AREA HISTORY: History of Adams County, Chapter XXXIV, Adams County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/adams/ _______________________________________________ History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1886 _______________________________________________ Part III, History of Adams County, Pages 271-275 CHAPTER XXXIV. HAMILTON TOWNSHIP AND BOROUGH OF EAST BERLIN. Conowago Creek forms the entire northern boundary, and Little Conowago Creek the entire western boundary of this township. Here they are spirited streams, rushing and splashing along their zigzag course. Muney Run flows westward, and Pine Run northward, both feeders of these creeks, and drainers of the southwest and central portions of Hamilton. Beaver Creek forms the eastern boundary of the township, entering Conowago Creek at the extreme northeastern part of the township. While there are several pretentious hills there are no mountainous tracts. The soil is red gravel, flinty, and very productive. The surface rolls heavily in parts, but large tracts of comparatively level land exist. The elevation of East Berlin above the Atlantic level is 550 feet. Pine Hill, near East Berlin, just north of the creek, contains a mineral resembling umber. In this neighborhood the brown stone used in building Conowago Chapel in 1787 was found. The Berlin & Hanover Turnpike was constructed in 1811. In 1820 the bridge at Geiselman’s mill, East Berlin, was built by Sebastian Hafer. It was 213 feet long with seven arches, and cost $5,000. During the ice-flow of 1825 this was carried away, and in 1826 the present wooden bridge was erected. In 1826 Amos Green built the covered wooden bridge at East Berlin for $3,850. In 1832 the wooden bridge on Little Beaver Creek, below East Berlin at Smith’s mill, was built for the two counties by Jacob Laumaster, for $1,595. In 1860 J. M. Pittenturf built a wooden bridge at East Berlin for $545. The iron bridge over Beaver Creek, near East Berlin, was built by the two counties in the fall of 1884. The population of Hamilton Township in 1820 was 1,076, and of East Berlin, 418; in 1830, 1,047; in 1840, 1,068; in 1850, 1,166 (including 2 colored); in 1860, 1,119 (including 2 colored); in 1870, 1,118, and in 1880, 721. The population of East Berlin in 1880 was 510. The number of tax payers in Hamilton Township (1886) is 235; value of real estate, $365,494; number of horses, etc., 283; of cows, etc., 334; value of moneys at interest, $28,105; value of trades and professions, $5,970; number of carriages, 122; acres of timber land, 533½. Hamilton Township was formed out of Berwick in 1810. The first assessment was made in 1811, and from it the following list is made up: Phillip Arper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $212 John Anthony, shoe-maker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Anthony Auchinbaugh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 John Attig, carpenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902 Frederick Arper, carpenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 950 Geo. Aldland, carpenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700 Peter Auchinbaugh, merchant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312 Dr. John B. Arnold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 932 John Arnold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,996 John Arendurff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,293 John & Herman Arnold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,212 Widow Eliza Auchinbaugh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510 Conrad Allwine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,820 Widow Kate Bonix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Dr. Daniel Baker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852 William Baugher, carpenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 John Brighner, cooper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 680 Geo. Brown, Squire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Blintzinger, tailor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 John Bowman, wheelwright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,062 Peter Binder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 John Brown, tailor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 960 Michael Bender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,906 Fred Baugher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,587 Geo. Baker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,084 Jacob Bohn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,245 Dan Butt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Fred Berlin, shoe-maker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336 Michael Bawelitz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,348 Peter Brough, grist and saw-mill . . . . . . . . . . . 8,988 Sam. Bowser, Sr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,294 Geo. Clarke, tailor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 James Chamberlin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Jacob Cole, shoe-maker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362 Benj. Deardorff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 Samuel Deardorff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,836 Daniel Deardorff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483 John Duncan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,450 Widow Christina Duncan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,380 Jacob Ernest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000 Henry Forry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,300 George Fauss, carpenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560 Peter Fahnestock, Jr., merchant . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,512 Borious Fahnestock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,412 Samuel Fahnestock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,868 Val Fiches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,287 John Fox to John Lentz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,484 Michael Gyselman, grist, saw and plaster-mill . . . . . 6,224 Jacob Getes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,992 Geo. Gipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Dan Grossensten, wagon-maker . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,293 Joseph Howe, blacksmith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Jacob Housel, clock-maker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 John Hoffman, saddle-tree mnfr . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Jacob Henning, hatter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Fred Hoover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452 John Hollinger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,410 John Hildebrand (town of Carlin) . . . . . . . . . . . 7,220 C. Hollinger, saw and plaster-mills . . . . . . . . . . 7,201 Phil. Hartman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,206 Jacob Hantz, chemist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,430 Wm. Henderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Wm. Jones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Peter Ickes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,300 Joseph Jones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Wm. Inkins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,380 Samuel Jacob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,900 Dan Jacob, wagon-maker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610 Jacob Kimmell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560 James Kitwallet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Jacob Krider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 Joseph Koon, cooper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 Michael King, shoe-maker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810 Jacob Koch, hotel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,210 Abram Kaufman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,992 Andrew Kaufman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,328 John Knight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485 Richard Kitchen’s heirs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,600 Widow Margaret Kitchen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 John Lentz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,484 Geo. Liebenstone, blacksmith . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,202 Geo. Laurence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312 Jane Lane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 Daniel Lease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Christian Lentz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,506 Peter Long, nailer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,390 Daniel Lingefelder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,142 Samuel Mummert, wagon-maker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360 John Meyer, miller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Maximillian Morburg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Widow Mary Myer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 860 Henry Miller, blue-dyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Wm. Miller, hatter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Samuel Mummert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,205 Geo. Mummert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Mathias Mummert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,080 Jacob Mummert, carpenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 John Mummert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,800 Jacob Miller, distillery and oil-mill . . . . . . . . . 6,320 Geo. Miller, stiller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Andrew McIlvain, distillery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,010 Geo. McKehen (McCutcheon) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,194 Christian Nagle, mason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369 John Nagle, Sr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 John Nagle, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,370 George Noll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850 Barbara Oblenis (deceased). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,380 Henry Picking, merchant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,050 Christian Picking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Wm. Patterson, store-keeper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,050 Samuel Patterson, blacksmith . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458 James & Sholas Patterson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,265 Simon Pecher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,786 John Piper, blacksmith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Widow Phoebe Rotcheson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Geo. Retzell, chair-maker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 Thomas Reed, hatter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 John Skidmore, shoe-maker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 Martin Smith, hotel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Jacob Sailor, hotel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,045 Mich. Spangler, weaver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460 Christian Scnobenland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Henry Shroeder, tailor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420 Gabriel Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,590 Wm. Sadler, hatter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510 Abram Swigard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 870 Daniel Sower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Abram Shaffer, weaver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Adam Swartz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900 Clement Stewthebaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,120 Daniel Showalder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,215 Jacob Sugar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Jacob Sower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,235 Adam Sower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,450 John Sower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,220 Henry Staub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Jacob Sneering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Wm. Surgeon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,394 John & Christian Showalder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,421 Daniel Slagle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,492 Thomas Usher’s heirs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 Baltzer Werner, mason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 David Wilson, hotel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,010 Jacob Wolf, tinner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460 Solomon Wisler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,920 Abram Wise, distillery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,876 John Wolf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,400 Jacob Wolf, shoe-maker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Jacob Weist’s heirs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 Andrew Wolf, tailor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Fred Wolf, weaver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 Adam Wolf, weaver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360 Henry Weist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,762 Michael Yoh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,000 Christian Zeller, carpenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 780 The single men residing in the township in 1811 were Jacob Baker, blacksmith, with Widow Baker; Emanuel Carpenter, of Berlin; Chris Hollinger, with father; Abram Jacob, weaver, with father; Adam Long, with father; Adam Mummert, blacksmith, Berlin; Henry and Jacob Miller, with Jacob Miller, Sr.; William McIlvain, physician; Thomas Stephen, physician; John Sower, with Adam Sower; John B. Smith, Berlin; Casper Wise, with Abram Wise; Peter Wort, with David Wilson; Bausitch Anthony, with William Saddles; Charles Becknell, with Christian Pickings. The total assessment was $254,812, and the tax levy was 10 cents per $100. Hamilton, through its delegate to the convention of November 4, 1834, J. Miller, voted against the adoption of the common school law; some time later the township adopted the law. The Berlin Branch Railroad was proposed in 1835, but not until 1877 was the present road from Red Hill, near New Oxford, to East Berlin, via Abbottstown completed. East Berlin subscribed $27,000 and Abbottstown $15,000. The contractors were Nicholas Fleigle, B. B. Gonder & Sons, Cyrus Diller and a few subscribers. L. Williams was the track-layer. Crosskeys, at the crossing of the York and Hanover & Carlisle Turnpikes, was founded in 1801 by William Gitt. Henry Gitt purchased it in 1806 and opened a hotel, which was continued until 8134. The house is still standing, now occupied by E. C. Gitt. Green Ridge Postoffice was established in this township near the John Russ farm; existed for about six years and was then discontinued. BOROUGH OF EAST BERLIN. This little borough, the center of the northeastern enterprise of the county, is ensconced in a bend of Conowago Creek in the extreme northeastern section of the township. The population in 1820 was 418, increased to 510 in 1880. The American Gazetteer of 1797 refers to Berlin as follows: “Berlin is a neat and flourishing town of York County, Penn., containing about 100 houses. It is regularly laid out on the southwestern side of Conowago Creek, thirteen miles westerly of Yorktown and 101 west of Philadelphia in north latitude 39º 56”.” The number of tax payers in the borough of East Berlin (1886) is 243; value of real estate, $186,069; number of horses, etc., 72; of cows, etc., 33; value of moneys at interest, $94,631; value of trades and professions, $10,160; number of pleasure carriages, 63; of gold watches, 9; acres of timber land, 14. The events which led to the organization of this borough are modern. It appears that in 1879 the election poll was moved to Pine Run, three miles westward, in opposition to the wishes of the villagers. To save all future disagreements the latter petitioned for a borough organization. On October 11, 1868, fire destroyed property valued at $12,000. The retailers of foreign merchandise in Hamilton Township in 1824 were Joseph Miller, Christian Picking, Isaac Will and William Hildebrand. Peter Deardorff, constable, made the returns. W. S. Hildebrand is postmaster. The borough was incorporated in 1870, and in 1880 the first officers were elected. In the following list the name of burgess is next to date of election and next comes names of councilmen: 1880-George King; J. Hartley, J. Resser, M. Rebert, George W. Baugher, Henry Sheafer, John Wiest. 1881-George Kink, M. Rebert, G. Hartley, John Wiest, G. Baugher, J. Resser, H. Shaffer. 1882-John Picking; A. S. Hildebrand, J. M. Baker, J. Miller, N. B. Sprenkle, J. Hartley. 