand and heart, both of which Miss Parker ac-
198

WESTWARD HO TO PITTSBURGH
cepted, and by so doing very cleverly avoided the
tiresome return trip to her distant home.
Mr. Brown Parker wrote from Pittsburgh
on September 7, 1811: "Arrived here this
day in the mail stage at one o'clock from
Philadelphia. Put up at the Stage House, the
best Public House in the Town. Judge Tilghman
at the same House. . . . Most of the vacant
ground in and about the Town is owned by a few
rich men, as Gen. 0 'Hara, Wilkins, Neville, etc. ' '
The home of Mr. Benjamin Page, which is
still standing in Allegheny, was next to that of
Mrs. Thomas Barlow where the Marquis de
Lafayette was entertained. Mr. Oliver Ormsby
Page, in writing of this visit, says :
"Lafayette arrived in Pittsburgh on Mon
day, the thirtieth of May, 1825, and remained
here until the following Wednesday. The gen
eral and his suite were lodged at Darlington's
Hotel, corner of Fifth Avenue and Wood Street,
where the First National Bank building now is.
On the evening of his arrival a grand ball was
given at Colonel Ramsey's Hotel, at the corner
of Third Avenue and Wood Street, which must,
indeed, have been a gala occasion. From one
of the old invitations we learn that the man
agers of this function were Henry Baldwin,
William Eichbaum, Jr., Trevanion B. Dallas,
Samuel Pettigrew, David C. Page, Alexander
Johnston, Jr., James Ross, Jr., Thomas Clay-
199

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
land, John S. Riddle and William D. Duncan.
On Tuesday, the second day of his visit, Lafay
ette was entertained at luncheon by Mrs.
Thomas Barlow, at her house, at the northeast
corner of what is now Stockton Avenue and
West Diamond Street, in Allegheny town,
which, with the adjoining mansion of Mr. Ben
jamin Page (still standing, being the brick house
where Mrs. Joseph S. Brown now lives) and
that of the Reverend Joseph Stockton, at the
northeast corner of what is now Arch Street,
were, with the frame meeting-house of the First
Presbyterian Church, about the only buildings
in the street at that time. It was extremely
rural in Allegheny then, and all three houses
were surrounded by extensive grounds; Mr.
Page's having a fine garden in the rear. Mrs.
Barlow, who had known Lafayette in France,
was the daughter of Mr. Henry Preble, who
settled in France as an importing merchant,
and was a niece of Commodore Preble. Her hus
band had been secretary of legation under
his uncle, Joel Barlow, minister to France dur
ing the administration of President Madison.
Those invited by Mrs. Barlow to meet the dis
tinguished guest were Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Davis,
Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Page, the Reverend
Joseph Stockton and Mrs. Stockton, Miss Han
nah Davis and Mr. John Morrison. Mr. Page's
youngest daughter, Martha Harding Page
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WESTWARD HO TO PITTSBURGH
[afterwards Mrs. Charles Scott Brent of Ken
tucky] , then nine years old, contributed the fol
lowing charmmg reminiscence of the occasion :
'About a dozen of the neighboring children,
dressed in white with pink sashes and wreaths
of roses on our heads, received him at the gate.
I remember a tall man stooping to Mss each one
of us on our foreheads ; then he took the Madam
by her hands and kissed her on each cheek.
I remember a commotion, many people; it all
comes back to me now like a dream; seventy
years is a long time to look back.'
"On this same day Lafayette was shown
through the Pittsburgh Flint Glass Works.
Levasseur, his secretary, in his published ac
count of the voyage, has the following to say in
this connection: 'After having devoted the day
of his arrival to public ceremonies, the general
wished to employ a part of the next day in
visiting some of the ingenious establishments
which constitute the glory and prosperity of that
manufacturing city, which, for the variety and
excellence of its products deserves to be com
pared to our Saint-Etienne or to Manchester
in England. He was struck by the excellence
and perfection of the processes employed in the
various workshops which he examined; but that
which interested him above all was the manufac
ture of glass, some patterns of which were pre
sented to him that, for their clearness and trans-
201

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
parency, might have been admired even by the
side of the glass of Baccarat.' "2
Two beautiful vases, made at the works of
Messrs. Bakewell, Page and Bakewell, were pre
sented to Lafayette. "On one of them is shown
a view of the chateau at La Grange engraved in
a medallion, and on the other the American
eagle, likewise in a medallion." These vases,
which belonged later to a granddaughter of
Lafayette, were loaned by her to the French
Commission and exhibited at the World's Fair
in Chicago in 1893. A letter of thanks from the
Marquis de Lafayette is still in existence, of
which the following is a copy :
Gentlemen :
The patriotic gratification I have felt at the sight of
your beautiful manufacture is still enhanced by the friendly
reception I have met from you and by the most acceptable
present you are pleased to offer me. Accept my affection
ate thanks, good wishes and regards, Lafayette.
This letter of the Marquis de Lafayette was
addressed to the firm of Bakewell, Page and
Bakewell, of which Mr. Benjamin Bakewell was
a member. Mr. Bakewell 's home, Maple Grove,
was also in Allegheny in a part of the town then
called Manchester. It was afterwards inherited
by Mr. Bakewell 's grandson, Mr. Benjamin
Campbell, and it is about this house and garden,
"From magazine article written by Mr. Oliver Ormsby
Page, in 1895. 202

WESTWARD HO TO PITTSBURGH
which were associated with her childhood, that
Margaret Deland, the novelist, wrote her beau
tiful poem, "The Old Garden."
Once more I see thee, but forlorn and bare,
And desolate of human hopes and fears.
Sagging on rusty hinges hang thy doors,
And in thy empty rooms no sound is heard
Save only when upon the echoing floors
Last autumn's drifted leaves are faintly stirred.
Braiding the darkness of the wide, bare hall,
The flick'ring sunshine softly comes and goes,
And 'gainst the broken plaster of the wall
Is blown the shadow of a climbing rose.
• »*»»»
Closed on three sides by crumbling walls of brick,
All spotted by slow-creeping lichen stains,
And nearly hid by ivy, matted thick,
And dim with clinging mists of years and rains,
The Garden lies.
******
And there the primrose stands that as the night
Begins to gather and the dews to fall,
Mings wide to circling moths her twisted buds,
That shine like yellow moons with pale, cold glow,
And all the air her heavy fragrance floods,
And gives largess to any winds that blow.
Here, in warm darkness of a night in June,
While rhythmic pulses of the factories flame
Lighted with sudden flare of red the gloom,
And deepened long black shadows, children came
To watch the primrose blow! Silent they stood,
Hand clasped in hand, in breathless hush around,
And saw her shyly doff her soft green hood
And blossom — with a silken burst of sound !
203

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
The Pages, Phillipses and Ormsbys, all re
lated by blood or marriage, made quite a little
settlement of their own clan in Allegheny town.
They all lived upon what was then called the
Second Bank, the descent of the canal forming
a natural terrace, one bank rising above the
other. This street has since been named Stock
ton Avenue, in honor of the Reverend Joseph
Stockton whose house and church were on the
Second Bank.
The Ormsbys were descended from Captain
John Ormsby, of Connaught, Ireland, who acted
as commissary to General Forbes in his expedi
tion against Fort Duquesne. Captain Ormsby
in his diary gives a vivid description of the suf
ferings of this army and of the blowing up of
the fort by the French, and speaks of the in
trepid spirit of his commander who was so ill
that he had to be carried on a litter. ' ' You may
judge," he said, "our situation when I can as
sure you that we had neither flour, flesh meat
or liquor in store; the only relief offered for
the present was plenty of bear meat and venison
which our hunters brought in and which our
people devoured without bread or salt. There
were several parcels of pack-horses loaded with
provisions coming up from the inhabited coun
try, but the savages seized the most of them and
murdered the drivers. Our emaciated General
Forbes was a brave soldier, but was afflicted
with a complication of disorders."
204

WESTWARD HO TO PITTSBURGH
Captain Ormsby also speaks, of General
Stanwix, whose work was to rebuild Fort Du-
quesne, and of Colonel Bouquet's expedition.
' ' I forgot to mention, ' ' he saysi, ' ' in the course of
this narrative in the year 1763, that the murder
ing Indians who robbed me and murdered my
people laid siege to the old fort in Pittsburgh,
and as I had a house there and a few goods in
remnants, etc., I chose to stay there and assist
in defending it from the savages, etc. The vile
Indians continued to block up our garrison for
near three months, when Colonel Bouquet was
ordered to proceed to Pittsburgh at the head of
about 1500 men, part regulars. The savages,
having early intelligence of this march, watched
Bouquet's motions very narrowly until the army
encamped on a dry, ridge within about thirty
miles of Pittsburgh. Here the savages collected
all their forces and attacked Bouquet on all sides
in a furious manner, being sure of their prey as
they served Braddock. The English army was
in a wretched situation, as the Indians: very art
fully secured all the springs of water in that
neighborhood. Thus they were all day without
a drop of water but what they sucked out of the
tracks of beasts, as, happily, a small rain fell.
As Bouquet in the beginning ordered an encamp
ment to be made of the bags, saddles, etc., the
Indians still advanced that way where the sick
and wounded lay in a deplorable condition. In
20s

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS

this deplorable situation of the English army a
certain Captain Barret, who commanded a small
detachment of Maryland Volunteers, informed
Bouquet that he and his army would be out off
if they followed that mode of fighting. Bouquet
then agreed to his proposal, which was that a
quick march should be ordered toward the
breastwork, which would take up the attention
of the Indians, while two small squads should
run around the savages, and upon beating a
flaen, they should rush up and give the savages
a general volley in their rear, which had the de
sired effect, for the Indians were sure that a
reinforcement attacked them. They broke up
and ran and yelped up the hills and the English
in close pursuit of them as far as prudence
would permit. The English then began their
march and arrived safe at Pittsburgh next day
without being molested by the Copper Gentry.
If Captain Barret had not happily suggested the
above manoeuvre, the savages intended to storm
the camp, and very probably would have
massacred the chief part of the army. ' '
After many vicissitudes and adventures Cap
tain Ormsby finally settled in Pittsburgh with
his family as he says, in 1764, "married a Miss
McCallister, who made me very happy, not only
in bringing me five beautiful children, but as
sisted me with the great industrie to satisfie our
206

WESTWARD HO TO PITTSBURGH
creditors and to bring up our children in the
fear and admonition of God." 3
It is difficult to believe that scenes such as
those described by Captain Ormsby were ever
enacted in the now peaceful and prosperous city
of Pittsburgh. From earliest times its wonder
ful position, at the confluence of two great rivers,
seems to have marked it as the site of a great
manufacturing center, and all travelers who
came here, our friend Prolix among them,
prophesied for the town a brilliant future.
Colonel Daniel Broadhead, commander of
Fort Pitt, said in February, 1780 :
"I conceive it [Pittsburgh] will within a few
years after peace is established be one of the
first places of business of any inland town in
America." The old soldier's words came true
within a decade. ' ' Agriculture proving unprofit
able, the people of Pittsburgh turned their ener
gies to manufacturing. Then was the town
started on the road to prosperity along which it
has been traveling with such enormous strides
ever since. This great step was taken largely by
reason of the immense demand from Kentucky
and the West for articles of iron, copper,
brass and other things which Pittsburgh's
matchless coal deposit made it possible to make
so advantageously.
' ' The first largemanuf acturing establishments
" Unpublished Diary of Capt. John Ormsby.
14 207

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
in the Pittsburgh district were built in 1784, a
year which for several reasons is an epochal one
in its history. Colonel Stephen Bayard and
Major Isaac Craig, two of the leading men of
the village, erected a distillery, a saw mill and
a salt works, the latter on the Big Beaver Creek.
Another reason why this year is notable is the
fact that it marks the first laying out of the
town on a comprehensive scale. Owing to the
enormous demand for lots, Colonel Woods, sur
veyor; for the Penns, laid out the entire town
below Grant and Eleventh Streets, retaining the
Campbell plot of 1764. The pantograph used by
him in this important work is now in possession
of his granddaughter, Miss Mary C. Woods, of
Hazelwood, this city.
' 'Some years later General James 0 'Hara es
tablished his glass works on the South Side near
the Point bridge. This gallant old soldier, at
one time Quartermaster General of the United
States Army, was the leading citizen of Pitts
burgh, and as his ventures show, was certainly
its most enterprising capitalist and merchant.
* * * General O'Hara was the grandfather
of the late Mrs. Mary E. Schenley, and the
founder of the vast Denny and Schenley estates
of this city. He was one of the most generous
and public-spirited men of his day."4
Thus Pittsburgh, which was spoken of in
'"History of Pittsburgh," by Hartley M. Phelps.
208

WESTWARD HO TO PITTSBURGH
Scott's Gazette of 1795 as "a post town advan
tageously situated for carrying on an extensive
inland trade with the western country," was
rapidly developing into the great commercial
center which it was destined to become early in
the next century.
Some hours were spent in the beautiful Car
negie Library; indeed, one should never go to
Pittsburgh for a day without stopping to enjoy
this wonderful building and its valuable collec
tions. An interesting circumstance with regard
to the founding of this library, and all the others
that spread their blessings through the land, is
their raison d'etre.
It appears that Colonel James Anderson
opened his private library of four hundred vol
umes to the boys of Allegheny on Saturday even
ings, when young Carnegie was working twelve
hours a day for $1.25 a week. He said that he
looked forward all week to the pleasure of get
ting a book at Colonel Anderson's, which he
could enjoy over Sunday, and then and there he
vowed that if he ever became rich he would
found libraries for the people. Later, when
Andrew Carnegie was the clerk of Mr. Thomas
A. Scott, at $35 a month, he wondered what on
earth Mr. Scott could do with the magnificent
sum of $125 a month that he was receiving as
Divisional Superintendent of the P. R. R.
Fortunately Andrew Carnegie's mind broad-
209

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
ened with his opportunities, and when great
wealth came to him he was able to realize the
dream of his boyhood. ' ' A new era in the city 's
life was signalized," says an old inhabitant of
Pittsburgh, "by the opening' in November, 1895,
of the superb Carnegie Institute, the gift of
Andrew Carnegie to the people of Pittsburgh.
This supplied a long-felt need for the facilities
by which art, science, literature and music could
be studied and enjoyed. Through the generous
gifts of Mr. Carnegie, Pittsburgh was supplied
with a fine system of free libraries. Prior to
the building of the Allegheny and Pittsburgh
Carnegie Libraries this city had only one insti
tution of any magnitude in this line, the old
Pittsburgh Library in the Library Hall building
on Penn Avenue. ' '
Educational work of vast importance is now
being done by the big library in Schenley Park
through the distribution of books to clubs in
homes and elsewhere. The magnificent Phipps
Conservatory, also in the park, was donated to
the city about the same time as the Carnegie
Institute by Henry Phippsi, Esq., Mr. Carnegie's
former partner in the steel business. Thus,
through the generosity and foresight of some of
its citizens who have acquired large fortunes in
Pittsburgh, this great manufacturing city has
also become an educational center.
The citizens of Pittsburgh have also been
210

WESTWARD HO TO PITTSBURGH
generous in providing their municipality with
an admirable system of public parks, of which
Mr. Phelps says : ' ' Beginning with the parking
of Highland Park in August, 1889, the magnifi
cent Schenley Park was acquired a few days
later, a gift of the late Mrs. Mary E. Schenley.
Then through the efforts of the Director of
Public Works, Edward M. Bigelow, who was in
strumental in securing these two parks, seven
others were laid out and beautified in various
parts of the city. The city now has one thousand
acres of public pleasure ground. Mr. Bigelow
also procured for the people Beechwood and
Grant Boulevards, two fine driveways, affording
splendid views of the wonderful manufactur
ing plants of the city and the latter 's abundance
of picturesque scenery."
Highland Park, one of Pittsburgh's beautiful
pleasure grounds, is well named, situated as it
is on the heights, and from an elevated plateau
on one side it commands a wonderful view of
the great city, with its many factories, churches,
public buildings and handsome homes. From
this height one can see the meeting of the two
great rivers, which form a peninsula of the point
of land on the end of which Fort Pitt once
stood, a wonderful panorama and one never to
be forgotten !

X
WASHINGTON, PENNSYLVANIA, AND THE
BRADDOCK TRAIL
A pleasant party among my friends was
made up to motor from Pittsburgh to Bedford
Springs, stopping over night at Washington.
This stop-over was a concession and made in
order to give me an opportunity to see this town
of which I had heard so much. It was after
wards decided that two of the party should go
by trolley, as this route abounds in wild and
beautiful scenery, and so we found it. After
crossing the broad Allegheny on a fine bridge,
we entered a long tunnel, evidently drilled
through the solid rock, a triumph of engineering
skill, and then by a bridge that seemed to swing
in mid-air, from which we looked down on deep
ravines and abrupt precipices. We concluded
that this was the nearest approach to an aerial
flight that could be found on terra firma, so
high were we above the houses and villages
in the valleys below us. Later we gained more
level ground and passed through a number of
little villages, the unattractive hamlets that be
long to most manufacturing regions, after which
the tram carried us through a rolling, fertile,
farming country. Near Washington, Canons-
212

WASHINGTON AND THE BRADDOCK TRAIL
burg was pointed out to us as the site of one
of the earliest western colleges. An English
school or grammar school, started here in 1791,
claims the distinction of being the foundation
of Jefferson College in Philadelphia. This
school was chartered as an academy in 1794, the
trustees meeting at the home of Colonel Can
non, and James Allison being chosen its
first president.
The sums of money contributed towards the
support of the academy at Canonsburg were
pitifully small, according to modern ideas, and
even these pittances were not infrequently paid
in wheat, rye and linen. The latter contribu
tion usually came from women who prepared the
flax and spun the linen themselves. Tea and
even whiskey were received in payment of con
tributions, the amount all told amounting to
three hundred and fifty dollars per annum. This
small sum represented a generous share of the
earnings of many persons, and spoke more elo
quently than words of the devotion to learning
of that simple, hard-working community. In
later and more prosperous times, when Jeffer
son College succeeded the academy, the salary
of one of its early presidents "was advanced"
to the munificent sum of seven hundred dollars.
Days of plain living and high thinking were
these early times in western Pennsylvania!
The town of Washington was long known as
213

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
Little Washington, a, title that its inhabitants
repudiate now that its population has reached
over twenty-five thousand. We were told that
the factory hands here were chiefly Americans,
in which Washington differs from most Penn
sylvania manufacturing towns. An industrial
center of importance, a busy, prosperous town,
with many handsome buildings and private resi
dences is the Washington of to-day ; but what in
terested us more than its present prosperity was
what is left of the old village, laid out in 1781,
and claiming to be the first town in the United
States named after George Washington.
We soon made our way to Washington and
Jefferson College and found the old building of
1793, with its lovely portico and vine-covered
walls, far more interesting and picturesque than
the more spacious and well-equipped modern
buildings. Washington College is really very old,
having been chartered in 1787, several years
before Jefferson College in Canonsburg was
established. Later the two colleges were united,
"after many conferences and much sharpshoot-
ing of words on both sides," as an early chron
icler states, "in which no one was killed and
few wounded."
After spending some time in the fine col
lege library and enjoying the beautiful hillside
campus, we strolled along College Street, with
its pretty houses all shaded by fine trees, and
214

WASHINGTON AND THE BRADDOCK TRAIL
then turning into East Maiden Street we were
in the old part of the town. Passing by a gray
house there suddenly blazed — I can use no other
word — a hillside garden of such beauty and
brilliancy as one may see only under a June
sun, with roses, poppies, larkspur, foxglove,
ragged robins, phlox and delphiniums, all vying
with each other to create a high festival of color.
It was my good fortune once to be in Venice
in June, and to be welcomed to Mrs. Barcett
Browning's garden, the American daughter-
in-law of the poet, a garden of white Annuncia
tion lilies and old-time sweet pinks. For some
unaccountable reason these two gardens have
linked themselves together in my thoughts, and
if I were a poet I should be writing a poem
about them, both beautiful, one full of life, color
and the rich creative spirit of June as it basked
under its warm sunshine; the other fairy-like
and lovely as I saw it in the afternoon light, but
with no more warmth about it than the saints
and angels of Fra Angelico 's paintings. It is a
far cry from that garden of Venice in those days
of peace and happiness to the distracted and im
perilled Venice of this year, 1917, and a still
further cry back to the safety of our own state
and the gay garden on Maiden Street.
While standing by the fence and looking
longingly at the delights enclosed by it, like two
Peris at the gate of Paradise, it was sud-
215

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
denly opened to us, my companion having been
recognized as a friend of the owner of this
enchanting spot. The house adjoining the gar
den belonged to Doctor Lemoine, a learned man
and the first advocate for cremation in America.
When we became enthusiastic over the
beauty so lavishly spread before us, we were
told that the suns of a hundred summers and
the snows of as many winters had conspired to
bring the garden to its present perfection. As
we walked joyously among its borders, led from
flower to flower by the chatelaine, who loaded us
with flowers, and seeds from rare plants, she
told us of Little Washington and the men and
women who had lived here. One tale of especial
interest to us was that in the Ladies Seminary,
a little farther along on Maiden Street, Miss
Rebecca Harding was teaching when she wrote
her story, ' ' Life in the Iron Mills. ' ' It was read
and approved by a young editor, Mr. Clark
Davis, who, after the fashion of old-time editors,
requested the privilege of corresponding with
the authoress — editors have no time for such
amenities nowadays ; they would talk to the lady
over the long-distance 'phone instead, and there
would be no romance. The privilege was
granted; Miss Harding and Mr. Davis met later,
fell in love with each other, were married, and
to them were born two sons, both writers by
inheritance, the elder being Richard Harding
216

WASHINGTON AND THE BRADDOCK TRAIL
Davis, whose early stories we loved and whose
death we mourn as a loss to American literature.
The aroma of the sweet old story seemed to fit
in with the fragrance and the charm of the gar
den, where Miss Rebecca Harding, a friend of
the chatelaine, often wandered from flower to
flower as we wandered on that June day.
The remainder of our party joined us in an
auto the next day, when we set forth for Sum
mit, passing through a number of old historic
towns, by Library and Ginger Hill to Bealls-
ville, where there is a very interesting old tav
ern, known in stage-coaching days as the Wil
liam Greenfield Stand, now called the National
Hotel, and still offering hospitality to man and
beast, the latter being represented to-day by
the automobile.
At Brownsville, a few miles farther east, was
one of the earliest settlements in western Penn
sylvania, having been the home of Nemacolon,
an Indian chief, who guided Colonel Cresap
across the Alleghenies on his first journey from
Old Town, Maryland, to the Ohio country, which
was then considered farther west than anything
that we know to-day. This path through the
wilderness was long known as Nemacolon 's
Route. There are now three Brownsvilles, and from
a hilltop near by these towns, smoky and grimy,
look like a miniature Pittsburgh. Our way lay
217

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
through West Brownsville and across the
Monongahela, which is situated on a tract of
land known as Indian Hill and includes Krepp
Knob, now the United States Triangulation Sta
tion. This town was the birthplace of James G.
Blaine, his great-grandfather, Neal Gillespie,
a native of Ireland, having purchased the Indian
Hill property. The Blaine homestead has been
torn down.
It is rather interesting to know that the
earliest settler on Indian Hill, William Peter,
left his home because he failed to agree with his
German neighbor, Philip Shute. The Govern
ment listened to a request made by Peter and
granted him three hundred and thirty-nine acres
of land, including Indian Hill, where Browns
ville now stands. This was in 1769.
For many years Brownsville was the head of
navigation on the Monongahela; and during the
busy days of the old Pike it was an interior port
of great importance. Naturally, it became also
a popular stopping and transfer point for trav
elers and there were several famous hotels ; the
principal one to-day is the Monongahela, in the
downtown business center, occupying the site
of an older one of the same name.
In passing through these old towns of Penn
sylvania, we had a curious sensation of the near
ness of the past, as Washington was in this part
of Pennsylvania before and after the Revolu-
218

