Christopher Weidman (1724-1794)

Kristen on 29 Apr 2016

Christopher5 Weidman (Johann Martin4,Johann Matthias3, Johann Peter2, Hans1), son of Johann Martin and Anna Margaretha (Still) Weidman, was born 7 February 1724 and baptized the same day in the protestant church in Gräben, Baden-Durlach.1 He died before 10 December 1794 in Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.2 He married Anna Maria (___), possibly Adams, in Lancaster County.3 She died sometime between 28 May 17804 and 8 November 1785 when Christopher married Barbara Bricker, widow of Christian Bricker.5 Barbara died in Dauphin County prior to 20 February 1826.6

Christopher spent the first eight years of his life in the village of Gräben in Baden-Durlach. In early 1733, his parents and grandparents made the decision to immigrate to the new world. The family travelled down the Rhine to Rotterdam and there took ship to Pennsylvania. They arrived on board the ship Elizabeth on 27 August 1733 in Philadelphia. By the following spring, they were living in Lancaster County where both his father and grandfather had patented land.7

By 1753, Christopher was married and his first known child was born. He may have been the “Christopher Wittman” who married “Mary Adams” at Muddy Creek Lutheran Church on 20 Jun 1748.8 However, there was a Christopher Witman Jr., son of Christopher Witman, who owned land on Muddy Creek in Cocalico and Brecknock Townships9 who married a daughter of William Adams.10 This Unknown [possibly Mary] (Adams) Witman had two sons—John and Willam—and was deceased by 1753.11 Christopher Witman died in Reading, Berks County in 1778.12

Whatever date he married, Christopher Weidman was married to Anna Maria (___), most likely by the birth of his son Christopher Jr. on 16 October 1753.13 The child was baptized on 16 December 1753 at the Warwick congregation by John Theophillus England. His aunt Elisabetha and her husband Adam Hacker were his sponsors. Christopher and (most likely) Anna Maria had at least three additional children: John, Catharina and Anna Maria.14 He married Barbara Bricker, widow of Christian Bricker, on 8 November 1785.15

In 1758, Christopher warranted 128 1/2 acres on Middle Creek on 10 May.16 It had been originally warranted to Christian Weaver 3 June 1741, was surveyed to Christopher on 3 April 1758, and patented to him 4 April 1784. This tract adjoined Jacob Springer, George Whitman, Christian Stapler, George Wyman, Henry Hoyle, John Schadt, and Oswald Hostetter.

On 2 July 1762, Christopher’s father Martin sold 236 acres of his 336-acre tract on Middle Creek to his three sons: Christopher, Wendel and Jacob to be divided equally between them.17 On 2 July 1762, Christopher and his father purchased an adjoining tract of 169 acres in Elizabeth (now Clay) Township from Michael Maurer.18

Christopher’s father Martin died sometime in 1768. Christopher and his brother served as executors of the estate. They filed an inventory in German in 1768 and their administrator’s account in 1770.19 The balance on the estate was distributed to Christopher and his siblings in December 1770.20

On 30 April 1782, Christopher Weidman and Bernard Gartner patented the Maurer tract and partitioned it five years later on 11 April 1787.21 Bernard Gartner sold his 84 acres on the same day to John Erb.22 Since Bernard sold his other lands to Christopher’s brother Jacob on this date, it was likely that his family was preparing to move to Hanover Township, Dauphin County about this time.

