History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended, Part 103

Author: Gibson, John, Editor
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Pennsylvania > York County > History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended > Part 103

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The building committee under whose direction it was constructed, consisted of James A. Dale, David Keller, Frank Geise and the architect; Jacob Seachrist was the carpenter; Philip Odenwalt, bricklayer and James S. Bayley, slater. The bricks used were of the best quality made in the vicinity, and the slate from the Peach Bottom quar- ries. The building was completed and opened for marketing purposes on April 29, 1879, when there was a large attendance. Its cost, was $27,000; entire amount invested is $40,000. The capital stock, as allowed by charter, is $30,000. The shares are $25 each. The number of butchers' stalls is forty-eight; of farmers' stalls 255. Nearly all are now rented. David Trout was the first market master. He was succeeded by the present one, David Becker. Markets are regularly held on Tuesday and Friday morn- ings, and Wednesday and Saturday after- noons. The Saturday afternoon market is the largest.

THE OLD TIME FAIRS.

When the town of York was laid out in 1741, the privilege of a fair was granted, which was to be held twice a year for the sale of cattle, etc. The early inhabitants did not take advantage of this until 1765, when Thomas Penn, then lieutenant-governor of Pennsylvania, granted the following charter:

Whereas it has been presented to us that it would he of great service and utility to the inhabi- tants of the town and county of York, that two fairs be held yearly in the said town, for buying and

selling goods, wares, merchandize and cattle; know ye, that we, favoring the reasonahle request of the inhabitants, and considering the flourishing state to which the town hath arrived through their industry, liave of free will granted, and do, by these presents, for us, our heirs and successors, grant to the present and succeeding inhabitants of the town, that they shall and may, forever hereafter, have and keep in the said town, two fairs in the year, the one of them to begin on the 9th day of June yearly, to be held in High Street, and to continue that day and the day following; and the other of the said fairs to be held in the aforesaid place, on the 2d day of November, every year, and the next day after it, with all the liberties and customs to such fairs be- longing or incident.

This privilege was very gratefully received by the inhabitants, and those semi-annual gatherings were the liveliest days of the whole year. Traveling dealers in small wares, attended them and disposed of their goods on the streets. Center Square was nearly filled with them, and a large part of Market Street. When the town was incor- porated in 1787, the legislature continued the right of holding the fairs. The manner and method of holding them degenerated, and on those occasions, York became the re- sort of many objectionable people, so that the better classes desired a discontinuance of these gatherings. Robert Dunn lost his life at the autumn fair, October 15, 1815, and at the November court, the grand jury declared that the holding of fairs in York was a pub- lic nuisance. Three persons were convicted of manslaughter ; by the court for the killing of Dunn. The legislature, on the 29th of January, 1816, ordered that they cease. They were, however, held for some years later.

CHURCH HISTORY.

The First Evangelical Lutheran Church .- Immediately after permits were granted to purchase lands west of the Susquehanna, in 1731, numerous German emigrants located on what are now the fertile limestone lands of the valley, extending from the Susque- hanna westward to the vicinity of Hanover. With them were some English, as the land war- rants indicate, but the vast bodyof them were Germans-Lutherans, German Reformed, and Moravians. These people brought with them the principles taught in the fatherland, from which most of them had just come, and in September, 1733, the Lutherans took steps for the organization of a congregation, the first one of this denomination west of the Susquehanna.

The contributors -to the purchase of the first record book for the members of this con- gregation, in September, 1733, together with the times of the arrival of some of them in America, were as follows:

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.

Martin Bauer 1732 Mathias Schmeiser .1731

Johannes Bentz

1732 George Schmeiser .. 1731

Joseph Beyer. .1731 Geo. A. Zimmerman

Paul Burkhardt .. Heinrich Schultz ... 1731

John Adam Diehl. . .. 1731 Valentine Schultz. . 1731

Carl Eisen. . George Schwab . . . 1727

Christian Groll. .. 1729 Philip Ziegler .. 1727

Baltzer Knetzer

George Ziegler. 1727

Christof Kraut ..

