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Note: om while at work as a ticket agent at the Highspire railway office. Ella Huggins (3rd cousin in law still living in that area) says her "book" shows Jacob and Joanna/ Johanna Susanna are buried in Highspire - somewhere. Their graves are actually in the Dehart plot; I have photos of them. In 1880 census says b 1810; 70 years old, b Switzerland. Harrison, Alleghany, PA. Widower. His parents were both born in Switzerland. He was staying w daughter Sarah Conklin in Steelton in the 1880 census. He is described as a retired carpet weaver, which is consistent with my father’s report that he wove rugs while at work as a ticket agent at the Highspire railway station. He was in the 1840 census, in Lower Swatara township, Dauphin County. Highspire and Steelton through Swatara and Lower Swatara townships. Jacob Weise. - - - - - 1 (1 male, age 30-40) 2 1 - - - 1 (2 females under 5, 1 female 5-10, 1 female 30 - 40) This accurately describes Jacob's family at that time. 1860 Lower Swatara Township. He owned a large plot of land on the railroad tracks near the station in Highspire. The Weiss property, which was literally on the railroad tracks which ran through it a block and a half from the railway station in the southern part Highspire, is shown on an old property map of Highspire as taking up five lots. This is the five city lots the 1875 property map of Dauphin County shows that he owned on the railroad tracks, a block or so from the railroad station! The deeds and the probate inventory describe the lots as runing along Front St, bounded at the back (southern side) by the railroad track; on the west by Commerce St, and on the east by a 15 foot alley; the map shows that it was aobut a block from the train depot. The 1850 census shows that Jacob Weiss owned $400 worth of land, which the deeds show him beginning to buy, one lot at a time, in 1856. Possibly he was in the process of buying it or planning to buy it and living there in 1850. The railway track was built in I think the 1830's; it was there when Jacob bought it. Jacob may have owned it before he allowed or sold rights to the railroad company! This property probably was part of houses behind the railway station where employees lived, railroad owned (not nec true in Jacob's day) that were torn down after flooding in the 1960's. Church of God and United Brethren were the two main churches in Highspire at the time. Many of the leading members had once been Mennonite families or else were recent immigrants from Germany. Nevertheless 1850 census shows Elizabeth Stoner and her then 11 year old son Michael as neighbors, owning $100 worth of land at that time. Other neighbors were Martin, Swartz (shoemaker), two Longs (blacksmiths). Daniel Long, who was one of the two, and E.M. Stoner, who may be Elizabeth Stoner the mother in 1850, or Michael Stoner her son, witnessed Jacob Weiss's will in 1880; they must have stayed friends. The Stoners sold him some of the land. John B Dehart bought his land after his death, at estate sale - his land was sold to raise money to pay his debts. John B Dehart had bought other land nearby a year earlier, from the Stoners. Michael N. Stoner sold Jacob Weiss $400 worth of land in 1856. Michael M or N Stoner was only 11 in 1850. 1850 census lookup (courtesy of Virginia Burke, on Dauphin County list at Rootsweb, has him 44 years old, a weaver, born Switzerland, owning property worth $400, which Vivian says is a good deal more than the value of many farms in the same year. Ella Huggins says a house, in which a certain woman who is a local historian, once lived, adjoined the railway station where Jacob allegedly worked as a ticket agent at one point; however, it appears that he may have owned his property. He lived in Dauphin Co, Highspire TWP, p. 185, household 16, family 16. Jacob Wise, 44 M, Weaver, $400, b Switzerland Joanna S 41 F b Germany Sarah Elizabeth 15 F b PA in school Harriet C 12 F " " Mary Ann, 10 F, " " Barbara Anna 7 F "" Amanda R. 4 F b PA Jason 1 M b PA The age given on the 1850 census and the date of birth on his grave stone are four years apart. List of children here is from 1850 census record for the family, ages calculated based on reported age on census; (Highspire) Mary Anne Weiss's reported age of ten on the census is clearly not accurate as family records consistently have her b 1841 or 1842. More children could have been born after the 1850 census enumeration, as the youngest, Jason, was listed as only 1 year old. 1860 census lists: Jacob Wise, no occ, Lower Swatara Twp,, Middletown PO. Jacob Wise 56. Susanne 53. Mary A. 16. Rejina E. 12 F, Alice J. 3, F. Notice no Jason, and Rejina is not listed above though she would have been living. But the