Moses was born in Fermanagh Township, Juniata County, on February 7, 1842, the seventh child of Joseph and Polly (Wert) Pannebaker.1 He grew up in the homestead of his grandparents William and Elizabeth Pannebaker, and probably lived there until 1860, when he was living in the household of neighbor George Hower, working as a laborer.

Moses volunteered for the Union Army on February 23, 1865, at the age of 22 years. He had hazel eyes, light hair, and a dark complexion, was 5’ 5 ½” tall, and a blacksmith. He served in the same regiment as his older brother Daniel and his future father-in-law Simon Basem. Moses fell ill at least twice while in the Army.  He claimed later that “In April 1865 he galled his left shoulder and, taking a cold in it, it became sore and the surgeon blistered and treated it, from which he has never fully recovered, the shoulder and chest being weak and shoulder so tender that he cannot carry anything on it, nor bear it to be touched even. Also an injury to the testicle.” The records also show that on October 20, 1865 he was treated in quarters for “intermitant fever (Ter.)”, probably malaria. He was discharged a month later, on November 18.

He returned to Juniata County and on August 2, 1866 married Martha Hamlin Basom, the daughter of Simon Basom and Lydia Howe.2 She was born on January 25, 1849, and was seven years younger than Moses.3 In 1870 he and Martha were living in Mifflintown next to his brother John. Moses was 28 years old, working as painter for his father-in-law Simon. Martha was 26, and their first child, Jessie, was two. In 1880 Moses was still in Mifflintown, still working as a painter. By then he and Martha had four children.4 They would go on to have nine children. Ada LaPorte Long, granddaughter of Moses and Martha, remembered some stories about him. She said that he painted Pomeroy’s store in Harrisburg. He had money and two properties at one time, but lost it to his brother-in-law, who was a carpenter, and Martha’s half-sister’s husband.5

In 1883 Moses applied for a disability pension, and claimed that as a result of the war injury he was unable to work. Some of his fellow workmen testified that he complained of pain in his shoulder that prevented him from working. In 1897 he petitioned again, although he had little evidence of the injury, since, “A great part of the time no physicians attended him, he was then taking patent medicines.” Also the boss painter, Simon Basom, under whom he first worked, had died by then. In an affidavit, he swore that “he is poor, and in distressed circumstances, that he is in feeble health and unable to do any manual labor, or very little by which he can earn any money, also that his landlord threatens to seize his personal property for rent now due and because of his distressed circumstances and conditions he makes an appeal to the Commissioner of Pensions that you make his case special.” His landlord confirmed this, saying that Moses was back with his rent and unable to pay because of poor health.

A fellow workman testified that “he could not work up on a ladder or on a scaffold, nor could he work where he had to raise his hands above his head or paint overhead at a ceiling or anything of the kind, at such times he would get hoarse and choke up air, complain of pain under his ribs, and shoulders and that his heart was palpitating greatly. … He lost a great deal of time all these years, his disability increasing each year, especially the last six years he has been unable to do but little work.”6

By the 1910 census Moses was widowed.7  Martha had died of consumption, and had been confined to the house for a long time before her death earlier that year.8 Some of the children were still living with him: Boyd, Clarence, Alton and Bessie, as well as Frank Cashner, the husband of Bessie. Boyd was working at a hotel; Clarence was a stone mason; Alton did odd jobs; Frank had no occupation. Corbit lived close by with his wife Anna and three children Next door to Corbit, Mary Ella Borhman, widow of Lewis,  lived with her children: Daniel, John, and Rosy.9 Two years later Mary Ella would marry Moses as his second wife.10 She must have used the name Ella, as they were listed in the 1920 census as Moses and Ella.11 She had been married before and had at least one daughter, Mrs. Rose Wyland of Lewistown, whom she visited in 1916, “returning home by auto”.12

In 1921 Moses contracted gangrene in his left foot; he was taken to the Lewistown Hospital where they amputated the leg in hopes of saving him. The operation went well and he seemed to be recovering, but he died suddenly on Nov. 6, 1921.13 He was buried with his first wife Martha in the Westminster Presbyterian Cemetery in Mifflintown.14 In 1922 Mary E. Pannebaker applied for a widow’s pension. Children of Moses and Martha:15

Jessie May, b. May 1, 1868, d. 1953, m. Jan. 26, 1891 Harry W. LaPorte, son of Anson and Nancy of Tyrone, Blair County.16 Harry was a railroad man and got around the countryside. They moved to Osceola Mills, then to Tyrone. They had six children before Harry’s death in 1928. Jessie survived him by many years, living with her son Karl and his wife Katie. Jessie died in 1953 and is buried in Tyrone with Harry and all of their children. Children: Ada, Ira Foster “Foss”, Virgil, Richard, Harry, Karl.

Corbett Basom, b. Sept. 6, 1870, d. 1929, m. 1895 Anna Belle Rollman.17 A blacksmith for the Penna RR, lived in Mifflintown, buried at Westminster. Children: Mary Edna, Ralph, Geraldine.

Joseph Clinton, b. April 30, 1873, d. 1886. Buried at Westminster.

Van Irvin, b. Nov. 7, 1877, d. Jan 197318, m. Gertrude Morgan (d. 1951), lived in Tyrone, children Boyd, Ruth, Helen ; a blacksmith. Buried at Eastlawn, Tyrone.

Boyd Murray, b. Dec. 7, 1880, d. April 1950, no children. Buried at Westminster.19

Clarence Howe, b. Aug. 19, 1883, d. 1936, m. Aug 1882, Daisy Kaufman, one son who died at one year of age.20 Lived in Louisville, Kentucky, later returned to Pennsylvania. Daisy died in 1918, at age 24. In 1920 Clarence was widowed and a laborer at the RR shop in Blair Count. Buried at Westminster with Daisy and their son.

