History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 226

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534

USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania > Part 226

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).

" November 13, 1780,-Christian Schrack, who was buried yesterday, was a son of John Jacob Schrack, who came to this county in 1717.

They built a cabin and a cave in which they cooked. They kept a small shop in a small way and a tavern with beer and such things. As once an English inhabitant, who had been drinking in the cave, fell asleep, and came home late, and was in consequence scolded by his wife, he excused himself by saying he had been at the Trap. From that time this neighborhood is called Trapp, and is known as such in all America."

That this is the true origin of the name seems the more probable for several reasons,-

1. Muhlenberg lived right in the vicinity from 1745, and no man had better facilities for knowing. He speaks without doubt.

2. In the oldest deeds, advertisements and papers the name of the place is spelled Trap afterwards, for many years, Trapp and Trap. Very few papers of the last centuries are spelled Trappe.

3. In 1760, John Schrack, son of the John Jacob Schrack above spoken of, advertises the hotel in / Sower's newspaper, and ealls it "Trapp" Hotel.

4. On llowell's map, 1792, it is called "Trapp."

5. The post-office, when established in 1819, was by the name of Trap.

6. The first hotel licensed by the court of Mont- gomery County, in 1784, was this same hotel. The record reads "License granted to George Brook, 'The Trap' hotel, Providence township," and was granted for many years under the same name.

Thus the change is gradual, but marked,-T-r-a-p, T-r-a-p-p, T-r-a-p-p-e.

The "Shunk theory," so called from being advo- cated by Governor Shunk, was to the effect that at this Sehrack's tavern there were very high steps leading to the front door. As a poor fellow, the worse for drink, went headlong down the steps, he exclaimed, "Verdammt die Treppe!" and from this event the hotel received its name, "Treppe" being the German word for steps.

This theory seems fatally defective, in that the history of the orthography of the name has changed, contrary to the way it should if the theory were true. It was, however, stoutly maintained by Governor Francis R. Shunk. The author has in his possession a letter from the Governor, giving his views in full and arguing that the name of the village should be spelled T-r-e-p-p-e. The discussion as to the origin of the name of the village, and how the same should be spelled, at length gave rise to a publie meeting, which was held in February, 1835. Matthias Hable- man and Francis R. Shunk were the champions for Treppe or Truppe, while Hon. Wright A. Bringhurst and Hon. Jacob Fry, Jr., championed the Trap or Trupp. At that meeting the majority determined that the proper name was Trupp.

In 1795 Trappe contained twelve houses. In 1832 it contained two taverns, two stores and fifteen houses. In 1858 there were two hotels, three stores, three churches and about forty houses, now increased to upwards of sixty. Washington Hall Collegiate Insti- tute was founded in 1830, and is now in charge of Professor Abel Rambo, for several years county super- intendent of public schools.

1058

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

The post-office was established here about 1819, with John Todd as postmaster. He was succeeded by Matthias Haldeman. Where is now the dwelling- house of Philip Willard stood, before the Revolution, an inn, called the "Duke of Cumberland," which was kept as early as 1758. Father Muhlenberg, during the Revolution, complains that there was then no hotel in the place, while before, when there was not one-half as much travel, the village boasted of three public- houses.

Collegeville, or Freeland. as the same village is in- discriminately called, and Perkiomen Bridge, as it was formerly known, is eight miles north of Norristown, and one of the most beautiful villages of the county. Perkiomen Bridge is the oldest name, dating back to 1799, the time of the completion of the stone bridge aeross the Perkiomen at that place. The first post- office was established here in 1847. Edward Evans was appointed postmaster, and the office named Perkiomen Bridge. In 1848, Henry A. Hunsicker built a boarding-school for young men. This he called Freeland Seminary of Perkiomen Bridge. Soon the village around the school took its name from its school, and was called Freeland.

In 1861 the post-office of Perkiomen Bridge was removed to the store of Frank M. Hobson, who was appointed postmaster. The following year the name of the post-office was changed to Freeland.

About 1855 an effort was made to have this village called Townsend, in honor of Samuel Townsend, who had removed from Philadelphia, and in the county map published about this time the village is called Townsend ; but this name did not last long.

When the Perkiomen Railroad was opened there was a bitter fight over the name of the station. The railroad company finally decided to give a new name to their station, and accordingly called it Collegeville. In 1869 the post-office was removed to the station and the name changed to Collegeville. Since that time a bitter fight for the name of the village has been waged, each person calling the village the name best suiting his fancy.

