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Catharina (Schneider) Whitener (abt. 1690 - 1742)

Catharina Whitener formerly Schneider aka Weitiner, Weidner
Born about in Germanymap [uncertain]
Daughter of and [mother unknown]
Sister of [half]
Wife of — married [date unknown] [location unknown]
Descendants descendants
Died at about age 52 in Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pennsylvaniamap
Profile last modified | Created 2 Apr 2015
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Catharina (Schneider) Whitener was a Palatine Migrant.
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Contents

Biography

Paternity of Catharina (Schneider) Weidner

Catharina was the daughter of Johann Heinrich Schneider whose 1725 Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, will names his daughter Catharina, wife of Peter Witenar. Presumably, Schneider's wife was already deceased as he does not name her; therefore, the name of Catharina's mother is currently unknown.

Henry Snider of Roxboro Township, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, Cordwainer [shoemaker], in good health.
Debts and funeral expenses to be paid
To daughter Catharina, wife of Peter Witenar: one-half of my goods and chattels
To two granddaughters Catharina and Barbara, children of my son Frederick deceased: one-half of my goods and chattels share and share alike. If either granddaughter dies before age twenty-one without lawful issue, her share to go to the surviving granddaughter.
If daughter Catharina dies before receipt of her share, it is to be divided equally among her children
Executors in Trust: my trusty friend Samuel Goulding of Roxboro, Harman Grotehousen
Signed 18 August 1725 in German script as J: Heinrich Schneid[er]
Witnesses: Henrich Robb, Jno Cadwalader
Codicil [same date as will]
Because of daughter Catharina’s “filial love duty and attention towards me her aged father,” the three hundred Guldens lent to her in Germany shall not be part of my estate the same being “freely given to her” [debt is forgiven]
The one hundred and fifty Guldens lent to son Frederick shall not be part of my estate [debt forgiven]
Signed 18 August 1725 in German script as J: Heinrich Schneid[er]
Witnesses: Henrich Robb, Jno Cadwalader
18 November 1726 at Philadelphia: Witnesses Robb and Cadwalader affirmed they saw the testator execute the will.[1]

Marriage

The marriage of Peter Weidner and Catharina Schneider presumably occurred in a German-speaking land, but a record has not been located in Swiss or German archives. Peter Weidner was born around 1680 and died before February 1734. No record in Swiss, German, or Pennsylvania archives has been located for Peter Weidner's parentage, baptismal name, birth year, or birthplace.[2]

The following summary of Peter's life is from the Whitener Weidner Widener Weitenauer Wittner DNA Project:

Peter Witenar (Weidner, Witener, Weitenauer) was born circa 1680 in Switzerland or Germany, died in the winter of 1733-34 in Oley Township, Berks County, PA. Peter married Catherina Schneider, the daughter of Johann Heinrich Schneider. The Schneider and Weidner families were in Pennsylvania before 1725 when the will of J:Heinrich Schneider was probated in Roxboro Township, Philadelphia County.[3]

Immigration

Peter and his wife Catharina were residing in Pennsylvania before 1725 according to her father's will. Extant ship passenger lists do not include them; thus their arrival year in America s unknown.[4]

"Before 1734," Peter "Weidner" was listed as an Oley Valley land owner: “Known Heads of Households and Single Freemen Residing in Oley Valley 1701–1741, Peter Weidner before 1734 in Pike [township].”[5] At that time, Oley Valley was part of Philadelphia County; it now is part of Berks County. Oley Valley includes mainly the townships of Oley, Exeter, and Amity and small parts of the townships of Pike, Earl, Douglass, Union, and Robeson.

Catharina (Schneider) Weidner, Widow

Peter "Widner" died prior to late February 1734. He died owning a warrant for 200 acres in Oley Valley, for which he had not yet completed the patent process. His widow sold the warrant rights to John Oyster on 26 February 1734. On 6 May 1734, "Katherine Widner” of Philadelphia County submitted the warrant to the Land Office, the land was surveyed on 27 June 1734, and following Oyster’s payment of associated fees, a patent issued in his name on 13 January 1738.[6]

Meanwhile, widow Catharina (Schneider) Whitener moved with four of her children (Barbara, Peter, Isaac, and Jacob) to Ephrata in the Cocalico Valley of northern Lancaster County, where on 24 December 1736 she purchased 100 acres on Cocalico Creek from Andreas Scroop (alias Krobff) and wife Isabel. Interestingly, the deed renders her name as Katharina Whitener.[7]

