USA > Pennsylvania > Lebanon County > Lebanon > Addresses delivered at the second stated meeting of the Lebanon County Historical Society, held in the court house, Lebanon, Pa., Friday, April 15, 1898 > Part 2
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Some of you may ask how, in the fre- ment absence of the records of the fam- ih, shall this work commence. This, In the meagerness of data has been done, and you can all assist in doing good work aiso on this line, We all know who our parents are, and our grandparents, and
perchance our great-grandparents, but who can give the names of his sixteen great-great-grandparents, or any beyond that? A person who can trace baek his six or more ancestors deserves honor for so doing, and there are many in our state today who have succeeded therein with less data to start upon than any one here may have.
Your county of Lebanon was formerly an integral part of that of Danphin. Dau- phin was formed from that of Lancaster, which was organized in 1729 from Chester -- Dauphin in 1785, Lebanon in 1813. So yon find you have the records of your own connty, those of Dauphin and those of Lancaster to search. Of course, this is not an easy task, nor does it suit every individual to make these researches; and this brings me to one of the principal ob- jects of the local Historical Society. In time some industrious member whose heart is in such a work, will attempt to go over the wills, the administration ac- counts, the deeds, and make copies of the assessment lists prior to the organization of your coungs, as well as other docu- ments bearing upon the history of Leban- on. From them you can gather much re- lating to the early families, and these can be supplemented by the records in Lebs anon, old graveyard inscriptions, and data furnished by the meager information preserved in your various churches throughout the county. It is no easy task to do this, but "where there is a will there is a way," and I hope to live to see the time when the Lebanon County His- torical Society is in possession of all this information.
With these important items before yon concerning the history, biography and ge- nealogy of Lebanon county, you have plenty of work outlined in this paper. 1 sincerely trust that there may be some of you who will take to heart much that I have referred to, and determine that as for yourselves you will assist in the pious duty commended to you. This society can accomplish all and more than I have pointed out, but it will require patience and perseverance and an enthusiasm for the labor which such work requires. Do not allow your energy to flag. Keep up your society. You may be only a hand- ful now, but if you will hold togeth- er, the day will come when your . work will be appreciated, and others will seek to enjoy your privileges. With the increased interest manifested by the mem-
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bers of hereditary societies, these may be of great value to you. Counsel them. however, to make their researches along the lines of home history, and not to con. tinue in the glorification and reiteration of the old myths and traditions, unsub- stantiated by accurate records, and pre- pared by those who have no sympathy with our section of this great state.
One word in conchision. I again repeat
if at any time I can be of service to von or any member of your society, in assist- ing in historical researches of whatsoever kind. it will afford me the greatest of pleasure. Thank you not only for- your presence, but for your kind appreciation of my labors in the cause of the history. biography and genealogy of Lebanon. county.
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LEBANON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY .
THE EARLY HISTORY OF SCHAEFFERSTOWN, PA.
ABRAM S. BRENDLE, ESQ.
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In this short sketch, or address, we have Little or nothing to do with ivy-clad towers and battlemented castles, such as would figure couspicuously in the history of many towns and villages of England or Germany. The conditions and require- ments of fendalism that rendered strong- holds a necessity to the safety of the lord of the fee in Europe during the middle ages never had any existence iu the New World. The town of Heidelberg, sprang up in the wilderness, and was the result of a number of plain people associating themselves together for mutual conven- ience and security.
The people who first settled here and built the town had little of the spirit of romantie adventure about them. They were but a few of the many who ungrated in the early years of the eighteenth cen- tury from the Rhine countries to Penn- sylvania. The cause of their migration is well known .. Dire necessity compelled them to leave their ancestral homes to seek an abiding place in a strange land. The ruthlessness of French invaders in the closing decade of the seventeenth cen- tury had left many of them homeless and most of them extremely poor, if not des- titute. In the extremity of their need God opened a way of escape for then. from the house of bondage. They heard! of a land of pronnse, which was then lit. crany a howling wilderness, but which their industry was to cause to smile with plenty and beauty; and they lost no time m setting out to reach it. Thousands upon thousands of Palatinates, Swiss and Suabians made their homes in Penn's Woods during the first half of the eigh- teenth century, and among these were the settlers of Heidelberg township and town.
