Misc: Old Schuylkill Tales By Mrs. Ella Zerbey Elliott, 1906: Part III History of Coal and Canal Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Duncan-Eagan. USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. ___________________________________________________________ MINERSVILLE AS IT WAS Minersville, next to Pottsville, lays claim to being the oldest coal town in Schuylkill County. In 1793 Thomas Reed, the first settler, erected a saw mill at the mouth of Wolf Creek and its union with the Schuylkill River. A log house nearby furnished the home for his family. A tavern erected by Mr. Reed on the Sunbury turnpike, which ran up the Mahantongo valley to Gordon, was called the Half-way House, being midway between Reading and Sunbury. The tavern stood on the side of the R. C. St. Vincent De Paul church. It was here that a relay of horses was made. The locality was thickly covered with giant trees, and the business, before the mining of coal, was lumbering. A number of saw mills were at work preparing the rough timber which was floated in rafts down the west branch to Schuylkill Haven. The town was laid out in 1830, and incorporated in 1831; with the advent of the English, Welsh and Irish miner came the individual coal operator. Money was plenty, and the social features and entertainments among the leading professional people and the resident coal barons were second to none in the county. Tradition tells of the evening "parties" (now termed receptions and social functions) given by this class of residents in the olden times; Joseph Taylor (who built the old white mansion with the huge columns in front, still standing on Quality Hill), his wife was a sister of Decatur Nice; Seth Geer, Esq., whose wife was a sister of Hon. James H. Campbell; Dr. U. B. Howell, and others, entertained lavishly. They were in turn attended by the Burd Patterson, James Patterson and Dr. James Carpenter families, and others from Pottsville. The Strattons, Robins, Lawrences, Burns, William Wells, Esq., who married a Miss Cram, of Minersville; the Schollenbergers and Shellenbergers, Joseph C. Gartley, Jacob Fox, R. F. Potter, Col. George Brown, Capt. Roads, C. N. Brumm and many others came later and gave to Minersville a social prestige not exceeded by any town in the county. MINERSVILLE STORIES SOME FOLKS WILL NEVER DIE When Sandy came over from Glasgow, he joined a part of the Forty-niners who went around the Horn in a vessel from New York to the Golden Eldorado of the Great West, to dig the precious metal, gold. He returned without any, like many another, and somehow drifted to Minersville. He was a quaint old character, devil-may-care and addicted to his cups. He sat about the tap-room of the old stone tavern at the top of the hilly street, night after night and day-times, too, when it was stormy, or he did not feel like working, which was often, for as he said himself, "He was not 'ower fun' o' sach hard wurk." He had a horse and cart, pick and shovel, and was employed by the Borough with the street hands. How he struck the fancy of old Charlotte, who owned the tavern and other property, bequeathed her by her father, no one knew. They were never seen or heard talking to each other. Sandy was the broadest of Scotchmen and Charlotte was German and could not talk a word of English and she was at least twenty years Sandy's senior. After they were married, Charlotte saw that tavern-keeping was not Sandy's forte. He was the best customer they had at the bar, insisted on giving away, free, half of their liquid stock and had frequent quarrels with the farmers and others who were the best patrons of the old stone hostelry. At the close of the year she leased the hotel and the pair retired to a small house at the rear of the tavern, and here the singular couple lived attended by an old maid, who did the housework and waited on Charlotte, who was fast becoming very infirm and decrepit with rheumatism and a swelling of her limbs. They had a large, well-kept garden, where she, assisted by the maid, would totter about and work, as long as she was able , among the vegetables and flowers, which were her delight. Sandy, disliking he confined quarters of the little house, had a bed removed to a room in the little, old, tumble-down barn, where he slept near his horse, which was apparently the only living thing he cared for. Matters went on this way for several years. One morning, the "auld wife," as Sandy called her, was in her garden pottering about as usual. Her neat, black dress had been carefully pinned up by the maid to prevent soiling from the early dew, when her red flannel petticoat attracted a young heifer they were raising on the place, and which managed to break through the old fence from the barnyard, and the poor lady was thrown to the ground and badly gored before the maid to come to her rescue and drive away the infuriated beast. Doctor Oscar Robbins, a leading physician of the village, was called in, and he gave it as his opinion, that, owing to her advanced age and other infirmities, Charlotte could not survive. Sandy housed the horse and cart in the barn, and quit work at once. He went out and bought a full suit of black clothes, including a high hat and flaming red necktie, all in preparation for the funeral. The "auld wife," however, contrary to the expectations of the Doctor, held her own during the night. "Her pulse was feeble, her fever high, but she was living," said the Doctor to Sandy, the next morning at the front door, where he stood dressed in his new clothes and anxiously awaiting him. This was repeated on each occasion of the Doctor's visits, until the third day, when he broke the news as gently as he could, that "Charlotte was better, and would probably be as well as ever in a short time." "Be the jumpin' Moses," said old Sandy, "sae folks 'ill ne'r dee." When Sandy was turned seventy, Charlotte finally succumbed , at the age of ninety-three, and the old maid died a few weeks after her mistress, to whom she was greatly attached. Sandy did not live long to enjoy his liberty. Just what had been predicted by the neighbors for almost a quarter of a century occurred. A drunken man, a lighted coal oil lamp overturned, and a barn full of new-mown hay, fodder and straw. The barn burned to the ground, as well as the handsome cottage of the village editor of the Weekly "Schuylkill Republican," on an adjoining corner. Sandy and the horse were both rescued by the "Mountaineer" boys, who worked nobly to save the surrounding property, but he had inhaled the smoke and died from the effects of it soonafter. THE JOLLY FOUR They were four of the jolliest and most jovial men in the town of Minersville - the rotund, rosy-cheeked, happy-looking