Fourth Generation (Continued)
Levi SHILLING.
Born on 25 Oct 1816 in Shillington, Berks Co., PA. Levi died in Shillington, Berks Co., PA, on 21 Jun 1892; he was 75. Buried in Yocum’s Cemetery, Grill, PA. At the age of <1, Levi was baptized in First Reformed Church, Reading, Berks Co., PA, on 26 Sep 1817. Religion: baptized 26 Sep 1817 First United Church of Christ, Reading, Berks Co., PA.
Apparently never married fide “Historical and Biographical Annuls of Berks Co., PA”
Levi SHILLING was born on 25 Oct 1816 in Shillington, Berks Co., PA.4 The tombstone inscription has a birth date of 1811. The records from the First United Church of Christ says that Levi was born 25 Oct 1816. It is believed that the tumbstone inscription is in error. He was baptized on 26 Sep 1817 in First United Church of Christ, Reading, Berks Co., PA. He died on 21 Jun 1892 in Shillington, Berks Co., PA. He died at the Berks County Alms House, Shillington, PA. He was buried after 21 Jun 1982 in Yocum's Cemetery, Grill, PA.
Ms. Myrtle L. Council writing in the newsletter of the “Governor Mifflin Area History” syas “there is an inconsistency in the birth dates of Levi and Ester. According to the age at the time of death and recorded on their tombstone they were born in 1811 and 1813 respectively. However, the parents were married in 1816. Since Levi was baptized in 1817 and Ester in 1818 it is logical to conclude that the ages on the tombstone may be incorrect and that their birth years occurred within a year of their baptism.”
One record cites Levi as having a wife “Ester.” This is apparently an error and it was probably assumed that the tombstone at Yocum’s Cemetery, which was in Levi’s and Ester’s names, was that of husband and wife. They are brother and sister and neither apparently ever married.
Ester/Hester “Hettie” SHILLING.
Born on 20 Jan 1818 in Shillington, Berks Co., PA. Ester/Hester “Hettie” died on 3 May 1889; she was 71. Buried in Yocum’s Cemetery, Grill, PA. At the age of <1, Ester/Hester “Hettie” was baptized in First Reformed Church, Reading, PA, in Sep 1818. Religion: baptized Sep 1818, First United Church of Christ, Reading, Berks Co., PA.
She went by “Hettie” and/or “Hessie” apparently never married fide “Historical and Biographical Annuls of Berks Co., PA”
There is an inconsistency in the birth dates of Levi and Ester. According to the age at the time of death and recorded on their tombstone they were born in 1811 and 1813 respectively. However, the parents were married in 1816. Since Levi was baptized in 1817 and Ester in 1818 it is logical to conclude that the ages on the tombstone may be incorrect and that their birth years occurred within a year of their baptism.
One record cites Levi as having a wife “Ester.” This is apparently an error and it was probably assumed that the tombstone at Yocum’s Cemetery, which was in Levi’s and Ester’s names, was that of husband and wife. They are brother and sister and neither apparently ever married.
Samuel SHILLING.
Born on 11 Mar 1819 in Shillington, Berks Co., PA. Samuel died in Shillington, Berks Co., PA, on 29 Mar 1891; he was 72. Buried on 31 Mar 1891 in Yocum’s Cemetery, Grill, PA. At the age of 1, Samuel was baptized in First Reformed Church, Reading, PA, on 4 Jun 1820. Religion: baptized 4 Jun 1820, First United Church of Christ, Reading, Berks Co., PA.
Samuel SHILLING was born on 11 Mar 1819 in Shillington, Berks Co., PA. He was baptized on 4 Jun 1820 in First United Church of Christ, Reading, Berks Co., PA.4 He died on 29 Mar 1891 in Shillington, Berks Co., PA. He was buried on 31 Mar 1891 in Yocum's Cemetery, Grill, PA. He was a member of the Reformed denomination. Samuel Shilling served as tax collector of Cumru Township for fifteen years. He server in the military in Company D, 167th P.V.M. In politics he was a democrate, until Abraham Lincoln was a candidate for the Presidency, he then became a follower of "Old Abe."
Samuel Shilling owned considerable land in and around the borough of Shillington. In 1860 he subdivided some of this land along Flying Hill Road and sold them for building personal residenses. A map of 1870 has the community named "Shillingville," but when the post office was instituted on, July 14, 1884 the town was renamed Shillington.
Samuel Shilling figured that Phildadelphia Avenue would one day be on the main road from Harrisburg to Philadelphia - it turned out that he was a little over-optimistic - and laid it out unusually wide for the time (60'). He planted horsechestnut trees on both sides of the street, most or all of which are now gone.
