Introduction to Ancestral Charts and Background

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INTRODUCTION TO ANCESTRAL CHARTS AND BACKGROUND

By John F. Murray

This book traces the ancestry and descendants of John and Lucinda (Stutzman) Troyer. Both were born in Holmes County, Ohio. When in their youth their families moved to Indiana and then on to Seward County, Nebraska settling west of Milford, Nebraska. Bishop Joseph Schlegel married John and Lucinda on October 21, 1888 at the Pleasant View meetinghouse.

After marriage they lived west of Milford and then in 1893 they homesteaded in Deuel County Nebraska near the town of Chappell. There they lived in a sod house for five years and then returned in 1898 to Fillmore County, Nebraska where they raised their family. In 1927 they retired to a home in Milford, Nebraska where they died. They are buried in the EastFairviewMennoniteChurchCemetery.

Both John and Lucinda were born in Amish homes but as the families moved west to Indiana and Nebraska they adopted more progressive ways. They joined the AmishMennoniteChurch.

AMISH MENNONITE – ANABAPTIST FAITH

Perhaps a word about the Amish Mennonite-Anabaptist faith is in order here. The name Anabaptist means a rebaptizer who believed in an adult believer’s baptism. They were first called Swiss Brethren and later called Mennonites after the Dutch Reformer, Menno Simons. This denomination began in 1525 when George Blaurock rebaptized Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz in Zurich, Switzerland. The areas along the RhineRiverValley in France and Germany, as well as the country of Netherlands, were centers of Anabaptist activity in the Eve of the Reformation.

On the surface the issue was adult baptism versus infant baptism. Adult baptism became the proverbial "line in the sand." When one was rebaptized, he stepped over that "line" and was subject to the wrath of the authorities. The real issues that the Anabaptists wanted and which upset the civil and church authorities were three in number:

1. Separation of church and state. In those days the civil authorities chose the local priests who were supported by government taxes.

1. Voluntary church membership sealed by adult believer's baptism. This was a commitment to follow Christ in a life of discipleship. This was to reflect in one’s life style, one’s speech, and in one’s earthly relationships. One’s word is one’s bond. One must not take advantage of other people’s misfortunes. One must be morally upright not just legally right. One’s yes must be yes and no, no. And one must be ready to witness to one’s faith and to suffer if need be.
2. Opposition to war. The Anabaptists refused to bear arms and fight, insisting on peaceable ways to settle disputes short of war.

Today here in the United States we accept separation of church and state and voluntary church membership as matters of principle. They are guaranteed by the first amendment to the Constitution. Today because of the destructive nature of modern warfare with the real possibility of self annihilation and injuries to one’s own soldiers, people are taking a new look at the issue of opposition to war and alternatives to war as a means for settling disputes. Many governments allow a place for conscientious objection to war. But in that time the heads of state and church felt extremely threatened by these three issues. They thought these issues would destroy their country.

In 1535 Menno Simons, a Priest in Holland, joined the Anabaptist movement and became the chief spokesman for the Anabaptists through his writings. Then the world began to call the Anabaptists, Mennonites, meaning followers of Menno. About 1670 the persecution of the Mennonites began to subside because so many educated and business people were leaving Switzerland causing problems for the Swiss economy. Representatives of William Penn went to Europe and invited the Mennonites to come to PA. The first known boatload came in 1683.

Back in Europe the Amish group began in the Palatinate region of Germany in 1693 when Jacob Amman, a young Mennonite minister, wanted a more strict discipline and opposed Jacob Reist, the Bishop of Canton Berne, Switzerland. Among the names of ministers who signed with Bishop Jacob Reist for more patience and love for those who differed was a minister named Christian Holly. (Letters of the Amish Division: A Sourcebook as translated by John D. Roth. page 50). A letter written in 1698 by Ulli Ammann, brother of Jacob, says that Christian Holly had died. (Ibid. page 92).

