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])

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

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...

Warrants. Surveys. Patents :: Locating the Land of Hans Jacob Brubacher

A wonderful article was published in the January 1986 issue of "Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage" titled "Hans Jacob Brubacher, Fraktur Artist" which was written by David R. Johnson. I received the article in 1999 from a distant cousin, Margery Bebow, who is related through both the Brubaker and Foster lines. She had received the article from another distant cousin, Ken Fawley, who happens to be married to my 1st cousin Caroline Conrad.

The seven-page article presented what was known about the three generations of men named Hans Jacob Brubacher who lived in what was then Martic Township (now Providence Township) in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania from about 1730 through 1817. Information from Mr. Johnson's research in land and estate records combined with that from Phares Brubaker Gibble's "History and Genealogy of the Brubaker, Brubacher, Brewbaker family in America" provides a good summary of the family, though with at least one error, which may be the subject of a future post.

Hans Jacob Brubaker III is my 5th great-grandfather. His father, Hans Jacob II - the Fraktur Artist, is my 6th great-grandfather. His father, Hans Jacob I, is my 7th great-grandfather.

In his will (dated June 24, 1754 and recorded in Lancaster County Will Book 1 pages 89-90) Hans Jacob Brubacher identified himself as a weaver. Proved on April 17, 1755 the will stated that he owned real estate but did not provide a location or description of the land.

On page 11, the author of the Fraktur Artist article cites several passages from "History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men", by Franklin Ellis and Samuel Evans (Philadelphia: Evens & Peck, 1883), p. 868:

The elder Hans Jacob acquired 124 acres of land through agents John Herr and Martin Kendig in 1730, "about one mile due southwest from the present village of New Providence, near Big Beaver Creek."

The author continues by saying (emphasis added):

A more garbled account by the same authors gives similar information in a history of the town of New Providence: "A man by the name of Powpather had a large tract of land close by, if not altogether in the limits of the present village. His land extended westward. When he divided his land among his children he changed the name on their deeds to 'Brubaker.'"

Mr. Johnson goes on to say:

The location of the first Jacob Brubacher's land is still uncertain. The most probable tract is the one consisting of 318-plus acres, for which Henry Herr obtained warrant, survey, and patent in 1762 and which was located one mile or more south-southwest of the village of New Providence.

In the footnote for the above statement, citing Patent AA-3-296 and Survey C-76-209, the author states: "As yet no patent, survey, or deed for the elder Jacob Brubacher has surfaced."

Referring to the will and the estate of the elder Hans Jacob, Mr. Johnson states:

"The deceased owned about 150 acres in what was then Martic Township. Because his personal estate was insufficient to pay all expenses, a sale of 60 acres of his land was contemplated, but the family later agreed to sell the whole tract. Jacob Graeff was the highest bidder of £114 at the sale which took place on April 27, 1757, but the court refused to confirm the sale when Thomas Smith, a local resident, appeared and claimed that others present at the bidding did not have time to submit their bids. On December 31, 1757, another sale was held on the premises. This time Henry Herr purchased the farm for £130 5s. and agreed to take responsibility for the widow's bequeathments. When the estate was settled, a final balance was equally divided among the four inheriting children, each of whom received £17 10s. 9d. Henry Herr may have been a close friend or relative; the year before the sale, minor child Abraham Brubacher chose him as guardian."

While looking for county and state resources available online for Pennsylvania in preparation for on-site research in the areas where several ancestors lived, I "discovered" the awesome website of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, particularly the Land Records Portal associated with the State Archives.

Available online through the above mentioned Land Records Portal are digital images of land warrants, surveys, patents, warrantee township maps, and other associated state-level land records from the 1680s to the present day. They DO NOT have the deed books for transactions "transferring land between private citizens that occurred either after or during the patenting process." Those records are maintained at the office of the Recorder of Deeds for the appropriate county.

Some image sets, such as the warrantee township maps, do not include coverage for all counties or even all townships within a county. It does get a little confusing, since there were so many county boundary changes, and it takes time to figure out what you're looking for and then even determining what you are looking at. But it is well worth the time it takes.

Sometimes a warrant was issued but the patent wasn't filed until many years later. Such was the case of the land of Hans Jacob Brubacher II. One warrant for his land was dated July 20, 1748 and another on March 9, 1759 but the patents were not issued until February 23, 1813.

I first looked at the Warrantee Township Maps. There are very few available for the counties where my ancestors settled, but there just happened to be one for Providence Township, Lancaster County. These maps show all original land purchases from the Proprietors or the Commonwealth that were made within the boundaries of present-day townships. The warrants and surveys will generally be found in the county at the time they were issued. Like I said, it does get a bit confusing!

