Very late last night--trust me VERY late!--I felt compelled to write about my Aunt Annie and so I turned on my computer again and typed away. After a number of paragraphs I knew better than to continue and so I went to bed. But all day long today I was nagged not by Aunt Annie but by Uncle Will. You see, I had already written a story about him over 50 years ago! It was when I was in the tenth grade in 1947 and the assignment was to write about “An Interesting Ancestor of Mine.” Well, I wrote about my great uncle Will instead, and apparently the teacher wasn’t all that fussy about the genealogical accuracy of it in that it seems that I got 100% on the assignment! This is almost word-for-word what I wrote. However, I did make the corrections that the teacher had red-penciled in! Please keep in mind that this was written by a 15-year-old girl! (Tee, hee!) On May 16, 1859, in York Springs, Adams County, Pennsylvania, John William Riley, my great uncle, was born. I’ll skip a few years and say that nothing unusual happened to him until the age of four. It was at that time that Lincoln made his Gettysburg address and it was Uncle Will’s good fortune to be there at the time it was presented. After his speech, I suppose Lincoln went through the crowd, for Will said that Lincoln came up to him, patted him on the head and asked him how he was. It was also in that year that General Grant was in Gettysburg when Will was there and it was Will’s luck to see him, too. I have no idea as to the education Will had, but at the age of twenty-five he joined the circus and was billed as “See the strong man have a huge rock broken on his chest with a sledge hammer.” Yes, that’s what he was for about seven years. He traveled all over the United States, into Cuba, Mexico and Canada with the circus. But it was while the circus was performing in Gettysburg that he met and married my Aunt Annie. After he had married, he broke up with the circus and started stage and medicine shows of his own. They lived in Atlanta, Georgia, for quite a number of years, but as they got older, they decided to settle down in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He worked in the Baltimore Locomotive Works for quite a long time and then as a gardener for some wealthy family nearby. He retired at the age of seventy and for about ten years he did odd jobs around the neighborhood. When he was seventy-five years old, one day the chimney caught on fire and he climbed up to the second story roof to throw water on the blaze. After he had put it out and had started to descend, his foot slipped and he fell onto the first floor roof and then rolled off onto the ground. The miraculous part about it was that there were no bones broken and that he was just knocked unconscious for awhile. At the age of eighty he became ill and died at the age of eighty-five in 1944, one year after Aunt Annie had passed away. End of story. Now here’s the unusual thing about the story. It had been packed away among my school souvenirs all this time and recently when I was rummaging through my precious trunk, I came across it and was totally startled by the information it contained. You see, I never KNEW that! Not only that, but when I called one of my aunts in PA to check into his past further, I found that she didn’t know ANY of that either!! Now, where did I get such detailed information? Frankly, I haven’t the foggiest clue! I seriously doubt that my mother told me. Therefore, it must have been Grandma, Aunt Annie’s sister, who told me. But when? Grandma lived in PA and we lived in NY and I had an English assignment to write about! CERTAINLY, we didn’t have a long distance telephone conversation on the subject! Heavens to Betsy, one didn’t make long distance calls to just chitty-chat!! Was Grandma up here visiting with us when the assignment came up? I can only assume that was the setting. But you know, for the life of me I can’t even remember having such a conversation with her. But, nonetheless, what a 15-year-old girl wrote for an English assignment 50 years ago is now the only documented history of John William Riley that the family has! vee

I am trying to identify the parents of a Jacob Murray (Moritz). He was born in 1732 and died in 1824. His parents came from Germany sometime early in the century. Jacob was a participant in the Revolutionary War and lived most of his life in East Nantmeal, Chester County, Pennsylvania. His wifes name was Susanna. Also, does anyone have a description of the family name 'Moritz'? Any help would be appreciated. ==== PENNA-DUTCH Mailing List ==== Haven't found a post of interest? Why not generate one of your own?

