The 2018 Christmas Holiday Issue of the Penn Pal

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______VOLUME 38 NUMBER 3 PAGE 15 ISSN 8756 811X DECEMBER 2018_

Welcome to the 2018 Christmas Holiday Issue of the Penn Pal

Inside you will find a PALAM Member submitted article about his Palatine descendant ancestor, Gideon Bast. There is also an update on the new season for the genealogy-based TV show "Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates Jr". And finally, we present a holiday article about Pennsylvania German Christmas Cookies, complete with three recipies!

Member submitted article:

Gideon Bast: Entrepreneur and Palatine Descendant

by Frank S. Keith

[Editor's note: Many are interested in their Palatine immigrant ancestors, but give less thought to the generation(s) that followed them. These people, born in Pennsylvania, had lives shaped by the immigration experiences of their parents and grandparents as well as by growing up in the new United States.]

On September 21, 1732 the Dutch ship, Plaisance, docked in Philadelphia, having come from Rotterdam by way of Cowes, England. The Plaisance was a Pinque (Pink), a small square- rigged sailing ship with a narrow and overhanging stern. On board were 72 Palatine families, totaling 188 people. Included in the group were Johann Georg Bast, 46, his wife, Anna Maria, 44, and son, Johannes, 11. They were from Heuchelheim, in the Palatinate region of what is now Germany. Apparently they had to leave behind some of their children. Nothing is known of what became of them, but A 3 masted pink. Painting by perhaps there are Basts living today in Heuchelheim who are Antoine Roux - wikimedia.org descendants of Georg and Anna Maria.

On August 23, 1735, three years after his arrival, Georg Bast was granted a warrant for 303 acres in what is now Maxatawny Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. The land is just southwest of present day Kutztown. Georg and his oldest son, John (Johannes), were involved in the creation of the Moselem Ontelaune Lutheran Church in Richmond Township near Kutztown, PA. in 1740.

A Lutheran registry for the congregation at Ontelaune was started on January 1, 1741. At some point between 1732 and 1748 George's wife, Anna Maria, must have died because the Zion Moselem Lutheran registry for 1748 lists a marriage between George Bast, widower, and Elizabeth Dorothea Eppler, widow.

On October 28, 1740 George Bast deeded some of this land to his son John. Shortly thereafter, John married Magdalena Pabst, who was also from the Palatinate. According to some records John and Magdelena were married in the Moselem Ontelaune Lutheran Church that he and his father had helped to found. They had seven children, three daughters and four sons. One of the sons was John Bast Jr. the father of Gideon.

John Bast Jr. married Mary Elizabeth Pender and they had 12 children, with Gideon being the last. Gideon was born on April 6, 1800 in Maxatawny Township. An older brother of Gideon, Jacob, is the maternal ancestor of the writer. His ancestors will be featured in a future article.

John Bast Jr, Gideon's father, died on December 16, 1816, when the boy was only five years old. His mother died when he was 12. At age 15 Gideon became a peddler, carrying his stock in a pack on his

Warrantee map of part of Maxatawny back. He peddled his wares throughout Berks and Township. Color plot is the 303 Acres Schuylkill counties. In time he was able to afford a warranted to George Bast. Courtesy of PA horse and wagon and he extended his operations over German Cultural Heritage Center, Kutztown, a wider area. By age 25 his business had become so Un., Kutztown, PA. profitable that he was able to open up a general store

in Hartford, Berks County.

After a few years Gideon moved to Minersville, Schuylkill County, where he became well known as an Anthracite coal operator. It was at the Gideon Bast Colliery on Wolf Creek, near Min ersville, that the first coal breaker was erected as an experiment. A breaker enables the coal to be automatically screened into different sizes, thereby increasing the profitability of anthracite coal mining. Soon the breaker technology was adopted throughout the region. A second Bast Colliery was located in Butler Township, near Ashland, Schuylkill County.