Blanche Wright, b. Jan. 6, 1886, d. 1954 in Dauphin Co, lived with Jessie & Harry in Tyrone in 1900. In 1910 (when her mother died), Blanche was described as Mrs. Blanche Casner of Danville, Pennsylvania. Her husband was probably the Frank Cashner in the 1910 census, although the record is ambiguous.[21] On October 9, 1911 she married Lewis M. Steele in Louisville, Ken. Could Cashner have married her sister Bessie Jane instead?tucky.21 They were still married in 1916 when they visited her father Moses.22 She may have divorced Steele, because in 1920 she was described as “Miss Blanche W. Pannebaker of Mifflintown.” This was at the time of her marriage to Austin Wescott, a pilot out of Cristobal on the Panama Canal. They were married 19 Nov 1920, and immediately left for the Canal Zone, “where the groom is employed by the government.”23 She died in 1954 and was buried with Wescott at Westminster, Mifflintown. Ada LaPorte, her niece, remembered her and said that Blanche was nearsighted and plain and resigned to being a spinster until she met a pilot on a train, going to the Panama Canal and married him and lived well, since he had money.

Alton Scholl, b. Oct. 22, 1888, d. October 1973 in Tyrone, m. Margaret Dry, ch. Alton C, Pauline, Mary, Robert, Richard, William. A laborer at West Va Pulp & Paper in Tyrone when he registered for WWI draft. Still there in 1930. Pauline died at age 36 unmarried.

Bessie Jane, b . June 22, 1893, died after 1953, probably in Florida, no children.24

Joseph Pannebaker was born June 5, 1808 in Juniata County, the sixth child and youngest son of William and Elizabeth. He grew up on the family homestead in Fermanagh, Juniata County, where his father was a farmer and saw-mill owner. In 1829 Joseph married Mary Magdalene Wert, known as Polly, the daughter of J. Philip and Elizabeth Loos. Her family lived across the line in Snyder County.

William and Elizabeth planned for Joseph to inherit the family farm after they both died. From 1830 through 1850 Joseph, his wife and their children shared the house with William and Elizabeth.1 Polly had died in April 1846 and Joseph married Elizabeth Moyst. William died in October 1852, leaving the house to Elizabeth while she lived, and then to Joseph. However, Joseph died the following August, at the fairly young age of 45, leaving his second wife Elizabeth to care for his mother as well as his children.

Joseph and Polly had six or seven children, born between 1831 and 1846. He is buried in the Lutheran Cemetery in Mifflintown.2

In 1860 the younger Elizabeth, now a widow, was still living with Elizabeth, age 83, and caring for her. The older Elizabeth was shown with a large land holding, still living in the homestead in Fermanagh. 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.3] Elizabeth wrote her will in October 1863 and died the following summer.4 She gave a special legacy to her daughter-in-law Elizabeth Pannebaker, for “her kind and faithful attention to me”.5 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. 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 probably felt closer to them since they had grown up in her house.

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. By 1870 the younger Elizabeth was living with her stepdaughter Ann Hackenberg. Still there in 1880, she probably stayed with them until her death in 1900 at the age of 93.

She was believed to be the second oldest person in the county when she died.6 She is buried at the Kauffman-Rothrock cemetery.7

Children of Joseph and Polly:

Philip, b. May 2, 1831, d. June 7, 1910, m. in 1852, Amanda Hower, dau of Jacob and Mary; she died in 1907. Philip was a farmer, lived in Fermanagh. Children: Winfield, Edwin, Mary Alice, William, Emma, Elizabeth, Morton, Gertie, Oscar, Theodore. Buried at Westminster Presbyterian.8

Ann, b. Jan 22, 1833, d. June 17, 1913, m. in Oct 1854 John G. Hackenberger. He was a stone mason. Lived in Fermanagh. Her stepmother Elizabeth lived with them in 1870 and 1880.9 Children: William, David, Christiane, Joseph, Robert. Buried at Union Cemetery, Mifflintown.10

Daniel, b. Nov 23, 1834, d. April 12, 1920, m. 1856 Mary Ann Whitmer; she died in 1918. He was a blacksmith when he enlisted in the Civil War. (Co. I, 101 Regiment) He and Mary Ann celebrated their  50^th wedding anniversary in 1906. Children: Juniata, Harry, Cloyd, Mary Ella, Elizabeth, Charles, Myrven.11 Buried at Westminster.

Mary M., b. Sept 13, 1836, m. James C. Kerlin in 1860, moved to Indiana, where he was a gardener in 1900.12 Children: William, Emma Jane, Anna Margaret, Ida, Carrie, Mertie. Mary died in 1906; he died in 1913.13

Joseph R, b. September 1838, d. June 4, 1915 in Ohio, m. 1) in 1866 Nancy L. Notestine, 2) in 1872 Polly Ann Hester, 3) in 1900, Jane Lanham. He had two children with Nancy, Netta and Frank, and a son Albert with Polly Ann. He was still living in Patterson Twp, Juniata County in 1880, but moved to Ohio by 1900 when he married Jane.

Rebecca, b. Sept 11, 1840, d. April 18, 1902, m. about 1858 Lucien Dunn. Lucien was at various times an innkeeper (1860), a laborer (1870) and a carpenter (1880). Children: Lora, Ada, Hannah, Clara, Lucien B, Benjamin, William, Samuel. Rebecca died in 1902; Lucien died in 1903; they are buried at Otterbein Cemetery, East Salem, Juniata County.14

Moses, b. Feb 7, 1842, d. Nov 6, 1921, m. 1) 1866 Martha Basom, daughter of Simon and Lydia, 2) 1912 Mary Ella Swilger. Moses fought in the Civil War, in the same regiment as his future father-in-law Simon and his older brother Daniel, returned to marry Martha, worked as a house painter. Children: Jessie, Corbett, Joseph, Van, Boyd, Clarence, Blanche, Alton, Bessie. Martha died in 1910 and he married Mary Ella Swilger, who survived him. He died in 1921 and was buried with Martha at Westminster Presbyterian Cemetery.

