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Civil War Blog

A project of PA Historian

Obituary of Samuel Beisel Wiest – Lumberman of the Pacific Northwest

| January 15, 2018

  Samuel Beisel Wiest, was born 31 December 1845, in Hebe, Jordan Township, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, the son of John Klinger Wiest (1821-1877) and Lucetta [Beisel] Wiest (1824-1904).  He was a direct descendant of the first Klinger settlers in the area of the Mahantongo and Lykens Valleys. On 27 February 1864, in Pottsville, Samuel B. […]

Couple Married at Ku Klux Klan Meeting in Hebe

| April 11, 2017

This post is a continuation of the reporting on hate groups that were active in the Lykens Valley area in the years following the Civil War.  It was a widely known fact that the third iteration of the Ku Klux Klan had a significant presence in the Lykens Valley and adjacent valleys during the early […]

Who Was Henry Garmer of Hebe?

| January 18, 2016

On Line No. 4 of the 1890 Veterans’ Census for Hebe, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania (above, from Ancestry.com, click on document to enlarge), there appears the name of Henry Garmer (or Henry Germer) who claimed service as an “Unassigned” soldier, a recruit, in the 3rd Pennsylvania Infantry, from 17 September 1864 through 1 November 1865.  No […]

A Brief History of the Kissinger G.A.R. Post #376 at Gratz

| December 14, 2015

Gratz is a small community in Upper Dauphin County that in 1883 formed a local G.A.R. post.  Much of the history of that post has been lost over time and now needs to be re-created through available resources, among those resources, the Harrisburg and other archived newspapers and the national Grand Army of the Republic […]

Who Was Mary A. Bowman-Zerbe?

| June 18, 2014

In researching the military records of William F. Bowman (1838-1870), it was discovered that he did not apply for a pension, but a widow did apply.  She was Mary A. Bowman and she made application on 30 January 1880, nearly ten years after William died.  She did not receive a pension based on the service […]