Tag Archives: Blue Church

A Gallows Sermon and the Johannes E. Berkenstock Taufschein

: Fig. 1. Johannes E. Berkenstock Taufschein. July 30, 1830. Courtesy of David Tuttle.

According to his Taufschein, and corroborated by the birth and baptismal Reformed Church Records, 1802-1965 of the Blue Church, Coopersburg, Pa.:

Johannes E[rdman] Berkenstock was born the 30th of July in the
Year of Christ 1830, and was baptized by Mr. [Samuel] Hess
on the 23rd of September in the Year 1830. His sponsors were
Johannes Berkenstock and wife Fronica. His father the honorable
Henrich Berkenstock and wife Catharina, née Erdman. [1]

Enclosed in the top central heart is the wise counsel “Bleibe Fromm und Halte dich recht und Huete dich ~~recht~~ das du in keine Sünde willigest und Thust wi= der Gottes gebot [,]” or in English “Remain pious and conduct yourself properly, being cautious that you do not willingly take part in any sin and act against God’s commandment.” Similar words appear in a sermon the Chaplain of Cadolzburg, [2] namely Christian Friederich Pacius, [3] preached on August 30, 1770 at the town gallows following the executions of Conrad Süß, Johann Georg Süß, and Jacob Grund. Pacius custom designed his admonishment, taking all of Psalm 37:37 “Bleibe fromm und halte dich recht, so wird dir zuletzt wohlgehen. ” and the close of Tobias 4:6.: [Dein Lebenlang habe Gott vor Augen und im Herzen;] “Hüte dich! daß du in keine Sünde willigest, noch wissentlich wider Gottes Gebot thust” [4] to formulate an effective warning to the people of Cadolzburg.

: Fig. 2. Title Page, Church Records for Reformed Congregation at the Blue Church, Coopersburg, Pa. Courtesy of UCC Faith Church, Center Valley, Pa.

: Fig. 3. John E. Berkenstock Birth & Baptismal Entry [in pencil at bottom]. Church Records for Reformed Congregation at the Blue Church, Coopersburg, Pa., p. 4. Courtesy, UCC Faith Church, Center Valley, Pa.

: Fig. 4. Dein Leben Lang habe Gott vor Augen…Vorschrift. Courtesy of Reading Public Museum, Reading, Pa., 39.117.1.

Tobias or Tobit, a book from the Apocrypha, and included by Martin Luther in his 1545 translation of the Bible, was very popular among Lutherans both in Europe and among the Pennsylvania Dutch as words of advice to youth. It can be found on Vorschriften such as the Reading Public Museum’s “Dein Leben Lang habe Gott vor Augen,” [5] which includes not only verse 4:6 in its entirety, but also the additional verses 4:7-15.

Whereas the chaplain had a specific goal in mind when he combined the Psalm and Tobit verses, it is clear that the creator of the Berkenstock birth and baptismal certificate edited Psalm 37:37, deleting the second half of it, and, as Pacius, utilized only the second half of Tobit 4:6. Whether he had access to the gallows homily cannot be established, but if not, this scrivener may have consulted another presently unknown source. What is certain is that he utilized the message in a very different context.

: Fig. 5. Christian F. Pacius’ Gallows Sermon.   Printed by the Court Printer in Onolzbach, 1770.

Chaplain Pacius’ sermon comes down to us in a copy printed in 1770, [6] the same year as the executions, by the official Court printing shop in Onolzbach for the Margraviate of Brandenburg-Ansbach where the municipality of Cadolzburg was located, and in a collection of gallows sermons [7] with a forward by Heinrich Christian Friedrich Schenk, Pastor at Mendhausen. [8] The latter was printed in Frankfurt and Leipzig in 1773, and besides the sermon also includes excerpts from the thieves’ final confessions; biographical information; and an historical account of the robberies. A short synopsis follows of the events that led up to what took place on August 30, 1770 at the Cadolzburg Gallows in Bavaria.

: Fig. 6 C. F. Pacius Sermon in H. C. F. Schenk’s Collection of Gallows Sermons, Printed in Frankfurt & Leipzig, 1773.

In 1770 Conrad Süß was age 60, and one would have thought that he could have retired comfortably. For the past twenty-eight years he had sold mandrake roots, [9] an herb that, because it grew in the shape of a man, could be sold for high prices to gullible people who believed in its supposed magical powers. However, beginning in November 1762 he took the bad advice

: Fig. 7. Mandrake Root in Shape of a Man. See: C. Schneider. Der allgemeine und Krieger-Aberglaube…Wien, 1865, 313.

of both his sons Johann, and Johann Georg, and the latter’s brother-in-law Jacob Grund, and joined them in a series of major postal coach robberies in and around Cadolzburg, and for the next several years stole not only valuables and money, but also did bodily harm to drivers and passengers. The postal coaches were under the protection of Karl Alexander (1736-1806), the last Margrave of the two Franconian principalities, Brandenburg-Ansbach and Brandenburg-Bayreuth, and it certainly was his intention, as well as of those charged with keeping travelers and their belongings safe from harm in his margraviates, to not only apprehend such criminals, but also to exact an eventual punishment of the utmost severity, one that would leave a lasting visual memory upon all of Karl Alexander’s subjects. That is exactly what happened. In 1769, finding booty from their last robbery at the home of the elder Süß in Habersdorf, authorities arrested three of the band, and took them into immediate custody. Their fate was quickly decided: On August 30, 1770 Conrad Süß was executed by the sword. A breaking wheel was then used to break his bones and mutilate his body. Finally, his head was severed and put on a pike to be displayed at the place of execution. His younger son Johann Georg was executed, and dismembered in like manner. Jacob Grund was condemned to death by the breaking wheel: With his body intertwined on the wheel, his bones were broken and he was bludgeoned to death. Such a death did not always come immediately. The condemned could linger for as long as nine days after having been clubbed with a truncheon.

: Fig. 8. Breaking on the Wheel. See: Wikimedia, Public Domain.

Some of the large crowd that had gathered to witness the executions were there for the “entertainment,” but whatever their reasons for attending, most found themselves shaken and chastened by the grizzly scene. Prior to their deaths, the chaplain at Cadolzburg Christian Friederich Pacius had been entrusted with obtaining confessions and words of repentance from the condemned as he sought to shepherd their souls to the next realm. Pacius also prepared a sermon to preach post-execution to this ready-made receptive audience: Its theme was the merit of doing good, so as to one day inherit eternal life rather than leading the ignominious and deleterious life of a thief whose final reward is most often earthly and eternal death. In closing he warned his listeners to “remain pious and conduct yourself properly, so that in the end all will be well with you. Be cautious that you do not willingly take part in any sin and act against God’s commandment.” [10]

  Postlude
Sixty years later in 1830, the artist/scrivener of the Johannes E. Berkenstock Taufschein, valuing the spiritual message of these words, and far removed from time, place, or original motivation of the admonition, included them as a precept in Johannes’ birth and baptismal certificate in the traditional manner of the Pennsylvania Dutch.

Endnotes

[1] Johannes E. Breckenstock Taufschein. July 30, 1830, Lehigh County, PA.

Dimensions: 7 3/4 H x 10 W inches

Translation [in Heart]
Remain pious and conduct yourself properly, being cautious that you do not willingly take part in any sin and act against God’s commandment.

Translation [in cartouche below the Heart]
Johannes E. Birkenstock was born the 30th of July in the Year of Christ 1830, and was baptized by Mr. Hess on the 23rd of September in the Year 1830. His sponsors were Johannes Berkenstock and wife Fronica. His father is the honorable Henrich Berkenstock and wife Catharina, née Erdman.

[2] Cadolzburg is a municipality in the district of Fürth, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated about seven miles west of Fürth. In 2007 Cadolzburg celebrated its 850th anniversary.

[3] Hochfürstlicher Brandenburg-Onolzbach-und Culmbachischer genealogischer Kalender und Addresse-Buch auf das Jahr 1770. Ansbach bey Jacob Christoph Posch. Privil. Hof=Buch Händler, 117. Accessed 11 January 2017 http://bit.ly/2j1iQ8V.

[4] “Und dein lebenslang hab Gott fur augen und im Herzen und hüte dicht das du in keine Sünde willigst und thust wider Gottes gebot,” in Die Bibel, Apokryphe Schriften des Alten Testaments. Tobit 4:6, 1545. Accessed 10 January 2017. http://bit.ly/2j55niW.

[5] “Dein Lebenslang habe Gott vor Augen..” Vorschrift. Reading Public Museum Fraktur Collection, Reading, Pa. 39.117.1

[6] Christian Friederich Pacius. Den so schändlich als schädlichen Lohn des Raubend Betrachtete bey wohlverdienter Hinrichtung Dreier Post=Räuber…Onolzbach, gedruckt in der Hof=Buchdruckerey,1770, 4. Accessed 12 January 2017. http://bit.ly/2ih2snT

[7] Heinrich Christian Friedrich Schenk. Sammlung merkwürdiger Reden, welche auf dem Blutgerüste theils von Königen, Fürsten und Grafen, Gelehrten und Ungelehrten, gehalten worden. Frankfurt und Leipzig, 1773, 188-204. Accessed 15 January 2017.
http://bit.ly/2i7i2SM

[8] Mendhausen is a village and a former municipality in the district of Hildburghausen, in Thuringia, Germany. Since 31 December 2012, it has been part of the town of Römhild.