Jacob Ziegler 1727

Gottfried Mauch.

Michael Walck. 1732

Nicholas Koger. 1732 Heinrich Zanck. .1732

Jacob Scherer 1732 One name illegible .

Rev. John Casper Stoever, the first pastor, 1733-43 .- In September, 1733, Lutheran settlers west of the Susquehanna, were vis- ited by Rev. John Casper Stoever, who formed a congregation called "Die Evan- gelische Lutherische Gemeinde an der Katho- res," and served as its pastor for ten years. He was born December 21, 1707, in the upper province of the Electorate of Hesse, at the city of Frankenberg, and was the son of Dietrich Stoever, bürger and merchant, and Magdalena, daughter of Rev. Andrew Eber- wein, pastor at Frankenberg. In his youth he was a teacher at Anweiler, in the Rhenish Palatinate, and while there is supposed to have studied for the ministry. In 1728 he sailed from Rotterdam with ninety Palatines on the ship "James Goodwill," David Crocket, master, and landed at Philadelphia, Septem- ber 11, 1728. His name is entered on the ship's register as "Johann Casper Stoever. Sancro Sanctæ Theologia Studiosus."

He spent the first year in America, in the vicinity of Trappe, Montgomery County, this State. May, 1730, he was settled on the up- per waters of the Conestoga, near where New Holland, in Lancaster County, now stands. At this time he served as pastor of the Lu- therans of Lancaster and Berks Counties. In September, 1732, Rev. John Christian Schultze arrived, and, in 1733, he ordained Mr. Stoever in Montgomery County, within a barn then used as a place of worship. Rev. Stoever then proceeded to Lancaster County, and regularly opened church records for the congregations he had organized at Mode Creek, New Holland, Lancaster, and at. North Hill, in Berks County. He then re- sided near New Holland, Lancaster County, for many years, until he moved to the Swata- ra, in Lebanon County, where he lived until his death May 13, 1779, after having organized nearly all the older congregations, from New Holland to the North Mountains, beyond Lebanon, as well as the historic one herein described. Several of the first mem- bers of his newly formed congregation on the Codorus, came across the ocean in the same vessel with him, as Sebastian Eberle, and George Shumacher, and as one of the earliest

routes of e migrants through Lancaster Coun- ty led them past Rev. Stoever's home, it is probable that he met them on their way thither, and may have visited them before 1733. There was no building erected as a church when this congregation was organized. The services were doubtless held in the houses of members. York was not laid out then, but there were a number of settlers who located in the immediate vicinity during the years 1730 and 1731, and built dwelling houses of logs. The emigration west of the river was very rapid about this time. In fact it is altogether possible that different homes were used in which this pioneer con- gregation assembled for worship at this early day, and these may have been located either around the present site of York, east or west of it. Many of the original members lived east of York in the region then called Grist Creek Valley, after one of the first English settlers there, and later has been corrupted into Kreutz Creek Valley. As late as 1800, the small stream, a few miles east of York, which crosses the pike, was called the Codo- rus, and the large one at York the Great Codorus. This will explain the tradition that the first church was organized east of York, when the fact, correctly understood, should be that all the German Lutherans, within a large territory, belonged to this one congregation organized by Pastor Stoever.

List of male members of congregation in the time of Pastor Stoever, from 1733 to 1743, with date of arrival at Philadelphia, as given in Rupp's "30,000 German Emigrants:"

George Amendt ... . . 1732 Adam Gossner .. .

Conrad Aman. . ... 1731 Philip Gohn. .

Martin Bauer. . .1732

Christian Groll .... 1729 Philip Ernst Gruber.

Philip Bentz. . . .. . . .. 1732 Jacob Haurie ..

Joseph Beyer. .1731

Melchior Beyer. ....

Tobias Hendrick . . .

Frederich Bleibtreu. John Herberger ... . 1732

Jacob Braum. ... .1733

Nicholas Hoeltzel ...

