Frederich Heinrich Heinrich Gelwicks Jr. (1712 - 1783)

Born 14 Feb 1712 in Falkenstein, Bayern, Heiliges Römisches Reich

Husband of Maria Dorothea (Eyler) Gelwicks — married 10 Apr 1733 in Providence Township, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Descendants

Died 8 Apr 1783 at age 71 in Hanover, York, Pennsylvania, USA

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Biography

Frederich Heinrich Gelwicks Jr. migrated from Germany to USA.

Frederick Heinrich Gelwicks 1712 - 1783

Birth: Feb 14 1712 Falkenstein, Germany

Marriage: Feb 10 1733 Providence^[1]

Death: Apr 8 1783 Hanover, York, Pennsylvania, USA

Parents: Frederick Heinrich Gelwicks, Sr. and Leah Hesse

Wife: Maria Dorothea Euler (Oyler) 1716 - 1785

Other rendering surname: Galwix, Frederich Galewix, Frederich Heinrich Geelwichs Children:

1. Johann Friedrich Gelwicks, b. 1 Nov 1733 d. 1813 (Age 79 years) 2. Catharina Gelwicks, b. 21 Dec 1735 3. Catharina Gelwicks, b. 11 Dec 1737 4. Georg Carl Gelwicks, b. 16 Sep 1739 d. 1 Apr 1817, Hagerstown, Maryland Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 77 years) 5. Elias Daniel Gelwicks + 6. Eva Dorothea Gelwicks, b. 9 Feb 1743 d. 16 Aug 1792 (Age 49 years) 7. George Peter Gelwicks, b. 16 Nov 1746 d. 2 Jul 1830 (Age 83 years) 8. Johannes Gelwicks, b. 16 Sep 1747 9. Johann Georg Gelwicks, b. 11 Sep 1750 d. 1 Sep 1816 (Age 65 years) 10. Johann Nicolaus Gelwicks, b. 1752 Children as listed on, https://www.huntingtonfamily.org/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I4403&tree=johnandtuly&sitever=standard

Frederick Gelwicks, the ancestor of the Gelwicks family in America, was born in the Palitinate Country along the Rhine, Germany, February 14, 1712 of Lutheran parentage.His ancestors were among the peasantry of the Teutonic race, famous in the early history of Prussia.Industry, frugality and ideal home life were the qualities cultivated by these people.The devastation of the Rhineland provinces, as the result of the Seven Years' War in Europe, induced many of these worthy people to leave their native country and take up their homes in America, known to them as the land of promise.

Soon after William Penn obtained a grant from the English King for an area of forty six thousand square miles west of the Delaware River in 1681, he made two visits down into the heart of Germany, and invited these industrious peasants to cross the Atlantic and take up their abodes in his own province, allowing them freedom of conscience in their religious faith and worship.This condition brought about the immigration of thirty thousand Germans to Pennsylvania before the year 1770.

Most of these immigrants landed in Philadelphia, where they took the oath of allegiance to their adopted country, and then secured titles for land, first in the eastern part of the province, and after 1733 many located west of the Susquehanna.Among these early settlers was Frederick Gelwicks, who followed the migration westward, and secured a grant of one hundred and fifty acres of land near the present site of the prosperous town of Hanover in the western part of York County.Soon after his marriage in his native country to Mary Dorothea Morgenstern in 1733, Frederick set sail for America, landing first in Baltimore together with Daniel Spitz and other Palitines.

In the year 1727, John Digges, an Irish nobleman from St. Mary's County, Maryland, obtained a temporary grant of ten thousand acres of land, known to the history of Southern Pennsylvania as Digges' Choice.This tract included the site of the town of Hanover, extending in every direction nearly two miles.As early as 1731, a number of immigrants from the Fatherland obtained from John Digges grants for a part of his land, he giving them a temporary title, stating that the exact position of the land they purchased would be decided upon when the permanent line was run between the provinces of Pennsylvania and Maryland.

It was in 1737 that Frederick Gelwicks purchased a tract of 150 acres within the limits of Digges' Choice.This occurred five years before the township of Manheim, which afterward surrounded the present town of Hanover, was laid out by authority of the Lancaster County Court, York County being formed out of Lancaster west of the Susquehanna in 1749.The surrounding country was covered with a dense growth of hickory, oak, chestnut, walnut and other native trees.It was this primeval forest, near the head waters of the Conewago Creek, that Frederick Gelwicks and other settlers from Maryland and Eastern Pennsylvania soon cleared, and the land became fertile, so as to grow abundant crops of wheat, rye, oats and corn.More land was cleared by these industrious peasants, and the "Conewago Settlement" soon became a prominent section, which after the completion of a permanent line between the provinces, was declared to be in Pennsylvania.

By the time Frederick Gelwicks took up his abode in this fertile region, missionaries of the Lutheran church held religions services in the homes of these pioneers.For nearly half a century, most of the dwellings were built of logs and constructed by trained workmen.The surrounding woods contained abundant game, for squirrels, rabbits and deer were plentiful and the choicest fish abounded in the Conewago and its tributaries.At this early date, there were Indians still living in wigwams, but they were a peaceful class of redmen, who never caused any trouble to these worthy pioneers.Indian Tom was the chief among these people.Who became a friend to all those who had taken up their abodes in a section which had been occupied by his race for time unknown.