lawyer; the retired coal operator and Captain in one of the early wars; the successful storekeeper, and the Philadelphia and Reading Company land agent; and all were fond of a friendly game of poker. "Jimmy's" was the rendezvous, and as many nights in the week as they could shape it, the time. Their wives were opposed to this loss of their company and perhaps their money, and used every means within their power to keep their husbands at home, even to organizing a weekly social game and card party in their own and each other's parlors, as an antidote to prevent the gathering at "Jimmy's." But it was of no avail. Poker playing among the "Jolly Four" was broken up for a while. But one night it was rumored about town that the Captain had been seen going in to "Jimmy's" as usual, but attired only in his red flannel underwear, feet clad in slippers and this outlandish rig overtopped with an overcoat and his usual headgear, a silk hat. His wife had hidden his trousers to prevent his going out. This announcement had proved too much for the gang, and they each broke harness and fled likewise for the rear room behind the bar. A jolly evening ensued and time fairly flew, until at last "Jimmy" himself interposed; "they must retire, and he did not keep an all-night house." The land agent was almost speechless with good-cheer, and past arguing the matter, and the trio with the assistance of the hosteler placed him in his conveyance and hung the reins over the dashboard; the old mare knew the way home. The others were dismayed to find it was almost three o'clock, and they discussed what they would offer as an excuse to their irate wives. They wily lawyer had provided himself with a box of confectionery in advance, and said: "He would just giver her that and say, they had initiation at the lodge and he was rather late." The storekeeper followed the lead, and thought he would say: "He had been watching the bedside of a sick lodge brother." But the Captain was obstinate. He drew himself up in his red unmentionables, donned his overcoat and hat, and assumed a military air and saluting with his walking stick as if it was a sword, and the two of his superior offices, said: "Gentlemen, I have no reason to give. I will just simply say, 'Good morning, Mrs. Coats!' and she will say the rest." NOT TO BE OUTDONE "Daddy" Schu had been unfortunate in his matrimonial adventures. The first two wives, excellent women, both, that they were, had succumbed to the inevitable and died after a happy year, each, of married life. They were sisters and had lived together prior to the marriage of Melinda, the eldest, and they continued this domestic relationship. It was not unnatural, the gossips said, that "Daddy" should marry Lucy after the year of mourning expired. But that Lucy, too, should die before the next year ended was more than either they or "Daddy" had reckoned upon. "Daddy" belonged to that class of men that find it hard to endure life without domestic companionship, and twice thereafter he sought consolation with partners, whom, it must be confessed, did not size up at all in comparison with the two sisters; and that after the death of each, even he, drew a breath of relief that all was over and he was again a free man. The "Widow" Drury kept tavern on the mountain side above the town of M________. Hearing of "Daddy's" bereavement, she donned her brightest green shawl, best grey alpaca gown and bonnet trimmed with flaming red ribbons, and sallied forth to attend the funeral. No one wept more copiously than she, when Parson Frame recited the virtues of the deceased wife, who was a friend of hers, and it was hinted that "Daddy" succumbed there and then. The widow, however, raked up an imaginary cow case with a neighbor, and began the siege to the citadel of "Daddy's" heart by visiting his office the next day after the funeral, and every day or two thereafter, for he was a Justice of the Peace, to consult him about the cow and the advisability of bringing suit. She was tired of tavern keeping, and allowed that a fine brick house, like "Daddy's" on the main street, opposite and aside of the two hotels and the postoffice, was not to be overlooked. It was just after the first visit, that she confided to a crony, that she "would never let that new rag carpet, with the double red and green stripes lengthwise, remain in his office, when she was mistress there." Poor "Daddy;" it was only five weeks after he buried his fourth wife, when he led the widow Drury to the altar, and he was again a benedict. Lawyer Dreer passing his office one morning, en route for the People's Railway and the Court House in Pottsville, on legal business, saw "Daddy" in the doorway and said jokingly, for Dreer was something of a wag: "How is this, 'Daddy,' marrying so soon again? Didn't you tell me the day Magdalena died, that you were resigned, and that the Lord had taken her away; and if I remember rightly, you even said, 'Blessed be the name of the Lord.'" "Yes, yes," said "Daddy," "so I did! But as long as the Lord takes, I'll take too." Poor old "Daddy!" The widow Drury, his fifth, was a virago, as everybody knew, and "the Lord," they said, "certainly never wanted her," at least not just then, for she lived to a doubly green old age. "Daddy" died after a few months of wedded experience, and was buried in the old cemetery on the hillside, and many were the expressions of regret and the tears shed over his departure; for he was an innocent old soul, an Israelite indeed, in whom there was no guile, and genuinely liked by everybody. THE SCHUYLKILL CANAL The Schuylkill Navigation Company was incorporated by an Act of Assembly approved by Governor Simon Snyder, March 8, 1815. Work was begun and during the spring of 1817 the canal was made navigable to Schuylkill Haven. The freshet of 1818 carried away the dams and locks and the work of reconstruction followed, but the work was not completed until 1821, and then only to Reading. The waterway was 108 miles in length. It was not until 1827 that the canal was really completed, although boats were run to Philadelphia in 1824. They were small affairs, rafts and scows, and were towed the entire distance by men who walked at the end of a long line. Sticks were fastened to the ends of the lines and these were placed against the breasts or shoulders of the men who thus propelled them. After the completion of the towpath, mules were used as a means of propulsion. There were many drawbacks to a successful navigation during these years. The waterway was shallow at points and filled up with sand and debris. The sides of the canal fell in and many difficulties were encountered with the locks and dams, all of which were repaired and reconstructed. It