A brief “official” history of Tower City and Porter Township , Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, as produced for the centennial celebration 1968:
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HISTORY OF TOWER CITY and Porter Township, 1868-1968
First Land Purchase in Williams Valley Was Made in 1774
Daniel Williams, for whom the Williams Valley was named, pioneered speculation of land in this area. Daniel was a Philadelphia merchant and probably began his career as an Indian trader. He was an outstanding man and with his intellectual prowess and diplomatic tact gained the confidence of the indians.
In 1774, Williams purchased 1526 acres in the “Lykens Valley along Wiconisco Creek.” Thirteen years later he sold his huge tract for ten pounds to his son Ennier Williams.
In March of 1782 and 1784, Ennier bought two separate tracts of land along the Wiconisco Creek. He called one “Pembroke” and the other “Industry.” Although Daniel Williams never lived on his land, Ennier is reputed to have lived here for a brief time during the Revolutionary War.
James Wilson, a signer of the declaration of Independence, purchased from the Commonwealth several thousand acres in the Lykens Valley as early as 1780. Unable to pay his debts, he was imprisoned and his vast land holdings were sold at Sheriff’s sale in 1796. Many turnovers of land and property resulted through the 19th century. Many of the people now settled here permanently are descendants of the old land speculators and holders.
JOHN HAND BELIEVED TO BE FIRST SETTLER
John Hand is believed to be the area’s first authentic settler. Hand’s time of arrival cannot be accurately determined, but the first records of him occurred in 1784. Ennier Williams acquired ground from the Commonwealth which was described as being bounded by lands “on which John Hand lives.” So, in fact, Hand was a squatter on an unclaimed acre of land.
At the age of 17, Hand purchased 97.5 acres in the “Lykens Valley across the Wiconisco Creek” in the year 1790. This was the land including and surrounding Fireman’s Park. Fifteen years later he bought an additional 105 acres that lay east of his previous purchase. The two tracts of ground have been developed to now include Tower City Borough and the eastern portion of Sheridan. Hand bought several hundred additional acres and at his death was the larges landowner in the Williams Valley.
Pioneering this wilderness with Hand was Margaretta Zimmerman, who became his wife in 1783. Their honeymoon was probably spent in a log cabin which John fashioned on his newly acquired land.
Both Hands struggle during the first year to provide enough crops to live on. They had to till and cultivate the soil by hand just to reap a meager amount of food able to sustain life.
FATHER OF VALLEY
John Hand, described by earlier historians as the “Father of the Valley,” had a limited formal education, but his intellectual faculties were outstanding. His integrity, sterling character and judicious qualities earned the respect and admiration of all our early settlers, who looked to him for leadership in all their undertakings.
Peter Braun, a native of Germany, who emigrated to America in 1770, purchased 152 acres of land in 1803 for $400. This tract was a part of the former Williams holdings and extended from Wiconisco Creek north to the present railroad, and from Fifth Street eastward to Eighth Street. From this land, a three quarter acre triangular tract jys east of Fifth Street was donated to erect the first church and school made of logs. It was later destroyed by fire in 1821.
TAVERN AT KEFFERS
Daniel Green erected a tavern on the Keffers Summit in 1803, where the Williams Valley Road intersected the Tulpehocken Path. Business on that early day was evidently not too brisk and he sold his land to Christian Bartsche in 1805, who in turn sold to Joseph Keffer in 1806. The latter constructed a saw mill to the northwest of his tavern in 1808. His place of business was a favorite rendezvous of teamsters, cattle drivers and travelers after the Old Sunbury Road was constructed. Daniel Harvey bought the establishment in 1830 and continued to serve the thirsty and weary traveler until 1880, when it was destroyed by fire while Emmanuel Jenkyn was the proprietor.
Johannes Houtz purchased land in our community consisting of a tract of land of over 148 acres in 1807 and he later sold this land to Michael Heaverling (Heberling). The land was also a part of the Williams tract and was located near the Seibetrs school house. The Houtz family are probably all descendants of Johannes Houtz. During his life time he owned about one thousand acres, gave some to his sons and sold the remaining land.
NEW SAW MILL
Michael Heaverling was a son of Valentine Heaverling, the latter a substantial land owner in Pine Grove, who had erected a saw mill there. Valentine was a mechanical genius, the inventor of an “up and down saw rig” for making shingles. Michael purchased the above 148 acres from Johannes Houtz in 1817 and erected a saw mill below the dam on land now [1968] owned by Clyde Watkins. His land was subdivided among his children, Jacob Heaverling, Henry Heaverling, and others.
Christian Heartter and Casper Heartter constructed a dam and a saw mill below Fireman’s Park on 156 acres of land in 1837, Alexander Thompson bought the tract from the Heartter estate and laid out the village of Sheridan in 1869.
ORWIN FOUNDED
John Dietrich in 1812 bought 21 acres in what is now Orwin. His son, John Dietrich, also bought some land from John Houtz and John Hand Jr. Jacob Hand and others in the same locality, and sold these tracts to Charlemagne Tower, who then laid out what is presently called Orwin, but which he named Johnstown, in honor of John Dietrich Sr.
REINER CITY
George Reiner bought a large piece of land in 1854 from Daniel Bohner and others and started the village named after him, Reiner City, now Muir. This tract was a part of the early Williams holdings.
Peter Schwalm pioneered the construction of the Schwalm’s Addition, in 1867 after purchasing 129 acres to the north and east of First Street in Muir from Charlemagne Tower.
OTHER SETTLERS
Other early settlers were Michael Gutman, Daniel Kuntz, Jonathan Neidlinger, Peter Bellas, John Garth, Jacob Miller, Peter Miller, John Adam (Adams), John Bendigo, Heinrich Sponsler, Friedrich Shanber, Peter Zimmerman, Michael Sehui (Shuey), and Michael Ullrich. These men and their children and others changed St. Anthony’s Wilderness into an agrarian community, with lumbering and milling the principal industries. Carpenters, masons, were busy building houses and erecting barns and other outbuildings. Blacksmiths were needed by the the farmers, lumberman and millers. Shoemakers, wool carders, weavers, potters, millers and brick makers did a brisk business. This was largely a self-sustaining community. These early settlers, with their foresightedness and steadfastness had the foundations of our religious, moral, social and economic life.
Their monuments are all about us, sometimes forgotten and neglected, but their lives are a blessed memory.
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Text above is from the West Schuylkill Herald (Tower City), June 26, 1968, via Newspapers.com, and was also printed in the souvenir book for the Tower-Porter Centennial in 1968.
The 1875 map of Porter Township is from the map collection of Ancestry.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.