St. John’s United Church of Christ in Lansdale used to be known as St. John’s Reformed Church.
And back in those days — including in 1939, when today’s photo was snapped, there evidently were a lot of children who liked to sing.
Today’s photo was submitted by Grace Freeman of Hatfield, who brought in this picture that even included the typed-out names of the children on the back.
There also was a note written on the photo that Suzanne Stoopes, the directress, “accompanied them.”
So, in case you’re wondering who all these young faces belong to, here’s the rundown provided:
Row one: Shirley Stover, Diana Knipe, Betty Jean Phander, Emily Bishop, Betty Jane Phillman, Molly Tomkins, Doris Gerhart, Edna Jean Bishop, Mary Jane Conver, Janet Weaver, Virginia Holt.
Row two: Eleanor Kriebel, Betty Keller, Barbara Cressman, Nancy Thompson, Patty Conver, Shirley Kulp, Beatrice Hunsberger, Grace Wise, Phyliss Freeman, Jacqueline Rheiner, Jean Ann Schultz.
Row three: Anita Hawthorne, Shirley Schultz, Elaine Gottshall, Rachael Longacre, Ruth Swartley, Miriam Kenderdine, Ruth Kramer, Charlotte Schultz, Patricia Stetson.
Row four: Lorraine Swartley, Jean Gottshall, Betty Gerhart, Dotty Wise, Alice Longacre, Grace Longacre.
Row five: Suzanne Stoops and Frank Bartholomew.

With graduations still fresh in our minds, it seems appropriate to share some school memorabilia with you today.
These were provided by Ellis Kriebel of Harleysville, who submitted some items from 1887, 1888 and 1907.
The items from the late 1800s belonged to his grandfather, Irwin K. Kriebel, and the 1907 items to his father, Alpheus Kriebel. Both attended the Kriebel School on Kriebel Road in Towamencin (this is a lot of Kriebels!)
Ellis Kriebel notes that the school was between Sumneytown Pike and the turnpike overpass on a corner of his great-grandfather Aaron Bergey Kriebel’s land.
The bird postcard bears the inscription, “Compliments of your teacher, James R. Bergey, 1887.” A similar note is on the card showing the dog in the shoe.


The card showing the girl with the lamb is from Feb. 13, 1907, and reads, “With compliments to Alpheus Kriebel by William G. Nyce, teacher. A reward for spelling.”


The “souvenir 1907” item actually is a little booklet, on which Ellis notes, teacher Nyce “even provided a picture for the students, which I believe were distributed to each one at the end of the school term.”


Inside the booklet, it’s interesting to note that it says the school is in “Towamensing Township, Montgomery County.”
All of the students’ names are listed, as are the school board members.
A poem titled, “The Close of School” rounds out the booklet, complete with drawings.
A few of the lines include:

“The school is out!
The school is out!
Proclaim they one and all.
The school is out!
The merry shout
Resounds from room and hall.”

Lots of families seem to gather in the summer months for family reunions.
The Benner family is no exception.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the family reunion for the descendants of Reuben and Elizabeth Benner, who were Franconia Township residents during the mid to late 19th century.
The reunion will be held June 21 at Plains Mennonite Church on Orvilla Road, Hatfield, by reservation.
The photo we see today is of that first family reunion and features the family of Edwin and Elizabeth Benner, with Edwin being the first child of Reuben and Eliza. They gathered on the farm of Webster Benner on Mininger Road, Franconia.
But first a little bit about the Benner family, according to information provided by descendant Dot Benner.

