Imagine packing up your family and all your belongings once a year, usually around April 1st. ‘Flitting Day’ as it was called, was once a common occurrence in Pennsylvania and other areas of the country. Local newspapers included stories of both family and business moves in late March and early April.
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Born in Axemann, Centre County, Pennsylvania, Christopher Heverly, known as “Jack” or “Kit” when he was young, gained nationwide fame and the title of “King of Minstrel.” “Colonel” Jack Haverly was one of a new wave of theater troupe owners and managers who had not entered the profession as a performer himself. He borrowed the techniques of famous showmen like P. T. Barnum to promote his theater companies.
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A 1907 map and accompanying story shows the formation of all sixty-seven Pennsylvania counties. In the mid-Susquehanna Valley, Northumberland County was formed in 1773, and Snyder County was the sixty-fifth county formed in 1855.
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Anna Morris Holstein was born in Muncy, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. She joined her husband, visiting field hospitals in the Civil War. Using the pen name Mrs. H., Anna wrote a memoir entitled Three Years in Field Hospitals of the Army of the Potomac. Among her reminisces, "The name of Antietam is ever associated in my mind with scenes of horror. As I passed through the first hospitals of wounded men I ever saw, there flashed the thought this is the work God has given me to do in this war.”
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The early settlers of Pennsylvania were faced with various struggles. It’s probably safe to say the hardships were similar for families in various parts of the state. I recently came across several articles in the Bradford Star newspaper in Bradford County, published in the late 1890s, that provide insight and describe some of the setbacks and deprivations experienced by the pioneers.
Read MoreAre there really four brass cannons once owned by the French sunk into deep waters on Loyalsock Creek in Lycoming County? At least two history books of Lycoming County give an account that both the “British and French were quick to recognize the strategic importance of the West Branch Valley and made desperate efforts to secure a dominant foothold there.
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Born near Allenwood, Pennsylvania, in Union County, his appearance alone indicates that Seth Kinman was a one-of-a-kind man whose life story is filled with adventure, storytelling, and the stuff of which heroes are made. Kinman was a trapper, hunter, gold prospector, and for a short time, even tried his hand at farming.
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"Snowing the bridges" was a common practice during the winter months in the Susquehanna Valley in the days of horse-drawn sleighs and farm equipment.
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Opposition to a tax on whiskey imposed by the young government headed by George Washington came to a head in 1794, and the Whiskey Rebellion included unhappy residents of Northumberland County.
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The opposition between loggers and raftmen who plied their trade on the Susquehanna River in northern Pennsylvania in the 19th century resulted in numerous clashes. The loggers and floaters came head-to-head in Clearfield County in May of 1857, as described in a May 6th article in the Raftsman’s Journal.
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