Johannes (John) Middlekauff

Johannes (John) Middlekauff was born on July 7, 1733 in Hagerstown, MD. Yesterday was the 274th anniversary of his birth. To put that in persepective, in the 1730's Ben Franklin founded the first circulating library in America and began to publish his agricultural handbook, Poor Richard's Almanack; to improve circulation, he will work in his capacity of deputy postmaster general to ameliorate the colonial postal system and will effect a communications revolution.

Our lineage from Johannes has a very interesting twist. Johannes had two sons who are BOTH OUR DIRECT ANCESTORS!

Johannes married Mary Bruner and they begat
Jacob Middlekauff who married Esther (possibly Hester) Reel and they begat
Susanna Middlekauff who married David Wolf and they begat
Sarah Wolf who married Elias Finifrock and they begat
Sarah Ellen Finifrock who married Joseph Ringer and they begat
George Elias Ringer

Johannes and Mary Bruner also begat
Christian Middlekauff who married Rosanna Russell and they begat
Rosanna Middlekauff who married Daniel Finifrock and they begat
Elias Finifrock who married Sarah Wolf

Johannes Middlekauff and Mary Bruner were the great grandparents of both Elias Finifrock and Sarah Wolf who married and went on to become the grandparents of George Elias Ringer.

Johannes married Maria (Mary) Elizabeth Bruner on 7/19/1757 in Frederick, Maryland. In addition to Jacob (first born -- in 1758) and Christian (fourth child -- 1768) they had six other children from between 1758 and 1779, all boys and one girl (Leonard, Henry, Peter, David, Daniel & Julianna). According to family trees submitted by other researchers, they moved around a bit as the children were born in Sharpsburg, Fairplay, Hagerstown and back to Fairplay again (all in the state of Maryland).

Johannes died on 9/8/1807 in Hagerstown, MD. Other researchers have his year of death as 1821, but I suspect that 1807 is the likely date as another researcher has indicated that his will was probated on 6/28/1808. I haven't been able to find a copy of his will yet or any indication of what it revealed. However, his son Jacob, who married Esther Reel and died in 1833, left a will that passes significant acreage (152 acres + 200 acres + 220 acres) to his three sons. In this will of Jacob's there is a mention of John's (Johannes's) property. In addition (also in Jacob's will) there is a Certificate of Manumission issued to a slave named Eliza, which freed her. So we can assume that either John/Johannes had significant property holdings, or that his son Jacob accumulated them on his own.

One other interesting tidbit I came across is that the Battle of Antietam, the first major battle of the civil war to take place on Northern soil, and the bloodiest single day battle in American history, with almost 23,000 casualties, took place on the farm of a Middlekauff. I haven't been able to determine yet which Middlekauff owned the property and whether he was a descendant of Johannes, but the liklihood is high, as this is the area that Johannes and his sons lived in. Click on this link to read a page from a book that references the Middlekauf farm several times on this page (the first reference to it shows up under the number '154' on the page).

Beyond this, I know nothing about Johannes Middlekauff. If anyone has additional information they would like to pass on, please feel free to contact me.

Beginnings.....

So... it appears that my recently rabid interest in the paths of my ancestors has captured the fancy of other cousins, aunts and uncles. I've been told my emails are circulating and that others have been interested in learning what I've found.

To assist as many as possible in keeping up with my research, to make things easier on the eyes for everyone (an e-mail that has been forwarded several times through various operating systems and e-mail clients is not a pretty thing), and HOPEFULLY to foster communication between those who have other tidbits of information about our ancestors.... I've created this blog.

One of the things I've been doing is trying to focus on one ancestor a day and do a little research as time allows. I have a list of the birth, death, marriage and immigration dates of our ancestors and as they match up with the current calendar date... I have my name (sometimes names) for the day. On days that don't match up with a particular event in history, I try to focus on other ancestors, who we have a year for their birth or death but not a month or day (these are usually several hundred years in the past).

Now... on to the research!