Peter Hockenberry

THE HOCKENBERRY NAME & EARLY IMMIGRANTS
The name Hockenberry is one of several Anglicized forms of Hachenburger (such as Hachenberger, Hockenbury, Hillberry, etc.) Records indicate several early immigrants to America with variants of this name; their relationship, if any, is not yet established. Some degree of relationship between Herbert Hockenbury (b. ~1690) and Peter Hockenberry (b. ~1718) is indicated by the fact that Herbert's son Harmon Hockenbury left Sussex Co. NJ in 1799 and went to live among the Peter Hockenberry clan in Franklin Co., PA until 1833.
(Click here for complete text Hockenberry Name & Early Immigrants)
PETER HOCKENBERRY
Peter Hockenberry was born ~1718 in Germany, and was possibly from Hachenbrug, southeast of Bonn. He presumably married in Germany. He arrived in New Jersey with his first wife and five children in 1750, possibly Chambers, NJ. From there they proceded to the western limits of settlement, just beyond the Susquehanna River. They settled in what is now Fannett Twp., Franklin Co. PA about 1750, in the northern tip of the county, north of Chambersburg. Peter and his sons purchased large tracts of land, built three mills, and their homes. Peter's first wife, name unknown, died sometime after 1760 when her sixth child Jeremiah was born.
Documents petitioning for arms to defend against Tories and Indians attacking the settlement were signed by the Hockenberry men. Peter and his four sons, Henry, John, James and Jeremiah all served in the Revolutionary War, as did Henry's sons, Henry Jr. and Casper. Jeremiah, Henry Jr. and Casper would have been but teen-agers at the time. Peter served several tours of duty in the Cumberland County Militia, 1st & 6th Battalions under Capt. Thomas Askey. After the war, the Hockenberrys resumed life in Fannet Twp., Franklin Co. Pa.
Peter remarried by 1790 to Alice, surname unknown, and had five more children. Alice may have been scarcely older than Peter's oldest children. About twenty years later, Peter died and is burried in Fannet Twp., Franklin Co. PA. His will was probated in Feb. 1811. The will names Alice and all of Peter's children. Alice lived another thirty to forty years, residing first with her son Samuel in Franklin and Huntingdon counties, and then living next to some of her son James' children in Perry county. She died between 1840 and 1850.
THE CONFUSING CASPERS
Peter Hockenberry had two grandsons named Casper. Peter's two oldest sons, Henry and John, both named sons Casper. (This makes one expect to find an ancestor of Peter with this name also.) John's son Casper married Margaret Shaffer. Both John and his son Casper have biographies in the 1895 History of Butler County, Brown & Co. p. 1246. Casper and Margaret Shaffer Hockenberry had a son named Joseph Hockenberry who married and also named his son Casper.(That makes three). Joseph and his son Casper Hockenberry also have biographies on p. 1246 of the 1895 History of Butler Co.
The confusion seems to be regarding a Casper Hockenberry who resided in Clearfield County. There is material published regarding a Casper Hockenberry of Clearfield Co. PA, who married one of the daughters of a Mr. Greenwood, who was from England.
(For complete text on the several Casper Hockenberrys, click here) The names of the Greenwood daughters are known, but it is not known which of these married Casper Hockenberry; possibly Ann Greenwood, as their granddaughter was named Ann. The History of Clearfield County Pennsylvania, 1887, by Aldrich, in a biography of Judge John Hockenberry (p. 606) states that Judge John's grandfather, Casper Hockenberry, was a native of England. Apparently Casper's ancestry was confused with that of his wife and father-in-law. This miss-understanding is repeated elsewhere; see 200 Years in Clearfiled County by Betty Ricketts Welker 1983, Vision Press, Coalport PA.
Per our correspondence with Carol Hockenberry, Liverpool, NY 1991, there was a Mr. Robert Allison (now deceased) from the Clearfield County Historical Society who did extensive research on the Hockenberry family of Clearfield County. He had quite an old map that indicated the land holdings of Caper and his descendants. Mr. Allison wrote:
"I have been to the area where Casper lived more than once trying to locate those graves. All of the signs that would indicte that there was a homestead there have been wiped away. The area is not large and is only about five or six feet above the river at normal times, but a very large flood in 1889, and a biggger one in 1936 would have swept over the area, perhaps water five feet deep where the home and graves were located. Have also been to the farm where Casper's son John had lived for many years. The graves in the orchard were marked with field stones, so no identification as to (who) were buried there, but they were Hockenberrys. The graves were in the orchard and because it had not been legally deeded as a cemetery, the coal stripper was not violating any law,.... Casper probably had not been married very long when the Revolution started. He was the son of Henry and the grandson of Peter. In other words, nephew of John in the book."
He apparently refers to the manuscript "Descendants of Peter Hockenberry and His son John by Horace & Edith Renick, forwarded to him by Carol Hockenberry.
Carol Hockenberry recommends tow books which outline the descendants of this Casper: History of Clearfield County Pennsylvania (Aldrich), 1887; and Some Genealogies and Family Records (known as the Straw Genealogies, by A.Y. Straw), 1931.

