1. Johann Georg FRESHOUR was christened on 3 Apr 1701 in Wachenheim, Germany. He died in 1790 in Maryland.

[Far below these notes concerning Johann Georg "Georg" Froschauer's life and the research behind the life story presented here, you will find information about Georg's wife and children. This page is necessarily long. Perhaps readers will skim over these details at the first visit, coming back later to read more comprehensively.]

[David Sisson: I have placed this transcription from Freshour Faces issue 30 out of order since it concerns Johann Georg Froschauer's origins in Germany. All the other transcriptions come in order of original publication. Kathi Sittner and many others whom she cites were doing research during the time when Freshour Faces was being published. "Early" matters were often discovered and published later than "later" matters.]

The information concerning Johann Georg's ancestry is very probable, but not absolutely proved. Kathi Sittner gave the matter great thought and has suggested his (likely) parents and their parents, but as she explains, no proof has been found yet.

Freshour Faces 30, p. 1, April 2001:
Thanks VERY much to subscriber Gordon Seyffert for alerting me to the recently published book by professional genealogist and author of about 20 books, Annette Kunselman Burgert (F.G.S.P., F.A.S.G.), "Palatine Origins of Some Pennsylvania Pioneers" (Myerstown, PA: AKB Publications, 2000) [ISBN 1-882442-17-2], which contains the clue we have all been seeking concerning the location of our Pennsylvania Froschauer family in the Pfalz area of Germany. Without Gordon's tip, this would not have been possible at this time.

In speaking directly with Annette Burgert, I understand that she attempted to pinpoint the origins of as many Pennsylvania German families from the York-Adams County area (and other areas) as possible. She looked at those whose origins were known from church and other records and compared them with others in the area and with people who traveled together on immigrant ships. They she looked at the actual German church records and tried to verify which people really came from those places.

Annette told me that in the case of our Froschauers, she first looked at the records of Meckenheim, but when she did not find them there, tried Wachenheim, from which a couple of other families on the ship "Mary" had come. And there she found them.

Annette Bergert's entry concerning the Froschauers appears as follows [Palatine Origins of Some Pennsylvania Pioneers, Annette K. Burgert, p. 96 - FHL book 974.5 W2bp]:

FROSCHAUER, HANS GEORG - Wachenheim an der Weinstrasse (67157)
Mary, 1732
S-H (Strassburger & Hinke immigration books), vol. I: 93, 94, 95

EUROPEAN RECORDS
Wachenheim Reformed Kirchenbuch (church book)
Hans Conrad Froschauer and wife Sybilla had a son:
Hans Georg, bp. 3 Apr. 1701
Sp.: Georg Seitz of Roth [=67827 Becherbach] and Anna Barbara

Hans Conrad Froschauer, cartwright here, d. 15 Mar. 1702.

Hans Georg Froschauer and Anna Catharina had children:
1. Joh. Georg, bp. 6 June 1728
Sp.: Hans Georg Gutermann and Maria Catharina
2. Maria Elisabetha, bp. 29 Sept. 1730
Sp.: Hans Jacob Stempel [q.v.] and Maria Elisabetha

At this point Annette cites American records from the Conewago Reformed KB (York-Adams Co., PA): the births of "Andrew" (1746) & the unnamed son (1748) to "John George Froschauer and wife Catharina, daughter of Adam Graf from Lichtenberg near (76829] Landau." Also noted is the daughter Catharine (1763) of George and Magdalena Froschauer.

My first reaction when I heard this was to dig out my copy of the Pennsylvania records to see whether the handwriting really could have read "Wachenheim" but have been mistaken all of these years as "Mecke(r)nheim." But there is no mistaking the handwriting; the pastor simply recorded it wrong! Since we also cannot find Lichtenberg, I have to wonder whether Pastor Schlatter had made notes to himself on some scrap of paper which he attempted, much later and after having done many other baptisms to decipher and to add to his actually pastoral records and whether, perhaps, they were so badly written that he mistook them for saying something else. Of course, we'll never know.

It is interesting that Wachenheim just happens to be so close to Meckenheim, and certainly in the correct general area of Germany.

In order to prove that this information does refer to OUR Froschauer family, I have done a detailed search of the microfilmed original records of the parish of Wachenheim an der Weinstrasse, Pfalz, Germany. At first I questioned the conclusions, but I have come to believe that the coincidences are simply too great for it not to be correct. I will explain after I present the records to you.

The records for the (Lutheran) Evangelical Reformed parish of Wachenheim began in 1700 [Evangelisch-Reformierte Kirche Wachenheim KB, 1700-1771 - FHL film #488,305], even though the Reformed church existed here from about 1556, and the town existed from about 766 A.D. A later coexistent Lutheran parish held no one with the name Froschauer surname during the late 1700s, and the early Lutheran Church in nearby Durkheim also had no Froschauers in the 1600s and early 1700s as far as I could tell [Evangelisch Kirche Bad Durkheim KB, 1640-1748 - FHL film #488,305].

The earliest Wachenheim Reformed Church baptismal records show that Hanss Conradt Froschauer (the name Hanss is actually spelled with an S-tset, which nowadays stands for two S's) was a citizen of Wachenheim and a cartwright. He and his wife Sibylla had a son Hans Georg (OUR Hans Georg Froschauer), baptized 3 April 1701, with Hans Georg Seitz and his wife Anna Barbara of the village of Roth acting as sponsors. The baptismal entry is extremely difficult to decipher because of the bleeding through of the ink on the pages and because of the age of the paper which has darkened over the years.

[A photocopy of the entry appears here on p. 4 of Freshour Faces #30.]

While not legible here, it is legible (barely) on film and says: "Dito (3 April 1701) wurde hanss Conradt froschauer burger und Wagners alhier und sieiner Sibylla ein hanss Georg getauft. (Es) hat spondiert Hanss Georg Seitz Gemeins Mann zu Roth und Anna Barbara seiner eheliche Hausfrau." It is interesting to note that the endings and capitalizations used in many of these words could be totally incorrect by today's standards. The exact translation is: "On the same date (3 April 1701) Hans Conradt Froschauer, a citizen and cartwright here (of Wachenheim), and his wife Sibylla had a son named Hanss Georg baptized. The sponsors were Hanss Georg Seitz citizen of Roth and his lawful wife Anna Barbara." This "Roth" is not in the area of Becherbach, which lies quite a distance away to the west, as Annette Bergert's book supposed, but is in fact the present village of "Rhodt" which like just southwest of Edenkoben, toward where the Grafs supposedly came from near Landau. It is in Rhodt that we find the marriage of this Hans Jerg Seitz, son of Hans Christoph Seitz, to Anna Barbara, daughter of the deceased Friedrich Schopfer, on 30 November 1700. How they were related or befriended at such a distance is not known.

Less than a year later we find the following two entries:
"10 October (1701) begrab(en) word(en) Christina Apollonia hanss Conrad froschauers kind." This entry translates to: "(On) 10 October (1701) Christina Apollonia, the child of Hanss Conrad Froschauer, was buried." No age was given, but because of other information about the ages of children in this family (see below) I would guess that she was born between 1691 and 1697.

"25 dito (Marty 1702) begrab(en) word(en) hanss Conrad froschauer burger und wagner alhier." The standardization of spelling had not yet taken place; there was no "T" in Conradt in this entry, even though the name was normally spelled this way in the records of this time period and in this parish. The entry translates to: "(On) 25 ditto (March 1702) Hanss Conrad Froschauer, cartwright and citizen here (of Wachenheim), was buried" (not died - burial usually took place about two days after the death).

