John William Rauch

I came across a civil war era letter from Miles Rock. He served with the 1st Pennsylvania Reserves. He often wrote letters to friends and relatives offering moral and occupational advice. In one of his letters to his brother, Allen Rock, a boot and shoes salesman of North Queen street in Lancaster, PA, he asked how uncles John and William Rock are doing? I've known for sometime that Miles Rock was the son of Peter Rock (1801-1845). Peter may have been the son of the tailor, Jacob Rock, of Lititz whose home burnt to the ground in a terrible fire in Lititz in 1838. I didn't however, know any information about other siblings in the family tree, so this mention of uncles is an exciting road to investigate. 

I started by searching for Rock's and Rauch's who lived in Warwick Township in 1860. Miles Rock's letter was dated 1862, so I figured they must have been living near by in the 1860 census. I found both of these uncles. They both spelled their last names with the more German sounding spelling, Rauch. I soon discovered other information concerning these Rauch's in Lititz. I thought the name Rauch was a familiar name in old Lititz history so I consulted my bicentennial and other Lititz history books only to find the story of a John William Rock born 1790 who was a baker and confectioner in Lititz. He held a monopoly in the marketplace of Lititz as most workers of this time did. John Rauch was best known for being the first pretzel baker in the United States. He later turned his business over to his son, Henry Rauch, who in turn sold the business to his apprentice, the more famous pretzel baker, Julius Sturgis. The pretzel bakery on Main Street established by him in 1861 still stands and operates as a bakery to this day.

Photo by: Michael Kendrick

The next step will be to research these possible connections and put together the family of Peter Rock and William and John Rauch. The search continues.