The SNYDER COUNTY POST History Page

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125 Years Ago - 1885
Everyone in Snyder County can afford a roast for Christmas this year. Turkeys retail at 9 cents and chickens at 6 cents per pound. Hogs sell at 5 1/2 to 6 cents per pound.
Snyder County pays the lowest monthly salary to male teachers, amounting to $25.54 per month, according to Deputy State Superintendent Houck.
The Snyder County Commis-sioners will be treated to a free railroad ride to the Mifflin County stone quarries to select for themselves the stone most desirable for building the new jail, and secure the prices for the same. They will leave on the morning train on Monday, and return on the Express in the evening.

100 Years Ago - 1910
The drop of Western meat has brought the price of dressed hogs down to 8 1/2 to 9 cents in the Snyder County markets.
J.C. Hackenburg, of Swineford, met with an exceptionally painful accident Monday evenging while shelling corn in a hand sheller. He tried removing some cobs and his right hand caught in the teeth, tearing the flesh from the bone on the fourth finger and terribly bruising the third.

75 Years Ago - 1935
Another old landmark has disappeared. The sheds at the Hassinger's (Brick) Church, west of Middleburg, were torn down last week. A purchase of a piece of ground is being made to be used as a parking space and driveway.
The first snow of the season fell Saturday night and continued all day Sunday. It melted nearly as fast as it came down, so no one knows how deep it would have been if it hadn't melted.

35 Years Ago - 1975
A 280 pound, 7 1/2 year old bear was shot last Friday at 9 pm by Donald Weader of McClure RD2. The bear had just killed a sheep owned by Weader and previously attacked several pigs and goats in the area. Having received complaints about this bear before, game protectors box trapped the bear and removed it fifty miles away. This happened three weeks ago, but much to the surprise of everyone, the bear returned to do his hunting in the McClure area.
Vincent Savidge of Paxonville spent a week with his brother-in-law, Dean Musser in the mountains of Virginia where he bagged a 4 point buck.

From the Archives of
The
Middleburg Post

    The Snyder County Historical Society is proud to announce that Fawn Arndt will present a program on the Richfield Fire Company on Tuesday, Novem-ber 23 at 7:30 pm.
    The presentation will describe how the fire company got its start following the town’s devastating fire of 1925. The fire destroyed half of Richfield on New Year’s Day 1925. Fawn Arndt is a member of the Richfield Fire Company Auxiliary and Ambulance League.
     Following the presentation, election of officers for the Snyder County Historical Society for 2011 will be held. Lifetime memberships are $200, Annual memberships are $20 and Junior memberships (until high school graduation) are $10.

Richfield Fire Company
Founding To Be Subject
At Historical Society

Things We Take For Granted...

How Things Use To Be Done

    Even though today's homes and offices are filled with products that save time and lessen labor, we take for granted how difficult things use to be. Where the time came from to perform all the labor that had to be performed just to survive is a mystery, since we all seem to have no time today.
    Following is a collection of chores of daily life for many those living in Snyder County in the 18th, 19th, and beginning of the 20th century. Then, came many of the inventions of the time making life easier for all: internal combustion engines, electricity, telephone, improved roadway, etc.

Cutting Grain
    The manner of cutting grain in the early days of our forefathers was by means of a sickle, or scythe. The neighbors of certain districts would go together, cut, bind and shock the grain, mostly rye in the early days, then go to another neighbor and so on until the whole neighborhood had their grain cut. As many as fifteen to twenty would go together and help one another until the harvest work was done.
    A unique custom of the early settlers, as reported in a previous Snyder County Post article was that it was absolutely necessary to have liquor in the harvest field, and every farmer of those days had from a half barrel to a barrel of old rye in his cellar.

Funerals
    In the event of a death the young people of the neighborhood would gather in the evening at the house of mouming to set a memorial for the departed.
    About midnight, the table was spread and all partook of a meal, remain all night and go home in the morning. This was repeated every night until the corpse was laid to rest. In those days in the mid 19th century, hearses were not in general use and you could scarcely find one in a whole county. So they would use the large farm wagons for a
hearse and also for conveying the moumers, or friends to the cemetery or field of burial.
    The wagon in those days were built with the large English bodies, or boxes, with large end gates, which were removed and the corpse placed in the wagon. The end gate was placed on the

An example of using a scythe to cut grass. This method was used to cut wheat and other crops, where it would be gathered, bundled, and threshed. A few farmers could harvest a field in a short amount of time.

ground and mourners could walk up onto the wagon using these end gates.

Making Fire
    Before matches were patented in 1836 and come into use (and made in Beavertown), fire was made in a much different manner.
    First a material gathered from old rotten wood or stumps, called punk, would be collected and thoroughly dried. When this material was dry it would readily ignite.
     This was piled and a flint (stone) would be struck close to the pile with a piece of steel that would be made to fit the knuckles. Swift striking of the stone would send sparks in every direction and eventually a spark would ignite the punk, which could be fanned into flame.

The Lard Lamp
    Before tallow candles came into use, our our ancesors used to sew, spin, and do all manner of work, and read, either by the fire in the hearth or by the light of a bird shaped lamp. The head and neck of the lamp would be hollow or tube-like in shape to nicely admit a wick, something similar to the tube of a miner's. lamp.
    The body was a vessel or sort of reservoir to hold the oil, or rather the lard, as lard was mostly used. This reservoir had a cover with a hinged lid to fit over and close the lamp. The lamp would be made so it could sit on a table or be hung by nail.

Writing Pens
Writing pens were unknown in the days of our forefathers, and writing was done by means of goose quills cut and shaped in the form of pens.
In the early history of the schools it was thought a teacher that was not able to properly cut and shape these quills did not understand his profession.

Grain Delivery
The grain harvested by farmers would be hauled to Selinsgrove from all over the County and coal brought back on the return trip However, before the canal was built, the farmers wanting to market their grain would be compelled to haul it to Reading, or even Philadelphia.
To make as few trips as possible, they used the large English wagon bodies to take large loads of grain, requiring from six to eight horses. It would take ten to twelve days to make a trip and return.