This was a difficult time in the history of Germany, especially in this war-torn area, and women of that time seldom lived alone. In order to have support for herself and her children, Conradt's widow would probably have needed to find a new husband within a short period of time. Thus Sibylla Christina married Elias Brand, a cartwright apprentice, on 24 Jan 1703. The entry appears as follows:

"Dito (24 Jan 1703) wurde zu Seebach mitcopuliert Elias brand Wagnergesell, wel. Joh, Brand gewesenen burger und schuhmachers alhier nachgelassene ehelicher Soh(n), mit Sibylla Christina weyl. Hanss Conradt froschauers gewesene Wagners alhier gelassene eheliche Wittib. No. weil diesse beide sich ausserhalb copulier(en) lassen, sind sie 3 kind not (Kindert?) ______ schuldig. Wie wohl sie es zu Erspahrung der costen thun." This translates basically to:

"Ditto (on 24 January 1703) Elias Brand, a journeyman cartwright and son of the former Johannes Brand was who a citizen and shoemaker here (of Wachenheim), married in Seebach Sibylla Christina, who was the lawful widow of Hanss Conradt froschauer, former cartwright here (of Wachenheim."

The note which follows was difficult to read and the experts here could not quite agree on what it says. It probably means one of the following:

"Note: (Since) these two allowed themselves to be married outside (of our town), because they wanted to save costs, (we want you to be aware that ) they owe _____ for 3 children."

OR

"Note: (Since) these two allowed themselves to be married outside (of our town), we want to (make you aware) that they owe ______ (or are responsible) for three children."

In either case, this is a most unusual and interesting note, as I did not find anything like it in any other marriage record. The Brand-Froschauer marriage must have seemed like an exceptional situation to the pastor. The children referred to are evidently HER children by Hans Conradt Froschauer, since he was named as the "son of John. Brand, shoemaker, deceased," which is the normal format shown when someone has not yet ever been married. Sibylla's father, in contrast, was not stated, and her deceased husband was named instead. The note also turns out to be extremely helpful to us in knowing more about the Froschauer family, as we can find only of the last child [sic] in the post-1700 baptismal records.

On 22 June 1704 Elias Brand and Sibylla Christina had a daughter, Maria Susanna, baptized with the sponsor being Susanna, the wife of Joh. Niclas (Johann Nikolaus) Strupler, citizen and joiner (carpenter) of Wachenheim. Nothing further was found concerning this daughter, either in the marriage or burial records.

Elias Brand, now a master cartwright, and Christina Sybilla were the sponsors on 29 July 1708 for Elias, son of Johannes and Anna Christina Kerber of Wachenheim and on 29 June 1710 for Elias, son of Carl and Magdalena Wagner of Wachenheim. Note that the name Sibylla was spelled differently in these two records and was placed second after the name Christina.

Elias Brand was buried 12 Oct 1721. Widow Sibylla Christina Brand was buried 20 April 1724, aged 61. Her death record states in Latin: "20 April espulta e(st) Sibylla Christina, des [this word in German] Elias Brands relicta vidua, annos habens 61" which translates to "20 April (1724) was buried Sibylla Christina, the widow of Elias Brand, aged 61."

Several other records of importance were located concerning the Froschauers of Wachenheim. New Communicants on Whit-Sunday 1703 included Hanss Leonhardt Froschauer. This was evidently his first communion, which generally was taken, after a period of required religious training, about the age of 13 or 14. Joh. Leonhard(t) Froschauer, a journeyman cartwright, was next found acting as a baptismal sponsor with J. Anna Maria Tartar(in) on 19 June 1715 for Joh. Leonhard, the son of Georg Bernd Petri (Peter) and his wife Sophia of Wachenheim. The -in at the end of Tartarin is simply the feminine ending given to surnames at that time, so surname is actually Tartar. Leonard must have already been betrothed to this Anna Maria Tartar(in), because he married her on 6 September 1715. She was the daughter of Hanss Jacob Tartar, citizen and shoemaker, who had previously lived in Durkheim, and was said to be "in her Bedstunde," which means that she was already pregnant at the time of marriage. Leonard was named as "son of the deceased Hanss Conrad Froschauer, cartwright and citizen of Wachenheim." Thus we have confirmation of the eldest son of Conrad(t) and Sibylla Froschauer.

Leonhard(t) Froschauer and his wife Anna Maria were also sponsors on 15 January ______ for Johann Leonhard, son of Lorentz Messing and his wife Anna Maria.

Freshour Faces #30, p. 7:
Most important for us American Froschauer descendants are the Wachenheim Church baptismal records concerning the family of "Hanss Gorg" Froschauer (keep in mind that the way this name is written is simply an alternate form of Johann Georg) and his wife Anna Catharina. Unfortunately the records of this time period do not tell where the parents or sponsors lived, so we have no clues concerning where else to look for them.

Their eldest son was Johann Georg, born in Germany. His baptism was sponsored by Hanss Georg Guttermann and his wife Maria Catharina. No death records were found for Hanss Georg or his sister Anna Catharina Froschauer or for these two children through 1769. The parents were also not found as sponsors either before or after these baptisms. The fact that there were no further post-1730 baptisms (including in the three closest Reformed parishes) for children in Johann Georg's family and no deaths of him, his wife, or their two named children suggests that they left the area and that they could indeed be our Froschauer family which immigrated in 1732. However, it still does not prove it, and the fact that our Johann Georg and Catharina (Graf) Froschauer had no children named Conrad or Sibylla or Elias (after the stepfather) and the fact that this Wachenheim Georg had no son Wendel or daughter Anna Maria bothered me greatly when I first looked at this information. Still, both Wendel and Anna Maria COULD have been born BEFORE 1728 in Catharina's home town, which is probably where the marriage record is located, and at least one of them could even have been born in 1731 between the 1730 birth of Maria Elisabeth and the 1732 birth of Johannes. So what evidence do we have to connect this family with ours in America? I will attempt to explain:

The baptism of Conradt and Sibylla's youngest son Johann Georg had been sponsored by Hans Georg Seitz of Roth, and in the act of sponsorship was the understanding that the sponsors would help to raise the child if his parents died before the child was "of age." Thus I wonder whether Georg Seitz had a role in raising Georg at least until Sibylla's remarriage to Elias Brand and perhaps even after that time. This could help to account for the fact that Georg met his wife and married outside of Wachenheim, and perhaps south of there near Landau. The note attached by the pastor to the marriage of Sibylla to Elias Brand may also have simply meant that Elias was agreeing to take on the financial responsibility of raising her three children, but even in this case, Georg's sponsor may very well have helped out and kept him during the summers or have helped to give him training in an occupation.

The fact that Johann Georg was the last child and a younger son also gives a possible motive for his leaving and going to America. He would not have inherited the family form or home. Instead, according to the says of the times, after giving basic starter household goods to the female children and money for an apprenticeship of some kind to the male children, Leonhardt would have received everything the family owned.

Next we find the following facts which show a possible connection between this Johann Georg and our Pennsylvania Johann Georg Froschauer:

1. Johann Jacob Stemple and his wife, Maria Elisabeth, emigrated from Wachenheim on the ship "Mary" in 1732, the same ship as Johann Georg Froschauer and his family used. These were the sponsors of Georg's daughter Maria Elisabeth, who was the last child in their family baptized in Wachenheim. It is quite possible if not probably that they traveled together to America.

2. Jacob Walther-Walter and his family were also from Wachenheim, traveled on this ship "Mary," and settled in York-Adams County. And there were Mayer and Mueller families in Wachenheim and in Pennsylvania, although these names are so common that I don't dare count on them at this point.