The first boat loads of Amish came about 1737 though a few may have come earlier. In America the Amish retained their strict discipline and way of life. In the late 1800s some became more progressive leaving some of their Amish ways and were called Amish-Mennonites. Our ancestors the Jonathan Troyer and Christian Stutzman families were among them. They then merged with the Mennonites. In Indiana this merger took place in 1916. For a fuller understanding of these religious groups one can read the Mennonite histories listed in the Bibliography.

Mennonites and Amish used the 1527 Schleitheim Confession of Faith and the 1632 Dordrecht Confession of Faith. These were updated in English in 1923 and 1963. The most recent update, Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, was adopted in 1995 at the Mennonite General Assembly meeting in Wichita, Kansas. These are, as the titles suggest, statements that help us confess and express our faith rather then dogma or creeds that everyone must believe to be saved. We are saved by God’s grace through our repentance and faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection.

THE TROYER FAMILY

Our Troyer ancestor is confirmed as far back to Michael Troyer and his wife Magdalena Mast. Some facts concerning the life of Michael Troyer can be fairly well established. They are as follows:

1. He had 14 children. The eldest, John, was born March 4, 1753 (tombstone says Feb. 4, 1753) and the youngest, Elizabeth, was born September 21, 1781.

2. Michael was born about 1732. I figured this by subtracting 21 years from the birth year of his oldest son. This would make him 49 years old in 1781 when his youngest child was born and 75 when he died in 1807. We might move the year of birth a year one way or the other, but 1732 must be close to correct.

3. Also figuring from the birth year of his eldest son, 1753, Michael must have married Magdalena Mast in 1752.

4. I figure Magdalena's birth year as 1735-36. Seeing that her youngest daughter was born in 1781 and noting that normally a woman did not give birth beyond the age 45, I subtracted 45 from 1781 to get 1736 or 35, as her birth year. She was then about 17 when her eldest son, John, was born in 1753. This birth year also agrees with the tradition that she was over 90 years old at death in August 1827 (tombstone date).

5. Magdalena Mast, wife of Michael Troyer, was the daughter of Johannes Mast or a niece under his guardianship as some stories say. The 1752 tax lists for BerksCounty show Johannes Mast living in Pine Grove Twp., Berks Co., (now Schuylkill Co.). So Michael and Magdalena's marriage in 1752 most likely took place there. This means, of course, that Michael Troyer must have been living nearby, as in those days, neighbors married neighbors.

Interestingly enough, the newly discovered tax lists for Bethel Twp., Lancaster Co. show a David and Michael Triar living in Bethel Twp. in 1756 near Andreas Holly. Bethel Twp. borders Pine Grove Twp. on the west. The Amish names in the tax list indicate that the Amish community straddled the county line.

A note in the 1756 Bethel Twp., tax list says David and Michael fled the area. The list shows many people fled the area due to Indian raids on the white settlers. Andreas Holly was reported to have fled in 1757.

From these facts, it seems reasonable to conclude that the Michael Triar of this Amish community was our Michael Troyer. Therefore it is also reasonable to assume that Michael and Magdalena's first three children were born in Bethel Twp., in what is now Lebanon Co., Pa., then Lancaster Co. From 1785 to 1810 this area was part of Dauphin Co.

6.The next established fact in Michael Troyer, Sr.'s life is his purchase of 130 acres of land in Salisbury Twp., Lancaster Co., in 1771. To make this purchase, Jacob Kurtz of Manheim Twp., Lancaster, accepted a mortgage on the property from Michael Troyer (Dreier, Treier, Trair, Tryer). The spellings in the parenthesis are used in the deed and in the Tax records for Michael Troyer’s property. John Holly (son of Andreas) signed as a witness to the mortgage along with a Michael Gerber.

7. On May 31, 1775 Jacob Kurtz went to Lancaster and signed a statement added at the bottom of the mortgage. The statement reads: "Michael Tryer has satisfied the mortgage in full."

8. The tax lists for Salisbury Twp., show Michael Troyer (Tryar) living near John Holly (son of Andreas), Michael Gerber and Dr. Johannes Blank, the father-in-law of John Holly.

9. Michael Troyer must have sold his farm in Salisbury Twp., in 1775 (no deed of sale has been found) and moved yet that summer or fall to Somerset Co., Pa., then Bedford Co., where the tax list of 1776 shows Michael Troyer (Tryar) and his son, John Troyer (Tryar). The 1779 tax list for Bedford Co. shows Michael Sr., Michael Jr., John and Christian Troyer (Tryer). Later tax lists and land purchases also confirm that Michael and his family lived in Somerset Co., (then Bedford). Michael Jr’s deed to his land is signed "Michael Dreyer Jr."

10. Michael Troyer (Treyer) Sr. of Brothers Valley Twp., Somerset Co., made a will on Sept. 18, 1803. This will was probated in Somerset on April 4, 1807. In his will he mentioned money he was to receive from “my sister." This verifies that Michael had siblings in America and the will seems to indicate that this sister died childless, so Michael was an heir to her money.

Other names in the will make it plain that this Michael was the father of the list of children copied from the Troyer family Bible by Moses K. Troyer.

His will also makes it plain that Michael's daughter, Barbara, was still a widow Rhoads, and not yet married to Peter Sipe. Since Barbara was already 45 years old in 1803, she probably had no children with Peter Sipe whom she married sometime after 1803.

11. The Troyer Family Bible was found among Troyer descendants in Holmes Co., Ohio. Moses K. Troyer (born June 29, 1838) removed the family information from the Bible, copied off the list of children complete with birth dates, added what he believed to be marriage partners, and gave his list to Harvey Hostetler, who in turn printed it in his book, Descendants of Jacob Hochstetler, in family DJH 9179.

Somehow in the printing of this book, the eldest son, John, and the youngest daughter, Elizabeth, were left out. But after publication the error was discovered and corrected before the family Bible pages were burned. So today we have a complete list of the children with birth dates, as they appeared in the Troyer family Bible. We should note in passing, this list gives John's birth date as March 4, 1753. His tombstone says February 4, 1753.

We'll return to this Bible later in discussing the "Moses K. Troyer Story."

II. At this point it would be helpful to review "four stories" about the life of Michael Troyer and his family. These stories were printed between 1889 and 1929.

1. The first story chronologically was the story recorded in The Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Wayne and Holmes, Ohio (1889) (J. H. Beers and Co.) page 660. This story was written by Seth Troyer who wrote that Michael Troyer Sr. came to this country about 1745-1750 at about age 8 with his stepfather Holly (no first name given). Further, he said his grandfather, Michael Troyer Jr., was born in Somerset Co., Pa.

Checking the records, something is wrong. The Hollys came on Nov. 3, 1750. And if Michael came with the Hollys at age 8, he would have been only 10 years old when his eldest son was born in 1753. However if we assume for a moment that Michael was about age 8 when coming to America and that he was born about 1732-33, as discussed above, then Michael Troyer came to this country about 1740-1741.

Interestingly enough when checking the ship lists, a David Dreyer age 29, came to Philadelphia, Pa. on the Ship Friendship arriving on Oct. 12, 1741. This David Dreyer at age 29 was the right age to have had a son age 8 on the ship with him; and a son age 8 in 1741 would be old enough to have an eldest child born in 1753.

It is also of interest to note that a David Triar appears in the tax lists of the 1750's of Bethel Twp., next to Michael Triar who, as discussed earlier, is very likely our Michael Troyer.

It appears that Seth Troyer made two false assumptions. First, because Michael had a stepfather Holly, Seth falsely assumed he came with the Hollys. Second, because Michael Troyer Jr. came to Holmes Co., from Somerset Co., that he was born in Somerset Co. Michael Jr. was born in 1754 and the Troyers didn't move to SomersetCounty until 1775-76. The tax lists of 1754 show Michael Triar (Troyer) living in Bethel Twp., Lancaster Co., Pa.

