Pictured on the front page of the article: During the 100th Weisel family 
reunion, a photo album attracts some of the older members of the 
clan.  They are (from left) H. Alan Weisel of State College, Win Weisel of 
Roanoke, VA, Magaret Kratz Webster of Doylestown; Elizabeth Stover of 
Lansdale, and Pat McKinley of Robesonia, Berks County. 

By Robert Armengol, Staff Writer 

CHALFONT – There days, it’s tough for any family to get together once a 
year.  Now try having hundreds of relatives spread out across the United 
States. 

For the Weisel’s descendants of a German couple who arrived in the New 
World with six children and settled in Bucks County about 270 years ago, 
it’s just a matter of persistence. 

One major branch of the family celebrated the 100th anniversary of its 
annual reunion Sunday at the Chalfont United Methodist Church. 

About 120 people showed up, some from as far away as Virginia, North 
Carolina and even Arizona.  The turnout was twice as it has been in recent 
years, said Winfred Weisel, outgoing president of the informal group that 
organizes the event. 

“Because it’s the 100th anniversary of the reunion,” he said, “we all did a 
lot of calling and writing to get the kids and grandkids to come 
out.  We’re very clannish.  We all have lots of children and grandchildren 
and we try to keep the group together.” 

Weisel, 84, is a great-grandson of Samuel and Catharine Weisel, the 
originators of this particular line.  A family tree printed on computer 
paper stretched 20 feet across the church’s community room, and Winfred was 
dutifully filling in some of the gaps with a sharp pencil. 

Winfred said his great-grandfather was a few generations removed from the 
first Weisels to come to America.  G. Michael Weisel and his wife, Susanna, 
landed in Pennsylvania in 1732 and were granted some of William Penn’s land 
along the Tohickon Creek in Bedminster Township.  The nearby Weisel Youth 
Hostile still bears the family name. 

In the 1800’s one of Samuel Weisel’s sons, Frank, bought farmland in 
Warrington, where he built the mill that gave Mill Creek Road its 
name.  After the reunion Sunday, his descendants were invited to tour the 
old homestead. 

In those days, the Weisels were hardy folk who made their living close to 
the land.  Today, the family is still hardy – many of those at the reunion 
were in their 70’s and 80’s – but decidedly modernized. 


They are doctors, lawyers, teachers, and researchers, to name a few 
professions represented Sunday.  One 24-year-old family member, Robin 
Gunthie, said she’s moving to New York to pursue a career in genetics. How 
appropriate. 

Relatives keep in touch by mail and over the internet.  Bonnie Martin, of 
Rochester, N.Y. maintains a Web page dedicated to keeping the family in 
touch and sharing photos.  Martin says she missed many of the reunions 
while rearing her own family, 

But since retiring from her job as a music teacher, she’s been trying to 
reconnect with her roots. 

"All of a sudden, I had a lot of free time," Martin said.  "I had a chance 
to get in touch with a side of me I had neglected for 34 years." 

Sunday’s reunion finished the same way it has for the past 100 years, with 
a brief business meeting.  The recording secretary read last years minutes, 
the family historian announced recent births and deaths, and the treasurer 
gave a financial report:  There is $204 in the bank for next year’s 
reunion, she said. 

Then everyone joined in singing, “Blessed be the Tie that Binds.”