A Pennsylvania Dutch Genealogy

Friday Find: Christian Hoover’s Farm

Kris Hocker on 8 Aug 2014

Quehanna Hoover Road Trail

Thanks to the sleuthing of some family members on the ground in Pennsylvania, I believe we finally know where Christian Hoover’s farm was located.

If you remember from my previous post—Where Did My Christian Hoover Live?—I’d determined that his farm was originally part of the Dodge Lands, tract #5404. A map that I located seemed to indicate that this would have placed his farm near Twelvemile Run. Not too far from the stream, a road named “Hoover road” (previously Driftwood Pike) bears north off the Quehanna Highway toward Driftwood. I’ve been thinking that his farm was somewhere in this area off Hoover road.

However, my relatives discovered the Hoover Farm Wildlife Viewing area (seen in Google Map below).

Looking at it on the map. It’s just to the south of the Hoover road turnoff and near Twelvemile Run. It looks like I wasn’t too far off on my estimated location.

Quehanna Hoover Farm Blind

The farm is apparently now part of Pennsylvania’s Quehanna Wildlife Area. There is a viewing blind on the property, where visitors can watch wildlife feeding in the farm’s fields and feeding plots.

Christian L. Hoover died on 1 October 1887. His heirs—adult children Reuben, Samuel, Simon, George, and minor child Eva, and widow Mary Ann (Conaway) Hoover—sold his property to George Boak, in trust for the Wildwood Company, in 1889.¹ It eventually became part of the Curtiss-Wright property by the 1920s or 30s.² The state purchased the land from Curtiss-Wright in 1967.³

I obviously never knew my 3x great grandfather. But since his descendants have such a keen appreciation for the outdoors, I think he’d appreciate the use the state has found for what was once his land.

Now if I could only find his family in the 1870 and 1880 census!

Photo Credit:
Photo 1: “Quehanna Hoover Road Trail” by Ruhrfisch (talk) – photographed it myself. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo 2: “Quehanna Hoover Farm Blind” by Ruhrfisch (talk) – photographed, stitched, and cropped it myself, originally two horizontal photos.This panoramic image was created with Autostitch. Stitched images may differ from reality. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Will: Daniel Bobb Jr. of Washington Twp, 1866

Kris Hocker on 6 Aug 2014

Will of Daniel Bobb of Washington Township Daniel Bobb Jr., of Washington Township, Berks County, wrote his last will and testament Friday, 16 February 1866.¹ It was proven a month later, on Thursday, 15 March 1866. His wife, Ann Margaret (Herb) Bobb had predeceased him, dieing on 21 December 1865. They are both buried in Hill Church Union cemetery in Boyertown, Berks County, Pennsylvania.

In the name of God, Amen: I Daniel Bobb of Washington township in the County of Berks and State of Pennsylvania, Miller, being in feeble health, but of sound mind memory and understanding and considering the uncertainty of this transitory life do make and publish this my last will and testament in the following manner to wit:

First: It is my will and I do order that all my just debts and funeral expence by duly paid and satisfied as soon as conveniently may be after my decease.

Second: It is my will and I do order that my daughter Elizabeth shall have an advancement in money so as to be equal to the advancements heretofore made by me to all my other children.

Third: It is my will and I do order that the bond due me by Henry M Eshbach late husband of my deceased daughter Lydia if the same is not paid at my decease, shall with all interest due thereon, be deducted from the share or legacy I herein after give and bequeath to the children of said Lydia, and the Bond shall then be transferred to said children by my executors.

Fourth: I give and bequeath all my estate (not herein before otherwise disposed of) in nine equal shares to my nine children, or their heirs or legal representatives, to wit: one ninth to my son Henry, one ninth to my son Daniel, one ninth to my son John, one ninth to my son Abraham, one ninth to the children of my deceased son William, one ninth to the children of my deceased daughter Lydia, one ninth to my daughter Mary the wife of Henry Reitnauer, one ninth to my daughter Sally the wife of Jacob Christman, and one ninth to my daughter Elizabeth.

