For many years the history of Tobias Hendricks, Sr. and that of Tobias Hendricks, Jr. has been blurred. Because Tobias, Sr. was so instrumental in the early development of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, his story carried on beyond his death. Most previous family historians failed to differentiate between Tobias Hendricks, youngest son of Albertus Hendricks and his son Tobias, Jr.

        From 1729 when Lancaster County was organized at the tavern of John Postlewthwaite, his son-in-law, on Conestoga Creek until he died in November 1739, Tobias, Sr. was one of the power triumvirate on the Pennsylvania Western Frontier, the exclusively Lancaster County. In concert with John Wright, Sr., and Samuel Blunston, Tobias, Sr. represented the Penn Proprietaries; administered, determined and upheld the law; and guided English civilization westward. While others participated and shared in the responsibility, it was Wright, Blunston and Tobias, Sr. who carried the weight in those early years. Wright and Blunston were Quakers in a Quaker theocracy. Tobias, Sr. was a member of the most numerous, if not foremost frontier family at the time. This reflected almost sixty years of primitive living, Indian interfaced experience, all before Lancaster County was erected. He appears to have been the only member of his rough family, who was literate.

        There are numerous stories concerning Squire Tobias' activities on the East side of the Susquehanna. It is when he moved to the West Bank, his branch broke off from the rest of the Frontier Hendricks to go its own way among the Scotch-Irish of the Cumberland. After 1736, the Hendricks of Tobias, Sr., took on more and more of the behavior and traits of the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. This was so much so that Daniel Rupp an early Pennsylvania historian identified Tobias, Sr. in 1846 as a Presbyterian from Donegal. It was not at all clear whether he was speaking of the county in Ireland or the township in Lancaster County. Which ever is the case there is no evidence that Tobias, Sr. ever lived in either. His proven origin was clearly in Holland Dutch parents and a birth c 1680 near the Delaware in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

        Tobias, Jr. owned and operated "Toby's Place". It was an inn on the Cumberland Trail. It was known by several names, Hendricks Stand, Toby's Stand, Toby's Inn, Hendricks Tavern and Hendricks Inn. It was the major meeting place for Indian Traders, travelers and political meetings. It was considered an integral place to meet for the Colonials during the Revolutionary War.

Page last updated December 23, 2004