· Web viewDeed, Isaac (Hannah) Goldsmith, Jr. to Edward G. Aicher, D34 521 (10 Feb. 1905)(sale price $4,000 for house and lot measuring 28’ 2” along South 4th Street X 105’

(Photo 2007 by Richard F. Hope, from South 4th Street)

(Photos 2015 by Virginia Lawrence-Hope, from

South 4th Street)

(From Ferry Street)

Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society (Illick House / Mixsell House) (101-07 South 4th Street (at Ferry St.))

The Mixsell House, located at the SW corner of Ferry and 4th Streets, is located on original town Lot No.200, as surveyed by William Parsons when Easton was founded in 1752. The additional house attached to the South – known today as the “Illick House” – also lies largely on original town Lot No.200, but that property also occupies a small strip of land that was part of the adjoining Lot No.199.1

Early History of the Property

John and Richard Penn originally contracted to sell Lot No.200 to Christopher Hartzell on 1 March 1800, but (at least according to the Penn Family) the sale was never actually completed. Hartzell later sold his rights to Jacob Hart, who in turn transferred them to Jacob Mixsell. Mixsell considered himself as owning the property at that point, whatever the Penn Family might think. However, in 1818, Mixsell formally obtained title from the Penn Family for this land, as well as several other properties including a wharf on the Lehigh River on the South side of Fermor (later called 2nd) Street, for $138.33 “in specie”.2 Mixsell’s family name was occasionally spelled in the German manner in other documents – Meixsell – which makes it clear that it should be pronounced with a “long i”. Similarly, a map from the 1790s contains a notation (regarding another Easton property) apparently from an English-speaking Penn Family clerks that spelled Jacob Mixsell’s name “Michsael”, presumably as an attempt to render the name phonetically that once again confirming the “long i” pronunciation.3

1 Compare A.D. Chidsey, Jr., The Penn Patents in the Forks of the Delaware Plan of Easton, Map 2 (Vol. II of Publications of the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society 1937) with Northampton County Tax Records map, www.ncpub.org. The Society’s property (which includes both houses today) is shown with a 56.47’ frontage on South 4th Street, while Lot No.200 originally had only a 55’ frontage on that street, leaving a little more than a 1’ strip to be taken from Lot No.199.

2 Deed, John Penn and William (Juliana Catharine) Penn to Jacob Mixsell, C4 446 (31 Jan. 1818). A.D. Chidsey, Jr., The Penn Patents in the Forks of the Delaware Plan of Easton, Map 2 (Vol. II of Publications of the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society 1937) lists this property as having been sold by the Penns to Jacob Mixsell, although he appears to cite to the deed at G1 453, which actually conveyed two different pieces of property to Mixsell.

The deed recites that John and Richard Penn agreed to sell the property to Christopher Hartzell on 1 March 1800; that Harzell sold his interest to Jacob Hart, who in turn sold it to Jacob Mixsell. Mixsell then actually completed the sale with the Penn Family in 1818. The deed recites that because of the earlier transactions, Mixsell regarded the property as his own prior to any formal purchase from the Penn Family. This recital makes it clear that Mixsell considered the formal deed with the Penns as being in settlement of an ongoing dispute, rather than a concession that the Penn Family owned the property at that point.

3 Easton town lot No.10 notation in Charles de Krafft, Map of Easton Original Town Lots (from the collection of Luigi “Lou” Ferone (“Mr. Easton”) auctioned 27 Feb. 2010, said to have been used by the Penn clerks for notations to keep track of the town lots c.1779-1801). This lot was formally sold by the Penn Family to Jacob Mixsell. Deed, John Penn the Younger and John Penn the Elder to Jacob Mixsell, G1 453 (4 Dec. 1789).

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Lot No.199 was purchased by Jacob Meixsell in 1806 from John Young,4 who had formally purchased it from the Penn Family in the prior year (1805).5 Before that, Lot No.199 had been occupied unofficially by the “Widow Tatamy” in a house built before 1779.6 This was apparently a “free white female” identified as the “Widow Tatamy” in Easton in the 1800 Census,7 who had married one of Delaware Chief Moses Tunda Tatemy’s sons (also spelled “Tatamy”). The Chief had served as an interpreter in Colonial days for missionary David Brainerd,8 and for the Pennsylvania governors representing the Penn Family.9 He was a large landowner in Forks Township near, but not at, the modern town of Tatamy.10 Notwithstanding his relationship with the Penns, however, Chief Tatamy had been one of the interpreters and advisors to Delaware Chief Teedyuscung in peace negotiations during the French and Indian War of the 1750s.11 The Chief had died in 1761, and is believed to be buried in the cemetery at the Forks Township U.C.C. Church.12 One of the Chief’s sons, Nicholas, was also granted lands13 for the father’s service. Nicholas was the “Widow Tatamy’s” husband,14 because upon his death in 1784, letters of administration were issued by Orphan’s Court to his widow, Ann, and a son named Moses.15 Ann Tatamy died in 1801; her burial in Easton is recorded in the poor record.16

Jacob Mixsell began his business career as a merchant. According to one later source, Mixsell ran his “mercantile business” on Northampton Street on the site where the “Moses May” clothing store was located in the Able Opera House,17 a location identifiable as 342 Northampton Street.18 In Mixsell’s day, that property housed the stone “Meiner house” – later replaced by the Abel Opera House – and most recently has become the modern glass-and-slate Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society’s Sigal Museum.19 [It is perhaps amusing that both of these locations associated with Jacob Mixsell should today belong to the Society.] Jacob Mixsell had purchased that Northampton Street property from his father-in-law, Judge Daniel Wagener, in 1797, then listing his occupation as a “Storekeeper”. By that time, the “Meiner house” already had a long history.20

As we have seen above, Mixsell expanded his real estate interests to what is now South 4th Street in the early 1800s. In 1810, Jacob Mixsell expanded his business interests when he purchased the mill complex along the North side of the Bushkill creek, just East of Pomfret (now called North 3rd) Street.21 This apparently included a flour, linseed oil, and saw mill.22 Mixsell made a stone addition to these mill buildings.23 This mill complex was already well-established before it was sold to Mixsell, having been started in 1784, shortly after the Revolution by John Herster and John Brotzman. This milling operation would continue in operation for over a century and a half, until 1951, known to people still alive today as the “Mann & Allshouse Lafayette Mills”.24

When Jacob Mixsell formally purchased Lot No.200 in 1818,25 and again when he made his will in 1837,26 he listed his occupation as “Miller”, rather than as a merchant or storekeeper. It appears that his milling business must have been a huge success.

Selected Descendants of Jacob Mixsell Jacob Mixsell = Mary [Wagener]

| . | | |

David Mixsell | Susanna [Mixsell] = Peter Pomp

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Charles Wagener Mixsell |

| . | | | |

Mary Mixsell | Susan [Mixsell] = Capt. Wikoff | Emilie [Mixsell] = Dr. Lalor Charles Jacob Mixsell

The Houses

The origin and early history of the two attached houses at 4th and Ferry Streets is not at all clear. The current owner has asserted that the Illick House was built in 1818,27 perhaps simply because that was the date of Mixsell’s official deed with the Penn Family. The Mixsell House itself was said to have been built about 1820,28 again perhaps based upon a supposition drawn from the date of Mixsell’s formal deed. However, the official land purchase dates may not indicate when the houses were actually begun, and is contradicted by other evidence (discussed below).

The Mixsell House, with its gable roof and dormers, appears to have started as a simple, box-shaped Federal-style home at the corner of Ferry and Hamilton (now South 4th) Streets, set back from the street,29 with some “Greek Revival” architectural style elements included. The basic peaked roof form of the house is “Federal”, while “Greek Revival” elements include a recessed front doorway said to have been copied from a pattern book by noted American architect (and “Greek Revival” advocate) Asher Benjamin.30 A “Greek Revival” doorway, considered alone, might just be consistent with a construction date about 1820, when the Greek Revival style was beginning to become popular.31 However, reference of this particular doorway to a pattern by Asher Benjamin suggests a later construction date. Benjamin’s The Architect, or, Practical House Carpenter pattern book, that “helped redirect American taste towards the Greek Revival”, was not published until 1830,32 suggesting a construction date in the 1830s.

The Illlick House, for its part, has a flat roof and very simple window design, which suggests a basic Greek Revival architecture. However, other features (such as projecting window caps and a bracketed roof cornice) appear typical of the even later “Italianate” style that appeared beginning in the 1840s, and became even more popular later on.33

In 1833, Jacob Mixsell sold much of Lot No.200 (at the corner) to one of his sons, Charles W. Mixsell, for $800. Alleys were established at the western end of the smaller corner Lot, to facilitate communication with the rear of the subdivided properties.34 This sale gave the property a new owner shortly after the publication date of Asher Benjamin’s book, leading various sources to propose 1833 date as the original construction date of the house.35

Historic Preservationist Dennis Bertland has noticed many architectural similarities between the Mixsell House in Easton, and the Hixson-Mixsell House owned by David Mixsell located in Pohatcong, New Jersey. That house “dates to the late 1700s or early 1800s”, according to an application filed with the National Register of Historic Places, but a “brick part along the

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road dates to the late 1830s”.36 Accordingly, it would be consistent with construction in Easton’s Mixsell House dating to about 1833.