WASHINGTON AND THE BRADDOCK TRAIL

tionary War. In 1753 he was sent by Governor
Dinwiddie, of Virginia, when he was only
twenty-one, to investigate the encroachments of
the French on the Ohio River. Washington has
left a very interesting account of this expedition
in his diary and letters. He spoke of being very
courteously received by the French officers, who
invited him to dine. Afterwards he said : ' ' The
chief officers retired to hold a council of war,
which gave me an opportunity of taking the
dimensions of the fort and making all the ob
servations I could."
On the return trip, when Washington left
his escort and horses with Van Braam, he set
forth with Christopher Gist to make the journey
home on foot, as the horses had given out from
overwork and he felt that the information he
had to give to the Governor was too important
to be delayed until fresh horses could be found.
It was upon this journey that in crossing the
Allegheny on an improvised raft Washington
and Gist were thrown into the icy river. They
saved themselves by catching at the logs of the
raft and finally reached an island where they
passed the night, shivering in their frozen gar
ments. The next day the river was frozen hard
enough to enable Washington and his companion
to cross to the left bank on foot, and so they
reached Frazer's at the mouth of Turtle Creek
on the Monongahela. While waiting for horses,
219

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
which it required some time to find, Washington
wrote: "I went up about three miles to the
mouth of the Youghiogheny to visit Queen Ali-
quippa, who expressed great concern that we
passed her in going to the fort. I made her a
present of a match coat and a bottle of rum,
which latter was thought much the better pres
ent of the two."
Many fanciful stories have been told about
this Indian Queen, probably without any founda
tion in fact. It is evident, however, that she was
a lady who exacted tribute from passersby, and
young Washington was fortunate in knowing
something of her tastes.
Most of our tour was over the National Road,
and we were suddenly reminded that the build
ing of a great highway to cross the Alleghenies
and connect the then remote settlements in the
Ohio Valley with the centers of industry and
commerce in the East was a favorite plan of
General Washington's. From his diary we
learn that in the autumn of 1784, between the
closing of his military duties and his call to
the Presidency, he made a tour of exploration
and inspection from the Potomac to the Ohio.
From Cumberland to Laurel Hill he passed
through a region which had been made familiar
to him thirty years before by marching through
it on his own campaign of 1753 and '54 and
with General Braddock in 1755. Arriving at the
220

WASHINGTON AND THE BRADDOCK TRAIL
Youghiogheny, he embarked in a canoe with
an Indian pilot, and passed down that river to
Ohio Pile Falls, where he landed, and thence
rode across the country to the Monongahela and
up the valley of that river.
On one occasion, when seated in a hunter's
cabin near the Virginia line, examining maps and
asking questions of a number of frontiersmen
who stood around him relative to the passes of
the mountains and the adaptability of the
country for the construction of the road which
he had in mind, a young man of foreign appear
ance who was among the bystanders volunteered
an opinion indicating a certain route which he
believed to be the best for the purpose. At this
interruption Washington regarded the speaker
with surprise and with something of the im
perious look of the Commander-in-Chief, but
made no reply and continued his examination.
Upon its completion, the General saw that the
opinion expressed by the unknown speaker was
undoubtedly well founded and, turning to him,
said in a polite but decided way, "You are right,
young man ; the route you have indicated is the
correct one." The young stranger proved to
be Albert Gallatin, afterwards Secretary of the
Treasury of the United States and one of the
principal promoters of the construction of the
great National Road to the Ohio. It was here
that Washington first formed the acquaintance
221

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
of Gallatin, a friendship that continued during
the lifetime of the Chief.1
Albert Gallatin owned a country home on the
right bank of the Monongahela about twelve
miles sduth of Uniontown, which accounts for
his sudden appearance among the frontiersmen
whom Washington was consulting.
From the upper Monongahela Washington
passed through the county of Washington to the
Ohio River. Four years later he was elected
President of the United States, and during the
eight years of his administration he continued
a steadfast and earnest advocate of the project
of a great highway to be constructed by the
Government across the Alleghenies for the pur
pose of binding more firmly together the eastern
and western sections of the United States.
The beginning of many of the old western
Pennsylvania towns was the tavern or inn, the
wayside inn being greatly in request in stage-
coaching days, as it is destined to be in these
touring times. Then it was not considered be
neath the dignity of gentle folk to keep these
hostelries, consequently we find many good old
Pennsylvania names associated with its taverns.
We passed a number of old taverns between
Brownsville and Uniontown, Brubakef 's, The
Red Tavern and the famous Searight House, a
large stone building on the north side of the road
l" History of Washington County."
222

Friendship Hill, Former Home of Hon.
Uniontown

Albert Gallatin, near

Ben Lomond, Built 1785 by Henry Beeson, Founder of Uniontown

WASHINGTON AND THE BRADDOCK TRAIL
about halfway between Uniontown and Browns
ville; it was built by Josiah Frost about the
time the National Road was constructed and
acquired by William Searight in 1821. "Lo
cated at an important cross-road, this was in the
olden times one of the noted taverns along the
road — not only a popular place for social ac
tivities, but also a sort of political center for
Uniontown, Connellsville and Brownsville. The
original William Searight was road commis
sioner on the old Pike for many years; at his
death his son, Ewing Searight, came into pos
session of the property and rented it to various
persons who conducted a tavern, and ran it two
years himself. His son William used it as a
private residence until his death; it is now
owned by Searight McCormick, a grandson of
Ewing Searight, and occupied as a pri
vate residence."
A number of handsome residences and fine
grounds skirt the National Road, among them
the Ben Lomond, built by Jacob Beeson, one of
the founders of Uniontown, in 1785, and
later the residence of Daniel Moore and L.
W. Stockton.
Beyond the railroad, the trolley turns to the
left, while the Pike keeps straight on, past a
number of fine residences. To the right is the
Uniontown Hospital, and just beyond we passed
Oak Grove Cemetery, where one can see from
IS 223

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
the street the grave of Thomas B. Searight,
author of "The Old Pike."
"Mr. Searight spent practically his whole
life along the National Road, and wrote largely
from the personal, human side, as no historian
of the present day could hope to do. No other
work on the subject gives so great an insight into
the Old Pike days ; the book is now practically
out of print, though available in most large
libraries. At his request, Mr. Searight was bur
ied as close as possible to the old road he had
studied so long and known so well."
"Uniontown, the first place of importance
west of the Allegheny Mountains on this route,
is a small but very enterprising and prosperous
city, depending now, as for nearly a hundred
years past, largely upon the National Pike for
direct connections East and West."2
From plans still preserved in Uniontown it
appears that Washington not only owned prop
erty about fifteen miles north of Uniontown, but
drew a plan for a town very much like that used
later for the capital on the Potomac. On this
chart is a central "diamond," and streets radi
ating from it very much as they do in the beau
tiful city of Washington. Nothing seems to
be left of the projected town, which was named
Perryopolis, except an old mill which Washing
ton had built as an important part of his town.
» " The National Road," by Robert Bruce.
224

>X
o"0

WASHINGTON AND THE BRADDOCK TRAIL
We afterwards passed through Uniontown
on our way to Summit, where we spent the night
at a hotel situated on the tiptop of a mountain.
In the woods, a short distance from the Summit
Hotel, are the Washington Springs, the place
of General Braddock 's tenth encampment,
according to Mr. Lacock: "This Indian camp
was in a strong position, being upon a high rock
with the very narrow and steep ascent to the
top. It had a spring in the middle and stood at
the termination of the Indian path to the Monon
gahela, at the confluence of Red Stone Creek."8
It was near this spring that Washington sur
prised a party of French and Indians under
Jumonville, killing the latter and several of his
men and carrying the others off captive. This
engagement, preceding as it did the surrender at
Fort Necessity and Braddock's defeat, as
Francis Parkman says, "began the war that
set the world on fire ! ' '
The next day we came again upon traces of
Washington, as Fort Necessity, where he sur
rendered to a superior force of French and
English, can be seen from the National Road.
This was July 4, 1754. A tablet erected by the
Centennial Celebration Committee in 1904
marks the spot where the old stockade stood.
This place was long known as Great Meadows.
And over a road running a short distance south
' Robert Orme's Journal. 225

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
of the National Road, General Braddock passed
in June, 1755, with two picked British regiments,
young Washington being on his staff. Before
reaching Great Meadows, Washington was
taken ill with a fever and was ordered by his
general to stop for rest at the ford of the Yough
iogheny. This name, difficult to unaccustomed
tongues, is Indian, of course, and was probably
the Youghhannie, meaning Four Streams, refer
ring to the Monongahela and its three branches
at Turkey Foot. The Youghiogheny is now
spanned by a substantial three-arched bridge on
which is a bronze tablet recording the fact that
Washington had crossed this stream three times.
This place which he always spoke of in his let
ters as Big Crossings is now Somerfield, and
the roadside inn, now called the Youghiogheny
House, was formerly the Endsley House.
Young Colonel Washington remained here at
the ford much against his will, having extracted
a promise from his general that he should be
allowed to join the army before it reached Fort
Duquesne, for as he wrote to his friend, Rob
ert Orme, he would not miss the impending bat
tle for five hundred pounds. His fever hav
ing somewhat abated, through the efficacy of
Dr. James' Pills, as he wrote to his mother, or
because of his iron constitution, but being still
too weak to sit on his horse he was conveyed to
the front in a wagon and in the nick of time,
226

WASHINGTON AND THE BRADDOCK TRAIL
as the next day, July 9th, the troops forded the
Monongahela and attacked the fort.
Doctor Franklin and Washington, both of
whom knew something of the methods of In
dians, had warned General Braddock of the
danger of a surprise, the latter receiving a
severe rebuke as an answer to his warning.
When the surprise came from French and In
dians ambushed, the young Virginian again
begged the General to throw his men into the
woods but all in vain. Fight in platoons they
must or not at all, says Lodge. The result was
they did not fight at all. Braddock was mor
tally wounded and his troops broke into a wild
rout and fled. Even now we cannot think of this
battle without a quickening of the pulses. The
experienced General, carrying on the attack,
according to British tactics, successful in other
wars, but not adapted to the situation, while the
young soldier, his eyes shining with the fierce
light of battle, led on his own Virginia troops
in a gallant but futile effort to stay the tide of
disaster. It was in this battle that Washington
had two horses shot under him and four bullets
through his coat.
This of^repeated tale must be trae, as it
comes from a letter written by Washington to
his mother soon after the battle, and we doubt
his ever telling that stern Virginia matron any
thing but the exact truth, as she, herself, at the
227

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
height of his fame, when encomiums were heaped
upon him always met them by saying, ' ' George
was a good boy."
Colonel Washington 's death was reported in
the Colonies, together with his dying speech,
which, as Washington wrote to his brother with
a sort of dry humor that belonged to him, he had
not yet composed.
When the troops broke it was Washington
who succeeded in gathering together the scat
tered remnants, and it was he who carried off
the wounded general in a litter. Braddock died
on the journey, and was buried in the middle
of the road to prevent the Indians from dese
crating his grave.4 The solemn words of the
burial service of the Church of England were
read over the grave of his fallen commander
by young Washington at daybreak, July 14,1755.
The remains of the unfortunate British gen^
eral now rest under a handsome monument of
Vermont granite on a hilltop in Braddock Park,
a few rods from the spot where he was first
buried. This monument was erected by the Gen
eral Braddock Park Memorial Association and
to this hilltop the body was removed in 1913, but
to our minds the lovely glen near by, overshad
owed by forest trees, where birds sing in the
* According to Mr. Lacock, General Braddock died at
Orchard Camp on the west side of Great Meadows, about a
quarter of a mile from the place where he was buried. " The
Braddock Road," by John K. Lacock.
228

WASHINGTON AND THE BRADDOCK TRAIL
branches, is a more fitting spot for a soldier's
last resting-place than the bare hilltop.
At the time of the unveiling of the Braddock
monument, the English Government sent over
an especial delegation of British soldiers to take
part in the ceremonies of the occasion, the first
to come to our shores since the War of 1812.
On our way to Bedford, we crossed the fine
three-arched bridge over the Youghiogheny and
so were near another of the Braddock encamp
ments on the east side of the river.

XI
FORT BEDFORD, HOLLIDAYSBURG AND
JENNY LIND

Fobt Bedpoed, on the Raystown branch of
the Juniata, is one of the early frontier forts of
western Pennsylvania, holding as it did an im
portant strategic position in the French and
Indian wars. Before the fort was erected, a
small settlement was made here in 1750 by Rob
ert Ray, who established a trading post on the
north bank of the Juniata and built one or more
log cabins for the purpose of exchanging his
goods with the Indians for their furs and pelts.
Very little is known of Ray, except that he was
of Scotch-Irish descent, but, says the Hon. Wil
liam P. Schell, "the fact that he first settled at
Raystown has passed his name down a century
and a half, and probably it may continue to go
down through future centuries, well marked by
four natural monuments — Raystown, Raystown
Branch of the Juniata River, Ray's Hill and
Ray's Cove, over all of which passed the great
Indian Trail from Harris ' Ferry, through Rays
town to the Ohio River.
Robert Ray did not live long after estab
lishing his trading post and was evidently suc
ceeded by Garrett Pendergrass, as "Ray's
230

FT. BEDFORD, HOLLIDAYSBURG, JENNY LIND
Post" was called "Pendergrass Place" in 1754.
An interesting old document in the Court House
at Bedford is the original treaty between the
Six Nations and Garrett Pendergrass.
In 1755 the Governor of the Province agreed
to open a wagon road from Fort Louden in
Cumberland County to the forks of the Youghi
ogheny River. For this purpose three hundred
men were sent up, but for some cause or other
the project was abandoned for the time. The
road was completed in 1758, when the allied
forces of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania
marched against Fort Duquesne under General
Forbes. The same year the fort was built at
Raystown and called Fort Bedford in honor of
the Duke of Bedford. As early as 1757, Gov
ernor Denny ordered Colonel John Armstrong,
of Carlisle, then in command of a battalion of
eight companies of Pennsylvania troops doing
duty on the west side of the Susquehanna River,
to encamp with a detachment of three hundred
men near Raystown. "A well-chosen situa
tion," said the Governor in a letter to the Pro
prietaries, ' ' on this side of the Allegheny Hills,
between two Indian roads, ' '
On the 16th of August, 1758, Major Shippen
wrote from the camp at Raystown : "We have a
good stockade fort here, with several conveni
ent and large storehouses. Our camps are all
secured with good breastworks and a small ditch
231

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
on the outside, and everything goes on well. Col
onel Burd desires his compliments."
"On their way to Fort Duquesne, Colonels
Bouquet and Washington first marched to Bed
ford with the advance and were followed by
General Forbes, who had been detained by ill
ness at Carlisle. The successful troops that put
to rout the French without striking a blow,
amounting to seven thousand eight hundred and
fifty men were reviewed where Bedford
now stands." 1
According to local tradition, the fort was at
the corner of Pitt and Juliana Streets, where
a jewelry shop now stands, the stockades prob
ably extending to the banks of the Juniata. It
seems strange to read of the mustering and
marching of armies in and through this peaceful
old town ; but Bedford had a stirring and event
ful history in the perilous time of the early
settlement, in the French and Indian wars and
in the Revolution. In between these two wars
the town was laid out by John Lukens, surveyor-
general, and on an original Penn manor. The
name was changed from Raystown to Bedford,
and serving to recall associations with the old
manor we find the streets still having names of
several members of the Penh family, as John,
Richard, Thomas and Juliana, the latter being
in honor of the Lady Juliana, wife of Thomas
1 " History of the Juniata Valley," by M. J. Jones.
232

FT. BEDFORD, HOLLIDAYSBURG, JENNY LIND
Penn, the same whose name was given to the
library in Lancaster. The main street of the
town was named Pitt after the great Eng
lish statesman.
The main streets of country towns, with their
shops, taverns, dust and traffic, all seem very
much alike ; but in Pitt Street, which is now the
Lincoln Highway, there are some interesting
old houses ; among these is a stone house which
claims the distinction of having entertained
General Washington in 1794, when he was in
southern and western Pennsylvania, in conse
quence of a very formidable uprising in and
around Pittsburgh, called the Whiskey Insur
rection, which was in reality an organized move
ment to overturn the established government.
The General had been in Harrisburg, Carlisle,
Chambersburg and other towns ; but only as far
west as Bedford. At Cumberland he planned
the western campaign, finding that over five
thousand troops could be mustered for the ex
pedition. This army, which does not seem large
to us who have heard of troops being counted
by millions, so overawed the insurgents that
they were ready to lay down their arms, and
order was soon established. "Thus," said
Chief Justice Marshall, "without shedding a
drop of blood, did the prudent vigor of the ex
ecutive terminate an insurrection which at one
time threatened to shake the Government of the
United States to its foundation." 233

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
General Washington wrote in his diary:
"Having requested that everything might be
speedily arranged for a forward movement, and
a light corps to be organized for the advance
under the command of Major General Morgan,
I resolved to proceed to Bedford next morning. ' '
The cavalry under Washington's nephew,
Major George Lewis, escorted him to Bedford,
where he was entertained at the home of Mr.
David Espy, Prothonotary of the County of
Bedford, "to which house," he said, "I was
carried and lodged very comfortably."
In another house on Pitt Street, owned by
Mr. Espy, and now the home of his great-grand
daughter, Mrs. Hickok, we were shown the table
on which the General wrote and a handsome old
chair in which he sat. This fine double house,
shaded by great maple trees, Mr. Espy built for
his daughter Mary, who married John Ander
son. Here the young couple made their home,
and in this house Mr. Anderson also conducted
the affairs of the Bank of Bedford, which ac
counts for the two doors opening on the porch;
one of these strong doors, with great heavy
bars, belonged to the bank, and this part of the
mansion was called the ' ' Bank House. ' ' At the
back of Mrs. Hickok 's home is a beautiful gar
den that slopes down to the Juniata, and,
as we saw it, it was gay and bright with
summer flowers. 234

FT. BEDFORD, HOLLIDAYSBURG, JENNY LIND
Another citizen of Bedford who entertained
General Washington in 1794 was Mr. Hartley
at his old homestead near Mt. Dallas. This,
one of the cherished traditions of the Hartley
family, is referred to in a letter which Judge
Jasper Yeates wrote to his wife from Bedford
several years later.
My dearest Wife:
We got here this morning after breakfast but experi
enced dreadful Eoads. We were much fatigued yesterday,
but forgot all our cares when we came to Hartleys, 6 miles
from henee. A fine woman, handsomely butplainly dressed,
welcomed us to his house. Good Trout, Asparagus, Olives
and Apples Garnished our Table, and I had as good a Bed
as I ever lay in, to console me after my Ride.
Mr. Washington once told me, on a charge which I
once made against the President at his own Table, that the
admiration he warmly expressed for Mrs. Hartley, was a
Proof of his Omage to the worthy part of the Sex, and
highly respectful to his Wife. In the same Light I beg
you will consider my partiality to the elegant accomplish
ments of Mrs. Hartley.
Interesting as is the old town, it is not for its
charms that so many visitors come to Bedford,
but for the benefit of the wonderful mineral
waters that have flowed on here for how many
thousand years no man can tell. It was long
years ago, when the Indians still roamed over
this region, that the curative properties of the
waters were discovered. With the intuition that
belongs to those who live in the wilderness and
in desert places far from the haunts of men, the
red man noticed that when they bathed their
235

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
wounds in the waters of the spring they healed
quickly. Looking upon them naturally as a
manifestation of the goodness of the Great
Spirit, in which they were not far wrong, the
spring became famous among the neighboring
tribes. Following upon the footsteps of the chil
dren of the forest, their white brothers came to
the springs for the healing of the waters, how
early the hotel registers do not reveal.
Although there is now a comfortable hotel,
Fort Bedford, in the town and conveniently situ
ated on the Lincoln Highway, we went directly
to the Spring House, passing on our way the
Arandale, a popular hostelry, well situated and
with a beautiful well-shaded lawn. Very little
is left of the old house at the springs except the
central brick building in which many interesting
and distinguished people have been entertained.
The hillside cottages have been rebuilt after
the model of the earlier cottages and with their
porches and balconies remind one of summer
hotels in the South.
In the years before the Civil War, Bedford
was a favorite resort of politicians, and in the
registers we find the names of Judge Burnside,
of Belief onte; Samuel Black, of Pittsburgh;
James Buchanan, Judge Strong, Jeremiah S.
Black, the Camerons, father and son, Reverdy
Johnson and many others who played an im
portant part in the history of the nation.
286

Crockford, Bachelors' Quarters, Bedford Springs

FT. BEDFORD, HOLLIDAYSBURG, JENNY LIND
At that earlier time there was a long, low
building here, separated from the main house
and known as Crockford, the bachelors' quar
ters, named after the English gambling house.
If the walls of old Crockford could speak, they
would have many tales to tell of important
caucuses held in this building in which the voices
of benedicts as well as bachelors were heard in
earnest and excited debate. Wit flashed here,
talk flowed on freely and perhaps something
else which flows no more. If the ghosts of the
former habitues of the Springs could return to
this old haunt, they would feel themselves in a
strange place; old Crockford has disappeared,
the ramshackle bath houses with their tin tubs
no longer disfigure the lawn, and in their places
are well-equipped bathrooms and a fine large
swimming pool.
What has not changed, however, is the beau
tiful mountain up whose steep sides the devoted
disciples of Esculapius climb after the morning
draft of water, some of the faithful making the
ascent again at noon.
The earliest hotel register dates back only to
1823, but guests had been coming to what was
then often called Anderson's Spring long be
fore that date. This property belonged for
many years to the well-known Anderson family,
some members of which are still living in Bed
ford, and tickets for the use of the water were
237

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
evidently issued, at one time, as we find such
entries in the register as, "Dan'l J. Warfield,
life ticket; John Purviance and family of 5,
Bait., life ticket"; other tickets were only for
weeks or months; but tickets of some sort
seemed to be required.
Many of the guests came in their own coaches
from Maryland, Virginia and even farther
south, often bringing one or two servants with
them, as" S. Clay King, daughter and 2 servants,
and J. H. Tucker, Maryland, 2 servants and 3
horses." This was in 1856, and the Ridgelys,
from Hampton, near Baltimore, were here that
year; Colonel Samuel Black, from Pittsburgh,
and the Honorable James Buchanan, from Lan
caster, soon to be elected President of the
United States. Some interesting entries are to
be found in 1824, as Mr. and Mrs. Lear, Wash
ington, D. C. ; probably Tobias Lear, who was
General Washington's secretary in the later
years of his life, and his wife, who was Mrs.
Washington's niece, and here we find "Mrs.
Adams, Washington," evidently Mrs. John
Quincy Adams, and with her, "J. Adams and
Miss Hellen," her son and his fiancee.
Something of the leisurely old-time life of
the South seemed to have belonged to Bedford
in those days. The same people met here year
after year; they drove together, they walked and
they talked endlessly, especially if they came
238

