Biography:  George Lambert of Shade Township

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George Lambert, one of Shade Township's earliest settlers,
accompanied by his two brothers, Jacob and John, came here from
Cumberland County in 1789. George purchased and received
warrants for more than a thousand acres of land located on Little
Shade Creek and including all lands surrounding the junctions of
Beaver, Crooked, Dark Shade, and Little Shade creeks, also lands
extending westward into Miller Run Valley.
   
This was still a great wilderness overrun by many wild animals
when George built his cabin here in 1790. This is illustrated by a
story told by Mr. Lambert in later years. Lambert, in the company
of several other settlers from this vicinity, journeyed to Greencastle,
Franklin County, a distance of seventy miles, to purchase some
badly needed supplies. Among other things, Mr. Lambert brought
back home several pigs which he placed in a wooden pen for the
night. The next morning he awoke to find his pigs gone--eaten
by bears.
   
In 1790, George married Elizabeth Stotler, the second daugh-
ter of Casper Stotler. George built their cabin home on the west
bank of Little Shade Creek, about one-half mile south of its junc-
tion with Dark Shade Creek--now known as the Henry Umberger
Farm.
   
Here on Little Shade Creek in 1800, George Lambert built
the first sawmill in Shade Township. (This land is now occupied
by the Landis Sunoco Station and Tremelresidence.) The mill was
a crude machine run by water power developed by the old bucket-
type water wheel. The saw operated with an up-and-down motion,
hence the up-andaown mill. This sawmill in later years became a
boon to the Lamberts' plans, as we will see.
   
Years later, when their children grew to maturity, George and
Elizabeth (Stotler) Lambert divided their lands among their eight
children. Upon each tract of land they placed a log cabin home--
a home for each one of their children.
   
George and Elizabeth (Stotler) Lambert were the parents of
the following children: Jacob, John, George, Jr., Mary, Sarah,
Rebecca, Eleanor, and Elizabeth. George and Elizabeth are both
interred in the Stotler Cemetery.