Peter (Hilgert) Hilliard (1754 - 1834)

Here is another story of the valor of our Revolutionary War ancestors from Upper Mount Bethel Township in Northampton County, Pennsylvania.  These German speaking men were first and second generation Americans ready to fight for the cause of freedom in their newly adopted homeland.  Peter Hilgert was born on December 7, 1754, three years after his father  Johann Franz Hilgert arrived from Germany.  Over time the name came to be spelled Hilliard.

Peter served as a private in the Revolutionary War as a Waggoneer.  More than likely he was driving a Conestoga wagon as described here.

"The Conestoga wagon and its antecedents saw widespread use in Pennsylvania as early as 1730, and many of the wagons supplied to General Braddock's ill-fated 1755 expedition were of that type. In 1789 Dr. Benjamin Rush described the Conestoga as a 'large strong wagon, covered with linen cloth ... In this wagon, drawn by four or five horses ... [farmers] convey to market over the roughest roads, two or three thousand pounds weight of ... produce. In the months of September and October it is not uncommon to meet in one day from fifty to an hundred of these wagons on their way to Philadelphia, most of which belong to German farmers.'   Similar sights must also have been common during the war.^"  Copyright © 1999 John U. Rees. All rights reserved http://www.continentalline.org/articles/9902/990202.htm.  

Peter applied for a pension in 1832. In his affidavit  he states that  he enlisted and served several terms of duty in the Pennsylvania Troops.  First for nearly 3 months beginning April 1, 1776 in Captain John Mack's Company under Colonel Jacob Stroud.   From December 1777 for 3 months in Captain Patrick Campbell's Company under Colonel Nicholas Kern.  Later he served again for 3 months under  Captain Patrick Campbell and  Colonel Jacob Stroud from October  1778 or 1779.

In testimony on the pension application for Elizabeth to receive compensation based on her husband's service, George, brother of Peter Hilliard, stated that he remembered his brother telling stories that he drove a wagon to haul the wounded and dead from the field of battle after the battle was over.  George believed that this had been the Battle of Brandywine.  

Sometime during the conflict, around the year 1779,  Peter married Elizabeth Emrich, a daughter of Jacob Emrich and his wife Ann Elizabeth (The verdict is still out as to whether she was a Beck or a Buss) Emrich.  The Pension affidavit says Peter Hilgert and Elizabeth Emrich were married at her father's house  in Mount Bethel Township by Mr. Fredrick, a preacher.  In 1850, Margaret Emrich Hilgert, wife of George Hilgert, Peter's brother stated that she was the sister of Elizabeth Hilgert.   

Peter and Elizabeth had three children whose births were recorded at the German Reformed Church in Mount Bethel (see Notes).  Christine Elizabeth Hilgert/Hilliard born on April 21, 1780, Catharine Hilgert/Hilliard born on August 17, 1782 and  John Philip Hilgert/Hilliard born on December 14, 1785. 

After the war, Peter was a member of the Pennsylvania legislature. He was allowed pension on his application executed August 31, 1832, while a resident of Upper Mount Bethel Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania.

He is  buried in the Old Union Cemetery in Stone Church, Centerville, Pennsylvania where his grave is marked each year with an American Flag to honor his service.  I recently (2/21/2016) learned that Elizabeth is buried in the Milton Cemetery in Northumberland County, Pa.   The stone says she  died September 24, 1840 at the age of 80 years, 3 months and 13 days. This calculates to a birth date of Jun. 11, 1760.

Peter and Elizabeth's daughter Christine married  Jacob Eilenberger.  They  had a daughter Catherine who married John Correll.  Their daughter Josephine Correll married Henry Good and had a son named George  who was the grandfather of Dorothy Alice Good Smith.

Notes:                                                                                                                

• Church Record of the Evangelical Lutheran and Reformed Congregation at Mount Bethel Township, Northampton Co., PA , 1914. Transcribed from the old German Record by the Rev. Dr. Wm. Wackernagel. Containing birth records from 1774 - 1890. Personal copy.
• Daughters of the American Revolution, http://www.dar.org, Ancestor #:A056250
• Find A Grave Memorial# 114640718,  Elizabeth Hilgert

Please see this list of all My Revolutionary War Ancestors.

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GENEALOGY IS A WORK OF HEART Your comments and suggestions are appreciated. It is with pleasure that I am able to present this information here for you to see. If you discover a relationship here, I would very much enjoy hearing from you. 

 

Paulus Brodt (1733 - 1782)

By December of 1782 the Revolutionary War was  nearly over.  The newly formed government of the United States of America had entered peace talks with Britain and American troops were happy to be home to celebrate Christmas with their families.

But it was a sad time for the family of Paul Brodt as he had lost his life in a boating accident on the Delaware River sometime in December.  Paul and his wife Maria Barbara Miller had ten children by 1782, the youngest of them, Susanna, my 3x great grandmother,  was born in April of that year.  But let us back track a little.

