Family Locations Places our Family has Lived

LEBANON CO.,

Pennsylvania,

United States

Gazetteer of Localities

Website Resources

Image Gallery

Contact Information

INTRODUCTION

Lebanon County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and is one of four counties comprising the greater Harrisburg metropolitan area. It is also part of the Lebanon, PA metropolitan statistical area. As of 2000, the population is 120,327, with a 2004 estimate of 124,489. Its county seat is Lebanon^[1].

Lebanon County was created on February 16, 1813, from parts of Dauphin and Lancaster Counties and named for old Lebanon Township. Lebanon is a Biblical name meaning “White Mountain.” Lebanon, the county seat, was laid out in 1750. It was incorporated as a borough on March 28, 1799, but the citizens did not accept incorporation. It was finally chartered as a borough on February 20, 1821 and as a city in 1885.

Palatine Germans from New York were the first large group, first arriving in 1732. Conrad Weiser became their leader. Today 42 percent of the residents still claim German descent. Indian attacks troubled the area from 1755 to 1763,

and the Hanover Resolves of 1774 anticipated the Revolution. Jacob Albright established the Evangelical Association whose Albright College was located in Myerstown from 1895 to 1928. A turnpike in 1817 followed by the Union Canal in 1828 opened up business markets. Iron mines, especially those of the Coleman family, led to iron making. Cornwall Furnace was productive from 1742 to 1883; Cornwall’s iron mine operated into the 1970s. There was an important limestone industry, and items manufactured included carriages, shoes, cigars, Miller Organs, whiskey, and Lebanon Bologna. Agriculture leads the economy today, the county being a leader in livestock and dairy products—sixth in the state—and an important grain producer. It is one of only four counties in which half or more of the area is farmed. The first National Guard annual training camps were at Mount Gretna. Since World War II, the Federal dollar input in the county has been high because of Indiantown Gap Military Reservation.

Lebanon County,

Pennsylvania

Gen Tool-Kit

COUNTY RECORDS :

Lebanon County Register of Wills/ Orphan's Court Clerk has Marriage Records from 1813 and Probate Records from 1813 and is located at Room 105, Municipal Building, 400 South 8th Street, Lebanon, PA 17042-6794; (717) 274-2801 Ext. 2217.

Lebanon County Recorder of Deeds has Land Records from 1813 and is located at Room 107, Municipal Building, 400 South 8th Street, Lebanon, PA 17042-6794; (717) 274-2801 Ext. 2223.

Lebanon County Prothonotary / Clerk of Courts has Court Records from 1813 and is located at Prothonotarys Office, Room 104, Municipal Building, 400 South 8th Street, Lebanon, PA 17042-6794; (717) 274-2801 Ext. 2120 .

Source: Family History 101 States

HISTORICAL SOCIETY:

Lebanon County Historical Society
924 Cumberland Street
Lebanon, PA 17042, 717-272-1473

The Stoy Museum , offices, research archives, and a gift shop are located in the Lebanon County Historical Society building in Lebanon. The Society also owns and operates Union Canal Tunnel Park.

LIBRARIES :

Lebanon County Library System.

( Lebanon, PA United States) [web site ] [online catalog]

Annville Free Library.

( Annville, PA United States) [web site ] [online catalog]

Lebanon Community Library.

( Lebanon, PA United States) [web site ] [online catalog]

Matthews Public Library.

( Fredericksburg, PA USA) [web site ] [online catalog]

Myerstown Community Library.

( Myerstown, PA United States) [web site ] [online catalog]

Richland Community Library.

( Richland, PA United States) [web site ] [online catalog]

Source: lib-web-cats: Search for Libraries

HISTORICAL PLACES:

Annville; Annville Historic District; Biever House; Campbelltown; Dr. B. Stauffer House; Cornwall; Cornwall Iron Furnace; Lebanon; Chestnut Street Log House; Cornwall & Lebanon Railroad Station; Gloninger Estate; Josiah Funck Mansion; Reading Railroad Station; St. Lukes Episcopal Church;

Tabor Reformed Church; Union Canal Tunnel;

Myerstown: Isaac Meier Homestead, John Immel House

Tulpehocken Manor Plantation Newmanstown Bomberger's Distillery Heinrich Zeller House House of Miller at Millbach Palmyra Bindnagles Evangelical Lutheran Church Landis Shoe Company Building

Schaefferstown Brendle Farms Philip Erpff House Rex House Swatara Gap Waterville Bridge

Source: List of National Register of Historic Places

Lebanon County,

Pennsylvania

Surnames

The following are surnames of persons, found within our databases,

as having been either born, married or died in this location.

