Henry Umholtz, with a younger brother, (possibly named Edward)* came to this country from either Switzerland or Germany prior to the American Revolution and located in what is now Lykens Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. The earliest record we have of Henry is in the records of the Swatara Reformed Congregation Church in Jonestown, Lebanon County, PA. Here, in Henry's own handwriting are the baptismal records of his children, Johann Henry(1764), Johann Jacob(1766) and Johannes John(1770). Our next record of Henry is in Williamsburg, Bethel Township, Lancaster County, Pa in the 1771 tax records where he is listed as a poor man no horse, no cow. The following year the tax records show him in Jonestown with..........one cow.. Things were looking up.
Both Henry and his brother served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. It is said that his brother(Edward?) was killed with his Commander, Captain William Hendrick in the battle for Quebec, Canada. Henry served in the company's of Captain Hoffman and Captain Weaver, Upper Paxtany, Pennsylvania's 4th Battalion, Lancaster County Militia. He enlisted on April 23rd,1777 and served with the 5th regiment of the Continental Line until 1782..
On April 16, 1787 Henry obtained a land warrent on 100 acres of land at the base of Short Mountain, about 2 miles from Gratz, Pa. This warrent was signed by Benjamin Franklin,Esq. The cost was 10 pounds in Gold, Silver or Paper money. Henry spent the rest of his life on this farm.
We believe Henry was born around 1745 and he died in 1829, living to be 84 years of age. Not bad for those times. He was married twice. His first wife was Anna Margaret Rauch whom he wed in 1763. They had 5 children:
We do not know when his first wife died but he then married Magdalena Seidenstricker and had 4 more children.
Henry and both his wives are buried at Hoffman's Church just outside of Gratz, Pa. There is a Revolutionary War Monument at this location listing the veterans buried here and Henry's name is on this monument. The exact location of his grave in the cemetery is unknown as there is no present day marker for his grave or for the graves of his wives.
* 6/21/98 - While going through some of the accumulated information on my desk I ran across a photocopy of some of the pages from the Dauphin County Archives - Vol. 2, collected and compiled by Phillip Rice and Jean Dellock. In a photocopy of an article on page 195 titled History of the Lykens-Williams Valley, from the Lykens-Williams Valley Bicentenial History is the following statement:
"In the year 1771, Henry Schoffstall built a house for Joel Ferree of Lancaster County. This house was located at Oak Dale Forge. At this time there were few settlers in the valley. Among them however were: Schott, Benjamin Bufington, John N. Hoffman and Philip Umholtz."
Now this statement is being made during a time frame when it is known that Henry was not in the Lykens Valley and prior to his involvement in the American Revolution. Henry's son, Johann Philip, wasn't born until 1779. Is it possible that Henry's brother was there and named Philip? Stay tuned for further developments.
Further Developments:
It is now Jan., 1999 and I have learned that it was a German custom at that time to name a child after a deceased relative who had no descendents and to often refer to this child as Junior or the 2nd. On that note, on page 344 of vol. 1 of the Dauphin County Pennsylvania Records which is a section dealing with the records of St. Peter's(Hoffman's) Church is a baptismal record for Elizabeth Umholtz. Her parents are listed as being Philip Umholz Jr. and Anna Maria(Williard). Philip's father was Henry. In fairness it must be pointed out that Philip and Anna Maria are listed a number of times in this record and this listing is the only time Jr. is after his name. While to date there is no factual evidence as to the name of Henry's brother it appears from the admittedly circumstantial evidence above that Johan Philip Umholtz is at least a possibility. The search continues.
