History of Beaver Meadow, Carbon Co., Pa

From Hazleton PA Plain Speaker, Fri., Sept. 3, 1937

http://boards.ancestry.com.au/localities.northam.usa.states.pennsylvania.easternpa/49692/mb.ashx

Oldest Town in Lehigh Field To Celebrate 150th Anniversary

Celebration

Finishing touches to decorations and lighting effects, together with installation of Nick Fescina’s loud speakers today and tomorrow will put Beaver Meadow in position for the rousing start of its sesqui-centennial celebrations which begin Labor Day and continues to Saturday, September 11 inclusive.

The oldest town in the Lehigh coal fields, Beaver Meadow has planned through the services of a general committee headed by Burgess William F. Williams, miner-poet, and subcommittees, to observe its 150th birthday anniversary in rousing style.

Streets are decorated, there will be music and speeches, the new state highway will be dedicated and parades, sports events, band concerts and other entertainment will be enjoyed. Thousands will join the Beaver Meadow people in the events of the week.

Monday’s fete will be the opener in the form of the Legion parade, which will bring into line all the Carbon county posts and Freeland, Hazleton and McAdoo veterans. Tuesday will be Slovak Day to honor the settlers of the last century, scheduled to bring together the various Slovak societies of the Lehigh coal fields, with bands from this city, Lansford and other places to furnish music and with many paraders in line.

Dedication of the new state road will be Wednesday’s feature to be followed Thursday with band concerts. On Friday there will be a pet parade and the soap box derby. Saturday September 11 the windup will feature boxing bouts, wrestling, baseball and other sports directed by Patrick Roarty, well known Drifton athlete.

The committee chairmen who have handled the plans are:

General Chairman: Burgess William F. Williams.

Sylvester Rossi, chairman of concessions and decorating.

John Hitcho, chairman of refreshments.

William Hill, chairman of entertainment.

George Phillips, chairman of lighting.

John Matyas, chairman of soliciting.

D.J. North, chairman of advertising.

Secretary: Winfield Warren.

Treasurer: John Manko.

Beginning History

Beaver Meadow owes its founding to the colonization movement launched originally by the Moravians.

Through what is now its main street marched the Indian savages who took this path when the historic captivity of the Benjamin Gilbert family of the Mahoning Valley in 1780 saw the redskins take their captives on the Old Great North Swamp Trail, practically what is state highway route 309 today, from the Nesquehoning Creek to swing into the Susquehanna Valley.

The great county of Northampton, one of the three original counties of Pennsylvania, formed in 1752, was the mother of Carbon county, in which Beaver Meadow is located. The county was as big as New Jersey. On March 13, 1843, East Penn, Lausanne, Mahoning, Banks, Towamensing, Lower Towamensing and Penn Forest townships were lopped off to make most of Carbon county. Kidder and Penn Forest came from Monroe, and the rest from Northampton.

Turnpike Was Main Street

The Lehigh & Susquehanna Turnpike ran through the tract and naturally the houses grew along this main street . The first house, built of logs, was erected in 1804. At the foot of the Spring Mountain was a toll gate kept by a man named Green. William H. Wilson, Revolutionary war hero, with the rank of colonel, moved to Beaver Meadow April 10, 1826. He opened a tavern. His body is buried in the old Maple Grove cemetery. When, in 1831, James Lamison became Citizen No. 3, he opened a tavern also. In 1833, N.R. Penrose located at Beaver Meadow. He was a relative of the family from which United States Senator Boise Penrose came.

Penrose Was Pioneer

Penrose was the land agent of Judge Barnes and built the big property known as the Cornishmen’s Home which Web Hoyt occupied with his tavern. Later James Gowan or Gowen, father of Judge Franklin B. Gowen, who was president of the Reading in the days when through his indomitable faith in anthracite he made the Reading the biggest coal company in the anthracite region. William T. Carter when he operated Coleraine used this structure for a company store. It was torn down in 1910.

The first brewer was Henry Brenckman, native of Germany. He operated a small brewery until his death in 1860. He was a busy man. He made his beer and also the barrels, marketed the output of Carbon’s first brewery but found time to also run a tavern.