3. The names Cuntz-Kuntz-Kunz, Morgenstern, and Erkenbrecht-Erchtebrecht are found in Wachenheim and in York-Adams County, Pennsylvania.

4. The Pennsylvania will of Christian Schreyer, who was originally of Friedelsheim (which lies next to Wachenheim) and later of Conewago, dated 21 Nov 1742, was file at Lancaster (then the county seat for the area which included Conewago) on 18 Jan 1744, and included as witnesses Johannes Georg Froschauer and Andreas  Schreiber. The name of the latter was also found in the church records of Wachenheim, and of course this man and his wife were the sponsors for Johann Georg's son Andreas who was born 30 September 1746 and baptized 6 May 1747 in Conewago's Christ Reformed Church in Littlestown.

5. The birth of the child Johann Georg in 1728 fits well with the time of marriage of George Froschauer to Magdalene ca. 1754-56 in Pennsylvania and explains why there was no early baptism for this George in York-Adams County.

6. It is interesting that the name Leonard Frush was found with that of Jacob Frush (thought to also be a son of Johann Georg and Catharina Froschauer) in the 1782 militia records of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, so perhaps Jacob had a son Leonard named after his uncle?

The fact that there are all of these circumstantial bits of evidence leads me to conclude that this MUST be our Froschauer family. While I will continue to search for their marriage and the births of their two two children, I feel quite certain that Johann Georg Froschauer did come from Wachenheim and had as parents Johann Conradt and Sibylla Christina (or possibly Christina Sibylla?) Froschauer. However, the conclusion does force several questions, a couple of which are rather disconcerting:

1. It appears that the first Maria Elisabetha born in 1730 probably died, since we know that the family had another Maria Elisabetha born and baptized in Littlestown, Pennsylvania, in 1738. It is not uncommon that a later child was named for an earlier one, and often it was the next child born of the same sex who was given that name.

2. It seems very curious that there was no son named Conrad or Leonard or even Elias born to this family and no daughter named Sibylla, Christina, or Apollonia. Could there have been some who also died young, but perhaps lived long enough that no other children were named for them?

3. If Johann Georg's wife is named "Anna" Catharina Graf, how does that fit with all of the information I found about "Eva" Catharina and John Froschauer in Frederick County, Maryland? Are these the same people or not?

There was probably another child [i.e. another sibling of Johann Georg] born between 1691 and 1697 who died before the Wachenheim church records began in 1700.

In seeking further information about our early Froschauers, we can be very thankful that the miscellaneous town records of Wachenheim have been collected, summarized, and published in two books [Die Wachenheimer Bevolkerung vor 300 Jahren, 1650 bis 1700 (The Wachenheim People 300 Years Ago, 1650 to 1700); Die Bevolkerung von Wachenheim vor 400 Jahren (The People of Wachenheim 400 Years Ago) - FHL 943.43/W4 E4w, parts 1 and 2]. The later records tell us that Hans Conrad Froschauer was accepted in 1681 as a journey man cartwright when he was aged 24 and still a single man. He began to build a house in the Holzviertel or "Wood Quarter" of town in 1687, probably about the time of his marriage, which almost certainly took place in Wachenheim. He was found often in the town's official records in various appointed posts around 1700. He had a wife Sybilla (their spelling). And he supposedly died in 1724. Except for the year of death for Conrad, which is a simple error and is actually the year of his wife's death, this information all fits very well with the fact that the eldest known son was Johann Leonhard(t), born about 1689, and with the known information about the family.

The books tell us that in earlier Wachenheim records there was a Johannes Froschauer, who married in 1649 (no wife's name given) and was in the Reformed Church tithing records in 1653. Considering the fact that Johann Conradt would have been born about 1657, it would seem that this Johannes is almost certainly his father, and since no other Froschauer families are in the post-1700 Wachenheim records, I am guessing that there were no other surviving sons in Johannes' family. We are next told that a Hans Froschauer was a caretaker of the Reformed church in 1620. This is probably the father of Johannes. Finally there was another Hans Froschauer a few more generations back who was a forester or forest ranger in 1524 and a town mayor in 1529. This man is probably another of our ancestors.   The name Froschauer is said to be from the nearby larger city of Durkheim, but it seems obvious that this would have been many generations before the 1500-1700 period we are now looking at. Basically, this family was in Wachenheim for many generations. And they were evidently staunch supporters of the Evangelical Reformed Church from its beginnings and remained so after they arrived in Pennsylvania.

Since the books are all in German and would be difficult for most Americans to read, and sine it helps to have a little historical background concerning the area in which one's ancestors lived, I would like to tell a little about what I learned in these books concerning the town of Wachenheim.

A village named Wachenheim was first mentioned in 766 and has always belonged to the Bad Durkheim (formerly just called Durkheim) church and local civil district (Kirchenbezirk + Amtsgericht) and to the Neustadt an der Weinstrasse area civil district (Landesamt). The church was building around the middle of the fourteenth century, burned several times, and the present building was built in 1857-59. The Protestant Reformation was accepted by the people about 1556 as a Reformed Lutheran doctrine, while the Evangelical Lutherans did not have any presence until the early 1700s, and any remaining Catholics went elsewhere to church. This sort of thing was common; particular towns became "hubs" for one religion or another, and those who preferred a different version went to church in a nearby town where their preferred version was preached, and of course tiny villages were also supported by churches in larger towns. In this case, the nearby villages of Grethen, Hausen, Seebach and sometimes Deidesheim, Gonnheim, and Friedelsheim were also served by the Wachenheim church. In 1680 there were 90 Reformed, 7 Lutheran, 4 Catholic, and 2 mixed families.

In the period from about 1450 to 1600 many families were first choosing surnames. By 1584 there were about 1000 inhabitants in Wachenheim. At this time they were subject to a five-year-long "Turkish Tax" (Turkensteuer) levied by the central Neustadt government to help support an army in the effort against the invading Turks who had pushed all the way to Vienna and were now threatening the German Republican states. The wonderful books which resulted from the effort to collect this tax include notations supposed to cover the costs of one soldier. Thus a register was set up to note the amount and value of property - based upon usable land, produce from one's occupation, and official positions, but not upon cash, household goods, or hand tools - of each adult male citizen and to collect the appropriate tax of 3 fl. (Gulden) for each 1000 fl. of worth twice a year [One Guilden (fl.) was equal to 15 Batzen (bz) or 60 Kreuzer (kr.) or 26 Albus (alb.) or 240 Pfennig. In 1987 one Guilden was equal to about 50 Deutsche Mark or $25US]. Those who owned less paid a portion of this down to a tax of 1 Batzen. Nobles and high-ranking city officials were exempt from the tax, as were those deemed too poor to pay because their worth was under a certain minimum. Among those who were not taxed were usually day workers, shepherds, schoolmasters, pastors, and field workers and guards, as well as people who lived in forested areas and near the Rhine River where it flooded, and people from Flanders who had recently fled because of religious persecution and were not working in the cloth and silk industries as artisans and day laborers. It appears from the book that our Froschauers were not among those who were taxed.

