I have a probable clue of sorts to the family of either Jacob Weiss/ Wise of Highspire, Dauphin Co, PA, or his wife, Johanna Susanna. This couple lived in Highspire in 1850 census, where they owned $400 worth of property, which according to the 1875 property map was a sizable piece on the railroad tracks. They died in the 1870's and 1880's and are buried at Highspire Cemetery. Jacob Weiss was born in Switzerland, according to the 1850 census, in 1802, according to his gravestone, and Johanna Susanna was born in Germany, according to the 1850 census, in 1809, according to her gravestone. According to the 1850 census, their first child was born around 1835 in Pennsylvania. They had six children in the 1850 census, including one boy, Jason. Jason was only a year old, so they may have had more children after 1850. Four of the six had distinctly English names. This is very unusual in German immigrants in central Pennsylvania Dutch territory in that time. They used the name Wise as well as Weiss, and Johanna also went by name Joanna. One of the girls is named Barbara Anne, not even the one born in the 1830's, whose name was Sarah Anne. In the same grave plot as Jacob Weiss and Joanna Weiss, buried right next to them, is the grave of Barbara Anne Johnson, b 1813, d 1851, "daughter of Jacob". Johnson would make a strange sort of a transcription error if she was really Barbara Anne Weiss died a year after being listed in the 1850 census! Stranger than the date as 1813. This girl could not have been Jacob Weiss's daughter. She could have been either Jacob's or JOhanna's sister. I do not have a clue at what age either of these people came to this country, or where they married. If born in 1813, she was 38 when she died. Her maiden name may or may not be Johnson. It is odd that she would be described as daughter of Jacob if she was someone's wife. But it also seems as if her presence in the plot with the Weiss's indicates she was buried by people closely connected to the Weiss's, maybe her parents did the gravestone! If Barbara Anne was Jacob Weiss's sister, then their father was named Jacob Weiss/ Wise. If Barbara Anne was Johanna Susanna's sister, and if she was not married, then Johanna Susanna and Barbara Anne were both the children of someone from Germany named Johnson. Since Johnson is n't a German name, and since this family did so much Anglicization, it is more likely the name was originally Johanson or something of the sort, even Johannes! This would be why Johanna Susanna was named Johanna! Does anyone have a Weiss/ Wise family with either Jacob Weiss and Barbara Anna Weiss (m Johnson) the children of Jacob Weiss/ Wise, or else a Johnson/ Johannes/ Johanson family with Johanna Susanna and Barbara Anne as children, and the father named Jacob, in both cases the children born between 1800 and 1815? YOurs, Dora Smith