It's been a while since I've written about an ancestor in the Harshbarger line. I seem to have written about most or all of the "easy" ones, and since most of the family is of German or Swiss ancestry, and didn't arrive in American until the first half of the eighteenth century, I have a smaller pool of ancestors to research. However, here is one that I seem to have overlooked.
Martin Laber is thought to have been born in Pennsylvania August 20, 1738, although I've not found a record yet. He is the son of Wendell and Anna Margaretha Mueller Laber, and was one of at least ten children. His father was a religious man who helped to found at least two churches, the second one being closer to his home than the first. "Home" by at least 1747, was in Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and Martin stayed there his whole life. This is in the northern part of the county, bordering on Berks and Dauphin counties now, but at the time, it was all wilderness. Lancaster town itself was hardly a village, and the area would go through some very rough times during Martin's lifetime.
Martin married Anna Catherina Enck, the daughter of Johan Jacob and Anna Catharina Becker Enck, on October 13, 1761. The pastor was Rev. John Waldschmidt, who was actually sent as a pastor for the Dutch Reformed Church. (Without going into a good detail of theological detail, the Germans of the area were satisfied with their pastor, be he Dutch, German, or some combination there of.
By 1761, the worst of the onslaughts from the French and Indian war (meaning attacks by the native Americans in cahoots with the French) were mostly over, and Martin and Catherine were able to make a home for themselves. Martin, like his father, was a farmer and called himself a yeoman in his will. He and Catherine had at least 5 children, and stayed on the farm they owned their whole lives. In 1782, he is shown on a tax list as having 140 acres of land, 2 horses and 4 cows, and his tax is one of the higher ones on that particular page. But I'm getting ahead of the story.
After the French and Indian war, and after the few years of peace, life was interrupted by the Revolutionary War. Martin seems not to have been greatly affected by the war itself. He was in the militia but I've not found that he was ever called to duty. He may well have been used for a few days as a guard for prisoners of war, or to transport food and supplies, but it doesn't appear, as far as I've learned so far, that he ever was in a battle. This is not to say that his life was easy. He lived perhaps 50 miles from Valley Forge and 65 miles from Philadelphia. Lancaster County, then, as now, had a reputation as being a "bread basket" and surely Martin would have contributed, we hope voluntarily, to Valley Forge. It's possible there were British foraging expeditions that far from Philly but if so, they would have been of short duration. And surely, there was tension. Where would the next battle be? Would the country maintain the independence they had declared, or would they be defeated by the British, with the help of the hired Hessians? Mothers have always had to calm the fears of their children, it seems.
That is as much of the life of Martin as I currently know, except for records created when he died. Martin wrote his will on February 26, 1812 when he signed with a mark. It wasn't probated for another 11 years, though, on October 20, 1823. His actual date of death is given on Find a Grave as September 2, 1823, so it seems that he either had a long illness or he had a serious illness and recovered. He provided for his wife in his will, but she died September 23, 1813. He left land or money or both to each of his three sons, one hundred pounds to each of his 7 Dulibon grandchildren, and one hundred dollars to "his congregation" to build a new church. The graves, with standing headstones, are at what is now the Brickerville United Lutheran Church and Cemetery at Brickerville, Pa.
Martin lived through interesting times. He survived, supported his country, supported his church, raised a family, and paid his taxes. We can be grateful for ancestors like Martin! I'm also grateful to Anne Caston, who located some of the information I've used in this post, and who generously shares her knowledge and information.
The line of descent is:
Martin Laber-Catherine Enck
Catherine Laber-Henry Dulibon
Elizabeth Tullepan-Conrad Mentzer
Catherine Mentzer (Mancer)-Lewis Harshbarger
Emmanuel Harshbarger-Clara Ellen Harter
Grover Harshbarger-Goldie Withers
Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Beeks
Their descendants
Personal note: This is my 700th blog post. We'll see how much longer I can keep finding stories to tell. I know there are a few more waiting out there!
Showing posts with label Tullepan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tullepan. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Friday, August 16, 2019
Harshbarger line: Conrad Mentzer 1799-1880
First, let me give much credit where much credit is due: Much of the material in this blog post was located by a distant cousin to my husband, Anne M Caston. I had bits and pieces, (most of the census records) but she has found much more. Anne, I certainly appreciate you and would love to meet you some time!
