Research – A Pennsylvania Dutch Genealogy

Wishlist for DNA Match Lists

Kris Hocker on 7 Aug 2022

Have you ever been working your AncestryDNA matches and thought, “Gee, I wish I could do…”? I bet you have; I know I do quite frequently. What would you wish for to make your workflow easier or better?

Here are five things I would like to be able to do:

1. Search the notes

I add relevant information—such as the most recent common ancestor or a shared surname—in the notes field for each match I’m working on. The existing search doesn’t find information in the notes. If I’m looking for a surname, it has to either be the match name or a surname in their tree.

Sometimes, however, I find a common surname when the match does not have it in their tree and put that information in the notes. I’d like to be able to somehow search for this and currently, I can’t.

It would also be great to not have to click down to an individual match’s page, but to be able to enter the information while viewing a list. [Note: This feature has been added since I wrote this post.]

2. See Shared Matches Less Than 20 cMs

Ancestry only shows matches greater than or equal to 20 centimorgans in the Shared Matches lists. Since most of the time I’ve been working with ancestors five or more generations back, I’m often looking at matches smaller than that. Being able to quickly identify those smaller matches that match to my 3rd, 4th, or even 5th cousins might help me to identify unknown 4th, 5th or 6th great grandparents—or at the very least families and surnames I need to research in more depth.

While there are workarounds and 3rd party tools to find those shared matches, they are very time consuming—not only in compiling the information, but also in filtering it to get at the specific data I need. As a result, my research trail gets interrupted. It can be difficult to remember where I left off and what trail I was trying to follow once I’ve found the information I wanted.

3. DNA Circles for Shared Matches

Ancestry used to have a feature called DNA Circles. These circles were clusters of people who connected back to a set of MRCAs (most recent common ancestors). These were really useful! Unlike ThruLines, the circles included not just the people in the group who match me, but also those who matched my shared matches and connected back to the MRCAs. Building these kind of networks could be invaluable for those matches I can’t identify.

4. Identify MRCA between Shared Matches

If possible, Ancestry will show me the common ancestor between me and my DNA match, even if they don’t have a complete tree back to that ancestor. Wouldn’t it be great if you could select two (or more) shared matches and see who (if anyone) the algorithm could find as a common ancestor? Even if it wasn’t done in realtime, being able to run a set of matches and come back later would be enormously helpful! Even if it could only identify common surnames or locations, it would aid the research.

5. Triangulation

Ancestry has long held that they will not provide segment data due to privacy concerns. I hate it, but can understand—and even agree to an extent with—their reasoning. But the shared match list includes both matches who share a common ancestor with you and the selected match and matches who share different ancestors with you and the match you’re viewing. This can make it incredibly frustrating and difficult to identify an unknown shared ancestor.

For example, I’ve been researching my Force ancestry. I’ve identified DNA matches who descend from my 3rd great grandfather Jefferson Force and his wife Susan Mulhollan and several individuals who I’ve long theorized were his siblings and they share matches among them. This means they likely share common ancestors. In looking at the DNA matches I share with the descendants of these people, I’ve been seeing Walker family descendants.

Based on what I know of the Force family tree, there should be no DNA connection to the Walker family. My Walker ancestry is thru other family lines. However, the ancestors behind Jefferson’s parents are unknown.

So the question is: where does that connection come into the family tree? Before our MRCA or after? Did one of their more recent relations marry a descendant of the Walker family, making that particular DNA connection one of chance? Or was one of the unknown ancestors of our MRCA actually related to the Walker family or their ancestors?

Based on the information Ancestry provides, I can’t know the answer. I can create family trees for all the matching individuals to find any points of intersection, but I may not find the answer. It would be incredibly helpful to know whether any two shared matches match me in the same way. At least then I would know that the Walker connection was shared through our Force MRCA and could research accordingly.

What do you wish for?

Some Thoughts on the Parentage of Jefferson Force (1833-1910)

Kris Hocker on 27 Dec 2020

My third great grandfather Jefferson Force is my most frustrating brickwall ancestor. He was born 9 December 1833 and died 20 October 1910 in Pine Glen, Burnside Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania¹ and was buried in the cemetery just down the road from where my grandmother’s family lived.² He married Susan Mulhollan in 1857³ and they had a family of 14 children, three of whom died as infants.

Nothing is really known about Jefferson’s ancestry. He first appears in the 1860 U.S. census in Burnside Township and remains in the township’s records through his death in 1910. At no point is there so much as a hint of his parentage in the record. His death certificate simply says “don’t know” under the names of father and mother.

Siblings?

