Holbrook line: John Eames 1668-1735

 Here's another John Eames, our ancestor, the first John Eames in our line of three men by that name, but to have a blog post devoted to him.  (I have a strange way of choosing subjects for a blog post, mostly akin to throwing darts at a dart board, sometimes missing entirely!)  He may actually be the most interesting of the three men, although all have their own stories to tell.

John Eames (also seen as Emms, Emes, and Ames) was born May 9, 1668 in Woburn, Massachusetts, the son of Robert and Elizabeth (maiden name unknown) Eames.  He was one of at least eight children born to the couple, with at least two and possibly three siblings dying as infants.  John was the next to the youngest child, so he would not have had memories of the deaths of his siblings.  Either he heard the sad stories, though, or he heard nothing at all.  We don't know how his parents dealt with their losses as more children arrived, whether they communicated or held their sorrows inside.  

We don't know anything about John's childhood, whether he attended school, was taught at home, or even whether his was a Puritan family, because his father's history is murky.  Fortunately, we do know a little more about John's life after he married.  John married Abigail Rosemorgie, later known as Morgan, on February 1, 1698, in New London, (or Groton, across the river) Connecticut.  Abigail's parents were Richard and Hopestill Merrick Rosemorgie, who had Welsh ancestry.  John had been in New London since at least 1695, but we don't know how or why he settled there.  

John and Abigail had at least five children before Abigail died, probably in childbirth, on February 25, 1713.  He soon remarried, to Paltiah Stebbins, on July 30 of that same year, and they had three children together.  It would have been quite a household, with the oldest children just entering their teen-aged years when they lost their mother and acquired a step-mother in very short order.  

John then pretty much disappears from New London's story, although we have no reason to think that he ever lived elsewhere.  We don't know whether he was caught up in King William's or Queen Anne's war, and we're not even sure what his occupation was, although we do know he owned land and farmed.  Most of the additional information we have, sadly, is from his will.

John died June 1, 1735 at New London, having just turned 67 a few weeks earlier.  He is buried at the Ancient Cemetery there.  Information we can glean or infer from his will:  He was a religious man, because his will opens with more than the typical verbiage about returning the body to the earth and the soul to God.  He commends his spirit to God, "humbly beseeching Him to accept it in and through the mediation of His Beloved Son my only Saviour and (can't read) Redeemer."  

He left half of his home and farmland to his wife during her widowhood (more than the law required), and one third of his moveables to be hers forever, so that she could give them to whomever she wished.  His two older children received ten shillings each, because he had already given them what he intended to earlier in their lives, and a daughter received five pounds because she also had received a deed of gift earlier.  Sons Samuel and Robert received land, and daughter Hannah received 80 acres of land at "Vollington". which would be Voluntown.  Most of the land at Voluntown was granted to men, or their heirs, who had fought in King Philips War, which gives us a clue that perhaps Robert had fought in the war.  It's also, of course, possible that John had simply purchased this land from someone else.  

John's inventory is hard for me to read, although someone with better eyesight than mine may be able to make out more words than I can.  It includes books, spinning wheels, farm animals and tools, and an unnamed Negro woman, among other "items".  (I had speculated in an earlier post about his son John as to whether the son was a slave holder, and now here is evidence that his father was such a man. The unnamed woman was valued at 20 pounds.)  The inventory isn't totaled but appears to include mostly small items, supporting John's statement in his will regarding earlier "deeds of gift" to his older children.

I would love to know more about John, especially his occupation, and whether the "Negro woman" was the only slave he had held.  But this is enough to put him in a particular time and place, and to give him a place in our family history.

The line of descent is:

John Eames-Abigail Rosemorgie

John Eames-Rachel Comstock

John Eames-Elizabeth Longbottom

Hannah Eames-James Lamphire

Susan Lamphire-Joseph Eddy

Susan Eddy-Hiram Stanard

Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick

Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants

 

Beeks line: William Lee of Maryland, died about 1726

 

William Lee of Prince Georges County, Maryland, is something of a mystery.  We don't know where he came from, or when, nor do we know for sure who his wife, the mother of his children, was.  But we can place him in Prince Georges County through church and land records, and there is record of his estate, so we do have a few ideas about his life.

