Descendants of Hans John Brubaker

From Doreen Brubaker

HANS JOHN BRUBAKER was born in 1685 in Ibersheim Germany. He died on 18 Apr 1748 in Hempfield Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He married (1) ANNA before 1719. She died about 1729 in Hempfield Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He married (2) ANNALLY before 1735. She died between 1759-1760.

Notes for Hans John Brubaker:

Occupation: Farmer

Hans John Brubaker (probably a Mennonite Came to America in about 1710. On September 17, 1717, he and Christian Hershey jointly took out a warrant for 1000 acres of land in Hempfield township, about 3 miles west of Lancaster. This portion of land was surveyed on October 14, 1717. In 1718 he and Christian Hershey divided the above tract into two equal parts by running a line east and west, Brubaker taking the southern part, on which he built the first grist and saw mill in Lancaster county.

The mill property is located on the little Conestoga Creek, at what is now called “Abbeyville” It is not certain that John Brubaker was married when he came to America. However, On May 23, 1728, John did marry his wife, Annally (maiden name is unknown). At this time, he sold 150 acres of land, including the mill property, to Christian Stoneman. {taken from Biographical Annals of Lancaster Co, 1903 Vol. 1 page. 352}

Deed Abstracts Index – Lancaster County Pennsylvania Deed Book A -K 1729-1766 reads: A-196 – 8-31-1750: 1 a.; Christian Stoneman, Hempfield twp. to Society of Mennonites, John Jacob Brubaker & Ulrick Roadt trustees (prior property of Hans Brubaker & w. Ann to Stoneman 1729)

Deed Abstracts indexed Lancaster County Pennsylvania Deed Book A – K 1729 -1766 reads: D-240 – 1-9-1755: 150 a., on Little Conestoga Creek; 3 dtrs. of Christian Stoneman, deed as in D-235 to John Stoner (prior property of Hans Brubaker and w. Ann to Christian Stoneman)

The money for the 1000 acres –100 English pounds, or $486.50–was paid on November 6, 1717. The patent was granted on November 30, 1717. Traditions say that this Hans Brubaker was a cousin to the one who obtained the patent two days earlier for 700 acres. This tract was one and one-have miles long (east to west) and a little over one and one-tenth miles wide (north to south).

The following year, Hans Brubaker and Christian Hershey, by common consent, divided the land into two equal parts by a line through the center parallel to the northern and southern boundaries. Christian Hershey took the northern half, and Hans Brubaker took the southern half. However, no legal papers were made for the land division until 1729 and 1733.

Hans Brubaker built a mill near the place where Columbia Avenue now crosses Little Conestoga Creek. However, he later expressed the desire to sell the mill because he observed a tendency in the milling business to make a man dishonest. In those days, money was scarce, and the miller took the toll, a certain percentage of the grain, for his pay for grinding the grain. This continued for many years, and the miller usually kept his share without asking questions.

Christian Hershey died in 1722 and left a widow named Oade, two sons, and a daughter. They gave Hans Brubaker a release for his 500 acres on May 12, 1729, but it was not recorded in Lancaster until 1739. Of course, Lancaster County was not established until August 1729.

The deed for the 500 acres was probably done so that Hans Brubaker could give a clear title for the Mill property. In fact, on the following day, May 13, 1729, he gave a deed for 150 acres of land that contained the mill. For these acres, he received L160, ten and two-thirds times as much as he had paid for the land twelve years earlier.

Hans Brubaker was one of six men appointed to lay out a road from the Susquehanna River to Christian Steinman Mill and from there to “Daniel Cookson’s” at the head of the Pequea Creek. Hans was appointed constable on May 26, 1724, for the Donegal district and, in August 1729, for Hempfield Township.

Most of his duties probably consisted of simply giving information to the sheriff about conditions and problems. Hans bought other tracts of land at other locations, amounting to more than 2,000 acres. Most of these tracts remained in the family after his death. The buildings at what was probably his homestead were destroyed to make way for a housing development about 1972, and no trace of them exists today.

As late as 1732, he was still assisting the provincial authorities to maintain law and order in the county and serving as constable had little political significance. The situation probably was that his friends in the community where he resided recognized him as a man of character and of a disposition to preserve peace in the community and thus recommended him to be appointed by the courts both at Chester and at Postelwaites. Because of the well-known attitude of Mennonites towards office-holding and participation in affairs of government in these times, the acceptance of an office by Hans Brubaker might tend to brand him as irreligious.

He died on April 18, 1748, of an illness. Where he is buried is not known. He made a will, dated February 14, 1748, but he failed to appoint executors at that time. This he later did, and witnesses signed the document, but Hans did not sign the addition. The will was presented to the court and was placed on record.

The court appointed administrators, not executors–namely Anna Brubaker, the widow; Daniel Eshelman, a neighbor; and Jacob Brubaker, his second son. Hans, the oldest son, was probably twenty-nine years old at the time of his death, and the youngest child was four years old.

