| Notes |
- Notes for PETER BASTRESS:
Peter Bastress is buried in Lot 304 in Jersey Shore Cemetery next to his father and mother (41°11'54.12"N,
77°15'56.13"W).
Peter Bastress, now one of the oldest residents of the borough of Jersey Shore, was born at Pottstown, Berks County, November 12, 1808, and came here with his parents in 1817. His father, Solomon Bastress, who is well remembered as one of the representative men of Lycoming County, was also born at Pottstown, January 20, 1788, and died at Jersey Shore May 12, 1872, in the 84th year of his age. His father, Peter Bastress, and grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born at Pottstown, July 9, 1758, and died at Lebanon in 1837, aged 79 years. Solomon Bastress was a weaver and dyer by trade, but after settling here he became a surveyor and scrivener, and carried on that business in addition to his trade.
Before locating here he had entered into partnership with John Slonaker, John Brown and Philip Krebs, to build an iron furnace on Upper Pine Bottom Run, above the First Forks of Pine Creek, in 1814, and they carried it on until 1817, when it was blown out. His father superintended the furnace while it was in operation. The ruins of the stack may yet be seen.
Solomon Bastress was sent to the Legislature from Lycoming County in 1827, and re-elected in 1828-9-30, serving four terms in succession. In 1846 he was elected an Associate Judge, and served until 1856, a period of ten years, having been re-elected in the meantime.
Many of his friends who had settled in that portion of the county now embraced in Bastress, when it came to he erected into a township in 1854, insisted, inasmuch as he had frequently done surveying and writing for them, that it should he named after him, and it was done.
In addition to being a surveyor, member of the Legislature and Associate Judge, Solomon Bastress also served as a Justice of the Peace for a number of years in Jersey Shore. No man in the county stood higher or was more respected and honored by the people than Judge Bastress. And it is a pleasure to add that his son, Peter Bastress. stands equally high. He has often been tendered office, such as Montgomery County Commissioner and a Justice of the Peace of Montgomery County to the state convention of 1837, by his fellow citizens, but has steadily declined. He is now quietly spending the evening of his life at his comfortable residence on the hill-side, overlooking the town of Jersey Shore, honored and respected by his friends and neighbors.
[The Historical Journal, Volume 1
edited by John Franklin Meginness]
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1808 - 1890 (81 years)
