Research – Page 7 – A Pennsylvania Dutch Genealogy

Godfrey Wißler 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Kris Hocker on 18 Feb 2017

This week’s ancestor is Godfrey Wißler. He is my five times great grandfather on my mother’s side. I’ve written about him before, posting his last will and testament last December. It was his farm that Heinrich Schneider purchased and that passed down to his son Joseph Snyder, then grandson Henry Snyder.

Godfrey, son of Jacob Wißler Jr. and his wife Esther(___),¹ was born about 1757 and died sometime before 21 October 1829 when his will was proven. He married Eva Catharina Weiß, daughter of Hans Erhardt Weiß and Susanna Huth, at New Goshenhoppen Reformed Church near East Greenville on 22 September 1782.² Eva was allegedly born 1 April 1759, died 5 January 1798, and buried at New Goshenhoppen.³

However, other records seem to contradict this date of death. Godfrey and Eva were members of New Goshenhoppen and took communion there in the fall of 1808 and 1 April 1815.⁴ Additionally, two of Godfrey’s daughters, including my four times great grandmother Sarah (Wißler) Snyder, were born after 1798.⁵

In 1800 through 1820, Godfrey can be found in the census enumerations for Upper Hanover Township. His household included one male aged 26-45, two females less than 10, and one female aged 26-45 in August 1800.⁶ The 1810 enumeration lists one male aged 45+, two females under 10, one girl aged 10-15, and one female 16-25.⁷ I’m not sure why his wife Eva was not listed, as she’s included in the communion records in 1808 and 1815. In 1820 the household included one male aged 45+, one female 16-26, two females aged 26-45, and one female 45+.⁸

The census entries don’t clear up the question of Eva’s death. Nor do the known birth dates of his children. In fact, Eva Catharina might not have been his first wife. New Goshenhoppen burial records list the burial of “Susana, child of Godf. Wissler, aged 9 years, 2 months” on 25 December 1785.⁹ Since Godfrey and Eva Catharina married at New Goshenhoppen in 1782, either Susana’s birth predates the marriage or Susana wasn’t Eva’s child and Godfrey was married previously.

I have birth dates for two of Godfrey’s daughters—Catharine, born 15 October 1789,¹⁰and Sarah, born 8 August 1799. For two others—Elizabeth and Susanna (the second such named)—I have only estimates based on the order in which Godfrey named his daughters in his will. I presume Elizabeth was the eldest surviving daughter as her children are named as receiving the first portion from Godfrey’s estate. Elizabeth was already deceased. She was likely born sometime between 1782 and 1789. Susanna is named in the will as his youngest daughter, so she was born after 1799, most likely making her the 16-26 year-old in the 1820 census.

Given the number of years between Catharine and Sarah’s births, it’s likely that there were unrecorded children who were born in the interim and died prior to the 1800 census. A break like this between births can also indicate the death of a wife and subsequent remarriage. But in this case, that doesn’t necessarily apply. If Eva died in January 1798 and Sarah was born in August 1799, then Godfrey remarried fairly quickly to another woman also named Eva—sometime between January and December 1798. I have yet to locate a record of a marriage.

Assuming that the records I’ve found are correct and apply to this family, then it appears that Godfrey may have been married three times. He would have had to marry his first wife prior to 1776 (Susana’s estimated birth year) and she would have died prior to September 1782. He next married Eva Catharina Weiss on 22 September 1782 and she died in January 1798. He married another Eva prior to December 1798. She was alive as of 7 August 1820 (census date) and deceased prior to 23 April 1825 when Godfrey wrote his will.

Looks like I’ve got more research to do on this family.

52 ancestors in 52 weeks

This post is part of a blogging challenge entitled 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, created by Amy Crow of No Story Too Small in 2014. Participants were to write about one ancestor every week. I’m revisiting this challenge for 2017. This is my eighth 52 Ancestors post, part of week seven.

Martha Bartleson 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Kris Hocker on 11 Feb 2017

I wrote a post about my ancestor Rachel Jones, wife of Jacob Witmer, back in 2014. While I knew Rachel’s maiden name based on the death certificates of several of her her children,¹ I did not have information regarding her parents. At the time I postulated that Henry Jones was Rachel’s father, but I did not know the name of his wife. I’m still looking for evidence of who she was.