Like his father, Christopher was active in his community and his church. He and his wife Anna Maria served as a baptismal sponsors for Anna Maria Enck in 1760,23 Fridrich Wächter in 1763,24 John Laber in 1769,25 Catharina Illig in 1774,26 Christopher Rogh in 1776,27 and their granddaughter Elisabetha Stichel in 1777.28

In 1782, Christopher Weidman served as guardian to Christopher and Maria Horning, two minor children of Wendel Horning, the father of Christopher’s daughter-in-law Eva, and in 1783 their brother Conrad.29 With Jacob Weidman he served as security for his son Christopher when he petitioned the Orphans Court to be awarded Wendel Horning’s land in Warwick Township in 1784.30

Christopher died before 10 December 1794, possibly on 19 April.31 Christopher’s last will and testament named his wife Anna Maria, sons Christopher and John, and daughters Catharine and Anna Maria. He left his “beloved wife Anna Maria the sum of twelve hundred pounds lawful money of Pennsylvania yearly during the term of her natural life, and also I give my said wife one bed and bedstead one of my best cows to be kept in fodder on my estate during the term of her natural life one little wheel and one large wheel and a chest of drawers and also six pewter plates six spoons one tea ettle one large kettle, and one iron pot, and further I give unto my say wife my youngest molata girl named Margaret during the term of her natural life.” He left specific bequests for his daughters and granted the residue of this personal and real estate to his sons as tenants-in-common.32

As executors of the estate, his sons Christopher Weidman Jr. and John Weidman filed an extensive inventory in 1794 and their administration account in 1796.33 On 17 July 1797, Barbara Weidman, widow and relict of Christopher Weidman Sr., sold her one-third dower share in the real and personal estate of her late husband to her son Jacob Bricker of Heidelberg Township, Dauphin County for £200.34

Christopher died in possession of three tracts of land: 128 1/2 acres, an adjoining tract of 39 acres, and 84 acres, part of the 169 acre Maurer tract patented with Bernard Gardner in 1782.35 An Orphans Court of 12 November 1798 awarded these tracts of land and mill to Christopher Weidman Jr. with the proviso that he pay the other heirs for their shares.36 Christopher Strichel and his wife Catharine Weidman sold their share of the estate on 21 December 1798 to Catharine’s brother John.37 At the time, they were living in Virginia. On 15 February 1804, Abraham Farney and his wife Maria Weidman sold their share of the estate to her brother Christopher.38

Children of Christopher and Anna Maria (Adams) Weidman:

  1. Christopher6 Weidman was born 16 Oct 1753 in Cocalico Township and died 4 December 1824. He was buried in the Trinity Lutheran Church cemetery in New Holland, Earl Township, Lancaster County. By 2 September 1783, he married Eva Horning, daughter of Wendel Horning of Warwick Township.
  2. John Weidman was born 4 Jun 1756 in Cocalico Township and died 9 June 1830 in Hanover Township, Lebanon County. He married Catharine Mason of Philadelphia. She was born 16 February 1763 and died 8 October 1794 in Lebanon County.
  3. Catharine Weidman married Christopher Strichel on 5 November 1775 at Reiher’s Reformed Church in Cocalico Township.
  4. Anna Maria Weidman was born 7 March 1760 in Cocalico Township and died 23 May 1835. She was buried in the Forney graveyard in Brownstown in Earl Township. She married Abraham Forney, son of Abraham and Elizabeth (Spurgeon) Forney, by 1791. He was born 15 August 1758 and died 18 January 1821 in Brownstown.

