Tag: Maternal Line

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.

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 fourth 52 Ancestors post, part of week three.

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:

1.  Cornelius Kline (3 Jul 1826-18 Feb 1914)
2. Elizabeth (Kline) Brey (15 Nov 1827-30 Oct 1917)
3. Reuben M. Kline (12 Dec 1832-12 Nov 1912)
4. Henry M. Kline (28 Apr 1834-17 Jun 1920)
5. Lydia Amanda (Kline) Witmer (26 Mar 1836-30 Mar 1926)
6. 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.

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 third 52 Ancestors post, part of week two.

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.

Evangelical St. Marien Church in Flensburg, Germany © A.Savin (Wikimedia Commons · WikiPhotoSpace)

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. 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

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 second 52 Ancestors post, part of week one.