Shirer Family Genealogy Project

Shirer Family Genealogy Project - Person Page 1682

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Hans Feuerstein¹

Male, b. circa 1686, d. circa 1740, #1682

Note*

It is said that the Firestone family in Thal came originally from the Bregenz Forest, Province of Vorarlberg, in the Austrian Tyrol. There are family stories about three brothers who moved from Austria during the 15th century: Nicholas, Johann and Theobold Feuerstein. These families are said to have eventually settled in Alsace.

The first record known of the family in Alsace is from Dehlingen, where in 1660, George Feuerstein was a master mason. A son of George moved to Thal in 1686. In 1719 more than one Feyerstein family lived in Thal, and in neighboring Berg. These towns shared church and municipal functions and were originally erected to house early Huguenot refugees from France. Church records of the times report the village names together as "Berg und Thal."

There are records of six early Feuerstein immigrants believed to have come from the villages of Thal and Berg in Alsace. Leonard Feyersteen attempted passage with his family in 1711; Lorentz Feyersteen, son of Johannes/Hans Feuerstein of Thal, attempted passage in about 1740; Johann Feuerstein, apparently the first of the family to gain passage, arrived Philadelphia o the ship "Edinburgh" on Aug. 13, 1750; Hans Nicholas Feuerstein of Thal, said to be the son of Hans Feuerstein, with his family, arrived Philadlphia on Sept 24, 1753 about the ship "Peggy." George Philip Firestone, who arrived in Pennsylvania on the ship "Eastern Branch" oct Oct, 1753; and finally Conrad Feuerstein, who served in the Pennsylvania Navy in 1777.

Traces of the family history from Berg and Thal have been collected about what appear to be stories and relations of these six pioneers, the first two of whom are Leonard Feyersteen and Lorenz Feyerstein - neither was successful in their attempted passage.

Sources for Firestone research are:

"Berg Church Records" provided by Mr. E. F. Buchanan of Chicago, ILL in 1954

Emigrants from Northern Alsace.

Western Maryland Genealogy "Firestone Family of Frederick Co., MD", Vol. 9, No. 1 and 2,, 1993

National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 7, "Ohio Records and Pioneer Families", pp 241-244.

The Firestone Family History, Part I: In Germany to America, by Jason W. Firestone.

The Firestone Family History, Part II: John, son of Nicholas and Eva Firestone and their descendants, by Frances A. Stuart.

The Firestone Family History, Part III: Michael Firestone and his descendants by Anna Leah Johnson.

Marriage*

Principal=Mother (Feuerstein) Unknown

Birth*

circa 1686

Death*

circa 1740

Family

Mother (Feuerstein) Unknown b. circa 1686

Children

Nicholas (Hans) Feuerstein b. 25 Mar 1712, d. b 11 Jan 1768

Andreas Feuerstein b. c 1715

Lorenz Feuerstein b. c 1719, d. 1740