Bebber was an immigrant from Krefeld, Germany and lived for a brief time in Germantown before moving to Bohemia Manor in Maryland around 1710. In the 18th century Beggarstown was the home of two important congregations. The mother church of the Church of the Brethren denomination moved to its present location at Germantown Avenue and Hortter Street in 1760 and worshiped for a while in the Pettikoffer house until 1770 when they built a meeting house which is still in use by the congregation today. The other church which was formed very early in this village was Saint Michael's Lutheran Church. The earliest documentation for a Lutheran congregation in Germantown is found in 1738 when four men (Georg Wensell, Jacob Behlert, Georg Rieger/Rüger [later known as Rex], and Johann Groethausen) purchased a lot on Germantown Avenue which became the core of the property the congregation still owns today. St. Michael's soon became an important regional focal point for the growing number of 18th century churched (i.e. Lutheran or Reformed) German immigrants who quickly outnumbered the older German Quaker, Mennonite and Brethren families. At this time the congregation served almost all Lutherans living between the colonial city of Philadelphia and the church at Trappe, Pennsylvania. In the 19th century, there was an effort of some of the residents of the area to change the name to Franklinville. Though they succeeded in naming a literary club and volunteer fire company with the new name, Beggarstown continued to be used by the local residents until the late nineteenth century when the spread of suburbanization eradicated the small village atmosphere along this section of Germantown Avenue. References Neighborhoods in Philadelphia Mount Airy, Philadelphia