This website best viewed with Internet Explorer Browser

Home (bscript) 125x50

Back 2 (bcript) 125x50

top

Philadelphia  Co.

 

Pennsylvania, USA

250px-Map_of_Pennsylvania_highlighting_Philadelphia_County_svg

Introduction

Researching by Surname

Ancestral Gen-Sites

Researching by Location

Gen Tool-Kit

Website Resources

Image Gallery

About This Webpage

 

 

100px-Flag_of_Philadelphia,_Pennsylvania_svg

Introduction

100px-Seal_of_Philadelphia,_Pennsylvania_svg

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the fifth-most-populous city in the United States.   It is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, and it is the only consolidated city-county in Pennsylvania.

In 1682, William Penn founded the city to serve as capital of Pennsylvania Colony. By the 1750s it was the largest city and busiest port in British America.  During the American Revolution, Philadelphia played an instrumental role as a meeting place for the Founding Fathers of the United States, who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the Constitution in 1787. Philadelphia was one of the nation's capitals during the Revolutionary War, and the city served as the temporary U.S. capital while Washington, D.C. was under construction. During the 19th century, Philadelphia became a major industrial center and railroad hub that grew from an influx of European immigrants. It became a prime destination for African Americans during the Great Migration and surpassed two million occupants by 1950.

 

Philadelphia is located at 40° 00′ north latitude and 75° 09′ west longitude. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 142.6 square miles (369.3 km2), of which 135.1 square miles (349.9 km2) is land and 7.6 square miles (19.7 km2), or 5.29%, is water. Bodies of water include the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, and Cobbs, Wissahickon, and Pennypack Creeks.  Philadelphia is located on the fall line separating the Atlantic Coastal Plain from the Piedmont. The rapids on the Schuylkill River at East Falls disappeared after the completion of the Fairmount Dam.

The city is the seat of its own county.

 

The adjacent counties are Montgomery to the north; Bucks to the northeast; Burlington County, New Jersey to the east; Camden County, New Jersey to the southeast; Gloucester County, New Jersey to the south; and Delaware County to the west.

arrow up lt blue 30x30

Rootsweb (mytree2)

Researching by surname

Researching
by Surname

Rootsweb (mytree2)

The following are names of persons, found within our databases as having been either born, married or died in this location. Names in dark red denote direct ancestral lines. To find out more about each surname listed click on the corresponding Link.

McVicker; Moreland; Pinnell; Scruggs and allied families  (MMPS)

Bozarth; Peiffer; Quigley; Rhubart and allied families (BPQR)

Peiffer;   Quigley;   Huff;   Rainear

Dellinger; Knecht; Pfeffer; Silar and allied families  (DKPS)

Barstow;   Benner;   Bothwell;   Clement;   Dellinger;   Fink;   Fulmer;   Gotta;   Hocker;   Horn;   Knauf;   Knecht;   Mildenberg;   Miller;   Neff;   Pfeffer;   Pohlke;   Silar/Siler;   Speece;   Strube;   Vandegrift;   Walker

Click on this link to find out more about each surname listed above as well as other surnames found within our three family databases.

Surname Locator 2

This link will also lead you to surname resources at Rootsweb, and information about the world-wide distribution of a surname.

searching the web (gold)

Free Surname
 Search Engines

searching the web (gold)

Use this free genealogy site to help you get the best genealogy searches from Google™ by using your family tree, for your research. It will create a series of different searches  using tips or "tricks"

Google Surname Search 1

that will likely improve your results. The different searches will give you many different ways of using Google and the Internet to find ancestry information about  this  or  any  other  Surname. 

The world’s largest free genealogy search engine, Mocavo.com, provides genealogists access to the best free genealogy content on the web

Mocavo Search Button

including billions of names, dates and places worldwide. Mocavo.com seeks to index and make searchable all of the world’s free genealogy information.

Looking for world (gold)

Where in the World do These
 Surnames Come From?

Looking for world (gold) right

Click on the LINK to the right to see more information about the World distribution of any surname. 

Public Profiler World Names (logo)

You can get greater detail for any of the maps by clicking on the area, i.e state, county that you are interested in.

arrow up lt blue 30x30

World Location 2 (green)

Ancestral 
Gen-Sites

ancestral gen-sites

World Location 3 (green)

Family History Notes

Map of the County

Gen-Site Profiles

Family History Notes

Bozarth; Peiffer; Quigley; Rhubart and allied families (BPQR)

Henry Jacob Phifer or Peiffer probably immigrated to the USA about 1840 as they appear on the 1840 Federal Census for 7th Ward, Philadelphia County, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They also appear on the 1850 Census for the same location but sometime before the 1860 Census they relocated across the Delaware River to Bordentown, Burlington County, New Jersey

I know that a Magdelina Huff married a Henry Jacob Peiffer in December 1852 in Philadelphia, PA. And that they then moved to the Bordentown, Burlington Co., NJ. area by the 1860 Federal Census. In this census Jacob is shown to be working as a Chairmaker.  Magdelina was born in 1831 in Philadelphia, PA.

