Jantzi/Yantzi/Yancey: Family Origins, Part II
Contributed & Written by
The Jantzi Family and the French Revolution
Although we do not know when the Jantzis arrived in France, it is certain they experienced the French Revolution and its aftermath. As isolated as they were, they may have escaped the worst of the terrorism itself, but the outcome of the Revolution affected them a great deal. The French got rid of their king (Louis XVI) and drafted a Constitution which was to free every citizen of their territories. “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” was the slogan. It all sounded very good, but interpretation of the Constitution caused the Anabaptists a great deal of difficulty.
In October 1792, all cities, towns, and villages were to declare a day of national celebration—a “swearing in” of the Constitution. Every adult male was to appear and swear allegiance to the Constitution. Since swearing of oaths was rejected by the Anabaptists, this was cause for some concern. We also find a few stories of problems the Anabaptists had in other areas of France. It seems they usually were willing to “promise” allegiance, and in most places the local authorities found this acceptable. We do not know how Michael Jantzi and his two sons handled this situation, but they likely got around it somehow.
Along with the new Constitution came several changes. One was the loss of status of the Catholic Church. Up to this time the Church had officiated at major life events, but now the State or “Law” was in charge. Births were registered in every city, town, and village. Marriages were performed by the Registrar in the name of the “Law.” Deaths were also registered with the Registrar. In some areas Anabaptists avoided these registrations for a time, but it seems the Jantzis complied very early. Today we reap the benefits, because these records are an invaluable source in our research.
One of the changes which caused the Anabaptists more trouble was universal military conscription. Before the Revolution, the Anabaptists had generally been granted exemptions. Now, however, everyone was equal and everyone was free; so everyone was equally responsible to defend the State. In 1792, two Anabaptist ministers, Christian Guingrich and Nicolas Blanc, who served the Mennonites of Bistroff and the surrounding area, petitioned the authorities, and the department ordered that the Anabaptists not be forced to take up arms, but that they should instead pay a special tax.
It is difficult to say how things would have worked out had the French Republic been left alone to work at it. However, an ambitious soldier by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte came on the scene, and he had military conquests in mind. It seems the French situation furnished Napoleon with an excuse for his military exploits, and the citizens of France became his reservoir of soldiers.
The Anabaptists were constantly negotiating for military exemptions. With the Republic and with local officials, they were able to limit their involvement to paying a special tax or to serving as unarmed teamsters. Napoleon soon changed this when he organized the teamsters as a division of the army and armed them. Then the Anabaptists tried again. Two ministers from Lorraine, Christian Guengerich and Christian Engel, went to Paris in 1809 and tried to negotiate for exemption with Napoleon himself, but he flatly refused. Three more delegations went to Paris between 1809 and 1829, but to no avail. Although Napoleon was removed from France in 1815, military conscription remained. After the French Revolution all young men were subject to the draft. Young men were not issued passports to leave the country if they had not completed their military service. Some slipped out without passports. Some served in the army and accepted the fact that this was the way things were going to be, but others gathered up their goods and families and set out for America. The trek continued during the entire nineteenth century with several Jantzi family groups arriving between 1830 and 1850.
The First Jantzi Migrations
Christian Jantzi died in November 1828. Perhaps his death precipitated in the young folks the notion to consider migration to America. At any rate, Michael who was then age 18 requested a copy of his birth certificate and certificates of death of both his father (Christian) and his mother (Anne Farny). These certificates were issued in June 1829. On the back of one of them there was a note “Mr. Michel Jantzi at Pulver Mihl (Powder Mill), District of Sarreguemines, Department Metz, pas pour Havre de Grasz.” Perhaps that meant a “pass to le Havre,” the port. This port is now simply called le Havre, but earlier was frequently referred to as “Havre de Grasz.”
