Hi, I was digging through my old e-mails and noticed this posting. Did anyone answer you? I can answer some of your questions. >>Does anyone have a full copy of "The Ziegler Family and Related Families >>in Pennsylvania" by Gertrude Mohlin Ziegler. I am very interested in a >>lookup on the family of Maria Bauer Boyer (1798-1880) and husband Benjamin >>Sechler Moyer (1797-1879), the part of the book that was sent to me >>states to "See Pages 300 & 301 for Moyer Line and Page 305 for 4th >>Generation of Boyer Family. Line is continued on Moyer Line." I am very >>interested in finding out the names of their children and their spouses. >>In particular, I am interested in daughter Elizabeth. Thank you. Kathie I have photocopies of pages 300 and 301 of the Ziegler book but not page 305. I can't tell you much about Benjamin but I can provide some information on Samuel and his father. I also have a bit of informaton on Benjamin since some of his information appears on a page that I've photocopied for my own Moyer ancestors. Here's what I have: From "Butler county Cemetery Inventory," Vol. 4, by the Bulter County Historical Society, 1997, page 4. Mary Moyer, born 2, 17, 1798, died 5, 11, 1880, 82 years, 2 months, 24 days, wife of Benjamin. Benjamin Moyer, died, 11, 5, 1873, 77 years, 5 months, 15 days. (By the way, this death year disagrees with the Ziegler book.) I'm sorry that I can't help more. Brian Here's my information on Samuel and his father, Benjamin. BENJAMIN and CATHERINE MEYER Benjamin Meyer lived in Montgomery County, Pa., in the late 1700s. Benjamin married Catherine Ziegler, who was born in 1736 to Christopher and Deborah Ziegler. (1) Children: (2) Abraham. John, born 1754. Maria, born 1764. Married Henry Eshbach. Eva. Married Ludwig Zerly. Hannah, born 1760. Married Johannes Latshaw. (Possibly) Deborah, born 1767. Samuel, born February 1773. Barbara, listed as youngest daughter in Benjamin’s will. Benjamin’s parents and place of birth are unknown. He may have been born in 1735. (3) His name is usually spelled “Meyer” or “Meier” in records. Benjamin was almost certainly a Mennonite. Catherine’s family was active in that church, his children married into Mennonite families and are buried in Mennonite cemeteries in western Pennsylvania. Because that church does not believe in infant baptism, no records of the children’s births are likely to be found. A Benjamin appears in records as a trustee of a Mennonite congregation in Upper Milford Township in what is now Lehigh County, Pa., in the late 1700s. “February 10, 1772, John Schantz and Benjamin Meyer, trustees of the Mennonite congregation, bought from Henry Schleifer for twenty-five shillings one-half acres of ground (the same on which many years previous a church had been erected, and which also had been used as a burying-ground).” (4) However, our Benjamin appears in records of a different area before and after this time so this reference may not be to him. He may have been affiliated with congregations closer to home. Catherine’s grandfather, Michael Ziegler, was a preacher at the congregation in Skippack Township. The second wife of Benjamin’s son Samuel, was the daughter of a bishop who served the congregation in Bally. Mennonites usually immigrated in groups during times of persecution instead of individually. Mennonites were harassed by both the Lutheran and Catholic churches and many congregations fled to Pennsylvania in the late 1600s and early 1700s because of the freedom of religion guaranteed there. On April 14, 1768, Benj. Meyer and Jacob Hahn had land surveyed by David Shultze, who was a surveyor and legal adviser to many Germans who lived in Upper Hanover Township in Philadelphia County, Pa. (5) The northern portion of Philadelphia County, which includes the areas that Benjamin lived in, became Montgomery County in 1784. Benjamin appears in Douglass Township, Philadelphia County, in 1779. During the Revolutionary War the Continental government asked residents to swear oaths of allegiance. However, Mennonites usually refused to takes oaths citing religious reasons. Benjamin Meyer is listed among such “non-associators” is Douglass Township, which is now part of Montgomery County. (6) The 1790 Census of Montgomery County lists Benjamin’s household as containing three males 16 or older and three females. (7) In January 