Although religious services had been conducted by Lutheran missionaries among these people, it was not until 1743 that a house of worship was built of logs in what is now the northwestern part of the town of Hanover.Frederick Gelwicks and his family were active in the church work and in support of ever interest for the religious training of these early people.St. Michael's was the original name of the church which was built seven years before the town was laid out.

It was in 1745 that Richard McAllister, a Scotchman bought a tract of land situated near the center of Digges' Choice, and in 1763 founded the town of Hanover.Among his strongest supporters in the effort to build up a town wer Frederick Gelwicks and Michael Tanner, the latter had been selected by the heirs of William Penn as one of the commissioners to form the county of York in 1749.Meantime, McAllister, Tanner, and Gelwicks had become influential in the affairs west of the Susquehanna, and in 1756 Frederick Gelwicks was appointed by the county commissioners treasurer of York County, which increased his influence, not only among the German settlers of York County, but the Quakers and Scotch-Irish as well, who were quite numerous west of the River at that early date.

When the spirit of the Revolution was gathering force, the Germans of Pennsylvania joined in opposition to what was known as the tyranny of King an parliament in their effort to control the people of the thirteen American Colonies by unjust taxation.Frederick Gelwicks became one of the leaders of this movement in York County.Early in the year 1775, he and his son Charles were chosen members of the Committee of Safety, including about seventy-five representative men throughout the county, who met regularly at York to discuss measures relating to the war which just opened.When Richard McAllister, the founder of Hanover, organized the Third Battalion for active service and marched it from Hanover to New Jersey in 1776, Frederick Gelwicks aided in this work, thus showing his loyalty and patriotism to the country of his adoption, now in war against a foreign power.He continued this patriotic work during the whole of the war, even to 1783, the last year of his life, and the year the war ended.

During his whole career ascitizen of Hanover, and vicinity, Frederick Gelwicks accumulated considerable property, owned two farms nearby, and several lots and three dwelling houses in the town, which he helped to found.It can be truthfully said he was an enterprising and progressive citizen, interested in every movement to advance the public welfare of the community in which he lived.Until the last day of this life, he was active in the work of St Michael's Lutheran Church, which he helped to found, and which since 1805 has been known as St. Matthew's Lutheran Church of Hanover.

The closing years of Frederick Gelwicks' life is full of interest to the student of history, as well as his descendants who now live in more than a dozen states of the Union.He died at Hanover April 8, 1783, at the age of 71.His wife, Mary Dorothea, died May 15, 1785.Both were buried one mile north of Hanover in the historic graveyard, which surrounded the second church building of the congregation, of which he was a leading member for a period of forty years.

The children of Frederick and Mary Dorothea Morgenstern Gelwicks were the following:

Frederick, born Oct 18, 1734

Daniel, born Dec 15, 1738

Charles, born Sept 15, 1741

Eva Dorothea, born Feb 8, 1743

Peter, born Sept 16, 1746

John, born Sept 16, 1747

George, born Sept 11, 1750

Nicholas, born in 1752

The loyalty of the sons of this patriot of the Revolution, is shown by the following statements:

Frederick was a soldier in Captain Abraham Furrey's Company of York County Militia, during the last years of the of War;

Charles served for three years as a member of the Committee of Safety for the County of York;

George enlisted as a lieutenant in the First Company, Eighth Battalion, York County Militia;

Nicholas, the youngest son, was a captain in the Eighth Battalion, York County Militia, commanded by Col. Henry Slagle of Hanover in 1778 and later.

Captain Nicholas Gelwicks, the youngest son of the pioneer, born in 1752, became a prosperous farmer.When he reached the age of twenty-five, he became interested in local politics and regularly attended political meeting held at York, the County Seat.In October 1798, the year after President Washington retired to private life, Capt. Gelwicks was elected sheriff of York County by the Federalist Party, an organization which always supported the administration of President Washington.He served in the office of sheriff until 1801.It was during his term that Adams County was erected in 1800, and formed out of the western part of York County.Sheriff Gelwicks had the honor of attending the reception given to John Adams, the second President of the United States, when he stopped for the night at Hanover with a retinue of attendance on his way to the White House at Washington, which in 1800 became the permanent seat of government of the United States.

Capt. Gelwicks continued to be an active and influential citizen of Hanover, but his life ended the year after his native town was incorporated as a borough.In 1808 he was one of the foremost members who superintended the erection of St. Matthew's Lutheran church at Hanover.Peter Grumbine and Nicholas Gelwicks, two soldiers of the Revolution, went to Philadelphia and procured for St. Matthew's Church the twin bells which have since been used in calling together that congregation for religious worship.Upon the site of this, the third church owned by the congregation, a fourth church was erected n 1924 at a cost of twenty five thousand dollars.The splendid organ, recently placed in position in this church, cost thirty six thousand dollars, one of the most valuable instruments of its kind in any Lutheran Church in America.

