Possibly my Oldest Known American Ancestor(from a Bio sheet provided by another researcher...information yet to be verified)
Daniel FalcknerDaniel and
Justus Falckner were brothers, born in
Langen-Reinsdorf,
Zwichau,
Saxony, the sons of the Rev. Daniel Falckner. Daniel was the older, born 25 November
1666. He was educated at Erfurth and ordained in
Germany.
Daniel arrived in
Philadelphia on 23 June
1694. In
1698 he returned to
Germany, but was back in
Pennsylvania again in
1700. Upon his return a tract he wrote, probably while in Germany, called "Curiuse Nachricht von Pennsylania in Norden-America" was published in
Frankfurt and
Leipzig in
1702. He knew
William Penn and acted as agent for the Frankfurt Land Co. to survey 25,000 acres previously sold the company by Penn. In this work he supplanted
Francis Daniel Pastorius who had come to Pennsylvania in 1683.
Anna Maria Schuckart is presumed to have been Daniel's wife and the mother of his two daughters; one named Molly married Wilhelm Dern.
Daniel Falckner was active in
Germantown. However, in
1798 he disappeared from history for a time. His brother, Justus, was ordained on
24 Nov 1703 by the
Swedes in Penn's English colony: this being the
first Lutheran ordination in America. He served the
Dutch Lutherans in
New York and had three congregations -
Albany,
Hakensack and
New York (New York and New Jersey had the same governor at that time.) Pastor Falckner traveled about 1500 miles a year. He died in
1723. About this time Daniel Falckner reappeared, living then in
New Jersey.
He died, probably in
New Jersey, after
1741; but before
1745.
So the question is am I guilty as a Catholic or guilty as a descendant of a proponent of the then Catholic church wrongs turned Catholic....... on the other hand, I never thought how strong and long this German-American genealogy might be.
