Ancient and Historic Landmarks in the Lebanon Valley

Citation preview

ANCIENT 4^ AND

HISTORIC LANDMARKS IN

THE

Lebanon Valley. BY Rev.

F\ C.

CROLL.

PHILADELPHIA:

LUTHERAN PUBLICATION

SOCIETY.

~***

Copyright,

1895,

by the

LUTHERAN PUBLICATION

SOCIETY.

—

1656B49

CONTENTS. PAGE

Preface

7

Introduction, by Rev. W. H. Dunbar, D.

CHAPTER

D

9

I.

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE LEBANON VALLEY. An imaginary excursion— Motive — First settlement — Weekly trips

— A bird’s-eye view of territory — Beauty and —

richness of

Valley A goodly remnant of historic relics in the form of churches, graveyards, Indian forts, mills and homesteads 13-17 .

CHAPTER

II.

CONRAD WEISER’S HOMESTEAD AND GRAVE. Exploration begun — A sacred shrine — The Weiser home and ent ownership

—A noted marriage— The Weiser

Its illustrious visitors

— Brief sketch CHAPTER

of Weiser

pres-

burial plot

....

18-25

III.

MIDDLETOWN, ALIAS WOMELSDORF.

—

Location and founding— Old streets and buildings Its churches and schools Old business center Its graveyards— Worthy

—

—

old families

26-37

CHAPTER

IV.

THE FIRST CHURCH IN THE VALLEY. Location of this historic shrine— Old landmarks en route— A century and three-quarters of local church history Old graves. 38-49

—

CHAPTER

V.

THE SECOND TULPEHOCKEN CHURCH. —A new congregation— History of this flock

Church controversy

An

ancient graveyard

50-57

CHAPTER

VI.

AN INTERESTING OLD MANSE. One hundred and

fifty

years of pastoral family history

— Revs.

Wagner, Kurtz, Schultze, Ulrich, Eggers, Mayser and Long. 58-65

CHAPTER

VII.

A WELL-PRESERVED INDIAN FORT.

—

Location and erection A glimpse of Colonial times history Present ownership

—

(iii)

— The fort’s 66-72

CONTENTS.

IV

PAGE

CHAPTER A

VIII.

AN ANTIQUATED VIEEAGE. burg of the ancient times — Old trades and houses tory of village Some good fruit

— Brief his-

—

CHAPTER

73-80

IX.

AN OED INDIAN TEA IE.

A

—

—

tramp with Indians A mountain “ Kluft ” Wealth at base and on top An eagle’s eyrie Famous Lutheran pioneers here

—

—

81-88

gathered

CHAPTER

X.

cradee of reeigious The

Mill Creek Valley historic

hamlet

sects.

—The birth of various denominations— An

—Indian relics

89-97

CHAPTER

XI.

A doubee fountain head.

—

Rise of two streams The “Albright’s” Denomination ial church Grave of a bishop Other graves

—

— Memor-

—

CHAPTER

98-107

XII.

THE COUNTY’S OEDEST TOWN.

—

Founding of Schaefferstown— Early history A graveyard as observatory Landscape — Old roads First public water works

—

—

in

United States

108-115

CHAPTER

XIII.

AMONG OED GRAVES AND

BUIEDINGS.

—

Old graves and quaint tomb-stones Homes of the early peasantry Old times in vogue Interesting local church his-

—

—

116-127

tory

CHAPTER

XIV.

THE TUEPEHOCKEN REFORMED CHURCH. Tulpehocken The early Reformed settlers Church history Record of pastors Colonial heroes Old graves. 128-136

Back

to the

—

—

—

—

—

CHAPTER XV. AN HOUR WITH REFORMED PASTORS. A

personal review— Sketches of the Tulpehocken pastors

—The

Leinbachs

137-148

CHAPTER

Angling

—

XVI. A STROEE AEONG THE TUEPEHOCKEN. Old homesteads The Breittenbach Indian Fort

—

.

.

149-155

— CONTENTS.

V PAGE

CHAPTER

XVII.

TUEPEHOCKENTOWN, AEIAS MYERSTOWN. Naming towns — Sketch of Myers, the founder— Old relics — Former famous citizens — A future Governor — Local history 156-165

CHAPTER WAEK OVER

A

XVIII.

HISTORIC GROUND.

—

—

new churches Old families Where Gov. Shultze found a w ife Fine old homestead, once a retreat of Washington’s Other old homes 166-177

Planting of

T

—

—

CHAPTER

XIX.

ENCAMPED NEAR EEBANON. A

halt of excursionists

tory of a canal

— Historic

ground— Family history— His-

— Historic highways

178-186

CHAPTER XX. THE HEBRON MORAVIAN CHURCH.

—

Mission work and planting of churches History of a church Valuable records A Revolutionary Prison 187-199

Scripture nomenclature

—

—

CHAPTER Early homes about plot

— Light’s

XXI.

A WAEK ABOUT STEITZTOWN. Lebanon— Moravian headquarters— Old burial Fort — Other old homesteads — Poem of local 200-213

history

CHAPTER MT. TABOR

XXII.

REFORMED CHURCH.

—

Local history ecclesiastically enshrined Familiar local Zealous church workers Record of pastors

—

CHAPTER

names—

..... 214-225

XXIII.

FACE TO FACE WITH PAST WORTHIES. Graveyard reflections in June— Sketches of pastors and influential lay -members sleeping side by side 226-237

CHAPTER XXIV. A haet on market square.

—

Lebanon’s busy mart Local Revolutionary history steads lining Square Family history

—

— Old

home238-250

CONTENTS.

VI

PAGE

CHAPTER XXV. A HALT ON MARKET SQUARE, CONTINUED.

More

historic

homes — Famous men and

— Focal history and

visits

genealogy

251-261

CHAPTER XXVI. SALEM LUTHERAN CHURCH AND GRAVEYARD.

— Local church leaders — Old — Record of pastors— Old graves

Early Lutheran history ics

church

rel-

262-276

CHAPTER XXVII. OUR EXIT VIA OLD CUMBERLAND ST. TO GLONIGER’S FORT. Interesting local history on every hand — Where was Steitz’s house?— Gloninger’s Fort

—A famous family

CHAPTER

277-289

XXVIII.

A VALUABLE LIBRARY historically housed.

Charms of

a library— A collection of rare old

quarters

books— Historic

....

290-299

CHAPTER XXIX. THE REV. JOHN CASPER STOEVER HOMESTEAD.

—

Location and erection Biographical sketch— Interesting events here transpired Present ownership 300-307

—

CHAPTER XXX. A visit to the hill church.

—

—

“ God's

History of congregation Her pastors An old rural Grave of Pastor Stoever— Other graves acre ”

—

308-315

CHAPTER XXXI. THE STOEVER MONUMENT.

A

memorial shaft erected

— Unveiling— Memorial poem

.

.

.316-322

CHAPTER XXXII. A GLIMPSE OF ANNVILLEThe Gem of the Valley — Local history— Dark pages— Old homesteads — Leading names — Church work A final leave-

—

taking

323-334

PREFACE. The

author desires to say to his gentle reader that

when he began had no desire

to

pen the contents of

it

and

lie at

his feet, he

Then he became

read.

volume he

Seeing a volume of

to write a book.

interesting local history

this

began

to

open

inclined to impart the

information gained unto others, and hence chose as his vehicle one of the daily papers of his

Daily Report appeared, to

for

own

In The

city.

seven months, from January

August, 1894, in consecutive order, under the nom

de plume of u Kristofer Kolumbo,” these weekly con-

They soon

tributions.

ever

among

attracted attention, and wher-

readers the author’s

name became known,

he was besought to gather the material into permanent

and convenient form.

make

for

its

He

To

He

appearance in this way.

yielded to a general local toric

has therefore no apology

demand

to preserve

matter these fugitive sketches aid the general reader

may

to

has but

what

his-

contain.

now undertaking

this im-

aginary historical pilgrimage, a number of illustrations

have been secured

for these pages.

The

prefers to stand substantially as they

asking simply that the reader bear (vii)

in

letters the

were

mind

first

author

written,

that they are

PREFACE.

Vlll

“Letters.”

If they should induce

any one

make an

to

actual pilgrimage to this ancient settlement, to see for

himself these landmarks and study them “face to face,” the writer entertains no fear of ever hearing any regrets

from such an one

The

article

for the

proper place, though counts for

its

undertaking.

on Womelsdorf it

was

midsummer

is

here inserted in

last written,

flavor, the

and

season

its

this ac-

when

these

contributions were brought to their termination.

We and

hope new readers may

find

something

to please

instruct. P. C. C.

Lebanon,

Pa.,

March

,

1895.

CO O) Csj

CM CM

O

INTRODUCTION. This book commends response to a demand.

Its

itself.

Its

in a series of articles in a

contents were

Lebanon

a general

in

in

published

interest,

was the expression of

It

is

The and

have the material in

desire to

more permanent form.

first

daily paper.

much

reading of these articles created resulted

publication

this

mainly, that led the modest author to the idea

desire,

of the book.

The book interest.

the story

is

way

makes

that

ered with

investigation.

contains

is

The

many

history of this section, both in its

early

settlement of

told in a sprightly

material was gath-

and substantiated by personal

labor,

It

story

attractive.

it

much

of the

The

central Pennsylvania.

more than ordinary

with

be read

will

It

incidents in the early

its

secular affairs and in

church work, not elsewhere to be found.

The book

will be valuable as a reference.

tion of territory

of the

it

sec-

covers was the scene of some

most important events in the early settlement of Associated with them

the State.

Weiser.

known, 2

which

The

If the life

his

and deeds of

name would

is

name of Conrad man were properly

the

this

scarcely stand second to any in (ix)

INTRODUCTION.

X

the roll of worthies of the

He was

Commonwealth.

men high and ecclesiastical. Many of

the

valued associate and adviser of

in authority

in affairs civil

these events

They

have no record.

down from generation of time these are

exist simply in traditions

With

to generation.

becoming dim and

handed

the lapse

indistinct.

It is

important that they should have a record in permanent form.

The^book can not those

now

fail

to

be of interest, not only to

have gone forth from

it

to settle other sections.

descendants of the people

who

took part in these scenes

They

are to be found in every part of the country. all

ranks of

Many

life.

them the

carried with ancestors,

who The

living in this section, but also to those

of

them have inherited and

spirit of their earnest

and have become leaders

and enterprise book ought

their

in

and daring

thought and

in

chosen communities.

be in the hands of every

to

fill

life

This

man and woman

j

who

traces

back ancestry

to the early settlers of central

Pennsylvania.

(

The book opens

a field that

that ought to be developed.

The Lutheran for

giving

it

to the general public.

to a fault,

to fame.

By

rich in material

publication

Publication Society

German has been almost

Its

is

is

be

to

is

and

timely.

commended

The Pennsylvania

altogether too modest.

Conservative

he has not cared to herald his deeds

reason of this same conservatism, he has

furnished to our social, civil and ecclesiastical

element of stability and strength.

We

life,

an

have the record

j

i

I

;

c

1

c


L IL i

.

-

No. 1547.

Authorized by Law of the State of Pennsylvania, for defraying the expenses of erecting the Churches lately built by the German Reformed Congregations respectively, in the Borough of Lebanon and in the Town of Heidelberg, in the County of Dauphin.

ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS. This Ticket will entitle the Bearer to such Prize, as may be drawn to its Number, if demanded within twelve Months after drawing. Subject to a deduction of tw enty per cent. Feb. 1 q, 1800. T

HENRY SCHAEFFER.

)]

AMONG OLD GRAVES AND The known Revs.

pastors of the

Rieger,

J. B.

and Thomas

BUILDINGS.

1

25

Reformed church have been

Thomas Leinbach,

C. Leinbach,

Jr.,

Shultz, A. H. Leisse, and A.

J.

Samuel

Sr.,

S.

S. S. Sweitzer, J. A.

Bachman, the present

incumbent. In walking along these ancient streets one

number

a large

whose low

of the

peasant abodes, mere huts,

first

roofs can be touched with one’s

the sidewalk.

sees

still

Most of these abodes are

Many

but some are going into decay.

hand from

still

occupied,

are covered with

and in view of these tokens of age, the town

tiles,

re-

minds one of Newmanstown.

The town

center contains a spacious square or market

One

especially

old stone

hostelry,

erected in 1752 by the founder of the town.

In ante-

place,

along which are old buildings.

claims our attention.

Revolutionary times

It

had

it

George,” and sheltered After the Revolution,

from King George

is

is its

a

royal

many an

“King

name,

aristocratic

guest.

the sign portrait was changed

to that of

George Washington.

most remarkable feature about bably

the

this old

The

landmark prob-

elaborately and well-built cellar.

Its ceil-

ing consists of a series of well-walled and cemented arches, receding from a to

common

center.

It is

known

have on several occasions sheltered the inhabitants

of the

community from the depredations of the savages

in the first

and second decades

Bidding adieu to

way

after its erection.

this ancient town,

we

will take our

across the country towards Myerstown.

Leading

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

126

through the very paradise of Lebanon county farms, we will pass the palatial country residence

and improved

farms of Mr. Isaac Long, a brother and partner in the

New York

wholesale commission business of the late

KING GEORGE HOTEE, SCHAEFFERSTOWN.

S. S. is

Long, of Newrnanstown.

This summer residence

located at the corner where Mill Creek, Heidelberg

and Jackson townships meet.

A

little

nearer Myers-

town we pass an ancient house, now occupied by Mr. Ezra Spangler, which has not gone out of the family

hands since

upon

it,

its

it is

erection.

in a

good

Though having

state of repair,

and

signs of age its fine

lime-

AMONG OLD GRAVES AND stone walls are as substantial as It

bears in

its

BUILDINGS.

when

it

was

127

first built.

front elevation a sandstone with the fol-

lowing quaint inscription, the quotation of which somber,

semi-religious,

orthograpliically-faulty

will close this chapter

:

GOTT - GESEGNE - DIESEE - HAVS - VND

WER DA GETT -

-

-

EIN - VND AVS - ICH GE

AVS ~ ODER - EIN - SO - STET

VND WARTET -

JACOB

-

-

-

MEIN

SPENDER & E- S- B-

DER DOTT -

1

S

7 -

-

82.

P- R- N

sentiment

CHAPTER

XIV.

THE TULPEHOCKEN REFORMED CHURCH.

Having worked

way back

our

Dauphin turnpike— fortunately such snows

visit this

to the

for

Berks and

when

our jaunts,

region in the middle of April as

the one that blocked up travel by steam, electricity,

—

week where we

bicycle or foot last

us go

down

this ever pass-

left it almost two months ago highway to our “round-about n excursion, and let us from this

able for

let

way westward toward Lebanon, picking way the scattered leaves of unwritten his-

point work our

up along the So we

tory.

town

to

the

will

go about three miles east of Myers-

oldest

and one of the most important

churches of the Reformed denomination in valley.

It

is

known

as

the Tulpehocken

all

this

Reformed

church, and has a long and intensely interesting history.

Because of brethren, tury,

it

its

having been served by the two Leinbach

Thomas H. and Charles, is commonly spoken of

for over half a cen-

as

the

“Leinbach

Kirche.” It is

located just west of the

Tulpehocken Lutheran

church, about a mile and a half west of Stouchsburg,

along the turnpike, near a

little

village that has

up recently under the name of Cocena. (128)

It

is

grown

situated

THE TULPEHOCKEN REFORMED CHURCH.

129

on rising ground, like that of the Lutheran church near by,

along a bend of the Tulpehocken creek, while the

tw o historic and r

venerable

sites,

with

their sacred

temples and burial grounds and ancient parsonages,

frown at or greet one another

(as the heart of the ob-

TUEPEHOCKEN REFORMED CHURCH.

server

is

opposing

filled

with bigotry or fraternity) from their

hill-sides, like the

and Gerizim.

We

ancient mountains of Ebal

trust they

have both been “mounts

of blessing ” during all the hundred and

gospel light that crown them.

It

fifty

years of

would seem

at least

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

130

as if the earliest settlers that worshiped here desired that

these sacred spots might prove Gerizims and not Ebals,

where many of them

even with a

built their houses

version of the promised Mosaic blessing (Deut. xxviii. 6)

engraved upon them, u Gott gesegne dieses Haus, und

wer da gehet ein und aus.”

With no

fear of

having curses heaped upon

repair to the spacious, stone off the

manse

J.

little

Although the present

roadway, to the south.

genial dominie, Rev. H.

us, let us

that stands a

Welker, has a

little

farm of

thirty acres to superintend, beside his parish work, will find

him none

too busy to give us a little time and

lead us into the very interesting past and present of this sacred

we

and historic landmark.

The

all

pastors here

have been busy men from time immemorial, some of

them having served

as

many

as sixteen widely scattered

congregations at one time, besides managing a mill property and

tire

farm, which were then parts of the pasu church mill” has in recent years

The

toral estate.

been disposed of and the pastor. still

now

turns

its grist for

another than

But a famous stone quarry on the premises

yields a

handsome royalty

as a revenue for the

church.

The parsonage and kept in good cheerful

comfort. tors

is

a fine stone structure,

repair.

rooms on either

They have done

commodious

The wide hall-way and side bespeak

so to

the

welcome and

many thousand

visi-

during the more than a century of the manse’s ex-

istence.

Perhaps the most distinguished guest

it

ever

THE TIILPEHOCKEN REFORMED CHURCH. sheltered

was the

late

131

Dr. Philip Schaff, a native of

His great learning early gave him a trans-

Switzerland.

continental reputation, and in 1844 he was called by the

German Reformed church,

of America, to

New York

in July of that year,

a professor-

fill

He landed

ship in the institutions at Mercersburg, Pa.

in

and taking up a leisurely

journey towards the place of destination,

he passed

through Eastern Pennsylvania, stopping

Kutztown,

Reading, and

at

Tulpehocken with Dr. Thomas H.

He

Eeinbach, the pastor. this hospitable

at

probably spent a few days at

He

Reformed manse.

before his death, at a meeting of the

said of

it

a year

Reformed Synod

Reading, October, 1892, which he attended, that u the manners and customs of the people and the Penn-

in

sylvania-German dialect were exceedingly interesting” to

him.

This

visit:

occurred the

1844, Dearly fifty years ago,

burg August 12th, at

Nevin, with

whom

and he arrived

delegates,

and knows how their pastoral

Judge Bucher

he

first

met

he was thenceforward

of just pride to every

at Mercers-

at a convention of

mately connected as a colleague.

and especially

day of August,

after stopping with

Harrisburg,, where,

German Reformed

first

member

It

Dutch and Dr.

to

J.

be so

W. inti-

must be a source

of this flock that loves

to appreciate the intellectually great,

for the

pastor,

to

remember

that this

abode once sheltered such a prince of

theologians and church historians. In

the parsonage are found

records of the labors of

its

minute and extensive

pastors and the transactions

LANDMARKS

132

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

IN

They cover

of this congregation.

three or four large

volumes, but the oldest and most valuable of

been

Still quite

lost.

all

has

a full history of the church

life

here can be constructed from the records at hand.

There have been three churches since the beginning

The

in 1744.

first

one was a log building, and stood in

the southeast corner of the old cemetery.

The second

church was built of stone, and stood opposite the road from the present chard,

present edifice

the northwest corner of the or-

site, at

between

the is

pike and

the parsonage.

The

a large two-story massive structure,

built of nicely dressed limestone.

It

bears in

its

front

elevation a marble slab containing the following en-

graving

:

REBUILT “THIS

IS

A. D. 1853.

NONE OTHER THAN

THE HOUSE OF GOD.” THOMAS H. EEINBACH, MINISTER. BOARD OF TRUSTEES Thomas Bassler, President. 4

:

J.

Steward, D. Mosser,

Wm. Tice, J. Tice,

H. Haack and M. Haack.

BUIEDING COMMITTEE

.*

George Diehl, Jonathan Klopp

and Eli Klopp. Master Carpenter.

S. McAlister,

Although the building or

interior

is

arrangements,

not antiquated in yet

the

its

exterior

congregation

has

THE TUEPEHOCKEN REFORMED CHURCH. already decided to spend about $5,000 in

to 1747,

it

33

remodeling

(This was executed in 1894.)

in the near future.

The following

its

1

pastors have served this church

was served

for

some

:

Prior

time by certain

little

itinerant or missionary pastors, with an occasional ser-

mon by Weiss,

Revs.

at

Rieger,

intervals

Boehm and George Michael

of six and

twelve weeks.

After

1747, the church had settled pastors, as follows:

Rev. D. Bartholmaeus, 1747-1750; Rev. H.

W.

Stoy,

1752-1755; Rev. Waldschmidt, 1757-1758; Rev. Otterbein, J.

1758-1764; Rev. John

William Hendel,

Loretz,

Sr.,

J.

Zufall, 1765-1769;

1769-1782

;

Rev.

Rev.

Andrew

1785-1786; Rev. D. Wagner, 1787-1793; Rev.

William Hendel, D. D., 1793-1823; Rev. Thomas H. Rev. Charles H. .Leinbach, Leinbach, 1826-1864 ;

D. D., 1864-1883; Rev.

Of

Henry

these pastors, as far as

J.

Welker, 1884

we

.

could learn, but two

are buried here, viz., the Leinbach brothers, a visit to

whose graves we

will

mention

in

the next chapter.

There are a few graves among the many hundreds of our

German

folk,

who sleep

in the

two large and well-kept

graveyards here, that claim our attention to-day. In the old cemetery, south of the pike, close

by where the

church stood, are buried the Spychers,

who were

cal characters

century.

in

the

Benjamin,

first

at

first

histori-

half and middle of the last

whose house

gathered his regiment of 300

Col.

German

the invading savages, already alluded trious ancestor of the Decherts

Conrad Weiser farmers to repel

to,

was the

and Neads of

illus-

this valley

LANDMARKS OF THE LEBANON VALLEY.

134

He was

and that of the Cumberland. Peter Spycher, and emigrated

to

the son of John

America from the

Palatinate in 1738, settling in this neighborhood.

In

He served as 1744 he was licensed as an Indian trader. an officer in the Provincial army during the French and Indian war, and at the beginning of the Revolution assisted in organizing the

Berks county

militia.

He

was a member of the Provincial Conference of June

8,

1776, and of the Constitutional Convention of July 15, His grave is supposed to be among the Spycher 1776.

tombs found here, but the epitaph time has

The grave Benjamin,

is

marked by

more recent than

a granite slab that

his death and,

He was among

legible.

obliterated.

of Peter Spycher, doubtless a brother of

the

is

evidently

therefore, still quite

men who

figured promi-

nently in arousing the Provincial Government to efforts of defense against the

in his day.

November

A 16,

letter

1755,

is

make

depredations of the Indians

still

to Col.

extant which he wrote

Conrad Weiser, then in

Philadelphia on public business, in which he describes the recent

depredations and butcheries

among

their

brethren by the Indians, including the slaughter of the

watch and many lersburg).

“I have

The

others, at Diedrich Six’s (back of Milletter closes as follows

this account

:

from those above named, and from Peter An-

John Caderman, Christopher Noacre, Leonard Walborn, George Dollinger and Adam Dieffenbach.

spach,

“

We are,

at present, in

imminent danger

to lose our lives or estates.

Pray, therefore, for help, or else whole Tulpehocken will be laid waste,

by the Indians, in a very short

time,

— all the buildings will be

THE TUEPEHOCKEN REFORMED CHURCH.

Do, therefore, lose no time to get us as-

burned, the people scalped. sistance.

The Assembly may

fine friends the Indians are

learn from this zvork

We

!

,

what kind and

hope members of the Assembly

get their eyes opened and manifest tender hearts towards us

Governor the same.

George

II,

They

*35

are, it is

;

will

and the

hoped, true subjects to our King

of Great Britain, or are they willing to deliver us into the

hands of these cruel and merciless creatures? ‘

From

I

a

am

Peter Spycher. ”

your friend,

German

mantown, July,

paper, printed by C. Sauer, of Ger-

1757, this Peter

as one of the three persons to

tributions

the

might be sent

Spycher

whom

any

is

mentioned

free-will con-

to aid in the better defense of

Tulpehocken and Bethel inhabitants against the

savages, for peal to the

which

this

German

paper then sent out a strong ap-

brethren, scattered

all

over the older

portion of the province.

This Peter Spycher lived near Stouchsburg, and buried in this old Reformed burial ground. stone has the following inscription

Zum von

:

Gedachtuifs

PETER SPUCKER Esqf

Gebohren Den 1

71

r

.

Juli Ift alt

27 October

Gestorben Den

13

1789

worden 77 Jahr v ein halben

8

Mo.

is

His tomb-

136

LANDMARKS

Among

IN

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

the oldest legible tombstone inscriptions

we

found the following, showing that the dead were buried ,

here already in 1745 .... /#

J111111

O

S

V

O

—

mink j

J

z

E

z \ E | E

E

z

HIR BEGRABEN IOHANNES KIDZ MILLER 1ST GE

BOHREN 1692 DEN 2 FEBRV AR 11 GEST ORBEN 1745

l E 5

E

E E i

niiiiiiaii-iiiiiiiiiiimmiimimiiimiiiiiiimiimir

Here are

also buried the founders of

other leaders of long ago, of later.

Myerstown and

whom we

will

speak

CHAPTER

XV.

AN HOUR WITH REFORMED PASTORS.

Having

taken a general survey of the grounds and

buildings and the past history of the Tulpehocken Re-

formed church,

let

us take our seat on the front portico

company with the

of the historic parsonage, and in pitable

dominie in charge,

sainted pastors a half,

who

call

up the long

labored here in the past century and

and look them one by one into the

spring sun

is

hos-

line of the

face.

The

genial, the zephyrs breathe gently through

the boughs of the apple orchard, fast budding into leaf

and blossom about

us,

and the crocuses and

near by to illustrate our faith in the

first

daffodils are

resurrection of

the pious dead, while robins and song-sparrows help to

an hour of memorial reverie and review.

lure us into

By

the aid of

some magic wand

slumbering prophets, our latter

we

life

trust, a

of

let

and... while

us then call up the

they

may

look in upon

modern improvements, we

will catch,

sense of their piety and self-denial, while

we

gaze for an hour into their once familiar countenances.

The

first

that

must be

called

supply-pastors, or missionaries,

up are those

who preached

earliest

the Gos-

pel here before the first synodical organization of this

denomination was effected io

in this country.

(137)

These were

LANDMARKS

138

the Revs. Rieger,

high in the America.

IN

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

Boehm and

Weiss, names that stand

earliest annals of the

Reformed church

in

They were

the very earliest pastors of this

much

pioneer work for this denomina-

church, and did

tion in Pennsylvania.

Boehm began He

before he was formally licensed.

to

preach in 1726,

took up his

home

THE TUTPEHOCKEN REFORMED PARSONAGE. in

Whitpain township, then Philadelphia county, about

sixteen miles north of that city, from

whence he sup-

plied surrounding places, even Philadelphia.

At

this

place (Whitpain) he built up a flourishing church that still

bears his name.

Weiss located

at

Skippach, Mont-

AN HOUR WITH REFORMED PASTORS. gomery county,

after arriving in this

families of native Palatines,

ing been sent hither as the

1

country with

September

21,

39

fifty

1727, hav-

ordained pastor of the Reformed church in Pennsylvania, by u the upper confirst

He served

sistory, or classis, of the Palatinate.”

older congregations of the upper end of

county, such as Old and

Schwam,

etc.

He

New

the

all

Montgomery

Goschenhoppen, Gross-

also visited the Fatherland, with

Reif, in the interests of the struggling

one

Reformed congre-

gations of Pennsylvania, and for a brief period preached at

Reiger arrived in this country in

Rhinebeck, N. Y.

He

September, 1731.

settled at Lancaster,

and supplied

the surrounding congregations with preaching, namely,

Conestoga, Schaefferstown, a

number

of things in

September

These three men have

etc.

common,

with the Rev. Mr. Schlatter in the

29, 1747,

establishment, in Philadelphia, of the organization, as

Synod;

localities

2,

known then by

the

they founded the

where they

considerable wealth

;

4,

settled;

they

3,

all lie

first

name

first

now

first

churches in the all

accumulated

buried in the churches 5,

they were

all

supplies of the Tulpehocken congrega-

Would we

tion.

find

the

ecclesiastical

of Coetus,

they

which they respectively founded; and

among

they united in

viz., 1,

visit their respective graves,

Weiss buried

we should

at the south-east corner of the

New

Goschenhoppen church, the grave marked by a wooden slab

on which

is

painted the barest fact of his resting

there.

While he died

slaves,

all

of

whom

childless,

and

he owned about twenty

their offspring he baptized,

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

140

some

whose descendants

of

The grave

hoppen.

east corner of the

Lehigh county, where

likewise in the south-

1749,

1,

011

at

Whitpain, having

a ft er a trip

Egypt,

to

the previous day he had ad-

communion to that flock. He left a among whom was long preserved,

ministered the

number

is

church he built

May

died suddenly,

Boehm

of

linger about Goschen-

still

of children,

an iron chest

as a relic,

filled

with this pioneer’s most

important church papers and correspondence with the

church judicatories of Holland and Germany, but which valuable historic treasures were, after oft handling, finally

but most unfortunately given to the flames. lies

Reiger

buried in the First Reformed church of Lancaster,

a horizontal stone, with an elaborate epitaph,

marking

the spot, and noting his death as occurring in 1769,

March

the nth.

When

the Rev. Michael Schlatter, the great leader

and organizer of the German

America

(sent

Reformed

church

of

by the Reformed Classes of Holland, and

commissioned

to

consolidate

the

scattered

Reformed

congregations upon the basis of their denominational order, doctrines

these three

him

to

and worship) arrived

named

illustrious

patriarch

visited

the

Tulpehocken.

here

occasions, but perhaps the most is

time accompanied

pastors at one

this congregation at

in this country,

on

memorable

that occasioned by the introduction

of the

first

several

and

visit

The other of

all

installation

regular pastor, in the person of the Rev.

Dominicus Bartholomaeus, whom,

with Rev. Hoch-

AN HOUR WITH REFORMED PASTORS. reutner, he

to

come

to

important

fields

at

was instrumental in inducing

America from Switzerland

for the

Tulpehocken and Lancaster,

141

respectively.

Rev. Bartholomaeus took charge at Tulpehocken, September, 1748, but was not permitted to labor for

any length of time.

Almost from the very beginning

him

of his ministry his health was precarious, causing to cease

from

its

active labors here in 1752, and being

by death

relieved of his bodily infirmities

know

writer does not

his place of burial.

William Stoy, who succeeded

The

in 1759.

Rev. Dr. Tul-

this first pastor at

pehocken, was born in Herborn, Germany, March 1726,

where he was educated

accompanied Rev. Mr. Schlatter pastors,

whom

14,

for

the ministry, and

to

America, one of six

this leader induced,

in a visit to the

Fatherland in 1752, to accompany him to America to

He was

serve the church here. to

Mr. Bartholomaeus,

the latter.

when

He remained

appointed as successor

failing health debilitated

but three years,

severity of the climate induced

him

when

to resign.

the

After

health improved he accepted a call to Lancaster, and

from thence came back to the Lebanon Valley, settling in

Lebanon and operating up and down

physician and minister.

church in Berks county latter place

mortem scription

preached here and at Host

some time

he was buried, according

request.

marks

September

He for

14,

A

longer, at to his

own

which ante-

memorial stone with suitable

his resting place.

1801.

this valley as a

He

in-

died in Lebanon,

Whatever may have been the

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

142

influence of his gospel teachings, his medical skill was

admitted, and from his saddle-bags he oft took cures for the body.

We know

water of eternal

not the result of his offers of the

Among

life.

known

lar preparation

his remedies

as “Stoy’s

was a popu-

Drops” and an

effect-

ual cure for hydrophobia.

Rev. John Waldschmidt,

who

served Tulpehocken

from 1757 to 1758, was also a native of Germany, and one of the six pastors whom Mr. Schlatter induced to labor in the American

field.

He was

first

stationed in

Lancaster county, and from thence supplied this church for nearly lies

two

.

He died in September, 1786, and Swamp (Lancaster county) church

years.

buried in the

yard, a stone fittingly inscribed

Rev.

Wm.

Waldschmidt

Otterbein, another

marking the

spot.

German, succeeded Mr.

in this charge in 1758.

He

likewise was

one of Rev. Mr. Schlatter’s six apostles, induced by his appeal to leave

home and

native land in the interests of

the Reformed Zion in America. five,

was ordained

He, with the other

to the gospel ministry at the

Hague

and accompanied their earnest leader across the mighty deep in 1752.

and

at

He was

a youth of 26

when he

arrived,

once entered into an agreement with the Lan-

caster congregation to serve

them

for five years.

He

established order and discipline in the church, intro-

ducing the time-honored custom of each communicant’s

Anmeldung) a day The original paper, or two prior to the communion. drawn up by him and signed by 80 members of his personal interview with the pastor

(

AN HOUR WITH REFORMED PASTORS. flock,

He was

bility

this

to

Lancaster

the archives of the

preserved in

is

church.

143

successful in giving strength and sta-

congregation

— inducing

them

which stood almost a century before the present brick structure.

assumed charge supply at years.

first,

at

He

it

erect

to

during his ministry a massive stone church

edifice,

was displaced by

resigned in 1758 and

Tulpehocken, only as temporary

which continued, however,

From Tulpehocken Mr.

for several

Otterbein

went

he labored

for

to

Here

Frederick, Md., and from thence to Baltimore.

almost 40 years, until his death, being,

however, meanwhile instrumental in giving form and

shape to a new sect or denomination, the United BrethLater he seems to have come back to

ren in Christ. his

first

love, taking a

deep interest in the Reformed

church and dying within her

one of the most

fold,

highly gifted preachers and intensely ardent workers ot this

denomination.