I am looking for the descendants of the following Rumfield/Rumfelds: Casper Heinrich Rumfeld b. 11/23/1781 in Lehigh, PA Johannes S. (John) Rumfeld b. 2/9/1784 m. Catharine Mohry Andreas (Andrew) Rumfeld b. 5/8/1786 m. Anna ? The above are all sons of Johan Jacob Rumfeld b. 4/12/1750 m. Margaret Schmidt b. 1756 Also looking for descendants of Solomon Rumfield b. 1786 Northampton PA>Montgomery, TX m. Lydia I am interested in information on any of the Rumfeld/Rumfield families. My g-g-grandfather was Peleg M. Rumfield born in 1818 in PA. I don't know the place of birth, but it was in the PA Dutch area. I have not been able to connect him to his parents, though I have collected a lot of information along the road. Hopefully one of the above is the connection I am seeking. Thanks for any and all responses. Dick Sommer <rosommer@primenet.com>

This city kid only recently learned why bridges were covered. Horses do not like crossing them and the cover was installed so the animals would believe they were going into barns. What I still don't know is who first came up with the idea. Please don't tell me someone in Madison County. Joyce Stevens Family genealogists never die; they just lose their census!

Robert, my John Henry Conrad b. 1793 was born in Northumberland Co., PA. He married Catherine WILHELM. Do you happen to have them in your data base? Pat in Fort Wayne

Hi Bob, I have a copy of WESTMORELAND IN 1783 - Westmoreland Co. PA compiled by Shirley G McQuillis and copyright by SOUTHWEST PA GENEALOGICAL SERVICES. This is a listing of taxable inhabitants of the county. I don't know if other counties in the state did this at the time. Ron

