Warwick Township

The first settler in Warwick township was, it is believed, Richard Carter, who settled near the mouth of the Conestoga creek in about 1716. Robert Wilkins settled on adjoining land. The situation did not, however, suit either of them evidently, for in 1717 or 1718 Wilkins moved westward and took up a tract on the east bank of the Susquehanna river at the spot which later became part of the site of Marietta; and Richard Carter moved farther up Conestoga creek at about the same time, settling about four miles southeast of where Lititz developed. Carter's creek rises in the Lititz springs, and has latterly been known as Lititz creek; upon it Richard Carter is supposed to have settled. One version states that Carter, a bachelor and a wheelwright by trade, was merely a squatter; but such an irresponsible state could hardly have been his, for he comes into the assessment lists of 1718, for Conestoga township, among the landowners and heads of families instead of among the "freemen," which would have been his place had he been a bachelor without property. Robert Wilkins had a tract of 300 acres, but his assessment was only about one-half of the amount set opposite Carter's name, and Carter's valuation was L15 os. od., whereas "freemen" were all "valued at 9 shillings each." Therefore, Richard Carter may be considered to have held a somewhat better status than that of a squatter.

Carter does not appear to have taken out patents for land upon which he settled, but there is no good reason for supposing that one tract at least was not warranted and surveyed for him. Part of.the land Richard Carter located was patented in 1741 and part in 1745 to John Wister, of Philadelphia, who does not, however, seem to have ever lived on either part. A large part of the Carter tract ultimately came into the possession of the Reist family. A reasonable inference as to Richard Carter's status is that at the time of the erec- tion of Lancaster county he was one of the leading men of that part of the county which became Warwick township. The township is said to have been so named because Richard Carter was born in Warwickshire, in England, and Carter's creek was so named in his honor. He was also honored by appoint- ment as the first magistrate of Warwick township in 1729, and he was a member of the jury inpanelled to consider the first case that came before the first court of Lancaster county. Another of the leading pioneers of Warwick township was John Huber. It is recorded that there was some contention as to the name of the township when the magistrates and leading inhabitants met at Postlethwait's, on June 9, 1729, to agree upon township names and bounds; and the man who objected most strongly to the name Warwick was John Huber. However, the weight of Carter's recommendation was sufficient to decide the matter.

Warwick township was the eleventh of the seventeen or more townships set off to form Lancaster county in 1729. Its boundaries were defined as follows: "Warwick township, beginning by Conestoga creek at a corner of Manheim township by Peter's road, thence up the west side of Conestoga to Hans Graff's mill, thence up the northerly branch to David Priest's mill, thence westerly along the hills by Lebanon township to Derry, thence southerly by Donegal to the aforesaid road, thence along the said road easterly to the place of beginning." The name and boundaries of Warwick township were confirmed by the Court of Quarter Sessions on August 5, 1729. And the boundaries thus described comprised the territory now within the townships of Warwick, Elizabeth, Clay and Penn. Elizabeth township was detached from Warwick in 1757, a later subdivision of Elizabeth forming Clay; and Penn township was detached from Warwick in 1845. This left the present Warwick township with only 11,670 acres of its original 62,533 acres.

Elizabeth township was organized in 1757 with the following boundaries: "Beginning at the land of Joseph Cratzer, bounding upon Heidelberg township, Lebanon county; thence by the same to Cocatico township; thence by Cocalico to Warwick; thence by the same to the place of beginning." The line between Warwick and Elizabeth was not clearly defined, and for twelve years there was confusion in taxes and disputes as to liability for road main- tenance. In 1766 the inhabitants of the two townships endeavored to end the chaos by petitioning the court. A commission appointed to run the line so changed it that fifty farms formerly considered as within Warwick township were declared to be in Elizabeth township. The farmers within this strip, however, were dissatisfied with the finding of the commissioners, and petitioned the court to restore the original line, which was done in 1769. Changes occurred in the boundaries of Elizabeth township in 1813, when Lebanon county annexed part of Lancaster county; and again in 1815, when Elizabeth was compensated for such loss by being given parts of Warwick and Cocalico townships.

The Act of Assembly passed February 13, 1813, permitting Lebanon county to annex part of Lancaster county, defined the new line thus: "Beginning in the Berks county line; thence through Lancaster county to a sandstone house on the road leading from Shaefferstown to Elizabeth Furnace, leaving said house in Lebanon county; thence to a house of one Shroyer, deceased, including said house in Lebanon county, on the road leading from Lebanon to Manheim; thence to Snyder's mill, on the Conestoga creek."

