My Hometown, Shamokin, Pennsylvania with J. L. Lindermuth

We haven't raised a monument in his honor, but a horse thief played a pivotal role in the history of my hometown, Shamokin, Pennsylvania.

I haven't used him (yet) in my fiction, though I did outline the story of Jesse Major in Digging Dusky Diamonds, my non-fiction book about the lives of miners and their families in this area of Pennsylvania's anthracite coal region.

Jesse had a reputation as a horse thief, burglar and counterfeiter. His arch enemy was Walter Brady, county sheriff, who relentlessly tracked him down and put him behind bars more than once. Sheriff Brady indulged in a bit of land speculation and, eventually, this got him into financial difficulties. His property was seized by the court and put up for auction.

Major, who had just been released from another of his frequent visits to the county lockup, saw an opportunity for revenge. On Aug. 19, 1824 he bid $12 and won possession of the tract of land where Shamokin would be seated. Of course, Jesse didn't develop the property. He sold it to John C. Boyd, a man who loved speculation, for $230 and a horse valued at $50. Jesse Major mounted the horse and rode off into legend.

The rest is history.

Boyd, who was already wealthy from a grist mill, vast land holdings and shrewd investments in the enterprises of others, developed the mining industry which led to the founding of the town. In a newspaper advertisement in June 1838, an unidentified promoter enthused the town, "...is in the midst of one of the finest fields of Anthracite coal in the Union" and "...that its location is good in regard to the procuring of the necessaries of life--that it is healthy--the water pure, and that there is abundant space to build."

He wasn't exaggerating about the coal. It made a number of families extremely wealthy and provided employment for numerous others for many years. The health cost to workers and the purity of local streams was another issue--though these weren't immediately recognized.

Change is inevitable. When I came home after more than 20 years elsewhere coal no longer provided economic security for the region and community leaders struggled to find a replacement for the industry. That struggle continues and lack of opportunity results in the exodus of the best and brightest of our young people.

Still, I didn't come home for employment. I enjoy familiar surroundings, closeness of family and friends, my work as librarian of the county historical society. There are three universities within a short drive, with all the amenities they have to offer. There's abundance of ethnic foods. And, in the rich history of the area, there is plenty of grist for my writing.

Though my most recent book is another western (Blake's Rule), much of my fiction has been influenced by the history of my homeplace. For example, The Bartered Body is set in a fictional coal region town. 

Here's a blurb:

Why would thieves steal the body of a dead woman?

That’s the most challenging question yet to be faced by Sylvester Tilghman, the third of his family to serve as sheriff of Arahpot, Jordan County, Pennsylvania, in the waning days of the 19^th century.

And it’s not just any body but that of Mrs. Arbuckle, Nathan Zimmerman’s late mother-in-law. Zimmerman is burgess of Arahpot and Tilghman’s boss, which puts more than a little pressure on the sheriff to solve the crime in a hurry.

Syl’s investigation is complicated by the arrival in town of a former flame who threatens his relationship with his sweetheart Lydia Longlow; clashes with his old enemy, former burgess McLean Ruppenthal; a string of armed robberies, and a record snowstorm that shuts down train traffic, cuts off telegraph service and freezes cattle in the fields.

It will take all of Syl’s skills and the help of his deputy and friends to untangle the various threads and bring the criminals to justice. 

https://www.sunburypressstore.com/The-Bartered-Body-9781620067567.htm

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https://www.amazon.com/J.R.-Lindermuth/e/B002BLJIQ8