[9] C. Schneider. “ Der allgemeine und der Krieger-Aberglaube im 16., 17. und 18. Jahrhundert,” in Österrieichische militärische Zeitschrift. Redakteur V. Streffleur. Wien, Druck und Commisions-Verlag von Carl Gerold’s Sohn, 1865, zweiter Band, 305-337. Accessed 15 January 2017. http://bit.ly/2iv8pbZ

[10] Pacius used Psalm 37:37, and the last half of the verse from Tobit 4:6 to create this precept. In German his version reads “bleibe fromm und halte dich recht, so wird es dir zuletzt wohlgehen. Hüte dich! daß du in keine Sünde willigest noch wissentlich wider Gottes Gebot thust.

Winterthur Research Fellow, 2016-2017
Moravian and Pennsylvania Dutch Material Culture

Every year Winterthur provides fellowships to a select group of scholars for research  in their chosen areas of study in social and cultural history, including material culture, architecture, decorative arts, design, consumer culture, garden and landscape studies, Shaker studies, travel and tourism, the Atlantic World, and objects in literature. ~ Winterthur Research Program. Thanks to a short-term research fellowship at Winterthur, I have been able to study rare books in the Winterthur Museum Library Collection of Printed Books and Periodicals; objects in the Winterthur Museum Collection; and manuscripts in the Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera. All has contributed to my research for a book in progress Heavenly Fraktur: How Fraktur Influenced Pennsylvania German and Moravian Material Culture. This blog post is based on that research. My sincere thank you to all at Winterthur who have made this fellowship possible.

My thanks also to David Tuttle of David Tuttle Antiques; Bob & Kathy Exner, and Rev. James Hammond of the Blue Church, Coopersburg, Pa.; Sandy David & Rev. Dr. Bruce C. Stevenson of Faith UCC Church, Center Valley, Pa; John Graydon Smith and Scott Schweigert of the Reading Public Museum, Reading, Pa.; and Bill Dayley, Aron Heckler, and Bob Wood of the Goschenhoppen Historians, Green Lane, Pa.

Fraktur Quilts from the Schleifer-Kichlein Family

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: Fig. 1 ENOCH SCHULTZ CYPHERING BOOK, 1829, 2010.02.03 and A FRAKTUR DRAWING, 1805, 2006.264.33. Courtesy of the Schwenkfelder Heritage Center, Pennsburg, Pa. Photo Images © DL Moyer

Prior to the year 1897 Fraktur was clearly understood by everyone as an angular broken-lettered calligraphy or typeface. Thereafter an additional meaning was introduced that has redefined the way we think of Pennsylvania Dutch and Moravian material culture. In September of that year Henry Chapman Mercer gave a talk The Survival of the Mediaeval Art of Illuminative Writing Among Pennsylvania Germans to American Philosophical Society members in Philadelphia. Most likely thinking of all the illuminated manuscripts containing both visual decorative elements, and Fraktur script, he suggested that all Pennsylvania German illuminated manuscripts be called Fraktur. However, people came to understand this as nomenclature for objects with or without Fraktur script. Since then, birds, flowers, geometric designs, etc. on paper, textiles, clay, wood, glass, metal, or stone with or without any text can be referred to as Fraktur. The material culture of both groups, therefore, is represented through visual, as well as written Fraktur.

: Fig. 2 COMPARISON OF FRAKTUR WEDDING QUILTS WITH PA DUTCH FRAKTUR DESIGNS, 1820-1840 Courtesy of Moravian Museum of Bethlehem PA M849.01; Winterthur Collection 2000.0071; Schwenkfelder Collection, uncatalogued; Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016.432.

There are then two kinds of Fraktur quilts: one made up exclusively of blocks signed in Fraktur script; [1] and Fraktur quilts whose central owner/maker block is the only block to be embroidered with initials or name and date in Fraktur script, the remainder being pieced, embroidered or appliquéd with decorative motifs used by the Pennsylvania Dutch in all their media, and commonly called Fraktur. Most frequently seen on illuminated manuscripts, textiles and tombstones, they include geometric designs, doves, pelicans, peacocks, tulips, carnations, pomegranates, trees, stars, and so forth.

Members of the Schleifer-Kichlein family, (Küchlein, Kickline) created four such quilts using Fraktur script, and decorative elements associated with the material culture of the Pennsylvania Dutch, as well as, amazingly enough, embroidering in the center of two of these quilts a tambour worked [2] scene of the latest in fashion design for men, women, and children among both the American English-speaking society, and the well-dressed European family of the 1820s and 1830s.

: Fig. 3 FRAKTUR MOTIFS QUILT, INITIALED “E K 1829” Taken from John Joseph Stoudt . Pennsylvania German Folk Art, 1966, p.334.

John Joseph Stoudt in his 1966 Pennsylvania German Folk Art (p. 334) cites possibly the oldest among the quilts, which at that time belonged to Mr. Oliver Lewis Christman, an antiques dealer and florist living in Pottstown, Pa. One of its blocks is initialed in Fraktur script “E K 1829”. A pieced reel design, along with tambour embroidered Fraktur motifs such as two birds flanking a tulip tree, and French-knotted cherry trees are similar to those found in three other known quilts: an undated/unsigned quilt and two shams reportedly made by Christina Kichline ca. 1830 (Moravian Museum of Bethlehem, Pa, M849.01 & M849.02-01-02), and two other quilts, one initialed in Fraktur script “E S 1830” (Winterthur Museum collection, 2000.0071) in the center owner/maker’s block, and the other, also embroidered in the center owner/maker’s block, in Fraktur script as “Euphemia Kichlein 1832” (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016.432).

: Fig. 4 FRAKTUR MOTIFS WEDDING QUILT & SHAMS ATTRIBUTED TO CHRISTINA KICHLINE, CA. 1830. Courtesy of the Moravian Museum of Bethlehem, Pa., M. 849.01, M. 849.02-01-02.

According to the Church Register of Christ Lutheran Church in Trumbauersville, Pa., Christina Schleifer (1795-1884) was born on 11/30/1795 to Heinrich and Dorothea Schleifer.[3] Per the same records her brother John and she were confirmed in 1811. She was married to Jacob Kichlein (1795-1854), and was the mother of seven children, [4] three of whose death certificates—Charles, [5] John Abraham, [6] and Mary Ann Kichlein Applegate Christine, [7] confirm parentage as Jacob Kichlein and Christina Schleifer. That Christina was Euphemia Kichlein Scholl’s (1819-1884) mother is attested to by the 1880 United States Federal Census for Rock Hill, Bucks County, Pa. in which John Scholl, his wife Euphemia, and mother-in-law Christina Kechline are listed. [8] The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania death certificate for William H. Scholl cites John Scholl and Euphemia Kichline (maiden name) as parents.[9] Jacob Kichlein (1795-1854) was born in Rock Hill, Bucks County, Pa. on 4/9/1795 to Elisabeth Kepler (Köbler), and Johannes Kichlein (1768-1852). The U. S. 1850 Federal Census lists fifty-five year old Jacob Kichline as a tavern keeper in Lower Saucon Township, Northampton County, Pa., and head of a very large household including thirty-two year old Euphemia Kichline. [10] He died in Lower Saucon, Northampton County, Pa. 9/28/1854.[11]

The beautifully embroidered and pieced Fraktur motif quilt and pair of pillow shams, now housed at the Moravian Museum of Bethlehem, Pa., was a gift of Mrs. Vernon Melhado, and was accessioned in May 1939. It is described as a

Quilt of red LeMoyne stars of wool on white cotton. Tambour embroidery in wool yarn of birds, tulips, trees, in blue, red and gold colors. Centerpiece tambour work depicts [a] man, woman [,] and child. Braid on 3 sides finished with fringe edges in red and grey is 4.5 inches long. Backed with white cotton.

The accession report dates the quilt to ca. 1830, noting that Christina Schafer [sic] [Schleifer] Kichline made this as her wedding quilt, having married Jacob Kichlein in 1817 at age 16. N. B. In 1817 she was twenty-two. The aforementioned information, along with a note that she carded the wool that was produced on land owned by the Unangst family near Quaker Hill in Northeast Bethlehem in 1815 comes from the original catalogue card. It is not unusual for facts to become blurred by time and memory. Neither are church records always right, but, as already noted, the official birth and baptismal entry for Christina indicates that she was born in 1795 and baptized in 1796. She would have been sixteen in 1811, the date she was confirmed at Christ Lutheran Church, not 1817, and 35 by 1830 when it is estimated the quilt was made.

This is the work of a skilled needleworker. Christina may, indeed, have made it as a wedding quilt, but not for herself. It was traditional for Pennsylvania Dutch grandmothers, mothers, aunts, sisters to make quilts for young boys and girls in the immediate family as early as age eight or nine for their Aussteuer, i.e. future wedding trousseau. Finished quilts were stored away in dower chests waiting to be given several years hence to the now young man or woman when he/she “went housekeeping.” Christina could have made this quilt for any one of her then living children as a future wedding gift.

: Fig. 5 FRAKTUR MOTIFS WEDDING QUILT, Initialed “E S 1830”. MAKER UNKNOWN Courtesy of Winterthur Museum Collection, Winterthur DE, 2000.0071

A similar quilt, in the Winterthur Museum Textile collection, replaces the LeMoyne stars with a reel pattern. French knotted cherry trees with pomegranates placed on either side alternate with the reel block to form an attractive border that, like the second example, is embellished on three sides with a braided edging finished in red fringe.

