American Generation 1
This narrative examines the period from the family’s arrival in 1751 through the time that Andreas and a number of his offspring moved to western Pennsylvania in 1794.
Family Members
Johann Georg Bernhard Kessler b: 8 Nov 1711 Germany – d: 1 Jan 1792 Frederick County, Maryland
Anna Catharina Hauswirth Kessler b: 1714 Germany – d: 20 Sep 1768 Frederick County, Maryland (married 30 Jul 1737, Germany)
Children:
- Johannes ‘John’ Leonard Kessler b: 12 Jan 1742 Germany – d: 21 Feb 1826 Frederick County, Md.
- Isaac Kessler b: 8 May 1744 Germany – d: 23 Apr 1747 Germany
- Andreas George Kessler/Keslar b: 27 Sep 1744 Germany – 24 Sep 1809 Westmoreland County, Pa.
- Susanna Catharine Kessler b: 7 Nov 1749 Germany – d: unknown
- Margaretha ‘Margaret’ Kessler b: 18 Jun 1753 Frederick County, Md – d: 15 Jun 1831 Frederick County, Md.
Arrival in Frederick County, Maryland
Johann Georg Bernhard Kessler, his wife Anna Hauswirth Kessler, and three of their children sailed to America on the ship Janet, arriving in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 5, 1751. The children arriving with them were Johannes, Andreas, and Susanna. One child, Isaac, died in 1747 before the family left Germany. Another, Margaretha, was born in Maryland in 1753.
The family likely arrived with sufficient saved funds to pay for lodging and food for the short term, but were ready to begin earning a living as soon as possible. In the mid-1700s colonial authorities offered acreage in the western regions of the colonies to German immigrants in an effort to spur economic development in those regions. It is likely that Johann applied for one of these land grants either prior to or after arriving in Philadelphia.
As noted earlier, George Bernhard’s second cousins, Frantz and Abraham Weiss (sons of Jacob Weiss and Anna Margaretha Kessler) emigrated to America in 1733, settled for several years in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and then moved 90 miles south to “Tasker’s Chance” in Frederick County, Maryland by 1736. Frantz. along with other Tasker’s Chance settlers, was naturalized on May 3, 1740. George Bernhard and his family likely traveled to Frederick County and stayed with Frantz and his family until his land grant in Jefferson, six miles west of Frederick Town in Frederick County, Maryland was approved. It is also possible that the Weiss family had acquired land and sold it to George Bernhard, since they had been in Frederick for over ten years when he arrived.
Frederick Town was first laid out in 1745, carved out of a 7,000-acre tract known as “Tasker’s Chance.” It had experienced rapid growth by the time the Kessler family arrived there in 1751. By 1755 Frederick Town was one of the most populated towns in the state of Maryland. Frederick County was a welcoming place for German immigrants because there were a large number of other Germans residing there.
Many residents and business owners spoke German and there were a number of German speaking churches in the area. Although knowing some English was helpful, it is likely that the first generation of immigrants continued to speak German and knew only enough English to conduct basic business transactions. The immigrant children, over time, learned English and became bilingual. The new homestead was located six miles west of Frederick Town along a dirt road that went from Frederick to Brunswick, Maryland, on the Potomac River.
When the family first arrived in Frederick, it likely stayed with the Weiss family. Provisions for homesteading the new farm could be purchased in Frederick Town, and the family would have traveled back and forth to the new homestead, clearing trees and erecting structures on the land that the family would occupy for the next 150 years. Once habitable structures were ready, the family likely moved to the farm, set up the household, and started operating the farm.
Why Frederick County, Maryland? We can assume that Johann was encouraged to settle in the area by his second cousins who had arrived over a decade earlier. Benjamin Tasker, the original owner of Tasker’s Chance, listed Frantz Weiss and five other Germans immigrants as persons trying to purchase all of the Tasker’s Chance tract on June 11, 1737. Certainly, the Weiss family sent correspondence back to Germany over the years describing the opportunities available in the “new world.”
Johannes, as the youngest son, did not stand to inherit or take over family activities in Germany and likely convinced his wife that they could have a better chance by moving to Maryland. Maryland, like other colonies, recognized that westward expansion from the coastal areas necessitated offering land to immigrants.
