Individual Details
Johann Jacob MEISENHEIMER
(15 Aug 1718 - 28 Apr 1801)
John Jakob Misenheimer was born around 1725 in Germany. The name Misenheimer is taken from the City of Misenheimer in Pfaltz Rheinland region of West Germany. Jakob was the earlilest known of the North Carolina Misenheimers. He settled in PA in the 1740s. Jakob married Margaret Reiter on July 5, 1746 beyond the Schuyekill at Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Trappe, PA. They were members there and their first 8 children were baptized in this church. Margaret was also born around 1725. Jakob and Margaret came to Mecklenburg County NC before July 17, 1775 and settled on Adams Creek. Jakob was undoubtedly married a second time, since there is a 10 year span between 2 of the children. Their neighbors were Blackwelders and Barringers. Jakob's will was recorded December 15, 1787 and probated October 10, 1801 in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. Jakob's sons John and George were executors of the Will.
Of Jakob's 10, children Anna Margaret was born in 1754 & died in 1817. She was married to John Duke Sr. on December 1, 1772. John Duke was a son of immigrants Wilheim & Catherine Swartz Duke. John was born in 1750 & died in 1811. John & Anna Margaret had 8 offspring. They are believed to be buried in St. John's Lutheran Church Cemetery in Cabarrus Co., North Carolina. Early spellings of Duke were Schulk and Dschuk.
Anna Margaret & John Duke's daughter Mary Ann was born November 2, 1782 & died April 15, 1846. She married Peter Roseman on September 16, 1800. Peter was a son of George Sr. & Elizabeth Roseman & grandson of the immigrant Jacob Sr. & Annapolis Roseman. Peter was of Rowan County & he & Mary Ann are buried in the Lowerstone Church Cemetery in Rockwell, North Carolina. Peter died in 1817. There were 3 sons and 5 daughters born to this union.
Their eldest daughter Sarah was born in July of 1801. Sarah Cladora Fisher Brown was born December 4, 1835 and died March 5, 1811. John D.A. was born October 10, 1838 and died December 6, 1890. John D.A. Brown was a son of Michael L. & Elizabeth Miller Brown. Michael L. Brown was married again after Elizabeth's death. Michael L. Brown was a grandson of Michael, builder of the Old Stone House. John & Sarah were parents of 6 children. They are buried in the St. John's Lutheran Church Cemetery in Cabarrus Co, North Carolina. They have readable markers. Their daughter Mary Clementine Ciadora was born October 28, 1873 & she married Charles VanBuren McCombs. Charles was born January 28, 1870 & was a son of William Martin & Clementine (Tine) Holshouser McCombs. Mary & Charles were married April 19, 1891. Charles was a Grocery Merchant in Kannapolis, North Carolina. Mary died July 21, 1935 & Charles remarried, however there were no children by the second wife. Charles died July 9, 1860 & they are both laid to rest in the St. Paul's Lutheran Church Cemetery, several miles from Salisbury, North Carolina.
The oldest of their 14 children was Mae Elizaebth born March 5, 1892. Mae married George Monroe Goodman on August 28, 1910. George was born August 19, 1887. George was a descendant of the early immigrant Johann Michael Goodman. Of their family of 12 children 2 died young. Mae died August 6, 1967 & George died July 17, 1963 and they were laid to rest in the Carolina Memorial Park in Kannapolis, North Carolina. 2 sons & 2 daughters are living at this writing. The majority of their children were employed in textiles. Their youngest son Henry was employed by 2 railroad companies as a Machinist, & by Asphalt Paving Company as head of maintenance of heavy equipment in Charlotte, North Carolina. Henry & his wife Ruth are now retired. They have been in family research for 25 years. Henry is an 8th generation from John Jakob Misenheimer.
Sources: German Pioneers by Strassburge, Cemetery Stones, Deeds, Wills, Census, Marriage and Church Records from Cabarras, Mecklenburg, and Rowan Counties. Brown and Fisher Geneaology Books. The Story of the Southern Synod by Rev Banks J. Peeler. Index to Wills Philadelphia PA 1682-1782, Northern Ireland, Ships List, NC Geneaological Society Journal VIII # 3 August 1977, Patricia Bonds Beck, Harrit Cobb and Personal Knowledge.
