Hello and Happy 2019, history fans! I'm looking forward to another year of sharing with you the fascinating stories of our beloved commonwealth. To start us off, I'm back in my native Lehigh County for a marker which I pass almost every day.
A few months ago I told you about Fort Allen, up in Carbon County, which was built during the French and Indian War to help protect the local settlers from Native American raids. In fact, Pennsylvania was home to quite a number of similar forts, most of which are gone. One of these stood in Whitehall, near what today is Route 145, and it was called Fort Deshler.
Like Fort Allen, Fort Deshler was commissioned by Benjamin Franklin to provide the locals with a place of safety in a time of need. Our best understanding of its appearance comes to us from Charles R. Roberts, who served as a secretary of the Lehigh County Historical Society in the early 20th century. According to him, this is where it was situated and how it looked:
No photographs of the structure survive as far as I've been able to determine; however, the Wikipedia page does have an engraving of the building as it appeared in 1895. It depicts a beautiful rosy-brick building with trees and an elegant lawn.
The origins of the fort, and we can again thank Mr. Roberts for the fact that we know this, date back to 1737, when four hundred acres of land were surveyed and issued to a man named John Reinberry. By 1743, the tract of land had been divided into two parts and sold to two men. One of these was George Kern, a Swiss immigrant; he was a prominent citizen of the area, one of those who petitioned for the creation of Whitehall Township, and his home was used for worship services until a proper church was built. He was also my eighth great-grandfather through his oldest son, George Jacob.
The other man who bought the Reinberry tract was Frederic Newhard, and we mostly remember him as the man who in turn sold it to another Swiss immigrant by the name of Adam Deshler. Deshler acquired the land in February 1750; he was one of the most successful farmers in the area, and as such he was able to shoulder the responsibility of furnishing provisions to the provincial troops stationed in the area.
Adjacent to the main part of the building was a large wooden building which was appropriate for use as a barracks by twenty soldiers, as well as storing supplies. However, there is no evidence that Fort Deshler was ever actually garrisoned with troops, or even that it served any sort of military purpose. Its primary use was to house Deshler and his family; beyond that, it was mostly used for "a place of refuge and rendezvous for settlers of the region." Compared to most houses in the area at that time, it was regarded as something of a mansion.
Fort Deshler features in an article in Franklin's own Pennsylvania Gazette, in October 1763. Franklin printed an excerpt from a letter posted from Bethlehem, relating the horror of a Native American attack on the settlers in Whitehall. Some weeks back I wrote about Abraham Blumer, who alongside John Mickley brought the bells of Philadelphia to Allentown for safekeeping from the British; Mickley's family was among those attacked, and two of his children were killed. In all there were approximately fifteen murdered on the occasion. Among the survivors was Nicholas Marks, a shoemaker, who escaped with his wife and apprentice; they were able to flee to the safety of Fort Deshler, where armed men gathered and went out to try to rescue their neighbors. Apart from Mr. Roberts's writings, this is the last time Fort Deshler appears in contemporary records.
Adam Deshler died in 1781. He was a member of the Egypt Reformed congregation and is buried in that church's cemetery. He and his wife, Apollonia, had three sons and four daughters; the youngest, Catherine, married Peter Kern, son of the aforementioned George. So I'm related to Fort Deshler by marriage. Adam Deshler, Jr. inherited the fort and its property, and it remained in the direct family line for the next century and change. Finally, in November 1899, it was sold to the Coplay Cement Company, which you may remember from my post about the nearby Saylor Kilns. The company, regrettably, did not maintain the fort, and it was demolished a few decades later.
Today, most people don't really know where the fort stood. As part of the celebration of MacArthur Road's 75th anniversary in 2017, an initiative was launched to find the old foundations and see what could be recovered. Although special imaging was able to locate the foundation, it's covered by a significant amount of fill and can't easily be accessed. However, plans are in place to erect signs along the Ironton Rail-Trail which will indicate where the stone fort stood and why it was significant to the local history.
I attempted to get an idea of where it stood, myself. The trail runs along the Coplay Creek, and the fort was situated to the north, so I made my best estimate based on Roberts's descriptions and the official marker. As far as I could guess, it probably stood somewhere in this picture. I'm looking forward to that sign project to tell me how close I got.
"Fort Deshler." Allentown Leader, Allentown, PA, January 1, 1908. Courtesy of Newspapers.com.
Roberts, Charles Rhoads; Rev. John Baer Stoudt; Rev. Thomas H. Krick; William J. Dietrich. History of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, and a Genealogical and Biographical Records of its Families. Lehigh Valley Publishing Company, 1914.
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Report of the Commission to Locate the Site of the Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania. Clarence M. Busch, State Printer of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, 1896.
Recker, Al. "Fort Deshler dig." Whitehall-Coplay Press, Whitehall, PA, September 27, 2017.
Adam Deshler at FindAGrave.com
Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.
A few months ago I told you about Fort Allen, up in Carbon County, which was built during the French and Indian War to help protect the local settlers from Native American raids. In fact, Pennsylvania was home to quite a number of similar forts, most of which are gone. One of these stood in Whitehall, near what today is Route 145, and it was called Fort Deshler.