As early as 1671, William Penn and his emissaries had traveled to the Netherlands and German states encouraging people to immigrate to Pennsylvania. Penn’s efforts and the liberal policies of the American colonies toward western settlement led to massive waves of German immigrants. By 1730, 20,000 Germans had arrived in Pennsylvania. Settlement of the land that was to become Frederick County Maryland was encouraged in 1730 by an offer made by Lord Baltimore of 200 acres free from quit rents for 3 years to persons establishing residency.
Where is Jefferson Township, Maryland? Jefferson did not exist in 1751, when the Kessler family arrived at the location of their new farm. A wagon road that eventually became MD 180 connected Frederick Town to Brunswick, Maryland, located on the Maryland border with Virginia at the Potomac River. Johann and his family traveled six miles along this road. Their land was located about a mile to the north along what was likely a “dirt track” at the time but is now named Lander Road.
The area along MD 180 that was to become Jefferson Township was initially laid out in 1774, more than 20 years after the Kessler family arrived, on a 96-acre tract owned by Mrs. Eleanor Medley and called New Town. It contained 40 rectangular lots – 20 aligned on each side of MD 180 – stretching between what are now Lander Road and Old Middletown Road.
In 1795, twenty-two additional lots were platted by Elias Delashmutt on the western end of the original section and called New Freedom. Historical maps depict Jefferson as early as 1795, designated as “Trap Town” because of the large number of taverns operating at the time. Purportedly, taverns were situated at both ends of town. Consequently, a traveler could be “trapped” on the way in or out of town. Jefferson’s growth in the 19th century was due largely to traffic on the road between Frederick and the railroad town of Brunswick.
From Brunswick, commercial traffic could move by boat down the Potomac River. Later Brunswick became an important railway terminal. Wagon traffic and livestock drives were frequent along what was to become MD 180. Concomitantly, commercial development intensified to serve the surrounding farms as well as travelers.
Jefferson Township Along MD Route 180 It was not until 1831 that both the New Town and New Freedom communities were incorporated into Jefferson Township by the Maryland Legislature. However, a year later, in 1832, the citizens of the town decided that municipal government was unnecessary, thus, it was disincorporated. The Hagerstown and Frederick Railway linked Jefferson to Frederick and Hagerstown in 1907. The only high school was located in Frederick and students would take the train from Jefferson to Frederick to attend the school.
1751-to-1753 Early Years
The Kessler family arrived at their homestead near present-day Jefferson, Maryland in 1751. They likely spent the fall, winter and spring clearing the land, working rapidly to get the land ready for planting in 1752. In addition to clearing the land the family had to erect a living structure, likely a crude log cabin, and construct a fenced area and barn for animals necessary to provide family with basics such as eggs, milk, and other animal-based products.
What We Know About Each Family Member
The family that arrived in 1751 comprised Johann George Bernhard Kessler, his wife Anna Catharina, and three children: Johannes, Andreas, and Susanna. A fourth child, Margaretha, was born in 1753. As noted earlier, the family lost its mother, Anna Catharina in 1768, at the age of 54 years.
By this time, the boys were adults, and the two girls were teenagers. Johann outlived his wife by 24 years. There is no indication that he remarried. Few records are available to provide familial details about Johannes, or John. We know that he was born in January 1742, came to America with his family, and died in Feb 1826 in Frederick County, Maryland.
One record was located with his name – a christening for a daughter, Anna Maria Kessler, dated November 16, 1766 at Evangelical Lutheran of Middletown, Frederick, Maryland. Her parents are listed as Johannes and Catharina Kessler. Another daughter, named Margaret, was born to John and Catharine on 22 Dec 1775. Given that the Kessler family had strong connections over the years to Middletown, we might speculate that Catharina was from Middletown and when John married her, he settled there instead of in Jefferson.
We have extensive information about Andreas, who was born on 27 Sep 1744 and died 24 Sep 1809, just short of his 75th birthday. We will examine Andreas and his offspring in a separate chapter. There is no information available about Susanna Catharine. She was born on 7 Nov 1749, but we do not know if and when she married, to whom, whether she had children, and when she died.
There is also little information about the youngest daughter, Anna Margaretha, or Margaret, who was born on 18 Jun 1753. There is a record suggesting that she was witness to the baptism of a niece also named Margaret, who was daughter of her Uncle John and Aunt Catherine Kessler on 15 Jul 1776 in Frederick County, when she was 23 years old. There are a number of mysteries that likely will never be resolved about the status of the Kessler family from 1751 through 1790.
