Johannes Zeller (abt. 1690 - abt. 1737)

Born about 1690 in Heiliges Römisches Reich

Husband of Anna Catherina (Unknown) Zeller — married about 1713 in New York Colony

Descendants

Died about Sep 1737 at about age 47 in Tulpehocken, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Palatine Migration WikiTree [send private message], Jim Baucom [send private message], Dan Zeller [send private message], and Gary Smith [send private message]

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Biography

This profile is part of the Zeller Name Study.

Johannes Zeller was born about 1690, in what is today Germany. The exact village of his origin is unclear and disputed (see below). In 1710, Johannes immigrated to New York, as part of the Palatine Migration. Based on 3 entries in the Hunter Lists, his father's name was probably Johann George Zeller.

Within a year of arriving, Johannes married Anna Catharine Unknown in New York (although there is no marriage record). At least 5 of their children from this marriage are recorded in the New York records.

24 Jun 1711: Johannes Zeller made his initial appearance on the Hunter Lists (#840). The listing reads Johann Georg Zeller's son and An: Battorff with 5 persons over 10 year (in her listing), and Anna Battorfiin and John Zeller with 4 persons over 10 years (in his listing). NOTE: The household of Johann Heinrich Zeller, the probable relative of Johannes, and a separate household for Anna Battorfin both appear on the Hunter Lists almost one year before the first mention of Johannes.

29 Sept 1711: Hunter List now shows the household as 5 persons over 10 for George Zeller and An: Battorff

24 Dec 1711: 3 persons over 10 (both households).

25 March 1712: 4 persons over 10 (for Johannes Zeller)

13 Sept 1712: 5 persons over 10 (for Johannes Zeller).

The Hunter lists imply that some/all of the surviving Zellers were living with Anna Battorfiin, a widow with 2 orphan step-children, Martin Batdorf and Catharine Elisabetha Batdorf within a year of arriving in New York. A Wikitree Freespace page details their associations based on analysis of the Lists and identifies their internal inconsistencies.

1711: Johannes Zeller of Annsberg was a soldier with the Palatine volunteers to Canada. ^[1]

1716/17: 1717 Ulrich Simmendinger returns to Germany and publishes a register of early Palatine families in New York that included Anna Badtorffin and 2 children, Hanss Henrich Zoeller, wife and 3 children, and Johannes Zoeller, wife Anna Catherine and 2 children. ^[2]

About 1728, the family left the Schoharie Valley in New York and migrated to the Tulpehocken Creek region of Pennsylvania. The youngest child, Anna Amelia (b.1729) must have been born in Pennsylvania.

The earliest record of him in Pennsylvania is a survey made 27 Oct 1730 of 125 acres of a branch of Tulpehocken Creek in Lancaster County, which Hans Seller had purchased from James Logan. He next took up 132 Acres by warrant dated 25 Oct 1734. This tract was surveyed the following 10 Nov, but he made no improvements on its--as required by the conditions of the warrant. ^[3] Following the death of Johannes Zeller, A deed clarifying disposition of the estate is dated 10 Mar 1748/49.^[4]

Marriage and Family

~1712: Johannes Zeller married Anna Catharine Unknown, in Annsbury (East Camp), New York. They had the following children: ^[5]

1. Catherina Elizabetha (c1713- c1757) m John George Rieth (1714-1791); 9 children ^[6]
2. Margaret Elisabeth "AKA Margredalis" (c1715 -1748) m Tobias Bickel (c1718-1790);4 children^[7]
3. Johan Henrich (1720 or 1713?, died 1790) m Maria Margaret Rieth (1720- )
4. Anna (1718) - may have died young. While the christening occurred at New Ansburg, the event was recorded in the records of Albany Reformed Church at Albany, N.Y. (CI); the parents were given as Johannes Zeller and wife Catryna, and the witnesses as Willem Groesbeck and wife Gertroyd^[8]
5. David Peter (1722- aft. 1786) m Maria Christina Hoerner (c1725- ); 8 children^[9]
6. Peter (1723-1803) m Hanna Bassler (~1730- ): 6 children ^[10]
7. Anna Amelia (aka Anna Maria) (1729- bef. Dec 1801) - Married Frederick Weiser (1728-1773); 8 children.^[11]

Johannes Zeller died in 1737, in Tulpehocken Township, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Buried: Zion's Reed's Lutheran Cemetery, Marion Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania.^[12]

Will: recorded 12 Jan 1738, written 3 Sep 1737. John Zeller of Tulpehocken. ^[13]

• wife Catherine,
• executors Martin Partoff and Christien Walborn
• witnesses: Christian Wolborn Jr [why Jr.? Christian Jr was born in 1737--too young], Henry Zeller, and Martin Partoff.

