The most recent attack on the people of France has reminded PA Dutch ancestors of their French Huguenot ethnology. Although the PA Dutch people speak in German dialect, my wife and I are actually French Huguenots, but very much considered PA Dutch, whose ancestors arrived in America to escape religious persecution in Europe. Thus, the horrible killing of peaceful Parisians by militant Islamic terrorists made American citizens realize that France was our political ally whose ancestors pioneered the United States during the American Revolution with England.
Colonel John Lesher’s Oley Forge supplied George Washington’s troops with guns and equipment to win our Independence in 1776. In Colonial days, the village of Pleasantville was referred to as being Yottersville for its founders, Hans and Johannes Yoder, Huguenots, who founded the Village in 1714, where the Yoder cemetery is located, along Covered Bridge Road. The French Lesher family also founded their Christian Salem Church in 1754, just southwest from there.
President Obama does not really understand his role in American Civilization or World Peace, but now is his time to become a great President through new actions!
My brother-in-law, Mark Trout, who lived in Pleasantville and was related to the Yoder family, cut the grass on the other cemetery for 26 years. Pleasantville is a farming community that includes Salem UCC Church on Covered Bridge Road. Salem’s members follow the Christian beliefs of John Lesher, and early American Patriot, who owned the Oley Forge at Spangsville.
Richard H. Shaner is the director of the American Folklife Institute in Kutztown.
