Genealogy Report: Five Generations of Descendents of Jacob Schwanger with extensive notes
Five Generations of Descendents of Jacob Schwanger with extensive notes
1.JACOB1 SCHWANGER(MICHAELA, NICOLAUSB, BENOITC) was born October 14, 1714 in Abreschviller, Lorraine, Germany [now France], and died Abt. 1788 in Middleton, Cumberland, PA.He married MARIA SUSANNA LEYENBERGER, daughter of PAULUS LEYENBERGER and SUSANNA WELSCHHANS.She was born June 16, 1708 in Rauweiler, Saarwerden, Germany, and died Aft. 1777 in PA.
Notes for JACOB SCHWANGER:
According to the Pennsylvania Archives (Vol. 17, pg. 261),Jacob Schwanger was the pioneer of the Schwanger family in America.According to my research, more than 90% of Schwangers, Swangers,and Swongers and about 20% of Swanners/Swaners in America today descend from this one immigrant and his wife.
Jacob was born in Abreschviller, but grew up in Helleringen, an off-road farming town that was part of the principality of Lixheim.According to records, he was baptized on 17 October 1714, three days after his birth.Although his parents were Calvinists, the Catholic Church was the only one nearby, so baptisms were all performed in the Catholic Church.Jacob's godfather was Jean Poinselot, the miller of Abreschviller, and his godmother was Clair Abba, also of Abreschviller.
His father died when Jacob was less than seven years of age and his mother remarried to Lorentz Leyenberger of Rauweiler.As a result, Jacob gained the acquaintance of Lorentz's sister, Maria Leyenberger, only six years Jacob's elder.They married in 1735.Jacob thus became his mother's brother-in-law!The record of this marriage is found at Rauweiler, which had become a separate parish from the Deidendorf parish in 1722.The Reformed Church in Rauweiler, built in the 1730's still stands in Rauweiler today.Here also are found the baptismal records of the six European born children of Jacob and Maria, all of whom immigrated with their parents in 1747.
Jacob was a linen weaver while he lived in Europe though he became a farmer, by necessity, after his immigration to Pennsylvania.He and Maria owned property in Helleringen, having purchased a house there on the 17th of March, 1738, from Jean Pierre Pierreonnet.The property is described as consisting of a house, barn and stable, comforts and dependances.It was situated on the common street, beside properties of Lorens Juillin on the one side and Jean Leyonart on the other, and abutting the garden of Jean Conrad Gouttefrind in the back.At the same time, they purchased a garden nearby.
In 1746/7, Jacob and Maria sold this property as well as pieces of land originally owned by Jacob's mother, Magdalena Vautrin.Apparently they were preparing for their journey to America.The signatures of Jacob Schwanger that appear on the documents are identical to the signature that appears on the oath of allegiance list in Philadelphia on the 10th of October, 1747.
Jacob initially settled in Strassburger, Lancaster, PA.Jacob Swanger [early generations of Schwangers usually retained the German spelling for formal occasions, like baptisms, but often Anglicized the spelling for secular purposes] was among the original taxpayers in the town of Tulpehocken at the time that Berks County was first erected in 1752.The first assessment occurred in 1754 but the tax list may have been prepared in 1752.In any case, his daughter Anna Maria, probably the first Schwanger/Swanger born in America, was christened in the Fall of 1749 in a church later in Berks County, so apparently Jacob had settled in Tulpehocken within two years after his arrival in America.
Tulpehocken lies in the southwestern part of Berks County, approximately ten miles to the northeast of the town of Lebanon, where many Swangers resided in subsequent generations and some still reside today.This territory had been opened up for settlement by the purchase of the land from the Indians near the end of the first quarter of the eighteenth century.Tulpehocken and adjacent towns were settled initially by, mainly, Germans, Friends, and welsh.Meeting-houses, schools, and mills were erected everywhere.Furnaces and forges were opened for operation.Clothing was home-made.The main route reaching Tulpehocken lead southeast to Reading and then on to Philadelphia.
By 1757, Jacob may have moved to Schafferstown, Lancaster, PA, located about 8-10 miles south of Tulpehocken, as that is the site of birth of youngest son, Abraham.However, Abraham was christened in the same church, Host Reformed KB, where his older sister was christened in 1749, so it may not have been much of a move.
A Jacob Swanger purchased property in West Pennsboro, Cumberland, PA, in 1775, and I believe it to be this Jacob, though it could conceivably be his son Jacob Jr.Jacob Swanger is recorded as a taxpayer in Middleton, Cumberland, PA during the subsequent years, through 1787.He probably died in 1788 since his property was taken in execution of his estate in that year.
More About JACOB SCHWANGER:
Census 1: 1776, Middleton, Cumberland, PA
Census 2: 1785, Middleton, Cumberland, PA
Census 3: 1787, Middleton, Cumberland, PA
Immigration: October 20, 1747, Philadelphia, Cumberland, PA
Occupation 1: Linen weaver [in Germany]
Occupation 2: Farmer [in Pennsylvania]
Residence 1: Bef. 1754, Strassburger, Lancaster, PA
Residence 2: Bef. 1775, W. Pennsboro, Cumberland, PA
Children of JACOB SCHWANGER and MARIA LEYENBERGER are:
2. | i. | PAULUS2 SCHWANGER, b. August 05, 1736, Helleringen, Lorraine, Germany; d. 1806, S. Middleton, Cumberland, PA. | |
3. | ii. | PETER SCHWANGER, b. May 29, 1740, Helleringen, Lorraine, Germany. | |
4. | iii. | MARIA MAGDALENA SCHWANGER, b. January 01, 1741/42, Helleringen, Lorraine, Germany. | |
5. | iv. | JACOB SCHWANGER, b. May 05, 1743, Helleringen, Lorraine, Germany; d. Aft. 1792. | |
6. | v. | ISAAC SCHWANGER, b. November 25, 1744, Helleringen, Lorraine, Germany. | |
vi. | CATHARINA SCHWANGER, b. October 19, 1746, Helleringen, Lorraine, Germany; m. WILLIAM JUNGST, January 05, 1769, Schaefferstown, Lebanon, PA. | ||
7. | vii. | ANNA MARIA SCHWANGER, b. October 22, 1749, Tulpehocken, Berks, PA. | |
viii. | EVA ELIZABETH SCHWANGER, b. August 26, 1751, Tulpehocken, Berks, PA. |
More About EVA ELIZABETH SCHWANGER: Baptism: November 04, 1751, Berks Co, PA |
8. | ix. | MICHAEL SCHWANGER, SR., b. Abt. 1753; d. Abt. 1812. | |
9. | x. | ABRAHAM SCHWANGER, b. February 16, 1757, Schafferstown, Lancaster, PA; d. August 10, 1838, Allegheny Co, PA. |