BAVARIAN Hans MOSER c1623-1696 was from Austria, not Switzerland
Posted on January 15, 2024 13 Comments
Please excuse my rant. You can’t do proper genealogy without historical context. You shouldn’t go connecting people to your tree willy-nilly without evidence. A few years back my friend Paul Chiddwicks had a blog post Are you a Genealogist or Family Historian? As I go about teaching genealogy and writing about family history I would say I am both. However, major problems arise should you not brush up on geography and history. We all make mistakes but sadly—one mistake long ago proliferates like a cancer.
Remember my Blog post Mind the Gap? This is another cautionary tale. Boat loads of trees have a Hans MOSER bc 1621-3 as the son of Andreas Johann Wilhelm MOSER born on 12 October 1603, in Rothenbach, Bern, Switzerland nor is it Hanß Reichardt Moser born the son of Johann Wilhelm MOSER 6 Apr 1621 Schwäbisch Hall, Baden-Württemberg. There is not a shred of proof of either of these and the historical record says Hans was from Lower Austria. More on that shortly. So lets face some facts, shall we? Let’s start with the SURNAME
SURNAME MOSER
Whether German, Austrian or Swiss it is generally agreed that the surname MOSER comes from “Moos” meaning a marsh, moor, or bog and “er” the person coming from such a place. So in this case MOSERs are “the people of the marsh” as was coined by Charles Recker over fifty years ago. A moor or marsh is generally peaty and dominated by grasses and sedges, often near the bench or lowland of a river. Although it may have a negative connotation today, these were rich, fertile farmlands. As a habitational name it may have been adopted by widely scattered individuals.
As a coincidental side note, when Johan ‘Martin’ MOSER settles in Pennsylvania it is at New Hanover near the Swamp River, Montgomery County and he is a member of the Lutheran “Swamp Church.”
As a habitational name there is no relationship to be inferred by sharing the surname MOSER. Widely scattered unrelated people may have taken up the name at different times. The largest concentration (rounded) of MOSERs today and the rank of surname within the country:
- America 40,000; 1,071th most popular surname
- Germany 36,000; 194th
- Austria 26,000; 9th
- Switzerland 19,000; 17th
Today Hans is the 8th most popular forename in Germany and 75th in Lower Austria. Hans is a derivation of Johan or Johannes which both remain popular. So the idea that you can simply take a name like Hans MOSER and connect it to a random individual born around 1623 is absurd. But this looks to be what has happened. Even without other evidence to the contrary it just doesn’t make sense. First the forenames Andreas, Wilhelm or Reichardt are not found in our Bavarian MOSER families.
To write the proper story of your ancestors one must know the context in which they lived. Between 1618 and 1648 the Thirty Years’ War was one of the longest and most destructive wars in European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died directly from the war, or from disease and famine. Switzerland enjoyed relative stability because they remained neutral during the war, whereas Germany was decimated. So the idea that a Swiss MOSER suddenly decides to travel 310 miles to a decimated area of Germany doesn’t make much sense.
HANS MOSER’S ARRIVAL IN GERMANY
The following is the single most important bit of evidence as to the time of Hans MOSER’s arrival in Bavaria and his place of origin as given to me by Gary MOSIER from the Accounts of the jurisdiction of Colmberg and Leuterhausen STA Nüremberg, RA Colmberg 316, Item 117 sheet 94:
Hanss MOSER, Hetzweiler, 1653 Hans MOSER peasant farmer from Unterösterrich for the acquisition of Leonhardt FINISTERER’s peasant property at Hetzweiler, owes the purchase price of 20 Guilders, that he has promised to settle in annual installments of 4 Guilders, payable at Candelmas. [Important Feast day known as the beginning of the “farmer’s year” in Germany and often when accounts were settled.]
The year of immigration is likely 1652. Hetzweiler is contiguous with Wießenkirchberg and Brunst. On the map below Altengrueth is spelled Altengruet. Leonhardt FINISTERER’s farm was called the GUTH Farm. There was a Martin GUTH from GroßGerungs, Austria who lived in Ansbach-Eyb, Bavaria about 13 miles east of Hetzweiler. And there were FINISTERERs in Wießenkirchberg as early as 1557. In 1631 FINISTERERS lived at Hetzweiler and were associated with Weihrsmühle. A Johann Leohard FINISTERER died at Gutenhard in 1652 and an educated guess is that Hans MOSER took over the small farm in the area of Weihrsmuhle or Gutenhart before later settling less than a mile away at Altengruth. Today there is a Gut Weihrsmuhle and perhaps that was originally the “GUTH” estate or farm or at Gutenhart.
Tax Roll of Hetzweiler 1646-1654: Account of the district of Brunst at Colmberg and Leuterhausen STA Nüremberg, RA Colmberg 225/5 1, Item 27 [First person listed is taxable owner in 1646 second is taxable owner in 1654]:
- Hanns HOFFMAN
- Hans KRAUS at Guth Farm Now (1654) Valentine RUCKER. Valenetine’s first child was born in 1652 at Brunst; subsequent children at Hetzweiler. He died 1676 at the age of 50 (b.c 1626)
- Georg SHARVOGEL at Hof Farm: Now (1654) Matthias HOCHLEITHER. First child and subsequent born 1654 Hetzweiler
- Leonard LÖDTER at Hof Farm: Now (1654) Matthias and Hanns STEINER ?
- Leonhardt KRAUS at Hof Farm: Now (1654) Paul DAUBER (DAUBINGER) first children born Hetzweiler 1659; he died 1688 age 74 (bc1618) He md 2nd Maria KAPFER of GroßGerungs Lower Austria
- Wolff HAUFF at Guth Farm: Now (1654) Wolff (Wolfgang) GÄRTTNER (GÄRTNER) First child born Hetzweiler 1654; Brunst 1659. He died Eckartsweiler 1668 at age 74 (bc 1594) He married Margaret WACKER 1655 Wife of Martin LÖSCHEL his father from Griesbach Lower Austria
- HANS FINSTERER [FINNISTERERs in Weiẞenkirchberg as early as 1557] at Halboff Farm now (1654) Hanns HAFFNER (HÄFFNER) Lower Austria his widow md 2nd Thomas SOLZENDALLER from Griesbach
- Hanns FUNCKH (FUCHS?) at Guth Farm: Now (1654) Hans KÖRBAN (KÖRBER) [family in Hetzweiler since 1565]
- Leonhardt FINSTERER at Guth Farm: Now (1654) Hanns MOSER Lower Austria
Now let’s take a look at why Hans MOSER and perhaps the DAUBINGER, GÄRTNER and KÖRBER families immigrated from Niederösterreich, aka Lower Austria to the Weiẞenkirchberg area.
Niederösterreich: Lower Austria
Niederösterreich aka Lower Austria is the northwestern-most of the nine states of Austria. It is further divided into four quarters known as Viertel. The most likely origin of our Hans is in Waldviertel, or translated the Forest Quarter. The Waldviertel is bounded on the south by the Danube River and on the north it borders the Bohemian part of Czech Republic. The Austrians and Bavarians share a common ancestry. They have a common political affiliation with the old Duchy of Bavaria, shared traditions, Bavarian dialect, art, folk style and clothing. Historically the Bavarians are said to be descendants of the ancient Marcomanni, a Germanic tribe.
When Martin Luther in 1517, then a Catholic monk, listed 95 criticisms of the Catholic Church, Protestantism began to spread throughout Austria. Excesses within the church were part of the problem.
“A report by the papal legate Commendone on a visit to the Wilhering monastery in 1569 sheds light on the state of the Catholic Church in Austria: The Eucharist was not kept, the last rites were not recognized, there were no silent masses, Lutheran books like the Bible translation was found, the abbot Matthäus Schweitzer, who was only twenty-seven years old, interpreted the holy scriptures according to his own opinion like the Lutherans, the convent leaned strongly towards Lutheranism in matters of faith, although remnants of Catholic life were still present, etc.” Osterreichische Exulanten in Franken und Schwaben, Georg Russam 1989 p 36
By the turn of the century the majority of the population of Austria was Protestant. For example: Arbesbach in 1530 was less than 10% Catholic. Rappotenstein in 1643 was less than 5%. In 1596 when Ferdinand II came to power [the representative of the Habsburgs and the Holy Roman Empire] things changed drastically for the Protestants. In the year 1600 Lutherans were forbidden to baptize. By 1620 Lutheran nobles were charged with rebellion and their estates were confiscated. By 1628 the Proestestants were forced to convert or emigrate. Most peasants had no options, so they no longer practiced their faith openly. The Emperor set up a commission who scoured the country looking for Protestants. They confiscated and burned their Lutheran bibles, books and records. They took their children for conversion to Catholicism and generally spreading terror among the people. Many still refused to become Catholic. They were to become the Exulanten or Exiles.
EXULANTEN: The Exiles
During the Thirty Years War [1618 to 1648], starvation warfare and disease decimated Europe. The War was primarily a religious conflict between Roman Catholics and Protestants that eventually included most of Europe taking up sides. As with most religious conflicts there were political agendas and territorial disputes. Adding to the losses were typhus and plague along with famine. Areas of Germany and Bohemia suffered the highest losses. The population of Germany had been reduced by 40 percent or more in the rural areas, and 33 percent in the cities. The Protestant who were forced out of Catholic Austria had one silver lining to all the dark clouds. They had a place that needed them. They came to Franconia to farm the fields as this was a Protestant area of Germany which had been deeply depopulated.
“The monastery office of St. Gumbertus (Ansbach) [Ansbach is the district where Wießenkirchberg is located] reported in November 1634: Of the 421 estates and farms belonging to the monastery in the wide area around Ansbach, only 123 are left; Of the remaining 298, the residents died or ran away.” Georg Russam 1989 p114
In 1652 the last remaining Lutheran refugees from all over Austria gathered in the counties which were situated in the state of Lower Austria. Each was interrogated individually between 1652-1654 by the Imperial Commission for the Re-Reformation. In the final report of that commission, the “Verzeichnis der Neubekehrten im Waldviertel Codex Vindobonesis 7757” each of those interrogated is mentioned by name. Arranged and published by Georg Kuhr and Gerhard Bauer 1992.
