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

Front matter

BLUE BOOK cf SCHUYLKILL COUNTY^-

CORNELL

UNIVERSITY

Contents

ILLUSTRATIONS

Follow

Frontispiece — Road Petition, Year 1727. Page

Part I

Translation of Road Petition. Page

Title Page 1

Foreword 9

Prologue 12

Settlers in Interior Eastern Pennsylvania, 1750-1752 18

1730-1780 19

German Immigration 22

Come to London 25

Invitation to America 25

Sail for New York 26

Who Settlers Were 27

Settle in New York 29

Queen Anne's War 30 ii BLUE BOOK OF

Contents

Huguenots and Palatines, Continued: Page

Soldiers in War, 1711 31

Company Lists 34

Their Lands Resold 34

Pennsylvania Pioneers of 1723:

The Thirty-Three Families 36

Settlers Petition Governor 38

First Church Built, 1727 42

Petition for Roads, 1727 43

Tulpehocken Confusion 44

Province of Pennsylvania BO

Organization of Pennsylvania Counties to 1811 51

Petition for New County 54

Remonstrate Against Revising Constitution 56

Failed 56

Constitution Amended 57

Indian Troubles in Pennsylvania:

Indian Troubles 58

Policy 59

Forts 59

First Fort Dupui 60

Fort Augusta 60

Blue Mountain Forts 61

Forts Lebanon and Franklin 63

Chain of Forts 64

Friendly Indians 65

Indian Atrocities 67-69

The Finschers and Millers 70

John Penn Patent to Seven Stars (Minnich) Property, 1750.. 73

Neyman and Other Massacres 74

Indian Stories 75-80

Oath of Allegiance 85

Recruits From Schuylkill (Berks) Co 85-97

Zerbes, Grubers, Rebers, Stouts, Swartzs, Merkles, Rieths,

etc., in the Early Wars 97-104

Family Traditions 107-109

Soldiers Prom Schuylkill County 109-113

Schuylkill County Represented 114-120

Early Notable Settlers 122

Conrad Weiser's Diary 124-132

Governor Schulze Story -. 134

Baltzar Gehr, Jacob Morgan, Douglass Family, etc 135-141

Schuylkill County Erected From Berks 141

SCHUYLKILL COUNTY iii

Contents

Who Was Who: Page

First Settlers of Schuylkill County 149

Neuferts, Whetstones, Potts 149

Klocks, Christs, Bresslers 150

Potts, Helms, Hessers 151

The Morris' 154

Boyers, Guldins, Colemans 155

Bocks, DeTurks, Mortimers 159

John R. and Benjamin B. Bannan 160

Lindemuths, Matzs, Roseberrys 163-167

Braun-Brown Family 168

Filberts, Weidmans, Krebs, Tysons 170-171

Spohns, Bechtels, Palmers 173-174

Kaerchers, Kepners, Shippcns 175

Hobarts, Bairds, Pattersons 177-179

Zellers, Rahns, Seitzingers 180-182

PART II. Origin of the Zerbeys 187-192

Zerbeys in America 192-194

First Generation 194

The Manors 198

Second Generation 200

(MARTIN ZERBE'S LINE)