	Date	Location	Notes	Sources
Birth	1718	Germany, possibly Hackenburg
Marriage			1st) Unknown; 2nd) Alice unknown
Death	Feb. 1811	Franklin Co., PA

Ancestry chart segment

 Generation 8           Generation 9           
  
                   +-- Peter Hockenberry
                   |   (1718-1811))
John Hockenberry --+
  (1741-1839)      |
                   +-- [unknown]
                        (????-????)
               

Sources:

Children

( children with Unknown first wife)

Name	Gender	Date of Birth	Birthplace	Spouse	Notes	Sources
Henry Hockenberry	M	1740	Germany
John Hockenberry	M	1741	Germany	Hannah Kelly	Direct line
Mary Hockenberry	F	1744	Germany
Margaret Hockenberry	F	1746	Germany
James Hockenberry	M	1748	Germany
Jeremiah Hockenberry	M	1760

( children with second wife Alice unknown)

Name	Gender	Date of Birth	Birthplace	Spouse	Notes	Sources
Peter Hockenberry, Jr.	M	1790
Catherine Hockenberry	F
Nancy Hockenberry	F
Samuel Hockenberry	M	1795
Robert Hockenberry	M	1797

Places of Residence

Location	Dates	Notes	Sources
Palatinate, Germany	1718-1750	possibly Hackenburg	Renick, Segura
Chambers, NJ	1750-?
Fannett Twp., Franklin Co., PA	?-1811	Peter died & is buried here
Franklin & Huntingdon Co.s, PA	>1811	Alice lived w/ her son Samuel
Perry Co., PA	?-1840/50	Alice lived next door to some of her son James' children until her death.

Sources

Ref. Num.	Description	Image of original
1	Thirty Thousand Names of Immigrants... by Israel D. Rupp. Johann Peter Hockenbert, passenger on Capt. Kerr's ship, the Jennifer, landed at Port of Philadelphia Pa,6 Nov. 1764. This source provided by Ardath Hillberry Yehle, The Hockenberry-Hillberry Family, p. ii.
2	Manuscript: Peter Hockenberry and Descendants of his Son, John Hockenberry by Edith and Horace Renick, 1975, gives a detailed genealogical record of Peter Hockenberry.	transcript
3	Certification of Military Service, from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission: "This is to certify that one Petter Hockenbury was enrolled as a Private, First Class, First company, First Battalion, Cumberland County Militia, in which capacity he served a tour of active duty in Captain Thomas Askey's Company of the First Class, under Order of Council, dated July 29, 1777, according to the evidence of the Fine Book of John Carothers, county Lieutenant, page 2". Dated October 29, 1970. Signed William H. Work, chief, Division of Archives and Manuscript. Residence ascribed: Fannett Township.
4	Will of Peter Hockenberry, Will No. 1070, Record Book B, p. 435; Probated 20 Feb. 181l. Names wife Alice; eldest son Henry; second son John; Mill, buildings & dams; daughters Mary and Margret; third son James; son Janes' children (not named); son Peter; land adjoining lands of James Johnston and Mattie Kyle; daughters Catherine and Nancy; son Sanuel; house and lot in Connelsburg; son Jeremiah; land at the Round Top Mountain; son Robert. Executors: son John and John Widney, son of James. Signed 28 April 1810. Peter Hockenberry. Witnesses: James Campbell, James Widney, John Widney, Jr.; Register for probate 10 Feb. 1811, James Campbell & John Widney, Jr., witnesses; John Findlay, Register.	(Complete transcription, Will of Peter Hockenberry)
5	Elsie Segura, Elwood City PA, personal correspondence 1998, and Descendants of Reinhard Hachenburger by Elsie Segura.
5	Personal correspondence from Elizabeth Wilson Williams.

Source notes

• The certification of military service for Petter Hockenbury, and the transcription of the will of Peter Hockenberry are part of the research collection of Horace & Edith Renick.
• Children's birth dates estimated from census records ( by Renick).

Conjecture

• Expect to find an ancestor(or brother?)of Peter named Casper Hockenberry. Peter Hockenberry has two grandsons (sons of both Henry and John) named Casper, as well as a great-great-grandson (Casper son of Joseph, son of Casper, son of John, son of Peter).
• It is interesting to note on in the certificate of military service for Petter Hockenbury that the County Lieutenant (Cumberland County) was John Carothers. Peter Hockenberry's granddaughter married the son of John Carothers' nephew (ie. Jane Hockenberry married Moses McCandless, son of William "Tailor Billy" McCandless). These two families obviously knew each other in Cumberland County, before the McCandlesses moved westward to Westmoreland and Butler Counties.