Providence Meeting House - Perryopolis Quaker Church

01/28/2023

03/17/2022

The Johnstown flood of 1936, also collectively with other areas referred to as the Saint Patrick's Day Flood, was a devastating flood in Cambria County, and Johnstown, Pennsylvania proper, referred to as "Greater Johnstown".
The flood was preceded by rains from March 9 that did not stop until March 22, 1936. The storms brought warmer 50 °F (10 °C) weather that was a cause of one stage of flooding and the continuous rains a second cause of flooding. The natural run-off of 1 to 3 inches (2.5 to 7.5 cm) was far surpassed by the deluge of from 10 to 30 inches (25 to 75 cm) of water in the region. The flood came before pending flood control legislation was enacted or any significant flood control measures implemented. The narrowness of the valleys and encroachment of buildings on the river banks contributed to record flooding. By the time nightfall came one-third of the city was under 17 feet (5.2 m) of water and by the time flooding was over twenty-five people lost their lives. The damages, estimated at $43 million, made it the worst flood since the flood of 1889 and the event is chronicled at the Johnstown Flood Museum.
After the flood, sweeping nationwide flood control laws were enacted and from 1938 to 1943 Johnstown saw many projects completed. These measures gave the people the feeling that the area was now "flood free", and it was touted as such until the flood of 1977.
* ( Causes of the flood) A storm front moved into Pennsylvania that brought 50 °F (10 °C) weather. This melted the accumulated snow in the mountains, and was accompanied by three days of severe rains. The land was already saturated causing the swift run-off to converge on the major streams and rivers eventually heading into Johnstown.
The storms brought warmer 50 °F (10 °C) weather that was a cause of one stage of flooding and the continuous rains a second cause of flooding. The natural run-off of 1 to 3 inches (2.5 to 7.5 cm) was far surpassed by the deluge of from 10 to 30 inches (25 to 75 cm) of water in the region. The Connecticut River at Hartford, Connecticut, was 8.6 higher that recorded in 300 years, the Susquehanna River at Harrisburg, was 3.5 feet higher than seen in 200 years, and the Ohio River at Pittsburgh was 6.1 feet higher than ever seen since 1762, and flooding was wide spread.
* (Johnstown Flood History ) On June 7, 1906, Johnstown experienced major flooding that reached 17 feet (5.2 m) on the Franklin street bridge. On March 14, 1907, there was flooding that was bested only by the one in 1898. There was talk of flood control but nothing was accomplished. Talks had finally determined that something needed to be done and the legislature was working on a bill by 1935. On March 15,1936 and 16 heavy rains hit the Johnstown area. Warmer weather began to melt the accumulated snow on the ground, and the soil became saturated. By March 17, the Conemaugh River reached flood stage and was continuing to rise at the rate of 18 inches per hour. The raging streams merged and entered Johnstown. At Locust Street and Lee Place, the flood crest reached to within five feet of the high-water mark of the catastrophic flood of May 31, 1889. In the section known as Cambria City, the stone bridge, unlike in 1889, remained unobstructed, resulting in a flood level here that was 18 inches higher than that of the 1889 flood.
On March 18, 1936 whistles and sirens began to scream, as word spread that the Quemahoning Reservoir dam had broken. People rushed for higher ground. This report turned out to be false and people started making their way back into town. Robert Bondy, the American Red Cross national director of disaster relief arrived to start relief efforts. The Works Progress Administration sent 7000 men and 350 to report to Mayor Shields. 1724 enlisted and 114 officers were mobilized by Governor George H. Earle effectively placing the area under martial law. 80 members of the Highway Patrol and 81 members of the State Police (These two were merged on June 29, 1937.) arrived to help restore and maintain order. The gauge on the Poplar Street Bridge showed 15 feet above flood level and the 14 feet above flood stage at the "Point".
> Inclined bridge and plane >
* ( Flood tax ) The Pennsylvania General Assembly passed an emergency temporary 10% alcohol tax, intended to help with clean up, recovery, and to assist flood victims. In 1963 it was raised to 15% and in 1968 it was raised to 18%.
* (Tax controversy ) By 1942 around $41 million had been collected and as of 2010 the tax was still active bringing in approximately $15.4 billion since inception. Efforts to repeal the tax has met continued opposition from opponents, such as unions workers employed by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, that have successfully fought to keep the tax and prevent the privatizing of the state run liquor business.
* ( Aftermath ) Flood control measures had been introduced, but had bogged down in legislative debates. The Johnstown flood of March, 1936 came before anything significant had been accomplished. The 1936 Johnstown flood was the seminal event that gave modern federal flood control measures in the United States their impetus. 15,000 letters were sent to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt asking for help. The Johnstown Tribune and Democrat (which later merged with The Tribune-Democrat) demanded federal aid. Senators and Representatives in Washington, D.C. enacted the Flood Control Act of 1936 and the Flood Control Act of 1937. In August, 1938 work began on the most extensive flood control channel improvement project in American history. On November 27, 1943, Colonel Gilbert Van B. Wilkes, Chief of the US Army Corps of Engineers, Pittsburgh District reported to Johnstown leaders that the flood problem had been effectively solved. Johnstown began to promote the city as "Flood Free". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_flood_of_1936

