The 9th Stoltzfus House
Benefit Auction,
a Bring Something and
Buy Something auction,
was held Saturday, May 14, 2011.
Benefit Auction,
a Bring Something and
Buy Something auction,
was held Saturday, May 14, 2011.
The building permit for the barn is expected any day. The Borough of Wyomissing has been very helpful. David Esh, builder, is ready to begin, excavation could occur by the auction time.
Leroy Beachy, author of the newly released Unser Leit: The story of the Amish, will sell the two volume, 500 pages each, work from the back of his pick-up. He will sign copies and hold conversation.
The Benefit Auction will be held at the Nicholas Stoltzfus House, 1700 Tulpehocken Rd, Wyomissing, May 14, from 8:00 to mid afternoon.
Come for breakfast at 8:00. During breakfast and till the auction begins the Sanger Chor again will sing Pensylvania Dutch songs.
Chicken and beef barbeques, hamburgers, hot dogs, ice cream, baked goods, hot and cold drinks and more will be available for purchase all day.
Items to be auctioned include a large variety of goods including: crafts, new furniture, sheds, tools, mailboxes, lawn furniture, garden tools, flowers, shrubs, toys, and many other items that have been donated. Donated items will be accepted at the sale… it is a bring and buy auction.
Quilts At 11:00 AM, authentic, mostly Amish and Mennonite made, will be sold.
Other events include continuous showings of a video by Zach Stoltzfus entitled "European Roots of Nicholas Stoltzfus" and, a video by Jack Parmer entitled "Ten Years of Progress on the Nicholas Stoltzfus House." Chris P. Stoltzfus will be available to answer questions. Don Carpenter also will be on hand to talk about the early Union County settlement.
Hot cider will be cooking in the fireplace, Claudette Esh will be spinning wool, and Rich Pawling will be portraying the canal boatman, telling of the Union Canal that went by the house.
Other vendors participating include: J.Alan Boyer, oil paintings; Janet Bashore, Ann Deschler handmade crafts, Masthof Bookstore, Anita Blew: the Pampered chef, and handmade pottery by Steve Witmer of Churchtown. (Contact Lorraine Smoker: 717-354-8834)
To donate items call Brian Smoker: 717-626-2668.
To make bus reservations from the Pequea area call
Amos Zook: 717-768-7739 or
Lorraine Smoker: 717-354-8834.
For further information contact the Stoltzfus House at
610-373-6206, or Paul Kurtz at 717-367-3906.
This is the model of the Barn as portrayed by John Parmer:
The Unser Leit volumes rank with the earlier Amish and Amish Mennonite Genealogies by Gingerich and Kreider, now republished by Pequea Bruderschaft Library.
Nicholas Stoltzfus is here depicted in the context of the larger Amish community, from Unser Leit.
Beachy in the mid 1990s researched Amish homesteads in Berks County. He collected barn doors from the John Zook homestead in the mid 1990s which he will bring and donate to Stoltzfus House collection.
This is a barn-bridge photo taken about 10 years ago on the site of the barn..
John Zook himself moved to Chester County, but his son Daniel, an Amish minister, built this house in 1802 which is now the office of operations for Penn State Berks. The house was built shortly after Nicholas’ son, Christian, moved with his family to Lancaster County. The Zooks were one of nearly 70 families that Nicholas Stoltzfus would have known and worshipped with when he lived from 1770 to 1774 in Cumru Township.
Leroy, who is from Berlin, Ohio, is recognized as one of the most knowledgeable among those who have studied Amish history. In recent years he has led tours of European heritage sites. His work will be a leading source for the Amish story.