ABC Biography of Philip Jacob and Maria Barbara (Wilhelm) König Family of Rheinland-Pfalz and Pennsylvania

Using the ABC method described in Using Artificial Intelligence In the Ancestor Biography Creation (ABC) Process -- Updated, enhanced by further developments, here is another ancestor couple biography using the Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.6 AI tool.

1) The genealogical sketch for my 5th great-grandparents Philip Jacob and Maria Barbara (Wilhelm) König of Pennsylvania, including family members, record abstracts and sources, is in Genealogical Sketch for the Philip Jacob König (1738-1792) and Maria Barbara Wilhelm (1740-before 1779) Family of Rheinland-Pfalz and Pennsylvania.

(AI NotebookLM Infographic - Philp Jacob and Maria Barbara (Wilhelm) Konig  Family Biography)

2) For the Claude AI biography, I attached a PDF of the genealogical sketch for the specific ancestors using the plus (+) icon, and then prompted the AI tool with:  "You are an expert genealogist and family historian. Please create a biography based on information in the attached file for the Philip Jacob and Maria Barbara (Wilhelm) König family. Include parents, siblings, spouses and children (with birth and death dates and places). Summarize life events, add historical events as appropriate, but do not add or embellish any extra genealogical details. Use section headings. Expand the information in each section to add more details. The tone should be engaging and suitable for family members."

3)  The Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.6 biography (lightly edited for accuracy) is: 

Philip Jacob König and Maria Barbara Wilhelm

A Family History from Rheinland-Pfalz to 

 Pennsylvania -- 1738–1792

Philip Jacob König: Early Life in Germany

Philip Jacob König was born on 15 February 1738 in the small village of Niederhorbach, in the Rheinland-Pfalz region of what is now southwestern Germany. Three days later, on 18 February 1739, he was baptized in nearby Edenkoben — a time when the church and family were inseparably intertwined, and baptism was both a spiritual and civic event of great importance.

Philip Jacob was the son of Johann Nicolaus König (1707–1776) and his second wife, Maria Margaretha Stuber (1702–1771), who had married in 1735 in Edenkoben. Nicolaus had previously been married to Maria Ursula Bohringer (1709–before 1735), with whom he had two sons before her early death.

Philip Jacob's Siblings

From his father Nicolaus's first marriage, Philip Jacob had two older half-brothers:

• Johann Gottfried König, born before 24 October 1728 in Edenkoben — he would later marry Anna Christina Ziegler around 1761 in York, Pennsylvania, and lived until 19 October 1805 in Manchester, York County, Pennsylvania.
• Johann Peter König, born December 1730 in Edenkoben — he settled in Hatfield, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1793.

From his parents' marriage, Philip Jacob had three siblings:

• Anna Elisabetha König, born before 6 March 1737 in Edenkoben — she married Johann Martin Cronemiller on 20 June 1756 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and lived until after 1776 in Manchester, York County.
• Johan Wilhelm König, born about 1745 in Edenkoben — no further record has been found.
• Maria Barbara König, born before 11 February 1750 in Edenkoben — she married Johann Adam Wilhelm about 1770 in York, Pennsylvania.

The Journey to Pennsylvania

In October 1752, when Philip Jacob was about fourteen years old, his entire family uprooted their lives and joined the great wave of Palatine German emigration to colonial America. The Nicolaus König family sailed aboard the ship Ketty, crossing the Atlantic to begin a new chapter in Pennsylvania Colony. They settled in York County, joining a thriving German-speaking community that had established churches, farms, and mills in the fertile Pennsylvania countryside.

This was a time of tremendous movement — tens of thousands of German-speaking families fled economic hardship, religious persecution, and political instability in the Rhine Valley, seeking land and liberty in the New World. The journey itself was grueling: weeks at sea in cramped conditions, with disease an ever-present danger. That the König family arrived together and intact was itself a blessing.

After arriving in Pennsylvania, Philip Jacob König took the important civic step of becoming a naturalized British subject in 1762, in accordance with an act of Parliament — a formal declaration of his commitment to his new home just one year before he would take a wife.

Maria Barbara Wilhelm: Born in the New World

Maria Barbara Wilhelm was born 7 September 1740 in Tulpehoeken, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Colony — the fifth child and second daughter of Johann Jacob Wilhelm (1698–1773) and Anna Catherina Unruh (1709–1771). Unlike her future husband, Maria Barbara was American-born, though her parents had made their own Atlantic crossing just six years before her birth.

Her parents, Johann Jacob Wilhelm and Anna Catherina Unruh, had married around 1727 in Bavaria and made their voyage to Pennsylvania aboard the ship Saint Andrew, arriving in Philadelphia on 12 September 1734. They settled in the Tulpehoeken region of Lancaster County, where Maria Barbara was born. The Tulpehoeken Valley was a particularly vibrant center of German settlement, its fertile farmland attracting many Palatine families.

Maria Barbara's Siblings

Maria Barbara grew up in a large and close-knit family with five siblings:

• Johann Jacob Wilhelm, born 9 February 1728 in Walsheim, Rheinland-Pfalz — he married Sophia Catharine Schupp in 1754 in Lancaster and died 16 November 1784 in Donegal, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.
• Johann Valentin Wilhelm, born before 2 December 1731 in Niederhochstadt, Rheinland-Pfalz — remarkably, he returned to Europe and died 17 March 1809 at the age of 77 in Harras, Thüringen, Germany.
• Maria Catharina Wilhelm, born about 1736, probably in Berks County — she married Henrich Zanck before 1752 and died 4 February 1793 in Lancaster.
• Philip Jacob Wilhelm, born 10 January 1738 in Tulpehoeken — he married Maria Elisabeth Haberstich on 25 May 1762 in Lancaster and died 20 October 1795 in Lancaster.
• Johann Adam Wilhelm, born before 24 November 1742 in Tulpehoeken — he married Maria Barbara König (Philip Jacob's sister!) around 1770, a charming intertwining of the two families. He died 20 July 1824 in Lancaster.

Marriage and Family Life

On 1 April 1763, Philip Jacob König and Maria Barbara Wilhelm were joined in marriage in a ceremony performed by the Reverend John Waldschmidt of the Reformed faith. The wedding took place in the parlor of the bride's family home in Lancaster County — an intimate and personal setting befitting the close family ties of the German Reformed community. The Lancaster church records capture the moment simply but warmly:

"König, Philip Jacob, s. of Nicolaus König, and Maria Barbara, d. of Jacob Wilhelm; Apr. 1, 1763; in Jacob Wilhelm's house."

It is a tender detail that their wedding took place in Maria Barbara's childhood home, surrounded by family. The couple made their home in York County, Pennsylvania, where they would raise their family. The note that Philip Jacob's sister Maria Barbara König would eventually marry Maria Barbara Wilhelm's brother Johann Adam Wilhelm speaks to the depth of connection between these two families.

