Heinrich Funk (abt. 1662 - abt. 1734)

Born about 1662 in Kraichgau region, Kurfürstentum Pfalz, Heiliges Römisches Reich

Ancestors

Husband of Frances (Brook) Funk — married 1687 in Germany

Descendants

Died about 5 Sep 1734 at about age 72 in Strasburg Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

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Heinrich Funk was a Palatine Migrant. Join: Palatine Migration Project Discuss: palatine_migration

Biography

NB : Heinrich should not be confused with Bishop Heinrich Funck (c.1702-1760) of Montgomery County, PA.

Birth : Emigration lists from the Lutheran Church Book of Bonfeld, in the Kraichgau region of the German Palatinate, suggest that Heinrich was born there in 1662.

Marriage and children : Heinrich's wife's name is not documented, but she is reported to have been named Verena (or Franey, a diminutive of Verena). They were the parents of :

1. Hans (John), eldest son ^[1][2]
2. Henry Jr ^[2] m. Fronica Whitmer ^[3]
3. Martin ^[2] m. (1) Mary Brubaker (2) Susanna Souder ^[3]
4. Jacob ^[2]
5. Samuel ^[2]
6. Barbara m. Michael Meyer ^[2]
7. Mary, wife of Jacob Nutt ^[2]
8. Frena m. Joseph Musser ^[2]

Emigration : Heinrich Funck, with wife and children, appears on a list of emigrants from the village of Bonfeld in the Lutheran Church Book in 1717. Also on the list are Martin Funck with wife and children.

They settled in 1717 on a 350 acre tract of land in Strasburg Twp near Lancaster.^[1] Henry Funk appears on the 1718 Conestoga Assessment list, Chester County. Also, "a Martin Funck signed a petition in 1724 for a road in Bebber's Township in the Northern end of Sprogell's tract (Philadelphia Co. Records) and signed another petition in the same area in 1726." ^[4] The area became Lancaster County in 1729.

Death : Heinrich died before 8 Oct 1735, when his younger children signed an indenture of release granting 200 acres of land to Henry Funk Jr, as their father had intended before he died.^[2] Henry was no doubt buried on his land, but an unsourced Findagrave entry records a memorial at the Lancaster Church of the Brethren Memorial Garden, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.^[5]

Research Notes

The Lancaster Mennonite Vital Records entry ^[3] for Heinrich appears to include several significant errors and unsubstantiated claims and can not be relied upon :

• Birth : LMV gives that Heinrich was born on 25 Nov 1648 in Mettmenstetten, Canton Zurich, Switzerland. No evidence is given to support this assertion, the date does not appear in any of the cited references. Since Heinrich's children were all born from about 1690 onwards, it is likely that he was born c.1660-65.
• Wife : LMV gives that Heinrich's wife's name was Elizabeth Hoover. No evidence is provided to support this assertion.
• Oldest son : LMV suggests that Henry Jr was the oldest son. However, deeds signed by John record that he himself was the oldest son.^[1][2]
• Daughter Mary : LMV gives that Mary married Jacob Nissley. However, the 1747 deed clearly identifies Mary as the wife of Jacob Nutt.^[2] The error probably arises from the conflation of Heinrich with his son Henry Jr whose will was witnessed by Jacob Nissley (see below).
• Will : LMV gives that Heinrich's will was made on "7/8 Oct 1735/6".^[3] This appears to be a mistaken reference to the will of his son, Henry Jr, who apparently made his will on the same day he took possession of the 200 acres of land by the indenture of release.^[2] Probate documents record that this will was written in "High Dutch" and thus had not been registered, but it had been witnessed by Joseph Musser and Jacob Nissley, to whom probate was granted in Lancaster on 20 Dec 1736.^[6][7]

Naturalisation : Burgert records that Heinrich was naturalised in the new county of Lancaster in 1729 : Henry Funk, Lancaster Co., nat. by Act of 14 Feb. 1729/30, having immigrated between 1700 and 1718.^[4] However, a deed signed in 1747 by Heinrich's son John records that : Henry Funk the Elder at the time of ... his Death was an Alien & not naturalised within this Province or any other part of the British Dominion ... ^[2] Henry who requested naturalisation in 1729 must have been another man - possibly Henry Jr?

The ages of Heinrich's children have been calculated from the fact that it is known that his second son, John, was a young man, and came over first in 1709. Martin, likely the third son, was born in 1693 and the daughters all appear to have married about the time the family arrived in 1717.

Neighbor of Herr family in Kraichgau? Is this the John Funck named on the warrant of Pequea Valley? - That John Funck appears to be represented by profile John Funk. Review needed.

Immediately before the entry in Burgert is a separate entry for Hans Funck, an Anabaptist, that reads as follows :

Funck, Hans.