Johann Jacob Meisenheimer moved his family from Berks Co, Pennsylvania in the summer of 1775 after the first British military action of the American Revolution, and they moved to Mecklenburg County (in 1792 Cabarrus Co), North Carolina. He is the pioneer ancestor of the family that settled in western North Carolina and he was born in Germany. Lutheran Church records from Germany reveal that there was a Johann Jacob Meisenheimer with a recorded birth of August 15, 1718 in the town of Waldalgesheim and he was the son of Johann Jacob Meisenhimer and Anna Elizabeth Mog. This is the only lead uncovered as to the possible parentage of our pioneer ancestor, and Waldalgesheim is in the same Pfaltz-Rheinland regions as the city named Meisenheim on the Glan, a tributary of the Rhine River in West Germany. The city Meisenheim is over 1,000 years old & is likely the location name of our surname.
Johann Jacob made his way down the Rhine River to the port of Rotterdam to book passage for the new world. Johann sailed from Rotterdam to the island of Cowes off England then across the Atlantic to America on the ship Lydia, & in the English Captain's ship records his age was entered as 23 years old. The ship arrived in Philadelphia, PA on September 19, 1743.
The exact reason Johann Jacob Meisenheimer come to the new world may never be know, but a number of factors such as promotions by the Penn family of land and opportunity in their colony must have motivated the people in a country with religious wars (i.e. various rulers forcing their religion on the people during the late 1600s and early 1700s which devastated the Pfalz-Rheinland region; the results of the wars were deaths, burning, plundering and high child mortality rates.) Many parents in the Pfalz-Rhineland region wanted their adult children to have a better life, & would help them go to the new world for that opportunity. This may have been the case for our pioneer ancestor Johann Jacob Meisenheimer considering that he married shortly after his arrival in America, which only a free man could do. An indentured servant could not marry without permission, because they were in debt for their passage.
On November 16, 1746 Johann Jacob and Anna Margaretha Reiter were married at Augustus Evangelical Lutheran Church in Trappe, Philadelphia Co, now Montgomery Co., Pennsylvania Co, now Montgomery Co,. Pennsylvania and is recorded in the church's history. Officiating was Pastor Heinrich Melchoir Muhelberg the founding patriarch of this American Lutheran Church.
Of this union 10 children were born, all in Pennsylvania. Their names are (1) Johannes Meisenheimer; (2) George Meisenehimer; (3) Jacob Meisenheimer (4) Anna Margaretha Meisenheimer (5) Peter Meisenheimer (6) Catharina "Catherine" Meisenheimer (7) Abraham Meisenheimer (8) Elizabeth Meisenheimer (10) Barbara Meisenheimer.
From the various records we find that all of Johann Jacob and Anna Margaretha's children were born in Pennsylvania. The tax records show between 1766 and March 1769 that the family was living in Colebrookdale Township in Berks Co, Pennsylvania. Johann Jacob must have been a thrifty, energetic man for the proprietary returns in 1768 Berks Co, Colebrookdale Township, shows him owning "100 acres of land, 4 horses, 5 cattle, and 6 sheep."
The last recorded ate of date of this family in Pennsylvania was that of the baptism of granddaughter Anna Margareth Schuck on May 14, 1775 with Johann Jacob and Anna Margaretha Meisenheimer both grandparents as sponsors at New Hanover Lutheran Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
During the struggle between the American colonies and the British government which was ongoing throughout the 1760s in the form of higher taxes, and royal government officials involvement in local business affairs. Samuel Adams and John Hancock were two leading patriots during the Boston Tea Party, and dressed like Indians to go throw overboard the tea cargo, into the Boston harbor in 1773 to protest the new tax on tea. With the British army occupation of Boston, Mass. in 1774 many people recalled the killings of 5 patriots by British troops in 1770.
There is a historical significance to the year 1775 in which Johann Jacob Meisenheimer moved his whole family to North Carolina during the summer between May and August. It is important to recall that on April 19, 1775 the British army did fire shots at Americans in Lexington and Concord, Mass. and that the Second Continental Congress did meet in May 1775 in Philadelphia, PA.
The news of the British attach had a far reaching effect, even in the back country of North Carolina in Mecklenburg Co on May 20, 1775 a delegation of men signed the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and on May 31, 1775 they wrote the Mecklenburg Resolves.
Prior to national independence that was declared in 1776 there was opposition to all British troops that did cause a movement southward & westward by many people no matter what their ethnic origin for the frontier back country wilderness to live in peace. many people started in Berks Co near Reading & traveled southward on the Great Wagon Road following the mountains through Maryland into Virginia by way of the Shenandoah Valley, continuing on southward into the Piedmont of North Carolina. Johann Jacob had hoped to live at peace on his farm & attended St. John's Lutheran Church in the German community.
John Jacob moved his family to Mecklenburg by August 17 1775 & bought land on that date at Adams Creek to settle on. In October 1775 he purchased 170 acres from his neighbor Michael & Catherine Klein (Cline) then in January of 1776 he obtained 150 acres on Buffalo Creek where he & Anna lived out their lives.
Of Jakob's 10, children Anna Margaret was born in 1754 & died in 1817. She was married to John Duke Sr. on December 1, 1772. John Duke was a son of immigrants Wilheim & Catherine Swartz Duke. John was born in 1750 & died in 1811. John & Anna Margaret had 8 offspring. They are believed to be buried in St. John's Lutheran Church Cemetery in Cabarrus Co., North Carolina. Early spellings of Duke were Schulk and Dschuk.
Anna Margaret & John Duke's daughter Mary Ann was born November 2, 1782 & died April 15, 1846. She married Peter Roseman on September 16, 1800. Peter was a son of George Sr. & Elizabeth Roseman & grandson of the immigrant Jacob Sr. & Annapolis Roseman. Peter was of Rowan County & he & Mary Ann are buried in the Lowerstone Church Cemetery in Rockwell, North Carolina. Peter died in 1817. There were 3 sons and 5 daughters born to this union.
Their eldest daughter Sarah was born in July of 1801. Sarah Cladora Fisher Brown was born December 4, 1835 and died March 5, 1811. John D.A. was born October 10, 1838 and died December 6, 1890. John D.A. Brown was a son of Michael L. & Elizabeth Miller Brown. Michael L. Brown was married again after Elizabeth's death. Michael L. Brown was a grandson of Michael, builder of the Old Stone House. John & Sarah were parents of 6 children. They are buried in the St. John's Lutheran Church Cemetery in Cabarrus Co, North Carolina. They have readable markers. Their daughter Mary Clementine Ciadora was born October 28, 1873 & she married Charles VanBuren McCombs. Charles was born January 28, 1870 & was a son of William Martin & Clementine (Tine) Holshouser McCombs. Mary & Charles were married April 19, 1891. Charles was a Grocery Merchant in Kannapolis, North Carolina. Mary died July 21, 1935 & Charles remarried, however there were no children by the second wife. Charles died July 9, 1860 & they are both laid to rest in the St. Paul's Lutheran Church Cemetery, several miles from Salisbury, North Carolina.
The oldest of their 14 children was Mae Elizaebth born March 5, 1892. Mae married George Monroe Goodman on August 28, 1910. George was born August 19, 1887. George was a descendant of the early immigrant Johann Michael Goodman. Of their family of 12 children 2 died young. Mae died August 6, 1967 & George died July 17, 1963 and they were laid to rest in the Carolina Memorial Park in Kannapolis, North Carolina. 2 sons & 2 daughters are living at this writing. The majority of their children were employed in textiles. Their youngest son Henry was employed by 2 railroad companies as a Machinist, & by Asphalt Paving Company as head of maintenance of heavy equipment in Charlotte, North Carolina. Henry & his wife Ruth are now retired. They have been in family research for 25 years. Henry is an 8th generation from John Jakob Misenheimer.
Sources: German Pioneers by Strassburge, Cemetery Stones, Deeds, Wills, Census, Marriage and Church Records from Cabarras, Mecklenburg, and Rowan Counties. Brown and Fisher Geneaology Books. The Story of the Southern Synod by Rev Banks J. Peeler. Index to Wills Philadelphia PA 1682-1782, Northern Ireland, Ships List, NC Geneaological Society Journal VIII # 3 August 1977, Patricia Bonds Beck, Harrit Cobb and Personal Knowledge.
Johann Jacob Meisenheimer moved his family from Berks Co, Pennsylvania in the summer of 1775 after the first British military action of the American Revolution, and they moved to Mecklenburg County (in 1792 Cabarrus Co), North Carolina. He is the pioneer ancestor of the family that settled in western North Carolina and he was born in Germany. Lutheran Church records from Germany reveal that there was a Johann Jacob Meisenheimer with a recorded birth of August 15, 1718 in the town of Waldalgesheim and he was the son of Johann Jacob Meisenhimer and Anna Elizabeth Mog. This is the only lead uncovered as to the possible parentage of our pioneer ancestor, and Waldalgesheim is in the same Pfaltz-Rheinland regions as the city named Meisenheim on the Glan, a tributary of the Rhine River in West Germany. The city Meisenheim is over 1,000 years old & is likely the location name of our surname.
Johann Jacob made his way down the Rhine River to the port of Rotterdam to book passage for the new world. Johann sailed from Rotterdam to the island of Cowes off England then across the Atlantic to America on the ship Lydia, & in the English Captain's ship records his age was entered as 23 years old. The ship arrived in Philadelphia, PA on September 19, 1743.