The following is from pages 1672-1673 of, "Historical and Biographical Annuls of Berks County Pennsylvania," by Morton L. Montgomery. Published by J. H. Beers & Co. 1909, Chicago
Samuel Shilling was born in Cumru Township March 11, 1819, and died March 29, 1891; he was buried at Yocom's Church in his native township, of which he was a Lutheran member. Mr. Shilling was educated at the Trappe School in Montgomery County. He was a farmer and owned considerable land where Shillington now is located. He was the foremost man of his district. For fifteen year's he served as tax collector of Cumru Township, and this was his last employment. In 1860, he laid out the town of Shillington. He was a Democrat up to 1860, until Abraham Lincoln was a candidate for the Presidency, when he became a follower of "Old Abe." He was a member of Company D, 167th P. V. M., in the nine months' service. He was ever an active citizen. Mr. Shilling married Catharine Weitknecht, and they became the parents of nine children: (1) Champion F. P. died May 8, 1872, aged seventeen years. (2) Mary M. W., deceased wife of James M. Batron, of Shillington, and (3) George W, were twins, and were born on Washington's birthday, 1859; George died May 19, 1906. (4) Howard M. is mentioned below. (5) Frederick E. E., a brass molder, lives in the borough of Shillington. (6) Emma L., born on Washington's birthday, lives at Shillington. (7) Ida C. E., born in 1868. m. Charles C. Fisher, of York, Pa. (8) Oscar, twin to Ida, died in infancy. (9) Ella m. George Stehman, of York, Pennsylvania.
THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXCERPT FROM JOHN UPDIKES BOOK, "SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS."
The soft warm air had turned humid again, and I craved rain, remembering how one could walk and stay dry under trees that no longer existed. I was on the even-numbered side of Philadelphia Avenue, the side across from my own house and hence slightly foreign. Near the corner, the Gehrets' house of gray fieldstone was the oldest house in Shillington, built in 1742 and, for a time, the home of Samuel Shilling, who in 1860 laid out lots along Philadelphia Avenue and called the develop-ment Shillingsville a name upgraded in 1884, when a post office was established. A series of men had married into this land. Samuel's father, Jacob, in 1816 had married the daughter of Valentine Straub, who in 1777 had married the daughter of George Riehm, who had bought two hundred eighty acres from Jacob Weiss and Thomas Jones; they, in 1733 and 1734 respectively, had purchased their holdings directly from Wil-liam Penn. In 1761 Riehm had built the Three-Mile House, an inn three miles from Reading on the Lancaster Pike. Horse racing near the Three-Mile House became common after 1850, and in 1868 one Aaron Einstein built a half-mile dirt racetrack called the Reading Driving Park or Speedway, of which a remembrance lingered in our high-school cheers, where the Shillington teams were called "the Speedboys"-"Come on, Speeders, skin 'em alive!" As a child, I had known little of this, despite a frequent rumble of local history from my grand-father's direction, and the fact that Samuel Shilling's aged son Howard "Pappy" Shilling lived a few houses up the street." But a sense of ghosts had made me always walk quickly past the Gehrets'. There was a sense, too, that Fred Gehret in his handsome old stone manse-a wide-faced building, on a street of narrow lots and facades-was a cut above the neighborhood, which consisted, in my eyes, of peaky plain houses with ter-raced front lawns, gray milk-bottle receptacles on the porches, and a variety of those speckled composition sidings popular in the Thirties. Who lived in them? I hardly knew, though the steps going up to the different porches felt different-some you dared step on in passing, and some you would never dare. This side of the street, involving safer street crossings than the odd-numbered side, was the way to grade school and the mov-ies, and I was usually running.
"All through those years Pappy Shilling, the surviving son of the land-owner after whom the town was named, walked up and down Philadelphia Avenue with his thin black cane and his snow-white bangs; a vibrating chain of perfect-Sunday-School-attendance pins dangled from his lapel."-------"The Dogwood Tree" (1960)
http://dgmweb.net/genealogy/Straub/FGS/SamuelShilling-CatharineWhiteman.htm
Samuel married Catherine WEITKNECHT/WHITEMAN. Born on 2 Apr 1835 in PA. Catherine died in Shillington, Berks Co., PA, on 21 Jan 1890; she was 54. Buried in Yocum’s Cemetery, Grill, PA.
Whiteman is apparently the “Americanized” version of her original last name of Weitknecht
They had the following children:
Ephraim SHILLING.
Born on 29 Nov 1821 in Shillington, Berks Co., PA. Ephraim died in Shillington, Berks Co., PA, on 19 Jan 1899; he was 77. Buried in Fairview Cemetery, Shillington, Berks Co., PA.
1850 census, Berks Co., PA, Cumru twp
Ephraim Shilling 27 M Wheelwright born PA
Catharine Shilling 21 F born PA
Clara Shilling 1 F born PA
1860 census, Berks Co., PA, Cumru twp
Ephraim Shilling 38 M farmer
Catherine Shilling 31 F
Clara 10 F
Catharine 9 F
Mary A. 7 F
Elizabeth 4 F
John 8/12 M
1870 census, Berks Co., PA, Cumru twp.