1790 U.S. Census The first U.S. Census includes a number of people with the surname of Kessler that cannot be traced to Johann and his family. The records simply do not exist to enable us to determine who these people were. The U.S. census from 1790 through 1840 does not include names of all family members. It only includes the head of household name and the number of people, by gender and age, living with that person.
Another challenge in using census data is that there are many errors with numerous causes. Many citizens were illiterate and could not tell the census-taker how their name was spelled. Consequently, the names were communicated verbally which resulted in names being recorded phonetically. Also, it was likely difficult to understand families with heavy German accents. Census takers who used cursive letters to record information also recorded them in an older style, where the letter “s” often was written to look very similar to the letter “f.” hence Kessler could easily be recorded as Kesler or Kefler or Keffler.
One other issue is that when the US government began digitizing census records in the 1940s, the persons who read the hand-written records often made recordation errors. In the 1790 U.S. Census for Frederick County, there are entries for:
- John Kessler, 4 free white males 16 or older, 2 free white males under 16, and 1 free white female. This is probably Andreas’ older brother. It is likely that the father, Johann, is included in the count of males who are 16 or older.
- Andrew Kessler, 3 free white males 16 or older, 5 free white males under age 16, and 3 females. This is likely Andreas, Andrew, John, George, Peter, Jacob, William, Samuel, and Thomas, Andreas’ wife Anna Maria, daughter Mary, and one other unknown female.
- Jacob Kessler, 2 free white males 16 or older, 1 free white male under 16, and 4 females. Is this a brother of Andreas and John? Is it John’s son?
- Mathias Kessler, 1 free white male 16 or older, 2 free white males under 16. and 2 females. This could potentially also be one of John’s sons and Andreas’ nephews.
So, who were these other Kessler/Keslar/Kesler/Keisler’s? Is there another explanation for their presence in the Census and land records? If they are not brothers of John and Andreas, or John’s sons, then perhaps other family members followed Johann and his family to America and Frederick County. Perhaps these are uncles or cousins of John and Andreas. According to genealogical records, their father, Johann George Bernhard Kessler, had a brother, Peter Kessler, who was born in 1690, making him 21 years older than Johann. It is possible that he also emigrated to America and that the Kessler’s are his children or even his grandchildren in 1790. It is unlikely that we will ever know the answers to these questions unless future DNA tests reveal new information.
Assumptions About Succeeding Generations
It is necessary, in order to develop a rational narrative about the Kessler family, to make an important assumption that all of those who migrated from Frederick County to western Pennsylvania in the mid-1790s, and those who migrated to Botetourt County, Virginia, were offspring of Andreas. It is possible that Andreas’ brother John migrated with him, but records indicate that John died on 21 Feb 1826 in Frederick County, Maryland.
It is possible that some those who were listed in the 1790 U.S. Census who were not offspring of Andreas could have gone as well. Again, we are likely to never know. As will be demonstrated in subsequent chapters, the names and ages of those who went west as well as those who stayed in Frederick County align with the birthdates and ages of Andreas’ children, over whom Andreas would have had the greatest influence. Any exceptions or other reasons to question this assumption will be noted and highlighted in future chapters.
When the family arrived in the colonies, Johann was 40 years old, Anna Catharina was 37, John was 10, Andreas almost 8, and Susanna Catharine was still an infant of less than 2 years. The two boys likely worked side-by-side with their father when the family first arrived at the homestead and for many years afterward. The youngest child, Margaret, was born two years later, in 1753.
By this time the farm was likely well established and the family able to earn income by growing produce, eggs, and other animal products and selling them in Frederick, about an hour away. Even today, if you travel to Jefferson, head west on Lander Road (which is one of the exists off of Maryland Rt. 340), and travel about a mile, you will arrive at what appears to be a fork in the road, where Lander and Sigler Road intersect. The left paved leg is a continuation of Lander Road, but the right leg is a dirt road, clearly labeled Sigler Road. The land between these two legs is the original Kessler farm. It is still a working farm today.
Notes
An e-mail from Karen Kessler Cottrill to me, dated Jan 23, 2011, states: Andreas had 2 brothers that grew to manhood and one who died at age 2. He also had two sisters. According to my records, Andreas has one brother, Isaac who died at age 2, and another brother, Johannes or John, that grew to manhood. I do not have information about another brother that grew to manhood.