Stagecoach Proprietor Amos Kapp of Northumberland County

I recently shared a story about the early forms of transportation used by Native Americans and settlers to navigate the Susquehanna River. As Indian paths widened into dirt tracks, wagons and carts were used to lighten the loads as settlers moved into the frontier.

And as roads continued to improve, before the establishment of railroad transportation in the Susquehanna Valley, the stagecoach became a reliable source of travel. One of the familiar names in the business was Amos Kapp of Northumberland County. Kapp was born in Harrisburg August 27,1809, and died at Northumberland, Pennsylvania on September 22, 1887, at the age of 78.

In 1832 Kapp moved to Northumberland from Harrisburg and entered the stagecoach business. When the Pennsylvania canal was completed, he added a line of packet boats to his transportation inventory.

Northumberland was a prominent point in the stagecoach system, including a distribution point for mail in central Pennsylvania. The Kapp lines were extended to Pottsville, Danville, Mifflinburg and Lewistown with Northumberland as the center. He also became involved as a director in the North Central Railroad system.

The June 11, 1859, edition of the Sunbury Gazette reported “Sheriff & McCormick are again carrying passengers by stage between Danville and Northumberland for 12-and-a-half cents. Mr. Amos Kapp, of Northumberland, runs an opposition line of stages, which has had the effect of reducing the fare. A Danville paper says that Mr. Kapp, who is one of the directors of the Northern Central railroad, has made an arrangement with that company to receive a drawback of 15 cents on every Danville passenger carried over that road.”

Kapp also organized the First National Bank of Northumberland and served as its president. He was in the lumber business and operated a highly successful farm. He had a keen interest in agricultural matters and served as president of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society.

Kapp was present at the inauguration of seventeen governors of Pennsylvania. The last governor to ride to his inauguration at the state capitol in a stagecoach was William F. Packer, who rode from his home in Williamsport to Northumberland. After a night's rest at the famous Burr House, the Governor-elect was most surprisingly delighted the next morning when Kapp appeared at the hotel to pay his respects to the distinguished visitor and remarked: "Do not be in a hurry, your coach will soon be here."

In a few moments the brand-new "Clara Coach," with four snow-white matched horses, drove up in front of the hotel, where Mr. Packer and his family climbed aboard. Kapp accompanied them on the journey to Harrisburg. Kapp owned as many as one hundred fine coach horses at a time, and his friendly rival in the coaching business, Jesse C. Horton, also of Northumberland, owned just as many.

At the time of Kapp’s death, there was probably no man living in the state who had witnessed as many gubernatorial inaugurations, and at the last one he attended, he referred with much feeling to the fact that it might be his last.

Kapp was also noted for the hospitality in his elegant home in Northumberland, and he was never happier than when entertaining friends.

Kapp married Miss Margaret Withington, of Northumberland, who died several years before him. They had ten children. The week preceding his death, he attended the Constitutional Centennial and State Fair in Philadelphia.  Returning home exhausted, Kapp became ill and after an illness of five days, he passed away.

Both he and his wife are buried at the Riverview Cemetery in Northumberland Pennsylvania.