was not until 1846; however, that the canal was enlarged by increasing its width to enable boats of a larger tonnage to pass through; and steam power was talked of for propulsion. In 1843, the amount of coal sent through the Schuylkill, Delaware and Raritan canals, from this region for New York and Philadelphia, reached 119,972 tons. This was the banner year for the canal. The rate of toll on the canal was 36 cents per ton, with 5 per cent, allowed for waste. The whole charge by ton of coal by railroad, at the same time, was $1.10 to $1.25. Transportation was slow but it was very cheap. So cheap that the railroads could not enter into competition with it and the railroads killed the canals. They bought up the canals and hundreds of miles of waterway that were constructed at a heavy cost were destroyed. In 1870 the canal was leased for a term of ninety-nine years to the Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company. In 1878 that portion of the canal between Mt. Carbon and Schuylkill Haven was abandoned, and in 1886 it was further abandoned to Port Clinton. The Reading Railway forced the Schuylkill Canal out of business. The rehabilitation of the mutilated and dead canals of Pennsylvania would be a great enterprise and yield a most profitable return to the people. But there is no possible hope for competitive waterways to rival railways in the business situation of to-day. The centralization of capital, the immense railway interests at stake, the power of the railway companies, all prevent the practical carrying out of any sentiment favoring the re-opening of the dead canals of Pennsylvania; the Schuylkill Canal among the number. THE FIRST BOAT-BUILDERS William Wildermuth built the first boat launched on the Schuylkill Canal. The boat was a small one with a capacity of 80 tons. It was built in 1830 on a lot adjacent to the Dr. Douglas home, on the lower street of Orwigsburg. Wildermuth was born and raised near Landingville and learned carpentering in West Brunswick township. He was encouraged to undertake the enterprise by Dr. Benjamin Becker, then a leading physician of the county. When the boat, which was the only one ever built in that town, was completed it was placed on a Conestoga wagon and hauled to the Seven Stars, above Schuylkill Haven, where it was launched on the canal. The completion of the enterprise was made the source of a general jollification. The people of Orwigsburg turned out to see the boat hoisted on the wagon. The mules that drew the wagon had red, white and blue paper rosettes on their heads, and the wagon and harness were trimmed with tri-colors and gaily decorated. Horns were tooted as the boat passed through the town, the people cheered and many accompanied the procession to the Seven Stars, where a large assemblage of people awaited the event and a general good time ensued. In the same year, 1830, Mr. Wildermuth opened the first boatyard at Landingville, with a saw-mill attached. In 1832, Andrew Schwalm, who came to Orwigsburg from Tulpehocken, Berks County, opened another boatyard adjoining Mr. Wildermuth's. Mr. Schwalm had been engaged in boat building at Buffalo, N. Y., where he was successful. About this time, Wm. Wildermuth took into partnership with him, his son-in-law, Samuel Leffler, who continued the business until 1876, when he died. He was succeeded by his sons, William and Samuel Leffler. Wm. Wildermuth retired and removed, with his daughter, to Scranton, where he died in 1868, at the ripe age of 84 years. He was interred at Orwigsburg. He was the grandfather of C. W. Wildermuth, of Pottsville, the Pauls, of Port Carbon, and Lefflers, of Landingville, and has other descendants in this county and various parts of the country. Andrew Schwalm continued in the business from 1832 to 1845, acquiring what was considered a small fortune for those days. He retired, but later engaged in partnership in another yard for a short time with Samuel Leffler. The latter subsequently entered into a copartnership with his brother, George Leffler, which arrangement only lasted about a year. Hundreds of boats were turned out by these pioneer boatbuilders, Wildermuth, Schwalm and the Lefflers, between 1830 and 1846; when the canal was widened and deepened, the boats were enlarged to double their capacity and with this enlargement in construction, the veteran builders retired from active business life. Andrew Schwalm died in 1863. He was the grandfather of the children of the Frederick Haeseler, John and Joseph Schwalm, Wm. E. Boyer and W. M. Zerbey families, of Pottsville, Philadelphia and Mahanoy City, and has numerous other descendants in different parts of the country. The writer remembers him as a large-framed man, sparse in figure, tall, about six feet in height. His complexion dark, sallow, smooth face and with hair black as a raven's wing up to the time of his death. Andrew Schwalm was a man that inspired the confidence and enjoyed the respect of all who knew him. He was grave and dignified, almost to austerity, and belonged to that class of the early settlers who were impressed with the seriousness of life and had little time or taste for its rivolities. It was Bill Nye who said of his progenitors that "they had considered it not only a misdemeanor to laugh but almost a crime." Clad in russet corduroy velvet trousers, double-breasted blue cloth waistcoat with golden buttons, a swallow-tailed blue broadcloth coat to match, high round linen collar and huge black satin stock, his thick black hair cut round, like the prevailing style of the Oliver Cromwell period, the black silk hat or high beaver, the latter of which he wore on every occasion, Andrew Schwalm was a perfect type of the old-time Puritan Pennsylvania gentleman. He, with his wife, Hannah Miller, had twelve children, eight of whom survived to man womanhood's estate. Two sons and six daughters. George Rickert , father of the late Col. Thomas Rickert, with Menton Ludwig, opened a boatyard, in 1853, near the Reading station, at Landingville. They closed it after an experience of two years. Solomon Fidler succeeded them and remained in business until 1884. Wm. Deibert and son, Henry, were among the successful boat- builders of a later period. George Adams, of Adamsdale, worked at Landingville, but started for himself in 1858 at Adamsdale. Mr. Adams carried on the business on a large scale, sometimes employing as high as forty men, and had six boats on the stocks at one time. The men worked, during these busy times, in day and night shifts. The boats built at Landingville were not alone for the Schuylkill Canal. They were constructed for New York, Baltimore and New Haven. Scows were built for the D. and H. Canal. The boats that