Incollect Magazine - Issue 3

Issue 3 124 www.incollect.com Fig. 2 : Birth and baptismal certificate for Margaret Weidman, attributed to Samuel Bentz, Lancaster County, Pa, ca. 1820. Watercolor and ink on wove paper. H. 9¾ x W. 7¼ inches. Collection of Historic Trappe (2020.016.0010). Photo by Michael E. Myers. Fig. 3 : Birth and baptismal certificate for Henrich Weidman, attributed to Samuel Bentz, Lancaster, County, Pa., ca. 1818. Watercolor and ink on wove paper. H. 9⅝ x W. 7½ inches. Collection of Historic Trappe (2020.016.0009). Photo by Michael E. Myers. This page remains within the original book for which it was made, Der sichere Himmels-Weg oder Anleitung zum Christenthum (The sure way to Heaven or Guidance to Christendom) by August Herman Francke. 2 Little is known about the owner, Esther Landis, due to the presence of multiple women with this name living in Lancaster County at the same time. 3 Samuel Bentz was born on February 26, 1792, and lived in northern Lancaster County. He appears variously in the Cocalico and Elizabeth Township tax rolls from then on until his death on March 21, 1850, sometimes identified as a teacher. His father, Peter Bentz, worked variously a s a Lutheran pa stor, cabinetmaker, and farmer; tragically Peter committed suicide in 1818. At this time, Samuel was twenty-six years old and had recently struck out on his own, appearing first on the tax rolls in 1816 as a “freeman”; this designation means he was an unmarried adult, which he remained until his death. Samuel was buried at the Cocalico Reformed Church near Ephrata, along with many other members of his family. Bentz worked in a profoundly local area; all of his known works were made for families living in northern Lancaster County, particularly the vicinity of Ephrata and Brickerville. Other major fraktur artists worked in the same area, such as Henrich Otto and Friedrich Speyer, although Bentz’s work shows no signs of their artistic influence. Bentz does not appear to have influenced the style of other fraktur artists aside from a small handful of copyists, perhaps due to the very local nature of his life and work. Evidently, he preferred marching to the beat of his own drum. Birth and Baptismal Certificate for Margaret Weidman This certificate records the birth of Margaret Weidman on October 3, 1793, to parents George and Barbara (Illig) Weidman (Fig. 2). No birthplace is specified, but family history locates Margaret’s birth in Warwick Township, Lancaster County. The certificate also documents her baptism on December 5, 1793, by Emanuel Schultz[e]. A Lutheran pastor, Schultze emigrated from Germany in 1765, married the oldest daughter of Lutheran patriarch Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, and served as the pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in the Tulpehocken Valley of western Berks County, Pennsylvania, from 1771 until his death in 1809. Unlike the bookplate Bentz made for Esther