Wendel Santmann Bauman (bef. 1681 - 1735)

Born before 1 Apr 1681 in Switzerland [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Anna Kendig (Herr) Bauman — married 1709 in Strasburg, Chester County, Pennsylvania Colony, British Colonial America

Descendants

Died 10 Apr 1735 after age 54 in Pequea Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Judy Byrum [send private message], Joseph Kramer [send private message], Cheryl Bostrom [send private message], and James Landes [send private message]

Wendel Bauman was a Palatine Migrant. Join: Palatine Migration Project Discuss: palatine_migration

Biography

Wendel Bauman is variously reported to have been born :

• in 1665 (earlier version of profile, no source provided)
• in 1679 (earlier version of profile, no source provided)
• in 1681 ^[1][2]
• in Thun, Canton of Berne,^[1] in Switzerland ^[2]
• the son of Hans Rudolph Bauman (of Hirzel) and Anna Funck (of Horn) in Alsace ^[2]
• the son of Hans Rudolph (John) Dandiker Buman and Anna Santmann of Switzerland (source needed)

Marriage and children : Wendel is popularly believed to have married a woman named Anne, and one source speculates that she may have been the daughter of Hans Herr.^[3] No evidence is provided to support this claim.

Wendel and his wife were the parents of :

1. Christian Bauman b. abt 1700 or 1702 d. 1735 Lower Providence Twp (Montgomery County), m. Barbara [LNU] (five children)
2. Jacob Bauman b. abt 1701 d. abt 1745 m. Elizabeth [LNU] (three children)
3. Michael Bauman b. abt 1702
4. Anna Bauman b. 1703 d. 11 Feb 1771, m. Jacob Weaver and lived in northeastern Lancaster Co., PA
5. John Bauman b. abt 1710 d. abt 1749
6. Benjamin ^[4] Bauman b. abt 1712 d. abt 1775. He lived on the old homestead for a while, then moved to Pittsburgh, PA where all trace of him is lost.
7. Joseph Bauman b. abt 1714. He lived on the old homestead for a while, then moved to Pittsburgh, PA where all trace of him is lost.
8. Magdalena Bauman b. 1719 m. Jacob Groh
9. Peter Bauman b. Sep 1726 d. 1806 married three times (father of 10 children).

Wendel was the first of his family to travel to America, and came with his wife and eight other Mennonite families under the leadership of Rev. Hans Herr, a Swiss Mennonite minister. They travelled from Switzerland down the Rhine river to Rotterdam in Holland, and then to Gravesend, England, and from there to Pennsylvania. They arrived in October 1707 on the shipMary Hope, and lived in Germantown until 1709.^[1]

The nine heads of families had negotiated with William Penn's agents and the provincial surveyor for 10,000 acres of land on Pequea Creek, in present day Lancaster County. In 1710, Wendell warranted 250 acres in West Lampeter, and it was patented to him on 12 Jan 1716.^[4] Wendel's brother John, who had arrived in 1712, settled nearby on a 1,000 acre tract in Strasburg.^[1]

The log cabin which Wendel Bowman built in 1710 survived until 1874, and was featured in the Lancaster "New Era" on 6 March 1930.

Wendel died in April 1735 in Lampeter, Lancaster, PA and is buried in the Tschantz Graveyard.^[5]

Excerpts from published biographies

Quote from Eby :

Wendel Bauman, the original settler of this family, came to Pennsylvania very early. He was born in Switzerland in the year 1681. When about seventeen years of age, he, in company with his parents, moved to Holland, where they had the promise of protection from the persecuting parties of southern and central Europe by William Prince of Orange and, afterward, William III of England. The old progenitor lived until the beginning of the seventeenth (18th!) century when he set his face for America. He landed safely in Philadelphia, but the landing date (1704) is not confirmed. In 1709, several families moved westward from Philadelphia, seeking a tract of land where they might settle in one vicinity. The choice of their location was on a tract situated north of Pequea Creek, extending to the Conestogo (Their settlement was Strasburg Tp., Chester Co., now West Lampeter Tp., Lancaster Co.) containing ten thousand acres of land. The warrant for this was recorded, and the land was surveyed on October 23rd, 1710. Among these settlers, we find Wendel Baumann. All efforts made to obtain the date of his death or to whom he was married proved fruitless. So much, however, has been obtained that he had a family of seven sons and one daughter. The sons' names were Christian, Peter, John, Jacob, Michael, Benjamin, Joseph, and Magdalena, married to Jacob Groh, father of the late Abraham Groh, and grandfather of John Groh of Hespeler, Ontario." ^[6]

