I've updated our original Wyrich Bentz post with additional information from my recent trip to Cocalico Twp. Beyond Wyrich, there was other data as well. Keep in mind I am only tracking 18th century Pence's, so there was much that I left behind. But below is a quick transcription of one of the documents found in the "Pence" file folder in the Cocalico Historical Society Library.
Samuel Bentz
Peter and Magdelena Bentz: son Samuel born 29 Jan 1792; bapt 16 May 1792 (Bergstrasse Church Records). Samuel died in 1850 and was buried at the old Cocalico Reformed Cemetery, known as Bethany Cemetery.
Peter Bentz
Peter and Anna Maria Bentz: son William born 9 Jul 1781; bapt. 3 Oct
Lancaster County Births, Book by Humphrey
Peter and Catharine: daughter Elizabetha born 29 Jul 1763
Peter and ?: son Johannes born May 1765
Peter and ?: daughter Margaretha born 20 Sep 1768
Peter and ?: son Michael born 6 Oct 1770
Peter and ?: son Leonhart born 8 Jan 1772
Peter and Margaret: daughter Juliana born 22 Jul 1773
Christian Bentz
Christian and Anna Maria Bentz: son Jacob born 17 Dec 1769; bapt 28 May 1770, Berg.
Christian and Anna Maria Bentz: daughter Christine born 16 May 1772; bapt. 5 Jul 1772, Berg.
Christian and Anna Maria Pentz: daughter Anna Maria born 25 May 1775
Christian and Anna Maria Penss: son John born 19 Sep 1777; bapt 4 Oct 1777, Berg.
Conrad Bentz
Conrad and Elizabeth: daughter Anna Catharine born 12 Oct 1766
Conrad and Elizabeth: daughter Elisabeth born 14 Jan 1770
Valentine Bentz
Valentine and ?: daughter Anna Catarina born 9 Nov 1741
Michael Bentz
Michael and ?: son Michael born 12 Mar 1739
Michael and ?: son Johannes born 8 Mar 1740
Michael and ?: son Johan Peter born 28 Nov 1741
Michael and ?: daughter Maria Barbara born 13 Sep 1743
Michael and Anna Elizabeth: daughter Maria Elizabeth bapt 21 Sep 1747
John Nicholas Bentz
John Nicholas and Maria Margaret: daughter Elizabeth born 10 Jun 1767
Nicholas and Maria Margaret: son John Peter born 30 May 1769
Nicholas and Margaret: son Jacob born 3 Jun 1771
Andreas Benz
Andreas and ?: son John Walth. Adopted. Born 16 Jun 1745
Andreas and Ottilia: daughter Elizabeth born 21 Mar 1750
John Bentz/Benzel
Urban and Dorothea: son John Gerhardt born 11 Apr 1775
John and Dorothea Benzel: son Charles born 3 Jan 1768
John and Dorothea Benzel: son Conrad born 21 Aug 1770
Benedict Bentz
Benedict and Ann Catharine Bentz: daughter Elizabeth born 24 May 1754
Johann Bentz
Johann and ? Bentz: son John Michael born 19 Sep 1735
Johann and ? Bentz: son John Joseph born 21 Sep 1738
Jacob Bentz
Jacob and Barbara Bentz: son George Frederick born 20 Nov 1752
Jacob and ? Bentz: son John, bapt 1768
My ancestor is William Bentz born 1811 in Cocalico/Ephrata. I have a theory he may be the son of Wilhelm/William son of Peter born in 1781 died 1825. My William's son as well as Jacob Bentz son of Christian are buried in the same cemetary. By the 1860 census William has moved to Cumberland County. Any help would be greatly appreciated!.
ReplyDeleteSure. Just send any data points you have on William (1811) to me directly -- Derek.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping to make a trip to Lancaster County sooner then later i'll post anything I find. My hunch is perhaps William is a nephew of Jacob Bentz born 1769. I'm leaning towards Wilhelm born 1781 as William's father because of the rarity of the name William/Wilhelm in the Bentz lines i've looked at. Going by census records you find Jacob and Wilhelm listed in 1820 same township. Wilhelm died 1825. So of course he's not there in 1830. By 1840 William has his own household. I'm frustrated feel i'm close but can't connect the dots. I tend to think he comes from one of Wyrich's lines who stayed in Lancaster county.
ReplyDeleteI happen to have a copy of William's (d. 1825) inventory (to be dispensed via the will). He was quite a wealthy man, compared to other inventories I've seen. No children were named. And the prime witness was Christian Bentz. I also have the inventories of Mary (d. 1821) and of Polly (d.1834) Bentz wherein William is named. But no relationship is given. All inventories were completed in Lancaster.
DeleteIn 1825 William would have only been 14. Would that have any bearing on being named in a will?. If William is'nt the son of William I still think he's of that family, based on his son being buried in the Bethany cemetery where Jacob is as well.
DeleteI'm going to the Cumberland County courthouse monday to try to get William's death certificate in hopes a father is listed, not sure if when he died parents were listed on them.
Forgot to mention in my post. In the 1820 census there's a Wm Bentz who I assume is William there's several children listed in his household. In this census there's also a Peter and Jacob Bentz listed all three are in Elizabeth Lancaster County, which I believe was taken out of Cocalico.
DeleteIn the 1800 census the only Bentz's listed in Cocalico are Jacob and Peter, i've seen the names of there sons. Neither had a William. William would have only been nineteen. Really hurts my search that most of the 1810 census is'nt around I believe it was lost in a fire.
DeleteJust an FYI, I ran across an entry from York County records (# 3R 342), listing a William Pentz of York Borough, York Co. as a hatter, in business with William Hartman.
DeleteThanks!
DeleteWent to the Cumberland County historical society yesterday. Did'nt find out his father's name, but did find where he's buried in Carlisle. Sooner then later headed to the Mennonite museum, they have a bunch of family histories for Lancaster County.
While at the Lancaster & Cocalico archives, I gathered information on every Pentz/Bentz/etc born PRIOR to 1800. There will be some additional data there for those born after 1800, which may help you with William (1811). If you can tie him to a father, or even a marriage record, and/or children names, this will help triangulate. Looking for alternative spelling might turn up something as well. They do their best to mitigate this issue, but there are always those records that escape scrutiny.
ReplyDeleteWilliam married Anna Criley or Creyley born 1813 in PA there children were
ReplyDeleteHenrietta born 1836
Jacob born 1837
John born 1840
Samuel born 1842
Martin born 1844
Joesph 1846 died 1850 buried in Bethany cemetery
Adam born 1849
my ancestor Isaac born 1851-52
It appears, according to the 1850 Federal census that William (1811) was living in Ephrata married to "Nancy" in 1850. All the children match up. Anna Criley may have been a second marriage. Isaac had not yet been born, so does not show up. It would make sense, if he claims Anna as his mother, that this was indeed a second marriage.
ReplyDeleteJust went to ancestry.com. The baptism records record the mother for Joseph, Adam and Isaac as Anna Bentz, there's no record of the earlier children. I do wonder if Nancy is simply the name she went by and Anna was the given name. Unfortunately the 1840 census only records the name of Wm(William) Bentz no other names spouse or children named. I really hope I can figure this out!. It does appear William is living on or close by the lands that Wyrich had before moving to York
ReplyDeleteI'm headed to Lancaster saturday. What do you think would be most helpful for me Cocalico Historical Society, or Lancaster history museum?.
ReplyDeleteYou'll cover more ground in the Lancaster museum, as everything is already quite sorted and ready for you to go through. Take your camera with you, and request if you can take shots of the materials, as there will be so much you won't have time to digest it all while there. As for Cocalico, it's a potential goldmine. But it's not as easy to navigate and there are several things that are not fully indexed or cataloged. Conversely, Cocalico is probably less scoured than Lancaster, and as a result, there could be hidden gems still waiting to be discovered there. And they have a great staff.
ReplyDeleteAwesome thanks!. I'll hit Lancaster saturday and Cocalico another time.
ReplyDeleteGot what I was looking for!. Record in the orphans court in 1825/1826 states William son of William requests Jacob Bentz to be his guardian. Jacob was his uncle born 1769 to Christian Bentz and Anna Maria Kafforth. When he died she Married Peter Bentz in 1780 not sure if they were brothers. In 1781 my ancestor Wilhelm was born. I wonder if Peter is connected to immigrant Weirich some how. Now my Peter Bentz died in 1818 instead of 1814 that Weirich's son is said to have died. Of note Peter had another son named Weirich/Whyrich who moved to Cumberland County sometime after 1810 and is buried in the same cemetary in Carlisle as his nephew my ancestor William.
ReplyDeleteThat's great news. I have a York County orphan court record for Jacob (son of Christian, son of Weyrich Sr.) in 1786 - the year Weyrich Jr (noted as Jacob's uncle) took over Jacob's guardianship. If this is your Jacob, then the line would look like this: William Jr --> William Sr. --> Christian --> Weyrich Sr.
ReplyDeleteHow does Peter play into this? I may have missed that point.
The problem is there's a ton of Peter's and Jacobs's around. My Jacob is the first son of Christian Bentz born 1769 buried at Bethany cemetary in 1847 far as I can tell lived in Lancaster his whole life. Peter Bentz was the second husband of Christians widow. My Wilhelm was there first child born 1781. When he died in 1825 William jr. chose Jacob born 1769 to be his guardian. Peter is said to have died 1818. According to several undocumented family trees at Ancestry.com Peter's father is claimed to be Weyrich and he was born 1750 in York County but I don't trust it.
ReplyDeleteHi Ron: can you share the records that support the 1818 death of Peter and the fact that this Peter (d. 1818), the father of Wilhelm (1781), married Anna Maria Kafferod in 1780, widow of Christian Bentz (son of Weyrich Sr?). If 1818 is correct, we can cross out two candidates. We have two left over, but there isn't much data on them. Any other data would help narrow this, so if you can transcribe the records here, that would be great.
ReplyDeleteWould seem there's two Peter's of about the same age during this time. I think the one who died in 1814 may be the son of Micheal Bentz husband of Barbara.
ReplyDeleteI was lucky enough to obtain a copy of Volume 20/ 1986 Journal Of The Pennsylvania German Society. In it there's a story on Samuel Bentz The Mount Pleasant Artist, luckily for me he is the son of Peter and brother of Wilhelm/William. So there's a ton of info on his father Peter.The deed in 1792 of almost 62 acres from Jacob son of Christian to Peter states that Peter married Christians widow.
Christian's children are listed from the Cocalico Reformed church records as well as orphans court as
Jacob 1769-1847
Christine 1772 married Jacob Rihm
Anna Maria 1775
Johannes 1777
Peter and Anna Maria's children
Wilhelm/William 1781-1825 joiner and cabinet maker on Cocalico tax lists after 1806 on 5-18 acres
Peter I believe i've seen his death in Philadelphia on ancestry it notes he moved away from Lancaster County
Weirich after 1810 on tax lists as a freeman notes 1829 living in Carlisle. I've seen his grave buried same cemetary as William jr in Carlisle.
Samuel 1792 unmarried
Hannah 1801-1840 married Joseph Gorgas
Peter Bentz had several jobs in his life Lutheran clergymen, a joiner and a farmer, and possibly a schoolmaster. In 1780 he's on tax lists for the first time in Cocalico about the time he married Christian's widow was taxed for 150 acres he was taxed until 1785 with land listed 150 or 200 acres. 1786 to 1791 not taxed possibly because he was a schoolmaster. He's taxed again in 1792 when Jacob deeded him 62 acrees. He's called a joiner in 1805 otherwise a farmer from then on. Was taxed for the last time in 1817 died 1818. His sons William and Peter were made administrators May 29, 1818.
If Christian is indeed Weyrich's son I think Peter could be his brother.
Something I forgot to mention. At some point Weyrich and his wife had deeded land to Christian. I believe this is the land Peter was taxed on in the 1780's. by 1792 when Jacob deeds some of the land to Peter it could be since Jacob was now 21 he took the land into his own hands.
ReplyDeleteLooked some more online. Right about the time Christian was starting a family, Weyrich and his wife deeded him land. Also it seems the other Peter was active in Brecknock township.
ReplyDeleteRon, wanted to note that at the Cocalico Valley historical society, they have "a letter from William Bentz to his mother" dated Aug 26 1839. Do you have a copy of that? call letters as MS78-7
ReplyDeleteThere are five Peters that could be candidates, to my way of thinking:
ReplyDelete1. Peter, son of Weyrich Sr. and Anna Maria
2. Peter, son of Johan Phillip and Mary Elizabeth
3. Peter, son of Michael and Catherine Elizabeth Kauffman
4. Peter, son of Johanne Nicholas and Maria Magdalena
5. Peter, son of John and Maria Magdalena.
We can remove Peter, son of John and Maria Magdalena, as we know he married Mary Humrichhauser, and was born in 1758, died in 1823, and lived in Conewago all his life.
We can also remove Peter, son of Johanne Nicholas and Maria Magdalena, as he was born in 1769 - the same year as Jacob, and he'd have been only 11 years old at the time Christian Bentz's widow remarried in 1780.
