Notes from Monument Square

Newsletter of the Mifflin County Historical Society

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Volume XXV Number 5 NOVEMBER 1999
(Text version of Society News & Notes)
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Office & Research Library,
1 W. Market St., Suite 1
Lewistown, PA 17044-2128
Phone (717) 242-1022
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McCoy House Museum
17 N. Main St., Lewistown
Sunday afternoon
1:30 - 4:00 p.m.
(May thru December)
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Newsletter Editor : Forest K. Fisher
MCHS e-mail: mchistory@acsworld.net
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Society News & Notes

RENEWAL TIME IN JANUARY

Remember to check the corner of your address label in JANUARY to see if it’s time for you to renew. If your label has JAN. 00, send in that renewal. Otherwise, you membership is good for another year! We’ll remind members in the Jan., 2000 newsletter.

MCHS RECEIVES STATE GRANT

HARRISBURG – State Sen. Jake Corman, R-Bellefonte, announced recently that grants will be awarded to three county historical societies in the 34th Senatorial District, including Mifflin County. Other societies receiving grants include one each in Centre and Clinton Counties.
According to a news release from Corman, a $2000 grant was awarded by the Historical and Museum Commission to the Mifflin County Historical Society.
“I was very pleased to support this funding that was contained in this year’s state budget,” Corman said in the release. “These county historical societies play such an important role in making our communities a better place to live, work and raise a family, and I will continue to support their efforts.” 

McVeytown – His name was Christopher “Stoffel” Stump, friend and confident of Conrad Weiser, Pennsylvania’s colonial peacemaker. Stump was also a tobacco chewing, plain spoken Pennsylvania German frontiersman, who witnessed many events in those formative colonial years, when parts of Pennsylvania were still considered wilderness.
Richard Pawling, alias Stoffel Stump of HISTORY ALIVE!, led the capacity audience at the Mifflin County Historical Society’s fall gathering through this sometimes harrowing, yet always entertaining, 1700s Pennsylvania experience, titled The Spirit of the Western Frontier.
The September 23 event was held at McVeytown’s Fire Hall and a family-style roast beef dinner begin at 6:30 p.m.. Introduced by Program Committee Co-Chair, Paul T. Fagley, Pawling appeared from behind the temporary stage, an interior of a vintage frontier cabin, set up at one end of the hall. He wore colonial garb and sang an old German hymn, spittoon in hand. Other appropriate French & Indian War-era props, from flintlock rife to animal skin hat, were on stage, too.

A TRUE GRIT
PERFORMANCE

Pawling’s Stoffel Stump character presented no sugar-coated, cleaned-up, politically correct history, but personal blood, sweat and tears of those rugged individuals who lived history, chewing tobacco and all. He explained it was not uncommon for the colonial settler, whether man, woman or child, to stave off the pangs of hunger with a “chaw” of tobacco. He chewed a plug with gusto and Pawling’s animated telling of our state’s colonial history was now and then punctuated with a grand discharge into his spittoon!
Pawling explained his performance would detail the complex interaction between Indian groups and settlers alike. He focused on Conrad Weiser and later Daniel Boone and other Indian contemporaries, including Shikellamy, Logan and Kishacoquillas. The life of well known Boone was compared to the lesser known, yet historically significant life of Weiser – Pennsylvania’s Provincial Peacekeeper, one of the founders of Reading, Pa., a lieutenant colonel in the French & Indian War.
This HISTORY ALIVE! presentation was based on careful research. including the records and diaries of Weiser and his contemporaries, plus valuable colonial records. Pawling’s performance closed with an emotional story of reunion between mother and daughter.
The colonial girl, Regina Leininger, was captured and held for eight years by Indians during the French and Indian War. She grew to know the Indian ways. Regina never forgot a hymn sung to her as a child by her loving mother. During the reunion at war’s end, the mother was unable to recognize the now grown child from among many returned prisoners. The mother sang the hymn of Regina’s childhood, “Alone, Yet Not Alone Am I.” Recognition of mother and daughter is made through the song. Pawling sings the German hymn in English. Through tears, he tells of the reunion made complete.
The almost ninety minute presentation was over all-to-soon. Pawling rightfully earned the standing ovation given him by the appreciative audience of society members and friends.
Another excellent evening of entertainment, secured by the society’s program committee, co-chaired by Paul T. Fagley and John P. Mertz. We invite you to come and join the Mifflin County Historical Society at our next gathering, the Spring Dinner Meeting in April, 2000. 

