General Notes

[Joanne's Tree.1 GED.GED]

2  PLAC 54
2  SOUR S332582
3  DATA
4  TEXT Date of Import: 14 Jan 2004


[daveanthes.FTW]

John R. Hunsinger did extensive research on the origin of Johann Georg in Germany including several trips to Germany to research him and provided the following information;  There is a small town in Germany, called Widdern, which was also the home of a George Michael Teubert/Deibert. He was born in 1718, married in 1743, and emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1753 and settled in the same area as Johann Georg. Here in Pa. He had a daughter, Anna Maria, born in 1755, that married John George's 1st first born son, John George 2nd. It is to much of a coincidence that they didn't know each other back in Germany."  Based on these facts that J.R. uncovered in Widdern, Germany it pretty much establishes the birth and marriage information on Johann Georg Huntzinger. They had 5 children born at Widdern and it is not known if the daughters survived, came to America with the father or remained behind with other family members. He came to America on the ship Jacob which sailed from Amsterdam, Holland. The captain was Adolph Degrove and the ship carried 249 Palatinate Germans from Swabia, Wirtemberg and Darmstadt, Germany. The voyage to America was probably as bad as that described in the Oxford History of the American People.  Chapter X quotes Gottlieb Mittleburger who described his voyage in 1750.."Bad drinking water, putrid salt meat, excessive heat and crowding, lice so thick they could be scraped off the body, seas so rough that the hatches were battened down and everyone vomiting in the foul air. Children under seven years of age rarely survived the voyage. Passengers succumbed to dysentery, typhus, cankers and mouth rot. On his ship no fewer than 32 died". The ship docked in Philadelphia, Pa. on October 2, 1749. He wife may have been with him but she was not listed on the passenger rolls as was the custom at that time. He must have moved up into Berks county soon after his arrival, since, in 1749, he bought land from the Indians "Over the Blue Mountain" per a Schuylkill County historical publication. More likely, he bought his land from Thomas and Richard Penn, who had in fact bought the land from the Indians. He was a taxpayer residing "over the mountain" in the tax lists of Berks County in 1754. In 1768, Georg petitioned for a survey on a tract of land in what became Manheim Township, Schuykill county. The Racoon Creek runs through the property. It adjoined the lands of George Zimmerman, Matthias Best, and other land of his own. He had another warrant for land in that township in 1775. Georg was among the early members of Zion Lutheran, "Red Church" in Orwigsburg and likely was one of those who helped to rebuild it after it had been burned by the Indians in 1758. He served as a deacon of the congregation. On 3 Decmeber, 1770, the new church structure was rededicated by the Reverend Daniel Schumacher. Among the six signatures to the declaration were Georg Huntzinger, and Georg Michael Deauber, his son Georg's future father in law. Rev. Schumacher was an itinerant Lutheran Pastor who served much of what is now Berks, Schuykill and Lehigh counties. The name "Red Church" comes from the fact that the men had used a red clay mortar mixture to build the stone Church.
On 1 May, 1777 George and his two sons signed the Oath of Allegiance before Justice Spyker. A George Huntzinger appears on the tax records of Brunswick Township in 1771 and 1772, but not 1773. On 19 October, 1773, Georg the elder granted a deed for a tract of 250 acres to his son Georg. A George reappears in 1774, and it is not possible to distinquish whether it was the father or the son.  Therefore, it is possible that the elder George died soon after the conveyance, or infact, it may have been as the result of his death. The name Johann Georg Huntzinger does not appear on any of the published tax records for the ensuing years and it is possible he died about 16 years after his arrival in America. His date of death and where he is buried is unknown.