The Bergdoll Boys: America's Most Notorious Millionaire Draft Dodgers (Virtual)

Based on his new book, published through Brookline Books in Havertown, PA, Tim Lake will take viewers into the glittering, daredevil world of the Bergdolls, a family made wealthy--and notorious--through their brewing empire. Heirs to the renowned German-American Bergdoll Beer fortune at a young age, Grover and Erwin Bergdoll used their millions to become champion race car drivers and pioneer aviation heroes in the early 1900s. Then they're snared by vengeful local military draft officials. Running and hiding from their war duty, the fugitives were so reviled by nationalistic Americans that two older brothers change their names to avoid infamy.

When the glare of the legal, political, and media spotlight became too intense, the Bergdolls tried to find privacy in Chester County, first with Berta Bergdoll and the children moving to a large farm between Downingtown and West Chester, and then with Erwin Bergdoll on a remote farm near Honey Brook. Along with a general discussion of the Bergdoll story, we'll focus on their lives in Chester County in the 1940s - 1960s. We'll discuss how Chester County historians helped preserve Bergdoll documents and photographs, contributing them to the Chester County History Center, from where they were beneficial to telling the intimate details of the Bergdoll family drama. To include showing the photographs and documents used to illustrate the book.

About the Speaker: Tim Lake was a primary news anchor for NBC 10 in Philadelphia from 1993 through 2013 serving as the noon, 5 pm, and 6 and 11 pm news anchor for the NBC-owned television station. He was a resident of Chester County for 23 years. Most recently, Tim served as the primary news anchor for News 10 ABC in Albany, New York, and host of Empire State Weekly, a news program about New York State politics that aired on 10 television stations from New York City to Buffalo. Upon retiring from a 40-year television career, Tim now lives in Upstate New York and is focused on writing more historical narrative nonfiction.

Admission is Pay as You Wish! Your donation is greatly appreciated. All proceeds benefit the development of future programming and the preservation of the History Center and its collections. The History Center is home to over 750,000 manuscripts, 100,000 photographs, and 70,000 artifacts. Your donation helps us to preserve and share those resources.

Presentation is via Zoom, and will be recorded and available for 7 days for all registered participants. We will email out a Zoom link the day of the presentation, and email a link to the recording within 24 hours. Note: the Zoom link emailed out the day of the presentation only takes you to the live presentation; the link emailed out the day after will contain the recorded version.

This presentation is made possible by the generous support of the Haverford Trust Company.

"The Bergdoll Boys" is available now everywhere books are sold!  https://www.brooklinebooks.com/9781955041089/the-bergdoll-boys/