Reuben, who died in an accident at the Whites Road Quarry in 1887, was a descendant of Sebastian Benner, who came to the United States from Germany on the Ship St. Andrew in 1738. Sebastian’s son, Johannes, was a farmer, weaver and miller who fought during the American Revolution as a private in the Philadelphia Company of Pennsylvania Military, Dot Benner said.
Another ancestor who was an early settler of the surrounding area was John Benner Sr., who built the first house in Morwood in 1846, Dot said.
Reuben and Eliza had two children born 19 years apart. They were Edwin and Julianna. Each married and provided Reuben and Eliza with a total of 75 great-grandchildren.
Dot said Edwin became a carpenter and, in 1898, he participated in the meeting held to establish Hatfield Borough. He was elected to the first council and appointed to the finance committee.
Julianna’s husband, Frederick N. Hollenbach, was a painter and wallpaper hanger.
Many of the early settlers are buried in local cemeteries, Dot said, including Franconia Mennonite, Towamencin Mennonite and a cemetery on Market Street in Perkasie.
The first family reunion, where this photo was taken on Aug. 27, 1933, was held on the recently purchased farmstead that Webster Benner, one of Edwin and Elizabeth’s 12 children, had recently purchased.
The North Penn Reporter published an account of the event and listed all 94 attendees.
The oldest person in attendance was Malinda Steer of Kulpsville, 82, and the youngest was Doris Wolfe of Perkasie, 5 months old.
The group photo is of only Edwin’s family; Julianna’s family does not know of any existing photo from the occasion.
Dot noted that many of those who attended the 1933 reunion also will attend this year’s 75th reunion.
Talk about getting your family together!

This is the second in a series of articles on historic places in Montgomery County prepared by our sister paper, The Times Herald.

By Walter Ault

TOWAMENCIN — Remotely situated at 850 Weikel Road in the quiet neighborhood of Kulpsville is a local treasure, one of the most unusual historical landmarks in Montgomery County: Morgan Log House.
This two-story structure is notable for its uniqueness and age (the original, smaller structure was built around 1700), as well as the famous Americans indirectly connected to it: Frontiersman and trailblazer Daniel Boone; Revolutionary War hero Brigadier General Dan Morgan; and journalist/broadcaster Lowell Thomas.
The cabin is named for a Welshman, Edward Morgan (Boone’s grandfather and an ancestor of Daniel Morgan and Lowell Thomas), who bought 309 acres of land, with, it is recorded, “a dwelling house,” from a Griffith Jones in 1708.
Interestingly, Jones had purchased the land as part of a 600-acre tract from none other than William Penn just six years earlier.
The Morgan family, documented to be among the earliest Welsh settlers in the Towamencin area, owned the land from 1708 to 1741 and are considered the first real settlers of the land the log house sits on, and the reason the house bears their name.
One of the notable aspects of the log house is that it has remained essentially intact, at least since the 1770s, and has changed little structurally or architecturally over the years. This is remarkable in light of the fact the dwelling and surrounding land have changed hands many times.

With the land repeatedly resold and subdivided for more than 250 years, the log cabin was part of a 17-acre plot when purchased by a William Nash in 1965.
The cabin then sat vacant for two years and due to neglect and indifference was condemned in 1967.
However, like many previous owners who saw the house’s charm and appreciated its beauty, some people thought the cabin worth saving and came forward.
Architects examined the log house and noted its historical importance and architectural significance. That prompted the Towamencin Supervisors to campaign to save the structure from demolition and preserve it for the benefit of present and future generations.
The Towamencin Historical Society was subsequently founded to restore and maintain the log house and Edwin Brumbaugh was retained as project architect.
Brumbaugh and others initially thought much of the house dated back to the original structure. However, it was learned that most of the cabin’s materials originated in the 1770s.
“First of all,” said Morgan Log House Site Director Sarah DiSantis, “the house was determined to be of German style, and the Morgans were Welsh.”
“That tells you a lot right there,” DiSantis continued, adding the family living in the cabin in the 1770s was the Cassells, a German family that occupied the dwelling for nearly 100 years.
DiSantis said no one is certain how much of the present log house is original.
“The research is continuing,” DiSantis said. “We are still investigating and slowly determining the age of all parts of the structure. We are even researching the families that lived there and are trying to contact their descendents.
“The Morgans, even with Edward, wife Elizabeth and their 10 kids, probably lived in a one-room cabin,” said DiSantis, “which was the custom of the day even for large families.”
Visiting the Morgan Log House is a worthwhile trip. Of course, there is considerable history associated with it. But what also merits attention is the excellent construction and simplistic beauty of the house.
Its size is striking. It doesn’t evoke the stereotypical one-room cabin; it is roomy, with two floors and an attic.
Inside the rustic structure are three rooms on the first floor and three more on the second floor, and a partial basement that served as a spring room.
Also notable about the interior is the huge stone central fireplace. Equally impressive are the finely squared logs, as well as the decorative pattern in the fissures between the logs, known as chinking.
“I love the chinking in this house, and the construction in general,” said DiSantis. “It is what makes this old house so special. There are other log cabins in Pennsylvania, but this is one of the few that are publicly accessible. That is because we think it is worth seeing.”
The Morgan Log House, added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1973, is administered by the Welsh Valley Preservation Society, formerly the Towamencin Historical Society, which restored the house in 1976 and continues research on the house and its former occupants. The society is also investigating the ruins of an old barn near the log house.
The society not only maintains the house and the surrounding property, but also provides guided tours, offers special programs and publishes a newsletter that offers insight into local history.

