Family Research – A Pennsylvania Dutch Genealogy

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.

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.

Jacob Schneider’s Timeline

Kris Hocker on 19 Aug 2018

Last week I wrote about using tax records to fill in the details of Jacob Schneider’s life. I wrote about what I found; now I want to show you how I organized it.

Timelines are an invaluable tool for genealogical research. Not only do they help you organize what you’ve found and see what may be missing, they can also show you inconsistencies and overlaps that can point to potential identification mistakes.

There are three places I have created time-based lists of events: 1) in the miscellaneous notes field in Reunion, 2) Evernote and 3) Google Sheets (spreadsheet). Any one of these—or a combination of them—may work for you.

Reunion is my goto for any information pertaining to an individual; everything I find goes there.

I use Evernote when I want to be more organized and structure my research. I found a template from Colleen Greene that includes sections for biographical information, clues, tasks, and a research log. I added a timeline to the template and use it to keep myself focused during research, to try to adhere to standards.

My Google Sheets timelines I use for collecting data from specific sources. It allows me to compare data—census, tax, etc.—for a specific location or surname through time. I also use it to create compact timelines, a simplified version of my Evernote timelines. These are really helpful when trying to distinguish between multiple individuals with the same name in a given location.

Here is Jacob Schneider’s timeline from my Google spreadsheet.

Jacob Schneider timeline

This spreadsheet only includes records for Jacob Schneider and his presumed family members. I used color to differentiate between people, baby blue being for Jacob himself. Samuel Snyder’s entries are not colored in order to highlight them as I wrote up my proof argument for why I believed him to be Jacob Schneider’s son and Judith Ann Wolf’s husband.

I wouldn’t consider this timeline complete. The tax records need more specific dates and I’m still looking for additional records. For example, Henry received communion at New Goshenhoppen, so he had to have been baptized and confirmed. I’m hoping to find record of that for him and his siblings. Baptism sponsors—especially for the eldest children—can help find additional family members and identify parentage for Jacob and Catharine.

When I examined the records for Conrad and Jacob Nuss in conjunction with this timeline, it became clear that Jacob Schneider was likely working with Jacob Nuss as a saddler. They were both in Upper Hanover Township from 1791 through 1801. Conrad Nuss, Jacob’s presumed father-in-law only overlaps in Upper Hanover with Jacob in 1791 and 1793. Jacob Schneider, like Conrad, is later found in Hereford between 1805 and 1808.

I really like the way a narrative starts to appear when you examine these records. Jacob likely met Catharine while he was apprenticing, learning the saddler trade, and married his boss’s niece! I wouldn’t have thought of this scenario without seeing the occupations in the tax record and the location overlaps in the timeline.

How Complete Is Your Tree?

Kris Hocker on 2 Feb 2018

This is certainly not a new question. But it was raised again in the context of genetic genealogy. How much of your family tree have you identified? If you and/or your DNA match haven’t built out your family trees, how confident can you be in determining your most recent common ancestor?

Since the majority of my most recent research has been with the goal of connecting my family tree with those of my AncestryDNA shared matches, I thought I’d try to answer this question. I started with a table based on one shared by The Genetic Genealogist.

Ancestor count chart

As you can see, I’ve identified everyone in my pedigree from myself through my 3rd great grandparents. I’m missing two of my 4th great grandparents and 36—holy cow!—of my 5th great grandparents. Not surprisingly, the number rises even more the further back I go. All told, I know only 477 out of 2,046 direct ancestors going back 10 generations. Only 23%.

Why does this matter?

The majority of my AncestryDNA matches fall into the 4th through 6th cousin category. This means we are expected to share ancestors in the 3rd great grandparent to 5th great grandparent range. I’ve sometimes found a closer relationship and sometimes a more distant relationship, but generally that range is correct, give or take a generation or two for either myself or my match.

If I—or my match—haven’t identified those ancestors, then I’ve little chance of determining how our DNA matches. It also makes it much more of a challenge to break through brickwall ancestors if I can’t find commonalities—even if just by surname—in my shared matches’ family trees. I have been building out trees for some of those matches. But with more than 500 matches in the 4th cousin or closer category, I can’t do that for everyone.

