CHAPTER II BITTINGER FAMILY PEREGRINATIONS:

BULGARIA, GERMANY, SWITZERLAND, ALSACE, PENNSYLVANIA, AND BEYOND

BEFORE THE ATLANTIC CROSSING: BITTINGER, BOGER, BOUSER, DOTTERER, ENGELHARDT, FIKE, PHILIPPI. LIVENGOOD, THOMAS, SHAFFER AND SELLERS1

INTRODUCTION

This study of the ancestors of the Bittinger/Büttner families is dedicated to the memory of Jonas and Etta Fike Bittinger of Preston County, West Virginia, and their numerous descendants now scattered across the United States.

The present essay follows a prior article I wrote that centered on the European Origins of the Bittinger family lines. That succeeded in tracing the Bittinger family from its Balkan origins into southern Germany, Switzerland and Alsace. The writer was able to access several web pages of individuals (to be cited later) researching the European origins of their own non-Bittinger family lines that included European Bittinger origins as their allied families. Germany and Switzerland maintain National Archives as valuable resources.

Incidentally, a recent book, The Romanov Sisters; The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra, (see bibliography) describes the relation of a Buttner family of southern Russia to the Romanovs. The Romanovs had engaged two of the Buttner daughters to become tutors of the Romanov daughters. This suggests a high social standing for the Buttner family. The date of this King and Queen was the late 1800s. This datum suggests the unconfirmed possibility that some of the Buttners may have moved eastward from Bulgaria or that Russia may have been the original Buttner home country from which our branch of the family had descended several centuries earlier. The reason for their emigration is unknown.

These sources enabled the writer to discover the truly ancient origins of the early Bittinger family. The allied family lines such as the Boger, Bouser, Dotterer, Frantz, Fike, Foust, Engelhart, Hoch, Livengood, Ludwick, Philippi, Merkel, Roudolph, Schäffer, and Schneider will be discussed

1Heinrich and Anna Catherina Schaeffer Bitting[er] who immigrated in 1723 will be shown as be the immigrantBitting/PittingfamilythatsettledNewHanoverMontgomery,Penna.Theyandtheirson,Ludwig,Sr.,whoproducedPhilip,Sr.andJr.,areourancestorsaswewill see induetime. Sinceour interest includesallof thechildrenof theprogenitors,adiscussionofboththeirancestorsandtheirdescendantswillbeincludedfirst.(Unfortunately,wehavebeenunabletofindmuchaboutthesisters).Wehavenoted,however,theEngelbergconnectionstothefamilyandtheirlocationsintheNewHanoverarea.TheanswertothisconundrumisthatPhilip,Sr.,thefatherofourPhilip,Jr,re-immigratednearlythreedecadeslater,ontheshipNancy,September16,1751,andwillbediscussedinduetime.

2 later in this document. Varied and divergent name spellings often were encountered. Later generations of these families in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, some of whom are discussed in Wayne Bittinger’s Generations book.

The earliest Bittinger marriage discovered was in Gutenwill a few kilometers east of Zurich, Switzerland where Elias Bittinger and Barbel Lybengut lived. (Barbell was born September 7, 1581.) This is where we begin the present essay.

The third and final essay, “The Descendants of Jonas and Etta Bittinger of Preston County, West Virginia”, has been completed and was available for the reunion of the descendants of the Rev. Foster and Mrs. Esther Bair/Sellers Bittinger family held in July 2013 at Lake Junaluska in North Carolina and updated in May 2016 for the Bittinger Family Reunion held at Blackwater Falls in August 2016.

The present essay is purposely designed to be broad enough to identify and include several major branches of the Bittinger and allied families. Although some branches are not ours, they are included in order to be helpful to other researchers. Since their earliest known arrival to this continent in 1723, Bitting[ers] have scattered far and wide. By the end of the 18th Century they had moved from their first settlement locations near Pottstown in Montgomery, Berks, Lehigh, York to Somerset Counties of Pennsylvania, and Frederick, Washington and Garrett Counties of Maryland, and to Hampshire and Preston Counties of what was then Virginia but now is West Virginia. The tracks of our ancestors of the Ludwig Bitting branch that includes Philip Sr., and Jr., migrated through western Virginia ca. 1769 to Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Ludwig’s brother, Anthony, went via Wythe County, Virginia, to the Winston Salem area of North Carolina, with Philip and Julianna splitting off and going to join his brother, Philip, Sr., in Somerset County in western Pennsylvania.

The broad purpose of this essay forecloses the possibility of doing a conventional genealogy study that would trace all these branches down, providing dates for each person. It does, however, provide an impression of the scope of the Bittinger migratory and settlement patterns, patterns likely not very different from that followed by many immigrant families arriving at the port of Philadelphia. The recounting of these movements is intended to provide clues for younger Bittinger family inquirer in the future to grasp a starting point in their own Bittinger searches in whatever location or branch they may be located.

It appears that this essay will identify the roots of most American immigrant Bittinger, Bötig/Büttner, Bitting, Pitting branches that came from the Freinsheim, Bern, and Alsace areas of Switzerland and Germany to America. The line of Heinrich and Anna Catherina Bitting, (the immigrants of 1723) and their son Ludwig, born 1702 and his son, Ludwig, Jr., born in 1729, are the line of descendants that is followed down to Somerset, Garrett and Preston Counties. This line, includes our Philip, Sr., who re-immigrated in 1751 and Philip, Jr. They are from our long sought ancestral line.

Having abandoned the massive task of following down to the present time all these several branches of the Heinrich and Anna Catherina Bittinger family that would include thousands of people, the writer instead has focused mostly on the task of researching his own family’s descent

3 line.2 That line begins in Switzerland in the mid-1500s with Elias and Barbara of ca. 1560 to the present generation. This line includes, of course, the third generation, (Heinrich and Anna Catherina Schäffer “Bitting” of Freinsheim, Germany, and their offspring down through Philip, Jr., and wife Julianna Philippi and their off-spring. Heinrich’s and Anna Catharina’s sons, immigrants of 1723, Heinrich of Lehigh County, and Joseph (Jost) of New Hanover, though not our line, also are included in short sections.

* * * *

In the 1930s, my father, the Rev. Foster M. Bittinger, became interested in discovering his Bittinger ancestry. He soon found a book by Lucy Forney Bittinger, Büttinger and Bedinger Families, Descendants of Adam Büdinger, 1904, which records the history of the Hanover, Pennsylvania branch in York County from whom the Monocacy Manor Bittingers descend. Although he was unable to successfully connect our line, he drew the natural but erroneous conclusion that our family was descended from that branch. This mistake was not discovered until many years later when the present writer became fully aware of the New Hanover Bittinger settlements near Philadelphia, and when he began researching the European origins of the Bittinger and allied family lines in Switzerland and Germany.

My own research began in the 1950s when visiting Garrett County, Maryland where a large number of Bittinger families reside. The pleasure of discovering and interviewing elderly Bittinger people and taking notes on our conversations is still fresh in my mind after nearly seventy years. Those valuable notes from talks with people now long deceased, proved to be a valuable aid to myself and to cousin Wayne Bittinger in his own research for his Bittinger book that traces numerous American descendent lines including ours from the Hagerstown, Maryland area. He was not aware of the older New Hanover settlement.

Since that early beginning, this family history project has been an “on and off” endeavor as the responsibilities of family and occupation took priority. Finally, it now nears its ending as I approach my 90h birthday. It is fortunate that I enjoy solving mysteries and making “discoveries” else I would have given up many years ago.

In recent years, genealogical research has undergone much change. Although doing interviews, researching land and family records in court houses and libraries, etc., is still essential, many leads and much information now is available on internet websites and from contacts with strangers in unknown places who also are working on their own Bittinger-related family lines. It is astounding to discover the plethora of genealogical data on the web. It did not take long to discover that one must be extremely judicious in making use of it.

2Asitturnedout,eventhisreducedtaskwasasufficientlydauntingoneforaneighty-eightandeighty-nineyearoldgreatgrandfather.

4 The fine work of Wayne Bittinger in his Generations book of 1974 and the enlarged edition of 1986, is gratefully acknowledged. He also has expressed gratitude for having used my own research when I loaned him my 1950s notes from interviews with elderly Bittinger persons in Garrett County.

The related branch of Bittingers in York County, Pennsylvania and Monocacy Manor, Maryland, is included in the early part of this essay for the sake of its possible its value to those relatives. The head of this branch of the family of Heinrich and Anna Katharina of Freinsheim, is their son Peter (Pierre) Bittinger/Pittinger. We will consider them next.

* * * *

THE MONOCACY MANOR BITTINGERS The names of Peter (father), David, and Daniel (sons) Pittinger-Pittinger appear frequently in the records of Monocacy Manor of eastern Frederick County, Maryland. C. E. Schildtknecht, a Maryland genealogist, discusses them and provides basic data about them.

The above-mentioned Peter Bittinger of Monocacy Manor, father of David and Daniel, died ca. 1752 and his estate was settled in 1752. Note that Schildtknecht renders his name as “Bittinger”, p.81. (Peter had acquired the name Pierre while his family lived in the quaint little French-speaking village of Sweigern in Alsace, a village Esther and I have visited.)

Because of the unsettled condition of the state boundary at that time, the estate settlement records of Peter Bittinger are located in the York County Courthouse relating to Monocacy Manor. The Manor straddled the boundary line of both states. The estate was handled by sons David and Daniel the year after Peter immigrated to join his sons, as stated by Schildtknecht.

(The York County-Monocacy Manor Bittinger line begins with this Peter [Pierre], one of the sons of Heinrich and Anna Catharina, immigrants of 1723 to New Hanover Pennsylvania. His

A Twentieth Century View of Bern, Switzerland

5 settlement patterns vary both in Germany and in America. He and/or his sons lived for a while in Sweigern. He arrived in America on the ship St. Andrew3 on September 14, 1751 (S & H; Vol. I, page 457). While living in Sweigern in Alsace, he may have used the name Pierre.

Apparently his sons came to America, earlier, where they settled in Monocacy Manor and where their earliest records go back to the 1740s. This Monocacy Manor branch spread to Washington County, Maryland with some Bittingers also settling near Shepherdstown, West Virginia, namely Heinrich Bitting[er].

The Monocacy Congregation of the German Reformed Church east of Frederick, Maryland has a list of baptisms to 1748 (not recorded beyond that date by Schildtknecht). This list mentions Daniel Bittinger/Pittinger bringing his son Daniel to the Reformed Church for baptism in 1744. This evidence is proof their presence several years earlier than their father Peter’s arrival in 1751. EUROPEAN ORIGINS CONTINUED After the writer resumed his research on the Bittinger and allied family lines two years ago, important new discoveries have been made. These will be summarized in the next paragraph or so in order that the reader will be able to conceptualize in advance the places where Bittingers have settled and made their homes.

Their first known settlement was at New Hanover, near Philadelphia in 1723. Their families then gradually spread from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, into Berks, Chester and Lehigh Counties all in eastern Pennsylvania. Later immigrations of Bittinger families reveal settlements in the Hanover area of York County, Pennsylvania, in Monocacy Manor, Maryland, in Sheperdstown, West Virginia, as well as in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

The Bittingers appear to have a common origin from the Bulgar tribes of the Baltic region before the 1500s. (Evidence for this statement is from Dr. Bowser’s 1922 History of the Bouser Family and from the National Geographic Society analysis of a genetic sample submitted by the writer for testing in 2013.) These tribal peoples were so numerous that their name was incorporated into the title of the nation of Bulgaria.

There the earliest Bittinger ancestor I have discovered is Elias Bittinger. His forebearers in the 1500s had migrated from Bulgaria to Switzerland near Zurich. Precise dates of this movement are un-known. We do not have any details of this lengthy migratory pattern. Andrew apparently went to Würtemburg and his sons Heinrich and Christoph to Freinsheim on the west side of the upper Rhine River opposite Manheim, both places in southern Germany. We may imagine that refugees, like refugees today, suffered tremendously by being driven out from their lands, losing everything except what they personally could carry or drag.

Sons of Pierre/Peter settled for a time in Alsace, then came to York County, settling near Hanover and in the Monocacy Manor in the first half of the 1700s. The family of Heinrich and

3SeeStraussbergerandHinke,PennsylvaniaGermanPioneers,Vol.I,page457(here-in-afterreferredtoas“S&H”),andalsoSchildtknecht,MonocacyandCatoctin,foradditionalinformation,

FindingaNewHome

6 Anna Catherina (Schäffer) Bittinger and sons Heinrich, Joseph (Jost), and Ludwig, Sr.., and our Philip Bittinger, Sr., and Jr., all descending from Elias and wife, “Barbel Lybengudt,” the latter the 1500s. They were said by Dr. Bouser4 in 1922 to have descended from old families of Bohemia. The Johannes Philippi family name goes back in time even farther to the ancient Greek city of Philippopolis, founded ca. 450 B. C. by Greek Warrier-King, Philip II.

Our own Bitting family at some unknown date was in Freinsheim where in recent times they prospered and became professional and artistic people, contributing to the culture and prosperity of southern Germany. Heinrich and members of his family, including sons Heinrich, Ludwig and Joseph (Jost), went to Pennsylvania in 1723, 1737, 1751 and 1754. Other members of the family followed, or made return trips, periodically in the 1740s, 1750s and 1760s, generating a long list of Bittinger/Büttner and allied family immigrants all from the same family line.

BITTINGER AND ALLIED FAMILY IMMIGRATS NOTED Sources of information about Bittingers (Pittinger, Biniger, etc., etc. and the Philippi

families are included in the will records of Philadelphia, Montgomery, Lehigh, Chester and Berks Counties. Immigration data can be found in Strassburger & Hinke, Pennsylvania German Pioneers, 3 volumes. (Wayne Bittinger’s fine volume of Bittinger history does not investigate immigrant Bittingers or their origins in Europe.) Nonetheless, Wayne’s book, Generations, remains the primary source for the Bittingers of Somerset Cpunty, Pennsylvania, Preston County, West Virginia. The following list of Bittinger immigrants does not include all, only those appearing to be related to our own family line and a few others as well.

Our ancestors Heinrich and Anna Catherina are said by Richard A. Bitting to have immigrated on the ship Globe in 1723 (before records were kept at Philadelphia). A son or brother of Heinrich is said to have settled in nearby Lehigh County and others, our ancestors, near Pottstown at New Hanover Township near the line between Berks and Montgomery Counties. They came from Freinsheim, Germany. See our ancestor Heinrich below for his “permission and recommendation” from the authorities at Freinsheim, in the Palatinate, allowing him to emigrate. (Source, Rich@Bitting Family.org). They are our ancestral family.

Our related line of Hans Adam and Peter “Beidinger” arrived August 30, 1737 on the ship Samuel. (Vol. I. of S&H, p. 169). (This is the Hanover, York County, Pennsylvania Monocacy Manor group from Sweigern, Germany and Gutenwill, Switzerland.)

4Dr.JohnBouser,HistoryoftheBouserFamily,1922.Viewedonline.

7

SailingforPenn’sLand

Martin “Bittner,” immigrant of May 30, 1741 came on the ship Snow Francis and Ann. (Vol. 1, p. 292). He was from the Freinsheim branch and settled in New Hanover Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He was the eldest son of the Heinrich and Anna Catharina (Schӓffer) Bittinger.

Heinrich and Hans Michael Büttner arrived on the ship Vernon, (Vol. 1, p. 363), August _, 1747. They immigrated from Sweigern, Germany settling in Maryland (The Hanover, York County and Monocacy Manor and Shepherdstown, West Virginia branches).

John Henry Feick arrived on the ship Anderson on August 21, 1750, one of the progenitors the Fike families in America. (S&H, Vol. 1, p. 433.) Oswald Dubs, ancestor of the Dubs family of York County, Pennsylvania, also was on this ship. Lamanda Dubs was a grandmother of the writer’s mother, Esther Sellers Bair Bittinger of York County.

George Engelhart, Hans George Ludwick, John, Andrew and Christian Philippi and Jacob and Beder [Peter] Leibengut [Livengood], our allied families, arrived on the ship Phoenix on August 28, 1750. (S&H, Vol., pp. 441-2) Three days later, Immanuel Boger arrived on the ship Nancy (p.443). These are our Bittinger allied ancestral families. Numerous other Brethren and Mennonite-sounding names appear on this remarkable ship list and deserve careful study. More about them later.

Christoph (Christian) Bidner/Bittner/Bitting came on the ship Brotherhood, arriving on November 3, 1750 with 300 persons of whom only 124 were named. Although he is not in our direct line, he is included here because he appears to be a brother of our Heinrich and a part of the general flight of German refugees to America, including Bittingers, that occurred around 1730-1750. He, along with our Heinrich who married Anna Catharina Schäffer, were sons of Andrew who married Julianna Henricas. They were refugees who fled the Balkan wars in the early 1500s. These wars created an estimated 50,000 refugees to Germany and Switzerland and elsewhere, and the Bitting family was mentioned as one of those families by researcher Dr. Bouser in 1922. (See Bouser Famiy History, ca. 1922.)

