MYERS HISTORY Some Descendants of Hans Meier of Pequea Lancaster County, Pennsylvania by Dorothy M. K. Adams ^, Privately Published by the Author .\J?\ tfv u~---.on, Texas V aft' & 1987 \ .o^" F AM1LY H'.STORY LIBRARY 35 NORTH WEST TEMPLE SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84150 Copyright © 1987 by Dorothy M. K. Adams Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 86-72437 V. Ordering Information: From the author: 10819 Briar Forest Drive Houston, TX 77042 or Laura Tidwell Box 203 Carrizo Springs, TX 78834 PREFACE This book is a revision of Myers Lancaster County in 1710-17. English History, written and published by my and American history has largely deni­ father, William Scott Myers, in 1909. grated or ignored its minorities. The It includes data from Winkler's Histo­ German-speaking Swiss Brethren, a mi­ ry, the family of his mother, simulta­ nority within a minority later known neously published. Like my father's as Mennonites, played an important, books, this one was prepared as a gift little-recognized role in colonial A- to the extended family of first cous­ merica. The immigrant ancestors of the ins. A limited number of copies will Myers family studied in this book were be available for sale to the public. probably, though not certainly, both Swiss and Mennonite. I share with my The book extends Myers genealogy father a pride in my ancestors, who backward three generations in eight­ did little harm and more good than eenth century Lancaster County, Penn­ many Americans know. sylvania from Christian Meyer Jr. 1761- 1802 of Earl Township, to the immi­ Some of the related surnames dis­ grant Hans Meier of the Pequea settle­ cussed in this book include, with page ment, who died in 1722. The tangled references: Lenhard, 50, Hoover, 80, Meyer lines of that time and place had 102, Bear, 97,103, Stauffer, 105, Saud- never before been sorted. A chain of er, 105, Winkler, 113-134, Snavely, land records proving our line, the re­ 176, Hershey, 176, Horst, 176, North- sults of more than five years of re­ cott, 192; Green, Wilson, Morrison and search, is published herein. The book Chapman, 196. documents the many Christian Meyers and John Meyers of Earl Township who Acknowledgments inherited the ancestral land, and fol­ lows the full family of Christian Mey­ Two people, Mandas Myers and Dean er, Jr., separating those who remained Froehlich, gave so much help that the in Pennsylvania from those who moved book could not have been completed to Ohio. without them. Mandas, who died in 1982, served as family historian for The book brings Myers History for­ forty years. He, alone, provided the ward to 1987, providing genealogical necessary leads to restore the full data for two sons of the above Chris­ family of first cousins descended from tian's son John 1799-1877: first, the Christian 1833-1888, and many of our descendants of six sons of my grand­ second cousins, descendants of Christi­ father, Christian Hoover Myers 1833- an's brother, George Bear Myers 1830- 1888. In 1987 there are some 265 liv­ 1900. Without Mandas's records, whole ing family members, including spouses, branches would have been irretrievably scattered across the nation. Second, lost. many of the descendants of my grand­ father's brother, George Bear Myers, In September 1981 I was referred are also listed, and a few members of by Mandas Myers to Dean Kenneth Froeh­ my grandmother's Winkler family have lich of Rochester, New York, a descend­ been located and listed in the book. ant of George Bear Myers whose inter­ est in genealogy began, like mine, in A large section of the book is de­ childhood when he first read Myers His­ voted to background history tracing tory. By correspondence, Dean collabo­ the historical significance of the lit­ rated closely with me for more than tle settlement of Swiss Mennonites in five years, primarily in search of our ^^^ Pennsylvania roots, bringing to the I am grateful to my brother Jay research team a professionalism and and his wife Lucy, and to Norma Stand­ broad expertise far superior to my ard and the families of her brothers, own. Together we searched far and who hosted and participated in a ser­ wide for relevant material. Together ies of reunions, beginning in Houston we examined dozens of documents in the in 1978 at the home of Evelyn Myers effort to tease out our own Christians and Karen, Jay and Lee Harvey. Also, and Johns from the many found tangled to Alta Swallow and Vera and Bo Cowel in Lancaster County archives. Dean of Colorado, Mandas Myers of Detroit, found time to devote endless hours to Lucile and Roland Beetham of New Jer­ meticulous research and