Norman Gasbarro | June 20, 2011
A recent donation of two large size portraits to the Gratz Historical Society has re-opened the question, “Who is John Hess?” Originally, the name of John Hess was added to the list of veterans from the Lykens Valley area because the name appears on the Millersburg Civil War Monument. Since no other John Hess was […]
Norman Gasbarro | June 19, 2011
This is the second part in a series on Civil War Gratz. This post focuses on the first public school in Gratz which was on Lot #11. The 1862 map of Gratz has a space marked “S.H.” where the school house existed. Most records indicate that there was a free public school located on Lot […]
Norman Gasbarro | June 18, 2011
Today we begin a series of posts to try to determine what Gratz looked like during the Civil War, 1861-1865. One of the purposes of this series will be to determine what buildings remain from the period. We begin with some of the available maps. The first map is of the “Lot Plan” of Simon […]
Norman Gasbarro | June 17, 2011
St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, located in Klingerstown, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, has a relatively new cemetery for the Lykens Valley area, the first recorded burial being recorded there in 1894, the same year the church was built. It was that of Barbara [Wiest] Klinger (1832-1894), the wife of David S. Klinger (1827-1916). The church is located […]
Norman Gasbarro | June 16, 2011
A recently received donation to the Schwalm Research Library of the Gratz Historical Society of the complete ten-volume first edition of The Photographic History of the Civil War generated heightened excitement and interest in the Civil War Research Project during one of the regular Wednesday research sessions. The books arrived in Gratz on 2 June […]
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