McVicker; Moreland; Pinnell; Scruggs and allied families

Christman; Heckendorn

Bozarth; Peiffer; Quigley; Rhubart and allied families

Dellinger; Knecht; Pfeffer; Silar and allied families

Hauer; Kuffer; Silar; Weirich

To find out more about each surname listed above click on the corresponding LINK.

Additional information regarding these surnames may also be found at:

Surname Locator Resources

Lebanon County,

Pennsylvania

Ancestral GenSite(s)

Bethel Township

Hebron

Hebron Moravian

Church & Cemetery

Hill Church

Lebanon

Tulpehocken Reformed Church

BETHEL TOWNSHIP

LOCATION OF IDENTIFIED SITE

Coordinate: 40° 26′ 43.27″ N, 76° 25′ 57.85″ W

Decimal: 40.445352°, -76.432736°

DIRECTIONS TO IDENTIFIED SITE(s)

Start out in the city of Lebanon going north on N Lincoln Ave toward E Spring St. Turn left onto Maple St. AND stay straight to go onto S. Pine Grove St. Turn right onto N. 7th St/PA-343. Continue to follow PA-343 then turn right onto E Main St. Turn right onto Tan St. and end at Fredericksburg, PA. Total Estimated Time: 15 minutes Total Estimated Distance: 8.20 miles.

INTERNET WEB LINK(s)

Bethel Twp., Lebanon Co., PA - Wikipedia;

FAMILY HISTORY NOTES(s)

Christoph Hauer II died here in 1780. Son Jacob Hauer died here in 1793, and five of his known children we born here. Five children of Anthony Hauer, son of Christoph II, were born in Fredericksburg. Son, Berhard died c. 1797 in Bethel Twp. Valentine Kuffer and his wife Barbara were probably married here c. 1743 and probably died here c. 1774. Five of their known off-spring were born here between 1744 and 1753. A daughter Maria Barbara Kuffer married Anthony Hauer at the Hill Church in 1766.

DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY

Bethel Township is a township in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Lebanon County, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,526 at the 2000 census. Fredericksburg is a census-designated place within the township.

Bethel Township was settled about 1737 and incorporated in May 1793 from Lebanon Township.

HEBRON

LOCATION OF IDENTIFIED SITE

40.339N – 76.399W

DIRECTIONS TO IDENTIFIED SITE(s)

INTERNET WEB LINK(s)

FAMILY HIST ORY NOTES(s)

In about 1753 Jacob and Barbara took their 5 children and moved to the community of Hebron where Jacob received a warrant for 150 acres of land. The old town of Hebron is now a part of the present day city of Lebanon in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.

DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY

The community of Hebron is now a part of the city of Lebanon.

HEBRON MORAVIAN

CHURCH & CEMETERY

LOCATION OF IDENTIFIED SITE(s)

DIRECTIONS TO IDENTIFIED SITE(s)

Original site located at the intersection of 5^th Avenue and Moravian Street in Lebanon.

INTERNET WEB LINK(s)

Moravian Church Genealogy Links;

FAMILY HISTORY NOTES(s)

Anna Marie, Abraham, and Theodora, children of Jacque “Jacob” Christman and Barbara Heckendorn were buried in the Hebron Moravian Cemetery. The mother Barbara (Heckendorn) Christman was also buried here. The present staus of the cemetery is unknown at this time. It still may be in the area of 5^th Avenue and Moravian Street. It is more likely that the cemetery was moved to another location.

DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY

On December 19, 1747, a congregation was formally organized at <Hebron> and within a year it became the center of missionary activity in the <<Lebanon> <Valley>>. Services were held in the old blockhouse on the Quittapahilla, but need for a church building was soon felt. On June 16, 1751, a two-story stone building was dedicated to serve both as a residence and church. It was located at what is now the northeast corner of <<Fifth Avenue>> and <<Moravian Street>>.