He

died October 17, 1813, in Bal-

timore, where the venerable Dr. Kurtz, of the Lutheran

church,

ministered to

preached his

German

him

first

Conway

He lies now United

bishop of the M. E. church,

mate friendship he enjoyed, spoke a

memory

10-11.

in the

Conway

street

Mr. Otterbein’s tomb

marked by

buried Breth-

Bishop Asbury,

street of that city.

whom

assisted to consecrate to the bishopric,

his

hours and

funeral sermon.

near the then Reformed church, ren, in

dying

his

in

the

former

and whose

special

inti-

eulogium

church from Rev.

is

well

to iii.

preserved and

a marble entablature, bearing the data of a

brief memorial.

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

144

Rev. John

J.

Zufall

Tulpehocken, and served

There

work

not

is

much

or career from

succeeded Mr. this

Otterbein

at

charge from 1765 to 1769.

recorded concerning this pastor’s

which the writer could

trace a life

sketch.

Rev. William Hendel, 1769 to

1782.

He

Tulpeliocken from

Sr., served

arrived

in this country from his

native Palatinate in 1764, and assumed charge at Lan-

From thence he came

caster.

to

Tulpehocken, labor-

ing here during the Revolutionary war period.

an

efficient

Lancaster.

In 1794, he accepted a call to Philadelphia,

laboring there during that period of the pestilence,

which plague

buried by the side of

many

the

occasioned by

made him

28,

1798.

its

He

is

of his ministerial brethren,

Franklin Square, Philadelphia.

in

trial

finally

ending in death September

victim,

After

ministry of thirteen years, he returned to

Dr.

Lutheran church, his warm and

Hehnuth,

faithful

of

friend,

2 Samuel i. Harbaugh called Hendel “the St. John of the Reformed Church.” A friend composed a special

preached at his obsequies, from the text 26.

Dr.

hymn on

his death, which, however,

we have

not space

to quote.

Rev. Andrew Loretz, the next pastor, was a sort of

unaccountable personage in the annals of the Reformed

Church

—a

mysterious, Melchizedek kind

native of Switzerland, he

came

to

of prophet,

is

hidden.

A

America

in 1784,

and

whose parentage and general history

the next year settled at Tulpehocken, where he served

AN HOUR WITH REFORMED PASTORS. and those

church

this

Lebanon and

at

interfered with his usefulness here,

soon returned

Heidelbergtown,

Swatara,

His Swiss dialect

Hill.

145

is

and

said to

have

he, therefore,

Europe, leaving this charge again

to

vacant in 1786.

Rev. Daniel

was born

Wagner succeeded him

in the

in

1787.

duchy of Nassau, Germany, but came

with his parents to this country

when two

years of age,

settling temporarily in Chester county, but after a

up

years taking ship,

their

permanent abode

He

Berks county, Pa.

York county

He

few

Bern town-

in

labored in the ministry in

for fifteen years before

assuming charge

at

Tulpehocken, where he remained four years, when he again returned to York, remaining nine years longer,

when he

settled at Frederick,

years’ labor here

York

in

Md.

After a few more

he became disabled, removing back to

1810, only to die

and be buried

occurred in December of the same year. of his descendants

Rev. Dr.

Wm.

there,

which

There many

still reside.

Hendel,

Jr.,

eldest son of the senior

Hendel, succeeded Rev. Wagner.

In youth he was un-

der the tutelage of the celebrated Lutheran divines, Drs.

Kunze and Helmutli, graduating college, ical

N. Y., and from the

He was

Seminary.

assumed years.

charge

He was

at

from Columbia

Brunswick Theolog-

ordained in 1793, and at once

Tulpehocken,

a progressive

his brethren of that

New

later

remaining

man, much

day in point of

in

thirty

advance of

liberal thought.

For his advocacy of missions and the establishment of a

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

146

Theological Seminary of his church he was violently persecuted.

was by his casting

It

Synod, that the

first

Theological Seminary of the Re-

formed church was established. several of his churches and

where he continued

to

I11

1823

removed

to

^

resigned

ie

Womelsdorf,

preach six years longer,

from the sacred

retired

vote, as President of

when he

only preaching occa-

office,

He

sionally after that date as supply for his brethren.

died at

Womelsdorf on July

At

11,

and there was

1846,

(See chapter on Womelsdorf.)

buried.

John

his funeral the Rev.

who was one

C.

Bucher, of Reading,

of the officiating clergymen,

made the

startling statement at the request of deceased, that he

had lived and preached

(the deceased)

all his

years with

a mere theoretical knowledge of the religion and the

grace of God, and that he had never enjoyed the favor

and pardon of God before

in its fullest

and experimental sense

impending death opened

his eyes to his dreadful

situation.

By

He

request, this

God and found peace. statement was to be made at his funeral, then called on

to

warn other pastors against a

to

urge his

own members

experimental grace while gelical Association,” or

of this confession,

false trust or hope,

and

pardon and The u Evan-

to seek the Lord’s it

was yet day.

some members of

and gave

it

it,

publicity by

made

stock

means of a

printed tract which they circulated.

The Leinbach

brethren,

Thomas and

Charles, in turn

succeeded Dr. Hendel at Tulpehocken, and served the

charge for more than

fifty years.

They were both

well

AN HOUR WITH REFORMED PASTORS. adapted for this

147

and under the ministry of the

field,

former some of the greatest improvements of the church

were made

—such as the building

of the present church

and the celebration of the centennial of the

edifice,

°f which helped to strengthen the

church in 1847,

cause of the congregation.

He

also succeeded in divid-

ing the large membership into two congregations, and thus establishing the Reformed congregation at Myers-

town, and building that

He

died at Millers-

on Thursday, March

Berks county,

burg,

edifice.

31,

1864,

having there been seized with violent sickness, while officiating

a solemn occasion, people, cipal

His funeral was

on the preceding Sunday.

when

one by Dr.

classmate of

attended by a large concourse of

several sermons were preached, the prin-

his,

J. S.

Dubbs, of Allentown, who was a

and a mutual friend throughout

life

each having officiated at the marriage of the other. Mr.

Leinbach was the at

first

person buried in the

new cemetery

Tulpehocken, and a marble monument marks the entrance near the

site of his resting place, close to its

church.

The

following inscription In

Memory

is

engraved thereon

of

Rev. Thomas H. Leinbach, Pastor of this Con-

gregation for 38 years.

Commenced in

March,

1826,

Ended in

March,

1864.

“I am the Resurrection and the

Life,

&c.”

:

LANDMARKS

148

IN

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

His brother Charles succeeded him, and served the church

for

20 years.

and a granite shaft

He

lies

buried near his brother,

tells this story:

Rev. Charles H. Leinbach, D.

D.,

Born Nov.

7,

1815,

Died July

“He

15, 1883.

Giveth His Beloved Sleep.”

Pastor Tulpehocken Charge,

May

i,

1863, to July, 1883.

Since 1884 Pastor Welker has done good work here,

and continues tarry

his

any longer.

successful

labors.

But we cannot

Therefore, dismissing this distin-

guished array of. divines, and breaking up our happy conference with the living and dead abruptly,

let

us be

many landmarks that still abide in this historically rich valley. To the departed, u Requiescant in pace!" To the only living pastoral toiler and his u Dominns Vobiscum !" helpers, off after the

CHAPTER

XVI.

A STROLL ALONG THE TULPEHOCKEN.

The The

genial spring sun has

made angling

seasonable.

very allusion to this boyhood sport, combines with

awaken

the climate to

A

fondest memories.

flood of

delightful recollections, like unto the brooks at springtime, all

whose fountain-heads have been

whose banks run

to overflowing,

full

let loose

and

started

and

is

flows through the channels of our soul at the very sight

of a stream of water in

a day in fishing

up the

Being on the

spring time.

banks of a gamey stream, how would historic

readers being agreed, this will

it

be

if

Tulpehocken?

we do

to-day.

shall not angle for the finny tribe, but will

land a few big est,

that

sport

fish in

we’d spend All

my

Only we

endeavor

to

the line of facts of antique inter-

unknown

or almost

forgotten in

the

stream of historic events that courses along the banks of this familiar creek.

Therefore, leaving the comfortable and ancient old

manse go up first

of the its

Reformed by the Tulpehocken, we

waters, along

the old mill property, 4

which our

settlement in this valley.

known

Church Mill,” because

made the we come to

forefathers

First, then,

for over a

until recently

(i49)

will

it

century as the

was owned by

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

150

the congregation and turned out one grist for the temporal support of the church and another to furnish the

supporting staff of the temporal

of

life

its

membership.

Thence, going up the windings of

this stream, there is

not an old homestead from here to

its

west,

that has

anxious

fear,

savages, hid

was

first

not a story of

because of the

away

occupied by the earliest

depredations of the

Here the land

settlers,

Here the Schoharie

squatted and developed

most of them afterwards

their paid.

Many

valley were founded.

because of the fugitives

plantations,

Along

Millbach and the Swatara, the very

still

struggle and

earnest

many

in its early history.

water convenience.

come

source, five miles

for

first

which

this stream, the

first

homes

in the

of these homesteads have

many were

into other hands, but until recently

in the possession of the direct descendants of the

original owners. If

we would

take our stroll up the turnpike, just a

quarter of a mile at most places north of this creek, and

running

in the

main

parallel to

it,

we could

the better

point out these old settlements, because this excellent

highway

is

on higher ground.

And

pair to gain the best point of view. vision,

however

— will

still

thither let us re-

Our

line

be long enough

—a line of to

let

the

baited hook drop into this stream to our south, and also into the “

Owl Creek,”

that rises in the hillsides to our

north and flows in a westerly and southwesterly course,

emptying into the Tulpehocken

Along the Tulpehocken

just east of

are the

Myerstown.

Haack and Kreitzer

A STROLL ALONG THE TULPEHOCKEN. and Briddebach (Breitenbach) the

Owl creek

estates

and

151

Along

others.

An-

are the homesteads of the original

spachs, Walborns, Lauers, Noackres, Lenne, and so forth.

The whole

of this territory to the north and south, and

even more than

included in this described

is

lying east of Myerstown, situated in what

is

district,

now Jack-

son township, was originally taken up by one Casper

who

Wister, 44

is

described in

maker

the brass-button

ancient documents as

all

of Philadelphia.”

The

writer

was recently shown, by the present owner of the Breitenbach farm, Mr. Richard Miller, of Myerstown, an old

parchment

dated August

deed,

conveyed the small

legally

for the

tract

sum

about four acres

tract of

from Martin Noacker and wife

which

1754,

7,

to Philip Breitenbach,

of 35 pounds, 8 shillings and 6 pence.

Said

was a portion of a farm which Martin Noacker

bought of John Noacker from Casper Wister, delphia,”

who had

acres.

in 1750,

who had purchased

the brass-button

maker

it

of Phila-

November 10, 1738, by inproprietaries, the amount of 1,724

received,

denture from the acres, at

4

an annual quit rental of one red rose for 10,000

On

this

four-acre

tract

erected by Philip Breitenbach, to

ing inhabitants were wont to

an

Indian fort was

which the neighbor-

flee in cases

during the war period with the Indians. great-hearted

Breitenbach

that

the

many

occasions of alarm, to take his

4 4

of emergency

We

are told

was wont,

drum and

beat

on it

on an eminence near his house, to collect the neighbors from work, into the

fort.

On

one occasion the Indians

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

152

pursued them close to the house, when one of the

in-

mates took up a gun and shot the Indian dead on the

Rupp' s History of Berks and Lebanon Counties

spot.”

On

this

“eminence”

of his home, where

we

.

of Breitenbach, evidently east find

it

as of old, let us take our

stand and “view the landscape o’er.” a mile east of Myerstown.

Our

feet

We now

are just half rest

on truly

THE BREITENBACH INDIAN FORT HOMESTEAD, EAST OF MYERSTOWN. historic ground.

Facing the west, before us

lies

Breitenbach homestead, on the south of the pike.

the

The

headstone on barn (second building) bears date of 1802.

By

it,

at

the base of the

brow

of this historic

“emi-

A STROLL ALONG THE TULPEHOCKEN. nence,” flows the “

Owl Creek,”

53

in which, tradition

General Washington watered his horse on one of

says,

To

his visits to or journeys through this valley.

but a

left,

1

little

the

over a stone’s throw from the pike,

stands an old stone residence, with arched cellar, seventeen steps deep, for safe refuge from the savages,

may

which

be the Indian fort which Breitenbach built, though

Owl creek

another spot near the

pointed out as the

is

place where, until recently, the ruins could be seen.

This old

standing, but fast going into decay

relic, still

because no longer occupied,

is

now

the property of Mr.

Harry Kreitzer, of Philadelphia, who, just a

little east

of our observation point, has a comfortable residence for his

summer

estate, futile

is

Near

quarters.

the stone crusher

this place,

—long

attempt at gold mining.

on the Kreitzer

since idle,

To

after

a

our right, on the

north side of the pike, almost near enough to touch the roofs of the buildings,

the present Tice homestead,

is

but for a long time used as a hotel, and built by Peter Ten, in 1777.

It

a large and well-kept limestone

is

country house, surrounded by ample grounds as yard.

A

special stone in the side of the house facing the road-

way, bears the somewhat

homes

in this district,

GOTT

common

namely:

.

GESEGNE

SES HAVS EIN VND .

.

PETR 11

.

legend found on old

LEN

.

DIE-

WER DA GET

.

.

.

AVS 1777. EFA LENIN .

LANDMARKS

154

As for

broken milestone has done service

a door-step, a

many

years.

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

IN

It

bears the following information to

may chance to try the knocker of this home, and who casts his eyes downward

the wayfarer that

hospitable

while awaiting a response:

v

Over

have walked the Tice family, as

this door-step

home

they took leave of the old

—some of

since gone out to their long home. it

as a stepping-stone

whom

have

One son has used

from a peaceful and quiet home-

life

into the prominence and usefulness of a professor’s

life,

and

is

now employed

some

in

institution in

Mont-

gomery county.

A

little

north of the Tice homestead

farm, with

we have

its

imposing farm dwellings,

is

the Noacker

settled early, as

already seen, on a portion of the “brass-button

maker’s”

Beyond

tract.

this place is the

where the greatest benefactor

(?)

Bauer home,

to the bibulous of old

Berks and of East Pennsylvania generally, was reared the noted beer-brewer of Reading, Mr. Frederick Lauer.

Between the Tice homestead and the Noacker farm, the grading of the land

wound around

the steep

before the Berks and right over

it.

It

still

shows where the old road

“eminence”

Dauphin turnpike was located

crossed the

same place the pike

of Breitenbach,

does,

Owl creek

at

about the

and took a westerly and

!

r

A STROLL ALONG THE TULPEHOCKEN.

*55

southwesterly course from thence to the Tulpehocken,

south of Myerstown, where this

stands the residence of

still

town’s founder, Mr. Isaac Myers.

And where

pany

right here, in front of the old Breitenbach this pioneer parted this

Let

for the day.

Breitenbach

hocken

lie

life,

we

will part

com-

only add that Mr. and Mrs.

buried side by side on the Christ Tulpe-

Lutheran

marked by

me

home,

graveyard,

The

fitting stones.

and

their

following

is

graves

are

a specimen

of their tombstones, the wife’s (Elizabeth) being similar to his

:

Hier Ruhet

PHILIP BREITENBACH War gebohren den 6 October 1725

und starb den 26 October 1790

War 65 Jahr

alt

und 20 Tage.

CHAPTER

XVII.

TULPEHOCKENTOWN, ALIAS MYERSTOWN. It

may

not be generally known, even to the inhabi-

tants of the

are about to called

the

town

itself,

“do”

that

— the place we to-day — was originally

Myerstown

historically

Tulpehockentown.

It is a

Lebanon county towns had not

names and thus

question whether better kept their

all

first

carried out the evident wishes of their

modest founders, who stood as sponsors when these

local

communities were originally christened. There certainly seems more beauty and Heidelbergtown,

taste in

Nassau,

such names as Newburg,

Williamburg

and

Tulpe-

hockentown, than such bold appellations of ownership as a later generation attributed

present sobriquets of

and expressed in the

Newmanstown, Schaefferstown,

Stumpstowm, Jonestown, and

Myerstown.

has done wisely in dropping the assumed

Lebanon

name

of

its

founder and adopting instead the euphonious Scriptural

name

given to the township in which it was Think of such a city as Lebanon being called by the German jawbreaker, Steitztown! But what is there in a name? Well, in the instance first

located.

of most of our country towns, history of their founding.

it

And (156)

preserves a fact in the since they teach us his-

TULPEHOCKENTOWN, ALIAS MYERSTOWN.

we

tory,

insist

them

shall let

concerning

what

readers

town.

to say

I

minds

recall to the

of

my

Myerstown was Tulpehocken-

to

does not require any extensive search, or any

stretch of the imagination, to find a reason for this.

town was located on the banks of

which stood, and

still

Mr. Isaac Myers. this

I

evinced from old documents, that the

is

name given It

have

I

history also, and therefore

is

on being heard when

original

Only what

stand.

names

first

157

stands, the house of

Let

me

The

this stream, close to

therefore lead

its

my

founder,

readers to

landmark, from which to take bearings.

Leaving the Breitenbach “eminence,” just east of town, the old road was identical with the pike, from the east

about a square into town, from whence

branched

borough

off this

main thoroughfare

present

southwest,

to the

its

it

till

course of the

reached the Tulpe-

hocken, at where the Myers residence

is

still

found,

about a quarter of a mile due south of the town center.

There boards

is

an old log house— now encased

— that

still

in

weather-

stands at this junction of the pike with

the old road, which faced

this original

highway and

stands therefore at an angle to the pike, which

attempts to front.

When

the village, this old forest,

and within

it

Isaac

highway

it

also

Myers

in 1768 laid out

led

through a dense

still

were planted, as the

first

scattered

homes of the new settlement, the houses of Christian Maurer, Henry

Schumacher, honest

Brill,

Nicolas Gast, Messrs. Haussegger,

Hoffman,

German

artisans.

Schnell,

As

etc.,

most of them

early as 1738 a tract of

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

158

321 acres was conveyed by “the brass-button

maker of

Philadelphia ” (Casper Wister), to Henry Bassler, whose

descendants of the

fifth

generation

the western end of town.

in

“hold the fort”

still

This family has been

THE ISAAC MEIER HOMESTEAD, MYERSTOWN.

prominent

in the annals of the town.

The grandfather

who

attained a reputa-

of the present

John H.

Bassler,

tion for brilliant services in the late rebellion, Bassler, Sr.,

upon

to

“was

detailed as one of the

Simon

company

guard the captured Plessians imprisoned

called for a

time at Hebron.” Mr. Isaac Myers, the founder, was a native of this valley.

He built his home on

the banks of the Tulpehocken

TULPEHOCKENTOWN, ALIAS MYERSTOWN. about the middle of family,

mark

life.

59

Here he reared his

last century.

some of whose descendants have made

in

1

their

Among them are such names as the Woods— families into which his

Hiesters and Reilys and

daughters w ere married.

Both Captain John Reily and

7

Col.

Joseph Wood, two sons-in-law, achieved notoriety

The

during the revolution.

Wm.

late Prof.

M. Reily,

Ph. D., long at the head of Palatinate College* (Re-

formed) located here, was a descendant.

The

old house has passed out of the family

name, and

is

now

enterprising druggist of town. antiquity.

W.

the property of Dr. It

C. Kline, the

quite a relic of

is

Its walls are three feet thick, it

sheltered the neighbors from the attacks

The

hand and

of.

having often the Indians.

present owner has carefully kept in their original

condition the garret rooms, which were once occupied

by the colored slaves of

its

likewise their owner

first,

and master.

The manner

in

which

end

is

worthy of

note.

and enterprising

so conspicuous

a career as that of the founder of

Myerstown came

Being elected

to an

to the office of

magistrate, there were public acts of his to be performed

which incurred the enmity of some persons. snare was set for taking vengeance on him.

moned away from home one night on

Hence a

Being sum-

the ostensible pur-

pose of transacting business at some wayside inn, Mr.

Myers answered the *This school

is

now

call,

and here

fell

a victim into the

(1895) the Albright Collegiate Institute of the

United Evangelical Church.

l6o

LANDMARKS

hands of his secret

window, he was

IN

THE LEBANON VALLEY, Sitting with his back to a

foes.

from the outside.

fatally shot

He

lived

long enough to be taken to his home, however, whither

he summoned a few friends with interview, after

which he requested

whom

he held an

his wife never to

search for his murderers nor prosecute them

if

discovered, j

as their guilty conscience

He

would be punishment enough

then died in the bosom of his family.

for

them.

We

found his grave in the old Tulpehocken Reformed

graveyard marked by a large, ft.,

tion

flat

The

covering his entire grave. is still

quite legible

0

stone, about 2]/ 2

.

IANVARI.

1

ST

GESTORBEN 1770 DEN 5TE IVLI.

WAR

SO

SEIN GANZES

ALTER V. 6

40 IA-

MONAT

SEIN LEIGEN

I

j

IN

following inscrip-

:

HIER LIGT IN GOTT SELICH ENTSCHLAFEN ISACK MEIER 1 ST GEBOHREN1730 DE 4TE

HR

by 6

TEXT STET DER ERSTEN

EPI. PETRI IM 5 TE C H. IM 8. V. 9. VE.

-A 1

$

TULPEHOCKENTOWN, ALIAS MYERSTOWN. Dr. Kline

also the

is

owner and occupant of another

noted landmark of this town. the late Governor

J.

l6l

This

is

the residence of

Andreas Shultze.

It

is

a well

THE SHUI/fZE HOUSE, MYERSTOWN.

Lutheran pastor the ministry and finding-

at

Tulpehocken had himself studied

made an attempt

of

its

for

arduous labors,

himself physicially incapacitated for

its

trials

and hardships in that day, relinquished the sacred calling and entered secular life. He settled in Myerstown, and

for a

number

business here.

of years carried

This place

is

on the mercantile

somewhat

centrally located

1

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

62

on the north side of

its

main

street.

for the past sixteen years as the site of the

and only abandoned

has been used

It

town

as such recently at a

change of the

complexion of our National administration. this old store stand

Dr. Kline,

postoffice,

Since 1879

and home has been the property of

whose family occupies the domestic portion

of the historic edifice, while the doctor’s drug-store

fills

the newer portion of the building, not used by the postoffice,

which

dimensions,

latter is a

now

room of about 30 by 25

feet in

Mr.

vacant since the ex-postmaster,

Milton Myers, was obliged to hand his keys and commission over to his Democratic successor.

barn erected on the rear of the its

erection

and the

The

initials of the

once illustrious owner

and dweller here, through whose veins flowed cessive stages of his

and statesmanship.

life

stone

lot still bears the date of

at suc-

the blood of theology, business

The

following

is

a

fac-sitnile

of

this date stone

J.

A.

S.

1808

It

would seem

as if

ownership or occupancy of

Shultze house brought distinction in

its

has not been a possessor of

who

it

since,

this

course, for there

has not grown

TULPEHOCKENTOWN, AEIAS MYERSTOWN. into

some degree of

From

local fame.

163

Sliultze the prop-

erty passed into the hands of Daniel Stine, esq.,

was afterwards elected ferred

ate

it

to

to

the

He

legislature.

who

trans-

Mr. Joseph Coover, who! was elected associ-

So likewise

judge of the county in 1866.

owned by Mr. Burkholder, who

W. M.

nence; and by

Ulrich,

to the distinction of General,

it

was

some promi-

attained

who rose in the rebellion and who has since the late

war founded an independent settlement in Virginia, about 20 miles south of Washington, D. C., which he has named u Mt. Herndon,” and where he resides in af-

The

fluence and honor. to the present

owner

writer gives this timely notice

to prepare

himself for the u light-

ning ” of greatness which has been accustomed to take

“Some men

this old building as a favorite conductor.

some achieve

are born great,

greatness, but

some have

greatness thrust upon them.”

By going

a few

stood,

hundred yards

we come

to the west of this

to the spot

where

to the south of the pike or

main

Sliultze house,

landmark of

historic interest.

until recently street,

an old

This was the old school

house of ante-revolutionary founding.

The

site is

now

occupied by a modern frame house owned by a Mrs.

Dundore.

The

writer was recently

shown

deed by ex-Judge Coover, dated Sept.

Simon

Bassler and his wife,

Nicholas Swingle,

jr.,

Eva

a

parchment

12, 1765,

wherein

Maria, conveyed to

and Nicholas Hauseker,

trustees,

a certain tract of land or lot described as bordering on

lands of Isaac Myers, &c., for the

sum

of one

pound

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY,

164

and 10 shillings

for school purposes forever.

acknowledged before the noted recorded at Lancaster by

On

J. P.

DeHaas,

Edward Shippen,

This was

and

esq.,

recorder.

house was erected, which was as a n to enlighten four or five generations

this lot a school

“ city

set

on a

hill

young Americans.

of Myerstown’s

subscription

parochial

or

When

finally these

schools were superseded by

our free schools, this old friend gradually grew into favor until the building alone was left to

When

former blessedness.

dis-

story of

Mr. Daniel Stine represented

our state legislature he was authorized

this district in

by an

tell its

act of assembly to vacate or sell the property

and

money

to buy a burial ground, where the comu munity for six miles around ” might find the right of

with the

sepulture, Messrs.

Bassler and

Mosser being

In this deed, to which are affixed quaint u Tulpehockintown.” is named

seals,

Another old school house, octagonal stands at the eastern end of town, but

trustees.

the town

in shape,

is

now

still

used as a

blacksmith shop.

On

the old cemetery (Lutheran and Reformed) located

in the western portion of the town, next to theFrieden’s

Lutheran church, are found the graves of the old

and

settlers of this

community.

Such names

sires

as the

Leys, Valentines, Spanglers, Batdorfs, Grohs, Mossers, Stoevers,

mans,

Burkholders, Koppenhavers,

etc., are

among

the oldest.

walls are two graves that

because here

we know

Basslers,

Zart-

Close to the church

meant more

to

me

than others,

stood the ex-Governor Shultze

TULPEHOCKENTOWN, ALIAS MYERSTOWN. when They

were solemnly laid

their enclosed remains

illustrious farmer,

65

aside.

and Mrs. Teonard Immel,

are the graves of Mr.

The

the parents-in-law of this noted governor.

ing epitaph marks

1

follow-

resting place of this sturdy

the

whose

rural

home

to the

southwest of

town the young, ambitious preacher-merchant entered to carry

away

as prize

an accomplished and winsome

daughter

Denckmal Der Liebe Fur

Leonhard Immel Sohn von

Johann und Barbara Immel.

Er erbliekte das Licht dieser Welt auf den I4ten Tag October 1747

und

starb

den 2ten Tag Juny A. D.

1839.

Brachte seine irdische Walfarth auf 91 Jahre,

und Leichentext die

7

Monate

20 Tag. 2 Epistle St. Pauli

an

Timotheum, das 4 Capital, Der 7 u 8 vers.

The

wife’s

tombstone

is

similar

inscription akin in substance to his.

these illustrious kindred parted

end this chapter.

in

form

And

company

and

its

here where

for life

we

will

CHAPTER '

XVIII.

?', ,

'

|

.

.

A WALK OVER HISTORIC GROUND.

Having

parted

company with my

readers in

the

shadow of the Myerstown Lutheran and Reformed churches, which

lift

up

their tall

spires

towards the

skies as memorials of the piety of the generations that

and

have passed away, as constant indices pointing

to

reminding one of a protecting and

divine

Ruler, and as so

many marks

beiieficient

of grace and ornament to

the thriving borough that has spread itself about their base, let us prepare to take a

walk to-day of several

miles up the pike, which leads through truly historic

Casting our eyes to the north and south

ground.

pecially to the south,

hocken is

— we shall

—

es-

where flows the story-laden Tulpe-

pass not a single old homestead that

not linked by a chainwork of interesting events to the

earliest

days of this valley’s settlement.

Before leaving, however, this long-time meeting place of these honored

German

ancestors and this final gather-

ing place of their bones, where most of the illustrious sires sleep,

whose once thriving homes we

shall visit to-

day, let us take a brief look into the history of these

churches.

Thus we

learn that originally this locality

worshipped at the Tulpehocken churches, as few others (166)

A WALK OVER HISTORIC GROUND.

I11

Reformed had

and

Lutherans

besides

167 here.

settled

course of time, however, distance and the increase of

population in this vicinity suggested the planting of

churches at Myerstown.

Accordingly as early as 1811,

steps were taken towards organizing the

Lutheran church

by the westernmost members of the Tulpehocken

At the

held June 23,

original meeting,

1811,

flock.

was

it

resolved to build a church, and as a buildiiig committee the following persons were chosen, viz.: Christian Ley,

Immel,

Leonard

Jacob

Laehn,

Christian Artz and Martin Moyer.

Christopher Liess,

We

Rambler,

Leonard

have already learned that Messrs. Michael Mosser

and Simon Bassler donated a

— the latter alike — to

purposes

formed miles.”

all

lot for

common 44

to

building and burial

Lutherans and Re-

living within a radius

named

All of these leaders

have occasion

The

peep to-day.

to

Michael Ley, Leonard Immel and

buried on this

lie

ancient graveyard, and into most of their

homes we

shall

trustees

were

first

J.

of six

Andreas Shulze,

the future governor.

In 1812 the church was built and consecrated. a stone structure,

the time (55x36

and was of

ft.,)

and

at

and soon with a pipe organ.

sufficient

It

was

dimensions for

once equipped with a

bell

In 1857 the present impos-

ing brick edifice was erected.

The

following pastors

have served the same Rev. William Baetes Rev.

W.

D D. D

G. Ernst, D.

Rev. G. F. Krotel,

1812-1824 1824-1849 1849-1852

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

l68

Rev. T. T. Jaeger

.....

Rev. L. G. Eggers

Rev. F.

J.

.

.

1852-1855

1855-1866

.

l 867 -date

F. Schantz, D. D,

The Reformed

mother

not withdraw from the

did

(Tulpehocken) church until i860, when 250 members,

who had been

for

some time previously served

as a

branch congregation, separated and organized the church

and erected the large and commodious limestone ture

now gracing

Diehls,

Basslers,

this

The

end of town.

Sherks,

Looses,

struc-

Mossers,

Spanglers,

Muths,

Baneys, Tices and others have been the leading families of this flock,

now about 500

George Wolff and his present pastor, Rev.

The

here.

latter

strong.

Only Rev. Dr.

David, have preceded the

son,

Mr. Gonser, in the sacred

office

assumed the charge only about two

years ago.

There are other churches of town, such

as the

United

Brethren and the Evangelical, which have doubtless ex-

upon the community, but

erted their healthful influence

they do not stand so

much

the historic, and therefore

in the line of the ancient

we

shall not enter into their

records, but bid this ancient “

Tulpehockentown ” a

luctant good-bye, and begin our

where many of the

munity

first

Turning

earliest

and

march up the valley

re-

to

noted actors of this com-

planted their American homes.

to the

south from West Myerstown, the

first

plantation west of Myers’

is

who

“the brass-button maker of

in 1738 purchased of

that of Heinrich Bassler,

Philadelphia” a tract of over 300 acres and reared his

A WALK OVER HISTORIC GROUND.

home on

1 69

Here he

the banks of the Tulpehocken.

a family that has continued to this day of the

hand down the mantle of

sixth generation to

untarnished, some of

for valor

them adding

to its celebrity

They have also kept the old family name and hands. The

and patriotism.

homestead

the

in

present owner

Mrs. Sallie Bassler.

is

The next western

neighbor, settled even before Mr.

Bassler and also on the

The

Rainier.

Tulpehocken, was Leonhard

original buildings

have

been super-

all

seded by second buildings, though these are quite

The

present owner

is

common throughout

Indian depredations.

shelter against

of

old.

There hangs

Mr. John Gockley.

about this place the story, so valley,

or

this pio-

These have kept the

neer’s energy and far-sightedness.

name

raised

fifth

this

All

along this valley, in truth, the tomahawk and scalping knife were used.

(It

should have been said in connec-

tion with the first long-historic

German

school-house of

Myerstown, that tradition reports the massacre of seven white persons there by the Indians.)

wended the cemetery,

when

of 78 years,

Going

first

Mrs.

Anna Barbara

was borne hence

still

From

to the

for burial there.

Immel homestead,

plantation, but later subdivided into

easternmost house, which

home

Rainier, at the age

westward along the banks of

we come next

this

Myerstown

funeral procession to the

this stream,

originally one

The

two farms.

may have been

the

first,

inferred on account of traces of an old road near

it

so

and

the story of fortifications here, has yielded to the exac12

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

170 tions

of time, and

new

years ago by a

by

tlie

Donges

and the farm

been displaced about twenty-two

structure of frame.

Bros, of the

is

It is

now owned

Myerstown mercantile

in present charge of Mr. Dechert.

the westernmost homestead

is

quite ancient.

