THE HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, CHAPTER XXXII, UPPER MILFORD; SAUCON; MACUNGIE; SALISBURY; WHITEHALL, 1738 TO 1750 from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time by W. W. H. Davis, A.M., 1876 and 1905* editions.. Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Donna Bluemink. dbluemink@cox.net USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. _____________________________________________________________________________ Transcriber's note: Liberty has been taken with numbering footnotes so as to include all footnotes from both the 1876 and 1905 editions, plus any additional text and pictures in the 1905 edition. All 1905 material will be noted with an asterisk. Note: Where names differ, the 1905 edition spelling is applied. _____________________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER XXXII CHAPTER II (Vol II), 1905 ed. UPPER MILFORD; SAUCON; MACUNGIE; SALISBURY; WHITEHALL 1738 TO 1750 A twin sister. -UPPER MILFORD. -Township movement. -Names of petitioners. -Boundaries. -Township laid out. -Settlers. -Swamp church. -Pastors. -Anecdote. -SAUCON. -The Lehigh comes into notice. -First land taken up. -William Allen. Rev. John Philip Boehnn [Boehm*], John David Behringer, George Hartman, Adam Schaus. -Township organized. -First tavern on the Lehigh. -The landlords. -Settlers thereabouts. -Graveyard. -Boarding-school opened. -The river. -Surface of township. -MACUNGIE. -Now divided. -When settled. -Township laid off. -Names of petitioners. -Road asked for. -Settlers' names. -Surface level. -SALISBURY. -The Turner and Allen tract. -Other grants. -First settlers. -Emaus settled. -The township laid out. -WHITEHALL. - Earliest settlers. -The Mickeys.* -Lynford Gardner [Lardner*]. -Origin of name. -The Reformed church. -Township organized. -Heidelburg and Williams townships. Upper Milford, the twin sister of Milford in Bucks, and which originally embraced the territory of what is now Upper and Lower Milford, in Lehigh county, was the first township organized of all those now lying outside of our present county limits. It was cut off from Bucks with Northampton, in 1752, but fell within Lehigh county upon its formation, in 1812. It lies immediately northwest of our Milford township, and has Montgomery on the southwest. We know but little concerning its early settlement, but it appears that the same flood of German immigration that flowed into Lower, reached Upper, Milford, and at about the same time. In a few years quite a German population was settled there. The two townships were under the same municipal jurisdiction until they were regularly laid off into separate geographical subdivisions. No doubt the organization of Lower Milford, now Milford in Bucks, and by which name it was known within the memory of men now living, hastened the inhabitants of Upper Milford to the same end. At what time they commenced the township movement we know not, but we find that on January 10, 1737, a petition, signed by Peter Walher and 22 other inhabitants of that section of country, namely: Ulrich Kirster A. Mathias Ochs Johannes Meyer Joseph Henckel Daniel Rausch Henrich Willim Henrich Ris William Bit Gristian Bigli Jacob Wetel Johannes Betlzart Duwalt Machling Johannes Hast Melchior Stuher [Stecher*] (1) Michael Keher [Kehler*] Felix Benner Jacob Derry Michael Zimmerman ? Longhurst Mirwin Weihnacht Johannes Bangerner Hannes Ord was presented to the court of quarter sessions sitting at Newtown asking to have the country they inhabited laid out into a township, with the following metes and bounds: "Beginning at the northern corner of Milford township and then running up to Lawick hills, then along the said hills to the county line westward, then down the county line to the other corner of Milford township, then along the line of said township to the place of begining." The prayer of the petitioners was probably granted immediately, for the new township was surveyed and laid out by John Chapman on March 13, 1738. As laid out at that time it was in the form of a square, six miles long by five wide, and contained 21,120 acres. With but few exceptions the petitioners for the new township were Germans. In addition to those already mentioned as petitioners for the organization of the township, we find among the families settled there before, or at, that period those bearing the names of: Dubbs Eberhard Hoover Mumbauer Roeder Spinner Stahl Weandt. At a little later period there came the: Dickenshieds Hetricks McNoldies Millers Schellys Kipers Snyders Rudolphs Dretzes [Dietzes*] Heinbachs Derrs, and others. Peter Walhert [Walbert*] was appointed constable of Upper Milford in 1737, the year before the township was organized, and he was the first one for the new township in 1739, the year after. (1) Melchior Stecher later settled in Forks township, Northampton county, Pa. He was the great-great-grandfather of Ethan Allen Weaver, assistant engineer, Pennsylvania Railroad Company. * The first church built in [Upper Milford*] was the Swamp church just over the line of Bucks. Its origin antedates all existing records. The first log building was probably erected prior to 1736, soon after the German and Swiss immigrants settled in that wilderness region, for the church register opens April 24th of that year. A patent was obtained for 113 acres September 27, 1738, consideration £17. 