Johann Jacob Ziegenfuss
Johann Jacob Ziegenfuss decided to leave Germany and settle in America. Johann was born in Raidelbach, Germany on January 9, 1729 to Wilhelm and Anna Elisabetha Ziegenfuss.
Johann arrived on the ship Brothers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 16, 1751. The ship arrived from Rotterdam and was captained by William Muir. Johann took the Foreign Oath of Allegiance on September 16,1751 and was witnessed by Captain Muir. There was no ship passenger list so there is no way knowing if anyone from Johann’s family came with him.
An example of how difficult is researching a name with many spellings is found the Virginia Valley Records where on August 13, 1776 in Augusta County, Virginia, Jacob Teganfus was married to Christenah Brilian.
Johann is believed to have had one son in Pennsylvania, Jacob and one son in Virginia, Peter. The first son, Jacob Sickafoos, was a private in Alexander’s Third Company of the First Battalion of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania in 1781 during the War of the Rebellion.
Since the immigrant Johann Jacob Zigenfuss has been shown to have moved to Virginia, he had to travel through the state of Maryland. In fact, if you draw a straight line from Philadelphia, PA to Augusta County, VA, that line would pass within 20-50 miles of Frederick and Washington Counties in Maryland where early Sigafoos/ Secafoose families resided. They may very well have been Johann Jacob’s descendants.
Johann’s estate was appraised on September 23, 1780 in Augusta County, Virginia and settled on November 19, 1783. The Virginia Reports, Volume 1, page 217, dated September 19, 1783 states that the widow of Jacob, Christina, refused to be the administrator of his estate.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~eliaszick/johann.html