Assuming that Henry was her father, I determined that her mother died prior to 1830 in Milford Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.² Based on the 1820³ and 1810⁴ census enumerations, she was most likely born sometime between 1775 and 1784.⁵ Unfortunately, the pre-1850 census records do not list the names of the household members.

Martha Bartleson

I’ve seen Martha Bartleson listed as his wife online. I’ve never been sure just from where that information came, as no sources were provided. Recently, I came across a posting in a Find A Grave forum that included the following:

“I found Henry in the 1810, 1820 and 1830 censuses, 1810 in Hilltown, then Milford. His wife appears to be deceased by the 1830 census.

Are you familiar with the book, Morris Lewis and His Descendants, by Mary Jane Erwin? It was published by the Lewis-Jones Assoc. in 1936. It is very helpful through there are errors, of course. That is where I got the birth and death dates for Henry Jones. It contains this story about Martha: “In the early history of the settlement of New Jersey and the eastern border of Pennsylvania, it was customary for emigrants to bring their servants with them and allow them to work for the price of their passage after arriving here. Sometimes they had to work a long while until [their debt] had been cancelled. Undoubtedly, Martha Bartleson was tired of working. It is said she took one of her master’s horses, where she lived in New Jersey, mounted and rode until she reached the Delaware. The horse swam the river. She reached the Pennsylvania side. When dismounted, she turned the horse about, and it is supposed it returned to its owner, while Martha Bartleson made her way through the country to Hilltown, where she met and married Henry Jones.” [p 22, as related by John Davis, one of her grandsons]” ⁶

What really struck me about this story is its similarity to a story that was apparently passed down through the Witmer family. It was reported in an article on four generations of the Witmer family. It went:

“There is an interesting romance connected with the emigration to this country of Mr. Witmer’s grandmother. She was a typical English girl and exceedingly pretty and fearless. Crossed by her parents in a love affair, Miss Jones escaped from her home with the aid of her favorite saddle horse, and swam across the English Channel on horse-back and fled the country.⁷”

Both versions are charming stories. The story from the forum posting does provide some clues to follow up on—as the Witmer story does not. First, there’s the name. Martha Bartleson. Second, the location—New Jersey. And third the fact of her indentured servitude.

Both stories seem to imply that Martha was an immigrant, though only the Witmer story states it as “fact.” And that could simply be referring to her mode of arrival in Pennsylvania, not necessarily her arrival in the United States. Indentured servants were not only immigrants. Sometimes families bound out children to pay debts or to provide for their care and education. Either way if she was a servant and ran away before the end of her term, I would think there should be a record of it.

To be honest, both stories strain my credulity. But as with most family stories, there is likely a kernel of truth in there. I just need to dig it out. Wish me luck!

52 ancestors in 52 weeks

This post is part of a blogging challenge entitled 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, created by Amy Crow of No Story Too Small in 2014. Participants were to write about one ancestor every week. I’m revisiting this challenge for 2017. This is my seventh 52 Ancestors post, part of week six.

Jacob Walter (c1767-1840) 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Kris Hocker on 5 Feb 2017

According to William Wingeard’s A German-American Hacker-Hocker Genealogy, Elizabeth Walter, second wife of Michael Frantz Jr. and mother of my ancestor Anna (Frantz) Hocker, was the daughter of Jacob Walter and Anna Stauffer.¹ She was born 20 October 1800, probably in Rapho Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.²

I’ve been working on Jacob and Anna, trying to identify their family, but I haven’t gotten too far. Jacob and Nancy (as she was called) were living with their daughter and son-in-law in Upper Swatara Township in 1840.³ Jacob died there on 23 September 1840.⁴ Nancy died 5 March 1845.⁵ They were both buried in the Frantz/Hagy family cemetery.

Looking back through census records, Jacob and family were enumerated in Upper Swatara in 1840 and 1830⁶, Swatara Township in 1820⁷ and 1810⁸, and Rapho Township, Lancaster County in 1800.⁹ Assuming all the children in their household in these records were theirs, their family included:

Jacob Walter, born 1760-1770
Anna (Stauffer?) Walter, born 1770-1780
Male Walter, born 1790-1794
Female Walter, born 1790-1794
Male Walter, born 1794-1800 [Christian?]
Male Walter, born 1794-1800 [John?]
Female Walter, born 1795-1800
Elizabeth Walter, born 2 Oct 1800
Male Walter, born 1800-1810
Male Walter, born 1804-1810
Female Walter, born 1804-1810
Female Walter, born 1804-1810
Female Walter, born 1810-1815
Female Walter, born 1810-1815

Jacob and Anna received a marriage license from Lancaster County 18 April 1795.¹⁰ In the 1800 census, they had 3 boys and 2 girls under 10 in their household. Daughter Elizabeth wasn’t born until October, so she is not included in these five children.

In 1810, they had five males—1 male (1784-1794), 2 males (1794-1800), and 2 males (1800-1810)—and four females—1 female (1784-1794) and 3 females (1800-1810). By 1820, there were two younger males—one born 1794-1804 and the second born 1804-1810—and four females—two born 1794-1804 and two born 1810-1820.

So, either not all the children survived or they were not living at home in every census. It’s also possible that Ann was Jacob’s second wife. Several of the household members consistently show birth years prior to 1795 when Jacob and Anna married.

Jacob purchased 129 acres in Rapho Township from James Mayes (aka “Mease”) on 27 February 1790.¹¹ He sold three acres of this land 20 March 1795 to Jacob Otto.¹² He sold the rest of the land to Peter Lindemuth on 27 March 1800.¹³

He purchased 58 acres in Mount Joy and Donegal townships from Christian Bare on 2 May 1801.¹⁴ This land adjoined land of John Stauffer, deceased. He sold it on 17 April 1807 to Jacob Rohrer.¹⁵

Jacob patented 290 acres of land in Swatara Township on 31 December 1813. He sold 42 acres to Jacob Steigelman on 6 April 1815.¹⁶ He sold another nine acres to William Rutherford 22 May 1822,¹⁷ 20 acres to Daniel Page 2 April 1835,¹⁸ and 103 acres to Jacob Shuh on 2 April 1839.¹⁹ By my calculations, there are about 120 acres for which I need to account.

I have found no estate records for Jacob in either Dauphin or Lancaster County. If he still owned land at the time of his death, then there should have been a probate record dealing with the dispersing of the property to his heirs. It’s likely he sold the land prior to his death and the pertinent deeds were not recorded at the county Recorder of Deeds office.

I believe Jacob might have been the son of Jacob Walther of Rapho Township who wrote his last will and testament on 26 January 1789, naming his children: Andrew, Margaret, Magdalena, Peter, Baltzer, Barbara, Jacob, and Dorothea. I need to request this will from the Lancaster County archives as it is not available on FamilySearch.

52 ancestors in 52 weeks

Estimating Ethnicity Percentages Comparing Your Pedigree to Your DNA

Kris Hocker on 23 Jan 2017

I recently read an article on how to estimate your ethnicity percentages from DNAeXplained. Roberta Estes explained how to estimate your percentages based on what you know about your 64 great-great-great-great grandparents. You could then compare it to the ethnicity estimates generated by any DNA testing company.

I wanted to see what I’d come up with.

I used Google Sheets to create a chart that included six generations of my direct ancestors. It’s basically an ahnentafel chart, but in reverse because it’s just easier to create it that way. Here’s the chart:

6 Generation pedigree chart

In the header, you’ll see percentages. This is an average of how much DNA I could get from each person in that generation. In reality the percentages are likely not exact. Could be a little more, could be less, could be none. Read Roberta’s article if you’d like more of an explanation.

Next I color-coded each of my 4x great grandparents based on what I know of their ethnic heritage. Most of them were born here in the United States, so I was relying on what I know of their ancestors or the communities they lived in. As you can see, they were mostly of German descent (green). I’m including my Swiss ancestors as Germans as that is the language they spoke and the group that they immigrated with and settled among.

My Smith and Bennington ancestors (blue) came over from Scotland in the late 1800s, so they were easy to identify, too. James Buchanan and Sarah Craig were both born in Ireland (orange), so I included them as Irish, though it is likely they were from Northern Ireland and of Scottish descent. I also have a couple of ancestors I can identify as Irish (orange), Welsh (red), Danish (purple), or English (light magenta). Several of the German ancestors have names that appear to be of English-origin, but closer examination of their lives shows a close relationship with German communities and use of the German language.

I was pleased to see that I only have two 4x great grandparents who remain unidentified. I wasn’t surprised to see they were Jefferson Force’s parents. He is largely an unknown, so I’ve identified his parents as of unknown heritage, though they could possibly have been French.

How does this relate to my AncestryDNA ethnicity?

According to Ancestry, I’m:

63% Western Europe: Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Netherlands, Brussels, Northern Italy, Western Poland
16% Ireland: Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Britain
5% Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden, Denmark
4% Iberian Peninsula: Spain, Portugal, France
4% Great Britain: Eastern Great Britain, Normandy, Brussels, Netherlands
2% Italy/Greece
<1% European Jewish

Compare that to my estimates from the pedigree chart after I’ve matched them to Ancestry’s regions:

Region	AncestryDNA	Pedigree
Western Europe	63%	73.72%
Ireland	16%	15.6%
Scandinavia	5%	3.12%
Great Britain	4%	1.56%
Italy/Greece	2%
Iberian Peninsula	4%
European Jewish	<1%
Unknown		6.24%

Ancestry’s regions are fairly large and overlap significantly, so the estimates aren’t actually that different. The variance in Great Britain is insignificant given that Ancestry’s region for Great Britain includes most of Western Europe.

What is interesting to me is just how close my estimate of my Irish ancestry from my pedigree is to the DNA estimate. To the best of my knowledge, I have exactly three possible Irish ancestors in the 6th generation: John Mulhollan, James Buchanan, and Sarah Craig. That works out to 4.68%. If I add in all my Scottish ancestors (9.36%) and Welsh ancestor (1.56%), it comes out to 15.6%, only 0.4% off Ancestry’s estimate. Pretty amazing.

The Scottish and Irish comes to me through my dad, the Welsh through my mom. It’s likely that the 16% is DNA I inherited primarily from my great grandmother, Isabella Aitken (Smith) Hocker. And maybe there’s a bit from my great grandmother Nora Melinda (Houdeshell) Hoover and my Welsh ancestress Rachel Jones, too. That’s actually quite a bit given how overwhelmingly German my ancestors were.

I know a lot of researchers who are more expert at this stuff state that the ethnicity estimates are entertaining, but hardly reliable. In my case, they’re pretty close to what I would have expected from my research.

Lydia (Markley) Kline (1806-1890) 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Kris Hocker on 21 Jan 2017

Lydia (Markley) Kline was born 22 October 1806 in Pennsylvania and died 8 April 1890 in Upper Hanover Township, Montgomery County, and was buried at Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church in Pennsburg.¹ She married Philip Kline on 17 July 1825 in the New Hanover Lutheran Church in Gilbertsville.²

Philip Kline and Miss Markley marriage entry

According to the entry on Find A Grave for Lydia, her mother’s name was Hannah (Hartzell) Merkel (1777-1852). Hannah’s entry includes a transcription of the gravestone inscription naming her as the wife of Daniel Merkel.³

Who were Daniel and Hannah Merkel? Were they really Lydia’s parents? What evidence is there of the relationship? A connection between two entries in a database is not evidence. But it may be a lead.

Lydia died in 1890—too early for statewide or county death registration. Some counties recorded vital records before it became mandatory. However, I did not find death records for this period in Montgomery County listed on either FamilySearch’s list of vital records microfilms or the Pennsylvania State Archives’ list of microfilmed county records. So, that was out as a possible source for her parents’ names. The marriage listing didn’t even include her given name, referring to her as “Miss Markly,” let alone her parents’ names.

Since Hannah Merkel was buried in Bucks County, I decided to start with probate records in that county. I did not find an estate record for her around 1852 or so. There was a Daniel Markley who died intestate in 1823. Intestate means no will. However, since Lydia was born in 1806, she would have been only 17 in 1823. If Daniel was, in fact, her father, then there should have been Orphans Court records associated with his estate.

On 14 September 1830, Hannah Markley petitioned the Orphan’s Court to issue an inquest to partition Daniel’s property in Rockhill Township.⁴ This petition names Hannah and Daniel’s seven children as petitioners: Josiah Markly, Absalom Markly, John Markly, Benjamin Beaker [Baker] and his wife Catharine (late Markly), Philip Kline and his wife Lidia (late Markly), and Sano Markly and Hannah Markly, as represented by their guardian John Hartzel. The two lots were sold—one on 29 December 1830 to Abraham Housekeeper⁵ and the second 20 October 1831 to Daniel’s son Absalom.⁶ These Orphan’s Court records are consistent with what I know about Lydia. In 1830, she would have been 24 years-old and already married to Philip Kline.