There were 22,000 Lutheran’s interrogated in 1652-1654. Of those in ”Lower Austria” there was a total of 72 MOSERs, mainlyin two areas. The first around the villages near Rappottenstein [Castle pictured at beginning of blog post] and the other alone the Danube near Spitz. 28 lived near Rappottenstein. It is likely that is where we find our Hans MOSER. Although to be fair it is only 25 miles from Rappotenstein to Sankt Michael near Spitz. Of those MOSERS there are 12 Johann [ Hanns ] MOSERs as follows [ Number Parish in Austria (distance from) total MOSERS from parish]:
- 3 in Rappottenstein (+1 Phillip, 1 Georg, 1 Abraham MOSER) 5 total
- 1 in Großgerungs (8 miles from Rappottenstein)
- 1 in Schönbach (6 miles from Rappottenstein)
- 1 in Sankt Michael (+1 Simon MOSER; 1 mile from Spitz)
- 2 in Weißenkirchen (+2 Georg, 1 Maria; 3 miles from Spitz)
- 2 in Maria Laach (+1 Barhtholomaus; 1 Georg, 1 Barabara, 1 Rebecca, 1 Rosina MOSER; 7 miles from Spitz) 7 total
- 1 in Untermelisling (+1 Sebald, 1 Töchter; 12 Miles from Spitz) 3 total
- 1 in Gars am Kamp (+1 Barbara; 31 miles from Spitz) 2 total
Additionally Hans had 3 sons that may be common forenames in his family: Hans Adam, Johan Philip and Hans Michael. In the lists those forenames appear with MOSER as follows:
- Philip MOSER 1 Rappottenstein
- Michael MOSER 1 Kirchbach (2 miles from Rappottenstein)
- Michael MOSER 2 in Marbach am Wald (3 miles from Rappottenstein)
- Michael MOSER 1 Arbesbach (7 Miles from Rappottenstein)
- Adam MOSER 1 Großpertholz (15 miles from Rappottenstein)
- Philip MOSER 1 Aggsbach (6 miles from Spitz)
Speaking of forenames these percentages of forenames come from Eberhard Krauß Exulanten aus dem westlichen Waldviertal in Franken 1997 pg 68 and that from “The Directory of New Converts in the Waldviertal.” Note the forename Adam or Philip does not make the list of the top 12. And of course Hans and Maria are the most common forenames . Rank Male and Female.
- 1. Hans 16.8% Maria 17%
- 2. Georg 10.2%. Barbara 9.7%
- 3. Matthias 7.8% Catharina 9.0%
- 4. Michael 5.4% Anna 8.2%
- 5. Thomas 4.9% Elisabeth 6.0%
- 6. Paul 4.5% Susanna 5.9%
- 7. Andres 3.8% Eva 4.9%
- 8. Martin 3.7%. Margaretha 4.7%
- 9. Simon 3,7% Magdalena 4.1%
- 10. Wolff 3.4% Rosina 4.1%
- 11. Jacob 3.05% Ursula 4.1%
- 12. Stephan 2.7% Regina 3.1%
Since we do not know for sure which Johannes MOSER is ours we look to friends and family. Of the above Villages in Austria only the following have other immigrants to the area of Weißenkirchberg, Bavaria Germany. Town from: SURNAMES
- Großgerungs : BINDER, BÜCHLER, EBERTS, EINFAULT, FESEL, HÖBEL, RECHBERGER, ROGNER, ROSENECKER, SCHMITZ, SINDEL,STEINLEIDNER, WITTEBSCHLAGER, WIZELBAUER, ZANZINGER, ZIMMERER
- Rappottenstein: EINFAULT, FISCHER, HEIDECKER, MAURER, SINDEL, STEINLEIDNER
- Arbesbach: AUER, FRAGNER, HABERECKER, HÖLLRIEGEL, KERSCHBAUM
- Großperholz: AUER, HITZGER
- Marbach am Wald: MAURER
- Griesbach * not above (Between Arbesbach & Großgerungs): DANZER, ORNTNER (who settle in Altengrueth)
Information on families from the books:
- Frederich Krauß Exulanten im Evang-Luth Dekant Feuctwangen 1999 and
- Eberhard Krauß Exulanten aus dem westlichen Waldviertal in Franken 1997
Hans MOSER “most likely” came from the area of Rappottenstein or Großgerungs if we play by the numbers. Rappottenstein is the village near the Rappottenstein Castle which was built in the late 12th century by Rapoto von KUENERING. It was one of many castles he built to protect his familiy’s lands. The castle was adjacent an ancient trade route. Großgerungs is a much larger and had a larger number of immigrants to Weißenkirchberg. However the towns are only 8 miles apart. So it would not be surprising if all the MOSERS in this area were related. You will note that in the list above that the same surnames appear in more than one village. It is not surprising that soem MOSERS stayed and converted to Catholicism. In Georg KUHRr’s article Östrreichische Exhulanten: Gründe der Auswanderung. Orte dew Zuwanderung und Bedeutung für Franken nach dem Dreiigjähringen Kreig 1987 he writes “especially in the western part [of Waldviertal] near Arbesbach , Rappottenstein and to the north Groß-Gerungs and Langschlag [about 4 miles west of Großpertholz] … over 90% of the residents remained with their Protestant faith. The Evangelicals had the support from Protestant rulers such as Wilhelm V. LANDAU of Rappottenstein, Achatius HACKLEBERGER V. Höhenberg at Arbesbach or den HERREN v RÄWEN in Marbach am Wald.”
The Adam MOSER in Großpertholz is intriguing since it is the name of Hans’ oldest son, Adam, and Adam names his oldest son. It is the only Adam among the 72 MOSERs listed as exiles. I hope those reading this find the evidence compelling that Hans MOSER was not from Switzerland. Of the 22,000 exiles at least 3,500 went from the Waldviertal to Franken [the specific part of Bavaria].
So our Hans MOSER was about thirty when and his wife Maria traveled out of Austria in 1653 and were welcomed into the community of Protestants celebrating at St. Wenzeslaus at Weißenkirchberg, in Bavaria, Germany. In 1627 alone Weißenkirchberg lost 257 people to the plague. At the end of the thirty years war only 22 households remained. Most of Mittelfranken was Protestant with small enclaves of Catholicism Kloster Sulz. Lutheran clergy and landowners welcomed the newcomers from Austria, as farmers were needed to grow food and tend the land and more parishioners were good for the local churches. A couple of relevant quotes from the article by Georg KUHR. As we learn some of these families already had a relationship with Weißenkirchberg.
“Interesting observations about the parish of Weißenkirchberg in Leuerhausen where Waldviertel farmers, after the sale of their cattle, brought out of Lower Austria, in Ansbach, attended service and the Lord’s Supper at Weßenkirchberg the Evang. The Rogner, Binder, Löschel, Zansinger, Nefischer, Einault farmers were attracted between 1637-1640. From 1642-1650 friends from the old homeland came in groups of 8-12 people at a time. We find about 150 people from Aresbach, Griersbach, Rappottenstein, who came after the counter-reformation.”
“In 1643 large numbers of cattle herders from Aresbeck, Rappottenstein, Wiesenfeld, Griesbach, Rohrof, Lembach and other areas of the Waldviertel sold their cattle in the area just outside Lower Austria and used the opportunity to commune in Weißenkirchberg [Franconia] according to the Lutheran manner. The same occurred again the next year and along with the cattle herders, others joined them including a sixty year old widow from Arlesbach that had not been able to commune as a Lutheran for several years. Some of them decided not to return home and resettled there.”
Immigration from the Austria to Franconia began about 1598 and lasted until about 1668. The highest numbers came in 1632 or later. They walked on foot traveling the well worn oxen path from Arbesbach in the Waldviertal, south to Grein on the Danube River then following the Danube north into Germany and on to Franconia. After the Thirty Years War cattle farmers from the Waldviertal found a welcome market for their cattle in Franconia, with good prices. As people began to emigrate they followed the path of those before them. By 1652 large numbers were immigrating. Through this period the records of the Weißenkirchberg church shows that about 41% of the marriages were of exulanten. These Lutheran areas of Germany became sanctuaries for the Austrian immigrants. As mentioned previously they shared the same language and customs as there new homeland. The exiles are credited with rebuilding areas ravaged by the war and revitalizing the Lutheran church in Franconia.
In the next Blog post we will explore the MOSERs life in Weißenkirchberg.
Kelly Wheaton @ 2024 – All Rights Reserved
German Migration to America: Johan Martin MOSER 1693-c.1743 Part Four
Posted on January 13, 2024 5 Comments
There are No coincidences!!! At least in this case, it is all connected. Back in Chapter One, remember that it was Daniel Falckner who wrote Accurate Tidings from Pennsylvania published in 1703. It was part travel information and part advertisement for Germans to immigrate to Pennsylvania. It may also be one of the “missives” referred to in the Diary of a Voyage: Rotterdam to Pennsylvania 1728 when the author writes: “O these liars!”
In 1704 Daniel FALCKNER became a legal agent of the Frankfort Company, along with Benjamin FURLEY who was William PENN’s land agent. This same Daniel FALCKNER is the founder of the first German Lutheran Church in America.
TIMELINE
- Between 1671 and 1677 William PENN visited Germany on behalf of the Quaker faith
- 1677 Benjamin FURLY, a Quaker Merchant, settles in Rotterdam. A friend of the famous Quaker George FOX and later agent to William PENN
- In 1681 King Charles II of England granted William PENN a large tract of land in America to offset debts owed Penn’s father, Admiral William PENN (that becomes Pennsylvania)
- Adam MOSER marries at Wörnitz, Bavaria
- 1693 Johan ‘Martin’ MOSER, son of Adam & is baptized at Wörnitz, Bavaria
- 1700 Daniel FALCKNER founds the first Lutheran Church in America 35 miles west of Philadelphia
- 1700 Adam MOSER, son of Adam and half brother to Martin is baptized at Wörnitz, Bavaria
- 1703 Daniel FALCKNER publishes his “Accurate Tidings from Pennsylvania” in German and is an agent for William PENN to recruit Germans to immigrate to Pennsylvania
- 1717 Martin MOSER marries Margaretha SCHWEMBAUER in Breitenau, Bavaria
- 1728 the Martin MOSER family and half brother Adam sail from Rotterdam to Philadelphia on the ‘James Goodwill’ with Reverend Caspar STÖEVER and his son.
- 1728 the Reverend Caspar STÖEVER and his followers from Germany settle at Daniel FALKNERs SWAMP, New Hanover, Pennsylvania
- 1734 Johan ‘Michael’ MOSER son of Martin and Margaretha is baptized by Reverend Caspar STÖEVER at
- 1743 Martin MOSER dies at New Hanover
- 1743 Martin MOSER’s daughter, Maria Barbara, receives her confirmation at the FALCKNER’s Swamp Church by Reverend Henry Melchior Muhlenberg
THE SWAMP LUTHERAN CHURCH
The New Hanover Lutheran Church, the original Falkner Swamp Church is located in New Hanover near Gilbertsville, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania [originally Berks County] about 35 miles northwest of Philadelphia. The historical marker at the corner of Swamp Pike and Lutheran Road [pictured above] marks the location of the original church. You can see the newer 1787 church in the background on right. It was referred to as “der Schwamm” [the swamp] The marker reads:
“The first German Lutheran Church in America was organized here by Daniel Falkner about 1700. From 1742-1761 Henry Melchior Muhlenberg served as pastor The present building 1/4 mile NE was erected in 1767”
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
We can see from the plaque below that Daniel FALCKNER and both John Casper STOEVER Senior and Junior served here.