A plat of Scroop’s patented tract, including the part he conveyed to Widow Widener, appears in John A. Parmer, "Notes on the Geography of the [Ephrata] Cloister Lower Mill Tract."[8]

14 October 1741, "Catharina Widow of Peter Weidner Deceased" and "Son Peter Weidner" for a small consideration conveyed water rights on part of her land to the Trustees of the Fraternity of Ephrata for the use of Ephrata's mill.[9] See virtual tour of Ephrata Cloister. No. 15 on the tour map is where the mill was sited on Cocalico Creek. Catharina (Schneider) Weidner's land was nearby. Abundant in-depth information and beautiful photographs are available on the Internet; simply Google for Ephrata.

Catharina (Schneider) Weidner executed her 22 September 1742 will in Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where it entered probate 18 February 1743. She devised and bequeathed to five children, apparently in their birth order.
22 September 1742, Catharina Weidner of Langester, Cokaligo Township, Witwe.
John Henry Calckgleaser and toughter Trifenna to be executor and executres [executrix] until all my children are of full eage [age].
First. To Son Henry Widner £12 fore all I had reason to give him Lease [less] because after his Fathers Decease he was Disobedient and by his own Will went from me and made himself to be his Master several Years befor the Law giveth him to be free jet [yet] for all i am Reconcilt to him and wish him well to enjoy in his Shear.
Second. To Toughter Trifener for her gootness and kindness and obedient servenis [services] as a truest and obedient child £30
Third. To Son Petter Widner as the Ealtest of my Sons Liveng with me at present Time he hath taken as much Duty upon him to be as a Father to help me as his Mother to maintain the junger Broders therefor I do order and give to him that new House for his owen as a Reward for his Leabours which he doth Take upon him for him for his junger Brothers until they be in Eage (notice the house is not builded at present but it shall be builded hereafter)
Fourth. The Rest or Remainder of my Estate shall be equeally devided in 3 I say three Parts to ever one of my 3 Junger Sons also well [will] all bik and smal goots [big and small goods] in all maner & name and the Plaintashe [plantation] in 3 Lots of these 3 Lots shall my Son Petter have the Privilege to Take which he will But I do hereby Except If he doth hould to his Junger two Brothers until they in has full Eages otherwise he shall have not more Privilege and for Right as the two junger brothers named Jacob and Isack. Further shall all the Cathls [chattels] and houshhould goots it may be named what it will be eqally Deveided to my Sons Petter and Jacob & Isack accordingly it would be well bleased to me if they could Live togeather in Peace without Division of the Plantashion & other Goots but if they cannot then they may do every one to his best
“Forthey et is these [For that it is this] my Will that non of my Childean shall have power by force to make him pay his Sheare before the Jungest Son is in his full Eage and if he is in his Eage then they shall kep Patient to one another in a Brotherly mannor in then Corse [in their cause] and not force one another in a strong forcibel maner to pay to him his Sheare
Catherina Widner these is her Mark + (Seal)
18 February 1743, Johan Henry Hageman, Leonard Heid, and Johannes Hildebrand affirmed before Conrad Weiser, Lancaster County Justice of the Peace, that they saw and heard Catharina “Widner” sign and declare this as her Last Will and Testament.
Probate and Letters Testamentary were granted the Executors they having first solemnly affirmed to administer. They are to submit an inventory on or before 18 March 1743.[10]

After executing her September 1742 will, "Sister Widow Weÿder” died at Ephrata in 1742; see image.[11]

Children of Peter and Catharina (Schneider) Weidner

In 1750, Catherine's children conveyed the same land that she had purchased in 1736.[12]

  1. Barbara Trifena Weidner
  2. Georg Heinrich "Henry" Weidner
  3. Peter Weidner [Jr.]
  4. Jacob Weidner
  5. Isaac Weidner