Knowing these ancestors not only permits us to identify a common ancestor, but also allows us to say with confidence that we don’t share ancestors on another line.

Pennsylvania German Motif Sampler by Amanda Deischer

Kris Hocker on 21 Dec 2017

Amanda Deischer sampler

This is a needlework sampler by Amanda Deischer. The image was sent to me by Amy Finkel of Samplings, an antique sampler and needlework dealer, of Philadelphia (thanks, Amy!).

This is what she had to say about the sampler:

It’s a classic Pennsylvania German motif sampler and the handsome red and blue silk on crisp white linen was used by 19th century samplermakers in this community as well. After it’s framed it will be added to our Current Selections in January.
~Amy

According to the National Museum of American History, samplers were the method by which young women, not only learned basic needlework skills, but also showed off these skills to prospective mates. As such, they are an artifact that provides insight into the education of girls in American society during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

“The emergence of large numbers of these samplers has resulted in much research in diaries, account books, letters, newspaper ads, local histories, and published commentary that is helping to illuminate the lives of women in early America.”¹

It appears that Amanda stitched this sampler in 1852. The year appears at the end of the second row of needlework. She would have been approximately 18 or 19 years old, depending on the exact date of the work.² I recognize the images as classic Pennsylvania Dutch motifs. German was spoken at home in my mother’s family into the 1940s. I’ve seen evidence in some of my family lines that it was the primary language more than 100 years after those families had settled in Pennsylvania. It would not surprise me at all to learn that Amanda’s family was the same.

Amanda Deischer was the daughter of Peter Deischer (1793-1861) and Anna Maria Trump (1792-1874) of Hereford Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. She was born 17 June 1833 and died at the young age of 23 on 17 October 1856. She was buried at Zion’s Evangelical Lutheran Church cemetery in Zionsville, Upper Milford Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.

Amanda’s older sister Judith married Joseph Snyder, son of Henry and Sarah (Wißler) Schneider, about 1852 or so. They were my 4x great grandparents.

Building Pedigrees for Shared Matches How DNA Matches Helped Me to Better Understand Jacob Schneider's Paper Trail

Kris Hocker on 18 Dec 2017

A funny thing happened as I researched the pedigrees of the AncestryDNA matches I shared with my presumed Snyder cousins. A specific surname kept showing up. And it wasn’t Snyder.

I’ve been trying to prove that my four times great grandfather, Henry, was the son of Jacob Schneider and his wife Catharine of Upper Hanover Township, Montgomery County. Part of that effort has involved working with my AncestryDNA matches to find potential Snyder matches and determine how we match. I believe I’ve identified three Snyder cousins—one possible descendant of Henry’s brother Samuel, and two descendants of a potential sibling Jacob Snyder.

To help organize my research, I entered these three individuals (in orange, below) into their own version of the spreadsheet I’ve been using to track my DNA cousins. One column includes a list of our Shared Matches from AncestryDNA.

I used this to identify individuals who turned up over and over again and entered them into the spreadsheet with their Shared Match list. This gave me a list of top candidates for additional research.

DNA match spreadsheet

Some of them had family trees; most did not. Still, I was able to start building family trees on Ancestry for some of these individuals using searches on Google, Ancestry, FamilySearch, and—where possible—Facebook. A lot of it was “pinging” names to see what I could find online, especially possible associates or family members. If I was able to get to parents or grandparents, I was sometimes able to locate obituaries which helped fill in the tree to the point which I could use census and other records on Ancestry and FamilySearch.

All told I was able to locate ancestors who resided in the Upper Hanover Township/East Greenville area and/or were members of the New Goshenhoppen Reformed Church for four of the Shared Matches (marked blue in the Shared Matches column). They all could be traced back to one of two families. A fifth included one of the surnames, but I haven’t been able to tie it to the same couple, yet.

Who were these people? Conrad Nuss and his wife Maria Margaretha Roeder.

