August 20, 1978
Paul M. Dreibelbis (2612)
Some time back, our President asked me to give a brief talk that would more or less follow the one I gave two years ago on the Dreibelbis part in the American Revolution. The title of this talk could have been “Dreibelbises since the American Revolution” or the one that I’ve chosen. This period includes an enormous amount of material. I’ll try to be more modest than the title might imply. There’s too much material to cover, and you don’t want to sit long enough for me to do a complete job.
The story of our family has been divided into three parts: the first is the pre-North American period (The booklet, The Dreibelbis Families, 1965, and the book, The Dreibelbis Family, 1932-1966, relate some of the research). There follows the colonial and revolutionary period about which I spoke two years ago. The third is our period which we shall call the National Period. Naturally we have much more information about the third period. In fact, there is so much that we have to pick and choose. Inevitably many important people and accomplishments will be left out.
One way to proceed might be to follow the activities of a branch of the family that is of the descendants of one of the children of our original North American ancestor, John Jacob. Another way of opening up the subject might be to take types of activities and contributions of members: professional people, government, churches and charities, armed forces and so forth. The way I want to use the time that I have is to pick and choose some of the interesting happenings that have involved the cousins through the generations. If some seem amusing, so much the better. I shall rely on The Dreibelbis Family 1732-1966 which was produced by the late Charles B. Dreibelbis (2691), the family genealogist.
Before going ahead we ought to think for a moment about how fortunate we are. We find ourselves on a stage that was set for us by our ancestors. I don’t just refer to our name ancestors, but all of them. In this connection my brothers, sisters, and I and our families have been blessed (if that’s the proper word) with reunions of our ancestral families: The Dreibelbises since 1932; the Boyers since early in this century and the Knights the past four or five years. Incidentally I have a close neighbor and friend who, when I told her that I was going to the Knight reunion, thought that it was our reunion after dark. Anyway if the Mulls, my fourth ancestral family, will only organize a reunion, we’ll have some place to go almost every Sunday in the summer.
All of us inherit the genes of our many ancestors. For the most part these provide the sound physical basis and mental ability that enable us to handle our problems. With this stage set for us, we’ve done different things. Some for many reasons: ability, fortune, opportunity, tenacity, seem to have done more than others. We need to remember too that we have set a stage for our descendants, and have passed along to them physical and mental traits. Like us the coming generations will have the most of what they inherit.
Since we’re going to concern ourselves with the family in the National Period or a span of about 190 years – six generations, let’s see where we were when the period began. We’ll pick 1790 as the starting point. Let’s see how many of them there were, what they were doing, and where they lived then. For identification purposes I am using the numbering system of The Dreibelbis Family, 1732-1966.
In 1790 all of the descendants of John Jacob (1) were either siblings or first cousins.
(2) Mary Magdalena m. Peter Rothermel and Peter Wanner. She lived in Berks Co. was buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery, Kutztown and had eight children.
(3) Catharine M. Johannes and George Breyfogel (Burgess of Kutztown) is buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery, and had seven children.
(4) Abraham owned the original farm is buried in the family plot, and had six children.
(5) Martin lived in Schuylkill Haven (then part of Berks County) is buried in Union Cemetery, Schuylkill Haven, and had seven children.
(6) Jacob lived near Virginville, is buried at St. Peter’s Church, and had six children, (five additional born after 1790). The church records of 1795 show Jacob’s name. Rev. Keller sent me an additional excerpt from the records dated 1819 which shows the names Jacob and Samuel, my great grandfather.
(7) Elizabeth m. Jacob Wanner, lived in Berks County, probably buried at St. Peter’s, and had five children, three were born after 1790.
(8) Philabena m. William Koch and lived at Schuylkill Haven. There is no record of burial. She had three children, one additional after 1790.
By 1790 there were 49 living Dreibelbis descendants, living mainly in Berks County, seven children were making their way in various financial circumstances, but a reading of their father’s will shows that they must have been helped substantially by inheritance. The 49 were all siblings or first cousins. Since the brothers and sisters whose births spanned the period 1745-1760, had been brought up in various circumstances due to the early death of their father, they may not have been close to each other as adults.
Let’s look at the activities of the cousins, the third generation. They number from through 60 in The Dreibelbis Family. They lived for the most part in the first half of 19th century although one survived until 1886.
The Rothermel-Wanner records are incomplete, but it appears that most of them in Berks County.