first had a carrying capacity of 80 tons, were afterward constructed with a freight limit of 200 tons. During the big freshet of 1850, the boatyards were all flooded and the material and buildings were carried away. The boat "Jennie Lind," was on the stocks ready to caulk. The boat was carried to the towpath bridge. Here the boat collided with the bridge, tore out part of it and then swung around, where it remained. The boat was drawn away with a windlass and brought to drydock at Schuylkill Haven, where it was finished. Stocks were carried away and boats taken from the stocks in the freshet. Other boatyards were conducted successfully at Schuylkill Haven, the Saylors; and at Pottsville, John Crosland and Samuel Grey, at Mt. Carbon, and Joseph Shelly on the site of the pioneer furnaces. The Schuylkill Canal was first projected for the transportation of lumber and farm products down the river, but all this was changed with the fruitful mining of coal. Abraham Pott, of Port Carbon, built the first railroad in the United States. It was successfully operated in 1826, 1827, and was about a half mile in length and extended from the junction of Mill Creek to a point where it connected with the canal. This pioneer railway had wooden rails laid upon more regular log rails, and a train of 13 loaded cars, drawn by one horse, ran over it, drawing a load to each wagon of about 1 1/2 tons of coal. It is claimed that the first horse railway in the country was one built in Massachusetts. It was three miles in length and led from the granite quarries, at Quincy, to Neponsit Run. It was not completed until 1827, giving precedence to that built in Schuylkill County. The railway, from Summit Hill to the Lehigh River, at Mauch Chunk, was nine miles in length, and was also completed after the Pott railway, in 1827. To Abram Pott is also given the credit for first having used coal cars that opened at the bottom for unloading, thus doing away with the dumping of the car. He was the first settler, too, to use anthracite coal to generate steam for the steam power engine. Up to 1829, water power alone had been used at the saw mills. SCHUYLKILL HAVEN Martin Dreibelbeis, who came here in 1775, is generally accredited with being the first settler of Schuylkill Haven. That there were others, notably among them being the Finschers, who were massacred by the Indians, there is no doubt. Martin Dreibelbeis was born near Moselem, Berks County, in 1751. He settled on the eastern bank of the Schuylkill River, where he established a saw mill and grist mill. The latter was built of stone, and part of it was used as a dwelling house by the family. It was strongly built, and during the early incursions of the red men the mill afforded a place of refuge for the settlers against the murderous and savage Indians. Martin Dreibelbeis lived on lower Main Street, on the banks of the river, until 1799, when he built a house in what is known as Spring Garden. He died shortly after, at the age of 48, his son Jacob, by the terms of his will, falling heir to his land, which embraced most of Schuylkill Haven proper, and his son Daniel that part north, including the land on which stood the newly-built homestead. The first marriage was that of Mary M. Dreibelbeis and John Reed in 1795, by the Rev. Henry Decker, of Reading. Of this couple more will be found in the early history of Pottsville. Jacob Dreibelbeis laid out the town in lots in 1811, which were sold at a nominal price. It was not, however, incorporated until 1841. Martin Dreibelbeis donated a piece of ground for religious, educational and burial purposes. This log schoolhouse was built upon the ground now included in part in the cemetery of the New Jerusalem, or White Church, on turnpike road. Jacob Dreibelbeis retained the mills of his father after the latter had retired to the hotel, afterward known as the "Mackey House," in Spring Garden. Daniel Dreibelbeis built a saw mill and grist mill on the rear of the property now occupied by the First National Bank. These mills were removed by the Schuylkill Navigation Company about 1828. The mills were propelled solely by water power. From the year 1817, when the work of construction began on the Schuylkill Canal, the growth of Schuylkill Haven was gradual and substantial. From 1827 to 1846, from the time the tow-path was completed, up to when the canal was enlarged, the "Haven" was anything but one of "Rest." After 1886, when that portion of the canal between Schuylkill Haven and Port Clinton was abandoned, and boating on the raging canal was relegated to inoccuous desuetude, the enterprising residents of that Borough became painfully aware that something must be done if they would maintain their place in the ranks of towns of enterprise in the county and State. They not only met, they resolved and they acted on this resolution, and the result is that the town is enjoying a period of industrial activity, from the number of small manufacturing interests established and maintained, second to none in the county. The large Reading Company coal schutes and railway interests contribute their part, also, toward employing a large number of men, all of which contributes toward the prosperity enjoyed by the people of the Haven. Note: Benjamin Pott, son of John and Maria Lesher Pott, was married to Christiana, daughter of Martin Dreibelbeis and his wife, Catharine Markel. Their children were: Hannah, Mrs. C. F. Whitney; Sarah, Mrs. Lewis Vastine; John L.; Christina, Mrs. D. K. Snyder; Amelia, Mrs. George Schall, and Miss Emma Pott. PLAYED BETTER THAN OLE BULL Henry Hesser was not only a good fiddler, but really an artist on the violin. He was in great demand at all of the social occasions in the village of Schuylkill Haven, and the country people for miles around considered him a musical prodigy of great ability and perspicacity; and more than that, he was noted as a master of the violin by everyone. He "understood the notes," they said, but had in addition a "Blind Tom" facility for taking a theme and interweaving and surrounding it with fancies and interpolations that were very pleasing. He brought out, too, on that king of instruments, with great skill and ease, his own dreams and ambitions and there is no doubt but that Mr. Hesser was more than ordinarily musically gifted. Ole Bull, during his first concert tour, visited Philadelphia and, in the course of time, an early day traveling salesman came to the Haven, and to while away the evening, sat in the barroom of the Washington Hotel, and told stories of the wonders of the metropolis; and among them, related how Ole Bull had captured musical Philadelphia with his wonderful prowess on the violin. The room was full, the interest