John M, b. April 22, 1845, d. Sept 14, 1926, m. 1866 Mary Elizabeth “Molly” Sandoe; she died in 1921.15 He was a veteran of the Civil War. He lived in Mifflin and Patterson Townships, and worked as a chairmaker (1870), brakeman for the Penna Railroad (1880), day laborer (1900), salesman in a hardware store (1910), house painter (1920). Children: George, Anthony, Anna Belle, Mary M, John, James, William, Walter, Harry, Herman, Lavinia, Rudolph.  In 1900 he reported that they had 13 children, ten living.16 Molly died in 1921; he died in 1926; they are buried at Westminster.

? Barbara, b. about 1846, shown in the 1860 census, age 14, with Elizabeth (widow of William) and Elizabeth (widow of Joseph), no further information. She is not listed with the family of Joseph in the 1850 census. She may have been a daughter of one of Joseph’s brothers, otherwise unknown.17

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.

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William and Anna Pennebecker

William was born in 1740 in Skippack and died in 1815 in Chester County.1 He was the fourth son of Peter and Elizabeth. On April 20, 1767, at the Reformed Church in Germantown, he married Anna Maria Haas, the daughter of Johan Hendrick Haas and his wife Anna Elizabeth. Johan Heinrich was born in Germany, emigrated with his father, and died in 1751 in Montgomery County. Johan and Anna Elizabeth had seven known children, of whom at least three married into the Pannebecker family.

In 1770 William’s father Peter sold him a tract in Perkiomen and Skippack of 200 acres adjoining Valentine Haus and others, and including a wind mill. William had to pay Peter £300 for the land, an interesting stipulation at a time when many fathers conveyed land to their sons without payment, for “love and affection”. Elizabeth Pennebaker, William’s mother, acknowledged receipt of £50 from William a few days later, perhaps a down payment.2 In Peter’s will of 1765, proved in 1770, he left William a plantation that William’s brother John was living on, subject to payments to the estate. The tax lists of 1788 note that William was lame.

In the fall of 1777, before and after the battle of Germantown, Washington’s army encamped on the Perkiomen. The depredations of the army must have fallen just as hard on William and Anna as they did on his brother Samuel. The army foraged for anything edible, and any blankets or clothing that had not been hidden. The fences were probably torn down for firewood. It is believed that some of the wounded were taken to Wlliam’s house after the battle. Worst of all, Susannah, the five-year-old daughter of William and Anna, was burned to death, “after the soldiers left”. It is hard to imagine the scenario, but easy to imagine the sorrow.3

It is believed that William and Anna lived in Montgomery County until about 1796, when they moved to Pikeland Township, Chester County.4 All of their children were born in Montgomery County. Only three of them survived to adulthood. William wrote his will in 1815; it was proved in 1816.5 He left property to his sons Jonas and Jesse, and to daughter Elizabeth and Jonas’ wife Mary. Jonas was to get the plantation in Pikeland, “whereon I now live”, at his death to Jonas’ son Nathan. Jesse was to get the plantation in Montgomery County where he (Jesse) now lives, then to Jesse’s son Amos. Elizabeth was to have £50, since she had already had her portion of £135. Daughter-in-law Mary was to have £50. The remainder went to the sons to share.6

An inventory of his estate was taken on February 15, 1816. It included his clothing, books, and fittings for a comfortable room, but no livestock or farm implements. He must have been living with one of his children, probably Jonas and Mary. His bonds and notes had a value of $3830.68, equal to about £1400 at the time. Jonas was the administrator, and he filed an account in 1821.

Anna had died before William, in 1800, at age 53.7 He outlived her by fifteen years. They were buried together at the Reformed Church in East Vincent Township, Chester County.8

Children of William and Anna:9

Salome, b. Nov 3, 1768, not named in her father’s will in 1815, probably died young

Susanna, b. Jan 9, 1770, d. Aug 21, 1778. A record in the baptismal record of the Old Goshenhoppen Reformed congregation says that Susanna, daughter of Wilhelm Panebecker, was born June 9, 1771, “burned to death when the soldiers left”, October 3, 1777.10

Jesse, b. 1773, d. at four months of age

Jonas, b. 1776, d. 1845; married Mary Schneider (or Snyder) and had children Nathan, Hannah, Elizabeth, Mary, Susan, Jonas, Sarah, John. Lived in Chester County near his father. Inherited his father’s farm in Pikeland. Mary died in 1874, buried at East Vincent Reformed.11

Elizabeth, b. December 25, 1777, d. July 1864, m. her first cousin William Pannebaker, son of Samuel and Hannah, moved to Fermanagh, Juniata County. William died in 1852, Elizabeth made her will in 1863 and died in 1864. Both are buried at the Messiah Lutheran Cemetery in Mifflintown.12

Jesse, b. 1783, d. 1839, married 1) Salome Bergey, 2) Anna Livingood. He had children with both wives: with Salome: Jesse, Elizabeth, Esther, Mary, Anna, Hannah, Amos, Susanna; with Anna: Elias, Catherine, Sarah, Sophia, Moses. Lived in Montgomery County.13

Samuel and Hannah Pannebaker

Samuel Pennebecker was born in 1746, the youngest son of Peter and Elizabeth. He was born on the Skippack, but would spend the rest of his life on the Perkiomen at Pennypacker Mills. He learned reading and penmanship from Herman Ache, who wrote a fine Vorschrift for Samuel in 1758.1 On March 6, 1768 Samuel married Hannah Guisbert at the Augustus Evangelical Lutheran Church at Trappe.2  Born in 1747, she was the daughter of Andrew and Johanna (or Hannah) Guisbert. Andrew had died in Limerick Township in 1757, leaving his wife Johanna and six children.3

Samuel inherited his father’s homestead and mill with a stipulation that he care for his mother Elizabeth if she survived his father. In fact she outlived Peter by many years, and probably made her home with Samuel and Hannah. She lived to see many grandchildren, including five or six granddaughters named Elizabeth.

