General Notes

Following are excerpts from a narrative generously contributed to AWTP by "mccarthy" tree, Cliff McMarthy camcca@@compuserve.com:
"It is said that the Baumgartners came to the United States from the town of Baden, in the Duchy
of Baden, in the Black Forest section of Germany. Like others who immigrated from
that region, they were Catholics who sought sanctuary here because of religious
disturbances in their native country. In his history of the Baumgartner family, written in
1944, John Hampton Baumgartner states that the original American member of our
branch of the Baumgartners came to Philadelphia in 1733, (seven years before
Frederick the Great came to power) and settled in Pennsylvania."
"Jacob originally lived in Pennsylvania, later moving to Piney Creek, now in
Carroll County, Maryland, before that section of the colonies had been intersected by
the Mason-Dixon Line. Rearing his family in that region, his descendants settled in the
adjacent communities on both sides of the boundary between the colonies. Jacob was
a farmer and a merchant, engaged in the manufacture of pottery. (1,3,5)"
"The Baumgardners were active members of the Catholic church. They attended
old Conewago Chapel, near Hanover, Pennsylvania, which had been established in
1721 as one of a chain of Jesuit missions connecting Quebec with French Louisiana.
In 1791, Jacob and his family were among the original members of St. Aloysius'
Parish, in Littlestown, Pennsylvania, and he was one of the trustees that erected the
first church building there, in 1840. His son, Samuel, was the organist and choirmaster
for the church. (2,4)"

Mary Magdalene (Kraft) Baumgardner was the oldest child of Conrad and
Dorothy (Rosch) Kraft. Her birth is recorded in the records of Trinity Lutheran Church in
Berks Co., Pennsylvania, on February 2, 1766. Being from a Lutheran family, it must
have been difficult for Mary Magdalene in her marriage to the Catholic Jacob
Baumgardner. Their children were raised as Catholics, but Mary must have never
completely converted to that faith. When Jacob and Mary died within a month of each
other in 1846, they were buried at Conewago Chapel. However, both were later
reinterred -- Jacob lies with other Baumgartners in the Cemetery at St. Aloysius'
(Catholic) Church, in Littlestown, PA, while Mary Magdalene rests at St. John's
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Adams Co., PA. (6,4,1,7)
Cites by this Source:
(1) Gravestones in St. Aloysius' Cemetery, Littlestown, PA.
(2) "Let's Meet The Old Folks", by J. Hampton Baumgartner, 1944.
(3) U.S. Census, 1810, 1820, 1830, 1840, Frederick and Carroll Counties, Maryland.
(4) Church records of Conewago Chapel, Hanover, Pennsylvania.
(5) 1837 tax lists of Carroll County, Maryland.
(6) Church records of Trinity Lutheran Church, Berks Co., Pennsylvania.
(7) Gravestone, St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Germany Township, Adams
Co., PA.

MY SOURCES: Research by our family historian Robert Troxell, and "mccarthy" tree, Cliff McMarthy camcca@@compuserve.com.
HISTORICAL HI-LITES: The first medical school in the colonies was organized in 1765, later to become the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. This was also the year that Congress adopted the Bill of Rights.