great, and all listened in silence, but with a manifest air of disapproval. This disapproval grew stronger and stronger as the story proceeded, until the suppression of opinion became almost unbearable, and the crowd arose as one man. The rigid tension was relieved by one, Ike Bensinger by name, their spokesman, who piped up in his thin, falsetto voice: "Did you ever? Did you ever hear "Hen" Hesser play?" And the drinks, of course, were on the traveling man. INDIAN STORIES One of the Indian legends related by an aged resident of the Panther Valley, was that of an Indian ghost, who wandered around the crags and bluffs through which the Swatara creek runs, near Swatara. His father told him that the Indians who lived there had been out on a marauding trip, and returned with a large amount of loot and some gold. One of the braves concealed the gold under a rock near the creek. He was killed by his companions for the treachery, and ever after his wraith was seen wandering in and out among the rocks to find his ill-gotten treasure. The narrator remembered frequently tracing his steps in and out on the Indian causeway, to find that treasure. his genii was the red man's ghost, whom he hoped to encounter some time unexpectedly, and wrest from him his secret of wealth, that would prove as fabulous as that of the hidden recesses in Monte Christo's Halls, but he never found him nor the treasure. Gold was said to have been found upon the "Gobbleberg," and the Indian superstition claimed that when it thundered and lightened the rocks were sometimes cleft in twain and the hidden recesses were discovered to be gorged with nuggets of gold. Whoever could claim them before they closed was in favor with the spirits in the air, and the genii of the mountain. Many hunted for this gold, but it was like hunting for the pot of that precious metal that hangs at the horns of the prismatic rainbow. Many of the flights, by the thoroughly frightened settlers, to the block houses and Indian forts were superinduced by false alarms. "The Indians are coming" ("Die Incha Cummah"), was sufficient to startle the sparse communities into almost immediate flight. On one occasion an old woman, whose son could carry her no farther, was left in the woods (at her own request) to die. She could not live much longer anyway, she said, while the rest of the family hastened on to a place of safety. When the Indians came up to her place of refuge they proved to be a squad of Captain O'Leary's Colonial Guards, who were protecting the woodsmen out to sight such timber as was needed to cut for the use of the navy yard at Philadelphia, and they carried the old lady to a place of safety between them. Another legend is told of an Indian maiden, Wanamanie, who sprang from the highest point of the rocky crags on the pinnacle of Sharp mountain (south of Henry Clay's Monument) into the declivity below and was killed. All because her father Sagawatch would not allow her to marry the dusky lover of her choice. It was said that on moonlight nights, in harvest time, she could be seen on a misty evening, through the clouds, taking the spring into the abyss below, her lover a close second, taking the leap after her, and Sagawatch leaning over the crest of the mountain to watch the lovers going to their certain death. Whether these ghostly sights were only apparent to those who had been imbibing too freely of the spirits of another brand, or whether they were innocent victims of hallucinations of the brain, will be left to the vivid imagination of the reader to conjecture. EARLY HISTORY OF PINEGROVE There were settlers about this vicinity as early as 1755, but it was not until about 1795, that a small settlement was formed about Jacob's Church, next to Zion's or the Red Church, near Orwigsburg, the oldest church in the county, about two miles below the present town of Pingrove, then a part of Berks County. It was not until about 1830, that the village had any reputation as a town, when it contained thirty-one houses. They farmers in the three rich valleys centering here brought their grist to Fegley's mill, on the Swatara creek. The blacksmith's shop, three hotels, and three stores with the mill, formed the business nucleus, from which the town subsequently sprang. The original name of the town was Barrstown. This was changed to Pinegrove in 1829. The name proper is Pine Grove, with accent on the last half of the word, instead of making a compound word and giving it a nasal inflection on the first part. The first church in the town was built in 1817. The Union Canal, from Lebanon to Pine Grove was completed in 1832. The coal was first hauled down from the mines in wagons. In 1832, the canal company built a railroad, from the junction to the canal, a little over three miles. The first coal operators were Caleb Wheeler, Jas. C. Oliver (who lived in Pottsville), and John Stees (father of Fred. Stees, of Philadelphia, and for so many hears National President of the P.O.S.A.) who operated the mammoth vein, at the head of Lorberry creek. The coal was brought from the mines in cars containing from 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 tons. They ran down a plane from Lorberry, and it took one horse or a mule to haul an empty car back again from the junction to the mine. In 1840, the Swatara Railway was built, from the Junction to Tremont and Donaldson. It was laid with "T" rails instead of the wooden article used heretofore. The town of Tremont was laid out the same year by Messrs. Follweiler, Miller and Hipple. (A son of the latter, Dr. Charles Hipple, married Delia, a daughter of Judge Seitzinger, of Pottsville, and subsequently moved to the West.) Judge Donaldson, who lived at the corner of Market and Sixth streets, Pottsville, a handsome old mansion and private resident now occupied by T. W. Marquart, grocer, laid out Donaldson. The tonnage of the Donaldson coal operation was shipped over the Union Canal. In 1852, the Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Company extended its railroad from Rausch Gap to Auburn, connecting there with the Reading Railroad, and thus giving Pinegrove an additional outlet for the shipment of coal. The Millers, Levi Miller, Sr., and son, Daniel Miller, forming the companies Miller and Miller, in which was also interested Levi Miller, Jr., and the firm Miller, Graeff and Co., were important factors in the coal trade of the West End. The old Lincoln colliery proved a perfect bonanza to its owners. The newer operation, of the same name, was also a profitable investment. The firm also mined, for a time, an operation at the Flour Barrel, under the name of Miller, Maize and Co. The Lincoln Colliery was among the collieries purchased by the P. and