There are records from Queen Anne Parish Records that show that William's children included Mellona, John, Elizabeth, Margaret, and Martha, so this seems definitive. There may have been other children as well.  In the book "Captain James Hook of Greene County, Pennsylvania," it states that Martha Lee married Abraham Lakin on October 30, 1717, also at Queen Anne church (also known as Barnabas, and Church of England.)  

William seems to have owned or controlled a part of Cold Springs Manor from about 1691 to 1705, but it was only about a tenth of the total acreage there, so he most likely didn't live in the manor house.  The other option, of course, if that he owned the manor house and a bit of the land around it.  William was a witness to several land transactions in the same general area, but we don't know where he may have lived after selling the 165 acres in 1705.  Perhaps he had always lived nearby, and those acres were land that he determined to be excess.  As is most of William's life, it's a mystery.  

William died in 1726 and had his estate inventoried in 1727.  Since his first known child was born in 1689, William may have been born about 1665, but that is just a guess.  He may have been older, and may be the same William Lee of Charles County who was granted 250 acres in Charles County for transporting himself, Thomas Gee (could this be Lee?  I haven't seen the manuscript), Ann Granger, George Green and John Ealwood in 1675.  If this is our William, he would have been at least 18 and perhaps 21 to have been granted the land, so that would make him older than we've thought.   Prince Georges was split from Charles County in 1696 so it's not impossible.  Perhaps our William was the son or other relative of this William, which is also a plausible theory.  

A lot of sites list William's wife as Ann Grainger, but I've found no documentation for that.  The fact that a William transported Ann, though, is intriguing.  More research needs to be done.  

The picture we have of William is that of a planter or farmer who never hit it rich but who also was not dirt poor.  He probably raised some tobacco as well as crops to feed his family and animals, and we know he was part of the Church of England.  Did he take part in any military exercises or battles?  We don't know, just as we don't know many of the details of his life.  But we do know he is part of the Beeks family line, and contributed to our country's history.

The line of descent is:

William Lee-Ann

Martha Lee-Abraham Lakin

Joseph Lakin-Elizabeth Fee

Mary Lakin-John Simpson Aldridge

John Simpson Aldridge-Lucinda Wheeler

Darlington Aldridge-Leah Folsom

Harvey Aldridge-Margaret Catherine Dunham

Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks

Mary Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger

Their descendants

 

Holbrook line: Joseph Nation 1750-1803 Revolutionary War veteran

 I'm always glad to find an ancestor acknowledged as a Revolutionary War veteran, because there is a good chance that, if his records or pension application can be found, there will be good information in it.  That is the case with Joseph Nation.  However, I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Family trees disagree regarding his parents, because some of the same first names are used over and over in the family and it gets confusing.  However, based on birth and death dates, I am going to eliminate John Nation and Bethia Robbins as his parents.  I believe they were his grandparents.  Joseph's parents are most likely to be Christopher and Elizabeth Sharpe or Swaim (there's a dispute about that, too), since Joseph was born in 1750.  Unfortunately, Christopher's will seems to have one illegible name in it, and that name would, according to my theory, be Joseph.  

Christopher was born in New Jersey but by the time of his death in 1779 he was in Randolph County, North Carolina, which is where Joseph was born in 1750.  He was one of at least 10 children.  We don't know anything about Joseph's childhood but can imagine that he worked hard and probably also learned to hunt and fish.  He married Jerretta or Jereter Vickery, daughter of Marmaduke and Elizabeth Nation Vickery, at Christmas time, 1770, when she was not quite 16 years old, and their first child, one of 11, arrived soon after.  Yes, Joseph and Jerretta appear to have been first cousins, which was not unusual for that time and place.

