Lou’s View

By Lou Bernard

Last week, I began an interview with Jeremiah Church*, the founder of both Lock Haven and Clinton County. We talked about his arrival and the founding of Lock Haven, but we never got around to Clinton County. When I began, I didn’t realize this would be a two-part project, but Jerry Church did so much in his time here that it deserves another column.

So let’s jump right in where we left off, and talk with Jerry Church.

LB: So you founded Lock Haven in November of 1833, and that was the beginning of the whole thing. What then?

JC: Well, then I built my tree house.

LB: Tell me about your tree house.

JC: It stood behind my home, about where you guys later put the school playground. It was a work of art. Big place, on thirteen posts, which represented the thirteen colonies. I hired a guy to paint it, but he didn’t speak any English, and he screwed up what I’d asked for. I wanted a marble look, but it came out looking more like cow spots. And you know what? I loved it! It was so much better than I’d planned.

LB: Did you spend a lot of time in your tree house?

JC: I did. I really did. I loved it. I’d sit up there and play the violin so my neighbors could hear. They all teased me a little, but they all came up to join me sometimes.

LB: Now, in addition to Lock Haven, you founded Clinton County.

JC: Yep. Oh, man, was that ever a work in progress. I started almost immediately, pitching to the state government to take part of Centre and part of Lycoming, and make a new county. Eagle County, it was called. It was a grand idea! Glorious!

LB: Did the state legislature like it?

JC: They did not. They pretty much blew me off. Six years, I campaigned for Eagle County twice a year, and got nowhere. Finally I got some help from my friend John Moorhead.

LB: I’ve read about John Moorhead….

JC: Well, Moorhead needed something to do. He wanted to help out, you know? He wanted to be busy. But he couldn’t get any votes. He was a nice enough guy, okay? But nobody wanted to vote for him. Good guy, but nobody wanted him in charge.
LB: But he did help create the county.

JC: He did do that! We went and talked to the legislature, and I let Moorhead do most of the talking. We also changed the name. We called it Clinton County, after the governor of New York, Dewitt Clinton. Because of the canals; Clinton was a big fan of the canals.

LB: And they voted for it.

JC: And they voted for it. Without ever realizing it was the same plan they’d rejected for six years.

LB: With Lock Haven as the county seat.

JC: Well, there was some debate about that. Moorhead wanted Dunnstown, but I wanted Lock Haven. I won that one. Then Moorhead built a place and offered it up as the new courthouse, but the commissioners chose to build another one on land I’d donated on Church Street. They hired Moorhead to build the new one. Man, it’s amazing we stayed friends.

LB: And you stuck around, had a child, and stayed for twelve years.

JC: Yep, started to feel like traveling around 1845. So I went out west. Founded Dudley, Iowa, which they now call Carlisle. But, well, that’s another story.

*Interview not technically with Jeremiah Church, who died in 1874.