Harshbarger line: The family of John Mentzer 1701-1781

 There is a good deal of confusion about this man and his wife/wives on line.  I am using the basic information found on a document from Hogsfeld, Karlsruhe, Baden-Wuerrttemberg, Germany and signed by John Frederick Bohm, the minister at Hogsfeld (Hagsfeld) on May 11, 1751.  In this document, prepared to help John migrate to Pennsylvania, the pastor states that his parents were John George Menter and Anna Maria von Heyen (Heim).  His first marriage, on March 3, 1722 was to Anna Marie Mayer von Buchig.  They had three children together, John, George, and Anna Maria.   On August 11, 1733, he married Catherine (Anna Catherine) Weyl, the widow of the late John Spirpi (Spirgi).  They had two children, Conrad and John Michael, the last born in 1741.

I've tried to trace John's children but am not completely successful.  In fact, I am not even sure that I have included all his children.  There may have been other children born in Germany who died and thus were not mentioned in this document.  There also may have been other children born after the Mentzers left Hagsfeld in 1751, but I haven't yet located records for them.  

John the son was born in 1723 and was married by 1751. I don't know who he married, whether he came to America, or what became of him at all. The only thing I can say is that he lived to adulthood.

George was born in 1727 and married Christina Renninger, the daughter of Johann Wendel and Margaret Heynlen Renninger.  Their children are Julianna, Johann, Maria, Jacob, Michael, and Simon.  He died in 1800 in New Holland, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and there is a Revolutionary War marker at his gravesite.  

Anna Maria was born in 1729 and reportedly died in 1783 in Rockingham County, Virginia.  She is said to have married Christoph Hauer but I can't substantiate that.  If this is the correct Anna Marie, there were several children born to this couple, but the records I'm finding show that Christoph married Anna Marie Lesslie.  I leave this an open question.

Conrad was the first child born to John and Catherine, in 1734.  He married Elizabeth Hibshman, the daughter of Gebhardt and Anna Elizabeth Hibschmann.  Their children are Catherine, Frederick, John, Conrad, Christina, Veronica, and Anna Maria.  Their are records for Conrad Mentzer, presumably this one, serving in the Pennsylvania militia during the Revolutionary War.  He died in 1781 in Lancaster County.  I will follow this family in my next blog post.

Johann Michael was born in 1741 and died in 1801.  He married Anna Marie Breidenstein, the daughter of Leonhardt and Anna Maria Buengel Breidenstein.  They had 14 children together: Michael, John, George, Catharine, Conradt, Samuel, Mary Polly, Elizabeth, Christopher, Barbara, Jacob, Sarah, an unnamed baby, and Susanna.  

I have seen three other names for children of this couple, which I can find no source for.  They are Anna Margaretha, Johann Philip, and Albertina Wilhelmina.  Since none of these names are used in the other Mentzer families, and they seem to have used each other's names frequently, I view all of these with a very healthy skepticism.  However, I wanted to mention them in case someone reading this blog post knows more about these "children" and is willing to share their information.  

As always, I welcome additions and corrections to these family posts.