Descendants of Friederich & Catherina Köhler

I am an 8th generation descendant of Friederich and Catherina Köhler. Friederich Köhler left his native Wertheim County in what is now Germany at age 17. Heading for the new world, he boarded the ship "Two Brothers" at Rotherham, The Netherlands. Following a stop at Cowes, England, they landed in Philadelphia on 15 September 1752. All the passengers were taken to the courthouse where they were required to swear allegiance to the British Crown. After the oath was taken, the newcomers signed their names (or made their mark). He signed "Johan Christoph Friederich Köhler". (The first two names are believed to be baptismal names).

Friederich spelled his name with two dots above the "o" (called an "umlaut"). It is pronounced in English like an "oe" with an "a" sound, making it sound like Kaylor, but spelled, Koehler. Later, the "o" sound was used and name once again sounded like "Kohler." All descendants that we are aware of are using the Koehler spelling (with the long "o" sound). Other branches may have kept the original Kohler spelling.

Friederich's last name was spelled various (though wrong) ways, like in the tax records:

1771: Frederick Keller
1772: Frederick Kealer
1779: Frederick Kocler
1782: Frederick Kehler

His will is on file at the County Courthouse under the name Frederick Kehler.

KÖHLER descendants should look for alternative spellings, such as KEHLER, KELLER, KOEHLER, KOLLER, KAYLOR and other variations. Also, consider misspellings such as two that we ran into: Keoler or Kocler.

Frederick and Catherina are buried in the cemetary in the small village of Penryn, PA. The dark granite gravestone ie engraved in German and translated into English:

HERE RESTS
FRIEDERICK KOHLER
WAS BORN THE 13th MARCH
1735 IN GERMANY
IN FUERSTENTBUM
NOW KNOWN AS LOBENSTEIN
DEPARTED THE 17th APRIL
1812 HIS AGE WAS
77 YEARS 5 WEEKS
HIS FAVORITE SCRIPTURE WAS
ISIAH THE 60th CHAPTER
PART FROM THE 20th VERSE
WEEP NOT OVER ME
RATHER WEEP OVER
YOURSELF

This information is from the newsletter, "Das Umlaut," publisher, Glenn B. Knight.

Descendants of Jacob and Susan Ulrich

Links to other sites on the Web

GMW Surname Links Page

Palatine & Pennsylvania Dutch Genealogy

Book recommendation:

Daniel I. Rupp, "Thirty Thousand Names of Immigrants."

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© 1997-2001 JKH

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