USA > Pennsylvania > Schuylkill County > Blue book of Schuylkill County : who was who and why, in interior eastern Pennsylvania, in Colonial days, the Huguenots and Palatines, their service in Queen Anne's French and Indian, and Revolutionary Wars : history of the Zerbey, Schwalm, Miller, Merkle, Minnich, Staudt, and many other representative families > Part 13
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34
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John Spohn and wife, Mary -, stood sponsors at the baptism of John Spohn, son of Adam (Henry1), b. November 7, 1790. This John Spohn was probably the man who settled on Broad Mountain, (Schuylkill County), and died at the age of forty-seven, in Pottsville, 1847. His wife was Margaret Horuff, and the surviving children are: Mrs. Eliza Denne- baum and Mrs. Val. Stichter ; deceased Moncure, Frank, and several others.
Captain John Spohn, wf. Catharine, daughter of Conrad Bower, deceased. He was born in Cumru Township, Jan- uary 10, 1754, and married Maria Biddle. He died April 19, 1822, at Reading. His company and that of Captain Peter Decker were captured at the taking of Fort Washington, November, 1776.
Phillip Spohn and wf., Mary, baptized four daughters and one son, John William, between August 17, 1771, and February 28, 1790. The sponsors for the latter were the grandparents, Henry and Catharine Spohn.1
BECHTELS, PALMERS
Jolın Bechtel, father of Hon. O. P. Bechtel, lived in Berks County, where he kept the "Half Way House," between Reading and Kutztown. He removed from there to North- umberland County, where his tract of land was known as "Warrior Run farm." In 1847 he removed to Middleport, Schuylkill County. John Bechtel was born in Bucks County, 1798. He was postmaster of Middleport during the Pierce administration.
Nathan Palmer was a lineal descendant of Miles Standish. He was born in Plainfield, Connecticut, but remov- ed early to Pennsylvania. The sympathies of the Palmer family were with the British and they were not represented in the War of the Revolution. His son was Judge Strange
(Note 1-Hain's Church Records.)
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N. Palmer, who came to Pottsville, 1829. His son, Robert Palmer, State Senator, was appointed minister to the Argen- tine Republic, 1861. His health failed and he died, 1862, on his return trip home and was buried at sea. Of his children, Strange, Charles T., (a prominent physician), Robert, Laura, Bertha, wife of Harry Stinear, and Frank N., the latter alone survives.
THE KAERCHERS, KEPNERS, SHIPPENS
Conrad Roth, or Roads, came from Germany and settled in Chester County. He resided in Reading, 1760, where he died. His son, John, settled in Hamburg where Franklin Roads, of Minersville, and Jacob O. Roads, the father of George and Oliver Roads, of Pottsville, were born. Other Roths or Roads, in Berks and Schuylkill Counties, were the descendants of one of three brothers who settled in Amity Township, about 1725, Jacob having a numerous progeny. Colonel Jones, of the Continental line, Revolutionary War, was a maternal ancestor of George and Oliver Roads. It was said of Colonel Jones that "one half of the prominent people of Reading, in the early days, were descended from him : among them the Hon's Glancy and Richmond L. Jones, and in Pottsville the Morris, Roseberry, Roads, N. C. Morrison, Thompson, Mrs. George Ryon and Nathan Evans' families, and others claim descent from this man; Jonathan Jones m. Margaret Davis. They had eleven children, five sons and six daughters.
Hamburg was first called Kaerchertown. Martin Kaer- cher lived here in 1785. William, George and Daniel, sons of Martin, were taxpayers in 1793. Daniel removed to Frie- densburg, Manheim Township, Schuylkill County, where Franklin B. Kaercher, the father of Frank D., Edward E., William H., Samuel H. (deceased), D. W., and Mrs. Ida Day, was born. Martin Kergher, John and Christian Kercher
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(Kaercher) (Revolutionary War Record.) The Derrs, Shomos, Yeagers, Seidels and other Pottsvillians, claim Hamburg as the seat of their nativity.
