Gold Discovered in Ducks Craw on Farm
Gold discovered in a duck's craw on a Northumberland County farm created quite a stir for the landowner and neighbors hoping to strike it rich in the early 1900s.
Podcast
Hear Their Footprints
The Old Tannery Whistle
Sights, sounds, and smells often provide strong emotional triggers, taking us back to another time and another place. Such was the case of a man from Lycoming County who had fond memories of an old tannery whistle in English Center.
Revolutionary War Captain Buried at Chillisquaque Church
Following America's fight for independence, Revolutionary War Captain Thomas Strawbridge and his wife Margaret came to the Susquehanna Valley. They are among the earliest of settlers buried in the Historic Chillisquaque Church Cemetery near Pottsgrove, Northumberland County
Mother's Voice Saves A Soldier And His Comrades
A mother's voice awakened her young son thousands of miles away, serving with the American Expeditionary Forces in World War 1. As a result, the Montour County soldier and his comrades were alerted to approaching enemy planes, sparing their lives.
Trust and Obey
Daniel Towner, who was born in Bradford County in 1850, was one of several singers and songwriters from Pennsylvania. His best-known hymn was inspired by a young man's testimony at a Dwight L. Moody Revival in 1885 at Brockton, Massachusetts, where Towner was leading the singing.
The History of the Grit Newspaper in Williamsport
The Grit newspaper's history began nearly 145 years ago, in 1882, in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. One of the young printers involved in its early days was Dietrick Lamade, a German immigrant who later took over the struggling publication with partners and helped transform it into an independent Sunday paper. In time, Grit became known for bringing the “good news” of rural America into homes across the country.
Fannie Heddens
Fannie Heddens spent nearly her entire life in the hotel business. Friends and family gathered in Montour County in 1906 to celebrate her eightieth birthday as she recalled her life in Washingtonville. We also share an anecdotal story of three Bloomsburg girls and their efforts to prepare a live chicken for dinner.
The Appollonicon
Now and Then "Devoted to Local History, Amusement, Instruction and Advancement of the Borough and the Valley of Muncy, Penna." was a privately printed magazine published at irregular intervals between the years 1868 and 1878. Its publisher was Jeremiah Meitzler Mohr Gernerd, who started a music and variety store in Muncy, Pennsylvania, which he continued until 1872. His magazine was devoted to preserving local history in the Muncy area of Lycoming County. The following story from 1888, talks about the arrival of the North American Circus of Spalding and Rogers in September of 1849. It caused a great deal of excitement, and also provided what Gernerd called a “humbug.”
Lumber Camps in Clinton County
Northern Pennsylvania’s “lumbering days” were roughly from the early 1800s into the 1920s, with the great boom years from about the Civil War through the first decade of the 1900s. Logs could be rafted or driven downstream. Later, narrow-gauge logging railroads, splash dams, steam mills, and tanneries pushed the industry deep into the mountains. Harry Cranmer, of Hammersley Fork in Clinton County, was a veteran lumberman and was also an historian who shared his stories of life in lumber camps.
A Montour County Woman was the Ancestor of a Real Yankee Doodle Dandy
When Danville and the entire country celebrated the bicentennial in 1976, a story written by newspaper reporter Jim Birt in a July Danville news supplement included the proud ancestry of Mrs. Pearl Fitch Diehl. She was the wife of Fred W. Diehl, the man who served as superintendent of Danville schools for decades and authored several local history books. Mrs. Diehl was a direct descendant of Captain Thomas Fitch Junior.