Philip Jacob and Maria Barbara had seven children together between 1764 and 1777, the first four baptized in the First Reformed (Trinity) Church in York, and the last three in Manchester Lutheran Church:

• Philip Jacob König, born 24 February 1764 in York, York County — he married Catherine Ruth before 1789 (12 children together), and after her death married Christina Miller on 8 March 1814 (three more children). He died 2 March 1829 in Spring Garden Township, York County.

• Elizabeth König, born 17 May 1767 in York, York County — she married Bernard Pentz in York; no known children.

• Henry König, born 8 January 1770 in York, York County — he married Elizabeth Diehl about 1790; they had one child. He died about 1805 in York.

• George König, born 4 July 1774 in York, York County — he married Catherine Mary Stickle in 1794 in Somerset County; they had 11 children. He died 4 October 1844 in Perryopolis, Fayette County, Pennsylvania.

• Peter König, born 18 December 1775 in Manchester, York County — he married Susanna Miller on 3 March 1800; they had nine children. He died May 1847 in York.

• John König, born 16 May 1776 in Manchester, York County — no further record has been found.

• Barbara König, born 30 November 1777 in Manchester, York County — she married John Rouse in 1796 in York; they had six children. She died 13 February 1805 in York.

Building a Life: Farm, Mill, and Community

Philip Jacob König was a man of industry and civic energy. As early as 27 December 1763 — just months after his wedding — he purchased 200 acres of his parents' farm, including the family home. He worked the land as a farmer for several years, building a foundation for his growing family.

Then, in 1771, his path changed. His brother-in-law Martin Cronemiller (husband of Philip Jacob's sister Anna Elisabetha) died that year, leaving behind a grist mill and his widow. On 10 June 1771, Philip Jacob became the owner of the grist mill and 13 acres of adjoining land — stepping into both a new livelihood and a responsibility to the family. The transition from farmer to miller was a significant step up in both economic standing and community importance; a grist mill was the beating heart of any agricultural settlement, where neighbors brought their grain and debts were settled.

By 1779, Philip Jacob had expanded his operations further, purchasing a large lot in York for 1,500 pounds from Henry and Catharine Wolf. A sawmill was built on the property and was operational before 1781, giving the König family a remarkable dual enterprise of milling both grain and timber.

The scale of his success is reflected in the 1780 Tax and Exoneration List for York County, where Philip Jacob King (as the name was increasingly Anglicized) was recorded in Manchester Township with:

• 256 acres of warranted land
• 3 horses and mares
• 4 horned cattle
• 1 grist mill and 1 sawmill
• A total assessed value of £132 7s 6d

By 1783, his prosperity had grown further: two houses, a grist mill, a sawmill, 250 acres, three horses, five cows, and twelve sheep. He was a substantial landowner and businessman by any measure of the era.

A Patriot in the American Revolution

Philip Jacob König was no mere bystander when the colonies rose against British rule. In 1775, he emerged as a public figure in York County, first appointed as Supervisor of Highways for Manchester Township and then, in November 1775, chosen by popular vote as a member of the York County Committee of Safety. This was a position of real power and real risk — the committee functioned as the local government in all matters relating to the war effort, selecting officers for the Sixth Pennsylvania Battalion, organizing and training troops, and overseeing the local militia.

On 7 July 1776 — just three days after the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia — the five militia battalions of York County were on the march toward Perth Amboy, New Jersey, to prepare for battle against General Howe's forces threatening New York City. The campaign that followed was a sobering one: after New York fell to the British, the catastrophic Battle of Fort Washington on 16 November 1776 resulted in the near-total capture of many American forces, as the American troops were outflanked by the enemy. Many of the York County troops were not captured and returned to York.

Yet from disaster came triumph. The York County troops were at the vanguard of Washington's legendary crossing of the Delaware River on the night of 25–26 December 1776, and were among those who struck at Trenton and Princeton — the victories that revived American spirits and changed the course of the war.

Upon returning home, Philip Jacob resumed his work with the Committee of Safety and served as Assessor for Manchester Township in 1777 and 1778. In 1779, he began a three-year enlistment as Commanding Officer of the Fourth Company, Third Battalion, holding the rank of Captain and commanding 72 men. His company served until it was disbanded after the war's end in 1783. Philip Jacob König was a Patriot in both word and deed.

Loss, and a New Beginning

No death or burial record for Maria Barbara (Wilhelm) König has been found, and the silence of the historical record speaks to how invisible women's lives could be in this era. She likely died sometime before 1779, probably in York County, Pennsylvania — a young woman in her late thirties, having borne seven children in fourteen years. Her death would have left Philip Jacob with children ranging from infants to teenagers.

By around 1781, Philip Jacob had remarried. His second wife was Maria Catherina Ziegler, born 10 March 1749 in York and baptized at Christ Lutheran Church. She was the daughter of John and Anna Ziegler — and notably, Philip Jacob's own brother Johann Gottfried had married an Anna Christina Ziegler, suggesting the two families were already well acquainted. Philip Jacob and Maria Catherina had three children:

• John Adam König, born 20 January 1783 in York — he died 7 May 1835 at the age of 52 in York.

• Catherine König, born 1787 in York — no further record.

• Anna Maria König, born 10 August 1791 in York — she married Johan George Slouch on 12 November 1809 in York, had two children, and died 16 July 1859 in York. 

Later Years and Legacy

In 1786, Philip Jacob King was enumerated in the Pennsylvania Septennial Census in Manchester, York County. In April 1787, he petitioned to take up 50 acres of additional land in Manchester Township, and the warrant was signed by none other than Benjamin Franklin, then President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania — a remarkable detail that places Philip Jacob in direct contact, however bureaucratically, with one of the Founding Fathers.

The 1790 United States Census found the household in Manchester Township with one free white male over 16 (Philip Jacob himself), three free white males under 16, four free white females, and one other free person — possibly a mill or farm laborer. It was a busy and productive household.

Philip Jacob King drafted his will on 29 November 1791, a thorough and thoughtful document that reveals both the scale of his estate and his care for his family. The will was probated on 25 February 1792 in York County, indicating he had died shortly before that date, at the age of approximately 53.

The will's provisions tell us much about the man:

• His widow Catherine was to receive a house in York (not to exceed 100 pounds), 600 pounds annually from the estate, and a careful list of household goods — including a cow, beds, pewter plates and basins, a copper kettle, a clothes press, and linens — ensuring she and the younger children would be comfortable.

• His son Henry inherited the grist mill and sawmill together with 50 acres, on the condition that he make payments to equalize the inheritance among all nine children.

• Sons Adam, Peter, and George received equal shares of land in Westmoreland County.

• Fifty pounds was bequeathed to the First Reformed Church in York — a lasting expression of his faith.

• The remainder of his property was to be sold at public auction and the proceeds divided equally among his nine children, with a modest additional sum to his eldest son Philip Jacob.