However, the source that gives an earlier (“about 1820”) construction date for the Mixsell House, holds that it was “greatly enlarged” about 1833 “by the addition of a grand series of parlors, a stair hall and bedrooms”. It holds that Asher Benjamin’s Greek Revival features were added at that time.37

The Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society has apparently received the opinion of “Historic Preservationists” that the house dates to the 1850-80 time period,38 which is later than other estimates for the basic house.

37 Article, “On Our Cover, 2007”, in The Easton Christmas Book 3 (Easton Is Home 2007).

See generally Wikipedia, “Asher Benjamin”, en.wikipedia.org/wikiAsher_Benjamin (accessed 23 Nov. 2007).

5 See Deed, John Penn and Richard Penn to John Young, A3 505 (20 Dec. 1805)(Lot No.199 on the West side of Hamilton Street, plus Lot No.164 on the East side of Hamilton Street, plus a property on the West side of Front Street containing Lot Nos.25 and 27 and part of 29, in exchange for £15 given to a former Penn agent plus another £108 9 shillings and four pence delivered now).

6 The Penn Family clerks recorded for Lot No.199: “Occupied by Widow Tatamy House buiolt on before 1779”. Charles de Krafft, Map of Easton Original Town Lots (from the collection of Luigi “Lou” Ferone (“Mr. Easton”) auctioned 27 Feb. 2010, said to have been used by the Penn clerks for notations to keep track of the town lots c.1779-1801).

7 1800 Census, Series M32, Roll 37, p.538. 8 Rev. William Cornelius Reichel, Friedensthal and Its Stockaded Mill: a Moravian

Chronicle, 1749 – 1767 11 n.3 (Whitefield House, Nazareth (PA): Moravian Historial Society 1877); see James Wright, History of Forks Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania 44 (1991).

9 Rev. William Cornelius Reichel, Friedensthal and Its Stockaded Mill: a Moravian Chronicle, 1749 – 1767 11 n.3 (Whitefield House, Nazareth (PA): Moravian Historial Society 1877)(Thomas Penn wrote to Pennsylvania Governor Hamilton in October of 1760 that he “supposed” Chief Tatamy was the same person “now employed in Province afairs”); see Uzal W. Condit, The History of Easton, Penn’a 55 (George W. West 1885 / 1889). One of Chief Tatemy’s sons was granted land for his father’s services to the province of Pennsylvania. See id.; James Wright, History of Forks Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania 46 (1991).

10 James Wright, History of Forks Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania 44 (1991)(318 acres “in the vicinity of the Binney & Smith plant and the vocational-technical school”); see also Rev. William Cornellius Reichel, Friedensthal and Its Stockaded Mill: a Moravian Chronicle, 1749 – 1767 10-11 (Whitefield House, Nazareth (PA): Moravian Historical Society 1877); Uzal W. Condit, The History of Easton, Penn’a 55-56 (George W. West 1885 / 1889)(300 acres near Stockertown).

A map of lots posted (without provenance) by William Grant on his “GooglePhotos” web page at https://goo.gl/photos/4Dc7iFG3ijKCJNgU7, shows “Tatamy’s Place”, a rectangular tract of 315 acres, lying to the East and somewhat North of Lefevre’s grant around the fork in the Bushkill. This map cites two patents to “Tetamy”, (with more complete information added) as follows:

Patent, Thomas Penn and Richard Penn to Tunda Tetamy, Patent Book A8 405 (28 Apr. 1738), from Warrant dated 30 Dec. 1736 (Bucks County), indexed online at Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission (Pennsylvania State Archives), Patent Index, A and AA Series, http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/rg/di/r17PatentIndexes/A-

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It is true that “paperwork” in the files of the current owner indicates that the dining room was built “about 1850”. However, this room was probably added onto the house in a remodeling at that time (see below). The likelihood that the basic house pre-dated the dining room is supported by recent restoration work, which has discovered expensive wall murals painted “throughout the ‘original” part of the house” to emulate fine wallpaper, but which “does not continue into the dining room/kitchen area additions to the rear of the house” (whose walls received other decorative treatment). Had the public dining room area existed when the mural was painted, the mural would undoubtedly have been extended there as well. Absence of the mural work thus suggests

AAPatentIndex311.pdf.

Patent, Thomas Penn and Richard Penn to Tunda Tetamy, Patent Book A9 530 (22 Jan. 1741), from Warrant dated 30 Dec. 1736 (Bucks County), indexed online at Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission (Pennsylvania State Archives), Patent Index, A and AA Series, http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/rg/di/r17PatentIndexes/A-AAPatentIndex311.pdf.

Both of these warrants stem from Survey, A24 109 (returned 12 May 1737), copied online at http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/rg/di/r17-114CopiedSurveyBooks/Book%20%20A1-A89/Book%20A-24/Book%20A-24%20pg%20220.pdf (front, showing survey drawing) and http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/rg/di/r17-114CopiedSurveyBooks/Book%20%20A1-A89/Book%20A-24/Book%20A-24%20pg%20221.pdf (reverse, showing return date).

The site of Chief Tunda Tatamy’s land was marked by A.D. Chidsey, Jr., adjacent (northeast) to John Lefevre’s land grant around the fork in the Bushkill. Chidsey’s “1776” map was used as the endpaper for his book, A Frontier Village: Pre-Revolutionary Easton (Vol. III of Publications of The Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society 1940).

In 1776, Chief Tatamy’s land was said to be held by George Stecher, and afterwards by John Stecher, and in 1855 “in part by Valentine Werkheiser”. Rev. William Cornelius Reichel, Friedensthal and Its Stockaded Mill: a Moravian Chronicle, 1749 – 1767 11 n.3 (Whitefield House, Nazareth (PA): Moravian Historial Society 1877).

4 Deed, John (Mary) Young to Jacob Mixsell, B3 220 (6 June 1806)(sale price $700 for Lot No.199 on Hamilton Street, and a large property on the West side of Front Street including Lot Nos. 25, 27, and part of 29, that had been included in Young’s original purchase from the Penn Family).

11 See William J. Heller, Historic Easton from the Window of a Trolley-Car 43 (Express Printing Co. and Harmony Press 1911, reprinted 1984); VIII Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania 29, 174-75 (Harrisburg: Theo. Fenn & Co. 1851); Francis Jennings, Empire of Fortune: Crowns, Colonies & Tribes in the Seven Years War in America 389-90 (New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 1988).

12 James Wright, History of Forks Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania 46 (1991).

13 Survey, 182 ½ Acres in Northumberland County for Nicholas Tatemy, C146 270 (surveyed 24 Sept. 1773, returned 30 Nov. 1773, under warrant dated 22 Jan. 1770 but not recorded), survey copied online at http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/rg/di/r17-114CopiedSurveyBooks/Books%20C1-C234/Book%20C146/Book%20C-146%20pg%20538.pdf (front, showing map) and http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/rg/di/r17-114CopiedSurveyBooks/Books%20C1-C234/Book%20C146/Book%20C-146%20pg%20539.pdf (reverse side, showing return). This tract was on the East side of the NE branch of the Susquehanna River, “opposite an Indian settlement called Sheshequinung”.

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that the basic house pre-dates the dining room area (and thus is older than 1850).39

In any case, the builders “had access to top quality materials and took pride in [this] family home, featuring wide floor boards, large glass picture windows, five fireplaces with marble mantels imported from king of Prussia, a brick walk-in fireplace in the kitchen, Ovolo moulding and a Greek Revival entry with marble steps.”40

Because Jacob’s son Charles W. Mixsell purchased the corner part of Lot No.200 from his father in 1833, it appears likely that Charles (and not Jacob) was the actual occupant of the building he purchased, whenever it was built. It seems likely that Jacob

14 James Wright, History of Forks Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania 46 (1991);

15 See Virginia Lopresti (compiler), History of the Borough of Stockertown to 1976 1 (Stockertown Borough Council 1976).

16 See Virginia Lopresti (compiler), History of the Borough of Stockertown to 1976 1 (Stockertown Borough Council 1976).

17 Floyd Smith Bixler, The Vine and Background of Christian Bixler, 3 rd and Some Collateral Branches 120 (typed by Edith Jane Stires, undated but text at 15 indicates written in 1930).

18 In 1930, when Floyd Bixler published his book, May’s (proprietor Moses May) was located at 342 Northampton Street. West’s Easton Pa. and Phillipsburg, N.J. Directory 384 (R.L. Polk & Co. of Philadelphia 1930).

19 See www.WalkingEaston.com entry for the Sigal Museum at 344 Northampton Street, and sources cited therein.

20 See www.WalkingEaston.com entry for 344 Northampton Street; see also Deed, Daniel (Eve) Wagener to Jacob Mixsell, C2 600 (14 Apr. 1797).

21 He purchased the mills from John Herster and John Brotzman. See Rev. Uzal W. Condit, The History of Easton, Penn’a 80 (George W. West 1885 / 1889).

22 Joan Steiner, The Bushkill Creek 17 (Bushkill Stream Conservancy typewritten MS 1996).

23 He purchased the mills from John Herster and John Brotzman. See Rev. Uzal W. Condit, The History of Easton, Penn’a 80 (George W. West 1885 / 1889).

24 See Richard F. Hope and Virginia Lawrence-Hope, Easton PA: The Lower Bushkill Mills 12-27 (Lulu Press 1st ed. 2012)(and sources cited therein).

