THE PIONEER FAMILY WAS PROBABLY GERMAN REFORMED OR LUTHERAN BECAUSE THEY PRACTICED INFANT BAPTISM. THE DAUGHTER, KATHERINE, WAS BAPTIZED SEPTEMBER 8, 1733. SHE WAS BORN ON THE SHIP WHILE CROSSING AND LANDED IN PORT ON AUGUST 28, 1733.

THE CONESTOGA AND WHITE OAK CHURCHES WERE "TAUFERS" OR "DUNKERS" AND WERE ANABAPTISTS. THEY WERE OPPOSED TO INFANT BAPTISM AND BAPTISM OF MINORS--THOSE UNDER AGE 21. THE OLDEST IMMIGRANT SON, JOSEPH, WAS BAPTIZED INTO THE CONESTOGA CONGREGATION IN 1741 AT AGE 27 AND HIS BROTHER JOHN IN 1747 AT AGE 29.

SINCE THE TWO OLDEST BROTHERS BELONGED TO THE NEW CHURCH, IT IS ALSO LOGICAL TO BELIEVE THAT THE YOUNGER BROTHERS AND SISTERS JOINED AS SOON AS CONVENIENT AFTER THEY REACHED 21 YEARS OF AGE.

THE IMMIGRANT FAMILY REACHED THE VICINITY OF THEIR NEW HOME (IN WHAT IS NOW RAPHO TWP. IN NORTHWESTERN LANCASTER COUNTY) IN THE LATTER PART OF SEPTEMBER OR EARLY OCTOBER, 1733. (THE CURRENT RAPHO TWP. SPLIT FROM WHAT WAS ORIGINALLY OLD DONEGAL TWP. IN 1741 AND FROM HERE ON ALL REFERENCES WILL BE NOTED AS RAPHO TWP.).

THEY WERE NO DOUBT TAKEN IN BY VARIOUS BRETHREN IN THE GERMAN REFORMED OR LUTHERAN CHURCH UNTIL THEY HAD QUARTERS OF THEIR OWN.

THE FIRST SETTLEMENT WAS NORTHWEST OF OLD LINE CLOSE TO THE PRESENT LOCATION OF UNION SQUARE. HERE THE LAND IS SIMILAR TO THAT OF PALATINATE, GERMANY; WHICH THEY LEFT. THE PALATINATE WAS A RICH AGRICULTURAL STATE BOUNDED ON THE EAST BY A SISTER STATE, BADEN, AND ON THE SOUTH BY NORTHEASTERN FRANCE INCLUDING THE STATES OF MOSELLE, LORRAINE, AND THE ARGONNE SLIGHTLY TO THE WEST. THE VOSGES MOUNTAINS ARE DUE SOUTH.

SOME OF JOSEPH FLORY’S DESCENDANTS RETURNED TO THIS SECTION ALMOST 200 YEARS LATER AND FOUGHT IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR AND OTHERS IN THE SECOND.

HE WAS A SHREWD SETTLER TO SELECT A PLACE IN THE NEW WORLD SO SIMILAR TO THE PALATINATE WHERE SIMILAR CROPS COULD BE GROWN. THIS AREA ALSO DEVELOPED INTO ONE OF THE RICHEST AGRICULTURAL SPOTS IN THE WORLD. RAPHO TWP. HAS ABOUT 10 INCHES MORE ANNUAL RAINFALL AND IS SOMEWHAT WARMER THAN THE PALATINATE.

JOSEPH WAS A SQUATTER FOR A TIME AND BUILT HIS DUGOUT AGAINST A HILLSIDE LIKE SO MANY OTHER SETTLERS, NEAR A SUPPLY OF SPRING WATER. WOLVES AT NIGHT TIME, ATTRACTED BY THE SMELL OF HUMANS, SCRATCHED DIRT DOWN THE CHIMNEY. IT WAS NECESSARY THEN TO THROW BLAZING BITS OF WOOD UP THE CHIMNEY TO FRIGHTEN THEM AWAY.

INDIANS WERE A MENACE UNTIL THE MASSACRE OF THE INDIANS BY THE PAXTANG BOYS AT CONESTOGA AND LANCASTER IN 1763.

EIGHT YEARS AFTER ARRIVING IN THE NEW WORLD, THE PIONEER FATHER, JOSEPH DIED SUDDENLY IN OCTOBER 1741. DYING WITHOUT A WILL, HIS WIDOW, MARY, ALONG WITH HIS 2 OLDEST SONS, (JOSEPH, NOW 27, AND JOHN, NOW 23) APPEAR ON A BOND IN WHICH SHE PROMISES TO BRING TO COURT A TRUE INVENTORY OF HIS GOODS WITHIN 6 MONTHS AFTER HIS DEATH. THE INVENTORY ON THE BOND IS AS FOLLOWS:

86 LB. 0 SHILLINGS 2 HORSES

1 YOUNG MARE 1 YOUNG STALLION

1 OLD HORSE 1 COW WITH BELL

1 YOUND BOAR 1 BULL

1 SPOTTED COW 2 CALVES

1 HEFFERS / 1 STEER 8 SWEIN

6 SHEEP 2 GROBEN HOHS & HOGHET

1 DUTCH CARPENTER BROAD AX LUNDAY

1 SHOFFEL (SHOVEL) 1 PLAIN WINJ & LUNDAY OF

LUNDAY AGE TOOLS HOUSEHOLD LINEN & BEDDING

KETTLES & PAANS (PANS) & IREN PATTS 20 BUSHELS WHEAT

(IRON POTS) 43 BUSSHELS OATS

SOME WOODEN WEAR SPOONS

SUNDRY LOTS OF HOUSEHOLD GOODS

BOOKS & HALF BUSSEL

20 SUSSHELS RYE

LARGE BRAAVEN ROOPE

TOTAL AMOUNTING TO ABOUT 190 LBS. ($33.00) DEBTS PAID OUT OF ABOVE, 30 LBS., 7 SHILLINGS, 8 PENCE (ABOUT $53.00)

ACCORDING TO LAND GRANT RECORDS OF LANCASTER COUNTY, WARRANT #139 WAS TAKEN OUT OF JOHN FLORY ON OCTOBER 1, 1746 FOR 100 ACRES. IT WAS DEEDED BY JOHN PENN, ONE OF WILLIAM PENN’S SONS, TO JOHN F. FLORY AS THE "FLORY GARDENS". THE ORDERED SURVEY WAS RETURNED ON APRIL 26, 1776, NEARLY 30 YEARS LATER, AND WAS ACTUALLY 174 3/4 ACRES, INCLUDING ROADS AND WALKS, INSTEAD OF ONE HUNDRED.

THIS TRACT, KNOWN IN THOSE DAYS AS THE FLORY GARDENS AND REFERRED TO AS SUCH IN THE DEEDS, WAS LOCATED A LITTLE TO THE WEST AND NORTH OF THE PRESENT UNION SQUARE. THE OLD PIONEER CEMETERY WAS ON THIS PLAT ABOUT 9/10 MILE WEST OF UNION SQUARE NORTH OF ELIZABETHTOWN ROAD. THIS IS ALSO THE EARLIEST AND FIRST RECORDED REFERENCE ON A DEED TO A SECTION OF LANCASTER COUNTY THAT INCLUDES THE DESCRIPTION "GARDENS". LATER, LANCASTER ACQUIRED THE NICKNAME OF THE "GARDEN SPOT".