The following are selected excerpts from “A History of the Lutheran Church in Pennsylvania (1638-1820) From the Original Sources” by Theodore Emanuel Schmauk. These quotes document the relationship between William PENN, Daniel FALCKNER and Johan Caspar STÖEVER Senior and Junior. The MOSERs accompanied the two STÖEVERs on the ‘James Goodwill.’ They also tell the story of the new land and church that the MOSERs joined. Daniel FALKNER preached at Falkner’s Swamp from about 1704 until 1714. Johan Caspar STÖEVERs, father and son, came here with the MOSER family in 1728. Both were preaching sermons aboard the ‘James Goodwill’, although Junior was not ordained. He is refused ordination by Daniel FALKNER. He is ordained 2 years after his arrival. This solidifies that the MOSERs traveled with the STÖVERs from Germany to Philadelphia and then to Falckner’s Swamp. Moreover in researching all the families aboard the ‘James Goodwill’ the MOSERS are the only ones known to settle at New Hanover, which had already been settled in 1700. All the others settled in communities in about a 30 mile radius. A bit more on the early church.
“When finally he [Daniel Falkner] returned to Pennsylvania, he was accompanied by several theological students, among whom was his brother, Justus Falckner, who subsequently had the honor of being the first clergyman to be regularly ordained in the Western world…On the return trip to Pennsylvania in 1700 Daniel Falckner is supposed to have brought over with him the Germans who located in the Swamp and constituted the first
permanent Lutheran congregation in the Province. These Germans must have left England on May 25, 1700, and
arrived in Philadelphia during the first days of August. Daniel and Justus Falckner were the legal representatives of Benjamin Furly, the agent of William Penn in Amsterdam, for the sale of Penn’s land. Daniel Falckner was the legal representative of the Frankfort I, and Company, to whom Penn had sold the Manatawny district of 22,000 acres, in which New Hanover lay… This congregation of New Hanover, or Falckner’s Swamp—the name the whole region has continued to bear after its founder—is the oldest Lutheran one in Pennsylvania of which we have any definite record, and is still in active existence.” p121-134
“The Gemeindschaftliches Schreiben of 1754 mentions Falckner, with Henkel and Stoever, as pastors who had been active in Pennsylvania in the period under their discussion. This tradition must have referred to Daniel Falckner and to his work at Falckner’s Swamp. That Falckner was conscientious in his appreciation of the office of the holy ministry is seen from the fact that years afterward, in spite of the pressing need of ministers for the Lutherans, he refused ordination to at least two young men who presented themselves to him as candidates.” …One of these was John Casper Stoever [Junior], to whom he refused… after hearing the young man’s sermon, for reasons unknown to us.” p132
“The Lutheran Church at Falckner Swamp is a large, hill-sheltered and well-watered lowland, fertile as any English meadow, and constituting an extensive section of Montgomery County, that bears the name of Daniel Falckner as a perpetual memorial to the Lutheran minister who two centuries ago opened this tract for settlement and civilization, and who at that time founded on this spot the oldest still existing German Lutheran church in the land. Set five miles inland from the Schuylkill, thirty-six and twenty-one miles respectively between Philadelphia and Reading, and bounded on the north by a range of hills which in the early days the Indians made their main
thoroughfare, Falckner Swamp rests in the heart of a rich country like, secluded paradise. On the north of the
great hollow meadow rise the South Mountains. To the east we see the ridge on the bank of the Sciota Creek. On the south run the Stone Hills and on the west Fox Hills….Mr. J. F. Sachse, says One of the first things he [Daniel Falckner] did in the new settlement was to organize a congregation, build a church, and hold services according to the Lutheran ritual. This humble structure, a mere rude log-cabin, without any attempt at ornamentation or architectural beauty…When the Rev. John Caspar Stoever arrived in Pennsylvania in 1728, he undoubtedly preached to the Lutheran congregation in the Swamp…The first catechetical class recorded in the church book is that of 1743. The names of those confirmed at this time include Maria Barbara Moser —daughter of widow Moser [This would be Martin Moser’s daughter and the widow Margaretha] …In this year the congregation had 250 communicants. Some of these came from a great distance…The earliest baptisms recorded by the new pastor Muhlenberg are of the year 1744.” p135-165
“In 1731 Rev. Stoever began regular services and the congregation in the Oley Hills was organized. In 1732 the Old Goshenhoppen and the New Goshenhoppen churches in the Perkiomen district and the Conewago church in McAllistertown in Hanover, York County, across the Susquehanna were established. In 1731 five baptisms of Stoever are credited to Oley ; in 1732, 1 to Oley and 3 to Colebrookdale ; in 1733, 5 to Oley Hills and 3 to Colebrookdale. The difference in dates would indicate that he had made four or five trips each year for the purpose of holding services. p242
Caspar STÖEVER arrived in 1728. “We know that in the year 1729 he officiated at some marriages and baptisms at Philadelphia and at Lancaster. He was not ordained. There was no one at hand who was capable of examining or
ordaining, or even of administering the Holy Sacraments in Pennsylvania. Baptisms were administered in case of
necessity by laymen. Under such circumstances Stoever, meeting the desire of the people, began the pastoral office in what are now Montgomery, Lancaster and Berks counties. p248
The “Records of Rev. John Casper Stoever [Jr] : baptismal and marriage, 1730-1779” Schantz, Franklin Jakob Fogel 1896 contain only one baptism record for the three children of Martin and Margaretha MOSER born in America. That record is for Johan Michael MOSER son of Johan Martin MOSER born 30 May 1734 and baptized 6 June 1734 at New Goshenhoppen [about 5 miles NE of Falckner Swamp]. The sponsor is John MOSER & wife Eva [This is Johan Georg Phillip MOSER, Martin’s brother, as he is the only one we know with a wife Eva].
The other two children are Johan Phillip MOSER bc 1730 and Johan Burkhardt MOSER bc 1736. It is likely that there baptisms were solemnized by another minister or lay person. Rev. STÖEVER’s records inducate he traveled to the dozen or so churches in the area regularly. As we see above Johan Michael was baptized not at New Hanover but nearby New Goshenhoppen.
CHILDREN OF MARTIN & MARGARETHA MOSER
Born in Breitenau
- Maria Magdalena MOSER bpt 15 Mar 1718. Died 28 Aug 1718
- Unnamed Child stillborn/died 5 Jun 1719
- Maria Margaretha MOSER bpt 7 Jun 1720; married 1st 1741 in Salford, Montgomery, Pennsylvania to Jacob STEINBRUCH. Married 2nd 1756 Sebastian WERNER. Had 2 children
- Georg Fredrich ‘Frederick’ MOSER bpt 3 Mar 1722. Married at New Hanover 22 Apr 1750 Barbara LOESER (LUSER) Moved to Orange Co, North Carolina. Had 12 children.
- Maria Barbara MOSER bpt. 12 Dec 1723. Confirmation 1743 New Hanover, PA; Married 18 Nov 1760 in Goshenhoppen Church, Montgomery County, PA to Daniel GERHART
- Anna Margaretha MOSER and an unnamed twin who dies, born 1 Mar 1726, bpt 27 Mar 1726. Dies before fathers Will proved.
- Johan Leonhardt MOSER bpt 29 May 1727; married 5 Feb 1754 in Jordon Lutheran Church, Whitehall, Northampton, PA to Maria Margaretha LICHTENWALLER. Died 1807. Had 6 children
Born in Pennsylvania
- Johann Philip MOSER, born about 1730 in Pennsylvania. Married Maria Barbara KRANGELICH. Settled in Mosserville, Lynn Twp, Northampton (now Leigh Co). He died 1817. Had 9 children.
- Johann Michael MOSER, born 30 May 1734, Baptized 6 June 1734 at New Goshenhoppen, Montgomery Co. Confirmed at New Hanover 8 Apr 1750, age 16. Rev STÖVER called him Michael of ‘Atolhoe’, a church near Rehrersburg, Tulpehocken Twp, Berks Co; he moved to Nothkill, Berks Co Had at least 4 children
- Johann Burkhard MOSER, born about 1736 in Pennsylvania. Confirmation 8 Apr 1750, age 14 years, New Hanover. Married Maria Agatha LICHTENWALLNER. Settled in Mosserville. Died 1807 in Lynn, Northampton Co. Had 4 children.
The date of the confirmation of Maria Barbara MOSER is important as this helps to establish the date of Martin’s death as it states the parent as ‘Widow MOSER’. Gary MOSIER suggests that the confirmation happened 21 April 1743 and thus Martin’s death occurred before that date, perhaps in March. Martin likely died unexpectedly as there was no will. He would have been 50 at the time of his death. The Administration of his estate is dated in the body 6 April 1744. There is no property listed just a category improvements, which is odd. There are a horse and mare, 2 cows and calves, 3 sheep, hogs, Saddle & briddle, along with his clothes, Iron stove, Kitchen Goods, Hough & harrow, Axes, hoes etc. Disbursements went to his wife Margaretha Ł 11:10:10, children: Maria Margaretha [STANBROOK] , Maria Barbara, Philip Michael and Burhardt MOSER each received Ł3: 5: 11.5 and oldest son Frederick Ł6:11:10.5.
“Know all men by these presents that Margretha MOSSER, Benedict STROM, and Herman FISHER of Goshehopen in ye County of Philadelphia are held and firmly bound unto Peter EVANS, Register General for the Probate of Wills granting letters of administration & in the sum of three hundreth Pounds lawfull money of Pennsilva & dated the sixth day of October 1744. The condition of this obligation is such that if ye above bounden Margretta MOSSER, widow of Martin MOSSER her late husband, deceased, do make or cause to be made an inventory of all singular goods & which were of ye said deceased at ye time of his death & and further do make or cause to be made a true & just acct & calculation: or reckoning of the said Administration at or before the seventh day of October 1744.” (Margaretha MOSSER and Benedict STROM made their marks).
Widow Margaretha MOSER gave 3 shillings toward the bell at The Falckner Swamp Church in 1748. We know that Margaretha MOSER was alive 8 Apr 1750 when her two sons were confirmed at New Hanover. At that time she would have been 60 years old.
THE SURPRISE
While searching the records of ” Records of Rev. John Casper Stoever [Jr] : baptismal and marriage, 1730-1779 I was shocked to find not just the record of Johan Martin MOSER’s son Johan Michael but something I never in my wildest imagine would have guessed. My paternal grandparents Milo MOSER and Carrie HENAGER’s direct paternal ancestors, their 4th great grandparents are Johan Martin MOSER and Johan Michael HENNINGER, respectively. Each had children baptized by the Rev. Caspar STOEVER Jr.: the MOSERs in New Goshenhoppen, Montgomery County and twenty miles north the HENNINGERs in Maxatawny, Berks County. So during the years 1731-1750 my grandparents families lived a mere twenty miles apart, and my grandparents had no idea. And until yesterday either did I!