An examination of census records for Daniel in 1810 and 1820 reveals the following households:

1810 US Census⁷

3 males, <10 [Josiah?, John?, & Absalom?, b. 1800-1810]
1 male, 26-45 [Daniel, b. 1765-1784]
2 females, <10 [Catharine?, Lydia?, b. 1800-1810]
1 female, 26-45 [Hannah, b. 1764-1784]

1820 US Census⁸

3 males, <10 [Sano?, ?, ?, b. 1810-1820]
1 male, 10-16 [Absalom?, b. 1804-1810]
1 male, 26-45 [Daniel, b. 1775-1794]
2 females, <10 [ Hannah, ?, b. 1810-1820]
1 female, 16-26 [ Catharine or Lydia?, b. 1794-1804]
1 female, 26-45 [Hannah, b. 1775-1794]

These census records are relatively consistent with what I know about Lydia, too. Given the fact that the household’s inhabitants are not named in these early census records, there is some guessing involved in identifying the inhabitants. We can’t really be sure of who is referred to by the numbers in each age group. The more we learn about the family members, the better our guessing becomes. But still…

At this point, it is plausible that Daniel and Hannah (Hartzell) Markley were Lydia’s parents. I haven’t done the due diligence to prove that there wasn’t another Philip and Lydia (Markley) Kline, but I’m reasonably sure I’ve got a possible match. I want to learn more about Daniel and Hannah’s other children. Family connections are the best way I’ve seen to locate additional evidence to prove or disprove a relationship.

So, we’ll have to see what more I can dig up. In the absence of contradictory evidence, I’m inclined to believe that I’ve found Lydia’s parents, though.

Amazon Associates Link Builder Plugin How to Set It Up and Use It

Kris Hocker on 17 Jan 2017

Amazon Associates Link Builder Plugin How To Set It Up & Use It

Amazon recently released a beta version of its first official free WordPress plugin for the Amazon Associates Program. It allows WordPress users to easily search for products in the Amazon catalog and add real-time information to their blog post. I’m going to show you how to set it up and add Amazon products.

In the past, if I wanted to include an affiliate link to a product on Amazon, I opened a Amazon Associates in another window and logged in. Then I’d search for the product in Amazon’s link builder tool and copy the link that it generated back into my post text. Using this plugin, I can do all that from within my WordPress post.

Setting It Up

It’s not terribly difficult, but it may be intimidating to the average non-techie. I would recommend keeping the instructions page open in another browser window and referring back to it. The set-up only took a few minutes—once I followed the directions and stopped trying to wing it. 😉

Install the Plug-In

You’ll want to install the plugin on your self-hosted WordPress site. If you’ve done it before, skip ahead. If you don’t know how, here’s some information on how to do it, complete with an instructional video.

Once the plugin is installed and activated, you’ll come to the settings page, like this:

Amazon Associates Link Builder plugin settings page

You’ll need to insert the two keys from the next step in the first two fields (yellow). Your associate ID from Amazon Associates goes into the third field. Select a default associate ID, marketplace and template, then save your changes. You’ll need to check that you read the conditions before you’ll be able to save. It’s a short page, so you’ve really got no excuse to read it first!

Get Your API Keys

First, you need to be a member of the Amazon Associates program. If you’re not already, you’ll need to sign-up. If you are, go ahead and log-in.

Next, you’ll need to sign-up for the Amazon Product Advertising API from your Amazon Associates account. Select “Product Advertising API” from the “Tools” menu from within your Associates account (as below).

Product Advertising API

There is a “sign-up now” button on that page that will take you through the process. Once you’ve submitted the form and been approved, select “Manage Your Account” from the “Success” page.

Follow the instructions on this page from #6. After you get to the Access Keys page, click on “Create New Access Key.” There will already be one created by joining. Create a new one for the API. This confused me for a little bit until I read the instructions. Download the file. It will contain the keys you need to set up the plugin.

Now go back to WordPress and enter the required information in the plugin’s settings page and save it. Now you can get started using the plugin.