Fifth: It is my will and I do order that one ninth of my estate herein before given to the children of my deceased son William shall remain in the hands of my son Henry Bobb one of my herein after named Executors during the minority of said children, and shall by him be paid to them with interest as they respectively, arrive at the age of twenty one years.

And, Lastly: I nominate, constitute and appoint my sons Henry Bobb and Abraham Bobb to be the Executors of this my will, hereby revoking all other wills by me heretofore made & declaring this and no other to be my last will & testament. In witness whereof I have herein set my hand and seal this sixteenth day of February Anno Domini eighteen hundred & sixty six.

Daniel Bob {seal}

Signed sealed & declared by the said testator as his last will & testament in the presence of us.
Richard F Smith Dan. S. Shultz

Registers Office Berks County Ss.
On the 15th day of March A.D. 1866 appeared Richard F. Smith and Daniel S. Schultz the subscribing witnesses to the aforegoing will and being duly affirmed did depose and say that they were present and did see and hear Daniel Bob, the testator, sign, seal, publish and declare the aforegoing instrument of writing to be his last will and testament, and that at the time of so doing he was of sound mind, memory and understanding to the best of their knowledge, observation and belief.

M. S. Thirwechter, Regr.

Daniel and Anna Margaret (Herb) Bobb are my 4x great grandparents.

52 Ancestors: Daniel Bobb Jr. (1781-1866)

Kris Hocker on 5 Aug 2014

52 Ancestors - Daniel Bobb Jr. (1780-1866) This week’s ancestor is Daniel Bobb Jr., father-in-law of #18 Henry Moyer Eshbach.

Daniel Bobb Jr. of Washington Township, Berks County was the son of Daniel Bobb of Hereford Township. He was born Wednesday, 26 July 1781 in Berks County and died Tuesday, 27 February 1866.¹ He was buried in Hill Union Church cemetery in Boyertown. Like his father, Daniel was a miller by trade.

Daniel married on Sunday, 7 July 1805 Anna Margaret Herb in Oley Hills, Berk County.² She was the daughter of Abraham and Anna Sybilla (Fuchs) Herb of Hereford Township.³ She was born on 1 January 1783⁴, died on 21 December 1865, and was buried in Hill Union Church cemetery.⁵

Daniel wrote his last will and testament on Friday, 16 February 1866 and it was proven on Thursday, 15 March that same year.⁶ It names his nine children:

I give and bequeath all my estate…in nine equal shares to my nine children…one ninth to my son Henry, one ninth to my son Daniel, one ninth to my son John, one ninth to my son Abraham, one ninth to the children of my deceased son William, one ninth to the children of my deceased daughter Lydia, one ninth to my daughter Mary the wife of Henry Reitnauer, one ninth to my daughter Sally the wife of Jacob Christman, and one ninth to my daughter Elizabeth.

Daniel and his wife Anna Margaret (Herb) Bobb had children:

Catherine Lydia Bobb Eshbach (1805—1859)
Anna Bobb (1807—1829)
Henry Bobb (1809—1891)
Daniel H. Bobb (1810—1891)
Johannes “John” H. Bobb (1813—1900)
Mary Bobb Reitnauer (ca 1815-1820—?)
Abraham H. Bobb (1816—1906)
William H. Bobb (1819—1865)
Sarah H. Bobb Christman (1821—1910)
Elizabeth Bobb (1826—aft 1870)

This post is part of an ongoing, blogging challenge entitled 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, created by Amy Crow of No Story Too Small. Participants must write about one ancestor every week. This is my nineteenth 52 Ancestors post and part of week thirty-one.

Were They Too Poor to Trace?

Kris Hocker on 2 Aug 2014

Was your ancestor too poor to trace them in historical records? Quick Tips over at Evidence Explained offers some insight and suggestions for searching for that elusive, not-too-wealthy ancestor.