Joseph was 29 years old, with small children at home, when he first served in the North Carolina militia, in a unit from Randolph County.  His widow's pension application says that he was a calvaryman or mountain man during both of his terms of service.  The first enrollment was for 6 months of service and seems to cover the time period that included the battle of Stono Ferry and the Siege of Charleston, as well as numerous small skirmishes and battles.  We don't know how many of those Joseph actually participated in but it was a difficult time in the Revolutionary War.  The battleground had shifted from the New York-Philadelphia area to the south, and war was particularly vicious there.  The pension application says that Joseph fought the British and the Tories, but there was no mention of the Cherokees, so perhaps Joseph wasn't involved in those battles.  He apparently re-enlisted, in either 1780 or 1781, for three months service, and may have been involved in Camden or King's Mountain, also.  If he wasn't there, he certainly would have heard stories from his friends and neighbors who were there.  I would love to hear his stories, because this was a vital part of American history.  He entered as a private and left as a private.

Sometime between 1790 and 1799 Joseph and some of his family left their home and moved to what is now Claiborne County, Tennessee, in the mountains and part of the area that tried to form the state of Franklin.  By the time Joseph arrived, though, the issue was settled and he would have known he was in Tennessee.  Joseph died there on April 12, 1803, when he was just 53. 

 Several of the Nation children moved north to Preble County, Ohio, and Jeretta traveled with them, probably before 1820.  In 1840, she applied for and received a pension based on her husband's service,  although there is correspondence in the file indicating that she may have not received what she was due, because of an agent's actions.  "Agents" were people who did the paperwork of applying for a pension, generally pocketing some percentage of the amount awarded.  Jeretta was almost 96 when she died July 30, 1849.  By 1855, all of their children except Joel were dead, and Joel was still trying to get the pension issue straightened out.  

I think Joseph led a hard life, farming land that may not have been the best, and taking time from raising his family to fight in the war.  But Jeretta likely had it even harder, as she lived so many years as a widow.  We can be grateful to both of them for their sacrifices to make a better life for their family and for their country.

The line of descent is

Joseph Nation-Jeretta Vickery

Elizabeth Nation-Christopher Myers

Phoebe Myers-Adam Brown

Phoebe Brown-Fremont Holbrook

Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants 

Holbrook line: Giles Smith 1603-1669, Immigrant

 Although there are proposed parents for Giles Smith, there are date or location problems with each set that I have seen mentioned.  We can assume that he came from England, and we know he was born about 1603, but that is as much of his early life as is thought to be known.  Proposed parents include Henry Smith and Anne Pynchon, and Henry's proposed parents, Thomas Smith and Frances Sanford (or Ann Halsey), which would make Giles and Henry brothers.  Neither Henry nor Thomas seems to have been used as a name for the children of Giles Smith, so I will simply leave his parents names as "unknown".

Similarly, we don't know who his wife's parents were.  Giles was married to Mary or Maria Wheeler, probably in England.  If the children's birth dates are correct, their first child was born about 1625.  Giles and Mary had as many as seven children, with three sons and two daughters living at the time of his death.  

We also don't know when Giles and his family emigrated, but we do know that his name is on the Founder's Monument in Hartford, Connecticut.  He is noted as living there "at the town's courtesie", and his house lot was the smallest in Hartford, although he did own three other parcels of land.  He purchased his home, probably in 1639, from George Wyllis.  

Giles lived in Hartford for probably at least 8 years.  He seems to have gone to New Haven by 1647, when he was granted land there.  However, during 1649-1650 his land was apparently forfeited, or perhaps he never actually made that move.  If the land was forfeited, it means that he failed to comply with the terms of the grant, which probably included building a dwelling and clearing/planting a certain area of land.  

Perhaps Giles simply changed his mind about where he wanted to relocate when he left Hartford, because by 1651 he was in Fairfield, Connecticut, where he stayed for the rest of his life.  He owned land beside some of the "Bankside farmers" but I'm not sure we can count him as one of that group.  The Bankside farmers were considered to be somewhat well off, and some of them were slave holders.  I've not seen any evidence that Giles held slaves, but if he did, they were as likely to be indigenous people as they were to be Black.  

