Before there was electricity, water mills were an important source of power.
Mills were the most reliable resources for survival in the Wissahickon Valley Region, especially as the Wissahickon Creek is located nearby. Even though there were more mills in Ambler, there were a good number of mills in Lower Gwynedd too, including the Hoffman mill that used the Trewellyn Creek as its water power source.
Hoffman's Saw Mill
Jacob F. Hoffman (1840/4-1922) was the son of John Jacob Hoffman. His father was born in Styart, Wurtemberg, Germany and emigrated to the United States when he was 17 years old. He learned the trade of carriage building and worked in New Orleans.
In 1852, John moved to Lower Gwynedd, where he purchased 114 acres of land that he used for his saw mill. Due to failing health, his son Jacob took over the farm and the saw mill after attending school for three years in Gwynedd.
He died in 1922, leaving behind his widow Caroline and his children. One of his sons, John C. Hoffman (1876-1967), took over the farm and saw mill until it was sold to Sonia Kolb. The Hoffman family still resides in Lower Gwynedd and lived right next to the farm and saw mill.
The house and farm are still standing to this day.
NOTE: During the summer of 2019, I interned with the PA Historical and Museum Commission's State Historic Preservation Office. We visited the Daniel Boone Homestead and witnessed an actual sawmill cutting wood using water as a power source. Watch the videos below!
Bibliography
Franklin Survey Company. Montgomery County 1934 Vol A, Plate 16, 1934.
"Google Maps Area Calculator Tool." DaftLogic. Accessed August 2, 2022. https://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-area-calculator-tool.htm.
"Jacob Hoffman." Ambler Gazette. July 20, 1922. Page 1. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wivp-gazett/id/7528/rec/2.
Roberts, Ellwood. Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Containing Genealogical Records of Representative Families, Including Many of the Early Settlers and Biographical Sketches of Prominent Citizens, Volume 2. (New York, Chicago: T.S. Benham & Co. and The Lewis Publishing Co., 1904): 58.
Scott, J. D. Montgomery County 1877, Gwynedd, North Wales, Ambler, Royer's Ford, Limerick Station, 1877.
Smith, J. L. Montgomery County 1893, Upper and Lower Gwynedd Townships, Lansdale, North Wales, Spring House, Ambler Right, 1893.