CHAPTER XVII.
LAUSANNE TOWNSHIP.
PAGES 738 TO 740
Page 738
The territory now comprising this township is but a very small
part of the original. It was in 1808 a
part of Penn township, which embraced all that portion of Northampton County
lying north of the Blue Ridge and west of the Lehigh River. In 1808, Penn township was divided into East
Penn, West Penn, and Lausanne, the latter being the north part of that portion
now in Carbon County. West Penn became
a part of Schuylkill County in 1811. In
1827 a small portion of the southern part of the township was taken off to form
Mauch Chunk township. In January 1842,
Banks township was set off the northwest part and in 1847 Packer township was
set off from the southwest part.
In 1875 the township of Lehigh was erected, which embraced the
greater portion of the township of Lausanne, and reduced it to its present
limits. It is now bordered on the north
of Luzerne County, on the east and south by Lehigh township, and south by
Lehigh township, and on the west by Banks and Packer townships, and is about
six miles in length on the county-line and about two and a half in breadth,
except at the western part, where it extends south and embraces within its limits
Weatherly borough.
The streams are Laurel, Spruce Run, and Hazel Creek. The Laurel rises in the north part of the township, flows easterly, passing out of the township at the southeast corner, and flowing through Lehigh township, joins the Lehigh River at Rockport. Spruce Run, a branch of the Laurel, rises in Spring Mountain, flows northeasterly, and joins Laurel Run in the township. Hazel Creek enters the township on the west line, flows southeasterly, then southerly, passes Weatherly borough, and out of the township into Lehigh, where it joins the Quakake Creek. The township is mountainous, and but little cultivated. The Buck Mountain Coal Company is in possession of a tract of mining land which they have worked since 1838, and have this present year abandoned. The land is but little cultivated, and Lausanne is to-day as much a wilderness as it was in 1808. The following names are taken from the assessment-roll of Lausanne township in 1808, when its territory embraced the townships above given. The amount of tax levied in that year was $37.12.
Peter Andrew Christopher
Gebhard (single)
Andrew Beck Jacob
Gebhard (single)
Timothy Condy Felton
Hinkle (single)
George Close Jacob
Hartz
Andrew
Creakle Daniel
Heil
John Dull
(single) Jacob
Kelchner
Mathias
Gangwere Thomas
Leonard (single)
John Creakle
(single) Jonathan
Mergeum
Samuel
Gangwere Robert
McMinn
William
Groffley John
Totten
Daniel
Gebhard (single) Adam
Winter
The owners of
unseated lands for the same year are here given:
Caleb
Washbouer Samuel
Koch
Daniel
Washbouer Joseph
Heister
Stephen
Balliet --------
Hottenstein
James Chapman James
May
------- Bolightho Anthony
Morris
Cuno Moravian
Land Widow
Powell
John Cunkle William
Rex
Christian
Cunkle Samuel
Seager
James Dunn George
Walker
George Groff William
Turnbull
Daniel Koch
The first settlement known to have been made in the present limits of the township was by the Buck Mountain Coal Company, which was chartered June 16, 1836, and soon after purchased land in the region. The company consisted of Samuel L. Shober, …
… Jacob F.
Bunting, Dr. Benjamin Kugler, William Richardson, and Asa L. Foster, all from
Philadelphia except the latter, who was of Carbon County. The first operations for coal were made in
1839, and in the month of November 1840, the first boat-load of coal was
shipped. It was drawn from the mine to
Rockport (about five miles), and shipped on the Lehigh Canal. The flood of January 1841, swept away the
canal, and further shipments were delayed until it was again repaired. In 1843 the company was assessed on thirty
acres of land and four houses.
Shipments were made from Rockport until 1862, when the freshet again
swept away the canal. After this
disaster the Hazelton Coal Company built a branch road to the mines of the Buck
Mountain Coal Company, and coal from that time was shipped by that route. About this time a post-office was
established. A hotel was built by the
company and kept by William Koonz in 1843, and many years by James McGinty and
now by William Boyle. The company has
had in its employ from three to six hundred men. The place contains two school-houses, the hotel, post office,
company store, and other buildings necessary to carry on the business. The settlement has grown up entirely as the
result of the operations of the company, who have purchased lands in Schuylkill
County, and contemplate removing to that locality. Operations here ceased Nov. 28, 1883. The total amount of coal shipped from the mines from 1841 to Nov.
28, 1883, was three million four hundred and sixty-five thousand tons.
Lausanne township will soon lapse almost into the condition of a wilderness. In the year 1875, after Lehigh township had been taken off from the township, there were assessed seven farmers, two teachers, several carpenters, blacksmiths, clerks, hotel-keeper, and the Buck Mountain Coal Company.
