The Menges Family History Pages

Northumberland County, Pennsylvania

Turbot Township, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania:

The acquisition of land seems always to have been a prominent characteristic of the German immigrants, and it may be said to continue to this very day. Even in the post-Revolutionary War years the spirit of speculation was widespread among them. Their earlier-cleared farms had become valuable as there were always those who having money, preferred to buy farms from which the heavy timber had been cleared and on which good buildings were erected. The prices for wild lands were so reasonable that men were tempted to sell their early holdings and with the aid of their sturdy sons and daughters, push on and clear new lands in the interior. Then too, the inflowing tide of immigrants became so strong that there were no longer lands near the older settlements to be taken up by sons, so they were compelled to move far into the backwoods.

The hardships of moving a family over mountains was often told in diaries and books. Most settlers just walked to their new lands; some even used wheelbarrows. A lucky few had wagons and brought cattle. Conrad Menges was no doubt one of the latter as by 1796 he had accumulated considerable property and although not a wealthy man, he could be considered as "well off." As an example of Conrad's financial state, on April 28, 1796, he purchased a tract of land from the heirs of John Hood in Turbot Township consisting of 223 1/2 acres for which he paid 2,235 pounds sterling. This was the equivalent of 5,960 or $26 per acre. We also know from Rockland Township tax lists that he owned as many as four horses, four cattle, and ten sheep. Early assessment records show that a horse, a cow, and eight or ten acres of cultivated land constituted the taxable property of a great majority of the farmers of that period. The man who brought with him several horses and cows, and owned over two hundred acres of land, as did Conrad Menges, was certainly regarded as "rich" by his neighbors.

Surely a man with this amount of property would travel by wagon and no doubt paid for his passage on boats that traveled up the Susquehanna River. It is even possible that the land Conrad purchased in Turbot Township was an established farm with cleared land and on which a suitable house and outbuildings had been erected. This would account for the short period of time between his sponsorship at Christ Mertz Lutheran Church, Berks County on April 3, 1796, for the baptism of his grandson Johannes Kime (son of Christian and Margaret (Menges) Kime) and his appearance in Northumberland County on April 28, 1796 for the purchase of land from the estate of John Hood. The land was located in what was then the center of Turbot Township. In 1843, Lewis Township was formed from the northern half of Turbot Township, placing Conrad's property in Lewis Township on the southern town line. Conrad's property, which John Hood had purchased from Reuben Haines in 1792, was adjacent to and East of Robert Ray's land.

As will be seen later on in the baptismal records for some of Conrad's grandchildren, the Menges family continued to be members of the Lutheran Church. In Northumberland County they belonged to one of the earliest congregations in Turbut Township, Follmer Evangelical Lutheran Church. This church was located about five miles from Conrad's farm on Follmer Road. The first church building, to which Conrad and his family belonged, was a one-story log structure, with galleries to which an outside stairway ascended. It was replaced in 1859-60 by the present substantial two-story brick structure. It is believed that Conrad Menges was buried in the Follmer Evangelical Lutheran Church Cemetery. A search of the cemetery and its markers has failed to disclose one for Conrad. However, many of the markers are so old and worn, it is impossible to read the inscriptions. Churches did not keep records of deaths at this time, so there are no church records of his death. In Bell's History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, it states on page 695, "Rev. J. P. F. Kramer was pastor in 1803, and on the 16th of October in that year the following list of communicants, the earliest extant, appears in the records; Conrad Menges and wife, William Gauger, Catherine Fullmer, Bernard Stein, John Stein, Henry Stein, Peter Menges, Peter Derr, Conrad Menges (Jr.) and wife, Jacob Menges, Tobias Schutz, Michael Schmidt and wife, Eva Stahl, Catherine Stahl, John Schmidt, Jacob Schmidt, Peter Fogelman, Catherine Follmer, Elizabeth Schniedler, Peter Gerlacher, John Hauer, Jacob Lilly and wife, Barbara Hauer, Peter Lilly, John Schuck, Elizabeth (Follmer) Schuck, Christian Zerbe and wife, Peter Schwartz and wife, Elizabeth Muller, Elizabeth (Fogelman) Muller, and Anna Fogelman. Twenty-four persons were confirmed on that occasion."

