Information pertaining to the German origins of the Lotspeich family is to be found in various sources. Friedrich Krebs published a note in German in 1969. This was translated and edited by Don Yoder and published in the book " Rhineland Emigrants ", authored by Yoder in 1985. Cerny and Zimmerman published a short note, drawing especially upon the church records, in volume 11 of the monograph series, " Before Germanna ".
Johann Willhelm Lotspeich was living in Virginia prior to his father's death in 1778. He appears in a Culpeper deed with his wife Magdalena, in 1774. Of special note is the Rev. Klug's estate record (he died in 1764), that mentions his son-in-law, William Lutspike and daughter Magdalena.
The father of William was Johann Conrad Lotspeich who, is sometimes called Lotschberg in the Frankenthal (Palatinate) records. Conrad married Catharina Elizabeth Wilhemina, the daughter of Jörg Andreas Ladenberger of Frankenthal. Conrad was a tailor and church deacon at Frankenthal, and died there 30 September 1778. His estate papers mention six children, of whom three were in America. These were Johann Wilhelm, Johann Christoph, and Johanna Friederika. Christopher was mentioned in the last of the notes here.
In America, only the arrival of Christopher is known. William, born in 1740, came as a young man to Culpeper Co., VA, and soon married Magdalena Klug, but the details remain unknown. Johanna Friederika, his younger sister by four years, could have come with William, or perhaps with Christopher. She is not listed on the ship's manifest with Christopher, but women and children were usually omitted. In Virginia, she married John Francis Lucas Jacoby. Christopher was the youngest child in the family, born in 1750. He arrived at Philadelphia when he was twenty-four years old.
The mother of these children was Catharina Elisabetha Wilhelmina who had a brother Rudolff. He moved to England where he adopted the name Ralph and married twice, but he left no children. He wrote a will in 1784 in which he named as heirs the three children of his deceased sister Susan Dietz of Frankenthal; the son, George Andreas, of his deceased brother Philipp Leonhard Ladenberg; five children of his deceased brother Johannes Ladenberg, at Arnemuide, near Middleburg, in Zeeland; six children of his deceased sister, Catherine Lotspeich, of Frankenthal; his surviving sister Anna Maria Drislein of Frankenthal; and her two children by two husbands.
Ralph himself was described in his will as a wine merchant, formerly of Easter Street, in the parish of St. Martin in the Fields, now living at Salisbury, Wiltshire. The family has always impressed me for its international flavor. Ralph's will mentions the countries, Palatinate, Holland, England, and the United States. He was the uncle of the three Lotspeichs of America.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.