Norman Gasbarro | April 15, 2012
The lot numbered 41 in the original Simon Gratz layout of the town of Gratz, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, was sold in 1816 to a farmer, Peter Ritzman, an early settler of Lykens Township. Ritzman built the house shortly afterward and by 1818 sold the property to Jacob Hoover. Hoover continued to live in Lykens Township […]
Norman Gasbarro | October 12, 2011
The original purchaser of Lot #46 from Simon Gratz in 1818 was Joshua Ossman. In 1820, Ossman left Gratz and sold the lot to Charles Coleman who owned it until he died in 1839 whereupon it is listed through his estate until 1852 when it was obtained by Jacob Laudenslager (1796-1869). During the estate period, […]
Norman Gasbarro | September 19, 2011
The first owner of this original Simon Gratz lot was Jacob Sierer (or Seara) who purchased it in 1816. The house was built sometime between the land purchase and 1820. From 1825 to 1849, the property was owned by Martin Moyer, but he did not live here, preferring instead to rent to tenants. In the […]
Norman Gasbarro | August 7, 2011
This is the seventh in a series of posts on Gratz during the Civil War. The original house on Lot #38 on the south side of Market Street was built about 1822, probably by Barbara Wiest, the widow of Jacob Wiest who died in 1811; she had re-married to Michael Salada. In 1830, John DeWalt, […]
Norman Gasbarro | February 21, 2011
Jacob DeWald Muench (1805-1846) and Sarah “Sally” [Moyer] Muench (1814-1879) of the Lykens Valley area had five sons. An oft-repeated Muench family legend is that when the Civil War began, all five sons of Jacob Muench went to enlist in the Union Army. But one son, Charles Edward Muench was sent home to help his […]
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