Railroad Boomed Town

Beaver Meadow grew fast, for the Beaver Meadow Railroad Co. had its mines, shops, machinery plant and car works in the town. Hopkin Thomas, Welsh genius, was the first master mechanic. He discovered the first effective method of making a chilled steel car wheel in the history of railroading and also was the first man to successfully invent a device that allowed hard coal to be used to fire locomotives. He also built the first ten wheel engine in the United States. It was named the Nonpariel.

Mergers In Those Days Also

However the spirit of mergers arose. N.B. Penrose built an iron works and this was sold after the start in 1848 to S.W. and B.W. Hudson who in 1859 broke partnership, B.W. taking the business. In 1865 he sold to J.C. Haydon who moved the plant to Jeanesville. This was the start at Beaver Meadow of the Jeanesville Iron Works, great plant that supplied the world with pumps and which even today is operated as part of the great Worthington establishment at Harrison, N.J.

The merger in the sixties of the Beaver Meadow Railroad with the L.V.R.R. brought more mergers and transfers and the railroad shops were moved to Weatherly in installments starting in 1842.

Coal Was Discovered In 1812

Coal’s discovery by Nathan Beach in 1812 gave the region the proper impetus to grow into a settled industrial section. He found coal near the point where the Leviston station to the southwest of Beaver Meadow stood. Beach opened a mine, called a quarry in those days, in 1813. It was hauled by wagon to Bloomsburg and to Berwick. The Lehigh & Susquehanna Turnpike was used for the highway. Beach got $8 a ton delivered in Philadelphia once the traffic in coal extended to larger centers.

First Coal Operator

The Beaver Meadow Railroad & Coal Co. took over 200 acres of land and in 1841 A.H. VanCleve and Co. opened the mines. William Milnes & Co., Milnesville is named after Milnes, took over the mines in 1846 and then sold them to Hamberger & Co. who worked them until 1850. The old story of mines being worked out to yield a fortune to successors of abandoned leases is heard here for Hamberger & Co. quit in 1850 and the mines were idle for 31 years, to 1881 when Coxe Brothers & Co. took them over. Since then the Lehigh Valley, Jeddo-Highland Coal Co., then the Coxes again and now the Sterrick Creek Coal Co.: that is the sequence of operators. Coleraine nearby was a busy spot with Rich & Cleaver holding the first lease, selling in 1862 to Radcliffe & Johnson who turned over the property to William T. Carter who sold to A.S. Van Wickle, with the Coleraine Colliery Co. and the Coal-Rain Coal Co. as successors today. Jeanesville, bit producer owes its birth to a Beaver Meadow man, James D. Gallup, who discovered coal there. Incidentally the tract was sold after coal was found, for $20,000. Since the mines were opened, almost 2,000,000 tons of coal have been produced.

First Steam Power In County

Beaver Meadow furnished the first steam power railroad in the county, the Beaver Meadow Railroad, the town was then in Banks township, and work was started in 1833, three years after the Beaver Meadow Railroad and Coal Co. was incorporated. Canvass White who built the Erie R.R. and Ario Pardee, afterwards Hazleton coal operating pioneer, were the surveyors of the line which ran from Beaver Meadow to Penn Haven, near Mauch Chunk where coal was discharged into canal boats. The Planes road to Weatherly was part of the old roadbed of the line. Parryville was reached in 1836 and in 1841 a flood swept away all the bridges from Weatherly to Parryville so that Mauch Chunk was made the end of the line. It was absorbed by the Lehigh Valley later.

In the beginning, wooden rails, protected with an iron strip on top were used. Final absorption took place by the L.V.R.R. in 1866. It had the impressive name at first of the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad.

L.V.R.R. Merger

In the same year the Lehigh Valley was merged with the Lehigh and Mahanoy Railroad extending the lines to Schuylkill county and beyond to Mt. Carmel. Banks township from which Beaver Meadow was created, was part of Lausanne township until 1842 when Banks township was established and named after Judge Banks, then on the bench of Northampton county of which Carbon formed a part until one year later.

Tresckow’s Birth

Tresckow, another Beaver Meadow neighbor, was opened in 1851 by a Germany company, hence the old name of Dutchtown. Samuel Bonnel followed this firm as operator and the property was sold in 1854 to the Honey Brook Coal Co., acquired ten years later by the Jersey Central, Lehigh & Wilkes-barre coal Co., and now a Glen Alden holding. Audenried and Yorktown collieries were also developed as the result of the start Beaver Meadow gave the region.