R. Company. On the night of June 2, 1862, a heavy freshet broke the dam at Berger's mill. The water brought ruin and destruction with it. Mills, dams, bridges, canal banks, everything, went down with the flood. The canal was never rebuilt, the ruin was too disastrous. Pinegrove has suffered heavily under the discriminations against it in the way of railway connections, the abandonment of the canal and the working out of some of the mines. It has progressive citizens who have made, and are still making herculean efforts to retrieve the business fortunes of the town and with partial success. A large steam tannery, a brickyard and several small industrial establishments, are but a modicum of these ventures hazarded at various times. Pinegrove enjoys the distinction of having the largest amount of invested capital of any town in the county in proportion to its population. A PASTOR'S ADVICE Everyone for miles around knew "Parrah" Henry, the pastor of the old stone Lutheran Church, in the beautiful town of Pinegrove. He was there for almost a half- century, and baptized, confirmed and buried more people than the half-dozen other clergymen of that faith in the county, or of those that preceded him. Of the latter there was one who shall be nameless. "Parrah ____" came to Pinegrove on a Saturday from a town farther down the line, making a circuit of perhaps forty miles on horseback to fill his charges. The "Parrah" was a genial and jolly pastor and enjoyed letting himself down to the plane of the people, and even sometimes below that level. He liked a game of cards and a social glass and frequently forgot himself in the indulgences of the flowing bowl, for which act he would afterwards despise himself. But the times were different in those days, and such license on his part was overlooked by the members of his congregation if was able to appear at church the following morning and preach one of the strong sermons that was sure to follow such an indulgence. He stopped at the only hotel in the town, and the usual crowd was there on Saturday night, and on one occasion, he was, as often before, somewhat unsteady when he was helped to bed. He arose betimes for church, and as was his wont, his self- abasement and castigation of himself was more than usually rigorous. He proceeded on the sin of self-indulgence, gross eating, and grosser drinking, and was particularly sever on card playing. The congregation was large and became somewhat overwrought as he proceeded to admonish them on the error of their sinful ways. Finally he leaned over the high pulpit, and with tears streaming down his face and with out-stretched hands, he said "My dear children, for I love you all like a beloved Father loves his children. Do not do as I do, but do as I say," and then he sank back and sat down in the big pulpit chair and shed tears until every eye in the congregation was moistened. EARLY EDUCATION FACILITIES From an old deed is gleaned the fact that John and Sarah Ann Bannan, April 9, 1829, for the consideration of $20, "good and lawful money," conveyed to the Trustees of the Orwigsburg Academy, a lot of ground on Mifflin street. The former owner was Daniel Graeff. The witnesses, Frederick Hesser and G. Rausch. The trustees of the Academy: John Schall, George Hillegas, Edward Canner, John P. Woolison, George Grim, Joseph Morgan, Daniel Medlar and Jacob Hammer. A brick building was erected on the ground by the County. The State appropriated $2,000 for school purposes, and the Orwigsburg Academy was established. The Academy, a school for boys, had a succession of excellent teachers. Joseph Ottinger, Leyman, Comly, Carter, of Dickinson College, and Penfield, who afterward taught in the Pottsville public schools. James Inness, a well-known citizen of Pottsville, and teacher subsequently in the Pottsville Academy, was a popular teacher. Of the coterie Paul Beck Carter enjoyed an excellent reputation for erudition and fine scholastic attainments. He prepared Thomas Bannan, Andrew J. Douglas, Collins P. Whitfield, John T. Shoener (afterward District Attorney under Howell Fisher) and Henry Hammer for Yale College. The trio left school for Yale, where they subsequently graduated with honors, but Hammer decided upon a business career and did not pursue his studies any further. They lost sight of their former teacher, but during the Civil War, Henry Hammer, of the 116th Regt. Penna. Vols. while in Philadelphia, in a clerical capacity for the U. S. service, to which he had been detailed, was approached in the office by a dirty, unkempt, ragged and forlorn looking tramp, who asked for assistance. Daniel Focht, a prominent Philadelphia merchant, formerly of Ringgold, another of the Orwigsburg Academy pupils, was present, and he recognized in the mendicant, Paul Beck Carter, former Yale graduate, fluent scholar, and polished gentlemen, their early teacher. The man took what they gave him, but refused further assistance. "He could not reform," he said, and disappeared. With the establishment of the public school system, the Academy was discontinued. After the removal of the Court House and prison to Pottsville, the old stone jail was refitted on one side for public school purposes, and the bell on the brick Academy, on the opposite side of the street, was used to call the children to school. The ringing of the bell was manipulated by a wire rope that ran across the street, and was rung by the teacher in the old jail building. After the removal of the County seat from Orwigsburg to Pottsville - which event was celebrated with a great glorification in Pottsville - the Court House was used as a boarding and day school. The Arcadian Institute was opened in it, by one Burnside, and his assistants, in 1852. It was a successful venture for a time. Elias Schneider assumed charge of the school, but closed it to teach in the Pottsville Academy. Prof. Joseph Jackson, afterward principal of the Pottsville High School, was an assistant. Mr. Schneider returned after several years and re-opened the school, but was not successful. The building was subsequently deeded to the town by the County. A shoe factory, in which the leading citizens were interested, was incorporated and it was turned over to the company for shoe manufacturing purposes, for which it is still used. THE EARLY TEACHERS Some of the early teachers were men of ability and learning. Others were like Ichabod Crane as described in the "Legend of Sleepy Hollow." The schoolmaster was abroad. With the early German settlers it was a common custom to employ the same man as preacher and schoolmaster. These teachers were frequently not ordained ministers, but filled the office through preference. In 1751, the churches of Holland