Revision as of 18:27, 23 November 2007

The ancestry of Peter Vogele is unknown. The literature suggests two possible families in the Lehigh/Berks Counties border area of Pennsylvania. A Fogel (von Vogel) family originally from Chur Hesse, Germany, emigrated in 1731 and founded the town of Fogelsville. Several lines of descent are traced, but no Peter Vogele is found. This family appears to have been Lutheran, and to have been consistent with the Fogel spelling after the immigrant generation.
Among the families settled along the Little Lehigh River was a Wilhelm Fegley (Vogelein). Here, the Vogele surname "came principally from Wurtemberg". Most of the settlers in this valley were Lutheran, but some Reformed families settled in this valley also. They had to attend the Reformed church in either Salisbury, or in Longswamp Twp., Berks County. Our Peter Vogele could have resided in either Longswamp Twp., Berks Co. PA, or in the Little Lehigh River valley, Lower Macungie Twp. Lehigh Co. PA. He apparently attended the Reformed church in Longswamp. The records of the Longswamp Reformed Church have baptismal records of children born to Peter Voegele & wife Elisabetha. The record is confusing however; there were apparently two couples named Peter Voegele & Elisabetha.
Also, the parentage of Elisabetha Voegele (birth date calculated as 22 Mar 1775, from whose death record we get the information that her parents were Peter Vogele & Elisabeth Martz), is in question. An Elisabetha Voegele was born 10 Mar 1775 to a Heinrich & Barbara Voegele, with Peter Vegly & Elisabeth Mertz as sponsors.
Because Heinrich & Barbara Voegele are sponsors at a Mertz baptism, and an Abraham Mertz is sponsor at the baptism of one of their children, it is to be presumed that Heinrich Voegely's wife may have been a Barbara Mertz. Thus two brothers may have married two sisters (Peter & Heinrich Voegele; Elisabetha & Barbara Mertz/Marz). At this point it is unclear which of these two couples is our direct line ancestors.

Ancestry chart segment

Generation 7            Generation 8
                        
                    +-- Peter Vogele
                    |   (????->1810)       
Elizabetha Vogele --+                     
(????-????)         |                         
                    +-- Elisabeth Marz
                        (????-1810)

Sources:

Children

(Children for whom Longswamp baptismal records list parents Peter & Elisabetha Vogele.
(More than one Peter & Elisabeth Vogele couple appear in Longswamp records after 1799, so younger children's parentage uncertain.)

(Vogele adults who serve as sponsors for the children of Elizabetha Vogele & Johan Jacob Klein; possibly Elizabetha's siblings, or cousins)

(Unnamed wife of Johann Kieser served as sponsor for a child of Elizabetha Vogele & Johan Jacob Klein. Mrs. Kieser is possibly a sibling of either Elizabetha Vogele or Johan Jacob Klein.)

Places of Residence

Photo Gallery

Sources

Source notes

• The records of Longswamp Reformed Church list an Elisabetha Voegele born 10 Mar 1775 to parents Heinrich & Barbara Voegele, with Peter Vegly & Elisabeth Mertz as sponsors. This birth date corresponds within 12 days to the birth date calculated from the death record for "Elizabeth Klein nee Vogele, wife of Johan Jacob Klein, the daughter of Peter Vogele & Elizabeth Marz". It has to be wondered whether her parents were Heinrich & Barbara, who then died leaving her to be raised/adopted by her sponsors, Peter Vogele & Elizabeth Marz.
  From the recording of their names as Peter Vegly & Elisabeth Mertz, (as the baptismal sponsors in 1775), one might conclude that they were not yet married at that time; however, the death record for Elisabetha Vogele also records her mother's name as Elizabeth Marz, rather than her married name, Vogele.
  Peter Vogele & wife do have a daughter Elisabetha in the baptismal records at Longswamp, but she was baptized 18 July 1784, so must be a different child from Elisabetha of the death record, wife of Johan Jacob Klein.
  The Longswamp records list 5 children for Heinrich & Barbara Voegele. Ten children are listed for Peter & Elisabetha Voegele, but this appears to include the children of two couples. There is a marraige record for a P. Vogele & Elisabeth in 1799, and in that same year 2 David Vogele's were born, one on 23 May and one on 7 November. Both have parents listed as Peter & Elisabetha. For more complete listings see Longswamp Reformed Church Records
  
  

• That Anna Maria, wife of Jacob Truckenmiller/Druckenmiller, could be a sister of Elizabetha Vogele is supported by these items:
  * Anna Maria Voegele b. 30 Mar. 1782, to Peter Voegele & wf., sponsors Philip & Eva Mertz.
  * Salome Klein born May 6, 1808, bapt.July 24, 1808; Nicolaus Klein & Maria, parents; Jacob Truckenmiller & Maria, sponsors.
  * Susanna Klein b. Apr. 27, 1798, bapt. June 24, 1798, Jacob Klein & Elisabetha, parents; Jacob Druckemiller & Anna Maria, sponsors.
  Anna Maria could also be a sister of Johan Jacob Klein and Nicolaus Klein; however no birth record of an Anna Maria Klein being born to Johannes Peter Klein has been found.
• Line by line search of the 1790, 1800 and 1810 census records for Macungie Twp, Northampton Co, PA yielded no clear results for Peter Vogele under any name variant. An Ancestry.com search of the entire county for first name Peter gave no clear choice. Although there are Peter Fegele (1800), Peter Fogel (1810) and others who could be our ancestor, the ages and children are not consistent with previous information and the data are not sufficient to make a choice. Longswamp Twp. Berks Co PA was also searched without useful results.

• The Lehigh Church records show multiple David Vogele baptisms, in 1779, 1790, 1804, & 1808.
  
