This painting recognizes the Hocker family and its presence in the Lancaster and Dauphin Counties in Pennsylvania since the early 1700’s. Hockersville painting is a whimsical and imaginative snapshot of a single day of the Hocker family during its first annual reunion on September 7th, 1911. Over 200 local family members attended, most from around Penbrook (Eastern Harrisburg), PA. 

Hockersville town is named in honor of Martin Hocker whose house is a brownstone at the southeast corner of Hockersville and governor roads built 1806 by Martin Hocker (1768-1862). 

The center image of the painting is a 1909 Ford Model T delivery truck for the Butter Bretzel Baking Company owned by David Elmer (D.E.) Hocker (born 1881). Bretzel is the German name for pretzel.

The truck driver, reportedly Alfred E. Hocker, had the flat tire en route and never delivered the beloved bretzels to the reunion. This shame caused him to change his last name to Newman and he never worried about it again.