Notes from
Monument Square
Newsletter of the
Mifflin County
Historical Society
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Volume XXVI Number 3
JUNE 2000
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(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
NEWS FROM THE
SPRING DINNER
MEETING HELD APRIL 27
McVeytown - The annual spring dinner meeting of the Mifflin County Historical Society was held at the McVeytown fire hall Thursday, April 27.
The guest speaker was Richard B. Wessel of Lewistown, a reenactor who entertained the gathering as he portrayed Mifflin County native William Rankin, a 35 year veteran of the 4th Regiment, United States Cavalry, and a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, one of four local servicemen so honored for acts of valor, “above and beyond the call of duty.”
As Rankin, Rich Wessel left his modern persona and assumed the manners and ways of a US cavalryman, dressed in full uniform and outfitted with the latest in 19th century equipment.
Richard B. Wessel shown above as Rankin during the Medal of Honor Ceremony held September 27, 1997 at Lewistown’s Rec Park. The event also remembered three other medal recipients from Mifflin County : John Lilley, John A. Davidsizer and James P. Landis.
NEW HISTORICAL SOCIETY OFFICERS ELECTED
A short business meeting followed the dinner, which included the approval of a new slate of officers. Those elected for 2000 - 2001 include President Joseph Deihl, First Vice President Forest Fisher, Second Vice President Ray C. Allison, Treasurer Robert Ingram Recording Secretary Nancy Aurand and Corresponding Secretary Winona Simmons.
Officers serve for a two year term, with the first vice president moving up to the president’s chair, while the immediate past president assumes the office of second vice president.
Outgoing president Ray C. Allison took this opportunity to thank the numerous volunteers and board members and friends for their many contributions and giving of their time to the historical society.
MERITORIOUS SERVICE
AWARDS ANNOUNCED
In 1988, the board of directors established the Frysinger Award for Meritorious Service. This recognition honors individuals for outstanding service on behalf of the historical society, both living and deceased. Two individuals were honored at this time.
John L. Thompson and Raymond Martin Bell were recognized posthumously during the spring banquet and their names placed on the Meritorious Service Plaque, located in the society’s research library of the old court house.
Charter Members of MCHS
George R. Frysinger
Ben F. Ruble
Lawrence Ruble
Hon. James M. Yeager
Mrs. Mary C. Slagle
Calvin Green
Harry H. Laub, Jr.
William A. Burlew
George F. Stackpole
Joseph W. Hughes
Mrs. Laura P. Ewing
F.C. Bowersox
Dr. R.W. Alexander
Miss Isabella T. Shimp
Mrs. Alice Hertzler
MCHS 80th
Anniversary Project
2001 Calendar
PICTURE THE PAST
The 2001 Calendar can now be preordered. The cost is $5.00 ( 4.71 + .29 PA Sales Tax) and can be picked up at the Fall Banquet. If you prefer, your 2001 Calendar can be mailed to your home for an additional $.50 to cover postage. At press time for this newsletter, over sixty individuals and fifteen businesses signed on to sponsor this 80th anniversary calendar project.
We anticipate the calendars will be available for purchase at the Fall Banquet at a cost of $5.00, including tax. Watch for complete details in the August newsletter about how you can obtain your copy of this limited edition calendar.
If you would like to add your name to the growing list of supporters, simply send the form below along with your check to the Mifflin County Historical Society.
County sports items featured this spring
McCoy House Museum opened for the 2000 season on May 21 and will be open every Sunday until Hometown Christmas in December. Mifflin County Sports is the theme for the initial exhibit, but we need a bit of help from our visitors.
We’ve all done it. You find an interesting old photo in a drawer. You think, “Is that Uncle Henry when he was in Hawaii?” You turn it over, seeking that valuable information you’re sure you wrote on the back, only to find that you never got around to writing anything! It’s the case with some photos on display.
Museum Committee chair, Fran Mackneer recently commented, “We have quite a few pictures of various local teams and many of them do not have the members named. We are asking people to help us identity these people.”
If you can help with an identification during your McCoy House visit, just give the information to the volunteers in attendance and it will be passed along. Your help will be greatly appreciated.
INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING?
