Harshbarger line: Johann Jacob Enck, Immigrant

Johan Jacob Enck is new to the family tree, and I am grateful to Anne for setting me straight and putting me on the trail of this man.  His story appears to be a lot like those of the other German immigrants in the family.  He was possibly born July 30, 1698 in Hueffelsheim, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, to Bernard Heinrich and Elisabetha Arnd Enck.  (It is possible that he was born in Heddesheim rather than Hueffelsheim, but he married in Hueffelsheim and lived there for at least twenty years.  Since men typically took their bride to their own home village I'm going with Hueffelsheim until or unless we find actual records of the birth location.)

When he married, it was to Anna Cathareina Becker, daughter of Anthonii Becker, on Noember 23, 1723.  His father is there listed as Bernhard Enck.  The marriage took place at the Evangelisch, Heddesheim, which means it was a Lutheran church.  It appears that there are currently three churches in Heddesheim that would fit the description, but probably there was only one church at the time.  Heddesheim is described as being a tiny town, which at one time grew a lot of tobacco, but that time period isn't designated so I don't know if it was before or after the time of Jacob and Catherine. 

They came to America in 1743, on the ship Snow Charlotta, which arrived on September 5,1743.  It is possible that they stayed in Germantown for a while, but they eventually settled in Lancaster County.  We know they had three children born in Germany, Johan Jacob, Johannes, and Anna Catherina, but there may have been others born in Pennsylvania.  A lot of trees show Jacob marrying again in 1755, but I'm not sure this is the same Jacob.  If it is, then he must have first been widowed, which is entirely possible. 

It seems that his land may have been along the Cocalico Creek but I am still trying to confirm that.  He was buried on March 30,1774 at either the Zion German Reformed Church Cemetery at Brickerville (per Find A Grave) or the Bethany United Church of Christ at Ephrata, per a database from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania found on Ancestry. Bethany UCC was formerly a German Reformed Church, and they have records indicating Jacob was buried there, yet I can't find his name in their old cemetery listing.  So perhaps the pastor buried Jacob at the Brickerville location?  It's hard to know for sure what happened, but that is the general location of his grave, anyway.

There is a will for Jacob which I need to research further.  If I can locate it, I will make a transcription in a separate blog post.  I'd love to travel to Lancaster County so I could do more thorough research on this family, as on many others, but for now we at least know where he came from, the name of his wife, when he arrived in America, his religion, and when he died.  That's a start.

The line of descent is:

Johan Jacob Enck-Anna Catharina Becker
Anna Catharina Enck-Martin Lauber
Catherine Lauber-Henry Dulibon (Tullapen)
Eliizabeth Tullapen-Conrad Mentzer
Catherine Mentzer-Lewis Harshbarger
Emmanuel Harshbarger-Clara Harter
Grover Harshbarger-Goldie Withers
Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Margaret Beeks
Their descendants

Harshbarger line: Hans Jacob Kemery and those darn facts, or lack thereof

One of the things blogging makes me do, which is a good thing, is look for weak links in the tree.  It looks like Hans Jacob Kemery or Kemmerli may be one of them.  He was born sometime in the 1780s (per 1840 census)  in York County, Pa, and married Anna Maria Lauber.  He died in Stark County, Ohio on October 8, 1847 and is buried in Sherman Church Cemetery there. The known children of Jacob and Anna Maria are John, Adam, Daniel, Jacob, and George.  I suspect there are more children, especially girls, but I have not yet found them. 

The 1840 census in Pike Township, Stark County, Ohio does show three females who could be his children.  This is the only census record I've found that fits the family and the suspected locations they would have been, although there are records in Northampton County, Pa that may be the family in earlier years. 

The reason I'm questioning the information on my tree is that I was looking for some names in a copy of a book edited by Don Yoder, called Pennsylvania German Immigrants. In that book there is listed a Johann Jacob Kuemmerle and wife Margaretha nee Heintzelman of Neckarlenzlingen, (Germany), along with a son Johann Jacob born 12/ 6/1744 and daughter Anna Margaretha born 12/27/1742.  This family came to America on the Richard and Mary, landing in Philadelphia on September 17, 1753. 

The information on the internet, unsourced, gives a birth date for our H. Jacob's father as 1734 and says he was born in Holland.  I have found other ancestors who were listed as from Holland when their actual birth location was a German state or Switzerland. The families may have stayed in Holland for a year or two to raise money to come to America, but they weren't permanent residents there. I suspect this may be the case with this family.  I would life to look at the "Kuemmerle" family in more depth to determine whether they could be ancestors of Hans Jacob born 1791.   And if so, was the Johann Jacob born in 1744 the father of our H. Jacob, or the grandfather?  Either would be a possibility.

Indications are that this family may have been in York County, Pa, possibly Windsor Township, so my next trip to the Allen County Public Library will include a search of the records there.  In the meantime, I would love to hear from anyone researching this family.  Maybe you've already found the answers I'm looking for, or maybe we can work together to solve this mystery. 

This is the line of descent. 

H. Jacob Kemery-Anna Maria Lauber
Daniel Kemery and Susannah Essig
Adam Kemery and Nancy Buchtel
Della Kemery and William H Withers
Goldie Withers and Grover Harshbarger
Cleveland Harshbarger and Mary Margaret Beeks
Harshbarger children and grand children-you know who you are!