Ottila Muller

Ottila married Sabastian Meyer in ca 1620 in Zurich, Switzerland. Sabastian (son of Casper Meyer and Vreni) was born on 20 Jan 1592 in Canton, Berne, Switzerland; died after 1640 in Zurich, Switzerland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

JACOB MEYER, b. 1636 in Stallikon, Zurich; listed as age 1 in 1637, age 4 in 1640. The first mention of him is in Gundersheim in the Palatinate, Germany. It is thought he was among a group of Anabaptist Mennonites who were persecuted and finally driven out of Switzerland because they would not conform to the state church. At that particular time Germany was looking for good farmers to try and repair the damage to the country done by the Thirty Year War. So they welcomed the Anabaptists escaping from Switzerland. In 1685 JACOB MEYER is shown as living in Gundersheim, Germany with his 4 sons, ULRICH, CHRISTIAN, HANS and JACOB.

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

In order to better comprehend the difficulties that accompanied a voyage like our ancestors undertook, one needs to take a step back into the conditions of the times. The Mennonites, named for the 16th-century Dutchman named Menno Simons who was their founder, espoused an evangelical and severely simple religious outlook. They opposed infant baptism, insisted on the Bible as the only spiritual authority, tried to keep their marriages within the Mennonite community of faith, believed in pacifism, refused to take oaths, and dressed very plainly. The Mennonites came to be concentrated in the Jura Mountains and along the Rhine River in Switzerland and southern Germany. The Amish, named for the followers of Jakob Ammann, believed much as the Mennonites did but favored stricter rules on attire and employed firmer discipline - using shunning and excommunication if necessary. Both sects were often persecuted for their views, especially because the authorities regarded them as subversive to social order and potentially disloyal. From about the middle of the 17th century both Amish and Amish Mennonites were expelled from Switzerland or fled before they could be forced out.

William Penn, eager to populate (and sell) his large land holdings, enthusiastically recruited Swiss and German settlers from the Palatine. He made several trips there himself to drum up immigration to Pennsylvania. He could point to the mily's liberal views on religious tolerance, along with thousands of acres of fertile land that were available. So it was that thousands of Swiss and Germans came to America, some directly and some passing through the Netherlands. The peak came in the mid-1700s, when some 30,000 of these people arrived in Pennsylvania.

Most of the emigrants traveled down the Rhine to Rotterdam, a journey that would ordinarily be seven to nine days but probably took far longer because of various inspections and payments, then remained in Rotterdam for some weeks until pao America could be arranged. This was an economic as well as physical ordeal for the emigrants, all the more because they had to leave much of their capital in escrow with the government back in Switzerland until they could prove they were successfully settled - and working - elsewhere and would not return home as paupers.

The entire journey lasted from the beginning of May to November. The Rhine boats went from Heilbronn to Holland, passing twenty-six custom houses and at each one of them the ship had to dock and be boarded so it could be examined. This inrip took four, five and even six weeks. After arriving in Holland they were detained five to six weeks. At every stop the passengers had to spend more money to survive. The last stop before departure was a week or two in a port in England (Cowes in our case), where the captain received official clearance to take the passengers to America (still considered a British colony).

Then, depending on the winds, they began their real misery as they undertook their arduous ocean crossing. It took anywhere from eight to twelve weeks before reaching Philadelphia but never less than seven even with the best winds. Passenre packed densely like herrings without proper food and water and were subject to all sorts of diseases such as dysentery, scurvy, typhoid and smallpox. It was not uncommon for many of the passengers to die of hunger and exposure in their crowded quarters, or to be cheated by the merchants who arranged for passage and provisions - or by the captains who were supposed to make those provisions available. Sometimes survivors were forced to pay the costs of passage for those who had died en route and when they could not come up with the funds, they were sold into indentured servitude.



The following passage was extracted from the Kreider & Gingerich book "Amish and Amish Mennonite Genealogies" by Hugh F. Gingerich and Rachel W. Kreider, 1986, Pequea Publishers, Gordonsville, PA: "Little is known about the journeys of th people in their coming to America. According to Gottlieb Mittelberger, a German traveller, who came to America in 1750 and returned four years later, the journey was a frightful ordeal. He spoke of different customs houses along the Rhine River, each involving long delays and additional expense. In Rotterdam he observed that people were "packed into the big boats as closely as herring." He talked about the stench of fumes, dysentery, vomiting and scurvy. Filthy food and water were major problems, as were also lice, disease, and severe storms. Overcrowding gave way to stealing, cheating, cursing, and bitter arguments between children and parents, husbands and wives. Those who lacked the money to pay for their passage, including the sick, were held on board until their future labor was auctioned off to the highest bidder."



Once in Pennsylvania, the settlers generally moved outwards from Philadelphia and began the process of putting down agricultural roots. The Amish and Amish Mennonites lived amongst one another but kept separate; both were in turn interminth Lutheran and Reformed neighbors, usually also of German and Swiss origin. Gradually the Susquehanna Valley northwest of Philadelphia filled up. Crossings of that great river were established at Harris's Ferry (now Harrisburg) and Wright's Ferry (now Columbia). When the newcomers reached the Juniata River, geography began to steer them first westward and then increasingly toward the southwest. Soon the Great Valley would be beckoning them on to Virginia and further south.



HANS MEYER was a Mennonite and a farmer. He was taxed on 150 acres in Salford Township in 1734. He bought 216 acres in Upper Salford next to Christian Meyer on July 23, 1729 from Casper Wister and Isaac Pennington. He warranted 150 acres adelphia County on February 5, 1733, which was later vacated and not patented.



He was married before emigrating from Germany to America about 1722. He brought with him his eldest son Henry, then but a year old and probably the 4 older daughter, Barbara, Elizabeth, Anna and Hester. Unfortunately the ship's passenger t that date did not name children and wives.



Following is from Meyer book of 1896 authored by A. J. Fretz (page 332)...

The HANS MEYER homestead is situated on the south slope of the west branch of the Perkiomen creek, in the southern central part of Upper Salford township, about two miles east of Salfordville. The deed of Isaac Pennington and wife and Caster, to Hans Meyer, bears date July 23, 1729. The land was bounded as follows: "Beginning at a hickory tree at a corner of Derrick Johnson's land, thence N. E. by a line of marked trees 220 perches to a white oak, thence N. W. by a line of marked trees 177 perches to a black oak, then by a line of marked trees S. W. 140 perches to a post, then S. E. 30 perches to a post, then S. W. 80 perches to a post in a line of the said Derrick Johnson's land, then by the same S. E. 147 perches to the place of beginning, containing by estimation 216 acres, besides the usual allowance of 6 per cent. for roads."

The original homestead is owned and occupied by Jacob L. Moyer, a great-great grandson. The present house was built by Henry L. Moyer. The barn, built by Henry, son of Hans, in 1787, is still standing and is in good condition.



SOURCE of INFORMATION

MR. JOSEPH P. MYERS, Marietta, Georgia, USA.



Buried:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/151438845/hans-meyer

Family/Spouse: Anna Barbara. Anna died in 1751 in Montgomery, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania; was buried in Franconia Mennonite Church Cemetery, Telford, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

JOHN MEYER settled in Bedminster Township soon after attaining manhood, on land owned by William ALLEN, Esq., which he later purchased. In 1762 He purchased a farm of two hundred acres in Plumstead Township where be resided the remainder of his life. He was a farmer and blacksmith by occupation, and a member of the Mennonite congregation at Deep Run. He married a widow NASH, whose maiden name was SENSENICH, and they were the parents of six children, Henry, Abraham, and Christian, all of whom learned their father?s trade and followed it in connection with farming. in Plumstead: Hester and Mary, who lived to an advanced age, but never married; and Barbara, who married Charles DYER.
SOURCE of INFORMATION
MR. JOSEPH P. MYERS, Marietta, Georgia, USA


