USA > Pennsylvania > Ancient and historic landmarks in the Lebanon Valley > Part 12
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In 1765 he again participated in an expedition against the incursive Ohio Indians under General Bouquet, when the celebrated capture was inade of the captive white men, women and children these enemies had in former years carried off; among whoin was the noted Regina Hartman, who sleeps in one of the "God's acres " of our valley. While on their return from this expedition, and while encamped at Fort Bedford, an association was formed by the officers of these Pennsyl-
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vania Regiments to ask the Proprietaries to make a new purchase of land from the Indians and grant to each of them a reasonably large and commodious tract as a plantation. Their efforts succeeded, and thus there was ceded to Captain Bucher, in 1769, no less than 616 acres in the Buffalo Valley (Union county), and 570 acres in the Bald Eagle Valley (Center county). Feb- ruary 26, 1760, Lieutenant Bucher married Mary Mag- delena, daughter of George Hoak, of York, and three sons survived him to perpetuate his name and fame in Dauphin and Huntingdon counties. During 1765-68 he resided at Carlisle and began the service of the Re- formed Church as minister, officiating in churches at Falling Spring, Hagerstown, Sharpsborough, Fred- erickstown, Middletown, Hummelstown, Quittapahilla, and Lebanon, as well as Carlisle. In 1768 he accepted a call from Lebanon, and removed hither in the spring of 1769, his field extending over large parts of what are now Lebanon and Lancaster counties. Such exposures and trying services, however, tell on any constitution. The strain was too much for the soldier-priest, Bucher, and he succumbed to heart-disease on the 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 to carry his body back to Lebanon, his friends would not consent to it, but carried the dead pastor on their shoulders to his home-a distance of five miles. He lies buried among
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the honored and loving flock he shepherded so faith- fully. A sandstone marks his tomb, with the following inscription :
Hier ruhet im Tod der Leib CONRAD BUCHER
Prediger 12 Jahr in Libanon Gebohren D. 10 Juny 1730 Mit seiner Ehe frau Magdelena lebte 20 Jahr. Zeigte 8 Kinder 4 sein in die ewigkeit voran gegangen. Gestorben D. 15 Aug. 1780. Seines Ruhen vollen Alters 50 Jahr 2 Mon. 5 Tag.
One might here find enough material for somber reverie and meditation. The grave 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 of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth, e'er gave, Await alike the inevitable hour ; The paths of glory lead but to the grave."
Two other pastors of this flock lie buried on these Reformed graveyards, old and new. In the old, near the church, is the tomb of Rev. William Hiester. A large flat stone marks his resting place, which is in- scribed as follows :
FACE TO FACE WITH PAST WORTHIES.
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Zumı Audenken des
EHRW. WILHELM HIESTER
Prediger 28 Jahr in
Libanon und den umliegen-
den Reformirten Gemeinden. Gebohren den II November 1770
Zeugte II Kinder 7 Sohne und 4 Tochter. Starb den Sten Feby 1828
Alt 57 Jahr 2 Monath und 28 Tage.
[Here follows a long rhythmic appeal to the flock to be faithful and meet their pastor on high.]
The Hebron Diary has many complimentary things to say of him also. Rev. William Hendel preached his funeral sermon, February II, from the text, Deut. xxi. 16.
In the new cemetery, opposite the church, on Tentli street, a beautiful monument marks the resting place of the congregation's pastor who gave it the longest unin- terrupted term of service (a little over 38 years) of any of her many shepherds, viz., Rev. Dr. F. W. Kremer. From all accounts he was an ideal pastor, much be- loved by his people. He had but one other charge be- sides-that of Grindstone Hill, near Chambersburg, Pa.
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"While conducting the funeral cortege of Mrs. Samuel Heilman to the Hill church, he was suddenly translated to his reward in heaven, on the morning of June 14, 1889, his horse and carriage being struck by a fast ex- press on the Lebanon Valley R. R. at a crossing near the Hill church. . His name and life have found lasting place in the hearts of those who so long enjoyed his faithful ministry." The following epitaph tells the brief story of his services and death :
HOŁY BIBLE
REV. F. W. KREMER, D. D.
