The name of "OPLINGER" is described as having been of Teutonic origin and derived from the name "Oberlechen". from the Alpine regions of Tyrol, Austria, near Innsbruck, bordering the town of Patsch, which lands belonged to the Counts at the time our ancestors lived there, as farmsteads in 1718.

          The surname is found on old records in the various forms of Oberlechen, Oberlecher, Oberleger, Upleger, Oblinger, Uplinger, Opplinger and Oplinger,--the last mentioned being the most generally accepted form of today.

          In the early days when the world was less peopled, men had but one name, that being the name given when baptized; that applied to our ancestor, "Nicholaus".

          The name "Nicholaus" is one of the many Saint names which was used as a Christian name.  It is originally Greek, and means "Victor of the People!"

          His name, Nioholaus,  was shortened into a pet name (Claus), sometimes spelled (Klaus), to distinguish the Father from the Son, who was Nicholaus, Jr.

          Unfortunately, he could not write and his surname was recorded as it sounded including the different ways of spelling, as in Germany at that time.  Although the language was German, there H were many dialects, which caused the different ways of spelling, but always the same "Nicholaus".

          The family was represented in the early Seventeenth Century by one, Nicholaus, from Oberlechen, whose family is known to have been Peasant Farmers under the Counts of Oberlechen.

          Probably the first of this family in America was Nicholaus, or Claus Oblinger of Franconia, Pennsylvania, who emigrated to America in the year 1725.

          He was the Father of two sons and three daughters, Nicholaus, Jr., Christian, Katherine, Mary and Anna.

          His wife's name was Catherine, also spelled Katrina.

          Nicholaus or Claus Oblinger was born in the province of Tyrol
in the Alpine regions of Austria, in 1685.  He worked on the farm and in the vineyards, raising grapes and making wine for the Counts of Oberlechen.

          He was a follower of Martin Luther and became one of the many who were persecuted by the Romans for their religious oonvictions.

          About 1710, a certain Count Wittgenstein, in the central part of Germany, known as Schwarzenau, circulated the news throughout Germany that he would give refuge to all who were being persecuted for their religious beliefs.

          He had two very large estates and a large mill.  A great many took advantage of his offer, and came from as far as Switzerland for shelter.

          Our Nicholaus, or Claus, happened to be one of those who de-cided to take advantage of this offer and in the year 1718, with his family and a few followers, wandered down the Rhine River in rafts and small boats, from the Austrian Alps to Schwarzenau, arriving at the Estate of the Counts of Wittgenatein on July 4, l718.

          There he was registered as Nicholaus from Oberlechen, later known as Nicholaus Oberleger, Nicholaus Upleger and Nicholaus Oblinger.

          Under the rules of spelling in the central part of Germany, they did not use the letters “ch” but instead, used the “g”; thereby changing the name Oberlechen to read Oberleger, meaning a man from the "Ober-ledges".  Later one of the "ers" was dropped and the "lin" was inserted, since "er" at the end of one's name denoted the place he came from or the kind of work he had done.

          While in Schwarzenau, under the Count of Wittgenstein, he was assigned to the duties of providing his followers with food,  clothing and beverages.

          During his five-year stay in Schwarzenau he joined the faith called German Baptist Brethren, also known as “Tunkers” or "Dunkards", which is a nickname.  While baptizing, the onlookers would shout "Duck-her!"

          The Dunkard faith was established by seven men whose leader was Alexander Mack, in Schwarzenau in 1708.  The faith was established from the Bible, taking the text of St. John and using its form of baptism.

          They established a headquarters here in America at Germantown, Pennsylvania, about 1719 and at times sent representatives here from Germany for the purpose of securing assistance in carrying out their faith.  We presume that when Nicholaus or (Claus) Oblinger came to Philadelphia he went to the headquarters in Germantown, Pennsylvania where they had provided a community house for their members who came to America as immigrants.

          From there he went to Franconia Township, Philadelphia County, now Montgomery County, and purchased one hundred and fifty-five acres of land, belonging to a James Steele, and later exchanged his one hundred and fifty-five acres for one hundred and eighty-two acres belonging to Andrea Schwarz.  In the fall of 1730 he died and was buried on his farm in a small cemetery adjoining Klein's Meeting House, or Church of The Brethren, also known as Dunkards. He was the first person to be buried there.

