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Note: n the Friedensville cemetery in Friedensville, Lehigh, Pennsylvania, Old cemetery, row 10. The date of birth on the headstone is 1797, an item that becomes more important when reading the finals paragraphs below.
The birth date on the headstone matches the birth date of Anna Dorothea from the Miscellaneous Bethlehem Moravian Church Catalogues of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The headstone is inscribed with 'born Ludwig.' An explanation of her birth date is related below.
The name of her spouse is at present (2015) unknown.
Information about the birthdate of Anna Dorothea is found in the following paragraphs from genealogist Dick Musselman (see notes under Franz Joseph Ludwig):
The source for the dates of birth (without baptism dates) for the remaining children not found in the above Register are from the Miscellaneous Bethlehem Moravian Church Catalogues:
Maria Elizabeth and Susannah Sulamith, and Anna Dorothea. A note should be included about the entry for Anna Dorothea. Her entry also includes the place of birth as Bethlehem, while the other entries are without birthplace. The date found in the Catalogue for Anna Dorothea's birth is 22 Apr 1796, which is a few weeks before the wedding of her parents on 16 May 1796. The genealogist who located these records for me in February 2011, gave the following explanation:
Thanks for the observation, I had not caught the marriage and birth date timing. It does raise an interesting question. I checked my notes and found I had not made an error when writing my report, it was as I had recorded them. The next question is.....Did I make a transcription error when reading the original entry? When I ponder your original question, there are a few additional considerations: I believe the Moravians were still controlling the marriages in their society in the 1790's. Marriages were either approved or denied by the church hierarchy. I suspect a 'shotgun' wedding would have been unheard of. It would have been a very disgraceful situation for the individuals and their families. Since their marriage was recorded in the official church records, I suspect this was not the case. I have seen previous instances where unwed mothers and fathers were removed from the community for this type of circumstance. The other troubling fact is that I only found a single Bethlehem Church Catalogue entry listing the three daughters born between 1796 and 1801: Anna Dorothea b.22 Apr.1796, Maria Elisabeth b.7 May 1799 and Susanna Sulamith b.28 Sep.1801. Typical birth spacing for children in the families of this era is a two year gap between births. There are three years between Dorothea in 1796 and Elisabeth in 1799; followed by the more typical two years between Elisabeth and Susanna. I suspect the date for Dorothea is incorrect and should be 1797. Unfortunately we know very little about this oldest daughter. My only suggestion would be to review some additional church records, including the Bethlehem Diary in search of additional references.
Pursuant to the genealogist's suggestion I have entered Anna Dorothea's birth as 1797, rather than the date 1796 entered in the Bethlehem Catalogue.
The aft. 1814 marriage date is based on the youngest Anna Dorothea could have been to be of age for a marriage. I have listed Northampton County as no Lehigh County existed in 1814.
Note: The source for the marriage of Anna Dorothea to a Weil is her headstone i
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