On December 19, 1848, just 100 years after its formal organization, the congregation moved to at new building located at lOth & Spring Streets in the center of <<Lebanon>>.

On June 2, 1853, the parsonage built on the north side of the building was completed. The church building was completely destroyed by fire on June 29, 1858. However the congregation

with support from Lititz and other congregations began construction of the second building that was completed and consecrated on June 5, 1859.

The congregation slowly grew from fifty-four members in 1860 to nearly 100 in 1940. Since that time the membership has more than doubled. In 1981, the parsonage, which had served Moravian pastors since 1853, was converted into a <<Christian> <Education> <Building>> and offices and a new parsonage was purchased on <<Poplar Street>>.

Nearly 260 years from its beginnings, the <Moravian> <Church> of <Lebanon> re-located for a second time in its history to its present locating <<1115 Birch Road>> in <<South> <Lebanon> <Township>>. The new church was built in 2005 and was dedicated and used for the first time early in 2006.

HILL CHURCH

LOCATION OF IDENTIFIED SITE

Hill #1 (Hill Reformed Church): 40.346N – 76.489W

Hill Church #2: 40.344N – 76.489W

DIRECTIONS TO IDENTIFIED SITE(s)

From Lebanon take Rt. 422 west. At Celona turn right onto N. Mill Street. The Hill Church Cemetery is approximately one mile on your right.

INTERNET WEB LINK(s)

Hill Church History; Marriages of the Quitopahilla (Hill) Church 1733-1745; PAGENWEB Lebanon County, PA - Church Records;

FAMILY HISTORY NOTES(s)

Maria Barbara Kuffer married Anthony Hauer her on 17 January 1766. by the Rev. John Casper Stoever.

DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY

In 1743 the first church organizers in all of what is now Lebanon county, Rev. John Casper Stoever leader of the local Lutheran congregation and Rev. John Conrad Tempelman the pastor of the Reformed congregation united the two groups to erect a Union Church, to be known as the Berg Kirche, or Hill Church. This church, a log building, was dedicated Sunday, August 12, 1744. The little log church was without a floor in it other than the one of baked clay, and seats of logs hewn on two sides.

Prior to 1752 the land held by the two congregations was held by the mere right of occupation, but in that year 65 acres and 94 perches were surveyed. In 1837, by right of a special Act of the Pennsylvania Assembly, 59 acres and 94 perches of the original 65 acres and 94 perches were sold at public sale, the money realized in that way, as conditioned by said Act of Assembly, to be used in erecting a new church, leaving six acres that could not be disposed of, and had to be reserved for the church premises and burial purposes. In 1858 the church yard fence was placed further outwards to the north, and the new enclosed ground was laid out into burial lots which then could be sold, but only to members of one or the other congregations. In 1868 the burial ground was again enlarged so as to include the entire six acres, and the whole converted into a public cemetery, known as the Hill Church Cemetery, open to any and all buyers.

The Lutheran Church Book was opened in 1743, and the Reformed Church Book in 1745, but beyond entries of births, baptisms, marriages, communion lists and death records, they contain very little bearing on circumstances and events in either of the congregations.

In 1789 the congregations united in repairing, and enlarging the building of 1744. The congregations had grown larger in numbers due to the near-by settlements such as Annville and Lebanon that had come into existence during the preceding 45 years.

By joint action of the two congregations a new church building was erected in 1837. This was a brick structure, built very closely to where stood the old but dilapidated church of 1744. Its cornerstone was laid on August 26, 1837, and the church was dedicated September 16, 1838.

