John Hoover 1752 Conestoga twp land patent

In my last post, “From Deed to Land Warrant and Back Again,” I found that John Huber had patented 25 acres in Conestoga in right of Michael Hess and surveyed a 110-acre tract that he had purchased from Jacob Eshleman. My next step was to determine what happened to this tract. Did John sell it or perhaps leave it to his heirs?

I was unable to locate a deed of sale from John Hoover. However, I found two deeds documenting the later sale of these tracts. One deed was from Leonard May for a mortgage on the property from Joseph Cauffman.^[1] May had purchased the land from Daniel Keeports of Lampeter Township in 1765. The second was from Daniel Keenports, selling the land to David Hess.^[2] Leonard May and his wife Christina had sold the land back to Keeports/Keenports on 23 August 1768.

Jacob Eshleman Conestoga Twp tract

While there is no explicit mention of John Hoover in these documents, the description of the properties is a match to those previously owned by John Hoover. He had apparently either sold the tracts to Daniel Keeports—or someone who then sold it to Daniel Keeports—sometime before 10 January 1765 when Keeports sold it to Leonard May.

John—presumably this one—had inherited his father’s land up the Pequea in Conestoga Township in 1757.^[3] He, then, sold this property on 10 Oct 1767 to Melchoir and Anna (Good) Brenneman.^[4] It is believed he left the county soon after.

I recalled seeing land transactions between Andrew Hershey and John Hoover—although in connection to another Hoover family—and decided to dig a little deeper. John is a very common name. Which John Hoover patented Timber Hill?

John Hoover’s Timber Hill tract in Manheim Township

John Hoover had 140 acres known as “Timber Hill” in Manheim township surveyed on 10 May 1768.^[3] This land was adjacent other lands of Andrew Hershey, Jacob Bollinger, Thomas Wilson and Mark Furney. Ownership of this land must have been contested at one point, because there were multiple surveys, including several in the name of Jacob Gotshalk.

Jacob Gotshalk had applied for a patent on this land in 1767, but apparently never lived on it according to several later surveys.^[4] In any case, John Hoover purchased the rights to the land from Gotshalk in 1771 for £35.^[5] In this deed John Hoover was of Hempfield Township, Lancaster County. John Hoover, Miller, of Hempfield and his wife Ann sold this tract and another that they’d inherited from her father Andrew Hershey to Jacob Burkhard in 1775.^[6]

Andrew Hershey made his will on 9 December 1754, it was probated on 19 February 1755 and left his property—except for one tract left by name to his grandson Christian Hershey—to be divided equally amongst his heirs.^[7] In 1766, Andrew’s heirs—including John and Anna Hoober—quitclaimed a tract in Hempfield Township to Benjamin Hershey. ^[8]

While I don’t know for certain where John Hoover (Ulrich¹) was after he sold his father’s tract in Conestoga Township on 10 Oct 1767, I do know that at that time his wife’s name as Mary.^[9] Furthermore, John Hoover of Hempfield and wife Anna bought and sold property in Hempfield and Manheim Townships, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania from the 1760s through the 1780s—a period that overlaps John Hoover’s (Ulrich¹) life in and eventual disappearance from Conestoga Township.

From these records, I would conclude that John Hoover (Ulrich¹) was not the man who patented Timber Hill. Instead, it appears to me that John Huber of Hempfield Township was. This John Hoover was most likely the son of Christian Hoover of Hempfield Township who died prior to 27 November 1757. John lived his entire life in Hempfield Township. He wrote his will on 30 August 1798 and it was probated in Lancaster County on 17 September 1803.^[10]

Having written about how to use the online land records at the Pennsylvania State Archives, it’s only fair that I provide examples of what each document entails.

This example features the 1733 land warrant of Jacob Hoober for 210 acres on Pequea Creek. This piece of property sits south of Pequea Creek in present-day Providence Township. It can be seen on the Providence Warrantee Township map to the right in the top row of tracts.

Jacob Hoober land warrant

The first page of the warrant indicates the date of the warrant, the warrant number, the amount of land and the name of the warrantee.

Jacob Hoober land warrant

The second page is the actual warrant. It states:

“Pennsylvania, SS.

By the Proprietaries.

At the Request of Jacob Hoober of the County of Lancaster that We would grant him to take up Two hundred & ten Acres of Land lying on a Branch of Pequea in the said County of Lancaster for which He agrees to pay to our Use at the Rate of Fifteen Pounds ten Shillings current Money of this Province for One hundred Acres and the yearly Quit-rent of one Halfpenny [?] for every Acre thereof; THESE are to authorize and require thee to survey or cause to be survey’d unto the said Jacob Hoober at the Place aforesaid, according to the Method of Townships appointed the said Quantity of 210 Acres that hath not been already survey’d or appropriated, and make Return thereof into the Secretary’s Office, in order for a further Confirmation; which Survey in case the said Jacob Hoober fulfill the above Agreement within six Months from the date hereof, shall be valid, otherwise to be void. GIVEN under my Hand, and the lesser Seal of our Province, at Philadelphia, this twenty fourth Day of January Anno Dom. 1733

to Benjamin Eastburn, Surveyor General

[signature?]“^[1]

These images are actual photos taken from the microfilm reader. A printed copy would be clearer and more legible.