The Nuss/Roeder Family

Conrad Nuss, son of Jacob and Anna Maria (Reiher) Nuss, was born 17 March 1743, Upper Salford Township, Montgomery County, and died 18 March 1808 in Upper Hanover Township.¹ He married Maria Margaretha Roeder, daughter of Johann Michael and Maria Susanna (Zimmerman) Roeder, at New Goshenhoppen on 22 August 1769.² She was born 27 June 1745.

They had the following children (italics indicates descendant matches):

Catharina Nuss, born 3 May 1770³
Jacob Nuss, born 22 September 1771⁴ and died 1857⁵
Susanna Nuss, born 3 November 1773⁶ and died before 14 Feb 1775⁷
Anna Maria Nuss, born 4 May 1775⁸ and died 29 August 1867⁹
Johannes Nuss, born 4 September 1780 and died 13 March 1852¹⁰
Elisabeth Nuss, born 25 December 1752¹¹ and died 30 April 1843¹²
Susanna Catharine Nuss, born 5 May 1785¹³
Michael Nuss, born 16 June 1787¹⁴ and died 2 October 1858¹⁵
Anna Margaretha Nuss, born 12 July 1789¹⁶
Daniel Roeder Nuss, born 19 June 1791 and died 21 December 1867¹⁷
Sarah Nuss, born 7 March 1795 and died 25 July 1844¹⁸

It turns out that I had already researched the Conrad Nuss family. Why? Remember Jacob Schneider’s FAN Club? There were connections between Jacob and members of the Nuss family, but I didn’t realize their importance.

Jacob Snyder’s FAN Club

Connection #1

On 2 April 1810, Jacob Schneider purchased 85 acres of land in Upper Hanover Township from Henry and Margaretha Roeder.¹⁹ This land adjoined that of John George Brey, John Griesemer, Andreas Gräber, Conrad Brey and Conrad Marks. Henry Roeder was the half-brother of Conrad Nuss’ wife Anna Margaretha Roeder.

If Catharina was Conrad’s daughter, then Jacob bought his land from her uncle.

Connection #2

Michael Gery was named as the guardian of Jonas Schneider in the 1829 Orphans Court records for Jacob’s estate.²⁰ This Michael was one of two men: Michael Gery, son of Jacob and Gertraut (Griesemer) Gery, or his nephew Michael Treichler Gery, son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Treichler) Gery Jr. The elder Michael married Anna Maria Nuss and the younger Michael married Sarah Nuss, both women Conrad’s daughters.

Regardless of which Michael Gery the document refers to, if Catharina was a Nuss, Jonas’ guardian was his uncle.

Connection #3

After Jacob’s death, Catharina and Henry, his administrators, sold his land on 21 November 1829.²¹ To whom? Michael Gery of Hereford Township. Both uncle and nephew of this name were living in Hereford Township. I have not done enough research to determine which one made the purchase.

However, in either case, if Catharina was a Nuss, then they sold the land to her brother-in-law.

Connection #4

Conrad Nuss and family were members of the New Goshenhoppen Church. Baptisms for most of his children—including including his eldest daughter Catharine—can be found in the church records. My four times great grandfather Henry and presumably several of his siblings—Jacob, Elizabeth, and Catharina—were confirmed and/or took communion at the church.²² Henry and sister Catharine were both buried in the church’s graveyard. It’s not uncommon for children to be baptized in their mother’s church.

If Catharina was Conrad’s daughter, then finding her children in New Goshenhoppen Church records—even though I don’t find their father Jacob—makes a lot of sense.

Connection #5

Daniel Nuss sponsored Carl Schneider’s baptism at New Goshenhoppen Reformed Church on 21 February 1836.²³ Carl was the son of Daniel and Sara Schneider. Jacob and Catharina had a son named Daniel.

If this is their son—and I think it possible—and Catharina was a Nuss, then her youngest brother sponsored her grandson.

Lastly, I guesstimated Catharina’s birth year at being between 1770 to 1775, based on Henry’s 1792 date of birth. I lean toward 1770 in the estimate. Conrad Nuss’ daughter Catharina was born in May 1770. This fits the family timeline and the picture that’s emerging from all the various pieces of evidence.

