Decendants of Theobald Gerst

MILSVC: Revolutionary War 1763-1783 (dates served unknown) IMMIGRATION: He migrated to America on the Ship "Isaac".

John Nicholas Gerst Sr. came to America eleven months prior to his parents, brothers and sisters. He signed his name on the ship list at Philadelphia, Sept. 27, 1749, as Johann Nickel Gerst.

The following information was taken from the book entitled "Pennsylvania German Pioneers, A Publication of the Original Lists of Arrivals In the Port of Philadelphia From 1727 to 1808," By Ralph Beaver Strassburger, LL.D.. Note that many officials were not good or consistent spellers, that many immigrants could not spell their own names, and foreign accents, in some cases, might have been misunderstood.

[List 138 C] At the Court House at Philadelphia, Wednesday, the 27th Sept 1749. Present: Joshua Maddox, Esquire. The Foreigners whose Names are underwritten, imported in the Ship Isaac, Capt Robert Mitchell, from Rotterdam, but last from Cowes in England, did this day take the Oaths to the Government. From the Palatinate, by List 79. 206 freights.

Heinerich Grob Johann Nickel Gerst Rutolph (+) Haberly Jacob (X) Wissman Hans Hug Johan Peter Rit Johanes Grob Johann Nickel Schaffer Hans Rutolph (X) Fisher Georg Adam Fischer Heynry (X) Grub Johann Caspar Langenberger Felix Magli Johannes Jungblud Peter Becker Johann Adam Wolf Jacob Fliehman Henrich Landes Johan Henrich Grun Rutdolf Landes Andres Linck Johannes Miller Michael (+) Rudelmos Mattheus Echternach Johanes (X) Storm Johannes Laudert Hans ( ) Conrath, sick Nicklas ( ) Franger, sick Ully Kunrath Peter Markhart Hans Kunrad Johann Friedterich Johan Jacob Staucki Johan Nicolas Senderling Hans Jacob Magli Johann Henrich Heynemann Rudolf Fries Johann Gorg Schnabel Heinrich Boshart Johann Nickel Stumpf Albert (X) Shutz Johann Daniel Weber Uhllerik (X) Coppy Frantz Hemmele Johann Friedrich Cremer Christian (X) Hemmle Johann Christian Schiller Heiny Huber Johan Adam (H) Shreiber Heinrich Burkhart Baltus (B) Shreiber Jacob Vosseller Michael Fischer Johanes (X) Bauer Christian Meckel Philip (+) Haber Johann Vallentin Steinbrech Lorentz ( ) Haffner, sick Johan Jahbler Johann Henrich Beck Matheas (X) Kehler Ludewig (X) Kreps Leonhart (X) Lasher Ludwig Krebs Conradt Spies Gorg Schlosser Johannes Klippel Johann Hennerich Klein Jurge (X) Fisher Johannes Wolff Andereas (A) Bussart Johann Georg Batz Jacob Klippel Herman ( ) Haust, sick Hans Adam (A) Maurer Nicholaus Becker Johannes Henlein Johannes Silvius Schreiner Wendel (+) Becker

The book entitled "Ship Passenger Lists, Pennsylvania and Delaware (1641-1825)," by Carl Boyer, 3rd, provides additional information on some of the individuals listed as passengers (and possibly neighbors) with Johann Nickel Gerst on the ship Isaac. It is as follows: "Emigrants from Oppenheim 1742-49 - The records of the county of Oppenheim, in the former Electoral Palatinate, which are now filed in the City Archives at Oppenheim on Rhine, contain information about a few persons who emigrated during the first half of the 18th century. They furnish evidence of permits granted , not of actual emigration. The former county of Oppenheim included the present city of Oppenheim, the market place Nierstein, and the villages of Dexheim, Schwabsburg, Oberingelheim, Niederingelheim, Daxweiler, Sauerschwabenheim, Gorsswinternheim, Wackernheim, Freinweinheim, Bubenheim, Elsheim, Stadtecken, and Essenheim. The many emigrants from Essenheim are not included in the following list, because they have been published. In order to avoid repetition we will only provide the date of the permit, the name, the residence, the fees paid, the ship, and the date of arrival in Philadelphia. 21 March 1749 permit to Philipp Haber with wife and three children from Stadecken paid 54 florins for manumission and 54 florins for the 10 Pfenning tax; arrived 27 Sept. 1749 on the Issac. 14 May 1749 permit to Friedrich Bohr from Wackernheim, after paying ten florins, arrived 9 Sept. 1749 on the St. Andrew. Christian Meckel from Elsheim had some difficulties. His oldest son was not emigrating with him. The authorities insisted that his share of his father's estate be retained and safely invested for him. Christian with wife and three younger childrenarrived 27 Sept. 1749 on the Isaac.

"The names of the following immigrants are from two sources: 1) Oberamtsprotokolle (bailiff minutes) of the city of Heidelberg, for 1741 and 1742, and 2) Lutheran Church Records of Woerrstadt. The names have been checked against Hinke's Pennsylvania German Pioneers. Senderling, Johann Niclaus;Stump, Johann Michel; Kraemer, Johann Peter; Steinbrecker, Johann Valentin; Klein, Johann Heinrich; Cramer, Johann Friedrich; Schedla, Johann Christian. On May 22, 1749, Johann Niclaus Senderling, Johann Michel Stump, Johann Peter Kraemer, Johann Valentin Steinbrecher, Johann Heinrich Klein, Johann Friedrich Cramer, local residents and Johann Christian Schedla, single son of a tailor Johann Heinrich Schedla, left for Pennsylvania, the former accompanied by their wives and children. Johann Hennerich Klein, Johann Nickel Stump, Johann Nicolas Senderling, Ship Isaac, Sept. 9, 1749.

"The following listings of Palatine emigrants to America in the eighteenth century are derived from several manuscript sources in German archives. Those from the Electoral Oberamt of Simmern, representing villages in the Hunsruect area, come fromthe Census of the Electoral Oberamt of Simmern for the year 1750, in the State Archives of Coblenz (Abt. 4, Nr. 3319); those from Hueffelsheim from the Lutheran Church Register of Hueffelsheim; the remainder from various official acts in the Palatine State Archives at Speyer. "The names have been checked against Strassburger and Hinke's Pennsylvania German Pioneers. From Mauschbach (Kreis Zweibruecken) Daniel, Georg and Jacob Weber, sons of Philipp Weber of Mauschbach, "went to America" around the year 1750, `without previously being manumitted from vassalage by our most gracious authorities.' Possibly Johann Daniel Weber, Ship Isaac, September 27, 1749.]"

Johann Nicolaus arrived in Philadelphia along with other German immigrants who settled in Penn Woods, near Jonestown, Bethel Twp., Lancaster Co., on Little Swatara creek. This is where Johann brought his father, Theobald (Dewald), from Philadelphia, with the brothers, sisters, nephews, and nieces, who came the following August in 1750.

The names of the offspring of Johann Nicolaus the 1st were taken from a probated will dated 20 Oct 1801. Tax records indicate that Johann owned land and paid taxes on 174 acres in Lancaster Co., PA from 1771 to 1790.

