The Pennsylvania Dutch Society has documented thousands of German and Dutch people who immigrated to this country in the early 1700's. Many of these immigrants traveled up the Rhine River in boats from Bavaria in Germany to Rotterdam, Holland where they boarded tall sailing ships bound for Philadelphia. That’s most likely the way my mother’s ancestors arrived in this country.

My mother, sister, and I made a road trip to western Pennsylvania and reviewed many of the old records there. We hoped to find a link between our known ancestor, David who was born in 1790 in western Pennsylvania, and his relatives to find out how and when they arrived in this country from Europe.

We found three families in the old Pennsylvania Dutch Society documents who spelled their last name like my mother’s maiden name, and who arrived in Philadelphia in the early 1700's. We looked for documents, such as wills and land sales, to establish a link between one of these families and our kin, David. Unfortunately there were no wills or land records which named our David to any of the men who lived there.

We also looked at U.S. Census books which listed the heads of households in western Pennsylvania. In the first U.S. Census, conducted in 1790, I found three men who had the same last name as my mother’s side of the family. The most promising lead was a man named George. Unfortunately, he disappeared from the second Census taken in 1800.

David’s next appearance in the records is as a soldier in the War of 1812. What happened to him and his family during the intervening 22 years is still a mystery.

We have several theories as to what happened, but no documented proof. The first theory is that David was orphaned as a pre-teen or young teen and was raised as an apprentice to a farmer. David later owned land in what is now West Virginia, and was a successful farmer in his adult years.

Another theory is that between 1790 and 1800 David’s parents pulled up stakes in western Pennsylvania and moved to the frontier of what is now West Virginia. This was “Indian” country back then and a part of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The records are nonexistent back then in this part of the country.

There are records of several families in West Virginia who share our family name and who owned land there. One started a business that is still in operation today. Another was the sheriff and county clerk, a job that was often combined on the frontier.

We will continue to search the records for a link to our ancestors. We have a few good leads that we want to pursue in future road trips. Anyway, we had fun together searching the old records and suggesting theories as to what happened to David’s kin.

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