We also don't know whether farming was his only livelihood, or whether he also had some trade or occupation that tied him to the sea.  Fairfield is located on the Long Island Sound, and considerable trade existed between Fairfield and Long Island, and also Fairfield and New Amsterdam.  There was undoubtedly tension when England took over New Amsterdam and the other Dutch colonies, but we don't know whether that political change affected Giles directly.  

Giles' first wife, Mary Wheeler died before about 1660, when Giles married Eunice, the widow of Jonathan Porter, and possibly of other husbands.  They had no children, but Eunice had at least three daughters who would have become part of the blended family.  There is apparently no mention of them in Giles' will, which was probated September 10, 1669.  All I have seen is an abstract of the will, which does not give an inventory or valuation, so there is little additional information to be gleaned from that record.  

This is an unsatisfactory story of our ancestor because there are so many unanswered questions.  Where did he come from, and why did he come to Connecticut?  Who were his parents, and his wife's parents?  What was his occupation?  Did he travel around the Sound and perhaps to New Amsterdam?  Was he a man of means, or did he struggle financially? What religion was he?  Was he involved in military service?  Was he literate?  The questions go on and on, but the answers seem to be hidden.  

The line of descent is:

Giles Smith-probably Mary Wheeler

Elizabeth Smith-John Jackson

John Jackson-Sarah Godwin

Elizabeth Jackson-James Longbottom

Elizabeth Longbottom-John Eames

Hannah Eames-James Lamphire

Susan Lamphire-Joseph Eddy

Susan Eddy-Hiram Stanard

Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick

Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants

Beeks line: William Lock 1779-sometime later

I'm so confused!  William Lock is an ancestor in the Beeks line.  But the name was a common one in Kentucky, where we can first place him, and it looks to me like various trees have conflated two or possibly three men named William Lock into one.  So this is a tentative post, subject to change at any moment based on potential new findings.

Right now, it appears that William Lock was the son of Benjamin and Sarah Demarest (Demaree) Slot, and was born probably about 1779.  Three different Williams appear to have been born in 1779, each in Virginia, and that is where the confusion seems to start, so I'm not sure about the date.  Based on what is known about Benjamin's life, it is quite possible that somewhere in Virginia, possibly Frederick County, is a good potential birth site.  

You may be wondering why William's name was Lock and Benjamin, his father, was a Slot or Slodt.  This is a family with Dutch origins going back to early New Amsterdam days.  But by sometime in the 1790s, William had begun using Lock as his name, which was the English translation for Slot.  We know the family was in Kentucky prior to 1796, when Benjamin seems to last be noted in the records, so he would have heard the stories of the early settlement of Mercer County, which had close ties to Daniel Boone and James Harrod.  The Dutch families seem to have moved on from Mercer and Madison counties to Shelby County, Kentucky beginning about 1790.  

William Lock married Elizabeth Teague or Tague on Christmas Day, 1797 in Shelby County.  The Tague name is also of Dutch origin but her parentage is somewhat uncertain.  I show her father to be "John William" Teague and Elizabeth, last name unknown, but I have no documentation for that.  William and Elizabeth possibly had five children, or possibly two.  There is a William Lock who married a Nancy Keith about 1805, also in Shelby County.  Were these two Williams the same man?  I tend to think probably not, but I could easily be persuaded otherwise.  If they were the same men, then Elizabeth likely died and William quickly remarried.  