According to the book entitled "History of the Church of the Brethern," by M.G. Brumbaugh, the Little Swatara Congregation of 1770 consisted of Peter Heckman, minister and wife, John Heckman and wife, Michael Frantz and wife Mary, Nicholas Gerst and wife, Jacob Moyer and wife, George Basher, David Marge and wife, Simon Merrich and wife, John Frantz and wife, Christian Frantz and wife, Rose Schnables, Jacob Smith and wife, Eliza Kentzel, Adam Henrich, Mrs. Cryder, Philip Zeigler and wife(Regina Requel), Jacob Brandisen and wife, David Kleine and wife, Widow Benedict, Elizabeth Benedict, Sophy Kish, Leonard Sebalt and wife, John Grove and wife, Jacob Baker and wife, Jacob Deal and wife, Hans Stohner and wife,and Jacob Beashor and wife.

In the Pennsylvania Tax Lists for the County of Lancaster, Bethel Township, Vol XVII, can be found the following records: For the year 1771, page 157, "Gerst, Nich's, 170 acres, 2 horses, 2 cattle, no servants, and a tax assessment of 6.0."

For the year 1773, page 386, "Gerst, Nicholas, 170 acres, 2 horses, 3 cattle, no servants, and a tax assessment of 6.0."

As to the FRANTZ names within this family profile, "Michael Frantz II came to America when he was two years old, with his father, Michael Frantz I. That was in 1727, and they came on the ship "Molly." Three days earlier, Ulric Zug and wife, Barbara Bachman, had landed from the ship "James Goodwill." Both families settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and all were associated with the "Dunkard" Church. Later, Michael Frantz II married Magdalena Zug (daughter of Ulrich Zug and Barbara Bachman). They had eight sons and one daughter. Four of the sons married four of the daughters of John Nicholas Gerst I, and the daughter married a Gerst, said to be a George Gerst."

According to Mr. Rolland F. Flory in his book, "The Garst and Frantz families had a very great influence in the beginning of the Donnels Creek Church and other Brethren churches as the second and third generations moved westward. The names of the Garst and Frantz families were inseparable at that early period as their parents, John Nicholas Garst and Michael Frantz, both born in German States, arrived in the Colony of Pennsylvania. Both families settled in the wilds west of Philadelphia in what was then Lancaster County. "Four Frantz brothers married four Garst sisters. These four couples were married in_Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and lived in that vicinity until the early 1790's. During the early part of their sojourn in the settlement there, the families suffered greatly from the inroads and massacres from the Indians during the French and Indian War. They also suffered the hardships of the Revolutionary War. As young men, John Nicholas I and Frederick, sons of John Nicholas, Sr. and brothers of the Garst sisters, joined the patriot cause and served in the Colonial forces. "In the last decade of the 18th century, the whole families of the Garst's and Frantz's moved to Botetourt County, Virginia. John Nicholas I died in that County in Virginia in the autumn of 1803. "In the year 1814 three of the Garst sisters, with their husbands, left the fertile valley of Virginia and came to what is now Clark County, Ohio, each purchasing a farm in the wilderness some few miles west of Springfield, Ohio. Christian and Mary, Anna and Daniel, and Marie Elizabeth and David made the journey to Ohio, while Catherine and Peter chose to remain in Virginia. "Mary and Christian Frantz were the parents of two sons and seven daughters. Jacob, the eldest son, married Sarah Ebersole; Christian, Jr. was married to Catherine Trout; Elizabeth married Jacob Olinger, Catherine married George Grisso. This Grisso family arrived in this community some two or three years before the arrival of her parents. Anna married John Lesh. Esther never married but the other three daughters married and moved with their husbands to Preble County, Ohio. "Anna and Daniel were the parents of twelve children. Only seven lived to adulthood and were married to the sons and daughters of their Christian neighbors. Anna, the eldest daughter, became the wife of Peter Heck, who later served many years asdeacon and minister in the Church. Catherine Frantz was married to Benjamin Ream. Benjamin Frantz married Elizabeth Flory. Susannah was married to Henry Neher. John Frantz married Anna M. Ohmert. John was elected deacon in 1827, the first deacon to be elected by the local church. Six years later he was chosen as a minister, later ordained to the eldership in 1847, and following the death of Elder Jacob Ebersole, became the presiding elder until 1877. John was a circuit rider preacher indeed, traveling through Ohio, Indiana and still farther west. He preached in German only and when English became the most common language among the churches, he asked to be released of the oversight of the local church. Daniel Frantz was married to Sophia Ohmert, a sister of brother John's wife. Christina, the youngest of her children, was married to Adam Ohmert, a brother of her brothers John's and Daniel's wives (the original Garst Book gives two different dates, 8 May and 1 May, as the birthday of Anna Garst [see pages 25 and 31]).

"Mary Elizabeth and David Frantz were the parents of eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. Many from this family married and moved west to Illinois and Kansas. Joseph, the youngest son, born November 30, 1813, was married to Catherine Neher and was the grandfather of Joseph Frantz, now a member of our church here and living in our midst. David died in the year 1815 and on September 24, 1816. Elizabeth was married to Leonard Houtz, who had been an executor of her father's estate in Virginia. They settled in the bounds of the Logan Church, now known to us as the Stony Creek Church. One son, George and a daughter, Magdalene (who died before 1831) was born to this union. "Catherine Garst, the eldest daughter of Nicholas Garst, who had married Peter Frantz, an older brother of Christian, Daniel and David, had accompanied the Frantz and Garst clans to Virginia but elected to remain there when his brothers decided to move to Ohio. Catherine was the mother of eight children, one son Nicholas and seven daughters. Nicholas, the son, came to Ohio soon after his marriage to Christina Crist. He was elected to the ministry before coming to Donnels Creek and served the church in that capacity while here. Later, he moved to Indiana and lived within the bounds of the Eel River Church near North Manchester. Here he was advanced to the eldership and served as the presiding elder for many years."

For those family members interested in additional research of the Frantz name, there are two books that will provide additional information concerning the this family. The books, "The Genealogy of the Matthias Frantz Family of Berks County, Pennsylvania" and "Lest We Forget and Tales of Yester-Years" can be obtained from the Fellowship of Brethern Genealogists, 1451 Dunde Ave., Elgin, IL 60120.

The original Garst book is not specific as to where all the marriages of John Nicholas's children took place. It does state on page 29 that Mary and Christian married "shortly after" moving to Botetourt Co., Virginia (a search of the existing records for that county failed to turn up any record of this marriage). It's possible the record should have read "shortly before" moving to Virginia.