In comparison to other towns in the taxed area, Wachenheim was toward the wealthier end, yet 43% of the families still fell below the minimum taxable rate. To give an idea of what kind of burden the tax would have posed, it is worthwhile to look at prices levied for goods and given for services at that time:

1 pound butter - 6 kr. - $2.50                   1 day as an Artisan-Day Laborer - 1/2 fl. - $12.50
1 pound meat - 3 kr. - $125                      1 day as a roofer-thatcher - 6 bz. - $10
1 pair men's shoes - 9 bz. - $15                 1 day as an apprentice - 3 bz. - $5
1 pair women's shoes - 6 bz. - $10               1 day as a Winepress servant - 18 pf. - $1.87
1 pair children's shoes - 12 alb. $5
1 Ehl (yard?) cloth - 12 alb. - $11.50
1 hat - 1/2 fl. - $12.50

Because of the Turkish tax records, we know that in 1580 there were approximately 225 households in Wachenheim with about 1100 citizens living in about 170 houses, and three-quarters of the citizens had their own house. The town was divided into four main quarters plus a castle area:

Northwest quarter: Holz-Viertel  (Woods Quarter)     53 households
Northeast quarter: Lauer-Viertel (Lookout Quarter)   46 households
Southwest quarter: Kirch-Viertel (Church Quarter)    55 households
Southeast quarter: Schlinze Viertel                  41 households

West of the village, outside the main town area, was the Burg-Viertel, which was counted within the Church Quarter and Wood Quarter tallies, plus seventeen homes without fathers and several other tax-free families.

The names of those in the town reveal the main occupations needed to make a town run properly. They included one barber-surgeon (Bader), one baker (Backer), one mason (Tuncher), one glazier or glassmaker (Glaser), one potter (Hafner), five coopers (Kufer), one tanner ((Laurer-Gerber), two butchers (Metzger), two millers (Muller), two locksmiths (Schlosser), one smith (Schmied), two joiners-cabinet makers (Schreiner), two shoemakers-coblers (Schuster), one harnessmaker (Spanner), two stonemasons (Steinmetzen), two cartwrights (Wagner), one weaver (Weber), one servant (Wirt), and one carpenter (Zimmerman). The fact that our family's surname was Froschauer shows that it came not from this type of occupation-surname but rather from a place, such as perhaps the area known as "Froschau" or "Froschauerhof," which lies about 17 kilometers north-northwest of Burkheim near the town of Gollheim.

Other source records from the 1450-1600 time period include the early church records ("Urkunden des prot. Pfarrarchivs Wachenheim"), alms or gift records ("Almosenrechnungen" or "Jahresrechnungen"), and brotherhood records ("Zinsbuch der Bruderschaft") which are now located in Speyer at the Church Archives; and court records ("Ratsprotodell"), lists of yearly-elected town civil positions ("Amterbesetzungslisten"), town renovations and changes in property holding ("Renovationen"), and a 1579 book describing family land holdings ("Das Morgenbuch von 1579") which are now located in the city archives. There may be similar such books available for the town of Durkheim which would also include the Froschauer name.

The entire Pfalz area was devastated during the Thirty Years War of 1618 to 1648. I will leave you to read about this in the history books. In Wachenheim, as in other towns during this time, longtime residents sought whatever refuge they could find, but many people were killed or moved elsewhere to try to survive. It is estimated through tax information (Schatzungslisten-Steuererklarungen) that by 1650 the number of inhabitants had dropped to 600; in 1673 it had risen again to about 800, with a small influx of Swiss people looking for religious freedom adding to the numbers. In 1674 there was a great fire which destroyed about one third of the houses totally and another one third partially. Many people died and some moved away, causing the population to drop again to about 400 by 1675. Tax records show that about 1687 the Wood Quarter had 26 male adults, 21 female adults, 32 sons, 24 daughters, 6 boy servants, 1 girl servant, and only 3 horses and 5 cows.  Hans Conrad Froschauer was 24 years old and single and was just starting to rebuilt the home in the Wood Quarter; Elias Brand was four years old and living in a fire-damaged house with his parents, shoemaker Johannes Brand and Maria Magdalena Ille. By 1688 people were beginning to return to a more normal life, and there were again about 600 inhabitants. However, in 1689 a second a larger fire devastated the all over again, leaving only about 250 people in the town in 1690. At this time, shortly after the second fire, the spirit of the town sank to its lowest point, with people feeling that perhaps it was cursed, and many people moved across the Rhine River or wandered through Germany as outcasts. Many ended up in Hessen, but some returned around 1700 to rebuild their former ties. It appears to me, however, that our Froschauer family probably stayed in the town despite the terrible devastation which had taken place, and that this is why Conradt was said to be in the lists of people who served various posts in the 1690s and until his death in 1703.

Population Changes in Wachenheim:

1650   600
1673   800
1675   400
1688   600
1690   250
1693   300
1700   400
1736  1200

A search for the parents of Sibylla Christina has not yet been successful. It is really unfortunate that the rest of the baptismal sponsors for the earlier Froschauer children are not known, as they may very well have included her parents. It was thought that, by looking at the names of their children and at those families who acted as witnesses to their baptisms and for whom they acted as witnesses to baptisms, that we might find some leads. These people included:

Conradt's children's names: Leonhardt, Christina Apollonia, Anna Elisabetha, Johann Georg

Sibylla's and Elias Brand's child's name: Susanna

Witnesses for baptism of Johann Georg Froschauer:
   1701 Hans Georg Seitz md. Anna Barbara Schopfer (1700, in Rhodt)

Witnesses for baptism of Susanna Brand:
   1704 Joh. Niclas Strupler Md. Susanna (probably in Durkheim); note that there was also a Hans Georg Strupler and wife Maria Apollonia (she buried 1701) and a Hans Georg Strupler and wife Christina Apollonia, because of the name "Christina Apollonia" given to one of the daughters of Conradt and Sibylla, and because Sibylla's name was Christina Sibylla or Sibylla Christina, I wondered whether there was a connection between her family and this wife's family.   A search of the 1650-1700 church records of Durkheim did not lead to any answers.

Sibylla + Elias Brand were witnesses for:
   1708 Johannes Kerber md. Anna Christina
  1710 Carl Wagner md. Magdalena

Leonhardt + Anna Maria (Tartar) Froschauer were sponsors for:
   Lorentz Messing md. Anna Maria

Witnesses for children of Leonhardt + Anna Maria (Tartar) Froschauer:
  1717 Susanna, wife of Johann Muller
  1719 Johann Heinrich Weinfir + wife Anna Maria
  1720 Margaretha Elisabetha Kuntz
  1723 Anna Ottilia, daughter of Hanss Conrad Wien
  1725 Maria Catharina Stryre-Schreibel? md. Gorg Gerhardt Peter-Petri
  1727 Hans Jacob Tartar md. Anna Clara ______, probably in Durkheim

Witnesses for children of Anna Elisabetha:
  1729
  1733
  1737
  [All three dates left incomplete, no names]

Witnesses for children of Johann Georg:
  1728 Hans Georg Gutermann md. Maria Catharina (daughter of Nickel Weiss)
  1830 Hans Jacob Stempel (son of Nicholaus and Barbara Stempel) md. Maria Elisabetha (daughter of Hans Schneider)

None of these seem to point to a familial connection to Sibylla or the Froschauer family.

Further research on this family, if it is attempted, will have to be done in Germany by trained researchers, as it will entail a very difficult and time-consuming, line-by-line search of the old town records written on fragile, faded paper in the difficult-to-read old German script. The search would certainly give us details concerning what sorts of town positions Conradt and his father held, and it might even be possible to follow the tax records (and perhaps other records) well enough to confirm the next several male generations of Froschauers.

Because of the way the York-Adams County baptism record is worded, I truly believe that our Graf family will eventually be located somewhere in the area which at this time was under the control of Landau. This also makes sense in light of the information we have found on the Froschauers. People simply did not travel very far during the early 1700s, and when they did, they generally had to have a permit to do so or had to have another relative or close friend who would vouch for their character and financial reliability. Towns and churches did this in order to avoid a tremendous influx of poor people who had to be supported by church alms. However, even if Anna Catharina Graf originally came from somewhere in the Landau area, the marriage and births of the first couple of Froschauer children could have taken place out of that area, perhaps to the north, toward Wachenheim.

