It was known simply as the “Store in Lititz.” Settlers would no longer have to make the long and difficult journey to Lancaster Town to do their trading. Hard cash was a scarce item in these early days and most store items were purchased in exchange for farm products.
An actual inventory of this store taken in 1773 is a revelation of the many common necessities and a few of the luxuries purchased by our ancestors prior to the Revolutionary War. Glancing over the list of 740 items stocked, many of them fairly jump out to claim attention.
Think what the modern collector would give to get his hands on a few of the items selected at random. While all prices were listed in pounds and shillings, the approximate dollar value (in 1966) is given.
| snuff, per bottle $.50 | knee buckles .11 | feathers, per lb. .20 |
| Dutch spelling books .16 | fine horn combs .09 | silk bonnets 2.55 |
| Reformed catechisms .25 | barlow knives 2.43 | bed ticking, per yard .70 |
| Lutheran catechisms .30 | brooms 1.08 | white flannel, per yard .54 |
| Allmanecks .14 | common spectacles 1.89 | blankets 2.35 |
| pewter tankards 1.25 | temple spectacles 5.67 | linen handkerchiefs (sic) .05 |
| pewter spoons .09 | butcher knives .16 | “Nonsopsitty” (ties) .20 |
| pewter tea pots 1.20 | gimlets .05 | yarn stockings, women’s .50 |
| pewter soop spoons .10 | grass hooks .20 | worsted stockings, women’s .84 |
| pewter basons .32 | scythes .75 | cotton stocking, women’s 1.25 |
| flatt irons .14 | sheep shears .35 | knit thread stockings, men’s 1.70 |
| bone ink horns .27 | horse whips .63 | coffee, per lb. .30 |
| coffee mills .90 | stone plates .08 | sugar (brown only) .08 |
| steel thimbles .01½ | cup and saucer, wt & bluestone .35 | sugar candy .65 |
| knee garters .42 |
In “Outstanding Debts’ there is one item posted against “Joackel Huber’s daughter” for “½ penny.” Probably this went for sugar candy and would certainly raise the ire of the parent when brought to his attention.
(I believe that this Joackel Huber was Jacob Huber who died in 1767. He owned the large stone house on Newport Road now known as the “Forgotten Seasons Bed and Breakfast.” The three daughters were Eva wife of Nicholas Stroh, Catharine wife of Jacob Weidman, and Barbara wife of ___Weachter. They were from the Warwick area of the settlement.)
Then there are charges against just “Martah,” which makes one wonder who she could have been to have been so simply recorded. (Martha was an Indian woman who lived in the Moravian Settlement She came here from Bethlehem and is buried in God’s Acre behind the Moravian Church.) There is no doubt but that a lively credit business was done with the local farmers. Of the 162 creditors recorded, a total of $750 was due the store.
The house at 120 Main Street was built by Matthew Schady in 1762 (I believe that this was Christian Tschudy not Matthew) and two years later the store was moved there from the Pilgerhaus. Andrew Horn would now take charge of the new Zum Anker Inn.
Three years later Jasper Payne, the only Englishman in Lititz, took over the store and in 1773, when the above inventory was taken, John Becker became the manager and ran it successfully for a number of years. His wife was the former Margaret Grosh.
In 1845 Nathaniel Wolle, married to Angelica Miksch, bought the store from the Congregation and erected the present store on the east side of the house. Here he carried on a successful business for the next thirty-six years.