WATSON'S ANNALS OF PHILADELPHIA Vol. 2 Printed in 1857 Churches in Germantown FRIENDS --- Their first meetings were held at Dennis Conrad's house, (then spelt Tennis Kundert), as early as 1683. Part of the wall of that ancient house may now be seen on the north-west end of the two houses rebuilt and occupied by Lesher, as an inn. On the site where Dr. George Bensell's house now stands, there was an ancient house, pulled down by Dr. Bensell, in which William Penn preached; it was low and built of frame work and filled in with bricks. He also preached at Schumacher's ancient house, built in 1686, and till lately standing in Mehl's meadow. In 1705, the Friends built a meeting house of stone, in their present graveyard on the street. It has been taken down. From the original subscription and account book, it appears that they bought fifty acres for L 60 (pounds) , raised by subscription of individuals and other meetings, in sums of from 20s, to L10,4s. In Philadelphia, one hundred and thirty persons of that meeting gave L12,7s,8d. Eighteen Friends in Frankford contributed L 22,8s. In Abington, thirty-seven persons gave L 21,6s., chiefly in wheat at 4s. Byberry meeting gave forty bushels of wheat, L 8,3s. The prices of labour were then 3s.6d., apples 1s.6d. per bushel, boards 10s. per hundred, lime 14d., oats 2s.6d., malt 4s.6d., bricks 22s per thousand, linseed oil 8s., nails 1s.2d., shingles 10s. per thousand, timber 6s. per ton, sawing 10s. per hundred. TUNKERS --- In 1709, the Tunkers from Germany and Holland emigrated to Pennsylvania, and settled FIRST at Germantown. Their first collected meetings were held in the LOG HOUSE in front of their present stone church in Beggarstown. Alex. Mack was then their principal leader. He was a very rich miller in Cresheim, gave all his property in common, and came with 8 or 10 to Germantown in 1708. He died old: and his son Alexander lived to be near 91 years of age. That LOG HOUSE was built in 1731, by John Pettikoffer, for his dwelling, who procured his funds, by asking gifts therefor from the inhabitants. Because it was the first house in the place and procured by begging, it was called "Beggarstown". The stone church on the same premises was built in 1770. Alex. Mack, junior, succeeded his father as minister, and Peter Baker had been their minister as early as 1723. The original Tunkers from Ephrata, used to dress alike, and without hats covered their heads with the hoods of their coats, which were a kind of gray surtout, like the Dominican friars. Old persons now living remember when forty or fifty of them would come thus attired on a religious visit from Ephrata, near Lancaster, to Germantown, walking SILENTLY in Indian file, and with long beards; also girt about the waist, and barefooted, or with sandals. The MENNONITES' first meeting house was built here in 1708,and was a log house, in the same lot where their present stone house (built in 1770) now stands. The log house was also a school house, kept by Chistopher Duck, in 1740. The GERMAN REFORMED erected their first meeting-house, opposite to the market house, about the year 1733. The front half part was first built; the back part was added in 1762. This old church, in the market square, originated as a Dutch Reformed, and was built and used as one directly under the Reformed church in Holland. From thence it had its first pastor. It had an ancient shingled roof steeple after the Dutch manner, and was surmounted by a well finished iron COCK, being the Dutch sign of a church. From its low elongated form, of stone, with its adjunct additions and affixes, and BARE beams to the gallery --- with high and narrow pulpit and sounding board --- it was in itself a venerable specimen of the OLDEN TIME, and for that cause was to be prized for its ASSOCIATIONS. It seemed in itself calculated to bring up the recollections of the fore-fathers who once worshipped there. It seemed the very place to inspire the descendants with hallowed reminiscences of those who had gone before them. Among its recollectiions was that of its being the place, in 1793, where General Washington and his family regularly went, as often as they had English preaching, which was sometimes done by Doctor Smith, from the Falls of Schuylkill. But time, and the passion for newness, resolved them "to pull down and build greater". They therefore lately made a new brick church in its place. The steeple was taken down with much skill, entire, and taken away to be preserved as a graceful summer house, by one who had the fancy for thus preserving it as a relic of the past; and the rod and vane were taken and set up again upon Mr. Stokes' hall. The steeple at the summit had many rifle bullets in it, shot there by the Paxtang boys, when they shot at the vane as a mark. The old organ, too., with its trumpet angels in their golden array, just as the whole came from Holland, was discarded and cast aside. The LUTHERAN CHURCH --- It is not accurately known when this was built, but it had an addition of its front part made to it in 1746. It is certain, too, that there was a church in Germantown, BEFORE the first one in Philadelphia, which was erected in 1743. The first ordained minister, Dr. H. M. Muhlenberg, came to Philadelphia in 1742, and of course before that time their services in Germantown were conducted by their schoolmaster, as is their practice in similar cases. In 1754 a lottery of five thousand tickets, at $2 each, was drawn in Philadelphia, to net L 562 to purchase a messuage and lot of ground in Germantown for the minister of the Lutheran church and school house, &c., for the benefit of the poor of the society, the minister to instruct the poor children. In 1761 the Lutheran church at Barren-hill was also built by a lottery. Nothing but German was preached in the Lutheran and German churches till of late years, and the present PRESBYTERIAN church was formed by the seceders from those churches, because the other members would not agree to have English preaching for HALF the time. They built their stone church in 1812, under the patronage of the Rev. Dr. Blair. The METHODISTS began to preach in Germantown about the year 1798, and in 1800 they built their stone meeting house, in the lane opposite to Mr. Samuel Harvey's house. In 1823, their former church being too small, they built a new and larger meeting house. The PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH of St. Luke was built in the year 1819: the first Rector was the Rev. Charles Dupuy: previously the society assembled for worship at the house of James Stokes, at the corner of the church lane. The lower burying ground of half an acre was the gift of John Streeper, of Germany, per Leonard Aret; and the upper one was given by Paul Wolff. The potter's field in Bowman's lane was bought in 1755 for L 5 10s. containing one hundred and forty perches. The first grist mill set up in Philadelphia county was that now called Roberts' mill, in Church lane, just one mile north-east from the market square. Roberts' mill was erected as early as 1683, by Richard Townsend, a public Friend, who brought the chief materials from England. Some years afterwards, in his printed address to Friends, he speaks of this mill and his early difficulties, and the kind providence extended to him there, which are very interesting. He states that his was the only mill for grain in all the parts; and was of great use to the inhabitants. That they brought their grist on men's backs, save one man, who had a tame BULL which performed the labour. That by reason of his seclusion in the midst of the woods, he had but little chance of any supply of flesh meat, and was sometimes in great straits therefor. On one occasion, while he was mowing in his meadow a young deer came near to him, and seemed to wonder at his labour; it would follow him up while he worked, but when he stopped or approached it, it skipped away; but an accident made him stumble, and so scared the deer, that he rushed suddenly aside against a sapling, and being stunned, he fell and was taken alive and killed, to the great relief of the family. The first paper mill in Pennsylvania was built by Garret Rittenhouse. It stood about a hundred yards higher up the stream than where old Martin Rittenhouse now lives, at C. Markle's. It was carried off by a freshet. William Penn wrote a letter soliciting the good people to give some aid in rebuilding it with their money. The grist mill, now Nicholas Rittenhouse's on Wissahiccon, below Markle's was built without the use of carts, or roads or barrows. The ACADEMY. --- There were numerous scholars here in the Germantown school, sixty-five years ago; now there are none taught. The public school now called the Academy was first commenced in building in 1760, by a subscription chiefly raised in Philadelphia; but it not being likely to be finished thereby, in 1761 they made a lottery to draw in Philadelphia, of 6667 tickets, at $3, to raise $3000 at 15 per cent, to finish it. In 1821 the legislature granted $1000 to help it out of debt. Their first teacher was Dove, distinguished in Philadelphia as a scholar; and he had considerable fame as a satirical poet in political controvercies. He used to send a committee of boys, with a lantern and candle IN DAY TIME, ringing a bell, to find absent scholars, and bring them with shame to school. His name was David I. Dove. He differed with the trustees, and built the house next to the Academy as an opposition seminary, and found himself unsuccessful and mortified. Pelatiah Webster succeeded him; all that time there was also a German master and scholars, and all the education there was at 10s per quarter, and now English is $5, and the languages $10. **************************************************************************** *********** NOTE: All words in capitals are in italics in the book.