There were people by the name of Graf in the town of Landau around 1700-1730; however, a search of those records led to no one with the name of Hans Adam Graf or his daughter, Anna Catharina, and no marriages or baptisms were found for our Hans Georg Froschauer or his children. A search of the town of Rhodt (then "Roth"), where Johann Georg's sponsor came from, was also conducted, with negative results.

In looking again at the very detailed maps of this area, it was noted that there is a tiny hamlet called "Lerchels Berg," which lies southeast of Klein Fischlingen, east of Edesheim and not far from Rhodt, which looked like it could have been mistaken for "Lichtenberg" when written. After all, if the pastor misread-miswrote the name Wachenheim, maybe he did the same when he wrote Lichtenberg. However, a search of the baptism and marriage records in that area has also been negative so far.

As far as I can see, there are no other clues to go by at this point, so it is necessary to do a search of each parish, one by one, in the Landau district. The names of the parishes, the majority of which are Reformed parishes, because I believe that the records show that these families were all aligned with that religious persuasion, which have been searched so far are as follows:

Wachenheim - Reformed     Wachenheim - Lutheran
Bad Durkheim - Reformed   Bad Durkheim - Lutheran
Gimmeldinger - Reformed   Rhodt - Lutheran
Gonnheim - Reformed       Queichherim - Lutheran
Bellheim - Reformed       Kleinfischlinger - Lutheran
Lachen - Reformed         Landau - Lutheran
Edenkoben - Reformed      Edenkoben - Lutheran
Oberlustadt - Reformed
Haardt - Reformed
Niederhochstadt - Reformed
Oberhochstadt - Reformed
Morlheim - Reformed

Freshour Faces #1, July 1993, published by Kathi Sittner, 682 18th Ave.,
Salt Lake City, UT 84103, citing the her sources (or adding David Sisson
's editorial notes) [in brackets]:

The family of Johann Georg "Froschauer" and his wife, Catharine Graf, daughter of Hans Adam Graf, emigrated from Germany to Pennsylvania in 1732 [Pennsylvania German Pioneers]. "Hans Jerg Froschauer" is included in a list of Palatines imported on the ship "Mary" of London, John Gray Master, which sailed from Rotterdam but last from Cowes (England) on September 26, 1732. He (Johann Georg) had signed his own name in that list in a very legible script, and while on board he signed his name again as "Hance Froshorn."

On this ship there were 69 males above the age of sixteen and 122 women and children - a total of 183 persons. Four of these passengers died before they reached America. They came during the time when so many Germans from the Rheinland-Pfalz area emigrated because of religious persecution and financial hardships.

Georg Froschauer took up land sometime before 1752 which was included in the area owned by John Digges, an Englishman who had received a land grant from Lord Baltimore and whose claims conflicted with those of William Penn [History of Adams County, Pennsylvania].  The land was mainly in present-day Adams County, comprising the areas of Germany and Conewago Townships and including the town of Littlestown on its southwestern end, but also included small portions of what is now York County. Others soon came who had purchased rights from Penn, and there were constant conflicts and lawlessness and at times even violent bloodshed between the settlers for many years.

Georg and his wife are found in the church records of the Conewago area (now Littlestown) in present-day Adams County [York County, Pennsylvania, Church Records of the 18th Century; Adams County Church Records of the 18th Century; Early Lutheran Baptisms and Marriages in Southeastern Pennsylvania; copy of the original records of Christ Reformed Church of Littlestown]. At that time it was part of Lancaster County, later became part of York County, and finally became part of Adams County. The baptisms of the following of their children were found in this area:

Johannes (later called John) born 16 Dec 1732 and baptized 4 Feb 1733 by Rev. Stoever with sponsors Johannes Morgenstern & wife
Catarina (later called Catherine) born July 1735 and baptized 5 Nov 1735 by Rev. Stoever with sponsors Georg & Catarina Kuntz
Maria Elisabetha born 21 Sep 1738 and baptized 25 Nov 1838 by Rev Stoever with sponsors Jacob Kuntz & wife
Andreas born 30 Sep 1746 and baptized 6 May 1747 in Christ Reformed Church
An unnamed son born 29 Jan 1748 and baptized in Christ Reformed Church

Because there were no other Froschauer families around at this time, we can only assume that the following are also their children:

Anna Maria, who married Georg Adam Koch
Johann Vendol ("Wendel") who married Maria Eva Doerr
Johann Georg who married Magdalene Eltrut and Christina ______
Jacob who married Anna Maria Gernhardt
Friedrich who married Susanna Phillipina ______ and Catherine ______
Maria Magdalene who married Jacob Kuntz
Johann Adam who married Anna Maria ______

There may have been other children, a topic to be brought up later.

It is in the baptismal record of their son, Andreas, that the parents' origins and mother's maiden name and her father's name are mentioned. According to the record, Johann Georg Froschauer was born in 1700 and came from Meckernheim-an-der-Hard (which means the town of Meckernheim, but should read "Meckernheim," on the Hard River); Catharina came from Lichtenberg near Landau, was the daughter of Hans Adam Graf, and was probably born between 1700 and 1710. To my [Kathi Sittner's] knowledge one one has yet found the Froschauers or the Grafs in Germany.

The Froschauers stayed in the same area of Pennsylvania until about 1750, when they gradually began to spread out. Of the surviving siblings, several moved first to Frederick County, Maryland, then into West Virginia. A couple of others moved westward into Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and one of these then moved south to Greene County, Tennessee. At least one sibling remained in York County, Pennsylvania. And several others are lost after their marriages.

The surname Froschauer probably comes from a combination of the German words "Frosch" which means frog and "Au" which means meadow. The -er ending simply means "a person who." Thus we have "a person (of) a frog meadow" or someone who lives in a meadow with lots of frogs.

The following information comes from Freshour Faces #2, October 1993:

Judging from the date of birth and baptism of their son, Johannes, it seems that Georg Froschauer and his wife went immediately upon arrival in America to the Conewago area (the portion which was later called Germany Twp.) of Pennsylvania. This was an area which had just recently been opened up for settlement, beginning with a 10,000 acre grant to John Digges in 1727 from Lord Baltimore of Maryland. There were absolutely no roads in the area, and the early settlers found thick forests which had to be cleared before planting could begin. Simple log shelters were erected at first, and gradually these were replaced with more substantial dwellings. There was no formal church in the area until the organization of Christ Church, near Littlestown, in 1747. At the same time a first school was established at this church. Until that time the area was regularly served by visiting ministers, such as Rev. Caspar Stoever. (Adams County Area Key, Florence Clint: "Highlights in the Growth of Adams County" taken from the Adams County Sesqui-Centennial (1850-1950) Souvenir Program by Robert Fortenbaugh - FHL book 974.842 D25c)

The short time between the Froschauers' arrival and settlement in this area could suggest that they had acquaintances who had told them to join them there. In a study of the early baptismal references recorded by Rev. Stoever [York County, Pennsylvania, Church Records of the 18th Century, ed. Marlene S. Bates and F. Edward Wright - FHL book 974.841 K2b, Early Lutheran Baptisms and Marriages in Southeastern Pennsylvania, FHL 974.2 K2se], two relationships in particular seem to stand out. John George and Catharine Kuntz sponsored the baptism of one of the Froschauers' children in 1735; Jacob Kuntz and his wife sponsored another in 1738; and the Froschauers sponsored one of Jacob Kuntz' children in 1736. Daughter Magdalena later married into the Kuntz family. John Morgenstern and his wife were sponsors in 1732 to the first of the Froschauers' American-born children. Coincidently, perhaps, Philippi Morgenstern married Maria Eva Kuntz in Conewago in 1739, and this "Even Morningstar" was named as a daughter in the last will of Catharine Coons (Kuntz), widow of John George Kuntz [Codorus Chronicles, vol. III no. 4, p.. 2 - FHL book 974.841 H25c]. These events suggest and possible European relationship to the Kuntz and Morgenstern families.