Footnotes

  1.  Christoph Weydmann, 07 Feb 1724, “Deutschland Geburten und Taufen, 1558-1898,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NC81-YFD : accessed 16 July 2015); citing ; FHL microfilm 1,238,310. ↩
  2.  Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Will Book 1:439, Christopher Weidman deceased, 20 Mar 1777; digital images, FamilySearch.org, “Pennsylvania, Probate Records, 1683-1994” (http://www.familysearch.org/search : accessed 19 Feb 2015); citing Register of Wills, Lancaster. ↩
  3. A.R. Wentz, Muddy Creek Lutheran Church Parish Register, 1728-1869 (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: Lutheran Theological Society, 1970), page 173, “Christoph Wittman and Mary Adam” entry; digital image, Ancestry, “Pennsylvania, Church and Town Records, 1708-1985” (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 Jul 2015); citing Historical Society of Pennsylvana, “Historic Pennsylvania Church and Town Records.”  ↩
  4.  Frederick S. Weiser, translator, Records of Pastoral Acts at Emanuel Lutheran Church, known in the 18th century as the Warwick congregation, near Brickerville, Elizabeth Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania 1743-1799 (Breinigsville, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania German Society, 1983), page 205; “Anna Mar. Waydmännin” and “An. Mar. Waydmännin,” likely mother and daughter, took communion at the Warwick congregation on this date. ↩
  5.  Marsha (NannyS123@aol.com), “Re: (Weidman) Weidmann to Weidman to Witman,” 30 May 2000, http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/WEIDMAN/2000-05/0959709578. ↩
  6.  Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Deed Book F5:280, John Weidman to Michael Schebler, 20 Feb 1826; digital images, Recorder of Deeds, “Online E-Film Reader”  (http://www.lancasterdeeds.com : accessed 25 Apr 2016); This deed indicates that Christopher’s widow has also died. ↩
  7.  See Johann Martin Weidman’s biography for source information. ↩
  8. A.R. Wentz, Muddy Creek Lutheran Church Parish Register, 1728-1869 (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: Lutheran Theological Society, 1970), page 173, “Christoph Wittman and Mary Adam” entry. ↩
  9. Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Deed Book D:80, Christopher Wittman Sr. & Ux. to Christopher Wittman Jr., 24 Sep 1748; digital images, Recorder of Deeds, “Online E-Film Reader” (http://www.lancasterdeeds.com/onlineefilmreader/ : accessed 28 Apr 2016). ↩
  10.  Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Will Book C1:110, William Adams deceased, 25 Nov 1772; digital images, FamilySearch.org, “Pennsylvania, Probate Records, 1683-1994” (http://www.familysearch.org/search : accessed 28 Apr 2016); citing Register of Wills, Lancaster; this will doesn’t name either the daughter or her husband, but references William Adam’s grandsons John and William Witman. ↩
  11.  Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Deed Book D:80, Christopher Wittman Ux. to Nicholas Kerbar, 9 Jun 1753; digital images, Recorder of Deeds, “Online E-Film Reader” (http://www.lancasterdeeds.com/onlineefilmreader/ : accessed 28 Apr 2016); Christopher Witman with his wife Barbara, of Reading, sold land in Cocalico, adjoining William Adams, purchased from his father in 1748 to Kerbar in 1753. ↩
  12. Berks County, Pennsylvania, Estate Files, Christopher Wittman (1778); digital images, FamilySearch, “Pennsylvania, Probate Records, 1683-1994” (https://www.familysearch.org : accessed 28 Apr 2016); citing Register of Wills, Reading. ↩
  13. Weiser, Records of Pastoral Acts at Emanuel Lutheran Church, page 48. ↩
  14. Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Will Book1:439, Christopher Weidman deceased, 20 Mar 1777. ↩
  15. Marsha (NannyS123@aol.com), “Re: (Weidman) Weidmann to Weidman to Witman,” 30 May 2000. ↩
  16.  Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Warrantee Township Maps, “Clay Township warrantee map,” Christopher Weidman tract; PDF online, Pennsylvania Museum and Historical Commission, Pennsylvania State Archives (http://www.phmc.state.pa.us : accessed 2 Apr 2010); citing Records of the Land Office, Records Group 17, Series 17.522, State Archives, Harrisburg. ↩
  17.  Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Deed Book 10:394, Martin Weigtman to Christopher Weightman and other (1762); digital image, Recorder of Deeds, “Online E-Film Reader” (http://www.lancasterdeeds.com/onlineefilmreader/ : accessed 15 Feb 2010). ↩
