Three Rivers
Hudson~Mohawk~Schoharie
History From America's Most Famous Valleys

The Young (Jung) Families of the Mohawk Valley
1710-1946
Compiled by Clifford M. Young & Published by
The Fort Plain Standard, Fort Plain, NY 1947
Donated by Bruce Hargrove.

SOME DESCENDANTS OF JERG HANS JUNG
(Contributed by Edwin H, Young)

Concerning a widow and four children who may have been the family of Jerg Hans Jung there are a number of historical records. But in these references it is difficult to locate, with any degree of certainty, the son Johann Mattheus, who was destined to become the immigrant ancestor of this particular branch of the Jung (Young) family. However, because of the added interest they contain, some of these references will be quoted. They give us a glimpse of the flight of these people to America, and indicate that Johann Mattheus may have had brothers who became, like himself, the immigrant ancestor of other branches of the family; and sisters who were later identified with those of their Old Country neighbors. Nevertheless, because we do not discern Johann Mattheus among the children of this widow, we can only conjecture that they were either other members of Jerg Hans' family or very closely related to them. Fortunately we do not need this connection to establish the identity of this ancestor. The Reverend Joshua Kocherthal, early Lutheran minister who came to America with these Palatines, and doubtless knew them personally, refers to Johann Mattheus Jung in his records, as "a son of the late Jerg Hans Jung of Gernheim, Commune Stromberg, Palatinate" (Germany). This alone, is entirely sufficient for our purpose.

Jerg (George) Hans Jung apparently died in the old country shortly before this widow and children (whoever they were) left their ancestral home on the Rhine. The Genealogical and Biographical Record shows "Elisabeth Jungin" (the affix "in" or "en" said to be the feminine form in German), "49, widow, 2 sons and 2 daughters", sailing from Holland in 1709-apparently to England.

In Lineal Descendants of Rufus Rennington Young and Jane Vosburgh we find Johan Mattheus Jung alluded to as follows: "His name first appeared on the list of Germans from the Palatinate . . . who came to England, ... as 'John Jung-aged 18, not married-member of Reformed Church.' It is on the list of the third batch of emigrants who were at St. Catherine on June 2, 1709, to be disembarked at New York. It is found in the original documents preserved in the British Museum Library".

From Knittle's list of Palatines we learn that "Elisabeth Jongin had 4 children on arrival" (in America) "in 1710." She was "49". The children were: "Pieter Jong, 24; Katrine Jong, 12; Maria Katharine Jong, 19; and Hendr." (Hendrick) "Pieter Jong, 16."

The references to this widow and children are interesting, and it is not difficult to believe that they were the family-or part of it-of "the late Jerg Hans Jung", although, admittedly, we have found no documentary proof of it. According to the Simmendinger Register, it appears that Elisabeth Jung and Jacob Mac (Mannequin is the feminine) were living in Beckman's Land about the time that Johann Mattheus Jung and Anna Veronica Mannequin were married; and subsequent records show that "Elisabeth Jung" was one of the sponsors "it the baptism of Catherine Elisabeth, the first child of Johann Mattheus Jung and Anna Veronica Mannequin (Note that this is in accord with the tie-in practice of having the grandparents as sponsors for the first child in those times to show the continuity of family lines, and, also, that there were both a "Katrine" and a "Katharine" in the widow Elisabeth's own family.) We are justified in assuming that the reason why there was no husband present with Elisabeth at this baptism was because he had been "the late Jerg Hans Jung", and that these things tend strongly to establish her identity. Of course, any other deceased husband by the name of Jung would have been likewise absent, but there seems to have been no other Palatine "Jungin" to fit into the picture as the widow of "the late Jerg Hans." This Elisabeth certainly seems to do so, except that Johann Mattheus was not listed as one of her party. Why this was so we cannot say, but with them was Pieter, a son who was 24. Johann Mattheus as 18 would have fitted into her family, and he seems to have been clearly identified with her after their arrival at West Camp. Besides being sponsor at the baptisms of his first two children, she appears to have been one of the patentees at Beckman's Land, and as we have no record indicating that she married again in this country, and Johann Mattheus apparently lived in that vicinity all his life, we are inclined to believe that they lived there together, or at least with neighborly intimacy.