Estate: 10 Mar 1749^[14] clarifies the distribution of the estate and names his children:

1. Catharina Elisabeth, wife of Georg Ried
2. Margaretha Elisabethia, wife of Tobias Bickel
3. Johann Henrich
4. David
5. Peter
6. Anna Amelia

Disputed Zeller Origins

See the 2012 version of John F. Vallentine's book (linked to FamilySearch) for interesting commentary regarding the history and family relationships of Johannes Zeller. Chapter 2 presents eight plausible hypotheses to the subject of the connections between the Zeller and Batdorf families. Most likely, however, Johannes Zeller born 1690-1693 (sometimes mis-attributed as Johannes "George" Zeller) is a son of Johann Georg Zeller and a brother (or perhaps cousin) of Johan Heinrich Zeller. The genealogists HZ "Hank" Jones Jr and John Vallentine--both of whom studied the Zeller family for decades--agreed that unless new primary sources are uncovered, a certain amount of speculation is necessary to fit the available data. Vallentine wrote after all the speculation that future generations may solve the final answer. ^[15]

Johannes Zeller (Hunter Lists #840)^[16][17] was born about 1690-1693 in what is today Germany. Based on his later association with Anna Battorfin on the Hunter Lists in New York, it has been suggested that Johannes originated from someplace near the Batdorf family village of origin, possibly in Helmershausen, Thuringia, where Jones and colleagues identified birth records for the children of Peter Batdorf, husband of Anna Battorfin. However, no birth, marriage, or baptismal evidence connects the Palatine Zellers to anything in Thuringia, which is quite far outside the Palatinate.

Etzbach--located about 80 km east-southeast of Köln--has also been suggested as the village of origin for the Tulpehocken Zellers. In contemporary Germany, the regions around Etzbach have the highest density of living Zöllers. There is no known direct evidence in the form of birth or marriage records to prove that the New York Palatine Zellers originate in Etzbach. The suggestion that Etzbach is the relevant village originates from a church book found in West Camp, New York, which reads as follows:^[18]

April 29 1716. Maria Catharina, daughter of Henrich Zoller of Etzbach (in the district of Hachenburg) had an illegitimate daughter Anna Maria, born 27 April 1715 and baptized 29 April 1716; the father was Jan, a negro from Martinique, and the sponsor was Anna Maria Pfester (wife of Michael Pfester)^[19]

But no connection has been established between this Maria Catharina Zoller, daughter of Henrich Zoller of Etzbach--and the Zellers who arrived in New York in 1710. Possibly, the two Zeller families mentioned by Kocherthal might be unrelated, as suggested by Jones in a 2023 personal communication.

There are two main hypotheses about who was his father:

1. The father might be Johann George Zeller (~1660-aft 1712). This hypothesis is based mainly on a single (24 Jun 1711) entry in Governor Hunter's Sustenance List, which reads, "Johann George Zellers son and Anna Battorfin." There are two other entries on the Hunter Lists that mention a George Zeller. These are the only records of his existence. See this Wikitree free-space page for additional details. Hypothesis 1 was favored by Vallentine, in his last iteration of Zeller family research published before his death. John F. Vallentine's book (linked to FamilySearch)

NOTE: When I asked Hank why the following paragraph did not match what John Valentine had found, and published in 2012 he said his book was written years before and had never heard of the book. After reading it online he stated I wish that he would have contacted me so I could have corrected my Zeller data. He told me to keep the Wissen Maria Zoller, b 1685 at Wissen as a Palatine, because she and her son by negro Jan from Martinique were found in NY church records. He said she obviously did not arrive John George Zeller, his sons Johann Henrich, Johannes and under age 10 daughter Anna Maria Zeller who married Johannes Schaeffer. Wissen Maria Zoller was not recorded on the subsistence list because she could have come with her widowed mother and a new husband or an orphan. She is now named as Wissen Henrich Zoller's daughter.

