The Old Trappe Church

On July 2, 1750 Joh Michael Hoffman (widower) was married to Engel Schedlerin in New Hanover township in what is now Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The marriage was recorded in the records of the Augustus Evangelical Lutheran Church in Trappe, Pennsylvania.

If my theory is correct, Michael and Engel would be my 6th great grandparents. Regardless whether they are or not, one of the places I wanted to visit while in Pennsylvania was the Old Trappe Church. It is reportedly the oldest unchanged Lutheran church still in use in the United States.

According to information posted on the bulletin board outside the church, the congregation was organized about 1730 by John Caspar Stoever, Jr. (who happens to be one of my 5th great grandparents). Worship services were held in a barn loaned by one of the deacons. At that time Stoever was not a regularly ordained pastor but in 1732 he was ordained in the presence of the Trappe congregation. He remained there for a few years before moving on to Lancaster.

Stoever's departure left the spiritual care of the congregation in the hands of a series of self-styled itinerant pastors until late in 1742 with the arrival of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg. In January 1743, members of the congregation began hauling stones to the site and the structure was erected through the spring and summer months. The first service was held in the unfurnished interior on September 12, 1743. The building was completed and dedicated on October 6, 1745. The congregation organized formally, adopting the name "Augustus Lutheran Church." By 1752, the interior of the church building was completed as it appears today.

In 1814, the exterior stone walls were stuccoed and painted to help preserve the building. A woodstove and wooden floor was also added to the interior. In 1860, a severe storm destroyed half of the roof of the Old Church and there was discussion of razing the building but funds were raised to pay for the repairs. In the late 1920s the interior was restored to the colonial appearance with the removal of the stove and the addition of a concrete and flagstone floor. It is now listed as a National Historic site.

In 1852 a new brick church was built a short distance away. The new building  is the current church building  used by the Augustus Lutheran Church.

The walkway leading to the Old Trappe Church is embedded with plaques from other Lutheran churches around the world. All photographs were taken on October 9, 2012.

I was fascinated by the shape of the church building.

The raised graves/crypts next to the church building are for members of the Muhlenburg family.

 Burials in the cemetery reportedly date from 1729. The oldest legible stone, which I did not find, is dated 1736.

 Some of the windows still have the old wavy glass, though I doubt that the panes are from the early 1700s.

Detail of the braces used to keep the shutters open. 

I had not pre-arranged for a tour, so was unable to go inside. Shots of the interior were taken by carefully holding the camera up against the window panes. The pulpit on the left side is the only piece of furniture that was not handcrafted by local craftsmen using native woods. It was made of European red walnut and imported at the time the church was dedicated. The top piece over the pulpit is a 'sound board' that amplifies the preachers voice. The offering bags on the far wall were used in the 18th century.

A portion of the concrete and flagstone floor is visible as is the staircase leading to the second floor balcony.

I am always amazed by the craftsmanship and engineering skills of the early builders. Even if this is not The Church of my Hoffman ancestors, it was an incredible feeling to walk around it and to be able to see this magnificent Old Church.

Published under a Creative Commons License.
Becky Wiseman, "The Old Trappe Church," Kinexxions, posted October 27, 2012 (http://kinexxions.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-old-trappe-church.html : accessed [access date])

An Indentured Servant and the Farm Upon Which He Lived

Berks County, Pennsylvania was the home of at least six of my ancestral families: Alder/Alter,  Daniel/Daniels, Forster/Foster, Hoffman, Irion/Jerion/Yerion, Lederman/Leatherman, and a possible seventh lineage: Schädler/Schedler.

A total of five days was spent in Berks County earlier this month and on portions of several of those days I roamed around the back roads of Berks and neighboring Montgomery county. The area was MUCH hillier than I had thought it would be with sometimes narrow and usually winding, curvy roads. As a result, it always took me twice as long to get someplace as I thought it would. It was especially pretty with the leaves changing color, in spite of the dreary, wet weather.

One of the "family sites" on my list to visit was the Homestead of David Kaufman in Oley Township (seven miles east of Reading) in Berks County. David Kaufman is not one of my ancestors but he was the "master" of one of them.

