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Yost presents confusion as he seems to appear as two seperate men, one born 1678-1735, another born 1656-1727. The First had 5 known progeny; The second is credited with 11. The reason for this dual identity is because of the two different family studies used for Swope research, one predating the other by nearly 100 years. Three of the children in both sources clearly cross reference in side by side comparison.
Yost SWOPE as presented by G E Swope was of uncertain parentage , lived 1678-1735, had no known identified siblings, and with wife Anna Katharina Surname unknown had The Five Children mentioned as found in birth records then [1895] held by descendants, and in which reference to the family bible then [1895] in family possesion is made.
Yost Swope as identified by Morse and McLachlan in "The Swope Book of Remembrance"139 [Self Published 1972] present Yost as both son and brother, and greatly expand the number of his children first identified by G E Swope in 1898 through identification of a wife. To accomodate their identification of him, they changed his birth and death dates as presented by G E Swope and as found on Yost's [reinternment] tombstone
Yost Swope as per G E Swope [in which his ascendancy is unknown but alluded to]:
G E Swope in his "Swope Family History 1696-1896" published 1898 informs of Yost , his wife and five known children:
G E
Swope mentioned "we have the birth records" of five
children and referred to a family bible when he provided
the birthdate of 22 Feb 1678 Sinsheim, Duchy of Baden, Germany for Yost
Swope married Anna Katharina Surname Unknown . He did not expand on the
information in either the birth records or the bible beyond giving the
names and birthdates of the five children, neither did he transcribe
the birth records nor the family bible, and what the family bible
exactly contained, and who exactly was noted within it is not and
will likely never be known as he noted in his first pages in "The History
of the Swope Family 1696-1896" that he recieved the sad notice that it
had burned in the home of the holding descendant just prior to publication
of his book in 1898 along with the record of "all five birth records" .
These five birth records and the family bible [the loss of which is of
great disadvantage to us today] are only known of through G E Swope's mention
of them, and the dates of birth correspond to children who would have been
born in Germany; Although the style and source of these birth records is
not divulged, one is inclined to believe them accompanying the immigrating
members of the family to America but this is an inference only.
He also mentioned Yost's death date, and describes the slab found 7 feet
below the ground and above Yost on the event of his reinternment [along
with locks of "Red Female Hair" which he implies can be assumed to be Yost's
wife's] . He informs the slab read only "Y.S. 1735 ". The contemporaneous
newspaper account in " The Lancaster New Era" detailing the event
of Yost's reinternment and the second
burial stone itself both provide birth and death dates
consistent with G E Swope's notations, but one can not exclude the
possibility, this being a second burial plot and the bible not having been
transcribed to allow us review of the material's information,
that these dates were based on oral tradition and /or secondary
and not primary reference material, so we can't be sure if the dates given
are in exclusion of, or perhaps substantiate, the family bible he mentioned.
To further confuse matters, there is a Letter of Administrative granted
to John Swoap, son of Jost Stwope, 29 January 1727 [identified by the Swope
Book of Remembrance and transribed there] and an inventory of his estate
ocurred in Nov of 1728 naming " Johannes son of Joste Swope of Mill, near
Conestoga in the County of Chester, pator deceased, taken and appraised,
the sixteenth of ye 11th month Anna Domini 1728. By we, whose name are
here underwritten." [likewise identified by the Swope Book of Remembrance
and transribed there] . This information strongly identifies our Johannes
as son of Yost who died in 1727.
As
per G E Swope [1898 publication] Yost Emigrated to America in the
Spring of 1720 with his wife and 5 children. According to then prevelant
family oral tradition and G E Swope's book, Yost's father [whose name was
unknown] was a "burger and Burgomaster in Leimen, a town of about 2,700
inhabitants, near Heidelburg" . (The Swope Book of Remembrance states no
Swope Burgomeister there could be found although they do show that the
wife of Yost whom they identify was daughter of the Mayor of Duerhen).
G E Swope mentions that Yost's farm, for which no deed was found for that
publication ,likely was parcelled out to his daughters and lost sight of
in the name change (See excerpt below
.
There
were no more than 5 birth records, but the reaches here are so foggy that
there is no absolute implied or understood that these were felt the only
children although it is implied that these are the children accompanying
Yost and his wife to the New World. G E Swope mentions "we have the birth
records of five children but there is no further knowledge or record of
any but John" at the time that he published.
See
The
children of Yost in side by side Comparison of the sources [G E Swope
1898 and Swope Family Book of Remembrance 1972]
G E Swope writes about Leimen Germany, Yost's father, and Yost's son John
ìThere
the father died; after his death, a short time, the youngest child, Yost,
was born. He married in early manhood and lived in Liemen, his son
John was born there in 1704. Early in 1720, Yost Swope determined
to seek his fortune in the New World. He, together with his wife
and five children, set sail for America in the spring of that year, and
in due time safely arrived here.