Buried:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/207688027/john-meyer

John married Mary Sensenich about 1768. Mary was born in 1736 in Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Buried:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/82328345/abraham-myers

Abraham married Agnes Nash Overholt in 1790. Agnes (daughter of Martin Overholt and Elizabeth Nash) was born on 3 Mar 1771 in Tinicum, Bucks County, Pennsylvania; died on 5 Jun 1846 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania; was buried in Deep Run Mennonite Church East Cemetery, Bedminster, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: School Teacher

Notes:

Buried:
Section 2, Row 4, Lot 6

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/175355849/john_overholt-meyers

John married Elizabeth Stauffer on 25 May 1817 in Pennsylvania. Elizabeth (daughter of Abraham Stauffer and Eva Oberholtzer) was born on 25 Dec 1795 in Pennsylvania; died on 6 Feb 1857 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania; was buried in Deep Run Mennonite Church East Cemetery, Bedminster, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Carpenter

Notes:

Buried:
Section 1, Row 14, Lot 41

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/106047190/samuel_stover-myers

Samuel married Anna Overholt on 31 Oct 1846 in Plumstead Twp, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Anna (daughter of Abraham Overholt and Hannah Shutt) was born on 18 Jul 1822 in Bedminster, Bucks County, Pennsylvania; died on 8 Apr 1900 in Perkasie, Bucks County, Pennsylvania; was buried in Deep Run Mennonite Church East Cemetery, Bedminster, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Watson S. Michener. Watson was born on 3 Jun 1841; died on 20 May 1913; was buried in Plumstead Friends Meeting Cemetery, Doylestown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Mary married Isaac Swartz Johnson in 1872. Isaac was born on 20 Feb 1851 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania; died on 3 Feb 1921 in Doylestown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania; was buried in Doylestown Mennonite Cemetery, Doylestown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Hotel Keeper

Notes:

ABRAHAM O. MYERS, dealer in stock, P.O. Dublin, is a grandson of John Myers, who was a school-teacher in Plumstead township for many years, and died there about twenty years ago. His wife, Elizabeth, died many years before him. Their son, Samuel, was the father of Abraham O. He was born in Plumstead and learned the trade of a carpenter, which he followed until a short time before his death. He also owned a farm there. He was an upright man, of excellent reputation, and a member of the Old Deep Run Mennonite church. He died October 29, 1882, aged 59 years. His wife, Annie, was a daughter of Jacob Overholt, of Bedminster township. She is now living in New Britain township with her daughter, Mary Ann. Their children were: Henry, Hannah, Annie, and an infant, deceased; and Mary Ann, wife of Isaac Johnson, living in New Britain township; Lizzie, wife of Watson Michener, in Plumstead township; and Abraham O., who was the fourth child, and was born in Plumstead June 8, 1857. He worked for his father until he was of age and then embarked in the business he is now following, dealing in horses, cattle, calves, poultry, and stock of all kinds. He first settled in Tinicum township, then went back to Plumstead, and from there removed to his present residence in this township. February 17, 1879, he was married to Charlotte, daughter of William Buehrle. She was born in Tinicum township. They have three children: Grace, Annie and William Henry. Mr. Myers is a driving, energetic young man of good habits, and is bound to succeed. He and his wife are both members of the Old Deep Run Mennonite church.


Buried:
Section 1, Row 17, Lot 25

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/23927078/abraham_overholt-myers

Abraham married Charlotte Fryling Buehrle on 17 Feb 1879 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Charlotte (daughter of William Koch Buehrle and Mary Ann Fryling) was born on 25 Oct 1860 in Tinicum, Bucks County, Pennsylvania; died on 8 Oct 1944 in Souderton, Bucks County, Pennsylvania; was buried in Deep Run Mennonite Church East Cemetery, Bedminster, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]