The next records I can find for William have him in Switzerland County, Indiana in the 1820 census, in Craig township, Switzerland County.  He is in the 26 through 44 age group, which would fit the late 1770s birth date, and has 2 males under 10, 2 aged 10-15, 1 female under 10, and one female 16-25.  This is the picture of a family with a very young wife, or an older daughter, with the older mother missing.  This may or may not be be the same William Lock who is listed on a Switzerland County probate index as number or page 125, which includes deaths from 1823 to 1847.  Unfortunately, this William died in 1839 and left everything (including a four year old boy, Moses) to his brother Benjamin, so I think we are "close, but no cigar" to identifying the two Williams as one and the same.  They are very likely related, however.  And who was Moses?  He wasn't a son, so one wonders if this was an enslaved person, and if so, where was the rest of Moses's family?

I have seen death dates of our William as being in 1854, which isn't beyond the realm of possibility, but I've not found any records yet to back that up.  Obviously, more research is needed. 

One additional note:  At this time, I don't think our William is the William F Lock who fought in the Battle of the Thames in the War of 1812.  The William who is on those lists seems to have led an entirely different life. 

The line of descent is

William Lock-Elizabeth Teague

Sally Lock-the elusive Jeremiah Folsom

Leah Folsom-Darlington Aldridge

Harvey Aldridge-Margaret Catherine Dunham

Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks

Mary Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger

Their desendants

 

Beeks line: Evan ap Owen, Welsh immigrant

 I hesitate to write this post, and I hesitate to post dates, because I actually know so little about this ancestor.  But he is part of the family, and even if I only know one or two facts, his memory deserves to be honored.  Also maybe this will be a bread crumb that will lead someone to more information about him.

I am not sure whether there were one or two men who went by the name of Evan ap Owen, Evan Owen, or even Owen (ap) Owen during the time frame that Owen was in Pennsylvania.  ("Ap" means "son of" and sometimes the "ap" was dropped, sometimes it was written ab and then changed to Bowen.  So there are a lot of ways to try to find this man, and Evan was good at dodging behind all of them, I think.  

The best information I have is that he was born sometime before 1645, in Wales or possibly Somerset in England.  His family was or became Quaker, and it may be our Evan ap Owen who was convicted of being a Quaker when he was nine years old.    His parents were Owen ap Evan and Gainor John Evan, and they both died in Wales.  So Evan was the immigrant, and likely arrived early in Pennsylvania colony, although not necessarily in the ships that came with William Penn.  

There was an Evan Owen who was a merchant of Philadelphia, who acted as a land agent of sorts for some land once granted to William Penn.  This was in 1724/25, and is noted in "Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Land Records 1729-1750 and Land Warrants 1710-1742",  by Marsha Martin.  I have found one or two other references to Evan Owen as a merchant in Philadelphia.  And I've found an inventory, that belongs to Evan Owen and is extensive enough to belong to Evan Owen, merchant.  It dates from 1727-1731 and refers to his widow, Mary.  

Our Evan was married to a Mary McMillan or McMillam, but she is reported to have died in 1699.  So either this is not our Evan ap Owen, or he married again, to another woman named Mary.  Evan and the first Mary are reported to have had at least two children, and there were likely more.  There is a death report of Evan Owen in 1699 in the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting Records, (he was from Lancaster meeting) and it is possible that this was our Evan.  Records for Evan Owen continue until about 1727 in the Quaker records on Ancestry, but there is nothing that identifies him as possibly being our Evan Owen, nor is there anything that says this was not our Evan.  

So, was Evan ap Owen the merchant of Philadelphia, the Quaker from Lancaster or another location, or someone else entirely?  The "information", unsourced and undocumented that I have, says that he died about 1725 in Haverford, Chester County, Pennsylvania.  If this is correct, then it seems that Evan, while in America, stayed entirely under the radar.  Will this man please stand up and identify himself? Incidentally, this line was Quaker down through Solomon Reese, who was disowned for marrying outside the Quaker community but apparently was re-admitted at some point. 