RotterdamPortofDeparture

8 Several members of the Philippi family also arrived on August 28, 1750 on the ship Phoenix, (p. 441) namely, Johannes Philippi, [single], Johannes Philippi, Sr., and Jr., along with Andraes Philippi, all on the same ship. Also on this ship were Hans Jacob Liebengut Sr., and Jr., and Peter Liebengut (Livengood), allied Bittinger allied ancestors. Johannes Philippi is present and standing in the list very close to George Engelhart whose daughter, Julianna, he would marry. Johannes and Julianna Philippi, became the parents Julianna who would become wife of our Philip Bittinger, Jr. Philip immigrated in 1751 with Ludwig and Anthony in their second arrival.

They lived first in Montgomery and Berks Counties, Pennsylvania. The earliest origins discovered of the Philippi family go back to Philippopolis, founded on the upper Maria River (now named differently) in what was then called Thrace, by Greek warrior, Philip II, ca. 342 B. C. It is located inland just west of the Black Sea. (See Historical Atlas of the Classical World, 500 B. C. to 600 A. D. by John Haywood, Barnes and Noble, 2000, page 208.) It is also shown on the jacket cover of this book.

Three days later, on August 31, 1750 the ship Nancy (p. 443) carrying 270 passengers, arrived bringing Tobias Miller, the Feasters, and Immanuel Boger, allied families that would soon make their homes in Somerset County. Christian Boger (Bougher) would become the father or grandfather of John Boger who became the Elder at Sandy Creek Congregation of Preston County, West Virginia. He was the father of Mary and Lydia who married David Bittinger our great grandfather! Christian Boger is included in the Brethren Encyclopedia, Vol. I, p. 157.

Descendants of Tobias Miller would also go to the same area, and some descendants later to Eglon (Judges 3:14,17) where Dr. Harold Miller would become both a minister and doctor and carry on with his doctor wife, Blanche, a large medical practice. When father Foster Bittinger sold the Bittinger home farm at Eglon (in 1940 or ’41), the Millers, whose land adjoined, purchased it.

Peter “Biniger,” mentioned above, came on ship St. Andrew September 14, 1751 (S&H, Vol. I, p. 457). (Hanover, Pennsylvania and to Monocacy Manor in adjacent Maryland). He is the progenitor of the Monocacy Manor, Maryland family in America. His two sons had immigrated earlier and were present in Maryland in the mid-1740s.

Antres (Andrew) “Bitinger”, believed to be one of the sons of Ludwig and grand- son of Heinrich and Anna Catherina, immigrated on ship Nancy in September 16, 1751, spelled “Bitinger”, (S&H,Vol. 1, p. 462-3) settling near New Hanover, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Apparently having ties to the Hoch/High family in Germany, he stayed with them. Later Andrew then migrated with the Brethren Hoch/High family to Hampshire County, Virginia, now West Virginia. He apparently was “scouting” with the John Hoch-Andrew Bitting party and took sick and died while camped in the Purgittsville vicinity, is said to be buried at Old Pine Church Cemetery, nearby where numerous ancient unnamed graves are found or in the High Cemetery adjacent to Purgittsville. If at Pine Church, he would be one of the earliest burials there, long before the present church house was built, suggesting that the present ancient building may have been preceded by an older log structure.

John Martin “Bedinger/Bettinger,” son of Heinrich and Anna Catherina, arrived September 24, 1753 on the ship Peggy, (See S&H, lists A and C, Vol. I, pp. 546, 549). Others were John Frederick Engelhart, relative of George Engelhart whose daughter Julianna later married Phillip Bittinger, Jr.,

9 Joseph Büdtner, age 33, arrived on the ship Barclay September 14, 1754. See List B for this

spelling. (Vol. I, pp. 595-598) If he were the Joseph who signed the Antes will in 1746, he would then have been in his twenties He is quite likely of a later generation and a Freinsheim relative. If he were a son, born in 1713, of Heinrich of Freimsheim, there is an eight or ten year discrepancy in his reported age. (At this time, not everyone kept track of their age, especially if they were illiterate.) The Bittinger name was often spelled with the German umlaut, as above.

John Carl Büttner, Johannes Heinrich “Philibahr” (Philippi) and a John Feig (Feick, Fike) came on the ship Sally on August 23, 1773. (Vol. I, p. 748). This John Feig is the ancestor of our Eglon Fike line and will be discussed later. This Buttner is part of our larger ancestral family.

Our ancestor, Philip, Sr., son of Ludwig Bittinger, Jr., was not an immigrant as he was born in Montgomery County in 1737. He did travel to Germany in 1751, as will be seen below.

THE SETTLEMENT AT NEW HANOVER AND MOVE TO SOMERSET After the Bittingers and Livengoods had lived in the New Hanover-Pottstown area for several decades, land became available in 1769 in Bedford County, now Somerset County following an agreement with Indian Chief Pontiac. Consequently, Peter Livengood, Henry and Philip, Sr.,5 Bittinger, and others decided to travel there to obtain parcels of this cheap land. Their move also likely also was motivated by rumors of the pending great American Revolution. This explains how their names are included on the tax list of 1770 at Somerset (formerly Bedford) County.

It was customary to obtain land when possible before actually moving to a new location. It appears that Philip Bittinger settled there within a year or so, for his son Philip, Jr., joined him there by ca. 1775, though we cannot say exactly what year it was. Tradition suggests that Livengoods spent a difficult winter there surviving under an oak tree while building their cabin. In the case of Philip, Jr. and his brother Henry, in 1773 they got no farther than the Conococheague area just west of Hagerstown. This is where Philip and Julianna’s first child, Susanna, was born July 14, 1773 and christened by the Salem Reformed Church minister near Hagerstown on August 28 of 1773. They remained in that area for a short while, likely moving in with the John and Susanna (Bitting) Hoch/High family to Purgittsville, W. Va. where they wintered before going to Somerset the following year or so. A record of Susanna’s christening is written in the Reformed Church record at Hagerstown. By the time of the birth of their second child, Mary Magdalena, they were in Somerset County where the rest of the children were christened and recorded there in the Berlin Reformed Church records.

The Livengood family migration from Montgomery County to Somerset County Pennsylvania ca. 1769-70, has been the subject of considerable comment. For example, Livengood gained the distinction of taking the first Conestoga wagon over the Allegheny Mountain. In several ways he was a true American pioneer. He was among the several dozen permanent settlers of Somerset County and possibly the wagon-train leader. There were other settlers there before the Livengoods and Bittingers.

5ThisPhiliplikelywasPhilipSr.OurPhilip,Jr.wouldhavebeenonly14-16yearsofage.

10 Philip, Jr., and Julianna, along with Henry and Dorothy Bittinger, also arrived a year or two later, settling on the land obtained by his father, Philip, Sr. as indicated on the tax list by the year 1770, a date prior to the Revolutionary War. He apparently had gone with the Livengood wagon train, possibly returning for a while to Berks County. Philip, Jr. likely would have been too young at age sixteen or seventeen to claim land in his name.

Likely the Livengood wagon train was made up of trusted neighbors as well as relatives, possibly upwards of a dozen in all. Unpredictable dangers were associated with such a trip at this early time. There were still a few roving Indian bands that might surprise them. Many parts of the rugged trail had to be repaired, cleared, if not actually created, requiring heavy labor. Not the least was the strenuous and difficult crossing of the as yet un-tamed Allegheny Mountain.6

The Highs and Bittingers likely would have followed at least part of the route opened by early explorers such as George Washington and others which led them west of Winchester westward to the South Branch River and past Romney to Purgittsville.

Related families and neighbors usually traveled in groups because of the frequent need to assist each other as difficulties and breakdowns occurred along the way. The crossing of un-bridged streams always presented un-predictable danger and difficulty.

This Livengood record of migration may be found at the Somerset County Historical Society Library or “Googled”. I seem to recall from 50 years ago that the Society had some remnants of Livengood’s wagon in their possession and on display.

A quotation from the History of Bedford and Somerset Counties (Vol. III, p. 229) provides additional information about the Livengood and Keim settlements near Salisbury:

“ ….. the Keim family moved to Elklick Township taking up their abode on what is now known as the John J. Keim farm, the place being owned by John Hendricks (a Dunkard minister) who lived in a log house which is still standing. Peter Livengood lived on the adjoining farm which is now the property of Jeremiah B. Keim, a grand son of John Keim. The site of Peter Livengood’s house is now within the limits of Salisbury [westward]. A century ago [now two centuries ago], it was the only house within the vicinity of Salisbury, and the place was called Shirestown. . . . . Berkley lived at Berkley Mills and Beachley close to what is now Meyersdale but was known as Meyers Mills. These two, John Berkley and John Beechley (Bechly), were preachers of the denomination known as Brethren, Dunkard or German Baptist, and services were held in Peter Livengood’s house. There was no mill nearer than twenty-five miles, and schools were held in private houses. [Copied by EFB in August 2000].

Peter Livengood became wealthy, partly as a result of hard work and partly as a result of obtaining cheap land. He was no miser, and he knew that that each newly founded family needed help in getting established in the as yet un-tamed wilderness before the harsh winter weather set in. When each of his numerous offspring married, he gave a generous start in their marriage by providing them each with a large gift of household furnishings and other goods. Each item was

6Earlier travelers usually went around the on south side of the Potomac to avoid the difficult mountain terrain,crossingnorthagainatPawPawtogowestwardbeforethistime,followingtheearlyroutetoFortPittusedbytheearly explorers and settlers. The Livengoods are said to have pioneered amore direct route across the AlleghanyMountaindirectlyintowhatisnowSomersetCounty.

11 meticulously noted in his journal as a record in order to assure that each one received equally, thus avoiding family squabbles! The record of these legacy gifts has been preserved, and a copy is in the writer’s possession. It was also published by the Masthof Press at Morgantown, Pennsylvania.7

Some of his children were “Dunkers,” and the Brethren (Dunkers) were eager to have Peter Livengood convert to the Brethren Faith. In those days, much emphasis was placed on following the scripture accurately. With respect to baptism, the Brethren had an advantage over those denominations that sprinkled or poured for baptism.

There were numerous public debates in the second half of the 1800s concerning the method of Jesus’ baptism and the correct method to follow. The Brethren claimed Jesus was immersed in the water. A proper baptism, they said, was three immersions forward, once each in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. Great crowds attended these debates, sometimes thousands, and the debates were taken down by an appointed writing clerk for a permanent record. . The Dunker claims regarding baptism were pretty difficult to put down, and usually the Dunker Elder was declared a winner!

At any rate, Peter Livengood became convinced and went over to the German Baptist Brethren (CoB). He was soon elected to the ministry. Following this significant event, many other Somerset County Amish families also converted to the Brethren faith as well, much to the dismay of their Amish Bishops! We do not know for sure where or when the Livengoods became Amish, whether in Switzerland, Germany or in Pennsylvania. A large number of Amish and other Anabaptists fled Switzerland to escape persecution abroad when lawsThe Zurich forbade them from inheriting their family land.

An interesting legend has been passed down about our great, great great grand-father, Christian Feig/ Fike, Jr. who married Christina, a grand- daughter of Peter Livengood. Before Christian converted to the Brethren, he had married Christina Livengood whose family had become Brethren. Wanting to attend the Brethren Love Feast (it was required to attend in those days, or one suffered a visit from a church committee!), Christina asked her husband Christian to allow her to buy a pair of shoes, which he denied. She then walked the several miles barefoot to and from the Feast. As she returned and walked into the kitchen, her feet left bloody prints on the floor. When Christian saw these prints the next morning, “his heart was softened”, and he soon afterwards joined the Brethren, the first Fike known to do so. The Fikes and Livengoods were members of the Elk Lick German Baptist Brethren Congregation south of Meyersdale, near Salisbury, Pennsylvania. (See Elder Emra T. Fike’s small Fike history booklet.)

7The Peter Leibundgut Journal, Old Springfield Shoppe, P.O. 161, Elverson, Pa., 19520-0171. See also an article inMennoniteFamilyHistorymagazine,“FamilyRelationshipsinElkLickTownship”byJ.VirgilMiller,July1994,pp.108-9.

ChristianandElizabethBeeghlyLivengoodStonesintheKeim-LivengoodCemeterySalisbury,PA

12

FAMILY INTERACTIONS It seems plausible to assume the Bittinger, Livengood, Philippi, and Engelhart families knew each other in their homelands, and that some of them may have been members of an Anabaptist group emmigrating together into a new land where they would continue their associations and inter-family ties! This ship Phoenix also carried Hans George Ludwick, ancestor of Mary “Molly” Ludwick who would marry our Arnold ancestor, Brethren Elder Samuel Arnold of Beaver Run, Burlington, West Virginia. His immigrant ancestor, and ours, was John George Arnold who settled near Myersville, Maryland.

Formerly known as Elk Lick Church, the Livengoods attended an earlier log church that was replaced in 1846 at the above location. Several of Livengood’s descendants also became ministers in this congregation. It was a missionary-minded church and established outpost “arms” or meeting places in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Credit: J. E. Blough, History .Church of the Brethren in Western Pennsylvania, 1906,

p. 156.

Credit: J. E. Blough, History .Church of the Brethren in Western

Pennsylvania, 1906, p. 191.

13 This characteristic gathering (ca. 1890) at the Quemahoming Church in Pennsylvania

depicts the pre-1900 dress code enforced by the Brethren. Suppression of “pride” in appearance and a strong code of uniformity ruled the Brethren at this time. Only black and white and simplicity of dress were allowed. White for unmarried girls signified purity and the unmarried state. Married women could wear colored clothes.

Some of Samuel and Mary “Molly” (Ludwick) Arnold’s twelve children would marry into the Peter Livengood and Christian Fike families lines of Somerset County, Pennsylvania and Preston County, West Virginia; namely, Lydia would marry Daniel Livengood of Elk Lick Congregation in Somerset County, and Nancy would marry Elder Jacob Garber of the Flat Rock Congregation in Virginia, and a daughter, Magdalene, would marry Peter Fike8 of the Eglon Congregation in West Virginia.

The Arnold, Biser, Ludwick, Leatherman, Miller, Harsh and other families of Germanic origin, in the following fifty years, would build the Beaver Run and Maple Spring (Eglon) settlements into two of the largest and most influential Brethren congregations in northern West Virginia.

In addition to those mentioned above, the ship Phoenix brought Zimmermans, Garbers, Merkels, Myers and other families whose names are familiar to Brethren of the older generation. The passenger list of this remarkable ship contained 339 persons, and their Anabaptist-like names are worthy of careful study. Of interest to the Bittinger family and their kin are the names, Johannes Philippi (p. 442), George Englehart, Johannes Philippi Sr., and Jr. (439), Beder (Peter) “Liebengut” [Sr.] along with Johannes “ Liebengut”, Sr., and Jr. and others.

Three days later, the ship Priscilla, arrived carrying, (p. 441) Johan Geo. Ludwick, father of Mary Molly Ludwick. She married our ggggrand-father Elder Samuel Arnold of Beaver Run. Their daughter, Magdalene, married Peter Fike of Eglon. Peter Fike was grandmother Etta’s grandfather. Peter Fike’s father, Christian, had married Christina, a daughter of Elder Peter Livengood. One of Peter Livengood’s sons, Daniel, had, in turn, married Katherine (not Lydia), daughter of Elder Samuel Arnold of Beaver Run! (See my thick Livengood folder containing many years of collected materials including my article on Christian Livengood).

How I would love to have attended one of those weekend Love Feasts at Beaver Run, Eglon or Elk Lick! On these occasions large crowds of people from other congregations always attended, sometimes traveling dozens of miles by walking, or horse and buggy or wagon. These were the greatest events of the year in these wilderness settlements! Services ran all day, and Love feast was held on Saturday evening. People from a distance stayed in homes or in the upper room of the church where accommodations were customarily provided.

We can suppose that in the early days, the older attendees would remember and recite the stories of the German homeland, the adventurous and risky ocean crossing, and the trek by foot and covered wagon through the virgin forests to their new homes in the wilderness.

8WhenPeterFikemovedwithhislargefamilyofmarriedoffspringfromSomersetCounty,Pennsylvania,theyspokemostly Pennsylvania Dutch, consequently for several decades their village at Eglon was known as the “GermanSettlement.”

MovingtoaWildernessHome

14 These were times of much hard work as crude log homes first needed to be built, water sources, “springs”, had to be cleaned, walled up and, and prepared for daily use, and fire wood cut and stored for winter. If their arrival was too late to grow vegetables, their winter food supply would consist of game from the forests and the small supply of grain or flour purchased somewhere along the way or shared by sympathetic neighbors.