Prior to every spring and fall gathering, the society receives requests for additional reservations, after the banquet deadline. We always try to accommodate such requests and never wish to disappoint any member or friend. Unforeseen circumstances occasionally dictate these last minute changes.
However, the purpose of the deadline is for the Program Committee to notify the folk at the McVeytown Fire Hall with the society’s final dinner count. The deadline is set seven days prior to the banquet date. This gives the fire hall a full week to purchase the necessary supplies, notify their volunteers and begin preparation for the coming banquet, including arranging the hall for the program.
The society strives to keep a good working relationship with the amenable folk at the McVeytown Fire Hall. We also desire to make the banquet an enjoyable experience for our members and their guests. This year there were many more post-deadline request then usual. These last minute revisions in the dinner count caused considerable concerns this year with thefood amount and preparation time. Also, the crowded seating resulted in the many unexpected extra reservations.
The society doesn’t wish to disappoint anyone. Our banquets should be a pleasurable experience for all involved. This is, after all, our members’ time for fellowship, good food and entertainment. In the future, when planning for the banquet, please make every effort to respect the reservation deadline. We may not always be able to squeeze in those last minute requests. 

Death of “Genesis” author received

The Mifflin County Historical recently received word of the death of long-time member Raymond Martin Bell, of Coralville, Iowa.
In 1957, Raymond Bell, and his cousin John Martin Stroup, co-authored The Genesis of Mifflin County, the distinguished history of early Mifflin County. Their collaboration began around 1952, when the authors realized no adequate early history existed beyond Cochran’s Mifflin County History, covering 1750 to 1879.
Bent on a mission, Bell and Stroup thoroughly gleaned the colonial records found in Carlisle, Harrisburg and Washington, D.C. Much of the data they uncovered in land warrants, old maps, tax lists and archived materials had never been published. They brought us a glimpse of our past.
The authors found, for example, that in the 1830s, about fifty militiamen from what is now Mifflin County, applied for pensions for service in the Revolution. These applications contained their accounts of action in that war. Bell and Stroup were able to relate Mifflin County’s part in the War of Independence for the first time.
As recently as 1993, the Mifflin County Historical Society published Raymond Bell’s Mifflin County, Pennsylvania in the Revolution 1775 - 1783, which he dedicated “to my cousin, John Martin Stroup, my colleague for 50 years.”
The society extends its sincere sympathy to the Bell family and wishes to thank Dr. Bell’s son, Edward F. Bell of Iowa City, Iowa who kindly forwarded this notice, reprinted here.

Raymond Martin Bell

Raymond Martin Bell, 92, of Coralville, Iowa, died at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics on Monday, April 12, 1999, of complications following a stroke.
Professor Bell was born on March 21, 1907, in Weatherly, (Carbon County) Pennsylvania, the son of the Reverend Frank Thompson Bell and Marion Estelle Seibert. He married Lillian Mae Kelly on March 28, 1942, in Wilmore (Cambria County), Pennsylvania.
He received his A.B. in 1928 at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and his Ph.D. in physics from the Pennsylvania State University in 1937. From 1937 to 1975, he was Professor of Physics at Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania.
Professor Bell was a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists and Historian Emeritus of the Western Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church. He published numerous articles and books on genealogy and church history, as well as several textbooks of physics. His best-known genealogy publications were on the families of Richard Nixon and Samuel Clemens.
He published a number of articles and booklets on the early history of Mifflin County. Many of these were written with the late J. Martin Stroup of Lewistown. Professor Bell's grandparents lived in the town of Vira in Mifflin County, and he spent his summers as a young man happily working on the farm of his uncle Ralph Bell near Vira.
He and his wife moved from Washington, Pennsylvania to Coralville, Iowa in 1995. He is survived by his wife Lillian; son Edward F. Bell of Iowa City, Iowa; daughters Carol Bell Macomber of Prairie Village, Kansas, and Martha Bell Butler of Elkton, Virginia; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. 

Correction of Death Notice
George Edward Wert
1920 - 1999

In the June, 1999 edition of this newsletter, the editor incorrectly listed information received from society life member Cheryl Joan Wert, of Kingston, New York. Mr. Wert was one of fourteen children, not four, as originally published. We regret the error and print the corrected information below, with a list of surviving siblings provided by Ms. Wert.
George Edward Wert, a former Mifflin County resident, died March 3, 1999 in Kingston, New York. He was 78 years old. He was born in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania on April 10, 1920, the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Brown V. Wert.
George Wert was one of fourteen children, three preceding him in death. The ten survivors include: Glenn Wert, Florence Hassinger (Wert), Sarah Scyoc (Wert), Irma Schulg (Wert), Norman Wert, Kenneth Wert, Mary Heimbach (Wert), Curtiss Wert, Victoria Thompson (Wert) and Arthur Wert.
George was raised in the area, later moving to Ulster County, New York. He and his family frequently returned to Mifflin County to visit relatives and other friends.
Those wishing to correspond may write to this address:

Cheryl Joan Wert
302 Washington Ave.
Kingston, NY 12401-4443

SOCIETY ANNOUNCES PURCHASES

The Mifflin County Historical Society occasionally purchases books and related items for the Research Library. These materials supplement and add to the society’s expanding resources which researchers find so valuable. Listed below are some recent purchases, including books and microfilm.
The following books by Gerri L. Aitkin:
- Lewistown True Democrat 1835 - 1867. Obituaries, Marriages, Births, Movings, Schools, etc.
- Lewistown True Democrat 1867 - 1874. Obituaries, Marriages, Births, Movings, Schools, etc.
Newspaper microfilm - seven reels, Lewistown True Democrat January 4, 1855 to August 28, 1879. 