Evans Opens Mines

John D. Evans of Lansford, opened Beaver Meadow’s second Home colliery, name after him, in 1889. Later some firebug burned down the breaker. In 1906 the A.S. Van Wickle estate took the property on ten years lease. However that same year the Evans Colliery Co. was formed and operated the mines until about three years ago. W.E. Smith was the general manager.

Coxeville, on the outskirts of Beaver Meadow, has grown up since the seventies of the last century as a normal building project due to the Coxe holdings close at hand.

Stauffer First Burgess

Beaver Meadow borough is the oldest borough in the upper end of Carbon county. It was formally organized as a borough in 1897, or 110 years after the land site was deeded to Patrick and Mary Keen in 1787, to later become the property of Nathan Beach. The land deal took place in 1787, hence next week’s sesquicentennial. In 1830 Beach sold 300 acres to Judge Joseph Barnes of Philadelphia.

J.M. Stauffer, leader of the 1896 movement that failed to win a charter in that year but which succeeded in 1897 in getting the power to establish a borough, was the first burgess. John Martyn Jr., was the first president of Council and H. Walter Riess was the first secretary. Today William F. Williams is burgess, John M. Kotch is president of Council, Winfield Warren is secretary, John Andrejco is treasurer, and the Councilmen are Metro Sheer, John Baran, Michael Kostick, George Hometz, John M. Kotch, Charles A. MacGowan and Joseph Mondel.

Heroes of ‘76 Were Pioneers

Other Revolutionary War graves are in the borough. They are those of Ephraim Ladd, of Connecticut, whose state placed a marker on his resting place; Daniel Washburn and James McGarvan, of Pennsylvania. Daniel Washburn was a descendant of Alfred the Great. He was the great granduncle of the present Mrs. Martha Klotz, whose maiden name was Martha Washburn, and who is now a resident of Weatherly. Her great-great-grandfather, Caleb Washburn, is also buried in this old cemetery. She is 79 years of age, is possessor of all her natural powers and recalls when she picked huckleberries with Mrs. Charles Schwab, steel magnate’s wife, whose maiden name was Dinkey, and whose father was Reuben Dinkey, master mechanic at the old railroad shop.

Mrs. Klotz Remembers Beavers

Mrs. Klotz tells of the beavers that once were common in the region and who had their houses in the creek which now is the culm wash to the south and east of the borough. She states that the dams the beavers built were a nuisance since the waters flooded lands nearby and the children would often launch drives against the animals, to break down the dams and make possible the flow of the creek.

Recall Little Jack

Among the noted persons of the years gone by was Little Jack Gallagher, who was postmaster and one of the big political leaders of Carbon county.

Native Born

Mrs. Joseph Roberts, aged 79, mother-in-law of Burgess Williams, like Mrs. Martha Klotz, is a native born Beaver Meadow woman and has many interesting recollections of the days when the town was in its youth.

Oldest Resident

As far as can be learned, Mrs. Michael North, formerly Miss Catherine Paul, born at Leviston, Beaver Meadow, P.O., is the oldest resident of Beaver Meadow. She was born August 3, 1849, and is 88 years of age.

Dinkey and Dinkey Engines

Let it be known that Beaver Meadow did its share in furnishing the language with its slang afterwards to become part of the vernacular. Just as Honey Brook gave the world “Get your goat” and Jeanesville coined “doghole” so Beaver Meadow contributed “dinkey”. The late Reuben Dinkey, who was afterwards a hotel keeper at Weatherly and whose daughter, the wife of Charles M. Schwab was once the master mechanic of the L.V.R.R. shops at Beaver Meadow. He built a small engine type for light traffic. It was called the Dinkey model. There is where dinkey came into existence to live long after Mr. Dinkey has passed away. A fine church is at Ashfield in Carbon county, given by his daughter in his memory, and named after him the Dinkey Memorial Church. But the name is carried on in almost every place where the English language is spoken.

First Gravity Mine Drainage

The records show that Beaver Meadow pioneered in the eighties with the first gravity mine drainage tunnel in the region, tapping the Coxe mines into the Quakake Valley.

Wilson First Postmaster

Beaver Meadow got its post office early, in 1830. William H. Wilson, Revolutionary war hero and tavern keeper was the postmaster. He was succeeded by A.H. Broadhead. Wilson again took the job. Robert Tresize was postmaster for many years. The present postmaster is George Veleznock. John Kotch and John McGee were former postmasters also.