Love Feasts and reunions always were highly attended not only by the local community, but by numerous ministers and relatives from other congregations. In a time when attendance at fairs and commercial amusements were strictly forbidden as sinful and “worldly” events, Love Feasts and family reunions at churches or at family owned “groves” where picnic tables were maintained, were the primary diversions.

The Mose Fike reunion, begun by 1910 or earlier, is still held each year on the Homer Fike farm near Eglon south of Red House. Such gatherings are still highly anticipated with some traveling from nearby or distant states. This farm has recently been sold.

We can imagine that these were occasions to recall the family stories of the German homeland, their journeys across the Atlantic, and their travels by covered wagons through the virgin forests to their new settlements in the wilderness. The building of churches, and rearing of their families were challenges not soon to be forgotten. Occasionally some of these events are still retold today!

Also, the ship Phoenix was carrying numerous passengers who had or were soon have, known associations with the Brethren and Mennonites. Many of these immigrants were persecuted refugees fleeing oppression and intolerance by the Authorities because they practiced Anabaptist “reforms”. The refusal to baptize infants, the “re-baptizing” of converts as adults, and rejection of transubstantiation (the miraculous transforming of the sacramental elements) were capital crimes punishable by death in the early 1600s, only a hundred years or so earlier.

In earlier times, Anabaptists were burned at the stake, tortured to death in unimaginably horrible ways or imprisoned under the harshest conditions for their faith and religious practices. A member of the Anabaptist Faith by the name of Arnold, a preacher, was burnt at the stake ca. in 1250 A. D. Our Bittinger and Fike lines descend from this ancient Arnold family. This book shows him still standing in the fire with the flesh burned off of his lower legs. For the Anabaptists, “religious freedom” had a meaning hardly conceivable to Americans today.

It had been only a little more than a century since such similar persecutions were being practiced in Switzerland.9 During and after the public executions and horrendous imprisonments in the Zurich area in the early and middle 1600s, Switzerland prohibited unapproved religious sects from purchasing land or passing land down to their offspring. These laws were passed in order to force them either to “convert” back to the established churches or to flee. Remaining faithful to their convictions, most chose the latter course.

It was during this century that Europeans were awakening to the opportunities opening up in the “new world.” Thousands were seeking religious freedom and fleeing to America. Switzerland’s losses became America’s gain.10 These pages also include the description of the

10Martyr’sMirror,1847,I.D.Rupp’sEnglishtranslation,pages1004-1010.

15 beheading of Anabaptist minister, Hans Landis in 1614, of the ancestral family of Esther Landis Bittinger, wife of the writer.

****

OUR BITTINGER LINE Our own Bittinger/Bedinger family is descended from the Heinrich and Anna Catharina

Büttung/Bedinger family of Freinsheim, Germany, immigrants of 1723. They were formerly of Bulgaria or Bohemia, but then moved via Würtemburg in south eastern Germany to their new home in Freinsheim. About the same time, (ca. late 1500s?) Elias Bittinger migrated from the same area to near Zurich, Switzerland. In Switzerland in the 1690s the family came under the influence of Jacob Ammon, the founder of the Amish Faith. Because the Mennonites and Amish re-baptized their converts, (Anabaptists) the Reformed (state-approved) Church was insulted. The converts of Menno Simons (Mennonites) and Jacob Ammon (Amish)11 were severely persecuted and driven out of the Zurich area. Then in the first half of the Eighteenth Century, descendants of these two lines immigrated to America, providing the two main branches of the Bitting/Bittinger families in the United States.

We will consider now the Freinsheim, Germany line of Henry and Anna Catharina Schäffer Bötting/Bitting. He had sons Martin, Henry, Ludwig (our ancestor), Joseph (Jost), grandfather of Heinrich who signed the Indian Treaty, and Melchoir (died young) and one surviving daughter, Anna Dorothy Elizabeth. Our line descends from this Freinsheim family from Ludwig Sr., through Philip, Sr., and Jr. Philip Jr., (the immigrant of 1751) then from Philip, Jr. to Henry, Jonathan, David, Jonas, to Foster, father of the writer, etc.

First American Bittinger Generation

[Comment by the writer. The following Bitting section with the blue margin was found in November of 2012 while he was exploring Bittinger internet resources relating to Freinsheim, Germany and Bern, Switzerland. Prepared by Richard A. Bitting of Bern County near Philadelphia, it proved to be a seminal source. His work comprises a forty-page list of Bittings descending from Henry and Anna Catherina. The section is one of the secondary sources and was found in the Richard A. Bitting web site. I had discovered much of the same data, but Richard A. Bitting, had focused on the New Hanover settlement, a Bitting community relatively unknown to myself. His lengthy “Bitting Outline” is an astounding accomplishment. Acknowledging his work and with appreciation, I reprint parts of it here.] The small footnote numbers reveal their content by placing the curser on them and following instructions. I add my own lengthy small print comments.]

1. Heinrich BITTING1,2,3 (clicking on these numbers links the bibliography.

Heinrich and Anna Catherine were living before 1675 in Freinsheim in the Palatinate but departed under the name Böttig in 1723 to the hinterlands of Philadelphia .They died near Pottstown, Pennsylvania. His German home in the Reinish htown of reinsheim, is located on the west bank of the upper Rhine River on the opposite side from Manheim in the Rhenish

11Hostetler,JohnA.,AmishSociety,4thedition,1993,(TheJohnsHopkinsUniversityPress:Baltimore,Md.),Chapter2.

16

Palatinate. Early records list Henrich as the "Raths-Diener", (tipstaff? or town janitor). He and wife Anna Catharina received a complimentary letter of commendation from the Freinsheim Bürgomiester. The Letter was dated 24 April 1723, probably within days of their actual departure. Henrich, wife and eight children arrived in Philadelphia in 1723, likely on the ship "Globe." In 1734 he was on the list of taxables of New Hanover Township, and the owner of several hundred acres of land. He attended the New Goshenhoppen Reformed Church in Montgomery County.

COMMENDATION We the CHIEF UNDER MAGISTRATE, BURGOMASTER, the COUNCELLOR of the MUNCIPALITY FREINSHEIM, of the Electoral Palatinate, make known to all people: by virtue of this letter, that on this day personally appeared before us, our fellow citizen HENNERIOS BITTING and his wife ANNA CATHARINA, and declared in due form their intention and design to remove with their children, their home and household effects from here, resolved to settle elsewhere, where their condition can be improved, he requests therefore to be furnished with a trustworthy certificate of the fidelity, which as a citizen he has shown up to this time to the gracious government of this town and of their voluntary departure and action to be used by them in case of need. Now therefore as the truthfulness of this allegation no one can either deny or gainsay, we cheerfully comply with the reasonable request and petition of the aforementioned citizen of this place, HENNERIOS BITTING. That we hereby declare publicly, as is our duty, that the said HENNERIOS BITTING, is by us discharged and released from his duties as a citizen and that he is at liberty to remove with his family whither he pleases and 339his departure is free and open and that he is not obligated or liable for personal service to any ruler and the above mentioned HENNERIOS BITTING and his family have during their residence here conducted themselves in law-abiding and neighborly manner toward all persons and he has always manifested and rendered to the government the respect which is due from an upright and honest citizen and there is not the least complaint against them, but we cheerfully wish them success in every lawful undertaking, where ever they may be, and we therefore request each and every one, both the high and the lowly, to extend to the said HENERIOS BITTING and his family good will and kindly reception, in consideration of which we hold ourselves in readiness to return a like favor to such person according to this station in life. In witness whereof and in further confirmation, we have affixed the seal of the Council and subscribed the same. Done at Freinsheim the 24th day of April 1723. Signed and Sealed by: Elect - Palatinate Chief Under Magistrate, Bürgemeister and counselor! He was a Rathe-Diener? (Tipstaff) in Freinsheim, Germany.

1. Heinrich BITTING and Anna Catharina SCHÄFFER were married in 1695. Anna Catharina SCHÄFFER was born about 1675 in Freinsheim, Palatinate. She and Heinrich immigrated in 1723 to Philadelphia, PA. She died at New Hanover, Pennsylvania. Heinrich BITTING and Anna Catharina SCHÄFFER had the following children:

+2 i. Martin BITTING. born 1697 in Freinsheim, died. APR 5, 1756.

[The original is in blue; the comments added by the writer are italicized. See also the Dotterer essay.] Married to Margaret _______. He had been born at

12SeeDanielW.Nead,ThePennsylvaniaGerman in theSettlementofMaryland (Lancaster,GenealogicalPublishingCo.,1980),pp.219-220.

17

Freinsheim where he had been baptized at the Reformed Church by Pastor John Adam Schäffer who was the father of Anna Catharina, Martin’s mother. He was a miller by trade. Between 1727 and 1742 he purchased three tracts of land in New Hanover Twp. near Pottstown In 1734 he was naturalized. In 1742 he obtained a license to keep a “public house”. (By custom neighborhoods in Germany usually had several citizens who maintained a “public” room in their homes where neighbors were welcome to visit, purchase and enjoy a mug of local beer)

His children were: 1) Anna Catharine born February 10, 1728; She married Adam Hillegas, and died February 25, 1810; 2) Lewis, (1729-1804), 3) Adam, (ca.1732-1778), confirmed at Faulkners Swamp in the Reformed Church at age 18; 4), Sophia, 1734, confirmed on Easter 1749, age 15; 5) Anthony who died July 13, 1818, aged seventy-five, two months and four days; married Mary Hunter ca. 1765. Their daughter Elizabeth married Jacob Livengood. Anthony married 2), Magdalena Gresh, 1758-1836.

Martin’s widow was buried September 18, 1780. (SeeHenryS.Dotterer,“ThePerkiomenRegion”,PerkiomenPublishingCo.,1894Vol.I,No.4,pp. 44-45, also Richard A. Bittinger’s “Bittinger Family Outline.”) .

3 ii. Anna Sophia BITTING3 was born on 22 Nov 1699 in Freinsheim, Palatinate.4 ! Bp. 22 Nov 1699, died 1706.

+4 iii. Johann Ludwig BITTING,Sr.. Born 1702, Freinsheim, died 1775 in Bucks Co., PA.

He was born in Freinsheim, Palatinate.4 ! Died Lehigh County March 11, 1775; (http:/oleyvalley.net/genealogy/Bitting). He married Servina Böhm, daughter of Rev. Philip Böhm. She was a granddaughter of Jacob, the leader of the“Inspirationalist Movement” in Germany. (See Brethren Encyclopedia, Vol. I, p. 186).JohanLudwigBitting,Sr.,leaderofourancestralline.

Rev.PhilipBöhmlivedinlowerMilfordTwp.,nearPhiladelphiaandwasamemberofthe Great Swamp Reformed Church. He represented Northampton County in theAssembly in1758-60.Hiswill,ofSeptember25,1771,namedhissecondwifeElizabeth,hisfirstwifebeingdeceased.HediedinPenn.in1775.

Ludwig and Servina likely lived in the New Hanover area, perhaps following hisfather’slineofbusinessasatavernowner.Theirchildren:

1.LudwigBöhmBittingthe3rd.

2.Henry,toSomersetCounty.3.Anthony,immigrantof1751wasbornca1738,died1804.ToNorthCarolina.

SomeoftheBitting’sneighborswereMoraviansafewofwhomweresimilarlymakingplanstomovesouthtoN.C.Thismovemayhavebeenpromptedbycontactwithacloseneighbor,William Boone, father of Daniel, who alsowent to North Carolina as a landpromoter. They settled at the north edge of Winston Salem where their DeutschLanguage gave rise to the name of the town. He is buried in the Cemetery of theNazareth Lutheran Church at Rural Retreat, the name of his home and land. (He andfamilyarediscussedinmoredetaillaterinthisessay.)

4.Philip,Sr.(fatherofourancestorPhilip,Jr).Hehadclaimtolandin

Somerset County by 1770), where he settled, having arrived there with Livengood in1769toselectland.

5.Peter,toMonocacyManor,Maryland

6.AnnaMariawifeofAndrewGräber,(tToSomersetCo.)

7.ElizabethDorothea,wifeofGabrielKeim,(toSomersetCounty)

18

Somerset County by 1770), where he settled, having arrived there with Livengood in1769toselectland.

5.Peter,toMonocacyManor,Maryland

6.AnnaMariawifeofAndrewGräber,(tToSomersetCo.)

7.ElizabethDorothea,wifeofGabrielKeim,(toSomersetCounty)

8.MaryCatherina,ChristinawifeofFranzLeydichofFrederickTwp.

Source:(Ibid.,Dotterer,p.2).

Seemypage29foraslightlyvariantlistofLudwig’schildren.

Theabove evidence indicatesa friendly partingof thewayswithin theBittinger familywith Anthony going south to North Carolina and Henry and Philip. Sr. going west toSomersetCountywherelandhadbeensecuredca.1769).

5 iv. Anna Catharina BITTING1 was baptized on 9 Mar. 1704 in Freinsheim, Palatinate. She was born in 1704 in Freinsheim, Palatinate. She died on 21 Apr 1706 in Freinsheim, Palatinate.

+6 v. Johann Johann Heinrich BITTING. Born Dec. 20, 1705, Freinsheim. He settled near Saucon.

His marriage to Catherine Reis on November 14, 1744 is recorded at the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia. He died December 3, 1747, Lehigh Co. Henrich, brother of Jost. Because of his death on December 3, 1747, he could not have been the Henry who accompanied Philip to Somerset County in 1774-5. He called together three of his brothers, Martin, Ludwig and Joseph (Jost) to write his will, but he died before it was written down. His estate was settled in accord with his wishes by his three brothers. More about Henry later. His two known children, were Catherine who married Frederick Laubach and Magdalena who married Adam Engelhart

7 vi. Anna Dorothy Elizabetha BITTING [Philip’s great aunt] was christened on 7 Mar 1708. She was born in Freinsheim, Palatinate.

8 vii. Johann Peter Bitting. Borrn about 1710 in Freinsheim, Palatinate. Christened on 5 Oct 1710 in Freinsheim, Palatinate.

Immigrant of 1751. To Monocacy Manor. He is the progenitor of the Monocacy Manor line.

+9 viii. Joseph (Justes/Jost) BITTING. Born July 2, 1713, died December 25, 1801 in Montgomery County.

He is said to have married to Agnes Dotterer, daughter of Hieronomous Dotterer of Faulkners Swamp. Her death occurred December 2, 1785. Both are buried in Leidicg’s private Cemetery. Because Jost sired a large descendancy, he and his family are discussed in detail later in this essay. Joseph, Henry and Philip (sons?) are listed a privates along with a “Henry Beeding” in Eneas Campbell’s unit of the “Flying Camp,” of the Revolutionary Army. (See Daniel W. Nead, The Pennsylvania German in the Settlement of Maryland, 1914; Pennsylvania German Society, pp. 219-20) They were said to be from upper Washington County, Maryland12where some of Heinrich and Anna Catharina’s children or grandchildren had settled.

19

Society, pp. 219-20) They were said to be from upper Washington County, Maryland12where some of Heinrich and Anna Catharina’s children or grandchildren had settled.

10 ix. Johanna Juliana BITTING was baptized on 5 Apr 1716 in Freinsheim, Palatinate where she was born in 1716 and died on 20 September 1717 in Freinsheim, Palatinate and was buried there.

11 x. Johann Melchior BITTING was born in 1718 at Freinsheim, Palatinate. He died there on 15 Nov 1722 at age four.

MORE LENGTHY COMMENTS BY THE WRITER were added in italics in the indented paragraphs below the blue names which were found on the Richard A. Bitting website.

Credit and appreciation for birth, death, and marriage information in the above chart to Richard A. Bitting; and Harry S. Dotterer; and John Amsfield’s lengthy table and “Amsfield and Collateral Lines”, and home page of Roshon, Steinruck, Evans, Denning, Gresh, Mayberry and Krider. The short essay, “The Perkiomen Region,” by Henry S. Dotterer, referred to above, provided many additional details in the list of Henry’s and Anna Catharina Schäffer’s children.