My research on the Yarian family began in 1985 when my mother and I went on a trip to Pennsylvania. Considerable information has been gathered over the years which has been enriched by the work of other researchers.

The earliest publication I discovered was a small typewritten manuscript titled "Some Descendants of Mathias Jurian 1702-1763" by Miss Cecil H. Smith. It wasn't documented but it certainly provided lots of clues. The first Yarian researcher that I made contact with was Lowell Yarian who lived nearby in Warsaw, Indiana.  He was retired and he and his wife traveled the United States gathering information on anyone named Yarian. One side of his RV was lined with 3-ring binders full of family group sheets. He passed away in 1998 and I've often wondered what happened to all of his research papers.

James Weaver published "The Yerian-Yaryan Family: Mathias Jurian and his Descendants in America" in 1989 (though I didn't discover it until a few years later). I also made contact with Carl Bennett in 2002 and learned that he was the provider of much of the information in Weaver's book.

The immigrant ancestor is Mathias Jurian who arrived in Philadelphia on October 11, 1732 "Forty two Palatines, who with their families... were Imported in the Ship Pleasant, James Morris Master, from Rotterdam, but last from Deal..."

Matthias Jurian made his mark "M i" as shown on List 27B from Pennsylvania German Pioneers (Strassburger & Hinke, 1934)

 On List 27C his name (2nd name in left column) is written as Mathias Jeryon or Ieryon.

Since the publication of Weaver's book in 1989, church records of Tuttlingen in Talheim were found by other researchers that showed that Matthias Irion was married January 29, 1731 to Maria Magdalena Pfister. It is presumed that Magdalena was one of the 102 women and children on board the Ship Pleasant.

The "Biographical & Historical Cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong Counties, Pa." (pages 617-618) includes a biography of William Keppel and mentions his grandfather, it states "Daniel Keppel (grandfather), was born in this State in 1787, and died in 1824. He married Elizabeth Yearyan, a daughter of George Yearyan, of Westmoreland county. [Lists their 12 children.]... George Yearyan (maternal grandfather) was a "redemptioner," and was brought to this country by David Kaufman, a farmer, for whom Yearyan worked for three years to repay the amount of money his passage had cost. At the end of these three years' service he received from Kaufman a horse, a saddle and bridle, and two suits of clothes. His wife was a Miss Williams, of Welsh descent."

It was always suspected that it was actually Mathias Irion, the father of George, who was the redemptioner - baptismal records of Johann Casper Stoever show that John George, son of Mattheis Jergan of Oley was born October 18, 1733 and baptized December 10, 1733.

In October 2001 another Yerian researcher, Margaret Sopp, posted a message on GenForum that she had located the indenture for Mathias Jrion. Of course, at that time I was off researching other family lines and it wasn't until nearly a year later that I learned of this find from Carl Bennett. In the GenForum post, Margaret doesn't tell how she located the indenture but Carl forwarded the letter he received from her regarding that find - it's a really neat story.

It seems that Margaret was an active contributor to one of the surname lists on Rootsweb. One of the other subscribers was Ken McCrea who was going to be leading a research group to Salt Lake City. Margaret signed up for the group and in the process of preparing for the trip mentioned the Yerian surname to Ken who was also a  frequent lecturer giving talks on immigration, among others. As part of his immigration talk he discusses indentures, of which he had only ever seen one, and he uses it as an example in his lectures... and yes, it was the indenture was for Matthias Jurion!

A copy of the indenture can be found on the genealogy site of Carol Diane (Holland) and David Paul Knight. Additional information is also posted there on Matthias Irion.

My transcription, below, differs somewhat from that posted by Margaret Sopp.

