Martin Kaercher Sr., founder of Hamburg, was born in Germany in 1718 and emigrated to Berks County in 1738. On Dec. 23, 1772, he acquired a certain tract of land called Hamburg, embracing 250 acres of a London land warrant of 1732. On Jan. 23, 1779, his son Martin Kaercher Jr. bought it for £2500, laid out the town, and sold the first lots on Dec. 1, 1779. Martin Kaercher Jr.'s birth, death, and resting place are not recorded. His father died in 1787 and is buried in the cemetery on land given by them for church purposes.