25 See Deed, John Penn and William (Juliana Catharine) Penn to Jacob Mixsell, C4 446 (31 Jan. 1818).

26 Last Will of Jacob Mixsell, Will Book 6 at 111-14 (Northampton County Orphan’s Court, dated 15 Mar. 1837, proved 29 Oct. 1841)(image available on ancestry.com).

27 Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society, NCHGS Docent Guide for Mixsell/Illick House Huseum & Textile Center 6 (Summer 2015 ed.).

28 Article, “On Our Cover, 2007”, in The Easton Christmas Book 3 (Easton Is Home 2007). 29 Article, “On Our Cover, 2007”, in The Easton Christmas Book 3 (Easton Is Home 2007);

see City of Easton, Pennsylvania Historic Resource Survey Form, Attachment: Building Description Survey Area 1 Zone G (City Council Resolution approved 12 May 1982)(“Federal” style built c.1833).

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Mixsell himself did not live there, but instead lived with his daughter Susanna in the Meiner House on Northampton Street, where his store had been located, and which was referred to after his death as Mixsell’s “Homestead”.41 Daughter Susanna had married Peter Pomp a few years before the Mixsell House renovations, in 1827,42 and that couple had evidently assumed responsibility to take care of Susanna’s father in his old age.

Jacob Mixsell’s Will

Jacob Mixsell died in 1841, at the age of 79. According to his obituary, he:

30 Article, “On Our Cover, 2007”, in The Easton Christmas Book 3 (Easton Is Home 2007); see generally Nancy J. Sanquist (Project Director, Office of Preservation, Easton City Hall), Easton Architectural and Historical Survey Manual 10-11 (August 1978)(comparison of Federal and Greek Revival styles).

31 See Sanquist, Easton Architectural and Historical Survey Manual, supra at 10. 32 See Wikipedia, “Asher Benjamin”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asher_Benjamin

(accessed 2 October 2015). A detailed review of pattern books available in the 1820s and 1830s, as well as a professional comparison of the Mixsell House doorway to known pattern book models, might shed further light on this subject.

33 See Sanquist, Easton Architectural and Historical Survey Manual, supra at 10, 16.34 Deed, Jacob Mixsell to Charles W. Mixsell, H5 326 (23 May 1833). 35 See City of Easton, Pennsylvania Historic Resource Survey Form, Attachment: Building

Description Survey Area 1 Zone G (City Council Resolution approved 12 May 1982)(“Federal” style built c.1833); A Brief History & Architectural Tour of EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA, “Northampton County Museum”, linked from the “History” section of the City of Easton Website at www.easton-pa.com (accessed 2 Jan. 2005 and 28 Oct. 2007); Scott Hill, A Self Guided Tour . . . Historic Forks of the Delaware 5 (Eagle Scout Project 29 Apr. 1992)(copies sold by Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society); Easton Heritage Alliance, House Tour 2001 Site #8 (19 May 2001); Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society Website, www.northamptonctymuseum.org (accessed 22 Jan. 2005).

36 Compare Email, Andria Zaia to Richard F. Hope (2 Oct. 2015)(“There is a connection with a Mixsell House from New Jersey. Historic Preservationist, Dennis Bertland, was working on a report of this property and noticed many architectural similarities.”) with Sarah Peters, “In comeback from ‘collapsing’ wall and mold, home heads toward National Register of Historic Places”, EXPRESS-TIMES (Lehigh Valley Live), http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/phillipsburg/index.ssf/2013/12/pohatcong_township_home_applic.html (28 Dec. 2013, 7:31 PM) and National Register of Historic Places Program, Hixson-Mixsell House, Reference No. 14000204, https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/14000204.htm (Pohatcong Twp. (N.J.) listed 12 May 2014).

38 See Email, Andria Zaia to Richard F. Hope (2 Oct. 2015). 39 See Id. 40 Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society, NCHGS Docent Guide for

Mixsell/Illick House Huseum & Textile Center 6 (Summer 2015 ed.). 41 Deed of Partition, David (Ann) Mixsell, David Mixsell as Trustee for Eliza Ann

(William) Smith, Susanna Pomp (wife of Peter Pomp), and Charles W. (Mary) Mixsell, H6 55 (15 Jan. 1842).

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“possessed a good constitution, and by an even tranquil disposition, strict temperance, and judicious exercise in useful employment, maintained his health and vigor until the 9th instant, when he met with severe wounds by the fall of a tree, while he was superintending the work.”43

Although Lot No.200 was sold by Jacob Mixsell to his son Charles in 1833, and consequently was no longer owned by Jacob after that date, nevertheless documents pertaining to Jacob Mixsell’s estate created confusion by talking about Lot No.200. Jacob Mixsell’s will left his extensive real estate holdings to be divided in three equal “portions”, to be distributed among his two sons (David and Charles W. Mixsell) and his daughter Susanna (married to Peter Pomp). To accomplish this, a jury of six men was to be chosen (two nominated by each beneficiary), which would make up three equal portions from his estate’s real estate. Confusingly, the deeds implementing this procedure included among the numerous pieces of property to be divided up: “two certain Brick Houses Messuages or Tenements and Lots on Pieces of Ground situated in the West side of Hamilton Street in the Borough of Easton aforesaid marked in the General Plan of said Borough No.200.” The jury in the partition proceeding split this property into two pieces, one piece included in Portion No.1, and the other in Portion No.3.44 This reference to Lot No.200 was almost certainly an error on the part of the deed scrivener – the reference should have been to Lot No.199 which, as we saw above, Jacob Mixsell had acquired in 1806. Otherwise, there would have been no disposition of Lot No.199 in the estate. Moreover, the description of the northern portion of “Lot No.200” (which was included in Portion No.3) recites that beyond it to the North lay “land of Charles W. Mixsell”45 – but that would only be true of Lot No.199, not of Lot No.200 (which lay next to Ferry Street).

From among the three Portions established under Jacob Mixsell’s will, his son David got first choice. His son Charles received the second choice, and the remaining Portion went to his daughter Susanna Pomp.46 In the resulting property settlement proceedings, David Mixsell chose Portion No.1, which included his father’s mills, and also the southern portion of his father’s remaining property on South 4th Street (i.e., the southern part of Lot No.199, although the Deed of Partition incorrectly does not make that identification).47

42 Record of First Presbyterian Church of Easton, Pennsylvania, 1811-1887 (Marx Room Church Records Book designation F) 58 (Copied in Easton Public Library 1936)(Peter Pomp married Mrs. Susan Herster on 26 Jan. 1827); Obituary, EASTON ARGUS, Thus., 5 Oct. 1865, p.3, col.1 (Susanna Pomp was the widow of Peter Pomp); Church Record of the German Reformed Congregation of Easton Pennsylvania (Marx Room Church Records designation E) 148 (copied in Easton Public Library 1936)(Mrs. Peter Pomp died 27 Sept. 1865 age 72).

46 Last Will of Jacob Mixsell, Will Book 6 at 111-14 (Northampton County Orphan’s Court, dated 15 Mar. 1837, proved 29 Oct. 1841)(image available on ancestry.com).

Another son, Philip Mixsell, had predeceased his father in 1839, at the age of 48. Henry F. Marx (compiler), II Marriages and Deaths Northampton County 1799 – 1851 Newspaper Extracts 563 (Easton Area Public Library 1929)(based upon the EASTON WHIG, Wed., 15 Mary 1839, which stated that he had died on “Sunday morning last”, i.e. on 12 May 1839).

47 Partition and Appraisements of the Real Estate of Jacob Mixsell, H6 299 (22 Nov. 1841)(describing and valuing the three Portions); Deed of Partition, David (Ann) Mixsell, David Mixsell as Trustee for Eliza Ann (William) Smith, Susanna Pomp (wife of Peter Pomp), and

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David Mixsell sold off his father’s mills almost as soon as he got control of them.48 He remained a prominent member of the business community until his death in 1850, at age 54. At that time, “He was in the Easton Bank about a week before his death in the prime of health, attending to his duties as a director, when he was struck with palsey, which terminated his existence.”49

Charles W. Mixsell, exercising the second choice, claimed Portion No.3, which (among other things) added another 28½ feet of Hamilton Street frontage from Lot No.199, onto his existing Lot No.200 Hamilton (South 4th) Street holding. This addition shared a party wall in the cellar, with the other half of Lot No.199 that had been included in David’s Portion No.1.50

Charles W. (Mary) Mixsell, H6 55 (15 Jan. 1842)(assigning ownership of the three Portions).

David Mixsell chose a share (Portion Number One) that contained a grist mill, oil mill, and two houses on the North side of Bushkill Creek below the road up College Hill; a brick store house on the East side of Front Street between Northampton and Ferry Streets; and the southern strip of Original Lot No.199 (which may have been erroneously identified in the Deeds as Lot No.200).

43 He died on 25 October 1841. Henry F. Marx (compiler), II Marriages and Deaths Northampton County 1799 – 1851 Newspaper Extracts 594 (Easton Area Public Library 1929)(based on EASTON WHIG & JOURNAL, Wed., 27 Oct. 1841); see Deed, John J. Herster, Trustee for Susannah Pomp, to Edward Abel, E11 13 (14 Mar. 1866)(recital that Jacob Meixsell’s will was proved on 29 Oct. 1841); Last Will of Jacob Mixsell, Will Book 6 at 111-14 (Northampton County Orphan’s Court, dated 15 Mar. 1837, proved 29 Oct. 1841)(image available on ancestry.com); Deed of Partition, David (Ann) Mixsell, David Mixsell as Trustee for Eliza Ann (William) Smith, Susanna Pomp (wife of Peter Pomp), and Charles W. (Mary) Mixsell, H6 55 (15 Jan. 1842).