Looking for info on the SNEATH family. Richard was born 1751 in Ireland to George and Ann SNEATH assumed his folks staid in Ireland George was his 1/2 brother b. 1753 in Ireland They came to the states in 1774 and into Delaware Co. Pa. George md Jane OSBORNE from Tyrone Co Ireland. They had a store in Del. Co. Pa. Richard married Sarah CAVAN and lived in Delaware Co. Later he lived in Lancaster Co. Pa Richard became a Methodist circuit rider. Looking for the boat they came over in apparently the Osbornes were also on it. Looking for the marriage of Richard and Sarah and if her parents were here. She was the d/o Alexander and Sarah Caven/Cavan. If you are researching any SNEATH FAMILY I would like to hear from you. Am willing to share info. Selma Bonewald 203 Harmont Rd Waterford, Wi 53185 jbonew@setnet.net

Hello! I am looking for more info on the Walck family of Franklin County, Pennsylvania. My ancestor, Matthias? Walck had Samuel Walck who was married three times and had 20+ children. One of his wives was Mary Magdalene Stickle, daughter of Henry Stickle. Mary and Samuel had Henry Stickle Walck who was born in 1834 and died in 1929. He married Sophia Foster. Thanks! Sicnerely Jase Allan Coffman

Hello! I am searching for more info on the Swingley/Schwingel family of Lancaster County, PA and Washington County, MD. George Martin Schwingel married Anna Margaretta Thomas...they had Nicholas born in 1744 died 1842. Nicholas married Elisabeth ----. Nicholas had Michael, John (married Elizabeth Hoffman), and Leonard Swingley (married Judith or Prudence Brentlinger). Michael married Mary Newcomer, daughter of Samuel Newcomer and Elizabeth Huffer. George may be the son of Johann Schwingel???? Thank you. Sincerely Jase Allan Coffman

I am researching the Umbenhauer family. The earliest Umbenhauer I have record of is Stephanus UMBENHAUER who apparently came from Switzerland with his son Balthazer. Other family names that connect to the Umbenhauer's are the BROSSMAN, STRAUSS, STUMP, SEYLER, UPDEGROVE, and KEPPLINGER, to name a few. Most of the families resided in Berks and Schuykill Counties, PA in the early years. I would like to share information with anyone also researching these families. Carol Faris NJoyArt173@aol.com

---------- Thank you, Evelyn Cataldi, as always for the time you spend giving us the historical information. It is fascinating and helpful. Thank you, Kthryn Parks and Larry Flesher for the wonderfully funny poems. They certainly point the finger where it belongs. What a good laugh we all had. Too true not to be a real HOOT. Joanna

Hello ot there! You've got another newbie here and I am searching fo information about the family of my Grandfather Frederick W. Stroup who was born in Union County in 1844. Information on any Stroups will be greatly appreciated!

Does anyone recognize this family? Does anyone have more information about this family? Any help would be very appreciated. James A. NULPH (s/o Abraham & Emma GAMMON) m. bef 1886 Mary Leona PLATT (parents unknown). Children: Baby Girl NULPH Iva NULPH d. 1963 m. Charles GERHEIM Jenny NULPH d. 1981 m. Tom PORCELLO John NULPH Morgan NULPH Roy NULPH 1886-1958 m. Pearl McKALLIP Margaret Ellen NULPH b. 1899-1900 d. 12 August 1935, Loomis, CA m. Paul Edgar BEATTY James NULPH 1903-1928 Burnell NULPH 1905-1989 m. Beatrice HENRY (children: Kenneth, James & Evelyn) Thank you! Brenda Hébert http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/h/e/b/Brenda-M-Hebert

