Editing Heckscherville, Pennsylvania (section)

==History==
[[File:Coal Mining near Heckscherville, Cass Twp, Schuylkill Co PA 01.JPG|left|thumb|Coal mining near Heckscherville]]
The earliest available history shows that in 1831 the entire Heckscherville valley contained only two villages. At this time the valley was called “Chapmanville” after the owners of the coal mines. In 1843 the Chapmanville interests were taken over by George and William Payne. Subsequently, the valley’s name was changed to “Payne’s Patch”.

With coal sales increasing, the Payne brothers found it necessary to secure additional laborers. Taking advantage of [[Great Famine (Ireland)|the famine in Ireland in 1845]], they traveled to Ireland to persuade hundreds of families and individuals to move to America. The Payne brothers focused on the [[County Laois|Queens]] and [[County Kilkenny|Kilkenny]] counties, and provided transportation, employment and homes to those who agreed to move. Before the brothers returned to Payne’s Patch, the valley was populated almost entirely by Welsh with only a few scattered Irish families. However, when they did return with the Irish immigrants, the Welsh started to migrate elsewhere and the population changed to mostly Irish. This influx of immigrants continued until almost the entire population was either Irish or of Irish descent. Because of this, the small valley then became known as the “Irish Valley”.<ref>[http://irishvalley.webs.com/irishweekendlinks.htm Irish Valley]</ref>

The [[August Heckscher]] family from [[New York (state)|New York]] acquired the Payne brothers holding, and changed the name to Heckscherville.

Years later the population began to undergo another change. The coal companies, due to a manpower shortage, began to bring into the region laborers from various countries in Europe. Nationalities included: Polish, Lithuanians, Slavs, and Greeks. Today nearly every nationality is represented in the eight miles of the Heckscherville Valley.<ref>The Sons and Daughters of the Valley, ''The Valley We Loved So Well''. Print.</ref>