FT. BEDFORD, HOLLIDAYSBURG, JENNY LIND
from the other side of Mason and Dixon's Line.
The more sedate playing cards in the evening,
while the young and gay danced to the music
of the fiddle played by negroes, who beat time
with their feet as well as the dancers. The
dances were held in the large dining-room, where
two hundred guests assembled by day, and this
custom of pushing back the tables for the eve
ning festivity, as Mr. Prolix has described it,
has continued almost up to the present time.
Sarah Bruce, who has joined me here, says
that life at the Springs was still much as Mr.
Prolix wrote of it, when she came here with
her grandmother more than twenty years ago.
Everything was very primitive then, no elec
tric lights and no automobiles tooting all
through the beautiful grounds. There was much
sociability among the guests at that time and
not a little gayety, as there were a number of
young people in the house. Morning germans
were quite the order of the day, and very charm
ing the girls looked dancing in their fresh mus
lins and organdies. Senator Don Cameron was
here then and his sister, Mrs. Richard J. Halde
man, and Miss Haldeman and a delightful Mr.
George Plummer Smith, from Philadelphia,
who was a walking encyclopedia of old Penn
sylvania lore. There were also many charming
people from Pittsburgh and Washington, as
there are now, and McKims, Ridgelys, Carrolls
16 239

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
and Carters from Maryland and Virginia. In
deed, Bedford has always been a favorite resort
of southern people. Sarah, who knows more
about the South than I do, says that Bedford,
the town as well as the Springs, reminds her
constantly of the South.
For some years the Springs suffered an
eclipse, in consequence of the popularity of the
foreign Spa among well-to-do Americans, with
the accompanying delights of a sojourn in Lon
don or Paris. Since the upheaval of the
European world three years ago, our country
men have begun to realize what they have of
value within their own borders, and Bedford
has come into its own, and is once more a popu
lar and fashionable resort.
Sarah and I stay on day after day, enjoying
the waters and mineral baths and held fast by
the charm of the old place. We drive in the
afternoons, sometimes stopping at the Arandale
to call on friends and after a spin on the Lincoln
Highway or on one of the other beautiful drives,
lingering in the town to shop, often walking
back through Richard or Juliana Street. On
the former there is an interesting old house,
just opposite the new inn, built by a Major Talia
ferro from Virginia, an elegant gentleman of
the old school, who lived here for many years.
On Juliana Street is the home of the Misses
Barclay, with its beautiful garden on one side.
240

FT. BEDFORD, HOLLIDAYSBURG, JENNY LIND
Old residents of Bedford are the Barclays, as
are the Russells, whose house is near by. An
other interesting house on this street is the
Lyon Mansion, a handsome house with huge
boxwood bushes at the sides, a vine-covered
iron fence in front and a fine garden in the rear.
This house attracted us by the beauty of its
architecture and the cheerful well-to-do look
that fresh paint and varnish always give
to a habitation.
"Ancient but not mouldy and moth-eaten 1"
exclaimed Sarah as we passed by and turned
into the Lincoln Highway, on which the pretty
little Episcopal Church is situated ; the handsome
Betz House, and many other attractive resi
dences, with lovely gardens. In the distance we
could see the Grove, an old Anderson property,
as much of the land in and around Bedford as
well as the Springs, belonged to this family and
was later the home of Mr. Edward Tosswill Har
rison, whose mother was an Anderson.
Before leaving Bedford we accepted an in
vitation to stop over and lunch with some
friends in Hollidaysburg, thus gaining several
hours there. On the train we were fortunate in
meeting a friend and former official of the Penn
sylvania Railroad, Mr. D. H. Lovell, who ex
plained to us what had always been most
mysterious to me, the practical working of the
old Portage Railroad. He told us that trans-
241

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
portation was by the Juniata Canal to Holli-
daysburg, when the boats were here placed on
trucks and thus conveyed over a series of in
clined planes across the AUeghenies. An engine
at the top of each incline pulled up the truck.
Some of the old trucks still to be seen were
pointed out to us. The descent from the moun
tain heights was like that to Avernus, swift and
reasonably sure. At the foot of the mountains
the boats were again placed on a canal which
carried them to Pittsburgh. Mr. Lovell's ex
planation was very clear, and we afterwards
saw a picture of this primitive method of trans
portation in the home of Mr. J. King McLana-
han, the "grand old man of Hollidaysburg," as
he is called by everybody in the beautiful old
town, which served to illustrate what had been
told us of the portage system, which Prolix,
in his diary considered a "miracle of art."
Our kind hosts, knowing our interest in
historic events, had invited some clever anti
quarians to meet us, and sitting on a shaded
porch, which overlooks one of the principal
streets, now the William Penn Highway, we
were regaled with tales of old Hollidaysburg,
from the time of the Penn grant to the Holliday
brothers, who settled the town, to a much later
time, when in 1852 it was the host of the Hun
garian patriot, General Kossuth. Of this stay in
Hollidaysburg of several days Mr. Plymouth
242

FT. BEDFORD, HOLLIDAYSBURG, JENNY LIND
Snyder told us an amusing little story. Kossuth
was warmly welcomed to the town and enter
tained by Judge McFarland, the Blairs and
other leading citizens. While staying in the
house of one or the other of these Hollidaysburg
families, Kossuth wrote to his friends of the
comfort in which his hosts lived, belonging, as
he expressed it, ' ' to the upper class of peasant. ' '
Kossuth, himself of noble birth, seemed to know
of no social gradations between noble and peas
ant; and his remark is the more amusing in
view of the social position, education and refine
ment of the Blairs and other old families in this
aristocratic town. When a new county was
organized, it was named Blair in recognition of
the services to the country of the Hon. John
Blair, and again the first canal boat that came to
Hollidaysburg was named the John Blair. Mr.
Blair was apublic-spirited citizen and an earnest
advocate of internal improvements, for which,
says his great-granddaughter, "he received a
good share of denunciation from those who were
opposed to spending public money for such
things as roads and canals. ' ' A member of the
Blair family, as a girl of fourteen, long re
membered the great excitement caused by the
arrival of the John Blair, the crowds of people
on the deck of the boat and on the banks of
the canal.
Colonel McClure, in his "Recollections,"
243

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
tells of meeting Kossuth at Independence Hall
and again in his tour of the Juniata Valley in a
village where the passengers of the few through
trains of the Pennsylvania were dined. Colonel
McClure does not mention the name of this vil
lage ; it was evidently some town near Hollidays
burg. He says, learning that Kossuth was
coming, "I arranged with the proprietor of the
hotel to have Kossuth and his wife so disposed
at the end of the table that the seat reserved
for me would bring me next to them. Railroad
dinners were always very hurried occasions, and
when Kossuth rushed in to the table he and his
wife thought much more of trying to get a satis
factory meal out of American cooking, to which
they were strangers, than of discussing the
cause of Hungary. Mrs. Kossuth was of medium
size, with a strong, handsome face, equally dark
in complexion with her husband, and she man
aged the dinner. As some of the dishes were
entirely unknown to her, she always first in
vestigated them by taking the dish and holding it
under her nose to judge how palatable it might
be by its fragrance and, if acceptable, it was
handed to her husband. I could not miss the
opportunity to have another brief conversation
with the man who was then my great idol in hero-
worship, and when I reminded him of our meet
ing in Independence Hall, where he could not
remember one in five thousand of those who
244

FT. BEDFORD, HOLLIDAYSBURG, JENNY LIND
greeted him, I had opened the door for the ex
pression of his heart-felt enthusiasm for the
American people and their Government and for
the bleeding friends he had left behind him. He
warmed up at once, and my recollection of the
event is that I never before heard such fervent
eloquence. I was sorry, indeed, when the hoarse
scream of the iron horse called him away, and
I parted from him for the last time with bound
less pride, because I had twice met the greatest
living apostle of human liberty."
Our friends told us of other and more ro
mantic associations, still recalled by old inhabi
tants, who remembered Jenny Lind's visit to
Blair County in 1851. Mr. Snyder related an
incident connected with the Swedish singer's
stay at the Mountain House, which was situated
at a railroad junction near Hollidaysburg.
While at this hotel she engaged a carriage to
take her up the mountain side, and upon reach
ing a place from which there was an extended
view of the distant mountains, the valley and
the Juniata flowing through it, she was so im
pressed by the beauty of the scene that she.
greeted it with an outburst of song, so exquisite,
said the narrator, that the birds, her only
hearers except the coachman, must have felt that
a rival of their own kind had joined them. The
view of hill and valley may have reminded the
Swedish nightingale of some scene in her own
246

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
land, as the song with which she broke in upon
the stillness of the mountain side was "Home,
Sweet Home," which, it is said, she sang with
so much feeling that it never failed to bring
tears to many eyes in the audience.
Although he was born in Bedford County,
Mr. J. King McLanahan has lived in Hollidays
burg the greater part of his long life and is
always claimed by this town as her leading citi
zen, having taken an active part in the indus
trial, educational and social life of the borough.
Mr. McLanahan 's especial interest in later years
has been Holliday House, in whose beautiful
building an excellent private school is held dur
ing the scholastic term, and in the summer sea
son is opened for guests.2
Before we left Hollidaysburg we were mo
tored through the town, past Holliday House,
by the handsome building of the Y. M. C. A.
and the athletic field of eight acres, both the
gifts of Mr. James C. Dysart, a generous and
public-spirited citizen, who feels, as thoughtful
persons are coming to realize more and more
each year, that parks for exercise, music and
other recreations are quite as much needed in
our country towns as in our great cities. They
build higher than they know who thus add op-
3 Since writing the above, Hollidaysburg has been called
upon to mourn the loss of Mr. McLanahan, a citizen greatly
beloved and respected. 246

FT. BEDFORD, HOLLIDAYSBURG, JENNY LIND
portunities for healthful recreation and inno
cent enjoyment to their fellow-townsmen !
Instead of leaving this interesting town by
train as we had expected, our friends motored
us to Altoona, where we took the trolley to
Tyrone, and from there a train brought us to
Bellefonte, making a varied trip which is more
attractive and far less tiresome than a continu
ous railroad journey. It was late when we
reached Bellefonte; but our rooms were await
ing us at the Bush House, and tired as we were
we vowed that nothing would have made us will
ing to forego the delightful day.

XII
THE CITY OF THE BEAUTIFUL SPRING

We came into Bellefonte so late last night
that we failed to appreciate the beauty of the
approach to the town by a road cut through the
hills. It may be said of this place, as of Mt.
Zion, "beautiful for situation on the sides of
the north," and of the south as well for, like
Jerusalem, Bellefonte is girt about by hills,
and is itself a hill town. This fact we realized
after a morning spent in climbing over ascents
to see old and interesting houses. We were for
tunate in spending our first day here with an
old inhabitant, always the most delightful
guide, for with such a cicerone one gets some
thing more than dry facts, and if some fiction
in the way of tradition is thrown in, it serves
to light up the story, and after all there is a
foundation of fact in most local tales. We saw
the oldest house in the town and the newest,
which is much less attractive, and the lovely
old Friends' Meeting, built by a Valentine;
indeed, most of the old houses were built by
one of the Valentine brothers. This Friend Val
entine, finding no meeting-house in the town
when he came to Bellefonte, held meetings on
the hillside, until a suitable building could be
248

THE CITY OF THE BEAUTIFUL SPRING
erected. This most picturesque meeting-house
is at the top of a steep hill and with its moss-
grown roof and overhanging eaves is a bit of
old-world beauty and quaintness, in strong con
trast with the handsome but quite modern and
unpicturesque Academy buildings near by.
A stone house at the corner of High and
Spring Streets was pointed out to us as the
oldest residence in the town, built by Colonel
James Dunlop. After serving in Canada under
Colonel William Irvine and holding a commis
sion in the Pennsylvania Line, Colonel Dunlop
came to Bald Eagle township in 1796 and bought
a part of the extensive Griffith Gibson tract upon
which Bellefonte is situated. He is said to
have been the first resident of the town, which
he and his son-in-law, James Harris, laid out,
the site being chosen on account of the beautiful
spring of pure water which they found here.
James Harris, a public-spirited citizen, bought
the property on which the spring is situated and
by deed secured its use to the town for all time.
He and his father-in-law, Colonel Dunlop, were
prime movers in establishing a public school
or academy soon after the town was laid out,
of which the big building on the hill by the
Friends' Meeting is the outcome. In this good
work many citizens of Centre County took an
active part. The first meeting was held in the
house of Benjamin Patton, and among the
249

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
trustees were James Dunlop, Roland Curtin,
James Potter, Andrew Gregg and John Hall.
The Reverend Henry R. Wilson was the first
principal of the academy and when he removed
to Carlisle he was succeeded by the Reverend
James Linn.
On High Street, once the fashionable quar
ter of the town, is the former home of Governor
Curtin, and this street led us to the Court House,
where there is a fine full-length statue of the
great war Governor, whom his native town de
lights to honor. Flanking this very handsome
statue are bronze tablets representing in low
relief important events in the Governor's life
and in that of the Nation which he served
so ably. Bellefonte may well be spoken of as the
mother of governors, as from it have come two
other governors of Pennsylvania, James A.
Beaver and Daniel H. Hastings, both of whom
had an honorable war record prior to their
election to civic administration. The Hastings
and Beaver residences are on the heights over
looking the old town, and here are many hand
some houses with terraced gardens and sev
eral beautiful churches, this being now the court
end of the town and yet lacking to us the interest
to be found in the older buildings. A number
of the houses are on Allegheny Street, among
these the Linn House, which celebrated its cen
tenary several years since. Mr. Henry Sage
250

Burnham, Built in 1811, Enlarged by Reuben Bond Valentine in 1857

The Linn House, Built in iSio. Still Residence of
Linn Family

THE CITY OF THE BEAUTIFUL SPRING
Linn and his sister, who live in this house, are
the children of Mr. John Blair Linn, the his
torian of the Buffalo valley and of many other
sections of Pennsylvania.
The pride and wonder of Bellefonte and what
makes it quite different from other towns is its
beautiful spring, which has its rise in some
distant source. Here at the rate of fourteen
thousand gallons per minute this water bubbles
up, supplying the town with pure water, the
surplus rushing through it like a river and by
the Bush House, where we were lulled to sleep
at night by the delightful sound of a rush
ing stream.
It goes without saying that the town owes
its name to its beautiful spring and in an old
house still standing on the turnpike it was
christened. One story is that Mrs. James
Harris, who lived in this house, an odd-looking
structure with three porches or balconies, gave
the name to the town ; but a much more probable
story is that Talleyrand, who visited the Dun-
lops or Harrises, bestowed upon it its French
name, Bellefonte, beautiful spring.
Other interesting houses are the Benner
house and several Curtin houses, as two
brothers, Dr. Constanz Curtin and Roland Cur
tin, were early settlers here. The Curtin
brothers came from County Clare, Ireland; the
former, a surgeon in the Royal Navy, practiced
his profession in Bellefonte; the latter, Roland
251

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
Curtin, was in the iron business, and in connec
tion with Moses Boggs built Eagle Forge, on
Bald Eagle Creek, about five miles from Belle
fonte. Roland Curtin, the iron master, was the
father of Governor Andrew G. Curtin, and Dr.
Constanz Curtin was the father of Dr. Roland
G. Curtin, of Philadelphia.
It seems as if no town of distinction was
quite complete in early times without its neigh
boring band of highway robbers. Doylestown,
in Bucks County, had its Doane brothers, the
ruins of whose stronghold are still pointed out
to credulous tourists, and Bedford had its cele
brated Davy Lewis, whose stronghold was on
Lookout Mountain, in one of the ranges near
Bedford, to which he is said to have given the
name, as he had a desirable point of observation
from which he could view the highway up and
down for some distance. This bandit and his
associates seem to have divided their attentions
between the Juniata and the Bald Eagle valleys.
As we were passing by an old house on Alle
gheny Street, Mrs. N  told us that the Lewis
robbers roamed through this region even as late
as her mother's time and that one of them en
tered this house in broad daylight. Her mother,
then a young girl, saw a powerful-looking man
passing through the hall. She was too badly
frightened to give the alarm at once and the
intruder, being an expeditious gentleman and an
adept in his profession, helped himself and
252

THE CITY OF THE BEAUTIFUL SPRING
escaped with his loot before Miss Morris had
recovered from her fright sufficiently to sum
mon aid. This, Mrs. N  says, is a true tale
as it was told her by her mother.
While I further explored the old part of the
town with Mrs. N  , Sarah devoted her morn
ing to looking over ancient records in the Court
House. She came in to luncheon looking so
happy over her discoveries that I asked her if
she had found any gold nuggets among
the records.
"No, only nuggets of information; the old
wills are most interesting. People left cows and
calves and colts and even feather beds to their
children and grandchildren, just as they did in
Shakespeare's time. An Ellen Graham be
queathed to her granddaughter Ellen a bay
mare and a feather bed ; but besides these amus
ing items I found a number of things that I
really need."
These genealogists are queer folk ; they seem
just as much pleased when they find a missing
link or trace out a line as if they had found the
pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
"I find," continued Sarah, "that Kathleen
is directly descended from Colonel Dunlop, who
owned the tract on which Bellefonte is situated.
And here again I find a link with old Donegal,
as Colonel Dunlop married Jane Boggs, whose
father was Captain Andrew Boggs, one of the
founders there, and all the Harrises, Blanch-
253

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
ards and a lot of other important people here
belong to that Une; it all works out like a
problem in mathematics.
"Kathleen had better come here and pay
some attention to her ancestors ; they are quite
worth while. What is she doing in Wash
ington anyway?"
"I think Kathleen is more interested in
futures than in ancestors," I said, laughing over
Sarah's enthusiasm.
"Is that really so?"
Sarah and I have been so much together that
we have formed a sort of habit of talking to
each other in shorthand, and when I added,
"What else can you expect when you present
an altogether delightful man to a charming
young woman?" she said:
"Oh! of course, I expected Mr. Henderson to
be bowled over; but I never thought of Kath
leen caring for anyone else; the romance of her
life seemed to end with Howard's death."
"Love, like hope, springs eternal in the
human breast," with which trite remark we
separated to dress for an afternoon and evening
at one of the old Valentine houses ; this one a
little way out of town on the turnpike, which was
built by Reuben Bond Valentine near the stream
called "Logan's Branch."
There are a number of interesting houses
near Bellefonte; Willow Bank, which belonged
254

THE CITY OF THE BEAUTIFUL SPRING
to the Valentines, a hospitable home remem
bered as the scene of many pleasures in the past ;
but now, down in the world, it has come to be the
county almshouse. Another house some miles
out of town on the Lewistown Pike was the home
of Mrs. Jane Mann, the railroad station there
being named "Axemann." Mrs. Mann, who
was a daughter of Judge Burnside, lived alone
after her husband's death and carried on an axe
factory established by him, in which a number
of men were employed, many foreigners and
some rather rough specimens of humanity.
People wondered how Mrs. Mann was content to
live alone with so many rough men around her.
She was evidently a woman of strong character
and one who had boundless faith in human na
ture and knew how to appeal to its best side.
She was wont to say that she protected herself
by never locking a door in her home, or in her
springhouse. When the milk was brought in
from her farm, Mrs. Mann regularly filled three
cans or crocks and left them in'the springhouse,
where the fresh cool water bubbled up continu
ally; one can was marked "For the wayfarer,"
a second "For the widow and orphan, each take
one quart," and a third "For personal use, do
not touch." It is needless to say that this gen
erous woman's own can of milk was never
tampered with.
In Mrs. Mann's last illness she had the care
17 255

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
and companionship of a relative from Philadel
phia, a lovely lady who described the strange
scene in this lonely roadside house, where her
own vigils were shared by workmen from the
factory, who took turns in spending the long
hours of the night by Mrs. Mann's fireside in
order to be at hand in case the mistress, whom
they loved and honored, should need their help.
One afternoon we spent at Rockview, about
five miles south of Bellefonte, where a very in
teresting experiment in penal reform is being
carried on. I was delighted when an invitation
from the warden came, and with it a motor to
take us there, as I had heard so much of this
prison farm in Centre County and of how it
was established.
For many years the late Mr. Francis J. Tor
rance and the State Board of Charities, of which
he was then president, had a plan for the estab
lishing of a prison farm, in which Mr. John
Francies, who for some years has been warden
of the Western Penitentiary, in Pittsburgh, was
heartily in favor. Indeed, he was so obsessed
by a vision of his prisoners of various classes
working in the open, breathing fresh air, feel
ing the sun of heaven and the rain, too, for the
matter of that, and on the whole spending their
days like human beings, that he was moved to
speak of it before the Legislature at Harrisburg
in 1911. This speech was listened to atten-
256

THE CITY OF THE BEAUTIFUL SPRING
tively and the result was a bill passed by the
Legislature, March 30, 1911. This bill, signed
by Governor John Tener, who was heart and
soul in favor of the undertaking, provided for
the purchase by the State of Pennsylvania of
land for the purpose set forth by Mr. Francies.
After inspecting other locations, this moat
desirable property of over five thousand acres
was decided upon. Of this tract nearly one
thousand acres already belonged to the State
Forest Reservation, and the additional four
thousand three hundred and eighteen acres were
bought by the state. Old farms and orchards
are included in this tract, forests and mountain
sides, a varied and beautiful panorama, as we
viewed the landscape from the prison buildings,
which are on so great a height that the prison
ers cannot see the walls of their enclosure from
the prison. So here in Pennsylvania is being
proved what the young English poet, Lovelace,
wrote from his little prison in Cambridge so
many years ago :
Stone walls do not a prison make
Or iron bars a cage.
"These prisoners working in the open must
sometimes forget that they are prisoners," said
Sarah, as we passed by some of them at work
on the unfinished buildings, hauling stone and
breaking it up to make concrete for the walls.
Others were bringing in great baskets of vege-
257

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
tables from the truck patch of ninety-seven acres.
"They don't look like prisoners, Mr. Fran-
cies, they look like American citizens."
' ' That is what we are trying to make them, ' '
was the reply.
We were motored all over the grounds,
through the woods and by the mountain stream
that runs through them. We saw the cows, pigs
and chickens ; but what interested us most was
the part of the farm where the colts were
raised. We thought of the interest the pris
oners naturally would take in these beautiful
creatures, and what a valuable asset were these
fifteen fine-blooded colts !
We had supper with the warden and his fam
ily and while sitting on the porch in the twilight,
by dint of asking a number of questions, we drew
from Mr. Francies some details of the beginning
of the work at Rockview. He told us that he
came here with one prisoner, and that at a way
station where they were waiting for a train he
was interested in talking to some one, when his
prisoner came up to him and warned him that
he would miss the train if he was not careful, —
the train that was to take him to prison !
"I don't wonder that the prisoners want
to come here," said Sarah. "I should think
that all your rooms would be engaged for
next summer."
"Now, it's not as bad as that. Miss Bruce,
258

THE CITY OF THE BEAUTIFUL SPRING
and I want you to understand that we are not
too soft with our prisoners ; we have strict regu
lations here, and they have to be kept. What we
try to do is to establish relations with our pris
oners and so make them understand that we are
not working against them. After I brought the
first man here and worked with him alone for
some days, I had another prisoner brought here,
and when I overheard my first man say to the
new arrival, 'The old man's all right, you treat
him white,' I felt that I had won the day."
"That was certainly worth while," and as
we took our leave, I said: "You have given us
much to think about, Mr. Francies, and one more
reason for being proud of our own state. I
fancy that many good people in Pennsylvania
who know of prison reforms in New York, Mas
sachusetts and even in California, know nothing
of this important work in their own state."
"Very likely, but that does not keep the
work from going on."
"No, that is the right way to look at it; but
I always like to see credit given where credit
is due." As we drove away, Sarah turned back and
said: "If I ever write a book it shall be called
'How To Be Happy Though in Prison. ' "
"A companion to 'How To Be Happy
Though Married.' " Mr. Francies called after
us, laughing heartily, "I have known both."