Conclusions

I was able to trace the ancestry of several DNA matches I share with presumed Snyder cousins back to Conrad and Maria Margaretha (Roeder) Nuss of Upper Hanover Township. My relationship to each—mostly 5th cousins—fits nicely into the 4th-6th cousin range, as estimated, with 20+ centimorgans of shared DNA.

Because Conrad’s son Johannes married Esther Schultz, daughter of Andrew Schultz and Charlotte Yeakel, my 5x great grandparents, two of these matches can not be used to prove a relationship to the Nuss family without using a chromosome browser. Which Ancestry does not have.

Fortunately, I’m also related to descendants of Elizabeth (Nuss) Hertzel, Michael Nuss, and Daniel Nuss, three of Conrad and Margaretha’s other children. This supports the idea of a familial connection between Henry Schneider and his potential grandparents Conrad and Margaretha.

Without the DNA evidence, the facts found in the paper trail did not connect for me. I knew they were meaningful, but I did not know exactly how. Knowing the connection could be through the Nuss—not Gery, Brey or Griesemer—family and their associations helps to explain the evidence found in the documentation.

Based on this research, I’m hypothesizing that Henry’s mother, Catharina, was the eldest daughter of Conrad Nuss and Maria Margaretha Roeder.

Addendum

When I mentioned this research and the conclusions to my Mom, she said, “Oh, yes. Nuss is very common up around East Greenville. My dad told me we’re related to them.” Thanks, Mom.

The Snyder Connection Inching Closer to Proof of Henry's Parentage

Kris Hocker on 5 Dec 2017

Ever since I discovered that Heinrich Schneider (aka Henry Snyder) of Upper Hanover Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania was the father of my 3x great grandfather Joseph Snyder, I’ve been on a mission to trace the family back further.

I discovered a couple who may be Henry’s parents—Jacob Schneider, who died in 1829, and his wife Catharina. Montgomery County Orphans Court records list Jacob’s children as:

Henry
Jacob
Elizabeth
Catharine
Samuel
Daniel
Michael
John
Sarah
Jonas

Henry served as one of the administrator’s of Jacob’s estate.¹ Sarah and Jonas were both underage as of 19 October 1829. Sarah, however, was over 14 years-old, so she was born between 19 October 1808 and 19 October 1815.² Jonas was under 14 years-old; he was born after 19 October 1815 and before 19 October 1829.³

In September, I located a gravestone for a Catharine Snyder, born 24 January 1793 and died 24 August 1877, in the New Goshenhoppen Church cemetery in East Greenville. She was buried in the same plot as Henry’s daughters and son-in-law, indicating she was family. I believe her to be Henry’s sister and my 4x great aunt.

I traced one of my AncestryDNA matches’ family back to Samuel and Judith (Wolf) Snyder. I was able to determine that Judith was a daughter of Jacob and Magdalena (Brey) Wolf, and, therefore, sister to my 3x great grandfather Joel Wolf.⁴ But since Samuel had a brother named Jonas,⁵ he may have been a son of Jacob and Catharina, and thus my blood relative, too, making “E” doubly related to me.

Recently, I found two matches who trace their ancestry back to Jacob Snyder (1796-1882) and Anna Maria Fluck (1800-1870). To the best of my determination, Snyder is our only common surname. Jacob and Maria resided in Springfield Township, Bucks County, not far from Upper Hanover Township where my presumed ancestor Jacob (Sr.) owned land.⁶ This Jacob was born 9 January 1796,⁷ making him only four years younger than Henry.

Jacob Sr.’s household had 3 males born after 1790 as enumerated in the 1800 census⁸ and one male aged 10-15 in 1810⁹, making it possible that this Jacob was Henry’s younger brother. Jacob Schneider, presumably Henry’s brother, was confirmed at New Goshenhoppen Evangelical Lutheran Church on 1 April 1815, aged 17 years.¹⁰ It’s not an exact match, but I’m keeping it as a definite possibility given the DNA matches.