The Freinsheim Bittings are believed to have descended from the Bulgar tribes of south Asia that migrated into the Baltic region in the area west of the Black Sea, where their name gave rise to the state of Bulgaria. Our ancient branch then drifted via Ens and Wurtemburg westward into Switzerland and southwest Germany. The motivations involved in these migrations are unknown. Population expansion along with poor economic conditions and political unrest likely were forces involved in their decisions. Such conditions are said to have created many refugees, perhaps 50,000, that settled in southeastern Germany and Switzerland around that time. Hannes Bitting, son of Elias, born February 27, 1614, father of Andrew, born 1660, had married 1) Maudle Andoss and 2) Marie Wakhle, but we do not know which wife is Andrew’s mother. Hannes and his father Elias, may or may not have been the first Bittingers to arrive there and may have been preceded by earlier Bitting families of whom we know nothing. We do not know how long they remained in Wütemburg or Ens, but in some decades later, they are found later in the Rhenish Palatinate at Freinsheim on the upper Rhine across from Manheim, where his son Heinrich and wife Anna Catharina (Schäffer) lived. By 1723 Heinrich and Anna Catherina immigrated to New Hanover, Montgomery County, near Pottstown. Sadly, we know little about these early generations, but we gain the obvious impression of hardships endured and many survival obstacles overcome. By the late 1720s, Heinrich Bitting[er], (son of Heinrich and wife Anna Catharina,) and his offspring, are found in Lehigh County north of Reading, Pennsylvania. Around this same time, Ludwig, Peter, Joseph/Jost), sons also of Heinrich and Anna Catharina Bötting/Bitting were located at or near New Hanover, a short distance north of Pottstown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Earliest Bitting[er] signatures I have discovered are written in the will books as “Joseph” before 1750 and Ludwig after 1750.

20 The Lybengudt (Livengood) and Bittinger families were connected early in Switzerland where Elias Bittinger had married Barbara (Barbel Lybengudt), September 17, 1581 where both families had evidently shared common experiences. Descendants of both families moved into German speaking Alsace, where they became established for an unknown period of time before going to America. The name Leibengudt/Lybengut is found in these places with variable spellings.

* * * *

Jost, Bitting (Joseph) of whom we know the most, was born July 2, 1713, was a son of Heinricus (Heinrich) and Anna Catherina of Freinsheim. His parents arrived in Philadelphia in 1723 on the ship Globe.13 Jost would have been under age ten and not required to sign the ship list. Earliest records after 1723 in Montgomery and Berks Counties show the name “Joseph” in will and land records. (A Jost arrived from Germany in 1751, several decades later.)14 It appears that Jost had returned from America to Freinsheim, and this is his second or third entry to America. Perhaps he had returned to share news or aid with family and friends news about opportunities in America and perhaps even to recruit émigrés.

Since children were not named on ship lists, we are uncertain which of the children of Henry and Catharina accompanied them, perhaps only Joseph. Some apparently stayed behind with relatives and came later as we will see. Some had died due to the high child mortality of these early times.

The records of passenger arrivals were not

13The Freinsheim document tells of Heinrich emigrating but does not name any offspring. The reader will note,however, the apparent second immigration of Jost Buttner and other siblings in succeeding years immigrating toPhiladelphia.Theywillbedescribedbelow.14 Bitting, Richard A. "Bitting Family History."Ancestry.com. Rootsweb, 25 Jan. 2003. Web. 6 June 2016.<http%3A%2F%2Fhomepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com%2F%7Ebitting%2F>.

ALPINE MOUNTAIN VALLEY

ENGLEBERG

21

The records of passenger arrivals were not preserved as early as 1723, and the family arrival date is taken from the German records discovered by Richard A. Bitting at Freinsheim providing the date of emigration of his parents that year. They settled at New Hanover in old Montgomery Country near Pottstown. This is where grandson Philip Bitting (Pitting) and Julianna Philippi likely met, fell in love, and eloped ca. 1772/3.

The name Julianna was often used in the Bittinger, Engelhart and Philippi families, both in Europe and America. It is a beautiful name and arises from the combination of Julia and Anna. Perhaps it will be rediscovered and used again by our family!

The Englehart family was of noble origins and is said to have lived for centuries in the town named after them. It is a lovely town nestled deep in the Swiss mountains not far south from Lucerne.

The Bittings were found at the tiny village of Gutenwill about a dozen miles east of Zurich, located on the eastern side of the modern autobahn.

Engelburg may be visited from Lucerne by traveling through deep valleys among the rugged peaks of the Swiss Alps in the neighborhood of Mt. Titilis south of Zurich.

An additional comment may be made concerning immigrant Bittners and Schäffers. There seems to have been a second period of immigration for this family in the early 1750s. Four or five members of the Schäffer family, including Johannes, arrived at Philadelphia September 14, 1751 on the ship Duke of Bedford said to be carrying Mennonists and Catholics. Joseph Büttner-Büdtner, (age 33, Vol., 1, pp. 596-7, Lists 216A and 216B) arrived with no known relatives on the ship Barclay, September 14, 1754), both ships on the same day. Joseph, born 1713, son of Heinrich and Catherina, would have been only ten years of age when Heinrich’s family emigrated in 1723. It seems probable that this immigrant of 1751 and1754 was this Joseph (Jost) above), son of Heinrich of Freinsheim, entering America a second and third time after returning to Freinsheim. Also on the 14th, 1751 the ship St. Andrew (Vol. I, pp. 456-7) had arrived carrying additional Schaffers along with Feicks and a Peter “Biniger”, possibly the eighth child of Henry and Anna Catherina.

If this indeed was Jost son of Heinrich and Anna Catherine making a return trip, he must have been carrying good news about settling in Penn’s land, for several apparent relatives seem to have emigrated as a consequence of his return visit.

It is certain, however that Jost (Joseph) had already spent several adult years in Pennsylvania because he signed the will of Frederick Antes in Philadelphia County on August 6, 1746 when he was around 33 years of age. (The Antes/Andes family was closely allied with the Bittinger family of Freinsheim, and apparently immigrated to America around the same time. Emmert Bittinger and Ray Andes were on the Bridgewater College faculty in the late 1900s.) Jost’s sister, Johanna Julianna, is said to have died September 20, 1717, before the immigration of his family. Jost was a brother of Ludwig, our ancestor.

Jost married Agnes Dottererin 1743. Information about the German locations of the Dotterer family may be found in the book Eighteenth Century Immigrants, Northern Krachgau, page 90.

Joseph (Jost) Bitting/Pitting’s (son of Heinricus and Catherina) wrote his will on November 8, 1793. He died December 25, 1801 at Falkners Swamp. He attended Keelor Church (Moravian)

22 which he joined the year of his marriage. He was buried in Leydich Cemetery, Frederick Twp. His name was sometimes rendered as Joseph or Justus. His will was probated January 26, 1802 at New Hanover in Montgomery County. The abstract follows. (Wills of Montgomery County, II: 2.240).

THE WILL OF JOST BITTING New Hanover; written, November 8, 1793, probated, January 26, 1802. “To son Ludwig, farm, 30 acres. To son Philip, 21 acres, 125 perches at 4 lbs. an acre and realty of land 6 acres. To son John, 10 acres, at 4 pds. an acre; at his death to be sold and money divided among his children. Rem. to be sold and money divided among children. Henry, Joseph, John, Peter and Philip (not our ancestor) and daughter Sophia each got 10 lbs. Remainder to be divided among 11 children. To son in law George Bechtel; what is left of daughter Catharine's December share. Daughter Rebecca to have full portion, unless she marries again; if she marries, to have interest only. Execs: Sons Henry and Joseph]. Wit: Francis Leidig, Samuel Bartolet, Jacob Shoemaker.”

Henry, Joseph and Philip (Sr.?) served in the “German Regiment” in what is now Washington County Maryland during the Revolutionary War. The identity of this Philip is uncertain. He may been a descendant of Jost and an uncle of our Philip.

CHILDREN OF JOST BITTING, AS NAMED IN HIS WILL (Not our line)

The name of Jost’s first wife was Johanna Julianna, born in Freinsheim.15 We have no record of her family nor know any children by her. We do not have her death date. (See the Dotterer web page.)

Jost’s second wife was Agnes (Dotterer), whom he did not name in his will because she had pre-deceased him. She was born February 14, 1727 [christened Dec. 20, 1727], in Montgomery County and died Oct. or Nov 2, 1785 and was buried in Leydich Cemetery. She had married in 1743 to Jost Bitting, son of Heinrich and Anna Catherina.

Agnes was a daughter of Heironomous “Jerome” Dotterer and Catherine Wessel (Wetzel) Dotterer. Her grandfather was George Philip Duddra, son of Hannes. The children of Jost and Agnes are listed as being born between 1743 and 1766. (See Dotterer web page) with this Philip listed as being born in 1766, a date too late for him to be our Philip. Because of this, we have concluded that (Philip of Ludwig, immigrant of 1751 is our ancestor, a conclusion I had reached in the 1950s).

Again we note the close ties of the Livengood and Bittinger families, (see Chapter 1, “Origins of the Bittinger, Schäffer, Philippi, Livengood, and Frantz Families”) beginning in 1580 and continuing to the marriage of Christian Fike and down to the present! Jost, who would have been ca. 88 years of age when he wrote his will, names his several children, (below) all born in

15TheRichardA.BittingsourcegivesthenameofJoseph’ssisterasJohannaJuliannawhoissupposedtohavediedin1717. One wonders about the name coincidence of Jost’s alleged first wife. Was she actually his sister not yetdeceasedoranamesakeinsteadandlivinginthehouseholdasanunmarriedpersonratherthanhiswife?Hehadnochildrenbyher.

23 Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Some variance can be noted between the list in Jost’s will and the second list by Richard A. Bitting.

1. Sophia 1745- ?

2. Henry 1747-1814 m. Mary Livengood

3. Rachel 1748-?

4. Joseph 1749-1808

5. Maria born ca. 1749- ? m. George Bechtel

6. Rebecca 1751-?

7. John 1754-1812

8. Peter 1757-1826

9. Ludwig 1750-1829

10. Anna Catherina ca. 1762- _____ m. Jacob Shoemaker of Reading16

11. Philip 1763-617-1816 (not our ancestor)

Children of Jost & Agnes Bitting: (list of Richard A. Bitting, researcher).

1. Sophia (1744 - ?)

2. Henry (1745 - 1814)

3. Catharine (1746 - ?)

4. Rachel (1747 - ?) \

5. Rebecca (1750 - ?)

6. Mary (1752 - 1818)

7. John (1754 - 1812)

8. Peter (1757 - 1826)

9. Ludwig (1750 - 1829) (not our line)

10. Anna (1762 - ?)

11. Philip (1766 - ?)

16JacobShoemaker’swillwasprobatedonSeptember13,1783,administeredbyJacobChrist(Crist),Jr.,andhiswifeCatharina, theeldestdaughterof thetestator. Beingtheeldestdaughter,Catherinaborethenameofhermother,AnnaCatherina(Bitting)Shoemaker.17If so,bywhichsister?Or,whenhereturnedtoFreinsheim,didhebringhissister toAmerica to live inhishome?Perhapshissister’shusbandhaddied,andsheneededahome?Wedonothavethemarriages,ifany,ofhissisters.RichardA.Bitting,aBittinggenealogist,datesPhilip’sbirthas1766at thebottomofhis listof childrenof JostandAgnes.Historian,DanielW.Nead, records thepresenceofPhilip,HenryandJosephBittinger inMarylandwhenthethreewerenamedonthedraftlistof“TheFlyingCamp”andGermanRegiment,aunitofcitizensofbothPennsylvaniaandMaryland,organized June7,1776to fight in theRevolutionaryWar.Theywere listedascitizensof the“UpperDistrict,nowWashingtonCounty. (Nead,ThePennsylvaniaGerman inMaryland,GenealogicalPublishingCo.,1980,pp,219,220,etc.)ThesedrafteeslikelywerecousinsorunclesofourPhilip,Sr.whoapparentlyre-immigratedin1751.

24

A Philip Henry Bitting is mentioned in the draft list of military personnel of “The German Regiment,” at Philadelphia, with the date of September 19, 1776, in a book by Daniel Nead, The Pennsylvania German in Maryland, (p. 232). [Philip] Henry Beeding (Bitting), upper district of Washington County, Maryland, is named in the Flying Camp Unit (p. 219), date of June 3, 1776. The children named above are grandchildren of Heinrich and Anna Catharina. They are likely sons of Jost.

It is quite unlikely that our Philip, Jr., served in one of these Units. Both Philip Sr., and Jr., already were in western Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary War. These lists had been made up several years earlier, and our Philip, Sr. and Henry were already in Somerset County by the time of the above dates. Philip Jr., was age ca. 18-20 in 1773. The names of Philip and Henry were very common in these families.

It seems certain that the Philip, Joseph and Henry named in the above militia lists are correctly identified as descendants of Heinrich and Anna Catherina. Their fathers likely were second generation Joseph and Ludwig and Ludwig’s son Philip, Sr. of the Ludwig18 line, our ancestors, of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Because of these age and generational differences, we have long considered Philip, Sr., son of Ludwig, Sr., who re-immigrated in 1751, as our ancestor.

THE HENRY BITTINGER WHO SIGNED THE INDIAN TREATY A fascinating oral tradition is told of Henry Bittinger going to Ohio, living with the Indians, learning their language, marrying an Indian woman, etc. Consequently, we have given especial consideration to the problem of identifying him. The discovery of the date of the signing of the Indian Treaty has been crucial in solving this problem. It has become clear that he was a son of Henry of Lehigh County and grandson of Henry (Heinricus/Heinrich) Bitting of Freinsheim. It was reported by Brown in his Miscellaneous Writings that in his old age he had gone to live with his relatives in Somerset County.

Because this Henry was experienced in Indian relations and knew the language and many of the Chiefs, he undoubtedly was engaged by the government to facilitate the transaction process in which the Seneca and Tonowanda Indian tribes transferred a large section of land to the state of New York.19 His name, among others, was signed on the deed of transfer in 1858, and the Treaty was promulgated the following year. This deed of transfer is on record at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Henry would have been an elderly man when he signed his name. When he finally retired and went to live with his relatives in Somerset County, he of course told of his experience among the Indians.

We will return to the consideration of Joseph [Jost] and nephew Philip below after a short summary of our Fike family. The Fike family is included as part of this history because our

18 Ludwig, (Jr.) not Sr.), went to N. C. (R. A. Bitting dates Ludwig, Sr. 1702-1759; died in PA)http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bitting/19This event took place long after the land had been settled by whites. The treaty most likely was designed toestablishboundariesofwhitelandholdingsbutalsodesignateIndianholdings.

25 grandmother Etta Fike Bittinger was a great granddaughter of Christian Fike who married Christina Livengood in Somerset County.

* * * *

OUR FIKE ANCESTRY Our Fike/Feick ancestor is said by Morrow to be Christian Fike/Feick, Sr., who obtained a

warrant on January 11, 1745 for 100 acres a couple miles southwest of Reading in Philadelphia County, now Berks County. There were several Fike/Feig, etc. immigrants, and it is intriguing to investigate them and wonder how they might be related. The immigrant ancestor has remained mysterious and not fully identified. Consequently, I continued to research Fike, Feik immigrant names.)

For example, I discovered the immigration of a “John Feig” and a John Hermon Roudolph both on the ship Sally that arrived at the Philadelphia port on August 23, 1773. (Vol. I, pp. 748-9). Their names match our Eglon families. This seems to be more than a mere coincidence, and we wondered how they might be related. Our great great grandfather, Peter Fike of Eglon who married Magdalena Arnold, had two sons Rev. Moses and Elder Aaron. Both married Roudolph sisters. Might this finding reveal a different ancestor than the one indicated by Mrs. Morrow? Evidence indicates so.

Christian died in 1771, and his will, was written on August 27, 1771, and was probated by his son John Feick, executor, September 20, 1771.

He names his wife Barbara [Borntrager] and sons John, Christian, Jr., who married Christina Livengood, Jacob, and daughters Ann, Barbara, Mary, Margaret and “Cathrin”.20 He is the father of our Fike family line, as claimed by Merilyn Morrow. She is the author of the massive Fike family book that is said to include our line.21

The John Fike/Feick of Berks County (established in 752), is as yet not fully identified. He likely is not John a son of Christian the immigrant. Mrs. Morrow identified that John as the one who married Barbara Dillenbach.

Another John lived in Bern Twp., Berks County. This John wrote his will December 29, 1764, providing for his wife Anna who is to “have the place” until son Jacob is of age. John was deceased by October 20, 1765, and the administration of his estate was in the hands of his widow, Anna. Only one son, Jacob, is mentioned in his will and no other children were named.

Because the son Jacob was not yet of age, we surmise that this John above is too late in time to be in the second generation of the Fike clan in America. He is mentioned by Mrs. Morrow in her Fike book as not being in our line. Since our line is also included in Morrow’s book, we too can ignore this John about whom I have long wondered.

We return now to our original purpose: Who was the immigrant ancestor of the Eglon Fike Family? For a possible answer, we must again resort to the ship lists.

20SeeMartin, Jacob,Wills of Chester County 1766-1778, Pennsylvania, 1766-1778,Westminster, Md.: Family LinePublications,1995,Vol.3,p.47.21SeeMerilynF.Morrow,ChristianFikeandHisDescendants:Morgantown,Pa.,MasthofPress,1996,p.xi.