On August 5, 1833, Gideon married Mary Moyer and the couple eventually had 10 children although only four survived infancy. One son, Emanuel, became very involved in the coal business and his story was a featured article in the June 7-8,1997 issue of the Pottsville Republican. Gideon and his wife moved to Schuylkill Haven in Home of Gideon Bast on Center Ave, Schuylkill Haven, PA. From: "History of Schuylkill County Pa" 1838 where he continued in business for a 1881, p. 258. few years, focusing his attention on the

17 creation of a beautiful Victorian Home on Center Avenue. The home was surround by a 20 plus acre farm. Gideon died on March 10, 1880 at the age of 79.

Gideon was a self-made man and a deeply devout Christian. He was a philanthropist who contributed a great deal of money to various organizations in Schuylkill Haven. He is buried in the Union Cemetery in Schuylkill Haven on land he donated to the establishment of a cemetery in 1854.

Written by Frank S. Keith, Mount Laurel, NJ, September 20, 2018 [email protected]

Season 5 of “Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.” Premieres Winter 2019 on PBS, Beginning January 8

10 All-New Episodes Explore Ancestry Stories of Felicity Huffman, Andy Samberg, George R.R. Martin, Christiane Amanpour, Michael Strahan, Laura Linney, Paul Ryan, Joe Madison, Michael Moore, Sarah Silverman, Kal Penn, Michael K. Williams, Tig Notaro, Lisa Ling, Alejandro Innaritu, Chloe Sevigny and More

Today’s brightest personalities discover the surprising stories buried within their own families in the fifth season of the critically acclaimed PBS series FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR. The new ten-episode season will premiere on Tuesdays, beginning January 8, 2019 at 8:00 p.m. ET (check local listings) on PBS.

This season features an array of celebrated guests who are cultural trailblazers with fascinating family stories, including Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei; Emmy and Golden Globe Award winners Felicity Huffman, Laura Linney and S. Epatha Merkerson; and actors Michael K. Williams, Andy Samberg, Chloe Sevigny and Kal Penn. Season Five also includes superstar author George R.R. Martin; acclaimed journalists Christiane Amanpour, Ann Curry, Joe Madison and Lisa Ling; bestselling author and Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg; TV hosts Seth Meyers and Michael Strahan; artists Marina Abramovic and Kehinde Wiley; politicians Marco Rubio, Tulsi Gabbard and Paul Ryan; Academy Award-winning filmmakers Alejandro Innaritu and Michael Moore; and comedians Tig Notaro and Sarah Silverman.

The roots of these guests cover the globe – from Samoa, Nigeria, Taiwan and Sicily to Iran, Ireland, India and Cuba – and almost everywhere in between. Their family trees are filled with compelling characters – slaves and kings, artists and entrepreneurs, abandoned children and missing parents, revolutionaries, soldiers, and a constant flow of ordinary individuals who did remarkable things, laying the groundwork for their successful descendants. Each episode weaves together these stories, gleaned from cutting-edge DNA analysis and old school genealogical detective work. Highlights include a search for Andy Samberg’s biological grandparents, the discovery of Michael Strahan’s deep European ancestry and the solution to a mystery that has plagued Ann Curry’s family for her entire life.

At the center of it all, guiding every discovery, is host and executive producer Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. “I find it inspiring that our fellow Americans are so determined to explore their own ancestral heritage,” said Gates, “precisely at a time when immigration has become such a deeply controversial and sensitive matter. Our series demonstrates each week, in vivid detail and with moving storytelling, that a continuing source of strength for our country is the fact that we are a nation of immigrants. That we can serve as both guide and inspiration to the splendidly exciting pleasure of finding one’s roots is an immense honor. I believe that the more each of us understands about where we came from, about what our ancestors experienced, and how those experiences have shaped us, whether we knew about them or not, the more richly we can live our lives.”

In a very personal episode, the new season also explores Gates’ own DNA story and takes a look at how science and history can inspire the next generation. Concerned about the lack of diversity in STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), Gates worked with Penn State professor Nina Jablonski and a committed group of historians, artists, biologists, geneticists, anthropologists, genealogists and educators to develop the “Finding Your Roots Genetics & Genealogy Curriculum,” an educational model that invited students to consider who they are genetically, geologically/socio-culturally and intentionally. Once designed, the team piloted the curriculum in a two-week camp environment at two different locations in the U.S., where students developed hypotheses and research protocols. The project video won Facilitator’s Choice and Viewer’s Choice awards at the 2018 STEM For All Video Showcase, receiving tens of thousands of unique visitors from 154 countries.