Both of these matches descend through Jacob and Maria’s son Joseph, through children of both of his wives. Both appear in my Shared Matches list for the other. One of them also matches “E,” the descendant of Samuel and Judith (Wolf) Snyder, but does not have the surname Wolf in her family tree.

Assuming that we all match through children of Jacob and Catharina (___) Schneider, this is what our tree would look like.

I match each of them a little over 20cMs on 2 segments, according to AncestryDNA. These numbers are consistent with the proposed relationships fifth cousin (T), fourth cousin once removed (T2 and E). Unfortunately, they’re also consistent with a range of other cousin relationships, too.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, I can’t pinpoint the relationship to these matches with certainty. I believe that the Snyder family is likely the connection—Jacob fits given his dates and locations. So, my working hypothesis is that Jacob was the son of Jacob and Catharina (___) Schneider. I’m going to continue to work through our shared matches to see if I can identify additional points of connection.

Who knows? I might even determine Catharina’s maiden name.

John Weidman (1756-1830) Continued Was He Christopher Weidman's Son?

Kris Hocker on 21 Jun 2016

In my last post, I posited that John Weidman (1756-1830) could have been the son of Christopher³ Weidman (Martin², Mathias¹), but wasn’t the son of a member of President Buchanan’s direct family. Can we prove that he was (or wasn’t) the son of Christopher?

Christopher Weidman wrote his last will and testament on 20 March 1777. He names his “beloved wife Anna Maria,” his daughters Anna Maria and Catharine, and his sons “Christophel Weidman & John Weidman.”¹ He bequeathed his sons all the personal and real estate that he owned that he hadn’t specifically left to his wife and daughters. He also named his sons as his executors. On 10 December 1794, Christopher and John Weidman received Letters Testamentary on Christopher Sr.’s estate.

Christopher Jr. and his wife Eva sold 95 acres 30 perches of land from her father Wendel Horning’s estate to John Weidman on 20 May 1792.² At the time, Christopher was of Cocalico Township and John was of Warwick Township. Apparently, John sold the land sometime before 1 April 1797, because John Bricker used it as collateral for a mortgage from John Weidman “of the Town of Lebanon” on that date.³ John Bricker was the son of Christian and Barbara (Kissinger?) Brücher. Barbara was Christopher Sr.’s second wife.

On 21 December 1798, Christopher Striegel and his wife Catharine, Christopher’s daughter, sold to “John Weidman of the Town and Township of Lebanon” all their right and title to three tracts of land that Christopher Sr. had owned at the time of his death.⁴

On 20 February 1826, John Weidman “of East Hanover Township in the County of Lebanon” quitclaimed his half share of his father’s land to Michael Schebler of Cocalico Township.⁵ This deed specifically names John as one of the sons of Christopher Sr. It also mentions both of Christopher’s daughters: Catharine, wife of Christopher Striegel, and Anna Maria, wife of Abraham Forney, and states that Christopher Sr.’s widow was now deceased.

According to this deed, Christopher Jr. petitioned the Orphans Court to hold his father’s land and they granted it to him for £1,854. He was to pay the other heirs their shares of this amount. It appears however, that he didn’t. So the other heirs sold their shares of the estate. As reported above, Catharine and her husband Christopher sold their share to her brother John in 1798 when they were living in Virginia. Anna Maria and her husband Abraham sold their share to Michael Schebler on 3 April 1820.⁶ Six years later, John also sold his shares to Michael Schebler. Christopher Jr. died 4 December 1824.⁷ His administrators, sons Henry and William Weidman, sold his share of his father’s lands to Michael Schebler, through his assignee Samuel Eberle.⁸

John Weidman of Union Forge, Lebanon County wrote his last will and testament on 6 June 1830.⁹ He names his wife Elizabeth, son Jacob B. Weidman, daughter Elizabeth wife of Rev. Daniel Ulrich, daughter Maria wife of Dr. John Mish. These children are consistent with the John Weidman Esq. who served in the Revolutionary War.¹⁰

Since John’s wife Catharine died in 1794, Elizabeth was presumably a later wife.¹¹ John makes specific mention of his “wife’s house, stable and fences, situate in the Borough of Lebanon, and which she still owns as her own property.”¹² This indicates to me that she may have been living there at one time, that perhaps that was where they met and married. After Catharine’s death in 1794, John would have had three, possibly four young children. During this time period, most widowers in that situation would have remarried within a couple of years—when John was known to be of Lebanon Borough (see below).