3s. 7d, and the tract is still owned by the church. From that date the congregation has been Reformed. In 1772 the log building gave way to a substantial stone structure; the flooring was flag-stone and brick, the pews rough and inconvenient for napping during the sermon, and a stove never obstructed its aisles. A third building was erected in 1837 at a cost of $1,700, and a fourth in 1872. The latter is a handsome stone edifice, 70x50 feet, cost $30,000, and is adorned with a tall spire. The basement is divided into Sunday school rooms, pastor's room, and broad vestibule, and the audience room is handsomely finished with frescoed walls. In the loft is an organ with 23 stops, and cost $2,300. There is no record of pastors prior to 1736, but since that time the line is unbroken. They are, in regular succession: John Henry Goetschy, whose end is unknown George Michael Weiss and John Theobold Faber, who died in charge, and lay side by side in a neighboring graveyard Frederick William Vondersloot, who died in Northampton county John Theobold Faber, Jr. Frederick William Vondersloot, Jr., who died in York county Albert Helfenstein, died at Shamokin Daniel Weiser, pastor from 1833-1862, who still survives (1876 ed.), succeeded by his son C. Z. Weiser, present pastor. Besides these regular pastors the following ministers have served for brief periods: Jacob Reiss Philip Jacob Leydick Philip Jacobs Michael and Nicholas Pomp. During the pastorate of the Rev. Daniel Weiser the good work of the church advanced. The Sunday school was inaugurated in 1841 amid the cry of "innovation," and fierce outside opposition, but they availed not, and it now numbers 300 scholars. The church has now about 500 members, and since 1869 service has been held every Sunday, which is the case with but one other country German church in eastern Pennsylvania. Since 1872 it has been known as Trinity Reformed church, but, down to that period, it was called the Swamp church. The following coincidences present themselves in the lives of some of the pastors connected with this church. Three ministerial sons, Vandersloot, Faber, and Weiser succeeded reverend fathers. Both the Fabers began their pastoral life at this church; both left, after several years' service, for a parish in Lancaster county; both returned to this church and assumed its pastorate, died, and were buried in the same yard. The Messrs. Weiser, father and son, were born at Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania; both entered on their youthful ministry in their native place, and both, in turn, became pastors of the Swamp church. Tradition, through the mouths of the fathers of the church, tells the following anecdote in connection with obtaining the patent for the land now belonging to the Swamp church. The Reformed and Lutherans each appointed an elder to go to Philadelphia and obtain the title for the joint congregation. We shall designate them as R and L, who agreed to meet at a certain place, and ride down together. Elder R was punctual at the place of meeting, but found that L had proceeded instead of waiting. The astonished R pushed on, reached the city and stabled his horse, and as he passed out the alley to go the land office, he saw elder L sitting in the bar-room taking a little creature-comfort, feeling entirely secure in having stolen a march on his brother. Elder R hastened to the office, and secured the land for the Reformed congregation exclusively. On his way out he met elder L going in. The meeting produced an embarrassing silence, which tradition says was broken by a dialogue, in which elder R explained to his brother, over a bottle of wine, wherefore he had taken the title out in the name of the Reformed congregation. He wound up the interview by saying: "Now mark, neighbor! The Lutheran drinks his wine before he attends to his duty, and the Reformed attends to his duty before he drinks his wine." The rebuke was unanswerable. As Upper Milford passed out of the jurisdiction of Bucks county, within a few years after its organization, its history would be brief were we able to relate the whole of it. We do not know at what time the township was divided, but not until after it had been separated from Bucks. SAUCON. -Saucon township, now Upper and Lower Saucon in Northampton county, was the first territory on the Lehigh to be organized, four years after Upper Milford, which