Identifying the Wife of William Dehart of Berks County

IDENTIFYING THE WIFE OF WILLIAM DEHART OF BERKS COUNTY James Al. Bekller ID esearchers usually find that the more records they discover, the JL\.clearer the situation becomes. Such was not the case in trying to identify the wife of William Dehart of Berks County. Records that seemed as if they should apply to the same family had both partial matches of information and conflicts in dates and names. The earliest information discovered, approximately in order of discovery, was: ■ ■ ■ ■ 1840, Heidelburg Township, Berks County. The census household of William Dehart included 3 males under 5, 1 male 5-9, I male 10-14, I male 40-50, 1 female 5-9, 1 female 10-14, 1 female 30-40. t 1850, Tulpehocken Township, Berks County. The census household included Wm. Dehart, 47: Margaret , 47; Hiram, 2.3; Ellen, 21; Rebecca, 18; William, 17; Jno, 15; Levi, 12; Lewis, 12; all horn in Pennsylvania. 1860, Marion Township, Berks County. The census household included Wil¬ liam Dcliard, 58; Rebecca, 23; William, 21; and James Duncan, 23; no birthplace given, but all apparently born in Pennsylvania.ÿ 1870, Marion Township, Berks County. The census household included Wil¬ liam Dehart, 68; Rebecca Dehart, .30; Edward Fisher, 9; all born in Pennsylva¬ nia.' 1880, Stouchsburg, Berks County. The census household included William Dehart, widower, 79; lieckie Dehart, 4.3; both born in Pennsylvania.1’ It appears that William’s wife Margaret died between the 1850 and 1860 cen¬ suses. Pennsylvania kept vital records for a brief period in the first half of the ■ ■ James M. Beidler (jamcs@beidler.us) writes the weekly newspaper column “Roots & Branches," which is published in two Pennsylvania newspapers, and edits Der Kurier, the journal of the Mid-Atlantic Germanic Society. William Dehart household, 1840 US Census, Heidelburg Township, Berks County, page 440 (NARA M705, roll 4.38). The family was not found in 18.30 Wm. Dehart household, 1850 IIS Census, Tulpehocken Township, Berks County, page 52, #281/325 (NARA M432, roll 752). William Dehard household, I860 US Census, Stouchsburg post office, Marion Township, Berks County, page 884, #278/315 (NARA M65.3, roll 1076). ' William Dehart household, 1870 US Census, Stouchsburg post office, Marion Township, Berks County, page 464, #1/1 (NARA M593, roll 1 .306). s William Dehart household, 1880 US Census, Stouchsburg, Berks County, ED 27, sheet 13C, #208/237 (NARA T9, roll 1100). ’ Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Vol. 46 (20 1 0) 327 .528 ■ Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Vol. 46 1850s, but no death for a wife of William Dehart was found in these registers for Berks County/’ St.John’s (Host) Reformed Church’s old graveyard has a tombstone for a wife of William Dehart: In memory of / Rebecca / wife of / Wm. Dehart / Born March 14, 1801 / Died Nov 1 , 1 854 / Aged 5.5 Y 7 Mo. cv / [final line sa liken ] Because of the difference in given names— Margaret versus Rebecca— finding additional records was especially important. Unfortunately, they did not clarify the situation, but muddied it even more, introducing new con diets. ■ The Host burial register includes an entry for Rebecca, with a different death date: Reb. Dehart, Dec. 1, 1852, 5 1 yrs. 8 mo.8 The tombstone and burial record for Rebecca both calculate to exactly the same birth date: about 1 April 1801. This shows that the two records are definitely for the same burial. Because the burials are recorded chronologically, it is clear that the tombstone is in error, probably erected much after her death, and that Rebecca died in 1852. ■ William's tombstone at Zion (Reed's) Lutheran Church, Stouehsburg, Marion Township, lists a wife whose given name, Margaret, matches the 1850 census: W. M. Dehart / Husband of / Margaret Wanamaker / Born December 16 / 1801 / Died December .50 / 1881 / Age 80 Years tk 14/ days.9 ■ ■ A report of a marriage in abstracts from the Reading Adler newspaper show nuptials, performed by the Rev. Frederick Herman Jr. on 9 December 1825, of “Wilhelm Dehart and Margaret l\lunnemacher."'{) The date is consistent with the birth about 1827 of the oldest child in the 1850 census, but the surname of the bride does not match the tombstone. The baptismal records for four of the couple's seven children, at Zion Lutheran Church, Womclsdorf, give the mother's name as Margreth . 1 1 9 “Berks County's 1852-1855 Death Records," Journal of the Herbs Coanty Genea¬ logical Society, volume 1 1 , *2( Winter 1 990-9 1 ):20-28. Rebecca Dehart tombstone, St.John’s Host Reformed Church old cemetery, Tulpehocken Township, Berks County; photographed by author May 2009. The tombstone is marble, apparently carved in the second half of the nineteenth century. ,s Reb. Dehart burial, “Berks County Church Records (Assorted),” transcript in Berks County Genealogical Society, microfilm 295. 