Month: March 2013

A Great Sickness at Harrisburg The Landis Mill Dam Incident

Yellow fever is one of those diseases that was of grave concern to our ancestors. About 1793, Philadelphia was experiencing an outbreak of the disease and when a febrious illness began to manifest in Harrisburg, there was great concern that it had reached them, too.1

Efforts were made to protect the town and its inhabitants—the posting of guards on the roads, turning away travelers, etc. But the general feeling amongst the town’s inhabitants was that the disease was caused by the stagnant waters behind a dam on Paxton Creek. The mill was owned by Peter, John and Abraham Landis.

Articles of agreement were written between John Harris, founder of Harrisburg, and the three Landis men on 16 April 1790. Harris granted them “a mill seat on the waters of Paxton Creek the race whereof to be taken out of the said creek at any place between the two bridges now erected over the same opposite Harrisburgh aforesaid and to be dug or carried through the land of the said John Harris.”2 The men paid £600, plus interest, and were required to provide a sufficient merchant mill within three years.

Then the sickness came.

On 5 May 1794, a meeting was held and a committee designed to meet with the Landis’ and offer them £2500 in exchange for the mill.3 They met with the men the next day. The Landis’ refused to sell.

By January 1795, the inhabitants were determined to take action. At a meeting on 16 January 1795, it was voted to pay the Landis’ £2600 for the mill, and that in case the Landis’ again refused to sell, they would “prostrate the dam erected… and pay our proportionate parts of all legal expenses and damages that may accrue on any suit or suits.”4 An assessment was made on all property in the borough in order to make up the amount of the offer.5 Amongst those assessed for property in town were John, Adam, and Christopher Hocker. A George Hocker—possibly their brother—was assessed as a single man, too.

Apparently, the Landis men were still not willing to sell and instead asked for £2000 for the water-rights alone. The committee apparently believed this was little more than extortion. They refused the counter-offer.

On Saturday, 18 April 1795, the committee and a number of inhabitants went to the dam and with four persons they had hired “opened the creek bed twelve feet wide.”6 This, for all intents and purposes, ruined the dam.

On 29 April 1795, with the dam all but destroyed and no other options, the Landis’ sold the mill property and equipment to a committee comprised of Stacy Potts, Moses Gilmore, William Grayson, Jacob Bucher, John Keen, John Dentzel and Alexander Berryhill.7

 The Landis Family

Peter, John, and Abraham Landis may have been, I believe, brothers and sons of Felix Landis.

Felix Landis of Derry Township died after writing his will on 25 Jan 1770.8 He left his property on Spring Creek to his two sons—Peter and Jacob. Peter, in particular, inherited that piece of the tract “whereupon the house and barn and mill is standing.” This indicates to me that the mill business was a family industry.

All three men were of Derry Township in 1790 when they purchased the water rights from John Harris.9 In 1795 when they sold out, Peter and Eva, his wife, were of Derry Township, John and Catharine, his wife, were of Londonderry Township, and Abraham and Barbara, his wife, were of Paxton Township.10

Will: Henry Landis (1785)

Henry Landis of Derry Township wrote his last will and testament on 26 April 1785 and it was proven on 29 November 1785. It was written in German. I found this translation in Dauphin County Will Book A, page 34.

Will of Henry Landis of Derry Township

1785 will of Henry Landis of Derry Township

The translation from the German of the last Will & Testament of Henry Lands

In the name of god Amen April 26th 1785.
I Henry Landis living in Derry Township Lancaster County am sick of the body but yet of Sound Knowledge therefore it is my Will where with the lord blessed me I dispose of as follows

First it is my last Will & Testament that my wife Anna shall have one bed and bedstead Two cows one Horse [Creative?] the Saddle and Briddle thereto and the horse on a ture[??] and Cows to be fed with their own & to be pastured with their own and the Third of the Personal Estate all that I have and to Live in my house or to have one built for her and well Finished out and Fire wood to be brought home and but short Short for her as much as She shall nead [sic] and the one half of the Kitchen Garden which is also to be Duly Dugned [dunged?] and Rowed, and apple as many as She shall Need or the Third Part of the Orchard and the Third Part of the Income of the Place of all they Shall Plant or Sow & two Sheep to be Kept and Fed for her Widowhood & not Longer; and him who Possesseth my Place Shall Deliver the Grain on the loft well clained [sic] the Meadow Shall belong to him whom hath the place but if he Doth not Feed the Horse and Cows well for my Said Wif [sic] She Shall have a Right to Take Fother [sic] as much as will be necessary for such Chattle [sic] as above mentioned

Item It is my will that my Son Felix Shall have my place which I now live on for eight Hundred Pounds Good and Lawful money and he shall pay every year Twenty five Pounds until the whole is paid and he Shall of What Remaineth have not more than one of my others and my Son Henry shall Draw the First Payment as much as Shall be coming to him for the Share of my Estate and my other Children Each of them Shall Receive Twenty-five pounds according to sincerity[?] yearly untill [sic] the Whole is Paid and my Said son Felix Shall have my PLace to him and his heirs as above specified or mentioned

Item It is my Last Will & Testament I nominate & coose [sic] for Executors Christian Stauffer and my Brother Son John Landis which I Acknowledge with my own hand in Present of these Presents

Christian Obre
Martin Bradnt[?] }    Henry his X mark Landis (seal)

Proved this twenty ninth day of November one thousand seven hundred & Eighty Five

J Montgomery Regr1

Henry Landis was my 6x great grandfather.

Friday Find: Henry Landis Renunciation

I’ve been working on the narrative for Martin Hocker (1768-1862) for my A Hacker-Hocker Family recently and I realized that I don’t have much information on his daughter Christianna, born 24 Nov 1808, who married Henry Landis.1

Henry is a common first name in the Landis family; so I’m reviewing documents and trying to piece information together. In my search of Dauphin County deeds, I found the following document.2

Henry Landis Renunciation
In it Henry Landis refused to take the property his father—Henry Landis Sr. of Swatara Township—left to him in his will. A standard enough document. But what caught my eye were the witnesses—Benjamin and Martin Hocker!

Benjamin Hocker was most likely the youngest son of Johan Adam Hocker Jr. of Derry Township. His older brother George—my 4X great grandfather—married Mary Magdalena Landis, daughter of Henry Landis Sr. of Swatara township, on 2 Mar 1819.3

I thought at first that Martin Hocker was likely the son of Martin Hocker Sr. of Derry Township. But then I did the math. Martin Jr. would have been only 17 in 1829. It’s far more likely that he was actually Martin Hocker Sr. If so, then it’s quite possible that this is the Henry Landis who married Christianna Hocker, Martin’s daughter, on 18 Oct 1825.4

While this doesn’t actually prove that this Henry married Christianna Hocker—there’s no mention of her in the deed—it does prove that Henry Landis Jr. was associated with Benjamin Hocker and Martin Hocker by June of 1829.

Wordless Wednesday: Henry & Saraphine (Witmer) Snyder

Henry & Saraphine (Witmer) Snyder

A photo of Henry D. and Saraphine K. (Witmer) Snyder, possibly taken in front of the Greulich home in Landsdale, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, circa 1912. The Snyders owned and lived on a farm on School House Road just outside East Greenville, Pennsylvania near the New Goshenhoppen Church.