Ernest Backus, Brother Of Estate

Image 4500

Backus, Ernest

Hoys, Germany

1896

Wayne County, Michigan

Probate# 21772

Brother of ESTATE of BACKUS, Frederick H. A.

Bowman's (Canajoharie) Creek

[Letter to  E. Ryerson] " Toronto, February 15, 1875." " Ancaster, July 23rd, 1861.

"Rev. and Dear Sir, — " I have long wished some person would give the world a true history of that much-traduced and suffering people, the U. E. Loyalists; and I assure you that when your circular came I was greatly rejoiced to learn that they would at least get justice from such an able source as yourself; and if the plain narrative of the sufferings of my forefathers will assist you in the least in your arduous and praiseworthy undertaking, I will be exceedingly gratified."

Source: LOC

"My great-grandfather emigrated from Germany in the reign of Queen Anne. He settled near the Mohawk river, at a creek that still bears his name *(Bowman's Creek). My grandfather, Jacob Bowman, joined the British army in the French war; at the conclusion of peace he was awarded 1,500 provements until the revolutionary war broke out." [Source]

*"Canajoharie Creek rises in the NE corner of Otsego County and runs N easterly across the Township of Canajoharie to the Mohawk River. It is a fine stream for mills has several falls, one of which has given its name to the Creek and Township. Its length is about 17 miles. It is sometimes, though improperly, called Bowman's Creek and has a small branch from Schoharie County, called Plattekill, or Flat Creek."  [Source]

By Order Of King Ludwig I

Source

"The curious visitor to Nuremberg will find the house in which Palm lived in the Wincklerstrasse near the imposing Sebalduskirche marked with a tablet inscribed as follows: 'Hier wohnte Johann Palm, welcher fiel ein Opfer Napoleonischer Tyrannei im Jahre 1806.'  The tablet was affixed in 1842 by order of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. It was Palm whom Byron had in mind when one evening in a gay company, he delivered himself of the toast: 'Here's to Napoleon he shot a bookseller.'"

Palms In Medicine

Medicine Transformed: Health, Disease and Society in Europe 1800-1930, edited by Deborah Brunton (not a free book):

"...Christoph Palm, who was a barber-surgeon in the first half of the eighteenth century in Schorndorf...passed on the trade to his son Johann Leonhard.  His grandson, Wilhelm Friedrich Palm, set up practice as a municipal surgeon in the imperial city of Ulm in 1797."  "His son, Johannes, worked as an apprentice to his father from 1808 to 1813."

A branch of the Palm family moved to Circleville, Pickaway County, Ohio, the site of the Palm building below:

Emmanuel Mertin's Probate File

Wayne County, Michigan

Probate File# 10792

Emanuel Mertin

Source (Coversheet)

Mertin, Emanuel
Died: 26 September 1882
Detroit, Wayne, Mich.
Mertin, Ida (wife and executrix) Detroit, Wayne, Mich.
2 Sisters and 1 Brother Names Unknown
(All reside in Ottmaran, Silesia, Germany)
Mertin, Alois (Heir) and Brother (Ottmaran, Silesia, Germany)

Census 1870

Michigan, United States

Emanuel Martin M 39 Prussia

Ida Martin F 47 Prussia

Wurtemburg Circa 1843

The information below was taken from A System of Modern Geography: Comprising a Description of the Present State ... [1843],  By Samuel Augustus Mitchell:

Bavaria

Source

Ober-Ammergau

Source [Written In 1843]

See A Brief History of Bavaria, by Gertrude Norman, for the who's who of royalty.

Palm's Friend Was No Friend Indeed

Source - Wikipedia

A chapter from this book explained Palm's situation in greater detail.

In the mean time [Johann Philipp] Palm had constantly been in the French prison at Braunau. 

The whole proceedings had been carried on so hastily and secretly, that the German authorities of Braunau had scarcely heard of them at the time when the French court-martial was already about to sentence the prisoner.

The French, however, wanted to maintain some semblance of impartiality; and before Palm was called before the court-martial, it was left to him either to defend himself in person against the charges, or to provide himself with counsel.

Palm, who was ignorant of the French language, had preferred the latter, and selected as his counsel a resident lawyer of Braunau, with whom he was well acquainted, and even on terms of intimacy, and whom he knew to be familiar with the French language.

But this friend declined being a "friend in need." He excused himself on the pretext of a serious indisposition which confined him to his bed, and rendered it impossible for him to make a speech.

Palm was informed of this excuse only at the moment when he entered the room in which the trial was to be held; hence he had to make up his mind to conduct his own defence, and to have his words translated by an interpreter to the members of the court.

Berlin, Then The Capital Of Prussia

From A System of Modern Geography.... [1843]:

Palm Family Lineage Update

Rather than scour each of my "Palm" posts, I decided to post part of an e-mail I received:

"On your information you write several times that the Ohio Palms are not related to the Schondorf Palms, which is not true. The Ebingen line stems from the Schondorf line… they are, of course, related."

