1722 Jacob Bauman was born on September 23, based on a bible record. [1] Jacob Bauman was perhaps a son of Christian Bowman (son of Wendel Bowman). [2]
1740s Jacob Bowman, searching for land with plentiful game, went to Bowmansville and met a Native American who became his guide and friend. Following the advice of his guide, Jacob settled on the eastward flowing Allegheny Creek. [3]
1745 Jacob Bowman obtained a warrant dated October 8 for 77 acres in Alleghenyville, Brecknock Twp, Berks County, Pennsylvania (originally recorded in Cumru Twp, Lancaster County). [4] [5] A survey dated October 13 showed the tract adjacent to his own land with a land warrant of Christian Bowman. [6] [7]
1751 Jacob Bowman obtained a warrant dated May 2 for 50 acres in Cumru Twp, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. [8] [9] A survey dated September 4 reported 28 acres and showed Conrad Weiser and Philip Streiter as adjacent landowners. [10] The location is now in Brecknock Twp, Berks County, Pennsylvania. [11]
1760 Jacob Bowman sold water rights on Allegeny Creek to his brother Christian, both of Cumru Twp, Berks County. [12]
1764 Jacob received a patent for the land described in the land warrants dated 1745 and 1751. [13]
Jacob Bowman built the first mill (which stood near the junction of Ziegler's Lane and Pennsylvania Route 568) and the first sawmill in the Alleghenyville region. [14]
1765-67 Jacob Bauman, owner of a sawmill, was taxed 9 pounds in Cumru Twp, Berks County, Pennsylvania for 105 acres, 2 horses, 4 cattle, and 4 sheep. (Christian, perhaps brother) was also taxed. [15] [16] [17]
1768 Jacob Bauman, owner of a mill, was taxed 7 pounds in Cumru Twp, Berks County, Pennsylvania for 70 acres, 2 horses, 3 cattle, and 3 sheep. (Christian, perhaps brother) was also taxed. [18]
1769 Jacob Bauman of Cumru Twp, Berks County, dated his will on November 3. The will named wife Freny and mentioned unnamed children under the age of fourteen years. [19]
1770 An account by Peter Eschelman of the estate of Jacob Bauman reported a balance of £8.2.11. Dated March 20. [20]
The inventory listed the personal goods of Jacob Bauman (household and farm items) and debts naming Christian Stauffer, John Bauman, Peter Hoschauer, Peter Hockes, George Steffen, Michael Bauman, Jacob Miller, Peter Bauman, John Groff, Lawrence Pinsler, Philip Hertz, and George Gebhart. [21]
1770 The German will of Jacob Bauman of Cumru Twp, Berks County was in probate court on March 29. Executors Peter Bauman and Hans Oberholser. Witnessed by Henrich Bar and Christel Bauman. [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] Perhaps the witness Christel Bauman was Jacob's son or brother Christian. A translation is in the estate records:
Berks County Cumru Township the 3 day of November 1769.
Was I Jacob Bauman very sick, yet, God be thanked, of Good Knowledge and Understanding, therefore is this my Last Will and Testament as follows.
Firstly, I order and direct that all my just debts shall be paid out of my (last two words cut out, perhaps "whole estate").
Secondly, I order and direct that my wife and children shall continue to live on my land & Plantation until my youngest child is fourteen years old - if it should happen that my beloved wife Freny should marry again yet shall she have a Right to dwell on my land & plant' until any youngest child is fourteen years old. But if my wife should remain a widow then shall she have her widow’s seal on my land and plant'n as long as she lives and shall have the third part of my whole Estate Land and all be(word lost) and if she marries again then shall she have only the third part of my personal estate and of my land (? perhaps "shall she") have nothing - Further I order and direct that all my children shall inherit equally from me and none shall have any advantage above the rest - Further I Ordain and constitute as Executors over my estate Peter Bauman and Hans Oberholser and I give my Executors full Right and Power to give a Good Deed of sale of my Land and Plantation. The above I acknowledge as my Last Will and Test. And have signed it with my hand & seal On the date aforesaid Jacob Bauman (Seal) Witness present Henrich Bär and Christel CB (his mark) Baùman
Notes on the signatures and marks of brothers Jacob Bowman and Christian Christian (sons of Christian Bowman (c 1702-c 1735)):
1770 The will of Michael Schumaker was proved in Berks County, giving his estate to Christian Bauman [perhaps a son or brother of Jacob Bauman]. The will was witnessed by Jacob Bauman and Henrich Bar. At the time the will was affirmed (January 22, 1770), Jacob Bauman was "through sickness utterly incapable of attending to prove the said will". [27] Jacob Bauman's signatures on his own will [28] and on the will of Michael Schumaker [29] are plausibly similar.
