Berks County, Pennsylvania

“ A recent writer tells us that the upper, middle, and lower parts of Montgomery County, the lower end of Berks, and the south corner of Lehigh contain the only settlement of Schwenkfelders in the wide world. He adds that it is no misnomer to call these people the Pennsylvania German Quakers. It will be seen, however, that they are more ancient than George Fox. ”

“ We might once have thought that the Democratic party was the war party; but during the great rebellion the counties of Berks, Lehigh, and Northampton still remained adherents of the Democratic party in its opposition to the war. The county of Montgomery, in the eastern part of the State, is thus divided; the Mennonites, Schwenkfelders (with Quakers) , are almost invariably Republican; while the strong Democratic townships are almost entirely Reformed and Lutheran. Of course there are in all such localities many who do not belong to any religious body. ”

“ In Lebanon County a similar custom is found. One of my acquaintances living in a small town says that they celebrate Halloween roughly,—hanging beets and cabbages at the doors, moving steps, taking gates from hinges, throwing corn. The speaker was born [406] in Lehigh County, where nothing of this prevailed, and this fact constitutes one of the chief distinctions among our Pennsylvania Germans of Lancaster and Lebanon on one hand, and Lehigh, Berks, upper Montgomery, and probably Northampton on the other. ”

“ I am the high sheriff of Berks county. Noticed no collision between the militia and citizens or disorderly persons on Monday night. Was in my office at the time, and remained in the office until eleven o'clock that night—Monday night. No officer of the militia, nor any person called upon me between those hours at my office to quell this riot. I had no notice, whatever, that any troops would arrive on that night. Was not aware that any troops were here until I heard the firing, and after they told me. I was never consulted in reference to the military at all. ”

“ My father-in-law, in order to establish us in the world in an easy, if not affluent manner, made me a deed of gift of a tract of land, that lay, unhappily for me, as it has since proved, on the frontiers of the province of Pennsylvania, near the forks of Delaware, in Berks County, containing about 200 acres; 30 of which were well cleared, and fit for immediate use, whereon was a good house and barn. ”

“ In 1807 he was appointed one of the two major-generals to command the quota of Pennsylvania militia that was called for by the president. He served in congress from 1797 till 1805, and again from 1815 till 1820, when he resigned. He was governor of Pennsylvania from 1821 till 1823, when he retired from public life. — John's son, Daniel, b. in Berks county, Pa., was a representative in congress from 1809 till 1811. — John's nephew, William, b. in Bern, Pa.; d. in Lancaster county, 14 Oct., 1853, received a public-school education, and settled on a farm in Lancaster county. ”

“ He was a delegate to the Pennsylvania convention to ratify the Federal constitution in 1787, a member of the Pennsylvania house of representatives in 1783-'94, and was appointed assistant justice of Berks county courts on 6 Feb., 1795. ”

“ From Scheckshinny, via Townhill and Columbus, to Cambria, Luzerne county. From Indiana, via Mechanicsburg and Armah, to Johnstown, Cambria county. From Dunningville on the Washington and Williamsport Turnpike, Washington county, Pennsylvania, via Munntown and Thompsonville to Harriotville on the Washington and Pittsburg Turnpike road in Allegheny county. From Hamburg via Kutztown, Freedomsburg, to Blackhorse Tavern in Berks county. From Waynesburg in Green county, Pennsylvania, to Blacksville in Virginia by way of Rogersville and Centreville. ”

“ Wilson College is situated in Chambersburg, and Mercersburg Academy is in the borough of Mercersburg, which was also the home of Marshall College, now a part of Franklin and Marshall College, of Lancaster. The Soldiers’ Orphans’ Industrial School of the state is located at Scotland, and the Pennsylvania State Sanitarium for Tuberculosis, No. 1, is beautifully located at Mont Alto.
Green Castle and Waynesboro are the other towns of importance in old Franklin County. James Buchanan, President of the United States, and William Findlay, Governor of Pennsylvania, were both born in Mercersburg. ”