In April, 1815, the Lancaster County Court appointed C. Carpenter, Abraham Forney and Samuel Geeher "commissioners to annex a part of Warwick and Cocalico townships to Elizabeth township," describing the new boundaries as follows:

Beginning at a black oak tree in the Lebanon and Lancaster County line; thence a southwest course through Warwick Township to John Beidler's tavern, occupied by George Plasterer (now Pennsville), leaving said tavern in Elizabeth Township; thence along a public road leading from Mount Hope Furnace to Lititz, to a public road leading from Manheim to John Eby's mill; thence along said road to Hammer Creek; thence down Hammer Creek to a public road leading from Lititz to a tavern on the Downingtown, Ephrata and Harrisburg turnpike; owned by Philip Krig (now the village of Lincoln), leaving said tavern in Cocalico Township; thence a straight line to where the Indian Run empties thereof, on lands of Robert Coleman, Esq., near the residence of Adam Wampole; thence a north course to Lancaster and Lebanon County line; thence along said line to place of beginning.

The commissioners reported to August court, and their report was approved at the November session of court, in same year.

Clay township was set apart from Elizabeth township in 1853, being given practically all of Elizabeth that lies east of Middle creek. The boundary reaches to Hammer creek, but is too complicated for general description; therefore, the official definition is given. It is as follows:

Commencing on the bridge over Hammer creek (below mill dam) in the public road leading to Lancaster; thence in said road 644 perches to the bridge over Middle creek; thence up Middle creek 116 perches to Furnace run; thence up Furnace run 427 perches to Seglock run; thence up Seglock run 929 perches to Lebanon county, 226 perches west from a marked stone on the west side of a public road in said Lebanon county line; thence along the Lebanon county line to West Cocalico township line; southerly along said West Cocalico town- ship line and Indian run to Ephrata township line; thence southwesterly along Ephrata town- ship line to Hammer creek and Warwick township; thence up Hammer creek to place of beginning.

Penn township was formed in 1846 of land detached from the western part of Warwick township. The commissioners, Henry Shriener, David May and John Forney, met at Shober's Hotel, about a mile south from Lititz, on February 22, 1845, "viewed the proposed division line, and reported in favor of a new and separate district to be called West Warwick." Their report was not confirmed until January 22, 1846, and then it was decided that the new township should bear the name of the first proprietor of Pennsylvania; hence it came into the records as Penn township. Chikis creek divides it from Rapho township on the west; on the east is Elizabeth and Warwick townships, and on the south is East I-lempfield township. Penn stretches the whole length of the original Warwick township northward to ttie Lebanon county border.

The main watercourses of the original Warwick township include the Chiquesalunga, or Chikis creek, which formed the extreme western boundary, now the Penn township western border; Hammer creek, which rises in the Lebanon hills, passes through Elizabeth township in a southeasterly direction, to become, with Cocalico creek, the eastern boundaries of Warwick township; Middle creek, which divides Elizabeth and Clay townships, and passes into Ehprata township. The principal watercourses of the present Warwick township are Hammer and Cocalico creeks, the former separating a small part of Clay township, a little farther on converging with Middle creek, to form with Cocalico creek the division line between Warwick and Ephrata and West Earl townships. New Haven creek rises in the central southern part of War- wick township. The natural features of the original Warwick region are in some parts rugged, but in most parts favorable to tillage. Penn township has South Mountain on the northern border, and from that elevation the land slopes gently southward; slightly undulating in the central part. The soil is sandy at the foot of South Mountain, and the elevated portions are gravelly, but limestone forms the bed-rock of most of the land, which is consequently good agricultural acreage. Elizabeth township is hilly, the soil being shaly in parts, though there is much limestone loam. The northern part of Clay township is gravelly, but some of the best farming land in the county is in the southern part of Clay. In the hilly northern part much red sandstone has been quarried; and in the southern end considerable limestone quarrying has been done during the last century. The present Warwick township is slightly undulating, with the Pine Hills in the north and Rabbit Hill and Kissel Hill in the south. The soil in parts is calcareous, and in some parts limestone of good quality has been quarried. The origin of names of townships is not hard to determine. Warwick township was named after Warwickshire in England; Elizabeth was named in honor of the great English queen, Elizabeth, it has been asserted; but it is far more probable that the township was so named because the Christian name of the wife of Ironmaster Steigel, who established Elizabeth furnace in 1757, was Elizabeth. The furnace and the township began to function in the same year, 1757. Honoring the memory of the great Henry Clay, then recently deceased, was the purpose of the naming of Clay township, and a like motive influenced the court in naming Penn township after William Penn.

