My Father's Side of the Family

All those fusty old Pennsylvania Dutchmen.

As a teenager, sometimes whilst driving to go skiing at Hahn Mountain, I'd think about all my ancestors who'd settled into their hardscrabble agricultural existences back in the 18th century in the Berks County Pennsylvania countryside through which I was driving.  When I drive around in Germany where I now reside, I have similar thoughts about their place of origin, as most of my ancestors live within an hour or two's drive.  I wonder what they would've thought of me and the life I and my family lead today.  Nonplussed?  Amazed?  A bit cheesed off that I moved back?

Slowly over the years, I’ve assembled a reasonably-complete family tree, which along the way has allowed me to delve further into their personalities.  One has to of course view everything through the lens of L.P. Hartley’s quote: “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there", but what were they really like?

I like The Smiths, and every time I delve into family history, I think of the lyrics to “Cemetry Gates”

So we go inside and we gravely read the stones
All those people, all those lives
Where are they now?
With loves, and hates and passions just like mine
They were born and then they lived and then they died
It seems so unfair, I want to cry

My-5th great-grandfather Johann Joerg "Hunter George" Miller Sr. (1721-1801) who was from Feldkirchen, Gönnersdorf in the western Rheinland-Pfalz , arrived in Philadelphia on the ship "Aurora" in 1744 with his wife and two of their five eventual children, and settled in Windsor Township. He's buried in the family plot at St. John's Lutheran in Hamburg.

My 7th-great grandfather Johann Philip Stambach (1719-1777), my paternal grandfather Grand Bob Miller's 5th great-grandfather, originally from Durstel, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France, emigrated to Philadelphia via Rotterdam aboard the vessel “Friendship” in 1739.  His future wife, and my 7th-great-grandmother Anna Maria Christiana Kuntz (1727-1786/88) from Niederbronn, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France had been a passenger arriving in Philadelphia abord the ill-fated vessel “Charming Nancy” in 1738.  Stuffed with Alsatian and Amish emigrants, the ship had departed from Rotterdam via England, and on the way 250 of the 412 passengers died, including her mother.  Fun fact:  The “Charming Nancy” was owned by none other than Benedict Arnold.  There was a happy ending:  The two of them ended up being married at Hill Church in Pike Township outside of Oley by none other than Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg himself; they went on to settle in Kempton, Albany Township, and had 11 children, including two sets of twins.

My 8th-great-grandfather Johann Veit Reichelsdorfer (1685-Aft. 1734) , my paternal grandfather Grand Bob Miller's 6th-great-grandfather, was from Ittlingen, Baden-Württenberg, and arrived in New York in 1709, eventually ending up in Albany Township, Berks County by the 1730s.

My 6th-great-grandmother Anna Margarteha “Maria” Rothermel (1712-Abt. 1785), my paternal grandmother Gran Chris Diener’ 4th-great-grandmother, was born in Hassloch, Bad Durkheim, Rheinland-Palatinate, and sailed from Rotterdam to Philadelphia aboard the “Thistle of Glasgow” in 1730 with her husband Johann Peter Fetherolf (1699-1784), and they settled in Seishioltzville, Hereford Township, Berks County.

My 7th-great-grandfather Johann Michael Probst (1701-1771), my paternal grandfather Grand Bob Miller's 5th-great-grandfather, was born in Kandel in the Rheinland-Palatinate, arrived in Philadelphia abord the pink “John and William” in 1732, and settled in Lynn Township.

My 6th-great-grandfather Hans Johann Georg Leibensberger, my paternal grandmother Gran Chris Diener’ 4th-great-grandfather, came from Germany via Rotterdam to Philadelphia aboard the ship “Dragon” in 1732.

Another 8th-great grandfather Ulrich Leibengut (1688-1745), my paternal grandfather Grand Bob Miller's 6th-great-grandfather, was born in Melchnau, Canton Bern, Switzerland, and with a group of Alsatians, arrived in Philadelphia aboard the ship Charming Betsy” in 1733, eventually settling in Douglas Township, Berks County.

