Benjamin Heiskell (Hyskel) 1729-1811

Benjamin Heiskell was the son of Benjamin Heuschkell.

Benjamin [Hyskell] was born in March 1729 in Amsterdam, Holland, and died 20 March 1811 in Warriors Mark, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania.

He married Anna Margaretha (Margaret) Spessert [Spessard] on 19 November 1764 at Christ Lutheran Church, York, York County, Pennsylvania.

Margaret was born 1 August 1748 in Lohrhaupten, Germany. She too died in Warriors Mark on 25 August 1831. They are buried at Burket Cemetery.

Benjamin and Margaret Heiskell had seven children.

Benjamin Hyskell

THE HYSKELL FAMILY came from Germany and settled in Philadelphia, but one of the members, Benjamin, subsequently became a citizen of Dauphin County. From there he moved to Warrior’s Mark after the Revolution, settling east of the village, and died in that locality in 1811, aged eighty-two years. He had sons named George and Frederick, and daughters who married George Mattern [Catherine], of Spruce Creek; Peter Gray [Polly], of Half Moon; John Stonebraker [Jane], of Spruce Creek; Archibald Hutchinson [Anne Marie], of Warrior’s Mark; and Elizabeth remained single. George Hyskell, after living some time on the homestead, moved to Venango County, while Frederick remained in the township until his death in 1857, at the age of eighty-four years. Of his ten children, David and John moved to Indiana County; Jacob to Iowa; Thomas B. occupies the homestead. The daughters married Henry Funk [Nancy], John Henderson [Elizabeth], John Mothersbaugh [Mary], Jacob Rider [Maria], Martin Weston [Sarah Ann], and Thomas Elway [Susan], all of Warrior’s Mark township.

Benjamin Hyskell, grandfather of Thomas B[eakes] Hyskell, was born in Germany in March, 1729, and in early manhood emigrated with his parents to America, landing in Norfolk, Va. One of his brothers went to Greenbrier and bought four thousand acres of land, but never occupied it, as he was killed by the Indians. Another brother remained in Virginia, where his descendants still reside, some of them prominent men in State affairs. Benjamin remained in Virginia until after his marriage to Miss Margaret Specard, who was born in Germany in August, 1748, from whence she came with her parents in 1754. Their union was blessed with two sons and six daughters. About the year 1792 Benjamin came with his family to Warrior’s Mark township, in Huntingdon (then Bedford) County, and settled on three hundred acres of land which his sons Frederick and George had previously purchased and on part of which Thomas B. Hyskell now resides.

The township of Warrior’s Mark was then an almost unbroken wilderness, and on their land there was no buildings, or clearing even. A log house was soon built and a clearing made, and life in the new home had commenced. They were Methodists, and lived and died consistent members of that church. He died March 20, 1811, his wife Aug. 25, 1831. Frederick, their second son, was born near Hagerstown, Md., Jan. 4, 1773. He married Miss Catherine Elias, who was born in June, 1779, at Harper’s Ferry, Va., and was a daughter of Henry Elias, who served in the Revolutionary war, and at its close, or soon after, came to the south part of Huntingdon County, where he lived and died. Before his marriage Frederick had made some improvement on his land, being the part of the three hundred acres now owned by his son Thomas B., and had erected a log house on the site of Thomas B.’s present home. After his marriage the work of improvement went steadily on, and soon a well-improved farm took the place of the wilderness. He lived to see the forests cleared away, and in its stead an old settled country, where the howling of the wolf and the screams of the panther have given way to the hum of machinery and the whistle of the steam-engine.

The first church in Warrior’s Mark was built on his premises, he giving the land and the timber. It was built of hewn logs, and for that period was a large and commodious structure, while its members came from the country for miles around. He died Sept. 27, 1857, his wife Oct. 15, 1861. To them were born four sons and six daughters, of whom Thomas B. Hyskell, our subject, was born in Warrior’s Mark township, Nov. 22, 1818. He grew to manhood on the home farm where he still resides, and where he expects to end his days. His education was such as could be obtained by a few months’ attendance during the winter at the district schools. For his first wife he married, on the 30th day of November, 1842, Miss Nancy Weston, who was born, in Warrior’s Mark township in 1821. Their children were Anna A., William D., and J. Emery. Mrs. Hyskell died in January, 1852. For his second wife he married his first wife’s sister, Mrs. Mary Orlady, on the 17th of March, 1854. To them have been born Ada F., Allen W., Mary, Kate T., and Ella B. When twenty years of age Thomas B. commenced life on his own account, his first venture being on his father’s farm, which he worked on shares. This he continued to do until 1854, when he bought the farm, which he has improved, and on which it can almost be said every day’s work of his life has been done. For more than half a century he has been a member of the Methodist Church, and for forty years a trustee, steward, and class-leader. In politics a Republican, and as such has been elected to various township offices. He is an earnest friend of education, and has lived to see two daughters and one son graduates of good schools.

(Source: History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties by J. Simpson Africa; Louis H. Everts. J.B. Lippincott and Co.: Philadelphia, 1883:388-389.)

Little Heiskell

In 1768, Jonathan Hager commissioned Benjamin Heiskell, a tinsmith by trade, to design a weathervane to stand atop the a new market house, which had been built in the square of Elizabeth Town, later named Hagerstown. Heiskell constructed the weathervane from two sheets of 'Welch wrought iron', riveted together to form the silhouette of a pre-revolutionary, Hessian soldier in his workshop on on Washington Street. The weathervane is known as "Little Heiskell", after its maker, and was installed in 1769.

During the Civil War, "Little Heiskell" was wounded by a Confederate sharpshooter, who shot him through the heart from the corner of Washington Street and East Avenue. Today you can still see the hole in its side.

It was moved from the Market House to City Hall in 1824. After the city hall was built in 1823, the Masonic Order that shared the building replaced "Little Heiskell" with their own symbol, but it was soon returned to its rightful place after a public outcry.

In 1889, another storey was added to the municipal building, and the weathervane was removed until 1908, when it was restored after demands from the townspeople. Little Heiskell was damaged in a severe hailstorm in 1916, and, in 1935, the City Fathers decided to retire the weathervane after 166 years of service. The original "Little Heiskell" is currently housed in the Hager House Museum in the City Park. A copper replica was installed on the new City Hall.

Isabelle Hurlbutt, former librarian at the Washington County Free Library, wrote a children's book entitled, Little Heiskell. "Little Heiskell" is also the emblem of North Hagerstown High School, whose yearbook is called, The Heiskellite. Little Heiskell forms the chorus of Hey Little Heiskell (Little Heiskell and the Ransoming of Hagerstown) by Jennie Avila. It has also been made into a bobblehead.

Postcard of the New City Hall with Little Heiskell in Hagerstown
A personal souvenir from the archive of William King Heiskell