Several other Forces—who I’ve taken as possible siblings—can be found in the 1850 census for Centre County. They appear in a number of disparate households:

• George W. Force (b. ca 1829/30) in the William & Mary Tate family, Spring Township
• Martin V. Force (b. ca 1835/36) in the John M & Mary Barnhart family, Howard Township
• David Force (b. ca 1835/36) in the Jackson & Elizabeth Watson family, Howard Township
• Agnes Force (b. ca 1839/40) in the George & Amey Cline family, Howard Township
• Philip Force (b. ca 1840/41) in the John & Barbara Neidic (Neidie?) family, Liberty Township

Assuming that these are all children of the same family, the parents must have married prior to 1829 and most likely died sometime between 1841 and 1850. If one or both parents were still alive in 1850, then they were unable to care for their children for some reason.

Isaac and Polly

A descendant of Agnes informed me that the names Isaac and Polly Force were handwritten on a Bible page that belonged to Agnes. DNA testing has shown that Agnes—and Martin V.—were related to Jefferson, probably his siblings. So, Isaac and Polly would also be Jefferson and Martin’s parents if the notation is correct.

I’ve seen this couple identified online as Isaac Force (1785-1843 or 1859) and Phebe Crowell (1789-1841), who married 20 March 1813 in Essex County, New Jersey.⁴ Isaac was allegedly the son of Isaac Force and Hannah Ward and 2G grandson of Matthew Force and Elizabeth Palmer.

I have a cluster of AncestryDNA matches that I’ve traced back to Benjamin, Thomas, and Mark, sons of Matthew and Elizabeth, plus a number that trace back to Forces that I can’t connect further back.

So far, this is consistent with Isaac and Phebe being the parents of Jefferson et al.

Questions and Conflicts

However, the more I research Isaac Force and Phebe Crowell, the more uncertain I am about them being Jefferson’s parents.

When I compare the birth years of those possible siblings of Jefferson to those of Isaac and Phebe, I see that the couple would have been 44 and 40, respectively, at the birth of George W. (born 1829), and 54 and 50 at the birth of Agnes and Philip (born 1839). While certainly not impossible, it’s pushing the limits. Furthermore, since they married in 1813, one would expect to see children born starting about 1815 or so. If there were older children, why weren’t any of those in the 1850 census found in a Force household?

Furthermore, Isaac allegedly died in 1843 in Pennsylvania, but other information shows he died 20 September 1859, and that both he and Phebe were buried in Ithaca. ⁵ Census records show an Isaac Force, aged 40-50, in Ithaca in 1840 with only a female, aged 40-50—presumably his wife Phebe.⁶ The 1830 census for Ithaca also shows an Isaac Force, aged 40-50, with one female, aged 40-50, and one male, aged 10-15.⁷

Neither of these records is consistent with a couple that had children between 1829 and 1839. Nor have I seen evidence of this Isaac in Centre County, Pennsylvania. Why would the children be in Centre County, Pennsylvania if the parents were in Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York?

There are a couple of possibilities based on this information:

Ithaca Isaac and Phebe are NOT a match to Isaac and Polly, but ARE the couple married in 1813
Ithaca Isaac and Phebe are NOT a match to Isaac and Polly and are NOT the couple married in 1813
Ithaca Isaac and Phebe ARE a match to Isaac and Polly, but NOT the parents of the Centre County Force children from the 1850 census
Ithaca Isaac and Phebe ARE a match to Isaac and Polly AND somehow related to the Centre County Force children from the 1850 census, but are NOT the parents
The Centre County Force children—except Jefferson, Martin V. and Agnes—are NOT all siblings (explains age discrepancy) AND some of them belong to Isaac and Polly

At this point, I’m at a loss. I’m inclined to believe that Isaac Force and Phebe Crowell are NOT Jefferson’s parents, but are somehow related. It’s possible that another Isaac and his wife Polly were Jefferson’s parents, but I’ve yet to see evidence of them in any records outside the Bible page belonging to Agnes (Force) Shope (which I haven’t seen).

Based on the DNA, however, I’m fairly certain that Jefferson is a descendant of Matthew and Elizabeth (Palmer) Force. The question, of course, is how.

In Search of My Schneider Ancestry

Kris Hocker on 13 Dec 2020

1744 Old Goshenhoppen Cornerstone - Lutherans

I’ve written multiple blog posts regarding my search for my Snyder/Schneider family ancestry, specifically the ancestors of Joseph Snyder (1826-1895) of Upper Hanover Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. In recent years, I’ve had multiple occasions during which I needed to review those posts.

As a result, I decided to compile a list of posts in sequential order for myself and any other family member who wants to read about the journey. Some of these posts represent historical side trips, but this list should include any and all posts I’ve written regarding the family of Conrad and Catharina (Betz) Schneider.

