From Mifflinburg Telegraph Weekly Newspaper
Trail of History for Week of January 12, 2012
Jan 13, 2012 - 9:43:00 AM
This is part two of a series of articles, some of which have done in the past, but most were done by Dr. Cool Snyder in 1992 about log houses. The articles begin in December, 1991.
CHAMBERS HOUSE
After living in the future Arnold house at 410 Walnut St. in Mifflinburg and using the back of the double lot for a tannery, the Chambers brothers were preparing to close their business in the early 1850s. James turned over the responsibility to Robert.
For reasons unexplained he divided it into two parts. He sold the partial lot just west of the present home to Henry Gast, a major buyer and seller of real estate who soon conveyed it to Andrew and Lydia (Fisher) Gutelius. Then Robert found a buyer for the remainder including the house.
The purchasers (or seemed it was accepted) were former residents of Millheim, who had been tanners there. The family included two brothers, John and Benjamin F. Reighards. The former had a wife Susan and several children, while the latter was a bachelor.
To close the deal, however, Robert bought back the lot he had sold earlier to suit the Reighards. The agreement was settled in 1855. Whether the Reighard brothers opened a tannery is uncertain, but they soon involved in merchandising, and continued it for many years. For a time their store was in the 400 block of Chestnut at the corner of 5th St. where Elliot Gutelius and Pines Gramley, were storekeepers there later.
The family enjoyed traveling and a letter of Benjamin wrote, dividing the trip between a hazardous rail trip during a flooded approach to Denver and the approval of the rapidly growing city of Freeport in northern Illinois, which has gathered more settlers from Mifflinburg than any other in the West.
Among the stained glass windows in the Wesleyan Methodist Church in its sanctuary, there is one in memory of John Reighard, Anna Mary (wife of John) and Mrs. Mary Reighard Ficthorn (daughter).
The last member of the family to live in the house was Miss Susie. The property went to a grandchild then living in Rhode Island, Anna R. Fichthorn Lynch and her husband, Eugene. They rented it for some time (years) as a double house. (Gordon Klingman and his wife lived there.)
Then in February, 1930, it was purchased by Oscar F. and Anna A. Bowersox of Millmont. Following his death, Anna sold the property in October, 1944 to Dr. Robert and Mary Arnold. It remains one of the fine old homes of the town today and its logs are still there. The 1860 Census for Mifflinburg shows John Reighard, 37; and wife, Mary, 36, and children: Mary, 13; and Susan, 8.
GUTELIUS HOUSE
In the “Bicentennial History of Union County” fifteen members of the Gutelius family were listed in the index. All were related to one family, which was of Frederick Adam and his wife, Anna Catherine Bistel, and all of them once lived in Mifflinburg.
A generation earlier John Peter Gutelius emigrated from the French-German border to America by way of Rotterdam and settled in Manheim, in Lancaster Co. where he married Anna Maria Deitzler of Dutch descent.
Adam Frederick Gutelius, a son, was born there in 1766 and married Anna Catherine Bistel, born in 1773. After the births of several of their children they moved to Mifflinburg a year or two after 1800 using one two horse teams for transportation with household goods, while the family followed on foot. They built or bought a log house at the northeast corner of North 5th (High) St. and Green (Thomas St.).
Frederick was a blacksmith and later learned surveying. He was one of the first board of commissioners and was appointed as an Esquire (Justice of the Peace) by Governor Thomas McKean. He was also a treasurer and secretary of the German Reformed (Elias Church) a few doors from their home.
With fifteen children the house was enlarged to include loft and kitchen. Two generations later there were more Guteliuses in Mifflinburg than any other family. Among their sons, Samuel was a preacher in Milton, Central Pa. and Maryland. John Frederick Gutelius a dyer and weaver, Johannes Peter Gutelius, Prothonotary of Union County and hatter by trade. David moved to Ohio, Israel was sheriff of Union Co. and editor of the New Berlin, “Union Star.” Henry was also a hatter. Andrew a cabinetmaker, George, and Joseph were carpenters.
The family continued to live in the original home for seven generations. The house was later covered with sheathing and the front door removed. The 1860 census for Mifflinburg shows: Andrew Gutelius, 51, farmer; Fisher Gutelius, 17; Hanna, 14; Amanda, 9; and another family in 1860 in Mifflinburg: Joseph Gutelius 44, carpenter; wife Elizabeth, 42; William, 14; Albert, 12; Elliot 9; and Sarah, 2.
Another family in 1860 in Mifflinburg, George Gutelius, 47, foundry; Catharine, 48; George, 22; Edwin, 20; Anna, 18; Susan, 16; Martha, 14; Mary, 12; Ada, 11; and John F. 6.
FRITZ HOUSE
The early log house of the Fritz family had not been dated, however it was erected by the 1820s since it was sold at a sheriff’s sale by Philip Seebold on September 17, 1828 to Frederick A and Lydia Crotzer Gutelius.
Frederick Gutelius was born in Lancaster County, a son of Frederick Adam and Anna Catherine Bistel Gutelius, and Lydia was born in Mifflinburg. Frederick A. Gutelius was a dyer and weaver by trade and they had ten children: Joseph, of the sons was born in 1842 and killed at the Battle of Gettysburg in the Civil War.
In 1847 the house was sold to Henry Swineford a cobbler, who built a shop behind the house facing Green St. He later passed the home to Albright Swineford who sold it to William Sankey for his mother who lived there for a few years. Then in 1904 it was purchased by James Beaver. He was an orchardist in Limestone Twp. and a clerk with the Gast and Wolf stores.
In the 1920s he conducted a fruit and vegetable market on N. 4th. St. For holidays he dressed hundred of fowls (largely chickens and turkeys) and shipped them to Hazelton, preparing them along the north side of his house.