: Fig. 6 CLOSE-UP FRAKTUR MOTIF WEDDING QUILT, Initialed “E S 1830”. MAKER UNKNOWN Courtesy of Winterthur Museum Collection, Winterthur DE, 2000.0071

Tambour work beautifully renders two birds flanking a tulip tree with trailing pomegranates, a design that is common to all quilts in varied forms.

: Fig. 7 FRAKTUR MOTIF WEDDING OWNER QUILT BLOCK, Initialed “E S 1830”. MAKER UNKNOWN Courtesy of Winterthur Museum Collection, Winterthur DE, 2000.0071

“E S 1830” is embroidered in Fraktur script on the center owner/maker block, and surrounded by flowering tambour worked tulip vines. At the moment we do not know the maker of this quilt, but can definitely say that it was someone within the Schleifer-Kichlein family.

: Fig. 8 ELISABETH KÖBLER EMBROIDERED TAUFSCHEIN 1830 & HEINRICH EBNER & CO. PRINTED TAUFSCHEIN 1822. Courtesy of the Goschenhoppen Historians, 1971.01.55 & Allentown Art Museum, 2009.006.031.

Although not a quilt, a one-of-a-kind embroidered Taufschein owned by the Goschenhoppen Historians (1971.01.55) [12] is also linked to the embroidery achievements of members of the Schleifer-Kichlein family. It was embroidered by J K in 1830 to commemorate a special moment in the past, the October 9, 1776 birth of Elisabeth Köbler Kichlein, grandmother to Jacob and Christina’s seven children. Atypical for the Pennsylvania Dutch, this is a Taufschein intended to be hung on the wall and shown. Its frame, original to the work, encloses two embroidered pieces: The upper one shows the initials of the maker and date J K 1830 in Fraktur script, and the lower one the birth and baptismal certificate. The needleworker’s choice of decorative elements is an interesting combination of motifs contemporary to her time period such as the putto, angels, and birds from Heinrich Ebner’s printed Taufscheins of the 1820s, along with more traditional Pennsylvania Dutch sampler-like objects such as French-knotted cherry trees, embroidered sleek birds, and creeping tulip and other floral vines to form the border framing the text. The tambour work is not as finely done as in the quilts. The ever present baptismal verses announcing the brevity of life and importance of baptism usually found on printed Taufscheins of the period are noticeably absent from this piece. Although it is still unknown who embroidered it, and for what occasion, perhaps it was a fifty-fourth birthday present for a very special grandmother.

Elisabeth’s parents Jacob and Christina Kerschner Köbler (Kepler, Keppel, Koepler, Käbler, Kebler, Kepple) were married 5/18/1762 [13] in St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Coopersburg, Pa., a church still better known as the Blue Church for the bluish-hued plaster that once covered the outer masonry as insulation and protection.

: Fig. 9 THE “BLUE CHURCH” BY RON PRATT. Courtesy of St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church or the “Blue Church” of Coopersburg, Pa. Photo courtesy of AlyssumArts © DL Moyer.

All of their children’s birth and baptismal records are in the Blue Church Register: Elisabeth was the fifth child of seven children. Her siblings included Johan Georg (2/23/1763); Johann Jacob (4/4/1765); Johannes (6/5/1771); Maria C. (2/20/1774); Elisabeth (10/9/1776); Andreas (3/16/1779); and Susanna (4/7/1781). According to a will registered in Bucks County on 4/10/1824 under File No. 5388, Volume 10 (1821-1831 wills), pp. 357-359, and probated 3/22/1825, her father Jacob is identified as a yeoman, late of Richland Township, Bucks County, Pa. He sets forth in his last testament how moneys and other assets are to be divided among his beloved wife Christina, children and grandchildren, and appoints Elisabeth’s husband Johannes Kichlein (1768-1852) and Jacob Smith as executors. Johannes and Elisabeth had two children John K. Kichline (8/24/1793-5/7/1865) and Jacob S. Kichline (1795-1854), husband to Christina Schleifer (1795-1884), and father of Euphemia (1819-1884), Jacob (1821-1911), Thomas (1823-1857), Mary Ann (1826-1908), Elizabeth (1832-1890), John Abraham (1835-1907), and Charles (1837-1916). Both Johannes and Elisabeth Kepler Kichline are buried, side by side, at Christ Church, old section in Trumbauersville, Bucks County, Pa., Plot: Row F1, F2.

: Fig. 10 FRAKTUR MOTIF WEDDING OWNER QUILT BLOCK, 1832 ATTRIBUTED TO EUPHEMIA KICHLINE (1819-1884) Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, 2016.432. Photo © and courtesy of Patricia Herr.

“Euphemia Kichlein 1832” is embroidered in Fraktur script in the central owner/maker block of the quilt now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Textile collection. Euphemia was thirteen when this quilt was made. Perhaps an experienced family seamstress and she completed it together, or perhaps, as previously suggested, her grandmother, mother, or aunt created it for her Aussteuer or future wedding trousseau.

: Fig. 11 FRAKTUR MOTIF WEDDING QUILT SECTION, 1832 ATTRIBUTED TO EUPHEMIA KICHLINE (1819-1884) Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, 2016.432. Photo © and courtesy of Patricia Herr.

The skillfully executed tambour worked variations of Pennsylvania Dutch bird and tulip tree designs alternate with the pieced reel pattern.

: Fig. 12 FRAKTUR MOTIF WEDDING QUILT FULL-VIEW, 1832 ATTRIBUTED TO EUPHEMIA KICHLINE (1819-1884) Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, 2016.432. Photo © and courtesy of Patricia Herr.

The reel pattern is used again in the border, alternating with an angel familiar to those of us who spend time with printed Taufscheins. She balances a bird on her uplifted right hand, and holds a lyre in her left, but shorn of her wings, is now mortal and forever fated to remain on earth.

: Fig. 13 FRAKTUR MOTIF WEDDING QUILT BORDER BLOCK 1832, attributed to Euphemia Kichline (1819-1884), and HEINRICH EBNER TAUFSCHEIN, ca. 1830 Quilt courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, 2016.432. Photo © and courtesy of Patricia Herr; Taufschein courtesy of Allentown Art Museum, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Kaplan, 2009, 2009.0060.030. Photo courtesy of AlyssumArts © DL Moyer.

Unlike the winged angel on the Elisabeth Köbler embroidered Taufschein, who still can access celestial realms, the wingless quilt angel, probably copied from a Heinrich Ebner Taufschein of the early 1830s, is destined to walk forever among the tambour worked flowers of this quilt border. Such was the imagination and will of its designer and maker.

: Fig. 14 STYLISH CLOTHING STYLES 1820-1840 IN CENTER QUILT BLOCK Courtesy of MMA Fashion Plates 064, 034, 046; FLP 1068.18.29; Moravian Museum of Bethlehem M849.01

The Moravian Museum of Bethlehem and Metropolitan Museum of Art quilts feature in their center a strolling couple with a young boy. The man, woman, and child are worked in tambour stitch and boast the fashionable styles worn in the 1820s and 1830s by both discerning English-speaking Americans, as well as trendsetting Europeans. Tulip vines and flowers create an arbor-like frame around the scene. Such an addition to quilts principally embellished with Pennsylvania Dutch inspired stars, birds, wingless angels, tulip trees, and pomegranates is unique and quite unexpected. However, if we turn to three fashion plates of the period taken from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Fashion Plates: 1800-1866, [14] we can see the similarity in dress and perhaps the inspiration for the figures on the quilts. Also, Henry Young’s 1829 Fraktur drawing of “Miss Catherine McKnight her Picter in the year 1829” shows us an example of the fashion and style of the time in which the quilts were made. Local sources would have included newspapers, and the extremely popular Godey’s Lady’s Book, a magazine founded by Louis Godey in Philadelphia in 1830 with monthly detailed descriptions of the latest in modish clothing and hand-colored fashion plates.

: Fig. 15 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART FASHION PLATE, Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Fashion Plate 034, and FRAKTUR MOTIF WEDDING OWNER QUILT BLOCK, 1832, attributed to Euphemia Kichline (1819-1884) Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, 2016.432. Photo © and Courtesy of Patricia Herr.

Although the Schleifer-Kichlein family’s roots were firmly anchored in Pennsylvania Dutch customs, they were also tavern keepers; served the general public; and participated in the contemporary life of the 1820s and 1830s. It was a time of vast change in America. Young people were crossing cultural boundaries, and even as today, merging and blending different cultural milieus. So, perhaps embroidering clothing advertisements directed at English-speaking Americans onto the center of two quilts family needleworkers had otherwise embellished with traditional decorative Fraktur motifs, was an artistic and creative way to express the acculturation of the time period, featuring what was precious from the past while introducing the lifestyle of the present.

ENDNOTES
[1] For more detailed information on this type of Fraktur quilt, see Pennsylvania German Blog Post Nr. 8: Friendship-Fraktur-Signature Quilts.

[2] Tambour work is a needlework form that derived its name from the drum-shaped frame used to stretch the fabric. Instead of a needle, a tiny hook draws a loop of thread from below the fabric to the surface. Reinserting the hook and repeating this operation produces a chain stitch much faster than using a needle.