Second, let me say that census takers, church pastors, and transcribers, among others, have made it immensely difficult to trace this man. I don't know of many other people, in our families, who have had their surnames spelled in so many different ways. except for possibly his wife's surname. It's no wonder that it has taken more than one person to figure this much out. I hope someone, sometime, will see this post and be willing to join us in our search.
And third, it helps not at all that there was another Conrad Mentzer born in 1799, who is mostly documented in Washington County, Maryland. That Conrad is not ours and he is not very closely related to this Conrad Mentzer.
And as always, despite fairly good records and documentation, there is still much we don't know about Conrad, such as the minor detail of the identity of his mother, and what he was doing in 1820, and of course the always present question of "Why?" In this case, my big "Why" is "Why did you move to Stark County, Ohio, and why move when you did?"
So let's start with what we know. Conrad Mentzer was born March 25, 1799 and baptized June 16, 1799 at the Emanuel Lutheran Church, Brickerville, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. His parents were John and Margreth (Margaret) Mentzer, and he was one of eleven children born to the couple. Our first record of him as an adult is on August 29, 1819 in the same church, when he married Elizabeth Tullepan/Dulibon and various other spellings. The next record is the 1820 census in Elizabeth Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where he is listed as being a while male, aged 16-25, living with a white female aged 16-25, and one female unger age 10. This would be their first daughter, Leah, who was born November 6, 1819. The young couple certainly had very little time to spend together before their family started arriving. In the 1820 census, Conrad is listed as being in "manufacture" rather than agriculture or commerce. I'd love to know what he was doing!
There is a reference to a Conrad Mentzer who owned land in Clay Township in Lancaster County Pennsylvania in 1828 but I am not sure that this is our Conrad. John Mentzer had died in 1821 so it's possible that Conrad was able to purchase land there. Clay Township was not formed until 1853 and is right next door to Elizabeth Township, so possibly this is our guy. He was listed in 1830 as living in Elizabeth township. By this time, he was in the male 30-39 column, Elizabeth was in the 30-39 age column, and there were one male aged 5-9 (Joel), 2 females under 5 (Susan and Catherine), one female aged 5-9 (Caroline), and one female aged 10-14 (Leah). If the couple had additional children, he or she was born and died between the census years.
Interestingly, the name above Conrad's name in the 1830 census is that of Margaret Mentzer, who is between the ages of 60 and 70, and who had two males living with her, aged 15-20 and one female aged 20-30. This was likely the mysterious Margreth/Margaret, mother of Conrad. I don't yet have a death date for Margaret, but one wonders if she had died, or gone to live with one of the older children, soon after this.
We don't know exactly when the Mentzer family moved to Stark County, Ohio but Conrad purchased land there, with a recorded date of May 17, 1831. He paid $400 for 80 acres of land, which showed the price of inflation in just a few short years. Earlier, land in this area was going for $1.50 an acre. He may have been there that year and cleared land or/and planted crops, with or without his family. Elizabeth had her hands full, whenever she arrived, and we can bet that daughters Leah and Caroline helped watch the younger children when they weren't helping Elizabeth with chores.
The 1840 census shows "Coaured Mincer" living in Franklin Township, Summit County. By now, the children were older, but all except Leah still at home. It appears that Franklin Township, Summit County, may have been very close to Elizabeth Township, Stark County. If Conrad sold his land in Elizabeth township, we've not yet found record of it. It's possible that township boundaries were still not settled, or that the census taker simply got it wrong. Of special note is that there was no mention of Elizabeth. Divorce records should be checked as a precaution, which I haven't done yet, but it's probably a safe assumption that she had died, after less than 20 years of marriage.
By 1850 Conrad was back in Jackson Township, Stark County, with wife Elizabeth. Except, it was a different Elizabeth. In 1843 he married Elizabeth Balmore Treesh or Trisch, and they were married until Conrad's death in 1880. This Elizabeth, then, was Catherine Mentzer Harshbarger's stepmother for much longer than her mother had been able to mother her. We have record of Conrad on the agricultural schedule for 1850. He is reported as having 30 acres of improved land and 25 acres of unimproved land, valued at $1500. His farm implements were valued at $30, so probably not much more than a plow. He had three horses, three milch cows, one other cattle, six sheep, and three swine. In the preceding year, he had produced 100 bushels of wheat, 50 bushels of Indian corn, and 25 bushels of oats.
