This article is about my maternal grandfather's EISTER ancestry in SE Pennsylvania. The surname for this family first appears in America as AISTER, is modified to OYSTER through several generations, in some clans becomes EYSTER, and my own line ends up as EISTER.
According to immigration documents, Johann Jacob Aister, my 6th great-grandfather, was born in Württemburg. Family tradition states he was born in the Swabian town of Michaelbach am Heuchelbert, and that he was resident near the city of Stuttgart when his children were born. Stuttgart was just inside the eastern boundary of the old Palatinate territory, which lay west of the Neckar River in SW Germany. This land, for ages, had been claimed and in varying degrees was controlled alternately by Alsatian or Germanic princes. Following the death of the German elector in 1685 and the ascendancy of the French King Louis XIV, the land in this area was ravaged, homes were pillaged mercilessly, and French culture was forcibly imposed upon those who did not flee the Palatinate. In the mountainous terrain between the headwaters of the Neckar and the Danube rivers, comprising the province of Würtemburg, inhabitants were especially noted for their staunch regional pride and unbowing resistance to the intrusions of the French. How much suffering was endured by the AISTER family, on the eastern side of the territory and farthest from France, is unknown. In any case, the timing of the AISTER family's emigration coincided with the flight of many thousands from the Palatinate to Pennsylvania.
Immigration records show that in 1717, at age 52, Jacob (he followed the custom of using his middle name), his wife, Catherine, and at least three daughters and two sons joined a colony of Palatine Lutherans emigrating to America under the leadership of Rev. Anthony Jacob Henkel. They settled at New Hanover, then in Philadelphia county, now in Montgomery County, near the Berks county line.
As early as 1703, Pastor Daniel Falkner had begun a Lutheran congregation at New Hanover, Pennsylvania, and during the five years he ministered there a rude church building had been erected by the Lutherans. With Pennsylvania becoming more attractive to immigrants from Germanic principalities after about 1710, Philadelphia became their preferred port of entry. (Records of who and how many arrived in Philadelphia are lacking since immigrant registration was not required until 1727.) The group led by Pastor Henkel found a ready welcome among the established German Lutherans around New Hanover, who at the time were without a regular pastor and who became assimilated into Pr. Henkel's charge. The newly arrived band of Lutherans obtained a large, contiguous tract of land for their homes and farms. Two years later, in 1719, under Pastor Henkel's capable guidance, the Lutherans of New Hanover were able to secure additional land, a donation of about fifty acres from J. H. Sprogle of the Frankfort Company, for the "use of the congregation." A new log church was built on this land. The survey of the new site notes that the church property adjoined farmland of "Jacob Oyster." So within a few years after his arrival in America, "OYSTER" had become an alternate spelling used in the community for the AISTER surname.
Johann Jacob AISTER was naturalized in 1739. Before writing his will in the spring of 1745, he had, himself, assumed the spelling OYSTER for his surname; and so far as is known his male progeny followed suit for at least three generations. While his will and three codicils signed "Jacob Oyster" are meticulously prepared, Jacob does not follow the early German custom of listing all sons names in order of their births followed thereafter by daughters names in order of their births. Breaking with tradition, Jacob's last will and testament intermingles the names of his sons and daughters. We might infer from this that Jacob favored "equal rights" for his children, regardless of their gender. (See Philadelphia Will Book F-8, will dated 10 May 1745). In these documents Jacob's wife is named Catherine and their children are named Anna Marie, Rosina, Johann George, Christian, and Magdalen. (Credit for learning that the maiden name of Jacob's wife, Catherine, was WURTERICH goes to devoted researcher, Attorney C. David EYSTER, of Ukiah CA.)
Immigrant Johann Jacob AISTER>OYSTER was a farmer throughout his life in Pennsylvania. A New Hanover Lutheran church record shows he was buried in their churchyard on 31 May 1745 after death at the age of 80 years. In 1745 Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg was pastor at New Hanover, so Pr. Muhlenberg probably conducted Jacob AISTER's funeral service. By that date Muhlenberg had become the chief organizer of Lutherans in SE Pennsylvania: the first Lutheran synod in America and the multitude of congregations that flow from his work have led to his memorialization as the "Father of the Lutheran Church" in America.