“ I can scarcely remember the time when I did not know the story, which indeed all Berkshire boys—or at any rate all Bath-road Berkshire boys—took as regularly as measles [pg 459] in early youth. But let me explain to New-World readers what I mean by a Bath-road Berkshire boy. Our royal county of Berks is in shape somewhat like a highlow or ancle-jack boot with the toe toward London, and at the tip of the toe Windsor Castle, which, as we all know, looks down on the Thames as it finally leaves the county, of which it has formed the northern boundary for more than one hundred miles. ”

“ Several years ago more than one thousand persons from every section of Pennsylvania, and not a few from Southern New York State, journeyed to a most out-of-the-way place up in the wilds of Potter County to do homage to the memory of a great man, and to view the scene of one of the saddest failures in the history of the settlement of our great Commonwealth. ”

“ Each county containing one or more ratios of population, shall be entitled to one Senator for each ratio, and to an additional Senator for a surplus of population exceeding three-fifths of a ratio, but no county shall form a separate district, unless it shall contain four-fifths of a ratio, except where the adjoining counties are each entitled to one or more Senators, when such county may be assigned a Senator on less than four-fifths and exceeding one-half of the ratio ”

“ In those districts which consist of more than one county, the judges of the district elections within each county, after having formed a return of the whole election within that county, in such manner as is directed by law, shall send the same, by one or more of their number, to the place hereinafter mentioned within the district, of which such county is a part, where the judges so met shall compare and cast up the several county returns and execute, under their hands and seals, one general and true return for the whole district ”

“ But as representation in proportion to the number of taxable inhabitants is the only principle which can at all times secure liberty, and make the voice of a majority of the people the law of the land; therefore the general assembly shall cause complete lists of the taxable inhabitants in the city and each county in the commonwealth respectively, to be taken and returned to them, on or before the last meeting of the assembly elected in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, who shall appoint a representation to each, in proportion to the number of taxables in such returns ”

“ Even now, though it lies along the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Trenton, it is thought of as an out-of-the-way farming region, in old Bucks County, Pennsylvania, celebrated for old-fashioned, straightforward, well-living farmers, chiefly of Quaker ancestors, who, according to tradition, remain county-contained and still vote for Andrew Jackson at the quadrennial Presidential elections.
Bensalem is not a railroad center. The trains simply hurry by on their way to and from New York. ”

“ NEW YORK, Tioga County, Berkshire, Ford, Lebbeus, House (Berkshire MRA) , Jewett Hill Rd. (07/02/84)
NEW YORK, Tioga County, Berkshire, Royce, Deodatus, House (Berkshire MRA) , NY 38 (07/02/84)
NEW YORK, Tioga County, Berkshire, Royce, J.B., House and Farm Complex (Berkshire MRA) , NY 38 (07/02/84)
OKLAHOMA, Kay County, Tonkawa, Mahoney House and Garage, 302 N. Main Ave. (07/03/84)
PENNSYLVANIA, Philadelphia County, Philadelphia, East Center City Commercial Historic District, Roughly bounded by 6th, Juniper, Market, and Locust Sts. ”

“ The story of our village feasts, and of the way in which the rude forefathers of the hamlet were wont to enjoy themselves, forms a chapter in our manners and customs which cannot but have considerable interest to the student of bygone times. One of the most interesting relics of this kind pertains to the County of Berks. Upon White Horse Hill in that county, there used to be celebrated at stated intervals a feast known throughout the countryside as "The Scouring of the White Horse." ”

“ Is the center of one of the richest bituminous coal and natural gas districts in the world. Oil fields lie mainly in basins of Allegheny and Ohio Rivers. Staple manufactures are iron, steel and glass. The history of Allegheny County presents a greater variety of startling incidents than almost any other portion of the state. Mound builders were primeval inhabitants, site of ancient fortifications are on Chartier’s Creek, eight miles from Pittsburgh, county seat, second city in size in the state, on site of Shannopin’s Town, chief of about twenty families of Delawares ”