It is likely that Michael requested these certificates, because persons under age 21 would not be allowed to leave the country without the consent of their parents. The law required a death certificate in lieu of their permission. Legal marriage also required parental consent—at any age—and it may be that Michael was preparing for that as well. The original copies of these certificates have been preserved in the Archives of the Mennonite Church in Goshen, Indiana.[1] They were labelled as “passports,” and certainly served that purpose, but it is somewhat confusing for death certificates to be called passports; so their meaning must be understood.
Among the certificates which Michael brought with him, there was another piece of paper containing a few items of interest. The main text (translated) reads as follows:
“Today, the 23 May 1831, I, Michel Jantzi, have taken leave from Sotzeling and went to America. Not to deceive you, if it does not go well, I will write to Hans Jantzi, or if it goes ordinary, I will write to Hohnes Miller, or if it goes very well, then I write to Peter Spenler.”
This writing gives us a clue when Michael left France. Although his brother Joseph is not mentioned, the verb “went” is plural, indicating that he was not alone in going to America. Michael had an interesting plan to let his family know how things were going. Hans Jantzi was Michael’s brother, and Peter Spenler was probably his brother-in-law, who lived at Sotzeling, where this leave-taking took place. It is not known who Hohnes (Johannes) Miller was.
The other side of the sheet contained a name and address in “Havre,” the port from which Michael, and perhaps a companion, sailed. It also contained Michael Jantzi’s address as Woolwich Township. This would indicate that he was heading for the Joseph Zehr home. The Zehrs were from St. Avold and were likely acquaintances of the Jantzi family. The Zehrs had migrated in 1825 and lived in Woolwich for a number of years. In addition to these notations, there is also a little nonsense rhyme, “The writer a roasted hare, the reader dirt on the nose.” On May 23, 1831, Michael had just turned age 21 and was in a jovial mood, although he is probably not the writer of the verse. It seems to be in a different hand.[2]
In January 1833, Michael’s brother John (he signed his name Hanss) wrote to Michael in Canada from the Belgrad. He had married “Lisbeth” on June 10, 1832. He had received two letters from Michael while enroute and two from Canada. Referring to their agreement before Michael left, John indicated he was not satisfied with Michael’s recommendations (or lack thereof) concerning America. John wrote that Michel Zehr, Christian Nafsiger, Christian Kennel, Joseph Jantzi and Susan Jantzi were planning to leave the beginning of March, and Michael should be looking for them.
PETITION: MICHAEL ZEHR AND JOHN JANTZI TO GOVERNOR SIR FRANCIS BOND HEAD OF UPPER CANADA
To His Excellency, Sir Francis Bond Head, Knight Commander of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order, and of the Prussian Military Order of Merit, Governor of the Province of Upper Canada, etc. etc. etc.
We, the Memorialists, now residents of Lewis County, in the State of New York, about 45 miles from Sacket’s Harbor, beg leave, most respectfully to represent: That we are a Deputation from a number of German families—say for 16—settlers in said County and originally from German Lothringen [Lorraine], near Metz, in France; —that we are dissatisfied with the quality and price of the Land we, at present, occupy: the quality being inferior, and the price from $2.50 to $4 per acre; —that we have been deputed to visit and examine the Land in this Province, and if satisfied therewith, to wait upon Your Excellency, and inquire the price per acre, and terms of payment; —that we have visited and examined a part of the Land belonging to the Crown, adjoining the Township of Woolwich, etc. in the Gore District; that we found a number of German families already settled upon the Land, and that we are satisfied with its quality—being good; that we are now on our return journey to Lewis County, to our families and neighbors, and being desirous to take with us a satisfactory Report of our Mission to Upper Canada, we humbly beg, that Your Excellency will be pleased to inform us—verbally or in writing, as may be most convenient—about what time the said Crown Land will be surveyed; and what will be the price of it, per acre; and what the amount of the respective Instalments: and give us any other information, in regard to the object of our present mission, as Your Excellency may deem expedient.