The village of Port Providence was first known as " Jacobs." In 1820, Thomas Jones was an extensive lumber dealer in West Chester; he bought land here and built a landing to unload lumber coming by the canal. From this fact it was called Lumberville, which name it retained for many years. The people, desiring a post-oflice, found " Lumberville " already appropriated, and then determined to call the post- office Port Providence, which name soon attached it- self also to the village.

Mont Clare, or Quincyville, is situated just oppo- site the borough of Phoenixville, Chester Co. Its residents are mostly engaged in business or work in the adjoining borough. There is now a station of the Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley Railroad established here, called Mont Clare Station.

The opening of the Perkiomen Railroad is responsi-

ble for establishing three new villages in the township, viz. : Oaks, Arcola and Yerkes. The people in the vieinity asked that their station be named Oakland. The railroad company named it simply Oaks, as there was another station in the State of the name suggested. A post-office is now here of the same name. Arcola was first known as "Water-Tank," next as " Doe Run" Station, but lately named Arcola, after the large mills of Messrs. Wetherill & Co. There is a very small village here. " Yerkes" is so called atter Mr. Isaac Yerkes, a respectable citizen, and the owner of the land on which the station was established. Quite a village is now growing up around it, with a post-office of the same name recently established.

John Robinson undertook, in 1763, to locate one of the largest towns of Eastern Pennsylvania in the township of Providence. Robinson had made great preparations for the sale of lots, offering three hundred and fifty lots at public sale, on February 10, 1763. Quite a number were sold. The following year another one hundred lots were offered. This town was entirely upon paper. On its site are now a few houses and one store, called Providence Square, situated midway between Collegeville and Phonix- ville.

The churches of Upper Providence are the follow- ing : Augustus Lutheran, St. Luke's Reformed, Evan- gelical, Mennonite, Friends', Dunkard, Trinity Chris- tian and Episcopalian.

The Augustus Lutheran Church, Trappe, is the most noted in the township. The old church building, ereeted in 1743, is still standing in a good state of pres- ervation. Ten years before this time the Lutheran congregation of Providence was organized. In 1732, John Christian Schultz became the first pastor, and remained one year, leaving as a successor Jolm Casper Stoever. In 1742 the Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlen- berg arrived from Germany, and became the pastor, and built the church in 1743. He has since become widely known as the founder of the Lutheran Church in America, and the Trappe Church as the oldest Li- theran Church in America, now standing. The corner- stone was laid May 2, 1743. The first service was held therein on September 12th, but it was not until October 6, 1745, that the church was dedicated. Three negroes were baptized on that occasion. The General Synod of the colonies met in this church on June 17, 1750. On October 7, 1787, Dr. Muhlenberg died, and his honored ashes now repose immediately in the rear of the old church. The congregation con- tinued to worship in this building until the 6th of November, 1853, when the present large brick build- ing was dedicated. Since that time the old church was used for Sunday-school purposes until quite re- cently. The present structure was recently entirely remodeled, making it a two-story building. This im- provement was made under the pastorate of the present incumbent, Rev. O. P. Smith. Adjoining the church is the graveyard, containing numerous tombstones.

1059

UPPER PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP.

Among the distinguished dead here buried can be men- tioned Rev. Dr. Henry M. Muhlenberg, General Peter Muhlenberg, Hon. Frederick A. Muhlenberg, Gover- nor Franeis R. Shunk, Hon. Jacob Fry and Joseph

EXTERIOR OF OLD TRAPPE CHURCH.

Rover. The principal family names are Allabaugh, Bean, Boyer, Beck, Buckwalter, Culp, Casselberry, Custer, Cressman, Dehaven, Emerich, Fry, Garber. Goodwin, Gross, Heebner, Hallman, Esett, Kugler,

INTERIOR OF OLD TRAPPE CHURCH.

Longaker, Mausteller, Miller, Moyer, Nieman, Pen- mypacker, Pawling, Prizer, Rambo, Royer, Ritten- house, Reiff, Rawn, Spare, Shupe, Stetler, Schrack, Trumbauer, Wald, Walter and Young. The pastors of this church have been as follows: 1732, John Chris- tian Schultz; 1733, John Casper Stoever; 1742,

Henry M. Muhlenberg; 1765, John L. Voigt; 1793, Frederick G. Weinland; 1809, J. P. Ilecht; 1814, Henry A. Geissenhainer; 1821, Frederick W. Geis- senhainer; 1823, Frederick W. Grissenhainer, Jr. ; 1827, Jacob Wampole : 1834, John W. Richards; 1838, Henry S. Miller ; 1853, G. A. Wentzel; 1854, A. S. Link ; 1859, G, Sill; 1864, John Kohler; 1874, O. P. Smith.