McCoy House needs volunteers to act as hosts or hostesses every Sunday afternoon from 1:30 to 4:00 p.m. May through December. If you’d like to give a few hours at McCoy House, please call the office at 242-1022 to volunteer
Local Alamo heroes remembered during
ceremony at St. Marks’ Cemetery
Lewistown - Fourth and fifth grade students from the Mifflin County School District’s Armagh Elementary School participated in a ceremony of remembrance held at St. Mark’s Cemetery March 11, 2000. It was the 164th anniversary of the battle fought at San Antonio’s famed mission which ended March 6, 1836.
Students read from Mifflin County Yesterday and Today, a text written by Mifflin County educators in 1993, telling the story of three local men - Dr. John Purdy Reynolds, William McDowell and David Cummings - who died at the Alamo in the cause of Texan independence.
St. Marks’ Cemetery is the site of the Dr. John Purdy Reynold’s monument, erected by the Reynold’s family in honor of Dr. Reynolds.
MCSD invited to teach Huntingdonteachers
about local history in the classroom
Mt. Union - The Mifflin County School District was invited to the Huntingdon County School District’s In-service Day on April 14, 2000. The purpose was to teach their teachers how to blend local history into workable classroom activities, like the ones used in Mifflin County.
Mifflin County School District’s veteran teacher and historical society member, Steve Rynkewitz, presented materials developed locally, including the text Mifflin County Yesterday and Today. He demonstrated how Mifflin County’s fourth grade curriculum includes local history, through a presentation of video clips, overhead materials and handouts.
The approximately sixty Huntingdon County educators who attended Steve’s session at the in-service saw practical examples of local history used in learning activities. These included school projects like the Alamo ceremony mentioned above and inviting reenactors into the classroom as part of a history lessons.
Now planning our trip to Michigan for the...
FALL 2000 TOUR DEARBORN - FRANKENMUTH
OCT. 12 - 15, 2000
HENRY FORD MUSEUM - GREENFIELD VILLAGE plus BAVARIAN HERITAGE
AT FRANKENMUTH
The Fall 2000 Bus Tour, sponsored by the Mifflin County Historical Society, will depart the Lewistown Library parking lot at 5:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 12 for parts west. Society past president and long-time tour organizer Ray C. Allison announced the details of the Fall 2000 Bus Tour.
Following the early morning departure from Lewistown, travelers will arrive at Dearborn, Michigan around 4:00 p.m. for an excursion through the Henry Fords home, followed by supper. The first night’s lodging is at the Best Western Greenfield Inn.
Breakfast at the hotel on Friday, October 13, then tour Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum.
Ray strongly suggests a visit to the Ford Museum first and noted, “While you are here you can walk from place to place. They have a cafeteria at both places for you to eat your lunch.”
The tour heads for Frankenmuth at 4:00 p.m. with lodging at the Bavarian Inn Lodge. On Friday night, it’s Dinner at Zehnder’s, known for their family-style chicken dinner, then back to the hotel following a short tour of the Christmas lights at Bonner’s.
After breakfast at the hotel on Saturday, October 14, the tour arrives at the largest Christmas store in the world! Other shops are also available.
Enjoy a guided tour of Frankenmuth, 2 - 3 p.m., with free time after that to shop and look around. Here Ray noted, “There are shuttles to take you to and from the hotel.”
Breakfast in the hotel Sunday, October 15 and depart for Lewistown at 8:30 a.m. The lunch and supper stops on the return trip are at the individual’s expense, with an anticipated 8:30 p.m. arrival back in Lewistown.
MAKE RESERVATIONS BY CALLING
Ray C. Allison
(717) 248 - 9321
34 Grand Parkway North
Lewistown, PA 17084
Membership
We wish to acknowledge and welcome these new annual and individual life members of the Mifflin County Historical Society. 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 throughout the year.
MCHS Dues Structure
-Individual membership $10
-Family membership $15
-Supporting membership $35
-Civic club membership $50
-Individual Life membership $150
New Annual Members
O. James Hess, Alma, Kansas
Jay Richard Miller, Jr., Mechanicsburg, Pa.
Jon C. Zimmerman, Lewistown
Thomas L. Lantz, Lewistown
Jed & Carrie Atkins, Lewistown
Mildred L. Yetter, Milroy
Ruth Criswell, Reedsville
Sandra Hosler, Mexico, Pa.