Bonfeld = 6927 Bad Rappenau

1709/10

Bonfeld Lutheran KB: The name of Hans Funck, Anabaptist, appears on a list of emigrants from this village recroded in the Lutheran Church book.

Pennsylvania Records: One Hans Funck appears among the very early Mennonite settlers in Conestoga, Lancaster Co., PA. His name appears on the 1718 Conestoga assessment list.

John Funk of Lancaster Co., nat. by Act of 14 Feb. 1729/30, having immigrated between 1700 and 1718." ^[4]

"Manor" Henry Funk, is a later immigrant who settled in Manor Township, Lancaster County. He is not a son or grandson of Henry of Conestoga.

Indenture dated 18 Jun 1747, John Funck to James Hamilton :

Indenture dated June 18, 1747. btw John Funck, eldest son of Henry Funck of the borough (now city) of Lancaster, of the 1st part and James Hamilton of Pennsylvania, of the other part, for 120 acres, in Strasburg Twp., Lancaster co., Pennsylvania. This deed recites as follows : whereas in and by a certain patent, bearing date the 30th day of Nov. AD 1717, under the hands of Richard Hill, Isaac Norris & James Logan, the then Commissioners of Property, the great seal of the province there was granted unto Henry Funck (since dec'd), in fee, a certain tract of land situated in the Twp of Strasburg, then in the Co. of Chester (but through the dividing of and erecting Lancaster Co., the Twp is now in that Co.), containing 350 acres & the allowance & whereas the said Henry Funck died, since intestate seized of 200 acres, part of the said 350 acres of land having, before his death, by a certain writing or instrument in the German language, for a valuable consideration, transferred or intended to transfer, the said 200 acres to son, Henry Funck, & the said Henry Funck, father, having left other issue besides his eldest son, Henry, viz. John, Martin, Jacob and Samuel, Barbara, wife of Michael Meyer, and Mary, the wife of Jacob Nutt; Frena, the wife of Joseph Musser; it finally come to John Funck, the above named grantor ... ^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Lancaster County Recorder of Deeds Book B p.437 : Indenture dated 17 Jun 1747 between (i) John Funk of the Borough of Lancaster, eldest son of Henry Funk (yeoman of Lancaster County, dec'd), and (ii) James Hamilton of the City of Philadelphia
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13} Lancaster County Recorder of Deeds Book B p.438 : Indenture dated 18 Jun 1747 between (i) John Funk of the Borough of Lancaster, eldest son of Henry Funk (yeoman of Lancaster County, dec'd), and (ii) James Hamilton of the City of Philadelphia
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Mennonite Vital Records, 1750-2014, citing (i) Nissley Notes, (ii) Ellis & Evans p.361, (iii) Lanc. C. H. Deed U-676, B-438 (1717), (iv) Fretz, Funk Gen. 747, 749, (v) MRJ 1964 p.39 (incorrect dates). Viewed at https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/60592/images/43954_345982-01346? and at Ancestry sharing link
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Annette K. Burgert, Eighteenth Century Emigrants, Volume I, "The Northern Kraichgau," Lancaster (1983), pp. 118-19.
5. ↑ UNSOURCED Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/158187429/heinrich-funck: accessed 22 February 2023), memorial page for Heinrich Funck (1662–5 Sep 1734), Find A Grave: Memorial #158187429, citing Lancaster Church of the Brethren Memorial Garden, Lancaster, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, USA; Maintained by Sharon Smith (contributor 48871829). No grave details are given, and death details are reported by others to be associated with a Hans Funk who died at Richen in Germany in 1734.
6. ↑ "Pennsylvania Probate Records, 1683-1994," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G99B-VD7Q?cc=1999196&wc=9PM8-4WY%3A268493801%2C268514701 : 3 July 2014), Lancaster > Wills 1730-1773 vol A-B > image 16 of 514; county courthouses, Pennsylvania.
7. ↑ Pennsylvania, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1683-1993.Index to Wills, 1730-1830, viewed at https://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/8802/images/005534639_00046 and at Ancestry sharing link : Henry Funck, 1736, Book A, p.25.

See also :

• Davis, Richard Warren (1995) Emigrants, Refugees and Prisoners Vol.2 pp. 282-283
• Mabel Washburn, "The Funk Family," (two parts) in Journal of American Genealogy, Volumes I and II, 1921-1922.
• FamilySearch profile
• "A Collection of Upwards of Thirty Thousand Names of German, Swiss, Dutch, French and Other Immigrants in Pennsylvania from 1727 to 1776,"
• Filby, P. William, ed.. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2006.Original data: Filby, P. William, ed.. Passe Note: APID: 1,7486::0

Acknowledgments

• WikiTree profile Funk-174 created through the import of FAMILY 6162011.GED on Jun 20, 2011 by Michael Stephenson.
• This person was created through the import of DownloadGedcom.aspx.ged on 03 May 2011
• Early work by Linda Houyouse, Friday, February 20, 2015.