Annals of the Oley Valley in BERKS COUNTY, PA
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Annals of the Oley Valley IN BERKS COUNTY, PA . ... ()ver Two Hundred Years of Local History of An American Canaan By REV. P. C. CROLL, D. D. ot Womelsdorf, Pa. Rtadtn.i Eaale Preu Rtadtns, Pe. 1926 OTHER BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR Tributes to Luther, 1884. Golden Wedding Ring, 1887. Historic Landmarks of the Lebanon Valley, 1895. Art Work of Lebanon County, Pa., 1895. Bible Quiz, 1897. Bible Gems, 1908. The Penna,-G\!rman-A Magazine- 1900-1905. Gardening and Out-of-Doors, 1917. Slumberland and Slumber Songs, 1917. Annals of Womelsdorf, etc., 1923.c. Tulpehocken Bi-Centennial, 1923. Western Berks, in 3 Vol. History. 1924. Translations lrom the German Jewish Artisan Life (Detitzsch), 1884. Jcs·us and Hillel (Delitzsch), 1884. Alli, or Blessed are t!-te ~ercfful (Hoffman), 1886. 'Dedicated to the 'Descendants of the., Oley Tioneers and to cAll the Tresen~ '{Jfappy 'Dwellers of this earthly Taradise., THE AUTHOR Tbt1 Olty Vallt1y Annils ol the 0111 V1ll11 5 ANNAIJS OF THE OLEY VALLEY INTRODUCTION For many years I have beera Im <•f the kettle as well. Some of theae pressed with the rfohne88 In hL,torlo hills still bear thft local name, u the lore and the charms of the soenlo Oley Hills, Olloher Berge, a■ the beauty of the community of the Oley Pennsylvania German settlers of Valley. It Is nestled among the these parts call them, for thoy wm broken hflls of Its environment, corrupt both the In61an ortslnal, which have given the township the Ollnk, and the mngltsh equivalent, form of a huge kettle, apparent oven Oley, Into OUch, And speaking about to the untutored mind and t>Yo of Its nomenolature remfnd1 me of a tho aborigines, who named lt tor deftnltlon, or ety~loglcal reaaon, this reuembl.lnco, The name Oley Is for the name given me when, as a from the Indian Ollnk, which ts de etudent 60 yeara ago, I spent part fined to algnlty "hemmed In like a of a summer's vacation doing ca· kettle," It has been Indeed for over po.-teur work In · this township for 200 years a bolling kettle of atlrrlng the American Traot Soolety. Hear• life; a bee-hive of Industrious "ctlv Ing the name Oltoh quite frequently lty; a blrd•s neat of worthy Colonlp l In the vernacular upon the Ups of family settlements: a cradle of re my prospective purchasers and pa ligious agitations; a colleglum of tron,, I made bold one day to ven rudimentary and hl1her education; ture the query to one of Its ltfe-tonR" a center of Important historic hap Inhabitants as to the d6rlvatlon of penings and a paradise of peaceful this township's name. Promptly thla flgrlcultural home life. home-spun etymologist made answer The portrayal of all theee feature, In the flattest and plainest Pennayl In a series of condensed word-pic \'an16'•German dialect, as follows: tures- a. little brochure of pen •·nes will lch a1r grad aaage. Wte sketches, woven Into something of a der Columbus noch Amerlka kumma composite, with these phases of the le, noh het er noch gern ncch township's paat life and hlatory ap Reading gewollt aella dag, Noh hut pearlng-11 the obJeot · of the aerlea er evva abschtard su lawte: und wle of article• here besun, With the help er uf die Berae do komme le, nllh la of other,l In gaining reliable data Juscht die sonn nunner aonsa, noh and avail ng myself of wrltlnp cov hot er auageruffe, '0 Licht!' Now ering one or the other of tht1e heszt evva, 0 llohtl" features, I hope to succeed. OF INDIAN ORIGIN. l'1'6 NOMENOLATURE, It took some effort to keep a sober Inumuoh as orlrtnally the town face and to· appear grateful for the ship of Ole)' lnoludeo· the territory, ,attafactory Information given, but entire or In part, now occupied by 1 think I played the game succeaa the preaent townships of Exeter fully _not to wound thr, feelings nor (ereoted In 1718), District (176'1), rob my Informant of the Joy It gave Rockland (1'168), Earl (1781) and him to convoy so conclualve and l>lke (18U), and lta own present self-evident a piece of Information limits, we shall deal with people and to a atran1er and anxious lnqufrer. events of thl1 larger dletrlct as the I have, howevel', elnce learne6' of Giey Valley ln our present treatise. the Indian origin of thfl name and As It wa■ orlstnally erected when have been disposed to cHng to the stll'. a part of Philadelphia countY, latter derivation and meantnr;. In 1710 ft Included not only the In And eurety the Indiana 3hould ner apace of the Pl)t, but the walls know: tor did