A Pennsylvania Dutch Genealogy

2018: Blog in Review

Kris Hocker on 31 Dec 2018

Where did the year go? I swear I blinked and it was gone. Poof! The coming new year means it’s time to look back and review my performance on the blog over the past twelve months and make plans for 2019.

Last year I disappointed myself by not meeting my writing goals for this website. As a result, I set different goals, focused not solely on how much I wrote, but on how I wrote.

Since the most popular posts seem to be those that describe a research tool or explain how to use a genealogy resource, I decided to focus more on these type of posts and those that explained how I’ve addressed a research problem.

I also gave myself permission to write about research subjects that were in progress, rather than waiting until I could share a complete genealogical sketch and biography. This is a particular issue for me—whether I’m writing for the blog or working on my other family writing projects.

The Results

Although I didn’t want to focus on the number of posts written, it’s still a quantitative measure of how involved I was with the blog this year. Here’s what my monthly post count actually looked like in 2018 as compared to 2017 (2018/2017).

Jan: 8/12
Feb: 5/7
Mar: 5/6
Apr: 4/3
May: 6/6
Jun: 5/0
Jul: 2/1
Aug: 5/0
Sep: 2/2
Oct: 6/2
Nov: 7/0
Dec: 8/6
Total: 63

Or expressed another way…

Monthly posts (2017 vs. 2018)

The chart shows that while I had months where I wrote more in 2017 (blue), I was a somewhat more consistent poster in 2018 (red), averaging a little more than 5 posts/month.

What’s Up for 2019 ?

My goals for 2019 can be boiled down to: keep writing. I didn’t always feel inspired to write this year, nor did I always feel like I had something particularly interesting to report. But I met my writing goals anyway and a number of posts that I wrote this year were relatively well-received—or at least viewed repeatedly.

One reader’s comment on “Slow Down, Don’t Move Too Fast” was illuminating and I hope to use it to guide my writing in 2019. She wrote, “It is useful to actually see an example and evaluate it rather than simply [be] told.” This has always been true for me as a reader, too.

Yet, in my own writing I’ll make only oblique references to things that were wrong or not particularly helpful. I don’t delve into them to show why that it is when I’m trying to untangle a research problem, like distinguishing between two Ludwig Shotts or three Michael Benders for instance.

Maybe I need to think about not just writing up my findings, but instead writing a step-by-step on how I reached them. Since part of this exercise is about me becoming a better researcher and the other is sharing with people who want to learn, that might be useful on both counts.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Kris Hocker on 25 Dec 2018

Christmas tree photo - Merry Christmas from a Pennsylvania-Dutch Genealogy

Wishing you and yours a very happy holiday season and a joyful, healthy and prosperous New Year!

Is It Nichl or Michl Bender? Using Other Records to Solve a Census Dilemma

Kris Hocker on 15 Dec 2018

I used the 1820 United States Census for Osnaburg Township, Stark County, Ohio as a source for pinpointing Michael Bender’s likely location that year in my follow-up post on Michael Bender (1766-?). However, that census entry is indexed on FamilySearch and Ancestry as “Nichl Bender.”

So which is it? Is it Nicholas Bender or Michael Bender?

Is it Nichl or Michl?

Although I think it’s quite clear that it’s Michael, it must not have been to the indexer—or others who’ve attached the record to Nicholas Bender. Looking at it solely from this record, you can’t make a firm determination. However, if you look at it in conjunction with other records from this location, you most definitely can.

In my follow-up post, I also referred to an 1818 deed in which Michael Bender purchased land in section 12, township 18, range 7.¹ If we look at the deed, you can see it clearly says Michael Bender and gives the location.

Daniel Clark to Michael Bender Deed C-541

Stark County Deed Book C:541, Daniel Clark to Michael Bender

A Google search for “map stark county ohio range 7 township 18” turns up a map for the “Ranges and Townships based on the Pennsylvania Line and Ohio River.” Since I know I’m looking for Stark County, I can tell from the map that township 18 is just south and east of Canton—Osnaburg Township.

So, Michael Bender purchased land in Osnaburg Township in 1818. Was he living there in 1820? How can we find out? Any property owner knows the answer. Taxes.