It

firm,

But

has

all

THE IMMEE HOMESTEAD. the characteristics of age, such as its

wall closets,

its

fifteen-inch

its

broken front door,

wide oak

flooring, its

Queen Anne mantel and fire place, and masonry, well preserved. Only the tiles have

large and wide its solid

given place to shingles, the former stored beside the

home, which

—a

if

thing they

they were old-fashioned German waffles much resemble— should have been de-

A WALK OVER HISTORIC GROUND.

among

as relics

think they would u take ”

We should

voured long ago.

the

171

descendants of the Immels and

For

Governor Shulze, quite as well as such hot-cakes. here

was that the future Governor of our State

it

when

visited

youth, and in his best suit and smiles.

a

There was a charming daughter in

this

home

in his

Leonhard Immel, who had

day, then presided over by

Was

completely captivated this young aspirant’s heart. she a

member

of his father’s choir at Tulpehocken,

famous and enchanting

and modest member of the

the

charm w ent

winsome

life

meek

her piety

But

tell.

that landed Cupid’s

quivering in the heart of the pastor’s

left it

noble son, which

made him

doubtless repair once a

We

to this ancient fireside for healing.

finding the identical held,

for

writer cannot

forth from her

r

and

flock,

The

or her blushing beauty?

dart,

her singing, or only a

for

room

which

in

week

took interest in

this courtship

unchanged by any modernization whatever.

interior

arrangement of

model, so well

is

this

was

The

house might well serve as a

the space utilized.

The

stairway

is

convenient to every apartment and yet out of the way.

The rooms communicate and hall,

in

which

is

are accessible from the

a large fire-place and

Queen Anne

oak mantel, that speaks of the charms and poetry of rural

life

in

of Mrs.

Capt.

Mosser,

of

John H.

Reading.

found on a sandstone tion:

The farm

winter.

The still

is

now

the property

a sister of Rev.

Dr.

following inscription

we

Bassler,

preserved in the front eleva-

1

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

72

HANNES IMMEL

ANNA BARBARA,

This “ Hannes Imtnel ” was the father of Leonhard

Immel, whose name has already been alluded tombstone transcribed in our

last chapter,

to

and his

who was

the

father of Mrs. Gov. Sliulze, and the progenitor of the

Immels

still

found in

this

community, one of

whom

the honorable position of banker at Myerstown.

Zartman

is

fills

Mr.

farming the plantation where these illustrious

ancestors raised their earlier crops.

Next west

to

Immels

is

the Spangler home.

This

!

is now also divided into two farms. The westernmost home is the site of the first dwellings, and those now standing are considerably over a century The barn contains a stone bearing date of 1782, old.

original homestead

with

initials of

“ G. Sp.” and “ B. Sp.”

now owned by Miss Cora

This farm

is

Kilmer, while the east half

is

the property of Mr. Henry Hauck.

I

s I

ji

!

A WALK OVER HISTORIC GROUND.

Next we come

the

to

ancient homestead of them (Lei)

homestead and

is

most historic all.

It is

1

and wealthy

the reputed

among

Ley

located at the source of the Tul-

Here

pehocken, about two miles west of Myerstown. from

73

limestone rocks springs forth the Tulpe-

THE ANCIENT EEI (EEY) HOMESTEAD, MODERNIZED BY MR. SAMUEE URICH, (present owner).

hocken, like Minerva from the head of Jove, a

full-

grown stream and daughter of the mighty deep.

Here

wigwams and

buried

the Indians had reared a village of their dead,

many

of whose bones and relics have been

disinterred during the

making

of recent excavations.

LANDMARKS

1/4

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

IN

Here the wealthy German emigrant Lei pitched tent

and took up 1000 acres of land.

son, built the second house

which

modeled and enlarged by

present owner, Mr.

its

his

In 1769 he, or his is still

standing, re-

Samuel

Urich, into one of the most palatial abodes of the county.

But even mansion.

in the It

days of

has a lovely

now

south.

Its walls,

dressed

limestone,

sandstones in

its

its

erection

was already a

it

on a hillock fronting the

site

ivy-covered in part, are of regular

with

sandstone

trimmings.

front elevation read as follows

O MENSCH

Jig

Two

:

It!

© NCK GEDE® DER LE TST EN STUN I

I

EVA MAGDALE

NA EEI

17

®

GOTT DIESES

ALLES EIN OD

.

.

IN

69

GESEGNE ii HAUS UND WAS DA GED .

.

.

.

.

MICHAEL

Hither General Washington came with some of his staff officers,

such as Generals Hiester,

trout of Berks county, and

Keim and Ennen-

others, for a

few days’ hunt

A WALK OVER HISTORIC GROUND. and

recreation.

It is

1 75

supposed this happened in 1777,

when Washington’s army occupied Valley Forge, inasmuch as a letter extant addressed by Washington to

—

Gen. Wayne, from Reading Furnace, September 17-77

—shows

may

him

to

have been

in this valley then.

17,

It

have been in November, 1793, when President of the United States, inasmuch as he spent the night of also

the 13th of that

month and year

the Ermentrouts then lived.

ing story of this

up

riders reined

Womelsdorf, where

Tradition has the follow-

One day about

half a dozen

their horses in front of this hospitable

comparatively surrounded by a forest. chanced that Mrs. Eei and a u redemptioner” woman

abode, then It

visit.

in

still

— ancestor of the present Sherk valley — who served here, were washing

by the name of Sherk family of this

clothes at the wash-house in their bare feet and scant loose

habits.

Their

was

attention

called

by these

strange yeomanry-soldiers amid great embarrassment

and confusion. their

The

strangers presently

were summoned from the to

made known

names and purposes, whereupon the men fields,

who

folks

soon responded

speak and act the words and deeds of welcome.

Soon plans were consummated

for a

fishing and hunting sport, for all of

two or three days’

which the guests

were prepared and the host was soon ready. southwest room,

known

as

the

ancient hospitable abode, the host, lutionary Captain, spent

I11

the

Blue Room, of this

who was

a

Revo-

the evenings with his illus-

trious visitors, while the southeast

room on the second

Ij6

LANDMARKS

floor is still

pointed out as the bed-room of the great

This

General.

room of the

when he

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

IN

was always the private sleeping

latter

late

Rev. Isaac K. Loose, of Bethlehem,

visited his old

home, the property having

into the Loose hands after this original

owner and

slipped out of those of

it

his

fallen

descendants,

which

oc-

curred through heavy losses in coal speculation in the

time of Christian,

Many

or grandson.

a son

other

noteworthy incidents cluster about this place which

would be interesting

to the

average reader, but space

forbids their mention.

Both the original Michael and Eva M. Lei are buried at the

Union graveyard

at

Myerstown, in the shadow of

Frieden’s Lutheran church, herein described. in 1824 (born 1739),

and

He

she in 1815 (born 1744).

also lies buried their son Christian,

died

Here

who was born

in

1762 and died in 1832, having been, as we have seen, a member of the building committee of the church. His wife, Anna Catharine (Coppenhoffer), died by accidental

poisoning January nth, 1822, and side.

lies

buried by his

Their son, Christian, died a few years ago at

Pinegrove, a nonegenarian.

But we must go on

in

our westward march.

going a mile up the pike from

this place

By

and turning

north an eighth of a mile at Mr. Cyrus Baney’s palatial residence,

we

will reach the

farm of Mr. Henry Tice of

West Myerstown. There are stones in the large house showing that it was erected by Philip and Eve Tice in 1821,

who were

descendants of the

first settlers

here,

A WALK OVER HISTORIC GROUND.

1

77

whose original house contains an anvil-shaped stone in its

gable, reading thus

This

is

:

the house from which was taken the richly-

finished walnut door

now on

exhibition in Mr. George

M. Stanley’s store of Lebanon. inlaid

and carved.

tion.

Here

it

Not

swung on

its

hinges for a century and a

this door bring to

ings over historic territory

is

its

construc-

wrought-iron

curious

We

of 356 pieces,

used in

half, letting in

cessive generations of Tices.

swing of

It consists

a nail

will let

and out sucan imaginary

an abrupt close the wander-

we have taken

in this chapter.

CHAPTER

XIX.

ENCAMPED NEAR LEBANON.

For

the past four

months

I

have conducted

of explorers through the historic

this desired haven.

have taken

my

finally

march towards Washington by tion’s capitol, so I can

to-

In these weekly marches

army, like Coxey did

But as Coxey

and snow.

my army

lying east of Leb-

making constant approaches

anon, and have been

wards

field

his,

I

through slush

ended his notorious

his arrival in the

now announce having

Na-

at last

reached the confines of this Queen City of our lovely

and interesting

encamped

we

and that

valley,

just east of

for to-day

Lebanon county’s

propose to “take the city”

capital.

also, it is

we have Whilst

not for any

hearing not already gained nor for the righting of any

wrong

that I plead, except

it

be to arouse from

its

long,

non-appreciative slumber this latter generation of noble

Germans,

to

do greater honor and

remember more

kindly the bravery, industry, energy and heroic endurance,

which

its

first

American ancestors have here

manifested.

Having come rains during this

as

far

as

Avon, where the soaking

week suggested

shelter in side-tracked

box-cars or in the engine and tender that here a year ago,

(178)

ENCAMPED NEAR LEBANON. long kept flying to and

fro,

179

like a weaver’s shuttle,

keeping the Annville and Myerstown street railway

&

from crossing the P. this

camp

by,

and take time

let

11s

from

reach out to a few historic spots lying near

and

activity

R. R. R. tracks,

on the stream of earnest

to reflect

travel that has surged about this place even

as the angered Quittapahilla,

has this week lashed

its

having

its

near by,

rise

swollen waves over cultivated

and much-travelled highways.

fields

Directly to the south of our halting place (Avon) lies the Stager homestead, which has a history of struggle

and early

peril

worthy of

note,

and

still

contains an

ancient landmark in the shape of an old house.

The

following account will be of interest

Frederick

(?)

:

In 1746

John Barnhard,) here took

Stager, (rather

up 500 acres of land purchased from the proprietors

pound

five it,

sterling.

He

for

reared a small log house upon

presumably the same year or the one following,

which

is still

standing.

It

has marks of antiquity and

interest to the curious in its outside stairway leading to

the

loft, its

hinges,

its fire

flooring.

Adam that

old-fashioned doors and quaint wrought-iron

One

place and

14-inch wide oak planks for

Stager, in 1782 reared the large stone farm-house

now

large and

constitutes the farm dwelling place.

commodious

—a

growing wealth of these deeds

its

descendants, probably his son,

of his

still

preserved

of parchment,

It

is

specimen and token of the

first

among

families.

Among

the old

the family archives,

is

one

given by Michael Tice and Rudolph

LANDMARKS

i8o

IN

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

Kelker, executors of said

Adam

Stager, conveying 200

This deed was

acres of this farm to Frederick Stager.

given June as

is

1818,

5,

attested

the ex-Gov.

J.

by

and

this

Andrew

is

recorded in our county courts,

document

in the

handwriting of

who was

Shulze,

then recorder

LEBANON VAEEEY FARMER. of the county.

now

is

most portion fifth

The

original farm

part of four farms,

—

is

however

some still

of

was thus divided and

which

— the western-

in the Stager

name

of the

or sixth generation.

The

old homestead

is

the possession of Mr. Joseph

Heilman, a descendant of the Heilmans of Heilmandale.

This gentleman holds a

relic of

gold that

is

truly

ENCAMPED NEAR LEBANON. worth more than

its

weight in that metal, inasmuch as

he has refused a very handsome the family.

It is a solid

offer

by some others of

gold ring with a setting of

some amber-colored, precious

stone.

handed down from generation

to

American ancestor of

first

181

This has been

generation from the

Hans Adam

family,

this

(John Adam) Heilman, who received

as pay, in lieu

it

of cash, from a neighbor in about 1738 or ’39 for two

months’ labor, namely, grubbing away the scrub-oak

and alder-bushes that grew as the

now

first

crop on what

is

a part of the paradisaical valley of the Heilmans,

northwest of Lebanon.

This Hans

Adam “was

made

of stirring energy, and he not only

his

arm

a

man

felt in

the clearing of the forest, but he took a prominent part in the religious

and

social affairs,

and was one of the

founders of the old Hill Church, and an elder of the

same

as early as 1745.”

is still

child

in

Heilmandale.

Stager, and

this

Stager homestead

first

house erected by him

He

married

Maria Catharine

shows the connection and how the is

in part in

early

Heilman ancestors

The

Stagers, disinterred

private burial plot, yard.

The

said to stand on the premises of his great-grand-

now

Heilman hands.

These

are buried at the Hill church.

some twelve years ago from sleep at

a

Kimmerling’s grave-

Mr. Joseph Heilman also found here recently an

old copper

penny bearing the image and superscription,

not of Caesar, but of another tyrant, the Third of England. face of this

The

viz.

:

King George

coin has on one side the

monarch with the name “Georgius

III

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

1 82

Rex ” on

the obverse a harp and crown with the date

;

“1782.” This old Stager homestead was the scene of a

fierce

skirmish between the Indians and the white settlers

during the French and Indian war period, when one white

man was wounded and two

have been

Indians are said to

killed.

But being detained here

for a while, let us look into

the malarious basin and checkered history of the once

busy but

now

and defunct Union Canal, leading by

idle

our temporary encampment. internal

water-way has an interesting

state

As long

This once enterprising

as the

u

history.

great ditch” remains open, a relic of

the past, the present should be concerned to keep alive the data of

its

construction and usage.

seems that already in 1760, by authority of the

It

Provincial Assembly, a survey was valley to

construct an

made through

this

internal water-way to connect

Philadelphia with Pittsburg, or the Delaware with the Ohio.

The

route selected was up

Schuylkill to

the

Reading, and thence by the course of the Tulpehocken

and Swatara Creeks

whence the West

to Harris’ Ferry,

Branch of the Susquehanna

should

towards the western destination

—

from Philadelphia. to this for

movement.

-a

afford

a

route

distance of 582 miles

The Revolutionary war put an end After the settlement of the struggle

independence by the Colonies, other States moved

in the direction of canal building,

was likewise

stirred

from

its

and Pennsylvania

slumber on

this question,

ENCAMPED NEAR LEBANON.

1

83

when on September 29, 1791, the legislature took action incorporating a company to connect the Schuylkill with the Susquehanna by a canal. Such men as Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution, David Ritten-

astronomer, Dr.

liouse, the

Wm.

Smith, Provost of the

University of Pennsylvania, and Tench Francis, were

among its commissioners. Accordingly work was commenced on lands lying between Lebanon and Myerstown as early as the spring of 1794—just 100 years ago.

Had my army

of explorers been halted in their

a century ago,

where

tents to-day, they

I

have made them pitch their

might have seen the

of earth thrown out of the ditch that

throughout the length of our valley.

have seen such distinguished

make surveys softly, for

men

in

men

these parts.

as

shovelfuls

first still

stretches

They might also those named above

Let us therefore step

any spot of earth pressed by the

as Rittenhouse,

march

feet of

such

Morris or Dr. Smith, must be to

the historian and student of any kind regarded as holy

ground.

But

alas

!

the enterprise failed, at least temporarily.

After the expenditure of several hundred thousands of operations were suspended in consequence of

dollars

public remonstrances against the powerful corporation, in

until

known

1811

as the

this

company, with another company

Chesapeake

&

Delaware Canal Company,

reorganized into what became the Union Canal Com-

pany which new ,

internal

organization pushed this old dream of

State navigation

into

a

reality.

The

State

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

184

continued to grant aid by a

monopoly of the

“a

guarantee of interest and

Hence by 1821

lottery privilege.”

operations could be continued because of financial en-

Six years later the project was

couragement received.

completed, and in 1827 the

waterway,

past

Tulpehocken.”

Lebanon.

Not

had been expended the

first

due

far

first

boat passed up this

“Alpha of from two millions of money This was the

in the construction of the canal

constructed canal in America.

It is

doubtless

“maritime highway” that the valley and

to this

county of Lebanon have attained to the wealth and

commercial standing that characterize them to-day.

But another highway passes our temporary quarters here.

It

the Berks and

is

Dauphin turnpike, along

which we have been slowly approaching

this point,

and

which was constructed even before the canal was completed, viz.

:

in

1816 and 1817.

aided by the State stock. mile.

It is

making

It

also liberally

large subscriptions to

its

said to have cost an average of $3,800 per

Let us look into the faces of

past seventy-five years. •was the

was

its

travelers for the

Before the day of railroads

it

one chief thoroughfare between Lebanon and

Reading and between Lebanon and Harrisburg. leads through the heart of the valley,

have conducted as Presidents

and

is

known

It

to

in their travels such national characters

Van Buren

in 1836,

and William Henry

Harrison in 1840, during their respective presidential

— the former travelling east and the westward —going in opposite directions, as their politics

campaigns

latter

ENCAMPED NEAR LEBANON.

185

lay in opposite courses, yet both landing in the

White House recall these

There are men

at last.

still

same

who of Whigs

living

campaign jaunts, and how a party

accompanied Harrison from Myerstown

in a tally-ho

coach, shouting themselves hoarse for old

u Tippecanoe

The same

and Tyler too.”

year that Harrison traveled

over this route his Democratic Vice-Presidential oppo-

nent (Col. Richard M. Johnson) also passed over this

highway.

His admirers made the welkin ring

all

along

the route for this man, who, in the celebrated hand-to-

hand

battle with

to the

Tecumseh, had the nerve

at his horse’s head,

about

to ride

up

famous red-skinned chief and shoot him down

the

dying

though

chief

he

in the terrible

scrimmage

himself received

severe

wounds.

But who

men

shall call

up the armies of great and small

that have been carried over the Philadelphia

Reading R. R. branch, stretching

&

parallel with the pike

throughout the length of our valley, and sweeping by

What an

our to-day’s imaginary camping ground?

array of Presidents and would-be Presidents, of Governors and legislators and politicians, great and small

and actors of

of learned doctors, and gifted ministers, repute, and statesmen, sionists,

what

for pleasure

travelers for sight-seeing it

has swept by this spot

American world has gone over foreigner, 13

ball clubs,

and excur-

and business men, and immigrants, and

generally;

and

and base

too — even

and !

this line,

visitors

for health

Much of the and many a

the Liberty Bell preferred this

1

86

route

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY. home from

the World’s Fair last year

—but

no

one ever traveled through a finer country or a more prosperous thrift.

community

for

agricultural

and

honest

Hence, having reached the acme of reflection

and in thought capped the climax of

up our camp and prepare

prosperity,

we

march

Lebanon by another week

into

will break

this valley’s past

or two.

to

CHAPTER XX. THE HEBRON MORAVIAN CHURCH. Just midway between our camping grounds of

week and the heart

of the city of Lebanon, located on

the pike, nestles the ancient village of Hebron.

named by

so

the

It

Moravian missionaries, who

founded a congregation as long as a hundred and years ago; and the

last

name was

was here fifty

of course taken from

Scripture, as this denomination, so full of the knowl-

edge and

wove

spirit of Scripture,

sentiments into their daily especially the

ments and congregational custom of

life

names of Bible

this

religious

names and

new

world, and

in this

localities into their settle-

life.

It is this

very pretty

church that has given us in eastern

Pennsylvania such Bible-named communities as Bethle-

hem, Nazareth, Emaus, Hebron, Bethel and Lebanon, and such piously-dubbed settlements

as

Gnadenhutten

,

Friedens and so forth. ,

The town

of

Hebron

is

older than

Lebanon

itself,

and

nucleus of houses here, together with its “ Gemeinlein" (little congregation), of the United

the

first

of all spoken of in the u early annals of this church as on the Quitopehille.”

Brethren of the Moravians,

is first

Here quite a colony of Germans had (187)

settled before 1742,

1

LANDMARKS

88

IN

THE LEBANON VALLEY. Mo-

the year in which a hundred and twenty of the

ravians of the Bethlehem church, just founded, resolved, in their

glowing zeal

for the Master,

to divide

them-

two halves, one portion of which should be

selves into

sent forth as missionaries two by two, while the other

half should abide and

work

for the

former’s support.

Accordingly the province of Pennsylvania, and especi-

where mostly the Germans had

ally the frontier line, settled,

was selected

disciples started

as

on their evangelistic tours with a

weeks’ circuit before them.

The

was the establishment of

prise

Lititz, Lancaster,

“on

These

missionary ground.

five

result of this enter-

their congregations at

Donegal, Bethel of Swatara, Hebron,

the Quitopehille,” Heidelberg, Tulpehocken, Oley,

Emaus, Gnadenhiitten,

become

etc.

—some

of which have since

extinct, or else reverted to the Lutherans

and

Reformed, from among which denominations most of these early converts were made. It

would seem

as if the

names of the Apostles and

other Bible characters had been given to these itinerant

we have them spoken of and Matthew and Joseph,

brethren, as

and Peter

annals of this church.

they were simply

asmuch

etc., in

It is quite likely,

known by

as “ Brothers

as Brothers

John

the early

however, that

their Christian names, in-

Joseph and

John”— so

frequently

mentioned in the Diary of the Hebron church, the dent founders of this congregation

same

evi-

— were doubtless the

as Brothers Joseph Powell and John Hagan, the

missionaries,

whose evangelistic tour

led

them

to these

THE HEBRON MORAVIAN CHURCH.

We

parts.

find these

among

active

same brethren

a few years later

Shamokin (now

the Indian mission at

Sunbury) founded

in

September, 1742, by the instru-

men

mentalities of such

189

Count Zinzendorf, Bishop

as

Henry

Boehler, Conrad Weiser (interpreter and leader),

Leinbach, and by John Martin

Anna Nitschinan. The preaching of because of life

its

Mack and

wife,

and

these missionary brethren, doubtless

pungency and

its

warm

breath of Gospel

and because of a great lack of preaching by their

own denominational

pastors of these

German Lutherans

and Reformed, caused many of the most pious and earnest of

them

to fall in

with this heroic movement

The thought

for the dissemination of the Gospel.

proselytism

or denominational

enter the minds of these for the

water of

unsuspecting men, thirsty

Hence

life.

of

propagandism did not

it

comes that such leading

Lutherans as Conrad Weiser and Peter Kucher, and such Reformed as Heinrich Xanders and others, be-

came

early identified with

remained loyal

to

this church,

many

of

whom

the church of their adoption unto

death, while some, as Conrad Weiser, returned to their first

love, their

The

checkered one, tory.

mother church.

history of the

We

feel

full

Hebron Church

is

a long and

of interest to every student of his-

confident in saying that there

is

not a

congregation within the county that has a more minutely written history than this one.

The happy

tom of the Moravian Church of requesting

its

cus-

resident

190

LANDMARKS

IN

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

pastors to keep faithfully a full diary of events trans-

piring within the congregation, or occurring within the

community

or country at large,

has here preserved a

record of local and national events that

is

one of the

THE HEBRON MORAVIAN CHURCH.

richest treasures to the historian

and antiquarian any-

where

all

to be

found throughout

writer was recently

shown

this

valley.

a pile of old journals

as high as the publications that confronted

the Diet of

Worms — which

is

The

— almost

Luther

at

simply a library of ten or

twelve large volumes of manuscript church records and

memorabilia of this Hebron Gemeinlein

in the

hand-

THE HEBRON MORAVIAN CHURCH. writing of

its

successive

As

pastors.

erected in 1750, and in part

191

church,

this

still

standing on property

now owned by Mr. David Fulmer

(but alas! this portion

of a once sacred structure, hallowed alike for tions with church stable!)

and

state,

is

now

its

associa-

used as a cow

War

was used during the Revolutionary

as a

of incarceration for several hundred of Hessian

place

prisoners, this diary

is

of intense interest during this

The church was then in pastoral charge Brother Bader, who is found, in the style of Caesar

period.

his Commentaries,

of in

speak of his untoward experi-

to

He commits to the safe keeping Daily Journal a great many complaints and

ences at this time. of his

,

murmurings over the misbehavior of

his rude prisoners

and the none too exemplary conduct of their guards.

Now

it

is

their noise, then their carousals

that he complains

form the occasion of

still

sprees,

filthy persons

and habits

further criticisms.

Again he

Their

of.

and

dumping the Luthupon him, when he was about

has a tirade against the injustice of eran Church prisoners

getting rid of his supply.

But there are other things besides complaints these journals.

They speak

events of the war as

it

local

leaders,

De Haas, and

such as Cols. others,

familiarly of the trying

progressed through

years of peril and hardship.

in

It

gives us the

Peter

its

eight

names

Grubb and

J.

of P.

and the accounts of their depart-

ure with their companies to the front of battle.

It

records the significant event of the surrender of Corn-

LANDMARKS OF THE LEBANON VALLEY.

192 wallis,

abroad,

when

that

circumstance was

remarked

first

and while, but as an unconfirmed rumor,

stirred all

To

the land with intense excitement.

it

this

important bit of news, this “Brother” later adds the u War wahr! significant postscript “’Twas true ” ’

’

—

:

As

!

the present pastor of this church,

Rev. E.

S.

Hagen, of Lebanon, has recently furnished a translation of these important annals to the Secretary of our State

we

Historical Society, Mr. Jordan, of Harrisburg,

some day be able

the public will

those trying times in

esting data of daily events in their

own

vernacular.

our community to

if

It

would be a noble service

to

the same were given for publication

some of our

local public prints.

The

was particularly

writer

trust

to read all these inter-

interested

recently

in

looking over this pile of ancient diaries, church-records, correspondence,

One

and

other

of these, an early,

if

ecclesiastical

documents.

not the original draft of the

church building, gives the ground plan of this old edifice,

which shows

it

have been divided into a

to

double house of a kitchen and two living rooms each,

while the

second story was the

House, or “Oratorium,” as tion

we understand

to

it

have been upon

Another record that was quite the

Communion

“Saal”

was styled

full

its

Prayer

wall.

of interest to

Record, most carefully kept.

volume contains those

or

in an inscrip-

The

11s is

first

for the first 26 years of the con-

gregation’s independent

It

life.

troduction or preface, which

I

has the following in-

give in a free translation:

THE HEBRON MORAVIAN CHURCH. “Inasmuch ized by means

1 93

as a small congregation has been organ-

of the efforts of the United Brethren, (in-

dependent since July, 1749), in the vicinity of Lebanon on the Quitopehille, in Lancaster county, and this congregation has been affiliated with that of the close of 1749, and participated in the that sister congregation, to

we

Warwick until communions of

resolved from the year 1750

begin holding separate communions with this Leba-

non congregation.

Here

it

has been held since 1748, in

the Lutheran church, (where in January a Brethren’s

Synod was held) in

pleted,

which

own church should be com-

until our it

has since been celebrated and con-

tinued according to the following Conspectu (Record).”

The

first

January

and

it

celebration, therefore, held here took place

1st,

1750.

The communicants numbered

was administered by Rev. Christian Rauch.

second communion was held March

1st,

1750,

and was

administered by Bishop Frederick Cammerhoff. 9th in

communion was

23,

The The

celebrated September 22, 1751, and

connection with Synod, according to this record.

This record mentions

which we have become

names, clerical and

interested.

The

first

lay,

in

pastors,

beginning with 1750, were Christian Rauch, Christ. Herr, George Neitzer, Philip Mener, Richard Utley, Fred. Boehler and “Brother Bader.”

There

is

an interesting narrative

still

preserved at

Bethlehem, giving in the form of a diary a detailed account of the experiences of Bishop Cammerhoff visit

he made

to

Shamokin

in the winter of 1748.

in a

He

LANDMARKS

194

IN

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

was accompanied by Brother Joseph Powell, and the first

day (January 6th) arrived

by regular in

the

and

stages,

unbridged

of

crossing

at

the

at

Thus

Macungie. of

peril

their

lives,

and trackless

streams

snow-covered pathways, they made their journey on horseback to and from their destination on the Susque-

The

hanna.

Maxatawny, Hebron,

etc.

diary takes account of their stoppages at

Ontelaunee,

Tulpehocken,

Heidelberg,

In Tulpehocken they called on George

Loesch and his family, who were among the Schoharie

and

settlers

immigrants

later

The same journey

united with the Moravians in 1747.

brought the Bishop and his companion also

members

munion

record shows

and consistent

The Bishop

the

of

the

to

houses of Peter Kucher and Heinrich Xander, leading

who

Pennsylvania,

to

two

The com-

Hebron church.

of these to have been faithful

all

communicant members

in this journey took

of

the flock.

some provisions and

provender from these farmers to the Shamokin mission.

Concerning the personalities of these men, we learn

from the minute records of

church and

this

sources that George Loesch was born near 1699.

Immigrated with the Palatinates

settled in Schoharie, to

Tulpehocken

in

to

other

Worms

in

America, and

N. Y., in 1710; removed thence

1723,

where he took up

his resi-

dence just a mile northwest of Womelsdorf, already described,

and where the land

is still

in the

hands of his

descendants and some of the old buildings are standing.

He became

identified

with

the

still

Moravian

THE HEBRON MORAVIAN CHURCH. Church

same

in 1747,

195

and remained in connection with the

which occurred

until his death,

in Nazareth, Pa.,

1790.

Peter Kucher, or John Peter

wrote his

full

Kucher

He

migrated to America in 1732.

“Loyal Judith,” arriving

He a

as

he sometimes

name, was a native of Germany, and im-

in

sailed in the ship

September of said

year.

He was

took up his residence just east of Lebanon.

Lutheran Christian and was connected with the Tul-

pehocken church, of

as appears from the list of 166

members, who

in 1743 resolved

church and declared

to build

true Lutheran principles. ples

and

list

of

names

is

up

names

build a second

to

their congregation

on

This declaration of princistill

preserved (given in Dr.

Schantz’s historical address recently published in pamphlet form) and contains of Peter

among

Kucher and George

these parts.

its

signers the

Steitz,

The Moravian documents, however, show,

in a carefully-kept register of its

members, that he was

converted to this faith in 1749, and this

names

and others from

Gemeinlein

for the

He was born according

first

to this

communed with

time February

2,

1749.

account in Waldau, Bran-

His parents were

denburg, in the province of Saxony.

George Peter and Barbara Kucher.

He was

in religion

a Lutheran, in profession a blacksmith and farmer, re-

ceived into the “brethren fellowship” during brothers

John and Joseph’s “land

visitation,”

i.

e .,

missionary

2, 1749, was married Oct. 6, 1735, and had a family of ten children, whose names are given in order in this church record. In 1750 he

tour in Heidelberg, Feb.

196

LANDMARKS

IN

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

donated sufficient land for building and burial purposes,

many respects he was a father to this Hebron church. The house which he built in 1761 (possibly the second one) we found still standing. It is a comso that in

modious two-and-a-half-story stone structure in those days)

(a

mansion

with wide middle hall-way and capacious,

easy central staircase of hard wood.

Although

has

it

not been occupied for some time and stands like a non-

animated corporal, great in tude,

its

course just two squares north of is

weird and forsaken

alongside the Quittapahilla

a relic that

is

and

its

old

“Sweet Home,”

soli-

raceit

yet

quite attractive to the student of his-

THE HEBRON MORAVIAN CHURCH. tory, in

view of the knowledge of

its

once renowned

owner, and the hospitable entertainment pastors and bishops and others.

197

When

it

furnished

it

had

life

and

now hollow and ghost-harboring building must have been a home as fine as Mt. Vernon’s mansion. What a hubbub there must have been in it, when the illustrious owner of that Southern mansion, as soul

this

the General-in-chief of the Colonial

army

in revolt, sent

a quota of 270 Hessian prisoners from Princeton and

Trenton

to the sacred

house of prayer, where the occu-

pants of this house statedly worshipped!

it

when he

accidentally

Seeing the

sandstones in the second story front,

upon which was

writer

was the Kucher house.

has recently visited this old relic discovered that

The

illegible

from

a

the inscription

position

on

the

ground, he clambered up an old rickety portico, from the roof of

which he

clearly read the following:

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

198

MIIIIIL

aimin'"'

c\n

17

M

61

PETBR

.

KVCHER.

BARBARA

KVCHERIN niiiiim~iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiir

After

my

descent from this portico roof,

front-door latch and found

I

tried the

open, but nothing beyond

it

an echo and a weird, hollow strangeness greeted us from within

came

— not even the ghost of the energetic

to bid us

lative of his

erty go to ruins,

the

living,

still

unpardonable sin

toric

We felt

welcome.

for

and

that if there

was a

re-

same was committing an

letting such a

for

old pioneer

valuable prop-

allowing the walls of this his-

homestead, resonant with the voices and

of these pious ancestors, to

fall

into decay,

foot-falls

when they

should be hung with the pictures and facts that

tell its

story of piety and hospitality.

The Nov.

record of Heinrich 16,

province

1702. in

Xander

is

From Rimlange,

Switzerland.

Religion

as follows

:

u Born

out of the Zurich :

Reformed.

His

THE HEBRON MORAVIAN CHURCH. trade,

a smith

1

and mill-wright (Miiller-Bauer).

99

Re-

ceived into the church (Moravian) Whit-Monday, 1749, the |f May,

Took

his

first

congregational day in Bethlehem.

at a

communion

This record was made

change from the old dates.

Hence

reckonings

Oct.

1749, in

If,

Warwick.”

1755, three years after the

in

new

style to the

style of

the fractional form in dates gives both

— the numerator

nominator the new

being the old

Xander

Mr.

style.

style, the de-

lived

miles west of Kucher,” according to Bishop

hofPs diary.

reckoning

Here

visiting bishops

His

generally entertained.

grave

“five

Cammer-

and brethren were

we found on

Moravian cemetery (Hutberg) near the old church

The

Hebron, south of the pike. is

in

following inscription

found on his tombstone, lying

after the

the

flat

upon the grave

Moravian fashion:

No.

80.

Heinrich Xander.

Gebohren Den

November

i6ten

1703 in

Ver

Der Schweitz. schied

ber

Den

1772. 11

Octo-

17

Aet

69

Jahr

Monath. //

The

graves of other leading

members

of this flock,

LANDMARKS

200

many

IN

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

of whose birth dates back to the end of the seven-

teenth or beginning of the last century, are found here,

but their names and other data are

fast

being obliterated

from their memorial stones by the abrasions of time and weather.

