William and Elizabeth Pannebaker were first cousins, both born around the time of the Revolution and in a place that saw much action around the Battle of Germantown. William was the son of Samuel and Hannah, and was born on September 19, 1772. He was but a young boy during the revolution, but remembered the wounded men being brought in and laid on the kitchen floor, he afterward helping to clear away the blood that flowed over the floor.”1 He grew up at Pennpacker’s Mill on the Perkiomen, where grandfather Peter had bought a house and land years before. Elizabeth was the daughter of William and Anna, born on December 25, 1777.2 Her parents’ house was apparently also used as a hospital for wounded soldiers.

They were married on April 26, 1795 at the Lutheran Church in New Hanover (Falkner Swamp Church).3 In the will of Elizabeth’s father William (written in Pikeland, Chester County in 1815) he says that he had given her a portion of £1350, presumably at the time of her marriage. William and Elizabeth were still in Perkiomen in 1800, and had two or three of their children by then.4 Between 1800 and 1810 they moved to Fermanagh Township, Juniata County, and added more children. This was a time when many others were moving up to central Pennsylvania, west to Ohio, or south to Maryland or Virginia. By then good farm land in Montgomery County was expensive.5 In Fermanagh William and Elizabeth owned a farm and a saw mill.6 The saw mill operated for almost twenty years between 1811 and 1830.7 In an 1821 census William and his two oldest sons appear: Benjamin the farmer and Moses the wheelwright.8 In 1830 William is in Fermanagh Township, with his wife and two younger women, while three of the older sons, Benjamin, Moses and Jonas, are adjoining in the census list, and another son, Samuel, was also in Fermanagh.9 William Jr. was in Tuscarora Township and Joseph was in Wayne Township, both in Mifflin County.10  As the children grew up and married, most of them stayed in Juniata County.

William prospered and paid taxes in Fermanagh township from 1842 to 1851.11 He wrote his will in the summer of 1851, when all but one of his children were still living. By the terms of the will, Elizabeth was to have all of his personal property and house, including the “mansion house” on its 164 acres until her death. After she died the house and land were to go to their youngest son Joseph in compensation for his trouble in caring for his “old parents”. Joseph was to pay Samuel, son of Samuel deceased, $600. All other property was to be sold and shared equally among the children: Benjamin, Moses, Jonas, Joseph, William, and William Rarick and his wife Hannah. William died on October 26, 1852 and the will was proved soon afterwards.12 Joseph did not live to inherit the property; he died the next year.

Elizabeth stayed in the house after William died, as he intended. She is shown in the 1860 census there, in Fermanagh township, age 83, living with another Elizabeth, age 48, a widow, and Barbara, age 14. Elizabeth was her daughter-in-law,  Joseph’s widow. Other children of Joseph lived near them in Fermanagh township: Philo, a master carpenter; Daniel, a blacksmith, with wife Mary and two children; Philip, a farmer, with wife Amanda; Daniel; Moses, a  laborer, in the family of George Hower; Mary, a domestic in the family of Henry Suloff.13 The other children of William and Elizabeth had scattered to other townships and states.

Elizabeth wrote her will in October 1863.14 She gave a special legacy to her daughter-in-law Elizabeth Pannebaker, for “her kind and faithful attention to me”.15 The residue of the estate was to be divided equally among the heirs of Joseph Pannebaker: Philip, Ann Hackenbarger, Daniel, Mary Kerlin, Joseph, Rebecca Dunn, Moses and John. She signed by mark. It is noticeable that she had other children and grandchildren living at the time, but only mentions the heirs of her son Joseph in the will. She died on July 27, 1864, and the will was proved in August. She was buried with her husband at Messiah Lutheran Cemetery in Mifflintown.16

Elizabeth’s will does not mention the house and its surrounding land. She must have sold or given it away before she wrote the will. Their land is probably shown in the Atlas of 1863 for Perry, Juniata and Mifflin Counties. In Fermanagh Township there is a symbol for “Heirs of Pennepacker” on the Lost Creek Road where it crosses Weaver Road. Currently this tract lies just a quarter of a mile north of Route 322; it still seems to be cleared farmland.17

Children of William and Elizabeth:

Benjamin F., b. Sept 26, 1795, d. Sept 2, 1876, m. 1) Catherine Neimond, 2) Elizabeth  –, lived in Beal Township, Juniata County. Children: Samuel S, Elizabeth, John William, Catherine, Juliann.18  

Moses, b. December 1798, d. 1858, m. 1) Susannah –, 2) Magdalena –, moved to Sandusky County, Ohio by 1850.