Later, other possible relationships surface. John Schauman and his wife were sponsors in 1747 for George Adam and Anna Maria (Froschauer) Koch's first child; John Schauman and Catharine Froschauer were sponsors in 1753 for another of the Kochs' children; and Johann and Catharine Schauman were sponsors in 1763 for one of Joann and Maria Eva Freshour's children. What relationship did this Schauman family have to the Froschauers? Johannes Kieffer and Maria Elisabeth Froschin (i.e. the female equivalent of Froschauer) together sponsored a child of Georg and Magdalena Froschauer. Could Johannes and Maria Elisabeth have been betrothed? Heinrich and Maria Elisabeth Sell were sponsors of a child of Johann and Maria Eva Freshour. Could this Maria Elisabeth be Johann's sister? (Or did Maria Elisabeth marry someone else?)

Certainly there is always the possibility that those who sponsored the Froschauers' children upon baptism were simply friends and acquaintances, and in the case of the first baptism in 1732, the Morgensterns may simply have been asked to do this for their new neighbors. Trying to figure out these early relationships might be a lesson in futility. But they could also lead to some new discoveries, both here and abroad.

Georg and Catharina Froschauer ... were certainly alive in 1748 when their son was baptized in Conewago, now Littlestown, in January 1748 in the Christ Reformed Church. Johann George Froschauer was a witness with Anna Maria Cuntz to the baptism of Johann George Koch on 12 June 1751, and Catharine Froschauer (the mother or the daughter?) was a witness with John Schauman to the baptism of Johann George Adam Koch on 23 April 1753, both at Christ Reformed Church. These are the last certain references found so far to Georg and Catharina. However, beginning in 1754 in the Evangelical Reformed Church of Frederick, Frederick County, Maryland, there are many references to a Johannes Froschauer and a Catharina or Eva Catherina Froschauerin, and to Johannes Froschauer and wife. The problem here is that Adam's (first?) wife was named Eva Catherina, to whom he was already married in 1754, and sometimes she is labeled as "wife of Adam" but other times is probably not labeled and could easily be confused with the other Catharina, or could be the same person. In Conewago we never had a reference to Georg's wife as having a first name of Eva, but it is certainly a possibility. Son Johannes had only a wife named Maria Eva as far as we know, so this is probably not the Johannes referred to here. The myriad of possibilities makes the problem a confusing one.

In an effort to locate Georg and Catharina, a look at where their children seemed prudent. Their first daughter had already been married and was having children in the Littlestown area, but sometime between 1753 and 1764 she and her husband moved to Falling Spring near Chambersburg in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. The marriages of Georg and Catharina's son, Johannes, have not yet been found, but occurred approximately 1756-59, probably near Littlestown. He and his wife Eva were living in the Codorus and Mode Creek areas not far from Littlestown in 1760-63. Catharina Froschauer married Johann Valentin Weiss in April 1758 in Frederick County, Maryland. Magdalene Froschauer married Jacob Kuntz in 1765 in Hanover, York County, Pennsylvania [St. Matthew Lutheran Church marriage record - York County, Pennsylvania, Church Records of the 18th Century, Bates and Wright - FHL book 974.841 K2b].  In 1762 "George Frosh" was living in Germany Township [An Alphabetical Listing of the Assessed Inhabitants of York County, Pennsylvania, for the Year 1762, Book II, in Adams County - FHL book 974.841 R42a], and judging from a 1763 baptism for a daughter of George and Magdalene Froschauer in the Christ Reformed Church, it would seem that this is probably a record of the son, George, rather than of the father. Jacob Froschauer lived in Frederick, Maryland, by 1757, where he is found in the church lists of communicants [Maryland German Church Records. Evangelical Reformed Church - FHL book 975.287./F1 K28h].  Frederick Froschauer lived in Codorus in 1762 [An Alphabetical Listing of the Assessed Inhabitants of York County, Pennsylvania, for the Year 1762, Book I - FHL book 974.841 R42a].  A Peter "Frisher" was also shown in the Codorus tax list, and since Frederick, Anna Maria, and Wendell all named one of their children Peter, it is a possibility that this man is also a Froschauer son. Maria Magdalene Froschauer married in York County, Pennsylvania, in 1765 and was living with her husband in Germany Township in 1762 [An Alphabetical Listing of the Assessed Inhabitants of York County, Pennsylvania, for the Year 1762, Book I - FHL book 974.841 R42a].

While these areas are not very far apart by today's standards, in the mid-1700s they would have been days apart by horse. This makes me think that perhaps the parents had died and the younger children were divided amongst the oldest children, to be kept until they married. Thus Wendel and Adam could have taken Jacob and Catharina; Georg could have taken Frederick, Magdalene, and perhaps Peter; and Johannes probably lived on his own. What happened to Andreas, born 1746, and to the son born in 1748 is unknown and open to speculation.

Freshour Faces #4:

Johann Georg Froschauer was not the only Froschauer to arrive in America. John Freshour arrived in Baltimore in 1754. Is he known to have settled somewhere and to have had a family? Or could he have been the son of Johann Georg, perhaps returning from a visit to relatives back in the old country?

Freshour Faces #8:

Our knowledge of our Froschauer line ends with the rather meager information we have from son Andrea's 1747 baptism: Johann Georg Froschauer was born about 1700 and came from Meckenheim on the Hard (mountain range); his wife Catharina, daughter of Hans Adam Graf, came from Lichtenberg near Landau. It is an ongoing goal for all of us to find Georg and Catharina's parents in or near these towns, so that we can eventually extend the lineage.

It has been pointed out to me that there are two German towns named named Meckenheim. One is near Neustadt in the wine-growing area just southwest of Ludwigshafen. The other is just south of Bonn and east of Rheinbach. Johann Georg surely came from the first of these, as it is that town which lies in the Haardt Mountains and not too far from Landau.

Lichtenberg is a harder place to define. According to the church record, this town lies "near Landau." It may be so small that it is not on present-day maps, but a search of a very detailed map made during the period of the German Reich also does not include this town anywhere near Landau [Maps of the German Reich - FHL film #068,814 {German Reference Desk}]. One researcher [Evelyn Frantz, in a letter to Sharon martin dated 27 May 1985] in Strassbourg was once assured that it was a parish during this time period and the local officials proceeded to show her the records which unfortunately were of no help. I question whether this was the correct Lichtenberg, as there are other towns named Lichtenberg located in the Alsace-Lorraine region located north-northeast of Strassbourg, northwest of Kaiserslautern between Offenbach and Kusel, and north of Zabern. But these towns are much closer to other major towns than they are to Landau, so it would seem that they are definitely different places from the "Lichtenberg near Landau" from which Catharina Graf comes. The same researcher also said that Hans Adam Graf came from near Zabern, now called Saverne, which is presently in France. Unfortunately the sources of her information were not stated, and no contact has been possible.

Because our family was intimately involved in the Reformed church after their arrival in America, it is probably in the records of the Reformed congregations that they would be found.

