Person:Abraham Dewald (1)

Biography

Abraham Dewald ... ^[1]

DEWALD FAMILY HISTORY_ _ _ _

OUR GERMAN HERITAGE Last year at our reunion, quite a few people expressed an interest in knowing where our family had its origin and how we all came to be here. We have therefore tried to gather some of the family history together in this booklet.These days, when changing values, confusion, and anall-around feeling of discontent are so much a part of our daily lives, and when there is an uneasiness in the air over world conditions, we need to have something to hold onto – we need to have a sense of ���belonging” or having “roots”.Perhaps when we understand and appreciate the motives and conditions that caused our forefathers to leave their homeland, we can gain a renewed hope and purpose for our lives. It took a special kind of courage for these folksto leave family and friends, sail across thousands of miles of ocean, and face the unknown problems and dangers awaiting them in this strange, new land which was mostly wilderness. Let us never forget the vision they had for themselves and for their posterity! Our research of the Dewald family began about 12 years ago.From what we were able to learn by searching through old church records, census and tax lists, exploring cemeteries, and checking courthouse records and various other sources, we will try to tell our ancestors’ story. This story is, of course, far from complete, as families in the early days tended to be rather large, and trying to locate records about them requires much time, a lot of patience, and most of all,good luck!Most of our earliest information on the family’s European origin and early immigration is due to the research of Mrs. Dorothy Bicknell, formerly of Iowa, who is now living in California.Mrs. Bicknell visited Germany in the 1950’s and was able to locate records there of the Dewalds before they sailed to our shores. She also visited Pennsylvania during the summer of 1963 in her search for records of the family. While here, she attended one of our reunions and shared her findings with Sam and Rosie and other Dewald “cousins”.Mrs. Bicknell shares the same immigrant ancestor as we do – Johann Michael – but her branch later moved into Virginia and Tennessee.The name Dewald is of French Huguenot origin and literally means “the forest”. The name has been found spelled about 40 different ways due to carelessness or toerrors in trying to translate the French name into German or English.Some of the more common spellings that were found are: Thewald; Theobald; Devolt; Devault; Dewalt; Dewaldt; Dewald.Our story begins with Abraham and Anna Catharina Theobald who were born in the late 1600’sand lived in or near the little village of Medard, Germany, near the French border.In those days, there was no country of Germany as we know it today, but only many small, independent German states.The recordsof the Reformed Church of Medard show that Abraham and Anna Catherinahad the following children baptized there on these dates:

Johann Mickel (November 23, 1719)

Maria Sara (January 22, 1718)

Johann Friedrich ( October 8, 1722)

Anna Catherina (November 9, 1727)

Johann Peter ( August 12, 1731) There was probably an older son also, who was named for his father, asother information in the church records state: Abraham Theobald, Jr. Married Anna Maria, daughter of Matthias Medres in 1734

They had children baptized on these dates:

Johann Jacob (August 19, 1736) Godmother was Maria Sara, daughter of Abraham Theobald

Johann Peter (January 3, 1744) About this time many of the people of this area along the Upper Rhine (known as the Palatinate) wee emigrating from their homeland where they had suffered from the devastation of wars and from religious persecutions for generations.There was a darkand bloddy period in Eurpoe’shistory (1618 – 1648) which most of you no doubt have heard about, known as the Thirty Years War. The destruction of central Europe during this time was so devasting that it has been estimated that in the first half of the 17th century two-thirds of the people of Germany perished. In 1689, Louis XIV again ordered the French army to sack and burn, until nearly all the German Rhineland lay in ruins. Many French Protestants – known as Huguenots – had fled their native country and sought refuge across the border in the Palatinate, Wurtemburg, and Switzerland. Here, after generations of living among the Germans, learning their customs, and inter-marrying with them, they eventually all became known as German Palatines.Wars and persecutions followed them here too, and as an aftermath to the burning and pillaging these people now suffered from epidemics of typhus, and typhoid, and from famine. The winter of 1708 – 09 was unusually severe. Almost all vegetationdied, and all rivers and even the seas along the coasts were frozen.As the famine continued into the spring and summer, the proprietors of the American Colonies (especially WilliamPenn) sent their agents to these people telling them of the abundance of good fertile farmland, forests plentiful with game and birds, and rivers filled with fish. Here too they could be free to worship according to their own faith. In Europe the people were forced to follow the religion of the reigning monarch, as monarchs changed so did the religious affiliations of the subjects.And so it was (probably) that Johann Michael Theobald (Dewald)when he reached the age of maturity, decided totake advantage of this offer of land in “Penn’s Woods”. Sometime – possibly during the spring or early summer of 1738 – heset out on the long journey to his new home in America.It is quite likely that he took a river barge down the Rhine to the port of Rotterdam in Holland. Here there was usually a wait of several weeks, sometimes months, till a vessel would be leaving for England. Once there, more waiting had to be endured until boats were loaded with cargo and more passengers added to the already crowded ships.Sometimes the immigrants “workedtheir way” along their journey. Having only enough money to see them to Rotterdam, they would remain there to find some kind of work until they had earned enough to get them to England. There they would again try to earn the remainder of their passage to the American Colonies.There was also another way that many of the immigrants used to reach their “promised land”. Rich merchants and land holders in America would pay the fare for an immigrant and perhaps his family also. After the immigrant arrived he would pay back his benefactor by becoming an indentured servant for a period of 5 to 7 years. After this, hewould be free to purchase his own land.Upon leaving England the travelers began their journey across the Atlantic Ocean. This would take anywhere from 4 to 6 months.Conditions on these small sailing vessels were deplorable. The voyages were usually begun in spring and early summer so as to assure the best possible weather. With no refrigeration, food would quickly spoil and dysentery and other diseases were prevalent. Overcrowded conditions in hot, poorly ventilated steerage compartments (below deck) as well as poor sanitation facilities, took theirtoll. Many passengers died at sea. Indeed, when we read some of thestories about these ships, it is surprising that any passengers survived at all.Our Johann Michael was among the fortunate ones, arriving at the Port of Philadelphia on the 9th of September 1738, on the ship ���Glasgow”. Upon arrival here, all males over 16 were required to pledge their allegiance to the Crown. This was called “taking an oath of allegiance” and it is because of this fact that we have records of our early immigrant ancestors and the dates of their arrival in America.The Captains of these ships were also required to keep a list of all passengers on their vessels. Some of these lists were compiled into a 3 volume hard-bound set called “Penna. German Pioneers”, by Strassburger and Hinke. Copies of these books can be found in libraries in many areas of our country. The Pennsylvania Archives also lists some of the early German immigrants and it is from this listing we located our Johann Michael’s date of arrival.However, these listings do not contain the name of every Pennsylvania German who came over. Careless and irresponsible captains (of which there were quite a few) neglected to even keep a list; while others kept very complete records, not only mentioning the names of the male passengers over 16 but the wife and children’s names and ages as well. Unfortunately many of these lists have been lost or destroyed over the years.Returning to our story of Johann Michael, accordingto information found by Mrs. Bicknell, Abraham and Anna Catharina, his parents, also came to America. She located records showing that they arrived in Philadelphia on the 19th of October, 1736, by stage from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, where they had disembarked from the “Brigatine John” from Rotterdam.This would have been two years before their son’sarrival and further checking needs to be done to clear up this difference. However, it is not at all unusual for various members of a family to arrive at different times. Perhaps Johann Michael stayed behind to take care of the details of selling the family home or business, or perhaps he needed to earn more money before he could join his parents in this country.At any rate Abraham’s name appears on a list of German immigrants who took the oath of allegiance on the same date of his arrival here. After this, however, no further record of Abraham and Anna Catharin has been found by this compiler, nor does Mrs. Bicknell know anything more about them. Hopefully sometime in the near future, further research will turn up more facts as to what happened to Abraham and his wife and wherethey settled in the New World.For the present, then, we will go on with the story of their