His wife, Elizabeth, had predeceased him on 9 August 1830, at the age of 69. Henry F. Marx (compiler), II Marriages and Deaths Northampton County 1799 – 1851 Newspaper Extracts 329 (Easton Area Public Library 1929).

44 Partition and Appraisements of the Real Estate of Jacob Mixsell, H6 299 (22 Nov. 1841)(describing and valuing the three Portions); Deed of Partition, David (Ann) Mixsell, David Mixsell as Trustee for Eliza Ann (William) Smith, Susanna Pomp (wife of Peter Pomp), and Charles W. (Mary) Mixsell, H6 55 (15 Jan. 1842)(assigning ownership of the three Portions).

45 Deed of Partition, David (Ann) Mixsell, David Mixsell as Trustee for Eliza Ann (William) Smith, Susanna Pomp (wife of Peter Pomp), and Charles W. (Mary) Mixsell, H6 55 (15 Jan. 1842)

50 Deed of Partition, David (Ann) Mixsell, David Mixsell as Trustee for Eliza Ann (William) Smith, Susanna Pomp (wife of Peter Pomp), and Charles W. (Mary) Mixsell, H6 55 (15 Jan. 1842). Portion No.3’s piece of this property, with 28’ 6” of frontage on Hamilton Street X 105’ deep, ended on the South at the “centre of the Southern foundation or cellar Wall” of a building that was apparently already established on the property. Meanwhile, David’s Portion No.1 included the southern part of this Lot No.199 (with 27’ 6” of frontage on Hamilton Street), whose northern boundary ended at “the center of the Northern foundation or Cellar Wall” – apparently of a building already established on David’s parcel, sharing that “Cellar Wall” with his brother Charles.

48 See Deed, David (Ann) Mixsell to Richard Green, H6 2 (1 Jan. 1842)(sale price $13,000 for “Merchant Grist-Mill, oil-Mill and Two certain Messuages, tenements and tract”).

49 Henry F. Marx (compiler), II Marriages and Deaths Northampton County 1799 – 1851 Newspaper Extracts 594 (Easton Area Public Library 1929)(based on EASTON DEMOCRAT AND ARGUS, Thurs., 18 Apr. 1850, placing the death “on Saturday last”, i.e. 13 Apr.).

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That left the “Homestead” on Northampton Street, with certain other properties included in Portion No.2, for Susanna Pomp. Each of the three portions of real estate had been valued at $14,000 by the jury,51 a very large sum of money for the day.

The Mixsell House

A plan of Easton from the year 1850 shows the footprint of the Mixsell House, as a simple rectangular shape without any additions.52 A similar map from just seven years later, in 1857, shows the Mixsell house with the addition of the dining room space in the rear, and the Illick House added on next door (attaching essentially to the corner of the original Mixsell House). This new footprint makes, in essence, a “sloppy W” shape in form much like the constellation Cassiopeia.53 [This “sloppy W” footprint was also apparent in the Easton Atlas of 1874.]

51 Partition and Appraisements of the Real Estate of Jacob Mixsell, H6 299 (22 Nov. 1841)(describing and valuing the three Portions); Deed of Partition, David (Ann) Mixsell, David Mixsell as Trustee for Eliza Ann (William) Smith, Susanna Pomp (wife of Peter Pomp), and Charles W. (Mary) Mixsell, H6 55 (15 Jan. 1842)(assigning ownership of the three Portions).

Charles Mixsell chose a share (Portion Number Three) of his father’s real estate that extended his South 4th Street holdings southwards. As part of his share, he also received a Tavern Store House and two Lots in Phillipsburg, NJ; a wharf on the Lehigh River located at the SW corner of Fermor (later 2nd) Street; a triangular lot on the East side of Sitgreaves Alley near the Lehigh River wharf property (both refer to an alley named “New Street”); and “Out Lot No.37” on the South side of the Nazareth Road in Palmer (now, apparently, in Wilson).

Susanna Pomp ‘s share (Portion Number Two) included the Meiner house, as well as two houses on original town Lot No.76 (located where Joe’s Market now stands at the NW corner of Sitgreaves and Northampton Streets, and the first Lauter’s Fine Furniture building next door). See generally www.WalkingEaston.com entries for Joe’s Market at 233-35 Northampton Street and Lauter’s Fine Furniture Buildings at 219-31 Northampton Street.

Relations between these two siblings were cordial, apparently. In 1837, Charles Mixsell and his wife Mary would name a daughter Susan Pomp Mixsell, commemorating the Pomp family name. See Church Record of the German Reformed Congregation of Easton Pennsylvania (Marx Room Church Book designation E) 7 (copied in Easton Public Library 1936).

52 J.C. Sidney (surveyor), Plan of the Town of Easton, Northampton Co. Pa. (R. Clark 1850)(copy hung on Marx Room Wall).

53 Thomas A. Hurley (Civil Engineer), Map of Easton, South Easton and Phillipsburg (Freehold (NJ): Thomas A. Hurley 1857); accord, G.M. Hopkins Jr., C.E., Map of Nothampton Co. Pennsylvania “Easton” Inset Map (Philadelphia: Smith, Gallup & Co. Publishers 1860). Both of these maps hang on the wall of the Marx Room.

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Excerpt from 1874 Atlas54

[Mixsell / Illick Footprint at upper right corner.]

Finer Detail Mixsell House at corner of 4th & Ferry Streets.

It is thus apparent that there were improvements built to the house at some point between 1850 and 1857, probably at the same time the dining room was added.

With the advent of street directories in Easton, Charles Mixsell’s residence was assigned the address 29 South 4th Street.55 In the following years, the street address was listed as different numbers on South 4th Street (Nos.31 and 39),56 before returning to No.29 South 4th Street in 1873.57 In each case, however, the Mixsells were only assigned a single number on South 4th Street, suggesting that the building now known as the “Illick House” was considered a part of the Mixsell House itself, and perhaps used as an office (as it was designated in 1875 in Charles W. Mixsell’s estate,58 see below).

In 1874, the Mixsell House’s address was changed to 103 South 4th Street when the modern street numbering scheme was adopted. There was no assignment of the

54 D.G. Beers, Atlas of Northampton County Pennsylvania, Plan of Easton (A. Pomeroy & Co. 1874).

55 C[harles] Kitchen, A General Directory of the Borough of Easton PA 43 (Cole & Eichman’s Office, 1855).

56 William H. Boyd, Boyd’s Directory of Reading, Easton, [Etc.] 126 (William H. Boyd 1860)(39 South 4th Street); Fitzgerald & Dillon, Easton Directory for 1870-71 64 (Ringwalt & Brown 1870)(31 South 4th Street).

57 Jeremiah H. Lant, The Northampton County Directory for 1873 99 (1873)(C.W. Mixsell, house at 29 South 4th Street).

58 See Capt. Charles A. (Susan M.) Wikoff, Mary Mixsell, and Emily V. Mixsell, to C. Jacob Mixsell, G14 665 (20 May 1875).

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address at 101, 105, or 107 South 4th Street, although these numbers were left open in the numbering scheme, presumably to accommodate later developments.59

Charles Wagener Mixsell (Jacob Mixsell’s younger surviving son), had learned the distilling and milling business early in life, in partnership with his father. Charles also partnered with his older brother David in a business in Springtown, NJ.60 When David died of apoplexy in 1850, brother Charles served as the executor of his estate.61 Charles’s money skills did not go unnoticed – he served as Easton’s Treasurer for a number of years, beginning in 1864.62

One modern authority assigns “around 1850” as the construction date for a rear addition to the Mixsell House that became the dining room.63 This addition apparently incorporated the outdoor kitchen and out houses into the inside of the house.64 Further renovations were made to the house in 1874,65 possibly including additions to the southern and western sides.66 Charles W. Mixsell could well afford the best. A tax assessment for May of 1864 listed Charles W. Mixsell as the owner outright of income-producing bonds worth some $82,000 (a very large sum for the day) plus a set of “silver plate”, while he was also the trustee for other bonds worth some $237,100.67

Charles Wagener Mixsell died on 15 March 1875 of pneumonia, and was buried in the burial ground of the German Reformed Church (subsequently the United Church of Christ).68 His wife, Mary K. Mixsell, died the next day, of consumption (tuberculosis), at age 61.69

Charles W. Mixsell died without a will. His heirs appear to have arranged an amicable division of his property among them. Two of his three daughters (Mary and Emilie)70 inherited his brick house at the SW corner of 4th and Ferry Streets. The deed recited a “sale” price (or valuation) of $3,500 for the property.71 The 1880 Census shows Mary Mixsell (age 39) and Emilie Mixsell (age 35) living at 103 South Fourth Street.72

59 Article, “The New Numbers”, EASTON DAILY FREE PRESS, Wed., 26 Nov. 1873, p.3, col.4. The next address assigned was 111 South 4th Street, to Mrs. Rachel Pomp.