Schools came early also. The first was conducted in 1835 by Miss Lydia Blackburn. Thomas McCurley was the second teacher. He served for many years and lived to an honored old age. The present head of the schools is Miss Sophia McGee.

The water supply is furnished by the Citizens Water Co. and the P.P. & L Co. started service to the town in 1911. The borough at one time had its own telephone company, with rural connections and with Robert Tresize as manager.

Beaver Meadow’s Churches

Early settlers were not lacking in their spirit of devotion to the faith of their fathers and the church history of the borough is of rare interest. It is noteworthy that from the Beaver Meadow churches came the movements that coalesced in the organization of parishes of faiths in nearby communities.

St. Mary’s R.C. Church

St. Mary’s R.C. church, mother of the Catholic parishes in the Lehigh coal fields, dates back to the historic days of the building of the Lehigh and Susquehanna Turnpike, chartered in 1808 by act of the legislature. The first Catholics were Irish immigrants, whose spiritual needs were ministered to by Jesuit missionaries. These indefatigable workers covered northeastern Pennsylvania on horse back and mass was celebrated in various homes in Beaver Meadow when a congregation was formed in 1841 as a mission out of the then established Tamaqua church.

On January 17, 1842, the Rt. Rev. Bishop Francis Kendrick of Philadelphia, purchased the land in the then Lausanne township in the then Northampton county where the church property is located. Later this section fell in the newly established Banks township and the newly formed Carbon county and lastly in the newly created borough of Beaver Meadow.

The Beaver Meadow Railroad & Coal Co. sold the land to be used for church and cemetery purposes.

On this tract was built the original church, located in what is now part of the adjacent parish cemetery. In this edifice the congregation worshipped for 48 years.

Following formation of the congregation, priests from the Tamaqua parish served as the ministers. First was Rev. Father Maloney and later Father H. Finnegan served. The old St. Mary’s church was built about 1847, there being no authentic record of the actual date. It is recorded, however, that the first resident priest was Rev. Father Hugh McMahon, who took charge July 23, 1849. The first baptismal record reads, Margaret, daughter of Hugh McGinley and Bridget, his wife, baptized April 22, 1849, by Rev. Hugh McMahon. The second resident pastor was Rev. Michael L. Scanlon, who was installed December 17, 1853.

It was under his pastorate that St. Gabriel’s Church of Hazleton was founded and Hazletonians no longer walked to Beaver Meadow to attend sacred services. A church and rectory were built and one their completion, Father Scanlon took up his residence at Hazleton, and St. Mary’s became a mission of St. Gabriel’s, which was a case of the parent returning to the child.

This arrangement continued until 1868 when the division of Catholic districts into the dioceses of Philadelphia and Scranton occurred and Beaver Meadow was placed in the former and Hazleton in the latter.

St. Mary’s then became a mission of St. Patrick’s at Audenried, later moved to McAdoo, under the pastorate of Rev. Francis Marron. It was later separated from St. Patrick’s and Rev. Bernard Ruxton became the pastor.

He was succeeded by Rev. Francis Brady in 1898 and it was he who in 1900 directed the old church be moved from the cemetery lot to a site near the present edifice. He had already taken residence in the present rectory, built at the same time. The large and handsome new church was built in 1904 under the pastorate of Rev. Father John McEnroe, who served from 1902 to 1907. The cornerstone was laid October 4, 1904, and the dedication took place September 10, 1905. The present pastor, Rev. Dennis J. Melley, serving from 1930 to the present date, has proven himself an efficient, kindly and progressive spiritual leader and under his able guidance many improvements have been made to the parish property and spiritual work has flourished.

The founding of St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church was due to an odd circumstance. Back in 1896 a number of Lutheran pastors of the Upper Lehigh Valley Pastoral Association, returning from a mission festival at Quakake, stood at the L.V.R.R. station waiting for their trains and learned in conversation among themselves that Beaver Meadow had many of the Lutheran faith but no church. Revs. James O. Schlener, then pastor of Christ Lutheran Church, Hazleton, and D.G. Geberich, of Weatherly, canvassed the then township section, organized a congregation and at a service February 5, 1896, formed a temporary charge. This was made permanent March 15 of the same year. The first officers elected were: Christopher Kisthardt, Christian Noll, Fred Hinkle, Jacob Schmidt, J.J. VanBlargen, elected as deacons, and Harry Miller, trustee.