The life estate in York for Catherine was finalized on 17 March 1792 for 180 pounds. She lived there for 34 years until her own death on 5 February 1826 at the age of 76.

The public sale of Philip Jacob's estate took place in the first week of May 1792. Two plantations of approximately 200 acres each sold for nearly 1,600 pounds apiece — a testament to what he had built from the ground up over four decades in Pennsylvania.

A Family Remembered

Philip Jacob King, his two wives, and several of their children are believed to be buried at Prospect Hill Cemetery in York, Pennsylvania. Sadly, no gravestones for them survive today — their markers lost to time, weather, or the simple passage of generations. Yet the record they left behind in church registers, court documents, census rolls, tax lists, military rosters, and property deeds tells the story of an extraordinary family.

From a village in the Rhineland Palatinate to the farms and mills of York County, Pennsylvania, Philip Jacob König and Maria Barbara Wilhelm lived lives that embodied the immigrant experience: the courage to cross an ocean, the labor to build something new, the faith that sustained their community, and the patriotism that helped forge a nation. Their seven children and the families they founded carried that legacy forward for generations.

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4) An Audio Overview (essentially a podcast) created by the Google NotebookLM AI tool) describing and celebrating the lives of the Philip Jacob and Maria Barbara (Wilhelm) König family can be heard here (click on "Play" for the "Audio Overview").

5)  The Video Overview discussing the Philip Jacob and Maria Barbara (Wilhelm) König  family created by the Google NotebookLM AI tool is:  

6)  The Slide Deck produced by Google NotebookLM was incorporated into a Google Slides file, and the created Google Vids presentation is below:  

7)  I edited the Claude biography text to correct minor inconsistencies and errors. Every large language model (LLM) AI tool writes descriptive text much better than I can write. I was an aerospace engineer in my former life, and my research reports and genealogical sketches reflect "just the facts gleaned from my research." The AI tools are very perceptive, insightful and create readable text in seconds, including local and national historical events and social history detail when requested.

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Links to my blog posts about using Artificial Intelligence are on my Randy's AI and Genealogy page. Links to AI information and articles about Artificial Intelligence in Genealogy by other genealogists are on my AI and Genealogy Compendium page.

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Genealogical Sketch for the Philip Jacob König (1738-1792) and Maria Barbara Wilhelm (1740-before 1779) Family of Rheinland-Pfalz and Pennsylvania

This is a genealogical sketch of the Philip Jacob König (1738-1792) and Maria Barbara Wilhelm (1740-1779) family from Rheinland-Pfalz (now Germany) and Pennsylvania. 

=============================

Philip Jacob König’s Early Life

Philip Jacob König was born 15 February 1738 in Niederhorbach, Rheinland-Pfalz[1-3] and baptized on 18 February 1739 in Edenkoben, Rheinland-Pfalz, according to the German Birth and Baptism records on FamilySearch[2]. He was the son of Johann Nicolaus König (1707-1776) and his second wife, Maria Margaretha Stuber (1702-1771) who married in 1735 in Edenkoben, Rheinland-Pfalz.

From Nicolaus König’s first marriage to Maria Ursula Bohringer (1709-before 1735) in 1726 there were two sons:[3]

• Johann Gottfried König, born before 24 October 1728, Edenkoben, Rheinland-Pfalz; married Anna Christina Ziegler, about 1761, York, Pennsylvania Colony; died 19 October 1805, Manchester, York, Pennsylvania.
• Johann Peter König was born in December 1730 in Edenkoben, Rheinland-Pfalz; He died in 1793 at the age of 63 in Hatfield, Montgomery, Pennsylvania.

From his marriage to Maria Margaretha Stuber, there were four children:[3]

• Anna Elisabetha König, born before 6 Mar 1737, Edenkoben, Rheinland-Pfalz; married Johann Martin Cronemiller, 20 June 1756, Lancaster, Lancaster, Pennsylvania Colony; died after 1776, Manchester, York, Pennsylvania.
• Philip Jacob König, born 15 February 1738, Niederhorbach, Rheinland-Pfalz; married (1) Maria Barbara Wilhelm, 1 April 1763, Lancaster, Lancaster, Pennsylvania Colony; married (2) Maria Catherina Ziegler, about 1779, York, York, Pennsylvania; died before 25 February 1792, Manchester, York, Pennsylvania.
• Johan Wilhelm König was born about 1745 in Edenkoben, Rheinland-Pfalz. No further record.
• Maria Barbara König, born before 11 February 1750, Edenkoben, Rheinland-Pfalz; married Johann Adam Wilhelm, about 1770, York, Pennsylvania.

The Nicolaus König family migrated from Rheinland-Pfalz in the Palatine migration to Pennsylvania Colony in October 1752 aboard the ship Kitty, and settled in York, Pennsylvania Colony.[3]

Philip Jacob König became a naturalized British subject in 1762, in accordance with an edict of His Majesty's Parliament[3].

Maria Barbara Wilhelm’s Early Life

Maria Barbara Wilhelm was born 7 September 1740, Tulpehoeken, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Colony, the fifth child and second daughter of Johann Jacob Wilhelm (1698-1773) and Anna Catherina Unruh (1709-1771), who married in about 1727 in Bavaria. The children in the family included:

• Johann Jacob Wilhelm, born 9 February 1728, Walsheim, Rheinland-Pfalz; married Sophia Catharine Schupp, 1754, Lancaster, Pennsylvania Colony; died 16 November 1784, Donegal, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania.
• Johann Valentin Wilhelm was born before 2 December 1731 in Niederhochstadt, Rheinland-Pfalz; died on 17 March 1809 at the age of 77 in Harras, Thüringen, Germany.
• Maria Catharina Wilhelm, born about 1736, probably Berks, Pennsylvania Colony; married Henrich Zanck, before 1752, Lancaster, Pennsylvania Colony; died 4 February 1793, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
• Philip Jacob Wilhelm, born 10 January 1738, Tulpehoeken, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Colony; married Maria Elisabeth Haberstich, 25 May 1762, Lancaster, Lancaster, Pennsylvania Colony; died 20 Oct 1795, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
• Maria Barbara Wilhelm, born 7 September 1740, Tulpehoeken, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Colony; married Philip Jacob König, 1 April 1763, Lancaster, Lancaster, Pennsylvania Colony; died before 1779, York, York, Pennsylvania.
• Johann Adam Wilhelm, born before 24 November 1742, Tulpehoeken, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Colony; married Maria Barbara König, about 1770, York, Pennsylvania Colony; died 20 July 1824, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States.

The Johann Jacob Wilhelm family migrated from Rheinland-Pfalz to Pennsylvania on the ship Saint Andrew, arriving in Philadelphia on 12 September 1734. They settled in Tulpehoeken in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Colony before 1738.[4]

Their Married Life Together

On April 1, 1763, the Reverend John Waldschmidt, of the reformed faith, married Philip Jacob König and Maria Barbara Wilhelm, in the parlor of the bride's home, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The marriage record in Lancaster church records says[5]:

"König, Philip Jacob, s. of Nicolaus König, and Maria Barbara, d. of Jacob Wilhelm; Apr. 1, 1763; in Jacob Wilhelm's house."