1762 The inventory of Jacob Eschelman was signed by Christian Bauman and Jacob Bauman. [30] The signatures are plausibly similar to those on the will of Jacob Bowman's 1770 will.
1773 Widow Bowman was taxed in Cumru Twp, Berks County. [31]
1809 Fronica Bauman, widow of Jacob Bowman, Cumru Twp, Berks County [renounced her right of administration for the estate]. December 16, 1809. Adm. to Martin Bauman, a son. [32]
1812 The heirs of Jacob Bowman, deceased, sold land that Jacob Bowman had purchased from John Edwards on December 20, 1735. Jacob Bowman's will, dated November 3, 1769, indicated that his estate should be shared equally among his heirs. Christian Bowman, son of Jacob, purchased part of the land from Jacob Bowman, John Bowman, Peter Bowman, Henry Bowman, Martin Bowman, Freney Bowman, & John Bear. Dated March 10. [33]
Research Notes:
The ancestry that we show for Jacob Bowman largely follows that in a published pedigree except that we show an extra generation for Jacob's father Christian Bowman. [34] [35] [36]
The relationships among early Bowman settlers in Pennsylvania is uncertain. Following Emmert Bittinger, we show this Jacob Bowman as person B122, son of Christian Bowman (B12), son of Wendel Bowman (B1). [37] Mr. Bittinger suggests that Jacob Bowman (B122) settled in Alleghenyville, Brecknock township, Berks county and died there as did several of his children. We have found documentation in both Lancaster County and Berks County, most often labeled as Cumru township. These documents apparently refer to events in present day Brecknock township, Berks County. The first Bowman tax record we have found in Brecknock township, Berks County was in 1786 for Jacob Bowman. [38]
See Mennonite card file: [39]
A biosketch reported [40]:
In the early 1740s, young Jacob Bowman, searching for an area where game and fish would be more plentiful, went beyond the settlements of Groffdale and Weaverland to the more recently settled Bowmansville. At Bowmansville Jacob met a Native American who offered to be his guide to better hunting grounds. He told Jacob that to be successful in life one must locate where the water runs toward the rising sun. Jacob made his home along the eastward-flowing Allegheny Creek and became a lifelong friend of the native. History does not record any hostilities between the natives and the white settlers in the Alegheny Valley. Jacob Bauman (born 1722), a Mennonite, is traditionally regarded as the first white man to settle permanently in the Allegheny Valley... He built the first mill...He built the first sawmill...Jacob and his wife Veronica had six sons and two daughters.
[1] "Genealogical Tips Baumann/Bowman," [cites a bible assumed printed in 1720 and assumed to have belonged to Wendel Bowman (1681-1735), but which was actually printed in 1753, and belonged to Christian Bowman (1724-1790) and his son Wendel] Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 9 (April, 1986), 46, Incorrectly assumes this Jacob was the son of Wendel Bauman.
[2] Emmert F. Bittinger, "The Children of Wendell and Ann Bowman Reconsidered," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 18 (October 1995), 18-27, at 26, B122.
[3] Henry W. Horning, "Mennonites of the Allegheny Valley," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 28 (October, 2005), 2-11, at 3-4, Biosketch.
[4] Pennsylvania Land Warrant, Lancaster County, [PHMC Warrant].
[5] Henry W. Horning, "Mennonites of the Allegheny Valley," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 28 (October, 2005), 2-11, at 4.
[6] Pennsylvania Archives Land Office Survey, A-88-132, [PA Survey Map], [PASurveyBooksIndex].
