Steidinger and Weaver

The ins and outs of family research can be illustrated by two families on TOF's tree; viz., the Steidingers of Easton and the Weavers of Bucks. TOF's great-grandfather, Anthony Singley married a Margaret Weaver in Bucks County; and another ggf, Frank Metzger, married a Lavinia Steidinger, also in Bucks. In addition, Henry Schwar, not a direct ancestor, married Mary Steidinger. Until last week, TOF knew nothing more about them than their names. A short discourse about the research may be instructive.

The church record books for St. John the Baptist of Haycock Run, Bucks Co., were microfilmed back in the day and TOF ran through them at the Easton Public Library Marx Room a number of years ago. Likewise, the Katolische Kirchebuchen of the Gemeinden Ober- und Niederhausen, Kreis Emmendingen, Grandherzogthum Badens had been microfilmed by and available through the Mormon Stake, which TOF consulted while still in Colorado. Both can now be accessed on-line via Ancestry.com.

To begin...

In the Liber Baptismoraum of St. John the Baptist of Haycock Run, we read:

1868 August 11th. Bapt. Sarah J. (n) ex Francisco Metzger et Lvina Stidigner

which gives us the mother’s maiden name. Franz has become Franceso because while he was born in Baden, the book is is Latin. Steidinger was spelled Stidigner; but as Faithful Reader may suspect, Steidinger is a name that can be spelled in a wonderful variety of ways. Lavinia in various documents ia spelled Lovinia, Lovina, and so forth. The way to discover that "Lvina Stidigner" and "Lavinia Steidinge" are the same person is to cross reference. For example, earlier in the same book, TOF found:

Die 16th Novembris 1862 baptizai Israelim Leonam fil. leg. Francisci Metzger et Lowinae Steidinger natus an die 21 Juli 1862.

 The -ae ending is the Latin genetive. The -im and -am endings are accusative. So Israel Leo Metzger, legitimate son of Francis Metzger and Lowinia Steidinger. W was pronounced as V.

So when were she and Frank married? The records for St. John the Baptist are silent. But on line, Lavinia’s obituary (21 Feb 1921) tells us they were wed 11 May 1854 in Bucks Co., moved to S. Bethlehem 5 Feb 1887, and “later” relocated to Fountain Hill.\

Note that "the following children survive: Mrs. Martin Rauschwender of New York, Mrs. James Knight, Mrs. Anthony Singley, Mrs. Charles Oxford, Mrs Charles Clark of Fountain Hill; Jacob and Charles of South Bethlehem. Israel and Lawrence of Fountain Hill. A brother Israel Stadinger of Wilkes-Barre and a half-brother Samuel Werst of Perkasie also survive.

The Singley connection assures us that this Lovina is the same as our Lavinia, as does the existence of a brother named Israel, after whom she named a son.

When located on-line, Lavinia's death certificate, like her obit, fails to name her parents but tells us she was born 19 Aug 1833. Again, no joy in the St. John the Baptist records. Perhaps she was not Catholic.

A search of the 1850 Census, Forks, Northampton, Pennsylvania, four years before she wed Metzger, we discover:

·         Name                               Age        inferred birth year

·         Reuben Dietrich                36           1814

·         Susanna Dietrich               42           1808

·         Levina Steidinger            17           1833

·         Ephraim Steidinger           15           1835

·         Tilghman Steidinger          14           1836

·         Samuel Steidinger               8            1842

·         Mary A Dietrich                  3           1847

·Charles Dietrich                25           1825

There was another Lavinia Steidinger not too far away, Steidinger not being an uncommon name in them thar parts. The names of presumptive brothers, Ephraim and Tilghman, sound Protestant. Catholics tended then to take the names of saints; Protestants like OT names. Tendencies prove nothing, but are only another evidence.

But what’s a gaggle of Steidingers doing in Rueben Dietrich’s house? The simple answer is that Susanna was Lavinia's mother, but married Dietrich sometime between 1842 and 1847. But we don't have Susanna's maiden name nor the paternal Steidinger. The brother, Israe, cannot be found and TOF is reminded how people with multiple names often used them interchangeably. (TOF once discovered in German parish records that Franz Zængle, Josef Zængle, and Anton Zængle were all one person: Franz Josef Anton Zængle!) 

But another baptismal record at John the Baptist explains something. 

 1886 Januarii die vigesimo tertio baptismatem Mariam ad fidem conversam, fil. Tilman Steidinger et Lydiae Klotz, nat. Aprilis die 2ndo 1864.

Mary Steidinger [who later married Henry Schwar] was a convert, the daughter of Lavinia's younger brorther, Tilghman Steidinger. That probably means Frank Metzger might not have wed a Catholic and hence was not recorded in the St. John the Baptist record book. 

Eventually, searching led to the records of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Easton, which revealed that in

Oct 1846 Hieronymous Dietrich married Susana Steidinger, widow.

So was Hieronymous the same as Rueben? Well, if your name were Hieronymous, what would you tell a Census taker? Perhaps Reuben was his middle name?  But Hieronymous is the Latin form of Jerome, and in 1860, Tinicum, Bucks, we find

·         Name                                    Age

·         Jerome Deiterich              50

·         Susanna Deiterich            50

·         Samuel Deiterich              19

·         Maryan Deiterich             13

·         Charles Deiterich              12

·         Martin Deiterich               7

·         Paul Steidinger                  3

·         Susanna Steidinger          1

Tilghman is married and in a separate household. Samuel "Deiterich" is probably Samuel Steidinger from the 1850 Census and Maryan is Mary A. But Charles should have been 2 in 1850 but does not appear there. Neither the 1850 nor 1860 noted the relationships to head of household and TOF has encountered other instances in which housemembers with different names were carelessly transcribed with the head's name. The two youngest Steidingers may have been the children of Samuel, grandchildren of Lavinia.