started a scheme to establish a course of instruction for the children of the Germans in Pennsylvania. Two thousand gilders per annum for five years, dating from 1751, were collected and applied to this purpose. Certain British noblemen were moved to assist in the cause and the king granted L 1,000 toward the project. Trustees were appointed and a visitor and supervisor was found in Rev. Schlater, who was directed to take the establishment of the schools in charge. These schools were established at Reading, York, Lancaster and Easton. The first steps taken to provide for the education of the poor children under the Common School System of Pennsylvania were the laws enacted in 1809 and 1824. Schuylkill County was slow to take advantage of them. It was about 1835 when the first public school was opened in Pottsville, although an ungraded school was held in the log school house on the site of the Centre street Grammar School building. Prior to that time, the former school for boys was held in the Quaker Meeting House. A stone school building was subsequently erected adjoining the log house on Centre street, and another on West Norwegian street, on the site of the Garfield building. With the passage of the law in 1854, creating the office of County Superintendent, came the regular system of grading the schools, the raising of the curriculum and a constant and steady improvement in the facilities, resulting in a public school system which has no superior, if indeed its equal, in any part of the Commonwealth. Private schools were common. Among the teachers were James F. Hough, Rev. A. Pryor, an Episcopal clergyman and father of Mrs. C. M. Atkins, who conducted a school in the residence, south-west corner of Fifth and Market streets. Mrs. McDonald and the Misses McCamant conducted girls' schools. The Lutheran Church had its school. Daniel Klock, an excellent teacher, met with a misfortune to his limb and lived for a time at Auburn and subsequently with his wife, was compelled to become an inmate of the County Home. Some of the first business men of the town were pupils under him. James Hough kept school in a room built on his lot, corner of Centre and Sanderson streets. He afterward conducted a night school in the first Evangelical Church. Hough was the strictest of disciplinarians, and many were the stories told of his cruelty. He turned out good scholars, nevertheless. Prof. Getler or Gertler held school in the Panther Valley about 1828. He was of the old type of teacher and often cruel in the extreme. He walked about constantly and thrashed the boys with a bunch of sticks he carried. One of his methods of punishment was to thumb the boys behind the ears. Spelling was his hobby. An early pupil was inclined to learn all he could, and one morning "trapped" to the head of the class. That was not the end. At noon a class bully, who had been head, waylaid him and beat him severely. In the afternoon, he felt sore at the drubbing he had received and was more or less inattentive, when Gertler gave him another thrashing on his already raw legs. Gertler was subsequently a night-school teacher in one of the Pottsville churches. His scholars were good spellers and adepts with the pen. One of the greatest wonders in the teaching line was Samuel Gesley, who taught at Orwigsburg and other points in the county. He was an armless man and had deformed feet. His specialty was writing. He turned out some of the most beautiful specimens of penmanship and fancy scrolls. He manipulated the pen with his toes and could punish a boy with the ruler for an irregular scratch or blot as well as if he had two or even four hands. He taught writing in Pottsville, subsequently, and finally, in his old age, traveled with a circus, visiting his town with Barnum's on its first visit in 1870. He had learned additional feats during the interim and fired off a pistol with his crippled toes. He was a man with a most remarkable ambition for learning and had a fine head. It was said of him "that in spite of being so severely handicapped by nature, he mastered everything he undertook." To see him turn the leaves of a book with his teeth and a twist of his head was a study in itself. PETER F. MUDEY Peter F. Mudey was an old-time public school teacher. A man of fine physique, strict principles and greatly beloved. He was an old-time Democrat but not a strict partisan. It was during the year of the revulsion after the inauguration of Martin Van Buren as president of the United States, when there was so much pecuniary distress. The Whigs believed that the government was bound to attempt something to relieve the situation, and the President and his party maintained that the faults of the people had brought about the crisis and that individual effort alone would restore prosperity. In the meantime, President Van Buren projected a plan for the keeping of the government finances, called the "Sub-treasury" scheme, which was subsequently very unpopular with the people and resulted in the overthrow of the Democratic part at the next presidential election. The question at issue was: "Shall the public money be kept in a United States Bank or remain in an independent treasury?" Mr. Mudey was approached for his opinion on the subject, when he related the following: "A fine horse that had followed the chase, born his master to the wars and held an honored place in the stud of high pedigree in the nobleman's stables, had the misfortune to break his leg, and instead of being shot, as was ordered, to end his misery, was traded off to satisfy the cupidity of a dishonest groom. He fell into bad hands, where he was obliged to follow the plow. Menial labor broke the poor creature's spirit and at last it lay down by the road-side to die." "A benevolent man, passing that way, took the branch of a tree and attempted to brush off the loathsome, big bottle flies that had settled in and about the wounded leg, gloating in its putre- faction. "When the old war horse raised his head and spoke, beseeching the man to let the flies alone. " 'These pests, he said, have had their fill. If you drive them away, a new horde will take their place and I will suffer the more.' So it will be with a change of administration," said Mr. Mudey. General Harrison, a Whig, was, however, elected and died a month later, and Vice-president Tyler false to the trust reposed in him by the Whigs, refused to hold himself amenable to the party that elected him and vetoed two of the bills passed by Congress to re-establish a national bank, and the first set of flies remained in possession of the public moneys. QUAKER MEETING HOUSE In 1831, a piece of ground near the corner of Ninth and Howard Avenue was donated to the Society