THE GAZETTE
THE BOYERTOWN AREA
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
M a y /
Events
May
J u n e
2 0 1 5
Durango’s Paranormal Investigation
6 - Program Meeting 7 pm
9 - Popodickon Manor
Program 8:30 pm
11 - Board of Directors
Meeting 7 pm
23 - Haunted Walk 8:30 pm
The Boyertown Area
Historical Society sponsored a
very successful paranormal
investigation on Sunday,
April 19 at Durango’s
Restaurant in Boyertown. Our
gratitude and thanks to
K.A.S.P.E.R. (Kutztown Area
Scientific Paranormal
Evidence Research) for their
very professional
investigation uncovering the
many spirits that inhabit this
168 year old building. We had
a sellout of 19 participants
who were very excited about
communicating in several
ways with “Willy,” “Maggie,”
and the other manifestations
June
3 - Program Meeting 7 pm
8 - Board of Directors
Meeting 7 pm
27 - Haunted Walk 8:30 pm
July
25 - Haunted Walk 8:30pm
August
22 - Haunted Walk 8:30pm
September
26 - Haunted Walk 8:30pm
18 & 19 - Oktoberfest
October
7 - Program Meeting 7 pm
10 - Haunted Walk 8:30pm
24 - Haunted Walk 8:30pm
that inhabit the historic
building.
Sandy and Pete Haberle, as
always, were gracious and
generous hosts, opening their
facility to us, welcoming
everyone, and making
everyone feel comfortable.
We appreciate their
unwavering support for our
activities.
Board member Larry
Hydock spent an enormous
amount of time in arranging
this event, making sure
everything was taken care of,
and seeing that all had a good
time. Many thanks to
K.A.S.P.E.R., Sandy, Pete,
and Larry for a wonderful
evening.
We will be scheduling more
investigations throughout the
year, and will notify all of our
members as plans are
finalized. We hope you
consider joining us in some of
these activities; they are truly
entertaining and eye-opening.
November
4 - Program Meeting 7 pm
Message from the President
December
2 - Program Meeting 7 pm
In This Issue:
Facebook Update
2
Upcoming Events
2
Burdan’s Corner
3
Name Game, Part 3
4
Library Resources
4
Program Info
5
Haunted Walks
5
Membership News
6
Volunteer Request
6
Your Society is about to
embark on what will be our
third season of haunted
activities, culminating with
events centered on
Halloween. I ask our
members to support these
activities. Mention the Walks,
Train Rides, and
Investigations to your family,
friends, and countrymen. Our
steadily increasing attendance
proves we are on the right
track, so to speak.
Moving on to our volunteer
situation, do not be
discouraged should you arrive
at the Society and the line to
enlist extends down Chestnut
Street — the opportunities are
many. This time of year our
tour activities can always use
help with crowd control
before the event, cicerones to
conduct the tour, and
whippers to keep the tour
moving along. Although some
time in the future, your
Society is in the planning
stages of hosting a Halloween
event for children. This is a
new event to be held at the
Society, volunteers for
planning/execution are
needed. An HO scale layout
of the Colebrookdale Railroad
is being constructed for
display in the museum.
Should anyone wish to donate
items of that scale for the
model, it would be greatly
appreciated. Please contact
Lisa in the Society office
concerning interest in any of
the above.
Last but not least I would
like to remind everyone that
Der Belsnickel Craft Show
for 2015 will be held at
Boyertown Junior High West
on Madison Street in
Boyertown. This is due to
construction at the high
school.
Brian Quigley
Facebook
As a service to our members and
friends, we are posting glimpses into
the rich history of the Boyertown area
on a daily basis on our Facebook
page and web site. We have used the
vast resources in our library to find an
interesting event that happened in the
Boyertown area on each day of the
year. We are receiving international
recognition for these posts and now
have friends in England and South
Africa as well as from coast to coast
in the United States, including
California, Nevada, Texas, Florida,
Georgia, Ohio, and New York. They,
like you, realize how fascinating the
history of Boyertown actually is.
These daily notices of what was
happening in Boyertown’s history are
read by more than 300 people every
day. We have increased the number
of people who “like” us to almost
900, and we have had up to 60 people
share our post on their own Facebook
page.