Perhaps the greatest insight into the type of life led by Conrad Menges in Turbot Township is through the estate papers generated by his death in 1813. The most striking image is projected by the will itself. Conrad, by his meticulous attention to detail in providing for all the wants and needs of his wife, has written not only a will, but a love letter to his beloved Anna Maria. He provides her shelter. A share of the space in his Mansion House (in those days a farm was known as a Plantation and the farm house a Mansion House). And if she doesn't care for that arrangement, an addition is to be built for her own use. He sees to it that she has a plate stove, furniture, and an annual income. She is also to receive foodstuffs; apples, potatoes, grain, meats, and flax. Her garden is to be dunged (fertilized) and spaded. It was also obvious from the total value of Conrad's estate that he was a wealthy man. He left an estate valued at $33,930 which included the sale of his plantation and mansion house to his son Jacob Mangus. The large number of notes included in the inventory of his property indicates that Conrad was the family money lender. This was typical in Pennsylvania German families wherein the head of the family acted as the banker for other members of the family and also some neighbors.

From the list of goods in the two vendues (public sales) of Conrad's property we also see the type of life they led on the Pennsylvania German farm at the turn of the 18th century. Much weaving, of course, was done at home in Pennsylvania, as in other colonies. Flax was woven into linen, flax and wool into linsey-woolsey. More rarely, cotton and flax were woven into fustian or cotton and wool into jeans. Indigo was the dye most commonly used. Bought at the country store or from a peddler, the indigo was mixed with urine and poured into the dye pot. It was woven into checks or sometimes into stripes for dresses, aprons, shirts, spreads, or bed ticks. The bark of the black oak or hickory made a good yellow, and so did the juice of jewelweed. Sassafras bark gave quite a good orange, pokeberries a rich red, sumac berries a red-brown, and the hulls of black walnuts a yellowish brown. Whiteness in cloth was more difficult to achieve than color. To ensure a fair degree of whiteness for homespun linen, thirty to forty bleachings were necessary.

Linen was a very durable material, lasting practically forever. It was made into many items, with linen pieces being handed down from generation to generation. Rolls, sheets and pieces of linen were considered valuable and it was not uncommon to find them listed as part of a deceased's estate. The making of the linen material was the duty of all members of the household. If there were girls in the family, they did the spinning and weaving. If the family consisted of all boys, then the boys did the spinning and weaving, as well as growing the flax and preparing it for spinning.

Homespun linens, plain and closely woven, were a testimony to months of arduous toil for farmers like Conrad Menges and his family, beginning with the planting of the flax. When it ripened it had to be pulled, cured, seeded, rotted, broke, swingled, hackled, spun and woven, all by hand, before it was ready to be made into wearing apparel. Proper dressing of the flax includes curing, rippling, retting, grassing, scrutching and hackling, which separates the seeds, outer fibers and waste from the long (line) and short (tow) fibers of flax. The flax stems or straws were broken down with the use of a "hatchel". This tool was a comblike instrument about the size of a large scrub brush. Instead of bristles, the hatchel had iron spikes that were used for cleaning and dressing the flax. The word hatchel is pronounced to sound like heckle and some believe that the term "heckel" comes from hatchel. After the flax had been hatcheled, it was in the form of short, broken fibers called tow. The tow, about ten inches in length, was then formed into longer strands. These longer strands, called --- , were then placed on the spinning wheel in a for somewhat like a ladies wig and were spun into the linen thread. The term "tow-head, meaning a child with straw-colored hair, comes from the linen tow.

