Ancestors of Mary (Wilhelm) Bauer
of Lancaster, Pennsylvania
(1879-1957)
Wilhelm Ancestors

JACOB WILHELM was born at Pennsylvania on 24 December 1806, and died on 6 February 1870.[1] He married SUSANNA BURGESS. She was born at Churchtown, Caernarvon Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, about 1810-1,[2] and was still living on 1860.[3]

According to a Smith Family Tree, a Public Member Tree posted on ancestry.com, Jacob Wilhelm was a child of George Wilhelm (1757-1848) and Matilda L. Pletch (1770-1849).[4] I have found no evidence to support this claim, and the claim that George Wilhelm was born in 1757 in Ohio arouses my skepticism. Wilhelm families lived in southern York County, Pennsylvania, before Jacob, but I have not been able to establish a clear connection.

The most likely reference to this family in the 1840 Census is the family of Jacob Wilhelm in Codorus Township, York County. The family consisted of a male 30-39 (Jacob, 33), a female 20-29 (Susannah, 29), a male 5-9, a male 0-4 (Silas, 2) and a female 0-4 (Ann, 1). Jacob was employed in manufacture or trade.[5] According to other information, this family did not have a male 5-9, but a female, Elizabeth, 6.

The family was reported in the 1850 Census in Lower Chanceford Township, York County, as follows:[6]

Line Name Age Sex Occupation R.E. Birthplace Other
1. Jacob Wilhelm 44 M forgeman PA
2. Susanna Wilhelm 39 F PA
3. Philip Wilhelm 17 M forgeman PA
4. Elizabeth Wilhelm 16 F PA school
5. Cyrus Wilhelm 13 M PA
6. Ann Wilhelm 10 F PA school
7. James Wilhelm 7 M PA

Iron foundries in this part of York County provided employment for Jacob and his eldest son. Cyrus is probably a mistake for Silas.

The 1860 Census reported Jacob Wilhelm at Lower Uwchlan Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania (Zionville Post Office). Perhaps this move was caused by loss of work because of a fire that destroyed a major foundry in York County in 1851. The 1860 Census Reported:[7]

Line Name Age Sex Occupation R.E. P.E. Birthplace
4. Jacob Wilhelm 53 M forgeman $ 50 PA
5. Susanna Wilhelm 45 F PA
6. Susanna H. Wilhelm 4 F PA

All of the older children were on their own. Philip Wilhelm, 26, blacksmith, was living in a tavern at Dublin, Harford County, Maryland.[8] Silas Wilhelm, 21, blacksmith, lived in Lower Windsor Township, York County (Chanceford Post Office), in the home of John and Sarah Haines.[9] James Wilhelm, 16, farm laborer, lived in East Brandywine Township, Chester County (Guthrieville Post Office), on the farm of Charles and Mary Brown.[10] I have not been able to locate the daughters in this census; if they were married, I do not have their married names.

Jacob Wilhelm died in 1870 and was buried in Conestoga Township, Lancaster County. I have no further information on Susanna.

Jacob Wilhelm and his wife Susannah Burgess had the following children:[11]

  1. PHILIP WILHELM b. at Pennsylvania about 1832-3.
  2. ELIZABETH WILHELM b. at Pennsylvania about 1833-4.
  3. SILAS WILHELM b. at Pennsylvania on 16 Januarey 1838.
  4. ANN WILHELM b. at Pennsylvania about 1839-40.
  5. JAMES WILHELM b. at Colemanville, Conestoga Township, on 30 May 1844; d. at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 18 December 1922.[12]
  6. SUSANNA H. WILHELM b. at Pennsylvania about 1855-6.

SILAS WILHELM was born at Pennsylvania on 16 January 1838 a son of Jacob Wilhelm and his wife Susanna Burgess. He died at Lancaster, Lancaster County, on 13 September 1901. He married about 1870-1 HARRIET RINTZ.[13] She was born at Pennsylvania on 2 July 1846, a daughter of John Rintz and his wife Barbara Burgess. She died at Lancaster on 13 May 1897.[14]

Harriet Rintz grew up in Colerain Township, Lancaster County, the ninth of nine children. Silas Wilhelm grew up in southern York County, the son of an iron forger. During Sials' teenage years his family dispersed to other places, but Silas remained behind, and was reported in the 1860 Census, age 21, blacksmith, in Lower Windsor Township (Chanceford Post Office).[15] in the home of John and Sarah Haines. In 1870, called "Cyrus Wilhelm" by the census taker, he was living in Drumore Township, Lancaster County, in the home of Crispine and Sarah Taylor. He was reported age 32, blacksmith.[16]