>Would anyone happen to know if the little-known 1783 PA Census is >located anywhere other than the PA State Archives in Harrisburg? > >Thanks so much. >Hazel Pflueger > > This is the first I've heard of this census. Does anyone know if there's an index to this census? Thanks, Bob Lamparter Selinsgrove, PA

John Hess abt 1726 m. Susanna Landis b. abt 1736. They lived in the Willow street/Pequa twp area of Lancaster Co. John is the Grandson of pioneer immigrant Hans Hess 1683-1733. John and Susanna had 10 children: ? christian 1757 veronica 1758 ? ? margaret 1764 ? Rev. John 1768 ? ? Can anyone help with these question marks? All of the question marks are female. thanks Rod

WATSON'S ANNALS OF PHILADELPHIA Vol 2 Printed in 1857 Pages 42 - 45 Intimately connected with the fame and reputation of Germantown is the now frequently visited stream, the Wissahiccon, made attractive by its still native wildness, and rugged, rocky, woody character; there is also there, under the nme of the "MONASTERY OF THE WISSAHICCON," a three-storied ancient stone building of an oblong square, situated on high ground, near to a woody, romantic dell, through which the Wissahiccon finds its meandering way. About this house, so secluded and little known to the mass of the people, there have been sundry vague and mysterious reports and traditions of its having been once occupied as a monastery. A name, and purpose of use, sufficiently startling, even now, to the sensibility of sundry protestants. The place was last owned and occupied by Joshua Garsed --- a large manufacturer of flax-thread, twine, &c. --- who has shut up many of the windows, which were formerly equal to four to every chamber, making two on every front or angle of the square. Those who saw the structure sixty years ago, say that it then had a balcony all around the house at the floor of the second story. The tale told in the early days of the present aged neighbours was, that it once contained monks of "the Seventh-day Baptist Order", and that they used wooden blocks for pillows [like those at Ephrata], scalloped out so as to fit the head. With such traditionary data for a starting point, it has become matter of interest to many, who are curious in the history of the past, to learn what further facts we can produce, concerning the premises. If the house should have been built as early as 1708 --- when Kelpius, the hermit, died "at the Ridge", it may have been constructed by the forty students from Germany --- the Pietists who came out in 1694, with Kelpius, to live a single life in the wilderness; but if it was built, as is most probable, and as has been said, by Joseph Gorgas, a Tunker-Baptist, who intended it as a branch of the brotherhood established at Ephrata near Lancaster, and to whom he afterwards moved and joined himself, --- then he must have built it before the year 1745, when Conrad Matthias, "the last of the Ridge hermits" died. It is known, by "the Chronicles Ephrata", --- a folio, that there was a brotherly affinity between "the ridge hermits" (of Roxborough) and those of Ephrata. After Joseph Gorgas had gone to Ephrata, the premises, with a farm of seventy acres and a grist mill, fell to his son John Gorgas; from him it was sold about the time of the Revolution, to Edward Miller; --- thence to Peter Care, fifty years ago, who held it till about the year 1800. Then it was bought by John Livezey, miller: -- next by Longstreth, who made it a paper mill; and lately and lastly, by Joshua Garsed & Co. Since their possession of the premises, they have considerably increased the numbers and size of the buildings along the creek; and the Monastery House they have converted into an agreeable dwelling, changing and modernizing the internal forms of the rooms --- taking out all the corner chimneys,&c. It was in the year 1732, that the religionists of Ephrata first agreed to quit their former solitary life, and to dwell together in monastic society as monks. This they did first, in May 1733. Their book of chronicles says, that "the society was enlarged by members from the banks of the Wissahiccon". Of course, intimating and confirming the idea already advanced, that there was a brotherhood of their order, dwelling at or near the place now called the Monastery. Christopher Ludwick, once an inhabitant of Philadelphia and Germantown, --- interred at the Lutheran ground in said town, in 1801, at the age of 81 years, was quite a CHARACTER in his day; and deserves some special notice. A short memoir of his life has been drawn up and published by Doctor Rush; he deeming him to be a person fully worthy the effort of his pen to report him, as an exemplary and valuable citizen. He was by birth a German, born in 1720; by trade a baker. In early life he enlisted in the Austrian army, and served in the war against the Turks. At Prague he endured the hardships of the seventeen weeks' siege. After its conquest by the French in 1741, he enlisted and served in the army of Prussia. At the peace, he entered an Indiaman, and went out to India under Boscawen; afterwards he was in many voyages, from 1745 to 1752, from London to Holland, Ireland and the West Indies, as a sailor. In 1753, he sailed to Philadelphia with an adventure of L 25(pounds) worth of clothing, on which he made a profit of $300, and again returned to London. He had taken the idea of becoming a GINGERBREAD baker in Philadelphia; and in 1754 he came out with THE NECESSARY PRINTS --- a seemingly new idea among the simple cake eaters then ! He began his career in LAETITIA COURT, and began to make money fast by his new employment. He proved