The "A Tale About A Conestoga Wagon Teamster Named Moses!" Story

Foreword:  Reading a few stories in one of my Lancaster County Historical Society journals when I came across a very interesting story titled "Moses Hartz - A Conestoga Wagon Teamster" that was a condensed story that was entered in the journal by H. C. Frey.  The story was so enjoyable, as well as informative, that I decided to condense the story a bit more and post it on my blog.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I did....  

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about a young man named Moses Hartz who was 19 years old when he came to the Conestoga Valley of Lancaster, Pennsylvania in the early 1800s in search of work.  He first applied for work at the home of farmer Mr. Mast.  Mr. Mast initially turned him away, but when he saw how heart broken the young man seemed to be as he walked back to his horse with his world possessions wrapped in a handkerchief and tucked under his arm, he called to him thinking that he would make a great farm worker with his perfectly proportioned shape.  Mr. Mast gave him work as well as a room in his home.  The young man proved to be trustworthy and honest during the summer farm season and Mr. Mast decided to fit up Moses with a Conestoga wagon, six horses and bells and send him to the Ohio Valley to take on a load of clover seed for the spring sowing.  Moses was told to get back in time for the spring planting.  

Could this be Moses Hartz?

He was told to take on any hauling along the way for delivery to the west.  He was an official teamster!  The winter turned from days to weeks to months for the young teamster as he suffered the same experiences that all teamsters of that time did.  Two scanty meals a day, sleeping on bar room floors and suffering from frost-bite along the way.  When the Spring season began to arrive, Mr. Mast became concerned about his new hire and decided to begin a search for the young Moses.  He selected his best horse, placed a saddle on him and proceeded westward on horseback over the only wagon trail at the time.  Mr. Mast finally found Moses as he crossed into the state of Ohio.  He was about to reprimand his new hire when Moses held up pockets of goodly sums of money which he had earned for his guardian.  He had been doing short hauls in Ohio.  Business was so good that he delayed his return trip as long as possible.  Mr. Mast was so pleased with the young man that he immediately proceeded back to Lancaster County, leaving the young man with the Conestoga wagon loaded with clover seed to find his way back over the mountains to his destination in the east.  By the time Moses got back to Lancaster, clover seed had risen in price and the farmer, Mr. Mast, sold it at a much greater profit than he had envisioned.  The young man who had almost been turned away from the farm months ago had proven his trustworthiness and had shown that his ambition in life was to give unselfish service to others.  Seems that Moses Hartz had begun a career as a teamster with working on the farm during the summer season and teamed to the west in the winter.  He was what, at the time, was known as a "Militia" teamster.  Moses was a good manager, a hard worker and a righteous man.  He became a member of the church where Mr. Mast and his wife were members, called the Old Order Amish Congregation.  He eventually married a lucky young woman of the same congregation and later became a Bishop in charge of the church.  Moses Hartz'a career as a teamster, farmer and minister was a remarkable one.  He often told of how he began farming with "five wheels," the four on the wagon and a wheel barrow.  He and his wife were industrious, self-sacrificing individuals who worked six days a week and walked or rode horseback may miles to church on the Sabbath.  He became one of the most prosperous farmers in Lancaster County and most respected citizens in his community.  He was hale, hearty, and robust and managed to live until the age of ninety-eight.  He was a fine example of a successful life on earth and rewarded with an eternal crown of glory for his sacrificial service to mankind.  

What you have just read could be true, but, I'm not absolutely sure, since I have no idea if the story in the Lancaster County Historical Society was true or not.  Most all of the stories in the small booklet are true, but I can't document that this story is true.  Hope you enjoyed it even though I did condense the story considerably to shorten the reading time.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.