Prior to 1784 all county and State elections were held at the county seat, Lancaster. By an Act of Assembly passed September 13, 1785, Lancaster county for political purposes was divided into four election districts, Elizabeth and Warwick townships being in the Third Election District, the public house of Captain Hugh Pedan, in Rapho township, being designated as the polling place. In 1786 Elizabeth and Warwick were detached from the third and attached to the First Election District, the polling place of which was at the court house in Lancaster borough. In 1795 Cocalico and Elizabeth townships became the Fifth District, the public house of Henry Miller in Cocalico township, midway between Lincoln and Ephrata, being the polling place. The Seirenth District was erected in 1799, composed of Warwick and Rapho town- ships, with the polling place in the village of Manheim. In 1803 a change in the Fifth Election District detached part of Cocalico township and attached part of Warwick township, the polling place changing from Henry Miller's hotel to that of Nathaniel Lightner, situated in the present village of Clay. The historic Clay Hotel has been a polling place ever since that year. Lititz was made a separate district in 1813. In 1815 Elizabeth township district was changed somewhat, with the alteration of township line. In 1843 all parts of Warwick in Fifth and Seventh districts were transferred to the Warwick Township District, with polling place at Lititz. When Penn township was organized in 1846, it was divided into two election districts, but neither polling place was within its own territory. One was in Manheim borough, and the other in Lititz, constituting the Forty-third and Forty-fourth districts, respec- tively. These were abolished in 1848, and Penn township became the Forty-third District, with polling place within its boundaries. Elizabeth township was divided into two election districts in 1852, the Forty-fifth District being established at Pennsville, and the Fifth District continuing at Clay Hotel. The Pennsville District was abolished in 1854, and added to Fifth District. A new Clay township district was formed, and designated the Forty-fifth, with polling place at Brickersville, in Elizabeth township. Lititz was made a borough and a separate district in 1888, as was East Warwick also. Penn township became two districts in 1891, a new district centering in Unionville, and the old one being called South Penn. In i8gg Penn township was given the third district, which was established at junction.

Early Settlers-Richard Carter, the first settler, has already been referred to. Christian Bombarger, or Bambarger, settled in Warwick in 1722, part of the original land being still held by his descendants. He was from Eshelbrun, in Baden. Patent was delivered to him in 1734, and another later. The first was for 548 3/4 acres, acquired for a consideration of L58 is. od., and an annual ground rental of one halfpenny an acre. The other was in 1735, for 583 3/4 acres, "near Chikis creek, adjoining lands of John Gingrich, and vacant' lands." George Kline settled in the vicinity of Lititz prior to 1740; he comes prominently into the Lititz narrative. Other Germans settled between 1720 and 1735, probably, in the central part of the present Penn township. The Keaths, Kreiners, Beekers, Hagys, Meyers, Hostetters, Hersheys, Snavelys, Bambergers, Gibbles, Reists, Kauffmans, Gingriches and Erbs were among the early settlers who located along the foot of the South Mountain and extended their holdings southward. It is not possible to state the actual time of settlement, as there was so often a long lapse of time between the warranting of land and the execution of patent. In some cases there was a long lapse of time between that of settling and that of surveying. George Eby had a tract, in the present Warwick township, surveyed in 1733, but patent was not issued until 1760, in the name of Christian Eby (or Ebi). Dates of settlement, or of receiving patent, are shown as follows: Jacob Huber, 1743; John Wister, 1741; Christian Hershey, 1739; Jacob Hershey, 1742; John and Daniel Brubaker, in the 'forties. Most of this land was what is now Elizabeth township, and much of it perhaps was entered by these families in the 'twenties. The names Brubaker, Hostetter, Hershey, Kauffman, Eby, and many others that come into the pioneer records of Warwick, Elizabeth, Penn and Clay townships, appear in the tax-lists of Conestoga township for 1718 and later years prior to the erection of Lancaster county. (Conestoga township in 1718 embraced most of that part of Chester county which in 1729 became Lancaster county).