A union was effected with Salem Lutheran Churchy at Audenried, and Rev. A.O. Ebert was named as the first pastor.

Services were conducted in the school house until the present church on Second street was erected. The corner stone was laid August 22, 1897 and on December 26 that year the building, a handsome frame Gothic structure was dedicated to the service of God. The congregation is under the spiritual guidance of Rev. M.C. Hallock, a young, progressive and eloquent man of spiritual grace. For many years prior to the forming of this congregation, Lutherans of Beaver Meadow held services in the Old Presbyterian, then Methodist, then Reformed church in the present P.O.S. of A. hall, whose steeple base is still in place to recall that the building was once a House of God. Preaching was in Geman and Rev. E.A. Bauer, old time pastor of Christ Lutheran church, Hazleton, served as the visiting pastor.

St. Peter & Paul’s G.C. Church

Founded and organized April 23, 1895 St. Peter & Paul’s G.C. church, the pioneer members who served as the first board of trustees were Joseph Yackanicz, John Koons, Michael Sulin, John Dudinyak, Andrew Bur, all deceased, and Harrison Mondero and Nicholas Yackanicz, who survive to see the seed they helped plant prove fruitful.

Ground was bought, the church was built and dedicated all in the same year. Dedication services were in charge of the Rt. Rev. Basil Takatch, his Excellency coming from Homestead where he had headquarters as Greek Catholic bishop.

This church was used until 1932 when the congregation had grown so large that a new edifice was imperative. The present handsome church was dedicated by Rev. Nicholas Martyak of Hazleton, pastor of St. John’s G.C. church, acting as bishop pro tem. The first pastor was Rev. Victor Martyak, later recalled to his native land where he is still active as a pastor. The present pastor is Rev. Anthony Mhley. The present trustees are Michael Hadzick, John Andrejco Sr., Michael Phillips, Stephen Hametz, Michael Adamjourka, John Manko, Metro Tchir, John F. Baran, Anthony Goyda, Frank Sherba, John Yackanicz and Andrew Savco. There are 230 families listed in the church membership.

Presbyterian Church

The Presbyterian church, long since disbanded, was located in its own edifice, in what is now the P.O.S. of A. hall. It was founded in 1838, soon after the town was settled. A.H. VanCleve, first coal operator when the mines were opened, founded the congregation. Later as population shifted, the majority of the Presbyterians who stayed in this region moved to Weatherly or to Hazleton.

Methodist Church

While the Presbyterians built the original church, the Methodists also used it for joint services. Old familiar names were recalled in the list of early ministers, among them Revs. King and Moorehead. These clergymen covered the Stockton-Weatherly-Beaver Meadow circuit and they served under the direction of the old Danville district superintendent, then called by the original Methodist name of presiding elder.

Later as the Methodist grew in numbers, the present property was acquired on the main street. The corner stone of their own church was laid by the Methodists in 1874. It was rebuilt in 1911 and the present pastor is Rev. Harry J. Schuchart. It is an active congregation and its members play a leading part in town affairs.

Reformed Church

Records are missing and there is a haze on the history of the Reformed congregation. It is said that for a long time a German Reformed Congregation existed and held services in the vacated Presbyterian edifice but this may be a confusion of the German Lutheran congregation with the Reformed in the unwritten history of the Reformed activities in the borough.

Background of Nations

Back of this church history is the picture of the nationalities who have made Beaver Meadow. The old Irish settlers came with the English, Welsh, Scotch and Germans, the last being probably the latest of the first arrivals in the wilderness.

The Slovaks have played a big part in building Beaver Meadow, not only in religious but in community work. The first Slovaks, who preceded by years the Austrian Gallicians, were Andrew Sholtis, deceased; George Gasper who now lives on North Wyoming street, Hazleton; Michael Marusak, deceased; and Andrew Bacalar, deceased. It was from these people, the four playing their part, when the settlement they made at Coxe’s near the then new breaker was built, that St. Joseph’s of Hazleton fathered.

St. Joseph’s, first Slovak Catholic church to be built in the United States, was promoted by the early comers and the Beaver Meadow Slovak Roman Catholics went to Hazleton to church then as they do today. The group bought land from the Diamond Coal & Land Co. and put up the church later destroyed by fire, to be replaced by the handsome edifice now in use. It was Beaver Meadow’s Slovak colony who played a bit part in this new enterprise and secured Rev. Ignatz Yaskovick, the first priest.

