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Civil War Blog

A project of PA Historian

Report on the Ku Klux Klan Demonstration at Millersburg, 1927

| January 17, 2018

Although no actual attendance count was given, a news report praised the Ku Klux Klan demonstration that was held in Millersburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, in late June 1927.  The anti-immigrant stance of the Klan was evident in the speech by a representative from the National Headquarters who decried the large number of immigrants who were […]

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. […]

5000 Attend Ku Klux Klan Demonstration at Gratz Fair Grounds, 1924

| 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 […]

Sampson Wigmore of Tremont – Coal & Iron Police

| 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 […]

The Ku Klux Klan Funeral of James Spangler in Lykens, 1925

| 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 […]