The Beginning - Switzerland (Back to the top)

Everything has to have a beginning, so with the Hershey family. It appears that the name originated in Switzerland, for there most families of any note have an emblem of some kind for their name, and the emblem for the name Hershey is a Deer. The language in Switzerland is German, and in German the name of Deer is "Hirsch," hence the name.

The effort to adapt the spelling and pronunciation of the name to different languages, has brought about many changes in the name. The Hershari of North Italy, the Hirsch or Hersche of Switzerland, the Harsha of Germany, and our own final form of Hershey.

The Hersheys have always been opposed to warfare. It is one of the strong indications that the family dates back to the earlier Christian centuries when all the disciples of Christ believed that war was wrong. They went to the Piedmont to escape the war zone of Europe. The great historian Neander, says that the Waldeness, by which he means the Piedmont Christians, "not only disapproved of oaths but held it unChristian to shed blood." The family went to the Swiss Alps when war invaded the Piedmont, and when war came into quiet Innesholden, they fled to America, to become a part of the peace colony of William Penn.

During the first few generations in this country Bible names were most generally used, and were apparently the favorite ones which parents gave to the Hershey children. They read the Bible and thought about it, and conversed over it a great deal; hence it was natural that they should give their children the names of their favorite Bible characters, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Daniel, Peter, John, Benjamin, Mary, Anna, Elizabeth, and very often the name "Christian," as standing for all the Christian graces, an evidence of our origin.

The First Hershey's in the New World (Back to the top)

In 1709 Christian Hershey and his three children, Benjamin, Andrew and Anna, located in Lancaster Co., Pa.. The father was a Bishop in the Mennonite Church, and was succeeded in that office by his son Benjamin. The first Mennonite society held services in a log building located on the land of Benjamin Hershey. Rupp's collection of thirty thousand German and Swiss settlers in Pennsylvania shows that thirty-four located in Lancaster Co. prior to 1712. Among them were Chritstisn Hershey, Hance Brubaker and Michael Cryder, who secured jointly one thousand acres north of the Little Conestoga River, East Hempfield township.

In 1719 two brothers, both ministers of the Mennonite Church arrived with their father. They were Rev. Andrew Hershey and Rev. Benjamin Hershey, with their father, Hans Hersche. In 1739, a third brother, also a minister, Rev. Christian Hershey, arrived, having been detained in some capacity at the German Court at Friedensheim.