(14) Abraham Rothermel moved to Northumberland County near Dornsife.
(16) Johannes Wanner was state legislator and Justice of the Peace. This is the first involvement in government.
The Ely-Breyfogel children of Catharine remained in Berks County except for two: (17) Mary Ely was unmarried, ended up in Iowa.
(20) Jacob Breyfogel moved to Sunbury, Northumberland County and finally moved Lockport, New York.
The children of Abraham scattered widely –
(24) Daniel operated the family farm, which he inherited. He is buried in the family plot.
(25) Abraham moved to Columbia County where he acquired 330 acres.
(27) Peter was in the War of 1812, moved to Northumberland County, Fulton County, Ohio and ended up in St. Joseph County, near Albion, Indiana.
(28) Isaac moved to Northumberland County near Dalmatia, You will have to turn to the book to get his full story. What follows is just outline: Isaac is described as a real “Old-timer “. I guess that means a real character. He was an “applejack” man and was known to imbibe freely at the inn of Daniel Rothermel (possibly a relative). On one occasion a companion became deadly sick and said, “Essac, Ich mus Storben”. Isaac replied, “Nein, du mucht nicht storben, so hob Ich schoont uft gerfeelt in meiner tzeit.”
Another time Isaac came home loaded, and his wife who had locked the door would not unlock it. He said that he would get his own key, and this he did by getting an ax and chopping the door in.
(29) Joseph, Lieutenant grade in the War of 1812, settled in Clinton County.
The children of Martin (5) were born in Schuylkill Haven and most remained in that area. Two exceptions were:
(31) Magdalena had her first wedding in Schuylkill Haven and reached Germantown, Ohio.
(32) Jacob M. assumed his father’s business which was a huge operation. He was a state senator, is credited with actually laying out Schuylkill Haven and was a large landowner. He married an extraordinarily sturdy French girl, Anna Margertha Muche. The girl is credited with being able to shoulder a three-bushel sack of wheat. Our president here can tell you that takes some doing even for a sturdy young man.
(35) Daniel fought in the War of 1812 and moved to Canada and Ohio and died in New Orleans in 1849.
The many children of Jacob B. (6) were born in Berks County and by and large made successful careers for themselves in that area. Samuel was the exception.
(40) Samuel moved to Richland Township, Venango County, in later middle age, and is buried at Old Zion Cemetery. His first wife, Susanna Klaus and infant son are buried at St. Peter’s. What caused Samuel, his second wife, Sarah Rahn and the children, except Esther, to move, is not clear. He had a prosperous business in Shoemakersville. His wife had relatives in Venango County. He was my great grandfather.
(46) William made a noteworthy trip through the mid-west by horse and buggy.
The children of Jacob B. have supplied more descendants to our reunions than any other branch.
The Wanner cousins, offspring of Elizabeth (7), have largely disappeared from our records.
The children of Philabena (8) and William Koch lived in Schuylkill Haven.
Thus we see that these first cousins of the 3rd generation lived mainly in Berks County, a few in Northumberland County, and Martin’s family in what became Schuylkill County. They were mainly farmers and business people. Some got into politics. Although a couple were in the War of 1812, there was nothing like the mass effort put forth during the Revolution. All died in the 19th century, though Daniel (45) one of Jacob’s sons, survived to 1886.
The 4th generation which we want to look at next changed as our country changed. With industrialization the variety of jobs increased rapidly. The professions developed and with them the need for longer periods of education, higher education. This is not to imply that even the second generation was uneducated. In fact John Jacob specified in his will that his younger children were to be taught to read by their guardians. The 4th generation, like Americans generally, scattered widely, mostly westward. They grew up with the country. They take numbers 61 to 288 in The Dreibelbis Family. When we talk about second cousins, the 4th generation, we’re talking about your grandparents and great grandparents. For the younger people present you have to add another “great” or two. The 4th generation normally lived into the 20th century and some were known to people here today. They are our link with the past.
The generations have not proceeded evenly. I’m 6th generation and about the same age as our president here who is 7th generation. I have two brothers, John and Charles Philip, who are 50 and under and the same age as some of the 8th generation. Now for items of interest about our 4th generation. Abraham Rothermel (75) attended Princeton Academy, the first mention of higher education. Joel Wanner (94) was graduated from Franklin and Marshall in 1848.