60 Samuel Kribel Brecht (ed.), The Genealogical Record of the Schwenkfelder Families 1508 (The Board of Publication of the Schwenkfelder Church, printed by Rand McNally & Co. 1923, available on ancestry.com).

61 David Mixsell died on 12 April 1850, in Easton. His brother, Charles W. Mixsell, served as Executor of his estate. Estate of David Mixsell, Inventory and Appraisement of Personal Property, Surrogate’s Court, Warren County, NJ Case No. 983U (Charles W. Mixsell, Executor, sworn 28 May 1850, digitized on ancestry.com); see also First United Church of Christ of Easton, Record Book 1833 – 1885 (typewritten translation) Image 447 of 729 (ancestry.com)(died 12 April 1850 of apoplexy); Samuel Kribel Brecht (ed.), The Genealogical Record of the Schwenkfelder Families 1507 (The Board of Publication of the Schwenkfelder Church, printed by Rand McNally & Co. 1923, available on ancestry.com); Obituary, “David Mixsell”, BELVIDERE APOLLO, 18 Apr. 1850, p.3 (digitized on ancestry.com). The New Jersey inventory (cited above) did not show the property on South 4th Street, nor was it mentioned in David “Meixsell’s” will. Last Will of David Meixsell Will Book 6 at 514 (proved 17 Apr. 1850, digitized on ancestry.com).


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In 1880, Emily Mixsell married Dr. William Smith Lalor of Trenton, N.J. Dr. Lalor died in 1919.73 Emily herself died in 1921.74

The third sister, Susan, had earlier married U.S. Army Captain (later Colonel) Charles A. Wikoff.75 Col. Wikoff was a veteran of many of the major battles of the Civil War, including Shiloh where he lost his right eye. He remained in the regular army after the War. By 1898, he was the Colonel of the 22nd United States Regular Infantry Regiment, which was transported from its frontier post in Nebraska to Cuba for the Spanish-American War. He was given command of the 3rd Brigade, and was the first (and most senior) officer


74 Obituary, “Emily Mixsell”, EASTON EXPRESS, 19 Mar. 1921, p.2. 63 Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society, NCHGS Docent Guide for

Mixsell/Illick House Museum & Textile Center 6 (Summer 2015 ed.); accord, Email, Andria Zaia to Richard F. Hope (2 Oct. 2015), which states that “paperwork” in the Society’s files indicated a construction date of “around 1850”.

64 Article, “Books, Relics, Tell of Life in the County, Historical Society Has Gathered Dates for 30 Years”, EASTON EXPRESS, Saturday, 12 June 1937, Jubilee Section B p.13.

65 On the East wall of the dining room, to the rear of the original part of the house, under the wallpaper that was removed in October 1952 by Hary N. Searles, there appeared the notation “Frank E. Warner Easton, Pa. 1874 Pa[?]er Nanyer”. The Society believes this notation was made at a subsequent redecoration of the room, and does not indicate that the room was originally added to the house I 1874. See Email, Andria Zaia to Richard F. Hope (2 Oct. 2015).

66 See Article, “On Our Cover, 2007”, in The Easton Christmas Book 3 (Easton Is Home 2007).

67 Annual Tax Assessment Charles W. Mixsell (May 1864, digitized on ancestry.com). 68 From a handwritten record of his burial, death listed as 15 March 1875, in the Church

Records, filmed on Reel 536 of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania’s Historical Pennsylvania Church and Town Records (Philadelphia), digitized on Ancestry.com (listing his age as 67); accord, Rev. J.H.A. Bomberger, Register of Deaths (commencing 1848, listings for 1875, transcribed and typewritten in possession of First United Church of Christ of Easton), in Church Records, filmed on Reel 536 of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania’s Historical Pennsylvania Church and Town Records (Philadelphia), digitized on Ancestry.com (listing his age as 75); Church Record of the German Reformed Congregation Easton Pennsylvania 1833-1885 (Marx Room Reference “E”) 161 (copied in Easton Public Library 1936). See also Samuel Kribel Brecht (ed.), The Genealogical Record of the Schwenkfelder Families 1508 (The Board of Publication of the Schwenkfelder Church, printed by Rand McNally & Co. 1923, available on ancestry.com).

69 Rev. J.H.A. Bomberger, Register of Deaths (commencing 1848, listings for 1875, transcribed and typewritten in possession of First United Church of Christ of Easton), in Church Records, filmed on Reel 536 of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania’s Historical Pennsylvania Church and Town Records (Philadelphia), digitized on Ancestry.com; Church Record of the German Reformed Congregation Easton Pennsylvania 1833-1885 (Marx Room Reference “E”) 161 (copied in Easton Public Library 1936).

70 Samuel Kribel Brecht (ed.), The Genealogical Record of the Schwenkfelder Families 1508 (The Board of Publication of the Schwenkfelder Church, printed by Rand McNally & Co.

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killed in the assault on San Juan Hill on 1 July 1898. He was buried in Easton Cemetery, Section M.76 Mrs. Wikoff’s home was in Texas after her husband’s death. Susan (Mixsell) Wikoff died on 4 July 1906.77

The address numbers for the daughters’ residence on South 4th Street seem to have been somewhat flexible at the end of the 19th Century. In 1883, Miss Mary Mixsell continued to be listed at 103 South 4th Street78 (as the 1880 Census had done), but the following year (1884) she was shown at 101 South 4th Street.79 By 1887, her address was back to being listed as 103 North 4th Street.80 This confusion over the address seems to suggest that she occupied the house at the corner with Ferry Street (hence the 101 address).

1923, available on ancestry.com). In addition to the three daughters, there was a son, Jacob C. Mixsell (see below).

71 Deed, Capt. Charles A. (Susan M.) Wikoff and C. Jacob Mixsell to Mary Mixsell and Emily V. Mixsell, G14 667 (20 May 1875)(sale price $3,500 for “brick Messuage tenement” at the SW corner of South 4th and Ferry Streets, measuring 28’ 1” on South 4th Street X 105’ deep (and tapering slightly so that it was only 27’ wife at the rear alley); see Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society, NCHGS Docent Guide for Mixsell/Illick House Huseum & Textile Center 6 (Summer 2015 ed.); Article, “On Our Cover, 2007”, in The Easton Christmas Book 3 (Easton Is Home 2007)(Mary and Emilie inherited the house).

72 1880 Census, Series T9, Roll 1161, p.418D. They were identified as Jacob Mixsell’s granddaughters in A Brief History & Architectural Tour of EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA, “Northampton County Museum”, linked from the “History” section of the City of Easton Website at www.easton-pa.com (accessed 2 Jan. 2005 and 28 Oct. 2007).

In fact, Emily Virginia Mixsell was born on 5 Sept. 1844, and baptized in the German Reformed Church on 28 Feb. 1845, while Mary was born on 20 Jan. 1840, and baptized in the same church on 30 May 1840. Church Records of the German Reformed Congregation Easton Pennsylvania 1833-1885 (Marx Room Reference “E”) 25, 12 (copied in Easton Public Library 1936). An earlier daughter named Mary Elizabeth had been born to the Mixsells on 17 June 1835 and baptized on 4 Sept. of that year, but must have died before the second Mary was born. Id. at 4.


76 See 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry Regiment website, “Col. Charles Augustus Wikoff”, http://1-22infantry.org/commanders/wikoffpers.htm (accessed 18 Sept. 2015); Find A Grave Memorial # 8477668, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8477668&ref=acom; Pamphlet, Welcome to The Historic Easton Cemetery 13 (The Historic Easton Cemetery, no date). See also Samuel Kribel Brecht (ed.), The Genealogical Record of the Schwenkfelder Families 1518 (The Board of Publication of the Schwenkfelder Church, printed by Rand McNally & Co. 1923, available on ancestry.com).

77 Samuel Kribel Brecht (ed.), The Genealogical Record of the Schwenkfelder Families 1508, 1518 (The Board of Publication of the Schwenkfelder Church, printed by Rand McNally & Co. 1923, available on ancestry.com).

78 J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1883-4 102 (1883). 79 J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1884-5 100 (1884). 80 George W. West, West’s Guide to Easton [Etc.] 102 (George W. West 1887).