In the future I plan blog posts on Johan Martin MOSER’s ancestors in Germany and Austria and on his son Frederick MOSER who went from Pennsylvania to Orange county [later Alamanace] North Carolina.
Kelly Wheaton ©2024 – All Rights Reserved
German Migration to America: Johan Martin MOSER 1693-c.1743 Part Three
Posted on January 11, 2024 2 Comments
Please read the following Preamble and Part One and Part Two before reading this one.
If you have been following this saga we left the Martin and Magaretha MOSER family in Rotterdam about to board a ship to America. The year is 1728. Martin is 35 and Margaretha 37. I failed to mention that Martin’s half brother, son of his father’s second wife, Elisabetha WOLLINGER, accompanied Martin on their voyage. Johan Adam MOSER was 27 at the time of the sailing and as far as we know single. He would have provided an extra set of hands on the long journey.
THE SAILING
Sailing from Holland to Philadelphia could take eight to ten weeks. There are three ships that leave Rotterdam for America in 1728; The ‘Mortonhouse’ which took 70 days (10 weeks), the ‘Albany’ that took 75 days (10 weeks 5 days) and the ‘James Goodwill’ which took 89 days (12 weeks, 5 days). Ordinarily we would know very little about what took place on the such a voyage, but we are exceedingly lucky that a diary kept by one of the passengers was found in St Paul’s library in Westphalia and later at the University of Munster. In 1729 a pamphlet was put together from several missives/diaries wherein it describes the journey from Rotterdam to Philadelphia. The author is unknown but the compiler notes that he is a man of education, devout and concerned. I cannot know for sure, but wonder if the Reverend Caspar Stöver may have been the author. The translation was published by Julius F Sachse in Lancaster, PA in 1909 titled Diary of a Voyage: Rotterdam to Pennsylvania 1728. I highly recommend reading it.
Because of the length of the voyage as described in the pamphlet and the dates of departure and of arrival I believe this chronicles the voyage of the ‘James Goodwill’. Even if I am not correct it gives the reader an excellent view of what was involved in crossing the Atlantic in 1728. It took the ‘James Goodwill” two weeks or two weeks and five days longer to arrive than the two other vessels arriving from Rotterdam this year. Please note the pilot had a habit of running aground —on account of never being sober! A few quotes:
“Our voyage to Pennsylvania was appointed for the ninth of June. But our departure was delayed until the fifteenth, when we set sail from Rotterdam, having however an unfavorable wind. After sailing about an hour and a half we had the misfortune to break our Iron Rudder-gaff, through the carelessness of the Pilot, who ran the ship aground, under full sail, whereby our second helmsman, who was at the tiller was badly hurt at his foot. So we had to cast our anchor and send the broken Gaff back to Rotterdam for repairs. on the afternoon of the sixteenth we again set our sails but on account of the contrary wind….we had again to drop anchor…On the afternoon of the seventeenth, we again weighed our anchor, but after sailing about half an hour, we once more were fast upon the sand, by the carelessness if our almost never sober pilot. ” p 8
“On the 21st we started early and sailed well during the day. At night we anchored. Early on the morning of the 24th we sighted the Dover cliffs, and about 9 o’clock in the morning passed Dover.” p 9
However, ever at the mercy of the weather it took another 6 days to arrive at Plymouth Harbor.
“After an inspection of our vessel, which resulted favorably we sailed out of Plymouth Harbor on July 8, but on account of contrary winds were obliged to come to anchor on a very dangerous spot, with perilous cliffs upon both sides. Here we remained until the 11th, if where in the meantime a storm would have arisen, we would have been in the greatest peril. The merciful God, however prevented it, and we sailed off this dangerous hole on the 11th with a very favorable breeze. The same day we passed the end of England, and entered upon the great ocean, having favorable wind until the 17th when we sighted two English ships coming from Livorno and Gibraltar, who brought is news that the Saraeen pirates has broken their treaty with England, and had equipped several vessels and sent them out to sea, with orders to capture all Christian ships with which they should meet.” p9
The account chronicles the good and bad days at sea. By August 31st they were 78 miles from New York and by September 3rd had sighted the coast of America and made there way to Delaware Bay where more treacherous sand bars awaited them.
“During the storm a heavy rain fell, so I remained in my bed, particularly on account of the horrid motion of the ship. One could neither walk nor stand, but would stagger like a drunkard.” p12
By this time they were near Philadelphia but unable to get ashore. The captain sent 3 sailors and the chief mate to secure a pilot but they did not return. The next days were full of contrary winds and on the 6th and 7th a terrible storm. Finally without a pilot or sailors:
“On the 11th our captain resolved to go ashore personally in the large boat to inquire about our absent crew. This was done, and upon his return with a load of cedar wood and apples, brought the truth about the missing sailors, who had been some days in the town, and gotten drunk.” p15
Perhaps some additional excerpts from the diary are to be noted. It really gives insight into conditions aboard ship.
“Concerning the other inconveniences of this journey, they consisted chiefly from the fact that the ship was packed too full, as a result there was but little room. In the cabin, which was medium size there were lodged eight persons, with much baggage and we had to content ourselves with close quarters. The ship’s food consisted of horrible salted corned meat and pork, peas, barley, groats and codfish. The drink was stinking water, in which all food was cooked….My greatest annoyance during the whole voyage were the lice, from which none aboard were free, not even the captain” p 17
It seems the voyage was a particularly bad one. Perhaps Martin and family spent some of their time during the nearly 13 weeks on board reading the bible [and praying for deliverance]. Here’s a Martin Luther bible title page printed in Nuremberg in 1717 which would have been the closest printing house to them. Perhaps they received one as a wedding gift when they were married in 1717.
1717 Nuremburg
I like to think that the children played with other children on board. There were 37 families, 42 above the age of 16 which left a total of 48 children. According to the Diary of a Voyage none who embarked died. There were 4 children born at sea and two were a set of twins who died and were buried at sea. p. 25 Margaretha was busy watching after the two toddlers and probably washing and sewing. Martin I like to think was at his craft. Maybe earning a bit of money making shoes for those aboard ship. I do not know what his brother Adam’s occupation was.
The Lutheran Revered Caspar STÖVER and his apprentice minister son would have done their best to tend to their flock. It has been stated that his son often preached on Sunday’s aboard ship. Back to the author who probably expressed the feelings of all:
“Now I am here, and rejoice over my deliverance from the dangerous element of water, and am upon dry land. But this I must and will frankly acknowledge, that if I was still in B—-[Berlin?] or any other place in Europe, I would never undertake this journey, even if there should be there a veritable, or in fact a terrestrial Paradise, as a certain person wrote in his lying and deceitful letters from here to various places in Germany.” p.17
THE ARRIVAL
The author writes that even if you could not afford passage their were people to pay your fare:
“Such persons, especially unmarried ones, can undertake the journey without money. The ship captians take them along, and when they land here, there are enough people found, who are willing to pay for the passage (ordinarilly six pistoles) of such persons and who then according to the laws of this country must serve their masters for four years. The master of such servants is bound at the end of the term to give the servant a suit of
Sunday and ordinary clothes, together with a new axe and hoe.” p19
Apparently some of the passengers of the “James Goodwill” owed Captain CROCKATT money as this advertisement suggests :
“Those Palatines who have hitherto neglected to pay for their passage in the Ship James Goodwill, are to take Notice; that if they do not pay me onboard said Ship, or to Charles Read of Philadelphia, the sum from them respectively due, the 20th day of this instant November, they will be proceeded against to Law, by David Crokatt.”
“The American Weekly Mercury” Philadelphia 7 November, 1728
From the Arrival List 8A: the Mens Names above 16 years old aboard the James Goodwill, M David CROKATT, Commander, from Rotterdam to Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, arrived the 11 September 1728. Thirty seven families produces Forty Two persons above 16 Years. [This could be the same as the David CROKATT, great-grandfather of Davy Crockett.]
From the Minutes of the Provincial Council, printed in Colonial Records Vol. III p. 331.
Dav’d Crokatt.
“At a Council held in the Courthouse of Philadelphia,
Septem’ber 11th, 1728. . . . A List was presented of the Names
of Forty two Palatines, who with their Families, making in all
about Ninety persons, were imported here in the Ship James
Goodwill, David Crockat, Master from Rotterdam, but last
from Deal, as by Clearance from the officers of the Customs
there, bearing Date the Fifteenth day of June, 1728.”
PHILADELPHIA
Below is a painting from 1718 and an etching that illustrates the development 38 years later. The MOSERs arrived early on. The population of Philadelphia in 1730 was about 11,500. At the beginning of the 18th century must homes were built of logs or wood frame but by the end of the century they were being replaced by stone and brick.
Courtesy Library Company of Philadelphia
courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art
The pamphlet has quite a bit to say about the author’s view of Philadelphia.
The city of Philadelphia, upon the whole, is right decently laid out, and already pretty well built up, and much business is done there. Wine is very dear, tea also —Five Rix dollars for a pound of a very bad sort—tea (Bohia), coffee beans… Sugar such as is bought in Berlin for six Groschen, costs here twelve Groschen. —Summa—Everything here is dreadful dear. Meat is still the best bargain here, with price about the same as in Berlin. Bread, rent and wood are dreadful dear. As to drink, water is the cheapest thing here and extraordinary good. The strong beer that is brewed in Philadelphia is very good, but not for me. The cider or applewine is rarely found good. Molasses beer, which is chiefly drank in the country, is an exceedingly pleasant and thirst quenching beverage, which tastes better to me than the pure water. This beer is composed of water, syrup and hops, together with some wheat bran. In this country far more wheat is grown than rye, and wheat-bread is eaten in almost all places.” p22-23
The author complains about the weather, mice, the price of goods and the poor quality of most of the dwellings. He talks about game, trees and lumber at some length. But this kernel sums it up nicely:
O these liars! who in their glowing well-written and printed missives send us such glowing accounts about the climate of this country and other things all described so beautiful and paradisical, which deceived so many hundred people—even me I would not like to share their just reward.” p23-24
A German printer in Philadelphia, Christopher SAUR, published the first German bible in America. Soon a third of the population in Pennsylvania was Swiss or German. In 1732, Benjamin FRANKLIN published Die Philadelphische Zeitung—the first foreign-language newspaper in America. German emphasis on education and literacy provided a market for newspapers, books and almanacs that kept the German community together and well informed.
In the next chapter we will find out where Johan Martin MOSER and family settled in Pennsylvania and how it all ties together with William PENN, Daniel FALCKNER and Reverend Caspar STÖEVER.