1819, Benjamin was “very weak in Bodily strength” and decided to make out his will. Benjamin put his mark on his will, which indicates that he couldn’t write. In addition, a note on in the county will book indicates that the original will was written in German. Benjamin died before June 3, 1822. Catherine is said to have died in 1786. (8) (1) Catherine’s father is identified in his will in Montgomery County, Pa., Will Book 2, page 379. Catherine’s birth date and mother’s name comes from “The Ziegler Family and Related Families in Pennsylvania,” by Gertrude Mohlin Ziegler, pages 297 and 298, and are repeated by the card file at the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society. (2) Children, except Deborah, are identified in the English translation of Benjamin’s will. Deborah is listed in the Ziegler book and the card file at the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society. “Abstracts of Wills and Administrations of Montgomery County, Pa., Vol. 1, 1784-1822,” page 379, indicates that information also is in Register of Wills 4177 and Orphans Court 12146 but I have been unable to check these so far. Perhaps Deborah appears there. Samuel’s birth date comes from his tombstone, as cited in “Butler County Cemetery Inventory Vol. 4,” by the Butler County Historical Society, page 5. Other birth dates and the husbands’ names come from the card file. Some of the cards give differing birth dates and at least one of the cards in the file uses the Ziegler book as a source. (3) Mennonite card file. A possible candidate for Benjamin’s father is the Samuel Mayer who is mentioned in connection with the Mennonite congregation in Upper Milford in 1745 in the book “History of the Mennonites of the Franconia Conference,” page 221. A second candidate is Christian Mayer, whose son Samuel was born in 1734 and married the first cousin of Benjamin’s wife, both granddaughters of Michael Ziegler. Another early Moyer/Meyers in the general area were Hans and Vincent. The Mennonite community probably wasn’t very large and it was common to have such double links between families in other German communities. Christian also is listed as having a son named Samuel who was born in 1734, so his wife was bearing children at the time of Benjamin’s birth. The information on Christian Mayer comes from a card file at the Zelienople Historical Society in Butler County, Pa. (4) “History of the Mennonites of the Franconia Conference,” page 221. (5) “The Perkiomen Region Past and Present,” by Henry S. Dotterer, page 419. (6) “Oath of Allegiance, Associates and Nonassociates, Montgomery County, Pa., (Part of Philadelphia County) 1778-1779,” compiled by Janet Brittingham and Mildred C. Williams, page 33. (7) “Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790, Pennsylvania,” Government Printing Office, reprinted in 1978 by Accelerated Indexing Systems Inc., page 160. (8) Benjamin will was proved on this date. Catherine’s death date is listed in Ziegler book. SAMUEL and PHYRON MOYER Samuel Moyer was born in February 1773 in eastern Pennsylvania to Benjamin and Catherine (Ziegler) Meyer. (1) Married Sophrony Sechler and Susanna Boyer. (See below.) Children: (2) Deborah, born January 1795. Married Daniel Shanor. Benjamin, born May 20, 1796. Sarah. Married George Boyer. Samuel, born April 3, 1803. Catherine, possibly May 30, 1809. Possibly Abraham Tinstman, probably Samuel Ziegler. Jacob. Abraham, born April 4, 1808. Maria, born May 25, 1810. Married Samuel Boyer. Elizabeth, born Feb. 25, 1814. Married William Lutz. Daniel. Joseph. Susanna. Married Henry Bixler. Nancy. Married David Buchwalter. Samuel was married to Phyron (possibly short for Sophronia) Sechler, who may have been born in 1773. She died sometime after the birth of Elizabeth in 1814, possibly in 1816. (3) After his first wife’s death, Samuel married Susanna Boyer, who was the daughter of John Boyer, a Mennonite bishop. Susanna was born in May 1791. (4) The Moyer family moved to Lancaster Township, Butler County, Pa. shortly after Sophrony’s death. “The History of Butler County, Pa.,” published in 1895, says: “In 1817 Henry Rice and George Kneiss moved up from Harmony, and Samuel Moyer from Northumberland County.” It was after the move that the name came to be spelled “Moyer” rather than “Meyer.” (5) The Moyers appear to have moved