INFORMATION TAKEN FROM HISTORY OF PEACE IN ZION 1833-1983, ZIEGLERSVILLE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA REVEREND HENRY S. BASSLER Born 1804 and Died 1883 Pastorate 1833-1843 "He was a burning and a shining light, and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light" Jn. 5:35. So began the funeral discourse preached by Dr. Clement Weiser, upon the death of H.S. Bassler, in 1883. The Reverend Father Bassler had gone home to Glory. Dr. Weiser said, "Such a life presents a living epistle...no man can write all he lived". Henry Bassler was born of extremely poor Pennsylvaina German parentage, in the sparsely settled valley of Lower Milford, Lehigh County, in the region about the present-day Zionsville. His mother, a Schantz, was of Mennonitish descent. Of his father he knew little and said nothing. He was born August 11, 1804. There was nothing but poverty in his early years, yet it is said he never complained of his hard lot. Dr. C.Z. Weiser noted that Bassler was born "with his face to the wall, threatened with 'burial alive' from the beginning". He had nowhere to go but up. "Shut in on all sides by stern obstacles, he determined at once to work upwards and outwards", wrote Weiser. "Had he but aimed at bare self-preservation he would have been awarded a 'well-done' indeed". Amid the vats and pits of the tannery, over which his guardian had placed him at 13 years of age, Henry Bassler felt a loud call to come up higher. He was confirmed into the Christian faith by Rev. Daniel Zeller at Zionsville in 1821. On the same day and at the same altar mother and son bowed the knee and dedicated their hearts to God. H.S. Bassler shortly thereafter declared that the desire to enter the ministry pressed steadily upon him. The gateway seemed not only narrow but shut. There were no funds and his family earnestly discouraged him. Henry Bassler believed God wanted to lead him from the tanyard to the vineyard, so the young man knocked on the door of Pastor Jacob Wilhelm DeChant, a neighboring minister at Oley, who conducted a private theological school. To him he revealed the secret of his heart. DeChant became young Bassler's spiritual tutor. Under Dominic DeChant's roof, during four long years, he eked out a long, hard preparatory course of study. Coming out of poverty he did not have even the bare rudiments of culture. The earnestness of his conviction was sorely tried. While a student, Bassler caught the missionary spirit. Presently he made a missionary trip of 700 miles on horseback, from Pottstown, Pennsylvania to Guilford, North Carolina. He spent one year in journeying, visiting, and exhorting. They begged him to remain, but he returned to Pennsylvania, and began a course of study in the Theological Seminary at Carlisle. In 1829, the Synod of Lebanon, Pennsylvania approved him as qualified to preach the Gospel. At age 25 he had at last reached the goal for which he ran since childhood. Eager to begin, he rode to Bedford County in search of a field. When he got there another had entered before him. Turning homeward, he stopped to knock on the door of Pastor Daniel Weiser at Selingsgrove. Weiser entrusted eight of his 24 churches to Bassler. Pastor Bassler located at Beaver Dam, Pennsylvania. In October, 1831, he married Miss Mary Rebecca DeChant, eldest daughter of his spiritual father. When Pastor DeChant died in 1832, his stricken charge scattered over Montgomery and Bucks counties at once turned to the new son-in-law. Thus Bassler entered his second field of labor. Residing for a time in Skippack, then in Frederick, he cultivated a large territory for eleven years. Here he also served eight churches. The Towamencin congregation, in Towamencin township; the Keeley's congregation near Schwenksville; the Keelor's congregation in Frederick township; and Christ Church (Huber's) in Douglass township, he raised from seed (founded). Besides these he ministered over the spiritual interest of churches at Hilltown, Limerick, Boyertown, and at Amity. In three counties he scattered the bread of life. Bassler commenced our first record book in 1834.