Bauman’s Apple Butter Factory is still a family operation

Bauman’s started in 1892 when John W. Bauman purchased a cider press and operated it with the steam engine in his carriage manufacturing shop. Soon he began cooking apple butter for farmers of the community. They called it “lattwaerrick” in their Pennsylvania German dialect.

It has been said that John used the apple butter recipe his wife, Catharine Wiegner, had received from her Schwenkfelder ancestors, who had settled in southeastern Pennsylvania alongside John’s Mennonite forefathers.

In 1734 the followers of Caspar Schwenckfeld came to Pennsylvania as Christian refugees from Silesia, seeking freedom of worship. They survived on the high seas due in part to an ample supply of apple butter, a fruit product that keeps its goodness without preservatives or

refrigeration. On arrival they celebrated with a meal of bread and apple butter, an occasion still commemorated in Schwenkfelder churches.

Before long John Bauman’s apple butter business had replaced his carriage shop. As satisfied customers spread the word the business has continued to grow since the turn of the century. Their youngest of nine children, Stanley, became a partner in the business after he graduated from Ursinus College in 1928. Stanley and his wife, Ruth, ran the business till 1977. Since then, John’s grandson, Harvey with wife, Kathy, continue to operate the rustic factory in the Nineteenth century village of Sassamansville.

John and Catharine

Ruth and Stanley