This Indenture made the first day of November In the year of our Lord one-thousand
Seven hundred & thirty two. Witnesseth that Matthias Jrion late of Durlach in Germany ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ for & in Consideration of the Sum of Sixteen Pounds & Nineteen Shillings lawfull money of Pensilvania [paid for] his passage from Holland to Philadelphia in the province of Pensilvania of his own free & Voluntary Consent Doth bind himself a Servant unto David Kaufman of Oley in the County of Philada & province aforesaid. To serve him his heirs Execrs Adminrs or assigns from the day of the date hereof the full Term of Three years & Nine Months ~ ~ Thence next Ensuing to be fully Compleat & Ended During all which sd Term the said Servant his sd Master his heirs Execrs adminrs or assigns faithfully and honestly shall serve and the sd Master his heirs Execrs adminrs or assigns During the sd term of three years & nine months ~ ~ shall find & provide for the sd servant sufficient Meat Drink apparel washing & lodging fitting for a servant during the sd term and after the expiration of the sd term give the sd Servant two suits of apparrel one whereof to be new ~ And for the true performance of all & Every the sd Covenants & agreements Either of the sd parties binds himself unto the other firmly by these presents. In witness whereof they have Interchangeably herunto set their hands & seals. Dated the day & year first above written ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ David Kaufman
Sealed & Delivered In the presence us us } John Astancad  [?]Jnr [and] Henry Pastorius

In 1958 the Kaufman farm was included in an "Historic American Buildings Survey" by the National Park Service (HABS No. 1042), which provides a description of the house and also states "The buildings on the Kaufman farm are the finest complete known example of a Pennsylvania-German farm group in the Oley Valley." A second survey report (HABS No. 1059) includes several photos of the barns taken in 1958.

In 1983 the entire township of Oley was included in the "Oley Township National Register Historic District Survey." An article I found in the Reading Eagle dated November 7, 2002 showed that the David Kaufman farm was still owned by a descendant and had been continuously owned by a family member for 275 years - since 1727 when the farm was established.

In 2008, Carl Bennett sent me a more extensive survey done by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I have not found this document online.  The report was dated March 30, 2007 and stated that the farm had passed out of the hands of descendants. It went on to say that the "Current owners are conducting a comprehensive maintenance, preservation, and documentation project with the objective of preserving the integrity of all historic elements of the property.  Restoration consultants are carefully inspecting and analyzing construction elements and techniques to determine the history of each building and collecting and interpreting archeological findings.  Their goal is to provide for the future establishment of a museum that will depict an historic Oley Valley family farm of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries."

The "Manor House" was constructed circa 1763 but "Two of the barns David built still exist; the stone ground floor barn mostly original and the log barn, altered after the wooden members of this building burned and were replaced by a frame barn on the same foundation."

Jacob Hill Kauffman, the 3rd generation to live there, owned the farm from 1804-1843. "He took down the original log house and replaced it with the existing stone cabin at a higher elevation. He designed the new cabin to be nearly identical in dimensions, making it possible to remove structural elements of the cabin and reuse them in the stone house.  He used the summer beam, the fireplace lintels, and the floor joists."

It is possible that Mathias Irion had a hand in the construction of the older barns. Even if he didn't, it was still exciting to visit the area just knowing that he had lived on the farm for a few years. There did not appear to be anyone at home so I stopped the car alongside the road and took the photos below without going onto the property.

The west side of the Manor House.

 The Manor House from the front (south side).

I could be wrong, but I think the larger of these two buildings is the Stone Cabin built in the 1800s that used some of the elements of the original log cabin. The smaller building is the spring house.

Photos of the Kaufman farm were taken on October 4th and October 9th, 2012.

Mathias Irion is my 6th great-grandfather. The surname has been found in records under numerous variations but descendants in my line adopted the spelling of Yerian or Yarian.

Published under a Creative Commons License.
Becky Wiseman, "An Indentured Servant and the Farm Upon Which He Lived," Kinexxions, posted October 24, 2012 (http://kinexxions.blogspot.com/2012/10/an-indentured-servant-and-farm-upon.html : accessed [access date])

Travel Update...

Well, I thought I'd better "check in" so that anyone interested would know I was still alive!

Maine is now behind me; I left there last Friday (September 28th) and took my time going through New Hampshire, northwestern Massachusetts, and New York - avoiding the Interstates, so it took longer but the scenery more than made up for the length of the drive.

Yesterday (October 1st) was the first day the sun shone through the clouds in the last five days, with intermittent showers every day. Today it has rained steadily all day, rather hard at times. But I'm comfortable and dry at the library...

