Sailed from Rotterdam, Holland via Plymouth, England in ship Samuel, 8-17-1733 Philadelphia, PA, oath to government, settled near Thurmont, Frederick Co., PA; had land called Jacob's Trouble Ended; buried on Homestead in Valentine Family Cemetery near Miller's Bridge.  Jeri Helms Fultz

Johann Jacob Mathews was born in the town of Schweighausen sur Moder in the Bas- Rhin region of Alsace on October 23, 1704. At that time official sovereignty of Alsace was contested. It was part of either France or Germany, probably France. Alsace has been passed back and forth between Germany and France throughout history, usually as the spoils of a war. Whatever the case, Jacob and Margaret, as well as most of the people in northern Alsace, were Germans. Jacob's father's name was also Johann Jacob. His mother's name was Anna Maria. Jacob had at least one brother named Johann George.

Jacob married Margaretha Jung in the neighboring town of Gundershoffen on January 25, 1729. Margaret was born August 24, 1709 in Gundershoffen. Her parents were Johann Michael and Anna Margaretha (Gass) Jung. Johann Michael Jung was the son of Jacob and Susannah Jung. Anna Margaretha Gass was the daughter of Michael and Elisabeth (Müller) Gass. Jacob and Margaret settled in Gundershoffen where their first two children were born. Johann Heinrich was born July 18, 1730, and Johann Jacob was born August 13, 1732.

In the spring or early summer of 1733, the family left their homeland and started for America. They first had to travel down the Rhein River to Rotterdam, Holland. There they boarded the British ship Samuel and began their long journey to the new world, first stopping by the port of Deal in England. They arrived at Philadelphia on August 17, 1733. The entire trip from Germany to America normally took about two or three months, and it would be difficult to overstate the hardships they 1 CONC endured. Their two young sons, Henry and Jacob, apparently died during the voyage. There is no record of their deaths in Gundershoffen, yet Jacob and Margaret arrived at Philadelphia without children.

From Philadelphia, Jacob and Margaret probably spent a very short time in the Conestoga area of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is not certain, but their first known child was probably born there. Very soon they moved to what is now Frederick County, Maryland. Frederick County was formed in 1748, carved from the western part of Prince George's 1 County. Prior to 1748, this entire wilderness area was known as Monocacy (river of many bends), named for the river that runs south from the Pennsylvania border and empties into the Potomac. Jacob and Margaret were part of a large migration of Pennsylvania Germans that moved southward into Monocacy. The earliest known date of their life in Maryland was April 28, 1736, the baptismal date of their second child. They first moved to the more southern German settlement in the general area which today would be just southwest of the town of Frederick.

While in this more southern area of Monocacy, Jacob in 1740 bought or leased 250 acres of land from Jacob Fout which was part of the Rocky Creek survey Fout had purchased earlier from Captain John Stoddert. On June 4th of this same year, Jacob Mathews and his first four (4) children were naturalized, along with Jacob and Balthasar Fout. In about 1743 they moved to the more northern area of Monocacy, purchasing land on August19th called Slate Ridge. It was at the foot of Piney Mountain, between present-day Thurmont and Emmitsburg. After several additions, by November 8, 1763 their land totaled 579 acres. The plantation was divided into surveys, or tracts, each having different names; such as Jacob's Trouble Ended, Resurvey on Peter's Run, and Sawmill Place.

The farm stayed in the Mathews family until 1795, when Conrad Mathews sold it to the Stewart family and moved west to Nelson County, Kentucky. For many years it was apparently rented to other members of the Mathews family until it was purchased by the Zentz family in 1863. It stayed in the Zentz family for the next hundred years, and became known as the Zentz mill property. Rodman Myers purchased it in 1962 and still owns it today. The farm is bounded on the west by Kelbaugh Road and on the east by Smith Road. Little Owens Creek runs through the property, andthe old Zentz Mill, no longer there, was located on the creek where LohrRoad meets Smith Road.

Jacob was a farmer and a wagoner. Yet, as with most of the early German immigrants, religion was the dominant part of their lives. Most of the Germans who settled the Frederick County, Maryland area were either Lutherans or of the German Reformed faith. Jacob and Margaret were Lutherans. During those early days in Monocacy, before about 1742, services or Bible readings were conducted in private homes by local leaders. However, there were no ordained ministers to officiate at religious ceremonies, such as marriages and baptisms. These duties were performed by travelling ministers, mostly from Pennsylvania. Two of the most prominent of these pioneer Lutheran ministers were Johann Caspar Stoever and his son, Johann Caspar Stoever Jr. The father returned to 1 Germany in 1734, but died at sea on the return trip in 1739. The younger Stoever stayed in America and ministered to the settlers in Monocacy during his trips to Virginia, which began in about 1734. He baptized the first four (4) American-born children of Jacob and Margaret - Margaret,Magdalena, George, and Catherine.

