Those Pennsylvania Ancestors...

Back in March, when "The Journey" came to an official end, I mentioned there were several research trips that I wanted to take, one of which was to Pennsylvania.When I went to Pittsburgh to attend GRIP in July, I thought about staying the following week for research. But I hadn't really taken the time to properly prepare and returned to Indiana instead.

Coming up, the second week of September, I'm planning on meeting a friend at Acadia National Park in Maine for a week. I thought perhaps I could do a little research on the way, but that's probably not going to happen since, due to other commitments, I can't leave here until the 5th. So maybe, I can spend some time in Pennsylvania afterward.

Anyway, I started looking at those Pennsylvania ancestors, most of whom are "Pennsylvania Dutch" with the odd migrant from Connecticut (Sprague) and several Scotch-Irish (Dunfee & Hazlett) that came in through Maryland.

I made a list of the known ancestors and several "persons of interest" noting where they had lived and when. Then decided to map it out to visually "see" the various locations. I had done something similar back in 2000, but with a map that included all of the eastern states. Comparing this map to the earlier one shows that more ancestors have been found in Pennsylvania, more than I thought.

Harrisburg, the state capital of Pennsylvania, is in Dauphin County.
Double-click on the image to view a larger version.

It's a bit overwhelming when I think about researching in all of these locations! Back in 1986, on-site research was done in Fayette, Westmoreland, Adams, and York counties. And, of course, quite a few records were found on several visits to Salt Lake City last year. Perhaps I should just spend what time I have at the State Archives in Harrisburg?

Research plans for some of the ancestors are in progress - listing what is known about them, the documents that I already have, and what I'd like to find. Of course, the amount of information known varies considerably, dependent mostly upon how much research time has been devoted to them in the past.

Below is the list of locations and ancestors (or persons of interest) in Pennsylvania. Some people are listed in multiple counties. Alexander, Schuder, Sprague and Stoever are in my Dad's lineage. All others are in Mom's lines. Some of them I don't know where they were prior to where I found them. And, of course, there are the ancestors that were "born in Pennsylvania" with locations unknown, such as James Neal, Peter Wise and Conrad Stem... The number in front of the county name refers to the numbers on the map, going from the east side of the state to the west side.

1 - Northampton (part of Bucks until 1752)

• Bayer/Boyer, Adam - Williams Twp (1733-1754)
• Brinker, Andreas & Regula Herter - Lower Saucon (1735-1764)
• Brinker, Ulrich (married Apolonia Bayer/Boyer, d/o of Adam) - Lower Saucon (1735-1785)
• Brinker, Andrew (With wife Barbara Lederman, moved to Westmoreland shortly after marriage in 1785.) Lower Saucon (1760-1785)

2 - Lehigh (Philadelphia until 1758, Northampton until 1812)

• Williams (Willems), Johannes & Margaretha - Whitehall - (1736-????)
• Williams (Willems), Thomas [Daughter Margaret married George Yerion about 1770. Both families to Westmoreland by 1785.] - Whitehall - (1736-1785)

3 - Lehigh (Philadelphia until 1758, Northampton until 1812)

• Yerion (Jerian), Mathias - Lynn - (1732-1761)

4 - Montgomery (Philadelphia until 1784)

• Hoffman, Burckhard [Person of Interest] - Upper Hanover - (1727-1770)
• Hoffman, Michael - Upper Hanover - (mid 1700s)

5 - Berks (Philadelphia until 1752)

• Hoffman, Michael - Douglas - (mid 1700s)

6 - Berks (Philadelphia until 1752)

• Hoffman, Michael - Alsace - (died 1777)
• Schädler, Dietrich [Person of Interest. Baptism sponsor of Dietrich Hoffman in July 1751.]
• Schedler, Engel [Person of Interest. Did she marry "my" Michael Hoffman? Is she the mother of Dietrich Hoffman?] - (1740s-1780s)
• Alter, Georg Henrich [Person of Interest. Possible father of Susanna Alder/Alter who married Dietrich Hoffman] - (1750s-1780s)

7 - Berks (Philadelphia until 1752)

• Daniel/Daniels, Adam - Bethel - (1738-1777)
• Forster, Wilhelm Georg (aka William Foster) md Magdalena Daniel in 1774 - Bethel - (1764-1780s)
• Leatherman (Lederman), Jacob - Tulpehocken - (1740s-1762)
• Leatherman (Lederman), Peter - Tulpehocken - (1740s-1801)
• Leatherman, Barbara, d/o Peter md Andrew Brinker - Tulpehocken - (1785)

8 - Lebanon (Lancaster until 1785, Dauphin until 1813)

• Stoever, John Caspar III - Bethel - (1785-1805 to Ohio)

9 - Lebanon (Lancaster until 1785, Dauphin until 1813)

• Stoever, John Caspar II - Lebanon - (1742-1779)

10 - Northumberland (Southern portion of county was part of Lancaster until 1772.)