The line of descent is

Evan ap Owen-Mary McMillan

Moses Bowen-Rebecca Reese

Henry Bowen-Jane Carter

Margaret Bowen-Thomas Reese

Thomas Reese-Hannah Reese

Solomon Reese-Anna possibly McNeal

Owen Reese-Margaret Ellen Moon

Eliza Matilda Reese-Samuel Dunham

Margaret Catherine Dunham-Harvey Aldridge

Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks

Mary Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger

Their descendants

Holbrook line: Joseph Brown Eddy 1803-1876

 Somehow, I missed writing about Joseph Brown Eddy, son of Enos and Deborah Paine Eddy.  There isn't a lot that is known about him, but I did manage to find a few tidbits that may add to our knowledge base.  

Joseph was born in Richfield, Otsego County, New York on March 15, 1803.  He was one of at least 13 children.  As he was growing up, the village was actually fair-sized for a town that was only about 10 years old when he was born.  By 1820, when Joseph was approaching manhood, the town had about 1700 residents.  He married Susan Lamphire, daughter of James and Hannah Eames Lamphire, on January 1, 1827, most likely in Richfield.  

The young family didn't stay in Richfield for long.  In fact, Joseph had already purchased lot 52 in Ellington, Chautaqua County, New York, which had just formed in 1824.  This was about 250 miles, or more, from Richfield so it was a major move for Susan, and perhaps the two of them were a bit homesick from time to time.  

They soon wouldn't have time for homesickness.  Besides the joy of setting up housekeeping (perhaps Joseph had built a home for them before they married), the babies started arriving.  In fact, if Permelia is their child, it appears that she arrived before they married, as I show a birth date of 1826 for her.  The last child that is likely theirs was born in 1853, so Susan was a busy mother and wife, and Joseph would have worked hard to support that family.

We don't know what Joseph did for a living in Ellington, but since he lived in town, he perhaps did something other than farm.  He may have had a trade, or he may have been involved in Great Lakes shipping (Ellington is not far from Lake Erie).  Joseph and Susan lived in Ellington for over 20 years.  I am not sure when Enos died, but Deborah, Joseph's mother, died in 1849.  The 1840 census shows there was a male aged 60-69 staying with them, and this could be Enos, who would have been about 66 years old at the time. 

Whether or not Deborah's death and a possible inheritance had anything to do with it, the next year Joseph and family moved again.  This time is was not 250 miles they moved, but 610 miles, all the way to Harmon in Lee County, Illinois.  It seems likely that they made the trip from Erie or another port all the way to Chicago, by sailing through three of the Great Lakes and then traveling overland to Lee County.  The final leg of their trip may have taken as long as three weeks.  Susan had delivered a daughter in February of 1850, and the weather would have probably dictated a spring moving date.  Census day in 1850 was June 1, and the family is shown at Harmon in Lee County on that date, with their six youngest children.  

There, Joseph purchased a tract of 40 acres and then a tract of 80 acres, with the original title to each.  He paid $1.25 an acre for the land. We can trace him through the census up through 1870.  There is a J.B. Eddy in 1870 in Dixon, Illinois who was the second assistant for the Dixon Hose Company (fire department) but it doesn't seem likely that this was our Joseph.  As far as we know, he lived near Lee Center, (post office of Sublette) the rest of his days.  

I have a copy of a book, "Pioneers of Lee County" that details the hard living conditions and happy lives of the early settlers of the county.  There is no direct reference to Joseph, but there is a reference to a "Mr. Eddy", who was a tall man and a Republican, who helped eject raucous people at a political meeting.  I like to think this was our Joseph.  It makes sense that he would have been a Republican in his later days, since he did, after all, live in the "Land of Lincoln."  

We know that at least two of his sons served in the Civil War, which would certainly have caused a good deal of concern for the rest of the family.  I didn't locate him in the IRS tax lists for the time period, so he must have lived a simple life.  

Joseph Eddy died February 16, 1876, at Lee Center, without leaving a will.  However, his wife died in 1899 and at about the same time, there is an interesting set of guardian records for two young children named Pine.  The records state that they were the great grandchildren of Joseph Eddy, and as such were entitled to a share of his estate.  The records continue for about 3 years, with the conclusion that part of his land, a small part, was sold, and the $142 and some odd cents were to go to these small children.  At that time, the total in the estate was given as 134 acres.  There is a very thorough legal description of the land, which could likely be plotted on a map even now.  

