Norman Gasbarro | 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. […]
Norman Gasbarro | January 12, 2018
On 4 October 1924, the Gratz Fair sponsored on its closing day, a Ku Klux Klan event that turned out to be the largest such event ever held in the Lykens Valley area. The advertisement shown above, appeared two weeks in a row in the Lykens Standard. The advertisement for the Fair was in the same […]
Norman Gasbarro | January 10, 2018
Sampson Wigmore, who was born in England in 1840, died in Tremont, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, on 22 October 1925. He is buried at the Charles Baber Cemetery in Pottsville. At the time of this writing, no obituary has been seen for him. There are two records of his death which were first consulted for this […]
Norman Gasbarro | January 8, 2018
James Spangler, born 3 October 1880, son of Civil War veteran George Spangler (1846-1921) of Lykens, was instantly killed on 16 July 1925 while working on Level 3 of the Short Mountain Colliery, when a shot that he and his fellow worker were preparing, exploded prematurely. The notice of the accident appeared in the Lykens […]
Norman Gasbarro | January 4, 2018
In 1924, a huge ceremonial Ku Klux Klan rally was held at Lebanon, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, which was attended in great numbers by Klan members and want-to-be Klan members from the Lykens Valley. Attendance was undoubtedly enhanced by the closing of the collieries from Lykens to Pine Grove and by the special excursion train that […]
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