Independence Beyond The Grave

By Christopher Miller
From the outside it doesn’t resemble much. A thicket, maybe part of a forest, overgrown around the edges but with some resemblance of a recently manicured lawn. The untrained eye really passes it by as being a mess of weeds and brush.

Unless you know what you’re looking for, you will pass it by. Heck, someone might even have to physically show it to you before you know it is there.

It is a grave situation.

What I am talking about is the Quiggle Cemetery in the McElhattan/Wayne Township area.

Down a dusty, dirt road and across the railroad tracks sits Quiggle Cemetery that may very well be older than the United States is a country. Directions here are fairly simple: drive past the county correctional facility on Pine Mountain Road, turn left on Spook Hollow Road and follow this until you pass over the railroad tracks, parking then off to the side. Cross the tracks at what appears to be a wooden arch, or sign advertising the forgotten and neglected cemetery.

If you take this route you may have also noticed a marker and monument at the bottom of a small hill after turning on to Spook Hollow Road. This is a dedication to a small colonial fort that sat near the location. Fort Horn was supposedly one of the last lines of defense for colonial settlers in what was then known as the western-most wilds where man was met daily with the Indians. It could have also been the location of the Tiadaghton Declaration of Independence – more on that later.

Quiggle Cemetery can have the appearance of something out of the AMC series The Walking Dead, with all respect to the deceased who are buried there, of course. Broken branches and downed tree limbs adorn the edges of the burial ground. This cemetery holds a secret of Clinton County’s colonial past.

Long before Clinton County and Lock Haven were formed this area was never really mapped or explored. It was home to frontier cabins and settlers looking to carve out their piece of the wilds. Indian attacks were constant; one always had to be on the lookout for Indians when stepping away from the confines of the stockade.

A group of people, probably numbering close to a few dozen, called this place home. In fact there are a few families still living locally today that can trace their lineage and genealogy back to these “founding fathers” of the West Branch area.

Along with the constant threat of Indian attacks, these frontiersmen had to carve out a life for themselves and do it all from scratch and by hand. The few tools and implements that they brought with them when relocating here from places such as New Jersey, Delaware, and Philadelphia were all that they had to stake their claim and start their new lives.

There were no railroads yet or general stores this far west. A preacher on a mission might not be out this way for months, and usually carried news with him that was two months too late. Want bread? Better start threshing the grain. Churn that butter! Life was hard for the inhabitants of what would (much) later become Clinton County.

In time people died. Starvation, Indian attacks, general causes, disease, and old age plagued the 1700s man.

Philip and Michael Quiggle, along with their families, came from Lancaster County to our area in the mid-to-late 1700s. As people died, there was a need for interment for their families and neighbors, so the Quiggle Cemetery developed. Early burials here date to about 1800, but some may be older.

There was a very nice narrative I came across in the Wayne Township Cemeteries book that is a bit too lengthy to reproduce in this article, but to sum it up, it tells the story of a visit to the cemetery in 1911. The story described it as “white tombstones looming up above the weeds, white teeth of death, indicated that bodies had been laid there to rest.”

It goes on to suggest that, “if time is a circle, then heaven lies in the past, as well as in the future, and the needle of our mental compass always points into the great beyond, no difference where we look.” Later on, the narrative points out a name, Andrew K. Rinder, whose name was found on a stone, being buried long before the roar of the “Pennsy” thundering by, or other then-modern inventions.

If the cemetery is indeed the final resting place for Mr. Andrew K. Rinder, it sure is the place of final rest for dozens of others as well, forgotten to time and whose names have been long since erased from their stones thanks to the natural elements.

From my count in old cemetery record books at the Ross Library, Clinton County is home to at least 14 known Revolutionary War soldiers interred within her confines. A few of these may have signed the now locally legendary Tiadaghton Declaration of Independence. For those who have not heard the tale, this declaration was drafted by the locals (known as Fair Play Men) of the west branch area declaring their intent for disconnection from Great Britain, and signed on 4 July 1776.

Local legends and lore say that a copy was sent down river to Philadelphia, but did not make it past present-day Dalmatia a few miles south of Selinsgrove before being stopped by Indians. Another copy was also supposedly buried in an iron strongbox on the parade grounds of Fort Horn. Though no copies have turned up and were most likely lost to history it is neat to think that the forefathers of the west branch “did it first.”

While those buried in Quiggle Cemetery are only a small handful of the 14 men buried within Clinton County who fought during the Revolutionary War, we celebrate them all for their brave and selfless acts. Below is information that was located in the book, Veterans Buried in Cemeteries in Clinton County, Prepared by John R. Evers, Director of Veterans Affairs – date of publication unknown.

Greene Township
John Keister

Fairview Evangelical Cemetery Loganton
Michael Kerstetter

Garman Cemetery, Pine Creek Township
Michael Wolf, Capt., Berks Co. Militia

Hayes-Fearon Beech Creek
Lt. James Hayes

Quiggle Cemetery
Robert Love, Pvt. PA Militia, Rev. War, Fair Play Man
June 6, 1734 – December 28, 1828
Nicholas Quigley, Pvt. 6 Batt. PA Militia, Rev. War
1740 – 1810
Philip Quigley, Ensign PA Militia, Rev. War
1745-1800
Thomas Curts, Serg. 3 Regt., PA Militia, Rev. War
1755-1833
George Wilson
1753 – 1855

Westport, Noyes Township
James Caldwell
1749 – 1816

Schracktown, Logan Township
Rudolph Kerstetter
Daniel O’Brion

Dunnstown
Peter Grove
William Baird

It is because of these brave men buried here, and the millions of men and women before and after them, that we enjoy the opportunity to live, work, and play in our country today, free from rule by another, and independent of all other parent countries.

Enjoy your Independence Day!