DOCSLIB.ORG

Four Generations of the Family of Pequea Pioneer Jacob Miller (1663-1739)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Four Generations of the Family of Pequea Pioneer Jacob Miller (1663-1739) The author tackles a confusing immigrant family dating to the earliest settlement of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Four Generations of the Family of Pequea Pioneer Jacob Miller (1663-1739) By Thomas A. Durkin Drawing of an eighteenth-century frigate Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 14 October 2007 Few Mennonite families are more frustrating to research "there are perhaps 200 persons listed with a form of Johannes than the Millers of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Millers Muller who came to America between 1727 and 1808."1 There came to America early and often; they lived in a lot of places, are researched histories of some Miller families but not enough including but not limited to Lancaster County; they were of them. Many family branches with this surname are still Lutheran, Reformed, Amish, and Quaker as well as Mennonite; orphans from others; thus, it is difficult to fit many of the Jacobs and every Swiss or German family with this surname seemed to and Johns into a framework that properly places them with their name sons Jacob or John. Referring to Strassburger and Hinke's appropriate parents, siblings, children, uncles, aunts, and Pennsylvania German Pioneers, author J. Virgil Miller reports that cousins. The purpose of this article is to provide from primary records a starting place for further research on more generations of one well-known branch of the Millers but one apparently without a published history: the family of Jacob Miller Senim~ the Pequea pioneer of 1710. While this individual is well known to historians as one of the original European settlers of Lancaster County, except for a few earlier French fur traders and mission­ aries, his family is still confusing. This article outlines his docu­ mented family as completely as possible for four generations, fit­ ting these early Lancaster Cmmty residents into a family struc­ ture.2 Always the starting point for a project of this kind is the work of others who have gone before. For this reason a sec­ ondary goal here is to review briefly some available published, unpublished, and electronic sources on aspects of this family's history to see where these sources may have helped understand this family or added to the confusion about it. Consequently, the body of the article is divided into two parts. The first examines what we think we know about Jacob Millel~ the pioneer, from a variety of secondary sources. The second part then reorients some of the remaining questions and inconsistencies by turning to the primary sources. Because the primary records are never as complete as we would like and are sometimes difficult to find and sort, this project will probably always be a work in process. Nonetheless, the historical records are clear enough to be very helpful in structuring at least a significant portion of the early Lancaster County Millers. Part One: Secondary Sources about Jacob Miller Among her many writings Jane Evans Best discussed the ancestry of Jacob Miller in her informative and interesting article "Martin Kendig's Swiss Relatives."3 In that article she indicated that the European ancestry she outlined for 1710 pioneer Jacob Miller was likely but not definite. According to he1~ in 1693 at age thirty Miller probably was living in Friedrichstadt, Germany. Richard Warren Davis published a somewhat different interpretation in his Emigrants, Refugees, and Prisoners. According to Davis, Jacob Miller was recorded as living in 1703 at Darnhof, Eppingen, Germany, for the past five years, age thirty-five.4 Best's article indicates that this latter individual probably was Jacob Miller's younger brother Hans Jacob, born in 1668.5 A IJ. Virgil Miller, "Which is the Correct John Miller?" Mennonite Family History 17 (October 1998): 174. 