HISTORY: Warner Beers, 1886, Part 2, Chapter 22, Cumberland County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Bookwalter Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/ ______________________________________________________________________ History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania. Containing History of the Counties, Their Townships, Towns, Villages, Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc.; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., Etc. Illustrated. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1886. http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/beers/beers.htm ______________________________________________________________________ PART II. HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. PENNSYLVANIA. CHAPTER XXII. EAST PENNSBOROUGH TOWNSHIP AND BOROUGH OF CAMP HILL. EAST PENNSBOROUGH TOWNSHIP was originally a portion of Pennsborough Township, which, at that time, embraced nearly all of the territory which is now Cumberland County. As early as 1737 it began to be called east and west, and shortly afterward north and south parts of Pennsborough, but it was not until 1845, when the latter were dropped, that the division of the township into East and West Pennsborough seems to have been definitely recognized. The little fragment of it which now remains as the extreme northeastern portion of the county, and which still retains its maiden name, is bounded by the Blue or Kittatinny Mountains on the north, the Susquehanna River on the East, Lower Allen on the south, and on the west by Hampden Township. EARLY HISTORY. At a very early period the Shawanese Indians settled, with the consent of William Penn and the Susquehanna Indians, upon this west side of the Susquehanna River. They became disaffected, and under two chiefs, Shingas and Capt. Jacobs (killed afterward at Kittanning), they took up the hatchet against the whites, assigning as their reason for so doing that satisfaction had not been made to them for lands surveyed into the Proprietary's manor on the Conodoguinet Creek. About 1728 they removed to the Ohio River, and placed themselves under the protection of the French. The whites began to settle in this (Paxton) manor, which embraced all the portion of the township south of the Conodoguinet Creek, about 1730. Most, if not all of them, were Scotch- Irish, and after 1736, when this land was finally purchased from the Indians, the influx of immigrants was rapid. One year later (1736) the first road was begun westward. On the west shore of the Susquehanna River one Kelso lived, and, in connection with John Harris, managed the ferry. The lots of the Paxton manor which lay within the township were: No. 1, containing 530 acres. It first belonged to Capt. John Stewart; since to John Rupley, Jacob Rupley and Jacob Moltz; later to Halderman's, George Rupley's heirs and others. 276 HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. No. 2, 267 ® acres belonged to John Boggs; later to Christian Erb, Eichelberger and McCormick; 300 acres belonged first to Caspar Weaver, now owned by Eichelberger heirs, Eichelberger & Musser; 256 acres originally belonged to Col. John Armstrong, now to Hummel's estate and E. Wormley (they formed the present site of Wormleysburg); 227 acres belonged originally to James Wilson, and 227 acres to Robert Whitehill. Tobias Hendricks had charge of Louther manor, and lived on it, in what is now East Pennsborough. He was the son of Tobias Hendricks, of Donegal, and hence their names have been confounded. He came into the valley at a very early period, possibly prior to 1725. In a letter to John Harris, bearing date May 13, 1727, he speaks of his father as "at Donegal," requesting Mr. Harris to forward a letter to him. He also alludes to "a trader" at the Potomac, of whom he bought skins, and of "the grate numbers coming this side of ye Sasquahannah." The valley was then being rapidly settled, for at this period the Scotch-Irish immigration had begun. From another source we learn of the Hendricks family, as follows: "Scarcely," says the writer, "had the echoes of the thundering at Lexington, on the 19th of April, 1775, ceased reverberating, ere the brave sons of the valley, under the gallant Hendricks, were on the march to the relief of the beleagured city of Boston. Capt. William Hendricks was the grandson of Tobias Hendricks, an Indian trader, and possibly the first actual white settler in the valley, under the gallant Hendricks, were on the march to the relief of the beleagured city of Boston. Capt. William Hendricks was the grandson of Tobias Hendricks, an Indian trader, and possibly the first actual white settler in the valley, who located at what is now known as Oyster's Point, two miles west of Harrisburg. Here Tobias Hendricks died in November, 1739, leaving a wife, Catherine, and children, Henry, Rebecca, Tobias, David, Peter, Abraham and Isaac. William Hendricks was probably the son of Henry, who retained the "old place" where our hero was born. The company of Capt. Hendricks was raised in about ten days, and as soon as orders were received was on the march, reaching camp the first week in August, 1776. When the expedition against Quebec was decided upon, the company of Capt. Hendricks, of Pennsborough, was one which was detached from Col. Thompson's battalion of riflemen, and ordered to "go upon the command with Col. Arnold," better remembered now as Gen. Benedict Arnold. Capt. Hendricks fell in front of Quebec, and his remains were interred in the same inclosure with those of the lamented Gen. Montgomery. Many of those who went never returned. Some were killed and others were disabled by the severe exposure of that winter's march through the wilderness of Maine. No. 17, 213 acres. First belonged to Robert Whitehill; afterward to Dr. Joseph Craine and Joseph Sadler. No. 18, 311 acres. Belonged first to Philip Kimmel; now by numerous parties, and is the present site of the north part of Camp Hill. No. 19, 267 acres. First owner, Andrew