Pastor of First Reformed Church from April 1, 1851, to the day of his death, June 14, 1889. Killed by a 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-
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tain the sacred ashes also of Mrs. Rev. Stoy, Mrs. Rev. Hiester, Mrs. Rev. H. Wagner and Mrs. Rev. Kremer. 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, Heisters, Hubers, Pfeiffers, Dr. John B. Mish's, Karchs, Moores, Elliotts, a long row of Greenawalt graves, in some of which sleep Revolutionary sires ; the Kelkers, including that of Anthony, treasurer of the church when the present edifice was erected ; and the Gottfried Eichelberner of that day, and Esq. |Peter Lineaweaver and wife, and many others. We think we found also the long-lost grave of George Steitz, the founder of this city and donor of this church lot. Now we 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 man came in contact with the bones of the buried Prophet Elisha, and it had the effect of stirring the newly- extinct body into life and new animation. We neither care to produce a sensation nor to call back any one that has passed from life, but we have strong sus- picions that by some amateur "Old Mortality " the tomb of George Steitz has been made to read George Stein. I will offer my argument, and let the curious either prove or disprove the same. In the center of
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this old burial ground, east of the church, is an old- fashioned tombstone, north of a fenced-in lot, on which is found a considerable amount of artistic ornamenta- tion. It shows the marks of the sculptor's chisel since originally placed-evidently to retrace a part of the in- scription that was becoming indistinct. It left half of this epitaph intact, because still legible, but found the stone so hardened and coarse-grained as to make it im- possible to engrave the fine text of the other half that was fading, and so the vanishing phraseology was capi- talized. Thus what now reads "Zum Andenken des George STEIN " was certainly at first "Stein " if not "Steitz " with the "tz" so faded that this employed artist of a few decades ago guessed the surname of one more common. This is the theory. The partial alter- ation, with the other half untouched, becomes at once evident to any one visiting the spot. The dates of birth and death seem to be "1717" and "1787" re- spectively, but are almost faded. We invite the curious to examine the case for themselves, and let every "Stein" of this community or elsewhere, having here buried an old ancestor, now speak, or the coming Steitz monument might be by mistake 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. This is the grave of Mr. Curtis Grubb. By his side sleeps his son, who died when a youth of seventeen, and two large flat
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stones, lying side by side, mark their resting places. Mr. Grubb was a brother of Captain Peter Grubb, who figured prominently in Revolutionary times. He had charge of the Cornwall Furnace, which was then cast- ing cannon for the Colonial armies. Curtis was equally enthusiastic for liberty, and exerted himself for its pro- motion at home, while his brother gave his energies to the cause in the field. Thus we find him creating sentiment among his neighbors, serving on various committees, and taking a leading part in this com- munity for liberty. It is said that lie, with his family, were regular attendants of this church, though living in the Cornwall Hills. The following epitaph records his life and demise :
In Memory of CURTIS GRUBB, ESQR., of Cornwall Furnace. Who departed this Life the Twenty-second Day of January, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty- nine. Aged Fifty-eight Years.
Stop Wanderer, Come, learn how vain this life below, How swift thy days pass by, More swift than any stream they flow On to Eternity.
CHAPTER XXIV.
A HALT ON MARKET SQUARE.
WE turn away to-day from the lovely and ancient "God's-acres" of the Reformed, where peacefully sleep so many of Lebanon's past worthies, 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 of Eighth and Willow streets. But this walk leads us across the Central or Market Square of our city, and so we inust make a halt here before going on, and mingle, in this chapter, with the living rather than the dead. For here there is no resemblance to the place we last visited and the one we are next bound for. This is a scene of stirring life, and few that move about this center of our city every day do ever think that they are only a few blocks from the cemetery-that the distance from busy life to tranquil death is so short, that from noon to evening is but a brief span, that Central Square lies so near Cemetery block. But we will not look too gloomily 11pon this stirring scene, and will therefore shake off for to-day the grave-clothes from our spirits. We are be- tween two cemeteries ; but we are now in neither. We
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are in Lebanon's Market Square. Only it is a square without the market-"Hamlet " with Hamlet left out.