Samuel, b. 1800, d. 1845; left a son Samuel.

Jonas, b. 1801, d. 1877, m. 1) Catherine Beale, 2) Mary Catherine Switzer, had children Phebe, William, Philo, Ephraim, Enoch , Emmanuel , and Simon.

William, b. ab. 1804, d. 1877, m. 1) Hannah Myers, 2) Elizabeth, r. Tuscarora Township.

Joseph, b. 1808, d. 1853, m.1) in 1829 Mary Magdalene “Polly” Wert, daughter of J. Philip & Elizabeth,  2) after 1846 Elizabeth Moist. Children: Mary, Samuel, Elizabeth, William M, Jacob, Kezia

Hannah, b. 1815, m. William Rarick, she died 1897 in Republic County, Kansas, buried at West Creek Cemetery, Republic County (William died in 1891.)

Next generation:

Benjamin first married Catherine Neimond. Had six children with her, of whom one died in infancy. In 1850 they were in Tuscarora Township, Juniata Co. with three of the children, and son William, age 19, in a separate household next door. Benjamin and W. both farmers.  Catherine died in May 1859 of cholera.19  He married Elizabeth very soon after, and appeared in the census of 1860 with her. They were in Beal Township.  He wrote his will in 1876 and named Elizabeth, his children, and two grandchildren George and Mary Lizzie Partner. He died that year at the age of 80, and is buried with both of his wives at St. Pauls Lutheran Cemetery, Beal Twp. His widow Elizabeth died in 1878 at the age of 80, at the home of her daughter Catherine Ubell.

Children of Benjamin and Catherine20:

Samuel S, b. 1825, d. 1910, m.1) Mary Brubaker, 2) in 1896 Elizabeth Moyer.21 In his will he named four children: Susan Caroline (married to Philip Rauk), George, John, Samuel.22

Elizabeth, b. ab. 1828, m. William Collier

John William, known as William, b. 1830, d. 1907, m. ? Ann Miller, bur. at St Pauls

Amos, b. 1833, d. inf., bur. at Messiah Lutheran

Catherine, b. ab. 1836, m. George Ubell, lived in Beal Twp.

Juliann, m. James Clark

Moses married a woman named Susanna and lived in Fermanagh township until at least 1830. They had a son John born about 1822. She died in 1827 at the age of 28, probably as a result of childbirth, and was buried at Messiah Lutheran Cemetery.23. Their infant son William died later that year. Moses married Magdalena and moved to Richland, Ohio.24 In the 1850 census he is shown with his son John, wife Magdalena, and their children Reuben and Polly. Moses died in 1858 and is buried in Metzgar Cemetery, Sandusky County, Ohio.25 He apparently did not leave a will.26

Samuel may have been taxed in Fermanagh in 1842 as a druggist.27 Was he the Juniata County Treasurer that same year? 28 He married and had a son Samuel, named in the will of Samuel’s father William in 1851. Samuel died before 1847, as his heirs were taxed from 1847 through 1850. His estate was handled by Edmund S. Doty, and had over $4000 in it.29 He is buried at Messiah Lutheran in Miffintown, but might not have a tombstone.30

Jonas married twice. His first wife was Catherine Beale. They had seven known children, including two who died in infancy. He was taxed in Fermanagh in 1842 as a wagonmaker and farmer.31 In 1850 Jonas was married to Mary Catherine Switzer and living close to his brother Joseph, as well as his parents William and Elizabeth. The four youngest children were still at home.32  Jonas died in 1877 in Port Royal and left a will named Mary and seven children. He and Mary were buried at Messiah Lutheran Church Cemetery, where his parents William and Elizabeth were also buried.

Children of Jonas and Catherine:

Phebe, married John ?Earnest

William, a blacksmith

Abner Beal, b. 1830, d. 1831, buried at Messiah Lutheran

Philo, b. 1832, d. 1894, m. Susanna Hurl, r. Port Royal, buried at Westminster.33

Ephraim, b. ab. 1833

Enoch, b. ab. 1835, d. 1912, buried at Farmers Grove, Tuscarora Township,

Emanuel, b. ab. 1838

Jonas, b. 1840, d. 1842, buried at Messiah Lutheran

Simon, b. 1844, d. 1912, m. Martha Foltz, buried at St. Pauls

William Jr. received an education in English and German. He moved to Tuscarora and bought a 200-acre farm where he raised his family.34 He married Hannah Myers about 1830 and they lived near Honey Grove, on a farm that was later the property of their oldest son Samuel. There is a cemetery there with Pannebaker burials from this branch of the family.35 Hannah died on Feb. 24 1859, and William was living with his daughter Keziah in 1860.36 William married again, to a woman named Elizabeth. William died in 1877.37 In his will he named Elizabeth, and mentioned the “article between her and me” and the household goods she brought with her. He also named his children, five living and a daughter Elizabeth Gingrich deceased. He added that “I don’t think it just for executors to charge large per centage to collect money and pay over”.