We would further represent, that we expect an accession to the number of our families from Europe, and that there are now a number of families and individuals, already in this Province, who wish to purchase Land from the Government so soon as the same shall have been surveyed, etc. And as in duty bound, we will ever pray, etc. etc. etc.
Michael Zehr Johannes Jantzi Deputation
Done at Berlin, Waterloo Township, Gore District, June 15th, A.D. 1837.
National Archives of Canada, Ottawa—Ministry of Finance
In 1833, Michael was not yet married and did not have a home to which to invite his sisters and their families with a total of 22 children between them; so one can see why he may not have been too welcoming. We do not know what Michael’s response was. The three families, however, were determined to leave France and arrived in June, but went to Lewis County, New York, instead. Joseph and Susan, however, did not appear on the passenger list, but Joseph must have come sooner or later, because in 1835 he married Catherine Boshart, a sister to Maria, whom Michael had married in 1834.
Michael and Joseph Jantzis’ brothers and sisters and their step-mother also came to America, arriving in two different groups—one in June 1833 and the other in June 1834.[3] They all went to Lewis County, New York. The 1833 group was made up of three Jantzi women with their husbands and children—Michael and Anna (Jantzi) Zehr, Christian and Magdalena (Jantzi) Kennel, and Christian and Maria (Jantzi) Nafziger.
The 1834 travelling group included Christian Jantzi’s widow Catherine (née Spenler), John Jantzi and his wife Elizabeth (née Gerber) and child Magdalena, and the following unmarried Jantzi siblings: Catherine (16), Christian (14), Peter (12), Nicholas (10), and Freni (6). John (19) and Joseph (17) were also listed. These two were not given another surname, but obviously were not Jantzis.[4]
In June 1837, Michael Zehr (married to Anna Jantzi) and John Jantzi were in Canada, representing the settlement in Lewis County. They signed a letter (shown above) addressed to the governor of Upper Canada asking whether they could acquire land belonging to the Crown—next to Woolwich Township—and on what terms. (This would have been Wellesley Township which was then still a Clergy Reserve.) They said there were about 16 families, residents of Lewis County, New York, formerly from German Lorraine in France who were anxious to find better and cheaper land.[5]
We assume that they either received an unsatisfactory reply, or maybe none at all, to their request, because only about five families made the move. Among them were John Jantzi, Christian Kennel and Michael Zehr’s son Michael. The John Jantzi family arrived in April 1839, but it is not known whether they all came at the same time. Had all of the other New York families come as well, our histories in Lewis County and Ontario would have been considerably different.
The Second Wave of Jantzi Migrations
A few years later, some of Michael Jantzi II’s descendants set out on the trek across the Atlantic. His daughter Barbara was married to Joseph Naffziger, and she and her family came to Canada about 1840, leaving again in about 1850 for Iowa and later Kansas.
Next came the family of Michael Jantzi III whose first wife was Barbara Beller and second wife was Catherine Nafziger. After his death in 1848, Catherine set out with her entire family, consisting of herself, two married step-sons, Peter and Michael IV, and ten unmarried step-children and children. They sailed from Le Havre, France, on the ship Seine, arriving in New York on September 17, 1849. This was one case where the widow had given her maiden name (Nafziger), and the person recording the children’s names, called them all “Naszeyer.” The married males called themselves Jantzi, but the scribe wrote “Juntz.”[6]
Widow Catherine and most of the unmarried children left for Illinois the year following their arrival in Canada. Catherine’s parents and brother Joseph (married to Barbara Jantzi, mentioned above) were already in Canada, and they probably left together, although the Naffzigers ended up in Kansas and the Jantzis in Illinois. None of the Jantzi males who left had any children, hence the name soon died out in Illinois.
On the same ship as Widow Catherine and her family, was Samuel Nafziger, age 19. Catherine and Samuel’s father were cousins. Samuel later married Anna Kipfer, and they are the ancestors of the Nafzigers of Amish-Mennonite ancestry in Ontario. Both the Yantzi and Nafziger families had retained the tradition that Samuel carried two-year-old Michael K. Jantzi/Yantzi (number V) around on the ship while crossing the ocean. Thus it was no surprise to find Samuel Nafziger listed next to young Michael on the ship passenger list.