[A CD received from researcher C. David Eyster on 5/24/04 lists children of immigrant Johann Jacob AISTER>OYSTER as follows: (1) Catharina Barbara Oyster b. 11/22/1695 Michaelbach Am Heuchelberg, Baden-Württemberg, d. 3/12/1745 in PA; (2) Anna Maria Oyster b. 1/10/1698, d. Nov 1779; (3) Anna Rosina Oyster b. 12/27/1700 Stuttgart, Neckar, Württemberg; (4) John George Oyster b. 3/1/1703, d. Aug 1789; (5) Christian Oyster b. 12/1/1705, d. 3/3/1747; (6) Anna Elizabetha Oyster; (7) Margaretha Oyster b. 12/26/17__ in Michaelbach, d. 5/4/1712 Württemberg; and (8) Maria Magdalena Oyster b. 4/2/1713, d. 3/12/1745.]
In concert with migration patterns of the 18th C., the descendants of immigrant Johann Jacob AISTER generally moved westward into Berks Co. and beyond:
(1) Daughter Anna Maria, born 1/10/1698 in Wuerttemberg, was married in Pennsylvania on 5/15/1718 to Christopher SCHLEGEL (1676-1772). According to World Family Tree Disk #1, they had children named Mary, Daniel, Jacob, and Christopher. Further research is waiting to be done.
(2) Anna Rosina, was born 12/27/1700 in Stuttgart, Wuerttemberg. Additional information unknown.
(3) Johann George AISTER>OYSTER (1703-1789), my 5th great-grandfather became a resident of Oley, Berks Co. Family history preserved by Eister descendants in Northumberland County PA describes (John) George Oyster's place of birth as "near Stuttgart in Wuerttemberg" and also as "in the Palatinate near Stuttgart."
An article in Historical Review Of Berks County, October 1935, pages 22-24, states that George emigrated to America with his father in 1717 at an unknown age and that he always wrote his name on official records as AISTER or OYSTER. Eister family history, as preserved by descendants who gravitated to Northumberland County PA, records that George arrived at eleven years of age. The Historical Review article goes on to state that George's signature is found on a 1728 "Petition For Protection Against Indians." This was probably about the time of his first marriage. He was naturalized, along with his father, in 1739, at which time he had 200 acres without encumbrance east of Reading in Oley, District Twp., Berks Co., PA. This acreage became the family homestead in Berks Co. and it was passed to a son and then to a grandson both named George OYSTER. The article confirms the Northumberland Co. EISTER clan's oral history that the name of George's first wife has not been preserved and that there is no record of births for George's first marriage.
The following abstract for George's will is found in "Berks Co. Will Abstracts." OYSTER, JOHN, District Twp. Will written & dated September 23, 1788, will proven August 31, 1789. Vol. 3-90: Executors to sell plantation and divide proceeds equally among children, viz: George; the children of Samuel, deceased; Jacob; Daniel; Elisabeth Catharina; Magdalena; Susanna Maria; Margaret and Barbara. To Jacob, son of my wife Catharine, deceased, 1 shilling and no more. Exrs: Son-in-law Daniel YODER and son George. Witnesses: John ARENTZ, Jacob ARENTZ and John RORBACH. (The two Arentz men were almost certainly related to the former husband of George's second wife. His full name is unknown.)
George's second wife was the widow, Catherine ARENDTS (nee unknown), whom he married in 1828. She had been born in Heilbronn, Baden, and died before 1789. Sketchy information on the children she bore includes:
(3.1) Elizabeth Catherine OYSTER, born about 1728, who married John YODER (also found as Johannes YODER).
(3.2) Elizabeth(?) Catharina(?) OYSTER born 12/23/1730, married George SCHALL, and died 1/12/1812.
(3.3) George OYSTER born 1732, married Hannah MOYER, died 9/5/1795 in Oley, Berks Co.
(3.4) Samuel OYSTER born 1734 and died 1767, survived by several children, of whom Daniel was youngest.