It all started with a mortgage…

Mortgage: Henry Snyder, 1830 (17 Jun 2011)
52 Ancestors: Joseph Snyder (1826-1895)—Who’s Your Daddy? (9 Feb 2014)
The Greulich Farm (28 Sep 2015)
Part II: The Greulich Farm (5 Oct 2015)
Henry Schneider (1792-1860) (14 Oct 2015)
Jacob Snyder of Upper Hanover (28 Nov 2016)
Building a FAN Club for Jacob Schneider (3 Jan 2017)
Miss Snyder’s Class Photo (8 Feb 2017)
Unexpected Discovery from AncestryDNA Match (19 May 2017)
How Are We Related? (30 May 2017)
Greulich Farm Buildings (30 Oct 2017)
The Snyder Connection (5 Dec 2017)
Catharina Schneider:1783-1877 (13 Dec 2017)
Building Pedigrees for Shared Matches (18 Dec 2017)
On the Right Track? (9 Jan 2018)
Building a Timeline for Jacob Schneider (13 Aug 2018)
Jacob Schneider’s Timeline (19 Aug 2018)
Is This a Schneider Breakthrough? (1 Oct 2018)
Will: Conrad Schneider of Upper Salford, Translation (10 Nov 2018)
Researching Michael Bender (1766-?) of Menallen Township (1 Dec 2018)
Friday Finds: Stark County, Ohio Deed Archive (7 Dec 2018)
Michael Bender (1766-?): A Follow-up (11 Dec 2018)
Is It Nichl or Michl Bender? (15 Dec 2018)
Margaret Schneider Reppert (1764-1831) (10 Aug 2019)
Surprise! A New Mom for Catharina Betz (3 Jan 2020)
Searching for Maria Margaretha Barbara’s Maiden Name (6 Jan 2020)
AncestryDNA Cluster: Elizabeth (Snyder) Rantz (11 Jan 2020)
Exasperating Elias (25 Jan 2020)
Elizabeth (Snyder) Rantz: More Thoughts (5 Feb 2020)
How Many Henry Benders? (23 Aug 2020)

The bold entries relate directly to my research to identify Joseph Snyder’s pedigree. The other entries provide additional information or clarifying research regarding other family members or genetic genealogy.

How Many Henry Benders?

Kris Hocker on 23 Aug 2020

I’ve been busy this year creating trees for my presumed Schneider matches on AncestryDNA, trying to identify our common ancestors. Success has been hit or miss, but I had one recently that caused some initial consternation.

In building a tree for a match I traced their line back to a Henry Bender of Tuscarawas County, Ohio. Henry died in 1833, leaving a widow and children. Online family trees identified this Henry as the son of Conrad Bender and his wife Susanna of Menallen Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania, born 25 March 1787. The problem, however, was that according to information I’ve found, Conrad’s son remained in Menallen Township his whole life and died there in 1863.

I’ve got Schneider cluster DNA matches that trace back to both this Tuscarawas County Henry (d. 1833) and the Adams County Henry (d. 1863). So, both of them are descendants of Jacob Bender and his wife Eva Catharina Schneider. Which one was the son of Conrad Bender?

Identifying Henry

1809 baptismal record for Johannes Bender

The first thing I wanted to do was verify whatever information I could on Henry (d.1833), but specifically any information that would place him in Menallen Township. The online trees showed baptisms for two of his children—Johannes and Mariane—in Adams County. FamilySearch shows Johannes was baptized at Benders Reformed Church in Butler (was Menallen) Township on 12 February 1809¹ and Mariane was baptized at Arendtsville Lutheran and Reformed Church on 19 April 1819.² So, it’s likely that this Henry was in Menallen Township, at a minimum between 1809 and 1819. There were also baptisms for children of a Henry and Catharina, a Henry and Elisabeth, and a Henry and Magdalena.

Census Records

There were three Henry Benders enumerated in the 1820 United States Federal census for the township. One of them was aged 45+ (born <1775),³ the other two aged 26-44 (born 1776-1794).⁴ The elder Henry was most likely Henry Bender (1762-1843), son of Jacob Bender and Eva Catharina Schneider. Of the other two, one was most likely the son of Conrad and the other one a son of one of Conrad’s brothers.

Looking earlier, since we know that Henry (d. 1833) was in Ohio in 1830 (aged 40-50),⁵ we find two Henry Benders in Menallen in 1810⁶ and one in 1800.⁷ The elder Henry was enumerated as aged 45+ (born <1765) in 1810 and 26-44 (born 1756-1774) in 1800, the younger as 26-44 (born 1766-1784) in 1810. Henry (d. 1833) had son John in 1809 while as far as I know Henry (d. 1863) had his first child in 1821.

So that means that Henry (d. 1833) was likely the younger Henry in the 1810 census—since he was already married and having children—and one of the younger Henrys in the 1820 census. Reconciling the ages from all these census records, we find that the mystery Henry was born about 1780-1784. This puts his birth prior to that of Conrad’s son Henry. But since census ages can be unreliable, I can’t conclude Henry wasn’t Conrad’s son from this information.

Tax Records

Most people wouldn’t expect to find parentage information in tax records. And they’d be correct in the majority of cases. However, without deeds—and I totally struck out with deeds for these Benders—tax records can show the transfer of property from person to person. Since this often happens within families, it can provide important clues to determine parentage.