[3] Christina Schleifer (1795-1884) Christ Lutheran Church Register, Trumbauersville, Pa.: Births/Baptisms, p. 20, accessed 24 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/zu8jmjn & Namen der Confirmanten vom Jahr 1811. accessed 24 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/jlf6ygt

[4] Jacob Kichline’s and Christina Schleifer’s children include: Euphemia (1819-1884) , Jacob (1821-1911), Thomas (1823-1857), Mary Ann (1826-1908), Elizabeth (1832-1890), John Abraham (1835-1907), Charles (1837-1916).

[5] Charles R. Kichline Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Death Certificate, File N. 17671; Registered No. 9 (born 6/30/1837; died 2/13/1916) Accessed 25 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/hdkw87a

[6] J.[ohn] A.[braham] Kichline Commonwealth of Pa Certificate of Death, File No. 115188; Registered No. 227 (born 1/30/1835; died 12/17/1907). Accessed 24 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/hqzdbyl

[7] Mary Ann Kichline Applegate Christine Commonwealth of Pa Certificate of Death, File No. 86431; Registered No. 45 (born 4/24/1826; died 9/10/1908) Accessed 24 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/guybxju

[8] Christina Schleifer Kichlein (1795-1884 U. S. Federal Census 1880 for Rock Hill, Bucks County, Pa., 22 June 1880 by Joseph a Fluck, p. 41, lines 42-44. Accessed 24 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/j4zqs75

[9] William H. Scholl (1841-1907) Pennsylvania Death Certificate, File No. 109911, Reg. No. 147. Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Accessed 24 August 2016. http://tinyurl.com/z2j9fyb

[10] Euphemia Kichlein (1819-1884) U. S. Federal Census 1850 for Saucon Township in Northampton county, Pa., 13 August 1850 by Wm J Brownle, p. 43, lines 40-42. N. B. Jacob Kichlein is listed as a tavern keeper, and Euphemia Kichlein as thirty-two years of age. Accessed 24 August, 2016. http://tinyurl.com/zmrlssr

[11] Jacob Kichlein (1795-1854) Find a Grave. Accessed 24 August 2016. http://tinyurl.com/z9yhdhw

[12] For more detailed information on the Elsabeth Köbler Embroidered Taufschein, see Pennsylvania German Blog Post Nr. 7: The Elisabeth Köbler Embroidered Taufschein.

[13] “Jacob Kepler & Maria Christina Kerschner Marriage Entry 5/18/1762,” in Records of St. Paul’s Lutheran and Reformed Church (Blue Church) in Upper Saucon Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1748-1892, edited by Clarence E. Beckel. vol. II, p. 186. Bethlehem, Pa., 1939.

[14] Metropolitan Museum of Art. Thomas J. Watson Library Digital Collections. Costume Institute Fashion Plates: 1800-1866:

Plate 034, public domain. Accessed 7 August 2016
http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15324coll12/id/11871/rec/36

Plate 046, public domain. Accessed 7 August 2016 http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15324coll12/id/3851/rec/21

Plate 062, public domain. Accessed 7 August 2016http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15324coll12/id/3867/rec/53

SOURCES
Sharon P. Angelo et. alia. Quilts: the Fabric of Friendship. Atlgen, Pa.: Schiffer Publishing Ltd. for the York County Heritage Trust, Pa., 2000.

Lucinda R Cawley. “Ihr Teppich: Quilts and Fraktur.” Uncoverings 2004 vol.25,
11- 40.

Mary Ann Kichline Applegate Christine Commonwealth of Pa Certificate of Death, File No. 86431; Registered No. 45 (born 4/24/1826; died 9/10/1908) Accessed 24 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/guybxju

Russell D. and Corinne P. Earnest. Papers for Birth Dayes: Guide to the Fraktur Artists and Scriveners, East Berlin, Pa.: Russell D. Earnest Associates, 1997. 2^nd ed., vol. 1, pp. 287-290.

Linda Eaton. Quilts in a Material World: Selections from the Winterthur Collection. New York: Abrams in association with the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 2007, 68-69.

Patricia Herr. Quilting Traditions. Atlglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd. for The Heritage Center of Lancaster County, 2000.

Andreas Kachline (1728-1781) Find a Grave. Accessed 24 August 2016
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=73730710

Susanna Benner Kachline (1734-1777) Find a Grave Accessed 24 August 2016 http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=73730729

Jacob Kepler Will probated April 10, 1824 and proved in Bucks County on March 22, 1825 under File No. 5388, Vol. 10, 1821-1841 pp. 357-359, Executors John Kachlein and Jacob Smith; Registrar Samuel Smith. Bucks County (Pennsylvania). Register of Wills; Probate Place: Bucks, Pennsylvania. Accessed 25 August 2016 http://www.pa-roots.org/data/read.php?28,59982 as well as http://tinyurl.com/zablvvh

Christina Schleifer Kichlein (1795-1884)
U. S. Federal Census 1880 for Rock Hill, Bucks County, Pa., 22 June 1880 by Joseph a Fluck, p. 41, lines 42-44. Accessed 24 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/j4zqs75

_______________ . Find a Grave. Accessed 24 August 2016. http://www.findagrave.com/cgibin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=63231022&ref=acom

Elizabeth Kepler [Köbler] Kichlein (1776-1861) Find a Grave. Accessed 24 August 2016 http://www.findagrave.com/cgi bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=51926818

Euphemia Kichlein 1832 Fraktur Quilt. Metropolitan Museum of Art Quilt Collection 2016. Accessed 23 August 2016 http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/717944

Johannes Kichlein (1768-1852) Find a Grave. Accessed 24 August 2016. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=51926842

Charles R. Kichline Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Death Certificate, File N. 17671; Registered No. 9 (born 6/30/1837; died 2/13/1916) Accessed 25 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/hdkw87a

J.[ohn] A.[braham] Kichline Commonwealth of Pa Certificate of Death, File No. 115188; Registered No. 227 (born 1/30/1835; died 12/17/1907). Accessed 24 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/hqzdbyl

Jacob S. Kichline (1795-1854) Find a Grave. Accessed 24 August 2016 http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=86545893&ref=acom

Thomas J. Kichline. The Kichlines in America. Manuscript presented at the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society of Easton, Pa., January 15, 1926. Accessed 25 August 2016 http://www.kichline.com/documents/archives/kichlinesinamerica.htm

Metropolitan Museum of Art. Thomas J. Watson Library Digital Collections. Costume Institute Fashion Plates: 1800-1866, Plate 034, public domain. Accessed 7 August 2016
http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15324coll12/id/11871/rec/36

_______________. Thomas J. Watson Library Digital Collections. Costume Institute Fashion Plates: Women 1827-1829, Plate 046, public domain. Accessed 7 August 2016 http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15324coll12/id/3851/rec/21

_______________. Thomas J. Watson Library Digital Collections. Costume Institute Fashion Plates: Women 1827-1829, Plate 062, public domain. Accessed 7 August 2016http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15324coll12/id/3867/rec/53

Donald and Nancy Roan. Lest I Shall Be Forgotten: Anecdotes and Traditions of Quilts Green Lane, PA: Goschenhoppen Historians, 1993.

Nancy Roan and Ellen Gehret. ‘Just A Quilt’ or Juscht en Deppich. Green Lane, PA: Goschenhoppen Historians, n.d.

Christina Schleifer (1795-1884) Christ Lutheran Church Register, Births/Baptisms, p. 20, accessed 24 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/zu8jmjn

_______________. Christ Lutheran Church Register. Namen der Confirmanten vom Jahr 1811. accessed 24 August 2016 http://tinyurl.com/jlf6ygt

Euphemia Kichlein Scholl (1/16/1819-9/6/1884) Find A Grave. Accessed 24 August 2016. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=64248403&ref=acom

William H. Scholl (1841-1907) Pennsylvania Death Certificate, File No. 109911, Reg. No. 147. Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Accessed 24 August 2016. http://tinyurl.com/z2j9fyb

Robert Shaw. American Quilts: The Democratic Art, 1780-2007. New York: Sterling Publishing, 2009, 44-45.

Klaus Stopp. The Printed Birth and Baptismal Certificates of the German Americans, vol.1 of 6. Mainz, Germany and East Berlin, Pa: privately published, 1997-1999.

John Joseph Stoudt. Pennsylvania German Folk Art. Publications of the Pennsylvnia German Folklore Society, vol. 28, Allentown, Pa: Schlechters, 1966, 334.

Winterthur Research Fellow, Moravian and Pennsylvania Dutch Material Culture, 2016

Thanks to a short-term research fellowship this summer at Winterthur, I have been able to study rare books in the Winterthur Museum Library Collection of Printed Books and Periodicals; objects in the Winterthur Museum Collection; and manuscripts in the Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera. All has contributed to my research for a book in progress Heavenly Fraktur: How Fraktur Influenced Pennsylvania German and Moravian Material Culture. This blog post is based on that research. My sincere thank you to all at Winterthur who have made this fellowship possible.