03/17/2022

Christian Redmond found this old picture of the coke ovens in Shamrock, Pennsylvania. Shamrock is located in Menallen Township is a township in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The township is named after an older variant spelling of Moyallen, County Down, Ireland. Waltersburg, Keisterville, Upper Middletown, Searights, Buffington, New Salem, Haddenville, , Upper Peanut, Lower Peanut, Dearth, Rocks Works, Newboro, and portions of Smock and Balsinger are also located in Menallen Township. So I bet you can find your Fayette County Irish Roots in Menallen Township. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menallen_Township,_Fayette_County,_Pennsylvania

03/12/2022

On this day in 1776, a public notice appears in Baltimore, Maryland. It beseeches the help of “our humane ladies” in the American cause. The assistance requested was rather mundane. Could the ladies provide “assistance in furnishing us with linen rags and old sheeting, for bandages”? Yet the notice serves as a reminder: The American Revolution depended upon the assistance of women, even if we hear about them less often.

Women served in many capacities. They were spies. They were nurses. A few were soldiers. Others were scouts. Many defended their homesteads in the absence of their husbands. Unfortunately, many of these tales of heroism are all but lost to history. Today, I thought I would offer one snapshot of an all-but-forgotten heroine.

Do you know about the woman who had to flee her home because the British had offered a £200 bounty for her capture? That was a lot of money back then. It was equal to 20 years pay for a typical British soldier. How must Elizabeth Burgin have felt when she learned about the price on her head? Now take into consideration that she had three kids to worry about. She must have been terrified, not only for herself, but especially for her children.

Burgin’s crime? She had helped American prisoners in the New York area. We don’t know too much about which specific prisoners she helped or how she did it. But we do know that she wrote a letter to the Reverend James Calville in November 1779, asking for assistance. By then, she’d already fled the city and taken refuge in New Jersey. Fortunately, her three children were with her. She’d managed to get her family away from the British, but she’d left her possessions behind. Now, she needed help.

Her letter to Calville hints at the reason the British were so upset with her. It seems that she may have helped as many as 200 prisoners to escape.

Washington learned of the situation and soon wrote a letter to Congress on her behalf. “[I]t would appear that she has been indefatigable,” he told Congress, “for the relief of the prisoners, and in measures for facilitating their escape.” He had taken “the liberty of directing the commissary at Philadelphia to furnish her and her children with rations till the pleasure of Congress could be known.” Congress agreed and granted her free lodging and continued food rations.

In 1781, Burgin wrote Congress again. Couldn’t she please do some work to earn her keep? She did not wish to be “troublesome or expensive to the United States.” Perhaps Congress could “direct her full employment in cutting out the linen into shirts, purchased in this city for the army, it would afford her a maintenance, until a happy change of affairs will permit her to return with safety to her native place.”

Congress did not offer her a job. Instead, it offered her a pension. She received that pension until 1787, when it is assumed that she passed away.

P.S. Little-known Revolutionary War heroines don’t usually have portraits done of them, and Elizabeth was no exception. The attached painting is of folk hero Molly Pitcher.

