Samuel (Bar) Bär (abt. 1705 - abt. 1750)

Born about 1705 in Ratlisberg, Zurich, Switzerland [uncertain]

Ancestors

Died about 1750 at about age 45 in Manheim, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

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Biography

Samuel (Bar) Bär was a Palatine Migrant. Join: Palatine Migration Project Discuss: palatine_migration

Note: This profile is for the man referred to as Samuel Bear who received patented land from Caleb Baker in today’s Conestoga Township on August 4, 1741 (see Conestoga Warrant Map) and who probably also was the son of Jacob Bar who owned 600 acres in Upper Leacock, and his wife Anna Barbara (Frederick) Bär (1680-abt.1759). ^{[1] [2]}

Jane Evans Best and Richard Warren Davis concluded that he was the son of Hans Jakob Bär (see Bar-177) who emigrated from Duhren with eight named children (including a Samuel) in 1719 and owned 600 acres in Upper Leacock.^[3] That Samuel may have been born about 1705 (the year given by Davis), and based on the order that he was named in the list of emigrants, and what is known about his siblings. ^[4]

In 1741, he owned a 71-acre parcel of land in Conestoga Township, as noted above. According to Best (probably correctly), he was also the man who witnessed a deed from Abraham Baer (abt.1710-bef.1783) for land in Upper Leacock on January 28, 1746. One of the other two witnesses to this deed was John Jacob Bear (possibly his brother; see profile at Jacob Bar (abt.1714-)). The relationships between these three men has not been established for certain, but this seems likely.

According to Davis: in 1742, he was called Samuel Beer, widower at the Pequea when he married Miss Barbara Snebli of Leacock Township, at the First Reformed Church at Lancaster. He was living "at the Peque," which would indicate that he was probably living at Conestoga Towonship at the time of his marriage.

Best concluded in “Bear Saga Update: Part Two” that he was the father of Samuel (Bare) Bear (1731-1788), but she doesn’t explain the rationale. On May 12, 1768, one Samuel Bear and wife Margaret mortgaged a 1-acre parcel that appears to be a portion of land in Manheim warranted by Jacob Bare in 1743. ^[5][6]

Samuel Bar died about 1750 in Manheim, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. ^[7]. [Primary source needed.] As his possible son, Samuel, was buried in Oregon Community United Methodist Cemetery, Lititz, Lancaster County, it is possible that he also was buried there. [Primary source needed.]

Davis ascribes additional land and tax records to him, suggests that he died after 1763, and gives him seven children (including Samuel), three of them tentative. There is a lot more information about him in Davis' book.

Research Notes

He may have been the nephew of Samuel (Bar) Bear (abt.1683-bef.1743), who wrote a will summarized as follows:

Samuel Bear of Cocolico, Lancaster Co, Pennsylvania, yeoman

Wife (but not named)

Brother: Michael Bear, deceased - his children

Brother: Henry Bear

Sisters Children: Samuel Boeman and Anna Hone/Horse the wife of Tobias Hone/Horse

Joseph Horsed/Honed

Mary Horsed/Honed

give Henry Landes 10 pounds to give to the poor

Remainder of estate to: Jacob Bear Senior and to Michael Baer's children aforesaid namely Barbara, the wife of Casper Welter and Eva the wife of Nicolas Harman and John Bear and the remainder of the children of Michael Bear aforesaid and to Samuel Boeman and Ann Horsed aforesaid and to Henry Bear aforesaid. To each an equal share to Jacob Bear an equal share and to my brothers children aforesaid an equal share to be equally divided amongst them.

To my sisters children aforesaid an equal share.

Executor: Brother Henry Bear

Witn: Johannas Shaver, Garrat Cofzat, Emanuel Carpenter

Will written: 26th May 1743

Will proven: 16th September 1743

Lancaster, PA Wills Vol A, page 83

......

The correct last name spelling is Bär. This was his birth name from his father. It was spelled this way in Switzerland.

.......

He was not the Samuel Bare/Behr (different spellings on two ship lists) who arrived with Jacob Baer/Bähr on the ship Molly in 1727. ^[8] That man was Samuel (Bar) Bear (abt.1683-bef.1743), whose signature on the passenger list matches the signature on his will.

Sources

1. ↑ https://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/rg/di/r17-522WarranteeTwpMaps/r017_0522_0000_2811_LancasterCoConestogaTwpWEB.pdf, on which the legend for Parcel #18 reads as follows: “(18) A-75-250. CALEB BAKER. 71 As. 36 ps. & Allow.; War. May. 16, 1741; Sur. June 29, 1741; Pat. Aug. 4, 1741; to Samuel Bear; A-10-366
2. ↑ See also Survey A75-250 at https://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/rg/di/r17-114CopiedSurveyBooks/Book%20%20A1-A89/Book%20A-75/Book%20A-75%20pg%20502.pdf.
3. ↑ Best, Jane Evans. A Bear Saga Update: Part Two. Publisher: Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage. October, 1998. Page 17 and Footnote 8 on page 27.
4. ↑ Davis, Richard Warren. Emigrants, Refugees and Prisoners: An Aid to Mennonite Family Research, Volume 3. 1999. Page 32. Frame 1258 of 2009 on Familysearch at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS87-7SS8-D?i=1416&cat=761809.
5. ↑ See Lancaster Deed M-426.
6. ↑ See also Surveys A84-131 and A84-150.
7. ↑ https://www.myheritage.com/site-family-tree-365919711/stevenson#!profile-2500775-info source cited Smart Match™: Rombough-Rambach-Rumbaugh Family Web Site Certainty of Data: 1.5
8. ↑ Pennsylvania German pioneers : a publication of the original lists of arrivals in the port of Philadelphia from 1727 to 1808 Author: Ralph Strassburger,Publication of the Original List edited by William John Hinke, Ph.D., D.D., Pennsylvania German Society, Norristown, PA, 1934. Volume 1.

• Bear Saga Update: Part Two Publisher: Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage October 1998

• The Groff Book Vol. 2 Jane Evans Best Publisher: Groff Associates, Ranks, PA 1997

Acknowledgments

• Thank you to Walter Harrington for creating WikiTree profile Bare-169 through the import of Harrington.ged on Mar 10, 2013.

• Thank you to Sandy Minder for creating WikiTree profile Bar-219 through the import of Delong gedcom.ged on Apr 27, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Sandy and others.