YorksPast

The Hermit House of Springettsbury Township

At the top of this illustration, I’ve pointed out, and marked, four 1860 buildings in the Area South of Rocky Ridge within what is now Springettsbury Township. The “Region Boundry Line” is my line to separate the “North Region” from the “East Region,” at this location.  At the bottom of the above illustration is a 1937 aerial photo of the same region, were I’ve located the 1860 properties (n21) through (n24). If you are reading this on the Ydr.com site, click on this LINK for a Full View of the illustrations in this post on the original YorkBlog site; since the ydr.com site will occasionally cut off important details in the cropping of illustrations.

I’m working my way around Springettsbury Township until all buildings from 1860 are visited. See the post: Springettsbury Township building tally during 1860, for my specification of the four regions.

Other posts in this series include:

• 1860 Buildings 1-10 in North Region of Springettsbury Township
• 1860 Buildings 11-20 in North Region of Springettsbury Township
• 1860 Buildings 25-31 in North Region of Springettsbury Township
• 1860 Buildings 32-35 in North Region of Springettsbury Township
• 1860 Buildings 1-10 in South Region of Springettsbury Township
• 1860 Buildings 11-20 in South Region of Springettsbury Township
• 1860 Buildings 21-30 in South Region of Springettsbury Township
• 1860 Buildings 31-35 in South Region of Springettsbury Township
• 1860 Buildings 36-41 in South Region of Springettsbury Township
• 1860 Buildings 1-10 in East Region of Springettsbury Township
• 1860 Buildings 11-20 in East Region of Springettsbury Township
• 1860 Buildings 21-30 in East Region of Springettsbury Township
• 1860 Buildings 31-40 in East Region of Springettsbury Township
• 1860 Buildings 41-50 in East Region of Springettsbury Township
• 1860 Buildings 51-58 in East Region of Springettsbury Township
• 1860 Buildings 1-10 in West Region of Springettsbury Township As a side note, when properties (w1) through (w10) were first visited, the precise 1860 owners of only two of the properties could be identified. Initial deed searches have now increased that number to seven. The 1860 owners of properties (w1) through (w10) will be posted upon the discovery of the final three.
• 1860 Buildings 11-20 in West Region of Springettsbury Township
• 1860 Buildings 21-30 in West Region of Springettsbury Township
• 1860 Buildings 31-40 in West Region of Springettsbury Township
• 1860 Buildings 41-50 in West Region of Springettsbury Township
• 1860 Buildings 51-60 in West Region of Springettsbury Township
• 1860 Buildings 61-70 in West Region of Springettsbury Township
• 1860 Buildings 71-80 in West Region of Springettsbury Township

Shearer’s 1860 Map of York County contains the owner/occupant of most buildings; for example (n21) is G. Dietz. Additional information on G. Dietz can be found by consulting the 1860 Census of the United States; where one discovers this is George Dietz, a 60-year-old, farmer, with $7,480 in real estate holdings.

The results after consulting 1860 Spring Garden Township census records are shown below. Spring Garden Township 1860 Census records must be used because Springettsbury Township was formed from the northeast part of that township on April 20, 1891. The order of visitation, of the census taker, often provides assistance on who are neighbors and the tabulation of “value of real estate” separates the landowners from the renters or tenants:

The 1860 map surveyor noted “Mrs. Roth” was the owner of the [n24] property. The 1860 Census records Julian Roth as the only female Roth owning property in the township; however the Census has her living in the household of her son-in-law John Emig at the [w26] farmhouse, located behind Central York High School.

Mrs. Julian Roth was a widow, surviving her husband Christian Roth; it was their daughter Susannah that married John Emig on September 30, 1858. It is likely that Mrs. Roth had moved into the Emig household following the arrival of her grandchild. Maybe Julian Roth was renting out her [n24] place, or it was simply locked up while she was staying at the Emig house, at the time of the Census.

Two of the 1860 buildings still stand at the following address:

• [n21] 4001 Pleasant Valley Road
• [n22] 3890 Pleasant Valley Road

The Hermit House of Springettsbury Township

This 1963 photo of The Hermit House is from the Historic American Buildings Survey. It was taken four years before The Hermit died. The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) is the nation’s first federal preservation program, begun in 1933 to document America’s architectural heritage. The significance of including this house in the survey was “an interesting example of vernacular stone construction.”

The Hermit was Kurwin W. Hauser. Kurwin was born December 1883 and died January 1967 at 83 years of age. Kurwin’s given name and surname has occasionally been incorrectly stated. Kurwin W. Hauser is correct per various recorded land deeds, county directories and bible records.

The booklet ‘Springettsbury Township Centennial 1891-1991,’ published in 1991, provided a few details about The Hermit on page 57:

Preston Chronister told us the hermit lived in this house without electricity, heat, plumbing or running water. He heated by use of wood fires in old stoves and lighted his way with lanterns. He enjoyed eating prunes, shredded wheat, cheese, and sardines. He also ate fruit from the surrounding areas—some from the fields of neighboring farms, without the farmers’ permission. When the hermit would venture into the community, he was known to buy items using coins all dated the same year. He bought groceries at a grocery store in the Stony Brook area. The owners of this store shared this comment with us. The hermit collected many items during his life and stored them in a haphazard and disorganized manner throughout the house. However, he was very particular with his firewood and with his opened cans. He cut all his firewood exactly the same length, using a measuring stick, and stacked it very neatly. Likewise, he saved all the cans he opened and stored them inside each other.

Compare the 1963 photo, i.e. the stone house from the days of The Hermit, to the following 2012 photo of the nicely restored stone house. Restoration was under the direction of Joe Kindig.

The sequence of property ownership of the Hermit House was determined by researching Land Deeds at the York County Archives. At 24 years of age, Kurwin W. Hauser purchased the property from his father March 27, 1909. Winfield F. Hauser previously purchased the property July 27, 1896 from heirs of Sarah Slough.

Sarah Slough had purchased the property from The Chestnut Hill Iron Ore Company of Columbia, Lancaster County on April 2, 1883. This was a large company that owned many furnaces and iron ore banks in several counties. For the 16-1/2 years that this company owned the property, they used it was a weighing station for iron ore coming from area ore banks.

The name of this local weighing station was North and Company. Moses Taylor, a New York City attorney for The Chestnut Hill Iron Ore Company of Columbia, Lancaster County had purchased the property from John Fry on November 16, 1866. The Chestnut Hill Iron Ore Company had been chartered in 1851.

John Fry had acquired the property with the stone house from the “Heirs of D. Fisher,” [n22] as annotated on the 1860 map. Henry H. Fisher was Administrator of this Estate and while it was being settled, it is likely that John Fisher resided in the house.

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