Christian Burkholder

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: 00020-1505

Notes:

Christian Burkholder, "the eldest son of I Christian Burkholder, was born in Switzerland, June 1st, 1746, and was nine years old when he came to America with his mother. He was married to Anna Groff who died October 11th, 1795. He died May 13th, 1809."


Eby, Ezra E. (1895). A biographical history of Waterloo township and other townships of the county: being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin: as also much other unpublished historical information chiefly of a local character. Berlin [Kitchener, Ont.]: [s.n.].

Christian married Anna Groff 13 Jul 1766. Anna was born Abt 1746, Of, Pennsylvania; died 13 Nov 1795. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: 00020-1505.2
• Residence: 1745, Rüderswil, , , Switzerland

Notes:

"The progenitor of this family, Christian Burkholder, [Ezra Eby in correctly identifies him as Christian but in fact was Ulrich] was a native of Switzerland. He was born about the year 1707, and even in his young days became a strong advocate of the 'Non-conformist' principles of religion. Finding the opposition of the 'Church Party' becoming too strong, he mediated of moving with his family to the 'Land of the Free' (America), but ere the appointed time of leaving their native country came, he took sick and died. Shortly before his death he advised his wife and children to emigrate from Switzerland and proceed to America where they might settle with their countrymen and, better still, with their co-religionists, the Mennonites. Soon after her husband's death, which took place in March, 1755, the widow with her family of six children, three sons and three daughters, set sail for America and landed at Philadelphia, in July, 1755. She settled in Lancaster County where she died in 1789. The names of her six children whom she brought to America are II Christian, II Peter, II Ulrich, II Mary, II Anna, and II Veronica."


Eby, Ezra E. (1895). A biographical history of Waterloo township and other townships of the county: being a history of the early settlers and their descendants, mostly all of Pennsylvania Dutch origin: as also much other unpublished historical information chiefly of a local character. Berlin [Kitchener, Ont.]: [s.n.].

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Bishop Christian Burkholder and his Swiss Familyrevises the story of Christian Burkhalter, an early, well known, Mennonite bishop in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. These web pages show two of the key, primary sources for this revised story and two of the ancestral Burkhalter homes in Switzerland.

In 1754, when Bishop Christian was eight years old, he immigrated to Pennsylvania with his widowed mother and five siblings. For many years, he was believed to be the son of Christian Burkhalter of Gerolsheim, Germany and the grandson of Mennonite minister Hans Burkhalter. In 1759 this Christian of Gerolsheim, his wife Gertrude, and their four children, were listed among the six Mennonite families still living in Gerolsheim. Bishop Christian immigrated in 1754, and his father died before the immigration. Therefore, he cannot be a son of the Christian alive in Gerolsheim in 1759.

In 1980 Bishop Christian's Martyrs' Mirror was discovered after being lost for more than a century. He had written his family record in this book in his own hand, listing the names of his siblings and their birth years. In the 1990s the names and ages in this family record were matched with those in a 1745 census record found in Switzerland. (1 p18)

Romaine Stauffer, "Bishop Christian Burkholder and His Swiss Family" in Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage, Vol. 34, No. 3 (Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, 2011 Jul)

Ulrich — Barbli. Barbli was born Abt 1707, , Switzerland; died 1789, , Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania; was buried , Groffdale Brick Mennonite Church Cemetery, , Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Barbli Burkholder
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-76076
• Residence: 1745, Rüderswil, , , Switzerland