The Kepners, W. C., deceased, and Sol. Kepner, of Or- wigsburg, are descended from a family that lived in the south- ern part of Schuylkill County long before it was known by that name. They belonged for several generations to that thrifty element that represents the typical Pennsylvania Ger- man citizen. Kepners, a village on the branch of the Lehigh Valley Railway, was named after the family. Bernhard Kep- ner kept a tavern on the Catawissa road, one mile north of McKeansburg, then Northampton County. He was in the Revolutionary War and is buried at McKeansburg.
Attorney L. D. Haughawout, of Pottsville, claims two members of his family as having been in the Revolutionary War and others in the later wars in which the United States was involved.
Henry Spannuth was in the War of the Revolution. On Christmas night, 1776, he was among those of the British emissaries captured by General Washington after crossing the Delaware. Released, he took up arms at once for the Continental cause. He settled in Lebanon County.
Jacob5 Spanuth, (Henry4, Emanuel3, George2, Henry1), Jacob, antiquarian, of Pottsville, is descended from Henry1, who came over, 1776, with the British forces and became an exemplary citizen in his adopted country.
Daniel Focht, clerk for John Pott, lived in one of the first houses erected at the Forge, 1806, old Orchard, Greenwood basin, near the site of Pottsville. Focht's forge, near New Ringgold, was owned by this family of which the James Focht and Daniel Focht families are a branch.
Edward B. Hubley, born 1792, at Reading, son of Attor- ney Joseph Hubley, admitted to the Bar 1820, was twice
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elected to Congress from Berks and Schuylkill Counties, 1835 to 1839. He lived at Orwigsburg, removing to Reading, then to Philadelphia, where he died.
John4 P. Hobart, (Nathaniel3 P., Robert2, Enoch1), came to Orwigsburg, Schuylkill County, 1838. He was born in Pottstown, Montgomery County, 1814, and married Anne Smith. He was a lawyer and practised in the Schuylkill County courts, coming to Pottsville when the county seat was removed from Orwigsburg, where he lived until his death. They had two sons and two daughters.
Nathaniel3 Potts Hobart, a lawyer, was Auditor General of Pennsylvania, 1836, under Governor Joseph Ritner. He was in the War of 1812-'14. He built the mansion for a homestead on the hill at Pottstown, afterward used as a school for boys by Col. Meiggs. Here the family resided. He married Johanna Holland. Nathaniel Hobart was a grandson of Enoch Hobart, a sea captain from Philadelphia to Liverpool.
There was a Peter Hobart, who came to Hingham, Mass., 1635. He had sixteen children who settled in different states. Enoch Hobart may have been one of the sons, but the connection has not been proven.
Shippen, John, and wife Margaret McCall, came to Pottsville, 1830. He was a descendant of Edward Shippen, the first Colonial Mayor, of Philadelphia. A daughter of this historic family, a great belle and beauty, married General Benedict Arnold, who was a traitor to his country. The Shippens were loyalists. The children of John Shippen were : Edward, Samuel and Elizabeth, the latter being the last of her family and died May 20, 1914, in Philadelphia, where she resided the last years of her life; the family home on the site of the Philadelphia and Reading Company building, Mahan- tongo Street, Pottsville, being owned and occupied by them for fifty years. John Shippen was President of the Miners'
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National Bank, of Pottsville, from March 4, 1831, succeeding Francis B. Nichols, resigned, February 25, 1831. The Miners Bank was incorporated, 1828, and he was its second president serving almost a half century.
Miss Elizabeth Swift Shippen, through inheritance amassed considerable wealth, her estate being valued at more than $2,000,000. The Pottsville Hospital received $272,000 from her estate with other bequests; the hospital having been practically founded by her in memory of her parents. Be- quests were given other local and some Philadelphia institu- tions.
