Changing Landscapes People and Places in the Mill Creek Valley Lower Merion c.1870-c.1920

Herman Bauer

Phase 1: The Life of a Farmer

 

Herman Bauer: Known property owner in 1877

Several decades of immigration waves had brought thousands of German settlers to Pennsylvania in the mid-18th century.  As most of these immigrants were farmers, many of them settled in the suburbs of present day Philadelphia where the land was fertile and workable[1].  Between 1871 and 1877, a farmer bought a plot of land, which existed off of present day Mill Creek Road and just south of Righters Mill Road, from land owner Charles Greaves[2].  As the new owner’s name suggested, Herman Bauer (Bauer is German for “farmer” or “peasant”)[3], was a farmer who made a temporary home on a 63 acre plot of land on a plateau above Mill Creek in present day Gladwyne, PA[4].   Bauer was likely the first or second generation of his family to be born in America.   Though Bauer’s ancestors likely emigrated from Europe as a family, it is unclear whether Herman Bauer made a family of his own.   Bauer appears in neither the 1870 nor the 1880 censuses, suggesting that he did not live on the property long enough to be recorded in them.  As well, by the time the 1881 Lower Merion atlases were published, Herman Bauer had gone[5].  was not the owner of this lush and secluded piece of land for long – by the time the 1881 atlases were published, Herman Bauer had gone.  When Charles Greaves sold the land to Bauer, he divided the property in half, following the contour of the river, and sold the other half to Robert Town, who would continue to be a property neighbor until 1900[6].  Based on the 1877 atlas, there appear to be three buildings on the 63 acre property on the most north-east corner of the plot of land[7].  This would leave Bauer’s front and side yards spacious for farming.  With the Second Industrial Revolution having occurred only a few decades earlier, the rise of Industrial America was just beginning and had yet to make its way into the suburbs.  Because of this, most, if not all, of Bauer’s neighbors at the time were farmers and owned plots of land at least 30 acres[8]

The physical characteristics of the property are notable; the land exists on a plateau above Mill Creek Road, the river, and one of its small tributaries.  While the historic atlases and maps are deceptive because they do not accurately show land elevation, modern technology aids the effort.  Google Earth shows the land elevation to be at 240 feet above sea level, which is about 100 feet higher than the elevation on Mill Creek Road.  Presently, there is a high arch stone bridge supports the property, under which a manmade tunnel allows a tributary of the creek to run through it.  Although there are few available historical documents suggesting when the tunnel was built, it is probable that at least a rudimentary tunnel was created when the land was settled to allow residents of the property to traverse Mill Creek and keep their land from flooding or becoming overly saturated and prevent successful farming.  Exploration of the property concludes that the land is quite flat and does not appear to have any embedded rocks of other obstructions for those who farmed it.

The Reinboth Family: Known property owners from 1881-1900

By the time the 1880 census was conducted and the Lower Merion atlas of 1881 was published, our farmer Herman Bauer had left the Mill Creek Area.  The next known owners of the property were the Reinboths, another farming family of German heritage who settled on the lush land near Mill Creek.   Although the census in 1880 only indicates two individuals, John and Sarah Reinboth[9], living at this address, the census data from 1870 shows 10 household members living with John H Reinboth, then 18 years old, at their address in Philadelphia[10].  It is quite probable that most, if not all, of the individuals listed in the 1870 census moved to Lower Merion to tend to the lush 63 acre farm.  Individuals with the surname “Reinboth” remained the known owners of this property until 1900[11].   John H. and his wife Sarah were the originally property owners when the Reinboth clan purchased the property from Bauer.  The atlases become a bit muddled when John H. died at the age of 32 in 1884 – a published atlas in 1886[12] indicates the property is still owned by John H., and likely being run by his wife and the rest of the family, but another atlas from 1887 indicates that the property owner is John N.[13], though there are no John N. Reinboths in the census and this name only appears on the atlas.  What is likely is that there was an error on the atlas, as the H and the N could be misread with the delicate calligraphy on the atlases, and it is supposed to read “John H.”.  In 1893, however, the property ownership is changed over to Elmira (Almira) Reinboth, John H.’s mother and wife of Geo (George) F. Reinboth[14].  By 1896, the ownership was back to John N. (likely another typing error meant to read “John H.”) and by 1900, it was the Estate of John M. Reinboth[15].  Again, this is likely another error, as there were only two John Reinboths in the available census information: John H. and John C., who was John H.’s grandfather. 