Using the Plugin

Once the plugin is all set-up, you can start adding Amazon products to your post or page. Here’s how the edit screen looks with the plugin activated and set-up.

WordPress interface with Amazon plugin

The plugin adds a search box to the post interface as show in the image above. Don’t have the second title field? That’s okay. It’s only there because I’ve got a subtitles plugin installed that adds that field.

To start inserting a product or products, enter a keyword in the field beside the Amazon logo, and click search. You can enter a keyword, title, author, manufacturer, etc. I entered my name and here’s what I got back:

Amazon Associates Link Builder plugin search for Kristen Hocker

Only three of those are really what I’m looking for, but… I can select the products I want by clicking on each one, and then the type of template I want to insert, the associate ID (if I had more than one), and the Amazon marketplace. Here are examples of each of the templates using these product(s). ¹

Product Carousel:

Product carousel

Product Ad:

Product ad

Product Grid:

Product grid

You can also set-up your own templates. I did a quick clone of the “Price Link” template, and used just the product title instead of just the price. I wanted to be able to insert a book title into existing text.

Here’s what the output looks like used within a sentence:

It inserted the book title and series information. The shortcode looked like this in my text:

Conclusions

The plugin is still in beta, so there are still updates and changes to come. Amazon is looking for feedback. You can read more, including FAQs, and see more screenshots on the WordPress site.

The set-up is a little more involved than most WordPress plugins, but that’s the cost of working with an API. Still it wasn’t terribly time-consuming, and if you follow directions, not difficult at all.

Philip Kline (1799-1877) 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Kris Hocker on 14 Jan 2017

When Lydia Amanda (Kline) Witmer died, her son Horace named her parents on her death certificate as Philip Kline and Lydia Markley.¹ So, I went looking for Philip and Lydia in census records.

I found the couple together in Marlborough Township, Montgomery County in 1860² and 1870,³ and Lydia in 1880.⁴

It took a little more work to find them in 1850—the only census that could list Lydia (Kline) Witmer by name with her family prior to her marriage in 1854. For that census, I had to scroll page by page until I found the household. The census taker had written their surname as “Klaen.”⁵ The household included:

Philip, aged 51, Farmer
Lydia, aged 44
Cornelius, aged 24, Shoemaker
Ledea, aged 14
Maria, aged 9

Further research showed that Philip was born 6 March 1799 and died 30 January 1877 at 2 p.m.⁶ He was buried in St. Paul’s Lutheran Church cemetery in Red Hill, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. His wife Lydia (Markley) Kline was born 22 October 1806 and died 8 April 1890.⁷ She, too, was buried at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church cemetery. The couple was married at New Hanover Evangelical Lutheran Church in Gilbertsville on 17 July 1825.⁸

Philip wrote his last will and testament on 24 December 1875.⁹ He named his “beloved wife Lydia” and five children: “son Cornelius Kline, Reuben M. Kline, Henry M. Kline… and my Daughter Eliza intermarried with Jonas Brey and Lydia intermarried with Edward Wetemer [Witmer].” He named his three sons as executors. The will was witnessed by George S. Mumbauer and William F. Reed and was proven on 7 February 1877.

Philip and Lydia (Markley) Kline had six children:

Cornelius Kline (3 Jul 1826-18 Feb 1914)
Elizabeth (Kline) Brey (15 Nov 1827-30 Oct 1917)
Reuben M. Kline (12 Dec 1832-12 Nov 1912)
Henry M. Kline (28 Apr 1834-17 Jun 1920)
Lydia Amanda (Kline) Witmer (26 Mar 1836-30 Mar 1926)
Susanna Maria Kline (15 Mar 1841-24 Dec 1853)

The Find A Grave entry for Philip Kline names his parents as Jacob Klein and Eva Heilig Klein, but that will be a post for another day.

The Early Life of Rev. Frederick Waage 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Kris Hocker on 7 Jan 2017

I’ve written before about my three times great grandfather Reverend Frederick Waage. However, I recently came across an article written about him by his son Reverend Oswin Frederick Waage (1845-1919). It was published in The Penn Germania in August 1912 and includes details regarding his early life.