My thanks also to Patricia Herr, Author and Collector; the Rev. James Hammond, and Kathy Exner of St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran “Blue Church” of Coopersburg, Pa.; Janine Pollock and Joseph Shemtov of the Rare Book Department at the Free Library of Philadelphia; Joanne Kintner, Pat Gottschalk, Nancy Roan, Linda Szapacs, and Robert Wood of the Goschenhoppen Historians, Inc.; Charlene Donchez, Lindsey Jancay, and Keith Sten of Historic Bethlehem, Inc.; Dorothy McCoach, Independent Textile Conservator; Dave Luz, Candace Perry, and Hunt Schenkel of the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center; Linda Eaton, Tom Guiler, Julia Hofer, Susan Newton, Catharine Roeber, and Roberta Weisberg of Winterthur Museum.

Fraktur Quilts from the Schleifer-Kichlein Family Blog Post 13 including transcriptions; translations; and photo images, except for images of E. S. 1830 Quilt Winterthur Collection 2000.0071; E. K. 1829 ILL. in John Joseph Stoudt Pennsylvania German Folk Art (1966, p. 334); Photo © Patricia Herr Euphemia Kichlein 1832 Quilt; MMA Fashion Plates 064, 034, 046, © 2016 Del-Louise Moyer.

Friendship, Fraktur, and Signature Quilts

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Every experience deeply felt in life needs to be passed along. Whether it be through word or music, chiseled in stone, painted with a brush, or sewn with a needle, it is a way of reaching for immortality. ~ Thomas Jefferson

One enters a sphere of timelessness when looking at a Pennsylvania Dutch quilt for there are many memories sewn into each one. Yet it was the hand-woven coverlets and not the quilts that were their first top bed coverings. By the mid-eighteen hundreds, however, both industrialization and acculturation brought about a transition from coverlets to quilts fashioned from inexpensive printed cotton left-over from making dresses, and other articles of clothing. Once quilting caught on, the Pennsylvania Germans never looked back, and used their ingenuity and resourcefulness to create stunning, yet practical quilts to stay warm; to demonstrate their sewing and designing skills; and to memorialize family and friends on fabric. This post will focus on the latter quilts known as friendship or signature quilts.

The popularity of friendship quilts coincides with the American Civil War, and as Lynn Zacek Bassett observes In War Time: A Study of Civil War Era Quilts 1850-1865:

Concerns over separation encouraged another genre of quilts in the period
prior to the war: friendship quilts, in which family members, friends, neighbors, and associates signed pieced calico blocks, often in order to present the finished quilt as a gift to someone who was leaving the community, whether to go west, to go to another parish, or to follow her husband to a new home…At home, women expressed their beliefs, fears, strengths, and struggles in their quilts before, during, and after the war (p.6).

In 1983, and again from 1990-1992, some of the quilts the Goschenhoppen Historians documented in their quilt surveys of the Goschenhoppen area—roughly the upper Perkiomen watershed—were friendship quilts with names inscribed in Fraktur that had been made in the mid- to late nineteenth century by young Pennsylvania Dutch women living in eastern Berks, southern Lehigh, southern Bucks and northern Montgomery County.

One example from the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center, and three from the Goschenhoppen Historians’ Textile collection are representative of these quilts:

: ILL. 1 Hannah Derolf (1847-1923) Fraktur Quilt Owner Block, 1868. Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center (2012.23.01), Pennsburg, PA

The Hannah Derolf Fraktur quilt (1868) from the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center Textile collection: SLHC Quilt 2012.23.01 features a pattern known as Rolling Stone. Dimenstons are 99″ L x 75″ W; colors: red, yellow, orange, blue, brown, black; place of origin: Bucks County; number of blocks: 30. One finds the following Fraktur script inscribed on the central ownership block:

Hannah Derolf (1847-1923) was born December 6, 1847 in Pike Township, Berks County Pennsylvania to Jacob and Maria Derolf. Per the 1850 U.S. Federal Census, her relatives George Derolf and his wife Elizabeth, née Fronheiser lived in the neighborhood with their five children, and the Jacob Fronheisers and Daniel Fronheisers also lived nearby. Jacob was a laborer. At age twelve she was living with the Joel Miller Family in Spinnersville, Milford Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania as a domestic servant.

In 1868 at age 21 Hannah married Daniel L. Miller, and had two children by him: Amanda L Miller in 1870, and Hannah Miller in 1882. During her married years she lived in Milford Township, Bucks County, PA, and died there on May 28, 1923 at the age of seventy-five. The informant on the death certificate was her son-in-law Franklin W. Gerhart of East Greenville, PA, who listed her father as Jno Dierolf, and mother as Sarah Fronheiser. This conflicts with information on the 1850 U. S. Census for Hannah Derolf’s parents. She is buried at St. Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery in Red Hill, PA.

Hannah made her friendship quilt in 1868, the year she was married, and we can identify some of the names we find on her quilt: Jacob Derolf (father); Elizabeth Derolf–possibly Aunt Elizabeth, born ca. 1812 or Cousin Elizabeth, born 1849; Daniel Miller (husband); Joel Miller (employer); Rebecca Miller (Joel Miller’s wife); Sarah Miller (Joel Miller’s daughter) James Miller (Joel Miller’s father).

William Gross (Grosz, Groß), a very active scrivener who infilled—usually with a crimson-colored ink—an enormous number of Taufscheins in Berks, Bucks, Lebanon, Lehigh, Montgomery, and Northampton Counties from 1860-1886, inscribed the names on the quilt in Fraktur script. If we take a look below at a birth and baptismal certificate printed by Saeger and Leisenring in 1864, recording Harvey Jacob Wieand’s birth in 1860 (ILLs. 2a, 2b), we can see an excellent example of Gross’ talent as a Fraktur calligrapher, as well as that he was signing his name in German script, not Fraktur. However his signature “W. Grosz“ for John Franklin Kern’s Taufschein ca. 1867 (ILL. 3) is in Fraktur script, just as it is for Hannah’s Fraktur quilt. Groß never added baskets of flowers to the birth and baptismal certificates he infilled, but he did so for all the quilts he inscribed, an example of which is found on Hannah’s owner block. Light orange floral cotton print is used for the signature blocks, but it should be noted that usually they were made of white muslin, and the ink used for the inscriptions was black. There is no listing of the inscribed signatures available online. However, the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center will be happy to supply a complete list upon request.

: ILL. 2a Harvey Jacob Wieand Taufschein infilled by William Gross ca. 1864. Allentown Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Kaplan, 2009 (2009.06.28). Photo Image © Del-Louise Moyer

: ILL. 2b Harvey Jacob Wieand Taufschein Close-up, infilled by William Gross ca. 1864. Allentown Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Kaplan, 2009 (2009.06.28). Photo Image © Del-Louise Moyer

: ILL. 3 John Franklin Kern Taufschein Close-up, infilled by William Grosz ca. 1867. Allentown Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Kaplan, 2009 (2009.006.074). Photo Image © Del-Louise Moyer

The Angelina Ritter Fraktur quilt (1852) from the Goschenhoppen Historians Textile collection : GH Quilt 2003.05.01 also features the Rolling Stone pattern. Dimensions are 94″ L x 98″ W; colors: red, yellow, blue, white; place of origin: Lehigh County; number of blocks: 25. The Goschenhoppen Historians purchased the quilt from Victoria Hoffman in 2003. Inscribed on the central ownership block in Fraktur script we find:

: ILL. 4a Angelina Ritter (1834-1900) Fraktur Quilt Owner Block, 1852. Goschenhoppen Historians Inc. (2003.05.01),Green Lane, PA. Photo Image © Del-Louise Moyer

Angelina (Engaline, Enschulina, Anjuline, Annjulina) Ritter (1834-1900) was born March 14, 1834 in Salisbury Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania to Michael Ritter and Elowissa (Allevesa, Eloisa, Ellen Louisa) née Miller. In 1852, when she made her quilt, Angelina was seventeen and single. Her father was a well-to-do farmer whose property (real and personal) was valued at $7000. She too married a farmer Addison S. Mohry (1836-1897) on December 12, 1856 in Salisbury Township, Lehigh County, PA. During her married years the family lived in Emmaus, PA. There were three children: John born 1859; Laura born 1865; and Jennie born 1872. Angelina Mory died July 19, 1900.

: ILL. 4b Angelina Ritter Fraktur Quilt, 1852. Goschenhoppen Historians Inc. (2003.05.01), Green Lane, PA. Photo Image © Del-Louise Moyer

A full list will soon be available online of the names Angelina commemorated on her bedcover. However, a few of the names appearing on the quilt are: Dianna Diehl; Susanna Kemmerer (possibly a second cousin); Ellewisa Ritter (mother); Benjamin Franklin Ritter (brother). The signatures are in Fraktur script inscribed by an anonymous scrivener, who used two leafy boughs to encircle Angelina’s name, identification of ownership, and date on her owner block. It has been suggested by Russell and Corinne Earnest that it could be the “Footed Letter Scrivener,” a scrivener who used either scarlet or reddish brown ink when he infilled Taufscheins. He is known to have been active in Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, and Schuylkill Counties from ca. 1843-1860. The sobriquet “Footed Letter Scrivener” is used to describe this artist because of the way the serifs at the bottom of his capital letters ‘M,’ ‘N,’ and ‘K’ turn outwards like a foot. Nancy Roan finds Jonathan Kemmerer to be an excellent candidate as the scrivener of the names on this quilt, and others, referencing Jonathan’s block on his sister Susanna Kemmerer’s Fraktur friendship quilt of 1852, as well as several Taufschein examples at the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center. Unlike William Groß, who includes his signature in the quilt owner’s block, Jonathan Kemmerer does not. He uses his signature block to advertise that he is a daguerrotypist. Hopefully, someday we will find a signed piece by this scrivener. The encircling leafy boughs decorative element has only been found on the Fraktur quilts, but not on any Taufscheins known to be inscribed by either the “Footed Letter Scrivener,” or those attributed to Jonathan Kemmerer.

