The owners of the 1755 House have been diving deep to find even more history of their home. The local Schwenkfelder Heritage Center provided them with information about some of the former owners, in particular George Kriebel.
George and his family owned the property from 1765 to 1796. The family are all interred at the Kraussdale Meeting House Cemetery in Greenville, PA. After finding George's gravestone, the owners posted the photo on social media to ask for help in deciphering the inscription. Not only was it worn, but it's written in Old German. A Facebook friend (thank you Elizabeth) provided a partial translation, but the rest was almost unreadable. So of course, we asked to tag along and do another aluminum foil rubbing. Ultimately, the Heritage Center was able to translate. What a fun journey, here are our findings.
500 Degrees in the sweltering heat...another gravestone rubbing, thanks for letting us tag along Meredith and thanks for filming Kaitlyn!
Special thanks to Hunt S., Allen Viehmeyer, Alan Keyser and David from the heritage center for your help!! They cracked the code! They are a fantastic resource and explained that “the German is somewhat grammatically poor. It is possible that the people who wrote the text were not primarily German-speaking...” History hunting is always a process of fact checking and asking LOTS of questions and we love it!! Thanks to ALL who helped, it definitely TAKES A VILLAGE!!
George Kriebel, 1832-1805 Transcription of George Kriebel headstone (German): Dieser Stein zeiget die Grabstätte des weiland George Kriebel Gebohren in Sachsen Ano 1732 den 3ten Novembr in Pensylvanien komen Ano 1734 Verehlicht Ano 1758 gestor – ben Ano 1805 den 1ten Decembr Alt 73 Jahre etliche woche Aufgerichtet zu eine [?]lebenden Liebe und hocherhoben[?] von seinen hinterlassen Kindern
Translation of George Kriebel headstone (English): This stone shows the burial plot of the late George Kriebel, born in Saxony in the year 1732, November 3rd, came to Pennsylvania in the year 1734, married in the year 1758, died in the year 1805 December 1st. He was 73 years old and a few weeks. Erected to an unending[?] love and erected by his left behind children