Included in the count were four horses, four mares, three hogs, nine lambs, eight calves, eight heifers, seven cows, two bulls, a steer, and some oxen. The horses and oxen, combined with the listing of a wagon, swingle trees, and gears shows that he hauled good, possibly as far as Philadelphia. Also in the inventory were two wool wheels, a spinning wheel, a hemp break, and a loom clear evidence that they made cloth and clothing. The eight lambs provided the family with the wool needed to weave clothing. The inventory also listed wheat, corn, and buckwheat, crops grown by most eighteenth-century Pennsylvania German farmers.
Evidence suggests large funeral attendance.
In this manner invitations to funerals were extended to many friends and neighbors within a short period of time. Generally, funerals were held in the late afternoon or early evening. The funeral party assembled at the home of the deceased where they ate cake and a hot rum punch or sweetened cider. In an air of suspicion Muhlenberg wrote that friends and relatives came more for the rum and cake than for their interest in the deceased. When the party had assembled, the cortege moved to the church, led by the minister.