Bill Brewer: “Hick” Preacher In The Lumber Camps of Northern Pennsylvania

By Terry Diener

    I recently came across a book edited by J. Herbert Walker, entitled Rafting in Pennsylvania. Written in 1922, it’s a compilation of stories from several writers discussing the lumber boom in the forests of northern Pennsylvania.

    The stories discuss the lives of the raftmen, yes, not raftsmen, who made their way down the Susquehanna River, to sell lumber in towns such as Columbia, and Marietta, Pennsylvania, before making the return trip, many on foot, 300 miles to their homes.

    One piece of information explained that a raft of lumber or timber was a “hick,” and the crews were “hickies.”

    The story below taken from a 1947 newspaper column in the Altoona Tribune, shares the humorous tale of Bill Brewer, a “hick” preacher who, for many decades, shared the gospel in the Pennsylvania lumber camps.

Altoona Tribune June 04, 1947, Page 4

THIS MORNING’S COMMENT by Henry W. Shoemaker

SAYS H. M. Cranmer, "Do you remember that old itinerant preacher, who for nearly 60 years travelled from camp to camp in the old Black Forest? Bill Brewer was his name. He made his own clothes, including boots with soles an inch and a half thick. One Sunday he was preaching an open-air sermon to Murdock's men up on *Young Woman's Creek more than 50 years ago.

A bear was picking chestnuts on the hill above the camp, when Murdock's dog discovered him and promptly gave tongue. Now a bear, when surprised and scared, generally starts running in whichever direction he happens to be headed when surprised. Well, this particular bear happened to be headed in the direction of preacher and congregation, so in that direction he ran. He didn't let a little thing like a group of men change his course, so through the crowd of seated listeners he ran headlong. Men fell over each other getting out of his way.

The bear ran past the tree the preacher was using as a pulpit, the preacher 'shinning' up the tree. After bear and dog had disappeared the men started looking for the preacher. At last, someone happened to look up and there he was roosting in the top of the tree. In 1902, he was holding revival of the old Central schoolhouse on Sononjoh. He stayed at the time at Uncle Asher Manning's while he was conducting services, so had a mile and a half to walk in the night after services closed.

Well, he was heard to express fear of 'meeting a b'ar' going home alone. Well, you was once a 16 year old boy yourself so you can imagine what two of his 16-year-old hearers did. As the road passed some dark pines, the boys awaited. About 10 o'clock they heard the clump, clump of the preacher's boots coming up the dirt road.

A dead treetop of an old windfall was chosen as the best place of operation. When Rev. Brewer came abreast, they started growling and smashing dead limbs. The clump of boots became louder and faster at once. A short distance above is the Road Hollow bridge across Kettle Creek, the bridge being 175 feet in length.

Well, the boys counted only 14 times the preacher's boots hit the bridge. The next night someone had drawn the preacher's picture, boots, broad-brimmed hat, and overcoat complete, on the blackboard. This was far from pleasing to the Rev. Brewer. He concluded his sermon with "I will now shake the dust of Kettle Creek forever from my boots!"  

"A dozen years later he was preaching at Guncheon's camp on Potato Creek in McKean County. Most of Guncheon's crew were from Kettle Creek. In his sermon Mr. Brewer said, 'for more than 50 years I travelled the highways, walked the byways through these mountains, preaching the Gospel, yea even unto the heathen of Kettle Creek have I preached salvation!' After the sermon, while the hat was being passed, he said, 'Boys, be generous, if you don't have money, throw in a piece of terbaccer!' He was so illiterate he had to get someone to read his Bible to him. You may imagine what this led up to. Once when he got up to preach, he said, 'boys, I don't just know where in the Bible my text is for tonight, but it's 'Where is my wandering boy tonight.”

 "VERY likely Bill Brewer is dead, as he would be over a hundred years old if alive today, and one wonders where he is buried. If he has no stone, some Gospel Society, or folklorists' group ought to mark his grave. "Bill" played a long and useful part, in being one of those who helped the noisy and turbulent woods hicks from forgetting altogether the religion taught to them in childhood. He made faith as bright as the silver dollars they worked for and sent many back to their homes less unregenerate than when they first joined the Black Forest "bark savages."

* The Young Womans Creek Watershed lies in the corners of Potter, Lycoming, and Clinton Counties, PA and flows south to its confluence with the West Branch Susquehanna River near the town of North Bend, PA. [Susquehanna River Basin Commission]

Rafting in Pennsylvania J. Herbert Walker 1922

Photo Credit: William “Bill” Brewer Rafting in Pennsylvania J. Herbert Walker 1922 Between Pages 28 and 29