Tyrolers at Beaver Meadow

Tyrolers also have played their part in the History of Beaver Meadow. The first came there in 1883. They were Daniel Rossi, still a resident of Hazleton; the late Hannibal Rossi who was a hotel keeper here for years and a might hunter; Bernard Ecker, deceased, Simon Martini, deceased, Phillip Fellin, deceased, and Simon Fascinelli, deceased. This nationality picked two places to settle, one at Coxe’s and the other in Beaver Meadow proper. Scattered through the region, are many descendants of these pioneers at Beaver Meadow.

Industries At Beaver Meadow

Beaver Meadow once had a shoe factory, burned down many years ago. It was run by a man name Lanyon. It had one of the first powder mills in the region, the site being still discernible in the overgrown brush across the Beaver Meadow Creek. Nearby was a saw mill, also one of the first in the region.

Beaver Meadow’s Hotels

William H. Wlson, Colonel in George Washington’s army and Revolutionary War hero opened Beaver Meadow’s first tavern.

It was also a store and is located where the Ready Pay Store is now located. Wilson was also postmaster and his daughter, Mrs. Sarah McLean, grandmother of the Edwards family at Beaver Meadow, served as postmistress. Wilson’s tavern-store was next taken over by a man named Wilhelm; who was a son of the Wilhelm who for many years was paymaster of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Next came Charles Britton and he was succeeded by George Rowe.

The next hotel was that which N.R. Penrose built, the Cornishmen’s Home. Web Hoyt took it over and it was known by his name. However, it became the Barracks when the Civil War broke out. Hoyt later married one of his landlord’s daughters. The Barracks name was won in Civil War days. The 10th New Jersey was sent to Beaver Meadow and kept there for some time. Some say that the regiment’s loyalty was not trusted. This seems to be an error. The facts in the case are probably that the 10th New Jersey was sent to Beaver Meadow just as other troops were held in Hazleton and at Audenried to protect the hard coal mines, vitally needed to turn out fuel for munitions plants, against the Fishing Creek Confederacy, Columbia county southern sympathizers suspected of entertaining designs on the hard coal mines so that the South could win the Civil War.

Coal Is King, Says Beaver Meadow

The L.V.R.R. moved its shops to Weatherly, thinking that water power would be cheaper than steam. The early railroad kings guessed wrong, for the Weatherly shops had to burn coal just the same and haul it to the plant for some distance.

Has Enjoyed Happy History

Beaver Meadow has been fortunate in having no big epidemics, riots, fires or crimes in its history. It has grown into a modern community with fine homes, cement paving of the main street, modern firehouse, modern fire company, borough hall, street lights, a complete sewer system and several industries.

Was Ahead of Hazleton

In the olden days it was the metropolis of the Hazleton section. When Hazleton was only a patch, Beaver Meadow was a town, and many Hazletonians of the old days would go to Beaver Meadow to do their shopping. As Hazleton grew, some Beaver Meadow people located in Hazleton and gradually the Luzerne county town outpaced its elder sisters. However despite the county line which divides them Beaver Meadow and Hazleton interests are one and the most cordial spirit of co-operation exists between the two communities.

Back in the early days the whole region was a wilderness. The old timers tell of the stories their fathers narrated to them of killing wolves and deer at night right along the main street, back of which woods stretched all the way to the Poconos and the mountains to the south.

Beaver Meadow took the front of the stage again this year when Miss Anita Boyle was salutatorian of the Hazleton High School and Miss Miriam Rosenberg was valedictorian. This honor list is of note for both young women came from Beaver Meadow and they entered a strange school in a strange city to take first honors in a class of almost 500 competing students.

Beaver Meadow enters its 151st year with confidence and courage. It has turned out railroaders, engineers, merchants, lawyers, baseball players, industrialists, doctors and soldiers. Its record in the wars of the nation has been spectacular and many of the men who dug the famous Petersburg mine and blasted Lee’s fort into the air in 1864 came from Beaver Meadow. In the world war it gave its young men to the flag and they all served with distinction.

Return to the Beaver Meadow R.R. Formation Page.

About The Hopkin Thomas Project

Rev. June 2010