Samuel was a pacifist, probably a Mennonite, and was fined six times for refusing to train with the militia. In September 1777, the life of his family was forever changed when his house and land were selected as Washington’s headquarters and encampment before the battle of Germantown. The army of 8000 colonials and 2000 militia arrived on September 26, and Washington is believed to have made his headquarters at Samuel’s house. Nine documents written by Washington at that time are headed “At Pennypacker’s Mill” or “Pennypacker’s Mill”. Although the house was good-sized, it is likely that Washington did not actually sleep in it, as he had a large field tent which served as his command center, and where he could also sleep. Some of his generals were housed in nearby houses, such as Detweiler’s or Markley’s.4

Having the army on one’s land was a substantial hardship.

“Almost everything edible was eaten and everything combustible was burned. Before dark on the first day of the camp every fence on Samuel Pennypackers place had disappeared. Four stacks of wheat were pulled down and used for straw. Every chicken, duck and goose perished save one old hen…In anticipation, the woolen blankets, which represented nights of industry upon the part of the women, had been hidden beneath the floors, and the horses upon whose labor the men depended for the produce of the farm had been driven to the distant woods.” 5

Washington condemned the “base and wicked practice of plundering the inhabitants” and ordered his commanders to read the order to the troops. He wrote to one of his officers, “I am glad you have the collection of blankets and shoes… The disaffected hid their goods the moment the thing took wind and our friends had before parted with all they could spare.”6

On Sunday, September 28^th, Washington received the good news of General Gates’ victory over General Burgoyne in New York. To celebrate, the troops were paraded and served with a gill of rum each. Cannons were fired, which could be heard five miles away.

The battle of Germantown was on Saturday, October 4. After the battle the army returned back north to the Pennypacker Mills encampment. Troops straggled in, “tired, hungry and thirsty”. Over 200 wounded were brought to the neighborhood, and cared for in the local churches at Trappe, Evansburg, and the Keeley church and farms.7 Samuel’s son William, just five years old, remembered the wounded being brought into the house and laid on the kitchen floor, “he afterward helping to clear away the blood that flowed over the floor.”8 The dead were buried in Peter Pool’s woods, on the lands of Henry Keeley, and on the land of Samuel Pennypacker. Finally on October 8, the army left. Samuel wrote in his Bible, in German, “On the 26^th day of September, 1777, an army of thirty thousand men encamped in Skippack Township, burned all the fences, carried away all the fodder, hay, oats and wheat, and took their departure the 8^th day of October, 1777. Written for those who come after me, by Samuel Pannebecker”.9

Samuel and Hannah survived the war, with their four young children. They would go on to have four more children. Samuel’s brother William was not so fortunate. The records of Old Goshenhoppen Reformed Church recorded that Susanna,  the daughter of Wilhelm Panebecker, age six, was burned to death when the solders left.Samuel resumed his farming after the war. In a census in 1783 he owned 171 acres, five horses, eight cattle, ten sheep, and a Negro slave named “Piet”.10 He wrote his will on June 29, 1824, when he was seventy-seven. In it he named his seven surviving sons and his wife Hannah.

He left Hannah as much of the household goods as she chose, plus the interest on £1000. If that was not sufficient, “as accidents may happen”, she could use the principal on the money. He also left her “that part of my dwelling House wherein we now dwell and occupy with every of the previleges we hold and possess”. Their son Samuel was to have the plantation with 125 acres, with the usual provisions for delivering firewood, wheat, rye and milk to Hannah during her lifetime. Their son John was to have the other half of the plantation, another 125 acres, and two other tracts, along with sharing the responsibility of delivering goods to Hannah.

Samuel had kept track of the payments to his sons, in a “certain Book”. Any remainder of money and bonds, except the thousand pounds left to Hannah, was to be divided in equal shares by the other sons, Daniel, Benjamin, William, Jacob, and Abraham, according to the book. Samuel and John were the executors.11

Samuel died on Feb 13, 1826 and is buried with his wife in the Lower Skippack Mennonite graveyard. Hannah died in 1837.12

Children of Samuel and Hannah:13

Daniel, b. Feb. 17, 1769, d. April 5, 1842, m. Susannah Paul, lived on the Skippack, then moved to Juniata County and died in Union County (now Snyder). He had a son David with Susanna Grimley, plus daughters Hannah and Elizabeth with his wife Susannah.14

Benjamin, b. Dec. 24, 1770, d. Oct 7, 1859, m. Elizabeth Wireman, probably the daughter of Henry and Anna. A blacksmith, he later kept a hotel in Philadelphia. His son Amos became a physician.15 Buried in the Lower Skippack Mennonite Cemetery.

William, b. Sept 19, 1772, d. 1852, m. his cousin Elizabeth, dau. of William and Anna, a farmer, moved to Juniata County. Children: Benjamin, Moses, Samuel, Jonas, William, Joseph and Hannah.

Jacob, b. Aug 11, 1775, d. 1857, a blacksmith and farmer, moved to Coventry, Chester County, buried at the East Coventry Mennonite cemetery. Children: Salome, Hannah, Samuel, Susan, Esther, Abraham, Jacob, Benjamin, John, Sarah. His wife may have been Margaret Bergey, daughter of Abraham and Salome.16

Samuel, b. Feb 8, 1779, d. May 1863, m. Catherine Wireman, daughter of Henry and Anna.17 Inherited the plantation and house. Children: Elizabeth, Henry, James, Benjamin, Hannah, Anna, Catherine, Susanna.18

John, b. Nov 11, 1781, d. April 7, 1856, m. Mary Snyder, daughter of Jacob Snyder, a farmer in Limerick Township, buried at the Lutheran Church in Schwenksville. Children: Samuel, Isaac.