To note: three of these men are directly related. That is, (5) John and Maria Magdalena are the parents of both (5) Peter (m. Mary Humrichausen) and (3) Michael (m. Catherine Elizabeth Kauffman) - Michael and Peter's paternity is clear in Rev Lishy's baptismal record. The salient point to come out of this is that when Michael died in 1817, his own son Peter was executer. Therefore, via process of elimination, we know Michael's son Peter was not the Peter who died in 1814, but was rather perhaps the one who died in 1818. This gives further credence to the assumption that the Peter who died in 1814 was indeed Peter, son of Weyrich.
In other words:
Weyrich Bentz Sr (c.1710-1783) --> Peter (b. unknown - 1814)
Johannes Bentz (c. 1708-1778) -- > John Michael (1735-1817) --> Peter (b. unknown - 1818)
Johannes Bentz (c. 1708-1778) -- > Johannes Peter (1758-1823)
To note, we still have one wildcard. Johannes Phillip & Mary Elizabeth had a son Peter, around 1750. This family is associated with Conewago. Conewago is the residence of Johannes and his sons Michael and Peter (above), as well. But not associated with Weyrich's line, that I've seen.
Now, let us say that your Peter is from Michael s/o Johannes Bentz. If this is the case, we still have a puzzle: why would a Bentz from this line (William) want to be taken under the guardianship of Jacob (of Weyrich's line). Proximity? Or perhaps because of the link his mother (Anna Maria Caffroth) has with the line, being Christian's widow?
At least, that's they way I am currently seeing it. This is messy business. DNA would resolve.
Did you get your yDNA tested already? If so, what was the Hapolgroup?
No I don't have the letter thanks for the call letters. Cocalico will be my next stop.
ReplyDeleteFrom research i've been doing online. Peter son of Weyrich and Peter son of Michael appear to both be in the Cocalico area there whole lives. I'll go back again. The reason i've been doubtful of Peter son of Micheal is i've seen his wives and children listed, and have'nt found him connected to Caffroth. Perhaps Cocalico can help but we're getting to a time when records i'd think can get hard to find.
I've been tested I am I-M223-I-CTS616 which i've seen indicated to be connected to the Rhine valley my current terminal SNP is L812.
The following info I found on the Michael Bentz page at pennsylvaniasettlers.com
ReplyDeleteThey have a death of Peter Bentz April/June 1814 in Cocalico Barbara Bentz EX listed as George Leed and Charles Montelins.
There's a Michael Bentz that says 1811 and January 1818 maybe when the estate was settled? with Executors listed as Peter Bentz and Jason Weygle but its in Manchester and I know my Peter was in Cocalico at this time.
There's also several entries in the 1790's of Christian's children receiving there share of the estate from Jacob after Jacob came of age. Which fits with my theory of Jacob deeding land to Peter after he came of age.
There's also real estate deals described between Weyrich and the Beck family who I know from the story on Samuel Bentz were related to the Caffroth's. The Beck's are also buried at the Bethany cemetary where Jacob and William's young son are. Would Weyrich have had a unknown son who would've been old enough to give birth to Peter around 1750/1755? making him Weyrich's grandson?. To me all the evidence points to Christian and Peter of the same Bentz family some how.
Barbara Bentz was the wife of the Peter who died 1814.
ReplyDeleteAnd there's also the fact of Peter having a son named Weyrich. Sorry for all the posts forgot to mention this in the above post.
ReplyDeleteWent to Cocalico and Lancaster today. No luck nothing that you don't have here. The lady at Cocalico gave me the contact info of someone who has done a lot of research on the Bentz lines. I emailed him when I got home.
ReplyDeleteThrough DNA testing at FTDNA and paper trail i'm 99.99% sure Weyrich is my ancestor. Weyrich and a DNA match at FTDNA share a ancestor born around 1590 named Hans Benz/Bentz. then as you follow the paper trail forward Weyrich is the only one who heads to PA. Hope this finds you well!.
ReplyDeleteRon
Hey Ron. Updated Weyrich's page with a new birthdate and parental info. When you get a chance to share, please let me know the Y-DNA haplogroup you discovered at FTDNA so we can, at least provisionally, note it in Weyrich's page.
DeleteSure I-M223 . My current terminal haplogroup downstream from I-M223 per big Y testing is I-L812*
ReplyDeleteHey Ron, are you still active? I think I'm part of that line too and would love to hear your notes.
Delete