Michael Kauffman (abt. 1680 - abt. 1718)

Born about 1680 in Grünstadt, Bad Dürkheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany [uncertain]

Husband of Ann (Kneissle) Jacobs — married 1707 in Hassloch, Kurfürstentum Pfalz, Heiliges Römisches Reich

Descendants

Died about 1718 at about age 38 in Landisville, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

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Michael Kauffman was a Palatine Migrant. Join: Palatine Migration Project Discuss: palatine_migration

Biography

NB (1) : Not to be confused with Michel Kaufman, born 1678 in Switzerland, son of Isaac Kauffman and Elsbeth Mergerdt. He and his family remained in Switzerland and did not immigrate to America.

NB (2) : Not to be confused with Michael Kauffman (b.1675), son of Michael Kauffman and Elsbeth Hirsig. See Research Notes for details.

The Genealogy and History of the Kauffman-Coffman Families in North America ^[1] records (p.480) the family tradition that Michael lived at one stage at Grünstadt, Hesse, before emigrating to Pennsylvania, that he died shortly after he settled in Lancaster County and that his wife died soon after him. However, these details can not be confirmed and some at least appear to conflict with what is known of his children and estate. ^[1]

Michael is believed to have emigrated to Pennsylvania c.1717 in company with several other Kauffman families,^[2] and presumably accompanied by his wife and a family of young children. He is assumed to have been aged about 25 when his oldest child was born, which places his birthdate at c.1680.

The Kauffman genealogy notes (p.512) that Michael probably married twice, and that Anna Kneissle was his second wife. A land deed for the transfer of his estate suggest that Michael's only heirs were John and Elizabeth, but this is believed to be an error on the part of the clerk who prepared the deed; John and Elizabeth are believed to be the only heirs of Michael by his first wife. Michael appears also to have had several children by his second wife, Anna Kneissley, who remarried after his death to Jacob Jacobs. Kauffman also observes (p.547) that a bible handed down through the family of Michael Kauffman (1714-1788) identifies him as the son of Anna Kneissely, who "fell asleep in the Lord on June 24, 1758; aged 70 years". Kauffman comments that Anna "seems to be the mother of Martin, Michael, Christian, David and Christianna, who married Nov. 25, 1739, John Casper Smith." ^[1]

Michael's children are thus believed to be :

By his first wife, named by some researchers as Vrena [LNU] ^[2] :

1. John ^[1]
2. Elizabeth ^[1]

By his second wife, Anna Kneissele :

1. Martin (1708-1749) m. Barbara Stauffer ^[1][2][3]
2. Michael (1714-1718) m. (1) Barbara Haldeman (2) Magdalena Stauffer ^[1][4]
3. Christian ^[1]
4. David ^[1][2]
5. Christianna m. John Casper Smith ^[1]

Michael is reported by the Kauffman genealogy to have died in the winter of 1717 ^[1] but other researchers record that he died in 1718, and this would appear to be substantiated by land surveys carried out for Michael Kauffman in Jun 1718. ^[2]

Research Notes

Disputed parentage

Numerous online family trees place Michael as the child born (or baptised) 14 March 1675 in Steffisburg, Bern Switzerland, son of Michel Kauffman and Elsbet Hirsig. ^[5] This is based on Michael's family's Mennonite tradition and the fact that his estimated birthdate would fit roughly within the accepted construction of the Anabaptist Kauffman family.

However, the accepted family construction would then place Michael as first cousin to Isaac Kauffman b.1685. Evidence from the Kauffman DNA Project demonstrates that descendants of Michael do not match descendants of Isaac, and that they can not possibly be from the same family.^[2][6] While descendants of Isaac have numerous y-DNA matches to other Swiss Amish and Mennonite Kauffman families, the descendants of Michael have y-DNA matches to descendants of a Lutheran Kauffman family which has been documented to Schwarzenberg in Germany as far as 1610, and possibly to 1500 in Lorrach, Baden-Wurtemberg. ^[7][8] Under the accepted family construction, Michael could not have been the son of Michel Kauffman and Elsbet Hirsig.

An earlier update to this profile reads : Update to this profile : 2 July 2016 : Information kindly provided by Wayne Kauffman, who is the administrator of the Kauffman FamilyTreeDNA Project. In light of Wayne's research and DNA findings, I am unlinking Michael Kauffman from the parents, Michael Kauffman, Jr and Elsbeth Hirsing. Recent DNA results are now linking this Michael Kauffman with a Reformed Lutheran lineage in the early to mid-1600's.

Examination of Lutheran records is needed to identify when Michael's branch left the Reformed Church and converted to the Mennonite tradition.

Other notes

An earlier unsourced version of the profile gave that Michael and Anna had been raised in the Lutheran church, and that Michael died in 1748 in Landisville, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The death date conflicts with dates recorded by other researchers and this has been deleted.

A source entitled Descendants of Konrad Nusli (p.1/7) gives that Michael Kaufman (d.1717) was the second husband of Anna Kneisley (1688-1758). This source can not be located at FamilySearch or on a Google search, and conflicts with the evidence presented by other sources.

The "Letter to the Mennonites in Holland", signed in 1758, some 40 years after Michael Kauffman died, is attributed by the Kauffman Genealogy (p.548) to Michael's son (also named Michael). ^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11} Kauffman, Charles Fahs (1940). A Genealogy and History of the Kauffman-Coffman Families in North America 1584-1937, pp.480, 512. York, PA : Author. Viewed at https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/271727/?offset=&return=1#page=583&viewer=picture&o=search&n=0&q=kneissele [Identifier C : Michael Kauffman]
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5} THE GENETIC GENEALOGY OF THE AMISH-MENNONITE KAUFFMAN-COFFMAN FAMILIES, published with permission of Hope Kauffman Lind, Harrisonburg, VA. Viewed at https://vitter.org/Genealogy/Documents/KauffmanDNAanalysis.pdf : This article is assumed to be based on y-DNA data, and records that : (1) DNA tests submitted by descendants of Michael's sons David and Martin match each other, (2) DNA tests submitted by descendants of Isaac's sons Isaac, Christian and Stephen match each other, (3) DNA tests of Michael's descendants do not match y-DNA tests of Isaac's descendants.
3. ↑ UNSOURCED Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14319465/martin-kauffman: accessed 01 August 2022), memorial page for Martin Kauffman (1708–17 May 1749), Find a Grave Memorial ID 14319465, citing White House Family Graveyard, White House, Page County, Virginia, USA; Maintained by George Seitz (contributor 40539541). Entry includes image of headstone which appears to have been placed by descendants rather than by contemporaries. Links to family are unsourced.
4. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images Find a Grave Memorial ID 61228138, citing Lindale Mennonite Church Cemetery, Linville, Rockingham County, Virginia, USA; Maintained by Kim D. Garrison (contributor 46980121). Entry includes image of headstone which appears to be original. Bio references Charles Fahs Kauffman genealogy.
5. ↑ "Schweiz Taufen, 1491-1940," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FV81-BHW : 10 February 2018), Michel Kauffman, ; citing Steffisburg, Bern, Switzerland, reference ; FHL microfilm 2,005,787
6. ↑ Y-DNA claims to some Anabaptist Kauffman families
7. ↑ Kauffman, W. (2018) "Identifying the Ancestral Lutheran Roots of the KFM Kauffman Cluster" in Mennonite Family History pp.142-151 (July 2018).
8. ↑ FamilytreeDNA Kauffman Surname DNA Project viewed at https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/kauffman/about/background

Acknowledgments

• Thank you to Richard Ludwig for creating WikiTree profile Kauffman-375