William Weyerman ¹⁰²

  General Notes:

William Weyerman, according to tradition, was a native of Germany who as a young physician, poor and of plebian origin, went to Holland where he met Gertrude Sateman, the daughter of a rich man and fell in love. When her parents discovered this they sent their only child to a nunnery and tried to get William sent away. But the nun whose business it was to watch the wayward girl was so human as to soon be carrying letters between the lovers, and as finally to help the distressed damsel jump from an upper window into the arms of her lover, and to throw the casket of jewels after her, which had been the bribe given the nunnery for her safe keeping.
They came soon after to the German settlement at Germantown, PA. by 1717, where finding the hardy pioneer settlers in no need of a physician, he went to weaving coverlets, which industry in connection with the £&1e of contents of the jewel casket, kept the wolf from the door of their cabin.
Gertrude willingly allowed the knowledge of her maiden name to die out, as she was so outraged at her family's treatment of her that she left it as an injunction on her descendants never to go to Holland after her fortune, as no good would follow it.
This couple possessed a large bible, printed in Dutch, which was still in a fair state of preservation in 1899. The title pages are profusely illustrated with the quaint woodcuts of the sixteenth century. There is nothing to indicate where it was published, but in 1538, it was for sale on the lower side of Schotland, near Danswyck, presumably in Holland.
The first child whose we have a date for was born 1721, so there may have been children who died before his birth. In 1723 the family removed to the Mennonite settlement on Skippack Creek in present Montgomery Co., PA, where William purchased 57 acres of land and engaged in farming as well as the occupation of Blue Dyer, meaning Chemist. He purchased 137 acres more in 1729, adjoining the Mennonite meeting house.
They moved to present day Adams Co., PA, 1737 where William owned a vast tract of land on Bermudian Creek, reaching from above Route 15 to below Hershey farm on Route 94, including what later became York Springs
It was about this time that they became Quakers.
William Weyerman's occupation was described as "Blue Dyer", and he also operated a mill. The mill, their house and barn were all built of logs. His friends, the Indians, came to his mill and slept on the floor while he ground their maize. They also bartered at his little store for the trinkets he had brought with him on his long ocean voyage, with this very purpose in view.
The first log mill was succeeded by one of stone, and this two story stone mill has worn out two frame tops. The structure of the mill was unique because of the Colonial doorways, and an article was written for "The American Miller" in 1911, describing it, and showing a picture The reporter said it was the only mill in the U.S. built in that style. The Original ten foot chimney on the mill roof was of stone but was replaced by one of brick. A dam was not necessary, as a natural eighteen foot fall, starting from above Route 15 was all that was needed, showing that William Weyerman knew he had found an ideal place for his mill when he selected this site.
Across the road from the mill is the stone house built in 1772 by Nicholas Wierman. This house, the mill and the Huntinton Friends Meeting house were all built of the same type of stone, quarried on Wierman land.
The Indians shared with him a spring located near a large oak tree, close to his home .To this day, arrowheads, axes, tomahawks and other evidences of this Indian tribe are found around Wierman's Mill written in 1950).
William Weyerman was one of the four men in Huntington Township mentioned in a list of the most remarkable Inhabitant in the several townships and Settlement over Susquehanna.... fit to discharge Publick Office," sent to the Provincial government at Philadelphia, in 1749.
Each son specialized in a different field, Henry as a tanner, Nicholas as a miller, William as a Potter, and John I attended to the legal matters of the family.

William married Gertrude Sateman about 1720 in Holland. (Gertrude Sateman was born in Schotland, Holland and died before 1764.)