|
Page 70
JOHN DU BOIS
CHAPTER XVII
ONE EVENING early in June, 1842, a man in a light wagon
drawn by one horse, accompanied by a dog, drove into Luthersburg
from the east, and stopped at the tavern of William C. Foley. His
baggage consisted of a gun, an axe and a pack. He asked for lodging
for the night.
This man was tall, of rather commanding appearance, and
a man whom one would turn to look at the second time.
During the evening the stranger inquired about wild
game and stated that he was on a hunting trip. Mr. Foley told him
that if he wanted to hunt, he should go back on Sandy and see George
Shaffer, who was familiar with the woods.
This was a period when hotel registers were not known,
and tavern keepers were not inquisitive, and Mr. Foley did not learn
the name of his guest of the night. In the morning the stranger told
Mr. Foley to take care of his horse, and after breakfast he secured
directions about the road to Shaffers, shouldered his pack and gun,
and with his dog started for George Shaffers. Two months or more
elapsed without hearing from his guest, and Mr. Foley concluded he
had acquired a horse and wagon. However, the stranger returned and
after paying his bill, left for the east as unostentatiously as he
had come. Several months after this event one of the Shaffers came
to Luthersburg, of whom Mr. Foley inquired about the hunter, and was
told the stranger was John DuBois from Williamsport. About two years
after, Mr. DuBois again returned and stopped with Mr. Foley a short
time. After the second visit it became rumored that Mr. DuBois was
buying land.*
Thus did the founder of the City of DuBois make his
advent into the wilderness penetrated by George Shaffer twenty years
before.
Fortunately we are not in the dark as to the ancestors
of John DuBois. He descended from a family of empire builders. The
house of du Bois was established in France prior to 1066 and they
are the oldest nobility of the French Empire. A duBois accompanied
William I. from Normandy into England and helped to conquer the
English nation. French heraldry starts the family with Macquaire
duBois, Count de Roussy in 1110, whose ancestors built the Castle of
Roussy in 948. According to M. de Saint Allais, in his "Nobilaire de
France," the name is that of one of the most ancient of noble
families of the French Empire. This author traces the duBois family
from 1066 (at which time it was an old family) down to the 19th
Century, by regular descent from father to son, the original
patronymic being unchanged throughout.
*(The above facts were given to the writer by Mr. Foley during his
lifetime.)
|