John Jacob Zerbe 200

John Zerbe 203

Heinrich Boyer 204

Albrecht and John Philip Strauss 204

George Peter Zerbe 207

Third Generation 211

Peter, Jr., Elizabeth, Valentine 211

Michael 212

John George Zerbe 216

(John) George and Anna Barbara Zerbe's Children.. 220

Hon. Daniel Zerbe 222

Herring Family Tradition 225

Daniel Zerbe, Cressona 226

Henry Zerbe, Lewistown, Mifflin County, Pa 227

John Adam Miller 229

Fourth Generation 232

George Zerbe 232

Children 233-239

Rev. Frank Ellsworth GraeflF, D. D 238

Wm. Merkle Zerbey 239

John F. Zerbey Family 241

Heber S. Zerbey Family 241

Joseph Henry Zerbey Family 242

"Pottsville Republican" 242

Robert A. Zerbey Family 246 iv BLUE BOOK OF

Contents

Genealogical Records, Fourth Genration, Continued Page

Frederic E. Zerbey Family 245

"Schuylkill Weekly Republican" 246

Charles D. Elliott 246

Ella Zerbey Elliott 246

Adelia E. Zerbey Family 249

Sara Frances Zerbey Family 250

Rieths or Reeds 250

War Records 254

Ship Lists 257-258

Zerfass, Serf as, Surber, Sarvar, Sevir, Sarvas 258-260

Unclassified Zerbes 259

British Oath of Allegiance 260

Penna. Oath of Allegiance 261

Taxables in Berks County, 1752 262

Early Churches in Schuylkill County 262

The First Census 262

Grubers Intermarried 263

Sontag Family 266

(LORENTZ ZERBE LINE)

First Generation 266

Lorentz Zerbe Family 267

Second Generation 269

John Zerbe, the Miller, Family 271

Blue Mountain Lands 272

Tulpehocken Confusion 274

Second and Third Generations 276

Dr. Samuel and Maria Isles 277

Leonard Zerbe 279

Valentine Zerbe 280

Christian Zerbe 281

Benton H. Zerbe 282

John Zerbe's Law Suit 284

Nathan Zerbe 287

John Zerbe, Cumru Township 288

Third and Fourth Generations 289

Jonathan and David Zerbe 289-291

Rev. John W. Zerbe 292

George Adam Zerbe, Land and Family 294-297

George Zerbe, Tulpehocken, and Family 297-298

Tyrone and Altoona Zerbes 298

Reading, Pa., Zerbes 299

Unclassified Zerbes 301

Location of Land, Early Settlers 303

Host's Church 304

The Jacob Zerbes 304

Joel Zerbe Children 307

Philip Zerbe, of Washington Twp., Schuylkill Co 309

Descendants 309-323

Centre County Zerbes 323-325

Northumberland County Zerbes 325-332

Old Church, and Tombstone Records 333-347

SCHUYLKILL COUNTY Contents

PART III. Page

Merkles 351

Church Records 351-355

Taxables 355

In Wars 357

Wills and Records 357

Michael and Elizabeth, Children 359

Daniel Bartolet's Descendants 361

Isaac Strauch 362

Michael Merkle Family 363

Minnich, Muench History 364

Capt. Conrad Minnich 367

Hotel 371

Conrad Minnich, Second 373

Graves of 1776 Men Marked 376

Minnich, Minnig Genealogy 378-387

Phila. Branch Muenchs 387-393

Staudts, Stoudts, Stouts 393

Miller, Filbert, Kershner, Lerch, Ebling, Snyder, Mau-

rer, Wagner and other Families 393-397

Marriages, Land Warrants 397

Muellers (Millers) 398

Henry Miller 399

Family History 399-402

Andrew and Elizabeth Miller, Descendants 403-409

History of the Reber Family 409

Conrad Reber Descendants 409

The Wildermuth Family 411

Origin of the Schwalms 413

First Schwalms in America 413

Caspar Phillips' Children 416

Baptismal Records 417

Andrew Schwalm, Sr., Family 418

Andrew and Hannah Schwalm Family 420

Frederic and Catharine Haeseler Family 421

Haeseler's Ancestry 423

William E. Boyer Family 427

Dr. Francis W. Boyer Family 427

James A. Medlar Family 428

Edmund S. Boyer 428

Boyer Ancestry 429

John Andrew Schwalm Family 430

Dr. Thomas W. Swalm 430

Allen H. Swalm 430

Henry A. Swalm 430

Joseph M. Schwalm Family 431

Sarah L. Schwalm 432

Thomas Clouse and Amanda Schwalm Family 432

Thomas K. Wagner and Susan J. Schwalm Family 432

Hegins Valley Schwalms 433

Hubley Township Schwalms 435

SCHUYLKILL CO.

BLUE BOOK Contents

Page

Great Road or King's Highway 437

Turnpike Roads, Canal, Railways, Stages, etc 438-440

Discovery of Coal 440

Settlers of Norwegian Township 441

Pottsville's First Houses and First Settlers 443-445

Hessian Ancestors 455

THE ILLUSTRATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE FROM ORICINALS DESIGNED SOLELY FOR THIS WORK.

