Charles Wesley Sones was born 10 Jun 1859 in PA, died 16 Dec 1944. He is buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Hughesville, PA. He never married and was a senator. He was sealed to parents in 1900 and was living with his brother George Mifflin Sones. Charles was the son of Thomas L. Sones and Catherine Gray. Thomas L. Sones was the son of John Sones and Mary Ritter. John Sones was the son of Johan Peter Sones, who married Elizabeth Anna Merkel.
But back to our story of entrepreneurial zeal and the Sullivan County lumber industry. Apparently, Charles Sones was a bookkeeper for the Edward Lyon Lumber Company near where he grew up, and then actually cut trees in West Virginia as a lumberjack. He returned to Pennsylvania in the late 1890's and eventually contracted with the Union Tanning Company to lay out and build a mill , a mill town and the transportation system to move the felled logs. The Company ahd decided to clear the 16 square miles of logs that they owned in the area and Charles won the bid on the cutting contract. Charles purchased an already standing mill from Jerry Stackhouse in 1902; this operation used teams of horses to pull logs ten miles to a rail spur on the Williamsport and North Branch Railroad. This was just one of perhaps a dozen locally owned and operated rail lines at the turn of the twentieth century, as can be seen on the regional rail
Sones addressed the problem of better transportation links by builidng a logging railroad to meet an extension of the Eagles Mere Railroad. Initially, he used wooden tracks, but swtiched to steel when he needed to build the line into the timber stands. Sones invested in a new band saw for the mill and in the construction of homes onsite for the workers and their families. There were 13 homes, a boarding house, school, mill and an engine house. Thre was also another boarding house for the Italian track gang! There was no community store, running water or electricity...ever! Each week a butcher and a vegetable man came to town to sell those food items. Nearby farmers offered fruit and vegetables for sale as well. The Sonesville mill actually ran until 1908, after which the Masten community was constructed as the timber cuts moved elsewhere. Until 1922, Sonesville continued to serve the lumber industry in some capacity. After 1908, the mill was torn down and the former town was called "Camp 4". About 300 men worked in the woods for the various Sones enterprises. In 1970, one house nearly seventy years old remained in Sonesville.
Charles Sones was also one of the principal investors in the transient lumber town of Masten. In fact, Sones paid for the uniforms and instruments for the town band at Masten! Sones eventually sold out his interests to the Central Pennsylvania Lumber Company and turned to the Senate and eventual retirement in Hughesville. His life is a classic example of the successful self-made transition from laborer to successful entrepreneur in the "Gilded Age" of Sullivan County 100 years ago
Some other tidbits I picked up were that Charles was trained as a teacher, but found himself unsuited for that career. So he became a bookkeeper; in fact, his occupation in the 1880 census for Wolf Township in Lycoming County, where he lived, was listed as such. Later, after he became a Senator in the Pennsylvania Senate, he lived in Hughesville, PA. In 1915, he made a special donation to the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church at 122 South Main Street in Hughesville:
... Senator C.W. Sones gave the church a new pipe organ in memory of his mother; this organ was used until the 1970's. Prior to installing the pipe organ, some major remodeling was done: the exterior of the church was covered with stucco and cement sidewalks were laid...
--from history of the Trinity Lutheran Evangelical Church, Hughesville, PA..