In about 1742, around the time Jacob and Margaret moved northward to the Thurmont area, Stoever relocated and began to concentrate his efforts in Pennsylvania. The Monocacy settlers were fortunate to soon obtain the services of Pastor David Candler, who settled first in Conewango, Pennsylvania, and later near Bethel in Monocacy. Candler ministered to the Lutherans in Monocacy until his death sometime around July, 1744. He baptized the next two (2) children of Jacob and Margaret - Mary and Barbara.

It was also about 1742 or 1743 that the first Frederick Lutheran Church building may have been constructed. The existence of this church is still just speculation, but there is some evidence it was built on Hunting Creek, just southwest of what is today called Jimtown Crossroads. Although the development of the Lutheran Church in Monocacy was a process more than a single event, this fits in well with the theory that it was about 1742 when the Lutherans around Frederick formally became the Monocacy Lutheran Congregation. It is debatable as to whether Stoever or Candler should be credited with establishment of the church.

The premature death of Pastor Candler signaled the start of a long period of religious turmoil for Jacob and his Lutheran neighbors. Ordained ministers were scarce, and for about eight (8) years a succession of obscure itinerant ministers probably came and went. It was during this time that Moravian missionaries made a strong effort to convert this Lutheran community. Some of them did so, but it seems Jacob and Margaret resisted and remained Lutheran. Nevertheless, this period of upheaval seems to account for the absence of church records for the birth 1 CONC of the last three or four children of Jacob and Margaret. Stability was finally restored among the Lutherans in late 1752 with the arrival of Pastor Bernard Michael Hausihl.

About this same time, the German Reformed group also firmly established themselves. Although the Lutherans and German Reformed were distinct denominations with profound differences, these two groups coexisted well. They seemed to separate geographically, but often shared common resources. Jacob Mathews played an important role in establishing the union church they shared, just outside Thurmont. On May 15, 1760, Peter Appel gave a one acre parcel of land to Mathias Ambrose, Jacob Mathews, and Jacob Ambrose. On this land they built a schoolhouse and church, to be used by both Lutherans and German Reformed. At first the church was known as "Jacob's Church", but soon became known as "Apple's Church" in honor of Peter Appel. Jacob and Margaret, as well as some of their children, were pillars of this church until their deaths.

Although we are fortunate to have access to a great deal of early history and many vital statistics, personal information about Jacob and Margaret is rare. A few passages from Pioneers of Old Monocacy provide some insight into the nature of Johann Jacob Mathews. "Jacob Matthias was seemingly a friend to all, regardless of religious background. With Jacob Hoff he joined other Germans in signing the 1742 petition to divide Prince George's parish so that the English church could be brought nearer to the people of Monocacy. When the fledgling Moravian congregation was tearing away from its Lutheran neighbors, Johann Jacob Matthias went with John Jacob Weller to Annapolis in 1747 to seek help from Daniel Dulany. Dulany had ten acres called "Gift" surveyed for what was to become the site of the Graceham Moravian Church, and the certificate was assigned to Jacob Matthias in trust."

Also from Pioneers of Old Monocacy is an account taken from the diaries of Matthias Gottlieb Gottschalk written in 1748. "Two Monocacy Germans, Matthias Ambrose and Jacob Matthias journeyed over South Mountain all the way to Jonathan Hager's in today's Washington County to hear Gottschalk preach. They parted from him tearfully."

Jacob and Margaret had eight (8) sons and five (5) daughters. As mentioned earlier, we know the first two sons died young. There is no known information about one son. All of the sons probably served in the military during the American Revolution. Jacob Mathews died on the plantation May 7, 1782. Margaret continued to live there until her death on October 12, 1788. They are both buried in the little cemetery next to Apple's Church near Thurmont.
Dave Mathews: 1997

© 1997 by Jeri Helms Fultz; all rights reserved. This information may be used by libraries and genealogical societies, however, commercial use of this information is strictly prohibited without prior permission. If copied, this copyright notice must appear with the information.