Birth : Rudolph is popularly believed to be related to Hans Meier ("the Elder", c.1700-1760), since the two men owned adjoining properties in Lancaster county, PA. One source suggests they were brothers [1] while another suggests Rudolf was Hans's uncle.[2] Y-DNA evidence indicates that Rudolph was not related to Hans at all,[3][4] and further research is needed to clarify his origins. No birth record has been located, and his estimated birth date of 1680 [2] appears to be based only on the hypothesised relationships which are now known to be incorrect.
Immigration : Rudolph is believed to have arrived in Pennsylvania before 1718 [1] although some sources report his arrival in 1719.[5] His son, Abraham, is reported to have been "the first white child born in what became Lancaster County".[1] He appears on tax lists in Conestoga in 1719.[6]
Marriage and children : Rudolph's wife's name is not known, but his children are identified by various sources as :
John Meyer (? - 1793), who may have married either Ann [LNU] [7] or Margaret (? - c.1806) [5]
Rudolph, who may have married either Barbara [LNU] [7] or Anna Light (1728 - 1792, dau. of John Light and Mary Grittor) [5]
Egle [7] also includes the following children, but this may be a mistaken reference to children of Rudolph II (and may explain why Egle and Lancaster Mennonite Vital Records give different names for the wives of John and Rudolph) :
The list provided by Egle for children of Rudolph I is the same as the list provided by Best (1998) for children of Rudolph II, but the names of their spouses are different. Details from Lancaster Mennonite Vital Records conflict with both sources. Further research is needed to clarify.
Land records : He settled first in Lancaster, on land adjoining the property of Hans Meier (c.1700-1760). He is recorded living there in 1730.[8]
On 10 Jun 1734, Rudy purchased from Martin Kendig and Hans Herr, the rights to a 200-acre tract of land on Conestoga Creek. He patented the land a year later on 14 July 1735.[9] The following day, he sold it to Thomas Freame.[10]
At some point, Rudy is reported to have moved further north to Tulpehocken,[5] where it's possible that his wife had family connections (see Notes). Mennonite Vital Records [5] give the date of this move as 1735, but Best [2] records him as having moved to Lebanon Twp in 1751. Bob Wolfe notes :
[Rudolph] bought 700 acres in Tulpehocken Township, Berks County on 12 Jul 1735 from Thomas Freame of Philadelphia City. Swatara Creek ran through the middle of this 700 acres. The northern part of the land was in Bethel Township while the southern part was in Tulpehocken Township. His son John received 336 acres in the northern part of the tract in Bethel Township. His son Rudolph Meyer Jr., received 171 acres in the western part of the track partly in Tulpehocken Township and part in Bethel Township. His son Henry received his home plantation in the southern tract in Tulpehocken Township of 263 acres. On 28 Jul 1755 Rudolph and his wife Barbara transferred for "natural love and affection" to their son Henry his part of the 700 acre tract in Tulpehocken (Deed A-5-157, Berks).[11]
Notwithstanding the reported move to Tulpehocken, Rudy Myer still owned land in the Borough of Lancaster in 1760.[12]
Death : Rudolph's death date has not been confirmed, although he is reported to have died prior to 1764.[7] His will, made on 17 Mar 1762 and proven in Reading, Berks, on 9 Feb 1767, describes him as being "of Tulpehocken", names his wife as Barbara, and leaves his estate to his son, Henry, noting that his other children (unnamed) have already received their share.[13]
Research Notes
Birth : More work is needed to confirm when Rudolph was born and whose son he was. Best does not provide evidence for her assertion that was born c.1680; it seems likely that, having decided he was brother to Hans b.c.1666 and son of Johannes b.c.1620, she concluded that Rudolph must have been born c.1680.
Immigration : An earlier version of the profile stated that Rudolph arrived in America in 1711 aboard the Samuel, but no source was provided.
Marriage and children : A number of the children currently (Nov 2023) identified as Rudolph's may be listed incorrectly. Specifically :
Egle's listing of Rudolph's children may have conflated or confused Rudolph I with Rudolph II. It's thus possible that a number of the sons' profiles have been created in error :
Other family members : Donald Moyer's history of the Myer family of Tulpehocken [15] notes (p.653) that Rudy Meyer of Lebanon is "unrelated except through marriage", and it's possible that Rudy made the move to Lebanon because his wife had connections in the area. The Tulpehocken Myers family appears to have originated with the immigration of three children of Michael Meyer and Anna Knauss :
It's thus likely that Rudy's wife's surname was either Knauss, Stallman, Essel, Clapp, or Wolf.
Other notes
The Mennonite Vital Records card also includes the cryptic annotation : "Pre Abm Rupp Lanc Co 241n". It's not clear whether this is a reference or a family connection.