26 On August 21, 1750, the ship Anderson arrived at port with 46 men, women and children,

including a John Henry Fick. His fellow passengers did not include any families with whom the Fikes are known to have been connected. Also, since the middle name among Germanic families tends to be the one used most frequently, we suspect that this immigrant is not the one we are searching for. The same reasoning applies to Godfried Fick, immigrant of the ship Neptune, (S&H,Vol., I, p. 672), arriving December 13, 1754. John George and Valentine have already been eliminated by Mrs. Morrow.

OUR EGLON FIKE IMMIGRANT ANCESTOR The most likely clue, even more plausible and compatible with the dates of our own Fike line,

is the immigration of the John Feig and Johan Hermon Rudolph (mentioned above) who both arrived at Philadelphia on August 23, 1773 on the ship Sally. (S&H, Vol. I, pp. 748-9). Feig was a common spelling in Germany. This datum reveals the association of the Rudolph family with the Fikes, a relationship that continued in Somerset Count and at Eglon.

Our ancestor Peter Fike married Sophia Rudolph (b. Dec. 16, 1843) a sister of Rebecca Rudolph who married Elder Aaron Fike, Peter’s brother, both of Eglon, WV. They were daughters of Peter and Maria (Heckert) Rudolph, formerly of Somerset County. Peter Rudolph also had immigrated on the ship Polly that arrived August 24, 1765 (S&H, Vol. I, pp. 763-765) at the port of Philadelphia, then settling in Somerset County. These associations of the Fikes with the Rudolph families overseas, on the ship Polly and in Somerset County and in Eglon, WV., provide strong clues that our Fike ancestor was the John Feick that arrived on the ship Sally on August 23, 1773 with John Roudolph. (The first “o” in the name was eventually dropped out).

These two ships arrived only one day apart. The travel of the Feicks and Roudolph families together seem more than mere chance!

After their arrival, they settled in western Pennsylvania where they lived unti1 ca. 1854 when they moved near Eglon West Virginia.

* * * *

When Henry (Heinrich) and Anna Catherina (Schäffer) Bitting arrived in America in 1723, they settled at New Hanover, a couple miles north and east of Pottstown in present-day Montgomery County, an area very close to Philadelphia. Due to frugality and hard work, the family prospered. Successive generations also lived in the area, and some of the offspring periodically migrated to other areas seeking to establish themselves and make a living for their families. Bitting[er] names recognized in the vicinity in the following decades were Henry, Anthony, Andrew, Jacob, Joseph, Martin, and Ludwig, Sr., and Jr, The two Ludwigs are our ancestors of Philip, Sr. who married Susanna Hoch/High) of a Brethren family at Oley Church CoB) near Pottstown. There were three, perhaps more, Philips in the next two generations.

The presence of Joseph and Martin in the Germantown area is revealed by their signatures to various wills, one of which is that of Frederick Antes (Andes) written August 15, 1746 and

27 witnessed by “Joseph Bitting” (H191) in what was then Philadelphia County.22 (This Joseph [Jost] discussed above, is not our ancestor but a part of the same overall family.)23 Martin Bittinger signed the will of Johannes Stager in New Hanover on March 2, in 1738 when that village was still in Philadelphia County. He also witnessed the will of Paul Hill on November 4, 1740.24 These dates prove the early presence of Henry, Joseph and Martin, sons of Henry and Anna Catherina of Freinsheim. It is evident that some members of Heinrich’s family came to Pennsylvania well before 1740, having arrived with their parents in 1723 or shortly thereafter. Many of the Antes people were Moravians who migrated with Ludwig, Sr., to Winston Salem, North Carolina.

Heinrich Bitting the second, was a son of Heinrich and Anna Catherina of Freinsheim and brother of Jost of New Hanover. This Heinrich was born in 1706 and died December 1, 1747, the day he made his will in the presence of Alexander Dieffendorfer and Nicholas Wolfhart. Administrators were three of his brothers, Martin, Ludwig and Jost. The “substance of the will” was probated before Jacob Reiff at Salford and filed with the “Register General” in “accordance with the three brothers of the deceased”, “Martin, Ludwig and Jost”. Heinrich’s property was appraised by Jacob Wetzel and David Owen, “in Upper Milford, Bucks County on February 6, 1748.”25

Heinrich the second, had settled in Lehigh County, a dozen or so miles to the north of New Hanover at the southeast edge of Allentown.

He was married to Catharina Reiss (German pronunciation as “Rice”;26 also the Anglicized form of the name). After her husband’s death, Catharina was married to Jacob Schäffer, who was a relative of her husband’s mother, Anna Catharina Schäffer Bitting. Two of their children are known, namely, 1) Magdalene, born ca. 1747, married Adam Engelhart (a son of George Engelhart) and 2) Catharina, also born 1747 (twin?), died 1817 in Lehigh County. She married ca. 1770 to Frederick Laubach born 1744 and died in1797. Heinrich and Catharina Reiss may have had additional children, but they are unknown to the writer.

Henry, the signer of the Indian Treaty, has not been clearly identified. Our Philip, son of Ludwig did have a brother Henry. Like Philip, did he go to Somerset? Or did he go to North

22SeeAnteswillinAbstractsofPhiladelphiaCountyWills(Westminster,Md.,FamilyLinePublications,1995),p.192.WitnessedbyJosephBittingandJacobBowman.Jostisa“nickname”ofJoseph.23TheNewHanoverfamilyofBitting[ers]isdescribedinabook,HistoryofBerksCounty,Pa.,p.970,withafocusonthedescendantsofJohnannesButtingbornMay18,1764,diedJuly25,1829andhissonsandgrandsonJohn.ThewifeofearliestoftheseJohnBitting[er]personswasMaria,bornDecember22,1766,diedOctober3,1849.Johannesisdescribedasowningsomeofthe“bestfarmlandinthetownshipofCumru,havinggoodwaterandlyingclosetothemarket.Thefarmwasdescribedas“theBittingHomestead,avaluableproperty,”andlocatedalongtheLancasterPikeatNewHanover.(Today,thisapparentlywouldberoutes663and23aswellaspossiblyhavingadifferentTownshipname.)24(SeeAbstractofwillsofPhiladelphiaCounty,1726-1747,Westminster,Md.,FamilyLinePublications,1995,pp.192,92,106.Townshipsweredivided,creatingnewnames.)25ThereaderwillnoticethatJoseph’snameisrendered“Jost”,aformthatwasusedinthefamilyinlatergenerationsaswell.Sourceof information is, “ThePerkiomenRegion”byHenryS.Dotterer,Vol. I,No.4,pp.44-45,PerkiomenPublishingCo.,1894;republishedbyAdam’sApplePress,1994.ThelistofchildrenofHeinrichandAnnaCatharinaissimilar with the list rendered by Dr. Dotterer except that Dr. Dotterer spelled Catherine’s name with a “K” andomittedJohnMelchiorwhowasbornin1718anddiedNov.15,1722inFreinsheim.26In the German Language, the second letter in the “ei” sequence is pronounced as in “ice”, the opposite of theEnglishLanguagepatternthatemphasizedthe“e”sound.

28 Carolina with his father Ludwig the second? Or was he a cousin? Both were of similar age, and were having their children christened at the same times.

He should not be confused with Heinrich of Lehigh County, son of Heinrich and Anna Catherina Bitting of Freinsheim though he may have been a grandson. This Henry was an early explorer of Ohio and western New York lands and was a friend on the Seneca and Tonawanda Indians. He had to be at least one or two generations later because the signatures are dated 1858. He lived among the Indians for a time and learned their language. He is important in the history of the exploration of Ohio and western New York because he assisted in the negotiations and signing of Treaties and land use agreements pertaining to a large amount of land in western New York at a time when the land had long been occupied by the white men. These talks took place over a period of at least three years, 1857-1859, the dates of their signing and proclamation. At least one of these treaties, perhaps more, was signed by “Henry Bittinger” likely grandson of Heinrich and Anna Catherina, the immigrants of 1723, and a nephew of Jost and Ludwig. Or was he an undiscovered son of Henry of Lehigh County? The puzzle is still unsolved.

Copies of these treaties are in the possession of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and can be accessed through the OK State Digital Library.27 This was discovered a year or two ago by my clever daughter, Marion Bittinger, specialist in endangered Native American languages.

The exploits of this Henry were still remembered when in the 1950s the writer was interviewing older generation of Bittingers in Garrett County. Some of the more vivid aspects of Henry’s life were included in a book by Jacob Brown published in 1896 entitled Brown’s Miscellaneous Writings.28 This description below would tend to support the hypothesis that this Henry was a brother of Philip Jr.

“As a young man he fought Indians in the northwest, probably with his father, and he used to say he ‘had a tough time with the yellow buggers.’ He rented a farm in western Maryland where he mostly raised a large family. The home was near the Ridgley Place [a mile from Maple Grove Church of the Brethren]. Later, he bought the “Briar Patch” tract29 located at a place now called “Bittinger.” His house was on a farm owned by relative Asa Bittinger. The purchase of this land caused the plain old farmer [Henry], to go to Cumberland, his first and last visit to that County Seat. There he fell into the hands of ‘scribers’ [lawyers] and came home in an ill humor about his ‘teet’ [deed] for the writing of which he had to pay ‘tin tollars’. Henry was industrious, honest and orderly, yet on ‘field days’ (a holiday), he delighted in sports and could dance a jig in a bar room in moccasin feet and dressed in his hunting clothes.”30

“Most of his sons were fond of the woods and the gun. Two of them lost their lives in pursuit of game. George felled a tree with a family of coons in its cavity. A falling limb killed him instantly. William undertook to run down a deer and so exerted himself in the chase that he died.

27Kappler,CharlesJ."INDIANAFFAIRS:LAWSANDTREATIES.Vol.2,Treaties."INDIANAFFAIRS:LAWSANDTREATIES.Vol.2,Treaties.GovernmentPrinting Office, 1904. Web. 06 June 2016. <http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/vol2/treaties/sen0767.htm>. 28Brown,Jacob,MiscellaneousWritings(Cumberland::J.Miller,1896),pp.,158-161.29Contrary to its less than complimentary name, the “Briar Patch” was excellent land but had been temporarilyneglected.30Bittinger,Wayne,op.Cit.,page.18.

29 Joseph became a ‘Dunkard’ preacher, not learned, but sincere, a shade superstitious, but this helps the faith. Henry T. Bittinger, son of William, became County School Commissioner. Truman C. Bittinger of near Oakland, a candidate for County Commissioner, was a son of Chauncy, and a grandson of Jonathan Bittinger. The beautiful place called ‘Bittinger’ is located on a part of ‘Briar Patch.’” (Quote from Jacob Brown, copied by the writer many years ago).

The graves of twins Jonathan and Solomon Bittinger and of William and wife Agnes Ruckle, are located in the cemetery there adjacent to the Emanuel Lutheran Church at Bittinger, Maryland.

Additional fragments of information about even earlier Bittingers (Pittinger, Biniger, etc..) generations and the Philippi families can be found in the will records of Philadelphia, Lehigh, Northampton, Chester and Berks Counties and immigration data in Strassberger and Hinke, Pennsylvania German Pioneers, 3 volumes.

Johannes Martin “Bittner” immigrated on the ship Snow Francis and Ann on May 30, 1741, likely one of the sons of Heinrich and Anna Catherina. He or a “John Martin” of the next generation would again immigrate on the ship Peggy on September 24, 1753 (Vol. I, pp. 545-7) with members of the George Engelhart family whose daughter would marry Johannes Philippi and whose daughter, Julianna, in turn would marry Philip Bittinger, Jr., our ancestor.

Other related families on this ship were Schneiders and Schaeffers with whom Bittingers would continue relate to in future marriages.

Philip, Sr., born October 17, 1737, brother of Ludwig, Jr., Henry, Anthony and Peter, all likely born near Pottstown , were undoubtedly relatives of immigrants Johan Freidrich Billiger [Bittinger] and Andrew both of whom arrived on ship Nancy on September 16, 1751, (Vol. I, p. 463), spelled “Bitinger” and “Billinger”). These immigrants appear to be children of Ludwig, Sr. and were grandchildren of Heinrich and Anna Catherina), This Philip born ca.1737 whom we designate as Sr., was Ludwig’s son.31 Philip Jr., born ca 1753-5, would marry Julianna and become our ancestral couple that eventually settled in Somerset County.

We note that Anthony was a witness to the will of John Hunter on December 2, 1771, (p. 78, Berks Co. Wills) and Ludwig signed the will of Richard Gregory of Herford on February 18, 1765 (page 40-4, Wills of Berks County). These dates, later in the century, also suggest that this Philip (Sr,) returning to America in 1751, (his second immigration) was a son of Ludwig and the father of Philip, Jr. who would marry Julianna Philippi around 1775.32

Recall that Johannes Philippi, father of our Julianna, had immigrated just a year or so earlier on August 28, 1750 on the ship Phoenix (S&H, Vol. I, p. 441) along with George Engelhart, father of Johannes Philippi’s wife, Julianna, who in turn would become the mother of our Julianna.

31SeelistofLudwig’schildrenbelow.32The writer is grateful for the reader’s patience in reading this lengthy and complicated set of facts, but it is anecessary exercise so that thosewho follow can re-check the complex path of data and find out for themselves. .Besidesthedatacomefromnumerousandobscuresourcesandareextremelydifficulttobringtogether.32SeeR.L.Johnson,GenealogicalStudiesofSomeProvidenceFamilies(1934:ThePerkiomenRegion),p.45.OnewonderswhyBittingerswouldtravelbackandforthondangerousoceantrips.Thewritercanonlyspeculatethatithadtowithstrongfamilialtiesand/ormattersrelatingtoestatesettlement.

30 This is the only Philip thus far discovered who could be of an age fitting the known facts regarding Julianna’s husband. These arrivals in 1750 and 1751 to the Philadelphia port and to New Hanover relate a continuing story of uncommon interest, and romance.

Philip, Jr. likely would be a year or two older than estimated by Wayne Bittinger who had suggested his birth year as 1753. Wayne Bittinger, as with the present writer, was able only to estimate the birth dates of Philip and Julianna, suggesting around 1753. The fact that Philip, Sr. was not registered on the ship list is consistent with the date of 1737 given as his birth year. He would have been only around thirteen years of age and not required to sign. These proposed events and dates for Philip seem to me to be the best and only prospect for identifying our Philip Bittinger ancestor, born 1753-5 considering the complicated dating issues.

John Martin Bettinger arrived on the ship Peggy, September 24, 1754 in the company of a total of 140 men, women and children. He is likely a brother of Ludwig Sr., and a son of Heinrich and Anna Catharine (Schaeffer) Bittinger, our ancestral couple.

Some Bitting(er)/Piting(er) persons appear to have returned to Germany and emigrated again to America at a different time as shown above, namely Henry (also a brother), and Jost and Martin. (S & H; Vol. 1, p. 750).

Anthony settled in what was then Philadelphia County. During the Revolutionary War, he was a Lieut. Col. in charge of “Bitting’s Battalion” in the local militia.33

The Philippi, Bittinger and Livengood families appear to have had a long association with each other in Switzerland, Germany and in America, and some of them immigrated together. When we find their names together in a specific geographic location such as New Hanover, Douglas, Pottstown, etc., in Pennsylvania, we can have greater confidence that we have found our related family lines. So researching the allied families of Schäffer, Dotterer, Engelhart, Frantz, Livengood, Philippi etc., was helpful in shedding light on the whereabouts of the Bittinger families and assuring that we were tracing the right lines.34

[My library contains several resources essential in this kind of research, namely, Strassberger and Hinke’s three-volume work, Pennsylvania German Pioneers listing of ships and immigrants (1726-1806) along with several books of will abstracts, namely, Berks, Philadelphia, Montgomery, and Chester Counties. Also, varied spellings of all these names adds a degree of uncertainty that needs to be certified. For Maryland, an indispensable resource is Schildtknecht, Monocacy and Catoctin, two volumes devoted to identifying and locating early pioneer settlers of Carroll and Frederick Counties of Maryland and nearby southern Pennsylvania.]

33See Daniel W. Nead, The Pennsylvania German in the Settlement of Maryland: (Republished by GenealogicalPublishingCo.: Baltimore,Md., pages215-232). This reference includesnumerousBitting/Beedingpersonswhosenamesappear in theRevolutionaryArmy’sGermanRegiment, includingAnthony,HenryandPhilip, someserving inlowercommandpositions.34ItisinterestingtonotethatatowninWestVirginiaisnamedafterthisfamily—Philippi.

