August 15, 1976
Paul M. Dreibelbis (2612)
Mr. President, and Dreibelbis Cousins:
It is a pleasure for me to be here, and I feel honored that our President has asked me to make some brief remarks about our family heritage. I know that several of the cousins have researched the subject intensively and are well qualified to speak on the subject.
Forty-four years have elapsed since the Dreibelbis family met at Kutztown Park to celebrate their American Bicentennial. Today we are meeting as our country celebrates its Bicentennial. It is a mark of the tenacity of the breed that a number of the cousins who were officers and committee members of that now distant anniversary celebration are with us still and functioning:
Ernest (3269) – President in 1932
Earl (5249) – assistant chairman then and President today
Harvey (5251) – committee member and past president
Paul L. (5219) – committee member and past president
Arthur E. (1907) – treasurer in 1932
Dorothy A. (3251) – secretary in 1932
Some of the early leaders are no longer with us. Many Dreibelbis cousins have contributed toward the success of our meetings through the years, and to the publication of the Dreibelbis Family History. In particular, I would like to recognize one cousin who was a prime organizer but is no longer with us, Charles Benjamin Dreibelbis (2691), and “Uncle Charlie” to some. To him more than any other person we owe our excellent family record which, incidentally, is the envy of many other families. This record is contained in the Dreibelbis Family Book – published in 1966. I’m sure that all of you are familiar with it; and if you do not have sufficient copies in your particular branch of the family, I suggest that you order more without delay. Although there may be errors in detail; and although a ten-year-old family history will inescapably have many omissions this is a very useful book. It can still be used by every one of us to place our relations in the Dreibelbis family.
Incidentally I suggest that when corresponding with our cousins, we identify ourselves by our family number as assigned by Charles in the book. The given names are very confusing. For example, think of the number of Johns. I have a brother, John; another brother Charles. Their numbers incidentally are 2616 and 2617. I might add that there are a lot of Pauls, too, and they need number identification. While we’re on the subject of the present family, I urge each of you to bring his own part of it up to date and get a copy to our secretary, Mrs. Eleanor Hill. Correct any errors also.
As I said at the beginning, we met 44 years ago to celebrate our Bicentennial, and this year we celebrate the nation’s Bicentennial. It is fitting that we should consider briefly that part of the Dreibelbis heritage that relates to the 1700’s, since the total heritage is too vast a subject.
The first part of this heritage is European. Our Dreibelbis ancestors lived in the village of Hassloch, which is in present West Germany; west of the Rhine River and about ten miles from the larger places, Neustadt and Speyer. It is just north of Alsace, which is part of France today. In John Jacob’s time and earlier, Hassloch was in one of the German States, the Palatinate.
Our Dreibelbis family ancestors lived less than 100 years in Hassloch, before John Jacob took a ship to Philadelphia. They came, according to existing church records, from northern Switzerland. In this period our ancestors were directly affected by the international events of the time.
In the 1600’s France was gradually becoming the unified country that it is today. Germany, which had never been united, was falling into worse disunity. In the early 1600’s a powerful Spain and the Emperor in Vienna ringed France and restrained the French kings from aggression. This was no longer the case by the time our ancestors came to Hassloch from Switzerland. French armies were pushing toward the Rhine.
Our ancestors were in the middle of the wars caused by this aggression. In the 1673-79 period the French armies drove out the ruler of the Palatinate and devastated the country where our ancestors lived. In the 1680’s they repeated the invasion. It was sometime during this time that the church records at Hassloch were destroyed. New records began about 1700 or shortly before. They show the birth of John Jacob, two brothers and three sisters. They do not show the birth of the parents, but indicate that the grandparents came from Switzerland.
Page 8 of the Dreibelbis Book states that 30,000 immigrants from the Palatinate came through the Philadelphia port between 1727 and 1808. And no wonder! Their lands were ravaged four times in about a half-century, 1673-79, 1680-95, 1705-15, and again in 1733. Our Dreibelbis, John Jacob, was part of this migration. Add to that a religious problem and you have plenty of reason for people to take big chances by going to America. Our ancestor with thousands of other Germans came to Pennsylvania to seek a better life.