it joined. The Lehigh (2) region was first brought into notice in May 1701, when William Penn sent John Sotcher, of Falls township, and Edward Farmer, of Whitemarsh, to that river to ascertain the intention of the Indians. White men were on the river at that early day. On March 21, 1701, Penn informed his council that a young Swede who had just arrived from "Lechy" reported that on the 5th of the month, while some young men were out hunting they heard frequent reports of fire-arms, and suspected the presence of Seneca Indians. No doubt Sotcher and Farmer were sent on this information. The same month Penn caused the goods of John Hans Stiehlman, of Maryland, who had been endeavoring to open trade with the Indians at the "Forks of Delaware," to be seized. Of course the Proprietary had knowledge of this fine country before that time, and he traversed a portion of it in his journey to the Susquehanna. We are unable to tell in what year the pioneer immigrants pushed their way over the present limits of our county, but some adventurous Germans and Scotch-Irish were there before the Indian title was extinguished, and by 1750 there was considerable population scattered throughout the wilderness up to the foot of the Blue mountains, (3) and even beyond. (2) The original name was Lechan-wek-i, shortened and corrupted by the German settlers into Lecha, signifying "where there is a fork in the road." The name was given by the Delawares to the west branch of the Delaware, because, at a point below Bethlehem, several trails forked off from the great highway of Indian travel. (3) The lands in the Lehigh valley were thrown open to settlement in 1734. Three tracts are known to have been taken up on the south bank of the Lehigh prior to 1740. In the spring of 1736 William Allen confirmed 200 acres to Solomon Jennings, two miles above Bethlehem. It was held as part of the manor of Fermor, or Drylands, and paid an annual quit-rent of a silver shilling for each hundred acres. This tract passed into the possession of the Geisinger family in 1757, and is still owned by them. On April 12, 1738, Nathaniel Irish purchased 150 acres near the mouth of Saucon creek, who bought other lands at different times, and in 1743 he was the owner of 600 acres in a body. The same year he conveyed the whole tract to George Cruikshank, from the West Indian, who settled on it, and built a cabin near the mouth of the Saucon creek. He was a man of learning and taste, and his location was a delightful one, with beautiful scenery, and an abundance of game on the hills, and fine trout in the streams. Himself and family became almost hermits living so far from civilized society. It was at his house that William Satterthwaite, John Watson, and Pellar used to meet to talk poetry and otherwise enjoy themselves when Watson was surveying public lands in that section. Irish erected the first mill on the Lehigh, about where Shimersville stands, the ruins of which are still to be seen. He was commissioned a justice of the peace in 1741, and was a leading man of that region. The third tract, although the first to be located, was the farm of Isaac Martens Ysselstein, of Low Dutch parentage, who lived at Esopus in 1725, and immigrated to the Lehigh in 1737. In the spring of 1739 a sudden rise in the river washed away his cabin. He died July 26, 1742, and was buried on his farm. He left six daughters. When the Moravians arrived on the Lehigh in 1740, Ysselstein treated them with great kindness. One of his daughters married Philip Rudolph Haymer, and at his death she was again married, to John Frederick Shoeffer, in 1746, the seventh landlord of the "Crown Inn." The maiden-name of Mrs. Ysselstein was Rachel Bogart. In 1734, 178 acres, and an island of 10 acres, were surveyed to David Potts, of this county, which he assigned to Ysselstein in December 1738, who received the deed from William Allen in 1740, for £100. It lay just west of the Irish tract, and is now covered by the flourishing town of South Bethlehem. In December 1739 Ysselstein bought 75 acres of Irish, and in 1749 his widow conveyed the whole tract to the Moravians. In 1740 the Proprietaries conveyed 200 acres on Saucon creek to Rev. John Philip Boehm, of Whitpain, Montgomery county, who deeded it to his son Anthony in 1747, who settled upon it. In the autumn of 1743 a shoemaker, John David Behringer, and his wife Gertrude, settled where South Bethlehem stands, and lived in a log house on the edge of what is known as the Simpson tract. He was appointed ferryman in 1746, and was assisted by one Matthew Hoffman, late from Berks county. Behringer was one of the first shoemakers on the Lehigh, and had customers from the Minisinks. In 1744 George Hartman bought 80 acres of mountain land south of the Lehigh, and known within a few years as the Hoffert farm. John Lischer, an old man, from Oley, in Berks county, built a cabin