(3.5) Jacob OYSTER, my 4th great-grandfather, was born 1736 in New Hanover Twp. and married Magdalena BURKHOUSE. (Information on Magdalena Burkhouse's family is awaiting research.) Jacob was a captain during the Revolutionary War with responsibilities for logistics, particularly the movement of wagons. When Jacob's wife died in 1780, he left his young children in the care of relatives and set off on a trip to buy a farm in Virginia (just as many Pennsylvania Germans were doing). He was never heard from again. It was supposed that he was the man who later was reported as having been murdered on the Baltimore Road for the money he was carrying, though that identification was never confirmed. It is said Jacob and Magdalena had several children, that the sons inherited portions of land from their grandfather, John George Oyster, and that it was these who became progenitors of the OYSTERS who spread from Berks Co. into Cumberland, Adams, Franklin and Northumberland counties. For brevity, only two sons are mentioned here. The son named Jacob, my 3rd great-grandfather is included on the basis of family records preserved by his descendants who moved into the Sunbury area of Northumberland county. The inclusion of the son named George rests on a curious note found in an issue of Sauer's (aka Sower's) German Newspaper dated 3 July 1761. Personal notices in the column headed "Seeks" included all sorts of ads from those seeking work to those seeking lost articles or lost persons. An ad was inserted in the above-mentioned issue under the heading "Seeks" which read, "Jacob Eister, Oley (Berks Co): son, George." At the present state of Eister family research, it appears this is the only Jacob Eister living in Oley at the time who would have been seeking contact with a son. Incidentally, this is the earliest evidence found to date for the spelling 'EISTER,' which comes to be used universally by the clan that moved to Northumberland county. It is possible that the newspaper clerk rather than Jacob, himself, determined the spelling used in the Sauer's ad.
As mentioned above, the will of Jacob's father bequeathed "To Jacob, son of my wife Catharine, deceased, 1 shilling and no more." Jacob's disappearance on his trip to Virginia had led only to a generally accepted assumption that he was dead. It is not clear why Jacob's many children were not granted some share from the estate of their grandfather. Perhaps it was decided that to divide Jacob's share among all of his many children in the care of relatives would have presented too great an administrative nightmare!
(3.6) Barbara Hannah OYSTER born 1741, married Peter KLEPINGER, died 1819.
(3.7) Daniel OYSTER born 7/18/1743, died 9/13/1798 in York PA. Reportedly he, like his older brother, held the rank of Captain during the RevWar.
(3.8) Magdalena Susanna OYSTER was born 7/30/1745 and married Richard Adams.
(3.9) Maria Margaretha OYSTER was born 5/4/1753, married Daniel YODER, died 12/23/1833, and is buried in the Yoder Grounds cemetery, Pleasantville, Berks Co. PA.
(4) Christian OYSTER (1705-1747) was born in Michaelbach, Wuerttemberg. In 1732 he married a new immigrant who arrived on the Brittania in 1731, Anna Margueretta Schmeiser, born in Riegelbach, Lustenau Jagstkreis, Württemburg, and they became residents of York Co. PA. Researcher C. David Eyster lists their children as follows: Elias (1733-1811) who married Anna Maria Lau; Hannah born in 1735 who married Peter SPRINKLE; Margaret Elizabeth born 1737 who married Michael SPRINKLE; Elizabeth born 1739 who married Jacob Heidler; Johann George (1741-1810) who in 1760 married Anna Christina ALTLAND in York Co. and was buried in Wolf's Churchyard, York PA; Christian (1742-1792); and Christina born 1745. Christian is buried in a plot on his farm in West Manchester Twp., York Co.
(5) Magdalen AISTER>OYSTER born about 1711 near Stuttgart, was married before immigration to John SHIMEL born about 1705. It is believed they lived in Berks Co. but research is not complete.
It is requested that additions, corrections, questions etc. from readers of this article be posted on Rootsweb's EISTER MailList using the E-mail address Eister@Rootsweb.com. Instructions for subscribing to the EISTER MailList and for posting messages are found at the Rootsweb Website with this URL: http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/surname/e/eister.html.
Submitted by: Nelson.