Erasmus Holtzapfel.1731 Leonard Immel ....

Barthol Creutzdorf ..

John George Cruradt

Henry Dewees. . . .. 1733 John Adam Diehl .. . 1731 Conrad Dietz.

Daniel Earley.

Sebastian Eberle .... 1728

Michael Ebert ...... 1731 Charles Eisen.

Philip Adam Endtler

Heury English.

Michael Fisher.

Conrad Fry .. .1733

Martin Fry.

John Funck. ..

.. 1727

Peter Gaertner .....

Jacob Gaunerner ... John Adam Giszner.

John George Gobel. 1733

Christof Kauffeld .. Casper Kerber ...... 1733

Leonard Knady ....

Baltzer Knetzer .... John Peter Knobel.

Nicholas Koger ..... 1732

Valentine Krantz .. . Christof Kraut

Michael Krueger. . . 1732

John G. Lansbager.

Conrad Lau ... Christian Lau ...... 1732 John Christ. Loeffler.1732 John G. Loewanstein

Bartholomew Maul. 1732 Gottfried Mauck ....

Dertrich Meyer .....

George Meyer ....

William Morgan. . ..

George M. Beierle. . 1730

Ulrich Buehler ...... 1734 Paul Burkhardt. . . .

John Hearken.

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BOROUGH OF YORK.

Adam Mueller. .1732 Conrad Mueller. ... 1732 Jacob Mueller ...... 1732 Andreas Nehinger. .

Christian Neuman. . . George Pflueger .... 1731 John Jacob Rudisiel.

Meyrich Rudisiel. . . 1737 John Adam Ruppert.1731 Dietrich Saltzgaber.

Jacob Scherer ....... 1732 Mathias Schmeiser. . 1731 John Geo. Schmeiser

Hienrich Schmidt .. . 1732 John Geo. Schmidt. 1731 Baltzer Shoenberger 1732 John Schryack ..... 1732 John Shuetz .. . . .. .. 1732 John Henry Schultz. Valentine Schultz. . 1732

George Schwab ..... 1727 John Scheigardt. ... Baltzer Spangler .. . 1732 Ludwig Stein. . .

Henry Stultz ....... 1731 John Sultzbach. ... 1732 Torck Updegraff ... Michael Walch ..... 1732 Martin Weigel ..... Ludwig Weisong .. . Mathias Weller ..... Jacob Weller .. . .

Martin Weybrecht. . 1732 V. Winterbaner .. . . John George Wolff.1727 Wilhelm Wolff .. . . John Yost

Heinrich Zauch. .. . 1732 Jacob Ziegler. . John George Ziegler.1727

Rev. David Candler, 1743-44 .- The second pastor was Rev. David Candler, who in May, 1743, organized "the Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of the Conewago," the present St. Matthew's Church of Hanover. He resided in "the Conewago settlement," in the vicinity of the spot where Hanover stands, around which a number of Germans had settled as early as 1731. His charge extended from the Susquehanna to the Potomac. He bap- tized seventy children in the York congrega- tion and equally as many at Hanover. His son David, born May 6, 1740, became a prom- inent citizen of York. Pastor Candler's health failed; he died in December, 1744, and was buried in a graveyard one-half mile northwest of Hanover.

In 1744 the first log-church was built in York, on the spot where the Christ Church stands. For the first ten years no special house of worship was used, so far as is known, though there may have been one at another point in the great York Valley. The churchtin York was built just three years after the town of York was founded.

