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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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Dr. James Curtis Hepburn, a native of Milton, Northumberland County, spent six years in China and another 34 years in Japan, dedicated to missionary work. Among his accomplishments was the 1867 compilation and publication of a Japanese and English Dictionary, which included an English and Japanese index.
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Scholars estimate that thousands of fugitive slaves passed through Pennsylvania. African American communities, Quakers, and other staunch abolitionists aided many runaways along their journey through the state. One man who escaped from his master’s grip was Charles Bell. His freedom eventually led to faithful service for some forty years as an attaché at Bucknell University in Lewisburg. Prior to his passing in December 1912, Bell shared his story of escape to freedom, which began on a night in August 1849.
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Pennsylvania folktales have been around for hundreds of years. They’ve been told, retold, and added to. Are they true or just a tall tale told before a roaring fire, in a dimly lit cabin or a crowded lumber camp of northern Pennsylvania? Whatever the listener decides, there is usually a moral associated with the story. Such is the case with the Clinton County tale of Mr. No Fear, shared by folklorist Homer Rosenberg.
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