Kelly Wheaton ©2024 – All Rights Reserved
German Migration to America: Johan Martin MOSER 1693-c.1743 Part Two
Posted on January 8, 2024 4 Comments
If you haven’t read Part one you can read it here. In this chapter we will explore the beginnings of Martin MOSER’S family life and what led him and tens of thousands of others to leave Germany behind.
In the year 1677 William Penn toured Germany where he spread the message that religious freedom could be found in the American colonies. A couple decades later Daniel Falckner wrote “Curious News from Pennsylvania” [Curieuse Nachricht von Pennsylvania] in 1702. Germany’s Johannes Gutenberg invented movable type in 1440. With a long history of printed materials from flyers to books to bibles people were educated and generally well informed.
Martin MOSER’s two older sisters Anna Marie and Eva both married in 1705. Anna Marie married Micheal FRIEDRICH, a shoemaker, and Eva married Lorenz ZWIRNER, the journeyman weaver. As previously mentioned Martin’s mother Maria STRÖBEL MOSER died in 1695 when Martin was two years old and he was raised by his step-mother Elisabeth WOLLINGER. Sadly, in January of 1714 she died. Left at home was Martin’s older brother, also a journeyman weaver, and the four surviving children, ages 7 to 18, of his father Adam and Elisabetha. I suspect it was around this time that Martin struck out on his own. His brother remained on the farm at Grossulrichshausen. In November of 1714 his father Adam marries for the third time to Apollonia GERINGER.
BREITENAU
Sometime between 1713-1717 Johan Martin MOSER moves to the village of Breitenau. Breitenau lies in the Ansbach district of Feuchtwangen about 4.5 miles south of Wörnitz, where Martin was baptized, and even closer to Grossulrichshausen, where he was born. The village is located in a valley to the east of the Wörnitz river. Breitenau sits between two wooded hills. Schloßberg to the north and Mühlberg to the south, each approximately 1700 feet high. The area is surrounded by grassland, arable land and scattered trees. In 1732 there were 32 properties that belonged to the Lord. These included the church, the parsonage, schoolhouse, village hall, a farm with a Inn, a farm with brewing rights, a blacksmith, a baking house and two half farms. It appears that Breitenau at this time was slightly larger than Wörntiz. A good guess is that Breitenau was in need of a shoemaker. A description of Breitenau from 1761:
“Braitenau. A mediocre village located in the district of the Feuchtwang, close to the Wörnis [Wörnitz River] and the Rotenburgische Landwehr, in which there is a parish, church and school incorporated into the Feuchtwang deanery, and a good number of residents. This place formerly belonged to the aristocratic and later imperial family of von Geyer, after its extinction in 1708, it fell to King Frederick I in Prussia, was then handed over by King Frederick William’s Majesty in 1729 to the High Princely House of Brandenburg Onolzbach… even up until the year 1728, the place had no grave field of its own for burying the dead…”
Historische und Topographische Nachricht von dem Fürstenthum Brandenburg-Onolzbach
by Gottfried Stieber 1761
Well perhaps Breitenau was mediocre then but to my eyes it was lovely as the last place my MOSERs lived before their immigration to America. This is a photo of the Schoolhouse adjacent the church.
We know for certain that Martin MOSER was living in Breitenau by 1717 as it is listed as his place of residence when he marries Margaretha SCHWENBAUER, the daughter of Wolf and Eva SCHWENBAUER, the 29th of June 1717 at the age of 24. Margaretha was born 13 Sept 1690 in Breitenau, so she was 26. Her father died when she was five, the 24th November 1695 at Gehrenberg [the next village east of Breitenau]. A transcription of the marriage entry has this wonderful description:
“The hardworking bachelor Martin Moser, his trade is shoemaker, son of the Honorable Adam Moser peasant and farmer in Grossulrichshausen and Margaretha, legitimate daughter of the Honorable Wolf Schwenbauer, in Breitenau, the Latin having [been] proclaimed three times.”
St Stephan Churchbooks
at Wörnitz
(Mirror of Human Activities.)
The Lutheran church of St. Stephens in the Breitenau, Feuchtwangen district dates from the 14th century. The chancel and tower of the church were rebuilt at the end of the 15th century. The nave was extended at the beginning of the 18th century. The cemetery, is right next to the church and is surrounded by a wall [left in this photo above and just visible behind the wall] . The church is located on the site of the former Breitenau Castle. In the distance of this photo you can see the wooded Schloßberg. The inside and outside of this church is quite lovely. Note the painting of Martin Luther above the raised pulpit.
I imagine Martin and Margaretha worshiping here and bringing their children to be baptized [See Baptismal font below]. Their first child was Maria Magdalena MOSER who was born 15th of March 1717 but died 28th of August 1718. She was followed by an unnamed child in 1719. So Martin and Margaretha had much tragedy in startinga family. Finally Maria Margaretha was born on the 7th of June of 1720. But sadness again visits the family when a few weeks later Margaretha’s mother Eva dies and is buried at Breitenau the 9th of September 1719. Just a month later Martin’s father, Adam MOSER, dies the 8th of August dies at the age of 66 years and 10 months at Grossulrichshausen. A lot of loss in the first two years of marriage. I wonder if this was a turning point—with no living parents of either Martin or Margaretha did they begin to dream of a different life on a distant shore. How long would it take to plan and save for their passage?
The next birth to Martin and Margaretha was my 5th great grandfather, Georg FRIEDICH “Frederick” MOSER, baptized the 3rd of March 1722. Three more children follow: Maria Barbara born 12 Dec 1723. Anna Margaretha MOSER and a twin are born on March 1st 1726 . The twin dies and only Anna Margaretha is baptized on March 27th and a year later Johann Leonhard MOSER born 29 May 1727 all at Breitenau. So by 1727 there are 5 living children and Martin and Margaretha as they celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. Interesting that Johan Leonhard MOSER is also the name of Martin’s brother who was born 12 January 1710 at Grossulrichshausen. So named after his uncle these shared names were to create confusion in America as to who belonged to whom.
On the day we visited the church was beautifully decorated for Confirmation.
I was struck by this old pews at St Stephens, especially thinking the MOSER family may have sat right here where I was sitting. The seats were not very deep and quite hard. No falling asleep allowed during the service.
IMMIGRATION TO AMERICA
It is important to remember that in Germany land was owned by nobles and only leased by the peasantry. Both inexpensive land and religious freedom lured many German immigrants to America’s shores. As I mentioned in the first Part we have the Accurate Tidings from Pennsylvania book published by Daniel Falckner in 1703. We can only guess at what made the Martin MOSER family risk the arduous journey to America. Likely it was like most changes people make a combination of desire for something more and opportunity. While researching I happened upon a bit of serendipity. In 1724 a Johan Martin WEIGEL traveled from Hoffenheim near Sinsheim to Wörnitz for a carpentry apprenticeship. That seemed odd to me that someone would travel 75 miles for an apprenticeship. Three years later in 1727 five ships left Rotterdam for Philadelphia with approximately 1200 German immigrants. One ship was the ‘James Goodwill’ with about 200 passengers.
The following year the same ‘James Goodwill’ sailed again from Rotterdam to Philadelphia. What is curious is that at least a dozen of the families on board the 1728 sailing came from the area around Sinsheim, Germany. The same area as Johan Martin WEIGEL was from, 75 miles west of Breitenau. No other families that appear on the ship’s passenger list are associated with Breitenau or any surrounding village. The only reference that connects is that of Johan Martin WEIGEL. It makes one wonder…if it was just a series of word of mouth that brought the MOSER family to be on that second sailing.
We can only imagine what that trip was like. Leaving the small village of Breitenau of maybe a couple hundred people. My best guess is that the MOSER family traveled westward from Breitenau to Sinsheim perhaps by ox and cart or wagon. A 95 mile trek. Perhaps from there, led by Johan Caspar STÖVER a Lutheran minister, they traveled with a group of families who would sail together and settle in Pennsylvania. From there they may have continued to head due west for the Rhine River at Speyer. The Rhine was called ‘The River of Destiny’ as so many started their journey abroad here. Once on the Rhine they would have traveled by boat to Rotterdam. The MOSER family consisted of Martin and Margaretha, little Maria Margaretha age 7, Frederich age 6, Maria Barbara age 5, Anna Margaretha age 2 and Johan Leonhard 1. Perhaps they carried several trunks; one with Martin’s shoemaking tools and maybe some leather goods to keep him busy on the trip. Another with household supplies and books and another with clothing. I imagine their family bible and perhaps a copy of Accurate Tidings from Pennsylvania. What treasures would they take and what had they sold and left behind?
The Rhine River is dotted with dozens of castles. Martin and Margaretha and their children must have been gobsmacked by the views, city-scapes and castles. Imagine this view at Mainz when you have come from a small village. This anonymous etching is from 1633, so imagine it nearly 100 years later in 1728. Under good conditions, the approximately 350 miles trip down the Rhine would have taken four or five days however, there were as as thrity toll stations that belonged to the lords of each of the castles.
Just a little bit north a more contemporary view form 1700 [they traveled in 1728]. The scene would probably be quite similar. They likely would have traveled in a smaller boat, like one of these pictured, hired to take them to Rotterdam.
© The Trustees of the British Museum
Once they reached Rotterdam would they have found lodging while securing their passage? Perhaps the experience Reverend Stöver guided them safely through the chaos. They made there way aboard the ‘James Goodwill’ and received customs clearance at Rotterdam the 15th of June 1728. There were about 90 passengers. Johan Caspar STÖVER and his son of the same name top the list of passengers as does Martin MOSER on the 1728 sailing of the ‘James Goodwill’. In the next chapter we will explore the Atlantic crossing and arrival in Philadelphia.
Showing [Rev.] Johan Caspar Stöver Senior & Jr [left] Martin MOSER’s signature [right]
Kelly Wheaton ©2024 All Rights Reserved
German Migration to America: Johan Martin MOSER 1693-c.1743 Part One
Posted on January 6, 2024 3 Comments
This is the story of one of my many German ancestors. If he isn’t one of your ancestors this may not be of interest to you on it’s face. But if you have German ancestors who immigrated in the first half of the 18th century, there may be some things that you will want to add to your own story. Like many of the migrants from Europe to America they were heavily influenced by the stories of those who had made the trek and lived to write about it.
Although I had put together a genealogy in 2015 when you shift from writing a genealogy to writing a story—many new things come to light. Please take note that a Genealogy is not the same as a biography or family history. The latter gives more historical context and deeper research brings to life a much richer story. First off, we must note that there was no country of Germany during this period it was composed of duchies, independent states, or kingdoms. It was generally believed that God pre-ordained your station in life, so there was no possibility of upward mobility. The nobles protected, the clergy prayed, and the peasants worked. The reforms that Martin Luther brought led to the deep divisions between Catholics and Protestants. Do not underestimate the power of religion in a peasant’s daily life and as a means of upward mobility and its influence on immigration.
by Daniel Falckner 1703
When Johan Martin MOSER was just a year old he was living on a farm in Grossulrichshausen, Bavaria, Germany, Daniel FALCKNER, a professor and son of a Lutheran minister [also named Daniel FALCKNER] arrived in Philadelphia the 23rd of June 1694. He returned to Europe in 1698 where his book Accurate Tidings from Pennsylvania was published. He wrote for potential immigrants about what they might find in America via a series of 103 Questions.