The Jantzis in Canada
We will now turn to the Jantzi/Yantzi families who settled in Canada, taking them in the order in which they appear in the family lists rather than the order in which they came to Canada. That means the last shall be first.
Barbara Jantzi, daughter of Michael Jantzi II, was married to Joseph Naffziger. They came to Canada in 1840. According to family tradition, they lived near Toronto, but “near Toronto” is probably a relative statement. “J.G. Naffziger” had a lease on Canada Company Land (the north half of Lot 9, Concession III, Block A) in Wilmot Township. Naffziger never got a deed to this property, and it was transferred to another party. In 1849, two Joseph Naffzigers took up leases in Hay Township. It is thought that one of them was the Joseph Naffziger married to Barbara Jantzi. The other one was probably the son of Christian Nafziger, credited with the settlement of the Amish Mennonites in Wilmot Township. That Joseph was married to Jacobena Naffziger, sister to the above Joseph. In 1850, however, one of the Josephs cancelled his lease; and we presume this was Joseph and Barbara who then left for Iowa.
Catherine Nafziger Jantzi, widow of Michael Jantzi III, migrated with her step-children and children in 1849. However, she left the following year with all of the children except three step-sons. It is thought that she accompanied her brother Joseph Naffziger, married to her sister-in-law Barbara Jantzi, but settled in Illinois rather than going on to Iowa.
Peter Jantzi, the oldest son of Michael Jantzi III and Barbara (née Beller) was married to Magdalena Spenler. Two infants were born to them in France but did not survive. Peter, his step-mother, and siblings arrived in New York in 1849. In the 1851 census of Wilmot Township, Peter was listed as a wagon maker in the Baden area. He had, however, leased 90 acres (Lot 21, Concession IV, Block B) south of the present village of Wellesley. He made payments between 1849 and 1853, but perhaps they did not get around to taking up residence here before Peter’s death in 1854. There are no records of any children born to them in Canada. After Peter’s death, Magdalena married Christian Besinger.[7]
Michael B. Jantzi/Yantzi, the second son of Michael Jantzi III and Barbara (née Beller), even though he was Michael IV, will be referred to as Michael B. Jantzi/Yantzi. Michael and his wife Jacobena (née Kennel), and their young son Michael arrived with the family group already mentioned, in 1849. Michael was a miller and found work—first at Glasgow Mills (Bridgeport), then in Baden, and finally in Sebringville where he died in 1865. The family then came back to Wilmot Township and finally settled in East Zorra, Oxford County.
Joseph Jantzi, the third son, evidently did not accompany the rest of the family to the United States, for he appeared in the 1851 census in Waterloo Township. He was listed with the merchant Hartman Schnarr who had a store and tavern. We do not know what became of Joseph after that.
Four of Christian Jantzi and Anna (née Farny)’s children settled in Canada. Magdalena Jantzi, married to Christian Kennel, immigrated to Lewis County, New York, in 1833, and to Canada about 1838, settling in the northwest part of Wilmot Township, southeast of what would become the village of Wellesley.[8]
John Jantzi married Elizabeth Gerber and immigrated to Lewis County in 1834 and came to Canada in 1839. They settled across the road from the Kennels in northwest Wilmot. Their story will follow below.
Michael and Joseph Jantzi, brothers to Magdalena (Jantzi) Kennel and John Jantzi, were the first to arrive in Canada. Michael emigrated in 1831 but may have spent some time in Pennsylvania before coming to Canada. He married Maria Boshart, daughter of Christian Boshart and Catherine Litwiller in 1834. Joseph married Maria’s sister Catherine Boshart in 1835. The Bosharts had arrived in Canada in 1827 and had settled on the north side of Erb’s Road, west of what became the hamlet of St. Agatha. Michael and Joseph’s stories and family lists will follow those of their brother John.