of Friends by Samuel Griscom and Thomas Lightfoot for the building thereon of a meeting house. It was a stone building, with a basement of a dark slate color. Meetings were held there during the 'Thirties , when they were discontinued on account of removal of Friends. The first public school for boys was held in this building. In 1846, Elias Schneider opened, it, a private school for boys. The quarters were too small and a company was formed and the Academy built adjoining the meeting house. It was completed in 1846. The first teachers were: Prof. Porter, principal; Duncan, assistant; Elias Schneider, Kirkwood, Angel, Chas. Pitman, Christopher Little, Prof. Angela, James Inness, Schmitt, Albion Spinney, a noted astronomer, and Amos Lewis. Among the boys who went to the Academy were: John T. Carpenter, Peal, James Patterson, Francis Bannan, James Campbell, member of Congress and minister to Norway; Robert Palmer, minister to South America; Lin Bartholemew; A. H. Halberstadt, D. W. Bland, J. T. Boyle, O. C. Bosbyshell, L. C. Thompson and others. The building was subsequently used for hospital purposes during the Civil War, to house the sick soldiers from the encampment of U. S. forces, on Lawton's Hill and West Mahantongo Street. Henry Russel, Esq., remodeled it into a handsome residence and at this writing it is still in possession of the family. HENRY C. RUSSEL It was during the lifetime of the former. Mr. Russel was sitting on the broad portico of his home, enjoying the cool breezes from the adjacent mountain top as they wafted through the magnificent big oaks that surround the old mansion, when he was accosted by a middle-aged man whom he did not recollect ever having seen before. "How do you do, sir," said the stranger. Mr. Russel replied, not without some asperity, "How do you do, what can I do for you, sir?" "Not much, but will you tell me, sir, where Mrs. McConnicle's candy shop is? It used to stand about here; I am very thirsty and she made such good mead. I would like to get a glass and a gingerbread loaf." "Oh, John _____, you rascal," said Mr. Russel, springing up and taking the man by the hand, "how dare you try such a gag on me as that? "Mrs. McConnicle is dead these forty years, and that," pointing to the German Sister's Home, "is her monument." Two of the old Academy boys had met again after a long interim of years. It was about the same period, or early in the 'Forties, when Miss Marcia Allen established her school for young ladies. She was a woman of fine intelligence and the strictest probity of character. After more than a quarter of a century's faithful service, her health failed and she left for California, where she resided in Los Angeles until her death. A pleasant feature was a re-union of her scholars at the Henry Russel residence on the occasion of a visit to Pottsville. Invitations were sent out broadcast, and a number responded. It was a unique scene, not unmixed with pathos, when Miss Allen called the roll, after ringing the bell, and the girls, now matrons or spinsters of middle age, responded to their names; and then as was her wont, she arose and offered prayer, not omitting to remember the absent ones, many of whom had gone to the "Great Beyond." Among other teachers of private schools were: Miss Kate Ermentrout, Miss Annetta Strauch, Miss Emily McCool, Mrs. Laurey, and Miss Lewis. LETTER FROM MISS ALLEN The following is a copy of a letter presented to the Schuylkill Historical Society by Mrs. Sarah Bartholomew, who received it from Mrs. Patterson. It was written by Miss Marcia Maria Allen to B. F. Patterson, deceased, late Borough Superintendent of the Public Schools of Pottsville. It is self- explanatory. "WASHINGTON, D.C., February 13, 1877 "MR. PATTERSON. "DEAR SIR:__ I thank you that you have so kindly proposed to mention my school in your report. I am really sorry that I have not a better work of which to speak. What I have written, you can arrange, shorten or reject at your pleasure. If you wish something different, please let me know, and I will follow your suggestion. "Mr. John Shippen" (President of the Miners' National Bank) "can tell you of this lady, of whom I make mention. I think she was his brother's widow. James A. Inness was her pupil. Mrs. Inness is at Port Clinton or at the Port Carbon Hotel. She can tell you about the schools of that time and Mrs. Hammekin" (mother of Mrs. Dr. F. W. Boyer) "knows of the others. "Mrs. Hammekin taught a short time in the public schools, in Pottsville, and after- ward, for a little time with me." (She also subsequently conducted a private school for a short time.) "Miss Clement, another New England lady, succeeded her in the public schools; Miss Young taught a family in St. Clair." (Afterward conducting a private school in the building, now the residence of F. P. Mortimer, Second Street, near corner of West Nor-wegian.) "Mrs. Charles Hill, Mrs. Hammekin's sister, first taught in Schuylkill Haven." (Afterward conducting the Hill School on Howard Avenue, now successfully run by Mrs. S. A. Thurlow, wife of the Borough Superintendent of Public Schools.) "All these taught in Pottsville and we were graduates of the same school" (in New England). "I mention this because it seems to me unusual. "The public schools were in no way remarkable when I came to Pottsville. I was the first to hear a class in arithmetic, particularly mental arithmetic. A young lady said to me, 'Miss Allen, what do you mean by a recitation in arithmetic?" "Mr. Charles Pitman had a boys' school at the time and was assisted by Mr. Inness. "I am sorry I cannot write more to my own satisfaction, in regards to schools; but as I have said before, if you will ask any questions or make any suggestions, I will try to do better. Very respectfully yours, M. M. ALLEN." "Miss M. M. Allen, a New Englander, and a graduate there, commenced a Select School in Pottsville, in 1843, keeping it up twenty-eight years, with considerable success. Mrs. Shippen, a widow, and her daughter had a private school before that time and conducted it well, if we may judge from the testimony of her pupils. Very many of the women of the present time in the region, were instructed by Miss Allen, in the lower and higher English branches, in Latin and French. The effort was to make them thinkers -- discarding the mere ephemeral and choosing that which has true worth." Note: B. F. Patterson came to Pottsville about 1865. He served first as the Principal of the High School, and after the retirement of Josiah P. Sherman, he was elected Borough Super- intendent of the Public Schools, which position he filled up to his death, July, 1906. Miss Allen speaks thus of her own work in response to the request by Mr. Patterson.