Early Settlers of
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Rösch Family

FIRST GENERATION

HENRY1 RESH was born at Europe before 1709. He died at Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on 1754. He married at Europe before 1737 FRENA ________, who died before 1762.[1]

Henrich Rösch arrived at Philadelphia on 9 October 1747 on the Restauration, from Rotterdam, Netherlands, with a stop at Leith, England. His name is on the list of "Inhabitants of the Palatinate and Places adjacent."[2] His first three children and wife probably accompanied him. In 1751 he bought 125 acres in Leacock Township, Lancaster County, from Joseph Musser, for which he paid £ 475.[3]

Henry Resh died young, perhaps 45 years old, leaving his widow with five minor children: Pennsylvania born Magdalena, age 1, and Barbara, 3, and Europe born Christian, 11, Elizabeth, 15, and John, 17. Widow Frena Resh continued to live on the homestead, probably with her children. Her death is believed to be in 1762, as that is the year in which the homestead passed to eldest son John.


SECOND GENERATION

JOHN2 RESH (Henry 1) was born at Europe on 2 March 1737 a son of Henry and Frena Resh. He died about 1835. He married first before 1762 ELIZABETH STONER. He married second after 1780 MAGDALENA ESHLEMAN, who died at Lancaster County on 6 April 1833.[4]

John Resh was ten years old when he crossed the Atlantic and came to Pennsylvania. When he was seventeen his father died. He came into possession of the family homestead when he was twenty-five.

John Resh had nine children by his first wife, and eight by his second. The last child by his first wife was born in 1780; the second child by his second wife was born in 1787. So between 1780 and 1785 his first wife died and he remarried. He had a houseful of children. If his first wife died in 1780, he was left with a newborn, and children aged 2, 4 (if living), 6, 9, 11, 13, 16 and 18.

As it was common for siblings to marry siblings, and John Resh's sister Elizabeth married Jacob Stoner, it would make sense to look for Elizabeth Stoner (the wife of Jacob Resh) among the siblings of Jacob. However the Stoner genealogy published in Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage does not list an Elizabeth in that family, and does not indicate any other Elizabeth of that generation who could be identified with the wife of John Resh.

ELIZABETH2 RESH (Henry 1) was born at Europe on 2 August 1739, a daughter of Henry and Frena Resh and died between 6 February 1785 (will) and 25 March 1786 (probate). She married before 1762 JACOB STONER. He was born about 1726, a son of Jacob and Veronica Stoner. He died on 1783.[5]


THIRD GENERATION

JOHN3 RESH (John2, Henry1) was born at Lancaster County on 25 April 1768 a son of John Resh and his first wife Elizabeth Stoner. He died on 25 September 1831. He married about 1801 BARBARA EBY. She was born at Lancaster County on 24 February 1733, a daughter of Jacob Eby and his wife Hannah Laeder. She died on 27 April 1845.[6]

John Resh was the fourth of seventeen children of John Resh. Sometime between the ages of twelve and seventeen, John lost his mother and gained a step-mother. Barbara was the ninth of ten children.

John owned and lived on the homestead in Leacock Township.


FOURTH GENERATION

BARBARA4 RESH (John3-2, Henry1) was born at Pennsylvania on 29 June 1812 a daughter of John Resh and his wife Barbara Eby . She died at Bird-in-hand, East Lampeter Township, Lancaster County, on 26 April 1893. She married about 1832 ADAM RANCK. He was born at Strasburg Township, Lancaster County, on 9 June 1808, a son of Jacob Ranck and his wife Ann Stock. He died at Lancaster County on 28 March 1882.[7]


NOTES

1Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, Lancaster, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, "Genealogical Card File," digital images of cards, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 21 December 2020), Henry Resh.
2Ralph Beaver Strassburger, Pennsylvania German Pioneers: A Publication of the Original Lists of Arrivals in the Port of Philadelphia From 1727 to 1808 (Norristown, Pennsylvania: n.p., 1934), 1:365.
3John Franklin Maginness, Biographical Annals of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J.H. Beers & Co., 1903), 572.
4"Genealogical Card File," John Resh. Maginness, Biographical Annals, p. 572. Magdalena Resh, Weaverton Amish Mennonite Church Cemetery, Leacock Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
5Richard R. Weber, "Jacob Stoner and the Seven Siblings," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage, v. 21, no. 1 (January 1998): p. 27.
6Maginness, Biographical Annals, p. 573. "Genealogical Card File," John Resh(2). Weavertown Amish-Mennonite Cemetery, Weavertown, Leacock Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrave.com : accessed 21 December 2020), John Resh; Created by: Miabeth; Barbara Resh; Created by: Miabeth.
7Barbara Ranck, Stumptown Mennonite Church Cemetery, Leacock Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Adam Ranck, Stumptown Mennonite Church Cemetery, Leacock Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. "Genealogical Card File," Ranck, Jacob. The Ranks of the Rancks (on-line edition, accessed : 31 January 2019). Ranck Family Heritage Society, Inc., http://Ranck.org., person I3969. Maginness, Biographical Annals, 1492.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, Lancaster, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. "Genealogical Card File." Digital images of cards. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2020.

Maginness, John Franklin. Biographical Annals of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Chicago: J.H. Beers & Co., 1903.

Ranks of the Rancks, The (on-line edition, accessed : 2019), Ranck Family Heritage Society, Inc., http://Ranck.org.

Strassburger, Ralph Beaver. Pennsylvania German Pioneers: A Publication of the Original Lists of Arrivals in the Port of Philadelphia From 1727 to 1808. Norristown, Pennsylvania: n.p., 1934.

Stumptown Mennonite Church Cemetery (Leacock Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania). Grave marker data.

Weaverton Amish Mennonite Church Cemetery (Leacock Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania). Grave marker data.

Weavertown Amish-Mennonite Cemetery, Weavertown, Leacock Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrave.com : 2020.

Weber, Richard R. "Jacob Stoner and the Seven Siblings." Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage v. 21, no. 1 (January 1998): pp. 22-35.


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