The Speaker's House

The Speaker's House is a museum located in Trappe, in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania that preserves the home of Frederick Muhlenberg, the First and Third Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

The first settlers of Trappe were German immigrants John Jacob Schrack (1679–1742) and his wife Eva Rosina Lang Schrack (1688–1756), who settled there in 1717. The Schracks had seven children: John Joseph, twins Maria Sabina and Anna Maria, Christian, Philip, Elizabeth, and John Jacob Jr. John Jacob Schrack Sr. was a valuable member of the local community and Lutheran church. He operated a tavern known formally as the Sign of Three Crowns but popularly as "the Trap", after which the town was named. In 1742, Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, a Lutheran pastor, arrived in Trappe. The Schrack's oldest son, known as John, ran the family tavern after his father's death in 1742. John married a woman named Silence, who was from New England (1712–1777). They had two sons and five daughters. In 1763, they constructed the house later owned by Frederick Muhlenberg, now known as The Speaker's House. After John's death in 1772, his widow Silence Schrack sold the house to James Diemer for £725.

James Diemer married Elizabeth Currie on December 5, 1759, at Gloria Dei Church in Philadelphia. He may be the same James Diemer (d. 1820) of Reading who was active in public service, as a justice of the peace and later a judge (from 1791 to 1819). Diemer sold the property on 6 November 1775 to Michael Connor, a merchant of Philadelphia, for £905. Connor was married on 9 January 1774 to Mary Cottringer or Gatringer. Connor and his wife evidently lived in the house, as Henry Muhlenberg described the Connors as his neighbors. The Connors sold the house on March 1, 1777, to merchant John Patton (1745–1804) for £1,500 only six days before his marriage to Jane Davis (1752–1832). Connor was an Irish immigrant who arrived in America in 1745. In March 1776, he joined the Continental Army as a Major in the 9th Pennsylvania Regiment; the following year he was promoted to colonel. The Connors did reside in the house, as a letter written by Peter Muhlenberg in 1799 describes the home now known as The Speaker's House as "the house below him where Col. Patton had lived." John and Jane Patton had eleven or twelve children; Benjamin, the oldest, may have been born while they lived in Trappe. Patton sold the house in September 1778 to Isaac Connely (1747–1823) for £2350. Only 22 days later, Connely it to innkeeper John Reed (1723–1790) and his wife Dorothy. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg refers to Reed as "Neighbor Reed" and purchased goods from him such as firewood, beef, veal, pork, salt, rye and oats. In May 1781, Reed offered to rent out "2 large rooms in his big house, half of the cellar, adequate firewood, and fodder for his horse at 20 pounds silver money a year." In December 1781, he sold the house and property to Frederick Muhlenberg.

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