German call name is the second name, so Amanda R. may be Amanda Rejina. In the 1870 census, Jacob and his wife Susanna, both b PA, he a retired weaver, b abt 1798, lived in Lower Swatara Township. Next door lived Peter Day, wife Regina, age 23, -b abt 1847, both born in Wurtemberg, and a son Charles, age 8 months, born Pennsylvania. Regina was in the right age range to be Jacob's daughter. Despite having two children allegedly born before 1840, or else the eldest born in 1840, in Pennsylvania, this supported by them being given common English names, Jacob Weiss is not shown in 1840 census index as in Dauphin Co. Joanna/ Johanna Susanna, b Apr 30 1809, Germany. Died Oct 3 1875, Highspire. Jacob's and Johanna's graves both read "our mother", and "our father", indicating more than one Weiss child was around to bury them! Sarah married George H. Conklin and lived with him in Steelton in 1880 census. He was a laborer in 1880 and an engineer in 1897-90 Harrisburg area directory, when he lived at 515 N. Front St, AND Jefferson and Front, and Front near Jefferson. He was 41 in 1880 census, and Sarah was 40 despite having been 15 in 1835. Their children on 1880 census; John J. Conklin W M 14 son in 1897-1900 lived 354 S. Front, laborer William W M 9 son in 1897-1900 a butcher, lived variously at 515 N Front and 328 N Front Daniel M. W M 7 son in 1899-1900 an oiler, at 515 N. Front. Perley W F 8 son (that's what it says) Lusky W M 2 son Jacob Wise age 88, father, lived with them. Both parents born in Switzerland as well as Jacob himself. retired carpet weaver. The Highspire Cemetery grave list indicates that the broken down and, according to my source, unreadable, little grave next to Jacob's and Joanna's and clearly belonging to the same grave lot, belongs to "Barbara Ann Johnson, daughter of Jacob, b 13 Dec 1813 d 25 Mar 1851." If this is even correct, it is an enigma who this is. Jacob and Joanna had a daughter Barbara Ann living in 1850, not born anything resembling 1813. She does not appear to have been living in 1860. She also may be one of three children who died. Jacob Weiss's will. In the name of God, Amen. I Jacob Weiss of Highspire, Dauphin County, Stae of Pennsylvania, being weak in body, but of sound mind, memory and understanding (praised be God for it) considering the uncertainty of Death and the uncertainty of the time thereof, and to the end I may be better prepared to leave this world, whenver it shall please God to call me hence, do therefore make and declare this my last will and testament in manner following, (that is to say:) first of prinipally I commend my soul into the hands of Almighty God my Creator, and as to my worldly goods, chattles, estates etc which it hath pleaesd God to entrust me, I dispose of same as followeth: First, I desire to be buried with as little expense as decency wlil permit and that all my funeral expenses, including the cost of nice, good, plain and substantial tomb-stones, fo rmyself and my departed second wife (Hannah Joanna), be paid as soon after my decease as conveniently may be. Second, I will that all such just debts as shall be by me owing at my death, together with all charges touching the prvoing of, or otherwise concerning this my will, shall, in the second place, out of my real and personal property and assets, be fully paid and satisfied. Third, I will and bequeath unto my daughter, Sarah E, wife of George H. Conklin, Henrietta Caroline, wife of Henry C? E? G? Cramer [is actually Henry L. Cramer and doesn't look unlike an L], Mary Ann, wife of John B. DeHart, and Regina, wife of Peter Day, or their heirs, the sum of One Hundred Dollars, each, and to Mary Louisa, wife of Samuel Wells, or her heirs the sum of Five Dollars. This I do in order to equalize for what I have done and igven during my lifetime, and these payments shall in the third place, be paid and satisfied out of my real and pseonal property and effects. Fourth, I will and bequeath all of whatever remains of my real and personal property and effects, after the full payments of the first, second, and third conditions of this my last will and testament, to my children, Mary Louisa, Sarah E., Henrietta Caroline, Mary Ann and Regina, to be equally divided amonst them, share and share alike, in the event of the death of any of them, before it becomes payable, then to the heir or heirs, of said decedent shall share be givben. And I make and ordain J F Keize? Executor of this my last will and testament. In witness whereof, I the said testator, Jacob Weiss, have to this my last will and testament set my had and sea, the 10th day of July, AD 1880. Shaky signature. Daniel Tory? and E W Stoner witnessed it. Daniel Long and Em. Sm Stoner or Staner. These turn out to have been immediate neighbors of Jacob Weiss in the 1850 census. Inventory. Bedstead. 