Silas and Harriet married about 1870-1, and they were reported in the 1880 Census in Colerain Township as follows:[17]

Line Name Race Sex Age Related MS Occupation B FB MB
35. Wilhelm, Silas W M 42 M blacksmith PA PA PA
36. Wilhelm, Harriet W F 33 wife M keeping house PA PA
37. Wilhelm, Howard W M 9 son S school PA PA PA
38. Wilhelm, John W M 6 son S PA PA PA
39. Wilhelm, Mary Ann W F 1 daughter S PA PA PA

By 1896 Silas and Harriet were living at 23 Love Lane, Lancaster. Harriet died there in 1897. City directories reported Silas at Love Lane in 1898, and in Colerain Township in 1899.[18] He is remembered as a person with a severe drinking problem. His last two years he resided as an inmate at the Lancaster County Hospital. The deaths of Harriet and Silas (mistakenly called "Cyrus") were noted in local papers:[19]

Death of Mrs Harriet Wilhelm

Mrs. Harriet Wilhelm, wife of Cyrus N. Wilhelm, died on Thursday afternoon at her home, no. 23 Love Lane, after an illness of two weeks from spinal meningitis. Deceased was in her fifty-first year and was a daughter of John M. and Barbara Rintz, of Colerain township. She was a member of the German Reformed Church, of Quarryville, and is survived by her husband, five children, three brothers, and four sisters. The funeral will be held on Monday morning; interment at Quarryville.

A Death at County Hospital

Cyrus Wilhelm, an inmate at the Lancaster County Hospital, died at that institution on Friday evening from dropsy. The deceased was sixty-four years old and he had been an inmate of the institution for the past two years. Two children survive him.

Silas Wilhelm and his wife Harriet Rintz had the following children:

  1. HOWARD WILHELM b. at Lancaater on 10 May 1873; d. at Bristol, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on 29 January 1954; m. HANNAH J. ________.[20]
  2. JOHN WILHELM b. at Lancaster County on 30 May 1874; d. at Lancaster on 29 July 1934.[21]
  3. MARY A. WILHELM b. at Colerain Township on 16 March 1879.
  4. ELIZABETH WILHELM b. at Pennsylvania on March 1881; d. at Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, on 14 July 1963; m. about 1901-2 RICHARD G. EDWARDS, b. at Pennsylvania about 1880-1. Children of Elizabeth and Richard:[22]
    1. Pearl Edwards b. at Pennsylvania about 1903-4; m. Charles Olmstead.
    2. Evelyn Edwards b. at Pennsylvania about 1906-7; m. William Bennett b. at New Jersey about 1902-3.
    3. Richard G. Edwards, Jr. at New Jersey about December 1908-January 1909.

