Spring is on the way!
In addition to the welcome change of seasons, I am looking forward to resuming one of my favorite roles after a winter hiatus: tour guide at the Johannes Mueller house. Preserved by the Lititz Historical Foundation, this 1792 home and adjacent 1740s workshop allow visitors the unique opportunity to step back in time and experience life in early Lititz when the town was a closed Moravian community.
Johannes Mueller House and Lititz Museum, 137-145 East Main Street, Lititz, Pennsylvania [1]
As a tour guide, I have the privilege of meeting guests from all over the world and introducing them to our small town’s history through both the Johannes Mueller house and the adjacent Lititz Museum. In 2019, we welcomed a total of 7,619 visitors from 49 US states and 37 countries! [2]
Check out a few of our special events this spring:
Smithsonian’s Free Museum Day - Saturday, April 4th [3] You can download tickets here.
Our second annual Spring Into History Festival – Saturday, May 30th [4]
This year, I am most excited to incorporate new information about the Müller family that I learned while undertaking a research project over the winter. Earlier this week, I shared highlights of this "Mueller Report" with the other guides and we will now be able to tell a more personal story of three generations of this family over a full century.
Part of my research involved a day trip to the Moravian Church Archives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to examine the original church registers.
This church register page includes the marriage of Johannes Müller and Anna Maria Friedrich. They were the first couple to be married in the newly constructed church sanctuary in 1787. [5]
This entry records the death of Johannes and Anna Maria's oldest child, Elisabeth. She died at age five in 1793, just a year after they constructed their new family home. [6]
The devastating loss of a young daughter was one of many tragic events to occur in the home. However, it also hosted many joyous occasions. The article below celebrates the 50th wedding anniversary of one of Johannes and Anna Maria's granddaughters a century later, complete with a serenade by the Moravian Trombone Choir. [7]
If you'd like to learn more about the family who made this house a home, you can read more of "The Mueller Report" here by scrolling down to the final item, Sample Family Narrative.
Better yet, come visit me or one of our other knowledgeable guides on Main Street. I'll be delighted to give you a personal tour with even more fascinating tidbits of Lititz history through three generations of one Moravian family.
The Lititz Historical Foundation opens for the 2020 season on April 3rd. Hours are 10-4 on Fridays and Saturdays only until Memorial Day.
May 25th-October 31st, tours are available Monday-Saturday, 10-4.
Sources:
[1] Lititz Historical Foundation, photograph of the Johannes Mueller House; Lititz Historical Foundation Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/LititzMuseum/: accessed 6 March 2020. [2] Lititz Historical Foundation, Historical Journal (Spring 2020), 2; https://www.lititzhistoricalfoundation.com/Spring2020.pdf : accessed 6 March 2020. [3] Ibid, 5. [4] Ibid, 4. [5] Moravian congregation at Litiz (Pennsylvania), “Kirchenbuch [Church register], 1764-1809,” fol. [p.] 152, trauung [marriage] no. 63, Johannes Müller und Anna Maria Friedrichin, 9 October 1787; Church register 75, Moravian Church Archives, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For additional evidence of their marriage being the first in the new sanctuary, see “Obituary: The Oldest Resident of Lititz Gone,” The Semi-Weekly New Era (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), 13 December 1879, page 5, column 8; digital image, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 18 December 2019). [6] Moravian congregation at Litiz (Pennsylvania), “Kirchenbuch [Church register], 1764-1809,” fol. 246, sterbe [death] no. 150, Elisabeth Müller, 11 September 1793; Church register 75, Moravian Church Archives, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
[7] "Golden Wedding: Mr. and Mrs. William Regennas of Lititz, Celebrate," Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), 5 March 1897, page 1, column 6; digital image, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 18 December 2019).
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