Notes from Monument Square
Newsletter of the Mifflin County Historical Society
************
Volume XXIV Number 4 AUGUST 1998
(Text version of Society News & Notes)
************
Office & Research Library,
1 W. Market St., Suite 1
Lewistown, PA 17044-2128
Phone (717) 242-1022
************
McCoy House Museum
17 N. Main St., Lewistown
Sunday afternoon
1:30 - 4:00 p.m.
(May thru December)
************
Newsletter Editor : Forest K. Fisher
MCHS e-mail: mchistory@acsworld.net
************
Society News & Notes
The Editor’s Desk
You don’t really know history until you visit the place where it happened and walk the ground I’m the one who has to roam the battlefields or stand on Braddock’s Road or view the vista seen by the fighting man on the day of a certain battle.
My wife and I made a deal a few years after we married - I get to walk the battlefields we visit during our summer vacation and she gets to stay in the RV and read. She conceived the deal, following one particularly grueling, gnat-infested, forced march I put her through, one summer day at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. God bless her, it was 98 in the shade!
This summer, we visited Ft. Fisher, near Cape Fear, North Carolina. The earthen fort shielded Wilmington from blockading Federal ships and was the last stronghold of the Confederacy. It witnessed the heaviest land and sea engagement of the Civil War.
Earlier, we toured the battleship USS North Carolina, permanently birthed on the Cape Fear River at Wilmington. We have a new appreciation for personnel serving on US Naval warships! Service on surface ships was difficult at best, unless, of course, you were in the submarine service.
Visit a war memorial. It helps cement one’s never-ending appreciation for those who fought and died in the country’s service. As I begin to thumb through the battlefield atlas for next summer’s trip, I know my wife’s stack of novels is at the ready!
(The editor may be reached by email - forestfisher@acsworld.net
or at 1463 Honey Creek, Reedsville, PA 17084)
Notes from Monument Square
published quarterly plus
an additional summer issue
Society Office &
Research Library Hours
Tues. & Wed. 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Additional Library Seasonal Hours
1st & 3rd Saturday 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
1 W. Market St., Suite 1
Lewistown, PA 17044-2128
(717) 242-1022
McCoy House
17 N. Main St., Lewistown
Sunday afternoon 1:30 - 4:00 p.m
MEMBERSHIP NEWS
At the July 23rd meeting of the Mifflin County Historical Society’s board of directors, Membership Committee chairman William Check announced membership numbers for the 1998 year. Memberships totaled 439, five more than last year at this time.
The categories of membership for 1998 breakdown as follows:
-Individual membership 240
-Family membership 154
-Supporting membership 29
-Civic club membership 5
-Individual Life membership 11
Individual life memberships took a jump to double digits this year, while all other categories remained about the same as last year. Last year’s total membership was 434.
It’s always somewhat of a goal to hit that magic 500 on the membership roll. We’re certainly edging closer, but numbers that high haven’t been seen since 1989 and the Mifflin County Bicentennial. Perhaps the milestone year of 2000 will bring in a flood of new members!
Memberships are a vital source of income, allowing the historical society to operate the office, research library and museum as well as other special programs.
New Members
We wish to acknowledge and welcome these new
members of the Mifflin County Historical Society:
James W. W. Stringer II, Reedsville, Pa.
Leonard Santimyer, North Irwin, Pa.
Linda A. Conrad, Springfield, Va.
Susan Landis, Lewisberry, Pa.
Mary D. Bass, Minnetonka, Minn.
Bruce & Kathy Shirey, Youngstown, Pa.
Barbara J. Richard, Winfield, Pa.
Membership fee structure:
-Individual membership $10
-Family membership $15
-Supporting membership $35
-Civic club membership $50
-Individual Life membership $150
Need a gift? Give a piece of history.
Consider a membership in the
Mifflin County Historical Society.
Individual memberships are only $10.
a reasonable price, for a special gift!
Volunteers at critical low
A steady stream of patrons fill the Mifflin County Historical Society’s research library, located in the Old Court House, each Tuesday and Wednesday and two Saturdays per month. Each person in line awaits their turn to use the popular microfilm viewing machines, searching for that bit of information to complete the family tree. Genealogical requests come in by mail for help in tracking down family information.
