by Laura Klotz, MarkerQuest Blog edited to fit magazine by CMVB Staff
Finding the Stories Behind the Signs
Part II
One woman’s quest to photograph and research all of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission's historical markers recently brought her to Columbia & Montour Counties. NOTE: Part I of Laura’s visit was documented in our previous edition of the magazine, which you can read by clicking here.
James died shortly before the American Revolution began, but Mary remained on the family farm and continued to run it until the Battle of Wyoming, a bloody skirmish in 1778, which has its own marker so I’ll tell you more about it later. Deciding that the fron- tier was too dangerous, the plucky widow packed up everything she could and put it on a raft. She then gathered her four children - James, Margaret, Presila, and Joseph (sometimes identified as Josiah) - and a friend, Mrs. Lazarus Stewart, whose husband had been killed in the battle. Together, the six of them floated down the
I’ve lived in eastern Pennsylvania for over forty years, which is the closest I’m going to get to telling you how old I am. My maternal grandfather’s family has lived in Lehigh and Northampton Counties since before the American Revolution, and the various branches of my family tree are tied to the commonwealth’s history in a lot of different ways. I’ve been fascinated with these blue and gold markers since I was a kid, but when you’re driving past them, you don’t often really have the chance to read what they say. I always thought that was un- fortunate since they seemed interesting, and as an adult, I’ve occa- sionally wondered if most people pay attention to them at all. I de- cided that this project would be a fun way to make sure that at least a few more people get to know about them and the information they contain. So, with the blessing of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (the people who have been putting the signs up for over a hundred years), I launched this blog. Because I’m a very well-rounded sort of nerd, I decided to treat it like one of the collection quests in my video games, and this is my quest log.
Fort McClure Marker; Columbia County
When I wrote about Fort Wheeler back in August, I mentioned that the story of Moses Van Campen continued in the history of Fort McClure, so let’s resume telling that tale. The story of Fort McClure begins with James and Mary (Espy) Mc- Clure, the very first non-Native settlers of what would eventually become Bloomsburg. They were among the earliest Europeans to settle in that part of the commonwealth, having moved there from the Lancaster region, and their eldest child was the first baby of European descent to be born in the area.
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