Also, records obtained from other Garst family researchers indicate Daniel Frantz and Anna Garst lived in Lancaster Co., PA; moved to Botetourt Co., VA between 1784 and 1788; moved to Clark Co., OH on 17 May 1816; that they were the parents of fifteen children; and they are both buried in the Frantz cemetery near Springfield, OH. This is contradicted by the original Garst book which specifies that Anna is buried at Brooks Grove Cemetery near Stanford, IL. Since there doesn't appear to be any dispute as to her place of death (Clark Co., OH), it would seem unlikely that her body would be transported (particularly in 1821) across the state of Indiana to the middle of Illinois (McLean Co.,) for burial. This is not to imply that it was impossible, only that this compiler believes that Anna is most likely buried in Ohio

The Will of John Nicholas Garst reads: "I, John Nicholas Garst, of the County of Boutetourt, being old and infirm and knowing the certainty of death and considering my duty to my wife and children, do constitute the following to be my will and testament. "First, I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife, Mary Garst, One Hundred Pounds in silver or gold; further I give and bequeath unto the said Mary Fifty Pounds gold or silver out of the bonds that Abraham Garst is to pay (to wit; five pounds yearly until she has received the sum of Fifty Pounds). "Further, I give and bequeath unto the said Mary the house wherein I now live, the stove therein, two beds, two chests and all the linens, the kitchen dresser, the furniture therein, the pans and cooking utensils; to wit: ladels, flesh forks, ten buckets of wood in buckets and pails, one churn, one beer cask, one vinegar cask, one whiskey cask, one coffee pot, one stone jug with honey, one molasses jug, one quart jug, one vinegar jug, one quart mug...two bottles and one pint bottle, one half-pint bottle, one copper kettle, one small copper kettle, one frying pan, the crocks, one wooden bowl, three bread baskets, one scraper, one roller, one table with knives and forks, the arm chair and the other chairs, one spinning wheel, one cotton wheel, one pair cotton cards, the spinning truck, three bags, one Bible, one Testament, one new Hymn Book and book entitled "The Flowery Garden", one Psalter, one bushel basket, a half-bushel basket, a peck basket, one bread pan, one pair smallbellows, one fire shovel, one pot rack, one lamp, one candle stick, one pair snuffers; further, salt fat or lard meal, all that is now in our possession, and potatoes, all that are here, flax seed, two cows and fodder. After my death my son Abraham shall feed one of said cows and pasture her likewise as he shall his own....one spice box with the spice therein, one wooden sugar box with the sugar therein, one tapping tub, one small tub, two heckles with the screws; "Further, what is then remaining of my property shall be valued and divided in peace, as my son John Nicholas Garst lives a considerable distance from me and it is my will that there shall be no vendue. "Further, I appoint Messrs. Leonard Houtz and John Myer (Myers) to be executors to this my last will and testament, and lastly, my children shall heir equally one as much as the other."

Oct. 20, 1801
John Nicholas Garst
Recorded Botetourt Oct. Court 1803

Kegley's Virginia Frontier, pages 545, 548 and 550 provides some details in land tenure on Carvins Creek and Glade Creek and about the Great Lick in early Botetourt County. It reads: 1785. Grant, 70 acres on Carvins Creek, joining Jacob Garst, Christian Harshbarger and Peter Frantz. 1789. Nicholas Garst, 33 acres by deed from Wm. McClenachan, other part of 150 1796. August 24, 1796, Jacob Garst and Daniel Dilman - Grant 230 acres on both sides Carvin's Creek. Pat. Bk. 36,523 1793. Jacob Garst - Survey, 230 acres on Carvin's Creek."

(Notes by Joe Garst)

WHO WAS MARIE STATTHALTER?

For decades, the mother of four Garst sisters who married four Frantz brothers, four Garst brothers (three of whom fought in the Revolutionary War), and a fifth sister who married a Peffley, was thought to be Marie Elizabeth STATTHALTER. In this report I show that she was not their mother, and that her name was perpetuated by a series of errors appearing in Frantz and Peffley genealogies, with the original error appearing in a 1923 application to the national society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (the DAR).

Let me say first that William Tell Garst, author of OUR GARST FAMILY IN AMERICA, 1950, never used the Statthalter name in his book. He did use a given name, Mary Elizabeth, but never a surname. He was also the first to publish the fact that the father of the Garst sisters and brothers mentioned above was John Nicholas Garst. See pages 162-164 of his book for a transcription of Botetourt County, VA, Will Book B, Pages 178-179.

From the Garst book we turn to the source of the traditional Frantz family history, which was the Dore M. Frantz manuscript, unpublished, but excerpted in Lorraine Frantz Edwards' FRANTZ FAMILIES -- KITH & KIN, Three Volumes, 1996. On pp. 315-317 of her Vol. 1, Lorraine quotes from the Dore M. Frantz manuscript to the effect that the Garst children who married the Frantz children were the children of Dewalt Garst and Marie Statthalter. Lorraine also quotes Dore M. Frantz (who died in 1948) as saying that he got the Dewalt Garst and Marie Statthalter names from the 1938 book, THE PEFFLEY FAMILY IN AMERICA, by Mae M. Frost and Earl C. Frost. (In fairness to Lorraine, she was careful to disassociate herself from the pre-1948 views of Dore M. Frantz regarding the history of the Garst family. She certainly questioned the validity of the name Statthalter).

Turning now to the 1938 Peffley book and the research that went into it, we learn how the Frosts got the names of Dewalt and Marie Statthalter Garst. The Frosts were trying to find out the names of the parents and siblings of Magdalena Garst (b. 1763) who married David Peffley. Magdalena Garst was the sister of the four Garst sisters who married the four Frantz brothers. David Peffley and three of his four Garst brothers-in-law (Frederick "Indian," John Nicholas Jr., and Jacob) had served in the Revolutionary War. It was through DAR records that the Frosts determined that the parents of Abraham Garst (who was too young to have served in the war) and his brothers and his sisters (one of whom married David Peffley) had to be Dewalt Garst and Marie Statthalter, because some of the names of the Garst siblings appeared in the documentation of a 1923 DAR application. The applicationnamed Abraham Garst, Frederick Garst, and Jacob Garst as sons of Dewalt Garst and Marie Statthalter.

In a letter written by May Miller Frost to her cousins, dated December 9, 1936, she says, and I quote:

"It would seem from the fact that the descendants of Abraham Garst (brother of "Indian") proved their line through a DeWalt Garst, it must be the one that arrived in 1750 on the Ship Patience, and he would therefore have to be the father of "Indian" and Magdalene. Otherwise, they have proved their Revolutionary connection through the wrong person. Since the DAR requires documentary evidence of all ancestors, I do not see how they could make such an error. If there is conclusive evidence that Abraham is the son of DeWalt, and the brother of "Indian," no other conclusion can be reached."

The fact is, The DAR did make an error. They accepted “documentation” that was false. All nine of the Garst siblings (the four sons, Frederick “Indian,” John Nicholas Jr., Jacob, and Abraham, the four daughters who married Frantzes, and the daughter, Magdalena, who married David Peffley) are listed and named as children in the will and estate papers of John Nicholas Garst, as documented in the estate settlement returned at the March Court of 1808, Botetourt County, Virginia, and recorded in Will Book B, pages 178-179. This settlement was the source for the 1950 Garst book. Unfortunately, the Frosts had not seen these court records, relying mistakenly, as it turns out, on DAR documents.

This writer has copies of five applications for DAR membership, each naming Dewalt Garst as father of sons who were actually sons of John Nicholas Garst. Each application also named Marie Statthalter as the mother. As stated above, the 1923 application is through son Abraham, naming Frederick and Jacob as his brothers. The next four applications (in the years 1934, 1937, 1943, and 1954) were through son Frederick, naming Jacob and Abraham as brothers. All five applications named Dewalt Garst as the father. All five applications named Marie Statthalter as the mother. All five applications were approved for DAR membership.

