Description
Linn, John Blair. Annals of Buffalo Valley, Pennsylvania 1755-1855. (Harrisburg, PA: Lane & Hart, 1877)Duodecimo (12mo). Hardcover. 621 pp. Bound in green cloth covered boards stamped in blind with gilt stamping to spine. Brown end papers. Maps and engraved frontispiece.
Condition: VG+, minor bumping to spine ends, name written to front paste-down, a few dog ears. Binding solid, front hinges starting.
Created on March 22, 1813, from part of Northumberland County. Its name is an allusion to
the Federal Union. Lewisburg, the county seat after 1855, was laid out in 1785 and named for
Ludwig (Anglicized to “Lewis”) Derr, its founder. It was incorporated as a borough on March 21,
1822. New Berlin was the county seat from 1815 to 1855.Settlers appeared in the Buffalo Valley in 1750, and the area was raided during the French
and Indian War. Indians held little girls from the LeRoy and Leininger families captive for years. At
Fort Stanwix in 1768 Pennsylvania purchased the area from several Indian nations. New settlers
arrived via the Tulpehocken Road, although Indians raided again in 1777. The Evangelical
Association was founded in New Berlin, and its activities were centered there for many years. In
1830, the Western Branch Division of the Pennsylvania Canal linked Lewisburg to the outside
world, and New Berlin ceased growing when the county seat was transferred to Lewisburg. The
Panic of 1873 eclipsed Lewisburg, however. Between 1865 and 1910, Mifflinburg grew to be the
horse buggy capital of America. Dinkey railroads exploited lumber in remote parts of county. Iron
making from local ore was successful until 1865, but could not compete after that. Today, farms
cover almost one-third of the county, and it is competitive in the production of field grains, poultry,
and dairy products. Furniture and cabinet manufacture, yarn and apparel, printing, road paving
materials, and cable assemblies are major businesses in the county. Governor Simon Snyder was
from Selinsgrove, which was part of Union County until 1855. – Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission
