Christian LAUFFER "The Pioneer" was born on 17 May 1723 in Weisenheim A. Sand, Rh-Pfalz, a son of Johannes Heinrich Lauffer & Anna Catharina Schmidt. He died in June 1796 near Greensburg in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. He was buried in Old Bash Cemetery near Pleasant Unity, Westmoreland County., PA. No tombstone survives to mark the grave of Christian in the overgrown, abandoned Bash Cemetery. In 1999, two centuries after his death, his descendants erected a cenotaph---a memorial monument---in nearby Denmark Manor Cemetery, where some of Christian's children and grandchildren are buried.
The Lauffers lived in Nuremburg in the Palatinate area of Germany. When the Rhine Valley was destroyed by the French armies, the Palatinates found shelter in Holland and Switzerland, then on to England, and finally settling in Pennsylvania.
In 1771, Christian Lauffer purchased 40 acres of land in Northampton County, PA. By 1774, he and his family, which included his wife, five sons and five daughters, relocated to Westmoreland County. The eldest son, Peter, remained behind. Christian lived near Pleasant Unity and he, like many others, endured hardships. Indian uprisings were feared. Markets were a great distance from home. It was a continuing struggle to pay for their land, and this in itself kept their family poor.
Christian and his wife, Susanna Best, daughter of Wilhelm Best & Susanna Schaeffer, had eleven children: Johan "Peter" LAUFFER Sr, Bartholomew "Bartol" LAUFFER, Adam LAUFFER, Henry LAUFFER, Elizabeth LAUFFER, Susanna LAUFFER, Anna Catherine LAUFFER, Anna Maria "Mary" LAUFFER, John LAUFFER Sr, Magdalena "Matty" LAUFFER, and Christian Lauffer Jr.
For more details on the Lauffer family, please see their website: www.laufferhistory.com
Family Members
Spouse
Susanna Best Lauffer
1735–1796
Children
Bartholomew Lauffer
1749–1822
Peter Lawfer
1752–1830
Susanna Lauffer Drum
1756–1822
Henry Lauffer
1759–1827
Anna Catharine Lauffer Rice
1764–1823
John S. Lauffer
1769–1851
Magdalena Lauffer Bash
1770–1838
Christian Loffer
1771–1823
