If you have a German-American ancestor who was residing in colonial Philadelphia, it might be worthwhile to check the Lord’s Supper guest register for St. Michael and Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1755-1763.
It can be found online via Ancestry.com’s Pennsylvania and New Jersey Church and Town Records, 1708-1985.
What’s remarkable about this register is that it’s a mini-census record of personal data that might aid further research. It is particularly useful in narrowing down the year of immigration.
In fact, one of the main reasons for documenting those who took the sacrament of Lord’s Supper was to provide evidence of such so that immigrants could be naturalized as citizens of British North America.
The Plantation Act of 1740 required Protestant immigrants living in the Colonies for at least seven years (and who had not left said Colonies for longer than two months) to produce court certificates that they had taken the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper in a Protestant or Reformed church three months before taking the oath to become a citizen of Great Britain.
Besides names of single parishioners, the register also lists husbands and wives. Then in columns to the right of the names it contains the following information on each person:
- how many years in America
- how many children
- age
- miscellaneous notes
The miscellaneous notes, though sometimes difficult to read, generally give indication of residence. This can include a Philadelphia neighborhood like Kensington or Frankfurt (Frankford).
Considering that St. Michael and Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church was one of the first (and main) Lutheran churches for colonial Philadelphia’s sizable German-American population, this is a great resource for those with ancestors who were parishioners.
In this 1761 register, Jacob Bender is listed as age 37 and wife, Dorothea is listed as having immigrated to Philadelphia 19 years prior, the mother of 7 children and age 32. [image detail from Ancestry.com]
The entries (dated 1761) for Jacob Bender and his wife correctly listed their ages and the number of children born to them at that time. The information is also accurate in listing Dorothea Bender as having been in the country for 19 years.
Jacob, however, had no number entered in that particular column.
Could this omission mean (as I have long suspected) that Jacob Bender was born in America?
The miscellaneous notes indicate his residence being in the Germantown Borough, which could be another big clue.
Jacob Bender bought a considerable amount of land after this register was made in the western Northern Liberties township (today’s Allegheny West neighborhood). However, I have not located any deeds prior to 1771, even though Jacob married and had children in Philadelphia decades earlier.
Where was he living? Apparently in Germantown.
Was it on inherited land or with other family?
I have long thought that if Jacob was born in America, he almost certainly was born in Germantown and connected to the earliest German settlement there.
There’s a family legend which claims that Jacob is the son of a Jacob Bender/Painter who immigrated in 1693 and settled in Pelham area of Germantown (today Mt. Airy).
Plus, he does not appear to have a connection with any other Bender/Painter families in Northern Liberties or of St. Michael & Zion Lutheran Church, except for one – Johannes Painter/Penter (d. 1768) and his wife, Carolina, who were the sponsors of Jacob and Dorothea’s daughter, Carolina. I’ve found no other mention of this couple in St. Michael & Zion’s records, so I am still unsure of how they relate.
Furthermore, a search under Bender and Painter surnames in Persons Naturalized in the Province of Pennsylvania, 1740-1773 yielded no entries for Jacob Bender/Painter, although there is a “Johann Jacob Binder” who took the oath listed as having received the sacrament in 1761. But this appears to be the same Johann Jacob Binder also among the parishioners on the 1761 Lord’s Supper register who immigrated in 1750.
So, it would appear that Jacob Bender just may have been born (ca. 1724) in colonial Pennsylvania. Now if I could only find proof…
axehandles 