10 Years Ago
Week of November 27, 2014
SUGAR GROVE
Pennsylvania Germans Were Practical Farmers
The Pennsylvania Germans settled this area long before the birth of this nation. A large number of the ancestors of the early settlers lived in the Palatinate section of Germany. This fertile region was considered the “Garden of Eden” of Europe and was desired by all the neighboring powers. As a result of continued warfare, the economic conditions were very unsettled, resulting in dire poverty. Anthony Jacob Henkel, progenitor of many of the county’s families, was one of 20 Lutheran ministers who signed a petition in 1710 describing the serious conditions in the Palatinate. Seven years later, he migrated to Pennsylvania. The combination of political, religious and economic conditions brought a widespread interest in migration. In the month of June, 1709, 6000 Protestants from Switzerland and the Palatinate and other European areas migrated to England and eventually arrived in the New World.
The migration of Germans in the 18th century is one of the grimmest chapters of American history. These folk, who were seeking hope, were given false promises, impossible guarantees for which they faced the shocking conditions of the immigrant ships, hardship and peril, only to be exploited by unscrupulous promoters and indenturing agents. The people were packed into ships as closely as herring, so to speak. The filth, overcrowding, poor food and sickness and disease on board the ships are well known. One small ship left a Dutch port with 400 passengers arriving in Philadelphia with only 50 in the year 1738. More than 2,000 passengers died during the voyages to America.
Large numbers were without adequate funds to pay their passage. They were sold into services to pay for their price of transportation. This was quite similar to involuntary slavery, and in time it was referred to as the “German Slave Trade.” Upon their arrival, the peasants expected to retain their language, agricultural methods, religion, customs, folk beliefs and practices, superstitions, home remedies, architecture, folklore, music and crafts. Indeed, they were distinctly different from the dominant English Quakers, through their social activities and also their German (Dutch) speaking language. The German language was so well established by the late 1700s, followed by decades of bilingualism in public and church affairs. Possibly the decline of the German speaking “Dutchmen” resulted from a recognition of the criticism directed against its use by various non-German sources.
The typical Pennsylvania German was a farmer who was adept in the practical arts. The goal was a self-sustaining farm and family. He was his own shoemaker, blacksmith, veterinarian, carpenter, distiller and miller, while the woman was a mother, seamstress, gardener, cook, housekeeper, candlemaker, preserver of food, soap maker, midwife and baker. A large majority of German settlers in the county were content with relatively small tracts of land.
Religious freedom, which the German and Swiss migrants sought was found in Pennsylvania, the Shenandoah Valley and this county. Having endured much hardship in their native country, it is with little wonder that the German migrants welcomed the Thanksgiving season. No doubt they were very thankful to have found a country where they could be self-sufficient with their families.
Week of December 4, 2014
Region Is Fourth
In Tourist Visits
Guess which of the nine regions in West Virginia generated the most overnight visitors in 2013?
A Charleston “Gazette” columnist astutely guessed that it might be the New River/Greenbrier Valley region (the state division of tourism partitions the state into nine regions for purposes of tracking the economic impact of tourism in West Virginia) followed by the Potomac Highlands or the Metro Valley, which encompasses Charleston, Huntington and Putnam County.
Journalist Phil Kaber made a strong case for the Potomac Highlands, noting that it has three of the state’s most famous natural attractions—Seneca Rocks, Spruce Knob and Blackwater Falls—along with a major ski resort plus other ski destinations, state parks, Canaan Valley, lots of outdoor recreation in the Monongahela National Forest (including hunting and fishing) and many other attractions.
It turns out that the New River/Greenbrier Valley placed second, with 2.6 million visitors in 2013. The Potomac Highlands finished fourth, with 1.8 million overnight visitors a year ago. The Charleston-Huntington metropolitan area came in sixth, with 1.6 million visitors.
Number one went to Mountaineer Country, consisting of Monongalia, Marion, Preston, Barbour, Taylor, Harrison and Doddridge counties. It had a whopping 3.1 million overnight visitors. That isn’t a terribly big surprise, however, when one considers the big draw that is WVU, with its big-time sporting events and facilities such as its medical centers.
The study of overnight visits in West Virginia in 2013 was conducted by Longwoods International, which is the Standard & Poor’s of visitor/travel research for the industry for states such as West Virginia and Colorado.
The overwhelming number of overnight trips in West Virginia is not devoted to skiing or biking or hiking or hunting/fishing or, indeed, any kind of outdoors recreational activity. It is visiting friends/relatives, and it accounts for 46 percent of all overnight trips in the Mountain State.
20 Years Ago
Week of December 2, 2004
SUGAR GROVE
Old Propst Church
Is Pendleton’s
‘Mother Church’
Written evidence verifies the tradition that persistently states that the old Propst Church is the “mother church” in the Pendleton County region. In an Augusta County, VA, court record, there is ample proof that the old Propst Lutheran Church was organized by the 1760 date, even before the actual signing of the church deed. The copy of the original deed reads as follows:
“This Indenture, made this eighteenth day of December in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-nine, between Henry Stone, Ludwig Wagoner, Mark Swadley and Christian Roleman, of the county of Augusta and commissioners appointed for the congregation of the Lutheran Church of the South Fork of the Potowmack on the one part, and Michael Propst and Catherine, his wife, of the county aforesaid, of the other part.”