I am now in Pennsylvania where I'll be until the weekend when I head into Maryland on Friday for a visit with my Aunt Shirley (Mom's sister) and her daughter and family. It's been three years since I last saw my cousin Carol and her children and I'm looking forward to the visit and spending some time with them.

I'm WAY behind on blog reading, but I've finally had time to get some more blog posts scheduled - there's lots more coming from Maine! I really enjoyed being in Maine. The weather was good most of the time though some nights got a little chilly. Spending time with Joann was great as was visiting a couple of days with my cousin Anita and her husband.

Tomorrow and Thursday will be full days for researching. I'm hoping to fill in a few blanks and locate some "missing" documents (well, I don't think the documents are really missing, I just don't have copies of them - yet).

On to Lancaster...

Thursday - September 6th - - After leaving the Flight 93 Memorial, I continued eastward on U.S. 30 stopping for the night at Caledonia State Park, about 15 miles west of Gettysburg. I didn't get as far as I had wanted because of the late start from Greensburg and the stop at the memorial. It was another hot and humid day but a bit too buggy to leave the windows open. The air cooled down somewhat after the sun went down and it was rather comfortable.

 Friday - September 7th - - It was a pleasant drive through Gettysburg in the morning. As I got closer to Lancaster, the traffic grew heavier. I stopped for an early lunch and to confirm the directions to the Lancaster County Historical Society Library, which is in temporary facilities at 4 West King Street in downtown Lancaster. Arrived there at about 11 am. The staff was very helpful, showing me around and explaining procedures.

On one of my visits to the family history library in Salt Lake City last year I found a record of the will of Hans Jacob Brubaker II that stated the will was written in German so was not transcribed in the record book. Luckily for me, the Historical Society has translations and transcriptions available for the "German" wills. Other records obtained were the estate inventories of Hans Jacob I (1755) and Hans Jacob II (1802). These are the men who lived in Martick Township, which is now Providence township - not the ones who lived in Hempfield Township.

The library also has photocopied the original records of the "Evangelical Lutheran Church of Holy Trinity" of Lancaster, which include baptisms, marriages, and funerals. Some of the copied pages are difficult to read but I was able to find the 1763 marriage record of John Georg Steinweeg and Veronica Danerin. Among other things, I learned that the surname Daner was not only spelled Danner and Tanner (as I already knew) but also Dohner (and likely other variations also).

After leaving the Historical Society at 4:30 and successfully making my way through the city traffic while heading south, I drove by the lands of the two Jacobs. The campground where I was staying was an hours drive away so I was unable to spend much time in that area.

Saturday - September 8th - - I stopped for several hours in the morning at the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, located at 2215 Millstream Road in Lancaster. First off, I purchased a copy of the Mennonite Heritage Magazine that had the article on Hans Jacob Brubaker II - the Fraktur artist then made my way downstairs to the library. Once again the staff was very nice and helpful. I only spent about 2 hours there but it was long enough to know that I need to return. And really, that was my goal during this visit - to get some idea of the resources that are available.

My visit to Lancaster was very productive and, yes, it was much too short but if I was going to make it to Maine by Monday (the 10th) to meet up with my friend, I had to get back on the highway!

the url for this post is http://kinexxions.blogspot.com/2012/09/on-to-lancaster.html

The Flight 93 Memorial

Thursday - September 6, 2012 - - The small town of Shanksville, a few miles south of U.S. 30 in the rolling 'hills' of central Pennsylvania, made headline news eleven years ago on 9/11. In the midst of so much confusion, disbelief, and all of the horror of that day a group of courageous people stood up and prevented what could have been an even greater disaster.

Knowing that their lives were likely already lost, they forced the plane down before it could do further damage to our nation. To them we will be eternally grateful and for them and their families this memorial has been created on the site of their deaths to honor and remember them. It is a very simple memorial but very moving and profound at the same time.

Exhibits depicting the events on the site on 9/11/2001 are displayed in the front 'courtyard' and the entrance to the Memorial area is along a long walkway through a portal. The black, sloping wall along the left side extending into the background marks the northern boundary of the greater crash site.

The walkway extends about a quarter mile to the wall of names, shown in the background.

Within the wall are several niches where visitors can leave mementos of remembrance, if desired.

At the end of the bordering wall and to the left of the wall of names is a gate.

