Finding the Ancestral Home of a Palatine Forefather: The Case of Martin Zerbe

Finding the Ancestral Home of a Palatine Forefather: The Case of Martin Zerbe HENRY Z. JONES, JR. To determine the parentage of one's immigrant ancestor, it is helpful to ascertain the city, town or village of origin of the family. The churchbooks and other records of the region then may be checked for references to the immigrant and his forebears. The author, in his attempt to pinpoint the home in Germany of every Palatine who arrived in colonial New York in 1710, has followed a pattern of genealogieal research which has proved successful in locating family origins. Many hitherto unplaced immigrants have been discovered in Germany by this method: the Bellingers, Rohrbachs, Rickerts, Fiedlers, Hagedorns, Kuhns and Salbachs, to name just a few. Basically, the author's modur operandi is as follows: 1) Study pertinent church and civil records of all areas in this country where the immigrant resided for mention of his village of origin. The Kocherthal records' and the membership and marriage records of the New York City Dutch Reformed' and Luteran churches are the prime sources of such data for the 1709-10 group. 2) Study surviving European passenger lists and census of immigrants, noting near whom your ancestor appeared on the unalphabetized, original rms.' Find out all possible information on the origins of his "neighbors" on the lists. People listed together were often relatives and/or neighbors back home. 3) Try to find out the origin of those with the same surname as the immigrant, considering all possible spelling variations. 4) Find the origins of the immigrant's immediate neighbors in American church and civil records. The Hunter Subsistence Lists°, Livingston Papers', and the Simmendinger Register' are most helpful in locating 170910 Palatines in this regard--again, in their original, unalphabetized state! As a case in point, by these steps the author was able to locate the village of origin of the Palatine Martin Zerbe, who later settled in Tulpehocken, Pennsylvania. There was no mention of Martin Zerbe's German home in the obvious 129 130 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine sources, such as the Kocherthal and New York City churchbooks (Step #1). But an interesting picture emerged when studying the Rotterdam Embarkation Lists and the London Lists (Step #2): The original, ans. Rotterdam Lists (unlike published versions such as in Knittle') were broken down into the individual shiploads of immigrants within each "party." Martin Zerbe was listed near Georg Volpert Schmidt, Nicholas Michel and Henrich Bartel not only on one of the small ships sailing from Rotterdam in the 4th party ("Johan Martin Zerber & vrouw, 4 Kind."), but also near them in the 4th arrivals encamped at London ("Martin Zerbst, 34, and wife, sons aged 11, 8, 4 and 2, Lutheran, Husbandman and Vinedresser"). Schmidt, Michel and Bartel all settled in New York: Bartel's home was named in Kocherthal as "Epstein, Duchy Of Darmstadt," which is Eppstein, an area near Wiesbaden. A search was then instigated for anyone with the same surname as Martin Zerbe (Step #3). A "Philip Zerber" was found on the original Rotterdam Lists near Martin and also on the London Lists ("Philip Zerbst, 25, Lutheran, Figuremaker"). It was noted that the Kocherthal records show a "Johann Philipp Zerb of Kettenbach, commune of Minster" who was married to a "Maria Catharina Steiber of the commune of Hachenburg" on 9 Jul 1710. Maps showed that Kettenbach was north of Wiesbaden, near a town of Munster and but a few miles away from Eppstein. To cement the Bartel-Zerbe connection begun in Germany, Henrich Bartel appears near Martin Zerbe in the unalphabetned Hunter Subsistence Lists, and one "Maria Margaretha Barthel" sponsored Martin Zerbe's daughter baptized in 1715 by Rev. Kocherthal (Step #4). Neighbors remained neighbors, even surviving a trip across the ocean. A professional genealogist was sent to Kettenbach to search for Martin Zerbe. The theory of his ancestral home, developed from the aforementioned four steps, was proved valid in the information found in the Kettenbach churchbooks: Martin Zirbe(n)1 was the earliest, direct ancestor of the immigrant found at Kettenbach. This Martin Senior was buried there on 8 Mar 1694; his wife Anna Elisabetha or Elbet survived him, as the records show she was buried at Kettenbach on 8 Jan 1703. Among their children were: 1) George Jacob2, bapt. 16 May 1666. Sponsors were Georg Miinch front Riickershausen, his brother in law Jacob, and Anna Margretha Ullyn. 2) Johann Martin2, bapt. 17 Dec 1671. (More later) 3) Johann Peter2, bapt. 27 Sep 1674. 4) Johann Georg2, bapt. 21 Oct 1677. He married at Kettenbach 16 Sep 1704 Anna Elisabetha Rancher. 5) Maria Margretha2, bapt. 23 May 1680. Sponsors were Bastian Basset,— a Wiirtzkramer (spice merchant), Martin Hermann, Anna Margaretha Kiimnelin and Anna Maria Schlottin. Ancestral Home of Martin Zerbe 131 6) Johann Philipp2, bapt. 20 Aug 1682. Sponsors were Johann Philipp Ott from Westerhoff, Johannes Bopp from Daisbach, Magdalena—wife of the miller from Burgschwalbach, and Christina. Magdalena Hermannin.' 