• The Longswamp Church records show baptismal sponsors who may to be of the same generations as Peter Vogele and Elisabeth Marz: Christian, Heinrich, Philip, Abraham, Conrad , Mariga (with Christian Ritz, married in 1805), Magdalena.

Conjecture

Research

The material in this section is for research leads only. We do not wish to imply any connection to our family at present, nor suggest its use without additional confirmation.

• One John Nicholas Voegels was born 1784 to Joh. Bernard & Elizabeth Voegels, p. 15, baptisms of Upper Milford Reformed Congregation, now Zion's Reformed Church at Zionsville
• Historical& Biographical Annals of Berks County PA, by Montgomery, Vol. I, 1909, pg. 8 "First Taxables, "It is believed that the Assessment was made in the year 1752..." continues to Pg. 12 Longswamp Twp: Barnard Fegely, Samuel Fogel, Jacob Fenstermacher, Philip Fenstermacher, Bernhart Klein, Dewalt Klein, Nicholas Martz, Peter Martz, Joast Mertz, Henry Mentz (sic).... Pg. 1211 Biography of George Fegley, born 1806 in Douglass Twp., Montgomery Co. PA, where his family has long been located. Bernhard Fegley, the first of the name in this country, came from Switzerland...first located in Montgomery Co., near East Greenville, but died in Longswamp Twp., Berks Co. in 1782. Little in known of his son, Peter Fegley, the grandfather of George Fegley, except that he was born in Montgomery County & settled in Douglass Twp that county, induced by the fact that his uncle (a brother of Bernhard) had made a permanent settlement there... Peter Fegley, the father of George Fegley, born Douglass Twp., Montgomery Co., married Elizabeth Low...15 children including a Peter who married Rebecca Gottshall...no matches seen for out Direct Line ancestor Peter Vogele.

• "Berks Surnames Matched to German Hometowns", article in the Summer 1989 Journal of the Berks County Genealogical Society, pg. 63. quotes from Annette Burgert's "Eighteenth Century Emigrants Vol. I: "Northern Kraichgau Palatinate", that the surname Vogele originated in the village of Hoffenheim, in Wurtemberg.

• History of the Counties of Lehigh and Carbon by Alfred Mathews. History of Lehigh County PA:
• Pg. 340 "History of the Lehigh Church" by Rev. William A. Helffrich. He discusses the settlement of families along the Little Lehigh River valley in Macungie Twp., Lehigh Co. The "Lehigh Zion church, now known as the Lehigh Church" was Lutheran. Some of the settlers were Reformed, and their choice was to attend the Ziegel Church in Longswamp Twp, Berks Co., or to go to Salisbury. "Among the first immigrants (to the Little Lehigh vallery), who came principally from Wurtemberg, were the following...Wilhelm Fegley (Vogelein)."

• Pg.316 "Early Settlements" discusses early settlers around Fogelsville. "Philipp Gabriel Fogel is the ancestor of the Fogel family"...arrived on ship "Samuel" in 1731 at Philadelphia (name miss-recorded as Philipp F. Fogel). He came from the province Hanau in Churhesse, and is one of the first Reformed families that settled in Lehigh County...They settled near Lynnville on about 500 acres of land. Buried in cemetery of Ebenezer Church at New Tripoli of which he was one of the founders. Oldest son Conrad Fogel had 2 sons, Johannes & Philipp, and daughters...additional Fogel family biographies. Additional biographies of this family from"Hanan, Chur Hesse, Germany" are found in History of Lehigh County PA by Charles Rhoades Roberts, Vol II, pg. 369.

• "Tombstone Inscriptions, Fogelsville Union Cemetery, Lehigh Co. PA", manuscript at Lehigh County Historical Society Library; Fogel entries did not include a Peter Fogel.
• "J. H. Helffrich Records 1790-1810" at Lehigh Co. Hist. Soc. Library:11 Fegley, Fogel, Voegli, Vogele etc. marriages or burials; no Peter (Vogele/etc.) record.

• There are several families of Fegelys living in Longswamp Township, Berks County, PA in the period 1790 - 1810.
  • In 1790 there are three:
    • headed by Christ'n Fegely (3 males >16, 5 males <16, 3 females)(page 2 of census record)
    • headed by Henry Fegely (2 males > 16, 3 males <16, 6 females) (page 4 of census record)
    • headed by Peter Fegely (1 male > 16, 3 males <16, 3 females) (page 4 of census record)
      
  • In 1800 there are five (all on page 3 of census record, the list is alphabetical):
    • Henry Fegely (1 male 16-25, 1 female <10, 1 female 16-25)
    • Christ'n Fegely (2 males 10-15, 1 male >44, 1 female 16-25, 1 female >44)
    • Christ'n Fegely Jr. (1 male 16-25, 1 female <10, 1 female 16-25)
    • Phillip Fegely (1 male 16-25, 1 female <10, 1 female 16-25)
    • Henry Fegely (2 males <10, 2 males 10-15, 1 male >44, 1 female <10, 3 females 10-15, 1 female 26-44)
      
  • in 1810 there are four:
    • Christian Fegely (4 males <10, 1 male 26-44, 1 female <10, 1 female 26-44) (on page 1 of census)
    • Henry Fegely Senr (1 male 10-15, 2 males 16-25, 1 male >44, 2 females 16-25, 1 female >44) (page 2 of census)
    • George Fegely (1 male <10, 1 male 16-25, 1 female 10-15, 1 female 16-25) (page 2 of census)
    • Henry Fegely Jun (2 males <10, 1 male 26-44, 2 females <10, 1 female 10-15, 1 female 26-44 (page 3 of census)
      

Research Wishlist