We have no boastful claims to make for these German-and Swiss settlers; and vet there was a sturdy heroism and bold enterprise about the manner of their m :- gration that we are compelled to admire, and that might well inspire the pen of the poet and story writer, far above the story of the wanderings of Eneas and his band of Trojans. It is lauded as a brave thing in the Pilgrim Fathers to have settled on
the bleak shores of New England in 1620; but it was just as brave a thing for the Palatinates and other Germans and Swiss at the beginning of the eighteenth century to leave the haunts and comforts of civil- ization far behind, move inland through unbroken stretches of deuse forest, and make their habitation in primeval soh- tudes in such places as a bubbling spring or a stream of water marked as desirable. Humble of birth though they were, and in many cases so poor that they were un- able to pay their passage across the ocean, the German settlers of Pennsylvania were among nature's noblemen, possessing a sturdiness of character that assured them a complete, if not an easy, victory over adverse circumstances.
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The earliest history of Schaefferstown is wrapped in obscurity. It is impossible to fix the date when the first white people made their home here. Any date be; tween 1705 and 1720 will do as well as an- other, as absolute certainty is unobtam- able. It seems reasonably certain, how. ever, that the first settlement was made prior to 1720, and that the first settlers were German Jews. What motive they had for making their homes among the savages who then inhabited the wilderness is a matter for conjecture, but it is probable that they were Indian traders. They apparently gave themselves little concern about the title to the land they occupied, although they erected a number of substantiaz dwelling houses and a synagogue, and set apart a small piece of land for a burial ground, which they enclosed with a thick stone wall. It is said that they also had a rabbi to expound the seriptures, for them in the synagogue. All this, except what pertains to the cemetery, is founded on tradition.
GREAT INFLUX. OF GERMANS AND SWISS.
The great influx of Palatinates and other Germans and Swiss into that part `of the land of the Penns, now comprised in Lebanon county, commenced some time subsequent to 1720. The proprietaries did
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not then have the title to the land from the Indians, but the nungrants occupied it. without seruple. The fertile valley in which Schaeffer-town is situated attract. ed numerous settlers, who constructed rude log duelhugs for themselves, and cleared the most available land near theit domiciles for agriculture. Atter 172. when the L'euns acquired the title to the land from the Indians, many of these intruding settlers scented patents to the lands which they before had held by sufferance of the red men.
Among the first patent- granted by the proprietaries for lands in and Some; Schaefferstown was one dated Jaunus IT. 1736, by which John Miles became the owner of 347 acres of land. with 6 per cent. allowance for roads and Inghways, - which included a part of the town on the south, and all the hands on the south side of it. Miley and Catherine, his wife, conveyed the entire tract, March 19, 1736. to Durst Thomas. Durst Thomas ched, leaving Martin Thomas, Durst Thomas, and Anna Thomas as has heis at his. who by indenture dated November 29. 1754, conveyed said tract of land to l'hhp Weiser. Weser the same day comme 12215 acres of said tract to Martin Thom- as and the said Martin Thomas, and Bar. bara, his wife. - June 20, 158. conveyed -103' acces thereof with the ti per cent al. lowance to Alexander Shater. The ad- joining land owners mentioned in the pat ent granted to John Miley were Thomas Croyh and Phibp. Carpenter.
The title to the other land comprised in the site of the town came to Alexander Schaeffer also from said Martin Thomas and Barbara, his wife. The prophetatics granted to .said Martin Thoma - 1131 acres of land with 6 per cent. allow.mer. on the 22d day of April, 1758, and the sand Martin Thomas and white conveyed For acres thereof to Alexander Schaeffer .html 22, 1758. All of this latter tract Schaeffer laid out in town lots, which he sold at the rate of five shillings apiere, reserving a yearly ground rent, varying in amount from 25, to 3 shillings per year, and the right of re-entry for non-payment of sand rent.