Ancestry user Thomas Gibble posted (14 Jul 2010) an excerpt from the Bauman Family History ^[7] :

"WENDEL BAUMANN, the original settler of this family, came to Pennsylvania at a very early date. He was born in Switzerland about the year 1681. When about 17 years of age he, in company with his parents, moved to Holland, where, they had the promise of protection from the persecuting parties of Southern and Central Europe, by William, Prince of Orange, afterwards King William III of England. Here the old progenitor lived until the beginning of the eighteenth century, when he set face for America. (From E. E. Eby's WaterIoo History).Thus far the Mennonite colonists in Pennsylvania were nearly all of Dutch descent, and came either from Holland or from the Dutch congregations in Lower Germany, but in 1707 began the steady immigration of the Patatines, which lasted throughout the century. The first contingent of this new element to arrive at Germantown (a little north of Philadelphia) were the Kolb brothers: Martin, John and Jacob, from Wolfsheim near Worms, and Wynand Bowman, all of whom came in the above year. (See Smith's Mennonite Immigration, Pages 95-6.)

Our knowledge of this period is limited and must be gathered from land records of the time and the still scantier family histories. Fortunately however, more facts have been preserved of the European side of the movement and upon these we must depend largely for what little we know of the immigration. It was at this time, it will be remembered, that the Swiss Mennonites were driven out of Switzerland and as late as 1709 sent to the galleys, and their Dutch brethren, in order to help them in their hour of distress, organized the Committee of Foreign Needs. This committee carried on an extensive correspondence during the next 50 years with the Mennonite ministers of the Palatinate relative to the condition of the Swiss refugees, as well as the condition of the Palatinates, who desired to emigrate to Pennsylvania. (In 1710, committee granted 20,000 florins for that purpose). These letters have preserved in the archives of the Mennonite Church at Amsterdam, and almost the only source of information on this phase of Mennonite history (See Smith's Mennonite Immigration, Page 124).

Our first bit of information gleaned from this source is from a letter written in 1707 by one David Rutgers to the deacons of the Waterland and Flemish and Old Frisian churches of Amsterdam, asking the churches for a refund of a sum of money he had advanced to a certain *Wynand Bowman and his wife and three children for their voyage to Pennsylvania in that year. This Wynand Bowman is the same one, no doubt, whose name appears on the German membership list of 1708 with that of the Kolb brothers, who had arrived at Germantown the same year. It is likely, also, that he is the same person as the Wendel Bowman whose name appears on the Lancaster warrant of October 10, 1710. (See Smith's Menn. lmm., Page 125).

From the membership list of the Germantown (Pa.) church of 1708, which fortunately has been preserved, we learn that, exclusive of the Skippack congregation (which lay close by), the following names compose the Mennonite contingent of the Germantown settlement by that time:

Pastor Jacob Godschalk, Bishop Willem Rittenhouse, Herman Carsdorp, Martin Kolb, Isaac van Sinteren, Conrad Johnson, Henry Kassel, and their wives, Herman Teyner, John Krey, Peter Connerts, Paul Klumpkes, Arnold Von Vossen, John Kolb, Jacob Kolb, John Nice, Hans Nice, John Lensen, Issac Jacobs, Hendrick Sellen, John Connerts, Peter Keyser, Wynanat Bowman, John Georges, Cornelius Claessen, Arnold Kuster, Mary Tuynen, Helena Krey, Gertrude Conner, Mary Von Vossen, Barbara Kolb, Ann Bowman, Margaret Huberts, Mary Sellen, Elizabeth Kuster, Margaret Tuysen, Altien Revenstock, Hermann Kuster, Christopher Zimmerman, Sarah von Sinteren, Civilia Connerts, Altien Tysen, Catherine Casselberry, Civilia von Vossen, (Smith's Menn. Imm., Page 96). It is believed that the above Ann Bowman is the wife of Wynant (Wendel) Bowman.

