Ligonier Valley Rail Road Newspaper Articles
We have compiled over 1,400 newspaper articles that mention the Ligonier Valley Railroad, or related subjects. The articles were originally published starting in 1873 and our collection runs through 1995. Enjoy!
Ligonier Echo
Thursday, June 29, 1995 Blairsville, Pa.,
Loyalhanna Creek Provided Hub To Life In Kingston
By Jeff Himler
..Continued..
Of the families who moved in, many were of Russian or Slovak descent and many had to struggle up from poverty.
Some of the 26 children in her elementary school class didn't go to school in the winter because they didn't have any shoes.
Most kids in Kingston helped in the family garden, Clawson says.
Boys in the neighboring Squire family watched farmers; cows and helped with plowing.
At her grandmother's home, Clawson's task every Friday was to dust the ornate
banister of the large main staircase in preparation for Sunday's dinner.
"You couldn't breathe in that house all Saturday. You had to keep it clean until Sunday."
Though well off compared to many, Clawson's family wasn't living high on the hog. Sunday's main dishtwo roostershad to be shared among up to a dozen Burd children, spouses and eight sets of Grandchildren.
Sharing good times with friends made any hardships easier to bear. After Christmas was over, Clawson's family gave its used tree to the Squires, who extended it through their Russian version. In return, places were always set for them at their neighbors' later yuletide feast.
By Clawson's count, there were three different schools which, at one time or another, offered instruction in the Kingston area.
Clawson was introduced to the three "R"s at No. 32, a schoolhouse with two rooms, two cellars and "creaky old steps."
"If you were good, you got to go down to the cellar and dust the erasers."
"But if you were really good, you got to scrub the floor"more demanding, but required only a few times each year.
Paddling was reserved for more serious offenses. But if a youngster was caught chewing birch bark, he would have to stay after school. Since there wasn't any electricity in the building, students would "put our heads down or sing" if stormy weather made it too dark to read lessons.
Margaret Burd's home was late in hooking up to electrical service in 1936.
But she was ahead of the game when it came to other modern luxuries, such as indoor plumbing.
The outhouse was still used in the summer. "In the winter, we allowed to use the bathroom." But to flush, "You had to bring a bucket of water up."
Though the local water works provided municipal water to nearby Latrobe, lines weren't extended to many Kingston residents until the 1980s.
Clawson has made much progress in tracing her Burd ancestors back to an original setter in KingstonMajor Simeon Burd, her great-great grandfather, who is buried in Ligonier.
"Of 199 living descendants, 120 of us are still in Westmoreland County," Clawson notes.
She is in the process of compiling a genealogical volume on the Burds.
But "I would like to do more on Kingston."