Philip Jacob and Maria Barbara (Wilhelm) König had seven children between 1763 and 1777 in York County, Pennsylvania[1-3]. The first four were baptized in the First Reformed (Trinity) church in York, and the last three were baptized in Manchester Lutheran church.

• Philip Jacob König, born 24 February 1764, York, York, Pennsylvania Colony; married (!) Catherine Ruth, before 1789, York, York, Pennsylvania, 12 children; married (2) Christina Miller, 8 March 1814, York, York, Pennsylvania, three children; died 2 March 1829, Spring Garden Township, York, Pennsylvania.

• Elizabeth König, born 17 May 1767, York, York, Pennsylvania Colony; married Bernard Pentz, York, Pennsylvania, no known children.

• Henry König, born 8 January 1770, York, York, Pennsylvania Colony; married Elizabeth Diehl, about 1790, York, York, Pennsylvania, one child; died about 1805, York, Pennsylvania.

• George König, born 4 July 1774, York, York, Pennsylvania Colony; married Catherine Mary Stickle, 1794, Somerset, Pennsylvania, 11 children; died 4 October 1844, Perryopolis, Fayette, Pennsylvania.

• Peter König, born 18 Dec 1775, Manchester, York, Pennsylvania; married Susanna Miller, 3 March 1800, York, York, Pennsylvania, nine children; died May 1847, York, Pennsylvania.

• John König was born on 16 May 1776 in Manchester, York, Pennsylvania. No further record.

• Barbara König, born 30 November 1777, Manchester, York, Pennsylvania; married John Rouse, 1796, York, York, Pennsylvania, six children; died 13 February 1805, York, Pennsylvania, United States.

On 27 December 1763, Jacob purchased 200 acres of his parents farm, including their home. Jacob was a farmer until 1771, when he became a miller of grain. His brother-in-law, Martin Cronemiller, died in 1771, and his grist mill became the property of his widow Elizabeth, Jacob's sister. On June 10, 1771, he became the owner of the grist mill and 13 acres of adjoining land[3].

The will of Jacob Wilhelm of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Colony, father of Maria Barbara (Wilhelm) König, was written 17 August 1771, and proved in probate court on 16 October 1773. The will identifies Maria Barbara as the wife of Philip Jacob King, and bequeathed to her[6]:

• a one-fifth share of his real and personal estate after the death of his wife, except for that property bequeathed to his three sons.
• 25 pounds each year out of the estate to be paid to her by her brothers, Philip Jacob and Adam.

In 1775, Philip Jacob King emerged as a public figure, with his appointment as Supervisor of Highways for Manchester township. In November 1775, he was chosen by popular vote as a member of the York County Committee of Safety. This was after the American Revolution had begun, and the committee was the local authority in all matters pertaining to prosecution of the war. The committee selected officers for the Sixth Pennsylvania Battalion, formed the battalion and trained them for service. The committee members also served in the local militia[3].

On 7 July 1776, three days after the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia, the five militia battalions of York County were on the march to the rendezvous point at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, to prepare for battle with General Howe's Army threatening New York City. After New York was captured by the British, in the disastrous battle of Fort Washington on 16 November 1776, the York County troops were outflanked by the enemy and almost the entire command was captured. However, the York County troops were at the vanguard of the battles of Trenton and Princeton on the morning of 26 December 1776, following the crossing of the Delaware[3,7].

Upon his return to York, Jacob King resumed his activities for the Committee of Safety, and served in 1777 and 1778 as Assessor for Manchester Township, while remaining active in the militia. In 1779, he began a three year enlistment as commanding officer of the Fourth Company, Third Battalion, holding the rank of Captain. His company numbered 72 men. The company was disbanded after the end of the war in 1783[3,7].

Later Years and Deaths

No death or burial records for Maria Barbara (Wilhelm) König have been found. She probably died before 1779, probably in York, Pennsylvania.

In 1779, Jacob King purchased a large lot in York for 1,500 pounds from Henry and Catharine Wolf. A saw mill was erected and put into operation before 1781[3].

In the 1780 Tax and Exoneration List for York County, Pennsylvania, Philip Jacob King was listed in Manchester township[8]. He had:

• Warranted land: 256 acres
• 3 horses and mares
• 4 horned cattle
• 1 grist mill
• 1 sawmill
• Value: £132-7s-6d

He married, secondly, before 1781, his second wife, Maria Catherine Ziegler, daughter of John and Anna Ziegler, born 10 March 1749 and baptized in Christ Lutheran Church in York. They had three children between 1783 and 1791[3]:

Maria Catherina Ziegler was born on 10 March 1749 in York, York, Pennsylvania Colony.

Philip Jacob König and Maria Catherina Ziegler had the following children:[3]

• John Adam König was born on 20 January 1783 in York, York, Pennsylvania. He died on 7 May 1835 at the age of 52 in York, York, Pennsylvania.

• Catherine König was born in 1787 in York, York, Pennsylvania; no further record.

• Anna Maria König was born on 10 August 1791 in York, York, Pennsylvania; married Johan George Slouch 12 November 1809 in York, Pennsylvania, two children; died 16 July 1859, York, Pennsylvania.

In 1783, he was the owner of two houses, a grist mill, a saw mill and 250 acres in Manchester township. He had three horses, five cows and twelve sheep[3].

Philip Jacob King was enumerated on the 1786 Septennial Census in Manchester, York County, Pennsylvania[9].

On 10 April 1787, Philip Jacob King "... requested to take up 50 acres of land, including an improvement, adjoining George Wolf, Casper Knaub, Gust Herbasuch and other land of the said King in Manchester Township...." provided he pay 10 pounds per hundred acres to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The warrant was signed by Benjamin Franklin, President of the Supreme Executive Council[10].

In the 1790 United States Census, Jacob Phillip King was enumerated in Manchester, York County, Pennsylvania[11]. The household included:

• 3 free white males under age 16
• 1 free white male over age 16 (certainly Philip Jacob King)
• 4 free white females (certainly wife Catherine, and three of the daughters)
• 1 other free person (perhaps a mill or farm laborer)

Philip Jacob King drafted his will on 29 November 1791[12]; it was probated on 25 February 1792 in York County Probate Court, with his eldest son, Philip Jacob King, and his friend Peter Diehl, designated as executors of the estate. The will included:

Regarding his widow, the executors were empowered to purchase a widow's seat in York for a price not to exceed 100 pounds. She was also to receive 600 pounds annually from the estate, and be given "one cow, two beds, six pewter plates, two pewter platters, two large pewter basins, six pewter spoons, a copper kettle or an iron pot and a tea kettle, all of which she shall have her choice, the clothes press and as much linens as she shall choose, and have need for herself and small children."