The questions are incredibly insightful and here are a few:
- 1 How to contrive a voyage to America.
- 7 What is to be observed concerning ship and seasickness.
- 9 What is to be observed upon arrival in Virginia or Pennsylvania.
- 14 Regarding the fertility of the country.
- 17 Of the savages, their nations, numbers and languages.
- 32 How is it supposed that the savages came to America and in particular the different nations.
- 53 Whether all kinds of artisans cannot find subsistence there, and which in particular.
- 63 What kind of animals are there, both domestic and wild?
- 68 How to develop the country and bring about its proper uses and advantages.
- 86 To whom must one first report upon his arrival to America?
- 102 What manner of names do the savages have?
The answers to each question very between a paragraph and a page or so. They are full of piety and amusing reflections in the context of the time. Here is the first sentence in answer to Question 7: “Sea-sickness mostly affects people of bilious disposition and such as are inclined to vertigo and fear.” Question 63 begins: “With some exceptions, just the same as with us here. Among the exceptions is the jackass, which would be very useful there.” These books gave very practical advice and information and were to have a profound impact on the immigration of Germans and particularly Lutherans to Pennsylvania. I highly recommend perusing it.
GROSSULRICHSHAUSEN
Meanwhile in the hamlet of Grossulrichshausen, then in Mittlefranken [Middle Franconia] now Bavaria, Johan Martin MOSER was the seventh child, and 4th son, born to Adam MOSER and his wife Maria STRÖBEL. At the time of his birth Martin’s eldest brother, Adam, had already died. After Adam all the sons were named first Johan and a middle name which was generally the name by which they were known, so for sake of clarity I will refer to Johan Martin as Martin. His father, Adam MOSER, was a peasant farmer and shoemaker by trade. The family had recently moved from Altengrueth to Grossulrichshausen and the closest parish was Wörnitz, hardly a mile away. [Gross = large; Ulrich is likely the name of the farm or family and Hausen the Residence or House] This is a lovely rural setting with just a small cluster of farm buildings and houses. The field in the photo above was full of beautiful wildflowers when we visited.
When Martin was just two years old his mother died, the 15th of January 1695, leaving his father with six children. By May his father had remarried to Elisabetha WOLLINGER. To this marriage another five children were born between 1696 and 1707. Tragedy struck again in January of 1714 when his step-mother Elisabetha died. By this time Martin had just turned 21 and may not have been living on the farm. Later that year his father married for the third time to Apollonia GELLINGER the 6th of November 1714. At the time of this marriage Adam had ten children but some had already married. Apollonia was to give Adam 3 more children but only one survived more than a month. In total Adam sired 16 children by 3 wives over a period of 45 years!
WÖRNITZ
The Village of Wörnitz lies next to the river of the same name. The River Wörnitz begins at Schillingsfurst, 6 miles north of Wörnitz and then heads south 55 miles to Donauwörth where it meets the Danube River. There was a St. Martin’s chapel in Wörnitz as early as 741 and a chapel in 1392 which was later made into a fortified church. The oldest parts of the existing church are the choir room and bell tower which dates to 1519. From 1520 services held here were in the protestant rite [Lutheran]. During the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) the whole of the town burned except for the church, the rectory and the schoolhouse. Note at this early date that there was a schoolhouse! Martin Luther had been a proponent of early education. So David Falckner’s book may have been available at the schoolhouse where Martin was an educated.
Besides life on the farm much of Martin’s early life would have been centered around the church. It was here that he, Johan Martin MOSER, was baptized the 10th of January, 1693, perhaps named for the patron of the church St Martin or Martin Luther for whom Lutherans are named. Martin Luther was never canonized as his calls for reform got him excommunicated from the Catholic Church. Whereas, St. Martin of Tours died the 8th of November in 397 and his feast is celebrated as St. Martin’s day in Germany. It marks the end of the harvest season and the start of winter and the “reveling season.” St. Martin of Tours is known for his mercy, kindness and helping those most in need. Martin was the first of Adam’s children to be baptized here at St. Martins.
The Church was updated in 1709 when Martin was sixteen. The interior of the church was lengthened, widened and the height was raised perhaps to accommodate a growing population. The stones for the renovation came from a high defensive wall that was said to cast too much shadow on the church. New Baroque windows were installed on the north side, where the south gothic windows remained [as pictured above]. I can imagine the young Martin gazing at the sky and watching the Linden leaves dancing in the breeze.
WÖRNITZ LINDEN TREE
“[The] Linden will connect you to your roots, ancestry, your place of being.”
Andre Cullen
I simply must take a moment to tell you more about the center of life in Wörnitz. It is so important to the village that it appears on their Coat of Arms. To the west of St Martins church is a large Linden tree [Tilia cordata] and its history is worth repeating. The original Linden tree was planted the 10th of March 1653 in part to commemorate the end of the thirty years war. Six months later Adam MOSER was born and baptized in Weißenkirchberg about 6 miles to the east of Wörnitz. When Adam settled in Grossulrichshausen probably about 1692 the linden tree was nearly 40 years old. The original tree lived to be 308 years old!
On the first of June 1961 lightening struck the tree. An offshoot of the tree was planted the 30th of April 1962. When I stood there in May of 2018 this replacement tree was 46 years old. [click on photos for more detail]
Today this tree is huge and spreading. As you can see there is seating around the perimeter of the canopy. In Celtic and Germanic culture the motherly goddess, Freyja, is associated with love, fidelity, friendship, peace, justice, altruism, fertility and prosperity and the Linden tree. It was also believed to ward of evil spirits including lightening strikes. Perhaps we can say the tree sacrificed itself for that of the church. Later the Linden tree was associated with Mary the mother of Jesus. Linden Trees are found in central locations in many German Villages. Townspeople would assemble beneath the Linden tree to celebrate, dance or hold important meetings. Under the Linden tree it was believed that one could only speak the truth. This is where lovers pledged their love, disagreements were settled and important occasions marked. In some places there were dance floors erected under the Linden Tree. Can’t you just imagine Martin chasing his siblings around the tree? His older sisters Anna Maria and Eva both married here in 1705, was young Martin a witness to their courtship under the tree? You can imagine the villagers congregating after Baptisms. Marriage and funerals as well as after weekly worship.
The sweet smell of Linden blossoms perfumed the air on the day I was there and they are a rich source of nectar for bees. Linden honey is said to be good for fevers and colds and for lowering blood pressure. Did Martin or his father keep bees on the farm? Or did they buy honey from a apiary in the village?
c. 1730 titled “As long as it lasts”
SHOEMAKER
We can only construe a life from the scant circumstances in the historical record. What we do know is that Martin MOSER grew up on the farm of his birth in Grossulrichshausen and that he was baptized at St Martin’s Wörnitz. During his time in Grossulrichshausen He must have apprenticed with his father who was a shoemaker as when he marries he is listed as a shoemaker. This early print of a shoemaker would not have changed much in 150 years. It was a valuable trade that did not require many tools. The shoemaker was an integral part of the community for whether you were a farmer, clergy or a nobleman everyone needed shoes.
We can infer that the village of Wörnitz needed but one shoemaker and sometime between 1713-1716 Martin relocates to Breitenau about 4.5 miles south of Wörnitz and even less from Grossulrichshausen [shown on the map above]. We will take up our next chapter in Breitenau and why Martin would trade a seemingly idyllic life in Germany for the wilds of America.
I hope this gives you a some ideas to search for the context of your German immigrant’s life.
Special thanks to the the Gerling family and my friend Denise for making the trip I took possible.
Kelly Wheaton ©2024 – All Rights Reserved
The Three Brothers Story, Retold: Johan Martin MOSER
Posted on January 5, 2024 8 Comments
The “Three Brothers Story” is so prevalent in Family History Circles that it is often recounted smugly by experienced genealogists as a sign of family mythology. Some of you know my contrarian nature causes me to poke holes in establishment edicts. Nowhere is that more fun than with my own “Three Brothers Story.” More on that shortly.
In the Beginning
Johan Martin MOSER (1693-c1643) is my immigrant ancestor from Germany or was it France? I first learned about him in the 1970’s with the help of Charles Recker’s newsletter about MOSIER- MOSER families called “The People of the Marsh.” From there I got in touch with Lee MOSIER, who at the time of our first correspondence lived in Las Vegas but later returned to his home town of Carmen, Oklahoma. At the time of this correspondence there were dozens of MOSERs who believed their MOSER ancestors were related but the family legends lacked proof. Below is an excerpt from an article in “People of the Marsh” that suggests that there were 5 MOSER brothers that immigrated from Pennsylvania to North Carolina.
As it turns out these were not all brothers but rather brothers and cousins. But this was back in 1974 and over the course of many decades, with the help of many descendants more and more pieces of the puzzle were collected and organized.
Thirty Years Later
I continued to follow research into the origins of MOSERs in Germany. In my family it was alleged that John Martin MOSER came from Alsace Lorraine, but there was no proof. In 2006 Gary MOSIER published a study “Moser of Middle Franken and Pennsylvannia, 1653-1732” based on paid German research by professional genealogists there. Some of the information in his original study was superseded by newer information. This is where the nut finally began to crack. I contacted Gary MOSIER and he wrote in answer to my question in 2006:
“There is no proof for the parentage of Johan Martin and Johan Adam [MOSER], only guesses. The ties of these guys to the ‘Adventure’ [Ship] is all circumstantial.”
Gary MOSIER 2006
Johan Martin and Johan Adam MOSER traveled to America on the ship ‘James Goodwill’ and landed at Philadelphia the 15th of June 1728. We did not know there relationship at the time of their arrival. Then on the 23rd of September 1732 several more MOSERs arrived on the ship ‘The Adventure’. It was suspected that they were all related, but how? Interestingly, Gary’s ancestor was a Johan Leonard [Leonhardt] MOSER and he was suspected to be a son of one of the brothers– but he could find no proof. Over the course of the next ten years the puzzle began to resolve and the “Three Brothers Story” exploded.
