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Note: REFN: 151 It is apparent from the accounts and records that Colonel Stephen assumed much of the responsibility of managing the plantation, store and inn some years before the death of his father. In the museum of the Pennsylvania Historical Society are many records and business transactions of the Whitehall Inn, covering the period before and after the death in 1777 of Paulus Balliet. In 1777, as the British approached Philadelphia, the headquarters of the government was moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. General "Washington had ordered the army supplies and equipment moved to the Lehigh Valley where he intended to sep up0- winter quarters. This plan was later chantged and Valley Forge was selected. The Liberty Bell was "secreted in a load of hay as part of the baggage train of the army". According to tradition Colonel Steven assissted in the planning and accompanied the wagon train that brought the Liberty Bell to Allentown where it was buried beneath the floor of Zion Reformed Church. Another tradition has it that John Jacob Mickley was in charge of the wagon that actually carried the Liberty Bell. This John Jacob Mickley was the father-in-law of John Balliet, brother of Colonel Stephen. This incident was carried out in great serecy, and there is little direct evidence of the operation. It is qiute probable the both colonel Stephen and John Mickley had a part in moving the Liberty Boell to safety. (For a detailed account of this affair, see "The Liberty Bell in Allentown", John Baer Stoudt, D.D., Allentown, Pennsylvania, 1927) Colonel Stephen commanded a company at the Battle of Brandywhine, September, 1777 and at the Battle of Germantown, October, 1777. In May 1780 he was appointed "Lieut. Col. Stephen Ballioet, 1st Battalion, Pennsylvania, Northampton County Colonel Stephen Balliet was one of the members of the Pennsylvaia Convention which ratified the Federal Constitution by a vote of 43 to 23. After the Revolutionary War Colonel Stephen served in the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, being elected for two one year terms; first on October 14, 1788 and again on October 13, 1789. In 1790 Pennsylvania adopted a new Constitution and it can be assumed that he, as a legislator, played an active part in its formation. A lifesize painting of Colonel Stephen and his wife, Magdalena, is now hanging in Trout Hall, the home of the Lehigh County Historical Society, Allentown, Pennsylvania.
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