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In the 1920s, sisters Mary Mixsell and Emilie [Mixsell] Lalor (also variously identified as Emelia and Emily)81 made a pact concerning the future of the Mixsell House. Emilie willed her half of the house to her sister Mary for life, and then to the Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society if they agreed to occupy it as a memorial to the sisters’ parents. Mary (who actually lived in the house) made a similar conditional gift of her half interest to the Society in her will, further specifying that the Society should agree not to alter its exterior of interior plan. Mary’s will also gave the Society family portraits and other personal property,82 including a closet containing china that had once belonged to Judge Daniel Wagener (Jacob Mixsell’s father-in-law).83 After Emilie died in 192184 and “Miss Mary” Mixsell in 1928,85 the Society accepted the conditional gift. The Society moved its archives from their prior home at the NW corner of Church and Sitgreaves Streets,86 and has since used the House as a museum, as well as its headquarters until the Sigal Museum opened on Northampton Street on property that had once held the Meiner house.87

The Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society had been formed in 1906, in a meeting at the Easton Area Public Library. The first President was B. Rush Field, a former Mayor of Easton;88 the Vice President was J. “Whit” Wood;89 and the Secretary and Librarian was Easton Area Public Librarian Henry F. Marx. The Executive Committee included Floyd S. Bixler90 and William J. Heller,91 among others. Both Joseph Heller (in 1912) and Henry Marx (in 1916) later became Presidents of the Society.92 A list of the Society’s Presidents has been given as follows:

Presidents of the Board, NCHGS (Dates of more than one year indicate more than one term of office)

1906-1907 Dr. B. Rush Field1908-1909 The Reverend John C. Clyde1910-1911 Dr. Charles McIntire1912 William J. Heller1913-1915 Dr. J. T. Stonecipher1916-1917 Henry F. Marx1918 Wesley M. Heiberger1919-1921 Dr. Edward Hart1922-1926 The Reverend Preston A. Laury1927 Horace Lehr1928-1930 The Honorable Henry J. Steele1931-1932 Andrew D. Chidsey1933-1934 Asher J. Odenwelder Jr.1935-1936 Andrew D. Chidsey1937-1938 The Reverend Dr. Franklin K. Fretz1939-1940 David B. Skillman1941-1942 Prof. William B. Plank1943-1944 Andrew D. Chidsey (d. 22 June 1944)

Dr. Walter C.G. Veit completed the 1944 term of office

1945-1946 Dr. Walter C.G. Veit

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1947-1948 Beverly W. Kunkel1949-1951 Dr. Edwin Coddington1952-1953 Dr. Charles A. Waltman1954-1955 Dr. Walter C. G. Viet1956 David B. Skillman 1957-1962 Katharine (Mrs. Charles P.) Maxwell1963-1966 Edward R. Schaible1967-1977 David H. Miller1978-1984 W. Bruce Drinkhouse1985-1986 Dr. Charles A. Waltman1987-1994 Dale Eden1995-1996 Ronald E. Robbins1997-1998 Stanley M. Parkhill1999-2000 Grace Fried2001-2002 David Vilcek2003-2006 Dorothy Cieslicki2007-[2010] L. Anderson Daub93

Among other things, the Society (under President Marx) also obtained and preserved Easton’s second schoolhouse (the stone building now in back of the German Reformed (UCC) Church on North Third Street).94

The Society has also become the owner of a large connection of artifacts relating to Northampton County and Easton (as well as some items with no local connection). For example, in 1935, when Jacob Mayer tore down Michael Hart’s colonial store building, he presented its oriel window to the Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society. He also presented an Indian grave found under the cellar of a local brick building, which “is surmised [to be] the grave of an Indian chief who is recorded to have died while attending one of the Indian treaties held at Easton.”95

The Illick House

As discussed above, the Illick House footprint is missing from a map of Easton in 1850, but appears in one dated to 1857. Its construction can thus be pin-pointed to that seven-year period.96 Also as noted above, this period is very consistent with “Italianate”

93 Listing Compiled by Jane Moyer, Librarian of Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society, transmitted by email, Linda Heindel to Richard F. Hope (29 Sept. 2015).


95 Typewritten Article, “Window of Early Building Given to Historical Society, Oriel From House on Center Square Believed Oldest Easton Relic Gift of Jacob Mayer”, MS in Northampton County Historical Society folder in Marx Room, Easton Area Public Library (undated). The article identifies the building as being at “Lot 89” – however, the original town Lot 89 was located on the other side of Centre Square, in the NW corner of the Square (second from the corner) as part of the lot on which the Bush & Bull Store stood at the time. See A.D. Chidsey, Jr., The Penn Patents in the Forks of the Delaware Plan of Easton, Map 2 (Vol. II of Publications of the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society 1937); see generally separate entry for 301 Northampton Street.

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architectural style features. It is not apparent whether it was intended at that time as a residence, or as an office (see below).

The 1875 settlement deeds of Charles W. Mixsell’s estate establish that his son, C. Jacob Mixsell, received the parcel adjacent to his sisters on South 4th Street, “with the office thereon situated”.97 This reference to the southern structure as an “office” apparently associated with the Mixsell House itself helps to explain why no separate number (apart from the Mixsell House) was assigned to the building when the modern street numbering scheme was adopted in 1874 (as discussed above). Unassigned

96 Compare J.C. Sidney (surveyor), Plan of the Town of Easton, Northampton Co. Pa. (R. Clark 1850) with Thomas A. Hurley (Civil Engineer), Map of Easton, South Easton and Phillipsburg (Freehold (NJ): Thomas A. Hurley 1857) and G.M. Hopkins Jr., C.E., Map of Nothampton Co. Pennsylvania “Easton” Inset Map (Philadelphia: Smith, Gallup & Co. Publishers 1860).

81 A Brief History & Architectural Tour of EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA, “Northampton County Museum”, linked from the “History” section of the City of Easton Website at www.easton-pa.com (accessed 2 Jan. 2005 and 28 Oct. 2007). See generally Deed, The Easton Hospital to Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society, H63 85 (8 Oct. 1931)(conveying a “future contingent interest” left to the Hospital in ¶ 9 of Mary Mixsell’s will, located at Will Book 30 182). This deed recites that the will was dated 14 February 1927.

82 Will (Exemplified Copy) of Emilie Verginia Lalor, Will Book 23 2767 (Northampton County Archives, signed 123 July 1920); Will of Mary Mixsell, Will Book 30 182 (Northampton County Archives, signed 14 Feb. 1927, presented for probate 2 June 1928). Both of these documents spell Emilie’s middle name with an “e”, although it was spelled in the press in the more usual “Virginia” form.

See also Article, “Books, Relics, Tell of Life in the County, Historical Society Has Gathered Dates for 30 Years”, EASTON EXPRESS, Saturday, 12 June 1937, Jubilee Section B p.13; Historical Bulletin of the Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society, No.2, at 2 (May 1947)(copy in Marx Room, Easton Area Public Library); Madeleine Mathias, “A century of preserving the past”, MORNING CALL, Tuesday, 3 Oct. 2006, p.B1; Typewritten Article, “Northampton County Historical Society” (undated)(included in Easton Area Public Library’s file on Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society). Article, “On Our Cover, 2007”, in The Easton Christmas Book 3 (Easton Is Home 2007).

83 See Article, “Historical Society Accepts Gift Of The Mixsell House”, EASTON EXPRESS, Fri., 29 June 1928, p.1, col.1.

84 Obituary, “Death of Mrs. Lalor”, EASTON EXPRESS, Sat., 19 Mar. 1920, p.2, col.1 (Emily Mixsell Lalor, widow of Dr. William S. Lalor, daughter of Charles W. Mixsell, sister of Mary Mixsell of 4th and Ferry Street in Easton).

85 Article, “Funeral of Miss Mixsell”, EASTON EXPRESS, 1 June 1928, p.5, col.1. 86 See Article, “Historical Society Accepts Gift Of The Mixsell House”, EASTON EXPRESS,

Fri., 29 June 1928, p.1, col.1. 87 See A Brief History & Architectural Tour of EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA,

“Northampton County Museum”, linked from the “History” section of the City of Easton Website at www.easton-pa.com (accessed 2 Jan. 2005 and 28 Oct. 2007); Scott Hill, A Self Guided Tour . . . Historic Forks of the Delaware 5 (Eagle Scout Project 29 Apr. 1992)(copies sold by Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society); Easton Heritage Alliance, House Tour 2001 Site #8 (19 May 2001); Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society Website, www.northamptonctymuseum.org (accessed 22 Jan. 2005). See generally Picture Article,

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numbers were made available for it in the future – specifically, the address of 107 South 4th Street,98 which it would eventually assume.

The name of the new owner in 1875, C. Jacob Mixsell, has caused some confusion in the records. A later Deed Poll by which the Sheriff seized the property (see below) called him “Charles J. Mixsell”, but the description and measurements of the property seized make it clear that this was the one intended.99 Directory listings are equally confusing. In 1880 Charles J. Mixsell (age 31) was listed at 105 South 4th Street with his wife, Sadie P. Mixsell.100 In 1883 Charles (“C.J.”) Mixsell was shown at 107 South 4th Street (the later address of the “Illick House”), with the occupation of an assistant post master.101 He disappeared from the 1884 Directory.102 He was not mentioned in 1887, either, although a Jacob C. Mixsell was listed at his 1880 address of 105 South 4th Street.103 [This could have been an exchange of his two first names.] In

“Festivity and Finery (1833) At Fourth and Ferry”, EASTON EXPRESS, Friday, 15 Feb. 1963, p.7.

A portion of the garden and notable fence appear to be the subject of the artistic rendition in Timothy George Hare, Easton Inkscapes No.16 (Easton: Inkwell Publications 1989).

88 See separate entries for Mayor Field Residence, 324 Spring Garden Street, and 411-19 Northampton Street (former site of the Field Building).

89 Article, “Books, Relics, Tell of Life in the County, Historical Society Has Gathered Dates for 30 Years”, EASTON EXPRESS, Saturday, 12 June 1937, Jubilee Section B p.13. See separate entry for Whit Wood Mansion at 62 North Third Street.

90 Article, “Books, Relics, Tell of Life in the County, Historical Society Has Gathered Dates for 30 Years”, EASTON EXPRESS, Saturday, 12 June 1937, Jubilee Section B p.13. See separate entry for the Floyd Bixler Residence at 206 Spring Garden Street.