On October 10, 1710, a warrant was issued by the Board of Property the Surveyor-General of the Province for 10,000 acres on the "north-westerly side of a hill about 20 miles easterly from the Conestoga, near the head of Perquin Creek" for the following persons--John Rudolf Bundely, Martin Kendig, Michael Oberholts and Wendel Bowman, "Switzers lately arrived in the Province." For these 10,000 acres the purchasers were to pay 500 pounds Pennsylvania money, or about 16 cents per acre; and, in addition, one shilling quit rent annually for every 100 acres, the principal to be paid in six annual installments. The actual settlement was not made, however, near the headwaters of the Pequea, but farther down the stream, and several miles south of the present City of Lancaster, near the Village of Willow Street. (This is about 60 miles west of Philadelphia). The presence of a Shawanese Indian village near the headwaters may have had something to do with the change in the location as originally planned. From a plot of the original tract, now found in the Department of Interior at Harrisburg, we learn that the land was surveyed October 23, 1710, but was not divided among the different settlers until April 27 of the following year. The actual survey and division was made for the following: Martin Kendig, Martin Milan, Christian Herr, John Herr, Wendal Bowman, John Bundely, John Bachman, H. Carpenter, Jacob Miller and John Funk.^[8] It will be observed that the names of the surveyed plot are not identical with those on the warrant. In the survey are two names-H. Carpenter and John Bachman-which are not found in the warrant, while sereval names in the latter do not appear at all in the former: Hans Graff and the two Oberholtzers, Martin and Michael.

Graff, Bowman and Carpenter had been in Germantown for several years and joined the Pequea colony from there. (Smith's Menn. Imm., Pages 152-155).

The unnaturalized were under many disadvantages which was at first not so apparent, and we find the Mennonites rather slow in becoming British subjects. As early as 1691, however, Henderich Casselberg and Clas Jansen, of Germantown, were naturalized. They were followed in 1698 by Hans Neus, Paul Engle and others. Petitions by others were sent to the General Assembly in 1706, and again in 1709. But it was not until Sept. 29, 1709, that the Mennonites as a body in and around Germantown were granted the rights of naturalization, and thus given equal civil rights with their English neighbors.

No Lancastrians seem to have been naturalized before 1729. The disadvantages under which the unnaturalized were placed is well stated in an entry which appears in the Minute Book of the Board of Property under the date of September 22, 1717, where Martin Kendig, Hans Heer and Hans Funk were mentioned regarding having applied to purchase land near Conestoga and the Pequea Creek for the accommodation of their friends and relatives. They became aware of being born aliens, that therefore their children could not inherit, nor themselves convey to others the lands they purchased. The commissioners said it was their business to sell and dispose of the proprietor's lands to such as would buy it, yet at the same time they were willing to let them know of the above facts and advised them as how to come in contact with the Assembly with petitions for adjustments regarding their difficulties.

Petitions were sent in, but it must be remembered that it was just at this time that Governor Keith was alarmed at the increasing German immigration, and it appears that no attention was paid to the petitioners. Keith was soon followed by Gordon, however,nwho was more liberal toward non-English; and it was during Governor Gordon's administration that the Mennonites of Lancaster County were permitted to become British Subjects and thereby acquire right to sell and bequeath their lands. British Subjects only had that privilege.

