FINDING LEWIS MICHAEL
I was doing research on my Statler family in the early 1980’s when I first found Lewis Michael in the 1850 census; he was living with Catherine Statler. I knew Catherine Statler my third great-grandmother was the widow of John Statler who had died in 1844 and her maiden name was Michaels according to a Statler Family History put together in 1938. The 1850 census was the first federal census which listed each person. (In 1840 and before only the head of household was named in the census.)
CENSUS YR: 1850 STATE or TERRITORY: PA COUNTY: Somerset DIVISION: Shade Township REEL NO: M432-828 PAGE NO: 103aREFERENCE: Enumerated on 10th or 12th of Sept. by John J. Schell.
LAST NAME FIRST NAME AGE SEX OCCUP. VAL. BIRTHPLACE
Statler Catharine 60 F Penna Statler Charles 22 M . Farmer 1,500 Penna Statler Ann E. 50 F Maryland Michael Lewis 88 M Watchmaker Germany Ryan Jeremiah 21 M . Laborer Penna Rankin Frank 16 M . Laborer . Penna So Lewis was born about 1762 (1850-88) I thought that Lewis Michael might be Catharine’s father and located his will which confirmed that he was, and he was also the father of Ann E. Statler listed above, who was the widow of Casper Statler III the son of John Statler and his first wife Mollie Lambert. This census information indicates Lewis or at least his wife was in Pennsylvania about 1790 when daughter Catherine was born and in Maryland in 1800 when Ann E. was born.
I didn’t do any more research on Lewis Michael until September of 2004 when I did a Google search on [“Lewis Michael” Somerset] and found this site:
http://surveyhistory.org/lewis_michael1.htm
The photos of the compass faces amazed me. The engraving was just beautiful.
Was the Lewis Michael who made these survey instruments, my ancestor the watchmaker?
I emailed the site contact person who thankfully passed my query on to Bob Miller a collector who had done quite a bit of research on Lewis Michael. From the information I received from Bob I felt confident that my ancestor had made those instruments.
Bob’s information had Lewis Michael in York County, PA from 1786-1800, so I started searching York County records. There were several Michael/Michel families in York County; most interesting was Wendel Michael of York Township. Wendel died in 1811 his will named a son Lewis among others. First record of Wendel in York County was the christening of a daughter in 1772.
There was another Michael family in York Township, that of Jacob Michael and his wife Magdalena Elisabetha Buchmann who were in York County in 1755. On the WorldConnect website I found a list of their family by a descendant Robert Fisher. He had a place of marriage for this couple in 1754, Bacharach, Germany which is on the Rhine River about 15 miles west of Mainz.
On a trip to York County in May of 2005 I visited the York County Heritage Trust Library and in the Michael surname folder I found a transcription of a will of Jacob Michael dated 1768 naming six children by his deceased first wife Maria Elisabetha, who remained in Germany. That list included Johann Wendel. (An important element of German names is what we call the first name was not what was generally used so Johann Wendel would have been known as WENDEL and Johann Jacob would have been known as JACOB )
Robert Fisher had a copy of the 1754 marriage record of
Jacob Michel and his wife Magdalena
Elisabetha Buchmann and believed it said Jacob was from Haddenhausen which is
in North Westphalia, which is not near Bacharach. When I looked at the record written in Old
German script I thought it said Hedenhausen.
I couldn’t find a place with that name.
I searched the IGI for Germany looking for the birth of any of the children of Jacob’s first marriage who I figured had been born between 1730 and 1753. Fortunately he gave one daughter the relatively unusual name of Anna Ottilia. I found an Anna Ottilia Michel christened 28 April 1743 in Wallhalben father Jacob Michel, and this Jacob had three other daughters christened 1732-1744 in the same names and in the birth order as they were named in the will in York County. Near Wallhalben is a small village Hettenhausen which would have been pronounced very like “Hedenhousen”. Only female names were listed in the IGI so I had to look at other records for Jacob’s sons by his first wife. Happily, Theodor Knocke had extracted the church record up to 1760 and I ordered a microfilm of those record as well as the parish registers. I looked at the films in July of 2005. The first family of Jacob of Hettenhausen was listed with wife Maria Elizabetha Woll in Knocke’s extraction with the children in the will as well as two others who had died young. His extraction also included the marriage of Wendel to Margaretha Elisabatha Hedler 24 October 1758 and the birth of their first child Johann Jacob who was born and died in 1759. I looked also at the original church records and found the birth of Johann Ludwig Michel 28 January 1762. Lewis Michael’s gravestone lists his age and 90 years and 16 days and his death as 16 February 1852. This calculates his birth as 31 January 1762 which is one day off the date of baptism and three days from the birth date in the Wallhalben record. I have enough other records to convince me that the Johann Ludwig Michel is my ancestor Lewis Michael.
In May of 2006 my daughter Carolyn and I went to Germany and
spent an afternoon in Wallhalben and Hettenhausen and past Bacharach on a boat
trip down a portion of the Rhine River.
This family is the first I have personally traced back to Europe, as you
can see I needed many sources and help from others to locate their home in
Germany.
Sandra Jones Hall