XIII
SUNBURY AND WILKES-BARRE
Picturesque as the Susquehanna is in many
places, it seems more beautiful than ever at Sun-
bury and Northumberland, for here the two
tributaries of the great river meet. The West
Branch has its rise near the head of the Alle
gheny River and flows by Lock Haven, Williams-
port, Lewistown and many another town to
Northumberland, where it throws itself into the
arms of the North Branch, which has come a
long and winding way from Otsego Lake in New
York, by Binghamton, Towanda, Asylum, Pitts-
ton and Wilkes-Barre to this trysting place.
Sunbury was built upon the site of an Indian vil
lage, and a very important one, as Shamokin
was the headquarters of the chiefs of the Six
Nations, among them Shikellamy, the best of
them all, in whose honor a boulder is marked
with a tablet, which has the following inscrip
tion: "Erected as a memorial to — Shikellamy,
also Swatane, 'Our Enlightener,' the represen
tative of the Six Nations in this Province. First
sent to Shamokin [Sunbury] in 1728. Appointed
vice-regent in 1745, died December 6, 1748. He
was buried near this spot. This diplomat and
statesman was a firm friend of the Province of
260

SUNBURY AND WILKESBARRE

Pennsylvania. Erected by the Fort Augusta
Chapter, D. A. R., in cooperation with the Penn
sylvania Historical Commission. June, 1915. ' '
Sunbury was very much exposed to In
dian forays and sadly in need of defenses ; but
it was not until after the frightful massacre on
the banks of Penn's Creek, where Selinsgrove
now stands, that Fort Augusta was built, just
below the confluence of the two branches of the
river, where it commanded the approach to the
valley. Nothing is now left of this once im
portant outpost except the powder magazine,
which is still in good condition. The stockades
reached as far as the old home of Judge Don-
nel, on Market Square, which is now in the center
of the town.
We were fortunate in having come to Sun
bury some years since, before it had been drawn
into the turmoil of business activities, and still
retained much of its village charm. In those
days we had the pleasure of hearing the recol
lections of a delightful woman who had lived
in Sunbury in her girlhood, before the several
railroads that meet here and the great silk
mills had transformed the place. And to make a
link between her own time and a still more re
mote past, our charmmg raconteuse had talked
to former residents, among whom were several
who had lived through those days of danger
and distress when the beautiful valley of the
261

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
Wyoming on the north had been laid waste. She
had also known some of those who were able to
make their escape from the massacre and came
down the river in boats to find a place of refuge
at Fort Augusta.
Other and gayer scenes of her girlhood this
lady described, among them the advent of Mr.
John Mason, son of Thomas Mason, an English
man, who came to Philadelphia where he en
gaged in commerce and owned many vessels.
John Mason came to Sunbury in his old age,
built a spacious mansion, with a great hall
on top of the house for dancing, and
here beautiful parties were given which were
the delight of the young people. Near Mr.
Mason's house, which was on top of Blue
Hill, opposite Northumberland, he erected
an observatory, which was the wonder of the
whole countryside. This observatory, or lean
ing tower, as it was called, for it literally
hung over a sheer precipice of about four hun
dred feet, was built upon four logs and had
three stories and a balcony. Mr. Mason was
in the habit of riding about the country on his
gray pony and, meeting him on the road, as she
often did, walking and leading his pony by the
bridle, our narrator said that he was the living
image of the statue of Old Mortality which stands
by one of the entrances to Laurel Hill Cemetery
in Philadelphia. Mr. Mason and his house and
his collection of books have long since disap-
262

SUNBURY AND WILKES-BARRE
peared, some of the latter having been sold by
the peck at a public sale. Some intelligent
neighbors of Mr. Mason were so fortunate as to
secure several pecks of books from the once-
treasured library.
My old friend, who was the widow of one of the
leading lawyers of Sunbury, Judge C. B. Don-
nel, spoke of the great interest and excite
ment of summer, marking the convening of the
Supreme Court, which met for some years in
this town and brought to its sessions great
lawyers from all over the state. From Phila
delphia came Judge Cadwalader, Chief Justice
Tilghman, Horace Binney, William Rawle,
Philip Nicklin, Thomas I. Wharton and many
other clever jurists. These lawyers came in
their coaches in early days and later by the
canal. Judge Burnside came across country
from his home in Bellefonte, or down the river
from Wilkes-Barre, where he lived for some
time, and from the same place came his brother-
in-law, Judge Huston, Judge Henry M. Fuller
and Judge Conyngham. There was always a
notable representation of the legal fraternity
from Wilkes-Barre, which has been distin
guished early and late for its able jurists. Mrs.
Donnel said that the judges generally arrived
the first Sunday in August and before church
time in the morning. Judge Cadwalader drove
all the way from Philadelphia in his coach;
263

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
those traveling from a greater distance, as
Judge Brackenridge and Judge Wilkins, from
Pittsburgh, came part of the way by canal to
Northumberland and took the stage-coach there
for Sunbury. Judge Yeates came from Lan
caster and Judges Henderson and Gibson
from Carlisle; the latter, Mrs. Donnel said, was
a great favorite With the Sunbury children, hav
ing won his way to their affections by his clever
pencil sketches. While the long speeches were
being made in Court, Judge Gibson was wont
to amuse himself by drawing caricatures of his
associates, which he often threw out of the win
dow to the children passing by in the street.
One morning we crossed the river to North
umberland and made our way to the home of
Dr. Joseph Priestly, which is surrounded by a
fine lawn, which slopes down to the river. Stand
ing on the railroad bank, we had a good view
of the house, of which Sarah took a photograph.
The window on the right side of the front door
has a crescent-shaped opening, through which
Priestly is said to have made his experiments
with the prismatic rays.
The story of the emigration from his home
in Yorkshire, England, of this "chemist and
non-conformist minister" is interesting. It ap
pears that Priestly 's two sons and his friend,
Dr. Thomas Cooper, came to Northumberland
first, became so much interested in a settlement
264

Former Home of Rev. Joseph Priestly, Northumbe

SUNBURY AND WILKES-BARRE
on the Susquehanna and wrote home so enthusi
astically of its advantages that Dr. and Mrs.
Priestly joined them in July, 1794, and liked
the place so well that they concluded to remain
in Northumberland. Here Priestly preached
and worked upon his scientific experiments, the
discovery of oxygen being his most valuable
contribution to science. Some of Doctor
Priestly 's descendants are still living in
Northumberland. Another morning we went by trolley to Sel-
insgrove, on the northern bank of the Susque
hanna. Through the town runs Penn's Creek,
which has its source in Centre County. This
stream divides the town into two parts, the sec
tion between the river and the creek being on
the Isle of Que, a name that has always fascin
ated me. The island is supposed to have been
so named by some French settler on account of
its shape being like that of the queues which were
so fashionable in early times. Selinsgrove is an
old town, the first settlement by George Gabriel,
a trader, dating back to 1745, but within a few
years it has been growing in size and importance
by leaps and bounds, and now contains many
handsome residences and fine public buildings.
Among the older houses we were shown the for
mer residence of Governor Simon Snyder, who,
although born in Lancaster, lived in Selinsgrove
for many years. As War Governor in 1812,
265

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
Simon Snyder served his State with so much
ability that he was reelected twice and so had
three successive terms as Chief Executive of
the Commonwealth.
This evening I had a letter from Kathleen,
who purposes to meet us in Scranton the latter
part of this week.
"Why Scranton?" Sarah asked.
"Because Scranton is nearer New York
than Sunbury."
"So Kathleen is in New York ? ' '
' ' Yes, doubtless seeing Mr. Henderson off. ' '
"Is it as bad as that?"
"Yes, quite as bad," I said laughing.
"You see I thought we should have Kath
leen all to ourselves, and now we shall have to
share her with someone else, which is discon
certing, to say the least. "
"I understand, and in a way I share your
regret; but let us enjoy for the present what
the gods send us. Kathleen writes that her car
will be at our disposal, and that she is ready to
go with us anywhere that we wish. Her new
chauffeur is fairly good and quite intelligent
about finding his way on strange roads. "
"That sounds encouraging and now, by all
means, let us go to Bradford County; it will be
in line with what we see here and around Wilkes-
Barre. I have read somewhere that the British
and Indians assembled at Tioga Point in 1778
266

SUNBURY AND WILKES-BARRE
before going down the river to attack the Ply
mouth settlement. Bradford County was then
a part of Luzerne County and near Tioga Point,
which is now Athens, the famous Queen Esther
had her headquarters for a while, and from this
place was able to join the forces that set forth
against Plymouth. You see how Tioga Point,
or Diahoga, as the Indians called it, fits into the
story of Wyoming. Then Asylum, the old
French settlement, that I am anxious to see, is
only a few miles north of Athens. I was cheated
out of my trip there in June, as you know. ' '
"You shall not be cheated out of it now,
dear; Kathleen will be so inspired by your
eloquence that she will be ready to set forth at
once for Bradford County. You know so much
that is interesting about these old Pennsylvania
settlements that a car should always be waiting
to take you wherever you wish to go. "
"Why not go to Wilkes-Barre this after
noon and have a few hours in the Wyoming His
torical Society instead of waiting until tomor
row morning?" I asked. "They have so many
valuable and interesting papers and collections
there, and that will give us two full days
in Wilkes-Barre before we meet Kathleen
in Scranton." It is needless to say that my suggestion was
accepted with alacrity by my companion, who
was evidently keen for further research.
267

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
We had often made the journey from Phila
delphia to Wilkes-Barre by Bethlehem and the
Water Gap and by Pottsville; but this after
noon's trip from Sunbury, all the way by the
side of the North Branch of the Susquehanna,
seemed to us the most beautiful of all the routes.
The river is so broad in some places that it
seems like a lake dotted over with pretty, well-
wooded islands, once the favorite fishing and
hunting grounds of the Indians, of whom we
were reminded by the names of many of the
towns that we passed through, as Catawissa,
Shickshinny, Mocanaqua and Nanticoke, the
latter quite near Plymouth, Wilkes-Barre has
been called the eastern gateway to the Wyoming
Valley, and a very beautiful gateway it is, girt
about by mountains with the broad Susque
hanna flowing between the old and the newer
part of the town over toward Kingston. It has,
in addition to its natural advantages, all that
loyal and intelligent citizenship can do to make
it a delightful place of residence. There are
river banks in many towns that, like Words
worth's primrose, are river banks and nothing
more; but here the bank of the Susquehanna
has been made into a riverside park, with walks
and seats conveniently placed. Here we sat in
the evening for hours, enjoying the beauty of
the shining river, the mountains beyond and
near us the parterres of fragrant flowers, with
268

SUNBURY AND WILKES-BARRE
which the walks are bordered. On River Street,
and on Franklin and West South street are the
beautiful homes of the old Wilkes-Barre fam
ilies, most of whom have been loyal to their own
town probably because they could find no better
place of residence.
This city has never been recommended to us
as a summer resort, although the Wyoming Val
ley Hotel is said to have been often filled with
summer visitors back in the sixties. The evening
of our arrival happened to follow one of the
cool days that sometimes break in upon the tor
rid heat of midsummer, and as we strolled about
the streets it seemed strange to have all our
friends away from this pleasant, breezy town.
They were probably sitting by blazing wood fires
at Bear Creek, Bear Lake or Harvey's Lake,
rejoicing over the coolness of their surround
ings and wasting no end of sympathy over the
unfortunate denizens of cities.
Of course, we spent the entire morning in the
rooms of the very attractive Historical Society
on Franklin Street, where we found much to
interest us, among other things a delightful
paper in which Mr. George R. Bedford, of
Wilkes-Barre, has given his own early recol
lections of this city and the surrounding towns.1
The literature of the most noted historical event
1Mr. Bedford's valuable paper has since been added to
and printed under the title " Some Early Recollections."
269

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
of this region, the Wyoming massacre, is, of
course, inexhaustible; but it was interesting to
get the result of the latest studies of this sub
ject, for the members of this Society are always
delving into records of the past and throwing
new light on bygone days. Not long since
they discovered that Major John Butler, who
came down the Susquehanna with his eleven
thousand British Tories and Indians to demand
the surrender of the Wyoming forts, with their
Continental stores, was a shade less black than
he had been painted.
"I have always thought of him as jet black,"
I said, "and I don't like to have him
painted gray. "
"But we must be exact," said Sarah, who is
nothing if not accurate. " The employing of the
savages against our people was the serious mis
take; the fact that the French had already used
them does not exonerate the British for leading
them against their own Colonists ; but later re
searches show that Major Butler warned the
people who had taken refuge in Forty Fort to
remain there and to destroy all liquor, as other
wise he would not be able to control them. From
his own family history Mr. Bedford has been
able to prove that Major Butler did everything
in his power to protect the inmates of th6 fort.
He says: 'Major Butler advised our family and
others of their neighbors to leave the fort as
270

SUNBURY AND WILKES-BARRE
quietly as possible and make their escape.
Under cover of darkness they found their way
to the river shore, where a boat was in readi
ness. They went on board and floated down
stream with the current, aided by a pair of oars,
and the next night reached the Nescopeck Rap
ids, where on the river's bank there was a cabin.
Some of the members of the party proposed
that they should land and occupy the cabin over
night. Others, more cautious, advised continu
ing the journey in the boat, and fortunately
their advice prevailed. A boat following with
its occupants landed, the boat was moored and
the party availed themselves of the cabin's
shelter, but, sad to say, every one of them was
massacred by the Indians the same night. ' " 2
It is a strange coincidence that the opposing
forces were both led by Butlers, who are said
to have been related. Major John Butler, who
led the Tories and Indians, was from Connecti
cut, while Colonel Zebulon Butler, a Continental
officer, who was at home on leave, was placed
in command of the home troops. The force of
the enemy was considerably underestimated
when Colonel Butler entered the engagement,
and although he did everything to stem the tide
of disaster, a defeat was inevitable, which was
followed by a frightful massacre and looting
of the fort by the Indians.
* " Some Early Recollections," by George R. Bedford.
18 271

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
Of course, the British had nothing to do with
the massacre, except that they had taken into
their service Indians, whom they were unable to
control when their savage instincts were ex
cited by warfare and bloodshed, although Major
Butler is said to have done everything in his
power to restrain them. After the surrender,
the famous Seneca squaw, Queen Esther, led the
Indians into the fort and herself presided over
the fatal ring.
Several efforts have been made to exonerate
the savage Queen from the barbarities attrib
uted to her, and in which she doubtless gloried ;
but too many persons living near the scene of
the massacre have testified to her crimes. Mrs.
Perkins gives the story as related by her aged
aunt, Mrs. Durkee: "Fifteen or sixteen of our
men who had been taken prisoners by the In
dians, were assembled to receive their death
blow by the hand of Queen Esther, a large
middle-aged Seneca squaw, who had such honors
assigned her.
"In this case it was thought to be revenge
for the death of her son, who was killed by the
whites. Some of the prisoners made their escape
from the ring; others attempted it, but were un
successful. . . . The remaining twelve or
more were murdered with the tomahawk by the
hand of this savage Queen on the 'Bloody Rock,'
which may still be seen." 272

Haldeman-Cameron House, Front Street, Harrisburg

SUNBURY AND WILKES-BARRE
An interesting and less horrible story of
Indian capture is that of Frances Slocum as told
by Mrs. John C. Phelps: "Four months after
the battle of Wyoming, on the 2d of November,
1778, Frances Slocum, a little girl of five years,
was stolen by the Indians, never to be seen again
by her mother and not by her brothers and sis
ters until she was a woman sixty-four years
of age. About forty days after her abduc
tion, Isaac Tripp, her grandfather, and Jona
than Slocum, her father, were speared, toma
hawked and scalped by the savages. They were
members of the Society of Friends, and had
been unmolested by the Indians until Mr. Slo
cum 's eldest son, Giles, a boy of seventeen years,
had joined the band of patriots on the mem
orable 3d of July ; then the family seem to have
been a shining mark for Indian vengeance. ' '
The sequel to this story is interesting, as
told by Mr. J. F. Meginness, and reveals a more
favorable side of Indian character than those
which we are wont to hear. About six years
after the massacre, "in 1784, two of Frances'
brothers made a journey north to search for
her. One hundred guineas were offered for her,
but she was not found. Again in 1788 the
brothers visited the Indian country. Mrs.
Slocum lived for twenty-nine years after her
child was stolen. It was nearly sixty years
after when news was received that the white
273

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
wife of an Indian in a western state was sus
pected to be Frances. It was Colonel George
W. Ewing, an Indian trader of Logansport, In
diana, who noticed the white woman. He wrote
to the Lancaster postmaster all the facts he
could discover about her. This letter fell into
the hands of John W. Forney, who published it
in his paper, the Intelligencer. So it came to the
Slocum family, who communicated with Colonel
Ewing. Upon receiving further details two
brothers and a sister, Mrs. Towne, journeyed
to the Indians to verify the story. Accom
panied by interpreters, they visited the Miami
village and met the Chief. Then on to Deaf
Man's Village, where the captive woman resided
with her two daughters. Being assured that it
was really Frances, they persuaded her and her
family to go back to the town with them, and
after spending a night there and hearing all
that the woman could tell of her capture, she
accepted them as relatives and presented them
with a piece of fresh venison as a proof of
friendliness. Frances said that she had always
been treated well by the Indians. She had first
married a Delaware and after he left her she
married a Miami, 'a chief and a deaf man.'
She refused to go back with her family to
civilization, saying, 'I cannot, I cannot, I am an
old tree. I was a sapling when they took me
away. I am happy here. I shall die here and
274

SUNBURY AND WILKES-BARRE

lie in that graveyard and they will raise the
pole at my grave with the white flag on it, and
the Great Spirit will know where to find me." 3
There is a romantic tradition as to the sec
ond marriage of Frances to a Miami. "While
her foster parents were floating down a river in
a canoe in central Ohio, she was riding a horse
on the shore and discovered an Indian lying in
the path wounded. She dismounted and dressed
his wounds, and her parents took him with them
and cared for him till he was well. After that
he supplied them with game for a time and then
proposed going away. They were opposed to
this and finally offered to give him their daugh
ter in marriage if he would remain. He con
sented and the union proved a happy one.
"Two years after their first visit, Joseph
Slocum again went to see his sister, taking his
two daughters along. Frances expressed joy
at seeing her brother again. She was accounted
a rich woman among her tribe, owning "three
hundred Indian ponies, and cattle, hogs and
chickens in large numbers."
We can readily imagine thrilling tales of
these days of storm and stress in the beautiful
valley of the Wyoming being told by father to
son and grandparents to grandchildren by many
a fireside in Wilkes-Barre and Plymouth. In
deed, we had heard some of these stories our-
s " Prances Slocum, The Lost Sister of Wyoming," by John
F. Meginness. 275

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
selves, while we were spending some weeks at
Bear Lake, a favorite resort of some of the old
Wilkes-Barre families, the incident of Sulli
van's expedition being dwelt upon, at length, by
a distinguished jurist in our party. These
stories were recalled to us by some references
that we found to the unveiling of a boulder at
Laurel Run, on which a tablet was placed to
honor the memory of Captain Joseph Davis and
Lieutenant William Jones of the advance guard
of General Sullivan's forces. In writing of
this casualty one of the company said:
"Getting within two miles of Wyoming, we
had, from a fine eminence, an excellent view of
the settlement. ... It lies in a beautiful
valley, surrounded by very high ground; the
people inhabit up and down the banks of the
river and very little back. There were in this
settlement, last summer, a court house, a jail
and many dwelling houses, all of which, except
ing a few scattered ones, were burnt by the sav
ages after the battle of July 3, 1778, which took
place near Forty Fort. At present there are a
few log houses, newly built, a fort, one or two
stockade redoubts, and a row of barracks; the
settlement consists of six or more small town
ships. At the battle before spoken of, about
two hundred and twenty men were massacred
within the space of an hour and a half, more than
a hundred of whom were married men; their
widows afterward had all their property taken
276

SUNBURY AND WILKES-BARRE
from them, and several of them with their chil
dren were made prisoners. It is said Queen
Esther of the Six Nations, who was with the
enemy, scalped and tomahawked with her hands,
in cold blood, eight or ten persons. The Indian
women in general were guilty of the greatest
barbarities. Since this dreadful stroke, they
have visited the settlement several times, each
time killing, or rather torturing to death, more
or less. Many of their bones continue yet un-
buried where the main action happened. . . .
"Thursday, June 24th. — Was introduced to
Colonel Zebulon Butler, the gentleman of whom
much has been said on account of his persevering
conduct in opposing the savages."
We saw pictures of a number of old Wilkes-
Barre houses, among them that of Colonel
Zebulon Butler, which he built about 1787 at the
corner of Northampton and River Streets. Here
he lived for many years honored and esteemed
by the community that he served. The old house
was removed in 1867, and its site occupied by
the residence of Colonel Butler's great-grand
daughter, Mrs. Stanley Woodward. In this
house, the first court of Luzerne County met,
and from its session Timothy Pickering took his
four days' journey to Philadelphia to make a
formal return of the election to the Supreme
Executive Council of the State. By this elec
tion Matthias Hollenbach, William H. Smith,
277

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
Benjamin Carpenter and James Nesbit were
chosen "Justices to keep the peace." Colonel
Pickering's house, built about the same time
as Colonel Butler's, is still standing. From this
house he was abducted by a band of political and
personal opponents and kept a prisoner for two
weeks, a proceeding that for lawlessness is only
equalled in these days by the abduction of the
best football player by some of the opposing
team just before a critical game.
Colonel Pickering's house was afterwards
bought by General William Ross, and he and his
son both lived here to the end of their days.
When Luzerne County was organized it was
named after Caesar Anne de la Luzerne, minister
from France to the United States from 1779 to
1783, in grateful acknowledgment of his services
to the Colonists.
This county then included Lackawanna,
Wyoming, Susquehanna and Bradford Counties.
We were shown many interesting collections
at the Historical Society, some among them as
sociated with George Catlin, the artist, who was
born in Wilkes-Barre. Catlin was the son of
Putnam Catlin, one of the four attorneys ad
mitted to the bar on the organization of the
county in 1787. George Catlin was himself ad
mitted to the bar, but soon abandoned the law
to lead the life of an artist. He painted the
portraits of a number of distinguished persons,
278

The Pickering-Ross House, South Ma.n Street, Wilkes-Barre'

Home of Colonel Zebulon Butler, Wilkes-Barre'

SUNBURY AND WILKES-BARRE
among these the well-known portrait of Dolly
Madison in a turban and of Governor De Witt
Clinton. Although successful in his chosen pro
fession, and after completing a large canvas of
the Constitutional Convention of Virginia, while
it was in session at Richmond, in which there are
portraits of one hundred and fifteen of its most
distinguished members, Catlin 's interest cen
tered in Indian portraiture. He had already
painted Red Jacket and Black Hawk, when
these chiefs were in Washington, and in 1832
he went among, and for some eight years re
mained among, the Indian tribes beyond the Mis
sissippi River, where no white man had pre
ceded him. He painted the portraits of nearly
five hundred Indians and thus created an Indian
portrait gallery, which he later exhibited in
London and in Paris and, in fact, in all the lead
ing capitals of Europe, where his gallery excited
great interest and attention.
"He related that on one occasion when ex
hibiting in Egyptian Hall, London, and the room
was well filled with the nobility of England, his
gallery was visited by a company of Ojibway
Indians, whom another enterprising American
had taken abroad for purposes of exhibition.
Many of them were known to Catlin personally,
he having spent considerable time in their tribe.
When they arrived at Egyptian Hall, arrayed
in their native costume, they greeted Catlin
279

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
most effusively as an old friend, and when they
discovered among the pictures the portrait of
their chief, who was of the party, they gave the
Indian whoop and joined in an Indian dance.
The excitement, as may well be imagined, was
intense and communicated itself to the English
visitors. It proved a great advertisement for
Catlin and removed any possible doubt of the
genuineness of the portraits." 4
A popular saying about Wilkes-Barre has
been that its citizens woke up one day to find
their wealth under their houses. This may not
be literally true, but certainly rich deposits of
coal were found near the homes of many of the
citizens of Wilkes-Barre, and also at Plymouth,
where there were fine old residences, such as
that of the Reynolds family, situated a half mile
from the Susquehanna and just back of the pres
ent location of a great breaker. At one time
it was considered quite an achievement to mine
and ship to market "in a single year fifteen
thousand tons of coal — not the equivalent of the
output for ten days of any one of a number of
collieries of the present day. The money value
of the coal shipped from the Wyoming Valley
for a number of years past is the equivalent of
more than fifty million dollars per year, all pro
duced from a territory three miles by twenty
miles in extent."
4 " Some Early Recollections," by George R. Bedford.
280

SUNBURY AND WILKES-BARRE

The Reynolds house at Plymouth once com
manded a fine view of the lower part of the
valley with its rich farming lands, one of the
most beautiful views of the Wyoming Valley,
now much obstructed by breakers and culm
banks. At Plymouth, as in many of these min
ing towns, we were remmded of Katharine
Mayo's description of just such scenes as we
saw before us: "There, on the high skyline
above the mountains, for mile on mile, the bold
silhouettes of the breakers cut the sky. Peaks
of coal refuse, absolutely conical, black as night,
enormous — like unspent volcanoes or a wizard's
dream — rise preposterous against the clouds.
Strippings, sharp and raw as Culebra Cut, slash
big scars of yellow across the plane. And every
where between, like the remnants of an exquisite
verdant tapestry rent by swords and blown to
bits by guns, lie the tattered remnants of the
beauty of the world."
"Coal mines certainly do not add to the
beauty of a landscape," said Sarah; "we simply
have to forget all about the charm that once
belonged to this place and think only of the bene
fit and comfort that coal has brought to
the world. ' '
The question as to who first used anthracite
coal has never been satisfactorily settled. Judge
Jesse Fell, of Wilkes-Barre, used coal success
fully in his grate as early as 1808. This may
281

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
have been the first successful attempt to use
coal for domestic purposes ; though it has been
claimed by Dr. Thomas C. James, of Philadel
phia, that he used anthracite coal in his house in
1804 ; but he did not say whether he burned it in
a stove or a grate. Like a great many other
discoveries that have been of benefit to the
world, the use of coal was probably found by sev
eral persons and in different places about the
same time.
One afternoon we went out to see the monu
ment erected in memory of those who fell in bat
tle in 1778, or were slain by the savages after
the defeat of Colonel Zebulon Butler's troops.
The inscription on this monument, which was
composed by Edward G. Mallery, is beauti
fully worded and tells the story, the pathetic
story, of the great tragedy in a few lines.
Our last afternoon in Wilkes-Barre we spent
near Dorranceton, where we were invited to see
the wonderful rose farm of the Dorrance family,
acres in roses of the most exquisite varieties.
After enjoying the beauty and fragrance of the
flowers and the charming hospitality of our
hosts, we returned to Wilkes-Barre by the light
of the moon, and with our hands full of roses.
So our last associations with this town, whose
early history was so tragic, were of moonlight,
flowers and of music also, as one of the local
choral societies was singing gaily when we
reached our hotel.

