Accident, theft or joke? One gave Ringtown name

It's known as Ringtown today, but how the borough got that name was 
either through an accident, a theft or a more than century-old April 
Fool's joke, the humor of which is elusive. 

Three different historical accounts of the valley community offer four 
different yet similar versions of how it got its name. 

Originally the area was referred to as the Catawissa Valley, part of 
Union Township. Ringtown was incorporated as a borough in 1909 but 
traces its history back to the early 1800s. 

And if it weren't for the accident, theft or joke, we might be calling 
the borough ``Bittleville,'' after the friend of an early landowner. 

How it all happened depends on what reference you consult. 

One version is contained in the 1934 ``J.H. Zerbey History of Pottsville 
and Schuylkill County;'' another in the ``Early History of Catawissa 
Valley, Pa.,'' compiled in 1946 by B.F. Laudig, Scranton. 

In both of those accounts, Frederick Labenberg is identified as the 
first settler, with a presence dating back to 1798. Benjamin Nehf is 
identified as an early landowner, who came onto the scene around 1830. 

If you examine a black, 2«-by-4-inch notepad with neat typing that 
probably was put together by Creta Kanupkie Lindenmuth's aunt, you'll 
get another perspective on how the community was named, and hear of a 
fellow named Benjamin Knave, who isn't mentioned in the two other 
accounts. 

But it's likely ``Knave'' was really ``Nehf.'' 

Lindenmuth is the well-known spokeswoman for the Ringtown Area Senior 
Citizens. Her husband, Earl, is a former mayor of Ringtown. 

She found the little black notepad about two months ago, as she sorted 
out some of her mother's things. It was in an old sewing kit, she said. 

``It's interesting,'' she said of the notepad during a visit to The 
REPUBLICAN & Herald office in Shenandoah, where she also provided copies 
of the Zerbey and Laudig histories. 

Lindenmuth said she can't be certain of the notepad's origin, but 
strongly suspects it was written by her 91-year-old aunt, Orva Swank 
Reinbold. 

However, neither Reinbold nor Lindenmuth's mother, 93-year-old Cora 
Swank Kanupkie, are able to provide more information about the notepad, 
she said. 

``The subject I call to your present attention,'' the notepad writer 
began, ``is the history of Ringtown. I profess no great knowledge of the 
subject, but with the aid of the information collected from several of 
the oldest residents, I think it will nevertheless interest you.'' 

Ringtown is a good name for the community, it continues, because ``it 
has no rival in the way of a name, in the United States or any European 
country that we know of. 

``Were it not that an accident happened at just the proper time, it 
seems the name Ringtown would today be probably unknown to us.'' 

The notepad account doesn't say in what year the ``accident'' occurred, 
but notes it involved a breakdown of a wagon on the road from the site 
of Harry Breisch's farm to the old Union Church. The wagon was allowed 
to remain at the breakdown site for some time. 

A ``certain man'' happened along the road, the writer continued, and saw 
the wagon as a favorable opportunity. He took a ring from one of the 
wheels, seeking to use it to fasten oxen to a hook plow. 

Another man, by the name of Brobst, found out about the incident, and, 
later, at Josiah (Jesse) Hart's Hotel one of the earliest structures 
built in what is now Ringtown he confronted the man who had taken the 
ring. An argument ensued. 

According to the notepad writer, Brobst got the best of the encounter by 
holding up a few rings similar to the kind that was taken from the 
wheel. He got the rings at a local blacksmith's shop. 

Apparently feeling triumphant because he had those rings, Brobst, ``with 
hat in hand, yelled at the top of his voice, `Hip, hip, hurrah for 
Ringtown.''' 

The notepad writer concluded, ``Then and there this village was named.'' 


But according to the Zerbey account, the village got its name from a 
theft that occurred at one of the town blacksmith shops in 1830. 

The theft involved a hub-ring, used to hold old-fashioned wagon wheel 
hubs together. 

The act caused an enemy of Benjamin Nehf ``to speak sneeringly of the 
place as Ringtown.'' 

Nehf's involvement or why one of his enemies would do that was not 
explained. 

``That title (Ringtown) clung to it (the village) despite the efforts of 
its founders, and, having long since lost its significance, it is now 
acquiesced in by all,'' the Zerbey history concluded. 

Creta Lindenmuth said she got a copy of Laudig's history piece from 
another Ringtown resident, Grace Zimmerman Lindenmuth (no relation). 
Grace said historian Laudig originally was from Ringtown, but 
subsequently moved to Scranton. 

According to Laudig's account, Ringtown got its name as the result of an 
April Fool's joke played in 1854. 

The story about the joke was also mentioned but in a different version 
and secondary way in the black notepad discovered by Creta Lindenmuth. 

The ``joke'' though, seems to have lost some of its steam over the 
years. 

According to Laudig, the prank was on a farmer who stopped at a village 
hotel stable. An unidentified man tried to play the joke by taking a 
ring from an old, broken wagon wheel to fasten the yoke of his oxen to a 
hook plow. 

That's it. Guess you had to have lived in that era to fully appreciate 
such humor. 

Hearing of the ``joke,'' Nehf went and got a similar ring, jumped onto a 
box, raised the ring and yelled, ``Ringtown.'' 

The notepad writer gave a different version of the so-called ``joke'': A 
man stole a pair of wagon wheel hub rings from a shop. Later, the man 
``April-fooled a teamster'' who had his horses in a shed at a hotel. 

In apparent retribution, the teamster then got some liquor, drove a nail 
into a tree near Kleckner's store, hung a ring on the nail and perched 
himself on a nearby stump. To everyone who came along, the teamster 
yelled, ``Hurrah! Three cheers for Ringtown.'' 

Knave, who the notepad writer credited with the founding of Ringtown, 
apparently was actually the Nehf mentioned in the other accounts. He 
(Knave/Nehf) was originally from Orwigsburg. 

According to Laudig, Nehf originally wanted the village to be called 
``Bittleville,'' after his friend, Joseph Bittler, who owned land near 
Nehf's property. Other references referred to the early village as 
``Bittlerville,'' ``Bittlesville'' and ``Biddlerville.'' 

Thank Heaven for those wagon wheel hub rings. We'll take Ringtown 
anytime. 

(Ed Schreppel is community edition editor.)