Enter the Mohney and Hilgert families
- westmohney
- Sep 27, 2024
- 10 min read
Updated: Oct 3, 2024
. . .the family name spelled Manni, Manny, and Many, which appear to be phonetic equivalents for the same family name. ~ from research by Lorena Eaker
Germans in Pennsylvania
William Penn arrived in America in 1681 and went about establishing the new colony which became Pennsylvania. Over time Pennsylvania became what the Encyclopedia Britannica called "the most diverse, dynamic, and prosperous of all the North American colonies." Such was the esteem of the colony that Philadelphia was chosen as the first capitol of the United States.
The wave of German immigrants to Pennsylvania began in 1683 and by the beginning of the Revolution in 1775, more than 65,000 German-speaking immigrants had settled there. This influx became disturbing to many citizens of the colony whose forebears had mostly hailed from England. In 1727 the Pennsylvania Assembly passed a law that all "Palatines" be required to take an Oath of Allegiance to the British Crown. This requirement didn't stop the flood of immigrants who flocked together in settlements that began to take on a "thoroughly German character." The British became alarmed enough for Benjamin Franklin to ask, "Why should the Palatine Boors be suffered to swarm into our settlements, and by herding together establish their language and manners to the exclusion of ours? Why should Pennsylvania founded by Englishmen suffer to become a colony of foreigners who shortly will be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of Anglifying them..."
So great was the persecution against German settlers that, on December 26, 1764, sixty-five men of German descent formed the German Society of Pennsylvania and "resolved to petition the Assembly to enact a law to protect immigrants from the worst abuses." The German society "would go on to provide a broad range of support and services to German immigrants to Pennsylvania and later become a center for the preservation of German culture and heritage in the United States."
While our first German families to arrive in America, the Swineharts, Hutzels, Millers and Borns, all settled in northern Maryland, our next German contingent, the Mohneys, Hilgerts, Armagosts and Finefrocks chose Pennsylvania as their new home.
the Mani (Mohney) family in Europe
We are indebted to Lorena Shell Eaker for her invaluable research into the Mani family in Europe. Eaker wrote a book on her husband's ancestors titled German Speaking People West Of The Catawba River in North Carolina 1750 - 1800. Eaker's husband's branch of the Mani family migrated to North Carolina about twenty years after their arrival in America. Our branch stayed in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania German Pioneers is a publication that lists ships carrying Palatine (essentially German speaking) immigrants to the port of Philadelphia from 1727 to 1808. In that publication, members of our Mohney family can be found on the ship Lydia which left Rotterdam, Netherlands and arrived in Philadelphia on 29 Sep 1741. Listed on the ship's roster are our grandfather Jacob Mani, 50 (7GGF) and his sons Jacob Mani, Jr. 24 (6U); Jost Many 19 (6U) and Hans Adam Many 16 (6GGF). Jacob's wife, Anna Maria (7GGM), was probably also on board but, at that time, only males were listed on ship rosters.
According to the research done by Eaker, the Jacob Mani who emigrated to America was the son of another Jacob Mani (8GGF) who was born in Canton, Bern, Switzerland. We know that, at some point in his life, the elder Jacob Mani moved to Alsace, France, which was then still part of Germany. He was buried at Diedendorf Reformed Church on March 7, 1725. We don't know if the younger Jacob Mani was born in Switzerland or France. We do know that he married Anna Maria Werli on August 25, 1716 at Keskastel Lutheran Church. Keskatel is a small community in Alsace, about 12 miles from Diedendorf. Both towns lay on the banks of the Saar River.
Note: Keskastel is only about 15 miles south of Sarreguemines, France where our Finefrock family lived. We'll have more on the Finefrocks in an upcoming post.
Our grandmother, Anna Maria Werli, was the daughter of Jacob Werli (8GGF). Jacob was born in Dolen, Switzerland which is not shown on current maps. Since both the Werley and Mani families ended up in Alsace, it's possible that they knew each other in Switzerland.
Eaker's research shows that Alsace church records have "the family name spelled Manni, Manny, and Many, which appear to be phonetic equivalents for the same family name." The name would go through further changes once the family immigrated to America.
Jacob Mani, Jr. was a carpenter. According to church records, he and Anna Maria had at least four children. Hans Jacob III (6U) was baptized at Keskastel Lutheran Church on 20 Feb 1717. Johann Jost Manni (6U) was baptized at Keskastel on 10 Dec 1722. The Mani's had possibly moved to Diedendorf after Jost's birth because our grandfather, Johann Adam Mani (6GGF), was baptized at the Diedendorf Reformed Church on 3 Dec 1724. An unnamed child who must have died before the Mani's journey to America was baptized on 11 Jun 1729 also at Diedendorf.