Acquisitions
The Mifflin County Historical Society always welcomes artifacts that have a direct relationship to our county’s heritage or local genealogy. Each year we receive a variety of county-related materials, such as books, clothing, paper items, and artwork. We wish to acknowledge and thank these donors for their generosity:

Beth Reifsnyder, Lewistown - Compact disk - LAHS Choraliers 25th Reunion (1974 - 1999) Concert for the community – Lynn C. Phillips, Director - June, 6 1999.

Delores Ritter, Millerstown, Pa. - Genealogical Data: “The Lockett Genealogy Book of John and Emma Lockett” comp. by donor 1999; Our Glenwood Days (Lower Glenwood 1939 - 1959) comp. by the donor, 1999.

Edith Bratton, Belleville, Pa. - Large assortment of vintage clothing, 1848 Bible, Certificate of Birth & Baptism, Marriage Certificate, photo of Stone Arch Bridge ca. 1915, history books, descendants charts.

Robert C. Shuey, Middletown, Del. - Wooden train model K.V.R.R. engine, tender & caboose with track.

Paul T. Fagley, Burnham, Pa. - Book: Historic Sunday School Records of the New Lancaster Valley Sunday School Union, Armagh Twp. Mifflin Co., PA 1860 - 1982 (From original records of the Salem United Methodist Church in New Lancaster Valley. *To protect privacy, No personal records were copied after 1930.

[Editor’s Note: A special note of thanks to the Salem United Methodist Church in New Lancaster Valley for generously sharing their records for this project.]

Rosalie Seiber, Lewistown - Military records of John Lawler, 1918, embroidered handkerchief, photos from the 1970 Quasquisesquicentennial.

Eleanor M. Aurand, M.D. and descendants, Lewistown - Book: “Our Moore Family: The Ancestry of Sara Grace Moore Aurand”, comp. and written by the donor, 1994; Three early Dipple Crocks given in memory of John R. & Ada J. Moore.

Ruth Taylor Fagley, Burnham, Pa. - Yearbooks: The Kishacoquill, 1958, 59 & 60; The Logan Log, 1953 & 54; The Blue and Gold, 1952.

Bridget C. Schmidt, Reedsville, Pa. - Marriage Licenses of Mifflin County, PA Vol. VI 1894 - 1897, Vol. VII 1897 - 1901, Vol. VIII 1901 - 1904, Vol. IX 1904 - 1907, assorted marriage licenses 1852 - 1853.

Linda Benner, Lewistown - Assortment of photos: Pastime Theatre, early football & band photos, 1949 Fairgrounds, snowfall along the Narrows.

Robert E. Nale, Sandpoint, Ind. - Book: A Chronicle - 205th Penna. Volunteers - The War of the Rebellion.

Elizabeth Kettyle, Lewistown - Table covering, 2 shawls, hand embroidered cover with a scene of children playing, baby bonnet, hand knit child’s stockings, 2 pairs child’s mittens and child’s knit skirt, linen hand towels.

Jean Warner, Burnham, Pa. - Fine linen baby dress, 2 pink baby buntings - all items worn by the donor as a child.

McCoy House News

HOLIDAY HOURS – WINTER SCHEDULE
McCoy House will close December 12
McCoy House will close for the winter season following
Home Town Christmas hours on December 12, 1999.
The museum will reopen in May, 2000.
Research Library & Society Office
Regular hours will be maintained during the winter, with these exceptions: CLOSED – Nov. 23 & 24, 1999
CLOSED – Dec. 21, 1999 through Jan 3, 2000
REOPEN – Jan. 4, 2000

Holiday Harmonies
HOME TOWN CHRISTMAS
The Mifflin County Garden Club will once again decorate the rooms of McCoy House for Home Town Christmas.