XIV
A PENNSYLVANIA RETREAT FOR ROYALTY
At the hotel in Scranton we found Kathleen
waiting to greet us and to rejoice in the roses
we brought her from the Dorrance farm, which
were still fresh and beautiful.
Lodged here in a comfortable hotel in this
handsome, prosperous city, it seemed almost in
credible that this place, once called Slocum 's
Hollow, was of so little importance sixty years
ago that it was not considered worth while for
the stage from Carbondale to Wilkes-Barre
to stop here. The inhabitants of Slocum 's
Hollow were obliged to board their stage at
Hyde Park, and now Scranton is the third city
in Pennsylvania. Kathleen was quite ready to fall in with our
plan to visit Asylum, stipulating, however, that
we should make a circular tour by Dundaff and
Crystal Lake, which she wished very much
to see. "And that route, ' ' said Sarah, consulting her
map, "will take us by Montrose, which is said
to be one of the prettiest towns in the state."
Scranton, handsome city as it is, was quite
too modern for us, and we set forth the next
morning for Carbondale, a much older town than
Scranton, and, like the latter, a place which has
283

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
grown rapidly. When John Wurts came here
to make his early explorations after coal, Car
bondale is said to have contained only one log
cabin, which was built to shelter him. A thriv
ing town is the Carbondale of to-day, and with a
certain picturesqueness where the Fall Brook
flows under its bridges, and the culm banks are
not too near.
The drive from Carbondale to Crystal Lake
is through a gently rolling country, by brown
mountain streams, with mountains in the dis
tance, and nearer, over toward Montrose, Elk
Hill throws up two shapely peaks against
the horizon.
"This is the kind of country that I like," ex
claimed Kathleen, "wild and far off from civil
ized places. I can really imagine Indians in
those woods, they are so thick and dark."
"If you had heard as much as we have about
Indians in these last days in Wilkes-Barre you
wouldn't be so keen about imagining them lurk
ing anywhere near," said Sarah. "We have
heard thrilling tales, especially about Queen
Esther, of whom we shall hear more when we
get up near Asylum and Athens."
"You really must tell me those wonderful
tales, Sarah; you know I love blood-curdling
stories. ' '
"You'll hear enough of them, if we meet any
old inhabitants of Bradford County."
284

A PENNSYLVANIA RETREAT FOR ROYALTY
"Which comes first, Crystal Lake or Dun-
daff? " asked Kathleen.
' ' Crystal Lake comes first, ' ' I said, as I knew
this region well, and then to my surprise, Crad-
dock, Kathleen's new chauffeur, pointed over
toward a mountain whose top stood out clear
and beautiful against the blue of the sky, and
said, "Many a time I've slept on the top of
old Elk."
"Oh!" I exclaimed, "you know this
country?" "Yes'm, like a book. I was born over near
Honesdale,the place they say the first locomotive
started from ; but from what I 've heard, the first
locomotive must have started from several
places. Yes'm, I've hunted all over this country
with the gentlemen that used to come up here
after quail and pheasants in the fall. They don't
come any more, and the city folks used to come
in the summer to the Villa and to Fern Hall.
It's curious they don't put up a big house some
where about here; it's high, about two thousand
feet, and fine air. Here's Crystal Lake;
you can't find anything prettier than that any
where. They used to run a little steamboat
here; but that was before my time."
A beautiful lake it is, a great sheet of water
nearly a mile wide, shining like silver in the sun,
framed in by well-wooded shores, and having a
background of distant blue mountains. On the
285

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
bluff above the lake a few cottages and bunga
lows are beautifully situated, commanding a
view of the lake and the mountains beyond.
"Whose is that fine large stone house?" I
asked. ' ' It has been built since I was here. ' '
"Oh, that's Mr. Johnson's new house, Fern
Hall used to stand there. The Johnsons have
owned property here for years ; and over there,
right out on the lake, is the old Jones house.
They've built a big new house on the farm just
outside of Dundaff."
On a hillside by one of the bungalows we
were attracted by a garden of exquisite beauty,
with arbors and arches and a sun-dial, all glori
fied by every brilliant blossom that lifts its head
to the sun in July. I suddenly remembered that
I once wandered through this lovely garden with
its owner, and had come away with my hands
full of flowers. Seeing her now, the most enthu
siastic of gardeners, at work among her roses,
I waved my hand to her. She recognized me,
begged us to stop and see her garden, and so
for a delightful hour we were in a land of
enchantment. As we motored through the village of Dun
daff, we were told by our informing chauffeur
that it had been quite a place in its day ; that they
published a paper here in 1820 ; that there were
several shops, and that Colonel Phinny had a
grist mill, saw mill, wagon shop and a bank here.
286

A PENNSYLVANIA RETREAT FOR ROYALTY
"His home was in that house," said Crad-
dook, pointing to a fine old-fashioned house with
columns in front and a balcony above.
The little town must have entertained great
expectations of wealth and importance when
coal was discovered at Carbondale and Forest
City; but the coal deposits stopped somewhere
between Carbondale and Crystal Lake, and since
then Dundaff has remained very much in status
quo, happier perhaps and certainly prettier than
if it had become a mining town like Forest City ;
but old residents still recall with pride the fact
that their town came within three or four votes
of being made the county seat.
My friend, who has a farm near Dundaff, had
often told me that her grandfather, Mr. Peter
Graham, a Scotchman, came here early in the
century with Mr. Redmond Conyngham from
Wilkes-Barre, and was so charmed with this
mountain and lake country that he bought a
large tract of land. Mr. Conyngham afterwards
laid out the village and named it Dundaff at the
suggestion of his friend, Peter Graham, in honor
of Dundaff Castle, the home of "William the
Graham." Mr. Conyngham also bought land
here and had a cellar and well dug, but does not
seem to have built a house. Mr. Graham, how
ever, made this his summer home for many
years, having owned two places near Dundaff,
one called Moskesson and the other the Grange.
19 287

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
These farms are both owned by Mr. Graham's
grandchildren, a rather unusual circumstance in
this country of constant change. We stopped at,
the Grange, a fine old place with a gently slop
ing lawn full of beautiful trees, most of them
planted by Howard Spencer, Esq., of Philadel
phia, who owned and improved this estate of six
hundred acres. My friend was away, to our
great regret, and not being able to enjoy her
hospitality, we turned our faces toward Mont
rose, driving for some distance through the
Grange woods.
We were tempted to make a detour
to see Pleasant Mount, a pretty village, quite
near Belmont, the home of General Meredith;
but Craddoek warned us that it was now
twelve o'clock, and there lay thirty miles
between Dundaff and Montrose, and not all of
it over the best roads, so we concluded to leave
Pleasant Mount for another day. I had motored
there from Dundaff several years ago and had
seen the monument erected on the village green
in honor of Samuel Meredith, who, after serving
under Washington at Brandywine, Germantown
and Princeton, upon the organization of the Fed
eral Government was appointed Treasurer of
the United States. A letter from Alexander
Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury, still
preserved in the Meredith family, shows how
much he appreciated the cooperation of General
288

A PENNSYLVANIA RETREAT FOR ROYALTY
Meredith. After his retirement from office he
and his family came to live at Belmont, and the
Meredith family were long associated with
this region.
Our way lay through Glenwood, which Crad
doek told us with some pride, was for years the
home of Galusha A. Grow, who came here from
Connecticut. Sarah, of course, remembered that
he had represented Pennsylvania in Congress
for several terms, had been Speaker of the
House, and strenuously opposed the introduction
of slavery into the territories. We passed
through Hop Bottom, as this is a great hop coun
try, and across Tunkhannock Creek, and so on
to Montrose, which we could see some time be
fore we reached it, as it is a town set on a hill.
And here in Montrose we have found an ideal
village, with comfortable old-fashioned homes,
many of them frame houses painted white, soft
embowered in trees, the great sugar maples that
belong to this part of Pennsylvania being
largely in evidence.
The town owes its pretty name to the Rose
family, who came to this region many years ago,
first settling at Silver Lake, ten miles from
here. We find our surroundings so attractive
that we have concluded to remain for several
days. Kathleen and I would gladly stay for a
week in the comfortable homelike house in which
we are stopping; but Sarah has set her heart
289

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
upon getting to Asylum, her Carcasonne, and
then our time is limited, as we all have engage
ments later in the month. Sarah should be con
tent to stay on indefinitely, as her neighbor at
table has antiquarian tastes and pours valuable
information into her willing ears. This gentle
man's grandfather lived near Asylum and he re
membered many things that his father had told
him about the settlement there and the laying
out of the town, which he says was really in
tended as a place of refuge for the royal family
and the nobility at the time of the French Revo
lution, and arrangements were in progress to
have the King and Queen escape from France
and come to Asylum. A house being built far
back in the woods was called the Queen's house.
Of course, the plans to bring the King and Queen
to the United States seem to us now like fairy
tales ; but theyfit in with an equally fancifulstory
about the. crown jewels of the Bourbons being
buried somewhere in Virginia. All plans for the
escape of the royal family were, of course,
thwarted by the arrest of Louis and Marie An
toinette at Varennes, their close imprisonment
in the Temple and their subsequent execution;
but there may have been those who dreamed of
such a possibility, and it is quite certain that a
number of the French nobility settled at Asylum.
We found an interesting little book that tells us
all about the place, and Kathleen and I are now
290

A PENNSYLVANIA RETREAT FOR ROYALTY
almost as eager as Sarah to see it. This very
informing gentleman has been telling us about
Montrose also, and pointing out old houses to
us, some of them with lovely doorways and al
luring porches, deeply shaded. It seems that a
number of well-known families from Philadel
phia and other places settled here early in the
last century, among them the Biddies, Drinkers,
Posts, Webbs, Mulfords, and Jessups. Some of
the old houses have been altered during that
unfortunate period in the last century when
architects failed to appreciate the dignity and
beauty of older buildings.
A house on Church street that attracted us
by the simplicity of its architecture and some
thing about its porch that seemed to speak of
old-time comfort and hospitality was built in
1818 by Mr. Silvanus S. Mulford, who came to
Montrose from Long Island. This house, which
has been changed little in the hundred years that
have passed over its head, has an interesting his
tory of its own, for here lived the Reverend
Elisha Mulford, who wrote The Nation and The
Republic of God, books widely read in their day.
Another writer who lived in this house for sev
eral years was Miss Emily Blackman, who
compiled a voluminous and important history of
Susquehanna County. In the early years of the
last century William Jessup brought his bride
to Montrose, and they lived for some time with
291

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
his sister, Mrs. Mulford. Mr. Jessup was later
an influential man in this part of the State, and
was Judge of the County Court in the fifties. In
1835 Mr. Mulford sold his house to Mr. Jerre
L. Lyons, who came to Montrose from Colerain,
Massachusetts, with four brothers. One of the
brothers, Lorenzo Lyons, was a missionary in
the Sandwich Islands for fifty-five years. A son
of Mr. Jerre L. Lyons, of the same name, was a
missionary in Syria for some years.
The Biddle and Drinker families lived for
years in Montrose. Miss Anna Drinker was a
poetess, known in literature as Edith May, it
being the fashion in her day for women writers
to modestly conceal their identity under a nom
de plume. Among its other attractions Montrose has a
delightful library on the wide village green op
posite the Court House. We could spend many
pleasant and profitable hours in this building, as
there are valuable books of reference here as
well as lighter literature. This library was
founded by Miss Clementine Cope, a German-
town woman, who spent some summers in Mont
rose years ago, and whose country home stands
on the road to Dimock. Being one of the wise
ones of the earth, she realized that no com
munity of young people can be expected to grow
up into intelligent citizenship without having
access to good books. 292

A PENNSYLVANIA RETREAT FOR ROYALTY
Even with all the allurements that this
charming village offered, we resolutely turned
our backs upon it and set forth for Asylum.
Craddook, who unlike men in general and chauf
feurs in particular, does not object to asking
questions, has been told that the best road is by
Rush, a town which seems to have been named
after a distinguished jurist in this region, and
then on by Wyalusing and Wysox. We had the
address of a hotel or inn in Asylum, and of an
other in Towanda; but as both of these places
were unexplored regions to us, we left Montrose
very early in order to have some hours of day
light in which to find accommodations for the
night. After further inquiries at Wysox we con
cluded to motor on to Towanda, and in this case
"wisdom was justified of her children," as we
found a comfortable stopping place in this town,
which is a place of some importance, being the
county seat.
We motored over to Asylum the next day,
and found it much as it had been described to
us and well situated in a lovely bend of the Sus
quehanna. The township of Asylum lies be
tween those of Towanda and Montrose, the river
forming the boundary on the north and east,
between it and the townships of Wysox, Stand
ing Stone and Wyalusing. The growing Ameri
can town has pushed the early French settlement
into the background ; but its traditions are still
293

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
a part of the life of the place. The colony at
Asylum is said to have been organized by the
Viscount Louis de Noailles and another French
nobleman, two wealthy Frenchmen, driven to
this country by the upheaval in Europe. These
gentlemen purchased an immense tract of land in
what is now Bradford County, and established
on the banks of the Susquehanna, just below the
broad, low plateau occupied by the halfbreeds,
a colony of Frenchmen, and called the place
" Azylum. ' ' It has come to be known as French-
town to succeeding generations. Many of the
refugees who came here belonged to the nobility,
and to people of luxurious habits pioneer life in
log cabins was naturally hard, and to add to
their discomfort, most of the servants whom
they brought over deserted them. As these
emigres-were helpless people, who could not cook,
and were even unaccustomed to dress them
selves, their case was far from ideal. The annals
relate that they were also often in danger on
account of the people of "The Tribe" living on
the neighboring hills . When Napoleon came into
power he sent for them all to return, and most
of them gladly deserted their cabins among the
giant trees and went back to sunny France.
Others were scattered through this region, only
a few families remaining in Asylum. Of the
descendants of those who remained, some are
still to be found here. Batholomew la Porte
294

A PENNSYLVANIA RETREAT FOR ROYALTY
was one of those who stayed on in Asylum, and
we find his name perpetuated in the town of La
Porte in Sullivan County. Judge La Porte, a
son of the first settler, according to Mrs. Perkins,
was born at Asylum in 1798, where he lived and
cultivated one of the most extensive farms in the
country. He served five years in the Legisla
ture, being elected Speaker during the last ses
sion of his service.1
Another French settler who remained in
Bradford, then Luzerne County, was Charles
Hornet, who came to the United States in 1793,
and to Asylum three years later, where he lived
to the end of his days. The name Hornet was
given to a ferry a few miles south of Asylum.
General Durell was one of the well-known
exiles, and we passed through a town north of
Asylum which bears his name. Other names still
to be found here are Le Fevre, Prevost and
D'Autremont. Mr. J. M. Piolette settled at
Wysox and Mr. Delpeuch, Mr. Peuch and others
near Towanda.
Now that she is dead and can do no harm,
Queen Esther is one of the cherished memories
of this region; indeed, her claims bid fair to
rival in interest those of the French settlers.
Traditions about her, so often repeated that they
have become history, true or false, are something
1 " Early Times on the Susquehanna," by Mrs. George A.
Perkins. 295

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
of an asset here, as they seem to bring curious
visitors to this region. The older inhabitants
love to talk about her. Sarah has encountered
several of them, as she always does ! they seem
to come to her without any apparent effort on
her part, drawn to her by natural attraction as
the magnet draws the needle. Kathleen and I
stand beside her and listen to all that she draws
forth. According to these people, the savage
queen was a tall stately woman, very beautiful
and a rather pleasant person in everyday life,
when the lust for blood was not urging her on to
deeds of horror. And Mrs. Perkins gives the
same impression gathered from the personal
recollections of her aunt, Mrs. Durkee. "After
the war closed, she (Queen Esther) was often
passing from Tioga to Onondaga, unprotected.
One time while Mrs. Durkee was residing in
Scipio, N. Y., she came to her house on her way
to Onondaga, with a sister who was much intoxi
cated, carrying a papoose on her back, and in
quired in broken English if she could stay there
through the night and sleep on the kitchen floor.
Mrs. Durkee being well acquainted with her, she
was permitted to stay until morning and then
went on her way. If, as some suppose, the In
dians have descended from the lost tribes of
Israel, her name might be thus accounted for;
or, what is more probable, she might have de
rived it from the Moravian missionaries, who
296

A PENNSYLVANIA RETREAT FOR ROYALTY
had many stations among them and whose names
they often adopted. She married Tom Hill, an
Indian as forbidding as herself, and after she
left Tioga she went to Onondaga to reside. " 2
Mrs. Perkins says that there was no founda
tion for the story that Queen Esther and Cath
erine Montour were one and the same. It is now
generally believed that the savage Queen was
the daughter of Andrew Montour and his Dela
ware Indian wife, which would make her the
granddaughter of the noted Madame Montour.
Andrew Montour was himself the oldest son
of Roland Montour and Margaret Frontenac, the
daughter of the Count de Frontenac, Governor
of New France, by a Huron squaw. Margaret
Frontenac was afterwards known all over the
middle colonies as Madame Montour, and was,
unlike her granddaughter, friendly to the whites.
Esther Montour and Mollie Brant, the sister
of Joseph Brant, the celebrated Indian chief of
the Iroquois, were both said to have been prime
favorites of Sir William Johnson, and in their
youth to have spent much of their time at his
great house in the Mohawk Valley. Be this as
it may, both of these Indian women had sons
named William Johnson, and Queen Esther's
hatred of the whites became an uncontrollable
fury when her son William was slain at Wyom-
2 " Early Days on the Susquehanna," by Mrs. George A.
Perkins. 297

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
ing, and in the concluding part of the fight she
herself led her halfbreeds, with tomahawk wav
ing aloft and urging her savages on with horrid
screams and imprecations.
After this there came the tragedy of Bloody
Rock. "Are the stories sufficiently thrilling to
satisfy you?" I asked, turning to Kathleen.
"Quite, I had no idea that there was so much
material for a romance in Pennsylvania. What
a wonderful novel could be written about this
region, something even finer than Conan Doyle's
Refugees! His descriptions of Johnson Hall
are very interesting; but if he had brought his
French hero and heroine down here, what a
story he could have made of the life here at
Asylum, and the troubles with the Indians
and halfbreeds !
"Yes, and Chambers might have made some
thing fine about Asylum in Cardigan, especially
if he had brought his story down to 1797, when
the Orleans princes were here. Louis Philippe,
afterwards King of the French, and his brothers,
the Duke de Montpensier and Count Beaujolais,
were traveling incognito at this time, and were
said to have come to Asylum by way of Canan-
daigua and Tioga Point. On their return trip
by boat they stopped overnight at the 'Arnold
Tavern' in Wilkes-Barre. These distinguished
visitors probably met some of their friends
298

A PENNSYLVANIA RETREAT FOR ROYALTY
among the refugees at Asylum, or Frenchtown,
as it was often called."
After making inquiries, Craddock found that
the best way to reach Pottsville was by the State
Highway, which runs quite near the Susque
hanna at Wyalusing. This road goes through
Athens, where we were told again that this town
was once Tioga Point, and that the site of Queen
Esther's town was quite near. She has certainly
left her mark all through this region.
' ' She was a distinguished woman whatever
her reputation may have been," said Kathleen.
"I'd like to see her picture, we always have pic
tures of celebrities now. I only hope Catlin
painted her portrait, all these people say that
she was very handsome."