91 See generally Article, “W.J. Heller Dies on Train”, EASTON EXPRESS, Friday, 2 April 1920, p.1; see John W. Jordan, Edgar Moore Green & George T. Ettinger, I Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of the Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania 402, 405 (The Lewis Publishing Co. 1905, reprint by Higginson Book Co.); William J. Heller, II History of Northampton County and The Grand Valley of the Lehigh Biographical Section 262 (The American Historical Society 1920).


97 Deed, Capt. Charles A. (Susan M.) Wikoff, Mary Mixsell, and Emily V. Mixsell, to C. Jacob Mixsell, G14 665 (20 May 1875)(sale price $3,000 for property adjacent to the parcel being given to Mary and Emily. Jacob’s parcel measured 28’ 2” on South 4th Street X 105’ deep to the real alleys, tapering slightly to measure 29’ along the real alleys).

This deed (which is almost illegible) appears to indicate that most of this land is part of the old Lot No.200, but a 1’ 3” strip would come from Lot No.199.

98 Article, “The New Numbers”, EASTON DAILY FREE PRESS, Wed., 26 Nov. 1873, p.3, col.4.

99 Deed Poll, James Wolfe, Sheriff, for Charles J. Mixsell, to First National Bank of Easton, H24 554 (19 Feb. 1894)($75 bid for property measuring 28’ 2” along South 4th Street X 105’ deep).

100 1880 Census, Series T9, Roll 1161, p.418D. 101 J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1883-4 102 (1883). 102 J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1884-5 100 (1884).

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1889, Charles J. Mixsell reappeared, now listed at 107 South 4th Street (i.e. the “Illick House” address),104 where he remained in 1890 (with his occupation now listed as a “gentleman”). 105 To make it all the more confusing, at least one genealogical source names the sons of Charles W. Mixsell as being David and Jacob Cyphers Mixsell (not Charles at all, named after his mother’s maiden name).106 Despite this naming confusion, this author is inclined to believe that all these references are to the same person, not least because a 1907 newspaper obituary identified “Charles Jacob Mixsell” as the son of Charles W. Mixsell, who died “at the old homestead, Fourth and Ferry streets”.107

As a young man, Charles Jacob Mixsell appears to have served for a month in the Union Army during the Civil War, as a sergeant in Company C of the 38th Pennsylvania Regiment of Emergency Militia. He was enlisted under the name of Jacob C. Mixsell. Other “Easton names” appear in this Company.108 The Colonel and senior officers of this Regiment were also all prominent Easton men.109 This regiment was mustered in on 3

104 George W. West, West’s Guide to Easton [Etc.] 162 (George W. West 1889). 105 Census Directory of Northampton County (Eleventh U.S. Census 1890) 61 (Joseph H.

Werner 1891). 106 Samuel Kribel Brecht (ed.), The Genealogical Record of the Schwenkfelder Families

1507, 1517 (The Board of Publication of the Schwenkfelder Church, printed by Rand McNally & Co. 1923, available on ancestry.com). This entry identifies David Mixsell as the subject’s father, but says that he retired to Bethlehem in 1920 – long after the 1907 death of the person we seek!

107 Obituary, “C. Jacob Mixsell Dies Suddenly”, EASTON EXPRESS, 30 May 1907, p.1, col.6. 103 George W. West, West’s Guide to Easton [Etc.] 102 (George W. West 1887). 108 Samuel P. Bates, V History of Pennsylvania Volunteers 1861-5 1262 (P. Singerly, State

Printer 1871). Among the prominent Easton men were:

1st Lieutenant Charles F. Chidsey, ultimately Easton’s first Mayor when the town was incorporated as a city in 1887; see Rev. Uzal W. Condit, The History of Easton, Penn’a 369-70 (George W. West 1885 / 1889); Obituary, “Charles F. Chidsey, Easton’s First Mayor, Dead; 89 Years Old”, EASTON EXPRESS, Thurs., 12 Jan. 1933, p.1, cols.4-5; see generally Richard F. Hope, Easton PA: A Civil War Walk 34-36 (Lulu Press 2nd ed. 2012); www.WalkingEasston.com entry for the Chidsey Parking Lot at 212-26 Northampton Street.

Corporal John A. Innes; see www.WalkingEaston.com entry for the John Innes Residence at 60 North 3rd Street.

Corporal James W. Wood, later President of the Easton Board of Trade; see www.WalkingEaston.com entry for the Whit Wood Mansion at 62 North 3rd Street.

109 Samuel P. Bates, V History of Pennsylvania Volunteers 1861-5 1261 (P. Singerly, State Printer 1871).

The Colonel was Melchior H. Horn, son of Melchior Horn, was in turn a son-in-law of Easton Revolutionary War father Robert Traill. Melchior H. Horn had been born in Easton on 9 Apr. 1822, and enlisted at Catasauqua, according to the Pennsylvania Civil War Muster Rolls and Related Records, 1861-1865 digitized on ancestry.com. He died on 28 Feb. 1890. His father, Melchior Hay Horn (born 1793), had married Isabella Traill, daughter of Robert Traill. The older Melchior Hay Horn had served as a boy as a sergeant in the First Pennsylvania Regiment of Volunteer Riflemen. His father, Abraham Horn Jr. had been a Captain in that Regiment, serving under his grandfather, Lt. Col. Abraham (Abram) Horn, an early Easton settler and Revolutionary war veteran. See J.C. Bowers, “Biographical Sketch of Frank Melchior Horn”, http://mv.ancestry.com/viewer/1187bebb-baf4-4efb-bab1-fd08b828e067/163134/-468885986

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July 1863, in response to Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s brief invasion of Pennsylvania that was blocked at the Battle of Gettysburg. The 38th Regiment did see some brief service “enforcing authority” in civilian areas after the Confederate Army retired. The Regiment was discharged after approximately one month’s service, on 7 August of 1863.110

Charles J. Mixsell’s professional career was apparently limited to being a postal clerk and deputy postmaster in Easton under Postmaster James K. Dawes, with an annual compensation from the government in 1879 of $610.111 This is consistent with his occupation as listed in the 1883 Easton Directory (see above). However, he was unable to keep ownership of his own South 4th Street property. In 1894, that property was seized by the Sheriff and sold for $75 to the First National Bank of Easton.112 Charles J. Mixsell apparently thereafter lived with his sister, Miss Mary Mixsell, in the Mixsell House, where he died in 1907.113

The First National Bank of Easton was able to resell what became the “Illick House” property in the same year that it was acquired, for $3,500, to Susan C. Knauss.114 Ms. Knauss held it until 1900, when it was sold for $4,000 to Isaac Goldsmith, Jr. He, in turn, sold it after five years, at the same price that he had paid for it, to Edward G. Aicher.115 Aicher stayed until 1922, when he was able to get $15,000 for the property from Stephen Villocchi.116 Villocchi stayed on during the Great Depression, but in 1938 the property was seized by the Sheriff again, and sold to the First National Bank and Trust Company of Easton acting as Trustee for the estate of Alice G. Wilson,117 who had died in 1923.118 Obviously, the Bank was simply holding the property as an investment. The Bank promptly resold it for $7,500 to “Mary C. Illick”.119

Miss Illick only held the house for some nine years before selling it (see below). She did live there during at least some of that time.120

(posted 2015).

The Lt. Colonel was William H. Thompson, son of prominent Bushkill miller James Thompson. See Richard F. Hope and Virginia Lawrence-Hope, Easton PA: The Lower Buskill Mills 204-08 (Lulu Press 1st ed. 2012).

The Major was Thomas L. M’Kean, evidently the South Easton cotton merchant who was the nephew and co-executor of Bank of Easton President Col. Thomas McKeen. See www.WalkingEaston.com entry for Sitgreaves’ Folly (West): McKeen-Young Mansion at 241 Northampton Street.

110 Samuel P. Bates, V History of Pennsylvania Volunteers 1861-5 1222-29, 1261 (P. Singerly, State Printer 1869).

111 II Official Registry of the United States Officers and Employees 397 (Government Printing Office 13 June 1879, digitized on ancestry.com)(C.J. Mixsell); see also Obituary, “C. Jacob Mixsell Dies Suddenly”, EASTON EXPRESS, 30 May 1907, p.1, col.6 (deputy postmaster under James K. Dawes).

112 Deed Poll, James Wolfe, Sheriff, for Charles J. Mixsell, to First National Bank of Easton, H24 554 (19 Feb. 1894)($75 bid for property measuring 28’ 2” along South 4th Street X 105’ deep).

113 Obituary, “C. Jacob Mixsell Dies Suddenly”, EASTON EXPRESS, 30 May 1907, p.1, col.6.

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Mary Catherine (Probst) Illick was born in the Probst Family Homestead property at the corner of Spring Garden and North Third Streets,121 where she lived out much of her life.122 She died at age 100 in 1949, the year after she donated her house to the Society. She had been “a leading figure in charitable enterprises” in Easton, among other things a charter member of the Easton Hospital Board of Trustees,123 a charter member of the Board of Directors of the Social Service League, and a charter member of the Easton Women’s Club. Among other things, she remembered viewing President Abraham Lincoln’s body after his assassination in 1865.124

121 Article, “Easton’s ‘Grand Old Lady’ Saw Lincoln’s Body As Girl”, MORNING FREE PRESS, Wednesday, 14 June 1942, pp.9, 11. This article states that the building was at the corner of Spring Garden and Third Streets; but also states that it was still standing in 1942 and was then a doctor’s office. See below for further discussion.