Forty Years Later: The Explosion
Gary’s persistent research eventual answers not only his question of who Johan Leonard MOSER’s parents were but also all the other MOSER’s that arrived on the ‘John Goodwill’ and the ‘Adventure’. Some of this fell into place via research by German genealogists but the key to his question he found himself when he located the baptism of Johann Leonhard MOSER 12 January 1710 in Wörnitz, Bavaria, Germany which had been overlooked by the researchers. This is also where we find the baptism of my Johan Martin MOSER 10 Jan 1693, my 6th great-grandfather. The father of Johan Martin MOSER and Johann Leonhard MOSER is Adam MOSER born 14 September 1653 in Hetzweiler and baptised at St. Wenzeslaus, Weissenkirchberg, Bavaria Germany. However they had different mothers. In fact the reason that things got so convoluted is Adam MOSER was married 3 times and sired 16 children over a period of 45 years!
| Children of Adam MOSER (1653-1720) | |||
| Mother | Date and Place of birth & baptism | Name | Notes |
| 1st Maria STROBEL m. 26 Jan 1675 | 13 Dec 1675 Hetzweiler, bpt Weissenkirchberg | 1. Hans Adam | Died 29 Oct 1693 buried Wörnitz |
| 20 Apr 1678 Altengrueth; bpt Weissenkirchberg | 2. Anna Maria | m Michel Friedrich 6 Oct 1705 Wörnitz | |
| 20 Oct 1680 Altengrueth; bpt Wörnitz | 3. Eva | m Lorenz Zwirner; Immigrated in 1732 ‘Adventure’ | |
| 24 Apr 1683 Altengrueth, bpt Weissenkirchberg | 4. Johan Georg Phillip | Immigrated in 1732 ‘Adventure’ | |
| 25 Oct 1686 Altengrueth, bpt Weissenkirchberg | 5. Maria Barbara | Died 21 Dec 1694 Wörnitz | |
| 4 Mar 1689 Altengrueth, bpt Weissenkirchberg | 6. Johan Michael | Immigrated in 1732 ‘Adventure’ | |
| Maria STROBEL. She dies 15 Jan 1695 | 10 Jan 1693 Grossulrichausen; bpt Wörnitz | 7. Johan Martin | Immigrated on ‘James Goodwill’ 1728 |
| 2nd Elisabetha WOLLINGER m. 2 May 1695 | 23 Sep 1696 Grossulrichausen; bpt Wörnitz | 8. Magdalena | |
| 29 Sep 1698 Grossulrichausen; bpt Wörnitz | 9. Tobias | Immigrated in 1832 ‘Adventure’ | |
| 21 Aug 1800 Grossulrichausen; bpt Wörnitz | 10. Johan Adam | Immigrated on ‘James Goodwill’ 1728 | |
| 28 Apr 1704 Grossulrichausen; bpt Wörnitz | 11. Johan Jacob | Died 24 Jul 1704 buried Wörnitz | |
| 2 Jan 1707 Grossulrichausen; bpt Wörnitz | 12. Christina | ||
| Elisabeth WOLLINGER died 28 Jan 1714 | 12 Jan 1710 Grossulrichausen; bpt Wörnitz | 13. Johan Leonard | Immigrated in 1832 ‘Adventure’ |
| 3rd Apollonia GELLINGER m. 6 Nov 1714 | 22 Dec 1715 Grossulrichausen; bpt Wörnitz | 14. Johannes | Died 4 Jan 1716 |
| 3 Mar 1717 Grossulrichausen; bpt Wörnitz | 15. Anna Margaretha | ||
| 28 Dec 1719 Grossulrichausen; bpt Wörnitz | 16. Maria Barbara | Died 11 Jan 1720 | |
Of Adam MOSER’s 16 children, 5 died young or before marrying. Of the eleven remaining 6 sons and at least 1 daughter immigrated to America. Thus the “Three Brothers Story” is actually 2 brothers immigrating on the ‘James Goodwill’ in 1728 and 4 brothers and a sister immigrating on the ‘Adventure’ in 1832. So not 3 Brothers but actually SIX BROTHERS AND A SISTER! So, yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus!
As is the case in many stories, there are parts that are true and parts that aren’t. DNA has helped to confirm that all these MOSERS are indeed related and the male MOSERs share the same YDNA line. I hope to give more thorough treatment of the Bavarian MOSERS in future posts. Although both Lee and Gary MOSIER and Charles RECKER have all died I am grateful to them for their friendship and help. Never forget that Genealogy is a group endeavor without their help the thousands of MOSER descendants in America would know very little. Genealogy and Family history is a communal effort.
Note: The information on the internet connecting this MOSER family to a line going much further back in Switzerland is incorrect. It is a case of wishful thinking. Be forewarned.
Kelly Wheaton ©2024 – All Rights Reserved
STARTING FROM SCRATCH: You
Posted on January 3, 2024 2 Comments
It is a New Year and I have promised my Genealogy class some beginner’s lessons. This one is an adaptation of one I did many years ago. It is a lesson in context and social history and it is about searching things you think you know but maybe don’t. Once you do this exercise for yourself you can use it for others of your ancestors. It’s not hard and it is a bit like a scavenger hunt. Do not underestimate the power of CONTEXT!
ASSIGNMENT
- Grab a piece of paper
- At the top pf the page write your birth name and date of birth
- If you know the exact time—write that too. If you don’t can you find your birth certificate? If not the time, do you know the time of day?
- What day of the week were you born?
- Where were you born? At home? A hospital? Which one?
- Was anyone present besides you and your Mom?
- What was the weather? What time of year?
- What was happening locally or in the world?
- Did anything special happen on this day the year you were born or previous years?
- Do you have any family stories, told about your birth?
- Do you have any photos?
Use the resources below to find whatever is of interest to you on the day you were born.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: Resources
NEWSPAPER RESOURCES: Free
Chronicling America https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
Purdue Library Digital US Newspapers https://guides.lib.purdue.edu/digitalUSnewspapers
California Newspapers https://www.library.ca.gov/california-history/newspapers/
Carnegie Mellon Newspaper Guides https://guides.library.cmu.edu/newspapers/newspaperguides
Or search by state or country: __________ Free Newspapers
List of online Newspaper archives https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_online_newspaper_archives (both free and $$$)
NEWSPAPER RESOURCES: $$$$
Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/
Genealogy Bank https://www.genealogybank.com/static/lp/explore-newspapers/
Newspaper Archive https://newspaperarchive.com/
PUTTING IT TOGETHER
Now once you have spent a couple of hours (yes I said a couple) researching what “Happened on the day you were born” you can clean it up into a proper list and/or you can take what you found and put it into a narrative or story of some sort. Or maybe you want to make it into a ballad or a limerick. You might add photos if they exist or any news articles you found interesting. This might involve some background on your parents. Your birth order etc. Who was in the household you arrived into? Were you the last of 14 children? Or the first of one. This is about you so you are in the driver’s seat. Once you are gone who will be able to tell this story? Why not tell it yourself.
NEXT STEPS
You might enjoy a side track into the book “Family Constellation: Its Effects on Personality and Social Behavior” by Walter Tolman. It has interesting insight into birth order and family dynamics. Or another of my favorites, Bringing Your Family to Life: through Social History by Katherine Scott Sturdevant.
Or you might think of doing this assignment for a child, grandchild or other loved one, as a gift to make for their birthday or next Christmas. If you enjoyed doing this it might be the first chapter in your autobiography. It can be used to give a snapshot of how you fit into other events that happened during your life. Your autobiography can be just a series of snippets. It does not have to be a 5 pound tome. What you do with it is up to your own sense of creativity. The important part is to have fun!
Kelly Wheaton ©2024 – All Rights Reserved
Patterns & Intersections in Genealogy
Posted on December 24, 2023 5 Comments
We all have patterns and intersections in our ancestry—but we don’t always know about them. Sometimes we just stumble upon them. One of the greatest joys of genealogy is finding those connections. Below you will read a collection of such things in my research. I encourage you to be on the look-out for your own. And to anyone reading this on Christmas Eve, Christmas or Boxing Day—may I wish you the good tidings of the season!
I have written two other blog posts about intersections: Genealogy Intersections: Revisiting the 1719 Deed of Little Packington in Warwickshire and The Intersection of Gardening and Genealogy. You can check them out for my ideas. My first memorable intersection was finding out that my husband’s WHEATON line, is also my own. The immigrant Robert WHEATON had a daughter Hannah, who is my 9th great grandmother! Making my husband and I, 8th cousins 3 times removed. I can prove my line—however his is still only proven via DNA. Cousinship in families that have been in this country for a long time or lived in the same area is not that unusual but fun nonetheless.
COINCIDENCE
Then when I was working on my paternal grandparents lines MOSIER and HENAGER I realized they each had an ancestor that came over from Germany to Philadelphia arriving the 21st of September 1731 on the same ship “Britannia”. So Milo Dean MOSIER and Carrie HENAGER, my grandparents, married and never knew they had this connection.
Hans Michel HENNINGER his signature
And then there was my piece, A Tale of Two Soldiers, about my two paternal 2nd great grandfathers who both served in the Civil War, one for the Union from Illinois and the other for the Confederates from Texas. And how they served on the same Battlefield. So this makes at least two connections between my paternal Grandparents.
Then recently while working on my maternal 2nd great grandfather, Revolutionary War solider, Peter P HALL I found he served under Lieutenant Colonel Roger ENOS and under Col. Return MEIGS of the 22nd Regiment of the Continental Army. In the records I spotted another familiar name that of my paternal 2nd great grandfather Daniel Bertine STEWART, also serving under Lieutenant Colonel Roger ENOS and under Col. Return MEIGS of the 22nd Regiment of the Continental Army.
PATTERNS
AGE at MARRIAGE: There are lots of patterns that we seldom focus on. One is the tendency to marry older or younger. In my husband’s WHEATON line the men have a tendency to marry younger women. In years going backward 8 years younger wife, 5 years younger with first wife and 24 as a widower, 23 years younger, 13 years younger and 6 years younger. In my mother’s Swedish line the women are older +3, + 8, +2 and another Swedish line the women are +2, +5. Once we get further back in Sweden it seems to even out.
MARRIAGE & ORIGIN: This one seemed strange to me my paternal grandparents were of mixed ancestry but both had German surnames and similar backgrounds. But what caught my eye was that for three generations in the middle all the MOSIER/MOSER men married women of Scottish ancestry.
However when I visited Scotland and a couple of years later it made sense to me, although it is hard to articulate. Both countries pride themselves on their open, hearty hospitality especially if you express that you have ancestry there. The mid day meal with lots of meats bread and cheese was very similar. In Scotland we met quite a number of Germans on holiday and it seems a favored location to visit. There is something of the same artistic, storytelling, Celtic tradition that seems familiar. There is a stress on hearth and home, honor and courage. Traditions that seem deeply embedded in these ancestors. Maybe it is just happenstance—but I couldn’t help noticing it.