The effect of all this misinformation passed down from one generation to the next has been to perpetuate the name Marie Statthalter as the ancestral mother of thousands of Garst-Frantz-Peffley descendants. Because she was thought to be the mother of the nine Garst children, her name became attached to the real father, John Nicholas Garst, after his identity was established. Since the DAR made an error about the father, wrongfully accepting the name Dewalt Garst, it is even more likely that it made an error about the mother by accepting the name Marie Statthalter.

Why more likely? Whereas there really was a Dewalt Garst who was a younger brother of John Nicholas Garst, no record has been found for the existence of a Marie Statthalter or of a Statthalter family. Indeed, the German word “statthalter” literally means “placeholder,” which is a term used frequently in genealogy to indicate “unknown.” The DAR applicants did not know the name of the Garst siblings’ mother. They didn’t even have the father’s correct name.

The name “Marie Statthalter” is a fiction created from the German word statthalter, which was a placeholder term used by a 1923 DAR applicant (name withheld) for the unknown surname of the mother of the Garst brothers. The DAR examiners unwittingly accepted this name as truth. Unfortunately, many Garst, Frantz, and Peffley researchers bought into this fiction without ever checking its source.

Dwayne Wrightsman Lee, NH

NAMES OF THE GARST SISTERS WHO MARRIED THE FRANTZ BROTHERS:

John Nicholas Garst, father of four daughters who married four Frantz brothers, left no record naming his daughters. There were no baptismal records or marriage records. They were not named in his will or other estate records. His executors, John Meyer/Moyers and Leonard Houtz, did name their husbands, however, in the final settlement of John Nicholas Garst's estate.

It is through the Frantz husbands that we learn the names of the Garst daughters. Three of the four Frantz husbands--Christian, Daniel, and Peter--left a number of deeds of sale of land that named their wives, Mary, Anna, and Catherine, respectively. Daniel also named his wife Anna in his personal records of his family. The fourth Frantz husband, David Frantz, died before his Garst wife. Her name, Elizabeth, is found in his will of 1814, probated 1815. Elizabeth is also known by the Botetourt County record of her second marriage to Leonard Houtz, one of the administrators of her father's estate.

A very common mistake among Garst researchers is to confuse Elizabeth Garst, daughter of John Nicholas Garst, with her first cousin, Marie Elizabeth Garst, daughter of Dewald Garst II (brother of John Nicholas). Marie Elizabeth was baptized as a baby on May 29, 1768, at Tabor First Reformed Church in Lebanon County, PA. Her name and birth is mistakenly given in the 1950 "Our Garst Family in America" book, page 25, as being the Elizabeth of John Nicholas Garst, which she was not.

To sum up, the names of the Garst daughters who married Frantzes are as follows:

Mary Garst married Christian Frantz Anna Garst married Daniel Frantz Elizabeth Garst married David Frantz (and, after he died, Leonard Houtz) Catherine Garst married Peter Frantz

In my opinion, these names and marriages are in birth order for both the wives and their husbands.

Dwayne Wrightsman Lee, NH

CHILDREN OF JOHN NICHOLAS GARST

John Nicholas Garst, the first Brethren Garst, had nine children who survived him. John Nicholas Garst died in Botetourt County, VA, in 1803. The Administration of the Estate, Will Book "B," pp. 178-179, dated 5 March 1808, lists his four sons and the husbands of his five daughters seemingly in birth order by sex:

Sons: (1) Frederick Garst (husband of Magdalena Rough/Rauch) (2) Nicholas Garst (husband of Elizabeth) (3) Jacob Garst (husband of Christina) (4) Abraham Garst (husband of Mary Zehring)

Daughters of the Husbands named in the Estate: (1) Mary Garst, wife of Christian Frantz (2) Magdalena Garst, wife of David Peffley (3) Anna Garst, wife of Daniel Frantz (4) Elizabeth Garst, wife of David Frantz (5) Catherine Garst, wife of Peter Frantz

The four Frantz husbands of four of the Garst sisters were siblings, children of Michael Frantz who was a long-time neighbor of John Nicholas Garst on Little Swatara Creek in Bethel Township, Lancaster County, PA. Both the Garst and the Frantz families moved to Botetourt County, VA, in the early 1790s.

Now, if we look at the birth order of the Garst children on page 25 in "Our Garst Family in American," 1950, by William Tell Garst, we detect some problems with the birth order reported in the Botetourt Court records above.

According to "Our Garst Family," page 25, the children were: (1) Frederick Garst, b. 1752 (2) John Nicholas Garst, Jr., b. 1755 (3) Catherine Garst (4) Mary Garst, b. c1761 (5) Magdalena Garst, b. Jan. 11, 1763 (6) Anna Garst, b. May 1, 1764 (7) Jacob Garst, b. Jan 14, 1766 (8) Elizabeth Garst, B. May 29, 1768 (9) Abraham Garst, b. Mar. 4, 1770

The most obvious discrepancy between the Botetourt Court document and the William Tell Garst book is the placement of Catherine Garst. In the court document, she is the youngest daughter, while in the Garst book she is the oldest daughter. In actual fact she was probably the youngest daughter. Her husband Peter Frantz lived a long life. He was born after 1770 according to both the 1840 and 1850 Roanoke County Census Records.

The second most obvious discrepancy to Garst researchers is the birth date of Elizabeth Garst, notably May 29, 1768. This birth date originated from the baptism date of Elizabeth Garst, daughter of Dewalt Garst and wife (Maria Barbara), which wasperformed at the Tabor First Reformed Church in (now) Lebanon County, PA. Dewalt Garst was a younger brother of John Nicholas Garst. The children of Dewalt and the children of Nicholas had basically the same names and were often confused for eachother. The Reformed Church records are very clear about the fatherhood of the Elizabeth Garst who was baptized on May 29, 1768. She was daughter of Dewalt, not of Nicholas. So, even though Nicholas had his own Elizabeth, she got stuck with a birthday from her cousin's day of baptism. To make matters worse, Nicholas Garst was the first Anabaptist of the Garst family, and his children were not baptized at birth. So, we need to totally disregard the May 29, 1768, date for Nicholas Garst'sdaughter Elizabeth.

Now it is possible to arrange a birth order, independent of sex, for the Garst children:

(1) Frederick Garst (husband of Magdalena Rough/Rauch) (2) Nicholas Garst (husband of Elizabeth) (3) Mary Garst (wife of Christian Frantz) (4) Magdalena Garst (wife of David Peffley) (5) Anna Garst (wife of Daniel Frantz) (6) Jacob Garst (husband of Christina) (7) Elizabeth Garst (husband of David Frantz) (8) Abraham Garst (husband of Mary Zehring) (9) Catherine Garst (husband of Peter Frantz), who was probably born much later than previously thought, given that the Botetourt Court record was probably in birth order, and that census records reported Peter Frantz’s birth as after 1770.