Joseph, b. Sept 3, 1785, d. Aug 25, 1807, buried in Mifflin County.19

Abraham, b. Feb. 11, 1787, d. 1848, m. Hannah Hill, lived in Berks County near Reading, the director of a bank there. Children: Richard, John, Charles, Abraham, James, Mary.

Peter and Elizabeth Pannebaker

Peter Pannebaker was born on March 8, 1710 in Skippack, the second son of Hendrick and Eve Pannebaker, one of eight children. The area was heavily German; his family was surrounded by other German families. At the time Peter and his siblings were growing up there were few roads; their father Hendrick was a surveyor and laid out many of the roads in upper Philadelphia County.1 Like his four brothers, Peter grew up to be a miller. He owned land on the Skippack and Perkiomen and operated a fulling mill, for dyeing cloth, with an experienced fuller, William Nenny, to run the mill.2

In 1733 Peter married Elizabeth Keyser, daughter of Peter and Margaret. (Her sister Annetje would marry his brother John a few years later.) She was from a Mennonite family, and it is likely that Peter and Elizabeth worshipped in the Mennonite church. (They were buried in a Mennonite cemetery). 3 Elizabeth’s father Peter had come to Germantown as a boy with his father in 1688. Peter married Margaret Souplis, and they had eleven children. Elizabeth was the seventh, born in January 1713/14.

Peter became the wealthiest and most influential of his family. In 1738 and 1739 he was in the business of hauling iron fom Reading furnace and Coventry forge, Chester County, to Philadelphia.4 In 1741 he bought 240 acres on the Skippack from his father Hendrick, and erected a mill, which he later sold to his brother Jacob. (He later served as the executor of Jacob’s estate.) In 1756 he was assessed for 500 acres, 100 acres cleared, 25 acres in corn, five horses, two mares, 15 sheep, 14 horned cattle and 300 acres of unimproved land.5 An account book in his handwriting showed charges for sugar, tea, coffee, and molasses, suggesting that he kept a store.6 An account book of a Philadelphia merchant in 1741 shows sales to Peter of shoe buckles, pins, and six hats.7 Eventually he would own property valued at over £4000.

As a wealthy man, Peter was a leader in the German community, with some political involvement. In 1754 he was elected as an assessor for Philadelphia County.8  The same year he, along with Henry Muhlenberg and 30 other leading Germans, signed a letter to the new governor Robert Morris, assuring him of their loyalty to the King. They were responding to “some Spirit” who had accused them of conspiring with the French against the English government. This unnamed person was none other than Benjamin Franklin. Initially sympathetic, Franklin had turned against the Germans during the 1740’s, because of their pacifism and their non-English ways, saying that they were “herding together to establish their Language and Manners to the Exclusion of ours”. He added that the German men liked their women fat and strong, valued for the work they could do. Franklin was a well-known figure and his views were known, and obviously resented. In 1764 he was defeated in the election for the Assembly, probably because of German opposition.9

In 1747 Peter and Elizabeth bought 500 acres, a house, and a mill from Henry Pawling and the heirs of Isaac Dubois. The Pawling and Dubois families had owned the property since 1730, buying it from Hans Jost Heyt.10 Fifteen years later Peter and Elizabeth sold 115 acres and the mill, part of the 500-acre tract, to Adam Prutesman. The deed included an unusual stipulation that Prutesman was not to keep a tavern on the land or in the mill “nor suffer one to be kept by any other person on the premisses.”11 Peter and Elizabeth lived on the remaining land, in the house that Heyt built, which they expanded. They owned a tall clock (still at the house now) and a large Bible with brass clasps (also at the house). When Peter died in 1770, he left the plantation to his youngest son, Samuel, who was to keep Elizabeth on it for the remainder of her life. (In fact she outlived Peter by over 25 years.) When Elizabeth Drinker stopped there in August 1771, she wrote in her diary that they “dined in a Mill-House at Peter Pennybaker’s, boyl’d mutton and old kidney beans, eat very hearty.” Apparently it was being kept as a public house then. It was well-situated, on a main road from “the upper country” to Philadelphia. This might have been the Perkiomen property, but Peter also owned land in Berks County.12

Peter and Elizabeth had nine children, born between 1733 and 1752. He recorded their births in the family Bible, inherited from his father Hendrick. Interestingly, Peter wrote in English, although his son Samuel would later write in the Bible in German.13 The children of Peter and Elizabeth married into German families like Dodderer, Haas, and Guisbert. Some of these families were German Reformed or Lutheran; Peter and Elizabeth obviously did not insist that their children marry Mennonites. The children went to the school of Herman Ache, and learned penmanship from him.

In May 1770 Peter sold a 200-acre tract to his son William, adjoining Valentine Haas and others, containing a wind mill.14 Elizabeth acknowledged receipt of the money, signing by mark. Peter may have been ailing by then, since he died on June 28, a month later.

Peter wrote his will in Sept 1765, five years before he died. He named his wife Elizabeth and all nine children. In the typical pattern, he left the property to the youngest son. Since Samuel was not yet of age, Elizabeth would keep the farm until Samuel was 21. After Samuel came of age he was to have the plantation, but Elizabeth was to have the privilege of living in two of the rooms, with half the garden, plus £24 per year. Samuel had to make yearly payments to the estate, to cover payments made to his brothers. William got the plantation that John was living in on Perkiomen Creek, making payments for it. John got 247 acres in Berks County. The four daughters each got £150. Sons Henry and Jacob each got a sum of £100, not to paid until nine years after Peter’s death. Whatever household goods Elizabeth did not want were to be sold, “except the waggon shall be left for the use of the plantation between my son Samuel and his mother.” Elizabeth and William were the executors.