Someday soon, visitors may see a CLOSED sign on the door. Imagine the research library cut to only one day per week! It’s unthinkable...but the reality is that the number of library volunteers is at a critical low. Illness and the press of family needs has taken a toll on the library’s regular helpers. These same volunteers also handle the genealogical requests. Unfortunately, such requests may be, through necessity, pushed to a sixteen week response time!
The society’s late president, Dr. Charles Eater, envisioned a library with a full five day schedule, open to all who would seek the treasures of a family history. Yet, your society can’t ask those who give so liberally of their time already, to give even more. The CLOSED sign may be the only alternative, if additional volunteers don’t step forward. If you can devote any time to the Tuesday-Wednesday-Saturday schedule at the library, please contact the office at 242 - 1002. Your help is urgently needed.
Please meet...
Members of Our Board
We are pleased to introduce two more members of the board of directors of the Mifflin County Historical Society.
The board consists of twenty-one members, three classes of seven members each, elected for three year terms. A new class is elected at the annual meeting to replace the class whose term expires. Class designations note the year in which the term expires. This issue profiles two members of the Class of 2001 Gerald E. Purcell, and Forest K. Fisher.
Gerald E. Purcell
Lewistown resident and retired Mifflin County School District educator, Gerald E. Purcell has been a member of the society’s board of directors since 1997. He serves on the Warehouse Committee and the Museum Committee and helped with the newly installed ventilation improvements at McCoy House.
When asked recently why he chose to serve on the board, Purcell commented, “I am a retired science teacher and feel that serving on the board is a way for community service. Saving a portion of the past for the future generations is an entrusted obligation.”
His wife, in education too, is a retired elementary school teacher. They have two sons, two daughters and three grandchildren.
Forest K. Fisher
Reedsville native Forest K. Fisher joined the board of directors in 1996, filling an unexpired term. He was elected to a second term in 1998. Fisher serves on the Warehouse Committee as co-chairman and the Museum Committee. He has been editor of the society’s newsletter since June, 1997.
A love of local history and its preservation for the future are reasons he accepted board service. Editing the newsletter has also been very rewarding for him. “Sharing those old photographs and images from the society’s archive and other sources, that has been a real joy,” he explained.
Fisher teaches fourth grade at Brown Township Elementary and enjoys bringing his love of local history into the classroom. He explained, “If you mention the Civil War to most ten year olds, you get a blank stare. Just down the road from our school is Church Hill Cemetery, where Civil War veteran John P. Taylor is buried. When those same students find out Gen. Taylor was buried in a casket made from a cannon, you’ve got their attention!”
Fisher and his wife, Dot, live along Honey Creek Road, Reedsville.
News from McCoy House
Improvements made this summer
Elegant, new deep blue carpeting is in place in the foyer and staircase, as well as the downstairs and upstairs hallways at McCoy House. A striking oriental style area rug covers the floor inside the Main Street entrance. Also, to enhance ventilation, a whole-house fan was installed in the attic. This new feature aids in the preservation of artifacts AND the comfort of our visitors and volunteers!
Hats, hats, and more hats!
Remember that feathered hat Grandma always wore every Sunday in the Fall? Or your Mom’s little “Lucy Ricardo” number from 1955? How about Great Grandpa’s black topper? Stop by to see them all!
Hats from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are currently featured in the first floor exhibit area at McCoy House. Not only hats, but accessories, too - a fine collection of antique hat pins and hat boxes compliment the entire exhibit.
Krentzman’s Ladies’ Shoppe’, closed for years, is represented by a labeled hat box. Sixty years ago, Martha and Edith Krentzman operated the business at 31 W. Market Street, Lewistown
Special tour guides still needed
There is a great need for special event tour guides at McCoy House. With the school year approaching, classes from area schools will be scheduling visits to the society’s museum. These tours includes student groups, but also small groups of adults. If you would like to help and give of your time, the Museum Committee is seeking persons willing to conduct these tours. Training and a script would be provided. If interested, please call the society office and volunteer today.