2The original goal of this project was to find and identify, if possi­ 0, ble, the Jacob Miller who married Hannah Etter in Lancaster Colmty about 1795. They are mentioned in the will of her fathet~ George Etter, of This photograph shows the June 27, 1710, letter from London Strasburg Township, proved July 17, 1811 . After extensive looking for in the Amsterdam Archives (no. 2253), in which six men­ and sorting of Millers over a period of years, a suspect surfaced but no Martin Kintig, Jacob Miiller, Martin Oberholtzer, Martin proof, and this original goal remains unsatisfied. If anyone might be Maile, Christian Herr, and Hans Herr-on their way to aware of proof of the identity of this Jacob Miller, this information about Pennsylvania thanked their friends in Amsterdam for finan­ him would be gratefully received and appreciated. cial aid that they had received because the journey cost more 3Jane Evans Best, "Martin Kendig's Swiss Relatives," Pennsylvania than they had imagined. England was still using the Julian cal­ Mennonite Heritage 15 (January 1992): 10-13. endar, Old Style, at this time. Because the signatures all appear 4Richard Warren Davis, Emigrants, Refugees, and Prisoners, vol. 3 Warren Davis, 1999), 282. to be by the same hand, this particular letter may be a copy of (Provo, Utah: Richard 5Annette Klmselman Burgert also reports that this reference from an original, the location of which is unknown. Another possi­ Eppingen is to Hans Jacob Miller. See her Eighteenth Century Emigrants bility is that it may have been drafted by the member of the from German Speaking Lands to North America, vol. 1, The Northern group who was most gifted as a scribe, perhaps the last person, Krnichgau, Publications of the Pennsylvania German Society, no. 16 who signed for all. (Breinigsville, Pa.: Pennsylvania German Society, 1983), 124. Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 15 October 2007 N christopher Franciscus \530 acres) ~ Martin Kiindig Martin \1060 acres) christian l(undig Bert (264 (530 acres) acres) -----*- --- Martin 1719 Wende\ Mey\in Herr Bowrnan (264 J-louse (530 acres) acres) I WilloW* \. St~eet~ \_Mennomte Meetinghouse The 1710/11 Pequea land purchase in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, including immigrant Jacob Miller's tract (shaded area) more important difference between the two versions is that reconcile or even discuss further Jacob Miller's European ances­ Rudliffe/Rudolph Miller, another early Lancaster County Miller try, no matter how interesting and closely bound up with the tra­ immigrant, is Jacob Miller's second cousin in Best's version but vails of German and Swiss Anabaptists in the sixteenth and sev­ a brother in Davis's interpretation. The intent here, however, is enteenth centuries.6 Regardless of ancestry and European trav­ just to mention published differences in these sources and not to els, the Jacob Miller of interest here emigrated from Europe to Pennsylvania in 1710 on the ship Maria Hope. The Maria Hope left England in late June 1710 with a sizeable group of Mennonites among about ninety-four passengers and crew (dates here are of the calendar then in effect). In another article Richard Warren Davis has attempted to piece together the otherwise-unrecorded list of the Mennonites on the Maria Hope 6Readers interested in general background of the Mennonite move to Pennsylvania in the early eighteenth century are directed to John Landis Ruth's monumental history of the Lancaster Mennonites, The Earth Is the Lord's, Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History, no. 39 (Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 2001). 7Richard Warren Davis, "Swiss and German Mennonite Immigrants from the Palatinate, 1704-1717," Mennonite Family History 13 Ganuary 1994): 11. The Davis listing also includes Wendel Bowman (spelled vari­ ously in historical records as Wendel, Wendell, and Wendall Bowman and Bauman), who was already in Pennsylvania before 1710 and there­ Neff's Mill covered bridge over the Pequea Creek near the fore was not on this voyage. intersection of Bridge Road and Penn Grant Road in West snus letter is reproduced in full in a number of places, including Ira D. Landis, "For a Faith's Pure Shrine," Mennonite Research Journal 1 Lampeter Township stands near the center of immigrant Jacob (October 1960): 25. This letter may be a copy of an original (location Miller's tract. Near its southeastern end until recent years were unknown) because all the signatures appear to be by one hand. the ruins of the mill built in 1797 by Wendell Bauman (m. 9Martin Hervin Brackbill, "New Light on Hans Herr and Martin Anne Landis), grandson of immigrant Wendell Bauman. Kendig," Journal of the Lancaster CounhJ Historical Society 39 (1935): 73-102. Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 16 October 2007 based on land warrants, tax, and naturalization records. From his compilation twenty-nine individuals on that voyage eventu­ ally reached what became Lancaster County. Besides Jacob Miller and his wife and sons Jacob and Martin, they included Hans Funk and his wife, Barbara; Hans Herr with his wife, Frances Brackbill, and children John, Veronica, Anna, and Christian; his brother Christian Herr with his wife, Anna, and children John, Christian, Abraham, and Elizabeth; Martin Kendig with his wife, Elizabeth Bar, and son John Jacob; Martin Meili with his wife, Anna Rutgen, and son Martin; Martin Oberholtzer with his wife and sons Jacob and Martin; and Christopher Franciscus, who was single and probably not a Mennonite.7 A letter from London-dated June 27, 1710, and signed by Jacob Miller and five of the others (Martin Kendig, Martin Oberholtzer, Martin Meili, Christian Herr, and Hans Herr)-thanked their benefactors in Holland for financial assis­ tance on their journey to Pennsylvania. According to the letter, "This kind contribution came very opportunely to us, because the journey cost more than we imagined."B Because these individuals, along with Johann Rudolph Bundeli, Wendel Bowman, and Hans Graff, who were already in Pennsylvania before 1710, were the original Swiss German landowners of Lancaster County, their travels and settlement have been examined extensively and are recorded and discussed in a variety of places.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The German and Swiss Settlements of Colonial Pennsylvania: a Study of the So-Called Penn- Sylvania Dutch
    THE GERMAN AND SWISS SETTLEMENTS OF COLONIAL PENNSYLVANIA: A STUDY OF THE SO-CALLED PENN- SYLVANIA DUTCH BY OSCAR KUHNS Member of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution, of the Pennsylvania-German Society, and of the Lancaster County Historical Society NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 1901 Copyright, 1900, BY HENRY HOLT & CO. ROBERT DRUMMOND, PRINTER, NEW YORK. THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR TO THE MEMORY OF HIS ANCESTORS GEORGE KUNTZ AND HANS HERR PIONEER SETTLERS OF LANCASTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA Die Enkel gut thun an die Milhen ihrer Vorfahren zu denken." FREYTAG. PREFACE. THE object of this book is to give a complete yet concise view of a too-much-neglected phase of American origins. The author has especially tried to be impartial, avoiding as far as possible mere rhetoric, and allowing the facts to speak for themselves. As a book of this kind can have no real value unless it is reliable, authorities have been freely quoted, even at the risk of making the number of foot-notes larger than is perhaps suited to the taste of the general public. BERN, SWITZERLAND, October i, 1900. iii CONTENTS. PAGE PREFACE iii CHAPTER I. THE HISTORIC BACKGROUND i II. THE SETTLING OF THE GERMAN COUNTIES OF PENNSYLVANIA 30 III. OVER LAND AND SEA 62 IV. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE PENNSYL- VANIA-GERMAN FARMER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 83 V. LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND EDUCATION. 1 15 VI. THE RELIGIOUS LIFE / 153 \ *_!,-' VII. IN PEACE AND IN WAR T<j3 VIII. CONCLUSION 221 APPENDIX PENNSYLVANIA-GERMAN FAMILY NAMES.
    [Show full text]
  • The Cultural Heritage Element a Strategy for Preserving Our Sense of Place April 2006
    Heritage The Cultural Heritage Element A Strategy for Preserving Our Sense of Place April 2006 envision The Comprehensive Plan for Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Lancaster County Table of Contents Introduction Key Message . 3 Our Challenge . 3 Purpose of This Plan . 4 Heritage: An Element of the Lancaster County Comprehensive Plan . 5 Need for the Plan . 7 Approach . 7 Contents of This Plan . 7 Goals, Objectives, and Strategies . 8 Existing Conditions Historical and Cultural Overview of Lancaster County . 13 Native American / American Indian Settlement . 13 Penn’s Woods and the Establishment of Lancaster County . 16 Settlement Patterns . 18 Religious Traditions in 18th-Century Lancaster County . 19 18th-Century Built Environment . 27 Agriculture in the 18th Century . 27 18th-Century Industries . 27 Revolutionary War and Early Republic . 28 Development of Free African Communities . 29Growing Transportation Network 30 of Contents Table Arts and Education in the 18th and 19th Centuries . 33 Slavery, the Civil War, and the Underground Railroad . 34 Agriculture in the 19th and 20th Centuries . 38 Manufacturing in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries . 39 Arts in the 20th Century . 41 20th Century to Today . 41 Preservation Planning In Lancaster County . 43 Past Efforts . 43 Present Efforts . 50 Preservation Trends . 53 Introduction . 53 Positive Trends . 56 Mixed Results . 61 Negative Trends . 66 Planning Process Guiding Principles . 73 Stakeholder Involvement . 73 Sustainability . 73 Integration of Supporting Studies . 73 Achievable Recommendations . 74 Research and Assessment . 74 Public Involvement Strategy . 75 Lancaster County Cultural Heritage Plan Task Force . 75 Regional Meetings . 76 Public Workshop: There’s No Place Like Home . 76 Public Involvement Findings .