This birth order is the same as the Garst book except Catherine moves from third oldest child to the youngest child. Also, the birth years in the Garst book are suspect since the book used a birth year for Elizabeth Garst that really belonged to her cousin.

Dwayne Wrightsman Lee, NH

THE FIRST BRETHREN GARST

The first Brethren Garst was John Nickel (Nicholas) Gerst (born 1727 in Sembach, Pfalz), son of Theobald Gerst. John Nicholas was baptized in 1727 in the Reformed Church in Sembach, but he converted to the German Baptist Brethren faith sometime after immigrating to America, in 1749, and settling in Bethel, Lancaster, PA, shortly thereafter. His father (Theobald) and his siblings (Dewalt, Engelina, Magdalena, Catharina, Margaretha, and Elizabeth) immigrated the following year, in 1750, also settling in Bethel, but they kept their ties to the Reformed Church. We know this from baptismal records of various Reformed Churches (Swatara, Kimmerling's, and Tabor) located in and around Bethel Township in the 1700s. John Nicholas is the only Gerst/Garst whose name is conspicuously absent from these church records.

Exactly when John Nicholas Garst became Brethren is not known, but he may have converted fairly soon after arriving in this country. His oldest son Frederick is reported to have been born in 1752, and his youngest son Abraham, in 1770. Seven other children were born of John Nicholas Garst, yet not a single one of the nine is recorded as having been baptized at birth, nor baptized in a Reformed Church.

Nicholas Gerst and wife were listed, in 1770, as belonging to the Little Swatara Congregation of German Baptist Brethren, so we know that he was a member by that date at the latest. The Little Swatara Congregation was organized as a church, in 1757, by Michael Frantz and others. Michael Frantz and John Nicholas Garst had been close neighbors in Bethel since the beginning of Garst's arrival. The Frantz and Garst farms were both on Little Swatara Creek with only two other farms separating them. Other than Frantz and Garst, the only other known Brethren living in Bethel, Lancaster, in 1770, was Jacob Meyer.

One theory of why John Nicholas Garst became Brethren is that he may have married Michael Frantz's sister Elizabeth Frantz (b. c1729). Some of the entries in the Ancestral and the IGI files of the LDS name a Mary Elizabeth Frantz as wife of Johann Nicolaus Gerst. There is no documentation, however, that John Nicholas Garst married Elizabeth Frantz, sister of Michael Frantz. Whether or not there was such a marriage, Michael Frantz must have had an influence on John Nicholas Garst’s joining the Brethren. Michael Frantz was an old and close neighbor, an important Brethren leader, and four of his sons married four of John Nicholas Garst’s daughters.

Dwayne Wrightsman Lee, NH

The Legend of Magdalena Zug By Dwayne Wrightsman

Introduction: This article explains that the Michael Frantz who was father of the four brothers who married four daughters of John Nicholas Garst was not the Michael Frantz that appears in the "Our Garst Family in America" book written by William Tell Garst in 1950. Generations of the Frantz and Garst families have designated the wrong Michael Frantz as father of the sons who married the Garst sisters. Central to the story is Magdalena Zug, cosidered by most Frantz/Garst descendants to have been the mother of the four Frantz brothers who married Garsts. The following is from the author's article that appeared in "Mennonite Family History," July 2003, pp. 105-110.

Magdalena Zug is legendary because she is thought to be the ancestral mother of almost all Frantz descendants of the Brethren faith living in the middle west and the west. This article explores the legend, attempting to sort out fact from fiction. As the reader will discover, part of the legend can be disproved, and part of the legend cannot be disproved (but neither can it be proved). The result is that Magdalena Zug’s role in the history of the Brethren Frantz family turns out to be more enigmatic than ever.

According to Zug family historian, Harry D. Zook, author of Zook, Zuck, Zouck, Zug Genealogy, 1983, Magdalena Zug was a daughter of Ulrich Zug and Barbara Bachman. It is not known when or where she was born. Ulrich Zug and three family members arrived in Philadelphia on the Ship James Goodwill on September 27, 1727. Assuming that one of the family members was Ulrich’s wife Barbara, the other two were probably their children. After their arrival in Pennsylvania, they had six more children. The names of the eight children are known, but not their dates of birth. One can only speculate as to which two were born in Europe and which six were born in the New World. Magdalena Zug is listed in the Zook book and elsewhere as the third child, suggesting that she might have been the first to be born in the New World, but this is just speculation.

The eight children of Ulrich Zug and wife Barbara Bachman are listed in the Zook book in an order “suggested by events in their lifetimes” as follows:

(1) Peter Zug (2) Henry Zug (3) Magdalena Zug (4) Michael Zug (5) Johannes Zug (6) Jacob Zug (7) Christian Zug (8) Christina Zug

This order is the same as that in Richard Warren Davis, Emigrants, Refugees, and Prisoners, Vol. II, 1997, pp. 429-432, where the Swiss Mennonite roots of the Ulrich Zug family are traced back four generations to an Ulrich Zaugg, b. c1580, of the parish of Signau. The Ulrich Zug family that immigrated to Pennsylvania was believed to have been Mennonite. In the Zook book, Ulrich’s ancestral family is described as Swiss Brethren, a term in the literature that seems to be nearly synonymouswith Mennonite.

In 1741, the family started to join the Conestoga Congregation of German Baptist Brethren. This congregation was divided into two communities, one being the Cocalico community in old Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, and the other being the White Oak community in old Warwick Township, Lancaster County. The Zugs lived in that part of Old Warwick Township that is now Penn Township, so they affiliated with the White Oak Brethren community.

Barbara Bachman Zug was baptized in 1741, and her husband Ulrich in 1742. Interestingly, Ulrich Zug’s name appears in the list of Conestoga Congregation baptisms published in Martin Grove Brumbaugh’s, A History of the Brethren, in 1899, as George Hog (with an umlaut). In an old unpublished and undated memorandum of Christian Bomberger, which also lists the baptisms, the name appears as George Zug. Both Brumbaugh’s and Bomberger’s lists were transcribed from German script into English. One wonders about the name George. Did Ulrich’s name become George in the transcriptions, or did Ulrich also go by the name of George?

The order of Ulrich Zug’s children listed above from the Zook book corresponds fairly well with the baptism dates for the six Zug children who joined the Conestoga Brethren. As listed in Brumbaugh, pp. 307-317, the six were baptized as adults on the following dates:

(1) Peter Zug, 1747 (2) Magdalen Zug, June 12, 1748 (3) Hannes Zug, August 6, 1749 (4) Michael Zug, June 28, 1752 (5) Jacob Zug, 1763 (6) Christian Zug, 1769

As for the other two children, there is no record of Henry having been baptized into the Conestoga Congregation. Nonetheless, from all accounts, he was probably Brethren. Christina, probably the youngest sibling, married John Musselman, a Mennonite, when she was only 14 years old. She seems to have remained Mennonite.

The Zugs, typical of the Swiss-German Anabaptists, were farmers. The family settled, on or before July 20, 1743, on 345 acres in Warwick Township, Lancaster County. The family was active in the White Oak community of the Conestoga congregation.Sons John, Christian, and Jacob were still active at White Oak in 1770, when the preacher-historian Morgan Edwards listed the members of the White Oak community. By that time, both parents had died, Ulrich in early1748, and wife Barbara about 1759. Ulrich was buried on his farm in a cemetery located about one mile north of Penryn, Pennsylvania.

