History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 64

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Evans, Samuel, 1823-1908, joint author
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1320

USA > Pennsylvania > Lancaster County > History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 64

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

---

Amos S Singer. Amosel

821

WEST EARL TOWNSHIP.

doing his duty as he conceived the duty of man should be performed, died Sept. 5, 1876, leaving be- hind him as a heritage an influence and example that will long stand among the most valued of his native county.

From the Kinzer family record has been taken the genealogy of the immediate ancestry and family of Amos S. Kinzer, as follows: George Kinzer, his father, was the son of Michael and Magdalena Kin- zer, and was born Feb. 18, 1778, upon the old Kinzer homestead in East Earl. There he died Nov. 28, 1834. He was married in 1800 to Anna Margaretta, daughter of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Ellmaker. She was born May 10, 1779. Their children were Maria M., born Oct. 9, 1800 (now Mrs. Henry Yundt, of Blue Ball) ; Amos S., born Feb. 23, 1803, died Sept. 5, 1876; Esais, born Dec. 4, 1805, who became a well- known physician, and died in Lancaster City; Wil- liam, born Sept. 27, 1807, and died at the Gap; Elizabeth, born March 10, 1809 (now Mrs. Aaron Custer, of Pottstown) ; Nathaniel E., born Aug. 10, 1810, died in Franklin County ; Anna MI., born Feb. 20, 1812 (now Mrs. George Diller, of Blue Ball) ; Elias, born March 31, 1814 (now of Harrisburg) ; Caroline, born May 11, 1816 (deceased ) ; George W., born March 27, 1818 (now of San Francisco) ; Levi, born March 13, 1819 (residing in Pottstown); Har- riet C., born Dec. 6, 1821 (now Mrs. George Van . Buskirk, of Pottstown); Benjamin F., born Sept. 6, 1823. (deceased ).

Amos Stanhope Kinzer, the subject of this mem- oir, was married Jan. 23, 1827, to Maria Louisa, daughter of Thomas and Catharine Himes. She was born March 24, 1806. Their children were Catharine . A., born Nov. 20, 1828 (now Mrs. Samuel S. Iligh, of Lancaster) ; George H., born Jan. 2, 1831, and lost on board the steamship " Golden Gate," July 27, 1862, while journeying homeward from San Francisco ; Theodore A., born Aug. 19, 1833, now residing in East Earl.

Amos S. Kinzer was married a second time to Mrs. Elizabeth Hurst, Sept. 15, 1836. She is still living, in her eighty-third year. By the second marriage the children were Anna M., born July 23, 1837 (now Mrs. Albert Mellvaine, of Paradise township) ; Amos E., born Oet. 30, 1838, and died Jan. 22, 1851; Wil- liam II. II., born Oct. 24, 1840, and now residing upon the Kinzer homestead (built by his great-grandfather, Michael, and since then occupied by five generations of the family). The last chill of the second mar- riage, Edward 1., was born May 25, 1843, and died July 25, 1843.

Amos S. Kinzer was "a man among men." IIe gained and never lost the highest esteem of those who had the right to know him best, and although he pursued the even tenor of an uneventful life, he made upon the records of passing time a name that mounted high in the ladder of local fame, the name of an honored and useful citizen. Ile was a man of

dignified presence and keen intelligence. His aim and ambition guided him to show by works that every life should be a valuable purpose, and as far as it lay in his power he exemplified that theory in his walk and conversation. The cause of religion and education ever found in him a warm advocate and zealous laborer, and that he strictly fulfilled the duties of father in the training of his children needs but the declaration that his sons and daughters occupy to- day conspicuous places among the intelligent and respected members of the communities in which they reside. As a fitting tribute to his worth, this article may well include an extract from the words written by his pastor upon the occasion of his death, as fol- lows:

"The subject of this was a man of more than ordi- nary worth, and his death seems to merit more than a mere passing notice. Descended from one of the earliest settlers of Lancaster County, he had his birth, lived, and died upon the homestead of his an- cestors. His body now rests in the cemetery of the New Holland Lutheran Church, hard by the remains of three generations of his ancestry. With his strong mind, his warm, generous heart, and his genial social qualities, he afforded a noble type of true German character Americanized. Although baptized in his infancy, and ever interested in the church of his fathers, and a devout worshiper with God's people, it was only some nine years ago that he could see his way clearly to ratify his baptismal covenant and be admitted to the communion of the church. We have known him with special intimacy since that day, and we have ever found him clear in bis convictions, firm in the true faith of God's word, and faithful to his known Christian duties. Although he resided be- tween five and six miles from his church, it was a rare thing to find him absent from God's house on Sunday morning, and in all these years he never missed a single one of the four communions a year. He was the delegate from the New Holland Lutheran Church to the meeting of the Pensylvania Synod, in Lan- caster, three years ago. In his death the Lutheran Church has lost a devoted member, and his pastor and congregation, but especially his family, have sus- tained a loss that will long be painfully felt."