XV
DOWN THE SCHUYLKILL TO POTTSVILLE
AND READING
We stopped overnight in Wilkes-Barre and
came down through Hazleton and another great
coal region to Pottsville. The latter part of our
trip was by the Schuylkill, which rises in the
mountains south of Hazleton. Pottsville is an
other hill town in among the mountains, and the
land in and around it was one© a great pine for
est, where the breakers and culm banks
now stand.
Coal has been the great interest here for
years, and a sharp rivalry has long been main
tained between this and other towns in the coal
belt as to which one first found the precious
black rocks. While Sarah pursued her gene
alogical researches at the Historical Society,
Kathleen and I wandered about the town, uphill
and down dale, and in the course of our rambles
we were so fortunate as to meet an acquaint
ance who told us many interesting tales about
this region and gave us a paper to read which
answered some of our questions about the dis
covery of coal. There seems to be no doubt that
Philip Ginther, a hunter, discovered coal at
Summit Hill, Mauch Chunk, in 1791, while try-
300

DOWN THE SCHUYLKILL

>>

ing to dig out some game which had "holed
among the rocks ; but earlier than that, in 1768,
specimens of anthracite coal were found in Wy
oming and sent to England. Captain Halber-
stadt has official evidence that seven or eight
years before Ginther's discovery there was a
coal mine in Pottsville, and his proof rests upon
an Act approved by the Legislature of Pennsyl
vania, March 15, 1784, for the improvement of
the navigation of the Schuylkill, so as to make it
passable at all times, by enabling the inhabitants
to bring their produce to market, furnishing the
county adjoining the same and the city of Phila
delphia with coal, masts, boards, etc.
This is incontrovertible evidence that coal
was found here before 1784, unless indeed the
good citizens of Pottsville were prophets and
were making their arrangements for the future
on the strength of visions of the black rock which
had come to them. Even earlier than this there
were evidences of coal having been found in this
vicinity, for Scull's map, which was issued in
1770, shows that coal had been seen and located
on this map, for in no less than five places there
appear conventional signs and over them the
word "coal." "As to three of these localities
there is not the slightest doubt. The first and
nearest to Pottsville is on the Sunbury road,
between the west branch of Norwegian Creek
and Minersville, at a point at or near the junc-
301

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
tion of this road with the road from York Farm
Colliery, known as the Bull's Head road. The
others are apparently near Silverton Junction,
the first on the north side of the west branch of
the Schuylkill, about midway between Westwood
Station and Silverton Junction, the other on
the west side of the branch flowing south from
Llewellyn. The other localities are either in or
very near Ashland. Comparing the water
courses on this map, made over one hundred and
forty-six years ago, with the maps but recently
made, one is struck by the near approach to
accuracy of that map of long, long ago. At
a time, indeed, when unfriendly Indians lurked
about them, habitations were few and far be
tween, the surveyors subsisted on provisions
carried with them and upon the game they were
able to kill. All honor to these hardy fellows
for the excellent surveys they made while en
during, no doubt, hardships and deprivations.
In their maps they have left to posterity im
perishable monuments. It is to be regretted
that the names of all members of the several field
parties do not appear on the maps. Their
names, however, are preserved in the surveyors '
note books. ' ' a
The most interesting account of an experi
ment in the use of coal is that given by Col
onel Shoemaker:
'Monograph by Captain Baird Halberstadt of Pottsville.
302

DOWN THE SCHUYLKILL

"I was induced to make the venture of taking
the coal to Philadelphia from the success at
tending its use at Pottsville, both in the black
smith shop and for warming houses, and I could
not believe that so useful an article was intended
to always lie in the earth unnoticed and un
known. When I induced Mr. Mellon to try the
coal in the rolling mill I accompanied the coal
to the mill, arriving there in the evening. The
foreman of the mill pronounced the coal to be
stones and not coal, and that I was an impostor
in seeking to palm off such on his employer as
coal. As a fair trial of it by this man or the men
under him could not be expected, it was arranged
between myself and Mellon, who was a practical
workman, to experiment with the coal early next
morning before the workmen came.
"We accordingly repaired to the mill in the
morning and kindled a fire in one of the furnaces
with wood on which we placed the coal. After it
began to ignite Mellon was inclined to use the
poker, against which I cautioned him. Shortly
after we were called to breakfast, previous to
which I had observed the blue blaze of the
kindling anthracite just breaking through the
body of the coal; then I knew it was all right if
it were let alone, and I directed the men left in
charge not to use the poker or open the furnace
door until our return.
"When we returned, we found the furnace
20 303

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
in a perfect glow of white heat. The iron was
put in and heated in much less time than usual
and it passed through the mills with unusual
facility and in the language of the workmen
'like lead.' "
The above story was told by Colonel Shoe
maker at a meeting of the Board of Trade of the
Schuylkill County Coal Associations in 1823.
Soon after anthracite coal was discovered in
Schuylkill County, Samuel Wetherill, Stephen
Girard and two other Philadelphia gentlemen
drove to Pottsville and bought large tracts of
coal land. Mr. Wetherill had several tons hauled
in wagons to Philadelphia, piled up in front of
his factory, and a notice put up inviting citizens
to take some of the fuel, known then as black
rock, free of charge and try it. One experi
menter became impatient after several attempts
to ignite the "black rock," and threw it into
the fireplace in despair, disgusted with the d 
stuff, as he expressed it, when to his surprise
the black rock soon became as red as the burn
ing wood, and the new fuel suddenly be
came popular.
The most thrilling page in the history of
Pottsville is that which relates to the Mollie
Maguires, a secret association composed of less
than six hundred members that for years terror
ized this region. It seems almost incredible
that so small an organization should have
804

DOWN THE SCHUYLKILL

wielded such absolute power. The Mollie Ma-
guires professed to be a branch of the Ancient
Order of Hibernians ' Board of Erin, and while
all were Catholics, the church repudiated them
because of their lawlessness. They became ac
tive about 1865, and for several years pursued
a policy of murder, their chief victims being
mine officials, and the center of their activities
being Pottsville and four or five other towns in
the coal region. In 1873 conditions had become
so intolerable in consequence of the network
of intrigue that this organization had spread
over the township and the many murders com
mitted that Franklin B. Gowen, president of the
Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Com
pany, called on Alan Pinkerton to use his de
tective forces to ferret out the murderers.
Pinkerton sent James McParlan, a bright young
detective, to the coal regions. The personal risk
was, of course, very great; but McParlan en
tered with spirit into the adventure, and his
description of his penetrating into the secret
meeting-places of the conspirators reads like
a Sherlock Holmes romance. He even ventured
into the headquarters of the gang, a hotel and
saloon kept by their "big chief," Jack Kehoe,
always creating the impression that he was one
of their active members, the while constantly
transmitting reports of the gang's activities to
his chief and captain, Robert J. Linden, of
305

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
Philadelphia, commander of the coal and iron
police. Through McParlan 's efforts, who was
"McKenna" to the Mollies, seventy arrests
were made1, and evidence obtained which sent
many to prison for varying terms ; twelve were
convicted of murder in the first degree and
hanged; four of murder in the second degree;
four as accessories, six of perjury, one of assault
and battery and one of aiding a murderer
to escape. Some of the older residents of Pottsville re
call the exciting days of the trial of the Mollie
Maguires and of Mr. Gowen's wonderful presen
tation of the case against the outlaws, which
lasted for many hours, but was so eloquent and
convincing that they never thought of fatigue
and were unwilling to leave the court room until
its conclusion. The breaking up of the intoler
able tyranny of this secret organization was
said to be largely due to Mr. Gowen's untiring
efforts, and in the face of great obstacles, this
region having been so completely terrorized that
it was almost impossible to obtain a jury.
Among the lawyers who tried these cases at
a risk to their own lives were Judge Pershing,
Judge Green, Judge Walker, of Pottsville, and
many other jurists equally well known.
Our day and night in Pottsville were cer
tainly interesting and exciting, with all the
thrilling tales that were poured into our ears.
306

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Sarah was not as well pleased with her day's
work, as she did not find all that she wished at
the Historical Society. She may, however, be
more fortunate in Reading to-morrow.
The city of Reading is spoken of in a Gazet
teer that was issued from, the press of the
Baileys at Yorick's Head on High, or Market,
Street, Philadelphia, about 1795, as "a post
town chiefly inhabited by Germans, remarkable
for the manufacture of wool hats and contain
ing about six hundred houses." This descrip
tion seems odd enough when we stroll through
the large prosperous city of to-day with its
handsome buildings and its over one hundred
thousand inhabitants. The handsome Carnegie
Library was only built in 1898 ; but many of the
books which it houses date back to the old library
established here in 1808. The fine jail, which
looks like a castle of the middle ages, is of com
paratively modern date. Of this institution the
citizens of Reading are said to take pride for
two good reasons — on account of its architec
tural excellence and its dwindling patronage.
The only building that seemed to us very old
is the Quaker Meeting House, which is not so
very old after all, as it was built in the
last century.
Although the life of to-day so overshadows
the older town, Reading is an old place, having
been laid out in 1748, and on an original Penn
Manor. It may be said to the honor of the good
307

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
proprietary that although he had a grant for
the land from Charles II, he also paid the In
dians of this region for their interest in it. The
streets were at first named after members of
the Penn family, the one called after the Pro
prietary is still known by that name and is one
of the principal business streets of the city;
but Thomas, Richard and Margaret have given
place to the more convenient but less attractive
names of First, Second, Third and Fourth
Streets. No encroaching business activities,
however, can take away from Reading its de
lightful situation upon the river, with the moun
tains rising above it.
This town experienced some exciting days in
the autumn of 1777, when many of the inhabi
tants of Philadelphia took refuge here. Duffy's
Tavern was a well-known stopping-place in
those days. Jacob Hiltzheimer recorded in his
diary that he sent his goods to Reading and to
Northampton County, and he and his family
came here later and stopped with General Mif
flin, who had a farm near Reading which he
called Angelica.
Under date of October 6th, he wrote: "Set
out from Trenton with my family for Reading,
crossed the Delaware at Coryell's, and was di
rected to one Armitage, Bucks County, but he
refused to give us lodgings, as did one Balder-
ston, at the next farm, but at the third farm
we were more fortunate. 808

DOWN THE SCHUYLKILL

' ' October 10th. — Arrived at Reading, where
we were received by General Mifflin in his usual
warm manner."
Some years later, under more cheerful con
ditions, Mr. Hiltzheimer recorded a jaunt to
Reading with some friends, this time to a
Christmas festivity, and under date of Decem
ber 25, 1787:
"Christmas. We three went to Reading, by
invitation of General D. Broadhead, and dined
with him. There were nine at the table : Mr. C.
Read, Mr. Dundass, Mr. D. Clymer, Mr. Moore,
General Mifflin, Captain Falkner and myself."
Those who are familiar with Hiltzheimer 's
diary and the number and character of the din
ners he attended can readily imagine what a
jovial meal that was, and it is altogether safe to
assert that there were some liquids as well as
solids dispensed.
Other estates in the lovely rolling country
around Reading are those of the Heber Smiths,
the Baers, De Bennevilles, Keims, Hiesters and
Clymers. Joanna Furnace has been in the
Smith family 130 years, the furnace having been
erected in 1790 and the mansion in 1805. Sev
eral thousand acres of woodland are connected
with the property. The furnace was in opera
tion until shortly before the death of Colonel L.
Heber Smith in 1898, but is now practically in
ruins, but the surroundings are most picturesque
and beautiful, the house is in good condition and
309

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
is still occupied during the summer by the family
of Colonel Smith. At Birdsboro, not far from
Reading, is the Brooke estate and the old Manor
House, which is still standing.
To add to the historic interest of this region,
we were told that the house in which Daniel
Boone, the Kentucky pioneer was, born, still
stands about eight miles east of Reading, and
still more important the Lincoln homestead,
owned by Abraham Lincoln's ancestors, is about
six miles southeast of Reading. Mr. Cyrus T.
Fox, Secretary of the Historical Society of
Berks County, told us that he had a talk with
Mr. Lincoln on the subject of his Berks County
ancestry several weeks before his assassination.
After we had seen something of Reading and
taken some of the beautiful drives, we decided to
go to Allentown, as Sarah wished to see a house
there built by James Allen, of Philadelphia, in
1770, and named Trout Hall, for the reason, as
given by the owner, that all the mountain
streams in the vicinity, the Jordan, Little Le
high and many of the others abounded in
fine trout.
"A very good reason, certainly, for a man of
sporting tastes!" said Sarah, "and we really
must have a full day in Allentown ; there is an
other old house that we should see, and as Beth
lehem is so near, why not go there for Sunday?
Nothmg could be more interesting than to spend
a Sunday in the old Moravian town. And then,"
810

Trout Hall, Allentown, Built by James Allen in 1770

DOWN THE SCHUYLKILL

— we waited for the conclusion of the sentence,
and Sarah, being an honest woman, added —
"and then, there are treasures in the Moravian
Archives that I have always wanted to see."
"And so you shall," said Kathleen, "and I
have friends there who will take us to Nazareth
and all the places around Bethlehem."
The ride from Reading to Allentown is
through a rolling, highly-cultivated country,
with mountains in the distance to break in upon
the sameness of the immense fields of corn and
great meadows with streams running through
them; and as for white chickens, there seemed to
be thousands of them dotted over the green. We
had seen many chicken farms ; but never so many
beautiful white fowls anywhere as there are
here in Berks County.
Kathleen was enchanted with these farms
and wished to go into the chicken business at
once. She even went so far as to get Craddock
to stop at the Maxatawny Inn at Kutztown to
ask if there were any farms for in
the neighborhood.
Of course, there were farms to sell ; there
are any number of them waiting to be sold,
especially to prosperous-looking travelers, who
tour in a Rolls-Royce.
The road which runs for some distance near
the trolley line is very good and as we sped
along through Breinigsville and Trexlertown, I
remembered .that the ancestors of the Trexlers,
311

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
of Allentown, settled near here before 1720 on
land purchased from Caspar Wister, and here
Peter Trexler, son of Peter Trexler, the settler,
was born in 1721. He was a useful citizen, hav
ing served as Colonial Justice of the Peace from
1753 to 1776, and afterwards, as a Justice of the
Peace for the United States. He was also one of
the first county commissioners of Northampton
County. Judge Trexler is the ancestor of Gen
eral H. C. Trexler and the Hon. Frank M. Trex
ler, of Allentown.
I once made this trip in May and can never
forget the beauty of the farms of this region
and the great orchards, with the pear blos
soms still like a white cloud upon the trees, and
the apple blossoms in full pink and white per
fection. General Trexler 's vast apple orchards
were a joy to behold and the blossoms filled the
air with fragrance. Those fortunate travelers
who have been to Japan say that nothing out
side of that Island Kingdom can equal these Al
lentown orchards.
Our roads have been beside rivers so much
of the route that we quite missed them on our
tour from Reading to Allentown, and we did not
even cross Jordan Creek, as that mountain
stream flows into the Lehigh River north of Al
lentown. Here the Lehigh makes a sudden curve
in order to flow through the old town
of Bethlehem and oh to Easton, where it joins
the Delaware.

XVI
ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM AND CHESTER
Allentown is set down in "Scott's Gazet
teer" of 1795 as a handsome andflourishing town
of Northampton County, with about ninety dwell
ings. At that time there were only twenty-three
counties in Pennsylvania, and Lehigh was still a
part of Northampton County. The Allentown
of to-day certainly presents a striking contrast
to this description, with its wide streets, fine
residences, extensive and handsome hospital,
college buildings and many churches.
* We were fortunate in having friends in
Allentown who took us about, showed us the
places we wished to see, and at Trout Hall which
is now the headquarters of the Lehigh Historical
Society we met some of its members, who told us
many interesting things about the town and the
old houses here.
It seems that Northampton was the name
given to Allentown, when Chief Justice Allen
had the town laid out in 1762 on his land. Even
before this, Mr. Allen, having become the owner
of five thousand acres on the west bank of the
Lehigh, had built for himself a log house, near
the banks of Jordan Creek, to be used for his
813

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
friends and himself as a hunting and fishing
lodge. This log house of 1740 was the first build
ing on the Allen tract, and in 1763 sixteen men
were taxed as residents of the village, among
them Simon Brenner, Martin Derr, David
Deshler, Peter Schwab and Judge Rhoads who
had already built a substantial stone house here.
The streets of the new town were named for
prominent men in the Province, as Penn, Hamil
ton, Chew, Allen, Turner, and also after the
streets of Philadelphia.
Colonel James Burd was evidently interested
in the new town as he bought several lots here
as early as 1762, and had a house built on his
property; but during the next years, while Chief
Justice Allen and his daughters were in Eng
land, a serious calamity befell the little town,
which changed Colonel Burd's plans, and. seri
ously retarded its growth. ' ' On the 8th of Octo
ber," says Mr. Charles R. Roberts, "a band of
Indians descended upon Allen and Whitehall
townships, only six miles distant from Allen
town, and killed fifteen persons. In a few hours
the town was crowded with refugees, and al
though it was Sunday, Rev. Jacob Joseph Roth,
a Lutheran minister, who was conducting a ser
vice in the log church at Hamilton and Church
Streets, was compelled to stop the service and
assist Colonel Burd, who had arrived in the
town, to form a company to protect the town.
314

ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM AND CHESTER
George Wolf was chosen Captain, and Abraham
Rinker, Lieutenant, of a company of twenty-five
men organized. ' '
Writing of this event later Colonel Burd
says: "This new Indian war has altered the
situation of my affairs greatly. I thought to
have been very pleasantly situated at North
ampton with my family and have rendered some
small marks of my gratitude to one of my best
friends. I think it would be best if agreeable
to Mr. Allen and you that Mr. Gordon should
give directions about the management of the
town to the best man he can find upon the spot.
I mean, to prevent abuses on the Plantation, in
cutting down the Timber, as it is out of my
power in my present circumstances to do my
worthy friend that service. The Plantation
might be rented for a year until Mr. Allen should
return from England if you thought proper, but
the house should have a new roof immediately,
otherwise it will all rot. ' '
In 1767 Mr. Allen deeded to his son James,
this town and all his land adjoining it, a princely
gift of over three thousand acres, and it was he
who built Trout Hall in 1770, so named " for the
reason that all the streams in the vicinity, the
Jordan, Little Lehigh, and Cedar Creeks and
the Lehigh River, abounded in the gamy trout."
" A very good sporting reason," said Kath
leen. "Those old-time gentlemen were sports
315

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
and had good times even if they lacked many of
our luxuries, and they always seem to have had
leisure to enjoy themselves in their day and gen
eration, which most people now have not. ' '
' ' When you see Grouse Hall, you will believe
still more in the sporting tastes of those early
land holders of Allentown," said one of the
local historians.
Writing in his diary in 1770, Mr. Allen said :
"Two days ago I returned from Trout Hall (a
name I have just given my house) where I had
been with Mr. Lawrence, my brother Billy and
Jenny Tilghman. We were at Heller's near the
Wind Gap of ye mountain, but to our surprise
did not kill one grouse. ' ' In June 1776, he wrote,
' ' This day I set off with my family for North
ampton, with the Chariot, Phaeton and Sulky. ' '
In September 1776, Mr. Allen visited New York
and was received by General Washington at his
headquarters, "with the utmost politeness,"
where he found many friends. June 6, 1777, he
writes : " I am now fixed here, and am very busy
in gardening, planting, etc. I visit Phila. once
in two months. Mr. Hamilton is now at my
house; he arrived here the 17th of last month
and is very happy that he is so well situated 
Since the Battle of Brandywine many thousand
waggons passed my door and are continually
passing in great numbers. All the baggage of
our Army is at Bethlehem and here ; and what
316

ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM AND CHESTER

with Hospitals and artificers these little towns
are filled. Every day some of the inhabitants
of Philadelphia are coming up to settle here.
The road from Easton to Reading, by my house,
is now the most travelled in America. Many of
the Congress passed by this place." x
As we stood on the porch of Trout Hall,
which was once the front of the house, and com
manded a full view of this road we were told
why this turnpike was so much traveled as it not
only led from Easton to Reading, but also from
New York to Pittsburgh. A fine sweep of land
slopes down from the porch to the road which
is now Union Street, and here by this old house
John Adams passed in November 1777, as Mr.
Allen says, and by this road were removed
the great military stores which had been col
lected here, and at Bethlehem, and Easton, all
of which were taken to Carlisle after the British
entered Philadelphia.
We were taken to Grouse Hall, a little way
out from the town, another fishing and hunting
box; this one built by Lynford Lardner of
Philadelphia who owned quite a tract of land
here. This attractive house, with a long porch,
beautifully shaded by great trees, was built
sometime before Trout Hall, as Mr. Lardner
wrote in 1753 of his tenant at Grouse Hall. It
now belongs to General Trexler, in common with
1 " History of Trout Hall " by Charles B. Roberts, pp. 4-7.
317

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
many properties around Allentown, and is used
by him very much as it was by its first owner,
" Which proves," said one of our party turning
to Kathleen, "that people still find time to fish
and hunt game, even in this busy world. ' '
Indeed Allentown, as we saw it to-day,
seemed a gay, bright town where one might
enjoy life ; but then we viewed it under the most
favorable circumstances, being motored to inter
esting places in and around the town. We even
saw a large hatchery for fish where trout are
cared for from babyhood to maturity, from mid
gets, the size of a pin, to the beautiful, shining
creatures, with their red fins, that disported
themselves joyously in the great tanks of the
hatchery, a sight to arouse old Isaak Walton
from his dreams to marvel over the resources
of this great new world. We were told that at
certain seasons the owner of the hatchery opens
the sluices and allows the trout to swim into the
Jordan, and other mountain streams. A most
public-spirited act, and one to be commended to
those who own property, where creeks and
mountain streams abound!
"Think of eating trout out of the Jor
dan!" exclaimed Kathleen. "It seems almost
sacrilegious. ' '
"You are to have some of these trout for
luncheon, not out of the Jordan, but from waters
which are quite near it," said one of our friends,
318

ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM AND CHESTER

pointing to a stream wandering through a lovely
meadow quite close to the hatchery. The speaker
proved herself to be a prophetess, as moun
tain trout formed the piece de resistance of a
luncheon fit for the gods, and were as good as
they were beautiful, so having lived their
happy, brief day in the water which they loved,
they came crisp and brown to the festal board
to add to our pleasure.
"A not unworthy mission to this world," as
one of the party remarked with a brown trout
lying on his plate.
We had often been to Bethlehem, to the Bach
festivals, and at Christmas and at Easter, which
latter is the most interesting time of all. We
knew its beauty at each season, in the spring,
when the trees are decked in delicate green and
the fruit trees are white with blossoms, and in
the fall when the Lehigh Mountains are aflame
in their gorgeous autumnal livery, and every
tree and shrub is a burning bush. This year,
even in July, we found Bethlehem fresh and
fair, perhaps in consequence of the frequent
rains; and most accommodating showers they
had been, as. they usually had come at night.
Here in Bethlehem we three separated for
the first time, I staying with a friend in one of
the old buildings and Sarah and Kathleen at the
Sun Inn, on Main Street, which with its wide
arched entrance on one side, and the swinging,
21 319

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
painted sign of 1758, made us think of some
English inn far back in the centuries, such as
one sees at Glastonbury or Canterbury.
The back windows of my friend's habitation
look out upon the Lehigh Mountain, which at
night is quite brilliant with the lights of the
college buildings, dormitories, and fraternity
houses. From the front windows of this house
on Church Street, we could see two very old
buildings, the Gemeinhaus of 1741, and the first
Moravian Seminary for girls, built in 1746,
familiarly called the "Bell House," as it is sur
mounted by an ancient belfrey. This building,
with its vine-covered doorways under one
of, which we passed, through an arched and
tiled hall to a garden, is one of the most inter
esting houses in the old town. Since the Semi
nary was removed to more commodious quarters
further west on Church Street, this house has
been used as a home for single sisters of the
Moravian Church.
Beyond the "Bell House" is the ancient hill
side graveyard, with its great trees under whose
overshadowing branches many of the Fathers of
the Church, and the Mothers also, sleep their last
sleep. Here also are the graves of a number of
Christian Indians, as the early Moravians were
most successful missionaries among the natives,
and many interesting stories are told of their
experiences with some of their converts.
320

ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM AND CHESTER
During the first visit to Bethlehem, of Count
Zinzendorf, a death occurred in the community,
and as Bishop Levering says: " In conducting
the funeral, Zinzendorf consecrated the ground
as the 'God's Acre 'of the settlement, the present
historic old cemetery. It was at first often
called Bethlehem's Hutberg, after the hill of
that name, in which the cemetery of Herrnhut
is situated.2 Count Zinzendorf, himself a great mission
ary and leading spirit in the Church of the
Unitas Fratrum, has been well represented by
a long line of devoted Moravian ministers, of
whom the most distinguished in America have
been Bishops Edmund A. de Schweinitz of Beth
lehem, and Emil de Schweinitz of Salem,
North Carolina.
The present Seminary building on West
Church Street is by no means of recent construc
tion, as a portion of it was built some years
before the Revolutionary War. A bronze tablet
on the right side of the entrance records the fact
that in this building, then used as the Brothers'
House, a number of wounded Continental sol
diers were cared for, in 1776 and again from
September, 1777 until April, 1778. This was
the time that the Marquis de Lafayette was
here after the Battle of the Brandywine. He and
all the other officers and soldiers were tenderly
cared for by the good sisters. 
* "History of Bethlehem," by Bishop Joseph M. Levering,
p. 142. 321