31

LUDWIG AND ANTHONY BITTING Ludwig Jr., and Anthony Bitting[er], as we have seen, re-immigrated in 1751. From the influence of his Boone neighbors and/or the Moravian migrations, Anthony decided to settle elsewhere. By 1751, less land was available in the New Hanover area, and the prices were higher. (See Berks Co. Wills, p. 128). Ludwig remained in the New Hanover area.

The Anthony branch of this family decided to move through southern Virginia to North Carolina where he lived and died at his home named Rural Retreat at Germantown, a small village named after the German-speaking settlement of Moravians located at the northern edge of Winston Salem. He is buried there in the Cemetery of the Lutheran Church.

Anthony Bitting, Sr., married Mary, daughter of John Hunter of Oley whose will probated Jan. 27, 1772 in Berks Co. Anthony and his son, Anthony Jr., were neighbors of William Boone from whom Hunter had purchased land that he passed down to his son Christian. (Anthony and Ludwig were influenced by their neighbor, Daniel Boone, to migrate south, seeking new opportunities). Boone had gone south through Virginia to North Carolina, and he was encouraging settlers to move south.

Anthony’s brother, Ludwig, Sr., the father of our Philip Sr. had gone to Somerset County, Pennsylvania with Livengood and obtained land on which he settled in 1769 or 70).

Ludwig Bitting (Jr.) married Susanna, a daughter of Brethren member John Hoch (High) and Susanna Bitting of Oley.35 (Berks Co. Wills, p. 128) Some of these High descendants moved to upper Mill Creek, around ten miles west of Romney in Hampshire County, Va. (now W. Va.) before 1800. They were early members of the Beaver Run German Baptist Brethren Congregation (Church of the Brethren) near Burlington west of Romney

A son of Ludwig Jr., and Susanna (Hoch) Bitting, John and Susanna (Bitting) Hoch (High) also of Oley Valley of Berks or Montgomery County, decided to move to Virginia (Now West Virginia). John Hoch (spelled Hawk and Hog in early Hampshire County records) settled on upper Mill Creek near Purgittsville, West Virginia. Some of these High family descendants are buried near there, along with Andrew (Andras) Bittinger, son of Andrew. Andrew, Jr. had taken sick and died from the rigors of the journey and was buried at the nearby historic Union Pine Church Cemetery near Purgittsville. John was buried in a nearby over grown cemetery a hundred yards west of the village. The writer has identified six High family cemeteries in the Mill Creek valley between Junction and Purgittsville (See Allegheny Passage, chapters 8, 9, and 10 and the index for 28 High family references.)

35TheGermanJohnHochfamilynamewasAnglicizedinWestVirginiatoHigh,Hawk,Hog).TheywereofAnabaptistbackgroundandsomeofhisoffspringwereBrethreninOleyValley. AftermovingtoHampshireCounty,theywereamongtheearliestmembersoftheBeaverRunBrethrenCongregation(foundedby1794butholdingmeetingsearlier)wetofRomney,atthattimestillinVirginia.ThenameisspelledvariablybothinVirginiaandinMontgomeryCounty,Pa. GeorgeHochwasbaptizedBrethrenin1742atOleyinPa.MartinHauck(Hoch)wasbaptizedbyBrethrenElderMichaelFrantzin1774ofConestoga,LancasterCo.,Pa.,(Brumbaugh,HistoryoftheBrethren(Mt.Morris,Ill.,),p.314.Deborahmarried JohnDetrick;Magdalenamarried JacobKeim;DanielKeimbecameaBrethrenElder in the1800s.Other sons were Samuel, Rudolph and Daniel. Oley was the location of a Colonial-era German Baptist BrethrenChurch.Keims,LivengoodsandSchafferswereprominentfamiliesintheMeyersdaleareaofSomersetCounty.

32 The Beaver Run congregation, is located on a tributary of Patterson Creek near Burlington, West Virginia, and was meeting by 1785 about seven or ten miles distant. Hochs (Highs) and Neffs were present in the community before that date. This is the oldest continuing Brethren congregation in that state. The Leatherman, Arnold, High, Ludwick and Neff families were members as early as 1794. (See Bittinger, Allegheny Passage for a discussion of the Beaver Run Church and the High etc., families).

In 1947, when I was pastor there, I visited an elderly High woman a couple miles south of Junction, W.Va., along U. S. 220, still living in the original High family log house across from an old High cemetery, one of six in the area. Her memory was astounding.

LUDWIG SR., AND JOHANNA SABINA BÖHM, (INCLUDING SON PHILIP BITTING(ER)

[Note by the writer, 11-16-12. This section discusses the line of Ludwig, (Sr.) who remained in eastern Pennsylvania. Their offspring includes our ancestor Philip and his brother Henry. Ludwig’s descendants are quite scattered, having gone to Virginia, Maryland, and Somerset County, Pennsylvania.]

As previously noted, Ludwig, Sr. "Lud" Bitting/Böttig was born in 1702, Freinsheim, Palatinate, Germany. He married Johanna Sabina "Sevina" Böhm, daughter of the Reverend Johann Phillip Böhm (1693-1749) and Anna Maria Salr, Sailer- Sahler-Sayler-Seller. Johanna Sabina was born 1709 in Worms, Hesse, Germany and she died 1759 in Pennsylvania. [Except for Susanna, mentioned below, who married John Hoch (High) and went to Purgittsville, now West Virginia, most of Ludwig’s children remained in Pennsylvania, with Henry, Philip and Dorothy to Somerset County.

Branches of the Böhm (Beahm) family that came to the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, settled at Cross Keys and others farther south near Roanoke. This latter branch produced the well-known Brethren Elders I. N. H Böhm/Beahm and Prof. William H. Böhm/Beahm as well as Prof. Anna Mow, former teachers at Bethany Theological Seminary (Brethren) then in Chicago.

Another branch of the Beahm family moved to Garrett County, Maryland. A descendant of this branch produced Brethren offspring, one of whom became the wife of Brethren Elder Jesse Whitacre. Sons Charles and Daniel became Brethren ministers. (Charles is a brother-in-law of the writer, having married Annabelle, a sister of the writer).

I recall interviewing Mrs. J. C. Beahm in Garrett County about the Bittinger and Beahm families in the 1950s. It was a memorable experience to hear her relate the family history and stories of the past.

33

CHILDREN OF LUDWIG BITTING/BÖTTIG, SR AND JOANNA SABINA BÖHM

Ludwig Bitting, Jr. (1729-31-1796) married Johanna Susanna High. Johanna Sabina’s father, John High, moved very early to Hampshire County, W. Va. and settled on upper Mill Creek on the west side of the mountain, High Knob, the knob that bears his name36. Here he raised a large family. This location is a short distance east of the small village of Purgittsville. In 1987 the writer visited one of the aged High descendants who was living in one of the High family homes in this village. He was one of my High family informants.

Henry Bitting (1732-?) m. Eva Barbara Mumbauer Elisabetha Dorothea Bitting (1734-?) m. Gabriel Keim, to Somerset County Anna Maria Bitting (c1735-?) m. Andreas Graber/Garber Phillip Bitting, Sr, (b. 1737) m. Abigail Thomas37 (our ancestor - Somerset Co.) Anthony Bitting, Sr. (1738-1804) m. Martha (Patty) Poe (Lepaux), 1746-1788 (Believed to be nephew of deceased Andres (Andrew) Christina Bitting (1748-1821) m. Frank Leydich Mary Catharina Bitting (bef. 1750) married John Keim, Somerset County Peter Bitting (c1756-?).

Keims were Amish and produced many Amish descendants there including a large Amish Church in Somerset County. See my Keim family Essay.

CHILDREN OF ANTHONY BITTING AND MARTHE POE (LEPAUX)

Anthony Bitting was born October 17, 1738 in Germantown, PA and was christened in the New Goshenhoppen Reformed church, Montgomery County, PA. He died June 27, 1804 in Stokes

3636AlthoughHighKnobisthetallestintheremarkablystrikingrowofsixorsevenKnobs,JohnHighownedthemajorportionofthewesternandmostvisiblepartofit.Naminganareaafteritsownerwasacommonnamingpractice.SolikelythenameoftheKnobderivesfromitsownerJohnHigh,somethingfewlocalsormapmakerswouldbeexpectedtoknow.Hewassometimesidentifiedas“BergHigh”bytheGermansettlers.“Berg”meansmountainintheGermanLanguage.37RichardA.Bittinginhis“BittingFamilyOutline”,namesfivechildrenallegedlyborntoPhilip(Sr.)andAbigail.Theirdatesandnamesdonotharmonizewiththeinformationwehavethatwebelievetobevalid.HenamesLewisb.1765;Abelb.1777;Dayb.1772,MaryMagdaleneandEleazerb.1778,“B. inBucksCounty.” IfPhilipSr., isourancestor,whichwebelieveistrue,thenwemustmakeanefforttopiecetogetherwhatmayactuallyhavehappened.ItappearsthatRichardA.BittingwasnotawareofPhilip’salliancewithJuliannaPhilippiandtheirelopementtoMarylandwithhisfatherLudwig’spartyca.1773.Inthelistabove,Mr.BittingnameschildrenhebelievesbelongtoaPhilip.Someofthesechildren’sdatesarelaterthanPhilip’smovetoMarylandandPhilip’srelationshipwithJulianna.Thissuggeststhat he is not our Philip. Because Philip and Julianna had eloped, marriage records were not available. The factsregardingPhilipandJuliannainMarylandarewellestablished.Unfortunately themystery tyingPhilipand JuliannathetheBittingsBerksCountyremainsonlypartiallysolved.Whilewesuggestapossible scenario,wealsosuggest that there remainsa lackofcertainty regarding theeventsthat brought Philip and Julianna together and what transpired in the several years thereafter Could it be thatresearcherRichardBitting,notknowingofourPhilip’sconnectionwithJulianna,mayhaveinsteadnamedchildrenofoneof theotherof theseveralPhilipsratherthanours? ThenameJuliannaPhilippidoesnotappear inhis“BittingFamilyOutline.”ThisispossiblybecausetheyhadgonesouthwithLudwigJr.,toVirginiathendivergingwestwardtoSomersetCounty,acommonrouteatthattime.OrcoulditbebecauseitwasyetanotherPhilip?

34 County, North Carolina, and is buried in Nazareth Lutheran Church Cemetery, Rural Retreat, North Carolina, (northern edge of Winston Salem). He kept a tavern in his home in what is today Germantown, North Carolina. Anthony married Martha Poe (Leppaux a French name acquired in Alsace) who was born in Germantown, PA in 1746. Martha died in 1788 and is also buried in Nazareth Lutheran Church cemetery. He remarried and had a second wife. A “Memorial of Anthony Bitting” of Stokes County, Rural Retreat, North Carolina, states that he married Ursilla Ray sometime in the year 1793, and within the space of four or five weeks after said marriage, the said Ursilla absconded from the petitioner's bed and board and has never returned. The petitioner states that he has never received any part of the Estate of said Ursilla by virtue of the marriage, she being possessed of considerable property at the time of the marriage. She had made over to her children some property of which your petitioner would not receive any benefit. He prays for an act to secure to him all said estate which he now has or may hereafter acquire, either real or personal, free from the claim of said Ursilla by virtue of the marriage, and also secure to said Ursilla all such property as she now has or may hereafter acquire. Referred to Committee of Propositions and Grievance, No. 2.

Report of Committee of Propositions and Grievances No. 2 to whom was referred above petition, states that such prayer should come under the consideration of the Committee of Divorce and Alimony. No further action found. (GASR Nov.-Dec.1802, Box 2 - folder "JCR Propositions & Grievances. No.2".) -- Extracted from The North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal, Volume XVIII, No. 4, (November, 1992, pg. 229)”

Children of Anthony Bitting and Martha Poe:

Joseph Bitting (1764-1798) m. Rachael Nelson (c1774-c1830), d/o Joseph Nelson and Mary E. Alexander. They had: (not in order) Mary Bitting (1766-1841) Anne Bitting (1771) died in infancy Lewis Bitting (1774) lost at sea Elizabeth Bitting (1779-1848) Martha "Patty" Bitting (1782-1854) m. Joshua Banner John Leppeaux [Poe] Bitting (1785-1850) m. 1) Johanna Gertrude Stoltz (1785-1831) d/o of Johann Casper Stoltz and Anna Margaretha Hauser and; m. 2) Martha Matthews (d/o Tandy Matthews and Elizabeth Hill) (Martha married Edward Moore) Anthony Bitting, Jr. (1788-1870) m. Mary Wilkerson (1787-1845) Joseph, Jr. (1797-1857)

[End of section on the North Carolina Bitting(er) family.]

* * * *

PHILIP AND JULIANNA PHILIPPI BITTINGER

After Philip Bittinger and Julianna Philippi fell in love, they moved (eloped?) from their parents’ homes north of Pottstown in Montgomery County to a location near the old Salem Reformed Church a short distance northwest of Hagerstown, Maryland where they remained a year

35 or so and where their first child, Susanna, was born. Philip’s brother, Henry, also moved, settling a short distance south east of Hagerstown. In a year or two, they moved to Somerset County, Pennsylvania, via Purgittsville, W. Va., to a location a mile or so north east of Meyersdale along the east side of the road toward Berlin on Berkley Flat Road, (see map at end of the essay) likely living together on land claimed in 1769-70 on the trip made to the area with Peter Livengood in 1769. It appears that Philip, Sr. and Abigail remained there or returned soon thereafter. The Bouser family, soon to become related to the Philip Bittinger family by marriage, lived a short distance away on the west side of the Berlin road. More about the relations of these two neighbors shortly.

Juliana Philippi was born ca. 1750 near New Hanover, Montgomery County where she fell in love with Philip. She was a daughter of Johannes and Julianna (Engelhart) Philippi whose family had an ancient Jewish ancestry and history going back to biblical times. Their family name apparently is derived from the ancient city of Philippopolis38 founded by Greek the warrior king, Philip II ca. 450 B. C. They were apparently married by a Reformed Church minister ca. 1773-6 in Somerset County, but the marriage record is lost. This is where their second or third child of their commonlaw marriage, Susanna, John Peter, and the other children, were christened. Peter’s christening appears to be the occasion for their marriage by the Reformed Church minister at or near Berlin, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. (See Bittinger, Generations).

CHILDREN OF PHILIP AND JULIANNA (PHILIPPI) BITTINGER

1) Susanna BITNER, born14 July 1773, christened 28, August, 1773. (Records in Zion Reformed Church, Hagerstown, Conococheague Territory, Maryland ca. 28 Aug. 1773. She married John Eudenmeyer. They moved to Columbiana, Ohio.

Our ancestor Philip’s (Sr.) name was on the Somerset County tax list of 1770 along with that of Peter Livengood. In 1769 he had gone to Somerset territory with Peter Livengood to look for and contract for land.) This trip was an exploratory trip made before they had actually moved, a common procedure. Many Brethren and Mennonites and others fled to the South Branch Valley (Now West Virginia) and to western Pennsylvania just prior to or after the Revolutionary War.

2) John Peter BITNER christened 26 December 1776 in Brothers Valley Township, Pennsylvania ca: 15 Oct 1777 in the “Union Church”, Berlin, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. He married Mary ____, and they lived in Ligonier Twn., now Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.

38Hayward,John,HistoricalAtlasoftheClassicalWorld(2000:BarnesandNoble),p.208.

Great Great Grand Parents,

Jonathan and Elizabeth Foust

36 3) Maria Magdalena BITTNER b: 1775/1777 in Brothers Valley Township, formerly Bedford County, now Somerset County, Pennsylvania. She married John Bowser, Jr., son of John Bowser, Sr. and Christina Bowser.

4) John Henry BITTINGER b: 14 Jul 1778 in Brothers Valley Township, now Somerset County, Pennsylvania; christened: 1779 in Berlin Union Church, Berlin, Bedford County now Somerset County, Pennsylvania,. He married Barbara Bowser, daughter of John, Sr. and Christina Bowser, Garrett Co., Md. Henry and Barbara are our GGG grandparents.

5) John Jacob BITTNER b: 1780 in Brothers Valley Township, Bedford County, Pennsylvania, christened: 25 Apr 1780 in Berlin Union Church, Berlin, now Somerset County, Pennsylvania. He married “Veronica” Franny” Gebler, daughter of Jacob.

6) BITTNER (a child who died in infancy or childhood).

7) Elizabeth BITTNER b: 30 Mar 1789 in Brothers Valley Township, Bedford County, Pennsylvania and christened ca: 28 Jun 1789 in Lutheran Church, Pine Hill, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. She married Daniel Bowman.

8) John Frederick P. BITTNER b: 24 Apr 1791 in Brothers Valley Township, Bedford County, Pennsylvania christened 25 Dec 1791 in Lutheran Church, Pine Hill, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. He married Susan Fulton, born ca. 1801.

