About six weeks ago, back when people were still allowed to travel, my father and stepmother came to visit and as one is wont to do when relatives come to visit, we went to a cemetery.
Wait….you, you DON’T do that when your family comes to visit???
I love cemeteries
I love cemeteries. And I get that from my dad. So when he saw this old churchyard cemetery, he wanted to stop in. I pass by that cemetery all the time but had never actually visited, so I thought, yeah, why not? Some families do picnics and water parks together, some visit the dead.
St. Paul’s United Church of Christ
Saint Paul’s United Church of Christ, Trexlertown, PA
The church is St. Paul’s United Church of Christ. The church itself is beautiful and historic looking, with a bell tower, big stained glass windows, and stonework. According to its website, the original church was erected in 1874 and the present building dedicated in 1922. It originally housed a Reformed and Lutheran congregation, which is reflected in the cemetery, in which there are not only many headstones with German names, but many headstones in which entire inscriptions are in German. There is a newer section but many of the graves have crooked, broken, faded headstones and date back 100, even almost 200 years.
Veteran Grave Sites
There is a lot to share about this cemetery, so I think for this post I’ll focus on the Revolutionary War veteran grave sites, and save the Civil War vetern and German genealogy for my next posts. As you can see, there were small American flags on many of the graves. As you probably know, this is an honor and designation left at the graves of war veterans. We saw some World War vets and a Vietnam vet in the newer section, but the very first flag we walked up to was for a Revolutionary War veteran. There were more than a few—that’s how old this cemetery is. It was awe-inspiring. I think part of what I love about cemeteries as they are tangible pieces of history. You can actually run your fingers over words that were chiseled in the past. You can touch a stone that was touched by a grieving family member hundreds of years ago. It’s amazing and humbling at the same time.
Revolutionary War Veterans
Jeremiah Schmidt headstone
Jeremiah Schmidt was a private with the 6 Company 1st Battalion of the Pennsylvania Militia. He was born May 5, 1755 and died November 27, 1810. He would have been only 21 years old when the Revolutionary War broke out. It is hard to tell, but his original headstone is inscribed in German.
Gottfried Diefenderfer was born about 1730. He appears to have been an immigrant, as his headstone calls him a “pioneer” in 1750. He would have been in his mid-40s already when the Revolutionary War of his adopted country broke out. He served in the Northampton County Militia, the 1st Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment, and was a Frontier Ranger. He was also a founding member of St. Paul’s. He died in 1806. According to his will, he left much of his estate to his wife, Anna Margrate, and the rest to his children. One of his sons was Jacob, who is buried right next to him, and was also a veteran of the American Revolution. Born March 16, 1763, he would have been only 13 when the war started. He served as a private in 8 Company 5th Battalion of the Pennsylvania Militia in 1782, when he would have been 19 years old. He died September 29, 1837.
Jacob Diefenderfer headstone
Gottfried Diefenderfer’s grave
Jacob Diefenderfer’s grave
I was able to find Jacob in the 1820 and 1830 census records, living in Macungie, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. I found a burial record for Jacob’s son, Jonathan, born October 17, 1789 and died in 1874. Jonathan, as it turns out, is a third generation war veteran, serving in the War of 1812.
The inscriptions on these headstones are just names and dates - these men served their country; and for many men like Gottfried, it wasn’t even the country of their birth. And while their were many who made the ultimate sacrifice on the battlefield, many others like Gottfried and Jacob Diefenderfer and Jeremiah Schmidt, went on to have families, work hard, build lives before passing on.
Websites I used in this research:
Ancestry.com
St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Trexlertown