Paul came to this country from Germany when he was 16 years old.  I've covered his early history on  my webpage at Paulus (Brod) Brodt.  By the time the Revolutionary War broke out he was a well established businessman operating tanneries along the Delaware.  A tannery was a place where animal skins were processed to produce leather.  Leather was a much used material for the making of  such things as saddles, harnesses, shoes and trunks.  It was a pretty stinky business and I imagine it may have looked something like this.

His tanneries were in Portland, Upper Mount Bethel township and Lower Saucon in Williams township.  Both of these locations are in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Portland is on the Delaware River in the northern end of the county and  Williams township is to the southern end of the county.   Check out this map.   I calculated that the distance on the river between the two places  is roughly 40 miles.  

Now that would be a lot of travel on the river.  I imagine that Paul picked up skins from fur traders as he went between his tanneries.  He would have also used the river to transport the finished leather hides  to markets. There are many  dangerous rapids in the river and in December there could have been many other hazards for the men in boats to circumvent.   Evidently he had become a wealthy man for at his death in 1782 he left a large estate to his children.

I have found his name  in the PA Archives, 5th Series, Vol. 8.  He was in the 1st Battalion, and 1st class under Captain Joseph Fox.  This  abstract card is a transcription of the data extracted  from  the original records in the custody of the State Archives concerning Revolutionary War service in the Pennsylvania Militia.  

His DAR  record, Ancestor #: A014691, tells us that he was a Private in the Northampton Co. Militia under the command of Colonel George Hubner  and Captain Joseph Fox.  

After his untimely death his wife Maria Barbara Miller  remarried  and had five more children.  In 1785 her father filed a court petition for the  disposition of the property left to the children of Paulus Brodt.  It was not until 1789  that a final settlement of the Brodt Estate was reached.   His daughter Susanna married Christopher Illick.  Their son Sam  married Henrietta Kressler  and had a daughter name Clara who married Henry McEwen.

Pennsylvania State Archives @ http://www.digitalarchives.state.pa.us

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Nehemiah Porter (1720 - 1820)

Our branch of the Porter family arrived in Boston on July 17, 1638.  John Porter, his wife Anna and nine children sailed from England on board the "Susan and Ellen" to start a new life in the New World.   His son Samuel became a mariner and it is thought that he died while on a journey to Barbados.  He made his will before his trip  and did not return.  He left his widow, Hannah and one son John who was born in 1658.  John married Lydia Herrick and became the father of a son named Nehemiah who was born in 1692.  Nehemiah married Hannah Smith. They had  a son also named Nehemiah. He was born on March 22, 1720 which is the date recorded on his tombstone and  was known to his descendants as "Priest" Porter. 

This genealogical sketch of Nehemiah Porter was first published in the book,  A Genealogy of Richard Porter and John Porter by Joseph W. Porter in 1878, which very well may have been the source Zilpha and her sister's used in their research.
Joseph Porter gives his birthdate as November 20 which must be an error.

By 1775  the Porter family had been here for generations.  They were American's and at age 55, Nehemiah strongly felt the need to support the cause for liberty.   As the pastor of the Congregational Church in Ashfield he was first denied permission to join  the ranks of the minute men. 

But,  his son John Chipman Porter  tells in his affidavit for his Revolutionary War Pension that his father was at the Battle of Bunker Hill with him in 1775 when he was "taken sick".  John was granted a furlough and was carried  home  to Ipswich by his father  to recover from his illness. 

Nehemiah eventually received  permission from his congregation to join the Continental Army.  In 1777 he served in the capacity of chaplain under General Horatio Gates.  He joined the forces on the Hudson River and was with the Continental Army  at the front at Fort Stanwix and  Bennington and at Saratoga when Burgoyne surrendered. 

Nehemiah married Rebecca Chipman  on the 14th of February, 1749 in Beverly Massachusetts.  Together they had nine children, but she died  when  the children were all very young.  After Rebecca's death  Nehemiah moved the family to  Yarmouth, Nova Scotia where he founded a Congregational Church.  Sometime around 1771 he returned to Massachusetts and moved to Ashfield.  His second wife was Elizabeth Nowell, whom he married about 1778.

He remained the pastor at the Ashfield Congregational Church for forty - five years.  He continued to preach until he died at the age of 99, on leap year day, February 29, 1820,  just a few  weeks short of his 100th birthday.

He is buried in the Hill Cemetery, Ashfield, Massachusetts with his second wife, Elizabeth along side of him.  Rebecca Chipman Porter is buried in the Old Graveyard at Essex in Essex County, Massachusetts.

Nehemiah's great granddaughter, Sarah Angeline Chauncey Scott, who  was born two months after he died  inherited his gene for longevity and lived to be 101 years old.

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