Elizabeth Blymire Reiman

The Dutchy of Wurttemberg was the center of numerous struggles in the early eighteenth century for Anna Elizabeth Bleymeier and her family. The area was under the oppression of the Holy Roman Empire while fending off constant French attacks and being the battleground between the numerous French and Austrian skirmishes. These would just be Elizabeth’s initial struggles, but her steadfast perseverance would ultimately lead her to prosperity. At the age of eight, her mother would pass away, her father would remarry and four years later, the family of seven embarked on a seemingly endless, disease infested voyage to the Pennsylvania colony. Arriving in Philadelphia, her Lutheran family was relegated to the deep central regions of Pennsylvania, settling in York County, then a frontier land of a few thousand inhabitants. New struggles for Elizabeth included finding land, shelter, and food, as well as protection from the British authorities, Native Americans, hazards of the frontier, and the never-ending strife between varying religious factions. Having the same enlightened tenacity as the rebellious “American” soldiers of the upcoming revolution, she would use her trailblazing spirit to settle down on a farm marrying Hessian immigrant Jacob Ramon, raising nine healthy children. Her family would establish the local Blymier Lutheran Church where she would attend mass, connect with her neighbors, and get a basic education for her children. Her steadfast open-mindedness would allow her family to attain middle class stature, raising even more successful grandchildren.