My 7th-great-grandfather Johann Wilhelm Fischer (1706-1771), my paternal grandfather Grand Bob Miller's 5th great grandfather, was born in Ronneburg, arrived in Philadelphia on the ship "Samuel" in 1733, and lived in Heidelberg Township.

My 7th-great-grandfather Johannes Georg Kirchner (1722-1796), my paternal grandfather Grand Bob Miller's 5th great-grandfather, was from Ronneburg, also arrived in Philadelphia on the ship "Samuel" in 1733, and settled in Bern Township.

My 6th-great-grandfather Johannes Lichtenwalner Sr. (1700-1783) and his wife Barbara Burchard (1709-1757) , my paternal grandmother Gran Chris Diener’ 4th-great-grandparents, were from Colmburg, Bavaria, arrived In Philadelphia aboard the ship “Samuel of London” in 1733, and settled in Fogelsville.

My 6th great-grandfather Johann Leonhart Reber (1706-1778) and his wife Anna Maria Margaretha Klein (1718-1787) were from Langenselbold, married there in 1735, arrived in Philadelphia on the snow "Two Sisters" in 1738, and settled in Windsor Township. They are both 5th great-grandparents of my paternal great-grandfather Grand Bob Miller, as well as 4th great-grandparents of my paternal grandmother Gran Chris Diener; they were 2nd cousins once removed, as George Miller (1790-1858) was their 2nd great-grandfather and great-grandfather, respectively, and my 3rd great-grandfather.

Another 5th-great-grandfather Johann Heinrich Reitz (1745-1814) ), my paternal grandfather Grand Bob Miller's 5th great-grandfather, was born in Florsbach, Gelnhausen, arrived in Philadelphia in 1748, and settled in Whitehall Township, Lehigh County.  He served in the Revolutionary War, and was Captain of a squad that guarded Frederick Lieser when he hauled the Liberty Bell from Philadelphia to Allentown, PA in 1777.

Another 5th-great-grandfather, George Schaeffer (1728-1792), my paternal grandmother Gran Chris Diener’ 3rd-great-grandfather, was from Reichelsheim in the Odenwald south of Darmstadt, arrived in Philadelphia aboard the ship “Edinburgh” in 1750.

My 6th great-grandfather Henry Gerhard Nagel Diener (1720-1772), my paternal grandmother Gran Chris Diener’ 4th-great-grandfather, was born in Birstein, and his wife Anna Elizabeth Krock (1713-1772), who was from Ronneburg, my maternal grandmother Gran Chris Diener's 4th-great grandparents, married in Ronneburg in 1747 (I drove by the church recently on my way to the castle), and arrived in Philadelphia on the ship "Duke of Bedford" in 1751 and in emigrated to Earl Township.

My 5th-grarandfather Johannes Jacob Lenhart (1736-1793), my paternal grandfather Grand Bob Miller's 5th great-grandfather, was born in Zweibrücken and arrived in Philadelphia in 1760.  During the Revolutionary War, he was a Fifer, 2nd (Cpt. Jacob Ladich's Greenwich Twp.) Co., 1st. (Lt. Col. Samuel Ely's) Battalion, 1780 Berks County Militia.  His son Heinrich (Henry) Lenhart (1773–1837), is considered the founder of Lenhartsville.

This certainly isn’t an exhaustive list, as by 7th-great-grandparents, one is mathematically up to 512 individuals, and by 8th-great-grandparents (roughly 1700-ish), it's 1,024. The logical extension of this would be that each of us today going back 30 generations to the Middle Ages would end up with 2^30 or roughly 1 billion ancestors, more than the total world population at the time, which is impossible. That's where the magic of "pedigree collapse" comes in to keep the numbers reasonable; it’s really just a fancy term for inbreeding. Every person on Earth is max 16th cousins. "The upshot of all this: If you discover that you share a common ancestor with somebody from the 17th century, or even the 18th, it is completely unremarkable. The only thing remarkable about it is that you happened to know the path."  "80% of all marriages in history have been between second cousins or closer".