Sources

  1. Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, Will Book E: 8, file no. 10, Henry Snider will (18 August 1725; probate 18 November 1726); photocopy supplied by Anne Williams McAllister.
  2. Searches executed by Dr. Don Yoder and Anne Williams McAllister (both now deceased) on site in Switzerland, Germany, and Pennsylvania and on Family History Library microfilms.
  3. Whitener Weidner Widener Weitenauer Wittner DNA. Documentation details of the DNA kits are available to project participants; however, those details may not be published (such as on WikiTree or Ancestry) without written or oral consent of the tester; Genetic Genealogy Standards, Standard 8 (http://www.geneticgenealogystandards.com/).
  4. Henry Z. Jones, Jr., The Palatine Families of New York, 2 volumes, (Universal City, California: Privately printed, 1958). Henry Z. Jones, Jr., More Palatine Families: Some Immigrants to the Middle Colonies 1717 to 1776 and their European Origins plus New Discoveries of German Families who arrived in Colonial New York in 1710 (Universal City, California: Privately printed, 1991). Ralph Beaver Strassburger, LL.D., compiler, William John Hinke, Ph.D., D.D., editor, Pennsylvania German Pioneers, 3 volumes (Camden, Maine: Picton Press, 1992). For discussion of German immigration to America and extant passenger lists, see the Foreword by Lewis Bunker Rohrbach, iii-vi, and the Introduction by William J. Hinke, xiii-xlv.
  5. Philip E. Pendleton, Oley Valley Heritage, The Colonial Years: 1700-1775 (Birdsboro, Pennsylvania : Pennsylvania German Society Publications, vol. 28, c1994), Appendix 7.
  6. Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, Land Warrant 7: 52, “Katherine Widner” (1734). See also, Pennsylvania Archives; Google Books (http:/www.books.google.com: accessed 14 January 2016); William Henry Egle, ed., Commissions issued by the Province of Pennsylvania with Official Proclamations, vol. 1 (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Clarence M. Busch State Printer, 1896), pp. 270-72, Patent to John Oyster (13 January 1738).
  7. Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Book H-1: 19, Lancaster County Recorder's Office.
  8. Journal of The Historical Society of the Cocalico Valley vol. 27 (2002): 14–18.
  9. Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Book N, Vol 5: 87, Lancaster County Recorder's Office.
  10. Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, Will Book G: 91–92, No. 65, Catherine Weidner will, 22 September 1742; record group 47, microfilm roll 2817, F-H (1736–1747), Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg. Pennsylvania law in effect at the time required that wills and inventories be recorded in the Office of the Register General in Philadelphia.
  11. Anne Williams McAllister; citing photocopy from Ephrata Brother Kenan's Note Book, p. 56.
  12. Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Deed Book H: 19 (Catherine's purchase), 20-22 (heirs' deeds).
  • For an account of Peter and Catherine Weidner and their descendants, see Anne Williams McAllister, Heinrich Weidner 1717-1792 and Catherina Mull Weidner 1733-1804: Through Four Generations] With Important Contributions From Gracie Seitz Cook, Dr. Joy E. Whitner, and Kathy Gunter Sullivan (Privately printed, 1992), vol. I: 27-32; and Through Four Generations With Important Contributions from Gracie Seitz Cook (Privately printed, 1996), vol. II: 25-26. Digital editions of both volumes are available at Family History Centers.




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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Catharina by comparing test results with other carriers of her mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known mtDNA test-takers in her direct maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Catharina:

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Comments: 7

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Kathy, this profile contains information about this woman's father, including his name. The father profile connected to the profile has that same name. That profile appears to have been expressly created to represent this woman's father. It is (for all practical purposes) unsourced and it is almost empty, which makes it difficult to convincingly argue that it's the wrong man.

The right way to resolve this situation is to treat the father profile as this woman's father -- meaning that you add sourced content about her father to the father profile. Existing content in the father profile should be retained, but with a note indicating that a source citation is needed.

posted by Ellen Smith
I agree Robin. I have added him back as parent and marked it as uncertain.
posted by Dave Rutherford
Not sure deletion of the father was correct, just marking him uncertain would have worked.
posted by Robin Lee
Removed link to Wikitree profile Schneider-7182. The name is the same as Catharina's father; however, the profile is insufficiently supported by evidence and source citations.
Deleted the alleged "family coat of arms." No evidence exists to support it. A rare few of titled people emigrated to the American colonies.
Thank you so much for your extended tree, your DNA tests and contributions here. I have a Schneider vein in my tree (a woman, Magdalena Susanna Schneider (1812-1874; and her father Christof Schneider, both from area of Baden, De), so I examined your entries about Catharina carefully and with delight. I also have an Elizabeth Weidner, more contemporary and from area Hamburg (more north than the Schneider line), so your tree is of particular interest.

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Categories: Palatine Migrants