The bill of 1729 was the result of a petition sent in November 27, 1727, by Wendel Bowman, Martin Meiling and Benedick Hearsy, in behalf of themselves and others called "Menists", asking permission to bring in a bill "to enable them to hold lands and trade in the said Province," which was presented to the House, read, and ordered to lie on the table. The year 1727, however, was another year of heavy immigration, and so the petition was not immediately granted. It was discussed at various times during the following year, and finally on December 14, 1729, permission was given by the Assembly to draft such a bill; but not until after the Governor had made inquiry regarding the general character of the petitioners,. which was found satisfactory, and the bill accordingly passed. (Smith's Menn. Imm., Pages 368-388).

Wendel Baumann, as the name of this settler is properly written, when he took up his original tract of land, consisted of 530 acres, including the 6 per cent. for road allowance. **The tract forms part of the Present Village of Lampeter and consisted in 1886 of 3 farms and 8 town lots, etc. In 1717 he took up another piece of land of 300 acres plus 6 per cent. for road allowance, along Big Beaver Creek, about 3 miles southeast of his mansion farm. This second tract was divided into 2 farms which he sold in his lifetime to John and Casper Bauman. He sold, also in his lifetime, 250 acres of his mansion place, leaving at his decease 280 acres. Of this property a little over 72 acres remained in the hands of his descendants until Daniel Bowman and his wife, on the 30th of March, 1837, sold the same to Jacob Miller. (The above and the inventory following, by H. M. Bowman).

Wendal Baumann died in April, 1735. Letters of Administration for his estate were granted by the Registrar of Wills to Benjamin Baumann, dated September 6, 1735; bond given in 300 (pounds); his bail are Jacob Baumann Martin Bear. An inventory was filed of his real and personal estate. Administrator's account is found on file. A true and compared copy of original inventory, as the same is on file in the Registrar's Office (Lancaster County), viz :

A Inventory made the 7th day of April, 1735, for the Plantation of Wendel Bauman, deceased, and of all other goods as followeth:

First the plantation with the land belonging to it @ ......................... L200/0/0 To an olt Wagon .............ct L 6/0/0 To 3 Horses .............. ct L14,/16/0 To a Mear (Mare) ............ct L 4/5/0 To 3 Cows................... ct L 8/5/0 To 2 Steers................. ct L 5/7/0 To a Still...................ct L 6/13/0 To a Wasch Kettel........... ct L 3/0/0 To a Stellyard (Steelyard) ct L 1/6/0 To (?) a Sag Bock and a Sag (a Saw-horse, or Sawing Jack, and a Saw)........ ct L 0/18/0 To all sorts of Piwder (Pewter).ct L 1/10/0 To Tiners (Tinners') Tools .....ct L 2/16/0 To severall sort of Woottes, Coppersmith Tools (Wood's Coppersmith tools) .. ct L 1/7/6 To 4 Hobs and 2 Shovels, 2 Grobinohss and 2 Axes (4 Hoes and 2 Shovels, 2 Grubbing-hoes and 2 Axes), together .............. ct L 1/5/6 To a Ploue and Horse Cears (Plow and Horse Gears (Gears meaning Harness) ..ct L 1/6/8 To Iroin Neif and a Hand Sake and an Olt Broad Ax (Iron knife and a Handsaw and an Old Broad-ax).. ct L 0/9/4 To 3 Olt (?) Slges (?Sickles).... ct L 0/4/0 To Earthen Wear .............. ct L 0/9/8 To Beding ..................... ct L 7/8/0 To Linnen ................... ct L 2/3/6 To Clothing ................. ct L 3/17/4 To a Bibell................. . ct L 2/3/6 To severall sorts of Small Books .. ct L 2/3/6/ Whole Amount........................ L268/0/6 Theese man that vallueth these aboffe menshened goods (valued the above mentioned goods) was Uotrich Brackbiel and John Bouman. Filed in the Registrar's Office, September 6, 1735". (Note: In those non-prohibition days it appears, as the above list that a still was an item of necessity for the generation of that time).

None of the 3 Baumans connected with the settlement of the estate can be identified as sons of Wendel. His oldest known son, Christian (born August 13, 1724), was then only eleven years old. At a Mennonite conference of the entire Pennsylvania church, held in 1725, two of the five preachers present from Conestoga, as the Pequea settlement was then called, Martin Baer and Johannes Bauman, names that correspond respectively, with one of the bondsmen and one of the valuators of the estate. Ulrich Breckbiel, also is known to have been a preacher at that time.

