John George KUHN, Bavaria to Pennsylvania

John George KUHN, is my 4th great-grandfather on my mother's father's KUHN line, my children's 5th great-grandfather, my grandchildren's 6th great-grandfather.  

Born about 1720 in Bavaria or Württemberg, he was the 2nd son of the three sons and one daughter of John KUHN & Anna Barbara ADAMS. The parents and their four children likely immigrated about 1730, settling in Goshenhoppen, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. That time period is suspected because of the marriage dates of John George and his brothers before 1741. To date I have not found the family on ship lists coming to settle in Pennsylvania. 

An excerpt from The Gettysburg Compiler, PA, on July 19, 1911, written by John Reilly Kuhn, provided some brief information on the immigrant settler John KUHN:

     "The first priest to come to America to minister to the German Roman Catholics was Rev. Theodore Schneider, S. J., who landed at Philadelphia in 1741, and was conveyed to the settlement at Goshenhoppen, where he established headquarters at the house of John Kuhn, a carpenter and farmer.
     In the course of two years, John Kuhn, with his sons and neighbors, erected a dwelling-house for Father Schneider, with a very substantially constructed Chapel as an addition thereto. This Chapel was completed in 1743, and remains as part of the magnificent church at Bally, Berks County, Pa.   This church compares favorably with Conewago Chapel, and is filled several times every Sunday by the devout descendants of the first settlers in that community.
     The writer of these notes is a grandson of John Kuhn, who settled near Conewago Chapel in 1785, who was a grandson of John Kuhn the carpenter who built the original chapel." 

John George KUHN married Catherine RIFFEL on 27 Nov 1744, at his father's home in Macungie.  The marriage was registered at St. Paul's Catholic Church, Goshenhoppen. Witnesses were John George's parents and siblings. 

John George and Catherine had the following known children:
    1.  George Jacob, chr. 31 Mar 1746, Goshenhoppen PA, d. 17 Nov 1825,
             Pikesville, MD; m. Magdalena Topper/Tapper.
    2.  Barbara, b. abt 1748, Goshenhoppen PA; 
    3.  Mary Eva, b. abt 1750, Goshenhoppen PA; d. 1778, Lancaster Co., PA
    4.  Anna Margaret, chr. 28 Apr 1752, Goshenhoppen PA; d. 12 Apr 1802,
            Adams Co., PA
    5.  John I[Ignatius] ancestor, b. abt 1754, Greenwich, Berks co, PA,
             d. 1 Mar 1826 Reading, Berks PA; m. Theresa FRICKER, 25 Apr 1775
            in Goshenhoppen, b. 1 May 1760 Reading, Berks PA, d. 20 Apr 1821;
            12 known children

John George KUHN died unexpectedly in early 1762.  His widow Catherine married about October 1762, to Joseph Ehrmann. They had a daughter Appolonia in 12 July 1763. 

So little is known about John George's life. He was a farmer, also known as a carpenter, was married, had 5 known children, little is known about his children except his younger son, John I. KUHN, who had 12 children. John George KUHN died only 42 years of age.  

I have a list of more research resources to work through, and hopefully will be able to add more to this sketch of my 4th Great-grandfather, son of our first KUHN settler in Pennsylvania. 
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If any of these people are also your ancestors, I am happy to share what I have about their families and ancestors as well. You can best contact me at celiaDOTwinkyATgmail.com - as Blogger is not allowing me to reply to any comments on my posts.  

52 ANCESTORS in 52 WEEKS, #25: Catherine RIFFEL, 1725-1799

Following the challenge of writing 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, issued by Amy Johnson Crow, here is my 25th installment, Catherine RIFFEL, my 4th great-grandmother, through my mother's father's lines.  

Although Catherine's birth date is 'known' to be 30 Apr 1725 in Germany, she married in Pennsylvania, so I can assume that she immigrated with at least one member of her family to Pennsylvania, before her marriage in 1744.  To date, I have no records of parent(s)  "Riffel" or variants of that name, and I am listing her on this blogging challenge to remind myself of all the research still to be done on her and her family.  I have no names of her parents at this point.

The group of immigrants into the Goshenhoppen region and later the Adams County region of Pennsylvania seem to have come from the southwestern region of what is now Wurrtemberg and from Bavaria. Two little villages' names which show up in several historical records are: Neckartailfingen, and Schlaitdorf in Wurrtemberg. Both of these villages are situated 20 km south of Stuttgart, as seen on the Google map at right.   Although these are tantalizing clues, I have yet to confirm that either the families of Catherine RIFFEL or John George KUHN originated from either of these places. A very sparse bread crumb trail! 

On 27 Nov 1744, in Macungie, PA, Catherine was married to John George KUHN, second son of John KUHN and Anna Barbara ADAMS. His parents apparently arrived about 1732 to Pennsylvania.  Catherine & John's marriage is listed in the Goshenhoppen Register (transcribed, online), as:
"KUHN, John George, 27 Nov 1744, in John Kuhn's house, to Catharine Riffel; witnesses the bridegroom's parents and brothers, and others."  

Because her parents are not listed as witnesses, I might wonder if they had died before 1744-? Of course, the "and others" statement doesn't tell us if those others were relatives of any kind.  Mystery. I took a moment to go through an online listing of the Goshenhoppen Registers of baptisms, finding and highlighting 79 RIFFEL names!  I felt like such a twit when I saw so many.  How did I possibly miss this? Well, probably because I'd earlier been searching only for KUHN names in those early searching days.  

