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Joachim or Jochim Pingel (later Jacob Pingle) was likely born in the late 1730s or early 1740s (see notes on his birthdate below). It is widely stated that he was from Holstein, or broadly from Schleswig-Holstein, or "Schleswig-Holstein or Denmark".[1] A gravestone, likely inscribed decades after his death, refers to him as a "native of Holstein".[2] It is reasonable to think that he was probably from Holstein and was of broadly Dano-German or German origin.
1757 is the date inscribed on a surviving chest held at the Markham Museum which reads "JOCHIM PINGEL 1757".
Joachim and his wife Anna Maria had the following children:[3]
Joachim and Anna Maria (as well as presumably their children) sailed to Philadelphia in 1792 with William Berczy on the Catharina as part of the Berczy group of German colonists originally intended to settle in upstate New York. The Pingels do not seem to have been among the Berczy colonists who were charged with rioting while in the United States.
The group arrived in Upper Canada in 1794 and settled in Markham Township. A 1798 list of heads of households drawn up by William Berczy lists Joachim as resident of lot 22, concession 5; George on lot 21, concession 5; John Henry on lot 22, concession 6; and a Henry Pingel on lot 25, concession 3. It is not clear who this Henry Pingel is.
Following the turmoil of the settlement process, the Pingel lots were all patented sometime between 1804 and 1807. The result of this was Joachim being established one concession over, on lot 22, concession 6.[4][5] Sons George and John Henry settled on lot 22, concession 6 and lot 21, concession 7 respectively. This would have effectively created one large 3-lot Pingel landholding.[3]
It is likely that he is the Joachim[6] or Jacob[7] Pingel who contributed toward the construction of St. Philip's church at Unionville. This was an institution with which the Pingel family were strongly connected.
Sources generally agree that Joachim died in 1822 and was in his 80s at this time. Joachim, his wife Anna Maria (died 1814), and a teenage daughter named Elisabeth (died 1799) were some of the first people to die in the area. As this was before a formal cemetery had been organized, they were buried at a family burying ground on the edge of their farmstead.
A combined family grave monument exists for them. This was likely created years after their death,[8] and may have replaced earlier stones or wooden or iron crosses.
FindAGrave (2023) lists his birthplace as Holstein, Switzerland, but this is unsourced and almost certainly incorrect.
A calculated birthdate of 1737 is obtainable based on the Pingel family grave monument, which lists his age at death as 85.[2] However, a "ca. 1740" also appears. This date is based on an age of 64 as listed on the 1804 Markham census.[1]
The two known transcriptions of the 1820 St. Philip's contributors list differ significantly in spelling and interpretation of names, with differences such as "Heinrich" and "Hinrich", "Franz" and "Frantz", and so on. It is possible that there are multiple versions of the same primary source, or simply different readings. However, the version published in Markham, 1793-1900 (1979) uses more regularized and standardized modern German spellings, while the Ontario Genealogical Society's 2000 transcription has more idiosyncratic or regionalized Germanic spellings, which may be a subtle indication of the North German/Dano-German origins of some Berczy settlers. It is possible that the 1979 transcription is an overcorrection in an attempt to "Germanize" the settlers in the process of de-Anglicizing them.
In the 1979 transcription, Joachim appears as Joachim, whereas in the 2000 transcription, he is Jacob. This is one of the most significant differences in the entire document.
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