Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Religious Persecution in Today's Pennsylvania -- What Will We Schwenkfelders Do About It??




Pennsylvania Couple Fined for Using Farm for Bible Study, Prayer Groups




Amanda Casanova Religion Today Contributing Writer | Monday, August 13, 2018
Pennsylvania Couple Fined for Using Farm for Bible Study, Prayer Groups

PENNSYLVANIA COUPLE FINED FOR USING FARM FOR BIBLE STUDY, PRAYER GROUPS


A couple in Pennsylvania has been served a cease-and-desist order for using their 32-acre farm for private prayer groups.
Scott and Terri Fetterolf received the order in 2017 after the Borough of Sewickley Heights in Pennsylvania claimed the farm “was being used improperly as a place of worship, a place of assembly and as a commercial venue and ‘special studio or school.’”
The borough is charging $500 for each permit if the couple wants to continue hosting activities at their farm.
The Fetterolf farm also has a yarn and wool shop and sells produce and flowers. The farm is also host to educational classes and private events.
The couple has filed an appeal to the cease-and desist order and is waiting to hear a decision from the federal court.
"I don't seek to sue my borough and cause taxes to go up, I'm just trying to live my life,” Terri told the local newspaper.
The Fetterolfs are represented by the Independence Law Center, which is a branch of the Pennsylvania Family Institute.
"What they're doing here is they are requiring them to make a request with the zoning board and get permission to hold a Bible study... require them to go through a public hearing to receive permission... and that kind of prior restraining is unconstitutional and infringing on their right to freely exercise their religion," said Jeremy Samek, senior counsel for the Independence Law Center.
Samek says the couple cannot have Bible studies, church staff retreats or meeting or any church fundraisers at their farm.
Attorneys for the borough say Bible studies could be labeled a class, which needs a permit. The farm is located in what’s been zoned a Historical-Rural Residential District.
Publication Date: August 13, 2018
Photo Courtesy: Unsplash

Saturday, July 14, 2018

Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center to Expand

I would like to thank my sister, Janet Butterweck, for emailing me this article, and the Town and Country for publishing it and all those responsible for making this expansion possible.

Forrest





 
Local News Article
Return to Previous Page

Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center to Expand
Written by Larry Roeder, Editor
2018-07-12
"Honoring the Past … Building for the Future" Campaign Begins Sunday

https://ecp.yusercontent.com/mail?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.upvnews.com%2Fnews%2Fcontent%2Fimages%2Fwebsite%2520slhc%2520sketch.jpg&t=1531584478&ymreqid=18cdf68a-da0b-916f-01b2-6c0003010000&sig=twxg0sTxgSoPRnqcusHrPA--~C
https://ecp.yusercontent.com/mail?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.upvnews.com%2Fnews%2Fcontent%2Fimages%2Fwebsite%2520slhc%2520dave.jpg&t=1531584478&ymreqid=18cdf68a-da0b-916f-01b2-6c0003010000&sig=R4gqoZ1tw9B6DWFquAhrJQ--~C
An artist's rendering shows the view from the rear of the existing structure.
SLHC Executive Director Dave Luz stands on the site where the "bank" barn will be constructed.

