Lizzie
Linton’s Letter
Dear Editor,
February—1915
You ask about my early recollections of Ebensburg, and, as one by
one they come back through Memories Hall, it occurs to me
that I must be
Following
a massive fire that destroyed a large portion of
Ebensburg’s downtown district in 1915, former resident
Lizzie Linton wrote to the local newspaper recounting her
memories of the houses and businesses she knew as a child.
When
Lizzie’s account is compared to the Ebensburg Map of 1854,
it becomes clear that her memory was remarkably accurate.
Lizzie’s
Letter was the focus of the Cambria County Historical
Society’s Speaker’s Series on February 15, 2006 at
7:00PM.
Lizzie,
the daughter of Attorney Edward Hutchinson, was born in
1842. Her recollections of Ebensburg seem to cover the
1840’s and 50’s.
Lizzie
was married to Atty. Peter Linton who died “early on”.
She taught school in Ebensburg. Her son Charles was also an
attorney. A daughter, Minnie, died in the Johnstown Flood of
1889 and another son, Edward, practiced medicine in London,
OH.
It
was from Ohio that Lizzie sent her letter to Ebensburg. In
1915, Lizzie was 73 years old.
Lizzie
writes: “You ask about my early recollections of
Ebensburg, and as one by one they come trooping back through
‘Memorie’s Hall’, it occurs to me that I must be
getting old. When my father moved to Ebensburg, it was but a
small village, numbering not quite a thousand inhabitants,
and was built principally along the line of the ‘Stone
Pike’ although there were a few houses on some of the
other streets. There was neither curbing nor paving at the
time, and the
people did as the inhabitants of Jerusalem are credited with
doing– every man kept the street in front of his own door
clean”.
Lizzie
then has the reader take a walk up East High Street starting
at the toll house near the N.E. corner of High and Sugar
Sts. Here she recalls the homes and businesses of E. J.
Waters, Rachael Reese Jones, Davy Davis- Taylor and her own
home across the street from the Roberts Cottage.
Near
the intersection of East High St. and S. Poplar St., Lizzie
mentions Daniel Jones– Blacksmith, David Roberts–
Carpenter, Morgan Humphries’ blacksmith shop and William
Bateman’s carpentry shop.
On
the 200 block of East High St. near the present
Congregational Church, Lizzie mentions the businesses of
William Davis, Judge Richard Lewis and Ezekiel Hughes. Also
located on that block was Roland William’s wheelwright
shop and Judge H. Kinkead’s saddle shop.
In
passing, Lizzie mentions “Church Alley.” Church
historian, W. R. Davis, credits this landmark as being the
first paved street in Ebensburg.
Also
of interest is the notation referring to the “Contribution
Center” near the S.E. corner of High and Locust Sts.
Lizzie writes that contributions were “from the good
people of Ebensburg for the relief of the suffers from
famine in Ireland sometime in the late 1840’s.”
Later
in Lizzie’s letter, she recalls a boarding house operated
on the first block of West Lloyd St by Old Johnny Rodgers
kept for “court people”.
While
the older businesses on East High St. are of an industrial
nature (blacksmith, carpentry and wheelwrights), the
“uptown” stores are mercantile, jewelry and hotels. Some
businessmen referred to are: Murray Zahm, James S. Clark,
Meschac Thomas, Chalmers T. Roberts, Robert Davis and Carl
Rivinius.
In
her letter, Lizzie Linton recalls in greater detail the
movements of William Kittel, Johnston Moore and Dr.
Aristides Rodrigue. The latter, along with his sisters Aline
and Evaline, were French refugees from San Domingo who, at
the time of the revolution there, escaped to the United
States “saved by the fidelity of their own slaves.”
Lizzie’s
account of the locations and movements of Ebensburg’s
churches are remarkably accurate. She begins with the first
established church— The Welsh Independent or
Congregational located near the site of the present church
building. She mentions that it was the only brick church in
town and the only one with a bell. Services were almost
always conducted in
Welsh and Sunday School in English.
All
other churches in Ebensburg were west of
the diamond (corner of High and Center Sts.).
Although Lizzie mentions the Presbyterian minister, she
neglects to point out the location of the church which was
on the 300 block of E. High St. [See inset for church
information]. As Ebensburg grew, it was divided into three
wards. Subsequently, a one-room school house was built for
each ward. The West Ward and Center Ward schoolhouses exist
today as private homes, though the latter has been moved to
the far end of the same lot. For a time, the Center Ward
school served as the Township School.
Before
Lizzie entered school, she was “treated” to a visit to
the Old Academy which was part of the courthouse complex.
Her father, E. L. Hutchinson, briefly taught there.
In
her description of the county jail, Lizzie remarks: “It
was a log building, strongly built together, but it wasn’t
strong enough to restrain the Flanagans from making their
escape. They had been convicted of the murder of Betsy
Holder in her little cabin. [They] were under sentence of
death when they skipped out between two days.”
Lizzie
Linton concludes her letter to Ebensburg with a description
of “places of entertainment for man and beast–
otherwise, hotels or ‘taverns’ as you prefer calling
them.”
The
first and oldest hotel Lizzie remembered was the Berryhill
Inn on the N. W. corner of E. High and Locust Sts. Mrs.
Berryhill was Johnston Moore’s mother-in-law. The log
tavern was bought by the Barker family on their arrival in
1856. In 1905, Florentine Barker built the brick house that
remains there today.
On
the S. E. corner of High and Center Sts. stood the
Washington Hotel. Catty-corner from it was the Mansion
House. When Major James Thompson bought the Mansion House,
he renamed it the Mountain House. Later he bought the
previously mentioned Washington Hotel. When the Major moved
to his new location, he simply took his sign board with him
and renamed it the Mountain House. It was in the pool hall
of the Mountain House that the Great Fire of 1915 began on
the frigid morning of February 18.
Other
hotels recalled by Lizzie were the Foster House (a.k.a.
Ebensburg House) owned by Mr. Renshaw later owned by Charles
Litzinger. This was the predecessor to the Central Hotel on
the S. E. corner of W. High and S. Julian Sts.
Lizzie
also makes a comment about
Mary O. Evans building a hotel on the S.W. corner of
W. High St. and S. Julian Sts. She does not mention it by
name, but Blair House sat there for many years. It was
conducted by Mary’s son-in-law, John A. Blair.
Lizzie
Linton’s remarkably accurate letter to her hometown
matches up to the information on the Ebensburg map of 1854
and fills in some of the tiny gaps in the development of the
county seat.
w
w w
40 & 8 Garment Donated to Society
The donor of this garment knew nothing about it or its connection to the local chapter (#23) which used the Kelly Steel Converter as its emblem. We found the following information on the internet.
La Societe des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevaux
is an independent fraternal organization of U. S. veterans, more commonly known as the Forty & Eight. The organization was formed in 1920 by American Legionnaires as an honor society and from its earliest days it has been committed to charitable aims.
During the First World War, American servicemen in France were transported to the battlefront on narrow gauge French railroads inside boxcars (Voitures) that were half the size of American boxcars. Each French boxcar was stenciled with a “40/8”, denoting its capacity to hold either forty men or eight horses. This ignominious and uncomfortable mode of transportation was familiar to all who traveled from the coast to the trenches; a common small misery among American soldiers who thereafter found “40/8” a lighthearted symbol of the deeper service, sacrifice and unspoken horrors of war that truly bind those who have borne the battle.
^Top
The
Heritage is published quarterly and mailed to CCHS Members. A few
of the articles will be published here.