*ATemplate

The first evidence of a Bentz in America that I have found involves the oath of allegiance taken 1727 by Johan Jacob Bentz in Philadelphia¹. No known relationship to this first Bentz in Philadelphia is known to me. Consistent with the general history of all our Swope Allied lines, this line is a strictly Pennsylvania Study and involves small scale westward migration through the southern aspect of the state and is entirely involved in York county both before and after it pertained to Lancaster, until our direct Bentz forebear removed as a married woman to neighboring Adams County] . The Bentz name is plagued with variant spellings [transcribed by persons seeming to spell the name phoenetically, even when German, as were the pastors] through to our Mary Elizabeth BENTZ born exactly 100 years after her first BENTZ ancestor arrived and two years before the Germans of York County would fight against public schools, feeling it an assault on their culture, as the schools were assumed to provide instruction in English.

The European origins of our Bentz's is not absolutely known. Richard Pence writes: "Beginning as early as 1727,
the name Pence appears in passenger lists to Pennsylvania as Panse, Pentes, Pense, Penss, Bentz, Benns, Benss, Bense, Bantz, Bence, Banse - probably others - and in its feminine form, Pensin or Bensin. A number of places of originare cited for these early families, including what is now Germany, Switzerland and Holland, but few of
them have been traced to specific areas. " ²

Our Direct Line Bentz first appears in America disembarking in Philadelphia from the ship Loyal Judith^Footnote1

25 Sept 1732 [ Robert Turpin, Master, from Rotterdam, but last from Cowes after Clearance there]. He was 23 at
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.
From The Olive Tree Geneology Free Ships Lists. Entry for Loyal Judith. Germany to PA 1732 Contributor: Dave Rohde Date: Aug. 21, 2001. The list at that source appears" without alteration or change from the text of the 1934 printing of "Pennsylvania German Pioneers" A list of ships arriving in Philadelphia 1727 to 1808 , Vol 1, 1727 to 1775 by Ralph Beaver Strassburger, LL.D. edited by William John Hinke, Ph.D., D.D. Naturalization record at same source, starting "Philad(ia) Sept(r) 25th 1732. At the Courth(o) in presence of the Hon(bl) the Gov(r) & Sam. Hasell, Esq(r), May(r), the within List was swore to by Rob. Turpin, Master of Pink Loyal Judith. Rob(t) Charles, Cl. Con. " "At the Courthouse aforesaid, Sep(r) 25th 1732. One hundred and fifteen Palatines, Who with their Families, making in all....Persons, were imported here in the ship Loyal Judith, of London, Robert Turpin, Master, from Rotterdam, but last from Cowes, as by Clearance thence." From the Minutes of the Provincial Council, printed in the Colonial Records, Vol. III, p.456."
See Also Rootswebs list for ship Loyal Judith, of London, from their Ships to Pennsylvania and Oaths of Allegiance, 1727-1775 pages in which they provide the reference as The Pennsyvlania Archives 2:17 and stating the "Original List" showed "PENS, Johannes.....23 and PENTES, Mickell......27"

Sources in Text not given in Narrative:
1. Names of Foreigners Who Took the Oath of Allegiance to the Province and State of Pennsylvania, 1727-1775, Page 263
2. The Pences In America By Richard A. Pence . An Overview of the Name, Some Major Groups and Where They Settled

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