There is more speculation in this than some family researchers will accept - most of this has been given me by contemporary seekers. I have tried to put what we know together in a story form. You might look upon this as a first draft of a theory. A theory allows one to speculate as to what one might find and it highlights shortcomings and suggests what new data is needed. In this format it is not possible to display aal of the references and sources. But I have promised to send anyone interested the Egolf seaction of our family history Engstadt to Philladelphia up to about the War for Independence. That will be a PDF attachment and will provide sources so as to differentiate between fact and theory/speculation/fiction. Michael EGOLFF arrived in Philadelphia a day or so before September 27, 1746. He was a cooper and he lived and made barrels at premises on Front Street in the District of Southwart. His wife Mary (Elizabeth?) VOESTCH died soon after his daughter Anna Elizabeth EGOLFF was born October 15, 1747. The recently bereaved widower was in desparate need of a mother for his children, and he married Catharine BENDER, a widow, at St. Michael's and Zion Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, November 24, 1747. Michael was 54 years and hale and hearty. But most unfortunately his second wife, Catharine, died and soon thereafter on October 14, 1751, he married Elizabeth VOLMER, also at St. Michael's Zion Lutheran. There is a German script record that may be of this marriage. The visible facts and the best translation available do not quite fit these facts, but there is enough congruence to make it likely. If other family seekers did not object to strongly I would be inclined to assign this most interesting Fracktur to this marriage. Elizabeth VOLMER may have been born, 1714, in Delleinburg, Nassau, Hesse. In the meantime his son, Michael Egolf, married Elizabeth HAUSER, March 28, 1749. Father and son continued in the noble and honorable profession of barrel making until the old man died probably in October 1765. Barrel making is not an equity intensive business but none of his heirs wanted to buy out the others and so they asked the court to sell the Front street premises, in the district of Southwark. (Is there an online drawing/map showing Front Street about 1750?) The younger Michael also had a son, Michael, and several other children before he relocated to Carlisle soon after our War for Independence was concluded. This scenario cannot be proven but it best fits the benchmark facts: three marriages of men named Michael Egolf are recorded in the records of St. Michael's and Zion Lutheran Church, Philadelphia. They are very real and so are the church and oath records. Also Pennsylvania German pioneers Vol 1 1727-1775 p 360 List 110 B [the oath of allegiance] "Foreigners Imported Ship Ann Galley William Wilson, Captain from Rotterdam Qualified Sept 27, 1746" Michael Egolff ( ) Johannes Egolff ( ) Michael Egolff jr ( ) and for List C [the abjuration oaths] Michael Egolff ( ) Johanes Egolffe ( ) Michael Egolff jr ( ) The ( ) are noted to mean that the men were on the ship's list - the A list - but they did not sign the B or C list. In other words they were absent from the ceremony on the steps of City Hall and did not make these oaths. This source is generally accepted as the most accurate of the several references of ships lists. There is no hint that we have seen as to the identity of Johanes/Johnnes. Why he is listed between the father and the son is not clear. He might be a brother of the older Michael, but I am going to assume he is another son of the older Michael. If he is son, Johannes/John, born August 11, 1732, he is not yet 16 and would not have been expected to sign. There is a family tale that son Michael was ready to sign until it was discovered that he was too young - but that tale doesn't fit the other known facts (John may have also had the name Michael). Son Balthaser, born May 8, 1729, was over 16, and he might have also had the name Johannes.) If! there is more known about these sons of the older Michael it might help fill out this detail - regards Hal