An historical selection written by Lloyd M. Bellis and C. H. Willier for the Gratz Sesquicentennial, which was celebrated in 1955.
The selection contains the following misleading information:
(1) The Aaron Levy will, although written in 1802, was not probated until a week after his death in 1815, the latter fact avoided by Bellis and Willier, giving the impression that Simon Gratz actually obtained the land in 1802. See:
(2) Near the end of their selection, Bellis and Willier, report that the date Simon Gratz laid out the town of Gratz, was 1805, and that this was several years after acquiring “his first lands.” The reader is thus given the impression, although not specifically stated, that the lands acquired several years earlier included the bequest from Levy, which in reality did not take place until the will was probated in 1815. In either case, no proof is given that Simon Gratz actually laid out the town in 1805 or when he actually acquired any prior lands in the Lykens Valley “on his own volition.”
From the Sesquicentennial History of Gratz, published in 1955, pages 57-58:
Simon Gratz, the founder of our town. was born in Philadelphia, January 14, 1773. He was the eldest of five sons born to Michael Gratz and Miriam [Simon] Gratz.
Michael Gratz came to America in 1759, five years after his brother Bernard Gratz came to Philadelphia. The two brothers engaged in the merchandising business under the firm name of B. & M. Gratz, Merchants. They were engaged in coast-wide trade from New Orleans in the south to Quebec in the north.
Their mercantile establishment was located at what is now 700-704 Market Street. The building stood until about twenty-five years ago. Since that time the Penn National Bank occupies this site [1955]….
Both Michael Gratz and Bernard Gratz were ardent patriots during the Revolution. Indeed, after the passage of the Stamp Act in 1765 they both had signed the Non-Importation Resolution, adopted on October 2, 1765, by the “merchants and other citizens of Philadelphia” as a remonstrance against this despicable act. When the war came along they cast their lot with the Revolutionists.
After carrying on their coastwise trade successfully for a number of years they were influenced by Joseph Simon, Michael’s father-in-law, to get into the Indian trade from Lancaster westward. They were the wholesalers who supplied the traders dealing with the Indians via pack-horse and Conestoga wagons.
In 1798 Simon Gratz and his brother Hyman Gratz took over the business of B. & M. Gratz.
Closely associated with the Gratz Brothers was Aaron Levy, who had become an extensive landowner in the central portion of the state, and in 1786 had founded the town of Aaronsburg in Center County. When Simon Gratz was a young man Levy adopted him, and, in his will dated June 28, 1802, left him extensive bequests. Levy had been the owner of Wildcat Ridge, the site of our town, before Simon Gratz achieved that distinction.
There can be but little doubt that it was Aaron Levy who opened the eyes of Simon Gratz to the possibilities of investments in this area. Not only did Simon Gratz have the land in this area which he had inherited from Levy, but he had also taken up much land on his own volition.
In 1805, several years after acquiring his first land in the Lykens Valley, he laid out Gratz.
We must not think, however, that his newly-founded town was Simon Gratz‘s first love. Far from it. The Gratz Brothers’ Indian trade was so successful that they were constantly extending it westward, particularly along the Ohio River. In Kentucky, they established successful business ventures and became large landowners….
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Photo of Simon Gratz from the Sesquicentennial History, via Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.
[Indians]