From the list of items sold at auction from the estate of Conrad Menges, it is readily seen that the Menges farm was a typical Pennsylvania German farm of the early 1800's. These farms combined general farming with the raising of livestock and were, for the most part, self-sustaining. The animals and items produced on the farm were typical; cows, sheep, hogs, wheat, oats, hay, bee hives, potatoes, cabbage, apples and peaches. As mentioned above, the Menges family was, as were most Pennsylvania German families, a family of linen weavers. Like most families, the Menges were probably farmers in the summer and weavers in the winter. The men attended the farming and the planting of the flax, while the women did the housework and spinning. The weaving was usually done by the father or by one of the many traveling weavers. It should also be noted that the auctioned goods were purchased by many who were related to the Menges family; George Ritter, Andrew Kirchner, John Dimm, Nicholas and John Long, Henry Stahl, Daniel Fister, Christian Kime and Henry Moll.

Farming, Always Farming, a photographic essay of rural Pennsylvania German land and life by H. Winslow Fegley, published by the Pennsylvania German Society, Birdsboro, Pennsylvania in 1987, gives a good description of the public sale in rural Pennsylvania.

"After the death or retirement changed the occupancy of a property, sales of the equipment and household goods of a farmstead provided an opportunity for dispersal of objects and a social gathering of the neighbors. Most of the prospective buyers came in farm wagons, market wagons, or Dearborn wagons in order to haul their loot home. The family carriage was an exception. Later on, the automobile made possible longer trips to sales and helped to develop the new trade in 'antiques.'

"The sequence of sale items--from farm tools, equipment and livestock to furniture and household wares--remains essentially same in the Dutch area today. The women did not stand in the barnyard when the farm equipment was offered. The auctioneer, perched above the crowd, maintained a running patter of dialect asides and tried to encourage spirited bidding to get the highest prices possible. His success depended on his rapport with and control on the crowd.

"While the men watched the farmer's tools sold, the women viewed the items of interest to them, exchanged news and gossip and visited. Not infrequently the auctioneer had to silence the crowd. The women's interests were in such house-hold items as doughtrays, washtubs, window shades, a rag rug or some trinket, perhaps an Aadenkes, a souvenir of the life of an old friend or relative, to put in your Schank, cupboard. A guided tour of these artifacts and their origin could form Sunday afternoon entertainment for visitors.

"Peddlers came out of hiding at all kinds of special events from fairs to church dedications. The also came to sale with cakes, pies, candies, peanuts and pretzels to provide nourishment to customers waiting for something to be sold. After the sale, the wagons were loaded to take the newly acquired treasure home. The accumulation of a lifetime could go to four directions of the compass in a few hours as its former owner faded into history. For another generation the artifacts and some of the culture would be used and reused. And then even they would yield to the relentless phenomenon called progress."

After the settlement of Conrad Menges' estate and after the shares were distributed to the heirs, his children began to disperse to other townships, counties and states. Catharina, the wife of Simon Dimm, had moved to Muncy Creek Township in Lycoming County before Conrad's death. After Conrad's death, Simon Dimm was appointed legal guardian for Christian Menges. Part of the guardianship was the setting up of a farm adjacent to Simon's in Muncy Creek. So Christian soon followed the Dimms to Lycoming County.

Conrad, Jr. was he next to leave the County, and he went to the Town of Fayette, Seneca County, New York. Muncy Creek was relatively close to Turbut Township being about fifteen miles north, whereas the Town of Fayette was approximately 125 miles north of Turbot Township.

Jacob Menges remained in Northumberland County seven years after his father's death. In 1820, Jacob sold the land he had purchased from his father's estate to his brother Peter. Jacob, along with his sister Margaret and her husband Christian Kime who had moved to Seneca County in 1815, then purchased jointly, property in the Town of Fayette, Seneca County, New York.

There were two sons of Conrad Menges who remained in Turbot Township -- Peter and Solomon. Today, Peter's descendants are the more numerous of the two as Solomon's descendants later moved to Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. As mentioned previously, Conrad's land was first sold to his son Jacob, who held the land until 1820 when it was sold to Jacob's older brother, Peter. The land eventually went to Peter's son Samuel Menges. Samuel went on to acquire eleven nearby farms with a total acreage of over 1,000 acres. These eleven farms were the beginning of one of the largest landholdings by one family in the county. It is believed that Conrad's original farm, which was located in what was then Turbot Township and is now Lewis Township, is the farm now occupied by Cyril Menges. This type of family dispersion did not affect the family of Peter Menges. All of his children stayed in Turbot Township. A portion of Turbot Township was taken off and became Lewis Township with Conrad's farm being in the part that became Lewis Township. The descendants of Peter were so numerous and owned so much land that the area was referred to locally as Menges Valley. A history of this family appeared in a publication, The History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania 1911, by Floyd, page 392-395. Unfortunately, the article contained numerous errors. Following is a corrected version of the first part of the aforementioned article on Peter Menges.

