Townships

Amity Township Formation Petition 1744 Reaffirming 1719 To the honorable Justices of ye Peace at ye Court of Quarter Sessions held at Philada. March ye 3d 1744, the petition of ye Inhabitants of Amity humbley sheweth that about twenty fives years since the inhabitants of that 10,000 acres of land lyings up Schuylkill, called ye … Read more

History of Bern Township The following information is from The History of Berks County, Pennsylvania by F.W. Balthaser (1925), pages 190-191: Bern was settled in 1733 and erected into a township in 1738. It was named after Bern in Switerland, whence many of its settlers came. At the time of the erection of the county … Read more

History of Centreport Source: Centreport Centennial 1884-1984 by Milton K. and Luella E. Blatt, page 558: Centreport has been richly blessed in that it has very seldom met with serious tragedy. However, there have been a few occasions in its history where misfortune knocked at its door and to some extent are found in the … Read more

Cumru Township: Notes of Interest Hugh Jones, first landowner in Cumru, bought 1,000 acres of land in Cumru Township in 1732. The tax lists of 1759 were kept and collected by David Evans, Jr. and included 142 married men and 20 single men. Hemmig mill-seat was owned by Joseph G. Huyett and later operated by … Read more

Some Early Townships of Berks County, Their Settlers and Enterprises Source: Morton Montgomery, History of Berks County, Pennsylvania, 1909, extracted from pp. 298-310. Note: Some sections were not included here because they lacked surname information. Submitted by Bonnie Blau. MANATAWNY SECTION [The Manatawny section is comprised of fifteen townships: Alsace, Amity, Colebrookdale, Douglass, Exeter, Hereford, … Read more

Exeter Township: Notes of Interest Exeter Township was settled around 1718. It had been a part of Oley, Philadelphia County. In 1741, seventeen signers petitioned the court for the erection of a new township to be called Exeter. The signers were: James Boone, Benjamin Boone, John Boone, Thomas Hughes, William Hughes, Thomas Yarnall, Deter Yarnall, … Read more

Geographical Abbreviations The following abbreviations and townships are listed in early probate and estate files in Berks Co. <!– Present Townships –> <!– Abbreviation Township Abbreviation Township –> AB Albany MR Marion AS Alsace MX Maxatawny AM Amity MU Muhlenberg BN Bern NH North Heidelberg BT Bethel OL Oley BK Brecknock ON Ontelaunee CA Caernarvon … Read more

Incorporation Dates for Municipalities of Berks County, PA Based on information contained in Incorporation Dates for Pennsylvania Municipalities, Comm of PA, Department of Internal Affairs, 1965 and other sources. Note: Numbers in parentheses refer to the reference sources listed at the end of this file. Berks County – 3rd Class: Formed on March 11, 1752 … Read more

Berks County Township Development Original Townships – 1752 From Philadelphia County Ontelaunee region Albany Longswamp Maidencreek Maxatawny Richmond Windsor Manatawny region Alsace Amity Colebrookdale Douglass Exeter Oley Ruscombmanor From Lancaster County Tulpehocken region Bern Bethel Heidelberg Tulpehocken Schuylkill region Brecknock Caernarvon Cumru Robeson From Chester County Union (1753 Townships by Date of Erection <!– Townships … Read more

Where is Tulpehocken? “The Tulpehocken” originally referred to an area rather than a singletown. The area lay along the Tulpehocken Creek that drains a valley west of present-day Reading, Berks Co., PA. This small stream has its headwaters a few miles west of Myerstown and runs eastward to Womelsdorf. It was in the upper reaches … Read more