    [Show full text]
  • HERR's ISLAND Fred R
    THE WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE Volume 53 July 1970 Number 3 HERR'S ISLAND Fred R. Herr the Allegheny River about two miles above its junction with the Monongahela River lies a small island. The town which had InA sprung up at the point where the two rivers meet was christened Pittsburgh on November 27, 1758, inhonor of England's great states- man, William Pitt, and thirty-nine years later the small island in the Allegheny River was named Herr's Island. The island, despite its size, being three-quarters of a mile long and six hundred feet wide, has had a long history of service to the needs of a rapidly growing community. It was the site, at various times, of homes, sawmills, manufacturing enterprises, oil refineries, stockyards, meat-packing houses, and fertilizer works. There is no record of the island's having been used by the Indians other than as a means of crossing the river. AnIndian trail from the east ran through the small Delaware village of Shannopin's Town, in the vicinity of what is now 40th and Butler Streets, con- tinued over the river and across the island, thence through the town of Allegheny and on toward the west. 1 Itis entirely possible that, due to the island's isolation from the mainland, it was the scene of many overnight encampments. The original owner of the island was William Wilson, having obtained the patent to the property on May 18, 1792. It was later purchased by Benjamin Herr in 1797 from George Wallace and Ann Wilson.2 Itis not known what use Benjamin Herr made of the island, Mr.
    [Show full text]
  • The Lancaster Mennonite Conference Historical Society 2215 Mill Stream Road, Lancaster, Pa
    CCGS REFERENCE ONL L • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • N • • • • • • • • • ___ ..... - _.---· -· Map of the Bishop John Herr farm, about 1810 to 1830, as described in Benjamin Groff Herr's memoirs of his youth, plotted by Henry G. Benner, and confirmed by recollections of Mrs. J. Clarence (Edna V. nee Groff) Groff (b. 1917) of life in later years on this farm. Mrs. Groff is a daughter of Enos H . and Martha (B rubaker) Groff. Later roads appear in grey. Pennsylvn11in Mennonite Heritnge July 2006 the dog or the antipathy of the men. The marmots had every sensible perception that could be grasped at once, their abodes in scores by the confines, like to the covert and clothed in somewhat palpable images. The discus­ ways and mines in the approaches to a fortification. sions held by tile seniors were too abstract, and tile feel­ Snakes as long as rails were known to be its habitants; ings agitated too spiritual, to have any interest for me; but al tho' I, myself, never saw one more than tluee or four feet I was not unobservant of tl1eir manners and outward in length in the neighbourhood and that was a viper, quality. Hours together I reclined in the orchard under killed several hundred yards beyond, an old one no some apple tree; or, in tile decline of day lay on tile mow, doubt, that had singly escaped the otherwise total and watched the expanded sunshine on tile opposite wall, destruction of a former time, since, I never had tl1e fortune where it had entered tlu·o' tl1e oriel-like opening, rising to behold tl1ereabouts, another specimen of the same kind, with matllematical exactness on it, as tile orb of day and vipers and rattlesnakes had early been set upon, and descended; or roaming to the quarries and sandbanks, sought to be exterminated with the most wu·emitting dili­ which had been excavated for building purposes, sat on gence.
    [Show full text]
  • The Witwer Family of Earl Township: Part 1, Hans Wittwer
    A thorough study of civil records from the earliest years of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, results in important additions and corrections to a published genealogy on a Mennonite immigrant and his descendants. The Witwer Family of Earl Township: Part 1, Hans Wittwer by Denise Witwer Lahr and Thomas Witwer Richards The beginning genealogist will encounter many ited to the disbursement of land through the Herr and works compiled in the late 1800s and early 1900s that Kendig warrant.4 purport to give the accurate history of a particular fam­ Tax records are another source of information ily. Closer examination of these works often reveals a regarding land ownership. However, the examination of lack of reference to original sources. In large part they tax records requires a cautionary note. This caveat con­ appear to be based on oral history and the knowledge cerns the fact that this information was recorded in an gleaned from interviewing the oldest living members of age when spelling was not conventional and names the family. Although genealogists of a century ago cer­ were written according to the ear of the recorder, who tainly did their best, researchers now have access to new was often a speaker of English recording German technology and greater freedom of movement to explore names. Consequently, the researcher must take care in estate, land, church and government records. Therefore, assuming that any particular entry applies to a specific it is interesting to compare the oral traditions and older individual. genealogies with the information that can be obtained The name "Witwer" was written in the following from historical research.
    [Show full text]