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The
Lamont, PA Area Where Peter and Rose Settled
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Photos taken on the old farm during a picnic held when Anthony, Nora, and family
were visiting Peter Jr.'s family. (Taken around 1946)
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One of the two chicken coops at the farm
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| A panoramic view of the farm as
it was in June, 1999. With the exception of the large maple
trees that line the driveway, it bears little resemblance to what
it was in Peter and Rose's days. It is now the country
estate of Cy Emer and is no longer farmed. No traces of the
old buildings remain, and a large pond (right side) has been
created on what was pasture land. |
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Grandfather (around 1920) with son Anthony on horse (right). Others not yet
identified. (Click on photo to enlarge)
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Formal wedding photo of Mary Chubon and Adam Piersa. Rose is behind the flower
girl. Mary Weritz is to the right of the flower girl. Peter Chubon, Jr. is
behind Rose. Anton Weritz is the fourth person from the left side of the back row
(with mustache). Peter was probably outside smoking a cigar, which was a passion of
his. (Click on photo to enlarge)
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James City During the American Plate Glass Era
| James City was founded
in 1906 by the two
of the eight sons of William James, a Welsh immigrant. It
is actually the second James City. A small cluster of houses
around a nearby sawmill owned by the Jameses had used the name
prior to 1906. The James brothers, who had developed several
sawmills and wood products factories in the area, directed their
entrepreneurial efforts to the glass manufacturing industry
because of the abundance of natural gas and high quality sandstone
discovered there. The brothers planned and developed the
"City" around the glass factory, which was operated
under the name "American Plate Glass Company." It
was the ultimate "company town," in that the James
brothers built and owned everything: the factory, houses, store,
post office, school, gas and water supplies, and even the
churches.
The community has been described
as a "little America, the proverbial melting pot,"
because the residents were of many different ethnic backgrounds,
including Swedes, Pols, Slavs, and African-Americans. Each
ethnic group had its own cluster within the community, attributed
to the fact that there was no common language among the largely
immigrant population. The available information does not
reveal how many houses there were in the early days, but it was
reported that some had as many as three families
living in them. Many of the residents owned cows and other
animals, which were not fenced in and roamed the area. There
currently are about 120 houses in the community, now owned by the
residents.
 The original factory burned down
in 1909, and immediately was rebuilt bigger and better. It
has been reported that during World War I, the factory made a high
quality plate glass approximately one inch thick for use in ship
portholes, search light lenses, and other military uses.
Four to six hundred workers were employed by the factory,
including women, and children who were as young as fourteen.
This later fact came from Eva Weritz-Udovich, who worked at the
factory hauling broken glass in a wheelbarrow. In 1923 the factory was purchased by the Durant Motor Car Company,
and at that time, James City became known as "Durant
City." During the depression, both the car company and
glass factory folded. The factory subsequently was purchased by others
but it did not survive the difficult financial times in the early
1930s. Eventually, the machinery was sold off and the
buildings torn down. The community's name has since reverted
back to "James City." (Sketch and information,
courtesy of the Elk County Historical Society, Ridgway, PA.)
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Artist's Sketch of the James City School
Peter
and Rose's children, Mary and
Peter, Jr., started school in James City, but they and the other children
attended the Lamont School beginning in 1919 when they moved to
the farm. Eventually, Peter Jr.'s children attended the school, which
operated into the 1980s. Peter Jr. told of the difficulties that
stemmed from not being able to speak English when he started. (Sketch,
courtesy of the Elk County Historical Society, Ridgway, PA.)
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| The building that was once the
two-room school the children of Peter and Rose attended is still
standing. It has been serving as the Lamont Community Center
since the school was closed in the late 1930s. The children
from the Lamont area were then bussed to the Wilcox School about
12 miles away. At the time it was a school, a second
building existed that housed grades 8-10. The few students
who went beyond the 10th grade, went to the Kane High School by
special arrangement. One of those, Eva Weritz Udovich, told
of enrolling in algebra class at the High School, thinking it to
be a foreign language like Latin. When she began attending class
and discovered it was math, her self-image as an outstanding
student acquired at the Lamont School was totally shattered!
(Photo, June, 1999) |
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