Marriage Contract Johannes [John] Swope to Catherine Elizabeth Grove 25th day of May, 1742 1, 2
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The Marriage Contract of Catharina Elisabeth Greve & Johannes
Swope, witnessed the 25th day of May 1742 in Lancaster County, Penna and
in form somewhat to ìthat now used by the Society of Friendsî1
presents
several persons known & others perhaps found in the Swope & allied
Surname pages of Within the Vines and this
page seeks to identify them in relationship to each other. In doing so,
it relies heavily on the notations of The Swope Family Book of Remembrance
by Morse and McLachlin.
Note the variance in surnames [ie Swope, Schwab, Shwob]
& Greve [possibly Grove or Greff] as well as the form of the surname
Line [Leihn] which appear in these pages & this vow of matrimony.
Emmanuel Carpenter, signator & justice within this contract, was likely
born Zimmerman, the German form of Carpenter, & his relationship to
Catharina Zimmermaennin [ female german form of Zimmerman]
is not known, but may be that of marriage. Conversely , she may have been
born Zimmerman and her relaltionship to the male Carpenter encountered
is not entirely assured. But John Lein Sr, who is present at the wedding
and is father in law to the groom through the groom's first wife,
is felt to have had a sister Catharine who married a Zimmerman. 2
It is possible that this Catharine is she.
In link from the names will be notations on who the witnesses are
felt to be and following the contract can be found the comments from Morse
and McLachlin, the authors of "The Swope Family Book of Remembrance"who
amply discussed the persons present and conjectured as to their identity
within their tome on the family ascendancy, and upon which this page relied.
Although the exact parentage of Elizabeth Grove is not known, this
marriage contract shows the only person who may be representative of her
family at the wedding, Johannes Greff. He may be her father and he may
be, regardless of her blood relationship to him, the Hans Greff of Indian
Trading fame. The broken tombstone for Elizabeth Grove Swope at Heller's
Church gives her birth date and death date, but her exact ascendancy has
not been proven. Aside from the preence of this one Johannes Greff, no
relationship to Elizabeth is implied or understood in this, her marriage
contract.
Marriage
Contract Between Johannes [John] Swope to
Catherine Elizabeth Grove 25th day of May, 1742
and its witnesses and their possible
relationship to the betrothed and each other
ìPennsylvania,
County of Lancaster,
Whereas, John Swob and Catharine Elizabeth Greve, both of the said County of Lancaster, having made a publication of their intention of marrying as the law of said Province directs-This is therefore to certify to all persons whome it may concern, that on the 25th day of May, 1742, came before me, Emmanuel Carpenter, one of the justices of the peace of the said County of Lancaster, the said John Swop and Catharine Elizabeth Greve, and the said John Swope, before a solemn assembly for that purpose met and appointed, did openly declare that he took the said Catharine Elizabeth Greve to be his wedded wife, promising to be unto her a loving and faithful husband, until death should separate them. And she, the said Catharine Elizabeth Greve, did in like manner declare that she took the said John Swope to be her wedded husband, promising to be unto him a loving, faithful and obedient wife until death should separate them. In testimony therof both the parties herunto have set their hands. She, after the custom of many,assuming the surname of her husband. We whose names are herunto subscribed being witnesses present at the solemnization, the day and year above written.
John Schwob
Catharine Elizabeth Schwab.
Emanuel Carpenter,
Justice of the Peace
This contract was signed by nineteen witnesses in two columns. They are:
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* Johannes Leihn Sr and Michael Weidler , "represented the ,,Berg Church" (Hill Church or Conestoga Church), now called Salem or Heller's Reformed Church, at the meeting of the Coetus of Pennsylvania "2
Swope Book of Remembrance
by Morse and McLachlan, 1972. states:
ìThe signatures on this marriage
affidavit are a roster of Johannes Schwab's relatives and friends. Hans
Georg Schwob was his brother; Eved Rim (Eberhardt Riehm) and probably Johan
Heinrich Klein, his brothers-in-law, husbands of his sisters; Elisabeth
Rimen, Annamaria Meixelin, and probably Anna Margaretha Kleinin, his sisters;
Andreas Meixel, his nephew; Johannes Lein the elder, his father-in-law
(father of his first wife, Anna Dorothea); Johannes Lein, his first wife's
father); Johannes Lein, his first wife's brother; Catharina Zimmermaennin
was the wife of Emanuel Carpenter/Zimmerman (he had changed his name to
the anglicized form Carpenter). Conradt Templemann was the lay preacher
of the Reformed Church, but being unordained he could not marry them. Michael
Weidler and John Lein represented the ,,Berg Church" (Hill Church or Conestoga
Church), now called Salem or Heller's Reformed Church, at the meeting of
the Coetus of Pennsylvania. John Lein's daughter, Barbara, was the wife
of Johan Jacob Weidler. They were still living in Germany in 1746, but
her husband may very well have been a relative of Michael Weidler. The
only ones not identified as part of the family are Ludwig Franciscus, Johan
Michael Kraemer, Conrad and Elisabeth Feit, and Johannes Greff.
Where were the relatives of Catharina
Elisabeth Greve? Was Johannes Greff (better known as Hans Graeff, the noted
Indian trader) her father - her surname ,,Greve" a corruption of the German
,,Graeff?" Her broken tombstone in Heller's churchyard states she was born
22 October 1715. She bore Johannes Schwab nine children, five daughters
and four sons. She died before her husband on the fourteenth of August
1776 (FGS p. 1361).î2