Magdalena Zug: The Legend

The story of Magdalena Zug was pieced together by the eminent Frantz family historian, Dore M. Franz (1880-1948), in an unpublished manuscript that eventually became the basis for the three-volume work of Lorraine Frantz Edwards, Frantz Families – Kith & Kin, 1996. The Edwards volumes include scores of quotations from the Dore M. Frantz manuscript, many of them extensive. It is from the Edwards volumes that one can discern the legend of Magdalena Zug as told by Dore M. Frantz.

The legend begins with Magdalena Zug’s alleged marriage to Michael Frantz II, son of Michael Frantz I. Father and son had immigrated to Pennsylvania, arriving on the Ship Molly on September 30, 1727, three days after the Zugs arrival. Tradition has it that they settled in Lancaster County, on the Cocalico Creek near where Middle Creek and Hammer Creek join it. Michael Frantz I was the first elder of the Conestoga Congregation of German Baptist Brethren, serving in that capacity from about 1734-1735 to his death in 1747-1748. While he was elder, nearly 200 members were added to his congregation.

Magdalena Zug was baptized into the Conestoga congregation on June 12, 1748. Earlier, on April 24, 1748, Michael Frantz was baptized into the same congregation. This Michael Frantz was presumed by Dore M. Frantz (and by Martin G. Brumbaugh) to be Michael Frantz II, son of elder Michael Frantz I. Magdalena and Michael II were also presumed by Dore M. Frantz (but not by Martin G. Brumbaugh) to have married in 1748, during the final days in the life of Michael Frantz I.

Quoting [brackets my own throughout] from the Dore M. Frantz manuscript as compiled by Lorraine Frantz Edwards, Vol. I, p. 44:

“…..it is very probable that the father [Michael Frantz I] prevailed on him [Michael Frantz II] and also on Magdalena Zug, to become members, be baptized and married before he died. Records of the church at Conestoga state that he [Michael Frantz II] was baptized April 24, 1748, and Magdalena June 12, 1748. I [Dore M. Frantz] think it is very likely they were married not long after this.”

The next event in the story is that Michael and Magdalena bought a farm, in 1759, in Cocalico Township, Lancaster County. This farm consisted of two tracts, one being 154 acres and the other 40 acres, and was located in what is now East Cocalico Township, near Reamstown. It is described fully by an Indenture dated August 29, 1759, and a final Patent dated March 19, 1762, Patent Book AA, Vol. 3, page 129. (A photo-copy of the original is in the possession of this writer.) The farm was situated in the Cocalico community of Brethren which was part of the Conestoga Congregation. Continuing the quote above:

“Just what he [Michael Frantz II] did between 1748 and 1759, the year he obtained title to his farm in Cocalico Township, is likewise lost to us, but no doubt he was either a tenant farmer or a farm hand. There is no reason to believe that he ever worked at any other kind of work. There seems to be no doubt that all his children grew to maturity on this farm. The ones who went to Virginia with him, Christian, Peter, Daniel and David, were no doubt born there [on the Cocalico farm], forthey were all born after 1759. And as there are eleven years between 1748 and 1759 I [Dore M. Frantz] think the others, John, Jacob, Michael and Abraham and perhaps the daughter were born elsewhere and prior to 1759.”

Michael and Magdalena Zug Frantz were thought by Dore M. Frantz to have parented nine children as there are numerous references throughout the manuscript to “eight sons and one daughter.” An annotated list of the nine children is given in a letter of January 14, 1941, from Dore M. Frantz to LaVern Houtz, which is reproduced in Lorraine Frantz Edwards, Vol. I, pp. 370-374. The following is Dore M. Frantz’s 1941 perception of the nine children of Magdalena Zug and Michael Frantz:

(1) John Frantz, 1749-1821, married Elizabeth Hostetter, lived and died in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. (2) Jacob Frantz, 1755-1799, married Barbara Hostetter, sister of John’s wife, lived and died in Lancaster County. (3) Christian Frantz, 1761-1850, married Mary Garst, moved to Botetourt County, Virginia, from there to Clark County, Ohio. (4) Daniel Frantz, 1763-1843, married first Anna Garst, married second Magdalena Garver Minnick, moved to Botetourt County, Virginia, from there to Clark County, Ohio. (5) Michael Frantz, data scant, supposed to have moved to Botetourt County, Virginia, and lived and died there. (6) Abraham Frantz, data scant. (7) Peter Frantz, 17??-1853, married first unknown, married second Sarah Pleasant, moved to Botetourt County, Virginia, and lived and died there. (8) David Frantz, 17??-1815, married Elizabeth Garst, daughter of Dewalt Garst, moved to Botetourt County, Virginia, where he lived and died. (9) A daughter, no data.

As per the above, David Frantz is said to have married Elizabeth Garst, daughter of Dewalt Garst. In the 1941 letter, he does not mention the father(s) of the other Garsts who married Christian Frantz, Daniel Frantz, and the Frantz daughter. However, on pages 315-317 of Edwards, Vol. I, he speculates that the wives of Christian and Daniel, brothers of David, may also have been daughters of this Dewalt.

The confusion about the Garst marriages of the children of Michael and Magdalena Zug Frantz continued throughout the 1940s. The publication of William Tell Garst, Out Garst Family in American, 1950, brought the confusion to an end. The Garst book established that the Garsts who married Frantzes were children of John Nicholas Garst, not Dewalt Garst. Moreover, it declared that Peter Frantz’s first wife was Catherine Garst, sister to the ones listed above who married Christian, Daniel, and David.

On pages 162-164 of the 1950 Garst book is a transcription of the will and estate settlement for John Nicholas Garst, from the March Court of 1808, Botetourt County, Virginia, recorded in Will Book B, pages 42 and 178. Listed in the settlement ofthe estate are payments of 30 pounds to each of the following:

(1) Frederick Gharst (2) Nicholas Gharst (3) Jacob Gharst (4) Abraham Gharst (5) Christian Frantz [husband of Mary Garst] (6) David Peffley [husband of Magdalena Garst] (7) Daniel Frantz [husband of Anna Garst] (8) David Frantz [husband of Elizabeth Garst] (9) Peter Frantz [husband of Catherine Garst]

Returning now to Dore M. Frantz’s list of the eight sons and one daughter of Michael and Magdalena Zug Frantz, the preponderance of evidence presented in Lorraine Frantz Edwards, Vol. I, pp. 49-51 and 54-56, is that John and Jacob Frantz, who married the Hostetter sisters, were probably not brothers of the four brothers who married the four Garst sisters. Edwards, herself, questioned whether John and Jacob were sons of Michael and Magdalena. By most accounts they were Mennonites, possibly descending from Hans Frantz, who immigrated with his neighbor Jacob Hostetter in 1717. Also, there is no evidence that there was a Frantz brother named Abraham.