Will: John Frantz (Manor), 1787

Kris Hocker on 30 Jul 2014

John Frantz of Manor Township wrote his last will and testament on 3 March 1786 when he was “old but of sound understanding & memory.” It was proven on 10 February 1787 when letters testamentary were issued to his “friend” Jacob Brubaker and “son” Jacob Frantz, his executors.

John Frantz, Dec’d
In the Name of God Amen.
I John Frantz of Mannor Township in the County of Lancaster and State of Pennsylvania Farmer being old but of sound understanding & memory (God by thanked) and calling to mind the mortality of my Body and Knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die I therefore do hereby make my last will and Testament
First I recommend my soul into the Hands of the Almighty God who gave it and my Body to be interred in hopes of a glorious resurrection through the merits of my Redeemer Jesus Christ and as to my Worldly Estate I give and bequeath the same in manner following
First It is my Will that all my just Debts shall be paid out of my Estate
Item I bequeath unto my four sons viz John Christian Jacob and Michael their Heirs & assigns to each of their Heirs & assigns the same of Five hundred Pounds of Good money which each of them has received already in the lands which they have got of me
Item I give and bequeath unto my Daughter Elizabeth her heirs and assigns the sum of five hundred and seventy Pounds in good money in gold or silver coin which my hereafter named Executors shall pay to her as soon as it can be made up out of my estate as her own property and that on account of my having given to my sons their lands something under price
Item I further order that if when my said Daughter Elizabeth has received her sum of money then the remainder of my estate shall be divided into equal shares to my children which I hereby name viz John Christian Jacob Michael and Elizabeth and each of them shall have as much as the other and none more than the other
Item I make constitute and appoint my Friend Jacob Brubacker and my son Jacob Frantz to be my whole & sole Executors of this my Last will and Testament making hereby null and void all my former wills & Testaments declaring this and no other to be my Last will and Testament In witness whereof I have hereto set my hand & seal the third day of March in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty six
sealed signed & pronounced by the said John Frantz as his last will
& testament in the presence of us Jacob Kilheffer John Kilheffer

John Frantz (seal)

Lancaster County to wit On the tenth Day of February Anno Domini 1787 Before me the subscriber Personally appeared Jacob Killhefer and John Killhefer the two subscribing witnesses to the within Instrument of writing and on their solemn affirmation according to Law did Declare affirm and say that they were present and saw and heard John Frantz the Testator within named sign seal Publish pronounce and Declare the within writing as and for his Last Will and Testament and that at the doing thereof he was of sound and well disposing mind memory and understanding to the best of their Knowledge observation and Belief James Jacks Regr.
Be it remembered that on the Tenth day of February Anno 1787 the Last will and Testament of John Frantz late of Mannor Township Yeoman Deceased was proved in Due form of Law and Letters Testamentary thereon were granted unto Jacob Brubaker and Jacob Frantz the Executors in the said will named they having first been duly qualified well and truly to administer the estate of the said deceased and especially to exhibit a true and perfect Inventory thereof into the Registers Office at Lancaster within one month from the Date and to to render a just and true account of their administration on said Estate within one year or when thereof Lawfully required given under the seal of said office P me James Jacks Regr.¹

Based on this last will & testament and the deeds mentioned in previous Frantz articles, Hans and Catharine Frantz of Manor Township had five surviving children (in order listed in will):

John Frantz (of Warwick), married Elizabeth Hostetter[?]
Christian Frantz (of Manheim), married Mary (___)
Jacob Frantz (of Manor & Lampeter), married Barbara Hostetter [?], married 2nd Maria (___)
Michael Frantz (of Londonderry and Lower Paxton), married Fannie Nissley
Elizabeth Frantz

Announcing An Index to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Online Deeds

Kris Hocker on 29 Jul 2014

Books A through D, Covering 1729-1760

An Index to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Online Deeds, Books A-D, 1729-1760 is now available as a paperback book as well as a Kindle ebook. You can purchase it on Lulu.com for $14.95.

My latest endeavor—An Index to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Online Deeds, Book A-D, 1729-1760— has gone live at Amazon as a Kindle book. It’s creation was fraught with indecision and frustration as I tried to figure out the best way to take the information from spreadsheet to the limited format of the Kindle ebook.