9 W. M. Dehart tombstone, Zion (Reed's) Lutheran Church cemetery, Marion Town¬ ship, Berks County; photographed by author, May 2009. 10 "Reading Adler Marriages, 1801-1829,” photocopy of original handwritten abstract by Mary Owens Steinmetz in Berks County Genealogical Society Library. 1 1 “Berks County Church Records (Assorted)" (note 8), which includes images of the original, unpaginated. Zion Church records. 2010 The Wife of William Dehart of Berks County 329 RESOLVING THE CONFLICTS Some of the information in the records above overlapped, and other information was similar or close. Four types of conflicting information were noted: given name, surname, birth date, and death date. These raise questions. Did William have one wife or two? Do the records refer to two different Williams? Although three different townships are referenced (Heidelburg, Tulpehocken, and Marion), they adjoin each other in west¬ ern Berks County, and no other William Dehart of the proper age was found. It seems that the most likely solution is that William had only one wife and that some information was incorrect or had an explanation. The censuses suggest (since no relationship is stated in 1830) that Wil¬ liam had a wile Margaret, born about 1803, who died in the decade between 1830 and 1860 censuses. The tombstone and burial register suggest he may also have had a wife Rebecca, born in 1801, who died in 1832. This given name conflict— Rebecca versus Margaret— was at first very disconcerting, but an article on German names suggests that this was a common substitution among Pennsylvania German women in the 1800s.12 Apparently the closeness of pronunciation between the nick¬ names Peggy and Becky resulted in a number of women, generally bap¬ tized and often married as Margaretha (the German form of Margaret), later in life having their names recorded as Rebecca. 1 observed the same phenomenon twice in preparing a genealogy on a Pennsylvania German family, in which two nineteenth-century women underwent this name transformation. It seems likely that the surname conflict for Margaret— Wanamaker versus Nunnemacher— represents an error in transcription, as the names are so similar, but that does not solve the problem of which is correct. Clearly, more information was needed. A history of Berks County, with a “mug book” biographical section mostly provided by family members, added information. Although the primary subject of the biography is a different William Dehart, in tracing that William's ancestry, the sketch mentions William, son of Cornelius Dehart and Maiy Miller of Amity Township, born 16 December 1801.11 Amity Township is in eastern Berks County. The known baptisms for William and Margaret’s children were all from western Berks County, but if the mug book information about William’s parents is correct, both par¬ ents might have been from the border area of Berks and Montgomery 1 2 Elaine Schwar and Laurel Miller, "Pitfalls of Pennsylvania German Names,"journal of the Berks County Genealogical Society, volume 8, #2(Septcmber-Octobcr 1987): 2425. 1 James M. Ilekllcr, The Lebanon County Dattb Family (Harrisburg: Kurzenknabe Press, 199.4), 46-47. 1 1 Morton I.. Montgomery, “William II. DeHart," History of Berks County, Pennsylva¬ nia, 2 volumes (Chicago: J. H. Deers & Co., 1909): 2:10.46. This Dehart sketch has proven to be generally accurate. 330 Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Vol. 46 counties. A helpful monograph on the Wannemacher family outlined an extensive family in the area of Montgomery County, which adjoins east¬ ern Berks County. However, the closest match was less than ideal: ■ Margarctha, daughter of Christian Wannemacher and Anna Elizabeth Rouchon, born 27 March 1798, was baptized just over three years later on 30 March 1 80 1 at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Upper Hanover Township, Montgomery County. IS A birth month of March was consistent with that of Rebecca , wife of William, hut unless her baptismal date was later used as her birth date— which occasionally happens16— this would seem not to be the same woman. The breakthrough came in an article comparing the Host burial rec¬ ords and tombstone inscriptions (source of entries for Rebecca, above) with a third group of death records— obituaries from the Reading Adler (a source that was inaccessible to the author when the original research was done). I Died on] Nov. 29, 1852— Rebecca Dehart (nee Wannemacher). 51 y 8 m 9 d; wife of William, of Tulp. Twp; formerly of New I lanover, Mont. Co. 1 The obituary pulled together the mismatched pieces of information.18 The identification of Margaret/Rebecca, wife of William Dehart, of west¬ ern Berks County, as Margarctha, daughter of Christian Wannemacher and Anna Elizabeth Rouchon, was complete. GENEALOGK ;AL SUMMARY WILLIAM DEHART was born 16 December 1801 and died 30 December 1881, age 80 years 14 days (tombstone), buried in Zion (Reed’s) Lutheran Church cemetery, Marion Township, Berks County. He married 9 December 1825 in Berks County MARGRETHA/MARGARET/REBECCA 1 Jean Gurney Rigler, Wannemacher/ Wanamaker Families of Pennsylvania: A Genealogical Dictionary (Honolulu: the author, 1981), 2.5. 1'he original church record was inaccessible, not at the church or archives, so the information could not be checked. 16 Henry G. Mercer, “The Survival of the Mediaeval Art of Illuminative Writing among Pennsylvania Germans,” in Hacks County Fraktur, volume 33 of Publications of the Pennsylvania German Society (Kutztown: Pennsylvania German Society, 1999), 11, comments “The German custom of preserving baptismal certificates, though wanting the force of legal compulsion, after crossing the Atlantic, survived until recent years in parts of Pennsylvanian Germany." Many Pennsylvania Germans had TauJ'scheine, ornate fraktur baptismal certificates in German. Some may have been prepared much after the baptism, from family-provided information, rather than from the baptismal register. 17 Eric II. Troutman, “A Review of the Death/Burial Records 185 1 - I KM, St.John’s Host Church, Tulpehockcn Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania," Journal of the llerks County Genealogical Society, volume 17, #2(Winter 1996): I I. 18 The calculated “birth" date of 20 March 1801 is only ten days off from the baptis¬ mal record. New Hanover and Upper Hanover townships adjoin each other in Mont¬ gomery County, not far from Amity Township, Berks County. The Wife of William Dehart of Berks County 2010 331 WANNEMACHER, who was born 20 March 1801 (burial) or 27 March 1798 and baptized 30 March 1801 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Upper Hano¬ ver Township, Montgomery County, daughter of Christian2 Wanne(Conrad' ) Llizabeth2 Rouchon/Roshon and Anna macher ( ), 1 9 and died 29 November 1852 (obituary), buried in St. John’s Host Reformed Church old cemetery, Tulpehocken Township, Pierre/Peter' Berks County. Children of William Dehart ton! Margaret Wannemacher. i. HIRAM W. DEHART, born 14 March 1827; died 3 November 1906; buried in old graveyard, Bern Reformed Church, Bern Township, Berks County; married SYBILIA M. RAUCH.20 ii. ELLEN DEHART, born about 1829 ( 1850 census). iii. REBECCA DEHART, born 14 January 1832; died I November 1902; buried in Zion (Reed’s) Lutheran Church cemetery as Rebecca daughter of W. M. cv Margaret Dehart.21 iv. WILLIAM DEHART, born 9 June 1833, baptized 17 August 1833 at Zion Lutheran, Womelsdorf, as William Dehart, child of William and Margreth;22 died 8 October 1874; buried in Zion (Reed's) Lutheran Church cemetery as William son of William and Rebecca Dehart.2* v. JOHN/JOHANNES DEHART, born 1 1 January 1836, baptized 7 May 1836 at Zion Lutheran, Womelsdorf, as Johannes Dehart, child of William and Margreth;2 died after the 1860 census; married LUCETTA —?—.2* vi. LEVI DEHART (twin), born 3 1 [s/c] April 1838, baptized 9 July 1838 at Zion Lutheran, Womelsdorf, as Levi Dehart, child of William and Margreth;26 died after the 1900 census; married about 1873 ANNIE—?—.27 vii. LEWIS/LOUIS DEHART (twin), born 31 |s/c] April 1838, baptized 9 July 18.38 at Zion Lutheran, Womelsdorf, as Lewis Dehart, child of William and Margreth;28 died after the 1910 census;29 married by the 1870 census EMMA -?— ‘ *° 19 Rigler, Wannemacher (note 15), 29, 20 Hiram W. 23. Dehart and Sybilla M. Rauch, wife of William Dehart, tombstones, Bern Reformed Church, old cemetery. 21 Tombstone, Zion (Reed's) Lutheran Church cemetery. 22 “Berks County Church Records (Assorted)” (note 8). 23 Tombstone, Zion (Reed’s) Lutheran Church cemetery. 21 "Berks County Church Records (Assorted)” (note 8). 27 John Dehart household, I860 US Census, Tulpehocken Township, Berks County, page 690, #234/263 (NARAM653, roll 1074). 20 “Berks County Church Records (Assorted)” (note 8). 2 Levi Dehart household, 1900 IIS Census, MeConncllsburg, Eulton County, ED 72, page 8A, #141/152 (NARAT623, roll 1412). 28 "Berks County Church Records (Assorted)” (note 8). 29 Harry W. Dehart household, 1910 US Census, Ward 1, Lebanon city, Lebanon County, EI) 147, page 1 A, # 10/10, 3 19 S. First St. (NARA T624, roll 1.362). 0 Louis Dehart household, 1870 US Census, Jackson Township, Lebanon County, page 14 1 B, #500/549 (NARA M593, roll 1 361). ■