Johan Henrich was born 1714 in Freinsheim, Germany, the son of Hieronymus and Christina. Although he was their only known child, he grew up with two older stepbrothers, Nicholas and Valentine, Christina’s sons from her first marriage to Alexander Krause. Years later he may have named his first son after his stepbrother Valentine.
When Johan Henrich was not yet an adult, his family immigrated from the Palatinate to Pennsylvania, and settled in northern Montgomery County, where his father owned 250 acres in Limerick Township.
Henrich married a woman named Anna Elizabeth about 1739. Their first child, Johan Valentine, was born in 1740. They would go on to have seven known children, three of whom married into the Pannebecker family.
Johan Henrich was naturalized in 1740, along with his father. He was a member of the Trappe Lutheran Church, of which his father Hieronymus was an elder.
Henrich wrote his will in December 1750. It was written in German. His wife Anna Elizabeth was to have the entire real and personal estate, to maintain the children and to bring them up as Lutherans. If she remarried, then she was to have the estate only until the oldest child Johann Valentine was 21 (which would be around 1761). After that she would have only her thirds according to law. Johan Valentine was to have the land, 200 acres, making a payment for it, to be used for dower or shares for the others as they came of age. The Lutheran church at Trappe was to have a legacy of £3.1
He died in early 1750/51, and was buried at Trappe. The inventory was taken February 1751. It showed that he owned 200 acres of land. Since his father Hieronymus was taxed in 1734 for 250 acres, and owned 50 acres at the time his own will was written in 1760, the implication is that Hieronymus gave or sold 200 acres of his tract to his son. The account of Henrich’s estate, made by his executors John Schrack and Joseph Miller, mentions an agreement between Henrich and his father over a debt owed to the father, possibly payment for the land. The inventory included typical farm implements, livestock, and tools. The furniture and kitchenware seemed rather sparse: the family made do with three beds, a chest, a chair and table. The land was appraised at £400.0.0.
Henrich died young, leaving Anna with seven children under the age of ten, including a newborn. In 1757 the children of John “Haus” petitioned the Orphans Court for guardians for their affairs.2 Four of the children, Margaret, Mary, Analis, and Cronomus, were under 14 years, while Valentine, Henry and John were old enough to choose their own guardians.
After Henrich died, Anna married Peter Puhl. She may have had a child Thomas with him.3 Years before, Henrick and Anna had been sponsors for the birth of Peter’s son Heinrich, and Peter’s wife Elizabeth was a sponsor for Heinrich and Anna’s daughter Anna Elizabeth.4 It is not known when Anna died.
Children of Johan Heinrich and Anna Elizabeth:5
Johan Valentine, b. Sept 6, 1740, m. ab. 1763, Catherine Pannebaker, dau. of Peter and Elizabeth. Children: Henry, Valentine, Elizabeth Sarah Salome.6
Johan Heinrich, b. Nov 7, 1741, d. 1805, m. 1767 Elizabeth Pannebaker, dau. of Peter and Elizabeth, served in the Revolution, died in Northumberland County in 1805. Children: Hannah and John Valentine.7
Johan George, b. Aug 6, 1743. He may have married a woman named Barbara and died in 1790.8
Elizabeth Margaretha, b. Apr 3, 1745, no further record
Anna Maria, known as Mary, b. Dec 25, 1746, d. 1800, m. 1767 William Pannebaker, son of Peter and Elizabeth, lived in Skippack, then in Pikeland, Chester County, had children Salome, Susanna, Jonas, Elizabeth, Jesse. Only Jonas, Elizabeth and Jesse lived to marry. Susanna was killed in an accident when she was five, at a time when the soldiers camped on the Perkiomen after the Battle of Germantown.
Anna Elizabeth, b. Oct 20, 1748, sounded like “Analis”, died before she was 21.9
Hieronymus, bapt Dec. 31, 1750, sounded like “Cronomus”, unmarried.10 The grandparents Hieronymus and Christina were sponsors.11
- Philadelphia County Wills, as John Henry Haas, File #236, book J.366. ↩
- Philadelphia County Orphans Court Record, Roll 38, file T, page 62, microfilm at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. ↩
- Hannah B. Roach, Skippack Deaths, #362. Roach said that Peter Puhl and his wife Elizabeth lived in Limerick and were members of Trappe Lutheran Church. She said that after Elizabeth died, he married the widow Anna Elizabeth Haas. Peter died in 1762. ↩
- Julius Friedrich Sachse, Augustus Evangelical Lutheran Congregation at Trappe, 2003, p. 20, 27. ↩
- Orphans Court records and the will of Hieronymus Haas, who survived his son. All of the children’s birth and baptisms were recorded at Trappe Church (Sachse). ↩
- The Mertz genealogy (at mertzgenealogy.com) on 6G GF John Henry Haas (an especially well-sourced online tree), Findagrave for Sarah Salome. ↩
- Mertz genealogy, page on 6G GF and 5G GF John Henry Haas (father and son with the same name). ↩
- Bertha Neumueller, Haas Family, World Connect Tree on Ancestry, db=1596985. ↩
- Mertz genealogy; Philadelphia OC records. ↩
- Mertz genealogy; Philadelphia OC records. ↩
- Sachse, p. 33. ↩
Very interesting blog you have here. I need to spend more time with it. And I need to apologize for misleading you.
I appreciate that you sourced my website (mertzgenealogy.com) to the extent that you found it useful (and even had something nice to say about it!). Thank you.
Here’s the thing. I know most genealogists try to learn the names of all the children of their ancestors and I sort of do too. But I don’t always actually list them in my database — instead I often list only the one who is also my ancestor — in this case Hannah Haas, d/o Henry and Elizabeth (Pennypacker) Haas. And maybe one or two siblings if I found out something particularly interesting (or useful) about them. So for some reason I listed her brother Valentine too though I can’t now think why I even did that. And you then picked up just those two names as Henry’s children.
But the fact is that Henry and Elizabeth Haas had eleven children known from property records settling Henry’s lands after he died.
This is in my database but in the narrative profile for Hannah.
“There are a series of deeds recorded in Northumberland County in book P and Q that tell the whole story. On 27 Jan 1806, after Henry had died intestate, Abraham Haas, eldest son of Henry Haas of Penns Twp deeded his share of 448 acres of land on Middlecreek to Andrew Straub. It mentions that Henry Haas died intestate leaving 11 children and their names were also recorded: Abraham, Henry, William, Sarah married to Paul Kerster, John, Valentine, Hannah married to George Boyer, Maria married to Jacob Nagle, Susanna, Elizabeth married to Frederick Moyer and Samuel.”
Sorry. I can see how it appeared he only had two children.
Thanks for adding that information. I’ll add the other children to my database and to the blog.