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John Wise was a familiar figure in northcentral Pennsylvania in the mid-1800s. Danville, Montour County, was included in his barnstorming tour. In Arthur Toye Foulke’s “My Danville, Where the Bright Water’s Meet” there is an account of two visits made to Danville in June of 1841. Lynn Reichen, president of the Montour County Historical Society, provided more on John Wise in this story in December of 2009.
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Did you ever fall asleep as someone read you the poem, Wynken, Blynken, and Nod? It was written in 1899 by newspaperman and writer Eugene Field who was best known for hundreds of children’s poems. How did a fountain featuring the beloved poem and a famous sculpture find a place of honor on the Green of Wellsboro, Tioga County?
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In 1840 nearly every wife in Brookville, Jefferson County, milked a cow and churned butter. The cows were milked at the front door on Main Street. These cows were ornery, ill-looking, and ill-fed. Every wife had to make her own soap, bake her own bread, sew and dye all the clothes for the family, spin the wool for and knit the mittens and socks, make the coverlets, quilt the quilts, see that the children's shoes for Sunday were greased with tallow every Saturday night, nurse the sick, give " sheep saffron" for the measles, and do all the cooking. Such was the life for the pioneer women in Pennsylvania.
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Followers of the Saturday Evening Post are no doubt familiar with Norman Rockwell's iconic illustrations. But many may not realize that another illustrator with a similar style, Frances Tipton Hunter, was born in Centre County and raised in Williamsport.
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On Thursday, October 8, 1896, nothing appeared out of the ordinary at the Montour Rolling Mills of the Reading Iron Company. But just before 8 p.m., the Number 5 boiler exploded, ripping through the building and sending a portion of it outside and into a home on Northumberland Street like a 20th-century rocket. The explosion was felt in most parts of Danville, shaking some buildings and rattling windows.
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Students of local history in north central Pennsylvania are most familiar with the exploits of soldier, frontiersman, and Indian fighter Moses Van Campen. But his neighbor, Joseph Salmon was also a scout, frontier hero, Revolutionary War soldier, and Indian fighter. Salmon’s life was detailed as part of a seventy-eight-part series of historical articles published in the newspaper in 1934 and 1935. Portions of his story are included in the newspaper account, beginning with his family’s settlement in what is now Briar Creek, Columbia County.
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In the late 18th century, the Susquehanna River was a main artery for commerce. Finished goods such as cloth, tools, clothing, spices, liquor, and the like had to be transported from the populated areas of Lancaster, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia. Almost every village and town had a general store where food, clothing, medicines, tools, and household goods were found on the grocer’s shelves. An old ledger from a Montour County merchant, and reminisces by a country grocer in Columbia County provide a look at the old-time general merchant.
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His contributions to American hymn books are among the most familiar in the evangelical Church. “Almost Persuaded”; “Hallelujah, What a Saviour!”; and “Let the Lower Light’s Be Burning,” were all written by Philip P. Bliss, who was born in a log cabin in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. When he was a boy, Bliss's family moved to Kinsman, Ohio in 1844, and then returned to Pennsylvania in 1847, settling first in Espyville, Crawford County, and a year later in Tioga County. When Philip was eleven years old, in 1849, he left home to make a living. He would spend the next five years working in logging and lumber camps and sawmills. At the age of twelve, in 1850, he made his first public confession of Christ and joined the Baptist Church of Cherry Flats, Pennsylvania.
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The camp meeting of the nineteenth century came into being on the Kentucky frontier in July of 1800. In Pennsylvania, the first Methodist camp meeting of record was in Central Pennsylvania and was held in the summer of 1805 about two miles below Milton along the Chillisquaque Creek. Flavel Roan of Lewisburg attended two years later and recorded this in his journal dated September 19, 1807: "Sunday at camp... The moon shining through the trees, the fire, the candles in the camp, and the large quiet crowd of people, made a scene romantic and solemn."
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An iron furnace in Winfield, Union County was put into operation in 1853. At times, its continued operation was dependent on the financial aid of businessman Thomas Beaver of Danville. In 1863 Thomas Beaver sold his interest to his brother Peter.
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