Bauman's started in 1892 when John W. Bauman purchased a cider press and operated it with the steam engine in his carriage manufacturing shop. Soon he began cooking apple butter for farmers of the community. They called it "lattwaerrick" in their Pennsylvania German dialect.

He used the apple butter recipe his wife had received from her Schwenkfelder ancestors, who had settled in southeastern Pennsylvania alongside John's Mennonite forefathers.

In 1734 the followers of Caspar Schwenckfeld came to Pennsylvania as Christian refugees from Silesia, seeking freedom of worship. They survived on the high seas due in part to an ample supply of apple butter, a fruit product that keeps its goodness without preservatives or refrigeration. On arrival they celebrated with a meal of bread and apple butter, an occasion still commemorated in Schwenkfelder churches.

Before long John Bauman's apple butter business had replaced his carriage shop. As satisfied customers spread the word the business has continued to grow since the turn of the century.

Now in the third generation Bauman's Apple Butter Factory is still a family operation in the Nineteenth Century village of Sassamansville.

The founder's grandson, Harvey, along with his wife, Kathy, and his mother, Ruth, keep the tradition going. With old-fashioned goodness and the best of flavor, their products are free of additives or preservatives.