The Peaceful and Unpeaceful Times of John Dietrich

“These are the best peaches I’ve ever had in my life.” That’s what a Selisngrove resident would have said about John Dietrich’s crop in the nineteenth century. John worked the simple, yet fulfilling, life of a farmer. John had a loving family and a job he took pride in.

Born in rural central Pennsylvania in 1807, John Dietrich spent his entire life in the area. It was in Snyder County that John married his first wife, together they had one son and two daughters. John once lived in Selinsgrove but moved to Union Township due to the availability of land; he owned land three miles below Selinsgrove. He was quite affluent. Census records from 1870 and 1880 indicate that his daughters didn’t have to take up a job to provide for the family. John’s son was also given the privilege to work as a lawyer, which required a notable amount of money for education. Despite his wealth, John wasn’t spared from the feeling of heartbreak. John’s wife died due to unknown circumstances, he was widowed before the year of 1870.

Despite his good reputation, John ran into trouble in 1876. Authorities accused John of assaulting a school tax collector. No definitive reason can be put forth, but one possibility was that John was angry for being over charged in his taxes. In the late nineteenth century, property taxes were unstandardized, which led to tax rates varying from county to county. The messy property tax system prompted the American public to push for reform. John might have been furious due to this perceived unfairness of the system. It should also be noted that John was a rich landowner, therefore the tax would  have been especially detrimental to his bottom line. In the trial, John was found not guilty, but he still had to pay the costs for the hearing. This indicates that the court sympathized with John but still had to compensate the tax collector for the assault. This wasn’t the first time John had problems regarding taxes. Back in 1871, John had sued the local tax collector and had won a refund. It wasn’t until 1879 that John moved back to Selinsgrove with his family. It was only a year after that John got into yet another dispute regarding a property line—a case he won.

John continued working and tending to the fields until 1881, when news arrived from Mason City, IL, that his brother George had passed away due to old age. It was only a year later that John himself finally succumbed to old age. John left this world with a family who stayed by his side even in his seniority. The Dietrich family’s relationship was so close that John’s gravestone displays him, his children, and his sister (Hannah) all buried together. Here, John left a legacy of being a respected member of the Selinsgrove community.

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