Rudolf Pentz (abt. 1713 - abt. 1790)

Born about 1713 in Hilbach, Kurfürstentum Hannover, Heiliges Römisches Reich

Descendants

Died about 1790 at about age 77 in St George, Halifax, Nova Scotia

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Biography

Rudolph immigrated from Germany to Nova Scotia as part of the Palatine migration. He was 38 years old and a farmer in the Palatinate when he took up the government's offer for resettlement and sailed in 1751 to Canada from Rotterdam on the Pearl with his wife Johanna, three sons Johannes, George and Conrad (b.1741) and two daughters, Amelia (b.1734) and Catharina (b.1738). ^[1]

Rudolph was listed in the 1752 Canadian Federal Census under, 'Pense' It shows him living in the North Suburbs with 1 woman, 2 boys and 2 girls for a total of 6 household members. Under the comments section they are listed as 'Swiss & German.'

That same year in August, the family was supplied with food and provisions. They were recorded on the 1752 Victualling List as 'Bentz' in August 1752:

Bentz Amelia

Bentz Catherina

Bentz Conrad

Bentz George

Bentz Johannus

Bentz Rudolph ^[2]

Between February and April 1753 the family received additional food and provisions. This time they were recorded as Pintz on the Victualling List. 'Rudolph ; Johannes ; George ; Conrad ' Rudolph's wife Barbara, his first two daughters and her child from her previous marriage are not seen on this list however it does indicate that the family was moved to Lunenburg as part of the resettlement. ^[3] There were four different series of land grants issued to the first settlers in Lunenburg Township between arrival in 1753 and formal land grants in 1784. (1) Town Lot - 40' x 60' (2) Garden Lot 70' x 160' or 1/4 acre (3) 30 Acre (4) 300 Acre In 1784 a Township Grant was issued giving the land owner full ownership.

In the Lunenburg Return of Arms record for December 26-27, 1753 is a listing of those present for the muster into potential militia Divisions. These Divisions corresponded to their Town Lot Division drawn earlier. Noted is Rudolph under the Steinfort Division. He shows again on this same list in the Zouberbuhler Division however there is a note for an alternate spelling of his surname as, 'DENT.' ^[4] The 1754 record of assignment for the Town Lots show Rudolf as having Lot #8 in the Zouberbuhler Division. He sold this lot to Joseph Slagentweit in 1762. ^[5]

Although it is assumed that each person to receive a Town Lot would also receive a garden lot, in looking through the list of names (under various spellings) I was not able to determine if a lot had been assigned to Rudolph. ^[6]

Also around this time, (1753/54) the government deployed the 30 acre land distribution. Records of 1760 indicate that Rudolf was indeed a grantee and assigned 30 acres known as: North West Range A-3 This land was shared equally with Berhard KELLER however we are unsure as to why. ^[7] In addition to receiving Garden Lots for growing vegetables and cereals, the early settlers needed livestock to supply meat. So during the summer of 1754 the authorities contracted for livestock to be purchased in New England and transported to Lunenburg. There were two such deliveries, the first in September 1754, the second in December.

The distribution was done by pairing married men together and then drawing lots for the September delivery. The first pairing of married men received 1 cow and 1 sheep to share; the remainder of paired married men received either 6 sheep, 1 pig, and 1 goat, or 5 sheep, 1 pig, and 1 goat, or 4 sheep and 2 goats, possibly in proportion to the size of their families.

The December consignment was generally given to individuals, many of whom had already received live stock.

Records indicate Rudolph (married) and John Young (married) received lot #27 and shared: 1 cow and 1 sheep.^[8]

A Victual List for 1755 shows Rudolph Pintz along with his family: Johannes, Conrad, John Nicol-, Cathrina, Barbara from the North West Rage as having received food and provisions. PINTZ - George is listed separately. In this instance it was reported that each received: Seven pounds of bread and flour, one pound and three-quarters of beef, two pounds of pork, one pint of pease and half a pint of mollasses (per man - per week). ^[9] After the Acadians were expelled from the Annapolis Valley region of Nova Scotia, their abandoned livestock were left to fend for themselves. Between July 30 and September 3, 1756 Captain John Steignfort, with fifty armed men went from Lunenburg to the Basin of Minas, and drove away 120 head of horned cattle and a number of horses, being part of the confiscated property of the French Acadians. The party returned to Lunenburg, September 3rd, with sixty oxen and cows, the rest having perished on the way - all horses included. In researching for his book, Foreign Protestants and the Settlement of Nova Scotia, Winthrop Bell came across a list of 282 names of Lunenburg settlers labelled as having to do with this expedition. Among the participants was Rudolf Pentz ^[10]

Rudolf and his family were given food and supplies as listed on the 1756 Lunenburg Victualling List as 'PINTZ' and included the following members: Rudolph, Catherine, Barbara, Nicholas, Conradt, George, Elizabeth. ^[11]

A final drawing of land (300 acres) was reserved for two final categories: (1.)settlers who had "sold their 30-acre lots and follow other employments than Agriculture," under the condition that that they must not sell their 300-acre Lots in "unimproved" condition and (2.) persons who had obtained 30-acre lots but then moved away and left those lots "unimproved" -these under the condition that they themselves return to settle, or cause settlement of the lots to be made, within six months after the drawing. In order to obtain lots, the settlers had to pay a 1 £ fee to the surveyor, Mr. BRIDGE. This was not easily payable by all and not all those eligible to participate in the first drawing actually did so. Initially I wasn't able to determine that Rudolf Pentz received this allotment however Ann Louise Tremblay has noted in her research that Rudolph was given a 300-acre lot known as the Second Division, C-10. She speculates that this could be the same place that was named Pentz, a settlement two miles upstream from the mouth of the LaHave river on the south side of it, about eight miles southest of Bridgewater and just southwest of Lunenburg, which was named after an early German settler. ^[12] Data taken from a copy of the Registry of 300 Acre Lots prepared about 1767 shows two entries with the last name, 'Bentz' as having received lots: BENTZ, Johannes = 1st Div E-5 BENTZ, Johannes = 2nd Div C-10 ^[13]

In 1784 the government issued full ownership to all grantees for land received.

NAME

Rudolph Pentz ^[14]

BIRTH

1713

Hilsbach, Hanover, Pfaltz, Germany

DEATH

1790 St George, Halifax, :Nova Scotia, Canada

Immigrant to NS on the 'Pearl' in 1751, arriving at Halifax, ('age 38). m. 2nd, Barbara, widow of George Kuffer. Johanna is mother of 1st five children, according to Vivian Corkum, of Pleasantville, NS (1992). Greta Pentz-Himmelman states that Rudolph had 8 siblings. From Web Site of Chris Young, quoting mainly from Bell's notes: Distribution of land in Lunenburg to German settlers, 1753 forward: Pentz, Rudolph, 1760 Registry (B.N.) = N.W. Range, A - 3, 1/2 ea for Rudolph Pintz and Bernhard Keller.

Sources

1. ↑ Source: Ship's manifest as seen at: http://www.progenealogists.com/palproject/ns/1751pearl.htm
2. ↑ http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~canns/lunenburg/hfx1752a.html.
3. ↑ (source: http://www.seawhy.com/hv53l.html)
4. ↑ (Source: http://www.seawhy.com/retarmr.html)
5. ↑ (Source: http://www.seawhy.com/lglzoua.html)
6. ↑ (Source: This record was taken from microfilm available at the South Shore Genealogical Society and transcribed at: http://www.seawhy.com/lggdnlot.html)
7. ↑ (Source: http://www.seawhy.com/lg30an.html)
8. ↑ (Source: The original data is in PANS Vol 382, doc 9. Bell's transcriptions are found in MS1 Vol 113, pages 316-320. This information is seen at: http://www.seawhy.com/farmanmh.html)
9. ↑ (Source: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ked1/1755vict.html)
10. ↑ (Source: http://www.seawhy.com/cattle.html)
11. ↑ (Source: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~canns/lunenburg/vict1756.html)
12. ↑ (Source: http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/t/r/e/Ann-louise-Tremblay/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0066.html) The same information was found for Carol Garron's extensive research. (Source: http://www.webination.com/carole's_site/)
13. ↑ (Source: http://www.seawhy.com/lg300a.html)
14. ↑ Ancestry.com. OneWorldTree. The Generations Network, Inc.; Provo, UT, USA.

• Bell, Winthrop Pickard. 2003. Register of the Foreign Protestants of Nova Scotia (ca. 1749-1770). 2 vols. Compiled & prepared for publication by J. Christopher Young, Guelph ON. Sackville NB: Mount Allison University. [This is absolutely the crucial source on all the individuals in the 1750-1752 "Lunenburg" immigration.]

Acknowledgements

• This person was created on 14 April 2010 through the import of Jamie 2010_2010-04-10.ged,