and cleared and improved about three acres on the side of the mountain in 1750, now included in the grounds of the Lehigh University. Two years afterward the Moravians purchased the whole tract when Lischer moved away. Conrad Ruetschi, a Swiss, who sailed from England in May 1735 was one of the earliest squatters on the south bank of the Lehigh. He was there before 1741, and the Moravians bought his cabin and improvements two years afterward. About 1743 Adam Schaus removed from Falkner's swamp, Montgomery county, to Saucon township, below Bethlehem, where he opened the first house of entertainment on the Lehigh. In it a son, Gottlieb, was born in 1744. He removed to Bethlehem about the spring of 1746 to take charge of the mill, and afterward to Easton, where he kept tavern in 1760. Adam Schaus, the ancestor of the Schauses of Northampton, immigrated from the Lower Palatinate, with his wife and three children, about 1735. He was a millwright by trade, and assisted to build the Bethlehem grist-mill in 1743, and was the first ferryman at Bethlehem. His tavern, on the Lehigh, was a mile below Bethlehem, and June 24, 1745, he went to Newtown to take out his license. A slate-quarry was opened on the north side of Saucon creek, near Lawick hill, as early as 1742. Among the earliest settlers besides those named, were Christian Ludwig, Stoffel and Simon Heller, and John Wister was an early land-owner in the township, but there is no record of the date of their coming. Wister's tract is now owned by John Knecht. In the spring of 1742 the settlers on the south bank of the Lehigh, believing they had population enough to be organized into a township, and which their necessities required, several of the inhabitants "on and near Saucon" petitioned the court to confirm a township they had laid out and surveyed in April. They had agreed unanimously to call it "Saucon;" but on the back of the petition is endorsed what is, no doubt, the Indian name, "Sawkunk," while on the draft of the township the name of the creek is spelled "Socunk," (4) The township as laid out, and which was not confirmed until the spring of 1743, contained but 4,312 acres. It was nearly square, and touched the lines of Milford, Lower Milford, and Springfield. An entry in an old docket states that the petition, with draft of township, was presented at the March term, 1743, and was confirmed. The names of the petitioners are: Christian Newcomb Philip Kissinger George Sobus Henry Rinkard John Yoder John Reeser Christian Smith Henry Bowman Samuel Newcomb Benidick Koman Felty Staymets Henry Rinkard, Jr. George Troon Adam Wanner Owen Owen Thomas Owen John Williams John Tool John Thomas Joseph Samuel Isaac Samuel William Murry Michael Narer John Apple Jacob Gonner Henry Keerer George Bockman George Marksteler Henry Rumfold. (4) An authority give the spelling Sak-unk, meaning "at the place of the creek's mouth." There is supposed to have been a populous Indian village at the mouth of Saucon creek, near Shimersville. In the summer of 1745, after the Moravians had planted themselves on the north bank, they erected a white-oak log structure, 40x28 feet, for a house of entertainment, on the south bank of the Lehigh. It was two stories high, had high gable roof, four rooms on each story, floored with half-inch white-oak plank, and the doors secured with wooden bolts and latches, and it stood on the site of the [railroad station*], South Bethlehem. It was finished late in the autumn, and license was granted at the next June term of the quarter session, 1746. This was the first public house on the Lehigh that rose to the dignity of a tavern, and was managed in the interest of the Moravian brethren. Mr. Reichel says of this primitive inn: "It was stocked with gill and half-gill pewter wine measures, with two dram-glasses, two hogsheads of cider, one cask of metheglin, one cask of rum, six pewter plates, iron candlesticks, and whatever else could minister to the creature-comforts of the tired traveler. Here he was served with a breakfast of tea and coffee at four-pence, a dinner at six-pence, a pint of beer at three-pence, and night's hay and oats for his horse at twelve-pence." The tract on which the Crown stood was bought of William Allen, in February 1743, and contained 1,200 acres. This old hostelry went by several names, but in 1760 a new sign, emblazoned with a likeness of the British crown was swung from its side, and it was ever after known as "The Crown." In 1794 [1764*] on the completion of the bridge over the river, the building was transformed into a quiet farm-house, and when the union [railroad station*] was about to be erected, it was sold and removed, and is now known as the "Continental hotel," South Bethlehem. (5) The sign of the Crown is said to have been a frequent target for Indian arrows. In the early days the musicians of the church-choir, performing hymns on