Adam

Yet we could discern the names of Johann

Kettering, born in Alsace, Germany,

in 1698;

George Hederich, born in Zweibriicken, 1706; Catharine Orth, born Kucher (daughter of Peter), born January 12,

1738; and the Buehlers, and Hains, and Bombergers,

and Koehlers, and and Uhlers, and sleep.

Graeffs,

others,

But we must

and Imhofs, and Schotts,

who

all

sleep here their last

close this chapter.

has stirred up a general desire soon to see

We

trust

much

well-preserved local history kept here in print.

it

of the

CHAPTER XXL A WALK ABOUT STEITZTOWN.

Every one

of

mv

Lebanon was founded by Mr. George

that

know,

readers knows, or should

He

Steitz.

was a German, who before 1738 (according to a deed of that date mentioning his name and location here) settled here along the Quittapahilla

on a

covering the old part of the

acres,

tract of over 365

city, for

which he

received a patent from the Proprietaries of the province,

dated

May

some town

Though

22, 1753.

there probably had been

lots sold before Steitz laid

farm into building

lots

out a part of his

about the year 1750, this “lay-

town” and sale of lots was the beginning of Lebanon. The enterprising German gave his town the beautiful Scripture name it now bears, possi-

ing out of the

bly borrowed from or suggested by his Moravian brethren,

whose Scriptural nomenclature stamped

several of the townships of this county. likely,

itself

upon

It

more

is

however, that the township had been changed

from Quittapahilla to Lebanon before the Moravians cated here, and that the town’s that of the township. that, in spite of this

was known by the name of 14

name was suggested by

Be that

naming,

(

201

lo-

as

for a its

it

may,

it is

certain

long time the village

founder, and that for

202

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

half a

century after

community did

its

beginning,

its

the surrounding

shopping and frolicking and horse-

u racing and fighting in Steitze-town.”

We

want to-day

and see

its

walk around

to take a

burg

this old

outlying homes and other landmarks that

guarded the old place before ever

this

prising maiden city of Lebanon.

circumnavigation, Jericho, will

fall,

century was born,

had grown into the since enter-

or the village of Steitz

we

After this historic

the

trust

walls,

or the gates open, to

explorers enter and

those of

like let

my army

of

behold the treasures of historic

wealth buried within.

Having the Peter

in

my

my

last letter led

readers to peep into

Kucher house, who must have been

nearest eastern neighbor,

we

will

Steitz’s

go northward from

here and surround the place by constant turns to our left.

The

old town-plots

show John Light

(Licht) to

have owned the land north of Kucher, or east and north of the present city limits.

We

nal deed of this property

finds

Wister,

known

that he

taries the land

had

first

origi-

of Casper

first

Union Canal,

part,”

inasmuch

as

to it

immediately north of the Quittapahilla,

Lebanon, which

it

name

taken up from the Proprie-

the land that long separated

thrift

the

“the brass-button maker of Philadelphia,”

have been the “party of the is

presume that the

Steitztown from North

latter village, at

rivaled

its

and growth, and

the opening of the

southern neighbor in business

for

some time bade

in its strides towards a municipality.

fair to excel

It

seems not

A WALK ABOUT STEITZTOWN. yet to have forgiven

inasmuch

it,

as

it

203

march on

for stealing the

its rival

prefers to remain

“independent,”

though the growing “ Steitze” has stretched well-graded streets, lined with homes, to

Whether John Light had

its

itself in

very doors.

a house east of the city, or

whether there were two John Light homesteads on the confines

knows

of this

town,

the writer cannot

will presently lead

his readers thither.

But

seem that one family of Lights had resided city, as

the old family burial-plot

seems more distant than was

is

He

Light homestead.*

At

all

would

east of our

common from

events,

it

found here, which

indeed the “Light Fort” was the

if

tell.

of the old Light home, northwest of town, and

it

is

the house,

and only

first

in the eastern

portion of the farm where the Lights buried their dead.

The family man streets, to

plot

is

found between

Weidman and Leh-

east of Third, near to or part of

be the old Fair Grounds.

It is,

what used

however, stripped

of every vestige of fence or ornamentation.

Only a

number of old gravestones, several of them broken, mark the sepulture of this pious ancestry of our large family of Lights. The question has come up to the writer,

whether these ancestors have deserved nothing

better at the

hands of their present generation of pros-

perous descendants, than to be treated with the gross neglect and forgetfulness apparent in these neglected

*The author has

recently learned that there was another Light

homestead, east of Lebanon, scendant, before

it

last

the property of Felix Light, a de-

was replaced by the Penn’a Bolt and Nut Works

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

204

Surely some simple mark of respect

graves.

memory

of these early pioneers,

who paved

the success and prosperity a later generation

A

little

way

the

to

reaping.

is

blooming shrubbery were more becoming than

a heap of rocks and debris fitting

due the

is

than a

“commons”

;

an enclosure of paling more of stumps, and a few flowers

on Decoration Day more appropriate than a decoration of cast-away tin cans and other rubbish by the desecrat-

ing neighbors.

Oh

when

!

will

men

all

that

learn

veneration and self-respect that shows itself in keeping

green the graves of the beloved dead, and step softly over the mouldering bones of their ancestors

when

enough

Oh

?

!

Lebanon, as a municipality, gain authority

will

prevent the theft and vandalism that discour-

to

ages such suggested improvements that would other-

wise oft be prompted by grateful hearts

Our

visit

discovered

here half a dozen barely leg-

ibly inscribed tombstones. off

and defaced.

after a century’s

* Scarcely

It is

* !

A

few of them are broken

a wonder anything

is left

of

them

exposure to time, weather and vandal-

had the above wish found a voice

in this

weekly corres-

pondence before one of many descendants of these Light ancestors, a faithful

and venerating

anon Courier

,

scion,

Mr. Asaph

S. Light, editor of the

and the present postmaster of Lebanon,

Leb-

instituted

measures to have the mouldering bones of these ancestors taken up

from these uninviting surroundings and reverently reinterred Ebenezer cemetery, about a mile

week

after this chapter

was no more.

to the northwest of

was originally written

town

.

in the

Hence

a

this old burial plot

A ism.

The

WALK ABOUT STEITZTOWN.

205

following are fac-similes of a few, in which

of the spelling and doubling letters and figures are peculiar,

letter

the latter indicated by a horizontal line over the to

The

be doubled.

others limestone or marble

is

first

:

Jiimiiiiii""

""hitu lint

Hier Ruhet

E =

E

E

of red sandstone,

Johannes

E

I/lcht, ift ge-

bohren den 6 december

Er

1720.

ein

ift

Sohn des

|

E

E

Johannes und Maria

E

E

Licht, ist gestorben

E

=

6ten abril 1798.

fein

alder war 7 Jahr

=

4 monat.

\

E

E E

niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiBiiiiiiiiiiaiiiiiiiflsiniaiiiDir

'VV'V'V'V'I/V'V'VWV'WVAATWV/VWV^

inder

Ehe

Kinder Wovon

11

noch

9

am

leben 6 Sohne

Gestorben

3 Tdchter.

4

May

alter

6

48 Jahr

Gebohren

Monat.

11

1798 Ihr

war 67 Jahr

Monat 2

3

Wochen

Tage.

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

206

Hier Ruhet

ltn

tod

IOHANNKS LIGHT Kr war gebohren im lahr 1726 den 2iten Febr.

Lebte

mit seiner frav Anna inder

Kb.

48 lahr 11 Monat.

Zevgte

Kinder Wovon noch 9 Leben 6 Sohn v. 3 tochter 11

Starb den uten Martz 1806 1st alt 2

worden 80 lahr

woehe

&

Tage.

3

Liebe die Mich wird erwecken

Avs dem grab der sterblichkeit Liebe die mich wird bedecken

Mit der Kron der herlichkeit Liebe dir ergeb ich mich

Dein zu bleiben ewiglich.

There ory of

is

still

1767, died

another stone, with an epitaph to the

mem-

another Johan Licht born 29th of December, ,

10th of January, 1814.

The

relationship

is

very likely that of son to the Johamtes Licht of stones

No.

3

and No.

married

been

life

man and

have been

2,

who, from the agreement in length of

and the number of children, must have

a

The one

wife.

brother

cousin to the one of No.

of 3.

of stone No.

same name Did one

or,

1

must

possibly a

live east of

town

near this burial plot and the other northwest of town?

The

writer can not

tell,

only in the early history of

A WALK ABOUT STEITZTOWN.

20 ?

Steitztown the land east and north of the borough was

marked

as the farm of

of these lived a

Maple

streets,

little

where the old

stituting his abode, ing.

We

John Light.

shall

go

We know

that one

west of the corner of Tenth and liip-roofed stone fort, con-

and erected

to see it

in 1742,

is

still

stand-

now.

THK JOHN TIGHT INDIAN FORT.

On

our

way

to this

peep into the old

which formerly stood

Salem about

Lutheran fifty

landmark, however,

Lutheran

let

us take a

school-house,

at the northeast corner of

cemetery,

years ago.

parochial

Its use

the public school system,

it

on

Eighth

street,

the

until

having been displaced by

was removed hither by a

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

208

who turned it into a dwelling house. now weather-boarded and slightly

Mr. John Harris, It is

a log building,

changed.

It

Swope, and

the present property of Mr.

is

is

located on Canal street, alongside of the

stone quarry at the east end, and pied.

The

door

rear

— double,

same that gave entrance and

speak,

shutter —

a

like

-is

a story of

the

young Luth-

exit to the

It

their jack-knives to this very day.

what

unoccu-

at present

is

eran urchins of seventy-five years ago.

marks of

Charles

woe and hardship

bears the If

it

it

could

doubtless

could relate, as one generation after another of young

Germans were

there graduated

Psalters, Catechisms,

But we repair

may know landmark

or

their

and hickory birches.

to the

Few

Light Fort.

remember

so near.

in

It is

that there

hid

such an historic

is

away from

buildings as you go out Tenth street.

west on Maple at this point, and then

of our citizens

sight by other

You want it

will soon appear

to view, just across the canal to the south.

“the brass-button maker n sold hundred acres of land,

to turn

In 1738,

John Light several who erected upon it, in 1742, the to

stone dwelling and fortification here alluded

to.

It is

the best specimen near town of the style of roofing

adopted in those days for larger buildings. is

The custom

Hollandish, and the style of roof generally termed the

Dutch hippedstructure,

or broken-roof.

This

is

quite a massive

and has a checkered history of refuge from

the savages, of the worship of God, of domestic struggle,

and of liquor

distilling.

toil

and

A WALK ABOUT STEITZTOWN.

The ligion, it

was

first

owner, Mr. Light, was a Mennonite in

who opened so

20g

his house for religious services,

employed once a month

re-

and

for a long period.

This community must have abounded with Mennonites in that early day, as quite a congregation

But the house was

assembled here.

is

have

said to

also built as a forti-

fication against the Indian savages.

It is

provided with

which subterranean refuge a

a deep, arched cellar, into

flight of stone steps still leads the

way from

the inside.

Hither the neighbors were often compelled to repair, find shelter

from their enraged, insatiable

families took refuge in retreats for safety,

that of

since,

il

it

at

one time.

received the

it

name

We

01 d Fort.”

to

Sixty

foes.

Because of these it

has borne ever

recently visited

the

building, but found the older part of the house rifled

and deserted by

all

except a flock of English sparrows,

a saucy-looking goat, last of

whom

and a family of colored

folks, the

occupy a few dreary-looking rooms.

The

writer has strong suspicions that during the best days of

canal navigation this building was used as a warehouse.

The

attacks

made upon

the whites by the Indians

remind us of a record made

Hebron Diary con-

in the

cerning a cruel murder of one of that flock, which occurred in

Bethel,

was brought stood where

to I

May, 175 7.

Hebron

have led

The mangled body and had we then

for burial,

my army

chapter, in the north of town,

of explorers in this

we might have

seen the

funeral procession, a large throng, pass this place on their

way

to burial.

The

following record

is

preserved

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

210

Hebron Moravians

in the church annals of the

the 16th, killed

1757,

John

Spittler, Jr.,

by murderous Indians, not

He was

the Swatara.

u :

May

was attacked and

far

from his house

and

in the 38th year of his age,

settled the preceding year,

at

in April, at the Swatara.

His greatly mangled corpse was brought hither on the 17th of May, and accompanied by a large concourse of people,

was

Spittler

was son-in-law

relatives are

here on

buried

still

Mr.

our graveyard.’’

Mr. Jacob Meylin, whose

to

abounding

in the county.

But we must hasten on and complete our circumference of the old town.

Of

course,

we

are only after the

ancient,

and are going in imagination u in ye olden

time.”

Hence we have no

trouble with cinder-banks

and furnaces and canal-ditches and planing-mills and

we can just take our walk across meadow and some grassy fields, past farm houses of Martin and Barbara Funck

engirdling railroads;

John

Bight’s

the fine old

(who now

sleep, side

by side with

his parents, in a pri-

vate burial-plot near by, within an environment of cin-

smoking furnaces and puffing

der banks, stone quarries,

engines, he born Dec. 22, 1766, and died Feb. 17, 1838;

she born Dec. his parents’

10,

1773,

and died Jan.

15, 1853;

tombs show Martin Funck,

been born Jan’y

30, 1732,

and died Dec.

his wife, Judith Funckin, to

1732 and died March

4,

Sr.,

while

to

have

19, 1796,

have been born Jan’y

1812)

still

erected in 1810, and the other in 1824.

and 19,

standing, the one

Soon

after pass-

ing these landmarks we cross the Quittapahilla on the

A WALK ABOUT STEITZTOWN.

211

west of town, to where George Gloninger’s old has long kept

its

homestead we shall

home

— which historic at length in a later trip — and

watch on visit

stream

this

from here wheel to the south and be ready

to take a

glance at the spot where, before the middle of the last

common

century, was already found a church in

the Lutherans and Reformed

Church.”

—known as the

use by

“Grubben

is

about two miles south of the

town-center, on property to

owned by Mr. Jacob Brubaker. abide here, where Revs. Con-

J.

Casper Stoever

This spot

But we have not time rad

Templeman and

the

Holy Gospel of the Son

God

must bring our march

to a close,

dispensed

their pioneer

to

German Reformed and Lutherans

flocks of

We

of

first

respectively.

and prepare by

another intermission of a week’s rest and waiting to enter the city

from the same direction the rebels invaded

our Keystone state in 1863 and 1864

We

town of

prefer to enter the old

rection, along the

Cornwall pike

— from the south.

Steitz from this di-

— once

a plank road

because from this point of the compass and along this celebrated and well-kept

highway came the man who,

more than any other one man, changed Steitztown Lebanon

— Mr.

Robert H. Coleman.

chapter by quoting a

poem

that

We

was written and read by

one of our most gifted and energetic citizens quet, given

some years since

builder of our city,

moting

its

who

did

into

will close this

in

honor of

more

for

at a

ban-

this

second

Lebanon

in pro-

second growth than George Steitz ever did

in laying its foundations:

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

212

LEBANON PAST AND PRESENT. :

BY

J.

H. R.

There was a German gentleman whose name was Yorick

Steitz,

He came across the ocean from a canton in the Schweitz ’Tis many years ago, you know, a hundred years and more, ;

Since this old

He came

German gentleman

first

landed on our shore.

with pluck and energy, with brains and money, too,

Just as the immigrants those times were always

wont

to do.

’Twas ere the foreign governments, to get rid of their scamps,

Dumped on For

if

our shores their anarchists, their nihilists and tramps.

they then had sent such scum across the raging main,

We’d hanged them higher than

He

a kite or sent

them back

again.

when he reached this spot, at which we wonder not,

traveled inland from the sea, and

’Twas here that he resolved to

stay,

For the valley stretched before him and the brooks went murm’ring by,

’Twas charming to the senses, and most pleasing to the eye

And

But his neighbors, out of jealousy, called

A name

it

bore for

many

years,

it

old Steitz’s town,

two score of years or

so,

Time, at length, with ruthless hand, laid Steitz’s neighbors low.

Till

And

as

A place He

;

here he founded Lebanon, since grown to some renown.

it

was

to

good George

Steitz, so ’tis to

us to-day,

not to remove from, but one in which to stay.

builded better than he knew, for north, hid in the

Lay

coal to feed our furnace

fires,

hills,

our forges and our mills,

While southward rose an iron mount, awaiting,

The magic touch of master hand and

as we’ve seen,

sight of vision keen.

Between these mounts of coal and iron stretched

valley, hill

and

wood,

A

fertile

land on which to raise the grain to give us food.

Here, too, were raised, as well you know, brave

men

of

brawn and

brain,

Who

marched with Washington and Greene, with Lafayette and

Wayne.

A WALK ABOUT STEITZTOWN. In eighteen twelve, and later

They fonght with Grant

still,

in time of direst need,

Richmond’s

in

213

Gettysburg with

front, at

Meade. But time moved on and changes came; the town

And

way

Peter Kahl’s old stage gave

We had our shops Our

were

stores

and

lit

factories

to

it

grew, of course,

Reading’s iron horse.

and churches, schools and

with gas at night, our bank-vaults

scholars,

filled

with

dollars.

So thus

in peace

we moved

along, content to have

it

known,

That every decade showed our town had somewhat larger grown. But suddenly there came a change, as

Had touched

magician’s hand

if

the town, and upward sprang

new

buildings

tall

and

grand.

But

I

How How

must not prolong

first,

I

fain

would

and then the

C.

boom came on, and how we

then the business

From north and And then came

and yet

this tale,

Colebrook furnaces came

south, from east

and west,

forges, bolt works, mills,

at

tell

&

L.

got our freights,

low competing

whose

fires are

rates.

burning

bright,

Bank

buildings and the

new

depot,

and then the

And yet we’ll name Mt. Gretna Park

in

With pleasant paths and cooling shade,

And

so

electric light.

Conewago’s its

hills,

lake and rippling

where once a village stood when good George

rills.

Steitz

held

sway,

A modern For

this

city

upward

rose

and proudly stands to-day.

we’ve met in Banquet Hall

How much

is

due to him who

is

— friends,

to night our

you know

all

the rest,

Honored Guest.

CHAPTER

XXII.

TABOR REFORMED CHURCH.

As we have decided to enter Steitz’s town from south, we will come in on the old plank road of Colemans, whose

last

and

the the

Robert H.,

illustrious scion,

has turned the sleepy village into a bustling

city,

and

the rickety old highway of planks into a well-graded pike.

This brings us into town on what

street,

and accordingly the

meets our eye It is

what

is

Church of our dicate, the “

now Tenth

ancient landmark that

the old Tabor church and school house.

known

generally

is

first

is

city

—

or, as

as the First

a stone in

its

Reformed

wall would in-

Hoch Deutsche Reformirte Kirche.”

The

present building was erected in 1792, and the schoolhouse,

it

that date. lished

we

is

believed, about thirty-six years previous to

From

a succinct history of the church pub-

two years ago by

are enabled to cull

historic

and beneficent

its

present pastor, Dr. Klopp,

many important

This declares the congregation ized in 1760.

The

whereby George

first

Stites

data of

its

long,

life.

to

have been organ-

deed, indentured

June

10, 1760,

conveys to Frederick Steindorf,

Felix Miller and Jacob Sollinger,

“Deacons

Dutch Presbyterian Church,” and

in

(214)

trust

of the for

said

TABOR REFORMED CHURCH.

215

Church, the greater portion of the ground lying east of the present church and constituting the old burial

the original sum of five u one Red Rose in the shillings and the yearly rent of

ground,

is still

extant.

It cost

Mojith of June forever,

if

How

lawfully demanded.”

often this yearly rental has been paid since, the writer

can not it

is

tell.

As

the date has just passed (10th of June),

possible that the

charged

its

and other flowers

Day

congregation feels

to

church in

Festival, celebrated last

of this legal agreement.

but more

it

has

dis-

debt after having brought loads of roses

difficult

than

It

its

annual Children’s

Sabbath

— the anniversary

might prove

last

Sunday’s

worthy

a

service,

task,

to find

the grave of this generous promoter of “true religion

and piety” and deck

is

believed

relatives

in

year by year with these choice

This seems

blossoms of June. It

it

he

that

rests

to

be an

near

unknown

his

spot.

offspring and

The

Salem Lutheran graveyard.

writer

found the tomb of Mrs. Samuel Stites (Anna) in the

Womelsdorf graveyard, but knows not whether her husband was a

was born March

relative of 3,

1817,

George or

not.

and died March

This lady

28, 1846.

A

similar requirement of the yearly rental of one red rose

binds also the Salem Lutheran Church of our city to

Mr. Steitz, and the Zion Lutheran Church, of Man-

heim, to the quaint Colonial founder and benefactor of that flock

town,

Baron H. W.

celebrated

last

Stiegel.

This last-named

Sabbath the yearly Festival of

Roses, amid a jubilee of song and addresses, and in the

LANDMARKS

216

IN

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

presence of relatives and lineal descendants from Ger-

New

many, Virginia,

memorial chimes in their

are raising a fund to place spire in last

honor of

They

and Harrisburg.

York,

and long enterprising,

this kindly

at

impoverished Baron.

Whatever generosity George

may have mani-

Steitz

fested towards the early religious denominations of his

day and town,

would seem

it

county a few years this

later seized his property, including

donated portion of his farm or town

of lot this

as if the sheriff of the

numbered

136,

and sold

same Reformed Church

it,

lot

plot, consisting

inasmuch

was

as

we

find

sold by the sheriff

and re-purcliased by said congregation but three years

At

after its very considerate sale

by

John Hay was

county (Lancaster), and

sheriff of the

Steitz.

this

the purchasers of the tract, including these church

were Rev. John Casper Stoever, Christopher Philip Greenawalt, Christian Gish,

time

lots,

Wegman,

Casper Schnebele, George Hock,

and John Ulrich Schnebele.

These

again sold in 1765 the church lots (upon which a log

church had already been erected in 1762, situated on the northeast corner of the old graveyard,) to

John

Huber, John Rohrer, Jacob Smith, and Abraham Wideu

German

man,

in trust for the

They

paid five pounds in their second purchase to get

back their improved property.

was made August

5,

this

This second transfer

1765.

Before the establishment of

formed of

Presbyterian Church.”

this

community worshiped

church,

the

Re-

for a generation

TABOR REFORMED CHURCH.

217

northwest of Lebanon, and at the u or Kruppen n church. The log house

at the Hill church,

“Grubben” in

which Rev. Conrad Templeman, the

of these Reformed churches, lived,

Templeman’s

standing at

still

is

Hill, a mile east of Cornwall.

dilapidated condition, and was

saken by the writer in a recent ciations of this energetic

and

spent the latter years of his

and

earliest pastor

It is in

for-

The

asso-

of God,

who

visit thither.

faithful life

a

found empty and

man

here in total blindness

suffering, while yet often ministering to his flock

in holy things, should arouse an interest to

landmark from According

keep

this

total decay.

to

an account of the event preserved by

the Moravian pastor in the

Hebron Diary, the

first

Re-

formed church was dedicated on the 18th of July, 1762.

The name

of

Tabor was given

Mt. Tabor of Scripture.

it,

evidently from the

In this building the congrega-

tion worshiped regularly until

June

12th,

the present stone edifice was erected.

1792,

when

There was an

interim of several years between the razing of the old

church and the completion of the new, when the right of worship in their church edifice was kindly accorded this flock

by the Salem Lutherans.

Improvements

made

since

have constantly been

to the property

the beginning.

In 1772 the church lots

were enclosed by a dry stone wall,

at a

nominal expense

of about $130, because of the very reasonable rates of

labor and material at that day.

adjoining property 15

— the

lot

On March

8,

1780, an

on which the present church

218

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

MT. TABOR

stands,

REFORMED CHURCH AND CEMETERY, LEBANON,

PA.

and on which was then already standing the

stone house,

now used

as a sexton’s house, but for

many

years as a congregational or parochial school-house

TABOR REFORMED CHURCH. was bought of Philip Greenawalt and

sum

wife, for the

When

of thirty pounds, or about $146.

219

this

purchase

was made, Gottfried Eichelbrener, Michael Krebs and

Rudolph Kelker were the

In the deed trans-

trustees.

ferring this property, the school

was

built

is still

tion

mentioned, which

is

some twenty years previous

to this date,

and

here as a witness to the value set upon instruc-

A

by our early German ancestors.

parsonage was

purchased by a committee representing the different congregations constituting this pastorate at that day, viz.,

They

the Lebanon, Hill and Jonestown churches.

were Gottfried

Eichelbrener,

Nicholas Weiss, Jacob

Henry Dubs, John

Lausher,

and

Tetweiler

This house stood many years on the

Bickel.

present

handsome parsonage, corner

Spring

streets.

of

Chestnut and

Formerly the services were

man, and preaching but once

in

John

site of the

Ger-

all in

two weeks.

Since

1828 English preaching has been regularly continued,

though

in constantly increasing proportions,

present the

German

is

until at

limited to two Sabbath mornings

a month.

The

present building was erected in 1792-96.

originally about 42x62 feet in dimensions.

stone was laid

Lupp’s

June

pastorate,

26,

when

The

was

corner-

under Rev.

Ludwig

Rev. William

Hendel

The

building

1792,

the

It

preached a sermon from Gen. xxviii.

12.

committee consisted of Philip Greenawalt, John Glon-

Anthony Kelker, Gottfried Bowman, and Martin Imhoff.

inger,

.Eichelbrener, George

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

220

An

interesting Children’s Service

was held in con-

nection with the laying of the corner-stone but a day or two previous, showing that such a thing as u Children’s

Day”

our churches

in

new

no

is

thing,

and

that

Bishop Vincent, of the Methodist Church, can not boast

now

being the founder of this fact

the good things in the Church of to-day

all

is,

prime and purity in the German

are found in their

Reformation churches, and were rocked into the Protestant Reformation of Luther,

Zwingli, Calvin, and others.

programme

From an

life

by

Melanchthon, old

hymn

or

of exercises used on this occasion, over a

hundred years ago, in the

The

popular novelty.

still

extant, and a copy of

which

is

hands of the Hon. Rudolph Kelker, of Harris-

burg, whose grandfather was then Treasurer of this

church,

it

would appear

that they far excelled

modern namby-pamby

much

of

up with flowers u and singing canaries on our Children’s Days.” the

The church was

stuff dished

dedicated

May

8th, 1796.

We

can-

not account for the length of time consumed in build-

ing this structure, except, like the grinding of some sleepy mills situated along shallow and well-nigh dried

up streams, the propelling power did not flow

in faster.

But the character of the structure does not suggest poverty.

It

has upon

it

known

have cost about $6,500, and superior workmanship. There has been

is

some extra expenditure

to

to

make

it

churchly in appear-

ance.

Over the windows of the west

street,

appropriate Scripture passages have been en-

graven.

Beginning

at the

side, facing

Tenth

north they read as follows

:

TABOR REFORMED CHURCH. “ Lasset

ist.

I

John 4

:

uns ihn lieben denn Er hat uns zuerst geliebet.”

19.

“Der

2d.

221

verniinftige

Mensch

Wort

lernet Gottes

gern,

und wer

die Weisheit lieb hat horet gern.”

“Dieser Eckstein dieser Kirehe

3d.

ist

gelegt worden, den 26ten

Juni 1792. ‘‘Herr lass deine

4th.

Augen

“Das Gesetz deines Mundes

stuck Gold und Silber.” 5th.

At

Haus Tag und

offen sein ueber dieses

Hoere das Gebet deines Volkes.” — II Chron.

Nacht.

— Ps.

119

ist

6: 20-21.

mir lieber denn

viel

Tausend

72.

:

“Thut Busze und glaubet an das Evangelium.” — Mark dedication Revs.

its

officiated.

But even

Pauli and

Becker, after a

still

1

15.

Hendel

new church was

cured, improvements were continued.

:

se-

In 1809 a pipe

The

organ was purchased, at a cost of $1,500.

present

wall surrounding the graveyard was built in 1816

;

the

steeple erected in 1827, an d part of the cemetery, opposite

the church, on

Tenth

bought in 1847, with The entire church was re-

street,

an additional part in 1848.

modeled in 1844 at considerable expense, when the vestibule end at the north was added. In 1845 the church was incorporated,

in

which charter the follow-

ing persons are named as Trustees,

Leonhard Shaak,

ment

is

Greenawalt,

Sr.,

viz.

Christopher

and John W. Gloninger

signed by Governor F.

R.

:

Jacob Arndt,

Reigert, ;

Philip

and the docu-

Shunk and by

Speakers William P. Wilcox of the Senate, and Findley Patterson of the House.

At the

ratification

meet-

ing of the congregation, accepting this charter, held

May

24, 1845, a

number

of important resolutions were

LANDMARKS

222

IN

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

adopted, relative to the spiritual care, the temporary

support and the nurture of the youth of the church.

The pew system was then adopted and other provisions pertaining In 1857, John

ground

at

English services,

to burial rights adopted.

W. Gloninger and

wife conveyed a lot of

west of town along

for burial purposes, situated

the pike.

In i860, sixty-eight St.

members were dismissed

John’s Reformed Church of this

city, of

found

to

which the

Rev. Dr. Henry Harbaugh, the celebrated author and

Pennsylvania German poet, was

first

pastor.

In 1864, the Reformed Lebanon Classis, convened at Annville, divided and changed the pastorates in this

community

so as to constitute the

separate pastoral

ment

charge.

Tabor Church

Church

of $ 600.00 to the Hill

for its interest in

the parsonage, which was at once accomplished, collections being over this

treasury a

in a

This necessitated the pay-

the

amount, leaving the church

handsome surplus of $206.76 from

this effort.

In 1869, the pastor’s salary was fixed at $1,200.00 per

annum.

In 1872, the Lecture

changed and Tabor Chapel

and

Room

built,

of the church was

which was enlarged

altered in 1890, thus adding an Infant

Pastor’s Bible Class

Room.

In 1877, at the establishment of

Church of Bismarck, hand, and at

its

Room and

this

St.

Paul’s Reformed

church again lent a willing

regular organization dismissed no less

than eighty-six members from her

coming out of the bosom of

this

fold.

Another child

mother church

is

the

TABOR REFORMED CHURCH. Mark’s Reformed Church,

St.

the

city.

It

came

in the northern part of

organized

to

223

in

life

1887,

which

again cost 166 of the living stones of the old church,

and quite a number besides since that

man’s Chapel,

at

Cornwall, cost the mother church

Thus

another thirty of her members.

“mother” and how she lives blessed

this First or

Tabor Church has been,

in her children, into

many

able with hoary years and still

is

enough

to

seen what a

it is

whose youthful

Though

energies she poured of her best blood.

she

Temple-

date.

vener-

deeds of beneficence,

bearing fruit in her old age, and strong vie

with

any of her younger

daughters in the work for

God and humanity.

well equipped with officers and

working

or

sisters

societies,

She

is

and

is

one of the strongest churches in numbers and activities of this city.

The handsome

parsonage, which in 1890

took the place of the old historic manse on the corner of Spring and Chestnut streets,

is

a

model of beauty

and modern domestic convenience, and to the built,

congregation and

and a pioof that

its

this

pastor,

bless

to

under

“mother”

going into decrepitude or decline.

alike a credit

is

May

whom is

it

was

not as yet

she long live

mankind, and breathe among our younger

churches and generations of citizens the earnest and godly est

spirit of

her pious and sainted founders and earli-

promoters!

The

following pastors have served her:

After the pioneer services, preparatory to the found-

ing of Reformed churches in this vicinity by Rev. Con-

224

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

rad Teinplemaii, from 1727 to 1760, this local church

was served by Rev. Frederick Miller, from 1762 to 1763.

Rev. William Stoy, from 1763 to 1768.

Rev. John Conrad Bucher, from 1768 to 1780. Rev. John William Runkle, from 1780 to 1784.

Rev. Andrew Lorentz, supplied from 1785 to 1786. Rev. Ludwig Lupp, from 1786 to 1798. Rev. William Hiester, from 1800 to 1828. Rev. Henry Kroh, from 2828 to 1835. Rev. Henry Wagner, from 1835 to 1851.

Rev. F.

W. Kremer,

D. D., from 1851 to 1889.

Rev. D. F. Klopp, D. D., from 1889 to date.

From

the Tabor

News we

learn that the following

persons constitute the present

CHURCH OFFICERS.

— Rev. D. Earnest Klopp, D. D. Elders — B. F. Gingrich, William H. Boyer, Pastor

liam M. Snyder,

Deacons

J.

— Frank

Adam

Becker,

J.

William F. Spayd, Wil-

H. Witenmoyer.

Z. Miller, J. V. Smith, F. E.

Bomberger, D.

0

.

Mader, John A. Kleiser, Alvin H. Royer, Edward Brandt, George M. Snyder. Trustees

— Andrew

berger, Daniel P.

Treasurer

J.

Meredith, John H. Michael, Joseph L. Lem-

Witmeyer, Jacob Brubaker.

—William D.

Rauch.

SUNDAY-SCHOOE ORGANIZATION.

—Joseph L. Lemberger. Assistant Superintendents — Dr. E. P. Kremer,

Superintendent

Secretary— Daniel G. Miller. Assistant Secretary

—John Shank.

— —Jacob B.

Treasurer

Jacob B. Karch.

Librarian

Karch.

Miss Annie Matthes.

TABOR REFORMED CHURCH. Assistant Librarians

— Daniel M.

Sharp, Frank Gleim, John Shank.

