Fourth Generation

67. Mary Hoch GRIESEMER^1,12,26,28 was born on 12 July 1781 in Oley Township, Berks Co., PA. She died on 2 December 1863 in Oley Township, Berks Co., PA. She was buried in Bertolet Union Cemetery, Oley Township, PA.

Mary Hoch GRIESEMER and Daniel Yoder BERTOLET were married on 3 October 1802. Daniel Yoder BERTOLET^1,14,26,28 was born on 11 June 1781 in Oley Township, Berks Co., PA. He died on 20 September 1868 in Oley Township, Berks Co., PA. He was buried in Bertolet Union Cemetery, Oley Township, PA. From the "Annals of the Oley Valley In Berks County, PA" by Rev. P. C. Croll.

I refer first to Daniel Bertolet (1781-1868), a son of Daniel and Maria Yoder Bertolet, grandson of Abraham and great-grandson of Jean Bertolet. He married Maria Griesemer, daughter of Peter G., in 1802, had a family of nine children and spent all his years in Oley. He was an active man all his life and put his tremendous energy into tilling the soil, sawing lumber, writing poetry and preaching earnest lay sermons. He is described as "a man of iron will, marvelous industry and deep convictions." In appearance some event thought he resembled Benjamin Franklin, another self-made man of power and influence. He received his early education at a Quaker school, near Pleasantville, and imbibed many good Quaker lessons and absorbed Quaker influences and characteristics, such as his opposition to war and slavery, and his kindly spirit towards neighbors and practicing the golden rule and giving good for evil. He was all his life as much interested in the spiritual as material concerns. He was singularly converted and became attached to "the Albright people, " i. e., the Evangelical Association, founded by Rev. Jacob Albright, and at once opened his house as a preaching place for these itinerants, and his house became noted for religious hospitality. All ministers of any evangelistic type were welcomed. In a record kept of a period of 20 years of preaching here are found the names of Rev. Peter Beaver, a Methodist, grandfather of Gov. James A. Beaver; John Weinbrenner, founder of a sect by that name; John Kimmel and many others. As a lay preacher in the Evangelical Church, he participated in the great Orwigsburg Revival of 1821. He later received elder's orders and served his church on their Board of Publication, and with Rev. John Dreisbach edited and published that denominational hymn-book, known as "Geistlich Viole," to which he contributed quite a number of his own compositions, of which perhaps the best known is the one beginning thus: "Die Wasserbache rauschen dar; Die Stern am Himmel leuchten klar; Die Kuehlen Winde wehen."

A Genius In His Own Way

He had gifts and a genius for lyrical compositions. Some of them denounce in a scathing way the use of tobacco, especially be the clergy, and strong drink, slavery, infant baptism and many political and social follies and fads. His muse seemed to have had a wide and fearless flight. He later (1842) built a house of worship for his Evangelical brethren in Oley and expected to deed it to the local congregation, but when he learned that all church properties were to be vested in the Evangelical Association, and in the dispute which followed, he withdrew his offer, left the church, threw the building open for use by all Protestant preachers, and at his death provided by will that the property, with six acres of ground, including the family burial plot and $2,000 in money, came into the hands of trustees, to be incorporated as a union church and cemetery. This became effective in 1870, when the building was enlarged, a cemetery laid out, where lot owners, regardless of religious faith, have made burials and conducted funeral services.

Mary Hoch GRIESEMER and Daniel Yoder BERTOLET had the following children:

+147	i.	Abraham G. BERTOLET.
+148	ii.	Samuel G. BERTOLET.
149	iii.	Maria G. BERTOLET14 was born on 3 December 1807 in Oley Township, Berks Co., PA. She died on 2 March 1892. Married Moses Miller and they moved to Mifflinburg, Union County, PA.
+150	iv.	Daniel G. BERTOLET.
+151	v.	Isaac G. BERTOLET.
+152	vi.	Esther G. BERTOLET.
+153	vii.	Susanna G. BERTOLET.
+154	viii.	Jacob G. BERTOLET.
+155	ix.	Hannah BERTOLET.
+156	x.	Dr. Peter G. BERTOLET.