| Michael (Koppenheffer) Copenhaver was a Palatine Migrant. Join: Palatine Migration Project Discuss: palatine_migration |
Johann Michael Copenhaver or Koppenheffer (the family name has at least 5 different spelling variations in the records) was born about 1712 (see research note) in Rüblingen, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He was a child of Johann Wolfgang Koppenhöffer and Anna Maria (Haffner) Koppenhöffer.
On 11 September 1732 Johann with his parents and sisters, immigrated to Philadelphia aboard the ship Pennsylvania Merchant. Michael's older brother Johann Thomas had already immigrated in 1728.
The Copenhavers settled in what is now Lebanon Co., Pennsylvania. The spellings are from the ships' lists, however the family also spelled their name as Koppenhoester.[1]
Johann Michael married Eva Margaret Strayer.[2]Nothing documented is know about the origins of Michael's wife Eva Margaret. The family name Strayer remains unproven because the Strayer family is not thought to have arrived in Pennsylvania until the the 1740s. Some secondary sources say her name was Strecker. The secondary source cited in the notes below claims that they had 7 children, but only some have been documented.
Among the list of the members of the Tulpehocken Church (Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church), from 1743 to 1746 were Thomas Koppenhofer and Michel Koppenhofer. The church was started in 1743. It is located between Myerstown and Stouchsburg on Highway Route 422.
Wolfgang Koppenheffer, the father, is thought to have lived his last years in the household of his son Michael. (Wolfgang died in 1752).
No death or burial record found. He is supposedly buried in Hebron Moravian Cemetery, Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
Some secondary sources says he was born in 1720 not 1712, but on the 1732 ship's list Michael is listed as an adult, thus 1712 is more likely to be correct. There are no known primary sources that document his birth.
The Koppenheffers settled in a part of Tulpehocken that was situated near township and county boundaries that changed over time. When they first settled it was Heidelberg Township, Lancaster Co. In 1785 it became part of Heidelberg Township, Dauphin County. Today the same region is in Jackson Township, Lebanon County.
Michael Koppenheffer, second child of Woolf and Maria, married Eva Margaret Strayer. Had 7 children, among them: a) Christopher (b. 1736) married Barbara or Otilla Schnabele (Snavely); Michael (b. 1740), married Eva; Barbara (b. 1744); and Anna Barbara (b. 20 feb 1746)...The Lykens Valley Koppenheffers are descendants of Michael, son of Michael and Eva Maragaret (Strayer) Koppenheffer[3]
Presumably primary sources exist, which record the births of at least some of the children. Between about 1736 and 1741, the family were members of Reed's church, but the congregation was disrupted during the Tulpehocken Confusion, when some members joined the Moravians. The Koppenheffer brothers Michael and Thomas remained with the Lutherans, and about 1743 they became founding members of a new church--Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, located between Myerstown and Stouchsburg on Highway Route 422.
The Johannes Immel, who sponsored the baptism of John Koppenheffer (born 1744) is likely to be a son of Michael or Leonard Immel, both of whom immigrated in 1732, aboard the Pennsylvania Merchant--the SAME SHIP on which Michael Koppenheffer migrated with his parents
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K > Koppenheffer | C > Copenhaver > Johann Michael (Koppenheffer) Copenhaver
Categories: Palatine Migrants
Two differences - I found the year of 1705 as birth. I have his death as Hebron. There is a Hebron Moravian Cemetery in what is now the eastern end of Lebanon City. Larry