Above: Huber's Tavern on Google Maps Street View
The Huber farm, north of Lititz, is a landmark of Lititz Moravian history, because of its association with Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, patriarch of the Moravian Church. Count Zinzendorf preached at Huber's Tavern in 1742, and inspired the founding of the Moravian community of Lititz.
This farm is also a landmark of Lititz Mennonite history, because this farm is the home place of Shirley Hershey Showalter, the first female president of Goshen College. Shirley Showalter grew up on this farm. She describes her life on this homestead in her 2013 memoir Blush.
The Huber farmstead / tavern, here, were named for immigrant Jacob Huber. His family history is somewhat elusive. It is not known where in Europe he was born. And it is not known if he was related to the Mennonite Hubers on the adjoining farm, who were the family of Mennonite immigrant Hans Ulrich Huber.
If this Jacob Huber was Mennonite, he must have left the Mennonite church at some point, because his second marriage was to a Moravian woman, Magdalena Brechtbihl. Their marriage is recorded in the Warwick Moravian records. Jacob's daughter, Elizabeth Huber Stiegel, is buried at Brickerville's Emmanuel Lutheran church, where her husband Henry William Stiegel was a trustee. Jacob Huber's only son, John Huber, also was a member of this Brickerville Lutheran church, before he moved to Franklin County.
Mennonite families who lived on this farm from the 1800s to the 20th century included Erb, Snyder, and Hershey families, beginning with the Christian Erb family in 1802. Before then, the Joseph Gingrich family had also lived on this property, in the late 1700s.
Satellite View on Google Maps: Huber's Tavern (blue pin) & Erb Graveyard (purple pin):
View this farm in a larger Google map.
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A 1755 Stove Plate
By Ironmaster Jacob Huber, of Huber's Tavern:
Above: This is a side plate of a five-plate stove cast in 1755 by Jacob Huber, ironmaster at Elizabeth Furnace near Brickerville, Lancaster County. Huber built the original Huber's Tavern, which was later expanded ca. 1785. Today's Forgotten Seasons Bed and Breakfast is the most recent incarnation of Huber's Tavern.
This stove plate is a right-side plate. Five-plate stoves were built into fireplaces. These early stoves were replaced by freestanding six-plate stoves beginning in the early 1760s. (Stoveplate: Clarke Hess Collection)
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A 1788 Deed Release for the Huber's-Tavern Farm,
Signed by Two Daughters of Ironmaster Jacob Huber,
Barbara (Huber) Weidman and Eva (Huber) Stroh:
This document, above, contains the signatures of two daughters of Jacob Huber, and their husbands. This is the Jacob Huber who built Huber's Tavern. Also included is the signature of Joseph Gingrich, a prominent Warwick Township land owner who purchased this property.
The document states that the two sisters' have received their shares of their father's estate, and that they have no claim to this Huber property.
When this deed was executed, Barabara (Huber) Weidman lived with her huband Jacob in Cocalico Townhip. Her sister Eva (Huber) Stroh lived with her husband Nickläus Stroh in Warwick Township. Both sisters were able to sign their full names on this document, rather than just making a mark, indicating they were better educated than many other rural Lancaster County women during this era.
There were two additional Huber sisters. One sister, Elizabeth, died in 1758 at age 24. She was the first wife of Henry William Stiegel, the renowned colonial glassmaker. A fourth sister, Catherine Huber, was married to Michael Bright, and they lived in Reading, Berks County. (Deed release: Clarke Hess Collection)
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A 1784 Fraktur made for the Granddaughter of Ironmaster Jacob Huber,
Design attributed to Fraktur Artist Heinrich Otto and the Ephrata Cloister:
This colorful birth certificate records the 1768 birth of Catharina Weydmannin (Weidman) in Cocalico Township, Lancaster County. Catharine was the daughter of Jacob and Barbara (Huber) Weidman, and the granddaughter of ironmaster Jacob Huber.
The fraktur is partially hand-drawn, and hand-decorated by fraktur artist Heinrich Otto, one of Pennsylvania's most influential fraktur artists. Otto drew most of this fraktur's floral decoration. The fraktur's birds and other designs were printed with woodblocks, and the fraktur was partially printed at the Ephrata Cloister. (Image: Pook and Pook Inc.)
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An 1832 Deed from Jacob Johns to Joseph Brubacher
For Land including the Southern Portion of the Huber's Tavern Farm:
This sheepskin document, above, transfers two parcels of land, totaling 107 acres, from the estate of Levy (Levi) Johns, to Joseph Brubacher, to enlarge Joseph's farm, the Bucher-Brubaher Farm.
The deed is signed by Jacob Johns, and witnessed by Christian H. Rauch, the Lititz Moravian scrivener / surveyor who penned this document. It is also signed by Rudolph Rauch. This deed was not recorded at the Lancaster Courthouse until 1941, apparently because no one wanted to pay the recording fee. (Deed: Clarke Hess Collection)
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Christian and Barbara Snyder's Family, on this Huber's-Tavern Farm,
The Farm's 1854 Land Draft:
Surveyed and Drawn by Prof. Rickert and Israel Erb of Lititz:
Above: 1854 land draft for the Snyder Farm / Huber's Tavern.
With red-ink additions in 1900 by Mennonite surveyor Israel Erb.
In the mid-1800s this farm was owned by Clarke Hess' great-great-great grandparents Christian B. Snyder (1808-1868) and Barbara Brubaker Snyder. Christian and his parents were probably members of the Church of the Brethren denomination (a. k. a. German Baptists / Dunkards). Barbara was born into a Mennonite family who lived on the southern half of the adjoining Jacob-Huber tract. Apparently Barbara also joined the Brethren church. Some of the descendants Christian and Barbara were Brethren, and some were Mennonite.
The 1854 land draft, above, was surveyed and penned by Professor Ferdinand D. Rickert, of the Lititz Academy for Boys. Rickert succeeded John Beck as a director of this school. One of the Mennonite students of this academy, Israel G. Erb, became a surveyor and prominent businessman in Lititz.
This Snyder Farm / Huber Homestead was surveyed again in 1900 by Israel Erb for Nathan Snyder. Israel Erb added text and new survey bearings to this land draft in red ink. (Land draft: Clark Hess Collection)
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The Huber's-Tavern Farm:
Home Place of Shirley Hershey Showalter
(The First Female President of Goshen College)
Above: Two Portraits of Shirley Hershey Showalter. Credit: ShirleyShowalter.com
In 1930 this farm passed to Mennonite farm couple David Paul Hershey and wife Susan Brubaker Snyder. A granddaughter, Shirley Hershey Showalter became the first female president of Goshen College, a Mennonite college in Indiana. Shirely grew up on this farm. She describes her life on this home place in her memoir Blush, published in 2013.
The property left the Hershey family in 2001. The farmhouse is now a guest house, the Forgotten Seasons Bed and Breakfast, owned by Mennonites Jay and Kathy Wenger.
Above: Today the farmhouse is a bed-and-breakfast guest house. Credit: ForgottenSeasons.com