In this case, the tax records were very illuminating. The closest tax assessment to the 1820 census was for 1821. There are four entries that include the name “Henry Bender”:⁸

Henry Bender Jr. (taxed on 336 acres, 2 horses, 2 cows)
Henry Bender of C (taxed on 3 horses, 2 cows)
Henry & Jacob Bender (taxed on 125 acres and 25 acres)
Henry Bender (taxed on 160 acres, 25 acres, 4 horses, 5 cows)

Only the first two are necessary to answer the question at hand.⁹

1809 Henry Bender Menallen Township tax entry — 1809 Henry Bender Jun Menallen Township tax record: 446 acres, 2 horses, 2 cows

Following the tax records backwards and forwards, I found the Henry Jr. with the 336 acres in 1809.¹⁰ He may have been the Henry Bender in 1805 listed with the single men, but with the notation “mared.”¹¹ He was also listed in the 1822, 1823, 1824, and 1825 tax assessments. ¹² The 1824 tax assessment includes the notation “sold to George Newcomer & Hannah Bender.”¹³

The Henry Bender of C was most likely the son of Conrad. He was taxed on 140 acres in 1823.¹⁴ Jacob Bender of C was taxed on 134 acres.¹⁵ Put the two together and you have the 274 acres that Conrad was taxed on in 1821.¹⁶ And we know from Conrad’s will that he did, indeed, have two sons: Henry and Jacob.¹⁷

This Henry was consistently listed in the tax records for the township through 1833 where I stopped examining the records.¹⁸

Henry, Son of Conrad

Conrad’s son Henry was born 25 March 1787 and died 10 August 1863 and was buried in Bendersville Cemetery.¹⁹ He was most likely the Henry Bender who purchased the land that become Bendersville from William Sadler in 1819.²⁰

Henry (d. 1833)

So, who was the mystery Henry’s father?

The tax records seem to indicate that his father was Conrad’s brother Johannes. Those 446 acres Henry was taxed on in 1809? John Bender was taxed on 150 acres, 446 acres, and 20 acres in 1806.²¹ In 1809, he was taxed on only the 150 acres and 20 acres.²² The 446 acres was crossed out with the notation “mad over to his son” written next to it. Therefore, we can infer that “Henry Jun” was his son.

John and Conrad Bender 1809 Menallan Township tax entries — 1809 Menallen Township tax record for John Bender with 446 acres crossed out

Furthermore, according to his last will and testament, John Bender did have a son named Henry.²³ Although he left his real estate property to sons John and Jacob, Henry is mentioned in the will. John left Henry £150 to be distributed as £50 per year from 1823 through 1825. And it is after 1825 that presumably this Henry is no longer found in the Menallen Township tax record.

And there we have it. The Henry Bender who died in Ohio in 1833 was the son of Johannes and Catharina Bender of Menallen Township and first cousin of Henry Bender, son of Conrad, who died in Menallen Township in 1863.

AncestryDNA Cluster: Philip Craver

Kris Hocker on 15 Feb 2020

While assigning my Mom’s AncestryDNA™ matches to an ancestral line using the Leeds Method, I noticed there were a number of matches to my more recent Snyder cousins who were not actually Snyder descendants. Instead, they all seemed to be related to one specific couple: Philip Craver of North Carolina and his wife.

At first I wondered about the surname. I have Garbers in my tree. Did I get that surname wrong? Did the name get garbled somehow? But that’s a completely different ancestral line and no one in this cluster matched other members of it.

The Gräber Family

I know there was a family of Gräbers (aka Graber, Graeber, Craver), living the same areas in Montgomery County as my Mom’s ancestors. Andreas Gräber settled in Upper Hanover Township. He had two sons with his first wife: Andreas (1725-1807) and Ludwig (1732-1797); he had one son with his second wife: Philip (1745-1820). Andreas and Ludwig remained in Pennsylvania, while Philip moved to North Carolina.

The curious thing, however, is that I have found no DNA matches that can be traced back to either Andreas or Ludwig. None. Zip. Zero.

Since their descendants lived, in may cases, right down the street from many of my Mom’s ancestors, you’d think if I were related to the Gräber family, there would be matches to the Pennsylvania Gräbers. Since there aren’t, I can only draw one conclusion. I’m not genetically related to the Gräber family.

Philip Craver

Huh? But what about Philip, you say?

It’s entirely possible that he’s not the relevant party in this scenario—just the one I can identify by name. Since Philip’s children got their DNA from both their dad and their mom, it’s possible that the relevant DNA comes from Philip’s wife.

I currently don’t know her name—given or surname. The online sources do not agree. One, however, refers to a deed abstract in which Philip Craver of Rowan County, North Carolina sold land in 1787 and his wife Sarah signed the deed with her mark. This is the right family, but whether or not Sarah was the mother of Philip’s children, I do not know. The year 1787 seems to be after all the children were born. Therefore it’s possible she was step-mother to Philip’s children.

So, possibility #1 is that I’m genetically related to the mother of Philip Craver’s children—possibly through a woman named Sarah.