10 cents Rocking chair $1 3 chairs .30 2 bread basets .02 Stand .25 Valise and books .10 pipe drum .10 3 pieces carpet $3 Mirror and frame .13 Feather bolsters and counterpaine .50 feather tick 1.50 2 blankets .25 2 pillows .50 Bolster and sheet .25 table cloth .20 2 pillow cases .10 pair pants .10 coat .25 overcoat .10 family bible $1 lot old clothes .10 chest, books, etc .25 dishes .50 lantern .10 potato hook .15 post iron .40 iron wedge .10 feather tic and coverlid 1.75 chaff bag and coverlid $1 silver watch $5 small chest with papers .10 clock .50 gun .25 Henry Cramer cash due $6 rent due and collected by Kel? 10.45 Jacob Weiss died on or about the 30th day of May 1883. His residence at time of death was in Highspire. He died testate. Jul 27 letters testamenatry on his estate granted. Personal estate comes to #36.40. Insufficent for the payment of his debts. Property ordered sold to pay his debts; market value of real estate is $1000. Property described as follows. Tract no 1. on the corner of Front and Commerce Sts, extending in front on said Front St, 40 feet, and in depth, the same width, 110 feet more or less ot the Pennsylvania Railroad [track]. Thereon erected a small two story frame house. No2. Adoining said tract number 1, is 40 feet in fron ton said Front St, and extends the same width 110 feet ... to the Pennsylvania Railroad. o. 3. Adjoins said tract number two, is 40 feet in front on said Front St and extends the same width 110 feet to the Pennsylvania Railroad. No 4. Adjoins said tract number three, is forty feet in front on said Trout St and etends the same the width, 110 ft, more or less, to the Pennsylvania Railroad. No. 5. Corner of Front St and 15 feet wide alley, and adjoins said tract number 4, extending along said Front St 40 feet, and in depth, the same width 110 ft more or less, to the Pennsylvania Railroad. Thereon erected a smal two story frame house. Being lots numbered in the gneral plan of said Town of Highspire numbers 87, 88, 98. 90 and 91. The values are as follows: Lot number 87 - $300 Lot number 88 $100 Lot number 89 $100 Lot number 90 $100 Lot number 91 $400 __________________ $1000 The land was sold to John B. Dehart, he being hte higest bidder; he paid $1024. I once had a Female Weiss, b 1835 to 1840, placed in this family, but I know have all three girls who were living in 1840 in the census accounted for; one 5 to 10, and two under 5. They seem uncommonly in a hurry to assimilate for German immigrants living in the heart of PA Dutch territory, who normally not only proudly kept their German surnames but gave their children German names spelled in German for atleast a generation or two. ALL of the children but one had distinctively American names, their only son as of 1850 census enumeration was named Jason. Johanna Susanna is listed Joanna S. on the census record though that could conceivably be census enumerator's mistake. However, not only the census record has their name as Wise; our family records show they used both the names Weiss and Wise. What church they went to remains a puzzle. Evie Weiss married in a Brethren church. Highspire had two churches, one Brethren and the other Church of God, and both had local Mennonite roots. A family member told me she'd heard that they went to some church that came across as radically Evangelical to me; something like the holy rollers; could have been Church of God. Jacob Weiss's oldest daughter married in a mainstream Pennsylvania Dutch church in Harrisburg, but she also did not live with her family in the 1850 census, six years before she married, and may have not gotten on with her family or (more likely) gone out to work as a servant. She would have been about 18 in the 1950 census. The marriage record says she was of Harrisburg, and her family lived in Highspire and indeed owned land there at that time. The Weiss's are also a cultural puzzle. Children's names are a mix of in an uncommon hurry to assimilate and German naming patterns. The only boy was named Jason on the census, assuming they census taker got it right. Regina E shows on the 1850 census as Amanda R. The second daughter was Sarah Eliizabeth, actually not an uncommon name for people named Weiss/ Wise in the Harrisburg area; another Sarah Elizabeth was baptized in Harrisburg in 1836. Sarah Elizabeth's mother was more than likely Johanna Susanna though possibly she was the English woman who was Mary Louisa's mother. Yet the children are often, not always, called by their miiddle names, which is characteristically German. In one case the census taker got confused and reversed every single person's first name and middle initial. Noone can even settle on what Johnanna Susanna's name was. She is