" Es wær ken leichte Sach zu mir Wans Marik-House muesst dort weck, Mei Herzt hængt dra, as wie 'n Klett Es macht mich krank, ich muss ins Bett ! Ich schlupp mich in 'n Eck ! O move sell Marik-Haus nimmermehr Eweck fon sellem Center-Schquare ! * ** %
"Sel Schquare war g'macht for'n Marik-Haus nei, Der William Penn hot's g'sad, Er hot die Insching g'frogd dafor- Sie hens gegrant forevermore, Un 's muss ah nau dort sei : Was wær's dan for 'n Marik-Haus Schquare, Wan's net for sel alt Marik-Haus wær ?"
But, alas! Even William Penn, George Steitz, and H. L. Fisher, the York poet, combined, could not keep the old "Marik Haus" in the Lebanon Square. It had to go with the other relics of the olden time before the march of improvement which was ushered in when the second growth came to Lebanon, about a dozen years ago. But most of iny readers will recollect the old market sheds. Some of the oldest of them will re- member the Fourth of July morning when old Dr. Lineaweaver's gig graced the roof, though the Doctor had carefully locked his shed the preceding night to prevent the patriotism of the young Americans of that day from manifesting itself in such and other similar
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demonstrations. And while it stood, on either side of Cumberland street, what fine specimens of Lebanon county produce, in men and maidens, in cheese and cabbages, in radishes and red-beets, in sausages and sauer-kraut, it presented once or twice a week ! Since men live on country produce and settle into aggrega-
CENTRAL SQUARE, LEBANON, PA.
tions of towns and cities, 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 in hand to make purchases. We have come with the chron- icler's pencil to take a few notes of the historic land-
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marks, in the shape of old homes that still surround this market-square of Steitz's town-plan. Coming from the south, we begin with the first old house that faces it on the west corner, and find it a pre-Revolutionary
MARKET SQUARE, LEBANON, PA. (Looking South.)
Showing Filbert's Store, The Mish House, and "American House" in the distance at off set.
relic. It is now a public hostelry and known as the American House. Its fine stone front elevation still bears two stones which tell much of the story of its erection. The inscriptions of religious sentiment, fol-
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lowing a custom of certain German provinces, here read as follows :
GOTT . SEGENE . DISES
HAUS . UND . ALLES . WAS
DA . GEHT . EIN . UND . AUS CASPAR & SAWINA SCHNEBELY . A O . 1771.
MAURER
IN LEBANON
.)
HEINRICH
REWALT
1771
I
L
As far as we know the house has a good name. We can speak from personal experience that it sets a good table, but we have a strong suspicion that some other spirit than the one invoked in this date-stone has some- times "blessed " some who "here go in and out," since
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the private residence has been changed into a public house, with license for the sale of "fire-water." It is now the property of Mrs. Kleiser, and the stopping- place of the country mail coaches. In 1855 it was the property of Dr. John W. Gloninger, who added a third story to it.
