Born on December 25, 1745, Andrew Eschenbach, Jr. lived most of his life in Philadelphia before moving with his family in 1809 to what was later named Tobyhanna Township. As one of the first permanent settlers of the community, he made wood shingles by hand, and he and Susan continued to expand their already large family with the birth of Samuel Greenleaf on May 14, 1810. In the community’s early years, when there were fewer than one hundred residents, there were no churches, schools, or cemeteries, and even when Tobyhanna Township was incorporated in 1830, it had only 274 residents. With nine sons, one daughter, and numerous grandchildren, a family cemetery became necessary. Located near the Eschenbach homestead, the cemetery’s site may have been chosen because of an existing grave, and family lore holds that Jacob Everett of the Pennsylvania militia, the one documented mortal casualty of the Battle of Locust Hill during the Yankee-Pennamite Wars on August 2, 1784, may have been buried there, though firm documentation is lacking. By 1860, six Eschenbach households with 37 family members lived in the township, and it is thought that about 20 graves are in the cemetery. Because granite or marble was unavailable, markers were made of local fieldstone and slate, and their carvings have largely weathered away; one marker suggests a child may be buried there, and many stones have sunk deeply into the gravesites. Family tradition holds that Andrew, his wife Susan, and her family are buried there, and that Private Jacob Eschenbach, son of David and nephew of Samuel, who reportedly lost his life in the Battle of Antietam on September 21, 1862, was brought home for burial there. The Eschenbach family helped build the community through lumbering, shingle making, wood products made with a sawmill, farming on cleared land, and boarding houses, and tax records show they at one point collectively held more than 1,200 acres in the mid-1800s. Samuel Greenleaf Eschenbach played a leading role in township life, serving multiple terms as Justice of the Peace after appointment by the Governor of Pennsylvania at age 26, beginning service as a Tobyhanna Township Supervisor in 1863, and also serving as tax assessor, militia member, school board director for seven terms, and a strong supporter of his church.