In Pennsylvania
Jacob Mani and his family arrived in Pennsylvania in 1741. Jacob may have plied his carpentry trade in Denver, PA, where, by 1743, he was a member of the Muddy Creek Lutheran Reformed Church. Denver is about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
The next record for Jacob we find is a land warrant in from 1754. The land granted was 50 acres under the name of Jacob Mauney.
The land Jacob acquired was in Durham Township in Bucks County. That town today is Williams Township in Northampton County, PA. The area, 60 miles from Philadelphis, is nestled between the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers. The Delaware River forms the boundary between Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
A survey of Jacob's land in Williams Township twenty-five years later, in 1780, reported that he had increased his property to 124 acres, an increase of 74 acres.
Jacob wrote his will under the name "Jacob Mawny" on 2 Jan 1764. He died in 1767 at age 73 and his will was probated in April of that year. The only son mentioned in Jacob's will was Jost who had died before his father. Jost's three children received £50 of "current money" in their grandfather's will. Jacob's "dearly beloved wife, Anna Mary," received a "life estate of his possessions." After Anna's death, the estate was to be divided among their two sons, Jacob, Jr. and Adam and Jost's three children.
Anna Maria died nine years later in 1773 at age 78.
the Hilgerts
Our grandfather, Johann Franz Hilgert (6GGF) was born in 1722 in Argental, Germany which is about 200 miles northeast from Diedendorf, France where the Mohneys lived.
Johann Franz arrived in Philadelphia on the ship Edinburgh on 16 Sep 1751 and "did this day take the usual Qualifications & subscribed them." Because ships only listed the names of men passengers, it's impossible to know if he had our grandmother Christina with him. Unreliable records state they were married in 1751 in Pennsylvania. The couple had seven children and it appears that all of them were born in Upper Mount Bethel, PA, twenty miles north of Williams Township where the Mohneys had settled.
I can't find a definitive birth date for Johann Franz and Cristina's first child, our grandmother, Maria Catarina Hilgert (5GGM). Since Maria Catarina had her own first child in 1771, she was probably born ca. 1752, two years before her brother Peter (5U) who, records show, was born in December of 1754. Johann Franz and Christina's had eight children, the last born ca. 1668.
According to property tax records, the Hilgert's made a temporary move to Williams Township ca. 1668. There, the Mohneys and Hilgerts certainly got to know each other because, shortly after the Hilgert's move, the two families celebrated the marriage of Maria Catarina and Johann Adam Mohney (5GGF), who was the grandson of Jacob and Anna Maria Mohney.
The Revolutionary War began not long after the marriage. Johann Franz and two of his sons, Peter and Isaac (5U), are listed in DAR records as signing the Oath of Allegiance. Johann Franz was recognized for Patriotic Service, though not in the military. Towards the close of the war, three of the Hilgert sons joined the military. Peter was part of the Pennsylvania Continental Line and received a pension of $20.00 annually beginning in 1833 when he was 79. According to Jacob's (5U) veteran burial card, he served in the Northampton County Militia in 1782. Isaac also served in the Northampton County Militia in 1782. It's doubtful if any of the three saw much action as, at that time, the war was winding down and the main theater was in the south.
According to a 1781 tax record, Johann Franz was back in Mount Bethel and paid a tax of $3.10. By 1790, all of the children had left the nest as only Johann and Christina were listed in the first United States census. Cristina died in June of 1797 at age 73. Johann Franz followed two months later in August at age 76.
Johann Franz had obviously made his will before Cristina died because she was named as a beneficiary. The very detailed will basically divided his property among his six living children and the wife and children of his son Abraham (5U) who had died in 1795 at age 26.
Below are the restored headstones of Grandpa Johann Franz and Grandma Christina:
two Adam Manis
When the Mani family arrived in America in 1741, our grandfather Johann Adam Mani (6GGF) was 16. Ca. 1749, while living in Williams Township, he married Maria Dorothea (last name unknown). Their first three children, Johann Philip (5U), Maria Margaretha (5A) and Johann Adam (5GGF) were probably born in Williams Township. Then it appears the couple moved around a bit. John Michael (5U), born in 1756, was baptized in the Tohicken Reformed church in Bedminster Township, 18 miles from Williams. Their last child, Anna Catarina (5A) was baptized in Lower Saucen Township, 14 miles from Williams.
