Notes from
Monument Square

Newsletter of the
Mifflin County
Historical Society

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Volume XXVIII Number 2 March 2002
(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

SPRING GATHERING TO HEAR
LEE THIERWECHTER

Mark you calendar for April 25, 2002. The society’s annual spring gathering will start at 6:30 p.m. at the the McVeytown Fire Hall.
A short business meeting will follow a family-style meal, and the evening will conclude with featured speaker, Lee Thierwechter, whose presentation is titled, “Mifflin County, Pennsylvania German Potpourri.”
A convenient reservation form is located on page 11. Price is $9 for members and $11 for non-members.
Deadline for reservations is April 11, 2002.
Born in Lebanon County, PA in 1929, Lee had a Pennsylvania German upbringing, in “the environs of family love, church and school,” which influenced him for a lifetime. He attended Lebanon Valley College and later graduated from Penn State with a degree in Agricultural Education. He worked for two years at Milton Hershey School and moved on to Eastern States Farmers’ Exchange, which became Agway, retiring in 1982. Lee and wife Neda then toured Holland, Austria, Switzerland, France and Germany. All along the way, he cultivated his knowledge and understanding of the Pennsylvania German life and culture. Today he serves on the board of directors of the Pennsylvania German Society.

New Annual Individual Members

Bill Inch, Penns Creek, Pa.
Bob & Jean Patton, Lewistown
Stephen Solomon, Lewistown
Melody Groce, Lewistown
Mr. & Mrs. Melvin Hughes, Lewistown
Cheryl A. Woodcock, Thompsontown, Pa.
Mr. & Mrs. Gerald Rishel, Lewistown
R. Dennis Snook, Lewistown Barbara A. Konat, Madison, Va.
Lee A. Harshbarger, Harrisburg, Pa.
Linda Y. Will, Lewistown
Susan A. Gibbons Garrett, Honey Grove, Pa.
Judy Campbell, Yeagertown
Dick & Joy Horning, Lewistown
Mr. & Mrs. Harry W. Fowler, Lewistown
Heather Lehman, Lewistown
Kim Goodling, McClure
Isabel K. Hobba, Niagara Falls, N.Y.
Robert H. McCrackin, Santee, Calf.
Doris S. Gabel, Parkesburg, Pa.

New Individual Life Members
M. Ann Singleton, Lewistown
Joseph M. Westover, Belleville
Robert B. McClay, McVeytown
Linda J. Fagan, Osage City, Kan.
Jeanne Childs, Hanover, N. H.

CALENDAR PROJECT UNDERWAY

The 2003 Picture the Past calendar will look much like our two previous editions, with a slight twist.
Have you ever marveled, or cursed for that matter, at how things change? An old building comes down and new one rises in its place. Roads alter the lay-of-the-land and we quickly forget how ridges and valleys once looked.
Allow us to help refresh our collective memory. We selected a number of scenes that have changed over the years and then went out and snapped a modern view. We’ll put each pair on a different month of our calendar for 2003, Picture the Past...Then and Now.
A view of the Lewistown Hospital, for instance, shown on the sample calendar page below illustrates that kind of change. The large view was taken in February, 1951 during major construction. Big news at the time. Jump ahead fifty years to the inset view, much as we know the building today, except this view still retains the old smoke stack. Now that’s nostalgia.
This project has allowed your society to tap into a younger generation, with the distribution of the 2002 edition into Mifflin County School District’s fourth grades and provided a series of new local history brochures to be published, as well. “The County’s Alamo Defenders” brochure was distributed at the Alamo Remembrance Service March 9 and mentioned on page 10.
A sponsor form is located on page 11. Please consider becoming a calendar sponsor, either an individual for $10 or business for $40 and help the historical society bring local history to a wider audience.

2002 SEASON
OPENS SOON

The coming of spring heralds the opening of the McCoy House Museum for another year. Fran Mackneer and Sue Earp of the society’s Museum Committee have been working diligently, preparing the museum’s many exhibits for the new year. Please stop by and take a look.
One exhibit will focus on Advertisements-Uniquely Mifflin County, featuring fans, cards, banks, key chains and any other type of local advertising. Perhaps this will spark some memories and visitors will add to the collection.
Another exhibit will be a display of items from the Mifflin County Fair including photos and awards from that perennial local institution. The fair operated for decades in the first half of the 20th century, ceasing operation in 1938, but is still fondly remembered by many area citizens. Please share your Mifflin County Fair memories.

