The Showalter Family History

The Showalter Family History

The Showalter Family History

Our direct line to the Showalter Family goes through Lindsay Anderson Brady (1811-1885) and Elizabeth Ann Hendrickson (1813-1891). That line is through my father, Gerald Abram Stevens Sr.

The following is the abbreviated story of the Showalter history. This information comes from the book “History of the Showalter Family” compiled by Portia Showalter Everett. Publication date: 1964.

The European Story

On the eastern borders of Switzerland there lies the small principality of Lechtenstein. Near its castle is a small town called Schan surrounded by the Schanwald or “Beautiful Forest.” Legend says that early in the 1400’s a man from this forest came in the vicinity of St. Gallen in Switzerland on the shores of Lake Constance. After the fashion of the times, he was known to his neighbors as the “Schanderwalder” or “man from the beautiful forest.” In time the name became Schanwalder, Schawalder, Schoenwalter, Schonwalder, and Schowalter. The birthplace of the Showalter Family, according to the earliest record, was in Strengalbach, a village five miles west of Zofingen, Canton (county) of Argua, Switzerland. Here some baptismal records list the children of Silvestor Schwalder; born about 1550, and his wife Barblin Huntzinger. Of their five children, the first was baptized on April 12, 1573. The last entries were two children of Hans Joggi (Jacob) Showalder and his wife Anna Bannwart: Anna listed on 20 October 1695; Jogeli was listed on 13 June 1697. There were no Schowalders recorded after 1697, because of emigration. The Schowalder emigration took them out of Switzerland down the Rhine into Germany where they settled into the Palatine of the Province of Bavaria. Many by the name of Schowalder reside there still. Some of these emigrated from Bavaria to Holland and then to America in the middle 1700’s.

One such was Jacob Showalter.

The American Story: Some have thought that the phrase “Pennsylvania Dutch” meant that their people came to Pennsylvania and were from Holland. Not so – they were of German or Swiss origin. The years 1749-1750, saw the greatest migration of these people to Pennsylvania. They settled close together, among relatives, intermarried and took little part in civil government, choosing to keep the customs and language of the fatherland. The English speaking people, it is said, dubbed the “Dutch”. Those who were the scribes of the time spelled the German names the way they sounded in English in the pubic records and many names got changed as a result. The Amish and some of the old order Mennonites of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania still to this day speak a dialect of German – called Dutch by the people of the area.

However, the words Pennsylvania Deitsch simply mean Pennsylvania German.

Jacob Showalter, our ancestor, was born about 1702, in Strengalbach, Switzerland. About 1726, he married Mariah or Maria Elizabeth Saunders who was also born in Switzerland about the year 1700. In 1744, they immigrated to Holland. On 3 November 1750, on the ship “Brotherhood” Jacob and Mariah and their family of eight sons and three daughters arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Jacob Mathias Showalter Sr. and his sons Jacob Jr., Johannes (John), Joseph, Christian and Peter were among the 119 “signers” of the list, indicating that they were 16 or older, since those under 16 did not sign. His other sons were Valentine (who we come through), Daniel and Ulrich; his daughters were Barbara, Margaret, and Martha Anna.

The Showalter Family History (continued part 2)

The Family of Jacob Mathias Showalter and Mariah or Maria Elizabeth Saunders Showalter, except Christian, settled in 1751, on the west bank of the Lehigh River on a 450 acre tract of land which later was included in the confines of Whitehall Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Today, the town of Cemenon is located where his land was. Son, Christian, settled in the Cocalico Township of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Valentine “Felty” Showalter, the son whom we come through – was born about 1736, in Strengalbach, Aargau, Switzerland. He died in 1803 near Brock’s Gap in Rockingham County, Virginia. Valentine’s goods and chattels were sold at public auction on 30 July 1803, in Rockingham County. According to the estate papers, Valentine was a weaver, nicknamed “Felty”. He married a woman named Anna Funk who was born about 1738 in Franconia Township, Montgomery, Pennsylvania. During the Revolutionary War, while living in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Valentine “Felty” served as a private in a county militia that was first under command of Captain Israel Moore, and second under Captain David Wilson.