Henry, the second son, inherited his father's grist mill and saw mill together with 50 acres of land on which they stood. The will directed that Henry should make an initial payment of 1,500 pounds to the estate, 400 pounds after the first year, and 100 pounds yearly thereafter, to be equitable to the other eight children. Adam, Peter and George were granted equal shares of land owned in Westmoreland County. 50 pounds was bequeathed to the First Reformed Church in York. Lastly, it was his wish that the remainder of his real and personal property be sold at public sale and the proceeds divided equally to his nine children, with the one exception that his eldest son, Philip Jacob, receive 120 pounds, part of which he had received prior to the date of the will.

The life estate in York for the widow was consummated on 17 March 1792 for 180 pounds. Catherine King lived there for 34 years until her death in 1826. The public sale occurred in the first week of May, and two plantations of approximately 200 acres were sold for almost 1,600 pounds each.

Maria Catherina (Ziegler) König died on 5 February 1826 at the age of 76 in York, York, Pennsylvania, United States.

Philip Jacob King and his two wives and several children are probably buried at Prospect Hill Cemetery in York, Pennsylvania, but there are no extant gravestones for them.

Sources:

1. Konig-King research material ( letters and family group sheets), 1973-1980; held by Historical Society of York County Pennsylvania, [address for private use], Johann Nicholas Konig family group sheet, Philip Jacob Konig baptism record, Philip Jacob Konig family group sheet.

2. "Deutschland Geburten und Taufen, 1558-1898," indexed database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org), Philipps Jacob Koenig entry, birth 15 February 1738, baptism 18 February 1739; accessed on FHL microfilm 193,822.

3. Richard Shue, The Kings of York County: Pioneers, Patriots and Papermakers (York, Penn. : the author, n.d.), Part II.

4. John H. Grimes, "The Wilhelm Family of Northwestern Berks," website, Tulpehoeken Settlement Historical Society (https://www.Tulpehoekenroots.org/genealogy-wilhelm-family/ : accessed 7 March 2021), "Genealogy -- Wilhelm Family", Johann Jacob Wilhelm family information.

5. "Pennsylvania Marriage Records, 1700-1821," imaged, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com), Lancaster > Rev. John Waldschmidt, 1752-1786, page 235, Philip Jacob Konig and Maria Barbara Wilhelm marriage entry, 1 April 1763.

6. "Pennsylvania, Probate Records, 1683-1994," imaged, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org), Jacob Wilhelm will, written 17 August 1771, registered 16 October 1773; accessed in Lancaster County, “Wills, 1747-1830, Vol. I-K,” Book J, pages 350-353, images 424-425 of 786.

7. U.S. Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970, online database and images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com), SAR Membership 68972, Philip Jacob King service.

8. "Pennsylvania, Tax and Exoneration, 1768-1801," imaged, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com); citing Tax & Exoneration Lists, 1762–1794. Series No. 4.61; Records of the Office of the Comptroller General, RG-4. Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, York County > Manchester, image 3 of 88, Philip Jacob King entry.

9. "Pennsylvania, Septennial Census, 1779-1863," imaged, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com), York > 1786, Manchester township, page 31 (image 18 of 68), No. 91, Philip Jacob King entry.

10. "Pennsylvania, Land Warrants and Applications, 1733-1952," imaged, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com), Jacob Philip King entry.

11. 1790 United States Federal Census, York County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Manchester, page 351, Jacob Phillip King household, imaged, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication M637, Roll 9.

12. "Pennsylvania, Probate Records, 1683-1994," imaged, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org), Philip Jacob King will, written 9 November 1791, registered 25 February 1792; accessed in York County, “Wills, 1789-1803, Vol. H-K,” Book H, pages 289-291, images 164 and 165 of 779.

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Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver

The URL for this post is: https://www.geneamusings.com/2026/06/genealogical-sketch-for-philip-jacob.html

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on X, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com. Please note that all comments are moderated, and may not appear immediately.

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Life Memoir of Frederick Schaffner (1828-1899) in San Francisco in 1899

  I wrote an AI-assisted ABC biography for the family of my wife's 2nd great-grandfather Frederick Schaffner in ABC Biography of Frederick Schaffner (1828-1899) Family of Germany, New York and San Francisco, based on my genealogical research over 38 years. 

I wondered what Frederick Schaffner might have told his grandchildren in a life memoir in 1899. 

(AI Google NotebookLM Infographic for Frederick Schaffner's life memoir)

1)  I requested Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.5 to create a memoir told by Frederick Schaffner about his life in 1899.  The prompt was:  "Please write a life memoir for Frederick Schaffner based on the attached biography, as he might tell to his grandchildren in 1899."

2)  The AI Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.5 memoir (edited for accuracy and completeness) is: 

As I Remember It

The Life of Frederick Schaffner

Told to His Grandchildren

San Francisco, California • 1899

The Boy from Darmstadt

Pull your chair a little closer, children. The fire is warm and I am not as loud as I once was. There. That is better.

I want to tell you about a city you have never seen, in a country most of you know only from what I have told you. I want to tell you about Darmstadt — my Darmstadt — because that is where I began, and a man should know where he began.

I was born there on the sixteenth of June, in the year 1828. Darmstadt was the capital city of the Grand Duchy of Hesse — a proper city, not a village, mind you — with grand buildings, a ducal palace, wide avenues lined with linden trees, and the smell of baking bread drifting out of every other window on a Sunday morning. Germany in those days was not one nation as it is now. It was a patchwork of kingdoms and duchies and principalities, each with its own duke or prince, each with its own little army and its own taxes and its own way of doing things. Hesse was one such place. We were proud of it.

I cannot tell you much about my parents. They are gone now, gone so long that the details have softened in my memory like old leather. What I can tell you is that Darmstadt was a city of craftsmen and merchants and scholars, and that a boy growing up there in the 1830s grew up with certain notions — notions of hard work, of order, of the importance of one's community. Those notions served me well later, though I did not always know it at the time.

The Germany of my boyhood was a restless place. There was hunger in the countryside — harvests had failed, and the old ways of farming could not feed so many mouths. There was talk in the taverns and the market squares of revolution, of rights, of a unified German nation. I was young, and I listened to these conversations with wide eyes. But even as a boy I could see that the pot was boiling, and I began to understand that a clever man might do well to find a new pot altogether.

America was the word on everyone's lips. The New World. A place where a man with nothing but his two hands and his willingness to work could make something of himself. I had cousins who had gone. I had neighbors who had gone. Letters came back, and the letters were full of wonder — of wide streets and open land and a government that did not concern itself with whether you had paid your dues to a duke.

By the time I was a young man of twenty or so, my mind was made up. I would go.

New York, and a Woman Named Susanna

I will not bore you with the voyage across the Atlantic. Suffice it to say that it was long, and that the sea does not care a fig for your comfort. I arrived in New York in the late 1840s or thereabouts — I confess the exact year has blurred a little with time — and I was not alone. Half of Europe seemed to have had the same idea at the same moment.