In the year 1902 the Hill Reformed congregation undertook to act in conjunction with the Hill Lutheran congregation to repair and renovate the jointly held church building erected by them in 1837. Not succeeding in this, the Reformed congregation secured a tract of two acres of land, situated about 500 yards farther north and away from the 1837 building, along a main road, called the Gravel Hill Road, and proceeded to erect thereon a church building of its own. However, by this action they did not surrender, or cede, in any way its half right in the old church building and in the Hill Church Cemetery. This new church was a handsome structure, its walls of red sandstone, its interior in line with modern church furnishings, erected at a cost of about $10,000. The cornerstone was laid Sunday, August 9, 1903, and the church dedicated Sunday, July 24, 1904. The church had a main room with a seating capacity of about 300, and a Sunday School annex of about 150 capacity. The windows of the building are all of finely stained glass, and the main room is supplied with a $1200 pipe organ. The congregation numbers 112 "communicant" members, and the Sunday School 139 members.

LEBANON

VA Medical Center at 1700 South Lincoln Avenue
Lebanon, PA 17042

LOCATION OF IDENTIFIED SITE(s)

Coordinate: 40° 20′ 30″ N, 76° 25′ 15″ W

Decimal: 40.341667°, -76.420833°

DIRECTIONS TO IDENTIFIED SITE(s)

From Philadelphia, PA to Lebanon, PA: Total Time: 1 hour 49 minutes Total Distance: 97.19 miles. See driving map at “image gallery”.

INTERNET WEB LINK(s)

Lebanon, Pennsylvania - Wikipedia

FAMILY HISTORY NOTES(s)

Barbara Heckendorn, daughter of Hans Johann Heckendorn, died 13 May 1758 in Lebanon, Lebanon Co., Pennsylvania.

Harry Eugene Silar passed away, October 7, 1986, at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Lebanon.

DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY

Lebanon, Pennsylvania, formerly known as Steitztown^[1], is the county seat of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania,^[2] United States. The population was 24,461 at the 2000 census. Lebanon is located in eastern Pennsylvania in the Lebanon Valley, 26 miles (42 km) east of Harrisburg and 29 miles (47 km) west of Reading.

Lebanon was first settled in 1720 by early settlers, many with the family names of "Steitz" and "Light", along a creek

that was then named "Steitz Creek". The Light patriarchs built an Indian Fort and named it "Light's Fort" during this time. The town was laid out in 1753 and incorporated as a borough on February 20, 1821 and became a city on November 25, 1885.

In 1900, 17,628 people lived in Lebanon; in 1910, 19,240 people lived there; in 1920, 24,643 people lived there; and in 1940, 27,206 people lived in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.

Tulpehocken Reformed Church

LOCATION OF IDENTIFIED SITE(s)

40.382N – 76.263W

DIRECTIONS TO IDENTIFIED SITE(s)

Located on U.S. 422, 3 miles E of Myerstown

INTERNET WEB LINK(s)

Lebanon County, Pennsylvania Marriages, 1769-1864: Trinity Tulpehocken Reformed Congregation; Trinity Tuplehocken Reformed Congregation Births, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, 1800-56;

FAMILY HISTORY NOTES(s)

It may be assumed that by 1768 the Anthony Hauer family was living in or around the village of Fredericksburg, Bethel Twp., Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. In addition it is quite probable they attended the Tulpehocken Reformed Church located in the easternmost part of Lebanon County near Millardsville.

DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY

Trinity Tuplehocken Reformed Congregation is located in Jackson Township, which lies in the eastern region of Lebanon County.

The church was organized in 1727 by Tulpehocken settlers. Since 1745, one red rose has been paid annually by the Church

to the heirs of Caspar Wistar as rental for the land granted by him for erection of the second place of worship. Since 1902, a white rose, a token of appreciation, has been given to Wistar's descendants.

Lebanon County, Pennsylvania

Gazetteer of Localities

The list below will assist in your research regarding the matching of your ancestors birth, marriage, death dates and in what locality of this county these events may have occurred. Source: Wikipedia

Under Pennsylvania law, there are four types of incorporated municipalities: cities, boroughs, townships,

and, in at most two cases, towns. The following cities, boroughs and townships are located in Lebanon County:

CITIES

Lebanon is the only incorporated city in Lebanon County.

BOROUGHS

Mount Gretna

Myerstown

TOWNSHIPS

CENSUS-DESIGNATED PLACES

Census-designated places are geographical areas designated by the U.S. Census Bureau for the purposes of compiling demographic data. They are not actual jurisdictions under Pennsylvania law. Other unincorporated communities, such as villages, may be listed here as well.