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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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Earthworks in Lycoming, Juniata, and Centre Counties, including one visited by Conrad Weiser in 1737, may have been ancient burial grounds for some of the earliest inhabitants of what is now northcentral Pennsylvania.
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Frontier farming in Pennsylvania contained numerous hardships. The threat of Indians, wild animals, and having enough food to survive were among them. Penn State Dean of Agriculture S.W. Fletcher (1940-1945) wrote about those lives covering a 300-year-period from 1640 to 1940. This story provides a glimpse into the early Pennsylvania farm.
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Born in Milton, Northumberland County, Laura Johnson Wylie was among the first women to receive a PhD from Yale. She was a professor of English at Vassar College, her alma mater, from 1897-1924.
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