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It is agreed by all who ever wrote about the early history of this town that it was laid out prior to 1750, and the little evi. dence that we have at hand tends to prove it. The original wall of the Frank- lin House, which is intact, was built in
1722 by Alexander Schaeffer luimsel, and the old AlBright homestead, winch stoos em the corner of the central square oppo- site to the Franklin House, where Dr. T. T. Zorba's residence now stands, was built m 1758. These dates are established by mcontrovertible evidence, and the only reasonable intefence is that the plan of the town had been evolved long before the title to the land on which it stands had passed out of the hands of the Penns." , In erecting the hotel budding Schacher . was an intruder on the lands of the Penna and we find his name in the hat of tax. ables in the town for the year 1758, given in Dr. Egle's excellent History of Dauph- m and Lebanon Counties. The hst ot taxables in the town for the year 1752. mrnished in the same work, shows that there were many people in the town at that time, then number being large enough to constitute them a town.
All of these settlers accepted title to their holdings from Alexander Schaeffer on the terms above stated; and he thus became the legal founder of the town, at though he was far from being the first tu- habitaut. He was the lord in fee of the town, for all the lot owners held subject to his ground rent rights, which during his lifetime and for almost 50 years after his death were rigidly enforced.
EARLY RESIDENTS.
Among those who resided in town prior to 1790 were the following: Jacob Erty tlerrle) and Eva, his wife, John Kellar. William Weiss, Michael Egolf and Eliz: beth, his wife: Jacob Feetler and Susan na, his wife; Peter Weber, Adam Fried, Sr., and Margaret, his wife: Adam Fried, Jr., and Catherine, his wite: Peter Drab inger. Baltzer Casper, Tobias Ritter, Max mus Conrad and Margaret, his wite: Cax. per lba and Gertrude, his wife: George Weiman and Five, his wife: Leonard Crumbine, Josiah Kittera and Sarah, Is wife: Leonard Hortz, Martin Albrecht and Soplna ( Brecht ), his wife: Peter Hons. er and Barbara (Brecht), his wife: George Striekler and Rachel, his wife; Henry Porsch, Henry Borekey and Magdalen., his wife; Philip Erb and Susanna Magda Jena, his wife; Simon Minig. Philip Short zer, Christian Bernhard, Jacob Witmer, Jacob Weaver, Christopher Seyter, George Ulrich, Sinon Libely, Andrew Moore, Andrew Miller. John Fisher, Paul Gem berling, Jacob Sander and Catherine, htx wife; Peter Reem and Susanua, lus wife;
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Frederick Stump, Jacob Seesner, Chris- ban Suntth, Philip Bon-man, John Tice, Benedict Imhofe, Adam Hildebutel, John Garman, Bernhard Jacobs and Catherine, las wife; John Kelt, George Shorek. Pant Swinger. Jacob Zartman, John Hilsen. Philip Ebrecht, Francis Smith, Casper Sweitzer. M. D., and Ana Maria, his wite: George Dissinger and Indith Con. serie his wife: Alexander Schaeffer. Anna lingel, has hrst wite, and Catherme. his second wife: Jacob Gembering. Theophil. . us England, Jolm Theodore Intins, JJohn Diekman and Margaret, Ins wite: . Joseph Kratzer, George Albrecht and Eva. his wife: George Nell, Henry Petter. Philip Peffer, Martin Beyer, Sielass Bucher. Robert Murdock, Michael Kapp, .John Krom and Anna Maria, has wife; George Swingle and Margaret, his wife; Philip Boyer and live, his wife; Andrew Capp and Catherine, his wife; Michael Winter. Christian Armstrong, Contad Mover. .. In. cob Lauser, .John Later and Barbara, his wife: Jacob Londerunich. Jacob Kitz. miller, Anthony Wilson, Anthony Stregel and Christina, his wife; John South. Wendel Manch, John Oxman, John Son- der. Bartholomew Lobach. Nicholas stump, Jacob Bricker and Catherme. his wife; Jacob Brecht and Elizabeth. George Kapp and Magdalena. his wife: Fol Schaeffer, Captain Henry Schneller. Anm: Eva, his first wife, and Margaret. his see and wife: Martin Hess. John Sweitzer. Frederick Dobler and Catharme. In- wife: Frederick Albright. Michael Trion. M. D. and wife: Jacob Groll. M. D. and r.l. beth, Ins wife. This het melides only ti names of heads of families and those of their wives as far as these could be - certained from old records and title p. pers. It is as complete and comprehen save as the author was able to make it. but he very much regrets that it does not melude the names of the children of each couple as well as the names of the waves that are wanting.