The exact reason Johann Jacob Meisenheimer come to the new world may never be know, but a number of factors such as promotions by the Penn family of land and opportunity in their colony must have motivated the people in a country with religious wars (i.e. various rulers forcing their religion on the people during the late 1600s and early 1700s which devastated the Pfalz-Rheinland region; the results of the wars were deaths, burning, plundering and high child mortality rates.) Many parents in the Pfalz-Rhineland region wanted their adult children to have a better life, & would help them go to the new world for that opportunity. This may have been the case for our pioneer ancestor Johann Jacob Meisenheimer considering that he married shortly after his arrival in America, which only a free man could do. An indentured servant could not marry without permission, because they were in debt for their passage.
On November 16, 1746 Johann Jacob and Anna Margaretha Reiter were married at Augustus Evangelical Lutheran Church in Trappe, Philadelphia Co, now Montgomery Co., Pennsylvania Co, now Montgomery Co,. Pennsylvania and is recorded in the church's history. Officiating was Pastor Heinrich Melchoir Muhelberg the founding patriarch of this American Lutheran Church.
Of this union 10 children were born, all in Pennsylvania. Their names are (1) Johannes Meisenheimer; (2) George Meisenehimer; (3) Jacob Meisenheimer (4) Anna Margaretha Meisenheimer (5) Peter Meisenheimer (6) Catharina "Catherine" Meisenheimer (7) Abraham Meisenheimer (8) Elizabeth Meisenheimer (10) Barbara Meisenheimer.
From the various records we find that all of Johann Jacob and Anna Margaretha's children were born in Pennsylvania. The tax records show between 1766 and March 1769 that the family was living in Colebrookdale Township in Berks Co, Pennsylvania. Johann Jacob must have been a thrifty, energetic man for the proprietary returns in 1768 Berks Co, Colebrookdale Township, shows him owning "100 acres of land, 4 horses, 5 cattle, and 6 sheep."
The last recorded ate of date of this family in Pennsylvania was that of the baptism of granddaughter Anna Margareth Schuck on May 14, 1775 with Johann Jacob and Anna Margaretha Meisenheimer both grandparents as sponsors at New Hanover Lutheran Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
During the struggle between the American colonies and the British government which was ongoing throughout the 1760s in the form of higher taxes, and royal government officials involvement in local business affairs. Samuel Adams and John Hancock were two leading patriots during the Boston Tea Party, and dressed like Indians to go throw overboard the tea cargo, into the Boston harbor in 1773 to protest the new tax on tea. With the British army occupation of Boston, Mass. in 1774 many people recalled the killings of 5 patriots by British troops in 1770.
There is a historical significance to the year 1775 in which Johann Jacob Meisenheimer moved his whole family to North Carolina during the summer between May and August. It is important to recall that on April 19, 1775 the British army did fire shots at Americans in Lexington and Concord, Mass. and that the Second Continental Congress did meet in May 1775 in Philadelphia, PA.
The news of the British attach had a far reaching effect, even in the back country of North Carolina in Mecklenburg Co on May 20, 1775 a delegation of men signed the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and on May 31, 1775 they wrote the Mecklenburg Resolves.
Prior to national independence that was declared in 1776 there was opposition to all British troops that did cause a movement southward & westward by many people no matter what their ethnic origin for the frontier back country wilderness to live in peace. many people started in Berks Co near Reading & traveled southward on the Great Wagon Road following the mountains through Maryland into Virginia by way of the Shenandoah Valley, continuing on southward into the Piedmont of North Carolina. Johann Jacob had hoped to live at peace on his farm & attended St. John's Lutheran Church in the German community.
John Jacob moved his family to Mecklenburg by August 17 1775 & bought land on that date at Adams Creek to settle on. In October 1775 he purchased 170 acres from his neighbor Michael & Catherine Klein (Cline) then in January of 1776 he obtained 150 acres on Buffalo Creek where he & Anna lived out their lives.
Events
| Birth | 15 Aug 1718 | Waldalgesheim, Waldalgesheim, Bad Kreuznach, Rhineland, Prussia, German Empire |  | ||
| Marriage | 16 Nov 1746 | Trappe, Montgomery County, PA - Anna Margaretha REITERIN | |||
| Death | 28 Apr 1801 | North Carolina | |||
| Burial | Saint Johns Evangelical Lutheran Church Cemetery, Concord, Cabarrus County, NC | |
Families
| Spouse | Anna Margaretha REITERIN (1728 - 1790) |
| Child | Elizabeth MISENHEIMER (1750 - 1832) |
Endnotes
1. "Deutschland Geburten und Taufen, 1558-1898", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NFL4-K74 : 25 March 2020).
2. findagrave.com.