If we look for Benders in the tax record for Stark County², we find only two: Michael Bender and Job Bender.³ Based on the column headings the 1820 tax record, it clearly shows that Michael was living in Stark County—township 18, section 12. Subsequent records show that Michael was in Osnaburg Township and “Job Burdon” in Lexington Township.⁴ No other Bender appears in the township until 1829 when Susanna Bender and Jonas Bender are listed after Michael.⁵

1829 Osnaburg taxes: Michael, Susanna and Jonas Bender

Additionally, if we look at the names of those enumerated before and after the Bender entry in Osnaburg Township in 1820, we can see some of the very names mentioned in the 1818 deed between Daniel Clark and Michael Bender: Adam Sholl and John Groul. In between Bender and Groul are two McInterfers. Michael’s son Daniel apparently married Susanna Mackendorfer, likely a relation of one of these two “McInterfer” families.

1820 US Census: Osnaburg, Stark, Ohio (page 184)

Looking at the 1830 census for Osnaburg, we can see Susan Bender is enumerated.⁶ John Groul and the Mackenterfers are also listed around her entry. Peter Anthony’s name can also be seen lower in the list. He’s the man who purchased four shares (4/8’s interest) of Michael Bender’s property from Jonas Bender,⁷ Susanna Weaver, and Benjamin and Rachel (Bender) Smith⁸ in 1836 and 1837. Even Henry Sholl, Henry A. Shull’s father, can be seen enumerated at the bottom of the page.

1830 United States Census: Osnaburg, Stark, Ohio (page 225)

Based on the totality of these records, who do you think the 1820 census entry refers to: Michael Bender or Nicholas Bender?

Michael Bender (1766-?): A Follow-Up

Kris Hocker on 11 Dec 2018

If Eva Catharina (Schneider) Bender’s son Michael didn’t die in Adams County, Pennsylvania in 1835 or 1850 as I suggest in my previous post, what happened to him? There are several possibilities.

He died in Adams County, but Ancestry, FamilySearch and Find a Grave don’t have a record of it
He died in Adams County, but record of his death is not online
He died somewhere other than Adams County

If there’s no record of his death online—and it’s likely there isn’t as most existing records are not online—then I’ll have to find another way to find out what happened to him.

Stark County, Ohio

Fortunately, a family researcher posted a couple deed extracts to their entry in an Ancestry Family Tree for Michael’s alleged son Daniel that point the way. According to the deed extracts, Daniel Bender of Plain Township, Stark County, Ohio sold his eighth interest in a tract of land formerly owned by Michael Bender, deceased, to Jonas Bender on 13 January 1832.¹

How can we tell whether or not this is the same person?

Based on the baptismal records from Benders Church, I know Michael and Susanna had a son Daniel born 4 June 1798 and baptized 19 August 1798.² Daniel Bender of Plain Township died 23 March 1868 and was buried in Harry Warstler Cemetery, in Plain Township.³ According to his gravestone, he was 69 years 9 months and 19 days old. If I use his date of death and age from the tombstone to calculate his birth date, the result is 4 June 1798.⁴ A perfect match.

The second abstract indicates that Michael Bender purchased the land on 31 March 1818 from Daniel Clark.⁵ The land was originally patented by Rudolph Bair Jr., assignee of Rudolph Bair Sr.⁶ It passed through several hands before Michael Bender purchased it, including: Rudolph Bair, Adam Shull, and Daniel Clark, who sold it to Michael. According to the deed, it adjoined land of John Groul and Rudolph Bair.⁷

This tract was in the northwest corner of section 12, township 18, range 7, placing it in eastern Osnaburg Township in Stark County. As one would expect, Michael Bender is listed in the 1820 census enumeration for Osnaburg.⁸ He was taxed on the 42 acres from 1820 through 1831 when the listing reads “Michael Bender heirs.”⁹ Based on these records, Michael most likely died in Osnaburg Township sometime prior to 1831.

However, he is not included as a head of household in the 1830 census. Instead, Susan Bender appears in the list among Michael’s neighbors from the 1820 census.¹⁰ This leads me to believe that Michael likely died sometime prior to 1830, most likely in 1829. The tax list for that year includes a listing for Michael, showing tax on 42 acres, and right below it Susanna Bender and Jonas Bender, who were both taxed on personal property—2 horses (Jonas) & 2 cattle (Susanna).¹¹ Michael Bender was taxed on 2 horses and 2 cattle in 1828, in addition to his real estate.¹²

Jonas Bender—“one of the legal heirs & representatives of Michael Bender”—and wife Polly sold his eighth part claim and that eighth part of Michael’s property he purchased from Daniel Bender to Peter Anthony on 10 July 1837.¹³ Based on this, it appears Jonas was likely one of the children—and eight heirs—of Michael Bender.

