Longswamp Twsp., Berks Co., PA

 

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Updated 10-Mar-2007

 

     This website is centered on a Berks County, PA store logbook/ledger/day book that was acquired on eBay a short while ago.  It is ca1843, and the logbook itself is ledger style, having the dimensions of 7” wide, 16” tall and 2” thick, and started out with about 400 blank pages.  The old leather spine is just gilded with the words “Day Book” and the inside blank pages have a light horizontal rule with vertical rules on both the left and right sides.

 

   The condition of this store ledger is such that the rule lines on the pages that have old ink writing on them have all but disappeared, the book itself smelled so bad that at first, I could only stand to be near it for no more than an hour at a time, with a day break in between.  I had immersed it in cedar shavings for about a week, and that helped a bit, but eventually, leaving it open to the air, the smell subsided quite a bit.

 

     All told, there is writing on over 330 pages in the ledger, and it appears to cover a full years worth of data, with the very first dated entry on February 9^th, 1843.  The entries made are for people who came into this “store” to purchase things, much like we do today.  It appears that the storeowner may not necessarily have been the person entering the names in the book.  I am still not convinced that the actual patrons themselves may or may not have entered their own entries into the book itself.  The entries mostly are the name of the person, with a list of the items purchased by themselves, and then sometimes some notes, like “by himself”, “by his wife”, “by his boys”, “by his girls” etc..

 

     Also, it appears that sometimes the person would come to the store to “square up” on their bills, because a lot of times, the entry is just a name and then the words “to a balance” or even “to a bill”.  A lot of the names are misspelled according to today’s common spellings for both the given and surnames.  In the index of names list below, I show the variants on the name spellings.  Also, a lot of words used for the products and even names are spelled out phonetically. 

 

It became evident after going through the first hundred pages or so, that this certain store clerk, whom I suspect is a Peter C. Dalman (or Dallman), made most if not all of the entries himself.  On one of the first few pages, at the top, is the script “Long Schwamp  Day Book of Pet C. Dalman”. Also, the entries made sometimes reflect items purchased by the store itself from vendors, and these transactions started to become evident in the latter part of the book.  Also, it appears that the store had some corporate clients as well as individuals (these are listed also in the index).  There does appear in the 1850 US Federal census of Hereford twsp., Berks Co., PA a Peter Dallman, constable, most likely one in the same.

 

     I am speculating the location of this particular store to be on the border to two townships in Berks, they are Longswamp and Hereford.  At the top of practically every page is written the word “Long Schwamp”[sic] and sometimes a date, sometimes just a year, and scattered throughout there is a line with a date splitting a page.  All in all, the writing is in English, with just a hint of the old German script creeping in, for example, the “f” character when there are two successive “s”s in a name, like “Jesse” would be “Jefe” and so on.

 

     To be sure that I had the location pretty much correct, I consulted the US Federal Census for 1840 and 1850 for Longswamp and Hereford townships, Berks Co., PA and also a map of Longswamp and Hereford Twsp.’s in Berks Co. from 1860 for those two townships, with family surnames on it.  In just about every case, I found the name of the store shopper on the map and/or the census records.

 

      I am further speculating that this store may have been owned by George Moll (see below an excerpt from Montgomery’s History of Berks County) as George Moll and other Moll’s names appear quite a lot, with that of Peter Mensch also appearing quite a lot, along with that of Peter Dollman/Dalman.

 

     After going through this book, I got to know a lot of the people who shopped at this store, by the things they bought and the repeatability of those items.  Below is also a list of store items and some of the costs for those items, in 1843 dollars value.  There was a lot of folks buying spirits and tobacco products, even back then, and some times there are entries for the same person on the same page of the ledger, most likely the same day and same shopping trip, it seemed like they dawdled in the store and kept adding to their list, some times another person would appear between their names on the same day, so they must have been in the store for a bit of time.  Remember, there was nothing more than horseback, buggies and walking to get to this store.

 

     Why is this book so important?  For a few reasons, one, it comes before the US Federal census of 1850, which is the first year where they included the names of female members of the household.  Since this book contains names of females (albeit not many), it is of value to genealogists.  It also places the person and/or their family in a certain place at a certain time, and this is also important to genealogists.  Then, it gives a little snapshot into the family by what they bought and sold.  It also shows how name spellings have changed over the years.  In some cases, there are entries that tie a son to a father, and this may help solve a long genealogical mystery for some folks.

 

      Here is a partial list of items sold (and bought) by this store, in somewhat order of activity:

Coffee 12-14¢/lb, Sugar 9¢/lb, Whiskey 30¢/gal, Rum, Gin, Chew Tobacco, Black Tobacco (for smoking?), Eggs 10¢/doz, Oil 14¢/qt, Molasses 25¢/gal, Chestnuts 5¢/qt, Cherries 6-9¢/qt, Shoes $1.50-$2.75, Boots, Flax, Ragg’s, Fish, Mackerel 6¢/ea, Butter 19¢/lb, Hats, Scythe’s, Shears, Chocolate, Chickens, Turkeys, Muslin, Calico, Silk, Salt, Wine, Suspenders 12¢/ea, Flints 1¢/ea, Matches 3¢/pk, Nails, Chisels, Saws, Sawtooth files, Tea, Hams, White Cotton, “poots” (could be potatoes), Tollow, Brooms, Stockings, Rugs, Screws, Buttons, Rosin, Sheet of paper 1¢/sht, Candles 1¢/ea, Cimnnamon, Castor Oil 19¢/qt, Stove Pipe 12¢/ft, “Duskin”??, Smoking Pipe etc..

 

      It looks like the patrons were extended credit, and this was the logbook for same, as there is often time referred to a “path book” which I suspect the patrons carried with them, and was the patrons account of their monies owed etc., because sometimes I see a reference to a patron who forgot their “path book” and also where the path book did not match the store ledger book.

 

     Please check the names below, and email me if you find a mistake or want to suggest a correction, or if you want more info. on the person in the list etc.  I will add the names of those that people email me and ask for first.

 

     Note that Lastnames that are underlined are hyperlinks to digital photos of those names as seen in the ledger.  I will eventually have all names underlined, as time permits, it’s a tedious process.  Also, for those genealogists that want to use any of this information in their database, and need to make a citation for same, I suggest you follow good citation practice.  If you need a more exact date for the occurrence of the citation, email me for that.  To save an image to your hard-drive and be able to use it in your database, you will need to “right-click” on the image itself, and then click on “save target as” and then pick a destination on your hard-drive for it to go to, then you will have it.

 

     I do this for a hobby, and it takes countless hours, so, if you like what you see, then feel free to email me with kind words, it helps to keep me going :?)

 

Roy Schreffler

Copyright ©2006, Roy W. Schreffler.
All Rights Reserved

 

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Pg 842        HISTORY  OF   BERKS   COUNTY,  PENNSYLVANIA

 

(Morton L. Montgomery. Historical  and Biographical Annals of Berks County, PA. Chicago: J.H. Beers & Co., 1909.)

 

WILLIAM B. MOLL, merchant at Siesholtzville, in Hereford township, was born there Feb. 1, 1843, son of Jacob Moll, and he is a member of a representative old family of this district, descendants of Georg Moll, as the name appears on his tombstone.

 

Georg Moll was a native of Wittenberg, German}’, born March 21, 1750, and was eighteen years old when he came to America on the ship “Minerva,” with 107 other pas­sengers, landing at Philadelphia in the fall 0f 1768. It appears that he soon afterward located in Here­ford township, Berks county, and in 1790 he was the head of a family in that district. His name on the tax list that year was written John Georg Moll. In his will, which is on record in the court house in Book 5, page 237, his name is written George Moll. He was a property owner in the vicinity of Huff’s Church. He died Oct. 27, 1810, aged sixty years, seven months, six days, and is interred in a private burial-ground on the farm now owned by David Rauch, a quarter of a mile northeast of Huff’s Church. Here are buried over one hundred pio­neer settlers of Hereford township who died prior to the establishment of Huff’s Church in 1812, and the graveyard adjoining, including members of the Huff, Bechtel, Zimmerman, Moll and other families.

Georg Moll was twice married, and in his will pro­vides for his second wife, Catherine, who is buried by his side. She was born in 1757, and died Feb. 15, 1839, at the age of eighty-two. In his will Georg Moll mentions these children: Johannes, George, Thomas, Martha, Maria, Eliz­abeth and Anna. Of these,

 

Johannes Moll, born in Hereford township Oct. 11, 1775, died Feb. 6, 1860, aged eighty-four years, three months, twenty-six days. He was a carpenter and cabinet-maker, and owned and lived in the house at Siesholtzville, now owned by David Wetzel. He was a tall, slim man, well-known and respected, regular in church attendance and a reader of the Bible. His wife, Elizabeth (Bittenbender), born June 15, 1780, died April 23, 1842, aged sixty-one years, ten months, eight days. They are buried at Huff’s Church. Their children were: George; John; Christophel; Jacob; Polly (m. Jacob Moyer and (second) An­thony Stahler) ; a daughter (m. Jacob .Snyder) ; Nancy (m. Peter Mensch) ; Susanna (m. Henry Hoffman) ; Peggy (m. Peter Dollman and (second) Ephraim Christman) ; and Betsy (m. Frederick Huff and (second) Mich­ael Gery).

