Jacob Chrisman c1706

This BIO was copied from Lonnie Chrisman's website.

To date, nothing regarding Jacob's origins prior to 1732 has been proven. There are conflicting claims that have been published, many of which are clearly erroneous. His parents, date of birth, birthplace, date of immigration, etc., all remain unproven. There is good reason to believe that he may have been a son of the widow Elizabeth Christman who immigrated to the Hudson valley with two young children in 1710.

In 1709, several thousand German families fled their homeland for England. In 1710, several hundred of these families joined a work party sent to the New York Hudson valley. This group included Jacob Chrisman's future father-in-law, Jost Hite, along with many of the families who moved with Jost Hite to the Winchester, Virginia area in 1732, in the first settlement west of the blue ridge. Also enumerated in censuses of this group were two Christman families: the family of a Hans (Johannas) Christman c1668, and of a widow Elizabeth Christman. We can conclude that Hans was not the father of the Jacob Chrisman who married Magdalena Hite, leaving Elizabeth as the remaining possibility. A census of the work party in 1710 showed Elizabeth to have two children born between 1700 and 1702, one of which may have been a young Jacob Chrisman.

Elizabeth could have been the widow of Bernhard Christmann of Sandhaussen (Heidelberg). In the parish that served Sandhausen and Leimen, the marriage of Bernhard Christmann (b. c1682 Sandhausen, son of Georg) to Elisabetha Meyer of Leimen (dau. of Hans Meyer) is recorded on 7 Feb 1702. The baptisms of Margaretha, 1702, Margaretha 1704, Anna Katharina 1706 and Anna Katharina 1708 are recorded there, along with a note "this family emigrated to America". Obviously the first Margaretha and first Anna Katharina would have died young, leaving two young children, consistent with the two children in the care of the widow Christman in 1710. In the Heimatbuch of Sandhausen, there is record of correspondence in 1743 between the widow of Bernhard Christman, living in NY, USA, with Hans Bernhard Hochhauser in Sandhausen for an inhertance that Mr. Hochhauser has occupied.

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