Mathias Swartzel - Life in Pennsylvania

With so many new records being digitized and published online I figured now was a good time to update the profile of Mathias Swartzel. Much of what is known about him was published in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. With the help of the newly published records I hope to find some new facts and sort out older facts that may no longer fit into his story.

This post is meant to share the information I have collected and my current working theories on Mathias and his family while in Pennsylvania. I know that I don't have all the information and that there is plenty of additional research to do. I am always welcoming to new data, so if you have any related to this topic, please share! I have posted all of the records I have on the broader Swartzel family in Pennsylvania in a previous post.

In an earlier post about the Schwartzel family's immigration to the US, I discussed a theory that I believe where Mathias is the son of Johan Henrich and was listed as Johann Ties in the three original records of their arrival in Philadelphia on 23 October 1754. 

Pennsylvania, pt. 1

After his arrival in Philadelphia, the first record we see of Mathis is his wedding record on 2 Dec 1760. I have seen it listed a few times that he married Catharina Barbara Laey at the Quittapahilla Evangelical Lutheran. The archives where I found the marriage record was for the Hill Evangelical Lutheran Church in Annville Township, Lancaster (now Lebanon) County, PA. A quick cross reference confirms that Quittapahilla was indeed an early name for the same church. 

Record located middle of left page, just above "ANNO 1761"

In the marriage record Catharina’s last name in Läyin. In German, ‘in’ is a diminutive suffix typically added to the end of female names. Swartzin, Huberin, Schmidtin, etc. It is also common to translate the German umlaut above an a, ‘ä’ to ‘ae’ in English, hence Läyin becomes Laey.

The only reference I have to a potential mother for Mathias is in a deed for his father in Lancaster County from 1773. In the deed it states “Henry and his wife Anna Catharina”. There is some speculation that Henry remarried when he came to America; however, I have not found any marriage records for him in Germany or America to prove this.

Based on birth years of his children, inferred from other documents and tombstones, the first five of his children were likely to have been born in Lancaster County. I have not seen any tax records or additional records keeping him in that county but the next sequential record places him and the family in Maryland.

Maryland

The next available record shows Mathias and Catharine Barbara lived in Maryland, just south of the Pennsylvania border and outside of Hagerstown. The baptism record for Abraham Swertzol in 1774 shows Abraham’s birth on 9 March and baptism 19 June of the same year with parents Mathaus and Catharina Barbara. I only have access to a computer printout of the records available from familysearch.org but an original may provide more details.

There are also records in Hagerstown of Henry in the Maryland Continental Line of 1777 and Johannes Swortzel and his family at a Reformed Congregation Church in 1780. Henry and his son, Philip, also have records in Antrim, PA just north of the border. At some point, Peter Swartzel, a relative of Jost Swartzel, moved to Hagerstown and married a Catharine Wirt. There is also a John Swazell in Sharpstown, Washington, MD in 1783.

It’s interesting to note that Mathias and his brothers, Jost and Johannes all attended Lutheran and Reformed Churches.

Pennsylvania, pt. 2

We later find records of Mathias in Providence Township, Bedford County, PA. One of the last records, from 1803, actually points us towards when he first lived there. A land warrant application filed in Lancaster and Bedford Counties shows that he began living on 39 acres of improved land at the head waters of Brush Creek in Providence Township, Bedford County at the beginning of 1780.

 

We can find evidence of him living at the same location every year from 1780 to 1790 and intermittent records until 1805. Starting in 1782 his tax records show he owned 100 acres of land and in 1783 there were 11 people living on the land: himself, two women, and eight children. In 1784 he had 10 residents but I'm not certain if that number is inclusive of himself or not. The 100 acres likely includes the 39 acres of improved land, leaving 61 acres forested. In 1796 is acreage reaches 200. All the tax records can be found here.

In the 1786 Pennsylvania Septennial census he is again listed in Providence Township as well as in the 1790 census where he had 3 males under 16, 2 males over 16, and 3 females. This means three of his previous family members from 1783 were no longer living with him. 

1786 Pennsylvania Septennial Census

1790 US Federal Census for Bedford County, PA page 9

In fact, for the first time we found another Swartzel in Bedford County. Peter Swartzel was living nearby with 3 males under 16, 2 males over 16 and 3 females. The 1790 census does not provide town or districts so I have been unable to find where Peter lived in Bedford. I also have not seen him in any tax records yet, but could have easily overlooked him.

In 1797 Mathias was still in Providence Township and on 7 January 1797 there was a land warrant for John Swatsel in Allegheny, Huntingdon County, PA (directly north of Bedford Town) for 400 acres. I have not yet found how John fits into the family, but with him being so close to Mathias and the fact that every other Swatsel, or similar name variation, found in this region of PA have been related leads me to believe he is closely related. I have not yet followed this lead or done any further research in Huntingdon or on John.

Next comes the 1800 census. This is a commonly cited source that shows Mathias lived in Somerset County, which split from the western part of Bedford County in 1795. While it is true that Mathias lived in Brothersvalley, Somerset County, PA in 1800, it is also true that Mathias lived in Providence, Bedford County, PA. This is because the Mathias in Somerset is the son of Mathias in Bedford. 

