(Continued from Monday.)
We have met many Tobias Kreiders in the last four months, but now we are to meet the first one to bear the name in Lebanon county. This Tobias now under consideration was one of the four brothers, sons of Jacob the settler, to divide the 585 acres on Snitz Creek.
Tobias received 149 1/2 acres of this tract as his portion; it was the extreme western part of it, as the extreme eastern part fell to his brother Christian, with the brothers Martin and George in between. Tobias' tract was bounded on the north by land of George Stites, the founder of Lebanon, on the east by George Kreider, on the south by the land of one Adam Bough; the present Mace farm, and on the west by the land of his Uncle John Kreider, the present Lorenzo Laudermilch farm. In other words, Tobias' farm embraced the present Urich farm.
The old Kreider cemetery was laid out on the line between the two original Kreider tracts, the eastern half of it being on the land of Tobias. His father Jacob was likely the first Kreider buried here.
Tobias Kreider, the First, was born March 23, 1734; made his will Aug. 3, 1803; and died July 31, 1806; aged 72 years. His wife's given name was Mary. He makes his son Christian one of the executors of his will. Christian in 1808 lived in Hamilton township, Franklin county. The Franklin county fever struck the family of Tobias very hard. Tobias leaves all his plantation of 149 1/2 acres to his son Tobias, Jr., known as "Big Tobias." which plantation in 1803 joined land of George Kreider (to the east), John Kreider (to the west), Leonard Zimmerman (to the south), and the out lots of Lebanon (to the north).
Tobias, the First, had 7 children:
Considering the intelligence of the Kreider's have you never wondered that the Kreider Settlement did not produce a school house? We have just seen a long string of Kreider school teachers. School teaching must have been in them or it would never have come out. Of course, sometimes it does not come out; sometimes it is only put on. The old Dunker preachers used to say that a sheep grows wool, it is in the nature of the animal to grow wool. So plain clothing, they said, grew out of the plain life within. The Mennonites were likely the same way. So when you see a Kreider teaching school it is likely because it is in the blood. And the Kreider Settlement had a school house. It was in the blood.
Jacob Kreider, doubtless Big Jacob the Commissioner, and Elizabeth on March 31, 1831, transferred for one dollar a lot of 20 perches of land to Tobias Lantz and Samuel Hauck "Trustees of a certain school house which shall be erected and shall be called Kreider's School House." It was on "a Road running between this land and other land of Jacob Kreider to Colebrook Furnace." by land of Samuel Hauck and of Leonard Zimmerman. The land was to revert to the original owner if the property ceased to be used for school purposes.
This school house is now called Bomberger's. Tobias Lantz was the father of our Senator Lantz, Tobias' mother having been a Kreider, daughter of Tobias, the First.
We, of course, have seen school interest cropping out of the Kreiders along the way, not only in the lower grades but also in the upper. Though near the close of Kreider history, we shall yet see a little Kreider interest in education before we get to the end. But remember there was a Kreider school on the old Kreider Settlement on Snitz Creek, and we are sure it did not begin with the above deed of 1831.
"Big Tobias" Kreider was the only son, perhaps the only child, of Tobias the First, who remained in Lebanon county; and he inherited the home place, the brother John likely having an interest in it. Tobias' brother Christian, executor of the father's will, conveyed the home farm of 149 1/2 acres of Tobias on Nov. 8, 1808. He also owned lots in Lebanon. Tobias married Barbara Long, b. April 13, 1782; d. May 27, 1877. He is said to have died of typhoid fever; he died 32 years before the death of his wife, who it will be noticed lived to be 95 years old. Tobias made his will Feb. 22, 1836, and names as executors his son Solomon and his nephew Tobias Lantz. The home farm is left to his sons Solomon and Abraham. He had 3 children:
Gottlieb Kreider, doubtless the oldest of his parents, was married Oct. 16, 1823, to Sarah Light, b. May 10, 1805; d. Mar 30, 1834; buried in the old Kreider cemetery. She was a daughter of Henry and Magdalena Light. Gottlieb was a butcher in the borough of Lebanon, for on Feb. 20, 1833, Gottlieb Kreider of the borough of Lebanon, butcher, and wife Sarah conveyed two lots in the borough to John Kreider of Lebanon township, gentleman. After the death of Sarah, Gottlieb married Mrs. Margaret Stager, nee Hess, but he is buried beside the first wife in the old Kreider cemetery. We have no particulars about the second wife.
From Lebanon Gottlieb moved to Pinegrove, where he must have farmed, for the records tell us that "Gottlieb" Kreider of Pinegrove, Schuylkill county, yeoman, on April 17, 1847, conveyed to George Gleim, gentleman, of Lebanon, lots in Lebanon which "Gottlieb" had received from the estate of his father, Tobias, his mother and brother having conveyed them to him. Gottlieb brought over from Pinegrove the first coal brought from that place to Lebanon. He moved from Pinegrove to Harrisburg, where he died. He is also said to have been a brickmaker. He had 9 children, 4 by his first wife:
-Stoever Records from Mrs. Sarah A. Funk.
-Gottlieb Kreider Records from Mrs. Funk.
Solomon Kreider, son of "Big Tobias," married Christiana Kreider, daughter of Abraham, son of Rev. Martin, on the east side of the Colebrook road. See a former issue of The News. Big Tobias by his will of Feb. 22, 1836, left his farm to his sons, Solomon and Abraham. Abraham conveyed his share to Solomon on December 29, 1847. Solomon had 2 children: