Margaretha (Millan) Jansen (abt. 1681 - 1753)

Born about 1681 in Palantinate , Germany

Descendants

Died 1753 at about age 72 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania

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Biography

Daughter of Hans MILAN / MILLAN / MEYLI / MEYLIN of Crefeld. An early history of Germantown spells the name MILLAN. Born in the German Rheinland to a Swiss German family, she was surely christened Margaretha, although called Margaret by English speakers in Colonial Pennsylvania. Her children with Dirck JANSEN / JOHNSON of Germantown were: Richard, John, Ann, Catharine, Dirck, and Rebecca, all named in her husband's will (probated 1760). The house and estate were called Wyck, built in 1690 on Muddy Run, outside Philadelphia near Jenkintown: Wyck's earliest owner was Hans MILAN, a Quaker [!] who came from Germany and was a descendant of a Swiss Mennonite family [MEYLI]. His daughter, Margaret, married a ‘Dutch’ Quaker named Dirk JANSEN, a linen weaver who prospered in the first half of the 18th-century. Their daughter, Catherine, married Caspar WISTAR, a German who became a Quaker and amassed a sizable fortune as a button maker, glassmaker and investor in land.

See WYCK, The Story of an Historic House, W. Edmunds Claussen, 1970. The first house on the site of Wyck House in Germantown was a one-room log structure at the present-day back of the house, built by Swiss-German immigrant Hans MILAN in the 1690s. The oldest extant part is the three-bay (3 windows wide) stuccoed stone section that abuts Germantown Avenue. Built in 1736, this was originally the extent of the house. Today this section houses the front parlor. A larger, four-bay stuccoed stone section was built at the rear in 1771-73, replacing the original log structure. This section houses the library and dining room; before the 1860s it was also sometimes used as a kitchen. The section in between arose in 1790s. This area had served as a driveway and linen weaving shop in the early 18th century (the front and back sections were two separate structures), but was enclosed in order create one large house. Around this time, the entrance to the house was moved from Germantown Avenue to face the south lawn. Entry from the side of a building, rather than off the street, was a typical way to enter an 18th century Germantown home. See http://www.wyck.org/. National Park Service, 1933 documentation of Wyck House for the Historic American Buildings Survey. In 2012 was at 6026 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19144.

In the next generation, Margaret WISTAR married Reuben HAINES I, a brewer and merchant of English descent. Their son Caspar Wistar HAINES continued the family businesses and married Hannah MARSHALL, a member of another Quaker family. Margaret is named in the index to Jordan’s 1911 book on "Colonial Families in Philadelphia".

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