THE PLAN OF THE TOWN.
The plan of the town was lagets de termed by two great roads running through the valley, the one north and south and the other east and west, and in tersecting each other where the center of the town was located. the principal street running north and south was nam al Market street. Only two other street- run north and south; Que cast of Market was named Front street, and the other.
west of Market, was named Carpenter street. Both of these are blind streets. both ends being closed. The principal street, in fact, the only one, running est and west, was named Main street. \n merous alleys, It feet in width, connected these main thoroughtares with each other. I notable peculiarity in the plan is that the lots along Front, Market and Carpen ter streets fronted on said streets and ran parallel with Main street. In this pal tienlar modifications were subsequently made by the owners of a number of blocks, and the lots made to front on Main street as more convement for build- mg purposes.
THE NAME OF THE TOWN. .
.As the principal center of population in the original township of Heidelberg, Iam- caster county, which comprised not only the present townships of Heidelberg, Jackson and Mill Creek, in Lebanon comity, but also a considerable part of Berks county, as well as a part of Eliza beth township, in Lancaster county, the town was very properly named Heider. berg. When it received this name, or whether Mexander Schaeffer had any- thing to do with naming it, we have no means of determining. Schaeffer, how. ever. did all in his power to make it per manent, for he invariably used it m the deeds by which he conveyed his town los to purchasers. The town was first ralles Schaefferstown at the beginning of the present, century, between 1 and 20 years after the founder's death; but the name Heidelberg continued i use, especially th title papers for town property, even at late as 1830. Its present name is a titting tribute to the memory of its farsighted tomater.
THE OLD MARKET HOUSE.
This was a large building, open on all sides, with its root testing upon piller -. It stood on the northern half of Market, or Center, Square, and showed that the people who built it had great expecta tions for the future of the town. They provided for the needs of en popnions place. Their expectations were not real.' wed, and we know of na particular use ever made of the market house, except during the annual cherry tais, for which the town was noted, when people who had cherries, raisins, mint drops, molasses randy and other refreshments for sale oe cupied its stalls. It remunmed until near
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the middle of the present century, when it collapsed and was removed. Many of the oldest residents, who played'amid its empty stalls in childhood days hohl ten- der recollections of it.
THE FRANKLIN HOUSE.
This historic hostelry stands on the northwest corner of Market square and Main street. It was erected by Alexan- der Schaeffer in 1752, and is built sub- stantially of stone. Its exterior walls are of uncommon thickness and its arched and groined cellar shows solid and artis. tic masonry which many sightseers have admired. It is not known > whether Schaeffer himself was ever in the hotel business or not. During Colonial times the hotel bore the name of "The King George;" after the Revolutionary war it became the "George Washington" and subsequently, the "Franklin House,' which last name it still retains. In 1884 it was remodeled and greatly enlarged, but its original walls remain.
THE WATER WORKS.
There are those who claim that the Schaefferstown water works are the old- est of their kind in the United States. The exact dite of their construction is unknown, but it is fixed by good author- ity prior to 1750. The source of the water supply is a never fathng spring of pure soft water, locate ! at about the middle of the northern slope of Tower Hill, at a distance of between two hundred and fifty and three hundred yards from the center of Market square. A small reservoir wax . constructed at the spring and covered and enelosed with a stone arch; and from this the water was conducted by means of un- derground pipes to and along Market street north to the northwest corner of Market square. A fountain, or hydrant, was placed there, and another about a hundred yards south of the first; and from both of these the water Hows with- out interruption throughout the year. The title to the lot on which the spring is located was conveyed by Alexander Schaeffer and Anna Engle, his wife, by deed dated July 16, 1763, -to George !'}- rich and Frederick Albright, trustees and ' overseers of said leading spring and tract of land, for the use of the inhabitants of Market street, of the town of Heidelberg; -under and subject, however, to the ens- tomary ground rent to be paid yearly to said grantor, his heirs and assigns forever.
STIEGEL'S CASTLE OR TOWER. Henry William Stiegel, commonly
known as Baron Stiegel, the founder of Manheim, Lancaster county; a man with a checkered career, being an ironmaster, glass manufacturer and school teacher at different periods of his hfe, in the year 1769 built a castle, or tower, on top of the hill on whose northern slope the spring of the Schaefferstown water company is io- cated. The. tower was constructed of word, except the foundations, and had _ the shape of a frustru of a pyramid, be- 'ing fifty feet square at the base and ten ·fret square at the top, and seventy-live feet in height. The baron was the very - soul of hospitality, and he built this cas the for the purpose of entertaining his . friends as well as the people of the neigh- borhood in general in princely style at fixed .periods of the year, when he made brief visits there. The interior of the castle consisted of several spacious ban- quet halls .. The structure long ago fell in decay. and not a vestige of it now re- mains; bit the hill ou which it stood 19 - still known as Tower Hill.
THE REFORMED CHURCH.
The earliest Reformed and Lutheran settlers were not indifferent to the cause of education. They straightway erected a schoolhouse, a log building, on the northern part of the lot at present owned by the Reformed congregation, for their common use. In that humble edifice the children of the neighborhood were taught reading, writing, and arithmetic; and di- vine worship was also helt there when ever Reformed or Lutheran clergymen emne to town. The Reformed preachers who ministered to the spiritual wants of the people in this way from time to time were Conrad Templeman, John Conrad Bu- cher, lohn Zufall, John William Runkel, Dominicus Bartholomeus, Reiger and William Stoy. Of the Lutheran ministers who served their people. during this period unfortunate- lv
no record exists. John Theo- dore Hufins, a member of the Reformed church, is the first school teacher men- tioned in connection with the school house. We have reason to believe that the schoolhouse was erected carly in the 18th century from the fact that in 1766 it was necessary to repair it at consider- able cost.
Sometime subsequent to the erection of the schoolhouse a union church, also of logs, was built, in which the Reformed and Lutheran people, then worshipped till
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LEBANON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
1765, when, in consideration of eighty pounds sterling money, payable in four tu- -tallments, the Lutherans sold their inter. esta in the lot, church and schoolhouse to the Reformed. Mexander Schaeller and Anga Engel, his wite, by deed, dated Sep- tember 6, 1765, for the consideration of . live shillings and a yearly ground rent of one penny sterling, conveyed the lot on which the church and schoolhouse stood. being lot No. 42 in the general plau of the town, to John Wolfesperger and Durst Thomas, trustees of the German Reformed church, and their successors in office, and assigns forever. The Reformed congregation continued to worship in the old church until 1795, when it was replac- ed by a new structure of stone, built on the adjoining lot, on Main street, which lot the congregation had bought from Capt. Henry Schaeffer in 1790. The stone church gave way in 1858 to the present brick edifice of the same congregation. The pastors, in addition to those above- named, during the 18th century, were William Hendel, Sr., Ludwig Lupp, aud William Hendel, Jr.