CHAPTER LIL.

WEST EARL TOWNSHIP .!

A PETITION was presented to the Court of Quarter Sessions at the April term, 1828, asking that a new township be made out of parts of Cocalico and Earl as by boundaries described which then formed an election district. Upon this request the court ap-

1 The easily history of the territory now known as West Earl will be found in the history of Earl township, from which it was taken In 1833.

822

HISTORY OF LANCASTER COUNTY.

pointed William Gibbons, Adam Reigart, and Chis- tian HI. Rauch a committee to examine the territory and report. On the 18th of August, the same year, their report was presented to the court, stating that "we have viewed the said township of Earl, and are of opinion that the vast extent of the said township being entirely too remote to get that equal justice done by the different township officers as might be desirable, we therefore have further proceeded and bave divided the said township in manner following, to wit : Beginning at a post on the Lancaster and New Holland turnpike road, being the division line between the townships of Earl and Leacock, near the > house lately occupied by John Sheaffer, excluding the same; from thence extending by a division line running north six degrees and one-half west one thousand four and forty perches to a post on the Downingtown, Ephrata, and Harrisburg turnpike road near the intersection of a private road from the late Andrew Bitzer's dwelling-house ; thence along the line dividing the townships of Cocalico and Earl to the line dividing Earl and Leacock; and thence along said line to the place of beginning, which said described part of said township is to be called West Earl, and all the remaining part to be called East Earl township.

" Witness our hands this 9th day of July, 1828. " WILLIAM GIBBONS. " ADAM REIGART. " CHRISTIAN II. RAUCH."

This report was read on the 18th of August, 1828, and the subject was held in abeyance until 1833, when, on the 18th of November in that year, the Court of Quarter Sessions confirmed the action of the commit- tee, and the township from that time became separate. The portion however, mentioned at that time as East Earl was Earl township, and in 1851 was again di- vided and the eastern portion named East Earl. The central portion of the parent township re- mained as Earl. The new township at the time of its separation contained eleven thousand three hun- dred and ninety aeres and three hundred and forty- five taxables.

Justices of the Peace .- The justices of the peace who held jurisdiction over this township were em- braced in Earl until the division in 1833; from that time till 1840 the township was under the jurisdic- tion of the district to which Earl belonged. By the constitution of 1839 each township became a separate organization. The list is here given :

Sammel W. Groff, April 14, 1810. George Reed, April 14, 1840. Francis Carpenter, April 15, 1843. Andrew Barr, April 15, 1845. John Suasder, April 13, 1847. Francis II. Carpenter, Aptil 9, 1850.

Earn Burkholder, April 16, 1871. L. E. Burkholder, April 24, 1856. Rouben R. Bilzer. April 14, 1863.

A. E Soller, April, 1866. Eata Burkholder, April, 1868. William Kafroth, Aptil, 1870. Lobat Ranch, April, 1872.

Ezra Burkholder, April, 1873. E H Burkholder, April, 1876. Rudolph Frankhouse, 1878. E H Burkholder, 1882. John F. Lieb, 1883.

Early Settlers .- The first settler in what is now West Earl township was Hans Graaf. He was a refugee from Switzerland, and about 1696 emigrated to Germantown, where he remained several years, and removed in 1717 to the Pequea Valley, and while hunting for stray horses found his way into the vale since known as Groff's Dale. This spot so pleased him that he removed his family to the place, and soon after purchased a large tract of land con- taining fourteen hundred and nineteen acres. Ile built a small house within twenty yards of the old and present mansion. He died in 1746, leaving six sons and three daughters,-Peter, Samuel, Mark, Daniel, Ilans, David, Anna ( wife of Peter Good), Mary, and Veronica, the wife of Henry Landis. David built the old mansion house. The next to settle in the limits of the present township was Henry Zimmerman, or Carpenter. He emigrated to this country from the canton of Berne in the year 1686, and located in or near Germantown, where he remained several years and then returned to his native land. In 1706 he brought out to this country his family and settled in Germantown. About 1709 he came to what is now West Lampeter, near Lampeter Square, and settled down to practice his profession, which was that of a physician. In or about the year 1717 he purchased a large tract of land in what is now West Earl township, and erected a small log house in the valley, where he lived until the erectiou of the large stone house, which is still standing, south- west from Carpenter's Church, and now owned by Mr. Lefevre.