Very few records remain of Adam and Dorothea's life but it appears that they returned to Williams before they died. Their death dates are unclear, though believed to be between 1781 and 1790. It is also believed that they were both buried on the family farm in Williams.
Ca. 1770, Adam and Dorothea's son Adam, Jr. (5GGF) married Maria Catarina Hilgert (5GGM). Tax records for 1772 show that the couple lived in Upper Mount Bethel close to Hilgert family. Their first child, Anna Magdalene (4A), was born close to that time.
Adam, Jr. was listed as serving in the Pennsylvania Militia during the Revolution along with hs brother John, (5U).
1780 Tax records for Williams Township show that Adam Manny, Jr. was married and a farmer at the time. In 1785, Adam sold his property in Williams and moved his family to Upper Mount Bethel Township where Catarina's parents were living. There, the Federal Tax List shows him as Adam Mawney, owning 150 acres, 2 horses, and 3 cattle and paying 16.3 pounds in taxes.
In June of 1790, Adam was able to add 221 acres to his property holdings and in 1792 he purchased an additional 15 acres of land, next to Catarina's brother John Hilgert.
Over a 19 year period, Adam and Catarina had 12 children.
the move to Redbank in Armstrong County
The township of Redbank was named after Redbank Creek due to the red color of the soil along its banks. The first resident was a man named Henry Nolf who obtained patents for 1134 acres in 1806. The bulk of the land available in Redbank was owned either by Henry Nolf or corporation called Pickering & Company. One of the first to settle in Redbank after Henry Nolf was our uncle John Mohney (4U), son of Adam and Catarina.
In 1806, John applied to purchase 200 acres of land from Henry Nolf, adjoining some of Nolf's own property. Below is a note to the Secretary of the Land Office about John's application:
Two years later, in 1808, Adam and Catarina had also moved to Redbank. Over the next decade, most of their children would follow.
According to his deed, Adam Mawney purchased 1137 acres in Redbank for $4,824, paid in three installments over a year's time. Three years later, he purchased about 400 additional acres from Henry Nolf who had acquired the property in 1808. The History of Clarion County, Pennsylvania by Aaron J. Davis describes the history of the property that Adam bought:
Henry C. Barrett purchased from Pickering & Company part of tract 441 in April 1801. He laid the land out in town lots, and on November 19, 1808 traded lots. . .together with the water-right of Redbank Creek. . .to Henry Nolf. . .The tract was valued at $450, and lots Nos 3 and 4, $100; the nine half lots $200, and the water-right $150. Thus was laid out the foundation of the town of Millville, being to called on account of the mill-seat at that point. Nolf conveyed all this right to Adam Mohney, April 9, 1811. . .
Adam’s 1500 acres lay along both sides of Redbank Creek, so named due to the red color of the soil along its banks. His property stretched to the western edge of what later became the town of Hawthorn.
In 1818, eight years after his move to Redbank, Adam died at age 65. His will, proved the same year, was written in English with a few German words inserted here and there. He first designated his "sonning law" Jacob Miller and his son Isaac (4U) as executors. He then asked that no part of the "the Lot No 11 whereon we now live" be sold until after "my beloved wife Mary Chataranez" is deceased. He went on to give a lengthy description of the household items his wife was to have, as well. Sons Jacob (4U) and Jacob (4GGF) and daughters Magdalene (4A) and Catherine (4A) evidently didn't want any part of the property owned by Adam so he gave them each $200 instead. The rest of the land was to be sold and divided equally among the children, with the exception of Lot 11. Adam also stipulated that the executors "are not to be put to any unfelouz (unhappiness) or distresz."
Catarina's brother Francis Hilliard (Hilgert) (5U), who lived in Liberty, PA, 160 miles from Redbank, witnessed Adam's will.
Catarina, who lived for 23 years after Adam's death, died in 1841 at age 88. She and Adam are buried in the Trinity Cemetery in Alcola. The couple share a headstone not only with sons Adam (4U), who died 1832, and Peter (4U), who died in 1842, but also grandchildren Charles (1C5X) and Caroline (1C5X) who both died in 1833 at ages 6 and 3.
There are 58 Mohneys buried in the Alcola Cemetery.
By the time Adam and Catarina died, their last name had officially changed to Mohney. They are are identified first on the headstone as Grand Father and Grand Mother Mohney with the year of their deaths.
Armstrong and Clarion Counties, on either side of Redbank Creek, became home for many generations of Mohneys over the years culminating in Grandpa Ike Mohney's (GGF) move 40 miles southwest to Vandergrift where our mother Helen Mohney was born.
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