Susanna Bender most likely died sometime after 1842. She was once again the head of household on the 1840 census.¹⁴ On 28 April 1842, she completed articles of agreement with Henry A. Shull, giving him all her property at her death in exchange for agreeing to “keep the said Susan Bender widow during her life in health and sickness comfort her in clothing and in all other necessaries of life as she requires it and at her death burying her a deasant [sic] cristian like manner.”¹⁵ Henry A. Shull was apparently married to Anna Eliza Weaver, daughter of Henry and Susanna (Bender) Weaver.¹⁶ They married on 4 February 1841 in Stark County. He purchased land in Richland Township, DeKalb County in 1844, so it’s possible Susanna died sometime between 1842 and 1844.

Other Family Members?

What other evidence can we find in Stark County that indicates that this family is the family of Michael Bender and Susanna Schmoyer? There were several other Benders in the area.

A Samuel Bender, born 1776-1794, was enumerated in Plain Township in the 1820 census¹⁷ and Marlboro Township in the 1830 census.¹⁸ Michael and Susanna’s son Samuel was born on 21 June 1791, so he’s a potential match.¹⁹

Rachel (Bender) Smith, wife of Benjamin Smith, like Daniel Bender, was buried in Henry Warstler Cemetery. According to her gravestone, she was born 4 November 1802 and died 20 June 1884, aged 81 years 7 months and 16 days.²⁰ Her birthdate matches that of Michael and Susanna’s daughter Rachel from Bender’s Church records.²¹

Susanna Weaver and Benjamin and Rachel (Bender) Smith all sold their shares of Michael Bender’s 42 acres to Peter Anthony on 12 November 1836.²² This indicates that Michael had another child, Susanna who married a Weaver. A Susanna Bender, most likely this one, married Henry Weaver on 23 January 1821 in Stark County.²³ It was their son-in-law, Henry A. Shull, who completed articles of agreement in 1842 with Susanna (Schmoyer) Bender to care for her until she died.

Conclusions

Daniel Bender and Rachel (Bender) Smith, who both have birthdates matching those of children of Michael and Susanna (Schmoyer) Bender, were living in Stark County and as “legal heirs & representatives of Michael Bender” sold their shares of his property in Osnaburg Township after 1830.

Susanna Bender, a widow, appears in tax and census records in Osnaburg around the time of Michael’s presumed death and is connected to the son-in-law of one of Michael’s heirs through articles of agreement formed in 1842. These records are consistent with Susanna being Michael’s widow.

I don’t have explicit, direct evidence that Michael, son of Eva Catharina (Schneider) Bender, was the man who died in Osnaburg Township, Stark County, Ohio circa 1829. But there is consistent, circumstantial evidence suggesting that this is the case.

Hopefully, continued research will determine what happened to the rest of his children.

Friday Finds: Stark County, Ohio Deed Archive

Kris Hocker on 7 Dec 2018

I’ve been following up on a clue regarding Michael Bender that led me to Stark County, Ohio. Needing to review a deed for the county, I went looking on FamilySearch to see if it was available online. No joy.

Next stop Google. One of the results was Archive Search Instructions for the Stark County Recorder. Lo and behold, deeds for 1809-1916 are available to search in their archives!

Stark County Recorder Archive search interface

It includes images for both the deed indices and the deed books and is easy to use—even if you can’t just type in a name and pull up a record.

First, you’ll need to create an account and log in
Choose Archives in the menu at the top of the page
Select your parameters for the indices in the top set of drop-down menus on the left
Click on the image icon to show the image
Go to the first letter of the surname, then look for the first letter of the given name
Make note of the page number associated with the first letter of the given name
Select that page from the “Page” menu and click the image icon

You can scroll through the images using the arrows just above the image.

Once you’ve found a deed you want to view in the indices, make note of the book letter or number and the page number. Use the lower set of “Books” menus to make your selections and click the image icon pull up that page. You can save, print, email and/or download a PDF of your selected page by using the controls at the top of the image.