Our most popular post was on
January 13 (you guessed it - the
Opera House fire) when 4,678 people
read it. More than 2,000 people read
our post on the Schmoyer Lumber
Yard fire on Dec. 30 and Annie
Funk’s death on the Titanic on April
20. Other popular posts with more
than 1,000 hits were about the Carver
Bakery fire on Feb. 3, Father
Creamers’ death on Feb. 22, the
opening of a local bank that would
become National Penn Bank, and our
April Fool’s Day joke. We write
about the everyday lives of people in
Charles J. Adams III
At Popodickon Manor
Join the Historical Society at
Boyertown Events
Join us on May 9 for a unique
opportunity of fun and education at
the mansion of the families of
Thomas Potts and Thomas Rutter, the
ironmasters of the Colebrookdale
Furnace, the first iron furnace in
Pennsylvania, that was built before
1735. Charles J. Adams, III is the
noted author, TV and radio
personality, historian, and
unparalleled authority on ghosts and
legends of paranormal activity in this
area.
The Boyertown Area Historical
Society has tables at most of the
community events, where we
introduce people to the mission of the
Society, our museum and library, and
our activities, such as our Historic
Haunted Walks around town, our
paranormal investigations, Haunted
Train rides, and monthly programs.
The group will be exploring the
grounds of the manor, which contains
two burial sites, in search of graves,
especially that of the great Chief
Popodickon. We will also be looking
for other spirits in these very historic
grounds. You can join in the
excitement with us. Call (610) 3670630 or email
[email protected] for
details.
At that time, we sell Haunted
Boyertown, Walking Historic
Boyertown, M.J. Schneider’s twovolume opus on the Boyertown Opera
House fire, the DVD created by
WFMZ, Channel 69 News for the
100th anniversary of the Opera House
fire, the Historical Society’s
Cookbook, and various items of local
interest.
Look for us at the Sidewalk Expo in
June, Duryea Day on the Saturday
before Labor Day, and Oktoberfest in
September.
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the area, the funny, tragic,
heartwarming things that they have
done and have had happened to them.
We also highlight the many
Boyertown heroes. It is a taste of
small town America.
We have received many “thank
you” messages, comments from
people who look forward to reading
our posts with their morning coffee,
who are really enjoying our tidbits on
Boyertown history, and who have
said they are more interesting than
the daily newspaper. We love to hear,
“I have lived in Boyertown all my
life, and I never knew that!” If you
have not perused our Facebook page
or web site, give it a try, and “like” us
to help us meet our goal of 1,000
Facebook likes before summer.
Coming Out of Hibernation
On Saturday, April 18th, the
Society and Haunted Boyertown had
tables at the “Hibernation” event in
Boyertown. Thank you to the
following volunteers who assisted at
our tables as well as in the museum.
Carl and Margaret Harner, Larry
Hydock , Annette Truman,
Louise Griffiths, Loretta & Liesl
Wolf, and Lindsay Dierolf. The
lovely spring day brought many
people out to our town and many
visitors into our museum. The
Museum was open from 11 am to
2 pm and we had 55 visitors in that
time. Many who expressed interest
into returning and a new membership
was received from our opening.
Thank you ALL who made this day
possible!
Burdan’s Corner
By Betty Burdan
The Elam C. Rhoads Legacy
Almost everyone who lives in or around
Boyertown has heard of Dr. Thomas J. B.
Rhoads, but how many have heard of Elam
C. Rhoads? He didn’t own an opera house
or any buildings in Boyertown for that
matter. Elam was a farmer. In 1861 he
purchased 70 acres of farmland from Mary
Stauffer, widow of Jacob Stauffer. The land
was in Colebrookdale Township and later
partly in Boyertown borough.
Elam C. Rhoads, born November 23,
1821, died on January 10, 1887, was buried
at the Fairview Cemetery. There, a 9-foot
high monument declares, “Elam C.
Rhoads, The Philanthropist and Friend of
the Poor.” His obituary in the Pottstown
paper called him a miser. The Reading
papers called him an eccentric bachelor.