son, Johann Michael (in later records known as MICHAEL). In August of 1743, John Michael Dewald took out a warrant for a tract of land (50 acres) in Berks County – and in 1755 he was still livingin Windsor Township. Some records show that his oldest son – Johannes (John) from whom we are descended, was born in Bern Township in 1746. There are two possibilities to account for this:1. Michael Dewald could have first settled in Bern Township and later moved to Windsor.2. A more likely supposition, however, would be that the boundaries of the townships had changed, and Windsor taken out of what had originally been part of Bern Township.Further checking will be done onthis.Michael Dewald married Maria Barbara Schmidt, who was a sister of Michael Schmidt. They raised a family of 10 children – some of whose baptism records are at Zion’s (Moselem) Church.Mrs. Bicknell is descended from their son Jacob – born 1755 – who later moved to Scott County, Birginia, where he is buried. In 1762, Michael Dewald’s name appears on a list of persons naturalized at the Supreme Court in Philadelphia for the Province of Pennsylvania.Michale and his wife, Maria Barbara both lived to a ripe old age. He died in 1798 in his 83rd year and shedied at age 81 in 1801. They are buried at Zion’s Union Church – Windsor Castle – not to beconfused with Zion’s (Moselem) Church mentioned earlier. These aretwo separate churches.Maria Eve, daughter of Michael and Barbara Dewald is buried next to them. She married a man by the name of Selsinger, according to information taken from her tombstone.Two days before his death on December 31, 1798, Michael Dewald (spelled Devolt) wrote his will, which is on file at the Berks County Court House.A copy is included with this history.Johannes, oldest son of Michael and Barbara Dewald, decided to see what was on the other side of the Blue Mountains (which could be seen from their home). Sometime between 1775 and 1781 he settled in the areaof the Summer Hill Church, in what is now Schuylkill County but at that time was part of Berks County. Around this time there wee only 150 persons living north of the Blue Mountains who were subjects to pay taxes and serve military duty – only 600 persons in all of the area now known as Schuylkill County.In 1791 the first U.S. census was taken and John Dewald is listed under theheading “Brunswick and Manheim Townships”. He owned 240 acres ofland and 3 cows, and had a family of 3 boys over 16 and 3 boys under 16, and 6 females (including his wife).Johannes married Catherine Reber, daughter ofJ. Leonhardt and Anna Margaretha (Klein) Reber. They had 12 children, most of whose baptism records can be found at the Summer Hill Church.At this point we will include a brief history of this church since it figures so prominently in our family.The early records of the Summer Hill Church contain many Dewald births, marriages, anddeaths. Since it is here where we hold our reunion each year we thought it might be interesting to know a little about the early beginnings of this congregations.Worship services were first held in the homes of the settlers. Then in 1767 a group of men from the area of ManheimTownship met at the home of Nichausz (Nicholas) Staller to “make plans for building a house of worship at this place”. An application was submitted to the British government for the purchase of a tract ofland.In March 1782, John Dewalt was among the contributors to a fund for the building of the church. He donated 7 pounds, 6 shillings. The church was build on land adjacent to lands of Peter Lingenfelter and Nichlauz Staller. The foundation was completed in 1786, and a log meeting house erected. Both the Lutheran and Reformed congregations met here at this time.Mention is made around this time of “carpenter Dewalt working at the schoolhouse��, and also another item in the church records states that “JohannesDewalt donated 1 pound 6 shillings for a stove at the schoolhouse”.The log churchbegan deteriorating after about 16 years, and in 1804 it was re-built and dedicated November 28th of that year. Johannes Dewalt is mentioned as one of the building masters for this second church. The cost of remodeling was 142 pounds, 8 shillings and 1 pence. The offering at the dedication amounted to 25 pounds.By the year 1846 the congregation had grown so large that a new church had to be built.The cost of this one was $2,849.95 – and this is the church that remained until the present church was erected in 1960.Johannes Dewald (spelled Thewald on his tombstone) served his country in the Pennsylvania Militia from Berks County during the Revolutionary War, and some ofhis descendents have become members of the Daughters of the American Revolution – D.A.R.) through his service. His name appears in the D.A.R. Patriotic Index – page 190. Michael Dewald’s name also is listed in this same index, as performing “patriotic service”. Since Michael was about 60 years old at this timehe probably did not serve in a military unit. “Patriotic Service�� included such things as “Collector of Provisions”, “Defender of a fort or frontier”, “Express rider”, “Fence viewer”, “Rendering aid to the wounded”, “taking an oath of allegiance” Etc. Etc.Johannes’ name also appears on the War Memorial Monument in the Summer Hill Cemetery, as does the name of his great-grandson, Benjamin Dewald (B. 1846), who served as a Corporal in the Civil War. (Co. G. 116th Regiment).Johannes Dewald and his wife, Catherine, are buried at Summer Hill Church. NO stone has been found for Catherine, but hername is on the list of burials on this cemetery.The following text isreferred to on John’s tombstone. It is taken from the book of Sirach (one of the books of the Apocrypha which is found in Old German Bibles – usually between the Old and New Testaments). Chapter 7 verse 36 – “In all you do, remember the end of your life, and then you will never sin”. (translated from the Revised Standard Version).Up to this point we all share thiscommon ancestry (Johannes and Catherine(Reber) Dewald. From here we branch out to two of their sons:1. John – born 17722. Abraham – born 1791From what we have been able to learn all those who attend our reunion are descended from these two sons – as follows: Refer also to the accompanying chart –1. John b. 1772 (some records say 1773)Married Catherine Deibert; they also had a son named John, who was born 1806 