"MENGES. The Menges family has a large representation in Northumberland county, whither Peter, the pioneer of the family in this region (the pioneer was actually Johann Conrad Menges, Peter's father) came at an early day, settling in what part of what was then Turbut township now known as Lewis township. The tract upon which he settled remains in the family name to this day, being now owned by his grandson, N. Jacob Menges. "In the Pennsylvania Archives (2nd Series, Vol XVLI) there are five records of emigrations of persons of the name of Menges, viz.: (1) Conrad and John George Menges, the first of the name to arrive in this country, came from Rotterdam in the ship "Albany," Robert Brown, master; qualifying Sept. 2, 1749. (2) Wilhelm Manges (so spelled) came in the "Dragon," Daniel Nicholas, master; qualified Oct. 17, 1749. (3) Peter, J. Conrad, Hans Peter, Adam and John George Menges came in the brigantine "Sarah and Mary," Thomas Broderick, master, from Amsterdam, qualified Oct. 26, 1754. These five were probably brothers or near relatives, and are likely the ancestors of the Menges in York county, Pa., as indicated in the similarity of the names prevailing in the family until the last generation, when the old family names were dropped. (4) Heinric Menges came in the ship "Chance," Charles Smith, captain, from Rotterdam, last from Cowes, and qualified Nov. 1, 1763. (5) John George Menges came in the "Brittania," Thomas Arnot, captain, from Rotterdam, and qualified Sept. 26, 1764.

"The will of one Conrad Menges (Peter's father), of Turbut township, Northumberland county, on record at Sunbury, was made July 27, 1813, and probated Aug. 17, 1813. The name is signed in German. His son Peter and Son-in-law Simon Sim (Dimm), of Turbut township, were executors. He came hither from Northampton (Berks), county where his name appears on the tax lists. The property was divided share and share alike among all his children, namely: Conrad, Margaret, Peter, Jacob, Christian (son), Mary, Elizabeth, John, Solomon, and Catharine, the last named (who was one of the older members of the family) having died in 1813 and left eight children, who received her portion, each getting $133.33.

"Peter Menges, previously referred to as the founder of the family in Northumberland county, was born in 1771, probably in Germany (he was born in Berks County), and was in Berks county for some time before settling in Northumberland county, about the time of the American Revolution (he came to Northumberland County with his father around 1790). It is said that a brother of this Peter Menges settled in Lycoming county, Pa., in the vicinity of Muncy (this would be Christian Menges). He (Peter Menges) was a farmer, and owned a large acreage. Paradise Valley, two and one half miles long and about one mile wide, embraces four thousand acres of very fine agricultural land, originally taken up by Hunter and Patterson, pioneers of Turbut township. Part of this valley is now embraced in Lewis township. The descendants of Peter Menges still retain possession of his lands, about one thousand acres, being clustered in what is known locally as "Menges Valley," which forms the western portion of the fertile and beautiful Paradise Valley. This pioneer died Jan. 6, 1841, aged seventy years, and his wife Anna Elizbeth (Bausch) (we believe his wife should be Anna Elizabeth Stahl), died Dec. 29, 1842, aged sixty-one years, seven months. They are buried at Turbutville. Their family consisted of three sons and two daughters, all now deceased, namely: Samuel; Jacob; Peter; Catharine, who married Gideon Beaver; and Elizabeth, who married Hiram D. Dreisbach."

This rather lengthy article continues on with descriptions of the families of Peter's children and with information on their personalities, religious affiliations, political affiliations and professions.