Snyder County businessman and politician Ner Middleswarth lived through the administrations of 16 Presidents of the United States, from Washington to Lincoln. He acquired 17 farms and left one to each of his 12 children. He also owned and operated a grist mill, three other mills, two distilleries and was part owner of the Beavertown furnace, a business venture in which he lost a great deal of money, reportedly through the mismanagement of his partner.
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Wood-hicks, jill pokes, hitting your feet, and calked shoes were all part of the terminology of lumber camps in the upper regions of the Susquehanna Valley. Hiram Cranmer, a veteran lumberman from Clinton County, shares his experiences once again in the dense hemlock and pine forests of Pennsylvania.
Alexander Billmeyer's love of animals and farming made his 30-acre farm for elk, deer, wild turkey, and other animals a popular destination, and considered as one of the top attractions in the Susquehanna Valley near Washingtonville, Montour County.
In the middle Susquehanna Valley, people knew a professor of German at Penn State University as the Sunbury “Nix Nutz,” and a radio program featured him every Sunday over WKOK AM for a number of years in the 1940s and 50s.
The stories of how Pennsylvanians celebrate Christmas are similar in some ways, but unique in others. A 19th Century celebration of Christmas in Pine Grove, Schuylkill County, looks at the traditions found in an area settled by many families who settled there from the German Palitinate region.
Aaron Kern Gift from Middleburg, Snyder County compiled the "Genealogical History of the Gift, Kern and Royer Families" in 1907. "Glimpses of Early Pioneer Life" is the title of one chapter. Included is a westward journey from Snyder County to Illinois, and an incident involving a Revolutionary War soldier by the name of Frances Ditto, who lived on a farm in Musser’s Valley, Adams Township, now part of Snyder County.
Pennsylvania appointed a special committee in 1893 to provide detailed information on the various forts protecting early settlers across the Commonwealth prior to 1783. Among them were more than a dozen in the Susquehanna Valley, including Fort Brady in Lycoming County.
The Pennsylvania Dutch population moved westward from south-central Pennsylvania as land became less available. Union and Snyder Counties saw many families move into the region. Congressional representative George Kremer might have seemed out of place in Washington. But he never stepped down from verbal sparring with some of his more refined counterparts, often using the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect on the House floor with southern congressional representatives such as John Randolph of Virginia.
Bears, panthers, wolves, elk and buffalo, were all main characters in the stories shared by early settlers in the West Branch Valley. During the canal boat era, the tale emerged of a wolf that used the old Indian trail, which ran along the top of Bald Eagle Mountain, near Lock Haven, following the nightly path of a packet boat.
Theodore Long shared memories of his life growing up in Perry County. Those letters were put into book form in 1939. Life in Pfoutz Valley, the country school, homemade shoes, sleigh riding, and Christmas and the Belsnickel, are just a few of the letters in the book. In this story, Long described making apple cider and apple butter on the farm.
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