           Truly one of the gems of the Upper Perkiomen Valley, the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center (SLHC) preserves and presents a history of Schwenkfelder Church as well as the region.  They do so with a passion and professionalism that is on display to every visitor.
            More than 9,000 visitors are welcomed each year at the SLHC.  They come to enjoy the collections and conduct genealogical research; they are local historians and international scholars.  More than 100 educational programs are offered each year to children and adults.
            It has been written that "Nothing replaces the authenticity of the object presented with passionate scholarship. Bringing people face-to-face with historical objects is a way of bringing them face-to-face with people across time, across space, whose lives may have been different from our own but who, like us, have hopes and dreams, frustrations and achievements in their lives."
            What began in the 1880's as a collection of books and manuscripts kept in a home and mostly pertaining to the Schwenkfelder Church, has grown to become a well-known research facility and museum.
            The problem with historical collections is that with the passing of time, the number of artifacts grows and so does the space needed to present the history.
            The Schwenkfelder collection was moved to the Carnegie Library at the Perkiomen Seminary School in 1913.  The building was designed to provide floor space and housing for the collection of historical materials.
            Continued growth was inevitable and a building was constructed at 105 Seminary St. in Pennsburg, and dedicated in 1951 - it was the Schwenkfelder Library.  While documents were moved into the new building for storage and research use, the museum collection remained in the Carnegie Library building.
            In 2001, a large addition for storage and exhibition of the museum collection was added and renamed the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center.  It is the facility we know today.
            Now, it's time to grow again.
            This Sunday, officials of the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage (SLHC) Center will be launching a $3.6 million capital campaign to increase the size of the museum by 50% and move an historic bank barn onto its campus. 
            According to a statement released by SLHC Campaign Manager Rachel Osborn, the Center's success has caused it to outgrow its exhibition, education, storage, research, and conservation space. To address this problem, a two-level, 12,150-square-foot addition will be built.
            Also, an early 19th century barn from the Seipt family home in Towamencin will be moved to the Pennsburg site.  The barn is from the homestead of Honorary Campaign Chair Fred Seipt of Lansdale.  Seipt is the founder of Freddy Hill Farms.  The barn will be disassembled, relocated, restored and made accessible to visitors via a walkway from the main museum building.
            The plan will allow expansion of collections and will make a far larger portion of the Heritage Center's holdings visible to the public. It will also allow new exhibitions of rural life and entrepreneurship, with significant artifacts that demonstrate the impact of early immigrant settlers far beyond the Perkiomen Valley region, including a 19th century Conestoga wagon acquired from the Valley Forge National Historic Park.
            In addition to the barn, the plan features an expanded library, new rural life gallery, and new rural entrepreneurship gallery.  Also, the existing patio on the original façade will be extended to create a new Board/Meeting Room.
            According to SLHC Executive Director Dave Luz construction, hopefully, should begin around the end of August and complete in the fall of 2019.  He thanked borough officials for their help in moving the project along saying, "Pennsburg Borough is very supportive of the Heritage Center in general and especially of this project."
            "Appearing at Borough Council meetings has always been a very positive experience for me – all the members are encouraging of the Heritage Center and view the Heritage Center as a strong asset to the Upper Perkiomen Valley community.  The Borough staff has also been very helpful in assisting us as we move through the process of obtaining official borough approvals."
            For more information about the "Honoring the Past … Building for the Future" capital campaign, please contact Dave Luz or Rachel Osborn at 215-679-3103 or info@schwenkfelder.com.

Make yourself at home.


Saturday, February 24, 2018

AN AMAZING FAMILY OF SCHULTZES: The Children of Levi & Elizabeth Schultz)

AN  AMAZING  FAMILY  OF  SCHULTZES

(The  Children  of  Levi & Elizabeth Schultz)


Note -- this appeared as an article in the magazine of Perkiomen School.  I remember reading it as a boy.  I wish to thank Andy Martin, son of Paul S. Martin, son of Daisy Schultz Martin for emailing it to me in this format, which you can use to download it.


http://www.cohp.org/writers/AndyMartin/AlfredSchultz/AmazingFamilyofSchultzes.pdf

 AmazingFamilyofSchultzes.pdf

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

THE DEMISE OF THE FAMILY FARM -- Reviews of Darlene D. Schneck's "The Last Generation on the Farm...A Vanished Way Of Life

The  Demise  Of  The  Family  Farm:

An  Illustrative  Example  From  Eastern  Pennsylvania

Darlene Della Schneck, ed. The Last Generation On The Farm:  The Clarence and       Della Geissinger Family and a Vanished Way of Life (Create Space, 2017)  
                                                 160 pages   $21.99    ISBN: 9781548023614

