# East Penn Township, Carbon County, Pennsylvania in the 1810s

> A farming township on the Lehigh frontier, Germanizing after the Revolution, with church, tavern, river, creek, and courthouse far away.

- Place: East Penn Township, Carbon County, Pennsylvania (40.918, -75.705)
- Years: 1810 to 1819
- Page: https://yorehistory.com/place/east-penn-township-carbon-county-pennsylvania/1810s
- Step into it (interactive): https://yorehistory.com/?step=East%20Penn%20Township%2C%20Carbon%20County%2C%20Pennsylvania%2C%20United%20States&at=40.9180,-75.7050&year=1815

## Looking around

You stand in East Penn Township, still in Northampton County[2][3], not yet Carbon County. To the east is the Lehigh River[2], and to the south Blue Mountain separates the township from Lehigh County[2]. Through the township runs Lizard Creek, flowing eastward to the Lehigh[2], with its valley used principally for agriculture[2]. The older center of settlement is about Ben Salem church[2], where a log Lutheran and Reformed meetinghouse[2] stands with a burial ground beside it. Around you are farms held by families whose names appear in the 1808 assessment list[1]. In the eastern part, settlement is newer: it was not permanently settled until after 1800[2]. At Ashfield, Jacob Dinkey’s tavern, store, and blacksmith shop[2] give a traveler and a farmer reasons to stop. Beyond this township, the road-and-river world points toward Lausanne and the Lehigh-Susquehanna turnpike[4].

## Work: Creek farms and hand trades

The most visible work is farming: Lizard Creek’s valley was devoted principally to agriculture[2]. At Ashfield, a tavern, store, and blacksmith shop[2] turn farm traffic into cash, repairs, drink, and news.

## Faith: One church, two traditions

Ben Salem Lutheran and Reformed church was founded about 1790[2], so the same sacred place served two German Protestant traditions. Its log meetinghouse was completed in 1797[2], and the graveyard made it a place of memory as well as worship.

## Law & power: Court power lay far off

The township was governed inside Northampton County[2][3], since Carbon County did not yet exist. Township boundaries had been set by county authority: Penn was divided in 1808 into East Penn, West Penn, and Lausanne[1][2].

## Home & table: German schooling, local farms

The earliest schooling was tied to church life: only German was taught[2] in the first schools. A later local memory places the first schoolhouse in the eastern part of the township on Jacob Dinkey’s farm[2].

## Who lived here: English names, German future

Older land grants belonged to English-speaking families with names including Rhoads, Johnson, Meyers, Washburn, Thomas, Custard, and Kocher[1][2]. After the Revolution, Palatine or Pennsylvania German families became dominant[2].

## Roads & news: Road, river, tavern

News moves by river, road, tavern, and store. Nearby, the Lehigh and Susquehanna turnpike[4] linked Lausanne with Nescopeck, while Dinkey’s tavern, store, and blacksmith shop[2] gave East Penn a stopping place.

## What people feared: Frontier distance and war

In the 1810s, danger was partly distance: East Penn was still a broad rural township, and the eastern section was only permanently settled after 1800[2]. The War of 1812 was a national event people here would have heard about, but no opened local source names East Penn soldiers or losses.

## Money: Tax lists, not price lists

The best opened local money record is not a price list but the 1808 assessment list[1], naming taxable people and property-holders. No local online source found here gives 1810s prices for ordinary East Penn purchases or wages.

## Year by year

- **1808** (here): Penn Township was divided into East Penn, West Penn, and Lausanne, fixing the township name people used in the 1810s.[1][2]
- **1810** (here): Jacob Dinkey bought the Ashfield property and opened a tavern, store, and blacksmith shop.[2]
- **1811** (nearby): West Penn became part of newly formed Schuylkill County, changing the county map immediately west of East Penn.
- **1812** (the country): The United States declared war on Britain, beginning the War of 1812.
- **1814** (the country): British forces burned public buildings in Washington, D.C., news that would have traveled through Pennsylvania newspapers and roads.
- **1815** (the world): Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo, ending the great European war that had shaped Atlantic trade and American politics.
- **1818** (nearby): Mauch Chunk was founded near the Lehigh gorge as coal and river improvement work began to reshape the nearby region.[5]
- **1819** (the country): A severe national financial panic began, tightening credit and troubling farmers, merchants, and debtors across Pennsylvania.