---------------------------
If you enjoy these history posts, please see my note below. :)

Gentle reminder: History posts are copyright © 2013-2022 by Tara Ross. I appreciate it when you use the shar e feature instead of cutting/pasting.

03/12/2022

Here is a receipt for a shipment of corn on the Elector. According to "The Old and New Monongahela" written in 1893, the Elector was one being run by the Peoples' Line in 1868. After that it was incorporated into the Pittsburgh, Brownsville and Geneva Packet Company. Captain Robert Rogers Abrams, captain of this steamer was born in 1831 to Eli and Elizabeth Riley Abrams of Brownsville. Eli was descended from Gabriel and Rebecca Loveberry Abrams. Gabriel was a Revolutionary War soldier who was born in Turkeyfoot in 1750. He died near McClellandtown in 1841. His grave was located on the farm of James B. Watson in a dense thicket at the top of a steep hill. Watson had the stone marker raised, cleaned and reset. The Great Meadows Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution reported the grave to the Congress through the Smithsonian Institution in 1965. Have any of you heard of this grave?

Captain R.R. Abrams died in 1919 at the age of 88. He was married to Anna Mary Elliott and together they had 4 children. His obituary published in the Daily Republican on Dec. 5, 1919 says: The death of Captain Robert Rogers Abrams, which occurred shortly after noon on Thursday, marks the passing of a man who was closely identified with the business and the success of the Monongahela valley for many years. He also saw the passing, to a great extent, of what was once the valley's greatest industry, the river trade. Captain Abrams was born May 14, 1831 at Brownsville. His boyhood days were spent in sight of the Monongahela river and in the environment of the river life of the early days. When still a youth, he entered the river service and soon became a captain-a master of his own vessel. He spent his life plying the Monongahela, Ohio, Wabash, Missouri rivers and it was only when his health failed that he relinquished his profession. It was chiefly due to his untiring efforts and influence that the sale of liquor was finally abolished on the packets and mail boats plying the stream and this achievement was always a source of gratification to the deceased, particularly in his declining years. One of his brother, E. Decatur Abrams, was also a captain on the steamers. In 1889 he became embroiled in a legal matter when he caused the death of another riverboat captain, Jesse M. Bowell. It's an interesting story that I will post later. In April of 1878 an article published in the Monongahela Valley Republican reported: Elector-The steamer Elector made her last trip on Sunday afternoon last. She is now laid up, and perhaps permanently, at Brownsville. The Elector is now twelve years old, and her run since she was first brought on the trade, was 318,400 miles, which would circumnavigate the earth nearly thirteen times.

Chris

03/12/2022

03/12/2022

The winter of 1779-80 was a dark time in the struggle for American independence. George Washington’s dwindling army was short of food, clothing, and weapons. Many of the men were barefoot and there wasn’t enough ammunition for the few weapons they had. But something happened in April that would lift Patriot spirits and renew their hopes. Lafayette had returned.

The Marquis de Lafayette had first come to America in 1777, defying his king and risking his immense fortune in order to offer his service to the American revolutionaries. The idealistic young nobleman was soon commissioned a major general in the Continental Army. To this day he remains the youngest person to hold that rank. He was nineteen years old.

Lafayette’s courage, zeal, and military competence soon earned the immense respect of General Washington. Wounded at the Battle of Brandywine, Lafayette recovered and fought with distinction in the campaigns of 1778. But when news of the death of one of his young children arrived, and with pressing business matters needing his attention in France, Lafayette requested and was granted a leave of absence. He sailed for France in January 1779.

Still angry at Lafayette’s disobedience, King Louis XVI had him immediately placed under house arrest upon his arrival. When granted a royal audience, Lafayette risked further angering his king by showing up wearing his American uniform. But the young man’s charm, charisma, and enthusiasm soon returned him to the good graces of the king. And he began to lobby for French support for the American cause.

On March 5, 1780, Lafayette was thrilled to receive an order that would answer the hopes and prayers of his American comrades and change American history: “Monsieur le Marquis de Lafayette will hasten to join General Washington whom he will secretly inform that the King will send at the beginning of spring, help consisting of six ships and approximately 5,000 infantrymen.”