[7] Pennsylvania Archives Land Office Survey, A-35-189, [PA Survey Map], [PASurveyBooksIndex].
[8] Pennsylvania, Land Warrants and Applications, 1733-1952, [AncestryRecord].
[9] Pennsylvania Land Warrant, Lancaster County, B-582, [PHMC Warrant].
[10] Pennsylvania Archives Land Office Survey, A-88-131, [PA Survey Map], [PASurveyBooksIndex].
[11] Henry W. Horning, "Mennonites of the Allegheny Valley," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 28 (October, 2005), 2-11, at 4.
[12] Berks County, Pennsylvania, Deed {2}, A2-134 and A2-136, [FamilySearchImage], [FHLCatalog].
[13] Bureau of Land Records, Pennsylvania Land Patent Books, [FamilySearchImage], [FHLCatalog].
[14] Henry W. Horning, "Mennonites of the Allegheny Valley," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 28 (October, 2005), 2-11, at 4.
[15] Berks County, Pennsylvania, Tax, 1765-66, [FamilySearchImage], [FHLCatalog].
[16] Berks County, Pennsylvania, Tax, 1766, [FamilySearchImage], [FHLCatalog].
[17] William Henry Egle, Pennsylvania Archives, Third Series, Volume 18 (Berks Taxables) (1897), 29, 1767, [InternetArchive].
[18] William Henry Egle, Pennsylvania Archives, Third Series, Volume 18 (Berks Taxables) (1897), 117, [InternetArchive].
[19] Pennsylvania Probate Records, 1683-1994, Berks, Estate, FHL film 1644078, image 1799, [FamilySearchImage].
[20] Pennsylvania Probate Records, 1683-1994, Berks, Estate, FHL film 1644078, image 1800, [FamilySearchImage].
[21] Pennsylvania Probate Records, 1683-1994, Berks, Estate, FHL film 1644078, image 1801-1803, [FamilySearchImage].
[22] Pennsylvania Probate Records, 1683-1994, Berks, Will 2-17, [FamilySearchImage].
[23] Pennsylvania. County Court (Berks County), Berks. Wills 1765–1779, image 154, [FamilySearchImage].
[24] Pennsylvania Probate Records, 1683-1994, Berks, Estate, [FamilySearchImage].
[25] Pennsylvania Probate Records, 1683-1994, Berks, Estate, German will, FHL film 1644078, image 1798, [FamilySearchImage].
[26] Berks County, Pennsylvania Estates, image 1798, [FamilySearchImage].
[27] Pennsylvania. County Court (Berks County), Berks. Wills 1765–1779, image 148, [FamilySearchImage].
[28] will of Jacob Bauman, [URL].
[29] will of Michael Schumaker, [URL].
[30] inventory of Jacob Eschelman, [URL].
[31] Berks County, Pennsylvania, Tax, 1773, [FamilySearchImage], [FHLCatalog].
[32] USGenWeb, Berks County Pennsylvania Will Abstracts (search year-range in both sets of abstracts), Fronica Bauman, 1809, [USGenWeb], [Berks County Wills Register].
[33] Berks County, Pennsylvania, Deed 25-310, [FamilySearchImage], [FHLCatalog].
[34] Genealogical Forum of Oregon (Portland, Oregon), Oregon pedigree charts, Pedigree E96, p 22, 40, [FHLCatalog].
[35] Oregon. Genealogies, Pedigree E96, p 22, IGN=008956386, image 1243, [FamilySearchImage].
[36] Oregon. Genealogies, Pedigree E96, p 40, IGN=008956386, image 1262, [FamilySearchImage].
[37] Emmert F. Bittinger, "The Children of Wendell and Ann Bowman Reconsidered," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 18 (October 1995), 18-27, at 26, B122.
[38] Berks County, Pennsylvania, Tax, [FamilySearchImage], [FHLCatalog].
[39] Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, Genealogical Card File (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), [AncestryRecord].
[40] Henry W. Horning, "Mennonites of the Allegheny Valley," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 28 (October, 2005), 2-11, at 3, of 3-4.