John Adam Brossman Homestead.  Just west of Brownsville, next to Spring Creek, was a large stone house built in 
1827.  This was originally within the 228 acre land grant of Henry Stahr patented by him in 1764. Part of this land grant extended into Lower Heidelberg Township.

Johannes Brossman, son of the immigrant Frantz Brossman, is listed on the Heidelberg Township census of 1790; he farmed a 200 acre tract of land bounded by land of Peter Klopp, John Klopp and  John Miller according to the petition of his estate. He and his wife Anna Marie Heilman had nine children, the youngest of whom was John Adam, born 1775, who later owned the house. John Adam married Catherine Leiss; their son John L. (1804-1887) farmed the homestead, eventually buying it from his father.
 

John L. was married to Catherine Hettinger; in addition to farming, he operated the Brossman Mill across the creek from his house.   He was very successful and acumulated a small fortune by the time of his death.  He served  North  Heidelberg  Township as assessor and tax collector.

John's sixth child, Henry, who was born in 1845, became the next owner of the homestead. Henry married Sarah Barr and raised her two children from her first marriage (Wilson Edward Sterner and Milton J Sterner) plus they had three children of their own - Bessie, J. Monroe, and Evan H.
 

Bessie married John Lamm; they bought the homestead from Bessie's father. Then Bessie's brother, J. Monroe, purchased the farm in 1923 until he sold it in 1931 for $5,000. At that time it contained 77 acres.

Later owners were: Jack Davis, a physical education teacher in Reading who put in the swimming pool.  He donated land further down Brownsville Road to Boy Scout Troop 423 for a campsite, called by them Camp Davis. Dr. and Mrs. Robert Denby owned the house next. At the time of the Blue Marsh acquisitions, this house was taken as it lay within the flood plain.
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Hamlet of Glabbordschteddel, as noted on electric company maps of the 1930's and 1940's, was reached by traveling farther west on Brownsville Road. It was named for the white picket or clapboard fences used by the residents in this area to keep their chickens in the yard.

Glabbordschteddel is within the 150 acre land grant of Charles Hudson, surveyed in 1737, patented in 1744. The square-shaped property was bounded by a post, a small hickory tree, a chestnut oak and a small black oak.

Below, other houses in the hamlet of Glabbordschteddel: stone house on far left was home to Miles Schaeffer; Sara Derr and Bernard O'Donnell; followed by Scott Brossman (my brother) who lives here today.

On left, stone house with stucco set back from road: John and Isabella (Stump) Filbert; Wallace and Mary Stump; Luther and Mary (Stump) Unger; Norman Lamm; Cora Noecker (later Feeg).  Presently, Norman and Ella Katzaman reside here.  Ella’s two sons and their families live in the two newer houses next door: Dale and Jancie Reber, and Harold Reber.

Brick house on right: Nathanial and Cora Bohn; William and Ellie Horn; Jesse and Bertha Benyish.  Their son, Bruce lives there today.
 
 
 
 
 

Other houses in the hamlet of Glabbordscheteddel.

Katzaman House Going west past Manbeck, the first house on the south side of Brownsville Road is built around a log house which is 150-200 years old; this house has been in the same family for over 100 years. The following information comes from Anita Meehan, daughter of Lillian (Brossman) Fish, and great-great-granddaughter of Levi Wellington Katzaman (1843 - 1911), a shoemaker and a farmer who lived at this location. Levi was drafted for the Civil War but it was over before he was called. He was married first to Sarah Gerhart, next to Sarah Lengel; of his nine children, his son Henry Wilson Katzaman lived here and operated a store selling candy and tobacco from the basement of the house. Of Henry's children with Elvina Freeman, the only daughter to survive was Lizzie. Elvina was waked in this house in 1923.

Lizzie, grandmother of Anita Meehan, married Evan Brossman. He moved to the Katzaman farm because Lizzie didn't want to farm “such hilly fields" as those found on the Brossman Farm near Brownsville. She was a practical nurse; she helped deliver and care for many of the babies born in the township into the early 1920's. She was a charter member of St. Daniel's Sunday School, and a Democratic County Committee woman. Evan Brossman was a Director of Klopp's School for many years.

At left, the Katzaman shed with the unusual siding of Pennsylvania license plates, dated 1932 - 1938.  Anita recalls her visits to the Katzaman farm during the summer. “I remember helping to milk the cows, gathering eggs, working in the garden, doing the wash in the summer house and stringing the washline around the pine trees in the yard." She remembers ' the outside bathroom, angry roosters, and watching grandma “fetch" a chicken for dinner. I learned to speak and understand Pennsylvania German, and spent hours playing with the player piano. Grandma taught me how to chop wood for the stove. To this day there is no central heat in the farmhouse and whenever I hear the sound of the coal stove being raked on cool mornings, it warms not only my body but my heart as well."
 

Lillian Fish recalls that when electricity came through in the mid-1940's, their electric bill was addressed to them at Glabbordschteddel, Pennsylvania. Donald and Lillian Fish reside here today.
 

Fairmount, built about 1750, is constructed of hand-hewn logs with notched corners.  It is located on a very long lane off Heidelberg Farms Road. The house received major renovations in the late 1800's including covering the logs with German siding and interior revisions. On the site is a root cellar, pig pen, wash house, and a large barn with “Tullygarron" painted on the side. Although it sounds Pennsylvania German, the name means, “hill of the horse" in Gaelic, the family roots of the Stewarts. Near the house is a summer kitchen that was added in the 1800's.

The farmhouse's owners in the past include John Distler, a saddler, who received a warrant to the property in 1742; John Stump, listed as yeoman; and John Stoner, who received a patent in 1772. “Fairmount" was the name chosen for the land grant.

In 1862, Adam Kalbach, a farmer, resided here. His daughter Catharine married Jared Brossman and in 1876, the couple lived at this location. The Reading Eagle, May 1877, reported that Jared Brossman had just completed building an arch. Jared was a builder in the township.

His daughter married George Stump and they were the next owners.  During World War I, their son Raymond Stump lived here followed by Dr. John Focht. Walter and Sheila Stewart have recently restored the home.
 

JWB note: I believe this bridge is over Spring Creek just west of Brownsville, PA on what was the original Brossman homestead.

This was Thomas Brossman’s Ford  until the first bridge was built by Lower Heidelberg and North Heidelberg Townships in 1912 called the Brunnekill Bridge It was a wood plank structure that rumbled with the wagons or occasional automobiles Photo by Paul Stump 1965 before the present bridge was built.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Eureka Band practiced above the coach makers shop. They would march in parades, entertain at celebrations and at Ruth's Grove during picnics. Brossman also had a dance orchestra which played at the Galen Hall Resort.

JWB notes: The following items are a ticket and a business card.

Below are a marriage certificate for Daniel David Brossman and Alice Olsen of Colorado and the Passenger List for Frantz Brossman, our common ancestor, who arrived on the steamship Friendship in 1739.

I hope you have enjoyed our little picture book. - jim