An aerial photo, probably taken in the mid-1950s of the buildings and fields on the 200 acre farm in Lykens Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, that in 1875 belonged to Matthias Deibler.
This land was part of a larger tract called Lewisburg that was patented to Mathias Deibler in 1785.
Eventually, most of this farm became part of a group of twenty-eight properties owned by Spread Eagle Farms, which, by 1975 declared bankruptcy. Following this bankruptcy, the Amish began purchasing farm land in the Lykens Valley. Levi Esh purchased one of the Spread Eagle Farms in 1975. Melvin Stolzfus and Ruth Stolzfus were the first Amish family to move into the valley in January 1978 followed by the families of Benuel Fisher, Ike King, Elam Lapp, Benjamin Kauffman and Elam Stolzfus in March 1978.
The location of the the Mathias Deibler farm is in the northwest corner of Lykens Township, near the border of Mifflin Township, as shown on the 1875 map above.
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For further information on the Amish settlement in the Lykens Valley, see Amish History of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 1978-2013, by Elam Lapp. The book is available at Shady Lane Hardware, Route 25, Spring Glen, Pennsylvania 17978.