sometimes called Susanna, her husband called her Hanna at least once, and her gravestone, put there by her children, calls her Joanna. My family records call her Joanna/ Johnanna Susanna; this is based on what my father's mother's first cousin told him. That confusion is classic Pennsylvania Dutch; it's common not to know what a woman was actually called or which way around her names actually were, or whether her name was the English or German version. Jacob Weiss seems to have been frugal, and manically energetic in the manner typical of the Pennsylvania Dutch and characteristic of John Dehart's line. The Pennsylvania Dutch characteristically worked from 4 AM until dark and then feasted and partied untli midnight, and they often had more than one full time career. Deharts typically supported industrial activities on their farms, and farmed and wove for a living; sometimes they were extremely successful. John Dehart may have died possessed of six different properties, and his home lot was two or three of them; a descendant described an old man with twinkling eyes, a carriage house, and an orchard. He was a rug weaver, who also supported his family by working as a ticket agent in the Highspire railway station. He had his carpet loom set up in the Highspire railway station, according to the story that was handed down to my father. One wonders if his land was his savings account. He died possessed of nothing else except some bedroom furniture, a few old clothes and a few old books, and a family bible. His small debts couldn't even be paid until the land was sold. His will specified that he should be buried as inexpensively as was decent. From the looks of grandchildren of Jacob Weiss by more than one wife, not to mention more than one daughter, he was extremely dark skinned; to the point where old European doesn't necessarily account for it. Some of the grandchildren looked as if an immediate ancestor were from Africa - conceivably by way of Sicily. Previously I believed that this trait came from the Burkhart line. John Dehart does not seem all that dark skinned in his photo though his hair had gone gray and that seems to fade skin color as well. A Harrisburg area Burkhart who may or may not be of the same family came up with that theory; he wondered if his line had fathered a child by a Black slave and then adopted him. Michael M. Stoner, whose parents were Henry Stoner and Elizabeth (Hoffman) Stoner, was educated in town scohols, worked on the "homestead", taught for 8 years in the town schools, worked on the town railroad, worked for 7 years in the boiler and frog shops of the Pennsylvania Steel Company in Steelton. Had a 75 acre farm near Middletown, which he bought in 1900. Owned a residence in Highspire and four other properties there as well. Held a number of town offices. School director, school board, school board president. An elder of the Church of God, and superintendent of the Sunday school. married to Henrietta Books by Rev. Mr. Snyder, pastor of the Church of God of Middletown. A daughter was Mary Elizabeth Stoner b 1861. Henrietta Books daughter of David Books, farmer, locally promient, Lutheran. There was a A. Mary Stoner, b 1815, in Lower Swatara TWP in 1880. Another one b 1827. A third married to Ellnor, b mid 1850's. Daniel Long was a blacksmith. b 1817. Son of John Long and Fannie Musser. Worked at trade in Highspire for over half a century. Married Mary Bowers Jan 30, 1845. Son Henry was also a blacksmith, b 1849, lived in Highspire, married in 1873, Annie Fisher, daughter of John Fisher. ----------------------------------------------------------- Jacob Wise married Rebecca Elliott at Zion German Lutheran Church, Harrisburg, Dauphin, PA, 22 Oct 1829. Also a Jacob Weiss who married in Harrisburg in 1810. Thomas Ellliott found in 1830 census, Middletown, Dauphin, PA, 8 household members. Buried at Middletown Cemtery, but grave is unreadable. Looks likely to have named a son Thomas who livedin Swatara and maybe also in Harrisburg and was a clergyman. Thomas was born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England, married Elizabeth Zeigler, b 1787, died 19 Mar 1849 age 62 in Cumberland. Had children, including a Thomas, born in Middletown. Married in 1817. 