Reviewer:  Forrest Wayne Schultz          Date:  January 10, 2018

     I do not recall ever visiting the farm in this book even though I grew up on a farm only a few miles south of it, and was a member of one of the churches there, the Palm Schwenkfelder Church.  And one of the individuals mentioned, Edwin Fox, was one of my Sunday School teachers at this church;  and the school mentioned, Perkiomen, was founded by the Schwenkfelders and was the one from which my father and his brothers and sisters graduated.  And our barn, like the one in this book, was a bank barn, so I know what that means!  Also, like their house, ours had a maple tree in the yard from a branch of which a swing was attached.  We also had apple trees, but ours were in the cow pasture.   And I know the pies and cakes in the book, but, surprisingly, one of those my mother baked had a different name, “Shoo Fly Pie”, not “Shoo Fly Cake”.  I also know about curing meat hung from hooks inside a wall smoked by a fireplace fire.  And, as a boy my mother sent me to the barn to fetch vinegar from a keg stored there many years ago.  I also knew of the Normal School in Kutztown because both my maternal grandmother and an elderly lady in East Greenville I knew graduated from it.   And, when it later became Kutztown State Teachers College, my brother-in-law Clare Reihman got a B.S. and M.S. in science education there.  In regard to the farm safety mentioned, I know of its importance both from the films I saw at the Advisory Board meetings of the Lehigh Valley Cooperative Farmers, and also from the horrific accident with the manure spreader on the farm of Claude Bieler (directly south of our farm) suffered by his son Richard, who fortunately recovered and who now owns the farm.  I remember him being in the hospital for a while and for a while hobbling around on crutches! 

-1-

         The book mentions the cordial relationship between the Schwenkfelders and the Mennonites which I experienced also, one example of which was the joint Thanksgiving Services which the Palm Schwenkfelder Church had each year with a nearby Mennonite Church (whose name I do not remember).  We alternated years – one year at our church, the next at the Mennonite Church.  I am surprised that this fact was not mentioned in the book.  On the other hand one thing the author mentions that I did not know was that there is a Mennonite Heritage Center in Harleysville, PA.  The only thing I knew about Harleysville when I lived in PA was that the Harleysville baloney was the best brand there was! 

     Our farm (the Scholtop Dairy Farm) was located in Upper Hanover Township, which is at the extreme northern end of Montgomery County.  The people discussed in this book lived in Upper Milford and Hereford Townships slightly north of where Montgomery County ends.  The family farm on which I grew up and the family farm in this book both ended during the 1960s – our farm in 1961 and the farm of this book in 1967.

     Today there is a lot of talk about “traditional American values”.  This book provides some good examples of what that means.  However, when I was growing up, people didn’t use terms like that!!  Also my father highly valued work and praised those who were hard workers, but he never said anything about “the work ethic”!  The most concise way to summarize all this is found in the words of the Mennonite historian Forrest Moyer on the rear jacket, where he says that this book provides “a window into the historic rural culture of southern Lehigh County”, which is true but it needs to be noted that this same culture was also found in Montgomery County as well as the other Pennsylvania Dutch communities generally up until the middle of the twentieth century!!     

      I highly recommend this book for its well-told story about this farm, as I did the author’s earlier book about the adventures of Isaac Schultz.  These reviews plus more about what I have to say about our farm and ancestors and the Upper Perkiomen Valley are on my blog  http://schwenkfelderschultzes.blogspot.com.         


-2-
ADDENDUM:

Home Movies of this family can be viewed on this U Tube email address;



HERE  IS  THE  AMAZON  REVIEW  BY  K.  VESTAL

July 31, 2017
Format: Paperback


Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Photo Of Tombstone of Wayne S. Schultz & List of Dates of Birth & Death Of Him & His Parents And Siblings

PHOTO  OF  TOMBSTONE  OF  WAYNE  S.  SCHULTZ

AND DATES  OF  BIRTH  AND  DEATH  OF  HIS  PARENTS  AND  SIBLINGS


This Info Provided by my sister Janet in an email to me on July 10, 2017:

Hi Forrest,

Here is a picture of Daddy's tombstone.  The top big tombstone says "Schultz".  To the left and right are daddy's parents Levi and Elizabeth.  In the front are tombstones of most of their children.  Hope you can see it o.k.   