Thomas James Baird married the daughter of Matthew Carey, of Philadelphia. His wife, Eliza C. Baird, was a sister of Henry C. Carey, the noted political economist and writer. They came to Pottsville, 1835, where Mr. Baird acted as agent for the Carey's, who owned the controlling interest in the York Farm, Eyre and St. Clair coal tracts. Mr. Baird was a graduate of the United States Military Academy, 1814, and served in the war of 1812-14, as a Lieutenant of Artil- lery. He remained in the service until 1828 when he resigned as Captain of the 3rd Regiment United States Artillery. In 1838 he was elected Captain of the National Light Infantry, of Pottsville. Their children were Augusta, wife of Dr. A. H. Halberstadt, and Edward Carey Baird, married to Emily Thompson, daughter of Samuel C. Thompson. E. C. Baird was a Major on General Meade's staff during the War of the Rebellion serving with distinction throughout the entire period.
Ashael Powers, grandfather of Rev. J. F. Powers, pastor of Trinity Episcopal church, was a soldier in the Revolu- tionary War from Springfield, Vermont.
Christian Burkert was born in Berks County, 1751, where he died, 1840. He was in the Revolutionary War.
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He was the grandfather of Elias P. Burkert, of Ashland, Schuylkill County.
Dr. Jonathan Potts was born at Pottstown, Montgomery County, 1747. He was a surgeon general in the Revolution- ary army. His son William was the grandfather of Hon. W. Ramsey Potts, of Pottsville. William and William B. Potts are both buried at Pottstown, which was named after Jona- than Potts.
James Patterson settled in Chester County, (Conestoga, Lancaster County,) 1717. His son, James Patterson, re- moved to Juniata County, and settled on the banks of the river Juniata, where he built a stone house that was used as a fort against the Indians with whom he traded. He was a Captain in the French and Indian War. His son, George Patterson, married Jane Burd, daughter of the Colonel of his father's regiment, and Sarah Shippen, a descendant of the first mayor of Philadelphia. His son, Burd Patterson, came to Pottsville, 1824, and was one of its foremost resi- dents. The family in Pottsville was a large and prominent one, but is now almost wholly extinct here. Burd S. Patter- son, of Pittsburg, is a grandson of Burd Patterson, his father was Joseph Patterson. George Patterson, brother of Burd, was married twice. His sons were: Stuart, Edward, Fred- erick and William, of the first wife, and John and Theodore, of the second. His daughters were Matilda, Mary and Dollie.
Samuel Lewis, son of Griffith and Lydia Lewis, was born October 13, 1791. He was married to Rebecca Phillips, Octo- ber 18, 1820. They had five children, one of whom died in early manhood. Charles M., father of Charles M. Lewis, manager Philadelphia and Reading Telegraph Company lines, Reading ; and Edgar P. Lewis, of Pottsville, was born October 13, 1823, and died 1880. Samuel Lewis was twice married, his first wife having died November 9, 1857 (was born July 12, 1788). The second union, to Miss Miller, a public school
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teacher, took place May 26, 1859. From this marriage one son, William Allison, was born, January 8, 1867. Samuel Lewis died August 22, 1878. His wife, Rose M. Lewis, died at Rutherford, N. J., January 6, 1915, and is buried in Pottsville. Samuel Lewis, borough surveyor, and the compiler of several original borough and county maps, traced his lineage back in a clear line of descent to Evean Lewis, who was born in or near Nathlage Parish, Pembroke Shire, Wales, British Isles. He and his wife Magdelene, emi- grated to America in 1713 and settled in the great valley in Whitelaw Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, where they purchased a tract of land from Richard Thomas. They had four children, one son Griffith and three daughters. The line extended down through the above Griffith to Samuel, his son, and to Samuel's son Griffith, who in turn had a son, Samuel, the subject of this sketch, and the fifth generation up to the time of his death and the seventh in a direct line of descent of the Lewis family up to the present time.