and married Elizabeth Noecker. They settled on a piece of the Noecker land on the Schuylkill Mountain around 1830. Elizabeth was a daughter of Johannes and Maria Noecker. (John and Elizabeth (Noecker) Dewald were the grandparents of Sam and Rosie on their father’s side . . . ) Following on to the next generation – John and Elizabeth had 8 children – one of whom is a son Benjamin (B. 1836) who married Sarah Dewald (b. 1843) his cousin.Abraham and Elizabeth died two days apart in September 1850, and they had a double funeral. The hearse was pulled by two white horses.Their son – Edward – married Catherine Steinbach and they had 9 children. Their daughter, Sarah (B. 1843) was the one who married Benjamin Dewald of the Dewald/Noecker family. Benjamin and Sarah wee the parents of Sam and Rosie on their mother’s side and that is how they became known as “double Dewalds”. Edward and Catherine also had a son Benjamin (b. 1846) who married Hannah Becker. He is the one who served in the Civil War, and Benjamin and Hannah have some descendents who attended our reunion.Edward was chopping down trees in a wood lot near his home one day in March 1875. When he did not return home at supper time, someone from the family went searching for him and found him dead – apparently from a heart attack or stroke. His wife, Catherine (nee Steinbach) was killed by a train as she was crossing the railroad tracks in Auburn – returning from a trip to the store, where she had gone to purchase some lye to make soap. She had waited for a train to pass by and then started to cross the tracks, failing to notice that a “fast flyer” was also coming on another track behind the first train. (These two stories were told to me by their granddaughter, Rosie Dewald Fidler).Heah, daughter of Abraham and Elizabeth, married John Schoener in 1846. They settled outside of Auburn in “Schoener’s Dahl”and had 7 children – 2 of whom died in infancy.It is through their daughter, Sarah (b. 1859) who married Frank Lamp, that others who attend our reunion are descended – namely the Noll, Miller, Lewis, Reichand Wert families.From this point on I believe everyone can see on which limb of the family tree they belong.Besides Mrs. Bicknell’s ancestors (mentioned earlier) who moved to Virginia and Tennessee, there were some Dewalds who moved to Indiana. George Dewald (b. 1823) was the pioneer of this branch. He was a descendent of Michael dewald, and George rode to Indiana from Pennsylvania on horseback, carrying themoney to buy some land about a mile south of Deedsville.Samuel and Elizabeth, toher children of the same family, went to Denver, Indiana, whereElizabeth married a man named Ream who operated a cider mill there.William Dewald, another child, married Judith Lutz and live two miles north of Denver, Indiana. William was the grandfather of Ammon Dewald whom many of those attending our reunion knew so well. Ammon lived on top of the Schuylkill Mountain for a while.We would like to pass on to you a few little anecdotes that we have heard about along the way. An older relative (great aunt I believe) of Jerry Roeser used to say the Dewalds came from “the Azure Devault”. It is not certain exactly what she meant by this phrase. It could possibly refer to the Blue Mountains (Blue Forest) or perhaps to some other place in their European homeland that her family may have spoken of many years ago.Then there is this story which shows that little boys in the old days, the same as little boys today, never seem to lack the instinct to get into a bitof mischief now and then.According to Iona Loy, when her mother (Rosie) was a little girl; Rosie’s mother – Sarah Dewald – baked some pies and set them o nthe window sill to cool. It was summer and the windows were open, when it came time to put the pies on the table, for some strange reason, one of them was missing. It seems the boys of the family, who were playing outside, couldn’t resist the delicious aroma of the freshly baked pies and had to taste one. We don’t know what the consequences of this little episode were, but we can imagine that on the next baking day the mother checked the backyard for little boys before placing any pies on the window sillagain. We enjoyed gathering this information to put together a little history story of our Dewald family and our German heritage. Possibly at a future date, as more facts and stories are uncovered, we can add to this booklet – or elaborate a bit more on somelines.Through our research we have gained, and we hope you will too, a better understanding and deepter appreciation of the kind of folks our courageous and God-fearing ancestors were. They must have had a strong faith in our Heavenly Father, and in His protecting care, in order for them to set out on such a long and tiringjourney. With all the dangers and illnesses involved in such a trip,they must have been truly committed to making a better life for themselves in a New World. By doing so they would be able to pass along something better than what they had endured for so many years to their children and all those who would come after them. Many times they must have become discouraged and wondered whether it was all worthwhile. But their faith and courage and determination helped them to carry on and survive the hard times which included savage Indian attacks in theearly days in the area of the Blue Mountains.Perhaps a good closing would be to mention a few quotations we have come across that seem appropriate:Lord Bacon – “The knowledge of kindred and the genealogiesof the old families of a community deserve high praise. Herein consists a part of the knowledge of a man’s own self. It is a great spurto look back on the worth of our line.”John Dos Passos – quoted in the book, “The Affable Enemy” published in 1970. “In times of change and danger, when there is quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning – a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a life-line across the scary present.”May thisstory of our Dewald ancestors give us all a renewed faith and a stronger incentive to always try to do our best, so that we may continue the work begun over two centuries ago when our John Michael Dewald firstsaw the Blue Mountains of Pennsylvania and started our family here inPennsylvania.

Submitted by Lila Miller, Historian of the Dewald Reunion

1. ↑ Entered by Steven Walker, May 22, 2012