Tilghman Steidinger’s death certificate, filled out by his daughter Mary Schwar, listed ‘don’t know’ as the father and Susahan [sic] Hauser as the mother, so we finally have a family name for the mother. Then, a search for Israel, listed as a brother in Lavinia's obit, produced a death certificate for Israel H. Steidinger of Wilkes-Barre where the parents names were clearly Paul Steidinger and Susan Hauser, both of Bucks County. The two children in Jerome Dietrich's home bore the same names, not likely a coincidence.

 

The direct line is then:

Susanna's Steidinger children were born from 1833 to 42, so her husband Paul should have appeared in the 1840 Census as head of household. (Maybe he could have been in 1830, but that is uncertain.) However, there is no Paul Steidinger anywhere, except for the kid in 1860.

In 1800,  Johan Stetinger lived in Easton with his wife Christiana Dietz. He was the only Steidinger in town. He was still there in 1830, but not in 1840. (Nor in 1810 and 1820!)

In 1810, Georg Stedinger appears with his family in Lower Saucon. He reappears in 1820 and 1830, but not in 1840.

And in 1830, young David Stetinger, son of Johan and Christina appears in Easton., b. 4 Oct 1805 and bapt. 24 Sep 1818 First United Church of Christ Easton and wed Fredrica Kassler 30 Mar 1830 at St John's Lutheran Church. He reappears in 1840 Bushkill Ward, Easton with a single male child.

It is likely that Paul is one of the numerous sons of these people who somehow avoided the Census records. One possibility is that the person filling out Israel Steidinger's death certificare had misheard some family story. That was the only record naming "Paul Steidinger"

As for the half-brother, Samuel Werst, there were in the 1870 Census, as usual, two Samuels Werst. One, aged 26, was working as a farm laborer for Tobias Hinkel in Nockamixon Twp, Bucks Co.  The other, in Lower Saucon was in his fifties. The latter was unlikely to have survived into his hundreds in 1921. The latter would have been 68.

A portion of Nockamixon Twp, from an 1876 map shows the locations of A[nthony] Singley (north of center), S[ebastian] Schware (due south to Marienstein Ch., then southwest), J[oseph] Schware (ssw of S. Schware), and F[rank] Metzger (north on road to first left, then due west). There is also a property northeast of A. Singley off the next road [dotted road] for I. Weaver.

The Weavers are the other family that had been a dead end. There is a record at St. John the Baptist attesting to the marriage of Anthony [Anton] Singley [Zangle] to Margaret Weaver on 19 May 1853; but whence Margaret Weaver, who knew?

One of two possible Margaret Weavers in Nockamixon Twp, 1850, only one was the right age to become Margaret Singley in 1860:
Name                  Age implied birth year
Mary Weaver        46       1804
Margret Weaver  15       1835
Elizabeth Weaver  12       1838
Ann Weaver            7        1843

which means Margaret was 18 when she wed. Her mother was apparently named Mary. the family was scattered across 1860, each in a separate household:

Mary Weaver         (55) housekeeper, alone. Margaret Singley  (25) as the wife of Anton Singley Elizabeth Weaver   (22) as a servant in the household of Simon Raisner Anna Weaver         (17) as a domestic in the householf of Martin Breiner

in addition, I. Weaver appears on the 1876 Nockamixon map and Brice Weaver to the south on the Tinicum Twp. map. These are possible brothers of Margaret.

Working backwards was more difficult, since family members are not named in earlier Censuses and Weavers as plentiful as shad in the Delaware. But in 1840, their ages would have been

Name                  Age in 1840 Census category Mary Weaver        36       =female 30-39 Margret Weaver      5       =female 5-9 Elizabeth Weaver    2       = female  under 5 Ann Weaver            not yet born

A likely candidate in 1840 in Tinicum Twp. would be

Abraham Weaver Home in 1840 (City, County, State):    Tinicum, Bucks, Pennsylvania Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 14:    2 (two sons gone by 1850?) Free White Persons - Males - 30 thru 39:    1 (Abraham?) Free White Persons - Females - Under 5:     1 (Elizabeth?) Free White Persons - Females - 5 thru 9:     2  (Margaret? plus another married by 1850?) Free White Persons - Females - 30 thru 39:  1  (Mary?)

This seems to match up pretty well with Mary's 1850 family, and no other Weaver family in the county seems to match the age profile.Ten years earlier, we find:

Abraham Weaver Home in 1830 (City, County, State):    Tinicum, Bucks, Pennsylvania Free White Persons - Males - Under 5:        2 (these were the two males 10-14 in 1840) Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29:     1 (Abraham? b. 1801-1810) Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29   1 (Mary? b. 1801-1810)

But that is as far as it goes. In 1820, Abraham would have been (10-19), probably not a head of household. Without birth, marriage, death records, possibly from the Upper Tinicum Lutheran Church, things cannot be further pinned down. For example, what was Mary Weaver's maiden name? Might it have been Tilghman? Who knows?

The 1782 and 73 Tax Lists lists a Jacob Weaver in Tinicum Twp and no Weavers in Nockamixon. The 1790 census lists Jacob Weaver with 3 males of gun-toting age (16+), eligible for the well-regulated militia, one male less than 16 and 3 females. Townships were not mentioned, but it was probably Tinicum.
         

These two tales illustrate the difficulties of this hobby, where it's all to easy to jump to a conclusion, after which it gets passed around like a head cold among researchers who accept others' family trees on faith