Museum Committee chair Fran Mackneer, announced the theme this year – Holiday Harmonies. Each room at the McCoy House will be decorated around a song title.. the toy room will become Toyland, for example.
We’re asking our members to share their antique toys for this holiday event, so we can to fill the cases in the museum’s toy room. The Garden Club will do the rest! Members wishing to loan toys should contact Fran Mackneer or the society office at 242-1022 and give Karen Aurand your list.
Special musical entertainment will add to the holiday mood at the McCoy House during these special holiday hours:

Thursday ......Dec. 2 - 12 noon - 8:00 p. m.
Friday ......Dec. 3 - 11:00 a. m. - 8:00 p. m.
Saturday ......Dec. 4 - 9:00 a. m. - 12 noon
Sunday ......Dec. 5 - 1:30 - 4:00 p. m.
Sunday ......Dec. 12 - 1:30 - 4:00 p. m.

Once made in Mifflin County...
The Water of Life

In the Irish Gaelic it’s called the water of life. It holds the same literal meaning in Scottish. By volume, it contains 40 to 50 percent ethyl alcohol – that’s 80 to 100 proof.
Literal meaning or not, the word is WHISKY – also spelled whiskey – the alcoholic liquor distilled from grain, such as corn, rye or barley.
A claim exists that corn mash whisky originated “on the banks of the Juniata, in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania.” This point is maintained by none other than one of the country’s oldest whisky distilleries, Maker’s Mark of Loretto, Kentucky.
Mifflin County Historical Society member Tom Middleswarth recently sent the editor a slide he made while touring the Marker’s Mark Distillery in the early 1980s.
Tom noted in an accompanying letter, “In the spring of 1981, during a visit to the Maker’s Mark Distillery in Loretto, Kentucky, I photographed a display which mentioned the manufacture of whisky in Mifflin County area many years ago.”
In Tom’s slide, the origin of Kentucky whiskey can be noted in the display at the Maker’s Mark distillery.

ORIGIN OF KENTUCKY WHISKY
ACCORDING TO MAKER’S MARK

“In the early 1700s...there resulted a massive emigration of both Irish and Scotch-Irish to American soil ... Presbyterian by faith and distilleries by trade.”
“Upon reaching America, many went directly to the heartland of central Pennsylvania and settled – and began distilling... It was along the banks of the Juniata in Mifflin County that whiskey from corn mash was first produced. The year was 1772.”
After the Revolution “...many of Mifflin’s whisky makers moved westward down the Ohio River and into Kentucky, providing the Commonwealth (Kentucky, that is.) with her first distillers.”
The ancestor of William Samuels, Jr. “...the founder of Maker’s Mark, began his distilling career along the Juniata in 1779.”
Five years later, with “a copper still in tow” the Samuels family moved to the Nelson County, Kentucky area.
This interesting proposition sent your editor, not to the Wine and Spirits Shop, but to the president of Marker’s Mark. The seventh generation Samuels and current president of the distillery, Bill Samuels, Jr., commented on the family business and its origins:
“My family’s whisky-making history dates back to 1780. That was the year my great-great-great-great grandfather Robert Samuels arrived in Kentucky. A third-generation Scotch-Irish emigrant, he went about making just enough whisky to keep himself and a few select friends very happy. Primarily he was a farmer.”
“It wasn’t until 1840 that my family got serious about whisky distilling. And that’s when Robert’s grandson, T.W. Samuels, built the family’s first commercial distillery at Samuels Depot, Kentucky. He was known as the "High" Sheriff of Nelson County. And so began a long chain of Samuels who actually made money from making and selling whisky.”
Imagine, if the elder Samuels and Kentucky original Colonel Harlin Sanders, had just teamed up, today we might have mint juleps and fried chicken in the drive-thru!
The editor wishes to thank Tom Middleswarth for an interesting story. And to think, it started in Mifflin County! 

EDITOR’S DESK

There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse; as I have found in traveling in a stage coach, that it is often a comfort to shift one’s position and be bruised in a new place. – Washington Irving
Well, I know we’re not going from bad to worse, as Washington Irving suggested. This isn’t a stage coach! I just liked his comparison. There is change in our future, however, beginning with this issue.
We were informed that our long-established printer, Clip and Paste Printing, will be closing its doors at the end of 1999. The society was one of Don Shumaker’s oldest accounts. Of course, this meant we needed to find another company to print our newsletter, plus other society publications. Rather then wait, we began the search this past summer.
With this issue, Mifflin County Printing, located in the old Sentinel Building in Lewistown, will begin doing the job for us. I think you will see improved quality in our newsletter, due in great part to some technical changes not possible before. The images, especially on the picture page, should be sharper and more defined.
Although the basic layout will remain the same, we’ll reduce the fourteen pages to twelve. This occurred due to a binding change and to help keep costs in line. You’ll notice we have a bi-fold newsletter, which I think gives us a step up in overall appearance. Losing two pages, means I’ve had to conserve space in other ways. For example, I’ve trimmed the trivia questions from five to four.
Overall, I believe the newsletter continues to provide our member with a thorough, attractive publication, including news of society events and happenings, plus features and articles of local historical interest. I’ll go unhitch the horses.