But back to our story of entrepreneurial zeal and the Sullivan County lumber industry. Apparently, Charles Sones was a bookkeeper for the Edward Lyon Lumber Company near where he grew up, and then actually cut trees in West Virginia as a lumberjack. He returned to Pennsylvania in the late 1890's and eventually contracted with the Union Tanning Company to lay out and build a mill , a mill town and the transportation system to move the felled logs. The Company ahd decided to clear the 16 square miles of logs that they owned in the area and Charles won the bid on the cutting contract. Charles purchased an already standing mill from Jerry Stackhouse in 1902; this operation used teams of horses to pull logs ten miles to a rail spur on the Williamsport and North Branch Railroad. This was just one of perhaps a dozen locally owned and operated rail lines at the turn of the twentieth century, as can be seen on the regional rail
Sones addressed the problem of better transportation links by builidng a logging railroad to meet an extension of the Eagles Mere Railroad. Initially, he used wooden tracks, but swtiched to steel when he needed to build the line into the timber stands. Sones invested in a new band saw for the mill and in the construction of homes onsite for the workers and their families. There were 13 homes, a boarding house, school, mill and an engine house. Thre was also another boarding house for the Italian track gang! There was no community store, running water or electricity...ever! Each week a butcher and a vegetable man came to town to sell those food items. Nearby farmers offered fruit and vegetables for sale as well. The Sonesville mill actually ran until 1908, after which the Masten community was constructed as the timber cuts moved elsewhere. Until 1922, Sonesville continued to serve the lumber industry in some capacity. After 1908, the mill was torn down and the former town was called "Camp 4". About 300 men worked in the woods for the various Sones enterprises. In 1970, one house nearly seventy years old remained in Sonesville.
Charles Sones was also one of the principal investors in the transient lumber town of Masten. In fact, Sones paid for the uniforms and instruments for the town band at Masten! Sones eventually sold out his interests to the Central Pennsylvania Lumber Company and turned to the Senate and eventual retirement in Hughesville. His life is a classic example of the successful self-made transition from laborer to successful entrepreneur in the "Gilded Age" of Sullivan County 100 years ago
Some other tidbits I picked up were that Charles was trained as a teacher, but found himself unsuited for that career. So he became a bookkeeper; in fact, his occupation in the 1880 census for Wolf Township in Lycoming County, where he lived, was listed as such. Later, after he became a Senator in the Pennsylvania Senate, he lived in Hughesville, PA. In 1915, he made a special donation to the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church at 122 South Main Street in Hughesville:
... Senator C.W. Sones gave the church a new pipe organ in memory of his mother; this organ was used until the 1970's. Prior to installing the pipe organ, some major remodeling was done: the exterior of the church was covered with stucco and cement sidewalks were laid...
--from history of the Trinity Lutheran Evangelical Church, Hughesville, PA..
Charles Wesley Sones was born 10 Jun 1859 in PA, died 16 Dec 1944. He is buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Hughesville, PA. He never married and was a senator. He was sealed to parents in 1900 and was living with his brother George Mifflin Sones. Charles was the son of Thomas L. Sones and Catherine Gray. Thomas L. Sones was the son of John Sones and Mary Ritter. John Sones was the son of Johan Peter Sones, who married Elizabeth Anna Merkel.
But back to our story of entrepreneurial zeal and the Sullivan County lumber industry. Apparently, Charles Sones was a bookkeeper for the Edward Lyon Lumber Company near where he grew up, and then actually cut trees in West Virginia as a lumberjack. He returned to Pennsylvania in the late 1890's and eventually contracted with the Union Tanning Company to lay out and build a mill , a mill town and the transportation system to move the felled logs. The Company ahd decided to clear the 16 square miles of logs that they owned in the area and Charles won the bid on the cutting contract. Charles purchased an already standing mill from Jerry Stackhouse in 1902; this operation used teams of horses to pull logs ten miles to a rail spur on the Williamsport and North Branch Railroad. This was just one of perhaps a dozen locally owned and operated rail lines at the turn of the twentieth century, as can be seen on the regional rail
Sones addressed the problem of better transportation links by builidng a logging railroad to meet an extension of the Eagles Mere Railroad. Initially, he used wooden tracks, but swtiched to steel when he needed to build the line into the timber stands. Sones invested in a new band saw for the mill and in the construction of homes onsite for the workers and their families. There were 13 homes, a boarding house, school, mill and an engine house. Thre was also another boarding house for the Italian track gang! There was no community store, running water or electricity...ever! Each week a butcher and a vegetable man came to town to sell those food items. Nearby farmers offered fruit and vegetables for sale as well. The Sonesville mill actually ran until 1908, after which the Masten community was constructed as the timber cuts moved elsewhere. Until 1922, Sonesville continued to serve the lumber industry in some capacity. After 1908, the mill was torn down and the former town was called "Camp 4". About 300 men worked in the woods for the various Sones enterprises. In 1970, one house nearly seventy years old remained in Sonesville.
