Joseph Witman (1833-1898), a tinsmith of Gratz and Halifax, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, had an interesting Civil War service record which covered the entire period of the Civil War. He served first in the 10th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company F, as a Private, from 26 April 1861 until his discharge on 31 July 1861, and then joined […]
The above article describing the “fatal affair at Gratztown” appeared in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, 27 September 1856, described the death of George Hoffman Jr. at the annual military encampment at Gratz, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. A more extensive article appeared in a Schuylkill County publication, the Farmers and Miners Journal on the same date. It […]
The lot numbered 41 in the original Simon Gratz layout of the town of Gratz, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, was sold in 1816 to a farmer, Peter Ritzman, an early settler of Lykens Township. Ritzman built the house shortly afterward and by 1818 sold the property to Jacob Hoover. Hoover continued to live in Lykens Township […]
At the west end of Gratz on the north side of Market Street is a block of properties that were part of the original Simon Gratz subdivision. Most prominent of these in approaching Market Street from Specktown Road is at Lot #81 (northwest corner of intersection of Specktown Road and West Market Street). West of […]
Early in the nineteenth century, perhaps at the very beginning of the settlement of Gratz, a militia was formed to protect the area from intruders and from hostile Indians, of which there were some. At the beginning of settlement, Gratz was on the frontier and had a “well regulated militia.” The early settlers of the […]
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