Assembling the extensive family trees and family narratives alongside Dr. Gates are DNA expert CeCe Moore (Founder, The DNA Detective) and expert genealogist Johni Cerny (Founder, Lineages).

FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR., Season Five premieres on Tuesdays, beginning Tuesday, January 8, 2019 at 8:00 p.m. ET with an episode featuring Andy Samberg and George R.R. Martin, and the season continues into Spring 2019. Season Five includes the following episodes:

. “The Stories Encoded In Our DNA” with Andy Samberg and George R.R. Martin . “Mystery Men” with Michael K. Williams and Felicity Huffman . “Truth Tellers” with Christiane Amanpour, Ann Curry and Lisa Ling . “Dreaming of a New Land (Between Worlds)” with Sheryl Sandberg, Kal Penn and Marisa Tomei . “Freedom Tales” with S. Epatha Merkerson and Michael Strahan . “Into The Wild” with Laura Linney, Michael Moore and Chloe Sevigny . “Roots in Politics” with Tulsi Gabbard, Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan . “The Eye of the Beholder” with Marina Abramovic, Alejandro Innaritu and Kehinde Wiley . “No Laughing Matter” with Tig Notaro, Seth Meyers and Sarah Silverman . “All in the Family” with Joe Madison, Dr. Gates’ personal DNA story and “The Finding Your Roots: The Seedlings” STEM Camp (The preceeding is a Press Release from PBS)

Pennsylvania German Christmas Baking!

By Marcia Dreisbach Falconer

Lest anyone think that baking for Christmas is a fading custom, you need only look at the magazines beside the check-out counters of supermarkets. In full and brilliant color you will see quantities of decorated cookies as well as cakes and pies, but it is cookies - Christmas Cookies - that still have pride of place. Baking at and for Christmas time was and is at the heart of the holiday.

Before cookie recipes came from slick magazines or the internet, they were handed down within the family. Each baker provided her own personal stamp on the recipe, adding a touch of this or a bit more of that - making the end result ever so slightly, but deliciously, different from other cookies.

History: Among the Pennsylvania Germans, Christmas Cookies based on sugar and butter, made their appearance in the mid-1800's. Before then cookies were sweetened with molasses which, thanks to the trade in rum, was available in port cities and could easily be carried in jugs to people living in the countryside. A favorite delight of the early Pennsylvania German housewife was a version of Lebkuchen, a traditional Christmas baked good found all over German speaking areas including Germany itself, Pennsylvania, Ohio and the Carolinas. Lebkuchen had many textures. It could be soft, almost like a cake, or it could be rolled and baked longer to produce a crisp cookie-like texture. In between were thickly rolled cookies which were good for dunking in hot milk, tea, coffee, or hot rum!

A very early tradition was to roll lebkuchen dough thinly and use tin cookie cutters to make delightful shapes. People designed and made their own cookie cutters or bought ready-made ones from peddlers. Popular shapes included angels, hearts, circles, diamonds, various animals and some human forms that looked like old men or old ladies.

Cookies were baked in vast quantities - wash baskets full of cookies was the norm. Cookies were given out to the poor and to the widows, to hired help and to ministers, to anyone who needed a gift or attention at Christmas time. And of course cookies were consumed in huge numbers by the many family members. They were an integral part of the celebration of Christmas for everyone.

Ingredients: Spice was optional in the early lebkuchen cookies. Ginger was an extremely rare ingredient, but all featured abundant eggs, sweetener (molasses or honey or sugar when it was available), butter and flour. Ground hazelnuts or walnuts might be included in the dough, or sprinkled on top just before baking. When colored sugar appeared on the market about 1830, decorating Christmas Cookies took on a whole new hue. Children especially loved cookies decorated with red or green sugar sprinkled on top - a tradition that continues to this day.