Some other things to get you thinking about possible patterns or intersections:
- Longevity
- Cause of Death
- Migration patterns
- Intermarriage
- Birth Order
- Age at Birth of First child
- Age at Birth of Last child
- Number of Marriage
- Occupations
- Religious Affiliation (or lack thereof)
- Twins or multiple births
INTERMARRIAGE & PEDIGREE COLLAPSE
My most recent evidence of cousins marrying cousins is my paternal 2nd great grandfather who married his second cousin. Both descended from Matthew SPARKS and Eleanor BROOKS. But once we get back to New England it becomes a terrible tangle. My most prolific ancestors to populate my tree are my 9th great grandparents immigrant Walter PALMER and wife Rebecca SHORT who met and married in Charlestown, Massachusetts owned property in Rehoboth and settled in Stonington, Connecticut. They had nine children together and of them Hannah, Nehemiah and Gershom PALMER are my ancestors. And one possible cousin to Walter is also and ancestor. Then in Rehoboth, Henry & Mary BUTTERWORTH appear 3 times and Sampson MASON & his wife Mary BUTTERWORTH twice and John MILLARD & wife Elizabeth BAUGH twice and William SABIN and his wife twice.
My son in law is related to me 4 ways. Three on his father’s side and one on his mother’s, all at the 8th cousin once removed. I worked for a man who wanted me to work on a particular connection in his family tree. He turned out to be my fifth cousin on my maiden name line. The connection are all around us—with people we have known for decades and others we just met.
WHY IT MATTERS
The key is to use the information to enhance your understanding and make your stories more interesting. The more you look at patterns the more things make sense. For instance back in my post Deep Diving: Water Wheels and Paper Making in 19th Century Sweden I was able to figure out why my family traveled far and wide across Sweden (Master Paper makers were in high demand.) Sometimes it is impossible to get anything close to a full picture of the past. But the more I have concentrated on one person at a time and attempted to recreating their stories the more I believe a lot more is possible than we can ever imagine.
In a world of chaos we are always looking for things that bring us together.
“It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
Kelly Wheaton ©2023 – All Rights Reserved
When Records Are Wrong: Why Original Research is Necessary
Posted on December 11, 2023 4 Comments
In my recent piece about Resurrecting the Dead Part Two. I relearned an important lesson. It doesn’t matter what the books, genealogies or sources say—they can and often are wrong. My research into Peter HALL showed:
- All the trees at Ancestry & elsewhere had his full name wrong
- No one had his correct death date
- The book version of Connecticut Soldiers in the Revolution had transcription errors
- One transcriber translated the abbreviation for ditto as deceased
NAME
With a very common name like Peter HALL middle initials matter. In everyone’s tree, including my own of 50 years, Peter was listed as Peter H Hall. Somewhere along the line the “H” slipped in and has long persisted. The problem is the record historical records starting with the 1800 census along with numerous land transcriptions and his probate notice have him as Peter “P” HALL. Likely the “H” was simply a one time transcription error that spread like a virus.
DEATH
This one had me stumped. Again every tree had Peter died 25th of October 1835. We tend to give more credence to dates with specific days and months. Again this at some time or other was a transcription error. Old “5”s and “8”s can look similar. His date of death mattered to me because he didn’t get his pension until 1834 and I hated to think he had been denied and received it for only a year. The truth is he died in 1838 not 1835. Just to muddy the water a couple of DAR applications had his death date as 1839! The day and month of his death had been correct all along.
MILITARY SERVICE
Compilation of service records in printed sources can really throw you for a loop. Wrong muster in and out dates. Misinterpretation of notes and bad transcription can have your ancestor dying in the Revolutionary War when he did not.
WHY IT MATTERS
First off when we try to rebuild an ancestors story we will end up writing fairy tales if our facts are faulty. Bad facts lead to fiction. “My Revolutionary War soldier died in the War.” When the truth is he didn’t. If we are doing searches with the wrong names or dates we may overlook evidence and sources. We may make assumptions which will thwart our attempts. Doing a newspaper search for a death or probate notice in the wrong year means you won’t find them.
In the case of Peter P HALL he has a cemetery [really a family plot] named after him and it even shows up in a Google Map search. However the marker for Peter is not evident. One marker is for his wife, Mandana HALL and there is an adjacent stone simply marked H.H. The area has become wooded and is on private property and is difficult to find. My distant cousin was told the graves are somewhere else and the markers were moved. Since they appear to be on land that Peter owned, I suspect this removal has more to do with trying to explain the lack of respect shown those interred there. An old survey from 1977 has 3 graves evident—now there are only 2.
SOME ADVICE
Yesterday I found the record for Peter in the Orwell Baptist Church records. The whole file is only 11 pages. The pages are out of sequence and many are missing. I decided to look at each one carefully. Although only one citation for Peter HALL occurs in the Ancestry search—his name actually appeared on 5 pages. But there was more to discover. His daughter appeared as well. And then I came across two names that jumped off the page. Peter’ HALL’s son, Elisha HALL, is my ancestor. He marries a Sally Ann Thompson whose parent’s are speculative at best. But there on the page of the Baptist Church of Orwell was a David and Sally Thompson! May be a coincidence but it is certainly a clue!
Another thing that I was reminded of– is to set your search parameters wide when looking at Newspapers or resources. Sometimes the birth or death date is wrong and sometimes a person is mentioned in a article about their son or daughter when they die. You must try every conceivable search term. My husband’s great great grandmother is listed in her obituary as “Granny WHEATON.” You just never know.
In the last Genealogy Class I taught someone asked when you can accept what you have as proven. Someone said 3 proofs. I said NEVER. They thought I was kidding. You gather as many bits of evidence as you can and you build a case. But you must ALWAYS stay open to the possibility that better evidence may come along. It does not matter if 15,000 people have John JONES as the father of Lucas JONES. It may be that John adopted Lucas and he is not the biological father. You do the best you can and then you CORRECT, CORRECT, CORRECT, whenever you find new, more robust information. As I hope this shows: trees, books, DAR applications, tombstones, death records etc can and are– often wrong. Transcriptions misinterpret the evidence. The good news is that there is always more to be discovered. And original deep research is not only rewarding, but it is still possible with more and more original records being digitized.
Don’t get discouraged. Keep digging and you will be rewarded.
Kelly Wheaton © 2023 – All Rights Reserved
Resurrecting the Dead Part One: Start with a Timeline
Posted on November 29, 2023 7 Comments
If you have read any of my earlier blog posts, like Trees into Stories, you may know I favor ancestor stories over adding more to the tree. So in that spirit I want to talk about playing God as a family historian. We literally get to recreate the life of an ancestor who for all intents, is lost. Yes, they may appear on hundreds, if not thousands of trees—but few give much detail into their lives. In my post My Woman Warrior I chose to resurrect my second great grandmother. For this post I am reaching further back to my fourth great grandfather Peter P HALL. Note most trees have him as Peter HALL of Peter H Hall but in thoroughly examining the records I find that he is Peter P. HALL. He was the Revolutionary War soldier and I wrote about him in Revolutionary War Details in Ancestor’s Pension Files. I decided to see what else I could discover about Peter’s life and it turns out I like to start by building a timeline. Then adding entries bit buy bit.
The easiest way to begin is to print out a Timeline from Ancestry, Family Search, My Heritage or Family Tree Maker (or similar program) and then use that to create table. This is your basic chronology of the life of your ancestor. You want to look carefully at the deaths of parents, children and siblings. In the case of Peter HALL his older brother Joel Hall died in battle after June 1776 somewhere near New York city. Three other brothers and his father also served in the Revolution but none for as many enlistments as Peter. You also may want to look into the family members of your subject’s spouse.
A gem of a Revolutionary War Roll tells that Peter HALL served under Colonel Ira ALLEN; Capt John STARK’s Company 1 April 1780 for 7 days at Skeensborough and Ticoderoga and who does he serve with? His future wife Mandana’s brother Elisha CLARK Jr. This matters because the following year Peter and Mandana marry 4 Oct 1781 at Pawlet, Vermont and the same day he is listed in Captain Zadock EVEREST’s company under Colonel Ira ALLEN. That same company in 1 May 1782 of the 30 men, three are Mandana CLARK’s brothers: Lemuel, Elihu and Smith CLARK as well as her nephew Ozias CLARK (son of previously mentioned brother Elisha CLARK). So paying attention to family members matters.
So you assemble the facts that you have in chronological order and then go looking for more. Among the records in this time frame:
- Church Records
- Vital Records (recorded by town in new England)
- Military Records
- Military unit histories
- Newspaper articles
- State Archives
- Land Records (recorded by town in new England)
- Maps
- Etchings or drawings of places
- National Archives
- Town or County Histories
Once you have collected as much as you can find, place these into your table or spreadsheet. But you aren’t done yet. Then you need to add contextual information.
- Historic facts for the time frame and places your ancestor lived
- Old Newspapers are great for giving you a feel for what was happening
- If your ancestor served in a war look for articles about commanding officers
You should end up with something like this (partial):
| Peter P Hall Timeline | |||
| Date | Age | Event | Location |
| 1754-1763 | French American War | ||
| 1 Aug 1755 | Peter Hall‘s birth | Mansfield, Tolland, CT | |
| 3 Aug 1755 | Peter Hall‘s baptism First Congregational Church | Mansfield, Tolland, CT | |
| 10 Feb 1763 | 8 | Treaty of Paris ends the French-American War | Paris, France |
| 5 Mar 1771 | 15 | Boston Massacre. 9 British Troops shot | Boston, MA |
| 19 Apr 1775 | 19 | Battle of Lexington & Concord | Lexington & Concord, MA |
| 5 May 1775 | 19 | Peter Hall Enlists as Private to serve 7 mos in Col. Joseph Spencers 2nd Regiment; 6th Company Major Return Jonathan Meigs, Capt. Noadiah Hooker who marched to Roxbury, MA | Middletown, CT |
| 10 May 1775 | 19 | 2nd Continental Congress meets. Establishes the Continental Army: Ethan Allen & Benedict Arnold capture Fort Ticonderoga | Philadelphia, PA Fort Ticonderoga, New York |
| 17 Jun 1775 | 19 | Peter Hall was present at Battle of Bunker Hill was not called to action. | Boston, MA |
| 25 Jun 1775 | 19 | Col. Spencer was promoted to Brigadier General; command fell to newly commissioned Colonel Samuel Wyllys. | |
| 2 July 1775 | 19 | Gen George Washington arrives | Cambridge, MA |
| 5 Sep 1775 | 20 | 1st Continental Congress meets | Philadelphia, PA |
| 18 Dec 1775 | 20 | Peter Hall is discharged from Colonel Samuel Wyllys | Roxbury, MA |
| 17 Mar 1776 | 20 | Evacuation of British Forces from Boston | Boston, MA |
| Mar 1776 | 20 | Peter Hall reenlists Colonel Samuel Wyllys’ previously General Spencer’s. 7 mos. | |
Once you have this assembled a timeline and the accompanying documents that helped to you to build it. It’s time to move to the next step which is bringing your ancestor to life.
I was summoned by my Country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love.
George Washington
Kelly Wheaton ©2023 – All Rights Reserved
Wheaton Wood 