Andreas Gräber

While I’m apparently not related to Andreas (Jr.) or Ludwig Gräber, I can’t rule out the family completely. Philip was the son of Andreas’ second wife Gertraut (___) Muss Gräber. So, a second possibility is that Philip is the provider of the DNA in question, but he didn’t inherit it from his father. Instead, it could be from his mother.

I don’t know much about her, except that she was Andreas’ second wife and had herself been married previously. Two step-daughters are named in Andreas’ will: Anna Christina and Anna Margaretha Muss. Anna Christina married Carl Doerr and Anna Margaretha married Peter Laber/Lebar/Lauer/Lawar. To the best of my knowledge I haven’t found descendants of either of these couples among my Mom’s AncestryDNA matches, but I haven’t been looking specifically for them either. That will need to change.

Connection Points

This cluster provides two possible points of shared ancestry: 1. Philip Craver’s wife and 2. Philip Craver’s mother. Finding out more about them might give me an idea on where my tree intersects with theirs. Currently, I have only a general idea.

I mentioned above the cluster matches to some of my more recent Snyder cousins. More specifically, it connects with descendants of Joseph Snyder (1826-1895) and Judith Deischer (1830-1906). This tells me the shared ancestor is most likely among their ancestors.

Given the generational difference—Philip born in 1745, Joseph in 1826, and Judith in 1830, I’m probably looking at Joseph and Judith’s great grandparents or, more likely, 2x great grandparents as the common ancestors. That makes these ancestors, whoever they are, my mother’s 6x great grandparents and my 7x great grandparents.

Joseph Snyder

I can rule out one of Joseph’s ancestral lines—his paternal line. No one in this Craver cluster matches any of the core members of the Snyder or Nuss clusters. This means the common surname is not likely to be Schneider, Betz, Nuss, Reiher (Reyer), Röder (Roeder), or Zimmerman.

His maternal line is complete back to his great-grandparents and only missing one set of 2x great-grandparents. But I do not have maiden names for his maternal great-grandmother Esther (___) Wißler or maternal 2x great grandmother Magdalena (___) Wißler.

Sarah Wisler Snyder's pedigree — Sarah (Wißler) Schneider’s pedigree

Judith Deischer

Both Judith (Deischer) Snyder’s ancestral lines provide research opportunities. Her maternal grandmother’s maiden name is unknown and I’ve no information on her paternal grandmother’s family, allegedly named Rein/Rhein. There’s plenty of research to do on this branch of the family tree to identify the possible common ancestor.

Peter Deischer's pedigree — Peter Deischer’s pedigree

Anna Maria Trump's pedigree — Anna Maria (Trump) Deischer’s pedigree

Where to Start

The hardest part of identifying the common ancestor may be in deciding where to start. The best place may lie with a couple of the cluster members who share other surnames from my family tree. This may show where the connection lies. How? By allowing me to identify the ancestral line of Joseph or Judith to which the common ancestor belongs—assuming I’ve already identified an ancestor of that name.

If the common surname is not one I’ve already identified—e.g. one of those unknown maiden names, then at least I’ll have a surname and location (Montgomery County, PA) in which to start searching.

Additionally, I could simply start working to fill in the holes I’ve identified in the Wißler, Deischer, and Trump pedigrees all the way back to persons born in the late 1600s.

Either way, I won’t know until I do more research.

Elizabeth (Snyder) Rantz: More Thoughts

Kris Hocker on 5 Feb 2020

I just added a couple of new matches to the Elizabeth (Snyder) Rantz match group. In doing so, I’ve been reviewing the shared matches associated with this group and realized something.

All of the group members’ match lists include members of the larger Schneider cluster. However, in about half of the cases, the lists also include members who’ve been identified as descendants of Jacob and Catharina (Nuss) Snyder, my 5th great grandparents.

While not a great surprise—we are all Schneider descendants, after all—I’ve come to associate the appearance of these specific individuals in match lists with the possibility of there being Nuss DNA involved with the match.

What does this mean?

The presence of Snyder-Nuss descendants in the match lists to this degree, I believe, ups the likelihood that Elizabeth (Snyder) Rantz’s descendants are also Snyder-Nuss descendants.

I can pretty much rule out Elizabeth (Snyder) Rantz as being a child of Jacob and Catharina (Nuss) Snyder. I’ve documented Jacob and Catharina’s adult lives in Upper Hanover Township, Montgomery County and, for a short time, in Hereford Township, Berks County. Furthermore, I’ve researched their daughter Elizabeth and can place her in Upper Hanover after William Rantz and Elizabeth Snyder were married in Columbia County, Pennsylvania in 1824.

At this time, I only have one other Snyder-Nuss connection identified: Elias and Anna Maria (Nuss) Schneider—Jacob’s presumed parents. I’m not an expert, but this seems to indicate that my hypothesis that Elizabeth was the granddaughter or great granddaughter of Elias and Anna Maria through their son Conrad or grandson Daniel is the correct one.