New York in those years was extraordinary and overwhelming in equal measure. The harbor was a forest of masts. The docks teemed with men speaking a dozen languages. The streets of lower Manhattan were packed and loud and full of smells that I shall not describe to young ears. But for a young German in New York, there was one saving grace: we had our own neighborhoods. On the Lower East Side, in the part they called Kleindeutschland — Little Germany — you could walk for blocks and hear nothing but German, smell sausage and sauerkraut, find a Lutheran church and a German-language newspaper and a beer cellar where the proprietor knew your name.

It was in New York that I met Susanna Hoffman. She was German too, probably from somewhere in the old country — I knew her people as little as she knew mine, for we had both come over with nothing but ourselves. She was a fine woman, Susanna. Quiet, but steady. The kind of woman who, when times are hard, folds up her worry and puts it in her pocket and gets on with the business of living.

We were married in 1850. It was not a grand affair. In New York in those days, among people like us, a wedding was a simple thing — a few friends, a minister, a good meal if you were lucky. What mattered was what came after.

What came after was your great-grandfather Herman. Born in November of 1851, right there in New York City. I remember holding him for the first time and thinking: this is the reason I crossed the ocean. This boy, right here.

But joy and sorrow walk close together in this life, children. Susanna did not stay with us long. She was taken from us before Herman had learned to run — I think it was 1853, though grief has a way of blurring the calendar. She was young. Far too young. I grieved her as a man should grieve a good wife, and then I did what a man with a small child must do: I carried on.

The Road to California

I met Martha Matilda in 1854 after Susanna died and married her in 1855. She was Irish — born in Ireland, though she had come to America as so many of her countrypeople had, driven out by the famine and the hardship of those terrible years. She was a strong woman, Martha. Strong the way Irish women are strong — which is to say, in a way that does not advertise itself but does not bend, either.

By then, the whole country was talking about California. The Gold Rush of 1849 had stirred something in the American blood, and even though the easy gold was long gone by the mid-1850s, California was still the place. San Francisco was growing faster than any city I had ever heard of. There were fortunes to be made — not necessarily in the goldfields, but in the city itself. In trade, in commerce, in feeding and clothing and housing and, yes, entertaining the thousands of men who poured through those streets every month.

Martha and I talked it over. We had young Herman, and she had her own stout heart, and we were young enough still to believe that the best chapter of life was yet to come. And so we went west. We traveled by steamship from New York City to Panama, and then took a train across Panama, and another steamship in the Pacific Ocean to San Francisco.  It was a long trip and I can tell you many stories about it another time. We landed in San Francisco in the summer of 1855.

San Francisco in 1856 was unlike anything I had seen in Germany or New York. It was rough and loud and magnificent. The hills were wild. The bay was enormous. The fog rolled in off the ocean in the afternoons and turned the whole city silver and cold. And everywhere — everywhere — there was energy. Men building things, selling things, arguing about things. The city had burned down several times already and each time it simply rose up again, a little bigger and a little louder than before.

I became an American citizen on the first of November, 1856, in the Fourth District Court of San Francisco. I want you to understand what that meant to me. I had been born a subject of a German duke who had no particular interest in my welfare. And there I was, standing in a California courtroom, swearing an oath to a republic — a nation of laws, where the President himself had been born poor. I was not an emotional man, as you know. But on that day I permit myself to admit that my eyes were not entirely dry.

I found work as a cook. It was honest work, and I was good at it. A man who can cook well is never without employment, and in a city of single men far from their mothers' kitchens, a good cook is practically a saint.

Family, Loss, and Lombard Street

Martha and I built our life here on these San Francisco streets. Our children came one after another — Matilda in 1857, young Frederick in 1862, Louis in 1864, Charles in 1867, and last of all little Nellie, our youngest, born in 1870. And Herman was with us too, growing into a fine young man, becoming as Californian as though he had been born here.

By 1866 I had established myself well enough to be on the Register of Voters — no small thing for a man who had arrived in this country with nothing but the clothes on his back and a willingness to work. I was living at Church Street, in Ward Two. I paid my taxes. I knew my neighbors. I had become, in every sense that mattered, a San Franciscan.

In the 1870s I went into the saloon business, and that is where I stayed for the rest of my working years. I know what some of you are thinking — a saloon is not a church. That is true. But I will tell you something about the saloon business that the temperance ladies do not like to admit: a good saloon is the heart of a neighborhood. It is where men come after a hard day's work to sit down, to talk, to hear the news, to feel for an hour or two that they are not entirely alone in the world. I kept a clean establishment. I was fair to my customers. I am not ashamed of it.

But the years brought losses too. In January of 1875, my dear Martha Matilda was taken from us. She died in Oakland — she had gone there for reasons I will not trouble you with now — and she was only thirty-seven years old. Thirty-seven. Standing here at seventy-one, I can hardly comprehend it. She left me with five children, the youngest — your Aunt Nellie — just four years old.

I grieved. A man who has buried two wives before his fiftieth birthday has earned the right to grieve. But there were children in the house, and children do not wait for a man's grief to be finished before they need feeding and clothing and minding.

Dora

I met Dora Mossmann later in 1875 after Martha died. She was from Oldenburg, in northern Germany — a different part of the old country from my own Hesse, but German through and through, and after all those years in California, there was something steadying about sitting across from someone who had grown up hearing the same language, eating the same food, marking the same holidays.

We were married on the twentieth of April, 1876, in Alameda. Dora was a widow herself — she understood loss, as I understood it. We did not pretend that this was a young couple's romance. We were two people of middle age who had survived much and who understood the value of a steady hand beside you.

Dora stepped into this family without complaint. She helped me raise the younger children — Charles and Nellie were still at home, still needing a mother's attention — and she ran our house on Lombard Street with a calm efficiency that I have always admired. When I took stock of my years, as old men do, I count Dora as one of the great mercies of my life.

The children grew up. Herman married his Mary Ann and had children of his own — three of you here. Matilda married her Bradford and moved to Alameda. Frederick married and settled here in the city. Charles went north to Oregon. And Nellie — little Nellie who was four years old when her mother died — married her Norman Arter and made a fine life for herself right here in San Francisco. I have watched all of this from my chair on Lombard Street with something that I can only describe as satisfaction.

What an Old Man Knows

I have been a citizen of this city for more than forty years now. I have lived through the Gold Rush's aftermath, through the building of the railroads, through fire and earthquake and fog and sunshine. I have buried two wives and outlived neighbors and friends. I have watched children grow from infants to parents, watched San Francisco grow from a rough camp into a real city with opera houses and cable cars and electric lights.

What does an old man know, after all of that?

He knows that the ocean is wider than it looks on a map, and that crossing it changes you in ways you cannot fully measure until you are very old. He knows that a new country asks things of you — courage, stubbornness, the willingness to start over when everything falls apart — and that those things, once given, become part of who you are.