Looking at a timeline for John Weidman, son of Christopher, from these documents, we get:

20 May 1792: of Warwick Township (Lancaster County)
1 Apr 1797: of Lebanon Borough (Dauphin County)
21 Dec 1798: of Lebanon Borough (Dauphin County)
20 Feb 1826: of East Hanover Township (Lebanon County)
6 Jun 1830: of Union Forge (East Hanover Township, Lebanon County)

We can add more by looking at census records.

1793: Warwick Township (Lancaster County)¹³
4 Aug 1800: East Hanover Township (Lebanon County)¹⁴
6 Aug 1810: East Hanover Township (Lebanon County)¹⁵
7 August 1820: [East] Hanover Township (Lebanon County)¹⁶
1 Jun 1830: [East] Hanover Township (Lebanon County)¹⁷

While the deeds pretty much identify John Weidman of East Hanover Township as the son of Christopher Weidman, the additional documents fill in the time between the deeds. Biographies of John’s descendants indicate that he served in the Revolutionary War.

So, I’m reasonably certain that the John Weidman who wrote his will in 1830 was the son of Christopher Weidman Sr. of Cocalico Township and a Revolutionary War veteran.

John Weidman’s (1756-1830) Pedigree Was He Really Related to President Buchanan?

Kris Hocker on 16 Jun 2016

An issue recently came up in a Facebook group that I belong to for my Weidman surname. A fellow family researcher had found information that connected our Weidmans to President James Buchanan.

I’ve never been terribly interested in making connections to famous persons in my family research. My ancestors were all farmers and laborers with a few shoemakers, innkeepers, tailors and such thrown in the mix. And I’m good with that.

Here is the page of information relating to the issue in question.¹

Reading the information, I was nodding. Yes, Martin Weidman had a son named Jacob. True, Jacob had a son named Christopher. I don’t have much information on Christopher, so this was looking like new data to add to the database. Christopher and his wife had a son named John born in 1756 who fought in the Revolutionary War…

Wait! What?

Right away I knew this information couldn’t be correct. Jacob Weidman, son of Martin and Anna Margaretha (Still) Weidman, was born 12 March 1736.² There’s no way that Jacob had a grandson born when he was twenty years-old. No way.

Do the math. It just doesn’t add up.

Jacob’s son Johannes Fridrich was born 17 August 1764,³ so he wasn’t the John referred to in the article. What about Jacob’s older brother Christopher? Did he have a son named John? Maybe Jacob was incorrectly added to the pedigree.

Christopher Weidman

Reviewing my information I found that, yes, Christopher and his wife Anna Maria did, in fact, have a son named John. I didn’t actually have birth information for him, but a birth in 1756 was consistent with what I knew about his siblings.

What wasn’t consistent was a mother named Sarah Buchanan. Where was that coming from? Was I mistaken in the name of Christopher’s wife?

I went back through the information I had on Christopher. He was born 7 March 1724 in Gräben, Baden-Durlach.⁴ He came to Pennsylvania with his parents and grandparents, arriving in Philadelphia on 27 August 1733.⁵ After their arrival, Christopher’s family settled in what—at the time—was often referred to in official documents as Cocalico Township in Lancaster County, though today it’s Clay Township.⁶

I found a record of a marriage between “Christopher Wittman” and “Mary Adams” at Muddy Creek Lutheran Church in Cocalico Township on 20 June 1748.⁷ Christopher would have been twenty-four years old in 1748.