Baking began in the beginning of December if not before and continued right up until the day before Christmas. Most of the cookie ingredients were produced on the farm. Southeastern Pennsylvania farmers grew wheat which was ground into flour at the local mill. Farm wives put their finest flour away for use at Christmas time. Other ingredients used in early baked goods included fruits and berries picked on the farm and then dried. Walnuts and hazelnuts were harvested from trees that grew on their land. The exception to this self-sufficiency was sugar. To purchase this meant a long trip by horse drawn wagon to the nearest city to purchase sugar.

Storing ingredients: Baking required lots of butter and eggs. Before the 20th century, these were difficult to come by in the winter. Lard or rendered animal fat was used for everyday cooking and to spread on bread in the wintertime. Indeed, cows gave milk only when they calved and sweet milk required that the cows be able to browse on fresh, green, grass. So to make butter for Christmas baking, sweet cream was collected in late summer or early fall, when fresh grass was still available for cows to eat. It was churned into butter and packed into heavy crocks that were sealed with wax. This sweetest of butter was stored in the spring house - ready for Christmas baking.

Eggs, too, had to be collected in late summer and stored for use in winter because chickens did not lay eggs all year round as they do now. A mixture was made of "pickling lime" and boiled water. Eggs were placed in short pottery crocks, points down, and limewater, or isinglass, was poured over them. A wood top was added to make sure the eggs stayed submerged and the crock was kept in the root cellar or the spring house to keep it cool. Put down like this, eggs were good for 6 to 8 months.

Apees and/or Sand Tarts: The most famous of Pennsylvania Dutch Eggs stored in lime solution. Christmas cookies are called Apees (or Eepies or Apiece) but are https://thefrugalchicken.com also known as "Sand Tarts". All are made from a simple, basic recipe of flour, butter, eggs and sugar, rolled thinly or thickly, dusted with sugar before baking and sometimes with a half a walnut placed on top.

The origin of the cookie name is hotly disputed. In 1830, J.F. Watson wrote in the Annals of Philadelphia that a woman named Ann Page began baking and selling them in Philadelphia and her cookies had her initials impressed upon them - "A.P.". Hence the name Apees.

While this may be true, it is at least as likely that the origin of the name lies in the French "pain d'epice" or spiced bread - the French name for the baked good that was called Lebkuchen in German. This French name would have been brought to Pennsylvania by the early Huguenot settlers. Although the origin of the name "Apees" is contentious, what is agreed upon is that Apees were always cut into animal or other shapes using tin cookie cutters.

The origin of the name "Sand Tarts" is even less clear. https://shop.magnolia.com/products/christma Some conjecture that this name began with English settlers s-cookie-cutters who saw the sugar sprinkled on top of Apees that had been cut into the shape of a heart and called them "Sand Hearts" which in turn became "Sand Tarts". The earliest known mention of Sand Tarts was in 1858 in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, according to Alfred L. Shoemaker in his marvelous book: Christmas in Pennsylvania A Folk-Cultural Study, published by Stackpole Books in 1959. It seems likely that the lebkuchen cookies that were baked by Pennsylvania

Germans to celebrate Christmas were widely appreciated in the surrounding English society. They were taken to heart and renamed as A.P.s (the Ann Page hypothesis) or as Sand Tarts.

One more Christmas "sweet" that should be mentioned is Christmas Taffy. Like Christmas cookies, every cook produced her own version of taffy. The same cook could deliberately or accidentally produce different versions of her own recipe. If taffy was cooked too long or too hot, when left to cool it became hard and was best broken into bits by a swift hit with a hammer. If the taffy was not cooked long enough or to a high enough temperature, when it was poured onto the cooling board it was soft and could be cut with a knife or pulled apart leaving long strings of taffy behind. While not as famous as Christmas Cookies, Christmas Taffy was part of the array of sweets Pennsylvania German housewives produced for the Season of Christmas.

The following recipes are from my Pennsylvania Dutch Grandmother and probably came from her mother and/or grandmother. The taffy recipe is from my favorite aunt - who, like me, had 100% Pennsylvania German heritage.