From here, past a few business houses, whose his- tories are a checkered story of transfers, we come to the stuccoed and yellow-painted stone house of Mr. John W. Mish. This is another old property, the main part of it having been built, as near as can be remembered, and as a stone in the wall, but under the plaster, says, in 1762. It is the old Krause house, built, it is be- lieved, by John Krause, the great-grandfather of Mrs. Mish, who was a daughter of a younger John Krause, who was the son of David Krause, who was the son of John, Sr., who was married to a daughter 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, mix- ing their blood in Mr. Mish's veins. Their family of children promises fairly to carry the name and honor of a worthy ancestry into the time and generations com- ing, into whatever clime or country they may chance to wander. The house is large and commodious. It has served various purposes. In the beginning of this cen- tury it was a hotel or restaurant. There is still an old inside shutter swinging in the northern room which
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records the bill of 12 segars against ex-President James Buchanan as due Andrew Huber, and having been pur- chased on a Sunday, September 15. We know this noted character, when an aspiring young lawyer, used to practice at Lebanon county courts. During Mr. David Krause's occupancy, and at the first establishment of the county, the main front room of this house was used by him as Prothonotary's office. This Mr. Krause was born in this township in 1750, and was a farmer by occupation. In the back yard of this old mansion there used to be a large Swiss barn, 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 grand- daughter of this celebrated Moravian leader. Part of the same farm is still in possession of the family, and improved by the lovely country residence of Mr. Misli, just a mile south of the town center, and at present occupied by their son Robert. The Revolutionary war spirit fired the blood of young Krause, and, leaving his farm in other hands, he associated himself with those striking for the cause of freedom from a foreign yoke, and became conspicuous as a commanding officer of a local company, and as Commissary 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 and expenditures as a Governmental officer. Among other entries, the writer was interested to find the following :
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"August, 27, 1777. Cash paid to Coln. Adam Orth, for 3 corts of wood, to be delivered to the Hessian pris- oners, at 12 sh. a cort."
There is found here also Mr. Krause's Docket as Jus- tice of the Peace, which is most carefully kept. It shows that on one occasion he imposed the fine of 7 shillings and 2 pence upon a certain man for swearing. We have thought if every similar offense were now fol- lowed by the same penalty, Lebanon would soon have a revenue that would be able to bring us the best street paving, a sufficient 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, in 1790. For two years he served this county also as a Commissioner. After the establishment of the county of Lebanon, Governor Snyder appointed him one of the Associate Judges of the county, which position he held at the time of his death, in 1822. His sons, born here, added honor to the name-the youngest, David, gaining a very fair reputation as Private Secretary of Governor Shulze, Deputy Attorney General of his county, as- sociate editor with General Simon Cameron of the Pennsylvania Intelligencer, editor of State Journal, and as Judge of the Montgomery and Bucks Judicial Dis- trict, while John, father of Mrs. Mish, served as At- torney General of Pennsylvania. The present head of this old homestead, Mr. Mish, is well known for his
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business ability, having served in important positions and filling now the office of Secretary and Treasurer of the Lebanon Gas Company.
Next we come to the corner building, at present (1894) undergoing extensive improvements, in being changed in 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 store and occupied by Mr. Frantz, from whose hands it passed into Jefferson Sherk's and thence into Mr. Diller's and now into Mr. Filbert's. But as we are 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 was commissioned Colonel of the first battalion of Lancaster county. He was associated with Washington in the New Jersey campaign1 of 1776 at Trenton and Princeton, and at the Brandywine he received the commendation of his commander-in-chief for efficiency of service. He was appointed by his state as one of the commissioners to take subscriptions for the continental loan, December 16, 1777, and during the
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war's darkest period he did noble service in collecting food, forage and clothing for the suffering soldiers at Valley Forge, for most of which he is said never to have been recompensed. His regiment was composed of local companies, commanded by such then well-known cap- tains as (1) Casper Stoever, (2) William Paine, (3) Philip Weiser, (4) George Null, (5) Michael Holderbaum, (6) Leonard Immel, (7) Valentine Shoufler, (8) Henry Schaeffer, (9) Daniel Oldenbruck. These names often occur in local history. Colonel Greenawalt died in this place, in 1802, at the good old age of 77 years, highly honored and respected by his fellow citizens. He sleeps in the old Reformned cemetery, and around him have been gathered many of the scions of his large family.