In 1976 the property was sold to the Fritz family. The original log house was about one-half of its present size, and stood at the left side. The front door was at the right side. The interior was faced with fine trimming. Over the plaster held with hand cut laths were baseboards and moldings with beaded borders.
With a growing family, a need for more room was supplied by the doubling the house along the right side, leaving the stairs at the center. The interior lacked the fine trim of the original which included mortising and tennoning of the German manner. By the 1980s a kitchen was enlarged and narrowed windows and windowpanes added to give a Victorian appearance and brackets along the eaves. Also the porch was added.
About 1910, Beaver made other changes. He restored the porch, and added a “hot house” at the back of the house and installed water and electricity. He also erected a house for his son, and daughter-in-law and grandchildren on Green St. next to his house and also a rental bungalow on the side lot.
Following the purchase of the house, the Fritz family began a major restoration with assistance and plans from Joseph Risso, Jr. of New Berlin and builder of Larry Swenney of Millville. The stairwell was returned to its early lines, and where small pieces of flooring were needed the broad polished original wide boards were used. The original windows of the early years were found. And in two rooms the plaster was removed and the logs were shown again.
Barbara OLDT House
The house of Barbara Oldt, similar to those of the Mussers and Arnolds were among the large log houses which just kept growing through the years which followed. The tradition is that it was built in 1814 and the lot is listed on the Youngman survey of 1792 as lot 39 at the corner of the New Berlin Road (later S. 3rd. St.) and Market. It was either built or bought by Colonel Clement, who lived there for many years.
By 1868 however, the atlas of that year names it as belonging to Mrs. E. Kleckner. It faced Market St. and its left side ran along S. 3rd. St. Its limestone foundation formed a rectangle with a central wall east and west. The front door was at the right, and unusually wide. In fact, it was later narrowed by the door frame. It may have been enlarged when the building was used as a double house. Once inside, the parlor was at the east, a hallway directly ahead, and the stairway at its right.
The parlor had a fireplace along the east wall. (It was restored in 1945 but soft brick limited its use.) It is a long room, but might have been two rooms. Leaving the room at the back, one enters a small sitting room with a door opening on S. 3rd. St. and on its right is the dining room. The kitchen is at the back of the house. At one time there was a narrow stairs along the back wall to reach a small bedroom on the second floor. Just back of the house a few feet was a small shed or “summer kitchen” built of brick with a large fireplace for baking and heating water for washing. It remained still in place until 1945.
Dozens of these small buildings were common, but are now rare. Barbara Oldt refers to a second major renovation. It was an addition an ELL starting just west of the front door, and continuing westward. It contained a large living room on the first floor. The addition had no cellar, and the first floor was a few inches below the level of the original house.
The third major renovation began in 1945, when the Oldt family purchased this early log house. They had lived earlier in New Berlin but had moved to northern Vermont where Stewart Oldt was a flour miller and salesman for miller machinery. Perhaps turning initially to the cellar, Stewart installed concrete posts, crisscrossed large heavy beams to stabilize the eastern side of the house. And while working on this he dug out the clay which had never been removed, creating a cellar through the eastern side of the house, and concreted it.
He also installed a stoker. He next turned to the floor in the parlor. The wide floor boards were worn, and needed strengthening. He covered them with hardwood tongue and groove flooring to support heavy antiques. He then added a two story addition at the back of the house where the two sections stopped. It opened a bathroom on the second floor and widened this dining room on the first floor.
Years later Barbara made another addition. At the back the two sections of the house were scarcely used except for an outside cellar door. A one story across the space would open a window on the west side of the dining room. And it was done. By shifting two windows one reaching back to 1845 with original glass would adorn the above-mentioned opening and it would add to three of the originals in the house, showing the sunshine through. A recent picket fence adds another bit of the 19th century to this well kept illustration of our heritage.
By the 1880s the Hursh family was living here, William and Susan. Their son, William D. grew up in the house and became a buggy maker and the Buggy Museum has one of his buggies. Descendants of the Hursh families continue to live in the house until the 1940s. 1880 Census, Mifflinburg, William Hursh 36; wife Susan, 36; H. Edwin, 16; William D. 18; Catherine, 13; John, 11; Margaret, 10; Theodore, 8; Mary, 6; and Elizabeth, 3.
BOHN HOUSE
Elias Youngman surveyed this area in 1792. Names have changed since the address was Market and “High Street.” Thus, it may be the oldest house in town, except the house of Elias and Catharina. Christian and Catharine Brown moved here to Union County from Berks County and their parents had arrived in Pa. to Berks Co. from Germany.
The Brown house was different from most of the other early houses, for they wished to use it for their home and business. He was a potter and his specialty was red slipware. Earlier this century bargain hunters could find his pottery at auctions if they were lucky. Thus the house had two purposes and as many as four bedrooms.
The unknown builder was skilled. It was built of oak logs with dovetailed notched corners and it measured 35 feet and was set toward Market Street on the usual lot of 60 by 120 feet. The upper floor of the front has five windows evenly spaced, while on the first floor there is a central door between two sets of windows. On the exterior along the roof there is a series of moldings consisting lentils, drilled circles and a twisted rope. And these remain original, including their moldings, excepting one added on the west years later.
Each window has six over eight panes, most of which have the early wavy glass, which reflect the low sunshine. All of the original window encasements are fastened to the logs with large wooden pegs. The front door and mouldings have been altered, but not otherwise changed. Inside, there is evidence that the walls were simply white washed, and then plastered some years later.
© Copyright 2012 by Mifflinburg Telegraph Weekly Newspaper