Military ceremony held in
McCoy House
It was an appropriate location for an auspicious event - the swearing in of a United States Army major. It took place on an equally important day - July 4.
The McCoy House witnessed the swearing in of Lewistown native, Dennis L. Schrecengast, a 1982 graduate of Chief Logan High School and a 1987 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Surrounded by his family and friends, Schrecengast took the oath, officially becoming a major in the United States Army. Lt. Col. Joseph Wetherell, professor of military science at the University of Scranton, administered the oath.
Maj. Schrecengast chose the McCoy House because of his Central Pennsylvania roots and the special historical nature of the site.
Commenting for an article in The Sentinel, Schrecengast noted, “Family, friends and community - that’s where my values have come from. It’s a special day for everyone.”
It is believed that this is the first ceremony of its kind to be held in General Frank Ross McCoy’s former home.
Acquisitions
The Mifflin County Historical Society wishes to acknowledge and thank the following donors for their generosity:
Kathryn Bratton, Lewistown - baseball uniform worn by donor’s late husband, James T. Bratton, when he played on the Ryde area baseball team.
Anonymous donor - McVeytown area Post Office receipt booklet dating from June 1, 1879 - 1914.
Gerald E. Purcell, Lewistown - eight receipts from J. M. Yeager to Wm. Purcell - dated 1903 to 1921.
William R. Bingman Jr., Lewistown - framed photo of Nelson, “Abe” , Yearick in military uniform; photo of Viscose workers; four framed photos of cavalry units from Mt.. Gretna, Pa. and Cavalry Camp, Colebrook, Pa.
Edward McMullen, Reedsville - book: The Milkman Cometh... Home Milk Delivery - Mifflin Co. PA 1900 - 1980, comp. by donor, c1997.
Rachel Keller Spease, Lewistown - book: A Keller History: Descendants of Hans Jacob Keller & Elizabeth Keller of Cocalico Valley, Lancaster County Pennsylvania, comp. by the donor 1995, updated and reprinted March, 1998.
Georgia Olson, Lewistown - 1998 L. H. S. LORE.
Mr. & Mrs. James O. Reed, Reedsville - 1998 I. V. H. S. Vision.
Publication News
These published books may be of interest to members and friends of the Mifflin County Historical Society.
Mifflin Countians Who Served in the Civil War
Compiled by George R. Frysinger
Published in The Lewistown Gazette, 1905
Edited by Eleanor M. Aurand, M.D., 1996
Mifflin County Historical Society
Lewistown, Penna.
Dr. Aurand, the editor of this book, noted that the Frysinger list stands as a starting place for those doing Civil War research and genealogy. It was never intended to be a complete listing of all who served in the Civil War,
This compilation was originally published in The Lewistown Gazette in a series of sixty-four “papers” published weekly, over an eighteen month period. The series began in January, 1904. Frysinger estimated that about four thousand Mifflin Countians served in the war.
The book consists of two parts. Part one is a listing as it appeared in The Gazette in 1905 and is printed in that format. Part two is an alphabetized list which contains more complete names, corrected during the editing process.
Cost: $10.00 + $1.00 per copy S&H
Make checks payable to:
Mifflin County Historical Society
Send order to:
1 W. Market St., Suite 1
Lewistown, PA 17044-2128
Higginson Book Company, North America’s leading reprinter of genealogical and local histories, announced the reprinting of...
History of Mifflin County
by Joseph Cochran, 1879
List price: $39.95
History of the
Susquehanna & Juniata Valleys
1601 p. in 2 vols. - 1886
List price: $125.00
(Please contact the publisher to confirm
the price and ordering instructions for each book.)
Higginson Book Co.
148 Washington St.
P.O. Box 778
Salem, MA 01970
* * *
Phone: (508) 745 - 7170
Fax: (508) 745 - 8025
email: higginsn@cove.com
* * *
Warehouse News
If you were visiting a loved one at the Mifflin County Jail in the 1970s, you would be greeted by the sign in the photo at right. In fact, you would be greeted by the very same door.