Teacher of Adult Bible Class— Dr. E. Organist

225

P.

Kremer.

— Walter Garrett. Junior Department.

— William F. Spayd. Assistant Superintendents — William Superintendent

M. Snyder, Miss

Savilla Wit-

meyer. Secretaries or Librarians

— Mrs.

Jennie Sbaak, Mrs. D. G. Miller,

Miss Millie Gleim.

—Mrs. D. G. Miller. — Miss Nora Light.

Chorister

Organist

Infant Department

.

—Miss Ella Ebur and Mrs C. G. Rauch. Assistants — Miss Sallie Schram and Miss Gertie Reigel.

Teachers

In the next chapter graveyards, and here

number

we

shall stroll into the adjoining

come

face to face with a large

of Lebanon’s past worthies in the sacred and

in secular callings.

CHAPTER

XXIII.

FACE TO FACE WITH PAST WORTHIES.

Before

leaving the ancient shrine of Lebanon’s

Reformed worshippers,

let

first

us spend an hour in com-

pany with the noble men and women who have been “ gathered unto their fathers,” and sleep their last long sleep in the

shadow

worshiped and heaven.

The

which they

of the very church in

taught,

or

were

the

taught,

ancient burial ground

way

to

that lies to the

east of this historic church, contains the sacred ashes of

not a few of Lebanon’s most distinguished citizens of

“ye olden time.”

In

fact, this

and Salem’s Lutheran

burial grounds contain almost all the dead of the six or eight decades of this city’s

Moravian cemetery contains mostly from

life.

a few,

the outlying country.

first

The Hebron

but

its

dead are

The Reformed

hold in sacred keeping a generous share of the ancient dead, and they keep their trust faithfully by looking

well to the proper order of this last resting place of their dead.

June, the month of roses and robins

—when

bush of the former glows with hundreds

every

of bursting

buds of beauty and fragrance, and every nest of the latter is

ready to hold commencement-day and send (

226

)

FACE TO FACE WITH PAST WORTHIES. forth from its seminary of

young

trio of red-breasted songsters

bird-life its full-fledged

— what a month of beauty

and bloom, of flowers and fragrance, of Just the

month

which

in

227

life

and love!

to visit a graveyard!

The

chirp of the sparrow, the sweet song of the robin and the thrush, and the exciting chatter of a score of swallows, which, as evening approaches, take their

chariot races through the air

winged

— each racer urging on his — combine their notes and

feathery steed with noisy ado

noises to overcome the otherwise painful silence of a

lonely burial ground.

And

the blooming and budding

so the life

waving

grasses,

and

on every shrub, help

to

mellow the otherwise too sombre consciousness of being in

the presence of decay and death.

natural evidences of

life

Moreover, these

and beauty serve as a token

and type of the land of reunion with the sainted dead,

where are found perpetual bloom and eternal It

was on a

perfect day of this

life.

maiden month of sum-

mer that the writer, pushing away the wended his way from grave to grave worthies that sleep in this Reformed

tall

grasses,

of the past u city of the

dead,” and with reverent heart and by the aid of well-

worn epitaph, communed with the generations have passed.

and his

wife,

during whose energetic ministry the pres-

ent stone church edifice was erected learned elsewhere that this of

Germany, and

this

that

Here he found the graves of Pastor Rupp

that

for

man

of

in

1

a while after

country he taught school,

792-6.

God was

He

a native

coming

to

and conducted devo-

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

228

assuming the

tional services in private houses, before

He

duties of the ministry.

had served a charge in and

surrounding Manheim, and was instrumental in founding the

first

removing

to

Reformed church

Harrisburg, before

at

Lebanon, where he busily pursued the

labors of his holy office, in season and out of season, for a period of

erally

beloved

Lutheran

William

That he was gen-

about twelve years.

from the

evidenced

is

fact

the

that

Rev. Mr. Kurtz, assisted the Rev.

pastor,

Hendel,

the Reformed

of

Church, in

the

funeral services, by preaching a second sermon, and

the witness of

by

Moravian Hebron Diary, whose

the

pastor records various instances of fraternal intercourse

with him. tion

Describing one of Rev. Lupp’s confirma-

and communion

which said pastor

services,

at-

tended by invitation, he adds: “There was at these

solemn

services,

which continued

six hours, a general

loud weeping in the church, and the young hearts were quite carried away.”

He was

doubtless the author of

the responsive service which the children of this parish

rendered on the dedication day of the church, to which allusion has already been made,

propriety and churchliness.

and which

It is

is

a model for

a service in which the

leader, the children

and the choir respectively take

and the program

entitled

Pastor

is

Lupp was buried

:

“

Zum

part,

Knsebchen Fest.”

here in this delightful

month

of

June, almost a century ago, according to the following

humble marker

that

still

distinguishes his grave

:

FACE TO FACE WITH PAST WORTHIES.

229

,

rubet ein grauer

lf

_

LUDWIG

I E

12

E

Jahr Prediger in Libanon

Gebohren den

=

LUPP,

7 Januar,

E

Gestorben den 28 Juni, 1798

jj

Alt 65 Jabr, 5

E E

Mon.

E

E

1733

E

21 Tagen.

E

Ks war mein Beruf und Amt in deiser Welt = Zu lehren was meinem Gottund Jesu wohlge- E

=

1

fallt.

=

Zu predigen das Kvengelium rein und Den Siindern rufen zur Bus und Reu

E

Nun

=

treu = !

;

E E

E

adieu

!

Fruende, folget meiner Lehr und

Wort So werden wir einander wieder sehn Himmelspfort

E E

in

jenerE =

!

niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiir

Not

far

away

sleeps his wife

and companion, with a

similar sandstone marker.

We

find here the grave also of

even an earlier pastor,

and one who must have been beloved by his extraordinary affection.

It is

the Rev.

flock with

Johann Conrad

Bucher, serving this flock an equally long period of a

dozen years, beginning with 1768.

man

in his

State.

day

Born

for his service both in the

Church and

him

gave him a thorough academic educa-

tion at the Universities of St.

still

a noted

in Switzerland, his father, intending

for the ministry,

tingen,

He was

Gall,

Basle,

and Goet-

where he gathered into an autograph album,

extant, the autographs of his celebrated teachers,

Wagelin, Zollikoffer,

J.

U.

Mosheim, the great church

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

230

and

historian,

came flict

He was

America.

to

that

At the age

others.

of twenty-five he

soon enlisted into the con-

was being waged between the English Colonies

and the combined

forces of

French and Indians.

Par-

liament, after the defeat of Braddock and the subse-

quent year of

disaster, passed

an “act providing

for the

appointment of German, Swiss and Dutch Protestants as officers,” in order to enlist the greater

sympathy

of

Ac-

these classes of immigrants to the English cause.

cordingly, Bucher was appointed as Second Lieutenant in

the

after the fall of Fort

tenant,

April

Louther

(Carlisle) to

raids.

He

19,

and

Pennsylvania Regiment,

First Battalion,

Du

Quesne, he rose to First Lieu-

and was

1760,

stationed

at

Fort

defend the frontier against Indian

participated in Bouquet’s expedition in 1763

for the relief of

Fort

Pitt,

which had been

assailed in

Pontiac’s Conspiracy, in which march the famous battle of

Bushy Run was fought.

promoted

for his

taincy in Colonel

Mr. Bucher was gradually

brave services, until

lie

rose to a Cap-

John Penn’s Regiment.

In 1765 he again participated in an expedition against the incursive Ohio

when

Indians under General

the celebrated capture was

white men,

women and

;

among whom was

Regina Hartman, who sleeps expedition, and while association

of the captive

children these enemies had in

former years carried off

acres” of our valley.

made

Bouquet,

in one of the

While on

encamped

was formed by the

the noted

“God’s

their return from this at Fort Bedford,

officers of these

an

Peunsyl-

FACE TO FACE WITH PAST WORTHIES. vania Regiments to ask the Proprietaries to

new purchase

23

make

a

of land from the Indians and grant to

each of them a reasonably large and commodious tract as a plantation.

was ceded acres in

to

Their

efforts

succeeded, and thus there

Captain Bucher, in 1769, no less than 616

the Buffalo Valley (Union county), and 570

Feb-

acres in the Bald Eagle Valley (Center county).

ruary 26, 1760, Lieutenant Bucher married

Hoak, of York, and three

delena, daughter of George

sons survived

him

to perpetuate his

Dauphin and Huntingdon he resided

at Carlisle

Mary Mag-

name and fame

During 1765-68

counties.

and began the service of the Re-

formed Church as minister, officiating in churches Falling

Spring,

Hagerstown,

Sharpsborough,

Hummelstown,

erickstown, Middletown,

and Lebanon,

The

strain

services,

removed hither

and he succumbed

counties.

however,

was too much to

Fred-

Quittapahilla,

in the spring

of 1769, his field extending over large parts of

now Lebanon and Lancaster

at

In 1768 he accepted

as well as Carlisle.

a call from Lebanon, and

and trying

in

tell

what are

Such exposures

on any constitution.

for the soldier-priest,

heart-disease

011

the

Bucher, 15th

of

August, 1780, while officiating at a marriage ceremony in the family of one Killinger,

on the Quittapahilla,

near Millerstown (now Annville).

So esteemed was he

that,

though a hearse was awaiting

back

to

to carry his

Lebanon, his friends would not consent

body to

it,

but carried the dead pastor on their shoulders to his

home — a

distance of five miles.

He

lies

buried

among

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

232

the honored and loving flock he shepherded so faith-

A sandstone

fully.

inscription

marks his tomb, with the following

:

"""" £

Hier ruhet im Tod der Teib

CONRAD BUCHKR Prediger 12 Jahr in Libanon

Gebohren D.

10

Juny 1730

Mit seiner Khe frau Magdelena Zeigte 8 Kinder

lebte 20 Jahr.

4 sein in die ewigkeit voran

gegangen. 1780.

Gestorben D. 15 Aug. Seines

Ruhen vollen Mon. 5 Tag.

Alters 50 Jahr 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 > 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

One might here

find

reverie and meditation.

1 1 1 1 1

mm

1 1

enough material

The grave

for

somber

of a learned scholar,

a brave and honored soldier and a beloved pastor!

Yet

here he sleeps in a bed as humble as the lowliest.

Truly “

The boast of heraldry, the pomp

And

all

of power,

that beauty, all that wealth, e’er gave,

Await alike the inevitable hour

The paths of glory lead but

Two

to the grave.”

other pastors of this flock

lie

Reformed graveyards, old and new. the church, large

flat

is

the

buried on these In the old, near

tomb of Rev. William

Hiester.

stone marks his resting place, which

scribed as follows

:

is

A in-

FACE TO FACE WITH PAST WORTHIES. Zum

233

Audetiken des

EHRW. WILHELM HIESTER Prediger 28 Jahr in

Libanon und den umliegen-

den Reformirten Gemeinden.

Gebobren den

November

11

Zeugte

Kinder

11

1770 7

Sohne

und 4 Tochter. Starb den 8ten Feby 1828 Alt 57 Jahr 2

und

Monath

28 Tage.

[Here follows a long rhythmic appeal be faithful and meet their

to the flock to

pastor on high.]

The Hebron Diary has many complimentary things Rev. William Hendel preached his to say of him also. sermon,

funeral

February n, from

the

text,

Deut.

xxi. 16.

In the

cemetery, opposite the church, on Tenth

monument marks congregation’s pastor who gave

street,

the

new

a beautiful

terrupted term of service (a of her

From

many all

shepherds,

viz.,

it

the longest unin-

over 38 years) of any

W. Kremer. pastor, much be-

Rev. Dr. F.

accounts he was an ideal

He had

but one other charge be-

— that of Grindstone Hill,

near Chambersburg, Pa.

loved by his people. sides

little

the resting place of

16

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

234

“While conducting Heilman to his

the funeral cortege of Mrs.

to the Hill church,

Samuel

he was suddenly translated

reward in heaven, on the morning of June

1889, his horse

press on the

and carriage being struck by a

Lebanon Valley R. R.

the Hill church.

.

The

his faithful ministry.”

his death,

Killed

by

tells

the

Church

1851, to the

June a

have found

so long enjoyed

following epitaph

Pastor of First Reformed 1,

who

life

and death:

brief story of his services

from April

at a crossing near

His name and

.

lasting place in the hearts of those

14,

fast ex-

14,

day of

1889.

railroad

train

while

on his way to the burial of one of his members.

AGED 72 Years, 6 Months, 28 Days.

“

/

And

he was not, for

God

took

him”

\

Besides these pastors, these ancient graveyards con

FACE TO FACE WITH PAST WORTHIES.

235

tain the sacred ashes also of Mrs. Rev. Stoy, Mrs. Rev.

Rev. H.

Hiester, Mrs.

Wagner and

Mrs. Rev. Kreiner.

Rev. Philip Gloninger, a Reformed minister, also sleeps here amid the large family of kin, but

we

shall

have oc-

casion to refer to this rather illustrious old family in an-

other chapter, and therefore omit further allusion here.

Other notable graves are those of the Eckerts, Marks,

John

Heisters, Hubers, Pfeiffers, Dr.

B. Mish’s, Karchs,

Moores, Elliotts, a long row of Greenawalt graves, in

some

of

which sleep Revolutionary

including that of Anthony,

when

sires

the Kelkers,

;

treasurer of the

the present edifice was erected

;

church

and the Gottfried

Eichelberner of that day, and Esq. |Peter Lineaweaver

and

wife,

We

and many others.

think

we found

also

the long-lost grave of George Steitz, the founder of this city

and donor of

this

church

Now we

lot.

would not

be guilty of putting the bones of even such an old

worthy

as Steitz into another

man’s grave.

We

read in

Scripture that such an hasty and promiscuous burial

once took place, where the body of a certain dead

came

in contact with the

Elisha,

and

it

had the

extinct body into care

to

life

man

bones of the buried Prophet effect

of stirring the

newly-

We

neither

and new animation.

produce a sensation nor to

call

back

any

life, but we have strong susby some amateur u 01d Mortality” the

one that has passed from picions that

tomb Stein.

of George Steitz has been I will

offer

my

made

argument, and

either prove or disprove the same.

to read let

George

the curious

In the center of

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

236

east of the church, is an old-

this old burial ground,

fashioned tombstone, north of a fenced-in is

found a considerable amount of

tion.

It

on which

lot,

artistic

ornamenta-

shows the marks of the sculptor’s

chisel since

originally placed scription that

— evidently to

was becoming

retrace a part of the in-

indistinct.

It left

but found the

this epitaph intact, because still legible,

make

stone so hardened and coarse-grained as to possible to

engrave the

half of

it

was fading, and so the vanishing phraseology was talized.

im-

fine text of the other half that

reads u Zutn

Thus what now

capi-

Andenken

des

George STEIN ” was certainly at first u Stein” if not “Steitz” with the u tz” so faded that this employed artist of a

few decades ago guessed the surname of one

more common.

This

is

The

the theory.

evident

any one visiting the

to

spectively, but are almost faded.

u

examine the case Stein” of

this

for

now

We

dates of re-

invite the curious

themselves,

community

buried an old ancestor,

The

spot.

once

at

“1717” and “178 7”

birth and death seem to be

to

partial alter-

becomes

ation, with the other half untouched,

and

let

every

or elsewhere, having here

speak, or the

monument might be by mistake

coming

Steitz

here erected over the

remains of the wrong man.

There

is

but one more grave that we shall

visit,

and

then take a reluctant leave from a charming spot and

an interesting old companionship. Mr.

Curtis Grubb.

died

when

By

This

is

the grave of

his side sleeps his son,

a youth of seventeen,

and two large

who flat

FACE TO FACE WITH PAST WORTHIES. stones,

lying side by side,

mark

237

their resting places.

Mr. Grubb was a brother of Captain Peter Grubb,

who

He had

figured prominently in Revolutionary times.

charge of the Cornwall Furnace, which was then casting cannon for the Colonial armies.

Curtis

was equally

enthusiastic for liberty, and exerted himself for

motion the

at

home, while

cause in the

sentiment

Thus we

field.

among

his

its

pro-

his brother gave his energies to

neighbors,

him

find

creating

serving on various

committees, and taking a leading part in this com-

munity

It is said

for liberty.

were regular attendants of

his life

and demise

this church,

The

in the Cornwall Hills.

that he, with his family,

though living

following epitaph records

:

In Memory of CURTIS GRUBB, ESOR., of Cornwall Furnace.

Who

departed this Life

Day of One Thousand

the Twenty-second

January,

Seven Hundred and Eightynine.

Aged

Fifty -eight Years.

Stop Wanderer, Come, learn how vain

How More

swift than

On

this life below,

swift thy days pass by,

any stream they flow

to Eternity.

CHAPTER XXIV. A HALT ON MARKET SQUARE.

We

turn away to-day from the lovely and ancient “ God' s-acres" of peacefully sleep the Reformed, where

so

many

of Lebanon’s

worthies,

past

and from the

church they built and in which several generations

have worshiped, where we have spent our time in the past two outings, to visit the similarly historic house of

God and

old graveyard of the Lutherans at the corner

Willow

of Eighth and

across the Central or

we must make

But

streets.

this

walk leads us

Market Square of our

and so

city,

a halt here before going on, and mingle,

in this chapter, with the living rather than the dead.

here there

is

no resemblance

to the place

and the one we are next bound stirring

life,

city every

we

This

for.

and few that move about

For

last visited

is

a scene of

this center of

our

day do ever think that they are only a few

blocks from the cemetery— that the distance from busy life

to tranquil

evening

is

death

so short,

But we

near Cemetery block.

upon

is

that from noon

but a brief span, that Central Square

this stirring scene,

and

;

to

so

will not look too gloomily

will therefore

to-day the grave-clothes from our spirits.

tween two cemeteries

lies

but we are

(238)

now

shake

We

off for

are be-

in neither.

We

A halt on market square. are in Lebanon’s

without

— “Hamlet” the market “

Bs waer ken

leichte

is

a square

with Hamlet

left out.

it

Sach zu mir

Wans Marik-House muesst Mei Herzt

Only

Market Square.

239

dort week,

lisengt dra, as wie ’n Klett

Bs macht mich krank, ich muss Ich scklupp mich in ’n Bek

ins Bett

!

O move sell Marik-Haus nimmermehr Bweck

fon sellem Center-Schquare

*

!

*

*

*

“Sel Schquare war g’macht for’n Marik-Haus

Der William Penn

Br hot

nei,

hot’s g’sad,

die Insching g’frogd dafor

Sie hens gegrant forevermore

Un ’s muss ah nau dort sei Was wser’s dan for ’n Marik-Haus Wan’s net

for sel alt

Schquare,

Marik-Haus waer ? ”

Even William Penn, George Steitz, and H. L. Fisher, the York poet, combined, could not keep u Marik Hans'" in the Lebanon Square. It the old But, alas

!

go with the other

had

to

the

march of improvement which was ushered

the second growth

years ago.

member

the

came

But most of

old market sheds.

relics of the

Some

olden time before in

when

to

Lebanon, about a dozen

my

readers will recollect the

of the oldest of

them

will re-

Fourth of July morning when old Dr.

Lineaweaver’s gig graced the

had carefully locked

roof,

though the Doctor

his shed the preceding night to

prevent the patriotism of the young Americans of that

day from manifesting

itself in

such and other similar

LANDMARKS

240

And

demonstrations.

Cumberland

IN

street,

county produce,

in

THE LEBANON VALLEY. while

what

it

fine

men and

stood,

on either side of

specimens of Lebanon maidens, in cheese and

cabbages, in radishes and red-beets, in sausages and sauer-kraut,

men

it

presented once or twice a week

on country produce and

live

settle into

CENTRAE SQUARE, EEBANON, tions of

towns and

cities,

Since

!

aggrega-

PA.

market places have been a

necessity

and they have always given the world true

phases of

life.

But we are not here with provision basket to

make

purchases.

icler’s pencil to

We

in

hand

have come with the chron-

take a few notes of the historic land-

A halt on market square. marks, in the shape of old homes that this

market-square of Steitz’s town-plan.

the south, it

we begin with

on the west corner, and

the

first

find

it

241

still

surround

Coming from

old house that faces

a pre-Revolutionary

market square, eebanon,

pa.

(Booking South.)

Showing

Filbert’s Store,

The Mish House, and “American House”

in the distance

at off-set.

relic.

It is

now

American House. bears two stones erection.

The

a public hostelry and Its fine

which

tell

known

as the

stone front elevation

much

still

of the story of

its

inscriptions of religious sentiment, fol-

242

LANDMARKS

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

IN

lowing a custom of certain German provinces, here read as follows

:

GOTT

HAUS DA

.

.

.

SEGENE

UND

GEHT

.

DISES

.

AELES

.

EIN

.

.

WAS

UND AUS .

CASPAR & SAWINA SCHNEBELY

.

AO

.

1 77 1.

can speak from personal experience that

we have

it

a strong suspicion that

sets a

good

some other

table,

but

spirit

than the one invoked in this date-stone has some-

times “blessed” some

who “here go

in

and out,” since

A HALT ON MARKET SQUARE.

243

the private residence has been changed into a public

u fire-water. n

house, with license for the sale of

now

the property of Mrs.

place of the country mail coaches.

property of Dr. John story to

W.

It is

and the stopping-

Kleiser,

I11

1855

was the

it

who added

Gloninger,

a third

it.

From

whose

here, past a few business houses,

tories are a

we come

checkered story of transfers,

his-

to the

stuccoed and yellow-painted stone house of Mr. John

W. of

is

having been

it

and in

This

Mish.

another old property, the main part built, as

near as can be remembered,

as a stone in the wall, but

1762.

who was

who was John,

is

plaster, says,

the old Krause house, built,

it

is

be-

by John Krause, the great-grandfather of Mrs.

lieved,

Mish,

It

under the

a daughter of a younger

the son of David Krause,

Sr.,

who was

John Krause,

who was

married to a daughter of

the son of

Adam

Orth

(Regina), whose wife in turn was a daughter of Peter

Kucher.

All the connections here are prominent, the

Kuchers, Orths, Krauses on Mrs. Mish’s

side,

and the

Mishes and Weidmans and Bickels, of the county, mixing their blood in Mr. Mish’s veins. children promises fairly to carry the a

Their family of

name and honor

of

worthy ancestry into the time and generations com-

ing, into

wander.

whatever clime or country they

The house

large and commodious.

is

served various purposes.

tury

it

may chance It

to

has

In the beginning of this cen-

was a hotel or restaurant.

There

is

inside shutter swinging in the northern

still

an old

room which

244

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

records the

Buchanan

bill

as

of 12 segars against ex-President

due Andrew Huber, and having been pur-

chased on a Sunday, September

when an

noted character, to practice at

James

aspiring

the county, the

main

front

During Mr. David

by him as Prothonotary’s

establishment of

first

room of

this

young lawyer, used

Lebanon county courts.

Krause’s occupancy, and at the

We know

15.

this

house was used

This Mr. Krause was

office.

born in this township in 1750, and was a farmer by In

occupation. there

used

back yard of

the

be a large

to

Swiss

this

barn,

old

mansion

where were

stored the products of a portion of the original Peter

Kucher’s large farm, into the possession of which he

came by the marriage of Regina Orth, the granddaughter of this celebrated Moravian leader. the same farm

is

still

Part of

in possession of the family,

and

improved by the lovely country residence of Mr. Mish, just a mile south of the

town

center,

and

at present

The Revolutionary war

occupied by their son Robert.

blood of young Krause, and, leaving his

spirit fired the

farm in other hands, he associated himself with those striking for the cause of freedom from a foreign yoke,

and became conspicuous local

company, and

as

as a

commanding

Commissary

officer of a

in Colonel Greena-

walt’s Battalion.

Among

the

many

family relics

still

kept here

is

Com-

missary Krause’s Book of Accounts, in which are found his receipts

Among

and expenditures

as a

Governmental

officer.

other entries, the writer was interested to find

the following

:

A HALT ON MARKET SQUARE. “August, for 3 corts of

Cash paid

27, 1 777.

wood,

to

oners, at 12 sh. a cort.

There

is

Adam

to Coin.

be delivered to the Hessian pris”

Peace, which

is

most carefully kept.

shows that on one occasion he imposed the and

shillings

We

Orth,

found here also Mr. Krause’s Docket as Jus-

of the

tice

245

2

pence upon a certain

have thought

if

man

It

fine of

7

for swearing.

every similar offense were

now

fol-

lowed by the same penalty, Lebanon would soon have a revenue that would be able paving, a sufficient

bring us the best street

to

number

of electric lights, and an

adequate supply of the best water. After the Revolutionary War, Mr. Krause served in the State Assembly from this county (then

Dauphin)

before and after the adoption of the State Constitution,

For two years he served

in 1790.

Commissioner.

this

county also as a

After the establishment of the county

of Lebanon* Governor Snyder appointed him one of the

Associate Judges of the county, which position he held

His

at the time of his death, in 1822.

added honor

to the

name

sons,

born here,

— the youngest, David, gaining

a very fair reputation as Private Secretary of Sliulze,

sociate

Deputy Attorney General of editor with

General

his

Governor

county, as-

Simon Cameron

of

the

Pennsylvania Intelligencer editor of State Journal and ,

,

as

Judge

trict,

of the

Montgomery and Bucks

Judicial Dis-

while John, father of Mrs. Misli, served as At-

The

torney General of Pennsylvania. this old

homestead, Mr. Mish,

is

well

present head of

known

for his

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

246

business ability, having served in important positions

now

the office of Secretary and Treasurer of

and

filling

the

Lebanon Gas Company.

Next we come

to

the corner

building,

(1894) undergoing extensive improvements,

changed

in

present

at

in

being

form and purposes from an ordinary corner

store-stand into the imposing wholesale liquor house of

Mr. Filbert.

This house also

is

historic.

It is

the cele-

brated Philip Greenawalt’s old home, or rather the site is

the same; for

when Colonel Greenawalt lived here

the

building was a double-story frame hostelry, which was later

changed into a

from whose hands

store

it

and occupied by Mr. Frantz,

passed into Jefferson Sherk’s and

now

thence into Mr. Diller’s and

But

as

we

are

into Mr. Filbert’s.

walking in the olden time, we see none

of these later changes and only

note the brave and

doughty old Colonel as he goes in and out here, loaded

down with honors and a multiplicity of years. A native of Germany, he came to America in 1749 and located first in what is now Lancaster county, but later came to this side of the South Mountain ridge. At the outbreak of the Revolution, he first

was commissioned Colonel of the

battalion of Lancaster county.

with Washington in the at

New

commendation of

for efficiency of service.

associated

Jersey campaign of 1776

Trenton and Princeton, and

received the

He was

at the

his

He was

Brandywine he

commander-in-chief

appointed by his state

as one of the commissioners to take subscriptions for the

continental loan,

December

16,

1777, and during the

a halt on market square.

247

war’s darkest period he did noble service in collecting

and clothing

food, forage

for the suffering soldiers at

Valley Forge, for most of which he

said never to

have

His regiment was composed of

local

commanded by such then well-known

cap-

been recompensed. companies,

tains as (1) Casper Stoever, (2)

Weiser,

Leonard

(4)

George Null,

Imtnel,

(7)

(5)

William Paine,

(3)

Philip

Michael Holderbaum,

(6)

Henry These names often

Valentine

Shoufler,

Schaeffer, (9) Daniel Oldenbruck.

occur in local history.

is

(8)

Colonel Greenawalt died in this

good old age of 77 years, highly honored and respected by his fellow citizens. He sleeps place, in 1802, at the

in

Reformed cemetery, and around him have

the old

been gathered

many

But we must go

come

of the scions of his large family.

on.

Crossing Cumberland

Gloninger homestead

to the

— for

street,

we

several genera-

tions past the property of this distinguished medical

family.

Although none but Gloningers have gone

and out of

this fine old habitation as

century that

is

occupants for the

past, still the building

by any of them, but according

in

was not erected

to deeds in

hand

— and

the family hold a chest full of these parchment docu-

ments, and

many

by Gen.

Philip DeHaas.

J.

precious heirlooms besides

The

corner town-lot, by Steitz, was

—was built

original sale of this

made

to this historic

character shortly after the town was laid out, and the character of

the

house

specified in the deed. this

be erected upon

to

So

it

is

it

was

from this corner that

Revolutionary warrior went forth,

and

to

this

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

248

house

identical

that

he came

back

home.

his

as

Arriving in this country with his father, from Holland, in the year 1739, as a

He had

place.

mere

child, they settled near this

already given conspicuous service to his

He

adopted country in the French and Indian war. shared

the

in

officers’

Branch of the Susquehanna

upon which lands

the

West

at the close of this period,

in Clinton

descendants settled and are years

along

land-grants

and Center counties his

still

abounding.

For ten

— 1765-1775 —he was one of the King’s justices of There are some very

the peace, residing in this house. interesting resolutions extant,

which were adopted

meeting of the citizens of Lebanon

at a

after the arbitrary

measures of the Crown, closing the port in Boston, as early

in

the

Revolutionary agitation as June,

which resolutions

bear

which meeting was Greenawalt.

The

his

held

name the

in

following

are

as

house of the

1774,

and

chairman,

Captain

resolutions

as

copied from Dr. Egle’s history:

“At

a meeting of the inhabitants of

Lebanon and the adjoining

townships on Saturday, 25th of June, 1774, holden at the house of Capt. Greenawalt, whereof Major

John Philip DeHaas was chairman,

to take into serious consideration the state of public affairs,

it

was

unanimously declared and resolved: 1.

That the

Boston

is

late act of the British parliament,

shut up,

is

by which the port of

an act oppressive to the people of that city and

subversive of the rights of the inhabitants of America. 2.

That while we profess

shall not submit to unjust

but freemen.

to

be loyal subjects of Great Britain, w e

and iniquitous

T

laws, as

we

are not slaves,

A HALT ON MARKET SQUARE. 3.

249

That we are in favor of a Congress of Deputies, who

shall act in

behalf of the people for obtaining a redress of grievances. 4.

That we

will unite

with the inhabitants of other portions of our

Country in such measures as

will preserve to us

our rights and our

Liberties. 5.

That our countrymen of the

sympathy, that their cause 6.

is

the

Boston have our sincerest

city of

common

cause of America.

That Messrs. Philip Greenawalt, Thomas Clark, Michael Ley,

Killian

Long and

Curtis

Grubb be

a committee to collect contribu-

tions for our suffering brethren. J.

John Light,

DeHAAS, Chairman.

P.

Secretary .”

This document shows what

spirit of patriotism

heaved

the bosoms of these gallant citizens, most of them of

German

whom

ancestry, against

made

sometimes been

the false charge has

they were indifferent to

that

the cause of freedom, or totally lacking in patriotism.

The Revolution

speedily chosen colonel

by Congress

He

First Pennsylvania Battalion.

Lebanon

to

we

formally opening,

work

to

make

find

DeHaas,

command

to

set the

the

gunsmiths of

the muskets for his regiment.

His battalion merged into the Second Penn’a Batallion, after his

forth

Canada campaign

commanded,

generalship, in

until he

in 1776,

which he hence-

was promoted

to a brigadier-

which capacity he served

That year he removed

to Philadelphia,

until

1779.

where he died

in June, 1786, “ leaving his property here to his wife,

Elenor, and son, John Philip, as the executors of his es-

And

tate.”

thus this house

the Gloningers,

But reserving 17

who have for

came

held

it

to

be purchased by

ever since.

another chapter the history of this

250

LANDMARKS

family,

when we reach

first

IN

THE LEBANON VALLEY. the original homestead of the

Gloninger immigrant on the banks of the Quittapa-

we will pass on to the next homestead, commonly known as the “ Weidtnan House,” but now owned and hilla,

occupied by Dr. Joseph L. Lemberger and family.

This house

is

The

the character of the old kind of masonry. erection built

is

not quite certain; some claim

by the DeHaas

century

old.

It

shows

a model of preservation, and well

and that

heirs,

to

it

is

it

date of

have been

more than

a

was long occupied by Edward Godwin,

Esq., a native of England,

and

long period a lead-

for a

He was

ing legal light of this towm.

the associate of

such prominent attorneys of our state as James Buchanan, Jenkins, Montgomery, the Elders, Fosters, Auricks,

who

often

J.

etc.,

of

Dauphin

counties,

must have stepped across the threshold of

Then

this historic house.

Mr.

of Lancaster, and

etc.,

it

became the residence of

Andreas Shultze, and was occupied by him when

From

elected to the gubernatorial office of our state.

Governor Shultze

passed into the

it

John Weidman, and because called the

into

Weidman

possession

family

now

house.”

of

which

hands of u Gen. fact

it

From Weidman

of Mr. Joseph

E.

it

often

came

Eemberger, whose

occupies the mansion, with one roomjre-

served for the prosecution of the well-known

Square drug business. to shelter

is

The house

is still

another governor, but whether

Central

good enough it

shall occur,

will

depend on the present occupant or his successors.

We

have no objections

to

have

it

take place now.

CHAPTER XXV. A HALT ON MARKET SQUARE, CONTINUED.

Our walk

about the old Market Square of Lebanon

was interrupted just

we came

as

to

the fine stone

mansion of Mr. Lemberger’s, whence stepped 1823, Andreas Shultze,

to

fill

of our State, after having held a positions of the county and

pleasant to dwell a

little

out,

in

the Gubernatorial chair

number

the

of other official

State.

It

would be

while in company with this

cultured and popular Governor of our State, whose election to a second term of this high office, in 1826,

was

unprecedented in point of majority, he receiving not

much

less

than 75,000 votes, while his opponent, John

Sergeant, received but about 1,000 votes.

