Johannes Steinseifer, who lived in Eisern a few miles southeast of Siegen, received a letter in 1749 from Johann Henrich Hoffman, a former resident of Eisern who had moved to America in 1743, specifically to Doppel Dab (Double Top?) in Orange County, Virginia. Hoffman requested that Steinseifer bring the balance of money due to him from the sale of goods to Heinrich Jung of Eisern.
We have knowledge of this letter because Heinrich Jung wished to have it on record that he was paying the money which he owed. He did not want to be dunned again in case the money failed to reach Hoffman. A copy of the letter was made and filed at an official office (Steinseifer did not want to turn in the letter). A receipt was issued to Jung for his records. The date of this letter was 10 May 1749.
Almost immediately, Steinseifer left for America, since he arrived in Philadelphia on the ship Patience the following September 19.
Information about Johannes Steinseifer and his family has been found in the church books in Germany. He was born 6 July 1698 at Eiserfeld (next door to Eisern), the third son of Johann Steinseifer and Anna Gehla Grebe. On 3 Aug 1723 he married Elisabeth Schuster of Eisern. They lived in Eisern and had nine children baptized in the parish of Rödgen. From the church records:
Neighbors were Michael Smith, John Kains, Major William Roan, Henry Hoffman, and Jacob Manspile. It may be of interest that the maiden name of Henry Hoffman’s wife was Schuster, the same as the maiden name of John Steinseifer’s wife; however, the given names of the two Schuster men were different so perhaps the wives were cousins.
Velvet told us here that Agnes Catherine married Edward Smith in the late 1750s.
(17 Apr 03)
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.