Both were presented to the Mifflin County Historical Society in the late 1970s by the sitting board of county commissioners. The society’s acquisition minutes for July, 1978 read, “...from the County Commissioners...the studded main jail door...”
Today, there’s no need to visit a prisoner to see the door and sign. It now functions as the street level door at the society’s warehouse, located behind the McCoy House in Lewistown.
The door was hung last spring during the refurbishing of the interior of the old building by students from the Juniata - Mifflin Counties Area Vocational - Technical School. The project, Construction Trades Makes History, allowed students to design the actual renovations. Students worked from beginning to end - drawing up plans, estimating costs, purchasing materials and completing the construction.
With some funds left over from the original Educator Grant from Mifflin County 2000 Inc., which covered the cost of transportation to and from the vo-tech school, students will return this fall for some additional work experience. Masonry work and some interior finish work are to be completed.
So if you come to town, turn down the alley by McCoy House and take a look at the old jail door. You don’t have to visit.
May 19, 1938
The small inset photo above is old and scratched. Its appearance belies the importance of the event about to happen - the first mail ever to be flown out of a county airfield.
May 19, 1938 was a gray and damp day - a low ceiling in aeronautic terms. Pilot Richard Y. Cargill, manager at Lewistown’s Airport, inspected his Waco cabin ship and decided, auspiciously, “The mail must go through.”
Cargill took the controls and turned the nose of the airplane into the wind. With a wave to those gathered, he took off - zooming toward Harrisburg. With a cargo of nearly 1200 air mail letters stowed safely away, the flight was made in conjunction with National Air Mail Week. The photo appeared in the May 20, 1938 edition of The Sentinel, identifying the group (l to r) as Postmaster J. C. Amig, Assistant Postmaster Crawford B. Cramer, Superintendent of Mails Charles Hoffman, Pilot Edgar Mitchell of Harrisburg and Pilot Richard Y. Cargill of Lewistown. the shot was snapped, minutes before Cargill waved good-bye to onlookers.
September 21, 1941
The large photo above, from the archives of the historical society, is a famous one taken September 21, 1941. It records Mifflin County’s first airmail pickup.
Often reprinted, it shows the dramatic catch of the mail pouch by a hook suspended below the plane! The letters, in a canvas bag, were hung between two poles at the Lewistown Airport by Blaine, “Jack”, Kratzer.
The swooping plane picked up three thousand letters on this first trip, destined to reach Harrisburg in some twenty-six minutes. Inside the plane, a worker pulled up the bag and sorted the mail in flight. During this fly-over, mail was dropped from the plane, via canvas bag, for local delivery.
One of the commemorative covers appears center page.
The Day the Mill Burned
Today the talk is whether to save the mill dam from destruction, but in the early hours of October 19, 1959 the talk was about the mill - a total loss at $125,000!
It was a blaze of undetermined origin in a tinder dry building. The garage doors were open and it was believed that this added a greater draft to the flames as they swept upward destroying the interior of the three story structure.
Warren Foltz, president of the Reedsville Milling Company, told the Sentinel that the building was blazing out of control when he arrived on the scene at 5:30
a. m.
7,000 bushels of corn, 1,000 bushels of barley, 3,000 bushels of oats, 8,000 bushels of wheat and approximately 50 tons of bran were all destroyed. Additionally, machinery for all mill operations was damaged beyond use.
The Sentinel reported “tons of water” were pumped from the mill pond in an effort to squelch the flames. Fire companies from Reedsville, Burnham, Yeagertown, Newtown, Milroy, and Belleville responded to the alarm. At 6:00 a. m. the City and Henderson companies from Lewistown were called. Shortly after that, the Brooklyn’s LaFrance truck was summoned, in order to use the deluge gun mounted on its top for pumping three separate streams at a time.
The Sentinel photo above was taken later that day, as crews were preparing to pull down the remaining walls. A state trooper controls traffic on Route 322, which was also Main Street, Reedsville, in 1959.
Mill with a history
Actually, an operating mill has been located on that spot since 1775, when it was established by William
Brown and was the third mill in what is now Mifflin County. William Junkin built a mill in present day Bratton Township in 1774, while Abraham Sanford’s mill in Mann’s Narrows near Yeagertown, was built earlier, in 1771.
