Civil War Blog

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on May 21, 2018

During the Civil War, Daniel Paul served as a Private in the 130th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company H.  After the Civil War, he moved to Michigan, but kept in touch with his Lykens Valley friends and relatives via correspondence to the editor of the Lykens newspaper.

Two results of that correspondence from the year 1901 are reported below:

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WEDDED

The marriage of Miss Nora Adelia Paul, a well known and successful teacher in the public schools of St. Joseph County, to William Hamilton Munson, of Corey, Michigan, was solemnized by Rev. B. F. Grenoble, at the residence of the bride’s parents, Daniel Paul and wife, near Constantine, Michigan, on Wednesday, 27 March [1901] at 8 o’clock p.m., in the presence of the immediate relatives and friends of the contracting parties.  The beautiful and impressive ring ceremony was used.  The bride’s costume was white satin-striped tissue with chiffon and pearl trimmings.  The groom wore the convention black.  Miss Mary R. Skinner, of Jones, bridesmaid, wore white Persian lawn.  Frank. L. Paul, of Marion, Indiana, brother of the bride, was best man.  Miss Nellie Bechtel rendered the wedding march from Lohengrin.  Many handsome and useful gifts were displayed.  Following the ceremony a bountiful repast was served. The decorations were pink and white carnations and maiden hair ferns.

Lykens Register, 19 April 1901.

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MICHIGAN HEARD FROM

Constantine, Michigan, 16 December –

1. JOHN A. KULL –

Dear Sir:  As I am an old subscriber to the Register, I thought I would write a few lines this morning while the thermometer is 8 below zero, and about two inches of snow on the ground, to let some of my friends know that I am still on earth and well.  I was at the national Encampment at Cleveland, Ohio, in September, expecting to see somebody from Dauphin County that I knew, but did not see a single soul.  I have been to a good many in my time, and always found some familiar face, but was disappointed this time.

We had a nice winter up until last Friday, when it rained all day and then snowed, ending up with the tail-end of a northwestern blizzard.

Times are good, and there is plenty of work for everybody that wants to work.  Here are a few prices of produce in this part of the country:  Beef and pork steak 10 cents;  dressed hogs 6 ½ cents; fat steers on foot 4 to 5 cents; old corn 60 cents; new corn 55 cents; hay $9 a ton; straw $4; potatoes 90 cents; butter 16 cents; eggs 22 cents; live poultry – turkeys 7 ½ cents; chickens 5 cents.

I will not write much this time, as I am not personally acquainted with the present editor.  My regards to Mr. Samuel Fenn , and a Merry Christmas to all.

Yours truly,

DANIEL PAUL

Lykens Register, 20 December 1901.

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News articles from Newspapers.com.  This series will continue up through the death of Daniel Paul, which occurred in Lykens in 1911.

Special thanks to Debby Rabold, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for discovering these articles about her relative.

Category: Research, Stories | Comments Off on The Travels of Daniel Paul, 1901
Tags: Lykens

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on May 18, 2018

From West Schuylkill Herald, 28 December 1923, came the first open evidence of the establishment of the Ku Klux Klan at Tower City, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania:

KU KLUX KLAN BURNS CROSS AT TOWER CITY WEDNESDAY

Wednesday night about 8:30, following a loud explosion, a burning cross was plainly visible on the mountain side north of Tower City, and many people rushed from their homes to see the weird spectacle.

There have been rumors afloat for some time of Klan activities in this community, but the burning cross was the first evidence of its actual existence.  Incidentally, there is much discussion pro and con on the worth of the organization.

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 Ku Klux Klan had a significant presence in the Lykens Valley and adjacent valleys during the early years of the 20th Century.  This iteration of the Klan was strongly white supremacist and was opposed to equal rights for African Americans, Catholics, Jews, and immigrants.

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News clipping from Newspapers.com.

Category: Research, Stories | Comments Off on Ku Klux Klan Cross Burning at Tower City, 1923
Tags: Hate, Tower City

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on May 16, 2018

During the Civil War, Daniel Paul served as a Private in the 130th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company H.  After the Civil War, he moved to Michigan, but kept in touch with his Lykens Valley friends and relatives via correspondence to the editor of the Lykens newspaper.

Two results of that correspondence from the year 1900 are reported below:

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Daniel Paul, of Enders, is spending a [sic] days at home.