I don’t, unfortunately, believe that it proves the hypothesis correct. I’m going to keep searching for documentation on this family line. To quote the X-Files, the truth is out there. It may take me a while, but I’m going to find it.

Exasperating Elias

Kris Hocker on 25 Jan 2020

I used to think that Christian Hoover (1825-1887) was my most frustrating and exasperating ancestor. No more. That title now belongs to my presumed ancestor Elias Schneider (1733-1779).

Finding records for Elias and his descendants is proving to be a challenge. So far, I’ve got:

12 Aug 1733: Elias born in Pennsylvania to Conrad and Eva Catharina (Betz) Schneider
24 Jun 1752: Elias confirmed at Old Goshenhoppen
15 Apr 1753: Elias took communion at Old Goshenhoppen
2 Sep 1753: Elias sponsored Johann Elias, son of Johannes & Anna Maria Weicker, at Old Goshenhoppen with his father and Maria Margaretha Derr
4 Feb 1756: Elias and Anna Maria Nuss sponsored Elias, son of Jacob and Eva Catharina (Schneider) Bender, at Old Goshenhoppen
7 Dec 1756: Elias married Anna Maria Nuss at Old Goshenhoppen
20 Jun 1758: Elias & Anna Maria’s son Conrad (b. 18 Nov 1757) baptized at Old Goshenhoppen, sponsored by Conrad Grimm (single) & Elisabetha Nuss (single)
10 Aug 1759: Leonard and Elias took out an administration bond on their father’s estate, Elias Lang & Henry Vanderslice submitted their inventory and appraisal of Conrad’s estate
8 Apr 1761: Leonard and Elias filed their account administration for their father Conrad’s estate
July 1764: Elias & Anna Maria’s daughter Anna Margaretha (b. 2 Jul 1764) baptized at Old Goshenhoppen, sponsored by George Gaugler & Anna Margaretha Nuss
1769: Elias taxed in Upper Salford Township
17 Nov 1771: Elias & Anna Maria’s daughter Catharine (b. 27 Oct 1771) baptized at Old Goshenhoppen, sponsored by Philip Gabel & Anna Margaretha [Schneider]
31 Mar 1779: Anna Maria Schneider, widow & relict of Elias Schneider, granted Letters of Administration on Elias Schneider’s estate, Oley Township, Berks County; takes out administration bond
5 Apr 1779: Daniel Guldin & Elias Waggoner filed their inventory and appraisal of Elias Schneider’s estate
1780: Widow Snyder & Conrad Snyder taxed in Oley Township
1781: Widow Snyder & Conrad Snyder taxed in Oley Township
1782: Widow Snyder & son taxed in Oley Township
3 Jan 1784: child born to Conrad Snyder & wife “Margreda” baptized at Oley (Salem) Reformed Church, sponsored by Elias Wagner & wife Eva
1786: Conrad Snyder taxed in Oley Township
10 Jan 1786: Margaretha Schneider married Jacob Reppert in Oley Township
1787: Conrad Snyder taxed in Oley township
17 Jun 1787: Conrad’s daughter Catharina (b. 7 Feb) baptized at Zion Spiess’ Reformed Church, sponsored by Jacob Dreher & wife Barbara
1788: Conrad Snyder taxed in Alsace Township
10 Mar 1789: Conrad and Margaretha sponsored Daniel, son of John Feger & wife at Zion Spiess’ Church
10 Mar 1789: Conrad’s daughter Catharina buried at Schwartzwald Church cemetery
4 Apr 1789: Conrad’s son buried at Schwartzwald Church cemetery
3 Aug 1789: Conrad’s son Daniel baptized at Schwarzwald Reformed Church, sponsored by Valentin Hartmann & Elisabeth [Schneider?]
1790: Conrad Snyder enumerated in Alsace Township
1791: Conrad Snyder taxed in Exeter Township
21 Aug 1791: Conrad’s daughter Catharina baptized at Schwartzwald Reformed Church, sponsored by Johannes Meyer & Catharina Papp
1792: Conrad Snyder taxed in Exeter Township
1793: Conrad Snyder taxed in Exeter Township
30 Jun 1793: Conrad’s daughter Anna Maria baptized at Schwartzwald Reformed Church, sponsored by Philip Lies & Anna Maria Kelchner
24 May 1795: Conrad’s daughter Elizabetha baptized at Schwartzwald Reformed Church, sponsored by Elizabetha [Schneider?] Seyer [Sayer/Sayre]

That might look like a lot of information, but it reveals relatively little about Elias and his family. Most of the records aren’t for him. They are for his presumed widow and son. I’m left with a number of questions that I can’t answer.

For instance, there are baptismal records for three children: Conrad in 1758, Anna Margaretha in 1764, and Catharina in 1771. There are 6-7 years between these children’s births. Were they the only children for this couple? If not, why weren’t the births of the others recorded at Old Goshenhoppen? Were they not born in Upper Salford? If not, where were they born?

If my 5x great grandfather Jacob Schneider was their son, he was born in one of those 6-7 year intervals. Why can’t I find a record of his birth?