Henry Zimmerman (or Carpenter) had several children, of whom were Emannel, Henry, Jacob, John, and two daughters. Emanuel was born in 1702 in the canton of Berne. He became prominent in the history of the county, and at the time of his death, in 1780, was one of the justices of the Court of Common Pleas. The sons and daughters of Henry Carpenter married and settled around him. Dr. Henry Carpenter, of Lancaster, is of the fifth generation from Henry Carpenter, the original settler. The de- seendants are numerous. Soon after the settlement of Henry Carpenter in this section other families came in, among whom are the Schaeffers, Rifes, Mum- mas, Jolins, Garvers, Kafroths, and many others, who settled in different parts of the township.

Mills .- West Earl boasts of having had within her bounds one of the first, and perhaps the first mill erected in Lancaster County. This stood on the south side of the Conestoga, right at the point where the Cocalico unites its waters with that stream; it was made a corner of Warwick township when that district was organized in 1729, and only through that faet has its existence been preserved from utter ob- livion. . Ilow long it was there prior to that date is unknown. A visit to the spot ( Aug. 29, 1876) resulted in a verification of the record; the mill-race still ex- ists as distinctly and plainly as it did one hundred

823

WEST EARL TOWNSHIP.

and fifty-four years ago, although no memory or tra- dition of it has survived among those who live near the spot. An ancient deed, covering the spot, was also found, and mentions it as a mill-site, and speaks of the mill-race, but the mill had even then disap- peared. Hans Graaf, the first settler in these town- ships, was the builder and owner of this early mill.

West Earl contains six grist-mills within her bound- aries, each, save one, with a saw-mill attached,-II. B. Grabill's, Wolf's (now Wenger's), Martin's, and Burk- holder's (formerly Bitzer's) ; these are all on the Con- estoga. On Groff's Run are two more, Abraham Groff's and Abraham Martin's, and also a saw-mill owned by Benjamin Sheaffer. There are likewise two woolen-factories in the township, John K. Zook's. on the Cocalico, and Jacob Musselman's, on Groff's Run ; this latter is an ancient and rather imposing strue- ture, built near the place where Hans Graaf first located.

Churches .-- There are four churches in the town- ship: one at Brownstown, denominated Evangelical; Carpenter's, a Union ; and two Mennonite, one at Metzler's, and the other in Groff's Dale.

Quite close to Henry B. Graybill's mill there is an ancient Indian burial-place. It is on a hill of some elevation, and was formerly overshadowed by lofty forest trees. The camp-fires of the race that quietly sleep beneath it once burned brightly on the hills and in the valleys that are lying around it. The rippling waters of the Conestoga, over whose bosom they once glided, are their only requiem.

"And who were they, the double dead ? Now o'er them waves oblivious sing ; No boding trace of glory fled Round their muto shrines is lingering; Nu; not a name survives the wave, That swept ibem in one soulless grave."

The graveyard connected with Carpenter's Church is mneh older than the building itself, and the ground was donated for burial purposes by a person named Casson, and was made free to all denominations.

Henry Landis, one of the sons-in-law of Hans Graaf, on Jan. 17, 1775, gave one acre of land for the purposes of a burying-ground to certain persons, in trust, for their use and that of the neighborhood for ever. This is the graveyard in Groff's Dale, and was so used many years prior to its conveyance by the deed of trust.

some reason the people of this section did not see fit to accept the provisions of the school law passed in 1834, and preferred the old system.

In 1847 the public school had so far become estab- lished that the people of this township felt compelled to accept the provisions of the law. At that time there were five linndred and forty-five taxables in the town liable for taxation for school purposes. The township was divided into eight school districts, and in 1855 there were four hundred and seventeen pupils. The total amount of money raised for school purposes was $1919.39. In 1882 the districts had been increased to ten districts, the number of pupils were five hun- dred. The amount of money received from all sources was 85443, the amount expended was 85106 .- 16.

The township contains three villages and several hamlets, -Farmersville, Brownstown, Earlville, and 1 West Earl.

The village of Farmersville is situated on the Lan- caster and Hinkletown road. The first house was built in 1843, by Eckert Myers. A post-office was es- tablished in 1855, at which time the village took its name. Dr. C. F. Groff was appointed postmaster, and served till about 1860, when S. M. Seldomridge, the present postmaster, was appointed.