analysis, mak­ sey, Wanda and Sig Kvia of Wyoming, ing charts, providing forms, locating Chris and Doris Myers, Moroleen and solutions to problems of all kinds. He Annette Davis, Cheryl, Vick and Tori deserves to be named senior author or Pease, Ella, Gene, Jeanne, Wendy and co-author of this book, but declined, David Myers and Tuleta Ulbrich, all of and, after many years of joint effort, Texas. All of these traveled long dis­ bowed out to leave the writing of the tances to be present. We owe a special book to me. I cannot express adequate­ thanks to Jennie and Elizabeth Wink­ ly my gratitude to this kind and gener­ ler, Wilbur Winkler and Anita Renneck- ous man who became my steadfast men­ er for their contribution to the suc­ tor, collaborator and friend. cess of the Paradise, Ohio reunion in 1982. Those who attended all six of Froehlich also provided abundant the reunions in Texas, Colorado, Ohio records and photographs from his line, and Pennsylvania include Norma, Jay that of George Myers's daughter, Mary and Lucy, Evelyn, Karen, Jay and Lee Cedelia Myers Clear. After this book Harvey. Norma, Mandas and Evelyn also had gone to the printer we discovered attended reunions of our second cous­ we should have credited Mary Clear's ins in Indiana. To all of you, and to daughter, R. Beatrice (Mrs. Wm. DeVoe) all of the other reunion participants, Clear, for the enormous basic effort my thanks for a show of family love, of gathering records of this family by friendship and solidarity which en­ mail and by phone, and for preparing sured a favorable reception of the several of the photographs inadvertent­ book and added a rich new dimension to ly credited to Dean Froehlich, who fur­ our lives. nished them to me. Neither Dean nor I wish to minimize t;he significance of As the book neared completion in Mrs. DeVoe's contribution, though we late 1986, Evelyn Myers joined me full are unable at this late hour to cor­ time, taking charge of two sets of man­ rect all of the credits due her. uscript, cutting and pasting outlines, placing pictures and legends, doing re­ I wish to thank my brother, Bill ductions, lining, pagination, correc­ Myers of San Antonio, for placing many tions , leaving me free to draft and of the genealogical records of the proof-read the final pages with my re­ book on computer, and to thank Virgin­ dactor. Evelyn was a godsend. ia, his wife, for her hospitality and forebearance during my many visits to My thanks to all of you who have their home to transfer the informa­ contributed information to the records tion. What might have been unmanage­ by mail or by phone, including Melvin able drudgery became a delightful ex­ Myers of Indiana, who paid us a visit perience. in 1986 and returned home to round up records of more than a dozen cousins. My thanks to Clyde Groff, profes­ sional genealogist of Lancaster, who worked on portions of the project. Dorothy M. K. Adams vv Key to Abbreviations Abbreviations in the outline are treated as symbols without punctu­ ation, as b = born, d = died, i = interred, Cem = cemetery, m = mar­ ried, ml = first spouse, m2 = second spouse, div = divorced, Twp = Town­ ship, Co = County, A = adopted, chid = child, chldrn = children, dau = daughter, emp = employed or employee, grad = graduate, bus col = busi­ ness college. Citations of court house documents refer in all cases to Lancaster County, PA unless otherwise noted. Three letters and numbers in paren­ theses, as (A-7-160), refer to (1) Will or Deed Book, (2) Volume, (3) Page. Explanation of Numbering System Our senior Immigrant ancestor, Hans Meier who died in 1722, is "M" in the outline. His children, in birth order, become Ml, M2, M3, etc. The children of Ml become Mil, M12, M13, etc. The children of Mil be­ come Mill, M112, M113, etc. (See next page). All of the family of Ml are listed in the outline before M2. All of the family of M2 are list­ ed before M3. Each digit represents a generation. The tenth child has the sym­ bol 0. The eleventh child becomes a, the twelfth becomes b, the thir­ teenth c, etc. (See pp. 141-142). The ancestral outline is followed for six generations. The number of Christian Hoover Myers is M32374. We see that he is the fourth child of the seventh child of the third child of the second child, etc. The seventh, or modern generation begins a new outline, with each member of that generation assigned a letter. Some families are now in the twelfth generation, as twins Brian and Byron Dunn, J14111 and J14112, descend­ ants of Christian's son John, and Barry Richard Holmes, Jr., Elllll, descendant of George Bear Myers's daughter Mary. Barry's full number is M32373-E11111.