Genealogies have been published on three of these families: Michael B. and Jacobena (Kennel) Jantzi/Yantzi,[9] John and Elizabeth (Gerber) Jantzi,[10] and Joseph and Catherine (Boshart) Jantzi.[11] Lloyd Bowman, a descendant of Michael and Maria (Boshart) and Catherine (Schweitzer) Jantzi, had collected much information on this family, but did not manage to publish it; and, after his debilitating stroke, it seems his research disappeared. However, 12 out of the 14 families appear either as separate genealogies or as part of other family histories.
In the fall of 1996, while pastoring the Kiev Evangelical Mennonite Church in Ukraine, my wife Ruthann and I and our ten-month old daughter Regina were traveling through northeastern France with the Jay Mast family, presently from Tennessee but who were at that time serving in the Amish Mennonite Church in Belgium. One day, we toured Farm Belgrad in Lorraine where my Jantzi ancestors had lived prior to emigrating to the New World in the 1830s; and the following day we drove to Alsace to see the area where the Wagler family (Ruthann’s maiden name was Wagler) had lived before they crossed the Atlantic Ocean.
While in the village of Ste. Marie-aux-Mines walking through the Protestant cemetery which hugs the mountainside, it was quite unexpected to see the grave of Albert Jantzy, who had died in 1957. I had thought that the Jantzis had lived in Lorraine, not in Alsace. Was Albert Jantzy a distant relative of mine?
Did this Jantzi family live in the Ste. Marie-aux-Mines area at the time Jacob Ammann lived here, and when an Amish congregation flourished here?
Our guide, Henri Spenlinhauer from Ribeauvillé, helped us to locate Emily Humbel, a daughter of Albert Jantzy, in the town of Ste. Marie-aux-Mines the next morning.When Emily met us at the door of her second-floor apartment, she said to me in German, “So your name is Jantzi. I thought I was one of the last Jantzis on earth!” I assured her that there are hundreds of people with the Jantzi surname living in Canada and America. Emily explained why she thought the Jantzi name was dying out. Her grandfather had eight daughters and four sons, and those four sons had mostly daughters. There are six Jantzi households listed in the Strasbourg, France, telephone book.
We had a pleasant visit that forenoon. Of course, Ruthann and I and the Masts struggled with the German language, and when I searched for a word, Jay helped me; and when he was stuck, I helped him. Suddenly, Henri, our guide, looked at Emily Humbel and said, “Is it not surprising how they (Jay and Bruce) speak our ‘Elsiss’?” Obviously our Canadian and American Pennsylvania Dutch/Schwabian dialect was quite similar to the German dialect which Henri and Emily spoke. Of course, Henri and Emily could have spoken to us in French, but that was not a language in which we could converse.
Emily’s parents are Albert Jantzy (1894-1957) and Alice Lohner, and her grandparents were Joseph Jantzi (1867-1956), (Lutheran and a weaver), and Madeline Debolt. Joseph was called “Schwartz Jantzi” because of his shock of black hair in the front.
Emily also remembered a little of her great-grandfather. He died of blood poisoning after injuring his finger. Her branch of Jantzis had lived in Ste. Marie-aux-Mines for about 200 years. I asked if Emily’s great-grandfather was a Mennonite, but Emily did not seem to know what the word Mennonite meant. I realized that I should have used the European terminology Wiedertäufer (German for Anabaptist) rather than Mennonite. At first, Emily said, “No, he was not a Wiedertäufer,” but after some thought, she said, “Yes, he was, but not a good one, for he drank sometimes.”
Whether Emily (Jantzy) Humbel is related to our branch of the Jantzi family is not yet known, but I sure treasure that encounter with another Jantzi in Ste. Marie-aux-Mines in Alsace!