## What the sources say

- In the 1810s, East Penn Township was in Northampton County; Carbon County was not formed until March 13, 1843, from parts of Northampton and Monroe Counties. (from the sources)[2][3]
- The township called Penn was divided in 1808 into East Penn, West Penn, and Lausanne. (from the sources)[1][2]
- East Penn in the 1810s was larger than today: it included the present Mahoning Township and the greater part of later Mauch Chunk Township. (from the sources)[1][2]
- A published county history prints an 1808 East Penn assessment list, showing taxable householders and landholders such as Peter, Jacob, William, John, and Daniel Andreas; George Mertz; Simon Wehr; Abraham Miller; and others. (from the sources)[1]
- East Penn was bounded on the east by the Lehigh River and on the south by the Blue Mountain, which separated it from Lehigh County. (from the sources)[2]
- Lizard Creek flowed eastward through East Penn to the Lehigh, and its valley was described as devoted principally to agriculture. (from the sources)[2]
- The eastern section of East Penn, especially along the Lehigh, was not permanently settled until after 1800. (from the sources)[2]
- The first settlers of East Penn were English-speaking families with names including Tipple or Tippler, Pearsoll or Piersol, Rhoads, Johnson, Meyers, Washburn, Thomas, Custard, and Kocher. (from the sources)[1][2]
- After the Revolution, many earlier English-speaking settlers left for Canada, and Palatine or Pennsylvania German families became dominant; the Ben Salem church locality was the center of settlement. (from the sources)[2]
- Ben Salem Lutheran and Reformed church was founded about 1790, and its first log meetinghouse was completed in 1797 with galleries on the sides. (from the sources)[2]
- In 1810 Jacob Dinkey bought the property first occupied by Jacob and Peter Andreas at Ashfield and opened a tavern, store, and blacksmith shop. (from the sources)[2]
- The first schoolhouse in the eastern part of the township was built on Jacob Dinkey’s farm, but the exact year is not given in the local history. (from the sources)[2]
- The earliest schools in East Penn were conducted under the auspices of Ben Salem church, and only German was taught. (from the sources)[2]
- A nearby route for strangers and goods was the Lehigh and Susquehanna turnpike, a privately built stage road from Lausanne toward Nescopeck that used an older Indian trail and was built in 1805. (from the sources)[4]
- Mauch Chunk was founded in 1818 just north of East Penn’s later reduced bounds, as Lehigh coal and river improvements began to transform the Lehigh gorge. (inferred)[5]
- No local online source found here gives 1810s prices for wheat, ironwork, tavern meals, shoes, or a day’s labor in East Penn Township. (not known)
- No local online source found here gives a surviving description of ordinary East Penn houses in the 1810s. (not known)
- Before the free-school law was accepted locally in 1840, schooling in East Penn depended on church and neighborhood arrangements rather than a township-wide public system. (from the sources)[2]

## Sources

1. History of the Counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Part 72: East Penn Township. LDS Genealogy transcription of Mathews and Hungerford, 1884. https://ldsgenealogy.com/PA/books/History-of-the-counties-of-Lehigh-and-Carbon-in-the-commonwealth-of-Pennsylvania-Pt-2-part-72.htm
2. History of Carbon County, Pennsylvania, Part 13: East Penn Township. LDS Genealogy transcription of Fred Brenckman, 1913. https://ldsgenealogy.com/PA/books/History-of-Carbon-County-Pennsylvania-also-containing-a-separate-account-of-the-several-boroughs-and-townships-in-the-county-with-biographical-sketches-part-13.htm
3. Carbon County Incorporation Dates. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. https://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/Rg/di/IncorporationDatesForMunicipalities/pdfs/carbon.pdf?catid=13
4. Where is Lausanne?. National Canal Museum, 2021. https://canals.org/2021/10/07/where-is-lausanne/
5. The Founding of Mauch Chunk. The Current, 2018. https://jimthorpecurrent.com/live/the-founding-of-mauch-chunk-part-1-2/

## Nearby, about the same time

- [Mauch Chunk, Carbon County, Pennsylvania in the 1820s](https://yorehistory.com/place/mauch-chunk-carbon-county-pennsylvania/1820s/md) (5 km)
- [Nazareth Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania in the 1790s](https://yorehistory.com/place/nazareth-township-northampton-county-pennsylvania/1790s/md) (39 km)
- [Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania in the 1790s](https://yorehistory.com/place/wilkes-barre-luzerne-county-pennsylvania/1790s/md) (39 km)
- [Wyoming Valley, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania in the 1820s](https://yorehistory.com/place/wyoming-valley-luzerne-county-pennsylvania/1820s/md) (40 km)
- [Kingston, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania in the 1830s](https://yorehistory.com/place/kingston-luzerne-county-pennsylvania/1830s/md) (41 km)
- [Wyoming, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania in the 1820s](https://yorehistory.com/place/wyoming-luzerne-county-pennsylvania/1820s/md) (45 km)
- [Wyoming Borough, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania in the 1840s](https://yorehistory.com/place/wyoming-borough-luzerne-county-pennsylvania/1840s/md) (45 km)
- [Nescopeck Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania in the 1810s](https://yorehistory.com/place/nescopeck-township-luzerne-county-pennsylvania/1810s/md) (46 km)

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Researched by Yore's AI historian (gpt-5.5) on 2026-10-11 from the sources listed. It is about the place and the time, not about any person. Statements marked "inferred" are conclusions, not records. Cite as: Yore, "East Penn Township, Carbon County, Pennsylvania in the 1810s", https://yorehistory.com/place/east-penn-township-carbon-county-pennsylvania/1810s