Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/433

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COI.UMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES

oldest mcrcham* with his store at the com er o f Mill and M arket streets and his residence on the opposite com er. He bore his fu ll share in the burden o f improving and bettering the condition o f his fellow m en; w as one of the pillars of the church and founder of the first Sunday school when many others, i f not op­ posed to ic, aided it only in a perfunctory* w*ay* and he l i v ^ to see it permanently established. Peter Baldy. though still a young merchant* w as engaged in an extensive business and dealt largely in grain. H e commenced in the old log building which had been occupied by King & H am ilton; from thence, he removed to his well known store on Milt street* where he continued his business fo r h alf a century* when he retired* having accumulated a for­ tune. Tltc other merchants were John Moore, John Kussell and William Colt* all old and esteemed citizens; and Wtlliam Bicklcy* Boyd & Montgomery* John C. & Michael C. G rier, and Michael Ephlin, who had more recently cngagevin kept a tavcm, com er of M arket and V crry streets; and the most an­ cient hostelry of them all, the Rising Sun, the old red house at the foot o f Mill street, with the walnut tree al the door, and its crowd of devotees o f Bacchus who made it resound with ''M idnight shout and revelry. Tipsy danec and jollity.

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"T h e F erry T avcm, by George Barnhart, W'here I often hurried hy. fearing the sound of the fiddle, judging that old Satan could not be fa r distant from the violin, thus condemning that first o f musical instruments, from its asso­ ciation with much that is vile. Then there was the Jackson T avcm, M ill street near Mahon­ ing. by William C lark, a soldier of the Revo­ lution. with the likeness o f General Jackson painted on its sign* thus superseding that of uashingtOM. as the latter in its day had re­ placed that o f George I I I, lem pori parendum. I'he taverns then had a m onof^ly o f retailing intoxicating liquors, dealing them out by the g ill: and r>'c whisky was the chief liquor used, and douhcks.s w as less hurtful than the vil­ lainous compound now* sold under that name.

Some who then Indulged in T>®/2rions pottle deep' nevertheless attained a great a g e; when any one of them was warned against indulg­ ing too freely in it, a s it was a slow poison, he replied that he was aware o f that, for he had been using it sixty years and it must be very sl(Kv. The coffee houses, now destitute o f coffee, the saloons, groceries and other refined modem drinking places, were then unknown. In addition to these taverns* Mrs. Spcncc kept a boarding house, and had for her guests some o f (he most respectable people of the place. "Antungst the active and industrious citi­ zens were (he blacksmiths. John Lunger was one of the earliest, and had a shop on F e rry street. John Dccn's smithy w*as on M arket near F erry street, where by many and well directed blows he hammered out "a fortune, loseph Com elison’s was on Mahoning near Mill street. "G eoq je McCuHey was one of the pioneer carpenters and removed to Ohio, near W'ooster, where some o f his descendants still reside. Daniel Cameron* a worthy Scot and the great pedestrian who W'alkcd from H arris­ burg to Danville in a day without deeming it any great exploit, was a skillful carpenter and builder. Adam Schuyler and George I^ tt were also engaged in that business. "'rh e citairitiakers were William Hartman, who w as also a wheelwright* and the brothers K irk. William Mann w as also engaged in that calling fo r a year or two. "Shoem akers — William Woods, Gideon Mellon, Henrv Sanders, Thom as W iley. "T'ailors— ViUiam M. W iley, who removed to H arrisburg; W illiam Whitaker* A m os E, Kttcheit. WiTliam Ingold w as a vagrant w ork­ man who plied his needle at the houses o f his employers, and was noted for his quips and quirks and idle pranks, w'liereby be amuse* skillful workman. "Thom as Blackwell carried on the fuUingmill an<l sawm ill near what is now the junc­ tion o f M ill and Bloom streets. "T h e first brewer was Richard Matchin. The citizens o f that day were not. as we now* phrase it, educated up to a due appre­ ciation o f tlu t beverage* consequently it proved less profitable than brewing lager* w'ciss and buck beer at the present time. "George Wilson w as the first cabinetmaker*