Some of the highlighted baptisms took place "in John Joseph Riffel's house" or "at Joseph Riffel's house at Macungi".  This could be the same person of course. They give me bits of information which I need to research further, with several different possible relationships to keep in mind, at all times. I think I'll need a spreadsheet to figure out the who's and when's.

Catherine RIFFEL and her husband John George KUHN, had 5 children whom I know of, the first 4 born in Goshenhoppen:
1. George Jacob, b. 31 Mar 1746; m. 03 May 1768 Magdalen Tapper; d. 17 Nov 1825 Pikesville, MD
2. Barbara, b. abt 1748; m. 09 Jun 1767 John Lochler; 
3. Mary Eva, b. abt 1750; m. 13 Sep 1768 to (probably) Nicholas Walter; d. 1778, PA
4. Anna Margaret, b. 28 Apr 1752; m. 14 Mar 1771 to Robert Owings; d. 12 Apr 1802, PA; 6 children
5. John Ignatius [direct ancestor], b. abt 1753 in Greenwich, Berks, Pa; m. 25 Apr 1775 to Theresa (Tarasy) FRICKER; d. 1 Mar 1826, Reading, Berks, PA; 12 children

There may be other children as well, although because the Kuhns named their children the same names, there is some confusion about who belongs with whom.  

Catherine died 15 March 1799 aged 74 years of age, in Adams county, PA, and was buried in the Conewago Chapel Basilica Cemetery, where several generations of KUHN families are buried.  I'd love to give you a little more information on the Conewago Cemetery, but FindAGrave and Ancestry are down today from a DDoS issue... it could take awhile, so I'll post anyway.  I may update this post at a later time. 

If you have further information on any of the children, or of Catharine RIFFEL's parents and family, do please contact me at calewis at telus dot net, or in the Comments below.  I particularly appreciate any corrections you may have to share!  

52 ANCESTORS in 52 WEEKS, #13: John KUHN

Following the challenge of writing 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, issued by Amy Johnson Crow, here is my 13th installment, for John KUHN, my 5th great-grandfather on my maternal line.  

John KUHN is the original KUHN immigrant, coming from the Wurttenmberg region, settling first in the Goshenhoppen area in Pennsylvania with other Roman Catholic immigrants. John is frequently spelled Johan and other variants on records, of course, let alone Kuhn variants.  Kuhn is a relatively common surname in Germany, so this is our family's version of a 'John Smith.'

Various researchers have not been certain when the original immigrant John KUHN arrived in British America, with his family.  However, it seems to have been by 1732 or 1733, when he is noted living in the Goshenhoppen area, in what is now Berks County, Pennsylvania.   Most of the following information has been found in a variety of places including the following:  (a) "Eckroth-Eckenroth-Eckenrode Family" Vol. 1 & 2, William Kirkpatrick; published 1987 by Chris Pelikan; (b) FindAGrave Memorial information at Conewago Chapel Basilica Cemetery; (c) Goshenhoppen Church Registers: Births, Marriages, Deaths [I have pdf copies of these]; (d) Early Catholic Migration website; all online. 

John KUHN arrived with his wife, Anna Barbara [?Adams], and at least these 4 children, all born in Wurrtemberg region; all married in Pennsylvania in or around Macungie Township, near the border of Lehigh county:
 - Henry, b. abt 1715-1720, m. Anna Margaret Schmidt bef 1741; d. 1765; 10 children
 - John George* [direct ancestor], b. abt 1720-1725, m.27 Nov 1744 to Catherine Riffel; 6 children
 - Eva Mary, b. abt 1722-1725, m. 24 Apr 1743 to Phillip Schmidt; d. 1756; 6 children
 - Joseph Jacob, b. abt 1725-1730, m. ? to unknown person; d. 1782; at least one child, a son

John KUHN died on 14 Feb 1751, his wife, Anna Barbara died several years later. They are buried - as are many others of my KUHN ancestors - in the Cemetery of the Conewago Chapel Basilica.  

His death is listed in the Goshenhoppen register, as transcribed:
 KUHN, John, on 14 Feb 1751, carpenter, with whom Rev. Theodore Schneider, the founder of the Goshenhoppen missions, was wont to lodge.  

Note that Father Schneider was the first priest arriving in Philadelphia in about 1741, sent to minister to the German parishioners.  John Kuhn and his sons and neighbours built a church which stands  in Bally, Berks County, PA, as shown in the link in the second paragraph above.  

Various early tax registers show the Kuhn surname spelled a variety of ways: Coontz, for example, as well as Koon, Koone,  Kuhnz, and other variants. 

There have been a few tantalizing clues about precisely where in Wurttemberg the family originally lived, before they emigrated en masse.  On several records they are listed as from Wurttemberg, specifically from Schlaitdorf, and there is a very possible birth record in Neckartailfingen, Wurttemberg.  Both Schlaitdorf and Neckartailfingen towns are next to each other. A tiny clue, but challenging to research.  

If you have information or questions about John KUHN and his family, do leave a comment or contact me via calewis at telus dot net; I would love to hear from you.