In 1883 the total tax, county and State, was $156.29, of which
$47.07 was assessed to the coal company.
The following are the names of farmers, with number of acres, part of
which is wild land:
Timothy
Colen, 45 acres Frank
Fried, 100 acres
James
Conners, 26 acres Fryman
Flickinger, 55 acres
Patrick
Cunningham, 25 acres William
Kennedy, 90 acres
Mr. Hugh
Cunningham, 15 acres Catharine
Moyer, 140 acres
Lewis
Flickinger, 96 acres James
McGinty, 239 acres
Jacob Folk,
110 acres Lewis
Young, 80 acres
William
Spencer is the superintendent of the company
Condy McCole
is a teacher
Hiram Prevost
grocer.
School Directors - The
following is a list of the names of the school directors of the township since
the erection of Carbon County, most of whom resided in that portion of the
township that in 1875 became Lihigh township:
1844 - Richard D. Miles, Ephraim
Balliet
1845 - Jonas Hartz, John Smith
1846 - Daniel O'Donnell, Charles
Gilbert
1847 - John Smith, Wm. Koons
1848 - Richard M. Hackett, James
Cohner, Alex. Santee
1849 - W. B. Taylor, Charles Gilbert,
Adam Beer
1850 - James Conner, Jacob Beer, Daniel
J. Labar
1851 - Jacob Whitebread, Andrew
Barnhard
1852 - Adrian Barber, William H. Brown
1853 - Elias D. Cortwright, Joshua
Derrah, Charles H. Williams,
Philip Huffecker
1854 - O. K. Shoemaker, William B.
Cortwright
1855 - R. Butler, D. J. Labar
1856 - Jonathan McMurty, Frank McFall,
R. Q. Butler, D. K. Shoemaker,
Alexander Miller
1857 - Mordecai Cooper, Philip Mixler
1858 - C. H. Williams, Elias Miller
1859 - John Evans, C. A. Williams,
Joshua Derrah
1860 - R. L. Hearry, M. M. Cooper
1861 - W. H. Brown, John Toomy, Marius
McGinty
1862 - John Evans, M. M. Cooper
1863 - James C. Hayden, M. McGinty
1864 - John Wynn, John Toomy
1865 - C. A. Weiss, John Evans, David
Petry
1866 - James Smith, George Stettler
1867 - John Farley, Peter Kennedy
1868 - C. A. Weiss, Patrick Mekan
1869 - John Farley, James Smith
1870 - Frank Brenan, John Toomy
1871 - John Wynn, Charles A. Weiss
1872 - Charles McGill, Joseph Smith
1873 - Frank Call, Bernard Henry
1874 - B. F. Williams, John M. Cole,
James McGinty
1875 - J. J. Kennedy, Dennis Boyle, J.
E. Maloney
1876 - C. H. O'Donnell, John Maloney,
Patrick Meighan
1877 - John McCole, Evan Daniels,
Michael Meyers
1878 - John Smith, John H. O'Donnell,
James Burns
1879 - C. F. O'Daniels, Henry Colt
1880 - James McKinley, John McCole,
Lewis Sildman, H. P. Harkins
1881 - Adam Boyd, H. P. Harkins
1882 - Henry Call, James Smith, Near
Brisbin
1883 - John S. Brennan, Thomas J.
Edwards
Justices of the Peace - The following is a list of justices of the peace since 1840.
Prior to this time justices were elected in districts, and the list will be
found in the civil roster of the general history. The justices since 1840 were mostly residents of the territory
now set off to other townships:
Amasa Dodson, elected March 1844
Jacob Beer, elected March 1850
Joshua Darrah, elected March 1854
James Lewis, elected March 1855
Joshua Darrah, elected March 1859
Jacob Beer, elected March 1860
James Lewis,
elected March 1861
John Smith, elected March 1862
Samuel B. Taylor, elected March 1864
John Shaffer, elected March 1865
George Stetler, elected March 1866
J. W. Shellheimer, elected March 1867
T. W. Stiegerwalt, elected March 1867
William H. Taylor, elected March 1868
John A. Quinn, elected October 1869
William H. Taylor, elected march 1873
James Smith, elected March 1874
Silas Farraday, elected March 1875
William Buch, elected March 1877
H. B. Harkins, elected March 1878
James McKinly, elected March 1879
L. W. Provost, elected March 1880
C. E. Provost, elected March 1883
********************************************************************************
From
The History of the Counties of Lehigh & Carbon, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
By
Alfred Mathews & Austin N. Hungerford
Published in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1884
Transcribed from the original in October 2003 by
Shirley Kuntz
Web page
by
October 2003