Wendel was buried a little south of his old home in the Hans Tschantz graveyard, which is located south of Lampeter and about 8 miles southwest of the City of Lancaster, Pa. His grave has no tombstone. This dilapidated ancient burying ground, set aside by Preacher Tschantz from his farm releasing all personal claim thereto in 1740, was for the use of the neighbors. It lies between two Mennonite meeting houses called Willow Street (or Brick and Strasburg), where some of the descendants of the pioneers still worship. One of their ministers, Frank M. Herr, is a descendant of Hans Herr, the bishop of this settlement and after whom it is named. Some of the early settlers including Jacob Miller, Hans Mylin and the consort of Martin Mylin, are all interred here. The earliest grave with any record on its marker is L. G. 1741

In the foregoing paragraphs it was given that old Wendel, with wife and three children, came to America in the year 1707; of how money was advanced for their ship fares; and again located as members in the Germantown congregation the year after. If he was born in 1681, this would mean he was about 26 years of age at the time of his sailing across the Atlantic Ocean and about 54 years old when he died in 1735; his oldest known child being then 11 years old. Now what about those 3 children who left Europe with him? They now all would be over 28 years old. With historians stressing this Wendel to be the same and our ancestor, could it be possible that this first family was wiped out through death by one or other epidemic of a dreaded disease that often wrought havoc among the early settlers, or was this entirely a different Wendel but still an immigrant? It's also a known fact that many small children died on ship in those years of emigration. Another source of history says a *Wendel Bauman landed at Philadelphia in the year 1709. It is hoped that at some future date more light will be shed on this point of the question.

Research Notes

This profile suggests that his middle name is Santmann, which is doubtful. It is the maiden name of one of his possible mothers. A meticulous researcher of this line used the mother's maiden name as the middle name in her database, which she published online years ago and has been copied by many people.

Please see the biography of Wendel's maternal grandmother, Kathrina Hochstrasser Meili-56 Funck, for the explanation of his unusual first name.

Children of son Peter Bauman (1726-1806) :

1. Christian Bauman b. 20 Jun 1766 d. 20 Jun 1824 m. Magdalena Weber. They moved to Upper Canada in 1807. Unknown how many Children
2. Benjamin Bauman b. 9 Feb 1793 d. 8 Jul 1850 at Bloomingdale, m. Nancy Schneider (b. 4 Jun 1792 d. May 1837 in childbirth with 11th child)
3. Jonas Bauman b. 19 Feb 1819 in Canada d. 2 Sep 1886 m. Magdalena Lichty (d. 18 Nov 1904). Jonas and Magdalena's Children:

Mennonites (as well as Amish and Hutterites) are direct descendants of the Anabaptist movement. Anabaptists are Christians of the Radical Reformation of 16th-century Europe , considered Protestant by some, although some consider Anabaptism to be a distinct movement from Protestantism. The name «i»Anabaptist«/i» is derived from the Greek term «i»anabaptista«/i», or "one who baptizes over again." This name was given them by their enemies in reference to the practice of "re-baptizing" converts who "already had been baptized" (or sprinkled) as infants.«u»[5]«/u» Anabaptists required that baptismal candidates be able to make their own confessions of faith and so rejected baptism of infants. The early members of this movement abhorred the name "Anabaptist", claiming that since infant baptism was unscriptural and null and void, the baptizing of believers was not a "re-baptism" but in fact the first baptism for them.

