Ulrich Liebengut

Ulrich Liebengut DONALD J. MARTIN, JR. with annotations by Hannah Benner Roach LRICH LEEBEGOOT,* aged 45, and his family which included Susanna Leebegoot, aged 36, Johan Pieter, aged 16, Adam, aged 13, Jacob, aged 10, and Anna and Maria, both aged 5, arrived at Philadelphia on the ship Charming Betty on 11 October 1733.2 Extensive research in the parish registers of the Department of Bas-Rhin, France,, indicate that Ulrich Liebengut of the parish of Langensoultzbach, Bas-Rhin, is probably the immigrant. In the registers* of that parish are recorded the following baptisms of the children of Ulrich Liebengut and his wife Anna Henni: Hans Peter Liebengut baptized 12 July 1716 Hans Adam Liebengut baptized 6 January 1719 Hans Jacob Liebengut baptized 8 June 1721 Anna Margaretha Liebengut baptized 15 October 1723 Maria Catharina Liebengut baptized 4 July 1726 Albrecht Liebengut baptized 5 April 1729; died 14 April 1732 No mention of the family was found in the registers after the death of the child Albrecht in 1732. U 'Leebegoot is a phonetic spelling of the surname Leibundgut. During the period of time he was born in Melchnau, Canton Bern, Switzerland, the surname was spelled Lyb and Gut in the parish registers of Melchnau. When reporting his name to the pastors who recorded his marriage and the baptisms of his children, he undoubtedly pronounced his name in the dialect peculiar to that parish or part of Canton Bern from which he had emigrated. To the pastors of Hungspach and Langensoultzbach, who probably were unfamiliar with the surname, it sounded like Liebettott, and so it was written. The surname underwent many alterations in spelling in colonial America. Leibundgut is the standard spelling today used in the district of Aarwangen, Canton Bern, Switzerland. 2 William J. Hinke, ed., Pennsylvania German Pioneers (Norristown, Pa., 1934). I, 134, List 35-A. °In the hope of finding the family, research was conducted in the parishes of Obermodern, Bischwiller, Climbach and Dauendorf, all in the Department of Bas-Rhin. The tombstone inscription of Adam Liebengut in the Falkner Swamp Reformed Church cemetery, Montgomery Co., Pa., records Adam's place of birth as "Elsass." °The parish registers of Langensoultzbach, Bas-Rhin, France, are on microfilm at the Genealogical Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 50 East North Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84150. 253 254 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Ulrich Liebengut and Anna Henni were married 19 March 1715 in the parish of Hunspach, Bas-Rhin.' The entry of their marriage identifies Ulrich's birthplace as Melchnau, Canton Bern, Switzerland. His wife Anna is identified as the daughter of Michael Henni of the village of Homberg in the parish of Steffisburg, Canton Bern, Switzerland. Whether the passenger Susanna I.eebegoot of the Charming Betty was actually Anna Henni, or a second wife, has not been determined. Nicholas Scull surveyed a tract of land on 17 March 1737, for Ulrich Levengood in McCall's Manor. On 14 April 1742, pursuant to the division of George McCall's land among his heirs, both Ulrich and Peter Livingood were listed as having had land surveyed in that part of the manor "commonly called Douglass Mannor.", On this land Ulrich is presumed to have died; letters of administration were granted to his son Jacob Levergood of Philadelphia County 1 July 1751.' His Sons On 23 August 1748, Peter Liebgut's wife, aged 30 years, 8 months, had been buried in the New Hanover Lutheran Cemetery. Who she was has not been discovered, but his second wife was Christina Mohn to whom he was married by the pastor of the Falkner Swamp Reformed Church on 12 January 1749.8 Peter Leavergood was taxed in Douglas Township, Berks County, in 1758 and 1759, and died intestate there about 1767. He left his widow Christina and nine children: John, aged 18, Jacob, aged 17, Peter, aged 13, Daniel, aged 9, Adam, aged 2, Catharina, wife of John Becker, Anna Maria, aged 20, who by 1771 had married Henry Bitting, Christina, aged 15, who had married William Maberry by 1771, and Elizabeth, aged 7.5 °The parish registers of Hunsbach, Bas-Rhin, France, are on microfilm at the Genealogical Society, Salt Lake City. °Nicholas Scull Note Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia Orphans Court Records, 14 April 1742. 'Philadelphia Administration Book F, 407, 442:1751, estate of Ulrich Levergood. 8 "New Hanover Lutheran Church Records," Pennsylvania German Society Proceedings and Addresses, XX (1911), 433; Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd Series, VIII, (Harrisburg, 1878), 609. Data on the sons of Ulrich Liebengut has been collected and prepared for this paper by Hannah Benner Roach. °Morton L. Montgomery, History of Berks County in Pennsylvania, (Phila., 1886), 968. Abstracts of Berks County Orphans Court Records, 63, 65, 88, Collections of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania (GSP). Peter Lebengut was naturalized 24 September 1762. See Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd Series, II (Harrisburg, 1890) 272, 273. Ulrich Liebengut 255 Adam Leavergood was also taxed in Douglas Township, Berks County, in 1759, but by 1769 he was living in New Hanover Township, Philadelphia County, where he died testate in early March 1804. His will, dated 16 February 1804 and proved 27 April 1804, named his wife Christina, sons Jacob, Mathias, John and Peter, daughter Elizabeth, wife of Charles Neiman, and mentioned the children of his daughter Catharine, the wife of Willian Kepner." Jacob Liebegut was married to Christina Brand 9 November 1748, by the pastor of the Falkner Swamp Reformed Church. By 1768 he had 200 acres in Douglas Township, Berks County, and died there testate in 1784. His will dated 6 December 1783, and proved 17 February 1784, named his wife Christina, sons Philip, Jacob and Peter, and John and Henry, the last two being under 21, and his daughter Catharine." Jacob Liebengut and his wife Christina are both buried in the cemetery adjoining Zion Reformed Church, Hanover Street, Pottstown, Pa. The dates on the stone give his birth as 15 June 1721, and his death as 15 January 1784. Christina his wife was born in 1728 and died 12 August 1800. Many of his descendants are also buried in this cemetery. No information about Ulrich Liebengut's daughters has been located. toAdam Leibengut was naturalized at the same time as Isis brother Peter. Ibid., 374. Both men took the sacrament on 19 September 1762. Adam's burial is entered in the transcript of the records of Falkner Swamp Reformed Church, 343, in GSP. His tombstone in the church's cemetery states that he lived with his wife in wedlock 60 years. Montgomery County Will Book 2, 385, will of Adam Liebenugh (sic). ',Jacob Liebegut also owned land in Philadelphia County and was of that county when he was naturalized in April 1761, having taken the sacrament the previous 22 March. Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd Series, II, 351, cited in note 9. He directed his executors to sell his land in New Hanover Township in his will. Berks Co. Will Book B, 40. This is to give notice to EDWARD GREGORY, late of New Garden, school master, that his son THOMAS GREGORY is arrived here in the ship George from Londonderry, and is now at the house of WILLIAM APPLEBY, cordialdistiller, at the Stone Bridge in Philadelphia. N.B. Said APPLEBY has a large quantity of Cordial to dispose of at the lowest price. Dunlap's Pennsylvania Packet, or The General Advertiser, 20 Dec. 1773,