Y-DNA evidence overturns published genealogies
A recent y-DNA study of Swiss Anabaptist Meyer families [3] found that current published genealogies[2][16] for the family and descendants of Baschi Meyer cannot possibly be correct. These genealogies include much speculation regarding the period between the last known census records of the family in Stallikon (1640), and positive documentation of Anabaptist immigrants in the New World several generations later. The y-DNA clearly shows that the assumptions about family connections are in error, and that there are at least three completely unrelated Meyer families who have been incorrectly linked together. Since there is currently no evidence to indicate which, if any, of these families was actually descended from Baschi, the generational relationships between Baschi’s children and grandchildren must be considered speculative, and are therefore set to “uncertain” in the Wikitree profiles. Solid primary sources are needed before removing the “uncertain” label. (Note that the profiles for Baschi’s children are not marked uncertain. They are clearly identified as Baschi’s children in the Stallikon censuses, but all information about them as adults is speculation, as is the connection between them and the New World immigrants commonly thought to be their children.)
Best's 1998 IDs for Baschi and the first 2 generations of his descendants. They are included here because they are a familiar reference, but also included are the y-DNA haplogroups which disprove Best's published structure for this family. The y-DNA haplogroups are I1, R1a, J2, or "unknown" (no known y-DNA test for this lineage, or else mutually exclusive test results which claim the same ancestry). More detail about how how y-DNA testing has spotlighted more accurate family groupings among Swiss Anabaptist Meyer families can be seen at Baschi Meyer Project YDNA Lines.
Given the challenging state of documentation from earlier generations, the Baschi Meyer Project is looking for male-line Meyer descendants willing to participate in Y-DNA testing to help figure out who is descended from whom.
A Y-DNA test from a descendant of one of Rudolph's sons will help determine his connection to other descendants.
Sources
↑ 1.01.11.2 Adams, Dorothy M. K. (1987). MYERS HISTORY - Some Descendants of Hans Meier of Pequea, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Privately published by author : Houston, TX. (Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 86-72437)
↑ 2.02.12.22.3 Best, Jane Evans. "Meyer Families Update", Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage, April 1998
↑ 3.03.1 Meyers, G. & Myers, E. (2022). A y-DNA Study of Anabaptist Meyer Families in Eighteenth Century Pennsylvania. Mennonite Family History 41(3) 128-135.
↑Pennsylvania Archives Series 1, volume 1, pp.252-253 viewed at https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniaarch01harruoft/page/252/mode/2up?q=mire : A 1730 survey of land in Lancaster for the purposes of building a court house and prison identifies "a Certain lot of Land lying on or near a small Run of Water, Between the Plantations of Rudy Mire, Micheal Shank and Jacob Imble, And being about Tenn Mile from Susquahannah River".
↑ Lancaster County Recorder of Deeds. Deed U-668 dated 14 July 1735. Indenture signed by John Penn, Thomas Penn, Richard Penn, true and absolute proprietaries etc. A 5,000 acre tract of land was surveyed to Martin Kindigg and Hans Heer on 22 Nov 1717, and they sold their interest in a 200-acre tract to Rudolph Meyer. The Penns issued the patent on the land to Rudolph on 14 July 1735.
↑ Lancaster County Recorder of Deeds. Deed U-670 dated 15 Jul 1735 between (i) Rudolph Moyer, yeoman of the county of Lancaster, and Barbara his wife, and (ii) Thomas Freame Esq. of the City of Philadelphia. Recites that Rudolph and Barbara sold a 200-acre tract of land on Conestoga Creek to Thomas Freame, it being land which Rudolph had patented from the Penn family one day previously. The deed was recorded on 15 Mar 1784, by which time Thomas had died and his widow sold the land, described as being "late the Inheritance of Rudolph Moyer", to James Hamilton.
↑ Robert and Janet Chevalley Wolfe, Janet and Robert Wolfe Genealogy, "Notes for Rudolph Meyer". Viewed Jun 2021 at www.umich.edu/~bobwolfe/gen/pn/p5283.htm
↑ Lancaster County Recorder of Deeds. Deed GG-501 dated 7 Oct 1760, detailing the sale of land by the executors of the will of Jacob Eichold to Andrew Eberhart.
↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/113342905/john-moyer: accessed 22 November 2023), memorial page for John Moyer (1730–Oct 1793), Find a Grave Memorial ID 113342905; Burial Details Unknown, Buried in the "Old Franz Cemetery" located on what was once the land of Rudolph and Barbara Moyer/Meyers Willed to his Children before He died in 1767 their are many unmarked graves in this Cemetery; Maintained by Shar R. (contributor 47356892).
↑ Moyer, Donald (1991) "Meyer 250+ Years in America"
↑ Davis, Richard Warren (1995) Emigrants, Refugees and Prisoners Vol. 2
See also :
Best, Jane Evans. Author states in later works that they "supersede all my previous accounts of this family."
"Swiss Emigrants from Albis, Part I: Stallikon", Mennonite Family History 8, Jan. 1989.
"Anabaptist Families from Canton Zurich to Lancaster County, 1633 to 1729: A Tour", Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage, Oct. 1994.
"The Groff Book, Vol. 2, A Continuing Saga", Groff History Associates, 1997.
Acknowledgements
WikiTree profile Meyer-2253 created through the import of Ancestry Oliver Myers.ged on Nov 14, 2012 by Kim Myers.
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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Rudolph by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA.
Y-chromosome DNA test-takers in his direct paternal line on WikiTree:
Moyer-1039 and Meyer-2253 appear to represent the same person because: Early generations used surname Meyer. Moyer surname evolved in later generations.