Johannes Nicholas Berger^{[1, 2]}

1720 - 1795  (75 years)

• Name	Johannes Nicholas Berger  [1, 2]
  Birth	1720	, , Switzerland   [1, 2]
  Gender	Male
  Arrival	1753	Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA   [1]
  Death	1795	Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA   [2]
  Burial	Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA   [2]
  Person ID	I13324	Master
  Last Modified	10 Dec 2024

  
  

  Family	Katherine,   b. 1700, , , Switzerland d. Northampton, Lehigh, Pennsylvania, USA
  Children	+ 1. Jacob Berger,   b. 21 Dec 1745, Frankfurt, Hessen-Nassau, Germany d. 25 Jan 1837, Clifton Plantation, Toshes, Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA (Age 91 years) + 2. Catherine Berger,   b. 1746, Frankfurt, Hessen-Nassau, Germany d. 1 Feb 1839, , Pittsylvania, Virginia, USA (Age 93 years)
  Family ID	F3652	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	19 Aug 2014

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 1720 - , , Switzerland Arrival - 1753 - Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Death - 1795 - Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Burial - - Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Notes

  JONATHAN(1) BERGER Little is really known about Jonathan. First, his christened name was not Jonathan but was undoubtedly some variation of John. Traditionally, it is accepted that he was born in Switzerland probably around 1700 to 1710 (maybe as late as 1720), but moved to the Frankfort, Germany area prior to the birth of Jacob(2) Sr. in 1745. It has not been documented, to our knowledge, as to when Jonathan and family arrived in the colonies. A search of the German immigrant passenger lists reveals that it could have been 1753 or 1754, but more probably 1753. (See comments below) The Seven Years War started in Germany in 1756 and few people came to the American Colonies between 1755 and 1765. Tradition has it that Jonathan and Jacob Sr, settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in the midst of the German settlements and remained there until they went down into Virginia just prior to the beginning of the Revolutionary War, in which Jacob Sr. served as a Chief Wagoner from Pittsylvania County, Virginia. It has been stated that they first settled near Hurt Station, then went to the site where CLIFTON was founded, west of Gretna, Virginia. Allegedly, Jonathan returned to Pennsylvania where he is believed to have died. One would conclude he had family back in Pennsylvania to lure him back, or it would have been logical, that during his declining years, he would have stayed near Jacob Sr.. This is a subject that would challenge a researcher to document. If anyone has more information on Jonathan please share it with us. Further comments from John(7) Mark Alley. In the early 1980 s I scanned all available passenger lists, looking for Berger immigrants between 1750 and 1775. The following list is the result. Source: Pennsylvania German Pioneers Strassberger and Hinke -- Genealogical Publishing Co. in two volumes - 1966. --- German Immigrants 1750- 1775 from Ship Passenger Lists --- Note: Boys under 16 and females of any age were not listed. No Book Book Date of Ship's Captain's Passenger's age Port of Page List Arrival Name Name Name Embarkation 1 432 149C Aug 15 Royal Clement Johann -- Rotterdam/ 1750 Union Nicholson Adam Portsmouth Berger 2 439 153C Aug 28 Two Thomas Matheas -- Rotterdam/ 1750 Brothers Arnot Berger Cowes 3 440 154C Aug 28 Phoenix John Michael -- Rotterdam/ 1750 Mason Berger Cowes 4 461 167C Sep 16 Edinburgh James Michael B. -- Rotterdam/ 1751 Russell Berger Cowes 5 467 171C Sep 23 Neptune James Johan -- Rotterdam/ 1751 Weir Philippus Cowes Berger 6 497 190C Oct 20 Duke Daniel Georg -- Rotterdam/ 1752 Wirtenburg Montpelier Berger Cowes 7 500 191C Oct 23 Rawley John Andreas -- Rotterdam/ 1752 Grove Berger Plymouth 8 501 192C Nov 2 Phoenix John Johans -- Rotterdam/ 1752 Spurrier Michel Portsmouth Berger 9 502 192C Nov 2 Phoenix John Johann -- Rotterdam/ 1752 Spurrier Friedrich Portsmouth Berger 10 513 197A Sep 10 Beulah Capt. Martin -- Not Given 1753 Richey Burger 11 529 200C Sep 17 Patience Hugh Jaque -- Rotterdam/ 1753 Steel Berger Cowes 12 540 203A Sep 24 Neptune John Johan -- Rotterdam 1753 Mason Simon Berger 13 544 203C Sep 24 Neptune John George -- Rotterdam 1753 Mason Philip Berger 14 546 204A Sep 24 Peggy James Jacob 22 Rotterdam 1753 Abercrombie Berger 15 560 207A Sep 28 Hallifax Thomas Johannes 33 Rotterdam 1753 Coaten Nicholas Berger 16 609 Frans Burger 44 17 609 Michel Burger -- 18 611 Michael Burger -- 19 629 Leonard Burger -- 20 644 224C Oct 21 Friendship Charles Johan -- Amsterdam/ 1754 Ross Jost Gosport Berger 21 672 232A Dec 12 Neptune William John 28 Hamburg 1754 Mullhane Adam Berger 22 739 293C Dec 10 General Richard Kasper -- Not Given 1771 Wolf Hunter Berger List A -- Compiled by Examining Doctor in port in Philadelphia. List B -- Compiled by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for Registry. List C -- Compiled by Shipping Firm at Port of Embarkation. Note: The Jonathan Berger, father of Jacob Berger who settled in Pittsylvania Co., VA, about 1775 is probably one of the above named. Jacob, his son was under 16 and would not have been named on the passenger lists. (Jacob - born Dec 21, 1745) (Any other family members, boys under 16 and females of any age would not be listed on the passenger list. You will note that there are 8 Bergers, whose names are a derivative of John i.e., Johann, Johan, Johans, Johannes or John. Any one of these could have been the Jonathan(1) Berger of our ancestry, but I lean toward the ones who came over in 1753 or 1754, simply to place it closer to the 1755 date that has prevailed for so long in family tradition. (NOTE: Families often split up on different ships, because, should a storm sink a ship, the entire family would not be lost.) A very interesting group of Bergers, arrived, Sept. 24, and 28, 1753. Johan Simon Berger and George Philip Berger arrived on the ship NEPTUNE. Jacob Berger (age 22) arrived on the PEGGY and four days later Johannes Nicholas Berger (33) arrived on the HALLIFAX. They all departed from Rotterdam. I believe these Bergers are all related. Their first names appear repeatedly (Jacob, John, and George) in Berger family naming patterns for generations to come. In those days, children were named for favorite uncles and cousins as well as the parents/grandparents name perpetuation. While this has not been an issue under debate, I could raise a valid question. {Could Catherine the wife of John Michael Crider (1712 - 1761) have been the sister of (or otherwise closely related to) Johannes (later Jonathan) Berger who came to America 1753/1755, and known to be the father of Jacob Berger, Sr., and, as we now believe, was the father of Catherine Berger Crider.} I suggest this only as an angle to be researched by family genealogists. A compelling reason to suspect that Catherine Kreider (Crider) wife of Michael Kreider (Crider) (born 1712) was Jonathan s sister, is the repetitive and interchanging naming pattern between the Berger family and the Crider family. I believe it s a theory worth considering. I (Jacob(7) R Berger) feel that serious research should be focused on Johannes Nicholas Berger for the following reasons: His name is spelled Johannes, Catherine and Daniel Crider s 3rd child is named Johannes. Johannes age is listed as 33 in 1753, which would mean, he was born about 1720. Some records show Jonathan as born in 1720. Keep in mind that no females, of any age, and no boys under 16 were listed on the ships passenger lists at that time. Only males 16 years and older are listed on the ships passenger lists. We have no information as to how many family members were on these ships. Based on the information, I (JRB) have seen, I lean toward Johannes Nicholas Berger, the 15th person on the above list, being Jonathan(1) Berger. One record shows Jonathan being born 1720. Johannes Nicholas Berger was 33 years old in 1753. Also there are comments below which leads me to list Catherine as the daughter of Jonathan Berger. Daniel and Catherine (Berger) Crider's third child was Johannes Crider. We have no proof as to the connection, I do hope some one will do research on the above Some of the following information comes from the 1979 Berger Family History. Tradition has it that, his move from Switzerland to Germany was for political reasons, it has also been stated that his move to the American Colonies was on account of religious and political reasons. It is to be supposed that Jonathan had a family, but the 1979 Berger Family History, makes