EATER BOOK COLLECTION
PART OF RESEARCH LIBRARY

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.
Recently, the society received a donation from Mabel Eater and would like to extend a considerable “Thank you” to Mrs. Eater for the gift of her personal research library and that of her late husband, Dr. Charles Eater. This gift included over 100 volumes of history and genealogy and 20 to 30 reels of microfilm. Histories donated include many from Pennsylvania counties such as Huntingdon, Centre, Blair, Perry, Clinton, Juniata, and Lancaster. A great number of books cover other topics including some area cemetery records, marriage and death records from newspaper collections such as the Cambria Tribune and Fayette County newspapers, many individual family genealogies, plus volumes on immigrant and ship passenger lists.
It has taken time to accession these volumes, but a great part of the Eater’s collection has been cataloged and placed in the Research Library, as of February, 2002.
The historical society is extremely grateful for Mabel Eater’s generosity.

Society hosts local visit of
Lt. Earle W.F. Childs’ descendants

It was a journey back in time for Jeanne Childs, the granddaughter of Lt. Earle W.F.Childs, first US submariner to die at sea and a former Mifflin County resident. Lt. Childs was lost at sea while observing on the British submarine, H5, when it was struck by a surface vessel and went down with all hands.
Jeanne came to Mifflin County to visit the places where her grandfather and his family once lived and worked, a period spanning the 1890s into the 1940s.
Stops were made at 125 W. Market and 7 W. Third Streets, where Childs family homes were located; at the former family wholesale grocery business, Childs, Green and Childs, on Depot Street, now an auto parts store; St. Mark’s Episcopal Church where Jeanne’s great-grandfather was once the organist and at St. Mark’s Cemetery on Green Ave. where family members are buried.
Other locations noted along the way were the Henderson Fire Company where Lt. Childs was a member, the Municipal Building, since Lt. Childs’ grandfather served in the early 1900s as council president, and the original location of the Lewistown Trust Co. where Lt. Childs’ father was a vice-president and director.
In addition to her husband, John Schumacher, Jeanne was accompanied on the local tour by members of the historical society including Jean Suloff, Joe Deihl, Ray and Barbara Allison and Forest Fisher.

Remembering Mifflin Countians who died at the Battle of the Alamo, March 6, 1836
John Purdy Reynolds, David P. Cummings and William McDowell
Local Alamo memorial service keeps history alive for area students

On Saturday, March 9, 2002, students from Armagh Elementary School, Milroy, Pa. participated in a memorial service at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cemetery, Lewistown, remembering the three Mifflin County men who died at the battle at the Alamo in 1836. During the program, students from the fourth grade classes of Steve Rynkewitz and Marilee McNitt presented historical information on the three local men and on the battle, plus distributed handouts to an audience of about two hundred.

The Editor’s Desk
It’s been five years since I’ve been working on the newsletter, now that is hard to believe. Certainly an interesting, though often a humbling experience. I’ve learned much about local history and many interesting facts about Mifflin County.
I found out that no matter how hard I try, I simply can’t proof read my own typing. It is impossible, though I’ve tried mightily. I’m particularly careful with members’ names, which are so important to be listed correctly. With a name like mine, that has an unconventional spelling, I know what it is to have one’s name misspelled.
Another thing I’ve found out is how easy it is to make a mistake, or at least, in this job, one’s errors are right out there for all to see.
Take last November’s second trivia question, the answer I listed in January was incorrect, should have been b - beaver, not a - buffalo. Thanks to one of our members, who used such a logical argument, too, and made me aware of it. They are so much fun to make up, at least I know someone out there is reading those trivia questions.
I couldn’t do this job without my wife Dot and Karen Aurand at the society office, proofreading and helping with other newsletter details. Both keep me on the straight and narrow. Besides, I’ve been told I can’t be fired from this job, so don’t even think about it. I’m not ready for that yet, so I guess I’ll just keep typing.