Reamstown’s namesake family focus of March 17 lecture at community center

A brief history of the founding of Reamstown and World War II correspondence between Ream family descendants will be the focus of a free lecture on Tuesday, March 17, at 7 p.m. at the Reamstown Community Center, 24 E. Church St., Reamstown.

Ream family descendant Beth McCollom will provide a glimpse into one family’s life who had a connection to Lancaster County during the war years. Hand-written correspondence between cousins Norman W. Ream of Harrisburg and Dr. Friedrich Riehm of Germany occurred over a five-year period from 1946 to 1951.

Dr. Friedrich Riehm and family in Germany.

Photos, letters, and postcards will be available to be viewed and read by the public.

Norman W. Ream established the Ream Family Association (formerly the Ream Clan of America) in 1917. The family association expanded to a number of chapters throughout the country before it disbanded in the 1990s.

The family’s materials were later merged with the Reamstown Historical Society for preservation. The following example of a postcard dated Mai (May) 1946 from Dr. Riehm was among correspondence McCollom will share:

“Dear Cousin Norman:

Since America’s joining the war we have nothing heard from you and Dr. Denniston. I hope you are well and you have fine family days at Reamstown in spite of the war. With my wife and my four children I have been evacuated from Berlin to my mother-in-law who is living here (Grosshessen Deutschland, American Zone). We are all well but our home in Berlin has been destroyed with all our furniture and all what was in. We are living in the American Zone and we hope that someone of our American cousins who is in Germany will pay a visit to the German cousins.

With kind regards to you and to Dr. Denniston – unfortunately I lost his address – and to the whole Ream Family Clan in Pennsylvania. Yours sincerely, Friedrich Riehm.”

In the early 1700s, the first white settlers along the Conestoga Creek, which included land settled by Native Americans and known today as Cocalico, came from Leimen, Germany. Johann Eberhard Ream, a baker by trade, his wife Anna Elisabeth Schwab, and their 11 children, were granted 200 acres of land.

By 1750, Eberhard received patents for more than 900 acres of land. He divided the land among his children in 1759 and the following year his son, Tobias Ream, divided his share into building lots for a town he named Zoar. The tiny community was later named Reamstown in honor of its founder.

This free lecture is one in a continuing series sponsored by the Reamstown Historical Society & Museum. Parking is in the rear of the Community Center. For more information call 717-364-0865.