Notes from
Monument Square

Newsletter of the
Mifflin County
Historical Society

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Volume XXVII Number 2
MARCH 2001
(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

MEMBERSHIP
We wish to acknowledge and welcome these new members of the Mifflin County Historical Society. Nineteen new annual members and three new individual life members have joined the ranks. Memberships allow us to operate the society office and open the museum every Sunday May to December, as well as other special programs throughout the year, such as Kid Connection in April and Home Town Christmas in November and December.
We thank these new annual and life members for joining the Mifflin County Historical Society!

New Annual Members
Bill & Helen Lodanosky, Lewistown
Michael C. Lennartz, Lewistown
Janet Snyder, Lewistown
David G. McNitt, Thornton, Pa.
Cathy Conner, McVeytown
Rosalie A. Knouse, Lewistown
Lois Camp, McVeytown
Doris A Scheidemantle, Nanuet, N.Y.
Gary & Susan Dean, Virginia Beach, Va.
J. Craig Aurand, Kandiyohi, Minn.
Linda Campbell, McClure, Pa.
Larry E. Harshbarger, McVeytown
Jerry & Becky Himes, Milroy
Earnest H. Kepner, Harrisburg
George H. & Lois Armstrong, Lewistown
Atha J. Workinger, Milroy
Mary A. Ford, Lewistown
Douglas & Nancy Kepner, Lewistown
Raymond & Pamela Klinger, Lewistown


New Individual Life Members
Vesta M. Aurand, Lewistown
Richard P. McNitt, State College, Pa.
John H. Wion, New York, N.Y.

SPEAKER ANNOUNCED
FOR SPRING
GATHERING

The 2001 Spring Dinner Meeting will be held at the McVeytown Fire Hall April 26 at 6:30 P.M.
Program Chairman Ray C. Allison, announced that the featured speaker following the business meeting will be John R. Sisley.
John has for years captivated audiences from service clubs to industrial groups, teachers and women’s organizations to high school graduating classes, by making subjects that fascinate us all - all the more fascinating.
John’s talks on such eminent Americans as Theodore Roosevelt, Ben Franklin and Harry Truman, to name several, enlighten, entertain and inspire.
The formal education of John Sisley includes a bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s in science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, plus a master’s degree in theology from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He has also studied at Syracuse University and Union Theological Seminary.
His work experiences are equally diverse, including farm hand, steel mill laborer, house painter, construction worker - summer jobs while growing up in Western Pennsylvania; X-ray technician during a hitch in the Army; and his first career position as a methods engineer in the steel industry.
Following the latter, John decided to enter the ministry, which ultimately led to pastorates at three churches in Upstate
New York and to being a speaker for a major worldwide hunger organization. He is currently chaplain for a New York State prison hospital.
Married with two children, three stepchildren and four grandchildren - John spends his spare time sailing or skiing, depending on the season.
The historical society’s April 26 event will feature John’s presentation on our 33rd President, Harry Truman, and recently commented:
At fifty he was a local politician. At sixty, he was President of the United States. We must not let the luck involved obscure the character of Harry Truman.
He learned to read at four, sitting on his mother's lap as she read the Bible. His father lived by the creed that a man's word was his sacred bond.
The future President carried these values in the very fiber of his being so when his local political boss asked him to favor local contractors, Harry refused, denouncing the quality of their work. Even Pendergast respected him.
The letters he wrote his mother all carried the regular three cent stamp. When asked why he didn't use his free postage privilege, he replied, "That's for constituents! I was writing my mother."
Wouldn't you like to have your tax dollars shepherded by a man who thought like that? Harry Truman, the best president we ever "backed into by dumb luck and awkwardness."
If our members and friends would like to hear John prior to this April event, just log on to his web site at http://www. johnsisley.com and hear brief passages from his many presentations on famous individuals.
Please join the Mifflin County Historical Society for this special evening.

Society Book Sale
May 3 & 4

The Mifflin County Historical Society will be holding a book sale in the hallway of the Old Mifflin County Courthouse on Monument Square in Lewistown, Pa. May 3 and 4, 2001.
The book sale will be held on Thursday, May 3 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Friday, May 4, 2001 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Conditions of the sale:
* All sales are on a first-come basis.
* Terms are cash and carry.
* No books will be reserved prior to the sale by telephone, written request or other-wise or will be held for later pick-up.
* No book sets will be broken up.
The society regrets that a complete listing is not available, but books offered include:
- Mifflin County Historical Society Publications
- American history, World history and Pennsylvania history.
- Some county histories
- Genealogical helpers
- Literature and other various subjects.
The historical society’s research library will not be open during the book sale.