Capt. Nicholas Gelwicks and his wife, Anna Maria, were married September, 1780.He died September 1, 1816, and his wife survived him several years.In his will her name is written Mary, and in the same document he names as his children, Catharine, intermarried with Philip Youse, and Polly, late intermarried with Henry Morningstar, deceased.

NOTES: on children from other sites need to check dates as some seem off.

1. Johan Frederick Gelwicks 1734 - 1813
2. Georg Carl Gelwicks 1741 - 1817WikiTree profile Gelwicks-14

(? Check date? 1739-1817 in other listing)

1. Eva Dorothea Meyer (born Gelwicks) 1743 - 1791
2. Johannes Nicolas Gelwicks
3. Johannes George Gelwicks
4. Catherine Gelwicks
5. George Peter Gelwicks
6. Daniel Gelwicks

• [1]

^[2]

St. Matthew Evangelical Lutheran Church records show the following children for Frederick Gelwicks:

1. John Frederic, b. 18 Oct 1734
2. Elias Daniel, b. 15 Dec 1738
3. Georg Carl, b. 16 Sep 1741
4. Eva Dorothea, b. 9 Feb 1743
5. Geo. Peter, b. 16 Nov 1746
6. John, b. 16 Sep 1747
7. John Gory, b. 11 Sep 1750
8. John Nicolaus, b. 1752

Interesting to see that names of witnesses are the source of the names of the children.

^[3]

Died Y. 8 APR 1783. Hanover, Pa Age: About 70-71.

No biography yet.^[4] Can you add information or sources?

Sources

1. ↑ Book: Aufzeichnungen von Rev. John Casper Stoever: Taufe und Heirat, 1730-1779 page: 53 von 75 Internet Archive (accessed 1 April 2024)
2. ↑ A source for this information is needed.
3. ↑ Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Historic Pennsylvania Church and Town Records. Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Church and Town Records, 1669-2013. St. Matthew Evangelical Lutheran. Published by Ancestry.com. https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2451/42154_329961-00889 Frame numbers 444 and 445.
4. ↑ Gelwicks or Galiux-1 was created by Paul Linden through the import of Anna May Hammer Family Tree 062814.ged on Jun 30, 2014. This comment and citation should be deleted after a short biography has been added and primary sources have been cited.

• "Pennsylvania Births and Christenings, 1709-1950", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V2N9-19N : 27 January 2020), Frederick Gelwicks in entry for Geo. Peter Gelwicks, 1746.

Freidrich's Will, https://www.huntingtonfamily.org/genealogy/showmedia.php?mediaID=2145&medialinkID=8362

Will of Frederick Gelwicks, 20 March 1783, York County, Pennsylvania Wills 1779-1789, Volumes E-G; Images 279-281 of 649. From "Pennsylvania Probate Records, 1683-1994." Image files obtained July 2016 from the FamilySearch.org website.

Church records of Augustus Lutheran Church, Trappe, Upper Providence Township, Montgomery, Pennsylvania. Baptisms, 1730-1777; confirmations, 1745-1778; marriages, 1730-1777; Page 237. From "Historical Society Of Pennsylvania, Marriages." Image file obtained March 2017 from the Findmypast.com website. [S1779] Larry M. Neff and Frederick S. Weiser, Friedrich Heinrich Gelwicks, Shoemaker and Distiller -- Accounts, 1760-1783, (The Pennsylvania German Society, Breinigsville, Pennsylvania, 1979), vii-xvi. Name recorded variously as "Friedrich Heinrich Gelwicks", "Friedrich Henrich Gelwicks" and "Frederick Henry Gelwicks"

[S1782] Will of Frederick Gelwicks, 20 March 1783, York County, Pennsylvania. Name recorded as "Frederick Gelwicks"

[S1916] Church records of Augustus Lutheran Church, Trappe, Upper Providence Township, Montgomery, Pennsylvania. Baptisms, 1730-1777; confirmations, 1745-1778; marriages, 1730-1777; Page 237. Name recorded as "Friedrich Heinrich Geelwicks"

[S1779] Larry M. Neff and Frederick S. Weiser, Friedrich Heinrich Gelwicks, Shoemaker and Distiller -- Accounts, 1760-1783, (The Pennsylvania German Society, Breinigsville, Pennsylvania, 1979), vii-xvi.

[S1782] Will of Frederick Gelwicks, 20 March 1783, York County, Pennsylvania.

[S1916] Church records of Augustus Lutheran Church, Trappe, Upper Providence Township, Montgomery, Pennsylvania. Baptisms, 1730-1777; confirmations, 1745-1778; marriages, 1730-1777; Page 237.

• http://www.geni.com/people/Friedrich-Heinrick-Gelwicks/6000000027413231802

• https://www.huntingtonfamily.org/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I4403&tree=johnandtuly&sitever=standard

• https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KZNZ-7Y2

• https://www.genealogy.com/ftm/y/e/a/Cathy-J-Yearick/FILE/0002page.html

Acknowledgements

• WikiTree profile Gelwicks-13 was created by Paul Linden.