In 1875, the Abraham Kessler farm of 74 acres was located in the southwest corner of Lykens Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, as shown on the map below.
The land at this location was originally warranted to Leonard Miller in 1751. Eventually it passed to Andrew Riegel Sr., a soldier in the Revolutionary War, who maintained a sawmill there.
Daniel Riegel Sr., who was the third son of Andrew Riegel Sr., chose 42 acres of the original warrantee, as his inheritance in 1815 and formally received it in 1819. Both Daniel Riegel Sr. and his son Daniel Riegel Jr. were gelders. The Reigel’s sold the property to Abraham Kessler in 1850, who by 1865 added other acreage to complete the 74 acre tract shown on the map.
In 1866, a new bridge was built on the Crossroads over the tributary, referred to locally as Little Creek, that ran from the saw mill to the Wiconisco Creek. Little is known about this bridge as to type of construction; it could have been a covered bridge. The saw mill was located several hundred yards east of this new bridge.
After Abraham Kessler died in 1881, the property passed to his only child, Reuben Kessler. Reuben operated the saw mill until about 1894 when it was believed to have been destroyed by a flood. In the same year of the loss of the saw mill, Reuben Kessler began a new venture – the distilling of whiskey in Loyalton.
The farm house shown at the top of this post was built by Reuben Kessler about 1915.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.
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