LETTER FROM HANS/JOHN JANTZI TO MICHAEL JANTZI
English translation of a letter written in old German Script by Hans Jantzi (b. 1806) to his brother Michael Jantzi (b. 1810). They were the sons of Christian Jantzi and Anne Farni, residents of the Farm/Estate Belgrad, Bistroff, Department of Moselle, Lorraine France. Hans was writing to Michael who was in Upper Canada, and may have been residing in Woolwich Township, Waterloo County, near present-day Kitchener. Credit: Mennonite Archives, Goshen College, Goshen, Ind.
Written on the Belgrad [Bistroff, Lorraine, France]
The first of January 1833
to Michel Jantzi
Our friendly greeting with a wish for each other for the best for soul and mortal body. We can report to you that all your brothers and sisters are well and healthy to this date, for which we thank the Lord God. We hope that with God’s help this poor writing will also find you in good health.
Further, dearest brother, to inform you that I got married the tenth of June 1832 to Lisbeth from over at Walleth, and that we still until now live on the Belgrad with the step-mother. Also to let you know that Christian Blank, who was with you in America, arrived home safely, he was on the sea 28 days. We were glad to hear from him that it goes well with you and that you are ruddy (frisch) and healthy. Besides, do not be offended that you haven’t received a letter from us, and you have written to us often. We received your letters, two while you were still enroute and two from Upper Canada where you are now. These letters caused us much joy, but, dear brother, we also wrote to you once, already in February 1832, but Christian Blank told us that you had not received one letter from us, for which we are sorry.
Further to let you know that Christian Blank is well and in the fall [wants] to travel to America again, and he recommended going to America. So Michel Zehr, Christian Nafsiger, Christian Kennel, Joseph Jantzi and Zusan Jantzi, all these with their households, plan to leave by the first of March 1833 to come to you in America, if it is God’s will. As for my own household, we have in mind coming in a year, if it is not against God’s will.
I have one other wish that you let us know in writing according to the three signs which we gave you at Sotzling when you left, which you will remember. If it is good to one, if it is average to one, if it is not good to the other one. So I do not know what you think and what we should do, because you have always written to the average [one’s] place. Dear brother, I trust you and hope you will not deceive me and write as soon as possible. You know that we do not have it good in France, so you will know whether it is worth making the difficult trip to America or not. If you think it is worth it, then write to the good place or the bad place, so that I will know what to do.
We have already heard how we should conduct ourselves on the trip, but we do not know much about America. Especially for married people, how will they find it[?] As a servant I cannot go, and a house we do not have, so it is difficult to set out and risk such a huge journey. I don’t know any more news to write, except that the above-mentioned brothers and sisters wish to journey to America, and you can look for them. Another greeting from my wife and from me. Hanss Jantzi
Comments on the letter by Lorraine Roth:
Hans/John married Elizabeth Gerber on June 4, 1832, at Host Haut, Moselle, Lorraine. He identified her as from over at “Walleth” which is probably La Valette and confirms that she was a sister to Catherine Gerber who married Joseph Farney, also immigrants to Lewis County, New York. From family tradition, we already know that Elizabeth was a sister to John Gerber, immigrant to Lewis County, then to Canada.
I cannot, on first glance, identify Christian Blank. He seems not to have left a paper trail in either Canada or Lewis County.
Michael Zehr, Christian Nafziger, and Christian Kennel were all married to Jantzi women, sisters to Michael and Hans. Joseph Jantzi most certainly is their brother although I would have thought that he would have travelled to America with Michael in 1831; but he was a passenger on the Groton in 1834. Joseph was not yet married. When he arrived in Canada, he married Michael’s wife’s sister, both daughters of Christian Boshart and Catherine Litwiller. When this letter was written, Michael was not yet married.
Susan Jantzi (b. 1808) was unmarried or Hans would have given her husband’s name as he did with the other sisters. Susan is also called Catherine, and she married Christian Blank on February 24, 1833. It is interesting to note that the party of Zehrs, Nafzigers, and Kennels did travel to America, arriving in New York in June 1833. However, they went to Lewis County and not to Canada. What changed their minds?