Norma J. Kearns, Mifflin, Pa.
Barbara Sizelove, Arlington, Va.
James & Judi Smith, Lewistown
New Individual Life Members
Carl P. Woods, Del Rio, Texas
Genevieve Aurand, Lewistown
John P. Mertz, Burnham
Sylvia Swineford, Lewistown
Fran Mackneer, Lewistown
The Mifflin County Historical Society maintains a Life Membership Plaque in the Research Library, located in the Old Court House, Lewistown.
The name of every Individual Life Member is included on this plaque. When you stop by to use the research library, please take a moment to check out the long list of our life members. The fee for each Individual Life Membership becomes part of a special fund used to support the society’s many annual activities.
If you aren’t a life member, please consider it. An Individual Life Membership would also make excellent gift, showing your support for the society. At only $10, an Individual Membership makes an inexpensive gift, too.
QUERIES
BAIR - SHADE - THOMPSON
The correspondent is seeking the parents and descendants of Elizabeth BAIR born ca. 1819 in Pa., wife of John SHADE born ca. 1812 in Pa. and mother of Benjamin b. ca. 1841, Hannah C. b. ca. 1845, Mary M. b. ca. 1849 - wife of Daniel THOMPSON, George ca. 1850, John ca. 1855, Ellen ca. 1857 and Albert ca. 1859. Anyone with information please contact:
Eleanore T. Wall
1242 S. Governors Ave.
Dover, DE 19904-4802.
Phone 302 - 674 -2898.
SEEKING MCHS CEMETERIES BOOK
The correspondent is seeking the CEMETERIES OF MIFFLIN COUNTY, if and when an old copy is offered for sale. Please contact: Alan Kearns
227 W. Franklin St.
Bound Brook, NJ 08805
email: kearnsalan@earthlink.net
[Editors note: This 1977 MCHS publication is in two volumes, covering 116 cemeteries, 41,000 listed graves, including 4,000 surnames.]
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 the following donors for their generosity:
Mifflin County Commissioners, Lewistown. - Set of weights in a brown wooden box which were used by the Mifflin County Inspector of Weights and Measures.
Alvin L. Wagner, McClure, Pa. - 10” high amber colored bottle embossed with “Lewistown Bottling Works, Lewistown, Pa.” “This bottle not to be sold” located on the front. Found 1979-1980 along Rt. 522 to Maitland where the old Greenaway Store was located.
Linda O’Dell, Lewistown - Blue glass medicine bottle with white metal screw on lid from Headings’ Rexall Drug Stores, 16 W. Market St., Lewistown, Pa. Prescribed by Dr. J. Goldman, 5-16-53.
Tom Soccio, Lewistown - 4 concrete bridge support posts which came from the Dorcas St. bridge when it was replaced ca. 1976 .
Jeanne Adams, Cheyenne, Wyoming - White nurse’s cap worn by donor and received upon graduation from Lewistown School of Nursing in 1951.
Editor's Desk
We’re always looking for more space to store things here at home. Can’t seem to find enough room for the things we have, let alone more new things. It’s a hopeless battle, especially if you’re a pack rat like me. Any dedicated pack rat knows in his heart-of-hearts that the best solution to this accumulation problem - throwing the unused stuff out with the trash - isn’t even an option! It’s unthinkable, I might need some of these things. Take my historical society files for example.
My burgeoning file cabinets and storage boxes overflow with folders and photographs on every conceivable subject related to county history, occupying various nooks and crannies throughout the house. The best solution would be to build on, something akin in size and scope to the West Wing of the White House. It’s only a dream, not likely in this lifetime, however.
Perhaps all it might take to make more room is a good rearranging of what we have. That’s what I’ve tried to do with our newsletter, make a bit more room, with features easier to locate.
First of all, you’ve probably noticed the change in our cover. History and society news are side-by-side, but continued on the pages usually set for those topics. This gives me additional space for information for our members and a more traditional look, like a vintage newspaper. I’m working on a black-line variation of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument to eventually replace the Federal eagle, that for now will do just fine.
It was tough to throw out the old cover design, since I hate to throw anything away. Let me know what you think. (Actually, I KEPT the old one. You never know when I might need it!)