: ILL. 5a Anna Maria Desch Fraktur Quilt Owner Block, 1853. Goschenhoppen Historians Inc. (1994.02.01), Green Lane, PA. Photo Image © Del-Louise Moyer

The Anna Maria Desch Fraktur quilt (1853) from the Goschenhoppen Historians Textile collection : GH Quilt 1994.02.01 features the Flying Crow pattern, deviating from the usual Rolling Stone pattern that was used for almost all other known Fraktur quilts. Dimensions are 84″ L x 100″W; colors: red, yellow, pink, blue, green, white; place of origin: Lehigh County; number of blocks: 30. The Goschenhoppen Historians purchased the quilt ca. 1994 from Judy Hurdle, an antiques dealer, who had bought it from Horst Auction in Ephrata, PA. Inscribed on the central ownership block in Fraktur script is:

: ILL. 5b Anna Maria Desch (1834-19020) Fraktur Quilt, 1853. Goschenhoppen Historians Inc. (1994.02.01), Green Lane, PA. Photo Image © Del-Louise Moyer

Anna Maria Desch (1834-19020) was born April 1, 1834 in Lower Macungie Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania to Daniel Desch and his wife Elizabeth, née Ruth, and was baptized at Zion Lehigh Lutheran Church on May 11, 1834. Her maternal grandparents Philip and Maria Ruth were her Godparents. In 1850 Anna Maria’s father’s property (personal and real) was valued at $3000. This was a large family with a total of eight children. Her father Daniel died in 1853, the year she made her quilt. Anna Maria never married, as was the case for two of her younger brothers William and Daniel. All three lived at home with their mother Elizabeth until her death in 1886, and per the United States Federal Census were still living together on a farm in 1900. In this same census record all are listed as being able to read and write, but unable to speak English. She died October 18, 1902 and is buried in Solomon’s U. C. C. Church Cemetery in Macungie, PA.

The Goschenhoppen Historians Online Finding Aid includes all the names appearing on the quilt. Some of those are: William Desch (brother); Anna Maria Ruth (grandmother?); Anna Carolina Desch (sister); Peter Desch (brother); Stephanus Reimeyer; Hannah Baer; Sarah Anna Desch (sister) ; Eliza Ruth (mother?); Elweina Butz. Their names are inscribed in Fraktur script by the same anonymous frakturist who inscribed Angelina Ritter’s.

: ILL. 6a Emma Schaffer Fraktur Quilt Owner Block, 1871. Goschenhoppen Historians Inc. (2004.06.01), Green Lane, PA. Photo Image © Del-Louise Moyer

The Emma Schaffer Fraktur quilt (1871) from the Goschenhoppen Historians Textile collection : GH Quilt 2004.06.01 uses the representative Rolling Stone pattern. The dimensions are : 87″ L x 82″ W; colors: red, yellow, green, blue, white; place of origin: Bucks County; No. of Blocks: 36. The Goschenhoppen Historians purchased the quilt from Dennis Moyer in 2004. Inscribed on the central ownership block in Fraktur script we find:

Emma Schaffer | 1871 | William Gross

: ILL. 6b Emma Schaffer (1852-1931) Fraktur Quilt Section, 1871. Goschenhoppen Historians Inc. (2004.06.01), Green Lane, PA. Photo Image © Del-Louise Moyer

A full list will soon be available online for all of the men and women whose names are written on Emma’s quilt, and the picture, of course, may change as we gather more definitive data. Nonetheless, some of the names such as Tilghman Kline, Rebecca Kline, Emma Schaffer (on 2 signature blocks and the owner block), Erwin Dietz, Mary Erney, and Elizabeth Schaffer, can presently be partially accounted for. Mary Erney was born June 6,1852 to Jonas Erney and Hannah, née Marsteller in Coopersburg, Lower Milford Township, Lehigh County, PA. In the 1870 U. S. Federal Census Jonas listed his estate value (real and personal) as $4000, that of a prosperous farmer. Ca. 1873 Mary married Erwin S. Dietz, also a farmer from Coopersburg, Lower Milford Township, Lehigh County, PA. According to the United States Federal Census Tilghman P. Kline, a farmer, and his wife Rebecca Kline were living in Emmaus, Salisbury Township, Lehigh County, PA in 1870 with their family and Emma Schaffer, an eighteen-year-old domestic servant. This Emma [C.] Schaffer was born November 1852 in the Bridgeton area of Bucks County, PA to William S. Schaffer, and Elizabeth, née Lambert . There were five children in her family, and her father was a farm laborer with a value of $50 for his personal estate. She married William Pursell, a canal boatman, in 1871, the same year she made her quilt. Emma had seven children between 1873 and 1893, and spent her entire adult life in Bridgeton, Bucks County, PA. She died March 27, 1931 in Milford, Hunterdon County, NJ in the home of her daughter Mrs. Samuel Shaffer, at the age of 78 and is buried at the Upper Tinicum Cemetery in Upper Black Eddy, Bucks County, PA. Her obituary was published in the Hunterdon County Democrat on April 2, 1931.

William Gross is the professional scrivener of this quilt as well, and inscribes all the names in Fraktur script. As in Hanna Derolf’s owner block, he identifies himself with a hand drawn basket of languid flowers, but in this case changes his signature on the base to his full name. His Fraktur script style in Emma’s is far less ornamental than in Hannah’s.

Who paid for these Fraktur signatures, the maker, owner or the persons whose names appear on the quilt? During their 1983, 1990-1992 quilt surveys Nancy Roan, Ellen Gehret, and Alan G. Keyser gathered information on quilt traditions from knowledgeable Pennsylvania Dutch informants such as Wilson H. Green of Green Lane, PA who shared that these signature quilts of the mid-nineteenth century were known as Beddelmann Teppiche or Begger Quilts because “the maker ‘begged’ family members and close friends for a sum before putting their names on the quilt” (Lest I Shall Be Forgotten, p. 17). Lucinda Cawley in her article “Ihr Teppich: Quilts and Fraktur” in the American Quilt Study Group’s Coverings (p. 14) states that “there is no contemporary evidence that money was solicited in connection with putting names on the quilts. They are more accurately described as fraktur inscribed quilts.”

Webster’s Dictionary (webster.com/dictionary/tradition) defines tradition as “the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction.” So, expert quilters such as Sadie Krauss Kriebel, whose mother Annie Hoffman Krauss was born in 1879, and grandmother Elizabeth Kriebel Krauss in 1859, could easily reach back to the time period in question, i.e. mid-nineteenth century, through living references capable of verbally relating Pennsylvania Dutch folk customs as experienced during their lifetimes. It is interesting to note that written evidence often comes from outside the culture, not within, as in travel diaries kept by people who find a tradition peculiar to their own worth noting. That no contemporary written evidence has yet been found does not mean that it doesn’t exist. Sadie, a living continuance of quilt traditions, could immediately identify a Beddelmann quilt shown to her by Nancy Roan during the quilt surveys: “This quilt [261-83] was made in 1862, probably by Mrs. Christina Kriebel who died in 1906…Everybody whose name is on [it] gave a dime” (Lest I Shall Be Forgotten, p. 17).

Friendship quilts were and are made by the Pennsylvania Dutch to also celebrate special occasions for important anniversaries, birthdays, or other special days, and the well-wishers’ names were and are not only hand written in Fraktur script, but also embroidered, and with the progression of time have been inscribed in Roman script, as well as printed, and/or stamped.

Also, churches and other non-profit organizations used and continue to use friendship quilts to raise money: Chances are often sold to win a signature on one of the blocks. Once all signature blocks are taken, a seamstress embroiders or a scrivener hand inscribes each name onto the block. The entire quilt can then be raffled off or sold at auction (Earl F. Robaker “Stitching for Pretty,” Pennsylvania Folklife, p. 9).

St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, better known as the Blue Church, celebrated its 250^th Anniversary in 1989. To commemorate this special occasion one of the parishioners designed a blue and white quilt that was quilted by the Blue Church quilters. Each quilter’s name was embroidered onto the quilt.

: ILL. 7b Blue Church, Coopersburg, PA 250th Anniversary Signature Quilt Block AlyssumArts, Bethlehem, PA Photo Image © Del-Louise Moyer

The Nancy Hasson Roan friendship quilt (1995), now part of the Mennonite Heritage Center (MHEP) Textile collection: 1995.29.01 was made to benefit MHEP. It uses the representative Rolling Stone pattern. The dimensions are 97.5″L x 83″W; colors red, yellow, blue, black, white; place of origin: Montgomery County; Number of Blocks: 30. Each block is made up of four to six names handwritten in black ink in Roman script.

: ILL. 8a Nancy Hasson Roan (1932- ) Friendship Quilt Block. Mennonite Heritage Center (1995.29.1), Harleysville, PA

Nancy Roan designed and pieced the quilt. It was then quilted by members of the Variable Star Quilting group, as well as MHEP volunteers. Supporters of the Mennonite Heritage Center paid to have their names inscribed on the quilt. Auctioned at the yearly Apple Butter Frolic, it was then donated back to the MHEP museum.