mention of only one son, Jacob(2), who was a boy of seven years old (twelve in one record) when he came to America with his father. Based on several records, including (information from Sandra(8) Hazel Smart (Carneiro) which she recorded in FTM Volume 1 Tree # 4990), and also the dates on his headstone, his year of birth is being adjusted to 1745 from 1743 (this accounts for the adjustment to seven years old prior to December in 1753). THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION HAS NOT BEEN FULLY VERIFIED BUT IT DOES RAISE SEVERAL POINTS. PLEASE READ ALL OF THESE NOTES BEFORE YOU COME TO ANY CONCLUSIONS. Following is information from Sandra(8) Hazel Smart (married to Philip Carneiro). Her lineage is as follows: (PATRICIA(7)BETTY QUINN (SMART), LULA(6) BLANCH 'MOM' MYERS (QUINN), MARY(5) A. SMITH (MYERS), BARBARY(4) ANN MILLS (SMITH), SUSANNAH(3) BERGER (MILLS), JACOB(2) BERGER, JONATHAN(1) BERGER). She recorded this in Tree # 4990 World Family Tree Volume 1. Submission date May 31, 1995, Tree name: Smith, Mills, Myers of VA, WV 1610-1995. It lists Jonathan Berger as being born in 1700 in Switzerland and dying before 1795 in Philadelphia, PA. Katherine "Berger", born Abt 1700, is shown as his wife. Two children are shown as follows: Jacob Berger, born December 21, 1745 in Baden, Germany and died January 25, 1837 in Pittsylvania Co., VA. He married Christena in Philadelphia. She was born January 31, 1753 in Philadelphia, PA and died in Pittsylvania Co., VA on November 11, 1838. Catherine Berger, born 1749 in Baden, Germany and died February 1, 1739 in Pittsylvania Co., VA. There are other Family Trees that include Jonathan and/or Jacob and/or other members of our family. One of these is Tree # 1329 World Family Tree Volume 2, submission date June 30, 1995. Tree name Culpeper, Wood, Arnold of VA, AL 1199-1995. I decided not to include this Tree as a portion of our Family History, at this time, as there are some definite variations from other information I have verified. Tree # 1329 contains some information we may want to include, if we can clear up a few points. I am communicating with the person that did the research for that Tree, in an effort to clarify the facts. Keep in mind that the above Trees were for other families which happened to inter-lock with our ancestors (or at least someone thought they inter-locked). They did not necessarily cover all the members of any particular family unit. They can; however, provide us with leads in locating family members. Based on the information, I have seen, I believe the record in the 1979 Berger Family History (which was an update of the 1940 Berger Family History) was correct in listing Jonathan(1) Berger as the father of Jacob(2) Berger, Sr.; and Jacob (2), Sr. as the father of Jacob(3), Jr.. I do think it is important for all of us to be aware that there are many Family Trees out there that may inter-lock, correctly or incorrectly, with our Family Tree. The above comments are to remind each of us to check and recheck, the accuracy of the Family Trees we see, and whether or not they are a part of our family, before we enter them into our Family Tree. I do not plan to go into as much detail in explaining the search for other records as I have done for the notes for Jonathan(1), the notes for Jacob(2) Sr., the notes for Catherine(2) and the notes for Jacob(3) Jr.; however, I do plan to be very careful in searching for correct information. If any of you have any more information regarding the above, please let me know. (THE NUMBERS (1), (2), (3), (4), (5) etc HAVE REFERENCE TO THE GENERATIONS, STARTING WITH JONATHAN (1) BORN ABOUT 1700 to 1720), (THE NUMBERS SUCH AS (5/6), (6/7) OR (8/9/10) REFER TO PERSONS WHO HAD ONE OF THEIR ANCESTORS MARRY ANOTHER FAMILY MEMBER (COUSIN) FROM A DIFFERENT GENERATION; THEREFORE, THEY BECOME A MEMBER OF TWO OR MORE GENERATIONS DEPENDING ON WHICH ANCESTORS, THEY USED TO TRACE THEIR GENERATION NUMBER) Other information is from the 1979 Berger Family History, (an update of the 1940 Berger Family History).

  
  

• Sources

  [S747] Ancestry.com, U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc), Place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Year: 1753; Page Number: 560. [S751] Ancestry.com, U.S., Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.).