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Ruscombmanor Township is located in beautiful Berks County, Pennsylvania and was originally known as the Manor of Ruscomb, named after a district in Wales, and settled in 1749 as part of Philadelphia County and incorporated in 1752 as Ruscombmanor Township.
Pricetown, the only village in the township, took its name from Conrad Price . Conrad Price was one of the first members of the Dunkards, also known as "The Brethen", and sometimes called "German Baptists" who settled in Oley, PA. Named Elders were the first preachers. Conrad laid out Pricetown, a village in Ruscombmanor Township about 1774. It contained 25 houses, one store, and 2 taverns with a population of 165.
Heinrich Busch, aka Henry Bush b. 1779 d. 1851, my 4th great-grandfather, is the most distant, direct descendant of the family located thus far. We could not locate him on the 1790 or the 1800 U.S. Census' for Ruscombmanor Township but he does appear in every census from 1810 until his death in 1851. In all census' he is recorded as being born in Pennsylvania, where remains a mystery.
In 1828 Heinrich purchases 98 acres from Daniel Herbein for the princely sum of $1,350.00. and pursues farming as a vocation. His eldest son Benjamin is 17 and is engaged with his father in running the farm. Although nothing is known of the original dwelling that stood on the property the picture above is the house that Benjamin constructed circa 1850. Today it is a three unit apartment building with only 15 of the original 98 acres remaining. The stone bank barn, also built by Benjamin, today is being used as the maintenance shop/garage for Golden Oaks Golf Course.
Ownership of the farm continued by the family until Heinrich's grandson, Israel, either gives up farming or is forced to. May of 1897 Israel is appointed to the office of tax collector for Ruscombmanor Township to replace John Bertolet. The year 1900 finds Israel no longer owning the farm but living in a rented house still employed by the township as tax collector. From 1902 the family will call the City of Reading and its environs, home...