ZELLERS, RAHNS, SEITZINGERS
John Henry Sellaire (Zeller), Huguenot, came to New York, 1710, with the one thousand immigrants. His name and that of his son John is on the list of settlers at Livingstone manor. He was in Queen Anne's war, 17111. He died 1756. John Henry Zeller came from the Schoharie, N. Y., to Chester County, Penna., (Berks), 1727. He built the block house, as a refuge from the Indians (part of which is still standing) on the mill creek, between Womelsdorf and Stouchs- burg.
Zeller, John Henry, wf. Anna Maria; c., John George, John Henry, John David, Hartman (Martin,) John, Anna Maria Saltzberger, Barbara, Catharine Pontus, Anna Eliza- beth Battdorf. His son John George lived on the homestead in, Marion Twp., between Wintersville and Stouchsburg.
(Note 1-Roster of companies, Part 1.)
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SCHUYLKILL COUNTY Who Was Who
George M. Zeller, a direct descendant of John Henry, is the landlord of the hotel, Stouchsburg. He m. Lizzie J. Bright ; they have one son.
Jacob1 Rahn, b. Aug. 8, 1728, wf. Margaretta, b. Aug. 4, 1714; c. Jacob and Adam. Jacob2 Rahn (Jacob1,) b. July 16, 1757, d. 1823, m. Elizabeth Schneider. They had four sons and four daughters. Jacob2 was a soldier in the War of the Revolution (Part I.) Jacob2 was the father of George Rahn, who came early to Orwigsburg from Kutztown, Berks County. He was one of the first associate judges of Schuyl- kill County and Sheriff, 1820-1831. His children were Rich- ard, Charles A. (Clerk of the Schuylkill courts,) Mrs. Matilda Filbert, Oscar, one da.
Jacob Siegfried. Jacob's name is found upon the Revo- lutionary war roster (Part I.) Michael, Andreas, John, Henry. Joseph and Jacob all took the oath of allegiance, 1777.1
Nicholas Seitzinger, wf. Barbara Setley, of Perry Coun- ty, Pa., had seven sons and a number of daughters. He was a taxable, 1759, in Bethel Township, Berks County, and in 1795 owned land in Butler Township (Mahantongo.) He was in the Revolutionary war. Children: George, m. to Catharine Kantner; Daniel m. Mary Ream; John m. - Roland; Jacob m. Elizabeth Moyer, West Brunswick Town- ship; Samuel m. - Dreibelbeis ; Nicholas m. - Rowe, of Reading; Henry d. single; Catharine m. James Scott, father of Samuel Scott, wf. Mary Beyerle.
Harvey3 Scott, (Samuel2, James1), retired merchant of Pottsville, m. Ella Lindenmuth; c., Effie, wf. of Charles Seltzer, one da., son d .; Laura, m., deceased; da. Laura.
The daughters of Jacobª Seitzinger (Nicholas1) were : Mrs. Robert Palmer, Mrs. Fred. Fernsler, Mrs. Annetta Schuyler, and Mrs. Adelia Hipple.
(Note 1-List of names, Berks Historical Society.)
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Jeremiah3 Seitzinger, County Commissioner and Court Crier, (Jacob2, Nicholas1), b. 1802 at Bull's Head, m. Amanda, da. of Joseph Morgan, of Orwigsburg; their children were: Marcus, Aurora and Annie, wf. of G. Wesley Mortimer, d.
Nicholas2 Seitzinger (Nicholas1) was an Associate Judge of Schuylkill County and lived at Tamaqua, Pa. Jacob lived on a farm at Bull's Head. He built the first brick house in Pottsville, on the site of the Merchants' Bank, opposite the Episcopal Church. His brick yard was located where the old Pennsylvania freight depot stands. He owned the lots where the Exchange Hotel is and constructed it from bricks made at his yard. The family lived in what is now the Eber build- ing.
Of other notable citizens among the early settlers of Pottsville, the majority were Pennsylvanians and claimed the seat of their nativity in one of the three original counties of 1682, Chester, Bucks and Philadelphia, from which devolved Lancaster, York, Montgomery, Dauphin, Lebanon, North- ampton, Northumberland, Berks and other counties and are nearly all on record as citizens of Eastern Pennsylvania.