Peter died on June 28, 1770, and the inventory of the estate was taken on July 24, 1770. It included many household goods, the standard possessions of a wealthy farmer, including a clock, rifle, cup instrument and lamp, thirteen swarms of bees, a fox trap, fish net, a map of Pennsylvania and a map of Philadelphia, the plantation on the east side of Perkiomen Creek and another one on the north side (each worth £900), a plantation in Berks County valued at £713, and three more small tracts of land. The total was over £4230. Elizabeth and William duly filed their account. After the bills were paid and goods given to her, there was a balance of £1407 to be disposed of, not including the three large plantations.

Elizabeth lived with Samuel and Hannah, as the will stipulated. She had a paralytic stroke in September 1793, as Samuel noted in the Bible, and died on August 11, 1796. She is buried with Peter at Lower Skippack Mennonite Cemetery. Samuel is also buried there with his wife Hannah.15

Four of the sons of Peter and Elizabeth and at least three of the daughters moved away. Did the sons scatter because of cheaper land elsewhere? Oddly enough, none of Peter’s numerous grandsons were named for him. There were at least six granddaughters named Elizabeth, so it could not have been a lack of naming tradition.

Children of Peter and Elizabeth:16

John, b. 11 Feb 1733, d. 1805 or 1806, a farmer, miller and innkeeper, m. Magdalena Porter, moved to Brecknock, Berks County. They had children Daniel, Susanna, Elizabeth, Hannah

Henry, b. July 1736, moved to Maryland17

Jacob, b. 16 Aug 1738, m. 1765 married Christina Dodderer, daughter of Conrad and Magdalena, moved to Martinsburg, Berkeley County, Virginia. They had children Jacob, Conrad, Mary, John, Christian, Elizabeth, Sarah, Nathan, and Margaret, before Christina’s death in 1774.18

William, b. 26 Aug 1740, d. 1815,  m. 1767 Anna Maria Haas19, daughter of Johan Heinrich and Elizabeth; moved to Pikeland, Chester County. William and Anna were married at the Reformed Church in Germantown. She died in November 1800, aged 53. They were buried at the Reformed Church in East Vincent Township, Chester County.20 They had children Salome, Susanna, Jonah, Elizabeth, and Jesse. Their daughter Elizabeth would grow up to marry her first cousin, William, son of Samuel and Hannah.

Margaret, b. Nov 8, 1742, d. 14 Aug 1797, m. Conrad Dodderer (1738-1831), son of Conrad and Magdalena, moved to Frederick County, Maryland; Conrad was a wealthy tanner who lived a long life. They had nine children:  John, Samuel, Conrad, Benjamin, William, David, Sarah, Elizabeth, Susannah. Margaret and Conrad were buried in a private burying ground at their farm.21

Catharine, b. 8 Oct 1744, m. by 1765 Johann Valentine Haas, son of Johan Heinrich and Elizabeth. Some say Haas died in 1788 in Limerick Twp, others say 1822. He did not leave a will. They may have lived on the Perkiomen.22 Catherine may have first married a man named Nagel.23

Samuel, b. 4 Nov 1746, d. 13 Feb 1826, m. 15 May 1768 Hannah Gilbert24 (1747-1837), inherited his father’s homestead and mills.25 Samuel and Hannah were buried at the Lower Skippack Mennonite Cemetery. They had children Daniel, Benjamin, William, Jacob, Samuel, John, Joseph, Abraham.

Elizabeth, b. 4 Jan 1749, m. 1767 Johan Henry Haas at the Trappe Lutheran Church. In 1793 Henry sold his land in Skippack and Perkiomen and moved to Northumberland County, where he died before Jan 30, 1805. He did not leave a will.  The children were named in a deed as 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.26

Barbara, b. 25 Dec 1752, m. Andrew Worman, moved to Maryland. In 1789 a tract of 248 acres called “Level Farm” was resurveyed for Andrew Worman in Frederick County. Was this the same Andrew?27 Their children may have been Sarah, Susanna, Elizabeth, John, William, and Margaret.28 Andrew may have died in 1811 in Unionville, Frederick County, Maryland.29

Hendrick Pannebaker, the emigrant founder of a large Pennsylvania family, has been well-documented, with a biography written by a descendant, but there are some large gaps in our understanding.1 Was he in fact born in Flomborn? Why did he emigrate? How did he make his living before he bought land in 1702? Where did he learn surveying? Some things will probably never be known about him. Yet he was a prominent man in early colonial Pennsylvania—a surveyor, landholder, writer of legal papers and deeds. His biographer Samuel W. Pennypacker called him the “patroon” of his township.2 He was known to the leaders of the colony, men like Edward Shippen, to whom he wrote a letter signed, “Jur frend”, and James Logan, who referred to Hendrick as an authority to resolve a survey question, and Thomas Fairman, possibly to William Penn.3 He feuded with the minister Henry Melchior Muhlenberg. He was acquainted with Francis Daniel Pastorius, who gave him a Lutheran Bible in Dutch, and a French grammar.4
Hendrick was born in 1674, probably in Flomborn, a small town in the Rhineland-Pfaltz, about ten miles from the Rhine River.5 When Samuel Pennypacker visited in the 1800s, it had “two main streets that cross each other, a Reformed church, an inn,… and two-story houses, roofed with tile, where farmers who till the surrounding country have their homes together, as is the German custom.”6  Some stories suggest that the family moved to Flomborn from Utrecht in the late 1500s or early 1600s, making Hendrick a man of Dutch heritage living in Germany. He may have moved to Crefelt, about 165 miles northeast along the Rhine, before he immigrated, since he referred to himself as “of Crefelt” in his family record. (It is also possible that he was actually from Crefeld, not Flomborn.)7 He wrote in German script but with some Dutch words like “het” for “the”. Muhlenberg, who knew him personally, called him  “Niederdeutsch”,  Low Dutch. He spoke German, Dutch, and English, probably learning English after he emigrated.8 On Dutch documents he signed as Hendrick, on German documents as Heinrich, and on English documents as Henry.