their instruments, accompanied the harvesters as they went forth to cut grain on the Crown farm, all who could leave, men, women, and children, assisting. A shield surrounded by a crown made of oak wood taken from the old Crown inn, and covered with locks, hinges, and a clasp-knife that once belonged to the old hostelry, are now in the Moravian Historical society at Nazareth. The Crown was often a place of refuge for the settlers on the frontiers when threatened by Indians. A barn was built on the premises in 1747. Five different landlords presided over the destinies of the Crown while it remained in Bucks county, namely: Samuel Ponell and Martha his wife, of county of Salop, England, brasier, immigrated June 1742, died in Philadelphia, 1762, Frederick Hartman, and Margaret his wife, a German who immigrated before 1740, and probably died at Narazaeth in 1756, Jobst Vollert, and wife Mary, from Chester county, who retired from it November 2, 1745, Hartman Verdriess, or Vandriess, of Lancaster county, miller, who vacated March 29, 1752, and died in Frederick county, Maryland, in 1774. He was succeeded the same day by: John Leighton, of Dundee, Scotland, and Sarah his wife, who immigrated in 1743. The inn was visited by distinguished persons, and occasionally by the governor of the province, and during Indian disturbances it was frequently occupied by the military. In 1762 the inn and its appurtenances were appraised at $267.95. The Crown inn was built on what is known as the Simpson tract, whose title runs in this wise: Deed of William Penn for 5,000 acres to William and Margaret Lother, October 1681, to be laid out in Pennsylvania, in such place as should be agreed upon. On the death of her brother, Margaret inherited his share and sold the entire grant to her daughter Margaret Pool who, with her husband, conveyed it to Joseph Stanwix, September 23, 1731. The latter sold it in January 1732 to John Simpson or Tower Hill, London, merchant. In 1743 the Moravians bought 270 acres of this tract for £200, extending up the river as high as Calypso island, and down below the depot-buildings. This purchase gave them the control of both banks of the river at this point. (5) There are those who assert that the original log building was the hut of a Swiss settler, named Ritchie, who settled there in 1742, and built it in 1743. We learn, from the register of the Crown, that settlers of the surrounding country made frequent visits to this popular resort, on business, or to partake of the good cheer to be found there. Among those who came were the Webers, Laubachs, Lerchs, Bachmans, and Freemans, (6) of Saucon, from Macungie and Salisbury the Knausses, Guths, Kraemers, Kemmerers, Ritters, and Zimmermans, from about Nazareth the Clevels, Bosserts, Lefevres, Scholls, and the Tromms, the Craigs, Browns, Horners, Gibsons, McCaas and the Campbells from Craig's settlement. Iron men came there from Durham, Hopewell, and other forges, from the Minisinks came the Brodheads, Deckers, Salades, with deer-skins and other productions, to barter. (6) The ancestor of the Freemans, of Freemansburg, was Richard Freeman, born in Cecil county, Maryland, 1717, and died in Saucon in 1784; [he married a sister of William Doyle, the founder of Doylestown.*] Before 1747, a graveyard was laid out on the south side of the Lehigh, on the hill near the ferry and Crown inn, as a burial-place for the Moravians of Saucon. The 12th of January, that year, the wife of Frederick Hartman was buried there, and in all is a record on 19 interments in the next 20 years. William Tatamy, son of Moses an interpreter to David Brainard, was buried there, and tradition tells us that several Revolutionary soldiers from the Continental hospitals at Bethlehem found a last resting place in this old graveyard. (7) (7) E. P. Wilber's hot-house is thought to occupy the site of the graveyard. May 25, 1747, a boarding-school for boys was opened on the south bank of the Lehigh, in the "Behringer" house, which stood just below the New street bridge. It was occupied as a girl's-school in May 1749 and was so continued until December 1753 when it was converted in a hat manufactory. The house was probably pulled down prior to 1757. When white settlers first located on the Lehigh it was a beautiful and romantic stream. The shores were lined with birch, sycamore and maple trees, their branches overhung the stream, and the water abounded in shad, herring, trout, suckers and eels, which the Indians caught in great quantities. The flats on either side were not heavily timbered, but covered with shrubbery and scrub-oak, with occasional knots of large walnuts, oaks, and chestnut, while on the bosom of the river floated the canoes of the Delawares, Mohicans, Nanticokes, the Shawnees, and other savage denizens of this and neighboring regions. The surface of this township is hilly, the soil fertile and