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The arrival of a circus was always a big event in towns throughout the Susquehanna Valley. The Walter L. Main Circus was headed to Lewistown ,, Pennsylvania, when disaster struck on the Tyrone and Clearfield Railroad in Blair County. The entourage crashed and derailed four miles from Tyrone, resulting in both human and animal injuries and deaths.
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Before the Revolutionary War began, Phillip Maus acquired hundreds of acres in the Susquehanna Valley. According to a November 1768 treaty with the Iroquois Indians, the area now known as Montour County became part of a large tract of central Pennsylvania available for settlement. On April 3, 1769, the earliest date purchases could be made, Phillip Maus secured patents from Thomas and John Penn, sons of William Penn, for 600 acres along Mahoning Creek.
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Mark 15:16 (English Standard Version) states, “And he (Jesus) said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.’” These words, spoken by Jesus after His resurrection, form part of the Great Commission, encouraging His followers to spread the Gospel. While some Christians use their talents and gifts locally, others, like Dr. Elizabeth Reifsnyder of Perry County, a trailblazing medical missionary to China, devote their lives to sharing Christ's love abroad.
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The move for a ten-hour work day began in June 1872 in the lumber mills in northcentral Pennsylvania was characterized by frequent public meetings at which the speakers urged the men to go on strike. This finally culminated in a large number of men walking out on July 1, 1872. Many of the mills were compelled to shut down on account of a depleted force until July 10, when an attempt was made to start up the mills, but without success. This precipitated the "Sawdust War."
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The Soundex name indexing system is still widely in use, and is credited as a precursor of the search engines of the 21st century, which makes Robert C. Russell, a Montour County, Pennsylvania native, a pioneer who provided one of the many “bricks” in the foundation of the field of digital technology.
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"Battalion Day" Or "Militia Day" was once an annual event, required by law. Just after the Revolution, a law had been passed requiring all men subject to military duty to assemble once a year in their respective districts, to be enrolled, and to undergo a sort of perfunctory drill. Some men carried broomsticks, pitchforks, and shelalies. This annual drill, called Battalion Day, soon turned into a holiday, with all citizens turning out for the local gathering in towns throughout the Susquehanna Valley.
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If trees could talk, imagine the stories a two-hundred and fifty-six-year-old white oak tree in Union County could tell. It was blazed or marked by William Maclay, first a lawyer, and then a surveyor who was employed by the Penn Family. It was marked in 1769 as part of a 320-acre tract for the proprietary governors.
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For those of us who love reading about Pennsylvania's past and sharing those stories with others, we owe a debt of gratitude to the many men and women who have come before us, including those who documented the adventures, hardships, and folklore. And of course, the pioneers and settlers who were willing to sit down, reminiscing, and even spinning a few tales, true or false, stirring the imagination of others. Henry Wharton Shoemaker played an important part in recording and preserving stories of the Keystone State.
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Abraham Lincoln said, “And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.” John Hall Chatham of Clinton County, Pennsylvania, was a man who experienced a lot of adventure in his seventy-six years. A poet, a conservationist, the playmate to the daughter of a Seneca Indian Warrior, and for many years a raftsman on rivers and streams in Pennsylvania, he left a legacy among his friends, family, and admirers.
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American hymnwriter, composer, and Sunday School Teacher James Milton Black was born in New York, but spent most of his life in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. He wrote nearly 1500 hymns, but his most famous is "When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder." A little girl in his Sunday school class who did not respond to his roll call one morning led him to write the song, which has been written in at least fourteen languages and sung in churches, revival meetings, and on street corners all over the world.
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