Ellmaker Graveyard,
Earl Township
Earl Township
The following is transcribed from William Frederic Worner, “Ellmaker Graveyard, Earl Township,” Worner Collection, Lancaster County Historical Society, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, volume 1, number 20, pages 134-138.
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Inscriptions:
Amos, son of Esaias E. and Sarah Ellmaker. Born August 3, 1838; died
June 5, 1878.
Elias, second son of Leonard and Anna Margaret Ellmaker. Born on the
farm in 1732; died December 10, 1756, from wounds received at
Braddock’s defeat, July 3, 1755.
Elizabeth, wife of Nathaniel Ellmaker. Died March 2, 1836, in the 81st
year of her age.
Esaias E. Ellmaker. Born June 19, 1802; died November 27, 1867. Aged
65 years, 5 months and 8 days.
Harriet, daughter of Levi and Hannah Ellmaker. Born March 17, 1819;
died September 2, 1823.
Leonard Ellmaker. Born in 1697 in Nuremberg, Germany. Married and came
to Pennsylvania in 1726. Died in 1782.
Levi, son of Esaias E. and Sarah W. Ellmaker. Born November 18, 1834;
died July 17, 1869.
Mary, daughter of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Ellmaker. Born March 30,
1783; died September 30, 1798.
Nathaniel Ellmaker. Born December 1, 1751; died April 24, 1837. Aged
85 years, 4 months and 23 days.
Sarah, wife of Esaias E. Ellmaker and daughter of Dr. John Watson of
Donegal. Born May 18, 1802; died October 10, 1886. Aged 84 years, 4
months and 22 days.
Anna Margaret Hornberger, wife of Leonard Ellmaker. Born in 1703.
Married and came to Pennsylvania in 1726. She was born in Frankendal,
Germany. Died in 1779.
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Description:
The Ellmaker family graveyard is on the farm of Chester A. Mentzer in Earl township, about two miles east of Rowland’s Reformed church, and approximately 700 feet north of “Peter’s Road,” as the highway was called in olden times [Latitude: 40.061088, Longitude: -76.067153]. The graveyard, 30 by 35 feet, is enclosed by a stone wall, four feet high, encased in concrete, with a shingle coping. There is no entrance to the enclosure. Outside the graveyard is a large cedar tree,
probably no less than 150 years old. It is doubtful if there is anywhere in Lancaster county a burying ground that presents a more quaint and venerable appearance than this one. The location is about 150 feet from the barn. The walls are whitewashed, and the shingle coping which comes to a point in the middle of the wall, is designed to shed the water like the roof of a house. The venerable cedar tree around the ancient farm house, together with the old barn and out buildings, and the near-by neglected resting place of the dreamless sleepers, all give special emphasis to the beautiful thought and
prayer of Henry Francis Lyte, in his matchless hymn, “Abide with Me”
“Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories fade away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.”
It is unfortunate that a graveyard with an appearance so venerable, and which contains the mortal remains of a soldier, Elias Ellmaker, who participated in Braddock’s ill-fated expedition, and who died December 10, 1756, from the effects of wounds received in that campaign, should be so neglected: The grass needs to be trimmed, the weeds cut, and the pile of boards in the corner removed to another place of storage. On April 27, 1935, the time of our visit, there were eleven head stones in position. One head stone was broken in half.
Contributed by Adam Boyd
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