I once read somewhere that the majority of Americans have ancestors who lived or passed through Lancaster County at some point. That’s certainly true for my family—nearly my entire paternal line lived in Lancaster County after immigrating to America. This book indexes the buyers and sellers of land in the earliest days after the county’s formation in 1729.

Land was wealth to our ancestors. And deeds, which record the transfer of land between people, are an excellent place to learn about them. Not only will a deed place a person in a specific place at a specific time, but it can also teach us about the relationships between people—not only the buyer and seller, but sometimes the previous owners, as well. Deeds also name spouses, occupations and neighbors. In the case of estate settlements, deeds can even provide the make-up of a family by naming the heirs—most often children, but sometimes cousins, grandchildren, etc.—and their spouses. Tracing the ownership of a piece of land through multiple deeds can often provide data on multiple generations of a family.

This books indexes the online images of Lancaster County deeds found at the county’s Recorder of Deeds website. Although deeds are available online for the years 1729 through 1986, only those after 1981 are searchable.

Each listing in my book provides the following:
•   Grantor (name of each individual)
•   Grantee (name of each individual)
•   Book
•   Volume (as required)
•   Page number
•   Image number
•   Date of deed
•   Date recorded
•   Property location or type of deed (e.g., quitclaim, mortgage, etc.)

There is only a loose correlation between the page and the actual film frame number, so I’ve provided both the page and image number for each entry to provide direct access to the correct online page. Instruction for using the online efilm reader are included in the book and can also be found here on my website.

See more of my books here.

Ahnentafel Roulette—#24 Karl Phillipp Greulich

Kris Hocker on 26 Jul 2014

Randy Seaver at Geneamusings posts a genealogy fun challenge every Saturday. Today is ahnentafel roulette. The rules are:

1) What year was one of your great-grandfathers born? Divide this number by 80 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your “roulette number.”
2) Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ancestral name list (some people call it an “ahnentafel” – your software will create this – use the “Ahnentafel List” option, or similar). Who is that person, and what are his/her vital information?
3) Tell us three facts about that person in your ancestral name list with the “roulette number.”
4) Write about it in a blog post on your own blog, in a Facebook status or a Google Stream post, or as a comment on this blog post.
5) NOTE: If you do not have a person’s name for your “roulette number” then “spin” the wheel again – pick a great-grandmother, a grandfather, a parent, a favorite aunt or cousin, yourself, or even your children! Or pick an ancestor!

So, I chose a great grandfather (in fact, I tried this will all four of them!), got his birth year (1880), and divided by 80. The number, rounded to a whole number, was 24 (all four times!).

Number 24 in my ahnentafel report was Karl “Charles” Phillipp Greulich.

Three facts about my great great grandfather are:

Charles was born 13 September 1838 in Haag, Mosbach, Baden-Wurtemberg (now Germany) to Georg Phillipp Greulich and Anna Margaretha Wurzel.
In 1755, when Charles was 17, his father died and his property went to his eldest (adopted) son Phillipp Peter, son of Georg’s first wife, Maria Katharina Lindenbach. Charles, his sister Eva, and their half-brother Georg Phillipp Jakob emigrated to the United States, arriving in New York on 28 January 1856.
Charles was a shoemaker in East Greenville, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, who had fourteen children with his two wives—one with his first wife Susanna Krauss Wolf, and thirteen with his second wife, Susanna’s sister, Caroline Krauss Wolf. They were daughters of Joel and Elizabeth (Krauss) Wolf.

featured image photo credit: Håkan Dahlström via photopin cc

The Trials and Tribulations of Formatting a Deed Index Ebook

Kris Hocker on 25 Jul 2014

I’ve been working on an index of the online Lancaster County deed books for a while now. And it’s taken significantly longer than I’d expected. Compiling the index didn’t take long. Formatting it, however, has taken ages.

Mostly because I kept changing my mind.