He knows that a woman who runs a household well and loves her children fiercely is worth more than any duke or general or railroad baron. I have been lucky enough to know three such women.

He knows that work — honest work, whatever the work is — is not a shame but a dignity. I have been a cook and a saloon keeper. I fed people. I gave them a place to rest and talk. There is nothing in that to regret.

He knows that a man's lodge brothers matter. My brothers in King Solomon Lodge No. 260 have been my companions for years — men who believe, as I believe, that we owe something to one another, that the strong should help the weak, that a handshake means something.

And he knows — this, perhaps, most of all — that the best thing he ever did was to come here, to this wild California shore, and plant himself down and stay. I came as a stranger. I leave as a grandfather. That is more than most men can claim.

So. That is my story. Or as much of it as an old man's memory can hold at one sitting.

Go home now. Kiss your mothers for me. Remember where you came from — not just California, not just America, but Darmstadt, and New York, and all the long road between.

And know this: I am proud of every one of you.

— Frederick Schaffner, 423 Lombard Street, San Francisco, California, March 1899

================================

3)  The Video Overview of Frederick Schaffner's life memoir, created by the Google NotebookLM AI tool, is: 

4)  I edited the Claude memoir text to correct minor inconsistencies and errors. Every large language model (LLM) AI tool writes descriptive text much better than I can write. The AI tools are very perceptive, insightful and inspiring, creating engaging text in seconds, including local and national historical events and social history detail when requested.

5)  This is historical fiction, based on my own genealogical research. It is what Frederick Schaffner might have told his grandchildren in 1899.  

==============================================

Links to my blog posts about using Artificial Intelligence are on my Randy's AI and Genealogy page. Links to AI information and articles about Artificial Intelligence in Genealogy by other genealogists are on my AI and Genealogy Compendium page.

Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver

The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2026/04/life-memoir-of-frederick-schaffner-1828.html

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com. Please note that all comments are moderated, and may not appear immediately.

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ABC Biography of Frederick Schaffner (1828-1899) Family of Germany, New York and San Francisco

 Using the ABC method described in Using Artificial Intelligence In the Ancestor Biography Creation (ABC) Process, enhanced by further developments, here is another ancestor couple biography using the Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.6 AI tool.

1) The genealogical sketch for the family of my wife Linda's 2nd great-grandfather, Frederick Schaffner, including family members, record abstracts and sources, is in Genealogical Sketch of the Frederick Schaffner Family of Germany and San Francisco.

(AI NotebookLM Infographic - Frederick Schaffner Family Life Story)

2) For the Claude AI biography, I attached a PDF of the genealogical sketch for the specific ancestors using the plus (+) icon, and then prompted the AI tool with:  "You are an expert genealogist and family historian. Please create a biography based on information in the attached file for the Frederick Schaffner family. Include parents, siblings, spouses and children (with birth and death dates and places). Summarize life events, add historical events as appropriate, but do not add or embellish any extra genealogical details. Use section headings. Expand the information in each section to add more details. The tone should be engaging and suitable for family members."

3)  The Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.6 biography (lightly edited for accuracy) is: 

Frederick Schaffner (1828 – 1899)

Darmstadt, Germany • New York • San Francisco

A Family History

Overview

Frederick Schaffner's life spanned one of the most transformative eras in American history. Born in the German city of Darmstadt during a period of significant political upheaval in Europe, he made his way to the New World and ultimately settled in San Francisco — a young, booming city on the edge of the American frontier. His journey took him from the cultural heartland of Hesse-Darmstadt to the streets of New York and eventually to California, where he lived out his days as a saloon proprietor, a Mason, and the patriarch of a large blended family.

Frederick married three times and raised six children across those unions, weathering personal losses and the challenges of building a life in a rapidly growing city. His story is one of resilience, reinvention, and family — a true immigrant success story rooted in the spirit of mid-nineteenth-century America.

Early Life in Germany

Frederick Schaffner was born on 16 June 1828 in Darmstadt, the capital city of the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt (present-day Germany). Darmstadt in the 1820s was a cultured, mid-sized city — a seat of ducal power and home to a lively intellectual and artistic scene. The year of Frederick's birth also saw the beginnings of widespread economic hardship across the German states, hardship that would drive millions of Germans to seek new lives in America throughout the 1830s–1850s.

Nothing is known of Frederick's parents or siblings. Like many immigrants of his generation, the details of his earliest years were not recorded in surviving documents, and whatever family he left behind in Germany remains undiscovered. What we know is that by around 1850, Frederick had made his way to the United States — most likely arriving in New York, the primary port of entry for German immigrants of that era.

First Marriage: Susanna Hoffman

Frederick Schaffner married Susanna Hoffman around 1850, most likely in New York. Susanna was probably also a German immigrant, born around 1830, though her exact origins and parentage remain unknown. The couple settled in New York City — the teeming hub of immigrant life where German communities, known as Kleindeutschland (Little Germany), were thriving on the Lower East Side.

Their time together was brief but left a lasting mark on the family line. They had one known child:

• Herman Schaffner, born November 1851 in New York, New York. Married Mary Ann Paul by 1876, three children. Died 8 December 1921, San Francisco, California.

Susanna Hoffman Schaffner likely died before 1855, perhaps in New York. She was probably in her mid-twenties when she passed — a common tragedy in an era of high mortality from infectious disease, difficult childbirth, and limited medical care. Her death left Frederick a widower with a young son to raise.

Second Marriage: Martha Matilda

Frederick remarried around 1855, this time to a woman known to us only as Martha Matilda (maiden name unknown). She was born 17 June 1837 in Ireland — a detail that places her birth during the early years leading up to the Great Famine, which devastated Ireland between 1845 and 1852 and drove millions of Irish emigrants to America's shores. Martha Matilda was almost certainly among the countless Irish immigrants who found themselves in New York during that period.

By 1856, the family had made a bold move westward, probably by ship from New York City to the Isthmus of Panama, across Panama to the Pacific Ocean, and then by ship from Panama to San Francisco. Frederick was naturalized as a United States citizen on 1 November 1856 in the 4th District Court of San Francisco — a significant milestone. San Francisco in the mid-1850s was still riding the wave of the Gold Rush era, a chaotic, exciting, and rapidly growing city. Frederick listed his occupation as "cook," and he was described as being about 40 years old in 1867 and born in Hesse-Darmstadt.