11 children listed, Rebecca not included. Rebecca could not be her chlid as she would then have married at age 12. --------------------------------- 23andMe says that I have the strongest evidence of Swiss ancestry in Grisons (Graubunden) and St. Gallen. Grabunden is a large, sparsely populated and mountainous district that borders on Italy and Austria and has 6% Italian speaking people. Half the people speak German. It doesn't say what anyone else speaks. Collectively people speak Swiss, German, Itlian, and Romansh. Few people speak French. The region was originally Celtic, conquered by Romans and then by Franks. The Inn and Rhine Rivers arise in this territory. Raetians were the original settlers. Romansh is a group of dialects spoken in southern Switzerland, that all belong to the Rhaeto-Romance language family, including Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Puter and Vallader. There is a standardized version. They were a confederation of Alpine tribes whose language and culture may have been related to those of the Etruscans. From not later than ca 500 BC they inhabited central parts of present day Switzerland, Tyrol in Austria, the Alpine regions of NE Italy and Germany south of the Danube. Ancient sources characterize the Raeti as Etruscan people who were displaced from the Po valley by the Gauls and took refuge in the valleys of the Alps, but they were probably predominantly indigenous Alpine people. Raetian language probably related to Etruscan but not nec derived from it. It was written in a variant of the Etruscan alphabet. Could have been a Celticized form of Etruscan. Their name might be Celtic for mountain people. Could also be named for the goddess Reitia. St. Gallen is smaller and borders on Austria. The territory of the Romansch was known prior to 1814 as Upper Rhaetia and Churraetien, among other names, and as the Grisons or Graubunden in the fifteenth century. The origins of the Romansch people are unclear. Archaeological evidence shows the influence of Illyrian, Celtic, and Etruscan cultures. Although Roman occupation, begun in 15 B.C. , brought vernacular Latin to a wide territory, the geographical isolation of the Romansch territory permitted it to develop into a separate dialect—and later a distinct language in its own right—rather rapidly. Read more: https://www.everyculture.com/Europe/Romansch.html#ixzz63ZNMhFnd The ancient territory of the Romansch was called Raetia, which consisted of the modern canton of Graubunden, as well as eastern Switzerland south of Lake Constance, a large portion of the Tirol, and part of northern Lombardy. Its Capital was at Chur. The Raetians were cattle breeders and timber cutters for the most part, though they practiced agriculture as well. In the fifth and sixth centuries A.D. , Roman authority declined and the government of the region passed to the duchy of Alemannia. The Frankish kings spent the period of the sixth to ninth centuries attempting to secure control over this territory, as well as the lands of Swabia. Raetia's importance to the Franks lay in the fact that its capital commanded the eastern access routes to Italy, and thus it was of strategic as well as economic concern. In the tenth century, German kings began to try to take control of the region. By the 1300s, Raetia belonged entirely to Ge Read more: https://www.everyculture.com/Europe/Romansch.html#ixzz63ZNGFvDc Chur is an industrial district. Raetia ( REE-sh(ee-)ə, Latin: ; also spelled Rhaetia) was a province of the Roman Empire, named after the Rhaetian (Raeti or Rhaeti) people. It bordered on the west with the country of the Helvetii, on the east with Noricum, on the north with Vindelicia, on the south-west with Transalpine Gaul and on the south with Venetia et Histria. It thus comprised the districts occupied in modern times by eastern and central Switzerland (containing the Upper Rhine and Lake Constance), southern Germany (Bavaria and most of Baden-Württemberg), Vorarlberg and the greater part of Tyrol in Austria, and part of northern Lombardy in Italy. The region of Vindelicia (today eastern Württemberg and western Bavaria) was annexed to the province at a later date than the others. The northern border of Raetia during the times of Augustus and Tiberius was the River Danube. Later the Limes Germanicus marked the northern boundary, stretching for 166 km north of the Danube. Raetia linked to Italy across the Alps over the Reschen Pass, by the Via Claudia Augusta. One thing this means is that perhaps Jacob Weiss looked as he did because he had substantial Raetian ancestry, but he wasn't necessarily from Grisons. However, there is a hint here that people with Raetian genetics could inhabit all of Baden-Wurttemburg. St. Gallen became fully Protestant in the Protestant reformation, and is famed for producing quality textiles. It really sounds more like a place where Jacob Weiss might have lived. In 1910, 1/5 of the poplaton of eastern Switzerland was involved in the textile industry. That's the capital city. The larger canton was at war in 1802. In 1803 it joined the Swiss confederation. It had a complex system of religious representation.
Note: My father said that he was told that Jacob Weiss He wove rugs on his lo
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