• Schuder, Nicolaus - Mahonoy & Washington - (1772-????)
• Schuder, Christian & Christina Stoever - Mahonoy & Washington - (1772-1803 to Ohio)
• Forster, Wilhelm Georg (aka William Foster) - Mahonoy - (1780s-1798 to Shenandoah, Virginia then Ohio about 1807)

11 - Lancaster (Chester until 1729)

• Steinweg/Stoneroad, George -Lancaster - (1754-???? married Veronica Danner 1763)
• Danner/Tanner, Veronica - Lancaster - (married George Steinweg 1763)

12 - Lancaster (Chester until 1729. In 1853, part of Martic where the Brubakers had lived became Providence Township)

• Brubaker, Hans Jacob 1st - Martic - (1730-1755)
• Brubaker, Hans Jacob 2nd - Martic - (1730-1802)
• Brubaker, Hans Jacob 3rd - Martic - (about 1760-1817. Married Elizabeth Steinweg about 1788, to Ohio about 1817.)

13 - York (Lancaster until 1749)

• Berlin, Jacob & Ann Margaretha Euler - Codorus - (1740s)

14 - Adams (York until 1800)

• Berlin, Jacob & Ann Margaretha Euler - Berwick - (1750-1790)
• Berlin, Frederick Sr. - Berwick & Hamilton - (1750-1836) - Susan [Wagner ?]
• Berlin, Frederick Jr. - Berwick & Hamilton - (1771-1843) - married Juliana [Dietzler ?]
• [Dietzler ?], Juliana -
• [Wagner ?], Susan -

15 - Adams (York until 1800)

• Rupert, John, Barbara [baptism of Eva 1787] - Latimore - (????-1787)

16 - Adams (York until 1800)

• Dunfee, George & Mary - Cumberland - (1790-1800)
• Dunfee, George & Mary - Liberty - (1800-1830)
• Dunfee, James & Sophia (Hazlett) - Liberty - (1800-1830)
• Hazlett, Jonathan & Elizabeth - Liberty - (1810-1830)

17 - Franklin (Cumberland until 1784)

• Cow, Henery (aka Henry Coy) - Montgomery - (1790-1804)
• Hoffman, Detrick (2 sons married daughters of Henry Coy) - Montgomery - (1790s-1804)

18 - Bedford (Cumberland until 1771)

• Helm, Conrad - Bedford - (1804)

19 - Bedford (Cumberland until 1771)

• Helm, Conrad - Londonderry - (1807-1811)

20 - Somerset (Cumberland until 1771, Bedford until 1795)

• Stoever, John Caspar III - Milford - (1802-1805 to Ohio)

21 - Westmoreland (Cumberland until 1771, Bedford until 1773)

• Yerion, George - Mount Pleasant - (1773-1804) - wife Margaretha Williams
• Brinker, Andrew & Barbara Lederman - Mount Pleasant - (1785-1805)

22 - Fayette (Westmoreland until 1783)

• Sisley, Lewis & Margaret Ellis - Washington - (1790-1826)
• Stem, Conrad - Washington - (1820-1840s) - married Indiana Sisley before 1833, to Ohio before 1850. He was born "in Pennsylvania" in 1804.

23 - Washington (Westmoreland until 1781)

• Ellis, James - Fallowfield - (1780-1803)
• Ellis, Nathan Fallowfield - (1780-late 1790s to Ohio)

24 - Erie (Allegheny until 1800)

• Sprague, Thomas Sr. - Springfield - (1800-1805) - Came from Connecticut, went to Montgomery County, Ohio.
• Alexander, William - Springfield - (1800-1805 to Ohio) - Married Lucy Sprague.

Bucks, Philadelphia, and Dauphin counties are colored-in because they were the "parent" counties for the areas in which ancestors settled. Depending upon the time frame involved, research may be required in those counties.

I hesitated in posting this since it may turn out that I don't get to Pennsylvania for research this year, but thought I'd post it anyway since I spent so much time on it and also in the hopes of hearing from anyone researching these lines or with ties to these people - leave a comment below or send me an email at kinexxions "at" gmail "dot" com.

Published under a Creative Commons License.
Becky Wiseman, "Those Pennsylvania Ancestors," Kinexxions, posted August 29, 2012 (http://kinexxions.blogspot.com/2012/08/those-pennsylvania-ancestors.html : accessed [access date])