G E Swope writes about Yost's acreage in Leacock, and his reinternment:
ìOn his arrival to America, Yost Swope went to Lancaster county, Pa., and bought from the Provincial Government one thousand acres of land* in Upper Leacock township, where he lived until his death in 1735. He was buried in a graveyard on his place, where his remains rested until 1884, when they, together with those of his wife, were moved to Hellerís churchyard, Lancaster county, where rest the remains of many of his descendants.î [Editors Note, see published account of the Reinternment below]
In footnote to the above, and marked by asterik, G E Swope writes:*Wherever we have found anyone who has had a knowledge of Yost Swope, there we have also found the tradition that he ìtook upî 1,000 acres of land in Leacock township, Lancaster county, Pa. This we are unable to prove, as no deed have been found. Our conclusion, based on all the information we could gather, is that he did take up the land intending to pay for it on time, as was often doneby the early settlers, but died before he had paid for it, and his interest passed to his daughter and was lost sight of in the change of name. His son John had already been provided for with 630 acres.î
Published
Account of the Reinternment of Yost Swope and his wife on the day
of its occasion from The Lancaster New Era, published Lancaster, Penna.
Edition of March 22, 1884
ìRemains
reinterred to-day, after having been buried 149 years. In 1720,
Yost Swope, with his son John, the latter having been the great-grandfather
of Zuriel Swope, Esq., of this city, came to this country from near Heidelberg,
Germany, and settled on 1,000 acres of land one mile north of Bird-in-Hand,
this county. A portion of the original homestead of 1,000 acres remains
in the family to this day. The present owner isDaniel Swope, and his son,
Adam D. Swope, farms the place. The remains of the original Yost Swope
were buried in the corner of the orchard, about forty rods from the old
dwelling, and on Monday of last week it became necessary to remove the
remains. Digging in the earth to the depth of seven feet, a stone
slab was encountered, and it bore the inscription ì1735, Y.S.,î showing
that Yost Swope had ben buried there in 1735. The slab was lifted
and there lay the bones of the original ancestor of the Swopes of Lancaster
county, and notwithstanding the burial had taken place 149 years ago, the
skeleton was complete. Besdies Yost Swopeís remains were those of
his wife, and near the skull was quite a quantity of female hair.
To-day the solemn service of reinterring these ancient and wonderfully
preserved remains took place at Hellerís Church, and we venture the assertion
that no other family in Lancaster county can lay claim to such an experience.î
Yost's
"Lectoria Salutine;or,Pentalem Ammgemen
a Salutis Oceana "as provided by G E Swope 1898
[Includes
the comments in the Swope Family Book of Remembrance regarding this confusing
text]
In his History of the Swope Family, G E Swope transcribed the Pastoral Recommendation he states were in the hands of Adam Swope, a descendant at time of G E Swope's publication [1898] . The entry is confusing, it seems to imply that Anna Katharina was Yostís Mother, not his wife but G. E. Swope did not address that in his narrative and presents the recommendation without comment. See Morse and McLachlin's comments [1972] on this pastoral recommendation below the transcription provided by G E Swope.
G E
Swope wrote:
"Yost
Swope must have been an exemplary man from the recommendation given
him by his pastor before his departure for America. The original
is still in existence in the hands of Adam Swope, of Lancaster Co., Pa.,
and notwithstanding its age, 175 years, is fairly well preserved.
In 1848 a translation was made from the German. We here give it in
itís quaint style:
Lectoria
Salutine;
or,
Pentalem
Ammgemen a Salutis Oceana.
After
the death of her husband, a burger and Burgomaster in Liemen under Burstrasser
in Kupaltz, Anna Katharine Swope was delivered of her youngest son, Yost
Swope. Both were Evangelical Lutheran in religion, and received into
the chuch of Christ with the rest of the beloved family. As they intend
to depart for a strange land, I herewith attest to their Christian character
and the life they led up to this time, having long been their pastor and
spiritual adviser. As their fide pastorale, I willingly testify that
the above-named Anna Katharine and her beloved son, Yost, have always been
honest and pious as becomes God fearing Christians and lover of Christ
and his church. And we have no knowledge of them excepting what is
noble and good, naught but praise. The All-Helper be their support
and guide, and bless their coming and going, and grant all their wishes
with the richest blessing, both on earth and in heaven, ever partaking
of the Holy Communion.
M.John
Cristoph Schrenik,
Pastor
Evan. Lutheran Kirche" [Pastor Evangelische Kirchengemeinde]"
Morse and McLachlin in "the Swope Family Book of Remembrance" published 1972 transcribed and comment on this Pentalem Ammgemen given above and state:
"The
book [G E Swope's tome] states that the original document was in the possession
of Adam Swope of Lancaster, Pennsylvania when the book was published .....This
document does not match research done in Germany or the United States.
Perhaps it was translated incorrectly; for this reason I would like very
much to know where the original document is. Our Jost was a member of the
Reformed Church, not the Lutheran Church; his wife's name was Anna Katharine,
not his mother's name; his father's widow, Margaretha born Zimmerman [she
could have been Jost's mother or his stepmother), died in 1695, twenty-five
years before this document was written. Then who is the Jost Schwab of
the document? Research in Germany appearing on page 1303 has found
other Jost Schwab's living in the vicinity of Leimen at the same time that
Jost and Anna Katharina Schwab were living there and having children there.....Perhaps
[the Anna Katharine Swope in the document is ] the Anna Catharina Schwab,
widow of Jost Schwab, the mayor of Sandhausen who married Hanss Georg Bott,
the 24 of June 1706 .... Were she and her son related to Jost and Anna
Katharina (Wolfhardt) Schwab, and did they accompany them to America in
May of 1720? To find the meaning of this document, research continues.
"