Charles Sones was also one of the principal investors in the transient lumber town of Masten. In fact, Sones paid for the uniforms and instruments for the town band at Masten! Sones eventually sold out his interests to the Central Pennsylvania Lumber Company and turned to the Senate and eventual retirement in Hughesville. His life is a classic example of the successful self-made transition from laborer to successful entrepreneur in the "Gilded Age" of Sullivan County 100 years ago
Some other tidbits I picked up were that Charles was trained as a teacher, but found himself unsuited for that career. So he became a bookkeeper; in fact, his occupation in the 1880 census for Wolf Township in Lycoming County, where he lived, was listed as such. Later, after he became a Senator in the Pennsylvania Senate, he lived in Hughesville, PA. In 1915, he made a special donation to the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church at 122 South Main Street in Hughesville:
... Senator C.W. Sones gave the church a new pipe organ in memory of his mother; this organ was used until the 1970's. Prior to installing the pipe organ, some major remodeling was done: the exterior of the church was covered with stucco and cement sidewalks were laid...
--from history of the Trinity Lutheran Evangelical Church, Hughesville, PA..
But back to our story of entrepreneurial zeal and the Sullivan County lumber industry. Apparently, Charles Sones was a bookkeeper for the Edward Lyon Lumber Company near where he grew up, and then actually cut trees in West Virginia as a lumberjack. He returned to Pennsylvania in the late 1890's and eventually contracted with the Union Tanning Company to lay out and build a mill , a mill town and the transportation system to move the felled logs. The Company ahd decided to clear the 16 square miles of logs that they owned in the area and Charles won the bid on the cutting contract. Charles purchased an already standing mill from Jerry Stackhouse in 1902; this operation used teams of horses to pull logs ten miles to a rail spur on the Williamsport and North Branch Railroad. This was just one of perhaps a dozen locally owned and operated rail lines at the turn of the twentieth century, as can be seen on the regional rail
Sones addressed the problem of better transportation links by builidng a logging railroad to meet an extension of the Eagles Mere Railroad. Initially, he used wooden tracks, but swtiched to steel when he needed to build the line into the timber stands. Sones invested in a new band saw for the mill and in the construction of homes onsite for the workers and their families. There were 13 homes, a boarding house, school, mill and an engine house. Thre was also another boarding house for the Italian track gang! There was no community store, running water or electricity...ever! Each week a butcher and a vegetable man came to town to sell those food items. Nearby farmers offered fruit and vegetables for sale as well. The Sonesville mill actually ran until 1908, after which the Masten community was constructed as the timber cuts moved elsewhere. Until 1922, Sonesville continued to serve the lumber industry in some capacity. After 1908, the mill was torn down and the former town was called "Camp 4". About 300 men worked in the woods for the various Sones enterprises. In 1970, one house nearly seventy years old remained in Sonesville.
Charles Sones was also one of the principal investors in the transient lumber town of Masten. In fact, Sones paid for the uniforms and instruments for the town band at Masten! Sones eventually sold out his interests to the Central Pennsylvania Lumber Company and turned to the Senate and eventual retirement in Hughesville. His life is a classic example of the successful self-made transition from laborer to successful entrepreneur in the "Gilded Age" of Sullivan County 100 years ago
Some other tidbits I picked up were that Charles was trained as a teacher, but found himself unsuited for that career. So he became a bookkeeper; in fact, his occupation in the 1880 census for Wolf Township in Lycoming County, where he lived, was listed as such. Later, after he became a Senator in the Pennsylvania Senate, he lived in Hughesville, PA. In 1915, he made a special donation to the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church at 122 South Main Street in Hughesville:
... Senator C.W. Sones gave the church a new pipe organ in memory of his mother; this organ was used until the 1970's. Prior to installing the pipe organ, some major remodeling was done: the exterior of the church was covered with stucco and cement sidewalks were laid...
--from history of the Trinity Lutheran Evangelical Church, Hughesville, PA..
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