The duty of assuring the Marquis’ safe and expeditious return to America was assigned to Captain Louis de La Touche and the ship he commanded, the frigate L’Hermione. The Hermione was the pride of the French navy. Newly built in Rochefort, the ship could outrun any British warship she couldn’t outgun, and there were few she couldn’t outgun. La Touche was told only that his mission was vitally important and secret. On March 11, 1780, the Hermione set sail for America.

Lafayette was given a hero’s welcome when he arrived in Boston, and at every town and village he passed through on his journey from Boston to General Washington’s headquarters at Morristown, New Jersey. Although his secret message was still unknown, Patriots sensed that the fact that Lafayette had returned portended good news and better days ahead. When he reached Washington’s camp and delivered the king’s message, new life was breathed into the American cause.

Eighteen months later, in October 1781, American and French forces trapped British General Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, forcing his surrender and assuring American independence.

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette, boarded the Hermione at Portes-en-Barques France on the mouth of the Charente River bearing a secret message from the King promising French military assistance to America, on March 10, 1780, two hundred forty-two years ago today.

The Hermione participated in numerous fights against the British navy before being lost in a storm in 1793. In 2015 a full-size replica of the Hermione, built in Rochefort, made a triumphant recreation of the famous voyage of the original vessel. The reproduction Hermione can be visited in Rochefort today, when she is not sailing the world.

02/23/2022

On this day in 1732, George Washington is born. “No American is more completely misunderstood than George Washington,” one of his biographers writes. “He is generally believed to have been, by birth and training, a rich, conservative, British-oriented Virginia aristocrat. As a matter of fact, he was, for the environment in which he moved, poor during his young manhood.”

In other words, Washington overcame more disadvantages than most people realize.

George was the first of six children born to Augustine and Mary Ball Washington. Little is known about George’s relationship with his father, but Augustine’s unexpected death in April 1743 had a dramatic effect on the course of young George’s life.

For one thing, George would never be able to travel to England for an expensive education, as his older half-brothers had done. Instead, he would end up with even less formal education than Presidents such as Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln. By today’s standards, it was equivalent to about an elementary school education.

Which leads to another thing that people don’t realize about George Washington: He read. A lot! He was sensitive about his lack of formal schooling and always seemed to be trying to make it up through self-education.

When George’s father passed away, his half-brother Lawrence became like a second father to him. Lawrence had inherited the land that would become Mount Vernon, and George spent a lot of time there with his older brother. Perhaps those factors, taken together, help explain why Mount Vernon became so important to George?

Lawrence married into the powerful Fairfax family. It was a connection that ended up helping George, too. The young George spent time foxhunting with Lord Fairfax, and the elder gentleman took an interest in George’s career. Mary Washington had refused to let George join the Royal Navy, but George developed an interest in surveying. The Fairfaxes helped George get started as a surveyor.

“Perhaps the first indication of George’s unusual qualities,” historian James Thomas Flexner writes, “was the way in which the young boy was taken into the bosom of the Fairfax clan.”

In the meantime, Lawrence’s health was deteriorating, and he was plagued with a constant, racking cough. A trip to the warmer climate in Barbados seemed like a possible cure. Would George go, too? The trip was a serious commitment: George would lose at least a season of surveying work. But Lawrence was his brother and his “best friend.”

There was never any real doubt about what George would do.

The trip proved beneficial to George in an unexpected way. While he was in Barbados, he was “strongly attacked with the small Pox,” as he would write in his diary. The illness—and the recovery—gave George immunity from a disease that would later plague the Continental Army.

Unfortunately, the trip didn’t help Lawrence, who passed away in July 1752. His single remaining heir, a small daughter, passed away in 1754. George would inherit Mount Vernon upon the death of Lawrence’s widow, although he leased the property from her before that.

George soon followed in Lawrence’s footsteps in one last way: He joined the military and was appointed district adjutant of the Virginia militia.

The new Major George Washington was still only 20 years old.

“Instead of going to college, Washington went to war,” historian Joseph Ellis once wrote. And that’s exactly what happened in the years after Lawrence’s death. Naturally, those are stories for another day. :)

---------------------------
If you enjoy these history posts, please see my note below. :)

Gentle reminder: History posts are copyright © 2013-2022 by Tara Ross. I appreciate it when you use the shar e feature instead of cutting/pasting.