Schilling, Ephriam 48 Wheelright
Schilling, Catherine 41 keeping house
Schilling, Casis (?) - this has to be Clara 19
Schilling, Elizabeth 14
Schilling, John 10
Schilling, Elexander (Alexander) 8
Schilling, Hannah 5
Schilling, S. Jane 2
1880 census, Berks Co., PA, Cumru twp.
Ephraim Shilling head of household 59 Farming born PA
Catherine Shilling wife 51 keeping house born PA
John Shilling son 20 farm labor PA
Alexander Shilling son 18 at home PA
Hannah Shilling dau 15 at home PA
Andrew Shilling son 8 PA
Minnie Hartune gdau 7 PA
In a hand-written document belonging to my aunt, Emily Elsie Adams Tait, Ephraim’s birth date is recorded as 29 Nov 1821. According to data received from Lee Arthur Sulzberger (Shilling genealogist) in 2001, he states “Blanch Edna Rhine (wife of Clinton Elmer Shilling) had Ephraim’s birth date as 22 Nov 1821 and Morton Montgomery reports a birth date of 22 Nov 1822. His gravestone in Fairview Cemetery in Shillington reads 29 Nov 1821, so that is the date I am using here.
Ephraim was a farmer and also worked at a trade of pattern making and turned out many violins of sweet tone fide Morton Montgomery in “Historical and Biographical Annuls of Berks Co., PA”. Listed as a Republican in the above reference. The family was Lutheran. That book (page 685) is further quoted here:
Ephraim Shilling, son of John Jacob, was born Nov. 16, 1822, in Shillington, and lived to his seventy-seventh year, dying Jan. 18, 1899. There he spent his entire life. He not only followed farming, but also his trade of pattern making, and turned out many violins of sweet tone; in later years he also engaged in wheel-weighting in connection with farming, cultivating a tract of forty-two acres. In politics, he was a Republican.
In 1848 Ephraim Shilling married Catharine Marks, daughter of George Marks, and a family of eight children was born to them, namely: Clara m. Frank Welde; Catharine m. Julius Wagner; Elizabeth m. John Gauss; John Jacob m. Sarah Steffey, and (second) Sallie E. Berstler; Alexander E., unmarried, lives at Shillington; Hannah m. Jerome Tompkins; Jane m. Horace R. Carl; Andrew m. Lizzie Kane. The family was Lutherans in religion.
On 18 Jun 1848 when Ephraim was 26, he married Catharine MARKS, daughter of George MARKS (1800-1880) & Elizabeth HORNBERGER, in First United Church of Christ, Reading, PA. Born on 7 May 1829. Catharine died in Berks Co., PA, on 28 May 1906; she was 77. Buried in Fairview Cemetery, Shillington, Berks Co., PA.
Her gravestone appears to indicate 1822 (but the 2 may be a 9) as a birth year, but death certificate says she was 77 when she died in 1906. Also, the 1850 census says she was 21 at that time and 1880 census gives an age of 51. 1829 must be the correct year of birth.
They had the following children:
Mary Louisa SHILLING.
Mary Louisa died aft 8 Sep 1894.
Mary Louisa married George FORBES.
George was from Minnesota
They had the following children:
Isabella H. SHILLING.
Born on 17 Nov 1827. Isabella H. died in Shillington, Berks Co., PA, on 6 Apr 1875; she was 47. Buried in Yocum’s Cemetery, Grill, PA. At the age of 1, Isabella H. was baptized on 9 Mar 1829.
never married fide “Historical and Biographical Annuls of Berks Co., PA”
Maria Ann SHILLING.
Born on 1 Mar 1829. Maria Ann died on 8 Feb 1850; she was 20. At the age of <1, Maria Ann was baptized on 9 Mar 1829.
Elizabeth “Hannah” or “Eliza” SHILLING.
Elizabeth “Hannah” or “Eliza” died bef 1849 in Illinois.
Elizabeth “Hannah” or “Eliza” married Isacc H. MILLER. Isacc H. died in Illinois.
They had the following children:
Jacob Valentine SHILLING.
Born ca 1832. Jacob Valentine died in Fredricksburg, VA, on 13 Dec 1862; he was 30.
Jacob V. Shilling
Enlisted in Federal Army 07 June 1861 as a Private
Served Pennsylvania, Enlisted D Co. 32nd Inf Reg. PA.
Promoted to 1st Sergt on 07 January 1862
Promoted to 2nd Lieut on 01 August 1862
Promoted to 1st Lieut on 01 October 1862
Jacob was killed at the battle of Fredericksburg, VA on 13 December 1862. I have copies of his military records which were obtained from the federal archives.
http://www.pacivilwar.com/cwpa32d.html
On 16 Feb 1861 when Jacob Valentine was 29, he married Mary C. BECHTEL in Reading, Berks Co., PA. Born on 24 Aug 1844 in Reading, Berks Co., PA. Mary C. died in Delaware Water Gap, PA, on 26 Jun 1925; she was 80.
In 1884 she lived at:
133 E. 56th St.
New York, NY
(from pension papers claimed on J. V. Shilling)
Apparently had one child who died as an infant