Birthplace of Frederick Waage

Frederick, son of Claus Heinrich and Catharine Dorothea (Hoffmeister) Waage, was born on 17 August 1797 in Itzehoe in the Dukedom of Holstein, then part of Denmark and now Germany. He was baptized on 20 August 1797. According to his son, three of this sponsors were nobility: “General and Baron Cay von Ahlefeldt; Ernestine von Brokdorf, wife of the Private Counsellor; and the nobel lady Anna Sophia von Ranzau auf Güldenstein.”¹ His baptismal name as “Cay Frederic Sophus Waage.”

He started school early, attending a “Klipp Schule” when still a boy and learning to read. He greatly enjoyed reading and later in life accrued a large library that included not only theological literature, but also many of the great works of both fiction and non-fiction of his time in the original German or German translation.

A young Frederick Waage

From age eight, he went to the town school and was tutored “by the ‘Schreib und Rechnenmeister Nagel,’ who wore awhite powdered wig, and who was ever ready with the rod to punish misbehavior.” His next school was the Latin school in town where ear-boxing was the preferred punishment. While he applied himself eagerly to his lessons in class, he also learned from those around him in daily life. He became fluent in French due to interactions with those of Napoleon’s soldiers who were quartered in the town.

The eldest of three boys, he was the only one to survive to adulthood. By the age of fourteen, he had born the loss of his brothers and parents. An orphan, he became the ward of an uncle in Flensburg, in the north in Schleswig, in 1811. He was sent to a school there in town and boarded at an old monastery with the other students.

Flensburg 2015-08 img03 Evangelische Marienkirche.jpg

On 7 April 1813, he was confirmed in the Lutheran faith at the Marienkirche (St. Mary’s Church) after receiving instruction from the Lutheran pastor Huesmann. This church is one of the main churches in Flensburg and was first mentioned in historical documents in 1284.² Today it is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

That August, at age sixteen, he went to study at the University of Kiel. The university was founded in 1665 by the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp as the Academia Holsatorum Chiloniensis.³ It was (and is) one of the oldest and most prestigious in Schleswig-Holstein.

Frederick was enrolled there for six years. “Here he applied himself strenuously to his studies, often working until two o’clock in the night. His close association with the professors of the university, and especially the influence of his pastor, the noble Claus Harms, greatly assisted him in acquiring a first class classical education, under these benign surroundings. The desire became strong to be active in some calling in which he might be a blessing to his day and generation.”⁴

A desire to see the world and avoid military service spurred him emigrate to America. In June 1819, he took leave of his homeland, booking passage on the ship Milo from Hamburg to Philadelphia. After his arrival in September, he met Rev. Jacob W. Dechant who introduced him to Rev. F.W. Geisenhainer. For two years, he studied with Geisenhainer until he could be admitted to the Lutheran Synod.

A elderly Frederick Waage

Frederick became a licentiate of the Lutheran Ministerium on 27 August 1822 and he was ordained 10 June 1828 at Reading. Between 1822 and 1829, he served in parishes in Bucks County, then Northumberland, Lycoming, and Columbia counties. In May 1829, he served the Lutheran parish that included New Goshenhoppen. Over the following years, he added churches and congregations, including a congregation at Charlestown, Scheetz’s church, Huber’s church in Montgomery County, and established at church at Ridge Valley.

He married Angelina Garber, daughter of Benjamin and Hannah (Reiner) Garber, in 1823 at Trappe Lutheran Church. They raised a family of ten children: Johanna, Charles Theodore, Angelina, Emma, Andora S., Theodora Rosalie, Franciska S., Oswin Frederick, Atha “Addie,” and Edwin Eugene, who died young.

Rev. Caius Frederic Sophus Waage (1797-1884)

Rev. Frederick Waage (1797-1884)

He retired in 1868, but continued assisting his successor, son Rev. O.F. Waage, for several years. Frederick died 23 August 1884 and was buried four days later at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Red Hill. His wife, Angelina (Garber) Waage, died 11 April 1897 and was buried with her husband. Both gravesites are marked by significant and unique gravestones.

“His independence of thought involved him in brisk controversies with leaders in his own denomination and with clergymen of other faiths, but he was held in high esteem by his congregations.“⁵

Revisiting a Writing Challenge in 2017 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Kris Hocker on 5 Jan 2017

In 2014, Amy Johnson Crow issued a writing challenge called “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” for genealogy bloggers. The challenge was to write about an ancestor every week. My participation was lackluster at best. While the challenge continued in 2015 or 2016, I didn’t participate.