There is still much we don't know about Joseph.  Why did he decide to leave Ellington when he was 47 years old, to start over in a strange and difficult place?  Was he a religious man?  As a child, did he hear stories about the War of 1812?  Living in Richfield, his neighbors who were old enough were likely to have served during that time, and New York was one of the battle fields.   I'd like to know more about Joseph, who after all, lived not so very long ago.  

The line of descent is

Joseph Eddy-Susan Lamphire

Susan Eddy-Hiram Stanard

Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick

Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Beeks line: Johann Leonard Berkheimer 1721-1804

 Here's another elusive and confusing ancestor in the Beeks line, another of former President Obama's ancestors, as well as those of this family.  Once again, it seems that more information should be available about him, but at least we have enough to know who he was, who his parents were, and a little more.  The usual questions persist.

Johann Leonard Berkheimer was born March 3, 1721/1722 in Kleinneidesheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, in what is now Germany.  His family had been there for at least two generations, and perhaps more.  His parents were Johann William and Maria Salome Hallman Berkheimer, and Leonard was one of at least six children born to the couple.  The Berkheimer parents emigrated to the colony of Pennsylvania in 1732, probably for economic reasons.  Land was ample and fairly cheap in Pennsylvania, and there was already a bustling German community there.  Leonard would have probably been in some kind of training program in his native village, but after the family moved, he would have helped even more within the family.  

The next we learn of Leonard is his marriage, on January 6, 1743, in Philadelphia.  Coming to America likely meant that Leonard married at an earlier age than he would have, had he stayed in Germany.  Most men there didn't marry until their late twenties or early thirties.  Leonard married Maria Catherine Kerger, the daughter of Johann Philip and Anna Margaretha Reeb Kerger, and they soon set up housekeeping. William had purchased land in what is now Upper Salford Township, Montgomery County, as early as 1742, and Leonard's land was likely very near this tract.  In fact, it may have encompassed it at one time.  Leonard apparently owned just 20 acres when he died.

There are some confusing records and I report them here only to report them, not to state for certain that this is our Leonard Berkheimer.  In 1774 and again in 1782, he is on tax lists for Worcester, Philadelphia County, as owning 170 acres of land, with a dwelling house and a few farm animals.  This turns out to be in what is now Montgomery County, so this may be our Leonard.  In both listings, Philip Berkheimer is listed as being in the same household (in one, he is termed an "inmate"-a single man).  One of Leonard's sons was named Philip, so this very well could be him.   However, it doesn't quite explain how he died in Upper Salford Township, unless he moved back to the homestead sometime after these records.

 I don't know for sure which church he attended, but all signs point to it being one of the Lutheran churches in the area.  His wife died in 1795 and is buried at St John's Lutheran Church, Center Square, Pennsylvania and it may be that he is also buried there, with no tombstone or record being kept.  Or he may have been buried with his second wife, which sometimes happens.

Leonard's first wife died in 1795 and Leonard remarried, because his will clearly calls Catherine his second wife.  His son William had also died, as he left money to William's children, and divided the rest of the estate among his five children, after his wife's death.  The grandchildren were not to receive their inheritance until 1806 per terms of the will.  I have not found an inventory.  Leonard died in 1804, in or near Woxall or Perkiomen, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.  

As usual, this brief outline leaves us with some important questions.  What affect did the French and Indian War, and the Revolutionary War, have on his life?  Did he serve in the militia?  Was the family forced to leave their home at some point, due to native American attacks in the neighborhood?  The search continues.

The line of descent is

Leonard Berkheimer-Maria Catherine Kerger

Magdalena Berkheimer-Samuel Goodnight

Catherine Goodnight-Jacob Dunham

Samuel Dunham-Eliza Matilda Reese

Margaret Catherine Dunham-Harvey Aldridge

Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks

Mary Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger

Their descendants