Vol. 119 No. 29 THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889 July 20 - 26, 2008 The PATPEAS POST. Serving the communities of the Dallas and Lake-Lehman School Districts | www.mydallaspost.com There are 16,000 Crispell relatives living in the U.S. Tom Davis and Paul Keiper. Descendants of Thomas S. Crispell gathered for their 96th annual family reunion on Saturday, August 11, 2007 at Dymond's Grove. From left, first row, are Steven Malcon, "Michael," Lindy Malcon, “Willy,” Carey-Anne Keiper, Kassie Keiper, Caleb Keiper, Corbin Holcomb and Kyle Keiper. Second row, Keith Schenck, Ruth New- berry, Rachel Crispell, Betty Strelczyk and Linda Korbell. Third row, David Korbeil, Michelle Korbeil, Rose Marie Grey, Eunice Sor- ber, Dawn Rogers, Barbara Sidorek, Susan Davis and Michele Keiper. Fourth row, Dan Grey, Marshall Schenck, Jack Sidorek, Par ja was heavily attended. One of the earliest Thomas S. Crispell descendant family reunions Family gathers for 97th By REBECCA BRIA rbria@timesleader.com For the 97th time this year, the descendants of Thomas S. Cris- pell will reunite in Noxen. Event . organizers are sure there are peo- ple in the Back Mountain who may not even know they're relat- ed to the Crispell family. Sharon Robinson, 62, of Tafton, Pa., formerly of Harveys Lake, is the president of the Crispell Fam- ily Reunion and the family genealogist. She !F has the names of many families in the Back Mountain in her gene- alogy, including the Ides, Kochers and La- moreauxs. With num- bers at each year’s Cris- pell Family Reunion dwindling, Robinson encourages all Crispell descendants to attend noon The 97th Crispell Family Reunion Saturday, Aug. 9, at Dymond'’s Grove, Route 29, Noxen The event is only for descendants of Thomas S. Crispell. To register, call Sharon Robinson at 470-3183 or e-mail time Tunkhannock. Another copy, as well as a CD-ROM edition, is available at the Northeast Geneal- ogy Society office in Shavertown, located behind Cook’s Pharmacy. The first edition of “The Penn- sylvania Branch of the Crispell Family” was released in 1950. It was compiled by Robinson’s great-aunt, Ella Crispell Co- bleigh, now deceased. Cobleigh released a supplement in 1964 and, in 1996, Robinson updated the book. Supplements were made every year until 2005 and Robin- son hopes to produce another one next year. Robinson says the Crispells fled France, went to Germany and later New Paltz, N.Y. There are about 16,000 total Crispell relatives in the United States. Solomon and Ger- rN UU the 2008 reunion at her at cris- trude Crispell, who noon on Saturday, Aug. Pell@ptd.net. never lived in the Back 9, at Dymond’s Grove Mountain but made on Route 29 in Noxen. their home in New I think theyre being spread across the country,” she said. “Families are moving away. Part of the problem, too, is the younger people are busy with their lives and they don’t get interested in family reunions and family histo- ry until they are older.” For those not sure if they are @ soe descendants, there is a “way to find out. A copy of “The Pennsylvania Branch of the Cris- pell Family” is at the Wyoming County Historical Society in Eo York, sold 56 acres in Franklin Township for $900 to their son, Thomas, of Olive, N.Y. on March 22, 1851, making him the first Crispell to live in the area. Tho- mas later sold the property to B.C. Bodle. Most Crispells lived in Monroe Township in Wyoming €ounty and later migrated to the Lake Township area. Albert Cris- pell formerly owned the one- room school- See FAMILY, Page 10 CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST Ask Dr. Gerald Levandoski how it feels to bid $6,300 and not get what you want. Levandoski and his wife, Diane, were out bid by Dr. John Shaskas, a Dallas veterinarian, who took home Back Mountain artist Sue Hand's libary auction painting with a $6,400 bid. A crowd pleaser CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Dallas Post correspondent he annual Back lviountain Me- morial Library Auction did not end as planned on Sunday might. Instead, a torrent of rain ended the auction at 8:15 Sunday evening and the bidding audience was asked to return the next night at 6 p.m. Surprisingly, many did return Monday night, including Dr. John and Cathy Shas- kas, who finally out-bid the Drs. Gerald and Diane Lewandowski for Back Mountain art- ist Sue Hand's painting in spirited and crowd-pleasing form. The painting, an on- site item offered every year by Hand, gar- nered $6,400 for the 62nd annual event. Thursday night's antique block offerings were all donated items. To the library, that meant the proceeds from the first night were og UL Receipts were $70,00 before the final night's bidding even began. “pure profit,” according to Barbara Lem- mond, who works the stage each year as a volunteer. Antiques chairperson Leslie Horoshko credits the Back Mountain community, and particularly Diane Getz, for this year’s wind- fall donations. Getz, former owner of the now-closed Hitching Post Antiques Shop, donated the remainder of her store’s invento- ry to the auction. “Don’t go into numbers,” Horoshko said, “but we didn’t have to use all the money this year to buy antiques.” The antiques committee usually spends $15,000 to purchase antiques throughout the year at auction houses and estate sales. The donation of antiques by Getz enabled the committee to save some of the “seed money” normally used to buy items to fill the auction block. “It will probably never happen again,” Ho- roshko wistfully lamented. The food booth did particularly well on Thursday night, noted auction chairman Clarence Michael, selling 400 dinners before 7:30 p.m. Booths were doing $3,000 and $4,000 each night. The children’s auction was well attended with lively bidding of over $50 for new bikes and merchandise. Scout Troop #281, of Dal- las, can be credited with organizing and run- ning the children’s auction each year. On Monday afternoon, the combined gross total for the auction block and booth receipts were $70,000, according to Karen Shuster, who heads the finance committee. That, combined with Monday night’s in- come, will aid the library’s coffers for the coming year. By EILEEN GODIN There’s hidden treasure at lake For The Dallas Post A dream to create a place for children to learn, explore and grow has become a reality for one Harveys Lake woman. Charlotte Williams, known as Miss Charlotte, used a bit of deter- mination and a lot of elbow grease toreveal The Miss Charlotte Read- ing Center, a hidden treasure at the lake. The center, located on Little League Road, opened in June 2007 and offers a creative place for chil- dren to read books and play. Summer hours are from noon to 5 pm. on IF YOU Summer hours for The Miss Charlotte Read- ing Center are Tuesday, fromnoonto5 Wednesday, p.m. on Tues- Thursday and day, Wednes- Saturday. CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST day, Thursday Many new A bevy of children, including Jonathan Raspen, enjoy the reading camp Charlotte Williams has ihe Duy. events are created. tos, visit www, Planned like mydallaspost. ~~ Wednesday af- Not too far from the Lake-Nox- Cassia com. ternoon movies en Elementary School, where she | Cole, left and an old-fash- works as a learning support aide, SE i facing ioned picnic for Williams found an abandoned af] camera, later this summer. brick building which once housed and Paige All this started with a dream the borough's recreation center. Wg Moto- and willpower. Having collected ~~ She pushed forward with her © | vidlak, many educational materials dream and approached the bor- a right, are through her 17 years of classroom ough council. x8] among h experience, Williams felt they “Theywereusingitfor storage,” oi Hig were not helping anyonesittingon she said. “It took me eight months 5. a shelf gathering dust. to get the OK.” COrner. “Pm a strong advocate for litera- PS cy,’ she said. See JREASURE. P.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers