Imagine being on call twenty-four hours a day. Imagine riding on horseback, with saddlebags that needed to contain remedies and the necessary tools of the trade for a country doctor. Early physicians made regular house calls in their communities. Add in the emergencies that needed immediate attention, and the country doctor's life was anything but ordinary.
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Lumberjacks had to be well-fed, consuming an average of 8,000 calories a day. Feeding a large crew of hungry loggers - as many as 75 to 100 in each camp - was quite a challenge for the lumber company cook and his assistants.
Frank C. Laubach, born September 2nd, 1884, in Benton, Columbia County, Pennsylvania left a mark on the world of which many outside of religious and literary circles may not be aware. In 1915 Laubach and his wife Effa became missionaries and began sharing the Gospel of Christ in a remote area of the Philippines to Muslims. It was there, he developed the "Each One Teach One" literacy program.
Marshall Earle Reid Junior was born in Milton, Pennsylvania on August 31st, 1886. As an early pioneer in aviation history, his life story included many accomplishments and thrilling accounts of death-defying accidents. Reid was the first licensed pilot in Pennsylvania and was the 114th licensed aviator in the world.
Pennsylvania sent 630,000 soldiers to fight in the Civil War between 1861 and 1865, second only to New York. Oscar Bradford Sharpless of Danville, Montour County was among those caught up in the patriotic fervor and enlisted when the call came for men to step forward. Sharpless enlisted in Company “H” of the 93rd Pennsylvania Regiment in 1861. During his four years of enlistment, Sharpless wrote many letters home to family members in the Danville area.
A Lewistown Pennsylvania woman, Elizabeth Cogley, was one of the first female telegraphers for the Pennsylvania Railroad. When the Civil War broke out, she handled two important communications, one involving President Lincoln, the second, from Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin.
Joseph Doddridge was a minister and a historian, who was born in western Pennsylvania and died in Brooke County, Ohio. While noted in his day as a minister, Doddridge is remembered now for his writings. His most important work was "Notes on the Settlement and Indian Wars of the Western Parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania from 1763 to 1783", Inclusive. Theodore Roosevelt called this book, commonly known as Doddridge’s Notes, ‘‘the most valuable book we have on old-time frontier ways and customs.’’ Doddridge provides a detailed look at early wedding ceremonies and customs in the backwoods in an 1843 article found in Pennsylvania Historical Collections of the State of Pennsylvania.
Having the opportunity to play major league baseball has been the dream of many young ballplayers. Two Danville, Pennsylvania athletes had careers that were fleeting moments on their “Field of Dreams.” Art "Reddy" McCoy and William Yerrick may have experienced the thoughts of another major league player, who was made famous in the movie "Field of Dreams." Archibald "Moonlight" Graham reminisced, “You know, we just don’t realize the most significant moments of our lives when they’re happening. Back then I thought, well, there’ll be other days. I didn’t realize that that would be the only day.” - Moonlight Graham
Tucked away in a family Bible for many years was a wonderful story of the life of John Alfred Snook, born in 1857, and who, at the age of 87, wrote a descriptive account of growing up in Snyder County, Pennsylvania. A neighbor saw the story, shared by Snook’s daughter, and received permission to copy the account, which was then sent to the Pennsylvania Historical Society in Philadelphia. In later years, John Snook moved to Elkhart Indiana, and spent forty-eight years working for the railroad. This story centers on his early years and the hardships he faced growing up in a single-parent home near Penns Creek, Snyder County.
One of the most telling indications of the toll that the Civil War had on President Abraham Lincoln are before and after pictures, taken when he took office, and after his years in the White House, prior to his assassination. There is no record that “Honest Abe” ever set foot in Montour County, but he crossed paths, and had other unique ties, in both life and death with some of the Danville boys.
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