Prominent Families at Hopewell Furnace

Ordinary Families, Ordinary People…

For generations, Hopewell Furnace was the livelihood for many families. Family names such as Care, Houck, Painter, Hart, Lloyd and many others repeatedly appear in the historic furnace records. Read below to learn more about these families and the lives of individual members.

 

Nathan Care

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The Care Family

The Care family worked for approximately 60 years at Hopewell Furnace primarily as founders, but also as managers and moulders. The founder managed the physical operation of the furnace, was well paid, and his trade was often passed down through generations of his family. Duties included assessing the smelting process and deciding when the furnace was ready to be tapped. Thomas Care was the first to occupy the position of founder in the family from 1819 to 1835. The position then went to his son Thomas Care Jr., and later Henry Care. Nathan Care was Hopewell’s last founder, occupying the role until the furnace’s last blast ended in 1883.

Henry F. Care

According to local newspapers of the 1920s and 1930s, Henry F. Care (1846 to 1937) was born at Hopewell Furnace. At the age of 15, he joined Company D, 11th Pennsylvania Calvary during the American Civil War. Allegedly he fought in several battles, was captured, and sent to Andersonville prison. After the war, he returned to Hopewell Furnace and worked as a blacksmith. He then worked at the South Street Mills of the Reading Iron Company and later as a night watchman at Carpenter Steel Company. At the age of 34, he learned to play the violin. Continuing to play it into his 80s, Care was known for his vitality.

 

Left to Right: Hopewell Furnace employees Harker Long and Lafayette Houck, 1930s

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The Houck Family

The first of the Houck family to work at Hopewell Furnace was Master Collier Henry Houck in 1818. Colliers worked long hours transforming wood into charcoal in the forests surrounding Hopewell. In addition, he worked as a Master Wheelwright and spent winters repairing wooden wagon wheels or chopping wood to sell. Different generations of the Houck family continued to live and work at Hopewell and worshipped at nearby Bethesda Church.

Lafayette Houck

Lafayette Houck (1846 to 1939) worked at Hopewell Furnace as a collier and was still alive when the Federal Government purchased the property in the 1930s. He instructed the National Park Service in methods to produce charcoal and provided them with a first-hand historical account of Hopewell. Today, volunteer colliers continue charcoal making demonstrations annually.

 

Lafayette Houck provided several drawings, like this one, to the Civilian Conservation Corps as they worked to restore Hopewell Furnace in the 1930s.

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Unknown decedents of a Painter Family.

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The Painter Families

There were two prominent Painter families who worked at Hopewell Furnace. In both cases, they were Pennsylvanian German. The original family name was “Bender” and the German pronunciation sounded like Painter to English speakers. For generations, Painters worked in multiple positions at Hopewell such as founder, fillers, woodcutters, moulders, miners, teamsters and more.

John Painter - Founder

John Painter (c. 1771 to 1827) married Margaret Thomas in 1801 and together they had 9 children. Painter was known as the “founder” because he worked in the position at Hopewell from 1816 to 1818. After Thomas Care obtained the position in 1818, Painter worked as a moulder. After his death in 1827, at the age of 55, his wife and some of his children continued to work at Hopewell Furnace for a short time.

John Painter - Filler

NOTE: This is a different Painter Family than John Painter (Founder)

John Painter (1782 to 1851) married Maria [maiden name unknown] and together they had five children. He began working at Hopewell in 1804 as a filler. This was a low paying position and the job duties included filling the furnace with the ingredients needed to produce iron. His son John Painter, Jr. also likely worked as a filler. His son married Margaret Painter, the daughter of John Painter, the founder.

 

The Hart Family

The Hart Family worked at Hopewell Furnace for decades. Starting in 1784, they performed jobs including teamster, moulder, gutterman and casting cleaner. Reportedly, the Hart homestead was located within a couple of miles of Hopewell.

David Hart

David Hart (1770 to 1840) married Margaret Davis and later Mary Quinn. He had several children and started working at Hopewell in 1816 as a teamster. David and his family had money problems and they were unable to pay his rent between 1832 and 1837. Around this time, his children worked at Hopewell and turned their wages over to their father. Years later, his sons achieved enough financial stability to employ their father in cleaning castings.

 

Hopewell Furnace ledger from 1832 showing David Hart’s name.

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Bethesda Church established by Thomas Lloyd III in 1782.

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The Lloyd Family

The Lloyd family appear frequently in the Furnace’s records. They were a prominent family in the surrounding area and worked as farmers, shoe salesman, woodcutters, stove dealers and more. Today, the Lloyd family is best known for their connection to Bethesda Church.

Thomas Lloyd III

Thomas Lloyd III (1742-1820) married Margaret Hudson in 1773 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He worked as a famer and owned 134 acres east of Hopewell Furnace. In the early 1780s, Lloyd dedicated a small portion of his land for what became known as “Lloyd’s Church”. A charcoal inscription on a beam inside the church reads “Built in 1782 by T. Lloyd”. The church was non-denominational until 1827, when it became a Baptist congregation. Today, the church is maintained by the National Park Service. Thomas Lloyd III, his wife and some of his children are buried there.