Janet




Birth: Aug. 18, 1893
Death: Dec., 1973


Family links:
 Parents:
  Levi Gerhard Schultz (1851 - 1916)
  Elizabeth Schultz Schultz Schultz (1860 - 1925)

 Siblings:
  Carrie Schultz Schultz (1886 - 1918)*
  Geneva Schultz Schultz Reiff (1888 - 1961)*
  Daisy Schultz Schultz Martin (1890 - 1977)*
  Wayne Schultz Schultz (1893 - 1973)
  Alfred Schultz Schultz (1895 - 1963)*
  Norman Schultz Schultz (1898 - 1973)*
  Lloyd Schultz Schultz (1905 - 1994)*

*Calculated relationship
Burial:
Palm Schwenkfelder Church Cemetery
Palm
Montgomery County
Pennsylvania, USA
Plot: Row 9

Created by: Tom Myers
Record added: Jan 03, 2015
Find A Grave Memorial# 140867899
Wayne Schultz Schultz
Added by: Tom Myers
Wayne Schultz Schultz

Monday, October 19, 2015

Wayne S. Schultz Received Progressive Breeders Award in 1945



WAYNE  S.  SCHULTZ  RECEIVED  PROGRESSIVE  BREEDERS  AWARD  70  YEARS  AGO


The local Upper Perkiomen Valley newspaper Town and Country on page 38 of its October 8, 2015 issue published in its "From Our Early Files" section this news item about my father,
Wayne S. Schultz,  under the heading of   "70 Years Ago   October 12, 1945":

"A Progressive Breeders Award has been presented to farmer Wayne S. Schultz of East Greenville by the Holstein-Frisian Association for his well balanced herd improvement.  Schultz is only one of five in the state to qualify and 78 in the nation."

My sister Janet (Schultz) Butterweck emailed me this info.

There is an error in this news item concerning our address.  It was NOT East Greenville, but East Greenville R.D.  We lived in Upper Hanover Township. 

Forrest Wayne Schultz
October 19, 2015


Friday, August 8, 2014

DARLENE DELLA SCHNECK SPEAKS OF HER BOOK ABOUT ISAAC SCHULTZ AT PRESENTATION SPONSORED BY SCHWENKFELDIAN EXILE SOCIETY

DARLENE  DELLA  SCHNECK  SPEAKS  OF  HER  BOOK  ABOUT  ISAAC  SCHULTZ 

AT  PRESENTATION  SPONSORED  BY  SCHWENKFELDIAN  EXILE  SOCIETY


1. INFORMATION  ON  THE  WEBSITE  OF  THE  SOCIETY  OF  THE   DESCENDANTS

    OF  THE  SCHWENKFELDIAN  EXILES  WWW.SCHWENKFELDEREXILESOCIETY.ORG

Schwenkfeldian Exile Society | 105 Seminary Street | Pennsburg, PA 18073
Phone: 215-679-3103 | Fax: 215-679-8175 | Email: exile@schwenkfelder.com

2014 Exile Society Annual Fall Meeting & Presentation
Sunday, October 26, 2014
2:00 p.m. — Annual Fall Meeting and Election of Officers

Meeting Room, 1st Floor
Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center
105 Seminary Street, Pennsburg, PA; 215-679-3103
2:30 p.m. — “Letters From a Montana Sheep Man” presented by Darlene Schneck
Darlene Schneck will be presenting the true fascinating story of her Schwenkfelder ancestor, Isaac S. Schultz of Hereford, PA.
Born in 1851, Isaac was a scholar, a pioneer in the Wild West, and a missing man for 44 years.
Isaac’s tale will be told through letters, maps, photos, and other historical documents from the 1880s and 1931 when he was discovered.
Darlene will also share how his story came to light and then became a book entitled “Letters From a Montana Sheep Man.”
2. INFORMATION  IN   EMAIL  FROM  DARLENE  DELLA  SCHNECK:


Dear relatives,

It may interest you to know that I will be doing a presentation on Isaac Schultz, the missing Wild West sheep rancher, on Sunday October 26 at 2:30pm at the Schwenkfelder Heritage Center in Pennsburg, Pa.

There is no charge, and all are welcome. You do not need to RSVP. There will be an annual business meeting happening at 2pm, which will end at 2:25pm. Please wait in the lobby until the doors open. The presentation will begin promptly at 2:30pm and will conclude at 3:30pm.

You can learn more about it here, or contact me with questions. http://schwenkfelderexilesociety.org/

I will be presenting some new information about Isaac's college years, and some artifacts from his life will be on display. It would be wonderful if you could join us. Feel free to invite others in your families.

Your Schultz "cousin,"

Darlene Schneck

Staunton, Virginia

610-533-1102