Mark your calendar for the
Spring Dinner Meeting

The 2001 Spring Dinner Meeting will be held at the McVeytown Fire Hall April 26 at 6:30 P.M. Our members and friends will again enjoy a delicious family-style dinner. This year’s meal is roast chicken with all the trimmings, plus homemade ice cream and an assortment of freshly baked cakes for dessert. Cost is $9.00 per meal for members and $11.00 for non-members. A firm deadline for dinner reservations is April 11, 2001.
The historical society must give the good folks at the McVeytown Fire Hall as accurate a number of reservations as possible and ample time for them to order the chicken from their supplier. We have some allowance for extra meals, but we ask that our members and friends please adhere to this firm reservation deadline so no one is disappointed. Thank you one and all, for your cooperation.

2002 Calendar
Project Underway

The Mifflin County Historical Society will proceed with its second annual calendar. The 2001 calendar, our first-ever, proved to be a success, sharing many photographic images with our members, friends and the greater community. A number of positive comments and responses came our way, like this e-mail from William H. McClure: Just received the calendars and enjoyed every printed word. Great job in putting this together--only wish there were more months in the year, like maybe thirty-six. THANKS.
We’ll do our best, Mr. McClure, to produce another quality calendar, so plans are now in the works for Picture the Past - 2002.
As last year, the society is seeking individual and business sponsors. Individuals can become 2002 calendar sponsors for $10.00 Individual sponsor names will appear on the inside cover of the calendar with a list of other sponsors.
Businesses can become 2002 calendar sponsors for $40.00 and have their business card ad appear on one of the twelve calendar pages. Businesses should send their company’s business card or copy equal to a standard business card.
Help make our 2002 calendar project another success. Become a sponsor today. A convenient Individual and Business Sponsor Form is located on page 11.
If our business sponsors would like to help us market the 2002 calendars in their place of business, be sure to check the box at the bottom of the sponsor form.

SOCIETY SPRING BUS TOUR
SATURDAY, JUNE 2, 2001
OGLEBAY, W. VIRGINIA

The Mifflin County Historical Society’s 2001 Spring Bus Tour was recently announced by Ray C. Allison, the society’s tour organizer. The bus departs from the Lewistown Library parking lot at 5:00 A.M. on Saturday, June 2, 2001, destined for a day of touring Oglebay and Wheeling, West Virginia.
Breakfast will be enroute and lunch around 12:15, both at the individual’s expense.
The one hour tour of the Oglebay Mansion begins at 11:15 A.M. Built in 1846 by Hanson Chapline, Oglebay Institute's Mansion Museum was originally an eight room farm house. The mansion went through seven different owners before it was purchased by Earl W. Oglebay in 1900. Mr. Oglebay made the mansion and its surrounding grounds his family's summer estate, and he called the estate Waddington Farms. Upon his death in 1926, after many renovations and expansions of the mansion, Mr. Oglebay willed his estate to the city in order that it become a facility for education and recreation for the region. The mansion became a museum in 1930.
The Victorian house tour of downtown Wheeling, West Virginia starts at 2:30 P.M., visiting the Hess House, the 1891 Eckhart House, and the 1893 Hazlett-Fields House.

PLEASE NOTE: THE VICTORIAN WHEELING LANDMARKS FOUNDATION REQUESTS VISITORS WEAR FLATS TO PROTECT THE MAGNIFICENT FLOORS!

Free time to shop follows this part of the tour. Return to Wilson Lodge at 5:30 P.M. for supper at Wilson Lodge Buffet at 6:00 P.M. .
Depart for home at 7:00 P.M. Arrival at Lewistown Library parking lot around 12:00 midnight or earlier.

PRICE: $70.00 per person [Price includes: Transportation, Buffet, Museum and three house tours.]
(Payment due when reservations are made.)

BE SURE OF A SEAT!
RESERVE EARLY BY CALLING:
RAY C. ALLISON - (717) 248-9321
34 GRAND PARKWAY NORTH
LEWISTOWN, PA 17044

MCCOY HOUSE NEWS

If April showers bring
May flowers, what do
May flowers bring?

Of course any elementary student knows that May flowers bring
Pilgrims!
The month of May also brings the regular opening of the McCoy House Museum for the 2001 season. Plans for lining up volunteers for the new year are in progress.
If you have a desire to share some time, call the office at 242-1022 to offer your services. The museum is open each Sunday, 1:30 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. We rely on our regular volunteers, but will eagerly train rookies, too!
Watch local media for information on the new spring exhibit and additional details in the June newsletter.