Whatever anyone called him, he did have
an interest in the welfare of the poor and
needy in Boyertown.
His friends, Thomas J. B. Rhoads and
Lewis Worman, were his executors. His
will was read at a public gathering in the
Rhoads Opera House, where a crowd of
curious locals waited to hear who Elam
remembered. He remembered St. John’s
Lutheran Church, leaving them $2,000 and
2 tracts of land totaling 33 acres located
west of Second Street. He remembered the
Reformed Church in Boyertown, giving
them $3,000 and a tract of 19 acres west of
Second Street. Part of St. John’s land
between Second and Third Streets was
placed in the hands of the Fairview
Cemetery Company to build a new church
for St. John’s if needed. It said that if any
of these heirs chose to sell their land the
proceeds were to be used for the benefit of
an orphans’ home.
Elam remembered the Union Cemetery,
the Fairview Cemeteries and the Old
Burying Ground in Boyertown. The Union
Cemetery and Fairview each received
$1,500. The Old Burying Ground was to
have $75 annually for its care and upkeep.
In addition he left a total over $16,900 in
designated sums, plus a share of the
residue of the estate, to Elizabeth Weaver,
Henry B. and Reuben B. Rhoads, Angeline
Erb, Mahala McCormick, D. M. A.
Rhoads, Verdilla Rhoads, Isaac Reinert,
Rebecca, Caroline and Julian Worman,
Henry Mutter, Jacob Rhoads, Daniel Carl,
Elizabeth Weaver, and Catharine Smith.
Only his estranged brother Jacob was not
remembered kindly. Jacob received only
$1.00.
Although it was reported that Elam
never married, he left $500, plus a share of
the residue, to each his father-in-law, John
Bechtel, and brothers-in-law, George
Bethel, and Hezekiah Bucher. It is
unknown how they became his in-laws, but
in 1870, Elam had a housekeeper named
Mary Bechtel, who may have later become
his wife. A short lived marriage at that, as
she could not be found in the 1880 census.
In 1896 a committee considered and
rejected St. John’s tract for an orphan’s
home. For a time the land of the churches
was used as community gardens, with lots
of 60’ x 100’ rented at a small fee, after the
caretakers cultivated and fertilized them.
The school leased a portion for a football
field and practice. It was suggested as the
site of a permanent memorial and park
honoring the town’s veterans, but that
never materialized. The new church was
never built and by 1947 the Fairview
Cemetery directors felt caring for their
tract was too cumbersome. Fairview, St.
John’s and Good Shepherd all voted to sell
their land and turn the proceeds over to
the Topton Orphans’ Home.
The National Bank of Boyertown served
as Trustee for the sales. On December 18,
1948, the Good Shepherd Tract was sold
to Albert S. Leidy, who then sold it to the
Boyertown Rod and Gun Club. St. John’s
tracts were sold to Paul O. Engle, Harvey
and Sarah Ritter and J. Clifford
Levengood, in all they realized $30,850 for
the sale of Elam’s land with the proceeds
going to the Topton Orphans’ Home.
In addition to the three lots mentioned,
Elam also owned 22 acres that fell within
borough limits. The executors were
directed to sell it all by the end of one year.
They sub-divided it into building lots that
extended from Third Street to Philadelphia
Avenue and from Madison Street to South
Franklin Street. In the end there were 100
lots sold on 52 deeds. They were sold to
individuals to build homes on and to
speculators who would sell them to third
parties to build homes. By the end of 1887
all the lots were gone.
Part of Elam’s land was added to the
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former Tung-Sol holdings, who provide
much employment for the Boyertown area.
Part of the land became what is now the
Boyertown Park, which provides much
enjoyment to the locals. The rest of his
legacy makes up a sizable chunk of the
southeast corner of Boyertown, providing
hearth and home to many, most of whom
have probably never heard of Elam C.
Rhoads.
Name Games:
Part 3
By Lindsay Dierolf
As promised this is the third
segment in my series about name
variations. This segment deals with
first names. Researchers sometimes
notice unusual names or the use of
alternate names in old records.
Again, these variations can be
caused by the differences in
languages used by those who
created the original record.
