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“ The past is a source of knowledge and the future is a source of hope. Love of the past implies faith in the future. ”
Stephen Ambrose
**************************************************SugarValley
Early Lumbering in Sugar Valley
Excerpts from an article by Emma Thompson
When William Penn acquired the land now known as Pennsylvania, it was nearly all covered by a dense forest. Hemlock grew in abundance, as did black walnut, cedar, cypress, chestnut, poplar, gumwood, hickory, sassafras, ash, beech, and oak.
SugarValley was well blessed with most of these trees as well as pine and maple. In fact SugarValley was named because of the large number of sugar maples growing here.
The earliest sawmills and gristmills were driven by waterpower. A farmer could hew logs himself for a cabin but needed to get lumber from the mill. These early water driven mills had a crude up and down saw, which slowly cut the logs. Only the saw itself was made of metal. These old mills were called “Thundergust” mills and could only saw about 1000 board feet from daylight to dark, and could only run in time of rain or melting snow.
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Presentation By: Mary (Lamey) Hoffer Munro
Loganton, its beginnings and early residents, up to, and after the fire of Jun 18, 1918...
Resources were deeds, estate files marriage and death records, tax lists, census, old maps, 2 lists, one made by Tama Thompson of all the places that burned and the other a list made by Charles held of all property owners or renters, and the Levi Conser History of Loganton.
A special thanks to Jack and Gloria Harbach for sharing any pictures that he found of the early houses that burned in the fire and for any small tidbits of data that they found.
John Kleckner came from Union Co, where he maintained his residence, with his sons, John Jr and Joseph, and sometime between 1800 and 1807 they had a sawmill, a gristmill and had constructed a large barn and a large log house. John Jr and Joseph Kleckner left and Anthony Kleckner, another son took over the sawmill and grist mill and purchased the land from his father, John Kleckner Sr.
By 1836, Anthony had laid out his town in lots, numbered them (numbers stand today) and sold the first two to Henry Wohlford for $40.00 each. Henry built a tannery there which was in use until about 1890s when the IOOF bought it, tore down the building and built a 3 story lodge hall. Henry Wohlford had an agreement with Anthony Kleckner for laying pipes and the use of water for his tannery in exchange for a holding tank of some kind for the use of the citizens of the town. The first water Co was born.
By 1839 there were residences, most made of logs, and most in the rural Georgian style with 4 rooms down and 4 rooms up and called a four by four. A gable at each end, 5 windows across the front, 2 on each side down with a door in the middle and these homes were built flush with the sidewalk.
By 1839 there were 11 residences, 1 tannery owned by Henry Wohlford, 1 schoolhouse built by Anthony Kleckner, 1 farm and farmhouse owned by Matthias Snook, and a farm and farmhouse/hotel/tavern owned by Anthony Kleckner. There were 2 single men, Levi Conser, a tailor/merchant and George A Achenbach, a merchant, who came by 1839. They probably lived at the Kleckner hotel, where the met and married 2 of the daughters of Anthony Kleckner. These two men lived their entire lives in Logansville and became leading citizens.
The other owners in 1839 were, Peter Bierly, wagon maker, John Leighty, distiller, Jacob Warner and Christian Gromley, both blacksmiths, James Wilson, shoemaker, Solomon Knarr, tailor, David Moyer and David Barner, both carpenters, John Kitchen, retired, and David Gearhart, a laborer.By 1841, the 11 families who built the first houses there, were gone, 2 naturally, John Kitchen by death and David Gearhart had gone blind. The others returned to the area from which they came.
Others came and purchased these houses, and built more, so the town grew. One of those who came to the area about 1839 was Adam Heller, who bought 212 acres just east of Anthony Kleckners tract. He built a house there and sold lots to others. It came to be known as “The Heller addition”. According to the Levi Conser history of Loganton, Adam Heller had brought 10 or twelve families with him from Dauphin Co. Pa and no place to live so they began to build homes soon after they arrived in the early 1840s. Adam Heller left for Ohio about 1845, and his land was sold to Adam Huber in 1849.
