Victory Valley History

A recent posting on the Bible Fellowship Church (BFC) Facebook page had a picture of the “White House” at Victory Valley and asked people for their memories of “the Valley”. It also asked “Do you have any memories of the White House in particular?” While I did not join the BFC until 1976 and was too old to be a camper there, the property is only 1.5 miles “as the crow flies” from where I live and my children and now grandchildren have attended there. Our church, Bethel BFC of Emmaus, also has held events on the property for many years. With my interest in genealogy and history, I’d like to add to the knowledge about the history of this significant place.

 

Upper Milford Historical Society Meeting

In 2011, a meeting of the Upper Milford Historical Society was devoted to Victory Valley Camp (VVC). As reported in Patch.com, the then director of VVC, Doug Manwiller, spoke of the VVC history to the group. The BFC purchased the property in 1955 and began holding a children’s camp (originally called “Sigmund Bible Camp” in 1956. He noted that the chapel dated back to before 1850 and had been a coal storage building for the iron furnace across from the camp. The stone house was built in 1871 and once served the town of Sigmund as a general store, post office and hotel. When it was purchased in the 1920’s by a Mr. Henninger, he placed the large “H” on the building. The property also contains three lime kilns and two quarries.

 

Lehigh County Map

The David Rumsey Map Collection contains a high-quality scan of a mapbook from 1876 that includes one of Upper Milford Township . A portion of that map is included below.

[Victory Valley Map]

 

The roads are not labeled on this map, but the camp occupies the area on both sides of the Perkiomen Creek which can be seen here. The road on the south of the creek is Sigmund Road, the one to the north is Salem Bible Church Road, and the one running south from Sigmund Road is Beryl Road. There are three names of families in the area – Faust, Gery, and Christman. I’d first like to explore the businesses in the area, then the families.

The below information comes from a book, History of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania and a genealogical and biographical record of its families. This book was published in 1914 and is in three volumes, the first devoted to history and the last two being devoted to the genealogy and biography of the significant families of the area. For those who are interested, the book can be found online via Google books. (A word of caution – the three volumes total about 3000 pages, not your typical light reading!)

 

Sigmund Businesses

In the first volume of this book, we find the following on page 788.

Sigmund Furnace was situated in Upper Milford township, near the county line, along the head-waters of the Perkiomen creek, about 2½ miles west of Old Zionsville. It was erected in 1809 for the manufacture of charcoal iron by David Heinbach, and Wisselman and Covely, and the plant was named Hampton Furnace. Soon afterward Heinback became the sole owner and he operated for 23 years, when he sold it, including 90 acres of land, to John V. R. Hunter, of Allentown. Hunter carried on the business for two years, then sold the plant to Daniel V. R. Hunter, of Oley, in Berks county, who conducted it for six years. Several different parties then carried it on until 1850, when it was sold by the sheriff, and Frederick Sigmund, of Upper Milford became the purchaser. Sigmund improved the furnace, bought additional land and operated it until his decease in 1860, when his two sons, Henry M. and Dr. Alfred M., succeeded him in its ownership. They carried on the business for five years when the doctor sold his interest to his brother, Henry, who continued it three years longer, then suspended further operations. And so the career of an important industry in that section of the county was terminated after having been in operation for sixty years. Since 1850 it was known as “Sigmund Furnace.”

The coldest weather at the Furnace was reported on Dec. 8, 1866, when the thermometer fell to 13 degrees below zero.

In 1872 a postoffice by the name of Sigmund was established in the store of F. N. Gery on the road from the furnace to Perryville (Harlem) in Berks county. Peter Faust was the postmaster for many years. He was succeeded by Jesse Moyer, ____ Geschwind, and Ambrose Kemmerer, the last named from 1895 until it was discontinued in 1909. The store is still carried on by Mr. Kemmerer.

Powder-Mill. In 1870, Peter Faust purchased the property and in the furnace building erected a powder-mill. He carried it on four years when it was set on fire and exploded by a stoke of lightning during a storm. James Watson, an employee, was killed.

Faust Creamery – A creamery was erected near the furnace in 1900 by Peter Faust, Jr., and it has been conducted by him since that time. A stocking factory is carried on in the second story.

A few things to note here. First, although the iron furnaces had been built in 1809, it was not until 1850 that they were named after the new owner, Frederick Sigmund. The furnaces ceased operations in 1868, just a few years before the above map was produced. Thus, this significant business, for which the road past the camp is named, was only named that for a fairly brief period.

Second, although in the history recounted by Doug Manwiller indicated that the stone house was only built in 1871, a check of census records indicates that Frank[lin] N Geary lived in that same location in 1870. He had 5 children in that census and was listed as a “Merchant”. In the 1880 census his family has expanded to 8 children and his occupation is listed as “Dry Goods Merchant”. Thus, it seems that the store may have been built before 1870 rather than in 1871. But while Franklin Gery/Geary operated the general store, the postmaster was Peter Faust who lived next door and owned a number of buildings in the area (not only his house, but several barns or other outbuildings).

 

Sigmund Families

Faust – The Faust family came to Berks County in the early 1700s from Germany. Several of them served with distinction in the Revolutionary War. Many members of the family lived in Upper/Lower Heidelberg townships. It is uncertain which branch of the family Peter Faust of Upper Milford township was from, but his purchase of a fairly large tract of land and his being appointed postmaster of the Sigmund post office in 1872 is some indication of his being from such a prominent family. Peter’s wife’s mother was Anna Maria Christman, a descendant of the Christman family mentioned below. Deb [Faust] Schoen and Glenn Heyer from our Emmaus church are also a part of this same extended Faust family.

Gery – The Gery/Geary family came to America from Switzerland in 1739. Jacob Gery purchased a large tract of land in Montgomery and Berks counties (in what is now the area around Hereford). As the family grew and spread out, they acquired other tracts of land, one of which became known as Geryville in Bucks county and the origin of the Geryville Pike which runs from Geryville all the way to Sumneytown. Franklin Gery was a great-grandson of Jacob and it was he who built the White House and established his store in the building. Franklin is also a great*3 uncle of a few members in our Emmaus church.

Christman – Jacob Christman came to America from Germany in 1736. He settled in the area later known as Sigmund’s Furnace and farmed about 150 acres. It is his descendant who appears on the above map still living on the original farm. Most of the Christmans in the Lehigh Valley are descended from Jacob. (I’ve written about Jacob before here). There are many families in our church who have Jacob Christman in their family tree (Bray, Nyemscek, Stortz, Long, Weiss, Schaeffer). In addition, four of my grandsons carry the Christman name as Jacob Christman is their great*8 grandfather.

 

Conclusion

The area now occupied by Victory Valley has a long and storied history. The BFC has been a part of this history since we purchased the property in 1955 – 67 years ago. But as you can see above, we have roots into the families who have lived in that area for now approaching 300 years.