Lieutenant Colonel Antes, Soldier and Frontiersman, Died May 13, 1820

Lieutenant Colonel John Henry Antes died at his stockaded home, long known as Antes’ Fort, May 13, 1820, aged eighty-three years.

This pioneer statesman and soldier was an early settler on the frontier of Pennsylvania, a member of a distinguished family in the Province, an officer of the Revolution, Sheriff of Northumberland County during the stirring days of the Wyoming controversy, and an ardent patriot whose influence, both in civic and military affairs, was most potent a century and a quarter since.

The ancestral home of Colonel Antes was in the beautiful and fertile valley, called Falkner’s Swamp, in what is now Montgomery County, about six miles from Pottstown.

Philip Frederick Antes, grandfather of Lieutenant Colonel John Henry Antes, of the noble family of Von Blume, of Rhenish Bavaria, Germany, owing to religious persecutions, came from Friensheim, Germany, 336sometime between 1716 and 1723, and settled for a short time in Germantown.

On February 29, 1722–23, he bought 154 acres in the Van Bebber tract in what has since been called Falkner’s Swamp. This was a tract of 500 acres in the original patent made by William Penn, October 25, 1701, to the Frankford Land Company, and comprised 22,337 acres of the most fertile land in the State.

On December 16, 1708, the tract was sold by the agent, Daniel Falkner, to John Henry Sprogel for £500, current money of Pennsylvania and was paid for in “Silver Coyne.” This was known as the German tract and also by other names.

In 1726 Henry Antes, the only son, married Christina, the daughter of William Dewees, who built the second paper mill in America, in 1710, in that part of Germantown known as Crefeld, near the line of the present Montgomery County. A flour mill was added to the Crefeld paper mill and here Henry Antes worked for three years. This was the birthplace of three of their children, Frederick, William and Elizabeth. Henry Antes served for more than ten years as one of the Justices of the Province.

September 2, 1735, Henry Antes purchased more than 200 acres about two miles away, just across the line from the German tract, in what is now Frederick Township, Montgomery County, and built a grist mill and a stone mansion, in which the rest of his distinguished family was born, and which was destined to become one of the valued historic buildings of the State.

It was in this home that Lieutenant Colonel John Henry Antes was born, October 5, 1736. Here Reverend George Whitefield, the great evangelist, preached from the porch, April 23, 1740, to a multitude estimated at 3000 persons.

In 1745 Pious Henry Antes gave up his home to the needs of the Moravian Society, and his house became the school for boys. He and his wife removed to Bethlehem. Henry Antes’ home thus became the first boarding school for boys in America.

It was in this mansion, then owned by Colonel Frederic Antes, that General Washington made his headquarters, September 18 to 24, 1777, during his stay at Camp Pottsgrove, the most westerly point ever reached by the Continental Army.

When still quite a young man John Henry Antes, being of a romantic disposition, went to the Susquehanna region, being induced to do so by Conrad Weiser, who was a great friend of the family, and who had made frequent trips to the West Branch in the interest of the Provincial Government. He settled on a farm situated on Shamokin Creek, near the present Sunbury, and soon became one of the prominent men of that region.

On July 29, 1775, he was appointed a Justice of Quarter Sessions. 337On January 24, 1776, he was commissioned a captain in the Second Battalion, under Colonel James Potter, and on March 13, following was assigned to the command of Colonel William Plunket, when he made his expedition against the Connecticut settlers; then Captain Antes was assigned to the Second Battalion of Associators.

On May 21, 1777, he was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the Fourth Battalion, of Northumberland County Militia, and in this service endeared himself to the frontier inhabitants by his active work in protecting the settlements from the frequent incursions of the Indians.

He established his headquarters in the Nippenose Valley. Here he built the stockade, called Antes’ Fort, which was the most exposed place on the frontier. This stockade and the cabin home of Colonel Antes were destroyed by the Tories and Indians at the time of the “Great Runaway,” July, 1778.

Towards the close of the Revolution, Colonel Antes was elected Sheriff of Northumberland County, October 18, 1782, and re-elected. At this time his jurisdiction extended over what is now thirty counties of Pennsylvania.

At the close of his political and military career, he removed from his farm to a tract of land on Nippenose Creek, which he had purchased September 29, 1773. This site was near the mouth of that creek opposite the mouth of Pine Creek, near the present Jersey Shore, and here he built a mill, known as Antes’ Fort. His log mansion built at the same time, 1785, which he stockaded, and which was later occupied by his son, Henry, until 1830, is still in use. The grist mill, now in operation, is the fourth one erected on the original site.

A gap in the mountains, a small town, and other places have taken their name from this sturdy pioneer.

The Antes Burying Ground is not far distant from the home and mill site, and in it is the grave of Colonel John Henry Antes.

The numerous descendants of Colonel Antes meet in annual reunion and recount his many exploits and services so unselfishly rendered in time of need.

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