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
After speaking of the arrival in Bethlehem
of John Hancock and a number of Congressmen
in September, 1777, Bishop Levering says :
"Another came, to whose personality and
sojourn at Bethlehem, a special interest and
somewhat of romance attached. This was the
brave and gallant young French Nobleman, the
Marquis de Lafayette, whose devotion of himself
and his fortune to the cause of American free
dom remains one of the finest features of the
sublime struggle. Wounded in the bloody con
flict at Brandywine, which sent such a ghastly
train to Bethlehem, he came with a suite of
French officers to seek medical care at this place.
From the Sun Inn he was taken to the neighbor
ing house of George Frederick Boeckel, superin
tendent of the Bethlehem farm. There he was
attentively nursed by Boeckel 's wife Barbara
and daughter Liesel, and pretty little stories
with variations, connected with his sojourn
under that roof, were current among the local
traditions many years afterwards."
# * * # * #
"The wounded soldiers began to arrive on
September 21, and day after day, they came,
besides many sick, until when on October 22, a
final train of wagons arrived with their loads of
groaning sufferers, they had to be sent to
Easton. The surgeons refused to receive any
more. There were then over four hundred in
the Brothers' House and fifty in tents in the
322

'Bell House," Built in 1746, now Single Sisters House Bethlehe

Easter Morning in Bethlehem Graveyard

ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM AND CHESTER

rear of it, besides numerous sick officers in
other buildings. ' ' 3
There is another bronze tablet in the facade
of the Seminary building placed there by the
Sons of the Revolution, in memory of the Con
tinental soldiers who died here. The Brothers'
House is the oldest part of the building, and the
rear view from the playground is quaint and
picturesque. The great shaded lawn at the back
of the Seminary, which extends to the river bank,
is an ideal playground for the school girls dur
ing term time.
To enter into the spirit of old Bethlehem
one should be here at Christmas or Easter, the
latter being the great festival of the year when
the members of the Church meet in the grave
yard at dawn and salute one another with the
Scripture words, "Christ is Risen," a most
beautiful and impressive custom!
At Christmas the interesting story of the
naming of their town must often recur to its
citizens of to-day. Nicholas Lewis, Count Zin
zendorf, was in America in 1741 upon a mission
ary tour, and according to one of the early
Moravian chronicles :
"The Count arrived in the Forks [of the
Delaware] a few days before Christmas. While
celebrating the vigils of Christmas Eve in the
* " History of Bethlehem, Pa.," by Joseph M. Levering,
Bishop of the Moravian Church, p. 465.
323

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
first house and as we were closing the services
(it was already past 9 o'clock), the Count led
the way into the stable that adjoined our dwell
ing and commenced singing the hymn that opens
with the words, 'Nicht Jerusalem, sondern Beth
lehem, aus dir hommet was mir frommet,' and
from this touching incident the settlement
received the name of Bethlehem."4
Christmas is still ushered in with a trombone
serenade from the steeple of the church on the
afternoon before, and is celebrated with a love
feast, and in addition to this the ' ' dieners, ' ' dur
ing the service, bring in on huge trays hundreds
of lighted wax tapers, which are distributed
while the congregation sings :
Beholdi a great, a heavenly light
!Proim Bethlehem's manger shining bright.
It is needless to say that children look for
ward to this festive occasion with great delight.
The glee with which these tapers are received
by every child attending the love feast, as well
as by most of the grown-up folks, is beautiful
to behold. The solemnity of these occasions,
* These lines, sung by Count Zinzendorf, were taken from
a hymn by Adam Drese, which has been thus translated:
Not Jerusalem,
Bather Bethlehem
Gave us that which
Maketh life rich,
Not Jerusalem.
"History of Bethlehem," by Bishop Joseph M. Levering, p. 78.
324

ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM AND CHESTER
mingled with the sweet strains from the or
chestra and the joyful faces glowing in the flick
ering light of the wax tapers, form a scene
never to be forgotten.
So much has been said about the marriages
by lot among the Moravians that we were glad
to hear an explanation from one well qualified
to give it, a Moravian of the Moravians :
"Its application [that of the lot] for many
years to marriages in the Exclusive Church
Settlements and in the case of persons officially
serving as ministers or missionaries, was an
attempt to carry out lofty ideals of a completely
consecrated associate and individual life under
Christ, the Head, and of complete subjection to
Divine Guidance, believed to be given in every
matter in response to simple faith, to be ascer
tained in this way. This particular application
of the lot was relaxed in 1818. No official use
of the lot by a board, involving a call or prop
osition to any person ever bound the persons in
question without their previous knowledge or
consent. It bound the board, if affirmative, to
extend the call, or make the proposition, but
not the person to acquiesce, except by previous
understanding. Persons were not mated
together for marriage, by a board using the lot
in connecting one name with that of another
without their concurrence. All official use of
the lot was abolished by the General Synod
825

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
of the Moravian Church held at Herrnhut
in 1889." One of Kathleen's friends took us one after
noon up a winding road on the mountain side,
through Say re Park, by the handsome buildings
of the Lehigh University, and the picturesque
dormitories and fraternity houses to the very
tiptop, where we stood and looked down upon
the town, old and new.
The great belfry of the Moravian Church
stood out against the blue sky on this fair after
noon, it and its quaint surroundings forming a
strong contrast to the busy new Bethlehem, with
its many smoky furnaces, a hive of steel and iron
industries. And beyond the clouds of smoke in
the far distance, we could see the curved line of
the Blue Mountains, the Wind Gap, Lehigh Gap,
and off to the right, from where we stood, the
Delaware Water Gap and at the foot of the
Lehigh Mountain, the shining river flowing on
as it had flowed before Bethlehem became a
great industrial center, and even before the good
Moravians founded their community here.
On our way down from the heights we were
taken by Packer Hall, the beautiful Eckley B.
Coxe Mining Laboratory, and many other build
ings, including the chapel where the Bach Fes
tivals are now held. These days devoted to the
music of John Sebastian Bach are foremost
among the events of the year, and owe their

ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM AND CHESTER
great success to the untiring efforts and signal
ability of Dr. J. Fred Wolle, the leader, whose
grandfather played violinoello and double-bass
in Bethlehem nearly a century ago, and also to
the warm cooperation of Mr. Albert G. Rau, and
other members of this music-loving community.
Dr. Henry S. Drinker, President of Lehigh
University, is also the President of the Bethle
hem Bach Choir and among its enthusiastic
members, as are Mr. Charles M. Schwab and Mr.
Warren A. Wilbur, both of whom have given
generously to its support. Indeed mainly
through the liberality of Mr. Schwab and Mr.
Wilbur the Lehigh Valley Symphony Orchestra
has been able to give its members the pleasure of
hearing a number of distinguished artists.5
The Bach Choir of to-day seems to be a natural
successor of the "Singing Hour" described in
the "Bethlehem Diary" for June, 1742, which
is the earliest recorded choral festival at Beth
lehem. There were eighty singers even at that
early date, all directed by Count Zinzendorf.
In 1744 a spinet from London came to the
help of these musicians, and in 1746 it was a
great day when this spinet was supplanted by
an organ which was made in Philadelphia.
Not until one hundred and fifty years
after Bach's death was the Bach Choir formed
at Bethlehem. 
6 " The Bethlehem Bach Choir," by Raymond Walters.
327

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
In September, 1899, the call for recruits was
issued and in March, 1900, in the old Moravian
Church, the first festival was given.
And now, Mr. Waldo says :
"All through the winter their souls are
steeped in Bach until they know every shade and
secret of the text and the setting. The tunes are
running through their heads during housework
or at the lathes of the steel mills.
"They live for Bach in order to sing the
music as it was meant to be sung. ' '
It is interesting to know from old Moravian
diaries that Dr. Franklin enjoyed the good music
in Bethlehem as early as 1756, and that General
Washington, on the evening of July 25, 1782,
was privileged to hear music on the organ and a
serenade by the redoubtable trombone choir, and
that Mrs. Washington, on her way to Virginia,
in June, 1779, attended an evening service in
Bethlehem and enjoyed the music of choir
and orchestra.
Another afternoon we were taken through
Fountain Hill, where there are so many beauti
ful residences, across the fine Broad Street
Bridge, and through a part of Bethlehem that
has grown up as a result of the vast industries
of the last two or three years.
We are enjoying ourselves so much that
Sarah and I could be happy here for many days ;
but Kathleen is anxious to get back to Phila-
328

ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM AND CHESTER
delphia by Saturday. She is expecting letters —
from what quarter of the globe she does not say;
but they are evidently too precious to be re-
mailed to her here, or anywhere else, so to-mor
row we start for Chester, going by way of
Allentown and Pottstown.
And so, our minds fairly saturated with
antiquities, we started on our tour. Pottstown
appealed to us on account of its interesting
associations as well as for the beauty of the
grounds surrounding the Hill School, from
which there is a fine view of the river; but we
only stopped for luncheon as we hoped to reach
Chester before night. AtPottstownwe crossed to
the right bank of the Schuylkill and came down
by Phoenixville, passing the great Phoenix Iron
Works, which have been successfully operated
by David Reeves, Sr., and his descendants since
1827, and near by, in Phoenix Park, are
their delightful homes, whose hospitality we had
often enjoyed. Not far from Phoenixville are
the Knoll and Moore Hall, the latter a famous
place in its day. In the town itself are some
interesting houses, among them the Fountain
Inn, which was at one time the headquarters of
General Howe. In front of the inn is a marker
on which is this record :
' ' The Farthest Inland Point Reached in the
British Invasion of the Northern Colonies
During the Revolutionary War, September,
21-23, 1777." 329

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
"Not far away," says Dr. Faris, "is the old
General Pike Hotel, built in 1807, and directly
across the road is the Jones Mansion, built by
John Longstreth. # # * ^F *
' ' Phoenixville was on the route of the Under
ground Railway on which so many slaves found
their way to freedom in Canada. There were
four stations in the neighborhood of the town,
and of these the Jones Mansion was one.
Visitors to the house are shown a wood closet
in the chimney where the slaves were hidden
during the day. Once a father and mother and
their baby were crowded in these narrow quar
ters when the searchers came to the house after
them. The baby cried, and Mrs. Jones was in
agony. But the hiding place was not dis
covered, and that night the slaves were sent on
their way."6
Being near Valley Forge we could not deny
ourselves the pleasure of a short visit, although
we had all been here many times. Our first
stop was at the Washington Memorial Chapel
whose fine stained glass windows always remind
me of the exquisite jeweled glass in the win
dows of the Sainte Chapelle in Paris. This
same beautiful glass has been used in the east
window, placed here by the Pennsylvania
Society of the Colonial Dames of America, in
honor of Martha Washington, and in recogni-
" "Old Roads out of Philadelphia," by Dr. John T. Faris.
330

ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM AND CHESTER
tion of her noble work at Valley Forge during
the severe winter of 1777-78. The motif that
runs through the Scriptural and historic scenes
depicted in this window is sacrifice and is
intended to represent the sacrifices made by this
Colonial woman, who left her comfortable home
to share with her husband the hardships of the
winter in this encampment between the valley
hills, and was so untiring in her efforts to add
to the comfort of the soldiers under the Gen
eral's command.
From the beautiful Chapel we made our way
through the Park, and down a steep hill to the
little stone house where the General and Mrs.
Washington spent the winter. This house of
Isaac Potts has been so little changed in the
one hundred and thirty-nine years since the
headquarters were established here that Mrs.
Washington's description might almost stand
for its picture to-day :
In a letter, written to Mrs. Lund Washington
soon after her arrival, Mrs. Washington said :
"The apartment for business is only about
sixteen feet square and has a large fireplace.
The house is built of stone. The walls are very
thick and below a deep east window, out of
which the General can look out upon the encamp
ment, he had a box made, which appears as a
part of the casement, with a blind trapdoor at
the top, in which he keeps his valuable papers."
And here we found the little box beneath the
331

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
east window, seventeen inches long and ten and
a half inches deep, divided into two compart
ments. To think that papers upon which, to a
certain extent hung the fate of a nation, should
have been stored away in that tiny box seemed
no less wonderful than that GeneralWashington
and his officers should have been able to hold
their councils of war in this little room only
thirteen feet square, even smaller than Mrs.
Washington described it in writing home.
The log cabin, which the General had built
to serve as a dining-room, is no longer standing.
Here he dined with his "military family" and
any visitors who came to Valley Forge.
Mrs. Henry Drinker, who visited the camp
in April, spoke of an elegant dinner being served
to herself and her companions, Mrs. Israel Pem-
berton, Mrs. Samuel Pleasants and Mrs. Owen
Jones, after which Mrs. Washington entertained
the visiting ladies in her own room.
These Quaker ladies were on their way to
Winchester, Virginia, to which place their non-
combatant husbands had been sent, on the ad
vance of the British towards Philadelphia.
So many interesting associations belong to
this old stone house that we were loth to leave
it ; but Sarah consoled herself and us by saying
that it was so near our homes that we could
come here often.
A short ride brought us to Malvern, and from
there we found a good road to West Chester,
332

ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM AND CHESTER
through whose beautifully shaded streets we
motored on to the King's Highway, one of the
oldest roads in Pennsylvania over which His
Majesty's mail was carried to Wilmington and
Baltimore in Colonial days. We noticed a num
ber of fine country seats in and around West
Chester, and one that attracted us especially
was an old Hickman Homestead, a beautiful
Colonial house, on the King's Highway, which
is shaded here by great maples. Soon after
leaving this place we found that we were passing
through Media, a town made up of pretty coun
try homes, it seemed to us, and even more
charming is its suburb, Moylan.
Craddock is a perfect genius for finding
roads and taking us by interesting places, and
we were not surprised when he announced that
we were now on the Providence Road and quite
near Lapidea, the home of Senator Sproul.7
We stopped to see this fine old place, which
belonged many years ago to Thomas Leiper, an
able and enterprising Scotchman who came to
America some years before the Revolution.
Leiper made money and used it and his own
ability for the benefit of his adopted country.
He bought a large tract of land in what was then
Chester County, which is said to have formed
a continuous strip from the site of the present
'At this date, July 1917, The Hon. William C. Sproul was
still State Senator, as the election which made him Governor
of Pennsylvania came in the next year.
333

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
Swarthmore College to the Delaware River.
The house looked down upon the ravine of the
creek and over into a wooded landscape on the
other side. It was here that Thomas Leiper
built his house, in 1785, on Crum Creek, which
he named Strathaven.
This house is still standing complete, oppo
site the quarry, immediately back of the Lapidea
grounds and is occupied by Callender Irvine
Leiper, a grandson of the first Thomas Leiper,
who was born in 1740.
The Senator and Mrs. Sproul were away
from home at the time of our call ; but we were
hospitably entertained by their nephew and
niece. This young couple showed us their own
home on the grounds, a very picturesque old
building, Lapidea Cottage, which bears the date
of its erection, 1737, below the eaves, in the
front of the house. Some antiquarians give it
an earlier date.
We were told that Thomas Leiper had built
houses for his four sons. Another house is at
Leiperville on the Chester Pike, and is sur
rounded now by industrial establishments and
workmen's homes, and still another one was the
old house which stood on the Lapidea grounds
for many years. A fine doorway from this house
forms a side entrance to Lapidea Mansion. The
third house of this great builder, Leiper, was
erected in 1818 for his son James Leiper, who
married the daughter of Pierce Crosby, a
334

k m

Lapidea Cottage, Built 1727, now on Estate of Gov. William C. Sproul

ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM AND CHESTER
wealthy and influential man, who lived in the
old Crosby House at " Crosbyville, " which is
now on 24th Street, in the city of Chester. This
house of 1818 now forms the central portion of
the spacious and handsome Lapidea Mansion.
In walking through the grounds we were
attracted by the clock tower with its old bell,
which struck an hour rather alarming to us,
as we wished to reach Chester before nightfall.
This bell it seems was cast at Bristol, Eng
land, in 1741, and for one hundred and fifteen
years was the only church-bell in Chester. The
bell hung on the old St. Paul's Church and its
jangling during their quiet services was a source
of much annoyance to the members of the only
other religious denomination represented in
Chester at the time, the Friends, whose meeting
house was near the church. They adopted some
resolutions protesting against it, and even ven
tured the assertion that ' ' their bell-unsummoned
feet needed no direction in finding their place
of worship." Still laughing over this delightfully original
protest, we turned away from Lapidea with reluc
tance and set forth for Chester, still on the
Providence Road, which Sarah tells us is some
times called the Leopard Road and was one of
the first highways to be laid out in Pennsylvania,
adding: "This is certainly a case of the first
being last, for as the oldest town in the State,
Chester should have been our first stopping-
22 33S

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
place instead of being left for the last lap of our
journey. I am really ashamed that I have never
stood upon the spot where our good Proprietary
landed, when I have been to Plymouth more than
once and stood upon the rock where Mary Chil
ton is said to have first stepped. ' '
"This must be the place," said Craddock,
stopping the car near a, boulder, now some
distance back from the river, which proves how
much the shore of the Delaware has changed, as
the tablet says that William Penn landed on this
spot on the 29th day of October, 1682.
"It was upon a Sunday, the Friends' first
day," said Sarah, "and then according to the
ancient chronicle, 'with hearts full of gratitude,
the little band at once proceeded to the house of
Robert Wade, where the religious meetings of
the Society were held, and gave thanks for their
safe deliverance from sickness, death, the perils
of the deep, and the persecutions of their native
land.' It is all so interesting, and no wonder
that these people were thankful to land after a
voyage of fifty-three days ! ' '
"Yes," said Kathleen, trying to rise to
Sarah's height of enthusiasm, "I wouldn't have
missed coming here for anything."
" Nor would I," and then remembering
Smith's caustic account of the naming of Ches
ter, I repeated it as well as I could recall it.
The little town then bore the Swedish name of
Ooplandt or Upland : 836

ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM AND CHESTER
"Without reflection Penn determined that
the name of this place should be changed. Turn
ing around to his friend Pearson, one of his own
Society, who had accompanied him in the ship
Welcome, he said, 'Providence has brought us
here safe. Thou hast been the companion of my
perils. What wilt thou that I should call this
place?' Pearson said, 'Chester', in remem
brance of the city from whence he came. William
Penn replied that it should be called Chester,
and that when he divided the land into counties,
one of them should be called by the same name.
Thus from a mere whim the name of the oldest
town ; the name of the whole settled part of the
Province; the name that would naturally have
a place in the affections of a large majority of
the inhabitants of the new Province, was effaced
to gratify the caprice or vanity of a friend. All
great men occasionally do little things." 8
' ' Very unjust, ' ' said Sarah. ' ' William Penn
never did anything so small, and Chester is a
good old English name after all, and this town
can never make a nobler boast than that within
her limits was first proclaimed, upon the soil of
Pennsylvania, as great a declaration of repub
lican liberty, as that drawn up in the cabin of
the Mayflower in 1620.
"Here are the words," and from a paper
Sarah read standing by the boulder :
8 "History of Chester County, Pennsylvania," by Futhey
and Cope, p. 21. 337

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
"Whereas, the glory of God Almighty, and
the good of mankind, are the reason and end of
government, and therefore government itself is
a venerable ordinance of God, and forasmuch as
it is principally desired and intended by the
proprietary, and governor and freemen of the
Province of Pennsylvania, and the territories
thereunto belonging, to make and establish such
laws as shall best preserve true Christian and
civil liberty, in opposition to all unchristian,
licentious and unjust practices, whereby God
may have his due, Caesar his due, and the people
their due, from tyranny and oppression on the
one side, and insolency and licentiousness on the
other; so that the best and firmest foundation
may be laid for the present and future happiness
of both the governor and the people of this
Province and territories, and their posterity."
As Kathleen and I turned from the boulder,
while Sarah still lingered beside it, she said:
"Now that we have seen the wonderful stone,
why can't we go back to Philadelphia to-night? ' '
' ' You forget, my dear, ' ' I said, ' ' that we have
an engagement to dine and stop overnight with
the C  's, in Upland, and then Sarah would be
heartbroken if we should leave Chester without
seeing the Court House which she tells us is the
oldest public building in Pennsylvania. Why are
you so anxious to go to Philadelphia to-night?"
"I am expecting a cable, Serina."
338

ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM AND CHESTER
"So I thought, but it is too soon to have a
cable from Mr. Henderson."
' ' How did you know ? ' '
"How could I help knowing?" I said with
a laugh. We made an early start the next morning as
our friends wished to take us to the oldest house
in Chester, which was built by Caleb Pusey in
1683. In this little, two-story building on Race
Street, the Proprietary stopped upon the oc
casion of his visits to Chester.
The old colored woman who has made her
home here for over forty years seems much at
tached to her historic environment, and was
evidently disturbed by the contrast which we
drew between this humble cottage and the
English mansions which William Penn fre
quented. She, however, solaced herself by
giving us some side lights upon Pennsyl
vania history.
"I alius liked the name," she said, " 'cause
it's the husband and wife, Penn and Sylvania,
that was her name."
"Whose name?" we asked.
"Why, Mrs. Penn's name, a gemmen come
here and told me all about it. "
"But Sylvania was not her name, Mrs. Wil
liam Penn's name was Gulielma," and while
Sarah, true to herself, stopped to explain the
derivation of the name of the Province of Penn-
339

IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS
sylvania, Kathleen and I made our escape in
order to enjoy a laugh outside. Sarah's only re
ward for herpains was to have the woman say,as
she left some coins in her hand, "Yes'm, every
one that comes along tells me a different story. ' '
As we motored along Fifth Street we were
interested to learn that here in Chester we were
still on the King's Highway. We soon after
turned into Market Street and saw the old Court
House, which has been restored recently, and
with so much care that it is a perfect reproduc
tion of the ancient building of which we saw a
picture in the Mayor's office. Everything has
been done with the greatest care and after a
thorough study of the lines of the Court House
of 1724, and so the restored building will stand
as a valuable memorial of early days in the
Province of Pennsylvania.9
" The author must plead guilty to an anachronism here,
as the Court House was not restored until 1920, and by
Governor William C. Sproul. In speaking of it the Gover
nor said: " I have just finished restoring it [the Court House]
under a contract with the city that it shall be maintained
as a public building forever. I have always had great fear
that it would be torn down, and its valuable site sold to
provide funds for the erection of some modern city building
in another location. It is really very quaint and beautiful,
and is particularly interesting to me, in view of the fact
that my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Nathaniel
Newlin, was one of the Commissioners who built it and he sat
there as a Justice for many years. When it was erected,
there were only the three original counties in Pennsylvania —
Philadelphia, Bucks and Chester — Chester County extended
as far west as the Province was settled. It served for sixty-
two years as the Court House for Chester County and sixty-
one years as the Court House for Delaware County and
sixty-eight years as the borough and City Hall of Chester."
340

Court House, Chester, Built 1724, Restored 1920

ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM AND CHESTER
In the course of his work on the Court House,
the architect, Mr. Clarence Wilson Brazer, has
run across some interesting Chester data. It
appears that Governor Sproul in restoring the
old building is following in the footsteps of his
ancestor, Nathaniel Newlin, who was a member
of the Provincial Assembly for Chester County
that appropriated the money for building the
old Court House, in addition to being one
of the Commissioners who had charge of the
erection of the original building. Other mem
bers of the board were Robert Pyle and
Samuel Hollingsworth.
To add to the charm of this part of Chester,
across a green courtyard and behind the old
Court House a new City Hall. has been erected
which is on the same lines as the older building,
and across the street opposite the old Court
House is the Washington House, where General
Washington wrote his official report of the Battle
of the Brandywine. As we left Chester, and
motored through Upland, which has so many
beautiful residences, we rejoiced that the busy
manufacturing city of Chester numbers among
her citizens those who value her many ancient
land marks, and are willing to spend time and
money for their preservation.

