The Lehman family has a one line statement in the publications of the Germanna Foundation. Thanks to Earl R. Layman who sent an article on the family, we can say something more about the family. It is believed that the patriarch of the American family was Peter Leman (Sr.) born about 1680, perhaps in Switzerland. He died before 11 Jun 1741 in Lancaster Co., PA. Richard Warren Davis in the book " Emigrants, Refugees and Prisoners ", identifies him as an Anabaptist. By his first wife, Anna, he had five children:
After 1720 in Pennsylvania, he married Ann, with whom he had children:
A group of Bernese Mennonites emigrated from Berne, Switzerland, in 1671, according to the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. The family name of Leman is included, as well as other families who were early immigrants to Lancaster County in Pennsylvania. Most likely, the Lemans were immigrants in 1717, when about one thousand Germanic people left their homes for the New World. The will of Peter above names the eleven children above. The son Jacob of Peter (Sr.) had a son George, who married Elisabeth Bleistein on 17 Dec 1754, in Host Reformed Church in the Tulpehocken area of Pennsylvania. This George is believed to be the elder George who is named in the Hebron Church Register in Virginia. Over the course of several years, the family moved from Pennsylvania to the French Broad River, in what later became eastern Tennessee.
A Jacob Layman (1759-1841) noted in his Rev. War pension application that he returned home to Culpeper Co., VA, after each tour of duty. In 1778, George Layman is listed with land next to James Bohannon. In 1779, he bought 205 acres of land from John Wayland, and he was then a land owner next to John Deer. In 1786, perhaps about ten years after he came to the Robinson River Valley, George and Elizabeth Layman sold their 205 acres to Lewis Baker. Apparently a twelve-year mortgage was a part of the bargain, and when the due date came Lewis Baker still had not paid. It was necessary for a son to come from Tennessee to bring suit against Baker to secure payment.
From multiple sources, the children of George Layman and his wife Elizabeth Bleistein were:
More information about the family is contained in Howard Lehman Spessard's " A Brief History of the Lehman Family and Genealogical Register of the Descendants of Peter Lehman of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania ". Short notes on the family have been carried in Beyond Germanna .
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.