well-improved. It is well-watered by the Lehigh river, Saucon creek, and their tributaries, which afford many fine mill sites. When cut off from Bucks county, in 1752, the population was about 700, which had increased to 2,710 in 1840. The country population is mostly German. South Bethlehem, the largest town, is one of the most flourishing in the valley, with a population of nearly 6,000 [8,000*]. It has one of the largest rail-mills [steel mills*] in the world. The soil contains large quantities of iron and other minerals. At what time Saucon was divided into Upper and Lower Saucon is not known, but probably soon after the present township was organized. In 1743 constables and supervisors were appointed for both Saucon and Lower Saucon, and these two names were in use in 1745. It is possible that Saucon was divided for the convenience of municipal purposes before a second township organization was granted, which was the case with other townships. But however this may be, the following are the names of those who petitioned for the formation of Lower Saucon: George Hertzel Henry Hertzel Paul Frantz Matthias Riegel Christian Laubach John Danishauss Jacob Hertzel Jacob Maurer Matthes Menchner Frederick Weber Diter Kauss Max Gumschaeffer Joerg Freimann Rudolph Owerle George Peter Knecht Michael Lintz Peter Risser Joel Arnimer Rudolph Illig. MACUNGIE. -This township which originally embraced the territory now included in Upper and Lower Macungie, Lehigh county, is bounded on the southwest by Montgomery county. Its settlement was contemporaneous with the upper parts of Bucks and Montgomery, and the firts-comers were Germans. No doubt settlers were in the woods of Macungie soon after 1730, for when cut off from Bucks in 1752 the population was 650. The two Macungies were called Macaunsie and Macquenusie prior to 1735. In January 1730, a road was opened from their settlements to Goshenhoppen. The Moravians were among them as early as 1742, and in 1754, a congregation was organized among the settlers near the South mountain, southwest from Allentown. The inhabitants took their first steps toward the formation of a township in 1742, and on January 28th they caused it to be surveyed by Edward Scull. The area was 29,200 acres. On June 16, 1743, they petitioned the quarter sessions to lay off their township according to the survey, the petitioners stating that they had "lived there this many years without any township layed out." Their prayer was granted and the township organized as desired. The names of those who petitioned were: Peter Tracksler Henry Sheath Jeremiah Tracksler John Ecle Frederick Rowey Peter Walbert, Jr. Philip Smies Joseph Albright Jacob Wagner Melchior Smith George Stininger Jacob Mier George Hayn Adam Cook Casper Mier Kayde Crim John Clymer Adam Prous. We are entirely in the dark as to the date when these settlers came into the township, or where they located, for we have no records to enlighten us. In March 1749 the inhabitants petitioned the court for a road "from Casper Wiester's plantation at the place called Jourdan, to George Good's mill, and thence to the great road called Macongey road." The names attached to this petition are likewise wholly German, viz.: Peter Drexler John Liechtenwaultner Frederick Nungesser William Meyer Heinrich Stanninger Stoffel Stetler Michael Kichel Andress Meyer Milton Schnick Bregoius Scholtze Philip Wendelklaus Johannes Schmitt Jacob Schlauch Loren Schaatt Bernhart Schmitt Frederick Romich [Roomich*] Heinrich Drexler Melchior M. Schmid Peter Haas David Gisty Peter Potner Nicholas Figler. In 1745 Conrad Culp applied for license to keep a public house in Macungie, probably the first tavern in the township. In 1746 Kulp and John Traxeler (8) both applied for license, the latter new. John Brandbury was appointed constable for this township as early as 1737. (8) Probably Trexler. This family gave name to Trexlertown, now in Upper Macungie, and there is hardly a doubt that the early tavern was the foundation of the village. The surface of Macungie (9) is generally level, and the soil productive. It was divided into Upper and Lowe Macungie, 40 years ago. (9) The name is corrupted from Machk-un-tchi, signifying "the feeding-place of bears." SALISBURY. (10) This township lies on the Lehigh, above and adjoining Saucon, and was peopled about the same period. March 18, 1732, John, Thomas and Richard Penn issued their warrant to the surveyor-general, to lay out a tract of 5,000 acres in Pennsylvania, to Thomas Penn and his heirs. Penn assigned the warrant to Joseph Turner, and Turner to William Allen, of Philadelphia, September 10, 1736. By virtue of these several assignments and the warrant itself, there were surveyed to William Allen 5,000 acres in the upper part of Bucks, on both sides of the Lehigh. A portion of this land lays in Salisbury township. The same year other grants were made