: ILL. 8b Nancy Hasson Roan (1932- ) Friendship Quilt. Mennonite Heritage Center (1995.29.1), Harleysville, PA

Karen Dever and Didi Salvatierra of Moorestown, NJ are members of the American Quilt Study Group (AQSG, Lincoln, Nebraska) and the Eastern Shore Quilt Study Group headed by Lucinda Cawley. In 2014 AQSG, to commemorate the Civil War Sesquicentennial, issued a “Civil War Quilts” challenge.

The Challenge required participants to identify an inspiration quilt dating from 1850 to 1865. The quilt could be reproduced in whole or in part, or it could be used as the basis for a new meaningful design (In War Time: A Study of Civil War Era Quilts 1850-1865, pp. 7, 77).

While attending the Penn Dry Goods Market at the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center in Pennsburg, PA—a yearly springtime combination of lectures, and exhibits focused on fancy stitchery and the history of textiles, as well as on-site antique dealers specializing in antique textiles, and related objects—Karen Dever found the perfect inspiration. Attending a quilt lecture by Nancy Ronk on Fraktur quilts, Karen heard about the Aveline S. A. Stern Fraktur quilt that had inspired Lucinda Cawley to research and write her 2004 “Ihr Teppich: Quilts and Fraktur” article in the AQSG periodical Uncoverings, and discovered that the Stern quilt is now part of the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. Noting that Aveline’s husband Joseph had served in the Union army, Karen and Didi were thrilled to be able to create a sixteen-signature-block quilt based on the Avelina S. A. Stern Fraktur quilt to honor all the presidents of the AQSG who have served since its inception in 1980, and especially to pay tribute to Mrs. Cawley.

All of the above friendship quilts were made more for sentimental than practical reasons. It is the women’s and men’s names on these very special show pieces that are important as most all of the design elements of the quilts are simple and similar to each other. Also, the quilting is utilitarian rather than ornamental; the piecing of the blocks uncomplicated. Using Fraktur script to pen the names was representative of and unique to the Pennsylvania Dutch culture and time period. As time progressed, the names continued to be handwritten, but the calligraphy changed to stay in step with acculturation, and some were also printed or stamped. The owner of the quilt, who more than likely also made it, was, as evidenced by the above examples, remembering family and friends. Whether 1852, 1853, 1868, 1871, or 1989, 1995, 2015, the names embody the stories of a time period and community of people, and frequently are or may become the only surviving evidence that these women and men ever lived.

Sources:

Allentown Art Museum. 1974. Pennsylvania Folk Art: [exhibition], October 20 through December 1, 1974, Allentown Art Museum. Allentown, Pa: The Museum.

Bassett, Lynne. In War Time: A Study of Civil War Era Quilts 1850 – 1865. Lincoln, Nebraska: American Quilt Study Group, 2015.

Cawley, Lucinda R. “Ihr Teppich: Quilts and Fraktur.” Uncoverings 2004 vol.25,
11- 40, Appendix II, Appendix III.

Certificate of Death. Pennsylvania (State). Death certificates, 1906–1963. Series 11.90 (1,905 cartons), Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Certificate Nr. 62068 for Hannah [Dierolf] Miller; Certificate Nr. 110628 for Mary [Erney] Dietz.

Earnest, Russell D. and Corinne P. Papers for Birth Dayes: Guide to the Fraktur Artists and Scriveners, East Berlin, Pa.: Russell D. Earnest Associates, 1997. 2^nd ed., vol. 1, pp. 287-290; 335-338.

Eaton, Linda. Quilts in a Material World: Selections from the Winterthur Collection, exh. cat. New York: Abrams in association with the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 2007, 68-69.

Ewing, Gretchen. Quilts. Allentown: Call Chronicle, 1983.

Hollenbach, Raymond E. for Anna Maria Desch in Zion Lehigh Evangelical Lutheran Church Records: Births and Baptisms, 1750-1896 Alburtis, Lower Macungie Township, Lehigh County, PA., Ms., p. 118, Entry Nr. 8.

Garvan, Beatrice B. and Charles F. Hummel. The Pennsylvania Germans: A Celebration of their Arts, 1683-1850, an exhibition October 17, 1982-January 9, 1983. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1982.

Holstein, Jonathan. Made To Remember. HF Johnson Museum, Cornell. Ithaca: H.F. Johnson Museum-Cornell, 1991, 36.

Nicoll, Jessica F. Quilted for Friends. Winterthur, DE: The Henry Francis dupont Winterthur Museum, 1986, 7.

Roan, Donald and Nancy. Lest I Shall Be Forgotten: Anecdotes and Traditions of Quilts Green Lane, PA: Goschenhoppen Historians, 1993.

Roan, Nancy and Ellen Gehret. ‘Just A Quilt’ or Juscht en Deppich. Green Lane, PA: Goschenhoppen Historians, n.d.

Robacker, Earl F. “Stitching for Pretty,” in Pennsylvania Folklife, Spring 1966, vol. 15, No. 3, 9.

Rogers, Susan. Crazy Like a Quilt. New York: New York Post, 1971, 46.

Shaw, Robert. American Quilts: The Democratic Art, 1780-2007. New York: Sterling Publishing, 2009, 44-45.

Stopp, Klaus. The Printed Birth and Baptismal Certificates of the German Americans, vol.1 of 6. Mainz, Germany and East Berlin, Pa: privately published, 1997-1999.

United States 1850 Federal Census for Hannah Derolf: Year: 1850; Census Place: Pike, Berks, Pennsylvania; Roll: M432_754; Page: 457A; Image: 561; for Angelina Ritter: Year: 1850; Census Place: Salsburg, Lehigh, Pennsylvania; Roll: M433_792; Page: 12A; Image:29; for Anna Maria Desch: Year: 1850; Census Place: Lower Macungie, Lehigh, Pennsylvania; Roll: M432_792; Page: 156A;

United States 1860 Federal Census for Joel Miller: Year: 1860; Census Place: Milford, Bucks, Pennsylvania; Roll: M653_1082; Page: 308; Image: 313; for Emma Schaffer: Year: 1860; Census Place: Bridgeton, Bucks, Pennsylvania; Roll: M653_1082; Page: 72; Image: 77.

United States 1870 Federal Census for Tilghman P. and Rebecca Kline, as well as Emma Schaeffer: Year: 1870; Census Place: Salisbury, Lehigh, Pennsylvania; Roll: M593_1363; Page: 477A; Image: 182.

United States 1900 Federal Census for Daniel L. Miller: Year: 1900; Census Place: Reoder, Bucks, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1385; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 0026; FHL microfilm: 1241385; for Anna Maria Desch: Year: 1900; Census Place: Lower Macungie, Lehigh, Pennsylvania; Roll: T623_31077_4115120; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 0038; FHL microfilm: 1241429.

Merriam-Websters Online Dictionary http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tradition . accessed 3 January 2016.

My thanks to Lynne Zacek Bassett; Lucinda Cawley; Russell and Corinne Earnest; Linda Moyer; Sophia Bakis of the Allentown Art Museum; the Rev. James Hammond, and Kathy Exner of St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran “Blue Church” of Coopersburg, Pa.; Bob Wood, Nancy Roan, Linda Szapacs, and Alan Keyser of the Goschenhoppen Historians; Sarah Heffner, Forrest Moyer and Joel Alderfer of the Mennonite Heritage Center; Dave Luz, Hunt Schenkel and Candace Perry of the Schwenkfelder Heritage Center; Linda Eaton, Jeanne Solensky, Lauri Perkins of Winterthur.

The Elisabeth Köbler Embroidered Taufschein

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The Elisabeth Köbler Embroidered Taufschein, part of the Goschenhoppen Historians Fraktur collection, is one-of-a-kind. Worked in 1830 by someone with the initials of J. K., it commemorates the birth and baptism of Elisabeth Köbler born fifty-four years earlier on October 9, 1776 at the “Blue Church” in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania. It’s hard to imagine what the occasion was that prompted the creation of the Taufschein. Whatever it may have been, this special gift definitely was intended to be a public remembrance for it is framed to be hung on a wall—of itself unusual—with the embroiderer’s initials and date of creation prominently visible.

: ILL. 1: Elisabeth Köbler Taufschein by J. K., 1830. Courtesy of Goschenhoppen Historians of Green Lane, Pa. 1971.01.55.

Original parish records for the “Blue Church” do exist, but are presently unavailable. Thus all following information is based on copies from several sources that were intended primarily as genealogical aids. It is hoped that some day soon the primary manuscripts will be available to confirm spellings, and to locate marginal notations that are so often not transcribed when extrapolating family history entries. Per these secondary sources of the birth and baptismal records of St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, often called the “Blue Church” because of the blue cast to its plastered stone exterior walls, Elisabeth Köbler, the baby featured in the embroidered Taufschein, was born October 9, 1776, the fifth child of Jacob Köbler and his wife Christina, née Kerschner, and baptized December 8, 1776. (Johann) Philip Wint/Wind, then aged seventeen, and Elisabeth Knöple were the godparents.

: ILL. 2: The “Blue Church” by Ron Pratt. Courtesy of St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church or the “Blue Church” of Coopersburg, Pa.