they not occupy 6 Annals ot the Oley Valley from time immemorial thla bolltng pion4ter etruggle a.id upbulldlng of and brolllng kettle. bordered by the our county, State and nation as to eastern ana' northern and western be of vaat Interest and Importance hllla and the southern BchuylkUJ, to students of our county's history: with lta blutrs? Le1end and rumor and because here are atlll preaervea·, combine In the story that a serious either In rulra, or Intact and well battle was fought here between kept relics, some eloquf'nt and beau these red•aklnned ocoupanta of tiful proofs In architectural land the territory and a oomp-ny ot marks of the sklll, good taste and pioneer prospectors who sought fo Industrial enterprise and efficiency get th~ir lands from them, l\bout o! these frontier pioneers, berore the middle ol the Seventeenth cen our country had attained Its freedom tury, The site of thia battle ls given · and Independence, An« all these are as close- to where the Oley churohe& Interesting objects to behold ln this now stand. Hince then the gospel of day ot the faddlat for the antique, u peace, and the spirit and people of well as tangible and eloquent teaoh Amity, its slater townahlp to th.; e.•:3 ot the sklll and virtues of our South, and the subsequent baptism forebears of the prlmltlve daya of our here of three Indian converts to the country's history. The tools, houses Christian faith, in 17 ,al have wipe« and churohe1, Industries, farms, even out the stain of the b1ood ahed 10 the stone fences along our fteldit and much earller, And now the IncUana highways tell ot the lnouatry, ln have all gone-at least those with gonulty, piety, honesty and ability of the red skin-but their territorial our Immigrant,, of whatever , tock, and townehlp name baa survived the Swede, English - Quaker, Welsh, race, Scotch-Irish, SwlH, German or With this originally wider tel'rl Frenoh Huguenot, our Berka county tory known aa Oley we shall be able pioneers may have been. Migration to locate within this bowl all the bs never done by the weak and In faota and personages we want to write dolent, the Ignorant or shlftleaa, but about, and will not have the trouble by a country's moat courageous and to locate a hlstorio tact, pei-aonage moat alert. The new country, thero or homestead which Ml88 Ida M. fore, gets the very best elements of 'l'arbell, the celebrated authoress, the old, and so we shall ftnd th~ ftret had when peraonally she vlalteo· settlers of Oley were not the otr those. quarters a few years ago to aoourlns of Europe, but lto ch.>ke1t locate and describe the old Lincoln cla88es. homeltead, of Oley, but now no In this hlatorlc ramble ot 200 years longer In Oley, since Exeter town ago we aht\11 meet these elements of ahl_,, In which this bulldlng ls lo persecuted and agitated Europ~ · of cated, was alnce separated from Oley. the close of the Seventeenth and the beginning of the Eighteenth centur WSTORIOALLY FASCINATING, ies, an« look Into their taoea, agatn Thia original township of Oley Is and admire theee quaUUea of head 10 important and faaolnatlng to the and heart and hand. local historian, 'because It was the Oley the beautiful I Oley the agri ftrat ~eftlOn of Berka county to bo culturally rich! Oley the scenic nnd eettled:• because many of- the names hfatorloall the Indiana called thee of the ftrat settlers· have been hanl,ed Otlnk, the kettle. The Greek, might down to the present time, and are have called 'thee the amphitheatre. atlll borne and repeated In the com The modern sport-loving and sport munity as the netghb1Jrhoo4 dwel promoting universities of America lers of the preaent day, now In the would call thee the bo,,l 01• stadium. sixth to eighth generation: because Let mt aee what games have been here were enactec1 _ events of the played for 200 years Sn thine arena. Annals ol the Oley Valley 7 Ch.apter I. Causes That Led to the Huguenot, Swi88 and Palatinate German Emigration ·to America, at the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century · GENERAL REMARKS ON THE winding through the western border OLEY VALLEY and the Mnnatawny, much the Dy tho late Dr. Peter G. Bertolct larger of the two, ls formed by numerous streamlets arising In the The Vall~y ot Oley comprises an rnnge ot the hills to the east and area ot about thirty square miles, north, running through the whole and Is situated In the central por length ot tho valley on the eastern tion ot the· County ot Berke-five border~ and leaving It Jn a eouth milts east ot Reading. It ls almost eaeterly direction.