David, It is not only the Schneider family that makes the Ranck connection. The descendants of the Ranck family also think that Susanna Margretha Ranck was married to Christian Schneider, and, furthermore, that they were passengers on the Ship Allen. Of course, you and I know from the Surhuisterveen marriage records and from the listing and order of the Mack "Brethren" on the Ship Allen that this Susanna Schneider was a Mack, not a Ranck. My take on the Ranck-Schneider families' hypothesis about Susanna Schneider on the Ship Allen being a Ranck is that it is a contrivance and can be ignored because of the Surhuisterveen and Ship Allen Brethren evidence to the contrary. What cannot be ignored, however, is the Pennsylvania evidence that there was a Christian and Susanna Margretha Schneider who lived in Earl Township, Lancaster County, and that this Susanna may have been a Ranck. I think that it is necessary to assume, without evidence to the contrary, that there was (shudder) more than one Christian and Susanna Schneider family living in Pennsylvania at the time. Good luck sorting them out. Dwayne Wrightsman ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Myers" <myerswd@juno.com> To: <brethren@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 11:36 PM Subject: Re: [BRE] Family of George Conrad Mack,chr. 1674 (preliminary analysis) > Dwayne, > > Your question addresses one of the frustrating aspects of this. It would > seem likely that the Christian Schneider who died in eastern Lancaster > Co., PA in 1793 would be the husband of the Susanna Macking who was > married in Surhuisterveen in 1725. The biography of the Schneider family > in Biographical Annals of Lancaster County [PA] has Christian's wife as > Susanna Margretha, which is exactly the same name as the daughter of > George Conrad Mack. However, there isn't a surname for her in the bio > and the descendants of that family think that her name was Susanna > Margretha Ranck. I don't know where this came from and I'm afraid that > it's going to be difficult to find out. There are birth dates and > baptism dates for most of the children in that family but I haven't been > able to track down the original source for those. The family supposedly > attended Zeltenreich Reformed Church in New Holland but the baptism > records for that church didn't start until the mid-1740's. What makes > things even more difficult is that there is a large Ranck family in > eastern Lancaster Co., PA so it's plausible that Christian's wife might > belong to that family. > > I hope I can get this straightened out because I'm so close to doing that > that I can taste it. Even better for our purposes, the bio says that > Christian travelled to Weber-Thal to settle there because friends of his, > the Webers, already were settled there. The bio says that the Webers > were Swiss Mennonites and I believe that other listers have said that > there often is a close relationship between the Brethren and the > Mennonites in this country, just as there was in Holland in the 1720-1729 > period. So I don't know what I'm going to do but I feel that there must > be an answer here, if I can just figure out what it is. > > David Myers > > > > On Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:41:31 -0400 "Dwayne Wrightsman" > <dwayne55@comcast.net> writes: >> David, >> >> Great digging on the extended Mack family! Also a very good start >> to >> uncovering what I have called the "Schneider-Kitzmiller-Mack Nexus." >> Now >> the marriage between old Kitzmiller and Anna Margaret Mackin makes >> perfect >> sense since she was an "old" widow. I had presumed that she was a >> sister to >> all the other Mack women on the Ship Allen rather than their widowed >> mother. >> Thanks for this new (to me) information. >> >> Do you know whether or not the Christian Schneider (who married >> Susanna >> Mack) was the same Christian Schneider who lived in Earl Township >> near the >> Kitzmillers and their Mack wives? I think that William Thomas (of >> this >> list) may have addressed this issue in one of his posts or at least >> he may >> have some good clues about it. If you have already told the >> Pennsylvania >> story of Christian and Susanna [Mack] Schneider, would you please >> tell it >> once more. >> >> Dwayne Wrightsman