A very brief history of our Baughman family who came to Wayne and Medina County, Ohio from Northampton County, Pennsylvania
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A very brief history of our Baughman family who came to Wayne and Medina County, Ohio from Northampton County, Pennsylvania |
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Pronunciation of the name: The German pronunciation was "Bawk-man", the "ch" pronounced like an English "k". For what ever reason, some families changed the spelling, possibly as early as the 1780's-1790's, to Baughman. Some pronounced the new spelling as "Bawk-man" it was originally, but apparently others modified the pronunciation to "Bawf-man". I did not know any Baughman families when I was growing up in Medina County near Wadsworth and thus never heard the name pronounced. However, I was told that at least some of the families in the Wadsworth area pronounced the name as "Bawf-man". I recently received an email from an individual living in northern Ohio whose mother's maiden name was Baughman. He informed me that his family, who were from Summit, Medina, and Wayne counties, still pronounced the name Baughman as Bachman. He believed the spelling was changed from Bachman to Baughman during a time when there was much anti-German sentiment in the U.S. I do know that many people of German ancestry living in America during the first World War, especially in the Cincinnati area (where I lived for awhile), did modify the spelling of their surnames to hide the fact they had German ancestry, but do not know of any other time, even during WW-II, when this was the case. In any event, our Baughman family were using this spelling as early as the 1840's-50's, evidenced by land warrants and the 1790 census that show some were spelling the name as Baughman by the late 1700's. My ancestor Anna Catherine Bachman, daughter of Nicholas Bachman and Catherine Kindt, married Christian Wahl in about 1803 in Lowhill Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Christian Wahl is our immigrant ancestor who came to America from Germany sometime shortly after the American Revolution. Catherine was the granddaughter of the Bachman immigrant father, Jacob Bachman. The spelling of the name changed when members of our family and their close relatives migrated to Ohio. It is a mystery to me why the spelling changed from the rather simple Bachman to Baughman, but in Ohio it did. Another version found in the records is Bachmann spelled with the double "n". The Bachman family came to Pennsylvania from Germany. Some of the earliest accompanied William Penn to Pennsylvania and a Mr. Bachman was Penn’s personal secretary. Penn granted to his secretary a large tract of land encompassing two townships. Most of the descendants of the original Bachman immigrants remained in eastern Pennsylvania where many are still found today. However, a sizeable number of the third generation descendants of immigrant Jacob Bachman removed to Wayne and Medina County, Ohio. As I mentioned above, for some reason, members of the generation who removed from Pennsylvania to Wayne and Medina County, Ohio universally changed the spelling of their surname to Baughman. They were early settlers in Wayne County and Baughman Township was named for them.
Jacob Bachman, Sr.Our immigrant ancestor of the Baughman family was Jacob Bachman who was born on July 25, 1704 in Germany and died in Pennsylvania in 1788. He was buried at the Lowhill church in Lowhill township, Northampton County (what is now Lehigh County), near Allentown, Pennsylvania. Jacob arrived at Philadelphia on the ship Edinburgh, on September 14, 1753, with his family. His two eldest sons, Johan Jacob and Lorentz, are also listed on the ship’s passenger list. He settled in Lowhill Township, which, in those days was part of Northampton County. Conrad Bachman, a kinsman, possibly a brother, settled in Lehigh Township, Northampton County about the same time as Jacob established himself in Lowhill.Jacob helped to organize the Lowhill Reformed (Lutheran) church on January 27, 1769 and his name appears on the church’s constitution. Charles R. Roberts states in his HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA (1914) that Jacob Sr. served in the American Revolution in Captain Andrew Dapper’s company of Northampton County Militia. Since Jacob Sr. was 72 years old in 1776, I believe that this was probably Jacob, Jr. (Johan Jacob); although, militia units often consisted of able bodied men of all ages. These militia units were more or less home guard units and anyone capable of carrying a musket was welcome in their ranks.Jacob, Sr. was married twice. His second wife was Catharine, widow of William Schmetter, of Albany Township, Berks County. Jacob had nine children that we know of, four sons and five daughters. Most of them were probably born in Germany and were the offspring of Jacob and his first wife.
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Johan Jacob BachmanJohan Jacob Bachman was born in Germany on November 20, 1731. He came to Philadelphia at the age of 22 aboard the ship Edinburgh in 1753 along with his parents and siblings. Except for the passenger list, his name is given as Jacob in Pennsylvania records. He settled on a farm in Lowhill Township, (Lehigh County) Pennsylvania, probably not far from his father’s farm. In 1769 he donated three acres of land to the Lowhill Reformed (Lutheran) church that his father helped to organize. The congregation erected a church building and established a cemetery on the land. The original church was constructed of logs and was dedicated on September 3, 1769. It was in the Lowhill church in 1803 that Christian Wahl married Jacob’s granddaughter, Anna Catherine Bachman. Christian and Catherine baptized several of their children in the Lowhill church. By that time, the log church had probably been replaced by a more modern building.Jacob Jr. married Elizabeth Reichlin probably after arriving in America. Elizabeth was born June 22, 1740 and died October 21, 1800. Jacob preceded her in death by four years, dying on March 28, 1796. I believe that it was probably Jacob, Jr. who served in Andrew Dapper’s company of Northampton County Militia during the American Revolution.
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Nicholas BachmanNicholas Bachman, eldest son of Jacob, Jr. was born on September 5, 1763 in Lowhill township of Northampton County, Pennsylvania. He married Catharine Kindt probably in Northampton County in about 1784. Nicholas and Catharine were the sponsors of the baptism of Carl (Charles) Wahl, Christian and Catharine Bachman Wahl’s third child. Sponsors of a child’s baptism were usually close relatives. Nicholas died on June 16, 1832. Nicholas and Catharine had four children.
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Anna Catharine BaughmanAnna Catharine Bachman/Baughman is her given name in most of the records we have of her. It was not an uncommon practice for German people of that era to use their middle names almost exclusively. Catharine was born in Lowhill Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. It is likely that she met Christian Wahl through the church at Lowhill although the Wahls were associated with another church in present day Carbon County. Catharine and Christian were married about 1803 probably in the Lowhill church since several of their children were baptized there. Christian and Catharine moved from Northampton County west to Carbon County, Pennsylvania sometime before the 1820 census was taken. In 1824 Christian purchased land in Wayne County, Ohio a bit south of Wadsworth in Medina County. Catharine died in 1837 and is buried in the historic Emanuel United Church of Christ cemetery just south of Wadsworth on Eastern Rd (Rt 150) near the S. Medina County Line Rd.In the 1980's when my Uncle Ira Wall first photographed her headstone, it was laying flat on the ground and partially buried. At that time her age 51 and day, the 16th, and month were visible. The month was illegible. Since that time I have visited the cemetery several times, most recently in 2024. Someone associated with the cemetery had cleaned and placed the stone upright in a cement base. I can read the inscription, she was the wife of Christian Wahl and daughter of Nicholas Backman, born in 1785 Dec. 16, and died 1837 the 16th of (month illegible). The base of the stone is no longer visible because the cement covers the last two lines that contain her month of death and age at time of death. Later that same year, Christian married Magdalena Baughman Feller, Catharine’s younger sister and widow of Jacob Feller. Christian died in Wadsworth in 1850 and Magadalena signed a "quit claim" document renouncing all claims to his estate. Magdalena died on March 28, 1865 and is also buried in the Chruch of Christ cemetery. No children were born to this union.
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Ronald N. WallModified: 29 January 2025 |
