old Schuylkill tales page 91 - 94
THE LONG SWAMPERS
Long Swamp. in West Brunswick township, was an underground
railway station, and was first used by a few runaway
slaves, who succeeded in crossing Mason and Dixon's line in
ante-bellum times, as a place of concealment and refuge) As
the name indicates, the swamp provided, in its environments,
a marshy fastness that few whites cared to penetrate. Its low
strata of soil emanated, at certain seasons, gases of a phosphorescent
nature. The ignis fatuus (will-o'-the-wisp) was not
uncommon. Lights were seen floating about at night in the
inky blackness of its depths. The farmers in the vicinity knew
little of science, and would have discredited any such an explanation
of the Long Swamp Jack-o'-lanterns, and harrowing
stories were told about the head of a trunkless man, who had
been murdered on the edge of the swamp,: was buried in its
depths and who could not rest, but floated or wandered about
to prevail on some one to listen to his tale, remove his remains
and bury them in consecrated ground. Several venturesome
young men, the 'Squire's sons and their. companions, had at-
tempted to follow it to the scene of the burial. The white light
flickered and moved always over the blackest marshes, which
they followed in a batteau, but they conjured the spirit in vain
to speak or else forever after hold its peace. It always eluded
them and disappeared before they reached it or else dissolved,
and they passed through it.
The runaway slaves felt secure in the fastnesses of the
swamp, and knew they could elude their pursuers quite as well
in its depths as anywhere this side of Canada, whither they
were bound, and they remained. They were soon joined by
several Indian half-breed criminals, and some semi-respectable
whites, and a mixed colony of a mongrel type was established.
They built a series of log cabins from the trees which they
felled. Thev hunted and fished and in Summer lent their services
to the farmers roundabout, who, often short of help, were
glad to impress them into their employment. They could work
when they wanted to, and after the haying and harvest there
were always corners left in the fields for the Long Swampers to
glean to feed their few lean and sorry-looking cattle and horses
with the aftermath. The 'Squire was especially liberal with
them. His motto was "Leben lnd los leben."
There were some very industrious people, too, among the
colony, in spite of their miscegenation. Dan Britton, a wellknown
colored man of Pottsville, came from the Swamp, and
who ever knew Dan idle? He traveled the county with horse
and wagon as a huckster, and persisted in peddling almost to
the day of his death. Dan was a dark man but had a halfbrother,
a white man, also from the Swamp, who became a prosperous
farmer in the southern part of the county. The Kinzel-
bachs, of Minersville, umbrella fakirs, peddlers and what-not,
were of this brood. Lydia, wife of big Jack Martin, a white
woman, who married a full blown negro, was raised in Long
Swamp. She was an industrious and hard working woman all
her life and honest, as Pottsville people who employed her, will
testify. The first wife of Win. Lewis, a yellow man, for many
years outside porter at a leading Pottsville hotel, was born in
the Long Swamp, her family removing to Deep Creek where
they worked among the farmers. She was a beautiful woman
of the quadroon type. Tall and erect and of a large, spare
frame; pale yellow in color, large, luminous black eyes, brilliant
teeth, white and even; she was greatly admired and was honest,
industrious and a woman of refined instincts. Her heavy, wavy,
purple-black hair reached to her knees when unbound. This
feature led to -the opinion that her father had been an Indian,
or that she had Indian blood in her veins. Two of her daughters
were perfectly white. She died, as most of the colored people
in the North do, of tuberculosis.
One of the noted characters of the Swamp was "Red
Xance." In the early history of the County, from 1824 or
thereabouts, to 1850, the Long Swampers held their sway until
justice, under its coat of velvet, held them in its hand with a
grip of steel, and thev disbanded and scattered. Some of these
women made good servants and char-women for the housewives
of Reading, Orwigsburg and Pottsville. Red Nance hired out
among the farmers and lived near the Swamp. She had a
daughter, Rebecca, whose worthless husband decamped, leaving
her with a small daughter, Amanda.
Rebecca was a housemaid at the John Bannan residence,
in Orwigsburg, where she remained for a number of years.
Wben the Bannan family removed to "Cloud Home," their
Pottsville residence, they brought with them as a servant,
Amanda, then grown to young womanhood, and who had been
cared for during the interim of her mother's service by her
grandmother, "Red Nance."
Amanda looked askance at the white marble figure of
Henry Clay on the monumental pile in front of Cloud Home,
and one day asked her mistress what it was for. Mrs. Bannan
gave as lucid an explanation as she was able to, to the questioner,
of the life and character of the great protectionist and the
principles inculcated through the doctrine and wound up with:
"Don't you admire the monument, Amanda?" when the girl
with all the superstition of her race answered: "No! I don't
like dead men standing up straight in front of people's houses_
He ought to be in his grave."
