308 East Main

308 E. Main Street


Henry H. Kreider built the house at 308 E. Main Street in the 1860’s on a lot less than a hundred yards from his brother, Andrew Kreider (243 East Main Street). Eventually, another brother (Joseph H. Kreider) and a half-sister (Lydia Kreider Kettering) would also build homes within a block of 308 E. Main Street.	From left: Joseph H. Kreider, David Kreider Jr., Henry H. Kreider, Andrew Kreider and Aaron S. Kreider (Biographical Annals of Lebanon County by J.H. Beers, 1904).

First home of H.H. Kreider on East Main Street in 1888.

The following information about Henry H. Kreider's family history is drawn from pages 328-329 of the Biographical Annals of Lebanon County and pages 45-48 of Installment 8 of The History of the Kreider Family from the Pen of Rev. J.G. Francis (June 16, 1919). Among its fascinations are the number of relatives who lived within a block of each other on East Main Street in Annville. Henry H. Kreider was born on a farm in South Annville township on September 30, 1835, a son of David and Sarah (Henry) Kreider. Henry's great-great grandfather came to Pennsylvania from Switzerland with several of his brothers. His great-grandfather, Henry Kreider, who was born south of Lebanon, as was his grandfather, Jacob Kreider. Jacob married Mary Stauffer, daughter of Abraham Stauffer, of a prominent family of Lancaster county. Nine children were born to them as follows: Elizabeth, David, Joseph, Michael, Nancy, Susan, Kate, Mary, and Lydia. David Kreider (1803-1871), the father of Henry, was born about two and one-half miles southwest of the city of Lebanon. David had ten children who lived to adulthood, having five children with each of two wives. His first wife, Sarah (Henry) Kreider (1808-1851), was born in Palmyra. Their children were as follows: Andrew Kreider, who lived from July 18, 1828 to July 1916 (see 244 East Main Street); David, born December 11, 1832; Henry H. Kreider, who lived from September 30, 1835 - August 19, 1916; Maria ("Mary"), born on June 4, 1838, married Abraham M. Brightbill; and Joseph H., born January 23, 1841. David Kreider's second wife, Magdalena Shenk, was born in Dauphin county. The children of this union were: Elizabeth Shenk Kreider, born August 25, 1855; Daniel Shenk Kreider, who lived from October 17, 1856 - July 7, 1893; Lydia Shenk Kreider, who lived from 1857-1935; the wife of Henry Kettering (see 327 East Main Street); Annie, born November 18, 1858; and (Hon.) Aaron Shenk Kreider, born June 26, 1863, who had a significant political career in the area. Henry H. Kreider married Mary A. Howerter (Hoverter). The two raised three children on East Main Street: Morris Kreider, a carpenter and quarryman who married May Price of Myerstown. William Henry Kreider, a graduate of the Law Department at Yale University who served as an attorney in Philadelphia and eventually as Secretary of the Civil Service Commission. William married Marion Looze; the two had no children. Mary E. Kreider married John D. Sehman and settled in Annville after studying music at Lebanon Valley College. "H. H." was an active citizen in Annville, who served the community as: a school teacher, a lumber and coal merchant in Annville, Director of Farmer’s Trust Co. in Lebanon, Treasurer and a trustee of Lebanon Valley College, Director and later Vice President of the Annville National Bank, a promoter of the trolley line, President of the Annville Water Co., and Prothonotary of Lebanon County from 1876-79. Sometime after building the home at 308, the enterprising Mr. Kreider built himself a second home on the corner lot next door (see 304 East Main Street), and left the house at 308 to his son, Morris, who eventually left the home to his only child, Elizabeth. Elizabeth and her husband, Charles Ristenbatt, the third generation to own the home, raised their daughters Dorothy (Fastnacht), Marion (Dupert), and Alice (Bruce) there. Mr. Ristenbatt was the Annville police chief and Elizabeth was a reporter for the Lebanon newspaper. Their daughter Marion had a beauty shop in the front two rooms of the home for several years. The present owners are Owen and Kathleen Moe, who purchased the house from the estate of Elizabeth Ristenbatt in 1975.

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