This is a story about restoration and discovery of historical connections between my house, Capt. Peter Ickes and his part in the American Revolution. As it developed, I also learned, by chance, of a pewter tankard presented to Ickes following the Revolutionary War. During the Revolution and the weeks leading up to the outbreak of the war, so-called patriots in York County were persecuting neighbors who were pacifist German Baptist Brethren. Peter Ickes, a German speaker now seeking approval from an English speaking society, was willing to fine and seize property from neighbors, pursuant to the Oath Act and Militia Act of 1777 and 1778. During the Revolution, Quakers, Mennonites and German Baptists and some German speakers were viewed by the gathering antagonists as traitors to the revolution and loyal to King George. Since landing on the shores of Pennsylvania, at the invitation of William Penn, German speakers maintained their loyalty to a monarch, which was part of their experience in Europe. They could not grasp an alliance to a piece of paper called the Declaration of Independence and supported by many Scots-Irish, who in many cases were their antagonists. In 2001, I was in the market for a historic house, so when I came upon this quaint duplex near the town square in Abbottstown, Pa., I noticed that the stone side had segmented stone arches over the windows and the roof line had a steep pitch. The other side was covered with aluminum siding, and it had a long concrete porch. I was determined to restore the property and replace features that werent original to the structure. When the aluminum siding came off, I was elated to find a log structure with dovetail log ends all in good shape. Abbottstown was a way station for travelers in Colonial times, and one can imagine the lines of drovers cursing and whipping the oxen while pulling the huge Conestoga wagons up the hill, with bells ringing. It was a crossroads town, linking East Berlin, Hanover, York and Gettysburg. I had no idea of the structures lineage but researched the plans showing the lots laid out for what was then called Berwick Village. A plot plan drawn by Jacob Fahnstock, dated ca. 1807, noted that Peter Ickes owned lot 27, upon which my house was constructed, ca. 1760-90. Startling Discovery I am somewhat of a bibliophile, and while at the York Antiques Show, I was perusing a book titled, The Pennsylvania Germans: A Celebration of Their Works 1683-1850, produced jointly by The Philadelphia Art Museum and Winterthur Museum in 1983. Then, I came upon a full-page photograph of a pewter tankard with inscriptions and a man holding a sword on a horse. Then, to my amazement, the words, Huzza For Capt Ickes, Liberty or Death, were inscribed on the tankard, made by William Will and in the collection of Winterthur Museum. William Will (1742-98), of Philadelphia, was arguably the most prolific pewterer from the American Revolutionary period. He was famous in his own right, having risen to the rank of colonel in the Continental Army in 1776-77. Soon after the Revolutionary War, Ickes men presented him with the tankard for his service. The tankard is engraved with the above inscription, Liberty or Death echoing Patrick Henrys famous speech to the Virginia Convention in 1775. My heart jumped at this discovery upon seeing Peter Ickes name. A footnote read he had moved from Montgomery County at the end of the 18th century to Abbottstown. I could not believe I was beginning to discover these strands of history, so I gathered all the information I could find on the Ickes family. Peter Ickes was born in Limerick Township, Montgomery County, and was a co-founder of Swamp Lutheran church. In 1772, he moved to Berwick Village (Abbottstown, Pa.), where he served as a postmaster, innkeeper, and deacon of St Johns Lutheran Church, located just across the alley from my house. Peter Ickes (1748-1829) was a prominent member of his community during the American Revolution. He was elected captain of his militia group early on, and it is believed that he served as part of a guard force at Camp Security in York. The prisoners were Hessians along with British Gen. Burgoynes Army. Ickes son George was a colonel in the War of 1812 and is buried along with other progeny of Capt. Ickes. Capt. Peter Ickes House The two-story log with stone half dwelling was Georgian but likely constructed by German speakers. The log half had interior beaded board walls. The window openings on the log side of the house were lengthened and two new windows cut out on the gable end, sometime in the 1870s or 80s. The stone side of the house had original interior doors and hardware, with minimal alterations, and had all the hallmarks of an 18th-century Germanic structure, based upon the layout of rooms and their utilitarian purposes. Rubble stone was used in the rear of the building, and there is a 6-feet-deep root cellar under the floor of the cabin, with Rauschkammer in the attic to smoke meats. These Rauschkammers, or attic smokehouses, consisted of an enclosed wall built near the chimney that was constructed in the attic and rested on the floor and attached to heavy support beams. Holes were made in the chimney so that smoke could surround the meats and round portals in the gable end allows excess smoke to escape to the outside. I found numerous rose head nails that had been driven into the hand hewn attic rafters and collar ties. The stone side exhibits dressed stone in the front. The window placement in the rear of the stone building is not uniform, but is original. The gable end of the stone side exhibits two circular brick portals that are at the attic level. This architectural feature is found in barns and dwelling houses in York and Lancaster County. Residences constructed in the Moravian community in Lititz have many homes with similar portals. All windows and doors are of large wooden mortise and tenon construction. The window sashes are nine over six on the first floor and six over six on the second floor. Both heavy chevron doors are reproductions and hung with period strap hinges on pintles. The log side of the structure as well as the stone side had a winder staircase. A cistern for the collection of rain water was discovered after the concrete pavement was removed. On this cistern now rests a period log water pump with iron hardware. The common roof is shingled with cedar (oak) shakes, which is typical of this time period. Projecting from the cabin is a central chimney. This chimney rests on cross beams located in the garret of the cabin and was used to vent smoke through 8-inch pipes that projected from ten plate stoves. The gable end chimney located on the stone side originates on the first floor of the stone dwelling with a large hearth. From the hearth, one sees an opening that led to an outside squirrel tail or bee hive oven, which was used to bake bread. Another common feature is a root cellar, located under the house and accessed from an outside cellar door or under the floor of the dwelling. The Ickes House had an 8-inch-wide water channel that ran through the center of the slate floor that was deeper than the rest of the cellar floor. On either side of the channel, food crocks would be lined up for storage. A stone well is located against the wall at the rear of the house. -J. Fritz, Gettysburg Institute of History