The esoteric rights of the foregoing to Revolu- tionary and Colonial ancestry have been accepted by the writer, through personal assertion, hearsay evidence and tradition ; 110 attempt having been made to establish their claims, except those noted and those that are correlative with established records found elsewhere in these pages. (In the Pennsylvania Archives, War Department Records, Pension Bureau, etc.) The great amount of labor required in such a research being left to such as are personally interested in verifying them.
Nor has an effort been made by the author to individual- ize all of the early families that belonged to the maternal family of Berks County and settled in the eastern and north- eastern part, now known as Schuylkill County, or of those mentioned whose descendants settled later in her environ-
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ments. The foregoing, perhaps, are but a tithe of those who sprang from the nucleus of early settlers, when the division of counties in Eastern Pennsylvania was unknown or con- fined to the original three, Philadelphia, Chester and Bucks Counties, but sufficient have been given to prove the resi- liency of their claims and their hereditary right to an ances- try, that through succeeding generations, has aided in propa- gating civilization in almost every State in the Union. Patrician or proletariat by heritage, the mission of the early settler in Pennsylvania was the same and the results speak for themselves.
RETROSPECTIVE
History is necessarily a work of compilation and re- search and is never fully complete. From its adolescent period up to the present time, to establish facts and their recurrence, a personal visitation and investigation, of the ground gone over, is imperative.
During the years occupied in this research, the author traveled many miles, spending weeks in the principal histor- ical libraries, of the State and inspected the church and court house records in the different counties involved in the historical and genealogical annals; many homesteads, too, were visited and individuals, personally, were interviewed upon the subjects treated upon in these pages.
Of the hundreds of letters written to persons, many of which were not deemed of sufficient importance by the re- ceivers to send a response; and from those received from others who kindly furnished what they knew, many facts relevant to the subject were gleaned.
While the writer is painfully conscious of the ofttimes imperfect result of these researches, yet much original light
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has been thrown upon quoted subjects; and new and orig- inal matter has been gained that is of the greatest import- ance in confirming and substantiating the data given; and in rejecting other claims that were irrelevant or not authentic. With the hope that the work may be taken up and carried to a conclusion by other more facile and trenchant pens, the historical pages are laid aside to make way for the genea- logical records.
art
NOLSO UJBLIC BRARY
SITE OF MILL OF JOHN+ ZERBEY, TULPEHOCKEN, PA.
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SCHUYLKILL CO. BLUE BOOK Genealogical Records-Zerbeys
Origin Of The Zerbeys
NAME TRACED TO NINTH CENTURY
HE Zerbes were originally Norsemen and natives of ancient Scandinavia, a general name given in the early cen- turies to the great tract of country north of Germany, comprising Denmark, Norway and Sweden and including Iceland and the Danish Archipelago.
Their tribal name, like the Gauls, Goths, Normans, Teutons and others of the early races was "Servi" and their coat of arms a knight with the heraldic device, "To Serve," emblazoned on it.
They were the retainers of the Duke of Holstein, ruler of the Princely German House of that name, which includes the royal line of Den- mark and other collateral royal branches.
Holstein, on the North Sea, a duchy of North Germany, belonged to Denmark, but is now an adjunct of Prussia and known through its alliance with Schleswig as the province of Schleswig-Holstein, its limits being circumscribed through the frequent changes of the boundaries of Northern Europe, brought about by the Roman conquerors.
From the reign of Charlemagne, in Eight Hundred A. D., who was then the most powerful monarch in all Europe and whose empire extended from the Atlantic to the Save, the
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Theiss, the Oder and the lower Vistula rivers, from the Baltic Sea to the Ebro and from the North Sea and the Eider to central Italy; the power of the independent dukes, of the small duchies was almost equal to that of the reigning sovereign.
In some instances these nobles were wealthier than their rulers. Their castles were magnificent in their fortress-like proportions, they maintained a sovereignty over large armies of vassals and retainers and if their ruler could not compel their obedience, they made war and peace upon their own terms and rendered only a nominal service to their reigning sovereign. Of such, was the Duke of Holstein.