REV. OLIVER PETER SMITH, A.M., son of Frederick and Mary Smith, was born September 4, 1848, at New Tripoli, Lehigh Co., Pa., and is the youngest of eight children. His early instruction was received from his father, who was then teacher of the public school of that place, and at the age of ten years his brother, Theodore, became his tutor. In his fourteenth year his father, not having employment for him at home nor means to send him away to school, gave him the privilege of starting in life for himself. At the age of fifteen he was appointed teacher of one of the public schools of his native township, Lynn, and after the close of the school term he entered the Military and Collegiate Institute at Allentown, Pa., with a view to preparation for college, teaching in winter to meet his expenses. In the fall of 1867 he entered Muhlenberg College as a member of the freshman class, having just recovered from a severe attack of typhoid fever. He graduated in June, 1871, having during his college course embraced every available opportunity to earn money, that the outlay of his course might be met. For one year, while at college, he filled an ap- pointment under the school board of Allentown as instructor of German in the public schools, In the fall of 1871 the subject of this sketch entered the Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church at Philadelphia, and finished his three years' theological course in the spring of 1874, teaching dur- ing the summer vacations and preparing young men for college. He was ordained as minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church at Lancaster, Pa., .hine 3d. Having received a call from the Trappe charge, composed of Augustus congregation (Trappe), St. James' congregation (Limerick) and Jerusalem con- gregation (Schwenksville), he was installed as pastor of the charge in the Trappe Church the Sunday fol- lowing his ordination, of which charge he is still pastor. Here has been spent, thus far, the most use- ful part of his life laboring earnestly and zealously in the pulpit and out of it for the salvation of souls and the glory of Christ, the head of the church. The congregations have doubled in membership through his pastorate, church properties greatly improved and the liberality of the people advanced. The church at the Trappe is one of the finest houses of worship in the county, and Augustus congregation is one of the oldest and most important Lutheran congregations in this country, having had for its first regular pastor H. M. Muhlenberg, D.D., the father of Lutheranism in America. Among the list of the pastors of this con- gregation are the following names well known in the

1060

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

church : Hartwig, Van Buskirk, Voigt, Weineland, Geissenhainer, Hecht, Wampole, Richards, Miller, Wenzel, Link, Sill and Kohler, the last-named the predecessor of Rev. Mr. Smith. A Young People's Lyceum has been organized in the Trappe congrega- tion under Mr. Smith's direction, which has been the means of cultivating and stimulating a literary taste and establishing a fine congregational library.

At the meeting of the executive committee of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, in the spring of 1884, Rev. Mr. Smith was appointed to deliver, at the One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Annual Convention of

ing the place in the faculty of professor of the Ger- man language.

He was married, June 23, 1874, to Miss Laura Affie Barnes, second daughter of Ezra R. Barnes, Esq., of Bridgeport, Conn. Mrs. Smith died June 30, 1884. By the death of this accomplished and estimable lady, Mr. Smith lost a most faithful and affectionate wife, one who never wearied in the assistance she rendered him in his work. Rev. Mr. Smith was baptized in infancy, and confirmed as a member of the Lutheran Church at the age of fourteen years. Shortly after his confirmation he felt called upon to enter the

UPSmich. Miami

the Synod, the educational sermon, which was preached at Reading, and received with great favor.

The subject of this sketch uses the English and German languages with equal ease and fluency, which give him the qualifications for distinguished useful- ness in his church. His style in the pulpit is free and earnest, accompanied with great force. When prepar- ing his sermons he draws them up with great care in manuscript form, but never uses a note in the pulpit, which makes him especially popular as a speaker.

Rev. Mr. Smith has also been connected with Washington Hall Collegiate Institute, of Trappe, fill-

ministry. His character illustrates the maxim " where there is a will there is a way."

The St. Luke's Reformed Church, whose building now stands at the lower end of Trappe, was founded October 18, 1742, by the Rev. Michael Schlatter. For a few years they worshiped in the Augustus Lutheran Church, but shortly thereafter, in 1755, they bought a small tract of land and built thereon a log church. This church stood in the present cemetery lot. Here, in this log house, the congregation continued to wor- ship until the beginning of the present eentury. The first regular pastor of the church was the Rev. Philip Boehm, of whom we learn elsewhere in this history.

