Pennsylvania Chapter

Limekiln Post Office has been a Mainstay for 150 Years! In its 150 years, the Limekiln Post Office moved twice, but never far. To the best of my knowledge, Limekiln is the only post office in Berks that has remained within 200 feet of its original location throughout its history, Berks County historian George M. Meiser IX said.... The post office at 820 Limekiln Road, Exeter Township, recently celebrated its sesquicentennial. Its first home was in the old stone combination hotel and general store at the intersection of Oley Turnpike and Limekiln roads. If you owned a hotel-general store, you really wanted a post office in your business place," Meiser said. "It brought potential customers to your establishment several times a week." Now a private home, the former hotel-store was built in 1835 by brothers Jacob and Peter Snyder to replace an earlier log tavern. Their Schneider/Snyder ancestors were among the earliest settlers in the area. The nearby family graveyard contains the oldest tombstone in Oley Township and one of the oldest in Berks County: that of Johannes Schneider, who was born in 1687 and died in 1743. The crossroads village straddling the Exeter-Oley boundary originally was called Snyderville after the family. The Snyders wanted their post office named Snyderville, Meiser said, but as there already was a Snyderville in Schuylkill County another name had to be chosen. From: https://www.readingeagle.com//article_4fdf0582-e8ba-11ea-a

Great Genealogy Resource! http://www.pagenweb.org

SNYDER MILL Snyder Mill is a historic grist mill located on Monocacy Creek in Exeter Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. The mill was built about 1780, and is a 1 1/2-story, banked stone building. It measures 26 feet by 50 feet, with a frame addition of 20 feet, 3 inches, by 25 feet 10 inches. It retains a wooden water wheel. The mill ceased operations in 1930. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snyder_Mill

LERCH FAMILY in OFB- Langenselbold, Hessen, Germany https://www.ortsfamilienbuecher.de/namelist.php

If your ancestors came from Schleswig-Holstein, you might be interested in an online connection session in English on Saturday, 30 January 2021 at 7:00 pm Central European Time (1:00 PM EST). Click here for additional details: https://tockify.com/genealogy.events/detail/23/161202960000 and register at https://us02web.zoom.us//tZIuceisqT4rG9TIyjMj0z4cXqad6UdMC

A couple of days late, but I hope all of you enjoyed a 'Freelicher Grishtdaag.' That's Pennsylvania Deitsch for Merry Christmas. Thanks to Marcia Dreisbach Falconer for the language lesson.

If you are looking for some Pennsylvania German traditions to kick off your holidays, check out the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center's virtual Christmas on the Farm this Saturday.

Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy bratwurst or turkey or whatever special food means Thanksgiving in your family. Thanks to Ken Weaver for this image.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall November 9th is a very important day to those living in Germany and those of German descent. This historical evening reunited famil...ies separated when a wall was built to separate East and West Berlin. In fact, this evening reunited Germany. The building of the ‘Wall began in August of 1962. This is when the Communist government of the GDR (German Democratic Republic) used barbed wire and concrete to separate the East and the West in Berlin. The Wall was 11.81 feet high. At the time, the purpose was stated as a way to keep the Westerners from entering the East, when in fact it was built to keep the East into curb those defecting to the West. Prior to the Wall, the citizens of both East and West could move about freely. It wasn’t until citizens began to leave by the thousands (From June 1961 to August 12 1961-67,400), the order to build the wall from Premier Khrushchev was given. It only took two weeks for the first block wall to be built. At this time three checkpoints were the clearance areas and the only way you could cross.’Checkpoint Charlie’ being the one in the center of Berlin. The Wall curbed but did not stop persons from leaving. Take some time to read the stories of those that lost their life attempting to escape and the ingenious way that many succeeded. You may also want to read about President John F. Kennedy’s Berlin speech, the famous ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ The ‘Wall’ stood until November 9, 1989. That day the head of the Communist party in the East declared that citizens could move freely between the East and the West. Many did just that as others brought the pickaxes and hammers and began to tear down the ‘Wall’, one of the last symbols of the Cold War. Many of the ‘Greatest Stories Ever Told’ came from this time. The United States and the Humanitarian efforts to supply West Berlin in the Berlin Airlift, lasted for over a year. Due to their tenacity and perseverance, the communist lifted their blockade, which attempted to starve the Westerners out of the city. (1949)