himself an industrious, honest and good neighbour, which led to a deserved INFLUENCE among the people, and to the SOUBRIQUET of the "governor of Laetitia court". At the commencing period of the Revolution in 1774, he had become rich, and gave his influence and his money freely, to help on the resistance of the colonies. He was elected readily on all the committees and conventions of the time, for that object. On one occasion, when it was proposed by General Mifflin to procure fire arms by private subscriptions, and whilst several demurred to it as unfeasible, he put down the opposition, by saying aloud, let the poor gingerbread baker be set down for L200 (pounds) ! In the summer of 1776, he acted as a volunteer in the flying camp, WITHOUT PAY. He possessed great influence there among his fellow soldiers; he stimulated them to endurance; and on one occasion prevented their revolt when complaining of inadequate rations, by falling on his knees before them, and imploring them to PATIENCE and better HOPES. When eight Hessians were captured and brought to camp, he interceded to have them handed over to him to manage; which was to take them to Philadelphia, to there show them the fine German churches, and the comfort and good living of Germans in humble pursuits of life, and then to release them to go back to their regiment, and to tell the Germans that we had a paradise for his countrymen, if they would but desert their service. Desertion did follow whenever occasion offered; and the most of these lived prosperous citizens among us. So much for the war FOR THEM ! With the same good design for his countrymen he solicited and obtained the grant to visit the Hessian camp on Staten Island, as a disguised DESERTER. There he succeeded fully to impress them with the happiness of Germans settled in Pennsylvania, and to return safely, with a full assurance of the usefulness of his mission. In the year 1777, he was cordially appointed by Congress as baker general of the American army, and to choose freely his own assistants and necessaries. In their instructions to him, they expected to require from him one pound of bread for every pound of flour, but Christopher readily replied, "Not so: I must not be so enriched by the war. I shall return 135 lbs. of bread for every 100 lbs. of flour": an incease of weight by baking, seemingly not then understood by the rulers ! and not much by FAMILIES now. As a proof that he was respected and valued in his sphere, he was often invited to dine with Washington, in large companies, besides having many opportunities of long conferences alone with him, as commander of the army, in relation to the bread supplies. The general appreciated his worth, and usually addressed him in company as "his honest friend". In his intercourse with the officers, he was blunt, but never offensive. By common consent he was privileged to say and do what he pleased. His German accent, his originality of thought and expression; and his wit and humour, made him a welcome guest at every table in the camp. He took with him to camp a handsome china bowl brought by him from China; around its silver rim was engraved his name, &c., and from it he was accustomed to offer his punch or other beverage with his own leading toast, to wit: "Health and long life to Christopher Ludwick and wife". That bowl still exists as a BEQUEATHED legacy, to be perpetuated. At the return of peace, he settled on his farm near Germantown. In his absence it had been plundered of every thing by the British. A certificate of his good conduct, in the proper handwriting of General Washington, given in 1785, was much valued, was put under frame, and kept hung up in his parlour, as his diploma. In that, he much gloried; and considered it a full recompense for losses which he had sustained by a depreciated currency, paid to him by sundry persons, for his bonds for good money lent them. He owned at one time eight houses in Philadelphia, and had out L3000 (pounds) of money lent on bonds and interest. He left a great deal of his money to public charities, especially a fund for educating poor children. He delighted to find out objects of charity, and to relieve their wants. In the time of the yellow fever of 1793, he went into Fraley's bakery in Philadelphia, and worked at bread baking gratuitously, to relieve the wants of the poor. He had a great respect for religion and its duties, which he said he inherited from his father, who had given him, in early life, a silver medal, on which was inscribed, among other devices, "the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin". This he always carried with him as a kind of talisman; and with a view to enforce its remembrance and its precepts, when he left it to his family, he had it affixed to the lid of a silver tankard, and on the front he had inscribed a device of a Bible, a plough, and a sword, with the motto, "May the religious industry and courage of a German parent, be the inheritance of his issue !" Such a man leaves the savour of a good name, and a good example, to posterity. His remains now rest beneath an expensive monument, where the reader may read of his worth, and go, if he can, AND DO LIKEWISE ! His last house of residence in Philadelphia was No. 174 North Fifth street. He had two wives; but left no children to survive him. Their relations became his heirs. **************************************************************************** Note: All words in capital letters are in italics in the book. Note: I sincerely hope there are people on this list that have this remarkable man on their family tree!! E.

