One of the most popular hymn writers in America, Robert Lowry graduated from the University of Lewisburg (Bucknell University) where he later taught and became Chancellor. “Shall We Gather at the River,” “Christ Arose” and “Nothing but the Blood of Jesus” are among his best-known hymns, among the more than 500 he is credited with writing. "Shall We Gather At The River" is one of his most recognized but not his favorite hymn. He shared a humorous story on how well the hymn was liked. "Going from Harrisburg to Lewisburg once I got into a car filled with half-drunken lumbermen. Suddenly one of them struck up, "Shall We Gather at the River?"
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Catherine Smith, widowed during the Revolutionary War, built a grist mill, and a sawmill, which were completed and in operation in the summer of 1775 on White Deer Creek. During the summer of 1776, there was an urgent demand for rifles for the Continental Army and for the use of the old men and boys who remained at home to protect the women and children from the sudden attacks of the Indians, while they were doing the work about the farm and the fireside. So, Catherine Smith installed a boring mill, and the records show that a great number of gun barrels were bored there. Pennsylvania named a mountain in her honor in 1925.
Philip Tome was an early settler of northern Pennsylvania who dictated the adventures of his life to a daughter shortly before he died. She wrote it down in shorthand, and it was published. Tome tells readers, “In presenting the following incidents of my life, to the public, I do not intend to claim for it beauty of expression, for it is the production of one born in the wilderness; one who is more conversant with the howl of the wolf and panther, and the whoop of the savage, than the tones of oratory, as heard in civilized life. "
Two Declarations of Independence were signed on July 4th of 1776 in Pennsylvania, one by the Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia. The second was signed by illegal squatters, known as the Fair Play men in northcentral Pennsylvania.
Bishop Francis Asbury, the first of two bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States preached in Sunbury, and a Montour County man with a familiar family name were both instrumental in early Methodism in Pennsylvania and the Susquehanna Valley.
We’ve all heard the stories, and the saying that “Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction.” It’s difficult at times to separate the facts from the folklore associated with many of the lumbermen, and the raftsmen, who plied their trade in the Susquehanna and Juniata Valley’s. Such is the case of a raftsman known as Cherry Tree Joe McCreery. The stories associated with Cherry Joe’s exploits are a mixture of truth and myth.
A man credited with creating the legends that surrounded ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody, ‘Wild Bill’ Hickock, and ‘Bat’ Masterson spent some of his formative years in Danville, Montour County. Observers say Buntline had the makings of a great man; he just didn’t use the ingredients correctly.
People traveling Route 45 in Union County Pennsylvania, have no doubt seen the road sign for "Hairy John" State Park. Who was "Hairy John" and how did he get his name? George Hickernell, who later lived in the western U.S. as a hunter, trapper, cattle puncher, and more, remembers meeting "Hairy John" when Hickernell was a youngster.
And as roads continued to improve, before the establishment of railroad transportation in the Susquehanna Valley, the stagecoach became a reliable source of travel. One of the familiar names in the business was Amos Kapp of Northumberland County.
George Washington Sears was better known to his readers as Nessmuk, a writer of outdoor stories featured in a number of magazines such as Forest and Stream, Outing, and American Angler. He made his home in Wellsboro, Tioga County.
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