In 1847, E. Burkholder opened a printing-office, which is still continued. In connection with it, in 1874, E. 11. Burkholder and W. J. Kaforth established a newspaper called The West Eurl Banner, which was discontinued in 1877. In the next year, E. H. Bnrk- holder and M. S. Weber started The Guiding Star, a religious paper. Mr. Weber retired in 1879, W. J. Kafroth purchasing his interest. The paper is now published by Burkhohier & Kafroth.

In 1880, M. S. Weber opened a printing-office and started a paper called The Matrimonial Times, which still continues, under the name of The Matrimonial Review. The town is supplied with an abundance of water from a well situated on a hill northeast from the town, and which is brought down in pipes.

Brownstown, in point of size and importance, is the second town in West Earl. It is located on the direct mail-route between Lancaster, Fairville, and Reading. The first building was put up many years ago, since which time the place has progressed stead- ily. A post-office was established about 1860. A. K. Homberger is the present postmaster.

The town contains two dry-goods stores, two black- smith-shops, one carpenter shop, one hotel, one tailor- shop, one saddle- and harness-maker, one cigar mann- factory, one butcher-shop, one wagon-maker, one shoe- shop, two school-houses, one Evangelical Church, to

Schools .- The first school known to have been tanght in what is now West Earl township, was soon after the Revolutionary war. John Carpenter lived near the present site of' Bolmerstown, and taught the school in his own house for many years. Shortly af- , which there is belonging a grove, in which camp- terwards a log school-house was built at Bolmerstown, meetings have been annually held for a long series of years. another at David Martin's, and a third at Kemper's, on the Conestoga. These were the earliest West Earl A, meeting-house was erected by the Evangelical Association about twenty years ago, and is supplied by pastors from the Reading District. schools, and, like all the rest, were built by the vol- untary contributions of the citizens. Schools were kept in the manner mentioned above until 1847. For Earlville is situated about a mile south of Browns-

824

HISTORY OF LANCASTER COUNTY.

town. A flour-mill was erected on the site of the children, of whom ten attained adult age, viz., Marks, Gabriel, Michael (deceased), Joel, Menno, Martha (who married Levi Groff, of West Earl), Maria (who married Christian Mellinger, of Strasburg township), Susanna, (who became the wife of Benjamin West- hetfer, of Wayne County, Ohio), Elizabeth (who mar- ried Benjamin D. Moyer, of Strasburg), and Fanny (who married Benjamin B. Groff, of East Lampeter). Marks Wenger resides in Leacock township, Gabriel, 1 in West Lampeter, and Menns, in Laneaster. present village several years before 1800. It was later owned by Peter Kafroth, The section of coun- try had been the home of the Zimmernians or Car- penters for over a century. Christian Carpenter (-heriff of the county in 1797) opened the first store. Isaac Carpenter kept a tavern at the place between 1826 and 1836. When the township was separated from Earl, in 1833, the place assumed the name of Earlville. It now contains a store, hotel, mill, school house, shoe-shop, two carriage-shops, blacksmith- Joel Wenger was born on his father's homestead, shop, eigar-factory, and a church (Carpenter's Union). | in West Earl, on March 8, 1825. His earlier years In 1824 the Carpenter Church was erected of stone, and for the use of Christians of all denominations. Services are held by the Lutheran, German Reformed, and others.

A little hamlet has grown up around what used to be known years ago as Forney's Tavern, situated on the old Reading road. The name is now changed to West Earl. The West Earl inn at that place is kept by Jacob L. Erb.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

JOEL WENGER.

were passed upon the paternal farm and in attendance upon the district schools of the neighborhood. At the age of nineteen he went to learn the milling busi- ness with Jacob Wolf, at West Earl, on the site of his present mill. After a few weeks spent at that point he entered the mill of his uncle, Daniel Groff, at Mill Creek, Leacock township, and remained there until the death of his father, in 1847. At that time the paternal farm was divided, his brother Michael re- ceiving one part of the farm and Joel the other. Michael died at the early age of thirty-five. Joel continued to reside on and cultivate his farm until 1862, when he disposed of it to Benjamin D. Moyer, and purchased the mill-property of Jacob Wolf at West Earl, where he has since continued in the mill- ing business. At the time of the purchase of the mill it was run on the oldl process of grinding with burrs, but in 1881 it was remodeled into a roller-mill, and is now one of the best equipped and finest mill- properties in Lancaster County, having a capacity of grinding one hundred barrels of flour in twenty-four hours. While a large amount of domestic grinding is done for local farmers, the principal business of

