The Oberholtzer Family
In 1859, just before the Civil War, Elias Oberholtzer purchased the Mill property and turned it over to his son, John. In 1862 John married the poet Sara Louisa Vickers and raised two children, Vickers and Paxson. The scenery around the Mill found its way into many of Sara’s poems, including one of her more famous works, “At the Old Mill,” from her book of verse, Violet Lee.
By the end of the 19th century the Mill’s community, then known as Cambria, grew into a vibrant center for transportation and commerce.
Injured while freeing the water wheel from ice in 1871, miller John Oberholtzer turned his attention to other commercial activities, employing other men to run his mill. In 1872, he constructed the “Oberholtzer and Hartman” general store, where he sold grain, coal, lumber and feed.
In 1872 Oberholtzer, along with his father Elias and other area farmers and businessmen, successfully persuaded the Reading Railroad to establish a spur line through the Pickering Valley, which traversed the 13-mile stretch between Phoenixville and Byers. Cambria soon evolved into a commercial center featuring a train station, post office, warehouse and store, and served as a major shipping point for dairy products sent to Philadelphia.
In 1886 Cambria was renamed “Anselma” to resolve ongoing mail and freight confusion with another Cambria Station near Johnstown. It is believed that Sara Oberholtzer chose the new name. In 1886 John sold Anselma Mill to Allen H. Simmers, one of the men hired as an apprentice to run the mill after his accident. John and his family moved to Norristown.
Anselma’s prosperity lasted through the 1920s when the coming of the automobile and truck ended the reliance on railway transportation.
John Oberholtzer, son of Elias and husband of poet Sara Vickers Oberholtzer.