Of these second group of settlers to Loganton, many lived their lives there and offered much to the town. Among these there was Dr Jonathan Moyer, James F berry, David Morris, John G Conser, William Bear, Daniel Ettinger, John and James Heller, Daniel Karstetter, Harmon Barner, George Breon, John Smith, Samuel Trump, George Huber, Samuel Wren, William Price and others.
By 1850 there were 39 heads of families, 210 inhabitants, with merchants, shoemakers, tailors, millwrights, a saddler, a cabinetmaker, a miller, a tanner and a physician.
2 churches were built, the St Paul,s German Reformed and Lutheran and Salem Evangelical. Cemeteries appeared near these churches. During the early 1850s typhoid fever raged and took many, old, young, rich or poor.
In the 1860s the Sugar Valley Fire Insurance Co was organized. A large building which served as a school with a band room and meeting room was built. David Haller had a brewry.
In the 1870s Anthony St was laid out by George Kleckner who had purchased his father’s farm and lots were being sold there. There were 2 potters who lived in Loganton, Joseph Eilert, who had a pottery in the building known as the Morris Hardware Store, and John Garstung, who had his pottery in the east end of Loganton. This pottery burned in 1889.
The 1890s and into the 1900s, saw 3 general stores, a fancy goods store, stove and house furnishing store, a hat shop, 2 barber shops, meat market, tannery, harness shop, grist mill, saw mill, blacksmith and shoe shops, a hotel, and an undertaking establishment. A newspaper, the Sugar Valley Journal, a Fire Insurance Co, 2 churches and a new one built, a Coronet Band, a school, US mail service, 2 doctors, and a water supply which cost the residents 25 cents per mo.
Up and until the time of the fire there had been 4 hotels in Loganton at one time or another: Anthony Kleckner’s hotel/tavern; the Washington Hotel, located on the site of the present funeral home; The Logansville Hotel/tavern, located on the lot where Gilbert Hancock used to live; and the Logan House which was on the site of the present Lutheran Church.
This was the picture when fire broke out in the DeLong house which was on the corner of Mill and main Sts. E M DeLong and Clair Kemmerer, who had a bakery lived there; Tom Harter had an insurance office and a “clubhouse” was also located in this building. Elmer Heckle family also lived in this building.
The fire was aided by a strong west wind and swept through the town so rapidly that the folks had no time to get out their belongings. At first they put what they could salvage on the street, but that burned also, so they carried some to the fields outside the town. The Lock Haven Fire Co responded but due to only small water pipes, they had no pressure. They could only stand by helplessly until 3 hours later, when they heard that Jersey Shore was on their way with their newly purchased pumper, they made a dam on Mill Creeks so water could be pumped from there and thus the east end of the town was saved.
Number of buildings burned was 37 which included houses, businesses, 2 churches, the IOOF Hall, and the PO building. All of these buildings had stables and/outbuildings which also burned and for which I have no record. The number of businesses burned in the fire was 14.The number of families displaced was 37, and 26 of them remained in Loganton and rebuilt or rented. Many of the burned out families lived in tents for some time so that the fields around Loganton must have looked like a tent town
CIVIL WAR VETERANS -
Below is a list of what we have found. We need your help in making the list complete and accurate. Please forward comments to us through the website or to yweaver@tds.net. Thank you.
Apple, Christian 1837 – 1905
Augenstine , John -( buried Loganton Evan.)
Barner , Jeremiah J. 1838 – 1914
Barner, John H. 1830 – 1903
Barner, Daniel H. 1844-1928 ( buried Eastville)
? Bay, David ?
Beck, Henry L. 1838 -1914
Beck, Franklin 1846 – 1905
Beck, Jonathan 1836-1901
Berry, John S. 1827-1910
Berry, William H. 1829-1869
Bethlehem, Samuel W. d.1865
Bierly, Franklin W. 1838-1894
Bowling, Francis J. d. after 1888
Breon, Benjamin 1840-1863
Bressler, Charles E. 1849-1932
Bruner, Charles W. 1842-1934
Caris, John , Jr. 1841-1922
Cashner, Michael 1847 -1881
Clark, William 1839-1924
Colby, John C.