Clay township pioneers began to settle in about 1740. From that time on to about 1770, there was a steady influx of German settlers, the pioneer fami- lies including the Weidman, Weachter, Miller, Elser, Householder, Brubacker, Hackman, Wissier, Appeal, Bentz, Bollinger, Deardorf, Weaver, Herchetroth, Stover, Erb, Eberly, Laber, Oberlin, Heacker, Wealand and other families. The family names listed as "taxable" and affirmed as "a true return of Elizabeth township" in 1758, by Henry W. Steigel, included those of Buch, Barr, Rohrer, Bollinger, Burkener, Baughman, Bauman, Benninger, Barringer, Blucher, Caff man, Conrad, Cawlswell, Custer, Carpenter, Clark, Dowell, Doma, Day, Eberly, Engeland, Fox, Fetting, Gartener, Glass, Graybill, Grail, Getz, Hetzler, Heil, Hag, Horming, Halser, Hogh, Hegg, Holdeman, Flyenfrith, Joder, Klenfelder, Kritzinger, Keller, Klein, Levenwichte, Latueon, Leyeig, Ludwig, Mates, Markle, Michael, Martin, Opperman, Palmer, Phaefenberger, Pugh, Reinhardt, Roland, Royer, Shigg, Smit, Staley, Seltzer, Shaid, Shaaed, Stelly, Shes, Smidt, Shoatler, Smith, Showers, Snurring, Weyman, Weaver, Wagoner, Wissener, Willing, Witmoyer, Walder, Wolf, Zowalley, Zimmerman, Hess, Ledman, Leydig, Millinger, Simon, Shiner, Spencer, Thornton. Peculiarities of spelling may be attributed to the poorness of the scrivener who compiled the list for Mr. Steiget. In the next year (1759) the tax-list for Warwick township showed the following family names, the names given below being only of those who held tracts of land ranging from twenty-five acres to seven hundred acres:

Bender, Barr, Blenkindorffer, Bugar, Bamberger, Brendel, 13ausman, Bets, Bam, Bullmer, Bruner, Bale, Brumback, Burchart, Burkart, Backer, Blets, Baylor, Brubacher, Blat- lenberg, Boyer, Borgholder, Caldwell, Camrer, Dussing, Dehaff, Deerdorff, Doyer, Erb, Ernst, Enck, Ehrman, Eberhard, Forting, Faits, Perling, Fetter, Grasse, Geyer, Gyngery, Garber, Graybill, Good, Geiger, Grosse, Giles, Heegy, Honson, Hollinger, Hochstatter, Huber, Hoog, Herchelroth, Hackman, Hershey, Hans, Habecker, Hoock, Hess, Hoyl, Houser, Haller, Haisse, Hoffarth, Herricke, Helden, Kline, Kinzi, Keener, Koffman, Kesh, Kreiner, Kerman, Klick, Koch, Krub, Kissel, Laugnaker, Lesher, Lenherr, Leye, Layder, Lawman, Langeneeker, Lecron, Miller, Meier, Marck, Mock, Marret, Musselman, Nessee, Newswonger, Oberlin, Oblinger, Pforzer, Plesterer, Pfeiffer, Pfeil, Pattly, Pfauz, Resh, Rickseeker, Rudy, Royer, Roth, Stover, Sees, Steeg, Stouffer, Scheibly, Schill, Schantz, Schits, Scinan, Shrants, Sensinich, Snyder, Spedier, Schanck, Seibe, Sherzer, Spanhauer, Trabinger, Walter, Waymar, Weaver, Wendling, Witmer, Wolff, Wegerle, Weidler, Wayntand, Wuchard, Witter, Zartman, Zeiger, Zug.