I found the deeds I was looking for, plus others which are adding to my knowledge of the Bender family. Check it out for yourself!

Tax Records Say the Darndest Things Wordless Wednesday

Kris Hocker on 5 Dec 2018

You can learn interesting things about your ancestors in the most unexpected places. Take this entry from a 1779 Hereford Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania tax assessment.

Hereford Tax Record

The third line refers to Daniel Bobb, my 5x great grandfather: “Danl Bob a Miller drinks too much.” Then there’s the next line about John Bower who apparently has a young hooligan for a son.

Tax records can include the darndest things.

Happy Hanukkah

Kris Hocker on 2 Dec 2018

dreidel and flame

Happy Hanukkah to those of you celebrating the festival of lights!

Credit: Photo by Robert Zunikoff on Unsplash

Researching Michael Bender (1766-?) of Menallan Township

Kris Hocker on 1 Dec 2018

In order to connect my DNA matches to the Conrad Schneider family of Upper Salford Township, I have been using reverse genealogy to build the family tree. I’ve had several descendants of Conrad’s daughter Eva Catharina (Schneider) Bender turn up in my Schneider cluster, so I’ve been tracing her family to see if I can find more.

Just recently, I’ve been working on her son Michael Bender’s family. Michael was born 15 October 1766 in Philadelphia County and baptized at Old Goshenhoppen Church in Upper Salford Township on 12 April 1773.¹ His uncle Michael Schneider was his sponsor. Michael moved with his family to Menallen Township, York (now Adams) County in the 1770s.

Based on baptisms in Bender’s Church, I know Michael married a woman named Susanna Schmoyer. I found online extractions for baptisms of Elias (1790), Samuel (1791), Jacob (1795), Magdalena (1796), Daniel (1798), and Rachel (1804).² Tax and census records place Michael in Menallen Township through at least 1800.

Ancestry’s hints provided information on two Michael Benders who died in Adams County in the early-to-mid 1800s: 1) Michael Bender of Hamilton Township who died in 1835, and 2) Michael who died in 1850 and was buried at Franklin Church Cemetery in Clear Springs.

Michael Bender of Hamilton Township left a will which names his wife Sophia and children: Daniel, Jacob, Susanna wife of George Myers, Sophia wife of Jacob Shunk, and Sarah, deceased.³ Michael died in 1835, aged about 70 years, and was buried in the East Berlin Cemetery.⁴ This family only partially fits the Michael I’m researching.

The gravestone of Michael Bender who died in 1850 states that he was 83 years 8 months and 22 days old when he died.⁵ He died 10 April 1850. Calculating a birthdate from that age tells us he was born 17 July 1766. This doesn’t match my Michael’s birthdate, though it’s only months off. So, again, close but not exact.

Now I have two Michael Benders born around the same time, living in Adams County, neither of which truly matches what I’ve found for Catharina’s son Michael. Poking around in online family trees wasn’t terribly helpful either. There is no consistency; most of them seem to be mash-ups of multiple families.

Wish I Had a Clue

But I did find a clue pointing to another Bender family from Lancaster County. Pulling out my handy-dandy Lancaster County resources, I did, in fact, find Benders in Lancaster County.

These Benders were members of the Moravian Church in Lancaster Borough. Going through the records, I found Michael Bender of Lampeter Township, son of Leonhard and Susanna (Farni) Bender, who married Sophia Kurtz of Manheim Township on 29 October 1793⁶ and the births of his children Sarah, Daniel and Jacob.⁷ I also located the birth record of Michael Bender born 17 July 1766, son of Michael and Maria Margaretha (Taubenberger) Bender.⁸

Based on this information, Michael Bender, son of Catharina (Schneider) Bender is neither the Michael of Hamilton Township, nor the Michael who died in 1850. Those men are from another Bender family which can be traced back to Johann Leonhard Bender of Kirchardt, Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.⁹

Lessons?

Sometimes the available choices don’t actually apply to the person you’re researching.
It pays to dig in and research the hints.
Most importantly, remember that there are options other than what Ancestry’s hints provide you.

Unfortunately, this new research complicated my work on building out the Bender family tree by adding another, unrelated family to the mix. But at least now I know these families and the potential for mixing ’em up exists and can watch out for it.