Children of William & Hannah38

Mary, b. 1830, m. Abraham Rohrer, lived in Honey Grove, living there in 1860.39 He died before 1900 and she was living with her son John in Tuscarora Township. She died a widow in 1909.40

Samuel, b. 1832, d. 1908, m. 1855 Elizabeth Rohrer, had seven chldren, perhaps the best-known Pannebaker of his generation. He grew up on his parents’ farm in Honey Grove and later inherited it. It was called Belmore Plantation. He opened his farm for the annual Harvest Home picnic, where a hundred or so of the local people would gather on the shores of Tuscarora Creek. He was very sociable and loved to have his children and grandchildren at the farm for gatherings and celebrations. On January 7, 1908 he swept the path between the house and the barn, went into the house to get a pail and started for the barn, but collapsed on the way and died soon after, to the surprise and sorrow of the local community.41 There is a splendid drawing of the “mansion farm” in the 1877 Illustrated Atlas of Juniata County.42

Elizabeth, b. 1834, m.  George W. Gingrich, d. April 1857 just after childbirth, left no children, buried in Pine Creek Brethren Cemetery, Illinois.43

William Meyer, b. 1838, m. in Sept 1865, Annie Maude Long, d. 1914, moved to Virgilina, Halifax County, Virginia around 1887, became the mayor of Virgilina, invested in a copper mine there, eventually owned over 1400 acres including the entire town44, buried at Mt Rock Cemetery, Mifflintown, with his wife and three children.45

Jacob, b. ab. 1839, became a physician.46

Keziah, b. 1839, d. 1906, m. Feb. 19, 1861 George Smelker. He died before 1880 and Keziah was living next door to her brother Samuel. She inherited her father’s farm by the terms of his will.

Joseph married Mary “Polly” Wert in 1829, daughter of J. Philip and Elizabeth Loos. Joseph was a farmer. Polly died in April 1846, leaving Joseph  with eight children under the age of fifteen. He married Elizabeth Moyst. Joseph was the executor of his father’s will, written in 1852, and was supposed to inherit the “mansion house” after his mother died. However  Joseph died in 1853, before his mother.

He is buried in the Lutheran Cemetery in Mifflintown.47 His widow Elizabeth died in 1900 in Fermanagh Township at the age of 93. She was believed to be the second oldest person in the county when she died.48 She is buried at the Kauffman-Rothrock cemetery.49

Children of Joseph and Polly:

Philip, b. 1831, d. 1910, m. Amanda Hower in 1852; she died in 1907, buried at Westminster.50

Ann, b. ab. 1833, m. John G. Hackenberger

Daniel, b. 1834, d. 1920, m. 1856 Mary Ann Whitmer; she died in 1918. A blacksmith, he enlisted in the Civil War. (Co. I, 101 Regiment). He and Mary Ann celebrated their  50^th wedding anniversary in 1906. Buried at Westminster.

Mary M, b. ab. 1837, m. James C. Kerlin.51 They moved to Indiana, and are buried at Delphi, Indiana.52

Joseph R, b. 1838, d. 1915, m. 1) about 1865, Nancy Notestine, 2) about 1872, Polly Ann Hester, 3) June 1900, Jane E. Lanman, died in Meigs County, Ohio. A blacksmith, he fought in the Civil War, had two children with Nancy (Netta and Franklin) and one with Polly (Albert), spent a year in the U.S. National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Leavenworth, Kansas between Sept 1895 and 1896, in 1900 married Jane E. Lanman in Meigs county, Ohio.53

Rebecca, b. ab. 1840, m. Joseph Dunn, lived in Thompsontown

Moses, b. 1842, d. 1921, m. 1) 1866 Martha Basom, daughter of Simon and Lydia, 2) 1912 Mary Ella Swilger. He served in the Civil War, came back and married Martha Basom, worked as a house painter, lived in Mifflintown, married Mary Ella Swilger after Martha’s death. Children: Jesse May, Corbett, Joseph, Van, Boyd, Clarence, Blanche, Alton, Bessie Jane.

John M, b. 1845, d. 1926, m. 1866 Mary Elizabeth “Mollie” Sandoe; she died in 1921. He was a veteran of the Civil War. Buried at Westminster.