| Christopher Ley was a Palatine Migrant. Join: Palatine Migration Project Discuss: palatine_migration |
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Georg Christoph Lay arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 25, 1732 on the ship Loyal Judith, where he signed the qualification papers at the courthouse. According to the passenger list, he was 37. [1] This is the earliest mention we have of him, as no baptism or other record of his life before then has been found. He was probably born in the Palatinate and, given his age, he may have arrived with a wife and/or children, but women and children aren’t included on the passenger lists for that ship.
In 1739 he purchased a beautiful parcel of land in what is now Jackson Township in Lebanon County. It was in the western part of a grant which was left, in the 1711 will of William Penn, to John, Thomas and Richard Penn (called “Fell’s Manor”), and appears on the attached map. According to the same map, there is a deed dated December 2, 1751 to this land (which would have been after Christopher’s death), but it needs to be located and reviewed. Christopher’s son Michael Ley (1739-1824) later built a home on the land that became known as Tulpehocken Manor Plantation. [2]
Christopher did not have long to enjoy his property, as he had died by April 26, 1742, when his wife Anna Barbara remarried Johannes Immel (or Emmel), a neighbor and another landowner in Fell’s Manor. She is referred to on her second marriage record as Anna Barbara Lay. [3]
He and Barbara left the following four children, who appear in his estate records. [4]
No evidence has yet been identified that his wife Anna Barbara’s last name at birth was Beyer.
Wikitree for John George Loy (1705-1765): The Loy Family in America" by Jennie Stewart refers to the legend that Christopher had brothers John George Loy (1705-1765), (who arrived on ship Elisabeth in 1733), Johan Henrick Ley (also on ship Elisabeth in 1733), and Mathias Loy (1706-1783) (arrived on ship Samuel in 1733). Research needed.
Christopher Ley is a German Palatine immigrant, arriving in Pennsylvania in 1732. He is the grandfather of Christian Ley, Pennsylvania Statesman.[5]
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Featured National Park champion connections: Christopher is 17 degrees from Theodore Roosevelt, 21 degrees from Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, 17 degrees from George Catlin, 15 degrees from Marjory Douglas, 21 degrees from Sueko Embrey, 17 degrees from George Grinnell, 26 degrees from Anton Kröller, 17 degrees from Stephen Mather, 24 degrees from Kara McKean, 16 degrees from John Muir, 19 degrees from Victoria Hanover and 25 degrees from Charles Young on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.