The Question of Origins

The Question of Origins
This page including sources was contributed by James Funkhouser.
(Return to Philip Wendel Klein)
(Return to Johan Jacob Klein 1736)

Published accounts of Jacob's origin and activities follow a similar line, but with important differences in detail. Although Jacob's gravestone bears a birth year of 1736, T.K. Cartmell wrote that 1735 was the year Jacob arrived in Philadelphia from Germany. (There are no Kleins on the 1735 passenger lists).
J.E. Norris wrote that Jacob was born in Germany in 1735 and came to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, with his parents when he was sixteen [i.e., ca. 1751].

Joseph Vance says Jacob Kline was born ca. 1735 and speculates that he was the Jacob Kline who arrived in Philadelphia on the ship Fane and took the oath of allegiance on 17 October 1749 , but that implies that Jacob was at least sixteen years old, placing his birth in late 1733 or 1734, rather than 1735, Also aboard the Fane were Johan Casper Klein and Johannes Klein. The three Kleins were listed consecutively, suggesting they were traveling together. There is no list of females or of children under age sixteen on the Fane.

Three children of Jacob Klein of Frederick County married children of John Swisher/Switzer/Schweitzer of Hampshire County and one married a Jacob Snyder in Frederick County. Vance points to the presence of a John "Schweitzer" and two John Schneiders aboard the Fane, but he does not say how he distinguished among the several Johannes Schweitzers and Jacob Schneiders who immigrated in the mid-1700s. (The signature of the passenger on the Fane that Vance identifies as "Schweitzer" is "Schnitzer" and is transcribed that way by Strassburger and Hinke.) Switzer and Snyder were not uncommon names.

In 1736, 1741, 1742 and in every year from 1749 through 1752 a Jacob Klein entered Pennsylvania and took the oath of allegiance in Philadelphia. The four Jacobs who arrived before 1749 are too old to be this Jacob. The Jacob who arrived on the Fane (1749) signed with a mark; the other three were able to write their names. If the year and month of birth on Jacob's gravestone are correct, of these four, only the Jacob who arrived on the Halifax and took the oath on 22 Sept 1752, and whose age is thereby implied to be sixteen or older, could be the Jacob of Frederick County. There were no other Kleins on the passenger list for the Halifax.. If Norris is correct that Jacob was born in 1735 and arrived at age sixteen with his family, the Jacob who arrived on the Duke of Bedford and took the oath on 14 September 1751 also qualifies. Another Klein, Hans Georg, was aboard the Duke of Bedford and listed just before Jacob. This fits with Norris' account: born in 1735 and arrived in America at age sixteen.

The Duke of Bedford appears best to match the criteria of purported age of Jacob and another family member, if a birth year of 1735 or 1736 is accurate. If Jacob's age as recorded on his gravestone or as published by Norris and Cartmell is not accurate, the Jacob on the Fane is the best candidate of these four to be Jacob of Frederick County.

However, if our Jacob were under age 16, he was not supposed to be enumerated among the adult men nor take the oath. Between 1735 and 1752 dozens of ships carried Kleins to Philadelphia . Few of them listed passengers other than males aged 16 and above: any of these could have carried a Jacob Klein under 16 years of age.

Sources

These sources from contributor James Funkhouser.

Ref. Num.	Description !
11	T.K. Cartmell, Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Their Descendants: A History of Frederick County, Virginia 1738-1908,(reprinted by Chesapeake Book Co.: Berryville, Va., 1963):485.
12	Norris, 763
13	Joseph H. Vance, The Vance Family Scrapbook,(Lombard, Ill: private printing, 1970): 97.
14	Ralph Beaver Strassburger and William John Hinke, Pennsylvania German Pioneers, 3 vol. (Pennsylvania German Society: 1834; Rockport, Maine: Picton Press reprint, 1992, 2002)I: 425(Fane), 437(Brothers), 459(Duke of Bedford), 483(Halifax).
15	Klein, Kleyn, Klyn, Kline, Klyne, Clyne, Cline, Clain, Clien.