Kreutzer. No. 20, 281 acres. First owner, David Moore. Nos. 21 and 22, 536 acres. First owner, Edmund Physick. No. 23, 282 acres. First owner, also Edmund Physick. The following is a list of names of the original settlers on Paxton, or Louther, manor: Capt. John Stewart, John Boggs, Moses Wallace, John Wilson, John Mish, Richard Rodgers, Conrad Renninger, Caspar Weaver, William Brooks, Samuel Wallace, Christopher Gramlich, James McCurdy, Isaac Hendrix, Robert Whitehill, Philip Kimmel, Andrew Kreutzer, David Moore, Edmund Physick, Rev. William Thompson, Alexander Young, Jonas Seely, Jacob Miller. Lands lying west of this had been settled still earlier than this manor, which had been reserved by the Proprietary Government as a special reserve- 277 HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. tion for the Indians. John Harris had bought from the Penns, at an early date, seven or eight hundred acres of land on the west side of the Susquehanna River, and just north of the Conodoguinet Creek, which included the present site of West Fairview. In 1746 Michael Crouse also had purchased 435 acres from the Penns, lying north, in the great bend of the creek. North of this tract are the Rife farms, at the western boundary of which is Holtze's Run, a small stream which rises at the base of the Blue Mountains, and falls into the Conodoguinet Creek a short distance below, where Holtze's mill once stood. To the north of the township, where the chain of the mountains is broken by the broad river, whose bright waters are studded with green islands, the scene is of surpassing beauty, and were it not for the many furnaces and forges along the river, which are marked by "a pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by night," we might almost expect to see some painted savage emerge upon its waters in his bark canoe. For there were Indian villages here in these lower parts of the county, which are still traditionally remembered; "on the banks of the Susquehanna, Yellow Breeches, Conodoguinet and other places." "There was an Indian town," says Rupp, "Opposite Harris's, * * another at the mouth of the Conodoguinet Creek, two miles above."* There are few families of the original Scotch-Irish settlers left. Four-fifths of the inhabitants of the township to-day are of German descent. Among them we find, as early as 1761, such names as Renninger, Kunckle, Bucher, Kast, Herman, Kimmel, Brandt, Kreutzer, Shoff, Coover, Ruff, Schneble and Kisecker, all of which are familiar names at the present day. Among the prominent citizens of East Pennsborough Township may be mentioned ex-Gov. Bigler, of Pennsylvania, and his brother, John Bigler, once Governor of California. Both of them spent their boyhood in this township, and their father kept for many years what was known as the "Yellow Tavern," which has since been converted into a private dwelling. VILLAGES. The villages in the township are West Fairview, Wormleysburg, Whitehill and Bridgeport. Fairview, now called "West Fairview," was laid out by Abraham Neidig, Esq., in 1815. It is pleasantly situated at the spot where the Conodoguinet Creek flows into the Susquehanna River. It has more than 300 houses, four schools, three churches, one hotel, and an extensive rolling-mill and nail factory, now owned by the heirs of James McCormick (deceased), which gives employment to many of the inhabitants of the town. In 1700 to 1720 the Indians had a village here. West Fairview Lodge, No. 612, I. O. O. F., at this place has a membership of about fourteen. Wormleysburg was laid out by John Wormley, Esq., after whom it is named, in the fall of 1815. It contains about forty dwellings, two schools and two churches. For years, it was the center of a large lumber trade. The principal dwellings were erected by the proprietor and his sons. Mr. Wormley was for many years the proprietor of the ferry which bears his name, and which still stands. Whitehill is a post village on the Cumberland Valley Railroad, one mile west of the Susquehanna River, and is called after Hon. Robert Whitehill, the original owner of the land upon which the town is built. After purchasing these lands from the Proprietaries, he erected, in 1771, the first stone house *See Rupp's History, p. 352. 278 HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. built in the manor of Louther. At this time there were but few houses in it. He was elected a member to the convention in Philadelphia in 1776, in which the Declaration of Independence was approved by Congress, and was a member of the convention which adopted the old constitution of Pennsylvania. For years he served as a representative of the people of Cumberland County, both in the State and in the National halls of legislation. MISCELLANEOUS. The postoffices in East Pennsborough Township are West Fairview, Wormleysburg and Camp Hill. The Cumberland Valley Railroad crosses the southern portion of the township from east to west. BOROUGH OF CAMP HILL. Camp Hill is beautifully situated on the higher grounds just north of the Cumberland Valley Railroad, two miles west of the Susquehanna River. It is noted as the place where Tobias Hendricks had an Indian reservation as early as 1750. Four people were killed by the Indians near this place in July 1757. From 1851 to 1867 the town was known as White Hall, from an academy of that name; but since 1867, when a postoffice was established at this place, it has been known by its present name. The "Soldier's Orphan School" is at this place. The town was organized as a borough in September, 1885. CHURCH AND CEMETERY. The first church erected in this lower portion of the county, about one mile north of Camp Hill, was a log one, erected in about 1765. It was two stories high, the lower portion being used as a school and residence of the teacher, and the upper story for religious worship. The old church was removed, and the present one, known as the Poplar Church, erected. There is an old grave-yard connected with the church, with partly obliterated inscriptions dating back to 1789.