NOTES

1Conestoga Methodist Cemetery, Conestoga, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrave.com : accessed 23 June 2020), Jacob Wilhelm; Created by: Raymond Ressler.
2Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, population, Lower Chanceford, York County, Pennsylvania, roll 839, p. 222B, household 230, Jacob Wilhelm family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 15 December 2014); NARA Microfilm Publication M432; Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C. Maiden name and place of birth found on death record of son: Pennsylvania Department of Health, Death Certificates, 1906–1967, certificate 112348, James Wilhelm, 1922; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 23 June 2020); Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11, Series 11.90. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
3Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, population, Uwchlan Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, p. 508, household 205, Jacob Wilhelm family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 23 June 2020); NARA microfilm publication M653; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
4"Smith Family Tree," a Public Member Tree. Database. Ancestry. (ancestry.com ' accessed 24 June 2020). Undocumented family tree.
5Sixth Census of the United States: 1840, population, Codorus Township, York County, Pennsylvania, roll 501, p. 74, Jacob Wilhelm; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 23 June 2020); NARA microfilm publication M704, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
61850 Census, Lower Chanceford, York County, Pennsylvania, roll 839, p. 222B, household 230, Jacob Wilhelm family.
71860 Census, Uwchlan Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, p. 508, household 205, Jacob Wilhelm family.
81860 Census, Dublin, Harford County, Maryland, p. 392, household 773, Thomas Riley family.
91860 Census, Lower Windsor, York County, Pennsylvania, roll 1201, p. 499, household 252, John Hains family.
101860 Census, East Brandywine Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, p. 124, household 631, Charles Brown family.
111850 Census, Lower Chanceford, York County, Pennsylvania, roll 839, p. 222B, household 230, Jacob Wilhelm family.
12Pennsylvania Department of Health, Death Certificates, 1906–1967, certificate 112348, James Wilhelm, 1922.
13Quarryville Cemetery, Quarryville, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrve.com : accessed 24 January 2019), Silas Wilhelm; Created by: Tom Donahue. Interview with Elsie Bauer Roschel, by Charles A. Maxfield, 1985. notes held by Charles A. Maxfield, (Lansdale, Pennsylvania). Includes material provided by Betty Bauer Ranck Kibler.
14Family data, John Rintz Family Bible, , (N.p.: n.p., n.d.); original owned by Beulah Bauer Reed, inscription: "John Rintz's book bout [bought] off Samuel Grofart the 5 day of April pad [paid] fore [for] this book $3.00 dollars". Elsie Bauer Roschel, 1985. Quarryville Cemetery, Quarryville, Harriet Wilhelm; Created by: Tom Donahue.
151860 Census, Lower Windsor, York County, Pennsylvania, roll 1201, p. 499, household 252, John Hains family.
16Ninth Census of the United States: 1870, population, Drumore, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, roll 1354, p. 257A, household 332, Crispin Taylor family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 15 February 2018); NARA microfilm publication M593, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
17Tenth Census of the United States: 1880, population, Colerain, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, enumeration district (ED) 177, roll 1144, p. 545B, household 88, Silas Wilhelm family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 15 December 2015); NARA microfilm publication T9; Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
18Williams. Lancaster City and County Directory for 1896 (Scranton, Pennsylvania: J. E. Williams, Publisher, 1896), p. 324, Wilhelm, Silas; digital image, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 27 June 2020). Lancaster City and County Directory for 1898 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: R. L. Polk & Co., publishers, 1898), p. 527, Silas Wilhelm; digital image, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 27 June 2020). 1899-1900 Directory of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Vicinity (Detroit, Michigan: R. L. Polk & Co., 1900), p. 834, Silas Wilhelm; digital image, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 27 June 2020).
19"Death of Mrs. Harriet Wilhelm," Lancaster (Pennsylvania) New Era, 14 May 1897; Newspapers+ (newspapers.com : accessed 27 June 2020). p. 4. "A Death at County Hospital," Lancaster (Pennsylvania) Examiner, 18 September 1901; Newspapers+ (newspapers.com : accessed 27 June 2020). p. 5.
20Pennsylvania Department of Health, Death Certificates, 1906–1967, certificate 2208, Howard Wilhelm, 1954.
21Pennsylvania Department of Health, Death Certificates, 1906–1967, certificate 68701, John Wilhelm, 1934.
22Information on Elizabeth, spouse and children is from: Twelth Census of the United States: 1900, population, Lancaster, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, enumeration district (ED) 56, p. 22, household 459, Calvin Schutte family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 25 June 2020); NARA microfilm group T623; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. "Mrs. Elizabeth Edwards," obituary, Lancaster (Pennsylvania) Intelligencer Journal, 16 July 1963; Newspapers+ (newspapers.com : accessed 26 June 2020). p. 2. Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910, population, Atlantic City, Atlantic County, New Jersey, enumeration district (ED) 17, roll 867, p. 11A, household 155, Richard Edwards family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 24 January 2019); NARA group T624, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1899-1900 Directory of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Vicinity. Detroit, Michigan: R. L. Polk & Co., 1900. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2020.

Conestoga Methodist Cemetery, Conestoga, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrave.com : 2020.

Lancaster City and County Directory for 1898. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: R. L. Polk & Co., publishers, 1898. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2020.

Lancaster Examiner. Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 18 September 1901.

Lancaster Intelligencer Journal. Lancaster. Pennsylvania. 16 July 1963.

Lancaster New Era. Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 14 May 1897.

Pennsylvania Department of Health. Death Certificates, 1906–1967. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2020.

"Public Member Trees." Database. Ancestry. ancestry.com : [AccessDate:2020].

Quarryville Cemetery, Quarryville, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrve.com : 2019.

Rintz, John, family data. In Bible. N.p.: n.p., n.d.. Original owned by Beulah Bauer Reed.

Roschel, Elsie Bauer. Interview. 1985. notes held by Charles A. Maxfield, Lansdale, Pennsylvania.

United States Department of the Census. Sixth Census of the United States: 1840, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2020.

________. Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2014.

________. Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2020.

________. Ninth Census of the United States: 1870, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2018.

________. Tenth Census of the United States: 1880, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2015.

________. Twelth Census of the United States: 1900, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2020.

________. Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2019.

Williams. Lancaster City and County Directory for 1896. Scranton, Pennsylvania: J. E. Williams, Publisher, 1896. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2020.

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