We haven't found him in the 1860 census yet, but in 1870 he was in Jackson Township, Stark County, and is still listed as a farmer. However, there is no value listed for his farm, but it seems that he still onwed land because there is a later record of a land transfer (after his death) from Conrad to Henry Caston, a son in law. In 1880, he is listed on the census as a retired farmer, and it's noted that his wife couldn't read or write, so by implication he could do so That is the last record of Conrad until his death on December 16, 1880. There was no probate until 1883, as far as I can tell, and I am not sure where the death date comes from. Elizabeth apparently lived longer, but I am not sure of her death date. There was another Elizabeth Mentzer (maiden name Essig) who died in Masillon, Stark County in 1896, and it's possible that the 1896 death death for Eliabeth Balmore Trisch Mentzer is earlier.
Things about Conrad I wish I knew:
Name of his mother
Date of first wife's death or divorce
Church attended in Stark County
Death date, or where this date came from
Burial location
Was he a happy person?
The line of descent is:
Conrad Mentzer-Elizabeth Tullepan
Catherine Mentzer-Lewis Harshbarger
Emmanuel Harshbarger-Clara Harter
Grover Harshbarger-Goldie Withers
Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Margaret Beeks
Their descendants
Second, let me say that census takers, church pastors, and transcribers, among others, have made it immensely difficult to trace this man. I don't know of many other people, in our families, who have had their surnames spelled in so many different ways. except for possibly his wife's surname. It's no wonder that it has taken more than one person to figure this much out. I hope someone, sometime, will see this post and be willing to join us in our search.
And third, it helps not at all that there was another Conrad Mentzer born in 1799, who is mostly documented in Washington County, Maryland. That Conrad is not ours and he is not very closely related to this Conrad Mentzer.
And as always, despite fairly good records and documentation, there is still much we don't know about Conrad, such as the minor detail of the identity of his mother, and what he was doing in 1820, and of course the always present question of "Why?" In this case, my big "Why" is "Why did you move to Stark County, Ohio, and why move when you did?"
So let's start with what we know. Conrad Mentzer was born March 25, 1799 and baptized June 16, 1799 at the Emanuel Lutheran Church, Brickerville, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. His parents were John and Margreth (Margaret) Mentzer, and he was one of eleven children born to the couple. Our first record of him as an adult is on August 29, 1819 in the same church, when he married Elizabeth Tullepan/Dulibon and various other spellings. The next record is the 1820 census in Elizabeth Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where he is listed as being a while male, aged 16-25, living with a white female aged 16-25, and one female unger age 10. This would be their first daughter, Leah, who was born November 6, 1819. The young couple certainly had very little time to spend together before their family started arriving. In the 1820 census, Conrad is listed as being in "manufacture" rather than agriculture or commerce. I'd love to know what he was doing!
There is a reference to a Conrad Mentzer who owned land in Clay Township in Lancaster County Pennsylvania in 1828 but I am not sure that this is our Conrad. John Mentzer had died in 1821 so it's possible that Conrad was able to purchase land there. Clay Township was not formed until 1853 and is right next door to Elizabeth Township, so possibly this is our guy. He was listed in 1830 as living in Elizabeth township. By this time, he was in the male 30-39 column, Elizabeth was in the 30-39 age column, and there were one male aged 5-9 (Joel), 2 females under 5 (Susan and Catherine), one female aged 5-9 (Caroline), and one female aged 10-14 (Leah). If the couple had additional children, he or she was born and died between the census years.
Interestingly, the name above Conrad's name in the 1830 census is that of Margaret Mentzer, who is between the ages of 60 and 70, and who had two males living with her, aged 15-20 and one female aged 20-30. This was likely the mysterious Margreth/Margaret, mother of Conrad. I don't yet have a death date for Margaret, but one wonders if she had died, or gone to live with one of the older children, soon after this.