The maps are large pdf files. This one was 7.5mb and I imagine the original was several feet wide. You have to enlarge the map considerably to be able to read the text. Then you look through the names on the map to find your person(s) of interest. The numbers in the upper left of each entry indicate the location on the map. I was looking for Jacob Brubaker but was pleasantly surprised to find the name of Thomas Stoneroad also.

According to the Phares Gibble book (page 76) Jacob Brubaker III married Elizabeth Stoneroad. Records show that the surname was originally Steinweg or Steinweeg. The surnames seem to have been used interchangeably for a period of time in the 1780s through the early 1800s. Apparently "stein" is a German and Norwegian word meaning "stone" or "rock" and "weg" means way or road. Thus Stoneroad is the anglicized equivalent of Steinweg.

Above is a very small portion of the Warrantee Township Map for Providence Township (double-click the image to view a larger version). The area outlined in blue is the location of the land of Jacob Brubaker II, which was inherited by Jacob III. The area outlined in green is the tract of Thomas Stoneroad.

Below is survey C-16-89 for Jacob Brubaker (II). The text reads:

A Drought of a Tract of Land Situate in Martick Township in the County of Lancaster Containing in the whole 107 as & 166 pr & the usual allowance of Six P Cent for the Roads &c 72 as & 76 pr & the usual Allowance Surveyed in pursuance of a warrant dated the 8th of March AD 1759* Granted unto Jacob Brubacker and 35 as & 90 pr and the usual Allowance, being part of a Larger Tract Containing -

Surveyed in pursuance of a Warrant dated the 8th of March AD 1759 Granted unto Thomas Smith &c Surveyed the above tract of Land for Abraham Brubaker the 11th day of January AD 1810.

Jacob Hibshman D.S.
* Brubacker's Warrt is Dated 20 July 1748

Survey C-16-89 for Jacob Brubaker.

I also looked up the survey for Thomas Stoneroad. The surname is unique enough that I've been gathering whatever information I can find on anyone with that surname.

Survey C-201-16 for Thomas Stoneroad.

His tract of land is 42 acres. But what I found very interesting is that his name is associated with the tract labeled A-51-104, which is the survey number. So, yeah, I grabbed that one too.

The original survey A-51-104 is for Jacob Prowpather!

Yes! This is the record that had previously not been found! And I wouldn't have found it either if I hadn't looked at the survey for Thomas Stoneroad. Luckily, my friend Cindy was at home with me at the time and I was able to share this discovery with her, though I'm sure I didn't explain it all very well. It was just nice to be able to talk it over with someone else who "understands" these things!

The document text reads:

Jacob Prowpather 124 acres & the allowance of Six pcent situate on a Branch of Beaver Creek in the County of Lancaster Surveyd to him in right of Martin Kendrick & John Heer [sic: Herr], the 4th of November 1730.

Jno. Taylor.

Warrt. 22 November 1717.
Returned &ca. Novr. 29th 1764 for the use of Martin Funk in pursuance of a Warrt. dated the 26th day of Novr. 1764 now Situate in Martick Township in the County of Lancaster.

No Warrant or Patent was found for this land in Lancaster County or Chester County in the name of Jacob Prowpather or Jacob Brubaker or other variations of the surname. (Lancaster County was a part of Chester County until 1729.) I didn't really expect to find either record since the tract was "in right of" Kendrick and Heer.

Records at the county level will have to be checked to find the deeds for when Jacob sold the land and for Thomas Stoneroad's purchase of the land.

Looking at the Warrantee map once again, we see that the land identified as survey A-51-104 (outlined in red) belonged to Martin Funk and is the same property originally owned by Jacob Prowpather, aka Jacob Brubaker (the 1st) from 1730 until his death in 1755. The land that Thomas Stoneroad obtained in 1804 is outlined in green, and that of Jacob II (and III), which they owned from 1748 to about 1817, is outlined in blue.

In his article, David R. Johnson included two diagrams of the property of Jacob II, one of which placed the property in a present-day (1986) map. Using his drawings and Google Maps, I was able to locate the Brubaker tracts on a road map and on a satellite view.

That dark line running from the left-center and curving down the lower-right of the image is the Enola Low Grade Trail, which opened last year. I may just have to check that out (amongst other things) on my way through Pennsylvania this coming week!

I haven't gotten through the entire list of Pennsylvania ancestors yet, but I have found warrants, surveys, and patents for the lands of 12 of them! All in all, the last couple of days have been very productive...

Published under a Creative Commons License.
Becky Wiseman, "Warrants. Surveys. Patents :: Locating the Land of Hans Jacob Brubacher," Kinexxions, posted September 2, 2012 (http://kinexxions.blogspot.com/2012/09/warrants-surveys-patents-locating-land.html : accessed [access date])

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])