A German writer, Mueller, has described the Swiss Mennonites as they appeared in the hills and valley of their native land shortly before coming to America. They were a people stern by nature who could endure hardship; they wore long, uncut beards and rough clothing, and heavy hobnailed shoes with iron heels; they were very zealous to serve God in prayer, in reading and otherwise; in all their ways they were as simple as lambs and doves; and their life in the Swiss mountains, apart from the villages and towns and with little intercourse with men, had made them blunt and rude in speech.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Rommel, Hazel Hathway. My Mother's People.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Robert and Janet Chevalley Wolfe, Janet and Robert Wolfe Genealogy, "Notes for Wendel Bowman and Anna" viewed 27 Apr 2024 at www.umich.edu/~bobwolfe/gen/mn/m390x1068.htm : Note that everything is sourced, and in the research notes at the end of the document, the author identifies several possible lines of ancestors.
3. ↑ Descendants of Wendel Bowman of Canton Bern, Switzerland, viewed April 2024 at http://lewis-genealogy.org/genealogy/docs/Bowman-1.htm - UNSOURCED and includes caveat that "Except where specifically cited, information contained is conjecture and should not be considered as fact."
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Lancaster Deed C3-201 dated 1 Sep 1795 between (i) Wendel Bowman, yeoman, and Ann his wife, and (ii) Francis Kendig, all of Lampeter Twp. Recites that 250 acres of land were patented to Wendel Bowman on 12 Mar 1716 (Patent Book A5-292), and that he sold 50 acres within his lifetime. He died intestate. On 5 Mar 1738, his children signed an indenture assigning the land to their brother, Benjamin. Benjamin died intestate leaving nine children : Joseph (oldest), Henry, Ann, Mary, Elizabeth, Esther, Susanna and Wendel. [Note only 8 children are named.] The children of Benjamin signed an indenture dated 13 Apr 1782 (DD-600) assigning 150-acres to their brother Wendel (party to the deed). Wendel sold the land to Francis Kendig.
5. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/104706157/wendel_santmann-bauman: accessed 05 August 2021), memorial page for Wendel Santmann Bauman (1665–Apr 1735), Find A Grave: Memorial #104706157, citing Tschantz Graveyard, Lampeter, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, USA; Maintained by Stella (contributor 47848948). Entry includes image of memorial stone which has been placed recently by descendants.
6. ↑ Ezra E. Eby (1895). A Biographical History of Waterloo Township and Other County Townships: A History of the Early Settlers and their Descendants, mostly of Pennsylvania Dutch Origin ... , Vol.1, p.62. Berlin, Ontario, 1895. Viewed at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044098661093&seq=75&q1=wendel
7. ↑ Baumann, David and Henry (1967). Bauman Family History. St. Jacobs, Canada : np. Primarily devoted to the descendants of Joseph Bauman who emigrated from Pennsylvania to Canada.
8. ↑ Best, Jane Evans (1997). The Groff Book, Volume 2, p.38. Ronks, PA : Groff History Associates.

See also :

• Thomas, Augusta Dillman (1934). The Bowmans : a history of Hans Dieterick Bauman and his descendents / by Augusta Dillman Thomas, pp.17, 415-421. Allentown, PA : Schlechters. Viewed at https://archive.org/details/bowmanshistoryof00thom/page/n817/mode/2up?q=wendel
• Ancestry tree at https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/13745111/person/17157374/facts
• https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LZW3-K47
• Eshleman, Henry Frank (1869). Historic background and annals of the Swiss and German pioneer settlers of southeastern Pennsylvania, and of their remote ancestors, from the middle of the dark ages, down to the time of the revolutionary war; an authentic history, from original sources ... with particular reference to the German-Swiss Mennonites or Anabaptists, the Amish and other nonresistant sects, p.193. Lancaster, PA : np. Viewed at https://archive.org/details/historicbackgrou01eshl/page/192/mode/2up?q=wendel
• Lebanon Daily News. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, United States Of America. Database created from microfilm copies of the newspaper.
• Filby, P. William, ed. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2010.
• Karen Clemens-Tober email
• Public record unnsourced family tree handed down to James Landes from Willa Augusta Rusmisel collected from Christina Cupp Miller whose source was Eve Eichenberg Brower.
• Unsourced pedigree at www.oocities.org/heartland/plains/5971/bowman.html
• http://generations.regionofwaterloo.ca/getperson.php?personID=I6677&tree=generations#cite3 - defunct at April 2024