In the early days, this Boyer family would have welcomed you to the Boyer House.

It is unclear exactly when the Boyers bought the land and built the house known as "The Boyer House." What is known, however, is that Mr. Thomas Spray, of Darby, County of Chester, bought the 209 acres the Boyer Farm would sit upon from William Penn on February 18th, 1737. He then sold it to Edward Morton of East Pennsboro Township on April 4th, 1761 for 160 pounds. Mr. Morton, in turn, sold the land to Christian Fox, of Donnegal Township, Lancaster County, on August 15th, 1772 for 400 pounds. Unfortunately, nobody knows to whom Christian Fox sold the land. The "trail of deeds" stops for a few decades and picks up again two decades later.

It is known that Philip Bayer (Boyer) was born in 1709. He was the son of Frederick Bayer from Strassburg, Germany. Philip and his wife Susanna had 13 children, all born in Lebanon County. Their youngest surviving son, John Peter purchased 77 acres from the original Thomas Spray plot. John had seven children to his second wife, Anna Mary, and five to his third wife, Anna Margaret.

In 1794, Jacob Boyer had possession of the 209 acres. He sold half the land, 78 acres, to Christian and Barbara Blosser on April 15th, 1794. In turn, the Blossers sold their 78 acres to Peter and Anne Margaret Boyer on May 5th, 1810 for 700 pounds. In 1829, John Peter sold the property to his son George. George and Elizabeth had eight children. Their son, Philip purchased the farm in 1883. Philip and his wife Susan had five children. On February 4th, 1903, Philip and Susan Boyer sold 50 acres of it to the Pennsylvania Railroad. This was the first of 743 acres that would be purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad for the Enola Yards.

The remaining property remained in possession of the Boyer family. In 1916, continuing in the family tradition, Philip and Susan sold the property to their son George Walton Boyer, Sr. George Senior married Annie Roth. They had seven children. George Senior died in 1935. His wife Annie Roth Boyer and sons George and Robert farmed the property until Annie’s death in 1973. After Annie died, George Junior acquired the property and continued to farm until the mid-1980s. In March of 1999, Central Pennsylvania College purchased the property from George Junior’s wife, Catherine A. Boyer.

In July 2004, the Boyer family held their 100-year reunion in the Central Penn Conference Center. At that time, many Boyer family members once again walked through the door of The Boyer House.

To visit the Boyer family website, click here www.americanboyers.org.