The British colony that these people came to was in 1732 a proprietorship of the Penns. William Penn and his descendants both out of personal conviction and for economic reasons welcomed the immigration of sound people and John Jacob certainly fell into that category. The Penns had plenty of land granted to them by the British Crown, but they needed energetic people to develop these lands in order to generate needed income. For our ancestors Pennsylvania offered unparalleled opportunity.
John Jacob himself came as a redemptionist and worked for a Casper Wister for eleven years. From 1743 to his early death in 1761 he rose to become the largest landholder and taxpayer in the district. Part of this land was given to him by Mr. Wister, much he acquired by purchase and much he acquired from the Penns. It seems that our ancestor was fated to be in the locality where wars were fought. In his brief 18-year life at Fleetwood there were two wars. Although these were big international wars fought mainly in Europe, they are known to those who study American history as King George’s War, 1745-48; and the French and Indian War, 1754-63. Both were fought between the British and French and their European and American Indian allies. Incidentally each had East Indian Allies also. John Jacob was far from the European fighting, but real close to the Indian fighting. The records do not indicate how he was affected. He may have sold supplies, but he was not involved in army service, which in any case was voluntary.
In his lifetime it is plain that our Dreibelbis ancestor was a substantial citizen who helped transform Berks County into a prosperous, civilized community. The will, reproduced on page 9 of the Dreibelbis Familyindicates the extent of his property and conveys a sense of his standing.
These two wars, King George’s War and The French and Indian War transformed the political situation in North America. The French and their Indian allies no longer controlled the interior country. The French had been forced to surrender all of their mainland territory to the British and the Indians were disunited and broken. The frontier was open to English colonists after 1763. The period from 1763 to the formation of our present government in 1788 saw the fastest growth yet in Pennsylvania, and our family was in the middle of it. It was also the period of the greatest political upheaval, and our family was in that too.
I want now to conclude this talk by giving some attention to what the seven children of John Jacob were doing in this period of upheaval, and what part they took in events. I have to speak mainly about the three sons. The property laws and the restricted role of women at that time made it difficult to follow their lives. At John Jacob’s death in 1761 all of the children were minors ranging from 16 to less than one year of age. By 1790 the country changed from a proprietary colony of the Penns to one of 13 states of the new United States. The sons are shown by the 1790 census to be substantial heads of households.
Abraham, living in Richmond Township, headed a family of:
3 males 16 and over, 2 females
3 males under 16, 1 slave
Martin, living in Brunswick and Manheim Townships, headed a family of
3 males 16 and over, 4 females
3 males under 16, 1 slave
I was puzzled that the census had no entry for Jacob Dreibelbis, for I thought that he must have been in Richmond Township. Then just as I was about to give up, I spotted a Jacob Treibelbis entry. Now there’s an interesting problem for a family historian! Jacob’s household was as follows:
3 males 16 and over, 4 females, 2 males under 16
The female members of the family were hard to identify, but there was information about a certain Peter Rodermel, whom I took to be the husband of Mary Magdalena, Peter Rothermel. There were also entries for Breyfogels, Catherine’s second husband.
The Dreibelbis men were helping to develop the new Stale of Pennsylvania, the proprietorship of the Penns being overturned by revolution. Abraham and Jacob were large landholders in Richmond Township. Martin was an extraordinarily successful businessman and the founder of Schuylkill Haven. He went there to lake charge of the interests of his father-in-law, George Merkel. Marrying the Boss’ daughter was not a 20th century invention. Martin’s will gives us a real glimpse of the workings of the property laws. His widow did not retain her inheritance from her father. It was all willed away.
She got only a house and some keep, and lost that if she remarried. Martin was one of the really outstanding men of his time. On page 12 of the Schuylkill Haven 225 Year Celebration 1750-1975 he is credited with owning 2,000 acres of land. The book says this about him, “A man of indomitable energy and remarkable foresight and acumen.”
The Dreibelbis family did more than make an economic contribution to the development of Pennsylvania. They helped the transformation from colony to state. Both Martin in and Jacob participated in the Berks County Militia during the Revolution. Jacob became a company commander and Martin, a Private First Class. Abraham served in the supply service.
We can take a certain pride that the Dreibelbis family was where the action was in the decisive 18th century. Our heritage is closely connected with events that changed the world. Our Dreibelbis ancestors were hard-working people of foresight and thrift. We can do well to continue their example.
Thank you.