John - You have forced me into the third Millinieum - I have version 8 of FTM and I have to get an upgrade to 10 inorder to open your file - it will be a week or so before I get it. I need to keep up. So thanks for the wake up call... Here is an account of a very hard to find Mater and his son Samuel. The Meder story is included because those who know how the name sounds as spoken in German and how an English speaker would write it - say that Meder could very likely be written Mater. More on this later when I send you my post doc thesis on this subject...... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In 1720, Manheim became the residence of the Elector Palatine, who built (1720--60) a large palace and held a brilliant court there. Manheim in the 1770's is the capital of Kurpfalz. Evangelisch (Lutheran) in Kurpfalz were outnumbered by Reformierte and the Elector like the last Count Palatine, was Reformierte (Calvinist.) documented history In the following the dates and associated facts are documented - the landing details are typical as documented for other ships - but there are always many assumptions involved - for instance there is no paper trail proving that the doctor from Mannheim is he who arrived on the Janet. Philip Jacob MEDER, doctor of medicine, son of Nicholas MEDER from the Electoral city of Mannheim, arrived at Philadelphia about October 1, 1751, aboard the good ship Janet. The Janet waited at an anchorage a mile or so off shore until the port doctor inspected everything on the ship and certified that there were no signs of fever, rashes or pox. On the next tide and with favorable winds the Janet anchored at the dock. On October 7, those passengers who could walk were led to the court house where they swore loyalty to King George and signed that they abhorred Roman Catholics and the Pope who were trying to usurp the king's authority and they also claimed they abhorred anyone who did not agree with the king(my paraphrasing of these oaths.) The good doctor having paid for his passage with services rendered the ship's captain and the crew was now free to leave. Most of the other passengers were under contract to the captain for their "freight." They remained aboard until someone paid the captain in exchange for their contract to render their colonial owner good and faithful service, usually for seven-years. Doctor of Medicine, Philip Jacob MEDER promptly moved west to Lancaster County. December 19, 1752, he married Maria MERCKEL, daughter of John Merckel. They were married by the Reverend John Waldschmidt who served Cocalico Reformed Church in Ephrata Township, Lancaster County during the period 1752- 1786. In that same year, 1752, Bergstrasse a Lutheran congregation, two miles southeast of Ephrata Township (at that time Earl Township) was formed. The first minister, Theophilus Engelland opened the register in 1753. And for some unknown reason Dr. Meder joined that congregation. On March 2, 1755, Doctor Philip Jacob MEDER, proudly brought his son John Philip, born January 22, 1755, for Baptism. The sponsors (God parents) were Johan Schäfer and wife. The doctor and his wife had many good friends in the Cocalico Reformed congregation and in June 1772 he and his wife sponsored a Baptism in that church. Diewalt MATTER arrived in Philadelphia on the same ship with Dr. Meder, but unlike the educated doctor of medicine, Diewalt did not know how to spell his own name. Dr. Meder did not see his family name misspelled on the Janet' s passenger list or he would have corrected it. He knew names were important and he made sure that his surname and given names were spelled and used properly. So it is no surprise to see that Diewalt MATTER's son Samuel attends a Reformed congregation of the Reverend John Waldschmidt, probably Cocalico, as Samuel MEDER, son of Dewald MEDER. On August 9, 1785 Samuel MEDER married Barbara Brendel, daughter of Philip Brendel. Although Samuel MEDER knew how to spell his name is father never seemed to get it straight and he may be the Dewalt MATER who died August 4, 1821, in the 90th year of his age and is buried in St. John's Evangelical Lutheran church graveyard in Shiremanstown, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. The actual cemetery record follows. It is not unusual for the letter "d" and "t" to be interchanged by German speakers in early Pennsylvania. But we have no paper trail linking the passengers on the Janet with the above scenario. Although there are several examples of Mater being used instead of Matter in early Lebanon and Lancaster County church records, Matter searchers have proven or have good reason to believe that these are typos or similar. And that may be so in this case. But so far this Diewalt MATTER on the Janet can not be identified in Alsace. Maybe he should have been listed as Dewald MEDER. Maybe he came from Manheim. Maybe he continued west and along with some other mixed up people thought his name was better spelled Dewalt Mater. Following is from Church and Cemetery Records of Cumberland County Historical Society. St. John's Evangelical Lutheran church graveyard in Shiremanstown, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania Sect. A#200 Mater, Dewalt b: 1731 (from age) d: August 4, 1821 90-years old. Sect. A#199 Mater, Margaret, b 1742 died 18 May 1819, age 77-4-18. Dewalt's wife? Sect. A#354 Mater, Samuel, b: 2 Aug 1808, d: 31 Dec 1855, wife, Susanna, b: 17 April 1806, d:18 March 1892 Sect. A#475 Mater, Henry, b: 17 Dec 1810, d:19 Aug 1855, wife, Elizbeth, 10 June 1814, 4 April 1880 The surname Diebold became a given name in the German speaking Matter family of Alsace - about 1600-from memory. Matter from Alsace arrived in Philadelphia in 1751 on the Edinburgh and the Brothers - the former came to Lancaster County and the latter to Mannheim Township, York County. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We can not fine Dewald/Diewalt Mater/Meder/Matter in the 1790 -1800-1810 census in the Susquehanna River Valley. But he is probably there living with one of his married daughters - or maybe a son. One thing these Mater of Cumberland County have in common - not a single one of them bought any land (unless a change of names in the land records has fooled me) - they were not farmers. Probably weavers and the like. Among the very few who were provided with food that they did not grow. Hal