1800 US Federal Census for Bedford County, PA

1800 US Federal Census for Somerset County, PA

The Mathias in Bedford had the following household:

• 1 male of age 16 and under 26,
• 1 male of age 45 and over,
• 1 female under age 10,
• 1 female of age 16 and under 26,
• 1 female of age 45 and over

While the Mathias in Somerset had the following household: 

• 1 male of age 26 and under 45, 
• 1 female of age 26 and under 45

If Mathias Sr. was born in 1739 or earlier he would easily fit into the ‘age 45 and over’ category. Mathias Jr., born 1763, would be 37 at the time and fit into the ‘of age 26 and under 45’ category.

In addition to Census and Tax records, there is also a Bedford County court case from February 1802 in which Nicholas Homler is accused of stealing three French Crowns from Mathias Swartzel in September of 1801. Credit to Ancestory.com user billenenicol for sharing this information, it is also available on findagrave.com.

I have only seen one records of a Swartzel living in Elk Lick Township, Somerset, PA. Mathias Swatsel is listed as having 275 acres in 1797. Given there is another record for Mathias Swartzley in Providence Township that same year and the ages listed for Mathias in the Bedford and Somerset 1800 Census I am fairly certain that this Mathias is the younger. There are no tax records available for Mathias Swatsel in Somerset beyond 1797 that I have seen.

Revolutionary War

It is commonly stated that he followed his sons out to Montgomery County, Ohio. The last tax record we find of Mathias and his son, Henry, is from March 1805, so its likely he moved sometime close to this date. It is in Montgomery that you can find plenty of additional records on Mathias, including his tombstone. On this tombstone is his birth year, 1739. The biggest surprise is that his tombstone states he was an adjutant to General George Washington in the Revolutionary War.  

This fact is also noted in a Dayton Herald news article from 1938 that shows his original tombstone with the inscription: “Adj to Gen Washington.”

10 Nov 1939, The Dayton Herald

I have not found any Revolutionary War records of Mathias in Pennsylvania or Maryland. I have even performed some cursory searches in Virginia, given how relatively narrow Maryland is in the area. 

In 1775, the Continental Congress appointed Horatio Gates as the first Adjutant General to George Washington, creating one of the first branches of the US Army. I have not been able to find muster rolls available online but the Records of the Office of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780s–1917 are available at the National Archive. 

I have also looked through the militia and continental army rolls for the states previously listed but to no avail. If anyone has knowledge of where Mathias’ war records are, please share!

The closest I have been able to find reference to Mathias serving in the Revolutionary War is a book from 1882 titled “The history of Montgomery county, Ohio, containing a history of the county”. This book has a great history on Jackson Township, Ohio that is a must read for anyone following the Mathias Swartzel family line.

There is also a book from 1892 titled “Centennial portrait and biographical record of the city of Dayton and of Mongomery county, Ohio”, that states he was a fifer under General Washington. Given that Mathias would have been in his late 30’s to early 40’s during the war it’s unlikely he was a fifer, as this was normally a job for men over 50 and children under 16. 

This book also states that Mathias brought all of his children, from his first wife, over from Germany, but Mathias was about 16 when he arrived and married his first wife in 1760. There’s also the statement that Mathias came with his sister, who married a man named Boomershine. Some family searches show that Mathias had a daughter, Christina Magdalene, who married a Peter Boomershine [Bommersheim], who was a Hessian soldier who moved to Bedford County, PA, then Somerset, PA, the Montgomery, OH with the rest of the Swartzel family. Maybe they meant sister to Mathias Jr. Given all these errors in one paragraph I have a hard time trusting the data, but it is directionally in line with the other data we have.

Additional Research:

I have not performed much research on this branch of the family, yet, beyond Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and Tennessee. Other than the information shown above, there is still a lot to find on the Swartzel family in Ohio. There are still some areas of Pennsylvania that require more research, such as Mifflin County, Somerset, and Huntingdon.

There are also lots of Swartzel family records to be uncovered in Washington County, Maryland, specifically near Hagerstown as I only found one record for Mathias from 1774 in that area. Searches may need to extend into Frederick County, MD, the parent county for Washington County, which formed in 1776. Other records I have found in Maryland for the broader family can be found in my record hunt for John Swortzel.

I've seen a couple of internet references that Mathias' wife, Catharina Barbara, died around 1776. If this is correct, they would likely be living in Maryland. Similar references cite that he married twice after her death, both times to her sisters, Elizabeth and Margaret. I have not found any records in Maryland or Pennsylvania to support this, but records from Ohio show his wife was named Margaret. 

Then, of course, there is the family history before America. There is a book published in 1879 titled "History of Mifflin County: its physical peculiarities, soil, climate, &C.; including an early sketch of the state of Pennsylvania" that contains a biography of the Swartzel family in that county. In this biography they state that the Swartzel family originated from Bavaria. 

A Facebook group states the mother of Mathias was Christiana Sibylla Vepes, born in Germany about the same time as Henry (circa 1710). I have not seen this information anywhere else but it may lead somewhere. 

Other internet sites state that he was born in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg or that he was born in Saxony. There may be a connection to a Schwartzel family in Frankfurt, but I have no proof of that connection either. Maybe one of these is right, maybe none. Either way, plenty to continue searching for. 

I hope this information is useful to you in your family record hunts. If you have any additional information, corrections, theories, facts, anything at all on this topic I would love to hear from you. Please comment below.