THE LONG SWAMPERS
Long Swamp. in West Brunswick township, was an underground
railway station, and was first used by a few runaway
slaves, who succeeded in crossing Mason and Dixon's line in
ante-bellum times, as a place of concealment and refuge) As
the name indicates, the swamp provided, in its environments,
a marshy fastness that few whites cared to penetrate. Its low
strata of soil emanated, at certain seasons, gases of a phosphorescent
nature. The ignis fatuus (will-o'-the-wisp) was not
uncommon. Lights were seen floating about at night in the
inky blackness of its depths. The farmers in the vicinity knew
little of science, and would have discredited any such an explanation
of the Long Swamp Jack-o'-lanterns, and harrowing
stories were told about the head of a trunkless man, who had
been murdered on the edge of the swamp,: was buried in its
depths and who could not rest, but floated or wandered about
to prevail on some one to listen to his tale, remove his remains
and bury them in consecrated ground. Several venturesome
young men, the 'Squire's sons and their. companions, had at-
tempted to follow it to the scene of the burial. The white light
flickered and moved always over the blackest marshes, which
they followed in a batteau, but they conjured the spirit in vain
to speak or else forever after hold its peace. It always eluded
them and disappeared before they reached it or else dissolved,
and they passed through it.
The runaway slaves felt secure in the fastnesses of the
swamp, and knew they could elude their pursuers quite as well
in its depths as anywhere this side of Canada, whither they
were bound, and they remained. They were soon joined by
several Indian half-breed criminals, and some semi-respectable
whites, and a mixed colony of a mongrel type was established.
They built a series of log cabins from the trees which they
felled. Thev hunted and fished and in Summer lent their services
to the farmers roundabout, who, often short of help, were
glad to impress them into their employment. They could work
when they wanted to, and after the haying and harvest there
were always corners left in the fields for the Long Swampers to
glean to feed their few lean and sorry-looking cattle and horses
with the aftermath. The 'Squire was especially liberal with
them. His motto was "Leben lnd los leben."
There were some very industrious people, too, among the
colony, in spite of their miscegenation. Dan Britton, a wellknown
colored man of Pottsville, came from the Swamp, and
who ever knew Dan idle? He traveled the county with horse
and wagon as a huckster, and persisted in peddling almost to
the day of his death. Dan was a dark man but had a halfbrother,
a white man, also from the Swamp, who became a prosperous
farmer in the southern part of the county. The Kinzel-
bachs, of Minersville, umbrella fakirs, peddlers and what-not,
were of this brood. Lydia, wife of big Jack Martin, a white
woman, who married a full blown negro, was raised in Long
Swamp. She was an industrious and hard working woman all
her life and honest, as Pottsville people who employed her, will
testify. The first wife of Win. Lewis, a yellow man, for many
years outside porter at a leading Pottsville hotel, was born in
the Long Swamp, her family removing to Deep Creek where
they worked among the farmers. She was a beautiful woman
of the quadroon type. Tall and erect and of a large, spare
frame; pale yellow in color, large, luminous black eyes, brilliant
teeth, white and even; she was greatly admired and was honest,
industrious and a woman of refined instincts. Her heavy, wavy,
purple-black hair reached to her knees when unbound. This
feature led to -the opinion that her father had been an Indian,
or that she had Indian blood in her veins. Two of her daughters
were perfectly white. She died, as most of the colored people
in the North do, of tuberculosis.
One of the noted characters of the Swamp was "Red
Xance." In the early history of the County, from 1824 or
thereabouts, to 1850, the Long Swampers held their sway until
justice, under its coat of velvet, held them in its hand with a
grip of steel, and thev disbanded and scattered. Some of these
women made good servants and char-women for the housewives
of Reading, Orwigsburg and Pottsville. Red Nance hired out
among the farmers and lived near the Swamp. She had a
daughter, Rebecca, whose worthless husband decamped, leaving
her with a small daughter, Amanda.
Rebecca was a housemaid at the John Bannan residence,
in Orwigsburg, where she remained for a number of years.
Wben the Bannan family removed to "Cloud Home," their
Pottsville residence, they brought with them as a servant,
Amanda, then grown to young womanhood, and who had been
cared for during the interim of her mother's service by her
grandmother, "Red Nance."
Amanda looked askance at the white marble figure of
Henry Clay on the monumental pile in front of Cloud Home,
and one day asked her mistress what it was for. Mrs. Bannan
gave as lucid an explanation as she was able to, to the questioner,
of the life and character of the great protectionist and the
principles inculcated through the doctrine and wound up with:
"Don't you admire the monument, Amanda?" when the girl
with all the superstition of her race answered: "No! I don't
like dead men standing up straight in front of people's houses_
He ought to be in his grave."
