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 describes the arrival of a circus in 1849 and a "humbug" that was part of the show.
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From 1762 to 1825, most of the conveyance of goods or persons was carried on the Susquehanna River. There were few if any roads, and what trails there were along the river and through the wilderness were paths.
Historians report Conrad Weiser, who acted as an interpreter between the Indians and whites, once owned the Isle of Que along the Susquehanna River near Selinsgrove. Whether fact or part of folklore, Weiser was said to be envious of the beautiful “island” and traded his gun to Chief Shikellamy in exchange for the Isle of Que.
Each village, town, township, or county receives its name from someone or something. In the village of Buckhorn, situated in Columbia County, the something was a pair of buck antlers (horns) once used to mark an Indian trail leading from Catawissa to Williamsport.
Lumbering in northcentral and northwestern Pennsylvania covered more than a dozen counties. Each has its own story on the impact it had and the lives it touched. This post, from The History of Tioga County Pennsylvania, provides some insight into its early lumber industry.
In the mid 1800's, the Beaver Furnace near Paxtonville in Snyder County produced several tons of pig iron each day, providing the town with a steady workforce and economy.
American painter Peter Frederick Rothermel spent several years to complete his painting of Pickett’s Charge, titled “Battle of Gettysburg.” It hangs in the Pennsylvania State Museum in Harrisburg. Governor Andrew Curtin, who was a native of Bellefonte, Centre County, commissioned the painting. People may not know that Rothermel was also a Pennsylvania native, born in Nescopeck, Luzerne County, across the Susquehanna River from Berwick, Columbia County.
At one time Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, consisted of 15,000 square miles. The “Mother of All Counties” saw twenty-nine others carved from it. Medical Doctor W.J. McKnight, who later represented Jefferson and Indiana Counties in the state Senate, wrote a history of Jefferson County and says the first trail carved out by white men in county were from Sunbury, Pennsylvania.
Folklore and stories associated with the canal system in Pennsylvania in the 1800’s are innumerable. The boatmen, were, for the most part, a hard-working lot. They could be serious, faced with the job at hand. But they often found opportunities to play jokes on other unsuspecting river companions.
The graveyard in the historic Chillisquaque Church Cemetery near the village of Pottsgrove in Northumberland County, is the final resting place of the earliest settlers in the area, a Who’s Who in the history books, with familiar names from both Northumberland and Montour Counties.
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