William Brown first settled in the Kishacoquillas Valley, Union Township today, in 1755. He later moved to what would become Reedsville, known as Brown’s Mills in those days, and established his mill, located along Tea Creek. It was listed on the 1775 tax lists as a grist mill.
So often the journal of Rev. Philip Fithian notes the happenings in early Mifflin County. Such is the case of William Brown’s mill. The missionary visited the area and found William Brown, then a justice of the peace under the British crown, had a saw mill, grist mill and large farm. Fithian’s journal records that at Judge Brown’s...“much company, it is the most thronging gap in the mountain. All from the lower counties enter here.”
Brown was also in charge of the local commissary during the War of Independence and later became a senior justice when Pennsylvania was established as a Commonwealth.
Mill of distinction
Recorded references to Brown’s Mill go back as far as 1775. This gives the Reedsville Mill quite a distinction - longest continuously operated site for milling in this part of Pennsylvania.
An article in the Sentinel, at this time, quoted noted historian, Dr. S. K. Stevens, then executive secretary of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Stevens noted, “Its record in this respect makes it one of the outstanding mills in the State.”
1998 Fall Banquet features
Civil War Letters (from page one)
Carolyn M. Arndt and Lee E. Knepp
of the Snyder County Historical Society will
present the Hendricks’ Letters at the MCHS Fall Banquet
Men enlisted for a period of nine months. The 131st took part, or was in the immediate area, of many battles. Captain George W. Ryan of Middleburg led the unit, but was killed in combat and was replaced by Lt. Lewis Miller of Globe Mills. Miller was then promoted to captain.
Hendricks service ran from August 18, 1862 to May 23, 1863. He died in 1925 and was buried in the northwest section of Union Cemetery at Selinsgrove.
The letters are dated between August 16, 1862 to May 8, 1863. Due to time limitations, the letters have been edited and not all will be included in the program. The excerpts were chosen to illustrate the hardships encountered by both husband and wife, as well as for historical significance. Copies of the original letters are held in the library of the Snyder County Historical Society.
Reservations for the banquet may be made by returning the completed form shown below. Deadline for reservations is September 11, 1998.
Mifflin County Historical Society
Fall Banquet Reservation
Family Style Roast Turkey Dinner with all the trimmings
Thursday, September 17, 1998
6:30 p.m. - McVeytown Fire Hall
NAME:
TELEPHONE:
Members:$8.00 Non-members: $10.00
Please Reserve _____ dinner(s)
Total amount enclosed $ ________
Deadline for reservations
is September 10, 1998.
Call (717) 242 - 1022
WISH LIST
Unlike having a magic lamp,
where a rub brings you three
wishes and untold wealth, the Mifflin
County Historical Society must rely on
sources other than a genie to finance its projects.
Historical societies around Pennsylvania often maintain special funds to support specific acquisitions, building projects or expansions. A wish list is another way of sustaining projects. If you would be interested in supporting a specific project, may we suggest several recent ones for your consideration.
New Minolta microfiche / microfilm viewing machine
Price tag - $6,900
A state-of-the-art viewing machine, purchased this past year, is able to view and copy the complete set of Mifflin County Court House records recently donated by the Register and Recorder’s office. This machine supports the other aging viewing machines which library users eagerly seek. An older version is shown at left.
New McCoy House carpeting
Price tag - $1,400
Mentioned in another article in the newsletter, this addition creates the stamp of elegance at the museum, which befits the house of a distinguished citizen such as General McCoy.
New attic fan at McCoy House
Price tag - $380
Also mentioned in another article in the newsletter, this addition has helped with artifact preservation at McCoy House.
Warehouse Renovation Project
Price tag - $10,000
Several years ago, the board of directors ear marked ten thousand dollars for the project. Even with the help of donated time by the Vo-Tech students, the project is reaching that dollar amount. With additional work yet to be finished, consideration for this project would be greatly appreciated
Although each of these items has been budgeted and paid for, your gift would be directed toward the cost of that item.
Who knows...maybe there is a genie out there.