Beyond the gate, off in the distance, is a boulder marking the location of the crater and the approximate location of the impact site. After the crash investigation was complete, the crater was filled in. The remains of the flight crew and passengers are buried in a small cemetery just beyond the boulder. I believe this area is off limits except to family members.

The wall of names begins to the right of the gate. The names are engraved on individual panels and are listed in alphabetical order. Family members and friends sometimes leave memorial bouquets as shown in front of the memorial for Lorraine G. Bay. to the right of her is the memorial to Todd M. Beamer.

There are 40 panels inscribed with the names of the flight crew and passengers who died in the crash. We remember few of their names individually, but we will always remember them collectively.

The wall of names approximately follows the direction of the flight path... on top of the hill to the far right there was a huge tent. They were preparing for ceremonies to take place on 9/11, just five days after my visit.

The memorial is still a work in progress, but a diagram of the completed area can be viewed on the National Park Service Flight 93 Memorial Website.

What's Going On?

It's been a while since my last post... Hey, folks, I'm not in Indiana any more!

I left Northern Indiana two weeks ago (September 5th) heading East to meet up with a friend at Acadia National Park in Maine. Took U.S. 30 from Columbia City, all the way through Ohio into Pennsylvania. It was a long day of driving and getting through the Pittsburgh area was a challenge. I stopped that night at Keystone State Park near Latrobe (a few miles west of Pittsburgh).

About mid-morning on the 6th, I made my way to the very nice Westmoreland County Historical Society in Greensburg. If you have ancestors in Westmoreland County you will definitely want to spend some time there. The staff is nice and very helpful. My time was limited but I managed to spend four hours there with possible confirmation (or at least a clue) to a connection to the Williams (Willems) family.

George Yarian (Yerion, Yearian) married Margaretha Williams about 1770 (They are my 5th great-grandparents). Several years ago, I received a few pages (without sources) from "Early German Hawk Families of Westmoreland County, PA" by Kenneth Hawk Slater which included information on Sarah Willems who married Conrad Hawk. She is reportedly a sister of Margaretha Willems. Also listed as their siblings were Catherine Willems, who married Abraham Frantz (France) and Anna Maria Willems who married Nicholas Kepple (two sons of Anna Maria and Nicholas married into the Yerion family). The parents of the Willems children are reportedly Thomas and wife Naeima Willems. The above named children, along with brothers Daniel and Thomas Willems moved from Northampton County (originally part of Bucks) to Westmoreland about 1780.

An article about Abraham Frantz was published in volume 11 number 3 of 'Old Westmoreland' magazine, which the Historical Society has. It appears to confirm some of the above information. Again, however, no sources were included so much research remains to be done to verify that connection.

It was nearly 2 p.m. when I left Greensburg. Traveling east on U. S. 30 about 3 o'clock I realized I would pass by the Flight 93 Memorial and decided to take the time to stop.

To be continued...

GRIP is on the Agenda!

On the morning of Tuesday, February 7th I was among those eagerly awaiting the chance to register for the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh, aka GRIP. As I refreshed the computer screen at the appointed time, the link appeared and I began the registration process.

The Thomas Jones course, Advanced Research Methods, was my goal. But within two minutes of the registration process the screen locked up. And it just sat there. And I got frustrated. I backed out one screen and when I returned to the screen I had been on there was a message that the "event is currently unavailable". Really? After just a few minutes?

A message was immediately sent to "the powers that be" and yes, the course really filled that quickly. Did I want to be put on a waiting list? Well, yeah. So I've waited. Without much hope that more than one person wouldn't be able to make it.

Today I received an email telling me that I was still on the wait list and asking if I was still available to attend if a seat should happen to open up. My response was a yes! Less than two hours later another email told me that one spot was open in Mr. Jones' class and my name was at the top of the wait list!

So, I'm going to GRIP! And I'm excited - especially after being able to attend all four of his sessions at NGS in May. And I'm nervous - hoping that I haven't gotten in over my head with this. And it's just 2 1/2 weeks away! Wish me luck, eh?

Who else is going to GRIP? Which course are you taking?

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Updated July 26th: Read about my experiences at GRIP!