But we must

hasten on, so as to complete our walk about this old

town square, which

lined wdth historic landmarks,

is

leaving the relatives of the Governor in the enjoyment of the honor reflected

upon them by

this illustrious kin.

Before leaving, however, the residence whose historic walls are

still

lighted

up by the

brilliant

fame of

once renowned owner and occupant, we must

this

recall,

with a certain degree of patriotic and race pride, at this season of Independence sires

and

leaders,

that

Day reminders of Revolutionary when that illustrious French (251

)

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

252 patriot

and

freedom

— General

1824-25, officially

Lafayette

was

it

colonists struggling for

— revisited

our country in

to

Pennsylvania State

civic display, at

soil

stir

J.

It

our present citizens with local pride at this

Fourth of July season, that in a parsonage of

was born the child

(the

German

distinguished Weiser),

amid

Morrisville, on the

west bank of the Delaware, opposite Trenton, N. should

who

same Governor Shultze

this

welcomed him

pomp and

great

American

ally of our

who

this valley

great-grandson of the most

pioneer of this State

in this valley

grew

to

— Conrad

manhood, here

a time preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then

for fol-

lowed here a mercantile business, afterwards holding offices of

public trust and honor, and later marched out

of this identical stone in the gift of our

honor of

mansion

field

fill

the highest office

Commonwealth, and

to ride in that brilliant

mounted

to

and

as such

had the

pageant of State

officials,

staff officers, of

bands of music, of

processions of artillery and infantry, of Revolutionary heroes,

artisans

and

which

-the son

of

riflemen, in

lie

farmers,

distinguished citizen of our

of

gaily

dressed

of our valley and the

own Lebanon town

the State’s representative and spokesman.

— was

Riding in a

barouche drawn by four brown horses, he followed next the distinguished visitor

— Lafayette — who,

with

the famous Judge Richard Peters, of the Revolution, the friend of Washington, was drawn

by six cream-

colored horses, with outriders in livery,

horses of the

mounted on

same color— and was followed by another

A HALT ON MARKET SQUARE. barouche similar to son, of (28),

New

1824,

his,

Jersey — on

m °re

253

containing Governor William-

September

that proud day in

when

than seventy years ago,

this

magnificent pageant came from Trenton and entered

our City of Brotherly Love by the Delaware.

But we are

far

from home and must hasten back, and

CENTRAZ, OR

MARKET SQUARE, EEBANON,

PA.

(Rooking North.)

Showing the Gloninger Residence, the

must complete our

“

Weidman House,”

historic pilgrimage about

old square, even if attended

by

less of

torial

The house next

Mansion”

is

Lebanon’s

pageantry and

honor than was so largely shared by one of residents.

etc.

its

quondam

north of this “Guberna-

the present property of Grant

Weid-

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

254

man, Esq., who purchased

it

from William Stoever, of

West Myerstown— a lineal descendant of Rev. Johann Casper Stoever

made

estate,

— who,

as executor of his father Jacob’s

the transfer about twenty-five or thirty

Jacob Stoever here carried on the printing

years ago.

business, and from this place shone forth over the territory of the county, at least once a week, for about thirty years, the first

the

of

place

and long the only newspaper enlightener

— Der

Libanon

Morgen-Stern

.

Jacob

Stoever was a son of Frederick Stoever, the squire, and

he was the youngest son of pastor

Who

had possession of

J.

Casper Stoever.

this property before Stoever,

we

could not learn; but the place suffers not by comparison

with others in reckoning up the good influences that

have gone out thence.

The

both being Lutherans,

the early

families all sleep in

Weidmans

Stoevers and

members

these

of

Salem Lutheran burial ground.

The property next north to this, situated on the S. W. corner of 9th and Spring alley, and now occupied by

offices

first

and

as the residence of Mr. J. K.

by George Steitz

sold

Funck, was

to Anastasius Uhler,

There are documents showing that

4th, 1759.

again conveyed by said Uhler to Daniel Strow,

veyed

it

to

Andrew

Beistle, at

ing to the terms of his

Wegman Shaffner.

the property

The

lot

on Market Square.

it

was

who

con-

whose death and accord-

last will,

and Jacob Souders,

transferred

March

Messrs.

Christopher

as executors,

August

17,

1782,

sold to

and

Henry

then had a frontage of sixty-four feet

The

northern half of same, with

A HALT ON MARKET SQUARE.

255

house, was conveyed, at Mr. Sliaffner’s demise, by Jacob

Goodhart and Daniel Stitchter, executors, Grittinger,

June

to

which same property was be-

16, 1837,

queathed by Mr. Grittinger to his son, Henry

The

present owner.

inter-married

with

Adam

Mr.

Shaffners

we know

Greenawalts

the

C.,

the

to

have been

and

otherwise

highly reputed, while the Grittingers, father and son, served in various honorable positions, as well as the present occupant, to give this place a history.

Opposite Spring

now

on the

alley,

occupied on the

first floor

site

of the building

by the Post

where

Office,

cluster other interesting facts of history, let us especially

came this

imagine the former frame building out to play

which

of

or go to school in the early decades of

century the boy Alexander Ramsey, whither his

name was Kelker, on becoming a widow removed with her family from Hummelstown. Mr. Ramsey as man rose from one station of honor to

mother, whose maiden

another, until he

became

in 1849 ^ rst Territorial

ernor of Minnesota, holding office four years, and

ing important Indian

treaties,

Government negotiating

Mayor

and

for the

Gov-

mak-

United States

large purchases of their lands.

of St. Paul in 1855, and elected Governor of the

State in 1860-63,

was th e

latter year elected

United

States Senator from Minnesota and served twelve years,

and in 1879 became Secretary of War, and in 1882 a

member of the Utah Commission. Were we to continue our walk on Ninth street north we should find much more buried history

to the

to ex-

LANDMARKS

256

hume, but we

IN

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

shall simply lead our excursionists about

the old Market square, and so must here step across

Ninth

The

and complete our walk.

street to the east side

building that here at present forms the northern

offset of this

square

the second structure of the Zion

is

which

Evangelical Lutheran church, pleted the semi-centennial of

of

The

note.

was

a

The

lot

stone

life,

building

first

and

edifice

before this

its

an event worthy

erected

rough

date was

has com-

just

here in

cast

in

1844

plaster.

the property of Jacob

Shaffner, then residing at Marietta, and the purchase of it

was made by Jacob Stoever, one of the

the newly organized

trustees, for

congregation coming out of the

mother church (Salem) and

led

by the

pastor,

Rev.

Jonathan Rutlirauff, on the score of language, church discipline

and revival measures.

teresting history, because of

fifty

its

men

preaching of the gospel by such Drs.

The

spot has an in-

years of eloquent as Rev. Ruthrauff,

Wedekind, Gotwald, Schindler, Rhodes, Reinmund

and Dunbar

made

by the long and successful

;

by the men

in the salvation of souls;

the ministry

;

and by a long

every description, ence, synodical

list

efforts it

here

sent into

of conventions held of

Sunday-school, confer-

missionary,

and General Synodic, of which we have

not time to speak at length.

We

come

next, on

the south, to a

occupied by three stores

(tea,

jewelry,

senting a frontage of about 66

feet,

property

now

and shoe) pre-

and mentioned

the original town-plot as Lot No. 65.

The

in

property

A halt on market square. is

owned by Mr. Frank

family since 1810,

clock-maker

hart, the

Gorgas, in the

Becker, and has been in the

S.

when

257

his grandfather, Jacob

Good-

— whose name rivals that of Jacob

number

of times

the old time, high corner-clocks

it

appears on the face of

— purchased

the ground

with the improvement of a log house, weather-boarded, for the sum of 426 pounds, “ lawful money of Pennsylvania,” from John and Catharine Fasnacht,

who were

the executors of their father’s (Conrad) estate.

This

Conrad Fasnacht was a butcher, and evidently here carried on his business of selling,

Deeds are

at

hand

show

to

if

not of slaughtering.

that this property

was part

of the original town-plot, purchased at sheriff’s sale as

property

of

Nicholas

August

5,

1774, to

Adam

daughter)

October Orth),

1764,

who

sold

and conveyed

April

conveyed same

it,

first

whose residence here we

May

John

to

4,

1792, to said

Keller,

Adam Conrad

occupied this central spot, of are certain,

clock-maker, Mr. Goodhart.

Lebanon county, we for several

1,

Probably the most noted occupant of the

old homestead that

find

On

the long-lived

is

the establishment of

him representing

years (1815-16) in

the

State

this district

Legislature.

the acceptable creation of the borough of Leb-

anon, in 1821, he was elected as the

which

it,

Orth and Catharine, his wife, (Kucher’s in turn

again sold

Fasnacht.

Upon

Kucher,

Peter

1785 (whose wife was a daughter of

22,

who

who

by

Henicke,

office

he held

for

two

years.

County Treasurer from 1826-29

;

first

Chief Burgess,

He

also served as

was universally recog-

LANDMARKS

258

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

IN

nized as a reliable surveyor, conveyancer and scrivener

and was

for

many

Peace,

more than

thirty years a Justice of the

times elected by the people and twice ap-

pointed by the Governor for usual terms of several years each.

We

of the

Lebanon Academy, established

find his

name

also

among

the

first

in

trustees

But

1826.

whatever good may have been done by Mr. Goodhart all

these official positions,

we think

in

that his “grand-

father-clocks” will do more to perpetuate the fame of his honest thrift

and

skill,

in the

hundreds of homes

they are to-day brightening, measuring off by musical minutes, and by clearly ringing strokes the

ticks the

hours of the day, than by any other great deeds this

long familiar German worthy of Market Square performed.

The next house

—a

relic of the last

century

—

the

is

property of our nonagenarian friend Mr. Simeon Guil-

when

the

above-mentioned transfers of the next adjoining

lot

ford.

It

was part of the John Keller

were made. still

It is

estate

very likely that in this same house

standing and occupied by Mr. Guilford, Sr.

— lived

Mr. Keller, the saddler, at the beginning of this century,

— playing

here

was the future

illus-

and we can imagine his children

with their cousins, among

whom

trious statesmen

of Indiana

Godlove

who

S.

Orth,

—a

native of

died but twelve years ago, after

having held many of the most important gift of his

country and adopted

present aged occupant,

Lebanon—

is

state.

a native of

offices in

the

Mr. Guilford, the

Northampton, Mass.

A HALT ON MARKET SQUARE. and came

to

town

at the opening- of the

1823

an energetic, youthful

two.

The same

brought

to

town

State

civil

improvement or

also another once

latter

Union Canal

honored in

institution citizen,

the Canal (Ninth and Maple).

Mr.

Gov. Shultze’s

was made Governor, and

later at

These, together with

Company

the president of the Canal

in

engineer of twenty-

William Lehman, who lived a year house after the

259

(Mr. Mifflin), have

been kindly remembered for their noble deeds to this

town

in the

work of opening up

waterway,

this internal

by having streets in the northern end of our city named after them.

home

Mr. Guilford has occupied this

1830, here reared a noble family,

and from

it

since

has gone

out to a long continued career of usefulness in the erection

and operation of Swatara (Schuylkill county), and furnaces.

He

married, May, 1830, Miss Catharine E. Doll, and

their

Dudley (long known oldest

son with his

as

Donaghmore)

family

living in

the

adjoining

house, a citizen and physician of high repute, keeps the

declining days of an

unusually long and prosperous

journey from becoming dreary and dark.

In the same

house, or a stone house preceding this, had lived before

him

for

some time Anthony Kelker, a revolutionary To this same

lieutenant, and a most worthy citizen.

stone house of Guilford’s was brought the Hon. William

Henry Harrison, when as made

States Presidency he vania.

Simeon

Guilford,

a candidate for the United his visit to Eastern Pennsyl-

who was an

ardent

Whig and

enthusiastic advocate of

“The

old Tippecanoe, Harrison and Tyler, too,”

LANDMARKS OF THE LEBANON VALLEY.

260

and one of the

way

the

all

local

to

Committee of Entertainment, went

Reading

meet

to

honorable ex-

this

soldier,

and accompanied the party in a tally-ho

anon.

Although stopping

at

what now

is

to

Leb-

the Central

Buck Hotel, he took the distinguished and coming President to his own home for a few

Hotel, then the citizen

All this

hours’ social intercourse.

membering

as clinging to the solid

landmark.

The

[P. S.

— Mr.

is

the

history worth rethis old

Guilford died in Feb’y, 1895.]

now

corner property where

National Bank,

is

masonry of

stands the Lebanon

same where formerly stood a

stone building, in which dwelt, in 1830, Mr. William

Moore,

bank

in

who was

instrumental in establishing the

Lebanon, and became

lots of the

town

its

first

president.

first

The

plot covering Mr. Guilford’s and Mr.

Moore’s residences are numbered 66 and 67 respectively. Mr. Moore was a highly honored and leading citizen, filling various offices in

people.

He

lies

and his grave

is

the gift of his towns-

buried in the Old Reformed graveyard,

marked by a

suitable stone.

This

cor-

ner of Ninth and Cumberland was long occupied by a

mercantile house, where, ried

building displaced

when

it

think,

The

it

Oves

&

for years.

Moore

car-

The bank

about ten or twelve years ago,

removed hither from where the dining room of

Eagle Hotel

ner,

I

on the dry goods business

site

is

now

located.

of the Eagle Hotel,

on the opposite

has quite an illustrious history.

cor-

Here Frederick

Stoever, Esq., the youngest son of the Rev.

John Cas-

A HALT ON MARKET SQUARE. per Stoever,

some time

in the latter half of the last cen-

tury, erected a store building

and

for

26l

some time the

and carried

office

of

u

011

business,

Later

a ’squire.”

Peter Lineaweaver, the third American by that name,

came

into possession of

and changed the store into an

it

old-time hostelry, where stopped more of the old-time visitors

and transient guests than possibly

house in Lebanon.

In

its

to hear the voices of the

halls

most

it

any other

at

was a frequent thing

brilliant legal lights of

East Pennsylvania and the political visitors of that day.

The house

has since been rebuilt, and

its

reputation for

We

are

hindered for lack of space to enter into any further

his-

high grade service

known

is

far

and wide.

tory of the house, or the families that have resided here,

or even to give the past occurrences of the old

DeHuff manufactory

of copper and

Henry

silver-ware

that

used to occupy the space south of Eagle Hotel, thus

The

completing the Square.

readers

can find

Mr.

Stoever’s grave on Salem Lutheran burial-ground, and the Lineaweavers on the Old Reformed.

The

latter’s

family was intermarried with the Tobys, the Klines,

and the Krauses,

Lebanon and

We

all

of

whom

are

well

known

in

its vicinity.

trust our halt

good blood and sent out

Lebanon has coursed with

to bless the

battles a greater array of strong

any similar spot of city of our land.

my

on this Square has convinced

readers that this heart of

world and fight

its

and manly men than

earth, of equal dimensions, in

any

CHAPTER XXVI. SALEM LUTHERAN CHURCH AND GRAVEYARD.

Our

halt on Lebanon’s

us longer than

we had

Market Square has detained

at

first

Thus

contemplated.

having mingled with scenes of stirring business the past two chapters, let us without

bow

life in

much ceremony

ourselves out of these surroundings and transfer

ourselves to the corner of Eight and

where we

will find a

monument

and a volume of ancient

local

Willow

streets,

of old-time church-love history in the

landmark

now

of the Salem Lutheran church edifice that shall

occupy our attention. This church, as well as the Old Reformed

— the only

two congregations of Lebanon that have an age

corre-

sponding

— has

its

to or

antedating that of the town

itself

Before Mr. Steitz had laid

second local habitation.

out this town, and an aggregation of dwellers here had

made

the beginnings of a village, what few Lutheran

residents were found in this immediate territory wor-

shiped with their brethren of the surrounding country, either at the Hill church, about

west, or else at Krupp’s (or

miles to

Here

the

really

2^

miles to the north-

Grubben) church, about

but mostly with

southeast,

2^

the latter.

Salem Lutheran church was born, probably (

262

)

SALEM CHURCH AND GRAVEYARD. as early

Rev.

J.

as

1735,

and

led

through

its

263

infantile

life.

Casper Stoever was both founder and pastor of

SArEM LUTHERAN CHURCH, LEBANON, the Lutheran side, and Rev. Conrad

Reformed

— for

it

PA.

Templeman

was a union church.

While

of the

there are

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

264 still to

be found traces of the foundations of this church

edifice

and a graveyard

there are no records at

mark

to

hand

the spot, unfortunately

to tell

Synod having been held

in the

was

there

no

town

its

his-

Moravian

of a

Lutheran church, while

was being built; and

their church (completed in 1750) as

us aught of

The Hebron Diary makes mention

tory.

church

must

allusion

this

evidently refer to this church, or else to some temporary

house of worship in the village of Hebron or the cluster of houses that then served as a nucleus for the future

Mr. Steitz himself having been a Lutheran

Lebanon.

may have made

early provision for church services in

the town he founded.

Be that

as

it

may, with the

growth of Steitz’s-town developed also the necessity

and

desire for a

find the

nant

of the

— Rev.

official

as chalice

dates

And

thus

Grubben church weakened by the

membership merged

Lutheran church.

town church, into which

we

early

loss of the

gradually

it

Stoever being the pastor of both.

Rem-

records of this pastor and a few relics, such

and flagon

for

communion

“1757” and “1760,”

service,

bearing

are the only relics extant of

these early Lutheran church beginnings here.

Among

these entries are the marriages of Francis Reynolds to

Catharine Steitz, Feb.

25,

1731

Eleanor Steitz, Dec. 12, 1738 to

;

;

George Reynolds

Anna Barbara Koppenheffer, Oct. 6, 1735. The first documentary evidence, however,

rate

Lutheran organization

hand,

is

to

and John Peter Kucher

in the

town

of a sepa-

limits that

is

in

the deed conveying the present corner lot on

SALEM CHURCH AND GRAVEYARD. Eighth and Willow

streets

265

Jacob Bickel,

to

Daniel

Stroh, Philip Fernsler and Michael Reiter, trustees, for

the use of the Lutheran congregation, and this

March

For

13, 1765.

this piece of

is

dated

ground “the yearly

rent of one red rose in June, in every year forever hereafter, if the

same

shall be lawfully

The same

be paid.

which was used

this lot,

church was

built,

demanded,” was

for

worship until the

three years later.

At

this

most earnest, even solemn circular of appeal cial

to

year a school-house was erected on first

time a

for finan-

help was sent out to other Christians, carefully

certified as to its

genuineness and authority, by Pastor

and several

Stoever

civil

officers,

empowering the

Brethren Frederick Yensel and Christian Fremdling to receive such contributions. is

made

In this document allusion

to the fact that hitherto

“divine and religious

services” had been held with great inconvenience in

From

private houses.

the help thus received, the con-

gregation was enabled the following year, 1769, to erect its first

house of worship in Lebanon.

It

stood on the

southwest corner of the present graveyard, facing Wil-

low

street.

It

was a log structure which served well

purpose for thirty years,

church

is

the present

edifice displaced its use in

relics of this

what

until

first

building are

still

1798.

its

massive

Among

the

found the timbers in

now “Oswego House” on Cumberland street rooster which graced the old steeple, now in the ;

an iron

possession of Mr. Geo. H. Reinoehl, and several pewter

communion 18

services are kept at the parsonage.

The

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

266

writer had the pleasure of seeing these recently,

to-

gether with an altar-cloth of fine linen, bearing an early date (1773), and found

graved thus

the tankards beautifully en-

:

The bread or hostien-plate bears the monogram “I. CH.” which, we presume, stands for “Iesus The bell, also used on this building, still Christus.” swings in the present

While the lost,

there

by the

is

steeple.

earliest records of

at

even this church are

hand a Church Book of records begun

pastor, Rev.

F. A. Con.

From this date entries made and historical data

Muhlenberg, in 1773.

of official

acts are

are well preserved.

faithfully

This pro-

tocol preserves the facts of importance concerning the

building of the present corner-stone

Emmanuel

was

laid

edifice.

June

According

8th,

1796,

to

it,

the

when Rev.

Shultze, of Tulpehocken, preached in the

forenoon, Rev. Hendel, of the

Reformed church, Tul-

SALEM CHURCH AND GRAVEYARD. pehocken,

and the Rev. Schlegel

the afternoon,

in

The names

(probably Moravian) in the evening.

church

then were as follows

officers

—Rev.

Pastor

Trustees

267

of the

:

George Lochman, A. M.

— Michael

Philip

Rieder,

Fernsler,

Jacob Stieb,

and

Samuel Meily. Elders — Conrad Reinoehl and John Schnee.

Deacons

— Peter Shindel, Frederick Fmbich,

Most of these names are

still

and George Schott.

represented in the pres-

We have in hand an “Life of Washington ” in German (a trans-

ent membership of the church. illustrated

lation), printed

here in 1810

President’s death

— which

Schnee as publisher. venture for a

little

a decade after the

bears the imprint of

John

Quite an enterprising literary

town of Pennsylvania Germans

But then Lebanon had

some surviving

— but

patriotic giants in those days,

who had

soldiers,

fought with Washing-

ton the battles of the Revolution.

The second

edifice of this church,

few years of completing

its

first

now lacking but

century of service,

substantially the same, externally, as

There have been added about

fifty

when

a is

first built.

years ago (1848),

two vestibule corners to complete, with the originally

appended massive stone of the structure, while

modelled. in 1866.

It

steeple, the its

quadrangular shape

interior has been wholly re-

experienced another general renovation

Originally

it

had the very common

style of

church arrangement in olden times, namely, a high ceiling with steep, bulky galleries, the organ at one end

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

268

and a high goblet-shaped pulpit with sounding board

at

the other.

In the midst stood the altar with banistered

enclosure.

An

exact model of this original church, the

workmanship of Mr. H. W. Embich, Eighth

We

now be

can

street,

janitor,

on North

seen in the latter’s home.

had the pleasure of seeing here some other old

of this original building, and learning

some data

relics

of im-

portance in the special services held in the past century

The same

in this ancient temple of divine worship.

church servant has also kindly given us a look into the towering belfry of this massive or the other of

tury been calling

its

tion, or the birth of

bells

have

for a cen-

worshippers to service, or else anits

members, or

the city the outbreak of

These

from which one

two silvery-toned voices has

nouncing the death of to

edifice,

else

proclaiming

some accidental

some national

holiday.

The

a history.

conflagra-

oldest

and smallest

one,

weighing about 1,000 pounds, was used in the

first

building, and was cast in London, England, and

shipped simultaneously with a similar one for Trinity church, Lancaster, Pa.

lows

:

“For

It

bears an inscription as

fol-

the Lutheran Congregation in Lebanon-

town, Lancaster Co., in the Province of Pennsylvania.

Pack

&

Chapman, of London,

larger bell was cast by Jones in 1854,

and weighs over a

this lofty belfry

made They

for

are

&

and long used

1770.”

The

Hitchcock, Troy, N. Y.,

ton.

we were shown

Fecit,

In a storage place in

also a few antique locks,

at the doors of the church.

immense copper and

iron constructions, about

SALEM CHURCH AND GRAVEYARD. 8x10 inches

in dimensions,

269

and were made, according

the inscription on exposed plates, by

to

“John Rohrer,

Locksmith, Lebanon, 1798,” and “Jacob Smith, Locksmith, Lebanon, 1798,” respectively.

they are provided with

five

Besides the latch

bolts or rails,

enough

to

lock out such foes as heresy, schism, the world, the

and the

flesh

We

devil.

much

ing basket, not

here found also a curious look-

unlike the one of bulrushes in

which the infant Moses was rescued, but having found

We

quite a different use. or ’48 the steeple

were told that when in 1847

was painted,

was used

this contrivance

connection with tackle and pulley to prevent the

in

necessity of building a scaffolding, and that in this in-

vention Messrs. Nagle and (John) Dreher completed their contract of painting

To come back was

less

hung

unharmed.

again to the story of the

first

than a decade before this English product was

in its place in the first church,

when

like the old Liberty Bell of Philadelphia to liberty

bell, it

throughout the land and

thereof.”

Its

to the several

it

began,

“proclaim

to all the inhabitants

sound must not have been very musical

hundred Hessian

prisoners,

who were

quartered here for some time after their capture at the battle of Trenton,

N.

J.,

but

it

was about

this

kind

of irony these hateful English allies deserved.

The its

pastors

who have

served this congregation since

foundation are here mentioned.

give brief sketches of

names and

dates.

all,

The

We

would

like to

but have space only to give

record

is

as follows

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

270

Rev. John Ca sper Stoever v

....

(?)

1735-1773

“

Fred. Aug. Con. Muhlenberg

“

John William Kurtz

•

I775-I794

“

George Lochman, D. D.

.

.

.

1794-1815

“

William G. Ernst, D. D.

.

.

.

1815-1836

“

Jonathan RuthraufF

“

William G. Ernst, D. D.

....

.... .

.

D

“

G. F. Krotel, D.

“

John N. Hoffman

“

Henry

“

B.

“

•

Miller

S.

1836-1844

.

1844-1849

.

1849-1853

.

1853-1854

.

Geo. H. Trabert

-

W. Schmauk t Theodore E. Schmauk .... r

.

.

W. Schmauk

I773-I775

1854-1864 1864-1876 1877-1883

B.

would be interesting

It

1883-1895

I

to enter into

an account of the

arduous labors of these servants of God at this place,

but that would require volumes, and purpose of these

we know

Suffice

letters.

it

is

not the present

to say that as far as

have given diligent service

all

for the up-

building of this parish, and that the combined labors of all,

together with the cooperation of the congregation,

have resulted in building up one of the strongest and

most

influential churches of

Only one G. Ernst,

of these pastors

who

is

died in 1849.

Lebanon. buried here,

A

rear entrance of the

resting place.

Upon

his

:

Dr.

W.

monuchurch marks his

small marble

ment near the

it

viz.

are epitaphs to the

memory

of

mother (Elizabeth Ernst, wife of Rev. John Fred-

erick Ernst,

born March

1826) and other relatives.

22,

1747,

died January 31,

His own reads thus

:

SALEM CHURCH AND GRAVEYARD.

In

Rev.

Memory of G. ERNST,

WILLIAM

who was born

D. D.,

in Sussex Co., N. J.

October

He

271

30, 1786.

preached the Gospel for

34 years, 29 of which he was

Pastor of this Congregation.

Through the merits of

his Savior

he

entered into his eternal rest Sept.

1,

A. D. 1849.

AGED 62 yrs. 10 months.

“ Blessed are the dead which die in

the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works do fol:

low them.”

The

third pastor, Rev. Kurtz, a

of the Rev.

think,

hocken,

also lies

younger brother, we

John Nicholas Kurtz, of Tulpe-

buried in the county, but at Jones-

town, being then also a part of this parish.

The

list

of pastors

numbers some

denomi-

of this

nation’s most noted and scholarly ministers.

Muhlenberg was a son of the distinguished and

it

is

Rev.

patriarch,

altogether probable that as his father was

living during

this

him and thus most

son’s pastorship here, likely preached for

although without a record

stating

the

still

he visited

him fact,

;

so

we

that be-

lieve that the illustrious

Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg

preached also in this

and that in Salem’s

city,

pulpit.

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

272

From

mother church have gone out Zion’s in

this

1844 (from which has branched Seventh Street Lutheran,) it

Though

and Trinity in 1885.

vast the influence

exerted for so long a period, the church to-day

numbers, influence and activity with the

abreast in

most active of the

city,

and does not have any signs of

age, save in the influence

spect

A

it

is

it

wields and the merited re-

receives from the younger churches of the city.

step out of the rear door of this ancient structure

and we are in the original cemetery, where are ing

the

What

first

a book

few

generations

this is to read

were once on every

lip,

!

of

sleep-

worshipers

Familiar names that

have here been chiseled on cold

marble with the significant “In Memoriam!” truth

is,

here.

The

despite the somberness, a cemetery has certain

indescribable charms for most of us.

It is

the place for

deep thought, for silent revery, for next to real com-

munion with our departed

friends.

This graveyard has the old enclosure of a stone wall to

keep out the vagrant, the irreverent, the vandal and

the busy

w orld r

that surges by, with neither time nor in-

clination to check

its

foreign and

chilling

burial place.

It is

rushing gait for a thing so utterly to its

arduous zest as that of a

a pity that this wall has too often

shut out also the presence, the sight and the tender care of the

there

is

surviving friends of these departed ones

;

for

not apparent here the tender care, which the

worth of the departed, the name of

this church,

conspicuity of this street corner deserve.

and the

Could not

SALEM CHURCH AND GRAVEYARD.

273

steps be taken to beautify this spot like Mt.

Lebanon,

and a fund be raised

to

keep

it

in repair?

We

should

ANOTHER VIEW OE SAEEM EUTHERAN CHURCH, EEBANON, be glad to give a transcript of scriptions found here, but

many

PA.

old tombstone in-

we have space

for

but a few.

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

274

Some

of the oldest have so faded that they are no longer

legible.

It

is

that such an one

believed

grave of Mr. George Steitz

for

;

tradition of his descendants, despite tion to the contrary,

reliable

any former supposi-

generally believed that this

is

it

who

founder of our town,

marks the

upon the most

died in 1769, lies buried here.

His great-great-grand-daughter, Mrs. Allen D. Hoffer,

remembers having

told the author that she

visited in

her childhood this old graveyard in company with her

grandmother,

who

used to point out an unmarked grave

near the western wall as the spot where grandfather

But even

was buried.

Steitz

Can

ever reliable.

Lebanon was,

it

like the great leader

buried by the angels of shall

this is only tradition,

know

no one ever

God

how-

German founder

be that this old

of

and lawgiver of Israel,

out of

human

sight,

the place of his sepulture?

and

The

graves of his daughter, grand-daughter and other relatives

and

are here,

their epitaphs

There follows that of Reynolds (Clark),

on condition

to

his

whom

are quite

grand-daughter,

legible.

Catharine

he bequeathed his property

she marry a German.

But

true

love

neither runs smooth nor according to prescribed lines of nationality,

Irishman,

so

Thomas

her legacy. pose)

and

happy

this

heiress

Clark, Esqr., and

married I

a

Scotch-

suppose forfeited

After a comparatively long and (we suplife,

they were here gathered side by side,

and the two large

flat

marble stones covering their

graves give evidence that they were not wholly without

means.

Her epitaph

reads thus

:

SALEM CHURCH AND GRAVEYARD.

In

Mrs.

Memory

275

of

CATHARINE CLARK Consort of

Thomas

Clark, Esqr.,

who was born on

the 29th day

of September 1756

and departed

this life

the 30th day of June 1817

Aged 60 years and

1

9

months

day.

“Blest are the dead whose souls are pure, Their sufferings past, their glory sure.

’ ’

The daughter

of this couple was the mother of Mr.

David Hammond, who, with his family, bered

among our

residents

is

—a direct lineal

num-

to-day

descent from

Mr. Steitz, of quite a number of generations.

Here sleep Dr.

also the wife

Dochman, long the

Shindels,

Embichs,

and some children of Rev.

pastor.

Weidmans,

Bickers,

George and Eleanor Reynolds (he volution,

she the only

Likewise the elder Reinoelils,

a captain in the

Re-

daughter of George Steitz),

Schantzes, Sixes, Uhlers, Stoevers and Yensels, besides

We give

many others. more epitaphs

— those

in conclusion a fac-sitnile of

of two children of pastors

one the youngest son of the

first

pastor,

and the other a

daughter of the fourth, whose mother sleeps by her

having died a year

:

at 18,

when

two

— the side,

the daughter was a babe of but

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

Hier Ruhen Die Gebeinen des

FRIEDERICH STOVER Esqr.

Ward Gebohren in Libanon

Tausp.

Am

20 Sept. A. D. 1759

Und starb Am 24 May 1833 Bracbte Sein alter

Auf 73 Lei

la.

Mo. 4 Da.

8

2 Pet.

1

Ca.

1 v.

Joh. L. Stoner Ma.

IN

MEMORY of

MARIA REIDENAUR wife of

Mr. George Reidenaur and daughter of the Revd. George Lochman, D. D., Died December

Aged

39 years, 5

7,

1835.

months and

2 days.

CHAPTER

XXVII.

OUR EXIT VIA OLD CUMBERLAND STREET TO GLONINGER’S FORT. There

is

enough of the antique

Lebanon that

left in

has not yet been touched upon in these pages, to keep

some time

us busy here for

would be interesting ceding century that

we shake

still

to to

off the

But, whilst

longer.

hunt up every

it

relic of the pre-

be found in the

city, it is

time

dust that has gathered on our

travel-worn feet since our halt here and again resume

And

our journey beyond.

so,

with thanks for every

favor and encouragement received while the guests of the city, wealers,

my army

of explorers, like so

many Comtnon-

would graciously bow themselves out and con-

tinue their pilgrimage

down

the lazy windings of the

Quittapahilla:

We

shall

go out orderly, taking the same way that

the early visitors to departure,

if

their

Lebanon exit

took,

when making

was towards

towards Harris’ Ferry, later Harrisburg.

remembered that old roads are landmarks

the

For

west

their

— up

let it

be

as well as old

buildings.

Leaving Salem Lutheran church corner and proceeding south on Eighth

street, -

(

we

277

)

pass

—at the south-east

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

278

corner of Eighth and Willow

— the

home

John

of Mr.

H. Hoffer, the same building having formerly been used as a school-house

(as

well as another old building,

formerly occupying the rear of said

lot) in

which the

noted Miss Rose Cleveland, sister of the President of

Rebanon boys

the .United States, formerly taught our

and

girls.