The school year is almost over for area students, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t think back fondly to our own school days.
That includes Shirley Cardell Snyder of Lansdale, who has submitted this photo from 1940 of the second-grade class of the North Wales Grade School.
The building that housed the school back then, as she notes, is now the borough building.
In this photo we see the teacher, identified as Mrs. Klinefelter, with her young charges.
According to the information supplied by Snyder, here are the names of the students she can identify:
First row, from left: Beryl Stone, Bette Jane Mayall, Janette Cope, Bertha Dilworth, Anna Dilworth, Sarah Ann Spear and Blanche Hoffman.
Second row, from left: Shirley Cardell (you know, who submitted this photo), Lois Kratz, Mary Tustin, Ruth Lloyd, Shirley Goodolf, Shirley Street, Bertha Hadrick and Barbara (last name unknown.)
In the back row, from left, the first person is unknown, then Russell Snyder, then unknown, then Warren Ziegenfuss, Jack Geissinger, Victor Jochen, Howard Kramer and Richard Cardell, who happens to be Shirley’s cousin.

Schwenkfelders came to America for freedom, farmland

Photo by Gene Walsh

By Walter Ault

Pennsylvania was a much-desired destination for many Europeans, for several reasons, in the 18th Century. Most of these people made the long, arduous and dangerous trip across the Atlantic Ocean — leaving most of their possessions behind — to escape religious persecution and hopefully find a better life.

Pennsylvania was an ideal sanctuary because of William Penn’s benevolence and passion and also because of his special relationship with the King of England. Many of the early immigrants also lived in England before making their journey to the United States and were, consequently, equally loyal to the crown.

A large number of these people also came from Germany where religious intolerance caused a lot of misery and suffering. Those Germans that settled in Pennsylvania became known as the Pennsylvania Deutsch, now known as the Pennsylvania Dutch. Through assimilation, Deutsch, meaning German in its native language, evolved into the word Dutch.

The Menonites, Amish and others also flocked to Pennsylvania for the state’s rich land as well as religious freedom. The unbound opportunity of the local area beckoned, especially in nearby Chester and Lancaster counties, where these farming people finally settled.

Another group that migrated to Pennsylvania, one that was not quite as prominent and large as the others, was the Schwenkfelders. Various small groups of them landed here in a six-year period, 1731 to 1737. Two hundred of them arrived in 1734 and with the help of the established Menonites, successfully settled in Montgomery County, as those before them had done, swearing allegiance to the British Crown.

Like the groups that preceded them, the Schwenkfelders were perceived as humble, honorable and hardworking farmers whose main goal was to live and worship as they pleased.

The Schwenkfelders are named for Casper Schwenkfeld (1489 - 1561), who was born in Germany. Despite being more of a lay preacher than a trained theologian, Schwenkfelder nevertheless greatly influenced people throughout Europe with his simplistic but popular message, stressing tolerance for all religious groups and freedom of conscience in religious matters. He also impressed people because he was considered a gentleman in every sense; refined and courteous. And he was selfless to a fault, making the needs of the people, especially the downtrodden, more important than his own.