  18.  Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Deed Book P:16, Martin Weidman to Bernhart Gartner, 14 Dec 1767; digital images, Recorder of Deeds, Online E-film Reader (http://www.lancasterdeeds.com/ : accessed 15 Feb 2010). ↩
  19.  Lancaster County Historical Society, Lancaster History, “Search Archives – Collections”  (http://www.lancasterhistory.org/: accessed 27 Apr 2016), inventory (1768) and administration account (1770) entries for Martin Weidman. ↩
  20.  Edward N. Wevodau, Abstracts of Lancaster County, PA Orphans Court Records, 1768-1782 (Apollo, Pennsylvania: Closson Press, 2001), page 51. ↩
  21.  Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Deed Book KK:212, Christopher Weidman & Ux to Bernard Gardner & Uxr., 11 Apr 1787; digital image, Recorded of Deeds, Online E-film Reader (http://www.lancasterdeeds.com : accessed 25 Apr 2016); Christopher at this time was married to his second wife Barbara. ↩
  22.  Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Deed Book GG:488, Bernard Gardner & Uxr. to John Erb, 11 Apr 1787; digital image, Recorded of Deeds, Online E-film Reader (http://www.lancasterdeeds.com : accessed 25 Apr 2016). ↩
  23.  F. Edward Wright , Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Church Records of the 18th Century, (Westminster, Maryland: Willow Bend Books, 1999), Volume 1, page 149, “Anna Maria wife of Christopher Weidman.”  ↩
  24.  Weiser, Records of Pastoral Acts at Emanuel Lutheran Church, page 76; Fridrich Wächter was Christopher’s nephew, son of his sister Maria Catharina. ↩
  25.  Wright, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Church Records of the 18th Century, Volume 1, page 143. ↩
  26.  Weiser, Records of Pastoral Acts at Emanuel Lutheran Church, page 113; Catharina was with daughter of Christopher’s first cousin, Margaretha (Weidman) Illig. ↩
  27.  F. Edward Wright , Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Church Records of the 18th Century, page 145. ↩
  28.  F. Edward Wright , Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Church Records of the 18th Century, page 145. ↩
  29.  Wevodau, Abstracts of Lancaster County, PA Orphans Court Records, 1782-1791, page 34, 40. ↩
  30.  Wevodau, Abstracts of Lancaster County, PA Orphans Court Records, 1782-1791, page 47. ↩
  31. Marsha (NannyS123@aol.com), “Re: (Weidman) Weidmann to Weidman to Witman,” 30 May 2000; Email provides specific date, unsourced. Christopher definitely died prior to his LWT being proven on 10 December 1794, though April seems too early for the probate date. ↩
  32.  As tenants in common their share of the estate remained with their estate after their death, rather than reverting to the other party as with joint tenants. ↩
  33.  Lancaster County Historical Society, Lancaster History, “Search Archives – Collections”  (http://www.lancasterhistory.org/: accessed 27 Apr 2016), inventory (1794) and administration account (1796) entries for Christopher Weidman. ↩
  34.  Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Deed Book Q3:230, Barbara Weidman to Jacob Bricker, 17 Jul 1797; digital images, Recorder of Deeds, “Online E-Film Reader”  (http://www.lancasterdeeds.com : accessed 2 Apr 2015). ↩
  35.  Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Deed Book P3:431, Christopher Striegel & wife to John Weidman, 21 Dec 1798; digital images, Recorder of Deeds, “Online E-Film Reader”  (http://www.lancasterdeeds.com : accessed 2 Apr 2015). ↩
  36.  Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Deed Book Q3:14, Abraham Farney & wife to Christopher Weidman, 15 Feb 1804; digital images, Recorder of Deeds, “Online E-Film Reader”  (http://www.lancasterdeeds.com : accessed 2 Apr 2015). ↩
  37.  Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Deed Book P3:431, Christopher Striegel & wife to John Weidman, 21 Dec 1798. ↩
  38.  Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Deed Book Q3:14, Abraham Farney & wife to Christopher Weidman, 15 Feb 1804. ↩

Cite This Page:

, "Christopher Weidman (1724-1794)," A Pennsylvania Dutch Genealogy, the genealogy & family research site of Kris Hocker, modified 12 Oct 2017 (https://www.krishocker.com/biographies/christopher-weidman-1724-1794/ : accessed 7 May 2024).

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