 

Hendrick came to Pennsylvania in 1698, arriving in Philadelphia on September 2, as he wrote in his own family record.9 He was twenty-four years old. Why did he emigrate? He was not known to be a Mennonite or Quaker, who came to escape religious persecution, although he lived in a heavily Mennonite community once he immigrated. He was probably a member of the Reformed Church and had several of his children baptized there. Like Francis Daniel Pastorius, he was literate, able to read and write, as in his family record. Did he come, like Pastorius, out of a personal desire to live in the “Holy Experiment” that was Penn’s colony. Flomborn was not far from Krisheim, where the Mennonites were severely persecuted.10 In his family record he called himself “of Crefelt”. Had he moved there with some of the Mennonites? Most of the Quaker community of Crefeld, facing persecution, had emigrated to Germantown in 1683, but there were still some Quakers and Mennonites there and in the surrounding towns.

 

Once he came to Pennsylvania Hendrick settled in Germantown.  Like many German towns, it had a main street with close-joined  houses owned by artisans and farmers. Dominated by Germans, but including English, Dutch and others, it included people of many faiths. As a visiting Dutch Reformed minister, Rudolphus Varick, wrote in 1690, “The village consists of 44 families, 28 of whom are Quakers, the other 16 of the Reformed church, among whom I spoke to those who had been received as members of the Lutheran, Mennonites and Baptists, who are very much opposed to Quakerism, and therefore lovingly meet every Sunday when a Menist Dirk Keyser from Amsterdam reads a sermon from a book by Joost Harmensen.” Since there were no Reformed churches in Pennsylvania in 1690 (or in 1698 when Pannebaker lived there), the implication was that Reformed people like Pannebaker worshipped with other groups. In fact he would spend much of his life surrounded by Mennonites, including the family of his wife.11 Once they moved north in Montgomery County, there were other German Reformed people to form a congregation.

 

On October 14, 1699, Hendrick married Eve Umstat, who came in 1685 with her parents John Peter and Barbara. They were probably married in Germantown; there is no record of the marriage except in Hendrick’s own notes. The first of their children was born in January 1702, the same year in which they left Germantown and moved north to Van Bebber’s township on the Skippack in northern Philadelphia County, along with Eve’s brother, and Mennonites such as Claes Jansen, Johannes Kuster, Jan Frey, and Cornelius Tyson. The township was owned by Matthias Van Bebber, son of Jacob Isaacs. Jacob Isaacs was a Mennonite baker of Crefeld who bought 1000 acres in Pennsylvania in 1683 and emigrated along with his wife and sons Matthias and Isaac. Jacob became a distiller, while Matthias bought a 6166-acre tract of land on the Skippack. In early 1702 he established a settlement there, mainly of Mennonites, and began to sell off tracts to settlers.12 A few years later Matthias moved to Bohemia Manor in Cecil County, Maryland, where his father and brother also settled.13

Hendrick and Eve continued to add to their family, and in May 1710 they had three of their children, Adolf, Martha, and Peter, baptized by the minister of the newly-formed Dutch Reformed church in Bensalem.14 Founded by ethnic Dutch who migrated to Bucks County from Staten Island and Long Island, it was the only Reformed church in the area at that time.15 It is not clear where Hendrick and Eve had their remaining five children baptized. As is typical of the time, we know little about her life, other than through the activities of her husband and their children.

 

Hendrick worked as a surveyor, especially between 1719 and 1733, when there were at least ten roads and townships known to be his work. He laid out roads to grist mills, to the ford on the Schuylkill, to iron works, to churches. He laid out the townships of Franconia in 1731 and the manors of Springfield, Manatawny and Perkasie in 1733. He must have been a well-known figure in the county.16 Presumably he also farmed on his land on the Skippack creek, to which he added more starting in 1708.17

 

His biggest land acquisition came in 1727, when he bought the remainder of the Van Bebber tract from Matthias Van Bebber. This was almost 5000 acres, an enormous holding for the time. By buying that tract Hendrick became, as Pennypacker put it, the “patroon” of the township on the Skippack, responsible for selling the remainder to settlers and for paying the quitrent.18 There may have been some resentment, since a year later Van Bebber wrote a paper proclaiming that “my desire and will is for every of you to Injoy all which I sold and Convayed unto you and No more and that ye Rest the Said Henry Pannebeckers May Injoy according his Deed… without Quarling or hinderance.”19 Pennypacker noted that this document was folded into a long narrow slip and that the back was rubbed, showing that he carried it around him to show people.

 

As Pennypacker put it, Hendrick had reached a position of success. “He gave of his lands to each of five sons, and they all became millers, almost the only occupation in which at that early day, in a rural community, capital could be invested at a profit. … He made surveys for the Proprietors and individuals and trained a grandson named for him, Henry Vanderslice, … to succeed him. He shipped flour to Philadelphia to the Penns. His teamster, Abraham Yungling, drove to the recently erected furnaces and forges in Philadelphia, Chester and Berks Counties … and hauled the iron, one ton at a time, to the Philadelphia merchants. …He was engaged in at least five lawsuits. He read his Bible, printed at Heidelberg in 1568, and his other books of mystical theology and what not, and generously, though unwisely, loaned of his store to his neighbors.”20

 

In 1728 there was an incident with the Indians, an interruption in the usually harmonious relations. An armed group of Indians forced their way into some houses in Colebrookdale and seized foodstuffs. When an armed group of settlers went after them, shots were fired and two settlers injured. The Mennonites of Skippack, pacifists and probably unarmed, petitioned the governor for aid. Hendrick Pannebaker signed as one of the petitioners, and may have written the petition. “… May ye 10th 1728. We think It fit to address your Excellency for Relief, for your Excellency must knowe That we have Suffered and is like to sufer By the Ingians, they have fell upon ye Back Inhabitors about falkners Swamp, & near Coshapopin. Therefore, we the humbel Petitioners, With our poor Wives & Children Do humbly Beg of your Excellency To Take It into Consideration and Relieve us the Petitioners hereof, Whos Lives Lies At Stake With us and our poor Wives & Children that is more to us than Life. …” Governor Gordon visited the assembled chiefs in Conestoga, bearing gifts, and mutual peace was restored.21

 

Hendrick knew many of the prominent people of early Pennsylvania and did surveying work for them.  One of his letters to Edward Shippen has been preserved, written in February 1742.22 His spelling was creative, as he was writing in his third language. He is telling Shippen three things: that the daughters of Abraham op den Graff approve of some deed Shippen has done, that the tract of Humphrey Morris [probably Morrey] could not be divided because the instrument is out of order and William Streets could not repair it, and that the people who bought the 300 acres will pay at the May fair and the draft of their title is ready.

