Elias Gerlach (abt. 1695 - 1761)

Born about 1695 in Laudernbach,Germany

Ancestors

Husband of Anna Margaretha Erhardt — married 1726 in New York

Husband of Anna Margaretha (Bernhardt) Gerlach — married 8 May 1726 in New York Colony

Descendants

Died 1761 at about age 66 in Schoharie, Albany, New York

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Biography

Elias was naturalized on September 11, 1761 as Elias Garlof.^[1] He was a patentee at Stone Arabia in 1723.^[2]

Simm's History of Schoharie, p. 78, has this account of Elias (or possibly his father Johann Christian, but Elias was the subject of Simm's previous paragraph):

Tradition has preserved but little in the life of Justice Garlock the most noted of the Schoharie Germans who removed to the Mohawk valley. He is said while there to have been the only justice of the peace in the Schoharie valley. The name of the shrewd constable who aided him in administering the few laws by which they were governed has been lost. Only one important decision of this sage justice is known to the author. His summons was usually delivered to the constable viva voce and thus by him to the transgressor of the law If the justice wished to bring a culprit before him he gave his jack-knife to the constable who carried it to the accused and required him at the appointed time to appear with it before the justice. What it meant he well understood. If two were to be summoned at the same time to the second he gave the tobacco-box of the justice and as that usually contained a liberal supply of the delectable narcotic the consequences of a failure to return it in person to the justice in due time were dangerous in the extreme. The decision of Justice Garlock alluded to terminated so happily for those most interested, that I cannot withhold it from the reader. A complaint having been entered before him the knife was issued and the parties assembled forthwith. The plaintiff told his story which appeared simple and true. The defendant with more zeal and eloquence plead his cause--quoting, if I mistake not some previous decisions of his honor--and made out as he thought an equally good case. After giving the parties a patient hearing the justice gave the following very important decision. "Der blandif an derfendur bote hash reght; zo I dezides, an pe dunder, der knonshtopple moosh bay de kosht." ^[3]

Simms says "Elias Garlock, the founder of Garlock's dorf, removed (from Schoharie) to the Mohawk, accompanied by several of his neighbors."^[4]

Elias's wife is thought to be Anna Margaretha Erhardt.

"Reverend Dave Jay Webber offers an intriguing educated guess on further possible associations between the Palatine Gerlach and Erhardt families (Theobald Gerlach and Carl Erhardt migrated to Virginia together from the Mohawk Valley). He says that among the children of Elias and Anna Margaretha Gerlach we see Erhardt family name, Simon and Carl/Charles, neither of which is very common. Also, Elias' wife bears the same given name (Anna Margaretha) as Simon Erhardt's wife. He therefore hypothesizes that Elias Garlock/Gerlach could have married Anna Margaretha Erhardt, d/o 1709er Simon Erhardt and his wife Anna Margaretha. Because of the age of Elias Gerlach (b 1695), the Erhardt daughter aged 8 in the 1709 London lists would likely be the one who married him (if Elias' wife Anna Margaretha was in fact an Erhardt)."^[5]

Further evidence comes from DNA studies as a large segment of 28cM (on chromosome 11 from 24929071 to 6459859; tested at FTDNA) matches on some descendants of Elias Garlock and of those of Anna Margaretha Erhardt's sister Maria Catherina who married George House.

Immigration.^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ Jones, Palatine Families, p. 278. Cites: Denizations, Naturalizations, and Oaths of Allegiance in Colonial N.Y., by Kenneth Scott and Kenn Stryker-Rodda, p. 30. Jones, Even More, Vol. I, p. 194.
2. ↑ Jones, Palatine Families, p. 278.
3. ↑ History of Schoharie County, and Border Wars of New York, by Jeptha R. Simms (Albany: Munsell & Tanner, 1845) p. 78.
4. ↑ Simms, p. 77.
5. ↑ Jones, ""Even More, Vol. III, p. 1701.
6. ↑ U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s: Place: New York, New York; Year: 1710; Page Number: 277 Ancestry Record 7486 #1774942 U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s:

   Name:	Theobald Gerlach
   Arrival Year:	1710
   Arrival Place:	New York, New York
   Primary Immigrant:	Gerlach, Johann Christ
   Family Members:	Wife Gerlach, Anna Margaretha; Child Gerlach, Theobald; Child Gerlach, Elias
   Source Publication Code:	3620.1
   Annotation:	Date and port of arrival or date and place of mention in the New World. A few are date of intent to emigrate. Number on the Hunter Lists, birth dates, family relationships, and places of origin may also be provided. Exhaustive information on more than 500
   Source Bibliography:	JONES, HENRY Z., JR. The Palatine Families of New York: A Study of the German Immigrants Who Arrived in Colonial New York in 1710, Volume I. Universal City, CA: Author, PO Box 8341, Universal City, CA, 1985. 624p.

• Palatine Families of New York: A Study of the German Immigrants Who Arrived in Colonial New York in 1710, by Henry Z. Jones, Jr. (Universal City, California 1985) p. 277.

• Even More Palatine Families: 18th Century Immigrants to the Amaerican Colonies and their German, Swiss and Austrian Origins, 3 Vols. by Henry Z. Jones and Lewis Bunker Rohrbach (Rockport, Maine: Picton Press, 2002)

Acknowledgments

• Thank you to Sharon Atkins for creating Gerlach-125 on 29 Aug 13

• WikiTree profile Garlock-80 created through the import of for wiki.ged on Nov 1, 2011 by Dale Wood. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Dale and others.