By 1866, he had established himself sufficiently to appear on the Register of Voters for San Francisco, residing at 1 Church Street in Ward 2. He and Martha Matilda would go on to have five children together, all born in San Francisco:

• Matilda Schaffner, born October 1857, San Francisco, California. Married Lewellyn Augustus Bradford about 1876; two children. Died 24 June 1928, Alameda, California.
• Frederick N. Schaffner, born August 1862, San Francisco, California. Married Margaret Ann Ryan before 1889; three children. Died 5 April 1907, San Francisco, California.
• Louis Schaffner, born about 1864, San Francisco, California. Died after 1880.
• Charles Edwin Schaffner, born March 1867, San Francisco, California. Married Louise A. Webber before 1891, probably in Oregon; three children. Died 4 September 1916, Portland, Oregon.
• Nellie Schaffner, born 31 March 1870, San Francisco, California. Married Norman Richardson Arter, May 1888, San Francisco; three children. Died 18 November 1933, San Francisco, California.

The 1870 United States Census captures the family at a moment of domestic stability. Their household included Frederick (listed as age 45, born Canada — a curious discrepancy, perhaps reflecting a census error or misunderstanding), Martha Matilda (age 35, born Ireland), and all the children, ranging from young Herman (age 18, Frederick's son from his first marriage) down to baby Nellie (age 1). The family resided in San Francisco's Ward 2.

Tragedy struck on 23 January 1875, when Martha Matilda died in Oakland at the age of 37. The obituary published in the Oakland Tribune that same day noted she was a "native of Ireland" and invited friends to attend her funeral the following Sunday at the corner of Franklin and Ninth Streets. She left behind five children, the youngest — Nellie — just four years old.

Third Marriage: Dora Mossmann

Just over a year after Martha Matilda's death, Frederick married for the third and final time. On 20 April 1876 in Alameda, California, he wed twice-widowed Dora Mossmann, a fellow German immigrant who had been born on 20 September 1838 in Oldenburg, Niedersachsen, in what was then the Kingdom of Prussia. Dora — whose name appears variously as "Dorothea" and "Dora" in historical records — was ten years Frederick's junior, and the two would share their lives for the remaining twenty-three years of Frederick's life.

Frederick and Dora had no children together, but Dora stepped into the role of stepmother to Frederick's children and appears alongside them in the 1880 census. By then, the family had settled at 315 Lombard Street in San Francisco. That census paints a vivid picture of the household: Frederick, now 52, was working as a saloon proprietor — a respected and common occupation in the saloon-rich culture of Victorian San Francisco. Living with them were four of his children: Frederick (19, working as a bookbinder), Louis (16, a printer), Charles (13, at school), and Nellie (11, at school).

The saloon business was a fixture of working-class San Francisco life in the 1870s and 1880s. Saloons served not just as drinking establishments but as social clubs, political meeting points, and news exchanges for immigrant communities. Frederick's work as a saloon keeper placed him at the center of neighborhood social life.

Later Years and Death

By the time of his death, Frederick had moved to 423 Lombard Street in San Francisco. He died on 29 June 1899, having lived 71 years and 13 days. His obituary, published on page 10 of the San Francisco Chronicle on 1 July 1899, described him as the "beloved husband of Dorothea Schaffner" and "father of Herman, Frederick and Charles Edwin Schaffner, Mrs. Matilda Bradford and Mrs. Nellie Arter, a native of Germany, aged 71 years and 13 days."

The obituary also reveals that Frederick was a member of King Solomon Lodge, No. 260, Free and Accepted Masons. The Masonic fraternity was an important institution in nineteenth-century San Francisco — a source of fellowship, mutual aid, and community standing. His Masonic brethren held services for him at Franklin Hall on Fillmore Street between Bush and Sutter Streets.

Frederick was buried at Greenlawn Memorial Park in Colma, San Mateo County — the cemetery town south of San Francisco where many of the city's residents came to rest, as San Francisco itself had limited burial space.

Dora (Mossmann) Schaffner survived her husband by nearly five years. She died on 11 April 1904 in San Francisco of fatty degeneration of the heart, at the age of 65. Her obituary in the San Francisco Call-Bulletin on 13 April 1904 described her as a "native of Oldenburg, Germany" and widow of the late Frederick Schaffner. She too was interred at Greenlawn Memorial Park in Colma, reunited with her husband in death.

His Children and Their Lives

Frederick Schaffner raised a total of six known children across his three marriages — one from his first marriage to Susanna Hoffman, and five from his second marriage to Martha Matilda. Together, they carried the Schaffner name forward in California and the Pacific Northwest.

• Herman Schaffner (1851–1921), Frederick's eldest, was born in New York and came west with the family. He married three times himself: first to Mary Ann Paul (born 1854, died 1908), with whom he had three children; then to Mary Jane McWhirter on 29 February 1912 in San Francisco; and finally to Fredericka Hartman on 30 August 1916, also in San Francisco. It was Herman's 1916 marriage certificate that recorded his parents' names as Frederick Schaffner and Susanna Hoffman, providing a vital genealogical link. Herman died on 8 December 1921 in San Francisco.

• Matilda Schaffner (born October 1857) married Lewellyn Augustus Bradford around 1876 and had two children. She lived a long life, dying in Alameda, California, on 24 June 1928 at approximately age 70.

• Frederick N. Schaffner (born August 1862) married Margaret Ann Ryan and had three children before his death on 5 April 1907 in San Francisco at around age 44.

• Louis Schaffner (born about 1864) appears in the 1870 and 1880 census records and then fades from the historical record. He died sometime after 1880 and before 1900.

• Charles Edwin Schaffner (born March 1867) moved to Oregon, married Louise A. Webber, and raised three children in Portland, where he died on 4 September 1916.

• Nellie Schaffner (1870–1933), the youngest, married Norman Richardson Arter in San Francisco in May 1888 and had three children. She outlived all her siblings, dying in San Francisco on 18 November 1933.

Frederick Schaffner, the immigrant cook from Darmstadt who became a saloon keeper and Freemason in San Francisco, lives on through his descendants — a tangible link between the Old World and the New.

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4) An Audio Overview (essentially a podcast) created by the Google NotebookLM AI tool) describing and celebrating the life of Frederick Schaffner can be heard here (click on "Audio Overview" and wait for it to load).

5)  The Video Overview discussing the life of Frederick Schaffner created by the Google NotebookLM AI tool is:  

6)  The Slide Deck produced by Google NotebookLM was incorporated into a Google Slides file, and the created Google Vids presentation is below:  

7)  I edited the Claude biography text to correct minor inconsistencies and errors. Every large language model (LLM) AI tool writes descriptive text much better than I can write. I was an aerospace engineer in my former life, and my research reports and genealogical sketches reflect "just the facts gleaned from my research." The AI tools are very perceptive, insightful and create readable text in seconds, including local and national historical events and social history detail when requested.

==============================================

Links to my blog posts about using Artificial Intelligence are on my Randy's AI and Genealogy page. Links to AI information and articles about Artificial Intelligence in Genealogy by other genealogists are on my AI and Genealogy Compendium page.

The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2026/03/abc-biography-of-frederick-schaffner.html

Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com. Note that all comments are moderated, and may not appear immediately.

Subscribe to receive a free daily email from Genea-Musings using www.Blogtrottr.com.