west with other Mennonite families to establish a community there. Susanna’s father John Boyer was a minister for the group. John was born Jan. 10, 1762, and ordained at Hereford in Berkes County in 1795. John succeeded Bishop John Bechtel at the congregation at Hereford. John married Susanna Z. Bauer and they had 10 children. In 1814 or 1816, they moved to Harmony, Butler County. (6) The children of those who moved west don’t appear to have shared their forefathers’ strong Mennonite convictions. On April 1, 1836, about 20 years after the move, a number of Samuel Moyer and John Boyer’s children were baptized into either the Lutheran church. Elizabeth, Maria and Maria’s husband Samuel – who was the son of John Boyer – were baptized. The 1850 Census lists Samuel as living alone near his son Joseph in West Connoquenessing Township, Butler County. Susanna died in April 1850 of a fever. Samuel died Dec. 25, 1857. They are buried at the Mennonite Meeting House near Harmony. (7) (1) Samuel is named in his father’s estate papers. Samuel’s tombstone at the Mennonite Meeting House near Harmony, Butler County, Pa., says he died Dec. 25, 1857, at 84 years, 10 months of age. Information on the family also is available in “The Ziegler Family and Related Families in Pennsylvania,” by Gertrude Mohlin Ziegler, pages 297, 300 and 301 and the genealogical card file at the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society. (2) Children are listed in Samuel’s estate records in Butler County Estate File M132. Samuel’s birth date comes from this listing for the Mennonite and Grace Reformed cemetery in “Butler County Cemetery Inventory Vol. 4,” by the Butler County Historical Society, page 18; Deborah’s approximate date and husband are on page 10; Benjamin, page 4; and Abraham, page 15. A Catherine Ziegler also is listed on Page 6 but I have not confirmed that she is the correct one. A Joseph, who was born in 1822, is listed on page 9 but that reference is likely to be to the younger Samuel’s son, who was born in that year. Maria and Elizabeth’s birth dates and husbands’ names are listed in their confirmation records in “St. Paul’s German Lutheran and Reformed Church, Zelienople, Butler County, Pennsylvania,” transcribed by Gertrude Mohlin Ziegler, Page 8. Although the married names of Samuel’s daughters are listed in his estate papers, the husband’s first names are not. The first names of the husbands of Sarah, Catherine, Susan and Nancy come from the Ziegler book and additional research in Butler County will probably confirm them. In addition to the children cited above, a Rebecca -– wife of Jacob Shaffer – is mentioned as a child in the Ziegler book. However, this appears to be a misidentification of Rebecca Reiss, who married Jacob Schaffer, according to the records of St. Paul’s. Or it may be a mistaken reference to the younger Samuel’s daughter Rebecca, who married a Shaffer. (3) Phyron is listed as the mother of two of Samuel’s children who were baptized as adults at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Zelienople as recorded in the St. Paul’s records cited above. The Ziegler book and the Mennonite card file list her year of birth and death. (4) Susanna’s father is identified in Butler County Deed Book V, page 643, which lists John Boyer’s children. Her approximate date of birth comes from “Butler County Cemetery Inventory, Vol. 4,” by the Butler County Historical Society, page 5 (which says she died “04-02?1850,” making the exact birth date difficult to calculate.) (5) “The History of Butler County, Pa.,” page 596. “20th Century History of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and Representative Citizens,” by James A. McKee, page 503, only mentions that the family settled there before the 1830s and it came from Northumberland County, which is incorrect. (6) “History of the Mennonites of the Franconia Conference,” pages 118 and 254. The book appears to disagree with itself on when Boyer left for Butler County. (7) Susanna’s death recorded in “Pennsylvania 1850 Mortality,” page 225. This lists her as 50 years old, not 59, at the time of her death and says died of fever in April 1850. Both are graves are recorded in “Butler County Cemetery Inventory, Vol. 4,” by the Butler County Historical Society, page 5. _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus