Johan "Hans" Peter SCHMIDT

  Events

• Notes. When JOHAN "HANS" PETER SCHMIDT SMITH was born on March 3, 1701, in Wingen, Bas-Rhin, France, his father, JOHANN, was 46 and his mother, ANNA, was 39. He married MARIA BARBARA EICHENBERGER on January 20, 1727, in his hometown. They had four children in 10 years. He died on February 7, 1775, in Rowan, North Carolina, at the age of 73.

Great-grandson of Wendelius (Wendel) Schmidt , Barbara Klotz Schmidt, Michael Schlaeber, and Anna Margaretha Frick.
Grandson of Theobald (Diebold) Schmidt, and Margareta Schmidt, Michael Schleber and Anna Mang Schleber.
Son of Johann Theobald Schmidt and Anna Maria Schleber Deckenberger Schmidt.

Johann Peter Schmidt (later Peter Smith) was christened in the old Protestant village church in Wingen, Alsace, on the 8th of March, 1701, and grew up in the small village of Wingen.
He was to become a linen weaver by profession, training with a master in Wingen, (Markus Klein, husband of Peter's half sister Elizabeth.)

Peter married at least twice during his life time.

On 20. January 1728, he married Maria Barbara Engels, daughter of Philip Engels, linen weaver of Schoenburg, in Sulzbach (now Langensoultzbach), Alsace.

Their first child, Georg Michael was born and baptized in Wingen, on October 4, 1728. (later George Smith, married Mary Bruner. George died 1814, in Rowan, N.C.)

Their daughter Maria Eva was christened in Sultzbach on October 30, 1730.

Peter's first wife Maria Barbara must have died sometime between 1730 and 1732.

In the spring of 1733, Peter, his new wife (believed to have been Elisabetha Ensminger, daughter of Philip Ensminger, of Diemeringen, Alsace, and at least two of Peter's children, (Georg Michael and Maria Eva, then five and three years old) set out on their trip down the Rhine River towards Rotterdam in Holland.
From there they boarded the brigantine'Pennsylvania Merchant' (John Stedman, Master) for the Atlantic crossing, via Plymouth in England to the British colony of Pennsylvania.
( The passenger manifest shows Peter Schmidt and wife Elizabeth.)

The dangerous voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to the new world took almost three months. There were terrifying storms, severe hardships, and a number of passengers dying and being buried at sea.
Finally though, the Pennsylvania Merchant landed in the Philadelphia Harbor on September 18, 1733.

Soon after arrival, all men on board were taken to the Philadelphia court house, where they had to swear the oath of allegiance to King George II.
Peter signed his oath with a 'P'.

On the 20th of February 1734 Peter received a grant for 100 acres of land between 'Cocalico and Muddy Creek, amongst several other settlers there' , in Lancaster County, P.A.

Peter is said to have been baptized into the Dunker ( German Anabaptist ) faith by Conrad Beissel of Ephrata in 1748, and became a member and householder of the Ephrata community. Earl Township records of 1750 show that Peter is taxed for 50 acres of land, 2 acres of wheat, and that he owns two horses and one cow.
Peter is known to have paid taxes until 1752.

In 1756 he is listed as 'fled', which was most probably due to Indian troubles connected with the French and Indian War.

Peter and his family would have travelled on the Great Wagon Road to the Dunker settlement of Manahaim, on the New River in Virginia, where likely they spent some time until troubles started there as well, and the settlement was abandoned.

Peter and his family then journeyed on to Rowan, N.C. where his eldest son Georg Michael had already settled.

After receiving a land grant from the Earl of Granville, on both sides of Crane Creek, where Peter became a Dunker elder, he paid taxes in Rowan from 1759.

In his will (dated 1767), he named his 'beloved' wife, his children, George, Peter, John, Margret, Mary, Susanna, Elizabeth, Magdalen, and his grand-children by his daughter Eve (Maria Eva), as heirs to his estate, dividing everything he possessed equally and fairly among them.
Peter signed his last will and testament with a 'P'.

Peter Smith died in 1769, and was most probably the first person to be laid to rest in the old Smith family graveyard in Rowan County.

Johan married Maria Barbara EICHENBERGER on 20 Jan 1727 in Wingen, Bas-Rhin, France. (Maria Barbara EICHENBERGER was born in 1701 in Wingen, Bas-Rhin, France. and died in Rowan, North Carolina.)

Johan next married.