in this section, near the Lehigh, and probably a portion of them in this township: Thomas Graeme, 2,000 acres James Bingham, 2,000 Casper Wister, 1,500 James Hamilton, 1,000 Patrick Graeme, 1,000 all in 500 acres tracts. The same year 3,000 acres, in six parcels of 500 acres each, were granted on the Lehigh, in the neighborhood of Allentown, upon part of which that town was laid out by Chief-Justice Allen, prior to 1752. A portion of this tract lay in Salisbury. (10) In Lehigh county and was named after Salzbury in South Austria. We have seen no reliable record of the names, and times of arrival, of the earliest settlers, but it is said they came soon after the Allen tract was open to settlement, in 1735. In 1747 a few Moravians settled at what is now Emaus, a small village at the foot of the South mountain, five miles southwest of Allentown. Among the earliest arrivals were Sebastian Knauss, Jacob Arenhard, and Andrew Guehring. (11) The latter, who did not arrive until 1751, was married at Bethlehem in 1754. The land of the town- plot of Emaus was given by Knauss and Arenhard, while Guehring gave an equivalent in money. There were German settlers in that vicinity as early as about 1740, and a congregation was organized and a church built as early as 1742. In 1746 it was called Schmaltzgass, and at this time is known as Jerusalem church. Salisbury township was not organized until after it became a part of Northampton inn 1752. (11) He was born in 1729 at the town of Boll in Wurtemberg. WHITEHALL. (12) Settlers pushed gradually up the Lehigh, and between 1730 and 1735 we find Germans in what is now Whitehall township. One of the first to arrive was Adam Deshler, in 1730, whose son David was one of the earliest settlers at Allentown, and owned a mill on the Little Lehigh. He was an active patriot in the Revolution, and advanced money to the government when its coffers were empty, and was a commissary of supplies for the Continental army. Among the name of the early comers to the wilderness of Whitehall we find those of: Schreiber Schaad Kohler Kern Burghalter Mickley Troxel Steckel Palliet, now written Balliet Saeger Knapp Guth, and others, whose descendants live in that region. Some of those early settlers were Swiss, and in religion generally Reformed. Lawrence Guth located 800 acres, the Troxels about 1,500, George Knapp, 100 acres, on which he likewise built a grist-mill, and Peter Kohler 120 acres, on which he likewise built a grist-mill. Balliet, Kohler, and Guth were tavern-keepers. They settled in a well-wooded and a well-watered district about Copley creek, which, because of its fertility, was called "Egypt." (12) In Lehigh county. There are three townships which bear this name, Whitehall, North Whitehall, and South Whitehall. [The Mickleys, descendants of Huguenots, driven from France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 1685, settled at Deux Ponts, then part of the German Empire. The name was corrupted and variously written, Miquilet, Muckli, etc., and finally anglicized into Mickley. The family name in Germany is Michelet. John Jacob Mickley, born in Germany, in 1697, landed at Philadelphia in 1733, married Elizabeth Barbara Ulrich, and settled in Whitehall township, then in Bucks county, now Lehigh, where he died, 1769. He left three sons and two daughters. The eldest son, John Jacob, settled in South Whitehall, John Martin, the second, in Adams county, 1794, and John Peter, the youngest, in Bedminster township, Bucks county, 1784. They left numerous descendants now found living in twelve states. The two younger sons served in the Revolutionary war and John Jacob, the elder, had charge of the transportation of the Liberty Bell from Philadelphia to Allentown, where it was concealed while the British held that city. The family, in this country and Germany, have held honorable places in the various walks of life, in the professions, business, etc. In time of war the descendants of John Jacob have always served their country, two were soldiers in the Revolution, three in the War of 1812, and 15 on the Union side in the Civil War, one being an officer of the Navy.*] About 1740 Lynford Gardner [Lardner*], of Philadelphia, built a house on a tract of land he owned near the Jordan and Cedar creeks. It was painted white, and because of its color was called "Whitehall," which afterward gave the name of the township. (13) On Scull's map of 1770 it is called "Grouse-hall." Gentlemen used to come from Philadelphia to Mr. Lardener's in large parties to shoot grouse, then a favorite sport. [Lardner was one of a company which purchased land near the head water of the Conestoga creek, Lancaster county, soon after 1733. On the property they erected forges for the manufacture of bar iron, and a large mansion in English style, calling the place Windsor. Lardner attended the old Bangor church. The company sold out about the time of the Revolution. Descendants of the Lardner family are still living in Lancaster county.