My goal was to make the index easy to use in both printed and electronic forms. An ebook book or PDF can be searched, but a printed book needs to be easy to skim—especially an index. So, initially I decided to organize the index in a table format reminiscent of the original grantor and grantee indexes produced by the county.

Starting from my table in Microsoft Excel, sorted by surname, deed book and page, I opened and saved the file as a Word doc, then opened it in Pages for editing.¹ Then I modified the table to create a separate table for each letter of the alphabet, adding a table header to each. Not too bad, although the font size was fairly small in order to get the information to fit nicely on the page.

Unfortunately, because ebooks don’t accept tables, I needed to format the manuscript differently for them. This entailed removing all the table formatting, changing table cells to tabs, then replacing the tabs with either a comma and space, em dash, or carriage return to create a long list.

This was time consuming and ultimately created a very long document. Which then had to be checked against the original “print” format to ensure that I hadn’t inadvertently messed up any of the data during the conversion. And while reviewing it, I found it difficult to easily identify where the in list one surname stopped and the next began.

Worse—I, then, decided to include additional information for each entry. Oh, the headaches that followed that decision.

Did I already add that information to this file or that file? What about the grantee table? Did I add it there? And what the heck was going on with the table? It didn’t fit on the page anymore. I could drop the font size, but then nobody would be able to read it without a magnifying glass!

I finally decided that two formats was too many. Too much to format, too much to edit. I would just have to find a way to make the list more legible and use it for both electronic and print versions of the book.

After some trial and error, I finally found a format I liked that I felt looked good both in print and in the kindle previewer.
I hope you will agree!

The book An Index to the Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Online Deeds, Books A-D, 1729-1760 will be available as an ebook on Amazon Kindle and in print at Lulu and Amazon. Release date to come.

Henry Line’s Conestoga Tract

Kris Hocker on 20 Jul 2014

Henry Line tract

On 20 May 1734, John Taylor surveyed 218 acres on Pequea Creek in Conestoga Township for Thomas Lindley, based on a warrant dated 21 January 1733.¹ Lindley must have abandoned or sold the rights to this tract, because Henry Line warranted it on 27 April 1751 and patented it 4 November 1751.²

Henry and Barbara (Boyer)³ Line sold 20 acres from this tract to Christian Shenk on 25 November 1759, along with the saw mill, boring mill, and a grist mill erected on the land.⁴ Several years later, Henry and Barbara sold 150 acres from this tract to Solomon Kaufman on 9 February 1762.⁵

Henry died sometime prior to 5 June 1764.⁶ On 30 October 1765, John Line and his wife Elizabeth released their share of the estate to his brothers Christian and Samuel.⁷ Christian released his third share of the estate to his brother Samuel four years later on 4 February 1769.⁸ Samuel Line and Barbara Line, Henry’s widow, sold the residue of this tract along with other land in Martic Township to Ulrich Huber.⁹

Solomon Kaufman and his wife Mary sold the 150 acres they’d purchased from Henry Line in 1762 to Christian Shenk on 8 April 1774.¹⁰ Christian Shenk, in turn, sold his two tracts—one of 20 acres and another of 150 acres—to Christian Shenk Jr. on 5 November 1795.¹¹

This is the twelfth entry for my Along the Pequea series. These posts trace land transactions for early Lancaster County settlers from the first land owner—the warrantee—through subsequent transfers up to 1800, using deeds, other land records, and estate records, as available.

Hans and Catharine Frantz of Manor Township

Kris Hocker on 18 Jul 2014

The Sons of Hans & Catharina Frantz

In my last post, I reported that based on deed research Michael Frantz of Londonderry and Lower Paxton townships was the son of Hans and Catharina Frantz of Manor Township. When Michael died two men—Jacob Frantz of Manor and Christian Frantz of Manheim—were the administrators of his estate and guardians of his underage children. Were they Michael’s brothers?

The last will and testament of John Frantz of Manor Township was proven 10 February 1787. It was a German will, recorded in Will Book Y2, so it is not available online at FamilySearch. Is there any other way to determine the names of Hans’ children?