1061

UPPER PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP.

He continued until September 15, 1748. On October 9, 1748, the Rev. John Philip Leydick was installed as pastor. Rev. Mr. Leydick was born in Germany in 1715, and emigrated to this country in 1748, when

one and a half miles northeast of Port Providence. On Scull's map, in 1770, it is marked and had been there many years. It was built in 1730, of logs, At that time the portion of the township along the river he took charge of the churches at Providence and . Schuylkill was settled by Friends, and the best families Falkner Swamp. He continued to serve here until ' of that neighborhood worshiped in the old log meeting- house.

The land whereon the building was erected was donated by David Hamer, who came to Providence with his brothers, James and Adam, in 1717. Among those worshiping in this first building may be men- tioned Richardson, Taylor, Hopkins, Barnet, Tyson, Ambler, Rogers, Jacobs, Cox, Sayler, Hobson, Corson and Hamer. The log house was, in 1828, replaced by

PROVIDENCE FRIENDS' MEETING-HOUSE.

the present one-story stone meeting-house. It is now very much dilapidated, and very few Friends are now found in its vicinity.

The Providence Mennonite Church is a very old one. When Father Muhlenberg arrived in Trappe, in 1742, he states that there were two houses of worship in Providence,-the Episcopal at Evansburg and one built by the Mennonists. The Mennonists now have a church near Yerkes Station, which was built about 1820. Itisa large, plain, stone structure, and no doubt this was preceded by a former building, which was the one referred to by Dr. Muhlenberg. The land on which the present structure is built was given by Abraham Rosenberger. John Hunsicker and Henry Bean were the first preachers, but the latter was soon af- ter deposed on account of some irregularity, and Elias

about 1780. Ile died January 4, 1784, and is buried in Frederick township. From March 28, 1784, to April 9, 1787, Rev. John Herman Winkhaus served the congregation. Next appears the name of Rev. Frederick William Vandersloot, Sr., who served until about 1813, when he was followed by his son, Frederick William Vandersloot, Jr., from November 11, 1813, to December 29, 1818. Rev. Lebecht Frederick Herman, D. D., served several years, and was followed by his student, Rev. John C. Gulddin, D.D., who continued until 1840. It was during the pastorate of Rev. Dr. Guldin that the Reformed congregation Jeft worshiping in the Lutheran Church and built a church upon tlre site of their first log building. This church edifice was built and dedicated in the year 1835. Following this pastorate was that of the Rev. Jacob William Hangen, who served from April 27, 1841, until the time of his death, February 22, 1843. From the fall of 1843 the Rev. Andrew S. Young served the church, and was, in turn, suc- ceeded by Rev. John R. Kooken, whose pastorate extended from 1844 to 1846. On August I, 1847, Rev. A. B. Shenkle was in- stalled as pastor, and served for twenty years, until April 1, 1867. He was followed by Rev. H. H. W. Hibshman, D.D., who served from October 15, 1867, to July, 1869. During this short time the congregation built a parsonage, which still stands. On April 1, 1870, Rev. J. H. A. Bomberger, D.D., was installed as pastor, and served the congregation in connection with his work as president of Ursinus College. In 1874 the old church building, erected in 1835, was torn down, and in its stead the congregation erected the present large church edifice upon the opposite side of the turnpike and hy the side of the parsonage. Dr. Bomberger resigned October 1, 1883. The present incumbent, Rev. H. T. Spangler, took charge of the church April 1, 1884, and continues as a successful pastor.

The cemetery is still on the east side of the turnpike, where the churches formerly stood. The oldest tombstone therein is that marking the last resting-place of Lodwick Ewalt, who died March 16, 1760. The family names found therein are Beidler, Buckwalter, Darringer, Dull, Everhart, Hillbourn, Longabough, Reed, Shenkle, Smith, Spear, Shade, Tyson and Wanner.

The Friends' Meeting- House was one of the early houses of worship in the township. It is situate

1062

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

Landes was chosen in his stead. George Detwiler and John Hunsberger were still later ordained as ministers. Services are now held every two weeks, most of the preaching being in German. The follow- ing arc names found on the tombstones : Bechtel, Detwiler, Godshall, Hunsicker, Tyson, Buckwalter, Reiner, Landis, Wair, Ilorning, Rittenhouse, Bean, Akderfer, Rosenberger, Hallman, Wismer, Kratz Johnson, Kolb, Ashenfelter. Kindig and Kepner.

