Ream-Reddig Family Cemetery - on the corner of S. Reamstown Rd. & Cocalico Creek Rd.

This cemetery has two entrances, and is located on the outskirts of town. Most monuments face S. Reamstown Road and the cemetery has a considerable number of inscriptions that can no longer be deciphered. The photo was taken on 9-14-2014 while this contributor was doing a photo survey of the entire cemetery, begun on 9-06-2014. Upon completion, all headstones, including those whose tombstones can no longer be deciphered, will be recorded in this virtual cemetery.

Selections from “Reamstown Bicentennial 1760-1960” by Rev. John R. Albright, 1960.
DEDUCED ORIGINS OF THE REAM-REDDIG FAMILY CEMTERY

Page 3:
“The purchase and settlement of a large tract of land in the valley of the Pequea Creek in (what was later) Lancaster County (Pennsylvania) in the year 1712 by the Mennonites provided an opportunity for the settlement of many families from Switzerland and Germany.”
GJOT COMMENT: A number of the tombstones in this cemetery have inscriptions in what is believed to be the German language.

Among the early settlers were Johann Eberhard Ream (B 1687) and his wife Anna Elisabeth (Schwab) (B 1692), both bakers by trade with ten to eleven children. It’s mentioned that in March 1725 a survey was made of 389 acres of land along a branch of the Conestoga Creek known as the Cocalico Creek; the Reams were believed to have already settled there before the survey.

I. D. RUPP, in his “History of Lancaster County, 1844,” states:
“In the northeastern part of the county, a settlement was commenced about the year 1723 or 1724, by Eberhard Ream, whose descendants still reside in the village called after the first settler and proprietor. This place, like many others, was occupied by the Indians, at the time Mr. Ream located there. He ventured with his wagon and horse into the woods, where he unloaded his ‘fixtures and furniture,’ under a large oak tree that spread its extended boughs over him and his family till he had put up a rude hut of logs, which he built…”

“Mrs. Ream’s time and energies were spent no doubt as is said of the typical Pennsylvania German housewife, ‘Kinder, Kirches, and Kuche’ ('Children, Churches, and Kitchen')”

THE “REAM” PIONEER SETTLERS HAVE HEADSTONES IN THEIR MEMORY
Page 4:
“Mrs. Ream died March 4, 1761. A plot of land was set aside for a family burial place, and she was laid to rest there. Her tombstone inscription reads (in German) as follows in translation: ‘Here lies buried of Eberhard Ream, his wife Elisabeth, nee Schwab, born in Europe, at Diren, the 10th of October 1692. In marriage she lived 49 years, 7 months, 18 days. Passed away the 4th of March 1761, her age: 68 years, 4 months, 22 days.’”

“We know nothing further of Eberhard’s activities after his wife’s death. His epitaph reads (in German) as follows in translation: ‘Here rest the bones of a very honest dear old grandfather, John Eberhard Ream, born 1687 in Europe, married in the year 1711, with Elisabeth Schwab, came 1717 to America, where his family of ten children increased to 150 Souls. He fell asleep in Jesus the 22nd of August, his age 92 years.’”

Sources:
**In the 200 page paperback book “Reamstown Bicentennial 1760-1960" [Bicentennial, Reamstown, Pa., 1760-1960] by Rev. John R. Albright, 01 January 1960 is identified a bit of history on Reamstown, Lancaster Co., PA where the Ream-Reddig Family Cemetery is located.
**Ancestry.com. “Bicentennial, Reamstown, Pa. 1760-1960” (database on-line). Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.

Ream-Reddig Cemetery - on the corner of S. Reamstown Rd. & Cocalico Creek Rd..

Map of Ream-Reddig cemetery.

Pioneer Settler Johann Eberhardt (Riehm) Ream and Anna Elizabetha Schwab