Fellow Rooters, Searching for any MECK family or a connection to any MECK family. I have a large database and I'm willing to share all information. E-mail me at MMECK0933@aol.com Respectfully, Stephen L. Meck MECK Family Historian

WATSON'S ANNALS OF PHILADELPHIA VOL 2....Published 1857...p.16 The whole of Pennsylvania---such as it was for the first half century of the settlement, --- was comprised within the counties of PHILADELPHIA, BUCKS, and CHESTER. All beyond these --- westward and northward, until of latter years, consisted of unsettled lands or Indian hunting grounds. Contemporary with the first settlement of Philadelphia, the colonists proceeded into the country, and laid the foundation of sundry towns and neighbourhoods; as this was done while the country was in a wilderness state, and in the midst of the Indian nations, it may justly interest our readers to learn the earliest facts concerning several of such settlements. To this end, we shall relate sundry incidents concerning Pennsbury, Bucks County, Chester, and Chester county, Byberry, Frankford, Lancaster, &c. The Germantown settlement was first taken up by Francis Daniel Pastorius, the 12th of the 8th month, 1683, by a purchase from William Penn, and was surveyed and laid out by the surveyor general, 2d of 3d month 1684; under a grant to him for himself and others for 6000 aces. It proved, however, to contain but 5700 acres. It was a PART of SPRINGETBURY MANOR, and was distributed among the proprietaries, as follows, viz.: 200 acres to Dr. Francis D. Pastorius himself, on CHESTNUT HILL, 150 do. To Jurian Hartsfielder (the same who in 1676 owned ALL Campington), 5350 do. To Pastorius, as AGENT to German and Dutch owners, called the Francfort company. -------- 5700 do. Pastorius and Hartsfielder were to pay yearly 1s. per 100 acres, quitrent; and all the others at the rate of 1s. per 1000 acres, ("they having bought off the quitrents"), for ever to William Penn and HEIRS. The patent for all the preceding land from Penn is executed by William Markham, secretary for Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, the 3rd April, 1689, and it therein specifies "the purchasers," as follows, viz,. Jacobus Vandewalle.............535 acres Johan Jacob Sheetz.............428 do Daniel Spehagel...................356 2/3 do John W. Uberfeld..................107 do George Strauss....................178 1/3 do Jan Laurens.........................535 do Abraham Hasevoet...............535 do -------- *2675 do * All of the above 2675 acres were sold in 1708, for L3000, to one Sprogel, by Daniel Faulkner, as agent for the Frankford Company, but as it was contrary to the wish of his principals, it was always deemed a fraud, and did not convey a title. Jacob Tellner.....................989 acres Jan Strepers......................275 do. Dirk Sipman.......................588 do. Gobart Renckes.................161 do. Lenert Arets.......................501 do. Jacob Isaacs......................161 do. ------- 2675 do. The distribution of the lands was made as follows: GERMANTOWN (proper) contained...2750 acres CRESHEIM...................................... 884 do. SOMERHAUSEN.............................. 900 do. CREFELT.........................................1166 do. --------- 5700 do. Germantown was incorporated as a borough town by a patent from William Penn, executed in England in 1689. Francis Daniel Pastorius, CIVILIAN, was made first bailiff; and Jacob Tellner, Dirk Isaacs op den Graff and Herman op den Graff, three burghers, to act ex-officio as town magistrates, and eight yeomen; the whole to form a general court to sit once a month. They made laws and laid taxes. All the settlers in Cresheim built on the Cresheim road, before settling a house on the Germantown road through Cresheim. There is an old map, made in 1700, in which all their residences and barns at that time are marked. The ORIGINAL of the following curious paper is in the hands of John Johnson, Esq. "We whose names are to these presents subscribed, do hereby certify unto all whom it may concern, that soon after our arrival in this province of Pennsylvania, in October 183, to our certain knowledge Herman op den Graff, Dirk op den Graff, and Abraham op den Graff, as well as we ourselves, IN THE CAVE of Francis Daniel Pastorious, at PHILADELPHIA, did CAST LOTS for the respective lots which they and we THEN BEGAN to settle in Germantown; and the said Graffs (three brothers) have sold their several lots, each by himself, no less than if a division in writing had been made by them. Witness our hands this 29th Nov. 1709. Lenart Arets Thomas Hunder Abraham Tunes Jan