Schwenkfeld was widely known for his prolific writing and wandering through Central Europe for 30 years — a journey initiated by his exile due to his reformist views — and drew large crowds wherever he went.

Like Martin Luther, who became his good friend, Schwenkfeld rejected many aspects of the Romish church, including its hierarchy, priesthood, mass, confessional and the Catholic Church’s overall opulence, symbolism and ceremonialism.

Schwenkfeld differed in his views in very distinctive ways from other reformists, but nonetheless was widely respected because of his complete tolerance of other faiths.
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“To Casper’s way of thinking,” said West Norriton resident and member of the Schwenkfelder Church Ben Heebner, “a person’s relationship with God was very personal and no one had the right to dictate their religious beliefs to others.”

During their long history in Europe the Schwenkfelders didn’t have churches and, because of their controversial views, were forced to meet in small groups in conventicles and private homes.

This lifestyle continued in the new world, with the Schwenkfelders meeting for over 150 years in homes and eventually, like the Quakers, in what they called meeting-houses.

The Schwenkfelder Church was finally incorporated in 1909, about the same time church members finally began to have permanent churches constructed.

There are many legacies of the Schwenkfeler Church in Montgomery County, not least of which is the town of Schwenksville.

“There is a lot of county land owned privately by church members and more owned by the church,” Heebner said. “There are also scattered cemeteries, the Schwenkfelder Library in Pennsburg and five active churches, in Philadelphia, Palm, Lansdale, Worchester and Norristown.”

Understandably, the Schwenkfelders aren’t nearly as conspicuous as they once were. In fact, they are very active and quite open to discussion about their faith and what they have to offer and freely pass out an abundance of educational literature to any interested party. Furthermore, they are highly visible due to their many activities and their heavy involvement in the surrounding community.

The 25-year-old Heebner is a proud descendant of one of the original families that arrived in Philadelphia in 1734, and quite naturally enjoys talking about the Schwenkfelders, past and present.

Incidentally, the name Heebner is fairly well-known in this area due to the sprawling and beautiful Heebner Park on Valley Forge Road in Worcester, another legacy of the Schwenkfelders.

The aforementioned park was once part of a 1,000 acre farm owned by Heebner’s ancestors, Sherman and Dottie Heebner, who generously donated the land for the park to Worcester Township with the understanding it would remain as open space.

This kind of generosity and community-mindedness, according to Heebner, is a prominent part of the Schwenkfelders’ overall philosophy.

“We are very active in the community,” Heebner said, “and we are committed to helping those in need. That is what our faith tells us to do.”

“We have soup kitchens in Norristown and Lansdale and have different outreach programs to help the homeless.”

Heebner, one of over 1,000 members of the Central Schwenkfelder Church in Worcester (there are about 3,000 total members in Montgomery County), added that his church serves the community in other ways, with plenty of events and activities year after year open to the general public.

“We have a craft fair every year, a county fair every September and an Easter story reenactment,” Heebner revealed.

In addition, each Schwenkfelder church fosters youth fellowship groups and each church has multiple service organizations, with several churches hosting Boy Scout and Girl Scout troop meetings in their buildings, along with other civic organizations.

Of course, each church also sponsors a school for instruction in the Bible, as well as choral and musical instrumental ensembles.

“We feel we have something special and worthwhile to offer to our community,” said Heebner, “and we always try to put our best forward and offer help to others in any way we can.”

OK, former Boy Scouts. Were you at Camp Delmont during 1957?
If so, you may spot yourself on this photo, or at least remember some of the boys captured in this shot that we feature today.
Jim Moore of North Wales has submitted this photo that shows West Point Boy Scout Troop 1, who took a few moments out of their fun to pose for this shot.
Moore doesn’t know everyone, but notes that “some of the boys are Ed Walters, Tim and Dave Weigner, George Gardiner, Randy Vasey, Ron and Tom Locker, Steve Service, Butch Walker and Scout leader Fred Wilson.”
“Maybe some of the readers will recognize the rest,” Moore wrote.
Well, does anyone spot someone they know? Take a good look, now.