(112) Daniel – Westward travel was not a uniform success story. In 1852 Daniel, his wife and daughter all perished of cholera in one day, while in the wilds of Indian Territory.
(116) Catharine was a centenarian 1815-1915.
(127) Hannah was the last to repair the family burial plot before our time in 1882. Her grandson, Samuel (1681) encouraged Charles to get the story down in permanent form.
Many of the descendants of Martin showed the restlessness and energy that characterized his life.
(132) Jacob T. Trivelpiece who for some reason changed the spelling of Dreibelbis to Trivelpiece had the largest Dreibelbis Family (17 children) on record at the time (1966) scattered throughout the United States.
(175) John went from Galena, Illinois into the Mexican War and ended in California.
(176) Lewis had a wild adventure in the California gold rush. You can read his story page 76 in The Dreibelbis Family.
The 4th generation descendants of Jacob continued to progress in Berks County. The descendants of the emigrant, Samuel, lived in Venango County.
(208) Charles had an adventure somewhat like that of Lewis but less violent. When gold was discovered, like other young men, he went west. His route took him from New York to Panama. After crossing the isthmus on mule back, he took another ship to San Francisco. He returned by way of the Great Plains with a few gold pieces (watch chains, jewelry, etc.) and enough money to purchase a farm that is still in his family.
(216) Simon was an outstanding member of this community. He bought 160 acres from his father on Ontelaunee Creek, operated Ontelaunee House. He built the Dreibelbis bridge and other covered bridges. He is the ancestor of many who are here today including our president. It was he who purchased the present Dreibelbis Mill from Enoch Wartzenluft.
(220) Joel attended Bucknell “so that he might become proficient in the English language.” He was the pioneer in using advanced farm machinery for reaping and hay making. He was almost a centenarian (1826-1924).
(242) Rubin was a minister in the Evangelical Association.
(246) David a practicing physician was graduated from Hahnemann.
(248) Samuel was a physician from Hahnemann. He was a man of extraordinary range interest. He helped organize the Homeopathic Hospital in Reading. He traveled widely throughout the United States to visit cousins. He visited my grandfather in Venango County and shortly thereafter wrote a letter in which he listed the main branches of the family. He also traveled to Europe to research our origins. When Charles (2691) was accumulating material for our record, he visited Dr. Samuel’s daughters to get his notes. You can imagine how he felt when the daughters told him that all of this research had all been thrown into the rubbish.
The fifth generation of our family were so scattered and slightly related that only the name held them together. However, these third cousins continued the tradition of doing interesting and important things.
(344) Daniel owned a farm which is now part of Penn State University. He is the direct ancestor of the Penn State branch. For better or worse he had a double Dreibelbis inheritance.
(349) Martin who died in 1846 was the last person to be buried in the Dreibelbis burial ground.
(377) Abraham Rothermel was a famous orator and District Attorney for Berks County. He died in 1850.
(705) James served in the Civil War and donated land for the Dreibelbis School on the Oley to Blandon road in Berks County. He died in 1925.
(891) Kate – it is to her credit more than any other person that the record of Samuel’s descendants is included in the family book. She had prodigious powers of memory, and an unsurpassed belief in the mystique of the Dreibelbis family and name.
(892) John traveled widely and as a youth spent some time in Dodge City, Kansas, about 1885. He found that it was as dangerous as fiction writers made it out to be. He died in 1954.
(922) Cleophas purchased the Dreibelbis Mill in 1888 from his father, Simon and in 1892 converted the mill from stone milling to the “roller” process.
(927) Emmanuel was an outstanding Lutheran minister, who gave the oration at the dedication of the Dreibelbis memorial in 1932. He died in 1944.
(937) George operated the original Jacob B. farm. He was graduated from Keystone State Normal and operated the general store in Virginville. He married his second cousin, Clara
(1037), so his descendants like the Penn State branch have a double inheritance.
(938) Hannah, a sister of George, arranged the interesting arrowhead collection that many of you have seen when you visited the homestead farm of Jacob (6). She died in 1919.
(959) Perry was graduated from Kutztown Normal and Ontario Veterinarian College. He practiced at Dreibelbis Station until his death in 1932. Along with George (937) he was responsible for the Dreibelbis Memorial.
(1042) Solomon Leon, son of Samuel (248) was an outstanding Reading surgeon who died in 1960.