The person who sent this is correct and I want to thank her for pointing out that my posts were (unintentionally) misleading.

Gutenberg

Source

Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg

Ancient Names Eventually In Canada

From the History of Leeds and Grenville, Ontario...:

Source

"Among the Palatines...originally from the banks of the Rhine...from whom spring many of the United Empire Loyalists...".

To Detroit In 1760

Source

Source

BREHM, Diedrich native of Germany, became lieut. in the 2d batt. of 60th regt. Feb 21, 1756, and in 1759, acted as asst. engineer; he attended Maj, Rogers to Detroit in 1760, and went thence, it is said, to Michilimackinac; in 1774 he was capt. and March 19, 1783, became a maj. in the British army. (Com. Wilson's Orderly Book, 45.)

OCLC WorldCat has the following entry, citing Diedrich Brehm as the author of the "Plan of the fort at Detroit, 1760."

Plan of the fort at Detroit, 1760.
Author: Diedrich Brehm
Publisher: 1760.
Map : Manuscript   Archival Material : English

Johan Phillip Palm, A Martyr For Liberty

An excerpt from the Napoleon Series website explained why it wasn't a good idea to cross Napoleon in 1806:

Johann Phillip Palm...an obscure bookseller from Nuremberg, was executed in the early afternoon of 26 August 1806.  He was shot by a French firing squad in a field outside of the town of Braunau, an Austrian town garrisoned by the French.  A single pistol shot to the head finished him off.  Palm had been arrested 12 days earlier and charged with publishing and distributing libelous pamphlets about France and Napoleon.  A military court had tried Palm on 25 August 1806 and found him guilty.

Source

The author of the blog Archaeolibris, who referred to Johan Palm as "a martyr for the German struggle for liberty," posted that it was a Dangerous Times For A Bookseller (and pointed towards the illustration of the execution of John Palm).

A chapter from this book explained Palm's situation in greater detail:

During the sixteen days since he had been in jail, he had only twice been taken out of it to be examined by the court-martial, which General St. Hilaire had specially convoked for his trial.

This court-martial consisted of French generals and staff-officers; it met at a time of peace in a German city, and declared its competence to try a German citizen who had committed no other crime than to circulate a pamphlet, in which the misfortunes of Germany, and the oppressions of German states by Napoleon and his armies, had been commented upon.

[Palm] felt convinced that his defence [at the court martial] had been successful, and satisfied the men who had assumed to be his judges, of his entire innocence.

He greeted them [members of the court martial] with an unclouded brow and frank and open bearing; not a tinge of fear and nervousness was to be seen in his features; he fixed his large and lustrous eyes on the lips of General St. Hilaire who presided over the court-martial and now rose from his seat. The secretary of the court immediately approached the general and handed him a paper.

The general took it, and, bending a stern glance on Palm, said: "The court-martial has agreed to-day unanimously on your sentence. I will now communicate it to you."

Palm had returned to his cell without uttering a complaint, a reproach. Nothing in his bearing betrayed his profound grief, his intense indignation. He knew that neither his complaints nor his reproaches were able to change his fate, and consequently he wanted to bear it like a man.

View a statue of Johan Phillip Palm (Jim's distant cousin) in Bert's Travels blog.

Elizabeth (Wehner) Albert Meyer

Gravestone of Elizabeth (Wehner) Albert Meyer
Homewood Cemetery, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania

Elizabeth Meyer (Image 455)

event: Death

event date: 11 Feb 1902

event place: Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States

gender: Female

age: 79

estimated birth year: 1823

father: Wehner

mother: Wehner

Fernando John White married Sophia Albert, the daughter of Henry & Elizabeth (WEHNER) Albert, both of Germany, probably in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, area.

Homewood Cemetery

1599 S. Dallas Road

Pittsburgh, PA  15217-1528

Section 2

Lot 296

Original Owner:  Elizabeth Albert (6 plots)

Transferred to Mrs. Sophia White in 1933

Plots 1-6

Jacob Myer

Elizabeth Myer

Mary Irene (or June) White

Elizabeth Albert

Fernando White

Sophia White

1880 PA Census, Allegheny Co., Pittsburgh, Ellsworth St.
MEYER, Jacob, Baden
  "   , Elizabeth, 57, Bavaria
ALBERT, Elizabeth, 22

Married In Ratzebuhr, Neustettin, Pommern, Prussia Germany

Julius Helms

Julius Ludwig Helms

Germany, Prussia, Pomerania Church Records, 1544-1945

birth: 1838

marriage: 13 December 1861 *Ratzebuhr, Neustettin, Pommern, Prussia Germany

spouse: Johanne Friederike Charlotte Kerie

other: August Kerie

*[Ratzebuhr, Neustettin, Pommern, Prussia, Now Okonek Poland]

Possible Early Backus Roots

From The Backus Families Of Early New England, by Reno W. Backus (excerpted *here, too):

After 1200, references to the family became more numerous, though with varying spelling of the name. Joseph Foster's "Descendants of John Backhouse, Yeoman, of Moss Side",...list[s] several branches of the family in [England]... .