The records—that I’d expect to find, but haven’t—raise additional questions. For example, Elias’ estate inventory was valued at about £1,100. That’s almost $190,000 today! When he died in 1779, his known children were 21, 15, and 8. Only one of them was of age, so there would have had to have been guardians appointed for his two daughters. Yet, I have found no Orphans Court record in Berks County for Elias Snyder and there absolutely should be.

The “Widow Snyder” and Conrad Snyder were consistently taxed on horses and cows in 1780 and part of 1781, but no land. But the third tax record from 1781 and the 1782 list show they were taxed on 200 acres. Where did the land come from? Was it part of Elias’ estate? If so, why were there no Orphans Court records regarding it? It should have been appraised and evaluated to determine if it could be divided between the heirs. I found no record of such.

Nor have I found evidence of a warrant, patent, purchase, or sale of land by Elias or his heirs in Berks County. By 1786, the Widow Snyder is not included in Oley Township tax records. But Conrad was and he was only taxed on his occupation (shoemaker) and 1 horse. No land. What happened to it?

See what I mean? Exasperating.

I honestly believe that Elias is the best candidate to have fathered my 5x great grandfather Jacob, but proving it may be very difficult—even with the DNA evidence. The generational distance between my mom and any DNA matches may prevent even the DNA evidence from actually telling us much about our degree of relationship.

But I’ll keep plugging away. Sooner or later, that exasperating man is going to yield up his secrets. At least, I hope so…

AncestryDNA Cluster: Elizabeth (Snyder) Rantz

Kris Hocker on 11 Jan 2020

Every so often I identify a subgroup within a collection of AncestryDNA Shared Matches™ for which I’ve identified a common ancestor, but can’t connect that person to the larger group’s family group.

Such is the case with Elizabeth (Snyder) Rantz. I’ve identified about two dozen of her descendants in the match lists, ranging from 8 to 29 cMs of shared DNA. They all match to various members of the larger Schneider cluster. The descendants come from ~~four~~ five of her children: Harriet (Rantz) Goyette, Hannah (Rantz) Wilson, Caroline (Rantz) Mannie, ~~and~~ Lydia (Rantz) Brousseau, and Margaret (Rantz) Bomboy.

Thus, there’s every reason to believe that Elizabeth (Snyder) Rantz is a descendant of Conrad and Eva Catharina (Betz) Schneider. The problem, of course, is that I haven’t been able to find the papertrail to connect them.

According to the family trees of these descendants, Elizabeth was born 22 February 1807 in Pennside, Berks County, Pennsylvania.¹ She married William Rantz 9 May 1824 in Columbia County. The family left Pennsylvania before 1838 and settled in Illinois. Elizabeth died in Bourbonnais, Kankakee County, Illinois on 21 January 1889.² I’ve seen no hint of her parentage anywhere.

Now I’ve identified members of my Schneider and Nuss families who moved into Berks County, and members of my Nuss family who moved to Columbia County, but I have not identified a Schneider who did both. If I had to take an educated guess—and that’s all this currently is—I’d say it’s possible that she is a descendant of Elias and Anna Maria (Nuss) Schneider.

Of Conrad’s five sons, Elias is the only one with a connection to Berks County. He was born 12 August 1733 in Upper Salford Township, Philadelphia (now Montgomery) County,³ married Anna Maria Nuss on 7 December 1756 in Upper Salford (probably at his father’s house),⁴ and likely died before 31 March 1779 in Oley Township, Berks County⁵ with his wife, Anna Maria, serving as his estate administrator. Three of Anna Maria’s sisters lived in Berks County during their lifetimes. Three of her brother Conrad’s children moved to Columbia County.

Elias and Anna Maria had a son, Conrad, born 19 November 1757 and baptized 20 January 1758 at Old Goshenhoppen Lutheran Church.⁶ I believe Conrad remained in Berks County. He may have married Margaret (___) and had at least six children between 1784 and 1795.

Either Conrad or his son Daniel, born 10 May 1789, would have been of the right age to have had a daughter in 1807. This would make Elizabeth’s descendants 6th or 7th cousins to my mom—feasible given the shared DNA.

Addendum:
If you are a descendant of William and Elizabeth (Snyder) Rantz and you’ve taken a DNA test and would like help working through your DNA matches to identify Elizabeth’s ancestry, I would be thrilled with the opportunity to help. Contact me.

Update (May 2020): Additional descendant matches were found for Margaret Priscilla (Rantz) Bomboy. The post has been edited to include this fact.

Searching for Maria Margaretha Barbara’s Maiden Name

Kris Hocker on 6 Jan 2020

I recently found that Eva Catharina (Betz) Schneider was the daughter of Maria Margaretha Barbara, not Eva as I previously thought. But her surname was not readable on the family page for Sebastian Betz in the Fürfeld church book.