“Elizabethville,” Lykens Register, 27 September 1900

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Constantine, Michigan, 10 December 1900

EDITOR OF REGISTER:

As I have not written you since you are proprietor of the Register, having just got it and read it, at a glace I saw there was something wrong.  But reading a few minutes I found what bad luck you had.  We feel sorry.  The paper is always welcome.  We get it on Saturday night, but last Saturday it did not come – got it Monday night.  Well, I have taken it 26 years and can’t keep house without it, because I used to know everybody in Lykens, Wiconisco, and Williamstown.  I helped to build the Williamstown breaker in sixty-four and the two big stone chimneys in the Gap, and also worked in the coal mines inside.  The last time I saw those chimneys was when the National Encampment was at Washington, D. C.  We had very good crops here this year – the largest corn crop we ever had since I have been in Michigan, and I came here in sixty-seven.  We had lots of rain all summer and too much this fall. Well, I will give you some market prices of our produce:  Wheat, 72c; corn, 25c; potatoes, 30c; eggs, 20c; butter, 18c; hay $9 and $10 and straw $4 per ton.  So you see the prices are quite different between Michigan and Pennsylvania.  Enclosed find money order for the Register for another year.  Success to the REGISTER and Bill McKinley.

DANIEL PAUL

Lykens Register, 21 December 1900.

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The “bad luck” referred to was the fire that was reported here in the post entitled:  Fire Destroys the Lykens Register, 1900.

News articles from Newspapers.com.  This series will continue up through the death of Daniel Paul, which occurred in Lykens in 1911.

Special thanks to Debby Rabold, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for discovering these articles about her relative.

Category: Research, Stories | Comments Off on The Travels of Daniel Paul, 1900
Tags: Enders, Lykens, Wiconisco, Williamstown

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on May 14, 2018

During the Civil War, Daniel Paul served as a Private in the 130th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company H.  After the Civil War, he moved to Michigan, but kept in touch with his Lykens Valley friends and relatives via correspondence to the editor of the Lykens newspaper.

One result of that correspondence from the year 1899 is reported below:

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Died in the West

Miss Emma R. Paul, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Paul, formerly of Jackson Township, this county, but now residing near Constantine, Michigan, died at the home of her parents near that village, 21 November 1899, of tuberculosis. A Constantine paper has the following account:

“Deceased was born in Jackson Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 22 February 1866, and in May 1867, her parents removed to this village.  Excepting the period from 1 July 1896 to 1 January 1898, half of which was spent at a sanitarium for consumptives in the Adirondack Mountains, New York, she was the trusted and efficient stenographer for Henderson-Ames Company of Kalamazoo, Michigan, from the fall of 1891 to 1 February 1899, and her employers and associates unite in testifying to her excellent traits of character and perseverance beyond her strength.  She united with Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church of this village, 22 February 1885, and during her hours of suffering gave expression to her faith and resignation.  Besides the parents, one sister and two brothers are bereft.  Funeral was held last Thursday afternoon from the Lutheran Church, Rev. B. F. Grenoble officiating, and the remains were laid to rest in the village cemetery.”

Lykens Register, 30 November 1899.

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News articles from Newspapers.com.  This series will continue up through the death of Daniel Paul, which occurred in Lykens in 1911.

Special thanks to Debby Rabold, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for discovering these articles about her relative.

Category: Research, Stories | Comments Off on The Travels of Daniel Paul, 1899
Tags: Lykens

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on May 11, 2018

The obituary of William Young of Williamstown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, appeared in the Lykens Standard, 16 July 1915.  During the Civil War, Young served in the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company B, as a Private, from 21 February 1964 through his honorable discharge on 20 July 1865.

DEATH OF OLD SOLDIER

William Young Had Served in U.S. and British Army

After an illness of two years, suffering from the effects of a stroke of paralysis, William Young of Williamstown, died at the home of Joseph Jones and wife, with whom he had been making his home.  Mr. Young was born 24 December 1846, at Dallas, Scotland.  When a young boy he came to this country and at the outbreak of the war he again returned to England, enlisting in the army there and serving for fourteen years.

Thirty years ago he was united in marriage to Mrs. David Lloyd, who preceded him in death two years ago.  Being a resident of Williamstown for thirty years, Mr. Young was well and favorably known, always ready to serve and lend a helping hand to anything to benefit the community.  He is survived by four step-children.  Fraternally he was connected with the G.A.R. and I.O.R.M. of Williamstown, both of which were represented at his funeral Monday afternoon by their delegations.  Services were conducted in the Methodist Church by the Rev. B. A. Barnes, interment being made in the Evangelical Cemetery. Undertaker Day had charge of arrangements.

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News clipping from Newspapers.com.

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Tags: G.A.R., Williamstown