1883-W. S. Hildebrand; S. Meisenhelder, J. R. Darrone, N. B. Sprenkle, W. H. Grogg, Henry R. Jacobs. 1884-W. S. Hildebrand; Baker, Grogg, Jacobs, Sprenkle, Brown, Shaffer. 1885-Edward Sheffer; D. Boblitz, John Wiest. In 1880 A. W. Storm and L. T. Diller were elected justices of the peace; in 1881 F. S. Hildebrand, and in 1885, T. E. Myers. The land on which East Berlin stands was purchased in 1764, by John Frankenberger from the Penns, for £28 16s 7d. Charles Hines erected the first house thereon in 1765 and the second in 1766 by Jacob Sarbaugh. In 1769 a primitive school was established by one Robert Carter or Chester, a native of England, who subsequently carried on a tavern here. On May 8, 1764, the village was surveyed into eighty-five lots, which sold for 55 shillings each, a condition of sale being that the buyer would, within six months, erect a house with brick or stone chimney, and pay annually a Spanish dollar to the owner of the town. Ten years after the town was founded it was sold to Peter Househill for £550. In March, 1782, Andrew Comfort purchased Househill’s interest, and in his will, dated November 19, 1789, made it optional with his son Andrew to purchase the property at a fair valuation. In January, 1794, this Andrew Comfort was granted a deed, and January 16, the next year, he sold to John Hildebrand. The last buyer made an addition of 100 lots that year and progress marked his ownership, for in 1797 there were 100 houses standing, together with Peter Lane’s mill on the west side, built in 1769 and carried away by floods in 1799. CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS. The Catholic Church at Paradise, which is the church of the Catholics of East Berlin and Abbottstown, dates its organization back to the beginning of settlement; but not until 1843 was a church erected. In this year, John Brandt donated a tract of land for religious purposes, and here the present stone building was raised that year, and Father Pester, of Conowago, appointed first resident priest. There was a private chapel there for years before in which the services of the church were held at intervals. The mission is now attended by Father Gorman, of Bonneauville. The Berlin Presbyterian Society was organized in 1801 by the itinerant reformed preacher, John Ernest, who held services in the first school building. In 1811 John Hildebrand donated a one-half acre for the purpose of a Union Church, in lieu of a lot set apart in 1764 by John Frankenberger; and here the Presbyterians determined to build, but did not carry out this determination as a Presbyterian society. The Union Reformed and Lutheran Church was begun in 1811, before John Ernst left the locality. It was completed in 1822, during Rev. Carl Helfenstine’s term, and he preached here until 1826. The ministers named in the history of these respective societies at Abbottstown preached here also. A. G. Deininger was connected with the Lutheran society here for fifty-two years, ending with his death, September 30, 1880. Each society claims about ninety members; Rev. John Tomlinson is pastor. The property is valued at $2,000. Trinity Evangelical Church was erected in 1879 during the term of Rev. G. H. Scheh. The society was organized about this time with twenty-five members. The Methodist Episcopal Society was organized in 1854, and a house of worship erected. When the society declined in numbers, a bill was introduced into the State Legislature empowering the representatives of the trustees to sell, and on its approval the property was purchased by Michael McSherry, and converted by him into a dwelling house. The German Baptist Church, near East Berlin, is one of the leading societies of this faith in the eastern part of the county. Rev. Adam Brown has served this, as well as other churches in his district, for about thirty-five years. The Union Sabbath-school was organized in 1840 and reorganized in 1857. J. B. Baughman, still connected with Sunday-school work, took charge of this school in 1858. The Evangelical Sunday-school was organized in 1879, with Rev. J. E. Britcher in charge. The Normal School was founded in 1879, with the following named faculty in charge: J. Curtis Hildebrand, Dr. F. C. Wolf, W. J. Metzler, Charles S. Deardorff and Miss Annie Storm. John H. Nitchman and Kate L. Miller were assistant teachers. The building is a two story brick house, belonging to the district schools, which is devoted to the normal classes for sixteen weeks during the summer. The number of students is placed at twenty-seven. SOCIETIES, ETC. The Berlin Beneficial Society was organized March 27, 1843, with the following named members: *William Wolf, John Picking, *George H. Binder, *John Zerman, David Mellinger, M.D., *Jacob Bushey, George King, Michael Dellone, *William Baugher, Andrew J. Miller, George W. Baugher, F. B. Raber, *John H. Aulebaugh, George Bentzel, *Rev. A. G. Deininger, *Samuel Wagner. The membership numbers 146. From 1843 to 1882 no less than $20,000 were paid out for beneficial purposes. Oniska Tribe, I. O. R. M. was organized January 17, 1871, with the following named members: J. Curtis Hildebrand, F. C. Wolf, M.D., John F. Geiselman, C. Will Baker, J. Henry Bohn, Michael McSherry, H. W. King, G. W. Baugher, I. S. Trostle, John Wiest, A. S. Trostle, John Getz, D.S. Bender, Israel Stambaugh and John Miller. There are about thirty members. Sons of America No. 21, organized August 14, 1869, with the following named members: J. Curtis Hildebrand, G. W. Householder, A. S. Trostle, C. W. Stoner, F. C. Wolf, M.D., A. D. Spangler, I. S. Trostle, Israel Stambaugh, J. L. Darr, H. C. Myers and H. W. King. There are twenty-five members. The East Berlin Record was issued January 14, 1886, by James R. and James H. Gardner, with the latter as editor. * Deceased.