According to John H. Reinboth’s will, which detailed the inventory of his farm, the property was renounced for unknown reasons.  Shallow exploration of the census and atlas information would suggest that John H. and Sarah Reinboth renounced the property to their son, John M., but upon determining John H. and Sarah’s ages around 1880, it is highly improbable that the couple would have raised a son who would be old enough to be the legal owner of a farm.  Because the available atlases showing ownership of the property are inconsistent, and given the improbability of a young man, or more likely an infant, being the property owner[16]

Household Members in the 1870 Census[17]

" "Age

" " Professions

Geo F

41

Blacksmith

Almira

40

keeping house

John H

18

Locomotors Builder

George W

15

Furniture store employee

Lizzie

13

student

John C

76

Retired

Joseph D

27

Tavern keeper

Caroline

35

Paper box maker

James Martin

21

Blacksmith

Harry Marin

17

Blacksmith



[1] Lower Merion Historical Society. "Immigration, the Great Equilizer." The Lower Merion Historical Society. http://lowermerionhistory.org/dev/sample-page/ full-text-resources/david-j-schmidt-collection/immigration-the-great-equalizer. 

[2] Lower Merion Historical Society.  "Main Line Atlases Collection." The Lower Merion Historical Society. http://www.lowermerionhistory.org/atlas.html.

[3] http://www.dictionary.com/reference

[4] Lower Merion Historical Society.  "Main Line Atlases Collection." The Lower Merion Historical Society. http://www.lowermerionhistory.org/atlas.html.

[5] Lower Merion Historical Society.  "Main Line Atlases Collection." The Lower Merion Historical Society. http://www.lowermerionhistory.org/atlas.html.

[6] Lower Merion Historical Society.  "Main Line Atlases Collection." The Lower Merion Historical Society. http://www.lowermerionhistory.org/atlas.html.

[7] Lower Merion Historical Society.  "Main Line Atlases Collection." The Lower Merion Historical Society. http://www.lowermerionhistory.org/atlas.html.

[8] Lower Merion Historical Society.  "Main Line Atlases Collection." The Lower Merion Historical Society. http://www.lowermerionhistory.org/atlas.html.

[9] Ancestry.com. U.S., Census, 1880 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. 

[10] Ancestry.com. U.S., Census, 1870. [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. 

[11] Lower Merion Historical Society.  "Main Line Atlases Collection." The Lower Merion Historical Society. http://www.lowermerionhistory.org/atlas.html.

[12] Lower Merion Library System. "Historical Atlases of Lower Merion." Lower Merion Library System. http://www.lmls.org/research_atlastoc.html. 

[13] Lower Merion Historical Society.  "Main Line Atlases Collection." The Lower Merion Historical Society. http://www.lowermerionhistory.org/atlas.html.

[14] Lower Merion Historical Society.  "Main Line Atlases Collection." The Lower Merion Historical Society. http://www.lowermerionhistory.org/atlas.html.

[15] Lower Merion Historical Society.  "Main Line Atlases Collection." The Lower Merion Historical Society. http://www.lowermerionhistory.org/atlas.html.

[16] Lower Merion Historical Society.  "Main Line Atlases Collection." The Lower Merion Historical Society. http://www.lowermerionhistory.org/atlas.html.

[17] Ancestry.com. U.S., Census, 1870. [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. 

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