EARLY MEMBERS OF THE REFORM. ED CHURCH.
Among the early members of the Re- formed church were these: Jacob Withier, Abraham Stump aud Margaret, his wife; Vexander Schaeffer and Anna Engel, this wite, Henry Schaeffer and Anna Eva, his wife, John Schaeffer, Jacob Schanb, Met- fluor Lautermilch, Christian Kreidler, John Daub, Martin Meletfinger, Lorentz Keller, Bastian Burkert, Adam Bohlen der, Joseph Schwertzele, Christian Bern- hard, Casper Schweitzer and Gertrude, his wife, John Brecht and Margaret (Schaef- rer), his wife; Conrad Eichelberg, Panl 'emberling, Jacob Gemberhng and Catha- nne (Wollesperger), his wife; John Ros- weiter, Jacob Peifer, Christian Bollinger, Rudolph Bollinger, Jacob Berger, Jacob
Thomas, Durst Thomas and Sophia Fritz), his wife; Heronimus Troutman, George Frontman and Christus, his wife; Jacob Dne, Endwig Mans and Margaret. ins wife; Michael Hack and Sabina Schaeffer), his wife; fleury Kring and I. zabeth, his wife; William Besch, Elz- ibetn Thomas, John Ogseuman, Wdham Henry Leineweber, flenry Schram, Nich. als Esanger and Catharine, his wife, Henry Keller, John Wolfesperger, Philip Wolfesperger, Peter Wolfesperger, George Wolfesperger and Eve, his wife; Henry Barkey and Catharine, his wife; Peter
Sheetz and Catharine, his wife; Mathias Jacoby, Henry Hibschman and Catharine, his wife; Valentine Miller and Maria M., his wife; Joseph (JJost ) Hoffman, John Krum and anna M., his wife; John Diek- man and Margaret, his wife; JJacob Mays ( Meess) and Catharine, his wife; George Mays, Henry Mays, Nicholas Mays, Eliz- abeth Mays, Baltzer Laber, Mary Ham- mer, Anna M. Weber, Catharina Achen. bach, Khzabeth Kuntz, Elizabeth Klick, Catharine Weber, John Wunderlich, Si- sanna Peffer, George Hoffman, Jacob Hoffman, Julia Hoffman, Anna M. Hoff- man, Adam Jacobs and Margaret, his wife; Christina Hoffman, Adam Specht, Magdalena Borkey, Henry Hibshman and . Catharine, his wife; Jacob Guth and Eliz -. abeth, his wife; Frederick Doebler and Catharine, his wife; Magdalena Miller, Anna M. Bollman, Anna Eva Bolhnan and Anna M. Donges ( Dinges). All of these were members of the church prior to 1790. The Schaeffers, Wolfespergers, Trout- mans, Millers, Mayses, Sheetz, Krumts, and Burkeys were the pillars of the early church.
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH.
The Lutheran congregation, having sold its interest in the \mon church, bought the lot on the corner of Front and Main streets, and began, in 1765, the erection o? a church for themselves. It was built substantially of , stone, limestone walls. with sandstone trimmings; and so well was the mason work done that after the lapse of six score years the walls were as sohd as a rock. The church had three eu- tranees: one on Main street, another on Front street, and the third at the western end. The interior was fitted with galler- ies on the east, south and west sides, rest ing on massive wooden pillars. Stairways led up to these galleries from the eastern and western entrances. An old pipe or- gan, made by Dieffenbach, ocenpied a part of the western gallery, the bellows ol which were operated by means of ropes pendant from above. The bell on the church was also rung from that part of the gallery. The pews were straight-back. ed, with a hymn book rest on top. The pulpit, shaped like a goblet, stood against the northeru wall, and had an ornamental sounding board, or canopy, above it and a narrow staircase leading up to it. The altar occupied a position directly in front of the pulpit and was enclosed with a high wooden railing. The church was completed in 1767, and theury Peffer and
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