Frederick Leaser - PLAQUE
Lynn Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
whose homestead is located one mile to the north in September 1777 with his farm team hauled the Liberty Bell from Philadelphia to Allentown where it was concealed in Zion Reformed Church. His grandson Jesse Follweiler conveyed on the same wagon the liberty pole erected on this spot January 1st, 1833 --- It bore the Legend Jackson * Liberty and against nullification.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In September 1777, with British troops advancing on Philadelphia, patriots feared the great State House bell would be melted for cannon. Local farmer Frederick Leaser hitched his farm team and hauled the bell north to Allentown, where it was hidden beneath the floor of Zion Reformed Church until the danger passed. More than half a century later his grandson used the same wagon to carry a liberty pole to this spot, its Jacksonian legend against nullification tying one generation's revolution to the next's fight over the Union.
Why it matters
It preserves the humble, human side of the Revolution — an ordinary farmer whose wagon helped save one of America's most enduring symbols of independence.
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Related people
- · Frederick Leaser
- · Jesse Follweiler
Related events
- · Concealment of the Liberty Bell, 1777
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Abraham Blumer - PLAQUE
South Whitehall Township, PA · est. 1929
Born in Grabs, Switzerland, Abraham Blumer crossed the Atlantic to serve the German Reformed congregations of the Lehigh Valley, ministering at Jordan, Union, Egypt, and Allentown from 1771 to 1801. During the Revolution he also served as chaplain to the First Battalion of the Northampton County Militia. He spent three decades tending to the spiritual life of his frontier congregations and is buried in this cemetery.
Allentown
South Whitehall Township, PA · est. 1947
Founded in 1762 by the colonial leader and jurist William Allen, this town went by the name Northampton until 1834. During the Revolution its distance from the Delaware made it a safe haven — the Liberty Bell was hidden here in 1777 and wounded Continental soldiers were treated nearby. Chartered as a city in 1867, it became a long-lived hub of textile mills and cement works.
Allentown
South Whitehall Township, PA · est. 1947
William Allen, a leading colonial jurist, established this settlement in 1762; it answered to the name Northampton until 1834. In 1777 it sheltered the Liberty Bell from advancing British forces and hosted Revolutionary wounded. Incorporated as a city in 1867, it flourished as a center of textiles and cement manufacture.
Allentown
Whitehall, PA · est. 1947
Laid out in 1762 by the powerful colonial jurist William Allen, this Lehigh Valley town spent its first seventy years known as Northampton before taking its founder's name. In the anxious autumn of 1777, as the British occupied Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell was spirited here for safekeeping and Revolutionary wounded were nursed in the town. It grew through the 19th century into a humming center of textiles and cement, earning its city charter in 1867.