But we must go on. Crossing Cumberland street, we come to the Gloninger homestead-for several genera- tions past the property of this distinguished medical family. Although none but Gloningers have gone in and out of this fine old habitation as occupants for the century that is past, still the building was not erected by any of them, but according to deeds in hand-and the family hold a chest full of these parchment docu- ments, and many precious heirlooms besides-was built by Gen. J. Philip DeHaas. The original sale of this corner town-lot, by Steitz, was made to this historic character shortly after the town was laid out, and the character of the house to be erected upon it was specified in the deed. So it is from this corner that this Revolutionary warrior went fortlı, and to this
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identical house that he came back as his home. Arriving in this country with his father, from Holland, in the year 1739, as a mere child, they settled near this place. He had already given conspicuous service to his adopted country in the French and Indian war. He shared in the officers' land-grants along the West Branch of the Susquehanna at the close of this period, upon which lands in Clinton and Center counties his descendants settled and are still abounding. For ten years-1765-1775-he was one of the King's justices of the peace, residing in this house. There are some very interesting resolutions extant, which were adopted at a meeting of the citizens of Lebanon after the arbitrary measures of the Crown, closing the port in Boston, as early in the Revolutionary agitation as June, 1774, which resolutions bear his name as chairman, and which meeting was held in the house of Captain Greenawalt. The following are the 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:
I. That the late act of the British parliament, by which the port of Boston is shut up, is an act oppressive to the people of that city and subversive of the rights of the inhabitants of America.
2. That while we profess to be loyal subjects of Great Britain, we shall not submit to unjust and iniquitous laws, as we are not slaves, but freemen.
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3. 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 city of Boston have our sincerest sympathy, that their cause is the common cause of America.
6. That Messrs. Philip Greenawalt, Thomas Clark, Michael Ley, Killian Long and Curtis Grubb be a committee to collect contribu- tions for our suffering brethren.
JOHN LIGHT, Secretary."
J. P. DEHAAS, Chairman.
This document shows what spirit of patriotism heaved the bosoms of these gallant citizens, most of them of German ancestry, against whom the false charge has sometimes been made that they were indifferent to the cause of freedom, or totally lacking in patriotism. The Revolution formally opening, we find DeHaas, speedily chosen colonel by Congress to command the First Pennsylvania Battalion. He set the gunsmiths of Lebanon to work to make the muskets for his regiment. His battalion merged into the Second Penn'a Batallion, after his Canada campaign in 1776, which he hence- forth commanded, until he was promoted to a brigadier- generalship, in which capacity he served until 1779. That year he removed to Philadelphia, where he died in June, 1786, "leaving his property here to his wife, Elenor, and son, John Philip, as the executors of his es- tate." And thus this house came to be purchased by the Gloningers, who have held it ever since.
But reserving for another chapter the history of this
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family, when we reach the original homestead of the first Gloninger immigrant on the banks of the Quittapa- hilla, we will pass on to the next homestead, commonly known as the " Weidman House," but now owned and occupied by Dr. Joseph L. Lemberger and family.
This house is a model of preservation, and well shows the character of the old kind of masonry. The date of erection is not quite certain; some claim it to have been built by the DeHaas heirs, and that it is more than a century old. It was long occupied by Edward Godwin, Esq., a native of England, and for a long period a lead- ing legal light of this town. He was the associate of such prominent attorneys of our state as James Bu- chanan, Jenkins, Montgomery, etc., of Lancaster, and the Elders, Fosters, Auricks, etc., of Dauphin counties, who often must have stepped across the threshold of this historic house. Then it became the residence of Mr. J. Andreas Shultze, and was occupied by him when elected to the gubernatorial office of our state. From Governor Shultze it passed into the hands of "Gen. John Weidman, and because of which fact it is often called the Weidman house." From Weidman it came into possession of Mr. Joseph L. Lemberger, whose family now occupies the mansion, with one room re- served for the prosecution of the well-known Central Square drug business. The house is still good enough to shelter another governor, but whether it shall occur, will depend on the present occupant or his successors. We have no objections to have it take place now.
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