Editing Sunbury, Pennsylvania (section)

==History==
[[File:Walking path in Sunbury 2.JPG|thumb|Front Street Amphitheater in Sunbury by Susquehanna River]] 
[[File:Thomas Edison monument on Packers Island.JPG|thumb|Monument to [[Thomas Edison]] near Sunbury]] 
The first human settlement of Sunbury were likely Shawnee migrants.<ref name="Weslager, C. A. 1972 p. 192">Weslager, C. A. (1972). The Delaware Indians: A History. Rutgers University Press: News Brunswick, p. 192.</ref> A large population of Delaware Indians was also forcibly resettled there in the early 18th century after they lost rights to their land in the [[Walking Purchase]]. [[Canassatego]] of the Six Nations, enforcing the Walking Purchase of behalf of George Thomas, Deputy Governor of Pennsylvania, ordered the Delaware Indians to go to two places on the Susquehanna River, one of which was present-day Sunbury.<ref name="Weslager, C. A. 1972 p. 192"/>

From 1727 to 1756, Sunbury was one of the largest and most influential Indian settlements in Pennsylvania.<ref name="Weslager, C. A. 1972 p. 192"/> At that time, it was known as [[Shamokin (village)|Shamokin]], not to be confused with the present-day city of [[Shamokin, Pennsylvania]], which is located about 13 miles to the east.

In 1745, Presbyterian missionary [[David Brainerd]] described the city as being located on both the east and west sides of the river, and on an island. Brainerd reported that the city housed 300 Indians, half of which were Delawares and the other Seneca and Tutelo.<ref>Rev. John Edwards, ed., Memoirs of the Rev. David Brainerd, New Haven, 1822, p. 233.</ref>

In 1754, much of the land west of the Susquehanna was transferred from the Six Nations to Pennsylvania at the [[Albany Congress]]. However, Shamokin was not sold and was reserved by the Six Nations, "to settle such of our Nations as shall come to us from the Ohio or any others who shall deserve to be in our Alliance."<ref name="Weslager, C. A. 1972 p. 215">Weslager, C. A. (1972). The Delaware Indians: A History. Rutgers University Press: News Brunswick</ref>{{rp|215}} According to Weslager, "the Pennsylvania authorities had no opposition to the Six Nations reserving Wyoming and Shamokin from the sale, since friendly Delawares, including Teedyuskung (also known as [[Teedyuscung]]) and his people living in those settlements--and any other Indians who might be placed there--constituted a buffer against Connecticut."<ref name="Weslager, C. A. 1972 p. 215"/>

The [[French and Indian War]] brought fighting to much of the region. The Delaware Indian residents of Shamokin remained neutral for much of the early part of the war, in part because a drought and unseasonable frost in Shamokin in 1755 left them without provisions.<ref>Weslager, C. A. (1972). The Delaware Indians: A History. Rutgers University Press: New Brunswick, p. 225-227.</ref>

However, the Delaware Indians at Shamokin joined the war against Pennsylvania and the English after the [[Gnadenhütten massacre (Pennsylvania)|Gnadenhütten massacre]] in 1755, and Shamokin was abandoned in May 1756.<ref>Weslager, C. A. (1972). ''The Delaware Indians: A History.'' Rutgers University Press: News Brunswick, p. 229.</ref> Pennsylvania [[Fort Augusta]] was built in 1756 on the former site of the village of Shamokin. [[The Bloody Spring]] is a historic site from the era.

On March 21, 1772, Northumberland County was incorporated and subdivided.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.northumberlandcountyhistoricalsociety.org/page.asp?tid=144&name=Area-History|title=Area History :: Northumberland County Historical Society|website=www.northumberlandcountyhistoricalsociety.org}}</ref> The settlement was named Sunbury that same year, and the present-day city of Sunbury identifies 1772 as the date of its establishment.<ref name="cityofsunbury.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.cityofsunbury.com/Pages/Home.aspx|title=Home|website=City of Sunbury, Pa (SunburyPA.org)}}</ref> It was named after [[Sunbury-on-Thames]], a town in the [[Surrey]] [[borough of Spelthorne]], England, just outside [[Greater London]].
[[File:Court House Sketch - Sunbury, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania - 1851.jpg|left|thumb|'''1851 Northumberland County Court House Sketch - Sunbury, Pennsylvania''']]
[[Lorenzo Da Ponte]], the librettist of Mozart and of Salieri, lived in Sunbury for some years after his arrival in America.

In July 1883, American inventor [[Thomas Edison]] installed the first successful three-wire electric lighting system in at what was then known as the City Hotel. At the city's 150th anniversary celebration in 1922, it was renamed the [[Edison Hotel (Sunbury, Pennsylvania)|Edison Hotel.]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cityofsunbury.com/nor-sunbury/cwp/view.asp?A=862&Q=428368|title=Home|website=City of Sunbury, Pa (SunburyPA.org)}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>