Although Hans died in 1748 and his sons took charge of their lands, deeds were not given for the different properties until 1765. This was probably done after Hans’s widow had died and all of the children had come of age. (taken from The Brubaker and Their Lands In East Hempfield Township, Lancaster Co. Pennsylvania by Landis H. Brubaker reprint 1993)

Hans Brubaker was born circa 1690 and left a will on 14 February 1748 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, which reads:

This day being the 14th day of February 1748 has John Brubaker, in his Sickness ordered and caused his testament to be drawn if the Lord should call him off from this world and he should depart from his wife and children that it might be know what his Will is between his wife, the elder and the younger children.

At the first he orders that his wife Annally Brubaker after his Departure Shall live on the place or plantation where he lived and died on but the land shall be and remain the portion for two of his sons. The land where she as his relict after his decease is to live on shall not be alienated whether she should after his decease marry again or not.

No Body shall have power to drive her out of the house or from the place for the little children shall be brought up on the place and the land shall be valued by honest men and also all his other lands shall be reasonably valued and justly be divided amongst his heirs that all his children concerning their fatherly estate shall have equal shares and none shall have any preference before the other and the eldest shall not have a greater share than the youngest.

Also all the moveables shall likewise only be divided and as it is mentioned above that their mother shall live on the half share in the plantation and bring up the little children on it. The half of the land that is two hundred of the four hundred shall remain a portion to one of her children to which she will give it.

The other two hundred together with the half of the plantation shall be bequeathed unto my son Jacob Brubaker and shall be duly valued and of the three hundred acres near Sebastion Ryers which are surveyed at the old Right. Hans Brubaker my eldest son shall have hundred and fifty acres the other hundred and fifty acres shall be bequeathed to one of the younger children and sons of the last wife one of her children and shall all be duly valued as above mentioned.

Bens Hershy

Hans Mayer

Jacob Brubaker as witness John Brubaker Lancaster County Will Book Y Vol 2. page 21 (Joanne K. Hoover, “Elizabeth Township Kinsmen and some of their descendant from the time of Settlement,” Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage (January 1987: page 16.)

Hans John Brubaker and Anna had the following children:

1. i. JOHN E. BRUBAKER was born on 09 Sep 1719 in Hempfield Township, Lancaster County, Virginia. He died on 09 Apr 1804 in Elizabeth Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He married (1) MARIA NEWCOMER in 1749 in Europe. She was born in Europe. She died on 15 Dec 1750 in America. He married (2) MARIA DOHNER,
   daughter of Michael Tanner, in Apr 1751. She was born in 1728. She died in 1802.
2. ii. JACOB BRUBAKER was born in 1721 in Hempfield Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He died on 29 Jan 1779 in Hempfield Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He married (1) SUSANNA STEINMAN STONEMAN, daughter of Christian Stoneman and Elizabeth, on 30 May 1749. He married (2) MARY BARE. She was born in 1733. He married (3) MARIA MARY MARTIN, daughter of Peter Martin, on 24 May 1768.
3. iii. ABRAHAM BRUBAKER was born in 1723 in Hempfield Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He died in 1804 in Near Luray, Page County, Virginia. He married Barbara Long, daughter of Paul Long and Barbara Miller, in 1758. She was born in Zweibrucken, Palatine, Germany.
4. iv. PETER BRUBAKER was born on 15 Sep 1725 in Hempfield Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He died on 15 Jul 1811 in Rapho Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He married BARBARA LEISHER.
5. v. JOSEPH BRUBAKER was born in 1727 in Hempfield Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He died in 1806 in Halifax, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. He married ELIZABETH DOHNER.
6. vi. HENRY BRUBAKER was born in 1729 in Halifax, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. He died in 1820 in Manheim, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He married (1) ELIZABETH BARE, daughter of Henry Bare and Barbara Witmer, in Apr 1765. He married (2) ANN RESH in about 1764. Hans John Brubaker and Annally had the following children:
7. vii. DANIEL BRUBAKER was born in 1735 in Hempfield Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He died on 21 Apr 1762 in Elizabeth Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He married Veronica Dohner, daughter of Michael Tanner, in about 1755. She was born in 1727.
8. viii. DAVID BRUBAKER was born in 1739 in Hempfield Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He died in 1824 in Hempfield Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He married (1) ELIZABETH HERSHEY in about 1760. He married (2) VERONICA D. HERSHEY after 1770.
9. ix. J. CHRISTIAN BRUBAKER was born in 1741 in Hempfield Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He died in 1819 in Manheim, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He married Elizabeth Brubaker, daughter of Peter Brubaker and Eleanor, in about 1761. She was born in 1746.
10. x. ANNA BRUBAKER was born in 1744 in Hempfield Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She died in 1765. She married Abram Buckwalter in about 1763.
    Notes for Anna Brubaker:
    Hans Brubaker’s youngest child and only daughter were married to Abram Buckwalter. She died at the age of twenty-one years without issue. No record exists of her receiving anything from her father’s estate, which was settled after her death. (Taken from Brubaker’s and their Lands by Landis H. Brubaker)