9) John P. BITTNER b: 18 Apr 1793 in Brothers Valley Township, Bedford County, Pennsylvania christened: 18 Apr 1794 in Lutheran Church, Pine Hill, now Somerset County, Pennsylvania. He married Catherine Baer, daughter of Ludwig Baer and Catherine Shellhaus.

10) Catherine BITTNER b: Jun 1794 in Brothers Valley Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania christened 5 Jul 1795 in Lutheran Church, Pine Hill, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. She married George Nihard and lived in Bucks Twp., Tuscurarawas County, Ohio.

11) George BITTNER b: 10 Jun 1796 in Brothers Valley Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania christened 11 Sep 1796 in Lutheran Church, Pine Hill, same County. He married Margaret Baer, daughter of Ludwig Baer and second wife, Catherine Shellhaus, of Somerset and Garrett Cos.

12) Philip BITTNER Jr. b: 20 Jan 1799 in Brothers Valley Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania christened 2 Jun 1799 in Lutheran Church, Pine Hill, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. He married Catherine ___ around 1815.

13) Samuel P. BITTNER b: ca. 1800 in Brothers Valley Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. He married Catherine ___ ca. 1807.

CHILDREN OF HEINRICH (JULY 14, 1778-CA. 1852) AND BARBARA BOUSER

Number 4 above is our ancestral family who moved to Garrett County ca. 1910. These Bousers had migrated from the Conewago Congregation (Black Rock Church) where our Uncle Noah Sellers lived. Bouser graves are among the oldest in the Black Rock Cemetery. 1) Peter “Pete” (June 1, 1800-Oct. 3, 1857) m. Sarah Sally Durst (ca. 1807-1883).

37 2) Catharine (Mar. 4, 1802-?), m. Casper Durst, Sr. (1796 or 1797-Feb. 6, 1886). 3) Daniel (Jan. 6, 1804-ca. 1879) m. Phebe Wiland (1814-18790).

4) Henry (Dec. 4, 1805- ?-

5) Joseph “Joe” (ca. 1807 - ca. 187) m. Elizabeth Durst (ca. 1812 – late 800s).

Joseph operated the country store and Post Office at Bittinger, Garrett County.

6) A son? 7) George between 1810 & 1815 m. Hester Pearl “Hetty” Weitzel (June 8, 1809- Nov. 21, 1896). 8) Jonathan “Jonas” (May 14, 1814-June 6, 1895 m. Elizabeth Foust (Nov. 1817-June, 1889). (Parents of David and grandparents Jonas Bittinger) 9) Solomon (twin of Jonathan), (May 14, 1814-Dec. 27, 1871) m. Hannah Foust

(1827-1890) 10) William H. “Bill” (Apr. 24, 1817-Dec. 9, 1862) 1) Agnes Ruckle (May 2,

1816-Mar. 23, 1875) and 2) Catherine “Kettie” Stark. He was a an expert hunter and marksman and of good character. He was chosen as a lay minister of the nearby Maple Grove Church of the Brethren. He and his brothers, Jonathan and Solomon, are buried at the Lutheran Church Cemetery at Bittinger crossroads. (See Wayne Bittinger, Generations, page 10 for the source of this list of the children of Philip and Julianna. and descendants.)

OTHER BITTINGER IMMIGRANTS Heinrich Büttner, ship Vernon, August, 1747 (with Hans Michael), S & H, p. 63.

Joseph Büdtner, ship Barclay, Lists B & C, September 14, 1754, pp. 599. (Note: Joseph’s name is on Antes will, before this time, so this likely is Jost the son (referred to earlier) of Heinrich and Catharina, immigrating from a return trip to Freinsheim. (Not our ancestor) See also Peter next.

Peter “Biniger”, ship St. Andrew, Sept. 14, 1751, p.457, father of David and Daniel of Monocacy Manor, Frederick and Carroll Counties, Md., are not our ancestors.

John Carl Büttner and John Henry “Philabner-Philibahr-Philippina” immigrated together on ship, Sally, date, Aug. 3, 1773. (Vol. I, pp. 748-9) Again we note these two families traveling together, illustrating their associations in Germany.

To Somerset in the Conestoga Wagon

38 This Philippina late-arriving family is undoubtedly kin to our Juliana who by this time was in the process of moving to Somerset County. I have not investigated their settlement location. They immigrated too late to be our ancestors but likely knew our ancestral families in Germany. (See Martin & Smith, pp. 127,139).

The daughter of John and Julianna Philippi (mentioned earlier) was also named Juliana. She married Philip B(P)itting, Jr. who received a legacy in this will. This Philip, Jr. is our ancestor, and his son Henry, who married Barbara Bouser, also lived just north of Meyersdale in Somerset County on Berkley Flat Road at this time.

OUR BOGER ANCESTRY

A Brethren minister of Sandy Creek Congregation in Preston County, W. Va., John Boger, Jr., (died 1851), was a great great grandfather of the writer. John Boger, Sr. was mentioned in the will of George Merckel of Grenwich, Montgomery County, eastern Pennsylvania, written on May 7, 1767. Juliana Merkel also is mentioned in the will of Frantz Kerst as a daughter of Frantz Kerst (Garst). The will of Frantz Kerst was probated at Exeter on October 30, 1765.). George was a son of Christian Merkel of Philadelphia County, and his will was probated May 22, 1766, naming three additional sons, Peter, Casper and Christian along with daughters, Catharine Stover, Frankiena Rugh, Mary Hill and Anna Maria Cramer and Anna Lena Merkel. (Martin and Smith, Berks County Wills, p. 43,44).

SETTLEMENT IN SOMERSET COUNTY

John Philippi of Reading in his will of Feb. 28, 1781 gave a legacy to Julianna (Englehardt) Philippi, his widow. She was a daughter of George and Margaretha Englehardt, (See Abstracts of Berks County Wills, by Martin & Smith, pp. 127,139). The daughter of John and Julianna, also named Juliana, married Philip B(P)itting(er) Jr., who received a legacy in this will. These Philippi and Engelhart families are our ancestors. Philip Jr’s son Henry who married Barbara Bowser, and lived just north of Myersdale in Somerset County at this time, are our great great great grandparents.

John Boger’s (1774-1852) father, is said to be Christian.39 John was son of John George Boger. Boger had had married a daughter of Merkel who designated this daughter as a legatee. The wife of

39ImmigrantsonshipOliverAug.26,1735[S&H,Vol.I,pp.152-153includeHannesBooker,age19;JohnBooker,age40; Christina Booker, age35; and son Christian, age 10,. Other Boger immigrantswere Paulus and Philip, John and

Stones of David and Ida Bittinger, Accident, MD

39 George Merckel was Margareta. Merkel also designated a grandson, John George Boger, son of Philip Boger. Immigrant Philip Boger, age 18, had arrived with his father Paulus Boger, age 40, on the ship Samuel on August 11, 1732. (S & H, Vol. 1, p. 60).

David Bittinger, our great grandfather was a son-in-law of George Jonas Boger in Garrett County, Maryland. By the mid and late 1770s, Philip and Julianna were living in the nearby Myersdale area and were neighbors of the Bowsers. Their two families began a remarkable friendship that has endured for more than 230 years, from 1778 to 2013! With the Bittinger marriages, a third family was added and created a triad of closely knit families. These interesting events are unfolded in the story below.

With the George Jonas Boger family, the name Jonas enters the Bittinger family. The writer’s great grandfather, David Bittinger (Nov. 20, 1843-Nov. 22, 1914), was originally a Lutheran. He married Mary Boger (Mar. 20, 1845-June 9. 1884), then her sister Lydia (ca. 1842-Mar. 17, 1894),

both daughters of Brethren Elder John Boger and Anne (Schrock) Boger of Accident, Maryland. (See my essay on the wives and descendants of Elder John Boger.)

David Bittinger survived his two Boger wives and lived to marry a third time on September 8, 1896 to Ida Custer (April 24, 1866-Feb. 6, 1908), daughter of Samuel Custer and Lydia Durst. By his marriage David became related to the family that produced Gen. Samuel Custer of Civil War fame. David lived at Accident, Maryland where he farmed and reared his family on the Boger-Bittinger farm visited by the Bittinger family reunion in the 1980s.

The lives of women were precarious in the wilderness of Garrett County, in the 1800s and David survived all of his wives. After retiring, he lived out his years in the home of Jonas and Etta Bittinger near Eglon, West Virginia, passing away at their home at Accident, W. Va., (Narrow Valley) two miles or so from the Maple Spring Church of the Brethren at Eglon. David was the

Christianawith childrenMichael,Mathias and Justinia and Eve, 19,who arrived on the shipSamuelAug. 11, 1732[S&H,Vol. I,pp59-61]. ThissourcesuggeststhatHansBookerwasfromtheBerneseColony]. ChristianFrantz,Sr.,andJr.,andPeter,KatherineandElizabethSchneideralsowereonthisshipallfamiliarnamestotheolderFikesandBittingersofEglon.PeterFikemarriedaSchneider,andbothareburiedintheSchneidercemeteryeastoftheMapleSpringChurchnearEglon.

Great Grand Parents, David and Ida Custer with Floyd

40 writer’s great grandfather.

When Grandmother Etta Fike married David’s son Jonas Bittinger, they started housekeeping on this Boger farm at Accident, Md. Etta, however, was lonely and missed her family at Eglon. Soon after Ilda and Foster were born at Accident, Md., they moved to near Eglon. Their new location was also called Accident, but I do not know who named it. A small church and schoolhouse (now a modest residence) and church foundation across the road and a cemetery are located nearby.

Jonas and Etta’s first house in this locality was located a hundred yards or so down the dirt road from the church foundation northward near the bottom of Narrow Valley. This house was the first residence of Jonas and Etta after they moved from Accident Maryland, a distance of 30 or 35 miles. It no longer stands, but we have pictures of it.

Pioneer life was not easy for western Maryland and Pennsylvania pioneers in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The day began with hard work at sunrise and ended by lamplight. Family needs were not met by visiting the local supermarket. Almost all food for both human and animals had to be grown, prepared and stored. A family with an average of six to eight children, some growing teenagers, required a lot of food, home-made clothing, and good organization. All children old enough to work were assigned their regular chores and monitored to see that they were performed properly. In early times in Garrett County before the industrial age, gardens provided most food needed by the family, but it needed to be

preserved and stored for winter use. Clothing was mostly home spun, a task learned by all females but performed often by the grandmother while younger ones did the outside chores and tasks requiring more vigorous effort.

In addition, the log cabin with a sleeping loft, though adequate in their past experience, was a far cry from what modern youth and parents require and wish for their comfort and actual needs today. It was important for settlers moving from Eastern Pennsylvania or Maryland to arrive early enough in the season to build a cabin, plant and grow a garden, wall up and clean a spring for water, and prepare a large store of firewood. While the husband labored heavily and continually outside, the wife’s burden was also severe as she cared for children and prepared food for immediate and winter use.

JONASANDETTAWITHFOSTERANDILDA

AUNTSALOMESLABAUGH(ETTA’SSISTER)ATHERQUILTINGFRAME

APIONEERWOMAN’SENDLESSTASK

41 After their move to near Eglon in Preston County, life for Jonas and Etta was certainly improved compared with life in the high altitude and rugged mountain plateau of Garrett County where they had started housekeeping. Nevertheless, after a few years, they outgrew this second farm nestled in Narrow Valley and which lacked sufficient productivity in its small steep fields. Jonas and Etta were ready and prepared for an improvement. The Boger farm at Accident, Maryland, and now this second farm in Narrow Valley had served them well during their first eight or ten years. Their children, Ilda, Foster, Desmond, William and Playford were growing and needed contact with suitable friends. Ruth was born a few years later.

Fortunately, a much better adjacent farm soon became available for purchase. It contained larger and less steep farm fields and a much more comfortable house. Furthermore, it lay only a short distance northward and much closer to Eglon. Shortly, this farm would become the well-known Bittinger farm where Deacon Jonas lived out the rest of his life. Their home and church were favorite places for college recruiters to visit.

During these years, Elder C. D. Bonsack of Elizabethtown College would stop by to visit his daughter, Dr. Blanche Miller and to seek recruits for the College. He won the hearts of three Bittinger children (Ilda, Foster,40 and Desmond) who then obtained not only their college education there but also formed new relationships, finding their spouses there among the “Pennsylvania Dutch” Sellers, Frantz, and Ziegler families. Foster obtained his bride, Esther Sellers Bair from the Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking Sellers family. She was a niece of Elder Noah Sellers of Black Rock Congregation. Playford would become a Forest Ranger, obtaining his degree at a New England university. Playford then worked for the Forest Service near Elkins. Unfortunately, the cancer plague ended his life only a few years later. Jonas and Etta’s youngest child, Ruth, would marry Clinton Heckert and establish a family at Elgin, Illinois where he operated the church headquarters printing press for the denomination.

Only William remained a farmer, marrying the daughter of Dunker minister Elder “Will” Cosner of Fairview Church. This was the congregation that had been carefully nurtured in the faith for decades by a peripatetic Dunker preacher, William’s own grandfather, Moses Fike, Etta’s father!

The Bittinger home farm at Eglon would soon host Bittinger youth returning from college. Youth Meetings, quilting groups etc. would be gathering there as Jonas and Etta became more active in church affairs. Over the years, family and church activities by the next generation, and by grandchildren of the family, continued to occur and were joyfully commented upon on after their visits to “Grandpa’s and Grandma’s farm”. We possess a highly prized picture of one of these youth “parties” as they are picking wild huckleberries in one of the native patches that existed on a back field of the Bittinger farm. They loved to visit, and each holiday at the Bittinger farm had a special place in their hearts. Playing in the hay loft and swing on ropes from the high branches of the massive sugar maple trees that stood on the surrounding hillside have never been forgotten.

Many of these beloved landmarks on the Bittinger farm have long disappeared. All that remains to awaken a memory or produce a feeling of familiarity is the massive, well-built barn and the flowing spring nearby. Now the modern home of the Winters stands on the site. The eastern vista of Backbone Mountain remains in prominent view.

40FosterobtainedthefinaldozenorsocredithoursatBridgewaterCollegeafterhismarriagetoafinePennsylvaniaDutch,YorkCountymaidennamedEsther(Sellers)Bair,daughterofAnnaSellers.

42 Jonas and Etta farmed here until his death that occurred in 1938. At grandmother’s urgent request, her eldest son, Rev. Foster Bittinger, moved with his family from the parsonage farm provided by the Brightwood Church in Madison County, Virginia that provided a minimum of life support during the years of the economic depression that plagued the country in the 1930s. I recall the sale of our possessions, most of which were sold for practically nothing, including several family heirlooms of furniture precious to our mother.

With little remaining in the near empty Brightwood farmhouse, we soon were on the way to West Virginia to the Jonas Bittinger farm to operate it and settle the estate. Two or three pickup truck loads carried our remaining possessions, including a horse and a colt!

We recall with pleasure those years on the family farm at Eglon. A strong sense of welcome and hospitality at the Maple Spring Church soon helped us to love our new home and church. Here we spent our youthful years in hard work and childhood play.

Grandfather Bittinger, a plain-dressed Dunker, was conservative in outlook. He had resisted purchasing a farm tractor. Consequently we also continued to farm with horses, Nell and Bird. Caring for them was my responsibility. As a result, I learned to love horses. In my later years at Bridgewater in 1997 I organized the Elder John Kline Riders, a riding group that continues to this day retracing the trails traveled by Elder John Kline a hundred and seventy years ago. Our aim was to replicate the rides of Elder Kline’s missionary journeys into West Virginia and visit and hold services in the same congregations he nurtured so many years ago.

Despite the few years we lived on the home farm, we developed both a sense of home and of belonging to the local church, and an awareness of the larger church community and denomination as missionaries were sent to Nigeria, China, and India and as missionaries visited from those distant places.

Also valuable were the long days of hard work on the farm and a growing sense of responsibility and a satisfaction in a job well done. Badly in need of income to operate the farm and support the family, father accepted a dual position as both a pastor at Terra Alta and as the first District Executive of the First West Virginia District.

This work required him to travel on many Sundays. After discussing the plans with his family, all agreed they would be able to carry on the regular farm tasks while he was engaged with “church work.”

For a while, our family walked the mile or so to Sunday church services. Soon father was able to purchase a well-used and very large, black, heavy 1928 Buick Sedan. Having reached the age of sixteen, I soon had a driver’s license and proudly drove our family car to church!

In the 1930s Eglon had a two-room schoolhouse. There is where the writer and his sisters attended school. I was in the six to eighth grade there. Some of my classmates were Bonnie Jean Miller, Claude Winter, Norman, Ellis and Jessie Harsh among others of familiar names. Mr. John Teets, a Brethren member, was our teacher, and a very fine one.