Rev. Lars Thorstansen Nyberg, 1744- 48 .- The funeral of Rev. Candler in De- cember, 1744, was attended by many per- sons. The officiating clergyman was Rev. Lars Nyberg, of Lancaster. He was a Swede, and had before entering upon the ministry, been a surveyor, and early in life also studied theology. Through intercourse with Arvid Gradin, he had accepted Moravian views. He was engaged as a teacher by a Swedish court, when a call from the Lancas- ter Lutheran Church was sent to Sweden for a minister. On his way to America he met, in London, Rev. Spangenberg, who became one of the apostles of the Moravian Church in America, and there, it is asserted, confirmed his faith in Moravian doctrine, but soon after became pastor of the Lutheran Churches at Lancaster, York, Hanover and Monocacy

In all of these congregations troubles arose on account of his attempts to turn them over to the Moravians. At York the controversy was especially severe and exciting, as Rev. Jacob Lischy, then pastor of the Reformed Church, was of the same faith. In 1746 a Moravian Synod was held in Kruetz Creek, and Nyberg brought two missionaries there, one to be pastor of the York Congregation and the other of the Monocacy Congregation. The most determined opponent at York was Bartholomew Maul, then the parish school- master, who was also empowered to read ser- mons during the absence of the pastor. Rev. Henry Muhlenberg visited York in May, 1746, for the first time. He reports in his diary that the York congregation then con- tained 110 families, living over a large ex- tent of country. He baptized several chil- dren, and confirmed those that Schoolmaster Maul had instructed. In June, 1747, Muh- lenberg again visited York, and went also to Conewago, Monocacy and Frederick. In his diary for June 21, 1747, he says:

"In the afternoon we rode from Lancaster, and in the night reached the newly laid out town of York, some of the people came together in the mid- dle of the night and rejoiced at my arrival, and ex- pected that the Lord's Supper would be adminis- tered to them on the following Sunday. I was now in the district in which the Lutheran congregations had commissioned Mr. Nyberg. He visited the con- gregations as far as into Maryland. The people who had been awakened by his methods, clung very closely to him, were ready to live or die with him. The stronger party nevertheless locked the church against him."

"On Saturday, June 27, at noon," says Rev. Muh- lenberg, "we arrived at York on our return from Maryland, when the members of the congregation were assembled that they might give in their names to come to the Lord's Supper. I called together those elders and members who were most act- ive, and begged of them to put away all dissension and distraction. Schoolmaster Maul, who had dil- igently instructed the children, and on Sundays read sermons, was present, and was questioned con- cerning the congregation. One or more of the vorsteher had been too loud, and had shown too much heat in the strife with the Moravians, for which I reproved them in love and gentleness. The justice of the peace presented himself, but made complaint against a contentious neighbor, who be- ing examined, conducted himself rudely, refused admonition and was excluded until he amended. Those who favored Nyberg did not attend services regularly, and said only hy his preaching were their hearts moved. They promised, however, that if a worthy pastor of our United Ministry, came hither to preach, they would come and hear him and fol- low him. At 3 o'clock I went to the church and had a profitable preparation based on Matthew XI, 8; the people were all attention. After the prepara- tive service I received the group of young men whom the schoolmaster had instructed for their confirma- tion. In the evening I edified and refreshed myself still further with the elders and vorsteher in the house. On Sunday, June 28, some persons who lived far off, made application for the Lord's Supper. The church on this day was too small, and nearly half of

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.

the audience had to stand outside, for a great con- gregation had assembled from a distance even of ten or twenty miles; it was the second Sunday after Trinity. I baptized a number after sermon, and confirmed fifteen persons, and administered the Lord's Supper to 200 communicants, and then closed the services by the whole congregation on bended knees giving thanks to God. In the eve- ning I was invited as a guest by the justice of the peace."

The justice mentioned was George Swaab (Swope). After Muhlenberg's departure Bartholomew Maul continued to read ser- mons to the congregation. He was after- ward elected one of the first commissioners of York County, and died about 1759.

Rev. John Helfrich Schaum, 1748-55 .- In May, 1748, the United Ministry sent Rev. Schaum. He was born in Geissen, in Hesse- Darmstadt. His father was preceptor of a school at Munichholzhausen; was educated at the University of Halle, and sent to America with authority to teach in the Congregational school at Philadelphia, where he landed January 26, 1745. He preached in German- town and at Raritan, N. J. He was sent to York with special instructions and minute directions as to how he should minister to the congregation. A prescribed order of services was required to be followed, which was common to all the churches of the Lu- theran Union at that time.

