One can only imagine the impact the big house by the river would have made. This certainly was not the cottage image of 'over the hill and through the woods to Granny's house' one might think of stumbling on amongst the trees.

While most of this series focuses on individuals buried in Silverbrook Cemetery, we are constantly aware of the legacy left us by the residents of that hallowed ground. Each stone represents the life of people who once walked our streets, welcomed others to their shops and manned our factories.

Sometimes their contribution is not glaringly relevant to our lives today. In other instances, however, there has been a past collective effort for the good of our community which still is vital to our lives here and now.
Such is the case with the story of Pawating Hospital. Pa-wa-ting: "crossing of the river."

Much has changed since the days the lands were occupied by their original native population and yet the mighty St. Joe still hurries under Broadway Bridge and past the doorstep of the property on which was restored the great home that became known as "Castle Rest."

Click here for the full article on the Niles Daily Star website

Published May 30th, 2009

The Niles Republican published a poetic obituary following Col. James Lewis Glen's death in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 1876.

Drawing on William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Act V, Scene V, the author of the piece wrote: "What has been so often said of others may be truly said of him, 'His life was gentle and elements so mixed in him, that Nature might stand up and say to all the world: This was a Man!' "

This was the man whose engineering accomplishments include the original Niles water-power and gas works buildings, the substructure of the bridge, Trinity Episcopal Church and Silverbrook Cemetery where he now rests.

A native of Holmesburg, Penn., where he was born May 29, 1814, his youth and early manhood were spent in Philadelphia where it was said he acquired "the social tastes and polite habits then characteristic of that city."

Click here for the full article on the Niles Daily Star website

Published June 20th, 2009

As a young man of 21, he moved to Niles from Liberty in Union County, Ind., where he was born Aug. 29, 1820. Here he learned to be a carpenter under apprenticeship to William Deniston.

However, when a group was formed in Niles to enlist in the Black Hawk War, Jacob Kingery Brown was the first to enlist. This was the same war that saw a young Abraham Lincoln of New Salem, Ill. serve three enlistments. Each enrollment lasted for approximately 30 days.

The website http://www.u-s-history.com reports on the reason behind the Black Hawk War: "By the 1830s the process of removing Indian tribes from lands in the eastern United States to accommodate white settlers had been embraced by President Andrew Jackson, many in Congress and the bulk of the population at large. Few were apologetic, believing that the tribes and their homes were obstacles to the spread of a superior civilization."

Click here for the full article on the Niles Daily Star website

Published July 11th, 2009

As we tell the stories of those buried in Silverbrook Cemetery, we would be remiss if we did not include a tale of fright in keeping with Halloween 2009.

Our story is not as one might imagine of ghosts and goblins. Rather it speaks to the mystery and superstition that have surrounded graveyards for centuries.

Tom Travick arrived in Niles in 1919. He was a black man and a stone mason, who was hired as part of a crew building a bank on Second Street.

Click here for the full article on the Niles Daily Star website

Published November 9th, 2009