INDEX

Adams, Henry, cited, 189, 190
Adams, John, 23, 110, 317
Agnew, D. Hayes, M.D., 96
Aliquippa, Queen, 220
Allen, Chf. Jus. Wm. founds
Allentown, 313-315
Allen, James, of Phila., in
Allentown, 310, 315-317
Allen, Wm., professor at Dick
inson, 163
Allentown, 48, 84, 310-319
Allison, Col. John, lays out
Greencastle, 133
Allison, James, 133
Allison, William, settler, 132
Altoona, 195, 196, 247
Anderson, Col. Jas., 209
Anderson, John, of Bedford,
234
Andrfi, Major John, in Lan
caster, 51-53
Armstrong, Gen. John, 150,
151, 161, 231
Arndt, Henry, 92
Asylum, retreat for King and
Queen of France, 283, 284,
290, 293-299
Atlee, Dr. John L., 66
Atlee, William, 62
Atlee, Wm. A., 63
Alexander, John W., 16

B
Baird, Mrs. Samuel, 166
Baird, Spencer F., 162, 163,
166
Baker, Conrad, 49
Bakewell, Benj., house of, 202;
letter from Lafayette, 202
Barlow, Joel, 77, 200
Barlow, Mrs. Thos., enter
tains Lafayette, 199-201
Barret, Captain, 206
Barton, Dr. B. S., 59
Barton, Bev. Thos., 59, 60, 62
Barton, William, 52, 60
Bauseman, Wm., 62, 92
Bayard, Col. Stephen, 208
Beaver, Gov. James A., 250
Beck, James M., 88
Beck, John, 88
Bedford, 230-241
Bedford, George E., cited 269,
270, 271, 280
Bedford Springs, 212; guests,
235, 240
Beissel, John C, 80, 83
Bell, Martin, 195
Bellefonte, 12, 13, 20, 248-259
Benezet, Daniel, 92
Bethlehem, 319-320; Bach
Choir of Bethlehem, 12,
326-328; Naming of, 323;
Christmas, 323-325; Eas
ter, 322, 323
343

INDEX

Biddle, Edward M., 167
Biddle, Hon. Edw. W., 5, 159,
cited, 151, 152, 160, 161
Biddle, Lydia S., 166
Biddle, William M., 166
Biddies, of Montrose, 291
Bigelow, Edward M., 211
Bingham, William, 161
Binney, Horace, 263
Birdsboro, 310
Black, Jeremiah S., 236
Black, Samuel, 236, 238
Blackman, Emily, 291
Bladen, Gov. Thos., 41
Blaine, James G., 156, 218
Blaine, Col. Ephraim, 156
Blair, Hon. John, 243
Blunston, Samuel, 107, 108
Boggs, Andrew, 96, 253
Boggs, Jane (Mrs. Dunlop),
253
Boggs, John, .M.D., 133 -
Bosler, J. Herman, 168
Bosler, J. Kirk, 159
Bouquet, Col., 54, 145, 205,
206, 232
Bowman, Samuel, Bishop, 64
Braddock, Gen. Edward, in
Penna., 220, 221; defeat,
225-227; monument, 228
Brant, Jos., 297
Brant, Mollie, 297
Broadhead, Col. D., 207, 309
Brown, John, Esq., of Phila.,
158, 165
Brown, Hon. I. H., 42
Brownsville, 217, 218, 223
Buchanan, James, 13; engage
ment of, 64-66, 68, 99, 101,
187, 188, 236, 238
Bull, Eev. Wm., 34

Burd, James, cited, 138, 139,
314, 315
Burnham, Valentine House,
254
Burnside, Judge, 236, 255,
263
Burr, Aaron, 198
Burrowes, Thos. H., 60, 68
Butler, Col. Zebulon, 271, 277,
282
Butler, Major John, 270-272

Cadwalader, Judge, 263
Calhoun, John, M.D., 124
Cameron, Hon. Simon, 16, 174,
188-190
Cameron, J. Donald, 16, 95,
96, 97, 188, 239
Campbell, Benj., 202
Cannon, Colonel, 213
Canonsburg, 212, 213
Carbondale, 283, 284
Carlisle, 143, 168; settlement,
146; suffers from Indians,
145; social life, 154, 162,
164; Dancing Assembly,
164-166
Carnegie, Andrew, 163, 209,
210
Carpenter, Benj., 278
Catlin, Geo., 278-280
Catlin, Putnam, 278
Cessna, John, 137
Chambers, Benj., founds
Chambersburg, 121, 122
Chambers, Charlotte, in Phila.,
1795, 126, 127
Chambers, Gen. James, 126,
127
Chambers, Ruhamah, 124

344

INDEX

Chambersburg, 20, 119-132;
settlement, 121; invaded,
121 ; social life, 125, 126
Chester Court House, 340, 341
Chester, naming of, 337, 338
Cheves, Mrs. Langdon, 101,
102
Cheves, Hon. Langdon, 101
Clark, Martha B., 5; cited, 45
Clarkson, Jos., Bev., 64
Clinton, Gov. De Witt, 279
Cloud, Joseph, 33
Clymer, D., 309
Coates, Moses, 37, 38
Coates, Lindley, 109
Coatesville, 37-39
Coleman, Anne, 64, 65
Coleman, Bobt., house at
Elizabeth, 92; entertains
Gen. Washington, 92; owns
most of Cornwall ore banks,
94
Coleman, Sarah, 63-66
Collett, Jeremiah, 33
Colonial Dames of America,
Penna. Soc, 106, 330
Columbia, 99-109
Conway, Moncure D., 163
Conyngham, Redmond, 287
Cookson, Thos., Surveyor, 46,
47, 63, 110; in Carlisle, 147
Cope, Caleb, Andr6 lodges
with, 51-53
Cope, Clementine, 292
Cornwall, mines, 80
Coxe, Eckley B., 326
Craig, Isaac, 208
Craighead, Kev. John, 131, 132
Crawford, Edward, 128
Crawford, Thos. H., 128

Curtin, Andrew G., 13, 16,
180-182, 250, 252
D
Dallas, Trevanion B., 199
Deland, Margaret, cited, 203,
Denny, Gov., 231
Derr, Martin, 314
De Schweinitz, Bishop E. A.,
321
De Schweinitz, Bishop Emil,
321
Dickinson College, 143, 158-
162
Dickinson, John, 159, 173
Diffenderfer, Michael, 92
Dillon, Mary J., cited, 143, 167
Dinwiddie, Gov., 219
Dock, Myra, 120
Donegal, 95, 97
Donnel, Mrs. C. B. of Sunbury,
261, 274
Downing, Thomas, 34
Downingtown, 34, 35
Drinker, Dr. Henry S., 327
Dundaff, 283-287
Dunlop, Col. Jas., 249, 250
Duquesne, Fort, 231, 232
Durell, Gen., 295
Durkee, Mrs., cited, 272, 296
Dysart, James C, 246
E
Eachus, Phineas, 34
Early, Gen., 116
Easton, 317
Edge, Gov. W. E., 34
Ege, Peter, 144
Eichholtz, Jacob, artist, 16,
67, 68
Elder, Col. Thos., 174

345

INDEX

Ephrata, 80-89
Eshleman, H. F., 98
Eshleman, J. K., 109
Espy, David, 234
Ewell, General, 116, 168

Fahnestocks, 85
Falling Spring Church, 121,
132
Faris, John T., 32, 330
Fell, Hon. Jesse, 281
Finley, Judge, 197
Fitch, John, invents steam
boat, 69, 78, 79
Fletcher, Hon. Henry P., 96,
134
Forbes, Gen., 204, 231, 232
Fox, Cyrus T., 310
Francies, John, 256-259
Franklin, Benj., 15, 61; in
Carlisle, 147, 148; Indian
policy, 147-149; 227; in
Bethlehem, 328
Franklin, Hon. Walter, 56
Franklin, Walter, of N. Y., 56
Frontenac, Count, 297
Frontenac, Margaret, see
Mme Montour
Fuller, Hon. Henry M., 263
Fulton, Robt., birthplace, 69,
74, 76; artist, 69, 77; early
inventions, 77-79; invents
submarines, 78, 79
G
Gabriel, Geo., 265
Gallatin, Albert, 221, 222
Geist, J. M. W., 71, 72
Gettysburg, 112-118
Gibbons, Daniel, 108, 109

Gibbons, Hannah, 109
Gibson, Griffith, 249
Gibson, Hon. John B., 154,
155, 264
Gibson, Mrs. John B., 156
Gillespie, Neal, 218
Ginther, Philip, discovers
coal, 300
Girard, Stephen, 304
Gist, Christopher, 219-220
Godfrey, Thomas, 79
Gorham, Francis P., 157
Gowen, Franklin B., 305, 306
Graham, Peter, names Dun
daff, 287, 288
Grange, The, 288
Green, Judge, 306
Greencastle; Massacre in
School, 132; 120, 132-135
Greensburg, 196, 197
Grouse Hall, 316
Grubb, Curtis, 93, 94
Grubb, Henry B., 92-94
Grubb, John, settler, 92
Grubb, Peter, 92-94
H
Halberstadt, Baird, 5, cited,
301, 302
Haldeman, Jacob, M., 174
Haldeman, Mrs. R. J., 187,
239
Hall, Wm. McClay, 180
Haly, Mrs. William, 175
Hamilton, Andrew, 44, 47
Hamilton, Gov. James, plans
Lancaster, 44; meets In
dians in, 47; gives land to
church, 61, 62; locates Car
lisle, 146, 147
Hancock, John, 110, 322

346

INDEX

Harrisburg, 12, 13, 168-190,
233
Harris' Ferry, 137, 147, 171,
230
Harris, James, 249
Harris, John, settler, 137,
170-174, 191
Harris, John, Jr., 173, 177
Harrison, Edward T., 241
Hartley, Mr. and Mrs. Wm.,
235
Hastings, Gov. Daniel H., 250
Henderson, Judge, 156, 264
Henry, William, inventor, 69
78; courtship, 69-71
Henry, Mrs. Wm., Treas. of
Lancaster, 70
Hensel, Hon. W. U., 18, cited,
51, 99
Hiltzheimer, Jacob, 48, cited,
308, 309
Himes, Charles F., 164
HoUenbach, Matthias, 277
Hollidaysburg, 241, 247
Hornet, Chas., 295
Homewood Mansion, 197, 198
Honey Brook, 39
Howe, Gen. William, 26, 329
Huntingdon, name of, 194
Huntingdon, Serena, Coun
tess, 194, 195
Huston, Dr. Charles, 37
Huston, Mrs. Charles, recol
lections of, 38 I
Irvine, Gen. Wm., 150, 151,
249 J
Jacobs, Cyrus, 42
Jacobs, Samuel, 175

Jefferson College, 213, 214
Jefferson, Thomas, 23, 178,
179; subscribers to Dickin
son College, 162
Jenkins, John, 40, 41
Jenkins, Hon. Robt., 41
Jennings, Edmund, 47
Jessup, Wm., 291
Joanna Furnace, 309
Johnson, James, 286
Johnson, Sir Wm., 297
Johnston, Alex., Jr., 199
Johnston, Henry E., 65, 100
Johnston, Mrs. Henry E., 65,
100
Johnston, Robert, M.D., 135
K
Kates, Clarence S., 33
Kittera, Mr. and Mrs. J. W.,
77
Kline, George, 54
Kossuth, Gen., in Penna., 242,
243-245
Kuhns, Oscar, 98

Lacock, John K., cited, 225,
229
Lafayette, Marquis de, in
Bethlehem, 322; in Lancas
ter, 43; in Western Penna.,
198; entertained in Pitts
burgh, 199-202
Lake, Simon, 78
Lamon, Ward H., 183, 184
Lancaster, plan of, 44; In
dian Chiefs met in, 45-47
Continental Congress in, 50
Capital of Penna., 50
President Lincoln in, 71
73

347

INDEX

Landis, Judge C. I., 43, 53
Landis, J. H., 98
Lane Harriet, see Mrs. H. E.
Johnston.
Lapidea Mansion, 333-335
La Porte, Bartholomew, 294
La Porte, Judge, 295
Lardner, Lynford, 41, 317, Maclay, Senator Wm., 177-

Luzerne, Csesar, Anne de la,
278
Lyons, Jerre L., 292
Lyons, John P., 5
Lyons, Lorenzo, 292
M

318
Lebanon, 89, 93
Lee, Gen. Henry, 27, 28
Lee, Gen. Robert E., 116, 117
Lee, Col. Thos., 47
Leiper, C. I., 334
Leiper, Thomas, 333, 334
Levering, Bishop, J. M., cited,
321, 322
Libraries, first in Penna., 61
Lincoln, Abraham, in Lan
caster, 71, 73; in Harris
burg, 73, 180-184; journey
to Washington, 183, 184;
at Gettysburg, 117, 118
Lincoln, Mrs. A., 181, 185,
187

178, 180
Madison, Dolly, 279
Manheim, 89-92
Mann, Mrs. Jane, 255, 256
Marshall, Chief Justice, 233
Marietta, 191
Marshall, Christopher, 48, 50,
54
Mason, John, 262, 263
Matlock, Timothy, 50
McClintock, John, D.D., 163
McClure, Col. A. K., cited,
128, 180, 182, 243
McCormick, Searight, 223
McFarland, Judge, 243
McKinley, David, 96
McKinley, Wm., Pres., 96

Lind, Jenny, singer, 245, 246 McLanahan, J. K., 242
Linn, John B., 18, 251 McClellan, John, M.D., 134 „
Linn, Rev. James, 250 McClellan, Hon. Robert, 134
Lititz, 69, 80, 85-89 McLelland, Wm., 125, 134
Lodge, Henry Cabot, cited, McLelland, Mrs. Wm., story
190, 227 of, 125
Logan, Deborah, 105 McParlan, Jas., 305, 306
Logan, James, 105, 106, 196 McPherson, John, 22
Logan, John, Indian, 195, 196 McVeagh, Mrs. Wayne, 187
Longacre, Mrs. J. M., cited, Meade, Gen. Geo. G., 117
MeginneBS, J. F., 273-275
Meredith, Gen. Samuel, First
Treas. of U. S., 288, 289
Meredith, Wm. M., 99
Michael, Eberhardt, 53
Mifflin, Gen. Thomas, 58, 309

90
Longstreth, John, 330
Lovell, D. H., 241
Ludlow, Israel, 127
Lukens, Dr. and Mrs. Charles,
37

348

INDEX

Mifflin, Lloyd, cited, 102
Miller, Gen. Henry, 150
Mollie Pitcher, 151-154
Montgomery, Col. John, 161
Montgomery, Rich. Gen., 51
Montgomery, Dr. T. L., 5
Montour, Mme., 297
Montrose, named after Rose
family, 283; 284, 289-293
Moore, Johnston, Esq., 159
Morgan, Col. Robert, 150
Morgan, Gen. George, 198, 234
Morganza, 198
Morris, Robert, 16, 173, 177
Moskesson, 287
Muhlenburg, Rev. Wm. A., 65,
66
Mulford, Rev. Elisha, 291
Mulford, Mr. and Mrs. Syl-
vanus, 291, 292
N
Nesbit, James, 278
Nevin, Alfred, D.D., cited,
122, 123, 145, 146
Nevin, Blanche, 41
Nevin, Mrs. John, 41
Newlin, Nathaniel, Member
of Assembly, 341
Nicklin, Philip, 263
Nisbet, Charles, D.D., 155,
160, 161
Norris, Isaac, 147
North, Hugh M., 99

Oakley, Violet, 176
O'Hara, Gen. Jas., 199, 208,
Orme, Robert, cited, 225, 226
Ormsby, Captain John, diary
of, 204-207'

Page, Benjamin, house of,
199, 200
Page, Martha H., 200
Page, Oliver Ormsby, cited,
199-202
Paoli, Paschal, 30
Parker, Alexander, 198
Parker, Emmeline K., 5, 165
Parker House, 143, 158, 159
Parker, Isaac B., 158, 159,
165, 166
Parker, John B., 158
Parkman, Francis, 225
Patton, Benj., 249
Paxton, boys, 55
Paxton, James D., 119
Pearsons, The, 170, 189
Pemberton, Mrs. Henry, Sr.,
181, 187
Penn, Gov. John, 23, 83, 232
Penn, Richard, 90, 232
Penn, Thomas, 61, 90, 232
Penn, William, 15, 41, 44;
lands at Upland, 336-339
Pendergrass, Garrett, 230
Pennock, Isaac, 37
Penrose, Mrs. Chas. B., 166
Perkins, Mrs. Geo. A., cited,
272, 295-297
Pershing, Gen. John, ances
try, 96
Pershing, Judge, 306
Phelps, Mrs. J. C, 273
Phipps, Henry, 210
Phoenixville, 330
Pickering, Timothy, 277, 278
Pinkerton, Alan, 305
Piolett, J. M., 295

349

INDEX

Pittsburgh, 20-23
Pleasant Mount, 288
Pleasant, Henry, Jr., 27
Pomeroy, Nevin Mrs., 125
Potter, James, 250
Potts, Isaac, house of, 331
Pottstown, 329
Pottsville, coal discovered in
300-306
Prolix, Peregrine, (Philip
Nieklin), cited, 20, 191,
192, 239
Pusey, Caleb, house of 1683,
339

Quarryville, 69, 74, 75
Queen Esther, 267, 272-277
284-298 R
Rau, Albert G., 327
Ray, Robert, 230
Raystown, see Bedford
Reading, 307-310; Lincoln
homestead near, 310
Reeves, David, Sr., 329
Reigart, E. C, of "Lancaster,
57
Riddle, John S., 200
Rinker, Abraham, 315
Ritner, Governor, 68
Rittenhouse, David, astrono
mer, 17, 59, 70
Roberts, Chas. R., cited, 314,
315
Robinson, Gen. Wm., 198, 199
Robinson, Mrs. M. W., cited,
90
Rockview, prison arm, 256-
259

Rocky Spring Church, 130-
132
Roosevelt, Theodore, in Lan
caster, 71
Rose, Mrs. William, 142
Ross, Gen. Wm., 278
Ross, George, Signer, 62
Ross, James, Jr., 199
Rothrock, Dr. J. S., 120
Rupp, I, Daniel, cited, 84
Rush, Benj., M.D., 160-161

Sabbath Rest Furnace, 195
Saehse, Julius F., 32
Schell, Hon. Wm. P., 230
Schwab, Chas. W., 327
Schwab, Peter, 314
Schenley, Mrs. Mary E., 208,
210
Schomberg, Emily (Mrs.
Hughes Hallitt), 23, 24
Scott, Col. Thos. A., 183, 185,
209
Scranton, 283, 284
Scull, Nicholas, in Carlisle,
147
Searight.Ewing, 223, 224
Searight, Thos. B., 224
Searight, William, 223
Seward, Wm. H, 186, 188
Sherman, John, Senator, 190
Shikellamy, Chief, 195, 260
Shippen, Edward, 1st, 136
Shippen, Edw., of Lancaster,
house of, 54, 56, 133;
lays out Shippensburg,
138, 140
Shippen, Joseph, 56, 57
Shippensburg, 138, 142
Shoemaker, Col. Geo., 304

350

INDEX

Shoemaker, H. W., 5, cited,
195, 196
Slaymaker, 63
Slocum, Frances, capture of,
273-275
Slocum, J., 273, 275
Slough, Mathias, 53, 55
Smith, James, signer, 112
Smith, Col. L. Heber, 309, 310
Snyder, Gov. Simon, 67, 265
Snyder, Plymouth, 242, 243
Spencer, Howard, Esq., 288
Sproul, Gov. Wm. C, owns
Lapidea, 334, 335; restores
Court-House, 340
Steinman, Andrew J., 88
Steinman, Christian A., 88
Steinman, George M., 88
Stephenson, James, 96
Stevens, Thaddeus, 60, 68, 119
St. James Church, Lancaster,
59, 62-65
Stewart, Alex., M.D., settler,
140
Stewart, Alex., M.D., 140
141
Stewart, George H., 141
Stewart, Harriet W., cited,
140
Stewart, Hon. John, 5, 141
Stiegel, Baron, 89-92
Stockton, Rev. Joseph, 200,
204
Stout, Dr. and Mrs. Geo. C,
28
Sullivan, Gen., 276
Sumner, Col. E. V., 181, 185
Sunbury, 260, 267
Swift, Joseph, owns Fulton
House, 75, 76

Tener, John, Gov., 257
Thomas, Gov. Geo., 45-75
Thompson, Gen. Wm., 150, 151
Thomson, Alexander, 128
Thomson, Frank, 128
Thomson, Wm., M.D., 127
Tilghman, Chief Justice, 199,
263
Torrance, Francis J., 256
Townsend, John W., 26
Trevelyan, Sir George, 144
Trexler, Gen. H. C, 5, 312,
317
Trexler, Hon. Frank M., 312
Trexler, Hon. Peter, 48, 312
Trexler, Peter, settler, 312
Trial of Mollie Maguires, 306
Tripp, Isaac, 273
Trout Hall, 313, 316
U
Uniontown, 222-225

Valentine, houses, 254
Valentine, Reuben Bond, 254
Valley Forge, Mrs. Washing
ton at, 330-332
window in honor of, 330
Veazey, Maria Ross, 158
Vernon, Admiral, 32
Vernon, Robert, 33
W
Wade, Robert, 336
Waldo, F. L., cited, 328
Walker, Judge, 306
Wallace Mansion, 197, 198
Walters, Raymond, cited, 327

351

INDEX

Warfield, Daniel J., 238
Warren, Gen. Joseph, 32
Washington, Gen., 23, 25, 26;
in Bedford, 139, 233-236
in Bethlehem, 328; in Ship
pensburg, 139, 140; in
Western Penna., 218, 224,
with Braddock, 225-228;
at Valley Forge, 27, 331,
332
Washington, Mrs. Geo. in
Phila., 126, 127; at Valley
Forge, 330, 332
Washington, Penna., 212-217
Washington, Reade, M., 128
Watts, Mrs. and Mrs. David,
156
Watts, house, 156, 157
Watts, Juliana, 167
Watts, William, 142
Wayne, Gen. Anthony, house
of, 29; at Paoli, 32; death,
29-32
Wayne, Isaac, 29
Wayne, Gen. William, 29
Wetherill, Samuel, 304
Wharton, Thos., Gov., 49-50,
58, 59, 263
Wheatland, 13, 73
Whiskey Insurrection, 233
Wickersham, J. P., 18
Wilbur, W. A., 327

Wilkes-Barre, 12, 20, 260-282
Wilkins, Hon. William, 197-
199, 264
Williams, Margaret, recollec
tions of Pres. Lincoln, 180-
188
Williams, Hon. Thos., 180,
186
Wilson College, 128
Wilson, Henry R., Rev., 250
Wilson, James, Signer, 155
Wilson, Major, W. B., 180
Wilson, Sarah, college named
for, 128, 129
Wister, Caspar, 312
Witmer, David, 43
Woerner, Wm. F., cited, 63,
65, 66
Wolle, Dr. J. F., 327
Woods, John, 197
Woodward, Mrs. Stanley, 277
Wright, John, 104, 108
Wright, Susannah, 105, 108
Wright, William, 108
Wrights' Ferry, 104, 108, 110,
111
Wurtz, John, 284

Zinzendorf, Count Nicholas
L., in Lancaster Co., 86, 87 ;
in Bethlehem, 323, 327