#52Ancestors: Anna Barbara ADAMS 1698-1753

Continuing the #52Ancestors  challenge by genealogist Amy Johnson Crow, here is my 5th great-grandmother on my maternal KUHN line, Anna Barbara ADAMS, abt 1698-1753.  The photo here is of the village of Neckartailfingen, a drawing done in 1683, from the forest log of Andreas Kieser. It is believed the ADAMS and KUHN families may have lived here. 

Anna Barbara ADAMS and her husband, John KUHN, plus their 4 living adult children, emigrated to Pennsylvania between 1730-1742. They had been said to be living in the Wuerttemberg region - now the southwest portion of Germany. I haven't been able to definitively pinpoint where she was born, nor her husband's birthplace. The Kuhns have "always" been of the Catholic faith, so I still have a few more options for research.  

John KUHN was a carpenter, and was responsible for the erection of the first Catholic church in Goshenhoppen in the early 1740s for the region's first Catholic priest: Father Theodore Schneider, signature on the right [1741].  

In several different KUHN trees, and also on one questionable document, it appears that she may have been born in Schlaitdorf, close to the Neckar River. As the Kuhn family likely came with others from the same region, I have been researching as many of the early immigrant in-laws and neighbours as possible, in their region of Pennsylvania. Challenging. So far, nothing definite has been found, but several crumbs, perhaps! 

Anna Barbara's parents were apparently Hans Jacob ADAMS and Margareta SCHAFER. As it is said her daughter was born in/near Schlaitdorf, it is likely her parents lived here and may have been born here as well. Another in-law states the family lived in Neckartailfingen, a smaller village within a kilometer from Schlaitdorf, on the Neckar River.  

Her mother Margareta died on 26 Jan 1753, on apparently the same day/year as Anna Barbara's death, in Berks county, Pennsylvania. This may indicate a serious illness going through the community, or, may be an error in transcription. I have not found the church register information for this time period.  

Children of Anna Barbara ADAMS and John KUHN, all born in Wuerttemberg region: 

    1.  Henry, b. abt 1718, d. 22 Aug 1765 Salisbury, Northampton, PA; m.
         bef 1741 to Anna Margaret Schmidt [1720-1773]; 10 known children.

    2.  John George, [ancestor],  b. abt 1720, d. 1762 in PA, aged only 42;
          m. 27 Nov 1744 in father's home, Macungie PA, to Catherine RIFFEL
          [1725-1799]; 5 known children

    3.  Eva Mary, b. abt 1722, d. abt 1756 aged 34, after 6th child, Macungie PA;
         m. 24 Apr 1743 in father's home, Macungie PA to Philip Schmidt;
         6 known children

    4.  Joseph, abt 1724, d. 1782, aged 58 Macungie PA; m. to unknown person;
         1 son

Re other ADAMS or SCHAFER/SHAEFER individuals or families in the region:
There is one other Adams at the same time in the community: a Simon Adams marrying Catharine Eck/Egg on 13 Feb 1776, but I would have expected an Adams or Schafer individual to be witnesses.  One Catharine Schafer [dau of Henry Shaefer] married Solomon Grett 10 Nov 1816; no witnesses listed. No other Schafer individuals show up in church records of this time and place.

Note that Burials for the old Goshenhoppen Church [Bally, Berks, PA] begin in 1765, marriages from 1741, baptisms. also from 1741.  These details are from compilations produced and published by Barbara Brady O'Keefe, Miami FL, in 1982 [copyrighted]. Not all baptisms would be of babies, it must be noted, so I cannot make assumptions about a baptism following shortly after a birth.

I need to keep digging into the compilations of the Goshenhoppen church to see if I can find more clues to follow. Plus search for the Catholic church records on FamilySearch and online. And wouldn't it be lovely to find a family Bible-? of any of the Kuhn, Adams, or Schafer families.

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If these are your ancestors, I am happy to share what little I have on these ancestors. And if there are errors, please do let me know, via calewis at telus dot net, or in the Comments below and I will get back to you either by email or in the Comments. I appreciate the opportunity to correct any issues in these family trees.

Blogger - or my computer - is still not letting me "reply" to your comments, for some unknown reason. If I don't reply to your Comment, please know that I'm totally thrilled you came to read my post and commented!  You truly make my day!!

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!