Freshour Faces #10:

From the 1750 tax lists (taken 6 January) of Heidelberg Township, which then included Littlestown and much of the Digges' Choice land tract, we know that "George Frush" was taxed five shillings by both Pennsylvania and Maryland, because they both claimed this area as their territory [Monocacy and Catoctin, vol. I, C.E. Schildknecht, ed., - FHL book 975.2 D2se]. Those refusing to pay were to be delivered to the sheriff or jail keeper. He was also included in 1752 records of Conewago which name the 42 families living north of the Pennsylvania-Maryland line but under Maryland jurisdiction [Monocacy and Catoctin, vol. I, C.E. Schildknecht, ed., - FHL book 975.2 D2se] One Georg Frush was included in the 1762 York County tax lists, which was the next major taxation of citizens in that area. However, judging from baptismal records, it seems likely that this was his son, Johann Georg Jr. Likewise, I suspect that it was Georg Jr. who received a land patent on 26 July 1765 in York County [York Co., Pa. Patent Book H-19, page 261 - from records of Frances Eliades], although there is some question about this, since the original warrant was supposed to have been dated in 1750, and we would have to consider Georg Jr. as having been born earlier than the late 1730's if it was he who filed for this warrant. Perhaps Georg Sr. filed for the warrant in 1760 but turned it over to his son and namesake, as parents of that time so often did. no formal deed was required in these cases, and while small mention of the transaction is sometimes found in deeds made by a descendant several generations later, this is not always the case.

The name Georg Froshauer has also not been found in the records of Frederick County, Maryland, where most of his children moved, at least at first. It is for this reason that until now we have assumed that Georg Sr. died during the 1750-62 time period. But I would like to propose a different scenario:

Beginning in 1754 in the records of Frederick County the names Johannes/John and Catharina or Eva Catharina Froschauer, sometimes together as man and wife, show up again and again in the land deeds, baptismal records, and church communicants lists. This John Froschauer cannot be John, the son of Johann Georg, because [the latter] was still in the York County, Pennsylvania area until 1757, had a wife named Maria Eva, and lived in Cumberland (later Franklin) County, Pennsylvania in the 1770's to early 1790's. This Frederick County John and his wife also do not fit any of the known children of Johann Georg, because they are found as married adults too early, because the wife's name is wrong, and because the children are all referred to by their main (middle) names whenever they are mentioned in the records. It appears to me that the logical explanation for this couple is that they are actually our mutual ancestors, Johann Georg and Catharina (Graf) Froshauer! It appears that Georg began to be called by his first name, Johann or John, when he moved down to Frederic County and that Catharina's first name, generally not used unless in conjunction with her second name, was Eva.

Eva Catharina Froschauer first shows up in Frederick as a baptismal sponsor in 1754. She cannot be the "wife of Adam" as given in that record, since the known Adam, son of Johann Georg and Catharina (Graf) Froschauer, was much too young and was certainly not married at this time, so I believe that she should have been named as the wife of Johann(es). In 1757 she again acted as a sponsor, first with Caspar Keller and then with Johannes Froschauer. From 1758 to 1767, during the time period for which we have church communicants lists, Johannes and Eva Catharina are found many times in the lists, as are also Wendel and his wife, Eva Maria, and Jacob Froschauer. In 1763, for the last time, Johannes and his wife were baptismal sponsors in Frederick.

Various land transactions were made by this couple, beginning 25 Sep 1753 when a warrant was granted for 50 acres of land located on the south side of Monocacy 1/4 mile off the Great Road from Frederick to Marsh Creek. John finally received a patent for this land, which was "Overbough," in 1761. In 1763 he bought a second lot, called "Grindstone Rock," from Isaac Miller, paying ten pounds. He sold 40 acres of this land on 16 April 1770 to John Price for 325 pounds. In 1766 he received a patent for 106 acres, called "Resurvey of Overbough," and in 1769 he sold this last to Wendel for 100 pounds. In 1766 he also bought 175 acres, called "Resurvey on the Friendship" near Three Springs from Valentine Baist, and in 1769 he added to this five acres "for the only purpose of a school house and church." In November 1770 he bought 200 acres, called "Resurvey on Fearnop" (Fearnot) from John Wiggle for 25 pounds. He sold this land in 1778 to Jacob and Mary Frushower for 200 pounds. Beginning in 1779, in the same year as Adam first bought land lots, John Frushour bought or leased many lots in Creagerstown form John Creager and others. Some of these he and his then wife, Elizabeth, sold. It is questionable as to whether he ever actually lived in the town.

While there seems to be no absolute proof, it appears that the John of Frederick with a wife named Eva Catharina is the same man as the John of Creagerstown with a wife named Elizabeth. Except for one deed, which I believe is either a mistake or is a baptism which took place during a time when son Johannes Jr. and his wife Eva were in the area [Frederick Co., Md. deed, Book W.R. 2, page 612 - FHL film #013,946], the last time we see Eva Catharina is in the land deed of 16 April 1770. We know that John married Elizabeth Tempelin on 28 April 1771 in Frederick, where they are immediately afterwards found together in the church communicants list. No baptisms are found for the children of this couple, despite the fairly good baptismal records during this time for the Frederick Evangelical Reformed Church and the Creagerstown Church, suggested that they remained childless, either because of an inability to have children, or because of their ages. It appears that Elizabeth may have been a widow or a spinster, too old to have children.

The most intriguing and convincing document, however, is a deed (see below) which I cannot explain without presuming that this John is actually Johann Georg. Adam Froschauer-Frushour, on 30 April 1790, son and executor of John Frushour late of Creagers Town, sold John's Lot number 34 [Frederick Co., Md. deed, Book 9, page 475 - FHL film #013,954]. As far as I can tell, there is only one Adam Froschour in the area and certainly not grandson (of Johann Georg) named John who could in 1790 already have had a grown son named Adam. Also, any possibly unknown son of the John and Elizabeth who married in 1771 could not have been old enough in 1790 to act as an executor of the estate, which was definitely that of John and Elizabeth.

I must therefore conclude that it was Johann Georg Froschauer, later known as Johann or John Froschauer-Frushour, who moved from York-Adams County, Pennsylvania in the early 1750s, perhaps to get away from the double taxation problem on his disputed land. He and his wife, Eva Catharine, remained about twenty years in the town of Frederick, where they mostly attended the Frederick Evangelical Reformed Church. Catharina evidently died about 1770, almost certainly in Frederick near the Evangelical Reformed Church, and Johann Georg soon remarried. A few years later he and his son, Adam, began to speculate in the land which was opening up in Creagerstown. He died in early 1790, either in Frederick or Creagerstown, after which his son, Adam, acted as his executor and sold a remaining lot in Creagerstown. Evidently his second wife, Elizabeth, must already have died, as she does not show up in subsequent land or probate records. It is unknown what became of Johann's remaining land in Frederick, as I have found no deeds or estate distributions in the county's land or court records. Obviously this will be a controversial conclusion.

Freshour Faces #21, p. 5:
Because of the Pennsylvania parish record which states that Georg Froschauer came from Meckenheim near Neustadt and that Catharina (Graf) Froschauer came from Lichtenberg near Landau, we have been searching for them in those areas. The Heimatstelle Pfalz, Stiftplatz 5, Kaiserslautern, Germany, supposedly (I have not seen copies) has on file information given by some Palatinates emigrating to America. Karl Scherer, director, states in a 1974 communication that "Hans Georg Froschauer is mentioned in our index as b. about 1700, reformed, wife Catharina Graf (Dau. of Hans Adam of Lichtenberg near Landau). Georg Froschauer originated from Meckenheim-Neustadt." But so far we have been unable to find any Froschauer families in the parishes surrounding Meckenheim and have been unable to find a Lichtenberg near Landau.