(1069) Walter was a ticket agent for the Schuylkill and Lehigh Railroad, and took an extensive trip to the West to visit his many family cousins in 1883. He stayed with my grandfather, Charles (208) and visited other surviving children of Samuel who lived in Richland Township, Venango County, Pennsylvania.
(1070) Logan F. Dreibelbis moved to Sartoxie, Missouri, had thirteen children, four daughters had the names of gems: Pearl, Opal, Garnet, and Ruby.
(1098) William M. served as president of our association in 1936 and 1937. He died in 1938.
(1106) George Logan was chairman of the Anniversary Committee in 1932, and died in 1939.
The reason that I have included the death dates of these fifth generation cousins is to remind you that they are not names from a remote past, but close relatives and intimate acquaintances to many who are here today.
We are the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and possible 10th generations. We live all over the USA and other countries. The trend that I noted in the fourth generation has continued. The established fields of work have continued. In the past quarter century there’s been a tremendous growth in the technical and scientific fields. There’s been a new emphasis in research in chemistry and physics. The Space Age has opened and women have taken a larger place in the economic life of the country. The Dreibelbis cousins have been and continue to be part of this development, I’m proud to say. Let me mention a few of the sixth generation.
(2143) William was graduated from Hahnemann in 1932 and has practiced at Snow Shoe until his recent retirement.
(2275) Grace Weiser and her husband had a bronze plaque and monument erected at Schuylkill Haven in honor of her great great grandfather, Martin (5).
(2691) Charles was the genealogist of the family. He was “Uncle Charlie” to several who are here. Many people have researched our family history. It remained for Charles to push the enterprise to completion and produce something that was published in 1966 and is of use to all of us. He had many disappointments and some cousins did not come through as he had hoped. I was guilty of that myself. He died in 1967.
(2729) Sally, (2731) George Parker – Both live on and continue to operate the Jacob B. (6) homestead farm.
(3037) Paul A. served as a member of the John Jacob Dreibelbis Plaque Committee, was president in 1973.
(3039) Ruth Detterline gave the address at the presentation of the John Jacob plaque at St. Peter’s Church on December 12, 1976.
(3061) John F. served as a member of the John Jacob Plaque Committee.
Now to identify a few members of the 7th generation. I must call these the younger generations since I’m 6th myself. These people are doing and have done much to perpetuate the traditions of our family.
(3269) Ernest was the founder and the first president of the John Jacob Cousins Association. He was president in 1931, 1932, 1933, and 1934
(3864) Jennie T. Trivelpiece retired in 1966, taught in the Bloomsburg Schools and plied much of the data concerning the Trivelpiece branch of the Dreibelbis Family, was Chairlady of the Dreibelbis Reunion held at Bloomsburg in 1936.
(5219) Paul L. was president of our association in 1962 and 1966 and a member of the John Jacob Dreibelbis Plaque Committee.
(5249) Earl J. is our president now and has been president since 1975. He was the secretary of the Dreibelbis Cousins from 1934 to 1953.
(5251) Harvey C. was president of our association in 1970, 1971, and 1972. He carried the family book through to publication and still has a quantity for sale. It becomes more valuable every year. He was also a member of the Plaque Committee.
(5252) Lloyd H. is the treasurer of our association and president of the William H. Dreibelbis Sons, Inc.
(5255) J. Paul Schildt is vice president of our association.
(5264) Eleanor D. Hill is secretary of our association and has been secretary since 1974.
Members of the 8th generation are active both in affairs of our family and public affairs.
(5308) Jacob D. along with Sally and Parker operate the Jacob B. (6) homestead.
(5744) Donald was active in the erection of the Dreibelbis Monument at State College, and in its dedication on October 16, 1977.
(5745) Galen was the designer and mason of the project. He was a state legislator.
(6670) Jason is active in family affairs and is Superintendent of Schools at Oxford, Pa.
(7128) Dana of the 9th generation spent a summer in India and has written for the Princetonian.
(7162) Bryan also of the 9th generation gave the closing prayer at the dedication of the plaque in St. Peter’s on December 12, 1976.
It’s time that this recital of family developments ended – past time in fact. I regret that many of the cousins who should have been recognized have not been included. Two years ago I suggested that we would do very well to follow the pattern of our fore bearers. It looks as though we may be doing just that. Let me close with an excerpt from Bryan’s prayer: “Make us grateful for our heritage. Help us to respond daily to the calling service to our country and one another.”