Person:Joseph Birkbeck (5)

South Heberton - is a part of Foster Twp that was settled by pioneer Joseph Birkbeck, who came in 1834. He settled the valley between Freeland and Upper Lehigh. He built first a log house, and then a frame, which stands a short distance north of the Freeland north borough line. Mr. Birkbeck’s was the first clearing and in it was where the first crops were raised and where the first orchard was set out. The first child born here was Elizabeth Birkbeck. She was the daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Birkbeck. She was born in 1845. The first death was William Birkbeck. He was also the son of Joseph and Elizabeth Birkbeck, on February 11, 1846. He was only four years old. At Morrison, near White Haven, was the nearest store. Straw’s in Butler was the nearest gristmill. South Heberton has lost its identity and is now just a cluster of houses between Freeland and Upper Lehigh, and what was mostly South Heberton is now known as Upper Lehigh. It was platted in 1865. There were over 200 miners homes there. In 1867 a postoffice was established and the mail came from Eckley. The company store was opened in 1866. The Upper Lehigh hotel was opened for guests January 28, 1869 by Conrad Seiple. The mines at this important village were opened in 1866. Some notable residents were a man named Feist, the Birkbeck’s, a Mr. Minig, N. Howes (Howey) and Joseph Jamison.

Citizens Bank of Freeland was incorporated January 30, 1890; capital stock, $50,000. Officials: president, Joseph Birkbeck; vice-president, H. C. Koons; cashier, B. R. Davis; directors: Joseph Birkbeck, H. C. Koons, John M. Powell, Mathias Schwabe, Charles Dusheck, Antony Rudewick, John Smith, William Kemp, John Burton and John Wagner; secretary of board, John Smith.

The next pioneer in Foster was Joseph Birkbeck, who came in 1834 and settled at what was for a long time called South Heberton, in the valley between Freeland and Upper Lehigh. He purchased a large tract of land of Edward Lynch, a part of which is now in the borough of Freeland. The next settler was Nathan Howes (Howey), who purchased the west part of the Birkbeck tract and built his house to the west a short distance from Birkbeck's. Mr. Birkbeck, after the opening of the collieries at Upper Lehigh, laid off a village and called it South Heberton.

[p.561] In 1845 and 1846 Mr. Joseph Birkbeck cut the road through the woods from South Heberton through Eckley to Buck monutain. Eckley was then known as Shingletown, as no business was done there except by two or three parties whose occupation was making shingles, carting them to either White Haven or Hazleton and trading them for the necessaries of life, such as whisky, pork and tobacco.

The first store at South Heberton was kept by a man named Feist, a little west of Birkbeck's. Soon afterward a Mr. Minig kept a little store near Feist's.

The first tavern was kept by N. Howes, where Joseph Jamison now lives a little west of Birkbeck's. Previous, however, to the opening of Howes' tavern, Mr. Birkbeck accommodated parties who were prospecting in this region for anthracite deposits, with the best the house afforded.

The first schoolhouse at this place was built in 1878, and is a frame building.

When Mr. and Mrs. Birkbeck moved into this then wilderness they were far from any settlement. Birkbeck's sawmill is at the turn of the road just east of Upper Lehigh, and what was mainly South Heberton is now known as Upper Lehigh, an important mining town owned by the Upper Lehigh company. It was platted in 1865 and has nice regular streets and blocks, and is well built and noted among mining towns for its orderly neatness and superior miners' dwellings, of which there are over 200, all double tenements. The mansions of the proprietors and superintendents, chief clerk, foreman and others are elegant and modern in all improvements. The Nescopeck branch of the New Jersey Central approaches the place from the east.

The company has first-class machine shops here, and expert machinists are employed in large 

numbers. The company store was opened in 1866. The Upper Lehigh hotel (built by the company) was opened for guests January 28, 1869, by Conrad Seiple. The village is supplied with pure spring water from the reservoir on the north hills. The mines at this important village were opened in 1866.

The Wyoming & Lackawanna Valleys, con't pg 554: Joseph Birkbeck was a native of Westmoreland, England, born May 2, 1802. He married Elizabeth Johnson, born at Buck Hill, Stainmoor, England, February 12, 1804; the marriage was celebrated at Brough's Church, England, in 1826. They emigrated to the United States, landing in New York City in 1834, whence they immediately proceeded to Minersville, Schuylkill Co., PA. After about two years residence in this place, during which time Mr. Birkbeck was employed in the mines, they removed to Hazleton, where he sunk the first slope in 1838 for Ario Pardee. Two years later he purchased a tract of land comprising four hundred acres in Denison township from Edward Lynch, which later became Foster township and is now the site of Freeland borough. He constructed a rude log house on this land, into which he and his family removed. The surrounding country was a vast uncultivated wilderness, and Mr. Birkbeck's purchase possessed all the characteristics of a poineer farm. During the winters the family spent their time in lumbering, clearing the forest, and manufacturing handmade shingles, which were carried to Conyngham, where they were exchanged for the necessaries of life, no cash being paid for such transactions at that time. In 1844 Mr. Birkbeck sold fifty acres of his land to Aaron Howey, who was closely followed by many other settlers, but not until 1866 was the dense forests converted into excellent farming land. Not long after this coal fields were developed in the neighborhood, and new arrangements became a necessity owing to the rapidly increasing population, Mr. Birkbeck surveyed his land, converted it into town lots, which he sold to the newcomers, thus making the first move in laying out the towns of South Heberton and Freeland. Joseph Birkbeck was the first to prove coal at Highland and Upper Lehigh, being well versed in the anthracite coal strata in the vicinity. He was the builder of many roads, and was preeminently the leading figure in the development of the new country. He and his family were subjected to all the trials, hardships and vicissitudes incident to a pioneer life, and a story is told of how Mrs. Birkbeck, during one of those early, trying days, with no other weapon than an axe, killed a full grown buck deer.