Three Michael Benders:

Michael Bender, son of Jacob Nicolas Bender and Catharina Schneider, was born 15 October 1766, Philadelphia County, and married Susanna Schmoyer.

Elias Bender, born 27 September 1789, baptized 17 January 1790 at Benders Church
Samuel Bender, born 21 June 1791, baptized sometime between 27/29 August and 25 September at Benders Church (no baptism date recorded)
Jacob Bender, born 10 October 1794, baptized 26 April 1795 at Benders Church
Magdalena Bender, born 3 September 1796, baptized 23 October 1796 at Benders Church
Daniel Bender, born 4 June 1798, baptized 19 August 1798 at Benders Church
Rachel Bender, born 4 November 1802, baptized 19 February 1804 at Benders Church

There may be other children for this family.

Michael Bender, son of Johann Leonhard Bender and Susanna Farni, was born 14 September 1765, baptized 15 September 1765 at the Moravian Church in Lancaster, and married Sophia Kurtz, 29 October 1793.

Sarah Bender, born 18 August 1794, baptized 14 September 1794 at the Moravian Church in Lancaster, died before 8 November 1835
Daniel Bender, born 9 November 1795, baptized 4 December 1794 at the Moravian Church in Lancaster, married Mary Spangler
Jacob Bender, born 9 August 1797, baptized 20 March 1798 at the Moravian Church in Lancaster
Susanna Bender married George Myers
Sophia Bender married Jacob Shunk

The children of this family were born in Lampeter Township, Lancaster County.

Michael Bender, son of Michael Bender and Maria Margaretha Taubenberger, was born 17 July 1766, baptized 20 July 1766 at Lititz Moravian Church, and married Elizabeth Ziegler.

George Bender, born 22 December 1791, baptized 25 Dec 1791 at the Moravian Church in Lancaster
Anna Maria Bender, born 7 May 1794, baptized 30 May 1794 at the Moravian Church in Lancaster
Catharina Bender, born 23 January 1796, baptized 11 Feb 1796 at the Moravian Church in Lancaster
Michael Bender, born 3 January 1798, baptized 20 January 1798 at the Moravian Church in Lancaster
Ludwig (aka Lewis) Bender, born 29 October 1799, baptized 16 November 1799 at the Moravian Church in Lancaster

Michael and Elizabeth resided in Manor Township as of 1799. There may have been other children born in this family after 1800.

I Am My Own Cousin

Kris Hocker on 28 Nov 2018

One thing you can almost count on if your ancestors lived in the same place for 100s of years. Sooner or later their families started to intertwine through cousin marriages.

Before 1850, marrying in the family was common – on average, fourth cousins married each other, compared to seventh cousins today. ¹

My father’s paternal ancestors lived in Lancaster and Dauphin counties, his maternal ancestors in Centre and Clearfield counties. My mother’s ancestors settled in eastern Pennsylvania in Bucks, Berks, Lehigh and Montgomery counties. The earliest immigrants settled in their pieces of Pennsylvania and for the most part stayed there.

And yet, after a lot of research, I’ve determined my parents are distantly related.

They are eighth cousins twice removed, descendants of two sons of Johann Adam and Anna Katharina (Tauber) Roeder. Johann Adam Roeder Jr. married Anna Barbara Bender and settled in Rockingham County, Virginia. His great granddaughter Barbara Rader married Michael Houdeshell. Their great grandson James Benjamin Houdeshell moved from Hardy County, West Virginia to Centre County, Pennsylvania during the Civil War and married Phoebe Mayes. They became the great grandparents of my paternal grandmother.

Johann Michael Roeder, Adam Jr.’s younger brother, married Maria Susanna Zimmerman and settled in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. His granddaughter Catharina Nuss married Jacob Schneider. Their 2x great granddaughter Lillian Snyder was my maternal great grandmother.

This makes my maternal grandfather Russ and paternal grandmother Ruth 7th cousins twice removed and my parents 8th cousins twice removed based on the Roeder family from Mutterstadt, Germany, previously of Canton Bern, Switzerland.

This isn’t the only way they’re related. Both families can be traced back to the Landis family. I don’t know the exact relationship, but have read that Jacob Landis, my maternal Landis ancestor, was the older brother of Felix Landis, my paternal Landis ancestor. If this is true, my parents are also 8th cousins through the Landis family of Canton Zurich, Switzerland.

It is, indeed, a small world.