*] (13) Mr. Henry. The Reformed church in this township, one of the oldest in Lehigh county, was organized about 1733. Service was first held at the houses of George Kulp, Jacob Kern, and Peter Troxel by the Rev. John Henry Goetschius, of Zurich, Switzerland, and one of the oldest German missionaries in America. The date of the church organization is not known, but the baptismal record commences March 22, 1733; (14) the first baptism entered is a son of Peter Troxel, October 26th of that year, with Nicholas Kern and Johannes and Margaret Egender [Engender*] for sponsors. The child was named Johannes. Mr. Goetschius, the first pastor, came to this country before 1730, which year he became pastor of the Reformed church at New Goshenhoppen, Montgomery county. He officiated at the Egypt church, in conjunction with that at Saucon, until 1736. The church was now without a pastor for several years but was supplied occasionally by John Philip Boehm, and the children were taken down to the Saucon church to be baptised by the Rev. P. H. Dorstius [Dorsius*]. The Rev. John Conrad Wuertz was called in 1742, but in 1744 he removed to the Springfield church. (14) At this time it was called "the congregation at the Lehigh." A small Reformed log church, with loose planks laid on blocks for seats, was erected in 1742. A Lutheran congregation was organized in 1758, and since then the two congregations have continued to worship in the same building. After the resignation of Mr. Wuertz in 1744 there was a vacancy, with supplies, until 1752, when John Jacob Wissler, a native of Dillenberg, Nassau, was called to the charge. At this time the Reformed charge was composed of the congregations of Heidelburg, Egypt and Jordan. The church in Whitehall has been known as the Egypt church since 1752. The township was not laid out and organized until 1753, the year after it was cut off from Bucks, but probably the inhabitants had taken steps toward it before. HEIDELBURG township, to the northwest of Whitehall, was settled about the same period, but it was not organized until after 1752. Nathaniel Irish owned real estate there in 1749, and on the 24th of April he leased 200 acres to Nicholas Snyder. WILLIAMS township, in the southeast corner of Northampton county, was organized in 1750, [two years prior to the county being cut off from the Bucks.*] At the time the county was divided it contained a population of 200. [By the erection of Lower Saucon, at the March sessions of Bucks county, 1743, this township embraced the remaining portion of the territory belonging to Northampton county south of the Lehigh to the Bucks county line. When this township was organized, a survey of it was deemed unnecessary, as its boundaries were clearly defined by the erection of Saucon, which bounded it on the west, the Lehigh river on the north, the Delaware on the east, and the Durham tract, now Durham township, Bucks county, on the south. The township took its name from John Williams, an early settler, and between 1750 and 1760, the county records speaks of it as "Williamston" township. In the assessment for 1766, the widow Williamson was assessed for 240 acres of land. How early they came into the township, or where from, we are not informed. Some of the first settlers came between 1725 and 1730. About the time the settlement of Easton was begun, 1752, William Parsons, in December of that year, says, "Most of the provisions supplying that infant town, are brought from Williams and Saucon townships, which contained a considerable number of inhabitants." Among the first settlers we find the names of John Williams, Melchior Hay, Nicholas Best, George Best, Michael Shoemaker, George Raub, and Martin Lahr. The first congregation organized, and church erected, was probably about 1740-45, on the road, or path, leading from the ferry at Easton toward the so-called "Great road leading from Philadelphia to Irish's mill at the mouth of Saucon creek." As this part of the township was at that time the most settled, it was considered a suitable location for a church. It existed until 1763, when the congregation, Lutheran, purchased a house from the Moravians, at Easton, and was used by them until the completion of the union church, Lutheran and Reformed, at Easton, 1776. Nearly the entire surface of the township is covered by the Lehigh hills, beginning at the Delaware and extending southwest. In these are found magnetic ore, at various places, which has been mined since 1826. An elevated spot along one of the ridges, about the middle of the township, is called "Witch-peak," or head, from the superstitious notions of the first inhabitants, and noted in "Henry's Lehigh Valley." Williams is now a rich and populous township.*] End of Chapter XXXII, 1876 ed., and Chapter II, 1905 ed.