Harshbarger line: Michael Birkle Immigrant, most likely

I know very little about Michael but he has a name and dates, and seems to have come to America so I'll write just a paragraph or two about him.  He is in the Harshbarger line and I'm coming to a close on Harshbarger ancestors unless I break down another brick wall at some point. 

Michael Birkle was born in 1676 in Hinterzarten, Breisgau-Hockschwarzwald, Baden, Germany.  This is in the southwest part of Germany, in what is known as the Black Forest, and is now an attraction for ski-jumpers.  In 1676, though, the thing that would be unusual in family history is that this was apparently a Catholic village, for Michael and his family were Catholics.  (Usually a village was either Catholic or Protestant, depending on the preference of the ruler of the time).  Michael's parents were Jacob and Maria Imberi Birkle. 

We know that on November 22, 1699, he married Anna Maria Willmann, daughter of Anton and Catharine Willmann.  They had about a dozen children: Franciska, Johan Jacob, Sgatha, Joseph, Catharina, Mathias, Gertrud, Christina, Maria Magdalena, Barbara, Michael, and possibly Maria (it's not clear whether Maria and Maria Magdalena could be the same person).  It looks like the last child was born in 1724, and so this would have been a busy household.  Records show that Michael Birkle came to the: New World, arriving on September 29, 1733 in Philadelphia aboard the ship "Mary". 

From there, it gets confusing.  Everyone agrees that he died on December 5, 1753 but some say he died in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania and some say he died in Hinterzarten.  So was it Michael the younger, born in 1702 who came to America, and not Michael Senior?  Or did our Michael come, and then return to his native village in his old age?  Were death records kept in both countries, with the record in Germany kept up by a priest even if the death occurred elsewhere?  I'm also showing that Maria Magdalena married in 1738 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and his wife Maria died in Lebanon County in 1760, which if true would tend to make me think Michael also died here..  Incidentally, the Lebanon County would be a modern term, for it wasn't formed until 1813.  Records of the time would all have shown Lancaster County as their residence.  Since Maria Magdalena arrived in 1733, presumably with her parents, I'm leaning more toward the "they never left" idea.

I'll keep looking for records in Pennsylvania that give evidence of Michael's life here, because there may be more to the story than I've been able to find so far.  In the meantime, we can think about the family religion and when it might have changed in the family.   

The line of descent is:

Michael Birkle-Anna Maria Willmann
Maria Magdalena Birkle-Andreas Kraemer
Daniel Kramer-Anna Maria Geise
Anna Maria Kramer-Andrew Kepler
Mary Kepler-George Harshbarger
Lewis Harshbarger-Catherine Mentzer
Emmanuel Harshbarger-Clara Ellen Harter
Grover Harshbarger-Goldie Withers
Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Margaret Beeks
Their descendants
 

Harshbarger line: Johann Matthias Kraemer 1692-date unknown

This will be a short post, because I know little about this man. However, I am trying to write about the immigrants in my children's family tree, and Matthias was one of them.  The first thing we know for sure is that he arrived in Philadelphia in 1732.  He is listed as 40 years old at the time, which would put him born about 1692.  There is a Johann Matthias Craemer who was born on April 7, 1692 and baptized April 8, 1692 in Wolf (Kr. Bernkastel, Rhineland, Preussen, Germany, but his parents are Conradt Craemer and Anna Margaretha.  All of the trees I can find list his parents as Johann Peter and Anna Barbara Lorenz Craemer, so one of these sets of parents are not correct.

At any rate, we know he married a woman named Elisabeth and they had at least two children, Andreas and Christina. Both were born in Germany.  That is really all I know about Matthias at this point.  His death date is given as 1793 which doesn't seem likely, so I suspect that the Matthias who died in 1793 would have been a son or nephew to our Matthias. Still, if he did live 101 years, we could make a really neat timeline for him!

Although much research remains to be done for Matthias (or I need to find what has already been done), we know that he came to the New World fairly early in the German immigration, when Philadelphia was not yet a city and when the frontier wasn't more than 50 miles from Philadelphia.  I need to find land records or indenture records or something that will give me a clue as to where he went and what he did, and information about the rest of his family.

Nevertheless, we know that the immigrant ancestor was from what is now Germany, and we know that he would have either been Lutheran/Reformed (probably), or of one of the Anabaptist groups (less likely, but possible).  Land, church, and death/burial records may be available, and if so, I will do a follow up post on him.  I'd sure like to find a maiden name for Elisabeth, also!  Maybe someone reading this will have answers to some of these questions.

The line of descent is:

Matthias Kraemer-Elisabeth
Andreas Kramer-Maria Magdalena Birckel
Daniel Kramer-Anna Maria Geise
Anna Maria Kramer-Andrew Kepler
Mary Kepler-George Harshbarger
Lewis Harshbarger-Catherine Mentzer
Emmanuel Harshbarger-Clara Harter
Grover Harshbarger-Goldie Withers
Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Margaret Beeks
Their descendants