7) Anna Margaretha2, bapt. 5 Apr 1685. Sponsors were Anna Maria—wife to Johann Heinrich Rauen, Anna Margaretha Jocksen, Wilhelm Buff, and the tailor "Matthes." That the ages of Martin Zerbe2 and his brother Johann Philipp Zerbe2 should be slightly different from those given on the London Lists is not surprising: the London Lists were somewhat erratic, sometimes agreeing to the month with German churchbooks, ages given in lists of Palatines remaining in New York City in 1710-11, and American burial records, and other times being off by as much as thirteen years." Johann Martin Zirbe2 was confirmed at Kettenbach in 1682. He is listed as a communicant there in 1686, 1687, 1690, 1692 and 1693. On 11 Feb 1697 the marriage of Johan Martin Zirben to Anna Elisabeth, daughter of the late Johannes Jfingel from the oilmill, was recorded. Their children baptised at Kettenbach were: 1) Johann Henrich3, bapt. 12 Oct 1697. Sponsors were Peter Webeler, Henrich Webeler, Hanna Miillerin and Maria Margaretha Zirbin (5 above). 2) Johan Jacobi, bapt. 4 Dec 1698. Sponsors were Georg Zirbe, Martha Catharina Hermann—wife of Martin, and Maria—wife to Herman Red. gent (?). 3) Georg Peter3, bapt. 22 Jan 1702. Sponsors were Peter Webeler, Georg Jacob Zirbe, Anna Catharina—wife of miller Philipp Schiffmann from Hansen, and Anna Margaretha Kettebachin. 4) Johann Japhet3, bapt. 1 Feb 1704. Buried 22 Feb. 5) Johann Japhet3 (again), bapt. 24 Jun 1705. The sponsors were Johannes (?), Johannes Japhet Kettenbach, Anna Margaretha Jocksin and Anna Catharina Zirbin. Johann Philippa, bapt. 12 Feb 1708. Sponsors were Melchior Hanstein, 6) Johann Philipp Zissen (?), Elisabeth—wife to Peter Kirperger, and Maria Catharina—the daughter of Emrich Klein from Strintz. The Rotterdam and London Lists show Martin Zerbe emigrating with four children, while the Kettenbach churchbooks record six children being baptised, with one buried. The burial of the missing child probably went unrecorded at Kettenbach, as my investigator there reported that the Kettenbach churchbooks, 1643-1765, were "very defective with gaps in the records." Martin Zerbe was enrolled on the Hunter Subsistence Lists for the period 1710-1712.° He was "of Annsberg" when a Palatine volunteer in the Canadian expedition of 1711." "Marte Server" was naturalized at Albany on 17 Jan 1715/ 16." The Simmendinger Register, published in 1717 but actually drawn up as 132 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine early as late 1715, calls him of Wormsdorff with four children and wife Maria Catharine: it seems that Simmendinger erred in Martin's wife's name being Maria Catharine, and probably mixed her up with his son Jacob Zerbe's wife of the same name." He appears on several of the "Palatine Debtors Lists" found in the Livingston Papers", the last entry being in February 1722 after which Martin Zerbe and his family removed to Tulpehocken. Anna Elisabeth Zerbe, wife of Martin, died 22 Jul 1750, according to the Records of Christ Lutheran Church, Stouchsburg, Pa. NOTES 1. Records of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church at West Camp, Ulster Co., N.Y. 1708-1843, begun by Rev. Joshua Kocherthal. Although no definitive translation of these records has been made into English, readers may wish the consult the version in Olds Ulster, HI (1907), 51-57, 83-93, st seq. 2. Records of The Reformed Dutch Church of New York City, 1639-1801. 3. Records of the Kercken-Boeck voor de Christelycke Apostolische Protestantische Lutherische Gemeente toegedaen de onveranderte Confessie van Augsburg in Newyorck en andern daerto behoorende Plaetsen in America (New York City Lutheran Churchbook). 4. The best sources for this purpose are the Rotterdam Embarkation Lists, T1/119:6-10, 19-26, 58-65, 68-72, 79-82, and the London Lists, C.0.388/76: No. 56, 56i, 56ii, 64, 68-70 which are available on microfilm from the Public Record Office, London. 5. RR.O., C. 0. 5/1230, 5/1231—also available on microfilm. 6. Livingston Family Papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Library, Hyde Park, New York. 7. Ulrich Simmendinger, Warhoffte and glaubtourdige verzeichnuss jeniger Personen, writhe sick artno 1709 unto des Herren munderbarer Fuhrnng ass Teutschland in Americans oder nese Welt begeben (Reutlingen, ca. 1717). 8. Walter Allen Knittle, Early Eighteenth Century Palatine Emigration (Philadelphia, 1937). 9. This Philipp Zerbe, brother to Martin of Tulpehocken, lived in the vicinity of Tappan, Rockland Co., New York until his death ca. 1722. 10. For example, the London Lists agree closely on age-data on Johannes Lorentz of the second arrivals when compared with entries on his family in the churchbook at Bellheim Pfaln However, other cases do not fare so well: a) Zacharra (Zacharias) Flegler of the second party in 1709 is listed as 36 years old (b. ea. 1672/3); the churchbooks of his home village at Urphar am Main show he was bapt. in 1676—three years later; b) the Census of Palatines remaining at New York City in 1710 (actually probably 1711) shows Lucas Hooch aged 44 years; his entry in the fourth arrivals in the London Lists--just a few names away from Martin Zerbe—lists him as 31 years old, with ason aged 22; c) Kilian Minglen (Minckler) is listed on the London Lists as aged 36 (b. ca. 1672/3), but his burial record at the Germantown, N.Y., Reformed Church states that he was buried in 1748, aged 70—making him born ca. 1677/8. There are countless discrepancies such as these in the London Lists, and so the author takes these ages given in the lists as "clues" to the age of the immigrant, rather than as the actual age itself. 11. Hunter, cited in note 5. 12. E. B. O'Callaghan, The Documentary History of Nem York (Albany, 1850-51), III, 572. 13. Albany Common Council Minutes, 6:115, in Manuscript Division, New York State Library. 14. See note 7. 15. See note 6.