Sharon Martin sent a letter quite a while ago written by Rosemary Franz saying that there is a street in Meckenheim named "Froschau Street." A reformed parish existed in the area as early as 1556, but I have found no record of any Froschauers baptized there.

There is a tiny town or farm named Froschauerhof, which means "farm of the Froschauer family." It lies between Marnheim [David Sisson asks "Mannheim"?] and Goellheim, west of Worms, and not terribly far from Meckenheim. According to Hermann Guth in "Amish Mennonites in Germany," Christian Guengerich was leaseholder on the Froschauerhof in 1767, and in 1779 he represented the congregation in Essingen. However, this is out of the Neustadt district and therefore is probably not the site of our Georg Froschauer's home. A search of the available evangelical Lutheran records around this area (Kirchheimbolanden, Goellheim, Dreisen, Weitersweiler, Marnheim [Again David Sisson reacts: perhaps Marnheim correct after all?] and Muenster) showed no Froschauers in the 1695-1905 time period.

In 1981 Shirley Follas, then living in Jeddah, Arabia, wrote to Cliff and Nancy Freshour that she was a great-great-granddaughter on the paternal side of Jacob George Frush who belonged to the Pennsylvania line of Froschauer. Jacob's father was George Frushaur (sp?). Jacob George, called George, was born in Maryland and found in the War of 1812 out of Annapolis, Maryland. By 1820 he went to Belmont County, Ohio, then to Warsaw, Indiana, and finally to Goshen, Indiana, where he married Rachel Watts Taylor in 1832. Shirley's brother, John Sloane, had diligently researched the Froschauers and had a copy of letters written to Jacob Frush during the Civil War by a brother Peter Frush who resided in Tennessee. Among other information, Shirley stated that the "early" Hans Georg Froschauer was associated at Schwarzenau in Hesse, west of Kassel and north of Marburg, with Alexander Mack, the Dunkard preacher from Bavaria and Switzerland who later immigrated to Pennsylvania after 1824 and was well known for his ministerial activities in Pennsylvania. But this is a long distance north of Neustadt and, if true, it is certainly not the place of origin of the Froschauer and Graf families.

Some time ago Frances Eliades found mention of a Hans FROESCH in Edenkoben, which lies halfway between Meckenheim and Landau, in the transcript of a lecture given to the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Palatines to America group. The lecture, entitled "Life in a Palatine Town," was given 14 Oct 1995 by Dr. Alfred Hans Kuby of Rheinland Pfalz, Germany. He stated that "in 1648 Edenkoben had only one church, which was a medieval building used by the Reformed congregation." In 1700, after many long years of warfare in the area, there were only about 960 citizens. But with peace, the area became crowded and many began to emigrate in the 1720s to 1780s. The minutes of the Edenkoben local court exist from 1656 through 1664 and include the following: "Session of February 28, 16576: Hans Froesch was fined 60 Florins for a crime of Fornication. He pronounced his intention to appeal the case to the Imperial Court. He also announced that he intends to have nothing to do with this community in the future! On April 11th, he was brought by three men of the Militia to the Neustadt Law Office. however, with a kind of happy ending to the events, under May 13 we read that he was back home again in Edenkoben, and that he and his adversaries had forgiven each other." A search of the Reformed and Lutheran records of Edenkoben for 1700 through 1730 showed no Froschauer families.

Gordon Seyffert called me with some new information which needed research. It seems that one Andreas Pfalzgraf lived near Bergzabern in the area west of Erlenbach and that there is a mountain nearby named "Bichtenberg." This area lies west-southwest of Landau, just lightly northwest of Dahn and somewhat southeast of Pirmasens. He wondered whether the name Hans Adam "Graf" could actually have been "Pfalzgraf" and whether our Graf family might have lived near the Bichtenberg mountain, which sounds very much like "Lichtenberg." In consulting maps and gazetteers, I found that the mountain appears to be called "Buchten Berg" (unless a second mountain named Bichtenberg is not on these very detailed maps) and that the area had only a Catholic church. Evangelical Lutherans evidently attended church in Hinterweidenthal, Wilgartswiesen, Erlenbach, Vordersweiler, or Rumbach. It should be noted that all of these places are considered part of the Pirmasens district, rather than part of Landau, as the Pennsylvania church record suggest our family was from. I am still trying to get the records of these many towns and will report at a later time as they become available.

Freshour Faces 27, p. 16:
Many thanks to reader Steve DeBoer (a descendant of John Freshour, son of Johann Wendel Froschauer) who recently spent several hours at the Stadtarchiv (city archives) at Koblenz in Germany and spoke with an archivist there concerning our search for the origins of the Froschauers and Grafs. He was told that before 1794 there was a region around Pirmasens known as Kichtenberg on the western side of the Haardt mountains near the French border. Catharina Graf may have identified herself as near Landau simply because Landau was better known. This area was owned by the Count of Hannover and was passed down by inheritance until Napoleon took over. After Napoleon's exile, the area was restructured and the Lichtenberg name disappeared. This could explain why we are not finding the name Lichtenberg anywhere near Landau. The archivist suggested that we try to find the church records (the baptisms of Georg and Catharina Froschauer's first children, the marriage of Georg and Catharina (Graf) Froschauer ca. 1723-28, and the baptisms of George Froschauer ca. 1700-1705 and of Cathrina Graf ca. 1705-10 in the following places:

Evangeliche Kirche der Pfalz Zentralarchiv
67343 Speyer, Germany
Phone ++49/6232/109-180
http://www.evpfalz.de/
email: [email protected]

Institut fur Pfalzische Geschicte und Volkskunde (Institute for Palatine History)
Benzinoring 6, D-67657 Kaiserslautern, Germany
Phone ++49/631/3747-300

Maybe:
Evangelische Kirche in Hessen und Nassau Zentralarchiv
Paulusplatz 1, D-64285 Darmstadt, Germany
Phone ++49/6151/405493
(covers some records under the ownership of the County of Hannover)

Would any of you readers be willing to follow up via correspondence (in English is fine) by hiring a researcher to try to locate the church records listed above? If so, please contact me first, so that we do not duplicate efforts. Results would be printed and shared.

I would also like to have the following questions answered:
1. Is there an immigration list for the 1700-1750 time period which might include our Georg Froschauer or any other Froschauers and Grafs from the Meckenheim-Landau areas? If there is such a list, we need to know what towns or church parishes they came from, as these may be relatives and-or may give us clues to where families with these names lived.

2. Is there any general information or are there land records or known church records for any Froschauers and Grafs in Pfalz? Again, if we can pinpoint where others lied in the area, we may be able to at least narrow our search.

3. Would Meckenheim really at that time have been considered "an der Haardt," or was Georg just trying to tell the pastor that he was from that general area?

Johann married Catharina GRAF, daughter of Hans Adam "Adam" GRAF and Katrina , before 1728 in Germany. Catharina was born about 1705 in Lichtenberg Bie Landau, Rhineland Pfalz, Germany. She died in 1770/1771 in Maryland.

From Family Unit Chart, Freshour Faces #11:
Perhaps Eva Catharina Graf

From GenForum, Freshour Family Genealogy Forum, posted by Keith Johnston on 30 Nov 2001:
Katarine-Catharina Graf, born 1705, Lichtenburg Rhineland Platz [sic], Ger. Lichtenburg is a small place, not even a town, just 3 or 4 historic sites. The closest town is Ostheim.

Johann also married Elisabeth TEMPELIN on 28 Apr 1771 in Frederick, Maryland. Elisabeth died before 1790.