“ Taking the word in this sense it may truly be said that the scenery of Berkshire County closely approximates to mountainous. In other parts of the State the isolated hills generally present a rounded outline, and with a few exceptions do not inspire those strong emotions which one must necessarily experience while standing like a pigmy among the piled-up, craggy hills of northern Berkshire. Here is found the most lofty elevation in the State—Saddle Mountain—whose summit is three thousand six hundred feet above tide water. ”

“ The whole county is a continuous prospect of intensely picturesque scenery; surface mountainous, with ranges broken into innumerable, irregular spurs, indented by streams; from many hilltops views of the greater part of the county may be seen; the “Knobs,” its loftiest summit, is constantly in view, and the intermediate country, a panorama of natural beauty, ever changing in atmospheric effects; all the creeks, tributaries of the West Branch of the Susquehanna, have scenery which beggars description, a veritable feast for the painter, poet, and romancer ”

“ In Philadelphia there shall be established, for each thirty thousand inhabitants, one court not of record, of police and civil causes, with jurisdiction not exceeding one hundred dollars; such courts shall be held by magistrates on whose term of office shall be five years, and they shall be elected on general ticket by the qualified voters at large, and in election of the said magistrates, no voter shall vote for more than two-thirds of the number of persons to be elected when more than one are to be chosen; they shall be compensated only by fixed salaries, to be paid by said county ”

“ Every member of the council shall be a justice of the peace for the whole commonwealth, by virtue of his office. In case new additional counties shall hereafter be erected in this state, such county or counties shall elect a counsellor, and such county or counties shall be annexed to the next neighbouring counties, and shall take rotation with such counties. The council shall meet annually, at the same time and place with the general assembly. ”

“ Natural gas has been used in this state for manufacturing purposes since 1874. This is the greatest manufacturing region in the world, and has the richest agricultural land in the United States. Pennsylvania stands first among the states in the Union in the number of towns over 5000 in population, making it a remarkable selling market. Philadelphia, the chief city, and third in population, 1,823,779, in the United{25}
Philadelphia County
{26} States, is on the site of a village of the Lenni Lenape or Delaware Indians, called Coaquanarck. ”

“ Ranks third in number of inhabitants of Pennsylvania counties. Along either bank of the Susquehanna, a broad and shallow river, lie rich, fertile, alluvial bottom lands, mostly well cultivated; bounding them are ranges of hills and mountains 1200-1600 feet above sea level; other mountains in the northwest of the county attain an altitude of 2200 feet. In the northeast lies the historic Wyoming Valley, Indian name, Maughwauwama, or large plains, a long, oval basin from Campbell’s Ledge to Nanticoke Falls, some sixteen miles in length, with an average breadth of three miles. ”

“ Probably the first white man to cross the county was David Zeisberger, who passed down the Allegheny River to mouth of the Tionesta, Forest County, in 1767; his journal, now on file in the Moravian Library at Bethlehem, tells of the wild beauty of the county. Farming and stock raising are gaining, but the main industry is still lumbering, with second growth of hardwoods, maple, beech, and birch, which will in time be a great nucleus of wealth. ”

“ All Federally and State-recognized American Indian reservations outside the boundaries of cities are separate from any town, and the Census Bureau reports data for these lands as MCD equivalents. Also, the Census Bureau treats the five boroughs that constitute New York city as MCD equivalents. Pennsylvania contains one road district—East Fork district in Potter County—that also is an actively functioning government. ”

“ Every county containing less than five ratios shall have one representative for every full ratio, and an additional representative when the surplus exceeds half a ratio; but each county shall have at least one representative. Every county containing five ratios or more shall have one representative for every full ratio. Every city containing a population equal to a ratio, shall elect separately its proportion of the representatives allotted to the county in which it is located. ”