Discoveries of Erich Enke

Erich Enke is my 4th cousin twice removed. I think we share the same third great grandparents...John Enke and his wife Ann Susan Pryor (Nancy Pryor). They may have had about 15 children. My ancestor stems from their daughter Lydia and Erich's ancestor is Lydia's sibling Josiah. I have the father of John as Jacob and his wife is Elizabeth.

You may have received Erich's E-Mail of Oct. 10, 2009, but I'd like to share it with you in it's entirety. I was away all last week so have just gotten the opportunity to study it. I really enjoyed hearing from Erich. The following is a revision of Erich's E-Mail, sent to me Thursday, Oct. 15.

"I've been prodding the internet pretty hard for hints as to how the Enkes came to America. I might have just figured it out.

I had discovered a couple years ago that John was the father of Josiah and that I might have even found John's father Jacob. Someone else on rootsweb.ancestry.com had that Jacob listed as Lewis Jacob Enke. Yet another had in their tree a Lewis Encke married to an Elizabeth Muschlitz, and having a son of Johannes (John) and daughter Magdalene. They also had three of the elder sons, with very close birth dates, listing Lewis (Josiah's brother) as Ludwig Encke! Supposing that the name change from 'Encke' to 'Enke' happened with John and perhaps his father, I started searching for a Ludwig (Lewis) Jakob Encke, but could find almost no reference whatsoever, until I happened across a positive indication on the free ship searches on ancestry.com of a Ludwig Jakob Encke being on a ship arriving in Quebec (of all places) for either 1776 or 1782, and wherever he was, a certain Johann Ludwig Encke was also. I discovered that the Hessian support military for the British landed in Quebec in 1776, and that many of them were disbanded in 1782, and Johann Ludwig Encke was among them, in the Hanau Artillery Corps.

This is a tall tale to weave, and several links in the chain are unsubstantiated. What do we know?

We know that John Enke is listed with Ann and his children in the 1850 Mahoning Co., OH census in Berlin Twp. I'm pretty sure John was born in 1786, since that's what's listed on his gravestone in Uniontown Cemetery, Uniontown, Knox Co., IL. Hiram's biography is probably in error on this point. Ann's grave is there also.

We know that there is a Lewis Encke in the 1800 Lancaster Co., PA census in Penn Twp, the household containing a 45+ yo male (Lewis), a 10-16 yo male (John?), 2 10-16 yo females, and a 36-45 yo female (Elizabeth Muschlitz?). This would make Lewis older than I originally suspected, having been born 1755 or earlier. Who would the two women be? Perhaps one of them is a Magdalene I have seen in some family trees. Perhaps the other is Elizabeth Enke Swank --her birdate and birthplace would match well, it would make sense if she were married after her mother. It also seems there were some Swanks that migrated to the same area of OH around the same time.

It would make sense, if Ludwig Jakob were Johann Ludwig's son that he might not show up on the soldier lists. It wasn't uncommon for support family to come along. However, the Ludwig on the ship with Johann, if he is the same Lewis in the census would be at least 21 years old by 1776. Why wouldn't he be listed in the Corps also?

Johann Ludwig's status is listed as deserted July 1782. But there is no status for 'taken prisoner'. The 1782 date meshes well with the 1782 indication I had from ancestry.com. Does anyone out there have an ancestry.com subscription and would like to look up what exactly those immigration records were?

Moreover, there seems to have been a Munzmeister (master minter) in Hanau 1740-1770 named Johann Jakob Encke. I wouldn't be surprised if this were a relative since there seems to be a certain naming pattern to the Enkes. Consider the name 'Lewis". John's (supposed) father, John's son, and Josiah's son (John's grandson) all share the same name. If the theory is right, then 'John' would be the name of Lewis' father, Lewis's on and Lewis' grandson. The Morning Sun cemetery (Iowa)is named 'Elmwood.'. There's also an Elmwood cemetery in IL. And Elm, PA is in Penn Twp, Lancaster Co., PA. There's a Unionville in Penn Twp. The cemetery John and Ann are buried in is Uniontown cemetery in Uniontown, Knox Co., Ill. And there's a Mt. Union, IA connected with the Enkes also. Names get passed down in the Enke tradition.

The dates would allow for Ludwig Jakob to meet and marry Elizabeth Muschlitz.
Elizabeth's family was newly from Switzerland, and being native German speaking would help. Also, it would totally make sense why they would claim to be from Pennsylvania in the census -- because they fought AGAINST America in the war."

Here Erich gives the other researcher's page on Lewis Encke.

"I've sent out a request for more information, particularly why he's so sure of his birth dates. I haven't heard back yet. I'm pretty sure I've got it (or at least I'm really excited and hope I might have it.) It explains the brick wall I've been up against, and the dates fit well enough. Judge for yourselves. Proving it is, of course, the hard part. Right now I'm concentrating on the John-to-Lewis connection, looking for Lewis Encke's land deed(s) in Lancaster Co., PA (lots of microfilm scans). But it seems to me that the Enkes come from Hanau, Germany."

This is pretty interesting, especially as the DeLong family (another branch of Mom's family) comes from Loyalists during the Revolutionary War. And then there are family members who were minute men and were in Valley Forge. Lots of variety. Thanks Erich.