On the other hand, there was a Michael Frantz Jr. (c1753-1817) who was probably a brother of Christian, Daniel, David, and Peter Frantz. This Michael Frantz Jr. was revealed by James Arthur Shanks in researching his book The Shanks Family from Pequea Creek, 1985. Shanks found that Michael Frantz Jr. had moved to Botetourt, Virginia, with his brothers, settling next to his brother Daniel, with whom he had land dealings.

It is also believed by many Frantz and Garst researchers that the daughter (given name unknown) of Michael and Magdalena Zug Frantz was the first wife of Jacob Garst, son of John Nicholas Garst. She too is thought to have moved to Botetourt, Virginia, with her husband and five brothers. Her name may have been Christianna, Christiana, Christina, or Christine, as this name appeared on six early Botetourt County deeds involving sales of land by Jacob Garst. There is no compelling evidence, however, that Jacob Garst’s first wife was a Frantz. The Frantz daughter could have been married to some other Garst.

In summary, there were six Frantz siblings--Michael Jr., Christian, Daniel, David, Peter, and possibly a daughter--who moved from Pennsylvania to Virginia. Four of the brothers were married to daughters of John Nicholas Garst. Michael Frantz Jr., who did not marry a Garst, was married to an Elizabeth, surname unknown, although some have speculated that she was a Sollenberger. Michael Frantz (the father) is thought to have accompanied his children to Virginia. It is not known whether Magdalena Zug (the mother) was still alive at the time of the move. Dore M. Frantz thought not, writing in his manuscript: “It is doubtful if she lived to move to Virginia with Michael and family.”

NOTE: CONTINUED IN THE NEXT NOTE BELOW IS THE SECOND HALF OF THIS ARTICLE

CONTINUED: The Legend of Magdalena Zug By Dwayne Wrightsman

The Legend in the Face of Geographical Reality

The idea that five siblings from one family could marry five siblings from another family requires that the two families would have had very close ties in terms of who they were, where they lived, and how they lived. According to Dore M. Frantz, the Frantz brothers lived on their parents’ farm in Cocalico Township from birth to marriage. In his words:

“….it seems quite certain all four sons who went to Virginia were married before going there as none of their marriages are recorded at Fincastle [where the Botetourt County Courthouse is located] and Christian was born in 1761; Daniel in 1763;Peter in 1767 and family tradition has it that David was 40 or 45 years of age when he died in 1815 and not over 50….”

This writer would have to agree that the Frantz-Garst marriages were prior to the move to Virginia as there are no records of the Frantzes or the Garsts buying property and paying taxes in Virginia until the 1790s. Nor are there any other records indicating their presence in Virginia prior to 1790. Moreover, children were born of these marriages during the 1780s, as described in Volumes II and III of Lorraine Frantz Edwards. According to Edwards: Christian Frantz and Mary Garst were marriedin 1783 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania; and Daniel Frantz and Anna Garst were married in 1784 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

From yet another source, Rolland F. Flory’s Lest We Forget and Tales of Yester-Years, 1973, p. 173, comes agreement that the marriages took place in Pennsylvania prior to the move to Virginia:

“Four Frantz brothers married four Garst sisters. Catherine Garst was married to Peter Frantz; Mary Garst was married to Christian Frantz; Anna Garst was married to Daniel Frantz, while the youngest sister, Marie Elizabeth, was married to David Frantz. These four couples were married in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and lived in that vicinity until the early 1790’s.”

Although Dore M. Frantz knew about the Michael Frantz farm in East Cocalico Township, he was not familiar with the Garsts or where they lived. Dore M. Frantz died in 1948, two years before the appearance of the Garst book, which described the farmof John Nicholas Garst. The Garst farm was 174 acres on both sides of Little Swatara Creek in Bethel Township, Lancaster County. A complete description of the Garst farm is recorded in Patent Book AA, Vol. 5, page 505. (A transcription of this patent is given on pages 25-26 of the Garst book, and a photo-copy of the original is in the possession of this writer.)

Until recently, no one questioned the logistics of how five Garst siblings who lived in Bethel Township in northern Lancaster County could possibly meet and marry five Frantz siblings who lived in East Cocalico Township in eastern Lancaster County.The two townships (now in separate counties) are about twenty miles apart as the crow flies, and about forty to forty-five minutes apart when driven by car on today’s highways. If one looks at a Pennsylvania highway map, one can roughly locatethe Nicholas Garst farm at Exit 1 of Interstate 78 at Fredericksburg, north of Lebanon, and the Michael Frantz farm at the Reamstown Exit on U.S. Highway 222, midway between Lancaster and Reading. Even a cursory examination of the map would suggest that these families were not “neighbors” by any stretch of the imagination.

What Dore M. Frantz did not know was that there was a second Michael Frantz, who was both a long-time neighbor and a member of the same church as John Nicholas Garst. Upstream from the Garst farm on Little Swatara Creek, separated only by the farmof Philip Hautz, was the farm of this Michael Frantz. He was the son of Christian Frantz I and brother of Christian Frantz II and John Frantz. Since Christian Frantz I and Michael Frantz I were brothers, the Michael Frantz of Little Swatara was a first cousin to the Michael Frantz of Cocalico.

All three sons of Christian Frantz I lived on Little Swatara Creek on lands warranted to them by the Penn brothers. They settled on these lands during the 1740s. Michael Frantz received his patent from Thomas Penn (son of William Penn) for 100 acres on Little Swatara Creek on October 11, 1753, as described in Patent Book A, Vol. 16, page 453. (A photo-copy of this patent is in the possession of this writer.) His acreage was about one mile east (upstream) of the Garst farm. The acreages of his brothers John and Christian II were a few miles further upstream, over the Lancaster County line, in Berks County.

Michael Frantz and John Nicholas Garst were neighbors in Bethel Township from about 1749 until about 1790, the year that they and their married children began moving to Virginia. Their names appeared continuously on the Bethel Township tax recordsfrom 1750 to 1790. The Frantz children and the Garst children were life-long neighbors. They grew up together. They also went to church together. Michael Frantz and wife and Nicholas Garst and wife were listed, in 1770, as members of the Little Swatara Congregation of German Baptist Brethren. In 1780, Michael Frantz was ordained as elder of the congregation. (He, along with his brothers Christian II and John, had been founding members of the Little Swatara congregation, when it was officially organized in 1757).

The geographical reality of life among the Brethren of Little Swatara Creek offers the strongest proof to date that the father of the four Frantz brothers who married the four Garst sisters was the Michael Frantz of Little Swatara (son of ChristianFrantz I) and not the Michael Frantz of Cocalico, or Michael Frantz II (son of Michael Frantz I). If Magdalena Zug was the mother of the four brothers who married Garsts, she could not have been the wife of Michael Frantz II, as legend has it.

Magdalena Zug: Who Could She Have Been?

According to the legend, Magdalena Zug was both wife of Michael Frantz II (son of Michael Frantz I), and mother of the four Frantz brothers who married the four Garst sisters. Since most Brethren Frantzes descend from these Frantz-Garst marriages,the legendary Magdalena Zug was the ancestral mother for thousands of Brethren Frantz descendants. Could Magdalena Zug have been both wife of Michael Frantz II and mother of the Frantz brothers who married the Garsts? The answer is no. This legend loses credibility given the geographical evidence presented above. She might have been the wife of Michael Frantz II, or she might have been the mother of the Frantz sons who married the Garst sisters, but she could hardly have been both.