On his arrival at York, May 17, 1748, he was accompanied by Pastor Handschuh, of Lancaster, and Schoolmaster Vigera, of Philadelphia. On the afternoon of the 18th the constitution for the congregation adopted by the United Ministers, was presented and put into force, and so continued until 1781. On Ascension day, May 19, the pastor in- stalled the newly-elected elders and vorsteher, and confirmed sixteen persons. On Satur- day Handschuh and Vigera went to Cone- wago (Hanover) to arrange for its connection with York, which soon after was effected, as was that of the Lower Bermudian congrega- tion, to which Schaum preached May 31, 1748. For nearly five years the congrega- tion at York had been without an authorized pastor. While on his way to the consecration of a church at Raritan, N. J., Schaum was severely injured, from which he suffered for years, and for a time was not able to preach. In 1752 he was requested to occasionally visit the congregation at Frederick, which was vacant. In May, of the same year, his wife, Anna Eva, and their young child, Anna Gertrude, died. He was again married August 7, 1753, to Maria Dorotha Stumpf, of Lancas- ter. Rev. Schaum's health failed, and, on account of growing opposition, retired from

the pastorate of York, and in April, 1755, he went to Tohickon.

Rev. John Samuel Schwerdfeger, 1755- 56 .- The opposition to Rev. Schaum heard of the arrival at Baltimore of a candidate of theology, John Samuel Schwerdfeger, a young man of twenty-three years, who had been educated as an orphan at Neustadt, in Bavaria, and at the University of Erlangen, where he studied law and theology. He was shipped from Holland to Baltimore with emigrants; being unable to pay his passage would have been sold as a "redemptioner," upon landing, when the congregation at York bought his freedom. "He was ordained," says Muhlenberg, "by ministers who called themselves 'Orthodox Lutherans,' and who did not belong to the Synod." The congre- gation was then divided into two factions. Rev. Lucas Raus, of Goschenhoppen, Berks County, was called to York to settle the strife, but he would not then come.

George Ludwig Hochheimer, 1756-58 .- The next pastor was Hochheimer, who ar- rived in America November 1, 1755, from Ger. many, where he was a schoolmaster and bar- ber. He came to York in 1756, when the two parties still existed; the majority of both ac- cepted him as pastor. He remained a short time. In 1774, he was pastor of a congre- gation in South Carolina, and had been for many years before. Rev. John Kirchner, another Lutheran pastor, was at York during a part of the same time. He also had charge of Shuster's Church, in Springfield Township, from 1763 to 1767, and probably organized that congregation.

Rev. Lucas Raus, 1758-63 .- The next pastor, Rev. Lucas Raus, moved to York in April, 1758, met with success in building up the congregation, and excelled any pre- vious pastor. In 1759, he baptized 132, and in 1761, 161 children in the York con- gregation. The congregation then had 300 adult and 250 young members. On June 2, 1760, the corner-stone for a stone church . was laid. It was used for baptisms April 30, 1761, but was not fully completed until 1762. During the fall of that year it was consecrated by Dr. Wrangle, of Philadelphia, Revs. Borell, of Wilmington, Del., Geroch and N. Kurtz. The new stone church which stood until 1812, was 40x65 feet in dimen- sion. It was located where the church now stands, but was placed nearer the street than it. The steeple was taken down in 1805, as far as the bells, and a roof placed over them. In 1763, on account of some difficulties, Rev. Raus retired from his charge at York, and turned his attention more

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BOROUGH OF YORK.

to medicine. He had charge of some country churches, organized the churches at Dover and Quickel's, and preached at Shuster's church, in Springfield Township, from 1770 to 1787. The record shows baptisms ad- ministered by him at Bermudian, 1758- 1762; Kruetz Creek and "Chockely" 1760; Carlisle, in 1762; in the school house at Jacob Ziegler's, in Codorus Township; at Justice Noblet's house, and held English services in Newberry Township. A bio- graphical sketch of Mr. Raus will be found on page 405.

