>From what I have gathered, it appears that Peter Dreisbach, son of Johannes George Dreisbach and Elizabeth Waldman, born 1768 in Northampton County, PA and married to Anna Bier, either adopted or simply "took in" children from neighboring (or are they family?) families. In his will, Peter Dreisbach of Lehigh Township, mentions his wife, Anna, "the children" of his brother, Henry, deceased, his brother Jost or his heir, "the children" of his brother, Conrad, deceased, and "the children" of his sister, Susanna Solt. In addition, he mentions that 7 shares shall be divided to the following persons "who were brought up in my house and under my care:" 1 share: Nathan Heckman 1 share: Rosamunde (Robert) Lange 1 share: Anna Fogel, intermarried to Thomas Bachman 1 share: Anna Dosgotten (spelling??) intermarried to Daniel Dratzer 1 share to Stephen Brown 1 share to Elizabeth Bell intermarried to Jacob Fogel 1 share to Susanna Beer intermarried to Abraham Remaldy I am mostly interested in Nathan Heckman as he is my ancestor. I believe that Nathan is the son of John Heckman (born about 1775 in PA) and Elizabeth Shafer, daughter of Dewald Shafer, born about 1785 in PA. Nathan was born in 1813. After Nathan's father died, there was a petition filed by Peter Smith, administrator and husband of Nathan's sister, Rachael. In the petition it states that John was from Lehigh Township, left a widow, Ellizabeth and 11 children: Rachael, intermarried with Peter Smith Mary, intermarried with Michael Moyer Elizabeth, intermarried with Peter Anthony James Nathan John David Sarah, intermarried with Jefferson Fritz Catherine, intermarried with Peter Mony Samuel Lovina, intermarried with Aaron Linn When John died he owned 7 acres of land in Lehigh Township adjoining lands of Adam Hower, William Royer, Edward Alberts and "others" and a log house. His assets were not enough to pay his debts and the house & land were to be auctioned. Obviously we are not talking about any kind of wealth with John Heckman, wife and 11 children and maybe that is why Nathan lived with Peter Dreisbach. Maybe some of his siblings lived with other families too, I don't know. It appears that Peter and Anna did not have children of their own and maybe that is why they took in these children???? I wonder if there is a connection between the Dreisbach and Heckman families that I have not been able to find or a connection with the Dreisbachs and Shafer family?? Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated. Nancy in California