But a review of the Backhouse family records gives no clue to a William Backhouse or Backus of Norwich in the late 1500's or early 1600's. This does not rule out the possibility that our William could have been a member of a more distant and unlisted branch of the family, yet the assumption seems rather thin.

2. A second possibility is that William came from an entirely different English family... .

3. A third possibility looks more promising. The frequency of occurrence of the name Backhaus or its equivalent in German or Dutch suggests the chance value of a search for a German or Dutch connection. [See link* for more detail]

Of further interest regarding Dutch emigration is this paragraph from a "History of the City and County of Norwich, 1768", p. 225. 

A Webpage About Jacob And Catherine Billo's Family

Update May 4, 2014: The Paul D. Billo Genealogy page link is inoperable.

The Paul D. Billo Genealogy page explained that, "Jacob Billo and Catherine Sheperd came to Canada from Germany between 1845 and 1847, and eventually settled in LaSalette, Ontario."

Photo From The Paul D. Billo Genealogy Page

Jacob and Catherine Billo are my grandkids' ancestors through their son, Henry, who moved to Michigan as did Henry's sister Catherine (Billo) Hoisel.

Abrupt End Of Mansin's Service To The Crown

Biographical sketches of loyalists of the American Revolution ..., Volume 2, by Lorenzo Sabine, has a compilation of several mini-biographies, including that of Henry Mansin.

Mansin, Henry. Native of Prussia. Emigrated to Philadelphia from London about 1772. Went to Jamaica and thence to North Carolina. After the rising of the people at Ninety-Six, South Carolina, he joined John Stuart, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and retired to St Augustine, Florida, when he was appointed Captain in the corps of Rangers. He sold his commission acted as Stuart's* agent for awhile; and in 1777, went to New York and was commissioned Lieutenant in the Queen's Rangers by Sir William Howe. He went with the Royal Army to Philadelphia and was taken prisoner.  *[Note: I'm also researching Alexander Cameron who was an associate of Stuart]

According to this site, Lieutenant Henry Mansin, a German speaking officer in the Queen's Rangers, entered Lancaster County, searching for recruits, horses and general support for the loyalist cause.  On his second trip, in February 1778, several farmers caught Mansin and several of his co-conspirators stealing horses.  

 Henry Mansin and a man named Wendel Myer were hanged.  

The General Orders for the hanging were found in "General orders...and Lt. Col. Wm. S. Smith":

Peter Ant Inherited Property From Clemens Estate

Source

ANT, Peter

2284

Heir of John A. J. Clemens Estate

1854

Detroit, Wayne, Mich.

Warren twp, Macomb, Mich.

Image 434, Image 433, Image 431, Image 430, Image 429, Image 428, Image 427, Image 424, Image 420,  Image 419, Image 418, Image 414, Image 412, Image 411 [Peter Ant], Image 410, Image 398, Image 394 [to Sibilla Ant, for keeping house for the deceased], Image 386, Image 378 [Peter Ant], Image 377 [Peter Ant, surveying, etc.], Image 372 [Sabila Ant], Image 371 [receipt of Sabilla Ant], Image 364, Image 362 [church]*, Image 349 [property for church], Image 347, Image 344 [Peter Ant and Sabila Ant], Image 340, Image 339, Image 338, Image 336, Image 329 [property], Image 321 [Peter Ant], Image 311 [property], Image 306 [will, witness], Image 298 [Sabila Ant], Image 297 [Sabila Ant], Image 292 [Last Will & Testament - Peter Ant, heir], Image 285 [+ pages in German], Image 280 [Envoy, etc], Image 277 [German], Image 275 [bequeathed to charities], Image 273 [charities], Image 269 [POA], Image 266 [LW&T - Peter Ant], Image 261 [German heirs, etc.], Image 258 [cover], Image 257 [handwritten cover]

United States Census, 1850

event place: Warren, Macomb, Michigan, United States

  Household  Gender  Age  Birthplace

Joseph Clemen M 60  Germany

Joseph Kremen M 34  Germany

Magdelain Kremen F 32  Germany [Ant/Aut]

Peter Kremer M 0  Michigan

Sybil Int F 72 Germany

This Peter Ant who is my grandkids' ancestor?

Name: Petrus Ant
Baptism/Christening Date: 11 Feb 1823
Christening Place: ADENAU,RHEINLAND,PRUSSIA
Father's Name: Josephi Ant
Mother's Name: Sibillae Becker

*Source

An item dated in January 1857:  "received of John Reno, Executor of the Estate of John Antoine Joseph Clemmence the summe of five hundred dollars bein the summe set out in his last Will and Testament for the church called St. Clemence [Clement] church in Warren Township County of Macomb State of Michigan said church being a Roman Catholique church on the road so called the Center line church."

Buried in the St. Clement Parish Cemetery in Center Line, Macomb County, Michigan, are Sibilla Becker, buried November 28, 1856, age 76 and Barabara  Ant (Furman), wife of Peter Ant.