Therefore, one can be quite certain that the Propst Lutheran Church is not only the oldest church in Pendleton County, but that she played her important part in the early settlement of the county. The distinction of being the first to preach the gospel in Pendleton County must go to the Moravian missionary, Spagenberg in the year 1748.
40 Years Ago
Week of December 6, 1984
Sonic Booms Heard
In Pendleton County
Two loud blasts that were heard November 24 in Pendleton County and other north central West Virginia counties were sonic booms caused by a military plane en route to search for a missing ship, a Federal Aviation Administration official said.
A duty officer at the FAA’s Washington, D. C., headquarters said the Defense Department confirmed that the noises were caused by overflights of an SR-71 plane which was flying cross-country from Beale Air Force Base in California to the Atlantic Coast.
The officer, who asked that his name not be used, said the plane was sent to search for a missing fishing boat. The boat, the Amazing Grace, left its Hampton Roads, Va., port on November 6 with seven crewmen on board. The 87-foot ship was last heard from off Cape May, N.J., on November 14.
Two loud sonic booms occurred in the Pendleton County area at approximately 12:55 p.m. and 3:34 p.m.
Tpr. R. D. Gillespie state that police received several inquiries as to the origin of the booms with some people thinking something had exploded.
Tpr. Gillespie said there was at least one unconfirmed report in Pendleton County of broken windows due to the booms.
50 Years Ago
Week of December 5, 1974
Snow Storm Closes Schools, Disrupts
Electric Power
10-18 Inches
Falls in County
The first major snowfall of the season hit Pendleton County early Sunday morning leaving a blanket of snow from 10 to 18 inches deep throughout the county. Snow began falling early Saturday night and continued throughout Sunday.
Although roads were kept open for vehicles equipped with snow tires and chains, many deer hunters and persons spending the Thanksgiving weekend here who were not prepared for snowy highways were forced to remain an extra day to two.
The deepest snow reported in the county was in the Sweedlin Valley area where there was an accumulation of 18 inches. Approximately 14 inches was reported in the Franklin area.
60 Years Ago
Week of December 3, 1964
100 YEARS AGO
By LON K. SAVAGE
Editor’s Note—The following is one of a series of articles on the Civil War. Each weekly installment covers events which occurred exactly 100 years ago.
100 YEARS AGO
By LON K. SAVAGE
Editor’s Note—The following is one of a series of articles on the Civil War. Each weekly installment covers events which occurred exactly 100 years ago.
Hood’s Attack Fails
At Franklin, Tennessee
The Confederacy’s Gen. John B. Hood was fighting mad.
It was partly because of his anger—and partly because he figured he could win—that Hood launched a desperate and hopeless attack against a Federal army at Franklin, Tennessee, 100 years ago this week. When the battle was over–after a few short hours of the most bitter fighting of the war—Hood had reason to be still angrier, for the battle served only to deplete his army and to give the Federals reason for rejoicing.
When Hood went into the battle, he was angry, not only at the Federals but at his own staff. In the preceding week, he and Nathan Bedford Forrest had skillfully cut off a Federal’s army under Gen. John M. Schofield; they were converging to make the kill when, through a foul-up in the Confederate chain of command, Schofield managed to escape from the trap and beat it safely with his army to Franklin. There, Schofield dug in, and Hood’s big chance had been muffed.
In a rage, Hood pursued Schofield to Franklin and there on November 30 threw his army at Schofield’s lines—determined to make up for the preceding week’s blunder.
It was a bloody affair. Schofield, his back to the unbridged and unfordable Harpeth River, gave not an inch, and Hood spared nothing in his assault.
It was a pleasant, Indian summer day, and Hood’s men had to cross broad, open fields to reach the Union lines. That did not deter them, and by late afternoon, 18,000 Southern infantrymen were sweeping across the fields, their battle flags flying.
With wild Rebel yells, the Confederates came forward at the run, and the smoke of battle rose and spread all along the line. The Southerners fell by the dozens under the Union fire, but they came on. Hundreds of them smashed right on into the Union trenches, driving the Federals back. Hand to hand fighting broke out; muskets and artillery boomed and swords slashed.
Confederate Gen. John Adams galloped with his men into the Union line and both he and his horse were shot dead in one fusillade, the horse falling spraddle legged across a Union barricade. Gen. Pat Cleburne, the Irish Confederate, also charged and was shot dead. Four other Southern generals were killed, and 6,000 men were killed or wounded.
Schofield, who watched the battle from across the river, trained his artillery on the Confederates, and the effect was telling. At those spots where the Federal line was broken, other Federals rallied and killed or captured the Confederates who had broken through.
Finally, the day—and the slaughter—ended. During the battle, Schofield’s engineers had been working on a bridge across the river. With the bridge completed, Schofield’s army filed across the span and headed north to Nashville, under the protection of Gen. George H. Thomas’ large Federal army.
Hood, whose initial blunder had now been compounded into two blunders, came limping in northward. A naturally pugnacious man, he still had plenty of fight left in him.
Next week: Nashville.