          In his will, of which we have a copy, he stated that his plantation was not to be sold until his youngest child, then six, was fifteen years of age.  Accordingly, in 1739 the executors sold the plantation in two pieces; one hundred and seventy-six acres, and six acres and one hundred and twenty purchases, to one George Stump, who in 1744 sold it to Rudolph Harley.

          The small church and cemetery is still retained by the Harley Estate.  They hold services there once each year, after the harvest days, and call it a "homecoming".  They sing and pray, both in English and German, in memory of their ancestors.

           His oldest son. Nicholaus, Jr. married Elizabeth Meyer. and on August 31, l734, he was granted sixty acres of land in Phila-delphia County,  now Montgomery County.  A patent on this land was issued Ootober 4, 1735 and is recorded in Patent Book "A" Volume seven, Page 364.  He also purchased land from Henry Meyer and wife, E1izabeth, and Gabriel Shuler; it then consisted of one hundred and one acres, and in December 1745 Mr. Meyer and wife conveyed to Nicholaus Jr. an additional fifty-three acres.  This land was sold April 3, 1751, to Adolph Penneypacker of Limerick Township, the son of Henry, the latter being the ancestor of Samuel W. Penneypacker, Governor of Pennsylvania.

          On June 12 of that same year, 1751, he, Nicholaus Jr., was granted forty acres, more or less, from the Colonial Government. Land was situated in To-wa-men-sing Township, Northampton County, now Carbon County, at Lehigh Gap, known today as Craig's Inn, on the A-qua-shi-co-la Creek, originally Oplinger's Inn, from 1756 to 1786.

          Here in the Gap of the Blue Ridge Mountains he built a small stone house about 18 x 20 feet, with fireplace, and chimney on the outside, facing the Lehigh River.  Later he built a log house with thatched roof, directly in front of the stone house and used the stone house for a kitchen.  There he was known as a frontiers-man, the first person to settle in Lehigh Gap.  The whitemen had driven the Indians back to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

          Here Nicholaus lived about four years, entrenching himself, when in 1755, the Indians began to beat the "tom-toms" and had their war dances…a warning to the Whites.

          About that time the Six Big Nations of Indians met at Shamokin Dam (Sunbury), on the Susquehanna and decided to join with the French and Indians of Canada.  At that time the French and English were at war and the American Colonies were operating under the laws of England,

          That same year (1755), the Indiana were persuaded by the French of Canada that the English Colonial Settlers had cheated them out of their lands,

          The Indians were given brandy by the French who pretended to be their friends. The Indians called it "fire-water".  It was then that the supposed French and Indian War of 1755 began.

          You can plainly see the position of Nicholaus Jr.  Indians were right at his back door.  Consequently, a great many Whites in and around Lehigh Gap were massacred, while others fled to Bethlehem for safety.

          Several appeals for help were made to the Colonial Government at Philadelphia but the Quakers there were not in favor of war, and did not believe in taking up arms to settle disputes. For that reason, help was very slow in coming to the Blue Ridge, but in the following year they received help from Philadelphia.

          According to History, Nicholaus Oblinger Jr. fortified himself by building a high cedar fence with two large gates, in front of his house.  Markings are still in front of the Inn showing where gates were set on heavy stone.  When Benjamin Franklin and his soldiers arrived there, he found good quarters at Uplinger's in 1756.

          His good neighbor, John Jacob Boyer, was massacred, and his son Frederick, sixteen, and his two daughters, Mary and Martha, twelve and fourteen, respectively, were stolen by the Indians.

          Frederick was taken to Canada and put in the detention camp. The mother was visiting her brother at the time.  I was told that Frederick cried so for his mother that five years later he was given two loaves of bread and a jug of water and set free and told to go in the direction of Philadelphia. When he arrived at Lehigh Gap he had a gun and a dog.  He found when he arrived home, that his mother had died.  He stopped at Oplinger's, then went to his relatives.  Later he married and farmed his father's farm on the A-qua-shi-co-la Road until his death on October 31, 1832 and is buried in To-wa-men-cing Cemetery at Palmerton, Pennsylvania.

          About ten years later, Martha, one of the stolen daughters, came walking up the road. She was dressed in Indian clothes and with her were two little Indian boys.  She stopped at one of the farmhouses on the A-qua-shi-co-la Road and said she was married to an Indian Chief and that he had allowed her to make a visit to her old home providing she would return.  There she found her brother but could not be persuaded to stay.