Marcia Dreisbach Falconer

Apies (Sand Tart) Cookie Recipe from my Pennsylvania Dutch Grandmother

1 cup salted butter 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 2 room temperature large eggs, beaten well 1 tsp vanilla 1 tsp baking baking powder 3 to 4 cups flour Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla to butter mix and beat until thoroughly. In another bowl sift 3 cups flour with 1 tsp baking soda Add flour mix to wet ingredients. Add more flour if necessary so that the dough is still enough to roll. Mix gently. Put dough in refrigerator for several hours. Cut dough into 4 equal portion and work with one portion at a time, keeping the other portions in the fridge. It helps if you have a rolling pin that you can chill in the freezer or can ice inside. Dust a board with mixture of flour and powdered sugar. Roll out 1/4 of the dough as thin as you can get it. Put on baking sheet and brush with a beaten egg mix or just add colored sugar and half a walnut or half a pecan on each cookie. Bake at 350F for 8 minutes or until edges start to turn brown and cookie bottoms are light brown.

Lebkuchen Cookie Recipe

from my Pennsylvania Dutch Grandmother

1 1/2 cups of unsalted butter 1 1/2 cups molasses or thick dark corn syrup 1 cup white sugar 1 cup packed brown sugar 5 to 6 cups flour (amount varies according to moisture content of flour) 1 Tbs cinnamon, 1 Tbs ginger, 1 tsp salt 1 1/2 Tbs baking soda (not baking powder) 1 1/2 cups buttermilk Heat molasses and brown and white sugar together in a saucepan. When sugar is dissolved, add butter and heat gently until melted. Pour into a large bowl. In another bowl sift flour, spices, salt and baking soda together. Alternately add 1/3 flour mix, 1/3 butter milk to molasses mixture until all is added Mix with your hands in a kneading fashion until you have a smooth, SOFT, dough. Put in fridge overnight. Cut dough into 1/4s. Turn 1/4 dough out onto a floured board and roll to 1/2" to 1/4" thick. Using round cookie cutter, cut dough and put on greased cookie baking tray about 1" apart. Brush with 1 beaten egg if desired for shiny top. Bake at 350F until edges are browned. Baking time will vary according to how thick the Lebkuchen are. You'll have to test the timing of your own cookies. Cool before storing in air-tight container.

Aunt Mae's Christmas (or anytime) Taffy

2 lbs granulated sugar 1 pint dark Karo corn syrup 1 lg can evaporated milk 3 to 4 squares of bitter chocolate 1/4 tsp salt 1 Tbsp vanilla 1 heaping Tbsp butter 2 Tbsp or more peanut butter Melt chocolate and blend with milk. Add sugar, Karo syrup and salt. Boil mixture until it forms a hard ball when dropped in cold water. Stir in butter, vanilla and peanut butter. Pour into a buttered pan. To serve break with a hammer or cut with a knife!

To volunteer (or to inquire about volunteering) please contact: [email protected], attention of the Secretary.

Sincerely, The Officers of the PALAM Pennsylvania Chapter: Charlene Loiseau, Secretary Janet Rupert, Treasurer Billie Gailey, Membership Registrar, Marcia Dreisbach-Falconer, Penn Pal Editor Doris Glick, Member at Large Marcia Dreisbach-Falconer, Member at Large

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Contributions to this newsletter are encouraged. Members may submit articles concerning family history and other genealogical or historical material and stories about your genealogical pursuits, problems or unusual happenings in your search for information on your families. If you submit material for publication, be sure there are no copyright laws restricting its use. If materials submitted are copyrighted, proof of authorization to publish must be provided; sources from other magazines must be cited so appropriate credit can be given. The editors reserve the right to edit all contributions submitted. We will edit (with the exception of original historical documents) for spelling, form, grammar, and obvious error. We may also shorten lengthy articles to fit available space. Contributors are responsible for the accuracy of their information and for their opinions. There is no compensation for unsolicited articles. The editors reserve the right to publish or not publish articles.

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