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The European origins of our Bentz's is not absolutely known. Richard
Pence writes: "Beginning as early as 1727,
Our Direct Line Bentz first appears in America disembarking in Philadelphia from the ship Loyal JudithFootnote1 the time of his arrival and some purport a brother accompanied him, but this is difficult to prove without access to European records identifying the two as clear siblings. See Ship Loyal Judith in the page "Bentz's on Ships". Johannes BENTZ, from the Judith, settled in Manchester Township [now West Manchester Township York County, Penna ] He was Lutheran, and one of the signers of Charter for Christ Lutheran Church in York, Pa. September 1733. Like many of our early German immigrants, he was likely escaping the nearly constant warfare and terrible religious upheaval and persecution of the post reformation era. He and his wife , who he may or may not have met here and whose surname is not known, had 11 children, the eldest of which was Michael [born Sep 1735 in Manchester twp, York County] and the youngest of which was Peter [Johann Peter / Hans Peter] .As an adult, Peter took up residence in Conewago Township, York Co., Penna . Both Peter and his brother Michael are among our patriots in these pages. being some of our associators, that is, patriots serving without force of draft. Peter married Anna Maria HUMRICHHAUSEN in Lancaster within the First Reformed Congregation; She herself had several brothers serving in the war for liberty when she saw her husband off to join their cause. Of their seven children, Michael, very possibly named for his uncle, removed to the town of York, and became a merchant there, raising a family with his wife Anna "Annie" Quickel . Annie had been born in Conewago twp. and she was the grandaughter of Quickel's [Zion] Church's founder in that township, in which cemetery [among others] can be found numerous of our ancestors of many names, including those with the beautiful Penna Dutch Fraktur stones attributed to Annie's father and brothers. Michael and Annie's daughter Mary [Maria Elizabeth] Bentz was assumedly born in York, York in 1834, but no record of her baptism has been found, although most of her siblings are found in the Baptismal records of Christ Lutheran Church in York. Mary Elizabeth married twice, and was pregnant at 21 with her second child Anna Kate "Annie" when her first husband William Henry STAIR died. She eventually remarried, and her children were raised in the town of York where her 2nd husband Reben LEBER was a tanner and courier and her brother a musician and organist-This Bentz generation is deeply involved in the St John's Episcopal Church of York. Mary Eliz Bentz's Dtr Annie STAIR married Samuel McCurdy Swope and moved west like her forebears, taking residence with her groom in Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania, where he was raised, in 1876. Photos of Mary Elizabeth Bentz, and Anna Kate Stair Swope, her daughter are included in the geneological pages related to this family.
Footnote1. Please note that many of our Palatinates left from Rotterdam but hailed from the Palatinate or Switzerland and were never truly of Holland. |
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