Children of Valentine “Felty” and Anna Showalter were:

1. Mary Showalter – born about 1765 and died before 1807. She married a cousin, Christian Showalter, son of Jacob & Barbara (Oyer) Showalter. Christian married second a Catherine Roadcap

2. John Showalter – born about 1767 and died about 1814. He married Elizabeth Roth.

3. Valentine G. Showalter – born about 1768. He lived in the Shenandoah Valley.

4. Joseph Showalter – born about 1770 and married Lydia Roush on Sept 12, 1797. They migrated to Wayne County, Ohio in 1827.

5. Jacob Showalter – born about 1773. He married a cousin, Elizabeth Funk. Jacob was the progenitor of the musical Showalter Family (Singer’s Glen) that was nationally known during the 19th and early 20th century. Jacob had a son named Henry Showalter, who was born in Rockingham County on 14 June, 1793. He served as a soldier during the War of 1812. His widow’s pension application stated that Henry was 6 feet 2 inches tall, had black hair and blue eyes. Henry and his wife Lydia Hindgardner had eight children.

6. Nancy Showalter – born about 1775, and married Jacob Funkhouser.

7. Catherine Showalter – born about 1777, and married Christian Allebaugh.

8. Susannah Showalter (our line) – born about 1779, and married Samuel Sager.

9. Christopher Showalter – born about 1781.

• Note: All information has been entered into PAF File & checked for ordinance work

The Showalter Family History (continued part 3)

When the French and Indian Wars broke out in 1758, Jacob Mathias Showalter and his sons became involved. Nicholas Marks of Whitehall Township on 9 October 1763, gave a report on an Indian attack which appeared in the colonial newspaper “The Pennsylvania Gazette”, it can be found in the book “Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania” – Vol. 1 pages 164-174. Marks said that after supper, as he opened his door, he saw an Indian standing about 2 poles from the house and they tried to shoot him. But Marks quickly shut the door. Then he says the Indian slipped into a cellar close to the house. Marks, with his apprentice boy, George Graff, and his wife, ran to Phillip Jacob Schreiber’s with the news – in the process of making their escape they were shot at by a second Indian; a third was running through the orchard. Two miles away they stopped at Adam Deshler’s house where 20 men at arms were stationed. They all went first to the house of John Jacob Mickley where they found a boy and girl lying dead and the girl scalped. From there they went to Hans Schnieder’s: his wife and three children were dead. His house was burning, he also was dead and all were scalped. On the return to Adam Deshler’s they found Jacob Alleman’s wife with a child lying dead in the road and scalped. During the summer of 1763, after a raid at the Stendon house, Indians plundered James Allen’s house; a short distance off, they attacked Andrew Hazelet’s house. Hazelet attempted to fire on the Indians but missed and was shot in front of his wife. She ran off with two children but was pursued and tomahawked along with the children. A party of Indians went to a place on the Lehigh River, a short distance from Siegfried’s Bridge (to this day known as Indian Fall). Here 12 Indians were seen by Ulrich Showalter, (son of Jacob Mathias Showalter) wading across the river. Ulrich was at the time working on the roof of a building and had a good chance to count the Indians. It is not known if they were seen by anyone else until they reached the farm of John Jacob Mickley. Here they encountered three of his children in a field, under a chestnut tree. Henry 9 years old and Barbara 7 were tomahawked, Peter 11 escaped. Adam Deshler’s house was used as a fort. It was of stone construction and the house still stood in 1894.

In 1759, a political figure of the area successfully laid claim to Jacob Mathias Showalters’ land. He sold it to William Allen (founder of Allentown), who then sold part of the land back to the family. The movement of the family began in 1769, with son Valentine the first to leave. During the next three years, the father, John, Daniel and Joseph followed him. Jacob Sr., Jacob Jr., Valentine, Joseph and Daniel settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania: Valentine, John, and Daniel in Tredyfferin Township and Joseph in Charlestown Township. In 1788, 1789, and 1790, a movement to Virginia took place. Daniel, Ulrich and Valentine went to Shenandoah and Rockingham Counties, Virginia.

Family tradition tell the story of a prosperous plantation called Greenbriar in Virginia which was owned by a Showalter ancestor who lost it through either gambling or overindulging in wine, women, and song. After its loss, the family moved to Somerset County in Western Pennsylvania. Whether it is true or not, John’s son Jeremiah named one of his sons Samuel Greenbriar.