St. Paul's Memorial Church, Upper Provi- dence, had its inception in a Sunday-school, begun' in about 1828, by Mrs. Rachel Wetherill, widow o' the late Samuel Wethicrill, of Philadelphia, in the latter years of her life, at her summer residence, and which she continued to teach herself until her death, about 1844.

To meet the wants of this school, and also of a place of publie worship in this community, she built an edi- fice at "Wetherill's Corner," in Lower Providence, on her own land, and being a consistent member of the Protestant Episcopal Church herself, she immedi- ately established the worship of the same in this new building by securing, as she could obtain them, the services of the clergy of the Protestant Episcopal and maintained them at her own cost as long as she lived.

Her family continued the same, and in the same manner, after her death, until about 1850, when Mr. George Mintzer, then rector of St. James' Church, Perkiomen, at Evansburg, undertook to supply regu- larly with services this nucleus of a parish by preach- ing on alternate Sundays.

In 1852, Mrs. Rebecca Gumbes, daughter of Mrs. Rachel Wetherill, had repairs made in this building. fitting up a chancel-rail, communion table and other churchly appliances, and further built a chapel to be used in connection with it upon the lawn of her son's residence, on the opposite side of the creck, in Upper Providence.

This chapel, upon the lawn of the late Mr. Samuel W. Gumbes, is still used (by sufferance) for a Sun- day-school house to the present time.

Five years later, 1857, Rev. George Mintzer re- signed his charge of St. James' Church, Perkiomen, and accepted a call to this new and yet unorganized parish, and Mrs. Rebecca Gumbes installed him in a house which has ever since been used as a parsonage, and which, in her will, she bequeathed to that per- petual use, with ten thousand dollars, the income of which was to be paid to the resident minister of Union Church. Until this time all the records of the ministrations here had been kept in the register of St. James' Church ; but from this date, 1857, a regular record of such acts here has been kept, until they have merged down into, and are bound up with, the registry of St. Paul's Memorial Church, Upper Provi- dence.

Rev. Mr. Mintzer died in 1860, and Rev. James

May, D.D., late professor in the Theological Semi- nary of Virginia, who had resigned his professorship in that institution at the beginning of the war trou- bles, and had been elected a professor in the Divinity School of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Phila- delphia, was called to fill the post made vacant by the death of Rev. George Mintzer.

He entered on his duties in 1861, and continued to fulfill them until his death, in 1864.

Rev. C. N. Chevrier was called to succeed him, in 1865, and continued minister in charge until he re- signed, in 1868, to remove to another parish.

During the incumbency of Rev. C. N. Chevrier, a parish was organized, and a charter was obtained for a church, which was to be built as a " Memorial to Rev. James May, deceased,"-that good man who had died in this pastorate, so widely revered and so deeply beloved by this whole community.

Before, however, this new church building was he- gun the Rev. Joel Rudderow was called to be resident minister of Union Church and the chapel, in 1869. Mrs. Rebecca Gumbes, who had already deeded a commodious lot immediately alongside of the par- sonage to this new corporation, and who had also Church from Philadelphia and the neighboring regions, , headed a subscription with five thousand dollars

towards building the same, installed him in the parsonage. The vestry of St. Paul's Memorial Church, Upper Providence, also elceted hin their rector. He is still in charge of the parish.

This good woman, Mrs. Rebecca Gumbes, who, by her large-hearted munificence, had been emphatically the support of this enterprise since her mother's death, and through whose liberality principally the new church was completed, died December, 1869.

In the year 1871 the corner-stone of the new build- ing was laid. It was finished in 1872, and the first service, its consecration, was held by the bishop of the diocese, Right Rev. William Bacon Stevens, D.D., LL.D., on October 20th of that same year, it being the twenty-first Sunday after Trinity, 1872.

The church, which is of the English rural order, is built of the light-gray sandstone from Rhodes' quarry, with Hummelstown trimmings, in rubble; with porch, bell-gable and cross, with interior finished in natural woods (ash and walnut), and open roof, ceiled in pine and oiled, and with stained-glass windows. It is thirty-two by sixty feet, with arch in rear wall to admit of piercing without injury when enlargement shall be needed. It will seat comfortably about two hundred and ten persons.

St. Paul's Memorial Church, Upper Providence, continue the services in (so called) Union Church, as one of their chapels, and they hold their Sunday- school in the chapel upon the lawn of Mrs. Frances S., widow of the late Samuel W. Gumbes.

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 Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 226

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534