Sebastian Betz family page title in Fürfeld church book — Johann Sebastian Betz and wife Maria Margaretha Barbara

Sometimes a maiden name is difficult, if not impossible, to find, but it always bothers me not to have it. So, I went looking for more information on Maria Margaretha Barbara.

Since searching Ancestry did not yield results, I went paging through the Fürfeld church book. The family page provides both the marriage date (16 August 1687) and her death date (10 December 1716) which allowed me to to search for specific records.

The death record did not provide a maiden name, simply named her as the wife of Johann Sebastian Betz. The marriage record, however, did provide what I was looking for.

Sebastian Betz and Maria Margaretha Barbara, daughter of Johann Leonhardt Langer or Loinger, marriage entry — Johann Sebastian Betz Fürfeld marriage record

1687 16 Aug: Johann Sebastian Betz, [first?] legitimate son of Wolfgang Betz, citizen of Fürfeld, married with Maria Margaretha Barbara, legitimate daughter of Johann Leonhardt [Loingen? or Langer?], citizen of [?].¹

It appears to me that there is a location given for Johann Leonhardt, but I can’t make it out. I don’t believe it’s Fürfeld. (If you can read it, please help me out!)

Based on this record I can add Hans Wolfgang Betz, Sebastian’s father, and Johann Leonhardt Loinger/Loingen/Langer, Maria Margaretha Barbara’s father, to the family tree.

Surprise! A New Mom for Catharina Betz

Kris Hocker on 3 Jan 2020

As you know from previous posts, my research has revealed that I am a descendant of Conrad Schneider and Catharina Betz of Upper Salford, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, through their grandson Jacob Schneider. I have not proven who fathered Jacob, though I do have a working hypothesis.

Conrad and family immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1732, arriving in Philadelphia onboard the ship Johnson on 19 September.¹ In 1751, Reverend Lucas Raüs, pastor for Old Goshenhoppen Lutheran congregation, recorded the names and information of the church elders and deacons.

Conrad Schneider's entry in Old Goshenhoppen Lutheran Church book, includes birth and marriage information from Germany and list of children with their birth dates — *Conrad Schneider’s entry in Old Goshenhoppen Lutheran Church book*

Conrad Schneider was the third entry:

“Conrad Schneider, age 52 years, born 1699 March 17, in Treschklingen, in Swabia, son of Conrad Schneider and Catharina, both Reformed. He came to Pennsylvania in 1732. He married anno 1724 Catharine, born 1700 daughter of Sebastian Betz and wife Eva, from Ferfeld.”²
Old Goshenhoppen Register of the Families and the Names of the Ministers

With the 50% off membership at Ancestry for new and returning subscribers (good thru Jan. 7th), I decided to upgrade to the World Explorer to see what I could find on my German, Welsh, and English ancestors. I spent yesterday looking through the church records from Fürfeld.

Much to my surprise, I found that Catharina Betz’s full name was Eva Catharina and that her mother’s name was not also Eva. Sebastian Betz’s family page showed that his wife’s name was Maria Margaretha Barbara.³

Now, I’m the first to admit that my German reading comprehension is not the greatest—especially when trying to figure out both the handwriting and German. But I can usually find my way through birth, death, and marriage entries in church records and village family books.

Johann Sebastian Betz family page title: Johann Sebastian Betz vater: Hans Wolfgang uxor (wife) Maria Margaretha Barbara married 16 Aug 1687 died 10 December 1716 — *Sebastian Betz family page*

The page for Johann Sebastian Betz shows his wife’s [uxor] name was ~~Anna~~ Maria Margaretha Barbara [illegible surname]. Their marriage date is shown as “16 8 1687” [16 August 1687]—confirmed from their marriage entry, as is her date of death: “10, 12, 1716” [10 December 1716]—confirmed through burial records.

Sebastian’s daughter Eva Catharina was born 8 April 1701.⁴ Even though as far as I can tell she is not named as such in the entry, given her date of death, Maria Margaretha Barbara must have been Eva Catharina’s birth mother.

Eva Catharina Betz's entry on Sebastian Betz's page showing she was born 8 April 1701 — *Eva Catharina Betz’s entry on Sebastian Betz’s family page*

But what about the Old Goshenhoppen entry? Was Conrad—since he most likely provided the information for the church book—just wrong about the name of his wife’s mother?

Nope.

Eva Strecker entry on Sebastian Betz's family page — *Eva Strecker entry on Sebastian Betz’s family page*

The entry (above) shows that Sebastian did marry a woman named Eva. It took a bit of sleuthing—mostly regarding the information written between her given name and date of death (28 November 1725)—but I determined that she was Eva Strecker of Zottishofen. Their marriage record—dated 23 November 1717—identifies her as the daughter of Johann Conrad Strecker, “bürger zu Zottisshofen” [citizen of Zotishofen].⁵

Therefore, when Conrad married Eva Catharina in 1724, Sebastian was married to a woman named Eva. Maria Margaretha Barbara had already been dead for almost eight years. When he provided the information 27 years later, he likely named the woman he knew when he married.

Category: Research