A

beyond, at the

little

alley, is the

Salem

Lutheran parsonage, in and out of which house, or one formerly occupying the spot, have gone the Lutheran pastors of this church since the year 1800. alley from this parsonage

is

Roman

the fine

church, built in 1876, but which

site

Across the Catholic

was previously

oc-

cupied for 60 years by a chapel, where this congrega-

worshiped in

tion is

its

the county Court

Immediately opposite

infancy.

House

—the

first

erected structure

since the establishment of the county in 1813.

This

building was completed in 1818, and ever since that

time our county courts have been held here, where are kept

all

the

official

documents of the same.

Some

of

the earlier records were supposed to be endangered here

when

Lee’s

were taken safe

army invaded Pennsylvania to the Schuylkill

keeping,

turned,

and

from I

am

which they were afterwards told

some

have

unpacked from the fugitive packages.

not

county

yet

re-

been

Dr. Egle has

published in his history an account of the records,

and

in 1863,

county court house for

first

court

showing that upon the establishment of the

— the court

then held in the fine stone dwelling

on south side of Cumberland

street,

between 9th and

CUMBERLAND STREET TO GLONINGER’S FORT. now owned by

10th,

Mrs. Bougliter

—James

279

Buchanan,

and Edward Godwin, and Thomas Elder, and Jacob B.

Weidman, and the Wrights, and John Marks Biddle, and Edward Coleman, and John M. Forster, and the Fishers, and Hopkinses, and Henry Kurts, and Samuel Eaird, and Moses McClain, and William

Montgomery,

and Nutz, and Morris, and Geo. B. Porter, and Chas. Richards, and the Smiths, and Francis R. Shunk, were

among

the most prominent attorneys at the bar that

practiced here, and that Walter Franklin was the

were

first

first

John Gloninger and David Krause

president judge, and

associate judges.

Diagonally opposite, on the south-east corner of this street intersection,

“Buck Hotel,”

the old

where dential

stands the Central Hotel, formerly

Wm. Henry campaign

Leaving

in charge of

Joseph Reinhard,

Harrison stopped during his

visit to

presi-

Lebanon.

this corner of the city,

ness of the county centres, and

where the

legal busi-

where every half or

quarter of an hour the electric cars of the city meet, let

But we

us go westward on Cumberland street.

shall not

take time to do more than point out a few more buildings of note.

And one

of these

the Ross house,

is

where the flourishing Dr. Ross’ drug noted because this

is

said to

have been the

story house erected in the city.

that early advanced

building with its

side

!

its

store

architecture

What is

is

located,

first

three-

a contrast with

the fine Nutting

six stories that has recently arisen

by

Another building which savors of age and

LANDMARKS in THE LEBANON VALLEY.

280

has doubtless an interesting history*

ing occupied by

But we

Shififler’s

and now come

dwelling house of Mrs. Boughter.

It

very old, but one of the most roomy and hospitably

mansions in our

built old it

the stone build-

cross again the central square

to the fine stone is

is

green-grocery store.

a history that decks

est, viz

That

:

it

it

It

city.

has associated with

with a new garment of inter-

was used from the erection of Leba-

non county, 1813, until the completion of the court house in 1818, by the county as a temporary court house.

was here that those early

It

court, already mentioned,

original construction

then practiced law.

was

it

had extensive grounds and

Thus

buildings.

legal lights of our

built as a farm house all

and

the necessary farm out-

there remained to within a year an

old building used as a pig-sty, corn-crib, etc.,

have secreted and sheltered

said to

its

I11

which

is

for a short time, in

the ante-war period, certain fugitive slaves, who, being

made

here befriended, safety.

To add

this old

homestead,

their escape

to the justice it

hence

to

Canada

in

and judicial reputation of

might be added that

it

was the

residence at different periods of several legal lights of

our court, viz: Jacob B. Weidman, Esq., Levi Kline, Esq.,

Amos

R. Boughter, Esq., and the late Judge of

the county, Hon.

John

B.

Immediately opposite the late C.

stand

the

McPherson.

this fine

now Abraham

Henry’s residence public house of

old dwelling,

is

where

situated, used to

Doebler,

where

usually stopped the lawyers from other counties

that

CUMBERLAND STREET TO GLONINGER’S EORT. The

practiced here in that early period.

281

writer recently

learned from one of our best-informed citizens an inci-

dent which helps to bring- to view the old-fashioned times then lived in this hostlery.

by Mr. James Buchanan, who

related

how

the loquacious and

somewhat

The

incident was

told

my informant

officious mistress of

house on one occasion, while he was boarding there,

this

took him (Mr. Buchanan) to a cheaply-drawn portrait of her husband, hanging on the parlor wall, and began to recount the different steps of his successful, self-made

with an earnest admonition

career, following the story

young aspirant

to the

persevering in his

some day shine that

to

be good and self-reliant and

efforts,

and he too might perchance

as brilliantly as her husband.

Buchanan never

complacent manner in which

But we must hasten 10th and

on.

Cumberland used

which Dr. Marshall of some

On the

It is said

forgot that advice, and the selfit

was given.

The

north-east corner of

to contain

local

an old house in

fame used

to reside.

the south-west corner of this street intersection stands

Farmers’

Hotel,

more than a century

which must have been erected ago.

It

was

built

by one

Han

Georg Focht, about a decade before the Revolutionary war, inasmuch as this pioneer afterwards four miles east of

Lebanon on a farm

still

moved about

in the family’s

hands, where the house built, prior to 1770

still

which date marks the erection of an addition years later. of Mrs.

stands, it

a few

This Mr. Focht was the great-grandfather

John Reinoehl, of our Lebanon.

19

to

LANDMARKS

282

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

IN

But we come now into the very oldest section of the city,

where abound most of the ancient landmarks.

Old Cumberland

street,

which

led the

way out

of

town

before the Berks and Dauphin turnpike chose another

and better way,

They

ings.

still

many

contains

of these

are mostly low, one story log huts

OLD CUMBERLAND STREET, LEBANON, (

now

encased with

Looking

boards

east

tradition of

having been used

time.

the one

of

the

Church.

numbered

build-

—some

PA.

)

— whose

to the days of Steitz himself.

It is

first

erection

must date

One house here has as a il

church

ii22, ”

for

the

some

and the shape

same much resembles the Hebron Moravian It

is

two-storied,

with peaked roof and di-

CUMBERLAND STREET TO GEONINGER’S FORT. vided into apartments like the one at Hebron.

283

Was

it

here that the local Lutherans and Reformed tempo-

worshipped

rarily

churches in town?

we

ter

the erection of

before

For

Quite likely.

their

first

in our last chap-

learned that, because the Lutherans

u found the

worship of God in private houses inconvenient” they

made

efforts in

But

much

Steitz

!

1768 to build a church.

where did he

surmise, but as yet

live

?

There has been

we have found nothing more

authentic than a tradition that the Uhler residence or “

Meadow Bank”

marks the dence

There

spot.

Hayes and

of Mr. Geo. is

much

to corroborate this story.

his family

of circumstantial eviIt

was on the banks of

the creek, fronting on the south and east, just the kind

of site

we always

find these old

homes.

for their

Besides,

we

Germans have

selected

find here a portion of a

very old log building and an arched cellar or cave of

such antiquity as to antedate the childhood of our oldest

There

citizens.

is

also a tradition that there are logs

and beams of a larger building that formerly stood

here,

used in the construction of the present brick house, built years ago to

by Mr. Uhler, and that these were said

have been taken from Steitz’s old house.

the story

is

quite probable, and

we

shall

think that Mr. Steitz spent his American that a fine

before his

and

fro)

The

Altogether henceforth

life

here,

and

meadow along the Quittapahilla stretching house (where now the C. & L. trains go to

furnished the best hay for his cattle.

old

Cumberland road (now blocked by the

C.

&

LANDMARKS

284

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

IN

L. R. R.) used to follow close to the banks of the Quit-

now crested by home (through whose occupant’s

tapahilla creek, at the base of the knoll

Mr. Hammond’s

fine

veins flows the blood of the town’s too-much- forgotten

and too-little-known founder), and

led

on through the

Gloninger farm, past the old homestead, on side

and the Stoever

Mr.

Hammond’s

mills.

palatial

to

Sunny-

Were we to make a call residence, we should find

at it

with a collection of rare and invaluable family

filled

heirlooms, descended through both lines of an equally

prominent ancestry.

Rut we must make a short halt

home

in earlier days,

inger

u Fort. ”

The house

it

somewhere

Old histories speak of

is

in the it

still

the Gloninger as the Glon-

standing on the

George Gloninger must have

south bank of the creek. erected

at

commonly known

as

decade between 1740-50.

having been used as a place

of refuge from the Indians during the period of warfare

and their greatest depredations from 1750-65. good specimen of the with

its

as

an interesting landmark, because here the

American Gloninger

whom It

solid architecture of those days,

piked roof and original port-holes for windows,

and serves first

It is a

immigrants

settled,

from

has descended locally quite an illustrious family.

seems that the names of the American Gloninger an-

were Peter [Philip( ? )] and his wife, Anna Bar-

cestors

bara,

and that Valentine, John, George and Peter were

among oldest

their sons.

Of

these George

may have been

and remained on the old homestead

the

as farmer.

CUMBERLAND STREET TO GLONINGER’S FORT. The of

285

others distinguished themselves in other avenues

life.

John, born in 1758, took an active part in the

Revolutionary war, rose

to official

positions in his native (then

pointment and as Associate

election,

rank, held official

Dauphin) county by ap-

and served a number of years

Judge upon the erection of the county of

THE GrONINGTCR “FORT.”

Lebanon. daughter

He was married to Catharine Orth, a of Adam and Catharine (Kucher) Orth.

Their son Philip, born in 1788, was a minister in the Reformed church, very brilliant, with a promising future before him,

when he was

cut

down by an un-

286

LANDMARKS

IN

timely death in 1816.

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

He had

been stationed

at

Har-

risburg previous to his death, and had been married to

Thomas

Eliza Clark, the daughter of

Clark, Esq., and

His widow

a great-granddaughter of Mr. George Steitz.

Hammond

later married Col.

of Col. David Steitz

anon.

and became the mother

Hammond, who

Concerning the ability and

resides in Eeb-

fine pastoral spirit

of this minister, the following lines written and dedi-

cated by

him

to his flock

and sorrowing

friends, a

days before his death, bear ample testimony

:

“ Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht, Jesus wird mir helfen siegen

Vor dem

Und

letzten zorngericht

hier in den letzten zuegen,

Ich weiss,

nimmt

der

Tod mich hin

Dass ich doch bey Jesus “

Wann

bin.

dich die Last der Leiden drueckt

Schau drum nicht Muthlos nieder

Schau

frei

empor, sprich, mich erquickt

Der Herr doch endlich wieder.

Der Christen hohes Burger-Recht 1st dort

Der

im Vaterlande.

Christ, der irdisch denkt,

Und “Dort

ist

Wo

denkt schlecht

unter seinem Stande.

das rechte Canaan,

Lebens Stroeme

flieszen

;

Blick oft hinauf, der Anblick kan

Dein Leidens-Kelch versuesszen. Dort oben

ist

(Lott theilt

des Vaters-Haus

zum Gnaden Lohn

en Ueberwindern Cronen aus

Kaempf euch um Ruhm und

Crone.

few

CUMBERLAND STREET TO GLONINGER’S EORT. “Wann

287

ich auch gleich bald scheiden

Von meinen Freuden Das, mir

Doch

soil,

und ihn’n briugt Leiden

trostet dies tnich

wohl

Dass wir in groessern Freuden

Zusammen kommen dort Und bleiben ungescheiden An einem bessern ort.”

Another son of John and Catharine Gloninger was

John W., the physician, whose attainments and skill gave him early in his long practice a first rank in the

He was

profession. specialist,

a celebrated surgeon and oculist

He was

with a wide reputation.

a frequent

mem-

contributor to medical journals, and an honored

many

ber of

children, viz.

medical :

David

Eliza, wife of Dr.

ready alluded to in this chapter Wetherill, of Philadelphia

whose widow and

sician,

He

societies.

;

;

B. Marshall, al-

Matilda, wife of John

Dr. Cyrus D.

son,

a family of

left

(Dr.

,

a noted phy-

Andrew

H.),

now

occupy the old residence (corner of 9th and Cumberland)

Dr. David Stanley, of Philadelphia, and Alice,

;

wife of Dr. A. H. Light, of Lebanon.

We old

have recently seen the portrait painting of

Revolutionary Gloninger worthy,

much

of the

rity for

Saxon honesty, frankness and

which he was noted.

tion of our friend, Mr. E.

burg,

we saw

which

W.

this

reflects

stern integ-

In the antiquarian collecS.

Parthemore, of Harris-

also an honorable discharge from militia

duty of a fellow citizen that bears his signature, as follows

:

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

288

The tain

EgllgQ

mm

bearer,

Henry Meyer,

Stover’s

Company

Second County

Battalion

of

of Cap-

of

the Lancaster

having made apabove the age of 53 years, discharged honorably from all is militia duty, this 19th day of November, 1782. pear to

me

Militia,

that he

is

JOHN GLONINGER,

Sec. Lieut,

for Lancaster Militia.

Nearly

all

the Gloningers that have departed this

Reformed Cemetery

sleep in the First

the

shadow of the church, which the

tions were so active to establish.

graves of Valentine, horn June 24,

1844

;

There we found the

11, 1766,

John W.

monument

has

Two

Hon. John, born September

Philip, born

his son, Rev.

born

memory Another

;

19, 1758,

his wife, Cathar-

February

17,

1788,

1816 (on the north), and his son

December

1821 (on the south). It is fitting

mark

31, 1767, died June 17, 1848 (on the

died September 10,

Cyrus,

all

four faces occupied with memorial

born October ;

John and

of these are to the

died January 22, 1836 (on the east)

west)

;

December

and Mary Ann, his wife.

its

inscriptions of the

ine,

died

Fitting monuments, or marble slabs,

their resting places. of Dr.

of this city, in earliest genera-

Peter and Elizabeth, his wife

his family.

life

that the

25,

1804, died

December

22,

Suitable epitaphs accompany each.

memory

of such worthy ancestors

we trust that whatever improvements may chance to be made in the old Gloninger farm in the hands of the new syndicate, the old homestead may

be preserved, and

CUMBERLAND STREET TO GLONINGER’S FORT. be long kept as a

relic,

street, or institution,

289

and that somewhere a park, or

may

white proprietors, as that

preserve the

name

is

name

of

its first

preserved by the far-

famed spring that gushes with clearest water from limestone rocks on the plantation.

now

repair, to

company

for

To

this spring let us

drink to each other’s health as we part

another interim.

CHAPTER

XXVIII.

A VALUABLE LIBRARY HISTORICALLY HOUSED. “ Tread softly here, as ye would tread In presence of the honored dead,

With reverent “

Speak low

step

and low-bowed head.

— as low as ye would speak

Before some saint of grandeur

Whose

favor ye would

meek

humbly

“Within these walls the very

seek.

air

Seems weighted with a fragrance Like incense burned

at

rare

evening prayer.

“ Here

may we sit and converse hold With those whose names in ages old

Were

in the

“Here under

We

book of fame poets’

enrolled.

power intense

leave the world of sound and sense,

Where mortals

“And mount

to

strive with

problems dense,

realms where fancy

free,

Above our poor humanity,

Roams

in a joyous ecstasy.

if through history’s maze we tread, The hero, patriot, long since dead, Whose great heart for his country bled,

“Or,

(290)

A VALUABLE LIBRARY HISTORICALLY HOUSED. “Seems once again

to

work and

29 1

fight

In superstition’s darkest night

For God, his

fellows,

and the

right.

“Enough mere w ords can never tell The influence of the grateful spell Which seems among these books to T

!

So wrote Alice C. Sawtelle World sometime since and we ;

something of

in the Boston Literary

confess being seized by

same strange

this

dwell.”

spell

upon entrance of

Of

any large and well-selected library of books. apartments of a house, greatest charm.

We

Dempster Sherman Give

me

the library

has

for

are ready to confess with

:

the

room whose every nook

Is dedicated to a

book:

Two windows will suffice for air And grant the light admission there One looking to the south, and one To speed the red departing sun. The eastern wall from frieze to plinth Shall be the poet’s labyrinth,

Where one may find the lords of rhyme From Homer’s down to Dobson’s time And at the northern side a space ;

Shall

show an open chimney-place,

Set round with ancient

Some legend

tiles that tell

old and weave a spell

About the firedog-guarded

Where one may dream and

seat,

taste the heat

Above, the mantel should not lack

For curios and bric-a-brac

all

us

the

the

Frank

292

LANDMARKS

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

IN

Not much, but just enough

The room up when the

The volumes on All prose

and

to light

fire is bright.

this wall should be

philosophy,

all

From Plato down to those who are The dim reflections of that star And these tomes all should serve to show How much we write — how little know ;

;

For since the problem

No one Upon The

was

first

has ever solved

set

yet.

it

the shelves toward the west

scientific

books shall

Beside them, history

— hope,

Religion

and

;

rest

;

above

faith,

and love

;

Lastly, the southern wall should hold

The

story-tellers,

Haroun

al

new and old who was truth ;

Raschid,

And happiness

to all

my

youth,

Shall have the honored place of all

That dwell upon

sunny

this

wall,

And with him there shall stand a throng Of those who help mankind along More by Than all

their fascinating lies

the learning of the wise.

Such be the

library

;

and take

This motto of a Latin

make

To grace the door through which Hie

habitat Felicitas

Believing that this subtle

my

readers share with

charm of the

found in this valley.

pass

:

me and

collection of books,

spend an hour or more together largest library of rare

I

!

we

will

in looking over the

and antiquarian literature

We

others

to

be

venture the assertion that

A valuable library historically housed. there are not

many

private collections, and few public

antiquarian variety in

libraries, of greater

than that gathered and

Henry

S.

293

historically

the

housed

State,

by Mr.

Heilman, of Sunny Side, whose residence

MR.

HKNRY

S.

is

HEILMAN’S HOMESTEAD.

A VALUABLE LIBRARY.

about two miles west of Lebanon. he lives

is

a large

The house

in

which

and substantial stone structure a cen-

tury old, and was erected by one of the sons of the

Lutheran minister of

pioneer

Casper Stoever. tion

tell

follows

:

Two

the story

this valley,

inscribed tablets in

and sentiment of

its

its

Rev. John front eleva-

erection

as

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

294

Gott Bessegne dieses

wer geht da

Diesetn haus

ein

Und

und aus

mit Dehnen

Welche Drauss.

—

Johannes Stoever

Dieses

Angenes Stoeverin 17

The Heilmans and two

this

Haus

Erbaut

95

Anno

and so

®

Friede Sey in

i2t

Haus und

ist

1795

Stoevers have been intermarried

commodious house

serves as a relic of these

whose

intelligence and general

old families,

thrift,

cleverness have brought esteem and considerable fame to

The

both. into

present proprietor of this homestead

possession through

its

his

father,

who

came by has found him quite

than a year ago, and into whose possession purchase in hospitable,

company right

writer

it

and so he takes the liberty of ushering his

of fellow-explorers, without further ceremony,

into

library,

The

1837.

came

died less

the

room

that

shelters

this

antiquarian

gathered principally by this our host.

It

is

found in the southern wing of this building, on the first floor, to

which

it

was found necessary

to build

an

extension, which reaches back to the very edge of the historic Quittapahilla.

Here are found a and rockers

to

rest

sufficient quantity of easy-chairs

the

tramps, while either from

most weary of our historic a cabinet or a full

fledged

A VALUABLE LIBRARY HISTORICALLY HOUSED.

we may have our

pipe-organ,

with

freshed ravish

our eyes of

the wall, from

soothed or

re-

we begin

to

ere

with the contents of the surroundrarest

book

around

the bursting

stretch

antiquarian

their

All

treasures.

to ceiling,

floor

with

book-cases

music

sweet-voiced

ing alcoves

spirits

295

Here

lore.

gathered some of the oldest and rarest books

are

known

to

the bibliophile, from the tiniest specimens to the most

The

cumbersome tomes.

library

is

the complement of

Mr. Danner’s museum, at Manheim, of rare china and

That shows

crockery-ware. religious

life

number

—

first

There are

art

and hymn-

of printing

was

early editions or rare copies of books

this library abounds.

17 43

earliest Bibles,

and almanacs, since the

Among

the

this

of the cunabulae, or cradle books,

and large quantities of the

invented.

domestic,

of our people in colonial times.

here found a

books,

the

The

Sauers’

German

editions of Bibles printed in

very rare— is here

Bible

of

America and

The

represented by three copies.

rarest curios of Franklin’s publications here find a place,

more

especially such specimens of his books as were pub-

lished for the

books in

people.

this collection is

and published

German his own

German in 1730

Among

the very rarest

one of Conrad Beisel’s works,

by Benj. Franklin before even

this

Baptist leader could muster strength to have press.

It

is

probable that this volume

only one extant, and Prof.

Seidenstecher,

recent death, had arranged to have the

photographed.

We

title

is

the

before his

page of

it

give here this title-page as follows

:

LANDMARKS

2 g6

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

IN

Mystische

Und

sehr

geheyme Sprueche

Welche

in der

Des heiligen

Und

Himmlichen Schule

geistes erlernet

den solgens einige Poetische Gedichte Auffgesetzt

Den liebhabern und schulern Der Goettlichern und Himmlichen Weisheit zum dienst. Vor Die Sail dieser welt aber

Haben wir keine

spise

werden

Ihnen auch wohl ein werschlossener

Garden und

versiegelter

brunnen bleiben.

Zu Philadelphia Gedrucht by

Among Hoch date,

by

many almanacs

the

A mericanish bound

Benj.

B. Franklin

im Yahr

collected here, are the

Dentcher Kalender

in volumes.

Franklin

Deutscher Kalender.”

and

Two

of

called

One

1740.

,

from

1745 to

them were published u

in 1752,

Neu Americanish when in September

eleven days were dropped or cut out, viz: from the 3rd to

13th inclusive, so as to allow for the difference in

time between the Old Style and

reckoning time,

is

also found

the

here,

and

New is

Style of

quite rare.

The sum of $ 100 has been set upon a perfect copy. The full list of almanacs in Mr. Heilman’s possession, ranging from 1745 is

as

and

follows

Michael

:

to 1894, all printed in

Those published Billmyer,

of

by

Pennsylvania,

Christoph

Germantown

;

by

Saur Benj.

A VALUABLE LIBRARY HISTORICALLY HOUSED. Franklin, Mueller,

Antony Ambrnster,

Henry

Philadelphia

Caeschler,

and Carl

Miller, Melchoir Steiner

by

;

David

Matthias

Francis

Bartgis,

Johann Albrecht, of Lancaster,

P.

Cist,

Bailey,

the family

etc., also

il-

Home, com-

lustrated church almanacs, as the Catholic plete; the Catholic Family,

297

from 1871-76; the Reformed,

complete; Lutheran, incomplete,

etc.; also

Webster’s,

Phila. Record* s, Phila. Public Ledger* s, the American,

Frank

Leslie’s,

Ayer’s American in ten

languages.

All of these are bound and in good condition.

We make

a hasty and partial

other rare and follows 1.

some of which

list

of the more than

Ephrata publica-

fifty

are original books, while others are reprints of

devotional manuals bearing the imprint of this Seventh Baptist

press,

which

a

2.

is

of as

:

Almost a complete

tions,

from memory we found here,

list

curious volumes

Two

including

volume

Day German

the “Martyrer Spiegel,” Ephrata,

1748,

as large as the largest family Bible.

copies of the

“Poor Man’s Bible,” being nothing

package of slips of German Scripture

texts,

else

but a

enclosed in a wooden case

— a rare curiosity. 3.

man 4.

A

copy of Arndt’s Wahres Christenthum reprinted for the Ger,

people of Pennsylvania by Benj. Franklin, 1751.

“Ein Sermo von den Kleiner Brode,” by

Dr.

Martin Luther

,

gehalten zu Wittenberg in 1523, and printed then. 5.

Many

of Sauer’s publications (Germantown),

American German 6.

A

who was

the

first

printer.

manuscript Memorial Reformation Sermon by Dr. F. H. C.

Helmuth, in a hand Qf as perfect German sermon having been delivered

script as if printed

in Philadelphia, Oct. 31, 1817,

— the from

text, Ps. cxviii. 24. 7.

A

voluminous

20

illustrated

German copy

of Josephus, bearing the

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

298

German

imprint of some

publisher, dated 1569

some German Lebanon Valley

sion of

Demme, Lutheran

Boger, where the celebrated Dr.

Lutheran church, Philadelphia, found

same for three

now

Josephus,

has

many

years,

and using

it

—formerly the posses-

by the name of Bager

settler

and borrowed

Demme

it,

keeping the

German

This old copy

readers.

Mann

annotations and corrections on margins, which Dr.

has recognized as Dr. Demme’s handwriting.

ate,

pastor of Zion

copy for his edition (German) of

as a

the one mostly sold to

it

and Rev. Ernst were

but that Dr.

[It is said that Dr.

rival candidates for the

Demme’s preaching proved

people and Rev. Ernst was chosen, while Dr.

Lebanon

pastor-

too scholarly for these

Demme

went

to Phila-

delphia.] 8.

First

German

Bible printed west of the Alleghenies, at Bedford,

with dozens of other rare and old copies of the Holy Scriptures. 9.

A

copy of Rev.

J.

Casper Stoever’s

last will,

and other family

ar-

chives.

This

list

gives but a faint idea of the treasures that

They have money and research,

are here collected and carefully arranged. cost their possessor

no

time,

little

but they must give him immense satisfaction as they

speak

to

him

these

spirits,

can

communicating from

bookshelves of wisdom’s lore are often better

companions than many who about

We

of the centuries that are past.

imagine that the encased

still

wrap

flesh

So with a courteous bow

them.

shown, we shall leave our friend

and blood for

to himself

favors

and his

mute companions, imagining that we hear him say in the language of John Fletcher Give

Leave to enjoy myself. Contain

my

:

me

That place that does

books, the best companions,

is

A VALUABLE LIBRARY HISTORICALLY HOUSED. To me

a glorious court,

where hourly

I

Converse with the old sages and philosophers

And sometimes

for variety I confer

With kings and emperors, and weigh if

Unto a

and

strict

account

;

their counsels;

unjustly got,

Calling their victories,

in

my

fancy

Can

Deface their ill-placed statues.

I

then

Part with such content pleasures, to embrace

Uncertain vanities

?

No

:

be

To augment a heap of wealth To

increase in knowledge.

it

,

your care it

shall be

mine

299

CHAPTER XXIX. THE

Eet

REV. JOHN CASPER STOEVER HOMESTEAD.

us to-day follow the Quittapahilla Creek for half

a mile in its

meandering course, from where

by the home of Mr. Heilman,

last visited,

lead us to an interesting relic of the this region.

It is

washes it

will

settlement of

the old mill-homestead of the Rev.

Johann Casper Stoever, the ister

first

it

and

first

German Lutheran min-

ordained in Pennsylvania.

located just an

It is

eighth of a mile south of the village of Cletfna, and

about two and a half miles west of Lebanon.

landmark of the olden times that holds

It is a

for us a fasci-

nating charm.

The

building, which

is

a large and substantial stone

— originally

mill-structure

provided

with a suite of

domestic apartments, and occupied by this pioneer of

Lutheranism

as the

permanent abode of himself and

family for a period of forty years years 1737-40.

The

— was

erected in the

strong and substantial character of

the building required three years of time to complete It is a

meager 60

feet.

it.

massive structure, considering the times and the facilities of

building; in dimensions about 40 by

Its walls, three feet thick, are

solid to-day as

when

first

erected,

(300)

most of them as

though composed of

REV. JOHN CASPER STOEVER HOMESTEAD. simple,

undressed surface stones,

larger than a man’s

fist.

many

The mortar

of is

301

them no

as

firm as

cement, and no pen-knife has yet been found strong

enough

to

break

thought that

if all

its

cohesive service.

The

the Lutheran stones that

writer has first

com-

posed the walls of the spiritual building of this denom-

REV. JOHN CASPER STOEVER HOMESTEAD.

ination in America, had been as firmly cemented as this

good Lutheran pastor bound together the stones of his

now honored and numerically strong denomination would much sooner have assumed firm earthly abode, this

and conspicuous proportions

in this country.

/

LANDMARKS

302

Whether

it

IN

THK LEBANON VALLEY.

was from a generous desire

to

supply

these early settlers with bread for the body as well as for the soul, that this pastor built a mill

almost simul-

taneously with the church, or whether he saw in

it

a

chance to grind more cash into his own pockets, we can not

and would not wish

tell

to insinuate.

say that for more than a hundred and

waters

of

the

have

Quittapaliilla

Suffice fifty

here

it

years the

turned

the

machinery that has ground out the one kind of for the

customer and the other

for the

to

owner.

grist

It

was

either the grist of this mill, or that of his large parish,

probably both together, that made

For

paratively wealthy.

was the five

possessor,

first

its

at his death

owner com-

Rev. Mr. Stoever

besides this mill-property, of over

hundred acres of the richest land

in

which, divided into three large farms, were

the valley, left to

three

Adam, John Casper (a Captain in the Revowhose home we visited last week), and Tobias.

of his sons, lution,

This antiquated

pile

of masonry,

constituting this

pioneer minister’s earthly abode, was further provided

with an arched mural of

which are

building.

still

visible

There was

on the southwest corner of the

also a stockade, or log-barricade,

used for defense against savage foes their forays in

foundation walls

fortification, the

that period.

And

were frequently sheltered, when in

when

they

made

here the neighbors all

this

community

manifold depredations were committed by the red men.

The

illustrious builder of this

the Electorate of Hesse,

now

home was

Prussia.

a native of

There he was

REV. JOHN CASPER STOEVER HOMESTEAD. born,

December

21,

1707,

303

of honorable and

the son

After teaching school for two terms in

pious parents.

the Rhenish Palatinate, he sailed from Rotterdam, with

“James Goodwill,” and landed at Philadelphia September n, On the ship’s register his name is recorded as 1728. ninety of his fellow Palatinates, on the ship

Johann Casper Steover,

S. S. (Theol. Stud.),

and

dis-

is

tinguished from another person of the same name, a

near relative,

who

as pastor of the latter died a

Europe,

registered as Missionaire, and settled

Lutherans

few years later

which he had

in Spottsylvania,

on a return

at sea,

The

revisited.

Va. trip

The from

former, after

about a year’s temporary abode at the Trappe, then

known up of

as Providence,

Montgomery county,

Pa., took

his abode at the Conestoga, near the present

New

until about 1740,

when he moved

town

Here he lived

Holland, Lancaster county, Pa.

to his newly-finished

house on the Quittapahilla.

Wherever

this

young pastor

dwelt, he reached out

beyond, visiting his scattered countrymen and organizing them into congregations.

Thus we

charge of supplying the

Lutheran churches in

first

Montgomery, Berks and Lancaster fore

he was ordained.

find

him

in

counties, even be-

In 1732, Rev. John Christian

Shultze, a Lutheran minister ordained in Germany, arrived in this country, and took charge of the congregations at Philadelphia, Providence

and

New

which Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg was later.

Holland, by

called ten years

Shultze early visited Stoever, and being obliged

LANDMARKS

304

IN

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

in less than a year to return to

England and Germany

and money

for the relief of -Luth-

to secure ministers

erans in Pennsylvania, he ordained Stoever and placed

him over

This ordination took

congregations.

these

place at the Trappe, in a barn, being the only place of

worship this congregation could then claims to be the office of a

afford,

solemn setting apart

first

and

to the

German Lutheran on Pennsylvania

it

holy

territory.

Pastor Stoever must have been a prince at organizing

We

churches.

find

his

name

associated

with almost

every Lutheran congregation that was founded during the in

decade and a half after his arrival in America,

first

what

now

is

At

counties.

Warwick

Lancaster, Berks,

the

Trappe,

(Brickerville),

New

Lebanon and York Holland,

Lancaster,

Tulpehocken, Nothkill (Bern-

Heidelberg (Schaefferstown), Bethel, at Jordan,

ville),

Krupps, the Hill Church (Berg-Kirch), and at York, his

name

is

associated with the laying of the foundations.

Out of these small beginnings have dozens

of

veloped

much

beyond.

For

nia

is

strong

congregations,

of the it is

and

Lutheranism of

directly

grown

indirectly this

de-

State and

quite certain that eastern Pennsylva-

the cradle of the greater portion of American Lu-

theranism, that to-day numbers

many hundred thousands. The organization of the

its

communicants by

Hill church in 1733, which,

however, was long designated as ‘‘The Church on the Quiitapahilla,” doubtless led Pastor Stoever to rear his

home near

it.

Hence, having built

this

abode

he

REV. JOHN CASPER STOEVER HOMESTEAD.

removed hither from the Conestoga here raised

and

in about 1740,

Here transpired what

family.

his

305

is

of

domestic interest for more than the latter half of the

long

of this enterprising and energetic dominie.

life

There are two incidents of peculiar ciated with

this

The one

ancient landmark.

shown

hospitality

friendly

a

interest

fellow

asso-

the

is

pastor and

his

family upon their arrival here from the Fatherland.

This family was no

the

first

known Baughers

well

When

one than that of the Rev.

less a

John George Bager, the

American progenitor

Lutheran Church.

of the

this ancestor, after a brief pastorate in

Germany, arrived with

his small

of

Simmern,

family in Philadel-

phia, October 23, 1752, Pastor Stoever,

by previous

rangement we presume, was there

meet him and

take

him

to

his

own home “on

to

the Quittapahilla.”