Dellinger; Knecht; Pfeffer; Silar and allied families (DKPS)

All of our Philadelphia ancestors were immigrants from Germany who came to America between 1855 and 1875. The first to come to America and reside in Philadelphia was Charles Mildenberg who arrived in 1858.  He married Augusta Mildenberg (nee?) with whom two daughters Elizabeth (1860) and Dora Mildenberg (1861) both born in Philadelphia.   Charles initially worked as a tailor, and later opened his own tobacco store most likely at 807 South Third Street in Philadelphia.  Their daughter Elizabeth Mildenberg married Frederick Knecht, Jr. in 1879 and were living with the Mildenberg family in 1880. To this union at least 5 children were born between 1878 and 1891. Charles Mildenberg died at Gloucester City, Camden Co., New Jersey in 1885 and was buried at Lafayette Cemetery* in Philadelphia.  The widow Augusta Mildenberg continued to live in Philadelphia at 1313 S. 4th Street.  By 1910 Augusta was residing with her grand-daughter Carrie Knecht at 1922 Mole Street in Philadelphia.  She died here in 1916.

 

In 1870 Frederick Pfeffer emigrated from Germany to the United States.   Frederick entered America at the port of New York, and moved on the Philadelphia and obtained a job in a factory making gas fixtures.  His wife Catherine Clement came to America from Germany in November, 1871. They were married at Philadelphia on May 15, 1872.  The young couple and their growing family moved into a house at 911 19th Street and were living there in 1880. Catherine became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1878, and Frederick became a citizen upon swearing and Oath of Allegiance at the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court on August 30, 1880.  Frederick and Catherine had a total of eight children all born in Philadelphia between 1873 and 1890.   Their eldest son Frederick Lewis Pfeffer married Elizabeth Knecht at Philadelphia in 1896. Four children were born to this marriage of which only two survived they were Florence (1899) and Irene (1901).  According to the 1900 census Frederick and Catherine were living in a rented house at 2130 Eighth Street in Philadelphia.   Frederick Pfeffer, aged 60 years, died at Philadelphia in 1906.  After the death of her husband Catherine Clement Pfeffer and her son George Pfeffer resided with the family of her eldest daughter Elizabeth Pfeffer Knauf in Camden, New Jersey.   By 1903 the Frederick Lewis Pfeffer family was living at 832 Jackson Street in Philadelphia. It was here that Frederick’s wife Elizabeth Knecht Pfeffer passed way in July of that year at age 25 years. Elizabeth was laid to rest in Lafayette Cemetery*.  Frederick Lewis Pfeffer Frederick later remarried a woman named Rosella Pohlke.  This event occurred around 1908.  In 1920 Frederick and his family were living in a house at 2259 N. Van Pelt Street in Philadelphia.  By 1930, Fred then aged 54 years, had purchased a home at 6941 Cedar Park Ave. which is located in the Oak Lane section of north Philadelphia.  Frederick Lewis Pfeffer died at the in 1951 at age of 76.  At the time of his death his address was reported to be 3603 N. Percy Street in Philadelphia, the home of his daughter Irene (Pfeffer) Benner.

Frederick’s eldest daughter Florence Pfeffer married Sherman Silar at Philadelphia in 1923.  Their son Frederick George Siler was born in Philadelphia in August, 1924.  Florence and Sherman continued to live in Philadelphia until about 1926 when they moved to Florence, Burlington Co., New Jersey. 

 

Frederick Knecht, Sr., a widower, and his son Frederick Knecht, Jr. immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1873.  In 1879 Frederick, Jr. married Elizabeth Mildenberg at Philadelphia and resided with the Mildenberg family at 807 South Third Street.  Of this union at least 5 children were born between 1878 and 1891. Their eldest daughter Elizabeth Knecht married Frederick Lewis Pfeffer in 1896.  After his son’s marriage Frederick, Sr., became a boarder in the household of Jacob Thom, at 1615 Sanderson Street in Philadelphia.

Frederick Knecht, Jr. was residing at 638 Pierce Street in 1890.  By 1900 Frederick Sr. was living with his son Frederick, Jr. and his family at 611 McKean Street in Philadelphia. Frederick Knecht, Jr. passed away in 1901 and was buried at Lafayette Cemetery* in Philadelphia.  Frederick Knecht, Sr. probably lived until 1909 when he died at Philadelphia.

 

* The location of this cemetery is now a playground at the corner of Ninth and Federal streets in Philadelphia.  The graves were moved to the Rosedale Memorial Park in Bensalem (Bucks Co.), Pennsylvania in 1945 and placed into a mass grave.

Map of the county

Map of the County

The Red Starin the map designates the location of the seat of government for this county.  Yellow Stars designate seats of government in adjacent counties.   A Purple Dotshows the location of identified ancestral Gen-Site(s).