On 18 April 1785, Hans and his wife sold 224 acres in Derry Township to his son Michael.¹ This could be part of a pattern I’ve seen fairly often in researching Lancaster County families and their land transactions—aged parents selling their land to their children in the years before their deaths. Land was wealth. So, selling to his children was a means for a father (most often) to disperse his estate exactly as he wanted while he was still alive. It also allowed him to generate an income to support himself, his wife, and possibly younger children who hadn’t yet moved out into the world.

It’s a pattern that I believe held true for Hans Frantz of Manor Township. In the years just prior to writing his will, Hans and Catharine sold several tracts of land to Christian, John, Michael and Jacob Frantz. At least three of the tracts were outside Manor Township, possibly indicating that they had been purchased specifically for their children.

Christian Frantz

On 27 December 1783, Hans and Catharine sold Christian Frantz 296 acres in Donegal Township, adjoining that of Ephraim Moore, Robert Allison, John Allison, Elizabeth Mitchell, William Bryan, and Samuel Fulton.² Hans had purchased this land from Simon Snyder on 23 August 1769.³ Christian and Mary Frantz, of Manheim Township, sold the land in Donegal on 14 May 1785 to Christian Nisle.⁴

John Frantz Jr.

On 12 March 1785, Hans and Catharina sold 175 acres in Donegal to John Frantz (the younger), of Donegal.⁵ They had purchased it from David and Grace Caldwell on 18 May 1761. This land had been patented to Patrick Allison, Grace’s father, on 20 May 1737.⁶ The following spring, on 3 May 1786, John and Elizabeth Frantz, of Warwick Township, sold this tract of land in Donegal to John Longenecker.⁷

Jacob Frantz

On 7 November 1785, Hans Frantz sold 166 acres of land in Manor Township to Jacob Frantz. This tract adjoined that of Rudy Herr, Henry Kilhover, and George Ziegler.⁸ Hans bought this land from Christian and Barbara Frantz in 1746/7.⁹ It was originally part of the Andrew Hamilton tract. It passed from Hamilton to Michael Baughman, then part of it to Christian Frantz. I believe this was likely the “mansion tract” or Manor land where Hans and Catharine resided.

While these land sales follow a pattern that seems to indicate a familial relationship between the parties, these deeds—unlike Michael’s land sale of 1790—do not specifically name Christian, John, or Jacob as the children of Hans Frantz.

However, when Jacob wrote his will on 16 April 1799, he directed that his “wife and children shall keep house together on my Plantation in Mannor township for the use of my Estate until my Eldest son John shall arrive to the age of twenty one years…”¹⁰ Furthermore, he nominated his brothers John and Christian to be his executors. On 22 January 1803, John Frantz and Christian Frantz, executors, and John Frantz, the eldest son of Jacob Frantz of Lampeter, appointed appraisers for the Manor Township property on Little Conestoga Creek, adjoining land of John Kilheffer and Rudy Herr.¹¹

In his will, Jacob left his Lampeter Township land, where he lived, to his sons Jacob and Christian. This land adjoined that of “Andrew Heller, Jacob Kreder, George Bards, Conestogo Creek and others.”¹² On 7 February 1807, Jacob Frantz of Lampeter received a mortgage on the Lampeter property from “John Frantz of Warwick Township and Christian Frantz of Manheim Township both of the county and state aforesaid,” executors of the last will and testament of Jacob Frantz, deceased.¹³

Jacob’s will and the related deeds indicate that his brothers John and Christian were of the same locations as the men who purchased land from Hans and Catharina Frantz. Additionally, Christian Frantz of Manheim was both the administrator of Michael Frantz’s estate and guardian of his daughters Mary and Elizabeth, and executor of Jacob Frantz’s will.

While there could have been multiple men of the same names in these locations, bit-by-bit I am building a case that Michael Frantz of Lower Paxton, Jacob Frantz of Manor and Lampeter, Christian Frantz of Manheim, and John Frantz of Warwick were the sons of Hans and Catharina Frantz of Manor Township.