“Frind Edward Shippen My Keind Respek too Juw too let Ju understan tha I haffe Spoken With the totters of Abraham op then graff an by ther Words are Willing too Sings Jur deets as ther broders haffe don. As for dveiding the trak belonging too homfry Morris is not don because my Instrament Was out of order. I det send hat too Wellem Strets an hey send het horn too mey bey my Son bout I Kam too treiet het Wold Not doo an I haffe send het bak too him again. As son as I haffe att my hand again I shal fulfill the Sam. An forther I lat Ju untterstan that the peopel that haffe bought the trey Hundret ackers take all the Kar watt is in ther pouwer too pay att the May faer. therafore my deseier of Ju is that Ju may be Reade too mak them a good Lawful teittel. an I haffe madem ther draght Redey. Now mor att this pressents as mey Keind Resspeck too Ju an Jor broder. from Jur frind Henry Pannebecker”

 

Another glimpse of Hendrick’s personality comes from his feud with Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, founder of the Lutheran Church in America. Hendrick identified with the Reformed Church, and he “reviled” the Lutherans.23 His son-in-law Anthony Van der Sluys had sided with Muhlenberg and contributed to his church and schoolhouse, but Hendrick influenced Anthony to turn away from Muhlenberg. On his deathbed in 1752 Anthony reconciled with the pastor and asked him to preach his funeral sermon.  Muhlenberg used the occasion to gloat about Anthony’s change of heart, using the funeral text, “Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire”. The family was insulted, and Hendrick warned Anthony’s children against associating with the Lutherans, pouring out “angry speeches”. Muhlenberg reported on the whole affair to his church in Germany, complacently adding, “The old man [Hendrick] has now by a sudden death been sent into eternity.”24

 

There is no evidence to show when Eve died.25  She probably died before Hendrick, leaving him to go live with one of his children, since the inventory of his household goods (taken at his death) was scant. He died in early 1754 in Providence township. The inventory of his goods included apparel, books, bedding, a table and coffee pot, and bonds, for a total of 194 pounds two shillings.26 The last record of Hendrick shows his generosity. On June 16, 1754, in Sower’s Newspaper, Hendrick’s son and son-in-law took out an ad: “Henrich Pannebecker died recently, aged 81 years. Many books had been borrowed from him. Those who have these books are asked to return them to Peter Pannebecker or Cornelius Theiszen.”27

 

Children of Hendrick & Eve:28

 

Martha, b. 12 Jan 1702, bp. May 1710, d. 1761, m. 1725 Anthony Van der Sluys, lived in ProvidenceTownship; he d. 1752, named five children in his will: Henry, Ann, Catherine, Eva, and Anthony. Anthony was a miller.

Catherine, b. 8 June 1704, no further record unless she is identical with Susanna (see below)

Oliffe, b. 14 Feb  1707, bp. May 1710, d. ab. 1787, lived in Limerick Township, m. Susan LNU , eight children named in his will: Martha, Henry, Mary, John, Catherine, Eva, Elizabeth, Lydia.29 He was a miller like his brothers.

Peter, b. 8 March 1710, bp. May 1710, d. 1770, m. 1733 Elizabeth Keyser, daughter of Peter and Margaret30. He built a fulling mill on the Perkiomen Creek, served as an assessor for Philadelphia County, had children: John, Henry, Jacob, William, Margaret, Catherine, Samuel, Elizabeth, and Barbara. Peter and Elizabeth are buried at Lower Skippack Mennonite Cemetery.

John, b. 27 Aug 1713, d. 1784 in Providence Township, m. Annetje Keyser, daughter of Peter and Margaret.  Like his brothers he was a miller. They had children Dirck, Henry, Margaret, Elizabeth, Jacob, Catherine, Hannah, Samuel.31

Barbara, b. 28 June 1716, d. possibly 1792, m. in 1738 Cornelius Tyson, son of Matthias and Barbara. They lived in Perkiomen Township and had children including Matthias, Henry, John, William, Cornelius.

Jacob, b. 5 March 1719, d. 1752, m. Margaret Tyson, daughter of Matthias and Barbara, lived on the Skippack Creek.32 They had six children, all in Jacob’s will except Jacob: Matthias, Cornelius, Henry, Elizabeth, Barbara, Jacob.

Henry, b. 26 Sept 1725, d. 1792, m. Rebecca Kuster, dau. of Hermanus and Sibilla, lived in Upper Salford Township, where he owned a fulling mill. They had seven children: Harmon, John, Benjamin, Sibilla, Magdalena, Henry, Jacob. Henry was a member of the Mennonite Church of the Skippack.33

Some Keyser genealogies show another daughter, Susanna, who married Peter Dirck Keyser, and lived in Worcester Township, Montgomery County. Peter was born in 1705, the son of Peter Dirck and Margaret. This is an inference and probably incorrect, based on Peter Keyser calling John Pennebacker his brother-in-law in his will. John was married to Anneke Keyser, Peter’s sister, so that is where the relation came from. The last name of Susanna is not known. 34