We don't know exactly when the Mentzer family moved to Stark County, Ohio but Conrad purchased land there, with a recorded date of May 17, 1831. He paid $400 for 80 acres of land, which showed the price of inflation in just a few short years. Earlier, land in this area was going for $1.50 an acre. He may have been there that year and cleared land or/and planted crops, with or without his family. Elizabeth had her hands full, whenever she arrived, and we can bet that daughters Leah and Caroline helped watch the younger children when they weren't helping Elizabeth with chores.
The 1840 census shows "Coaured Mincer" living in Franklin Township, Summit County. By now, the children were older, but all except Leah still at home. It appears that Franklin Township, Summit County, may have been very close to Elizabeth Township, Stark County. If Conrad sold his land in Elizabeth township, we've not yet found record of it. It's possible that township boundaries were still not settled, or that the census taker simply got it wrong. Of special note is that there was no mention of Elizabeth. Divorce records should be checked as a precaution, which I haven't done yet, but it's probably a safe assumption that she had died, after less than 20 years of marriage.
By 1850 Conrad was back in Jackson Township, Stark County, with wife Elizabeth. Except, it was a different Elizabeth. In 1843 he married Elizabeth Balmore Treesh or Trisch, and they were married until Conrad's death in 1880. This Elizabeth, then, was Catherine Mentzer Harshbarger's stepmother for much longer than her mother had been able to mother her. We have record of Conrad on the agricultural schedule for 1850. He is reported as having 30 acres of improved land and 25 acres of unimproved land, valued at $1500. His farm implements were valued at $30, so probably not much more than a plow. He had three horses, three milch cows, one other cattle, six sheep, and three swine. In the preceding year, he had produced 100 bushels of wheat, 50 bushels of Indian corn, and 25 bushels of oats.
We haven't found him in the 1860 census yet, but in 1870 he was in Jackson Township, Stark County, and is still listed as a farmer. However, there is no value listed for his farm, but it seems that he still onwed land because there is a later record of a land transfer (after his death) from Conrad to Henry Caston, a son in law. In 1880, he is listed on the census as a retired farmer, and it's noted that his wife couldn't read or write, so by implication he could do so That is the last record of Conrad until his death on December 16, 1880. There was no probate until 1883, as far as I can tell, and I am not sure where the death date comes from. Elizabeth apparently lived longer, but I am not sure of her death date. There was another Elizabeth Mentzer (maiden name Essig) who died in Masillon, Stark County in 1896, and it's possible that the 1896 death death for Eliabeth Balmore Trisch Mentzer is earlier.
Things about Conrad I wish I knew:
Name of his mother
Date of first wife's death or divorce
Church attended in Stark County
Death date, or where this date came from
Burial location
Was he a happy person?
The line of descent is:
Conrad Mentzer-Elizabeth Tullepan
Catherine Mentzer-Lewis Harshbarger
Emmanuel Harshbarger-Clara Harter
Grover Harshbarger-Goldie Withers
Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Margaret Beeks
Their descendants
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Harshbarger line: Henry Duliban
This will be a short post, because so far I don't know a lot about Henry Duliban or Tulepan or any of at least a dozen other spellings. I'm using the Duliban spelling because that is how he is listed in at least one military record, and because it is more or less in the middle of other spellings.
He was born in Pennsylvania in about 1762. His parents were Leonard Tulepan and Margareth. The family was likely French, and possibly of Huguenot descent, meaning they would have lived "on the border" between France and Germany, and went to Germany at some point after the Huguenot persecutions began. (Huguenot is the word used to describe French Protestants in a French Catholic world. Thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of Protestants were killed and the lucky escaped to what was, for most, a life of poverty in Germany, or England. It is not a pretty period in human history.) Leonard's father, Frantz Tulipan, had arrived in Pennsylvania in 1752, apparently with at least some of his children. Leonard and Margareth began their life here probably about 1760, but so far I have not found marriage records. My guess is that Leonard probably served a period as an indentured servant, to pay for his passage, and married when that time of service was up.
Leonard and Margareth had at least 7 children. The first child we know about was Henry, who was born in 1762. The first evidence I have of his existence was that he was listed in a "return" of the first company, 6th Battalion of the Lancaster County Militias in 1783, when he would have been about 21. As a member of the militia, he would probably have served at least 2 months active duty as that was a requirement at the time. I don't know whether this would have counted as "Revolutionary War Service" or not. Henry is also shown in the 1793 Septennial census of Pennsylvania.
