April Program: Enders Family History

By: Dylan Bowman, HAHS Board Member

May 27, 2025

HAHS Vice President Austin Enders and Enders Family Association Secretary and previously Historian for 28 years, Marilyn Henninger, pose with Marilyn's work, "A Comprehensive Genealogy of the Enders Family: Volume III." Photograph by Dylan Bowman.

Deep and Vast

I have always been curious about the depth of history in the Enders family. As one of the largest families in The Valley region, the light-hearted joke "every family is related to the Enders" has always shown forth as a truth of the family's prominence in the Halifax area and beyond.

In April, the Halifax Area Historical Society's very own Vice President, Austin Enders, was able to reach Ender's Family Association secretary and previous historian for 28 years, Marilyn Henninger, about speaking at a program night on the history of the family.

She was more than willing.

From Across the Sea

Marilyn dove into the history of the Ender's Family without hesitation, for there was so much incredible story to tell and only so much evening. I will do the same here.

The patriarch of the Enders Family goes back to the German Palatinate region, of which many of our ancestors in this area (including some of the Bowman's) have originated. The couple that travelled to the New World for a new life away from the economic turmoil and religious persecution of the time were Philip Christian Enders and Anna Apolonia Degen Enders, 5th great grandparents of Marilyn.

Philip Christian Enders was born July 22, 1740, in Breunigweiler, Palatinate, Germany. After

completing his education, he entered the military service of his sovereign, Wilhelm Heinrich, Prince of Nassau, and participated in numerous battles of the Seven Years War. For distinctive service and soldierly qualities he was promoted to a captain in the elite Royal Household Guard. He resigned his commission on February 20, 1764, and on May 13, 1764, he married Anna Apolonia Degen, born January 12, 1746, in Sippersfeld, Palatinate, Germany.

Gottlieb Mittelberger, a German author, schoolmaster, organist, and Lutheran pastor, best known for his work Journey to Pennsylvania (1756), wrote several articles about travel at that time. Though not specific to Philip and Anna’s voyage, they provide a general picture of the harrowing health conditions that were experienced by those travelling to the New World at that time. He wrote:

“During the voyage there is on board these ships terrible misery, stench, fumes, horror, vomiting, many kinds of sea-sickness, fever, dysentery, headache, heat, constipation, boils, scurvy, cancer, mouth-rot, and the like, all of which come from old and sharply salted food and meat, also from very bad and foul water, so that many die miserably.

If a woman should die in childbirth the dead mother and living child were both thrown into the sea. That most of the people get sick is not surprising, because, in addition to all other trials and hardships, warm food is served only three times a week, the rations being very poor and very little. Such meals can hardly be eaten, on account of being so unclean. The water which is served out on the ships is often very black, thick and full of worms, so that one cannot drink it without loathing, even with the greatest thirst. Toward the end we were compelled to eat the ship's biscuit which had been spoiled long ago; though in a whole biscuit there was scarcely a piece the size of a dollar that had not been full of red worms and spiders nests.”

Philip Christian Enders settled temporarily in Germantown after coming to the Colonies. Colonial records indicate that he and his family lived in the area between Manheim and Brickerville from 1767 to 1788. Moreover, the 1782 tax list for the county shows that Philip had 54 acres, 2 horses, 2 cows, and 0 Negroes, in addition to his land in Armstrong Valley.

The sturdy pioneer performed his own labors and was not a slave owner. He acquired his first land grant in Armstrong Valley by warrant, dated March 27, 1770 or 1771, (research was unable to differentiate a 0 or 1 in document handwriting) for 100 acres. In later years, Philip extended his holdings from Armstrong Creek to the summit of Dividing Ridge, a total of about 1,400 acres.

Visitors listen to the amazing Ender's Family history provided by Marilyn. Photographs by Dylan Bowman.

Welcome Home: The Armstrong Valley

Marilyn went on to describe how settlement in the area of Jackson Township had proceeded slowly. Fewer than five families were living within the township limits in the year 1788.

As time passed, the increasing number of settlers created a natural market for materials and services, items beyond their ability to produce. Philip saw the need for lumber and established the first sawmill in Armstrong Valley. His educational background alerted him to the pressing need of book learning, and again he provided the means by teaching classes in his home. Philip had that indomitable spirit that characterized the early colonial settlers and

contributed in large measure to the founding of a great nation. He served in the Lancaster County Militia of the Continental Forces during the Revolutionary War.

1796 was a tragic year for Philip Christian Enders. His wife, Anna, died within a few months of his oldest son, John Philip. Both were buried in a plot not far from the cabin door, where he himself was laid to rest in 1809.

Years later in 1885, a group of fourth-generation descendants assembled in the Enders Schoolhouse to discuss ways and means of correcting the neglect of their grandparents’ burial plot. The Enders Monumental Association was formed on June 5, 1885, to purchase the burial plot with a right-of-way to the nearest public road and then to prepare the ground and erect a suitable memorial. The monument was completed on October 29, 1890.

In 1996, the Enders burial plot was in need of restoration. Kevin Hoffman an 8th

generation descendant of Philip, restored the Enders family plot to earn his Eagle Scout

award. He and other members of Boy Scout Troop 1165 polished and straightened gravestones, restored fencing, and completed a well-manicured landscape.

The Enders Family Monument erected in Halifax by descendants of Philip and Anna Enders in 1890, and restored in 1984 due to weathering and erosion. Photographs provided by Enders Family Association.

The Committee for the first Enders Family Reunion in 1912. Photograph provided by Enders Family Association.

One Big Family

It was because of individuals like Kevin Hoffman and the continued reunions of the Enders Family (which, for their 100th reunion accumulated hundreds of family members from all over the world including Washington, California, Texas, Florida, Colorado, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Maryland, all around Pennsylvania and Australia) that their legacy has been kept healthy and thriving.

Inspiring to say the least.

In fact, I believe that the greatest thing I took from the evening was not the amazing history of the family, but the passion and vigor that the Enders Family has for their history, community and family. I believe, regardless of our respective family's sizes, we should all have that same passion. It is in such passion that legacies and histories live on and thrive for as long as the Ender's has. As one big family of sorts, we should all care. It all comes back to us.

With a turnout of over 30 individuals, the evening was a great success and many tales were exchanged long into the night about connections and relations to Enders blood. And one thing is for certain. If you live in The Valley, this history is more than likely...in one way or another...yours.

For more information on the Enders Family or their extensive history, visit their website at https://www.endersfamily.org/. You will not be disappointed!

Top: 100th Enders Family Reunion, August 12, 2023. Photograph provided by Enders Family Association.

Bottom: Halifaxians converse with one another after the presentation. Photographs by Dylan Bowman.

All sources taken from Enders Family Historical Archives presented that evening. See "A Comprehensive Genealogy of the Enders Family: Volume III" for more details and factual background. Available in digital document form.