Notizen zu dieser Person
John George and Margaretha Welker, parents of Michael, were GermanPalatines, arriving in this country, at the port of Philadelphia, onSeptember 18, 1727. They were of the first shipload of colonists toarrive in Pennsylvania under the new law, compelling all males over 16years of age to register and subscribe to an "oath of allegiance." Thename of their ship was "William and Henry," and the leader of theshipload of colonists was the German Reformed minister of the gospel,the Rev. George Michael Weiss. Upon their arrival in Philadelphia in the new country of America,Dominie Weiss almost immediately wended his way up into the Perkiomenregion, and for a while officiated there as pastor of the GermanReformed churches then being organized in that part of PhiladelphiaCounty. Many of this boatload of families followed the minister, withtheir families, into the new territory--then better known as the NewGoshenhoppen Region --became settlers there, and identified themselveswith the new churches that were then being organized there. Amongthese were the Welkers. John George Welker alone first wended his way out of the city into thecountry--into the wilderness--into the Perkiomen region--finallylocating lands there for settlement. These lands bordered thePerkiomen and Branch Creeks, in Upper Hanover Township, PhiladelphiaCounty, making the location now but a short distance northwest of theborough of Pennsburg, Montgomery County. Thither his family followed,with their few worldly possessions, and there together they began lifein America as colonists. Michael Welker's parents as newcomers found their life in the newcountry at first varied and interesting and at times most trying andpathetic. It is said their first shelter consisted merely of densebranches of spreading trees. This was their sole protection until anhumble hut could be erected of hewed logs of the vast forests thereabounding at the time. The white people thereabouts were few, livingfar apart, but their nearest neighbors were the red men, or Indians.These natives were friendly to the settlers, and as neighbors they gotalong together splendidly, for the Indians kept away from the whites,remaining along the streams of water, and up in the hills among therocks. The Welkers' condition bettered concomitant with the incoming settlersfrom Europe who were pouring into America at this time. They had, too,at first, through strenuous labor, to clear these lands of their densegrowths for cultivation, and tilled the soil for their livelihood, andthus they lived their backwoods life in a modest and humble way. Thefamily were thrifty and provident from the beginning, and in timeMichael Welker's father, as he thrived, became well to do and quite alandowner, and was one of the most prosperous and public-spiritedcolonists there found. As the children of the elder Welker grew to man and womanhood, theirparents did as was the custom of many of those early and more thriftysettlers, that is they provided the children upon their maturity andmarriage with a "start" by giving them a farm and other aid andassistance essential for their betterment, comfort and happiness. Liketheir parents, these children, too, became thrifty, prospered, andwere exemplary, influential and public-spirited in their neighborhood. In time, to their son Michael Welker the parents deeded a farm of onehundred and fifty acres of land with improvements "for love andaffection." It was part of the old "Welgar" homestead. The title ofconveyance was not given him until March 2, 1767, although the son foryears previous was in possession and occupied the farm. The conveyance of these lands from parents to son carried with itseveral perpetual rights, privileges and restrictions. We learn fromthe deed of conveyance that the homestead farm was divided into twotracts of land by Perkiomen Creek, and that a mill race, leading tothe Welker grist and saw mill, ran through Michael Welker's part ofthe land, or farm. Among the rights reserved for this sonwere:--"Perpetual benefit of water from the mill race for house use;free access for obtaining the same; at the proper season of the yearthe privilege of running the water from the mill race for watering themeadows; at mowing time the right of opening the flood gates of thedam for draining the overflow, etc." The restrictions included were that "Michael Welker forever berestrained from building a mill or mill dam on his premises; hisbrother George (miller) be allowed the privilege of fowling andfishing in about the waters if necessary; to obtain material andconveying it over his property for the repairing of the dam; the saidmills and lands to have for all time an open road to and from theKing's highway, etc." Michael Welker owned the farm until December 21, 1789. He thenconveyed it for a consideration to his brother, Jacob Welker, miller.In the same year Michael Welker bought another farm adjoining fromWilliam and Margaret (Welker) Rittenhouse, heirs of his older brother,Dieterick Welker, deceased. After a short ownership of this property,Michael Welker sold it for a consideration to Peter Heist, aneighboring wheelwright. Michael Welker's name then disappeared fromthe Upper Hanover Township assessment books; apparently he had removedfrom the township. After the decease of his wife, Anna Maria Reed, Michael Welker seemsto have lived an unsettled and wandering life. At times we find himliving on his farm in Upper Hanover Township and at other times wefind him living elsewhere. It is said that he in this intervalfollowed the life of a frontiersman--was a hunter and trapper--andmigrated into other parts of the province, to such places where hisvocation would yield better results. This wandering life led him intothe extreme western part of Pennsylvania, into Westmoreland County,where he seems temporarily to have settled. As a settler he took upunseated lands there in the neighborhood of the home of his son, inHempfield Township. The assessment books of Upper Hanover Townshipduring this period of his life enumerate him as a "farmer," then as a"saddler," then as a "hunter," and during his protracted absence fromMontgomery County his farm is recorded therein as an "estate," etc. At the time of the American Revolution Michael Welker was living inUpper Hanover Township. We find him there associated with thistownship's militia. His name appears first on the muster roll of thistownship as a private in Captain Siegfried's Company; then as a memberof Captain Lower's, later serving in Captain Harry Boyer's Company;and lastly a member of Captain Mauerer's Company, Upper HanoverTownship, Philadelphia County Militia.(*) About 1780, while in Upper Hanover Township, Michael Welker againmarried, his second wife being a widow named Elizabeth Wagoner [hermaiden name was Zimmerman]. Soon after his second marriage we find himand his family living in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. There forsome years he owned lands of considerable extent. These, too, were inHempfield Township, near those of his son, Jacob Welker. In this new country Michael Welker became quite a man of affairs, andwas prosperous in this world's means. He died there in 1799, leaving agood-sized estate. A widow and seven children survived. The childrenby the second wife were Michael, Henry, Elizabeth, Catharine, Mary,**Susanna, and Christiana. Elizabeth (Wagoner) Welker several years after her husband's deathagain married, and her third husband was one George Smith, a widower,with a family of children, who resided in Hempfield Township. Shortlyafter their marriage the Smith family, with the Welker children, movedover into Armstrong County, Pennsylvania. There this family lived andfarmed until the Welker children arrived at their majority. Thesechildren then married; most of them removed to Stark County, Ohio,settling on farms near the countyseat town of Canton. The Welkers ofthese families are numerously found thereabouts today, and are active,influential and thrifty in all walks of life. (*)Penna. Archives, 6th Series, Vol. I,.pgs. 768, 786. **The following entry in German is taken from the record of old ZionEvangelical Lutheran Church, of Hempfield township, WestmorelandCounty, Pennsylvania:-- "Born Jan. 28, 1782; baptized March 31, 1782, Maria Barbara, daughterof Michael Waelger and Elizabeth his wife; sponsors, William Altmanand Barbara his wife."
Roger
Engelken
