George,
I've copied your notes and questions from the thread about George Bechtel to this "Bechtel Kerlin" thread - we should keep them separate. And, please Group, if my comments here about my CHRIST family elicit any comments or questions, start a new thread - let's not mix them up with this. That would be much appreciated.
In my copy of the printed Schwarzwald transcript (pub. Schuylkill Roots), I had the entries for Anna Maria and Sarah BECHTEL?circled because I suspect they were the daughters of Jacob BECHTEL and Maria Barbara CHRIST, and that the sponsors were the grandmothers. I believe that there were distinct CHRISTIAN and CHRIST families, but there are several entries, as here, where I think CHRISTIAN should be CHRIST.
Michael CHRIST, of Exeter Twp, made his will 6 May 1802 and it was proved 20 Sep 1804. Among his children he listed, "..., Elizabeth the Wife of Jacob BECHTEL (of Jacob) ... Maria Barbara the Wife of Jacob BECHTEL (of Peter) ..." Indeed - too many Jacob BECHTELs! Michael's wife, Susannah (BISHOP) CHRIST, was still living. Trees on Ancestry are a good bit sketchy for the BECHTEL families so I'm not sure who Peter's wife was. Anna Maria and Sarah don't fit in the one family list I found for Jacob and Elizabeth. Again, I found only one reasonable list of Jacob and M. Barbara's children and it had 4 children with births given as "abt 1795", two of whom were Mary and Sarah, and no other children born until after 1800.?
The entry for Sarah GEHRLING was the next one listed, but I had no thoughts about any connection.
As seen in the will of Michael CHRIST, Barbara and Elizabeth (CHRIST) BECHTEL were both alive and married to other Jacob's two years after the marriage of another Jacob to Maria GEHRLING.
I would say that Maria GEHRLING and Maria KERLIN certainly could be, even likely, the same person. If one dropped or slurred the "g" at the end of Gerhling, the two names would have sounded exactly the same. The voiced "G" and the un-voiced "K" were among the consonant swap that happened at the time - other examples being, "D" and "T", and "B" and "P". In fact, there was a marriage at Schwarzwald in which the grooms name bridged the above spellings: Jacob KEHRLING to Ester KUNTZMANN, of Cumru, 5 Apr 1806.
Paul Whitehouse
In the Schwarzwald Reformed Church birth records I find the following:
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Anna Maria Bechtel, daughter of? Jacob and ______ b. 18 December 1798, Bapt. 13 April 1799 Sponsor:Susanna Bechtel
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Sarah Bechtel, daughter of Jacob and? _____________ b. 18 December 1798,, Bapt. 13 April 1799 Sponsor: Susanna Christian
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Sarah Gehrling, daughter of Samuel and? ______________ b.21 December 1798, Bapt 14 April 1799 Sponsors: parents
?18 Dec
In the Schwarzwald Reformed Church marriage records I find the following:
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Bechtel, Jacob, Maria Gehrling, Ex[eter],? 21 December 1800
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Lastly,
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5 June 1834, Register of Probate grants Letters of Administration for estate of Samuel Kerlin "To Jacob Bechtel, a son in law of Samuel Kerlin, late of Exeter Township, Berks County, Yeoman, deceased"
Also,? the Surety Bond for $500 is assigned to Jacob Bechtel, Samuel Beard [perhaps Bare], and William Bright, all of Reading.
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My questions are... working backwards:
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Can I assume we are talking about the same family here?? And if so...
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Who are the parents of Jacob Bechtel of Reading, who is the son in law of Samuel Kerlin, deceased 1834?
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Is the 1800 marriage record for Jacob Bechtel and Maria Gehrling, really a Maria Kerlin?
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Who is the wife of Jacob, and mother to the twins Anna Maria and Sarah Bechtel, born 18 December 1798?
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Any help is appreciated...? Thanks,
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George Kirlin