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Foreword

In preparing this work, which includes the labor of years, the author has used only the best means available for the purpose. The idea of presenting such an array of facts, that makes of the book one neither entirely for private circulation, nor yet one solely for public distribution, first occurred to the writer about ten years ago, when after gathering much genealogical matter, for the main branch of the family, it was found that it was so involved with, and a part of, the pathetic, beautiful and romantic history, of the Huguenots and Palatines of the old world, thousands of whom were subsequently the founders of interior southeastern Pennsylvania and parts of other States, that it was next to impossible to divorce the one from the other.

The early settlers of Pennsylvania were not a showy race, they were plain and unassuming people, but they made history and it seemed incumbent upon the author to transmit and preserve it. We are the descendants of French and German ancestry. There are those who are inanely ashamed of their descent and have a horror of being counted among the Pennsylvania Germans. We are not of these. We are proud of our birthright. We have the homely treasure of a dialect peculiarly our own and we glory in its quaint figures of speech, so largely corrupted with the English, that as a sub-language or idiom it must soon be relegated to the archives of the past.

The Pennsylvania Germans and Huguenots were mainly husbandmen and tillers of the soil. To their untiring industry and perseverance, that wielded the maul, the axe and the mattock, felling the majestic monarchs of the forest and turning the almost impenetrable wilderness into arable fields, rich with tasseled wheat and ripened corn; and making the barren wastes green with verdure and the bleak hillsides to

Foreword

blossom like the rose, to them, is due much of the present flourishing condition of this our native State.

Plain, but lo}^al and God-fearing citizens of this Commonwealth and the States of the, Union in which their descendants have found homes, they possessed indomitable will, energy and perseverance and were of the stock, from which subsequently, sprung men in every walk of life, from the highest offices in the gift of the people ; the presidency, the gubernatorial chair, the Senatorial, Congressional, and Legislative chambers, the highest professions, the brave soldier and sailor, on land and sea, down to the plain and unassuming civillian who filled his mission by performing his simple duty in life. All honor to the Pennsylvania Germans!

To the works from which the book has been partly compiled : the Pennsylvania Archives, The Pennsylvania German Society Publications, Transactions of the Moravian Historical Society, the Pennsylvania Associators, Rupp's and Montgomery's Histories of Berks County, Cobb's Palatines, Koeppen's Middle Ages, Menzel's Germany, Palatine Refugees in England, Wheaton's Northmen, etc., etc., we are largely indebted.

The courtesy of Dr. J. W. Jordan, and his assistant Librarian, Ernest Spofiford, of the Pennsylvania Historical Society Library, Philadelphia; Dr. Schulze and Prof. Wm. A. Schwarze, of the Moravian College and Archives, Bethlehem; the officials of the Pennsylvania State Library, Harrisburg, and the custodians of historical society libraries in Reading, Lebanon, Lancaster, and Harrisburg, in submitting original manuscripts for our inspection, for material, cannot be overestimated nor too warmly commended.

The attachees of the Chester, Lancaster, Dauphin, Berks, Northumberland, and Schuylkill County Courts and the Court of Quarter Sessions, Philadelphia, and the custodians of the records of some of the early churches, were uniformly oblig-

SCHUYLKILL COUNTY ii

Foreword

ing in their offers of assistance in the unearthing- of records. Many individuals, too, lent their best endeavors and through these the work was made possible.

To the chronological and genealogical data of the Zerbe line, many of the family name contributed and rendered invaluable assistance. Others, too, collaborateurs in genealogical lines that were involved with the above, gave aid and the results speak for themselves.

The many difficulties to be contended with in a work of this nature, are but little understood by the average critic, who rarely sees anything to coinmend but seeks rather to condemn or tear down that which he, perhaps, could not originate or erect, himself; we pass him by and without further apology, present the work to those interested and to an indulgent public.

ELLA ZERBEY ELLIOTT.

BLUE BOOK OF Prologue