Pioneer Life-The life of the pioneer families was rigorous, but food was plentiful, if lacking in variety. The rneat supply of the average settler's family was pork, though the gun and traps brought much to the family larder from the forest. Usually a small patch near the cabin would supply vegetables, but little corn was grown in the first years. Neither was beef a staple food. "But the sturdy old German pioneer loved his sauerkraut und speck, snitz und knep, bastenaden, karbsen, rueben, weiskraut, bohnen, erbsen, mehl und grumberen soup, noodle soup, smaltz kuchen, apple-tumbles, pot-pie, panhusen, and other good things not always at hand." In the matter of apparel, much may almost be termed home-grown. The whole process from seed to stitch was undertaken on the home farm. Farmers raised their own flax. "When ripe it was pulled by hand, tied into small bundles, and when dried the seed was separated from the stalk by taking a bundle in the hands and beating tte seed-end of the flax against a log or large stone, which would also open the boll in which the seed is grown. The flax was then spread. upon greensward until the woody part was sufficiently rotted, when it was broken by means of what was then known as a hand-break, when it was hackled, separating the woody part, or inside of stalk, from the fibre. The fibre was then hatcheled by hand, and made ready for the spinning-wheel. The spinning was mostly done during the long winter evenings, and not infrequently parties of a dozen or more of tl-ie pioneers' daughters would meet of an evening and have an old-fashioned spinning bee, each carrying her wheel upon her shoulder. The thread thus spun was next placed in the hands of the weaver, who would weave the linen any desired width, usually about a yard wide. The finest of the linen was used for shirting, and the coarser dyed and made into other wearing apparel, usually breeches and jackets." Most of the farmers raised an acre or two of flax to meet the family need. Woolen garments were not often used. Sheep were hard to raise, owing to lack of fences and wild beasts, but what wool was made "was cleansed in a primitive way, carded into rolls by hand, and spun and wove by hand, the same as the linen.

In the absence of churches, weddings were often solemnized "under the branches of a large tree at some point along the principal road," the minister being notified of time and place, and often coming on horseback a long way to perform the ceremony. "Funerals were attended on foot, horseback, and in the old Conestoga wagon. There being no such thing as a fashionable hearse, the remains of the deceased were placed in one of the old Conestogas, covered with white cloth stretched over the high bows, and drawn by four horses, the driver riding the near wheel-horse" as within recent years. After the coffin had been placed in the wagon, those of the mourners who could find room in the same wagon did so; the others walked to the place of burial, where refreshments would be served, if cake and wine had not been provided before leaving the home of the bereaved.

The mill was the center of population, and the general rendezvous of set- tlers; generally a tavern was also kept by the miller. Carousals were few, however, because most of the farmers made whiskey for themselves.

The early school history of Warwick township centres conspicuously in the Moravian schools of Lititz, and they have been reviewed in other chapters. An early day school was conducted in the old Warwick church, and many of the old churches throughout the present four townships of the original War- wick were to some extent used for school purposes. The first school in Warwick township was that opened by Rev. Leonard Schnell, a Moravian minister, in the Warwick church, in 1748 or 1749. A parochial school was conducted in provincial times by the Brickerville congregation, in Elizabeth township. Peter Wieland's old mill on Middle creek, in Clay township, was used as a schoolhouse from about 1787. The Durlach schoolhouse was set apart forthe use of Mennonite, Lutheran and Reformed children in about isoo; and the Wood Corner schoolhouse was built mainly at the expense of the Bentz and Martin families in 1813. The three schoolhouses last named were in Clay township, but there were many other schoolhouses, or buildings as such, in the other Warwick townships. Wherever there was a need, it was not an expensive matter to provide a schoolhouse, because parents were not then very critical in such matters. Most of the German settlers recognized that some elementary education was desirable, though few cared to afford their sons higher education, for that would tend to draw the sons away from the farms. Israel G. Erb, of a pioneer Warwick township family, wrote as follows regarding the early rural schools:

Short terms of three or four months were taught by the day, at the rate of three or four cents per day per pupil. The buildings were small dingy log cabins and old meeting-houses. The school apparatus consisted of several flat tables; a large wood-stove, with a capacity of holding very near one-fourth of a cord of wood; a few books, such as Byerly's Spelling Book, Rose and Pike arithmetics, some very old German arithmetics, calculating mostly pounds, shillings and pence, English and German testaments, as in those days that sacred book was used as a class book; a slate pencil oftentimes made out of a gravelstone; a goosequill, a solution of indigo for ink, and about six sheets of paper (foolscap) sewed together for a copy book; no blackboards. A teacher suitable to the times, often a worn out day laborer, who was obliged to give from three to four lessons a day in reading, which was considered in old days absolutely necessary. Very little attention was paid to arithmetic. Grammar, geography, and mental arithmetic were unknown, and when first introduced met with a powerful opposition. * * * It was the duty of the teacher oftentimes to give the pupils double recitations, English and German, mostly in the Testament. No printed copy books (were used) ; the teacher had to set them, or in other words head them, some in mixed English and others in Pennsylvania Dutch, just as parents desired.