Useful Internet Sites

Genealogy Books Online plus
Self-publishing at www.GenealogyBookShop.com

This site welcomes the Internet user to the electronic home of Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., which claims to be the largest publisher of genealogical reference books, text books, and how-to books in the world. The site notes that over the years, GPC and its affiliates, Clearfield Company and Gateway Press, have published more than 5,000 titles in genealogy and related fields. Their catalog contains an integrated list of all Genealogical Publishing Company and Clearfield Company books in print.
Searching for a specific publication? Genealogical Publishing Company books are identified in this listing by the letters "GPC" (immediately preceding the item number), while Clearfield Company books are tagged with the letters "CF." At the present time, the two companies have approximately 1,500 books in print.
If you’re a genealogical writer with a manuscript in search of a publisher, try an affiliate of GPC, Gateway Press, an author-subsidized self-publishing company. Gateway Press can be reached by a link from this GPC site.
According to Gateway’s statement of philosophy: Gateway is an acknowledged expert in publishing genealogy, local and military history, memoirs, poetry, and other special genre books. Gateway promises to guide inexperienced authors through the intricacies of book production in a thorough and efficient manner. Gateway's goal is for each author to publish a book that proudly represents the years of effort and love spent preparing the material.

Contact Gateway Press, Inc. at:
1001 N. Calvert Street - Baltimore, MD 21202
Tel. 800-296-6687 - Fax: 1-410-752-8492
E-mail: ahughes@GatewayPress.com

QUERIES

CLOSE
Catherine Livingston Close

Editor’s Note: We received a letter and query from Ruth (Orr) Obert in the August, 2000 newsletter that centered on General and Governor Thomas Mifflin.
We recently received another correspondence from Mrs. Obert and learned that she had a response to her query, but sadly received the reply on the day of her husband’s death and the message was accidentally erased.
It has taken Ruth some six months to get interested in genealogy again and I would like to honor her request to rerun this query and ask that the respondent of last August please contact Ruth at this phone number or address:

(309)-685-2875
Ruth (Orr) Obert
606 W. Stonegate Rd.
Peoria, IL 61614-5932
e-mail - jrobert@npoint.net

In addition, readers will find Ruth’s original correspondence below.

Dear Mr. Fisher,
Your January 2000 newsletter was of interest to me - General/Governor of Pennsylvania, Thomas Mifflin. Gen. Mifflin fathered several illegitimate children, with my great, great, great grandmother Susannah being one of them. Her mother was Catherine Livingston of Lancaster. Catherine’s father, probably William Livingston (no record). Catherine married Peter Close in Lancaster and they moved to Armagh Twp., Mifflin Co. Pa.
Susannah married Mathew Reighley and they lived in Mifflin Co. Pa. At some time during their early marriage, they either bought or received land from Christian Baker via Thomas Mifflin. My lineage is: Mathew & Susannah Reighley (great,great,great grandparents)
Thomas Orr & Catherine Reighley
(great,great grandparents)
John T. Orr & Jane Thompson
(great grandparents)
Madison W. Orr & Adelia Bell
(grandparents)
Chester G. Orr & Emily Kelly (parents)
Sincerely,
Ruth Orr Obert

Editor's Desk

I don’t want this to become a cooking column, but I received two replies in response to the topic of gingerbread from the January newsletter: one from Barb Aurand of Big Ridge and the other from Peg Stanley on Summit Drive, both are society members from Lewistown. Barb called me to share a recipe from one of her venerable cookbooks. Peg sent a nice note on “Lewistown Junction” stationary and a copy of a recipe from Betty Crocker.
Of course, as they say, “Nothing is quite as good as what Mother used to make.” Getting the taste just like I remember is the challenge. I’ll keep trying. Many thanks to both Barb and Peg, though, for coming to my rescue!
History is food, food is history, or maybe the lack of it. We are awash in an abundance of food and food choices today, but think of all the Irish emigres who fled their homeland to the United States during the Potato Famine of the 1840s and 50s. Lack of food drove them.
In 1863, the Confederate “bread riots” saw hundreds of wives and mothers storm bakeries in Richmond to feed their starving children. The Depression-era in this country caused many frugal cooks to consider recipes where “little made much.” Even radio shows of the 1930s, like Pet Milk’s Mary Lee Taylor Show, provided homemakers with ways to stretch a dollar in the food budget.
Maybe a collection of local recipes, based on family food traditions or local history would make a nice society publication. After all, our contemporary collection, The Bicentennial Cookbook, has been a best-seller for years.