Hans bares his soul on how it must have felt for families to pull up stakes on such an arduous journey to such an unknown destination. It is one thing for a young, single man to take off—quite another for a man who has a wife and young children. He wants to have a little more encouragement from Michael. It would have been overwhelming for Michael to host his married siblings (with a total of 22 children) when he was not yet married and did not have a house of his own.
The situation in Lewis County, New York, however, was even worse. An aggressive land agent must have been more encouraging than brother Michael. And in 1834, Hans, his mother, step-mother, and younger siblings followed the migration to Lewis County.
Bruce W. Jantzi, Street O. Kobilyanskoyi 14, village of Shipintsi, Kitsmanskiy Region, Chernivetska Oblast, Ukraine 59341; bwjantzi@gmail.com. This article was compiled from research of Lorraine Roth (deceased 2013) of Tavistock, Ontario. She researched known Amish Mennonite immigrants who settled or passed through Upper Canada (Ontario) in the 1800s. Her research is stored in the archives at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario. Before her death, she gave Bruce a copy of her digital files with permission to continue and publish her research. Presently, he is updating Lorraine’s genealogical work on 128 different family names as he finds new information.
Footnotes
A collection of photocopies of Jantzi documents are found in two files, one among the JANTZI/YANTZI files and another one in a legal-size file. Those which Michael brought with him to Canada have been copied from a collection found in the Mennonite Archives at Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana, Collection: Hist Mss 1-68, Michael Jantzi (1810- )(SC – 3/6). Copies of most of them are found in both files. The 1831 document (photocopy and translation) is found in the JANTZI Document file accompanying the JANTZI/YANTZI file. The photocopies of birth, marriage, and death records were obtained by the late Delbert L. Gratz from the Archives at Metz, France. ↑
The 1833 Hanss Jantzi letter is also found in the Mennonite Archives at Goshen, but in the following collection: VIII-1 Amish Church (Old Order) Collection, Documents, ca 18th-20th Century, Box 2 (Green), 2/4. This letter would indicate that Joseph Jantzi was still in France and had not accompanied Michael to America in 1831. A photocopy of the original letter and translation are found in the JANTZI Document file. ↑
National Archives, Washington D.C., Microfilm Series M-237. The 1833 group sailed on the Barque Statera, the 1834 group on the Ship Groton. The film number for the first group is not known; for the second group, it is Roll #22. ↑
The late Luella Moshier of Glenfield, N.Y., thought the two boys were probably Mosers. Arlene Yousey also mentions this possibility in Strangers and Pilgrims . . . (Croghan, N.Y., 1987), p. 297. ↑
Letter addressed to Sir Francis Bond Head, Governor of Upper Canada, June 15, 1837. Archives of Canada at Ottawa, Ministry of Revenue, MG 19, Vol. 4447. This letter was found by E. Reginald Good when he was brought an incorrect file. Recognizing its value, he made a copy for us. ↑
National Archives, Washington D.C., Ship Passenger lists for the port of New York, Series M-237, Roll #83. ↑
For details on Magdalena’s second marriage and family, see the BESINGER Family Introduction. ↑
The Kennel story and detailed family lists are found in the KENNEL Family Introduction. ↑
Henry and Mae Yantzi, The Family History and Genealogy of Michael B. Yantzi and Jacobena (Kennel) Yantzi (New Hamburg, Ont., 1991). ↑
Mrs. Menno W. Kuepfer and Lorraine Roth, Family History and Genealogy of John Jantzi and Elizabeth Gerber (Shakespeare, Ont., 1974). ↑
Ruth Y. Ryan and Lorraine Roth, The Family History and Genealogy of Joseph and Catherine (Boshart) Jantzi, Christian and Catherine (Boshart Jantzi) Riser, John and Anna (Jausi) Ulrich (Kitchener, Ont., 1982). ↑