Shortly after Henry's youngest brother, Christian, was born in 1787, Henry started a new generation when he married Catherine Laber, daughter of Martin Laber and Anna Catherina Enck, on April 8, 1788 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The 1790 census shows that there was a male in the family who was under 16 years of age. By 1800, under the spelling of Dullibahn, he and Catherine had one male aged 10-15, one male under the age of 10, and four females under the age of 10. Catherine must have been a very busy lady! One more child, a boy, was born about 1804. Elizabeth Duliban was born about 1800, and she is our link to this family.
So far as I can tell, no one has uncovered a will for Henry. He died sometime after 1800. I haven't located a census for him after the 1800 census, but with all the spellings of his name, I could have missed him. Some of his family was Lutheran, so it is possible that is the religion he practiced also.
We don't know his occupation. Lancaster County is still a largely rural community, so he likely farmed. With such a large family, he may have had a "winter occupation" also, such as weaving or shoemaking. This is just speculation, but it is based on research into how other families lived at this time and near this location.
I would love to find church records, a death date and burial location, an indication of his occupation, and other facts about this man. If you can help, please let me know!
Our line of descent is:
Henry Duliban-Catherine Laber
Elizabeth Tullepan-Conrad Mentzer
Lewis Harshbarger-Catherine Mentzer
Emmanuel Harshbarger-Clara Harter
Grover Harshbarger-Goldie Withers
Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Margaret Beeks
Children, grand children, and great grandchildren
He was born in Pennsylvania in about 1762. His parents were Leonard Tulepan and Margareth. The family was likely French, and possibly of Huguenot descent, meaning they would have lived "on the border" between France and Germany, and went to Germany at some point after the Huguenot persecutions began. (Huguenot is the word used to describe French Protestants in a French Catholic world. Thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of Protestants were killed and the lucky escaped to what was, for most, a life of poverty in Germany, or England. It is not a pretty period in human history.) Leonard's father, Frantz Tulipan, had arrived in Pennsylvania in 1752, apparently with at least some of his children. Leonard and Margareth began their life here probably about 1760, but so far I have not found marriage records. My guess is that Leonard probably served a period as an indentured servant, to pay for his passage, and married when that time of service was up.
Leonard and Margareth had at least 7 children. The first child we know about was Henry, who was born in 1762. The first evidence I have of his existence was that he was listed in a "return" of the first company, 6th Battalion of the Lancaster County Militias in 1783, when he would have been about 21. As a member of the militia, he would probably have served at least 2 months active duty as that was a requirement at the time. I don't know whether this would have counted as "Revolutionary War Service" or not. Henry is also shown in the 1793 Septennial census of Pennsylvania.
Shortly after Henry's youngest brother, Christian, was born in 1787, Henry started a new generation when he married Catherine Laber, daughter of Martin Laber and Anna Catherina Enck, on April 8, 1788 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The 1790 census shows that there was a male in the family who was under 16 years of age. By 1800, under the spelling of Dullibahn, he and Catherine had one male aged 10-15, one male under the age of 10, and four females under the age of 10. Catherine must have been a very busy lady! One more child, a boy, was born about 1804. Elizabeth Duliban was born about 1800, and she is our link to this family.
So far as I can tell, no one has uncovered a will for Henry. He died sometime after 1800. I haven't located a census for him after the 1800 census, but with all the spellings of his name, I could have missed him. Some of his family was Lutheran, so it is possible that is the religion he practiced also.
We don't know his occupation. Lancaster County is still a largely rural community, so he likely farmed. With such a large family, he may have had a "winter occupation" also, such as weaving or shoemaking. This is just speculation, but it is based on research into how other families lived at this time and near this location.
I would love to find church records, a death date and burial location, an indication of his occupation, and other facts about this man. If you can help, please let me know!
Our line of descent is:
Henry Duliban-Catherine Laber
Elizabeth Tullepan-Conrad Mentzer
Lewis Harshbarger-Catherine Mentzer
Emmanuel Harshbarger-Clara Harter
Grover Harshbarger-Goldie Withers
Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Margaret Beeks
Children, grand children, and great grandchildren
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