          Some years later there appeared in a Dayton, Ohio Newspaper a clipping which was sent to Austin Boyer of Weissport, a relative of Martha Boyer, and was shown to me.  It stated that a white girl, Martha Boyer by name, from Pennsylvania, then called "The White Queen", had died and was buried by the Indians with all the rights of an Indian Queen.

          The other daughter, Mary, was never heard from.  The son, Frederick, was with his father at the time of the massacre.  They were in the field plowing, when the father shouted to his son: "Run! the Indians are coming!!" They managed to get across the creek but the father was shot and the boy was captured.  I was told that the boy witnessed the scalping of his father, who was buried where he fell on his farm.  Today he lies under a large cinder bank at the Palmerton Zinc Works at Palmerton, Pennsylvania.

          Thanks to Mrs. Fenstomacher of  Walnutport, Pennsylvania, who stated she often heard her mother tell of the scalpings in that neighborhood.  Also thanks to Austin Boyer, of Weissport, Pennsylvania.  Mrs. Fenstomacher was a waitress at the old Oplinger Inn when a young girl.  She is now nearing Eighty.

          John Jacob Boyer was known as one of Nicholaus Oblinger's neighbors and dear friends.

          Shortly after the massacre of John Jacob Boyer, Nicholaus Oblinger Jr., "so the story goes", kept an old friendly 
Indian on his place to pacify any Indians who might do him harm.  He was the only white settler that did not move out of that region during the French and Indian War.

          The old Indian slept in the barn and had his meals handed to him.  One night he wandered out and was mistaken by one of the neighbors for a burglar, and was shot.  He was buried on the side of the mountain.  However, the neighbor's name was never mentioned.

          The next year the Colonial Government of Philadelphia appointed Benjamin Franklin to establish a fort at Weissport, Lehigh Gap and Stroudsburg, known as Port Allen, Port Lehigh and Port Hamilton respectively.

          From Northampton County History we read:

          "In Franklin's official report to Governor Morris of Philadelphia, he states":-

          "We left Bethlehem the 10th inst. with Foulks company, 46 men, the detachment of Laughlin's, twenty, and seven wagons laden with stores and provisions. We got that night to Way's Quarters where Wayne's Company from Nazareth joined us. The next day we marched cautiously through the Gap of the Mountain, a very dangerous pass, and got to Uplinger's, but twenty-one miles from Bethlehem.  The roads being bad, the wagons moved slowly."

          In another letter to Governor Morris, Franklin writes:-

          "January 25th, 1756 at Fort Allen":-

          "We reached, however, that night to Uplinger's where we got into good quarters.  The next day, Saturday, marched about two miles further, but were obliged to return on account of rain which dampened the firelocks of our muskets, and the day after marched on and about two o'clock arrived at the sight chosen for Fort Allen."

          In another letter of Franklin's, it states the soldiers sought shelter in Uplinger's barn.

          We also learn from Conrad Weiser's entry in his Journal:-

          "November 19th 1756, we arrived at night at one, Nicholaus Opplinger.

          "The 20th, after I had settled with the landlord, the Indian account which amounted to one pound-ten shilling and eleven pence, chiefly for cider, left it unpaid, this being the last place they could get it.

          "We then set off and arrived at Fort Allen by ten o'c1ock."

          Lieutenant Colonel Weiser was a provincial interpreter.  He had with him Indian chiefs and guides such as Tu-dy-u~sen-ing, Pompshire, Moses Titany, and others, accompanied by soldiers, while on his way to Fort Allen.

          Tu-dy-u-sen-ing was known as King among the Delaware Tribe of Indians.  He was known to his tribe as the greatest speaker and interpre ter.

          Captain Nicholaus Wetherhold held court at Uplinger's.  It states:-

          "Oct. 8th 1763:- Holding Court at Uplinger's a soldier was charged with cruelty and placed in Brig."

          From these reports it is plain that Nicholaus Oblinger Jr's home was converted into an inn and tavern, which proves that Craig's Inn at Lehigh Gap was originally the Oplinger Inn from 1756 to 1786.

          Note the way they spelled the name "Oblinger", which caused the descendants to copy their style of spelling. Also note the English money used at that time.