In 1689, the town of Alzey and the castle, under the French troops' scorched-earth policy, were burnt down, in the Nine Years' War, when Louis XIV's armies left numerous Rhine Valley areas conquered and ruined. Our ancestor, Johannes Wiltensinn was born one year later, near Alzey in Pfalz, Germany in 1690. Somehow the Wiltensinns eked out a living for a few years in this area but after Johannes married and started a family, he decided to seek a better life in Pennsylvania, where he had learned there was freedom of religion and beautiful land, rivers, and forests, unlike his devasted home land.
John Wiltensinn, at age 48, and his small family embarked late in 1738 from Rotterdam, Holland, on the ship Jamaica Galley, which carried a total of 320 passengers, and arrived in Philadelphia on February 7, 1739. "List 68B: Palatines imported in Ship Jamaica Galley, Robert Harrison, Commander, from Rotterdam, but last from Cowes in England. Qualified Feb 7, 1738/9" (Historians say that such voyages lasted from 7 to 12 weeks, sometimes longer.)
They went to the area of what is now Hanover, in York County, PA, but in those days was still a part of Lancaster County. Family legend says their arrival occurred during a blinding snow storm towards spring. The site they settled on was about a mile or so west of where St. Paul's (Dub's) Church now stands. (The above pictured map is marked with a red star, which is the Church location.) It was at this settlement that their first child in America was born on January 6, 1740--Georg Carl.
Johannes secured a sizable amount of acreage and enjoyed the beauty of his new country and the company of other German immigrants nearby. He was a farmer and a weaver and he and his family of three sons and one daughter attended the Lutheran services at the Wildasin's Meeting House. Members of two other denominations also held church services here, perhaps on alternating Sundays or weekdays.
(When Europeans first reached this land, it was the territory of Susquehannock Indians, a powerful tribe that controlled much of the land near the Susquehanna River. Wars and the push of settlers, most of which were German farmers, led to the demise of the Susquehannocks.)
And it was here that Johannes died, at age 64, around 1754, and later his wife, Catherina, and son, Georg Carl. All three are buried where Wildasin's Meeting House now stands. See the note below:
'Prior to 1829 there was located on a knoll along a private road or path, joining the present Hanover-Glen Rock Highway with the Black Rock Road, a private burial ground known as Wildasin's Graveyard. Since then a frame building has been erected and the area used for public school, worship and burial. The adjoining farm from which it gets its name was tenanted by Richard Bankert, a descendant of the original Wildasin family, until the existence of Codorus State Park. It was first used for a burial ground by George and Magdalena Wildasin." [George and Magdalena were probably Richard Bankert's direct ancestors.]
With all of these directions and names of places and buildings, perhaps my relatives, who live near Philadephia, would like to venture a trip to find this Meeting House and Wildasin burial ground. Give it a try, Tom and Deb...and your sons, too! Take photos for our family to see!
JOHANNES JACOB WILTENSINN
BORN: 1690 near Alzey, Pfalz, Germany
MARRIED: abt. 1729 Germany
DIED: abt. 1754 Hanover, York, PA, USA
SOURCES: Immigration/Passenger records of Philadelphia, PA;Stories from online Wildasin web pages; Wikipedia map and historical articles;
People usually called Anna "Tina", a shorter version of Christina. She was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania on the 20th day of November in 1745. She was christened at a Calvinist Church in Lancaster County.
At age 18, she married J. Martin Berntheusel in 1763 in Albany, Berks, PA. Their ten children were all born in Berks County, PA. Their names were: Susanna, Johannes, John Jacob, Samuel, Adam, Mary, Martha, Henry (our ancestor), Catharina, and Wilhelm.
On the 20th of September in 1803 Tina died at age 57. Her grave is at the Loysville Union Cemetery in Loysville, Perry County, PA.
ANNA CHRISTINA MARGARETHA CHATEAU
BORN: 20 Nov 1745 , Lancaster, PA
MARRIED: 1763 Albany, Berks, PA
DIED: 20 Sep 1803 Loysville, Perry, PA
BURIED: Sep 1803 Loysville Union Cemetery
SOURCES: : Brøderbund Family Archive #17, Ed. 1, Birth Records; date---1763, in parentheses<BR>IGI PA record states that Johann Martin Bernheisel married Anna Christina Chateau in 1763; Church records.
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