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| The marker is found along Route 145 northbound, just south of the Chestnut Street intersection |
Fort Deshler... stands near the Coplay Creek and the Ironton Railroad, between Coplay and Egypt. It is a substantially built stone structure, 40 feet long and 30 feet in width, two stories high, with walls two feet thick, and heavy timbers supporting the interior. There were originally but a few small windows in the sides, each with four panes of glass, but more have since been added, and in the gable-ends were square loopholes. A large hearth or chimney occupies the center of the house and divides the lower and upper stories into two apartments... The house was well prepared to withstand any attacks, as it was so strongly built, and furthermore it is said there was a well within the walls.
No photographs of the structure survive as far as I've been able to determine; however, the Wikipedia page does have an engraving of the building as it appeared in 1895. It depicts a beautiful rosy-brick building with trees and an elegant lawn.
The origins of the fort, and we can again thank Mr. Roberts for the fact that we know this, date back to 1737, when four hundred acres of land were surveyed and issued to a man named John Reinberry. By 1743, the tract of land had been divided into two parts and sold to two men. One of these was George Kern, a Swiss immigrant; he was a prominent citizen of the area, one of those who petitioned for the creation of Whitehall Township, and his home was used for worship services until a proper church was built. He was also my eighth great-grandfather through his oldest son, George Jacob.
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| The Coplay Creek, as viewed from the grounds where Fort Deshler once stood |
Adjacent to the main part of the building was a large wooden building which was appropriate for use as a barracks by twenty soldiers, as well as storing supplies. However, there is no evidence that Fort Deshler was ever actually garrisoned with troops, or even that it served any sort of military purpose. Its primary use was to house Deshler and his family; beyond that, it was mostly used for "a place of refuge and rendezvous for settlers of the region." Compared to most houses in the area at that time, it was regarded as something of a mansion.
Fort Deshler features in an article in Franklin's own Pennsylvania Gazette, in October 1763. Franklin printed an excerpt from a letter posted from Bethlehem, relating the horror of a Native American attack on the settlers in Whitehall. Some weeks back I wrote about Abraham Blumer, who alongside John Mickley brought the bells of Philadelphia to Allentown for safekeeping from the British; Mickley's family was among those attacked, and two of his children were killed. In all there were approximately fifteen murdered on the occasion. Among the survivors was Nicholas Marks, a shoemaker, who escaped with his wife and apprentice; they were able to flee to the safety of Fort Deshler, where armed men gathered and went out to try to rescue their neighbors. Apart from Mr. Roberts's writings, this is the last time Fort Deshler appears in contemporary records.
Adam Deshler died in 1781. He was a member of the Egypt Reformed congregation and is buried in that church's cemetery. He and his wife, Apollonia, had three sons and four daughters; the youngest, Catherine, married Peter Kern, son of the aforementioned George. So I'm related to Fort Deshler by marriage. Adam Deshler, Jr. inherited the fort and its property, and it remained in the direct family line for the next century and change. Finally, in November 1899, it was sold to the Coplay Cement Company, which you may remember from my post about the nearby Saylor Kilns. The company, regrettably, did not maintain the fort, and it was demolished a few decades later.
Today, most people don't really know where the fort stood. As part of the celebration of MacArthur Road's 75th anniversary in 2017, an initiative was launched to find the old foundations and see what could be recovered. Although special imaging was able to locate the foundation, it's covered by a significant amount of fill and can't easily be accessed. However, plans are in place to erect signs along the Ironton Rail-Trail which will indicate where the stone fort stood and why it was significant to the local history.
I attempted to get an idea of where it stood, myself. The trail runs along the Coplay Creek, and the fort was situated to the north, so I made my best estimate based on Roberts's descriptions and the official marker. As far as I could guess, it probably stood somewhere in this picture. I'm looking forward to that sign project to tell me how close I got.
Sources and Further Reading:
"Fort Deshler." Allentown Leader, Allentown, PA, January 1, 1908. Courtesy of Newspapers.com.
Roberts, Charles Rhoads; Rev. John Baer Stoudt; Rev. Thomas H. Krick; William J. Dietrich. History of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, and a Genealogical and Biographical Records of its Families. Lehigh Valley Publishing Company, 1914.
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Report of the Commission to Locate the Site of the Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania. Clarence M. Busch, State Printer of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, 1896.
Recker, Al. "Fort Deshler dig." Whitehall-Coplay Press, Whitehall, PA, September 27, 2017.
Adam Deshler at FindAGrave.com
If you've enjoyed this, please leave a comment!
Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.
Loved your blog! ! My 2 sisters and I went on this quest in 2016. We are descendants of Adam Deshler, so we are cousins of some sort! I am seeking sources to trace Adam’s father David back in Germany——
ReplyDeleteHi Janet, thanks so much for writing! I'm glad you enjoyed the piece and that it was seen by one of Adam's own descendants, that's very exciting. :D Apart from the links I have at the end of the post, the only thing I can think to suggest is Ancestry.com - they have access to tons of resources. If you can find David anywhere, you'll probably find him there. Good luck!
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