 

George Moll, son of Georg, was born in Hereford town­ship, where he lived and died. He was a farmer by occu­pation, and owned a “two-horse” farm, now the property of John Will. He and his wife, Eve (Miller), daughter of Jacob Miller, are buried at Huff’s Church. They had children as follows: George; Jacob; Jonas, who lived in “Devil’s Hole,” in Hereford: Thomas, who lived in Reading; Judith (m. Reuben Daub and lived in Forge Dale) : Elizabeth (m. Lawrence Fisher, who is still living near Huff’s Church) ; Sally (died unmarried) : and Abi­gail (m. John Kuetz).

Anna Moll, daughter of Georg, born April 6, 1785, died April 2, 1877, aged ninety-one years, eleven months, twen­ty-seven days. She was the wife of George Huff.

 

Jacob Mull, son of George and grandson of Georg, spelled his name with the “u.” He was born in Here­ford, and lived at different places in that township, work­ing as a carpenter and laborer, and died at the age of fifty-three years. His wife, Catharine Bossert, was a daughter of Adam Bossert, who was over six feet tall, raw-boned and exceedingly strong. Jacob Mull and his wife are buried at Huff’s Church. Their children were: Charles B., Nathaniel, Henry, Jacob and William B.

 

Charles B. Moll, son of Jacob, born Jan. 1, 1831, has lived at Barto. Berks county, since 1863, and is engaged as a horse and cattle dealer. In 1857 he married Sarah Shiffert, and they have four children: Horace, Alfred, Andora and Agnes.

 

William B. Moll, son of Jacob, received a practical edu­cation in the schools of the home district. In his four­teenth year he became a clerk in the store at Siesholtzville, in the employ of Charles N. Gery, and on Feb. 12, 1872, he was taken into partnership with Mr. Gery under the firm name of Gery & Moll, which has continued up to the present time. They carry a full line of general mer­chandise and enjoy their full share of the patronage and good-will of the community. Mr. Moll is a self-made man, and respected in his district for his industrious career. For two terms he served as auditor of his town­ship, to which office he was elected on the Democratic ticket.

In 1870 Mr. Moll married Emalinda Gery, daughter of Charles N. and Elizabeth (Moll) Gery, the former being Mr. Moll’s employer and partner. Four children have been born to this union: Katie m. James Butz; Minnie m. Harry Butz, brother of James, and died in her twenty-seventh year; Sallie E., a graduate of the Normal school at Kutztown, class of 1898, is an esteemed teacher in Hereford township; William H., superintendent of the Norristown Brick Company, m. Mame Landis, and lives at Norristown. This family are German Reformed mem­bers of Huff’s Church, of which Mr. Moll has served as deacon. He is a member of Camp No. 470, P. O. S. of A., of Siesholtzville, and of Covenant Commandery, No. 58, Knights of Malta, of Alburtis, Pennsylvania.

 

George Moll, son of -Johannes, and grandson of Georg, both mentioned earlier in this sketch, was born in Here­ford township, June 27, 1802, and died May 16, 1877, aged seventy-four years, ten months, nineteen days. He was reared at home, and worked at carpentering with his father until he reached the age of twenty-one years, after which he learned the tanner’s trade from his uncle. Thomas Moll, at Geryville, in Bucks county. He followed tanning until after his father-in-law died, when the farm now owned by his son George came into his possession, and there he built the present barn in 1836 and the house in 1840. The tanning buildings were old, and he devoted all of his time to farming until a short time before his death. He was a leading man in his township, owning the old store and hotel property at Siesholtzville, and a farm of seventy-five acres in Hereford township now owned by Sylvester Schuler, and he had various financial inter­ests, being an enterprising man, and almost always suc­cessful in his undertakings. He left an estate of $25,000. He was a Reformed member of Huff’s Church and liberal in his contributions to that body.

Mr. Moll was married three times, first to Elizabeth Siesholtz, by whom he had nine children: Elizabeth, Sarah. Molly, John. Samuel, and four who died young. By his second marriage, to Mrs. Anna (Fox) Leeser. he had one daughter. Lovina, who became the wife of Daniel Marsteller. To his third union, with Mrs. Anna (Lichtenwalner) Mohr (1804-1877), were born two children, Reub­en A., and George F.

George F. Moll, son of George, born July 13. 1844. be­gan farming the homestead in 1877, when it came into his possession. It comprises 150 acres of valuable land and has been in the Moll family since 1832. In 1875 Mr. Moll married Emma Ashton, daughter of Maberry Ashton, a native of England, and to them have been born three children: Mary M., Annie M., and Laura H.