Transcribed records allow for
misspellings due to inability to
decipher the originals or simply
human error. Sometimes a name
was interchanged with its English
language counterpart. The name
name is Egidius, found in an early
baptism, and interpreted as Gideon.
The name Cherry shows up in an
early church record. Taken at face
value it would be a very unusual
name for the time period (mid
1700s), but if the researcher
considers that the person may have
been speaking with a heavy German
accent it makes more sense. The
letter J is often pronounced as a
hard “ch” sound. In this case,
substituting a J as the first letter in
A common male substitution is
Cherry, transforms it to Jerry, a
John (English) for Johannes, which
shortened form of Jeremiah.
was used in various European
countries. A more unusual male
Salome, taken from the Bible and
used frequently by the early settlers,
was often recorded as Sarah in
official records. Veronica is a name
often spelled phonetically based on
its pronunciation. It shows up in
records as Phronica. One of the
more unusual names I have seen is
Cungunda. It is an old German
language feminine name. To date I
have not determined an English
variation.
Library Resources
By Lindsay Dierolf
In the past few years television
shows portraying the process of
genealogical research have become
increasingly popular. You may have
seen “Who Do You Think You
Are?,” “Genealogy Road Show,” or
“Finding Your Roots.” All three
shows are interesting and well
formatted. The process of research
is drastically abbreviated to allow
for television scheduling, but the
variety of resources is very well
depicted. Local historical societies
play a vital role and feature
prominently in many episodes.
questions can be answered. As a
member, you have free access to the
Boyertown Area Historical Society
library. The library houses a great
variety of materials which can be
used for genealogy (family history)
research, or local history research.
Some of the more important and
commonly used records are the
Federal census and local church
records. The census was taken
every 10 years and helps to locate
your family during specific time
periods. The church records are a
good source for tracking down
specific events in a person’s life.
If you have ever been curious
Baptisms, confirmations, marriages
about who your ancestors were or
where they came from there is an
and burial records indicate not only
excellent local resource where those the date an event occurred, but can
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also produce clues to other family
members of the ancestor being
researched.
These are only two of the many
resources available; these will be
covered further in the next Gazette.
If you are intrigued, come in during
regular library hours and ask for
Lindsay to get started on your own
genealogy adventure!
Programs
Wednesday, May 6th
MAY PROGRAM
Wednesday, June 3rd
JUNE PROGRAM
Darius Puff, retired Chief of Police
of the Boyertown Police Department,
will present a program at 7 pm on
May 6 at our museum. His
entertaining presentation on the topic
the Lenni Lenape people and their
culture will discuss their early lives
and the changes their society went
through in the 18th Century. Chief
Puff illustrates his talk with artifacts,
furs and traditional storytelling.
Durango’s Paranormal
Investigation Results. Peter Overcast,
head of an amazing team of
investigators from the group known
as K.A.S.P.E.R., will be discussing
what we found during the April 19th
event at 7 pm, June 3.
A sought after speaker, Chief Puff
has given programs to many
historical societies, civic groups,
scout troops, at state and county
historic sites, schools and colleges.
K.A.S.P.E.R stands for Kutztown
Area Scientific Paranormal Evidence
Research. Founded in May of 2010,
Peter’s team has lead many
investigations in the area with great
success. They were part of last year’s
highly successful program at
The Boyertown Museum of Historic
Vehicles. Haunted Boyertown’s
Paranormal Investigations always
yield some great results but our
investigations at Durango’s are
always extra special. Perhaps because
of its proximity to the location of the
1908 Opera House Tragedy. We’ll be
looking at what they found and some
of the ways and the equipment they
used to achieved there results. Should
be a very interesting, entertaining and
informative program. Maybe we
can give you goose bumps.
Admission is free to Society
Members and students. Non-Member
admission is a nominal fee of $5.00
to differ some of the cost it takes to
keep our Society going. There’s
another great reason to become a
member. Our program’s are a terrific
way to learn about the Boyertown
areas past. Don’t miss out. Light
refreshments will be served following
the presentation.