Lensen William Streygert Jan Lucken Reiner Tysen. The Germans who originally arrived, came for conscience sake to this land, and were a very religious community. They were usually called PALATINES, because they came from a Palatinate, called Cresheim and Crefelt. Many of the German Friends had been convinced by William Penn in Germany. Soon after their settlement, in 1683, some of them who were yet in Philadelphia, suffered considerably by a fire, and were then publicly assisted by the Friends. Wishert Levering, a first settler, lived to the age of 109, and died at Roxborough in 1744. Jacob Snyder lived to be 97. Arents Klincken came from Holland with William Penn in his first voyage in 1682. He had seen and known Penn in Holland. He built the first TWO story house ever raised in Germantown; and Penn was present and partook of the raising dinner; the same old stone house on Justus Johnson's premises. He died at the age of 80. He left a son whose name was Anthony Klincken, a great hunter, who spent a long life in such exercises. He used to have the garret of the house filled in the winter with wild game, and had it marked with the date when he killed it, so as to eat it in due succession as an epicure. The same house next to Justus Johnson's premises. He even purchased a German YAGER, celebrated for shooting, to aid him in his field sports; he had iron prickers to the hands and feet to aid in climbing lofty trees for crows' scalps, which bore a premium. He never went to Philadelphia without taking his gun with him in the spring and fall, and never came home without several geese or ducks, which he had killed in a spatterdock pond, then at the corner of Fourth and High Streets ! He called it the best game pond anywhere to be found. This was probably about 1700 or 1710. He was born about the year 1677, and died about 1759, aged 82 years. As early as 1700 there were four HERMITS living near Germantown -- John Seelig, Kelpius, Bony, and Conrad Mathias. They lived near Wissahiccon and tge Ridge. Benjamin Lay lived in a cave near the York Road, at Branchtown. John Kelpius, THE HERMIT, was a German of Sieurgen in Transylvania, of an eminent family, (tradition says he was noble), and a student of Dr. John Fabritius, at Helmstadt. He was also a correspondent of Maecken, chaplain to the Prince of Denmark in London. He came to this country in 1694 with John Seelig, Barnard KUSTER, (Coster), Daniel Falkener, and about forty-two others, being generally men of education and learning, to devote themselves, for piety's sake, to a solitary or single life; and receiving the appellatioin of the "Society of the Woman in the wilderness". They first arrived among the Germans at Germantown, where they shone awhile "as a peculiar light", but they settled chiefly "on THE RIDGE", then a wilderness. In 1708, Kelpius, who was regarded as their leader died "in the midst of his days", (said to be 35), --- after his death, the members began to fall in with the world around them, and some of them to break their avowed religious intentions by marrying. Thus the society lost its distinctive character and died away; but previous to their dispersion they were joined about the year 1704 by some others, among whom were Conrad Mathias, (the last of the Ridge hermits), a Switzer, and by Christopher Witt, (sometimes called Dr. Witt of Germantown), a professor of medicine, and a "magus" or DIVINER. The MARKET HOUSE AND PRISON was built in 1741. The ground was granted for that purpose by James de la Plaine in 1701; the said De la Plaine live in and owned James Stokes' house. There was once a pound in the market square at the south-east end, and near it stood a small log prison, in which one Adam Hogermoed was imprisoned for a small offence of intemperence. His friends pried it up at one corner and let him out at night. Some time after he made the prison his free house, for when the charter was lost, it was sold to him and he moved it to where it now forms part of Joseph Green's group of houses. To be continued.... NOTE: All words in capital letters are italics in the book. NOTE: There are another two pages about John Kelpius. If anyone is interested in these two pages, e-mail me privately, and I will send.E.

Has anyone seen or heard from Alvie, lately. I sent him some info on BLOUNT family and my address was wrong. It came back and I need to resend. Alvie, write me, so I can send this off again. Thanks. Fannie Johns Young yngedtn1@juno.com To discover our futures by exploring our pasts. Researching BLOUNT*, BYRD*, CASON*, FOREMAN*, HAZZARD*, MARTIN*, MERRITT*, PHILLIPS*, RAY*, REICHERT*,SOYSTER*, WHITEHURST*, WILKINS*, YOUNG*