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B.
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From "A New Index Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Before the Federal Census",
Vol.4, Index to the 1718-1726 Tax Records of Chester County Relating to
Areas Later Part of Lancaster County, by Gary T. Hawbaker and Clyde L. Groff:
Litner, Adm. 1724 Connestogoe Rate
Litner, Adam 1725 Conistogoe Rate
Litner, Adam 1726 Conistogoe Rate
The accompanying 1730 map of Lancaster Co. shows Leacock Twp. in the Conestogo
(sic) area, matching well with its present area. I only have three pages copied,
but other entries indicate that "Palatines" were there before 1723. Entries
from 1721 distinguish between "Palatines at Conestogoe" and "English Conestogoe
Rate" while 1718 entries for the same men say "Conestogoe Rate, Dutch Inhabitants"
and "Conestogoe Rate, English Inhabitants." Knittle, in "Early Palatine Emigration",
sites evidence from letters that some of the 1709-10 Germans had migrated to
the area before 1723. He says that the 1723 migrants came down the Susquehanna
and then up the Swatara and into the Tulpehocken area. It's interesting to note
that on the tax list pages that I have, no one is listed at the "Tulpehocken
Rate" before 1725. It would make sense that earlier migrants would have settled
further southeast nearer to the later Lancaster-Chester Co line. Also, Adam
was apparently a blacksmith, and as a tradesman may not have needed direct subsistence
during that 1710-1712 period.
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C.
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The History of Lancaster County ... by Ellis
and Evans, 1883 appears to be the source of some of the early history
repeated by some researchers. In this Lancaster County history "Adam Lightner" is listed among "The settlers
in Conestoga township, as shown by the assessment-rolls for 1724-25, ..."
There are two places in the book that give versions of LIGHTNER history:
1. "The Lightner Family. - Adam Lightner and Maud, his wife,in the year 1709,
fled from the religious persecutions along the Rhine, which drove thousands
of Protestants to Holland, thence to England. They were Lutherans. Their son
William was born in Germany. Nathaniel was born in 1709, while his parents were
encamped near London. They came to America in the same year, and settled in Ulster
County, N.Y., among the La Rues, Ferrees, and Le Fevres.
They came to Pequea Valley in the year 1723, and settled upon land near the old
Peter's road, upon the northern boundary of Leacock township, and about a mile
northeast from the village of Intercourse.
William Lightner, son of Adam, returned to Germany. He owned large sugar and
spice plantations upon one of the islands in the Eastern Ocean, and he became
possessed of a very large estate, to which a multitude of his descendants are
now turning their eyes, anxiously waiting to divide and enjoy this accumulated
wealth. His brother George also returned to Germany."
2. In a bio for a Mr. Dale: "His second wife, Leah, whom he married April, 29,
1834, was a daughter of John Adam Lightner (1743-1798) and Leah Ferree (1757-1841),
of Lampeter township, was born in Leacock township May 18, 1789, and survives
in 1883. She is a woman of superior intelligence, furnished most of the facts
for this sketch, ... Adam and Maud Lightner came from Holland with two of their
sons, Nathaniel and Adam, in 1717, and settled in Leacock township, Lancaster
Co., Pa. One son, William A. Lightner, remained in Holland, and subseqently resided in India. ..."
The history also recounts: "In the year 1723 a number of Germans, who came
from Schoharie, N.Y., settled along Tulpehocken Creek, upon lands not yet purchased from the Indians. ..."
Well, it's clear to me that the stories are discrepant, but parts seem to
fit with the lore in my line. They seem to be confusing William with
George, but residence of the wealthy brother in India/Eastern Islands fits
with the indigo business as "told" to me. The 1717 date that Leah gave is
curious, though it does match better the settling of the Pequea Valley than
the 1723 date - again the 1723 Germans were said to have settled way up in
the Tulpehocken Valley. No son would have been old enough to stary in
Holland. It's also interesting what the authors said about "George's"
descendants going after his money - fits the bible story and the
disappearance of the family record - though they would be several
generations removed from him.
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E.
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Baptismal sponsorship and the age of majority: In the records of Trinity
Lurtheran Church, New Holland, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania one finds
in the listings of baptismal sponsors: "Elisabetha Rapp; on account of
her minority her mother, Anna Catarina Rappin, represented her" and "Michael
Rein & wf., in place of their son Joh. Georg, now a minor". The case is
clear when such statements are explicitly made, but the contrary can
never be assumed to hold for different pastors or times. The contrary can however
suggest that a person has reached the age of majority.
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