2. The father MIGHT possibly be Henrich Zöller (1656-~1702), a Catholic from Wissen on the Sieg, and his first wife, Maria Weller, who was probably a Lutheran in the neighboring hamlet of Etzbach in the parish of Hamm on the Sieg, based on the research of the German historian Klaus Petry. ^[20] Excerpts of Petry's conclusions can be found in the Research Notes section in the profile of his probable brother, Johann Henry. Petry discusses the fascinating historical context of Wissen on the Sieg at the time to explain how a Lutheran and a Catholic could marry. While the extensively primary-sourced Zöller family research is not easily questioned, the conclusions drawn from it by Klaus Petry and his collaborators (Jones), are based on considerable speculation. The evidence and speculations are discussed in much greater detail in the profile of Henrich Zöller (1656-~1702).

Research Notes

The assignment of French Hugenots Jaques Zeller and his wife Chlotilde DeValois as the parents of Johann Henry and Johannes Zeller--Palatine brothers who went to NY, then later Pennsylvania)--has been repeatedly and thoroughly debunked.^[21]

Concerning the preferred forename of this person: The Governor Hunter Subsistence Lists (1710-1712) record an evolving series of forenames for this person, and this has been a source of ongoing confusion. In successive chronological order, the following names are entered on the list: Georg Zellers Son, John Zeller, Johann Georg Zeller, Georg Zeller, and (lastly), Johannes Zeller. Most or all historical records that come later use Johannes Zeller. Perhaps the English-speaking people who transcribed the Hunter Lists were not true to the typical German forename system of the time. Formally, a person named "Johann George Zeller" would not be re-named as either "John" or "Johannes." Thus, the preferred forename for this person is Johannes, because some of those later records were recorded by native speakers of German. It seems most likely, therefore, that "Johannes Zeller" was his birth name in Germany. If so, it seems to indicate that there is a second person (father? uncle? cousin?) on the Hunter Lists named Johann George Zeller, who was very closely associated with the widow Anna Battorfin (but not married to her). Perhaps Johann Georg Zeller died before a marriage could be arranged.

It is also noteworthy that Johann Henrich Zeller (probable older brother of Johannes) appears on the Hunter Lists a full 12 months earlier than Johannes "Georg". During this this first year at Livingston Manor, Johann Henrich's subsistence household consisted of only 2 people. Later Hunter lists show Johann Henrich's family size has increased to 8 people. Perhaps parts of the Zeller and Batdorf families arrived on later ships?

These brothers likely had a sister Anna Maria, who also emigrated to New York in 1710. See HZ Jones references.

Anna Maria Zeller married Johannnes Schäffer by 1717 and remained in the Schoharie Valley. The baptism of one of her children was sponsored in 1717 by Johannes Zeller. Anna Maria is obviously related to the emigrating Zellers, perhaps a sister of Johannes and Henrich Zeller.^[22]

Notes from Jim Baucom
Johannes (John) Zeller was never documented to be Johannes George Zeller. George was added on by others, based on a different interpretation of 3 entries on the Hunter Lists.

Johannes Zeller, the Palatine German immigrant who died Sept 1737 in Tulpehocken, Pennsylvania [now United States], was the son of Johann George Zeller. John F. Valentine viewed the microfilm of the original document with this information on the Hunter’s Subsistence list. Also Johannes and his father Johann George share several listings with the Widow Anna Battorfin who was Anna Catherina Zeller, the second wife of Peter Batdorf married at Helmershausen Germany, proving a very close relationship. This data can be viewed at the LDS website: https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/203984-the-tulpehocken-zellers-and-their-zeller-descendants?viewer=1&offset=0#page=1&viewer=picture&o=info&n=0&q= See pages 20,21 and 23 of 291

Subsistence data: 1st digit adults and children 10, 2nd digit children under 10 30 JUN 1710 Anna Battorfin 3,0 = AB+ step children Johannes M.& Cath, E. Batdorf

4 JUL 1710 Anna Battorfin 5,0 The additional 2 persons are not identified until almost a year later as Johannes and his father Johann George Zeller. The ships arrived at different days so the men could have arrived after AB’s ship and they just were included on her list. The last of the Palatine immigrant ships arrived New York July 1710.

The simple and obvious relationship: Johann George Zeller was the father of Anna Batdorf, nee Zeller, and Johannes and they assisted Anna and her two step children. It follows that these 5 people had come from Helmershausen Germany, to England and immigrated to New York. Anna’s husband Peter, and possibly more of his children and children of Peter and Anna died in England or at sea on their way to America.

24 JUN 1712 Johannes 4,0 Anna 1,0 (the last entry for her) This combination might be interrupted as Anna was ill or near death and that Johann George and Anna’s two step children are now living with Johannes.

13 SEP 1712 Johannes 5,0 NO Anna Probably Anna is now living with the others.

Johannes Zeller Family, Johann Henrich Zeller family and the two married step children of Anna Batdorf all relocated to Pennsylvania some time in the 1720s where Johannes took up farming on a one 125 acre plot near what is now known as Millbach, Lebanon County along route 419 where he raised a family and died 1737.^[23]

Sources

1. ↑ O'Callaghan, p57
2. ↑ Simmendinger Register
3. ↑ HZ Jones Jr (1985) The Palatine Families of New York Vol. 2, pp. 1133-1134
4. ↑ Lancaster Co Deed Book L, p. 81
5. ↑ Vallentine, citing Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Deeds
6. ↑ Vallentine, citing Berks County, Pennsylvania, Deeds, Berks County, Pennsylvania, Wills and Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Deeds
7. ↑ Vallentine, citing Christ Lutheran Church Records and Snyder County Probate
8. ↑ Albany Reformed Church Records
9. ↑ Vallentine, citing Stoever
10. ↑ Vallentine, citing Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Patents and The Vallentine Family History
11. ↑ Christ Lutheran Church Records
12. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #8812823, but unreliable as a source; the "grave" is a memorial plaque placed by the "Zeller Family Association," and the lineage shown there has been discredited
13. ↑ Philadelphia County Will book F, p. 60
14. ↑ Lancaster County Deed Book L, p. 81
15. ↑ Note from Jim Baucom: Vallentine had found it documented on the Gov Hunters subsistence list and I suggested to Hank both he and Valentine were professional genealogists and he chose not to directly challenge as a professional courtesy. Hank agreed. He was very polite and easy to exchange ideas and thanked me for the telling him of Valentine's 2012 book." Vallentine himself continued to update and modify his Zeller origin theories until his death, as illustrated by his comments on the Palatine Zellers at FamilySearch,
16. ↑ HZ Jones, The Palatine Families of New York (1986), pp. 1133-113
17. ↑ See also the Research Notes section for a discussion of the various names used for Johannes in the Hunter Lists.
18. ↑ Book of Names, the Kocherthal Records
19. ↑ HZ Jones, The Palatine Families of New York, p. 1130, in the entry for Johann Henrich Zeller (Hunter Lists #839).
20. ↑ HZ Jones and LG Rohrbach, Even More Palatine Families (2002), Picton Press, pp. 1774-1779
21. ↑ Lady Clothilde de Valois Zeller: the Little Lady Who Wasn't There, by Jane Bottorff in The Palatine Immigrant, Vol VII, No. 1, pp 23-29; cited in HZ Jones, The Palatine Families of New York, Vol 2. p 1132.
22. ↑ HZ Jones, Palatine Families of New York, Vol 2., p. 1135
23. ↑ The land in this area was a 2000 acre plot granted to two Lloyd brothers by William Penn in 1681. It is recorded to John Zeller (Hanes Seller) in Patent Book A Volume 10, page 245-246-247.

B001 - Berks County, Pennsylvania, Deeds

B010 - Berks County, Pennsylvania, Wills

B036 - Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Deeds

B039 - Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Patents

B092 - Snyder County, Pennsylvania Probate and Orphans Court Records (1771-1885), Abstracts of, Charles A Fisher, 1940, Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania

C001 - Albany Reformed Church Records, Albany, Albany, New York

C016 - Christ Lutheran Church Records, Stouchsburg, Berks County, Pennsylvania

C092 - Rev. John Casper Stoever's Baptismal and Marriage Records, 1730-1779. Notes and Queries, 1896 Annual Volume, p36, 51, 175 (also on microfilmat Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah)

C152 - "Johannes "Hans" Zeller (1686 - 1737) - Find A Grave Memorial". 2016. Findagrave.Com.

E132 - The Vallentine Family History. John F. Vallentine. 1980. Privately pub.

E135 - Zeller Ancestry. 1968. An Interview Conducted 9 Oct 1968 by Ray Pontious, 435 Ahlstrand Road, Glen Ellyn, 111, with G. Thomas Zeller, 232 Prospect Ave, Pottstown, Pa.

E137 - Vallentine, John F. 2012. The Tulpehocken Zellers And Their Zeller Decendants. Ebook. 1st ed.

E145 - O'Callaghan, Edmund Bailey. 1850. The Documentary History Of The State Of New-York : Arranged Under Direction Of The Hon. Christopher Morgan, Secretary Of State, Volume 3. Albany: Weed, Parsons & Company.

C092 - https://archive.org/details/recordsofrevjohn01stoe

C152 - http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8812823 has wrong data

E137 - https://dcms.lds.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE1942131&from=fhd

E145 - https://archive.org/stream/documentaryhisto03ocal#page/n0/mode/2up

Source Comments:
E137 - Vallentine's book is a treasure trove of information about the Zeller family that descended from Johann Heinrich and Johann George Zeller who moved into the Berks County, Pennsylvania area about 1720. It is a derived work, but it is very well documented with over 600 referenced sources.

See also:

• New York subsistence records
• Dauphin Co. Pennsylvania, Deeds
• Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Orphans Court Records
• Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Warrant Register
• Pennsylvania Warrants and Surveys
• Philadelphia Co., Pennsylvania, Wills
• Warrant, Patent and Survey Records, Millcreek Township, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania James B Wolfson. 2000
• Albany Reformed Church Records, Albany, Albany, New York
• Christ Lutheran Church Records, Stouchsburg, Berks County, Pennsylvania
• Reeds Church Cemetery, Tulpehocken, Berks County, Pennsylvania
• Rev. John Casper Stoever's Baptismal and Marriage Records, 1730-1779. Notes and Queries, 1896 Annual Volume, p36, 51, 175 (also on microfilmat Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah) - https://archive.org/details/recordsofrevjohn01stoe
• West Camp (St. Paul's) Lutheran Church Records, West Camp, Ulster Co, N.Y, 1709-1840. Frederick Weiser (comp.). 1976.
• The Batdorf Family History .Virginia Faust Batdorf. 1990. Charles R. Batdorf, Pottstown, Pa.
• The Book of Names Especially Relating to the Early Palatines. Lou D. MacWorthy. 1933. St. Johnsville, N.Y. (Reprinted by Genealogical Pubhshing Co, Baltimore, Md.; includes records of Rev. Joshua Kocherthal)
• Early Eighteenth Century Palatine Immigration. Walter Allen Knittle. 1937. Dorrance & Co, Philadelphia, Pa. - https://archive.org/details/earlyeighteenthc00knit
• Even More Palatine Families, 3 vols. Henry Z. Jones. 2002. Pickford Press, Rockport, Me
• The Family Tree of Anna Eve Zeller, 1711, Millcreek Twp., Lebanon County Pa G. Thomas Zellers, Historian, Zeller Family Association. Not dated (abt 1980). (Original manuscript located at Berks Co. Hist. Soc, Reading, Pa.)
• Genealogy of the Zeller Family: John (Hans) Zeller 1711. G. Thomas Zellers, Historian. Zeller Family Association. Abt 1975
• New York Palatine Subsistence Lists of Governor Robert Hunter 1710-1712. Public Records Office, London, England. (Microfilm copy entitiled "Dr. Graeff's Manuscripts" available at the Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.)
• Jones, Henry Z Jr.. The Palatine Families of New York: A Study of the German Immigrants who Arrived in Colonial New York in 1710. Vol. 1-2 United States: H.Z. Jones, 1985 Universal City California.
• Pennsylvania Archives, Third Series
• Simmendinger Register. Ulrich Simmendinger, Reutlinger, Germany. Abt. 1717 (contains data from about 1715)
• Edmund West, comp. Family Data Collection - Marriages Publication: Name: Online publication - Provo, UT: The Generations Network, Inc., 2001.

Acknowledgements

• WikiTree profile Zeller-40 was originally created by Annecchiarico through the import of SCHEINER~KIPS_JUL2011_2011-10-08.ged on Oct 8, 2011.
• Wikitree provile Zeller-285 was created by Gary Smith through the import of Smith Family Tree-2.ged on Feb 7, 2015.