The ancestors & descendants of
EDWIN LEWIS LYBARGER (1840-1924)
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Sources include THE LYBARGER DESCENDANTS, produced by John Lavern Lybarger & Lee Hartshorne Lybarger, 2000. Published by the Lybarger Memorial Association.
See also Pennsylvania German Pioneers Research Guide 1727-1808
“Since all of us trace back to high and humble beginnings, if the facts were known; and since every living soul has about as many ancestors ten, twenty, thirty generals back as the next fellow, we stand on equal footing…The fact that [an ancestor] accomplished something reflects no credit on us, unless by reason of their good example we go out and do likewise.” –Donald F. Lybarger, “History of the Lybarger Family,” 1959.
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THE LYBARGER FAMILY TREE
Benedikt Leyenberger, father of Nikolaus, in the Palatinate, Rhineland
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Nikolaus Leyenberger
b. @ 1707 in Palatinate, d. after 1758 in Frederick Co., MD
1727, married Maria Catharina in Brenschelbach
and traveled to Philadelphia in 1739
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Ludwick Lybarger, Sr.
b. @ 1735 in Palatinate, d. 1827 in Bedford County, PA
@ 1760, married (1st wife) Barbara (@1736-1790)
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Andrew Lybarger (1778-1885)
@ 1800 married Naomi Thompson (1783-1867)
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James Thompson Lybarger (1804-1864)
1833 married Amelia Crum (1813-1902)
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Edwin Lewis Lybarger (1840-1924)
1885 married (2d wife) Nancy Moore (1844-1931)
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Harry Swayne Lybarger (1888-1958)
1913 married Ethel Finney (1885-1968)
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Davida Margaret Lybarger (b. 1921)
1944 married Richard Walter Wilke (1920-1981)
Jennifer L. Wilke (b. 1949)
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FROM THE RHINELAND TO PHILADELPHIA
in the 1700′s
As early as 1677, William Penn visited the Rhineland in Europe, urging people to seek peace and security in the Province of Pennsylvania. After obtaining a royal charter in 1681, Penn and his agents actively recruited settlers to Pennsylvania, which had principles of religious toleration, and a climate and soil similar to the Palatinate (a region in the Rhineland).
During the 1700′s, the trip from the Palatinate to Pennsylvania had three phases:
(1) travel by boat down the Rhine River to Rotterdam, Netherlands
(2) cross by ship from Rotterdam to England port city
(3) cross the Atlantic Ocean from England to the Colonies.
Each leg of the trip could take several months. Many passengers, especially young children, did not survive the trip. Passage cost about $175, payable to the ship’s captain upon arrival either in cash, or by indentured labor. In German Immigrants to Pennsylvania 1683-1808, Richard Newhouse offers graphic details of the arduous journey by sailing ship. Gottfried Mittelberger also wrote about his 1750 trip.
Between 1727 and 1775, over 300 ships carried thousands of immigrants away from the ongoing warfare between princes, high taxes to support the monarchy, and marauding armies. Passenger lists exist for only 138 of these ships, usually listing only males over 16 years old because they were the ones required to swear allegiance to the British Crown when they landed in the British Colonies.
1727
Nikolaus Leyenberger (son of Benedikt Leyenberger) married Maria Catherina in the Hornbach Reformed Church [Lutheran] in Brenschelbach, in the Saarland in the Palatinate. People living in this region were called Palatines, and spoke German. Nikolaus was probably a farmer.
1739
Spelling being variable in the 18th century, Nikolaus Leyenberger is probably the “Nicholas Leyberger” listed as a passenger on the Snow Betsy that arrived in Philadelphia from Deal, England on Aug. 27, 1739. He was likely in his early 30’s and accompanied by his wife Maria Catharina and their two young sons, Nicholas and Ludwick. Years later, great-grandson Elijah F. Lybarger, was told by his grandfather that Nicholas and his wife had come on the “indenture plan” and worked three years to pay it off, in Virginia [or Maryland].
1741
Nicholas & Maria Catharina and their 2 sons moved west from Philadelphia into York County, Pennsylvania, to farm. Third son John George Lybarger was born.
All Lybargers in this family line are descended from one of the 3 sons of Nicholas and Maria Catharina Leyberger:
Nicholas Lybarger, b. about 1833 in Palatinate
Ludwick Lybarger, Sr. b. about 1835 in Palatinate
John George Lybarger, b. 1841 in Pennsylvania
From the 1740s to early 1800s, Lybargers continued to move west, ”frugal farmers and zealous Lutherans.”
By 1758 to Maryland
Lybargers moved south, into Frederick County, Maryland, to farm.
By 1774 before the Revolutionary War
Lybargers moved into Bedford County, Pennsylvania, to farm. Ludwick Lybarger, Sr. lived the remaining fifty years of his life here, owning a farm west of Madley. He also had a tannery, a still, 4 horses, 3 cattle, and 2 sheep. He married twice, had 15 children, and died with good eyesight and all his own teeth.
Ludwick Lybarger, Sr. @1735-1827 (Bedford Co., PA)
m. @ 1760 to Barbara (@1736-1790)
The positive characteristics of Pennsylvania Germans were described by Benjamin Rush (a Pennsylvania physician and signer of the Declaration of Independence) as a model for all citizens in the new country, in An Account of the Manners of the German Inhabitants of Pennsylvania.
1775-79 – Revolutionary War
Bedford County, PA was at the edge of the frontier of the new nation at the start of the Revolutionary War, Lybarger fathers and sons served in the militia, primarily to protect their farms and families from American Indian attacks. In 1778, Captain Samuel Paxton’s Fourth Company, First Battalion, Bedford County Militia, also known as the Wills Creek Settlement Company. Ludwick Lybarger and his sons and nephews served in this company.
1790 & 1800 census records
The 1790 census records 28 Lybargers living in Bedford County, PA, in 6 households. In 1800, 57 Lybargers lived in 9 households in Londonderry Township of Bedford County, PA.
1810 to Ohio
Edwin Lewis Lybarger’s third cousin, Hannah Lybarger (1783-1849), was the first Pennsylvania Lybarger to move to Ohio. In 1803, she married Henry Haines, Sr. In 1810 they moved to Licking County, Ohio to farm. In 1811, they moved to Coshocton County, Bedford Township. The land they bought from the government cost $1.25 an acre. In 1813, Henry walked back to Pennsylvania to help settle his father’s estate, leaving Hannah and five young children alone on the farm. By the time he returned in 1816 with his mother and other family members, Hannah had cleared two acres of dense forest land.
