Hans GROFF

                   WILL DATED 8 NOV.1746,MENTIONS SON JACOB AND 9 CHILDREN OF 2. WIFE SUSANNA STILL LIVING IN 1746. INCLUDED THE 1580 FROSCHAUER BIBLE HE BROUGHT FROM EUROPE AND STILL IS IN THE FAMILY IN LANCASTER. HIS GOLD SCALES ARE ON EXHIB. AT MENN. HIST. SOC.DEED,PHIL.PA. DATED 16 MAY 1715. D.4,54-----HARRISBURG,PA. PATENT A-5-316-----DEED B-1-583 LANCASTER PA.------SURVEY D-82-51,HARRISBURG------PATENT A-7-510 DEED C-1-322,LANCASTER-------DANIEL RUPP,HISTORY OF LANCASTER PA.
JAMES LOGAN LEDGER 1720/27-----THE GROFF BOOK VOL.1,GROFF HIST.
ASS 151 CHERRY HILL RD. RONKS,PA/17572
History of Western Maryland pg.1218;lists washington county res. Jacob Groff as grandson of Hans (subj.) who was born in Switzerland in 1661 and who fled to Alsace, Germ. during the persecution of the Mennonites in his Fatherland.  In Alsace he bore the title of Baron Von Weldon, and several copies of his coat of arms are in the possession of his desc.  After remaining in Alsace for some time he emigrated to America with his family and household goods. One of the articles which he brought over with him and which is now in the possession of Levi Groff of Lancaster Pa.  is a family Bible printed in 1585. It is a large and weighty tome, with thick covers protected by plates of iron, and stands on four small iron feet. Hans arr. in Pa. about 1695 and moved westward to a stream now known as Groffs Run in Lancaster Co. where he esablished a Trading post with the Indians, exchanging blankets for furs which he hauled to Philadelphia in a stout wagon pulled by six powerful horses.  Subsequently he purchased from the sons of Wm. Penn a tract of land containing some 14 or 15 hundred acres and laid out Earl township, so named from his title of nobility, upon the banks of Groffs Run.  The locality is now known as east earl and West Earl Lancaster Co..   He lived to be a very old man and was buried in the graveyard att. to Groffs meeting-houst.  His grave was marked with a rough sandstone slab on which the letters "H.G." are still decipherable