BIOGRAPHY OF ELEANOR LEAS AND DANIEL FAHNESTOCK By Kathryn E. Leas Stuart Elenora LEAS, daughter of Leonard and Salome "Sarah" Leas was born on 3 May 1744 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania where her father had purchased a piece of land from the Penn Proprietors in 1743. She married Daniel FAHNESTOCK on 18 December 18, 1764 at Lower Bermudian Union Church Adams Co, Pennsylvania. In the church records at Strayer's (Salem) Reformed Church, near Dover in York County, PA, there is also a record of the marriage. It records that one Nalli Lascht, daughter of Leonhart Lascht married Daniel Fahnestock. Daniel was the son of Johann Diedrich FAHNESTOCK and Anna Margaretha WERTZ or WIRTH, born in 1737 in Amwell, Hunterdon Co, New Jersey. The Brethren in Colonial America by Durnbaugh, pages 184-185 records that the "Bermudian congregation began about 1758 in Warrington Twp, York County, Pennsylvania about 15 miles from the town of York. The congregation was assisted by Conrad Beissel and were considered the offspring of the Ephrata church he founded. They observed the 7th day (Saturday) as the Sabbath and were known as Seventh Day Baptists. In the membership list are other family names. Along with Daniel Fahnstick & wife, we find Dietrich Fahnstick & wife, John Cook, wife and son (this is Eleanora's sister Ursula Leas) and George Neiss & wife (Eleanora's sister Mary). They would have been at the Bermudian Brethren Meeting House which later became part of the Upper Conewago Congregation. It is not the same as Lower Bermudian which was a Lutheran and Reformed (Union) church building. On the 1779 Tax List for Warrington twp, York Co, Daniel Fonastock was assessed on 100 acres of land, 1 horse and 3 head of cattle. His tax was 53.0.0. Daniel was the second of Johan Diedrich and Margaret Wirth Fahnestock's sons to become a doctor according to the Fahnestock Genealogy. Five children were born to Eleanora and Daniel in York County; two sons, William (born April 18, 1766) and Daniel, Jr.(born February 23, 1774) and three daughters Mary called "Polly" (born 1777), Salome (born 1778, called Sarah after Eleanor's mother) and Esther (born April 13, 1779). Eleanora died at the age of 37 on 22 Sep 1781 in York County, Pennsylvania. While Eleanora and Daniel were not part of the actual Ephrata Cloister Community, his father and mother were for a time and they all were associated with the offshoot church we spoke of earlier. Nevertheless, "The Ephrata Register: Names of those who in the Lord fell asleep" has a brief record: "Fahnestock, Ellen (Luster), wife of Daniel Fahnestock; died September 22, (1781)." There is no record of her place of death or burial in this record but Eleanora Fahnestock was buried at Markey Burial Ground in Washington Township, York County, Pennsylvania, where just over a year later, her father would be interred. On June 24, 1790 Dr. Daniel Fahnestock of Warrington Township purchased a plantation called Sociability in Tyrone Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. In December of that year, he acquired a gristmill on Buffalo Creek in what was then Rye Township (later Juniata Township) in Cumberland County and he moved the family there. Later, a deed of August, 1797 records that Daniel Fahnestock, yeoman of Juniata bought land on Little Buffalo Creek in Juniata. By the time of the 1800 Census Daniel had moved his family westward to Juniata Twp, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. Daniel married Catherine Reiter, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Reiter of Washington Township, York Co, Pennsylvania. She was born in 1757 and died in 1831. Her maternal grandfather was Henry Lehman. Daniel made his will on December 6, 1800 and it was proved on February 1, 1807 showing that he died somewhere in between. He mentions his wife, Catherine and children: William, Daniel, Mary, Salome, Esther, Margareth and Barbara and minor children, Eleanor and Joseph. Catherine, the second wife is buried in Cocklin Cemetery, Upper Allen Township. Only the year of her birth and death are recorded on the stone. Where Daniel is buried is unknown.