Confer, Jonathan 1832-1898
Confer ( or Conser ? ), S.L.M., Rev. 1812-1896
Conser, Charles W. 1841 – 1913
Culby,James d. 1861
Culvey, John ( buried Tylersville Luth.)
Daugherty, James C. 1844-1920
Daugherty, Samuel D. (d. after 1888)
Degarmo, James1845 – 1866
? Dentz, Frederick, Jr. ?
Duck , Isaac S. 1844-1910
Embich, Aaron 1843 -1905
Embich or Embick , Daniel 1841-1897
Fetter, John C. 1841-1881
Fidler ( or Fiedler), John H. 1842 -1926
Fiedler, George I. 1847-1931
Fiedler, Jeremiah 1839 – 1900
Frankenberger, Samuel C. 1843 – 1931
Frantz, John A. 1840-1915
Gabe, Alexander H. 1842-1881
Garner, Eli F. 1838-1911
Gingery, David 1828-1914
Greak, Jonathan F. 1825 – 1885
Greg, John M 1843-1926
Grenninger, Levi 1840-1912
Grenninger, Paul 1832-1898
Harbach, Charles Cyrus 1843 – 1927
Hecklel, Andrew d. before 1890
Heckert, Jacob d. 1920
Heller, John A. 1845 – 1916
Hofmeister, George Henry 1836 – 1894
Huber, Emanuel, 1828 – 1907
Hubler, John David, Dr. 1831-1906
Karstetter, Jacob ? (buried Log. Luth. )
Karstetter, Robert H. (buried Loganton Luth.)
Keaster, Michael Jackson 1834-1915
Keister, Daniel 1839 – 1917
Kerstetter, Rudolph 1834-1907
Kettner, Daniel 1827-1862
Knepp, Isaac 1847-1935
Kutz, Charles ? 1833-1901
Lanich, Henry 1837 – after 1864
Lehman, Samuel D. 1843 -1913
Lenhart, Edwin d. 1918
Ludwig, John C. 1841 -1920
Matter, John H. 1847 – 1905
Miller, Henry K. 1842-1880
Miller, Martin (d. before 1890)
Moore, Joseph 1842 – 1861
Moyer, William F. 1844-1912
Neff, William M. 1834-1864
Price, William 1823-1906
Raudabaugh, Emanuel 1843 – 1918
Raudabaugh, Joseph H. 1844-1883
Reaser, John P. d. 1893
Reighard, John W. 1843-1894
Rhine, William H. 1845 -1905
Rhine, Henry C. 1844-1910
Rockey, John F. 1839-1908
Rumberger, John B. 1832-1924
Schroeder, Albert F. 1845-1926
Seyler, Peter T. 1843-1918
Shafer, Peter d. 1872
Shaffer, Edward 1838 – 1876
Shively, John W. 1843 – 1864
Sholl, Thomas 1844-1863
Sliefer, Ellis ( buried Mt. Pleasant /Rosecrans)
? Smith, John H. ?
deserted Alias: John H. Smith
? Smith, Henry H. ?
Snyder, Daniel 1828-1861
Snyder, Jonathan 1827 – 1892
Snyder, Joseph d. 1912 ( perhaps buried in Illinois)
Snyder, Joseph ?
Stamm, David S. 1836 – 1891
Swartwood, Lewis S. 1827 – 1907
Thorp, Robert B. 1828-1896
Tibbens, George D. 1846, 1914
Troutner, George W. 1830-1896
Trump, Samuel W. 1845-1935
Wagner, George 1840-1913
Walizer, George 1840 – 1911
Washburn, John ?
Washburn, Winthrop ?
Weaver, Thomas 1835 – 1907
Weber, William G. 1834- 1909
Whiteman, Ross d. 1902
Williams, Joseph 1825 – 1907
Winthrop ,Washburn 1842 -1914
Wirth, William W. 1844-1864
Wise, John E. 1844-1925
WWolf, Jonathan d. before 1890
Wolfort, Philip Snook 1835 -1864 ( buried at Arlington)
Wren, Henry 1837-1923
Yeager, George B. 1832-1903
Yoder, David 1842-1897
Zimmerman, William Philip 1833-1908
Zimmerman Michael 1837-1908