(Back to genealogy.)
The statement was made, not here, that the Christler or Crisler family was not a Germanna family because they were Swiss. It is true that they had some Swiss ancestry, but many of the Germanna families had some Swiss ancestry. The Zimmermans come to mind immediately as having some Swiss ancestry. If the full story were known, we would find that many of the Germanna families had some ancestry outside of “Germany”. I could say that my Blankenbaker family was Austrian and not German but that doesn’t detract from their German heritage by blood and language.
The immigrant to America, Johann Theobald Christler/Christele, was born in Lambsheim in what is the Palatinate on 18 Aug 1709. His father, Leonard Christler, received citizenship in Lambsheim on 1 Mar 1709. He married Anna Maria Bender and they had three children born in Lambsheim: Johann Theobald, Tosanas, and Christianus. Johannes Bender, Bender's son-in-law Leonhard Christler, and Bender’s son-in-law Christian Merkel sold their property in 1719 and emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1719.
Now it is interesting that Johann Casper Stoever, Jr., married Maria Catarina Merkle on 8 Apr 1733 at Trappe, Pennsylvania. Her death record at Hill Lutheran Church in Cleona, Pennsylvania, says she was born 14 May 1715 at Lambsheim, the daughter of Christian Merkling and Maria Cath. A Stoever genealogy gives her maiden names as Merkle and Merckel.
I have suggested elsewhere that Theobald Christler and Maria Catarina Merkel might have been first cousins. There are points for and against this suggestion. Against is the fact that the marriage record (in neighboring Frankenthal) for Christian Merkel says he married Anna Catherina. The death record for the widow of Johann Casper Stoever, Jr., says her mother’s name was Maria Cath. Points in favor of the suggestion include the common elements of the location, Lambsheim, and the common name, Merkle/Merkel. The Christler family settled in Franconia township, which is about eight miles from Trappe where the Stoever-Merkle marriage is said to have taken place.
Possibly Theobald Crisler/Christler became aware of the Robinson River community and church through the marriage of his cousin to Johann Casper Stoever, Jr. The latter person’s father was a minister in Virginia. Ministers in Pennsylvania were scarce at this time and perhaps the knowledge that a minister had a church in Virginia influenced the move. (On the same day of the marriage, the Stoevers, Sr. and Jr., were ordained.)
The fact that the Crislers first lived in Pennsylvania before moving to Virginia does not subtract from their membership in the Germanna families nor does the fact that they had some Swiss ancestry. (Theobald Crisler is an ancestor of mine twice over.)
(21 Sep 06)
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.