Was she then simply the wife of Michael Frantz II, who, according to Dore M. Frantz, lived in Cocalico? It is possible. On May 28, 1762, Michael Franz (sic) and Magdalena his wife sold 50 acres of their 154-acre parcel to a neighbor Ulrich Fisher.This transaction, detailed in Lancaster County Deed Book N, page 110, was just two months after the recording of the patents for 154 acres and 40 acres as described on page 106 above. Because the et ux deed only mentions the given name Magdalena, one cannot say whether or not she was a Zug. Also, one cannot say whether or not she was the first wife of this Michael Frantz.

The evidence does not rule out the possibility that the Michael Frantz who owned the Cocalico tracts, and who paid taxes in Cocalico during the 1760s, 1770s, and 1780s, was the Michael Frantz who had married Anna Maria Frantz, daughter of Balser Frantz. Balser Frantz, a brother of Michael Frantz I and Christian Frantz I, owned a farm close to the Michael Frantz farm in Cocalico. After Balser Frantz died in 1747, the widow, Anna Barbara, continued to live on her deceased husband’s farm. Some of her sons also continued to live in Cocalico, and so may have her daughter Anna Maria. According to Lancaster County Orphans Court Records for June 10, 1755, Anna Maria Frantz, daughter of Balser, deceased, was the wife of Michael Frantz. As Lancaster County land tax records indicate, there was only one Michael Frantz with land in Cocalico. This Michael Frantz could have been the Michael Frantz who was married to Anna Maria Frantz, but only if she died before 1762, with the widowerremarrying a Magdalena.

Clearly, there was at least one Michael Frantz of Cocalico during the mid-1700s. There was a Michael Frantz who was baptized in 1748, and who was allegedly the son of Conestoga elder Michael Frantz I. There was a Michael Frantz who was husband ofAnna Maria Frantz in 1755. There was a Michael Frantz who bought two tracts of 154 acres and 40 acres, in 1759, and who was husband of a Magdalena, in 1762, when part of the larger tract was sold. There was a Michael Frantz who was named, in 1770, as a member of the Cocalico Brethren community. There was a Michael Frantz who was named as executor in the wills of several members of the Cocalico Brethren. These Michael Frantzes may have been the same person, or they may have been different persons. Unfortunately, the Cocalico evidence does not lead to any conclusion about whether or not Magdalena Zug was married to Michael Frantz II.

Could Magdalena Zug have been simply the mother of the Frantz brothers who married the Garst sisters, married to the “other” Michael Frantz, the one from the Little Swatara Creek in Bethel, who was the son of Christian Frantz I? Quite possibly. The oral histories passed on from one generation of Brethren Frantzes to the next seem to include Magdalena Zug as the ancestral mother. It would be helpful to find a really old Frantz bible or two that names her as such.

The oldest known Frantz record indicating that Magdalena Zug was the mother of the Frantzes who married the Garsts comes from a letter written in 1883, by Aaron Frantz, great-grandson of Michael Frantz. The letter, outlining the descendants of Michael Frantz and Magdalena Zug, was sent to Michael Zug, a fifth-generation descendant of Ulrich Zug, who, in 1884, compiled the first comprehensive genealogy of the Ulrich Zug family. This genealogy was later circulated by Michael Zug’s grandsonWillard Z. Francis. Although the 1883 letter is the earliest known record naming Magdalena Zug as the mother of the Frantzes who married the Garsts, it is dated too late to be considered as proof. Indeed, in that letter, Aaron Frantz wrote that Magdalena Zug was married to the son of the Conestoga elder Michael Frantz, a position that this paper’s geographical evidence has refuted.

Finally, could Magdalena Zug have been neither wife of either Michael Frantz, nor mother of the Frantz brothers who married Garsts and whose descendants have populated the ranks of the Brethren Frantzes through the generations? It is possible, but(hopefully) not the case, for how else can one explain why her name remains firmly etched in Frantz family lore.

Sources: Bomberger, Christian, “Memorandum,” unpublished, undated, photocopy of a transcription from German to English in the possession of this writer.

Brumbaugh, Martin Grove, A History of the German Baptist Brethren in Europe and America, Elgin, Illinois: Brethren Publishing House, 1899.

Davis, Richard Warren, Emigrants, Refugees and Prisoners, Volumes I, II, III, copyrighted 1995, 1997, and 1999, respectively, by Richard Warren Davis, distributed by Masthof Bookstore, Morgantown, Pennsylvania.

Durnbaugh, Donald F., The Brethren in Colonial America, Elgin, Illinois: The Brethren Press, 1967.

Edwards, Lorraine Frantz, Frantz Families – Kith & Kin, Volumes I, II, III, 1996, published by Lorraine Frantz Edwards, Lancaster, California.

Edwards, Morgan, Materials Towards a History of the Baptists in Pennsylvania both British and German, Volume I, Philadelphia: Crukshank and Collins, 1770.

Flory, Rolland F., Lest We Forget and Tales of Yester-Years, Orlando, Florida: Golden Rule Press, 1973.

Frantz, E. Harold, Reuben Frantz King, and Laura Frantz Pfautz, The Genealogy of the Matthias Frantz Family of Berks County, Pennsylvania, Lebanon, Pennsylvania: Boyer Printing and Binding Co., 1972.

Garst, Betty Crawford, “The Garst Fort,” Reports on the Garst Fort and Garst Family, compiled by Betty Crawford Garst, March, 1999, easily accessible on garstfamily.com on the Internet.

Garst, William Tell, Our Garst Family in America, Kansas City: Brown-White-Lowell Press, 1950.

Patent Books, A and AA Series, 1684-1781, on microfilm, Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Land Warrantee Township Maps, Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Shanks, James Arthur, The Shanks Family from Pequea Creek, Evansville, Indiana: Whippoorwill Publications, 1985.

Strassburger, Ralph Beaver, and William John Hinke, Pennsylvania German Pioneers, Volumes I, II, III, Camden, Maine: Picton Press, 1992.

Wevodau, Edward N., Abstracts of Lancaster County, PA, Orphans Court Records, 1742-1767, Apollo, PA: Closson Press, 2001.

Wrightsman, Dwayne, “Sorting Out the Brethren Frantz Lines,” Brethren Roots, Newsletter of the Fellowship of Brethren Genealogists, Volume 34, Number 3/4, Fall/Winter 2002.

Zook, Harry D., Zook, Zuck, Zouck, Zug Genealogy, Baltimore, MD: Gateway Press, 1983.

Zug, Michael, unpublished genealogy of the Ulrich Zug family, dated July 30, 1884, including a family record for Michael Frantz and Magdalena Zug, daughter of Ulrich Zug, based on a letter received by Michael Zug, September 13, 1883, from Aaron Frantz, great-grandson of Michael Frantz, from the Willard Z. Francis Collection, Alexander Mack Library, Bridgewater College, Bridgewater, Virginia.