Johannes Martin Berntheusel

There is much to tell you about this ancestor because he is our immigrant from Klein-Neidesheim, Germany where he was born on the 19th of March in 1729. I mentioned to you readers earlier that I have a large volume about the Berntheusel/Barnhisel families who came to America from Germany. It is because of this big book, the Hysell/Hisel Group, and the many newsletters that I have read about these people that I have so much to write about here. And, of course, I have dug into many census records, church records, local histories of where Barnhisels lived and so forth. It is my hope that you will begin to gain an appreciation of the Barnhisels from what I'm able to tell you about them.

"Martin", what most folks called him, arrived in the port of Philadelphia with other members of his family on the 24th of August 1749, at the age of 20. They sailed on the British American ship, called Eliot, with Captain John Adams in charge. Martin signed his own name at the customs house, which is an indication that he was an educated young man.

By 31 Aug 1750, Martin was living and working as an apprentice, to pay for his passage to America, in Lancaster County where he signed his Naturalization Papers, at age 21. Some time before 1758, Martin apparently moved to Berks County, PA and we find him on a Tax List there, which tells us that he owned property, of course. 

At age 34 he found his bride and married. He and his wife were members of the New Bethel Church in Albany Twp. of Berks County. They had 10 children but the last two died when very young. The tax list of 1767 showed that Martin had one cattle that was taxed, in addition to taxes on his real estate. 

Martin didn't enter the Revolutionary War as a soldier but did patriotic service at age 47. We Barnhisel descendants are quite proud of the fact that George Washington paid a visit to Martin's home to thank him for his aid.

In the first federal census of 1790, Martin appears in East Cumberland County, PA. "Along Interstate 81, across the highway, is a bridge named 'Bernhiesel Road', probably named for John Martin Bernhisel who lived in this area in the late 1790s and early 1800s. Martin was the first in the family to settle in Tyrone" wrote our editor, Phil Hysell, of the Hysell/Hisel Newsletter, after witnessing the bridge on a trip through Pennsylvania in the 1990s. (Tyrone is the name of the town where Martin and his family lived. Notice all the various spellings of Berntheusel.)

In 1794, Martin and his good friend, Michael Loy, who is also our ancestor, generously gave land to the Lutherans to give them a place to build a church in Sherman Valley.

In the 1800 Federal Census, Martin is shown with his spouse and children but their county is now called Cumberland, not East Cumberland.

In 1802, Martin wrote and signed his will naming his wife and his son Samuel as his heirs, but to share his property with all his children after his wife's death. Martin died on the 29th of June in 1802 and was age 73. He was buried at the cemetery of the Lutheran church located on the  two-acre tract of land donated by Michael Loy and John Martin Bernheisel in Sherman Valley.

Johannes Martin Berntheusel
BORN: 19 May 1729 Klein-Neidesheim, Bad Kreuznach, Germany
MARRIED: abt. 1763   Albany, Berks, PA
DIED:   29 Jun 1802 Tyrone, Cumberland, PA 
SOURCES: Federal Censuses of 1790 and 1800; Tax Lists; Church Records; Will; Deeds; Hysell/Hisel Newsletters; Book: "Barnhisel/Bernhisl Lines" by Constance Boyer; Researchers, Charlene Barnhisel and Ginnie and Stephen Barnhisel