Rev. Nicholas Hornell, 1763-65, was the next pastor at York. He was from Sweden, and came to Philadelphia from Wilmington, and on July 8, 1763, left Phil- adelphia on the Lancaster stage for York, having obtained the Agenda for use at his new charge. Pastor Hornell had been or- dained in London in 1747,served the congrega- tion at Hoor in the province of Scania, was charged of serious wrongdoing and fled to Denmark. This news came to York and interfered with his success. On June 30, 1765, he delivered a farewell discourse and retired from the ministry. In 1767 he was living one-half mile from York. The congregation had no pastor from July 1765 to February 1767. During this interim it is supposed certain religious ceremonies were performed by Philip Teutsch (Deitch) who succeeded Bartholomew Maul as schoolmaster. William Kurtz was teacher of the school in 1756, established in York by the English Society. Philip Deitch continued as school- master until his death in 1789.

Rev. John George Bager, 1767-69. - The next pastor, Rev. Bager, had been in charge of the German church in New York City since 1763. Before he went to New York he had been pastor of the church at Hanover, where he lived. In 1769 he re- turned to Hanover.

Rev. Bager was born at Niederlinz, in Nassau-Saarbrnck, March 29, 1725. His father was a pastor. The son studied theol- ogy at Halle. Muhlenberg said "he was a very worthy and learned man, and was ordained in Germany." He was married to Anna Elizabeth Schwab, born at Geissen in Hesse-Darmstadt. He arrived in Phila- delphia October 23, 1752, and was met by Rev. Stoever and taken to Lebanon. In December, 1752, he visited Hanover and re- ceived a call on the 16th, moved there soon after and remained at Hanover until he went to New York. His first two children died in Europe, the third, Catharine, was born in Lebanon; the fourth, Christian Fredrick, born

August 29, 1754, in Hanover. Upon the death of his father Rev. Bager inherited money to purchase a farm near Hanover on which he died June 9,1791. During many years he min- istered to scattered Lutheran congregations. He is the ancestor of the Baugher family in York and Adams Counties, some of whom .have become prominent clergymen and authors.

Rev. John Nicholas Kurtz, 1770-89 .- In April, 1770, Mr. Kurtz took charge of the con- gregation. He was born October, 1722, in Lutzellinden, in the principality of Nassau Weilburg, now in Rhenish Prussia. His father was teacher of the Congregational school. The son spent six years in a clas- sical school at Geissen, and studied theology in the university there, and afterward at Halle. He arrived at Philadelphia Janu- ary 26, 1745, and went to New Hanover as a teacher, and as a preacher in Montgomery County, Penn., and at Raritan, N. J. He next went to Tulpehocken, Berks County, and also preached in Lancaster County. He was or- dained Angust 15, 1748. When Rev. Kurtz came to York he was in his forty-eighth year; he was a well formed man, five feet ten inches high, with broad forehead, dark eyes and dark curling hair. He had a full, strong resonant voice, and was inclined to preach the law and not abate its terms, as he pos- sessed great firmness of purpose. During his pastorate at York, the Revolutionary war took place and congress met here. He was at first troubled about the oath of allegiance he had taken to the king of England, but his conscience became clear and, in 1776, he was naturalized. During the meeting of congress when the houses of citizens had to be opened to entertain, his house was the home of Bishop White, then of the Spanish minister, afterward of the French minister, then of a member from South Carolina. In 1777, when money was scarce, and provisions for the soldiers meager, Mr. Kurtz, after a sermon, asked his audience to collect all articles and stores they could and send them to his house, and a committee was appointed to distribute them to the suf- fering soldiers according to the authority of his grandson, Dr. Benjamin Kurtz.

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History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended, Part 103

Author: Gibson, John, Editor Publication date: 1886 Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Gibson, John, Editor
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago
Number of Pages: 1104