In the ninth century a race of pirates began to inflict great suffering upon the European coasts. They sailed up the navigable rivers of the German Ocean and ravaged the countries along their shores and the North German free-hold- ers were despoiled of their homes and their possessions by the marauders. The Norsemen became, more or less, a nomadic race. The frequency with which they made war upon the southern countries and weaker principalities led them into frequent migratory expeditions and when Paris was besieged, in A. D. 885, Charles, "the Fat," bribed them to withdraw their forces instead of opening a conflict with them.
In 894 A. D., when Arnulf made war upon the Norsemen and afterward entered Italy, to settle the quarrel between the rival claimants to the crown, some of the defeated Norse- men accompanied his army; among them were some of the Servi (pronounced Sarve, two syllables), who remained in that country and settled, and the name became "Zerbi." Others settled in the duchy of Hanover, where it was known as "Zarva," but the greater number, after participating in the wars that led up to the crowning of the German Kings as "Roman Emperors," in 962, some of these northern feudal Servi migrated to middle Europe, uniting with the Galicians,
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SCHUYLKILL COUNTY Of the Zerbeys
where they became powerful and noted for their vigor of frame, valor in war and love of freedom.
About the tenth century they received a grant of land from the Emperor Leo VI, situated on the Danube River, which they proceeded to cultivate, establishing their feudal rights as freeholders, only pausing in their career as agri- culturists, to take up the sword and lay aside the plough- share, to defend their little independent kingdom in the 11th century, when the Greeks invaded it and again when the Turks reduced it and in the frequent insurrections that fol- lowed until it became a free and independent State under the protection of the great Powers. The Austrian-Servian crisis, when Montenegro and Servia disagreed and when King Peter, of Servia, desired to be considered the head of all the Servians and Prince Nicholas, of Montenegro, proposed to constitute himself "Czar" of the two little States, Austria was obliged to interfere to preserve their neutrality. Recent historical events, 1914-15, show the Servians still resenting all efforts on the part of other powers to absorb their principality into a more powerful dynasty (June 1, 1915.)
(Note-There is a town in Austria-Hungary named "Szarvas" (Szahrvas) on the Koros, 22 miles northeast of Csongrad, population 18,917.)
Before the birth of Christ the Thracian or Illyrian races inhabited all the country south of Austria-Hungary and when the nomadic tribes of Servians came from Galicia, a province of Spain at the extremity of the Iberian peninsula, and gave it their name, they were converted to Christianity. In 636 A. D. others came and the land was known as Galicia, part of it now (1914) being a province of Austria and known as Galicia-Lodomeria. After the bloody wars, 1459, between Hungary and Turkey, the Servians were freed. The land given them by Emperor Leo VI in the tenth century was erected into an independent kingdom by Pope Honorius III
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in 1217. It was not until 1815 that the country secured its independence under the protection of Austria and Russia. The religion of the Servians is that of the Greek Catholic church. The population of Servia is four million.
ZERBIS IN ITALY
After the crowning of the King of Lombardy, A. D. 962, several of the feudal Servi from Holstein settled in Italy, where the name was Zerbi. A medical work in scholarly Latin and in the professional language of Italy, entitled "The Anatomy of the Human Body" was published by Gabriel Zerbi. He held the title of Medicus Theoricus and was an authority on the olfactory nerves.
The following letter is self explanatory :
University of Penna., Phila. Library, August 25, 1913. Mrs. Ella Zerbey Elliott,
Dear Madam :- There is a copy of the work by Gabriel Zerbi, pub- lished in Verona, in the latter part of the fifteenth century, in the British Museum, London. It bears the following title :- "Liber Anathomie Cor- poris Humani Singulori, Membro Illuis, etc., per B. Localette Venetiis, 1502 folio." There is no reprint of the work .- Morris Jastrow, Jr., Li- brarian. K. S. L., Assistant Librarian.
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