Haunted Walks
Haunted and Historical Walks
Around Boyertown, “…one of the most
haunted small towns in America…”
Charles J Adams, III, the renowned
writer of ghost occurrences, with more
than 35 books on that topic to his
credit, after researching and collecting
material on ghosts in the Boyertown
area, has made the declaration that
Boyertown is “one of the most haunted
small towns in America…” You can
read it at your leisure by purchasing a
copy of Haunted Boyertown for
$15.00, knowing that all profits on the
sale of the book are currently being
given to the Boyertown Area Historical
Society.
An immediate alternative is to join in
a Haunted and Historical Walk Around
Boyertown. In addition to some of the
stories from that book you will hear
information gleaned by the Society’s
researchers. Charles Adams alludes to
the role of the Rhoads Opera House fire
in Boyertown in 1908, and the
gruesome and ghastly deaths of 170
innocent victims in a matter of minutes,
as one of the reasons for so much
spiritual activity in the area. WFMZTV has captured the history and
tragedy on this event in an excellent
DVD that is available for sale for $20
from the Society. Another factor which
Adams, and other experts, cite as
having an important influence on
spiritual development in Boyertown is
the existence of magnetic iron ore
deposits in, around and under the
borough of Boyertown.
The Society’s Haunted and Historical
Walks Around Boyertown are given on
the fourth Saturday of the months of
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May through September and on the
third and the fifth Saturdays in October.
That’s May 23, June 27, July 25, Aug
22, Sep 26, Oct 17 & 31. The walks
begin at 8:30 PM at the Society
Museum at 43 S. Chestnut St. in
Boyertown. They are all open to the
public. There are currently two walks
available, one on East Philadelphia
Avenue and the other on Reading
Avenue, which are being updated as
new stories pour in.
The low admission prices are $12 for
the general public and $10 for members
and students. For people on the walk,
the Opera House Fire DVD from
WFMZ can be purchased at discounted
prices of $15, while copies of Haunted
Boyertown can be purchased for $12.
Carl J Harner
Membership News
Have you renewed your
membership for 2015?
If you received your
membership renewal letter
via email, you can go to our
web site,
boyertownhistory.org., click
on Membership, click on the
membership link to access
and download a 2015
application. Return your
completed application to us
by mailing it to: The
Boyertown Area Historical
Society, 43 S. Chestnut St.,
Boyertown, PA 19512.
Please mark “Membership”
on the envelope. If you
prefer, you can drop it off in
person during Library hours,
Tuesday, 5 pm to 9 pm or
Wednesday, 9 am to 4 pm.
We hope that you will
continue to support us both
monetarily, and by attending
our monthly programs and
other activities.
The following have
renewed their memberships
for 2015:
Paul & Jacquelyn Wagner,
Dolly Adams, Phyllis
Bauman, Richard Frecon,
Linda Bauer, Gwendolyn
Carnes, Koreen Mace, Larry
We welcome the following & Dawn Hydock, Courtney
Pinder & Eric Bolton. and
new members:
Betty Long.
Robert Gerhart, Vernon
Thank you for supporting
Schwanger (The Sound
the Boyertown Area
Proposition), Thomas &
Cynthia Pinder, and Patricia Historical Society.
Kujat.
We also want to thank our
many Lifetime members for
their continued support.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
We need your help!
If you are able to help us out please call Lisa Frantz at (610) 367-5255 or email
[email protected]
The Boyertown Area Historical Society
43 South Chestnut Street
Boyertown, PA 19512
(610) 367-5255
Web Site: boyertownhistory.org
General Email: [email protected]
Library Hours
Email - [email protected]
Tuesdays 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Wednesdays 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
Office Hours
Email - [email protected]
Wednesdays & Thursdays 9:00 am to 1:30 pm
2015 Board of Directors
Officers
Brian Quigley - President
Roger Lehmann - Vice President
Sandy Mest - Secretary
Loretta Wolf - Treasurer
Mary Markley - Assistant Treasurer
2015 Board Members
James Bodiford
Lynne Gilbert
Carl J. Harner
Margaret Harner
Larry Hydock
Hilda Hynes
Barbara Johnson
John Lea
Lindsay Dierolf -Collections Director
Lisa Frantz - Office Manager
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