Drawing of the original house built by Hans Joest Heijt after purchasing the land of 445 acres in 1718. Heijt also built the gristmill on the property.
October 17-18, 1681: William Penn granted 1,250 acres to William Pennington.
June 15-16, 1716: Pennington sold the property to Joseph Kirkbride.
December 24, 1717: Kirkbride sold half of the property to Thomas Stevenson.
November 15, 1718: Hans Joest (Yost, Jost) Heijt (Hite, Height) purchased 600 acres from Kirkbride and Stevenson. Heijt constructed the first part of the house and the gristmill during his ownership. Heijt married Anna Maria du Bois and had eight children.
Heijt eventually moved to the Shenandoah Valley and became one of the largest landowners in that area.
Jan Pawling's signature on a petition, c. 1730.
The signature below Jan Pawling's belonged to Henry Pannebecker. Henry Pannebecker was the original Pannebecker ancestor who was a surveyor for William Penn.
Jan Pawling (John Pauling), a major land owner in southeastern Pennsylvania, purchased 500 acres, including the house and gristmill, for £540. John married Ephia Dewitt and had seven children. He died in 1733, and his family rented out the mill and the house.
Peter Pannebecker's signature in a note about snowfall in the area, found in his family Bible, c. 1760s.
On December 4, 1747, Pawling's heirs sold 445 ½ acres of the property to Peter Penebacker (Pannebacker, Pennypacker) for £780. Peter had purchased the mill and 55 acres prior to this. During his ownership, a sawmill and a fulling mill were added to the property along with an addition to the house. With the three mills, the property became known as Pennypacker Mills.
Peter married Elizabeth Keyser and had nine children. The gristmill and 115 acres were sold to Adam Prutesman on June 19, 1762. In his will of 1765, Peter stated that his son Samuel would receive the property containing the house and that his wife shall have the privilege of the two Rooms at the East end of my house where I now Live in...
Deed bequeathing Samuel Penebacker's land to his sons.
Samuel Penebacker (Pennypacker), through his father’s will, received the property consisting of the house and 125 acres which was appraised at £900 on Aug. 28, 1770. Samuel married Hannah Gesbert and had eight children. During his ownership, in the fall of 1777, the Continental Army under General George Washington encamped on the property, referring to it as "Camp at Pennypacker’s Mills." In 1783, Samuel was listed as owning 171 acres, five horses, eight cattle, ten sheep, and one enslaved person. In 1787, he built or reconstructed the barn.
Deed for the house and property from Samuel Pennypacker Jr. to John Detweiler.
Samuel Pennypacker Jr. was born on the property on February 8, 1779. Samuel, through his father's will, received the property consisting of 125 acres on March 10, 1826. He married Catharine Wireman and had eight children. He spent his entire life of 84 years on the property and had amassed $20,596.43 at the time of his death.
The deed from Samuel Pennypacker Jr. to his son-in-law, John Detweiler, includes a drawing of the property lines at the time.
John Detweiler married Samuel's daughter, Anna Pennypacker, and they had four daughters. On April 2, 1864, John Detweiler, already residing on the property, bought 97 acres for $6,706.56 through the terms of his father-in-law's will. It is most likely during John's ownership that the porch was added to the house. John died without a will. His wife, Anna, lived in the mansion until her death in 1895. Like her father, she spent her entire life of 77 years on the property.
During the ownership of John Detweiler, the Pennypacker family held a large family reunion on October 4, 1877, marking the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Germantown. More than 1,500 people were in attendance. The proceedings were hampered by heavy rain.
The Pennypacker Family Reunion was a grand affair, with the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad running special trains to accommodate the crowd. That evening, because of the heavy rain, one of the trains on the Pickering Branch encountered a washout and crashed. Seven people, four of which were family members heading home, were killed. One of the photographs below shows the trestles that were needed to run the trains above the washout.
Eliza B. Pennypacker's invitation to the Family Reunion.
Caused by heavy rains, the train carrying many of the reunion family home crashed, killing 4 family members and injuring many others.
This plate was made to commemorate the family reunion and the anniversary of Evacuation Day.
"Pennypacker Reunion March," dedicated to Samuel W. Pennypacker.
The Hunsicker Family on the porch of Pennypacker Mills, c. 1882.
Josiah Hunsicker married Katherine Detweiler and had an acre conveyed to him in 1872. He purchased an additional acre in 1874. Since Josiah Hunsicker's father, John Detweiler, died without a will, his wife Ann and son-in-law Josiah sold the property to John Markley on April 22, 1882 for $4,713.12. Josiah Hunsicker then purchased the property back from Markley on the same day for the same amount for tax reasons. Josiah Hunsicker died on January 4, 1900 with a debt of over $5,500. In 1897, the Historical Society of Montgomery County erected a large stone monument to commemorate the location of the Revolutionary War encampment.
On October 8, 1897, the Historical Society of Montgomery County erected a granite marker eight feet high to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the Revolutionary War encampment at Pennypacker Mills. This was placed in front of the mill at the head of Skippack Pike. As automobile traffic increased, the marker was moved to the center of Haldeman Road at the intersection with Skippack Pike. In the summer of 1983, the marker was moved onto the grounds of Pennypacker Mills.
Picture of the monument next to the gristmill on property, with a dog standing near it and a buggy parked at the mill.
On June 17, 1899, the Sons of the Revolution celebrated Evacuation Day at Pennypacker Mills in which Judge Samuel W. Pennypacker gave a speech: But, the deepest interest centered in the old white farm house up on the hill where Washington held that council of war. The place was occupied by Samuel Pennypacker at the time of the camp, and is now the property of J.E. Hunsicker, a relative by marriage of the Pennypackers, who courteously threw the house open to the visitors. Inside the three-foot stone walls the house was cool and reposeful. A little west parlor is shown as the room where the famous council of war was held and just overhead is the ten by twelve bedroom where the Father of the Country laid his troubled head to rest.
“On Historic Soil.” Philadelphia Inquirer. June 18, 1899.