122 See 1880 Census, Series T9, Roll 1161, p.383B (showing “Mary C. Elick” in the residence and identifying her as Catherine Probst’s granddaughter); 1900 Census, Series T623, Roll 1447, p.72B (E.F. Probst, age 82, and Mary Illick, niece age 51, at 67 North Third Street).

Miss Illick temporarily left the Probst Homestead with her Uncle for 127 North Fourth Street, and was there when he died in 1905. Obituary, “PROBST”, EASTON SENTINEL, Tuesday, 19 Dec. 1905, p.1, col.6 and EASTON SUNDAY CALL, Sunday, 17 Dec. 1905, p.1, col.2. In 1907, the Chipman Mansion was built on the corner property (where the Probst Homestead had stood). Dr. Elinor Warner, Easton, Pennsylvania Walking Tour, for Pennsylvania Art Education Association Conference 2000, http://www.kutztown.edu/paea/paeaconf/2000/easton/walk_tour.html (accessed 4 Jan. 2005); William Peterson, Eagle Scout Project: Historic Guide of Easton Site #33 (2006), available through Easton website, www.easton-pa.com (via “History” link). Accord, Charles M. Barnard (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton 1912 145 (The Easton Directory Company 1912)(W. Evans Chipman, Secretary / Treasurer of Chipman knitting Mills, residence at 252 Spring Garden Street).

However, by 1910 she had returned to the Probst Homestead property, living at 248 Spring Garden Street, next door (East) to the Chipman Mansion (listed at 252 Spring Garden Street). She remained there until 1918. 1910 Census, Series T624, Roll 1381, p.24B (Mary C. Illick, age 60, at 248 Spring Garden Street); Charles M. Barnard (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton, Pennsylvania 291 (Union Publishing Co. 1918)(Mary C. Illick at 248 Spring Garden Street). This is now the archway over the Spring Garden Street exit from the parking lot of the PNC Bank at 61 North Third Street.

This property at No.248 was, in fact, listed in the 1942 Easton City Directory to a Dr. John F. Edwards (see Polk’s Easton and Phillipsburg City Directory 1942-43 538 (R.L. Polk & Co., Inc. 1942)) – just as the article regarding Miss Illick’s birthplace suggested in 1942. Article, “Easton’s ‘Grand Old Lady’ Saw Lincoln’s Body As Girl”, MORNING FREE PRESS, Wednesday, 14 June 1942, pp.9, 11(discussed in last note). However, while that property was part of the Probst’s estate stretching to the corner in 1849 (as the 1942 article suggested), it was no longer the corner property after the Chipman Mansion was constructed in 1907.

Miss Illick moved to 249 Bushkill Street by 1920, and remained there until approximately 1940. See 1920 Census, Series T625, Roll 1609, p.98A (Mary C. Illick, age 70); Charles M. Barnard (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton 399 (Union Publishing Co. 1920); H.P. Delano (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton Pennsylvania 352 (Union Publishing Co. Inc. 1925); West’s Easton, Pa and Phillipsburg, NJ Directory 313 (R.L. Polk & Co. 1930); West’s Easton, Pa and Phillipsburg, NJ Directory 288 (R.L. Polk & Co. 1932); Polk’s Easton and Phillipsburg City Directory 1935 247 (R.L. Polk & Co. 1935); Easton and Phillipsburg City Directory 1937-38 317 (R.L. Polk & Co., Inc. 1937).

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http://www.easton-pa.com/

Mary Catherine Illick’s father, Jacob Brodt Illick (born 1814)125 left for California in the 1849 Gold Rush – the same year that Mary Catherine was born. He stayed in California as a rancher until his death around 1880. His wife, Cecelia Eva (Probst) Illick, and daughter were left in Easton. Cecelia Illick died in 1887.126

In 1948, Miss Illick donated the Illick House to the Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society.127 Despite her short history there, the Society has nevertheless referred to the “Illick House” thereafter.128 Illick House has now been connected to the Mixsell House by doors pierced through the common wall. Illick House served for a time as the dwelling for the Society’s resident Director, and for much

123 Obituary, “Easton’s Oldest Resident Passed Century Mark”, EASTON EXPRESS, Monday, 5 Dec. 1949, p.22, col.2.

124 Article, “Easton’s ‘Grand Old Lady’ Saw Lincoln’s Body As Girl”, MORNING FREE PRESS, Wednesday, 14 June 1942, pp.9, 11.

114 Deed, First National Bank of Easton to Susan C. Knauss, F25 407 (5 Oct. 1894)(sale price $3,500 for property measuring 28 2: X 105’ deep).

115 Deed, Isaac (Hannah) Goldsmith, Jr. to Edward G. Aicher, D34 521 (10 Feb. 1905)(sale price $4,000 for house and lot measuring 28’ 2” along South 4th Street X 105’ deep to boundary alleys (with a tapered width on the alleys of 29’). This deed specifically notes that Mary and Emily Mixsell’s property lie to the South – but since it makes no mention of what lies to the North, it can be assumed that this is a scrivener’s error.

116 Deed, Edward G. (Elizabeth H.) Aicher to Stephen Villocchi, A50 303 (5 Aug. 1922)(sale price $15,000 for property adjacent to Mary and Emily Mixsell on the North, measuring 28’ 2” 105’ deep to an “intended private alley” in the rear).

117 Deed Poll, E. Albert Boyer, Sheriff, for Stephen Villochio, to First National Bank & Trust of Easton, Trustee of the Estate of Alice G. Wilson D70 194 (16 Nov. 1939)(sale price apparently $1,046.09 for property measuring 2’ 2” on South 4th Street X 105’ deep to an “intended private alley”).

118 See Deed, First National Bank and Trust of Easton, Trustee of the Estate of Alice G. Wilson, to Mary C. Illick, A70 655 (27 Dec. 1939)(recital).

119 Deed, First National Bank and Trust of Easton, Trustee of the Estate of Alice G. Wilson, to Mary C. Illick, A70 655 (27 Dec. 1939)(sale price $7,500 for property measuring 28’ 2: on South 4th Street 102’ deep to an [expanded?] 13’ alley).

120 see Polk’s Easton and Phillipsburg City Directory 1942-43 190 (R.L. Polk & Co., Inc. 1942).

125 Obituary, “Easton’s Oldest Resident Passed Century Mark”, EASTON EXPRESS, Monday, 5 Dec. 1949, p.22, col.2.

126 William J. Heller, III History of Northampton County and The Grand Valley of the Lehigh Biographical Section 413-14 (The American Historical Society 1920). See separate entry for 252 Spring Garden Street, and further authorities cited therein.

127 Deed, Mary C. Illick to Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society, G81-000595 (21 June 1948); Article, “Miss Illick Gives Her Dwelling to Historical Group”, EASTON EXPRESS, Monday, 21 June 1948, p.1 col.7; Madeleine Mathias, “A century of preserving the past”, MORNING CALL, Tuesday, 3 Oct. 2006, p.B1.

128 See, e.g., Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society, NCHGS Docent Guide for Mixsell/Illick House Huseum & Textile Center 2 (Summer 2015 ed.).

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longer as the repository for many of the Society’s library of books, maps, documents, newspapers, and pictures relating to Pennsylvania’s history, pending their removal to the Society’s new “Jane Moyer Library” in the Sigal Museum Building on Northampton Street.129

Recent Events

In 1999 the Society was given the Keller House at 109 North Fourth Street, which at that time was used for storage, with plans to make it into a museum.130 The Society decided not to make use of it, and sold the property in 2003.131 Instead, for its new museum the Society in 2009 constructed a new building with a modern glass-and-slate façade to replace the Sigal Building (formerly the Abel Opera House) at 344 Northampton Street. The project was undertaken with the aid of a large “naming-gift” from the Sigal family.132

129 A Brief History & Architectural Tour of EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA, “Northampton County Museum”, linked from the “History” section of the City of Easton Website at www.easton-pa.com (accessed 2 Jan. 2005 and 28 Oct. 2007); Scott Hill, A Self Guided Tour . . . Historic Forks of the Delaware 5 (Eagle Scout Project 29 Apr. 1992)(copies sold by Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society); Easton Heritage Alliance, House Tour 2001 Site #8 (19 May 2001); Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society Website, www.northamptonctymuseum.org (accessed 22 Jan. 2005).

130 Dennis Zehner, “Historical group gets Victorian donation, Retired New York City professor who used Easton house as weekend retreat gives it to county society”, MORNING CALL, Friday, 1 Jan. 1999, p. B-2. According to the article, the Society “believes the house was built in 1879 by Edward H. Green, president of Keystone Iron Co.” It was owned by the Transue family from 1925-69 and used as a boarding house, and acquired in 1969 by Professor Olga Ragusa, the Society’s donor. Id.

131 Interview with Colleen Lavdar, Chairman (1 Nov. 2007). 132 Article, “The Dream Is A’Borning: Sigal Family Grounds Dream in Reality”, TALES

FROM THE GRAPEVINE, Vol.10, Issue 3, p.1, 3 (Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society, Sept.2007).

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Documents

· Web viewDeed, Isaac (Hannah) Goldsmith, Jr. to Edward G. Aicher, D34 521 (10 Feb. 1905)(sale price $4,000 for house and lot measuring 28’ 2” along South 4th Street X 105’