Harshbarger line: Johann Friederich Schollenberger 1703-1768

For some reason, I'm gravitating to posts about immigrant ancestors right now. Here is another one in the Harshbarger line.  Maybe by the time I get done writing about these folks, I'll be better able to understand how so many people could leave behind the land of their birth, family members, and all that they knew, to go to a new land about which they knew very little, but which they could expect to be their final home on this earth.

Johann Friederich Schollenberger (known as Frederick) was one of those people. He was born on March 18, 1703 in Albig, Germany to Dietrich Schollenburger and Christine Kessenkopf.  Albig is a small German village in the Rhineland-Palatinate, not far from France.  Albig currently (as of 2008) has a population of slightly over 1600 people, so this would have been a small town where everyone knew everyone. The Schollenberger's would have known the Hoppach family, and in due time the marriage arrangements were complete.Friederich married Anna Katherina Hoppach on January 11, 1729.  At least 8 children were born to this couple, 6 boys and 2 girls; the youngest was born after the family arrived in America..  As happened so many times, 2 of the boys died as toddlers.  So as the Schollenbergers came to America, they were also leaving behind the gravesites of two of their children.

They arrived, along with his brother in law and other relatives, in Philadelphia on the ship "Loyal Judith on September 3, 1742, and soon marched to the local judge's office for the naturalization oath.  This was when immigrants from whatever country swore allegiance to the British king, George II, to allay fears from English immigrants that the "new guys in town" would someday outnumber them.

We don't know whether Frederick served an indentureship or whether he had enough money to pay for the passage of his family.  (His father, Dietrich, lived until 1746 so he didn't come to America on his inherited money).  Most likely, he stayed in Germantown until he had his feet on the ground, so to speak, and then purchased land.  We know that he obtained a land warrant for 100 acres of land in 1747, in what was then Philadelphia County, but later became Greenwich Township, Berks County, Pa.  This property then grew to include 210 acres.   We haven't found any indication of an occupation for Frederick other than farmer, and 210 acres would certainly have kept him busy.

We know little of the rest of his life, but based on the time frame and the location we can guess that there were tensions, or worse, with the native Americans.  The French-Indian war took place when Frederick was approaching what was then old age, but Frederick would have been involved on at least a local level.  He died about 1768, but we don't know where he is buried and I have not located a will.  Of course, I'd like to know where he is buried, what will he may have left, and what church he attended.  Was his home a log cabin?  If so, did he later build another home, and was it made of stone?  There's always more to learn, it seems.

The line of descent is:

Johann Friedrich Schollenberger-Anna Katherina Hoppach
Johann Lorenz Schollenberger-Elizabeth Mertz
Peter Shollenberger-Susanna
Catherine Shollenberger-George Essig
Susanna Essig-Daniel Kemery
Adam Kemery-Nancy Fannie Buchtel
Della Kemery-William Withers
Goldie Withers-Grover Harshbarger
Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Margaret Beeks
Harshbarger children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren

Harshbarger line: Christian Harshbarger, immigrant

Christian Harshbarger (Hershberger, Hessperg, and any number of other spellings) was the immigrant ancestor of our line of the Harshbargers. He came from Basel, Switzerland originally but may have settled for a time with Mennonites in the Palatine, possibly to save enough money to purchase passage for his family to America. He, with his wife and two children sailed from Rotterdam, Holland to Plymouth, England and then on to Philadelphia, where they arrived on the "Charming Nancy" on October 8, 1737.. This was a very common route for the time, for emigrants from Germany and Switzerland.

It is likely that the family came to America for both religious and economic reasons. This was an Amish family, and the Amish refused to conform to the requirements of the state run churches in either Switzerland or Germany. They were tolerated in Germany for a time because their labor was badly needed to help build up the various states after the wars of the 1600s had ruined the land.  However, life there was not easy, they were heavily taxed, and America must have sounded like a wonderful plan B.

Christian had married Barbara Rupp, daughter of Ulrich Rupp and Anna Schuepbach, about 1732.  The couple had 10 children, (8 born after arrival in America), one of whom was also named Christian.  The family settled in Berks County at the foot of the Blue mountains, where Christian petitioned for the right of naturalization in 1742. Eventually our line of the family (Christian Jr) moved to Centre County, Pa but Christian, the immigrant, is reported to have died in Berks County in 1783.  Barbara is reported to have died in 1810 in Somerset County, Pa. Christian would have been about 70 when he died and if the reports are to be believed, Barbara would have been 110.  Perhaps the Barbara buried in Somerset County is not this Barbara, or perhaps the date of death is incorrect.

I have great admiration for this family. They were not rich nor famous, but they were willing to leave everything behind in an attempt to improve life for themselves and their children. They probably lived in a cabin of some type when they first arrived in America, and life would not have been easy. At this early stage in colonial life, they would likely have cleared their own land, raised crops, and would not have had much in the way of materials goods, nor money, to start. Yet they persevered, and gave their children the gumption to move on (many of the family left Pennsylvania within a generation or two, and many left the Mennonite/Amish religion of their grandparents).  These were the people who built America, and I'd love to learn more about them!