Will: Jacob Teysher (1804)

In trying to trace my Deisher ancestors, I followed a path to Jacob Teysher (aka Deischer) of Maxatawny Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. He wrote his last will and testament on 17 December 1803 and it was proven on 6 January 1804. Here is a transcript.¹

[page 209]

In the name of God Amen I Jacob Teysher
of Maxatawny Township in the County of Berks & State of Pennsylvania Yeoman being
very sick and weak in body but of sound mind memory and understanding Blessed be God for
the same do make and publish this my last will and testament in manner and form follow
ing, to wit, _ Principally and first of all I command my immortal Soul into the hands of
God who gave it, and my body to the earth to be buried in a decent and Christian like man
ner at the discretion of my Executors hereinafter named and as to such worldly estate where
with it hath pleased God to bless me with in this life I give and dispose of the same in the following
manner, to wit, I give devise and bequeath unto my Daughter Magdalena who is intermarried
with Michael Weaver as her & their full share & dividend of my real and personal estate in
addition to what they have already received & had four Spanish mill’d Dollars. Igive
devis and bequeath unto my son Daniel in addition to what he has already had and
received four Spanish mill’d Dollars I give devise and bequeath unto my said son Daniels
children, to wit, Jacob, Maria, John, Esther, Peter, Catharine, Deborah & Elizabeth and to
their Heirs and assigns forever as Tenants in Common and not as joint tenants a certain
messuage or tenement & Plantation situate & being in Hereford Township in the County of Berks
aforesaid adjoining lands of Casper Yeakel Leonard Grisemer and others containing two hun
dred and fifteen acres more or less, and the said Daniels eight children before named are to
pay unto my Executors seven hundred pounds lawful money of Pennsylvania in manner
following, twenty five pounds in one year from the day of my death and twenty five pounds
annually thereafter untill the whole is paid, and further they are to provid sufficient meat drink
apparel lodging and washing for the said Danial their father and their Mother during
their or either natural lives. I give devise & bequeath unto my daughter Esther who is
intermarried with Henry Romich as her & their full share & dividend of my real & personal
estate six hundred and fifty pounds gold or silver money in manner following one
hundred and twenty five pounds in one year from the day of my decease and the like
sum every succeeding year untill the whole is paid. I give devise and bequeath unto
my Daughter Deborah intermarried with Philip Miller as her & their full share and
dividend of my real and personal estate seven hundred pounds gold or silver money in
manner following one hundred and twenty five pounds in one year from the day of my

[page 210]

deceased and the like sum every succeeding year untill the whole is paid. I give devise
and bequeath unto my son Jacob two Spanish mill’d Dollars. I give devised & bequeath unto my
son John and to his Heirs and Assigns forever A certain Messuage and Plantation situate
and being Maxatawny Township aforesaid adjoining lands of Jacob Sweyer, Jacob Kutz
Kutztown lots & others containing one hundred eighty acres more or less my son John is to pay
unto my Executors seven hundred pounds lawful money in manner following, one hundred
pounds in one year from the day of my decease and the like sum yearly untill the whole is
paid. I give devise and bequeath unto my Daughter Maria intermarried with Daniel
Bitting as her & their full share and dividend of my real and personal estate seven hundred
pounds lawful money in manner following one hundred and twenty five pounds in one
year from the day of my decease & the like sum every succeeding year untill the whole is paid, and
as touching all the rest residue and remainder of my estate real and personal of who him or
nature soever the same may be in the County of Berks aforesaid or elsewhere, I give devise &
bequeath the same unto Peter (except therefrom one acre of Ground lying on the road leaving
from Reading to Kutztown adjoining lands of Jacob Baldy Adam Kutz and said Road, as
also a certain tenement & piece of land situate in Greenwich Township & County of Berks
aforesaid adjoining lands of John Hildenbrant John Witrant and other containing three
acres Together also one hundred pounds lawful money) they sever sums to be paid by my sons Daniels
children, Joahn, and are to be in full as consideration money for the several Plantations or
pieces of land that I have bequeathed unto them & the said several sums are to be paid
unto my Daughters as Legacies I bequeathed unto them or as much therefrom as is
necessary to be paid by my Executors, the Grain in the Ground on the several plantations
are to be and remain with the plantation. And lastly I nominate and appoint my
son John & my son Peter to be the Executors of this my last Will & Testament hereby
revoking all other Wills Legacies & bequests by me heretofore made and declaring this to
be my last Will & Testament. In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seal the
seventeenth day of December Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and three.—
Jacob [his mark] Teysher (seal) ~ Signed Sealed published pronounced & declared by the said Testator as
his last will & Testament in the presence of us who in his presence and at his request have subscribed
as Witnesses. Jacob Humbert, Jno M. Hyneman ———

Registers Office Reading in Berks County January 6th, 1804.
Then appeared Jacob Humbert & John M Hyneman the subscribing Witnesses of the foregoing
Wil who being duly swor did Depose and say that they were present together and did
see and hear Jacob Teysher the Testator sign (by making his mark) seal publish pronounce
and declare the same writing as and for his last Will and Testament and that at the
time of the doing thereof he the Testator was of sound mind memory and understanding to the
best of their knowledge & as they verily believe and further that the names Jacob Humbert &
John M Hyneman are of the Witnesses own hand writing thereto subscribed in the presence of
each other and in the presence and at the request of the Testator.
loram Me PFrailey Register

Registers Office in Berks County January 6th AD 1804
Letters Testamentary in common form under the seal of said Office on the afore written Will were
granted to John Teysher and Peter Teysher, the Executors therein named, they being first duly
affirmed thereto Inventory to be exhibited on or before the 6th day of February next, and
an amount of their Administration when thereto legally requested.
Registered & examined by

PFrailey Register

Jacob specifically named the children of his son Daniel—Jacob, Maria, John, Esther, Peter, Catharine, Deborah & Elizabeth—and places them in Hereford Township by 1803. So, his son Daniel is most likely the Daniel Teysher/Deisher/Tisher in Hereford Township in 1790², 1800³ and 1810.⁴ Thus, the Jacob Tisher/Deisher in Hereford in 1810⁵ and 1820⁶ is most likely Daniel’s eldest son. And the John and Peter also listed in Hereford in 1820, Daniel’s other two sons.

So, in all probability my 4x great grandfather Peter Deischer was the son of Daniel Deisher, grandson of Jacob Teysher, and, I believe, quite likely the great grandson of Johannes Teisher of Richmond Township.

The fact that Jacob left the land in Hereford Township to his grandchildren and instructed them to care for their mother and father for their natural lives makes me believe that there’s a story there. Why didn’t Jacob leave the land to his son Daniel as he did with the property he bequeathed to sons John and Peter? Was Daniel not capable of providing for his family? Was he a wastrel, a spendthrift? Disabled? I wonder what I can find out.

• Category: Documents, Last Will & Testament
• Tag: Estate Records, Maternal Line, Probate Records, Wills