During America’s Bicentennial in 1976, the Potter County Historical Society published a collection of stories about the region’s early residents. Among them were the recollections of Annis Coleman, a woman who discussed her recollections of pioneer life.
Although he received little formal education, Captain Jack Crawford left the coal mines of Schuylkill County and led a life filled with adventure on the western frontier. Crawford also became an accomplished writer, poet, lecturer, and newspaper correspondent.
The Susquehanna River North and West Branch Telegraph Company opened up a faster communications link when it was built through the river valleys. It reached Williamsport in 1851.
The Pennsylvania Grange began among a small circle of farm families in Lycoming County. Faced with rising costs, limited bargaining power, rural isolation, and dependence upon railroads and merchants, they organized Eagle Grange No. 1 in 1871.
During the heyday of timbering in the woods of north-central Pennsylvania, nearly sixty sawmills operated along the Susquehanna River between Lycoming and Loyalsock creeks. Williamsport’s mills reportedly sawed more than eight billion board feet of white pine between 1868 and 1906.
The eating feats of a man known as "Hungry Sam" Miller (pictured on the left in the photo) were legendary in the early 1900s. Miller won many a wager, and there was a time when the ladies who helped make up the pastor's salary by holding chicken and waffle suppers gave gasps of horror when they heard that "Hungry Sam" was there to get "all you can eat for a quarter.
The summer house or summer kitchen was one of the many buildings found on farmsteads in the Susquehanna Valley. It also served in other capacities related to the farm work.
On the Pennsylvania frontier, small-scale distilling was common. Farmers often turned rye or corn into whiskey and apples or peaches into brandy. This made practical sense. Grain was bulky and harder to transport, but whiskey was easier to move, store, and sell. Distilling also prevented waste when crops were abundant.
Born in the borough of Milton in Northumberland County, Laura Johnson Wylie became one of the most cultured women in America. In 1894, Laura was among the first group of women to receive a PH D at Yale University.
A local hardware store owner in Muncy, Pennsylvania during the Civil War, secretly funded the return of soldiers killed in battle. His efforts quietly helped cover expenses for families who couldn't afford the return of bodies and burial expenses.