The original ancestor of the Wenger family in this country was Christian Wenger, or Winger, as the name was then spelled, who emigrated from Switzer- Jand to America about the year 1727. On June 10, 1741, he had deeded to him by John, Thomas, and Richard Penn, two hundred and eighty-nine acres of land, in what was then Earl township (now West Earl), the consideration for the conveyance being forty-four pounds sixteen shillings. The site of the ' the mill is confined to the merchant trade, large old homestead is still occupied by a direct descendant quantities of flour being shipped to Philadelphia and other points. The principal brands are known as " Brownstown Mills," " Buy the Best," "Peerless," and " Gold Dust," the last two brands having been and a daughter, who became the wife of Christian . introduced under the roller system. In 1883, Mr. Wenger admitted his son, Clayton S. Wenger, into partnership with him, and the firm is now known as Joel Wenger & Son. In addition to his milling oper- of the seventh generation, Michael E. Wenger. Chris- tian Wenger had by his wife, Eve, whose maiden name is not known, three sons, Michael, John, and Henry, Weaver. Michael, in turn, occupied part of the old homestead, deeded to him by his father in 1764, and was the father of Rev. Joseph Wenger, who occupied the old place, and was the father of Rev. Michael ' ations, Mr Wenger is engaged quite extensively in Wenger, who resided on the same spot, and was the father of Joseph Wenger, grandfather of the subject of this sketch.

the cultivation of tobacco. He has confined his life- work to the management of his own private concerns, and has always refused to accept public office. He has supported with a liberal hand all movements tending to the material improvement of his native county, and been in general sympathy with the various evan- gelical institutions of his time. His personal honor and integrity have never been called into question.

Joseph Wenger also occupied the ancestral site of his family during his lifetime. He married, and bad a family of three sons, viz., Michael, Benjamin, and Daniel, all of whom were born on the old place. Michael, the eldest, upon reaching years of disere- tion, removed about a mile south of the homestead, He married, in 1848, Anna M. Swarr, daughter of Martin and Elizabeth Mellinger, of East Hempfield where Martin Rupp now lives, in West Earl town- ship, where he passed his life as a farmer. He was a ' township, and has had seven children, of whom five man of influence and prominente in his day, and was ; are living, viz. : Clayton S., Lizzie (wife of Amos held in universal respect. He married Elizabeth, Stauffer, of East Lampeter), Susan (wife of Clarence V. Lichtey, of Lancaster), A. Lincoln, and Alice daughter of Marks Groff, and had a family of twelve

Хаев идух

١٠ سكــــ ー二

825

EDEN TOWNSHIP.

Wenger. ITis first wife died Dee. 30, 1872, and on Jan. 11, 1882, he was united in marriage to Sallie, daughter of Peter and Mary Kafroth, of West Earl township, who is his present wife. Clayton S. Wenger has served as freeholder of West Earl, and is an in- fluential resident of the township.

CHAPTER LIIL.

EDEN TOWNSIfIP.1

THE township of Eden was set off from Bart by a decree of the court in 1855. At the time of its eree- tion, a citizen of the township, George W. Hensel, who was an ardent admirer of Henry Clay, proposed the name Ashland, the residence of that statesman, for the new township ; but through the influence of other parties, the name Eden, after Mount Eden, where a furnace was once located, was adopted.

The township is bounded on the north by Stras- burg and Paradise, on the east by Bart, south by Colerain and Drumore, and west by Drumore, Provi- dence, and Strasburg.

The surface is rolling or hilly, except in the Chester Valley, which has its head in this township, and crosses it in an easterly direction. In this valley is a limestone soil which is quite productive. In the more hilly portions it is thinner, but by a judicious system of cultivation it is being rapidly improved.

The township is crossed by the West Branch of the Octorara Creek, which has its source in the north- eastern part and runs southerly. It affords availa- able water-power, though there are few mills on it here. The western part of the township is drained by Beaver Creek and its affluents, and on these streams are numerous mills. Crossing the township in a northeasterly direction is a watershed of not very great altitude.

The principal highways are the State road that runs From MeCall's Ferry to Parkesburg, and passes through the township in the Chester Valley. This road was in an early day an important thoroughfare. Another important highway, called the White-Oak road, erosses the township in a northerly direction, following the course of the West Branch by Mount Eden, crossing the ridge beyond, and passing into ' all these mines is of the variety called hematite.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 64

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Evans, Samuel, 1823-1908, joint author Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1320

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Evans, Samuel, 1823-1908, joint author
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1320