2 A second "story" was published in 1912 by Harvey Hostetler in family DJH 9179 mentioned before. The information came from Moses K. Troyer (b. 1838) who had in his possession the family record cut from the Troyer family Bible. Moses K. Troyer, working from the Bible record, insisted that the father of the children listed in the Bible was David Troyer. Harvey Hostetler, in his footnote to DJH 9179, showed that this did not agree with the Mast Family History, p. 690, and the tax records of SomersetCounty. But in the end, Harvey Hostetler printed the Moses K. Troyer version with David as the father, because of the Bible record.

Therefore it would appear that David Troyer was the original owner of the Bible and when he died, sometime after 1756, the Bible passed to his eldest son, Michael Troyer Sr., who then wrote the names of his own children in the Bible. The Bible record evidently did not show the generation between David and the list of children.

Further, Moses K. Troyer made no mention of a stepfather Holly, or of Michael coming to America with the Hollys.

3. A third story was told by C. Z. Mast. He published it in the Mast Family History in 1911, a year before Harvey Hostetler published the Jacob Hochstetler book. This was the history of Bishop Jacob Mast, the brother of Magdalena Mast, the wife of Michael Troyer Sr.

Jacob Mast was married to Magdalena Holly, the eldest child of Johannes Holly, the brother of Andreas Holly. Jacob Mast's marriage took place in Bern Twp., after the Amish moved out of the Bethel-Pine Grove community due to Indian raids. Jacob Mast with his father-in-law, Johannes Holly, purchased land together on the Berks Co.-Chester Co., line. This Johannes Holly was often confused with John Holly, son of Andreas, until the Johannes Holly Bible was found in Holmes Co., Ohio and the unfinished letter of John Holly, son of Andreas.

Let’s return to our Troyer story. In the Mast history, pages 689- 690, Family 2072, Mast wrote that Michael Troyer Sr. came to this country on the same ship with his brother, Andreas. He married Magdalena Mast, lived in Somerset Co., Pa. or Holmes Co., Ohio. Among their children were: Michael, Andreas, Abraham, Joseph and David.

Mast made a footnote on Abraham that clearly indicates that the Abraham he had in mind was a grandson of Michael Sr. as it turns out. Then Mast added a last paragraph to his footnote that reads, "The descendants of Magdalena Mast and David Troyer have spread to nearly every state in the union…” So, all of a sudden Mast had a David Troyer as the progenitor of the Troyer family in America and that he was married to Magdalena Mast. Thus, it is obvious that Mast jumbled his Troyer notes or something was left out of the footnote in the typesetting of his book.

When Mast said that Michael Troyer came on the same ship with his brother, Andreas, he was with little doubt referring to the ship list for the Ship Hamilton, which arrived October 6, 1767. But the Michael Dreher of this ship could not have been our Michael Troyer Sr. because his oldest children were born in PA in the 1750's. Tax lists show that this Michael Troyer lived near Philadelphia.

Mast says nothing about Michael having a stepfather Holly or that he came with the Hollys to America. If it is true that Michael Troyer came with the Hollys, Mast surely should have known that because Bishop Jacob Mast came on the same ship with the Hollys and married Johannes Holly's daughter.

4. The fourth story was written by C. Henry Smith in his book, The Mennonite Immigration to PA in the Eighteenth Century, published in 1929 in Norristown, Pa. (page 237).

It is clear that Smith relied heavily upon C. Z. Mast's understanding of the early Amish families, and then tried to reconcile the "C. Z. Mast story" with the "Seth Troyer Story" and the ship list of 1750 on which the Hollys came. So Smith wrote Michael Troyer and his brother, Andrew, came with the Hollys in 1750, but they were too young to sign the list in 1750.