Jacob Kepler and Maria Christina, née Kirschener were married May 18, 1762 at the “Blue Church“ by Rev. Johann Andreas Friderich (Clarence E. Beckel, ed., Records of St. Paul’s Lutheran and Reformed Church (Blue Church) 1748-1892, Bethlehem, Pa: Bethlehem Public Library, 1937, p. 186). Georg and Margaretha Kerschner were Maria Christina’s parents. Jacob and Christina’s

first child was Johan Georg born February 23, 1763.
second Johann Jacob born April 4, 1765.
third Johannes born June 5, 1771.
fourth Maria C. born February 20, 1774.
fifth Elisabeth born October 9, 1776.
sixth Andreas born March 16, 1779.
seventh Susanna born April 7, 1781.

The Köbler surname has a variety of spellings in the secondary sources such as Kepler, Keppel, Koepler, Käbler, Kebler, Kepple. It is not known if this is how they actually appear, or if the letters were incorrectly transcribed.

: ILL. 3: Peter Kneppley (1772-1854) grave marker at Friedens Church. Courtesy of Friedens Evangelical Lutheran Church of Friedensville, Pa.

Very little information has been found for Elisabeth Knöple (also Kneply, Kneeply, Kneple, Knepple, Kneppley), one of the sponsors. There is, however, an Elisabeth Kneply who took communion on October 31,1818 at St. Paul’s, and she may very well be the same person as Elisabeth’s sponsor. Records show that after Friedens Church was built at Friedensville, Pa in 1793, the Knepli family members began attending there. In fact, some of the Kneplis are buried in the old part of Friedens Church cemetery.

: ILL. 4: Johann Philip Wind (1759-1841) tombstone at Friedens Church. Courtesy of Friedens Evangelical Lutheran Church of Friedensville, Pa.

Johann Philip Wint/Wind (1759-1841), the other sponsor, was born to Andreas and Anna Elisabetha Catharina Wind on September 9, 1759. He was baptized at St. Paul’s Lutheran “Blue Church” on September 22, 1759, and per communion records maintained an active relationship with the church into the 1820s (C. Beckel, ed. Blue Church Records, p. 20). He also is known to have attended Friedens Lutheran Church on a regular basis after it was established in 1793. Per his last will and testament made July 19,1837 [Witnesses: Jacob Dillinger and Peter Newhard, and proved November 26, 1841], Wint/Wind was a very well-to-do tanner by trade, owning several tracts of land and tenements in both Upper Saucon, and Salisbury Townships, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. It has been suggested that he may have been an organ builder or musician. This does not seem to be the case for he mentions nothing about being a keyboard or organ builder in his last testament whereas he does mention that he has a tannery that he is bequeathing to his son Andrew, and makes other references to the tanning trade, which obviously was his principal occupation. According to a credit entry for Philip Wint, Sr in the original Friedens Church account records, he actively supported building and maintenance projects up to May 1841. He died November 8, 1841 and is buried in row five of the old part of Friedens Church cemetery next to his wife Elisabeth Mohry Wind/Wint.

: ILL. 5: Elisabeth Köbler Taufschein, Enlargement of J 1830 K. Courtesy of Goschenhoppen Historians of Green Lane, Pa. 1971.01.55.

The Goschenhoppen Historians bought the Elisabeth Köbler Taufschein from Elwood Hoot, an auctioneer at West Point near Lansdale, PA for $125 ca. 1964-1970 according to an accession note, and entered it officially into the collection in 1972. Both the separately embroidered initials and year J 1830 K, and the Elisabeth Köbler Taufschein are worked in cotton thread, two ply polychrome silk thread and wool yarn on a bleached cotton ground. Kinds of stitches include: cross, chain, and French knot.

: ILL. 6: Maria Schmid Taufschein by Michael Frölich. Heinrich Ebner & Co., 1822. Courtesy of Allentown Art Museum. 2009.006.031.

The embroiderer replicated in her embroidery the main decorative elements Heinrich Ebner (1783-1850), printer in Allentown, Pennsylvania used in his printed Taufscheins of the early 1820s. These include the reclining putto atop a billowing cloud in the center at the top of the piece. He is facing to the left, and holding a hunting horn in his left hand, a sealed envelope in his right. Facing inwards and standing on clouds are two angels, who flank the central birth/baptismal text. Both are equipped with lyres: The one on the right is holding a wreath with her raised right arm, and the other on the left is looking at a bird perched on her elevated left hand. Below each angel is a bird sitting on upward-stretching boughs, grasping at berries above him. Branch and bird form a symmetrical unit and face inwards. The embroiderer added additional elements not present on the Ebner Taufschein such as floral vines of tulips and flowers reminiscent of the sun; a cherry tree in front of each angel, and a sleek bird at her feet. The ever present baptismal verses announcing the brevity of life and importance of baptism usually found on printed Taufscheins of the period are noticeably absent from this piece.

The birth and baptismal certificate is not only embroidered, but also originally watercolor or tempera was used to paint the putto’s hair and body, as well as the angels’ faces and arms. Its mahogany veneer-on-pine frame is original to the Taufschein, which was intended to be a display piece. Dorothy McCoach, a leading textile conservator, conserved the piece in 1996, at which time the embroidered Taufschein was removed from the frame and its tacked mounting. Upon completion of conservation procedures, the two embroidered pieces were hand-stitched to cotton polyester slipjacketed 4 ply museum board and reframed in the original frame. The two original wood backings were returned to the Goschenhoppen Historians. It was hoped that perhaps additional information about Elisabeth Köbler had been appended to the backings, but, per Mrs. McCoach in an email response of October 26, 2015, nothing was written on either one.

Fortunately, with digital magnification, it is possible to read the much faded embroidered Fraktur script:

Transcription

Geburt und Taufschein

Translation

Birth and Baptismal Certificate

A daughter was born to these two married people Jacob Köbler and his legal wife Christina, maiden name Kerschner, on the 9th of October in the Year of Our Lord 1776. This daughter was baptized and received the name Elisabeth. The sponsors were Philip Wint and Elisabeth Knöple.

The embroiderer of Elisabeth Köbler’s Taufschein had to be someone, either a family member or a friend, who had access to Elisabeth’s birth and baptismal information possibly from St. Paul’s Lutheran “Blue Church” records or from a family member. Had there been an original birth and baptismal certificate from which to work, one suspects the motifs from Ebner’s printed Taufschein, contemporary to the time in which the needleworker was actually making the piece, would not have been substituted for original decorative elements. We don’t know if Elisabeth was still alive in 1830, but if so, as already mentioned, she would have been fifty-four years old. Johann Philip Wind is the only one for whom we have additional records attesting to some of his life activities. The needleworker who worked this embroidery could never have guessed that this token of her hands and heart would one day be one of the very few footprints left to show that Elisabeth Köbler, her family, and her baptismal sponsors ever walked this earth.

Sources

Brunner, Raymond J. That Ingenious Business: Pennsylvania German Organ Builders. Publications of the Pennsylvania German Society, vol. 24, Birdsboro, Pa.: Pennsylvania German Society, 1990, 177. [Re. Wint]

Church Records at St. Paul’s “Blue” Churc,h Upper Saucon Township, Lehigh County, PA., transcribed from a copy in Easton Public Library 1948. T.S. Housed at St. Paul’s Blue Church, 5900 Applebutter Hill Road, Coopersburg, PA 18036-9500.

Das ist Daß Trosties und Kirchen Buch Vor Die gemeine friedens kirch in ober Sackunna Taunschip Northampton Caunty Den 25ten februarius 1797 [Friedensville, Pa., 1797].

Gehret, Ellen. This is the Way I Pass My Time: A Book About Pennsylvania German Decorated Hand Towels (Birdsboro, PA: Pennsylvania German Society, 1985).

Glattfelter, Charles H. Pastors and People: German Lutheran and Reformed Churches in the Pennsylvania Field, 1717-1793, vol. 1 of 2. Publications of the Pennsylvania German Society, vols. 13, 15, Breinigsville, Pa.: Pennsylvania German Society, 1980-81, 346-347 (Friedens Church), 357-358 (St. Paul’s Blue Church).

Kirchen Buch| für die Gemeine in Sauccunen in sich haltend | Getaufte, Copulirte und Verstorbene Leute angefangen im Jahr Christ 1748, St. Paul’s Blue Church, 5900 Applebutter Hill Road, Coopersburg, PA 18036-9500 [Presently unavailable].

Stopp, Klaus. The Printed Birth and Baptismal Certificates of the German Americans, vol.1 of 6. Mainz, Germany and East Berlin, Pa: privately published, 1997-1999, 157-63.
[Re. Heinrich Ebner]

Wind, John Philip Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=80213507&ref=acom Accessed 28 October 2015.

_______________. Last Will and Testament: Probate Records, 1812-1920 ; Index 1812-1965;
Author: Lehigh County (Pennsylvania). Register of Wills; Probate Place: Lehigh, Pennsylvania.

My thanks to Bob Wood, Nancy Roan, and Linda Szapacs of the Goschenhoppen Historians; Dorothy McCoach, Textile Conservator Consultant; the Rev. James Hammond, and Kathy Exner of St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran “Blue Church” of Coopersburg, Pa.; the Rev. Lisa Borrell, Don Trump, Harvey Kichline, and Jeanette Petersen of Friedens Evangelical Lutheran Church, Center Valley, Pa.