Since my goals for this year are to write more than I did last year (50 posts) and to share more of my research, I’ve decided to revisit this writing challenge. Measuring myself against the stated goal will hopefully be the kick in the pants I need to get me to write more regularly and the need for writing material will result in me sharing more of what I’ve found on my many ancestors.

That’s the plan anyway.

First up, new details on the early life of Rev. Frederick Waage.

Building a FAN Club for Jacob Schneider

Kris Hocker on 3 Jan 2017

On 21 November 1829, Henry Snyder and Catharine Snyder, administrators of Jacob Snyder’s estate, sold his 85 acres in Upper Hanover Township, Montgomery County to Michael Gery of Hereford Township, Berks County.¹ This land adjoined that of John George Brey, Michael Griesemer, George Greber, Conrad Brey and Jonathan Trexler.²

Jacob Snyder’s FAN Club

Jacob Snyder purchased this land from Henry Roeder in two tracts—one of 80 acres and one of 5 acres—on 2 April 1810.³ At that time, the 80 acre tract adjoined land of Andrew Graber, John George Brey, John Greaser [Griesemer?], John George Horlacher, Conrad Marks, and Peter Horlacher. It was originally sold to Roeder by Christian and Barbara Horlacher. The five acre-tract bordered land of Henry Roeder and John George Horlacher, and was part of a tract that Peter and Anna Mary Horlacher sold to John George Horlacher in 1801. George and Catharine Horlacher sold five acres from that tract to Henry Roeder in 1809.

Jacob Snyder 1820 Upper Hanover neighbors

If we examine the 1820 census enumeration for Jacob Snyder, we can see some of these names surrounding Jacob in the list.⁴ George Brey, enumerated as Pry, is next on the list after Jacob. Andrew Graber, enumerated as Graver, is two down from George. George Horlacher is on the previous page, enumerated seven households before Jacob. And just before George Horlacher is Adam Snyder and Conrad Brey. “Frederick Cresimer” and “Jacob Cresimer” (aka Griesemer) are also listed between George Horlacher and Jacob Snyder.

Some of these surnames should sound familiar from my previous posts. Griesemer and Brey were associated with Jacob’s estate. Jacob Griesemer was surety on the administration⁵ and Conrad Brey was guardian to the minor child Sarah Snyder, Jacob’s youngest daughter.⁶ I believe these men and the Gerys will be important to understanding Jacob and Catharine’s family.

Conrad Brey was married to Eva Horlacher, daughter of Peter Horlacher.⁷ After Peter’s death in 1816, Conrad purchased 61 acres in Upper Hanover from the estate, making him Jacob’s neighbor.⁸ Eva’s sister Veronica was also married to a Brey. She was married to George Brey, quite possibly the John George Brey who owned land that adjoined Jacob’s.⁹

After Jacob’s death, Catharine is enumerated near some of these same names. George A. Brey is two lines above her, Martin Brey two lines and Conrad Brey five lines after her.¹⁰ John Harlocher is four lines after her. Frederick Greisemer is six lines, Jacob Greisemer four lines and Michael Greisemer three lines above her.

1830 Catharine Snyder enumeration

Researching Eva and Veronica’s father Peter Horlacher, I discovered a connection to a Schneider family. “Adam Snider” served as one of the administrator’s of Peter Horlacher’s estate.¹¹ “Adam Snyder” was listed as a witness to the will of George Horlacher of Lower Milford Township, Bucks County.¹² Were they the same man? Was this the Adam Snyder listed in the 1820 census between Conrad Brey and George Horlacher?

Peter Horlacher’s sister Susanna married Christian Schneider and they had children starting in 1764.¹³ At least five of these children had Schneiders as sponsors at their baptisms at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Red Hill, including three sponsored by one Hans Adam Schneider and his wife Sarah. Johann Adam Schneider, son of Christian and Susanna, was born 5 Feb 1784 and could be the Adam Snyder in the 1820 census in Upper Hanover, as well as the administrator for his uncle Peter’s estate and witness to his uncle George’s last will & testament. If so, could there have been a relationship between Jacob and the Schneiders associated with the Horlacher family? Something more than just proximity?

I guess I’ll need to keep looking.

Category: Research

Martha Bartleson

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