The farm was then sold ca.1940 to Drs. Harold and Blanche Miller of Eglon. It is now the residence of Claude and Bonnie Jean (Miller) Winter. A few years ago they sold “fracking rights” to a gas company, and now the land is no longer farmed and apparently is abandoned or held in reserve by the gas company.

43 We have pictures of both of the old Bittinger houses, but neither house survives. The Miller house is situated on the site of the old chicken house near the spring that cooled the milk and supplied water for the family and farm. This is appears to be the third home built on this farm. A slave cemetery is situated north of the house and garden and near the sugar maple grove.

* * * *

Again we pick up the Bittinger story of Philip and Julianna of Berks County. Philip and Julianna had moved by around 1772 to Maryland and lived near the old Salem Reformed Church just west of Hagerstown. A Reformed Church christening record dated August 28, 1773 exists at Hagerstown for their first child, Susanna, born July 14, the month before. At this early date Hagerstown would have been in Frederick County that later was Washington County.

After living a short while near Hagerstown, both Philip and Henry couples decided to move again, this time to a place about two or three miles north of Meyersdale, Pennsylvania, on the east side of the Berlin road in Somerset County where their son John Peter and the other children would be born. Apparently, Philip and Julianna were traveling with his brother in law John Hoch/High and were headed for Purgittsville beyond Romney, which was only part of the way to their final destination in Somerset County. Philip’s parents, Ludwig and Susanna, were going (or had already gone) to Wytheville and North Carolina. Running out of time, they made it only part of the way. Julianna was likely pregnant again, and they stopped off at Purgittsville, West Virginia, to spend the winter before heading to Somerset County. This is where John Hoch/High had decided to settle on the western flank of “High” Knob above the headwaters of Mill Creek where he fathered a large family. Birth records for Philip’s family are in Somerset in the nearby Berlin Reformed Church books. John Henry Bittinger and wife (or sister) Elizabeth Dorothy, were witnesses to the christening of Julianna’s second child, John Peter, in that church on October 15, 1777. The book, Generations, by Wayne Bittinger on page ten names the thirteen children of Philip and Julianna.41 Their son, John Henry, our ancestor, born July 14, 1778, married a neighbor, Barbara Bouser, born in July, 1772. Both families lived a mile or two north of Meyersdale. (See my Bouser essay.) The Bousers lived on the west side of the Berlin road and the Bittingers on the east side a short distance on Berkley Flats Road. Philip and Julianna lived out their years at this location and are buried in the Reformed Church cemetery nearby.

Around 1810, their son Henry Bittinger moved to a farm two or so miles south of Grantsville, Maryland. The farm Henry and Barbara (Bouser) purchased is still owned by Bittingers today. The Bousers also came with Henry and Barbara to a farm nearby.

Some of Henry and Barbara’s children, including William and Noah, attended the nearby Maple Grove German Baptist Brethren Church (now Church of the Brethren) a mile or so south of Grantsville, Maryland. One of the church windows bears the name of Noah Bittinger. Joseph was called to the lay ministry. He also became a noted bear and deer hunter. (Others of the family apparently remained Reformed and attended church at Bittinger cross roads where some of them are

41WayneBittinger’s researchdidnotexplore theoriginsofPhilipand Julianna.Thereason likely is the fact thathisbook was mostly finished by the time he learned about them being in New Hanover and Washington County,informationhereceivedfromthepresentwriter.Consequently,heonlybrieflymentionsthem,namingtheirchildrenandtheir“ConococheagueTerritory”locationinMaryland.

44 buried.) The unmarked graves of Henry and Barbara are at the south side of their farmhouse in the yard but are scarcely discernable today. Henry and Barbara’s children included twins, Jonathan and Solomon, whose graves are in the Reformed Church Cemetery a few miles south of the Bittinger homestead at Bittinger crossroads where Joseph Bittinger operated a store and post office named after him. Jonathan had a son David who was the father of Jonas, our grandfather.

The small store at Bittinger is a remarkable and historic artifact of the past. The last time I visited it a quarter century ago, the post office was located in a tiny compartment within the store. It was scarcely large enough to accommodate one human body! Customers obtained their mail from boxes in the wall from outside the compartment but inside the store. Undoubtedly, this is one of the smallest post offices in the United States! The father of our grandfather Jonas was David Bittinger. He and his wives are buried a few miles west of Bittinger crossroads in Bear Creek Church of the Brethren Cemetery at Accident, Garrett County, Maryland near where they lived on the Boger farm. John Boger, Jr., David’s father-in-law, was a minister in Sandy Creek Church of the Brethren Congregation, and his mother-in-law was a Merkel.

Rev. John Boger and Grandmother Merkel are buried on north side on a bluff at the very edge of the Interstate Highway 64 a couple miles east of Bruceton Mills. It is a small and obscure family cemetery, and to find it one must inquire locally. He died in 1851. Rev. Boger’s only claim to fame is that he wrote a book published in Somerset in 1846 in the German language, titled The Second Coming of Christ in which he predicted the date of the end of the world. Juniata College now owns the copy that I once possessed. I retain a photo copy. He missed the date, but his writings inspired others to attempt the same, including, Charles T. Russell, founder of the Jehovah Witnesses and Rev. William C. Thurman of Greenmount and Bridgewater Churches of the Brethren in Rockingham County, Virginia. Thurman wrote an article published December 1869 in the Harrisonburg paper, The Rockingham Register, in which he predicted the second coming of Christ and took issue with several major doctrines of the Brethren. Continuing to persist in these doctrinal attacks, he soon was defrocked. The local Brethren of Bridgewater and Dayton, at least once, had gathered on the hillside on the farm of Dunker John Miller to await the Second Coming.42 Thurman’s book, or one based on it, is being promoted on the internet under the title, The Sealed Book of Daniel Opened.

* * * The rest of the children of Philip and his wife Juliana, are recorded on the Reformed church

records at Berlin, Pa. (See the will of Philip that names his eldest son Peter Bidner as executor in Somerset County, Pa.). As usual, this family branch spelled its name variably, namely, Bidner, Bittner, Binniger, and Bittinger.

42AnumberofyearsagoIinterviewedseveralveryelderlyBridgewaterBrethrenregardingthiseventanditslocationonthehilltopjusteastofthefarmofJohnMiller,thefatherofNaomiWest.HermanMillerwasanotherinformant.SeemyThurmanessay.

CourthouseinPhiladelphiawhereOathofAllegiancewassignedbyarrivingImmigrants

(areplication)

Credit:S&H,Vol.III,p.iii

45 For some reason, perhaps because of the death of the older generation, the next generation of

Bittingers were attracted to Garrett County and decided to move from their Myersdale location that was a short distance off to the right of a road leading toward Berlin where son Henry lived. The Henry Bouser Family lived on the other side of the Berlin Road but not far away. Philip’s son Henry married their daughter Barbara. (See a separate article about the Bittingers and Bousers). The Livengoods lived near Salisbury.

Wayne Bittinger, has researched and published a fine history of the Henry and Barbara (Bouser) Bittinger family line, a book, Generations, that has been widely distributed. He begins the Bittinger story in Washington County, Maryland and follows the Bittinger line down to the 1980s.

* * * *

The interest of the present writer in this article has been mostly limited to the European back ground and immigration of our family and its settlement near Pottstown and New Hanover. From here during the next seventy-five years or so, they would migrate through the Hagerstown vicinity through West Virginia, to Somerset County, Pennsylvania. From where they would to settle in the Grantsville and Bittinger Crossroads areas of Maryland, making a complete story.

In looking backward and summarizing their peregrinations, one can only wonder at what circumstances and motivations brought about this complicate and lengthy process of movement. We shall note, especially in Switzerland, that religious intolerance and persecution had become a prominent part of their existence.

From this point in western Maryland, as we look back in time, we note an astonishing and complicated pattern of centuries of migration over great distances. We first had found the m the Black Sea area, then later in southeastern Germany and Switzerland during the unsettled times in the 1500s. Many decades later, they are found at Freinsheim Germany and at Bern, Switzerland. Several branches today are found with variable spellings scattered in south Germany. Consequently, there are several small villages in Germany that carry the Bittinger name. In our travels we often have noticed them.

* * * *

We now diverge to make mention of the Monocacy Manor Bittingers in Maryland.

Peter, Daniel and David “Pittinger” (noted above) were in eastern Frederick County, Maryland. by 1745 as stated by Schildtknecht (page 64-5), in northeastern (Monocacy Manor) of Frederick County, Maryland, near Pipe Creek area. A William Bittinger was a member of the nearby Conewago Brethren Congregation in nearby York County. It is plausible to assume that he was a part of the near-by Monocacy Manor Bittinger family, mentioned above. They lived in eastern Frederick County.

He or his father may be the John Wilhelm Böttiger who immigrated in the ship Brothers that arrived at Philadelphia on September 15, 1752. John Wilhelm Albach, arrived on the same ship (S & H, Vol. I, pp. 478-9). John Albaugh also is mentioned on the same Schildtknecht page. They are a part of our ancestral Arnold family line from whom Our Bittingers also descend. These two families, the Arnolds and Albaughs, likely knew each other in Germany. (See my Arnold Family essay.)

46 P. 323 states that William Pittinger mentioned above, was a neighbor of John Albaugh, our Arnold relative, whom we discovered as an ancestor of the Arnold family from whom our Bittingers are descended as well. These two Bittinger related families-- Albaugh and Arnold -- were in the Burkittsville vicinity, Middletown Valley, and Washington County areas in the late 1700s, around fifty miles west of Monocacy Manor.

* * * *

Several Philippi names were found in the ship lists between 1726 and 1780. Interestingly, John Carl Bittinger/Buttner was on this same ship, the Sally, arriving Aug. 3, 1773. This ship carried 115 male immigrants and 78 women and children for a total of 193 persons. John Henry “Philibahr” [Philippi] also was among the passengers. (See Strassburger and Hinke, Vol. 1, p.748). By 1773, Philip and Julianna were already in Washington County, Maryland and were preparing to move to Somerset County to join his father, Philip, Sr., and the Livengoods.

At this time at the Port of Philadelphia, immigration, records sometimes omitted the names of women and children. Regarding John Feig (Fike) who also was among the passen-gers of the Sally. We have since discovered that this John Feig was a son of Christian Feick, Sr. Actually, Frick, Jr., was returning from Germany after performing duties related to the settlement of his father’s (Christian, Sr’s.) estate in Pennsylvania.

It seems no coincidence that Bittinger and Fike relatives again traveled together, this time on the ship Sally! Other German spellings of our Fike name were Feick and “Feige”. Elder John Kline spelled it “Feiga” and Feiga in his diary records. The German pronunciation would have sounded the ending letter.43

Many families with this Feige name reside at Schwarzenau and along the Eder River. This town is the place of the founding of the German Baptist Brethren in 1708. A Feige (Fike) Guest House is located there, less than a hundred yards from the original Brethren baptismal site! We have lodged there. It seems that the Fikes, Bittingers and the Brethren also may have had an ancient association together indeed!

Could these two immigrants, John Carl “Philidahr” and John Carl Buttner possibly be the ancestors of Philip and Juliana who were born in this country? Hardly! Their family already arrived and settled in Montgomery County near Pottstown as we have seen earlier. Could Philip Bittinger, Sr., have been a brother of Henry who married Dorothea? Quite possibly, since the list of Ludwig’s children contains both Henry and Philip [Sr.].

At this point it is now possible to provide a proposed generational sequence of the Bittinger line from ca. 1560 to 2010.

43Funk,Benjamin,LifeandLaborsofElderJohnKline(Elgin:BrethrenPublishingHouse,1900),365,375.

47

BITTINGER GENERATIONAL SEQUENCE (Variable spelling encountered—Bitting, Pitting, Bűuttner, Beittinger, Bőtttig)

Nichlous Lybundgudt b. ca. 1540 = Catharine Frantz44 b. ca. 1540 Switzerland Switzerland | Elias Bittinger b. ca. 1580 = Barbel Lybengut born Sept.17-1581 Gutenwill, Switz. | Gutenwill, Switz. (east of Zurich)

(Note: A generation is likely missing here, perhaps in Alsace)

Hannes Bittinger b.ca 2-27-1614 = Maria Sabina Müller, b. ? | Hans Andrew Bittinger, born 1660 = Julianna Henrica, born 1664

[Also had son Christoph, 8-19-1686 bro. of Heinrich below]

| [Pierre and Adam Bittinger = ______? ; to Monocacy Manor—not our line] Heinrich Bittinger, born ca. 1677 = Anna Catherine Schäffer, b. ca. 167__ | [Jost Bittinger b. 7-2-1713, d. 1801 = Agnes Dotterer, Feb. 14, 1727-Oct. 2, 1785]

(Jost, bro. Of John Ludwig; not our line) | (or Dec. 20)

John Ludwig Bittinger 1702-1775 = Johanna Servina Böhm, b. 1709 (our line)

Montg. Co. | Montg. Co.

Ludwig,Bittinger, Jr. 1731-1779 = Susanna Hoch/High, b.? – ca. 1802

(Bro. of Philip, Sr. below) Lehigh Co.

|

Philip Bittinger (Sr.), b. c1737, Bucks Co.) = Abigail Thomas, b. ca1837 d. 1811, Bucks Co.

(With Livengood to Somerset, ca. 1769) (See pages 9, 23, “Bitting Family Outline” |

Philip, (Jr.,) Bittinger, (Jr.,) b. 1753-5 = Julianna Philippi, b. ca. 1753 To Purgittsville then Somerset) (not listed in “Bittinger Outline”-they eloped.) (dau. of Johannes Philippi & Julianna Engelhard) |

Henry Bittinger, b. July 14, 1788 = Barbara Bouser, b. July, 1772

| Bouser from Conewago Congregation

Jonathan Bittinger, b. May 14, 1814 = Elizabeth Foust, b. ca. 1815

|

44TheFrantznameappearsinseveralBittingergenerations,includingincurrentgeneration!

48 David Bittinger, b. Nov. 20, 1843 = Mary Boger, of John, Mar. 20, 1845

|

Jonas H. Bittinger, b. Apr. 22, 1875 = Mary Etta Fike, of Moses, b. Jan. 5, 1887

|

Foster45 M. Bittinger, b. June 1, 1901 = Esther (Sellers) Bair, b. Nov. 2, 1901

|

Emmert F. Bittinger, Sept., 22, 1925 = Esther Mae Landis, March 19, 1927

[A] Emmert m. Esther Landis and had 1) Lorraine “Lori” m. David Lineweaver and had Lisa m. Brian Hatleberg and Robert m. Kelly Hedrick; 2) Mildred “Millie” m. Ronald Arnett and had Adam and Aimee 3) Marion m. a) Carl F. Bowman and had Maria Bowman and Jordan Bowman; m. b) Antonio Martinez; Verona, Va.

[B] Virginia “Ginny” m. Hubert Whitten and had 1) Sharon m. Ronald Reich and had Travis, Natalie, Lucas; 2) Rhonda m. Philip Amadon and had Collin, Christina, Casey, and Corey; 3) David m. a) Kathryn Ann Baxter and had Matthew, Darcy and Samuel, and m. b) Judith Demi and had Zherina; and 4) Wendy m. Fred Ortiz and has a step daughter, Heather Ortiz.

[C] Annabelle m. Rev. Charles Whitacre and had 1) Vicki m. Robert Samland and had Peter m. Amanda Wells; and Jeremy m. Angela Ellis; 2) Linda m. Neal Lundquist and had Amy (step), Joshua and Ian; 3) Susan (Sue); 4) Christopher m. Kathryn Frantz and had Amanda and Ira; and 5) Karen m. Roy E. Winter, and had Jesse and Brady.

[D] Kathleen, who m. 1) Robert Wright and 2) Otto Wambolt. No Children.

NOTE: The Jonas and Foster Bittinger families and descendants are presented in much more detail in Part Three. This abbreviated discussion above is deliberately kept brief and is intended mainly to bring the generational sequence down to the present.

Emmert&EstherVirginia&HughAnnabelle&CharlesKathleen

Lorraine Sharon Vickie m.RobertWright

Mildred Rhonda Linda m.OttoWambolt

Marion David Sue nochildren

Wendy Chris

Karen

45AbrotherofFosterwasDesmondwhomarriedIreneFrantz.TheirfamilyhistoryisincludedinChapter3.

49 Because this Bittinger family is extremelyold, it appears possible that further researchmay revealnewdiscoveries.Fifteengenerationsareincluded.Whetherwehavefoundallthegenerationsremainstobeseen.Thewriterwillbepleasedtomakeimprovementsandcorrections.Therecoveryofaccuratedatesandgeographic locationswereaprincipal goal in this endeavor. Several supplementaryandallied familyhistorydocumentsandpicturesareappendedtothisessay.

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