Here the new-comers were hospitably quartered eight months. child

Meanwhile (June

ar-

9th,

for

1753) the third

was born unto these recent immigrants, which was

named Catharine Margaret, and

at

whose baptism by

Pastor Stoever, the dominie’s wife and hostess stood as

Rev. Bager had meantime received and ac-

sponsor.

cepted a call as pastor from the Lutheran church of

Hanover,

removing

Pa.,

which he served

his family

worthy of mention ular and friends

from

for three

months before

this hospitable abode.

in this connection that

It is

by a sing-

happy coincidence, two descendants of these and

yoke-fellows were afterwards intimately

associated as co-workers in the early history of Penn-

landmarks

306

in

the Lebanon valley.

sylvania College at Gettysburg

Henry Louis Baugher

of Dr.

—-the

one in the person

as professor of

Greek and

as President of the institution for a period of thirty-six

and the other,

years,

LL. D.,

Prof.

Martin Luther Stoever,

department and

as principal of the preparatory

as professor of history

and Latin in college

for a period

of twenty-eight years.

The

other incident alluded to

Pastor Stoever’s death.

is

Although

that connected with feeble

and sickly

years prior to his demise, this energetic servant of

for

God

did not unbuckle his gospel harness until the end came.

His debilitated condition, however, sometimes incapacitated

him

sought

to

leave his

house, when,

if

to minister to his people there.

possible,

he

Thus he had

requested his catechetical class of the Hill church to

meet him

at his

home on Ascension Day (May

13th,

177 9), anxious that they be confirmed on that day in

order to be ready to participate with the congregation in the celebration of the Lord’s

Whitsuntide. after a

Supper on the coming

Accordingly the class here convened, and

lengthy and fatiguing service of review and ex-

amination, concluding with the

rite

pastor, utterly exhausted, fell over

presence of his family, some

of confirmation, the

and expired in the

members

of his flock and

the class upon whose heads he had just laid the hands of confirmation.

His funeral took place a few days

at the Hill church,

ashes repose. a fitting

It is

where

in the adjoining

later

graveyard his

possible that the near future will see

monument

rise

here to do honor to a

life

so

REV. JOHN CASPER STOEVER HOMESTEAD.

abundant

in labors

its efforts to

mill-manse

who

our

— now

say that

ior is as it

much was

of

in

interesting

this

Henry

the property of

thereafter undertook to

me

leave

1879 purchased

in

and heroic in

self-sacrificing

help and befriend others.

taking

Before

and so

307

S.

old

Heilman,

of a Mr. Shenk, and soon

it

make some

internal repairs

—

let

of the building’s interior and exterthe days of Stoever.

’

Tis true, the

domestic apartments have been torn out or altered, but the windows, the floors, the walls,

work

of

wheel

is

power

to carry

main frame-

If

the

same water-

not there, the same creek

still

supplies the

the building remains.

that

Immense

on the same business.

From

bers constitute the frame-work.

beam

the

all

was removed

a

tim-

heavy poplar

at its remodeling, the writer

has had carved for himself at the Miller Organ

Com-

pany, of Lebanon, a beautiful relic in the shape of a tray

and goblets.

O11

two-inch walnut step was,

a

until recently, found the

name

of the builder, together

with the date 1737, evidently burned on with a hot The hat rack of Pastor Stoever, of walnut frameiron.

work and

pegs,

upon which he must have hung

great-coat or hat a thousand times and more, preserved.

So are some of the

made

library

is

his still

and closet-doors

of the old manse,

all

the landmark

well preserved and well worth a visit

is

by any one interested

in

of solid walnut.

what

cient and important events.

is

Altogether,

so fraught with an-

CHAPTER XXX. A VISIT TO HILL CHURCH.

Let

us take our walk to-day with the pioneer Luth-

eran dominie of this valley, from his mill-manse on the Quittapahilla last visited, to the church on the hill u Berg-Kirche n about a mile to the northwest. As ), (

we walk imagine is

time

in the olden

this pious pastor as

a journey he regularly

prior to his death,

was not a here

it

when

little

will

not be difficult to

accompanying

made

us, for this

for nearly forty years

and before the Revolution.

There

danger connected with church-going

this first pastor

was yet

officiating, for

have records that frequently the people were obliged

we to

bring their guns along to be ready to defend themselves against the attacks of the savages.

This church

is

mother of

the

Reformed congregations

all

Lutheran and

in this vicinity.

Whether

it

was Reformed from the very beginning the writer cannot positively assert, but oft-united portions

of

we

the

find both

German

worshiping here as early as 1744. the churches in

Loch man

branches of these Protestant church

From

a history of

Lebanon county, given by

in 1812,

we

Dr.

Geo.

learn that the congregation

gathered as early as 1733, and

(308)

is

was

the oldest church in

A VISIT TO HILL CHURCH. the county.

According

309

to its earliest records kept,

it

was called the u Church on the Quittapaliilla,” though it

seems now quite a

The

first

little

distance from this stream.

building consisted of a rudely constructed

edifice of logs.

There were

also

hewn

logs for seats,

THE HITE CHURCH (“BERG KIRCHE”).

and a most primitive construction served as

The

building had no

floor,

pulpit.

and there were in

it

no

stoves for a long time, according to the prevailing cus-

tom

of the

German

warmer clime

worshippers.

of the native country of these

In the coldest wintry months a

wood-fire of logs was built on the outside of the church,

around which the assembled congregation would

sit

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

310

Even when

awaiting the arrival of the minister.

the

congregation could well afford such a luxury as a woodstove, its introduction

able opposition.

away

their

is

said to have

met with consid-

There was a rack provided

for storing

guns during worship, though frequently a

few of the members stood as weaponed sentinels at the

church doors while worship was being conducted. present brick building was erected in 1837,

^

The

being the

third edifice.

The church

following

Lutheran pastors have served

this

:

Rev. John Casper Stoever, 1733-1779. Rev. Frederick Theodore Melsheimer, 1779-1794. Rev. George Lochman, D. D., 1794-1815.

Rev. William G. Ernst, D. D., 1815-1836. Rev. Jonathan Ruthrauff, 1836-1849. Rev. A. C. Wedekind, D. D., 1850-1853. Rev.

M.

J.

Deitzler, 1856-1860.

Rev. Christian A. Fetzer, 1860-1863. Rev. George P. Weaver, 1863-1864.

M.

Rev.

J.

Rev.

W. H. Lewars,

Dietzler, 1865-1890.

1890-date.

The Reformed pastors have been the same as those who served the First Reformed Church of Lebanon (see beginning with

record),

Rev. Conrad Templeinan as

early at least as 1744, if not 1733

of

;

and

Lebanon became an independent

after the

church

pastorate, in 1864,

the Hill church was connected with the Annville pastorate,

and has since been served by Dr. Jonathan E.

Hiester.

A VISIT TO

The

The book

in raw-hide

and

discolored by age.

its

Still

and should be published

We

CHURCH.

early Lutheran record, kept

quite complete.

bound

IIILL

3 11

by the

in itself

first

pastor, is

a curiosity, being

is

leaves worm-eaten and greatly

the entries are quite legible in

some form

to

be preserved.

give this gentle hint to the present pastor, in whose

hands

it is

found.

There

is

here also quite an old Bible,

printed in Halle more than a century ago, and bought for the altar service (in

which use

found), for 16 shillings and 6 pence.

So there

by the congregation it is still

is

likewise in possession of the church a very old

munion

Com-

cup, bearing date 1745.

Being located on high ground there

is

here afforded a

magnificent view of the rich valley that stretches out before the visitor, while just beyond the ridge to -the

north nestles the lovely vale of the Heilmans, from

which surrounding farms (among the entire valley) there

gathers

Sabbath

loveliest of this after

Sabbath a

goodly congregation and Sunday-school of intelligent

and enterprising farmers the

to

worship God and perpetuate

work of the church established by

their pious

and

heroic ancestry, sleeping here in the adjoining u God’s acre.”

The graveyard which surrounds abounds

in old graves,

whose epitaphs read

like pages of ancient history.

the

same family-names

the

old

church

in

our day

Yet in many instances

are found on the church record

to-day that are chiseled also on these old tomb-stones.

Here are buried such old families

as the Bolirs, Bogers,

312

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

Bensons, Blacks, Bechtels, Detweilers,

Fmbichs,

Heilmans

large

(a

which family

Fochts,

Kurtzs, Richerts,

Fishers,

drifted to Virginia

Killingers,

Kleins,

in the

Kellers,

Stoevers,

Gingriclis,

branch of

(a

and was represented

late

war by General

Karmanys,

Kelkers,

Matters,

Millers,

Rutters,

Boltzes, Cleimers,

number), Imbodens,

on the Confederate side Imboden),

Barths,

Rupps, Reinoehls,

Schnebeles,

Sprechers,

Umbergers, Ulrichs and Xanders.

Among

the oldest graves

have become

many

epitaph inscriptions

That of the

illegible.

pastor has been retraced

first

by the sculptor’s

therefore clearly discernible.

It is

somewhat

Hier Ruhet In Seinetn Erloser Entschlaffen

JOHANN CASPAR STOEVER Erster Evangel Ruthericher Prediger in Pensilvanien. ist geboren in

Der under

Paflz D. 21 Dec. 1707.

zeigte mit seiner

Maria Catharine in die ewigkeit

Er Starb D. 71 y. 4

13

Kinder 4 sein

voran gegangen,

May

mon.

11

Er

Ehe Frau

1779. Seines Alters

3 wo. v. 2 Tag.

Futheran

chisel,

and

is

as follows:

A VISIT TO HILL CHURCH.

3X3

By the pastor’s side sleeps his wife, Maria Catharine, who survived him a number of years; near by rest a number of their children and later descendants. The Rev. Henry Wagner, one of the Reformed pastors, was also buried here in 1869, but a few years since his relatives

had his body exhumed and re-interred

in the Mt.

Lebanon cemetery. Here sleep

also the

American ancestors of the Kelkers

and Heilmans, both prominent and rather numerous families of the

erected to

mark

Lebanon

Fitting stones were

Valley.

the spot of their burial as late as 1867,

by devoted and thoughtful descendants of

The Hon. Rudolph

ive families.

their respect-

F. Kelker, of Harris-

burg, a great-grand -son of this early Swiss immigrant,

was instrumental

in so fittingly

The

marking

his

worthy an-

Hummelstown

red

sandstone quarry, in massive proportions, reads as

fol-

cestor’s grave.

lows

stone, of the

:

“In Memory of

Henry Kolliker (Kelker), Born

in 1705.

land,

and

in 1743. in 1745.

Emigrated from Herrliberg, Canton Zurich, Switzer-

settled in Bethel

One

(now Swatara) township, Lebanon county,

of the Elders of the Reformed congregation, Hill Church,

Died

1762.

Also Regula Braetscheri, his wife.”

This worthy descendant has also compiled and published an interesting

“Family Register,” giving

and careful genealogy of

this family in

a long

Switzerland and

America.

The

stone that here marks the resting place of the 21

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

314 first

American Heilman ancestor

is

quality to the one just described.

John

Adam

Palatinate,

similar in size and It is in

Heilman, born November

who emigrated

to

memory

16, 1715, in

America

in 1738,

married Maria Catharine Steger (of the family then ing near Avon, as previously alluded

to),

of

the

here liv-

who became

the progenitors of at least a very large branch of the

Heilman family Heilman was

in

Lebanon county.

This John

in 1745 a fellow-elder with Mr.

Adam

Kelker on

the Reformed side of this Hill Church, and he died Sep-

tember

One

25, 1770.

of the oldest tombstones here

is

a curiosity for

the elaborate ornamentation of rosettes, skull and cross-

bones upon both

it

and the

the

sides,

one

being engraved on

fact of its

containing

the

obituary quite

minute, and the other several verses of the solemnly

warning German hymn, beginning:

“Komm,

Sterblicher betrache mich,

Du lebst, ich lebt auf Erden, Was du jetzt bist das war auch ich, Was ich bin wirst du w erden.” T

The name

of the person buried

legible, but looks

like

Johann W.

ben im Jahr Christy 1754.

1 st

however, scarcely u Hefs. Ist gestor-

is,

gebohren in Jahr 1722

den 27ten Mertz und den 29 darauf getauft worden auf die Evangelische Lutherische Religion, &c., &c.”

The

stone

church.

is

found some distance directly back of the

A VISIT TO HILL CHURCH.

The

writer thinks that there

315

history

is

enough here

and the perpetuation of the

to deserve its preservation

good influences that have emanated from

this spot,

the erection of a new church of stone,

some

ful, artistic

in legends

and

pictures, the story of struggle

There

There

in the congregation to build that

should

be

enough devotion

tell,

and piety is

wealth

church now. religion

to

by

beauti-

model, with stained-glass windows to

that associates with this sacred spot.

enough

after

and

family pride enough to keep this enterprise from a long delay.

Another thing that

monument who

pastor

to the

this place deserves is a fitting-

memory

sleeps here

of

now

— the Rev.

J.

the only, but heroic

Casper Stoever.

If

the performance of a multiplicity of great and import-

ant labors ever deserved such a respect, then truly the self

God, laboring this,

of reverence and this

man

of

for forty-six years in the establishment of

and many other churches of Pennyslvania, deserve

such distinction.

We

ent Lutheran pastor this end,

a

mark

denying labors of

and we

are is

happy

making

to note that the presefforts

trust that these efforts will

hearty response and be crowned with

glorious success.

accomplish

to

[P. S.

meet with

speedy and

See next chapter.]

CHAPTER XXXI. THE STOEVER MONUMENT.

What

was hinted

chapter has, since

Through

at

toward the close of the

its first

last

writing (1894), materialized.

the efforts of the pastor, Rev.

W. H. Lewars,

considerable interest has been manifested in the matter

monument over the sacred dust of the who sleeps upon the historic hillock of

of placing a fitting

pioneer pastor, the “

Berg Kir che"

so that, in the near future, the de-

vout wishes of a few local antiquarians are about to be

consummated.

Upon next Ascension Day,

versary of Rev. Stoever’s death, beautiful marble shaft.

(which

is

The

is

to

the anni-

be unveiled this

material of this

monument

the finest quality of bluish-tinted marble) was

quarried at the historic Horse-shoe pike, in the heart of this valley,

Black and

from the quarry operated by Messrs.

C. S. Maulfair,

J.

H.

themselves chips of the sturdy

block of Lutheran ancestry that settled here in Stoever’s time, and pel

which was

hammer and

Lebanon county

spiritually sculptured

chisel in that early day.

sculptor, Mr. J.

by his gos-

The famous

H. Black, of Annville,

has carved the monument, as seen in the accompanying cut,

by which we are enabled, through the courtesy of

Rev. Lewars, to show our readers the design of this

memorial

shaft.

(3id)

THE STOEVER MONUMENT. It is

anticipated that an

will congregate here

immense throng

3T7

of people

on the day of the unveiling, as

this

event has been made to be simultaneous with the Convention of the Lebanon Valley Lutheran Sunday-school Association and a meeting of the Lebanon Conference

318

landmarks in the Lebanon valley.

of the East Pennsylvania

Synod

of the Lutheran Church,

under whose auspices the unveiling and dedication will take place.

The Program Committee has asked the author of these historic sketches to read a poem on this occasion, which, as the publication of this book will so nearly coincide with this about to will here

historic event,

members

of Conference and by other cele-

brities of the church.

THE STOEVER MEMORIAL. BY REV.

P. C.

CROEL.

The Muse’s wand is in my hand, To use it Fve discretion, Can

let its spell

Work Or

on

this large

band

thoughts into expression

let it

Who

wake the preacher

sleeps within

;

dead,

yon lowly bed,

In honor of whose pastorate

This congregation

And

so

I’ll

now has

use the poet’s

met.

Muse

To summon forth this sleeper From Chronicles his text I’ll choose His theme — The Grave my Keeper. And of the past I’ll make him preach, ;

Back

he

Other important addresses will be

append.

delivered by

become

o’er a

hundred years

he’ll reach,

To tell us here in simple rhymes Of Gospel work in pioneer times.

THE STOEVER MONUMENT. So now give

ear,

the preacher’s here,

Arisen from his slumbers

He

and near

casts his eyes far out

Astonished at the numbers

Who came from far to hear him preach, Who used their great-grandsires to teach The

principles of truth

and right

In days that tried men’s souls aright.

He

looks to see

Who

came

who each can

be

to hear his sermon,

But cannot quite himself agree If

He

you are Hans or Herman.

sees resemblance to that fold

That worshiped here

Yet

still

in

days of

old,

his look is strangely wild

Till told you’re

But now the

Hans’ great-grandchild.

spell

comes

o’er

His heart becomes inspired His tongue

is

glib the tale to

His soul with

zeal is fired

him

well,

;

tell,

\

To teach the children of this day, Who’ve met in such a vast array, The hardships of

When men His voice

that dreadful day

here used to “watch and pray.”

is

heard, forth flows his word,

’Mid earnest intonation

:

“ Beloved children in the Lord,

Who form this congregation, Why meet on this Ascension day And

leave your muskets home, I pray?

Have you not

feared the Indians’ snare,

The panther’s

fierceness,

nor the bear?

3r9

320

LANDMARKS “And

tell

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

IN

me what became

First church of logs

Those racks

of that

and sheeting, and

for flint-locks, coat

Those hewn-log pews

for seating

hat,

?

who has torn that pulpit down ? And who has ripped my cleric-gown ? And who has lit those coals of fire, Pray,

’Stead looking for

“

some warmth up higher?

Who could not brook the old hymn-book ? Why don’t you sing in German ?

What’s given you

this English look

Who’s Anglicized Since

An

I

have laid

my

sermon

me down and

slept

English flood has o’er you swept

Your blood

And where Those

;

mixed, as well your speech

is

The Anglo-Saxon stamp’s on each “

?

?

!

are now, on hillock’s brow,

forest trees

primeval

?

Who cleared these acres for the plow ? Who tills them without equal ?

A Rip Van

sleep

I

must have

While yonder stone

And marked my

its vigil

My How,

let

me

kept,

resting-place, ’neath sod,

In this blest acre of our

“ Then

slept

tell

God

!

— all marking well

antiquated story, ere your sires to warfare fell

’Gainst Briton and ’gainst Tory,

The

early settlers of these parts,

With Church and Bible near

their hearts,

Reared here an

God,

altar to their

Whilst felling trees and turning sod.

THE STOEVER MONUMENT. “

And

321

here they swore, those years of yore,

Heart fealty to Jehovah,

Who

brought them to this Western shore

In arks secure, like Noah.

And

while they drew a breath on earth,

Themselves, with

They gave

all their

God an

to

goods and worth,

offering,

Though claimed by George, the English “ Across the

same great sea

And landed That

A

still

in

yon

I

king.

came

city,

proclaims, in deed and name,

brother’s love and pity

;

Thence up the Schuykill’s boisterous waves,

And where I

To cheer “

the Conestoga laves,

my

visited

countrymen

their

Soon came

German

hearts again.

a cry from far

and nigh,

Like Macedonian pleader,

Our German

folk for help did sigh,

For Gospel and

for leader.

And thus I journeyed o’er the land, From Jordan’s to Codorus’ strand, Till

on the banks of th’ “ Quitopehille ”

I built

“

my

From

house within a

mill.

that abode for years I rode

In rain and shiny weather, In seasons

My I

when the streams o’erflowed swam like a feather

horse

brought the story of the cross

For none then took account of

To those who

And

loss

fled to ’scape the sword,

settled here to serve the Lord.

322

LANDMARKS OR THE LEBANON VALLEY. “

And now appear around me Those heroes’

Prepared a In

monument

mem’ry of my

I can’t

rebuke

my

to rear

off ’ring.

children dear

For that which must

A

here

later offspring,

to all appear

deed that’s prompted by the good,

And

gives for nobler thoughts

“ But I would fain that every

some

food;

name

Of elder and of deacon,

And To

others working just the

same

light this gospel beacon,

Would stand engraved on yonder And over all, above, alone,

stone,

Old Luther’s watchword, so well put {

Ein feste Burg

ist

unser GottT

5>

:

CHAPTER XXXII. A GLIMPSE OF ANNVILLE.

Let

ns

come down now from

have worshiped pious is

German

for

the hillock

upon which

one hundred and sixty years the

settlers of this portion of the valley that

watered by the Indian-famed, snake-harboring Quitta-

and

pahilla,

let

us get a glimpse of the

that

Like a sparkling diamond

adorns this magnificent vale.

upon the bosom of a king,

gem

little

so the neat little aggregation

of houses, and schools, and churches, and workshops,

and business houses, known as Annville, formerly

as

Millerstown, begems the bosom of this Quittapahilla

From whatever

valley.

and

glitters.

It

side

you approach

Whether viewed from southern valley of

through

its streets

west,

is

Hollow

the

— in

charms

has inherent beauty as a rural town,

and needs no outside adornments

it

it

it,

its

to

make

it

attractive.

the northern ridge of hills or the

bordering creek, whether you walk

or approach

from the east or the

it

same “sleeping beauty”

this season

— not

a Sleepy

of the year a veritable bride,

adorned in her virgin summer robes, and decked

off to

charm the lover-husband who has espoused her and

made her

his own.

Its

many

peaceful looking homes,

lovely in architecture, and surrounded by velvety lawns

and gratefully disposed shade-trees (323)

;

its

towering church

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

324

and

spires

imposing college buildings, surmounted

its

with classic-looking cupolas and classic-ringing

bells,

and surrounded by an umbrageous campus, combine

make Annville an and in

all

that

it is

ideal

town in picturesque beauty

not owned by

is

the surrounding townships.

reached

its

it

this,

but

itself,

I

still

belongs to

should think

it

had

majority, and was able to cut the maternal

apron-string and start out in

does

A pity

the attractions of rural municipality.

it

to

life

independently.

and adds a few more tucks

to its

If it

maiden

frock,

can soon boast of being the prettiest municipal daugh-

ter of all this

Lebanon

valley,

and such a launching out

upon the municipal world would doubtless add list

of

its

devout admirers.

This town was

laid

out by one Miller shortly after

the middle of the last century, and for a

decades was for a

to the

named

long period,

postal matters,

it

number

of

Annville, but afterward Millerstown

when because

of

was again changed

about a generation ago.

Messrs.

its

confusion in

to the first

name

Abram Raiguel and

Ulrich have also taken leading parts in the town’s early establishment.

standing on

its

Some

of the original houses are

main and

side streets.

But there

still is

no

particular history connected with them, save that doubtless into

Dady

them entered

— that

that famous

impostor— Dr. John

sacerdotal wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing,

who

in

the latter portion of last century, here for a while suc-

game of gulling the German folk and extorting

cessfully practiced a smart ple, all

too credulous

simtheir

A GLIMPSE OF ANNVILLE. hard-earned cash from them. sian

325

This glib-tongued Hes-

— a remnant of those contemptible English Revolu-

tionary hirelings hide,

—-however,

long period,

for a

was not sharp enough

his black and

to

greedy heart

under his ministerio-medical coat from the Argus-eyed

who

officer of the law,

ception, tore the

in

due time discovered his de-

mask from

his face,

and sent him

the penitentiary, where he deservedly pined out his

For further data concerning reader

to

Rupp’s

History

Berks

of

we

impostor

this

and

to

life.

refer the

Dauphin

counties.

Another dark page of this fair village of

is

u old Showers.”

to blot the otherwise fair history

the monstrous deed of infanticide

This

is

need not be recounted here. deed was committed,

foul lived,

of such recent date that

The

it

buildings where this

and where the

murderer

and other scenes connected with the horrible acts

here transacted, are

still

found in the southern portion

of the town, while murderer and murdered sleep close

together in one

of the burial grounds

awaiting their resurrection and u last day.”

About the

oldest

landmark of

final

of the

town,

judgment

at the

historic account

is

the

old Ulrich homestead to the northeast of town, almost

opposite the Reading railroad depot. the

home

suddenly ago.

of Mrs. bereft

Here early

immigrant

Commodore of

father

The

place

is

now

P. Steinmeiz’s family,

and

husband

in the last century the

settled, the great-grandfather of

not first

long Ulrich

Mrs. Stein-

326

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

metz, and in 1751 he built a stone house, part of which is still

standing.

It

was provided with an arched

built over a never failing spring,

and with

being thus furnished with the essentials for

cellar,

air-holes, life,

and

proved a safe place for retreat in case of an attack by the

THE OLD ULRICH HOMESTEAD.

That these

Indians, as happened on several occasions. early inhabitants

must have

imminent danger

to life

realized their constant

from this source

is

and

evinced by

the engraving found upon the stone that was used as the door-sill of the old fort, viz. “ SO

OFT DIE THUR DEN ANGEL WENDT,

O MENSCH, DEIN END BEDENK

!

1751.”

A GLIMPSE OF ANNVILLE. This stone

found here, but when the house

still

is

was remodeled

it

327

became part of

a porch-pillar, while a

newly-engraved head-stone preserves the old legend in

more modern and

legible form, together with the

of the

Mr. and Mrs. Steinmetz.

builders,

names

This old

house was used as a store and trading post with the Indians by the in

first

Ulrich; and the apple orchard, just

front of the homestead,

ground, for

burial

it

is

is

pointed out as an Indian

reported

that

made their home for weeks with this One evening this pioneer and his son the late

Adam

many

first

Indians

white

settler.

(the father of the

Ulrich) were surprised by an attack of a

murderous gang of red-men, but were fortunate enough to escape their

by a hasty

deadly tomahawks and scalping-knives,

retreat to this sheltering refuge-cellar, where-

upon the maddened savages cutting out their tongues.

year 1756 or 1757. also

If

killed all their cattle

by

This happened about the

we mistake

not, this

is

the place

where the Rev. Daniel Ulrich, of Tulpehocken

fame, was born and reared to manhood.

Walking through the town, one

is

struck with the

classic-looking grounds and buildings of the

Lebanon

Valley College of the U. B. Church, located here, under the successful

management

of Dr. Bierman, president

the tasty-looking homes, the fine churches, built

and well-painted public houses or

prising carriage manufactories of

John

;

the well-

hotels,

enter-

L. Saylor and

Sons, Barnhart and Beam, T. Loser and Mr. Shenk, the long-established and reliable marble works of

J.

H

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

328

Black, the Daisy Shirt Factory, carried on by a stock

company, of which the president

(present

Judge Kinports was

late

incumbent

is

writer), the lime-stone pulverizing

man, and the three ancient the Quittapahilla.

not

to

first

the

works of John Bach-

grist-mills

These are now

known

on the banks of

in the proprietorship

John Bachman, David Kreider and Long & Himmelberger (owned by Mr. Killinger of Lebanon), re-

of Messrs.

spectively,

commencing on

the east and following the

westward course.

The

stream in

its

town are

in the proprietorship of Messrs. Kinports

principal stores of

and

Shay, Beam and Bachman, M. F. Batdorf and John Shope. The first store kept here was that of the late Mr. John Shertzer, who came to this village in its infancy from Manheim, and time.

The

made

building used

quite a fortune in his

for the prosecution

of his

now used by the Annville Fire Insurance Company, and owned by C. Smith, Esq. Walking south on White Oak street, one passes a number of buildings with an interesting local history. One of these is the fine stone residence of Mr. William business

Biever,

is

ex-County Treasurer.

residence of his uncle, Mr.

This

used to be the

John D. Biever, who was

one of Annville’s most liberal and public-spirited

men

in his day.

Besides the furthering of other laudable

enterprises,

he was in a sense the founder and father of

the

first

street.

Evangelical Lutheran church located on Main Besides donating the ground,

he paid about

one-half of the cost of building, presented the church

A GLIMPSE OF ANNVILLE. with a

329

fine two-story brick sexton’s house,

made

pro-

widow

carried out after his death) of

erecting an elegant and

commodious brick parsonage

vision (which his

next to the church, and endowed the church to the

CHURCH BUILDING, PARSONAGE, AND SEXTON’S HOUSE OE THE FIRST EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH AT ANNVILLE, PA.

amount

of

His

$3,000.

widow supplemented

this

amount by an additional legacy of $2,100, while the same estate endowed the cemetery by another $1,000.

The

W.

Tewars,

tions say,

H.

and that

grew out

present says,

pastor

church,

this

concerning

this noble-hearted

the

of

these

man: “It

is

Rev.

benefac-

but due to

commendable generosity here recorded

of a life-long Christian character.

The

piety

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

330

of Mr. Biever

He assumed church

was acknowledged by

all

who knew

for half a century,

and

for forty-nine years

which Mr. Biever lived was

John D. Biever,

by his

built

was

The house

the superintendent of the Sunday-school.” in

him.

a directing and sustaining influence in the

father,

Sr., in 1814.

In the year 1804 was erected the substantial stone

church of

edifice located

on

this street,

on a

little

ground and shaded by a grove of locust

originally built as a union church (Reformed theran),

and

is

Hiester, has served

and we are

it

It

was

and Lu-

It

has been

Its pastor,

Rev. Dr.

a child of the Hill church.

exclusively Reformed since 1871.

elevation

trees.

consecutively for forty-two years,

about his preaching

told there is a vigor

to-

day that would indicate that not much of his natural

The

force has as yet abated.

that have served

this

other Reformed pastors

church were the same as have

The

preached at the Hill church during this period.

Lutheran pastors have been Revs. Lochman, Ernst, Krotel, ler.

Miller,

The

Porr,

Fetzer,

school-house, as

is

Weaver

customary,

and

we

Deitz-

find near

the church, but since the days of the public school

system dence.

it

has been remodeled

It is at

Daniel Seabold.

and

used as a

present occupied and

Here such teachers

Bachman, Strine and

others

resi-

owned by Mr.

as Messrs. Fisher,

taught

the

now

gray-

headed citizens of the town and their departed companions during their juvenile years, the Psalters and their

German

spelling-books.

A GLIMPSE OF ANNVILLE. Strolling on

past the old cemetery,

33

we soon come

where the cool and mill-wheel-turning Quittapahilla flows

by the town.

A

beautiful stone triple-arched

bridge here spans the stream, from which one has a picturesqueness of view in the

THE RAIGUEL scape that of

is

quite charming.

Abram and

1797.

a

land-

MILL-

Close by

is

the old mill

Elizabeth Raiguel, which, according to

the date-stone in

On

new surrounding

little

its

front elevation,

was

built A. D.

hillock to the south stands the fine

old Raiguel farm-house, with all

its

antique appurte-

nances, built four years earlier, a venerable centennial

LANDMARKS IN THE LEBANON VALLEY.

332

relic of rural comfort, agricultural prosperity

and that

proverbial peace and contentment that attend husbandry.

Here,

if

we mistake

not, the

Wedekind, of San Diego, sister,

Cal.,

wife of Rev. Dr. A. C.

and Mrs. Boughter, her

of Lebanon, were raised to

womanhood.

The

Cassidys and Shirks have also married into this family.

THE RAIGUEE FARM-HOUSE.

This

farm,

with

ancient dwellings,

its

is

now

the

property of Mr. Josiah Kreider, living near the Horse-

shoe pike, while the mill property has been owned since

1840

proprietor. besides,

by David All

was the

of

Kreider and his son,

this

property,

original possession of

present

many acres Abram Raiguel, a

and

A GLIMPSE OF ANNVILLE.

333

bachelor uncle of the builder of the mill named, whose log-

now

cabin used to stand where the farm-house

stands.

He was

from whence,

a native of Cougmont, Switzerland,

after settlement here,

and made him his

Other old families are the

heir.

Imbodens (one scion

he called his nephew

the Confederate General

Virginia), Kreiders, etc., all

whose

first

from

ancestors are

buried at the Hill church.

Were we to drift down this Indian-named creek we should soon come to where, in the days of the Revolution, adjunct,

we

stood

a

an

gun-barrel boring mill,

suppose, to the very prosperous gun-smith

business which then flourished in and about Lebanon.

Farther down we would find the grist-mill of Mr. Kil-

ago by a Mr. Herr, and

linger, built long

on

its

still

farther

course the spot where, in 1812, Mr. Hentzleman

and others of Lancaster county, erected,

mous expense

of

woolen

which

factory,

$96,000,

at the enor-

an extensive cotton

failed in

and

due time, according

to

Rupp, only because of the “ruinous policy of the nonprotection of

Were we should

American industry.” to drift

shortly

on in our imaginary course, we

arrive

where

this

with the waters of the Swatara.

imagine seeing those other rude

stream

And

here

mingles

we can

rafts, or canoes, on

which were embarked the wives and children of the sixty families of temporary Schoharie settlers, who, in

the spring of 1723,

were passing

this point,

slow progress up this stream towards

its

making

headwaters

334

LANDMARKS

IN

THE LEBANON VALLEY.

and that of the Tulpehocken, tion.

What

and here

pilgrimage,

their longed-for destina-

better place than this to close our historic suffer the streamlet of our

ex-

plorations to be engulfed by the mightier tide of our

common

history?

Therefore,

we

bring

shall

our

ancient and historic researches to an end on the banks of this valley’s

whose 1836,

most conspicuous stream, of which and

settlers the gifted

Whittier has sung as early as

“ Lines ”

to

that bold-hearted yeomanry, honest

and

when he

addressed his

Governor

Ritner of our State, as follows: “

And

true,

Who, haters of fraud, give to labor its due Whose fathers of old sang in concert with thine,

On

the banks of Swatara, the songs of the Rhine,

The German-born The scorn

pilgrims,

who

first

dared to brave

of the proud in the cause of the slave.’*