Again, as elsewhere stated, "Elisabeth Jung" was also a sponsor at the baptism of Johann Mattheus' Elisabeth on July 15, 1722. (This second daughter eventually married William Baron (Brown), and these were the parents of John M. Brown, the Schoharie county judge and historian). We cannot forget that Elisabeth Jung was a widow and that that Johann Mattheus' father was recorded as "The late Jerg Hans Jung." The relationship of these people may have seemed so obvious to Kocherthal that he failed to thus definitely identify this much mentioned widow, while carefully recording that "Johann Mattheus Jung was a son of the late Jerg Hans Jung". All this seems to lend much credence to the belief that these people were members of the same family. Whether they were or not is, however, of no importance in establishing the identity of our Johann Mattheus. Regardless of these speculations our ancestry rests firmly on Kocherthal's record which reads as follows:

"Married Sept. 28, 1714, Johann Mattheus Jung (son of the late Jerg Hans Jung of Gernheim, Commune Stromberg, Palatinate), and Anna Veronica Mannequin, (daughter of Master Jacob Mannequin" (Mac or Manch) "of Urbach, Commune Neuwied.)"

It might be well to say here that there is plenty of evidence that Old World neighbors clung to each other in the New. They not only settled in the same localities but they were closely associated and intermarried; even hanging together in their subsequent migrations. The following records, made shortly after they arrived in America, seem to indicate a clannish sort of intimacy transplanted from their Rhineland community across the sea. These records were made by Kocherthal at West Camp:

"Baptized Sept. 10, 1711, Johann Peter, cliild of Johann Peter and Maria Christina Oberhach ; sponsors Peter Oberbach and Johann Mattheus Jung, Likewise Anna (Demuth) Thonius." (This Johann Peter Oberbach was probably the sponsor for Peter Jung's baptism Feb. 14, 1725) "Joh. Pieter Overpag."

"Baptized Nov. 29, 1711, Anna Eva, born Nov. 25, child of Johann Peter and Anna Catherina Dippel; sponsors Eva Catherina Manckin, Elisabeth Jungin (the widow) ?, Gottfrid Ruhl and Bulthasar Kuster."

"Baptized Jan. 27, 1712, Johann Henrich, child of Jost Hearich and Agnes Schaster: sponsors Elisabeth Jungin (the widow?), and Johann Reitz Backus."

"April 16, 1714, Anna Catherina, born March 26, cliild of Johann Peter and Anna Catherina Dippel; sponsors Johann Lambert. Anna Veronica Manckin (not yet married to Johann Mattheus Jung), and Maria Gerdraut Buckin (Buck?)."

"May 6, 1714, Catharina Elisabetha, born April 30, child of Johann Niclaus and Anna Magdalena Korner: sponsors Elisabetha Rauin , and Johann Mattheus Jung."

"Nov. 28, 1714, Johann Heironymus and Agnes (twins), born Nov. 24, children of Johann Valentin and Elisabeth Maria Falkenburg; sponsors Heironymus Klein, Johann Wilhelm Kuster, Catherine Christian" (probably Christina) "Diederich, Anna Elisabeth Beckerin (Becker) ? and Agnes Diederlchin (Diederich?)"

(The Beckers and Diederichs will be found closely associated and intermarried with the Youngs.)

"March 6, 1715, Johann Mattheus, born the 1st, child of Johann Reichart "Reitz" (?) and Elisabetha Catharina Backus; sponsors Johann Mattheus Jung and Sophia Hornungin" (Hornung?).

Considering the location and extent of the territory formerly known as the Palatinate in Germany, the Gernheim referred to was probably Gernsheim, a few miles southwest of Darmstadt; and Neuwied (pronounced Noiweet) was where we find it today-Near Coblens. Neuweid is on the Rhine and Gernsheim appears to be a short distance from it. The Pronouncing Gazetteer of the World says: "Neuwied is a town of Rhenish Prussia, 8 miles N. N. W. of Coblenz, on the right bank of the Rhine. Its old princely castle, situated in a beautiful park, contains a collection of Roman antiquities," etc. It describes Gernsheim as "a town of Germany, on the Rhine, 11 miles S.S.W. of Darmstadt."

This Jung (Young) family, in common with others of the Palatine hoard, doubtless fled from the Palatinate because of religious persecutions and to escape from the ravages of the French and German wars; and were lured to America by tales of the new country and the promises of the English government.

It may be possible for those who, are interested to obtain more definite data on these people at some later time from Germany. For the present-with this war-it probably will be futile to attempt it.