In his last will and testament, written 20 March 1777, Christopher named his wife Anna Maria. I have baptismal and communion records at Emanuel Lutheran and Reiher’s Reformed churches naming Christopher and his wife Anna Maria from 1769 through 1777.⁸ Deeds from his estate settlement, however, name his wife as Barbara.⁹ He married Barbara (Kissinger) Bücher, widow of Christian Brücher, 8 November 1785.¹⁰ So, his wife Anna Maria died sometime between 6 July 1777 and 8 November 1785.

I found no evidence that Christopher had a wife named Sarah. Unfortunately, I can’t positively rule it out either.

Mary Adams

Part of the problem with Weidman research is the lack of consistency of the spelling of the surname in historical records. Add in another unrelated family named Witman who also lived in the same general location and you’ve got a problem. Add a contemporary of Christopher Weidman named Christopher Witman… well I’m sure you see where I’m going. Since some records list known Weidman family members with the “Witman” spelling, it’s a pretty tangled web to unweave sometimes.

Since I didn’t find any records naming Christopher’s wife between the marriage in 1748 and 1769 baptismal records, I decided to research Mary Adams. Who was she? And can I document connections between her family and the Weidmans?

Christopher and his wife Anna Maria sponsored children of George and Catharina (Weidman) Wächter,¹¹ Martin and Anna Catharina (Enck) Laber,¹² George and Margaretha (Weidman) Illig,¹³ Michael and Susanna (___) Rogh (or Roth),¹⁴ and Christopher and Catharina (Weidman) Stichel.¹⁵ Anna Maria also sponsored a daughter of Jacob and Anna Maria (___) Enck.¹⁶ No obvious signs of a sibling of “Mary Adams” there.

William Adams of Cocalico Township wrote his last will and testament on 21 November 1772.¹⁷ He does not name his daughter, but does name his grandsons, John and William Witman. So, most likely Mary Adams was not only the daughter of William Adams, but also deceased prior to 21 November 1772 when William wrote his will. Futhermore, while our Christopher Weidman did have a son named John, to the best of my knowledge, he did not have a son named William.

There was also connection between the family of Christopher Witman Sr. and William Adams. On 7 April 1749, Christopher Witman and his wife Barbara sold 246 acres of their 356 acres in Cocalico Township to William Adams.¹⁸ This Christopher Witman wrote his last will and testament 18 February 1765 and it was proven on 12 September 1770.¹⁹ In it he names his son Christopher.

Apparently, while our Christopher was married to a woman named Anna Maria, she quite possibly wasn’t Mary Adams, daughter of William Adams. She most likely married Christopher “Witman” in 1748 and was deceased before 1772.

Sarah Buchanan

So, did Christopher marry a member of President Buchanan’s family? A Sarah Buchanan? What do we know about President Buchanan’s family?

I didn’t know anything, but a quick internet search revealed a bio of the president. He was the son of Irish immigrant “James Buchanan, Sr. (1761–1821), a businessman, merchant, and farmer, and Elizabeth Speer, an educated woman (1767–1833).”²⁰ So, immediately, we know Sarah couldn’t have been the president’s sister, not since her alleged son was born in 1756 and her father was born in 1761 in Ireland. She couldn’t have been an aunt either—though James Buchanan Sr. did have a sister named Sarah who married William Morrison—unless said aunt was significantly older than her brother. Again, the timeframe does not fit.

Conclusion

While I neither confirmed nor disproved that our Christopher Weidman was married to a woman named Sarah Buchanan, I do not believe he could have been married to a “Sarah Buchanan” from President Buchanan’s family. In fact, I found zero evidence that he had a wife named Sarah.

However, I believe I’ve also proven—at least to myself—that the conclusion that he married Anna Maria Adams in 1748 may, quite likely, be incorrect. I now think that marriage was between the Adams and “Witman” families, not our Weidmans. At a minimum, I’ll need to do more research.

Now I’m adding another item to my research agenda.

Who was Anna Maria (___) Weidman?

Tag: Family Research

Wish I Had a Clue

Three Michael Benders:

Why does this matter?

The Nuss/Roeder Family

Connection #1

Connection #2

Connection #3

Connection #4

Connection #5

Conclusions

Addendum

Conclusion

Christopher Weidman

Mary Adams

Sarah Buchanan

Conclusion